For more than a decade, Sana Mir has been at the forefront of Pakistan women’s quest for self-improvement. This month they tour England with hopes of a notable upset

Adam Collins17-Jun-2016Playing for the Pakistan women’s cricket team would not rank among the easier assignments in world sport. In existence for less than 20 years, their initial foray into international ranks included a maze of legal challenges, brutal newspaper editorials and even death threats.It’s an environment hard to comprehend; a nation too often marred with violence and terrorism and everything that goes with it. A place not deemed safe enough to host men’s international cricket for the better part of a decade. For all this, we’re conditioned to think a certain way about what must be the lot in the life for a woman playing there. Right?Yet this is not Sana Mir’s story. Not in the slightest. The veteran captain has another tale to tell altogether. One of inspiring generations of her countrywomen to reach their potential. Of daring to dream of what might be possible a decade from now, as opposed to her entry to the Pakistan team in 2005, fresh from a decade of administrative division.Of course Mir acknowledges the unpleasant past and respects the challenges of the present, but she is principally focused on the opportunities of the future. The lure of the possible.”Parents are now encouraging their daughters to play sport because they have seen the success of the women’s cricket team; that’s the hope we need for our country,” she tells ESPNcricinfo with pride. “Because of our team’s success we see the nation celebrate female mountaineers, female football players, female hockey players; all the female sports have got a boost.”

“The cultural set-up is quite different in Pakistan; most of us still live with our parents, so with the kind of money we earn, we are able to basically do our training and manage”

Their progress, notably accelerated over the last five years, is the product of a virtuous cycle. Greater investment coupled with much better on-field results, alongside the ICC’s commitment to bilateral series between all teams as qualification for the 2017 World Cup.This year’s World T20 brought the transformation to light in front of a global audience. It was only three years ago at the ODI World Cup that Pakistan were not just winless but thrashed. In March this year, they came within one victory of the final four. Actually, four more runs against the eventual winners, West Indies, would have been enough.A bad loss to England in the final group game ended their run, but a pair of wins against India and Bangladesh reinforced the view that they can no longer be routinely dismissed.This approach to Pakistan as a lesser opponent was on display the last time they toured England in 2013. In a double-header T20 series at Loughborough, the hosts won the opener convincingly with usual suspects Charlotte Edwards and Sarah Taylor doing the bulk of the damage. In the second game the former retreated down the order to No. 9 and the latter was rested. The visitors won the game and tied the series in a colossal upset.It’s hard to imagine a similar play being called this time around against a far more potent Pakistan. In saying that, however, new coach Mark Robinson did state that he expected that Edwards – who he moved on as captain – would have “filled her boots” in the forthcoming series, had she played. His point was to praise Edwards’ evergreen talent rather than to talk down Pakistan, but nevertheless, it’s the sort of quote that can come back to bite.Not that the visitors need much motivation. For Mir’s part, she made her international debut in the midst of an internal shake-up, the Pakistan Cricket Board taking full control of the women’s game. She’s seen the team “almost grow from scratch” to something that could not have existed then. A team quickly earning universal respect.”The kind of passion I see in girls now wanting to be a part of this team is absolutely brilliant”•IDI/Getty Images”The way the girls have progressed, the way the board is now supporting us, everything is moving forward, we can call it one of the most popular women’s sports,” she says, adding that it is now also a semi-professional enterprise, central contracts awarded to 22 players.”The kind of passion I see in girls now wanting to be a part of this team – and the type of fan following we enjoy – it’s absolutely brilliant.” This helped further again by live television coverage of a T20 tournament named after the former Prime Minister, Benazir Bhutto.”It has come a long way,” says Mir of pay and conditions. “Five or six years back only one department used to sponsor us and now we have four. That covers around 60 or 70 girls outside of the Pakistan team who can earn something from playing.”Mir points out that the tradition of women living at home until they are married helps create a setting where national players are exclusively committed to cricket.”The cultural set-up is quite different in Pakistan; most of us still live with our parents, so with the kind of money we earn, we are able to basically do our training and manage,” she explains.”It’s supportive to the women’s team in that sense, so the contracts we get at the moment we are basically able to do just one job: play cricket.”

“Parents are now encouraging their daughters to play sport because they have seen the success of the women’s cricket team; that’s the hope we need for our country”

Discussing the culture of Pakistan more broadly as it relates to her team, Mir’s answers are consistent in their theme, especially when asked if the challenges experienced by her trailblazing forerunners in the mid-1990s are prevalent now.Has she ever felt under threat for playing the game she loves because she’s a woman? “Not at all,” Mir says firmly. “It is about being culturally sensitive,” she adds diplomatically.”I have played cricket on the street, in grounds and in schools,” Mir goes on. “We have to be culturally and politically sensitive, and that’s something women’s cricket coming under the PCB has done; we have had that shelter around us and that’s why my experience is quite different to what they experienced in the 1990s.”Mir acknowledges the still-serious security considerations, her side playing often behind closed doors in Pakistan. It’s a reminder that for all the progress, the challenges in Pakistan remain unlike those most participants in the game will ever experience.”The kind of security you need to have in a public gathering is quite different from the rest of the world because of the kind of situation Pakistan is in at the moment.” Mir points out that this is “not only for female cricketers” but any kind of assembly.There have been flashpoints. Especially the 2013 World Cup in India, when they were forced to stay in the stadium at Cuttack as their security could not be guaranteed in a hotel.Mir, in understated fashion, says the episode was “a bit tough”, noting the most frustrating thing was that her young team weren’t able to mix and learn from opposing players off the field. Her bold response at the time was instructive: “We don’t mind the accommodation. We are not here to stay in five-star hotels. We are here to play cricket.””If I thought like that I think I would not have continued this long,” she says when asked if security concerns are scary. Then, in keeping with her theme, she pivots to explain how she prefers to view her career as an “opportunity to make a difference” as a leader for her country.”I have been very warmly supported by the whole of Pakistan, whether it’s a small town like Quetta, or big cities like Lahore or Karachi, and every individual says they are proud of me and my team.”In 2013, Pakistan beat England by one run to square the T20 series after being hammered in the opening game•Getty ImagesMir concludes her point purposefully: “Sometimes the perceptions that we make out of small bits of news do not reflect the reality.”Despite being an active member of the team, Mir plays the dual role as an elder as well, in the absence of any former players to draw on (“We do not enjoy senior players like Clare Connor or Belinda Clark in our set-up.”). In turn, she doesn’t hesitate to state administrators “definitely need to improve” their facilities, citing a single ground women cricketers have in Lahore.Mir also advocates strongly for Pakistan’s involvement in domestic competition like the Women’s Big Bash League in Australia and England’s inaugural Women’s Super League later this summer. “Players from all the countries are getting that exposure and I don’t think the Pakistan girls should be missing out,” she says, citing left arm-spinner Anam Amin as one who could excite.Amin is part of the cohort of Pakistan players on their first England tour, leaping to third in the ICC T20 bowler rankings after a superb World T20 at age 23.She leads a spin-heavy attack benefiting from Mir’s experienced offbreaks, Bismah Maroof’s wristspin, (also promoted to succeed Mir as T20 captain), and Nida Dar’s finger spin that accounted for three England wickets in their World T20 fixture.With the bat, the seventh-ranked Pakistanis are bolstered by the return of in-form opener Javeria Khan (who has too graduated to the leadership team) and Sidra Ameen, who established her credentials in Javeria’s absence.Mir is very respectful of her hosts and knows their depth isn’t to be underestimated, but believes her side can beat anyone. Underdogs no doubt, but unquestionably about to face a transitional England team at a good time.Whether or not they take home the trophies on offer this time around, Mir is eloquent in explaining what her team now means to Pakistan, stating simply: “They appreciate us for living our dreams.”Thanks to the leadership of Mir and her ever-improving team, many more will now go on to do exactly that.

In six weeks, Angelo Mathews has modified the way he uses DRS; and in two weeks the Sri Lankan attack doesn’t need the seamers it relied on. Where’s the logic?

Andrew Fidel Fernando in Galle06-Aug-2016It was only six weeks ago, when on day two at Chester-le-Street, Angelo Mathews walked down the pitch, conferred with a team-mate, and, having been given out, decided to review the decision. He had quite clearly hit the ball, so this was the shambolic head-on collision to cap a veritable pile-up of facepalm reviews. “Does he understand the rules?” people wondered on social media. What the hell is going on?In Galle, the same captain had his top-scoring batsman overturn a review on day one. He got his best bowler Sri Lanka’s second Test hat-trick by reviewing an lbw shout on day two. Then on the third day, Mathews set his offspinner on track for a first career ten-wicket haul with a bat-pad review, and for good measure, got his young left-arm wristspinner a scalp off a ball that spun at the batsman as if it had been shot out of a cannon, from point.In six weeks, the same man who appeared not to know how caught behinds worked, had become a DRS-savant capable of mentally simulating the ball-tracking for every delivery. In addition, there was the inspired promotion of Kusal Perera to No. 3. There was the fruitful decision to have David Warner face a lot of offspin. There was a breakthrough almost every bowling change, and the close fielders appealed themselves hoarse.So adept was Mathews at turning everything he touched into a wicket, you almost expected the official who handed him the winner’s cheque to look back at splayed stumps and ruefully trudge off.How on earth has the transformation happened? What the hell is going on?****It was only 13 days ago, ahead of the Pallekele Test, that Mathews said he “[didn’t] know what to call himself”, when asked if he considered himself an unlucky captain. “We’ve had so many injuries in the past few months,” he said. “At the international level, I can’t go and say we can’t play because we don’t have any bowlers. We need to know how to produce them.”He would have desperately liked Dhammika Prasad and Dushmantha Chameera to have been fit through the England tour. He would have loved for Nuwan Pradeep and Suranga Lakmal to be available through this one.Yet, in Galle, all but four wickets were the work of two bowlers. Dilruwan Perera and Rangana Herath might conceivably have won this match on their own. Having been required for only two overs on the first evening, seamer Vishwa Fernando would have had a more productive debut Test if he had set up a stall at fine leg and sold ice creams to fans for the rest of the Test. Lakshan Sandakan had spent much of the Pallekele match bamboozling Australian batsmen after coming in for Lakmal, but he produced more grinning high-fives than deliveries in this game.In a way, Pradeep or Prasad or Chameera or Lakmal would have been counterproductive here, because they would have all had longer spells with the new ball, and that would have delayed Perera and Herath’s introduction. Fewer of those sliders – which Australian batsmen appear to believe are the work of paranormal spiritual forces – would have been bowled.It seems the more Sri Lanka’s bowlers are injured, the more effective Sri Lanka’s attack becomes.Which leads you to wonder how on earth is this all happening. What the hell is going on?****It was only two weeks ago that SLC’s public profile reached a nadir, for the board’s public maligning of Muttiah Muralitharan, and its stipulation that the Test match mace be only privately handed over.During the Galle Test, though, the opening of the country’s largest indoor nets complex – in Pallekele – was announced by the board. This came, of course, with much trumpet blowing. The release claimed that ICC chief executive David Richardson was so impressed by complex, that following a mere inspection of these nets, he immediately took the field and struck a double-century against an attack consisting of Warne, Murali, Hadlee and Marshall (I’m paraphrasing here). According to the statement, the project will also be completed at less than half the initial budgeted cost.So forget that after two matches, Sri Lanka have a young batsman in Kusal Mendis whom coaches are already speaking of “building a top order around”. Forget the turnaround in Mathews’ fortunes. Forget the historic Under-19 win in England overnight, or the fact that a spin-bowling succession plan for Herath has now emerged.SLC is making common-sense, cost-effective decisions that will benefit the island’s elite teams, and promote cricket’s growth.What on earth is bloody happening? What the hell is going on?

If you are playing – or coaching – junior cricket in the north-west of England, you can’t afford to let the weather dampen your enthusiasm

Chris Smith13-Jul-2016Faced with uncertainty, the human mind devises narratives to feign predictability. Uncertainty comes in various forms – from fundamental questions such as “Why are we here?” to more humdrum ones – “Will I get wet later?”Humdrum it may be but, dealt a 13-week season, impinged upon by football, school trips and family holidays, knowing whether it will rain later has become one of the determining considerations of my life as a junior cricket organiser. Yesteryear, when the weather was really significant, we would consult seaweed, or the posture of cattle. Nowadays, there’s a very modern indicator of coming rain: text messages.It starts in the late morning. Parents: “Will tonight’s game be rained off? I’m out of town, so would be good to know.” I understand the need to drive out uncertainty, the modern middle-class parent’s desire for the one quiet evening at home that a cancellation can deliver. The thing is, I’m out of town as well.Six years into this role and I am also very clear that if we decided whether matches in England’s north-west should be played based on weather conditions at 11am and forecasts for the early evening, our youngsters would play very little cricket at all. The UK’s temperate maritime climate, with very few climatic extremes, means that the weather is a state of mind as much as it is an objective fact. For cricket enthusiasts in this damp region, there is a pragmatism about conditions: “We’ll start if it’s not raining (hard) and carry on if it’s not pouring”.Recently, I drove through heavy traffic and heavier rain to a friendly local club. As I pulled onto the driveway that skirts the ground’s southern boundary, I saw a heron wading on the outfield. But the rain had stopped. Our hosts put the kettle on, joined me in conference with the neutral umpire and agreed we’d give it half an hour – but would mark the boundary anyway (cordoning off the wading bird reserve at wide long-on).Thanks to the practicality of our hosts and the shared view that it’s only a game that nobody gains from cancelling, our teens played on. Two-hundred-and-seventy runs in 34 overs showed it was a batters’ night and that weather is, within parameters, a state of mind.To agree that “it’s only a game” may be a luxury that’s being depleted. Umpires have a responsibility for ensuring the safety of playing conditions. That’s well understood. An opposition first team player umpiring an Under-13 game once tried to bring the teams off in light rain. His legitimate concern was that the boys didn’t have spikes and were slipping. The opposition coach and I walked out to the middle to assess conditions. The boys were loving it, performing sliding stops and soft-landing dives. “No more long run-ups,” the other coach and I decreed before returning to the scorebox, out of sight of the parents fretting over laundry.With that responsibility placed on the umpires comes an opportunity for litigation. A case has already reached court (Bartlett v ECB Coaches Association, 2015). A fielder was injured on a wet outfield after having argued with the umpire that the game shouldn’t take place. The court, in this example, dismissed the claim against the umpire, perhaps noting that the fielder, concerned about the conditions, had nonetheless attempted a sliding stop. The very fact of this legal case, though, will cause a ripple through our recreational umpires, like a cricket bag dragged through a carpark puddle.There’s another impediment to a laissez-faire approach to the weather and junior cricket. It’s the hierarchy of needs within the club. Ten-year-olds share the same square as the club’s senior teams. Allowing an Under-11 match to go ahead and damage the first XI track is heresy. The balance is tightest on a Friday night, when the pitch will have little time to recover before the weekend’s big fixture.On many a Friday afternoon, watching drizzle’s pathetic, stubborn dampening of the street outside my office window, my duty to play and play on, has shunted up against a wish for it to just rain properly and put us out of this misery. I check my iPhone weather app with the compulsion normally reserved for the Test score. The teasing of rain specks on the windscreen continues on the drive to the ground. The texts are coming in thick and fast. “We’re on,” I announce with fingers on keypad when I get to the ground and find the moisture hanging in the air, making the grass greasy, the square so inviting for a young cricketer to skid across and wreck tomorrow’s track.”As long as it doesn’t get any heavier,” I explain to opposition, umpire, parents. We dig out bar towels for the fielding team to dry the ball that will still swell like a raisin in a Moroccan stew. Bats left carelessly on the grass will lose their sharp report. The fielders’ hair, that started in a variety of self-conscious shapes, becomes uniformly flattened on their scalps. Meanwhile, the pitch for our first team’s match takes on more water. Should I or shouldn’t I just call the game off? I can cope with the rain; it’s the drizzle I can’t stand.This season, I’ve been spared the Friday game of cat and mouse with the elements, with the matches I organise occurring on Wednesday evenings. But back in May, we played at home on the eve of a county second XI match at our ground. This was a prestigious fixture, for which we wanted the ground and in particular the square, looking its best. We got under way with grey clouds occluding the sun in the west. Club officials, looking more often at the sky than the play, stood on the boundary. Soon after the second innings started, the clouds began to leak and the covers made it to the pitch before the players reached the pavilion. Three of us stood sentry in the middle, heads cocked upwards like men have done for millennia. Then each of us 21st century men would look down and consult our smart phones, two of which told us it was raining and one claimed sunshine. Meanwhile, the square, the covers, the outfield, our heads and shoulders were rapidly filling in white as snow fell.Want to be featured on Inbox? Send your articles to us here, with “Inbox” in the subject line.

Niall O’Brien remembers his experiences of playing grade cricket down under, and making friends called Burto, Pidgey and Bakes

Sam Perry26-Sep-2016Niall O’Brien’s unborn grandchildren will hear some great stories one day. Like the one of how his mate stole a stump from Sabina Park after a World Cup win against Pakistan. Or the international cap he was given at 14 after he gave throwdowns to one of the game’s greats.But the impressive paraphernalia only tells part of the story. At 34, he’s nearer the twilight than the sunrise of his career. And beneath the trophies, scorecards and newspaper clippings are tales and memories more meaningful than those that hang on the wall. As with most people, it’s the formative memories that mean most.O’Brien, speaking ahead of Ireland’s match against Australia in Benoni today, was set to be the only man to have played in each encounter between the two nations this century before he was ruled out with a concussion. His first was at the 2007 World Cup, where he watched 24-year-old Shaun Tait’s first ball from the relative comfort of the pavilion.”Gilchrist must’ve been 30 yards back and just caught it as it was flying over his head,” O’Brien said. “He had [Matthew] Hayden next to him, and maybe [Andrew] Symonds. I just remember them yahooing and yelling.””I was sitting inside and just thought, ‘Oh f***.'”O’Brien came in soon after and, facing Tait, was bowled first ball. It was a full toss; the ball registered at 94.2 miles an hour. His coach, “Adi” Birrell, asked what happened. O’Brien said he just didn’t see it.He has played against Australia four times since and fared better. He feels the days of Australia playing Ireland “for a hit-out” are gone.”They don’t hold back. Last year, I copped a bit from a few of their boys. They think I’ve got a bit of a strut about me – both myself and Kev [O’Brien’s brother Kevin]. People like [David] Warner were getting stuck in. I would have thought he had a bit of a strut as well. He was definitely having a few words.”I like it. I actually revel in it. If I go out and face [Mitchell] Starc or [Pat] Cummins or [Nathan] Coulter-Nile and I’ve got Warner sledging me from point, actually I’m enjoying that.”

“I had a souvenir Australian hat. Steve Waugh was doing a training session down at Pembroke Cricket Club and he said to me, ‘Where’d you get the cap?’ I explained and he pointed to his own one-day cap and said, ‘At the end of the tour, this cap is yours”

While many pretend to enjoy the Australian approach, O’Brien truly does. His connection with Australia runs deeper than for most and was forged over many summers in Sydney. It was here he cut his teeth in Australia’s most notorious cricketing back alley: the Sydney Grade competition.At the turn of the century, a connection with Trent Johnston saw O’Brien arrive in Australia as a fresh, albeit pale, 19-year-old. He would play for Mosman. An Ireland representative at every underage level to that date, he was accustomed to a place in the top side wherever he was. His first selection night changed that, when Peter Philpott delivered some news.”‘Percy’ was a great man and I was his lodger when I arrived,” O’Brien says. “He put his arm around me and said, ‘You’re in second grade.’ Then he said, ‘I’ve got a bit of bad news on top of that. You’ll be batting No.10.’ And I thought, ‘Hold on a minute. I’m an opening batsman!'”O’Brien didn’t mind being selected in second grade, but batting so low was staggering. “I remember ringing my dad and saying, ‘I’m batting No. 10!’ I couldn’t believe it. Then Percy said, ‘Irish, do me a favour. Between now and Christmas, every time you go out and bat, just put a big price on your wicket. Get yourself 8 not out, 10 not out, 14 not out…'”So O’Brien did. Before long, he was given his chance up the order when Jimmy “Nuts” Sinclair had to urgently leave for work in Melbourne. O’Brien made a decent score and stayed there for the season. His perseverance had been rewarded, and he enjoyed his cricket in some illustrious company for the remainder of his time there.”I got to mix around with guys like Brett Lee, his brother Shane, Andrew Strauss and Shoaib Akhtar.”Shoaib was great. He used to turn up each week with a bucket of KFC and a woman on each arm and bowl about a million miles an hour, then go home again, or back to Cargo Bar or wherever he’d come from on the morning of the match.”What’s striking is, O’Brien’s memory is equally clear about team-mates known to nobody outside Sydney’s North Shore. He speaks fondly of characters called Yatesy, Groovy, Pauly and Grover. These people shaped his cricketing adventure as much as anyone and helped him through his introduction to grade cricket.”At Mosman I learnt about the toughness and harsh reality of grade cricket. The standard is very good, and you get nothing for free.”A few years later O’Brien arrived again in Australia. This time he lined up with North Sydney, a club that once played home to Sir Donald Bradman and Bill O’Reilly, and who played their cricket at the picturesque North Sydney Oval. It was here O’Brien received his first crack in the top grade after the incumbent, Nigel Taylor, pulled out on the morning of the match with a back injury.Avoiding a collision with Andrew Symonds during the 2007 World Cup•Getty Images”I was meant to be playing seconds and two of my best friends – Pyad and Paddy had just turned up from Ireland for a year-long trip,” O’Brien says.
“I went out with them for a few pints on Friday and had a few too many, truth be told. I thought, ‘Ah, I’m playing twos tomorrow, I’ll be all right. I’m in a bit of nick and a few pints can’t hurt me.'”He was just getting to sleep at around 5.30am when the club president called and told him that the keeper was injured and that he’d be needed in first grade.”I thought: this is awesome. But I hadn’t slept. So I got a couple of hours sleep, then jumped in a cab over to Bear Park. I got to the oval and my skipper, ‘Jimmy Jack’, says, ‘Mate, you’re in good form, I want you to bat three.'””As was par for the course at the Bears, we were one down early. I walk out with two hours’ sleep under my belt and just remember getting sledged from ball one.”I eventually turned around and said, ‘Who’s this bloke sledging me?’ And it was a wicketkeeper by the name of Daniel Smith. He proceeded to sledge me from ball one to pretty much 5.32pm, when I got out for 116.””I thought, ‘This is bizarre. I’ve never met this bloke before.’ It wouldn’t happen in Ireland. You’d only sledge someone if there was really bad blood. I was just a little Irish lad walking out to bat who’s had two hours’ sleep – I didn’t deserve it!”So I thought, ‘Okay, if this is how they want to play, then I will mix it with these boys.'”My two friends Paddy and Pyad turned up at about 5pm to see me get my hundred. ‘The state of you, lad!’ they said. Then we went back to the pub and all of a sudden I was the club president’s best mate. He wanted to sign me on the spot.”When they returned for day two the following week, O’Brien received assurance from his opening bowler, Newcastle product Matt Baker, that he’d “take care of ‘Smitty'”. The prophecy was true; Smith was dismissed early, caught behind by O’Brien. He chuckles while recalling the specific names of each team-mate that gave Smith “a bit of a gobful” – names like Burto, Pidgey and Bakes.It wasn’t all bravado and bluster on the field, though. Sometimes the mood changed when the opposition took time to learn a little more about O’Brien.”We were playing in Campbelltown. I’d played my cricket in North Sydney and Mosman. I was used to the Sydney way of life. Next thing I know, I’m out at Raby Oval: it’s two hours away, you pay a toll, it’s a million degrees and flies the size of your hand. One of their quicks was all ‘effin this’, ‘effin that’, ‘effin Pom’.””I was on about 5 or 6 at the time and I said, ‘All right bud, I’m actually Irish’, and he goes, ‘Oh sorry, you’re all right then!’

“At Mosman I learnt about the toughness and harsh reality of grade cricket. The standard is very good, and you get nothing for free”

“Now we’re walking off the field and they’re all talking to me, saying things like, ‘So where are you from in Ireland? How’ve you found Australia?’ and I’m thinking, ‘What is going on here?'”

****

Like many who were born in the ’80s, Australia was O’Brien’s cricketing reference point. He grew up in a little village called Sandymount in Dublin. The tradition in his house was to watch the Boxing Day Test on Christmas night.”We’d all watch the first session together before drifting off at half one, but I’d always stay up for the second session. Even now when I go home for Christmas, my mum will ask whether I’m staying up for the Test. Someone in my family always gets me a case of VB or Carlton on Christmas, so I can sit up and have an Aussie beer while watching the Test.”Asked whether he had a hero, he name-checks the usuals: Slater, Taylor, Langer – all pugnacious opening batsmen in their own right. He then takes a breath and lets the silence hang, as if to clear a path for someone regal. “Steve Waugh was my ideal hero.”More than any other Australian cricket icon, Waugh seems to be the subject of life-affirming stories from members of the public. So it is with O’Brien.”He coached me when he was in Ireland for a four-week stint. He was playing for Ireland against Australia A. I had a souvenir Australian hat. Steve Waugh was doing a training session down at Pembroke Cricket Club and he said to me, ‘Where’d you get the cap?'”I explained and he pointed to his own one-day cap and said, ‘At the end of the tour, this cap is yours.'” O’Brien was unconvinced. “I thought, ‘Yeah, sure thing…'”Four weeks later, Waugh played for Ireland against Australia A at Waringstown, Belfast. O’Brien was there.”My dad and I were sitting by the boundary edge when he came over, tapped me on the shoulder and said, ‘You’ve got to earn that cap now.’ I said, ‘What do you mean?’ and he said, ‘How about a few throwdowns?’ So there I was giving Steve Waugh throwdowns, aged 14, and afterwards he says, ‘There’s your cap.'”

****

“Australian cricket has always been big for me,” says O’Brien. Though for many aspiring cricketers in the northern hemisphere, the grade cricket breeding ground isn’t as palatable as it once was.While O’Brien doesn’t subscribe to the Australian style of sledging the opposition, he isn’t fazed by it•Getty Images”A lot of the English guys at home get two or three hits a week, and when they go over [to Australia] they say, ‘We don’t get to bat enough.’ I looked at it the other way. If I’m only going to bat twice a month I thought, ‘I better be at training’ and when I do get out in the middle, to make sure I make it count.”O’Brien plays the game hard, and while he feels that’s an innate trait, he does recognise the impact of grade cricket on his own approach, and worries about the influence of academy culture on young cricketers making their way through the game.”A lot of Australian cricket and their mentality and way of life has been instilled in me, and for me, grade cricket was fantastic cricket.”But as good as all these academies are here, in Australia and around the world – and they do a lot of good things – I think they detract a lot from what you learn on the field, what you learn from good times, bad times, being around experienced cricketers… I think they’re sheltering a lot of cricketers from the harsh realities of cricket.”A lot of them have been brought up in the English academies and spoon-fed or wrapped up in cotton wool to a certain extent, whereas I just played in my garden and whatever facility I could get a hit on, I’d get a hit on.”His time in grade cricket was a perfect example.”You’d go to North Sydney No. 2 and if the groundsman hasn’t bothered to put the covers on and it’s pissed raining all afternoon, then so be it. You’d get a ten-minute hit against the seamers and a ten-minute hit against the spinners, and my aim would just be to not lose my wicket.”Whether I’m hit on the inside thigh 18 times or I’ve got 44 inches of bruising… if I haven’t got out, then that will stand me in good stead for the weekend.”Unfortunately, he won’t be striding out against Australia today. If he had done, it would have been as one of his country’s best ever cricketers, and bringing with him an appreciation for the Australian way, both on the field and off.”I think they’ve got some good characters in there, the Aussies. Off the pitch they’re a pretty good bunch of lads. They’re not shy of sharing a beer or having a chat around the bar at the hotel, and they always say hello in the morning.”While Australian cricket hasn’t entirely made him who he is, O’Brien has been indelibly instilled with its spirit wherever he plays.

Let the debate begin. Do you agree with the final XI selected by ESPNcricinfo’s county writers?

Andrew McGlashan24-Sep-2016Keaton Jennings (Durham) 1548 runs at 64.50
The leading run scorer in the country, Jennings made a strong claim to be included in England’s Test squad. His seven Championship centuries – including two unbeaten double-hundreds, one carrying his bat against Surrey – were a Durham record and he scored more runs in 2016 than his previous two seasons combined. Resisted the temptation to move counties and will have a huge role to play in the post-Stoneman-Borthwick era of Durham’s battingHaseeb Hameed (Lancashire) 1198 runs at 49.91
A new star of English cricket after becoming the youngest Lancashire batsman to make 1000 runs in a season and the first to score two centuries in a Roses match. “Born to play for England,” was the assessment of many and the call came when he was included for the Bangladesh tour. “I’m a modern-day Boycott,” Hameed has said, but even during this season his range of strokeplay has broadened out. Batting time, though, remains his strength and a skill not to be forgotten in the modern age.Nick Gubbins (Middlesex) 1409 runs at 61.26
The season began with most of the attention on his opening partner, Sam Robson, who has already had a taste of Test cricket but by September it was Gubbins closer to a call-up. A left-hander who has often drawn comparisons with Andrew Strauss, Gubbins began the season without a first-class hundred but scored four Championship tons including one in the final match of the season against Yorkshire.Keith Barker had another impressive all-round season•Getty ImagesBen Duckett (Northamptonshire) 1338 runs at 60.81
The most exciting uncapped batsman in English cricket. After a difficult period when Duckett struggled to adapt to the disciplines – on and off the field – needed for professional cricket, 2016 was a remarkable success story for the left hander. Churning out the runs from start to finish with breathtaking flamboyance, his returns included an unbeaten 282 against Sussex – the highest score of the season – which would surely have been a triple-century but for two days of rain. His first-class strike of 79.35 was also the fastest for the summer.Tom Westley (Essex) 1217 runs at 52.91
Westley’s most prolific season against the red ball saw him pass 1000 runs for the first time and was capped with a career-best 254 against Worcestershire as Essex’s promotion campaign approached fulfilment. In imperious form at No. 3, he began with a century in the opening-round victory over Gloucestershire and followed that up with scores of 86, 16, 64 and 125, his leg-side whip and cover drive in full working order as Essex took an early grip on top spot in Division Two.Ben Foakes (Surrey) 759 runs at 42.16, 43 catches and 3 stumpings
Regarded by Andy Flower and Alec Stewart as the best gloveman in English cricket, Foakes started to flourish having been given the chance as Surrey’s first-choice wicketkeeper. Could not force his way past Jos Buttler as the reserve Test keeper – despite Buttler playing just one first-class matche in a year – but remains in the mix longer-term alongside Sam Billings.Keith Barker (Warwickshire) 608 runs at 32.00; 59 wickets at 23.13
Another impressively consistent all-round season for Barker, ending with his best Championship haul for a campaign. He only played four games of white-ball cricket in the season which meant he was able to put his efforts into the four-day game and he was ever-present in the Championship. His hundred against Nottinghamshire was his sixth in first-class cricket with all of them coming at Nos. 8 or 9.Jack Leach was the standout English spinner but could not earn a tour place•Getty ImagesGraham Napier (Essex) 298 runs at 22.92; 63 wickets at 23.17
In his final season as a professional, Napier produced his best-ever Championship analysis before hobbling out of his last game, promotion secured. Essex’s Division Two title was won by batting big and then letting their seamers get to work and while there were honourable mentions for Jamie Porter, David Masters and Ravi Bopara, Napier consistently led the way. Joe Leach edged ahead of him in the final week to top the Division Two tally, but the “King of Colchester” took a five-for and scored a hundred on his Castle Park farewell to boot.Jeetan Patel (Warwickshire) 69 wickets at 24.02
Remained the standout spinner in domestic cricket – it was also his most prolific season – although was pushed closer for that tag than the previous summer when a few of his home truths about English spin had hit a nerve. A better bowler now than he was during his international career, Patel has firmly said his New Zealand days are behind him even though he has been asked back.Jake Ball (Nottinghamshire) 49 wickets at 23.12
Started the season with a bang, under the gaze of the selectors, and was often remarked on as looking a Test match bowler. By the time the first England squad of the summer was announced he had 19 wickets at 21.15. He sustained his form to the end, following his Test debut against Pakistan, and took nine wickets in the match against Middlesex – including a hat-trick – but it was not enough to save Nottinghamshire from relegation.Jack Leach (Somerset) 65 wickets at 21.87
This was the tightest call in selection with Leach tying on three votes with Jack Brooks. The chairman of selectors opted for a balanced, varied attack of three seamers and two spinners, plus it was a magnificent campaign for Leach who pushed himself close to England recognition. Enjoyed the change of tactics at Taunton, with a spin-friendly surface, but it was his performance at Headingley in the penultimate round which showed how rapid his rise had been.

The Australian Test team seems to be well settled, at least at the top. That might not necessarily be a good thing, given the team’s recent run

Daniel Brettig at the WACA06-Nov-2016Darren Lehmann is contracted to be Australia’s coach until after the 2019 World Cup and Ashes double. Steven Smith, at 27 years old, is to be Australia’s captain for as long as he wants the job. Australia’s squad of 12 for the Perth Test is to be retained, unchanged, regardless of the result at the WACA Ground.On the face of it, these factoids suggest stability at the top levels of Australian cricket. After the swings and roundabouts of the Michael Clarke era – both before and during his eventful captaincy – everyone connected with the game seemed eager for a period of consolidation with a new team. Around the time of his contract renewal in August, Lehmann refreshed his support staff in anticipation of the next four years.But the security around the national team and its leaders is growing increasingly at odds with the results being delivered. The ruthless exposure of Smith’s side by a South African team shorn of AB de Villiers (before the tour) and Dale Steyn (midway through the first innings) has been the equivalent of the tide going out to expose who has been swimming naked. Pretty much every batsman, as it turns out.Perth now appears likely to be Australia’s fourth consecutive Test match loss. Such a result would also be the first time an Australian Test team has lost the first match of a home summer since 1988. It will be of little comfort to Smith and Lehmann to know that, having been battered at the Gabba by Viv Richards’ indomitable West Indians, Allan Border’s men promptly lost Test matches two and three as well.Brisbane, of course, has always been seen as the Australian fortress, a venue where the team have remained unbeaten every year since the aforementioned defeat. If it does not attract the same scale of crowds that flock to the MCG on Boxing Day or the SCG in the New Year, the Gabba’s importance to the home summer is epitomised by the way the Australian team associates it with swift and brutal victories.Before this match, Smith talked of strutting around “like I own the place” as the sort of attitude he likes to project. It has always been easier for Australian cricketers to do that at the Gabba in the first Test of summer. Certainly it would have been easier for the hosts to do that in Brisbane against South Africa rather than in Perth, which just so happens to be a venue where these visitors have never lost.South Africa had plenty of history behind them entering this series. Victories in each of their past two series in Australia brought plenty of happy memories, as did the fact that Perth was the venue of the series-sealer in 2012, a melancholy final Test match for Ricky Ponting. They had been afforded, too, a lengthy and suitable preparation, mixing bouts with both the red ball in use in Perth and the latest iteration of the pink one to be unveiled for the third Test in Adelaide at the end of November.Australia’s players, meanwhile, have been shunted around. Not only from Brisbane to Perth, but between formats as well. It is near enough to unheard of for only one round of Sheffield Shield cricket to have been played before the first Test team is selected, and that too with a pink ball rather than a red one. At the start of the week, Josh Hazlewood was asked whether all this was going to be a problem. “You get used to it,” he said. “It is part of cricket.”That is undoubtedly true, as Cricket Australia chases new and bigger audiences for the game down under. However the question that seemingly has not been asked, is this. Are all these changes, and schedule compromises, something the present team is capable of coping with? The present evidence suggests not. Equally, it appears that the present regime is a little too comfortable given the present results. Four years is a long time for any coach to be guaranteed tenure – just ask Mickey Arthur. Twenty-seven is a young age to be a captain – just ask Kim Hughes.Overall then, Perth has exposed a troubling complacency around the Australian team. This has been as true in the micro as the macro. While South Africa have made the most of their resources, shrugging off the loss of Steyn with admirable resilience, the Australians have squandered many of their own, in turn exposing the likes of Mitchell Marsh to situations beyond his present state of aptitude.Anyone looking for an exemplar needed to look only as far as David Warner, running a quick single in the confident expectation that Temba Bavuma would struggle to field his off side push let a lone throw down the stumps, leading to Shaun Marsh’s exit moments later. Anyone looking for another could find Smith throwing the kitchen sink at a wide ball on a length some eight overs before the close, exposing Adam Voges to a rampaging Kagiso Rabada.At the start of the year, Voges’ average was vying with that of Bradman. Smith’s captaincy record was similarly lofty. Neither could have claimed to be mighty, but they have certainly fallen. So too has the Australian team. They, and their CA, bosses, have some serious thinking to do.

Ishant Sharma’s effective use of the full delivery and Joe Root continuing with his Mumbai mindset were among Aakash Chopra’s insights from Chepauk

Aakash Chopra16-Dec-2016Black soil means slow turn
The pitch at Chepauk for this game is made of black soil and therefore it should be expected to get slower as the match progresses. The square at Chepauk has two different kinds of pitches – a couple with red soil and a few with black soil. The former is used whenever a rank turner is the requirement (mostly in Ranji games) and the latter for a typical Indian surface that turns but not viciously. The toss is important but not as important as it was at Wankhede – where England managed to squander that advantage.Importance of the full ball
The new SG ball rarely swings and there’s little lateral movement off the pitch in India. The only thing a fast bowler plays with is the marginal change of lines and length, and the early skepticism of openers. In the sixth over, Ishant Sharma bowled a full, wide ball luring Keaton Jennings into a big booming drive. Openers are so focused on balls pitching in the good-length area that, at times, they are caught unawares by the full ball. In any case, Jennings’ weight is on the back foot in the initial stages of his innings and is therefore always a little late on his shots.Root starts where he left off in Mumbai
Batting is a lot about the mind space that you’re in and Joe Root has shown how it dictates your response. Root wasn’t a happy sweeper in the early part of this Test series, definitely not in the early part of the innings but it changed in the second innings of the fourth Test. The pitch at Wankhede forced Root to sweep right from the beginning, for that was the only way to survive on a wilting pitch. In Chepauk, he picked up where left off in Mumbai, sweeping Ravindra Jadeja and Amit Mishra fairly early in his innings. It must be said that the first-day pitch at Chepauk isn’t half as alarming, although, in the end, Root was dismissed sweeping at Jadeja.Ashwin’s drift and dip
The first ball of the 27th over, bowled by Ravichandran Ashwin, drifted away in the air and went straight on with the arm, to which Root defended on the front foot. The following ball drifted in to which Root stepped out, only to see it dipping a foot shorter. These two deliveries showcased the deception Ashwin creates in the air.Tough call
The idea of staying with the umpire’s call on DRS is to discourage players from marginal reviews and to maintain the sanctity of the on-field umpire. To an extent, it’s also an acknowledgment of technology not being 100% accurate. While this does make sense, one wonders why the team should be penalised for it. Mishra appealed for a leg-before against Moeen Ali and, while the ball hit the pads in front of the wicket, Hawk-Eye’s projection showed that it would have just clipped leg stump instead of hitting it fully. Now, that can’t be considered a bad review and therefore it is a little unfair to penalise India for it, as losing a review might mean an umpiring howler later in the innings going uncorrected.Bairstow’s driving lesson
Jonny Bairstow played an English shot on an Indian pitch. He tried to drive one on the up and hit it straight to the fielder placed for the catch in the covers. If you want to play along the ground off the front foot, you must get to the pitch of the ball, because every now and then it will either stop or turn more than expected. Moeen played in an almost identical manner but fortunately none of his shots went close to the India fielders.Seam bowlers’ beehive to Moeen Ali•ESPNcricinfo Ltd(Lack of) bouncers to Moeen
Ishant dimissed Moeen with a bouncer at Lord’s in 2014. Mohammed Shami dismissed Moeen with a bouncer in Mohali two weeks ago. Considering these facts you are almost sure that there will be bouncers the moment he walks out to bat. Therefore it was surprising to see so few bowled to him on the first day of the Chennai Test.

Ashley Giles has risked friendships and his reputation in making a return to Warwickshire. But there’s a big job to be done at a club with renewed ambition

George Dobell10-Jan-2017Not everyone was impressed when Ashley Giles was announced as the new director of cricket at Warwickshire. (He’s actually Sport Director, but we’ll come back to that).While the news was rapturously received by the club’s supporters, he did not get quite the reaction he had hoped for from his family. For when he announced he had some big news for them on Christmas Day, his 14-year-old daughter, Tilly, had rather hoped he was going to give them a puppy. The realisation that dad – house-trained and relatively obedient though he is – was going to be living at home again did not entirely assuage her disappointment.But the lure of home was key to this move. While Giles accepts he had unfinished business at Lancashire, he also admits that the strain of living apart from his family was beginning to show. With his wife suffering a serious long-term illness and the family remaining in the Midlands, he all too often found himself sitting alone in his hotel room in the evening, eating room service and wishing he was somewhere else.”It was making me miserable,” he says. “The personal aspect was the big reason for taking this job. Being away from home was increasingly difficult in year two. Four walls of a hotel room… I’ve done a lot of that in my playing career. I found it hard work.”I just found I was never at home. Even when I was, I wasn’t. You’re vacant for 24 hours before you start to come back down to earth. Your suitcase is never even unpacked before it’s back in the car and you’re off again.”That’s not to say that leaving Lancashire was not a wrench. “I was aware I had signed a contract,” he says. “And I was proud of our season last year. They have some really good young players. There is something to build on there. I have a huge amount of respect for Lancashire and can only thank them for the way they have looked after me. But family is most important.”Already the benefits of the move are starting to be felt. He reports that his wife is sleeping better – a sign of her contentment, no doubt, rather than his conversation – and he has felt his own spirits rise. “The family are more relaxed,” he says. “It’s been great for all of us. This does feels like coming home. It’s great to be back.”But sentiment wasn’t the reason Warwickshire offered this job to him. And sentiment wasn’t the reason they sacked Dougie Brown, a man who had served the club with distinction for the best part of three decades, and found the money both to pay him off and compensate Lancashire for Giles’ departure.It was more that Warwickshire’s management were concerned at the direction the club was taking. They saw a lack of progress among younger players at the club – it’s been an issue for years – and they saw the low mood in the dressing room. They saw success at Lord’s (Warwickshire won the Royal London Cup in September) as “papering over cracks” (the CEO’s words) and felt they needed to act.Dougie Brown was effectively sacked to make way for Giles’ return•Getty ImagesThis is, after all, a club that expects its turnover to exceed £20m a year over the next three years – “the best three years of major matches we’ve ever had,” according to the CEO, Neil Snowball – and which sacked its coach a month after winning a Lord’s final at the end of the 2016 season.They’ve reported the best non-Ashes Test ticket sales they’ve ever had in 2016 and describe sales for the first day-night Test in England as “flying out of the door” (around 30,000 at this stage). Fighting relegation and failing to qualify for T20 Finals Day is not good enough. Giles, steeped in the culture of the club and respected for his ability to coax the best out of players, has been recruited not just to win more trophies but to establish, in his words, a “legacy” of success that will “last decades”.His attachment to the club should not be mistaken for softness. He is tougher than most think and brutal when required. He won’t make life easy for the players: he will challenge them to be the best they can be. The good ones will enjoy that; others will leave.The word “transition” crops up often at Edgbaston at present. It is widely acknowledged that the squad Giles inherits in 2017 is strikingly similar to the one he left in 2012, having just won the Championship. It’s just older. And while there are, no doubt, some benefits to be taken from experience, there is also an acceptance that Warwickshire need to bring through new players.Whether they come from within or without – to echo a song that Bob Dylan might have written about Asif Din – they need to come in the next couple of years. The fact that a faltering batting unit has been weakened by the loss of two of the relatively young players – Varun Chopra and Laurie Evans – to other counties, will not help. Chris Woakes remains their last home-grown capped player. Giles has not inherited an easy job or taken the soft choice. In his first meeting with his coaching staff – a four-hour affair – he is said to have spent three hours and 55 minutes just listening.”Our own development system hasn’t worked as well as it should have – or as well as other clubs – going back for years,” Giles admits. “I am full of admiration for the work Steve Rhodes has done in developing young players at Worcestershire and maybe there are things there we can learn from: the relationship with schools and the minor counties, for a start.”But our local players still have to be good enough. They can’t just come through the system and think that is enough for us to pick them. I don’t think we should be silly enough to think new players will just come from within.”Might the new recruits include Kolpak registrations? Giles has often spoken against counties signing players not qualified for England, but he has utilised a few – not least at Lancashire, where he required senior players – and does not rule it out at Warwickshire. “Never say never,” he says, “but it’s not a favoured option for me. We maxed out on performance-related fee payments for playing locals every year the last time I was here and that is something that is very important to me.”Edgbaston will host some of the biggest games in its history in the coming years•Getty ImagesIt’s also important, he acknowledges, to “tap into the Asian network better”.”It’s a massive network that we’ve failed to tap into,” he says. “We need to get to grips with that. It’s been an issue for a long time.”But I’m not saying we’re going to clear the decks and get rid of all the older players. We need balance. I want to bring through young players and attract the best talent that’s out there. But what better time to give a young player opportunity than when they get to play alongside Ian Bell and Jonathan Trott? When I took over in 2008, the cricket side of this club was a shambles. It’s not now. We have one of the best squads in the country.”Maybe that title – Sport Director – isn’t quite as silly as it seems at first glance, either. While it is no hint that Giles is about to start coaching tennis or rugby (though he is on the board of English netball), it does differentiate his role from that of director of cricket or head coach.He will not spend every day with the men’s team. While Jim Troughton, the new head coach and the good cop to Giles’ bad, will “wake up every day thinking of ways to help that team win,” according to the club’s chief executive, Neil Snowball, Giles will have wider responsibilities. He will be expected to improve the youth development, the women’s team, the recruitment, and anything else associated with developing the long-term success of the club. Generally (though not exclusively) suited rather than tracksuited, his role is similar to the one filled by Andrew Strauss with England. That may prove relevant a few years down the line.Giles says he probably wouldn’t have taken the role had it been that of Director of Cricket. It would, he reasons, have been disrespectful not just to Lancashire – about which he has nothing but praise – but his old friend Dougie Brown, who was effectively sacked to make way for his return. The pair go way back: they were best men at each other’s weddings; they played together for a decade; they roomed and drove and drank together. This situation, Giles admits, has been a little “awkward”.”But I’m coming back to do a different role. The circumstances meant, for me, I had to go for the job but I certainly don’t want to lose friendships over it. Had it been the same job that Dougie had, I don’t think I would have gone for it. I think that would have been wrong by Lancashire as well. I’ve enjoyed some of my best days in cricket with Lancashire. I wasn’t looking to rush off at all.”Dougie and I have always been mates. And he had enjoyed success here. By the time we got to the fifth or sixth pint, he was starting to understand.”So, his best mate was upset and his daughter wished he was a dog. It’s not the ideal start. But Giles rarely has had anything easy as a player or a coach, and he’s not afraid to risk his reputation by taking on a tough job at a club where expectations are always high and patience is sometimes thin. His appointment looks a good, long-term fit for all concerned.

Australia’s marks out of ten following their 3-0 sweep over Pakistan at home

Brydon Coverdale08-Jan-20174:09

Renshaw solves Australia’s opening worries

9Steven Smith
The leading run scorer in the series, Smith finished with 441 at 110.25, and as a consequence ended his 50th Test match with the remarkable career average of 60.15. His hundred on the first day of the series in Brisbane set the tone for Australia’s campaign, and an unbeaten 165 at the MCG earned him Man-of-the-Match honours in Australia’s second win. Only once in the series was Smith dismissed for less than 50, and he was a one of several keys to Australia’s clean sweep.David Warner
Though 2016 was his least productive full year in Test cricket, Warner finished it off with a bang by pummeling 144 at better than a run a ball at the MCG. It was his innings – specifically the speed of it – that turned that rain-affected Test into one Australia could win. And he carried that form to the SCG, where in the first innings he blasted the fourth-fastest Test hundred by an Australian, and in the second he smashed Australia’s fastest Test fifty. It meant that he finished the series with 356 runs at 71.20. If his average was excellent, his strike-rate of 103.79 was astonishing.Peter Handscomb
By the end of this series, Handscomb had gone through the first seven innings of his Test career without being dismissed for less than 50 – a feat unmatched in the history of the game. His maiden century in Brisbane, and then another hundred at the SCG, confirmed Handscomb as a man who is very comfortable at Test level. He used his feet well against the spinners, hung back and played late against the fast men, and now faces the challenge of extending his run of fine form to Australia’s tour of India in February. He finished this series with 344 runs at 114.66, and looks set to become part of the middle order for a long time to come.Josh Hazlewood and Mitchell Starc were always on the lookout for wickets•Cricket Australia/Getty ImagesJosh Hazlewood
The leading wicket-taker in the series, with 15 at 19.60, Hazlewood was also exceedingly tight and gave up less than two runs an over across the three Tests. His work wasn’t always easy – in the second innings at the Gabba, Hazlewood sent down 42 overs, the heaviest workload in a Test innings for an Australian fast bowler for more than a decade – but he persisted with his accurate lines and earned his rewards over the course of the series.Mitchell Starc
Second only to Hazlewood on the series wicket tally, Starc picked up 14 at 34.07. He was more expensive than his new-ball partner but in both Brisbane and Melbourne made critical final-day breakthroughs that cracked the resistance of the Pakistan batsmen. He also contributed a highly entertaining 84 at the MCG, including seven sixes, and his brisk runs helped ensure Australia had a big enough lead from which they could push for victory.8Matt Renshaw
At the Gabba, Renshaw impressed with 71 in just his second Test appearance, but his breakthrough innings came at the SCG, where he batted throughout the first day and ended up making 184. It was a remarkably mature innings for a man of 20 – in fact, no other Australian had made so many runs in an innings at such a young age. Renshaw finished the series with 271 runs at 67.75, and looks a long-term opening prospect for Australia.Nathan Lyon wasn’t a certain starter for his home Test in Sydney until the final day of the second Test in Melbourne•Getty Images and Cricket Australia7.5Usman Khawaja
Although he finished the series with a highly creditable tally of 267 runs at 66.75 and scored a half-century in each of the three Tests, two of those fifties came in second-innings efforts in Brisbane and Sydney, by which time the pressure was largely off and the focus was on extending an already hefty lead. His 97 at the MCG was a fine innings and contributed to Australia’s turning the Test around.7Jackson Bird
Although he played only the first two Tests, Bird’s axing in Sydney was less to do with his performances than the fact that Australia wanted to play two spinners. In Brisbane and Melbourne, he played his role well, and collected 10 wickets at 29.20, including the key wicket of Pakistan captain Misbah-ul-Haq in three of those four innings. Despite being dropped, he also made a significant contribution to the win in Sydney, where he finished with four catches – two at gully, one at second slip off a spinner, and one in the deep. In doing so, he equalled the Test record for most catches in a match by a substitute fielder.6Nathan Lyon
This was a series of two distinct halves for Lyon. Across Pakistan’s first three innings of the campaign picked up 3 for 254. On the fourth evening at the MCG, captain Steven Smith declined to say that Lyon was a certain starter for the next Test in Sydney and observed that he “hasn’t bowled at his best in this game”. The next day, Lyon picked up three key wickets in Australia’s unexpected victory, and across the final three innings of the series he collected 8 for 248. By the end of the series, coach Darren Lehmann was so impressed that he said Lyon had bowled as well as he had “for a long period of time”.Steve O’Keefe
It is hard to judge a player on one appearance, but O’Keefe’s match figures of 4 for 103 in Sydney should be enough to earn him a place on the upcoming tour of India. Though not generally a huge turner of the ball, O’Keefe did gain enough spin at times to cause problems, and he picked up three wickets in the second innings to help bowl Australia to victory.Matthew Wade might need more runs to feel secure about his place in the team•Getty Images4Matthew Wade
He finished the series with eight catches, though also missed a couple of opportunities, and perhaps more importantly he struggled for impact with the bat. Wade was brought in to replace Peter Nevill mostly because the Australians wanted more fight with the bat, so unless he brings some lower-order runs soon his place may not be secure.Hilton Cartwright
He started his Test career in fine fashion, driving his first delivery through cover for a boundary, and looked comfortable in making 37 at the SCG. However, the main reason for his call-up was because Australia wanted an allrounder at No.6 to ease the workload of the fast men. And when Cartwright bowled four overs he struggled to get the ball above 125kph. That, as much as his batting, could determine the length of his tenure in the side.2Nic Maddinson
After a duck on debut against South Africa, Maddinson was given another chance at the Gabba, where he looked nervous and managed 1 and 4 in his two innings. One more opportunity came at the MCG, where he contributed 22, but did not capitalise on his start, and was dropped for the next Test at the SCG.

Aakash Chopra analyses some of the talking points from the game between Sunrisers Hyderabad and Gujarat Lions

Aakash Chopra09-Apr-2017Why did left-arm spinner Bipul Sharma open the bowling for Sunrisers Hyderabad?
Whenever you see two overseas opening batsmen, you take a chance of starting the innings with a spinner. Most overseas opening batsmen prefer pace on the ball and if you take it away, they take time to get going. Also, over the years, the first over of an IPL innings has been the most economical of the six Powerplay overs, so you could consider slipping in an over from a lower-profile bowler – like Bipul – right at the start.

Run-rate for the first six overs in IPL*
– 1st over: 5.90 runs per over
– 2nd over: 7.03
– 3rd over: 7.64
– 4th over: 8.00
– 5th over: 8.00
– 6th over: 8.12

Where did the swing go?
The first two balls of pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar’s first over were bowled with the seam upright; the first ball swung away and the second came back in sharply to cramp Jason Roy. Roy stepped out the following ball and thumped it down the ground, and that was the end of the attempt to swing the ball, taking away one wicket-taking option. This happens almost every day in T20 cricket.Why was Bipul less effective in the third over?
In the first over, he conceded only three and that prompted Warner to give him the third over too. The thing to note was that the second over, bowled by Bhuvneshwar, produced runs and provided rhythm to Roy, which in turn resulted in the third over going for plenty. It’s easy to understand the temptation to give Bipul another over, but it was always fraught with danger.The same happened with Suresh Raina in the second innings – the first over produced 3; the third went for 21.David Warner’s weakness in the preceding Test series became his strength against Gujarat Lions•BCCIWhy has Rashid Khan been so successful?
Legspinners have the advantage of spinning the ball sizeably both ways and that has made them the most valuable asset in T20 cricket. In addition, Rashid Khan has the advantage of his height: like many legspinners, he has a shorter frame and that allows him to maintain a flatter trajectory without even trying. He bowls flat and fast, which makes the ball skid off the surface and that makes it tougher for batsmen to use their feet – I’m yet to see a batsman stepping down the pitch to him.His lower trajectory leads to a lack of bounce and, therefore, it’s also tougher to get under him. Also, his googlies have got him many wickets. The reason why batsmen are finding it hard to pick them is his high-arm action; most legspinners have to change from a round-arm delivery to high-arm when bowling the wrong’un, but Rashid doesn’t have to make the change, making it so much harder to pick.As it is, in T20 cricket the batsmen can’t afford to watch the ball as closely as they do in longer formats. His quick-arm action doesn’t make it any easier either.What about the slow balls?
The fourth ball that Bhuvneshwar bowled in the first innings was a slower one and that set the tone for the rest of the game. The game was played on the same pitch on which Sunrisers played Royal Challengers Bangalore a couple of days ago and, therefore, the surface was a little too dry. Right through the match, every single over by a fast bowler featured at least one slower delivery. Under lights, though, the ball started skidding through the surface a little more.How did David Warner finally hit form?
During Australia’s Test series against India, Warner’s issues stemmed from a lack of feet movement; he stayed too far away from the ball too often. But this became his strength in today’s game. He did what he always does – stayed inside the line of the ball to allow free passage for his arms to swing through.*