In 2000, New Zealand won the ICC Knockout in Nairobi, but the coach behind that achievement, David Trist, is largely forgotten

Brydon Coverdale24-May-2017There is no bigger stage in world cricket than the MCG, the cavernous stadium that has hosted more international matches than any other ground. It was on this very spot that Test cricket was born in 1877. There are few smaller stages in world cricket than Nairobi’s Gymkhana Club Ground, the home of the sport in a country that does not hold Test status, and a ground whose capacity is barely one-fifteenth that of the MCG.On that biggest of stages, Brendon McCullum led New Zealand in a World Cup final against Australia in 2015; they lost, but millions around the world saw them do it. Fifteen years earlier, Stephen Fleming captained New Zealand in another world final, on the much smaller stage in Nairobi. His team won the ICC Knockout Trophy, still New Zealand’s only world title, but their success is largely forgotten.Perhaps the contrast is best summed up by the fates of the two coaches involved. Mike Hesson’s relationship with McCullum was widely viewed as a key to New Zealand reaching the World Cup final, and later that year both men earned places on the Queen’s Birthday honours list. And the coach who with Fleming lifted the ICC Knockout Trophy? Forget honours, his name itself is largely forgotten in the cricket world.The man in question is David Trist, a former Canterbury fast bowler and owner of one of New Zealand cricket’s all-time finest moustaches (and that is saying something in the country that gave us Ewen Chatfield, Richard Hadlee, John Morrison and Glenn Turner). Trist spent only two years as coach of New Zealand, but during that time he helped deliver that Knockout Trophy triumph.His life has changed dramatically since that October day at the Gymkhana Club Ground. When Trist quit as New Zealand coach after only two years, the board’s CEO, Chris Doig, asked him to stay on. But Trist felt he had taken the team as far as he could and it was time for a change. He stayed involved in cricket by coaching at an academy in India, and then at a school in England. And then he dropped out completely.

“I’ve been repaid, many times over,” Trist says, with a lump in his throat. “Cricket has been very kind to me, and I’m very grateful”

Trist is now 69, and lives on a farm on the Banks Peninsula, just outside Christchurch, breeding Charolais cattle and caring for his wife, Christine, who suffers from Parkinson’s Disease. He hasn’t watched a full cricket match – even on TV – for seven or eight years. Told that the Champions Trophy was approaching next month, Trist was surprised: “Really? Where is it?” Such is the passage of time.Trist asks nothing of the game that gave him everything. He was at Christchurch Boys’ High School with the Hadlee brothers, played for New Zealand, coached Eastern Province to the Currie Cup title in South Africa, coached in Hong Kong and the Netherlands, and then helped steer his own nation to a world title. “I’ve been repaid, many times over,” Trist says, with a lump in his throat. “Cricket has been very kind to me, and I’m very grateful.”There is, though, one thing he wishes had happened a little bit differently. When his men lifted the ICC Knockout Trophy back in 2000, it was mid-October and well before the New Zealand cricket season had started, and it was in Kenya and thus not an ideal time zone for viewers back home to watch, and the win flew somewhat under the radar.”I don’t think in New Zealand, because it was virtually still in the winter, I don’t think it was ever fully recognised for what it was,” Trist says. “The players never quite got the recognition they deserved. It would have been nice for the players to be able to wallow in it for a bit longer.”And despite the fact that the knockout nature of the tournament meant only three wins were needed to secure the title, New Zealand’s achievement was still significant. In game one, they beat a Zimbabwe side that had just beaten them 2-1 in a bilateral series the previous month. In game two, they defeated a Pakistan outfit boasting Wasim Akram, Saqlain Mushtaq, Saeed Anwar and Inzamam-ul-Haq.In the final they faced an India side featuring Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid, Yuvraj Singh, Anil Kumble and Zaheer Khan, and when India reached 141 for 0 in the 27th over, it could have been game over. Even after pegging India back to 264, New Zealand began their chase poorly, losing two wickets within the first six overs. But then came an unbeaten 102 from Chris Cairns, which turned the match New Zealand’s way.”Cairns was outstanding, and played an innings that he will remember forever, because it was the winning of the game,” Trist says. “But the feeling was we could do it, and we had to do it. That was what pervaded the dressing room – although there were moments of concern, quite clearly, with losing wickets early and one or two other batsmen not quite doing what they had done previously.”But Cairns’ innings was one of his greatest, if not his greatest, innings, in so much as it won basically the only thing New Zealand has ever won. He could take the game away from you. He was a big hitter, but he was also technically very sound. He wasn’t unsettled by fast bowling, and against spin he was positive.”I think in the latter stage of that innings, the Indians went from ‘We’ve won this’ to ‘Oh shit!’ And Chris went on, of course, to get a hundred. It was a huge innings, and probably one of the most important innings in terms of New Zealand that we’ve witnessed.”The celebrations were unique. Doig was also an opera singer, and in the team bus on the way back to the hotel in Nairobi, he put his skills to good use.

“I don’t think it was ever fully recognised for what it was. The players never quite got the recognition they deserved. It would have been nice for the players to be able to wallow in it for a bit longer”Trist on New Zealand’s ICC Knockout triumph

“He’d sung extensively in Vienna and Europe and been trained there. He loved his cricket and was a flamboyant character,” Trist says. “He had created the kind of atmosphere in the team – along with me and Stephen Fleming – to say ‘This is a big chance for us, and we’ve got to step up and take it with both hands and not look back with any regrets.'”In the team bus on the way back to the hotel, he got up and started to sing. It was just an amazing atmosphere from then on. The boys joined in, and that was a very powerful moment.”If Trist and Doig were two of the key off-field figures behind the Knockout Trophy victory, another was Jeff Crowe. Now a long-serving ICC match referee, Crowe was at the time the manager of the New Zealand side, and Trist said he played an important role in handling some of the bigger personalities in the New Zealand squad.And this was a squad with a mix of what Trist called “strong characters” and some more understated types who did their work with a minimum of fuss. One player who had a big impact on the tournament was Roger Twose, who scored 85 in the opening win over Zimbabwe, 87 in the victory over Pakistan, and 31 in the final. Shortly after the tournament, Twose would rise to No. 2 on the ODI batting rankings.”Roger was an interesting character – and ‘character’ is probably the best way to put it,” Trist says. “He liked his cricket, played in a positive way and believed in himself, and believed that every game was an exciting opportunity for him.”He was a bit like Chris Cairns in that they felt you trusted them and you could give them a bit of rope, but pull them in when necessary. I had [Adam] Parore as well, who was also another strong character like that. All teams have these strong characters who believe in certain things and it’s a matter of getting the best out of them.”New Zealand enjoy their moment of glory. Trist, for once, is in the foreground•Tom Shaw/AllsportOn the bowling front, left-arm fast bowler Shayne O’Connor took 5 for 46 in the win over Pakistan, running through the lower order in the final stages of the innings to ensure a gettable target for the New Zealand batsmen.”He did swing the ball nicely, and on his day he was well up to international level,” Trist says of O’Connor. “On that occasion he was at his best. They weren’t gimme wickets, they were earned, and he thoroughly deserved everything he got that day. It was a winning of the game.”Then there was the seemingly evergreen allrounder Chris Harris, already a ten-year veteran of international cricket, who scored a critical 46 in the final chase and compiled the match-winning 122-run partnership with Cairns.”Chris Harris was one of those lovely cricketers who I bumped into when I first went back to Canterbury: full of energy, a mercurial kind of cricketer, really,” Trist says. “A good fielder, could bowl a bit, never ever stopped trying. We were lucky to have him all the way through.”And of course there was Fleming, who made few runs himself in that Knockout Trophy but coolly steered his men in the field and at the age of 27 – already more than three years into his captaincy tenure – delivered New Zealand’s sole triumph on the world stage.

Trist is typically humble when describing his own contributions – “all I did was light that fire, keep talking to them about what they could achieve”

“He was a young man who stood out very early on,” Trist says of Fleming, whom he first encountered while coaching Canterbury. “I can remember at Lancaster Park having met him a couple of times and had him at practice a couple of times, I said to Martin Crowe, ‘This guy is going to be the next you.’ He looked at me and said, ‘Really Tristy?’ I said ‘Yes, he has all the attributes of a successful captain.'”And so it proved. With Fleming in charge on the field, and Trist and Jeff Crowe steering proceedings behind the scenes, New Zealand won the Knockout Trophy. Trist is typically humble when describing his own contributions – “All I did was light that fire, keep talking to them about what they could achieve” – but he acknowledges that taken as a whole, the environment just clicked.The result was that New Zealand, population less than five million, knocked off India, population one billion, in the final, and won what remains their only world trophy. They came quickly back down to earth, losing 5-0 to South Africa in an ODI series immediately afterwards, but nothing could take the gloss off the Knockout Trophy.”I look back on it as pleasing for the players in the first instance, and a special moment for New Zealand,” Trist says. “Even though they were only three matches, they were very testing ones: Zimbabwe in Africa, and then us as underdogs beating two of the powerhouses of world cricket on a fair and equal environment – we caused one of the bigger upsets in one-day cricket finals.”It’s like if you’re watching the Grand National or the Melbourne Cup and an outsider wins – there’s always something special about it. If you have that mercurial kind of player or story, it gives it something that people weren’t expecting. I think all those players on that tour will remember that day.”David Trist certainly does, even if few people outside of New Zealand cricket circles remember that he was part of it.

England are in the unusual position of entering an ODI match against Australia as favourites. But their upsurge owes much to a common adversary

George Dobell at Edgbaston09-Jun-2017It tells you much about the confidence around the England team at present that, on the eve of a match against a foe that has caused them much pain over the years, they were asked about the danger of complacency.It is a remarkable state of affairs for a side without a global tournament victory in their history in the format, ranked No. 5 in ODIs, and playing an Australia team ranked No. 3. And it is true that it possibly says more about the hubris that haunts some aspects of England as much as it does anything else.There shouldn’t be even a hint of complacency from this England side. They are too hungry for that. Too hurt from the World Cup, too, in several cases. They know they have, as yet, achieved relatively little and that to be regarded as the best in the world, they have to be winning these games and these tournaments. Until they do, complacency should be the last of their worries. As Paul Farbrace, the assistant coach, put it on Thursday: “Our motivation is purely on keeping momentum going and playing well. We’re still learning.”Equally, there is no danger that England will feel any sympathy for Australia’s issues with their contractual dispute with their cricket board – “We’ll have a whip round,” Eoin Morgan joked – or their travails at the hands of the weather. Not once they get out on the pitch, anyway.There’s certainly no delighting in either predicament (“Of course you have sympathy for them,” Farbrace said in relation to the rain issue. “If the boot was on the other foot and it was us, you’d feel it was pretty tough, really.”) but the idea that England will in any way go soft on Australia was met by Morgan with the same look of incomprehension as a lion when asked if it had sympathy for the antelope whose neck it has in its jaws: blank eyes; a stare; maybe just the hint of a growl. England and Australia games, like India and Pakistan games, don’t need context. That this one has some is a bonus.But all the talk of complacency and sympathy does, perhaps, reflect the progress England have made since they were humbled at the World Cup. Farbrace had talked in some detail about the shock that caused to the team the previous day. Today, it was Morgan’s time to reflect upon it.In particular, Morgan spoke of the huge influence Brendon McCullum and his New Zealand team had on him and the way England played.Under Eoin Morgan, pictured with coach Trevor Bayliss, England have learned to smile in victory and defeat•PA PhotosIt wasn’t just that they New Zealand were good at the World Cup. It was they showed that a team could be good, could play hard cricket – ferociously hard in the case of McCullum – could be attractive to watch, positive in their approach, accessible to their supporters and still enjoy success. And, not least, that they could do all that and not strut and posture and sneer and snarl at their opposition.If that sounds obvious, it’s worth thinking back to the England team of three or four years ago. Think of the ugly saga that followed the alleged incident during the Trent Bridge Test against India in 2014; think how Sri Lanka turned on England after being riled by backchat during their series win earlier in the summer; think of the endless public washing of the team’s dirty laundry with the KP debacle and the way that magnificent team’s legacy was tainted. England were arguably the least popular side in world cricket. And while that might not matter and many might not much care, it didn’t make them the most attractive proposition when trying to sell the sport to a new generation of supporters.Compare that to the England team we see now. A team playing, arguably, the most exciting cricket in the world; a team who make time for every selfie, every autograph and just about every interview request. A team who have enjoyed improbable success and revived interest in their sport. A team who have put the smile back on the face of England cricket. These are not minor things for a game fighting for its place in the public consciousness.”Brendon has certainly been an inspiration for me,” Morgan said. “I had three years at Kolkata Knight Riders with him, in which we grew pretty close, and I learned a lot from him.”I watched him lead within a group and saw his tactical cricket brain and how he goes about things. He always has an alternative view regardless of whether it’s right or wrong, which makes things really interesting when you chat to him about cricket.”It wasn’t just New Zealand who played a different style of cricket to England at the World Cup, of course. It was, as Morgan said, the four semi-finalists (Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and India) who showed England the direction in which they must travel.”I always mention the top four teams that got to the semis in Australia and New Zealand,” Morgan said. “The brand of cricket they played was completely different to everybody else. They were aggressive. They could score 350 if needed and they always went for an attacking bowling line-up. Nothing they ever did was a step backwards.”But it was the sight of McCullum thrashing Steven Finn around Wellington, or hurling himself around in the field, or posting another slip fielder just as other captains would be removing one, that lingered longest from that World Cup. And, while other teams might have taken the opportunity to put the boot into a wounded opponent – think of David Warner talking about Jonathan Trott during the 2013-14 Ashes – McCullum went the other way when asked about Morgan mid-way through the tournament. “Tough times don’t last,” he said. “Tough blokes do. He’s a champion player.”Morgan, Farbrace, Andrew Strauss and Trevor Bayliss all deserve credit for the resurgence in England’s limited-overs cricket. Many others, too. But you could argue that the McCullimization of England cricket is as relevant as anything. If England win on Saturday, if they go on to win this tournament, it will be in part because of the deep impression he made upon them.

Fielding errors at crucial times were one of the major reasons Sri Lanka failed to make the knockout stage of the 2017 Champions Trophy

ESPNcricinfo staff12-Jun-2017Seekkuge Prasanna drops Sarfraz Ahmed off Lasith Malinga
Pakistan needing 39 to win with three wickets in hand in a knockout game
Malinga to Sarfraz Ahmed, 1 run, dropped! Again! Sri Lanka are getting half-chances at the moment, and they’re getting easy ones, but they’re not holding on to any of them. This is a slower bouncer. Sarfraz is early on the pull and top edges this to deep square. The fielder runs in some 10 yards and dives forward, but he can’t hold on.
Cost: Sarfraz guides Pakistan home.Thisara Perera puts down a clanger
Pakistan needing 43 runs to win with three wickets in hand
Malinga to Sarfraz Ahmed, no run, dropped! Someone call the contractors, Perera needs a hole at mid-on! Oh no, he won’t forget this ever. A nice, floated slower ball, full at middle stump. Sarfraz is outfoxed. Chips this straight – dead straight – into Perera’s chest at mid-on. Hard hands from the allrounder. Can’t even recover. Unbelievable.
Cost: Sarfraz survives a chance two overs later and wins it for Pakistan.Danushka Gunathilaka misses an early chance
First over of Pakistan’s chase of 237
Malinga to Azhar Ali, no run, dropped! Gunathilaka is usually a top class fielder. But he’s put down a simple one first up. This was slightly short and there was more room than the last one. Went for the cut, hit it in the air and found the fielder at point who can’t hold on.
Cost: Azhar Ali, then on zero, scores 34.Lasith Malinga’s drop cost Sri Lanka 67 runs against South Africa•Getty ImagesRohit Sharma slips through Asela Gunaratne’s fingertips
India 94 for 0 in 19.1 overs
NLTC Perera to Sharma, SIX, almost… almost…. and it’s tipped over. Rohit has fifty, India has hundred, Sri Lanka has… bad luck. This is ferociously hit. It’s meant to go over the deep square leg fielder, and Gunaratne does well, steadying himself on the rope, leaping back, getting both hands to it. But it spills through.
Cost: Rohit, on 45 at the time, got 78 as India reach 321.Lasith Malinga loses his footing
South Africa 59 for 1 in 16.1 overs
Pradeep to du Plessis, 2 runs, dropped, oh what have you done, Lasith? Sees him stepping out early and bangs it in short, just outside off. Goes for the pull, only manages a top-edge, and Malinga, stepping backwards at the long leg boundary, steps on the boundary cushions, and loses a bit of balance while having to move forward again. Dives forward and the ball slips through his fingers. Didn’t get his palms under it.
Cost: Du Plessis, on eight at the time of the drop, scores 75 as South Africa amass a winning total.

India’s struggle to find a long-term No. 4 in ODIs is illustrated by the fact that they have tried 11 batsmen in that position since the 2015 World Cup. Manish Pandey and KL Rahul are now vying for that role, and it is imperative India give them time to f

Alagappan Muthu22-Sep-2017Since the 2015 World Cup, India have won six out of nine bilateral series, and played the final of an ICC tournament. In that same period, they have also tried 11 different batsmen at No. 4. Such a drastic turnover rate – no other team has had to dig through their reserves to such an extent – can’t be helpful but so far it hasn’t proved costly to Virat Kohli and his men.That’s only because there have been some pretty stirring rescue acts. In Chennai, Hardik Pandya intervened. In Kolkata, Bhuvneshwar Kumar. In Pallekele, MS Dhoni weathered a Sri Lankan uprising. In London, there was no one.No. 4 is a vital position in any form of cricket. And in ODIs it requires an exacting set of skills. The flexibility to raise the tempo of an innings going well or rebuild one that is going horribly wrong, the wherewithal to look ahead, but not so far that it starts playing with the mind, and the confidence to adeptly play both pace and spin.India are on the hunt to find men who can step up to these demands, investing in Kedar Jadhav (30 ODIs) Manish Pandey (15 ODIs) and KL Rahul (10 ODIs) as middle-order options. It is far too early to discard any of them, with Jadhav averaging 46.20, Pandey 38.88 and Rahul 35.42. But that doesn’t mean their performances won’t be judged.There was a great opportunity at Eden Gardens. Australia were in strife. Their two main bowlers, and wicketkeeper, were suffering under the glare of a scorching sun. Two top-order batsmen had already made fifties. If all went well, India would soar past 300.Pandey was in at No. 4. He was new to the crease and would have felt vulnerable. Everyone does at that stage. But he had walked onto a solid platform – 121 for 2 with more than half the innings left. If he showed proper care, he had the time to get in and go big. But a quicker delivery from Ashton Agar floored him. India then went on to lose three more wickets between overs 36 and 40 and had to rely on Bhuvneshwar, a man who has confessed he struggles to hit boundaries, for that crucial final push.In an alternate reality, Pandey would have overcome his nervous start – as he does in the IPL – and Australia would have been forced to call back their main bowlers – as opposed to Kane Richardson relieving Nathan Coulter-Nile – and the total would have been much larger than 252.Doing little things like that well is what India want from their No. 4. But they might have to make changes to the way they go about rectifying this situation too.It is now apparent that an ageing Yuvraj Singh was only a stop-gap solution ahead of the Champions Trophy. And that his tally of 358 runs in nine innings over the last two years remains unchallenged speaks of how no one in the pipeline has been able to impress.KL Rahul faces a delivery in the nets•AFPHere are their tales: Rahul has been challenged to remodel himself if he wants a place in the ODI XI. Ajinkya Rahane functions as back-up opener. Manoj Tiwary, Dinesh Karthik and Ambati Rayudu have vanished. Perhaps moving Dhoni up might help – his first instinct now is to accumulate rather than attack – but there may yet be more merit in keeping him at No. 5 or 6 because then there are more chances of him batting with, and helping mould, Hardik Pandya.So let’s look at the latest to put their hands up. In Sri Lanka, Rahul was given first dibs at No. 4. But he was upstaged by Pandey. Now Pandey has not started well against Australia. What are India going to do?Both players are talented. One of them made his maiden ODI hundred away from home and it won them the game. The other is one of three batsmen in the country with centuries in all formats. The most viable point of separation between them is the fact that Pandey has been playing as a middle-order batsman for most of his life whereas Rahul has built his career as an opener.It may not be decision time yet, with the World Cup a couple of years away, but it is difficult to ignore the feeling that if one of them is given a longer rope, they just might become what the team is looking for. After all, Kohli, Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan are India’s best one-day batsmen and they know exactly what positions they’ll bat at. Every single time.

Cricket Ireland’s failure to make adequate provisions for wet weather in Belfast was a dereliction of duty that cannot be repeated if they want the sport to grow

Tim Wigmore in Belfast13-Sep-2017In September 2013, 10,000 people crammed into a sun-kissed Malahide to watch Ireland host England in a one-day international that helped transform Irish cricket’s image at home and abroad. Four years and ten days on, Ireland are left to reflect on a deeply embarrassing day, the sort unbecoming of their new Full Member status.Yes, it rained; it often rains in Ireland. But for three hours from the scheduled start, the rain stayed away, the sun shone and a healthy crowd enjoyed perfect cricket-watching conditions. Only, there was no cricket to watch. Although heavy showers abated about 3am, the outfield was still unfit to use, after being left exposed the previous evening, when only the square and a small surrounding area were protected from the rain.Covering the whole outfield would have been expensive, and labour-intensive. But in the absence of a high-tech drainage system, Cricket Ireland should have bought, begged or stolen whatever they needed – covers, and temporary groundstaff to use them – to give the match the best possible chance of going ahead.The day had been 14 months in the planning, costing Ireland around €200,000. Why spend so much cash on a fixture – the sort that remains far rarer than they would like – and then not do everything possible to ensure it could lead to actual cricket? It was abject risk management.Privately, Irish players were fuming – not with the few groundstaff themselves, but with Cricket Ireland for allowing the farce to break out. Had the game been in England, after equally intense rainfall, it would almost certainly have begun on time, at 1015; even with the later shower, there would most likely have been enough cricket to get an ODI in. That’s why only 4% of ODIs in England end with a no-result.Instead, for Ireland’s third home ODI out of six, there was exasperation at an abandoned match. That is not just deeply frustrating for Ireland’s players, who crave more matches if they are to improve – and they don’t have any other confirmed ODIs against Full Members before the World Cup qualifiers, now expected to be in Zimbabwe in March. It also has deeper consequences for Cricket Ireland’s stated ambition to make the sport mainstream.Next time Ireland are playing an ODI at home, the healthy walk-up crowd, including an encouraging number of schoolchildren, might be less inclined to go: why bother to make the trip if there is no cricket even in glorious sunshine? Those at the ground today left angry, and less inclined to take a day off in the future to go to an Ireland game. “Where?” harrumphed one disgruntled spectator when the tannoy speaker assured fans that the groundstaff were doing everything they could to make conditions fit for play.And broadcasters will be less likely to bother in future too. It cost eir Sport about €100,000 to provide coverage of the ODI. The risk of again not having a single ball to show – even when conditions appear perfect for cricket – will lead them to question their investment in the future. That would be disastrous for Cricket Ireland, who still badly need the exposure of coverage that is easily accessible to those who are not ardent cricket fans – exactly the group who Ireland must reach.A day in which a delayed start gave way to a 10:30 inspection, then an 11:30 inspection, then a 12:30 inspection, and then a planned 1:30 inspection, before rain intervened, was a farce unbecoming of an organisation who have been acclaimed as one of world cricket’s best-run. Nor does Ireland’s lack of funding – they don’t get the extra funding garnered by virtue of being a Full Member until January, and even then it will be under half of Zimbabwe’s – provide any excuse.Given how often matches are ruined by the weather here – not just internationals, but also the interprovincial competition – proper investment in groundstaff, covers and drainage would have been a far better use of funds than one of the seven ODIs against Test nations Ireland have played this summer.Today was bad enough. But next year, Ireland hope to play their maiden Test at home, perhaps against Pakistan. If the match consists of five days of such unbecoming scenes, Irish cricket’s image will not easily recover.

Ireland are now a Full Member side, but the challenges they face are still daunting

Tim Wigmore07-Nov-2017At the end of the film , after he has been elected to the US Senate, Robert Redford’s character, Bill McKay, turns to his campaign strategist and asks: “What do we do now?” McKay never gets an answer.On the morning of June 23, Cricket Ireland’s officials might have felt like asking the same question. They awoke bleary-eyed, after knocking back champagne in London until the early hours.The day before, Ireland received Full Member status at The Oval: an extraordinary achievement, completing a 20-year journey from glorified minor county to Test nation. So consumed was Cricket Ireland by the goal of Test status – widely derided as an implausible, fantastical aim – that it was not able to pay much heed to what happened next.For Irish cricket now, everything is different. Well, sort of. Curiously, the aftermath of Test status has been Ireland’s most barren spell of internationals since before the 2015 World Cup, when Full Members still treated Ireland like a pariah. And, for all the excitement about their elevation, there remains an undeniable sense that Ireland have also been excluded from the real club: the introduction of a nine-team Test Championship leaves Ireland as part of the “Small Three” with Afghanistan and Zimbabwe, playing largely among themselves. While Ireland’s money from the ICC will double from January, when their new funding kicks in, they will still only receive $40 million over eight years – less than half Zimbabwe’s $93 million. Some Full Members are a lot more equal than others.On May 11 next year, all these concerns will come to seem trivial. For then Ireland will play Pakistan in a men’s Test match, probably at Malahide – a day that most Irish cricket lovers thought would never come.It will be an occasion to savour, yet Ireland must ensure that it is a beginning, not an end. Ever since the aforementioned World Cup, the sense has grown that Ireland’s increased opportunities are coming at a time of decline.The bare facts of their record under John Bracewell reflect as much: just one ODI victory, a dead rubber against Zimbabwe, in 14 ODIs versus Test nations; and a total of 21 wins in 58 completed games, including T20 defeats to Hong Kong, Papua New Guinea, Oman and UAE. Yet the problems run much deeper than one man. “I think he’s done a great job and deserves possibly a bit more respect than he’s been given by the media and some supporters,” Gary Wilson says, likening his impact to that of Peter Moores with England.The recruitment of Graham Ford, highly regarded for previous work with Surrey and Sri Lanka, as Bracewell’s replacement reflects Ireland’s new financial and cricketing clout. Ford has only a few months to prepare Ireland for the World Cup qualifiers in March. A combination of the team’s stagnation since 2015 and the contraction of the World Cup to ten teams, plus Zimbabwe enjoying home conditions, makes it probable that Ireland will miss out on a World Cup berth for the first time since 2003.If that is to be averted, it will require an encore from their greatest generation of cricketers, who have been distinctly underwhelming since the World Cup. Since then, only Ed Joyce and Stirling have averaged over 30 in ODIs – making it all the more curious that, beyond the top seven who performed admirably in Australia and New Zealand, no other specialist batsman has played more than five of Ireland’s ODIs since. There has been a more sustained attempt to regenerate the bowling attack but there remains a lack of clarity over Ireland’s best attack and a suspicion that conservatism still prevails in team selection: Durham quick Barry McCarthy, who has taken 25 ODI wickets at 27.48, has repeatedly been omitted.Amid this generational angst, the recent Ireland Wolves (effectively the A side) tour to Bangladesh was modestly encouraging. Though Ireland lost all five completed games, they could have won several matches against Bangladesh A. James Shannon, who was on the periphery of the squad in 2013-14 but has excelled in the last two domestic seasons, and Jack Tector, an opener who Joyce says bears a resemblance to Mike Atherton, are pushing for inclusion in the senior side. Simi Singh, an offspinning allrounder of Indian origin who gained citizenship this year and played two ODIs, scored 121 in the first-class game against Bangladesh A.

“The standard’s been pretty good. I’ve been pleasantly surprised with the talent”Ed Joyce on Ireland’s domestic competitions

It is also possible to glimpse the contours of a potent pace attack. Steffan Jones, the fast bowling consultant, has been highly impressed with Ireland’s quick bowlers in their late-teens, especially David Delany, who can approach 90mph: “Delany can be the X-factor because he has pace. He uses all his body like a javelin thrower.”The quick bowlers who qualified for the Under-19 World Cup this summer – including left-armer Josh Little, who made his senior debut in 2016 aged 17 – will all benefit from working with new bowling coach Rob Cassell, who joined recently from South Australia.As they rebuild, Ireland are likely to scour for talent beyond their borders. The board are trying “to establish better links around the world where there may be players with Irish heritage”, says Richard Holdsworth, the performance director. Two young bowlers on the fringes – Jacob Mulder, a legspinner who has already performed impressively in international T20s; and Nathan Smith, a seamer with a smooth action – moved from Australia in their late-teens.Ireland’s cricket, football and rugby teams have all benefited from an inclusive approach to players either with Irish ancestry or who qualify for the country after moving there; so have New Zealand, Ireland’s model cricket country. How recruits can be integrated while maintaining Ireland’s spirit and identity is the challenge.”One of the major strengths of Irish teams in the past has been the identity, the togetherness, the unity we’ve had, especially at World Cups,” Wilson reflects. “If we had a team of 12 Australians in the squad would that be there?”Within Irish cricket, there is an underlying recognition that, if the chances presented by their new status are to be seized, piecemeal reform is not enough. Cricket Ireland has commissioned an independent consultancy to review all aspects of the organisation and how it should adjust to Full Membership. What to prioritise is the biggest challenge, because Ireland raise significantly less money than all other Full Members. While fellow new Test nation Afghanistan get the same ICC funding, they benefit from extensive support from other governments, as well as a weak currency ensuring the cash goes further: Afghanistan currently have 190 full-time centrally contracted players; Ireland have only ten, in addition to those with county deals.Ensuring Ireland have a structure fit for a Test nation must begin with what is most basic of all to a cricket team: venues to play and practise on. “We’ve got a huge amount of work to do facilities wise,” Joyce says. “We’ve got very, very limited access to grass facilities and are very dependent on the generosity of clubs.” He adds that it is “not ideal for a professional set-up”.Ireland still don’t own their own grounds, either. Malahide and Stormont, the two venues where they play most frequently, are effectively only borrowed from clubs. It will take considerable extra sponsorship and government support for this ever to change. But construction on a national high performance centre is beginning this month in Dublin; it will be completed in 2019. And after an exasperating washout against West Indies in September, chief executive Warren Deutrom admitted: “There is probably too much simple acceptance of bad weather affecting our games given our geography, and probably not enough being done to mitigate it.”That Irish players will cease to count as locals in county cricket from 2019 adds a new challenge. The nightmare scenario is of some players retiring from Ireland so they can count as locals in England, and potentially earn more: a microcosm of the new challenges brought about by Full Member status.Even if these fears do not materialise, it does not obscure how county cricket has underpinned Ireland’s rise, hardening their players and exposing them to tough opponents and conditions. Now, Ireland must manage this job all by themselves.That burden now falls to the interprovincial system, which was restored in 2013 and gained first-class status last year. “The standard’s been pretty good. I’ve been pleasantly surprised with the talent,” Joyce says of his first year back in the domestic game.But Ireland’s domestic cricket suffers from two basic problems. First, there is not enough of it: only four three-day first-class games and four 50-over matches for the three sides a year, alongside six T20s, after Munster Reds were included from 2017. Second, the competition is utterly dominated by Leinster, who have won 13 of the 15 trophies, including another treble this year. This not only means the set-up lacks competitive balance, but also that many of Ireland’s most promising young cricketers do not even get to play first-class cricket, as they can’t get in Leinster’s team – understandably, given that Leinster routinely leave out an international batsman.Joshua Little gets congratulated by Jacob Mulder and Craig Young after taking his maiden international wicket•Peter Della PennaWith only 33 players in the first XIs in the first-class and 50-over competition, it is self-defeating if these aren’t the best 33 players based at home. The board believes that a draft system for players would dilute teams’ regional identities, but is trying to make it easier for players to move provinces. It is also considering launching a new, short but high-profile T20 competition, modelled on the Hong Kong Blitz, which showed what was possible in a country with far less cricket heritage or infrastructure, and would be especially welcome given Ireland’s dire recent T20 record. Facilities at La Manga, in Spain, could be used for interprovincial matches as soon as next October, as a way of effectively extending the Irish summer and exposing players to more cricket.Yet such extra investment must also be accompanied by higher salaries for players to make cricket a more attractive career option. Uncontracted players in domestic T20 games receive only a match fee of 50 euros.Ireland’s resources will be further stretched by the growing demands of the women’s game. As more established nations invest in their female team, so Ireland must keep up, especially as the side remains locked out of the Women’s ODI Championship. “The thing that is standing in the way of our moving up the rankings is the fact that as a fully amateur team, we cannot compete against professional athletes, even if we think we have players who could be successful professionals,” Cecelia Joyce says.The formation of the Irish Cricketers’ Association this month, representing players of both genders, is one step to strengthen the women’s game. Joyce, who has been elected vice-president, says: “The ICA will hopefully be a game-changer for us internally, which will then be a catalyst for changing our position within the ICC from the women’s side.” More broadly, the creation of a players’ association signals that players will become more vocal in standing up for their own interests, recognising how Irish cricket has left amateurism behind.The challenge for new Full Members has never been greater than it is today. Resources are bound to be diluted across three formats of the men’s game and two in the women’s game, and the need to develop infrastructure must be balanced against the threat that, if players are not paid adequately, they could play in county cricket, or even overseas T20 leagues, instead.”It’s a long road,” Wilson says. “We’ve got to learn on the job as quickly as possible. By no means should we expect mediocrity, but if you look at history, you’re only really starting to see Bangladesh’s hard work paying off now, and that was 17 years ago. You’d like to think we’d be quicker than that but there’s no guarantees.”The years ahead will surely bring many defeats and agonising moments. And yet they will also bring possibilities that recent Irish cricketers could never have dared imagine. Ireland can finally glimpse where they want to be in world cricket; the coming years will tell us whether they can do justice to their opportunities.

The reactions on Twitter after Shaun Marsh, one of the much-debated picks in Australia’s Ashes squad, scored a hundred in Adelaide

ESPNcricinfo staff03-Dec-2017

Shaun Marsh haters be like pic.twitter.com/sQa6sBn7k0

— Chris Lynn (@lynny50) December 3, 2017

Aussie selectors:
Bancroft
Marsh
Paine #Ashes

— KP (@KP24) December 3, 2017

Yes @shaunmarsh9 absolutely love watching you bat! Keep winning on skill brother #ashes #100 #

— Mitchell Johnson (@MitchJohnson398) December 3, 2017

Always difficult to congratulate an Aussie as an Englishman but credit where credit is due to my @ScorchersBBL team mate @shaunmarsh9 on his not out. Silencing the doubters me thinks! Massively tough session coming up for England now! #ASHES

— Ian Bell (@Ian_Bell) December 3, 2017

Righto can everyone leave @shaunmarsh9 alone again now….. never in doubt! #class

— Alyssa Healy (@ahealy77) December 3, 2017

Are England regretting bowling first yet?beautiful to watch a @shaunmarsh9 century selectors guess that’s why they’ve got the job #Ashes2017 #pomsarecooked

— Megan Schutt (@megan_schutt) December 3, 2017

Shaun Marsh is the first Australian to score an #Ashes hundred at No.6 since Marcus North's 110 at Headingley in 2009

— Samuel Ferris (@samuelfez) December 3, 2017

Seriously good by Shaun Marsh
Patience, technique and skill#Ashes2017

— Damien Fleming (@bowlologist) December 3, 2017

Shaun Marsh was picked for his experience and to stop middle order collapses. He's done both in grand style, and just about cooked England too #Ashes

— Daniel Brettig (@danbrettig) December 3, 2017

Well played, Shaun Marsh. You inscrutable puzzle, you silent enigma. We will never understand how it works, but today was grand. #Ashes

— Geoff Lemon Sport (@GeoffLemonSport) December 3, 2017

Familiar failings held the team back once again, chiefly the lack of big hitters and the failure of talented longer-format players to adapt to T20

Mohammad Isam08-Jun-2018″We will [next] be playing T20s almost 50 days from now, so by the time we play our next T20, everyone will forget about it.”As an extremely busy professional cricketer, Shakib Al Hasan has sometimes been accused of being disconnected from Bangladesh’s everyday reality. But with this statement, which he made after Bangladesh’s one-run loss to Afghanistan on Thursday night, Shakib showed he is perfectly in tune with the pulse of the cricket-mad nation.He knows all too well that a win in the West Indies in the Tests or ODIs next month will push the Afghanistan nightmare in Dehradun into the distant past. Every big loss is forgiven and forgotten in the minimal-attention-span world of Bangladesh cricket. It makes post-match analysis, debriefings and accountability almost non-existent.While Shakib suggested that the fans forget quickly, the statement rang true for his teammates and bosses too. The shift from one extreme to the other is a chronic problem in the Bangladesh cricket team where the players know by heart that winning a match forgives every mistake and winning a bilateral series is the jackpot.While a potential jackpot is still weeks away, the T20s against Afghanistan have given enough proof that while Bangladesh may be good at ODIs and progressing at home in Tests, they are nowhere in T20. They are the least improving cricket team in this format. Only Nazmul Islam, the left-arm spinner, has been picked exclusively for his domestic T20 performances, and he has slowly caught up to the demands of T20 internationals too.But someone like Mehidy Hasan, who burst on to the Test arena in 2016, hasn’t found ways to adapt his lines, lengths and trajectories to adapt to T20. He is picked mainly because he is a talented bowler and is expected to become a more mature all-round cricketer. He doesn’t possess, at least so far, any real T20 attributes. In the spin department, Bangladesh were crushed by Afghanistan’s trio of Rashid Khan, Mohammad Nabi and Mujeeb Ur Rahman.The Mehidy-Nazmul example is instructive of where Bangladesh stand overall in their understanding of T20, with ball and bat. Bangladesh’s top seven in this series featured the best batsmen in the country, but not necessarily the best T20 batsmen. The ability to find the boundary regularly isn’t evenly distributed across the line-up. Which is why the pattern of the third match in Dehradun was typical: Mushfiqur Rahim picked Karim Janat apart clinically to pick up five successive fours in the 19th over, but once he departed, Bangladesh couldn’t find a way to score eight runs off the last over.Mahmudullah is the team’s designated hitter and while he has credibly turned himself into an efficient finisher, it is not his original job. He transformed himself into a big hitter only in 2016, and the lack of other similar players around him means he has to be the team’s Carlos Brathwaite or Dinesh Karthik on a regular basis.Associated PressThis is where the comparison with Afghanistan comes to the fore. Afghanistan’s big hitting starts at the top with Mohammad Shahzad, and by the time the likes of Mohammad Nabi, Samiullah Shenwari, Najibullah Zadran, Shafiqullah and Rashid Khan come to the crease, regular six-hitting is almost guaranteed. It is a line-up that can, and often does, turn a modest 15-over score into a competitive 20-over total.Bangladesh doesn’t have that luxury. They only have Mahmudullah and, if he is set, Mushfiqur. Sabbir Rahman and Soumya Sarkar are at best good-looking batsmen who will make the odd half-century, but their overall stagnation as cricketers has meant they can’t be relied upon to be consistent, certainly not in the last five overs.Shakib admitted that it wasn’t just end-overs batting that hurt his side in the third T20 but other factors too, including two run-outs in the same over.”Even against the best bowler in the world, you’d expect two set batsmen to score nine runs off the last over,” Shakib said. “But it doesn’t mean we lost because of the last over. There are many reasons. We lost the match in many small phases.”Our fifth bowler ended up giving more than 50 runs, which affected us. We had two run outs, which created the biggest difference in this game. There are many more.”Hopefully, Shakib will address these issues after the short Eid break next week, as Bangladesh prepare for the West Indies tour. There is enough time for a fresh start, and a new coach is already in place. Steve Rhodes is a reputed figure in English cricket whose energy and fresh eyes can only help the Bangladesh team.But beyond all that, the players will themselves have to put in the effort to build their T20 skills and know-how. They cannot continue to forget and forgive inconsistent bowling, sluggish batting and poor body language. They can perhaps take a leaf from Mahmudullah’s book, and understand how he transformed himself into a genuine hitter, and also learn from Nazmul how he has carved a niche for himself as a T20 bowler.

The batsman has put his subcontinent failures behind him worked on his game and fitness. It showed in the unbeaten ton he struck for Australia A against India B

Shashank Kishore in Bengaluru28-Aug-2018Usman Khawaja’s two dismissals in the quadrangular series prior to Monday bothered him. Against India A, he was squared up against pace – visibly his stronger suit – and caught in the slips. Against South Africa A, he was run out after not grounding his bat in time. Ironic, given that only a week earlier, he’d spoken of how losing seven kilos had improved his mobility.For an international who is looked at as being key to Australia’s immediate batting future, these weren’t the best endorsements. But he banished those thoughts on Monday to make an unbeaten 101 that contributed towards Australia A securing a stunning last-ball win to qualify for the final.Khawaja needs no reminder that Asia isn’t a batting stronghold for him – he averages 14.62 in nine Test innings here. For him, however, that’s a thing of the past. Instead of brooding over those failures, Khawaja wants to derive confidence from Monday’s knock and sustain this form leading into the final and the two four-day Tests against a strong India A side.One of the perceptions about Khawaja in the subcontinent is that he looks to hang back and play from the crease, often resulting in problems against spin. In the first two matches on tour in India, he didn’t last long enough to play spin, but there was a noticeable change on Monday, marked by a decisive initial movement – either fully forward or back. There were pockets where he was troubled – he even survived a top-edged sweep – but he was largely comfortable, not something that could have been said of the other top-order batsmen in the match.That he batted all through the chase was a byproduct of improved fitness. For Khawaja, that was the first sign of the work done in the last four months paying off. “A majority of the sprinting and running had to be done right at the end, which was tough but I felt good,” Khawaja said. “It’s rare for an opening batsman to be there right till the end. The hamstring has always been a thing for me since I [injured] my ACL. It has taken me three years to start feeling good again. Touch wood, everything is going well now.”Rahul Dravid, who kept chatting with Khawaja by the boundary every time he passed him on his walks during the game, has often emphasised that A tours are not about results. However, Khawaja’s outlook is the opposite, after being at the receiving end on three tours to these parts. He wants to win games, irrespective of conditions, oppositions or situations.Khawaja wasn’t on the Test tour to India last year, but struggled in Bangladesh where he had scores of 1 and 1 in the only game he played. In 2016, he couldn’t make a fifty in four innings in Sri Lanka, but roared back to form immediately on returning home with a 97 his next Test. This pattern has elicited questions over his effectiveness in the subcontinent, but Khawaja isn’t worried about perceptions.For the record, he was Australia A’s second-highest run-getter in the one-dayers in India in 2015. His 267 runs in four innings at a strike rate of 89.89 included two half-centuries and a hundred. He chooses to focus on this instead, to believe he can score runs here.”I just go out and play for Australia to win cricket games, not worrying about the rest, whatever team I’m playing for,” he said. “There might be that perception of [spin not suiting his game in the subcontinent] in India, but even when I came last time in Chennai, I was the highest run-getter [second-highest] in the one-dayers. I always like coming over here and playing white-ball cricket because there’s value for your shots. Yes, it’s a little different because there’s a bit more spin involved than back home.”In the seven years since his debut, Khawaja has had a number of setbacks through form and fitness. He’s played just 33 Tests. Just to throw some context on how much he’s missed out on, David Warner, who debuted a season later, has played 74 Tests, this despite missing a few for disciplinary reasons in 2013. Khawaja believes there were “too many factors” for his inconsistency, but is wiser now.”I can’t point to one or two reasons, there are many (laughs). Early on in my career, I just didn’t perform well enough to cement my position in the Test side,” he said. “Coming back three-four years ago, it’s been a learning experience. I guess I’ve performed a bit better since then. I have more experience now.”Cricket is a tough game. No matter who you are, even if you happen to be Don Bradman or anyone else, you are bound to fail. It’s about the mental battle. As much a cliche as it is, you have to control what you control. For me it’s about going out and enjoying my cricket. The reason I like cricket is because I love playing with team-mates around. I liked individual sports, but I didn’t love them.”

The ODI series against England will be a good opportunity to determine who should play what role and at what position – whether batting or bowling

Nagraj Gollapudi in Nottingham11-Jul-20183:02

Dasgupta: Bowling attacks pivotal in clash of in-form batsmen

Virat Kohli said that the main issue India want to address before next year’s World Cup is identifying which batsmen will comprise the middle order. KL Rahul has made a compelling case for himself with his success on the UK tour so far, and Kohli has already stated that Rahul offers a lot of flexibility to the batting order. But what is the ideal position for Rahul – at 3, like in the T20Is on this tour, or at 4?With India inclined to play two wristspinners on what are likely to be relatively flat surfaces around England, which will also host the World Cup, what would be the best bowling combination? And if Suresh Raina plays, should he bat at 5 and push MS Dhoni to 6-7 while keeping Hardik Pandya’s role fluid? These are some of the questions India need to answer, and the ODI series against England will be a good starting point.Where does KL Rahul bat?Having tried out Rahul successfully at No. 3 in the T20I series, there is no question anymore about whether Rahul should be part of the ODI set-up or not.Rahul has admitted that he prefers batting at the top. With him at one-down, even if there is an early wicket, India will have someone who can explode in the Powerplay. With his ability to accelerate, Rahul is capable of maintaining an aggressive tempo in the middle overs too. With Kohli and Dhoni manning the middle order, Rahul, along with the openers, can play with a free mindset.There is clarity about one thing: Rahul will be part of the Indian batting line-up based on the training on Wednesday. Whether he will follow the openers is not yet clear, as Rahul batted in the nets after Kohli at 3.Should Kohli play the role Yuvraj performed in the 2011 World Cup?Yuvraj Singh was the most valuable player of the 2011 World Cup. Batting between Nos. 4-6, Yuvraj often arrived at the crease in the second half of the innings and, with his power-hitting, provided robust finishes. Yuvraj hit 362 runs at an average of 90.50 with four fifties and one century while batting in phases of pressure.Increasingly in ODI cricket, bowlers have smartened up and made use of the fields to play defensively. Keeping that in mind, and India’s penchant for a chase, the pressure is likely to be high in the middle phase, and that’s where you need your best batsmen.Virat Kohli sends one into the stands•Getty ImagesThe question of who should be India’s No.4 has been a pressing one, and since the 2015 World Cup, there have been 11 men who batted at that spot – the most of any team.Kohli has both the versatility and the experience to handle the pressure in case the top order flounders. Numbers support that fact: batting at 4, Kohli has 1744 runs with seven centuries in 37 innings at an average of 58.13 and a strike-rate of 90.40. Despite his astounding achievements at No.3, Kohli has already shown an openness to play in the middle order during the T20I leg of the series. This way, not only does he become an alloy who can meld the top and lower order together, but he can also help players like Rahul become better all-round batsmen in the future.What is India’s best bowling combination?India are the only team with the luxury of having two good wristspinners. This England series should allow India to figure out whether they go in with the combination of two specialist fast bowlers, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal and Hardik Pandya as the third fast bowler. Ideally, that is India’s best bowling combination.However, in case they choose to drop one of Kuldeep and Chahal, then who are India’s best three fast bowlers? Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Jasprit Bumrah are guaranteed to play. The third fast bowler could be a tussle between Umesh Yadav, and possibly Siddarth Kaul. Swing is no longer a big element in England, unless the conditions are overcast. Hence a fast bowler needs to have defensive variations, and Umesh would be the front-runner. Kaul has good changes of pace and can fire in yorkers accurately and consistently in the IPL, but has not been tested at the international level.Is Raina good at No. 7?In case Rahul bats at 3, the top six (with Hardik at No. 6) pick themselves. The question then remains of where Dhoni should bat. If India play Raina, should he come before Dhoni or should he bat at 6 or 7? Importantly, India would want this player to be their sixth bowling option. In that case the three contenders are Raina, Axar Patel and Kedar Jadhav who is currently injured.In Jadhav’s absence, Raina could edge out Axar, at least for the England series. Raina’s numbers in the lower order are pretty impressive: batting between 5-7 Raina has 4347 runs at an average of 35.05 and a strike rate of 94.00 with four hundreds and 24 fifties. Can he then combine with Pandya to do the finisher’s role? With his ability to bowl part-time spin, as well being a left-hand batsman, India are likely to test Raina in the middle order ahead of the likes of Axar or Dinesh Karthik. Of course, once Jadhav is back and fit, he becomes more of an automatic choice to bat in the lower order.