If it’s England that’s getting its intestines removed, it’ll probably be followed by a Test victory

Andy Zaltzman25-Feb-2013From today, cricket will be on England’s sporting back burner. The London Olympics, understandably, has wound Britain into a frenzy of wild excitement, and/or complaintative grumpery, and/or a sudden and unquenchable interest in the finer points of canoeing, equestrian dressage, and the timeless national hobby of watching people carry a small bit of fire quite slowly. It is a British tradition as old as Britain itself. There must be one spectacularly giant witch to burn at the opening ceremony tonight.Perhaps it is fortunate that England has an Olympics to distract it from a Test match hammering so comprehensive it could have passed itself off as an underfunded inner-city school. Last year, England brutalised the then-world-number-one-ranked Indians. At The Oval, the boot was not only on the other foot, but it was triumphantly stomping on their throat like a vengeful rhinoceros. “Too close to call” had been many people’s pre-match prediction. It was as if Nadal and Federer had met at the Wimbledon final in 2008, with the world on the edge of its collective seat to see the two greatest tennis players in the universe, and Nadal had beaten Federer by knocking him spark out with an anvil to the head.Andrew Strauss and his team can thus attempt to recover from their surgical disembowelment at The Oval away from the glare of press and public. The Test series moves to Headingley next week, before returning to the hauntingly sport-starved city of London for the final climactic showdown. Or last rites. Delete according to whether you think England (a) will be able to respond to this poor start as they have responded to most other poor starts recently, or (b) have been so utterly tonked that they will forget that they had taken 20 wickets in 22 of their previous 28 Tests, and remember only that, either side of those 28 Tests, they have suffered successive cloutings-by-an-innings at the hands of Graeme Smith’s rampant Proteas. (By my reckoning, this is only the fifth time that England have suffered successive innings defeats against a team in their Test history ‒ previously, v Australia in 1897-98, 1946-47 and 2002-03; and v India in 1992-93.)It was one of South Africa’s finest Test wins, four days of almost perfect cricket against very good opposition on a tediously snoozy pitch that gave minimal assistance to either bowlers or, just as importantly, spectators. If an Ancient Roman fortune teller (and let us assume there is one amongst England’s numerous backroom staff) had tried to read the future from the entrails of England’s Oval disembowelment, he is unlikely to have come up with anything particularly positive. He might have prodded around in the still-warm guts and made vague prognostications of an improvement with the ball, but that would be merely a statistical inevitability. Wouldn’t it? As 19th-century cricket pundit Oscar Wilde once said: “To concede 600-plus for 2 once may be regarded as a misfortune. To do so twice looks like carelessness. Do join me in the tea interval when my special guests will be WG Grace, William Gladstone, Jack The Ripper and Nick Knight.” (Nick Knight is immortal. He has been alive since before the last Ice Age.)The fortune teller might also try to cheer everyone up by poking at an intestine and pointing out that England have had at recent a tendency to start series sluggishly. They were poor in Cardiff in 2009, in Centurion in 2009-10, and in the first innings in Brisbane in 2010-11. They were crunched by ten wickets in Dubai last winter, and were well beaten in Galle. But they only lost one of those five series, won the second Test in four of them, and played three-quarters of a good match against Pakistan in the other before being power-skittled for 72. Perhaps they should start drinking their coffee before the first Test of series, not the second.South Africa, on the other hand, have tended to misfire after a potent start. They contrived to draw series with India (twice) and Australia after being one Test ahead by conceding second Test defeats, and they allowed a victory-starved Sri Lanka to equalise the series last winter, before rectifying that situation in the third Test. Smith’s team have often looked a side on the verge of cricketing greatness, but have not yet achieved it.The next three weeks will prove whether or not they have laid aside those vulnerabilities. The evidence of The Oval suggests that they have. But then, the evidence of their annihilation of Dhoni’s Indians in the first Test in December 2010 suggested that as well, and they proceeded to lose the next Test.They have in their ranks the three highest-averaging batsmen of the decade, and the greatest bowler to have entered the Test arena this millennium, supported by a man who has made the best start to a bowling Test career since the 19th century, and another proven Test paceman. What is puzzling about this South African side is not how good they were at The Oval, but how adequate their series results have been over the last few years.There are crumbs of comfort that England will be edgily forking around their plates between now and Headingley. But whether they can reconstitute those crumbs into an edible cake, against a team that seems to be finally realising the full extent of its talents, after a total and utter battering, will be the greatest challenge Strauss’ outstanding team has faced, and one that will define their status in the history of the game.● If one shot has exemplified the failings of English batsmanship since I started following cricket, it has been the sweep, and its rogue dysfunctional cousin the reverse sweep. From Botham’s final, very brief, innings as captain at Lord’s in 1981, via Gatting’s World-Cup-losing plink in 1987-88, to Pietersen’s flap-steer at Hauritz in Cardiff in 2009, and assorted ineptly executed swishes in the UAE last winter, the sweep has been the shot that has had England fans weeping into their sandwiches more often than any other.Last Sunday, England were in deep trouble, but the shine had worn off the new ball and the pitch was still showing all the life and vigour of an extremely hungover Galapagos tortoise after Charles Darwin threw a massive party to celebrate working out how evolution works. Andrew Strauss, becalmed by the insistent probery of the South African bowlers and the tension of his team’s predicament, then chose what he instantly realised was the wrong moment to attempt the accursed horizontal-batted gamblethwack off Imran Tahir. On Monday, Matt Prior, batting with class and purpose, with the new ball minutes away and with his considerable eye very much in, and the old ball spinning out of the rough but from an easily negotiable round-the-wicket angle, followed his captain’s example.The remarkable thing is that both men got away with it. They both missed, both looked rueful, and both looked as if they were telling themselves not to do that again. Both men, however, did do that again. Seconds later. Both were unwilling to take the hint they had given themselves that sweeping was (a) unnecessary in the circumstances (b) tricky at the best of times, and (c) about as sensible as performing DIY dentistry on your own kitchen table using a second-hand pneumatic drill. Both men top-edged, both were out, and both hung their experienced heads in self-flagellatory recrimination. Ooops.● Both Strauss and Prior received merited criticism for the shots that brought about their downfall and confirmed England’s fate. Pietersen was also criticised, albeit in a slightly odd way. He was criticised for playing stupid shots that he didn’t get out to, and then criticised for getting out playing a sensible shot, badly. Such is life for Kevin Pietersen. He has always been technically flawed and played a calculating high-risk game. As a batsman, he is vulnerable and magnificent, powerful and fragile. He is the only natural aggressor in England’s top 6. He will always be slammed for being too aggressive. When the risks do not pay off, or the calculations are awry. He is Kevin Pietersen, splitter of opinion, sporting fascination.

New Zealand’s captain took a team supposedly riven by internal conflicts and struggling at Test level to within in an ace of beating England

Andrew McGlashan in Auckland26-Mar-2013Brendon McCullum looked a broken man in more than ways than one after the final day of the series. By the last session at Eden Park, he could barely walk. He pulled his hamstring chasing a ball to the boundary during the morning, but nothing was going to keep him off the field and he limped into position at slip or silly point between overs.Most players who field at silly point these days don a helmet along with plenty of other protective equipment. Not McCullum. He stands there, under the batsman’s nose, with his New Zealand cap on, stubbled face and steely glint so the opposition player gets an up-close view. As captain he could easily have devolved close-catching duties to a younger member of the team, but he loves nothing more than being at the heart of the action. And that’s where he has been throughout England’s tour.Victory at Eden Park would have been McCullum’s finest hour, but his side came up one agonising wicket short. You could see it in his eyes, he was shattered – physically and mentally. He may not have scored the defining hundred or taking the crucial haul of wickets, but McCullum’s bristling intent was never far away.”It’s not as bad as some of the other parts of my body are feeling at the moment,” he said of his hamstring. “It wasn’t ideal, but I was trying to stay out there to win a Test so I certainly wasn’t worried about my hamstring. My role was to captain the team and pull a few rabbits out of the hat.”And he almost did just that. On the fourth evening he brought Kane Williamson, the part-time offspinner, into the attack with a hunch to bowl at the left-handed Alastair Cook and four overs from the end of the day Cook edged to slip. Williamson also removed the nightwatchman, Steven Finn. In the dying moments of the final day he went to Williamson again and he removed Stuart Broad and James Anderson within three balls.”It’s everything you dream about when you are growing up to be able to be in the park with your team-mates trying to bowl your team to a Test win,” he said. “Unfortunately we weren’t able to get the win but it was a magnificent Test match and we played our part.”McCullum has galvanised a team that were a shambles a few months ago, a situation stemming from his messy transition to the captaincy, which he was not part of. He inherited the situation and had to try to make it work. Initially, at least, the plan from Mike Hesson was only to have McCullum as one-day and T20 captain while leaving Ross Taylor in charge of the Test team. But such was the breakdown in communication that a complete change of leadership was effected.There had long been a strong school of opinion that McCullum should be New Zealand’s captain, but not like this. It should also be remembered that Taylor’s last Test in charge was the team’s previous Test victory, when they beat Sri Lanka by 167 runs in Colombo, although that ended a run of six defeats in seven matches. Occasionally, though, out of mayhem comes the beginning of something better. The change from Kevin Pietersen to Andrew Strauss (and Peter Moores to Andy Flower) in the England set-up in 2009 is such an example.

“Everyone has been playing for McCullum in this series, never better shown than by the commitment of his pace bowlers. The efforts of Southee, Wagner and Boult on the final day were testament to that”

McCullum’s reign started with a harrowing Test series in South Africa – minus Taylor, who had taken himself on a break from the game – where they were twice blown away by an innings. By the end of that trip the signs of rebuilding were on show as they took the one-day series. However, the challenge of England in the longest format was expected to expose those frailties again, especially after the visitors had finished strongly in the two limited-overs series.That it has not proved so, and that New Zealand dominated two out of three Tests is a mark of what McCullum has instilled in his players and equally how he has helped the team play as one. In the midst of the Taylor departure there are all sorts of stories and rumours about player cliques and who supported whom; of one thing there is no doubt: everyone has been playing for McCullum in this series, never better shown than by the commitment of his pace bowlers. The efforts of Tim Southee, Neil Wagner and Trent Boult on the final day were testament to that.However, let’s not forget Hesson. Yes, the much-maligned coach who, at the height of the controversy, had to contend with what bordered on abuse in some of the comments directed at him. Whatever the absolute truth about which formats he wanted to change the captain for, he clearly knew the leader he wanted was McCullum. He was a new coach and that was within his remit. The way he articulated that to Taylor will not be making any coaching manuals in the future – and the tension has perhaps not entirely dissipated, if Taylor’s Test form is any guide – but he was doing what he felt was best for the team.This series is a pretty strong vindication of that. Hesson and McCullum have between them pulled together a team that has made the best of the resources available. Some of that has happened by accident, some by design. Doug Bracewell would have started the series if not for stepping on glass after a party; his replacement, Wagner, set the ball rolling for New Zealand in Dunedin with four first-innings wickets and has not stopped charging in since. Hamish Rutherford, who scored 171 on debut, would probably not have played if Martin Guptill hadn’t been injured. McCullum was forced to open in South Africa by a lack of other options but had always envisaged himself batting in the middle-order position that has brought him seven fifties in ten innings during England’s visit.Hesson and McCullum who, though unofficially, has just as big a say as the coach, can be particularly proud of two other selections. The 34-year-old Peter Fulton is the stand-out success with his triumphant twin hundreds and Bruce Martin, although ending wicketless in Auckland, has not looked out place.In the short-term, this near miss will hurt but when the dust settles this could be seen as a watershed period for New Zealand. Of course, though, what happens next is vital. They come to England in May for a two-match series, which will be an important marker in the team’s development away from home, but there should be nothing to frighten them. In fact, that notion is just the sort of idea to spur McCullum on even more.

The Plays of the day from the match between Mumbai Indians and Rajasthan Royals and Mumbai Indians in Kolkata

Sidharth Monga24-May-2013The shot
You would have seen bowlers bowling from 23 yards, but batsmen playing from 23 yards? That’s a new one. In the final over of the Rajasthan Royals innings, Dishant Yagnik stood on off to face Lasith Malinga. He had already been going deep in the crease to counter the Malinga yorker, but this time he was outside the line of off and played this one from behind the stumps. It worked, for Yagnik took it on the half-volley and flicked it over square leg for four.Turns out this was not new. It has been done twice in two balls, but not to such good an effect.The shot
How unsettling it must be for a bowler when one batsman has gone behind the stumps and the other – in the same over – walks up and turns it into a 20-yard delivery. Later in the same over, even when Malinga was midway in his run, Brad Hodge had walked almost half the way up the track. For a moment you thought Malinga might pull out of the delivery, but clearly he hadn’t learned from Sahara. Eventually Malinga tried to bowl a slower ball, but it slipped out of his hand so bad it missed the adjoining pitch too. Nor was it his first of that over.The desperation
The match was delayed by an hour because of the evening rain. The Mumbai Indians support staff was clearly the most desperate for the game to be of the longest possible duration. While others twiddled thumbs, Jonty Rhodes joined the ground staff and helped them dry the covers and take them off.The riposte
This was Rahul Dravid channelling his inner . When Rahul Dravid drove Mitchell Johnson straight past him in the third over, Johnson had a word or three to speak. Johnson forgot to back it up with a good ball next up, and Dravid flicked it away regally for four. And Dravid walked up to Johnson and asked him, “You want to say something?” He may as well have asked him, “You talking to me?”

Plays of the Day from the IPL game between Sunrisers Hyderabad and Mumbai Indians in Hyderabad

Abhishek Purohit01-May-2013The shots
Great fast bowler against great batsman. Sachin Tendulkar easily won the mini-bout against Dale Steyn. Tendulkar was punching the outswingers crisply but finding the field when Steyn angled in a couple with a scrambled seam. The first one was whipped powerfully in the air, but finer than Tendulkar intended, to the deep square leg boundary. The second went exactly where the batsman wanted it to, a smooth forward stride followed by an authoritative loft over mid-on.The delivery
Tendulkar was timing almost everything off the front foot, when he decided to back away to leg against Ishant Sharma. It was short of a good length and Tendulkar was lining up to crash it through the off side. The ball jagged in sharply after pitching, though, and Tendulkar had no time to prevent his stumps from being knocked over. It did stay a shade low, the effect getting magnified by Tendulkar’s familiar extravagant crouch, but it was the movement that beat the batsman.The decisions
Umpire Sudhir Asnani blew hot and cold. Dwayne Smith missed an attempted sweep to a full Amit Mishra delivery and made it look worse by losing his balance and falling over after being hit on the pad. Asnani immediately raised his finger but replays showed Smith had gloved the ball into the pitch before the pad came into play.Asnani traversed from howler to cracker on the decision scale next. The last ball of Steyn’s spell swung in low and full to hit Kieron Pollard on the pad after a missed scoop. Steyn pleaded and pleaded, making it seem like there had never been an lbw so plumb. Outside the line of off, Asnani signalled immediately, and replays showed he was spot-on this time. Pollard had been struck inches outside.The innovation
Mumbai Indians needed the last over to go for some runs, and Ambati Rayudu stepped up with successive fours off Thisara Perera. The second of those was a late adjustment superbly executed. Rayudu got down one one knee, wanting to slog over the leg side, when Perera bowled it really wide outside off. Rayudu checked the slog-swing of the bat, and turned his wrists to lift the ball over backward point for four, with third man also up in the circle.

Plays from the IPL game between Delhi Daredevils and Sunrisers Hyderabad in Delhi

Andrew Fidel Fernando12-Apr-2013The impeding equipmentKumar Sangakkara’s dismissal might have sent some jitters through the visitors’ dugout, and were it not for Cameron White’s helmet grille, they might have edged even closer to peril. Attempting a lap-sweep off Shahbaz Nadeem, White managed only a top edge, and just as the wicketkeeper moved towards the leg side to attempt a catch, the ball flew right into White’s grille and lodged there. White could not get the ball out himself, so the Delhi Daredevils fielders closed in to help him. When David Warner finally removed it, he also raised his hands in mock appeal.The non-obstructionDaredevils’ plight had grown more hopeless at the start of the 18th over of the chase, with Sunrisers Hyderabad needing only a run a ball, and their desperation manifested in a strange appeal for obstructing the field. Amit Mishra got a leading edge into off Irfan Pathan and was called through for a tight single, but when the fielder came in and threw at the stumps, Mishra was in the way and the ball deflected off his back. Jayawardene immediately appealed for obstruction of the field, but replays showed Mishra had simply run his original line, and the appeal was turned down. Jayawardene continued to voice his displeasure, though, perhaps also incensed by the extra run taken by Sunrisers off the deflection that came off the batsman – an act sometimes considered poor sportsmanship, but one which is within the laws of the game.The catchDaredevils were already in trouble after Mahela Jayawardene’s departure but White’s sharp reflexes at wide slip saw them slip further. Ishant Sharma bowled one outside off stump, and Virender Sehwag, seeing the width, tried to cover-drive on-the-up, but could only manage a thick outside edge. The ball flew quickly off the blade, but White moved into position in a flash, and completed a sharp take, falling to his right.The cartwheelThere are few greater pleasures in cricket than seeing a fast bowler uproot the wickets, and in the recent past, Dale Steyn has been the most compelling purveyor of somersaulting stumps. He had bowled some lovely outswingers early in the innings – one which took Jayawardene’s edge, but was put down by the diving wicketkeeper – but a fast, good length ball provided a deserved second wicket. Steyn had bowled the delivery cross seam, but it came in on an angle, pitched on an off stump line and straightened just a touch. Nadeem was ill-equipped to deal with the quality of that ball, and got nowhere near it as it hit the top of off stump to send it end-over-end in a straight line towards the keeper.The run-outWith a small total to defend, Daredevils had to field well to have any hope of snapping their losing streak, and Nadeem set off well in that regard, when he swooped in to effect a run-out in the second over. Akshath Reddy pushed Siddarth Kaul into the leg side and called for a single, but he had to circumvent the bowler mid-pitch, which cost him precious time. Coming in from midwicket, Nadeem ran around the ball, so that when he picked it up, he’d be facing the stumps at the non-striker’s end. He collected and let fly in one swift motion to have Reddy short of his ground by a frame.

Watch highlights from the fourth day of the Lord’s Test.

21-Jul-2013Watch highlights of the second day of the 2nd Investec Ashes Test from Lord’s here on ESPNcricinfo.To see higlights from the previous days, please click on the relevant day:
Day 1, Day 2, Day 3

1st session

2nd session

3rd session

If life was fair and just both reserve quicks would get a chance to show they can cut it at Test level, but that is not the way professional sport works

George Dobell07-Aug-2013Clint Eastwood almost certainly wasn’t thinking about Graham Onions or Chris Tremlett when he growled “Deserve’s got nothing to do with it,” during the film , but the line works quite nicely all the same.Onions and Tremlett deserve another chance in international cricket. Both are admirable characters, born with substantial gifts that, through years of hard work and honing, they developed to the point where they could be considered among the best in their country. Tremlett, at least, might have been on the threshold of something really quite special.Then injury struck. Through no fault of their own, the careers which they had worked so hard to forge were jeopardised by serious injuries that required surgery. Both men have been forced not just to suffer the pain and uncertainty of the surgeon’s knife but the months of rehabilitation and frustration that follow. Both have confessed to times when, struggling to even get out of bed, they feared that everything they have striven for was going to be denied them. They are no strangers to pain; physical or mental.Yet both men revived their careers. Through remarkable feats of persistence, hard work, sacrifice and mental strength, both have returned to professional sport and performed with enough skill and success to warrant a recall to the international side.Anyone can work hard in a full ground with the eyes of the world upon then; it takes a different level of determination to sustain hope and belief and the appetite for the fight when there is no-one around and you have to crawl on all fours in order to take yourself to the bathroom. Even if they never take the next step on their comeback journey, to have reached this point is an achievement of which they can be proud.So both men deserve another chance.But that’s the rub. And that’s where that Eastwood line comes in. Because life isn’t fair or just or reasonable. It doesn’t necessarily reward hard work and sacrifice and good intentions. It can coax and seduce and tantalise and still leave you empty handed. Professional sport can be a cruel business.And the sad fact is that both Onions and Tremlett have much to do to prove they have what it take to return to enjoy a successful return to international cricket.While Tremlett proved beyond reasonable doubt on the Ashes tour of 2010-11 and the few Tests he managed subsequently that he had the skills for Test cricket – the height, the pace, the accuracy and, often overlooked, the talent to move the ball in the air and off the pitch – he is not necessarily the same bowler now.Certainly the evidence of his first few matches this season was that he had lost that crucial 3-4% that separate the excellent from the merely decent. While there is much talk of his ‘potential’ on Australian pitches, there is limited evidence to suggest he can replicate the bounce and pace he once managed. And potential remains the most over-used word in cricket. Tremlett is 32 within a month.The statistics, as ever, are instructive and potentially misleading. Since Tremlett’s latest comeback at the start of this season, for example, he has claimed 19 first-class wickets in seven matches at an average of 39.63. He has not always won selection in his county side.But what that does not show is that he has bowled on some unusually flat wickets. It does not show, either, that he has, of late, found just a little extra menace to suggest he is, four months into the latest comeback, starting to get back to somewhere approaching his best.And it does not show that he has recently enjoyed several net sessions against England’s batsmen where he has troubled them significantly. He retains the confidence of the England bowling coach, David Saker and he might, just might, enjoy the coda his career deserves.Onions figures are equally intriguing. Since the start of 2011, he has claimed 178 first-class wickets at the wonderfully impressive average of 22.17 apiece. It is even better than his pre-injury record of 230 first-class wickets at 30.10 apiece. If you believe the statistics, he might even be an improved bowler.He is not as quick a bowler, though. He is sharp, he is persistent and he is probably the most accurate seamer in English cricket. He is almost never anything less than very good. But, like Chris Woakes, he might just lack the pace to make incisions on the flat wickets generally produced in Test cricket and, like Tremlett, injury might have robbed him of the vital fractions that caused the ball to bounce that much more and move that much later.He would admit that, unlike Tremlett, he has played on some remarkably helpful wickets – the sort that will simply never occur in Test cricket – and his figures have to be interpreted in that context. He, too, is in his 30s – he will be 31 in September – and running out of time to resurrect an international career that has, like Tremlett, already included an Ashes victory. If he is overlooked on his home ground it is hard to see where he will return.Both men have a better chance of playing than might be imagined. Both James Anderson and Stuart Broad appeared jaded by the end of the Old Trafford Test with Broad occasionally carrying the hint of a limp. They would not like it, but it is not impossible they could be rested for this Test.Sadly, though Onions spoke to the media on Wednesday, the latest in a catalogue of controversies to erupt this season diverted attention from his inspiring comeback story. So, instead of much opportunity to talk about the journey from boyhood that has culminated in this chance to play a first Ashes Test at this relatively new venue, Onions was obliged to defend a side in which he has not played, against allegations which make little sense on a subject he knows little.Over recent weeks, England have been falsely accused of spot-fixing, ball tampering, bat tampering and, despite the fact that no teams do so in international cricket, not ‘walking’ when edging the ball. Success, if seems, breeds the type of jealous smears that Pakistan have had to live with for decades.If Tremlett or Onions play in Durham, surely even the hardest-hearted and cynical on-lookers will wish them well.

Ross Taylor’s search for a long awaited Test hundred is over, and the manner in which he applied himself to score a maiden double-ton will benefit New Zealand in the future

Andrew McGlashan in Dunedin04-Dec-2013When Brendon McCullum finally called a halt to New Zealand’s mammoth innings – the fourth-highest in their Test history – Ross Taylor strode off University Oval to another standing ovation. He had received a few over the last couple of days.New Zealand’s history is not littered with a vast array of double hundreds: Taylor’s unbeaten 217 was only the 17th score of above 200 which have been spread among just 13 cricketers. The previous one had been Brendon McCullum’s 225 against India in 2010.In a neat piece of symmetry, the closure of the innings left Taylor with an average of 45.36 – exactly the figure of his mentor, Martin Crowe, with whom he had shared a pre-Test conversation that Taylor acknowledged after the first day. There is just one New Zealand batsman with a higher Test average: John Reid sits 46.28 over a career of 19 matches.Taylor had ended his year-long wait for a hundred the previous evening but he had spoken of his desire to not waste the chance to build an even more substantial contribution. After the early-morning losses of McCullum and Corey Anderson, it was important Taylor took control of the innings if New Zealand were to obtain their target of a total in excess of 550.If Kieran Powell had been sharper at short leg, Taylor’s innings would have been ended on 131 when he inside-edged Shane Shillingford into his pad, but it was the only chance of his lengthy stay.Tino Best, who caused Taylor the few other uncomfortable moments he did have, was happy to acknowledge the performance. “The fella is a class act,” Best said. “He’s a very humble person. I’ve always admired him for a long time. I’m happy for him. The last year or so he’s been going through a tough period in New Zealand and to come and score a double hundred, I know the wicket is a little placid, but he showed a really good attitude and his concentration was immense. We were a little unlucky not get him early but he showed the temperament of an international batsman in his prime.”His previous highest score in Tests was a coursing, unbeaten 154 against England, at Old Trafford, in 2008 when he repeatedly took England’s attack into the stands over midwicket. He has the ability to move into a higher gear when the mood takes him, but this innings was made at a relatively consistent pace throughout, the four fifties coming from 66, 84, 81 and 64 deliveries. The slog-sweep, often seen off the spinners (and even medium-pacers) by Taylor did not make an appearance as he left the lofted shots mostly to his team-mates.Such had been the pace of scoring on the first day that there was no pressure to accelerate beyond what came naturally against a West Indies attack that, although more consistent than yesterday, remained limited and lost the services of their captain, Darren Sammy, with a leg injury during the first session.

Darren Sammy injury update

West Indies remain confident that their captain Darren Sammy will be able to play a significant role during the remainder of first Test despite leaving the field with a glute strain at the start of his 24th over. Sammy had felt the twinge in his 23rd over, and was in noticeable discomfort when an edge from Ross Taylor fell just short of him at gully. He later returned to the field but did not bowl for the rest of the innings and hobbled between his fielding positions. Under the new ICC regulations, he will not be allowed a runner. A West Indies spokesman, using a phrase unlikely to be heard from many Test nations, said: “He’s our warrior.”
Sammy’s absence puts extra onus on the remaining bowlers and Tino Best remained wholehearted in his efforts. He sent down the most overs he has bowled in a Test innings, 34.1 overs, and said West Indies had improved from their first-day showing. “Six-hundred, it’s not a reflection on how we bowled today. The first day was the problem, 300 and more runs on the first day of a Test is not good enough. It’s something we have got to look at as a team and a bowling unit. To be honest my mother always said to me, ‘Tino, as a professional you can’t worry about looking for excuses’. We are a little tired, I am a little jet-lagged, and today is the most I’ve ever bowled in a Test innings. You’ve just got to run in and bowl.”

Briefly, Taylor unleashed against Shannon Gabriel, taking 18 off an over with four lacerated boundaries, but that did not signal a blitz towards two hundred as he nudged his way there against a deep-set field, with Shillingford and Narsingh Deonarine operating in tandem. Shortly before tea, he then skipped out to drive Deonarine through the covers, and the following delivery he tickled towards fine leg.He had kept his emotions in check when he reached the hundred, and the double did not see the extravagant celebration that some players unfurl for such landmarks. There is a sense that after the mental battles he went through a year ago, with the loss of the captaincy, he is trying to find a level to his emotions whether in good times or bad.Neil Wagner, who was at the other end when the double was reached, said: “It’s a massive milestone, something awesome and he batted really well. I jogged over to him and he was very calm and quiet and all he said was, ‘Thanks for batting with me’. I’m stoked for him.”While the quality, or lack of, in West Indies’ attack did not provide the sternest of tests, Taylor’s success is notable given that his preparation for this series was hampered by a knee injury and included a solitary first-class match for Central Districts which brought scores of 10 and 0.Although he provided more than a third of New Zealand’s runs it was a collective effort with the bat from the home side. While no one else dominated on the second day, BJ Watling, Ish Sodhi (whose lively innings suggested he should be above Tim Southee in the order) and a merry dash from Wagner all contributed to keep West Indies off the field until after tea.It was an innings of rare plunder for New Zealand. Only Wellington 1991 (671 for 4 dec against Sri Lanka), Mohali 2003 (630 for 6 dec) and Napier 2009 (619 for 9 dec against India), have been bigger. Taylor was around in 2009, where he also played a considerable part with 151, in concert with Jesse Ryder’s 201 and a hundred for McCullum.Having spent more than five sessions in the field, the loss of two early wickets for West Indies was predictable. The fulcrum of their order is Darren Bravo, Marlon Samuels and Shivnarine Chanderpaul. This is a surface they should relish batting on and the ball is already 24 overs old, but they will need to channel the spirit of Taylor.

Plays of the day from the first day of the first Test between Pakistan and South Africa in Abu Dhabi

Firdose Moonda in Abu Dhabi14-Oct-2013The birthday gift
Shan Masood received a present anyone would want on their birthday – a first Test cap. As the more junior of Pakistan’s two debutants – Masood is a decade younger than Zulfiqur Babar – he was stationed at short leg. He, however, was soon called into action soon when Alviro Petersen was surprised by the extra bounce generated by Mohammad Irfan. Masood juggled the offering initially before holding on to a second take. It look a lengthy referral to adjudge whether the catch had been taken clearly, and once that was confirmed, Petersen was sent on his way. It provided a birthday gift the youngster would not forget in a hurry.The no-ball
A man the size of Irfan is bound to be too big for some things, and his oversized feet are occasionally guilty of creeping over the line. After lunch, the frequency of the error became greater, but umpire Paul Reiffel did not seem to take notice. Television cameras caught Irfan overstepping at least three times before Reiffel spotted one himself. As he held his arm out to signal the no-ball, Graeme Smith stood up to applaud sarcastically, a display the broadcasters were quick to capture.The blunder
The searing heat in the post-lunch session may have made some people dozy, but not Younis Khan and Adnan Akmal. AB de Villiers strode forward to defend a Babar delivery but inside-edged on to his pad, and the ball ended up rolling to first slip. He thought that was the end of things for the moment and held his pose, leaving his back foot on the crease. Akmal, however, was quick to notice the indiscretion and signalled to Younis to return the ball to him. Younis did, and Akmal stealthily took off the bails. Replays showed de Villiers’ foot was on the line, and he was sent packing to give Pakistan a timely breakthrough.The catch that wasn’t
Dale Steyn may not have fancied a bowl late in the day, but he also did not want to hang around without contributing with the bat. He took a liking to Babar, and after defending one ball that was tossed up, waltzed down the pitch to loft the next inside-out and down the ground. When Steyn hit it, he seemed to have top-edged it to long-off, but the ball went high and long, just carrying over the rope for six. He tried it again three balls later, and this time Khurram Manzoor got his hands to it, but when he realised the shot would carry the ball over the boundary with his momentum, Manzoor was able to release the ball back onto the field in the nick of time.

Also, most runs in a 50th Test, most keeping dismissals without a stumping, and greatest difference between innings scores in a Test

Steven Lynch18-Feb-2014Mitchell Johnson took 12 wickets in the first Test at Centurion. Is that the best for Australia in South Africa? asked Jim Murray from Adelaide

Mitchell Johnson’s 12 for 127 in the demolition in Centurion last week were Australia’s second-best match figures in South Africa, after legspinner Clarrie Grimmett’s 13 for 173 in Durban in 1935-36. Another Australian, the Sydney-born JJ Ferris, took 13 for 91 in Cape Town in 1891-92 – but he was playing for England in that game! The best match figures by any visiting bowler in South Africa are Sydney Barnes’ 17 for 159 in Johannesburg in 1913-14, the second-best in all Tests behind Jim Laker’s 19 for 90 in the Old Trafford Ashes Test of 1956. South Africa’s best match figures at home are 13 for 192, by offspinner Hugh Tayfield against England in Johannesburg in 1956-57; their best against Australia are 10 for 116 by Charles “Buck” Llewellyn at the old Wanderers ground in Johannesburg in 1902-03.James Faulkner won the third one-dayer against England recently by putting on 57 with Clint McKay. Is this a record for the last wicket to win an ODI? asked Phillip Thompson from Sydney

Clint McKay only needed to score two runs in that amazing last-wicket partnership with James Faulkner that spirited Australia to yet another victory over England at the Gabba last month. There has been only one higher tenth-wicket partnership to win a one-day international, and it came during the first World Cup, in 1975, when West Indies somehow overcame Pakistan at Edgbaston. Chasing 267, they were 203 for 9 when last man Andy Roberts joined wicketkeeper (and No. 8) Deryck Murray. Playing sensibly, they inched their way towards the target, and in the last of the 60 overs Roberts nudged the single that gave them victory after an unbeaten last-wicket stand of 64. Their partnership, though, took around 15 overs, compared to less than six for Faulkner and McKay. I am indebted to the statistician Andrew Samson for pointing out that there have been four higher successful tenth-wicket stands in all List A matches, including one of over 100 – in February 2006, North West’s wicketkeeper and No. 9 Thando Bula (76 not out) and last man Friedel de Wet (56 not out) put on 102 without being parted to conjure victory over Free State in Potchefstroom in the South African Airways Provincial One-Day Challenge.How many people scored only two Test centuries, both of them coming in the same match? I believe Jack Moroney was one … asked AK Srivastava from India

The Australian opener Jack Moroney was the first man whose only two centuries came in the same Test (against South Africa in Johannesburg in 1949-50). Since then this dubious distinction has been achieved just twice, both by Pakistan batsmen. Wajahatullah Wasti played only six Tests, but made two hundreds in his second one, against Sri Lanka in Lahore in March 1999. And on his Test debut, against Bangladesh in Karachi in August 2003, Yasir Hameed scored 170 and 105. Neither of them scored another Test century. This list contains one current player, who may yet remove himself from it: Peter Fulton’s two Test centuries for New Zealand to date both came against England in Auckland last March.I know that Ricky Ponting scored the most runs in his 100th Test. But who scored the most in his 50th appearance? asked Vikram Singhal from Delhi

Ricky Ponting scored 263 runs (120 and 143 not out) in his 100th Test, for Australia against South Africa in Sydney in January 2006. The only other man to score more than 200 runs in his 100th Test was Inzamam-ul-Haq, with 215 (184 and 31 not out) for Pakistan against India in Bangalore in March 2005. The most runs by a player in his 50th Test is 317, by Chris Gayle in one innings for West Indies against South Africa in St John’s in 2004-05. Tillakaratne Dilshan, with 162 and 143 for Sri Lanka against Bangladesh, in Chittagong in January 2009, also scored more than 300 runs in his 50th Test. Dilshan is the only man to score twin hundreds in his 50th match: 30 other players have marked their 50th Test with a century.BJ Watling has now made more than 50 dismissals in Test cricket – all catches. What is the record by a wicketkeeper without any stumpings? asked Zaheer Ahmed from the UAE

As of day four of the second Test against India, BJ Watling has made 53 catches as New Zealand’s designated wicketkeeper, without a stumping yet. That is the current record for a full career, although obviously he may yet escape from the list. Australia’s Wayne Phillips kept wicket in 18 Tests, taking 43 catches but no stumpings, and next comes Hashan Tillakaratne, whose 32 dismissals in 11 Tests behind the stumps for Sri Lanka were all catches. The record for most catches before making a stumping in Tests is held by Dave Richardson, the South African keeper who is now the ICC’s chief executive. He had taken 119 before finally pulling off a stumping, in his 33rd Test, to dismiss India’s Venkatesh Prasad off Paul Adams in Cape Town in January 1997. Richardson was rather relieved, as he thought if he’d never made any stumpings at all people might have thought he was a slip fielder and not a wicketkeeper.New Zealand made 503 and 105 against India in Auckland. Is this the greatest difference between two completed innings by a team in the same Test? asked Freddie Ribeiro from India

The biggest difference between a side’s two totals in the same Test is 577, by England – 849 and 272 for 9 declared – against West Indies in Kingston in 1929-30. Pakistan followed on after being all out for 106 against West Indies in Bridgetown in January 1958, and made 657 for 8 declared – mainly thanks to Hanif Mohammad’s epic 337 – a difference of 551. This considers only innings in which at least eight wickets fell – the biggest disparity overall without that qualification is 657, by Australia (729 for 6 declared and 72 for 3) against England at Lord’s in 1930. If you insist on both innings being all out, then the answer is 456 runs, by West Indies (590 and 134) against India in Mumbai in November 2011. New Zealand in that recent Test against India in Auckland provided the seventh-highest difference where both innings were all out.