All posts by h716a5.icu

Chase Burns is fast. Just 11 months after the Cincinnati Reds selected him with the second pick of the draft and just three months after he made his pro debut in Class A ball in front of 4,532 fans in Comstock Park, Mich., the righthander will make his major league debut Tuesday against the New York Yankees.

His rapid ascent of just 66 innings of pro ball is a testament to how he has dominated (13 walks, 89 strikeouts and just 38 hits) with his high-spin, high-velocity fastball. At 22 years and 159 days old, he is the youngest starter to debut against the Yankees since Ian Anderson of the Braves beat New York in 2020.

If you’re looking for comps for Burns, you must look beyond this year. There is no starting pitcher in MLB who throws this hard and with such a high release point as Burns does. Here is how he ranks if you consider his minor league metrics:

Highest release point, MLB starters with 95+ mph fastball

MPH

Vertical Release

1. Chase Burns (minors)

97.8

6.61

2. Hayden Birdsong, Giants

95.6

6.52

3. Ben Brown, Cubs

95.7

6.40

4. Ben Casparius, Dodgers

96.2

6.26

To find the best comp, you need to go back a decade to a prime Justin Verlander:

Four-seam comparison

MPH

Vertical release

Extension

Spin rate

Justin Verlander 2015

96

6.62

6.3

2,576

Chase Burns 2025 (minors)

97.8

6.61

6.3

2,531

That is a close match on paper. But when we look at the mechanics, we see Verlander had a smoother delivery. Burns has the same release height, but a higher arm angle. He needs to tilt his torso to move his head to allow his arm to work at that angle, a move that can tax the shoulder more—a move that caught up to Anderson and prompted Michael Wacha, after injury concerns, to lower his arm slot.

Manny Machado's legacy is already secured, and it looks far different than it did a few years ago.

On Monday night, Machado notched his 2,000th career hit with a fourth-inning single against Arizona Diamondbacks pitcher Zac Gallen. In doing so, the seven-time All-Star became the 12th player in major league history to reach 2,000 hits and have 350 home runs through his age-32 season. Hank Aaron, Jimmy Foxx, Lou Gehrig, Ken Griffey Jr., Mickey Mantle, Willie Mays, Mel Ott and Frank Robinson accomplished the feat and are all in the Hall of Fame. The other three to do it are Miguel Cabrera, Albert Pujols and Alex Rodriguez.

The takeaway? Manny Machado will be a first-ballot Hall of Famer.

Once a controversial figure, Machado has transformed himself into one of baseball's most consistent stars. He averages 32 home runs per 162 games despite never crossing the 40-homer threshold in a season, and with 357 career home runs after launching one in the eighth inning Monday, he has a decent shot at joining the 500-homer club one day. Beyond his immense talent, he has earned the respect of those around him for one simple reason: he shows up every day.

Machado isn't what you picture when thinking of a "grinder." He has garnered criticism in the past for not giving it his all on every play, and even once said in 2018, “I'm not the type of player that's going to be 'Johnny Hustle.’” His graceful approach both at the plate and in the field can make everything look easy. But his effort level has not been questioned in recent years, and it’s worth considering that his willingness to conserve his energy when the time is right has contributed to his remarkable ability to stay on the field.

During his 14-year MLB career, Machado, who turned 33 on Sunday, has played 150 or more games nine times, and he played in all 60 during the COVID-shortened 2020 campaign. Since 2015, only Paul Goldschmidt has played more games (1,551) than Machado's 1,536. He has started all 90 of San Diego's games this season, playing third base in 82 of them.

Machado has been named All-MLB three times since the honor was established in 2019. He has four top-five MVP finishes—including being runner-up in 2022—two Gold Gloves, a Platinum Glove and two Silver Sluggers. Since breaking into the big leagues in 2012, he's fourth in hits (2,001), fifth in home runs (357), fourth in RBIs (1,102), and fifth in WAR (60.3). The No. 3 pick in the 2010 MLB draft has always oozed talent, but his ability to show up every day separates him from his peers.

Not only does Machado rarely take games off for rest—he has remained remarkably healthy. On May 19, 2023, he was placed on the injured list due to a fracture in his left hand when then-Kansas City Royals righty Brad Keller hit him with a pitch. That was Machado's first IL stint in eight years. He missed 17 days and hasn't been on the shelf since.

That consistency has rubbed off on his Padres teammates. Even the fellow superstar whose locker sits next to Machado has been inspired by the way he approaches the game.

"Man, you know it's really hard, but it's part of what we have to do and what we signed up for, and it's part of the grind," Fernando Tatis Jr. told recently. "And obviously doing it right next to a guy like Manny is really special because the guy shows up every single day trying to win a ballgame in different ways. You learn from that and you just want to do the same thing."

Padres manager Mike Shildt has been with the franchise since 2022, first as a consultant before taking over as skipper prior to the 2024 campaign. He has seen firsthand what Machado brings to the table, not only with his consistency, but his leadership.

"From a clubhouse standpoint, when you have a guy that shows up, plays every day, performs every day—especially in streaks where you’re going and playing a lot of games—being able to grind and get after it is a really good trait that shows your teammates how and models what this looks like to be a contributing professional player on a winning team," Shildt says. "So those are all the things that Manny brings to the table, and he’s really taking the next steps into being that appropriate vocal leader. But it’s really most of his actions are led by just that, as actions."

Orioles pitcher Brandon Young was four outs away from a perfect game Friday night at Daikin Park in Houston.

With two outs in the 8th inning, he did all he could to try and save his perfect game and no-hit bid on a slowly hit ground ball by Astros second baseman Ramón Urías. Young picked up the bouncing ball with his bare hand and made an off-balanced throw to first base to try and get Urías but the throw went wide and past first baseman Coby Mayo.

The play was ruled an infield single, breaking up both the perfect game and no-hitter, plus a throwing error by Young which allowed Urías to get to second.

He struck out the next batter, which ended his night as Yaramil Hiraldo came in for the ninth to close out Baltimore's 7-0 victory. Young threw eight scoreless innings on 93 pitches and 61 strikes, striking out six batters and allowing just the one costly hit.

It was a close call for what would've been the first no-hitter this season and only the 25th perfect game of all time. The last perfect game was thrown by Domingo Germán for the Yankees during the 2023 season. Before that, the previous perfect game took place more than a decade earlier when Félix Hernández accomplished the feat in '12.

Nevertheless, it was a masterful outing by Young. He made his MLB debut earlier this season and had an 0-6 record and 6.70 ERA over 10 starts heading into the night. He did throw an immaculate inning earlier in the season though, completing an inning by retiring three batters on nine straight strikes.

This certainly qualifies as a memorable first major-league win.

Friday was a scary 24 hours for Tigers fans, who watched star pitcher Tarik Skubal allow four earned runs to the Marlins before leaving his start with discomfort in his side.

Fortunately, Detroit manager A.J. Hinch indicated to reporters Saturday that Skubal would be fine.

"Tarik Skubal’s imaging came back clean and he plans on making his next scheduled start," ESPN's Jeff Passan wrote on social media Saturday, citing Hinch. That start would potentially take place Thursday against the Guardians.

Skubal, 28, is a strong candidate to win his second straight American League Cy Young Award. He's 13–5 with a 2.26 ERA and 224 strikeouts in 183 1/3 innings this season, and he leads all AL hurlers in bWAR for the second consecutive year.

The Tigers are currently 84–64, and lead Cleveland by 7.5 games in the race for the AL Central Division. Detroit hasn't won a division crown since taking four straight from 2011 to '14.

The New Zealand opener talks about dealing with his negativity last season while struggling for runs and how a chat with Kane Williamson helped him clear his mind

Interview by Shashank Kishore24-Jun-2020For close to three years since his Test debut in 2016, Jeet Raval was a regular opener. His six half-centuries in his first nine Tests gave New Zealand solidity at the top of the order. But Raval hit a wall against England and Pakistan in 2018. A maiden hundred, in Hamilton against Bangladesh, was a weight off his shoulders and should have been the point where his career took off, but instead he lost his central contract with New Zealand Cricket, and has now switched from Auckland to Northern Districts in domestic cricket. He hasn’t given up on a comeback, but isn’t beating himself up over it. The two-month lockdown due to Covid-19 has given him better balance and perspective, as he tells us in this chat.How do you look back at your career so far?
It’s been a lot of fun. I’ve been fortunate to have been part of a successful New Zealand Test side. Winning in the UAE and Sri Lanka has been a highlight of my career so far. We rose to No. 2 in the Test rankings, which hadn’t been done before. From a team’s perspective, it’s been an amazing journey. Personally, I feel I didn’t fully live up to my potential.ALSO READ: The contrasting fortunes of Mitchell Starc and Jeet RavalTwenty-four Tests, one Test century, seven fifties and an average of 30. How do you view these numbers?
You ought to have done something right to play those Tests. I felt I did well in the first couple of years and then my form fell away. A few issues started creeping into my game and then it sort of turned into a battle of the mind. But look, I’m content with the career I’ve had so far, and I’m determined to get back to where I was through the lessons I’ve learnt.What are the lessons you’ve learnt?
As an opener in New Zealand, you will probably fail more than you succeed, so when you do get runs, you need to look to make it big. In my case, I did all the right things at the start of my innings, but couldn’t capitalise. And that started playing on my mind.Your first Test hundred came in your 17th Test. Did that wait make you restless?
Not from within, but people around me often kept asking, “Hey, when is that first hundred coming?” And then I’d think, “Yeah, I’m yet to score that despite getting starts.” The external pressure starts weighing on you, so it was nice to be able to get that monkey off my back [against Bangladesh]. I was proud to get there. Where I come from [Ahmedabad], you think of the struggles we made as a family. It wasn’t about me, but the [people] around me who helped me get to where I was.

“I had a chat with Kane Williamson after I got 1 in each innings. He said: ‘Take your mind off cricket for a few days, and when you go to the next net, let go of all the worries and play like you did as a ten-year old'”

When did you realise you were putting a lot of pressure on yourself?
In Sri Lanka last year, perhaps. I’d prepared as well as anyone could have. Before that tour, I went to India with a club side, played days matches on all sorts of turning tracks, chatted and trained with Andhra Ranji players to get a different perspective. I hit thousands of balls in the nets. In the very first innings in Sri Lanka, I got a very good start before getting out in the last over before lunch to [Akila] Dananjaya. It frustrated me so much that I started to analyse why it happened, and then it affected my next innings. I kept digging the hole deeper instead of saying, “Hey, I batted out a session nearly to get 30-odd, I must have done something good.” The next two innings on that tour didn’t go well. I kept getting frustrated innings after innings.Was it the nature of your dismissals that annoyed you?
No, it was more the pressure I was putting on myself. Having been part of the team, I kept feeling I had to contribute more. In the heat of the moment, you get caught up in things that aren’t important and then struggle to come out of it. While we were on the field, things were very normal. I was as invested in the team’s success as anyone else was, but when I went back to the room, it hit me: “Why did I do that?” And it was a never-ending chain of thoughts.ALSO READ: How are cricketers keeping fit in lockdown?Did you speak to someone about it?
Not after the Sri Lanka tour. I kept it to myself because we were getting ready for the home summer. [The focus in] Sri Lanka was anyway about playing spin, but the focus going forward was to play in our conditions against a good England pace attack.What was your frame of mind going into that England series?
I didn’t get a run in three innings in the build-up to that series. Pressure started to build and I started looking at technical aspects of my game. I was questioning myself and thinking, “What if I try this or what if I try that?” instead of trusting the game I had. No doubt I was underdone in terms of having a weight of runs behind me.I started well in the Mount Maunganui Test and got out to a dreadful slog sweep against Jack Leach’s left-arm spin. I had slogged him for a couple of unconvincing fours, but I thought I could take him on. I should have really put it behind me because I got a solid start, but it started to chew me up. We got about 600 runs in that innings, so every run the team scored, I was beating myself up and thinking I could’ve got these runs. I let that affect me and it got really hard from there on.In the game after, my mental state was so bad that I didn’t even realise I’d smashed the ball onto the pad and didn’t refer an lbw. I started to tense up, thinking way too much. Everything had built up. I froze. I remember while batting in that series, for every ball I used to keep thinking: “I hope I don’t get out this ball.” That rut got the better of me. When I got dropped, it was not nice, but it gave me a chance to reflect on what was going on inside my mind and come out of the bubble. As much as it was terrible at the time, I’m a better person for it now.”It comes back to why you play the game. It’s because I enjoy it. Not because of money or contracts. It’s about the simple things”•Getty ImagesHow did you react at the time?
When you’re going through good times, you leave training behind, spend time with family, play golf and those sorts of things. When you’re not doing so good, you’re always thinking of failure. “Why did I fail? Do I get picked again?” You are not giving yourself a chance to get away from the game. I started tightening up too much. It wasn’t a healthy place to be in.It got to a stage where I wasn’t the person I was. A couple of times, I was out for dinner with my wife. We’d be chatting normally and all of a sudden, I’d stop. I’d be lost and then come up with questions like, “Hey, do you think I should bat like this?” or “Wish I didn’t play that shot” and she’d be like, “What are you doing?” That is when I started realising it’s not healthy. But because you’re in a rut and you haven’t got the scores you want, you try so much harder to get it right.ALSO READ: ‘My priority is being a reliable Test batsman’ – Raval (2017)The next stop was Australia. It couldn’t have been a tougher tour.
Going into the Australia series, I had a chat with Kane Williamson in Perth, after we were beaten convincingly and I got 1 in each innings. We were in the dining area after the game and I was quietly having dinner by myself when Kane comes in. He’s like, “Hey bro, how you getting on?” And I said, “I’m frustrated. Things haven’t gone as planned. I haven’t been able to contribute.”He said: “Go to Melbourne, take your mind off cricket for a few days. Go do some sightseeing, play golf, spend time with your wife, and then when you go to the next net, let go of all the worries and play like you did as a ten-year old in the gullies of India, without expectations, fear of getting dropped, fear of getting out. Play like it’s a T20 game.”And then you got dropped for the Boxing Day Test.
Yeah, but during the lunch break every day, I used to have a hit with Peter Fulton, our batting coach. I told myself: “I don’t care if I’m going to get out.” I used to get worried about people judging me if I get out. [That] they’re going to think, “Oh this guy isn’t in form.” Fulton said, “Don’t worry, just play.”All that week, I would go in, just hit balls without worrying about technique. Then in the next Test, I got a chance to play because of Kane’s illness. I wasn’t expecting to play, but a couple of days before the Test, we heard of a stomach bug floating about. The coach had given me a brief update that I should be ready. After that chat with Kane, I said I had to just enjoy the occasion, not worry about getting out. I made 31 [at No. 3 in the first innings in Sydney], but it was some of the most enjoyable runs I’ve scored. I felt like I belonged. The feeling you get while batting in the backyard and bullying your cousins and siblings into scoring runs – it was awesome. I wanted to try and take those learnings forward.

“I remember every ball I used to keep thinking: ‘I hope I don’t get out this ball.’ That rut got the better of me. But as much as it was terrible at the time, I’m a better person for it now”

What have you done now to get out of the low phase?
It comes back to why you play the game. It’s because I enjoy it. Not because of money or contracts. It’s about the simple things. I’m not holding on to my Test spot now. It’s about being relaxed and enjoying every opportunity, because when you’re playing you’re always thinking: “I don’t want to let my spot go.” It can become a negative [mindset]. So having realised that, I’m better off for it. The chat with Kane in Perth was literally for just two minutes, but it was so meaningful. Kit Perera, my mentor, has also been a good sounding board. The time in lockdown was well spent. It helped me take my mind off the game.You lost your central contract last month. Were you expecting it?
Not really, but money is not something that drives me to play cricket. I play cricket because I enjoy the sport. I have an accounting degree, which will help me. Yes, having a contract is good, but it’s not the primary driver. Losing the contract isn’t going to decrease any motivation I have to drive harder. I know I have to.How far are you from completing your accountancy degree?
New Zealand and Australia have a combined programme. There are five exams in all. I’ve cleared three of them. I’ve enrolled in another [course], which I hope to complete by the end of September, which will leave me with one more. So hopefully early next year, I should be a chartered accountant. Hopefully I won’t have the need to exercise my education degree in the near future (laughs).What was lockdown life like for you?
Luckily for us, it was the end of the domestic season in March, so I was focusing on finishing my Chartered Accountancy course. We had some relatives come over from India for a short break, and they sort of got caught in the lockdown. It’s been quite nice to spend time with them and relax. It’s been nice to get away from the game and refresh my batteries. I’m looking forward to getting back to training.Accountancy is a very demanding course. How do you manage it alongside your cricket?
It works well, because I have a lot of time during the off season. Cricket training doesn’t happen all day in winter, so I space my time that way, give myself enough time to do gym, study and cricket training. I do yoga, guided meditation, strength-based sessions. I mix them all up pretty well. This has become the norm over the last couple of months. I don’t meditate to get something out of it. I just picked it up and it has given my mind some relaxation time. We do it together as a family.And you’re also a director in a start-up?
I used to work with an accounting firm called BDO. I have a good relationship with them, but because of the nature of Covid-19, the workforce is limited, so the opportunity to go back and work isn’t there. They are willing to get me back on board should an opportunity come about again.I’m currently working on a cricket app, focusing on technology and the design aspect of it. We’ve spent a lot of time ideating, debating, coding, processing, developing it. I’m excited by what it will bring to cricket and the cricket community. We’re targeting a September launch. When it’s out, hopefully it will be well-received and benefit the cricket community, not just in New Zealand but globally.How do you look at where you stand at 31?
I feel I have a good few years ahead. I’ve identified a few technical aspects and the mental side – hopefully it will help me enjoy [myself] and put up performances at the domestic level. I don’t want to chase it too hard. Hopefully that will result in good performances that will help me get back.

The lowdown on dropped catches in the first half of IPL 2020

S Rajesh14-Oct-2020Royal Challengers Bangalore are among three teams sitting at the top of the table with 10 points, but they have reached there despite being the worst catching team of the tournament so far. At the halfway point, they have caught only 69.2% of the chances that have come their way, which is easily the poorest among all teams. Seven different players have dropped 12 catches, which is almost 23% of all catches dropped in IPL 2020 so far, according to ESPNcricinfo’s ball-by-ball data. Only one other team has dropped more than nine catches – Delhi Capitals, and they are in the top three as well, indicating that these teams are winning despite giving extra opportunities to the opposition.ESPNcricinfo LtdAccording to Luck Index, these 12 dropped catches have cost the Royal Challengers 130 runs. This value is calculated by through a complex algorithm, which takes the following factors into account:
-Runs scored by the batsman after the drop, and the team’s final total
-Runs which would have been scored by the other players, had that batsman been dismissed off that ball. The extra balls that the batsman faced is distributed among the batsmen who were unbeaten or didn’t bat in the innings. The runs they would have scored is calculated by taking into account their batting quality, the balls remaining in the innings, the bowling quality, and the match conditions
-The difference between the actual team score and the score obtained through this simulated exercise is the impact of the dropped catch, in terms of runs.Let us, for example, take KL Rahul’s unbeaten 132 against the Royal Challengers. He was dropped twice during that innings, and scored 48 off 13 after the first drop, and 42 off nine after the second. Luck Index calculated that the first drop cost them 24 runs, and the second 26, which means Kings XI would have scored 26 fewer runs had the second catch been taken.ESPNcricinfo LtdFor the purpose of this exercise, both those values of 26 and 24 runs have been taken into account, and are a part of the overall tally of 132, though there was a large overlap between the two. This is to ensure that each dropped catch has a run impact associated with it.Most dropped catches at the halfway stage of the league phase•ESPNcricinfo LtdHowever, that wasn’t the most expensive drop of the tournament. That honour belongs to Prithvi Shaw’s drop of Mayank Agarwal in the second game of the tournament, which went into a Super Over. Agarwal was on 35 off 37 when he was dropped in the 16th over, and eventually scored 89 off 60. Given the quality of the batsmen who were unbeaten or didn’t bat – Mohammed Shami, Sheldon Cottrell and Ravi Bishnoi – the algorithm reckoned that the drop cost the Delhi Capitals 46 runs. Of the top six most expensive drops, though, four belong to the Royal Challengers.ESPNcricinfo LtdShaw’s reprieve of Agarwal is one of three catches he has dropped in the tournament so far. Three other fielders have dropped three catches – Devdutt Padikkal, Tom Curran and Manish Pandey. Tom Curran is also among the bowlers who has suffered the most, with three drops off his bowling, though the bowler topping the list is current Purple Cap holder Kagiso Rabada, who has 17 wickets despite having five catches dropped off his bowling.The batting team which has benefited the most are the Kings XI Punjab, though it’s another matter that they haven’t made much use of their good fortune. They are the only team whose total benefit from the drops is more than 100 runs, thanks largely to the numbers adding up from the chances offered to Agarwal (against the Capitals) and Rahul (against the Royal Challengers). Among the batsmen, Aaron Finch and Jonny Bairstow have got four reprieves each, while Faf du Plessis, Ishan Kishan and Rahul have been dropped thrice.ESPNcricinfo LtdFinally, much has been written and spoken about how difficult it has been to take catches in Dubai, and the numbers justify that talk. One in four chances has been spilled here, while the catch percentage is 81.5% in Sharjah, and nearly 89% in Abu Dhabi.ESPNcricinfo Ltd

Dominant position enhanced by desperate decision-making from opponents

Andrew Miller16-Jan-2021Batsman error is a curious concept. It’s what all bowlers are looking to cause when they turn at the top of their mark, by applying sufficient pressure to force the fatal misjudgement, or by setting a crafty trap and springing it on the unwitting. Because, as Jack Leach finally proved with an outstanding delivery late in the day to Kusal Mendis, it’s only a glorious handful of balls that are genuinely unplayable.So what are we to make of the batsman errors in this contest so far? Specifically the Sri Lankan ones, for England, despite an afternoon of rather harder toil than they might have envisaged after the first innings, still have the first Test at their mercy, with a hefty lead in the bank and two more days on a wearing deck to reassert their authority.But even in the midst of an otherwise valiant rearguard, the one wicket to fall in the first 59 overs of Sri Lanka’s second innings was another self-inflicted wound of the type that came in a torrent on day one. With only one man back on the rope at deep backward point, even England’s unofficial Maker of Things to Happen, Sam Curran, struggled to take the credit for a wide outswinging long-hop to a well-set Kusal Perera, and his coy puff of the cheeks as Leach completed the catch rather gave the game away.Related

Stuart Broad's subtleties prove the old dog isn't done with learning

Sri Lanka batting 'the worst I've seen' – Grant Flower

Dom Bess admits 'I didn't feel like I bowled very well' after first-day five-for

England 'unconcerned' by hotel staff's positive Covid tests

Joe Root posts majestic 228 but Lahiru Thirimanne stands firm to give SL hope of saving Test

“You don’t take Test wickets for granted but, yeah, that wasn’t the way I expected,” Curran said at the close. “The way things happened for us on day one aren’t going to happen very often, but you don’t take those days for granted because when they do come you’ve got to enjoy them. In the second innings, Sri Lanka fought really hard, which we expected, but we stuck in there as a bowling group, keeping the scoring rate as low as possible in really tough conditions.”To be fair to Perera, his second-innings dismissal was not remotely as culpable a dismissal as his first-day aberration – a second-ball reverse sweep to Dom Bess that set in motion one of the most preposterous five-wicket hauls in Test history. However, it was in keeping with a contest in which England have so far claimed just three wickets out of 13 with good deliveries, and the first two of those might well have been resisted by less skittish opponents.There was Stuart Broad’s legcutter to Mendis, an outstanding piece of thinking against an opponent who at that stage had not scored a run in four innings, but it still required a nervy hard-handed thrust to seal the deal. As for Dilruwan Perera, his second-ball inside-out drive against Bess was perhaps not the ideal response to a well-flighted delivery on off stump.In mitigation for England, this match is effectively their warm-up fixture, because a low-key intra-squad warm-up in Hambantota wasn’t nearly enough of a gallop after nearly five months in mothballs for most of the squad. But with five more Tests to come in the next two months, including four against a ferociously drilled India who are currently dredging new reserves of spirit on their tour of Australia, the worry for Joe Root’s men is that they might not find the freebies quite so easy to come by from here on in.”No-one’s really played much cricket so you’d expect a bit of rustiness and a lack of rhythm, but the guys fought hard in humid, sweaty, hot conditions,” Curran said. “The build-up was what it was, we have no complaints. Rooty was very clear that we need to hit the ground running which we luckily did on day one. But day four is going to be a test for us, because we’ve got a lot of overs in our legs now, and we’ve got to come back and keep fighting.”Sam Curran celebrates his breakthrough with Dom Bess•SLCAnd for that reason, it’s hard to pick too many holes in a team who are still favourites to complete an unprecedented fourth consecutive victory in Asia – all of them in Sri Lanka, following their 3-0 clean sweep two winters ago.They’ve got some significant bench-strength to come as well – for the India leg of the winter, if not before – including James Anderson, who seemed the pick of the bowlers in Hambantota, as well as Ben Stokes and Jofra Archer, two men whose methods might prove especially effective in Asia, not to mention Moeen Ali – now finally released from his Covid quarantine.However, the likelihood of Moeen returning for the second Test is slim, given both his own lack of match practice, but also the fact that Leach and Bess are now finally getting enough overs themselves to start feeling a hint of rhythm. Leach in particular – one of the stars of that last Sri Lanka campaign – had bowled a grand total of 52 first-class overs in the 12 months leading up to this Test, through a combination of illness and life in the England bubble. It’s little wonder he has needed a session or two to locate his range.”Line, length, pace … everything really! I probably came up a little short,” Leach told Sky Sports at the close. “I’ve been short of match overs for a little bit of time. You can do as much as you want in the nets but you need that stuff in games. I found I bowled a little bit short when I tried to bowl quicker, that’s something to think about for tomorrow.”The good news for England is that their game plans, though lacking the requisite meat on the bone, do seem to be firmly in place. In particular, the use of Mark Wood in a series of two- and three-over bursts has been encouraging – and the fierce lifter that slammed into Perera’s top hand was an early example of the shock value of a raw quick, even on an unconducive deck.At the other end, Stuart Broad produced another inventive and economical display of out-of-the-box seam bowling – showing echoes of Darren Gough’s methods from his triumphant tour of 2000-01, going through the wall, round the wall, sometimes even under the wall with an attempted slow yorker to Lahiru Thirimanne late in his second spell, in a bid to prise a rare and precious opening.However, Broad was blowing by the end of his eighth over, and sixth maiden – a state of affairs that reiterated the importance of England’s spinners. It’s all very well inverting the pyramid and turning to your seamers to bowl the spinners’ holding overs, which was a secret of England’s success here two years ago, but it does increase the onus on those spinners to attack with the utmost discipline.Instead, Bess in particular found his good fortune from the first innings being rebalanced in a leaky display, while Leach’s own struggles seemed to have been summed up in his 16th over, when Mendis propped forward to a decent biting delivery and lobbed a simple chance to short leg. Sadly for England, however, that fielder only materialised one ball later – Leach’s economy rate of close to four an over had rather negated the option of being attacking.But late in the day, Leach found his fizz at last, and with a nightwatchman at the crease alongside the steadfast Thirimanne, Root remains confident that his side is on course to close out the contest.”When you come and play here, and at this ground in particular, you’ve got to remember how quickly things can change, and how difficult it can be to start your innings,” Root said at close, after establishing England’s dominance with his magnificent 228.”It’s really important as a bowling group that we remember that. You’ve got to make those first 10-15 balls count against a new batter, and remember you’re always in the game throughout, because there’s always that one ball somewhere if you get it in the right spot and fortune’s on your side.”You’ve just got to work hard and try and be as patient as possible, and keep applying as much pressure as you can for long periods.”

Until Sunday, he had gathered consistently. Then came that one barnstorming performance

Saurabh Somani02-Nov-2020After their last-ball defeat against the Chennai Super Kings on October 29, the Kolkata Knight Riders had done a dance routine down the IPL 2020 points table going 5, 6, 7, 8 after every subsequent game because while they had lost, the teams clustered around them were winning. Before their last league match, against the Rajasthan Royals, it didn’t seem anomalous that the Knight Riders were at the bottom of the table, even though five teams were on 12 points.In a way, the Knight Riders’ position mirrored that of captain Eoin Morgan, who had become the batting mainstay of his side almost seamlessly. His team had gathered as many points as the others, but without quite as much of a flourish. Morgan had gathered runs as consistently as anyone else, but without that one barnstorming performance.It took one match, for both perceptions to course correct. The Knight Riders needed a spectacular win, and it was delivered on the back of a spectacular innings against the Rajasthan Royals.Morgan almost downplayed his 68 off 35 that drove the Knight Riders to a total of 191, saying dew had set in early which meant the ball was coming on to the bat better from the first innings itself. The facts are, that in a must-win game for both teams in which both came out swinging hard, only Morgan could score at the pace at which he did, for the length of time he did. Nobody else on either side made more than 40. Nobody who faced at least 20 balls approached his strike-rate. Pat Cummins’ bowling played its part in an eventual 60-run win for the Knight Riders, but arguably, Morgan’s contribution was even more important.His innings ticked some minor boxes in getting him a first half-century in IPL 2020, but that was incidental. Measuring the number of half-centuries for a batsman without context is anyway archaic in T20 cricket.But even by conventional measures, Morgan has had a quietly standout season for the Knight Riders. He’s crossed 400 runs, and in 14 innings, failed to go beyond single-digits just twice. Half of his innings have been scored at strike rates above 140. He’s been the team’s best batsman by some distance. And he’s done all this in a season where he was part of a captaincy change midway through the tournament.Before 2020, Morgan’s record in the IPL was decidedly tepid: an average of 21.35 at a strike rate of 121.13 across 52 matches. This year, the average has been 41.80 and the strike rate has jumped to 138.41. The value his batting has brought for the Knight Riders is understood better when seen through ESPNcricinfo’s Smart Stats, which give weightage to performances based on oppositions, match situations and the period of play in which runs are scored. Morgan’s Smart Runs tally is 445 – the highest in the league. Only KL Rahul, Shikhar Dhawan, David Warner and Mayank Agarwal have more Smart Runs than Morgan.ESPNcricinfo LtdIt’s illustrative of just how valuable Morgan’s runs have been that the four men ahead of him are all openers, the position that has the maximum opportunity to pile on big scores in T20 cricket. Morgan has come in to bat on an average in the tenth over this IPL. If he has come in earlier, it’s because there has been a top-order failure. To still outscore a whole bunch of pedigreed batsmen who bat from Nos.1 to 4 in various teams, speaks to the dual aspect of Morgan’s batting this season: he’s got runs consistently, and he’s got them at rates that have been above-par for the match.Sometimes, like on Sunday against the Royals, stunningly above par.Morgan himself focussed more on the collective effort than his own knock. “Given the conditions, how good they were…. everybody in the middle order felt that you had a few balls to take your time and then you could hopefully take advantage later on in the innings,” he said at the press conference after the game. “Managed to do that, Andre Russell managed to do that, and a number of our other batsmen managed to contribute in posting a score of 190.”The words were understated, much like his tournament has been. It could be the way the tournament ends for Morgan and the Knight Riders, with their progression now dependent on the results of the two league stage matches that remain. Morgan himself didn’t appear too fussed, saying he was satisfied the Knight Riders had done all they could to stay in contention with that dominant show against the Royals.”I’ll have an eye on it in the background, but there’s nothing that we can control in that, so what will be, will be,” he said.Regardless of whether the Knight Riders make the playoffs or not, it’s been a breakthrough season of sorts for Morgan, the batsman. He has had sustained success in a competition he hadn’t cracked previously. He’s handled a transition of leadership mid-season, a tricky enough thing to manage on its own. And he’s done it when two of the greatest T20 players of all time in Russell and Sunil Narine have been unavailable for selection at various points.If the playoffs happen, he’ll get another chance to add a striking innings to the IPL 2020 memory bank. If not, he’ll have to wait and see if this batting upswing can be carried over when the IPL is played in India. Either way, what will be, will be.

We pick 11 under-25s who we think are destined for great things

Sreshth Shah20-May-202145:27

A Test team for 2031

In ten years, when Kane Williamson has retired to become a surfer, Steve Smith a folk singer, and Virat Kohli the star of an eight-season documentary on his life, who are the players who might be bossing Test cricket?That was the brief given to our panelists – Raunak Kapoor, Alan Gardner, and Danyal Rasool – as they looked to select a Dream Test Team circa 2031. The only criterion? The players should all be under 25 as of May 20, 2021.10:39

Who partners Shubman Gill in a future side of world beaters?

The openers debate
The list of prospects is long but only two spots are available. India have Shubman Gill and Prithvi Shaw. New Zealand have Test-squad breakout Rachin Ravindra and future superstar Finn Allen. In county cricket, James Bracey has been making heads turn and Haseeb Hameed has found his hands after a few poor seasons. And down under there’s young Will Pucovski, who has already been heralded as the next great Aussie Test sensation. Which two make the cut?8:16

Crawley or Pope? Nissanka or Shanto?

A middle order to envy
In first-class cricket, England’s Ollie Pope averages over 52 and Sri Lanka’s Pathum Nissanka nearly 65. Zak Crawley has a Test best of 257. Sam Curran was Player of the Series in his debut Test outing against India. Washington Sundar has shown how to get on top of Australia’s fast bowlers. Rishabh Pant is a superstar already. Then there’s Australia’s Cameron Green and South African Raynard van Tonder to consider. Eight great options, a few of them allrounders – which five make the XI?8:34

Who joins Shaheen Afridi in the World Test XI of the future?

The fast-bowling superstars
While the names of Afghanistan’s Rashid Khan, Bangladesh’s Mehidy Hasan Miraz and Sri Lanka’s Lasith Embuldeniya were thrown in the ring for the spinner’s spot, our panelists perked up when it came time to discuss the fast-bowling stars of the future. With Green, Curran and Wiaan Mulder in the mix, who will the out-and-out quicks in this XI be? Pakistan’s Shaheen Shah Afridi was a unanimous choice, but can his countryman Naseem Shah maintain his pace as the years roll on? Then there’s South Africa’s Gerald Coetzee, one of the players expected to dominate the next decade and Zimbabwe’s line-and-length specialist Blessing Muzarabani. Eventually the panel went for a mix of speed and accuracy to close out what looks like a devastating XI for the future.

Australia needed some luck to secure an incredible victory, but to even have a chance said a lot about their game

Andrew McGlashan25-Sep-2021Was the delivery to Nicola Carey a no-ball? You aren’t going to find a unanimous view (although it’s only what the umpire decided that matters). Was Australia’s victory in Mackay a remarkable chapter for a brilliant team? Of that there is little doubt.Beth Mooney, who was on the field from first ball to last, played the innings of her life. They needed some fortune to finally get the job finished, but she produced a textbook display of calculating a run chase from a long way out. As the latter stages unfolded, Meg Lanning revealed they had wanted to get it down to 90 off the last 10; in the end they needed 87.Yet while Mooney was the standout statistically, it was the supporting cast that was just as significant. Australia were without three first-choice players – Rachael Haynes, Megan Schutt and Jess Jonassen – with another likely starter in Tayla Vlaeminck sidelined and Georgia Wareham injured early in the game and unable to bowl. The talk before the series had been Australia’s much-vaunted depth. Here it was, again.In the opening match teenagers Darcie Brown and Hannah Darlington shared six wickets and now in the second game Tahlia McGrath, playing her seventh ODI, and Carey who has precious little chance to show her batting credentials at the top level combined with Mooney to lift Australia form 52 for 4.Related

No-ball drama, Beth Mooney's 125*, Australia's epic victory

How the final over of madness in Mackay played out

The final ball that wasn't: the story of a chaotically memorable finish

Beth Mooney: Anyone in the Australia team can win us a game from anywhere

McGrath, who made her debut in 2016 before having three years away from the side, had an outstanding all-round day – becoming the seventh Australian female player to take three wickets and score a half-century in an ODI – with her bowling helping cover the expensive performances of Ellyse Perry and Darlington.She had an underwhelming 2020-21 season with the bat (averaging 16.21 in the WBBL and 27.80 in the WNCL) but Australia have shown faith. It was the early stages of McGrath’s innings which were key to the revival with Mooney yet to find fluency having fought to survive the new ball. When the fifty partnership was raised, McGrath had 34 of them and finished with two-thirds of the 126-run stand.”A lot of credit has to go to T-Mac,” Mooney said, “she came in and looked like she was batting on a completely different wicket. Just goes to show in the investment you make in players like T-Mac, think she has evolved her game massively in the last couple of years.”Nicola Carey drives down the ground•Albert Perez/Getty Images”Motty [Matthew Mott] made the comment before I went out that this is your opportunity, you haven’t really had a good crack at it,” McGrath said. “So I just had to keep us as close to run rate as possible so left with no choice but to play like that and luckily it came off.”For me it’s about being brave in my ability and that’s something, again, that the Australian team is really good at, making sure that you are fearless and back yourself. It’s believing in my ability and showcasing what I can do.”When McGrath fell, pulling a short delivery to fine leg, the job was far from done with Australia still needing 97 off 69 balls and an injured Wareham, herself an ever-improving batter, unlikely to be able to play a role. But up stepped Carey with the most significant innings of her international career – she had never previously faced more than 22 balls and it was just the tenth time in 19 ODIs that she had batted – which included a horrid hit to the helmet from a Jhulan Goswami beamer in the dramatic final over. Australia’s middle order are sometimes left kicking their heels. They were needed on this occasion and delivered.The contrast between how Australia responded to pressure and how India, albeit hampered by a wet ball, couldn’t close out a game they had dominated for so long was stark but also a reminder of how India’s players are being expected to developed with one hand tied behind their back. The role of the WBBL and the strong WNCL should not be understated in Australia’s success.The likes of Carey, who averaged 47.50 for Tasmania in the WNCL last season after a poor WBBL for Hobart Hurricanes, and McGrath bat high up the order so know how to build innings and the players are exposed to pressure situations. Only English cricket currently comes close to providing a comparable platform in the female game.”Experience is pretty valuable and I’ve played a lot of cricket – not so much at this top level – so was backing myself that it was just another game,” McGrath said. “We were really calm, really clear about what we needed to do. We have so much belief in the squad that no matter who is at the wicket we can do a job.”Someone, eventually, will beat this Australia side. But they will have to play the perfect match.