The Pakistan side has toured the world more than any other since the pandemic began, hoping for reciprocity – which has not materialised

Osman Samiuddin22-Sep-2021Here is a list. It is of cricketers who have played the most international games away from home in the time of the pandemic.Eight of the top ten are Pakistan players. Pakistan might not be the biggest draw in cricket, though they are enough of one in England to have been invited for bilateral contests in five of the last six years, and enough of one for games with India to regularly feature in ICC press releases about being the most-watched ever.Two of the top three in that list – and arguably all three of Babar Azam, Shaheen Shah Afridi and Mohammad Rizwan – would walk into any national side’s squad. Into any T20 league too, including, if it was allowed, the IPL. Babar and Afridi, especially, are bona fide superstars. They are players you’d pay to watch.Related

• Alex Hales: England cancelling Pakistan tour last year 'made absolutely zero sense'

• New Zealand to tour Pakistan twice in 2022-23 to make up for postponed series

• Ramiz Raja hints at women's PSL for Pakistan in the near-future

• England to play seven T20Is in Pakistan as ECB reaffirm commitment to 2022 tour

• ECB chairman promises to 'do everything we can' to travel to Pakistan on schedule in 2022

In the 18 months or so since Covid hit in a big way, these three have toured England twice, played a full tour in New Zealand, played a white-ball series in South Africa, Tests and T20Is in Zimbabwe, and then Tests and T20Is in the West Indies. If the world had corners, they would have been to all of them.At a time when, for much of the world, air travel has represented a serious health threat, they have flown on commercial planes, on chartered planes, through large, busy airports. They have then lived through some of the strictest periods of isolation; for ten days in England last year; for 14 days in New Zealand, when the only time they could open their hotel-room doors was to pick up a tray of food; for ten days in England again this summer.The intensity of those periods of isolation has since eased. In each of South Africa, Zimbabwe and the West Indies, for instance, they had to undergo three days of isolation before they could get out. But it adds up quickly, and New Zealand apart – where there were no restrictions once isolation was over – they have had to live in biosecure bubbles of varying stringency over six tours. On some of these tours they have not even been allowed out of their hotels.They have gone through it in silence. Part of it is because Pakistani players don’t talk about mental health, and so, though we know it must have had an impact, we have no idea of the extent of it. Shan Masood did talk a little but he’s an exception. Pakistan’s players have also gone through it all out of compulsion because there is no players’ body to articulate and represent their views, and more importantly, to protect their right to air those views. The PCB agrees to a tour, the players have little choice but to agree, because, to its enduring shame, Pakistan cricket remains an insecure place of employment for a player. Speaking out about bubble fatigue, or voicing concerns about well-being and acting on those concerns means risking a place in the side.ESPNcricinfo LtdQuite a few of them have contracted Covid in this time, yet they have continued, selling their labour here, there and everywhere. They are never paid especially well for it, yet off the back of that very labour other boards have also profited.These players helped save a summer last year in England. They not only did not ditch South Africa when their original tour, in September-October 2020, was postponed because of the pandemic, they made sure to return to fulfil that obligation in six months. And they tacked on an extra T20I, recognising that CSA had been hit by England’s abrupt departure earlier that season.They played Zimbabwe, one of the three most neglected Full Members, in not one but two series. They would have played the other two – Ireland and Afghanistan – as well, had it not been impossible for the ECB to find space in their calendar to allow use of their grounds, or had the Taliban not taken over Afghanistan.In this time, Pakistan have been the most frequent contributors to ensuring that cricket continues around the world. They didn’t do it solely out of the goodness of their hearts, or out of a sense of wider responsibility to the game. They expected reciprocity. They expected that their sacrifices would pave the way for the final step of the return to international cricket to Pakistan: the visit of teams such as England, New Zealand and Australia.Instead, what they have got from the ECB and its players is not just a withdrawal from a tour and an apology, but the middle finger. The fans and the PCB, of course, but most of all, a finger to those at the very front end of this: Babar, Afridi and the players, because it is their mental and physical health that has been at most risk in all those days of travel and competition.For all the days spent in isolation, away from their families, from their homes, for all the admonishment in New Zealand, for all the accommodation made in England this year in the wake of the Covid outbreak within the England camp, a middle finger, right back at them.What they have got is a reminder that the Big Three’s real mistake in 2014 was to put out a position paper and attempt to formalise the new order. All they needed to do was simply start playing as if the new order existed.Pakistan have toured England twice since the pandemic hit, last playing to packed stadiums in July this year•Getty ImagesFor example, let’s be generous and give Cricket Australia’s cancellation of their Test against Afghanistan its moment. But the pandemic has hit their scheduling with a – help me out here – pattern? They have toured England, and not hosted the T20 World Cup but hosted India. They pulled out of a tour to South Africa because they were worried about the health of their players during what was the second wave of the pandemic there, but the day after that decision, were happy to issue NOCs for players to go to the IPL in India (where a second wave was beginning) based on the biosecurity protocols of the previous IPL, held in a different country, during a different phase of the pandemic.England have pulled out of tours to Bangladesh and Pakistan but have squeezed in eight Tests against India this year and are smarting from not playing one more; and are willing to field an under-strength side and risk a player boycott to get to a country that has shut its borders harder than any other save New Zealand for three more Tests this year.Officially, the Big Three was disbanded back in February 2017. Since then, nearly half of all Australia’s international matches have been against England and India; a third of England’s have been against the other two; and 35% of India’s have been against the other two.What Pakistan have got is the irony of a Big Three board cancelling a bilateral series, while still being a Big Three board that wants more bilateral cricket in the next calendar at the expense of an extra ICC event (with the support of the ICC chair, by the way). An extra ICC event that offers a majority of Full Members a more reliable guarantee of revenue than the currently empty promises of bilateral cricket the Big Three make to those teams, because what the Big Three really mean by more bilateral cricket is bilateral cricket among themselves.What Babar, Afridi and Pakistan cricket have got, above all else, is a reminder of how broken international cricket already was before the pandemic broke it further. This is the epiphany that struck Ramiz Raja, the PCB chairman, on Tuesday, when he responded to a question about what the PCB could do next: “Withdrawal doesn’t have an answer, frankly speaking.”Pakistan has no real recourse to recouping the losses incurred by these two withdrawals other than to bear it. They cannot go to the ICC because, hello, there is no such thing really as the ICC, not beyond, as senior Australian journalist Gideon Haigh has often put it, an event-management company. Instead the real governors of the game are the very same ones whose middle finger Pakistan, along with the rest of cricket, are staring at.

Ashes-winning captain, autocratic “supremo”, Farsley CC groundsman – “Illy” was one of the game’s true greats

David Hopps25-Dec-2021Raymond Illingworth had a fair claim to be considered the most competent English cricketer since the war. He was not, as Yorkshire’s pointed out, a great batsman, nor a great bowler, nor a great fieldsman. But he was a professional’s professional, “sufficiently expert, in his employment of experience, knowledge, tactical insight and psychology as a captain to be remembered without qualification as a great cricketer”.In fact, there was little Illingworth (known throughout his career as “Illy”) did not know about cricket and virtually nothing he could not do in the game. As a small boy he would help prepare his local club ground for a match and when his race was run, and he had a distinguished record as a former England manager and captain, he still enjoyed rolling the grass and marking the pitch at his local Bradford League club, Farsley. He had opinions on groundsmanship as he had opinions on everything else that was cricket related. He was truly a cricket man for all seasons and for all moments, critical or contemplative.The son of a cabinet-maker and joiner, he inherited strong hands, long fingers, powerful arms and an attention to detail. He left school in Farsley at 14 with a batting average of 100 and a bowling average of two. He furthered his cricketing education on the damp pitches and in the stinging winds of the Bradford League which encouraged in him a pragmatism that never wavered. When he was only 15, he scored 148 not out in a Priestley Cup Final spread over several evenings.Related

• Illy the groundsman

• A sandwich with the supremo

• Unlikely supremo Silverwood follows in Illingworth's footsteps

• Former England captain Ray Illingworth dies aged 89

Illingworth was playing for Yorkshire’s 2nd XI before he gained wider prominence during national service when playing for the RAF and Combined Services. He was 19 when he scored 56 on his debut for Yorkshire in 1951 but was unable to compete for a regular place until after his release in 1953 when a series of mishaps to Yorkshire’s bowlers left a vacancy.Illy had bowled right-arm medium until he discovered, in a league match, a talent for offspin and it was as an offbreak bowler, with a well-disguised “arm” ball that he would be mostly remembered. His smooth, contemplative approach and curl of his bowling arm before delivery imposed an impression of order and he resented every run he conceded. His versatility was such that for a quarter century he was numbered among the world’s most reliable allrounders, as reflected in his career figures: 24,134 runs at an average of 28.06, 2,072 wickets at 20.28.He hit 22 first-class centuries and took 446 catches, usually at gully from where he kept an eagle eye on the play, as analytical as any player in Yorkshire’s history. As a young player, he had to withstand a bullying Yorkshire dressing room where senior players held sway. He was no more than an average fielder when he entered the Yorkshire team and suffered some sarcastic outbursts from the acerbic Johnny Wardle until, after a confrontation, he became Wardle’s favourite fielder in the deep.Many of Illingworth’s runs were made at a critical juncture in the innings when either defiance or dash was needed and his ability to provide either made him a major figure in Yorkshire’s seven trophies, including five Championships, in the 1960s. Cricket was a job and the job was to win, from the outset. Throughout he was captain Brian Close’s right-hand man and the story goes that when one of the ebullient skipper’s cunning wheezes went awry the team naturally turned to Illingworth to restore order. They were a potent blend, Close possessed of a gambler’s instinct, Illingworth shrewd and intense. They were solid friends, each convinced they knew more than the other.Judged a batting offspinner by the England selectors, he had to compete for a Test place with several expert practitioners, including his fellow Yorkshiremen Bob Appleyard and Jim Laker, who played for Surrey, and did not play for the first of his 61 Tests till 1958. He toured Australia in 1962-63 where public comments about the captaincy and the tour management made him a suspicious character to cricket’s establishment.

“Playing under Illy was a marvellous experience, going to school under a stern and humorous headmaster whose own foibles made him that much more of a human being”David Gower

His future at Headingley seemed considerably more stable when he followed Close as Yorkshire’s captain, but he was not a man given to gamble in cricket or in life and, in 1968, at 37, he sought some insurance from Yorkshire through a written contract. By a piece of mismanagement spectacular by even Yorkshire’s history he was sacked, became Leicestershire’s captain and transformed them into one of England’s leading teams, taking them to the Championship for the first time in their history.David Gower, a young aspirant when Illingworth arrived at Leicestershire and who was to one day follow him as captain of England, later remembered: “Playing under Illy was a marvellous experience, going to school under a stern and humorous headmaster whose own foibles made him that much more of a human being.”Above all this headmaster had standards. And only if you observed those standards were you admitted to the inner circle of his confidence. You had to look after yourself in what he considered to be a proper manner on and off the field. If you did all that he loved you; if you didn’t, he would be down on you. His attitude to any and every game of cricket was 100 percent effort.”Even the establishment was impressed and, strikingly late in his career, the England captaincy followed, a run of 31 successive Tests, plus five against the Rest of the World, which culminated in the regaining of the Ashes in Australia in 1970-71. It ended with his team triumphantly chairing him from the field in an obvious show of respect, but it was a controversial series and Illingworth’s demeanour and attitude brought criticism from the more traditional pundits. He argued on the field about short-pitched bowling with the Australian umpire Lou Rowan in the Sydney Test, and when bottles and cans were thrown on to the outfield in protest, Illingworth led his players off the field in protest. England played in his manner: tough, pugnacious, shrewd.The Yorkshire committee, beset by argument and furore over the future of Geoffrey Boycott, invited him back as manager in 1979 but such was the acrimony that by the end of the summer, he admitted he wished he had never returned from Leicester. Whatever the regrets he persevered in trying to restore the county’s fortunes and in 1982, 15 days after his 50th birthday, he found himself appointed Yorkshire’s captain, a post that should have been his more than a decade before. Yorkshire finished that summer bottom of the Championship for the first time, but Illingworth bowling many a crafty over, took them to the Sunday League title, their first trophy for 14 years.Devon Malcolm bowls as Ray Illingworth looks on•Getty ImagesThat triumph failed to save him from a sacking at the next annual general meeting when the Committee was overturned by Boycott supporters so Illingworth once more departed to the media where his printed and on-screen comments were trenchant and wise. Even then his career was far from over for such was his prestige that he was invited to become England team manager in 1986; he looked at the terms, felt that the authority granted was insufficient and demurred.Ten years later with England desperate for a saviour and with previous disagreements forgotten, Illingworth became chairman of selectors. While his brusque Yorkshire independence was enough for him to be the anti-establishment candidate, it was hardly a revolution – he became the oldest chairman of selectors for 40 years and had little patience with progressive ideas. Where he wanted assistants, he preferred old trusties.When he added the position of team manager, he became one of the most autocratic figures in English cricket history, Jack Bannister wrote in , a joint undertaking with Illingworth: “No one man has had so much power in English cricket at selection and managerial level.”The players, alas, were not of the kind he knew and he found it hard to adapt to changing social attitudes. Some of his selections might also have benefited from a stronger challenge from others. His most controversial run-in came with the fast but wild Devon Malcolm, who was dismayed by his hostility, but who later expressed regret at speculation that their fall-out had been racially motivated. Michael Atherton, a young captain with equally firm views, was not impressed. “My view was that the captain was there to make the important cricketing decisions and the manager was there to reduce the hassle,” he wrote in his autobiography. “Raymond obviously thought it was the other way round!”Illingworth became a CBE, and after his retirement he was a regular visitor to Headingley’s press box where he enjoyed a good moan, his uncompromising opinions laced with humour, and shared his knowledge on every nuance of play. Yorkshire made some reparation for previous injustices by electing him club president in 2010-11, a position he took up diligently until he had a heart attack in his second year. He loved cricket to the end. Afflicted late in life by esophageal cancer, in one of his last interviews he suggested that he would like nothing better than to finish his life by watching a game of local cricket before walking home on a sunny day.

And is Virat Kohli the fastest to 20 ODI centuries?

Steven Lynch12-Sep-2023I noticed that Jos Buttler captained England on his birthday recently. How rare is this? asked Jennifer Roberts from England
Jos Buttler skippered England in a one-day international against New Zealand last week in Cardiff on September 8, his 33rd birthday. Things started well as he top-scored for England with 72, but he ended up on the losing side.Captaining on a birthday is reasonably common: this was the 31st such instance in men’s ODIs, and it was followed next day by the 32nd – Dasun Shanaka skippered Sri Lanka against Bangladesh during the Asia Cup in Colombo on his 32nd birthday. The only other Englishman to do it was Andrew Strauss, in what ended up as a sensational defeat by Ireland during the World Cup in Bangalore on March 2, 2011, his 34th birthday.Tamim Iqbal has made something of a habit of this, captaining Bangladesh in three ODIs on his birthday (March 20) in 2021, 2022 and 2023. Viv Richards and Arjuna Ranatunga both did it twice.There have been 15 instances in men’s T20Is, including another one by Shanaka (in 2022), and one by New Zealand’s Tom Latham (April 2), who also did in an ODI.There have been more cases in Tests, but only 21 occasions when a captain had his birthday on the first day of the match, when he presumably tossed up. The first instance of this actually featured both skippers: on March 11, 1953, in Georgetown, Jeff Stollmeyer (West Indies) turned 32, and Vijay Hazare (India) 38.Virat Kohli captained India in a Test against South Africa in Mohali that started on his 27th birthday (November 5) in 2015, and in a T20I against Scotland on his 33rd, in Dubai during the 2021 World Cup.I read that Tim David was the first to play a one-day international having previously played T20s for a different country. Is that correct? asked Mason Edwards from Australia
It’s not quite true. The hard-hitting Tim David played his first one-day international for Australia last week, against South Africa in Bloemfontein last week. He had previously played 28 T20Is, the first 14 of them for Singapore, where he was born in 1996. The particular distinction achieved by David is that he is the first man who made his official international debut for a country that doesn’t play ODIs to appear in one, obviously after being selected by a country that does play them. (In case it helps the explanation, Mark Chapman, who is now playing for New Zealand, previously appeared for Hong Kong – but they did have ODI status, and he played two such matches for them, as well as 19 T20Is, before New Zealand chose him.)By a remarkable coincidence, the first woman to achieve this unusual double completed it on the same day as David: on September 9, Mahika Gaur made her ODI debut for England, against Sri Lanka in Chester-le Street, after 19 T20Is for United Arab Emirates (and two in recent weeks for England). The UAE’s women’s team does not have ODI status.Which man has the best bowling figures in The Hundred? asked James Narracott from England
The best bowling figures in the men’s Hundred are 5 for 11, by the South African-born Manchester Originals legspinner Calvin Harrison against Northern Superchargers at Old Trafford last month. Harrison bettered the mark set in 2022 by another Originals player, Josh Little, who took 5 for 13 against Oval Invincibles, also at Old Trafford.There have been three other five-fors, by Marchant de Lange (5 for 20 for Trent Rockets), Imran Tahir and Henry Brookes (who both took 5 for 25 for Birmingham Phoenix). For the full list, click here. The only bowler to take five wickets in an innings in the women’s Hundred is Fi Morris – 5 for 7 for Manchester Originals against Birmingham Phoenix at Old Trafford in 2023.Hashim Amla is the fastest to 20 ODI hundreds, getting there in 25 fewer innings than the next fastest, Virat Kohli•AFPVirat Kohli scored his 20th ODI hundred in his 133rd innings. Has anyone got to 20 faster than Virat? asked Vikram Ramaswamy from India
The only man to reach 20 one-day international centuries quicker than Virat Kohli’s 133 innings is the South African Hashim Amla, who got there in 108. In third place is Australia’s David Warner who scored his 20th century in his 142nd ODI innings, against South Africa in Bloemfontein last week.Only 12 others have scored as many as 20 centuries in ODIs. AB de Villiers reached the mark in 175 innings, Rohit Sharma in 183, Ross Taylor 195, Sachin Tendulkar 197, Sourav Ganguly 214, Herschelle Gibbs 217, Chris Gayle 226, Saeed Anwar 243, Ricky Ponting 244, Tillakaratne Dilshan 279, Sanath Jayasuriya 350 and Kumar Sangakkara 366.Both captains during India’s Asia Cup match against Nepal were called Rohit. How rare is this? asked Husein Bharmal from Oman
The captains in that Asia Cup match in Pallekele last week were Rohit Sharma of India and Rohit Paudel of Nepal. The only previous instance of the captains sharing the same first name in ODIs was in Perth in 1990-91, when Australia were skippered by Allan Border and England by Allan Lamb.Border and Lamb also opposed each other in one Test, in Brisbane a few weeks earlier; other instances involved Herbie Taylor (South Africa) and Herbie Collins (Australia) in three Tests in 1921-22, and Jack Ryder (Australia) and Jack White (England) in one match in 1928-29. The only case in T20Is was by Mohammad Hafeez (Pakistan) and Mohammad Nabi (Afghanistan) in 2013-14.Molly Dive (Australia) and Molly Hide (England) opposed each other in four women’s Tests (three in 1948-49 and one in 1951), and Mary Duggan (England) and Mary Allitt (Australia) in three in 1963. Clare Connor (England) and Clare Shillington (Ireland) captained in an ODI in Pretoria during the 2005 World Cup. (I’ve tried to use the forenames by which the players were usually known, but nicknames or shortened versions of names might mean these lists are not quite complete, so, for example, Steve Waugh and Stephen Fleming did not show up in our query.)Shiva Jayaraman of ESPNcricinfo’s stats team helped with some of the above answers.Use our feedback form, or the Ask Steven Facebook page to ask your stats and trivia questions

The team have adopted an aggression-first, high-risk-high-reward approach this season. Is it paying dividends?

Matt Roller28-Apr-2022Punjab Kings are the IPL’s mavericks. Their matches this season have been appointment-to-view TV, ranging from convincing wins to blow-out defeats with nail-biting final-over drama in between.Kings have the IPL’s third-best balls-per-six ratio, third-highest dot-ball percentage, and second-lowest batting average. It was obvious from their auction strategy that they would be a boom-or-bust batting team, and their totals this season have borne that out: they have made five totals of 180 or more, and three of 151 or less.Only Kolkata Knight Riders have a batting style that is high-risk, high-reward to the same extent but that has been their identity for a number of years; Punjab, by contrast, are the franchise whose captain described strike rate, perhaps T20 cricket’s most fundamental metric, as “very, very overrated” 18 months ago.Related

• M Shahrukh Khan: 'I want to be the best version of myself wherever I go'

• Best friends reunite as Rahul's Super Giants face off against Agarwal's Punjab Kings

• The six-hitting revolution is only getting started

• How do batters train for the demands of T20?

• Punjab Kings come out all guns blazing, and it's working

But after seven consecutive seasons without reaching the playoffs, it was clear something needed to change. Their research and development consultant, Sankar Rajgopal, put together an auction team focused on exploiting market inefficiencies and recruiting six-hitters. Of their six most expensive auction purchases, five were bought primarily for their attacking ability with the bat: Liam Livingstone, Shahrukh Khan, Shikhar Dhawan, Jonny Bairstow and Odean Smith.The result was a squad filled with power, as Kings sacrificed bowling strength for batting depth and backed their hitters to succeed. The first two matches showed the trade-off involved in their approach: in their opening game, they chased 206 with an over to spare against Royal Challengers Bangalore; in their second, they were bowled out for 137 by KKR.

Welcome to WordPress. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, then start writing!