Although he is a freelance cricketer now, there is a sense that Rossouw cares about every franchise he plays for

Danyal Rasool18-Mar-2020Having just guided his new franchise, Multan Sultans, to the top of the PSL table and ensured they became the first team to qualify for the last four, Rilee Rossouw was faced by a decision he had said he never wanted to make again. With the coronavirus pandemic spreading around the world and several countries, including Rossouw’s native South Africa, introducing stringent border controls, he posted a tweet that will have reminded PSL fans of the gut-wrenching announcement he had made three years ago, when he played for Quetta Gladiators.”Unfortunately, I will no longer be involved in PSL 2020,” it read. “It has been a privilege to represent Multan Sultans and to play/work with the special people there! Thank you Pakistan for your hospitality and for making PSL5 a [sic] unforgettable experience for me!”Rossouw was leaving Pakistan to be home with his family, making him unavailable for the final group game and the knockout stage of the PSL. As it happened, the knockout stages would never take place, with the PSL forced into postponing the semi-finals and final as a precautionary measure after an overseas player displayed symptoms consistent with the coronavirus.

I hope and I wish everything goes to plan, and cricket comes back here, which there’s no doubt it’s going to

Though Rossouw had decided against touring Pakistan in 2017, too, the circumstances could hardly be more different. Then, the entire Quetta Gladiators overseas contingent had opted against making the trip, with Rossouw understood to have deliberated the hardest before finally deciding to stay away “with a sad heart”.It was a decision Rossouw admitted he regrets to ESPNcricinfo. “It’s something I’ve looked back at since, and felt a pang of regret about,” Rossouw said during a chat the day before he left Pakistan. “Having been back since every year and enjoyed the hospitality of Pakistan, I’ve always felt completely safe, and if I knew then what I know now, there’s every chance I would have come to a different conclusion.”The regret may have been compounded by how that final played out. Peshawar Zalmi’s overseas players had all travelled to Lahore, led by the charismatic Daren Sammy, and blown a depleted Quetta side away, romping to the title in the process. And while a number of players on the T20 circuit may have developed reputations for being mercenaries, Rossouw, at least in Pakistan, has built a reputation of caring deeply both for the league as well as the side he’s played for.Rilee Rossouw and Ahmed Shehzad walk off the field after winning PSL 2019•PCBThat side is now Multan, even if he is best known for his association with Quetta that culminated last year with a trophy against his name. Of players who missed at least one season, only Luke Ronchi is ahead of him in terms of runs scored in the PSL. It is, the BPL aside, his most successful T20 league, and Rossouw opened up on why the T20 circuit was going so swimmingly for him.”For me, first of all, it’s personal pride. I know many people think as a T20 player you’re just a gun for hire, but whatever team I play for, I’m eager to do my best. Whether it be here or the BPL, I enjoy my time as much as I can. I know some people can think it’s a bit of a hassle to be on tour all the time. But it is our job, you’ve gotta do it. I love what I do, so for me, it’s just about enjoying myself out there, especially my batting.”Just like every other season in Pakistan, Rossouw had plenty of time to enjoy his batting, particularly against his old team Quetta, who came in for the heaviest punishment. In a league game in Multan, Rossouw put Quetta to the sword in an astonishing onslaught in the final ten overs that would see Multan plunder 134. It included a century Rossouw clobbered off just 43 deliveries – the fastest in PSL history – to set up a win that epitomised the contrasting fortunes of the two sides since. From thereon, Multan wouldn’t to lose a game till after they had qualified, while Quetta wouldn’t win one until they found themselves mathematically eliminated from the competition.

If I knew then what I know now, there’s every chance I would have come to a different conclusionRoussouw on refusing to play in Pakistan in 2017

And while Rossouw took pleasure in his personal form, he had a soft spot for his old team-mates, too. “I love Quetta and my time at Quetta. They are still a franchise that is very close to me. Anything can happen in cricket, but unfortunately, things haven’t gone their way because of off-the-field stuff. Umar [Akmal, who was suspended from the tournament on its eve under the PCB’s anti-corruption code] plays a massive role at Quetta Gladiators, and his absence in the middle order has maybe hampered them a little bit. One or two guys have maybe been a little bit inconsistent in the tournament, which you can have in some seasons, too. I’m sure they’ll bounce back very strongly.”Multan has just been special for me. I enjoyed my time in the city, just to see how much cricket meant to the people. You see that in Karachi and Lahore and Pindi [Rawalpindi] as well, but in Multan, it really hit home what cricket is actually doing for this country. I hope and I wish everything goes to plan, and cricket comes back here, which there’s no doubt it’s going to. Just driving back from the games, you see the people on the roads waving and cheering. It was really, really special.”Rilee Rossouw topped the run-scorers’ chart•Raton Gomes/BCBBut it isn’t just the city that’s attracted Rossouw. The approach Multan have taken to the tournament is significantly different to the philosophy at Quetta, at least on the face of it. Multan had made clear they would prioritise data and analytics above all else to make decisions, both at the draft and during the competition, and while there was scepticism around the approach in a league where such ideas are very much yet to go mainstream, Multan used it to go top of the table by some distance.”I kind of liked it [the attitude towards data]. I think that it definitely can benefit you. I wouldn’t say there’s no benefit here. Especially for the captain to know exactly where to bowl to certain batsmen, what fields to set. From that point of view, I think it’s fantastic. And as a batsman, where you’re weak and where you’re strong it can help you with, too. You know what to work on, and you get a rough idea of where the bowlers are going to bowl to, so I think it’s fantastic.”I would definitely say you have to be careful with this, too. There are players here, and indeed players in every team, who could get overwhelmed with the volume of information coaches and analysts might be throwing at them, and players like that I feel you don’t need to bother too much. You just need to tell them you just need to go out and play your game and not to worry about data or analytics.”

I know many people think as a T20 player you’re just a gun for hire, but whatever team I play for, I’m eager to do my best

The discussions in Pakistan invariably circle back to safety, and the experience of cricketers spending such large amounts of time abiding by security protocols they are unlikely to see anywhere else in the world. There has been talk of some players feeling stifled by the restrictions on movements, and others feeling so comfortable with the state of affairs in the country they felt most security arrangements were gratuitous. That may in itself be a vote of confidence for the future of cricket in Pakistan, but Rossouw was happy to take pleasure in whatever little distraction he could get.”They kind of force us to stay in hotels, but we went to play some night golf a couple of nights ago. That was a fantastic experience. It was my first time ever playing night golf, but that was wonderful, I enjoyed it thoroughly.”Quetta and Multan fans could say the same about Rossouw’s exploits on the field. He may, for now, have become a T20 journeyman, but those who watched him closely in the PSL over the years will hope his travels continue to include stopovers in Pakistan every year.

Jesse Ryder? Shane Bond? Ryan Harris? The Mohammad Asif Sadness Club debate the players they regret not seeing more of

09-Jul-2020 Rabbit Holes, Andrew Fidel Fernando, ESPNcricinfo’s Sri Lanka correspondent: So, the biggest losses to cricket this century. I think given the people involved in the conversation, this will quickly degenerate into a Mohammad Asif support group. But there are so many others who’ve not had the careers we all wanted them to have.Osman Samiuddin, senior editor: Wait, what? This is not the Asif Anonymous Group already?Fernando: “Hi, I’m Osman, and it’s been ten years since I last watched Asif bowl. ( some of the tracks Pakistan have played on in the last five, six years.Samiuddin: The UAE? I mean, imagine Misbah captaining Asif – would he have turned him into an offspinner?Fernando: Hah, true, but I meant more outside the UAE. Those New Zealand greentops where you can only see the batsman from the helmet up, because of the grass cover. He would also have adored a lot of the tracks Pakistan played on in Sri Lanka, in the middle of the last decade, when they were visiting every other weekend.Samiuddin: Also can’t help but think how he would have gone in Australia. He had one great Test there – in Sydney – but that surface was that first morning and it had rained and clouds were around, so it was ideal. I think that’s probably the last time Australia had anything other than a flat track. His set-ups were like Warne in conception – this one of Clarke especially. He bowled four-five balls to Clarke before this, all good length, on off-stump line, either not seaming or seaming away. Two-three he left alone to keeper. One he drove. This one he tried to drive again and it was the first one that seamed in. So, so, so simple.Monga: Did you say set-ups? And he did it all without a perfect upright seam the way Mohammed Shami’s is. Or maybe bolt upright is not perfect, who knows. Also, Marcus North getting out in three balls reminds me of Asif once saying he is sometimes disappointed with batsmen who don’t let him set them up properly and get out before the payoff.Samiuddin: There was also a great set-up of Shane Watson in a previous Test, where Asif bowled to an 8-1 off-side field for a couple of overs and well wide of off stump. Like, really wide outside. Almost unnoticed he was pulling Watson further and further out to the off side. And then suddenly, when literally nobody was expecting it, he bowled one a little straighter, quicker, it swung in a fair bit. Watson had moved out to off stump in anticipation and the ball ended up missing Watson’s leg stump by millimetres. I don’t think I would ever have seen a dismissal like that. All that work for one ball and it only narrowly didn’t come off.Fernando: I feel like we could be on Asif all day.Samiuddin: The point of all of which is that I don’t think I have regretted not seeing more of any cricketer than Asif. So that’s decided. How about some others?Though, I mean, Pakistan could put out three XIs of these players who were lost and they could play a pointless tri-series among themselves. Like Mohammad Zahid. Fastest four balls Brian Lara faced in his life.Monga: Would Umar Akmal qualify?Fernando: And if we’re doing a long Pakistan lamentation, is Fawad Alam in the mix?Samiuddin: Hundred per cent. Not lost so much as ignored. Overlooked. Spat upon. Trampled.Monster on a monstrous pitch: Jesse Ryder cut, drove and hooked to 83 in the 2011 World Cup quarter-final in Mirpur, while other batsmen struggled•Getty ImagesMonga: But we’re drawing the line at Ahmed Shahzad?Fernando: I’d like to throw two Kiwi names into the mix. Both of whom played 18 Tests. Both players of extreme quality. Lost to the game for reasons very different to Asif.Samiuddin: Martin Guptill?Fernando: Hah, no one so painfully vanilla. The first I’m thinking of, of course, is Jesse Ryder.Samiuddin: Did you not once spend an entire six-month period of your life trying to chase him down?Fernando: For a potential feature, yes, highly unsuccessfully. He was still playing. And still burning bridges. It was like the story hadn’t actually stopped unravelling, so no one really wanted to talk about it.Ryder just had such an instinctive feel for the game, whichever format he was playing. A rock-solid defence, a brutal pull shot, threw all of himself into those drives. When he middled it, you couldn’t actually see the ball before it reappeared outside the boundary rope.Monga: Underrated bowler and exceptional catcher to go with it. And he sold out stadiums. People came to watch Jesse Ryder.Fernando: He was a monster at backward point.Samiuddin: In that 2011 World Cup quarter-final in Dhaka, pitch like porridge – that was the only time I saw Ryder play and, my lord, if that wasn’t the innings of that tournament. His timing that day was freakishly good. On that pitch – and the thing is, it’s difficult to articulate – the difference in watching him bat and others that day was just so, so vast that you had to question yourself. Like, were you assessing the pitch wrong and were the rest just crap?Monga: New Zealand is so not the country for Jesse. I remember him scoring a flawless double-century against India in Napier, and then breaking a chair or something in disgust when he got out. You can guess what got reported the next day.Fernando: So I remember this crazy Ryder innings, where again, at the end, a chair got smashed (after a lot of Sri Lankan bowlers had also been smashed).Samiuddin: I’m seeing a pattern here…Monga: If I were the coach I would carry extra chairs.Fernando: It was in the 2009 Champions Trophy. Ryder pulls a hamstring or a calf very early in this match. I think he was 7 off 7 or something like that. Basically can’t run. And so he just starts blasting boundaries. Ten fours and a six – 74 off 58 balls.Monga: He wasn’t much for foot movement anyway, but somehow always played close to his body.Forget the batting for a minute: Ryder also took blinders, like this one to dismiss Upul Tharanga in the 2011 World Cup semi-final•AFPFernando: Opening partner Brendon McCullum, who is supposed to be this shining paragon of Kiwi aggression, ambles to 42 off 74 at the other end. Eventually Ryder gets out, and he’s clearly not happy. Just when he thinks he’s out of view of the cameras, he absolutely lays into a plastic chair. Just destroys it with his bat. Except, of course, he wasn’t out of view. This was seen and replayed many times. I’m sorry but I loved everything about that.Samiuddin: Actually more than anything else, New Zealand need(ed) Ryder in their team to shed themselves of the “nicest guys in cricket” tag. I mean, yeah, of course, runs and stuff, but they need a guy in that side who does things like that.Fernando: The New Zealand hill I will absolutely die on is that they would have converted one of their two World Cup finals into a win if Ryder was in the team. I don’t blame the people who kicked Ryder out, really, because he’s been given chances by many coaches in various continents – both domestic and international – and he’s not managed to rein his behaviour in. But Ryder had managed to improve the behaviour to within that line, I think we would think of New Zealand as one of the great teams of the last decade, instead of just a very good one. And also just the thought of Williamson trying to captain Ryder – there could have been books written and films made just on that relationship.Monga: I just feel cricket, especially the international variety, is very tough on someone like Jesse. It would have been a miracle if he had survived. Ross Taylor and Ryder were both discovered together. Neither came from a privileged background, but Taylor’s privilege was that he had his act together. Mark Greatbatch, one of their earlier coaches, I remember, told me how Ryder was more skilled but Taylor was more rounded as a person. Ryder would throw up in the bin at the nets, Taylor would come home with a bottle of wine.Samiuddin: Without knowing the details and insider stuff, was he so, so, so difficult to handle that they really couldn’t find a place for him in the team at all? Or make it work somehow?Fernando: They didn’t throw him away lightly, tbf. They gave chances. And many people – agents, coaches, mentors – have tried various approaches and it’s not worked out.Samiuddin: I think that is the other point about these players, that they make so much of an impression, you’re always left feeling somehow if the others – boards, teams, managers, agents – had just done something else/more he would have been okay.Monga: More than anything, they also tell us that sometimes you have to accept things as they are. Especially when a team such as New Zealand does all it can get to keep you in. What joy it was to watch him in full flow. But it wasn’t meant to be.Samiuddin: Who was the other Kiwi?Fernando: Okay, yes, enough Ryder. Someone who was at the other end of the spectrum in terms of temperament, but also glorious to watch in full flow. Guesses?Samiuddin: Bond. The name is Bond.Fernando: Nailed it. Like, Shane Bond with his yorkers.Samiuddin: Bond is long gone as a bowler, but I feel like he’s everywhere in the actions of so many modern fast bowlers.Shane Bond, destroyer of Australia, failed by his own body•Getty ImagesFernando: Huge influence on Tim Southee and Trent Boult.Monga: Strike rate of 38 but couldn’t play enough to get more than his 87 wickets.Samiuddin: Adam Milne, Matt Henry – all their actions. Naseem Shah.Fernando: And if we agree that aughts Australia had assembled the greatest ODI batting line up, Bond was the greatest destroyer of that top order. Seventeen matches v Aus: average of 15.79, SR of 21.4, economy rate 4.41 – there’s no touching that in ODIsSamiuddin: Bond, in a very different way, is the epitome of what Monga said earlier, about how it’s just meant to be for some. No off-field issues (that I can think of), great guy to have in a team. But just had a body that couldn’t sustain it.Monga: In a way I agree, but you can continue working on the body, you can even come back as a bowler with less pace but more wiles, you can still cut yourself a career, but it is different with mental health.Fernando: Bond just was incredibly, incredibly fragile, though. I’m not sure even turning himself into a medium-pacer – which he has said he was never interested in, btw – would have worked. There were unusual things as well: I remember he once went off the field in a match with a migraine and couldn’t bowl, and caught absolute hell on talkback radio in New Zealand for being soft.Samiuddin: Incidentally, Bond talked about the injuries stemming – ironically – from that action, in this great piece on him by Rahul Bhattacharya, at the 2007 World Cup. He talks here about losing a little of that pace.Fernando: His last Test, which was a fantastic game against Pakistan in Dunedin, he blew them away with pace in the first innings, iirc.Monga: It was a great Test. Akmal was unleashed in this game, right?Fernando: Yes, Asif took 4 for 43 as well. Pity Ryder didn’t play. It would have been the poster Test for everything we’ve talked about.Monga: Ryder was a veteran of wistfulness by then.Fernando: Fawad Alam was in that Test as well! Here’s the wicket description from the first dig: “Bond’s breathing fire here, he hits the deck hard from over the wicket, lands it short of a length on middle and Fawad barely had time to react and fend it off, he fails to drop his gloves down and the ball shaves his glove before landing safely in McCullum’s hands.”Underrated, but celebrated: would Ryan Harris have had a greater impact had big names not kept him out of the Australian team early in his career?•Getty ImagesMonga: While sticking with fast bowlers, I have a name that I am not sure you will agree with. It is more down to having been kept out by big names throughout his 20s, but what we saw of Ryan Harris in 27 Tests in his 30s (also cut short by a back surgery, which he went to after taking a last wicket in the dying moments of a momentous Test) makes me wonder with a little disappointment what a great bowler we lost out on.Samiuddin: Absolutely, only four more Tests than Asif.Monga: And what an Asif-like bowler too.Samiuddin: But I also feel with Harris that Australia celebrated him so much, that he was part of so many big moments against South Africa and England – big series – that he kind of lived a full career… which, of course, he never did in realityFernando: And I guess that the injuries came at an age when you expect those things to happen to a quick. Whereas Asif’s exit seemed premature.Monga: His wrist admittedly did less magic than Asif, but his accuracy was stifling. He lived by the Asif philosophy: if I beat the bat, I should be hitting the pad or the stumps; if I take the edge, it should go to keeper or first slipSamiuddin: Except, quicker than Asif. Always felt Stuart Clark was the more like-for-like Asif bowlerMonga: We love Asif for the highlights reels his wickets make it to, but arguably Harris has provided us with better seam porn. Have a look at this. This also reminds me, I recently saw Harris seam a ball in the IPL. That I would never have believed had there been no video evidence.Samiuddin: Asif seamed some balls in the IPL too – 2008.Fernando: What a trip it is now to think that Pakistan players actually took part in the IPL.Monga: The greatest loss to cricket: Pakistan players missing the IPL.Samiuddin: Snap.Fernando: Genuinely, though, they would have changed the dynamic of that tournament so much. And you suspect the IPL would have changed Pakistan cricket as well.Samiuddin: But the PSL may not have happened also… Or maybe it would have happened earlier.Fernando: Umar Gul would have cut it up.Samiuddin: And Sohail Tanvir as the greatest T20 bowler ever?Chris Lewis: the blueprint for Jofra Archer?•Getty ImagesFernando: Lasith Malinga would still have crushed it, let’s not get ahead of ourselves.Samiuddin: I know I’m being old and boomer-y but Malinga in Tests, I feel, is an unfulfilled thing.Monga: Malinga would have made a bowler of great spells in Test cricket. Innocuous for long whiles, but then a switch would flick on and he would run through three-four guys in one three-over spell on a humid day at the SSC.Samiuddin: Yes and that three-over spell would have turned the day, the Test, even the series.Fernando: If you can hustle a fantastic batsman with a bouncer in Galle, you’re a decent bowler. But then with Malinga, it’s kind of a double-edged sword. You don’t have Malinga if you don’t have that action. And you probably can’t have that action and a long Test career. What makes him is what breaks him. Unlike, say Bond, who could conceivably have had a long career with a better body.Samiuddin: Before starting this I had made a list of all the players that would feature here: Shaun Tait, Vinod Kambli, Mohammad Zahid, Asif, Ryder, Wasim Raja, all of South Africa before return, Chris Lewis…Chris Lewis, man. I watch Jofra and I get strong Lewis vibes. Not in terms of the pace or anything, but in how easily he did things, without showing any signs of the strain and toll it takes on a body. Though who knows how quick Lewis was – no speed guns in his time and he was never celebrated for his pace. But he could bat a bit, great in the field, loose and easy action.Monga: Did we get enough of Steve Harmison?Samiuddin: Yes. Harmison played 63 Tests.Fernando: But I think we’ve mostly exhausted this chat now. We’re dipping into the ’90s, and now discussing players who actually had decently long careers. We’ll be talking about Kevin Pietersen next. I’ve just sat in on too many conversations in England about what a loss KP was. And he played 104 Tests.Samiuddin: In England if you don’t play 150 Tests, you ain’t nothing.Monga: And now the rhinos have him. Poor rhinos. Though I think he is actually doing something for them.Fernando: He’s probably trash-talking them behind their backs. Anyway, I think this conversation has degenerated. Like the actions of so many fast bowlers gone before their time.Osman: Yeah, I think we’re done.Fernando: Let’s call it. I don’t know about you guys, but I’m going to put on some Asif highlights reels, eat huge quantities of ice cream straight from the tub, and cry myself to sleep.Rabbit Holes

Social media abuzz with tributes for former India captain MS Dhoni

ESPNcricinfo staff15-Aug-2020

but the mutual respect and warmth I've received from you will always stay in mine. The world has seen achievements, I've seen the person. Thanks for everything skip. I tip my hat to you @msdhoni

— Virat Kohli (@imVkohli) August 15, 2020

Massive boots to fill. It’s been a privilege and honour to be part of the dressing room and seeing you as a thoroughbred professional at work. Salute one of India’s greatest cricketers. Second to none. Enjoy. God Bless MS DHONIpic.twitter.com/n6CfDTvE9q

— Ravi Shastri (@RaviShastriOfc) August 15, 2020

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‘Midas Man’- what an amazing career. Would have loved to have duelled against this street fighter. #congrats #champion #icon @mahi7781

A post shared by Steve Waugh (@stevewaugh) on Aug 17, 2020 at 3:12am PDT

Your contribution to Indian cricket has been immense, @msdhoni. Winning the 2011 World Cup together has been the best moment of my life. Wishing you and your family all the very best for your 2nd innings. pic.twitter.com/5lRYyPFXcp

— Sachin Tendulkar (@sachin_rt) August 15, 2020

Congrats @msdhoni on a brilliant international career. I loved and enjoyed every contest we had as players and now I still have to find ways to stop you winning games against the @DelhiCapitals. Look forward to saying it in person in a few weeks time. pic.twitter.com/R34XMtha0h

— Ricky Ponting AO (@RickyPonting) August 16, 2020

In this game, we have seen great captains that lead from the front & win on the big stage, seen tough Test batsmen, seen excellent keepers, seen great finishers, but one man doing all of this? Unlikely to see that again. There won’t be another Dhoni.#DhoniRetires

— Sanjay Manjrekar (@sanjaymanjrekar) August 15, 2020

One of the most influential man in the history of Indian cricketHis impact in & around cricket was massive. He was a man with vision and a master in knowing how to build a team. Will surely miss him in blue but we have him in yellow.

See you on 19th at the toss @msdhoni pic.twitter.com/kR0Lt1QdhG

— Rohit Sharma (@ImRo45) August 16, 2020

A little boy had a dream of batting on the other end of the pitch with you. That little boy’s dream came true Learning from you and being close to you has been the highest privilege. India will always be proud of @msdhoni Enjoy the journey ahead Mahi bhai Legend #7 pic.twitter.com/iGlrQEQJTG

— Rishabh Pant (@RishabhPant17) August 15, 2020

You taught us that all our dreams can come true if v have the courage to pursue them. It was an honour to be a part of ur cricketing journey. I have learnt so much from u, ur wisdom, guidance has always helped me not only in cricket but for life as well. Happy retirement @msdhoni pic.twitter.com/wjaWla3DKY

— Bhuvneshwar Kumar (@BhuviOfficial) August 16, 2020

We can try ing, but there isn't going to be anyone like you @msdhoni.

— Google India (@GoogleIndia) August 16, 2020

There’s only one #MSDhoni. Thank you my friend and elder brother for being the biggest inspiration in my career. Will miss playing with you in the blue jersey but am sure you will always be there for me and will keep guiding me pic.twitter.com/Q3j9pbcOGy

— hardik pandya (@hardikpandya7) August 15, 2020

The captain who always utilised his resources to the fullest. Really enjoyed the freedom of bowling with you . Wish you all the luck with your second innings. @msdhoni pic.twitter.com/5fC9LJMa5A

— zaheer khan (@ImZaheer) August 15, 2020

To have a player like him,Mission Impossible. Na Koi Hai,Na Koi Tha, Na Koi Hoga MS ke jaisa. Players will come & go but there won’t be a calmer man like him. Dhoni with his connect with people having aspirations was like a family member to many cricket lovers. Om Finishaya Namah pic.twitter.com/glemkBUwWT

— Virender Sehwag (@virendersehwag) August 15, 2020

You’ve been a friend and a guide on the field and off it. I’ve learnt so many valuable lessons by simply watching you be & I am glad I got to be a part of your professional journey. Congratulations on an illustrious career, Mahi Bhai, thank you for the memories. @msdhoni pic.twitter.com/UaycpTq8LV

— Jasprit Bumrah (@Jaspritbumrah93) August 15, 2020

An experience of a lifetime. Playing with you has been an honour. So many learnings on and off the field.Thank you for all the guidance,you helped me became a better cricketer and improved my game.Cherish all the moments together and will miss you. Best wishes @msdhoni #legend pic.twitter.com/NKUxMBSivl

— Kuldeep yadav (@imkuldeep18) August 15, 2020

Thank you @msdhoni bhai for your contribution to Indian cricket, and the mentorship over the years. Congratulations on a remarkable career, and best wishes for the journey ahead! pic.twitter.com/pQfIzEJnHe

— cheteshwar pujara (@cheteshwar1) August 15, 2020

Congratulations @msdhoni on a great International career. It was an honour to play alongside. Your calm demeanour and the laurels you brought as skipper will forever be remembered and cherished. Wishing you the very best.

— Anil Kumble (@anilkumble1074) August 15, 2020

Congrats to @msdhoni on a wonderful cricketing career ! Was a pleasure watching you play & the way you led your troops too. Good luck with everything you choose to do in the future ! Absolute legend

— Shane Warne (@ShaneWarne) August 15, 2020

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Always a pleasure to play against you @mahi7781 You did it with style, flamboyance and above all else, calmness. Your own way. The Dhoni way. Congrats on all you achieved.

A post shared by Adam Gilchrist (@gilly381) on Aug 15, 2020 at 4:45pm PDT

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A hero of mine and so many millions more all around the world. Congratulations on a quite incredible international career @mahi7781! An honour to have played against you. #MS

A post shared by Jos Buttler (@josbuttler) on Aug 15, 2020 at 9:35am PDT

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Congrats on a wonderful career @mahi7781 The way he remained calm under pressure & made his own unorthodox batting & wicketkeeping technique work instead of changing to fit into the 'accepted mould' was something I admired the most & tried to learn from to improve my game #MSD #Legend

A post shared by Tabraiz Shamsi (@shamsi90) on Aug 16, 2020 at 1:34am PDT

Congratulations @msdhoni on a world class international career. You’ll go down in history as a phenomenal captain and a true legend of the game. Go well MSD!

— Kagiso Rabada (@KagisoRabada25) August 15, 2020

Don't Cry Because it's Over.
Smile Because It Happened.

Thank You, MSD pic.twitter.com/deBOyXlSlj

— Aakash Chopra (@cricketaakash) August 15, 2020

It’s really sad to hear that my favorite and role model MS DOHNI is retiring from cricket . His services to india cricket is unforgettable, I will definitely miss you in the field of cricket and your kind advises for my improvement @msdhoni miss you Mahi

— MS Shahzad (@MShahzad077) August 15, 2020

For many you have always been an inspiration & have been an exceptional performer for @BCCI. Indian team has achieved many glorious titles under your captaincy.I have also enjoyed playing with you. one of the most gentle & humble person. All the best bro @msdhoni pic.twitter.com/wy4umq2SAh

— Kamran Akmal (@KamiAkmal23) August 15, 2020

MS Dhoni was Legendary Cricketer, an Incredible Captain, a known finisher and a humble human being. Thanks for the unforgettable memories, you will forever be in the heart of your friends and fans.@msdhoni pic.twitter.com/gBnnQSTfMM

— Mohammad Nabi (@MohammadNabi007) August 15, 2020

No words can do justice to the contribution by this Great Leader and one of the best finisher of the game. Thank you @msdhoni for your exemplary performance to uplift the status of the sport globally. https://t.co/u9g6Iw9ZMF

— Sana Mir(@mir_sana05) August 15, 2020

A true ambassador of the game@msdhoni
Thank you for all the inspirations, lessons, leadership, sportsmanship and much much more.
You'll be missed and remembered forever. All the best for your second innings. #GOAT pic.twitter.com/cthIzRYxId

— Bismah Maroof(@maroof_bismah) August 15, 2020

Such a Legends of the game…A great leader, a great Wk,a great finisher,a great human being etc etc so many qualities…salute to you and a big thank you MAHI VAI -MR15 pic.twitter.com/INJajkbjPN

— Mushfiqur Rahim (@mushfiqur15) August 15, 2020

Legend of the game and one of my favourite players to watch growing up

Happy retirement @msdhoni

— Hassan Ali(@RealHa55an) August 15, 2020

Soon after Dhoni’s post on Instagram, Suresh Raina also took to the platform to announce his international retirement.

View this post on Instagram

It was nothing but lovely playing with you, @mahi7781 . With my heart full of pride, I choose to join you in this journey. Thank you India. Jai Hind!

A Test match in India is no place for the faint-hearted, neither is it to be missed, for it will be among the richest experiences of these players’ lives.

Mark Nicholas02-Feb-2021Imagine for a moment that you are walking out to bat for England in Chennai. You have played a few Test matches and made a hundred along the line but you have yet to establish certain selection for every match, everywhere. In other words, your name is in the mix as a good option rather than as a convincing solution. You have worked yourself to the limit of expectation in the days preceding the match, planning especially for the Indian spinners, upon whom the narrative is so often built in these steamy parts. Chennai is incredibly hot and equally humid, which is fine for some but not for all. Virat Kohli, pretty much the most animated and gifted opponent in the world, is captain of India. An aura is around him, as are the disciples, fresh off beating the Australians at their own game in their own backyard without him. They are keen to impress.You take guard, asking the umpire for middle stump in a strong voice. You mark that guard and then cough a little to clear your throat. You are nervous – of course you are, I am nervous writing about it. You look up from the crease, spinning the bat handle in your fingers, and are aware not so much of the close fielders, whom you took in immediately on arrival, but of the way they are looking at you and of things they are saying among each other.Related

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You assume these are things about you, but you don’t know that, you just assume. There are many languages spoken but you understand none of them. Hindi leads the way, of which you have an inkling from people around the dressing rooms and hotels but by no means an understanding. The others? Forget it. Suddenly one of those fielders, the short leg, say, drops in an English phrase. It is not about you, it is about the pitch and the problems it has been causing, but you know to whom it is directed. You survey the leg side, because short leg was the first to attract your attention, seeing gaps as well as fielders. You see Kohli at midwicket and think better of looking to get off the mark in his space.He walks towards you, seeming to ask questions with his eyes. “What have you got?” “Are you frightened or just as nervous as you look?” “Can you read Ashwin? The field is up, will you risk taking him on?” “If not, who will blink first?” “You look out of your depth. We shall see… who you are, what you are, exactly what you have got.”This is the mood once referred to as mental disintegration by Steve Waugh, which became a soundtrack to the modern game and is running free in your imagination. Kohli hasn’t said a word. He is resetting the field now. The truth is that the IPL has brought players closer together. You turn away, annoyed at allowing yourself to feel such claustrophobia, such weight. It is not there, you tell yourself. But somehow it is. It is then that you realise you are asking these questions of yourself. “C’mon, get a grip and toughen up” is your response.You see a gap at cover but you remind yourself not to drive through the off side against Ashwin unless the ball is wildly overpitched, which it won’t be. You remember that Ashwin was getting the better of Steve Smith just the other day on pitches much less responsive than this one. You watch Ashwin and respect him; you don’t mess with him but neither do you bow at his feet. If the chance comes to attack him, you take it. In the meantime, you back your defence.R Ashwin, Steve Smith’s current nemesis, is not a man you want to mess with•AFP via Getty ImagesYou are talking to yourself now and your heart is pumping fast and hard, soaring to 200 and beyond. First slip says something to silly point, whereupon leg slip responds with laughter. Kohli is near you now, joining in. He pushes silly point to midwicket and promptly comes in tight there himself. He shouts something to Ashwin, who agrees. He wishes you good luck. Then he lowers himself to a crouch, aggressively claps his hands and prompts a frenzy of urgent calls to Ashwin from his team-mates.Your mouth is dry now. Sweat trickles from the back of your neck to the point of your back between, and a tad beneath, your shoulder blades. You try to scratch this point but cannot quite reach the exact spot. You can, of course, but not right now. Your mind is turning this stuff over, playing tricks with it and distracting you from the task you have long dreamt of successfully completing. You smile inwardly, thinking it almost funny that such ambition brings so much fear. Not physical but mental: the fear of failure.You need to step back for a minute and bravely you do so. Ashwin pretends to have started his approach to bowl and theatrically pulls out of his stride. The fielders turn up the volume. The India captain looks hard at you, lips tight and thin, eyes narrow. It is as if he is boring through your soul. You step away and take undemonstrative deep breaths, irritating the close fielders with your ability to hold a beat. You like that. Once again, you smile to yourself, an unseen smile that this time signifies the start of battle.You settle into your stance, eyes level, hands soft on the bat, shoulders loose. The calls for Ashwin begin again. He’s in now, a tall, strong and seemingly confident man, ready to take you down. You squint a little and then widen your eyes in a final adjustment to the yellow light of the afternoon sun, while reminding yourself to stay still and watch the ball.You first pick out that ball in his hand and follow it as if your life depended on doing so. It is released at the high point of his action and bowled “up” on a threatening line outside off stump. You see it perfectly, pick its length and move forward to defend. At the last millisecond of its journey before landing on the baked and shorn surface of the MA Chidambaram Stadium pitch, it dips just a fraction. Then it spins like a top and bounces violently into the meat of your thigh pad before flying into the air and the region of that man at short leg, who throws himself like a gymnast to clutch it centimetres from the ground. No!They all appeal, Kohli with near manic contortion. He made an extraordinary hundred earlier in the day, a great player with points to prove. Every element of his game was perfectly in tune and every moment of his time at the wicket an exhibition. They say Kane Williamson and Smith are as good. No way, you think, not after what I saw today. Now he is pleading for your wicket, first ball.A time for thoughts and prayers•AFPNot out, says the umpire.What!Not out.Kohli immediately reviews.Your heart sinks.The third umpire takes an age, even checks for the lbw. The minutes tick by. Your hands are increasingly clammy. Your partner says you didn’t hit it. You say you know that but will the third umpire?The big screen is ready. Your heart arrives in your mouth – a mouth now so dry, you can barely speak. Your heart is fighting to break free from your chest.The decision is given.Not out.Momentary silence. You close your eyes and exhale. Your heart speeds up and then with a single further deep breath, slows down to manageable.Everybody returns to their position, at which point the Indian players up the ante. You wonder what this would be like with a crowd. You thank your lucky stars there isn’t one. You figure one against 11 is a better chance than one against 50,000. On the other hand, you wouldn’t mind knowing what it felt like, to have that many people turned against you in such a cauldron. This whole thing is so damn intense as it is… But add the atmosphere, that cacophony of sound, and imagine it then.You remember that Tony Greig played to the crowd, just loved it, and told the Indian umpires they were the best in the world. No fool, that Greigy. Right now, you too think the Indian umpires are the best in the world. You remember that David Gower charmed his way round the country having first ridden out various political storms and that Alastair Cook won over India with the resilience in his batting and the sheer brilliance of Kevin Pietersen alongside him. You are reminded that all things are possible.Tony Greig plays to the gallery in 1977•Patrick Eagar/Getty ImagesYou settle back into your stance. Ashwin approaches but then stutters at the crease, like the old VHS tapes that caught between play and pause. It is a trick he uses to unsettle the batsman’s trigger movement. You are ready for this; you have prepared. He releases the ball an iota late and it drops short. In one swift, sweet move you step back and thrash it to the cover boundary for four. The shot is replayed on the big screen. Perfect: 10,000 hours and now perfect. Oh my days.Game on, against one of the great Indian teams, on their patch.Commentating on the denouement of the 1977 Centenary Test in Melbourne, as Dennis Lillee was tearing in to clean up the England tail, John Arlott said something like, “The seagulls are as vultures, recruited by Lillee to feast on the corpse of the English batting.” And that is exactly what the England batsmen will feel when surrounded by close fielders on a turning pitch in Chennai or Ahmedabad.A Test match in India is no place for the faint-hearted, neither is it to be missed, for it will be among the richest experiences of these players’ lives. Three times in the last 45 years England have won series there and those responsible still look back in wonder.Greig did so in 1976-77 with plenty of chutzpah, the swinging ball – yes, John Lever took 26 wickets alongside Derek Underwood’s 29 – and the huge amount of self-belief that came from an innings win in the first match, in Delhi. His lads, good pros all, won the next two as well to go three-up before India had woken up. For what it’s worth, at the press conference on arrival, Greig did indeed loudly proclaim that India had the best umpires in the world.Gower was, of course, splendidly calm under pressure and there was a lot of it in 1984-85 – not least surrounding the assassination of Indira Gandhi, the prime minister, and Percy Norris, the British High Commissioner. The first thought was that the tour would be called off, but England stayed and won. Mike Gatting made even more runs than Cook in 2012-13 – 575 to 562 – as England eventually unravelled Laxman Sivaramakrishan.Cook plays down his role in the fabulous series win that came from being one down after one. The fact is, he played out of his skin, as did Pietersen. Their partnership in Mumbai was as good as it gets, maybe as good as it has ever got among England performances abroad. After which two really good spinners, Graeme Swann and Monty Panesar, went to work alongside that fellow Jimmy Anderson, who belied the notion that he was all about English conditions – a game he is still playing.Follow the leaders: Cook and Pietersen set the template in 2012•BCCIIt is well documented that the team that bats best in the first innings in India tends to go on and win, especially if the pitch is spinning. So there is a simple formula: steel yourself to go big first up. Each has his own way but a clear plan is important, for these are not innings to be played off the cuff. Defending against spin is a technical skill requiring precision. Attacking spin is all about commitment. Go half-hearted and you go home; go all the way and you have a good chance. The Cook-Pietersen partnership is the template.Of course, England do not have the quality of spinner that took them to victory on previous tours. Joe Root will need to be crafty and flexible and all of them will need to stick to the rule book when bowling at Kohli. This man is a fantastic batsman, among the finest there has been, and he is hungry, having missed the best bits of the tour to Australia. You just have to bowl at a fourth stump, even a fifth – hang it out there and try his patience.It is doubtful that even one of the Sri Lankan players would get into the Indian team, which sums up the size of the task – maybe Lasith Embuldeniya, now that Ravindra Jadeja is injured, or Angelo Mathews at No. 6, but only maybe.Without crowds and with the biosecure restrictions on daily life, a tour of India will lose something of its magic. The sterile environment will make it a more demanding experience than it would be otherwise, and therefore, the perspective and collective spirit of union we saw in Sri Lanka will be tested. Anyone and everyone can play their part in that by constantly reminding one another that, whatever the circumstances, India is a truly wonderful country and its people their fans. It is an achievement even to be touring at this time. The players are the lucky ones, for these are the days of their lives.It is a series to savour, played by two likeable and talented teams. The match-ups are a story in themselves – Kohli vs Root, Bumrah vs Archer, Pant vs Buttler/Bairstow/Foakes, Ashwin and co vs Stokes, Rohit and Shubman vs Anderson and/or Broad. Lovely, bring it on.

Three first-day wickets at Galle set agenda for England and scotch some preconceptions

Andrew Miller14-Jan-2021Perhaps it’s the headband, perhaps it’s the wrist position. Perhaps it’s the “bravery” that the man himself says comes with experience. But Stuart Broad has started this Sri Lanka series – this Asian winter – with the exact same ebullience and optimism with which he finished England’s lockdown summer. In doing so, he’s let it be known once again that, at the age of 34 and with a remit to perfect the game-craft that he’s spent the past 13 years honing, he is living his best life right here, right now.The first day of England’s first excursion of 2021 was, as Broad put it at the close, “a nine out of ten day” – as a harassed Sri Lankan line-up, still not recovered from their bruising defeat in South Africa, found a range of ways to gift their opponents the upper hand – from fluky deflections off ankles and fingertips to abject reverse sweeps and miscued half-trackers.But nothing that transpired – certainly not Dom Bess’s curate’s egg of a five-for (the ball to dismiss Dilruwan Perera was the good part…) – could match Broad’s path-finding injection of know-how in his two brief but pointed spells.”It’s an absolute dream world day for us,” Broad said, “and three wickets in Sri Lanka as a seamer feels like a decent day personally.”That’s putting it modestly. Within eight overs, Broad had matched his tally from three previous Tests in Sri Lanka. That haul (for want of a better word) had been spread over three visits in 2007, 2012 and 2018, beginning with a Test debut in Colombo of such alarming inhospitality that the then-beanpole 21-year-old was quietly eased back out of the firing line and held back for more hospitable conditions in New Zealand three months later.It’s worth pointing out that Broad didn’t actually do a whole lot wrong in those three campaigns, other than bowl with the tenacity (aka predictability) of an English seamer, trained to plug away outside off stump, then bang in the short ball for effect when all else fails.But twice he had been on the receiving end of Mahela Jayawardene masterclasses (a fate that few visitors of the 2000s escaped, to be fair, given his eye-watering haul of 23 Test hundreds on home soil) while on his most recent trip in 2018, Broad’s 14 overs in two innings might as well have been designated shine-removers, as England’s trio of spinners – Jack Leach, Moeen Ali and Adil Rashid – continued their dominant theme for the series by sharing 14 wickets to wrap up a 3-0 clean sweep.This time, however, Broad was a man with a new plan – including one made more or less on the hoof, given how cursory England’s preparations for this series have been. While bowling to Joe Root in England’s solitary warm-up at Hambantota, the pair noted the awkwardness of Broad’s lift from just back of a length, and figured a leg gully might be an opportune gamble to the left-handers. Sure enough, Lahiru Thirimanne jabbed low to Jonny Bairstow, to set in motion a day of barely relenting progress for England.Broad confirmed at the close that the ball itself had not been a deliberate ploy, rather a contingency plan in case of natural variation. “At Hambantota, we had a lot of balls from middle stump sliding through the air to leg gully, leg slip,” he said. “Rooty was batting at the time and said it might feel uncomfortable on certain pitches to have a fielder there with my style of bowling. I don’t try and swing it away, but I do try and nip it back, so it was a deliberate ploy to have a fielder there and make the batsman play as often as possible. But you need a bit of luck for it to go there.”Stuart Broad claimed the big wicket of Angelo Mathews•SLCBut you need a bit of skill too to create the conditions for such happy accidents to take effect, and that is the aspect of Broad’s recent performances that is becoming ever more apparent in the late summer (Indian summer, he might be hoping…) of his career. Where once he was a mood bowler, famed for wrecking intermittent Test matches in the space of a single session but slipping back into James Anderson’s gargantuan shadow in between whiles, now he is becoming a mood in himself.Related

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It was in the process of taking his 500th Test wicket, at Old Trafford in August, that Broad’s career average dipped below 28 for the first time in his career. But his returns in the past two years, essentially from the moment he took advantage of a rare period of down-time after the 2017-18 Ashes tour and embarked on an extensive technical MOT, he’s racked up 118 at 21.44, including 38 at 14.76 in 2020 – a year that culminated in a prestigious nomination for BBC Sports Personality of the Year.The majority of those wickets, all captured in South Africa and England, might as well have been screen-grabbed from some of his most famous Test rampages – the 8 for 15 at Trent Bridge, or the 6 for 17 at Johannesburg: full and threatening, you-miss-I-hit lengths every ball, attacking the pads and the edge with equal insistence, kicking off a high seam and occasionally skidding through, and all delivered with those ubiquitous “pumping knees” that signal an attack dog at the top of his game.But it was a subtle manipulation of those methods that earned Broad his rewards today, and in conditions where even he had previously been a bit hang-dog. There was energy and optimism in abundance, of course, but his average speed, hovering around the 80mph mark, ended up being lower even than that of the left-arm swinger Sam Curran – by no-one’s estimation a bona fide quick bowler. That was, as Broad himself explained, a result of some canny changes of pace and seam position rather than any sense that he’s about to lose his nip.”We talked before the Test match about building pressure for long periods of time, and using your individual skill in those little periods,” Broad said. “So I concentrated on making the batsman play as much as possible, and also varying my pace in little ways. Maybe not 6-7mph at times but actually going up two miles an hour, coming down three or four miles an hour, and that was the plan I stuck to.”As befits a man who once captained England’s T20 side – a format in which he has not now featured for almost exactly half his international career – Broad contrived to treat every delivery of his precious new-ball spell as an event. It’s a trait that served him equally well in England’s lockdown summer, when his new-found relish for a fuller, stump-threatening length asked questions of every batsman in his sights.”The pitch offered us something with the ball, which you expect when you bowl a side out for 130, but it wasn’t necessarily sideways movement,” he added. “There was a little bit of extra bounce, a little bit of two-pace that brought the fielders in.”Broad was also responsible for two of the outstanding moments in what was otherwise an abject Sri Lankan batting display – the perfectly pitched cutter outside off that lured the hard-handed Kusal Mendis into a tentative stab to the keeper (and a fourth Test duck in a row), and the injection of venom just back of a length that rushed Angelo Mathews into a misjudged slash to slip, where Root grabbed an impressively sharp catch. On the face of it the moment was yet another batsman error, but Broad’s variety and accuracy made it happen.”I was pleased with [the legcutter],” he said. “It’s one of my best balls. A few years ago I wouldn’t have tried that second-ball to a new batsman but, with experience and confidence in my game, I wanted to bowl a quicker one first ball and then a legcutter to get the batsman playing on the second one.”It just did that perfect half-a-bat-width movement and I think, just with experience and playing more cricket in these conditions, you get braver. With a new ball. I’d never dream of doing that in England, but in these conditions, you’ve got to try something different.”Broad is now two wickets away from matching Courtney Walsh – the first man to breach the 500-wicket barrier way back in 2001, and whose eventual tally of 519 scalps once seemed an insurmountable peak. And who knows, on this showing, maybe even Anderson’s humungous tally of 600 and counting will not be out of his reach.For he may lack the natural skill that has marked his team-mate out as the greatest English bowler of his generation, but Michael Vaughan wasn’t wrong when he stated, way back in 2008, that Broad was one of the most intelligent operators he’d ever encountered. He was finding new ways to skin Test batsmen even back then – short and nasty on that occasion to complement Anderson’s full and tricksy – and as his evisceration of David Warner showed in the 2019 Ashes, the evolution of his methods has been gathering pace for some months already.For if Broad’s fabled reaction to his omission from England’s last first Test of a season, against West Indies at the Ageas Bowl in August, is anything to go by, he’s got the form, the skill and the bloodymindedness to keep confounding expectations for as long as his remarkably injury-free body holds up. And who knows, maybe he, like Anderson before him, can go some way to confounding those preconceptions about his record in less seam-friendly climes.

Enough with the goodwill and buddying, now let’s see some old-school brawlin’

Alan Gardner20-Nov-2020There has been a lot of love sloshing around the world of cricket in recent months. Boards flying touring teams over at their own cost. Players buddying their way through weeks in isolation. Goodwill and nasal swabs wherever you look. Everyone was so delighted that the IPL was able to be staged safely out in the deserts of the UAE that it was even more like a hippy commune than normal.Frankly, it’s enough to make the Light Roller scream into our novelty Merv Hughes face mask.Even the upcoming clash-of-evil-empires between Australia and India threatens to be a let-down. Once upon a time, you could rely on Virat Kohli turning up at the Adelaide Oval next month and flipping the bird at the first idiot in the crowd to jerk his chain. Now he is such a paragon of modern masculinity, and a gentleman to boot, that he is taking paternity leave after the first Test – thus giving Australia a helping hand in their attempt to avenge a first-ever defeat at home to India in their previous encounter.Tim Paine’s team, meanwhile, is so full of reformed characters they could pass for a group of Methodist preachers. Ever since Australia experienced their “Are we the baddies?” moment of realisation in Cape Town – the clues were all there: the swearing, the moustaches, the skulls on caps – Paine has borne the captaincy with statesmanlike responsibility, shelving the tantrums and histrionics, and attempting to return a sense of civility to the office. Seriously, who does he think he is, the next occupant of the White House?India-Australia ought to be a rivalry so heated it contributes to global warming, but both sides are now too cool for the old school. So family-friendly was the sledging two years ago that the most memorable exchange involved Paine enquiring about Rishabh Pant’s availability as a babysitter.In the words of Allan Border: “What do you think this is, a f**king tea party?” We’re all for barefoot circles before the series, so long as it’s bare-knuckle from there on. And don’t get too cosy up in your No. 1 ranking, India. Okay, you won last time around, but no Smith and Warner basically means it didn’t count (yeah, we said it).Given the amount of time spent in bio-bubbles recently, it wouldn’t be surprising if everyone was getting a bit tetchy. But that’s okay, better to shake it all out on the field. C’mon, guys, it’s getting close to Christmas and there’s only one thing that we want. We want you bad.

****

Cricket is a simple game, if you leave aside all the complicated aspects like the lbw law, fielding restrictions, and when exactly to take tea. In that spirit, we’re delighted to see that the BBL has decided to look at the flagging T20 format and jazz it up with some exciting innovations such as, erm, the old ODI batting powerplay, and that Supersub idea the ICC tried and dropped 15 years ago. Although turning the much-mocked #atthisstage commentary crutch into a points-worthy metric just to nark Twitter could turn out to be an actual stroke of genius (that or it will go the way of the ECB’s Super Series brainwave from a few years back).Anyway, after dipping into our extensive contacts book – which may or may not include the municipal waste disposal authority that services Melbourne’s Jolimont district – we can exclusively reveal some of the alternative ideas that sadly ended up in the Big Bash trash:Big Top Bash Super Silly Super Over: New method of resolving a tie. Players slap on some extra zinc oxide, grab a red nose and oversized shoes and bowl custard pies at each other. Circus music optional, losers fed to the lions.Powar Surge: The fielding team can actually bring their 12th man on to play – but only if the nominated player is considered sufficiently overweight/inept/unfit to not make much of a difference. Final adjudications to be made by Ramesh Powar himself.The XXXX-Factor: At any point in the match, a team that feels it may be trailing can opt to switch the contest to a boat race decided by which side can scull six beers the quickest. Also known as a “Boonie Bonus”.Hundred-BBL Booster: Both innings reduced to 16.4 overs. Ten balls to be bowled in a row from each end. Bowlers can deliver either five or ten balls consecutively. New batsman always on strike, even if they crossed before a catch is taken. Powerplay of 25 balls with strategic timeouts for… ()

It’s 7am, and your telly has already been hijacked for the day. And no, you’re not getting the remote control

Andrew Miller05-Feb-2021If you are old enough to plough your mind back through the mists of time – to the days before WiFi, before dial-up internet connections, before even satellite TV – then you’ll just about be able to remember what it was like to have no say in what you were force-fed on the television.You might remember how each of the UK’s four TV channels (three or fewer if you’re truly ancient) had its own distinctive, and distinctly dysfunctional, personality.The BBCs were a pair of nerdy twins, all preachy and proper, hellbent on telling you everything they thought you ought to know, generally when you least wanted to hear it.Related

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ITV was achingly nouveau, and considered vulgar by your parents, but it was secretly your favourite, mainly because it showed and the on a Saturday night.And as for Channel 4, we’ll come to its original cricket-rights era in a moment but, from inception, it was a strange assemblage of… well, not sure what exactly. Endless episodes of and (the soap that not even your grandmother watched), as well as , a music show that was obviously way cooler than , and considered off-limits for precisely that reason.But the point is, that was your lot. Take it or leave it, and don’t blink or you’ll miss it. There was no streaming, no surfing, no pausing, certainly no second-screening. The TV listings ruled supreme.There was, however, one option for binge-watching, and in a sign of the times for future generations, it’s why so many middle-aged tragics will have fallen out of bed at 3.55am in the UK this morning, to relapse into a few bad old habits.And, with apologies to C4’s cruelly short preparation time, there will have been more than a little Pavlovian slavering when the old guard flicked on the telly to be greeted by the lo-fi witterings of two men in a dimly-lit broom cupboard (one of whom was making his first free-to-air appearance after 12,472 runs and 161 Tests behind a paywall).For there is a tendency in English cricket circles to view the free-to-air era as some sort of long-forgotten land of milk and honey, when the sport was nurtured in the bosom of munificent Auntie Beeb and everybody in the land revelled in shared ownership of their national pastime.The reality was somewhat different – certainly in the BBC days (wait for it, Channel 4, wait for it…) when the unsurpassed glory of theme music was frankly the high point of the coverage.Yes, there was Richie Benaud, but let’s face it, Test cricket on the BBC was grudgingly presented at best, by stuffed-shirts with opinions aplenty but barely an insight between them, and invariably weaved into the schedule with just the right lack of finesse to wind up absolutely everyone.

.@Channel4’s #IndvEng rights coup is genuinely exciting for cricket in this country. Nothing quite like a captive audience for the purposes of indoctrination…

I look forward to scores of early-morning parent-child conversations along these lines in the coming weeks..! pic.twitter.com/upFaVuwH3n

— Andrew Miller (@miller_cricket) February 3, 2021