Indholdsfortegnelse for Issue 63 i Wisden Cricket Monthly

ANDREW MILLER Wisden Cricket Monthly columnist, UK editor of ESPNcricinfo and former editor of The Cricketer @miller_cricket This month, against my better judgment, I’ve been attempting to frame a coherent position on the most divisive sporting event of our times. Thankfully, the specialist nature of a cricket magazine limits room for digression, so if you really want a blow-by-blow breakdown of the Qatar World Cup’s myriad iniquities, you might have to wait for The Blizzard. Suffice to say, the corruption, the flagrant human rights abuses and the grotesque environmental impact are just some of the many reasons why the tournament should never have been allowed anywhere near the region. And yet, what’s this, you say? Apparently another Gulf state played host to a World Cup just 12 months ago, and…

An alternative prize will be provided if the winner is aged under 18, or if requested We reserve the right to edit letters for length and clarity LETTER OF THE MONTH Giving Ponting a mouthful Much as I enjoyed your article on great exponents of the hook shot [WCM December issue] and wouldn’t argue with Ricky Ponting’s general inclusion, I was surprised that any analysis of his hooking would omit when he famously got hit by Steve Harmison in the Lord’s Test of 2005. That moment was like the first round of the final fight in Rocky IV, when Rocky managed to land a punch that drew blood from his previously impregnable opponent, and it proved he was human: “You cut him! He bleeds!” I’d argue that Ponting’s mistimed hook…

THE ROAD TO GLORY England v Afghanistan Perth, October 22 Afghanistan 112 (Curran 5-10) lost to England 113-5 by five wickets with 11 balls remaining Player of match: Sam Curran England v Ireland Melbourne, October 26 Ireland 157 (Balbirnie 62; Livingstone 3-17, Wood 3-34) beat England 105-5 (Malan 35) by five runs (DLS method) Player of match: Andy Balbirnie England v Australia Melbourne, October 28 Match abandoned England v New Zealand Brisbane, November 1 England 179-6 (Buttler 73, Hales 52) beat New Zealand 159-6 (Phillips 62; Curran 2-26) by 20 runs Player of match: Jos Buttler England v Sri Lanka Sydney, November 5 Sri Lanka 141-8 (Nissanka 67; Wood 3-26) lost to England 144- 6 (Hales 47, Stokes 42*) by four wickets with two balls remaining Player of match: Adil…

Wisden Cricket Monthly editorat-large @SternWords At the start of this year, when Gareth Batty was asked to become interim head coach of Surrey following the departure of Vikram Solanki to the Indian Premier League, he swiftly had to recalibrate a set of dressing-room relationships. He had been Solanki’s assistant but was also captain of the T20 side in 2021. “I couldn’t pretend I wasn’t in the trenches with the guys this summer,” the former England spinner tells WCM. “I’m not suddenly the prime minister – I’m still Batts. I still shout and holler and tell stupid jokes and bugger about with the lads – I’ve got to be authentic to me. But they know where the line is.” Batty also has to manage upwards, reporting to Alec Stewart, Surrey’s director…

64.83 Muhammad Hurraira’s first-class average 5 Narayan Jagadeesan became the first player in history to make five consecutive List-A hundreds 1. Ruturaj Gaikwad Maharashtra The breakthrough star of Chennai Super Kings’ IPL triumph in 2021, Gaikwad is regarded as one of the most talented young strokemakers in India and his scintillating recent form has shown why. In four Vijay Hazare Trophy knocks across November, the 25-year-old made scores of 124*, 40, 220* (from 159 balls, including 16 sixes, seven of which came in one recordbreaking over from the left-arm spinner Shiva Singh) and 168. He started December with a bang, too, making 108 in Maharashtra’s defeat to Saurashtra in the Vijay Hazare final. Omitted from India’s recent ODI squads, Gaikwad – who has made 10 whiteball appearances for his country…

1 Luke Wright, the former England and Sussex allrounder, has been named as the new England men’s selector. The 37-year-old, who made a combined 101 ODI and T20I appearances in an eight-year international career, will share responsibility for the selection of England’s red- and white-ball teams with the coaches and captains of the respective squads, England’s managing director Rob Key, performance director Mo Bobat and player ID lead David Court. 2 Jeremy Lloyds, the former Somerset and Gloucestershire all-rounder and international umpire, has died at the age of 68. After scoring more than 12,000 runs and taking over 350 wickets in a 13-year playing career, Lloyds joined the first-class umpires list in 1998 and went on to stand in five Tests. “Jeremy will be fondly remembered by all at the…

Australian writer and broadcaster @melindafarrell "Ben Stokes is quite shy and hard to get to know but he’s just a humble bloke who wants to play cricket "I don’t give a shit what your strike rates are.” So began the speech that became England’s lightbulb moment. But it didn’t come from the lips of Jos Buttler or Matthew Mott. Nor was it spoken during the T20 World Cup in Australia. The words that would have a profound impact on the collective mindset of this England squad came from Moeen Ali, who had taken on the captaincy during the tour of Pakistan, comprising seven T20Is, that preceded the World Cup. Mott remembers it clearly as the moment when something special clicked among the players after a summer in which they lost…

12 MONTHS, 12 QUESTIONS How well do you know 2022? It’s a point for each (and don’t Google it, have some dignity…) JANUARY Ebadot Hossain, the former Bangladesh Air Force soldier, was the star of Bangladesh’s Test victory against New Zealand at Mount Maunganui, with his 6-46 in the second innings helping them to an incredible eight-wicket win. But what inauspicious bowling record did he hold going into the series? FEBRUARY Who was the only uncapped England-based player to be snapped up at the 2022 IPL auction? MARCH Which captain posted a bigger score in the fourth innings of a Test match than any other Test skipper had managed in history? APRIL Which barely plausible brand name was emblazoned on the Headingly pavilion after the company agreed a deal with…

Moeen Ali’s umbilical connection with cricket was forged the moment he left the womb, when his father rubbed a miniature bat on his infant son’s forehead in the hope that one day he would go on to play for England. This ambition would become an obsession in the years that followed, as Munir Ali sacrificed his own career – and put his health at serious risk – to give his sons, Moeen, Kadeer and Omar, every possible opportunity to play the game at the highest level. Munir and his twin brother Shabir knew nothing of cricket when they arrived in Birmingham in 1966 at the age of 10. Growing up in Dadyal, a remote district in the north-east of Pakistan, kabaddi had been the dominant sport and they only encountered…

1. Tom Morton (South Wilts) In mid-July, Morton slammed 196 against Lymington, breaking a 17-year-old Southern Premier League record. It lasted two weeks. Nevertheless, Morton’s phenomenal season did bring another league record, his 1,213 runs at 75.8 – 379 runs ahead of the next best, with five hundreds and three other 90-plus scores – smashing the old mark by 139 runs. 2. Sam Arthurton (Copdock & Old Ipswichian) After 15 years at Great Witchingham, the 29-year-old Norfolk opener took his prodigious batting exploits south into Suffolk, finishing as the EAPL’s leading runscorer for a fourth time in 10 years, with 1,103 runs at 58.05, his third 1,000-run campaign. 3. Nick Connolly (Ossett) July 23, and Ossett skipper Connolly takes 63 off Bankfoot, passing the 1,000-run mark earlier, and in fewer…

Do you know someone deserving of a place in the Wisden Club Cricket Hall of Fame? Email editorial@wisden.com "Blackburn picked up a career-best 8-30 at the age of 49, a final century at 51, and 69 wickets at nine apiece the year he broke the 1,000 barrier – afinal LDCC tally of 12,993 runs and 1,091 wickets The Wisden Club Cricket Hall of Fame Ahot June day in 2004, and Liverpool CC’s 53-yearold left-arm spinner Geoff Blackburn lures St Helens’ Ian Huyton down the pitch, the bails are whipped off, and teammate Faf du Plessis is first to congratulate him on his 1,000th Liverpool and District Competition (LDCC) wicket, the second man to the milestone. Having already passed the 10,000- run mark seven years earlier, he thus became the first…

South Africa v England Second Test, Cape Town, January 3-7, 2020 The Match England 269 (Denly 101; Rabada 4-76) & 188-7 dec (Root 99*) South Africa 140 (Elgar 67; Anderson 5-55) & 224 all out (Du Plessis 102*; Wood 6-62) England won by 93 runs The Cast Rory Burns Ashley Giles Mark Wood Gareth Southgate Harry Kane Back in 2020, England’s cricketers loved nothing more than a pre-match kickabout, despite the reservations of their head honcho Ashley Giles. One such warm-up on their tour of South Africa led to a member of the Test team embarking on an extraordinary footballing journey, following in the footsteps of two other famous sons of Ashington… AG: It’s no secret that I’m not a fan of our lads messing about with a football on…

Wisden Cricket Monthly Australia correspondent @collinsadam "Why don’t Australians like cricket anymore?” I was asked by the editor of this publication. It’s a question I can understand, strange though it is to consider in a country where the sport is ubiquitous – the lifeblood of the summer, and all that – that something may not be right. Hosting a radio show during the T20 World Cup, my colleague Sam Perry jumped on to give his perspective on the popularity of the Australian team. He was measured and balanced. In the minutes that followed, the text machine blew up in a way I’d never experienced as respondents got stuck into Pat Cummins – studs up. Accepting that talkback radio can be self-selecting, it was a window into how vastly the world…

THE Top Six The month in cricket No.6 Wisden Cricketers’ Almanack editor and Daily Mail writer @the_topspin "Forget the question of whether to play outside off stump: cricket’s most important judgment in the third decade of the 21st century is when to go to market In late November came news that might have surprised those who hadn’t been paying attention. Bridgepoint Group, a London-listed buyout firm, tabled an offer for The Hundred – said to be £400m for a 75 per cent stake – that sounded like something out of Dragons’ Den. These manoeuvres don’t always reach the public domain, so it was worth asking who benefitted from the headline, even if ECB chairman Richard Thompson said the figures had been wrongly reported. For one thing, it allowed the board…

Durham Ryan Campbell has been appointed Durham’s new head coach after four years in charge of the Netherlands men’s side. The former Australian keeper-bat has arrived on a three-year deal, replacing James Franklin who left Chester-le-Street after a lacklustre campaign in all formats. “Following an extensive recruitment process, it became clear that Ryan was the best fit for Durham and the county,” said Marcus North, Durham’s director of cricket. “Ryan comes to Durham with an excellent reputation following a successful period as the Netherlands head coach.” Essex Three days after being appointed Essex’s new chair, Azeem Akhtar voluntarily stepped aside from the role while the club conducts an independent review into his historical activity on social media. The review follows an article in the Jewish Chronicle that claimed Akhtar had…

Freelance cricket writer @tahahash In this brave new era we should’ve probably seen this one coming. Initially, Rehan Ahmed was just in the Lions squad, another level ticked off in his 2022 video game. The year had begun with a run to the final of the Under-19 World Cup, the summer with a breakout Blast campaign for Leicestershire. Then came a stint in The Hundred, followed by a firstclass five-for and a maiden ton in the same game. And then, just days out from the first Test against Pakistan, England decided to name the 18-year-old leggie in their squad. He didn’t play the first Test, but an appearance later in the series would make him England’s youngest men’s Test cricketer. It’s hard not to get sucked up into the fun…

POLYMATHS Wisden Cricket Monthly editorin-chief @Phil_Wisden Amazing Grace South London Bowling Club, London Circa 1905 The Doctor never lost his competitive zeal. In 1899, aged 51, WG moved his family to Crystal Palace to become overlord of London County CC, all while blithely continuing to claim a spot in the Gloucestershire first XI; a dual role that continued until the dry-mouthed Gloucester committee quietly suggested he may want to step away. When he wasn’t luring players of the calibre of Ranji, CB Fry and his old foe Billy Murdoch to his new cause in the capital, Grace was working on a new obsession: indoor bowls. Following the demise of London County as a first-class entity in 1904, Grace was free to pour his energies into his latest love, establishing the…

THE WCM COACHING TEAM "I bowl leg-spin for my club and have a bit of success but when batters start smashing me straight back over my head, I’m not sure how to stop them. It can be demoralising! Do your coaches have any advice? Matt Parkinson: From personal experience I know it can be tough, but my main advice is to keep trying to land your best ball. If you can do that when someone is trying to whack you, it’s a good sign. To stick with spin bowling, and especially leg-spin, you have to be strong-willed. But if you’re landing your best delivery and still going the distance, there are a few things you can try. You could try 23-yarders, so it looks like you’re bowling the same ball,…

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WIN! Send in your answers via email (editorial@wisden.com) or via post (Time Warp, Wisden Cricket Monthly, Fourth Floor, Bedser Stand, Kia Oval, Kennington, London, SE11 5SS). Entries must be received by January 11, 2023. 1. 5 years ago… On January 18, 2018, England defeated Bangladesh by seven wickets in the Men’s Under-19 World Cup group fixture at Queenstown. Which future England international captained his side and made 102*? 2. 10 years ago… On January 11, 2013, England men’s won the first of a fivematch ODI series against India, defeating their hosts by nine runs at Rajkot. Which English offspinner took figures of 4-44 and went on to finish as the leading wicket-taker in the series? 3. 15 years ago… On January 6, 2008, Australia beat India by 122 runs in…

"He was into his cars and had just bought a new Porsche 911. He asked me what I was driving. “Err, I’ ve got a lovely Ford Focus, Sachin” The Match: T20 Blast, Essex v Sussex at Chelmsford, June 24, 2008 The Score: 152* The Record: The highest score in English T20 cricket at the time and most sixes (16) in one innings I shared a flat with James Middlebrook and we had a little routine on match days. We had a BBQ, some nice chicken and lamb. The deal was I was the chef and he’d clean up afterwards. Then we’d have a snooze on a couple of sofas in the living room! Two professional sportsmen, dozing away the afternoon before a big game. It came good that day…