This excerpt from a new book on England’s twin white-ball triumphs explores how the current limited-overs captain’s high-risk, high-reward approach to batting changed his and the team’s game

Tim Wigmore and Matt Roller23-Jun-2023Most sports dressing rooms are hierarchical; junior players naturally defer to senior ones. But when Jos Buttler first broke into the England team in 2011, just before he turned 21, a funny thing happened: the established players turned to the newcomer, wanting to know how he played his scoop.”He did it so easily that the senior players would be asking how he does it, where he puts his hands, how low he gets, how far inside the line of the ball you want to be,” recalls Andy Flower, England’s coach when Buttler debuted. “That was rare. The level of innovation in international cricket accelerated from there.”Related

The scoop, as played by kids in streets all over south Asia

Jos Buttler's eyes have it as England captain puts seal on his team, and his legacy

The 'rationally irresistible' rise of Jos Buttler, T20 opener

Jos Buttler: 'Managing risk is a big part of T20 batting'

Chris Woakes first encountered Buttler in county cricket in 2010, when Buttler was 19. “He was like the wonderkid coming through,” Woakes recalls. “He played the scoop a lot: that was his shot. How he could hit sixes from the crease was another thing I remember quite vividly.”He was very pioneering. I feel like Jos – that instinct and the way he was going to play his own way – was beyond his years. Jos changed the game. He definitely changed the way England play.”To bowl to Buttler with a white ball is, in essence, to accept having one fielder fewer. The reason is his scoop, one of the most outlandish shots in the game.In 2009, when Buttler was 18, England hosted the T20 World Cup. Sri Lanka’s Tillakaratne Dilshan was Player of the Tournament after scoring three half-centuries; one shot he played stuck in Buttler’s mind more than any other. Against Australia at Trent Bridge, Dilshan unveiled what became known as the Dilscoop: facing Shane Watson’s fast-medium bowling, he got down on one knee and flicked the ball over his own head, over the wicketkeeper, and over the boundary for a one-bounce four.International batters had played similar paddle-sweeps before, but Dilshan’s resonated with Buttler. “I saw Dilshan doing it and it just made sense,” he told the in 2018. “There are no fielders there behind the keeper. If you make cricket as simple as you can, it is about hitting the ball where the fielders aren’t.”

“Jos’ instinct and the way he was going to play his own way was beyond his years. He changed the game. He definitely changed the way England play”Chris Woakes

When it was first popularised, the scoop was the embodiment of new-age ingenuity: a high-risk shot to be played only by the most impudent players. In Buttler’s hands, it has become something else: a pragmatic, high-percentage option, like most batters once considered a leg glance. When he played the scoop in T20 from 2018 until the end of 2022, according to the data analytics company CricViz, Buttler averaged 50.50 and had a strike rate of 239. No one scored more runs with the scoop in this time; indeed, since CricViz began tracking T20 matches in 2006, no batter has scored more runs with the scoop than Buttler. He also uses it to great effect in ODIs: by June 2023, he had scored 131 runs from scoops, and been dismissed just once.In essence, Buttler’s scoop is two things at once: a phenomenal shot in its own right; and, by forcing captains to use a fielder to try and cover it, a way of enhancing the rest of his game by opening up more gaps elsewhere in the field.”Every time you look up, there’s always a gap that you feel he can access,” says Chris Jordan, who has bowled to Buttler in the IPL. “That’s what makes him so difficult to bowl at.”Nathan Leamon is best known for his work as England’s analyst, but he also has one of the least enviable jobs in cricket: planning to dismiss Buttler while working for Kolkata Knight Riders. “Because I’m English, people specifically come to me and say, ‘How are we going to bowl to Jos?'” Leamon reflects. “The only suggestion is to get him out early.”The power of Buttler’s scoop is such that “You feel like you’ve only got eight fielders – and only got four on the boundary – for the whole of his innings,” Leamon explains. “You have to keep fine leg back – and quite fine – otherwise he scoops. And when he scoops, he strikes at 200-plus. Jos almost never gets out to it, and he just scores runs for fun when he plays it. He basically takes one of your fielders off the field. And if the boundary’s short, he’ll play it even when the guy’s back, and just hit it for six over his head.”Buttler has called the scoop his favourite shot – a judgement rooted in the shot’s effectiveness more than its audacity, as he told in 2019: “There’s never a fielder behind the wicketkeeper. Even if you don’t play it, the bowler is factoring in that you might.”Buttler: “If you make cricket as simple as you can, it is about hitting the ball where the fielders aren’t”•PA Photos/Getty ImagesAnd so understanding the scoop is essential to understanding Buttler’s greatness. The scoop is a window into Buttler’s art, a magnificent stroke in its own right – and, such is its effectiveness, a shot that enhances the entire rest of his game.As a fast bowler runs in, Buttler shimmies his left shoulder, making his body as loose and relaxed as possible. When he scoops, his right foot acts as a decoy; he steps outside leg stump before pushing himself back towards the off side. “I’ve worked on making it a smooth movement,” he told Sky Sports in 2018. “That backwards press gets me into a nice rhythm, almost trying to roll underneath the ball.”Buttler watches the ball closely onto the face of his bat, avoiding using his wrists unless facing a slower ball. “I’m trying to let you [the bowler] bounce the ball off my bat. I’m trying to use your pace,” he said. If Buttler uses his wrists to flick the ball up over the keeper, “my timing and everything else has to be perfect. Whereas if I’m just holding the bat there… I’ll use all your pace.”Unlike Dilshan, Buttler stays upright while playing the scoop. Batters play most shots on instinct, but the scoop is premeditated; by staying upright, Buttler can play it to short balls as well as full ones. Really, Buttler doesn’t have one scoop but several: by holding the bat at a different angle, he has also developed a reverse scoop, over third man rather than fine leg.AB de Villiers, the legendary South African batter and Buttler’s childhood hero, was an adroit exponent of the scoop himself. Buttler’s skill playing it, says de Villiers, lies in his control. “He gets in a really good position, and his head is still,” he explains:”He has his eyes parallel to the ground and gets his head out of the way; you never want to get your head in line with the ball knowing that if you miss it, you’re going to get knocked out.”He never tries to over-hit it. It’s just a little flick to help it along, to use the pace of the bowler. He approaches it in a very basic kind of way. Sometimes, he gets a bit lower; sometimes, he stands upright, almost expecting a hard-length delivery. It’s an instinctive shot, and a shot where you almost read the plans of the bowler and the captain, knowing what they’re trying to do.”Buttler’s scoop relies on his hand-eye coordination, nurtured playing racket sports as a boy. He developed the shot through his creative, meticulous practice – he is renowned for his experimentation, using different grips, angles of the bat and moving his feet when training against yorkers.

“There are no fielders there behind the keeper. If you make cricket as simple as you can, it is about hitting the ball where the fielders aren’t”Buttler on his reasoning behind playing the scoop

When facing Sri Lanka’s Lasith Malinga, with his low, slingy action, Buttler would put his hands lower on the handle to create an angle to attack the ball with the middle of his bat, rather than merely dig it out; he would also change his grip, opening the face to angle wide yorkers past third man. Buttler’s relatively light bat gives him control, enabling him to whip his hands through the ball.Unlike most English batters, Buttler does not play with a high front elbow – once again, highlighting the role of unstructured free play in his development. “I have a very natural, bottom-handed grip,” he told Sky Sports in 2018. “That’s just me being myself… I’ve found a way to accelerate my bat through the ball, and that comes quite naturally with the way I hold my bat.”Whether playing the scoop or more conventional shots, there is a smooth, uncluttered simplicity to Buttler’s approach. “The thing that stands out the most for me with Jos’ batting is the power he creates with a relatively short and compact backlift,” de Villiers observes.”There’s not a lot of twirls, twists and turns in his backlift, but he always finds a way to surprise the fielders and the bowlers with the amount of power that he creates by playing it late under his eyes and letting his forearms and wrists do the rest.”

****

Over 2021 and 2022, Buttler attained new heights of T20 batting. Across the two World Cups, he scored more runs than anyone else, averaging 61.75 with a strike rate of 148. In between times, Buttler hit four centuries in an IPL season, equalling Kohli’s 2016 record.By April 2023, 60 players from the 12 Test-playing nations had made 500 runs in T20 internationals when opening. Of this group, Buttler had the second-best average and the fourth-best strike rate. T20 batters have traditionally been on a continuum between consistent players and destructive ones; Buttler defies this trade-off.Buttler had played 44 T20Is as an opener, averaging 49.20 with a strike-rate of 152 – both significantly higher than when he batted in the middle order. As in his scoop shot, he had found a way to combine an artist’s audacity with an accountant’s reliability.He does not stand out for his record alone; his style is just as distinctive. England were so long the tortoises in white-ball cricket. In Buttler, they have found a hare – a player at the heart of the game’s evolution.Bloomsbury”One of the incredible things about Jos Buttler’s career was that it’s very rare an England player pushes the envelope in any sport,” Ed Smith, England’s national selector from 2018-21, observes. “Think of the leading British sportsman in other sports in the last 20 years. Even when they’ve been exceptional it’s seldom been on the grounds of creativity, originality. In the case of some of England’s white-ball players, Jos being pre-eminent, they were doing things that made the rest of the world think, ‘Wow, let’s do that.'”Brian Lara’s status as one of the greatest batters in history is unquestionable. Yet, after watching the T20 World Cup in 2022, he recognised just how much the art of batting had evolved since his international retirement in 2007.”The game has moved on,” Lara told us. “A lot of people say, ‘This guy from the past is a much better batter.’ You look at the shots that these guys are playing now. It’s incredible what they’re doing. I must say that the game has evolved, has developed, and these guys are crazy, crazy good. If I was to transport myself into the spirit, I feel yes, I would survive, I’d do well, but I’d love to develop a few more shots, the ramp and the reverse-sweep.”Unprompted, Lara picked out one moment that captured the essence of modern batting: Buttler in the 2022 T20 World Cup final, reacting to a brilliant spell from Naseem Shah by scooping – that shot again – a delivery outside off stump over fine leg for six.”You don’t do things like that,” said Lara with a disbelieving smile. Jos Buttler does.White Hot: The Inside Story of England Cricket’s Double World Champions

A change of angle, a bit of natural variation, some wobbly seam, and poof, the batter is gone before you know it

Karthik Krishnaswamy15-Jul-20232:33

Paras Mhambrey: ‘Ashwin one of the greatest match-winners for India’

Sometimes, one ball can illuminate multiple aspects of a bowler’s craft. Case in point, R Ashwin’s dismissal of Kraigg Brathwaite on the third and final day of the West Indies vs India Test in Dominica.Let us begin with the angle. Ashwin not only goes around the wicket here, but also delivers with a lower arm than usual. This is partly because Ashwin varies his release points constantly, but partly also because he has spotted a technical issue creeping in whenever he has gone a little round-arm to Brathwaite.After bowling India to an innings win with match figures of 12 for 131 – his best away from home – Ashwin explained the thinking behind that ball to Brathwaite during a chat with commentators Ian Bishop and Samuel Badree.Related

• Sinclair replaces Reifer as West Indies beef up spin resources for Trinidad Test

• Virat Kohli's battle with himself

• Stats – Ashwin piles on records, WI's worst batting show against India

• Rohit on Jaiswal: 'At no stage did he go away from his plans'

• Report: Ashwin's seven-for sews up India's innings win

“I’m thinking constantly like a batter when I’m bowling,” Ashwin said. “[During] the first few overs, I’m settling into a nice rhythm. I’m looking for different angles, trying to see whether my round-arm ball spins, or the up and over spins, or the flatter trajectory spins. I try and gauge the pitch, I try and gauge the right pace to be bowling with, and then I’m looking at the batter.”That’s the next phase for me – where is the head moving, where is he looking to score those runs, is he falling over, is his front leg coming over? – those are the things I’m looking at. Today, when I was bowling at Kraigg Brathwaite – it was something I was working on in the first innings as well – I felt like when the round-arm action was coming in, he was losing his head.”By this, Ashwin didn’t mean Brathwaite was playing irrational shots, but that his head was falling over.Freeze the replay of Brathwaite’s dismissal at the point where the ball pitches, and you’ll see that his head has fallen a long way to the off side of the ball, which has pitched on a middle-stumpish line. It leaves Brathwaite in a dangerous position, since his bat cannot come down straight to access the ball. It will instead have to slice across his front pad, which brings in three modes of dismissal depending on how much or little the ball turns: lbw, caught off the inside edge, or caught off the outside edge.On this occasion, there’s barely any turn, and Brathwaite’s bat traces a path that’s something like a mirror-image C – across the line at first before being drawn outwards, towards the ball – and brings about a healthy edge to Ajinkya Rahane at slip.R Ashwin finished with a match haul of 12 wickets•Associated PressThe vagaries of natural variation are at play here too, but how much of it is entirely natural? Cast your mind back to India’s innings, and the one phase of it where their batters were being constantly troubled. This was the first session on day two, when Rahkeem Cornwall got the ball to turn and bounce awkwardly on multiple occasions against both Rohit Sharma and Yashasvi Jaiswal. As uncomfortable as both batters looked during that spell though, Cornwall really made them worry only about one edge each: the right-hander’s inside edge, and the left-hander’s outside edge.This is seldom the case with Ashwin or Ravindra Jadeja. What makes them dangerous is how much they test both edges even on pitches where the ball turns square. They bring natural variation into play more than most spinners, and they do it because they have ways to maximise it.The spin-vision replay of the Brathwaite dismissal gave one clue as to how they may be doing this. Right through India’s home series against Australia in February-March, it had been evident that both Ashwin and Jadeja were frequently getting the ball to wobble in the air, no matter what seam position they employed. Ashwin’s ball to Brathwaite came out with a wobbly seam as well: it could have behaved in a variety of ways depending on which part of the ball landed on the pitch.Over recent years, the media and former players have thoroughly scrutinised the wobble-seam ball and its effects, but only when it has been delivered by fast bowlers. It’s perhaps time that the spinner’s version enters the discussion too.

“I’m thinking constantly like a batter when I’m bowling. I try and gauge the pitch, I try and gauge the right pace to be bowling with, and then I’m looking at the batter”R Ashwin gives a glimpse into his bowling process

Ashwin didn’t go into the mechanics of his release during his post-match chat, but he dwelled on the effect of natural variation on batters’ minds.For this, he took the example of Jermaine Blackwood, his second victim during his second-innings seven-for. Ashwin dismissed Blackwood with another ball from around the wicket: this one turned in sharply after pitching just outside off stump, with ball-tracking suggesting it would have gone on to hit the top of leg stump. Blackwood’s response suggested he was playing for much less turn: his front pad went a long way across, and his bat came down to defend the ball into the cover region rather than down the pitch. In the end, he ended up with his bat blocked by his front leg.”I’ve played so many Test matches, right? It’s always about getting those one or two dismissals early on in these pitches,” Ashwin said. “One caught the outside edge, one catches the inside edge, and suddenly the team walking in, they’re thinking, ‘Okay, here I am; can I defend, can I go forward, should I go back?'”The moment a batter walks in, you know what he wants to do, and Jermaine Blackwood was a clear example of how [after] Kraigg Brathwaite nicked it off to slip, he was [worried about] the outside edge, wanting to protect it. It’s pretty much [about gauging] very quickly when a batsman walks in – whether he wants to drive, whether he wants to sit back – so when you make that early gauging of a situation or a batter, you’ve got a better chance of attacking him up front.”For Ashwin, Dominica was just another Test match on a turning pitch, but don’t be fooled by how easy he makes it look. There are layers to his craft, acquired over years of experience and experimentation, that most other spinners simply don’t possess.

Just as 33,000 people began to fear Shami might have dropped the World Cup, he came back with a fiery spell for the ages

Matt Roller15-Nov-20232:35

Is Shami India’s greatest ODI bowler of all time?

Jasprit Bumrah couldn’t bear to look. As he covered his mouth and his eyes with both hands, his expression mirrored that of 33,000 Indian fans at Mumbai’s Wankhede Stadium and tens, if not hundreds of millions more around this vast country. Had Mohammed Shami just dropped the World Cup?For the first time in five-and-a-half weeks, since their top-order collapse against Australia in Chennai, India’s progress was in jeopardy. The group stages quickly became a victory tour around the country: another city, another opponent, another win. With 397 on the board, this semi-final seemed like a mere extension of their procession.But under the floodlights on Marine Drive, India started to stutter. It had only taken Shami ten balls to remove both openers, but Kane Williamson and Daryl Mitchell got through the twilight zone that has killed chasing teams at the Wankhede in this World Cup, looked India in the eye and asked if they had the minerals for a knockout game.Related

• How the pieces of the jigsaw fell in place for incredible India

• School's out as Rohit, Iyer rip up the textbooks in Mumbai

• 'After-effects of dengue' to blame for Gill cramping up at Wankhede

• Rohit: 'We were calm even though we were a bit sloppy on the field'

• Crazy, stupid, love: a Tendulkar fan's complicated relationship with Kohli

They blinked: Ravindra Jadeja overstepped. Suryakumar Yadav misfielded. KL Rahul was beaten by the late-swinging ball, conceding five wides and four byes. Jadeja fielded off his own bowling, then pinged the ball past Rahul straight to the boundary. Rahul broke the stumps without the ball in his gloves, while gathering a throw from Shami at point which might have run Williamson out.New Zealand found their range: Williamson latched onto Kuldeep Yadav’s drag-downs, and Mitchell popped four clean, straight sixes back over bowlers’ heads: Shami once, and Jadeja three times. Their partnership was worth 141 by the time Rohit Sharma brought Bumrah back for his second spell, and the sold-out crowd had hardly made a squeak for 90 minutes.Five balls into his comeback over, Bumrah drew a mistake. His back-of-a-length slower ball seemed to stick in the pitch and sat up tantalisingly for Williamson, who pulled cross-batted, hard and flat to mid-on. The ball hung in the air just long enough for Bumrah to turn towards Shami in anticipation, and for those watching to feel their chest tighten.ESPNcricinfo LtdShami snatched at it: the ball burst through his reverse-cup, clanging off his right hand and hitting the turf. He puffed his cheeks and scrambled back to retrieve the ball, and Williamson had a life on 52. “I felt terrible,” he later said. Those nine group-stage wins counted for nothing now: India were being confronted with their own mortality.Shami had three overs to dwell on his mistake. He watched Williamson slog-sweep Kuldeep over the leg side and Mitchell reverse-sweep him for four; he stood at fine leg as Mitchell pumped Bumrah over long-off, then at long leg while Williamson punched him through the off side. The equation looked increasingly feasible: when Shami returned to bowl, New Zealand needed 179 more off 18 overs.The second ball of his comeback spell was innocuous enough: an 84mph slot ball, sliding into Williamson’s pads. He flicked it out into the deep, but without quite middling the ball. Suryakumar settled underneath it at deep backward square leg and as the crowd broke from their collective vow of silence, Shami’s relief was palpable.That brought Tom Latham in at No. 5. Shami’s early dismissals of Devon Conway and Rachin Ravindra, both caught behind off balls from around the wicket that angled in and then straightened just enough to take the outside edge, had brought his stellar record against left-handers at this World Cup into light: Latham was just another for him to dismiss.Shami has bowled 52 balls to left-handers at this World Cup, 51 of them from around the wicket: he now averages 4 against them. He bowls from so wide on the crease that his front foot lands only a few inches inside the return crease and the angle is almost unplayable: his natural length is too full to cut or pull, but too short to drive, and any hint of movement either way is killer.Mohammed Shami finished with 7 for 57•AFP/Getty ImagesLatham lasted two balls, pinned by a nip-backer that had him so plumb, he barely stopped to consider a review. This time, Shami was overcome by the moment, punching the air and clenching his fists as his whole body contorted in celebration. In three balls, he had turned 220 for 2 into 220 for 4, and turned jeopardy into joy.Shami returned at the death to put the final touches on India’s win: he held his arms aloft as Mitchell holed out to deep midwicket, and had Tim Southee and Lockie Ferguson caught behind. He finished with seven wickets, the first time an Indian bowler had achieved that feat in a men’s ODI.When Mitchell became Shami’s fifth victim, the blue shirts in the Dilip Vengsarkar Stand started to chant his name. Virat Kohli, walking back into position at long-off, asked for more, waving his arms to gee them up and himself applauding in Shami’s direction. If they came thinking of Kohli, they left thinking of Shami.

A month ago, Shami wasn’t in the India team, squeezed out in pursuit of balance; on Thursday, he will travel to Ahmedabad for the final as the leading wicket-taker at the World Cup, with 23 in six games

This was a gesture with an undertone of solidarity. As India’s captain, Kohli made a point of speaking out publicly when Shami was the victim of Islamophobic online abuse in the T20 World Cup two years ago: his expensive spells – and his dropped catches – bring different consequences to most of his team-mates.A month ago, Shami wasn’t in the India team, squeezed out in pursuit of balance; on Thursday, he will travel to Ahmedabad for the final as the leading wicket-taker at the World Cup, with 23 in six games. Another performance like this one, and he may well bring their decade-long wait for a major trophy to an end.

The Perth Test at Optus Stadium has been rebranded the ‘West Test’ with innovations in a bid to boost crowds after lacklustre attendances in recent years

Tristan Lavalette07-Dec-2023Under the warm late spring sun, Justin Langer and Adam Gilchrist waited patiently in the middle of Perth’s Optus Stadium as photographers readied for the perfect snap.Once advertising ticked over on the ground’s giant scoreboard screen, supposedly the largest in the southern hemisphere, the clicking of the cameras began. The resulting image – the smiling West Australian cricket legends waving their bats and positioned neatly so that the screen could be in the frame. The advertising read: There’s Nothing Like the West Test.With the first Test of the summer between Australia and Pakistan at Optus Stadium not until December 14, marketing of the event started especially early in the first week of November.Related

Off-field noise dominates build-up to Pakistan's tough tour and Warner's farewell

'He's got opening-itis' – Khawaja warns against Labuschagne promotion

Australia's Test squad takeaways: Warner remains, Marsh vs Green, blooding new quicks

Ponting believes Bancroft heads race to replace Warner

Johnson lashes out at Warner, asks if he 'warrants a hero's send-off'

The Perth sports focus at the time was saturated with the Australian Football League draft as Harley Reid, the top prospect selected by local club West Coast, occupied the back page of the city’s only major newspaper for more than 10 straight days.But the big media event at Optus Stadium, held 38 days before the first Test, did start an awareness campaign in what looms as an important Test match for WA Cricket.After Perth missed hosting lucrative Tests against India and England over consecutive summers due to strict Covid-19 border rules, just a tick over 40,000 fans attended the first Test between Australia and West Indies at Optus Stadium a year ago.The underwhelming turnout for Perth’s first Test match since 2019 was due to a myriad of reasons, including the fallout of Langer’s messy exit as Australia coach and West Indies’ lack of marketability.”It came on the back of a couple of hard years after Covid,” WA Cricket chief executive Christina Matthews said. “The Test match came after a T20 World Cup where the West Indies didn’t qualify and cricket was in overload at that moment. It was probably a glitch in our Test cricket history.”The eyesore of a mostly empty 60,000-capacity venue amid a somewhat strained relationship between parochial West Australians and the national Australia team resulted in a rebrand of a match to be now known as the ‘West Test’.”It’ll give [the Perth Test] its own signature…like the Boxing Day Test and the Pink Test – people don’t think of them necessarily as Melbourne and Sydney,” Matthews, who announced her resignation from the role on Wednesday after 12 years as CEO, said. “It’s all about how you market and promote….and make people want to come here.”This marks just the fourth Test match at Optus Stadium located on the opposite bank of the Swan River to the iconic WACA ground. Opened in 2018 to an ODI between Australia and England, the grandiose Burswood stadium – like a mini but modern MCG – quickly reeled in the punters who had grown tired of the aged infrastructure at the WACA and Subiaco Oval, where AFL games were once played.

“Traditions have to start somewhere. It’s up to the people of Perth… and people interstate… to say ‘I want to experience the West Test’ and vote with their feet.”Adam Gilchrist

But crowds have yet to flock in numbers to an Optus Stadium Test match. A riveting Test between Australia and India in December 2018 attracted around 20,000 fans on each of the first three days. The following year’s day-night Test between Australia and New Zealand had similar crowd numbers.There were several factors behind those lacklustre numbers. The lingering effects of the sandpaper scandal and Australia being shorthanded without Steven Smith and David Warner contributed to a somewhat low-key match against India. Oppressive heat across both those Test matches was also undoubtedly a turnoff with chunks of seating at Optus Stadium not covered by shade.But there has been a sense that fans have never quite warmed to the shift of Test matches away from the more intimate WACA, an iconic cricket ground due to its fast and bouncy pitch.In an effort to woo fans and create a link to WACA lore, a new three-tiered hill holding up to 500 fans will be part of the Pakistan Test match. A portion of seats at Optus Stadium will be taken out in a bid to mimic the famous grass banks on either side of the WACA ground, which is under redevelopment but is likely to still hold Test matches in the future involving smaller nations.”Bringing part of that history and heritage to this modern facility is really exciting,” Gilchrist said. “These opportunities to bring some of that old heritage into the new [stadium] is a great starting point to build tradition and history.”The big screen at Perth Stadium replicates the famous WACA scoreboard•Getty ImagesOnce again mimicking the WACA, every effort has been made to ensure a spicy surface is produced after a lifeless pitch in last year’s dreary Test that went well into the fifth day.The drop-in pitches were recently moved into the stadium’s playing surface having been curated at Optus Stadium since February. It contains the same local clay and grass species as the surfaces at the WACA.Expectations are high for this Test match with hopes of around 25,000 fans for day one. It is being played at WA Cricket’s preferred timeslot of mid-December after Perth emerged victorious in a bidding war to host Pakistan with Adelaide and Brisbane left with West Indies later in the summer.But there remains an unknown over whether West Australians, whose one-eyed fervour spills over passionately supporting their local teams, are truly invested in the national team. It very much feels like WA cricket fans care more for Perth Scorchers, underlined by the team’s comprehensive coverage in the local media in a notable contrast to the rest of the year where cricket can feel invisible.WA greats are hopeful people will turn out to Perth Stadium for Test cricket•Cricket Australia/Getty ImagesThe parochialism has again been evident with adopted West Australian Mitchell Johnson using his column in the metro newspaper to launch a scathing attack on Warner and national selector George Bailey. It’s led to WA cricket fans largely siding with Johnson and venting frustration that in-form WA opener Cameron Bancroft has been supposedly ignored as a Warner replacement by those on the east coast – or “over east” as per the local vernacular.Even Smith has felt the wrath of WA fans having been jeered during the BBL at Optus Stadium last season. Despite this strange dynamic, it’s hoped the inaugural ‘West Test’ can create a fresh start ahead of Optus Stadium hosting blockbuster Tests against India and England over the next couple of summers.”Traditions have to start somewhere,” Gilchrist said. “It’s up to the people of Perth… and people interstate… to say ‘I want to experience the West Test’ and vote with their feet.”

They may or may not make the squad to the USA and the Caribbean, but have done enough to get on the selectors’ radar

Danyal Rasool20-Mar-2024

Haider Ali

There is no evidence that Haider Ali has changed, but he merely served a reminder of what he is like at his best, a seductively clean ball-striker. Having seemingly regressed after a string of low scores over the past couple of years, he was left unpicked at the draft before Islamabad United plumped for him as a late replacement. And two nerveless, unbeaten innings in virtual knockouts for United conjured flashbacks of the kind of player Pakistan thought they were getting with Haider.Earlier in Haider’s career, Pakistan tried to use him up the order, but with a paucity of lower-order hitters at United, he was deployed there, and that now offers possibilities for Pakistan. Competition for places is much less fierce in those lower-middle-order positions, and the upcoming T20Is against New Zealand will be the perfect time for a trial.There’s no reason 23-year-old Haider cannot improve, but if Pakistan think he has turned a corner, they may be disappointed. He failed to reach double-figures in 12 of his last 19 innings, so a clarity of thought around the purpose of Haider will be essential. In him, a side acquires an occasional big-hitter, not a guaranteed run-scorer.Imad Wasim might not be done with international cricket yet•PCB

Imad Wasim

Imad Wasim last played for Pakistan over a year ago, and has officially retired from international cricket, but it’s difficult to ignore him. A player who effortlessly polarises opinion, Imad’s consistently effective all-round showings this tournament were a throwback to a time when he opened the bowling for a side that won 11 T20I series in a row. Injuries, and a perceived lack of commitment to fitness, have seen his international career fade, but with the bulk of this year’s T20 World Cup in the Caribbean, the case for one last dance with the international side has only become stronger.His economy rate of 6.60 was matchless – no bowler (minimum 25 overs) came within almost a full run of it – and his ability to nibble away at opposition top orders without being a run-leaker is far too alluring a combination to ignore. Add to that his record in the CPL, where his 61 wickets have come at under 19, and an economy rate second only to Sunil Narine’s in the history of that competition, and he begins to look like a shoo-in.And that’s without talking about his batting. While not a power-hitter by any stretch of the imagination, Imad’s contributions lower down the order kept Islamabad alive through the group stages, and his presence at the death in the final held the tail together.An unretirement then?The mystery with Mehran Mumtaz is how exactly he gets the ball to grip and turn while bowling at near 100kph•PCB

Mehran Mumtaz

There are mystery spinners who appear gimmicky, and mystery spinners who offer a function. The mystery with Mehran Mumtaz is how exactly he gets the ball to grip and turn while bowling at near 100kph. Mumtaz, the 20-year-old left-arm bowler, didn’t play much of the PSL, but in the five games he did, he was both captivating and effective. He took five wickets, but it was the economy rate that stood out – 6.63, a smidge over Imad’s.Five games might not be a significant sample size, but if there are questions over Imad’s longevity and fitness, there should be no similar concerns for Mumtaz. He bowls the bulk of his balls in powerplays, and provided significant breakthroughs in all but one game, counting Reeza Hendricks, Shadab Khan and Saud Shakeel among his victims. He remains an unknown quantity to most in Pakistan, but Pakistan have 12 games before the T20I World Cup, and an ideal opportunity to test him.Abrar Ahmed isn’t a red-ball specialist, and proved that again at the PSL this year•Getty Images

Abrar Ahmed

This, perhaps, is the safer and more likely play for Pakistan’s selectors. Abrar Ahmed broke through at the PSL with Karachi Kings and Peshawar Zalmi before injuries wiped years off his career. But when he re-emerged, Pakistan, for some reason, viewed him as a red-ball specialist, handing him his international debut against England in Multan. He made an instant impression, taking five wickets before lunch and since, the six matches he’s played have all come in the Test format.He was viewed as Pakistan’s frontline spinner for the tour of Australia before a pinched nerve in his right leg ruled him out, but at the PSL this year, he demonstrated his T20 nous has not quite deserted him. He was the third-highest wicket-taker of the tournament, taking a wicket every 15 deliveries at an economy rate superior to Usama Mir’s or Mohammad Ali’s, the only bowlers more prolific. He was an invaluable part of the Quetta Gladiators side, bowling his full quota in all ten games. If he can remain injury free over the upcoming swing leading to the World Cup, expect to see him in a green shirt with white ball in hand at some point. Perhaps even in the Caribbean.At the PSL, only Babar Azam scored more runs than Usman Khan, and the latter played four fewer games•PCB/PSL

Usman Khan

Yeah, yeah, we know this is a bit of a cheat. He’s not even a Pakistan player, having changed his affiliation to the UAE in 2022. That he’s good enough isn’t a doubt at the moment – at the PSL, only Babar Azam scored more runs and Usman played four fewer games, scoring two of the PSL’s four hundreds at an average in excess of 107 and a strike rate exceeding 164.But he’s still got 14 months left to qualify for the UAE, and though he was lukewarm about his ambitions to play for Pakistan, there is little doubt Pakistan wouldn’t want to let a player like him slip away quite so easily. It all comes too quickly for this year’s World Cup, but Usman in a Pakistan shirt? Don’t rule it out just yet.

“If someone wants to axe you, you might as well go and throw your bat,” he says after his place in the side has been under scrutiny this season

Deivarayan Muthu20-Jan-2024Tamil Nadu’s N Jagadeesan had a record-breaking 2022-23 Vijay Hazare Trophy, but he suddenly fell off the radar. He was no longer the state team’s first-choice keeper in the most recent Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy and failed to make the IPL 2024 auction shortlist.Then, after a quiet Vijay Hazare Trophy this season, he was demoted down the order in the Ranji Trophy. He batted at Nos. 7 and 8 in Tamil Nadu’s Ranji opener against Gujarat in Valsad. But, despite the recent setbacks, Jagadeesan refuses to take a backward step. Returning to the top of the order at his hometown Coimbatore, Jagadeesan cracked an unbeaten 245 off 402 balls – his maiden first-class double-century and the highest score by a Tamil Nadu keeper in the Ranji Trophy – against Railways. Jagadeesan’s predecessor Dinesh Karthik had previously scored 213 against Uttar Pradesh back in 2008-09.”It was definitely a big mental battle, to be honest. Because things are not the same like last year,” Jagadeesan said after the first day’s play. “The coach is different, everybody is different. So, people have different opinions and can be a bit judgmental at times, but I was very clear in my head, saying I shouldn’t take anything personally.”It was just up to me and no one else. It was to be as clear as possible because two tournaments have just gone by. It was just about going and expressing myself and not worrying about getting dropped or not scoring runs. Might as well get dropped by showing intent.”Jagadeesan understands that it is his strength to bat with attacking enterprise. He has a wide range of shots in his repertoire – he once stunned Shane Watson with a switch-hit at an IPL trial with Royal Challengers Bangalore – and doesn’t want to hold himself back. All up, he hit 25 fours and four sixes against Railways.

“Two tournaments have just gone by and there’s nothing more to lose than to worry about things that are uncontrollable. Playing defensive, tight or [stubborn] – that’s not my game as well. If someone wants to axe you, you might as well go and throw your bat”N Jagadeesan

“My mindset was pretty clear,” he said. “It was to have intent from ball one. I mean you need to put the bowler under pressure. If you’re able to put some fielders on the boundary line, singles and doubles get easier. Once you start running hard, there will always be two different batters playing the bowler. So, the chances of getting runs are a lot more.”Jagadeesan insisted that he will continue to bat in similar fashion, though his place in the side has been under scrutiny since the start of this domestic season.”To be honest, after last year, since the first match of this season, I don’t know for what reason there was an axe on my head,” he said. “Two tournaments have just gone by and there’s nothing more to lose than to worry about things that are uncontrollable. Playing defensive, tight or (stubborn) – that’s not my game as well. If someone wants to axe you, you might as well go and throw your bat.”Was Jagadeesan surprised by the IPL snub? “No, not really,” he said. “It was pretty clear – they (Tamil Nadu) didn’t make me start in the T20 tournament (Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy). I also made up my mind saying even if I don’t get picked, there’s nobody in the world who is going to stop me from playing cricket. I started playing the game because I love the sport and it doesn’t matter which level you play at. No matter what, I am still going to play cricket.”In their last game against Tripura, Tamil Nadu had two rookies opening the batting, with B Sai Sudharsan away with the India A team and Jagadeesan sliding down the order. Jagadeesan’s return to the top gives Tamil Nadu’s batting line-up more experience and stability. Though Jagadeesan is ready to bat anywhere for the team, his preference is to open and front up against the new ball.”I think that (batting down the order) is what the team needed at the time. So, I was happy to be at that position as well,” he said. “Even now the team wanted me to open, so I’m really happy about that but given a choice I’d like to bat up [the order]. I was really happy and thanks to Sai [Kishore, Tamil Nadu captain] for making me open.”As an opener, it (the challenge) is always there when you face the new ball. When it (day’s play) starts at 9.30 [am], the wicket is also fresh, and the bowlers are fresh. Everybody is fresh, so I think it was very important for me to make sure that I had my focus 100% and it was also an opportunity for me to do something up the order. I was keen on focusing on each and every ball and staying committed to each and every ball.”Jagadeesan’s daddy hundred at his hometown – where he has “literally grown up” – has set Tamil Nadu up for their first outright win, which could shake up the Group C points table.

With England preparing to embark on a five-Test tour of India, the Switch Hit team sat down to discuss their chances

ESPNcricinfo staff16-Jan-2024England have not played Test cricket since the conclusion of the Ashes in July but the squad recently linked up in Abu Dhabi to prepare for the start of their five-Test tour of India. In this week’s episode of Switch Hit, Alan Gardner is joined by Andrew Miller and Vithushan Ehantharajah to size up the chances of an upset. Can Bazball work against a dominant India side in home conditions? Will foregoing warm-up games come back to bite England? And is attack the best form of defence on spinning pitches? There’s also discussion of Colin Graves’ return at Yorkshire and the state of the county game, amid reports of potential IPL investment.

Who will make the 15-man squad for the T20 World Cup? The deadline for selection is May 1

Sidharth Monga29-Apr-2024Don’t expect IPL form to play too much of a role when India’s selectors pick the 15-man squad for the 2024 T20 World Cup, the deadline for which is May 1.The selectors are unlikely to go for players who are unproven at international level even though a few of them have made heads turn with their hitting in IPL 2024. The one bolter that might have been picked got injured. Much like consumers of the sport and pundits, the team management and selectors are believed to have been excited about Mayank Yadav’s pace and accuracy. They would have likely punted on him, but his injury-prone body might have prevented that now.The IPL, though, has served to prove the fitness of Rishabh Pant, who had been out of cricket since his horrific car accident in December 2022. Sanju Samson, however, is likely to be the first-choice wicketkeeper as India need a spin-hitter to pair with their top three who tend to get stuck against spin. Also, Jitesh Sharma’s form hasn’t been great and KL Rahul has been batting at the top of the order, which is crowded already. The top four of captain Rohit Sharma, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Virat Kohli and Suryakumar Yadav was more or less decided even before the IPL began.Hardik Pandya’s bowling fitness could be a cause for concern for the selectors. When fully fit and in form, Hardik does what nobody else can in the country: bowl medium-pace and hit in the middle order. As such, he should be a certain starter, but he has been bowling only about two overs a match in the IPL and his pace has been down too. He still has a month to get into proper bowling rhythm and justify keeping Shivam Dube or Rinku Singh out of the XI.If India are to take both Dube and Rinku to the T20 World Cup, they will have to leave out either a back-up wicketkeeper or a back-up bowler. It will likely come down to a shootout between Rinku and a back-up fast bowler. It would have helped if one of the top four could bowl or keep wicket, but India are stuck with a top order that is one-dimensional.The only way to accommodate the power-hitters is to drop one or two of the top four, but Rohit had already been confirmed as the captain by BCCI secretary Jay Shah earlier this year. Rohit, in turn, is believed to have asked for Kohli because of his temperament. Not that it would be an easy call for the selectors to take one and leave out the other: as we have maintained in these pages, it’s either both or none. Jaiswal is the only left-hand option in the top order, and Suryakumar is among the best T20 batters in the world.The IPL’s Impact Player rule will add to the frustration of the selectors as prospective allrounders have not been called upon to bowl at all. For Dube to edge out Hardik, he ideally should have bowled a little, but CSK have not needed him to because of the Impact Player. The same goes for Riyan Parag at Rajasthan Royals. The IPL teams have no incentive to develop allrounders. So even if the selectors wanted to take Dube as a seam-bowling allrounder, they have nothing to assess his bowling.Hardik Pandya hasn’t been impactful as a bowler in the IPL•BCCIAs of now, Ravindra Jadeja might edge out Axar Patel as the spin allrounder in the first XI, but Axar could make the squad as the back-up spinner, leaving Kuldeep Yadav as the only wristspinner in the squad of 15.Jasprit Bumrah’s fast-bowling partners remain difficult to identify in the absence of the injured Mohammed Shami. Arshdeep Singh is likely to be the left-arm quick because of his ability to move the new ball, but his form at the death hasn’t been great in the IPL. Avesh Khan is in the fray because of his height and ability to hit the surface and Mohammed Siraj is also in the mix even though his form has not been great for RCB.The fast bowlers other than Bumrah are not yet in stone. Mohsin Khan and Harshit Rana have impressed the decision-makers, but their fitness is not believed to be at its peak, which can be a risk in a World Cup.

India’s likely T20 World Cup squad

Top order: Rohit Sharma (capt), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar YadavMiddle and lower-middle order: Sanju Samson (wk), Rishabh Pant (wk), Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Shivam Dube, Rinku SinghSpinners: Kuldeep YadavFast bowlers: Jasprit Bumrah, Arshdeep Singh, Avesh Khan/Mohammed SirajOther contenders: KL Rahul, Yuzvendra Chahal, Ravi Bishnoi, Sandeep Sharma