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Also, Rabada has failed to take a single wicket in the powerplay this season. Why is that?

Matt Roller27-Oct-20203:37

Warner or Saha – who made the bigger impression?

Why did Sunrisers Hyderabad drop Jonny Bairstow?Jonny Bairstow has been a revelation for Sunrisers in the IPL: he scored 445 runs in 10 innings while striking at 157.24 in his debut season in 2019, and while this year had been slightly less productive (345 runs in 11 matches, 126.83 strike rate) he was still their second-highest run-scorer coming into this game. But with Rashid Khan an automatic pick, and the management keen to pick a fifth frontline bowler in Jason Holder, “one of the top three batters had to miss out,” explained head coach Trevor Bayliss. “Jonny was the odd one out on this occasion.”The logic was that leaving Bairstow out allowed Wriddhiman Saha to bat at the top of the order. The move worked on this occasion, with Saha’s blistering start setting the platform for a convincing win. Kane Williamson, included at Bairstow’s expense to bolster the middle order, made only 11 not out off 10 balls, on his return from injury, but it hardly mattered with 170 on the board when he walked in during the 15th over.David Warner and Wriddhiman Saha started strongly•BCCIShould Ajinkya Rahane have opened for Delhi Capitals?In a chase of 220, it seemed an odd choice for the Capitals to send Ajinkya Rahane – a man with an IPL career strike rate below 120 – out to open the batting alongside Shikhar Dhawan. Perhaps their logic was that he would be most useful in the powerplay, with the opportunity to loft the ball over the infield, but their batting order looked particularly strange: Shreyas Iyer, a significantly faster-scoring player than Rahane, and no doubt a more complete T20 batsman, ended up walking out at 55 for 4 with the required run rate comfortably above 12.Either way, there could be little doubt that Sunrisers were significantly happier to see Rahane walk out to the middle than they would have been if Prithvi Shaw had been selected in his place. Despite his poor run of form in the second half of the season, Shaw’s ceiling as a T20 opener is much higher, and he could well be picked for their next fixture against Mumbai Indians.Does Marcus Stoinis have a problem against spin?The short answer to this question appears to be yes: he has scored at a strike rate of 129.16 against spinners this season, compared to 173.49 against seamers, and struggles against spin have dogged him throughout his IPL career. Stoinis has been watchful this year, generally opting to rotate the strike against spin early in his innings and doing so relatively successfully, but when he came in at No. 3, he had no choice but to attack in the powerplay.David Warner saw an opportunity to bowl left-arm spinner Shahbaz Nadeem to two right-handers, and the move paid off: Stoinis looked to give himself room, Nadeem followed him, and he slapped a length ball straight to Warner at mid-off. In all T20s since the start of 2018, Stoinis has scored at a strike rate of just 92.94 against left-arm orthodox spin.Did the Capitals underestimate Saha?While few would have expected Saha to be quite so explosive on his return to the side, he has regularly been a fast-scoring opener; coming into this season, he had the fifth-best powerplay strike rate in the history of the IPL.ESPNcricinfo LtdOut of the 45 balls he faced, 24 arrived either in line with the stumps or down the leg side, allowing him to score heavily on the leg side. In all, 52 of his 87 runs came between fine leg and midwicket, and it seemed that Capitals didn’t have a specific plan against him.What is Rabada doing wrong in the powerplay?Despite holding the Purple Cap, Kagiso Rabada has failed to take a single wicket in the powerplay this season. That is not because he has not bowled with the new ball – in fact, he has now bowled 16 wicketless powerplay overs in 2020, overtaking Jasprit Bumrah for the most in a single IPL season. He also ended a 25-match streak that saw him take a wicket every time he bowled, dating back to 2017.ESPNcricinfo LtdDigging deeper into his record suggests that is largely due to the fact batsmen have attacked him only rarely. According to ESPNcricinfo’s shot-type data, 17.7% of the balls he has bowled in the powerplay have been attacked, compared to the overall figure of 20.0% across all bowlers.His economy rate is the first six overs has been only 7.62, despite conceding 37 in his only two overs tonight. He has largely bowled on a length, with 63.5% of his balls on a length or back-of-a-length, and has only landed two yorkers in the powerplay. Either way, it provides a further illustration of the fact that wickets alone do not always tell the full story.How has Rashid turned it round against Pant?Coming into this season, Rashid Khan’s head-to-head match-up with Rishabh Pant was not good, from his perspective: he had bowled 37 balls to him while conceding 54 runs, and dismissed him only once. But in 2020, he has completely turned it around, bowling 20 balls to him, getting him out once, and conceding only seven runs.While that record has been emblematic of Pant’s wider struggles across this season, it also illustrates Rashid’s ability to work players out and adapt as a bowler. He has generally bowled fast, flat length balls to Pant this season – 15 of the 20 balls he has bowled to him have been a good length, according to ESPNcricinfo’s data – and has used his googly regularly to keep him guessing.Today, he conceded four runs from 11 balls against Pant, despite coming on when the required rate was 11.85. Rashid’s spell was the most economical four-over return this IPL season, and he has two other entries among the six cheapest four-over spells of the tournament.

Why has there been a decline in Mohammad Abbas’ wicket-taking ability?

Osman Samiuddin06-Jan-2021At times, Mohammad Abbas bowled beautifully in the first Test against New Zealand in Mount Manganui, notably on that first morning with the new ball but also to start the second innings. He ghosted past both edges, hit them too, and more generally, gave Pakistan control whenever he was on – much as we have come to expect.At times, Mohammad Abbas bowled beautifully in the second Test in Christchurch, notably on the second morning and afternoon with the new ball. He ghosted past both edges, hit them too, and more generally, gave Pakistan control whenever he was on – much as we have come to expect.The sum total at the end of all this, though, was four wickets in two Tests, from 76 overs. Only one of those wickets could be considered meaningful – when Ross Taylor fell in Christchurch to leave New Zealand 71 for 3.Taken in isolation, this wouldn’t warrant deep attention. Bowlers bowling well for scant reward is a simple – and occasional – fact of the trade. Except with Abbas, this is becoming a pattern, at least ever since those heady times two years ago when, after a ten-wicket haul against Australia in Abu Dhabi, he became the No. 3-ranked Test bowler in the world.Related

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Two Tests later, after his 12th, he had 61 wickets, at an average of and no wonder Dale Steyn – and the world – was getting so excited. But he injured his right shoulder during that Test against New Zealand in Dubai and missed Pakistan’s next two Tests.And, since his return, there has been a lot of Abbas bowling well but very little of Abbas getting wickets. England last summer was a good illustration, where Abbas bowled some fine spells. Remember not just that Ben Stokes wicket, but the trouble he caused Dom Sibley, or a mini afternoon spell to Zak Crawley and Joe Root in the second Test. Yet he ended the series with five wickets (even though it is legitimate to wonder how many more he might have had in that heavily curtailed second Test).Since the injury, his strike rate has more than doubled, from 42.4 in his first 12 to 93.3 in 11 Tests since. The economy rate has not budged much (2.34 to 2.52) so he’s maintained control, but this young pace attack needs his wickets to feed off, and he’s only got 23 in that time.The injury itself is more a marker than a reason, even though there was a sense he returned too quickly – and given the PCB medical department’s track record with injured fast bowlers, it will come as little surprise if his rehabilitation was mismanaged.ESPNcricinfo LtdHis pace since has not changed drastically. According to analysis from , that covers around 75% of the total balls he’s bowled, his average pace has dropped from 128.6kph to 126.6kph. Small dip, though it could be argued that at his already slow pace, perhaps it makes a slightly bigger difference.The noticeable difference is in his lengths. Before the injury, nearly a quarter of all deliveries Abbas bowled (24.6%) were classified as full by ESPNcricinfo’s ball-by-ball data* (includes yorkers and full tosses). Since the start of January 2019 – when he returned in Cape Town – that has dropped to 8.4%.What defines Abbas, of course, is not so much the full ball as the one he lands on a length – or actually, that in-between length, where batsmen are not sure whether to go forward or hang back. Ball after ball, over after over, match after match.After his return, there has been an increase in both the percentage of his length and back-of-length deliveries, but at the cost of his fuller deliveries. And that’s significant because of his strike rates by length. Before the injury, his strike rate for fuller balls was 31.9 (20 of his 61 wickets). That strike rate has ballooned to 162 since, though the sample size of full deliveries is so small now that it’s difficult to conclude whether it’s become a less effective weapon. Compounding it is that his strike rate for length balls has doubled, from 41.6 to 95.6.A fair bit of this will be down to where Abbas has played. In his first 12 Tests, he played mostly on slower, lower surfaces in the West Indies, UAE and England. He thrived, allowing him to go full more often knowing that driving him – with lateral movement around or lower bounce – was loaded with risk. His last 11 Tests include matches in South Africa, Australia and now New Zealand where, generally, surfaces come truer and with more bounce. Driving, especially to Abbas’s pace, carries greater reward than risk. Pulling back lengths could simply be Abbas adapting to conditions.Except that when he played in Pakistan last winter, where he might be expected to bowl fuller more often, his full-ball percentages were even lower, at 4.6%. That suggests something else at play, something out of Abbas’ control.ESPNcricinfo LtdIncreasingly, over the last couple of years, batsmen with more exposure now have realised they can defang Abbas simply by taking guard well outside the crease. His pace doesn’t just allow it, it actively invites it, messing up his natural lengths and cutting down space for the ball to do something. Cricviz data confirms that the average interception point – where batsmen meet an Abbas delivery – has gone up from 1.83m (from the stumps) in his first year to 2.2m last year, and was 2.55m during the first New Zealand Test.Recall how prominent a feature it was when England’s top order played him last summer, even if the most memorable outcome was the Stokes dismissal. In Pakistan last winter, both Niroshan Dickwella and Kusal Silva tried to take him on similarly, but found, as Aaron Finch did in the UAE with Abbas at his peak, that on those low-bounce pitches, pulling back lengths doesn’t necessarily take lbws or bowleds.The tactic has taken lbw out but it has possibly also impacted the edges Abbas is getting, a number of which have been falling short of slips. For good length and full balls outside off-stump, Abbas took 32 wickets before his injury, eight of which were caught by the wicketkeeper or in the slips region, and 13 of which were lbw. Since then, he’s taken eight (two lbws and two caught). Are edges not carrying because batsmen are so far down the pitch, where they also won’t be adjudged lbw? Off that line and length there is a very slight dip of 1% across the two periods in the false shots Abbas is inducing, so he’s still deceiving batsmen. Yet the final result – in terms of not getting wickets – is significant.The counter has been to have the wicketkeeper come up. In Karachi, in fact, Dickwella was bowled the very first ball after Mohammad Rizwan came up. But it’s not something that has ever looked like developing into a more sustainable strategy and, ultimately, the trade-offs from a keeper standing up to fast bowling over a longer term are unknown.It’s not as if he’s going to – or can, at no cost to something else – suddenly increase his pace. It’s also not as if he can recreate that Stokes delivery – not least on surfaces with greater bounce – on demand. Maybe there’s not much to do for now, except to accept that this is simply the kind of statistical regression to a mean that happens in every career which begins with such freakish numbers (barring one), and that, in conditions more suited, he will remain a wicket-taking threat. Not every batsman will take guard outside and it was no surprise that in Christchurch, Abbas looked at his best – and picked up the wicket of Taylor – when he was bowling to batsmen who didn’t. It just so happened that Kane Williamson was one of those, who saw off the best of Abbas where lesser batsman may not have.Otherwise, it might be worth focusing on developing the other fast bowlers in the attack – wicket-taking in nature – around him, because the control Abbas brings is still gold for Pakistan.

For all his brilliance with the gloves, judgement on Foakes’ return will be determined by his batting

Andrew Miller15-Feb-20214:02

#AskMatchDay: Is Foakes the best wicketkeeper in the world?

When done right, some things in life – like a proper wet shave with a cut-throat razor, or cooking your roast potatoes in goose fat – can be so luxuriously perfect that, in that precise instance in which you sit back and go “aaah!”, you vow to yourself you will never, ever again settle for anything less than the very, very best a man can get.But then, life gets in the way, and the impracticality of your peccadillo catches up with you at inopportune moments, and you end up just settling for a Bic and some cooking oil. And you know what? They do a perfectly adequate job. A blemish here and there on your mildly fuzzy cheeks, perhaps, and maybe a fractionally less satisfying crunch to your spud. But who’s really paying attention when, as everyone knows, it’s the quality of the gravy that truly defines your beef?Such were the circumstances that defined Ben Foakes’ efforts on the third morning at Chennai, as he produced one of the most lasciviously futile masterclasses imaginable.Much like his matinee-idol teeth, Foakes’ efforts all Test long have been close to spotless. In the first innings, his unshowy excellence contributed to a new world record – the highest total ever conceded without a single extra – while in the second, the same pillowy soft hands that have served his bowlers so well behind the sticks gave England a glimmer of resistance in front of them too, as he dug in to top-score with 42 unflustered, unbeaten runs, even as his team-mates were fleeing the lava-pit.

England didn't concede a single extra in India's first innings https://t.co/2gdS0mtK6k #INDvENG pic.twitter.com/rDmR8jnWTy

— ESPNcricinfo (@ESPNcricinfo) February 14, 2021

Captaincy audition goes well for Alex Carey as victory sealed with big names missing

Andrew McGlashan27-Jul-2021This wasn’t an ordinary one-day series for Australia. A squad already without a host of key names then lost its captain; a Covid-19 scare sent the teams hurrying into isolation and left the visitors unsure if they would hastily be on a flight home; and the pitches forced players to think on their feet.Alex Carey, who took charge when Aaron Finch was ruled out with his knee injury, will be able to look back with significant satisfaction over the last few days. As a captaincy audition for someone tipped as a potential long-term leader it certainly had its value.He made the highest score of the series with 67 in the opening game to give Australia a total that proved more than enough and, particularly in the final match, he captained impressively behind the stumps where the surface demanded Australia go spin-heavy which is not always a plan that sits comfortably with them. They had misjudged conditions in the second game – perhaps understandably after the quicks blew West Indies away in the opener – but did not repeat their mistake.Related

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Ashton Agar was introduced in the seventh over and Carey made good use of Ashton Turner’s offspin – his return to bowling, and the evidence he can be a more-than-handy option when conditions suit, was one of the gains for Australia.There was adaptability shown in the run chase, too. Carey lifted himself to No. 3 as Australia made good use of their left handers against a West Indies attack lacking a spinner who could turn the ball away from them (Kieron Pollard’s offspin probably does not have much of an international future). It might have been worth Matthew Wade opening instead of the struggling Moises Henriques, but Wade did an excellent job finishing the game at No. 5.Ashton Turner offspin came in handy for Australia•AFPWade had not played an ODI in four years before this series (which isn’t a patch on Dan Christian’s seven-year gap) and did not expect to start until Finch was injured. Whether he remains in the shake-up when Australia resume the format early next year, against New Zealand in January if schedules play out as planned, is uncertain but he is a versatile cricketer. Christian’s comeback in which he wasn’t needed to bat or bowl – well, that has the feeling of a curious one-off, but he has another trophy to show for it.Despite all the absences for Australia, the bowling attack remained well resourced especially around the trio of Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood and Adam Zampa who are all first-choice picks. This wasn’t quite an upturned side on the scale of England against Pakistan a few weeks ago or India’s 2nd XI in Sri Lanka.Carey became the latest Australia captain to know what it feels like to have an in-form Starc with the white ball while Hazlewood’s overall returns (14-2-29-5) read more like a fine Test performance than a one-day series. “It’s pretty nice to throw the new ball to Hazlewood and Starc,” Carey said after the final game.Starc is now five wickets away from 200 in ODIs and has four matches to become the fastest to the landmark ahead of Saqlain Mushtaq’s 104 games. Zampa’s two wickets in the final match also made him the leading wicket-taker in ODIs since January 1, 2019, with 55.This series, Mitchell Starc did what Mitchell Starc usually does•AFPThe T20 focus of this tour – the team flies to Bangladesh on Wednesday for five more matches – was highlighted by the decision not to include Marnus Labuschagne, instead leaving him in county cricket. It meant there was always going to be an element of filling gaps as well as possible, especially in the batting which was then exacerbated by Finch’s injury. With all ODIs in the Super League now carrying points there is an importance to them that wasn’t there before, but a series loss would not have been terminal for Australia.The fringe batters did not bash the door down with performances, but conditions were tricky and it was only three matches. Josh Philippe showed promise with 39 in the opening encounter but did not seem entirely comfortable on the pitches; Ben McDermott made 28 and 0 before crashing into the boundary boards; Turner hit a good 49 as part of the only century stand of the series and was then cleaned up by a beauty from Akeal Hosein in the second game.Henriques, though, had a series to forget as he became Hosein’s bunny: caught sweeping, edging to slip and pinned lbw across the three games. He had earned the right to revive his international career on the back of his domestic performances, but the chance is slipping away in the coloured clothes. Challenging for the No. 5 spot in the Test side might be the best focus now.Mitchell Marsh could not add to his three half-centuries in the T20I series but continued to hit the ball nicely and his 21-ball 29 in the decider was momentum-seizing when the openers had fallen cheaply. Given how the matches played out, and heavy use of spin in the last, his bowling wasn’t much needed.Australia have now secured ODI series victories against England, India and West Indies in the pandemic-era Super League. They will not play the format again for six months, and a lot could still change in the two years up to the 2023 World Cup, but when the full cast is available again they feel well placed in a format that has brought them plenty of past glory.

Is Shakib at fault or is it the BCB? What’s all the toing-and-froing really about? Who gains? Who loses?

Mohammad Isam14-Mar-2022Uff, what now?
Where do I begin? TL;DR: it’s Shakib vs BCB and, somehow, Shakib vs Shakib.All right, no TL;DR, the whole dirt please.
We go back to February 28 then. BCB president Nazmul Hassan, we call him Papon here in Bangladesh, instructed Shakib to tour South Africa in March. This was after Shakib had, apparently, told the BCB that he wanted some time off from Test cricket.Three days later, the selectors announced the Test and ODI squads for South Africa. Shakib was in both.So Shakib said that wasn’t going to happen, he wasn’t going.You want rest, we’ll give you rest, the BCB said, kind of. And Shakib is out. A couple of people, Papon among them, criticise Shakib and question his commitment, etc for good measure.That might have hurt. Anyway, Shakib is now going to South Africa. He will take rest, he says, when the board gives him rest.Shakib wants a break from Test cricket, but he isn’t getting it right away•AFP/Getty ImagesWait! First, why exactly does he keep pulling out of tours?
You’re right, it has happened before. Shakib has missed a number of tours in the last five years. He skipped Tests in South Africa and Sri Lanka while also missing out on four tours because of suspensions and injuries. After he skipped Bangladesh’s New Zealand tour in January, many people did expect him to skip South Africa too. Then, when he wasn’t picked in the IPL auction…Aha! The IPL. That must be the real reason, right? Somehow?
If you let me finish… When he wasn’t picked in the IPL auction, it was then assumed he would be available for the tour. But Shakib said that he wasn’t physically and mentally fit to play.So, say it, it was the IPL.
It’s not that straightforward. Before the auction took place, Shakib made himself available for the IPL during the Test phase of the South Africa tour. Since the BCB had approved of that plan, Shakib can’t be faulted for assuming he could go ahead with his plans. And, really, his performances have earned him the ticket to ask for a break: he is one of the finest allrounders in the world, after all. He has numbers that debunk the theory that he’s not committed to Bangladesh cricket. It’s also worth noting though that Shakib’s family lives in the US, which means that every time he gets a break, a week goes into travelling and all of that.So, tell me, does Shakib have a problem with authority? Or does the BCB have an issue with him?
How long do you have? But, seriously, it can’t be denied that Shakib has had run-ins with the BCB for a long time. Let me go back… In 2009, he challenged the then board president AHM Mustafa Kamal for criticising the Bangladesh team in a public function. He’s been banned twice on disciplinary grounds. And remember how he kicked the stumps during a domestic T20 game last year? I might be missing a couple of instances, but you get the picture.Shakib does get angry from time to time, not always with himself•AFP/Getty ImagesSo it’s Shakib then, it’s his fault?
Not really. The BCB has actually handled Shakib poorly in the last 12 years. See, he is Bangladesh’s greatest cricketer ever, there’s no contest there. So the BCB avoids punishing him too harshly, as was in 2010 when he abused someone in the crowd for not moving away from the sightscreen, or when he flipped a fan during the 2011 World Cup. They reduced his ban when he threatened to quit the Bangladesh team as he wasn’t allowed to play in the CPL. When the ICC banned him in 2019, the board didn’t even announce an internal investigation.So what now? He goes to South Africa, plays the games he wants, and then…
If he can change his mind about touring South Africa twice, you think anyone can stop Shakib from picking and choosing the games he plays?Tell me, do his team-mates like Shakib at all?
He generally gets along with his team-mates, but he will face a confused team management that had probably activated Plan B when they heard he was on leave.I get the sense that he’s too big for the Bangladesh team. Why doesn’t he just retire and become a T20 freelancer?
But Shakib still needs Bangladesh, especially now when it looks like the IPL is unlikely to feature in his schedule at all. Given his age, he has a few good years left in him, but he would want to go out on a high. And, for that, he will need to perform for Bangladesh.Until the next time then?
Until the next time, Bangladesh have a Test tour, perhaps.

The allrounder played U-19 cricket for New Zealand, now represents Netherlands, and is hoping to get back in black to play senior cricket for New Zealand again

Shashank Kishore30-Mar-2022When Logan van Beek, 31, took the field for Netherlands in Mount Maunganui on Tuesday, he was playing an away ODI in his home country.Confused? Don’t be.van Beek, a fast-bowling allrounder born and raised in Christchurch, holds a Netherlands passport because his father is of Dutch descent, and that makes him eligible to play for Netherlands. Eight years after he first played for them, he was back home playing an ODI in New Zealand this week.Related

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It was a special moment for the family. His parents, used to waking up in the wee hours to watch him play, were at the Bay Oval in person this time.As the players took the field, some in the opposition ranks might have been a tad nostalgic too. New Zealand captain Tom Latham, Matt Henry, and Michael Bracewell used to be housemates with van Beek a few years ago.Also among his friends in the opposition was Henry Nicholls, van Beek’s childhood cricket buddy, with whom he first hit cricket balls with a plastic bat. Nicholls’ and van Beek’s older brothers were friends and team-mates, and that relationship helped their younger siblings develop a connection too.”When I finished school and moved out of home, I moved into Tom Latham’s house in Christchurch,” van Beek said when interviewed ahead of the three-match ODI series. “Matt Henry was the third flatmate and we lived together for four amazing years. It was easily the most fun time of our lives. Three great mates, all living and breathing cricket, under one roof.”In 2017, van Beek moved from Canterbury to Wellington to further his cricket prospects. It was around the same time that Bracewell moved to the capital from Otago. The two would be housemates for two years, and also enjoyed success together with Wellington Firebirds on the field.These pals of mine: van Beek, second from right, with (from left) Tom Latham, Michael Bracewell and Matt Henry•Kerry Marshall/Getty Images”It’s going to be incredible to be playing against my closest mates, not just in cricket but life, in an international match,” van Beek said. “It’s surreal. I can’t even remember the number of times we would have had dinners, chats, talks, just hanging out together, playing golf, watching movies, dancing. And now playing a game where I’m going to try and get them out.”There’s going to be a competition within a competition. Next month at my wedding in Christchurch, they’ll all be there. It’s an incredibly special time, and I’m looking forward to savouring the next couple of weeks.””We know each other inside out. I’ve bowled to these guys for as long as I can remember. You know them so well; at the same time, you’re trying to double- or triple-bluff then. Sometimes, it’s better to play someone you don’t know because you’re simply reacting to what is coming. When you see someone so many times, you think you can premeditate and start to predict, and quite often it can lead to your downfall. But I’m sure there will be a few winks, laughter, and banter.”Cricket is a big part of van Beek’s family history. Sammy Guillen, van Beek’s grandfather on his mother’s side, came from Trinidad and Tobago. He was one of only 15 cricketers to have played Tests for two countries – five for West Indies in Australia and New Zealand in 1951-52, after which he moved to New Zealand and played for Canterbury. About four years later he played three Tests for New Zealand against West Indies.”My paternal grandparents came over from Holland in the 1950s, and they settled in the South Island,” van Beek said. “When they had my father, he was eligible for a Dutch passport. And when my father had us, we were still eligible to get a Dutch passport because he had kept his up to date. If we keep renewing our passports, it could keep passing on through the family lineage.”My maternal grandfather met a bloke in Christchurch and asked him if he could get him a job there because he liked it so much. A few months later, the bloke rang him up with an offer. My grandfather said he hopped on a ship the same day and came over to New Zealand, and a few years later he ended up being a part of New Zealand’s first Test win over the West Indies.”van Beek gets rid of Kane Williamson in a game in the 2014 T20 World Cup•Prakash Singh/AFP/Getty ImagesIn more recent history, van Beek was part of New Zealand’s U-19 World Cup campaign at home in 2010. A few months before that, he represented the country at the U-19 basketball world championships. When it got to a point where he couldn’t realistically continue with both sports, he chose cricket.”I wasn’t 6’8″, I was just six, so maybe basketball wouldn’t have worked out,” he laughed. “A lot of my mates played cricket and I loved it. I loved the mateship and the camaraderie. I loved the athleticism elements of bowling and fielding. It was a no-brainer at the time. I wouldn’t have it any other way.”In 2012, van Beek first played for Netherlands in a county game against Essex, but as an overseas professional. Because he had played the Under-19 World Cup for New Zealand, there needed to be a three-year cooling-off period before he became eligible to play for Netherlands in an international fixture.As soon as he became eligible, he was picked for Netherlands at the T20 World Cup in Bangladesh in 2014, a tournament where he played against New Zealand for the first time. The game was memorable for many reasons, not least that he dismissed future captain Kane Williamson.”Since then, I’ve played in two other World Cups,” he says. “So anytime I can represent the Netherlands, I want to try and do that. I am still trying to push my case to play for New Zealand as well.”What about the rules?”You can play for an Associate and next day play for a Full Member if you have the residency,” he says. “If I play for New Zealand, then I’ll have to wait for three years until I can represent the Netherlands again.”van Beek bats for Wellington, for whom he has played for five years now, in the Super Smash in 2019•Hagen Hopkins/Getty ImagesThat cooling-off period between a player’s last game for a Full Member side and their rejoining an Associate team is stipulated not just to encourage local Associate talent but also to prevent cricketers from Full Member nations from making a beeline for Associate teams in the hope of being selected for national representation in those sides.van Beek has had a contract with Wellington since 2017 – a six-month retainer that leaves him free to pursue other interests for the remainder of the year. It’s during this off season that he plays in the Netherlands, where he also has a part-time job as an executive at a real-estate development company. In New Zealand, along with his cricket, he works at an HR consultancy.Over the past few years there have been times when van Beek has had to miss international commitments with Netherlands. Recently he missed the South Africa tour in November, which clashed with the start of New Zealand’s domestic season. This time, the stars have aligned.van Beek is hopeful his New Zealand goal will come to pass but he is equally respectful of opportunities handed out by Netherlands. As a senior team member he wants to contribute to their progress. Being part of the ODI Super League has given them a rare chance to play 24 games (eight series of three matches each) against the top sides over a three-year period.The New Zealand tour is Netherlands’ second to the country in eight years. Last time they were on these shores, it ended in tears, as they failed to qualify for the 2015 World Cup. That meant losing ODI status and significant funding.”The talent pool is not wide, we have to persist with the same pool,” van Beek said. “Sometimes you are forced to give players a long rope because you don’t have a choice. Sometimes players may not be up for it, but you have to put them in the deep end and hopefully they swim. If they sink, you put on the life vest and keep them afloat until the penny drops.”It’s no secret that we don’t have the talent pool, but if we can find a way to come together and beat big teams, there’s no bigger satisfaction than that, to do things against the odds.”

And how many players have made 199 and a duck in the same Test?

Steven Lynch24-May-2022I know Quinton de Kock and KL Rahul’s stand of 210 is an IPL record. But was it the best in all T20 cricket? And how about 50 overs? asked Lalith Ahluwalia from India

That unbroken opening stand of 210 by Quinton de Kock and KL Rahul for Lucknow Super Giants in what turned out to be a nerve-shredding match against Kolkata Knight Riders in Navi Mumbai last week broke the previous record for the highest first-wicket partnership in the IPL, the 185 of Jonny Bairstow and David Warner for Sunrisers Hyderabad against Royal Challengers Bangalore in Hyderabad in 2019; only two second-wicket stands between Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers for RCB lie ahead on the overall IPL list.There have been four higher opening partnerships in all senior T20 matches, the highest being 236 by Hazratullah Zazai and Usman Ghani for Afghanistan against Ireland in Dehradun in 2018-19. The List A first-wicket record remains an unbroken stand of 367, by Morne van Wyk and Cameron Delport for the Dolphins against the Knights in South Africa’s One-Day Cup in Bloemfontein in 2014-15.Angelo Mathews was out for 199 and then a duck in the recent Test in Bangladesh. Has anyone completed this particular double before? asked Ajit Silva from Sri Lanka

In the first innings of the first Test in Chattogram last week, Sri Lanka’s Angelo Mathews became the 12th man to be dismissed for 199 in a Test. However, his second-innings duck made him the first to do this particular double.Six men have made 99 and 0 in the same Test: India’s Pankaj Roy (vs Australia in Delhi in 1959-60), Geoff Boycott (England vs Australia in Perth in 1979-80, Andrew Hall of South Africa (vs England at Headingley in 2003, and the Pakistan trio of Mushtaq Mohammad (vs England in Karachi in 1972-73), Misbah-ul-Haq (vs West Indies in Bridgetown in 2017), and Babar Azam (vs Australia in Abu Dhabi in 2018-19). Boycott and Hall both made 99 not out.Mohammed Shami played in all of Gujarat Titans’ games in the IPL round-robin, but didn’t bat – has anyone else managed this? asked Sheik Nazeeb via Facebook

It’s true that Mohammed Shami played in all 14 of Gujarat Titans’ matches in the league phase of this season’s IPL, without being required to bat. In doing so he reprised the feat of fellow seamers Mustafizur Rahman and Mohit Sharma. The “Fizz” played 16 matches for Sunrisers in 2016 – 14 of them in the group stage – without batting at all, while Mohit appeared in all 14 of Chennai Super Kings’ league games in 2014 without batting, but finally got to the crease in one of the playoffs.Dirk Nannes (2009), Ishwar Pandey (2014) and Yuzvendra Chahal (2016) all played 13 matches in an IPL season without batting.Dwayne Bravo and Ravindra Jadeja have 20 dismissals together in the IPL, the most for a bowler-fielder combo•BCCISurrey totalled 671 last week, with no one making a century. Was this a record? asked Brian Norton from England

The highest score in Surrey’s 671 for 9 against Kent in Beckenham last week was Ollie Pope’s 96; Ben Foakes and Jamie Overton were also out in the nineties. It was indeed the highest first-class total without an individual century, surpassing Namibia’s 609 against Uganda in Windhoek in 2010-11, when the highest score was Ewald Steenkamp’s 87.Madhya Pradesh made 605 against Haryana in Rajnandgaon in 1998-99, with Jai Prakash Yadav scoring 90, while the previous County Championship record was also set by Surrey, in amassing 603 against Gloucestershire in Bristol in 2005; Azhar Mahmood hit 89 and Harbhajan Singh 84.In the recent Surrey innings everyone reached double figures, with seven of them reaching 50. This was the 26th instance of seven half-centuries in a first-class innings – but there has been one case of eight, by the 1893 Australian tourists against Cambridge University Past & Present in Portsmouth. The Australians’ total of 843 was the highest in first-class cricket at the time, being achieved against what Wisden called “a team so far from representative that over a dozen cricketers might be mentioned, any one of whom had better qualifications than those who took the field against the Colonials”. Alec Bannerman, Billy Bruce and Hugh Trumble all scored centuries; Bannerman, a noted stonewaller, batted for more than six hours for 133, with Wisden observing that he showed “a steadiness of defence which might, perhaps, have been necessary had the bowling been that of first-class professionals instead of moderate amateurs”.Which bowler/fielder and bowler/wicketkeeper combinations have recorded most dismissals together in IPL? asked Aniket Chiniwalla from India

There’s a tie at the top here between these two categories. There have been 20 instances of batters being caught by wicketkeeper Rishabh Pant off Kagiso Rabada for the Delhi team, while in the field there have also been 20 cases of caught Ravindra Jadeja bowled Dwayne Bravo for Chennai Super Kings. Bravo is the leading wicket-taker overall in the IPL, while Rabada is currently just one short of becoming the 19th bowler to take 100 wickets.Shiva Jayaraman of ESPNcricinfo’s stats team helped with some of the above answers.Use our feedback form, or the Ask Steven Facebook page to ask your stats and trivia questions