All posts by n8rngtd.top

Once again, the San Diego Padres' bats fell silent when they needed them most.

Last October, San Diego had the Los Angeles Dodgers on the ropes, leading 2–1 in the National League Division Series with a home game on deck. Then, L.A. shut the Friars out over the next 18 innings, won the series and cruised to a World Series title. In all, the Dodgers held San Diego scoreless for 24 consecutive innings.

A year later, the same problem reared its ugly head again.

The Padres were eliminated by the Chicago Cubs on Thursday, dropping their NL wild-card series 2–1 after three tight games. San Diego’s batters scored five total runs in the three-game set and looked helpless against every pitcher Chicago threw at them. Perhaps most crucially, the top three in the Padres lineup, Fernando Tatis Jr., Luis Arráez, and Manny Machado, combined to go 4-for-33 (.121) in the series, and as a group went 0-for-11 with three strikeouts in both Game 1 Game 3.

It wasn’t a shocking outcome if you’ve followed San Diego’s offense this season. Manager Mike Shildt and his staff have focused the team on a contact-heavy, small-ball approach all year. The result was a shocking absence of power given some of the names in the lineup. As a team, the Padres slugged .390, which ranked 22nd in baseball, and they totaled only 152 home runs as a team, which ranked 28th. That philosophy has gotten them unceremoniously dumped in the postseason in back-to-back seasons.

Something has to change.

San Diego’s Approach Needs an Overhaul

The Padres don’t hit enough when it counts. They ranked 25th in OPS with runners in scoring position this season (.707), which continually bit them in big spots. In the three wild-card games against the Cubs, San Diego was 3-for-26 in those situations, including 0-for-8 in the decisive Game 3.

Jackson Merrill and Xander Bogaerts struggled with injuries this season, and neither really got things going until late in the campaign. Bogaerts was the team's best hitter in the wild-card series and closed the season well. Merrill is too good to slash .264/.317/.457 with only 16 home runs next season. If he's healthy, San Diego can count on him to be better.

Expecting bounce-backs from those two and having trade deadline acquisition Ramón Laureano for all of 2026 should be a boost. But that won't be enough.

The impending departure of the high-contact, no-power Arráez will free up the Padres to add a first baseman with pop. Gavin Sheets far exceeded expectations this season with 19 home runs and a .746 OPS, and could take the job, but the team should aim higher. Sheets fits as a potential DH as well, and they could attempt to bring trade-deadline pick up Ryan O’Hearn back.

Tatis produced 6.1 fWAR this season, primarily as the team’s leadoff hitter. But his wRC+ (131) was down slightly from 2024 (135), and he slashed .268/.368/.446. His .814 OPS was fine, but below where a player of his caliber should be. He did have a career-high 89 walks and lowered his strikeout rate by a full 7%, but while his average exit velocity of 93.9 was in the 95th percentile, his launch angle dropped to 9.4, continuing a downward trend since he logged 13.8 in 2021. Tatis also swung at the first pitch in 42% of his at-bats—not exactly the approach of an ideal leadoff guy.

The 26-year-old isn’t the only one who needs to do some tweaking. Machado hit 27 home runs, drove in 97 runs, and slashed .275/.335/.460. His OPS was .795, down .002 points from 2024, but has significantly dropped from a high of .898 in 2022. Some of that is likely age-related, but he did produce 3.8 fWAR, his best total since 2022. The 33-year-old future Hall of Famer can still get it done, but his chase, whiff and strikeout rates have continued to inch up over the past few years.

Frankly, the biggest issue isn't that Tatis and Machado haven't come through enough. The problem is that if they don't, the Padres are sunk. There simply isn't enough thump throughout the lineup to make up for it if one or both of them struggle.

That much was obvious over the past three games.

Padres Face a Big Offseason

Arráez, O’Hearn, and Jose Iglesias could all bolt the team this offseason, along with pitchers Dylan Cease, Robert Suarez and Michael King. As long as the incredible Ruben Niebla is in charge of the rotation and bullpen, there isn't much room for concern there, but the team’s offense needs more pieces to be successful.

San Diego’s pitching staff will remain among the best in baseball for the foreseeable future, but the lineup needs to be upgraded to match. I’m not sure how they’ll do it, but with Bogaerts and Machado aging and after A.J. Preller has traded piles of prospects over the past few years, the franchise needs to treat this like an urgent problem.

The Friars sold out in 72 of their 81 home games this season and finished second in attendance, trailing only the Dodgers, as 3,437,201 fans entered Petco Park. Despite a long history of losing, the team has reached the playoffs in four of the last six years. By current standards, this is a wildly successful franchise that needs to continue pushing forward.

San Diego isn’t far from having a championship-caliber roster. A few more pieces could get the team over that sizable hump. For now, the reason the Padres failed in 2024 and ’25 is clear: they simply don’t have the bats or approach to compete when it matters.

That needs to change if they hope to bring the city its first World Series title.

Also: has there been an instance of both openers getting out in the nineties in a Test?

Steven Lynch09-Jun-2020Tim Southee scored 77 in his first Test, but hasn’t exceeded that in 104 more innings in 72 matches. Has anyone played more Tests without surpassing their highest score? asked Chris Barraclough from New Zealand

The New Zealand fast bowler Tim Southee made quite a splash with the bat in his debut Test, against England in Napier in 2007-08, slamming 77 not out in the second innings with nine sixes. Thanks to some nimble number-crunching from Shiva Jayaraman of ESPNcricinfo’s stats team, I can confirm that no one else has played as many as 72 matches without improving the score they made in their first game. The previous record belonged to England’s Darren Gough, who hit 65 on Test debut against New Zealand at Old Trafford in 1994, and never exceeded that in 57 further Test matches.Zaheer Abbas scored 274 in his second Test, for Pakistan against England at Edgbaston in 1971, and never improved on that in 77 further appearances. But the record for most Tests played after recording a top score is held by the South African wicketkeeper Mark Boucher, who hit 125 against Zimbabwe in Harare in 1999-2000 in his 21st Test, and played 126 more matches without bettering that. Stuart Broad has so far played 106 Tests since making 169 – his only century – against Pakistan at Lord’s in 2010 in his 32nd match.South Africa’s Jacques Kallis made his highest score in his 150th Test, with 224 against Sri Lanka in Cape Town in 2011-12. Kumar Sangakkara (122nd match), Sachin Tendulkar (119th), Anil Kumble (118th, a maiden century), Gordon Greenidge (107th), Brian Lara (106th, his 400 not out), and Glenn McGrath (102nd) also made their highest score after playing more than 100 Tests. Sunil Gavaskar and Sourav Ganguly both recorded their highest scores in their 99th. Has there ever been an instance of both openers getting out in the nervous nineties in a Test? asked Zohaib Asif from Pakistan

It turns out there have been four Test innings in which both openers were dismissed in the nineties. The first two were by India: against Pakistan in Lahore in 1978-79, Sunil Gavaskar made 97 and Chetan Chauhan 93; then in Kolkata in 1997-98, VVS Laxman scored 95 and Navjot Singh Sidhu 97 against Australia.For Pakistan at The Oval in 2006 – the match eventually won by England after Pakistan forfeited on being accused of ball-tampering – Mohammad Hafeez made 95 and Imran Farhat 91. And in Melbourne in 2009-10, Shane Watson made 93 and Simon Katich 98 for Australia against Pakistan.In all there have been 56 Test innings that included two scores of 90-99, from anywhere in the batting order.Yusuf Pathan played his first ever match for India in the final of the inaugural World Twenty20 in Johannesburg, in 2007•Getty ImagesWhich player made his international debut in a T20 World Cup final? asked Joel Pojas from the Philippines

I think the only man who fits the bill here is India’s Yusuf Pathan, whose first international appearance came in the final of the inaugural World T20 competition, in Johannesburg in September 2007. Pathan opened the innings and hit his second ball (from Mohammad Asif) for six. He went on to play a further 78 white-ball internationals for India.Syed Kirmani won 88 Test caps for India. But which other Test player also had the first name Syed and the last name Kirmani? asked Simon Bechley from England

The answer to this tricky one is not, as you might expect, another Indian: it’s one of Pakistan’s finest batsmen, Zaheer Abbas, who generally used only the middle part of his full name – Syed Zaheer Abbas Kirmani. Wicketkeeper Syed Kirmani caught his almost-namesake seven times in Tests, and once in a one-day international. Which is the most experienced Test side of them all, in terms of matches played by the team? asked S Mehra from the United States

I vaguely remembered answering this question some time ago when the answer was the ICC World XI that took on Australia in the Super Series Test in Sydney in 2005-06. That team had a combined total of 818 caps (including the game in question). But that answer has been out of date for some time: India have now fielded eight teams with more caps between them. The current record stands at a combined total of 861, by the Indian XI that played Australia in Bangalore in 2008-09. The team comprised Sachin Tendulkar, who was winning his 151st cap, Anil Kumble (131), Rahul Dravid (126), Sourav Ganguly (110), VVS Laxman (97), Harbhajan Singh (70), Virender Sehwag (61), Zaheer Khan (57), MS Dhoni (30), Gautam Gambhir (18) and Ishant Sharma (10).Use our
feedback form or the Ask Steven Facebook page to ask your stats and trivia questions

Rohit Sharma reflects on the influence of coach Vasudev Paranjape on his formative years and how it continues to define him as a cricketer today

Rohit Sharma01-Oct-2020Cricket Drona: For the Love of Vasu Paranjape (Penguin eBury Press)I remember very clearly when I met Vasoo Sir [Vasudeo Paranjape] for the first time. There was an under-17 camp at Wankhede Stadium, and out of the thirty probables only fifteen were going to make it to the team. When you’re a kid trying to make your mark in Mumbai cricket, you’re more focused on what you have to do at a trial than on learning about people who are watching you. I knew they were all respected coaches, especially Vasoo Sir, but I had no clue about what cricket he had played or which players he had mentored.Soon after, Vasoo Sir was in conversation with Pravin Amre, who was the chairman of the Junior Selection Committee; he was telling him about me. When Amre Sir started to talk to me about Vasoo Sir and explained who he was and what he had done for Mumbai cricket, I was dazed. I realized that this was a massive opportunity for me. Here was a man whose knowledge of cricket was amazing, and whose mind bordered on cricket-crazy, and I had a chance to absorb what I could. I decided to make the most of this opportunity – to learn, to glean as much as I possibly could from Sir. This was my big moment!Though he mainly had to focus on the playing eleven, I kept trying to find some excuse to be near him and talk to him. Actually, I just wanted him to talk, so I could listen and learn. Remember, we come from the Bombay school of cricket. There is a standard that has been set and these are the people who have done it before us – they played with legends and won everything, every season.He watched me during one of my net sessions at Wankhede, and then something happened. He went to the captain and said, ‘We need to get this kid into the team. You figure out your combination and all that. I won’t interfere. But this boy needs to play. Work with me.’Prashant Naik, who was the captain, came to me. ‘Look,’ he said, ‘I don’t know anything about you and I’ve not heard much about you either, but Vasoo Sir says you have to play. So you’re playing tomorrow.’When I scored a century in an under-17 game in Baroda, I remember Vasoo Sir talking to Kiran More about me. Vasoo Sir saw some spark in me, and he always made it a point to push my case.I got to learn from him how to approach batting in different situations. He always told us: ‘No two situations are the same. Try and read the game – where you are, what you can do for your team and the situation your team is in. Learn this as soon as you can because now is the time to learn, not when you are playing for Bombay or India.’

He protected us from everything. He got negative feedback from selectors, officials, journalists and others, but he just kept it all to himself. When he came to us, he never mentioned a word. It was all batting, bowling, fielding, solving problems.

In so many of my innings for India, there have been instances when I have thought of something that Sir had told me all those years ago and applied that to the present game.When I first met him, I had only played one season of junior cricket. I had no concept of playing for Mumbai or India. But here was this person telling me what I should do, urging me to take small steps ahead. Young players sometimes get overawed and forget that the big things happen only if you do small things perfectly. This is something he always did, as I later realised.When speaking to young players, he knew how to get them to move forward, one step at a time. There is no point telling youngsters about bigger goals at that early a stage in their careers, and he understood that. This is what you call a helping hand. This is just what young sportspersons need.When I go out to the middle, I remember the things Vasoo Sir told me back then. Things like: as a batsman or a captain, if you can’t read the situation, the team is already in trouble; if you’re the boss, you have to walk out like you mean it, otherwise the shoulders of those who follow you will droop.He treated all of us like his own children, not as cricketers. We never felt that we were training under a coach. He was more like a father figure to us. He never uttered an aggressive word, projected no negativity. We lost games, there were people who did not perform consistently, but he never spoke to them harshly. He was always polite and friendly, and that’s what you need at that age. I was lucky to have played under him.I felt no pressure despite the fact that I was playing in the Mumbai atmosphere. All our lives we had been told that if you don’t win the title, it’s not a successful season. We were always reminded of the high standards set by those who came before us. All of us had to play with that in mind. But I can confidently tell you that not for one moment did we feel any pressure from the management, coach or selectors, and that was because of Vasoo Sir. He would speak to all of them, listening carefully to what they had to say and then tell them, ‘Don’t worry, I’ll take care of it.’He protected us from everything. He got negative feedback from selectors, officials, journalists and others, but he just kept it all to himself. We also heard these things. But when he came to us, he never mentioned a word. It was all batting, bowling, fielding, solving problems.Paranjape knew how to get young players to move ahead one step at a time, by setting small, achievable goalsIt’s very important to be able to demonstrate a skill, especially to younger guys, when they’re just not getting it. The worst thing is for the coach to send the wrong message. If a player does not understand, Vasoo Sir would not let him go. If he had to pick up a bat and get in the nets to show the player just how something should be done, he would do that.Our team was the Mumbai gang. But Vasoo Sir could talk to us in Hindi, English, Gujarati and obviously Marathi. Apart from those, he could also speak other languages: fielding, batting and bowling. Everyone got what they needed from him, whether it was information or technical input.Even today, I look forward to any message from Vasoo Sir. Jatin, who has always been around, is my bridge. I always ask him, ‘Anything?’ I know Vasoo Sir watches my games when he can and, trust me, any input he gives me is gold dust. After every innings I wait to hear from him, and if he can’t get through to me because I’m travelling, I wait for Jatin to get in touch.I blossomed as a cricketer in that one season with Vasoo Sir. Whether we won or lost, he would sit us around and talk about the game. After these sessions, we let it all go and went to sleep with a light mind, shedding the baggage and thinking about what we needed and wanted to do the next day. He freed my mind, allowed me to dream about playing for India and showed me the steps I had to take to get there. That’s what Vasoo Sir does to a cricketer.When I look back, I realise how shrewdly Sir had forged the path that led me to the world stage of cricket. I was not from a big club or a big school or a college team. I was an outlier. But Sir’s recommendations to Pravin Amre, Kiran More and Dilip Vengsarkar got people talking about me, and I delivered on that promise. Without Sir by my side in those early years, I would not have been able to achieve as much as I fortunately have.

Also: why is Pant’s strike rate so slow this season and why did Axar Patel bowl just one over?

Vishal Dikshit24-Oct-2020Why did Narine bat ahead of Morgan, and why did it work?When the Kolkata Knight Riders lost their third wicket in the eighth over, Anrich Nortje had bowled two and Kagiso Rabada was into his second. It was likely that their remaining four overs would be kept for the end and the Capitals would turn to a combination of their spinners, Tushar Deshpande and Marcus Stoinis for the middle overs. With express pace at bay, the Knight Riders smartly sent out Sunil Narine, who has a much better record against spinners than quick bowlers, ahead of Eoin Morgan at No. 5.The Capitals then bowled R Ashwin, against whom both Nitish Rana and Narine had good records, followed by Deshpande and Stoinis. Both batsmen cashed in, tonking Ashwin for 30 in his first two overs. By the time Nortje was brought back in the 13th over, the stand was already worth 61 off 28 balls with seven fours and three sixes. They saw off Nortje’s third over for eight runs, and then took on Stoinis and Ashwin again to reach a century stand off just 46 balls.When Narine fell for a 32-ball 64 in the 17th over, the task of facing Rabada was in the more experienced hands of Morgan, who scored 17 off nine balls. Narine also confirmed in the innings break that the plan was always for him to bat just after the powerplay to upset the Capitals’ bowling plans in the middle overs, and acknowledged it was good to get going against spin.Why did Rana open the batting instead of Tripathi and Narine?The Knight Riders have used four opening combinations so far this IPL. With Narine back in the XI, they had to pick the openers out of Shubman Gill, Rahul Tripathi and Narine, and they went with the least expected combination of Gill and Rana possibly because of the opposition bowlers, Narine’s poor form while opening this IPL, and the need for a left-right combination at the top.The left-right combination was worth a shot because the Capitals have been using left-arm spinner Axar Patel and Ashwin regularly in the powerplay and Rana could be useful against both, given he struck 19 off seven balls against Ashwin the last time these two teams met. Rana ha scored 58 off 35 in that game but since then he could manage only 54 runs in six subsequent innings at a strike rate of 98.20, so the Knight Riders gave him a new batting position and it paid off.Did the Capitals try whatever they could against Rana and Narine?Not really. They bowled express pace against Rana up front but without using the short-ball strategy. Since 2018, Rana has been dismissed six times against the short ball – the length that has troubled him the most in that period – with a strike rate of 122. The Capitals neither kept a short-ball field for Rana when Rabada and Nortje bowled, nor did they try to target his rib cage despite opting to bowl on a greenish pitch. When Deshpande tried a short ball against Rana in the 10th over, the pace wasn’t that high, the bounce not nasty and Rana smote him over the shorter leg-side boundary for a six.ESPNcricinfo LtdThe Capitals also used two overs of Ashwin for the four overs that were bowled after Narine came out to bat, despite the dominating record both Rana and Narine have against the spinner. It meant Narine didn’t face any express pace early on and instead got time to settle against spin. As a result, Narine smacked Ashwin for 32 runs off 11 balls and Rana collected 13 from seven balls.Eventually, the Knight Riders scored 115 runs in the middle overs (seventh to 16th) – the second-highest in an innings this season, behind Kings XI Punjab’s 118 against the Rajasthan Royals in Sharjah. The Capitals also didn’t bowl Axar Patel at all in the middle overs.Why did Axar Patel bowl only one over?When Rana and Narine were going after all the bowlers in the middle overs, the Capitals didn’t use Patel even once even though he has been one of their best this season, especially with his economical bowling in the first 10 overs. The initial thought must have been to avoid bowling left-arm spin to left-hand batsmen, but when you have made bowling changes in such a way that you can’t use your express bowlers against two batsmen short of runs in the last few games, it was probably worth trying Patel for at least one over from the end where the leg side had the longer boundary.Patel bowled just one over – the fifth – in the game for seven runs and it makes you wonder if the Capitals had the right strategy in place knowing that the Knight Riders had three left-hand batsmen in their top seven (Rana, Narine and Morgan).Why didn’t Ashwin bowl in the powerplay?Ashwin had bowled in the powerplay in seven out of the eight games he had played before Saturday but Stoinis got the ball ahead of him possibly because of Ashwin’s record against Rana. Apart from their head-to-head record in their last fixture, Rana has scored a total of 53 off 22 balls against Ashwin without getting dismissed in the IPL. That’s Ashwin’s second-worst record against a batsman with the worst being against Narine for 28 off 10 balls for zero dismissals, before this game (minimum 10 balls).What’s going on with Rishabh Pant?One of the most destructive Indian T20 batsmen hasn’t shown his true batting colours this IPL. Rishabh Pant’s strike rate in IPL 2019 was 162.66, only behind Andre Russell’s 204.81 and Hardik Pandya’s 191.42 (minimum 250 runs) but this IPL it has plummeted to 117.29 after eight innings.ESPNcricinfo LtdIt’s not like he hasn’t had enough deliveries to score big; he has faced 20 or more balls in six innings out of nine, but there has been a clear fall in his boundary-hitting, striking only six sixes so far, less than one per innings. Pant has appeared more constrained this season, curbing his natural game, as if he has been told to play differently and not attack right from the beginning.Mostly batting at No. 4, he hasn’t been going after the bowling the way he is known to. He came out in the third over but was on 9 off 14 when the powerplay ended. He struck two fours against Lockie Ferguson’s pace after that and ended up handing a catch on the leg side off Varun Chakravarthy for a 33-ball 27. His scoring rate has been so slow that only Aaron Finch and Shubman Gill have a lower strike rate than Pant among 27 batsmen who have faced 150-plus deliveries this season.

His first eight deliveries did not promise much but he quickly turned that around with smart variations

Saurabh Somani21-Apr-20211:16

Ajit Agarkar: Amit Mishra is so calm under pressure

Since the start of IPL 2020, Amit Mishra had played only four games in the tournament before he took the field for Delhi Capitals against Mumbai Indians on Tuesday. He had not completed his quota of four overs in half of those games, and overall, had picked up three wickets at 33.00 and given up runs at 7.62 per over. Not particularly terrible. But not particularly great either.And, given the Capitals’ bowling resources, ‘not particularly great’ wasn’t going to cut it. They already had Kagiso Rabada, a bowler who’s expected to be among the best in the world for a decade more. R Ashwin had always been an outstanding T20 bowler. Axar Patel was that too, plus he could biff a few over the top. Injury played a big role in Mishra being absent for a large part of the previous IPL, but even if he was fit, he would have been the third-choice spinner behind Ashwin and Patel.In IPL 2021, it was Patel who was unfortunately laid low, but it meant a window of opportunity for Mishra. Realistically, he would have known that if he didn’t grab the window this tournament offered, his future in the IPL would be uncertain. In IPL 2022, would any franchise be interested in a 39-year-old leggie who hadn’t done well the previous year?Related

• Amit Mishra first player from Delhi Capitals to test positive for Covid-19

• Sanju Samson and Rahul Chahar take Smart Stats honours

• Mishra four-for leads Delhi Capitals to jinx-breaking win over Mumbai Indians

• Talking points: What was Amit Mishra's secret for success?

It was against that background that he ran in to bowl against Mumbai, and promptly saw his first eight balls yielding 16 runs and three fours, all a combination of superb ball-striking and bowling lines going awry.Mishra had to find a way to come back. What he did, was find control. Of the ball, possibly of any emotion that was superfluous to the game at hand.In a nice symmetry of his first eight balls yielding 16 runs, his next 16 balls went for just eight runs. And netted him four humongous wickets. A free-flowing Rohit Sharma. Hardik Pandya off the first ball. Kieron Pollard completely undone by a googly for single digits. And then Ishan Kishan when he was the last recognised batter left, and 15 balls remained in the innings.This was not a four-wicket haul bought in the bargain-basement of tailenders and/or batters flailing in the death overs. Each of Mishra’s wickets materially affected the shape of the match. His Smart Wickets tally, which gives a more real value of wickets taken by accounting for the batters dismissed and the match situation, was 5.59. A tally much higher than the wickets he took reflected the importance of his strikes. It is the second-highest Smart Wickets tally achieved in this tournament so far, behind Rahul Chahar’s 4 for 27 against Kolkata Knight Riders, which was worth 6.34 Smart Wickets.Amit Mishra nabbed two wickets in one over to hurt the Mumbai Indians•BCCI/IPLThe dismissal of Sharma should have given an indication that Mishra had got the ball coming out of his hand exactly the way he wanted to. Sharma had shown several times earlier, and recently in the Tests against England, that he could shred oppositions even on big turners. He was looking like he would do that to the Capitals, having zoomed to 44 off 29, after having scored only 7 runs in his first 10 balls. He looked, in short, in the type of mood where on another day, this piece might have been about his sublime timing.”I always try to bowl away from his zone and deny him pace. I try to beat him in flight, make him play a shot to me that is not his strength,” Mishra said of bowling to Sharma on after the game.It’s something he has managed to do pretty well through the IPL, having removed Sharma seven times – the joint most that a bowler has dismissed a batter in the tournament. He did the same thing on Tuesday, spotting Sharma advancing down the track, and giving the ball a bit more of a rip. That not only took the ball away from Sharma, but also ensured that it turned on pitching, which meant even a batter of Sharma’s ability to hit cleanly couldn’t get more than the end of the bat on ball.Two balls later, Mishra benefitted from the batter trying to hit a good ball. The loop was working well, which meant he got the delivery to dip on Pandya, who had decided to go through with an attempted loft over long-on. The Pollard dismissal might have given him most joy, a viciously turning googly that the batter completely mis-read catching him plumb in front.”I didn’t even realise a wicket had fallen. I had just bowled a run-saving ball, so you can call it a lucky wicket,” Mishra said of his fourth scalp, Kishan, yorked outside off and dragging the ball back on.Mishra had started IPL 2021 with 160 wickets, in second place on the all-time list behind Lasith Malinga’s 170. Before the tournament, 10 wickets might have seemed a tough ask, because he couldn’t even be sure of a spot in the starting XI. One game later, he’s moved to within six wickets of Malinga, and that spot in the starting XI seems a lot more secure.

All the statistical highlights from South Africa’s innings-and-63-run win in the first Test

Sampath Bandarupalli13-Jun-20219 Consecutive Test losses for South Africa while playing away from home before defeating West Indies in St Lucia. South Africa’s last away Test win came against England back in 2017 at Trent Bridge.259 Runs aggregated by West Indies in this Test match, their second-lowest in a home Test where they got bowled out twice. Their worst effort at home came in 1999 against Australia, scoring only 218 runs at Port of Spain. The 259 runs are also the lowest West Indies made in a Test match anywhere in the 21st century while being bowled out twice.200 Matches lost by West Indies in Test cricket. Only England (308) and Australia (226) have suffered more defeats than West Indies in this format, but the two teams won twice the number of Tests than the remaining sides.6 Innings defeats for West Indies out of 253 Test matches they played at home, including the latest loss to South Africa. Their previous innings defeat at home came against India in 2016 at North Sound.ESPNcricinfo Ltd1 Total lower than 322 for South Africa that resulted in an innings win. They defeated Zimbabwe by an innings and 120 runs at Port Elizabeth in 2017 after declaring their first innings on 309 for nine.2 Players with more than 3000 runs in Test cricket as a wicketkeeper for South Africa. Quinton de Kock joined Mark Boucher in this club during his career-best 141 not-out, in what was his 50th Test as a wicketkeeper.
In terms of innings, only Adam Gilchrist (63 innings), Andy Flower (78 innings) and Kumar Sangakkara (78 innings) got to the milestone of 3000 Test runs as keeper quicker than de Kock (83 innings).Related

• After 'big emphasis' on improvement, South Africa get their slip-catching mojo back

• Seales provides silver lining as Kraigg Brathwaite rues collapse

• 'It's like scoring a hundred' after a lean patch – Rabada on his five-for

10 Five wickets or more in a Test innings for Kagiso Rabada. The latest one against West Indies is his first five-for since the Port Elizabeth Test in March 2018 against Australia, where he took 11 wickets with two five-plus wicket hauls.13 Captains to have won a Test match before Dean Elgar without contributing any runs, wickets or catches towards the result. Elgar bagged a five-ball duck and did not bowl in any of the innings. He is also the second South African on this list, with Hansie Cronje against England in 2000 being the first.

The bottom-placed club for the last two seasons have a strong pace attack for this campaign under new coach David Saker

Alex Malcolm03-Dec-2021The only way is up. That’s the approach new Melbourne Renegades coach David Saker wants his team to take heading into a new era.In the last three seasons, Renegades have lived the Ricky Bobby mantra from the film Talladega Nights.If you’re not first, you’re last.From winning the title in extraordinary circumstances in 2018-19 under coach Andrew McDonald, they had two disastrous seasons under Michael Klinger winning just seven of 28 games to finish last on the table two years running. Last season they lost seven games in a row after winning their season opener.Klinger resigned to take up a role at Cricket New South Wales as head of male cricket, opening the door for Saker to return to the club he coached in 2015-16, and return to coaching full stop after some time away following a long stint as Australia’s bowling coach.Related

• Topley sets sights on next year's T20 World Cup in Australia

• David Hussey aims to bring KKR lessons to Melbourne Stars

• Kane Richardson to captain Renegades in Maddinson's absence

But he’s aware of the challenge he faces with such a young batting group. Sam Harper, Mackenzie Harvey and Jake Fraser-McGurk are set to fill the top three spots early in the tournament, with new captain Nic Maddinson and Marcus Harris away on national duty, while Australia T20I skipper Aaron Finch and Shaun Marsh are injured.”The good thing about it and I’ve talked a lot to the players about it, right at the moment we’re on top of the ladder,” Saker told ESPNcricinfo. “So a lot of times they came in last year and after one and six starts or two and seven starts, the pressure is even bigger on them.”They know that when you go out to play any game of cricket, you’re under pressure. But at least they know now, we’re going to have three or four games, we’re going to be the ones to win the game. So we’re not going to be relying on Shaun Marsh and Nic Maddinson, we might have Finchy but it’s touch and go. So we’re preparing pretty much for if he doesn’t play but if he does, that’s a bonus. And it’s just giving the confidence to them. They’ve trained really well. I think their game plans are pretty close to where you want them to be. And we’re sort of making sure we give the specific roles for certain players.”

So we know we’ve got to get some runs and we know if we do we can become a little bit like the Perth Scorchers did when they were strong. They just had such a great defensive game, they’re so hard to score off, they fielded well, had great options with the ballDavid Saker on Melbourne Renegades’ gameplan

Klinger spent hours working with Harvey and Fraser-McGurk last season trying to upskill the pair on T20 batting. Neither of them needed to learn anything from a pure ball-striking perspective, but the art of constructing an innings in T20 cricket is not something that can be developed overnight. Victoria coach Chris Rogers has spoken to Fraser-McGurk about “taking the stairs” rather than “the elevator” in his journey to becoming a top-class cricketer. But in T20 franchise cricket, development and winning don’t go hand in hand. Saker is aware of the predicament, just as Klinger was.”Frase is the most exciting cricketer I’ve seen in a long time,” Saker said. “He’s like a young Glenn Maxwell, a young Steven Smith. But he hasn’t got anything to back that up yet. So he needs runs, but we’ve got to give him a bit of freedom. Mackenzie Harvey has played a bit. He’s the one that’s got to play a little bit like an older statesman, [and] he’s only 21.”But he’s got to play like…the best T20 players, generally the more experienced players. If you look at Kohli, Dhoni, if you look at Brad Hodge, the way they just construct their innings to take the game right down to the 18th over and then they make a decision whether they go or whether they don’t go, but they’re never ever losing the game until late, where sometimes kids pull the trigger in the 11th or 12th over. You’ve got more time than you think.”Saker laughed at the notion that you can’t buy experience off the shelf and agrees with Dan Christian’s principle that “old blokes win stuff.”Having James Pattinson available all season will be a huge boost•Getty ImagesBut what he does have at his disposal is a phenomenal attack thanks to some targeted recruiting. England left-arm seamer Reece Topley joins Kane Richardson and James Pattinson in a formidable pace trio that looks every bit as good as the attack that won Renegades the title three years ago. Mohammad Nabi returns as does legspinner Cameron Boyce after missing all of last season. Left-arm wristspinner Zahir Khan comes across from Melbourne Stars to balance the spin options nicely while Will Sutherland is set for a role as a power-hitting all-rounder.”That’s really exciting with that dynamic,” Saker said. “I think we’ve got the best bowling attack in the league.”But your bowling options are pretty useless if you’re defending 100 every week. So we know we’ve got to get some runs and we know if we do we can become a little bit like the Perth Scorchers did when they were strong. They just had such a great defensive game, they’re so hard to score off, they fielded well, had great options with the ball. Their 150 just seemed like a bigger score all the time. So that’s what we’re going to be aiming to do. If we can snag a few wins with the young kids in the team, you never know, we could get on a roll quite easily.”That blueprint worked at Marvel Stadium in 2018-19, when Renegades won the title with their batters scoring just three individual half-centuries for the season.Saker isn’t sure what a pass mark is for his team given the youth of his squad. But he isn’t going to put a ceiling on it.”That’s a good question because the pass mark could look different for where we end up on the ladder,” Saker said. “But there’s no doubt our expectation is to make finals.”It’s not unrealistic to finish fifth and by the time that part of the season gets there you will hope some of the younger players have really stood up or our older players come back and put us in a position and, you know, once you get to finals, you’re three good games away from the title.”You could probably ask me that question at the end of the season and if we finish third, but we didn’t do some things that we could have done better I would say it’s a fail. But if [we get] the development into the players I want, it’ll be a big pass. We want to make finals and we expect to make finals.”

Shaheen Afridi will lead Qalandars in his first stint as captain, while Zalmi will be banking on Haider to come good

Umar Farooq26-Jan-2022

Lahore Qalandars

Captain: Shaheen Shah Afridi
Coach: Aaqib Javed
Full squad: Shaheen Shah Afridi (capt), Fakhar Zaman, Rashid Khan, Haris Rauf, Mohammad Hafeez, David Wiese, Abdullah Shafique, Ben Dunk, Mathew Potts, Kamran Ghulam, Dean Foxcroft, Sohail Akhtar, Zeeshan Ashraf, Ahmed Danyal, Zaman Khan, Maaz Khan, Samit Patel, Syed Faridoun, Imran Randhawa, Akif Javed.Last season: Fifth
Last season, Qalandars won five out of their first six games. They had to win just one more game to make the playoffs, but ended up losing the last four, finishing with the second-poorest net run-rate. They are the only team in the league in the last six years not to win the title. Qalandars’ best finish came in the fifth edition, when they reached the final, losing to Karachi Kings. But other than that season, they have generally finished near the bottom despite having a competitive roster.What’s changed for the season?
Qalandars have managed to keep their core intact, with Rashid Khan returning as their key overseas signing, and Shaheen Shah Afridi given a new role as captain. They will be concerned about the form of Mohammad Hafeez, though, because he has struggled to get going after getting among the runs in 2020. Qalandars have also picked up Yorkshire batter Harry Brook to strengthen the middle order, but he will miss the first three games, allowing a chance for Durham fast bowler Mathew Potts to chip in.Meanwhile, Otago allrounder Dean Foxcroft, who missed two successive domestic seasons in New Zealand because of Covid-enforced border restrictions, will be hoping to revive his career. Foxcroft’s last competitive game was in March 2020.Player to watch
Afridi the fast bowler won the ICC’s prestigious Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy and was recognised as the ICC Men’s Cricketer of the Year for 2021. He took 78 wickets in 36 internationals at an average of 22.20 last year. His best performances came in the T20 World Cup, where he picked up seven wickets in six matches, including those of Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul and Virat Kohli in the group-stage fixture against India, helping steer Pakistan to the semi-finals. He will don a new hat this PSL season when he comes out leading Qalandars, captaining a team at the senior level for the very first time.”This captaincy is going to help me grow as a player,” Afridi said. “There is no pressure right now but anything that comes my way will work as a learning experience. I am the main bowler for Pakistan and often get high-pressure situations. So, being a captain here in PSL, I will definitely be tested and going to find myself in tougher situations, but this eventually makes me stronger. This learning phase will help me in the Pakistan team.” Key stats Since the start of 2021, Rashid has bagged 85 wickets in the 57 T20s he has played, 24 wickets more than anyone else. Rashid’s recent surge at taking wickets came after picking up only 121 wickets in 101 T20s he played across 2019 and 2020, where he struck every 19.1 balls compared to once in 15.2 balls since 2021. However, his economy in both periods remains similar – 6.62 (2019-2020) and 6.6 (since 2021).Kamran Akmal had said he was “humiliated” when not picked by Zalmi in the highest category at the PSL auction•Pakistan Super League

Peshawar Zalmi

Captain: Wahab Riaz
Coach: James Foster
Full squad: Wahab Riaz (capt), Hazratullah Zazai, Matt Parkinson, Haider Ali, Shoaib Malik, Sherfane Rutherford, Usman Qadir, Pat Brown, Hussain Talat, Salman Irshad, Arshad Iqbal, Sameen Gul, Kamran Akmal, Tom Kohler Cadmore, Sirajuddin, Arish Ali Khan, Ben Cutting, Mohammad Haris, Muhammad Umer, Sohail Khan, Imam-ul-Haq, Ammad ButtLast season: Runners-up

Zalmi were on reboot mode last season after losing their ace, Hasan Ali, but still produced a strong performance as they went on to play their fourth PSL final, the most by any team. Zalmi won five out ten games, edging past Qalandars and Kings on net run-rate to finish third in the group stage. In the playoffs, they eliminated Kings and Islamabad United to storm into the final, only to falter in the last stage against Multan Sultans, falling well short in a chase of 207.Overall, Zalmi are the second-most successful team in the PSL, with 38 wins from 70 matches, behind United. They have the best score-per-wicket average of 25.42. Last season, Zalmi were involved in the highest-scoring game in PSL history, against United, where they conceded 247 for 2 and made 232 for 6 in reply.What’s changed for the season?
There have been some differences between the franchise and experienced batter Kamran Akmal, who has been having a lean patch lately. The 40-year-old Akmal had initially refused to play for Zalmi, stating that he was “humiliated” at not being picked in the highest category at the auction. Zalmi eventually cleared the air with him and confirmed that Akmal was a part of their plans, as is wicketkeeper Mohammad Haris. However, Akmal is likely to miss the initial stage of the tournament after testing positive for Covid-19. Zalmi have roped in Imam-ul-Haq as his replacement.There was an attempt made to bring back Hasan, but it didn’t materialise. However, Zalmi thrived without him, as they built from scratch last season. Their top order is largely unchanged with Hazratullah Zazai in red-hot form and a lot expected from the ever-improving Haider Ali. The middle order last year was largely anchored by Shoaib Malik, with the steady hand of Hussain Talat there too. However, Zalmi will miss the services of Saqib Mahmood and Liam Livingstone, as the duo became unavailable for the start of the PSL because of their international commitments. Zalmi got legspinner Matt Parkinson and fast bowler Pat Brown as partial replacements.Player to watch
Haider Ali was unleashed as an emerging player in the fifth edition of the PSL in 2020 and he became the youngest to score a fifty in the league for Zalmi. He had a blistering start to his international career as well, making a fifty on his T20I debut against England. However, Haider has had his share of disappointments after that initial success. He has a T20 strike rate of 139.04, and Zalmi will be banking on him as a fully developed batter this season. Key stats Wahab Riaz has 145 wickets in T20s under his belt since 2019 – only behind Rashid (206) and Imran Tahir (159). However, 48 of those wickets came in the middle overs (7-16), the second-most for any pacer in this phase. Wahab picked up 46 wickets across the last three PSL seasons, joint-most alongside Hasan Ali. He has consistently provided the breakthroughs in middle overs, where he took 22 wickets, only behind Shadab Khan’s tally of 27.

Every multi-sport showcase turns up magnetic characters and the Australian is an early contender for fan favourite

Valkerie Baynes29-Jul-2022Every big multi-sport showcase turns up wonderful, magnetic characters that have always been around in their chosen event but who finally get a chance to shine on a bigger stage.At the 2022 Birmingham Commonwealth Games, it took just a few hours for women’s cricket – a newcomer to this forum – to give us Grace Harris.Her simple philosophy for winning T20 matches might appeal more to the cricket community while her perfectly executed public speaking – open stance, hands spread wide in explanation, clear voice – will appeal to all. Throw in a pair of bright yellow ankle socks bearing pictures of dalmatians pulled high but “boring” by her standards, and her ambition to become an international shooter because “you can eat a tub of ice-cream before your event” and we have our star.Related

• It will be a surprise if Australia don't take home the gold

• Report: Gardner 52* trumps Renuka's 4 for 18 as Australia win

And that was after she had shared a 51-run partnership off just 34 balls with Ashleigh Gardner to rescue Australia from 49 for 5 and help win their opening match against India by three wickets with an over to spare.Playing her 17th T20I but batting in one for the first time since 2016, Harris came in at No. 7 and played the aggressor in that union, smashing 37 from 20 balls as Gardner contributed 14 off as many deliveries. Once Harris was well caught by Harmanpreet Kaur, running to her left from the mid-off region off the bowling of Meghna Singh, Gardner resumed the lead role to finish with an unbeaten 52 off 35 to see her side to victory.

It’s more how you play the game… or how happy you are with how you get outGrace Harris understands that in T20 cricket you have to take risks no matter what

That they had found themselves in such a hole – thanks largely to Renuka Singh’s 4 for 18, which accounted for Beth Mooney, Alyssa Healy, Meg Lanning and Tahlia McGrath – didn’t worry Harris.”I’m not concerned whatsoever,” she said. “India are a great team. They’ve always been challenging. Their opening bowler was moving it off the wicket and in the air. She bowled well, and you’ve got to give credit where credit’s due.”I’m happy for the top order to face the swinging ball. I’ll take any opportunity I get to bat at the moment, because at No. 7, I don’t often get to spend that amount of time in the middle. I’m disappointed with how I got out – it was probably the one shot all game that I didn’t make the best contact.”Harris explained that for her, T20 cricket was all about the manner in which she plays.”We basically just back our depth in the batting line-up and if you’re going to win T20 cricket, it’s not ideal to lose wickets, I will say that, but… runs on the board always matter, wickets not so much given you’ve only got 120 balls to face.Grace Harris said Australia encourage their players to take calculated risks•Getty Images”It’s more how you play the game… or how happy you are with how you get out. Essentially it’s risk-versus-reward cricket.”In T20 cricket that’s basically how I look at it as a player and I guess we’re encouraged at the Australian cricket team to really not so much take unnecessary risks but take risks and make them kind of calculated or educated in the scenario that you’re in.”As the more experienced batter, you might expect Gardner to have coaxed Harris through her innings but, a few minutes speaking with Harris and it becomes clear what Gardner meant when she said Harris had done “most of the talking” through their partnership.”She was really confident when she came out and that’s the best thing about her,” Gardner said. “We know what she’s capable of doing and we’ve seen her in domestic cricket for so long doing exactly that and it’s awesome to see her doing that in Aussie colours as well.”People probably had written us off at 5 for 50 but I knew what Grace was capable of doing when she came out and she really put the pressure back on the bowlers.”Harris scored the first century of the WBBL in its inaugural season in 2015 and, in 2018, she smashed a 42-ball ton. In last year’s edition, she scored 420 runs for Brisbane Heat at an average of 32.30 and with a strike rate of 123.16, showing good consistency with four fifties in 14 innings.And she was clearly revelling in being part of a wider sporting event where she could rub shoulders with the likes of the swimmers, who enjoy a higher profile among sportspeople in Australia than they do in most other countries.Asked which sport she would like to compete in if she had to choose another, her answer was simple: “It would be shooting. I read at an Olympics one year that [one athlete] ate a whole tub of ice cream before she went out and I thought, ‘if you can do that before your sport, that’s the sport for me’.So, now to those socks: “I always wear funky socks. I’ve got a dalmatian dog, Dorrie, so I went with Dorrie today, I went with the yellow background. I think these go best with the kit.”I’ve got some red socks [with] burgers and fries. I don’t know if I’ll whip them out, it could be a bit too much colour, a bit too full-on. I might get the confidence up enough to wear them for the next game but today I just kept it boring for me really.”There is one thing Grace Harris is not, and that’s boring.

The Netherlands seamer, who will be playing against England this month, talks about his late start and circuitous route to international cricket

Matt Roller14-Jun-2022Fred Klaassen laughs at the end of a sprawling five-minute answer about his route into international cricket. “It’s certainly not the same as most players,” he says in a thick New Zealand accent, “but that’s just how it’s worked out.”Many cricket fans view the idea of nationality in binary terms but Klaassen is a living, breathing counter-example: born in Sussex, brought up in New Zealand and Australia, representing Netherlands. Associate cricket is filled with players who have similar stories, including many other players in the Dutch squad who will play England in three ODIs in Amstelveen over the next week.As his surname suggests, Klaassen’s ties to the Netherlands are strong, even if he did not set foot in the country until the age of 16. He has had a Dutch passport since birth. “My Dutch heritage has always been part of my life,” he says.His grandfather was born in the industrial southern city of Eindhoven. “They were a pretty poor family,” Klaassen says. “His mother actually died after he was born, so he was brought up by his sister and then his father met another woman: he ended up having 14 siblings who lived in one house.”He fought in Indonesia with the Dutch during World War Two, and when he went back home to the Netherlands, he realised that his life had been pretty s**t. He wanted a new life and in 1955 he got on a boat, like a lot of Dutchies did around that time. He migrated to New Zealand, where there’s a massive Dutch community. It’s a young country, so lots of people have migrated from somewhere – it’s only ever two or three generations away.”Related

• Tom Cooper to make Netherlands comeback in England ODI series

• Ryan Cook to be interim Netherlands coach in Campbell's absence

• 'Homecoming' for van Beek, Klaassen as Neth name squad for NZ

Klaassen is a late developer by cricket standards: he signed his first Kent contract shortly before turning 26. As he points out, that is the average age at which county cricketers leave the game, according to the Professional Cricketers Association. His dream to play professional had “faded a little bit” in his early 20s as he struggled for opportunities, before then spending time playing club cricket in the UK and the Netherlands.”Growing up, I always wanted to be a professional cricketer but I didn’t get the opportunity in New Zealand,” he says. “I finished school and university there and after my degree, I did a bit of gardening and worked in a couple of cafés doing hospitality work – pretty mundane jobs.”After about 12 months in the Netherlands, I realised there might be an opportunity to play for the Dutch side. There was a new coach coming in, Ryan Campbell, who is probably the biggest influence in my cricket career to date. He gave me the opportunity and in my year with the Dutch side, my cricket really improved – probably because I was in that sort-of-professional environment which I’d craved from the age of 17.”When I got my opportunity with the Dutch side, I just decided to put all my time and effort into cricket and see where I ended up.”I’m 29: most of the guys my age are senior players or captain, or have played for England, but my career is very different. I still feel quite young as a cricketer because I haven’t had a long professional career. I need to learn on my feet a bit quicker. I don’t have ten or 15 years.”After making his Netherlands debut in 2017, Klaassen played two T20 friendlies against Kent a year later and took 4 for 44 across his eight overs, including the wickets of Carlos Brathwaite and Joe Denly. Kent liked the look of the tall left-arm seamer and wondered if he could provide their attack with a point of difference; after a brief trial, he signed professionally later that year.Since then he has been a key player in their T20 team: he was their second-highest wicket-taker when they won the Blast in 2021, earned a contract extension until the end of 2024, and was retained by Manchester Originals after a solid season in the inaugural Hundred.Klaassen was Kent’s second-highest wicket-taker in their victorious T20 Blast campaign in 2021•Ashley Allen/Getty ImagesKent have given Klaassen a level of financial security that is near-impossible to find in Associate cricket but the drawback is that his county commitments have limited his availability for Netherlands. He has been named in the squad to play England but when we speak, he only expects to be available for the third ODI and is due to arrive in Amsterdam on the morning of the game, the day after playing against Gloucestershire in the Blast in Canterbury.In theory, counties have to allow their players to play for their Associate teams in ICC events, qualifiers, the ODI Super League, and any ODI or T20I against a Full Member; in practice, players and boards accept that enforcing that protocol would result in some players losing their county deals, and others retiring from international cricket altogether.”It’s a bit different for the Netherlands compared to, say, playing for England,” Klaassen says, “especially this season because there’s a heavy Dutch fixture list right in the summer of English cricket. It makes it really hard. It’s pretty chaotic, but I love playing for the Dutch side.”You don’t get the chance to play international cricket all the time, especially coming up against some of the Test-playing nations that they’ve got this summer. I want to be part of as many as I can, but unfortunately, it’s tricky. It’s the nature of playing county cricket in England and then trying to play in the Dutch side as well, and obviously there’s a few other guys in the same boat that haven’t been available.”Kent have been pretty fair in the last couple of years in letting me play, but properly clashing this season makes it so much harder. At the end of the day, Kent pay my salary and you have to look after the hand that feeds you. The nature of Dutch cricket is that there isn’t a lot of money there, and probably not a whole lot of power.”Earlier this year, several players who were in the final years of their respective contracts missed Netherlands’ tour to New Zealand in order to spend pre-season with their counties. “We need to look after our careers first,” Klaassen says. “Each individual has to juggle it themselves. It’s not easy.Manchester Originals have retained Klaassen for the Hundred this season•Stu Forster/Getty Images”Missing the experience of Colin Ackermann, Roelof van der Merwe, Timm van der Gugten – it’s a big loss. But in saying that, the younger Dutch squad that played without the county players against West Indies did bloody well. They were unfortunate not to get a win actually, especially in that last game. It’s great experience for them.”Among those players, Klaassen highlights two 19-year-olds in Vikramjit Singh, the stylish opening batter, and Aryan Dutt, the offspinner who dismissed Nicholas Pooran three times in as many innings against West Indies. He has high hopes for Bas de Leede, the 22-year-old allrounder, too: “He’s the best thing coming through Dutch cricket at the moment… he’s got a s**tload of talent. He could really go to the top.”They’re only going to get better when they jump in at the deep end. That’s my biggest takeaway from professional cricket. You think that players are so far ahead of you or you watch them on TV and put them on a pedestal. Then you come up against them and play them some more and you start to realise you can compete.”Ryan Cook, the interim head coach, will continue to take charge against England. ( Campbell has been sidelined with heart trouble.) Netherlands’ next major assignment will be the T20 World Cup Qualifiers in Zimbabwe next month, and they will look to put a surprise exit in the initial group stage in 2021 behind them.As for their chances of causing an upset, as they did in the 2009 and 2014 T20 World Cups? “The next step for us is putting a full team performance together,” Klaassen says. “We saw Ireland defeat England in 2020 and in the past two T20Is against England, the Dutch knocked them over. It’s a bit of a banana skin, you could say.”The new England coach, Matthew Mott, probably has a bit of expectation and a bit of pressure on him – he doesn’t want to lose to a non-Test-playing nation, especially with [Brendon] McCullum just winning the first Test. On the Dutchies’ day, if everyone clicks, we could definitely get a win.”