Reactions from the Pakistan players and team management immediately after their victory against India in the Champions Trophy final

ESPNcricinfo staff18-Jun-2017Mohammad Hafeez
“Great team effort! After losing the first game, we were nowhere. We were in the knockouts stage but no one gave us a chance. The way we showed character, this is for the nation. They have been waiting for this for a long, long time. This is the least we could do.”The platform was there, when Fakhar and Azhar gave us a stand, we thought of 300 plus. I wanted to express myself without any fear in the mind. I just wanted to hit the ball hard. We all wanted to do something for the nation. Winning any tournament is a great feeling.”I believe it’s not about winning against the odds. We wanted to inspire the nation because we’ve been missing this from nine years … no cricket at home. Millions of people waited for that, we’ve been waiting for a moment like this.”Shoaib Malik
“It’s tough to describe this feeling in words. Back home, I’m sure roads will be blocked. People will be out dancing even though it is Ramadan. I would like to congratulate all the Pakistani people all over the world. This brings us united. I would also like to thank the Indian cricket team for playing the way they did throughout the tournament.”I wasn’t nervous, we were okay. Being a senior cricketer, a lot of youngsters look at you. I thought I have to calm myself and this is what I did. Credit to the boys for the way they played, controlled their aggression.”Imad Wasim
“Unbelievable! The crowd has been cheering like we’re in Pakistan. Thanks to all the people who supported us. The roads will be blocked, jam packed in Pakistan. I can’t wait to go home.”After the first game, we were down and out. We sat together and decided we have to do something. Everyone was writing us off and we were like ‘don’t write us off just yet.’ Pakistan can do anything on any given day, and we beat four top sides!”Mohammad Amir
Shikhar, Rohit and Kohli were in tremendous form. I was looking for early wickets and I did it. To be honest, this is team work. The South Africa game gave us momentum.Mickey Arthur, Pakistan coach
“It’s been an up and down ride for us, but so proud of the boys. We dusted ourselves off after the India defeat in Edgbaston and came back superbly. We knew we were prepared well. That loss was an aberration. It’s a remarkable achievement.”We want to be a little more consistent as a team. We’ve got a group of young players who are fantastic. We have to keep this momentum going. We’re happy with the brand of cricket we’re playing. We’ve got two years until the 2019 World Cup. We’ve got the monkey off our back in terms of qualifying. We now have two years to identify a squad we want to take forward and give them enough game time. That’s the aim at the moment.”0:43

WATCH – Pakistan fans go wild

Azhar Mahmood
“Fakhar Zaman is a brilliant guy, up the order he put pressure on the opposition, that’s why he made 300 odd runs in the tournament, if we’ve got a player like him to get such runs that’s a brilliant sign for us. Hasan Ali bowls with a big heart. Every time he runs in, he wants to get a wicket. The attitude is brilliant.”Hasan Ali
“First of all thanks Allah. A year ago I wasn’t in the side but I worked hard and believed in myself, and thankfully gave a good performance. Been learning since the start that if your body has energy you can perform well.”I was very calm, no pressure on me, and thankfully I did well in all our games. This was a great tournament for me, dismissed some top players. Very special to take the final wicket, to take the last wicket that won us. The tournament, very special for me and I will definitely remember that.”Sarfraz Ahmed
“After the India match, one thing I said to my boys was the tournamenthasn’t finished yet. I think he’s [Fakhar Zaman] a great impact player. Credit goes to him, he was playing his first ICC event, and he played like a champion player. I also want to give credit to my bowlers. Amir bowled brilliantly all tournament, and so did Junaid, Shadab, Imad, Hasan, they all bowled very well.It’s a very young team and credit goes to them and the management. It’s a very important boost for us to win this. When we arrived here, we just played like we have nothing to lose. Credit goes to my batsmen, my bowlers and the team management. I think it’s a very proud moment for me, and my team and my country. I want to thank the people of Pakistan. Keep supporting us and praying for us. Also thank you to all supporters here who watch to see us play!”

Also, what’s the record for most matches without scoring a run?

Steven Lynch18-Apr-2017What is the earliest Test match in which a cricketer who is still alive played? asked Allan Alexander from the United States

The answer to this interesting question was a remarkably close-run thing. The oldest Test match in which a player still alive at the time of writing took part started on January 21, 1948 in Bridgetown: local boy Everton Weekes made his debut for West Indies, against England. Two days later, on the other side of the world, Australia gave a first cap to the 19-year-old Neil Harvey, in the fourth Test against India in Adelaide. Three other men who played Test cricket in the 1940s are still alive: the New Zealander John Reid, who made his debut in England in July 1949, and the South African pair of Jack Nel and John Watkins, who both played in the first Test against Australia in Johannesburg on Christmas Eve, 1949. Their team-mate Ronald Draper won his first cap in the fourth Test of that series, at the Wanderers in February 1950. Watkins, who’s now 94, is the oldest living Test player at the moment.Who bowled one ball to Sachin Tendulkar in international cricket, and got him out with it? asked Frank Simpson from Australia

The owner of the 100% record against Test cricket’s top run-scorer is none other than the current Australian captain, Steven Smith, who started his international career as a legspinning allrounder, although he doesn’t bowl much anymore. The first ball he sent down to Sachin Tendulkar, in the third Test in Mohali in 2012-13, had him caught at short leg by Ed Cowan for 37 – and Smith never bowled to Tendulkar again. Greg Matthews, another Australian spinner, had an even better record against the Sri Lankan batsman Marvan Atapattu: he bowled two balls to him (both in Colombo in August 1992), and got him out twice.Jasprit Bumrah of India has played 35 white-ball matches now for India and still hasn’t scored a run. Is this a record? asked Piyush Patel from India

Jasprit Bumrah’s remarkable international career now extends to 11 one-day internationals and 24 T20 games – and he still hasn’t scored a run. One reason for that is that he’s only batted six times, facing just three balls in total so far. Although there’s still time for Bumrah to edge a four and ruin everything, it’s easily a record for a complete career: next comes the Jamaican Krishmar Santokie, who never scored a run in 12 appearances for West Indies. But one of Bumrah’s team-mates is giving him a run for his money: legspinner Yuzvendra Chahal has played nine internationals now, and hasn’t batted at all!Chris Gayle still holds the record for the fastest T20 hundred – scored off 30 balls, in an IPL match in 2013•BCCIWho’s the only person to score a triple-century in an Under-19 Test match? asked Stuart Peake from Australia

Given your surname, I have a sneaking suspicion you might know the answer to this – because the gentleman concerned is Clinton Peake, from Victoria, who racked up 304 not out for Australia Under-19 against India Under-19 at the MCG in 1994-95. Sadly, this didn’t translate to a stellar first-class career: Peake, a diminutive left-hander, played only nine matches, with a top score of 46. One of his team-mates from this match didn’t have a bad international career, though, despite taking 0 for 99 in the first innings: Brett Lee went on to take 310 wickets in Tests and 380 in one-day internationals.Who has scored the fastest hundred in a T20 match? asked Clive McDonald from England

It’s not a great surprise to learn that the fastest hundred in T20 cricket was scored by Chris Gayle, who’s about to become the first to complete 10,000 runs in the format (he has 9997 as I write). Gayle reached three figures in just 30 balls for the Royal Challengers in an IPL match against Pune Warriors in Bengaluru in 2013; the hundred included 11 sixes and eight fours. He finished with 175 not out and 17 sixes, both still records for a T20 innings. Before Gayle’s onslaught, the record was held by the Australian Andrew Symonds, who blitzed a century from 34 balls for Kent against Middlesex in Maidstone in 2004.Who called his life story Under the Southern Cross? asked Keerthi Nagarajah from India

My first thought was that this was the recent (2013) retirement volume from Michael Hussey, but on closer inspection that turned out to be called Underneath the Southern Cross. The one you’re after came from an Australian batsman of an earlier generation: David Boon’s 1996 autobiography was called Under the Southern Cross, with no “neath” to be seen. Just in case anyone doesn’t know, the Southern Cross is the constellation of stars that appears on the Australian flag, and it’s mentioned in the team song the Aussies like to sing after each Test victory*: “Under the Southern Cross I stand/ A sprig of wattle in my hand/ A native of my native land/ Australia you little beauty!” The tradition is said to have started with Rod Marsh. Both Boon and Hussey were charged with leading the team singalong in the dressing room, a duty now performed by Nathan Lyon.Post your questions in the comments below*April 18, 11.55GMT: The answer was amended to include the fact that Australia’s team song is sung after each victory and not each Test

From growing up in Kasur to his exploits in domestic cricket, everything you need to know about Pakistan’s rookie sensation

Umar Farooq30-May-2017Where’s he from?
He was born in Kasur, a city close to the Indian border, and about a 45-minute drive from Lahore. You might know the city for the shrine of Bulleh Shah, the celebrated Sufi poet-saint, and also as the birthplace of Noor Jehan, one of Pakistan’s most famous singers. If he plays for Pakistan, Ashraf could become another reason the city is known for – he would be the first from Kasur to play for Pakistan.Tell me a little about his riseThough Kasur is close to Lahore, for the PCB, the district comes into the Faisalabad region, and this is where Ashraf started his competitive cricket, playing in the inter-district Under-19 competition in 2010. He turned out for Kasur at the time as a fast bowler, picking up 10 wickets in 2010, and 15 in 2011. He was promoted to the Faisalabad Under-19 team and wasn’t able to make a major impact, taking 14 wickets, apart from 117 runs, batting with the tail.So what caught the selectors’ eye?In 2013, at a senior district-level tournament, he became the top wicket-taker for Kasur with 22 wickets at 11.13 and also scored 189 runs with the help of two half-centuries. Those performances won him a ticket to first-class cricket, as he broke into the Faisalabad team for the 2013-14 Quaid-e-Azam Trophy.I see. And how did that go?Pretty good. He hit a hundred on first-class debut against Multan, at a healthy 60-plus strike rate. Since then, he has played 31 first-class matches, scoring 1207 runs at 32.62 – not a bad haul for someone selectors essentially consider a lower-order batsman. Oh, and he’s also picked up 94 wickets at 26.63. His List A numbers are decent, too, though it is with the ball that he has shone in that format: 60 wickets in 38 games, at a strike rate of 28.1.Any other performances I should be able to reel off like I’m a selector?He might not have compiled remarkable numbers, but with Ashraf, the cameos are the ones that are remembered. He scored 44 against WAPDA at a time when his side, HBL, was languishing at 21 for 6 in the final of the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy. Handily, that was in front of the selection committee last year in Karachi, and he has been on their radar since. He made it to the Pakistan ‘A’ team that played against Zimbabwe and England Lions recently, and 19 wickets in the Departmental One-Day Cup – the highest in the tournament – earlier this year meant he was pushing for an international debut.Is he the answer to…
Pakistan’s ongoing, eternal search for an allrounder? Hold your horses just a second and take a reality check. He is, currently, a kind of leader of the tail, batting mostly between Nos. 7, 8 and 9 for his domestic sides. He averages less than 16 in the format he is likely to make his Pakistan debut in. With the ball, he is usually first or second change, unless an especially grassy pitch presents itself, when he has been known to open the bowling. His nine overs in the two warm-up games have gone for 65, without a wicket, so…Still, don’t just take our word for it.
When he was working his way up from district level and onto the first-class scene, the current national selector and former offspinner Tauseef Ahmed was keeping an eye on him. Tauseef had a chance to monitor Ashraf closely in 2015 while at National Bank of Pakistan (he has since moved to Habib Bank). There, Ashraf made some valuable runs with the tail (271 altogether, at 38.71) and picked up 23 wickets. His ability to strike the ball clean and provide regular breakthroughs – in addition to the ferocity and confidence with which he played the hook shot – was something that stuck with Tauseef.”I actually saw him when he was playing for NBP, and his ability to strike the ball was impressive,” Tauseef said. “What else does a team want when a batsman batting with the tail can get a run-rate between 8 and 10 an over? He has great firepower, and I have seen him doing that quite often on the domestic circuit.”

The New Zealand allrounder has had to fight expectations and wrestle with injury. Most of all, he has had to strive to outdo his potential

Jarrod Kimber08-Jun-2017One man obscures the breakfast buffet; there is no way to see the scrambled eggs or . This is a man worth millions, who broke a world record and has been playing cricket at the top level for a while now, but it’s in his obscuring the buffet that you suddenly realise Corey Anderson isn’t like other cricketers.There is that now infamous picture of Barry Richards holding an old bat next to a new bat, and making a funny face about the size discrepancy. Well, if you took Corey Anderson’s arm and compared to it Don Bradman’s entire body, you could probably make the same kind of photo. When Anderson retires, he can stay in cricket as a sightscreen by just wearing a black T-shirt over his massive shoulders.Even if you had never seen him play before, hadn’t heard any whispers about him, as he walked out to the wicket, you would be expecting carnage. The potential for damage from a man this size is as big as his shoulders.

****

Anderson’s father was a runner – 100 and 200m sprints and 4x100m relay at the 1974 Commonwealth Games. His mother was a netballer, a shooter, despite her small stature, meaning Anderson was born into a sporting family within a sporting nation.Anderson was first noticed at primary school. It was the semi-final of the school competition, and Kane Williamson had just scored a hundred for his side. Williamson’s team would lose when Anderson scored a hundred, with eight sixes. At one stage Anderson’s mother had to give the school a whole box of balls because he’d he lost so many with his sixes.A few years later a 16-year-old Anderson was promoted beyond Under-17s to the Under-19s for Canterbury. “I ended up facing Tim Southee and Trent Boult, who were bowling for Northern Districts – the first day of the under-19 competition and I scored a hundred against them.” Shortly after, he got another call-up, “I got picked to play for New Zealand Under-19s against India, Kohli, Rahane, Chawla, Jadeja and Ishant Sharma.”

“I saw Chris Harris, Peter Fulton, Michael Papps, and I was just this kid not knowing what the hell I was doing, but part of their team. It felt like I’d won a competition or something”

Kohli said of Anderson: “When we came to New Zealand with the Under-19s, in Dunedin he scored a hundred on a drop-in wicket which was very difficult, and he hit some massive sixes there as well.” It wasn’t a hundred (Kohli might have conflated the Dunedin innings with the one where Anderson struck six fours and four sixes, in Kuala Lumpur against India U-19s); but it was 88 at better than a run a ball, with ten fours and four sixes. “He had a lot of power.”After all that excitement, Anderson had to go back to his normal life and do things as mundane as competing in his school’s athletics day. A bit bored by not facing Trent Boult and Ishant Sharma, he couldn’t be bothered. “If you don’t do anything, you get in trouble for not doing anything, so when I heard my name coming out from an announcement at the stadium, I went, ‘Oh no, I’m in trouble.’ I had to see the headmaster down in the main office. But he told me I’d be playing for Canterbury. I thought he just meant an underage team, but he said, ‘You’re playing for the Canterbury Wizards, in first-class cricket’, and he said that I had to go play an away game.”Anderson was the youngest to play first-class cricket in New Zealand for 58 summers, and his second game of first-class cricket was the State Championship final, the pinnacle of first-class cricket in New Zealand.”I hadn’t trained with them, I hadn’t even met them, all I’d done is just watched them on TV. Turned up at the airport and I saw Chris Harris, Peter Fulton, Michael Papps, all these guys who had played international cricket, and I was just this kid not knowing what the hell I was doing, but part of their team. It felt like I’d won a competition or something. It was strange.”In November of 2006 Anderson was a schoolboy and under-17 cricketer. In December he was a 16-year-old Canterbury under-19 cricketer; in January 2007 a New Zealand under-19 cricketer. And in March 2007 he was a first-class cricketer with Canterbury. In five months, while turning 16, he went from a schoolboy cricketer to a first-class cricketer without ever playing club cricket.

****

“I don’t think you even know what ready is, so going from school cricket to first-class cricket was just a big blur.”Anderson has increasingly come to be realistic about the fact that his bowling will be a second string to his bow•Associated PressAnderson was a big-hitting allrounder; he knew that he had a chance of higher honours. Tim Southee had already made the national side. “It also became a bit of a burden because everything happened so fast, you start thinking, ‘What’s the next level I can go to – it’s international cricket.’ You don’t end up learning anything about your game, you don’t know what kind of player you are, you haven’t even grown up to be the person you want to be. All of a sudden you’re thinking you’re ready to play international cricket as more of default rather than working to get there.”There were good moments in the first three years. He smashed the top score in a List A match by a No. 8. Before him in the order were Rob Nicol, Peter Fulton, Craig McMillan and Kruger van Wyk. The bowlers he was facing included Iain O’Brien and Jeetan Patel. Chris Harris and Anderson put on 60 in five overs: Harris made 18 not out, Anderson 52 not out off 29. The problem was the following year, when he only managed four T20s and no other cricket through the entire summer.The easy thing to do was stay in Canterbury, the district that his father represented at rugby and his mother played netball for. He decided to travel to Northern Districts. Without a contract.Modern sportsmen don’t give up their contracts, their livelihood, without something solid to go to. Anderson went to Northern Districts with a groin injury and no deal. “The monetary value of the contract never really came into play. I wanted to go somewhere where I would enjoy my cricket and get better at my cricket.” He left Canterbury because he was a young man who believed he was getting stale, and because he believed in himself so much he didn’t need a contract at Northern Districts, he’d earn one when he was there.When he went to Northern Districts, he lost 15-20kg (“It grows by a kg every year”). With the backing of the coach, Grant Bradburn, who had tried to get him to make the move a year earlier, he was fitter, and he “felt at home straight away”.The first year he still only managed four first-class games but won a contract. At the start of the next season he made 167 (28 fours) against Otago. After years of being in the system, this was the moment everyone had wanted from him.

When the bowler is at the top of his mark, he thinks that there are no grounds big enough to hold Anderson. When Anderson faces up, he thinks that he needs to live up to what he could be

By the end of that summer he was playing for a New Zealand XI against England, and making a better-than-a-run-a-ball 67 against Stuart Broad, Graeme Swann, Chris Woakes and Graham Onions. And in the winter he made a tour to India with New Zealand A. He made a hundred there too.Anderson made a hundred in primary school cricket that elevated him to age group cricket. He made a hundred in under-19 cricket that made him a first-class player. He made a hundred in first-class cricket that made him an A player. And he made an A hundred that made him a Test player. When Anderson made a hundred in Bangladesh in his second Test, it was only his third first-class hundred. But almost every time he makes a hundred, his life changes.

****

New Zealand cricket has certain archetypes – allrounders who bowl seam, players who are more feted overseas, players who are born into sporting dynasties, child prodigies, and those who are picked on potential rather than results. Anderson is all of these things. And while they are the well-known archetypes, the most consistent one is that of the ignored New Zealand player.There are whole villages in New Zealand where former limited-overs players live in silence, only knowingly nodding to each other as they pass in the street. Warren Lees, Bruce Blair, Mark Priest, Blair Hartland, Iain Butler and Michael Mason, just names on a scorecard, maybe you saw them in the boring middle overs once, or read a headline that had their name in it, but they come in, play some games and fade away.Anderson could have been that kind of player. His body doesn’t let him bowl as fast as he can, meaning he’s a middle-overs trundler rather than front-line. His batting potential would have kept getting him back in the team, but without a huge amount of runs behind him, and being the attacking player he was, he might never have got much of a run in international cricket. Instead, he’d be a frequent squad member and occasional player throughout his career.Weather and a small ground at Queenstown changed that. The rain reduced the game so much that instead of an ODI it was a 21-overs-a-side match, a T20 with a bonus slogging over.When Anderson was fast-tracked into the Under-19s at 16 years of age, he made a century against Tim Southee and Trent Boult in his first game•BCCIIt starts with the ball landing among the spectators, them trying to catch, or duck, with many opportunities for both. Then you see the spectators all turning to look at them – so much of the footage is of fans facing away from the ground, trying to see if Anderson has smashed one into a nearby mountain. At one stage Ravi Rampaul is smiling on his way back to his mark, because if you don’t smile, you cry, and if you cry, Anderson will hit your tears for six as well. When Nikita Miller sees Anderson backing away, he tries to bowl a quick one that ends up getting stuck in his hand, and ends up as a wide long hop. Anderson is falling away, and then suddenly launches himself at the ball like a kid in a tennis-ball game and hits it over cover for six.When you watch the innings it’s as if the ghosts of cricket’s big-hitting past turn up to watch. Trumper, Bonnor, Sinclair, Trott, Jessop, Sobers, Cairns, Klusener, Jayasuriya, Dev, Richards, Afridi and Jayasuriya, all just sitting on the grass banks, smiling and laughing at the carnage.The hundred comes up off 36 balls, a ball quicker than Shahid Afridi, and the world record is broken, but Anderson ends on 131 off his 47. What made it all the more surprising was that it was his first-ever one-day hundred in professional cricket. After seven years of potential, he had one limited-overs hundred and one world record.For all the good it brought, not least the financial security of a few big overseas contracts, it was also a burden, “The world record came too early. It changed my life, for the good. But at the same, time having something like that every time you go out to bat, the crowd starts thinking you are going to hit sixes all the time. Even teams start to think, if he can do that, why isn’t he doing it?”

****

As a teenager and into his early 20s, Anderson was missing a lot of the season through groin and shoulder injuries. When he finally made the international team, he lost his spot when he was struck on the hand in the nets. In Sri Lanka he had a rib injury. There was a finger injury that almost stopped him from making his first IPL. A groin injury against Sri Lanka at home. He was withdrawn from the CPL by NZC. Broken finger at the 2015 IPL. A back problem that stopped him from going to Australia, and then another back injury to follow that.A few times recently for New Zealand, and also in different domestic competitions, Anderson has played as a batsman. “I’m thankful that I can bat well enough to be still picked as a batter, but I feel like I’m half the player when I’m not bowling.” And the truth is that one day Anderson might have to accept that he can only be a batsman, “I’d be lying if I said it hasn’t played on my mind. I think looking at what I want to do as a player, and what New Zealand cricket needs as a team, the best thing for me to do is play as an allrounder.”

When he grew up, he wanted to be Chris Cairns. Nothing much has changed. “I wanna be an allrounder and I feel like I gotta be an allrounder”

The main problem for Anderson is that he’s two athletes, a baseball slugger and a seam bowler. The power he needs for one comes partly from the weight that makes the other so hard. “Being big, it helps with my power game when I bat, but it may not help with my bowling. But I know other guys like Adam Milne, who is one of the strongest and fittest guys in our side, and he still gets injuries. It’s part of bowling; everyone gets injured. If you could try and drop more weight to be lighter at the crease when you’re bowling, you’ve lost your power when you’re batting”.When he grew up, he wanted to be Chris Cairns. Nothing much has changed. “I wanna be an allrounder and I feel like I gotta be an allrounder.”

****

Anderson is still learning who he is as a player: the constant injuries, the stop-starts, and the feeling that he has that he’s still getting picked on what he might be able to do, instead of what he does. But there have been some very batsman-like innings from him as well. His half-century in the World Cup semi-final was one, a 34 off 42 balls in the first game of the World T20 on a tricky Nagpur pitch another, and there was also a quality 81 against Sri Lanka in a tough, low chase where he shepherded the bottom order home.These are not the innings that Anderson gets worship for, but all of these innings led to wins.It was a conversation with Brendon McCullum that led to Anderson trying not to replicate his world-record knock every time he went out to bat. McCullum had felt the same pressure after opening the IPL with a century, but over time learned that you can’t bat like that every time.In his IPL career, Anderson is striking at a very low 113 throughout the middle stages of the innings, “There are times I’ve tried to strike at 300 from the start of my innings and get out. So I think that there are many times I need to knock the ball around and earn the time to hit out, so I need to do more of that.” At the death in the IPL, he strikes at 230.Talking to Brendon McCullum helped Anderson come to terms with the fact that he couldn’t attempt to replicate his ODI record hundred every time he went out to bat•Getty Images”The way I play is tough to replicate every day, but I’d love to replicate it more often than I do.”

****

“The ‘potential’ tag is, I guess, it’s always there, it’s still always there. Yeah, the ‘potential’ tag is always there.”The word “potential” was used by Anderson more than ten times when we spoke, almost always brought up by him. He had to fight against the child-prodigy tag, he had to play against the expectations of a world record, and he had to fight his own body every step of the way. But his real battle hasn’t been against these things, or opponents analysing his game as he becomes more well known, or international bowlers; it’s the fight he has to outdo the potential he has.”New Zealand being a small country, our playing pool isn’t as big, so once you get touted, they go after them. If you look at what we’ve had in the past, we have a lot of X-factor match-winning players, so I suppose from a young age I was in that bracket. So as soon as you do something, you’re right to go.”The biggest thing for me was that I thought I wouldn’t play for New Zealand until I’d done all this hard work.” Anderson is only 26 but has ten years of professional cricket behind him. His talent, his power, jumped the queue. And that still plays on his mind. When the bowler is at the top of his mark, he thinks that there are no grounds big enough to hold Anderson. When Anderson faces up, he thinks that he needs to live up to what he could be. “That ‘potential’ tag still lies within me.”If Anderson ever conquers his potential, the only thing bigger than his shoulders will be the impact he has on world cricket.

From being one of the worst T20 sides in the country to quarter-finalists, Derbyshire have reaped the benefit of their ground-breaking move to appoint a specialist coach

Jarrod Kimber01-Sep-2017Wayne Madsen is warming up to bowl the first over. Last season he bowled eight overs; this year he has bowled that many just in the first over of the innings. He has become a specialist first-over T20 spinner, which is very much on trend right now. The fact that Derbyshire, without doubt the worst team in the history of T20 domestic cricket in England, have managed to get to the quarter-finals, using data, research and a former IPL coach, says much for how English cricket has changed.Once a backwards cricket nation when it came to white-ball cricket tactics and growth, England is now one of the most aggressive and experimental. West Indies was the best team at the 2016 World T20 in India, but England was the most aggressive. Their run rates in ODI cricket over the last couple of years are the best cricket has ever produced. Their players are now encouraged to miss IPL seasons. They came into an ICC tournament as legitimate favourites. And they are even ripping up their precious county system to look into one of these new-fangled leagues all the kids are talking about.Things have changed. A team like Northants, which is barely thought of at all, is a powerhouse of T20 cricket and that is largely down to them focusing on T20 cricket and their Moneyball-style approach. It’s not just them either, the Blast run rate this year during the group stage was the highest on record for any T20 league ever; it dipped slightly during the knockout games but is still 8.45 an over, which is huge.This all leads us back to Derbyshire, who are terrible at T20 cricket. Twice in 14-game seasons they have won only a single match. In the 14 seasons of English domestic T20 before this year, Derbyshire made the quarter-finals once. In the last decade they have a 25% win record in their completed games. They haven’t had a positive win-loss record in a single one of those seasons. The time they reached the last eight was in 2005, when some counties weren’t aware of T20’s existence. They are, without doubt, without exaggeration, and completely objectively, the single worst T20 side in county cricket history.So last year, Kim Barnett was brought in to fix the club (the first-class team didn’t win a single game either). “We’d done a top to bottom investigation into our cricket last year,” he says. “Our record in T20 is abysmal; we’ve never been to Finals Day. And I had the authority to redefine everything, so having a T20 coach was my first bit.”

“When I looked at the stats of previous T20 performances, we were ranked 17th [out of 18] in both batting and bowling”Derbyshire T20 coach John Wright

The good news was that Barnett had someone in mind who was a former Derbyshire legend but, more importantly, knew a bit about T20. “John Wright was connected to the Mumbai Indians, and also we know him personally, after ten years at the club playing. A good guy to have in the club, and he’s a good coach, coaching the Indian team as well.”But here’s the kicker, Wright was brought in only as a T20 coach. He wouldn’t be coaching the first-class or one-day teams, just the T20 team. Barnett created the first ever T20 specialist coach in county cricket. “They had given me authority as we had been bottom of the County Championship and we’d never been to Finals Day, so I had authority to do it how I thought best.”Barnett also hired Imran Tahir, one of the world’s most effective T20 bowlers. “I sort of thought, if I get Imran here and John, it’ll be a good start and people might think things are happening at the club. So when we went to sign other people, it might just persuade them we are moving in the upwards direction.”Wright is no ordinary coach; he’s sort of the coach’s coach. One of those talented-but-battling Test players of the 1980s who got the absolute most out of himself, and was articulate enough to write entertaining books about it and explain to others the best way to improve themselves. As an outsider from New Zealand, he coached India and somehow seemed to come out of it with a more positive reputation than when he started. And if you read his early book, you also realise how he was ahead of the curve when it came to thinking about the game.Before the 2003 World Cup, he was talking about getting the most from India’s star batsmen after looking at the stats. He talks about how when they hit a boundary, the pressure never went off them. What got the pressure off them was scoring consistently, not three dots and a four. He doesn’t give that theory a name in his book, but over the last few years cricket data analysts have called it “activity rate”. This is not just an affable Kiwi with a solid cricket background; this is a first-rate cricket mind that was ahead of the curve.Luis Reece was one of the stars of Derbyshire’s Blast campaign•Getty ImagesIf Wright is no longer on the cutting edge of the T20 revolution (he laughed when asked if he was a T20 pioneer), he’s certainly not far from it. After being the coach of Mumbai Indians – currently one of cricket’s most data-dependent sides – he has stayed on as their scout and advisor. Derbyshire managed to get a man with decades of cricket knowledge, a profound personal connection to their club, one of the world’s most respected coaches, who also works within one of cricket’s most evolved T20 teams.But the IPL and Blast are completely different beasts. There are the financial pressures of a small-town team like Derbyshire. And then there is the fact this isn’t just a team of T20 guns; you have to build your team around whoever is already in the larger squad. Wright wasn’t happy when he looked at the numbers last year. “When I looked at the stats of previous T20 performances, we were ranked 17th in both batting and bowling – in conceding runs per over and in runs scored.”He looked to strengthen the bowling side. “Bowling is important, as is fielding, as they are your defensive side,” he says. So Wright brought in fellow New Zealander Matt Henry for the bowling. With him, Hardus Viljoen, Henry and Tahir, Derbyshire had a pretty decent bowling attack.That sorted, Barnett still had some issues. “We were probably concerned about the batting. Because we didn’t have anybody who had a great name from the domestic side.” Wright found a way to make the batting better, according to Barnett: “Madsen hadn’t been used in T20 particularly well before. Luis Reece was new at the club. Those two made nearly a thousand runs between them.” Madsen and Reece combined for 959 runs, to be exact, and scored at a decent strike rate.With their bowling good and their batting ignited, Derbyshire had the third best net run rate in the group stage and won eight games (equal most). In the last four seasons combined, they had only won 11 games.

“Looking back now, would I have bowled a seamer in the first over? Yeah, because he might not have gone for that many and Afridi might not have got a hundred”Derbyshire T20 captain Gary Wilson about the quarter-final against Hampshire

They weren’t even the only side to try the specialist T20 coach – Middlesex did a similar thing with Daniel Vettori after Derbyshire went for Wright. But Vettori wasn’t as successful. Vettori is the sort of coach you would expect to be the first T20 specialist. That is essentially his role; he basically came straight off the field into coaching; he’s played T20 cricket, he could probably still get a few overs through if needed. Wright can’t even give throwdowns anymore.Wright never played T20. He retired ten years before it existed. Gary Wilson, Derbyshire’s T20 captain, says: “He’s probably one of the older coaches I’ve worked with, but that hasn’t curbed his enthusiasm. He doesn’t feel old-fashioned, he scouts for Mumbai in the IPL, so he’s very up to date.”Because of his passion for cricket, and his intellectual interest in T20, Wright is still successful at it. “You try to do research,” he says. “A bit of everything, really. You look to the way players play, how to get them out, if you can’t get them out, where do you restrict them, where do you not put the ball.”Wilson has been impressed by this side of Wright: “He’s very thorough in his preparation, in scouting the opposition players and stuff, quite big on his data and scoring areas. He watches a lot of video.”So going into the quarter-final, against Hampshire, Wright had passed on all he had seen to Wilson and his team. And then Shahid Afridi surprisingly walked out to open the batting.Afridi had been poor with the bat in this season’s Blast, making 50 runs off 52 balls. He had been dropped, and also overlooked at critical moments, when his hitting could have won games. And now he was opening the batting. Wright first started coaching against Afridi almost 20 years ago; his research on him was deep. “I always leave it up to the captain – you can’t lead teams from the sideline,” he says. “You trust them to make the right decision. There was the argument, if Afridi came out, you know – maybe try seam.”Wayne Madsen was a revelation for Derbyshire•Getty ImagesMadsen was warming up, Afridi was walking out, and Wilson did consider it. “Yeah we could have gone to seamers,” he says now. Instead he stuck with Madsen’s handy offspin. And that wasn’t the only decision Wilson made. “I took two steps back at midwicket, because it was Afridi.”First ball, Afridi mishit a shot towards midwicket that landed, more or less, two paces in front of Wilson. The next five balls of the over contained four boundaries. Later Madsen had a chance to catch Afridi; he didn’t take it. So their star of the season was smashed out of the attack first over, before dropping a simple catch. The rest of the bowlers were hit too, and their captain backed what they had done all year. Afridi made 101 off 43 balls.”He got a hundred in a 50-over game when I was coaching India and Bob Woolmer was coaching Pakistan,” Wright recalls, before considering Derbyshire’s defeat. “It wasn’t our night. Afridi took it away, past us, really. We were hurt today. I mean 200, you hope, but 250, well… we were hammered.”Derbyshire took T20 seriously, came up with intelligent batting and bowling plans, had their greatest ever season, brought in county cricket’s first ever T20 specialist coach, got a home quarter-final, and then Afridi came out to open for the first time that year. “Looking back now, would I have bowled a seamer in the first over? Yeah, because he might not have gone for that many and Afridi might not have got a hundred,” Wilson says. T20 is 240 moments; Wilson and Derbyshire made a mistake on the first one, and never got back in the game.Had Derbyshire not appointed Wright and taken their T20 so seriously, they wouldn’t have even had the chance have their hearts broken by Afridi in their second ever quarter-final. This is just a lesson for next year. As the 63-year-old Wright says of himself, and really everyone else in cricket: “I’m still learning T20.”

For India to stand a chance, Virat Kohli had to win his battle with Pakistan’s seamers, but Mohammad Amir used his angle and intellect to take out India’s best

Nagraj Gollapudi at The Oval18-Jun-20173:34

Dravid: Amir spell made for compelling viewing

Virat Kohli had not walked in this early in the tournament. In fact, Kohli has had to bat only three times in the first over, at No. 3. Two of those instances occurred when India were chasing: against Australia in 2010 and Pakistan in 2012. Both times Kohli took India home with a century. His 183 against Pakistan in the 2012 Asia Cup final remains his highest score in ODIs. Mohammad Amir was serving his spot-fixing ban at the time.On Sunday, when Kohli got in, Amir was already raging. He had tempted Rohit Sharma with a full delivery angling away off the first ball of the innings. Rohit fell for the trick and was lucky not to have dragged the ball on to his stumps. The next delivery was similar. Rohit let it go.Then came the beauty: an inducker that pitched on a good length, moved in with a straight seam and hit Rohit in line with leg stump. Rohit wasted time thinking the review could bail him out. Umpire Richard Kettleborough timed him out, asking him to depart. Amir pumped his hands furiously.In walked Kohli. For India to win, Kohli had to win. He twirled his bat. He chewed gum. He took a leg-stump guard. Amir rushed in. Kohli survived a sharp, 90 mph delivery that screamed away. Even the world’s No.1 ranked batsman looked vulnerable.The next ball pitched on a good length. Kohli punched to the right of Shoaib Malik at mid-off. Kohli casually ran forward, confident the ball was speeding to the boundary. Malik, though, intercepted to send Kohli back. Kohli then moved outside the line of the final delivery of the over, flicked neatly and picked up two runs.With the angle Amir was coming at him, Kohli was always in danger of getting opened up. Kohli was vulnerable when he faced Amir in the Asia Cup last year too.India’s top three helped India to the final. Mohammad Amir knocked them all over•Getty ImagesOn Sunday, off the third ball of Amir’s second over, Kohli was unravelled. It pitched on a good length, forcing Kohli back. The ball moved away and took a thick edge of Kohli’s open-faced bat. Amir almost took off in celebration. Pakistan flags erupted across The Oval even before the ball reached Azhar Ali, at first slip. Azhar just had to accept the gift that came his way. Instead, he whipped his cap in disgust after dropping a sitter. Amir turned back swiftly, after giving Azhar a glare.Next ball, Kohli made up his mind. He moved a step across off stump, premeditating a flick. Amir did not change his plan. The ball was full, pitched on the seam, and angled away. Kohli was caught in an awkward position and the leading edge flew into the hands of Shadab Khan at point. The Pakistan fans erupted in joy again, this time not just momentarily.Kohli stood in disbelief. Shikhar Dhawan tried to console his captain by putting his arm around him. Kohli was defeated. He did not hide it. In this tournament, Kohli had not faced a left-arm fast bowler of Amir’s pace and intellect. Kohli has always stressed on how he visualises contests before a big match. He would have undoubtedly imagined what Amir would do to him. Amir shattered it in seven balls.”Dropping Virat Kohli, a guy who chases runs for fun, he does it best in the world,” Azhar said after the game. “So dropping him was a really, really big disappointment. But I was the most relieved man after he got out the next ball. That kind of batsman never gives you that sight again and again, getting out in two balls.”Not much fazes Virat Kohli in chases, but Mohammad Amir’s angle did•Getty ImagesAzhar Mahmood, the Pakistan bowling coach, revealed that he asked the fast bowlers to attack the channel outside off stump and force Kohli to play early. Amir executed perfectly. “Early on when Virat comes in, bowl the fourth, fifth stump, take the ball away, he is a big candidate of nicking off,” Mahmood said. “Amir had done it before, too. The plan was there, but it had to be executed.”Another key element in Amir’s spell was his aggressive body language. According to Mahmood, that was a conscious strategy. “We are very friendly with the Indian players off the field and sometimes, we take it on the field as well. Yesterday during our discussions, I told them we should have a ruthless body language on the field.”Since his return, Amir has been carrying the burden of expectation. The image was established in 2010: of Amir rushing in with flowing hair, swinging and seaming the ball in and out, hitting edges, knocking back stumps, trapping batsmen in front.Expectations were high after Amir’s return to international cricket. The wait has been agonising. As he charged in to Kohli on Sunday, hearts raced. Something was going to happen. Mohammad Amir happened.

All the thrills and spills from the fifth round of the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy

ESPNcricinfo staff24-Oct-2017Two Saads making wavesMohammad Saad, the 27-year old middle-order batsman from WAPDA, scored his third hundred of the season, a combative unbeaten 134 that rescued his side from a crisis. Replying to National Bank Limited’s 314, WAPDA were reeling at 181 for 9 when Mohammad Asif joined him. The two added an astonishing 140 for the last wicket, enabling WAPDA to take an improbable seven-run lead. Eventually, the partnership would prove instrumental in helping the defending champions win by six wickets.In the previous round, the Gujranwala-born Saad had made another exceptional hundred under pressure. Then, WAPDA were eight down, chasing 246, but he stood firm, steering his side towards their target, only for Taj Wali to mankad No. 11 Mohammad Irfan with WAPDA just four runs from their target. In any case, innings like these have moved Saad into the top three run-scorers in the QeA Trophy this season.Then there is Saad Ali, who plays for United Bank Limited. He is the leading run-getter so far, with 636 runs at 127.20. The 24-year old left-hander was born in Karachi and made his debut in domestic cricket in 2012. He scored his first double-hundred in the most recent round of fixtures, against Pakistan TV, leading his side to an emphatic victory in Sialkot to maintain his side’s grip on top spot in Pool B.A one-and-a-half day matchMisbah-ul-Haq led Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited to a crushing defeat of Sui Southern Gas Corporation in just one-and-a-half days of play in Faisalabad. A venue that has been traditionally known for batting turned into a batsman’s graveyard, 32 wickets falling in five sessions, 17 on the opening day alone. SSGC, after being asked to bat first, were dismissed for 129 in 41.3 overs. Thereafter, demolition-man Ahmed Jamal single-handedly ripped through SNGPL to bowl them out for 144. SSGC could only set a target of 60, which was chased down in 27.1 overs, SNGPL cruising home by eight wickets.Sensational Jamal rises to the occasionThe 6’4″ Jamal was once named the ‘King of Speed’ after winning a 2013 talent-hunt programme run by the PCB. At the age of 24, he clocked 143kph to win Rs. 1 million and the opportunity to work with Wasim Akram in Karachi. He has been on the circuit since 2009, but has never been a national prospect. But he’s done his chances no harm with his performance in Faisalabad, achieving career-best figures of 9 for 50 against SNGPL.Amad Butt pushes his case againHere we go again, talking about a Pakistani fast bowler. The 22-year old right-arm quick earned a T20 call-up in England last year, but wasn’t given a chance to make his debut in what was Sarfraz Ahmed’s first T20I as captain. But after a somewhat indifferent start to the QeA this year, he roared back to form with match figures of 10 for 49, picking up five wickets in each innings. It helped Habib Bank beat Khan Research Laboratories by 93 runs, and maintained the heat on Pool B leaders UBL. His teammate Imran Farhat, the former Pakistan batsman, didn’t enjoy quite such a good game, bagging a pair at No. 4.Fawad watchIt would be a shame to jinx it, but since his century in Round 3, Fawad Alam has failed to maintain the form he needs to continue applying pressure on the national selectors. That was the case again in the two-day game between SSGC and SNGPL, with Fawad only able to notch up 10 and 5 as his side slumped to an eight-wicket defeat. His side are still at the top of Pool A, however, but now only one point separates them and SNGPL.

From tape-ball cricket on the streets of Lahore to the Pakistan squad for the Under-19 World Cup… Muhammad Zaid is eager to learn and succeed – be it batting or speaking English

Shashank Kishore in Whangarei12-Jan-2018″I was walking back home after buying dinner when I heard the whole neighbourhood yell in frustration,” Muhammad Zaid says, not one bit tired after a long training session in Whangarei. He is bursting with eagerness to tell this tale. “.” (What man, Virat Kohli has been dropped!) A minute later, of course, he had heard firecrackers going off in Lahore. “” (People started dancing. I thought Kohli had got out. I went back home and Kohli had indeed got out. Then I felt this match is ours).The excitement in Zaid’s voice as he describes the night of June 18, 2017, when Pakistan beat India to win the Champions Trophy, is still palpable. It was a moment that fuelled his desire to become a better cricketer and work even harder in his quest to find a place in Pakistan’s Under-19 team for the 2018 World Cup in New Zealand. Three months on, a day before Pakistan’s squad was to apply for their visas for Malaysia for the Under-19 Asia Cup, he picked up a side strain and was ruled out of the tournament.That was Pakistan’s last big tournament before the World Cup squad came out. The first week of December was spent nervously waiting for the announcement. Once he found a place, his older brothers told him: “” (Now you set off firecrackers in New Zealand.)In many ways, this tournament will be Zaid’s first real test outside the subcontinent. But for someone who has already had to overcome a number of challenges and struggles, a lot of which his parents and two older brothers – they’re totally seven brothers and six sisters – have tried to shield him from, this will be a test of a different kind. Set to open for Pakistan, Zaid’s strokeplay and fluency have earned him plaudits already.As an adolescent, Zaid’s window into the world of cricket was largely an old transistor in his father Alam Khan’s tea shop that used to blare out Urdu commentary whenever Pakistan played. Zaid spent most of his time in and around the tea shop, either helping his father, or playing tape-ball cricket just outside. It was a business Zaid’s father set up 20 years ago at Anarkali Bazaar in Lahore.The family’s financial constraints came in the way of Zaid’s cricket dreams. At times, when bored, he would run out to play tape-ball cricket in the , but it would make him feel guilty. It was only five years ago that Zaid seriously took to cricket, because his father didn’t want a young boy at an impressionable age to be distracted by the surroundings and go astray.

“PlayStation is not my thing. I watch a lot of cricket. I watch videos of how AB de Villiers plays those scoops and ramp shots, and I try and imitate them in front of the mirror.”Muhammad Zaid

Alongside cricket, Zaid’s father also wanted him to study, and instructed his teachers to keep an eye on the boy. But he would invariably give them the slip and run off to play cricket. Zaid and his identical twin Waheed were often mistaken for each other initially. A distinct batting style, a high backlift and penchant to hit the ball hard helped Zaid stand out.Mohammad Akbar Butt, who was Zaid’s school coach was also head coach at Crescent Cricket Club in Lahore. He enrolled Zaid for the trials and subsequently got him an entry into the club. This was Zaid’s first initiation into age-group cricket, where his batting stood out among the Under-16s.At 14, Butt felt there was a bright future for the boy. But there was the matter of convincing his family that there was potential that would go waste if his raw talent wasn’t nurtured.Zaid’s father wanted his children to study and get a decent job. His oldest son played a bit of cricket before getting into a day job as marketing manager at a healthcare company. His twin and two other brothers, also twins, were academically inclined too; one of them went on to become a teacher at a . Zaid’s father gave in after Younis assured the family that he was willing to sponsor kits and other facilities from the club’s funds.”My father thought I would play for two years and then come back automatically and start focusing on studies,” Zaid says with a laugh. “But when I started scoring and got into regional cricket, that is when they believed I had a future.”They knew I would be adamant,” he says sheepishly. “Till it was time to sleep, I was either playing tape-ball cricket in my colony, or at the nets in the evening. So they knew I had the hunger to play.”

“Bas kar. Rohit Sharma nahi hai tu. Uski record thodna hai kya?”Zaid’s team-mates react to one of his more adventurous shots

Zaid draws inspiration from Shoaib Malik. His recent stint with the Under-19 team in Australia, where he made a century and one half-century, resulted in Pakistan winning 2-0. Zaid’s balance and awareness of his game, according to his coaches, has been a standout feature. It’s his (craze for cricket) that keeps him hooked to YouTube videos of cricketers and famous matches on loop.”PlayStation is not my thing. I watch a lot of cricket. I watch videos of how AB de Villiers plays those scoops and ramp shots, and I try and imitate them in front of the mirror. The other day in Australia, while we were playing the one-day series, I tried to get down on one knee and flick. My team-mates later told me: “” (Stop it. You are not Rohit Sharma. You want to break his record or what?)He hopes to one day be able to play shots like those, but for now, he’s been trained to play in the “V” and not do (trickery) – as his elder brothers called and told him soon after the match.Zaid remembers being particularly captivated by the World XI series in Lahore. He braved the immense security to watch each of the matches. “I hadn’t seen any cricket in the stadiums, so to see top players in the world live was an amazing feeling. I was all the more motivated to score runs and thought to myself how I’d feel if I score runs in front of such crowds one day.”Zaid’s team-mates describe him as quite a prankster, who indulges in lot of leg-pulling and typical (typically local fun). He isn’t fussed about food, and tries to soak in the culture wherever he goes.For now, apart from trying to learn his trade and improve with the bat, he’s also hoping to pick up proper English. New Zealand’s “fast English” leaves him confused, he says with a laugh, but he is determined to converse. “” (I’ll learn only by making mistakes, right?) he asks. “” (Learning is a hobby for me, be it cricket or English). You couldn’t have asked for a better attitude, could you?

The Bancroft incident in Cape Town is not the first time a cricket ball has been tampered with using a foreign object. Can you match these objects with the players involved?

ESPNcricinfo staff25-Mar-2018

Peter Della Penna picks out eight of the best and worst aspects of the ICC World Cup Qualifier

Peter Della Penna26-Mar-2018Love me – Sikandar RazaAs if his 319 runs and 15 wickets weren’t enough to grab attention over the month of March at the World Cup Qualifier, he stole the show at the post-match presentation following the tournament final when accepting the Man of the Series award with his heartfelt speech decrying next year’s 10-team World Cup.It’s not often that a player from a Full Member throws so much support behind the Associate cause. Ireland captain William Porterfield, whose side was elevated to Test status last year, had strong words voicing support for Associate teams at the qualifier and their uncertain futures following his team’s loss to Afghanistan in the last Super Six match on Friday. But Porterfield’s press conference was conducted mostly out of public view and received far less exposure than Sikandar’s statement, which was full of emotion and televised around the world. “Brilliant @SRazaB24,” tweeted Nepal captain Paras Khadka. “Thank you for being our voice!!!”Sikandar Raza was named Man of the Tournament•ICC/Getty ImagesLove me not – No DRSOne of the biggest talking points through the televised portion of the tournament was the decision to not use the best technology available. An excuse trotted out before the tournament by organisers was that playing conditions should remain consistent for TV and non-TV games.However, the same principle was not applied to the 2017 Women’s World Cup. Not all games were televised, with many using an online stream only, but the ones that were televised allowed the teams to use the Decision Review System to challenge on field calls.The impact of the lack of DRS at the World Cup Qualifier was apparent for Scotland in the Super Sixes. Against Ireland, an lbw appeal from Brad Wheal against Andy Balbirnie when the batsman had yet to score was denied by umpire Paul Wilson. Balbirnie went on to make a century in a Man of the Match performance. A few days later, Wilson became the centre of attention once more when he upheld West Indies spinner Ashley Nurse’s appeal for lbw against Richie Berrington to a ball heading past leg stump. No one will know if Scotland would have won those games with the decisions overturned, but it would have been good to have the option.Love me – Full Members at the QualifierThis was the first time in the history of the World Cup Qualifier, which dates back to 1979 when it was known as the ICC Trophy, that Full Members were forced to go through the same intense process that Associates do in order to make it to the World Cup. All of the edge-of-your-seat drama that TV cameras missed in their absence from February’s WCL Division Two in Namibia was captured live and in living colour in Zimbabwe.When it was all said and done, the two pre-tournament favorites – West Indies and Afghanistan – wound up claiming the two spots at the 2019 World Cup. But the relaxed nature of the tournament final between the two sides underscored the fact that it’s not just about the destination, but the journey to get there. From the group stage through the Super Sixes, almost every match was full of drama and provided example upon example of the parity and competitiveness in limited-overs cricket that extends well beyond the Full Member world like never before. Going by Carlos Brathwaite’s Twitter feed, the Associates gained West Indies’ respect too.West Indies players line up for the national anthem•Getty ImagesLove me not – No Associates at the World CupNext year’s event will be the first time in its history that there won’t be a single Associate side in attendance. All participating teams are ranked in the top ten of the ODI rankings. Half of the teams will be from Asia. Only one team, West Indies, is fully located in the western hemisphere.In this year’s 32-team FIFA World Cup in Russia, a team ranked as low as No. 63 in the world – Saudi Arabia – qualified on merit. Chile and Italy, both ranked in the top 16, did not. If FIFA used rankings only to form their World Cup field and shrank the event to 16 teams, rather than expand to 48 as will be the case for 2026, the entire field would be comprised of countries from Europe and South America.Imagine FIFA World Cups in this millenium without Ghana’s Asamoah Gyan, Ivory Coast’s Didier Drogba, Australia’s Tim Cahill, USA’s Clint Dempsey, South Korea’s Park Ji-sung, Japan’s Keisuke Honda. That’s what cricket fans will likewise be missing in England and Wales next year without the Associates represented. It means no Kyle Coetzer, Rohan Mustafa, Paul van Meekeren, Anshuman Rath, or Sandeep Lamichhane.Love me – Ian BishopIn the post-Richie Benaud era of TV commentary, few people do more to enhance the viewer experience more than the former West Indies fast bowler. “Remember the name!” may go down in history as his signature moment on air, but associating him only with that would be a disservice to the outstanding technical expertise, relatable personal anecdotes, instant recall from previous games he has covered as well as detailed background research knowledge of teams and players he brings wherever he is calling a game.Whether it is Test cricket, T20 franchise cricket, women’s cricket or Associate cricket, Bishop’s versatility and quality that he brings to each assignment is unmatched. He gives respect to the players he covers below the top level of the game by doing more than a cursory check of their batting and bowling styles so he can contribute genuine insights rather than fumbling and mumbling bland cliches to disguise a lack of interest that is often apparent in other talking heads. In turn, viewers worldwide respect Bishop’s efforts and yearn for more to follow his lead.Love me not – No reserve daysIt does not make much sense that WCL Division Two, the tournament preceding the World Cup Qualifier through which UAE and Nepal advanced to Zimbabwe, had two scheduled reserve days – both of which wound up being used – as well as provisions for a third if necessary, while the World Cup Qualifier itself had zero reserve days. Had the reserve day been in place, there would not have been a need to cut short multiple games, most significantly the West Indies v Scotland and Zimbabwe v UAE encounters in the Super Six stage.The massive frustration from the Scotland camp who saw their dreams dashed was equal parts no DRS and no reserve days. Five runs short of the DLS target against West Indies, they were taken off the field and never came back on. The poor lbw decision against Berrington may have been easier to swallow had the match been allowed to reach a natural conclusion on the field – whether it meant being bowled out for 170 or winning by three wickets in the 50th over – rather than by a mathematician’s calculator off it.Nepal are overjoyed at taking a wicket•ICCLove me – Nepal gaining ODI statusThere are countless ways in which Nepal’s passion shines through: the singing of “Rato Ra Chandra Surya” by the squad after each game, hundreds of fans greeting the players on their arrival to Tribhuvan International Airport in Kathmandu, 15,000 fans packing Tribhuvan University Stadium even for domestic matches like the Everest Premier League, let alone Nepal’s home internationals.Not since Afghanistan has an Associate country had the capacity to have as much growth and impact with the opportunity to play ODI cricket as Nepal. If they can get their administrative affairs in order, there’s no reason why they can’t go on the same fast track toward Test status.Love me not – Nepal not having any guaranteed ODI fixturesHowever, what does the status actually mean when Nepal is not a part of the Future Tours Programme? Hong Kong and Papua New Guinea serve as examples of countries holding ODI status more or less in name only, without being able to receive the same fixture opportunities and benefits as a Test nation.However, the respective fan bases of PNG and Hong Kong are relatively small. By comparison, Nepal’s fan market base being as enthusiastic as Afghanistan’s means there are millions of eyeballs for TV broadcasters and sponsors to seize upon. Already, Nepal has been extended a return visit to Lord’s this summer alongside the Netherlands. Hopefully it means that Khadka’s men will get the chance to go toe-to-toe with the likes of Bangladesh and Sri Lanka sooner rather than later in one-day cricket, especially with an IPL spinner in their ranks in the form of 17-year-old Lamichhane.