Few cricketers have as many subplots to deal with as Bavuma, but you would hardly know it watching the breezy innings South Africa’s captain put together in Gqeberha

Andrew Fidel Fernando05-Dec-2024When you’re Temba Bavuma, an innings is not just an innings, a fifty is not allowed to only be a fifty, every hundred heaves with meaning, and a career playing a bat-and-ball sport has to feel like a tightrope maze over a river teeming with crocs. This is the lot of the trailblazer. And as far as trails go, this is a pretty rough one to blaze. Test batting, in the imagination of many, is among the most cerebral endeavours in sport. And you need not go hunting in especially dark corners of the internet to encounter the vile opinion that pursuits that require brain power are best handled by certain types of people. Bavuma likely falls outside these descriptions.Bavuma didn’t really ask for any of this. Ahead of this match, questioned on how he got through tough times in his first ten years in Test cricket, he focused his answer on his “love for the game”. He’d rolled up to that press conference driving the team mini van himself through the gates of the stadium, like a dad popping down to the hardware store to pick up some new screws in whatever family vehicle was available. No drivers, no security, no hangers on. Why complicate life?Related

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The innings he played the next day was awash in this simplicity. Though South Africa were 44 for 3 when he arrived at the crease in Gqeberha, he himself was clearly judging length beautifully. Fifth ball, he slid back against Prabath Jayasuriya and flicked one effortlessly off his pads for a four through midwicket. Not long after that, he dabbed a shortish, slightly wide ball, perfectly in the gap between slips and gully. A third boundary, riding the bounce of an Asitha Fernando delivery to deposit him through point, came off the 20th ball he faced.Off 30 deliveries, Bavuma was on 27, having just launched Jayasuriya so powerfully over deep midwicket, the ball was briefly lost over the corner wall. This was the over before lunch, so he have hunkered down and done the responsible thing. Not in this innings. Bavuma had been by a distance the best batter in the first Test. In this kind of form, no outside context was required. The bowler had pitched short and runs were on offer. “Those screws are on sale? Yeah, I’ll take them.”Temba Bavuma revealed that this upper cut was fully improvised•Gallo Images/Getty ImagesAt the other end, Ryan Rickelton had laboured to 29 off 74 balls, having flirted with plenty of balls outside off stump, where Bavuma had been more compact in defence.”For Temba to come in at 40-odd for 3 and not counterpunch but just kind of change a bit of momentum our way was very important,” Rickelton, who top scored with 101, said after play. “He’s moving really well, playing the ball really late as well, and hitting it where he wants it to go.”If there is a little surprise in Rickelton’s voice, it is because Bavuma has a reputation. Frequently his innings are weighed down by all sorts of contexts. Not for nothing is Bavuma’s Test match strike rate a shade under 50.”Usually, I think out of the two of us, people expect me to be scoring quickly. And it was nice to have the shoe on the other foot and sit and watch from the other side. He took a lot of pressure off me. He played just really good cricket shots on a wicket that isn’t the easiest to score on. He opened up the game and he wore them down quite a lot.”

“Usually, I think out of the two of us, people expect me to be scoring quickly. And it was nice to have the shoe on the other foot and sit and watch from the other side.”Ryan Rickelton on Temba Bavuma’s knock

Bavuma continued to float through the innings, the Gqeberha band piping up through the afternoon to bathe the surrounds in further joy and levity. He passed Rickelton and got to fifty off the 57th delivery he faced, flitting down the track to spin, easing into checked drives, almost as if top-scoring in the last game had untethered a part of him, somehow. Even in that Durban match, batting with the tail after Sri Lanka’s quicks had ripped the top order apart, he still was able to play a shot straight out of childhood fantasy – upper-cutting Lahiru Kumara for six over the slips with both his feet off the ground – a shot he later revealed was completely improvised. Maybe this version of Bavuma has always been there.Three innings into this home season, he has made 70, 113, and now 78 off 109, all outstanding innings, each varying dramatically in texture from the last. With five potential knocks to go, Bavuma now has the chance to write his name across the summer. An opportunity, perhaps, to drive his detractors back further, though they will likely continue to hang that conversion rate around his neck. With Bavuma, there are always these subplots, always things that remain unsaid but widely understood, bubbling beneath the things that are actually said.But perhaps it is best not to peer too far ahead, or look too far sideways. Why complicate life? Maybe it’s best to spend a moment in the spirit of Bavuma’s innings. On day one at St George’s Park, a batter revelled in his own excellent form, and produced the kind of innings so full of fun you couldn’t help but get caught up.

And who has the most wickets in the history of the tournament?

Steven Lynch25-Feb-2025Was Ben Duckett’s big hundred against Australia the highest score in the history of the Champions Trophy? asked Andrew Davison from England
That eye-catching innings of 165 by Ben Duckett in England’s opening match of the Champions Trophy against Australia in Lahore at the weekend was comfortably a record individual score for any Champions Trophy match.The previous highest was 145 not out, by Nathan Astle for New Zealand against United States at The Oval in September 2004. Andy Flower was dismissed for 145 for Zimbabwe against India in Colombo in September 2002.England’s 351 for 8 in Lahore was – briefly – the highest total in Champions Trophy history, surpassing New Zealand’s 347 for 4 in the 2004 match mentioned above. But Australia put that in the shade by making 356 for 5 to win. The previous-largest successful chase was Sri Lanka’s 322 for 3 to defeat India at The Oval in June 2017.As the Champions Trophy is going on, what records are there to be shot at? Who’s scored the most runs and taken the most wickets in one tournament? asked Michael Orange from England
Chris Gayle set the record for the most runs in one edition of the Champions Trophy, with 474 in India in October-November 2006. He was helped because West Indies had to pre-qualify for that tournament – in which they went on to reach the final – so he had eight matches compared to the usual five or so. Another attacking left-hand opener, India’s Shikhar Dhawan, is second on the list, with 363 runs in five matches in England in 2013. Dhawan was also the leading scorer at the 2017 Champions Trophy in England with 338, which puts him fourth on the list, behind his compatriot Sourav Ganguly, who hit 348 in just four matches in Kenya in October 2000.Gayle leads the way overall with 791 runs in all Champions Trophy matches, ahead of Mahela Jayawardene with 742 and Dhawan with 701 in the two editions in which he played.Two bowlers have taken 13 wickets in one Champions Trophy tournament: Hasan Ali of Pakistan in five matches in England in 2017, and West Indies’ Jerome Taylor in seven games in India in 2006-07. The identity of the bowler with the most wickets overall in Champions Trophy tournaments might win you a prize in your next sports quiz: it’s Kyle Mills of New Zealand, with 28.Harshit Rana got caps in Tests, ODIs and T20Is in the space of four international matches (two of the four were Tests). Has anyone completed their “full set” quicker than that? asked Graham Burt from Australia
Your right that by the time India’s Harshit Rana had played four international matches, he’d appeared in all three formats: two Tests in Australia late in 2024, then a T20I and a one-day international against England early this year.I knew that Joe Root had completed his set quicker, as his first three international matches were a T20I, an ODI and a Test, all in India in 2012-13. But I was surprised to discover there were nine others who fitted the three-match bill, including the Afghanistan legspinner Qais Ahmad, who took more than two years to do it. The others were Daniel Flynn (New Zealand, 2008), Ajmal Shahzad (England, 2010), Kyle Abbott (South Africa, 2013), Liam Dawson (England, 2016), Ibrahim Zadran (Afghanistan, 2019), Mohammad Musa (Pakistan, 2021-22), Gudakesh Motie (West Indies, 2021-22) and Rehan Ahmed (England, 2022-23).Rana was the 24th man to do it in the space of four matches. Among that group is the Indian wicketkeeper Naman Ojha, who took more than five years to complete his set, between June 2010 (when he played two ODIs and a T20I in Zimbabwe) and August 2015, when he made his only Test appearance, against Sri Lanka in Colombo.Misbah-ul-Haq is the only man to have three scores of 99 in Tests, though he remained not out in one of them•AFPWhich batter has been out three times for 99 in Tests? asked Saurabh Mehrabi from India
Actually no one has been dismissed for 99 three times in Test matches: Misbah-ul-Haq of Pakistan had three scores of 99, but one of them was not out. That was against West Indies in Kingston in April 2017; in the first innings of the next Test, in Bridgetown, he was out for 99.Misbah is one of nine men who have been out twice for 99 in Tests. The others are Mike Atherton (England), Greg Blewett (Australia), Sourav Ganguly (India), Simon Katich (Australia), Richie Richardson (West Indies), Saleem Malik (Pakistan), Mike Smith (England) and John Wright (New Zealand). Two others – the Yorkshire and England pair of Geoff Boycott and Jonny Bairstow – were out once for 99 and also had a 99 not out.There is one man who has been dismissed for 99 three times in international cricket. Sachin Tendulkar suffered this fate three times in ODIs, all in the space of five months in 2007: run out against South Africa in Belfast in June, caught behind off an Andrew Flintoff bouncer in Bristol in August, and caught behind against Pakistan in Mohali in November. Boycott and Richardson also had a 99 in an ODI to go with two in Tests (Richardson’s one-day 99 was not out; Boycott had a 99 not out in a Test, as mentioned above).For the list of 99s in men’s Tests, click here. There have been five 99s in women’s Tests, six by women in ODIs (one not out), and one case of 99 not out in a women’s T20I. No one has made more than one score of 99 in all women’s internationals.Is it true that the highest partnership in a T20 international was set by two Japanese players? asked Max Knight from Australia
The highest partnership for any wicket in a men’s T20I – indeed any senior men’s T20 match – is an unbroken opening stand of 258 for Japan against China in Hong Kong in February 2024, by Lachlan Yamamoto-Lake (134 not out, with 12 sixes) and Japan’s captain Kendel Kadowaki-Fleming (109 not out, 11 sixes). They both have a Japanese parent, but were brought up in Australia. The previous partnership record in a men’s T20Is was 236, by Afghanistan’s openers Hazratullah Zazai (162 not out) and Usman Ghani (73) against Ireland in Dehradun in February 2019.There have been two higher partnerships in women’s T20Is. Opening for Argentina against Chile in Buenos Aires in October 2023, Lucia Taylor (169) and Albertina Galan (145 not out) put on 350. Two days later, also at the St Albans club, Argentina’s second-wicket pair Veronica Vasquez (107 not out) and Maria Castiñeiras (155 not out) shared an unbroken stand of 290.Shiva Jayaraman of ESPNcricinfo’s stats team helped with some of the above answers.Use our feedback form, or the Ask Steven Facebook page to ask your stats and trivia questions

It was #PlayBold the way RCB have always wanted it to be, and by the end of it, the WPL had it’s biggest ever chase, completed with nine balls left

Srinidhi Ramanujam15-Feb-20254:42

Mithali: Ghosh changed the dynamic by smashing 23 off Gardner’s over

For Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB), their “#PlayBold philosophy also means doing whatever it takes”. No player has taken that more seriously than Richa Ghosh.Having made her international debut five years ago at the age of 16, Ghosh has shown the ability to learn and adapt quickly to survive in the fast-paced format, both for India and for RCB. She offered another glimpse into that on the opening night of WPL 2025 when she hit a brutal 27-ball 64 against Gujarat Giants to take RCB to their target of 202 with nine balls to go. No bigger target has been chased down in the WPL before.With Vadodara hosting its first WPL match, there was talk about the square boundaries being a bit skewed – 50 metres to one side, 60 metres to the other, and 69 metres down the ground on either side. But sometimes, to some players, like Ghosh on Friday, the size of the boundaries didn’t matter. After her heroics, she would just say, “I knew I could clear [the boundaries] so I was just reacting as the ball came.” She hit four sixes, including the winning hit, to go with seven fours.Related

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But there was fierce intelligence at work too – Ghosh problem-solved as she went along, and constantly exploited signs of weakness in the opposition.When Ghosh had walked out, RCB needed 93 off 46 balls with six wickets in hand. After early hiccups in the chase, Ellyse Perry had lifted RCB with a 34-ball 57, but it was left to Ghosh and Kanika Ahuja, returning to RCB after missing a season owing to injury, to take the team home. After them, it was just the bowlers.Ghosh took 12 deliveries to score 15 runs – she also got a life first ball when Simran Shaikh fumbled a chance – and the required run-rate was well over 12 at that stage. She was just waiting. Like a musician changing the key, the tempo, the mood, or the character of the piece, Ghosh switched gears in the 16th over, bowled by Ash Gardner, Giants’ star of the night who deserved to be on the winning side after slamming 79 not out off 37 balls and sending back Smriti Mandhana and Danni Wyatt-Hodge earlier.Before the start of the over, it was 63 needed off 30. After six balls, it was 40 from 24.Richa Ghosh smacked four fours and a six off one Ash Gardner over•AFP/Getty ImagesGhosh showcased skill, both power and deft touches, beauty and brawn, all in one exciting package. She took on one of the best T20 bowlers in women’s cricket, who until then had 2-0-10-2 in the contest. Dew was playing its part too.Gardner missed an off-stump yorker off the first ball and that was enough for Ghosh to use her wrists and find the gap in the cover region. A wide, and then the next ball was also in Ghosh’s arc and she swung through the line to launch it over long-on. The next three balls were nonchalantly hit to the boundary – two fours were guided past short third with gentle dabs and another was a pull to deep midwicket. That their fielding was sloppy didn’t help Giants.As per ESPNcricinfo’s forecaster, RCB’s win probability at the end of the 15th over was 12.66%. It climbed to 72.91% after the 16th over, as Gardner conceded 23 runs. It was a gripping and thrilling few minutes of the night that will probably be remembered as the best piece in Ghosh’s composition.Kanika Ahuja and Richa Ghosh put on an unbroken stand of 93 off 37 balls•BCCIShe had moved to 37 off 18 and eventually brought up her fifty off 23 balls.A 16-run 17th over meant it had suddenly become RCB’s game to lose. Ghosh’s bat swing generated enough power to land a few more big blows, including the winning six over deep midwicket in the penultimate over.RCB had broken the record for the biggest chase. Ghosh, 21, embraced Ahuja, 22, after the match-altering stand of 93 – Ahuja had hit 30 not out off 13.Mandhana, watching from the dugout in the final moments, had her hand over her mouth and shouted “shottttttttt!” when the job was done. The RCB players and coaching staff stood up to applaud the two as they returned.Ghosh turned the let-off on zero into gold. It was a “playbold” love letter from her to RCB on Valentine’s Day.

England tested him, challenged him, and made him a hero. A month and a bit after being part of an epic Test series, Prasidh Krishna recounts the highs and the lows

Shashank Kishore02-Sep-202524:48

‘My god, that was one good series’ – Prasidh recounts the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy

Prasidh Krishna has had plenty of time to reflect on an unforgettable summer in England. Over the past month, he has swapped new-ball spells and short-ball strategies for mountain trails, hiking across Europe and unwinding with family.Now, he’s back to the grind, preparing for a busy home season. Although he isn’t part of the men’s T20 Asia Cup squad, he is expected to play a role in India’s upcoming Tests, two each against West Indies and South Africa starting in October.”I did take a week to ten days off [after the England series],” Prasidh tells ESPNcricinfo. “I was fortunate that the Mysuru Warriors [his Maharaja Trophy franchise] owner was kind enough to say, ‘You go have your time off, and when you’re back, you can get back to play’.Related

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“Even when I was on a break [after the series] – hiking and all that – I could actually feel my body hurting. I was still sore from that last Test [at The Oval] and the three hard days [during the vacation]. On the fourth day, I told myself, ‘I’m not going to do anything’. I let my wife go on her hiking trip. I stayed back for a day, and actually felt my body recover a little bit more.”Prasidh played in three of the five Tests in the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy, making a big impact in India’s series-squaring win at The Oval. He bowled 43 overs in the match, claiming 8 for 188 as part of a three-pronged pace attack with Mohammed Siraj and Akash Deep.The performance was all the more satisfying as it came just after he’d been left out of the fourth Test in Manchester, with the team management opting for debutant Anshul Kamboj straight off a flight.”Physically, it took a lot out of me,” Prasidh says looking back at the series. “It took me about a week to shake it off. Then I came back, played a few games in the Maharaja Trophy. It felt good to go back to my state, be with my statemates, chat with the youngsters, and just get that feeling of being back in cricket again.”Once that was over, I got back to training in Bengaluru, started bowling, and we had a few [BCCI-mandated fitness] tests over the last two days. And now, this morning when I woke up, I felt really good – like, ‘Okay, I’m ready to go play some more cricket now’.”

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The English summer headed into its 25th day with its outcome uncertain. England had been cruising towards their target of 374. Prasidh should have had Harry Brook on 19 the previous day, but for Siraj stepping on the fine-leg boundary toblerones with ball in hand.India were sent on a leather hunt for much of the fourth afternoon until Prasidh brought India back with two late wickets in nine deliveries. Then, rain and bad light took the game into the final day, where England needed 35 runs, and India four wickets.Prasidh Krishna picked 14 wickets in three Tests in England•Getty ImagesPrasidh saw his first two balls disappear for boundaries. As tension gripped The Oval, the man at the centre of it all remained calm. “The first ball, I had clearly planned, was going to be a bouncer,” he remembers. “It made me feel like I could set up the over – or even the following overs – better, knowing how the bouncer was behaving. I felt that was one of my main weapons.”That ball went for a boundary, but it also helped me understand what was happening with the pitch. The second one was an inside edge altogether. Even with eight runs coming off the first two balls, I was still pretty composed. I knew I had to hit a certain area, a certain length, and let the ball do the talking.”Siraj, from the other end, started off really well. The ball was swinging – not as much for me in the first couple of overs, but it was swinging for him. So I had to pull myself back a little and ask myself, ‘Okay, what can I do now? How do I get straighter?'”The wicket of Jamie Smith changed everything. From there, it was about us being consistent in the right areas, and then it was just a matter of time before the wickets fell.”India eventually sealed a dramatic six-run win to set off wild celebrations.

“We had put in so much as a team – every single person out there – so much mental grit and physical effort to win from the situation we were in”Prasidh Krishna on India’s win at The Oval

“It was a big sigh,” Prasidh says of their triumph. “The joy, the shouting, the celebration we had right after the last wicket fell – it was all relief. We had put in so much as a team – every single person out there – so much mental grit and physical effort to win from the situation we were in.”It was just that sigh of relief saying, ‘Okay, we’ve put in so much effort’, and when you put in all that effort and actually end up on the positive side, it gives you such a sense of satisfaction. After that, we all went back, sat together, and spoke about how we did so many things right, and how it felt like we are a team that can fight from any situation we’re put into.”Prasidh says he can’t explain the feeling soon after India had won. It’s been a month, but a lot of those moments, especially on the final day, feel like a blur.”When I sit and watch the game now, it doesn’t feel the same – because being out there, the atmosphere was so good, so electric, and the joy was so immense. That’s something that will stay with me forever. I don’t think I’ll ever feel a similar moment just sitting back and watching from the outside.”

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On the second day of the final Test, Prasidh was involved in what seemed like a heated exchange with Joe Root, which needed the intervention of the umpires.Akash Deep, Mohammed Siraj and Prasidh Krishna celebrate the win•AFP/Getty Images”I don’t know why Rooty reacted,” Prasidh said at the end of the day’s play. “I just said, ‘you’re looking in great shape’ and then it turned into a lot of abuse and all of that.”In the immediate aftermath of India’s victory, Prasidh had a chance to settle the matter with Root. And this time, things were a lot calmer.”I did go and speak to most of them – including Root,” Prasidh says with a laugh. “I asked him what happened. He said, ‘I thought you abused me’. I said, ‘No’, and he replied, ‘I actually just wanted to get myself going as well, so I had to pump myself up’.”That’s what I love about the sport – that’s the way I’ve always played it. To see everybody, and especially a legend like him, putting it all out there and fighting for the team, even today, that’s something for everyone to learn from. You’re out there to fight, to win battles. Sometimes it takes a lot more than just skill; it takes a lot of mental grit to be part of that journey.”Each of the five Tests, Prasidh agrees, was like an episode of a TV series: drama, excitement, intrigue, comebacks, heartbreaks, elation.”I don’t think any of us expected the series to go that way,” he says of each Test going into the final day. “It kept swinging back and forth and, in hindsight, 2-2, we’re really happy with how we played the whole series.Prasidh Krishna was involved in a heated argument with Joe Root on the second day of the final Test•Getty Images”The way we fought every time we were under pressure – and how, each time, someone stood up and delivered for the team – was really pleasing for all of us.”For Prasidh, England was a massive opportunity. India had announced in the pre-series build-up that Jasprit Bumrah would be available for only three of the five Tests because of workload management. Prasidh had previously been part of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, where he only got to play in the fifth Test. He hadn’t yet left his imprint as a Test bowler, and there was plenty to prove.”For me, Australia was really, really challenging mentally,” Prasidh says. “I went there to play the ‘A’ games, bowled well, was in great rhythm, and still had to wait for my chance. When I finally played [in the SCG Test], it took a lot out of me mentally. Fighting for my spot and then finally getting to start was a battle in itself.”If you’re not playing, you prepare a certain way on the outside – that’s a different challenge. Coming into England, I was in a much better place because I knew I had already handled a five-match series, both without playing and then playing.

“It is very important for both of us [Shubman Gill and him] to understand each other – for me to know what the team actually wants, why I am here, and what they want from me”

“Taking that experience forward was a different challenge again, and that brought in the physical aspect. It was very, very hard – you bowl a lot of overs, and we were playing with mostly pacers doing the bulk of the job, especially in the first and second innings. It was gruelling.”Once the series was over, it felt like, ‘Oh my god, that was one good series’.”

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The series in England, however, didn’t start all that well. At Headingley, Prasidh became the first bowler in Test cricket to go at more than a-run-a-ball in both innings (minimum 15 overs bowled in each innings). He also registered the highest match economy for an India Test bowler. Despite scoring five individual centuries, India lost.Prasidh’s economy was down to him adopting a short-ball strategy aimed at England’s lower-middle order – something that had been planned. The team management had felt that his height and high release points would make it harder for the batters to control their pull shots against the short ball.Although not entirely convinced, Prasidh did the job for the team. “It is very important for both of us [Shubman Gill and him] to understand each other – for me to know what the team actually wants, why I am here, and what they want from me,” Prasidh says. “It’s equally important for the team to understand what is the best that Prasidh can give in a given situation.Prasidh Krishna had a tough start to his series at Headingley•Getty Images”We started off knowing there would be instances where I would have to do the job the team wanted – and I took it. It was actually a first-time experience for me, where the team wanted me to do something that I wasn’t fully convinced about.”But then you have 20 people sitting outside who have a plan. We’ve spoken about it, and agreed on it. So it becomes your duty to come in and do the job for the team. I was more than happy to do it, because that’s why you play a team sport. If you only wanted to do what you wanted, you’d be playing something else, just by yourself.”It was a very good learning experience for me as well, especially in terms of communication. It got better after or during the second Test, when I actually went up and said, ‘Okay, this is the plan, but maybe we could have done something differently’. The conversations were very open, the communication was very good, even though it was a first-time experience for me.”I think we took some time but learned about each other really well.”Prasidh admits that looking at his economy rate wasn’t as much fun. “It’s never a good sight when you look at the scoreboard and see your economy rate on the higher side. It took me some time to be okay with that and to stay focused on the task at hand in that moment.”What was fun, though, was him being able to cherish moments of joy and elation with close mates KL Rahul and Karun Nair on tour.

“I think the first Test itself – that spell when I got [Zak] Crawley and [Ollie] Pope in the second innings – was very important for me. I wasn’t hitting my lengths right early on, and I was finding the wind and the slope a lot harder to handle than I ever had before”The favourite spell in England

“Absolutely, I think it makes a very, very big difference,” he says of having had the company of “friends” on tour. “It was my wife who kept reminding me, saying, ‘When you went on long tours earlier, you would always feel homesick by the end; now that you have your Bangalore boys with you, it’s much easier, you haven’t really spoken about missing home or anything this time’.”It makes a lot of difference because yes, we have played a lot of cricket together. Yes, we think alike. We even do similar things off the field, and that definitely helps. It gives you that comfort zone. And what it also does is, once you have that comfort zone, you find space to make new friends, bring people together, join different groups, and have a great time as a team.”Prasidh is spontaneous when asked to pick his most memorable spells from the summer. “I think the first Test itself – that spell when I got [Zak] Crawley and [Ollie] Pope in the second innings – was very important for me,” he says. “I wasn’t hitting my lengths right early on, and I was finding the wind and the slope a lot harder to handle than I ever had before.”That spell actually made me feel good. Otherwise, the spell I bowled to [Ben] Stokes in the second innings [in Birmingham] – I didn’t get a wicket there, but that morning when I came in gave me a bit of confidence as well.”England tested him, challenged him, and gave him a chance to celebrate. Now, back home and preparing for the Test season, Prasidh wants to carry the same fire and intensity. He is ready to embrace fresh challenges and build on his gains from a memorable IPL 2025 – where he was the purple cap winner – and, in his words, an “unforgettable English summer”.

And who has played the most Tests without ever taking a catch?

Steven Lynch19-Aug-2025Bob Simpson, who died recently, had a ten-year gap in his Test career – was this the longest for Australia, or indeed anybody? asked David McCormack from Australia

Bob Simpson, who sadly died last week at the age of 89, had played 52 Tests when he originally retired, aged only 31, after the 1967-68 Australian season. But he returned to captain them again in 1977-78, when several first-choice players were unavailable as they had joined Kerry Packer’s World Series Cricket. Simpson was 41, but scored two centuries against India before captaining in the West Indies (which he had done before, in 1964-65). In all he played 62 Tests, scoring 4869 runs at 46.81. The highest of his ten centuries was his first, 311 against England at Old Trafford in 1964.There was a gap of nine years and 305 days between Simpson’s 52nd Test (against India in Sydney in January 1968) and his 53rd (also against India, in Brisbane in December 1977). That’s the longest such gap for Australia in Tests, but leaves him quite a way down the overall list.The offspinner John Traicos tops the list: he went 22 years 222 days between playing for South Africa in March 1970 and appearing in Zimbabwe’s inaugural Test, against India in Harare in October 1992. George Gunn of England and Pakistan’s Younis Ahmed both went more than 17 years between Test appearances.Simpson missed 71 Test matches during his absence, and lies third on that particular list for Australia, behind Brad Hogg and Tim Paine, who both missed 78. The overall list is headed by the England offspinner Gareth Batty, who was not selected in 142 successive Tests between June 2005 and October 2016.Who has played the most Test matches without ever taking a catch? And what’s the record for ODIs and T20Is? asked Zaheer Ahmed from the United States

I’ve answered this before, but not for a while I think, and it’s worth doing again as Zimbabwe’s Tendai Chatara has (possibly temporarily) joined four other men who have played ten Tests without ever taking a catch. The others are Australia’s Chuck Fleetwood-Smith, Imran Khan of Pakistan (the recent bowler, not the famous captain), India’s Abey Kuruvilla and Jayananda Warnaweera of Sri Lanka.In ODIs, the Pakistan seamer Ata-ur-Rehman played no fewer than 30 matches without ever holding on to a catch: he’s well clear of the next man, Zimbabwe’s Piet Rinke with 18.In T20 internationals, Chirag Suri of UAE has played 31 matches so far without taking a catch, while Hungary’s Ali Farasat has drawn a blank in 22. Australia’s Billy Stanlake has played 19 T20Is without a catch, as has Rwanda’s Yvan Mitari.For the women, Pakistan’s Sharmeen Khan played 26 ODIs without taking a catch and Jiska Howard of Netherlands 21. In T20Is, the Singapore offspinner Haresh Dhavina has so far played no fewer than 49 matches without a catch, and Harjivan Bhullar 43 for Austria.Has any captain ever done less than Mitchell Santner in the second Test against Zimbabwe? He only bowled one over and didn’t bat… at least he took a few catches! asked Christopher McKenna from New Zealand

I don’t suppose Mitchell Santner was too bothered by his slim pickings in Bulawayo, since his side won by an innings and he ended up with two wins out of two as captain! He wasn’t required to bat, bowled one over for four runs, but did take three catches.There are 18 instances of a captain not batting or bowling in a Test, most of them rain-affected matches – it includes successive games for England’s Arthur Carr during the 1926 Ashes, and rival captains Tom Lowry (New Zealand) and Harold Gilligan (England) in a soggy match in Auckland in February 1930. The previous two instances were both in 2023, by Ben Stokes for England against Ireland at Lord’s in June, and the injured Temba Bavuma for South Africa vs India in Centurion in December.There’s one other instance of a captain not batting but bowling just one over in the Test, by Jackie Grant in West Indies’ innings victory over England in Kingston in 1935.Ben Stokes neither batted nor bowled but did take one catch when he captained England to a ten-wicket win against Ireland at Lord’s in 2023•Gareth Copley/Getty ImagesOn his Test debut in 2019, George Linde scored the most runs in the match and also took the most wickets for South Africa. Has anyone else done this on debut? asked James King from South Africa

South Africa’s George Linde scored 37 and 27, and also took 4 for 133, on his debut against India in Ranchi in 2019.He was only the second man to make the most runs and take more wickets than any other team-mate on his Test debut, after Roger Blunt, who scored 52 runs and also took five wickets with his legbreaks against England in Christchurch in 1930, in New Zealand’s first-ever Test match.Two other players scored the most runs, and were the equal-top wicket-taker in their first Test: Tinashe Panyangara, with 50 runs (from No. 11) and three wickets for Zimbabwe against Sri Lanka in Harare in 2004 (Blessing Mahwire also took three wickets), and Alick Athanaze, who top-scored in both innings with 47 and 28 and also took a wicket for West Indies vs India in Roseau (Dominica) in 2023. Athanaze was one of five West Indian bowlers who took a solitary wicket in that match.As a follow-up to last week’s question about Brendan Taylor, did Zimbabwe have the oldest average age for any Test team? asked Anandh Subramanian from India

The team in Bulawayo was Zimbabwe’s oldest in a Test, with an average age of 32 years 111 days: apart from the nearly-40s, most of the others were relatively young. Zimbabwe’s previous-oldest team was against England at Trent Bridge earlier in the year, with an average age of 31 years 133 days (Taylor wasn’t in that one).Buit it’s a long way down the overall list of the oldest teams: there have actually been 156 XIs with a higher average age. The top four places are occupied by England in the four Tests in the West Indies in 1929-30, when their side included two 50-year-olds in Wilfred Rhodes (who was actually 52) and George Gunn, two fortysomethings in Nigel Haig and Patsy Hendren, and 39-year-old Andy Sandham, who scored Test cricket’s first triple-century in the final Test in Kingston, when the team’s average age was 37 years 188 days.The oldest in the current century was Australia’s team in the World Test Championship final against South Africa at Lord’s in June 2025, which had an average age of 33 years 156 days – only Cameron Green was under 30.Shiva Jayaraman of ESPNcricinfo’s stats team helped with some of the above answers.Use our feedback form, or the Ask Steven Facebook page to ask your stats and trivia questions

West Indies batter arrives in form and in a mood to repay the faith put in him by his island of St Maarten

Vithushan Ehantharajah28-May-2025After shadow-batting at both ends of the pitch that will host Thursday’s first ODI between England and West Indies, Keacy Carty sidles up to a member of the Edgbaston groundstaff, who is currently perched on a roller moving up and down one of the side strips.The conversation is brief but civil. Carty, having enquired about whether more grass is going to be taken off the pitch and which direction the wind comes from, gives a nod farewell, rapping his knuckles on the roller in the way one might show their approval of a vintage car. An exchange of platitudes between batter and curator.This is idle water-cooler chat for Carty. He’d put in the graft in the nets, surveyed the conditions and, on his way past the water cooler, dipped an ear for a quick bit of goss before heading off to prepare for his main job – batting.And it really is a job for him. One he is proud to call his profession, but a job nonetheless. His business is runscoring. And, recently, business has been booming.In the past week, Carty has struck two ODI centuries against Ireland; the first in a rained-off second match, the second in a series-levelling (and face-saving) finale. Since last November – a span that incorporates his first one-day hundred against England at Bridgetown to take a three-match series – his average of 94.50 and strike-rate of 102.71 has come as confirmation of his talent.To Carty, however, this all falls under duty. Even the joy at thriving – duty.”It is always good to be impactful for the team,” he tells ESPNcricinfo, matter-of-factly. “But I don’t try to get too much into it on a personal standpoint. It is a job, and that job is trying to get West Indies cricket back to where we would like it to be.”There’s an almost military undertone to Carty’s words, but he is keen to stress an important differentiation. He loves what he does. It’s just far more serious at this level when you’re representing West Indies. The stakes are higher, the scrutiny fiercer, the sharp ends sharper. You, as an individual, need to be colder.Keacy Carty scored back-to-back centuries in Clontarf•Seb Daly/Sportsfile via Getty Images”If you look at batting, we have to carry out as an individual in order for the team to have a complete performance. So when you’re trying it like a job, when you’re treating it like a nine-to-five, you know what you have to do in order to your job.”Remember, this is sport – you don’t be permanent here, you just try to fulfill your duty as best as possible. Take care of matters for the team that will go to your personal stats. Then, when it’s all said and done, you can look back and feel good with yourself.”The seriousness tallies with a young batter who began first-class life as an opening batter for Leeward Islands before the long-term return of West Indies opener Kieran Powell bumped Carty down a spot from 2017 onwards. By then – aged 20 – Carty had already put the word out that he was one for the future with a mature 52 to seal 2016’s U19 World Cup against India. Ever since, his progress has been steady without ever being spectacular, although the last few months hint at a tipping point.What stereotypes there are of Caribbean batters – particularly those pedalled outside the region – are not applicable to Carty, who is an intriguing lore unto himself. And it is not unrelated to the fact he became the first cricketer born in St Maarten to represent West Indies when he earned the first of his 34 ODI caps in 2022. It takes a village to raise a child, but an island grooved this batter.As a kid, while watching football on TV, he spoke aloud his desire to do that as a job. “My father was like… “nah!” He don’t know no football.” What his father did know, as a handy seam-bowling allrounder who also opened the batting for local club, Spartans, was cricket.”By the time I really understood cricket, like between 9 and 13, he was at the back end of his career. But by then, we had played many games together.”Carty’s father remains a guiding influence, dog-sticking for his son when he’s not on tour, in between long-held coaching duties with the club’s under-13 and 15s. “He’s not really harsh, but he does have high expectations,” Carty says of their dynamic.It was from Under-15 level that Carty’s cricket took him across the channel to Anguilla. But it was the extra sessions in St Maarten, and the generosity from others involved at Spartans, that he credits for an ingrained fearlessness at stepping up levels.Keacy Carty played the matchwinning innings when West Indies beat India in the Under-19 World Cup final in 2016•Getty Images”One example, I didn’t have to ‘share’ the batting back home. So, versus when they (Anguilla) have 15 kids a day, two might bat for 25 minutes up there, from 4pm to 5:30pm – I was batting from 4pm to 5:30pm myself. I was hitting so much more than them.”When I was preparing for age-group tournaments, the local bowlers would make the effort to come out and bowl to me before I went off. Outside of my training with my dad and batting all day, Under-19 players, national team players, they’d all come and bowl to me before I leave.”I think there were one or two players better than me from that core group when I was at that age. But the difference is I was facing more advanced bowlers as a 15-year-old. By then, the players my dad had coached at a young age were between 32 and 38.”Two or three of them had played first-class cricket, so all their knowledge passed on to me. When I started, I knew a few things that was necessary. Your temperament, your preparation, your mindset when you’re playing first-class cricket for example. Like you don’t need to have all the shots. No, you don’t need to play all the shots because it’s a red-ball game. You have a lot of time. The ball is doing a lot. Bowlers will look to set you up.Related

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“Little things like getting three shots that you want to work with. Developing safe options and force bowlers to bowl in your area. I did not have to learn all these things the hard way – it was all told to me before I had even played my first game.”Carty brackets all those willing net bowlers during his teenage years and older heads sharing advice as good friends. For a man of such focus, he acknowledges the value of what he describes as “larking”. There’s even a hint of cheekiness, oddly enough when he talks about his matchday routines, which usually begins with watching the TV to discern how much the ball is moving before joking with teammates.”I’m not superstitious, and I do like to talk and laugh with teammates before I bat. I don’t like to be too focussed or totally zoned in, because you put more pressure on yourself like that. Even at this professional stage, you have to enjoy the game.”Test cricket remains a nut to be cracked, with five caps so far against a mix of South Africa at home, Bangladesh at home and Pakistan away. But it is a format he seems suitably wired for.He is yet to record even a fifty against the red ball, but that first milestone will carry great significance for him and St Maarten. Typically, he bats away the notion of being a trailblazer. He sees himself above no-one else – simply as someone who worked hard, and is willing to help others achieve, too.”I still move like a normal person on the island. Like, nobody don’t flock me or anything. I’m still just a regular guy. And yeah, I used to be very joyful about it, but like, I’ve been here a while now, so it’s like… the focus can’t be about just being proud that you’re here.”You know what I mean? Now is the time to be impactful. You got kids looking up to you that are playing cricket locally so I always tell them, I was just like y’all at one stage. It’s just that I wanted it.”

He starred with the ball and in the field, and last-minute theatrics on the third day could set the stage for a special with the bat

Matt Roller12-Jul-2025

Ben Stokes toiled in a long spell after tea•Getty Images

“Tell him,” Brendon McCullum shouted down to Tim Southee from the dressing-room balcony, gesturing towards Ben Stokes at long off. Stokes had just bowled his seventh consecutive over since the tea interval, prompting McCullum to dispatch Southee down to the boundary edge, in front of the Allen Stand. England’s coach had decided that enough was enough.As India’s batters plugged away, Stokes seemed desperate to become the protagonist of the third day at Lord’s. He charged in for 14 overs, his most in a day since the opening day of this series, hitting a top speed of 90mph; he hit Nitish Kumar Reddy on the helmet, then nicked him off; and he produced a moment of magic in the field to run Rishabh Pant out.Stokes’ final figures – 2 for 63 from 20 overs – were nondescript, and only counted for so much with the teams emerging exactly level after their first innings. But these were promising signs for Stokes and for England, not least after an apparent right groin issue on the first evening threatened to prevent him from bowling at all.Related

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“I was just seeing how he’s going,” Southee, England’s bowling coach, said of his conversation with Stokes. “He’s a tough man to get the ball out of his hand, certainly when he’s got rhythm like that. [I was] just down there to check and see how he was getting on. It’s been hot, but he’s a guy that loves those times of the game when the game is in the balance.”It was during a five-over burst in the second hour of the day that Stokes hit the 90mph mark, troubling Pant with a short ball that left him taking evasive action. His average speed in that spell was 85mph/136kph as he charged in, determined to break Pant’s partnership with KL Rahul – which he did on the stroke of the lunch interval.Pant opted to drop-and-run, seemingly to get Rahul back on strike so he could reach his hundred, but Stokes ran in from cover and picked the ball up cleanly. He was far closer to the striker’s end, but saw Pant struggling to make his ground and pinged the ball at the bowler’s end instead. His direct hit caught him well short, and Stokes roared in celebration.

"You tell him!" pic.twitter.com/k3wEzz5IHQ

— Sky Sports Cricket (@SkyCricket) July 12, 2025