After two long years of Test cricket & coronavirus interruption, the World Test Championship Final is finally here.
Rising Kiwis are slightly better prepared against world beaters India with a series against England. India has been in England for a few weeks due to quarantine but have only played an internal practice match.
Two of the best teams on show, finally some context for Test cricket, BJ Watling’s retirement, but will rain spoil it all?
The idea of the World Test Championship is not a new one.
World Test Championship was supposed to become a reality in 2009, 2013, & 2017, but each of those iterations were cancelled in favor of much more lucrative, ICC ODI Champions Trophy.
Imagine an Indian team comprising of Sehwag, Sachin, Dravid, VVS Laxman, MS Dhoni, Zaheer Khan competing against McCullum’s 2015 team or even better, the golden South African era of Jacques Kallis, Graeme Smith, AB De Villiers, & Dale Steyn earlier in the decade.
Anyway, World Test Championship finally came into existence in 2019 and began with the England-Australia Ashes series. 58 matches later, India and New Zealand are deservedly in the finals, carrying bench strengths of envy.
25% spectator capacity will be allowed in the stadium.
ICC Changes implemented
The new ICC playing conditions are now in place. Two of the most prominent for this match will be:
The LBW zone for DRS umpire call decisions has been shifted a little bit. It would be interesting to see how many LBW decisions are overturned in this Test match.
A reserve sixth day will be utilized in case all possible overs are not recovered during the five days. Looks highly likely that the sixth day will come into play.
There is a 100% rain forecast for the first four days of the Tests and then down to 80% and 70% for the couple of days after. Well, it is England….
Recent ICC Record
Here is a recent ODI & T20I World Cup history for India and New Zealand. Both teams have underwhelmed over the past decade given their talent. Since 2007, here is how the teams stack up.
India At ICC Events
Champions Trophy – Winner (2013), Runners-Up (2017)
ODI World Cup – Winner (2011), Semi-finals (2015), Semi-finals (2019)
T20I World Cup – Winner (2007), Runners-Up (2014), Semi-finals (2016)
New Zealand At ICC Events
Champions Trophy – Runners-Up (2009)
ODI World Cup – Semi-finals (2007), Semi-finals (2011), Runners-Up (2015), Runners-Up (2019)
T20I World Cup – Semi-finals (2007), Semi-finals (2016)
These records are meaningless because tomorrow is a new day and Test cricket is just another beast.
India began by routing West Indies in the Caribbean, before securing points at home against lackluster South Africa & Bangladesh teams.
Then came the tours Down Under. While Kiwis routed India in swing bowling conditions, India delivered a masterclass of ages in Australia. After 36/9 in Adelaide, Rahane’s century resurrected India in Melbourne. Then, the Pujara-Pant-Vihari-Ashwin show ensured India survived the 3rd Test, and the youngsters Shardul-Sundar-Pant-Siraj broke the Gabba fort to retain the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.
Finally, the England home series was a completely one-sided event even after Joe Root’s classic gave England a headstart at Chennai. Ashwin’s all-round magic at home & Axar Patel’s memorable debut ensured India ease past England.
World Test Championship Final Preview – India’s Road To Glory
*Signifies away series
New Zealand
New Zealand’s road to glory was much more formulaic.
The Kiwis started with away tours of Sri Lanka & Australia. While they put on a good show in New Zealand, winning one match, they were hammered in Australia (barring Neil Wagner’s intense series).
At home, it was same old. Swinging conditions. Boult, Southee, and debutant of the year, Kyle Jamieson, wrecked havoc against India and West Indies. Only Pakistan provided any semblance of resistance with Fawad Alam’s classic fourth innings ton going in vain with four overs left in the Test match.
World Test Championship Final Preview – New Zealand’s Road To Glory
World Test Championship Final Preview – The Teams
India
Watch out for Ajinkya Rahane. He has a tendency to perform when it matters the most although his lack of consistency is frustrating. Rahane’s leadership & century in Melbourne was the catalyst for India in the memorable Border-Gavaskar Trophy. Since then, his form has gone hiding. England will bring back nice personal memories, and he is probably India’s best batter in swinging conditions. It is high time he shows up.
There were rumors that Mohammad Siraj would play in place of one of Mohammad Shami or Ishant Sharma, but that did not happen. India’s bowling has variety with Bumrah’s accuracy, Ishant’s seam, and Shami’s reverse swing. Looking forward to watch Ishant, who is in his 4th and most rewarding phase of his career. His 7-74 at Lord’s in the last tour was especially spectacular.
Tributes have started flowing in for BJ Watling in his retirement match. This one is my favorite, especially his mom’s statement. Watling has been a symbol of this rising team’s resilience and stability. Always solid behind the stumps, he will go down as Kiwis’s greatest keeper, but what I will miss the most is his rearguard action. NZ’s middle order rarely collapsed, but when it did, Watling was at the rescue. The question is, does he have one fighting innings left in him?
This is a very understated team, but do you know who is the New Zealand in the New Zealand team?Tom Latham & Henry Nicholls. When the Conways, Williamsons, or Taylors make huge scores around them, you can guarantee that Latham-Nicholls will provide ample solid support. Expect one of them to rise to the occasion in the finals.
Watch Out For
Sharma-Shubman Vs Pace brigade of Boult-Southee-Jamieson: This might as well set the tone for this match. A Mumbai Indians mini-match between Boult & Rohit Sharma.
Latham-Conway-Nicholls Vs R Ashwin: Ashwin has been India’s most successful bowler in this WTC cycle and has performed across all conditions (with both bat and ball). Conway is in the form of his life and the Kiwis have 2 other left-hand batters in the Top 5. Expect to see a lot of Ashwin.
The slip catching.England’s dropped catches were on show in the last series and they have been one of the worst slip catching sides in the past two years. So I am glad Ind-NZ are playing this week. Both teams have legendary fast bowlers, so the ball will go to the slips more than usual. Rest assured, the catches will be taken. Rahane, Taylor, Rohit, Kohli, Latham should do the job.
Starting XIs
India
India has revealed its XI ahead of time. Shardul Thakur, Washington Sundar, Mohammad Siraj, Hanuma Vihari, Axar Patel, Mayank Agarwal all played crucial roles in the lead up to the WTC Finals, but unfortunately did not make the final XI. This is also the first time that Jadeja-Ashwin-Sharma-Shami-Bumrah will play together. What a mouth-watering lineup.
Squad: Hanuma Vihari, Wriddhiman Saha (WK), Umesh Yadav, Mohammad Siraj
New Zealand
New Zealand’s lineup selects itself, but the crucial question is the #7-8 spot. Matt Henry, Neil Wagner, & Ajaz Patel performed admirably in the England series and Colin de Grandhomme has been out for a while, so will they go for a four-fast bowler strategy? Ajaz Patel should have done enough in the England series for a spin option in this Southampton pitch.
Tom Latham, Devon Conway, 3. Kane Williamson*, 4. Ross Taylor, 5. Henry Nicholls, 6. BJ Watling (WK), 7. Colin de Grandhomme/Kyle Jamieson/Matt Henry, 8. Tim Southee, 9. Neil Wagner, 10. Trent Boult, 11. Ajaz Patel
Squad: Will Young, Tom Blundell (WK)
Mitchell Santner, Daryl Mitchell, Doug Bracewell, Jacob Duffy, and Rachin Ravindra failed to make the final cut.
Prediction
I honestly cannot see a way past the weather. Both teams have excellent bowling options, so unless both teams suffer collapses twice, a result would be very hard to attain.
Would love if we get a full game, but for now, going with a Draw.
Verdict: Draw 0-0
If the game does happen, what am I excited for the most? Neil Wagner’s intensity, Colin de Grandhomme’s hairdo, Williamson-Kohli-Southee’s continuing journey from U-19 World Cup, Pujara-Pant combination, Ross Taylor’s wisdom, an emotional sunset to Watling’s wonderful career, and in general, just a hard-fought sporting final.
India
New Zealand
MVP
Ajinkya Rahane
Henry Nicholls
Most Runs
Rohit Sharma
Tom Latham
Most Wickets
Ishant Sharma
Tim Southee
X-Factor
Ravichandran Ashwin
Ajaz Patel
Verdict
Draw
Draw
World Test Championship Final Preview – Prediction
Like this content on World Test Championship Final Preview so far? SUBSCRIBE HERE to receive updates about new articles right in your inbox! If you are on social media, give us a follow in any of the social media outlets below:
Also comment below with out thoughts on this Alternative World Test Championship Table!
COPYRIGHT @Nitesh Mathur, aka Nit-X, 06/18/2021; Email at bcd@brokencricketdreams.com
World Test Championship Records
Are there are records that can be broken in the World Test Championship Final?
Batting
It is really interesting that even though NZ made it to the finals, there is nobody in the top 15 run-scorer. Combination of several players standing up and the fact that NZ did not play as many games. Kane Williamson is at 16th with 817 runs and Tom Latham is 25th with 680 runs.
India, on the other hand, have 5 batters in the Top 15:
Rahane – 1095 (5th)
Rohit Sharma – 1030 (6th)
Kohli – 877 (11th)
Agarwal – 857 (12th)
Pujara – 818 (15th)
Bowling
Ashwin is on #3 with 67 wickets and Southee is New Zealand’s best at #5 with 51 wickets.
Kyle Jamieson – 36 (12th)
Ishant Sharma – 36 (13th)
Mohammad Shami – 36 (14th)
Jasprit Bumrah – 34 (16th)
Trent Boult – 34 (18th)
Neil Wagner – 32 (20th)
Fielding and Dismissals
Both teams are pretty close on this list with BJ Watling – 43 dismissals (4th) and Rishabh Pant – 40 (5th).
In terms of catches, Rahane – 22 catches (4th) and Ross Taylor – 18 (5th) are at the top with Rohit Sharma – 16 (6th) and Virat Kohli – 16 (7th) close behind. New Zealand’s next best is Tom Latham – 14 (12th).
England Vs New Zealand 2021 Test Series Review – Short but good nevertheless.
Devon Conway & Will Young eased into Test cricket, New Zealand tried their options for the World Test Championship Final, and England lost some options as they gear up for the India series & the must awaited Ashes later this season.
Tim Southee – 7 wickets (1 match only) (best innings – 6/43, best match – 7/80, 11.42 average)
England Vs New Zealand 2021 Series Stats
Highlights
England
England’s batting continues to go down hill after the 1st test against India. They have now lost 4 and drawn 1 in the past five Tests (2 at home, 4 away). All the hopes and dreams after away series wins in South Africa and Sri Lanka are crashing down quickly.
The Batting: England’s Batting Averages Just Not Good Enough
One of the highlights of Kimber’s analysis was Rory Burns has been a stable cog in this English lineup despite the poor numbers. He scored a brilliant ton and almost carried the bat in this series, which increased his Test average to 33.23 with 3 hundreds and 9 fifties. Not the best stats after 25 Tests, but the Sibley-Rory partnership has done a decent job in the past couple of years. Well, not quite Strauss-Cook, but the standards have been so low recently that a Burns century should be rightly celebrated.
Zak Crawley’s scores in this series—2 & 2, 0 & 17. Not good enough for a #3 batter at home. I hope England persist with him but he needs to meet them halfway, nothing of note since that 267.
Ollie Pope looks like Ian Bell, bats like Ian Bell, but I hope he starts converting like Ian Bell. Beautiful 20s and 30s can only get you so far—think James Vince (22 & 20*, 19 & 23 this series).
The batting averages of England’s main batters are far from impressive. Joe Root’s overall average is great, but has been struggling at home for quite a while now.
Rory Burns (33.23), Dom Sibley (30.78), Zak Crawley (29.33), Joe Root (48.68), Ollie Pope (31.50), Jos Buttler (34.53), Ben Stokes (37.04).
Commentator Nasser Hussain did not mince any words in the post-series analysis, urging their batters to get back to basics and avoid funny techniques. The current England batters have the mindset that:
“Everyone else that has played the game in the history of the game. Viv Richards you were wrong. Everyone is wrong, we are right.”
Debutants Ollie Robinson & James Bracey had contrasting series. Although Robinson had a brilliant debut, both with the bat and bowl (highest wicket-taker for England in just 1 match), he was suspended from international cricket due to resurfacing controversial tweets. Poor Bracey had a tough debut series – 0, 0 & 8. Broken Dreams for both.
The senior fast bowlers were the only positives of the series. Mark Wood impressed…with the bat. He was among the wickets and consistently bowled his heart out as usual but his 41 & 29 in the 2nd Test showed England that the pitch does not contain any demons.
The old Stuart Broad showed up. In the 2nd Test, it seems that one of those spells was just around the corner. One of the bright lights in the series. Definitely got a couple more years left in him.
Jimmy Anderson was not as sharp this series, with just 3 wickets and averaging 68.66. Surpassed Alastair Cook as the most capped Test player for England-162 Tests. Take a bow.
New Zealand
The Debutants Star
In every series review, I highlight a couple of standout performers of the series. Guess what? In EVERY New Zealand series over the last year, Devon Conway has made the series headlines. T20I debut? Conquered. ODI debut? Check. Test debut at Lord’s? Double century and almost carries the bat. What else is there to say? 76.50 Test average, 75.00 ODI average, 59.12 T20I average. 1-200, 1-100, 4-50s in just 18 innings. Brilliant.
Will Young is continuing his good touch. Scored his maiden T20I fifty against Bangladesh recently and was picked in the 2nd Test after Williamson’s injury on the basis of a couple of centuries in County Cricket. Missed his century by 18 runs, but has finally found his feet in international cricket. He his here to stay.
Matt Henry, Ajaz Patel, and Neil Wagner all impressed with whatever chances they got.
Henry picked 3/78 & 3/36 to bag the player of the match in the 2nd Test
Ajaz Patel’s control and guile were impressive with figures of 2/34 & 2/25.
Neil Wagner bowled line and length more than his usual bouncers. Not unplayable but impactful for sure. Should edge Kyle Jamieson/Matt Henry for the WTC Final spot.
Senior Pros Provide Solid Support
Tim Southee is gearing up to the WTC Final with a superb series. After having re-invented himself in T20Is this year, he has found his swing, line, & length again.
Ross Taylor, one of New Zealand’s greatest, justified that tagline with a 80 in the 2nd Test. The beauty of that innings was he was nowhere close to his best. Stuart Broad was beating his edge right and left, but he survived and capitalized later on. In contrast, England’s batting collapsed to 76-7 and none of the batters had the will to fight it out like Taylor did.
Unfortunately for BJ Watling, he suffered a minor back injury on the eve of the 2nd Test and missed out. Hope he is ready for his swansong in the World Test Championship final.
In addition to Rory Burns’ 81 in the 2nd Test, the only criticism for New Zealand I could find would be the lack of conversion for three batters (Conway 80, Young 82, Taylor 80).
Awards
England
New Zealand
Emerging Player
Ollie Robinson
Devon Conway & Will Young
Surprise Package
Mark Wood, the batsman
Matt Henry & Ajaz Patel
Broken Cricket Dream
Ollie Robinson, Zak Crawley
BJ Watling
England Vs New Zealand 2021 Series Awards
Where Do They Go From Here?
New Zealand will be in the World Test Championship Final starting tomorrow.
Apart from the various leagues in the next few months which will keep the New Zealand players busy, the next international fixture is scheduled between 29th January-8th February 2022 for 3 ODIs & a T20I.
Time to reveal the results from my most substantial project of the year—Alternative World Test Championship Points Table. Consider this my thesis as a culmination of work that has taken almost a year to put in place.
On July 29, 2020, my friend and I proposed how To Fix the WTC Points Table? At that point, the idea was to expose the problems of the current WTC system and propose how an alternative points table could be constructed.
Fast forward eleven months — after analyzing each of the 23 WTC series & 58 scorecards inside & out, converting our proposal into a tangible algorithm, and programming it in R language, we have finally put the algorithm in action.
Here is the revelation: Australia should havebeen in that WTC Final later this week against India, and I now have the data to prove it.
*Disclaimer: Don’t get me wrong here. This article is not meant as a commentary on the New Zealand Cricket Team. The Kiwis have done a fantastic job over the past five-six years or so. Rather, this article is meant to expose the flaws in the World Test Championship Points Table and compare how a better-developed points table would have looked like.
Alright here we go. Here is how this article structure is going to work:
First we are going to display our results right away— Original vs Alternative WTC Points Table side by side. Then, we
Review the problems in the original system and restate the key motivations
Lay out the Proposal & Algorithm
Display interesting observations and debunk a myth
Illustrate the power of the alternative point system’s through series analysis— The Ashes, England vs West Indies/Pakistan, the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, New Zealand-Pakistan, & West Indies-Sri Lanka
Explain the process of collecting data & issues encountered
Finally go over implications of our proposal.
Notes:
The detailed result (team-by-team & series-by-series data) is displayed in the colorful Appendix Sectionat the bottom of the article for your kind reference.
Here are some abbreviations to keep in mind:
H/A: Home/Away
W/T/L: Won/Tied/Lost
RR: Run-rate
Australia (AUS), Bangladesh (BAN), England (ENG), India (IND), New Zealand (NZ), Pakistan (PAK), South Africa (SA), Sri Lanka (SL), West Indies (WI)
Alternative World Test Championship Points Table
Facts
Before we get into the Points Table, here are the facts of how each team performed. Pay special attention to the home and away.
Team
Matches (Away/Home)
W (Away/Home)
L (Away/Home)
D (Away/Home)
India
17 (8 A, 9 H)
12 (4 A, 8 H)
4 (3 A, 1 H)
1 (1 A, 0 H)
Australia
14 (5 A, 9 H)
8 (2 A, 6 H)
4 (2 A, 2 H)
2 (1 A, 1 H)
New Zealand
11 (5 A, 6 H)
7 (1 A, 6 H)
4 (4 A, 0 H)
0
England
21 (10 A, 11 H)
11 (6 A, 5 H)
7 (4 A, 3 H)
3 (0 A, 3 H)
Pakistan
12 (7 A, 5 H)
4 (0 A, 4 H)
5 (5 A, 0 H)
3 (2 A, 1 H)
Sri Lanka
12 (6 A, 6 H)
2 (0 A, 2 H)
6 (3 A, 3 H)
4 (3 A,1 H)
West Indies
11 (7 A, 4 H) *
3 (3 A, 0 H)
6 (4 A, 2 H)
2 (0 A, 2 H)
South Africa
11 (5 A, 6 H)
3 (0 A, 3 H)
8 (5 A, 3 H)
0
Bangladesh
7 (5 A, 2 H)
0
6 (4 A, 2 H)
1 (1 A, 0 H)
*The analysis is before the ongoing West Indies-South Africa series, which is another pointless concept. Why is a World Test Championship group stage game scheduled the same time as the WTC Final?
Alternative Vs Original WTC Points Table
The next table is listed in order of the Alternative WTC Points Table (With this ranking, India & Australia would have met at the WTC final later this week).
In comparison, the original rank is shown in the final column. Rankings for India (most stable team), England/Pakistan (most mediocre), & Bangladesh (worst/did not play as much) are the same, but the rest of the alternative rankings are different compared to the original.
The third and fourth column compares the percentage according to the alternative world test championship points table algorithm versus original WTC percentage. In general, the current WTC inflates how the teams were in real-life. The top teams were really not as good as the numbers suggests and vice-versa with the bottom teams.
We will describe how we got to the “Total Points” and “Points Possible” in the next two sections. (If you are curious about total points for every series per team, feel free to scroll to the Appendix at the bottom of the article).
Team
Total Points
Points Possible
Alternative Percentage
Original Percentage
Original Rank
India
551
846
65.13%
72.2%
1
Australia
414
684
60.52%
69.2%
3
New Zealand
312
546
57.14%
70.0%
2
England
564
1026
53.92%
61.4%
4
Pakistan
280
608
46.05%
43.3%
5
Sri Lanka
242
600
40.03%
27.8%
8
West Indies
217
562
39.74 %
33.3%
6
South Africa
181
530
32.97%
30.0%
7
Bangladesh
72
362
19.34%
4.8%
9
Alternative World Test Championship Points Table
*Sure Australia would have reached t
he WTC Finals if not for the -4 over-rate deduction in Melbourne vs India or if they had not cancelled their South Africa visit, but our Alternative algorithm displays this claim convincingly.
Background
Our Alternative World Test Championship Points Table fixes several of the problems encountered in the current system, a system dominated by the Big 3—India, Australia, & England.
Our proposal would work even better in an ideal balanced world where the problems listed below have been fixed.
Number of points fluctuate depending on # of games per series: A 2-match series is allotted 60 points per game, while 3, 4, and 5 match-series are awarded 40, 30, and 24 points respectively. This is totally absurd.
Number of Tests Played is uneven: In this WTC cycle, England played 21 Tests, while West Indies, South Africa, and New Zealand played 11 each. Marquee series like Ashes, Border-Gavaskar, Basil D’Oliveira Trophy, etc. are 4-5 Tests each while SL & NZ only play 2 Tests regularly.
Currently no distinction is made for Home/Away advantage: West Indies winning in Bangladesh, India winning in Australia, or Australia drawing in England should be worth more than home wins.
All-or-Nothing System:Test matches occur over 5 days or a max-of-15 sessions. One session can have a huge impact on the series. Yet, the points are awarded on an all-or-nothing basis.
Relegation-Promotion Needed:This WTC cycle exposed the gap between the top 4 teams and the rest of the table. The World Test Championship was supposed to provide context for Test cricket, especially for the lower-ranked teams. It has done just the opposite.
Proposal for the Alternative World Test Championship Points Table
The Goal
Our goal was to avoid the two spectrums of Simplicity vs Complexity. While the current WTC Points Table is simple, it does not do a good job at incorporating the numerous factors of a Test match.
On the other hand, we wanted to avoid a complicated system like Duckworth-Lewis-Stern or the ICC’s Rankings systems, that is barely understood even by the experts of the game.
The Proposal
We proposed a two-tiered system that incorporates (1) Session-by-session data and (2) Home/Away advantage. The proposal answered three specific questions:
Question 1:Why does the Losing Team in a 5-day Match Get 0 Points?
A Test match is long. After almost 40 hours of hard-fought battle, there is no way that a Fawad Alam-inspired Pakistan team that comes so close to a 5th day draw should receive 0 points only due to a Mitchell Santner jumping catch?
The beauty of a Test match is in its ebbs and flows, twists & turns.
A Stuart Broad spell, a Vihari-Ashwin blockathon, a Jermaine Blackwood-style counter-attack, or a Stokes-Pant-Myers/Bonner fourth innings special can change a match. There are periods where wickets are falling right and left, bowls just beating the edge. Oohs and ahhs. Later, the story might change with periods of fast run-scoring, counter-attacks, flat pitches, etc.
So how can we incorporate these moments into data?
Resolution 1: Session-by-Session Points
We first award points based on the number of sessions a team wins/ties/loses.
Since each day has 3 sessions, there is a maximum of 15 sessions possible in a Test. Since winning a session is awarded 2 points, the maximum session points possible is 30 (15*2).
Session
Points
Won
2
Tied/Even (or Washed Out/ Bad Light)
1
Lost
0
Session-By-Session Points
Question 2:How Can We Incorporate Home/Away Points?
This was the most popular concern and rightly so. It has always been tougher to win overseas Tests and the last decade has made it even more lopsided. Here is the fix. On top of the session-by-session data we add a:
Resolution 2: Fixed points system for Home and Away matches.
Combining resolution 1 & resolution 2, we get the total points available per Test match in the last column.
Points
Win
Draw
Loss
Maximum Points Possible (Per Match)
Home
16
8
0
46
Away
24
12
0
54
Average
20
10
0
50
Home & Away Points
*If the WTC cycle is scheduled with equal number of home and away games, for this portion we get an average of exactly 20 points for wins & 10 points for a draw. In total (with +30 from session points), it averages out to be 50 points per game.
Question 3:Is There An Equivalent of Net-Run Rate for Test Cricket?
In a Test match, how can we measure the magnitude of victory or defeat?
The ODI Super League at least has the Net Run Rate factor to signify how big a defeat or victory was. There is no such data in the current WTC Points Table. A 1-run victory achieved on the 5th day and an innings victory in a 2-day Test is worth the exact same.
Resolution 3: Bonus — Winning team is rewarded remaining sessions if match finishes early
When a team usually wins by an innings (or more than 100 runs, or with 8-10 wickets in hand for that matter), usually several sessions/days are still left.
Hence, the winning team is awarded the remaining session-by-session points (2* # of remaining sessions). This will incentivize teams on the edge to fight harder and take the game deeper even if they are on the verge of losing. On the other hand, it can convince captains to go for bold declarations in order to win earlier.
The Algorithm
In order to remove any semblance of subjectivity, we created the following algorithm to determine W/T/L for a session.
Here is the specific criteria along with the reasons as to why we added that part.
Sessions
If (0 overs are bowled – washed out session) OR if (RR >= 4 AND wickets >= 4)*
Session is tied and both teams get 1 point each
If (only 1 wicket falls) OR (RR >= 3.5 AND wickets <=3) OR (RR <= 2 AND Wickets <=2)
Batting team wins session and receives 2 points
Reason:If wickets are preserved and run-rates are decent, then the batting team should be rewarded. In some contexts like the first session of a Test match, even if the run-rate is slow, the batting team should be rewarded if only 2 or less wickets fall.
If 4 or more wickets fall OR (RR <= 2) OR (Wickets >= 4 AND RR >= 3.5)
Bowling teams wins session and receives 2 points
Reason: If the bowling team is disciplined and restricts the run-rate to a minimal or if they take more than 4 wickets in certain conditions, they should be rewarded.
Any other case
TiedSession; Both teams get 1 point each
*Special thanks to Vandit for co-creating this algorithm and working through the entire WTC process with me.
The Stokes-Pant-Bonner/Myers Outlier
*One may ask why did we need (RR>= 4 AND wickets >= 4) section? Usually the bowling team should be rewarded when a heap of wickets fall, but this session is what I like to call the Stokes-Pant-Bonner/Myers Outlier.
On paper, 5 wickets in a session would definitely be a bowler’s session, but as a viewer, we know 124 runs at a run-rate of 4.22 due to Stokes’ brilliance should at least be a tied session.
This just one of the few examples which helped us tweak our algorithm to align with real-life events.
Also comment below with out thoughts on this Alternative World Test Championship Table!
COPYRIGHT @Nitesh Mathur, aka Nit-X, 06/14/2021; Email at bcd@brokencricketdreams.com
Observations: Which Team Won the Most Sessions?
Now to the fun part—the analysis. After we applied the above algorithm to all the Test matches, here are some fascinating things we observed.
Observation 1: What Sets India Apart?
If we look at the sessions graph below, not much sets India and Australia apart. In fact, both Australia and India won exactly 74 session each. Sessions tied (IND 59-56 AUS) and sessions lost (IND 48-46 AUS) are pretty close as well.
What put India to another level is an additional108 Bonus Points. Altogether, India won by 54 sessions to spare – that is 18 days of Test cricket! Australia, in comparison, received 46 bonus points (23 sessions to spare).
Our algorithm rewarded India due to the fact that they won their WTC Test matches more convincingly than any other team (Well, it helped that at home, India played Bangladesh, a weak SA team, and an English team that was rolled over in 2-day Tests, but that is another story).
It is interesting that although Australia crushed Pakistan & New Zealand at home and blew India apart with that 36 All-Out, the last three Test matches in the BGT cost them important bonus points.
Observation 2: England Won, Tied, and Lost the Most sessions
England won 84 sessions, tied 102 sessions, and lost 83 sessions—the most for any team is all three categories. England play the most Test matches, which ended up biting them in the backside.
They won three overseas Tests against South Africa and two against an Embuldeniya inspired-Sri Lanka, two of the hardest touring venues in cricket (even though they are both in an extended transition zone). England also lost 7 matches, 3 at home (Australia, West Indies) and four abroad, the final three coming in the India series, where they lost by huge margins.
Tip of the Day: If England keep playing more Test cricket, it will increase their likelihood of losing more games, thereby reducing their chances to go to future WTC finals. Hence, it is in England’s own best interest to vouch for equal number of games (home & away) for every team in a WTC cycle.
Observation 3: The Importance of Draws
One of the stark differences between the original WTC Points Table and our table was Sri Lanka’s ranking. In the original ranking system, SL ranked 8th (27.8%) as opposed to our table, in which SL ranked 6th (40.03%).
Lanka actually drew most Tests than any other team (4), and 3 of them away. An away draw might be regarded higher than certain home wins.
Our Home/Away weightage boosted them right behind Pakistan, who are comparable in the graph below. One thing is clear—there is no way SA should have leapfrogged SL. SA lost more sessions, won/tied way less sessions than Sri Lanka, and their only wins were at home (3 wins compared to SL’s 2). Not even a draw abroad.
Unforeseen Effect of New Algorithm: Our algorithm helped the lower-ranked teams. If the Relegation-Promotion system was put in place, Pakistan (46.05%), Sri Lanka (40.03%), & West Indies (39.74%) would be in a heated battle rather than not having no context for lower-ranked teams. Even Bangladesh, which was at 4.8% in the original WTC Points table is at 19.34%, due to some flat roads in Sri Lanka.
Alternative World Test Championship Points Table – Session Data
Observation 4: The Moeen Ali Anomaly
Usually the team that wins the Test ends up winning the last session of the game. This was not the case in the 2nd Test of the India-England series.
Lunch at Day 4 – England were 116/7 in 48. 3 overs in a chase of 482 runs. Post-lunch, India would have expected to easily wrap up a 350+ run victory, but Moeen Ali had other plans.
Sent in at #9 (really #9, England team management?), Ali blitzed 43 (18) with 5 sixes and 3 fours. England scored 48 runs for 3 wickets at about 8.7 RR and won that final session, despite losing the Test by 317 runs.
Little did they know this would be their final shining light as they were systematically dismantled by Axar Patel for the final two Tests.
Observation 5: Pakistan Had It Rough
Pakistan played the second-least amount of games at home (5) after the West Indies and had away series in Australia, England, and New Zealand.
That schedule is asking for trouble.
Even though they competed admirably in England & New Zealand, one bad series in Australia ruined their figures. What’s more? Their series in Zimbabwe did not even count.
Still ended up at #5 in both the tables – the best of the 2nd half of the table.
Debunking The Myth
The Myth: NZ Got An Unfair Entry In the WTC Final Due to Home Games
New Zealand has received a lot of criticism that they loaded the points at home and hence jumped through the top.
Actually, England (11), Australia (9), India (9) had more designated home games, while Sri Lanka (6) & South Africa (6) had the same. On the other hand, New Zealand played the same of away games as Australia, South Africa, and Bangladesh had the same number of away games, five each.
Both NZ & SA played the exact same number of games (same home/away as well), and both places are tough touring destinations as well. The fact that NZ took advantage of their conditions speaks to their ability rather than pure luck. Otherwise, SA would have been right there up with NZ instead of languishing at the bottom of the table.
Oh yeah and also New Zealand played both home & away 2-Test series against England during this period, neither of which counted towards the WTC. They won 1-0 both of them each. (Another reason why FTP & the WTC should merge. Every game should count)
Series Illustration
We now illustrate the algorithm by comparing the Actual Series Total against the Alternative BCD (Broken Cricket Dreams) Series Total.
Ashes 2019
Actual Series Total: England56-56 Australia
Alternative BCD Series Total: England113-137 Australia
What do you recall from the 2019 Ashes? Steve Smith’s godly tour, David Warner’s Stuart Broad misery, Stokes’ Headingly conquest, Leach’s glasses, Tim Paine’s review & Nathan Lyon’s missed run-out, Marnus Labuschagne’s concussion-substitute surprise introduction, Jofra Archer’s brilliance?
Ashes of the ages. As close as it gets. At the face of it, 56-56 looks like a decent result but let us dig a little deeper. Australia won 2 away matches, drew 1 match, and barely lost Headingly.
Ask yourself, did Australia deserve to get 0 pointsfor the hard-fought HeadinglyTest? Oh yeah, and if you forgot, England were also bowled out for 67 in the first innings, another example where sessions can change the complexion of a match.
Altogether, 25 sessions were tied, Australia won 25, and England won 17. However, England won with a total of 7 sessions to spare in the series compared to Australia’s 2, which ensured they received more bonus points. Hence, the 137-113 was a better indicator of the competitive Ashes than the 56-56.
England Post-COVID
Actual Series Total:England80-40 West Indies, England66-26 Pakistan
Alternative BCD Series Total: England87-61 West Indies, England75-71 Pakistan
We should all be grateful to England, West Indies, Pakistan, & Ireland to get cricket started again post the initial COVID lockdown.
The matches in these two series were closer than they appear.
Jermaine Blackwood-led successful overseas chase in the first Test, Kemar Roach’s brilliance & #1 Test all-rounder Jason Holder were especially spectacular. Although West Indies fizzled out at the end, they were in the series for the most part. When they were not taking wickets, they kept the opposition’s run-rate down and tied most sessions. WI winning an away Test and being competitive throughout made it a 87-61 series.
Pakistan’s series was statistically even more interesting. In the last two Tests, Pakistan earned two away draws courtesy rain-affected games, so we should analyze the first Test by itself. If you remember, this was Shan Masood’s epic 156, where he almost carried the bat. Although Pakistan collapsed as usual towards the end and lost, the fact that they batted for the first five sessions of the game and won more sessions than England (7-W, 1-T, 4 L) gave them a series total of 75-71.
Super close without actually winning a single game.
Border-Gavaskar Trophy
Actual Series Total:Australia 40-70 India(36-70 with over-rate deduction)
Alternative BCD Series Total: Australia 91-113 India
Here is a thought experiment—Imagine if Rishabh Pant had gotten out in the last session of Day 5 in the Gabba chase and Tim Paine’s prophecy would have come true. India would have been heartbroken and the current WTC Points Table would have switched to Australia 70-40 India.
A session here or there and Australia, barely scraping by at home, would have received the exact same number of points as opposed to the blood, sweat, & tears via Vihari-Ashwin fightback, Siraj’s leadership, Shardul-Shubman-Sundar-Pant’s youth, & Pujara’s toil.
Our algorithm encodes these little moments in the session-by-session data. India won 14 crucial sessions, Australia won 18, and 17 were tied. Australia benefitted from bonus points after they wrapped India up in one session at Adelaide with 36/9. Just like Australia were in the Ashes, India’s 2 away wins & a draw boosted them up.
You see, there is something for everybody.
(Oh and if you were wanting confirmation, if India had lost Gabba, our algorithm would have awarded Australia 107-89 India, which is still pretty close).
Alternative BCD Series Total: New Zealand 72-20 Pakistan
New Zealand steamrolled almost every opposition at home except for Pakistan.
In the first Test, Pakistan lost with just 4-overs to go. Digest that for a second. There are 450 possible overs to bowl in a Test match. Just 4 overs…
Pakistan stalled for 123.3 overs in the 4th innings due to the heroics of missing-in-action-kid-of-the-decade Fawad Alam, Azhar Ali, and the ever-dependable Mohammad Rizwan. Even in the second Test, Azhar Ali-Abid Ali-Faheem Ashram-Mohammad Rizwan won Pakistan some sessions.
What did Pakistan get for challenging New Zealand in their own backyards? Exactly 0 points.
Neither were Pakistan bad enough to 0 points or New Zealand so brilliant to hoard 120 points all by themselves.
West Indies- Sri Lanka
Actual Series Total:West Indies 40-40 Sri Lanka
Alternative BCD Series Total: West Indies 45-55 Sri Lanka
This was the only instance of every match of the series being drawn. The two-Test series ended with a 0-0 score line. A 40-40 is a fair result, but with two away draws, Sri Lanka nudges slightly above with 55-45 in the alternative world test championship table.
Data Collection Process
Motivation
Initially, we did this the old school way.
For the first 33 Test matches, we literally perused through the commentary and Match Notes section of the scorecard and manually decided which team won each session. Talk about tedious…
This was difficult for two reason: (1) It was hard to keep up after every Test match, and more importantly, (2) it was completely subjective.
In order to standardize the process of determining who won each session and remove any biaswe had after watching the match, I decided to code our algorithm in R and re-do the process from scratch.
How Did We Get Our Data?
Before we could start implementing our proposal, we had to first get the data.
Our main data source was ESPN Cricinfo’s Match Results list for ICC World Test Championship, 2019-2021. As an input, I fed each scorecard individually into the program. The next step was to figure out how to get session-by-session data.
If you scroll to the bottom of the scorecard, there is a Match Notessection, which summarizes important moments at each interval of the match. The idea was to have our program read through these Match Notes and after preprocessing and removing the unnecessary characters, return data at“Lunch, “Tea”, “Innings Break”, and “End of Day.”
The important features to record at every interval were as follows: (1) Team Batting, (2) Runs, (3) Wickets, & (4) Overs. This data was stored in tables so all the data for lunch, tea, innings break, and end of day for all five days (or however long the Test match lasted) could be easily accessed.
Once the data was all nice and clean, things got a bit easier. At this point, we could compute the run-rate in each session and check if there was a switch of innings (all-out or declaration). Using this data, we could allocate points based on the proposal above.
We repeated this process for all the 58 matches and added up the points. Finally due to COVID*, we divided the total number attained by the total possible.
*Due to COVID-19 interruptions equal number of H/A games was not possible, so percentage was used.
Issues Faced
Initially I thought, reading data from a scorecard would be an easy task, right?Wrong. I was surprised by the inconsistency in some of the records.
For example, when a day is rained out, sometimes they will put: “Rain – 0/0, Lunch – 0/0, End of Day – 0/0.” Almost always, in a rained-out game, some of the sessions were missing which made it difficult to automate the program efficiently. Day/Night matches were especially hilarious. Instead of “Tea” & “Dinner”, in some games “Lunch” and Tea” were written. In others, it was a combination of all four!
A more subtle issue was when innings break occurred at the same time as an interval. In some occasions, Innings Break” and corresponding score was avoided, which caused our data table to have some missing values.
Anyway, you get the point. There were several other little issues, but I do not want to sound like a broken record. What this process influenced me to do confirm after every scorecard was read that all the data was stored correctly in the program.
Quality check.
Conclusion
The Alternative World Test Championship Points Table & the original table only had India (1), England (4), & Pakistan (5) in the same positions. Since our algorithm weighted away games more & took sessions in context, the rest of the rankings were different.
Is it the best algorithm? No, but it is definitely better than the current system by a landslide. I will continue to make improvements to this algorithm for the next iteration and apply this alternative system for the next cycle of the WTC.
Making Test cricket more equitable to all the cricket playing nations (and not just the Big 3) is definitely a challenge in the age of T20 leagues, but if huge financial restructure cannot happen, at least a change in the World Test Championship Points Table is a place to start.
In any case, end results are end results. No argument. Journey is the important part. We tend to ignore or forget the little pleasures in life by focusing on the end goal. Enjoy, smile, learn, & support each other.
My best wishes to India and New Zealand for the World Test Championship this week.
Before I end this, here are some thoughts by cricketers & commentators on the WTC Points Table.
What Cricketers & Commentators Say About the WTC Format
“I can’t quite work out how a five-match Ashes series can be worth the same as India playing Bangladesh for two Tests.”
“This difference in value for winning a Test match I thought didn’t take into account the enormity of a contest, the toughness of the contest, and thought if I had to conceive a plan to get to the final of the World Test Championship, I would play 2 Test matches at home on pitches that I like.”
“I think going forward, maybe the WTC could add context this way, two teams playing away from their home and sort of bringing the whole ebbs and flows of the game.”
“Ideally, in the long run, if they want to persist with the Test Championship, a best-of-three final will be ideal. As a culmination of two-and-a-half years of cricket around the globe.”
So what did you think about this article and the Alternative World Test Championship Points Table? COMMENT BELOW with your opinions! Would love to engage!
Appendix
The team-by-team and series-by-series (at the very bottom) tables are presented below.
Alternative World Test Championship Points Table Team-By Team Data
*symbolizes Away series. An away series has a maximum possible of 54 points, while a Home series has a maximum of 46 points.
List of Teams
India
India
Home/Away
Session
Bonus
Total
Matches
Total Possible
Vs WI*
48
27
14
89
2
108
Vs SA
48
51
20
119
3
138
Vs Ban
32
26
28
86
2
92
Vs NZ*
0
16
0
16
2
108
Vs Aus*
60
45
8
113
4
216
Vs Eng
48
42
38
128
4
184
236
207
108
551
17
846
(551/846)*100 = 65.13%
Sessions: 74-59-48 (W-T-L)
Australia
Australia
Home/Away
Session
Bonus
Total
Matches
Total Possible
Vs Eng*
60
75
2
137
5
270
Vs Pak
32
28
12
72
2
92
Vs NZ
48
48
18
114
3
138
Vs Ind
24
53
14
91
4
184
164
204
46
414
14
684
(414/684) * 100 = 60.53%
Sessions: 74-56-46 (W-T-L)
New Zealand
New Zealand
Bonus
Total
Matches
Total Possible
Vs SL*
0
56
2
108
Vs Aus*
0
24
3
162
Vs Ind
24
76
2
92
Vs WI
20
84
2
92
Vs Pak
6
72
2
92
50
312
11
546
(312/546)*100 = 57.14%
Sessions: 53-36-39 (W-T-L)
England
England
Home/Away
Session
Bonus
Total
Matches
Total Possible
Vs Aus
40
59
14
113
5
230
Vs SA*
72
57
10
139
4
216
Vs WI
32
51
4
87
3
138
Vs Pak
32
37
6
75
3
138
Vs SL*
48
28
10
86
2
108
Vs Ind*
24
38
2
64
4
216
248
270
46
564
21
1046
(54/1046)* 100 = 53.92%
Sessions: 84-102-83 (W-T-L)
Pakistan
Pakistan
Home/Away
Session
Bonus
Total
Matches
Total Possible
Vs Aus*
0
20
0
20
2
108
Vs SL
24
29
4
57
2
92
Vs Ban
16
15
10
41
1
46
Vs Eng*
24
47
0
71
3
162
Vs NZ*
0
20
0
20
2
108
Vs SA
32
29
10
71
2
92
96
160
24
280
12
378
(280/378) *100 = 46.05%
Sessions: 56-48-52 (W-T-L)
Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka
Home/Away
Session
Bonus
Total
Matches
Total Possible
Vs NZ
16
22
6
44
2
92
Vs Pak*
12
27
0
39
2
108
Vs SA*
0
21
0
21
2
108
Vs Eng
0
22
0
22
2
92
Vs WI*
24
31
0
55
2
108
Vs Ban
24
33
4
61
2
92
76
156
10
242
12
325
(242/600)*100 = 40.33%
Sessions: 48-60-49 (W-L-T)
West Indies
West Indies
Home/Away
Session
Bonus
Total
Matches
Total Possible
Vs Ind
0
19
0
19
2
92
Vs Eng*
24
37
0
61
3
162
Vs NZ*
0
8
0
8
2
108
Vs Ban*
48
30
6
84
2
108
Vs SL
16
29
0
45
2
92
88
123
6
217
11
562
(217/562)*100 = 39.74%
Sessions: 29-65-50 (W-T-L)
South Africa
South Africa
Home/Away
Session
Bonus
Total
Matches
Total Possible
Vs Ind*
0
19
0
19
3
162
Vs Eng
16
45
8
69
4
184
Vs SL
32
17
22
71
2
92
Vs Pak*
0
21
0
21
2
108
48
102
30
180
11
546
(180/546) = 32.97%
Sessions: 36-30-64 (W-L-T)
Bangladesh
Bangladesh
Home/Away
Session
Bonus
Total
Matches
Total Possible
Vs Ind*
0
6
0
6
2
108
Vs Pak*
0
5
0
5
1
54
Vs WI
0
24
0
24
2
92
Vs SL*
12
23
0
35
2
108
12
58
0
70
7
270
(70/270)*100 = 19.34%
Sessions: 14-30-37 (W-L-T)
AlternativeWorld Test Championship Points Table Series-By-Series Comparison
Series (H Vs A)
Matches in Series
Result
Alternative Series Total
Original Series Total
England Vs Australia (The Ashes)
5
2-2
137-113
56-56
Sri Lanka Vs New Zealand
2
1-1
44-56
60-60
West Indies Vs India
2
0-2
19-89
0-120
India Vs South Africa (Freedom Trophy)
3
3-0
119-19
120-0
India Vs Bangladesh (Ganguly-Durjoy Trophy)
2
2-0
86-8
120-0
Australia Vs Pakistan
2
2-0
72-20
120-0
Pakistan Vs Sri Lanka
2
1-0
57-39
80-20
Australia Vs New Zealand (Trans-Tasman Trophy)
3
3-0
114-24
120-0
South Africa Vs England (Basil D’Oliveira)
4
1-3
70-139
24-90 (*SA -6 for over-rate penalty in the 4th Test)
Pakistan Vs Bangladesh
1
1-0
41-5
60-0
New Zealand Vs India
2
2-0
76-16
120-0
England Vs West Indies (Wisden Trophy)
3
2-1
87-61
80-40
England Vs Pakistan
3
1-0
75-71
66-26
New Zealand Vs West Indies
2
2-0
84-8
120-0
Australia Vs India (Border-Gavaskar Trophy)
4
1-2
113-91
36-70 (*Aus -4 for over-rate penalty in the 2nd Test)
New Zealand Vs Pakistan
2
2-0
72-20
120-0
South Africa VS Sri Lanka
2
2-0
71-21
120-0
Sri Lanka Vs England
2
0-2
22-86
0-120
Pakistan Vs South Africa
2
2-0
71-21
120-0
Bangladesh Vs West Indies
2
0-2
24-84
0-120
India Vs England (Anthony de Mello Trophy)
4
1-3
128-64
90-30
West Indies Vs Sri Lanka (Sobbers-Tissera Trophy)
2
0-0
55-45
40-40
Sri Lanka Vs Bangladesh
2
1-0
61-35
80-20
*Note, we have not yet added the Sir Vivian Richards Trophy (West Indies Vs South Africa) since that is ongoing during the WTC Final.
Cricket used to be referred as a “Gentleman’s Game.” It now seems like an oxymoron.
Just look at the events from the last couple of weeks. Contrasting actions from the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) & Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) shed light into a changing world and the role sports & media play in the larger scheme of things.
Why Shakib, Why?
A video went viral last week where Shakib Al Hasan broke the stumps twice in the same Dhaka Premier League (DPL) match. Have a look below. It is pretty disheartening.
What was the result of his actions? Three match ban and monetary fine. That’s all.
This is a proper recording of Bangladesh national cricketer #ShakibAlHasan's antics on the pitch. He has since apologized for his behavior. But the question is: Will the Bangladesh Cricket Board let him go with just an apology?pic.twitter.com/IqkfOFzQQ3
Shakib Al Hasan is one of my all-time favorite players. He might go down as the best all-rounder cricket has ever seen. Definitely Bangladesh’s all-time best.
This does not however, or at least should not, excuse him from such unruly behavior.
Mohammad Isam beautifully outlines the growing influence of Shakib’s indiscipline and his utter disregard for the “game, his colleagues, or the officials.” Since Shakib is an integral part of the Bangladesh national team, his previous bans have been reduced to accommodate him.
History of Indiscipline in Recent Bangladesh Cricket
What’s worse? It is not the first time, and most likely will not be his last.
Shakib’s first public outburst came way back in 2010, abusing a spectator who was blocking the sightscreen. A few more instances of trouble occurred in 2011, but he was not reprimanded. The first action taken against him was in 2014, when he was banned for 3 matches for displaying an inappropriate gesture on live television. A six month ban ( eventually reduced to three months) followed in 2014 due to internal disputes with coach Hathurusingha and his threats to quit international cricket. Finally, the most serious suspension was a year-long hiatus imposed by the ICC in 2019 for Shakib not reporting a bookie approach.
Just a few weeks ago, Mushfiqur Rahim, who himself has some history of anger & premature celebrations, displayed his rage on the field to his own teammate.
Nidahas Trophy was especially infamous for such antics. Snake-dance celebration, Shakib calling players back in the middle of a game, and Mahmudullah’s display of anger prior to his last ball six.
Although these senior players have to take responsibility, there is a larger picture at play here. Isam portrays that the entire Bangladesh system is to blame—biased umpiring, poor administration & leadership, local club bias/corruption, points manipulation, etc.
Poor environment breeds poor behavior. As simple as that.
Ollie Robinson: The Other Side of the Coin
England’s hands-on policy to deal with disciplinary issues lies on the other end of the spectrum.
27-year old Ollie Robinson had a magnificent debut in the first Test against England, taking 4/75 & 3/26 to go along with a solid 42. During the Test, his racist and sexist tweets reemerged from 2012. These comments are completely inexcusable, even if it was an 18-year-old tweeting it who did not have a professional contract back then.
He announces a short break from cricket to be with his family due to social media pressure.
Dom Bess deactivates his Twitter account as a precautionary measure
McCullum-Morgan-Buttler’s old tweets mocking English of other fans & players are bashed by twitterati.
England promises swift action, zero-tolerance policy, series of workshops, & self-education. Commentators like Nasser Hussain, captain Joe Root, and Jimmy Anderson have all pitched in to further the conversation on inclusiveness and focus on “improving [themselves] as people.” Even Prime Minister Boris Johnson had a say—claiming Robinson’s punishment was too severe.
In order to help make the society more inclusive & tolerant, actions need to be taken, but how far is too far?
Alex Hales & Joe Clarke
England is not the embodiment of gentleman’s game either. Far from it. Just like Bangladesh, this is not the first in England’s cricket either.
This was just a recent list of incidents. I am sure there are several more and numerous unreported cases.
Fine Line Between Cancel Culture And Laissez-Faire?
Hales, one of the catalysts of England’s rise to the top in limited overs cricket, has yet to make a comeback despite completing rehabilitation and performing in T20 leagues. Similarly, Joe Clarke has been performing consistently in T20 Blasts circuits, but it is unlikely he will ever be selected on the international arena.
On the other hand, punishments for Shakib and co vary are not harsh at all. Yes, racism and anger against an umpire are two different things, but there needs to be a standardized guidance from ICC.
This gets me to my final point—where do you draw the fine line?
Cancel and woke culture, accentuated by the age of social media, has been a major factor in all this. If nobody found out about the Robinson’s tweets, would he have been reprimanded? Resurfacing social posts and twitter policing, courtesy random people sitting behind screen’s and criticizing the world, can have a major impact on someone else’s career & life. Social media is good to awaken certain conversations, but whether it should be utilized for hasty actions is another question.
The BCB has employed a more laissez-faire approach while ECB’s handling is much more extreme, influenced by cancel culture. In reality, disciplinary guidelines should be somewhere in the middle.
George Dobell offers an apt solution—Amnesty. Instead of digging up old tweets and punishing retroactively, why not accept the mistake, “outline modern-day expectations and penalties, and provide a fresh start”?
One thing is for certain — cricket is no longer a gentleman’s game. Culture and societies are evolving and cricket should follow suit, albeit in a careful manner.
COPYRIGHT @Nitesh Mathur, aka Nit-X, 06/16/2021; Email at bcd@brokencricketdreams.com
It is a huge year for India Women—Test cricket makes a comeback after seven years, last playing against South Africa in 2014. India is scheduled for one Test against England as well as two Tests in Australia later this year, including a Day-Night Test.
Smriti Mandhana, Punam Raut, Mithali Raj, Harmanpreet Kaur, Jhulan Goswami, Shikha Pandey, and Poonam Yadav return from that game 7 years ago.
England, on the other hand, have played multiple Ashes series with one Test match each (2013, 2013-14, 2015, 2017-18, 2019). Amy Jones, Tammy Beaumont, Heather Knight, Georgia Elwiss, Natalie Sciver, Katherine Brunt, Anya Shrubsole, and Sophie Ecclestone return from their last Test.
While the Test match is in the forefront now, do not forget the limited overs. The build up to the 2022 Women’s ODI World Cup is about to begin.
The used pitch has been under the scanner, especially with captain Heather Knight’s disappointment palpable on not been provided a fresh pitch. This women’s Test match was not given enough attention, with a Gloucestershire vs Sussex T20 Blast game held last week.
Meanwhile, both the India men’s & women’s arrived together on June 3rd in Southampton and had been in quarantine since.
Test captain Mithali Raj has put her support behind multi-format series for women’s cricket like the Ashes, with a points system distributed across the three formats. India’s vice-captain Kaur is in a positive mindset with regards to this Test match despite lack of match practice, especially after receiving some words of advice with a conversation with Ajinkya Rahane.
Return for coach Ramesh Powar in this series as well.
Head-To-Head, Previous Matches, & Records
India have won their past three encounters (England 2006, England 2014, South Africa 2014) and they have a golden opportunity in this series. If they win this Test match, they will break the record for most consecutive Test wins in women’s cricket.
Long-term records do not mean much, but England has only won against India (1995) in 13 meetings. On the other hand, India have won two, both in England.
In fact, India in Tests are unbeaten in England —2 wins, 6 draws.
My Starting XIs
England Women
Lauren Winfield-Hill, 2. Tammy Beaumont, 3. Heather Knight*, 4. Georgia Elwiss, 5. Natalie Sciver, 6. Amy Jones (WK), 7. Fran Wilson, 8. Kate Cross, 9. Anya Shrubsole, 10. Katherine Brunt, 11. Sophie Ecclestone
Shikha Pandey’s omission in the South Africa series caught the public by surprise as she has been one of India’s most dependable bowlers in recent times. Expect the fast bowling trio – Pandey, experienced Jhulan Goswami, and Arundhati Reddy to make the ball talk during the Test series.
Mithali Raj debuted more than 22 years and has played a total of just 10 Test matches. She holds a stellar record in the limited opportunities—best of 214, 1-100, 4 50s, average of 51.00. Highest ODI run-scorer in women’s cricket, watch out for Raj in the ODI series in her final season as the 2022 World Cup will be her swansong.
The Young Brigade—Shafali Verma, Harleen Deol, Radha Yadav, Pooja Vastrakar, and Simran Bahadur—have immense potential. Although Shafali Verma is in the Test squad, it is unlikely she will get a break at the top with Mandhana-Raut-Jemimah-Mithali-Priya in front. A certainty in the T20Is, the explosive opener should receive her ODI debut in this series.
England Women
Tammy Beaumont was on another planet during the New Zealand series, with 231 runs in the ODIs (best of 88*) & 102 runs in the T20Is. 4 fifties in 6 innings. A class apart. She would be itching to convert to triple figures, and this Test match would be an ideal opportunity if she continues her form.
Lookout for the Shrubsole-Brunt combination. Katherine Brunt’s experience came to the fore with a player of the match performance in the 3rd T20I against NZ, England’s last match before this series. Anya Shrubsole’s name was etched in legends with an iconic performance in the close 2017 ODI World Cup final, coincidentally against India.
Knight-Sciver are key to this English middle order. Although they only have 7 and 5 Test caps to their names respectively, they are the senior pros in this lineup, having represented England in over 150 games each across formats. Knight has a Test century (157), while Sciver’s best is 88. Across formats, Knight has 3 centuries and 27 fifties, while Nat Sciver has 3 hundreds and 24 fifties to go along with her 118 wickets.
Prediction
Home side England have the upper-hand in the Tests, although India will fight it out. The limited overs series should be much more competitive. I am especially excited for the ODI series—repeat of the 2017 ODI World Cup finals (also held in the same country).
Predictions
Test: England 1-0
ODI: India 2-1
T20I: England 2-1
The Hunch
My gut feeling says that Punam Raut is going to be the key player in this tour. She had an outstanding series against South Africa, providing India the little bit of stability during the series.
Her stats in that series speak for herself: 1-100, 2-50s, 263 runs, and a tremendous average of 87.66.
Hoping her form continues.
England Women
India Women
Player of the Series/MVP
Natalie Sciver
Punam Raut
Most Runs
Tammy Beaumont
Punam Raut
Most Wickets
Katherine Brunt
Shikha Pandey
Emerging Player
Sophie Dunkley
Harleen Deol
Surprise Package
Amy Jones
Arundhati Reddy
What are your predictions about the England Women Vs India Women 2021 series? Let us know in the COMMENTS section below!
Like this content so far? SUBSCRIBE HERE to receive updates about new articles right in your inbox! If you are on social media, give us a follow in any of the social media outlets below:
After two years of cricket and 58 Test matches, the much awaited World Test Championship Final is finally here.
During the WTC, India have been a dominant force, both at home & abroad, as was evident with the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. New Zealand have been miles ahead at home but not much to show in the away leg. So, who will it be?
Who, What, When, Where?
India Vs New Zealand
World Test Championship (WTC) Final
June 18th-22nd
The Rose Bowl, Southampton
A reserve day is available in case all the overs are not recovered during the five days. If there is a tie or a draw, the World Test Championship trophy will be shared.
New Zealand have already been in England for a 2-Test series, which has helped them acclimatize to the conditions and rest/rotate some of their players. India have not had much practice but have been in England to serve quarantine time.
A good pitch can make an immense difference in the viewing of a Test match.
The first Test between England & New Zealand ended in a boring draw. It was an atypical England pitch—slightly flat and not much swing on offer either. Even a player of Jimmy Anderson’s caliber failed to generate much out of it.
The only reason there was any hope of a result was due to New Zealand’s bold declaration early on day 5. The second Test ongoing right now, is not much different either.
I really hope a sporting pitch, fitting of a final, is provided by the ICC.
Will The Teams Go For the Jugular?
New Zealand in the final of a world trophy in England.
It will be interesting how teams go about since trophy could be shared, unlike the 2019 Cricket World Cup Final.
Imagine this scenario—Day 5 last session, 100 runs needed with 4 wickets to go in 20 overs – will the chasing team go for it while risking a loss? Will the bowling team keep an aggressive field or keep the field back to reduce the run rate?
If the match does go late into Day 5, it could be an enthralling event, but just 1-match final is not ideal. Ravi Shastri provided an apt solution—best of 3-match final series will be fitting for a tournament that takes more than two years.
Siraj, Shami, and Sharma – Who Will Play?
Now for the interesting part—the selection policies. Both teams boast envious bench strengths. India even won in Australia with a so-called second string team.
Hanuma Vihari, Mayank Agarwal, Washington Sundar, Shardul Thakur, Axar Patel all have played starring role during the course of the WTC campaign, but will anyone even get into the XI during the final?
Mohammad Siraj debuted in the 2nd Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy and rumors are he might get a wildcard entry into the XI due to his impressive performances. With Bumrah & Ashwin most likely to play, Siraj, Shami, Sharma, and Umesh will fight it out for the remaining two spots.
New Zealand are spoiled for choices as well.
Devon Conway debuted with a magnificent 200 at Lord’s, youngster Will Young is in the form of his life, and two out of the all-rounders Colin de Grandhomme-Daryl Mitchell-Mitchell Santner should play. The selection on the bowling front is even trickier. Southee-Boult-Wagner-Jamieson select themselves, but Matt Henry had a great outing in the 2nd Test vs England, and they still have Doug Bracewell, Jacob Duffy, & spinner Ajaz Patel in the sidelines.
Both teams have talent, but the team that chooses in-form players and makes better decisions will prevail.
An End of an Era?
BJ Watling announced his retirement prior to the series, and although he played the first Test against England, he was out of the 2nd Test due to a sore back. Hopefully he recovers back in time for his final appearance and has one final gritty knock in him.
We have seen World Cups being a swansong for plenty of players, and the World Test Championship might well be the equivalent for Test specialists.
Both New Zealand & India have been around the ICC trophies over the past decade without actually winning much. While BJ Watling is the only one to formally announce his retirement, Neil Wagner (35), Ross Taylor (37), Ishant Sharma (32), Tim Southee (32), and Ravichandran Ashwin (34) might only have a final shot at a major world trophy.
Anyway, I do not know about you, but I cannot wait for this match to get started. Five days of a good battle between bat & ball by the two of the best sides in the world.
Game on.
What are your thoughts on the World Test Championship Final? Comment below and subscribe for more updates!
Scotland Women Tour of Ireland 2021 Series Review.
Although Scotland Women started on a bright note, Ireland women came back with 3 wins on a trot. Here is a brief recap and major highlights from this series!
Leah Paul – 9 wickets (Best of 4/16, 4.44 average, 4.44 Economy)
Major Takeaways
This series was a low-scorer with scores of 87-9 vs 76/10, 137/4 vs 76/10, 134/8 vs 93/10, & 99/7 vs 101/4 in the 20-over contest.
Scotland
The trio of Kathryn Bryce (3.3-0-8-2), Katherine Fraser (4-0-15-2), & Katie McGill (4-0-18-3)starred in Scotland’s only win as Ireland failed to chase even 88 runs.
Unfortunately, Kathryn Bryce was the lone fighter in the series with scores of 12 (26), 17 (23), 45* (42) & 22 (21) to go along with 5 wickets.
Ireland
Leah Paul was the standout performer of the series, with figures of 4/16, 2/12, and 3/12. Scotland never got going against the left-arm spinner.
Gaby Lewis was the only Irish player who had a decent outing with the bat. 47 (39) in the 2nd ODI & 49 (40) in the fourth ODI were match winning knocks. Decent support from Laura Delany & Shauna Kavanaugh as well.
Orla Prendergast set the tone for the Irish bowlers in each of the games with a miserly economy rate of 4.15 to go along with six wickets.
Where Do They Go Here From Now?
No international matches scheduled for Scotland or Ireland women in the near future, but exciting times for Women’s Cricket.
India-England Tests will begin on June 16th while the Women’s Hundred will commence on 21st July.
Anyway, what did you think about the Scotland Women Tour of Ireland 2021? COMMENT BELOW and engage in a conversation!
The ODI Super League is well and truly on its way with the Netherlands registering a 2-1 victory against Ireland. Each of the 13 teams has now at least played one ODI series (3 matches) on their way to 24 games.
In case you missed these two series, here is a brief recap and major takeaways.
Stephen Myburgh – 105 runs (best of 74, 50s-1, 35.00 average, 60.69 SR)
Paul Stirling – 126 runs (best of 69, 50s-2, 42.00 average, 69.23 SR)
Most Wickets
Logan van Beek – 6 wickets (best of 4/18, 12.42 average, 2.96 Economy)
Josh Little – 8 wickets (best of 4/39, 13.25 average, 3.53 Economy)
Major Takeaways
Here are some of the highlights of the Netherlands Vs Scotland & Ireland 2021 series.
Scotland
Alasdair Evans was the hero of the second ODI. His figures of 9.4-2-43-5 limited Netherlands to 171.
George Munsey did the rest with an unbeaten 79 (119). After a brief collapse, the 106* run partnership with Dylan Budge took Scotland across the line.
The experienced duo of captain Kyle Coetzer & Calum MacLeod had a sub-par series. Coetzer mustering a total of 26 runs & MacLeod with just 14.
Netherlands
Max O’Dowd successfully established himself at the top of the Dutch batting order with a match-winning 82 (102) in the first ODI vs Scotland. A couple of decent 20-30s in the low scoring Ireland series as well. Averages 55.00 in his young 7-ODI career so far.
Tim van der Gugten was the difference between the two sides in the Ireland series. In the first ODI, his 49 (60) with 4 sixes in the first ODI took Netherlands from 102-7 to a competitive total of 195. Netherlands won by 1 run.
In the 3rd ODI against Ireland, experienced campaigner Stephen Myburgh took Netherlands home with a 74 (111) to get them across the line in an uneasy chase of 166. At 37, he may not have a long career ahead, but he is contributing to the Dutch cause one game at a time.
Ireland
Paul Stirling is the best ODI batsman since the pandemic. He has definitely slowed down from his aggressive instinct, but his consistency has hit great strides. 2 fifties this series to go along with his 3 centuries post-COVID. Playing a lone hand at the top.
George Dockrell & William Porterfield make their ODI comebacks. Dockrell, the left arm spinner, has resurrected his career as a #5 all-rounder. He scored a 40 in the 3rd ODI but could not carry on. Former captain Porterfield had a rough outing with scores of 0 & 5. End of a glorious career or does he have one more World Cup campaign in him? Another Irish legend Kevin O’Brien replaced Porterfield at the top of the order for the 3rd ODI.
The bowling was one of the few shining lights for Ireland. Josh Little returned with figures of 3/36, 4/39, & 1/35 & Craig Young with 3/34 & 9.2-2-18-4 in the 2nd ODI. Good support by Barry McCarthy, Simi Singh, & Andy McBrine as well.
Boyd Rankin, famous for representing both Ireland & England in Test cricket, hung up his boots at the age of 36. Debuting back in 2007, he was one of their first actual pace bowlers. 2007 & 2011 World Cups, 2013-14 Ashes, and finally the Ireland Test debut in 2018, he witnessed it all. Have a great second innings!
ODI Super League Status
Ireland are reeling at #10, with only 2 wins from 9 matches, having lost 1-2 vs England & 0-3 vs Afghanistan already. They would have wanted 30 points (3-0) from the Netherlands series, but lost 2 games.
Netherlands are at #9 with 20 points (2/3 wins). Although there is still a long time to go, with Sri Lanka, Zimbabwe, Ireland struggling (and South Africa currently at #12), Netherlands have a shot at direct qualification.
In any case, Ireland & Netherlands are finally getting their share of cricket they need to go to the next level. Unfortunately, Scotland barely missed out on ODI status and are not guaranteed many ODIs.
Where Do They Go From Here?
Ireland
Ireland have already completed 3 ODI Super League series, the most among any team. They are due for two more series later in the year:
South Africa are scheduled to tour Ireland for 3 ODIs & 3 T20Is (July 2021)
Then, Zimbabwe tour Ireland for 3 ODIs & 5 T20Is (August 2021)
An ODI series against West Indies is penned for January 2022. Finally, they also have to reschedule the COVID-postponed series against Bangladesh and New Zealand.
Netherlands
Although Netherlands do not have any immediate matches scheduled, the ODI Super League guarantees them 3-match ODI series against South Africa (September), Afghanistan (December), New Zealand (January 2022), England (May 2022).
Series cancelled due to COVID-19 will be scheduled later against Pakistan, West Indies, Zimbabwe.
Netherlands, Ireland, & Scotland have all qualified for the 2021 T20 World Cup, so we will see a glimpse of them later in the year.
What did y’all think about the Netherlands Vs Scotland & Ireland 2021 series? Let us know below!
Bangladesh tours of New Zealand & Sri Lanka review.
It seemed that instead of a complete tour, Bangladesh played several small series over the last few months. The Tigers played 3-match ODI & T20I series in New Zealand, then a 2-match Test series in Sri Lanka, followed by 3 ODIs at home against the same opposition.
The last couple of months can be summed up with a disappointment for Bangladesh but some positive news at the end for the currently #1 ranked team in the ODI Super League. Good finds by the Kiwis and Lankans as well.
There were numerous moments in this Bangladesh tours of New Zealand & Sri Lanka. Here are the major takeaways.
New Zealand
Devon Conway, Glenn Phillips, & Daryl Mitchellsolidified their places during this tour
After his Test ton against Pakistan, Mitchell scored 100* (92) in the 3rd ODI, pushing New Zealand to 318/6. Quickfire 34* (16) in the rain-curtailed 2nd T20I as well. It is a shame that he is not a regular due to the rich presence of Colin de Grandhomme & Mitchell Santner.
Devon Conway has now conquered Test cricket with a double century at Lord’s, but before that his debut ODI series against Bangladesh included a fifty and a maiden century—126 in the 3rd ODI. Highest scorer in both the ODI & T20I series and donned the gloves as well.
Glenn Phillips finished the first T20I with a blistering 24* (10) along with a 58* (23) in the 2nd T20I, rescuing NZ from 55-3 in 6.1 overs to 173/5 in 17.5 overs.
New Zealand are now unearthing fast bowlers & youngsters at an alarming rate. Tim Seifert, Glenn Phillips, Daryl Mitchell, Kyle Jamieson, Tom Blundell & Devon Conway have all performed in the past season, and the Kiwis can now add Finn Allen & Will Young to that list after the T20I series.
Prior to the T20I series, Will Young had a total of 60 runs in 2 Tests & 2 ODIs. He announced himself with 53 (30) with four sixes in the first T20I to cement his place in the T20I squad for the near future.
Finn Allen’s blistering 71* (29) was an innings of a lifetime. 10 fours, 3 sixes, and an 85 run partnership with Martin Guptill in just 5.4 overs. The Kiwis ended with 141/4 in a ten-over game. Bangladesh?—76 all out.
The return of Martin Guptill & Tim Southee
In Williamson’s absence, Latham captained the ODI series while Tim Southee took the T20I reigns. Latham justified his selection with a match winning 110* (108) in a successful 272 run-chase.
With youngsters knocking on the doors, several questions on the seniors. Ross Taylor is already out of the T20I squad with the influx of talent, and Guptill & Southee were under the scanner.
After the successful Australia series, Guptill responded with scores of 38, 20, 26, 35, 21, & 44 in this series. Does not look ultra-impressive but strike rates of 200.00, 83.33, 92.85, 129.62, 116.66, & 231.57 were exactly the kind of starts New Zealand expect from Guptill. Needs to convert soon though.
Southee’s 3/15 in the 3rd T20I removed any hope for Bangladesh’s chase. Ended as the highest wicket-taker in the T20I series and now performing in the England Tests. 2nd wind for the 32 year old?
Anyway, these were just the major moments. Comeback for Adam Milne along with good outings for Jimmy Neesham, Todd Astle (4/13), Ish Sodhi (4/28), Matt Henry (4/27), Lockie Ferguson.
Bangladesh
Batting, Youngsters, & Overseas Victories a Concern For Bangladesh
From March 20th to May 23rd, Bangladesh lost 6 consecutive matches in New Zealand & lost the Test series 0-1 in Sri Lanka. Over the two Tests, Bangladesh were on the field for 4-5 days, which contributed to mental fatigue. These overseas series really hurt Bangladesh’s confidence, and even though they finally won the home ODI series that followed, they did not play well according to captain Tamim Iqbal.
Apart from the 2nd ODI & 2nd T20I against NZ, Bangladesh’s score read 131/10 (41.5), 154/10 in 42.4 (after being 8/102), 6/59 (7.5), & 76/10 (9.3). In the Sri Lanka ODI series, Rahim-Mahmudlluah rescued Bangaldesh from 99/4 (22.6), 74/4 (15.4), and 84/4 in 23.2 (en route 189/10). Top order issues galore.
19,0, 21, 0, 4, 6,0, 0, 25 read Liton Das’ limited overs scores – 4 ducks. Test scores of 50, 8 & 17 not much better. I really hope Liton Das has a Rohit Sharma-esque 2013 resurrection given his immense talent. Six years since his debut, Das averages 20.83 (T20I), 28.78 (ODI), & 28.35 (Tests) in 117 innings. Only 3 centuries and 15 fifties. Cannot depend on Tamim Iqbal forever, especially with Mohammad Naim & Soumya Sarkar blowing hot and cold.
The M Factor & Absence of Shakib Al Hasan Felt Dearly
Although Shakib Al Hasan returned in the Sri Lanka ODI series, he was sorely missed in the New Zealand leg. In the spin bowling department, there were brief sparks, but not much else, from Nasum Ahmed & name twins—Mahedi Hasan & Mehidy Hasan Miraz, who bowled in tandem. Lacking in control & consistency.
At one point, Sri Lanka used to have the M Factor. In the Sri Lanka ODI series, Bangladesh unleashed the M Factor of their own—Mehidy Hasan Miraz, Mahmudullah, Mushfiqur Rahim, & Mustafizur Rahman.
Opening the bowling, Mehidy’s miserly 4/30 & 3/28 were match-winning spells. Bodes well if 2023 World Cup in India has these slow pitches.
Although not back at his best yet, Mustafizur Rahman is slowly getting there (see Jarrod Kimber’s analysis here). His slow off-cutters are back and his 6-1-16-3 in the 2nd ODI was especially good (to go with 9-0-34-3 in first ODI).
Highest run-scorer at #4 since the 2015 World Cup, Mushfiqur Rahim has to be one of the most underrated players of this era. This series showed exactly why with his 84 (87) & 125 (127) sealing the deal for Bangladesh.
Mahmudullah was the only saving grace in NZ with a 76* in the final ODI. Followed it up with 54, 41, 53 in the SL series. Mushfiqur-Mahmudullah emerging as legendary lower order ODI rescue partners.
Still Some Positives For the Tigers
Captains Tamim Iqbal & Mominul Haque provide consistency. Looks like the split captaincy is working. Adding to Najmul Hossain Shanto’s 163, Mominul scored a defiant ton in Sri Lanka, while Tamim has a few 50s (92 & 90 in SL Tests) on these two tours. Only if the team starts winning now…
It looked like Bangladesh had turned a corner in the 2015 World Cup with a pace attack of Mashrafe Mortaza, Rubel Hossain, & Taskin Ahmed. Taskin’s decline was heartbreaking but he is back among the wickets with 8 wickets in the Test series. With decent find in 20-year old Shoriful Islam, a lineup of Mustafizur-Mehidy-Taskin-Saifuddin-Shoriful-Shakib might be exactly what the Tigers need.
Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka are rocking some young left-arm spinners. Embuldeniya earlier this year and now Praveen Jayawickrama with a 11-wicket haul on debut. This included two 5-fers, 6/92 & 5/86 as Sri Lanka won the Test series.
Karunatarane (244, 118, 66) Thirimanne (58, 140), Dhananjaya de Silva (166, 41), Niroshan Dickwella (31, 77*) had dream batting days that took Sri Lanka to scores of 684/8d, 493/7d, 194/9d. They did not get bowled out even once.
Dusmantha Chameera has one of Sri Lanka’s bright stars amidst their downfall. He improved over the course of thh ODI series with figures of 1/39, 3/44, and a match-winning spell of 9-1-16-5. Winning hand by new-ODI captain Kusal Perera in the final ODI as well – 120 (122).
Here are my early squad predictions for the 23-member T20I World Cup Squad based on the NZ-Ban T20I series. Kane Williamson’s spot in danger?
New Zealand
Martin Guptill, 2. Tim Seifert (WK), 3. Kane Williamson*, 4. Devon Conway, 5. Glenn Phillips, 6. Colin de Grandhomme, 7. Mitchell Santner, 8. Tim Southee, 9. Trent Boult, 10. Lockie Ferguson, 11. Ish Sodhi
Squad: 12. Finn Allen, 13. Will Young, 14. Jimmy Neesham, 15. Daryl Mitchell, 16. Kyle Jamieson, 17. Todd Astle, 18. Hamish Bennett, 19. Blair Tickner, 20. Jacob Duffy, 21. Mark Chapman, 22. Ross Taylor, 23. Doug Bracewell/Scott Kuggeleijn
*captain
Bangladesh
Tamim Iqbal, 2. Liton Das, 3. Soumya Sarkar, 4. Mushfiqur Rahim (WK), Shakib Al Hasan, 6. Mahmudullah, 7. Afif Hossain, 8. Mehidy Hasan Miraz, 9. Mohammad Saifuddin, 10. Mustafizur Rahman, 11. Taskin Ahmed
Squad: 12. Mohammad Naim, 13. Najmul Hossain Shanto, 14. Mosaddek Hossain, 15. Mahedi Hasan, 16. Nasum Ahmed, 17. Shoriful Islam, 18. Rubel Hossain, 19. Mohammad Mithun, 20. Al-Amin Hossain, 21. Hasan Mahmud, 22. Abu Haider, 23. Sabbir Rahman
Awards
Here are the awards for Bangladesh Tours of New Zealand & Sri Lanka.
Bangladesh
New Zealand
Sri Lanka
Emerging Player
Mahedi Hasan
Finn Allen
Praveen Jayawickrama
Surprise Package
Taskin Ahmed in Sri Lanka
Daryl Mitchell, Will Young
Dimuth Karunaratne
Broken Cricket Dream
Bangladesh cricket on a downfall?
BJ Watling to retire; Ross Taylor’s retirement on the way?
Flat Road Pitches in the first Test
Thisara Perera retires
Series Awards
Where Do They Go From Here?
Although Bangladesh had a tough two months, they are sitting at the top of the ODI Super League Table with 5 wins from 9 matches. New Zealand are on #5 (3/3) and Sri Lanka are struggling at #13 (1/6). Bangladesh have no upcoming series for a while.
New Zealand are currently in England for 2 Tests & World Test Championship final. Apart from the forthcoming T20 leagues, the Kiwis have no assignments till the T20 World Cup in October-November. After the World Cup, New Zealand has a short limited overs tour of Australia in January 2022.
Sri Lanka travel to England for 3 T20Is & 3 ODIs in June followed by a home series against India for 3 ODIs & 3 T20Is in July. Later in February Sri Lanka will follow NZ’s suit and travel to Australia for 5 T20Is.
Comment below for your favorite moments in Bangladesh tours of New Zealand & Sri Lanka! Subscribe for more below! Share with your friends as well! Here is our Facebook& Twitter pages.
What do they all have in common? They are all candidates for the Most Underrated Cricketers. Can you create an XI of these so-called underrated players?
First we need to define what it means to be ‘underrated?’
Definition:These cricketers may not break into the Current World XI, but are great players in their own right. They usually flow under the radar and might not have the largest fan clubs.
To limit our search, here are the rules:
Minimum of 100 international matches across formats
Maximum of 1 player per country
Should be able to field a team – 5 bowlers and wicket keeper needed
Build an Underrated XI to go head to head against Current World XI.
Imagine an opposition XI consisting of David Warner, Mohammad Rizwan, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Babar Azam, Kane Williamson, Steve Smith, Joe Root, Jos Buttler, Ben Stokes, Shakib Al Hasan, Ravindra Jadeja, Pat Cummins, Rashid Khan, Mitchell Starc, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Jasprit Bumrah, & Trent Boult in the opposition.
The Catch
Majority of the New Zealand team will walk in the ‘underrated’ XI if we do not keep a 1-player limit per country—Ross Taylor, Tom Latham, Neil Wagner, BJ Watling, Henry Nicholls. If you only had to choose one, which one would you go with?
Rahul Dravid, Cheteshwar Pujara, & Hashim Amla have a massive cult following. Understated cricketers for sure, but not necessarily underrated.
Why is he underrated: Although Ireland cricket does not receive much media coverage, 2020 showed why he is one of the bests in the town. 3 hundreds in just 5 matches with 105.00 average was the highlight of the COVID-hit cricket calendar. Continues his good form in the ongoing Ireland-Netherlands series.
Why is he underrated: Wonderful player for Pakistan cricket, but never really got the recognition he deserved, even from his own country. One of the standouts of the 2010s, especially overseas performances. 6579 of those runs came in Test matches. He has scored a triple century, hundreds in each innings, and carried a bat once.
Why is he underrated: Sandwiched between the generations of Graeme Smith-Jacques Kallis-Mark Boucher-Shaun Pollock and Hashim Amla-AB De Villiers-Dale Steyn, Faf’s career was delayed about seven years. Highly regarded as a captain, Faf may have never gotten his due as a batsman. High commodity in T20 leagues.
Why is he underrated: Will go down as the best #4 ODI batsman of all time, and has most New Zealand batting records to his name. Neither is he quite as outspoken as Brendon McCullum, and nor is he as popular as Kane Williamson. Not considered in the Fab 5 either. A mainstay in this Kiwi generation nevertheless.
Why is he underrated: One of the pillars of Bangladesh’s growth, Rahim has come into his own over the past 4-5 years. He has the best record for #4 since the 2015 WC after Ross Taylor. Only wicketkeeper to score 3 double centuries in Test cricket. Energetic behind the stumps and plays innovative shots. Why doesn’t he ever get an IPL contract?
Why is he underrated: In and out of the national side due to run-ins with the board, there was never any doubt on his talent. In the form of his life, average 132.00 in Tests this year with 2 centuries.
Why is he underrated: Speaking of run-ins with the board, Angelo Mathews. Debuted as Sri Lanka’s future in their golden generation, but has not quite lived up to the potential due to injuries, fitness issues, and problems with Sri Lanka Cricket Board. Does not bowl much anymore, but still has a stellar all-round record. Gritty batter.
Why is he underrated: With Jimmy Anderson & Stuart Broad in the England team for the majority of the decade and due to the emergence of Jofra Archer & Mark Wood, Chris Woakes has never really received a consistent run. He has delivered in his limited opportunities and his record in England (specifically Lord’s) is impeccable. One of the greatest underutilized all-round talent of all time. Oh yeah, and has the highest ODI score for a #8 batsman (95*).
Why is he underrated: Sharma has always been under the radar compared to his standout peers—Irfan Pathan, Zaheer Khan, Harbhajan Singh, Anil Kumble, Jasprit Bumrah, & Mohammad Shami. Yet, his consistent work ethic has been a boon for the Indian team. After a prodigious beginning with that Ponting spell, ‘unlucky’ middle stage, and Faulkner’s 2013 ODI assault, Sharma is finally reaping rewards in the final stage of his career. Now an elderly brother figure to the young fast bowlers.
Why is he underrated: What names come to your mind when once speaks of West Indian pacers? Walsh, Ambrose, Holding, Marshall, Garner, Roberts? Well, sadly these are all from the past era, but Roach is leading a revival of fast bowling in the Caribbean. Not quite as fast after injury, his consistency has lead him to the 8th highest Test wicket-taker for the West Indies.
Why is he underrated: The 2010s was the revival of leg-spinners & wristspinners—think Rashid Khan, Imran Tahir, Adil Rashid, Yuzvendra Chahal & Kuldeep Yadav, Ish Sodhi, and now, Lasith Embuldeniya. Adam Zampa will not be considered the best legspinner of the generation nor will he be in the top of the Australian list due to the presence Shane Warne & Stuart MacGill. Yet, he is a vital cog in the Aussie limited overs lineup.
Why is he underrated: While Mohammad Nabi & Rashid Khan are considered the beacon of Afghanistan talent, Asghar Afghan, the captain & batsman, is the heart of the Afghanistan team. Removed from captaincy once again, but has always been their leader. A clean six-hitter as well.
Here was my Current Underrated XI, but what about an All-Time XI? There are way too many players to choose from, but I am curious what you would choose? Send in your submissions in the Comment section below!
Here is my short list:
India – Ajit Agarkar, Dilip Vengsarkar, Roger Binny, Farookh Engineer, Suresh Raina, Chetan Chauhan
Sri Lanka – Thilan Samaraweera, Rangana Herath, Upul Tharanga
Pakistan – Moin Khan, Asad Shafiq, Umar Gul
New Zealand – Daniel Vettori, Chris Harris, Craig McMillan
South Africa – Barry Richards, Graeme Pollock, Clive Rice, Jacques Kallis, Morne Morkel
England – Alan Knott, Alec Stewart, Michael Atherton, Mike Brearley
West Indies – Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Alvin Kallicharran, Desmond Haynes
Australia – Damien Martyn, Jason Gillespie, Justin Langer
Zimbabwe – Flower Brothers
A Bit of Philosophy, Of Course
Not all players get their due that was due to them. To be honest, I am not a huge fan of this ‘underrated,’ ‘unlucky’, ‘overrated’, ‘Agree or Die’ jargon that goes around in Twitter.
Every sports player tries to give it their all. Not every player can scale the heights of a Sachin Tendulkar or have millions of fans & followers. However, as long as they fulfill their defined role & help their team win, they have done enough.
Why should we compare players anyway? Let us just enjoy watching them when we have time and try to learn from each and every one.
Here was my list of underrated cricketers. How about you? Let us know in the comment sections below. And if you like these ‘Create your Own’ World XIs, check these articles out below.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
Who is the most underrated international cricketer?
Ross Taylor, Faf du Plessis, and Mushfiqur Rahim are currently the most underrated international cricketer. Paul Stirling, Azhar Ali, Sean Williams, Angelo Mathews, Chris Woakes, Ishant Sharma, Kemar Roach, Adam Zampa, Asghar Afghan, Tom Latham, Neil Wagner, BJ Watling among others.
Who is the most underrated batter of all time?
Ross Taylor is the most underrated batter of all time. Desmond Haynes, Shivnairne Chanderpaul, Jacques Kallis among others.
Who is the most underrated bowler of all time?
Ajit Agarkar, Daniel Vettori, and Rangana Herath are the most underrated bowler of all time. Here is the rest of the list.
Image Courtesy: NAPARAZZI, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
