Wisden Cricket Monthly: Great transformations – 3 cricket superstars who reinvented themselves
RadioTimes.com presents a handful of cricket superstars who reinvented themselves to great effect, in partnership with Wisden Cricket Monthly magazine.
Wisden Cricket Monthly picks out a handful of players who remodelled their role to outstanding effect. Abridged version below. First published in full: Wisden Cricket Monthly Issue #77. SPECIAL OFFER: Save 10% on a 12-month subscription with code: RADIOTIMES10 Rohit Sharma England v India (Ageas Bowl, Southampton – July 29th 2014) After Rohit Sharma was omitted from India’s 2011 World Cup squad, the crestfallen 23-year-old took to Twitter. “Really really disappointed of [sic] not being part of the WC squad... I need to move on from here but honestly it was a big setback!” At the time Sharma was considered an attractive wastrel going nowhere fast. After 61 ODIs he averaged 27. His three knocks as an ODI opener had produced 29 runs. For the backwater boy from Maharashtra, who’d lived with his grandparents because his father’s income was too lowly and was discovered by a talent scout while bowling off-spin as a teen, Test cricket remained a faraway dream. The turnaround came in January 2013, when MS Dhoni won the argument to push Sharma up to open in his ODI team. Sharma, given time and backing, was transformed. In his first innings he strummed an 83 against England. He sparkled in the 2013 Champions Trophy in tough English conditions. Later that year he hit Australia for 141 (123) at Jaipur. A fortnight after that, in the same Australia series, he registered his first double, 209 off 158. At the end of a whirlwind year, he was given his Test debut. He made 177 and 111* in his first two knocks. A decade later Sharma has 48 international hundreds, five IPL titles, and the label of the most complete opener in the game. If it wasn’t for Dhoni, he may have sunk with barely a trace. PW Moeen Ali England v South Africa (The Oval, London – July 31st 2017) No English cricketer this century has shifted shape or redefined himself quite like Moeen Ali. When he returned for one final blast last summer, replying to Stokes’ “Ashes?” text message with “lol”, he resumed a Test career which had taken on numerous guises since his debut a decade previously. Going into 2013, Moeen was seen as one of county cricket’s more stylish also-rans, a strokemaker with good numbers, but not good enough to trouble the selectors. That year a bumper season would follow, as Moeen posted his second thousand-run campaign for Worcestershire. But it was his off-breaks, casually rolled out as an afterthought since he was a kid playing in Sparkhill, that really caught the eye. Moeen picked up 31 wickets across the year, enough for a winter Lions berth. Elsewhere that winter, Graeme Swann would bowl his final ball in an England shirt. Swann’s retirement freed up space. Moeen was in the discussion. Swann, for one, could see why. “He’s a natural, he rips it. Moeen has to play.” By midsummer 2014, Moeen, by now a spinner who batted, was in the Test team. Despite a rock-solid hundred which nearly saved his team at Leeds – in classic Moeen fashion, he never played such a knock again – his first two Tests against Sri Lanka were a struggle with the ball. He was winging it. Ian Bell told him that in order to flourish at Test level, he had to bowl quicker. Ahead of the Lord’s Test against India, Kumar Dharmasena, the former Sri Lankan off-spinner turned ICC umpire, gave him an invaluable tip. Dharmasena advised him to grab his left trouser pocket with his non-bowling arm after delivery to get more body into his action without losing flight. “I tried it for one ball and knew it would work immediately,” he told ESPNcricinfo in 2015. He was away. For four summers Moeen was a dangerous Test off-spinner and occasionally deadly batter. After 44 Tests he had five tons and 128 wickets. But England got too excited, shunting him up and down the order, misusing their perpetual wildcard. By the time of the 2017/18 Ashes he’d batted in every position from No.1-9. The result was a loss of identity. That Ashes was a brutish experience. Moeen was bombed, bruised and taken apart. He would come again, here and there, and have his say in last year’s wild summer. But he was never again the same player as the homespun free-flowing talent who gave it a rip and to hell with the consequences. PW Kevin Pietersen Karnataka XI v England A (Jain International School Cricket Ground, Bengaluru – February 7th 2004) After taking four wickets in a tour match against an England XI in 1999, Natal’s beanpole off-spinner, Kevin Pietersen, sat down with the England captain Nasser Hussain to discuss how the 19-year-old might escape South Africa. Impressed by the kid’s front and evident talent – Pietersen had also biffed 61* in Natal’s first innings, thumping four sixes from No.9 – Hussain duly opened up his contacts book, and less than two years later Pietersen had arrived at Notts, where the legendary South African all-rounder Clive Rice was director of cricket. The signing raised a few eyebrows. Pietersen turned up in the spring of 2001 with just two fifties from 10 first-class matches – including that 61 against the English – and 23 expensive wickets. But the brouhaha back in South Africa at his decision to defect – with Pietersen blaming the country’s post-Apartheid quota system for holding him back – suggested that the ‘off-spinner and lower-order hitter’ was more than the sum of those numbers. Natal coach Phil Russell admitted he was “disappointed to lose a player of Kevin’s potential”, while even Dr Ali Bacher, then the most powerful man in South African cricket, had been unable to dissuade him. Bacher’s attempts to explain the thinking behind the quota system – that it was essential for the time, but that one day non-white players would be good enough to keep their places on merit – fell on deaf ears. “It shut doors for me,” he told the Observer in 2006. “I don’t think politics has a place in sport. We’re entertainers.” As for Rice himself, he knew what he was getting. “There’s just something about him,” he said at the time. “I certainly see him possibly getting into the England team once he has done his four years of qualifying.” Four years later, at the first opportunity, English cricket took the plunge. In his first outing Pietersen hit four tons in a week for England A (and bowled a few overs: zero wickets). Propelled into his first high-profile senior series, an ODI rubber inevitably against South Africa, he rode the boos to hit three centuries in six knocks. Later that year, sporting a three lions tattoo, he faced Australia for the first time, bookending his first international summer with two unhinged masterworks, first at Bristol in an ODI (91* from 65), then in the Ashes decider. English cricket was in thrall, and very thankful. It had taken him all of six months. And he didn’t bowl a single ball. PW Abridged version. For the full article, check out Wisden Cricket Monthly Issue #77. SPECIAL OFFER: Save 10% on a 12-month subscription with code: RADIOTIMES10 Subscribe and save today to enjoy Wisden Cricket Monthly on your PC, Mac, mobile or tablet device. Check out more of our Sport coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to find out what's on. For more from the biggest stars in TV, listen to The Radio Times Podcast.
Wisden Cricket Monthly breakout XI: Cricket players to watch in 2024
RadioTimes.com presents an XI of cricket stars set for a breakout year in 2024, in partnership with Wisden Cricket Monthly magazine.
The new county season is here, so Wisden Cricket Monthly writers have selected a team who they fancy to go particularly well in 2024. Some of our XI may be on the cusp of higher honours, while others slip into the ‘talented but unproven’ bracket. One thing unites them: they’ll all be great to watch. Words from Phil Walker, Ben Gardner, Adam Hopkins and Katya Witney. First published in full: Wisden Cricket Monthly Issue #76. SPECIAL OFFER: Subscribe to Wisden Cricket Monthly for only £1.99 for the first issue. Tawanda Muyeye Age: 23 Club: Kent Role: Majestic right-hand shot-creator Standout: 179, Northants v Kent, Wantage Road, 2023 – A maiden ton alongside Daniel Bell-Drummond, sharing a record 318-run partnership for the second wicket What they say: “A rare talent” Matt Walker, Kent head coach Wisden Cricket Monthly prediction: Three-plus red-ball tons; established star of The Hundred Finlay Bean Age: 21 Club: Yorkshire Role: Left-hand old-world opener Standout: 441, Yorkshire Second XI v Nottinghamshire Second XI, Nottingham, 2022 – A record Second XI Championship score that earned him a professional contract What they say: “There’ll be more expectation on him after last year, but he’s one of those guys who’ll take it in his stride” Jordan Thompson, Yorkshire teammate Wisden Cricket Monthly prediction: 1,000 Championship runs in Division Two; a red-ball Lions cap Ali Orr Age: 22 Club: Hampshire Role: Willowy lefty stylist Standout: 206, Somerset v Sussex, Taunton, 2022 – A double ton in the 50-Over Cup (11 sixes) followed by a red-ball 198 against Glamorgan a fortnight later What they say: “He’s stepped outside of his comfort zone to join us” Giles White, Hampshire’s director of cricket Wisden Cricket Monthly prediction: Hampshire’s star batter in a triumphant Championship campaign Jack Haynes Age: 23 Club: Nottinghamshire Role: Right-hand strokemaker Standout: 134*, Durham v Worcestershire, Chester-le-Street, 2023 – A career-best against the best attack in Division Two when no one else passed fifty What they say: “It’s his hunger to move his game forward that really excites me” Peter Moores, Notts head coach Wisden Cricket Monthly prediction: 800+ red-ball runs; a debut in The Hundred James Coles Age: 20 Club: Sussex Role: Right-hand bat; slow left-arm orthodox Standout: 180, Sussex v Derbyshire, Hove, 2023 – A second first-class ton and a big one at a crucial juncture after Sussex conceded a first-innings lead and lost two wickets inside two overs. Last man out, no one else made fifty What they say: “High skill level, great approach to the game, a genuine allrounder with an excellent future” Paul Farbrace, Sussex head coach Wisden Cricket Monthly prediction: North of 1,000 red-ball runs in Division Two; 12-15 wickets in the Blast; another Lions cap Ollie Robinson Age: 25 Club: Durham Role: Tidy keeper; middle-order counter-puncher Standout: 114, Durham v Derbyshire, Chester- le-Street, 2023 – A first ton of the season at better than a run-a-ball set the tone for how Durham would play as they bulldozed Division Two What they say: “Ollie is one of the most exciting players in the country” – Ryan Campbell, Durham head coach Wisden Cricket Monthly prediction: 600 red-ball runs; various catches pointedly clipped on social media; a Hundred debut Phil Salt Age: 27 Club: Lancashire (and several others) Role: Right-hand bat, anywhere from one to six; wicketkeeper Standout: 103, Lancashire v Hampshire, Southport, 2023 – In Salt’s first innings of the season, he hit the only ton of the game against an attack featuring three Test bowlers and, in Keith Barker, one of the best in the country not to earn the label. The knock set up victory against the side who would finish third in the table. What they say: “Phil Salt sets the tone at the top of the innings. Jason Roy embodied it previously and Salt has taken on that mantle” Steve Finn, TNT Sports pundit Wisden Cricket Monthly prediction: Lots of runs, very quickly, whenever he’s available. County Championship form to carry into a bumper T20 World Cup to lead onto who knows where. Sikandar Raza Age: 37 Club: Northamptonshire Role: Right-hand improviser; right- arm mystery balls Standout: 102* and 4-55, Zimbabwe v Netherlands, Harare, 2023 – Hit Zimbabwe’s fastest-ever ODI ton, reaching three figures in just 54 balls, as Zimbabwe chased down the Netherlands’ total of 316 with almost 10 overs to spare in the World Cup qualifiers What they say: “A three-dimensional cricketer who has an impact in every game he plays” – John Sadler, Northants head coach Wisden Cricket Monthly prediction: The T20 Blast’s MVP Josh De Caires Age: 21 Club: Middlesex Role: Right-handed chip-off-the-old-blocker; developing off-break bowler Standout: 8-106 & 2-84, Middlesex v Essex, Chelmsford, 2023 – A maiden first-class 10-wicket match haul to announce himself as a front-line spinner in the county game and earn him a spot on a Lions tour What they say: “An important part of this Middlesex side with a really bright future ahead of him” – Alan Coleman, Middlesex director of cricket Wisden Cricket Monthly prediction: 500 Championship runs and 35 wickets Mitchell Stanley Age: 23 Club: Lancashire Role: Right-arm actual quick Standout: 1-23, Manchester Originals v Welsh Fire, Old Trafford, 2022 – Rapid new-ball spell in his first Hundred appearance, including a wicket maiden and the scalp of Joe Clarke. Touched 92mph. What they say: “Raw, quick, great potential” Mark Chilton, Lancashire’s director of cricket Wisden Cricket Monthly prediction: White-ball blasts in the Blast, the odd eye-catcher in the Hundred; an ECB fast bowling programme gig in the winter. John Turner Age: 22 Club: Hampshire Role: Right-arm tall and slippery Standout: 3-17, Surrey v Hampshire, The Oval, 2023 – On a sleepy Sunday afternoon, Turner tears through Surrey's T20 top order to make the national selectors take note. What they say: “One of those players who we expect to make a significant impact over the coming years playing for England” Rob Key, England’s managing director of cricket Wisden Cricket Monthly prediction: An international white-ball cap; a wildcard for the winter Test squads. For the full article, check out Wisden Cricket Monthly Issue #76. SPECIAL OFFER: Subscribe to Wisden Cricket Monthly for only £1.99 for the first issue. 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Unlikely heroes of the Cricket World Cup
Wisden Cricket Monthly pick out some of the less heralded names to light up the men's Cricket World Cup over the years in partnership with RadioTimes.com.
Wisden Cricket Monthly editor-in-chief Phil Walker and magazine editor Jo Harman pick out some of the less heralded names to light up the men’s Cricket World Cup over the years in partnership with RadioTimes.com. Gary Gilmour (1975) Headingley, Leeds 18th June 1975 Gary Gilmour, a beer-bellied chain smoker with a rustically arranged rug and a name shared with a notorious American serial killer, was a popular swing-bowling all-rounder who burned brightly if briefly for Ian Chappell’s Australians in the mid-Seventies. His finest moment came at Leeds in the semi-final of ’75, when under dank and heavy skies he swung it round corners to claim six wickets for 14 as England were bundled out for 93. Extraordinarily, Australia were then reduced to 39-6 before Gilmour joined Dougie Walters. The pair steered Australia to their first final, with Gilmour top-scoring in the match with an unbeaten 28. He then took five more wickets in the final as West Indies edged out Australia to lift the inaugural trophy, but after that high watermark Gilmour fell away, beset by a foot injury and the consequences of what Gideon Haigh described as a “light-hearted attitude to training”. PW Duncan Fletcher (1983) Trent Bridge, Nottingham 9th June 1983 In 1983 Duncan Fletcher was a 34-year-old data systems manager, responsible for designing and implementing the Zimbabwean government’s car-registration system. Away from work, he moonlighted as the captain-coach of Zimbabwe’s cricket team. This was pre-Test status Zimbabwe, a set-up comprised mainly of club cricketers, including a 16-year-old called Graeme Hick, and the South Africa Test veteran, John Traicos. As recent inductees of the International Cricket Council, they were invited to make up the numbers at the 1983 World Cup. Few expected them to bother the established nations, yet against Australia at Trent Bridge, Fletcher would mastermind the first great upset in World Cup history, carving an unbeaten 69 from Zimbabwe’s 239-6 before marshalling a superb defence of their modest total, taking four wickets himself to restrict Kim Hughes’ men to 226-7. Two years after that win, Fletcher would leave Zimbabwe with no job, no home and just £2,000 to support his family, to begin a peripatetic coaching career that established him as one of the world’s sharpest cricketing brains, famously masterminding another heist against Australia as England supremo in 2005 and steering India to the 2013 Champions Trophy; astonishingly the last global title they have won. PW Eddo Brandes (1992) Lavington Sports Oval, Albury 18th March 1992 The ’92 World Cup in Australia and New Zealand was different. A riot of coloured clothing, white balls, black sightscreens, floodlit dramas, South Africa’s return and a final for the ages beamed around the world. After three tournaments on English soil with finals played at Lord’s every time and one in Asia, this was a glimpse into cricket’s future. Yet for all the freshness of a world tournament unveiling new stars like Tendulkar, Lara, Donald and Inzamam, the group stages still threw up some magical throwbacks. A barrel-chested chicken farmer by trade, in his spare time Eddo Brandes was also a decidedly sharp fast bowler, and it was his ferocious opening spell against a hitherto rampant England side that ensured Zimbabwe would claim another giant upset to go with Fletcher’s stuffing of Australia nine years earlier. Defending just 134, Brandes trapped Gooch first ball of England’s reply and then returned to pluck out their middle order, finishing with four cheap wickets as Zimbabwe stole a famous victory by nine runs. PW OFFER FOR RADIO TIMES READERS: Subscribe to Wisden Cricket Monthly today for £45.99 Not only will you save 30% off the equivalent single issue price but you'll also receive a free storage binder (RRP £13.99 - conveniently, holds 10 magazines!) PLUS a free copy of The Best of First Five Years of The Nightwatchman, Wisden’s cricket quarterly (RRP £15). Enter the code RADIOWIS at the checkout to get the offer. Chris Harris (1992) McLean Park, Napier 12th January 1999 New Zealand rewrote the playbook at the ’92 World Cup under Martin Crowe’s innovative captaincy, opening the bowling with off-spinner Dipak Patel – a tactic very rarely seen at the time – and asking Mark Greatbatch to tee-off at the top of the order in a style which would soon become de rigueur. But for all their out-of-the-box thinking, it was the old-fashioned wobblers of Chris Harris which tied the opposition in knots, the all-rounder picking up 16 wickets (only Wasim Akram took more in the tournament) with his subtle changes of pace and crafty cutters, all delivered off the wrong foot from an awkward, ungainly action. In a four-wicket win over India at Dunedin, Harris bamboozled Tendulkar, Manjrekar and Kapil Dev to collect his third three-for of the competition and his spectacular fielding became a feature of the co-hosts’ march to the semi-finals – his brilliant run out of Javed Miandad in the narrow semi-final defeat to Pakistan (incorrectly judged not out by Steve Bucknor) could well have seen New Zealand through to their first final. The tournament made Harris a cult hero and he went on to impress at the 1996 and 1999 World Cups, later becoming the first Kiwi to play 250 ODIs. Across his ODI career he would claim 29 caught-and-bowled dismissals, with only Murali taking more in the format’s history. JH Romesh Kaluwitharana (1996) The Gabba, Brisbane 11th January 1999 A batting average of 12 isn’t usually sufficient to earn an opener iconic status but Romesh Kaluwitharana’s dash and daring at the ’96 tournament, in combination with his considerably more effective partner Sanath Jayasuriya, was enough to secure his place in World Cup legend. Employed as a pinch-hitter after fleeting success in the role in the lead-up to the tournament, the keeper registered four single-figure scores from six knocks, made a top score of 33 against Kenya (from just 18 balls), and did it all at a mind-boggling strike rate of 140. That Sri Lanka went on to stun the cricketing world and lift the trophy rather glossed over the fact that Kalu’s kamikaze hitting generally resulted in a quick demise, his enduring reputation more a reflection of the brave new world he represented than the runs he produced. JH Lance Klusener (1999) The Oval, London 22nd May 1999 The 1999 World Cup in England was a peculiar tournament. The hosts were a shambles, dumped out in the group stages. Scotland, led by Gavin Hamilton’s one-man brilliance, were much more fun. The West Indies were tired, India erratic, and both ineffectual. Even the big upset of Bangladesh’s win against Pakistan – just a fourth ODI victory in 83 matches for them – did little to quell the conspiracists. South Africa and Australia were easily the best teams, and in the vast hulking form of Lance Klusener, ‘Zulu’ to his mates, the Proteas had their trump card. Across a chilly month in early summer, Klusener singlehandedly patented the barrelling finisher role in ODI cricket, smashing 250 runs from 214 balls with five not outs to propel South Africa into a showdown against the Aussies at Edgbaston. That semi-final has entered cricketing folklore. Australia looked to have the game sewn up before Klusener battered the seamers for 31 from his first 15 balls to bring the scores level. With four balls remaining, he skewed a drive past Damien Fleming and set off for the winning run only to find his partner Allan Donald rooted to the spot. Klusener was almost level with Donald at the non-striker’s end by the time he set off. Adam Gilchrist completed the run out – via a relay throw involving Mark Waugh and Fleming – to secure a tie, and Australia sailed into the final by virtue of their superior net run rate. “I could have maybe been a little more patient," Klusener said in 2018. “But hindsight is a brilliant science.” PW Andy Bichel (2003) St George’s Park, Port Elizabeth 2nd March 2003 England have experienced many setbacks in World Cups but surely none so gut-churning as 2003’s defeat at Port Elizabeth. Having decided not to play in Zimbabwe on security grounds, a decision that led to the forfeiture of their match against the co-hosts, Nasser Hussain’s team needed to beat the old enemy to progress to the Super Six stage, and with Australia 135-8 chasing 204, it looked on. But Andy Bichel, enjoying the game of his life, would not be denied. Having taken career-best figures of 7-20, the veteran Queensland seamer delivered some devastating blows at the death, cantering to an unbeaten 34 from 36 balls before his partner Michael Bevan hit the decisive boundary with two balls remaining to sink England. It was the tour de force from Bichel’s unexpectedly brilliant World Cup. Generally accustomed to operating in the shadows of his more illustrious teammates, he finished the tournament with a batting average of 117, a bowling average of 12 and a World Cup winners’ medal. JH Collins Obuya (2003) Newlands, Cape Town 7th March 2003 Kenya did have form, having stunned West Indies at Pune during their first World Cup appearance in ’96, but a winless campaign in ’99 gave no indication of what was to follow four years later, as the Simbas dispatched Canada, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Zimbabwe during their fairytale run to the semi-finals. Collins Obuya, a gangly 21-year-old leg-spinner, was their breakout star, ripping out de Silva, Sangakkara and Jayawardene on his way to a maiden five-for against Sri Lanka and collecting 13 wickets across the tournament. A medium-pacer in his youth, Obuya had turned to leg-breaks after watching Mushtaq Ahmed’s devilry at the ’96 World Cup but he came into the tournament as an unknown quantity, earning most of his income from selling tomatoes at his mother’s market in Nairobi. A few guiding words from the master set him on his way. “In Nairobi I had a chat with Warne and he showed me some tips about how to bowl the flipper and the wrong-un,” said Obuya ahead of Kenya’s semi-final loss to Australia. “I am trying to bowl the flipper. It’s not coming as well as Warne can do it, but I am trying.” Obuya’s World Cup exploits persuaded Warwickshire to offer him a one-year deal but his form fell away and he later remodelled himself as a specialist batter. Aged 42, he is still going strong for Kenya, top-scoring in this year’s Africa Continental Cup as a hard-hitting opener. JH Kevin O’Brien (2011) M Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bangalore 2nd March 2011 “Every now and again someone wakes up and simply has the best day of their life,” wrote Graeme Swann in his autobiography. “Kevin O’Brien was that guy against us.” No one gave Ireland a sniff after they were reduced to 111-5 in reply to England’s 327-8, but from that seemingly hopeless situation blossomed a knock for the ages – with the match all but gone, O’Brien, the beefy 26-year-old all-rounder from Dublin, decided to chance his arm. As the wheels came off for England in the field, he reached his century in just 50 balls, the fastest hundred in the tournament’s history. When O’Brien was finally dismissed for 113 in the 49th over, having scripted the highest successful run-chase in a World Cup, he’d hit 13 fours and six sixes in an innings of unadulterated mayhem. “I remember at one stage looking up and I was 80 off 40 balls and I was like, ‘Where did that come from?’” said O’Brien. “It was pretty surreal.” Having upset the odds to qualify for the Super Eight stage of the 2007 World Cup – when Kevin’s older brother Niall inspired a famous victory over Pakistan – it was another prize scalp which helped set in motion Ireland’s promotion to Full Member status in 2018. JH OFFER FOR RADIO TIMES READERS: Subscribe to Wisden Cricket Monthly today for £45.99 Not only will you save 30% off the equivalent single issue price but you'll also receive a free storage binder (RRP £13.99 - conveniently, holds 10 magazines!) PLUS a free copy of The Best of First Five Years of The Nightwatchman, Wisden’s cricket quarterly (RRP £15). Enter the code RADIOWIS at the checkout to get the offer. If you're looking for something else to watch, check out our TV Guide or Streaming Guide, or visit our Sport hub for all the latest news. Try Radio Times magazine today and get 10 issues for only £10, PLUS a £10 John Lewis and Partners voucher delivered to your home – subscribe now. For more from the biggest stars in TV, listen to The Radio Times Podcast.
The A-Z of the Cricket World Cup: Cult heroes, magic moments and the "barest of margins"
Wisden Cricket Monthly have produced an A-Z of the Cricket World Cup, celebrating the weird and wonderful, the disastrous and the magical.
To celebrate the start of the Cricket World Cup, Wisden Cricket Monthly editor-in-chief Phil Walker and magazine editor Jo Harman have produced an A-Z of all things World Cup-related in partnership with RadioTimes.com, brimming with cult heroes, memorable moments and a few entries that made the cut by the "barest of margins"... A is for… Aravinda Bow-legged and hook-nosed, 5ft-nothing in his best spikes and decked out in random bits of kit from the team bag, Aravinda de Silva exhibited a kind of dishevelled, Chaplin-esque genius through much of the '90s that, what with him being Sri Lankan, meant he was taken for granted – until one night in Lahore when the full sweep of his magics was revealed. It was 1996, and Sri Lanka had found themselves in the World Cup final, only to face, wait for it, Australia. The bad people batted first, got a few, and then kicked sand in the face of Sri Lanka’s top order. It’s 23-2 when our guy waddles out, pads round his ankles, borrowed bat in hand. This is Sri Lanka, remember; with four wins from five full tournaments before this one. Three hours later, Aravinda’s strummed the most beautiful hundred you’ve ever seen, taking them to a victory that remains to this day the most exquisite in World Cup history. B is for… Boycs & Brears White shirts, red balls, bushy sideboards, grumpy patrons: welcome to World Cups in late-'70s England. We’re back at Lord’s again, where the last vestiges of imperialism dictate that finals must be held – and Viv Richards has already swaggered to 138 not out, scooping his final ball into the Tavern to take West Indies to 286 from their 60 overs. In reply, England’s freewheeling openers, Geoffrey Boycott and Mike Brearley, come barrelling down the steps to unfurl their full repertoire of leaves, blocks, nurdles and prods across 130 time-elasticating minutes, inching the score along to 129 before Brears, clattering along at a strike rate of 49, finally gives up the ghost. Boycs follows him soon after, his 57 from 105 balls containing the grand total of three boundary fours, all of which leaves the middle order (Gooch, Gower, Botham et al) with too much to do, and England’s awful record in finals has begun: before the 2019 watershed, it would read played four, lost four. C is for… Crowe Ah, Martin Crowe, the stylist’s stylist, strands of bandana dangling down his back, a touch player so filthy that he came with an R rating. The New Zealander, cousin of Russell, was the batter of the 1992 World Cup, beginning with an immaculate ton against Australia and strolling towards another in the semi-final before a hamstring twang restricted him in the final overs. Crowe’s injury gave Pakistan’s batters a puncher’s chance, and by that stage Imran’s boys were throwing haymakers at will. New Zealand have still never won it. In retirement, Crowe turned his beautiful mind to writing on the game. D is for… Democracy (Death of) The 2003 World Cup was politically hot. Staged in Africa for the first time, the build-up played out against the worsening situation in Zimbabwe under Robert Mugabe. On the eve of the first match, prominent Zimbabwe players Andy Flower and Henry Olonga got together. They could no longer stand aside. On the eve of the first match, they released a statement mourning the "death of democracy" in their country. Hours later, they took to the field at Harare, a stone’s throw from Mugabe’s residence, with strips of black insulating tape wrapped around the shirts on their upper arms. "One white Zimbabwean and one black one operating together gave the message the most eloquent balance," Flower would say, breaking his silence years later. The protest, broadcast around the world, put England, who were due to face Zimbabwe in Harare, in a desperate position. Captain Nasser Hussain was recast as diplomat-negotiator, managing the British government’s entreaties to boycott the game, against the ICC’s threats to nail them if they did. At the eleventh-hour, England pulled out of the fixture, thus forfeiting the result to leave their World Cup hopes in tatters, while Flower and Olonga would flee for South Africa amid a slew of death threats. Hussain later wrote that they "proved to be great men by what they have done". E is for… Eden Gardens Indian cricket’s spiritual home in Kolkata was destroyed by their own fans at the fag-end of a disastrous semi-final against Sri Lanka in 1996. With India 120-8 chasing 252, the fans began chucking bottles onto the field and setting fires in the stands. The game had to be abandoned, with Sri Lanka handed the win by default. In the messy aftermath, the house of skipper Mohammad Azharuddin – who had been fiercely criticised for fielding first – had to be placed under armed guard. F is for… Floppy Hats No better sight in cricket than the floppy sunhat – from the sublime of Graham Gooch’s iconic white floppy in the heat of Chennai in 1987, sweeping India’s spinners to secure England a place in the final, to the ridiculous of Sultan Zarawani, UAE skipper, swaggering out to face an unbridled Allan Donald in his own grey number. A disgruntled Donald duly banged one in halfway down, and Zarawani, not known for his prowess against the short ball, ducked right into it. He emerged a little groggily to take his place in World Cup legend, cheerfully retiring after the tournament to spend more time with his fleet of expensive cars. G is for… Gavaskar The godfather of Indian cricket didn’t much fancy the World Cup, and on opening day in 1975, opted against even attempting to chase down England’s 334 in 60 overs, sitting on his bat for four agonising hours to finish 36 not out from 174 balls. No one quite knew why. Certain rumours circled that he was protesting against selection, others that he felt the team had been disrespected. Whatever the reasons, it was a grim scene. Ted Dexter, on commentary, demanded formal censure, while the India team manager GS Ramchand duly found his tongue, telling the Daily Express: "It was the most disgraceful and selfish performance I have ever seen… his excuse [to me] was, the wicket was too slow to play shots, but that was a stupid thing to say after England had scored 334. The entire party is upset about it. Our national pride is too important to be thrown away like this." Years later, Sunil Gavaskar said he couldn’t really explain it either. H is for… Haryana Hurricane AKA Kapil Dev, whose steepling catch running back from square leg to dismiss Viv Richards in the 1983 final (yep, at Lord’s again) helped take India to an improbable maiden World Cup win, transforming the game’s popularity overnight. The rest is history. I is for… Ireland "Every now and again someone wakes up and simply has the best day of their life," wrote Graeme Swann in his autobiography. "Kevin O’Brien was that guy against us." At Bangalore in 2011, no one gave Ireland a sniff after they were reduced to 111-5 in reply to England’s 327-8, but from that seemingly hopeless situation blossomed a knock for the ages – with the match all but gone, O’Brien, the beefy 26-year-old all-rounder from Dublin, decided to chance his arm. As the wheels came off for England in the field, he reached his century in just 50 balls, the fastest hundred in the tournament’s history. When O’Brien was finally dismissed for 113 in the 49th over, having scripted the highest successful run-chase in a World Cup, he’d hit 13 fours and six sixes. "I remember at one stage looking up and I was 80 off 40 balls, and I was like, 'Where did that come from?'" said O’Brien. "It was pretty surreal." For Ireland, it was another prize scalp which helped set in motion Ireland’s promotion to Full Member status in 2018. Sadly, they won’t be back in India for this one. OFFER FOR RADIO TIMES READERS: Subscribe to Wisden Cricket Monthly today for £45.99 Not only will you save 30% off the equivalent single issue price but you'll also receive a free storage binder (RRP £13.99 - conveniently, holds 10 magazines!) PLUS a free copy of The Best of First Five Years of The Nightwatchman, Wisden’s cricket quarterly (RRP £15). Enter the code RADIOWIS at the checkout to get the offer. J is for… Jayasuriya Sanath Jayasuriya and Romesh Kaluwitharana, freewheelers both, changed the face of white ball batting across a few wild weeks in 1996. Striking at 131 and 140 respectively, they marmalised new-ball attacks in the opening overs en route to Sri Lanka’s spectacular triumph in the final. Jayasuriya was the main man, making 221 runs in the tournament, including a superb 82 (44) in the quarter-final against poor old England, whose cohort of honest medium-pacers wasn’t quite the thing on a flat one at Faisalabad. K is for… Kenya The Simbas have made five appearances at the World Cup, making their mark at their debut tournament in 1996 when they turned over a star-studded West Indies side at Pune. But it’s their exploits in the 2003 edition, when they served as co-hosts with South Africa and Zimbabwe, for which they’re best remembered, defeating Canada, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Zimbabwe during their fairy tale run to the semi-finals – the only time in the tournament’s history that a non-Test nation has reached the last four. There’s been little for the Kenyans to cheer since, though. In 2004, their talisman Maurice Odumbe was banned for match-fixing and disputes between the national board and senior players led to an alarming decline, with Kenya losing their ODI status in 2014 and failing to qualify for the World Cup the following year. At the time of writing, they are ranked 29th in the ICC’s T20I rankings, below Jersey, Kuwait and Bahrain. L is for… Lloyd A two-time World Cup-winning captain, Clive Lloyd masterminded West Indies’ triumphant campaign at the inaugural tournament in 1975, hitting a majestic 102 from 85 balls at Lord’s – his first and only ODI century – to lay the foundations for a 17-run win over Australia. Four years later, 'Supercat' led from the front once again, averaging 61.50 across the tournament to make it two in two for the Windies, humbling England in the final. One of the game’s great captains, he turned the previously disjointed Caribbean islands into a cohesive, world-conquering force. M is for… Margins (the barest of) The greatest finish to the greatest game, capped by the greatest piece of off-the-cuff commentary. Ian Smith used to keep wicket for New Zealand before taking tup the mic, and it was his fate to be there at the most heart-breaking sporting moment in their history. Jason Roy has gathered and arrowed a throw on the bounce to Jos Buttler, who breaks the stumps with Martin Guptill, sprawling, two yards short. Up in the Lord’s media centre, bent double over the desk, Smith finds the perfect words for the maddest time. "England have won the World Cup by the barest of margins." Eleven unimprovable words, as indelible as the moment itself, delivered by the undisputed commentator of the tournament. "The two Ians – Smith and Bishop – should be made to commentate on the last half hour of every cricket match," Nasser Hussain later tweeted. N is for… Netherlands Bas de Leede knew what was needed, and what was at stake. Chase down Scotland’s 277 inside 44 overs at Bulawayo, and his country would be at their fourth World Cup. He’d already shot out five Scottish batters with his seamers; now he proceeded to play one of the most gutsy ODI knocks of the century. His 123 from 92 balls nailed the chase, booked the Netherlands a place at the big show and made him just the fourth player in ODI history to take a five-for and hit a century in the same game. You may not have seen much of Bas yet. You will do soon. O is for… Over (as in All Over The World) Dave Stewart used to be one half of Eurythmics. By 1999, he’d settled into the paunchy middle years, his best work behind him, when cricket came a calling. His brief? To pen a rousing anthem for the World Cup in England, capturing all the colour and vibrancy of this most beautiful of games. So Dave got to work. Cricketers wear white, right? (Not in this tournament, but no matter.) And who else wears white? Why, the inmates in One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest! Thus, a plan was hatched to stage the video in, well, an asylum, and for Dave, naturally enough, to break the inmates free. He then drives them all – plus a single, random woman that Dave has seized from her front garden – to an abandoned rec somewhere for a chilly, overcast game of bat and ball. "The sun is up," sings Dave plaintively over a strangely muted carnival chant. "The sky is red. No grey clouds inside your head. Heroes come and heroes go. A wise man watched the river flow." The message is a little confused. As indeed was the timing of its release: England were already knocked out of the tournament by the time it hit the shops. Copies remained unsold. P is for… Pyjamas The '92 World Cup hit different. There wasn’t much that this one didn’t have going for it. Most of the matches were in Australia, the spiritual soul of ODI cricket since Kerry Packer’s late-'70s revolution, with the rest in New Zealand. It had pinch hitters, spinners opening the bowling and fielding from another planet. It had leg-spinners altering the course of big matches, and reverse-swing clinching them. It had two white balls, one at each end, for fast bowlers to wreak havoc with. It had South Africa’s readmission after 22 years in the sporting wilderness, expanding the show to incorporate a ninth team, and it would all end in Melbourne: in a night-time coalescence between Pakistan and England, beamed around the world for the very first time. In just about every conceivable way, this was a portal into cricket’s future, and nowhere was it more obvious than the attire: the whole thing was a riot of black screens, white balls and garishly coloured pyjamas. The shirts, regularly reprised as retro kits, are truly iconic. Q is for… Qualifiers If you want real jeopardy, don’t watch the World Cup – watch the qualifiers. This year’s stress-fest took place in Zimbabwe across two weeks of unending drama, after which the Netherlands and Sri Lanka emerged as the only two teams to make it to the showpiece. Left on the canvas, diminished as never before, were the cricketers of the West Indies, once the most dominant team in the game, now reduced to bit part actors on the other stage. Ditto Scotland and Ireland, both of whom missed out on final qualification. R is for… Rain Rules The shot itself was coolly played: in the midst of a tropical downpour, South Africa’s Mark Boucher, believing his team to be ahead of the rain-adjusted required score, rolled his wrists on a Murali off-break, smothering the spin, no dramas at all. Only in the moments after the shot did the reality reveal itself that South Africa actually still needed one more run; as it was, they were merely tying with Sri Lanka – and a tie would see them dumped out of their own tournament. The umpires scampered off seconds after Boucher’s desperate miscalculation, and with the rain setting in, they never got back on - South Africa were out of their own event before the knockout stage. And all this after the shocker in 1992, when an 11-minute break for a shower combined with a terribly thought-out rain rule to reduce South Africa’s target against England in the semi-final from 22 from 13 balls to 21 from one. Though blameless in 1992, the 2003 error was all on them. S is for… Shoulders In the exultant scenes following India’s second world title in 2011, the great Mumbaikar Sachin Tendulkar was hoisted onto the shoulders of his teammates one last time. One of the players beneath him was Virat Kohli, a young pup making his way in the game, with an eye for a soundbite as sharp as his back-foot punch. "Sachin Tendulkar has carried the burden of the nation for 21 years," he told the cameras. "It is time we carried him on our shoulders." In that moment, the torch was passed, and a thousand endorsement contracts drawn up. T is for… Tigers (Cornered) Pakistan’s triumph in 1992 was intrinsically Imran Khan’s. He was old by cricketing standards, pushing 40. He had run the show with as near as anyone got to complete autonomy in Pakistan cricket and achieved, in the words of his biographer Christopher Sandford, something akin to a sporting miracle, "transforming the perennial cabaret turn of the international circuit into the hyper-aggressive fighting unit that would lift the World Cup". The turning point had come against Australia, in a must-win game following a sluggish first few matches. Imran emerged for the toss in a T-shirt bearing an image of a tiger about to pounce. Play like this, he had told his team, pointing to his chest, and Pakistan would win the tournament. Two weeks later, his prophesy would come to fruition. U is for… Upsets In 2007, when Bangladesh beat India to knock them out, the financial consequences of India’s early exit were so dire that the powers-that-be sought to change the format to protect cricket’s one true megapower from being caught short again. Upsets may not be good for business, but they remain the most tantalising part of a world tournament. Ever since a data systems manager called Duncan Fletcher masterminded Zimbabwe’s defeat of Australia in 1983, the game has thrived off its giant-killings. This year, Afghanistan and the Netherlands lurk in the shadows, ready to pounce. V is for… Veletta Mike Veletta, anyone? No? Unmasked revolutionary blowing up the establishment at Eden Gardens? His 31-ball 45* in Australia’s innings in the '87 final, helping them up to 253, must go down as one of the great World Cup cameos. In reply, England fell seven runs short – Mike Gatting’s wonderfully awful reverse sweep to spark the collapse will never be forgotten – and though Micky V didn’t do much else after that, he could always say that he lit the fuse on Australia’s World Cup story. W is for… Woolmer An innovative all-rounder in a playing career which included 19 Tests and six ODIs for England, Bob Woolmer went on to become a groundbreaking coach for Warwickshire, South Africa and Pakistan. A progressive thinker who championed the reverse sweep and the use of computer analysis, his South African side came agonisingly close to reaching the final of the 1999 World Cup, losing out to Australia in a dramatic semi-final at Edgbaston, after which Woolmer resigned from his post. He returned to international cricket with Pakistan in 2004, serving as their head coach at the 2007 World Cup, but tragedy struck on 18th March, the day after his team had been knocked out of the tournament following a shock defeat to Ireland, when Woolmer was found dead in his hotel room at the Pegasus Hotel in Jamaica. Jamaican police opened a murder investigation after a pathologist’s report claimed the 58-year-old had died of asphyxia via manual strangulation, but it was later found he had been suffering from health problems and had died of natural causes. "As a coach and mentor, Bob Woolmer had everything," said Mohammad Yousuf, who played under Woolmer for Pakistan, speaking on the 15th anniversary of his death. "He was a top motivator and would always back his players. He was a great guy and a great coach. Bob Woolmer will remain the No.1 coach in the world." X is for… X Ten teams. Ten. Not that many, is it? Not especially worldly. There used to be more, but the suits put paid to that. After all, fewer teams means less chance of an upset, right? And the big teams staying around for longer means more of that lovely advertising revenue. One of the few consolations of that politically limp decision is, at least, clarity of format: this time everyone plays everyone, and then it’s your semis, before the final on 19th November, to be held at that 130,000-seater stadium in Ahmedabad, the one named after India’s current prime minister – a figure, incidentally, you are likely to see quite a lot of over the next two months. At least in four years’ time we’ll be back up to the dizzying heights of 14 teams. Y is for… Yellow Five times, the Aussies have won it. That’s three times more than anyone else. Three times in a row from 1999 to 2007, with the other two basically won by accident. They go into this one with multiple injuries, one good spinner (Adam Zampa, who’s just equalled the record for the most runs conceded in an ODI) and a messy top order. They’ll probably win it. Z is for… Zulu The 1999 World Cup was a peculiar tournament. South Africa and Australia were easily the best teams, and in the vast hulking form of Lance Klusener – 'Zulu' to his mates – the Proteas had their trump card. Across a chilly month in early summer, Klusener singlehandedly patented the barrelling finisher role in ODI cricket, smashing 250 runs from 214 balls with five not outs to propel South Africa into a showdown against the Aussies at Edgbaston. The semi-final is pure folklore. Australia looked to have the game sewn up before Klusener battered the seamers for 31 from his first 15 balls to bring the scores level. With four balls remaining, he skewed a drive past Damien Fleming and set off for the winning run only to find his partner Allan Donald rooted to the spot. Klusener was almost level with Donald at the non-striker’s end by the time Donald set off. Adam Gilchrist completed the run out – via a relay throw involving Mark Waugh and Fleming – to secure a tie, and Australia sailed into the final by virtue of their superior net run rate. "I could have maybe been a little more patient," Klusener later said. "But hindsight is a brilliant science." OFFER FOR RADIO TIMES READERS: Subscribe to Wisden Cricket Monthly today for £45.99 Not only will you save 30% off the equivalent single issue price but you'll also receive a free storage binder (RRP £13.99 - conveniently, holds 10 magazines!) PLUS a free copy of The Best of First Five Years of The Nightwatchman, Wisden’s cricket quarterly (RRP £15). Enter the code RADIOWIS at the checkout to get the offer. If you're looking for something else to watch, check out our TV Guide or Streaming Guide, or visit our Sport hub for all the latest news. 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The Ashes 2023: Big questions that must be resolved
Wisden Cricket Monthly Editor-In-Chief Phil Walker takes a look at the big questions still looming over The Ashes 2023.
In a series overflowing with intrigue, Wisden Cricket Monthly Editor-In-Chief Phil Walker sifts through some of the questions that will need resolving. Will any opener score any runs? England, 2023: where openers come to die. “Go with low expectations,” says Usman Khawaja, who averages 18 from seven Tests in England. “Toughest place in the world to bat.” Davey Warner, 10 knocks for 95 runs in 2019, may be inclined to agree. Ditto Zak Crawley, with two fifties from 15 innings as an opener in England. Ben Duckett, the fourth of this year’s starters, made 182 against Ireland in his first Test knock in this country, but sterner tests await. In 10 full summers since Andrew Strauss retired, English openers not named Cook have managed seven Test centuries between them. Of all the post-Strauss pretenders, only Rory Burns averages in the thirties (30.32) across his whole career. Perhaps Crawley was not being entirely self-protective, not to say bored witless by the same old proddings, when he wondered out loud to a clutch of journalists last month if ‘centuries’, as the truest measure of a batter, were not such a useful metric after all. He is a moments player; and moments, insist McCullum and Stokes, win matches. Whether or not he is the answer, the idea of Crawley – and of Duckett too – is far from unsound. Opening in England means hitching your game to the vicissitudes of chance and probability. There are playable unplayables, unplayable unplayables, and occasionally, every so often, playable playables – and when the last one happens, the counter puncher becomes very useful, shrugging off the binary scores of the last month with a definitive hour or two’s hitting. And that’s all it needs. All-day grinds, silent struggles to stumps, batting time – are not for these days. So, Crawley starts; so much has been invested there. But for all the laudable loyalty, this is still, unshakeably, Ashes cricket, where careers rise and fall on its awesome waves. There is a limit to how long ideas can stay as ideas. Stokes’ left knee A psychodrama all of its own. He had a cortisone injection before he headed out to the IPL, having bowled just two overs in England’s last Test match, and once there, bowled six balls. A sore toe sidelined him for much of the first half; then, apparently fit again, he wasn’t picked. The expectation of course is that England’s Black Knight just bowls through the pain before his legs fall off at The Oval. But if that’s just not possible, then England have a problem. The returning Moeen Ali will be targeted – it’s what they did, and what they do. And three seamers, even on result pitches, is a tough assignment, especially with reduced options for rotation across the five Tests. Stokes’ mood-shifting seamers are integral to the way they play. They get things moving in a team that can’t bear the idea of standing still. What amount of cussedness, grit and agony can that knee put up with? If Stokes can’t bowl (much), the balance of the side will be thrown off kilter, and a threadbare attack will be weakened. More from The Ashes: Ashes TV coverage | Ashes radio coverage | Ashes schedule | Ashes squads | Ashes predictions | Ashes highlights | Sky Sports Ashes commentators | Test Match Special Ashes commentators Boundary changes Last month a report in The Times indicated that England are considering squeezing the playing area to give their tactics a greater chance of working. The ICC’s Test playing conditions state that no boundary can be shorter than 59 metres from the centre of the pitch, while the boundary rope must be brought in between three and 10 yards to create a safe run-off area for fielders. Australia’s punditocracy lapped it up. “What a load of junk!” screamed Michael Clarke, while Ian Healy sneered on SENQ radio that “boundaries are the least of their worries”. The off-spinner Nathan Lyon insisted he was unfazed: “I’ve planned for that and I’m excited by that challenge,” he told the Unplayable podcast. “I want to challenge myself against the best players, and this brand of cricket they’re playing is certainly bringing the crowds back. I’ve been hit for six... it must be getting close to 300 [times] now for me. I’m not worried by it at all, I’m not scared by it. It provides a chance in my eyes.” As with everything Stokes and McCullum do, there is sound thinking in there. A little mitigation against their batters’ highwire act is no bad thing; similarly, they’d happily drag Australia into a hitting contest. But Healy’s follow-up point carries weight too, that such theories can end up looking like clogged-up minds and overthinking. Perhaps the bigger question is how much respect the hitters give to those humid, nervy periods of Dukes-inflected supremacy, when the scorched earth policy is not just risky but foolhardy. Much of this series will play on England’s smarts, their game-sense in the moment. Being faithful to a philosophy doesn’t have to mean being fanatical. Can anyone back up Mark Wood? A little lustre leaves the contest with the news that Jofra Archer will not bowl again this summer following a recurrence of the stress fracture in his elbow. His absence jars hardest from a steady sequence of felled fast bowlers running from Olly Stone – ruled out of the start of the series with a strummed hamstring – through Brydon Carse’s troublesome trunk (return unknown) to the loss of Jamie Overton’s heavy-ballism, all of which leaves just one Englishman standing who could be classed as ‘proper quick’. The theory goes that Mark Wood, an unassuming-looking chap in a normal sized body who somehow bowls like a cyclone, is not able to play the entirety of a five-Test series, or anything close to it, which perhaps contributed to Stuart Broad being preferred ahead of him for the series opener at Edgbaston. History backs up that assessment. Wood’s 13 home Tests are spread across eight seasons (for 35 wickets at 40) and injuries have famously bedevilled him. But since lengthening his run-up he has been a sturdier presence, completing four of the five Tests in Australia last time out and, despite missing last summer with injury, returning across the winter to get through 60 overs in back-to-back Tests (for eight good wickets) on those Pakistani runways. While Wood is far from a banker, nor is it essential to have serious pace in your attack to win in England. Yet perhaps, with added seniority and a title-laden career now secured, this is his time. Wood has reserved his best work for overseas Tests, but he is a more complete bowler now, with good control allied to that pace through the air. He trusts his action and body and knows he’s a good thing. It’s true that the quicks don’t tend to dominate in England – the summers of Larwood, Tyson, Hogg and Johnson all happened in Australia. But in this era, playing this cricket on hardish and fastish pitches, Stokes will likely crave what Wood offers as the series progresses. Can Travis Head resit his English exam? Heading into the World Test Championship final with India, Travis Head’s record in England looked nasty. Australia’s No.5 had passed 50 just six times in 36 first-class innings and last year he played six games for Sussex without making a half-century. In four Tests in 2019 he averaged just 27, and this from the plumb spot in the middle order. For all that, the left-hander is a tough player to pin down – and his brutal century in the World Test Championship final at The Oval demonstrated that he is a player in exceptional form. He demolished England in the last Ashes series, setting the mood with a vicious 152 (148) at Brisbane – the start of a run of form that’s seen him average 56 from his last 18 games. His treatment of Jack Leach at Brisbane – his 13 overs went for 101 – was particularly savage, and if England are serious about bringing in the boundaries, then Head and Cameron Green – the wardrobe-shaped cheat code at No.6 – will be eyeing them up. Stokes has called for flat, fast tracks, and Head on a road is a very different proposition to Head on a green one. It’s often the lesser-heralded players who decide the big series. The Bairstow principle There was never any question that Jonny Bairstow would return to the team after that horror injury. The only question was how. Ben Foakes was the blameless fall guy, cast aside to make way for Bairstow, who resumes his glove affair with the Test team. Many have pointed out that his outrageous form last year came from having a clearly defined role at No.5, and that any shift risks disturbing the fragile alchemy of a complex cricketer. But his last great run of Test form came in 2016 in the slipstream of Stokes, when, as keeper, he made more runs across a calendar year than any keeper-bat in Test history. After that, it got complicated and messy, and his form turned erratic. But a happy and secure Bairstow equates to a very dangerous cricketer, and while his red-ball returns with the bat for Yorkshire have been patchy, he has kept well, taking a couple of screamers in his first game back. A middle order of Root, Brook, Stokes and Bairstow is dizzyingly watchable. Just make sure there’s a sofa nearby to hide behind. OFFER FOR RADIO TIMES READERS: Subscribe to Wisden Cricket Monthly today for £45.99 Not only will you save 30% off the equivalent single issue price but you'll also receive a free storage binder (RRP £13.99 - conveniently, holds 10 magazines!) PLUS a free copy of The Best of First Five Years of The Nightwatchman, Wisden’s cricket quarterly (RRP £15). Enter the code RADIOWIS at the checkout to get the offer. View Green Video on the source website If you’re looking for something else to watch, check out our TV Guide and Streaming Guide or visit our Sport hub for all the latest news. Take part in the Screen Test, a project from Radio Times and the Universities of Sussex and Brighton, to explore the role of television and audio in our lives. Try Radio Times magazine today and get 12 issues for only £1 with delivery to your home – subscribe now. For more from the biggest stars in TV, listen to The Radio Times Podcast.