Largely forgotten match saw both teams score at more than seven an over, something which is now more commonplaceWhen England successfully chased a target of 359 to win the third ODI against Pakistan at Bristol last month it was the third time in five days that both teams in an unabbreviated ODI had scored at seven or more runs an over. Never in the history of cricket had it happened thrice in a single week but increasingly high-scoring has come to seem commonplace, assisted by powerplays, fielding restrictions, multiple new balls and countless technical and physical improvements and innovations.In 1,322 ODI innings in the 20 years following the first ODI in January 1971, despite many of them lasting 60 or...
Victory for England, fireworks from Chris Gayle and a Sri Lankan meltdown: our pundits set out their forecasts for a month and a half of ODIsVic Marks Australia. England may have the batsmen but Australia, if they’re fit and firing, have the bowlers in Starc and Cummins, plus a highly motivated Warner and Smith. Two other reasons: they have won five out of 11 World Cups. I’m usually wrong. Related: Boos, hairbands and Cricket World Cup predictions – The Spin podcast Related: West Indies' Jason Holder: ‘Hopefully we can bring the people of the region closer’ Related: The Spin | A brief history of the Cricket World Cup Related: Gareth Batty’s guide to the Cricket World Cup grounds Related: The...
Having lost 24 of their last 28 completed ODIs, expectations are low and prospects are bleakTheir captain has scored all of 267 one-day international runs, their best player is a grumpy 35-year-old fast bowler, their top order is fragile, their spin stocks are thin, their fielding is frequently comical and their coach was fearing for his job only months ago. Have any previous champions ever arrived at a World Cup in such disarray as Sri Lanka?Having lost 24 of the last 28 ODIs they have completed, expectations are low and predictions are bleak. Can they manage one upset win? Can they avoid the wooden spoon? Will they even be competitive?Sri LankaICC world ranking 9 (as of 6 May)Captain Dimuth KarunaratneCoach Chandika HathurusingheWorld Cup...
Kusal Perera’s and Oshada Fernando’s last-wicket stand of 78 to beat South Africa last weekend was one of the finest spectacles the game has produced in recent yearsLast Saturday in Christchurch, Martin Guptill thrashed a century for New Zealand in a one-day game against Bangladesh; in Dubai, Shahid Afridi finished off Multan Sultans’ Twenty20 match against Islamabad United with back-to-back sixes; and in Chittagong a young kid called Jamie Smith made a run-a-ball hundred for England Under-19s in a Test against Bangladesh. Cricket’s always on, somewhere or other, one format or another, bat hitting ball like the background tick-tock of a wall clock, something you only really notice when you look at it, catch a fraction of the match in...
Jimmy Anderson could lose his seam partner should the tourists opt for horses for courses in GalleThis is a special place for a Test match. Two sides of Galle’s cricket ground are flanked by the ocean and a third is overlooked by the magnificent old Dutch fort where the pauper and the miser can share an excellent view of the cricket. On Saturday the skeletons of the awnings to be fixed over the stands were being erected to prevent English spectators from being frazzled or drenched come Tuesday for the first Test against Sri Lanka – hopefully the former is the greater peril but there are no guarantees at this time of the year.There was also some activity out in...