Bangladesh will play the role of the underdogs in their World Cup quarter-final against India, but would it stop them from plotting to turn over the applecart? ESPNcricinfo looks at five things they must do to beat India

Mohammad Isam18-Mar-2015Play with underdog freedomBangladesh have very little to lose in their first appearance in a World Cup knockout match. Not many had expected them to qualify for the quarter-finals ahead of the tournament. Beating Afghanistan and Scotland were considered more important than looking further ahead, especially after a dismal 2014. Bangladesh’s goal posts moved as soon as they beat England in Adelaide.Pressure, though, isn’t much on the Bangladesh players. Sure, there is a large media contingent following the team and the madness back home is at an all-time high. But India have it a lot harder, in every sense of the word. Simply put, no team riding a wave as high as India’s would want to lose to a lower-ranked team.Take early India wicketsBangladesh rely heavily on a good start with the ball whether bowling first or second. They have taken at least one wicket in the first ten overs in four out of five group matches. The only time an opening partnership went beyond the first 10 and 20 overs was Sri Lanka’s after Anamul Haque dropped a sitter in the first over at the MCG.Shikhar Dhawan and Rohit Sharma have had only one substantial partnership, when they added 174 against Ireland. Bangladesh can take heart from the fact that this pair has not batted together for more than 7.3 overs in the other five group matches.Bowl better at the deathIndia’s run rates in different stages of the innings in this World Cup read: 4.65 in the first 10 overs, 5.88 from the 11th to the 40th over and 8.86 in the last 10 overs.Bowling first or second, Bangladesh have to break these scoring trends if they are to have any chance to remain at the same level of contest. They have generally kept the lid on the opposition’s batsmen in the first 10 (4.42) and the next 30 (5.09) overs. But the main danger is the last 10 overs when Bangladesh have conceded at 9.38 runs per over, so anything lesser would be seen as an advantage, particularly if they are bowling first.Handle the short ballIf Bangladesh have been looking at India’s bowling footage, they must have seen Mohammed Shami, Umesh Yadav and Mohit Sharma take wickets with bouncers. Shami has used it best, taking the wickets of Younis Khan, Misbah-ul-Haq, Hashim Amla and Chris Gayle, among others. Umesh and Mohit have bowled at sharp pace, particularly when pitching it short.Playing the short ball was one of Bangladesh’s primary concerns before they arrived in Australia in January. Two weeks in Brisbane were not considered sufficient enough to get the batsmen tuned to lengths there but so far only two of their dismissals have been caused by bouncers: Sabbir Rahman and Soumya Sarkar dismissed by Lasith Malinga and Chris Jordan respectively.Remember who they are playingBangladesh players have mentioned it a few times in the past that they find extra motivation when playing against India. Nobody has been able to put a finger on the exact reasons but this has emerged mostly after they won in the 2007 World Cup in Port-of-Spain. They have only won once more, in the 2012 Asia Cup, but the players never stop talking about the excitement of playing against India. Who doesn’t like beating their neighbours?

His farewell was hardly a fairytale finish but for a few magical years during England’s ascent to number one, Matt Prior carved out a legacy as one of the premier Test wicketkeeper-batsmen of his era

Andrew McGlashan12-Jun-2015As an England wicketkeeper establishes his place in the new world order, it is an opportune moment to reflect on one who held a lofty place among his contemporaries and also those that had gone before.Few doubt that Jos Buttler will go on to be remembered as a great England one-day cricketer. His extraordinary innings on June 9 was a reinforcement rather than an announcement and he could well gain that status in Test cricket too. But there should be no forgetting the man from whom Buttler took the role last year.The news of Matt Prior’s retirement came as no shock, but that did not dissipate the sadness. While the current England team try to build a new era, another link has been removed from what was, if only for a short period, a cricket team that could be called the best. So could their wicketkeeper.For a moment, just soak in a few of Prior’s statistics: 4099 runs; 256 dismissals, the second most for England behind Alan Knott; an average of 40.18, fifth among all players to have kept in at least 25 Tests, third among those to have reached 50 matches and second only to Adam Gilchrist above 75 caps; plus a strike-rate of 61.80, which puts him among the elite and is testament to his selflessness and also an ability to counterattack.Prior’s last days as an England cricketer – and, as it transpired, a professional cricketer full stop – were to be sprawling around while conceding 36 byes against India at Lord’s and then hooking Ishant Sharma to deep midwicket. He was not fit and he should not have played. The fact he did was a final act of the bloodymindedness that had made him such a priceless asset to England since his second coming as a Test cricketer in late 2008. From the comeback, until being dropped in Australia during the 2013-14 Ashes tour, Prior only missed one Test and that was for the birth of his child in early 2009 on the tour of West Indies.Not that the alternative ending would have been perfect, but in sport that rarely happens. After being dropped following the Perth defeat in December 2013, he performed his 12th man duties in the final two Tests on tour with the same gusto and team spirit (whatever Kevin Pietersen may say) that had been apparent while scoring his 4000-plus runs and taking his hundreds of catches. It was time for England to move on, but you can understand why they were lured back to Prior after his years of service and the desire to gel together a young team.Prior’s last great act as an England cricketer was one that embodied his career. Auckland 2013 and, in hindsight, a tour of New Zealand that would show the cracks of what would follow: a lack of swing away from home, Pietersen’s fitness and how tough life would be without Graeme Swann. On the final day at Eden Park, England were heading for certain defeat: five down at lunch, seven down at tea.Two days previous he had been the player to front up to the media after England had subsided in the first innings, in which he had made a standout 73. “I know it feels like the world’s over, but it’s not really,” he said. “We’ve got some very good cricketers who can put in match-winning, or match-saving performances. The thing I love about this team is we might do it the hard way, but we fight – and we keep fighting.”He was talking, as ever, about the team. But so much could be applied to the man himself. On the final day he entered at 159 for 6 and more than four-and-a-half hours later defended the final ball of the match from Trent Boult then raised his arms aloft in triumph.

“There has been a lot of stuff said. It’s a fickle world, if I punch one…I’ll be rubbish again.”Matt Prior while accepting his award as England’s 2013 Player of the Year. Just over 14 months later, he had played his final match.

That would prove to be the last of his seven Test hundreds, the first of which came on debut against West Indies at Lord’s in 2007, but that grand entrance did not prove a smooth pathway for the remainder of his career. By the end of the year, following a difficult home series against India, where he was drawn into a controversy over jellybeans on the pitch, and a tough tour of Sri Lanka, where his dropped catches drove Ryan Sidebottom to distractions, he was discarded. Already, a career was at a crossroads.The way he returned to the Test side, in late in 2008, was a credit to the hours of hard work he put in, and would continue to put in for the rest of his career. It is something he has since continued to show in setting up a new venture in the cycling world. He nearly gave up wicketkeeping for good to focus on his abundantly natural skills as a batsman – his cover drive was matched by few – but was talked around by Alec Stewart, his former manager, while the forming of a chance friendship played a vital role.After being dropped he went to the England Academy at Loughborough and trained with the Lions side, which is where he met former Nottinghamshire and England wicketkeeper Bruce French. “I’d never met the lad before and we clicked straight away,” French told the in 2013.”The player that emerged after that meeting became one of the premier wicketkeeper-batsmen of his era: from the period of 2009-2013, Prior was the most prolific of the lot in front of the stumps and increasingly secure behind them. He was a vital cog in England’s brief dominance of the Test stage; stood alongside the slips of Swann and Andrew Strauss he was at the hub of the team.His career-best score would remain his unbeaten 131 in Trinidad, but it was at the time of a run of three centuries in five Tests in 2011 – from the end of the victorious Ashes campaign in Australia into the following English summer – that his batting peaked.Yet in many ways, the biggest credit to Prior was how, as England reached their peak but struggled to hang on, he refused to fade. He battled in the UAE, stood up to South Africa, fought in India and then shone in New Zealand to be named England’s player of the year in 2013. There looked to be much more to come. The man himself certainly thought so, although his words on receiving the award – which was quickly followed by a pair against New Zealand at Lord’s – were sadly prophetic in many ways.”There has been a lot of stuff said. It’s a fickle world, if I punch one…I’ll be rubbish again. Everyone else can say their bits, I’ll just concentrate on catching as many balls as I can and keep working hard. In years to come, when hopefully I’ve played a few more years and caught a few more catches, we can see where I sit.”Regardless of the way his England career ended, however, Prior should be in no doubt about where he sits.

When Trevor Bayliss returned home from Sri Lanka and found himself overlooked for the New South Wales job he had to find work away from cricket, but it was brief hiatus before he was reaffirming his talents as a calm, astute coach

Daniel Brettig26-May-2015In July 2011, I took the 45-minute drive west from Sydney to Penrith for a chat with Trevor Bayliss. We were to meet at the real estate agent where he had found some work on his return home from Sri Lanka, a world away from the hubbub of the World Cup final he had helped guide the team into only a few months before, and even further from the hail of bullets that shredded their bus in Lahore in 2009.When Bayliss decided it was time to come back to Australia after four years based at the Cinnamon Grand in Colombo, he did so in the expectation that the New South Wales coaching job he had left for an international appointment would be there for him – his successor Matthew Mott having quit to take up a role as coach of Glamorgan. Instead, the NSW hierarchy opted against choosing Bayliss, opting for the younger Anthony Stuart.This left Bayliss with little to do, compelling him to try to forge a new career in real estate at the age of 48. Speaking over lunch, ostensibly about Australia’s forthcoming tour of Sri Lanka, it was evident that Bayliss was less than enchanted with the way he had been overlooked by the Blues, and that he felt he had plenty more to give as a coach. While Bayliss did not intend to make a fuss – it is not his way – he was forming resolve to re-emerge.His mightily sound cricket judgment was made plain that day by a few of his predictions for the 2011 tour, which at the time few thought Australia capable of winning. Bayliss reckoned the new captain Michael Clarke would flourish as both a player of spin and a captain of it, while the Australian bowler he expected to shine was Ryan Harris. Clarke went on to lead the team to an away win in his first tour as captain, while it was Harris who claimed the vital wickets to close out victory in the first Test in Galle.By that time the national coach Tim Nielsen’s job had been spilled by the Argus review, and while Bayliss’ record should have been impressive enough to make him a candidate, he was overlooked for that too. Instead, it was the general manager of the Sydney Sixers, Stuart Clark, who recognised the qualities of his former state mentor and appointed him inaugural coach of the “magenta” Twenty20 side.”Trevor is a high quality coach with a huge amount of success domestically and internationally,” Clark said at the time. “His ability and respect amongst the playing group provides the foundation to have a successful winning culture.”What followed was a season in which Bayliss did go about proving NSW wrong for underestimating him. The Sixers recovered from a slow start to lift the inaugural BBL trophy, and their success contrasted sharply with the results gleaned by the Sydney Thunder and the Sheffield Shield team over a largely barren season for Australia’s biggest cricket state. Working closely with Brad Haddin and a young Steven Smith, Bayliss created a winning environment that prompted the Kolkata Knight Riders to come calling ahead of the 2012 IPL. More trophies would follow.A year later, after Stuart had been sacked and the NSW executive and board overturned as a result of broadening discontent over performance and culture, Bayliss was returned to his former role as coach of the Blues. It was little surprise to those who had seen him work closely with players across the world that they went on to claim the Shield in his first season back in charge, again collaborating with the rapidly evolving Smith among others.Bayliss’ deep knowledge of Australian players will be a decided advantage for England, even if he will only have a few weeks to get himself settled into the role before the Ashes. In addition to his work with Smith and Haddin, Bayliss was the NSW Under-19s coach when Clarke was their captain, helping to forge the flamboyant tactical style that has won him plenty of admirers over the past four years. And this is before mentioning the likes of David Warner, Josh Hazlewood, Mitchell Starc and Nathan Lyon – all coached by Bayliss in recent times.He was rated highly enough by Cricket Australia to be employed as an interim coach last year for a winning Twenty20 series against South Africa, where he used the experience gained at the Sixers and KKR to bring the short form team together. After a first up loss in Adelaide, they would finish the stronger, and close out the series 2-1.Philosophically, Bayliss believes in calmness above all else. He is admired in NSW for remaining level at all times, and more than one player has observed that it is impossible to know the match scenario by looking at his face. While firm in his directives and clear in his ideas on how the game is best played, he has little use for histrionics. He is also adept at managing players who may not see eye to eye, as evidenced by how NSW remained successful during a period when Haddin and Simon Katich both coveted the captaincy.The lengthy queue for places in the NSW XI has long made it the most pressured environment among all the world’s domestic teams, something Bayliss understood inherently from his own playing days. He will bring that desire to maintain an even strain to the England rooms, thereby corresponding neatly with the following observation of the team director Andrew Strauss in his autobiography:”International cricket differs from county cricket in the sense that players need far less pushing and prodding in order to get themselves up for a game of cricket. Every time they go out there to play, they are playing for their careers. They are bound to be up for it. What is required at the highest level is a coach who is able to calm players down, allowing them to play to their strengths and instilling confidence in their methods.”Most of all, Bayliss will keep things simple. He is an uncomplicated character, who kept living in the quieter surrounds of Penrith well after he could easily have moved into Sydney’s leafier districts. When queried about the commute that day in Penrith, he observed that he was generally travelling against the traffic, and had little interest in the faster living to be had to the east. Those who have decried some of the data-driven excesses of modern coaching will delight in the fact that when Bayliss interviewed for the NSW job in 2013 he was the only candidate not to make a PowerPoint presentation.England have paid a high price to lure Bayliss away from Penrith for at least the next two years, but the value of their choice will be measured in how far England can progress. As Bayliss might have said to a skeptical buyer during his few months trying to close out property deals rather than cricket tournaments, this looks a very sound investment.

Graeme Fowler has stepped down from running the centre of excellence he founded at Durham University but his influence on numerous players was profound

Will Macpherson17-Jun-2015″I set up the Centre of Excellence at Durham hoping to give guidance and be the coach I would have liked to have been coached by. I was there to help, not tell them what to do.”So says Graeme “Foxy” Fowler, who last month left his post at Durham University after 19 years. If it seems a fine mantra, it has certainly reaped rewards; Fowler departs having nurtured 60 county cricketers, six captains and six England internationals, including Andrew Strauss, who led England in half of his 100 Tests. If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, the other five university centres of excellence set up by the MCC – and the direct implementation of Fowler’s methods – suggest a job well done.So do his charges. Cricket-wise, as Essex’s Tom Westley puts it, “Foxy was Durham Uni and Durham Uni was Foxy”. The numbers tell the tale of a fruitful scheme but the impact on graduates endures. They fondly remember their salad days – under the stewardship of one of the game’s most seasoned, successful and popular personalities – and continue to call on his counsel.The endorsements are as notable for their regularity as their volume. Fowler, Strauss says, “was the man who turned me from a recreational cricketer to someone who believed he could play professionally”. Warwickshire batsman Laurie Evans isn’t alone in saying “Foxy taught me as much about life off the pitch as on it”, while Nottinghamshire’s Greg Smith believes he “brought me self-awareness and readied me for what was required to play professionally”.Throughout these conversations, the same ideas pop up: that Fowler was a brilliant communicator and refreshingly old school; brotherly not fatherly, a friend not a teacher; seldom worked on technique but focused on personal development; nailed the simple things and wasn’t prescriptive, wanting individual students to think for themselves.

“He tried to help and guide you to learn lessons about yourself. He did things exactly the right way, with a balance between nudging us in the right direction but also allowing you to feel in control of your own destiny”Andrew Strauss

All this was born out of Fowler’s personal experience, as a cricketer with Lancashire and England and as an educator: he is qualified as an Advanced Coach and a PE teacher. But most important was his experience as a teenager. Leaving school Fowler faced a decision: join Lancashire or continue his education at Durham.”I didn’t know how far I was going to go with cricket,” Fowler says, “and had always been advised to go as far as I could in education, so I went to Durham. When I finished playing, 17 years after university, nothing had changed – young cricketers still had to make the same decision. It seemed unfair.”Strauss was a second-year student when Fowler returned to Durham. The university had a strong sporting tradition and attracted quality schoolboy sportsmen, of which Strauss was one, although he hadn’t settled on cricket over rugby when he arrived from Radley College – a path also trodden at a similar time by Robin Martin-Jenkins and Ben Hutton. Instantly, Strauss remembers, Fowler’s new scheme had the paw prints of his larger-than-life personality – his cackle has legendary status – all over it.”He immediately transformed this archaic student-led club into something better than most county setups,” Strauss says. “We had fitness programmes, psychological testing, more structured practice, plans and routines. My first summer with Middlesex was after my first year and I was shocked by the step up. But by the time I went to Middlesex after second year, I was very well prepared. I was one of the fittest and my thinking about the game had changed in that year under Foxy.”Smith and Westley believe that they were fitter under Fowler’s watch than at any stage since. “Fox’s take was that because we weren’t as experienced as the counties, we had to be fitter,” Smith says. “So he had us up at least twice a week for sessions at 7am. We were ridiculously fit considering other aspects of student lifestyle.” Westley’s abiding memory is the sight of Fowler atop a hill in winter, launching high catches for them.The showpiece events for the university, inevitably, were the county season curtain-raisers, though Fowler defends the fixtures from gripes about competitiveness: “I never asked for first-class status for these, they just gave us them.”Patrick Foster captained Durham University in 2009, was on Northamptonshire’s books and is now a teacher and coach in Oxford. Today Foster looks to use Fowler’s methods in his own work, remembering the empowerment given to students and the refusal to fear failure Fowler preached, especially when playing the counties. “On my first-class debut against Nottinghamshire, they were full of big guns and you’re a kid,” Foster says. “He made you believe that you’re on a level playing field with them, you had a right to play them and a chance of beating them. All that stood between us and them, he said, was experience.”It is this trait, master motivator and communicator, that pops up every time. “He tried to help and guide you to learn lessons about yourself,” Strauss says. “He did things exactly the right way for a guy coaching a university team, with a balance between nudging us in the right direction, but also allowing us to feel, as you do as a student, that you’re in control of your own destiny.”Fowler demonstrates this when discussing Strauss: “If I’d treated him like me and not as him, he’d have had a Test record like mine. We were exploring the limits of ability.”Fowler made three centuries for England during the 1980s•Getty ImagesThat “balance” Strauss mentions is crucial. In the balance between academics and cricket, the former took priority – “that’s why they’re at university,” Fowler says. Students were encouraged to know their limits – in terms of sleep, of drink and of time required in the library or the nets in order to thrive. They were expected to find their own way, often a new experience after teenage mollycoddling from counties.In the balance between encouraging and leveling gifted youngsters whose attitudes test the border between confident and conceited, Westley and Smith – who Fowler claims are two of the only students he ever gave “a proper bollocking” – certainly appreciated his guidance. Both recall a visit to Fowler’s office, where, Smith says, “he just let me have it for ten minutes. I left, a bit shellshocked”. Westley agrees: “We’d got a bit above our station during winter nets. I’ll remember that bollocking as long as I’m involved in the game.”Fowler bellows that infectious cackle when I mention the social side of his relationship with the students that every single one has recalled – from a beer and a burger to focus Smith the night before a Lord’s final, through wild nights after away games, to the legendary Halloween parties thrown by Foxy and his wife Sarah. Fowler’s struggles with depression are well-documented, and there were long illness-enforced absences from Durham, but it’s the good times that stuck.”The absences were sad but inevitable, and we didn’t know much about what was going on,” Westley remembers. “But when Foxy was on form, it was incredible. He’d be telling stories and laughing, with us hanging on his every word.”Perhaps the greatest credit to the scheme is not just these cricketers’ sadness upon his departure, but that Fowler never lost touch with any of them. Smith had recently been to dinner with him; upon Foster’s release from Northamptonshire, Fowler was the first person in touch and actively sought him a new county. Evans and Westley know he remains just a phone call – or tweet – away. The production line has ceased, but Foxy’s mark has been as stark on the English game as it has on each of those cricketers.

ESPNcricinfo staff30-Jul-2015Ahmed Shehzad was then involved in two 30-plus partnerships – with Mohammad Hafeez and Shoaib Malik – before falling for 46 in the 12th over with Pakistan on 83 for 3•AFPAnwar Ali struck on the third ball of Sri Lanka’s chase, sending Kusal Perera back for 4•AFPTillakaratne Dilshan was next to go, edging Sohail Tanvir to the wicketkeeper in the second over, leaving Sri Lanka on 13 for 2•AFPMathews fell in the 10th over for a 26-ball 23, after which Sri Lanka fell behind the required rate through the middle overs•AFPMilinda Siriwardana and Chamara Kapugedera, however, kept them in the hunt…•AFP…but Anwar and Tanvir kept chipping away at the wickets, restricting Sri Lanka to 146 and capping up an impressive 29-run win•AFP

Also, most wickets in a three-Test series, keepers’ records, and most centuries in a losing cause

Steven Lynch08-Sep-2015There were 118 wickets in the Sri Lanka-India Tests. Is that a record for a three-match series? asked Puneet Shah from India

The 118 wickets in India’s just finished series in Sri Lanka equals the record for a three-Test rubber: there were also 118 wickets (out of a possible 120) when Australia toured Sri Lanka in 2003-04, and when Sri Lanka went to Pakistan in 1999-2000. There is one longer series with a higher proportion of total wickets: in the five Tests of the 1907-08 Ashes, 197 of the possible 200 wickets went down (Tests in Australia then were all played to a finish, which probably helped). There have been four two-Test series in which the maximum 80 wickets fell: Australia v England in 1886-87, South Africa v England in 1898-99, India v Pakistan in 1998-99, and West Indies v Pakistan in 2005.In India’s third Test in Sri Lanka, both wicketkeepers were making their Test debuts. How often has this happened ? asked Prakash Vakashpati from Singapore

In that recent match in Colombo, Kusal Perera and Naman Ojha became the 14th pair of wicketkeepers to make their debut in the same Test – but it was only the fourth instance since 1933-34, when Dilawar Hussain and Hopper Levett won their first caps in the second Test between India and England in Calcutta. In Delhi in 1951-52, Nana Joshi (India) and Dick Spooner (England) made their debuts together, and then it didn’t happen for 40 years, until South Africa’s first match back after readmission, in Bridgetown in 1991-92, when Dave Richardson was joined as a new cap by David Williams of West Indies. The most recent instance came in Bangladesh’s inaugural Test, in Dhaka in 2000-01: Khaled Mashud was winning his first cap for the home side, while Saba Karim was making his debut for India.Kusal Perera made two fifties on his Test debut. How many other wicketkeepers have done this? asked Chandra de Silva from Sri Lanka

Kusal Perera, who made 55 and 70 in the third Test in Colombo, was the third wicketkeeper to make two half-centuries on his debut – and one of the others was also on his side in this match! Dinesh Chandimal kept wicket on his debut for Sri Lanka, against South Africa in Durban in 2011-12, and scored 58 and 54. The only previous instance was by Dilawar Hussain, with 59 and 57 for India against England in Calcutta in 1933-34. Only three wicketkeepers have made more runs than Perera’s 125 on debut, and two of them are also Sri Lankans: Brendon Kuruppu tops the list with 201 not out against New Zealand in Colombo in 1986-87, while Romesh Kaluwitharana scored 136 runs (132 not out and 4) against Australia in Colombo in 1992. Matt Prior made 147 runs (126 not out and 21) for England against West Indies at Lord’s in 2007.The player with the dubious record of the most run-outs in ODIs is not Inzamam but Marvan Atapattu•AFPWho has been run out most often in ODIs? And Tests? My money’s on Inzamam-ul-Haq… asked James Wright from England

Well, Inzamam-ul-Haq was run out on 40 occasions in one-day internationals, as was Rahul Dravid – but they have to give pride of place to Sri Lanka’s Marvan Atapattu, who was run out 41 times. Mahela Jayawardene fell that way 39 times, and the Pakistan pair of Mohammad Yousuf and Wasim Akram 38. The most ODI innings without ever being run out is 59, by Kenya’s Maurice Odumbe; Quinton de Kock of South Africa has currently had 47 innings without being out this way yet. In Test matches, Ricky Ponting was run out on 15 occasions, Dravid 13, and Allan Border and Matthew Hayden 12. Dravid was thus run out 53 times in all international cricket, while Jayawardene (51), Atapattu (48), Ponting (47) and Inzamam (46) come next.Axar Patel took four for none in the recent unofficial Test against South Africa A. Has anyone ever taken more wickets without conceding a run in a first-class match? asked Hemant Kher from the United States

Slow left-armer Axar Patel’s second-innings figures of 6-6-0-4 in the recent second unofficial Test in Wayanad in Kerala set up an innings victory for India A, as their opponents were rolled for 76. This was the ninth time a bowler had taken 4 for 0 in a first-class innings, the most recent one being by Barbados’ Jonathan Carter against Jamaica in Bridgetown in February 2013. The last 4 for 0 by an Indian bowler was achieved by 47-year-old Lala Amarnath after opening the bowling in Railways’ Ranji Trophy match in Patiala in 1958-59. But there have been four instances of a bowler taking 5 for 0 – three of them, rather oddly, in English county cricket in the 1920s. The most recent 5 for 0 was by the Gloucestershire medium-pacer Percy Mills against Somerset in Bristol in 1928; it was also achieved by Dick Tyldesley for Lancashire v Leicestershire at Old Trafford in 1924, George Cox for Sussex v Somerset in Weston-super-Mare in 1921, and Dick Pougher for MCC as the Australians were bowled out for 18 at Lord’s in 1896.Who has scored the most Test centuries and taken the most Test five-fors in a losing cause? asked Gerry Cotter from England

I enlisted the aid of Statsguru for this one. Leading the way for the batsmen, with 14 Test centuries in vain, is Brian Lara with 14; next comes Sachin Tendulkar, with 11. Shivnarine Chanderpaul had nine, Mohammad Yousuf eight, and Mohammad Azharuddin and Andy Flower seven. Chanderpaul (whose Test career appears to be over) played in a record 77 defeats, ahead of Lara (63), Tendulkar (56), Alec Stewart (54) and Mohammad Ashraful (50). Turning to the bowlers, Muttiah Muralitharan took 15 five-fors in matches Sri Lanka lost, Richard Hadlee 11, and Kapil Dev 10. Wasim Akram three times took ten or more wickets in Tests that Pakistan ended up losing.

ESPNcricinfo staff23-Oct-2015Sarfraz Ahmed kept Pakistan’s runs flowing in a busy innings•Getty Images… until he and Wahab Riaz both fell in the space of two overs from Moeen Ali•Getty ImagesAsad Shafiq was the mainstay of Pakistan’s morning effort, but he was last man out for 83•Getty ImagesAlastair Cook and Moeen launched England’s innings in front of a near-empty stadium•Gareth Copley/Getty ImagesBut Moeen was soon gone, caught at short leg for 1 in Wahab’s first over•Gareth Copley/Getty ImagesCook picked up where he left off in Abu Dhabi with another fluent display•Gareth Copley/Getty Images… but Ian Bell’s struggles continued as he was caught behind off Imran Khan for 4•Gareth Copley/Getty ImagesJoe Root launched his innings with a typically busy display•Gareth Copley/Getty Images… but he was given a rough ride in an outstanding spell from Wahab•Gareth Copley/Getty ImagesCook had one major let-off when a ball from Yasir Shah struck his stumps but didn’t dislodge the bails•Gareth Copley/Getty ImagesHowever, his luck ran out on 65 when he was caught at leg slip off Yasir•Gareth Copley/Getty ImagesBy stumps, Joe Root had negotiated the shadows to reach 76•Gareth Copley/Getty Images… while Jonny Bairstow was 27 not out•Gareth Copley/Getty Images

In five minutes, Nathan Lyon was twice ruled not-out, controversially. The Twitter world did not hold back

ESPNcricinfo staff28-Nov-2015Nathan Lyon’s attempt at sweeping Mitchell Santner ended with Kane Williamson catching the ball at gully, and New Zealand appealed immediately. Umpire S Ravi ruled not-out, but Brendon McCullum reviewed the decision because New Zealand thought the ball had hit the top edge, lobbed off Lyon’s shoulder and been caught. Drama ensued.Hot Spot showed a faint mark on the edge of Lyon’s bat and there appeared to be some deviation, but the third umpire Nigel Llong ruled that there wasn’t enough conclusive evidence to overturn the decision because of unfavourable camera angles and real-time snicko indicating no edge.

Hmmm… interesting DRS. I believe that is out, despite being an Aussie supporter. #AUSvNZ

— Lisa Sthalekar (@sthalekar93) November 28, 2015

Do we need more to show that Nathan Lyon actually top edged that.Using technology is one thing,while interpreting 'IT' is another. #AusvNZ

— Ashwin Ravichandran (@ashwinravi99) November 28, 2015

To make matters worse, Lyon had started walking off after seeing the Hot Spot replay on the big screen at the Adelaide Oval.

Obvious mark on hot-spot, Lyon clearly hit the ball on to his shoulder & he walked off the ground. Ridiculous waste of time & wrong decision

— Shane Warne (@ShaneWarne) November 28, 2015

Because there was no evidence to suggest an edge, Llong even considered whether Lyon could have been lbw.

one review, all the DRS toys on show #AUSvNZ

— Gaurav Kalra (@gauravkalra75) November 28, 2015

However, that didn’t work too well.

Somehow they managed to review ball 53.4 for a catch and 53.3 for the lbw #AUSvNZ

— Brydon Coverdale (@brydoncoverdale) November 28, 2015

Though the on-field umpires have had most of their decisions upheld when reviewed in this series.

So after all that the umps now 16 from 16 for DRS. #AusvNZ #pinkball

— Jesse Hogan (@Jesse_Hogan) November 28, 2015

On television, Llong was heard suggesting to Ravi that the Hot Spot mark could have been caused by anything, and that he couldn’t be sure it was from Lyon edging the ball.

What is ANYTHING the DRS umpire considered caused the hot spot on the bat of Lyon

— Matthew Hayden AM (@HaydosTweets) November 28, 2015

I can only assume Lyon's bat has partially combusted – spontaneously. #hotspot #AUSvNZ

— Mike Thorpe (@MikeThorpeTVNZ) November 28, 2015

There were a few jokes around Lyon’s stand on walking.

So, does that mean Nathan Lyon is 'walker' or not a 'walker' from what we've just seen? I'm not sure… He sort of did both.

— Adam White (@White_Adam) November 28, 2015

But it was clear that the decision had an impact on the match.

This is now the highest partnership in the match so far. That review gets more and more significant with every run. #ausvnz

— Brydon Coverdale (@brydoncoverdale) November 28, 2015

Pulling off tough asks in the final over of a T20I chase

ESPNcricinfo staff16-Nov-2015Zimbabwe v Bangladesh, Mirpur, November 2015
Runs required: 18
Bowler: Nasir Hossain
Key batsman: Neville Madziva
Over: W, 6, 2, 4, 6•Associated PressHong Kong v Afghanistan, Dublin, July 2015
Runs required: 16
Bowler: Mohammad Nabi
Key batsman: Babar Hayat
Over: W, 4, 6, 1 wide, 3, W, 2•ICC/SportsfileNew Zealand v Zimbabwe, Hamilton, February 2010
Runs required: 14
Bowler: Shingi Masakadza
Key batsman: Kane Williamson
Over: 1, 4, 6, 4•AFPPakistan v Sri Lanka, King City, October 2008
Runs required: 13
Bowler: Nuwan Kulasekara
Key batsman: Shoaib Malik
Over: 1, 6, 1, 4, 4•AFPSri Lanka v India, Gros Islet, May 2010
Runs required: 13
Bowler: Ashish Nehra
Key batsman: Chamara Kapugedara
Over: 6, 1, 2, 1, W, 6•AFP

The absence of any cricketers from the BBC’s annual awards bash is another stark warning of the invisibility of the sport in the British mainstream

George Dobell02-Dec-2015There are some things – good teeth, a parachute, a car that starts in wet weather – that you appreciate more in their absence.So it was when the contenders were announced for the BBC’s Sports Personality of the Year award. In a year when England have won the Ashes, when Joe Root has been rated – albeit briefly – the best Test batsman in the world and when Stuart Broad has bowled out Australia in a session, there was no room for a cricketer in the 12-strong list.That is not to denigrate the merits of each contender or accept the somewhat self-congratulatory worth of the award. But there was a time when Ashes success warranted open-top bus rides through Trafalgar Square and MBEs all round. There was a time when cricket seemed to matter more.But that was when cricket was broadcast on free-to-air television. And, whatever the many merits of Sky’s coverage of England cricket over the last decade or so, it is hard to avoid the conclusion that the game, starved of the oxygen of publicity in the UK, is diminishing in relevance by the year.The broadcast deal is not cricket’s only issue. Many school playing fields are long gone and cricket, with its demand for time and facilities, cannot reasonably be expected to fit into many teachers’ timetables. The world has changed and a game that lasts either a full afternoon or five days may have lost its appeal to a quicker, more impatient world.When Warwickshire first won the County Championship, a huge crowd greeted their return to New Street Station; if they win it next year, the local paper will pick up a short report paid for by the ECB and find a column inside the paper for it. The warning signs are everywhere.Which is why T20 cricket – and televised free-to-air T20 cricket – is so vital. It is the vehicle by which the game can reconnect and inspire another generation of players and supporters. The hugely encouraging spectator numbers in 2015, spectator numbers that owe a great deal to the marketing nous of some counties, shows there is hope and potential. It remains a great game. We just need to expose more people to it.It seems the penny has dropped. While nothing is yet resolved, it does seem that some key figures at the ECB have accepted the counties’ argument that free-to-air coverage – either on television or on-line – has a part to play in the next television deal.They had hoped that a new, city-based T20 league would enable them to squeeze enough money out of the next broadcast deal to make the problem go away for a while. But the counties saw, to their credit, that this would have been a short-term solution. They saw that all the redeveloped stadiums in the land and a bank account boasting reserves of £80m or more (as the ECB have) was no use if those stadiums were rarely full.They saw, unlike the previous regime at the ECB, that money does not make everything alright. That not everything of value can be packaged and sold. That they exist to nurture and develop the sport and the money they make is a valuable tool to that end, not the end in itself.Cricket Australia have already journeyed that way. They took a hit on the Big Bash broadcasting deal, realising that it was more important for the sport to reach a mass audience on free-to-air TV rather than earn short-term riches on a subscription panel. They have pointed the way for the ECB.It currently seems likely (it could change) that, between 2017 and 2019 at least, the English domestic T20 tournament will be played in two divisions with broadcasters focussing almost exclusively on the top division. Many of the counties hope that format will remain long after the new broadcast deals begin in 2020; some at Lord’s hope it will be a Trojan horse for an eight- or nine-team event. If that latter argument wins in an era of subscription-only coverage, the game will become invisible across vast tracts of the country. It will retract yet further.That would be a missed opportunity. For there is, right now, much to like about English cricket. While football – with its spoilt-brat millionaire heroes – has lost touch with the man in the street, cricketers have re-engaged. They play with a smile, they stop for autographs and photos. They remind us that it is perfectly possible to be hugely talented, successful and likeable.The national team play exciting, joyful cricket. They have, in Jos Buttler, a man who can produce the sort of innings we used to see only when the finest Caribbean cricketers played the county game. They have, in Ben Stokes, an allrounder to make football-loving kids want to pick up a bat and ball; a man in Joe Root who might be the finest batsman in the world; a leader in Charlotte Edwards who has remained at the top of her sport throughout her career and done a great deal to further her sport. And, at a time when a few shrill voices would have us believe that communities of different faiths and cultures cannot coexist, a man in Moeen Ali who gently shows us otherwise. There is much to celebrate in cricket.

Whatever the many merits of Sky’s coverage of England cricket over the last decade or so, it is hard to avoid the conclusion that the game, starved of the oxygen of publicity in the UK, is diminishing in relevance by the year

But who will know unless they have a cricket-loving parent, they attend a private school or they come from an Asian community where the game remains relevant? How will the sport reach a new audience? How, in the long-term, will the value of the broadcast deals be maintained if the market diminishes? Cricket in England has become a niche and the absence of a cricketer in the Sports Personality of the Year list is another sign.The money earned over the last few years has enabled the ECB to do many admirable things. They have led the way in the funding of disability cricket, the development of women’s cricket and the improvement of facilities from the grassroots to the international game. All of this would have been desperately difficult without Sky’s investment.Nor is the past is not quite as marvellous as is remembered. Channel 4’s coverage of two Ashes series – now talked about as if it were a golden age – was interrupted, in all, by 33 hours’ worth of horse racing. Channel 4 also persuaded the ECB to start Tests at 10.30am one summer in order not to disrupt the evening scheduling of The Simpsons and Hollyoaks.Equally, the BBC coverage of “Botham’s Ashes” of 1981 was interrupted by programmes such as Playschool, Chock-a-block and The Skill of Lip-Reading while, for several years, their Sunday League coverage consisted of a single camera. Still, for many of us, it was our gateway drug to this great game. And yes, it seems to fair to reflect whether the BBC, for all the excellence of its radio coverage, for all its good intentions and the fine things it stands for, is currently keeping its side of the bargain when it comes to broadcasting sport.Since 2006, Sky, with their multiple cameras, has taken cricket coverage to a new level. By broadcasting all England games home and away – something of which we could not dream 25 years ago – guaranteeing weeks of county coverage each season, and their willingness (a willingness we often take for granted in the UK but which is rare elsewhere) to ask the hard questions in interviews and commentary, they probably offer the best service cricket lovers have ever had.Or at least those who can afford it. And there is the rub, because whatever the virtue of the Sky deal for the ECB’s finances and whatever the virtues of their coverage, the fact is that vast sections of the country have no access to live cricket on television. In a nation where an uncomfortable number have the need of foodbanks, it is grotesque to think most could afford subscription TV if they only cared enough.And whatever the benefits of sending coaches into primary schools – and Sky’s money has helped fund Chance to Shine – it is hard to believe that 1,000 hours of helping kids hit tennis balls off cones will ever replace one hour of inspiration provided by watching the likes of Ian Botham, Andrew Flintoff or Ben Stokes lead England to the Ashes. Nothing can replace the oxygen of publicity. The benefits of the Sky money have long since been counteracted by the negatives in the reduced audience.The water has been rising round our feet for some time. We have seen reports of falling participation numbers, we have seen England teams disproportionately reliant upon cricketers who learned the game either abroad or in public schools, and we have seen newspapers that used to take pride in their county cricket coverage abandon it almost completely. We have seen poorly attended international games – only the Ashes seems to be immune from the decline – we have seen club sides amalgamate and fail, and the days when domestic Lord’s finals sold out appear long gone. The absence of a cricketer from the Sport’s Personality of the Year list – whatever the imperfections of that contest – is the latest symbol of the decline. We’re fools to ignore it.This is not meant to sound pessimistic. Were there a fire in the building, one could remain optimistic of escape while still sounding the alarm. We have a great game to offer. But, as Bob Dylan put it, let us not talk falsely now, for the hour is getting late.