A host of new players can expect to be given their chances in the two Tests against Sri Lanka

Firdose Moonda22-Dec-2020The times they are a-changin’ in the South African Test team. Seven uncapped players were included in their initial squad to play Sri Lanka. And even if all the newcomers don’t debut in this series – in particular, the luckless Keegan Petersen – they won’t be far off their first caps as Project Restart gets properly underway, six or so years after it should have begun.South Africa have spoken of themselves as being in transition since around 2014 when Graeme Smith retired. He is now the director of cricket, so things have moved on considerably, even though the rhetoric around rebuilding has not. Temporary Test captain Quinton de Kock said he wants to see “younger guys come through and learn fast” this summer so South Africa can start to find a structure to take them forward, even when de Kock is no longer leading them. These are the names and faces to keep an eye on as South Africa start their Test summer.Glenton Stuurman The most likely of the rookies to make an appearance, Glenton Stuurman is 28 and so shouldn’t be considered a youngster. Rather, he is someone whose seasons in the domestic game have finally been recognised. He was the third-leading wicket-taker for South Western Districts (a team based in the town Oudtshoorn, best known for its ostrich farms) in the 2016-17 summer with the bulk of his haul coming on flat, dry surfaces; and he topped the tournament’s wicket-takers’ list in 2018-19. By then, the franchises had taken their heads out of the sand and Stuurman was contracted to the Warriors, in Port Elizabeth, where conditions are slightly, but not much more, seamer-friendly.Through the move, Stuurman improved his conditioning, picked up a yard of pace and became a franchise regular, taking 18 first-class wickets for them in six matches last season and seven in two matches this summer. His ability to strike with the new ball and move the ball off the seam have seen him touted as a replacement for Vernon Philander, who retired in January. With Beuran Hendricks out of the series, Stuurman has the perfect opportunity to make the third seamer’s role his own.Migael Pretorius The same season that Stuurman came through, Pretorius did too. He was the top bowler in the three-day competition with 42 victims at 17.78. He was playing for Northerns, having come through Waterkloof High, the same institution as Pieter and Janneman Malan and Hardus Viljoen, but could not crack the Titans’ team despite signs of good pace and allround ability. Instead, Pretorius moved to the Lions, where he was given some opportunity, but it’s only this summer, at the Knights, under the guidance of coach Allan Donald, that he has managed a sustained run.He lies third in the first-class bowling stats with 20 wickets at 20.65 which earned him a late call-up to the national squad, five days after the 15-man group was announced. Ostensibly, Pretorius was picked as cover but if South Africa opt to go all-pace, he may find himself in the XI. It will help his cause that he has scored two half-centuries at franchise level and could make a case to play as a lower-order allrounder.Lutho Sipamla impressed on his international debut•Gallo Images/Getty ImagesLutho SipamlaNot an entirely new face, Sipamla has played 10 white-ball matches for South Africa but earned his first call-up to the Test squad when three additional players were added late last week. Sipamla has only played one first-class match this season, so the selectors may well be relying on last summer’s form, where he was the leading seam bowler in the first-class competition with 24 wickets at 24.62.At 22 years old, Sipamla may be a player South Africa are keeping around for the future, especially after the torrid time he endured in the only T20 he played against England, so we may not see him against Sri Lanka. That said, with the second Test being played at his new home ground, the Wanderers, he may yet find a way into the team.Kyle Verreynne Despite de Kock confirming that he will keep wicket in Test cricket, Kyle Verreynne’s numbers make a strong case for him to be included as a specialist batsmen. He has averaged over 50 for four out of the last five seasons and his aggressive style of play adds middle-order impetus. In his three ODIs against Australia last summer, Verreynne’s two fifties were shows of confidence, a trait South Africa’s batsmen, especially their Test batsmen, have lacked.Related

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It will help that some of Verreynne’s recent runs have come at the one of this summer’s Test venues. He scored twin half-centuries for the Cobras against the Lions at the Wanderers in early November, to add to the 65 he made there in 2018. Those are the only three first-class matches he has played at the Bullring. He has also appeared twice at Centurion, scoring 47 and 42.Keegan Petersen It’s only taken a decade but South Africa have finally found another “KP,” and this one also plays his cricket at Kingsmead. Originally from Paarl, Keegan Petersen moved to the Knights, where he made a big impression in the 2018-19 season by topping the run-charts, and has since found a home at the Dolphins. He is currently eighth in this season’s competition and is averaging over 50 for the third straight summer.All indications are that Petersen is at the front of the queue of batsmen trying to get into the team, so it is hugely unfortunate that he was unable to enter the squad bubble ahead of the series. Last summer, Petersen was a non-playing member of the Test squad and received mentorship from Jacques Kallis, who was working for as a batting consultant for South Africa (and has since KP’d his way to doing the same job for England) and was thus considered next in line. He may have expected to get the first opportunity ahead of Verreynne, either at No.3, his usual position, or in the middle order.Sarel Erwee is a clean striker of the ball who could do damage down the order•Getty ImagesSarel Erwee Being in the position of reserve opening batsman is always tough, especially because these are spots that don’t change often, and that lot has fallen to Sarel Erwee. Convener of selectors Victor Mpitsang told ESPNcricinfo that Erwee is regarded as back-up to Aiden Markram and Dean Elgar and has not usurped Markram in top spot, which is understandable considering Markram’s form and the fact that he may be the next captain. It’s still harsh on Erwee who is fourth on the run-scorers’ list this season and has a dozen years of experience as a professional cricketer.Erwee is a clean striker of the ball and made headlines for his white-ball hitting which could see him deployed out of position to do some damage down the order. If that is the case, he would be in competition with Verreynne for a place.Raynard van Tonder It was impossible to ignore the leading run-scorer in the four-day competition, who also topped the list last summer, and so Raynard van Tonder was added in the squad, alongside Sipamla and Dwaine Pretorius as a late inclusion. At 22 years old and oozing talent, he is the kind of player who should be fast-tracked into international cricket, but the trouble could be where to put him. Like Petersen, he is a top-three player and could only find himself there if both van der Dussen and du Plessis bat lower down the order. The same argument that applies to the other batsmen mentioned here, that they could bat lower down, could also apply to van Tonder.What seems certain is that he will play for South Africa, and perhaps even put himself forward as a future leader. He captained the under-19 team at the 2018 World Cup.Wiaan Mulder Strictly speaking, Mulder should not be on this list because he has already played a Test – and it was against Sri Lanka – but he’s included because he is making a comeback after a long injury lay-off that caused him to miss all of last summer’s internationals. Mulder was identified in the Ottis Gibson era as the allrounder South Africa have been looking for since Jacques Kallis, and he may get the chance to show if that is the case in this series.Mulder has had a decent run for the Lions in first-class cricket this summer, with a hundred and a half-century and averages 43.83 and has bowled 82 overs with returns of 6 for 267. If Mulder can slot into the No.7 spot, with Dwaine Pretorius also competing for that berth, it may allow Quinton de Kock to bat higher (and hopefully have more time at the crease) and gives South Africa the luxury of being able to include an extra bowler. Finding the right balance has long been an issue for South Africa and though it is a lot to expect of Mulder, he could prove to be a big part of the solution.

Bess enjoyed better luck and greater reward but, in terms of consistency, Leach was superior

George Dobell07-Feb-2021It was, in this tale of two spinners, the best of times and the worst of times.While Jack Leach spent much of the day craning his neck to see how far back the latest six off his bowling had been hit, his former apprentice, Dom Bess, cut through the best middle-order in world cricket. To claim any of Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane, Cheteshwar Pujara or Rishabh Pant might have been considered an admirable achievement: to claim all four is exceptional.And yet, beneath those figures, there’s a more complex picture. Because statistics don’t just mislead. They lie and cheat and insist the cheque is in the post as they try to sell you a time-share in Fallujah.For the truth is that Leach bowled perfectly reasonably. He just happened to be the victim of an assault on his bowling by Pant that, on another day, could have resulted in a wicket. And while Bess, at times, bowled nicely, he would also be the first to accept his control slipped as the day wore on and he enjoyed more than a little fortune with a couple of his wickets. The point is, the difference in figures was far greater than the difference in performance.Bess is earning quite a reputation as having something of a golden arm. His five-for in Galle, not so long ago, contained some outrageous luck: Niroshan Dickwella slicing a long-hop to point, for example, or Dasun Shanaka caught after his slog-sweep cannoned off the short-leg fielder and into the gloves of Jos Buttler.And, as he claimed two more wickets here – both men in the top eight of the ICC’s Test batting rankings – with a full toss and long-hop, it was hard not to wonder how long his winning streak could last.Related

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What isn’t necessarily recalled so rapidly, is the missed chances he has suffered. The stumping and catch missed by Buttler against Pakistan, for example, or the slip catch missed by Ben Stokes against West Indies.Yes, Bess has had some fortune of late. But he has now taken 16 wickets in two-and-a-half Tests this year at an average of 19.37 apiece. For how long can such success be ascribed to fortune?And he did, at times, bowl really well here. He dismissed Kohli, for example, at the end of a probing spell that saw him build pressure on one of the best batsmen of his era. After 17 deliveries against him had produced just four singles – Kohli had, in all, faced 47 deliveries for his 11 runs and was without a boundary – Bess pushed one a little wider, saw it drift further before it turned just enough to take the inside edge.Might batsman error have been a contributory factor? Of course. But England had frustrated him for more than an hour and Bess had lured him out of position with that drift and punished him with that turn. It was a nice piece of bowling.”It’s certainly up there with the most satisfying wickets of my career,” Bess said. “Obviously he’s a phenomenal, world-class player. But it was special more for what my process was.”It wasn’t about bowling that magic ball. It was about smashing in 10-15 balls in a good area. Then something will happen. It’s the process of getting there. I was really pleased that I kept him in a spot, then one has gone and it’s straight to Ollie Pope.”The wicket of Pant was reward for some decent bowling, too. Bess knew Pant would come at him. But he continued to toss the ball up. And, this time, he added a bit of width, too, so that when Pant came down the wicket, he was always reaching for the ball. The hint of turn was enough to draw a slightly false stroke. Again, was the batsman at fault? Of course. But Bess set the trap and executed the plan neatly.It’s hard to find many compliments about the long-hop that dismissed Pujara, though. On most days, such balls will go to the boundary. But today, Pujara’s pull stroke thumped into the back of Pope at short-leg and looped to Rory Burns at mid-wicket.By then, Rahane had been brilliantly caught by a diving Joe Root at cover. To some extent, he had been set-up by the previous deliveries: Bess troubling him with drift and coming close to having him caught at mid-wicket a couple of balls previously. And the ball he attempted to drive did dip, too, contributing to the false stroke. The fact is, though, Rahane hit a full toss to a fielder. It would be disingenuous not to acknowledge the element of fortune.And that’s fine. The vast majority of wickets are a combination of good bowling and batsman error. So when Bess pointed out afterwards he was “due a bit of luck”, it was hard to disagree.”I’m not bothered how the wickets come,” he said. “There’s so many times you bowl a good ball and don’t get anything. You’re due a bit of luck aren’t you?”Dom Bess was rewarded with four wickets•BCCIBut Leach didn’t enjoy any such fortune. At one stage, Pant hit him for four sixes in seven balls. After eight overs, he had conceded 77 runs. It looks ugly, doesn’t it? They are worse figures than Simon Kerrigan endured at The Oval in 2013. And that was a game which proved a turning point in Kerrigan’s career.But while Leach was, like Kerrigan, hit out of the attack, he wasn’t hit off his stride. This was more a case of fine batting than poor bowling. And while Pant was clearly the victor in the duel – he scored 48 in 21 balls from Leach, including five sixes (all in the arc between mid-wicket and mid-on) and two fours – there was hardly a poor ball in there. Instead Pant, recognising the potential danger of Leach gaining assistance from the foot marks outside his off stump, backed himself to hit the bowler out of the attack. It was a high-risk approach, but it worked.But given just a bit of fortune, Leach might have won this tussle. Twice he saw the ball pass agonisingly close to the boundary fielders set for the stroke. At no stage did he lose his composure; at no stage did he lose his line and length. He basically came up against a fine player who took a chance and saw it come off. It happens.There was a case for persevering with Leach in the attack. England were defending a mammoth first-innings total of 578, after all, and Pant only needed to mis-time one. But instead, Root fiddled his bowlers around and, having frustrated Pant with an over of his own bowling – firing the ball into the rough outside off stump and conceding only a single in the process – he saw Bess benefit from his frustration in the next over.”I thought Leach bowled really well,” Bess said. “And that’s not me just saying it. Pant played a phenomenal innings, but if one goes straight up in the air, it’s a completely different game. I know people will look at the outcomes; I know at one point he was going at 10 an over. But it doesn’t matter: I thought he bowled really well.”The data would appear to support that view. Leach hasn’t bowled a single full toss in his 17 overs to date. And while he has dropped short 10 times, none of those deliveries cost him a boundary.Bess, by contrast, has bowled 10 full tosses and 16 short balls in his 23 overs to date. And while those deliveries cost him 27 runs, they also brought him two wickets.Leach’s pitch maps to Washington Sundar and Pant were almost identical, but Sundar took him for a far more reasonable 17 runs from 39 balls. It seemed to sum up Leach’s day when Jofra Archer, running back from mid-on, dropped Sundar off him near the close.So, hard times for Leach. But as Bess said, we must guard against judging these things from the “outcomes”. In terms of consistency, Leach was the better of the two bowlers. In time, you would think, his luck will turn.

They are producing formidable young cricketers at an impressive rate

Ian Chappell28-Mar-2021All right-thinking cricket opponents must have been dreading the day India got it right.That’s the day India unearthed all the talent that was available and then fully capitalised by selecting their best team. That time is well and truly upon the rest of the cricket world as India have showcased their amazing depth in the last few months.The emergence of such talents as Shubman Gill, Mohammed Siraj, Navdeep Saini, Washington Sundar, T Natarajan and Axar Patel would have been monumental if it had happened in the space of three years, let alone just three months as it did. And when you consider that Shardul Thakur excelled in just his second game and the ebullient Rishabh Pant was an international match-winner before his 20th appearance, it really is a rosy picture.A rosy picture, that is, if you’re an Indian fan; for the rest of the cricket world, it strikes a note of fear.Related

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It’s even more imposing when you consider that of those debutants, only Gill and possibly Siraj would play when every player is available for selection.The picture attains a veritable glow when you consider that Ishan Kishan, Suryakumar Yadav, Prasidh Krishna and Krunal Pandya have all made successful white-ball debuts against England.An abundance of talent like this is reminiscent of West Indies and Australia during dominant periods when they overflowed with good players, many of whom struggled to make the first XI.In West Indies’ case it was mainly a surplus of fast bowlers during a dominant span that kept serious pacemen like Wayne Daniel, Sylvester Clarke, Winston Davis, Patrick Patterson and Ezra Moseley from having substantial Test careers. When Australia were dominating at the turn of the century, capable batsmen like Matthew Elliott, Darren Lehmann, Stuart Law, Martin Love, and in the early part of the period, even Matthew Hayden and Justin Langer, struggled to find a permanent place.Surpluses like that provide selectors with a belly ache from gorging, but it’s a whole lot better than the pain caused by searching a bare larder for morsels.1:46

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Not only are India now in the enviable position of having a surplus of young talent but the candidates are also highly competitive cricketers.Long gone are the days when some Indian players would quietly go up to an opponent and confess, “You are my idol.” As one former Indian cricketer told me, “There used to be players who just wanted to own the sweater and cap.” There’s also no chance you’d hear in the current Indian dressing room the utterance, “Why me?” as happened when a Test team was announced during the 1977-78 Australian tour.It was MS Dhoni, born in Ranchi, whose success provided the inspiration for young cricketers from outlying areas to suddenly believe they could play for India. The belligerent Sourav Ganguly’s captaincy style encouraged all players in the Indian team to believe they were the equal of their opponents. This belief grew under the guidance of Dhoni, followed by the highly emotive leadership of Virat Kohli.India’s recent successes in Australia – particularly the latest one – have only reinforced the players’ belief in their ability to win under any circumstances. In an era where teams struggle overseas, India now have the depth of talent to alter that pattern. No longer can opponents afford to say, when India are on their doorstep, “Just pick a string of fast bowlers with long run-ups and the series will be ours.”Can India replicate the dominant periods of West Indies and Australia? It’s a much more difficult proposition these days, with an extra form of the game, a frightful schedule, and the riches of the IPL, not to mention a pandemic to circumnavigate.However, India have finally got the equation right and as long as they avoid the pitfalls often associated with continuing success, they are better equipped than any team to produce an era of dominance. The rest of the cricketing world beware.

During his 49-ball 92 against Punjab Kings, Dhawan repeatedly walked towards the off side to work the ball behind square leg

Hemant Brar19-Apr-20213:05

Ian Bishop: ‘Shikhar Dhawan just looks like a man on top of his game’

Fifteenth over of the chase. Jhye Richardson is bowling around the wicket to Shikhar Dhawan. It’s a slow, dipping full toss but way outside off. Dhawan could have easily hit it through the off side. Instead, he moves across, goes down on one knee and taps it towards square leg. Riley Meredith throws himself to his left to keep it to one.It was a shot that won’t make it to the highlights package but it highlighted Dhawan’s new approach to batting. An approach where he is not scared of trying out new things to add another dimension to his game.Once a mainstay for India in limited-overs cricket, Dhawan is no longer guaranteed a place in the T20I XI. One of the reasons behind that is in the last few years, the format has moved at a pace Dhawan couldn’t keep up with. Since the start of 2019, 25 openers from Full Member nations have played ten or more T20I innings. Only Fakhar Zaman (110.00) has a worse strike rate than Dhawan’s 114.24.With the T20 World Cup scheduled to be played in India later this year, Dhawan is leaving no stone unturned to claim his spot back. In the last two years at the IPL, he has improved his strike rate significantly, however, his 49-ball 92 against the Punjab Kings on Sunday exhibited a different aspect of his game.Until not so long ago, a typical Dhawan innings would be brimming with cover drives. If he played a cover drive early in his innings, the probability of him scoring big went up. While that may still be true, Dhawan showed he is not afraid of exploring other scoring zones.Shikhar Dhawan repeatedly walked towards the off side in order to work the ball behind square leg•BCCI/IPLDuring his Player-of-the-Match performance, which helped the Delhi Capitals chase down 196, Dhawan repeatedly walked towards the off side in order to work the ball behind square leg. He also deployed a much-improved slog shot, targeting the midwicket area in particular. As a result, 53 out of his 92 runs came in the arc from midwicket to fine leg. In comparison, the whole off side yielded only 32 runs.In all, Dhawan scored 13 fours and two sixes. Out of those, eight fours and a six came in the aforementioned region.After the match, Dhawan said he has been focusing on improving his leg-side game. “I worked on those shots in the nets, like going towards the off stump and using the pace of the bowler,” Dhawan told Star Sports at the post-match presentation.He further expanded on his approach in a chat with R Ashwin on . “Once I know the bowlers are bowling yorkers or wide yorkers and they have set up a field [for that], it’s hard to find a boundary on the off side. So I try to use the pace and I enjoy doing that, playing those cheeky shots.”My slog shot has improved a lot. It was there earlier as well but now I play it more freely. I am not afraid of changes, I keep on trying things. But I make sure I give them a good shot in the nets first and then bring it out in a game.”While such cheeky shots look great when they come off, they also carry an inherent risk element. In fact, Dhawan lost his wicket while trying a similar shot. In an attempt to hit Richardson towards fine leg, he ended up shuffling so much outside off that once he failed to connect, the ball hit the off and middle stumps.Related

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Dhawan, though, is aware of the risk-reward equation. “I am not scared of getting out. Today, I got out but these are the shots where I can score runs as well, so I back myself.”I have been playing for so many years now that I feel more relaxed. Relaxed but at the same time I am attentive so that I don’t take things for granted.”At the moment, with 186 runs from three innings, at an average of 62 and a strike rate of 163, Dhawan is the leading run-scorer in IPL 2021. But he also knows that all his runs have come in the batting-friendly conditions at the Wankhede Stadium. In fact, both his half-centuries have come while chasing, when the dew makes batting a lot easier.The Capitals will play their next two games in Chennai, where the batters haven’t been able to score that freely so far. Dhawan, however, is up for the challenge.”It [the Wankhede pitch] has got a true bounce and the ball comes at a nice pace,” he said. “Because of the dew also it gets much easier for the team batting second. For my batting style, I enjoy using the pace of the ball, and against a spinner, if it’s not turning, I can play my slog sweeps, but I have to be a bit mindful of when I am going to play in Chennai.”I have been seeing on TV that the wicket is turning and is a bit slow. I am already preparing for it and looking forward to playing against them and grabbing the opportunity.”Dhawan knows he won’t get a better opportunity than the IPL to win back his place in India’s T20I XI.

Report cards from the inaugural WTC and a look ahead at what to expect from the contenders in the second cycle

26-Jul-2021New ZealandBy Deivarayan MuthuHow it went last time
It started with drawn series in Sri Lanka, where centuries from Tom Latham and BJ Watling headlined New Zealand’s win in a rain-hit fixture at the P Sara Oval. Then, when New Zealand were dispatched 3-0 across the Tasman Sea, questions were asked of Kane Williamson’s captaincy and the depth in the side, especially after they were ravaged by injury and illness in the Sydney Test. Upon returning home, New Zealand answered some of those questions, sweeping India, West Indies and Pakistan 2-0 each. This despite the injury-enforced absence of their premier allrounder Colin de Grandhomme in the home summer, and Williamson nursing an elbow injury in addition to taking a paternity break in the interim.New Zealand became the first side to qualify for the final after Australia’s tour of South Africa was postponed over Covid-19 concerns. In the title match, in Southampton, New Zealand toppled India to emerge as the inaugural champions, nearly two years after heartbreak at Lord’s.Question marks
With tours to India and Pakistan lined up this cycle, New Zealand need to firm up their spin attack. Ajaz Patel has re-emerged as New Zealand’s No. 1 spinner, with an impressive performance in the victory over England at Edgbaston (a non-WTC Test), but are the other two fingerspinners, Mitchell Santner and Will Somerville, good enough overseas? Tom Blundell, who is set to fill the BJ Watling-sized hole behind the stumps and in front of it in the middle order, will likely face a tough challenge on these tours too.ESPNcricinfo LtdStrengths
Trent Boult, Tim Southee, Neil Wagner and Kyle Jamieson form a fearsome fast-bowling quartet that has even drawn comparisons with the West Indies attack of the 1980s. Jamieson’s ability to swing the ball both ways from a fiendishly high arm release has set the attack apart from other similarly potent line-ups. There’s also enviable depth on the batting front, with Devon Conway and Will Young stepping up on the most recent UK tour.Emerging talent
Watch out for Wellington’s Rachin Ravindra. The 21-year-old has three hundreds and nine fifties in 26 first-class matches and can pitch in with his handy left-arm fingerspin. He’s also one of the better batters against spin, having been on regular trips to India in pre-Covid times with the Hutt Hawks Club. Ravindra was part of New Zealand’s 20-member squad for the England trip, and it could only be a matter of time before he breaks into the XI.Who will they play?
Home: Bangladesh, South Africa, Sri Lanka
Away: India, England, PakistanA robust India A programme means that India have a ready pool of players to draw on at any point, as they did in Australia•Getty ImagesIndiaby Shashank KishoreHow it went last time
It was smooth sailing until the pandemic disruptions caused the points system to be tweaked – the finalists were to be determined by the percentage of points they earned in WTC series played. Having lost 2-0 away to New Zealand in February 2020 – India’s only away series loss during the two-year cycle – they needed to beat both Australia (away) and England (home) to qualify. From the depths of 36 all out in Adelaide, India, without Virat Kohli, eked out their reserve power to script history in Australia under Ajinkya Rahane’s captaincy. While their path to the WTC final was made straightforward by Australia cancelling their tour of South Africa, India didn’t help matters by conceding the first of their four-Test series to England on a slow Chennai pitch. Eventually, through R Ashwin and debutant Axar Patel, and some fizzy turners, India took the series 3-1 – including a two-day finish to the day-night Test in Ahmedabad – to qualify for the grand finale, where, having gone in as favourites, they stumbled in rainy Southampton against deserving winners New Zealand.Question marks
Few teams have the luxury of fielding two competent outfits at the same time as India do, but they still haven’t been able to nail down a solid opening combination, trying out Rohit Sharma, Mayank Agarwal, Prithvi Shaw and Shubman Gill in the previous cycle. Each of these four has been hampered by either form or injury along the way. KL Rahul’s role remains poorly defined – is he a back-up opener or middle-order contender? India’s next best, Abhimanyu Easwaran and Priyank Panchal, will have gone nearly 18 months with no first-class cricket when India begin their next cycle. Do the selectors earmark back-ups on white-ball form then?India would also do well to groom their spinners and a seam-bowling allrounder in Hardik Pandya’s absence – he is now being looked at as a white-ball option. Shardul Thakur has shown batting promise aplenty, as he did at the Gabba, but he may not yet qualify as an allrounder. There is Harshal Patel, a domestic veteran now, but few other options in domestic cricket. In the spin department, Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja continue to hold fort, but Kuldeep Yadav has slid further in the reckoning, while Shahbaz Nadeem hasn’t inspired the kind of confidence in internationals as he does in first-class cricket. Axar Patel seems ready, but India could look to build bench strength there, too.ESPNcricinfo LtdStrengths
India’s fast-bowling depth is enviable as are their middle-order batting options. A robust India A programme under Rahul Dravid has created a pool of match-ready players waiting to step in at any given opportunity, like they did in Australia. Shaw responded to his axing in Australia by topping the run charts in a record white-ball season for Mumbai. Suryakumar Yadav, at 30, has shown the kind of match-readiness few have in recent memory. Washington Sundar has gone from being a powerplay spinner in T20 to genuine batting allrounder in red-ball cricket. Mohammed Siraj has reaped the benefits of playing in overseas conditions on A tours. And these are just a few examples.Emerging talent
Gill has been earmarked as a special talent, and the next cycle could determine if he is set for the long haul as a Test opener. Rishabh Pant has transformed his game, going from unfit to undroppable in a span of six months. He has already given a glimpse of his leadership qualities as captain of the Delhi Capitals in this IPL in Shreyas Iyer’s absence. With Kohli, Rohit Sharma and Rahane all approaching their mid-thirties, India won’t mind having a few candidates to pick from when it comes to the Test captaincy.Who will they play?
Home: New Zealand, Australia, Sri Lanka
Away: England, South Africa, BangladeshAustralia’s WTC began with an Ashes win and sweeps against Pakistan and New Zealand, but ended in a humbling defeat to India at home•Matt Roberts/Getty ImagesAustraliaby Andrew McGlashanHow it went last time
After being strongly placed at the beginning of the cycle, with a drawn Ashes series and clean sweeps against Pakistan and New Zealand at home , it all went a bit wrong for Australia. Much has been made of the over-rate penalty imposed after the MCG Test against India, which meant they missed the final, but they still had their fate in their own hands during the final two matches of that series. However, they could not bowl India out on the final day at the SCG and slumped to a historic defeat at the Gabba.The Ashes in 2019 was Australia’s only away series of the cycle; the pandemic forced them to postpone tours to Bangladesh and, more controversially, South Africa earlier this year. They played only four Tests in the year from January 2020 to January 2021 and now are in the middle of another ten-month gap before their next assignment.Question marks
They largely rest around the batting, although the future of the captaincy will be up for debate after this season’s home Ashes. If Australia win, it could be time for Tim Paine to exit on a high; if they lose, he may not be given a choice. Only three front-line Test batters were named in the CA contract list – Smith, David Warner and Marnus Labuschagne – so there are at least two spots up for grabs at the start of the next WTC (Australia resume Test cricket with a non-WTC match against Afghanistan). Selectors and captain have made it clear there needs to be strong competition in the first part of the Sheffield Shield season. With three subcontinent tours in this cycle, they will also need to address the balance of the side, with two spinners likely being needed on some occasions.ESPNcricinfo LtdStrengths
Australia remain well-resourced in the pace-bowling department, led by Pat Cummins, who was outstanding throughout the first WTC cycle, but it might be time to actually delve into that depth. Because of Australia’s rotation policy (or specific selections for certain grounds), Josh Hazlewood and Mitchell Starc formed the attack with Cummins in all 14 WTC Tests, but Starc again finds himself under scrutiny in this format. In James Pattinson, Jhye Richardson and Michael Neser they have three quicks who will push hard for a place. And while there is uncertainty over the batting, in Smith and Labuschagne Australia have two of the best going around.Emerging talent
Will Pucovski and Cameron Green, who made debuts against India, are shaping up to be key figures in Australia’s future. Pucovski should return to the batting line-up if he recovers from shoulder reconstruction, while allrounder Green offers the potential to balance the side, especially useful for the previously mentioned subcontinental challenges. Green can command a spot as a batter alone but Australia will want his bowling to come good this season. Keep an eye on legspinner Mitchell Swepson too.Who will they play?
Home: England, West Indies, South Africa
Away: Pakistan, Sri Lanka, IndiaIn the last WTC cycle, Joe Root led England to 11 Test wins, including three in the subcontinent, but his captaincy future could hinge on the upcoming series against India and Australia•Pankaj Nangia/BCCIEnglandBy Andrew MillerHow it went last time
Really, it went about as well as England could realistically have hoped, given how little focus there had been on their red-ball team in the preceding four years of 50-over World Cup build-up. They scalped a share of their home Ashes against Australia, thanks in vast measure to the heroics of Ben Stokes at Headingley, then battled back gamely in South Africa to win 3-1. Two more series wins, over West Indies and Pakistan, in the lockdown summer of 2020 were followed by the most remarkable run of the lot – a trio of Test wins in Sri Lanka and India, all of them overseen by Joe Root at his unflappable best.At 1-0 up with three to play in India, England seemed to have a puncher’s chance of leapfrogging the hosts to claim a berth in that inaugural WTC final. Instead, Axar Patel and R Ashwin made mincemeat of their techniques on a series of spinning tracks. But to judge by how the final eventually panned out, England wouldn’t have laid a glove on the rightful winners, New Zealand, who they played in home-and-away two-Test series in this same cycle, outside of the WTC, to be emphatically outplayed in both campaigns.Question marks
The obvious issues of workload and bubble fatigue are hardly unique to England, but their itinerary is especially absurd in the coming months, with back-to-back five-Test series against India at home and Australia away making for an arduous opening gambit to their qualification cycle. Throw in the complication of the T20 World Cup and there are plenty of reasons to wonder if England can remain sufficiently focused on the longest format for long enough.And all that is before you consider the biggest single issue facing England right now – the alarming fallibility of a batting order that was picked apart by New Zealand and now has next to no red-ball opportunities to regroup before the India series begins.Then there’s the question of the captaincy. Root is England’s only genuine option for the short to medium term, but he’s been in the role for four years already and Ashes tours tend to mark the end of England Test cycles, rather than mid-points.ESPNcricinfo LtdStrengths
All things considered (and injury being foremost among those considerations), England have an enviable depth and variety of fast-bowling options right now – and they will need those resources, given the intensity of what is to come. James Anderson remains peerless as he approaches his 40th year, and Stuart Broad is equally unwilling to bow to the advance of time, but there’s a pack of contenders queuing up to make their case. Mark Wood and Jofra Archer (now back in action for Sussex) will have pivotal roles to play in the Ashes in particular, where 90mph bowlers are key to any series hopes. Oh, and did anyone mention the reigning England Men’s Player of the Year, Chris Woakes? Or the scourge of India in 2018, Sam Curran? It’s quite the stable taking shape.Emerging talent
It wasn’t so long ago that England were all in a lather about the glut of upcoming stars, so there’s no reason to believe that the likes of Zak Crawley, Ollie Pope, Sam Curran, Dom Bess and Dan Lawrence – all of whom were still 23 at the start of the season – won’t grow together to form the backbone of the Test team in the coming years. After his white-ball breakthroughs, Saqib Mahmood, just 24, has ample room to develop his talents across formats. Ollie Robinson, his historic tweets saga seemingly behind him, has a big opportunity to make his mark this summer. Nevertheless, it’s been a chastening few months, hardly helped by the strictures of lockdown, and it might be expecting too much for each and every one of those talents to come to fruition in the next WTC cycle.Who will they play?
Home: India, New Zealand, South Africa
Away: Australia, Pakistan, West IndiesSouth Africa cycled through three Test captains, Faf du Plessis, Quinton de Kock and Dean Elgar, over a tumultuous two years•Associated PressSouth Africaby Firdose MoondaHow it went last time
Anecdotal evidence suggests this cycle went as badly as South Africa could possibly have imagined. It coincided with the most turbulent administrative period in Cricket South Africa’s history, which saw them go through three acting CEOs, three Test captains and an entirely new board. On paper, it doesn’t look so bad, as South Africa finished mid-table, but fifth place flatters them.They were badly beaten in India (3-0) in October 2019, losing two of three Tests by an innings. Two months later, Thabang Moroe was suspended as CEO of the board and a new leadership was put in place – Graeme Smith was appointed director of cricket and Mark Boucher head coach. Boucher had less than two weeks to prepare the team for their home series against England. South Africa won the Boxing Day Test but lost the series 3-1 and had to wait a year to play in the longest format again. They beat a weakened Sri Lanka 2-0 at home, lost 2-0 away to Pakistan and then had a much anticipated three-match home series against Australia postponed, because the tourists were concerned about the Covid-19 situation in South Africa. The cycle closed out with South Africa beating West Indies 2-0 in the Caribbean in a series of no consequence, coinciding as it did with the WTC final.Question marks
Batting collapses became the worrying norm for South Africa in the last cycle, thanks largely to problems in the middle order. They moved Quinton de Kock up and down the line-up, experimenting with him at No. 4 initially, though it’s clear his best performances come at No. 7. They also need to settle on a spot for vice-captain Temba Bavuma and find a replacement for Faf du Plessis at No. 4. With Rassie van der Dussen installed at No. 3, Keegan Petersen and Kyle Verreynne have the opportunity to establish themselves in the line-up and stabilise South Africa.ESPNcricinfo LtdStrengths
A pace attack made up of Kagiso Rabada, Lungi Ngidi and Anrich Nortje, with left-armer Beuran Hendricks, the fast-medium Lizaad Williams, young quicks Lutho Sipamla and Marco Jansen, and allrounder Wiaan Mulder in reserve, suggests South Africa’s seam cupboard is as full as it has ever been. Add Keshav Maharaj, their most successful spinner since readmission into the mix and they also have variation in their bowling. What’s even better is that their schedule in the next cycle favours their attack. At home they will play teams used to slower pitches, and away they are likely to play on green tops on which their fast bowlers should be quite a handful.Emerging talent
South Africa have been looking for a batting allrounder since Jacques Kallis retired at the end of 2013. Mulder is the latest proposed candidate, though, unlike Kallis, he bats in the middle to lower order. Mulder has six Test caps to his name, five in the most recent cycle of the WTC, and while he has had limited opportunity to show his run-scoring ability, his reputation is promising. He is also a handy bowling option and an excellent slip fielder, like Kallis, and could be the two-in-one player South Africa need to give their XI an X-factor.Who will they play?
Home: India, Bangladesh, West Indies
Away: New Zealand, England, AustraliaHasan Ali’s golden run in Pakistan’s last few Tests should give the team confidence going into the next cycle•AFP via Getty ImagesPakistanby Danyal Rasool
How it went last time
If you glanced through Pakistan’s results, there’s little inkling they were playing anything more than the stock bilateral series. They hoovered up points in home series, triumphant against Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and South Africa, winning four of five matches in addition to a rain-affected draw. It was staid, predictable cricket for the most part, but there were highs: Naseem Shah’s hat-trick in a packed stadium in Rawalpindi just before Covid-19 shut everything down, and Hasan Ali’s sizzling comeback against South Africa led Pakistan to a pair of come-from-behind wins.On the other side of the coin, travel sickness remains a familiar theme for this young side led by Babar Azam. They lost all four Tests either side of the Tasman Sea fairly comprehensively, with David Warner’s record 335, the second-highest Test score by an Australian, coming at Pakistan’s expense in Adelaide. The series in England – weather affected as it was – represented Pakistan’s best showing away by far. They were unfortunate to lose the only Test that produced a result, at Old Trafford; the thrilling three-wicket defeat kept them winless on the road, and denied them any realistic chance of qualification for the WTC final.Question marks
Aside from their away form, the top order remains a concern. Pakistan have struggled to find suitable candidates for openers, especially against the moving, bouncing ball, ever since Shan Masood dropped out of form and contention. With Yasir Shah less of a dominant force in red-ball cricket, partly due to Pakistan having relocated back home from the UAE, there is uncertainty and inexperience in the spin department, which Pakistan have leaned on heavily over the past decade to bowl sides out. The absence of a genuine bowling allrounder tends to leave the XI looking unbalanced at times, but Faheem Ashraf has plugged that gap, at least in the short term. The alarming slide in fielding standards since the fielding coach Steve Rixon departed is also a concern, with slip catches particularly affected.ESPNcricinfo LtdStrengths
The middle order is rather impressive, especially since the inclusion of Mohammad Rizwan and Fawad Alam, two players who have translated domestic success into international proficiency. Rizwan’s wicketkeeping skills are a major upgrade on his predecessor, and the 29-year-old is also a reliable vice-captain to Azam, who, of course, is the prince of Pakistan cricket at the moment, boasting the second highest batting average (66.67) in the last cycle (behind only Marnus Labuschagne, among players with a minimum of ten Tests). The spectacular return of Hasan Ali, who has taken 26 wickets at 13.88 in his last four Tests, should give Pakistan confidence for the cycle ahead.Emerging talent
This is the area Pakistan likes to think it specialises in, but nurturing players to maturity has proved a tough task. Fast bowlers Mohammad Musa and Naseem Shah – both 21 or younger – made appearances in Test cricket in the last cycle before falling away, while 19-year-old wicketkeeper-batsman Rohail Nazir seems to always be knocking at the door without gaining entry.Who will they play?
Home: Australia, New Zealand, England
Away: West Indies, Sri Lanka, BangladeshSri Lanka’s batting is a worry but their spin stocks remain healthy, with Lasith Embuldeniya emerging as a future match-winner•Sri Lanka CricketSri Lankaby Andrew Fidel Fernando
How it went last time
Sri Lanka won their first match of the inaugural WTC cycle, orchestrating an outstanding fourth-innings chase against New Zealand in Galle. But that’s really as good as it got for them. New Zealand won the next match, in Colombo, and Sri Lanka didn’t win another Test until the last match of the cycle, against Bangladesh in Pallekele. By that stage, they had of course long been out of contention for a top-two spot.In between these wins there were some half-decent showings, such as the series they drew 0-0 in the Caribbean, but also some haunting, almost inexplicable, lows, such as the 2-0 defeat at the hands of England, in Galle – the batting almost comically incompetent in two of those innings. There were also losses on the road to Pakistan (1-0) and South Africa (2-0).Question marks
What isn’t a question mark in Sri Lanka’s cricket at present? Primarily, the worry is the batting, because although the top order is experienced, only one batter, Angelo Mathews, has an average higher than 40. Dimuth Karunaratne has been consistent as well – his 978 runs as an opener in the first WTC cycle, at an average of 57.52, is the second highest for a batter at the top of the order, after Rohit Sharma’s 1094. But it is Karunaratne and Mathews, plus Suranga Lakmal and Dinesh Chandimal, who have been most irked by the recent fallout over annual contracts. It will take some diplomacy to get them back in the fold. This is a serious challenge to the board, which often lacks tact.There is also the long-standing problem of injuries to fast bowlers. Although with Lakmal – he was Sri Lanka’s most reliable bowler this cycle, averaging 25.55 and maintaining an economy rate of 25.46 – Dushmantha Chameera, Lahiru Kumara, Kasun Rajitha, Vishwa Fernando and Asitha Fernando there is a half-decent, relatively youthful, fast-bowling group there, bowlers have often broken down in the middle of Test matches, as on the South Africa tour.In the next cycle, Sri Lanka will play both finalists from the last WTC away from home. They have never won a Test in India, and last won in New Zealand back in 2006.ESPNcricinfo LtdStrengths
As ever, the spin attack seems in the healthiest shape, with left-arm spinner Lasith Embuldeniya having emerged as a potential match-winner. Praveen Jayawickrama was also impressive in the one Test he has played so far – his 11 for 178 were the best figures for a Sri Lanka debutant, and the tenth best for a debutant in Test history. Ramesh Mendis’ offspin has also been good in home conditions, and Dhananjaya de Silva has seemed capable of holding down an end with his darts, even if he has not been a wicket-taker. There are caveats to this too, however. All of these bowlers are inexperienced at Test level, and with the veteran Dilruwan Perera now not really in contention for a place, there is a chance this greenness could be exposed, especially overseas.Emerging talent
If Sri Lanka’s domestic system can claim to have produced a Test-ready batter, it is 23-year-old Pathum Nissanka. He has consistently racked up first-class runs, and averages 64.45 across 65 innings. He also hit a century against West Indies in Antigua, in his first Test, and for now, appears to be one of the more technically sound batters in Sri Lanka’s top order.Who will they play?
Home: Australia, Pakistan, West Indies
Away: Bangladesh, India, New ZealandA depleted West Indies side beat Bangladesh 2-0 at home, but it was their only series win of the first WTC cycle•AFP/Getty ImagesWest Indiesby Firdose MoondaHow it went last time
West Indies will be disappointed to have finished second from the bottom and to have won only one of the six series they played in, even if it was a win to remember. They beat Bangladesh 2-0 away with a second-string side after several first-choice players opted out of the tour because of bio-bubble fatigue. That series introduced the world to Kyle Mayers, who scored an unbeaten double-hundred in a successful chase of 395 in Chattogram – the highest in Asia – but West Indies could not close out their other series.West Indies beat England in the opening Test of their three-match series in July 2020 in a match that marked the return of international cricket since the Covid-19-enforced lockdowns around the world, but they lost the next two matches. They also lost at home to India at the start of the cycle and to South Africa at the end of it. In between they drew a series against Sri Lanka by showing some batting fortitude in the first match but their bowlers could not produce a win in the second.Question marks
West Indies scored more than 300 only five times in 26 innings in the last WTC cycle and only four batters scored hundreds during the tournament, none of them getting more than one. Two batters, Mayers and Nkrumah Bonner, averaged over 40 but both played in fewer than half of the total matches. West Indies need more consistency from their current line-up and have to find new batters who can feature in big partnerships. For those purposes, they should also consider hiring a batting coach. And now that Jason Holder has been relieved of the captaincy to focus on his all-round game, there will high expectations of him.ESPNcricinfo LtdStrengths
West Indies’ bowling is a blend of experience and youth, and they seem to have the personnel for a variety of conditions. The evergreen Kemar Roach continues to lead the fast-bowling pack, with Holder, Shannon Gabriel and Alzarri Joseph among the front-line quicks. They also have several spinners to call on, including Rahkeem Cornwall, Roston Chase and a slew of part-timers. West Indies will hope their fast bowlers can take them higher up the WTC points table this time round, considering they will get to bowl in friendly conditions in Australia and South Africa, and face the likes of Pakistan and Bangladesh at home.Emerging talent
Jayden Seales made his debut against South Africa with only one first-class cap to his name but played like someone with much more experience. After coming to prominence at the 2020 Under-19 World Cup, he was consistent with the red ball, returning for several spells, maintaining good pace and disciplined lines and lengths. His action has been compared to Kagiso Rabada’s and the hope is that, if properly managed, he could form part of a West Indian revival.Who will they play?
Home: Pakistan, Bangladesh, England
Away: Australia, South Africa, Sri LankaNot much went right for Bangladesh but they will take heart from the promise shown by young players like Najmul Hossain Shanto•AFP/Getty ImagesBangladeshby Mohammad IsamHow it went last time
Every opponent put Bangladesh to the sword in the first WTC cycle. India and Pakistan knocked them off easily before the pandemic, and West Indies and Sri Lanka outsmarted and outplayed them this year. Captain Mominul Haque’s major strategy seemed to be to hand the ball to the spinners and hope they do the job, regardless of the conditions. It became harder without Shakib Al Hasan, who played only one of Bangladesh’s seven WTC Tests.Bangladesh couldn’t play five of their scheduled 12 Tests during this cycle because of the pandemic. Their second Test against Pakistan, in April last year, was called off, and Australia and New Zealand postponed tours to the country. But those matches may not ultimately have made much difference to Bangladesh’s overall standing in the points table.Question marks
Two weeks before the start of Bangladesh’s Test series in India, the board named their new Test captain, Haque, on the same evening that the ICC banned Shakib for a year for failing to report bookie approaches. Through the seven WTC Tests Bangladesh played, Haque missed the support of his senior players – Tamim Iqbal wasn’t available against India, Mushfiqur Rahim against Pakistan, and Shakib was banned, injured or unavailable for virtually the whole cycle. The selectors also didn’t show much faith in any of the other batters or fast bowlers. The most disappointing aspect was losing to an under-strength West Indies at home, which exposed the spin-only plan in familiar conditions.ESPNcricinfo LtdStrengths
Bangladesh’s combination of experienced cricketers and talented youngsters has always been their strength. If this is managed well in the next cycle, there may be better results. Haque’s batting has certainly improved as a captain, though his decision-making needs work. It was also heartening to see Taskin Ahmed’s comeback in Sri Lanka, where his fitness, skills and hunger looked much improved.Emerging talent
Twenty-two-year-old Najmul Hossain Shanto could still emerge as a regular at No 3. For that, he will have to sort out his technical issue against deliveries going away from the off stump, particularly early in his innings. However, he has shown a hunger for big innings, as evidenced by his 163 against Sri Lanka, Bangladesh’s highest score during the first WTC cycle.Who will they play?
Home: Pakistan, Sri Lanka, India
Away: New Zealand, South Africa, West Indies