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England In Sa The Whims And Fancies Of Jonny Bairstow

England in SA: The whims and fancies of Jonny Bairstow

While the glorious sun descended into the panoramic horizons of the Table Mountain, South Africa had laid the bricks of their moment under it. Picturesque blankets of pink, neon orange and blue spurred to fluidity the evening's caramel, but the cricketing canvas already bore a palette of the rainbow nation.

In pursuit of 180 on a soggy biscuit of a track, England had shredded first blood as George Linde's drifter nicked the bottom of Jason Roy's almighty slap. Jos Buttler then threw the kitchen sink at Lungi Ngidi's wide tempter only the find the token fielder at deep cover. Dawid Malan, who's numero uno ranking in T20Is invited a few disapproving glances, had offered debutant Linde his second scalp to leave the visitors in a spot of bother at 34/3. The pathogen meant South Africa had twiddled their thumbs for 265 days to get a taste of international cricket, and now it seemed as if it was worth the wait. That, until Jonny Bairstow sent some electrifying chills down their spine.

The jury might still be out on Bairstow's life against the naughty red leather, so much so that ECB's central Test contract eluded him for season 2020-21 and he was snubbed altogether for the longer-format rubbers versus Pakistan and West Indies earlier this autumn, but good luck challenging him with a white variant. For, taming the gladiatorial beast that he becomes in a coloured shirt is akin to nailing jelly to a tree.

Bairstow has occupied several batting positions during the course of his international career, but the opening slot has witnessed the major chunk of his promise. Consigned to number four duties after England promoted Buttler at the top, Bairstow spiffed nine fours and four sixes en route an unbeaten 86 from 48 balls to lend England early honours in the three-match T20I series at Cape Town.

For all his madcap hitting abilities which have seen him conquer the slam-bang domain, Bairstow skated off the mark with a nice little whisper of dexterity. He threaded the needle between short third man and backward point as Ngidi veered away from the radars of the fourth-stump channel. The lap-scoop was unfurled from the pandora box of tricks and chinaman Tabrez Shamsi had to make ado with a bit of head-scratching. Probably the world's most belligerent striker of the cricket ball was finding his element and South Africa - busy battling their twin existential threats of Covid-19 and CSA's political turmoil - couldn't help but bite their nails. Although for a refreshing change, they were content to deal with somebody else wreaking havoc than their own administration.

Shamsi's ninth set in motion a luring game of cat and mouse. The first two deliveries were badgered over mid-wicket and for a fleeting instant it looked as if Bairstow held possession of a golf club instead of a willow cleft. The next couple of balls left Shamsi's palm with a hint of trepidation, gun-barrel straight and considerably nippy in order to spare his razed economy a few blushes. However, plucking a leaf out of Yuzvendra Chahal's book, he dangled the carrot again and saw Bairstow fall right into the trap only for Faf du Plessis of all people to finger-tip the catchable opportunity over the bar at long-on. Reprieved on 25, he sprinkled salt in Proteas' wounds with an extra 61.

Beuran Hendricks and Ngidi tanked cutters into the surface, which wasn't a fool's errand given it's increasingly dual-paced nature and sponge-like bounce, but boomeranged against Bairstow who thrives on camping on the backfoot and isn't too bad with those swivel pulls either. Serving anything remotely short to a man of his hand-eye coordination is a proven recipe for disaster. And the speedsters should have known better. To put things into perspective, Hendricks finished his quota of misery with sorry figures of 56 for none, his 17th leaking a bumper prize of 28 to relegate the chase to academic interest.

''Very pleasing to start the series with some runs. Batting at four is something I enjoy having played different formats of the game and it's kept me in good stead and our batting order is very flexible. I was happy with how I played in IPL, didn't finish well but over a period of time when you play in different conditions you gotta adapt well. You could see the ball into the pitch was quite tricky, I was just trying to maintain my weight forward and see the ball as close as I can. You are always in the game and tonight Rashid coming in at 11, even if it's 15-16 RPO you know you are always in the game.'', Bairstow reflected on his match-defining blitz.

"I'm really happy with where my game is at the moment. I hope there is a calmness and a composure there and that evidently came across, which is really pleasing. Having played in different positions, having previously opened the batting or batted at six, I think you learn to craft your innings in different ways."

Knocks shouting of such dominance from the rooftops are incomplete without the chief architect ticking off the winning runs. It's only fitting that Bairstow donged a couple of lusty blows into the revamped construction site off Ngidi to hammer the advantage home. A final seal of authority on what was a masterclass in pacing the tempo of a chase.

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England vs South Africa 1st T20I: What Experts said after Bairstow' heroics

The highly action-packed day for cricket that November 27 was ended with visitors England registering an impressive five-wicket win over South Africa at Cape Town in the first of a three-match T20I series. In a high-scoring affair, Jonny Bairstow's dashing knock of 86* from 48 balls proved too good for the Proteas as they failed to defend a target of 180. England had chosen to field first after winning the toss. Thanks to a quick 30 from their captain Quinton de Kock and a half-century (58) from Faf du Plessis, the hosts reached a score of 179/6 in their 20 overs. Rassie van der Dussen's 37 off 28 and Heinrich Klaasen's 20 off 12 gave an extra boost to SA's score. In reply, England recovered from 34/3 thanks to an 85-run partnership between Ben Stokes and Bairstow. After Stokes' dismissal - he scored 37 from 27 - Bairstow kept going and saw his team through to a 1-0 lead in the series. Captain's Take Ending up on the losing side, South Africa captain de Kock didn't sound too disappointed with his team. Instead, he gave credit to the England team for batting well. "We thought it was a good total, didn't come off tonight. I don't think it was that one over, Jonny and Ben built a partnership, Jonny batted really well, changed his gameplan to the pitch," the SA skipper explained. The one over he referred to was the one where England scored 28 off Beuran Hendricks. De Kock also thought that there wasn't much different that he could have done. "Small things in the field we could have done differently, match awareness. We didn't play badly, they played really well." Eoin Morgan, who must have enjoyed this victory after England's home ODI series loss to Australia some months ago, did not overlook the fact that his team's win came mainly thanks to a few great individual efforts. "(This win is) pleasing because we were average apart from two or three guys. Chasing was difficult, especially three-down, but Jonny and Ben set it up nicely, to win when you don't play your best is nice," Morgan said after the match. He further added that improvements are necessary in England's performance. "Collectively, regardless of the team and the time around each other, the more we play the more we will gel. Not doom and gloom, nice to start with a win, but we need to be doing the right things," the England captain asserted. Expert's Take Watching as a viewer, England pacer Tymal Mills expressed joy over his team's win. "An excellent win and a really good game of cricket to start the series. Bairstow was brilliant with the bat and Sam Curran brilliant with the ball. There's plenty to build on but an exciting start." Former South African spinner Robin Peterson expressed his admiration for Bairstow. "Jonny Bairstow is such a adaptable cricketer. Exceptional skill set at the top of the order and now showing middle order prowess too." Former England captain and cricket commentator Michael Atherton pointed out the value of this innings for Bairstow. "He would look back fondly on this innings because there was a lot of discussion...about his role in the side... There were some question marks as to whether he should be playing. He has answered them emphatically," Atherton said in a television interview.

CWC Super League would become significant when powerhouses are knocked over

Former Indian pacer Zaheer Khan, pointing out the significance of the newly formed Cricket World Cup Super League by the International Cricket Council, said that its significance would be realized in a few year's time when an associate nation would knock over a cricket powerhouse. Speaking on Cricbuzz Live, Khan, 41, said, “Well the real significance of it will come about when one of the powerhouses gets derailed. Right now it’s just the beginning, so powerhouses will surely qualify easily.” Zaheer then went on to predict a time when some associate or the other would break the chain of some powerhouse of cricket and, to make his point, he gave the example of Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Afghanistan have come through the ranks. “….But there will be a time when one of the associates will really push the powerhouses. We have seen it [happening] with Afghanistan; we have seen it with Bangladesh. If you go two decades back then in the 90s, how Sri Lanka won that ’96 (1996) World Cup was also through the same process,” Zaheer said. Speaking on the same show, Michael Vaughan, the former England captain also felt that the Super League has indeed given some context to the ODI series. Saying that although India would qualify directly as hosts for the 2023 World Cup, Vaughan feels that this Australia tour would now be a real Test Kohli and his men as every game would now have context, be it ODIs or the Tests. According to the rules of the Super League, 12 Test-playing nations plus Netherlands are a part of this league. Each side plays eight teams once in a three-match ODI series. Ten points would be granted for a win and five for a tie. The first league begins on 1st May 2020 and would go on till 31st March 2022. In between that period, the seven teams (apart from India, since it qualifies directly as hosts) which would be on the top of the table, would qualify directly for the 2023 World Cup, while the other six teams would go through a qualifier. The Super League started with England playing Ireland in a three match ODI series in the first-ever ODI series post the covid restrictions. As of now, England occupies the top position with 30 points from 6 games, while India is still to open its account, having lost its first match by 66 runs to Australia in Sydney, today.

LPL 2020: Afridi hits 23-ball 58, but how did he play without quarantining?

Former Pakistan all-rounder and world-famous big hitter Shahid Afridi announced his arrival in Lanka Premier League (LPL) in style as he hit a 23-ball 58 which included six colossal sixes and three fours to set the Galle Gladiators inning on fire at Hambantota. But the bigger question that shocked people across the cricket fraternity are asking is: how was he able to play in the first place without completing his mandatory quarantine period. Afridi arrived in the island nation only on Tuesday, after missing his flight on Monday. He was said to miss the first two matches of the league due to quarantine. The 40-year-old, having already contracted COVID-19 once in June this year, just went through an antibody check post his normal COVID-19 check-up and was allowed to take part in the league by entering the bio-bubble, without spending much time in the isolation period. On Friday, the results from this test confirmed that Afridi had antibodies to the virus, and as such, is not at risk of spreading COVID-19. Ravin Wickramaratne, the LPL 2020 director also confirmed that LPL's medical staff had cleared Afridi following receipt of the results of the antibody test. The T20 World Cup winner, though, did complete his three-day isolated quarantine, awaiting the results of the tests. In the match, the Karachi-born player, who has more than 10,000 international runs and nearly 600 international wickets in his kitty, played a captain’s knock as he formed a crucial 62-run partnership off just 27 balls with all-rounder Shehan Jayasuriya. The partnership came at a time when, in the 14th over, half the team was back in the pavilion. The entire top-order was gone at the score of just 93. It was Afridi’s innings which took the team to a respectable total of 178. At the time of writing this news, the chasing side, Jaffna Stallions, were at 66/2 in the 8th over of their innings.

Aus vs Ind | 1st ODI: What Experts said as Australia punish listless India

Australia defeated India by 66 runs in the first game of the three-match ODI series in Sydney. The Kangaroos posted a mammoth 374 runs on the board on the back of powerful centuries from Steve Smith and Aaron Finch and valuable contributions from David Warner and Glenn Maxwell. Indians were off to a rapid start as Mitchell Starc bowled one of the worst over he has bowled in his career as the first over of the inning but wickets at regular intervals took the game away from the. Later, Hardik Pandya and Shikhar Dhawan tried to resurrect the innings but the Aussies were aware of the lack of depth in the Indian batting lineup and once the duo departed the chase became improbable for the men in deep blue. The Indian team were off to a worst possible start to the ODI series against Australia as the Aussies batting lineup went on an overdrive mode and punished all of their offerings on a placid pitch at the Sydney Cricket Ground. Australian captain Aaron Finch won the toss and decided to make the best use of the pitch and piled on runs which proved so much out of grasp that the top order went searching for too many runs in the powerplay overs. Captains’ take The losing captain Virat Kohli lamented the passive body language that his side showed on the pitch and he backed off from giving any excuse such as a longer period of T20 games behind this dismal performance, especially in the bowling and fielding department. He blamed the lapses and dropped catches in the field and said that a quality side like Australia would hurt if they are given so many chances. “We got enough time to prepare, I don't think there's any excuse on the field when you don't pull up as a side. Probably the first long game we've played in a while, we've been playing T20 cricket. But having said that, we've all played a lot of ODI cricket. The body language after 25-26 overs was disappointing. A quality side will hurt you,” Kohli said in the post-match presentation. Discussing the lack of bowling options, Kohli said that the team needs an over or two from part-timers who can roll their arm over in the middle phase of the game like the pair of Glenn Maxwell and Marcus Stoinis did for Australia. He reiterated that HARDIK Paanday is yet to be fit enough to bowl and that makes his job tricky one while trying to find a perfect balance. He said that his bowlers were not up to the mark to pick up regular wickets and therefore the Australian batting lineup ended up running away with the game. “We'll have to find out ways of getting a few overs from a few part-timers in the side. Unfortunately, Hardik is not ready to bowl yet so we have to accept that and work around it. That is an area we have looked at, which is a very big part of any team balance. Stoinis and Glenn do it for Australia. The key to keeping the batsmen in check is picking up wickets and we couldn't do that,” Kohli added. He also discussed the batting tactics that the team had adopted in the powerplay overs and said that the batsmen were committed to play positive cricket. However, he also said that one among the top three had to get a daddy hundred in excess of 130, 140 and the team suffered as it was not the case as both him and Agarwal went cheaply in search of quick runs at the start of their innings. “From the batting point of view, we had a chat briefly after the game - all of us committed to playing positively and that's why you saw everyone go out there and play with intent. We just need to have a big inning from the top three, 130 or 140, which didn't happen, unfortunately. Hardik's innings was an example of that,” Kohli said while discussing the outlook of the batting lineup after a failed attempt to chase a mammoth total. A bit of humour was not lost in Kohli as he said that he will don the bowling avatar when his Australian counterpart will be at the crease as he is aware that Finch is afraid of getting out to his RCB captain. On the other hand, for Aaron Finch, it was a team effort and he personally felt a bit tough in timing the ball during the middle phase of the game. “I found it reasonably hard to get my timing in the middle overs. Took a couple of chances and luckily they came off,” Finch said on his batting at the SCG. Disclosing if he or any of his teammates had any score on their minds, Finch said that they were not targeting any score from the outset and that continuous partnerships propelled them to a big total of 374. “There was no conscious effort to say we're going to go and target X, Y, Z. As partnerships grow you work it out. Each guy has different strengths and weaknesses,” Finch added. Finch spoke highly of his batting partners and said that Steve Smith was a class apart while David Warner got the thing he is working on going for him in the first ODI. He also commended the extraordinary shotmaking skills of Glenn Maxwell and said that it’s merely a switch off and on the mechanism for the right-hander when the team needs to put pressure on the opposition bowling line up. “Davey is moving beautifully, something he's been working on. Smudge was a different class altogether. And Maxi, that rare ability he's got to almost just click his fingers and put pressure back on the opposition. Super skill, some of those reverses were extraordinary. Experts’ take Virat Kohli has been one of the best batsmen while chasing and his impeccable skills of timing his assault on the opposition bowling line ups have been exemplary. But, at the SCG, Indian captain looked in a hurry and tried to be too ambitious in the powerplay overs. One of the most unusual scenes in cricketing world is Virat Kohli losing the vision in his batting and it was big enough to catch the attention of an ace cricketer watcher and commentator Harsha Bhogle, who readily pointed out that Indian captain failed to pick up the pace of the game and went to the pavilion on a very middling score by his standards when India were chasing a mountain of runs set by Australia. On the other hand, Hardik Pandya who batted magnificently for 90 runs earned plaudits from Harsha Bhogle who could see his capabilities beyond six-hitting and flamboyance. Pandya looked assured at the crease and his calmness while maintaining run rate with lusty blows showed the level of maturity Pandya has attained as a batsman of the side. He repaid the faith shown by Virat Kohli in laying him as a specialist lower-order batsman. Earlier in the day, when Aaron Finch and Steve Smith were going berserk with the bat and tonking Indian bowlers to all parts of the ground, Harsha wondered if RCB fans were wondering about Aaron Finch who played for them in the IPL and the one playing at the SCG were two different players. Harsha also lauded Steve Smith who took on the bowlers after steadying himself at the crease. In Harsha's words, Smith made the best use of the hands Smith recently found after while training under a quarantine period. On the other hand, former England captain Michael Vaughan was not pleased one bit by the level of performance of the Indian team and he stuck his neck out and predicted easy wins for the home side across formats against India. Vaughan also called the composition of the Indian playing XI with only five bowling options and limited batting depth an ‘old schooled’ one. He went ahead and listed many more observations that he made during the course of the 1st ODI and said that the ODI series and following T20 and Test series will prove to be a tough and long tour of the Indian team. Veteran Cricket journalist Ayaz Memon had predicted way early that the Indian batting line up was up for a stiff chase after the Australian opening pair of David Warner and Aaron Finch made the Indian pace trio of Mohammed Shami, Navdeep Saini quite ineffective on an SCG pitch that appeared nothing better than a road. Steve Smith turned an already commanding position of Australia into a dominating one by smashing Indian bowlers for his 66-ball-105. Memon, too, was awestruck by the ease with which Smith was dominating the Indian bowling attack. No matter how short or long Virat Kohli’s stays at the crease, more often than not he makes a mark and he did not miss out in Sydney as well when he nonchalantly flicked a Josh Hazlewood’s delivery after picking up on length to a fairly long six over square leg. Big players of past generations such as Mark Vaugh who himself is known for stroke-making judged that shot as the shot of the match while Shane Warne called the shot as one of the purest shots of Virat Kohli. Memon, too, was amazed by that shot and commended Kohli for picking the length and line of the delivery so early to be in a perfect position. The Indian team was proved to be an ordinary bowling team on a placid SCG pitch and Virat Kohli will have to come back with a better-balanced approach and team to challenge these Australian batsmen if the nature of the pitches is going to be the same for the rest of the series.