It was a performance of ups and downs that further endears you to a cricketer

Vithushan Ehantharajah07-Aug-2023The sun shone throughout the evening in Manchester, and it’s important to put that on the record given the last few weeks here.An entire men’s Ashes was ruined by two days of rain at the end of the fourth Test, followed by a Manchester Originals home opener against London Spirit scuppered in both competitions. The blokes managed to get on for 80 balls, of which Jos Buttler thrilled for 32 of them. Ultimately, it was for nothing.Proximity to such an engaging seven weeks of England and Australia duels means the Hundred needs to thrive more than ever. Even before the parallel men’s and women’s Ashes, there was an understanding at HQ this third season had to harness the power of what was always likely to be a public-enrapturing block of international cricket. And while pockets of the country remain untouched by the harsh, bright hues of the Hundred’s colour palette, the cities exposed to this flash jamboree needed to make it count.Part of that requires attachment. And for the longest time, before the Hundred even got off the ground, you wondered how those in the stands could truly vibe with nebulous concepts. Yet as Emirates Old Trafford welcomed an eventual 11,692 for the men’s portion of this doubleheader, the parochialism from the stands hit you like grapes on Ricky Ponting.The cheers for Buttler’s boundaries were loud. The palpable disdain when replays of the direct hit run out from Moeen Ali showed Buttler might have grounded his bat over the line even louder. They chuntered when Phoenix opener Ben Duckett inadvertently got in the way of a shy at the stumps after popping one into the leg side during the third set of the chase. Moeen, cheered to the rafters here three weeks ago when gliding to a half-century in whites for his country, was jeered off after being trapped by a vicious yorker from local boy Richard Gleeson. They even booed Kane Richardson simply for being Australian.Related

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But it was Usama Mir, one of Originals own as of, well, a few weeks ago, that was the most evocative presence this Monday night. Most of it good, some of it bad, all of it endearing. A performance of ups and downs that further endears you to a cricketer, if it is even possible to have greater admiration for one who fizzes leg spin and smokes boundaries.Uncapped in T20s for Pakistan, and with just six appearances in ODIs, Mir essentially undertook an overseas Vitality Blast gig with Worcestershire with a view to breaking into the Hundred. A route in looked tricky given only domestic players can be Wildcard picks, but 19 wickets in 11 matches at an economy rate of 7.29 impressed Buttler enough to ratify his inclusion after Sri Lanka’s Wanindu Hasaranga pulled out for the second year in succession.”We had Hasaranga down to come, and Usama Mir was playing for Worcester and doing brilliantly, so bring him in,” said Buttler at stumps, after a 49-run win had been banked thanks to the 27-year-old’s 32 off 14 and 2 for 27.It felt like Originals – and the competition more broadly – fell on their feet when Usama came out at 105 for 6 with 24 balls to go. A tournament that relies on highlight reels has another walking one, it seems.Usama Mir interacts with fans after the game•ECB/Getty ImagesThe wily Benny Howell dipped into his box of tricks and pulled out a slower, length ball he had to go fetch after it was carted over cover. Richardson was then swung over mid off before being short-arm flayed over midwicket for six two deliveries later. Even Adam Milne, who can usually get by on fear of his pace when bowling to the lower half of a batting order, was reverse-ramped twice. At times it looked like Mir had extra joints in his arms, such were the angles created and areas accessed.That feel for the game did not quite carry onto the field, at least not straight away. Will Smeed was shelled on six, after skying a pull around the corner off Josh Little, leading to Mir running back and failing to take over his shoulder. The fall to the ground, as he attempted to clasp it a second time, was comical.The second drop – Jamie Smith on 15 – was even worse, looping to him off a regulation edge after a smart cutter from Paul Walter. An error compounded by the fact Smith had carted Usama’s second and third deliveries for six. But Walter got his man with the very next delivery – caught long on. And when Mir trapped Dan Mousley lbw followed by Shadab Khan, his rival for Pakistan’s leggie allrounder spot, we knew whose day it was. Particularly given Mousley did not review his decision despite impact outside the line after the umpires had made an error in chalking off Phoenix’s review when Moeen’s unsuccessful one came back with an umpire’s call.That review was only reinstated with 25 balls to go, by which point this game was long gone with 75 runs still to get. The deficit would eventually be whittled down to 49 runs, with subdued glee from the Originals “faithful” as Phoenix were dismissed for 111. In a season primarily of rain and tight finishes, we have our second blowout.Ironically, it was one of Lancashire’s own, Liam Livingstone, who was likeliest to make this tighter than it was. It was at this corresponding fixture in the 2021 season – the first Hundred match at Emirates Old Trafford – that Livingstone was booed. This time around, the man who carried the inaugural season on his back managed just 27 off 25, before county team-mate Tom Hartley dismissed him caught-and-bowled. Those cheers carried a genuine sense of a dangerman snared, rather than a pantomime villain vanquished.Through surprise packages and familiar faces, something is brewing among the Originals. It might be that local fans are feeling this new competition. It might be that Manchester just likes its cricket. It might be that it wasn’t raining.The next fixture here is in 13 days (the derby with Northern Supercharges), immediately followed by another three days after versus Southern Brave – the last two fixtures of the group stage. By then, we will know whether Originals are in it to win. And maybe also if this local support is something real.

Alan Gardner, Andrew McGlashan and Vithushan Ehantharajah get together to discuss England’s victory at Headingley to keep the Ashes alive

ESPNcricinfo staff10-Jul-2023England pulled one back in the Ashes with a tense three-wicket win at Headingley, keeping their chances of reclaiming the urn alive with two to play. Mark Wood was Player of the Match and man of the moment, while Chris Woakes hit the winning runs on his comeback to prevent Australia taking an unassailable lead. On this week’s Switch, Alan Gardner was joined by Andrew McGlashan and Vithushan Ehantharajah to discuss Wood’s rockets, an unexpected Mitchell Marsh hundred, whether England’s allrounders can bring a better balance and which team has more issues going to Manchester.

Reactions pour in from all corners, with Dale Steyn, Gautam Gambhir, Farveez Maharoof, Usman Khawaja and others having their say

ESPNcricinfo staff06-Nov-2023

Timed OUT for helmet issues .. that’s a new one .. #CWC2023

— Michael Vaughan (@MichaelVaughan) November 6, 2023

India have run their hosts close on each of their last five visits, and the pitches there always keep them in the game. Still, they are yet to close out a Test series in the country

Sidharth Monga22-Dec-2023India’s previous Test series in South Africa is unfortunately remembered most instantly for their meltdown on the field and the outpouring of pent-up frustration into the stump mics. The refrain was that the broadcasters were allegedly doing all within their powers to help the home side. “A whole nation against 11 guys,” KL Rahul shouted in the vicinity of the stump mics.It was an uncharacteristic outburst from a team built on cold, calculated professionalism because you couldn’t hope to achieve anything through such a meltdown. Perhaps it was the frustration of coming close to a first series win in South Africa yet again and watching it slip away. Perhaps India felt the broadcasters were scrutinising their maintaining of the ball a lot more than they did the hosts’. It is not an entirely fantastical thought: broadcasters can provide the only evidence for ball-tampering, and no home player has ever been caught so far.Whatever India might have felt at the time about the host broadcasters, that host country has not been hostile to them. Of their last five Test tours to South Africa, spanning 16 years, India have won a Test on four of them and come pretty close to winning on other tour too, taken the series to a decider on four occasions, and been in the series lead twice.Related

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Despite having won the last two Test series in Australia, India can’t claim to have been as consistently competitive in any of the countries that are traditionally difficult for Asian teams to tour – Australia, England, New Zealand being the others – as they have been in South Africa. In fact even during the dark cricketing decade of the 1990s – one away Test win in 10 years – India were once thwarted from closing out a Test in Johannesburg only by an electric storm.South Africa doesn’t limit these pleasantries just to India. Apart from Australia and England, who generally enjoy playing there, Sri Lanka have also recently won a series 2-0 in South Africa. Since the start of 2006, when India started touring South Africa more regularly, England and South Africa have a similar win-loss ratio at home of 2.4 and 2.1 and are in the middle of that table.It’s not because South Africa are not a good team anymore but because the country offers some of the most sporting conditions among dominant home sides. The conditions in South Africa don’t take the opposition bowlers out of the game. Not every team can hope to have the kind of bowling needed to win in India and Australia, but visiting bowlers are often competitive in South Africa and England. Even England, of late, has been taking spinners out of the game. In South Africa, though, the visiting spinners can find something once you move out of the Highveld.

Basically the country assists the widest variety of bowlers. Australia can eliminate swing bowlers, but South Africa can’t. New Zealand can necessitate swing bowlers, but South Africa can’t. From nibbly seam movement at 135kph to genuine swing to raw pace, everything tends to work.

Basically the country assists the widest variety of bowlers. Australia can eliminate swing bowlers, but South Africa can’t. New Zealand can necessitate swing bowlers, but South Africa can’t. From nibbly seam movement at 135kph to genuine swing to raw pace, everything tends to work. While lateral movement doesn’t entirely die, the major source of jeopardy in the second innings is usually uneven bounce.A seam bowler such as Vernon Philander bowling in the mid-130s can be a terror but, equally, swing at high pace like Dale Steyn’s works. Hit-the-deck bowlers come into their own as matches progress because of the cracks opening. There can be enough in Durban and Gqeberha – sometimes even in Cape Town – for spinners to win you Tests, as Rangana Herath and Harbhajan Singh have shown.All this makes batting difficult, but runs come quickly when the conditions settle down. More importantly, the conditions reduce the home advantage by giving the visitors various ways to attack you. To the other extreme of competitiveness, sometimes incomplete attacks can also succeed because you don’t have to keep coming back for good spell after good spell.In many ways, playing in South Africa is like playing in England, which is why these two teams travel to the other country well. Except that it rains much less during the South African summer. Add to the sporting conditions the picturesque grounds with grass banks and fun activities in the stadium from the plunge pool at Centurion to the steel band at St George’s Park, and South Africa is not far from being the best place to watch Test cricket.The St George’s Park steel band in full flow•Getty ImagesIndia, in particular, have managed to find bowlers who regularly keep them competitive in South Africa. Since November 2006 – and this includes series against some great South African sides – India’s bowlers have averaged only five runs more than South Africa’s in South Africa. The corresponding number is 10 in England and seven in Australia.That’s perhaps why it hurts India the most that South Africa is the only place where they haven’t won a series. That’s possibly why they collectively let themselves go in January last year. How much Test cricket is decided by bowlers, though, was apparent in how the series last year came down to the taller South Africa bowlers deriving more out of the pitch in the second innings of the last Test. This was when South Africa were believed to be ripe for the picking, with the biggest name in their batting being Dean Elgar.How many of these Indian players would get such a chance again, they must have wondered. Luckily for them, the Future Tours Programme released later in the year had them touring South Africa the following year itself. Quite a few of that team now have another shot at being the first ones to win a series in South Africa. If anything, their batting looks reinforced, which they will hope offsets the absence of Rishabh Pant. India are fortunate that Jasprit Bumrah is back but unfortunate that Mohammed Shami won’t be available. South Africa have their own fitness concerns with their bowlers.Despite being reduced to just two Tests, this series once again promises to be one where India will be more than hopeful, as they have been on their last two tours to this country. And like the previous tours, you won’t bet against South Africa finding bowlers to hold the fort. It could come down to fine margins again.

While some struggled to switch between formats and others continued their lean patch, Green continued his red-ball form from the Sheffield Shield

Alex Malcolm29-Feb-20241:59

Malcolm: Green century a vindication of his move to No. 4

While three of Australia’s top six were preparing for Australia’s T20I series in Wellington last week, in between golf rounds at nearby Royal Wellington and Paraparaumu Beach, Cameron Green was peeling off an unbeaten Sheffield Shield century for Western Australia in Hobart.Just 10 days later, in similar climes to Hobart, at a similar ground to Bellerive, Green peeled off another to hold Australia’s increasingly fragile Test batting line-up together with the finest Test knock of his career and prove beyond any doubt that he is the real deal at international level.While the likes of Steven Smith, Travis Head and Mitchell Marsh had come and gone having had just three days to adjust from T20I batting to the Test-match challenge, and Marnus Labuschagne continued his lean run, Green dug in to continue to red-ball rhythm he had found in Hobart.Related

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It was a win for the selectors. They had resisted the urge to add Green to the T20I squad, even when both Marcus Stoinis and Aaron Hardie were ruled out, insisting that they wanted to keep him focussed on red-ball cricket knowing that he could find his T20 touch at the IPL.It was a win for Green too, who had become a target for an unhappy section of Australian fans who did not think he was worthy of being promoted to the coveted No. 4 position, while one of Test cricket’s best-ever No.4s in Smith was exposed to the new ball.Green spoke of the value of that Shield game after the day’s play.”I think it’s really important,” Green said. “I probably struggled to have the red ball practice leading into Tests [recently].”I think it’s been always one or two net sessions then thrown in the deep end a little bit. But that’s what international cricket is like at the moment. Unfortunately, it’s been a pretty busy 18 months and there’s not much practice in between changing formats. It’s just a bit of a work in progress for myself. I’m trying to obviously learn off guys that do it quite regularly like Steve and Mitch Marsh, Dave Warner. I think they stay true to their technique. And it’s something that I need to work on. I’m not trying to be changing so much in between formats.”He did need some luck. There were plenty of plays and misses on a surface that produced swing, seam and excessive bounce after New Zealand inserted Australia under overcast skies.But there was plenty of quality too. Fabulous, brave drives down the ground. Powerful pull shots. A muscled slap past deep cover to get to 99 with nine men on the fence in the last over of the day. And then a deft late cut to bring up his century. The emotion poured out of him just as it did when he scored his first Test century in Ahmedabad last year.Cameron Green stuck his second straight first-class century•AFP/Getty ImagesGreen, 24, has put so much pressure on himself to perform at Test level. The weight of expectation from the Australian cricketing public is nothing compared to the burden he carries in his own mind about scoring centuries for his country. It should be joyous for a player to reach such a milestone, but the first words Green used to describe his century in the aftermath were revealing.”Equally as relieving as my first one,” Green said.Australia were relieved that he pulled them out of a jam.Green did not have to bat at all in the opening session after Smith, Usman Khawaja and Labuschagne had ground their way to 62 for 1 in 27 overs, with Smith the only one to fall to an excellent delivery from Matt Henry.But you could make a case that batting got a little more difficult after lunch when the sun peaked through the clouds and the pitch hardened up. Smith and Khawaja had played pretty comfortably earlier in the day when there was moisture in the surface and the bounce was true and a fraction slow.Green noted after play that some divots had hardened in the surface and made batting tricky. He copped a ball on the elbow that reared back at him from wide of off stump from Will O’Rourke.But he rode the waves. He absorbed pressure and was aided by Marsh’s counter-attacking 40 after Australia had slumped to 89 for 4. Henry prised out the patient Khawaja with a cracking late inswinger through the gate.The form of Labuschagne remains an ongoing concern. He nicked off for a torturous 27-ball 1. The manner of the dismissal was more concerning than the score. He was caught on the crease, squared up again to a Scott Kuggeleijn outswinger that angled in and straightened. In isolation, it was a good delivery that could be written off as such. But it is the 10th time he has nicked to the cordon in his last 23 Test innings, and while no dismissal is ever the same, all 10 bear alarming similarities.Head too looks a shadow of the player who smashed a stunning century in Adelaide three Tests ago. He has since been dismissed three times in eight balls across three Test innings for one run. In between times, he has played some bizarre and erratic white-ball knocks while also needing a rest.It only serves to further highlight the importance of the decision to keep Green in red-ball mode. While the minds of his team-mates raced, he was calm throughout. He deliberately held up the bowler several times during the day to ensure he was not hurried through his mental process, and it paid dividends.”I think that’s probably the beauty of getting another red-ball game,” Green said. “You got a really good chance to lock into your own bubble and would be able to basically practice switching on and switching off in between deliveries and going through your methods.”Green was quick to note that this century did not guarantee his position at No. 4 was safe for the long term. But it does underline why he has been rated so highly. His record under pressure and in tricky batting conditions is also better than he is given credit for with this innings sitting alongside the vital 77 he scored on a raging turner in Galle and his 74 on a green monster in Hobart against England.It hasn’t always been easy being Cameron Green. But he lived up to the expectation at the Basin.

All the runs in domestic cricket, “that constant support from myself to myself”, and a maturity that’s taken time coming have lifted Parag to the next level

Shashank Kishore29-Mar-20244:17

Moody: Parag showed us what he’s capable of doing

Riyan Parag had nailed it. Standing deep inside the crease, he picked the length early and walloped the pull front of square. Parag’s eyes were on the ball, in total self-admiration of the connection he had made. Anrich Nortje looked away without looking up.Parag had already hit Nortje for a sequence of 4, 4, 6 and 4 earlier in that over, the final one of the innings. This six, however, took the cake for savagery, swagger and aesthetics all rolled into one. It was as if he knew what was coming. He was ready when the ball – a bouncer at 144kph – was halfway to him, some 0.3 seconds earlier.The over cost 25 and Parag finished unbeaten on 84 off 45 balls as Rajasthan Royals made 185. Astonishing as it may sound, Parag is one of only two batters with over 1000 T20 runs at No. 4 with a strike rate of over 150 and an average over 40. Only once prior to this knock had he batted at this position in the IPL.Related

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The only other man to have such numbers was watching from afar, awed by what he had just seen. Four years ago, Suryakumar Yadav had been in Parag’s shoes, doing unreal things that earned him the admiration of his seniors. Then India head coach Ravi Shastri was among those wowed by the pyrotechnics.”Surya Namaskar. Stay strong and patient,” Shastri had tweeted, perhaps in an effort to console the man who had missed out on national selection despite having had the kind of IPL he had that year: averaging 40.22 and striking at 155.36 as a finisher; 235 of his 480 runs came in death overs alone, faster than Hardik Pandya and just a shade slower than at Kieron Pollard’s strike rate of 210.25.The same Suryakumar was now watching on TV, gushing about what he’d just seen. “Met a guy at NCA few weeks ago,” his post on X read. “He came with a slight niggle. Completely focused on his recovery and with great discipline working on his skills. And I was not wrong to tell that to one of the coaches there ‘He is a changed guy’. Riyan Parag 2.0. Watch out.”

Met a guy at NCA few weeks ago. He came with a slight niggle. Completely focused on his recovery and with great discipline working on his skills. And I was not wrong to tell that to one of the coaches there ‘He is a changed guy’
RIYAN PARAG 2.0
Watch out

— Surya Kumar Yadav (@surya_14kumar) March 28, 2024

James Anderson knows from 40,037 (legal) deliveries to be grateful for anything you can get in this game

Andrew Miller12-Jul-2024It all ended with a stooped-shouldered apology. Ben Duckett, feet planted inside the Grandstand boundary, settled beneath a top-edged pull off Jayden Seales with a diffidence that you might not ordinarily expect at the winning moment of a Test match. Gus Atkinson, standing at the end of his follow-through, bowed his head in supplication, even as he completed a debut match haul of 12 for 106, the fourth-best in Test history, and the best by an Englishman for 134 years.It was James Anderson who broke the awkwardness, rushing up to Atkinson to embrace the man who, for this Test at least (if not necessarily for the next 187 to come) has proven himself worthy of leading England’s changed guard.”Gus apologised for taking that last wicket,” Ben Stokes, England’s captain, told the media afterwards, before pausing on the punchline to check the TV cameras weren’t taking his comments live. “Jimmy told him to eff off!”As well he might. Anderson knows from a career spanning 40,037 (legal) deliveries that you should be grateful for anything you can get in this game, that the sensation of success – even if you’re able to feel it on an extraordinary 704 occasions – is still fleeting in the grand scheme of a sportsman’s career. And besides, he’d had his chance to write his own script three overs earlier, when he spilled one of the easiest return catches that can ever have been poked back to him.Anderson’s eyes had widened and his sinews stiffened as Gudakesh Motie stabbed at an inswinger, in his fourth over of the morning, that looped back towards his outstretched left hand. But he simply couldn’t close out the deal. Perhaps, as with the gentle shove towards the exit that he had required in that Manchester hotel-room back in April, Anderson was still not quite ready to go out on his own terms.Related

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Who truly was ready for that moment? Even allowing for the prospect of a full refund for such a swift end on this third day, you got the sense that a packed Lord’s crowd would have watched this final spell for all eternity. His captain was certainly ready to oblige them.”I didn’t tell Jimmy, but I said he was always going to bowl until we took that last wicket,” Stokes said. “However long it took, I wasn’t going to take him off. Even if he said he was tired, I was like, ‘you gotta keep going here’.”And keep going he did, even after the felicitations had been completed and the pints of “recovery shake” Guinness had been downed, as he returned to his favoured Pavilion End long after the close of play to bowl at his daughters and other team-mates’ kids in an outfield knockabout. If he was visibly at peace on this emotional day of farewells, it may be that he’s not yet processed quite what a void he is leaving in this sport.If the choreography of Anderson’s exit paled in comparison to that of Stuart Broad’s at The Oval last summer, then at least the highlights reel will recall his final wicket, No.704, as a true collector’s item; a disassembling of Joshua da Silva that will hold its own in perpetuity.The angle, the length, the subtlety of his outswing – extravagant on the one hand, as it curled from leg to off to kiss the edge of da Silva’s closed-faced bat, yet economised on the other, in keeping with so much else about Anderson’s channelled, streamlined and seemingly eternal pomp.Half a bat’s width, as Glenn McGrath made a point of proving in his own magnificent career, is all you’re ever really looking for as a fast bowler. Anything more, and you’re relying on batter error. Anything less, and the best in the business will be finding the middle of their bat.James Anderson leads his team-mates off•AFP/Getty ImagesIf that moment underlined the craft and the cunning that kept Anderson at England’s cutting edge for two decades, then the moments after his drop were arguably a touching throwback: with his sporting mortality now apparent, a slight hint of desperation crept into his game as he neglected, ever so briefly, the processes that had served him so well for so long, and strained instead for that magic ball that both defined and undermined his uncertain start to Test cricket.Fortunately, Atkinson was on hand to save him from himself and allow the curation of those memories to begin. And it was only at that moment that the true imprint of Anderson’s story – that meteoric arrival in the winter of 2002-03, the traumatic rookie years that followed, and the peerless blend of genius and tenacity that prevented him, first, from becoming another of sport’s precocious “what ifs?” before elevating him into a third act of simply astonishing endurance – was able to burst through the façade and take hold of the day’s narrative.No moment better epitomised this than Sky Sports’ breaking of the fourth wall, moments after the contest was over, as Anderson’s first Test captain, Nasser Hussain, joined him on his perch in the dressing-room for a unique fireside chat.Their five-minute exchange was notable, less for Anderson’s composure, than for the rapt attention that he received from every single member of a team that could not have avoided idolising him long before they began sharing his highs and lows.”Moments like that, you take a step back and you actually really appreciate listening,” Stokes recalled afterwards. “Jimmy did say he felt a bit under the pump, because everyone’s just staring at him, but they were pretty special images for the public and the world to be able to see. Everyone was just so interested to hear what Jimmy had to say, from players to support staff as well.”James Anderson can only laugh after dropping a caught-and-bowled chance•Alex Davidson/Getty ImagesStokes himself was 11 when Anderson played his first Test, on this same ground against Zimbabwe in 2003. Ollie Pope, his vice-captain, was 5. Jamie Smith was 2. Shoaib Bashir had not even been born. Even Chris Woakes, the team’s new senior statesman, was a mere 14. Even for a team that has seen some notable departures in recent years, something about this parting is bound to hit different.”When we got back into the dressing-room, I said to Joe [Root], we’ve been with Cookie [Alastair Cook], we’ve been with Broady, and now we’ve been with Jimmy, so that made us realise our age as well. But I feel very fortunate to have played as much cricket as I have done with three Goats of our game.”It’s a very emotional day, but also, what an occasion for the new lads coming in, to be a part of that,” Stokes added. “For Gus and Jamie, in their first taste of international cricket, to see that reception that you can get as England players. Even I’ve played a lot of cricket, but it sends goosebumps down you.”And now, for Stokes and his men, the challenge is to pay all this forward. To make good on the promise that the team management must have had to make to themselves in the first instance, but which the whole of the squad will now have to uphold: to ensure that the sacrifice of Anderson is not in vain, and that the values he has epitomised are not mislaid in the most seismic era shift that English cricket will have known in generations.”Walking off there at the end there, there was that overwhelming feeling of this being the last time that we would get to walk off the field with Jimmy,” Stokes said. “And the last time for the crowds who’ve come out to watch us, to see Jimmy walk off the field. The reception he got there, and for that half an hour afterwards, was very, very special to be part of.”

The spinner explains he decided not to take a domestic contract with WA to maximise playing opportunities globally while he remains intent on playing for Australia

Alex Malcolm20-Apr-2024Ashton Agar has become the latest Australian player to make the bold decision to become a freelance global gun-for-hire, and he couldn’t be more excited about it.But the 30-year-old says he remains committed to trying to play for Australia in all three formats, including Test cricket, and playing domestic cricket for Western Australia when he’s available despite opting not to sign a state contract for 2024-25.The decision was made following lengthy and collaborative consultations with WA’s general manager of high performance Kade Harvey, WA coach Adam Voges, Australia coach Andrew McDonald and chairman of selectors George Bailey after Agar did not receive a Cricket Australia contract for 2024-25.Related

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It was driven partly by the lack of cricket Agar played at the back end of last summer following the BBL. He found himself playing just three Marsh Cup games and grade cricket after the BBL finished in late January, as Corey Rocchiccioli had established himself as WA’s No.1 Sheffield Shield spinner.Agar did briefly head to South Africa to try and play as a replacement player in the SA20 but did not get an opportunity, before his contract with CA and WA meant he was required to return for the end of the Marsh Cup.Not taking a domestic deal for next summer will free him up to play overseas during the Australian domestic season given he won’t be under contract, as tournaments such as the SA20, the ILT20, the PSL and the BPL all fall in the summer window.”The timing was right,” Agar told ESPNcricinfo. “There’s a lot of things that have been taken into account here. Obviously coming off my Cricket Australia contract and not playing the last couple of games for WA in the red-ball space and just assessing the cricket landscape over the last couple of years and seeing the way that cricket is trending and the way my cricket has been trending, this decision just made a lot of sense to me.”To not take a state contract gives me the flexibility to take opportunities that may pop up around the world.”It allows me to still play for Western Australia. But it doesn’t lock me into just playing state cricket. And I think as someone with aspirations to play at the highest level, which is international cricket, for as long as possible, playing cricket as much as you can is the only thing that gets you there.”WA will still support Agar in terms of allowing him to be part of their squad when he is in Perth. He will have access to the facilities, coaches and medical staff, which is something he is incredibly grateful for.

“Playing for Australia doesn’t mean you have to have a state contract at that time. You just need to be putting your best foot forward for whichever team you’re playing for.”Ashton Agar is committed to play for Australia despite not taking a WA contract

He would also still be eligible for an upgraded state contract if he plays four Marsh Cup games and will still put his hand up to play Shield cricket if the opportunity arises.”My chats with Kade Harvey and Adam Voges have been that whilst I’m not going to be a WA-contracted player, when I’m available to play one-day cricket, I’ll still play one-day cricket for WA and they will support me as a WA cricketer,” Agar said.”I’ve been told I’m going to have that support network around me and I’m super grateful to Western Australia for allowing me to still have that privilege. That means a hell of a lot.”I think the beauty of this decision, it allows me to be available for everything. Obviously, if there’s a white-ball [franchise] opportunity that comes up I’m able to take that now. But if there isn’t and I am available to play a Shield game for WA, of course I would take that opportunity. This decision is all about playing as much cricket as possible.”Agar feels no ill will towards Rocchiccioli’s rise, especially after the offspinner has spoken emotionally and glowingly of Agar’s influence on his own career. Despite making the choice to go freelance, Agar still wants to help the younger generation of WA spin bowling talent when he’s around.”I really love that role of trying to mentor guys like Corey Rocchiccioli, like Hamish McKenzie and even Cooper Connolly to an extent as well,” Agar said. “It’s something that’s really exciting for me.”Agar has taken inspiration from Tim David who has forged an exceptional freelance career without holding an Australian domestic contract. David has become a staple of Australia’s T20I side even after being allowed to miss what would have been his first series for Australia in early 2022 to fulfil a contract in the PSL.Australia’s current selection panel have shown they have no issues picking players who aren’t part of the domestic system, with David making his ODI debut last year having played just one Marsh Cup game.Agar’s situation, however, is more akin to that of Matthew Wade who was able to mix Shield and Marsh Cup commitments for Tasmania in recent years with franchise opportunities, while still being part of Australia’s T20I team including being a stand-in captain.The selectors have also shown they are prepared to pick white-ball specialists for Test tours in certain conditions without playing Shield cricket. Glenn Maxwell was called up for the Sri Lanka tour in 2022 without playing Shield cricket and was very close to playing. Maxwell would likely have been on the India Test tour last year had he not broken his leg and he remains in the frame for the Sri Lanka Test tour next year despite not playing any Shield cricket last summer.Ashton Agar in his delivery stride•Getty Images and Cricket AustraliaAgar has not played a first-class match since his last Test in January 2023. He did go on the tour of India but came home after not being selected for the first two Tests to get some games in for WA ahead of the ODI series. Rocchiccioli’s emergence has made it difficult to find opportunities since.Whilst Agar understands the realities of the decision to go freelance, he is confident that he would not be precluded from selection for an overseas Test tour even if he was not playing Shield cricket.”My chats with Andrew McDonald and George Bailey have all been about playing as much cricket as possible,” Agar said. “Playing for Australia doesn’t mean you have to have a state contract at that time. You just need to be putting your best foot forward for whichever team you’re playing for.”Taking this step probably means I’m going to be playing a bit more white-ball cricket than red-ball cricket. And that’s just the reality of this decision. But the Australian selectors have shown over recent history that they’re willing to pick guys based on conditions and that’s a really exciting thing.”If there was a subcontinent tour and my skillset was required, and I was playing well at the time, then I think maybe I still would be a chance for that and that’s quite an exciting proposition regardless of how much red-ball cricket I’ve played at the time.”Agar is essentially betting on himself and is invigorated about exploring what opportunities could come his way. He is currently preparing for the T20 World Cup at home in Australia and appears set to be part of Australia’s 15-man squad as the second spinner alongside Adam Zampa. He did explore flying to India to train with an IPL franchise but the travel schedules of the teams made it too difficult.He is hopeful of potentially signing an MLC or Hundred deal for later in the year but now also has the flexibility to sign deals in the SA20, ILT20, BPL or PSL either side of his BBL deal with Perth Scorchers.Agar has taken inspiration from watching Sunil Narine batting at this year’s IPL•Cricket Australia via Getty ImagesHe is also working hard on his batting with personal batting coach Viv Paver and WA’s batting coach Beau Casson to become a true allrounder in T20 cricket. Agar’s batting potential has been evident since his stunning 98 on Test debut in 2013. His best BBL innings, 68 off 34 in 2016, came batting at No. 5 and he has even opened the batting for his country in two T20Is in 2022, as Australia looked for ways to find him a role in the top seven to give them a fifth specialist bowler in the XI.He said he learned a lot from that experience and has taken inspiration from watching Sunil Narine’s late-career batting renaissance in the IPL this season.”I love seeing him opening the batting and playing with such freedom,” Agar said. “I think we’ve actually got quite similar bat swings. Getting that opportunity would probably be the next step. Having a real crack at the top of the order would be something I’d love to do. But there’s a hell of a lot of work that has to go in into that.”I really think I can bring value to teams with the bat. But it’s up to me to keep putting in the work. This opportunity now gives me the chance to specialise a little bit more: take it away from the red-ball style of batting and really get specific on what I need to do to be a really effective hitter in white-ball cricket all throughout the order.”

The allrounder faced several setbacks in trying to make a career in India. In the USA, he has been able to dream again

Shashank Kishore and Nagraj Gollapudi21-Jun-2024Harmeet Singh’s life might make for a Bollywood script. A spinner who was likened to Bishan Bedi as a youngster, faced rejection and controversy in the prime of his career, and went on to get a second chance and a new life in the United States.In early 2020, his stop-start career received a lease of life when American Cricket Enterprises, the organisation that partnered with USA Cricket to run Major League Cricket (MLC), offered him and a bunch of other subcontinental players multi-year contracts. Four years on, he is renewing his career with his adopted country at the T20 World Cup 2024.”Even thinking about a World Cup from a situation where all club cricketers were practising indoors [during the pandemic]… and from there to suddenly beat Pakistan, it is a big deal,” Harmeet says on Zoom from New York, two days before USA faced India in the tournament. “The goal was to play the World Cup for your country and win it, which couldn’t happen [for India] for whatever reasons. But I’m trying to live my own dream in a different way.”Harmeet, a left-arm spinning allrounder, arrived in the USA just before the Covid-19 pandemic, in March 2020, but had to quickly put cricket on the back burner until lockdown and travel restrictions were lifted. In this period, he moved to multiple cities – Atlanta, Houston, Seattle – and worked odd jobs.Related

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It wasn’t until mid-2021, when cricket restarted, that he began to make a mark. Even as the launch date of the first MLC season kept getting postponed, Harmeet put in compelling performances in minor league cricket and supplemented his club earnings with part-time coaching gigs.In March 2023, Harmeet became the first pick in the domestic-player draft for the inaugural MLC when Seattle Orcas (co-owned by Microsoft CEO, Satya Nadella) signed him for US$75,000. He picked up seven wickets in seven games at a thrifty economy of 7.13 in Orcas’ runners-up finish.Even before that, Harmeet had turned in impressive performances, most notably leading Seattle Thunderbolts to the Minor League Cricket T20 championship in August 2022. These, and the fact that he had fulfilled the three-year residency criterion, were the springboard for his international debut with USA in June 2024.In his fifth international match, he struck an unbeaten 13-ball 33 to help beat Bangladesh. At the World Cup, he has been part of the XI in their wins over Canada and Pakistan that took them through to the Super Eight. USA’s performance at this World Cup has allowed them direct entry into the next edition, in 2026.Teenaged Harmeet celebrates the U-19 World Cup win with his India team-mates in 2012•Ian Hitchcock/ICC/Getty ImagesHarmeet can’t quite believe how things have transformed in American cricket in such a short period. “When I moved to the US, there was no proper practice facility [in Atlanta]. There were zero turf wickets to play on. There were only concrete surfaces. The outfields were maybe ten times more sluggish than what you saw in New York [during the T20 World Cup]. So the challenges were very, very different.”Earlier this week, Harmeet might well have added another page to his unlikely story in USA’s Super Eight clash against South Africa in Antigua. After he dismissed Quinton de Kock and David Miller for figures of 2 for 24, Harmeet hit 38 off 22 balls from No. 7 to put USA in a position to cause another upset. But his dismissal when they needed 28 off the last two overs crushed their hopes. However, even in defeat, USA had sounded a warning to the other teams that they can’t be taken lightly.”I said it at our first [team] meeting, that we’re going to surprise ourselves at this World Cup,” Harmeet says. “We’re not worried about the results. We’ve been right up there with our body language. We’ve been right up there on the attitude.””I did not even get a chance to fail”
Eleven years ago, his life had looked vastly different. One day in June 2013, Harmeet woke up to rumours that he had been suspended by the BCCI. During an enquiry by the Delhi police into the IPL spot-fixing scandal that year, a bookie had revealed that Harmeet, then contracted to Rajasthan Royals, had been one of their targets.Ian Chappell saw similarities between Harmeet’s bowling and that of legendary India spinner Bishan Bedi•Matt Roberts/Getty ImagesThe 20-year-old was questioned in the matter and subsequently exonerated. The BCCI never actually suspended him, but the investigation caused problems for his already flagging career.”I didn’t get the feeling of having someone with me [as support] at that point,” Harmeet says of the period when his name cropped up in the spot-fixing controversy. “Also, I bore the consequences of not having good PR skills. When I look back now, I could have easily sued a few publications or gone after some people because there was so much misinformation about me.”So much wrong reporting was happening at that point, especially during the IPL. And my name was dragged into it for so many reasons. Eventually nothing surfaced. I faced no ban, suspension, nothing. But there were a few publications that went on for a year, saying ‘Harmeet is suspended pending inquiry.’ It just kept tarnishing my image.”Harmeet broke through in the 2009-10 Ranji Trophy season and picked up 12 wickets in his first two games. Straight off his U-19 World Cup success in 2012 he was drafted into the West Zone squad for the Duleep Trophy on the recommendation of Sandeep Patil, the national selector then. Harmeet’s figures in the match against North Zone read 44.4-5-147-2.”The perception around him took a U-turn after that performance,” a senior Mumbai coach says. “Everyone’s opinion was unanimous. That Harmeet had a long way to go. There were three other left-arm spinners: Vishal Dabholkar, Ankeet Chavan and Iqbal Abdulla, who were doing well. How could he have overtaken all of them? He was talented, but very raw. He also may have been swayed away by that early fame. It took him some time to come out of that.”Harmeet managed just one more game in the three seasons following his debut. His career appeared to have hit a dead end when his name cropped up in relation to the spot-fixing scandal.”I was always the kind of guy who used to be like, ‘Oh, don’t worry, my performances will talk,'” he says. “But I did not get a chance to perform anywhere. And the media was just writing, writing and writing.”The game I got at the end of the 2014-15 season – I picked up a four-wicket haul in Baroda. And I thought I’ll take off once again, but next year, I was out again.With his wife, Viola, daughter Heer and son Kabeer at the T20 World Cup•Matt Roberts/ICC/Getty Images”Those four to five years of no first-class cricket for your home state, and you are at your peak – I would say I did not even get a chance to fail. If I had gotten chances and failed, I would have taken it on my chin.”Harmeet tried to switch sides to Vidarbha ahead of the 2013-14 season, but the offer of a two-year contract that had been made to him was withdrawn because he had not till then been given a clean chit in the spot-fixing case by the BCCI. By the time it came, the season had begun. He admits to feeling lost during this period. “I did not have a very good, solid mentor. I lacked a lot of things because my family also did not have a cricketing background.”As a spinner, Harmeet had the ability to impart revolutions on the ball, and he was not afraid to challenge the batter with loop and drift. Ian Chappell, one of the game’s most astute observers, was impressed by his bowling at the 2012 U-19 World Cup and said he was ready for an international call-up right away. “A cricketer like Harmeet will stagnate if he’s left for too long at a lower level, because that leads to sloppy habits,” Chappell wrote on this website back then. “Harmeet is ready to be considered for national selection.”But here he was, struggling even to break into Mumbai’s second XI. “I was playing at Shivaji Park Gymkhana [in this period]. Ian Chappell doesn’t have access to the gymkhana to know what this guy is doing. He rightly said that anyone [in these circumstances] will stagnate. I can now relate to young talent – in India, USA or wherever – if you don’t give him proper opportunities, he’s bound to stagnate. And that’s what happened.”Now, I’m getting the opportunities and exposure, but it’s not served on a platter. I worked for it and got this opportunity, but you know, at that point, I needed one first-class season, which I did not get.”Harmeet made some crucial lower-order runs in USA’s World Cup match against India, but could not seal the chase•Getty Images”I did not kill people. I did not run over people”
By the start of 2018, Harmeet had played only 14 first-class and four white-ball games since he first broke through nearly nine years before. That included a stint with Jammu & Kashmir, which had not gone very well either.In 2017, when he returned to Mumbai and served out a cooling-off period, required for players looking to switch sides, before he could try to resume playing for his home team, he was in a dark place. In a bizarre incident, he drove his car onto the platform of a Mumbai suburban railway station. Eyewitnesses have different versions – some said he was intoxicated – but Harmeet insisted he was en route to training when he was misled by people around him while taking a diversion.He argues that a mere traffic violation was blown out of proportion. “When the railway [platform] incident happened, I was not playing any cricket, so what business did anyone have [to tarnish my image]? Yes, I can be a small public figure, but you can’t hold that against me. I wasn’t with any team. I wasn’t with anybody at that point. And it was a traffic violation. I did not kill people. I did not run over people.”Harmeet moved his cricketing base to Tripura in the north-east in 2018, but playing for a significantly weaker team gave him little joy. A sense of helplessness prompted him to explore opportunities elsewhere. In late 2019, when he received the offer from the USA, he took the leap of faith.”America, at that point, was not everybody’s cup of tea, especially if a professional athlete wanted to move,” he says. “Corey [Anderson] had his family here, so he made that move. But I think the guys who made the move from India [Unmukt Chand and Milind Kumar among them] at that point were really brave.With his USA team-mates Nitish Kumar (centre) and Shadley van Schalkwyk (right)•Matt Roberts/ICC/Getty Images”And we bought into the dream we were sold at that point that America will have its own league, its own domestic structure, in three years’ time it will host a World Cup and you guys will be qualified to play and all of that (laughs). It was just too good to be true at that point, but at the end of the day we sort of accomplished everything.””There’s always been a point to prove”
At the start of this World Cup, the profile photo on Harmeet’s player page on ESPNcricinfo was from his U-19 days. Facing us on the Zoom call is a man in his early 30s, a father of two young children. The beard is thicker and his words are well thought out. You can sense he is disappointed his career didn’t pan out the way he would have liked it to.”The guys who are currently playing for India – Axar [Patel] and Kuldeep [Yadav] – we played U-19 together. So there’s the feeling that, oh, I could have been there [playing for India]. At that point I was far ahead of both of them as well. I got picked for the [U-19] World Cup [2012], Axar didn’t.”If you see Axar or Kuldeep, see how the state has backed them, just check out their games in first-class – I’m sure they have played [lots of games]. That’s where you become a player and that’s where your true potential comes out after a couple of seasons.”Then you understand, oh, I need to work on my fitness, on my shoulder, or need to gain more strength. Because only then you know that’s the toil I need to go through, this is what technically, or mentally, physically, I need to work on. Then when you are in the system, the onus is on you to work hard and reap the rewards.”At his engagement, Harmeet with his father Jasbir (standing, left) and mother Paramjit (standing, right)•Harmeet SinghHaving got the opportunity to play international cricket now, Harmeet is content, but he says he has some things on his agenda to tick off. “There’s always been a point to prove that all my team-mates are playing cricket, and I’m not. It did not matter to me what cricket I’m playing because my love for the game would never change but in my heart, I’ve always wanted to be at the top, playing cricket against the best.””It was my mother’s dream that I played at the highest level”
In 2021, Harmeet faced the most difficult time of his life so far when he lost his mother, Paramjit Kaur, to Covid. Due to the global travel ban in force at the time, he had to watch her funeral online from the US. He talks of how she and his father, Jasbir, never hesitated to make decisions that put his cricketing ambitions ahead of everything else.Jasbir has been unable to be at the 2024 World Cup because of a chronic health issue, but he was the one who decided to move the family to Borivali in northern Mumbai so Harmeet could attend Swami Vivekananda International School (where Rohit Sharma studied), which he was told would be good for his son’s cricketing future.”My father sold his house without even knowing what talent I possess. Someone just said, ‘Oh, he is talented, take him to this school’ and he just did it in a flash. Now, being a father myself, if I’m asked to do it for my kids, it takes a lot of guts to be able to think on those lines, but he took that decision then.”His mother also played a big part in his cricketing journey.”The toil Mom had with me – every day taking me to Shivaji Park Gymkhana [over 20km from where they lived] and then coming back in peak hours in the Mumbai local [trains], I can never forget that. She lived the dream with me and it was her dream that I play at the highest level. Till I played Ranji Trophy, she would travel with me everywhere. Wherever she is, she will be very happy. And I know she is blessing us all from there.”