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He is the only batsman dragging his team forward. He is facing a superb attack. History isn’t with him. And yet Virat Kohli always looked like he was having the time of his life in Perth

Sidharth Monga in Perth16-Dec-2018He stands alone at the non-striker’s end. He looks at the big screen for a replay of the dismissal. He then looks back. Don’t know at what. After the replay, he turns his head to the field, staring blankly in middle distance. Stands motionless. Legs crossed. One hand on his waist. The other on the top of the bat handle. You can’t say where he is looking. You can’t say what he is thinking. He stays like that for what seems like a minute. Maybe more. Not even batting an eyelid.Not far away, Australia are celebrating and having a drink. He finally sees Rishabh Pant, the new batsman, walk past the huddle, and steps out of his meditative state to join his partner. He had a partner now. Did he? Back to two against 11. Was it?***These is such a deja vu to this. Virat Kohli is batting on a hundred after India have lost the toss in an away Test. Centurion, Birmingham, and now in Perth Stadium. The story is going to be the same. In Centurion, 279 of India’s 307 runs come when Kohli was at the wicket. They fall behind by 28, a decisive deficit. In Birmingham, 220 of the 274 come with him at the wicket. India fall behind by 13. They lose.Here, in Perth, on a difficult pitch, having seen Australia get to 326 thanks to some ordinary selection and some ordinary bowling in patches, Kohli watched Australia claim their complimentary vouchers, the openers, either side of lunch. He has a customised plan – yet another one – to tackle. He has a personal nemesis in Pat Cummins, off whom he has never hit a boundary in Test cricket but has been dismissed twice. His side is playing only three reliable batsmen but four No. 11s.Virat Kohli wasn’t happy after being given out•Getty ImagesThe new plan first. Starting Adelaide, Australia have looked to bowl straight at Kohli, deny him that cover drive, make him keep defending without giving on-side runs, and then throw in the odd sucker ball. It worked in Adelaide.Josh Hazlewood tries to execute this pre-decided plan. He bowls straight, full but not a half-volley, but Kohli leans into it, plays a check drive on the up, and places it between mid-on and the bowler. Then Hazlewood bowls two half-volleys in the next over. Both go for fours.That’s the thing with plans for Kohli. You have to be really precise or he punishes you. The area you are aiming for is so small and that only leads to errors. Errors beget errors. And before you know it, Kohli is up and running. He is 18 off 10 already. Australia have to change their plan. Go back to bowling good balls in the channel outside off, and risk the cover drive.

Kohli is in his own trance. He is hit on the arm more than once, hurts his hand while diving, is hit in the ribs, on the unpadded area above the knee but he seems to be enjoying it.

Cummins bowls some mean ones too. This is personal, like it was with James Anderson in England. Kohli doesn’t want to get out at the best of times, but he is particularly determined to not do so against Cummins.In Cummins’ six-over spell, he takes just three runs off 28 deliveries, absolutely hell-bent on not taking any risk outside off. This is a batsman humble enough to accept a bowler is bowling well and assured enough to know his game can see him through this period. There’s only five attacking shots in that spell, but there too he has not gone out of his way to miss a fielder. Only four times is he not in control. Against the most threatening bowler in the opposition, during his freshest spell, he is not in control only one in seven balls – 14% against the 20% overall rate in the match.4:41

Laxman: ‘We are all running out of superlatives to describe Kohli’

This is high-quality defensive batting from either end, but India’s scoring is at a standstill. The worst they can do now is allow Nathan Lyon to hold one end up so the three quicks can take turns from the other. Kohli finally finds the cover drive, against Lyon’s attacking line outside off, on a pitch with treacherous bounce. His wrists keep the ball down, the gap is found, and he has hit his first boundary in 67 balls.Cummins comes back for a spell post tea, beats his outside edge right away and draws two bat-pad opportunities with no short leg to lap it up because, well, Kohli has forced them to change their plan of attack. When Pujara gets out, India have hit only six boundaries in 38.2 overs, four of them in one spurt. Ajinkya Rahane is about to launch a counterattack. From ultra-attacking to ultra-defensive to ultra-attacking again, this Indian innings doesn’t have a definitive rhythm. Kohli, though, is in his own trance. He is hit on the arm more than once, hurts his hand while diving, is hit in the ribs, on the uncovered area above the knee, but he seems to be enjoying it.

History is against him. His sides’ collective batting form is against him. A high-quality bowling attack is against him. It can be easy to tire of all this and play a soft shot.

Kohli and Rahane end the day with hope for India; hope that if they can push on, they can put an inexperienced Australian batting line-up under extreme pressure. And then Rahane gets out in the first over of the third morning. And suddenly it dawns again. India were into bonus-runs category once again. Hanuma Vihari is an unknown, Pant, as of now, unable to score risk-free runs, and the tail after that. Almost every over, the physio is coming out to treat Kohli. Painkillers are popped.Kohli continues to enjoy being in the middle. He is trying desperately to change the familiar story. Watchful against good balls, cover-driving every time he gets a chance, running as hard as he can, trying to drag the others with him now. History is against him. His sides’ collective batting form is against him. A high-quality bowling attack is against him. It can be easy to tire of all this and play a soft shot. Go into a shell. Give up bothering about the rest of it lest it eats away at your batting too.***Sachin Tendulkar trudges off after being dismissed for 116•Jack Atley/Getty ImagesThere’s a famous photo of Sachin Tendulkar, accepting the applause from a Melbourne crowd in 1999-2000, but the frame has only Tendulkar and a flock of seagulls in it. The photographer saw it as a metaphor for Tendulkar in a lone battle against a dominating side. It is a little like Kohli standing alone, waiting for a new partner in Centurion, Birmingham, Perth. Exhausted from carrying the side, Tendulkar gave up captaincy soon after that series. Kohli somehow has bottomless reserves, and a much better bowling unit than Tendulkar.Once again, 243 of India’s 283 runs have come with him at the wicket. Once again, India seem headed towards a familiar defeat after having given up a 43-run first-innings lead. It can be easy to go into a shell, to not be bothered, but he comes out charged up in the next innings in the field. He is living every ball once again. He is shouting, appealing, sledging, jumping up and down, getting the crowd excited, telling the opposition captain he can’t afford to mess up this time. There is no air of the condemned around him. He is looking forward to the challenge once again. That is what makes Kohli.

Bangladesh’s most popular cricketer hopes to use his influence to help better the lives of the people of Narail

Mohammad Isam05-Jan-2019Wrapped in a black shawl, Mashrafe Mortaza holds court at a community centre opposite his uncle’s house in Narail. It is 7pm and he has been out campaigning since ten in the morning, but he doesn’t look tired.All day he has met people, often taking detours into areas cut off from the main roads because of river erosion, given speeches to large crowds, posed for countless selfies, greeted men, women and children standing outside their homes with sweets and (rice cakes) for him.He is covered in dust from having ridden pillion on a motorcycle, but is still energetic. Now he sits on a stage, getting up periodically to greet people who have come from Dhaka and from within Narail to see him and shake hands with him.***For over a decade now, Mashrafe has looked to help those less fortunate than him in his district of Narail, giving money to the poor and trying to get jobs for those who are educated but unemployed. More recently, with his Narail Express Foundation, he has looked to focus on some forms of aid in healthcare and education. He wants to do more.ALSO READ: Mashrafe, the torchbearer”There are so many underprivileged people who can have their lives turned around with a bit of help from us,” he says when I meet him in December during his campaign for Bangladesh’s parliamentary election. “I have been doing social work for quite some time now. When I started to do it on a big scale, I realised that solutions to problems, particularly the big ones, are only possible if you are in politics.”Mashrafe stood for the Narail-2 constituency seat on an Awami League ticket and went on to win more than 96% of the votes and become the first active international cricketer to be a member of parliament in his country. The Awami League, led by current prime minister Sheikh Hasina, won in a similar landslide fashion in the rest of the country and will form the national government for a third consecutive term.***I ended up standing next to Mashrafe during his first press briefing about the launch of his political career. Like me, many other reporters there didn’t have experience of covering politics, but that didn’t mean the questions were easy.

“I am seeing the ground reality of the people. I can feel it, touch it. Those old ladies standing next to the road are telling me: ‘We don’t need anything but please ensure our roads are okay'”

It was five days before the first Bangladesh-West Indies ODI, and many were about how he would manage his cricket career alongside his political one, whether he was playing his last home series, and whether or not politics would make it hard from him to decide what to do about his game after the 2019 World Cup.Then came the ones about his politics: What sort of a politician would he be? Why hadn’t he spoken up on the recent student protests against traffic-related deaths where government supporters had attacked protesters? How is he better than the opposition candidate? Why should people vote for him? What happens if his party doesn’t win?Mashrafe explained his position honestly, saying that he was new to the field so he would need time to understand many issues by going into them deeply.ALSO READ: Mashrafe Mortaza wins parliament seat”My playing career is coming to an end,” he said. “I have had thoughts to continue till the World Cup, which the honourable prime minister has ensured. After the World Cup, whatever I have to do for the people, I won’t get the opportunity of an election. If I can be elected now and the PM can form the government, I will have a chance after my playing career.”Bangladesh’s recent form in ODIs, particularly during Mashrafe’s second spell as captain, since November 2014, has made him the most popular cricketer in the country, which in turn helped him achieve his ambitions in politics. At the press conference, Mashrafe didn’t speak of any concrete retirement plans from the game. If you’ve watched him play, you might guess that he is both calculating and instinctive when it comes to taking decisions.Son of Narail: Mortaza has worked for the welfare of his people for years, but feels that as an MP he can make a bigger difference•Ariful Islam RoneyBangladesh went on to beat West Indies 2-1, winning their ninth bilateral one-day series since November 2014.”One of the few things in common [between politics and cricket] is for you to keep working hard at something so that one day you will get a result at some point,” Mashrafe said. “But most definitely, a sense of responsibility is also something that you need in both aspects.”***We have stopped in a narrow street in the Lohagara upazilla, one of three sub-districts of Narail, which itself is the smallest district of Bangladesh. Four rivers flow through Narail, the most famous of which is the Chitra (in which Mashrafe swam growing up), which we have just crossed on our way to a small village, looking for him.Asking for directions at a tea stall opposite a high-school playground, we meet Ruhul Amin, an elderly man in his 70s, who tells us where Mashrafe might be right now. “Digholia is 15 minutes from here. I was also hoping to go. Why don’t you take me there, he asks.”We give him the remaining seat in our car and head towards Digholia. Amin tells us he was a freedom fighter during Bangladesh’s war of independence in 1971 and is currently in one of the Awami League committees in his upazilla. The inevitable question – about Mashrafe’s political career – pops up within minutes.

“I don’t think we ever had anyone close to his popularity from Narail in politics. He will do us great service when elected”Ruhul Amil, member of an Awami League committee in a Narail sub-district

“We are really happy with him,” Amin says. “I don’t think we ever had anyone close to his popularity from Narail in politics. He will do us great service when elected.”Mashrafe has got rousing receptions at every stop he has made during his campaign. Seasoned observers of Bangladesh elections say that they haven’t seen this sort of passion for a candidate, particularly among women and children, before.”Narail has always been special to me.” Mashrafe says. “I am seeing the ground reality of the people. I can feel it, touch it.Perhaps the biggest challenge he faces as an MP is to help people who have lost their homes and pastoral lands due to river-bank erosion – one of the biggest consequences of climate change in Bangladesh. “Those old ladies standing next to the road are telling me: ‘We don’t need anything but please ensure our roads are okay,'” he says.”Someone held me and started to weep. They told me about how 30 houses went into the river due to erosion. Their relatives left Narail as a result. I am seeing up close the problems of daily life of these people. Cricket is emotional for Bengalis, but I am seeing a different world out here.”***Politicians in Bangladesh will tell you that theirs is a 24×7 job, and a member of parliament has far more responsibilities than the average political leader. Mashrafe can be expected to take on that commitment wholeheartedly.Mortaza emerges after his oath-taking ceremony as MP•Bangladesh Cricket BoardHe is not the first person from the world of sports or entertainment to have entered politics in Bangladesh, of course. This year, a person made infamous by his YouTube singing also stood for elections. But apart from Asaduzzaman Noor, a popular actor in theatre, films and television, who has been an MP since 2001 and has been cultural-affairs minister since 2014, other celebrities haven’t quite made a mark.Mashrafe’s unique position as a cricketer-MP makes him a powerful figure in Bangladesh cricket. In terms of position, he is at par with Bangladesh board chief Nazmul Hassan and board director Naimur Rahman, a former Test captain, who are also both members of parliament, but Mashrafe is way more popular than them. Some reckon that it won’t be long before he makes his way into cricket administration.If you step back and look at the big picture of Bangladesh’s democratic future, particularly under Sheikh Hasina, it becomes quite clear that Mashrafe is a jewel in their crown. He is a symbol of Bangladesh’s progress. It is now his responsibility, just like with his cricket captaincy, to be more than just a symbol; to make a difference to people’s lives.

Australians humbled by the lessons learned on their pre-World Cup trip to the Anzac Cove war memorial in Turkey

Daniel Brettig21-May-2019More than 40 years have passed since the Australian film director Peter Weir chose to visit Gallipoli on his way to London to promote .”I’d thought of doing a story on Australians in the first war for some time,” he said in 1981. “Gallipoli seemed a bit obvious but I thought it was logical to drop in and have a look at the battlefield, because staggeringly it is as it was after the evacuation. It’s a military zone still, you can walk through the trenches and easily bring to mind just what it must have been like. A very remote spot, a very beautiful spot, and I think a very powerful atmosphere clings about that peninsular still.”Duly inspired, Weir’s film account heralded a renewal of interest in the campaign and a desire among many to visit. Last week, Australia’s 2019 World Cup squad was added to their number, the second group of cricketers to make the journey after Steve Waugh’s team ventured there in 2001. Waugh had devised the idea in talks with Australia’s former army chief Peter Cosgrove (now the Governor-General).Somewhat jarringly, Waugh has written about how “we were comparing cricket and the army, especially things that are important in both endeavours – such as camaraderie, discipline, commitment and the importance of following a plan”. Certainly, there are far too many occasions when it is the decision of the writer, administrator, coach or player to parallel sport and war. In Australia, where so much of the nation’s cultural heritage is bound up in both, the combination is no less onerous for its frequency.Anzac Day, April 25, is the biggest day of the AFL’s regular season, having since 1995 featured an annual match between Collingwood and Essendon watched by near enough to 100,000 spectators at the MCG and many more on television.Seldom, either, does a match report, advertising pitch, or motivational speech go by without some sort of unfortunate metaphor – something Justin Langer, the coach of Australia’s cricket team, is far from exempt from. As reliably reported by Jane Cadzow in the magazine in January, “Langer is said to have told team members at one post-match meeting that he would not want to be in the trenches with them”.But there is something laudable about making the journey and learning more deeply about the campaign. Weir, by his own experience, was drawn to telling the story in a way that was to have such an impact on so many. For the Australian touring party, there was an opportunity to find the sobering reality at the heart of annual Anzac Day services and all those careless crossovers with sport.Pat Cummins, one of the more articulate members of the team, summed up the experience as follows: “Just spending time together in a place like this, you can’t help but learn something about yourself, about your teammates. Just learning about the Anzac spirit – the fight, the mateship, just the incredible values they held here in 1915.”Langer offered similarly respectful generalities: “An incredibly humbling experience. Since we were little kids, we hear all the stories about the Anzacs and about Gallipoli, so to actually be there was a very humbling experience and also a great opportunity for the boys to be together. I think we’ll all gain some pretty good perspective from the trip. Anzac Day will never be the same for any of us again.”Steven Smith, Justin Langer and David Warner during the Australia World Cup squad’s trip to Gallipoli•Cricket AustraliaThe story that stays most vividly in the minds of most visitors surrounds the events at the Nek on the morning of August 7, 1915. In the mind of the Allied commanding general Sir Ian Hamilton, a frontal assault by the dismounted 3rd Light Horse Brigade was to be one part of a vast and complex, interlocking offensive. Other attacks, including that on the high ground of Chunuk Bair behind and beyond the Nek, were to have already succeeded, thus making the task less difficult for the Light Horse.However, at the appointed moment, neither Chunuk Bair nor flanking positions had been taken, leaving the troops – unknown to them – charging a vast network of Turkish defensive positions, with machine gunners and riflemen emplaced on several tiers to the front and the flanks, covering the narrow stretch of flat land over which four successive waves of 150 men would advance. Unlike an earlier and more carefully devised attack, at Lone Pine, plans called simply for a bombardment and then a bayonet charge with unloaded rifles.The preliminary bombardment, itself concentrated not so much on the position directly facing the Light Horsemen but the maze of trenches and emplacements behind, concluded some seven minutes before the watches of the officers at the front showed 4.30am, the time chosen for the attack. In those precious minutes the Turkish soldiers flooded back into their trenches and made ready to repel a foe that they now knew had to be coming.With their advance well and truly heralded, and the promised supporting actions not having taken place, the men of the eighth Light Horse Regiment, largely from Victoria, charged in the first two lines. Faced by an intensity of fire what the official War Correspondent Charles Bean deduced to be matched “on no other occasion during the war”, few of these troops advanced more than a few metres before being shot to pieces.Among those killed in the first wave was the 8th Light Horse’s commander, Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Henry White, who had insisted on leading his regiment. Looking on was the commander of the 10th Light Horse, primarily composed of West Australians, Lieutenant Colonel Noel Brazier. Summing up the hopelessness of his unit’s situation, Brazier went to protest against continuing the action, but was to be twice rebuffed by the Brigade Major, John Antill.Of Antill, the noted Australian historian Ross McMullin has written: “Antill was abrasive, aggressive and authoritarian. Empathy and perceptiveness were not prominent. Exuding self-confidence, but not as good as he thought he was, Antill was widely disliked and known as “Bull” or “the Bullant”. After the Gallipoli evacuation he made a claim of cringeworthy crassness: he observed that 90 officers in his brigade had served at Gallipoli, and he was the only one who had gone right through the campaign. It evidently escaped him that he had wiped out a lot of them himself.”So the third wave went ahead, to suffer the same fate as the first and the second. Part of the fourth wave also charged following a further miscommunication, after Brazier had gone over Antill’s head to the Brigade commander, Colonel Frederic Hughes, to call a definitive halt to the slaughter. Hughes, according to some accounts, had previously left Antill in charge in a trip to the front to observe events for himself. The contrast between bickering commanders and their disciplined troops, who continued to attack without question despite the fearful tumult of machine gun fire and near certainty of death that awaited them, is difficult to dislodge from the mind.As McMullin wrote: “These were the moments — movingly depicted in Peter Weir’s film — that would make the charge at the Nek renowned. The Western Australians expected to die, and accepted their fate. Those in the third line, when called on, ascended together. They did so because they believed that their sacrificial contribution would enable other Anzacs in other attack to triumph in the sweeping August offensive.”In seeking the best way to depict Gallipoli on film, Weir was drawn to Bean’s account of two brothers in the third wave, Gresley and Wilfred Harper, “the latter of whom was last seen running forward like a schoolboy in a foot-race, with all the speed he could compass.” This image, of so much wilful endeavour so crudely sacrificed, would give Weir’s film its shattering conclusion.Waugh’s reflections on being at the Nek while hearing the aforementioned story are worth recounting. “Standing in the trenches at the Nek with all the lads while our tour guide described what actually happened in the moments leading up to the soldiers’ deaths,” he wrote, “it was a humbling time and also a proud moment to think that these Australians stayed as one as they went over the top, despite knowing they weren’t coming back. They believed they were helping the Allies by sacrificing themselves in order for a bigger plan to work.”Langer was unable to make the trip in 2001 as he was not a part of the limited overs team that played a triangular series prior to that year’s Ashes Tests, and so experienced Gallipoli for the first time last week. One teammate who was there, Adam Gilchrist, saw the images and words of the current squad with something like empathy for those somber moments in the Dardanelles. “It’s been really interesting watching these guys in Gallipoli and being able to rekindle the really fond memories of the trip that we were able to make in 2001,” he said.Steve Waugh and the 2001 Aussies in the Gallipoli trenches•Getty Images”You can almost see in the pictures, the photos and the vision of them, almost know exactly what’s going through their minds of the learnings about the attitudes of young soldiers in those situations. It’s the same for any nationality in the extremes of war I think, they’re there possibly making the ultimate sacrifice for others and from that it then makes cricket and sport seem quite insignificant, but on the flip side of that there’s a lot that can be taken from the bond of mateship, friendship and trust and that galvanising effect that can have on a group.”I remember walking away from Gallipoli to England in 2001 feeling completely and totally in a team that really trusted each other and felt really close to each other. It all had a pretty strong impact on me, to the point where I was trying to say thanks to Steve Waugh and John Buchanan on behalf of the team and I was a blubbering mess.”In his summing up of the senseless loss of life at the Nek, Bean contended that while Antill was at fault because “he did not make himself aware of the true position”, some pause must be given to the decision of White to lead his men personally, knowing at the time that death was likely and so depriving Brazier of a supporting voice with which to take his protest to headquarters.By doing so, Bean provided a telling and gut-wrenching twist on the use of war as a metaphor for sport: “It may also be argued that the gallant White, acting as a sportsman rather than a soldier, by leading forward the first line deprived his regiment of the control which should have been exercised over its operations. Its morale did not require the stimulus of personal leadership; and had his protest been added to Brazier’s, Antill might have discontinued the attack.”If there is one thing the 2019 Australians will take from their Gallipoli visit, it will be to use those war and sport parallels carefully, as Bean once did.

Promoted opener falls six short of a maiden Test hundred, but is safe in the knowledge that his runs have put England in pole position for victory

Alan Gardner at The Oval14-Sep-2019Nearly but not quite. It has been that sort of summer for Joe Denly.Cricket can be a cruel game, never more so than when the hard work and concentration that goes into scoring a Test hundred comes to naught with the milestone in sight. Denly was close enough to touch that elusive, maiden three-figure innings in an England shirt, only to trudge back to the Oval dressing rooms after five hours’ painstaking work an agonising six runs short.Never mind the fact that the difference between a century and the 94 Denly made was negligible in the context of the match. His efforts on day three of this final Test ensured that England were able to cruise comfortably into a position of series-levelling intent, their lead picking up steam towards 400 in front of a well-oiled Saturday evening crowd.Team success is usually held to trump individual achievement, but Denly’s disappointment is bound to niggle for a while. You’d speculate about whether it might keep him up at night – but with his second child having arrived just a couple of days ago, that box is probably already ticked.ALSO READ: Denly and Stokes build England’s chance for series-levelling winWith the flak flying for England’s underperforming batting line-up during a series in which only Rory Burns and Ben Stokes have stood up squarely to the challenge posed by the touring attack, Denly has found himself repeatedly in the firing line. He has been a moving target – shunted from No. 3 to No. 4 and then up to opener in the space of five Tests – but an easy one, too, as a 33-year-old who averaged in the mid-20s and yet seemed to have the favour of England’s national selector, and fellow Kent man, Ed Smith.There has been a method at work here, however. For a while now, England have used a system of “weighted averages” to provide a more contextual view of batting performance, in relation to factors such as conditions and opposition. In a interview this week, Smith revealed that Denly’s weighted average in Tests was 46, compared with just under 25 (before this match) going by the traditional metric.And the evidence of the series has been that Denly, even while visibly struggling, has poured himself into the job. He scrapped for 155 balls for 50 at Headingley to help lay the groundwork for Stokes’ miracle turn. In the fourth innings at Old Trafford, with the Ashes on the line, no-one batted for longer than Denly’s 177 minutes or scored more than his 53 runs.Still, a couple of fighting fifties would probably not be enough to prevent those on the outside looking from wondering whether England shouldn’t just quietly move on this winter. A hundred on the CV would have strengthened his case, but Denly was nevertheless hopeful of prolonging his involvement.”It would have been nice to get to that milestone, of course, having worked so hard to get into that position,” he said. “But England are in a very good position going into day four, hopefully we can get a few more runs and put them under pressure.”When you’re batting at the top of the order for England there’s always that pressure and expectation for you to score runs and do well. It’s been frustrating at times this series to get starts and not be able to capitalise. I felt pretty good today. This Australian attack is certainly up there and make you work hard for every single run. Hopefully I’ve impressed the selectors and the guys who pick the winter tours. We’ll have to wait and see.”There have been several career-shaping hundreds scored by England batsmen at this ground in recent memory – from Kevin Pietersen and Jonathan Trott in Ashes contests, to the innings that salvaged Alastair Cook’s game, against Pakistan in 2010. Had he got there, Denly’s would probably not have echoed quite so resonantly, with the Ashes already gone, but it would nevertheless have been the bellwether achievement of his 15 years as a professional.In keeping with his series, he gave Australia some chances. If Marcus Harris had held on to a regulation catch at gully as the shadows lengthened on Friday, he would not have been out to take his guard beneath a blazing September sun on the third morning. As it was, he was able to clip Pat Cummins calmly off his pads from the first ball of the day, before confidently stroking four down the ground in the same over.His pre-emptive attack on Nathan Lyon helped settle home nerves, and consecutive lofted drives down the ground for four and six put England’s openers on course for their first 50 partnership since the Bridgetown Test in January. Whether Denly and Burns will be the men to face the new ball in New Zealand later this year remains a question for Smith.Joe Denly takes a breather during his innings•Getty ImagesHe was floored by a blow to the box from Cummins, but dusted himself off to go again – just as he did each time the ball passed either his inside or outside edge. Had Australia chosen to review a Mitchell Marsh lbw appeal on 54, he would have been sent on his way by DRS. In the 60s he just managed to clear the clunking leap of Marsh at mid-off; in the 70s, he edged Peter Siddle half a yard short of Tim Paine.It seemed a dirty-but-sweet hundred was his for the taking. But moments after Siddle had brought one back through his defence, Denly’s mouth forming a Munchian scream as the ball passed silently over the stumps, the outside edge was clipped again and this time the catch was held.In one of the other trouser legs of time, Denly is a World Cup winner. His inclusion in the preliminary squad, before subsequently being omitted for Liam Dawson, provided a rare loose thread in England’s white-ball tapestry. There were no complaints, however, as Denly went back to Kent and prepared for Test duty.An Ashes hundred would have been fitting reward, but even without both he and England look set to finish the summer on a high.

Despite an average of 57 and a strike rate of 157 in T20Is, Malan’s place in England’s top six remains uncertain

Matt Roller08-Nov-2019Dawid Malan has never played in a full-strength England team in a T20 international. He has never played alongside more than three of their 50-over World Cup top six, and whenever the big guns have returned, he has found himself left out.”I still believe I can play international cricket,” Malan said in March, days before England started their T20I series in the Caribbean. “I still believe I’m good enough. You always want to play more and, when you average 50 with a strike rate of 150, you do, probably selfishly, think you should be playing a bit more.”In each of the three games in that series, he was left out.But almost every time Malan plays a game in the format, he seems to push his case forward even more. His record in T20Is is now freakish: he has a strike-rate of 156.31 while averaging 57.25, marrying belligerence with consistency. He has gone past the fifty mark six times in nine innings in a ‘solar red’ England shirt. To give that some context, the fewest innings it had taken someone to make that many fifty-plus score from debut was 15 (KL Rahul). He is also only the second player to make that many fifty-plus scores in nine innings – Virat Kohli did made six in eight innings between April 2014 and January 2016.