A one-line telegram to his wife, Ada, told the story all of Fleet Street had come to write

Paul Edwards02-Jul-2020August 18, 1925
ScorecardFor more than two decades the best, and best-loved, cricketer in England was also the humblest. Records fell to him and he made more centuries than any other player, yet he maintained an unaffected serenity which wise men envied even more than his batting ability. This is revealing because he had all the shots and played them with time to spare. He managed this even on rain-affected pitches and in matches where, as a quietly proud professional, he knew he had to earn his pay.On flat wickets at The Oval or against weaker opposition he might give his innings away to a deserving bowler in order to allow his Surrey colleagues a chance to bat. He had received hardly any coaching; the skills at the heart of his batting were entirely natural. His first-class debut in 1905 pitted him against W G Grace and in his final Test in 1930 he watched Don Bradman make 232. He would end his career with 197 first-class hundreds but not even the great innings he played in Ashes Tests were more feted than his 126th century. That was made at Taunton in August 1925 when the County Ground was packed with spectators and the press box was as crammed as an ageing film-star’s make-up box. “Fame and tranquillity can never be bedfellows,” wrote Michel de Montaigne. But then Montaigne never met Jack Hobbs.ALSO READ: The captain who helped West Indies make their own West Indian wayThere was no touring team in 1925. That in itself was not particularly unusual: only three countries played Test Matches and, as Dominic Sandbrook points out, county cricket was still the national sport, shading even football until after the Second World War. Five bowlers were to take over 200 wickets that season and the country was not short of high-class batsmen, yet Hobbs’s exploits dominated the sporting pages. Beginning the summer with 113 first-class hundreds against his name, he made a dozen more in his first 27 innings. That mattered because it left him one short of the record set by Grace and once thought unchallengeable. (As things turned out, ten of the 25 batsmen to score a hundred hundreds overtook Grace.)”England is waiting for news in an expectant hush,” said a leader writer on the . “We shall hold our breath as hopefully as any man in Surrey and crow as lustily when the great figures break at last on the telegraph board.” At which point Hobbs’s form dipped a little and the weather sulked. He was dismissed by Maurice Tate for 1 at Hove, by Charlie Parker for 38 at Gloucester and by a promising 21-year-old called Harold Larwood for 1 at The Oval.For nearly a month the press pack remained in close attendance and spectators queued up, wondering if this was going to be the day. When Hobbs failed to make a century he was probably more disappointed for his supporters than himself. He may have felt responsible for their sadness. “The mental strain was beginning to tell,” he admitted later, “It seemed the whole circus was following me round. The newspapers were working everybody into a fever state.”In the ten innings after his century against Kent at Blackheath, Hobbs made 252 runs. “Centuries never bothered me, nor records really, nor averages,” he said after he retired. “Of course I was earning my living but it was batting I enjoyed.” And there was nothing sham about this gentle simplicity. The only false thing about Hobbs was the two dozen or so strokes he played each season that led to dismissals. For the rest of each summer he was the most technically accomplished cricketer in the land. Archie McLaren described him as the most perfect model of what a batsman should be and wrote a book based on pre-war photographs to prove his point.ALSO READ: Bertie Buse’s benefit match: ‘It’s one of those rough days, gentlemen’Somerset’s cricketers, by contrast, were rarely cited as models of excellence in 1925. They won only three matches and finished 15th in the table. Their bowling was frequently dependent on J C “Farmer” White, one of the nine amateurs in the team that played Surrey, who themselves fielded five unpaid players. Although White was mainly content to tend his cows in the English winters, he was a cricketer of international class and took 25 wickets as England retained the Ashes in 1928-29. None of which detracted from the general opinion that a visit to Taunton gave Hobbs an ideal opportunity to make a lot of history.The game began on a Saturday and Somerset batted first. They managed 167 in 66.3 overs and in an age when all counties bowled around twenty overs an hour Hobbs had over two hours to make progress towards removing the burden from his shoulders. “We had brushed ourselves aside for the occasion,” wrote RC Robertson-Glasgow (Crusoe), who opened the home side’s bowling. But it seems that Hobbs could have been out three times that evening. He was caught at cover-point off a no-ball, might have been pouched at mid-on had Jack MacBryan moved a little more quickly and then saw a confident lbw appeal from Robertson-Glasgow turned down. He also managed to run out Donald Knight for 34. Yet when all these tiny dramas had been completed he was unbeaten on 91. Nine runs to get and all Fleet Street in a ferment.On Sunday Hobbs kept to his usual habit and twice went to church, but between these simple devotions he was filmed at Surrey’s hotel close by the station. On the platform favoured by trains from London another carriage disgorged yet more journalists, all hip-flasks and headlines. The following morning the County Ground was quite as packed as it had been 48 hours earlier. “Somerset committee-men beamed affably alike on friends, enemies and total strangers,” observed Crusoe. Hobbs began with three singles, then a four off a Robertson-Glasgow no-ball and a single in the same over. Then he pushed a single off Jim Bridges, thereby disposing of the great matter that had bedevilled him for a month.”Tremendous cheering, of course, greeted the accomplishment of the feat,” reported Wisden, who gave a whole page to its match report. “Indeed, so pronounced was the enthusiasm that the progress of the game was halted some minutes while at the end of the over all the players in the field shook hands with Hobbs, and the Surrey captain brought out a drink for the hero of the occasion, who raised the glass high and bowed to the crowd before partaking of the refreshment.”The liquid in the glass Percy Fender brought out was ginger-ale and toasting the crowd may have been the most ostentatious act of Hobbs’s life. Leo McKinstry, his latest and best biographer, records that he also took from his pocket a telegram he had written earlier and asked the Taunton groundsman to send it to his wife, Ada, who was on holiday in Margate with their four children. It read: “Got it at last, Jack.”Jack Hobbs toasting the crowd at Taunton•Getty ImagesThe rest of that game at Taunton was much more than an appendix to a great moment. The papers had their story and some sated journalists returned to the smoke. Surrey, meanwhile, having established a lead of 192, bowled out Somerset for 374, this despite a century by MacBryan. Needing 183 to win, the visitors got home by ten wickets and Hobbs, having equalled Grace’s record on Monday, surpassed it a day later. “His cares dropped from him, as the poet has it, like the needles shaken from out the gusty pine,” said Crusoe rather sportingly, given that his six overs had cost 42 runs. “The same balls which, in the first innings, he had pushed severely to cover-point he now cracked to the boundary with serene abandon.”Hobbs made 16 centuries in 1925 and finished the season with 3024 runs. He played on until 1934, by which time he was 51. He made nearly as many hundreds after his 40th birthday as before reaching that vestibule of middle age. He was knighted in 1953, the first professional to receive the honour, yet he continued to call his former amateur colleagues Mr. Jardine, Mr. Fender etc. even when he was Sir Jack. He has been fortunate in his biographers and fortunate too, that one of his friends was John Arlott, who loved him very much. “He just was the person whom I suppose I admired more than anybody else and I really believe that if he had never played cricket I would have admired him as much,” Arlott told Mike Brearley in their memorable Channel 4 conversations. “He was determined to be content.”After retirement Hobbs ran his sports shop in Fleet Street and sometimes worked for the newspapers, his copy ghosted by a professional journalist. The story goes that he might be critical of one or two batsmen’s dismissals in the morning session but by the time came to file copy natural kindness had reasserted itself. “Say he’s looking for his best form,” he might suggest.Arlott’s last poem took him six months to write. It was entitled: “To John Berry Hobbs on his Seventieth Birthday”. The fourth stanza reads as follows:Arlott also produced a short biography of Hobbs. It details his major achievements but always places them in a context that really has little to do with cricket: “This was the man who, without believing it to be a matter of major importance, made more runs than anyone else.”In 2000 a panel of experts voted Hobbs one of Wisden’s Five Cricketers of the Century. In his tribute Matthew Engel noted his subject had done more than anyone else to lift “the status and dignity of the English professional cricketer. He shied away from the limelight without ever resenting it. Even in old age he could be sought by all-comers at his sports shop in Fleet St.”No doubt some customers asked Hobbs about that famous day in Taunton. He probably apologised for all the fuss he had caused. Match from the Day

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A host of leading players from around the world will be in Sydney for the WBBL

Andrew McGlashan14-Oct-2020Suzie Bates (New Zealand/Adelaide Strikers)T20I record: Matches 122; Runs 3301; Avg 30.00; S/R 110.62 | Wickets 50; Avg 25.52; Econ 6.73

WBBL record: Matches 70; Runs 1710; Avg 28.50; S/R 104.07 | Wickets 35; Avg 28.08; Econ 6.83Formed the formidable Smash Sisters pairing at the Strikers with Sophie Devine, but has lost her national team-mate who has moved to the Perth Scorchers. There is some doubt over her fitness heading in the tournament after she picked up a shoulder injury against Australia in BrisbaneTammy Beaumont (England/Sydney Thunder)T20I record: Matches 88; Runs 1382; Avg 22.29; S/R 108.73

WBBL record: Matches 40; Runs 854; Avg 22.47; S/R 95.20The England opener hasn’t quite been able to translate her excellent ODI record into T20 but was the leading scorer in the recent series against West Indies and remains a dangerous option at the top of the order. She has had previous BBL stints with the Strikers and the RenegadesKatherine Brunt (England/Melbourne Stars)T20I record: Matches 87; Runs 493; Avg 17.00; S/R 113.85 | Wickets 89; Avg 19.39; Econ 5.49

WBBL record: Matches 44; Runs 447; Avg 17.88′ S/R 103.47 | Wickets 49; Avg 17.71; Econ 5.15An aggressive seamer and hard-hitting batter, Brunt has been a stalwart of the England side and will be tasked to bring a cutting edge to the Stars attack. She has the best economy rate in WBBL history (5.15) of anyone to have bowled at least 250 deliveries.Nadine de Klerk (South Africa/Brisbane Heat)T20I record: Matches 20; Runs 241; Avg 24.10; S/R 94.50 | Wickets 18; Avg 14.38; Econ 7.06

WBBL record: Yet to playThe bustling seamer made a mark when she came into the South Africa side during the T20 World Cup, claiming 3 for 19 in the semi-final against Australia. She was awarded a national contract shortly after the tournament.Sophie Devine (New Zealand/Perth Scorchers)T20I record: Matches 94; Runs 2447; Avg 30.97; S/R 125.42 | Wickets 91; Avg 17.07; Econ 6.26

WBBL record: Matches 66; Runs 2174; Avg 39.52; S/R 129.40 | Wickets 60; Avg 22.13; Econ 7.12The New Zealand captain has become one of the most dominant players in the format. She is the highest scoring overseas player in WBBL history (behind just Ellyse Perry and Beth Mooney) and was the Player of the Tournament last season. Her switch from the Strikers to Scorchers was one of the biggest off-season moves.Sarah Glenn has emerged as a formidable part of England’s spin attack•Nathan Stirk/Getty ImagesSarah Glenn (England/Perth Scorchers)T20I record: Matches 15; Wickets 22; Avg 12.63; Econ 5.34

WBBL record: Yet to playLegspinner Glenn is among the most promising emerging bowling talents in the game having impressed during the T20 World Cup and last month’s series against West Indies where she was named Player of the Series and was also awarded the PCA Player of the Year title.Maddy Green (New Zealand/Brisbane Heat)T20I record: Matches 51; Runs 385; Avg 11.66; S/R 86.32

WBBL record: Matches 16; Runs 309; Avg 20.60; S/R 112.36Green showed glimpses of her power in the matches against Australia and has also worked on developing her offspin. She could have an important part to play in compensating for the loss of Beth Mooney at the defending championsShabnim Ismail (South Africa/Sydney Thunder)T20I record: Matches 92; Wickets 99; Avg 18.65; Econ 5.73

WBBL record: Matches 15; Wickets 13; Avg 25.23; Econ 6.65Among the fastest bowlers in the world, it was Ismail’s economy that stood out last season as she conceded 5.88 but the Thunder will hope she can add further wicket-taking to the record.Hayley Jensen (New Zealand/ Hobart Hurricanes)T20I record: Matches 30; Wickets 24; Avg 24.91; Econ 6.74

WBBL record: Matches 36; Wickets 32; Avg 19.21, Econ 6.55The medium-pacer has joined the Hurricanes, her fourth WBBL club, as a replacement player and won’t immediately be available unless one of the three other overseas signings is injured. She had a good T20 World with three-wicket hauls against Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.Amelia Kerr celebrates a wicket•Getty ImagesAmy Jones (England/Perth Scorchers)T20I record: Matches 54; Runs 776; Avg 19.89; S/R 116.51

WBBL record: Matches 34; Runs 689; Avg 24.60; S/R 114.26Jones, the wicketkeeper-batter, is now in the middle-order for England it may be a role she plays for the Scorchers given they also have Mooney and Devine. She struck 55 off 37 balls in the fourth match of the series against West Indies.Marizanne Kapp (South Africa/Sydney Sixers)T20I record: Matches 78; Runs 946; Avg 19.30; S/R 96.23 | Wickets 58; Avg 20.65; Econ 5.42

WBBL record: Matches 70; Runs 637; Avg 18.20; S/R 101.11 | Wickets 77; Avg 17.67; Econ 5.18A fine allrounder, Kapp is the leading overseas wicket-taker in WBBL history after a long association with the Sixers and part of a formidable line-up. She started the T20 World Cup in excellent form but her tournament was curtailed by illness.Amelia Kerr (New Zealand/Brisbane Heat)T20I record: Matches 35; Wickets 37; Avg 19.89; Econ 5.75

WBBL record: Matches 16: Wickets 14; Avg 25.50; Econ 6.22Kerr, the legspinning allrounder, has just turned 20 but has already been around the international scene for four years. She will be a key weapon in the Heat attack and is also a very handy batter in the middle order, who could need to take on more responsibility this season. She took nine wickets across the six recent matches against Australia.Heather Knight (England/Sydney Thunder)T20I record: Matches 79; Runs 1256; Avg 22.83; S/R 119.96 | Wickets 20; Avg 25.00; Econ 5.71

WBBL record: Matches 55; Runs 1353; Avg 26.52; S/R 107.63 | Wickets 39; Avg 27.27; Econ 6.92The England captain, who has moved from the Hurricanes to the Thunder, has taken her T20 batting to a new level this year with 486 runs at 40.50 and a strike-rate of 135.75 which included a maiden century against Thailand in the T20 World Cup.Lizelle Lee’s power game will now be utilised by the Renegades•Getty ImagesLizelle Lee (South Africa/Melbourne Renegades)T20I record: Matches 74; Runs 1664; Avg 25.21; S/R 109.47

WBBL record: Matches 40; Runs 1100; Avg 29.72; S/R 125.57A thunderous striker of the ball, Lee has crossed town from the Stars to the Renegades and will be tasked with making the most of the Powerplay. In consecutive seasons she has produced the first century of the competition: 102 off 56 balls against the Sixers in 2018-19 and 103 off 65 balls against the Scorchers last summer.Hayley Matthews (West Indies/Hobart Hurricanes)T20I record: Matches 55; Runs 986; Avg 18.60; S/R 105.68 | Wickets 51; Avg 18.00; Econ 6.00

WBBL record: Matches 43; Runs 737; Avg 18.42; S/R 99.46 | Wickets 28; Avg 25.71; Econ 6.84Matthews will be looking to revive her credentials as one of the finest young players around after a lean run in T20Is where her top score in the last 14 innings is 23. Her talent suggests she should be averaging much better than 18Rachel Priest (New Zealand/Hobart Hurricanes)T20I record: Matches 75; Runs 873; Avg 16.77; S/R 104.42

WBBL record: Matches 69; Runs 1410; Avg 21.04; S/R 116.14After retiring from international cricket, wicketkeeper-batter Priest has set up her cricket base in Tasmania after previous WBBL spells with the Renegades and the Thunder. She will carry significant responsibility in what shapes as a potentially light Hurricanes top order.Amy Satterthwaite (New Zealand/Melbourne Renegades)T20I record: Matches 102; Runs 1595; Avg 21.26; S/R 96.02 | Wickets 24; Avg 22.00; Econ 7.07

WBBL record: Matches 53; Runs 1254; Avg 31.35; S/R 101.29 | Wickets 43; Avg 18.97; Econ 6.51Back as captain of the Renegades after maternity leave, Sattherthwaite will have a vital role at the top of the order which will be without Jess Duffin. She slotted back into international cricket impressively against AustraliaLaura Wolvaardt will be looking to bring these shots to the WBBL•Getty ImagesNat Sciver (England/Melbourne Stars)T20I record: Matches 80; Runs 1535; Avg 25.58; S/R 112.37 | Wickets 52; Avg 19.38; Econ 6.35
WBBL record: Matches 52; Runs 952; Avg 24.41; S/R 112.52 | Wickets 36; Avg 27.66; Econ 6.90A formidable allrounder, Sciver – one of the few players to have a shot named after them – joins team-mate Brunt at the Stars and is capable of match-changing performances with bat and ball. She had an outstanding T20 World Cup and made 82 off 61 balls against West Indies last monthLea Tahuhu (New Zealand/Melbourne Renegades)T20I record: Matches 60; Wickets 52; Avg 21.09; Econ 5.97

WBBL record: Matches 56; Wickets 49; Avg 24.61; Econ 5.96Continues to vie to be the fastest bowler in the game, Tahuhu is another injury concern heading into the tournament have suffering a back strain in the ODI series against Australia. If fit, she will be the pace-bowling strike weapon for the Renegades.Stafanie Taylor (West Indies/Adelaide Strikers)T20I record: Matches 108; Runs 3062; Avg 36.02 | Wickets 94; Avg 16.88; Econ 5.65

WBBL record: Matches 60; Runs 1074; Avg 26.19; S/R 101.41 | Wickets 49; Avg 18.51; Econ 6.55Taylor has an impressive T20 record and will be tasked with helping fill the void created by Devine’s departure after her 2019-2020 campaign was cut short by international duty and then injury.Chloe Tryon (South Africa/Hobart Hurricanes)T20I record: Matches 65; Runs 757; Avg 20.45; S/R 139.66 | Wickets 19; Avg 34.36; Econ 7.09

WBBL record: Matches 13; Runs 248; Avg 35.42; S/R 178.41
Few players in the world hit the ball as hard as Tryon – her WBBL strike-rate, albeit, from a small number of matches, is far and away the best in WBBL history (minimum 125 balls faced). The key for the Hurricanes will be finding the best spot in the order for her.Dane van Niekerk (South Africa/Sydney Sixers)T20I record: Matches 83; Runs 1839; Avg 28.73; S/R 94.79 | Wickets 63; Avg 21.06; Econ 5.45

WBBL record: Matches 63; Runs 795; Avg 21.48; S/R 105.67 | Wickets 64; Avg 20.00; Econ 6.35The South Africa captain is another of the leading allrounders in the game, although given the Sixers’ batting strength it is arguably her legspin that plays the more important role. She was Player of the Match in South Africa’s opening T20 World Cup victory over England earlier this year.Laura Wolvaardt (South Africa/Adelaide Strikers)T20I record: Matches 25; Runs 427; Avg 22.47; S/R 103.38

WBBL record: Matches 20; Runs 99; Avg 8.25; S/R 92.52It is best not to pay too much attention to Wolvaardt’s previous WBBL record which was two seasons with the Heat. The T20 World Cup felt like a breakthrough tournament for her in the format, with two dazzling unbeaten innings to highlight her as one of the most exciting emerging batting talents.

Under the gaze of St Peter’s, India’s batsmen were felled with frightening swiftness

Daniel Brettig19-Dec-2020 was a 1935 drama penned by TS Eliot about the assassination of the medieval Archbishop Thomas Becket. should be the title forever applied to the brutally decisive seventh session of the Adelaide Test.Under the gaze of St Peter’s, India’s batsmen were felled with frightening swiftness by an Australian pace attack that found, much to their delight, the pink ball was swinging for more or less the first time in what had already been a quite challenging match for batsmen.Adding to the serendipitous meeting of conditions in the air – markedly less windy than previously – with those under foot on a pitch that had perceptibly quickened from its more sluggish beginnings, was the fact that the Australians had learned from the first day to pitch the ball a little fuller in search of movement and forward strokes from the batsmen.Josh Hazlewood leads Australia off after registering figures of 5-3-8-5•Cricket Australia/Getty ImagesIn doing so, Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood found the sort of “zone” they had enjoyed on the second day of the Leeds Ashes Test in 2019, South Africa’s seamers had experienced against the Australians when bowling them out for 47 at Cape Town in 2011, and Curtly Ambrose entered during his mesmerising spell of 7 for 1 in the decisive Perth Test of the 1992-93 bout for the Frank Worrell Trophy.On each occasion, there was just enough bounce and lateral movement, by no means an extravagant amount, meaning that edges were consistently found rather than thin air. And on each occasion, whether pushed to be more aggressive by the match situation or simply through building up to the ideal rhythm over the course of a series, the bowlers ventured fuller than their usual lengths when usually they hesitated out of dislike for being driven too often.If there was an added contemporary factor making things still more difficult for the Indians, it arrived in the form of the contrasting approaches taken by Cummins and Hazlewood. As Australia’s most accomplished seam bowler, Cummins has now utterly mastered the art of wobbling the seam, something he began doing more consistently in the 2019 Ashes, culminating in his memorable delivery to bowl Joe Root at Old Trafford. This method is impossible for a batsman to pick up before the ball has pitched, leaving them little or no time to adjust when it moves.At the other end, after an exploratory couple of overs from Mitchell Starc, Hazlewood provided the perfect contrast by sending down a beautifully balanced, upright seam in the more traditional manner once favoured by Ryan Harris and Damien Fleming before him. With the fuller length and just enough lateral movement through the air, the Cummins and Hazlewood tandem was at a level very few batting line-ups through Test match history would have been able to cope with.Pat Cummins is pumped after ripping through India’s top order•Getty Images”He sort of gets a natural wobble on it all the time,” Hazlewood said of Cummins, “so it’s something that’s a bit different and it really worked for him in England with the big seam on the Duke. And even when there’s grass on this wicket it works really well. I think he can do both. He’s not a big swinger of the ball but he can do it from time to time. It’s a nice little change that all three of us are a lot different I guess.”An advantage of the Australian bowlers now having spent the better part of four years operating together in Tests is that they are now well versed at switching between wobble seam and swing methods depending on how the conditions favour them. It’s something Tim Paine spoke candidly about on the second evening, when the Test remained finely balanced after the captain had salvaged something from his side’s halting first innings with a knock of 73 that will look better with each passing day.”It’s a bit of everything actually. Some of the times they’ll talk about it and we’ll say ‘no we think you can do this or do that’, but they’re experienced bowlers,” Paine said. “Most of the time it comes after they’ve done one of the things and it’s not working as well as they would like, so they try something else.”I think Patty’s more like that most of the time, regardless of the conditions. Josh is someone that can do a bit of both and Starcy’s more swing than seam. So we’ve got a nice mix. [Cameron] Greeny is someone who can do both, he’s got really good skills from what we’ve seen with seam up and swing he can do everything. So we’re lucky to have such a good attack. But most of the time they see what’s happening at the time and they’re experienced bowlers, they can make that decision and we back them to do it.”The initial decision to start with Cummins and Starc, seam and swing, was adjusted to Hazlewood, and the contrasting challenges posed by the NSW pair, city and country, were far too much for the Indians. After Jasprit Bumrah’s initial return catch to Cummins, Cheteshwar Pujara could do nothing about a delivery that seamed and bounced away, Mayank Agarwal snicked a perfectly pitched first ball from Hazlewood, Ajinkya Rahane followed in near enough to an action replay, and Virat Kohli did what he had successfully avoided on day one – pushing hard at a full ball.All up, this spellbinding sequence saw India lose 5 for 4 in 5.5 overs, and meant there was very little the rest could do. Hazlewood went on finish with 5 for 8, having had 5 for 3 at one stage, while Cummins recorded the mundane analysis of 4 for 21. It all added up to 36 all out, the lowest Test score in India’s history. Looking on from on high, no less a top order authority than Sunil Gavaskar was at pains to emphasise the quality of the bowling rather than any intrinsic weakness in the way India had batted.”There’s very little that the Indians have done wrong,” Gavaskar said admiringly on Seven’s coverage. “It’s been splendid bowling by the Australians – much fuller length, mixed up with the odd short delivery, around the off stump. The Indian batsmen have been just that little bit tentative, but the bowling has been tremendous.”Tremendously effective, and tremendously violent for the outcome of the match and the series. India’s best chance had been to win in Adelaide while they still had Kohli in the team. Now the Australians are well and truly in the ascendant, and will leave South Australia with far happier memories of St Peter’s spire than anyone in the touring party.

Also, Pant and Pujara break a 72-year-old record

Gaurav Sundararaman11-Jan-20211979 – The previous time India batted for longer in the fourth innings than the 132 overs they batted in this Test. On that occasion, India batted 150 overs against England at The Oval to save the Test. The Oval and SCG Tests included, India have batted longer than 100 overs in the fourth innings of a Test on only five occasions since 1979.ESPNcricinfo Ltd6 – Number of instances of any team batting more than 130 overs (or the equivalent of 130 six-ball overs) to save a Test in Australia. It has happened only twice since 1971. The previous instance was when South Africa batted 148 overs in 2012.256 – Balls played by Hanuma Vihari and R Ashwin in their sixth-wicket partnership. There have only been three instances of more balls played for the sixth wicket in the fourth innings, in a win or a draw. The highest is 353, by Adam Gilchrist and Justin Langer against Pakistan in Hobart in 1999.Cheteshwar Pujara and Rishabh Pant broke a 72-year-old record•Getty Images2 – Number of longer sixth-wicket stands for India in the fourth innings. The 256 balls played by Vihari and Ashwin helped India to draw, but the top two instances came in losses: KL Rahul and Rishabh Pant added 204 in 267 balls in 2018 against England, while Sachin Tendulkar and Nayan Mongia batted 266 balls in 1999 against Pakistan.148 – Runs added by Cheteshwar Pujara and Pant for the fourth wicket. This is the highest fourth-innings fourth-wicket stand for India, eclipsing a 72-year-old record held by Vijay Hazare and Rusi Modi, who added 139 against West Indies in Mumbai.Related

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97 – Pant’s knock was the second-highest score by a visiting wicketkeeper in the fourth innings in Australia. Only England’s Alan Knott scored more than this, in 1975 in Adelaide. Pant has scored 512 runs at an average of 56.88 in 10 innings in Australia, and has scored 25 or more in each of his ten innings there.3 – Wickets lost on the final day by India. Only once since 2001 has three or fewer wickets fallen on the final day in Australia. This was when South Africa played 126 overs to save a Test in Perth in 2005.128 – Balls faced by R Ashwin in the fourth innings – it ranks fifth on the list of most balls faced by an India No. 7 in the fourth innings.134 – Innings played by Pujara to reach the 6000-run mark in Tests, making him the 11th from India to get to that milestone. Only five of them have taken fewer innings to get there: Sunil Gavaskar (117), Virat Kohli (119), Sachin Tendulkar (120), Virender Sehwag (123) and Rahul Dravid (125).

The game was poised to go either way. There was tension all around. But the fast bowler calmly defused it and took control

Saurabh Somani21-Mar-20212:49

Gambhir: Unbelievable spell from Bhuvneshwar

England were 127 for 1 in 12 overs, with both Jos Buttler and Dawid Malan having crossed fifty. There was plenty of firepower left in the shed, and an equation of 98 from 48 seemed eminently gettable. India had only one card left to play, and Virat Kohli played it, calling back Bhuvneshwar Kumar.Bhuvneshwar’s first spell read 2-0-6-1, but since he had gone out of the attack, India’s efforts to stop the runs cascade was like trying to plug multiple leaks with paper towels. But in Bhuvneshwar, India knew they had someone who could come with brick and mortar and cement. Ordinarily, he might have been saved up for the death, but not with England going the way they were.After a tight – but fair – first-ball wide, three successive slower balls followed, in the channel for the right-handed Buttler and slanting across the left-handed Malan. Not on a driveable length, but not so short that they could pull or cut comfortably – not when they weren’t reading the slower one early enough.Buttler, who plays the reverse sweep as easily as others nurdle off their pads, missed one next ball, which was at normal speed. Even for Buttler, it must be tough to react quickly to changes of pace bowled with the subtle skill of Bhuvneshwar.By the fifth ball, the effect of India’s large total had begun to exert its scoreboard pressure. There was a release shot coming. The batsman knew it, the bowler knew it, the game situation almost demanded it. And Bhuvneshwar nailed the hard length in the channel, with the quickest delivery he had bowled in the over. Even a batsman of Buttler’s calibre couldn’t properly get underneath the ball, and holed out to long-off.Bhuvneshwar Kumar broke the game for India in the chase•BCCIThree runs, and the wicket of the opposition’s most destructive batsman, just when the game seemed it could go in either direction, depending who pushed. And Bhuvneshwar didn’t just give it a push, he bulldozed through it. Beginning with that game-breaking over, England mustered 61 for 7 in the last eight. Bhuvneshwar had prised the door open and the other bowlers followed his lead in storming through, helped by the work the batsmen had done in piling on a mountain of runs.At the end of a match that had 412 runs scored in 40 overs, Bhuvneshwar had 4-0-15-2, and four of those runs had come off wide balls.ESPNcricinfo’s Smart Stats captured just how much better he had been than any other bowler in the game. Bhuvneshwar’s performance earned him 76.6 Bowling Impact points, nearly double that of the next best, Adil Rashid with 44.45. No other bowler got more than 27.It capped an typically understated, typically excellent return to top-flight cricket for Bhuvneshwar. Nobody got more than the 183.85 Bowling Impact points he gathered over the series. Jofra Archer was menacingly hostile, Mark Wood bowled as if his slower balls would be 90 mph, Shardul Thakur got the most wickets – but overall, the best bowler was Bhuvneshwar. The four actual wickets he got were worth almost seven Smart Wickets, and while his traditional economy rate was an outstanding 6.39 anyway, his Smart Economy was a frankly jaw-dropping 4.94 – and that against the batting line-up that’s held to be the most explosive in T20 cricket today.Putting context to Bhuvneshwar’s performances in this series tells us tangibly that he bowled the tough overs consistently, and that he made breakthroughs that significantly impacted the game.5:56

Rohit Sharma – ‘Bhuvi is one of our leading bowlers’

It’s the kind of return Kohli was hoping for. “He’s shaping up really well. He’s come back, he’s fit. He’s worked really well to get back to 100% fitness,” Kohli had said before the series started. “Look, he’s a smart operator with the ball, we’ve all seen that in the past few years. He continues to bring that experience on the field, which is going to be vital for us going forward. He has a clear understanding of what he wants to do in the next few months, and he wants to contribute towards many more Indian victories in the coming months. And in the World Cup we would obviously need our most experienced T20 bowlers, and he’s right up there with anyone else. With the new ball, through the middle overs, and in the death as well. He’s a guy that you can bank on.”Banking on Bhuvneshwar is exactly what India did, given the relative greenness of the rest of India’s bowling attack. It’s what Rohit Sharma gushed about, once the series was done.”He still remains one of our leading bowlers, and obviously in this particular line-up he is our leading bowler,” Sharma said. “We do understand that we need to put the responsibility on him a lot more come the crucial overs, and he has accepted that responsibility pretty well. Bowled the crucial overs at the start, and towards the back end, which we thought was not easy at all considering how much dew was on the field. That is what someone like Bhuvi has done for us. You can count on him, you can rely on him in situations like this.”Banker. Reliable. The guy you can count on.For the man himself though, he couldn’t even bring himself to say “It’s good to be back” – quickly holding back his tongue when presented with the Man of the Match award and saying, “No I don’t want to say that it’s good to be back, because whenever I’ve said it, twice in the last one year, nothing good after that.”India will gladly take that glass half-empty attitude, and hope to fill it up with a dose of Jasprit Bumrah, come the T20 World Cup. With both Bhuvneshwar and Bumrah fit and firing in the same bowling attack, it’ll be like having the banker operating from one end and the safe-cracker with the blowtorch from the other. And it could be fairly irresistible.