The legspinner has had a stop-start international career but produced a remarkable performance

Andrew Fidel Fernando05-Aug-20244:45

Takeaways: Vandersay exposed India’s vulnerability against spin

It didn’t take much to win them over.It was only five nights ago that Sri Lanka’s batters tanked what seemed to be an untankable T20I, the middle order collapsing with such seismic ferocity even the batting in the Super Over was shaken. Spectators were incensed, and let the team know it. Hundreds in Pallekele gathered on the edge of the grass banks closest to the presentation ceremony and demanded answers from Charith Asalanka, the only player who emerged from the dressing room. Sticking around until well after the last wicket fell to scream their frustrations. This was after midnight on a weekday – fan feedback driven almost totally by spite.By the second half of Sunday’s ODI, the was blaring, a Lankan crowd was in voice, an India middle order was crashing, the vibes were back. It didn’t take much, never taken much, doesn’t seem like it ever take much. On its best days, Khettarama feels less a cricket ground, more a party that happens to have shimmied up to a cricket ground.Related

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This team crashed out of the T20 World Cup at the earliest opportunity. They haven’t qualified for next year’s Champions trophy. They’re ranked as low as… well… let’s not depress ourselves.Still, this public still looks for reasons to show up. On Friday, only about a third of Khettarama was full, but the team pulled off a tie, which after 10 straight losses to India, felt a little like a victory. On Sunday, expectedly, many more rolled up, clutching Sri Lanka flags. Helped by a strong contingent of India fans, the stands appeared at least 90% full.The middle order, so meek in the T20s, found its spine for the second match in a row in Dunith Wellalage, whose name has been on Khettarama’s lips since he impressed in a series against Australia two years ago.

“As much as we want to play the game and win, we need them supporting us. It’s a process. It will take time. But I believe we are on the right track.”Jeffrey Vandersay

But they truly came alive for Jeffrey Vandersay, shunted into the team at the last moment after Wanindu Hasaranga was ruled out. On the kind of big-spinning surface that tends to narrow the gap between these two teams, he bowled sublime wicket-to-wicket lines, excellent lengths, and vitally changed up the tilt of the seam.Some caught the seam and turned or leapt big – the ball that had Rohit Sharma caught at backward point, the ball to get Shubman Gill caught at slip, the one to trap Shivam Dube in front. Others slid on, like the balls that dismissed Virat Kohli, and KL Rahul. His was almost a Test-match mode of attack, on what essentially felt like a dustbowl day-four surface.India had raced to 97 for no loss on the back of another Rohit fast start. But although there were big cheers for Rohit’s departure, it was when Gill was dismissed that the crowd lifted leaping at their seats, almost as spectacularly as Kamindu Mendis leapt to his right to complete the tour’s most exquisite grab, at slip.Jeffrey Vandersay had a night to remember•AFP/Getty Images”Gill was going nicely, so with that blinder of a catch, Kamindu turned everything around,” Vandersay said after the game. This is not a crowd that expects victory exactly, particularly against a team such as India. But it does expect to be made happy, and few acts on the field are as infectiously joyous as an astonishing catch.”People still love us and want to back us,” Vandersay said. “No point if we go and play the game if there’s no backing – if there are no supporters. As much as we want to play the game and win, we need them supporting us. It’s a process. It will take time. But I believe we are on the right track.”Whether the track is right is yet to be seen. This was a single victory, on what may be described as a singular track, given the runways seen much more often in white-ball cricket. Vandersay’s own career is one of significant highs, such as his T20 World Cup in 2016, but also of lows such as the 2019 World Cup, where he was modest in the one game he was allowed to play. It has been no surprise that his presence in squads have been sporadic.And yet, on a night when the rare victories come, the difficult truths feel more manageable. It is possible to imagine a future in which Vandersay makes himself part of Sri Lanka’s spin-bowling core over the next two years. There’s a T20 World Cup Sri Lanka are due to co-host in 2026.More vitally, this was a karate-chop to the monotony of defeat, and the pessimism it is so easy to slip into. If this crowd is a cardiogram, in an era of Sri Lanka’s men’s cricket in which it’s often felt like their condition was critical, in this ODI at least, there was a powerful heartbeat.

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An England middle order with nearly 25,000 Test runs between them managed only 25 in Rawalpindi. It took the mischievous, moustachioed Sajid Khan just over a session to dismiss all four of Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Harry Brook and Ben Stokes: he celebrated each one by slapping his thigh and pointing to the sky, and soon had England’s rookie No. 7 in his sights.Home series against West Indies and Sri Lanka are about as gentle an introduction to Test cricket as they come for an England player, but Jamie Smith was now in at the deep end. At 118 for 6 on a pitch manufactured specifically to suit Pakistan’s spinners, England were in real danger of squandering the huge advantage they had gained when the coin came down tails-up on the first morning.Instead, Smith picked his moment to launch a stunning takedown of Sajid, demonstrating the ability to glide effortlessly through the gears that had first earned him his call-up. He defended resolutely against Noman Ali, the left-arm spinner who dismissed him twice in the second Test, but launched Sajid for five fours and four sixes in an assault which confirmed his rare combination of talent and temperament.

His all-out-attack approach has yielded dividends in white-ball cricket, but it may not work the same way in Tests

Ian Chappell06-Oct-2024Talk of Travis Head opening the batting for Australia in Test cricket indicates the uncertain nature of the position rather than being a reflection of the player’s suitability to handle the new ball.If Australia possessed an obvious opening replacement for David Warner then Steven Smith wouldn’t have occupied the position last season. Smith is a very capable No. 4 and that is his best position, so an opponent should welcome him facing the new ball.Head opening in Test cricket is based on his unbridled success facing the new ball in both 50-over and T20 cricket. There’s no doubt Head, with his ultra-aggressive style, is the ideal player to open in the two short forms of the game. However, Test cricket is an entirely different proposition.Head’s promotion to open in Test cricket should be seen as either an extremely desperate ploy or an extraordinarily adventurous move. The desperation involves Head’s penchant for adopting an all-out-attack approach, which can unravel in a Test match. The adventurous part involves his aggression unsettling the opposition field placings and thus creating an advantage for his own team.Related

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The difference between the short forms of the game and Test cricket apply with both field placings and use of the bowlers. The fielding side employing extra catching fielders and being able to unleash a preferred bowler for longer periods makes opening much tougher in Test cricket.The other important aspect is Head’s approach to batting. His decision to mount a full-blown attack is in part to camouflage any weakness in his batting. If the opposing bowlers are bluffed into countering with an economical rather than a wicket-taking plan, then Head’s ploy is successful.If Head is satisfied that an all-out attack is the way for him to bat, that boosts his confidence. However, a few cheap dismissals can see a player’s confidence dwindle quickly.One big flaw in the argument for Head to open in Test cricket is the opposition he’ll face. If it were a lesser opponent it might have some merit but a strong Indian attack will be hard to bluff.Any move to open with Head that is designed to unsettle Jasprit Bumrah is asking a lot of the batter. Bumrah, and to a lesser extent Mohammad Siraj, are unlikely to be battered into altering their attacking mentality.

Head’s promotion to open in Test cricket should be seen as either an extremely desperate ploy or an extraordinarily adventurous move

As well as fine fast bowlers, Head is also vulnerable against good offspin bowling. The wily R Ashwin is unlikely to be panicked by an opponent’s ultra-aggressive approach. The argument could be mounted that opening with Head means he’d be more settled facing Ashwin with some runs on the board. On the other hand, a smart opposing captain can utilise the offspinner with a newish ball.Amongst any argument to use Head as a Test match opener, there’s a compelling counterpoint.Former Australian captain Tim Paine was asked about Smith as an opener. He replied candidly: “As an opposition player I want him at the top of the order because that gives me the best chance of getting him out.” The same logic applies to Head as an opener in Test cricket.In choosing an opening pair for the Test series, Australia need to be acutely aware of India’s attacking intentions under Rohit Sharma’s captaincy. It was made abundantly clear in the second Test against Bangladesh that India will seek victory at every opportunity under Rohit.That makes a good start in Tests against India a priority for Australia.Another issue clouding Australia’s choice of opener against India is the concern over Cameron Green’s back injury. The idea behind Smith opening last season was to fit both allrounders, Green and Mitch Marsh, into the team.If Green can only bat because of his back issue and Marsh continues to be questionable as a bowler because of potential injury, then it severely diminishes their allrounder status.There’s no doubt Australia desperately needs to find a capable Test opener, but Head is not the solution to the problem.

Rousing victory squares the series as new-look team channels a familiar aggression of old

Vithushan Ehantharajah27-Sep-2024England striking at eight an over. A baying Lord’s crowd hooked on Jofra Archer’s thunderbolts, aimed in Australia’s direction. Lord’s on Friday felt a lot like a 2019 tribute.What days those were, by the way. Pre-pandemic, hot summers, Oasis still broken up, and England not just ODI world champions under Eoin Morgan, but setting the standard in white-ball cricket.A lot has changed in five years, and not all of it for the better. But this fourth ODI, for one night only, at close to Gallagher reunion prices, was a remake of old-world excellence with a new-age cast. And though it was only 39 overs a side, in conditions that showed the cricket season should have ended weeks ago, this was a dominance from a previous era. England’s victory by 186 runs was their second-largest by runs against Australia – the reigning 50-over world champions, by the way, who still boasted nine of the XI from that November 2023 final. “That was a pretty special performance,” Harry Brook, England’s stand-in captain, said, after his team had drawn level despite Australia storming to a 2-0 lead. “All bases were covered there tonight.”Brook himself led the way with the bat, top-scoring with 87 from just 58 deliveries, off the back of an unbeaten 110 in Durham. His fourth fifty-plus score in the format was his standout of the season – “it’s definitely the best I’ve hit it this summer” – even if it was superseded by Liam Livingstone’s bombast.Livingstone’s 25-ball fifty warmed English cockles, particularly when he blitzed Mitchell Starc’s final over of the first innings for four sixes and a last-ball four. The left-arm seamer, a modern-day great with the white ball, now has the ignominy of holding the record for the most expensive men’s ODI over delivered by an Australian.That late flurry was a contrast to a watchful start. Josh Hazlewood opened from the Nursery End with a maiden as he kept Ben Duckett and Phil Salt quiet enough to ensure just three fours were struck in the eight-over powerplay. Quite how the wicket column remained unmoved was anyone’s guess.But England emerged from this passage keen to make that luck count. Even as Salt and Will Jacks fell in the space of 25 deliveries, the shift through the gears was smooth and devastating. Brook was the main conduit, but Duckett’s 30 off 20 in their stand of 79 (the left-hander eventually dismissed for 63) and Jamie Smith’s contribution of 30 from 22 in a fourth-wicket stand of 75 off 47 perfectly encapsulated the partnership batting that, five years ago, fast-tracked England to the top of the limited-overs mountain.Matthew Potts was in the wickets during a stellar performance from England’s quicks•Getty ImagesAs was often the case back then, the clinical nature of England’s batting was encapsulated in the target of their assault. Adam Zampa has been integral to Australia’s white-ball success over the last four years, and so, in typical prison-yard fashion, the hosts decided to take him down. The legspinner finished his eight-over allocation with two wickets, but having conceded 66 runs; an economy rate of 8.25 marking his spell as the fifth-most expensive of the 97 ODI innings in which he has bowled five or more overs. It had been a plan three weeks in the making.”I wasn’t here for the T20s, but I think they spoke about trying to attack him as much as possible and trying to put him under a lot of pressure,” Brook said. “And we’re just taking it into the 50-over games, to be honest.”We haven’t let him just settle into a length. I think we’ve used our feet really well and accessed parts of the ground which we’re capable of getting boundaries in. I think we’ve done really well against him.”Sean Abbott was another casualty. His 0 for 62 was an accurate representation of seven overs of struggle, which only served to highlight the need for a Plan B beyond Zampa and the value of Pat Cummins.With 312 on the board – “way over” Brook’s initial ambition after losing the toss – England were always favourites going into the second innings. But when Travis Head carted Brydon Carse out of the ground for the penultimate ball of the seventh over that went for 19, the match was shifting. And then England’s quicks bent it back their way by claiming nine of Australia’s 10 wickets, all of which fell for just 58 runs.If the pitch changed in character over the course of Australia’s innings, then England seized the moment in a remarkable spell of seam bowling from Carse, Archer and Matthew Potts. The four wickets to Potts – including Steven Smith for the second time this series – gave him the most eye-catching figures. But it was Archer and Carse who vied for the best dismissal of the evening.The former’s leg-cutter to flatten Mitchell Marsh’s off stump perhaps came second to the latter’s nip down the slope from a good length to do the same to Marnus Labuschagne’s. But in playing back-to-back ODIs for the first time since this latest return from his elbow issues, Archer claimed more of the limelight.Related

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From the Super Over in that stunning final against New Zealand, to that face-meltingly quick display in the second Ashes Test, so much of the 2019 summer was defined by Archer’s exploits at Lord’s. His manipulation of the white ball was the stand-out aspect of his display, but the wow moment was the brisk rising delivery that clocked Labuschagne on the arm, evoking memories of the blow to the helmet that he inflicted on the same batter in that second Ashes Test – a moment that only came about after Labuschagne had entered the contest as a concussion substitute for Smith, whom Archer had felled in the first innings.”It’s pretty good to watch, isn’t it, when he’s swinging it and seaming around,” Brook said. “Hopefully he can be around for a while.”Naturally, when these two teams meet in anything other than an Ashes contest, the Ashes always comes up. And after a comprehensive victory set in motion by batters already established in the Test team, and finished by a pace attack vying to break back into that XI, you can forgive the extrapolation. Particularly at the end of a summer that began with the pensioning-off of James Anderson with that 2025-26 tour of Australia in mind.The reality, however, is that this is an Australian team who have been afflicted with illness and knocks. They are, to a man, ready for home ahead of a blockbuster summer of their own. Even this result may be moot if the forecast for Sunday’s decider in Bristol plays out.But as far as England’s 50-over ambitions are concerned, this was an evening to savour. And perhaps the best compliment to pay is that the future looks brighter off the back of a performance bearing hallmarks of the past.

Who are the big stars in action, what do the teams look like, and everything else you need to know about SA20 2025

Deivarayan Muthu08-Jan-2025Sunrisers Eastern Cape are the defending champions, right?Indeed. Having won the tournament in 2023 and 2024, Sunrisers, under captain Markram and coach Adrian Birrell, will gun for a three-peat. If they manage to do so, they will emulate Jaffna Kings, who had recently won three titles in a row at the Lanka Premier League.Related

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Sunrisers have a particularly strong local core – Markram, Marco Jansen, Tristan Stubbs and Ottneil Baartman – with some talented overseas players complementing them. They have lost Dan Worrall, who was their powerplay specialist last season, to Gulf Giants in the ILT20, but have filled that void by bringing in Craig Overton, who can also swing the new ball from his tall frame, and added Richard Gleeson, who can clock 140kph, to their roster. They have strengthened their batting by snapping up David Bedingham, who is set for his SA20 bow.Markram had a wretched 2024 with the bat in T20Is, but you just can’t look past him and his team in the SA20.Who will challenge Sunrisers for the title?MI had finished rock bottom in 2023 and 2024, but if they perform to potential this season, they could challenge the might of Sunrisers. Before combining with Jasprit Bumrah in the IPL for Mumbai Indians, Trent Boult will work with Kagiso Rabada in a partnership that promises to be just as mouth-watering.Reeza Hendricks, for whom MI forked out Rand 4.3 million will reunite with his Lions team-mates Rassie van der Dussen at MI in the SA20. This is a chance for allrounder Corbin Bosch, MI’s wildcard signing, to enhance his reputation after having enjoyed a memorable Test debut for South Africa in the Boxing Day fixture.Rashid Khan will lead a side that also has Colin Ingram, George Linde and Nuwan Thushara in its ranks. In a significant blow, however, Ben Stokes is set to miss the SA20 with a recurrence of a hamstring tear, for which he has had surgery.South Africa’s best players can play the SA20 this time without worrying about ignoring international cricket•AFP/Getty ImagesDoes the league clash with SA’s international commitments again?No. Not this time.The SA20’s clash with SA’s Test series in New Zealand caused a stir last year, with the CSA prioritising its league over Test cricket at the time. Any South African player with an SA20 deal was informed of their contractual obligations to play in the tournament ahead of the Tests, which resulted in a squad with seven uncapped players, including the stand-in captain Neil Brand, being selected for the New Zealand tour.The SA20, however, overlaps with other T20 tournaments – Australia’s Big Bash League, UAE’s ILT20, New Zealand’s Super Smash and the Bangladesh Premier League.What’s the format of the league like?The top-four teams in the six-team league will qualify for the knockouts, which will have IPL-style qualifiers and an eliminator. To summarise, the teams placed first and second after the league phase will play in the first qualifier, with the winner going straight to the final. The teams placed third and fourth will play an eliminator with the loser out of contention. Then, the loser of the first qualifier will play the winner of the eliminator to determine the second finalist.Gqeberha is set to host the first qualifier while Centurion will stage the eliminator and second qualifier. The final will be held in Johannesburg on February 8.Tell me about the big overseas names who will be in actionDespite the clashes, the SA20 has some big drawcards, including Rashid, Boult, Kane Williamson, Devon Conway, Matheesha Pathirana and Dinesh Karthik.Boult will complete the MI set, having already played for their teams in the IPL (Mumbai Indians), MLC (MI New York) and ILT20 (MI Emirates). For Williamson and Conway, this will be their first stints at the SA20. Williamson will play for Durban’s Super Giants while Conway will reunite with Stephen Fleming at Joburg Super Kings, having already won the IPL title under him at CSK.Having “sold everything” and left South Africa, the Johannesburg-born Conway will have a special homecoming at this SA20. Back in the day, Conway and Tabraiz Shamsi used to be house-mates in South Africa but then their paths diverged. Years later, at the SA20, their paths will converge again.Also, watch out for Pathirana vs Thushara in the battle of the Lasith Malinga clones.Dinesh Karthik will become the first Indian to take part in the SA20•Abu Dhabi T10Did you mention Dinesh Karthik?Yes, the former India international will rock up for Paarl Royals this season. He’s set to become the first Indian to feature in the SA20 and will also serve as the tournament’s brand ambassador. Since retiring from Indian and international cricket in June 2024, Karthik has been part of the Legends League and the Abu Dhabi T10 league.Family affairsHaving been hit by injuries, JSK have called up allrounder Hardus Viljoen, who will play under his brother-in-law Faf du Plessis, who had led St Lucia Kings to the CPL title in 2024.JP King, who was invited for JSK’s training sessions last season, will join them as a rookie player for this season while his brother CJ King will be part of the Super Giants side.The Bosch brothers – Corbin and Eathan – were on the same side (Pretoria Capitals) in SA20 2024, but Corbin has now moved to MI, which could add some spice to the MI-Capitals clash.Is Imran Tahir still an active T20 player?Indeed. Imran Tahir, who will turn 46 in March, is still going strong in T20 cricket. He will link up with Shamsi and Maheesh Theekshana at JSK. Tahir is currently the fourth-highest wicket-taker in T20 cricket, with 526 strikes in 420 games.What about the Impact Player rule?The SA20 doesn’t have the Impact Player rule in place like the IPL, but teams can name their final XIs after the toss. Captains can take two team sheets to the toss – one with their bat-first XI and the other with their bowl-first XI – and offer up the final list once the toss has been completed.

The allrounder hammered the door down for selection with his performance in domestic cricket and the call came in Sydney

Andrew McGlashan02-Jan-2025The early daysBorn in the small Tasmania town of Snug, Webster made his first-class debut in February 2014 at the age of 20, playing three games in the latter part of the season. Two years later he made centuries in back-to-back Sheffield Shield matches batting at No. 3 which propelled him into the Australia A side to face India A in Brisbane where he made 11, 30 and 79 across two matches. But it was a brief stay on the fringes of the national set-up.Related

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“I don’t think my defence is the best part of my game, so ultimately I was pretty inconsistent batting in the top order,” he told ESPNcricinfo in an interview in March last year.Opening the batting against New South Wales in 2018, he scored what was then a career-best 136, but at the end of the first part of the 2019-20 his first-class average stood at 26.78 with the bat and 46.19 with the ball.The Covid switchJust a few weeks before the world was shut down in early 2020, Webster had made a run-a-ball 187 against Western Australia. But it was a change of tack with his bowling during the Covid lockdowns that proved to be a major catalyst in his career. Having watch team-mate Jake Doran snag a wicket with his left-arm mediums in the aforementioned WA game, Webster decided to revive his pace bowling which had been shelved by back problems when he was younger.”If we’re going to do it, we’re going to do it properly and start from scratch and get your action sorted,” his coach Adam Griffith told him.It took a little while for pace bowling to bring dividends, but Webster has no doubt about the role it has played in his rise to the Australia side.Beau Webster’s seam bowling has been a key part of his rise•AFP via Getty Images”I don’t think I’d be standing here if I was still wheeling out the offspinners,” Webster said. “It’s a part of my game I’ve been really proud to develop in the last four years. It’s taken a lot of hard work early doors from being sore at the start and trying to get my body used to bowling a few overs here and there and then bowling lots and lots of Tasmania.”It also fitted well with what Tasmania were looking for at the time, as they moved different eras of allrounders. “There was a need for an allrounder after Luke Butterworth and James Faulkner,” Webster said. “We were crying out for an allrounder. I was floating around in the order, settled at No. 6. If I could wheel out some quality medium pace, it would have given the team the ability to play a full-time spinner. I felt like I could impact games with the ball.”Run-scoring explosionThe 2020-21 season was a mediocre one with the bat, but the following couple of summers brought glimpses of what was on offer and he signed off the 2022-23 season with an unbeaten 168 against Queensland. It was a sign of things to come.The 2023-24 Sheffield Shield campaign for Webster will go down as one of the greats: 938 runs at 58.62 and 30 wickets at 30.80. Only Garry Sobers has exceeded both those figures in the same season.He was back on the national radar and featured for the Prime Minister’s XI against Pakistan in Canberra.”If someone like [Mitchell] Marsh got injured, he would have to be the next player in,” team-mate Matthew Wade towards the end of 2023-24 season. “He’ll be pushing for that. He’s been huge.”Beau Webster has averaged over 50 with the bat in recent seasons•Getty ImagesA County Championship stint with Gloucestershire followed and while he wasn’t prolific with the bat, his bowling continued to develop with 16 wickets at 21.25 in four matches.Onto the fringeWebster began the 2024-25 season with a century against Victoria just around the time Cameron Green was being ruled out for the summer with a back injury. But with Mitchell Marsh secure of his spot and Steven Smith returning to the middle order, there was not yet an opening for Webster.He featured for Australia A against India A in the two four-day matches he impressed with a pair of unbeaten innings in the two chases and bagged six wickets at the MCG.Initially called into the Test squad as cover for Marsh in Adelaide and Brisbane, he was officially added to the group for the Boxing Day Test. When Marsh missed out twice in Melbourne, it was form rather than injury that created the opening. And Webster became Test cap 469 for Australia’s men.