Arbit Stats #47: Pink Ball

Test Match #2190

Australia vs New Zealand, Adelaide

It is the first international cricket game to be played with a pink ball. 

Enough hype already generated. And it also generated its own series of firsts, for the trivia aficionados.

Mitchell Starc - 1st Bowler to bowl with a pink ball.

Martin Guptill - 1st Batsman to face a delivery in pink. 

Martin Guptill - Also the 1st Batsman to be out with a pink ball.

Josh Hazelwood - 1st bowler to take a pink ball wicket.

In the meantime, Australia have now emerged victorious in

• 1st Test Match (vs England)
• 1st ODI (vs England)
• 1st Day-night ODI (vs West Indies)
• 1st Indoor ODI (vs South Africa)
• Ist T20I (vs New Zealand)
• 1st Day-Night Test (vs New Zealand)

A sign of Aussie willingness for innovation and their domination.

Ranji Trophy 15-16: Jharkhand vs Himachal Pradesh

Match Summary: Jharkhand (337) beat Himachal Pradesh (133 & 133) by an innings & 71 runs

Points: Jharkhand 7, Himachal Pradesh 0 

Jharkhand team seems to have found a rich vein of form just at the right time. A second straight innings victory that too against Himachal Pradesh has propelled them into the 3rd place in the table with a very realistic chance of making it into the knock-outs.

It was a strange match. A tale of two different days. On Day 1, Jharkhand ran up a total of 306 for the loss of 4 wickets riding on the back of some excellent to order batting with Shiv Gautam scoring a brilliant 122.  It looked like a match to be decided on the first innings lead basis. Then on second day, it was a dramatic change as first Jharkhand collapsed to 337 all out and then Himachal were knocked out for 133. Twice. Within a day. Wonder what went wrong for the batsmen.

Day 1: 306/4
Day 2: 297/26

Game Notes

• Shahbaz Nadeem remains the captain. 
• Team Changes: Out went the seamers Ajay Yadav and Rahul Shukla and in came the spinners Samar Quadri and Sonu Singh.
• Sonu Singh made his first class debut
• 2nd first-class century for Shiv Gautam.
• Samar Quadri reached the milestone of 100 First-Class wickets in his 30th game.
• Nadeem registered his career-best figures of 7/45 which is his 8th career fifer and third for the season 
• This is quite a depleted Jharkhand squad with Varun Aaron on national duty while youngsters Ishan Kishan & Virat Singh are currently away on national Under-19 duty. 

Season Stats

Top Scorer: Saurabh Tiwary 462 @ 46.20

Most Wickets: Shahbaz Nadeem 40 @ 16.40
Player Count: 21 from 7 Games
Captain Count: 3 from 7 Games

Points Tally - 24 after 7 games. Moved up two places to 3rd. Now, lying 1 points behind Kerala who are currently in place for the second knock-out spot from the Group. Jharkhand are now in a 5-way race for the two Group C knock-out berths. A win should be good enough to secure the second place otherwise may need a combination of favorable results for a place in the quarter-finals.

Coming Up Next - Away game against 7th placed Hyderabad. Would follow keenly the other Group C games specially Kerala vs Himachal Pradesh which might turn out to be straight shootout for the 2nd berth behind Saurashtra who take on J&K, while Services, who have an outside chance take on Tripura.

Raymond van Schoor, R.I.P.

Raymond van Schoor, 1990-2015

275 senior level games, over 8000 runs & 50 wickets. A career cut short at a young age of 25 due to a stroke suffered while batting in a domestic List A game. 

15 Not Out For ever!

Rest in Peace!

Ranji Trophy 15-16: Jharkhand vs Tripura

Match Summary: Tripura (166 & 161) lost to Jharkhand (394/4d) by an innings & 67 runs

Points: Jharkhand 7, Tripura 0 

This was the best possible result for Jharkhand's qualification chances. A win with a bonus point as well. Knocked out Tripura for 166 riding on the back of Rahul Shukla's 6-wicket haul. The opening partnership was dodgy but the rest of the line-up all batted big and achieved a huge lead. Second time around also Tripura were found wanting as Nadeem ran through the lineup. The Tripura batsme were just about able to extend the game into the 4th day.

Game Notes

• Shahbaz Nadeem remains the captain. 
• Team Changes: Ajay Yadav and Sumit Kumar returned while out went Ishan Kishan and Samar Qaudri.
• 11th first-class century  for Ishank Jaggi who seems to have recovered from his bad run of form.
• A career-best 6 for 40 for Rahul Shukla, his second career fifer
• Nadeem got his 7th career fifer and his second for the season.
• Sumit Kumar pouche 5 catches behind the stumps in the Tripura 1st innings.

Season Stats

Top Scorer: Saurabh Tiwary 383 @ 42.56

Most Wickets: Shahbaz Nadeem 29 @ 19.52
Player Count: 20 from 6 Games
Captain Count: 3 from 6 Games

Points Tally - 17 after 6 games. Moved up one place to 5th. Now, lying 7 points behind Himachal Pradesh who are currently in place for the second knock-out spot from the Group. With 2 rounds left, it is still mathematically possible though need quite a few results going in our way.

Coming Up Next - Away game against second placed Himachal Pradesh. Full points here would do the qualification chances a world of good.

Farewell Mitchell Johnson

"He bowls to the left, 

He bowls to right,

That Mitchell Johnson,

He bowls a lots of shite"

Thus sang the Barmy Army, every time their favorite target, Mitchell Johnson came on to bowl in one of the rare England's Ashes wins Down Under.

But there was another Mitchell Johnson also, a bowler who could strike terror in batsmen's minds. Ask the English team who were at a receiving end of an Ashes mauling where Johnson took 37 for 517 over 5 Tests, or a Graeme Smith who had his right hand broken in one Test and his left hand in another in back to back series by Johnson's missiles.

He was a different character - making a cartoon of himself for his misplaced sledging of James Anderson (Video) but being visibly shaken up after hitting Kohli (video).

He finished up with 313 Test wickets only behind Warne, McGrath & Lillee for Australia. And he also had a test century. Not bad returns. Farewell Mithcell Johnson!!!

He bowled to the left, 

He bowled to right,

That Mitchell Johnson,

He ended up quite all right

Ranji Trophy 15-16: Jharkhand vs Jammu & Kashmir

Match Summary: Jharkhand (551/8d) drew with Jammu & Kashmir (309 & 265/4 (f/o))

Points: Jharkhand 3, Jammu & Kashmir 1

Finally, the Jharkhand batting lineup came good with solid all-round batting display. They racked up their biggest score of the season, managed to impose a follow-on against J&K. And 2 quick 2nd innings wickets at the end of Day 3 made one believe that an innings victory with bonus points was waiting. But that was not to be as a fine rear-guard action from the J&K batsmen ensured that the match ended in a draw.

Game Notes

• Shahbaz Nadeem remained the captain. 
• Team Changes: Ishan Kishan, Jaskaran Singh and Kaushal Singh returned while out went Prakash Munda, Sumit Kumar and Sunny Gupta. 
• All season not a single century, now two of them came in the same innings.
• Ishan Kishan scored his maiden first class century in his 10th game. This kid is certainly one to watch out for.
• Anand Singh also playing his 10th first class game got his maiden half-century and proceeded to convert it into a big one.
• Kaushal Singh recorded his best innings figures with a 4-wicket haul in the first innings.
• Nadeem vs Parvez Rasool. Two similar players in competition for an India A slot. Nadeem was better with the ball, Rasool better with the bat.
• Ishank Jaggi got more runs (93) in one innings than his previous 4 matches combined (87).

Season Stats

Top Scorer: Saurabh Tiwary 289 @ 36.13

Most Wickets: Shahbaz Nadeem 23 @ 21.48
Player Count: 20 from 4 Games
Captain Count: 3 from 4 Games

Points Tally - 10 after 5 games. Moved up one place 6th. Now, lying 11 points behind Himachal Pradesh who are currently in place for the second knock-out spot from the Group. With 3 rounds left, it is still mathematically possible but getting more and more improbable.

Coming Up Next - Away game against Tripura, who are at the bottom of the table. A good chance to take full points and keep the knock-out hopes alive.

Ranji Trophy 15-16: Jharkhand vs Goa

Match Summary: Goa (302 & 102/5d) drew with Jharkhand (209 & 105/6)

Points: Jharkhand 1, Goa 3

After the high of victory against Kerala comes a one-point draw against Goa. In a match effectively reduced to three days owing to a wet outfield on first day, Goa chose to bat first after winning the toss. Goa scored 302 and it was set to be a clash for the first innings lead. Jharkhand's batting misfired again as they conceded 93 run lead. Having secured the first innings lead, Goa scored a few quick runs, and set a target of 196 in 36 overs in search of an outright victory. Jharkhand avoided a complete collapse and managed to secure a single point from the game

Game Notes

• Jharkhand captaincy changed hands again as Varun Aaron sat out the game and former skipper Shahbaz Nadeem led in his place. 
• Lots of team changes as out went Ishan Kishan, Jaskaran Singh, Kaushal Singh, Varun Aaron and Ashish Kumar. Kumar Deobrat, Rahul Shukla and Samar Quadri came back into the squad while Sumit Kumar and Sunny Gupta got their first game of the season.
• Sumit Kumar scored his maiden first class half-century in his 3rd game.
• Rituraj Singh who turned out for Jharkhand last year played against them for Goa in this season.

Highlights

• Samar Quadri's 6-wicket haul in Goa's first innings.

Season Stats

Top Scorer: Saurabh Tiwary 226 @ 32.29

Most Wickets: Shahbaz Nadeem 18 @ 17.94
Player Count: 20 from 4 Games
Captain Count: 3 from 4 Games

Points Tally - 7 after 4 games. Moved down to 7th spot. Lying 13 points behind Himachal Pradesh who are currently in place for the second knock-out spot from the Group. The task is certainly getting more and more difficult though still not improbable.

Coming Up Next - A home game against Jammu & Kashmir, who are one spot ahead in the table.