Matches (16)

WI vs SA (2)

USA vs BAN (1)

County DIV1 (5)

County DIV2 (4)

ENG v PAK (1)

IPL (1)

ENG v PAK (W) (1)

CE Cup (1)

Live • 2nd T20I • Kingston

207/7

(5/20 ov, T:208) 81/1

South Africa need 127 runs in 90 balls.

Schedule Series

RESULT • 3rd T20I • Prairie View

USA

104/9

BAN

(11.4/20 ov, T:105) 108/0

Bangladesh won by 10 wickets (with 50 balls remaining)

Schedule Report Series

From the Editor

Remembering Roebuck

Peter Roebuck's judgements were based not merely on the keenest understanding of the game but on a wider understanding of society, history and human behaviour, and his ability to connect the dots

Sambit Bal

25-Feb-2013

I don't precisely recall when and where I met Peter Roebuck first; it feels like I always knew him. It must have been in the English summer of 2001, or perhaps 2002. I am certain he was wearing a straw hat, and was struck by his physicality: large and strong hands, sharp nose, enquiring eyes, and hair protruding out of his ears. But the strongest, most lasting impression was left by his manner of delivering sweeping snap judgements.

"I think the best cricket writing now comes out of India." He said this out of the blue, without a preamble, and without bothering to qualify it. And this continued through my ten-year association with him, in emails, in conversation, and even in his columns.

Of course, he was not always right. The last time I met him in person was in Sri Lanka during the last World Cup. He spoke animatedly about a young Sri Lankan journalist he had just met, and tried to persuade me to hire him as a writer. The young man in question walked up to us a few minutes later. He turned out to be a photographer. "How many times have we been told not to rush in to a judgement," Roebuck said upon instant reflection. But nothing dissuaded him from making them. And often he was spot-on.

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Record crowd for record Lord's Test

Never has a Monday morning at the ground been so busy, so urgent and so alive. Not even the prospect of a first Ashes victory in 75 years brought so many people to the ground in 2009

Sambit Bal

25-Feb-2013

Lord's, the grandest of cricket grounds as far as the richness of heritage and history go, had a new chapter added to its pages today. Never has a Monday morning at the ground been so busy, so urgent and so alive. Not even the prospect of a first Ashes victory in 75 years brought so many people to the ground in 2009. Today's full house beat that record by over 4000, but there is no account of those who had to return disappointed.

I certainly haven't seen a longer queue at a cricket ground, or anywhere for that matter, than today. It began right outside the St John's Wood tube station, about half a kilometre from Lord's, and snaked all around the stadium. And incredibly there were two of those.

I was in Granada in the south of Spain last month where they sell a limited number of tickets for the magnificent Alhambra Palace. Though the ticket counter opened at 8.30 am I had been advised to go early; I reached there at 6 am, bleary and cold, and was astounded to find 15 people ahead of me. By all accounts, there were over a thousand outside Lord's at that hour. Sam Collins, one half of the Chucks who do a delightful video diary for us, met the man who was first in one of the queues - he had reached there at 2 am.

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Talking legspin with TJ

If you like cricket, you had to like Terry Jenner. And if you love legspin you had to absolutely adore him. No one spoke more eloquently, knowledgeably, and passionately about legspin than him

Sambit Bal

25-Feb-2013

If you like cricket, you had to like Terry Jenner. And if you love legspin you had to absolutely adore him. No one spoke more eloquently, knowledgeably, and passionately about legspin than him. I met him properly only once, but even years later, I can picturise him vividly.

We met in the lobby behind the press box at the Adelaide Oval in 2003. That morning he had been in the nets with Shane Warne, preparing to make his comeback to international cricket after serving his one-year ban for taking diuretics. I had asked him for five minutes; he gave me close to an hour, during which I might have asked him no more than five questions.

I did ask him, though, about the difference between Stuart MacGill and Warne. MacGill had benefitted from Warne's absence and used the period profitably, claiming 43 wickets in eight Tests at 25.11, with a strike rate of 45.9. But of course he had made no impression on the touring Indians, nor was he expected to. During a meet-the-press event before the Test, MacGill, while giving fulsome praise to Warne, had questioned, only half in jest, his claims to mystery balls.

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A forgotten anniversary

While the senses are riveted on the World Cup, the 10th anniversary of a landmark day in Indian cricket - the famous Kolkata stand between Laxman and Dravid - has gone unheralded, unacknowledged even

Sambit Bal

25-Feb-2013

While the senses are riveted on the World Cup, a landmark day in Indian cricket has gone unheralded, unacknowledged even. Ten years ago, on March 14, the foundation for the golden age of Indian Test cricket was laid by two remarkable men. VVS Laxman and Rahul Dravid looked defeat in the eye and refused to blink.

Faced with a follow-on and an opposition which had won 16 Tests in a row, they batted on and on and on till hope and spirit drained off the Australians. For the record, they batted out the day, put on 376 runs for the 5th wicket, and the next day, which is ten years to the day today, Harbhajan Singh and Sachin Tendulkar spun out Australia for 212 to secure the improbablest of wins.

This would remain the defining moment of Laxman's career, but the feat would have been less significant had it just remained a freak event. But not only was this match and series turning, it also changed the course of Indian cricket. The momentum carried India to a win at Chennai, the confidence derived from beating the one of greatest-ever Test teams carried them on a journey that ended with them becoming the No. 1 Test team in the world.

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The joys of watching cricket on HD

Ireland and Kevin O'Brien provided the World Cup its most joyous day yet, and while I would have loved to be at the ground, I had the next best viewing option available

Sambit Bal

25-Feb-2013

Ireland and Kevin O'Brien provided the World Cup its most joyous day yet, and while I would have loved to be at the ground, I had the next best viewing option available. My HD (high-definition) set-top box had arrived the day before, and what a joy it was to watch the crystal-clear pictures on wide screen - and, would you believe it, without a single ad.

As the match went on - and even though there were periods during England's innings when it was a one-way street, the clean feed kept me engaged - it became apparent how much of the game the India television viewer misses out on. You watched batsmen walk off the pitch after being dismissed. Alex Cusack went stoically, betraying no emotion. O'Brien went to a hero's ovation, but you could see the mixed emotions as he acknowledged the cheers; he had played the innings of his life but the job wasn't over yet, and indeed it could go all wrong from there.

You also saw captains setting the field; batting partners having a chat; there were a few more graphics; and you heard commentators discuss a wicket after it has just fallen and, on other occasions, you heard them making small talk. And often, between the overs, the camera just lingered on the stands, going into the viewing balconies, and sometimes hanging idly over the field. Cricket is a contemplative game with lots of pauses, and it was nice for a change to feel those pauses as a television viewer.

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Introducing ESPNcricinfo's iPhone app

As a long-time sucker for Apple's temptations, I have been waiting for this one with childlike anticipation. And now that it is on my phone, I can say, hand on heart, that ESPNcricinfo's iPhone app is a thing of beauty

Sambit Bal

25-Feb-2013

Forgive me if this sounds a bit gushing, but as a long-time sucker for Apple's temptations, I have been waiting for this one with childlike anticipation. And now that it is on my phone, I can say, hand on heart, that ESPNcricinfo's iPhone app is a thing of beauty. And before anyone accuses me of being an Apple evangelist, let me add that this app is also available on the Android platform.

Shrinking a huge site like ours to fit a mobile device was a challenge. "It's a bit like building a scale model of a luxury car," says Anil Nair, our director of Wireless Services. "The only difference is, you need to be able to drive it."

Anil and his team have done quite a job of it. We have had a fairly handy mobile-optimised site for a couple of years now, but I have always preferred to use the full site, even on my phone, which can be a struggle at lower bandwidths. I can happily switch over to the iPhone app now: it gives richness and depth at a good speed.

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Evolving Tendulkar remains India's best

When you next hear Tendulkar talk about wanting to get better, he is not merely dishing out a quote

Sambit Bal

25-Feb-2013

The way things have panned out in this Test it would seem nothing has changed. Another stirring hundred from Sachin Tendulkar is likely to be, barring a washout tomorrow, in a hopelessly losing cause. And once again, the personal landmark of India's favourite son will ease the pain of the failure of the team. Tendulkar's 50th hundred will make it to the front pages tomorrow while the story of impending defeat will remain in the back pages.

Of course many things have changed. India are no longer a one-man team. Whatever they have achieved in this decade, including reaching the No. 1 status in the ICC rankings, a feat unimaginable when Tendulkar started playing, is because they have had an outstanding bunch of players. But that he should, after 21 years, still be India's finest batsman in conditions that challenged all India batsmen, is almost as incredible as him getting to 50 Test hundreds.

In my memory it was John Wright who first spoke about 100 hundreds for Tendulkar. And he did it casually during a post-interview chat in February 2002. "It's down to him how he wants to bat, how much he wants to push the envelope," Wright, then India's coach, said. "I have told him he should go for 100 hundreds." It seemed almost fanciful then. Tendulkar's tally was 59 at that point, 28 in Tests and 31 in ODIs, and he was nearly 30. But nothing about Wright was ever fanciful; he must have known.

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The bigger picture

I am sure you haven't failed to notice the steady increase in video content on the site. We are committed to exploiting the inclusiveness of our medium and present to our readers any additional options for consuming our content

Sambit Bal

25-Feb-2013

I am sure you haven't failed to notice the steady increase in video content on the site. While it hasn't changed our faith in the invincibility and timelessness of the written word, we are also committed to exploiting the inclusiveness of our medium and present to our readers any additional options for consuming our content. Ian Chappell is still doing the same match analysis for us from the Ashes, but it's now on video; which makes it a richer experience.

But of course, video brings huge challenges. To start with it costs much more and is far more time-consuming. And then, on a professional level, it brings challenges in terms of skill. In addition to writing his daily pieces, Andrew Miller, our UK editor, has taken it upon himself to record Chappell, who has been wonderfully patient and accommodating as always, and upload the raw file, which can consume an hour, or even more.

And recently we sent off senior editor Sharda Urga, who joined us earlier this year after more than 20 years in print, to interview Kapil Dev on video, and she came back wiser. I'll let her relate her experiences:

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Beyond boundaries

At ESPNcricinfo we are always trying to expand our range. And the latest addition is a travel section that will allow you to explore the host countries before the World Cup begins

Sambit Bal

25-Feb-2013

At ESPNcricinfo we are always trying to expand our range. We are fortunate that the canvas and the tapestry of cricket often allow us to venture out of our crease without feeling silly. That said, though, a travel section on a cricket site isn't as radical as it might seem: in fact, having got the section up and running, we're wondering what took us so long.

All sports are shaped by their environment. There is a reason why cricket has struggled to find a base outside the Commonwealth nations. Within cricket, different countries, regions and states provide the game with its varied hues and textures. Not only do the Indians play their cricket in a distinctly different style and manner from the West Indians, Mumbai cricketers play the game differently from those in Delhi, just as cricketers in Yorkshire are different from those in Lancashire.

To fully understand and appreciate cricket, you need to understand the places it's played in. And as cricket's biggest tournament travels to the World Cup, we have built a section that will allow you to explore the host countries before the World Cup begins.

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The best of the best

While it can be argued that picking fantasy XIs are ultimately exercises in futility, they also serve the worthiest of causes

Sambit Bal

25-Feb-2013

I am yet to meet a cricket fan who doesn't fancy himself as a selector. This of course makes the job of professional selectors among the most hazardous in the business. Everyone thinks they could have done a better job than you and, no matter what team you pick, there would be a billion people disagreeing.

But picking all-time XIs is always fun because it allows you to enter the realms of fantasy with nothing material at stake. So we stand accused of having indulged ourselves for over 15 months in picking all-time XIs of each major Test-playing country and then capping it off with a World XI. Judging from your whole-hearted participation, though, it's clear that we haven't been the only ones enjoying ourselves.