England Invincible!

When Zak Crawley nudged Jansen to the cover boundary, he did more than secure the Basil D’Oliveira Trophy. Apart from a satisfying return to personal form, he emphasised a new-found invincibility for England’s Test side, an incredible turnaround after a dreadful eighteen months. 

The clean sweep of people in new roles must have had an influence. I don’t know how much of the reversal of fortunes is down to current skipper Ben Stokes but I’m sure Brendon McCullum’s forceful personality and matching cricketing strategy is the key factor. Bizarrely, England’s ODI and T20 results have been poor while the transition to ‘Baz Ball’ in the Test arena has yielded incredible results. And the opposition nwas hardly weak and feeble, either. Since the defeats in Australia and the West Indies last winter, England polished off the strong New Zealand side, won the postponed decider against India then this month took the series against South Africa. 

Jonny Bairstow and Ollie Pope have thrived with the bat and whoever has been fit to bowl, from Matthew Potts to Ollie Robinson, has also done a great job. The Yorkshire batter just needs to stay off the golf course and focus instead on less dangerous leisure sports like tomb-stoning or helicopter skiing. 

Yes, Stokes’ insistence on trying to hit every ball for six has not always worked. His retirement from the 50-over game just means he adopts his ODI approach in first-class cricket. Why waste it?! Even without the captaincy, Joe Root is still Joe Root and then there are the timeless oldies, Jimmy Anderson and Stuart Broad continually taking wickets and breaking records. 

In the past, viewers have become used to England throwing away opportunities or caving in under pressure. If the summer of 2022 is anything to go by, that’s all in the past. 

Concede 553 in the first innings? No problem: win by five wickets (vs NZ)

Bowled out for 141? No problem: win by five wickets (NZ)

First-innings deficit of 132? No problem: achieve highest ever run chase to win by seven wickets (India)

Lose first match of series by an innings? No problem: win the second by an innings

Lose two days to rain and royal death? No problem: polish off series-clinching triumph in two and a bit days and still have time for a few rounds of golf (not Bairstow, of course).

All quite extraordinary. But how will the switch to Twenty20 in Pakistan and Australia go? With mostly different players and captain, the Test side’s performances probably won’t affect things much too much, although a shared air of confidence may pervade the whole squad. If so, the rest of the world should again fear England at this winter’s World Cup.

Martin Crowe RIP

It seems doubly cruel that, just a few weeks after Brendon McCullum, New Zealand’s star of the past decade retired from Test cricket, the country has lost possibly its greatest ever batsmen to cancer.

Martin Crowe may not have been the model cricketer, but when he was in his pomp in the Eighties and Nineties, he seemed to be blessed with the blend of natural batsmanship and entertaining strokeplay. I didn’t see much of him, but he divided the opinions of Somerset fans like me after the board opted to sign him as our overseas player at the expense of the legendary Viv Richards. Yet Crowe was so good that, at the time, I actually sided with the establishment, believing that Viv – still my all-time sporting idol – had become too lazy at Somerset and the Kiwi was likely to be a better bet in our middle-order.

Martin’s career Test aggregate of 5,444 runs doesn’t read like the statistics of a global superstar. However, he played only 77 matches before chronic knee injury brought early retirement. His average of 45.36 looks modest but when you consider he played in a golden age for fast bowlers like Marshall, Garner, Ambrose, Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis and Donald, that was pretty impressive.

Crowe’s overall first-class average of more than 56 is perhaps a more impressive testament to his batting prowess. He scored more than 70 centuries, reaching three figures almost once every two occasions he passed fifty. Few can match that. He even contributed more than a hundred wickets with his medium pace, and was a nifty slip fielder to boot.

His one-day record was not quite of the same high order yet he was the player of the 1992 World Cup and is credited with being an innovative skipper, paving the way for the tactical intelligence characterised by McCullum and Stephen Fleming.

Big Bren has since eclipsed Crowe’s previous NZ Test innings record of 299 as well as his run tally. Yet he has always acknowledged the immense contribution his predecessor made in that purple patch for the Black Caps when Crowe and Richard Hadlee were up there with the world’s greatest players. I wrote recently that McCullum had passed the baton to Kane Williamson, and at the current rate of improvement, I’d expect the latter to rival Crowe in the New Zealand history books. However, this particular baton wasn’t even invented until Martin bestrode the cricket stage in the late 80s. RIP.

B-Mac goes but AB and CA come good

So farewell Brendon McCullum, at least as far as Test cricket is concerned. He hasn’t necessarily been a red-all legend; most of his greatest achievements have come in limited-overs. And yet he retires from the five-day format as the man with New Zealand’s highest score (302), the most number of Test sixes of anyone in history (107) and, courtesy of his first innings onslaught at Christchurch, the fastest ever Test century, eclipsing Viv Richards’ 30-year milestone of 56 balls.

Sadly for his Black Caps side, there was to be no winning finale to his 101-cap career. Australia are on a ruthless unbeaten run at the moment, winning seven and drawing two of their last nine matches en route to the number one world ranking.

New Zealand’ s 2015 progress may have run into a green-yellow brick wall, but for the Aussies, this was another excellent couple of performances. McCullum apart, this short series was all about the Australian top order making hay with the bat. Warner flopped but Joe Burns, Usman Khawaja, Adam Voges and skipper Steve Smith each made hundreds.

At the age of 36, Voges can claim a career average of 95.5 from his 15 Tests. Since the start of December, he has racked up 684 runs in just five outings, including two double-centuries and dismissed only twice. Sir Don who?! But can he and his colleagues repeat this kind of form in Sri Lanka this summer? Probably. They then host South Africa and Pakistan which will probably cement their position at the top, especially given the way the Proteas played at home to England.

As for the English, they went from Test heroes to one-day zeroes in just a few weeks. Becoming only the second side ever to lose a five-match ODI rubber from a 2-0 lead wasn’t anything to shout about. De Kock struck two centuries but the familiar De Villiers/Amla axis polished off the decider.

And yet the ace batsman of the series was Alex Hales, the man who I always descrie as grossly over-rated! Well, I haven’t changed my mind with regard to Test cricket, but he passed 50 in each of the five innings in South Africa. Joe Root matched his two hundreds but his genuine world-class is well-known. Before his embarrassing fumblings a week or so later, Reece Topley emerged as the top bowler from either side, which is encouraging for England’s one-day summer.

The T20 contests were not really significant, regardless of the forthcoming World Cup, but SA will be delighted to come out on top. Eoin Morgan did nothing to enhance his shaky international reputation and none of his bowlers showed much consistency. But this Twenty20; one all-out attack from a De Villiers or Morris can transform an economy rate from 6 to 10 in a matter of minutes. This is not really a proper World Cup warm-up but it raises more questions than answers for England.

From B-Mac to K-Will, New Zealand's newest superstar

Despite being only sixth in the Test rankings, fourth in ODIs and eighth in T20s, New Zealand seem to be the most interesting nation in cricket right now. We all know about Australia, India and South Africa but 2015 has seen the Black Caps became everybody’s second-favourite team. Yet it’s not out of love of the underdog; they’re actually entertaining to watch. Much of that is down to Brendon McCullum.

The NZ skipper, record six-hitter and one-time wicketkeeper has instilled his side with some genuine confidence and self-belief in all forms of cricket. Last summer, the English season was supposed to be all about the Ashes. Yet in my opinion, the hors d’oeuvres served up by the England-NZ series was much more entertaining.

During the whole year, McCullum’s Test side have beaten Sri Lanka three times, England once and given the Aussies some healthy competition without actually beating them. In ODIs they have won 19 out of 29, including a ten-match run of unbroken success en route to the World Cup Final.

It therefore seems a shame to hear Brendon’s announcement of his imminent retirement from all international cricket. So he didn’t enjoy a great year in Tests, and his only T20i innings was a 15-ball 35. However, an ODI strike rate of 148 across 22 games is pretty impressive. At 34, and with his hundredth Test scheduled for this winter series against the Aussies, I can understand why he might call it a day at this stage.

Another reason, of course, is the arrival as a genuine world-class batsman of Kane Williamson. The 25 year-old has already skippered New Zealand in limited-overs matches, while making eye-catching innings with remarkable consistency just about everywhere. Like AB De Villiers, he seems to score runs in any situation, including times when all about him are struggling.

I recall seeing a young Williamson doing his bit for the Bristol community on regional TV while learning his trade at Gloucestershire, but there was no obvious sign that he would become the world number one in Tests and three in ODIs within three or four seasons. Like England’s Joe Root and Aussie Steve Smith, he seems a likeable bloke. Not an extravagant celebrity, but someone who does his job extremely well while entertaining cricket fans around the globe.

In the last five Tests, he has racked up almost 700 runs. In the eight played in the calendar year, Kane has aggregated 1,172 with an impressive average of 90. The tally includes a career-best 242 not out against Sri Lanka. Like Smith, he seems good at converting fifties to centuries. Nobody has scored more ODI runs than he has, either. With the T20 World Cup approaching, it would be appropriate if he could lift a global trophy to top the lot, but that competition is a complete lottery. Even the West Indies could win it!

When McCullum and Martin Crowe talk of Williamson being not only the finest batsmen in New Zealand history but an all-time world great, you have to listen. Of course, every player has his good years and bad years. Even Tendulkar, Cook and Kallis. Yet let’s just enjoy watching a young batsman at the top of his game. Farewell Sangakkara, McCullum et al; welcome Smith, Root and Williamson. The baton of greatness has been passed.

England v New Zealand – Memorable but for the wrong reasons?

Now that we’ve all caught our breath, it’s time to reflect on the truly memorable ODI series between England and New Zealand. I always felt it would be a competitive contest between a side in captain Brendon McCullum’s mould and one desperately seeking to copy it after that dismal World Cup just a few months earlier. And so it proved.

However, the astonishing turnaround in England’s fortunes must have surprised most onlookers. Of course, the pitches, boundary distances, bat technology and fielding restrictions have all been created to boost run rates and the six count. All that was needed for England to capitalise was introduce the ethos of ‘take a gamble; there’s somebody else padded up should you get out’. The bold policy of picking a bunch of T20 specialists signalled the new regime’s intention and all the players had to do is carry it out to the letter.

Easier said than done, of course, and the Black Caps, as England found out to their cost in the World Cup, are amongst the best in the business when it comes to the fifty-over format. Nevertheless, it has been an exhilarating series for the batsmen and spectators who drool over a succession of heaves over square leg, ragged top-edges over third man and flicks into the crowd just 50 metres from the crease. The records racked up rapidly;
- The most runs in a series of five or fewer matches (3,151);
- The highest ever run rate a five-match rubber (7.15 an over)
- England’s first ever score of 400 (408-9 at Edgbaston)
- England’s biggest winning margin (210 runs, in the same game)
- The fastest ever England century (by Jos Buttler – again!)

And yet New Zealand would have triumphed had Jonny Bairstow not stepped up to the plate in the rain-hit decider at Chester-le-Street! When Joe Root and Buttler smashed centuries in the first game, we knew something special was on the cards. 27 sixes featured in the second at The Oval, where England narrowly failed thanks to the Duckworth/Lewis intervention. At the Rose Bowl, it was the turn of Kane Williamson and Ross Taylor to plunder hundreds in a well-measured run chase, before the feat was repeated by Root and Eoin Morgan at Trent Bridge. Here, England made a target of 350 look ridiculously easy. The clincher in the North East included fewer runs and ‘only’ seven sixes but far more drama.

The statistics show that Williamson, Taylor, Morgan and Root each aggregated more than 250 runs, the former finishing on an amazing 396. Of the fifteen players who faced at least 50 balls, only three had strike rates of under 100 per 100 balls. Curiously these were Taylor, Martin Guptill and England’s supposedly big-hitting opener Jason Roy. Morgan’s six tally of 16 easily outnumbered anybody else’s but I have more respect for Willamson’s ability to find the gaps, collecting a mightily impressive 49 fours throughout the series.

So it was all brilliant, wasn’t it? Not if you’re a bowler, it wasn’t! Nobody took even ten wickets. Ben Stokes, Steve Finn and Adil Rashid led the way and, while Mark Wood claimed only two at 78.5 apiece, his economy rate was a very commendable 5.23. Chris Jordan and Neil McCullum went for at least nine an over. The balance between bat and ball has become hideously distorted, but one good thing has been the standard of fielding. Catches will always be dropped occasionally but the athleticism in the deep is better than it has ever been. Just think about the Southee-Boult boundary ‘relay catch’ in the second ODI. And in recent years, Southee seems to make this look routine.

I don’t know whether such a runfest is good for cricket but it will add to the already massive Ashes mania, and boost Sky TV ratings. Bums on seats are already assured, even at Cardiff, although sadly mine won’t be amongst them. Too expensive and not enough remaining holiday entitlement! In my view, from an England perspective, Hales, Roy and Billings have not justified their own hype. However, the series has demonstrated once again that, for all the country’s previously poor recent ODI performances, especially at home, Joe Root and Jos Buttler are world-class.

The other element to celebrate is the spirit in which the series was conducted. McCullum and Morgan are fierce competitors but good friends, and it showed. In this respect, Broad and Anderson were not missed at all. England fans should doff a cap to New Zealand for showing their side how 50-over cricket can be played. Now we just need to allow spectators to admire the skills of Southee, Boult, Henry, Finn et al as bowlers rather than as six-fodder!

One-one, but New Zealand deserve the plaudits

Another Test match, another intriguing contest! After capitulating on the final day at Lord’s, New Zealand must feel gloriously vindicated after turning the tables at Headingley, playing the sort of cricket which served England so well last week.

One of the many things I’ve taken from this short but very sweet series is that one-day batting has had a huge impact. Not so long ago, once the seventh wicket fell in an innings the tailenders would be thinking more about their run-up and new ball strategy than getting a few runs of their own. Now, everyone can be a hero with the willow!

Tino Best, Ashton Agar and even our very own Stuart Broad and Jimmy Anderson have written their names into record books in the past few years. In the past few days we’ve experienced still more fearless fireworks from numbers nine to eleven. Amongst the general glut of boundaries, the last two wickets in the four innings at Headingley have produced more than 300 runs. OK, I know that the second NZ innings was declared during the ninth wicket partnership but that’s still an impressive aggregate for a bunch of bowlers.

At Lord’s, it was mostly Ben Stokes but in Leeds, Luke Ronchi and Matt Henry (each twice), Stuart Broad, Tim Southee and Trent Boult had three-figure strike rates against their names. The Black Caps’ second outing, after another dodgy start, was played out in the image of their brilliant captain Brendon McCullum. Martin Guptill, Ross Taylor and BJ Watling may have ridden their luck on occasions but their aggressive approach pressurised fielders into dropping catches and bowlers like Broad resembling nervous teenagers serving up short-pitched tripe.

The Sunday spectators were presented with a feast of runs, then the NZ tail really rubbed it in on Monday morning, declaring on 454-8. Apart from Latham and Williamson, every player struck at least one six! Watling’s excellent century was the single most important contribution, earning him the Man of the Match award. However, Mark Craig’s 99 unbeaten runs and tight bowling earning five wickets should not be underestimated. Trent Boult and Tim Southee occasionally gave even Anderson a lesson in new ball swing bowling, and Luke Ronchi’s belated Test debut at the age of 34 resulted in 119 runs and some tidy displays behind the stumps. Even Williamson made up for his unusually poor display with the bat by clinching the game with 3-15, his vital victims being the dogged Cook, pegged Stokes and ragged Broad.

England weren’t completely outplayed. After all, it was a Test match in which Alastair Cook and Jimmy Anderson became the first Englishmen to pass 9,000 runs and 400 wickets, respectively. Adam Lyth achieved his debut century on his second appearance, Jos Buttler stuck around admirably for 73 on the final evening and Matt Wood did enough to keep his place for the Ashes.

More worrying must be the form of Ballance, Bell and Moeen Ali. Broad’s clueless bowling may have yielded seven wickets at Headingley but he went for six an over! Acceptable in an ODI but not a Test match. Joe Root fared even worse with the bat but even the finest batsmen have an off-day following his excellent display in the first fixture.

For now, let’s celebrate a wonderful brace of Test matches and in particular the attitude of McCullum and co in levelling the series in such style. The appalling negativity and time-wasting we saw from Cook’s men two years ago should be consigned to history. If the new brooms at England’s helm follow suit, the Aussies may yet face a real challenge later this summer.

Dramatic Semis, now it's the Aussies' Cup to lose

Well, the second semi-final couldn't possibly match the thrilling drama of the first, but the joyous Indian crowds at the SCG must have left even battle-hardened wearers of the Green Baggie with a smidgeon of respect. Steve Smith's century, and a late onslaught from Johnson and Faulkner, left India with a huge mountain to climb.

MS Dhoni reckoned that 328 was a par score but few sides have ever chased down such a target at Sydney, let alone India, whose record in Australia is famously poor. However, this is the World Cup, India the reigning champions and they were unbeaten throughout the competition. With their supporters thronging the ground, could Australia's home advantage be nullified?

Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan gave India a solid start but the latter's rash drive to the hands of Maxwell signalled the beginning of the end. The Aussie pacemen brilliantly strangled Virat Kohli, who could manage only a single in eleven balls, Suresh Raina and Sharma, and the required rate rapidly reached double figures. Enter MS Dhoni. The fans believed, maybe even the captain himself believed. However, even MSD is mortal and by the time he was run out in the 45th over, India needed a miracle. Instead they got the return of Mitchell Starc and James Faulkner who brushed aside the Indian tail and booked a place at the MCG at the weekend.

It was hardly a close encounter, unlike the fabulous game between New Zealand and South Africa. With neither side having made even a World Cup final before, it was hard to pick a winner in advance. SA boasted some global megastars, NZ a few match-winners and some great competitors. Much like many previous Black Cap teams from the days of Crowe, Hadlee, Fleming, Cairns and Greatbatch!

However, despite predictable contributions from AB De Villiers, David Miller and Morne Morkel, it was an opening salvo from Brendon McCullum off Dale Steyn, slogs from Corey Anderson and a wonderful innings of apparently calm, calculated aggression (is that possible?) by new recruit Grant Elliott to deliver victory off the penultimate ball in front of a frenzied Auckland crowd.

Having followed the climax online via CricInfo I was desperate to see highlights on Tuesday evening. However, watching such a contest reduced to a tedious succession of fours, sixes, missed catches and wickets did the sport and broadcasters a disservice. Surely it would have been the dot balls, the stretching muscles of a weary Steyn, and the shots of nail-chewing Kiwis which would have made for a more enjoyable TV experience.

Obviously I feel for the desperately sad South African losers who most certainly did NOT choke. They were beaten by an excellent team and it' a team I'd love to see repeat their last wicket heroics in the group stage against Australia in the final. That's what my heart says, but my head goes with the flow and sees Michael Clarke lifting the trophy on home territory in a few days' time.

Pakistan join England in the Doldrums

England's humiliation at the hands of New Zealand was almost matched by Pakistan's abject batting performance last night against the West Indies. At Christchurch, Andre Russell's final overs blitz with the bat ultimately proved irrelevant as most of the Pakistani XI capitulated to the Windies attack. Jerome Taylor and Jason Holder left the opposition reeling at 1-4 before Sohaib Maqsood and Umar Akmal steadied the ship. However, by that time, they had no chance of overhauling the 300+ target.

Skipper Misbah gave an honest appraisal that his side were well beaten, and it was an encouraging response from Holder's team following their embarrassing defeat against Ireland. It boosts their chances after all of qualifying for the quarter-finals.

Progressing from the group stage is still possible for England, despite being hammered by both hosts in their opening fixtures. Scotland, Afghanistan and Bangladesh should be easier opposition and even if they lose to Sri Lanka six points should be sufficient to go through. However, the sheer scale of their walloping at Wellington must have hit their confidence.

Tim Southee's masterclass in swing bowling put even Jimmy Anderson into the shade. His 7-33 was a Black Cap best and the third most impressive bowling performance in World Cup history. Joe Root, not for the first time, was the only England batman to demonstrate the right temperament to set any kind of challenge, but the wickets fell quickly at the other end. 122 all out in 33 overs was simply pathetic.

Their misery was compounded by Brendon McCullum's dazzling onslaught when he and Guptill came out to bat. The England pacemen had nowhere to hide and Steven Finn's generous helpings of off-stump deliveries were thankfully thumped for four consecutive sixes. Finn's two overs went for 49 and the NZ captain struck the third fastest ODI hundred. Had Chris Woakes not been introduced to dismiss both openers, nobody would have betted against McCullum beating AB De Villiers' recently set record as fastest ODI century.

As it was, the speed of the successful run chase (74 balls) was one of the swiftest ever, and probably the worst experienced by England in this form of cricket. It began and ended with wides and there was no hiding place for Eoin Morgan. At least as a batsman he had got off the mark for a change but 17 runs in 41 balls did little to restore his barely deserved reputation as a world-class 50-over exponent. He now has to steer a demoralised outfit against the lowly Scots to get off the mark as a World Cup captain. Mommsen, Coetzer et al must be licking their lips!

Warner, Williamson and Watling provide the W Factor

With apologies to the South Africans, their victory over the West Indies barely registered a ripple on cricket's Richter Scale this week. However, cross the ocean to Sydney and Wellington and we have witnessed some memorable performances. Kumar Sangakkara demonstrated once again that he is the premier Test batsman of the past decade, and Virat Kohli is at last showing signs of becoming the top man for the next. However three Ws have stood out for me.

I was biased against David Warner from the start. An apparently aggressive bully off the pitch and similar with the bat on it, the pugnacious plunderer made his name as the first player since the birth of cricket to represent his country in Tests without ever playing first-class cricket. That was six years ago in a T20 contest against the Proteas, and he announced himself by striking 89 in 43 balls to set the MCG crowd alight and win the game. Since then he progressed to become an ODI regular and, since 2011, half the answer to Australia's Test opener problem.

Like Virender Sehwag, he has thrived not by abandoning his attacking but by harnessing them, unleashing the strokes only when the ball is there for hitting and/or the situation demands it. Shane Watson's ability to do just this has waned in recent years but Warner's has grown. I have come to quite like him and, following his mature attitude in the wake of Phil Hughes' death, respect him, too. It hasn't affected his batting either. Two emotional centuries at Adelaide and now another 101 on the square where Hughes received that fatal blow have taken him past the 3,000-run barrier, with an average of 48. In the past nine Tests, Warner has thrashed seven centuries and three fifties, a superb record. in all, he has passed fifty 25 times in 67 innings, a world-class ratio.

Yet in the past few weeks, even Warner has been overshadowed by Kane Williamson. Like the Aussie he was in my overall team of 2014 yet the New Zealander has got 2015 off to an even more impressive start. He top-scored with 69 in a mediocre first innings before Sanga seemed to take the match away from them. Second time around, he turned the tables with a brilliant unbeaten 242. His Test career statistics for runs, average and consistent half-centurymaking are almost Warner-like, and are part of the reason for New Zealand's success against Pakistan and Sri Lanka.

That 'double' also formed part of a world-record sixth wicket partnership of 365 with wicketkeeper BJ Watling. Not a renowned batsman he has now been part of two world record stands, the first last year with Brendon McCullum and now this with young Kane. Not being a twinkling T20 expert, Bradley-John has crept up quietly upon the global cricket scene until now, at 29, he is not only a formidable number seven but also an excellent 'keeper. Watling may not feature in the World Cup, where Luke Ronchi will don the gloves, but he could be a regular in Test matches for years to come.

Dhoni Over and Out

In a week when Steve Smith struck a career-best 192, Virat Kohli enjoyed a sledging spat with Mitch Johnson and Brendon McCullum's blistering 195 helped his Black Caps to a record fifth Test success in a calendar year, it was a shame that MS Dhoni trumped them all. Not with a great performance but a sudden announcement of immediate retirement from Test cricket.

Had he merely jacked in the India captaincy at the end of the Australia series, nobody would have been surprised. It's been a recent trend for the global superstars to plan their farewells months in advance to extract maximum media exposure and/or reach specific milestones. Not a trend of which I particularly approve. However, why would such an icon of world cricket, second only to Sachin Tendulkar, call it a day before the final match?

Was it to help Kohli bed in further as leader of the Test side? To give his body more time to recover before the next round of ODIs and the World Cup? Both, or something else entirely?! Whatever the answer, Dhoni has seen it, done it, got the T-shirt. Nobody else can have led his country to be the number one Test ranking, World Cup, T20 World Cup and Champions Trophy, all while being a great late-order batsman and wicket-keeper.

33 is no great age in terms of years. However, playing nearly 400 cricket matches in all formats, under the keenest microscope of the most enthusiastic of sports fans, must take its toll on anybody. For all his qualities, even MSD is human, and both his runs and athleticism behind the stumps have slipped this year.

It's interesting to note that many fans have accepted the decision as a good one for India. Six years as India's leader in all formats is a long time, added to his IPL responsibilities in the Super Kings yellow. He graced the sport in 90 Tests, two-thirds of them as skipper, scoring almost 5,000 runs including six hundreds and 33 mostly vital half-centuries. Only four men have claimed more dismissals behind the stumps than Dhoni's 294, nine of them this week at the MCG.

While he remains one of the one-day game's all-time greats, there is a feeling that with him goes the last real link with the golden era of 2009-10. The baton has been passed to the new generation of Kohli, Pujara, Ashwin and co, although I do wonder for how long India's latest idol Kohli can shoulder the responsibilities he faces. At least he doesn't keep wicket, too.

India now find themselves an unthinkable sixth in the ICC Test rankings, just a few points behind a resurgent New Zealand, so the only way is up. They have the talent, now all they need is to galvanise once more as a global force in proper cricket under Kohli and the BCCI. Maybe being the best in 50- and 20-over formats is all India craves. After all, that is where the money is. Dhoni, too, won't be short of a few dollars although like some of his former team-mates, he is commendably generous when it comes to charitable work. Unlike other sportsmen I could mention, he doesn't forget his roots.

So farewell MSD, for a few months at least, and good luck to his successors as Test captain and wicketkeeper!

McCullum's Triple Whammy!

After lauding Brendon McCullum's double-century last week, I have to make him centre stage again as the first New Zealander ever to make 300 in a Test innings. For someone once renowned only for his one-day strokeplay, the NZ skipper's work on his long-form batting skills and decision-making have evidently paid off in spades. His ODI scores have suffered but making 224 and 302 in successive matches against the second-ranked nation is no mean feat. The fact that it came in a second innings gives it an extra special lustre; only Hanif Mohammad 56 years ago has hit a triple second time out.

However, it is his eclipsing of such great Black Cap batsmen such as Stephen Fleming, Glenn Turner and Martin Crowe which brought the Wellington crowd and cricket fans worldwide to life. Crowe has said he got too ahead of himself that day 23 years ago in the same city against Sri Lanka but McCullum just about held it together long enough to play the weary Zaheer Khan to the third man boundary and achieve the milestone. Records will always be broken but Brendon will always be the first Black Cap wearer to notch a triple-hundred.

OK, so he rode his luck at times and was dropped by Kohli when on just nine, but credit to McCullum for knuckling down not just to build an innings but also to save a match that was running away from his side. They were 57-3 and still needing about 200 to avoid defeat and win the two-Test series. India had dismissed the home team for a mere 192 on the first day, with Ishant Sharma claiming a personal best 6-51. Four days later, poor Ishant was looking at possibly his worst figures of 0-164, and his colleagues were struggling having bowled the second highest number of overs by India in any Test.

It could so easily have been the match of Ajinkya Rahane, who compiled his maiden Test century, BJ Watling, for an incredibly patient 124 alongside his captain, or particularly Jimmy Neesham, who marked his debut with an unbeaten 137. Some have even castigated McCullum for not declaring until he reached 300. Huh? At 1-0 up, avoiding defeat had to be his prime objective and with India's reputation for fast-scoring - Dhawan, Kohli, Dhoni et al - allowing Neesham to push the target beyond even Indian aspirations was surely the right decision. And I'm sorry, anyone in the world would not have given up with history beckoning. OK, maybe not Mark Taylor - who famously declared when on 334 so as not to overtake the legendary Bradman - but anyone else!

McCullum apart, New Zealand are definitely looking a stronger Test side these days but India's atrocious away record - fourteen matches without a win - is something they need to overcome if they are once again to be considered candidates for the Mace. They did at least make a contest of the First Test and were in the driving seat for the first three days of this one but they ran into McCullum, Watling and Neesham in the form of their lives. While they have a series in England this summer, New Zealand have no Tests scheduled for a while, and McCullum and co have to forget how to compile a long innings and remember how to slog again in the forthcoming T20 competition. They may even win it... but not by scoring 300, that's for sure.

India's train runs off the rails

Until the very last week, 2013 was a good year for Indian cricket. Six successive Test victories, albeit at home, and that epic draw at Jo'burg, around that success in the Champions Trophy in England & Wales, gave the squad plenty of confidence. Tendulkar departed the scene but with Dhawan, Pujara, Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Jadeja et al firing more often than not, the future was beginning to look rosy for MS Dhoni's side.

However, a heavy defeat in the Centurion Test and seven winless ODIs in succession has, to borrow an analogy from the local weather news in Somerset, left the Dhoni express running into South African and now New Zealand floodwaters and drifting off the rails across the Levels and into the trees. Losing a few 50-over contests overseas isn't a disaster but failure in the Auckland five-dayer is a real setback for a side bristling with global superstars. This is form reminiscent of Moyles-era Man United. As with the Fulham encounter, this was ultimately an exciting game in which the underdogs were in control from the start before almost throwing it away and nicking it at the death.

For New Zealand, Kane Williamson is in tremendous form. Five consecutive half-centuries in the ODI series, then a first-innings 113, has made him a young batsman to be reckoned with. Skipper Brendon McCullum has a great reputation in the shorter formats but his 224, one short of his career-best (also achieved against India) showed his more patient side. His seamers have impressed in recent months, too, and here Boult, Wagner and Southee made life tough for India's stars, leaving them floundering at 10-3 until Sharma steered them towards 200. McCullum didn't enforce the follow-on and may have been ruing that decision when NZ were dismissed for just 105.

India had a stiff but not impossible target of 407. That they had two days in which to get the runs was not part of the equation. They needed a strong foundation, and this was duly delivered by Dhawan and Kohli. Then, having reached 222-2, things turned against them. Wickets began to fall regularly and Dhoni, Jadeja and Zaheer Khan slipped into one-day strokeplay mode. However, the NZ seam attack combined with BJ Watling's gloves to end the opposition's resistance and made it three Test wins in a row. That hasn't happened for six years and that sequence included two against Bangladesh instead of the West Indies and India.

Great stuff for New Zealand but, with the Asia Cup, World T20s and IPL on the horizon, India needs to get the train back on the rails in the next Test to keep the fans and sponsors happy. As they showed second time around this weekend, they don't need to improve too much. Nevertheless more incisive bowling is desperately needed along with a Plan B when Kohli and Dhawan get out. Throwing the bat is fine in an ODI when the game is slipping away but the likes of Jadeja, Sharma, Dhoni and Khan surely have the ability to do better in Tests. I don't think this reverse will have any bearing on the T20 tourney but England must be licking their lips in anticipation of a post-KP win-fest come the summer!