Protected: Part 2 – Not Out Innings and Batting Averages – Demystifying Rarefied Solutions & a Searchlight on the Straightforward

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Protected: Epilogue – Not Out Innings and Batting Averages – Demystifying Rarefied Solutions & a Searchlight on the Straightforward

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ROOT CRITICIZES HIS TEAM AS AUSTALIA DEALS WITH HAZLEWOOD INJURY

England captain Joe Root has sharply criticized his team, picking apart the experienced bowling attack in particular. The England captain says his bowlers did not throw the right lengths in the second Test loss that all but sunk his team’s Ashes hopes. Much to the delight of fans whose precious kampanjkod was wasted on a defeat in Adelaide, Root spoke to the media with some much appreciated vitriol.

Craig McDermott, Australia’s fast bowling champion, criticized England’s “horrible” tactics with the ball and called the entire bowling squad “baffling.”

Australia claimed a 275-run victory Tuesday night at the Adelaide Oval, extending their lead in the Ashes series to 2-0. Not since 1936/37, when Sir Donald Bradman’s Aussies staged a remarkable comeback, has a team rallied from a 0-2 deficit to win a five-match Ashes series.

In Adelaide, England failed to bowl out Australia in either inning, as England’s Pace attack drew blanks and was unable to threaten the host’s frontline. Chris Woakes scored 1-149 runs in the match, and the veteran duo of James Anderson and Stuart Broad scored just five wickets together in Australia’s two innings, despite an impressive economy rate.

Speaking to BBC radio after the match, Root described it as “frustrating” to see how many times his bowlers had overshot the outside edge of the Australian batsmen in the second Test. According to the English captain, the bowling group only had to throw the ball “half a meter” higher to have more success.

While Root did not put names to the criticism, he made it clear that England’s frontline attack played too short and did not learn from their loss to Australia four years ago.

“With the ball in hand, we didn’t play the right length,” Root told the BBC, “We should have shot harder. As soon as we did in the second set, we created opportunities. It’s frustrating. We did this four years ago, and we didn’t learn from it. We need to improve.

“We weren’t brave enough at times to bring the ball up. We have to do better in the next game.

We have to be braver.” We had to try to play like we did in Brisbane [in the first Test]. Once we do that, that’s the benchmark we have to look at. We need to look at these stretches of play and play them longer. We need to take advantage of the conditions.”

Root also spoke to reporters after the game and spoke in an “angry tone,” according to George Dobell, the leading British cricket writer.

Josh Hazlewood is in a race against time to prove he is fit for the Boxing Day Test as Australia takes steps to cover his possible absence.

Hazlewood suffered a lateral strain in the first test, which knocked him out of action last week in the second match at the Adelaide Oval.

Now, Australia have added Victoria’s speedy Scott Boland to the list of players for the second Christmas Day test, as Hazlewood is still hampered by injury.

Boland would take a place in the squad after scoring 15 wickets in two matches this summer at Sheffield Shield, averaging a low 10.

According to reports, Australia would not want to take any unnecessary risks with Hazlewood given their commanding 2-0 lead in the series.

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Ashes Series; Too many “cooks in the kitchen” for England as team loses second test.

It feels like four years ago all over again for England, but this time with an even more desperate sense of powerlessness against an Australian side that just seems to have the number of their Commonwealth counterparts. Fans were thrilled but not for long as they held on to their bonuskod bet365.

England captain Michael Vaughan, who won the Ashes Cup in 2005, says that the problem of England is that there are too many cooks in the kitchen.

“Sometimes there can be too many heads. Too many people looking at the data. There’s nothing better than playing in the present moment,” he said.

England slowly lost the second test at the Adelaide Oval on Monday, while Australia looked victorious from the first day’s tea break.

England used a fast bowler as spinner during the test while their real experts Jack Leach and Dom Bess sat on the sidelines and were not called into action.

Nathan Lyon turned the ball to the right when England had almost 50 per cent left-handed players and were up against a right-handed off-spinner. Lyon finished 3/58 and 2/55.

James Anderson and Broad, who failed to get over their target in the day-night test, combined to take five wickets and score 33.2 runs each.

England may have had a master plan, but it certainly wasn’t it.

After Sunday’s match, fast bowling coach Jon Lewis admitted that the team had miscalculated both the swing and spin that would be on offer in Adelaide.

“The pitch is clearly spinning,” Lewis told reporters. “And we thought the ball would move a bit more in light conditions than it did.

“In hindsight, you could say we should have picked a different team. But at the time we felt we had picked the team that would win the game.

After four years of planning, England didn’t pick their best quicks on Gabba’s green seamers or spinners on Adelaide’s spinning wicket.

Day and night trials usually promise an extra boost for the quicks, but England got carried away with the offer and failed to reap the benefits.

The Adelaide Oval pitch has been spin-friendly even on the fourth and fifth day. It’s always been that way – playoff or no playoff.

The lateral movement of the quicks on the Gabba course during the day is akin to being in the light with a pink ball.

England are guilty of over-thinking and sports research and analysis.

The team was playing for the future and not for what was ahead.

“Last week it was green tops, you needed at least one or two of your best bowlers and that’s Jimmy Anderson and Stuart Broad.”

He added: “If they’re 2-0 down, they’re out.

Careful but deeply flawed planning has been replaced by hasty improvisation led by coach and sole selector Chris Silverwood.

That it didn’t work is a gross understatement.

Some pundits believe Silver wood is a good man, but just not the man for the job.

“He should be the manager who organises everything, but nowhere near the decisions that affect cricket,” a former player said.

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Majid Khan: The Prince of Wales

These days Majid Khan’s name seems in the main to attach itself to that item of cricketing trivia that records that his is one of the two families that have given three generations to Test cricket, not to mention two cousins and an uncle. This is a great pity because at his best Majid was as brilliant a stroke maker as there was in world cricket, and he was in the vanguard of the influx of overseas players who broadened the appeal of English county cricket from 1968. .

Majid’s father, Jahangir Khan, was an all-rounder who played in India’s inaugural Test, at Lord’s in 1932 and, whilst at Cambridge University, all three Tests in the 1936 series. He achieved nothing with the bat in any of them, and took just four wickets, all in the second innings of the 1932 match, but they were a useful quartet; Percy Holmes, Frank Woolley, Walter Hammond and Eddie Paynter. Son Bazid had just a single opportunity, against West Indies in the Caribbean in 2005, innings of 9 and 23 in a 276 run defeat not being enough to keep his place.

A prodigious young talent Majid was, initially, primarily a fast medium bowler, although his ability as a batsman was also clear from the beginning. He made his First Class debut at just 15, and began with figures of 6-67. When his side, Lahore B, replied they had slumped to 51-5 when the teenager came to the crease. An unbeaten 111 later and they were on course for victory. Pakistan’s selectors have never been backward in giving youth a chance and there was talk of the teenager being chosen for the party that toured England in 1962 under his cousin, Javed Burki, but in the end the selectors decided against that and his first visit to England was delayed until the following summer when he was a member of a young Pakistan Eaglets side for whom he did enough to earn praise from Wisden. 

After 1962 it was more than two years before Pakistan played another Test, a one off at home against Australia and, by now 18, Majid was called up. He celebrated his selection by inviting his friends to an ice cream party and in the years ahead would gain a reputation as something of a trencherman. In his first Test innings he batted at eight. He was out without scoring and did not get to the crease in the second innings. He opened the bowling with another Pakistani batting star of the not too distant future, Asif Iqbal. There were three wickets for Majid in a match that Pakistan emerged from with an honourable draw. Twice Majid dismissed Bill Lawry and his other victim was Brian Booth. All three wickets were taken with short pitched deliveries.

Despite those results the end of Majid the strike bowler was nigh. There were doubts expressed about the legality of his action, particularly when he bowled the bouncer, and he never attempted to bowl fast again. The remainder of the 27 Test wickets that he ended his career with were taken with either medium pace or off spin. It is a shame about the kink in his action as he was clearly pretty sharp, teammate Shafqat Rana saying of that bouncer; it was really nasty, quick and coming straight at your eyes.

There followed a return trip to Australia and New Zealand which, because of his bowling travails, Majid missed out on. Pakistan drew all of the Tests that they played, but only Hanif Mohammad and, to a lesser extent, Saeed Ahmed excelled with the bat, and once the New Zealanders followed the Pakistanis back for a three Test home series Majid, having scored plenty of runs domestically in the meantime, found his way into the side as a front line batsman. He did not achieve much on his return but, his side enjoying a big win, he kept his place and in the second Test cemented his position by contributing 80 to a stand of 217 with Hanif, and adding another 44 in the second innings.

In 1967 Pakistan returned to England for a three match series. They shared the summer with the Indians who, unfortunately for them, had the first and damper half and although they put on a brave performance in the first Test after conceding a first innings lead of 386 they lost their series 3-0. Pakistan at least managed to draw at Lord’s, courtesy of a nine hour marathon from Hanif with staunch support from Asif, but they lost the other two Tests and Majid managed just 38 runs in six innings. 

On the tour as a whole Majid did rather better, finishing second to Hanif in the averages with 42.30. He also played one particular innings that changed the course of his career. At Swansea between the first two Tests, in a mere 89 minutes at the crease, Majid scored an unbeaten 147 including as many as 13 sixes, then a record for an innings in England. The match itself was drawn but the Glamorgan club and their supporters were captivated. The club’s secretary, the autocratic Wilf Wooller, had been at Cambridge with Majid’s father and he persuaded the committee that Majid was their man for the new era of overseas players.

In 1967 Glamorgan had finished fourteenth in the County Championship, as they had the season before. In 1968 however their fortunes changed and, Majid second only in their batting averages to Alan Jones, rose to third in the table and recorded the same number of wins as the Champions, Yorkshire. Had they not lost of each of their last three matches the Welsh county might have lifted the title. Of Majid Wisden commented; By July he had found his touch and the power of his batting was beginning to thrill the crowd. His quick and natural reaction made him a joy to watch, and he played some brilliant innings.

Majid’s ready acceptance by his teammates and public alike was no doubt made easier by his calm approach to everything he did. He never got rattled by events on the field and treated everything on its merits and not by the reputation of whoever was bowling. Certainly in those days Majid neither smoked or drank although, an orthodox Muslim, he did not express any disapproval of those who chose to. He was also a great believer in the spirit of the game and throughout his career would immediately leave the crease if he thought he was out. No doubt that Test average of his would have crossed the threshold of forty had he been less scrupulous in that respect. 

There were three Tests for Majid against England during the hastily arranged series in the following winter of 1968/69 in which his best score in four innings was 68. He then returned to Wales for a season that began slowly but ended with Glamorgan winning the title by 31 clear points and going through the season unbeaten. Once again Majid was second only to Jones in the averages and his efforts earned him recognition as one of Wisden’s five cricketers of the year. The best example of the way he could play came in the penultimate Championship fixture of the season against Worcestershire, a match that would almost certainly have been lost had not, in a Glamorgan first innings of 265, Majid not looked in a different class to everyone else on show – he scored a century before lunch and ended up on 156, with no one else scoring more than 37.

The following season Majid followed in his father’s footsteps and went up to Cambridge. Had he not done so and been available for the whole season Glamorgan would almost certainly have made it back to back titles. As it was they had to be content with just half a season from their overseas star and the runners up spot. Again the batting averages were headed by Jones and Majid, the distance between them now reduced to just a single run.

In 1971 Pakistan visited England again. His studies prevented Majid joining the party, although he was available for the first two Tests. He got to the crease twice, and while innings of 35 and 9 were better than in 1967, he had still failed to do himself justice in the Test arena. He did however play a leading role in the other tour game in which he took part, and was the main reason for Pakistan’s defeat. Majid played for Cambridge against the tourists, top scored with 94 in his side’s first innings and captained the light blues to a ten wicket victory.

His academic year and the tour over Majid returned to South Wales, but had a disappointing time as he was well behind skipper Tony Lewis and the second overseas player the county were now permitted, West Indian Roy Fredericks, in the county’s averages. To make matters much worse the county tumbled to sixteenth in the table. They didn’t do a great deal better the following summer, but for Majid at least the 1972 season was a memorable one. He was the only man in the country to score more than 2,000 runs (1,332 at 66.60 for Glamorgan) and was well ahead of Fredericks, Lewis and Jones in the county’s averages. In the country as a whole only Geoffrey Boycott and Rohan Kanhai averaged more than Majid’s 61.00.

By December of 1972 Majid was 26 and had been a Test player for eight years. Despite that he had played only a dozen Tests over that time and had managed just a couple of half centuries. It had been seven years sine Pakistan had played a Test against anyone other than England, but finally that winter in the space of just over three months they were to play three Tests in Australia, followed by three more in New Zealand, and round that off with three at home against England.

The Pakistanis lost all three Tests in Australia, but at least Majid had the consolation of finally scoring a Test century in the second match at the MCG. His 158 helped Pakistan to a total of 574 and a lead of 133, although in an exciting match they were all out for 200 in the fourth innings chasing 293 for victory. Majid impressed all the Australians, and Dennis Lillee in particular. Lillee describes Majid as;  a fantastic player, one of the best I ever bowled to, a true stroke player. He had as much grace as anyone I had ever seen. Everything was done with style and elegance; he was like my image of a prince, and everything was just majestic.

It is Lillee who also gives rise to one of the enduring stories about Majid, whose appearance at the crease was always distinctive as he wore cream pads and, throughout his career, a wide brimmed white canvas hat. In reality that too, although it was no doubt white when new, over the years became anything but. Lillee made it his mission to remove the hat and came close on a few occasions in 1972/73. Majid promised him he would give him the hat were he ever to do so and when, four years later, Lillee eventually succeeded Majid’s immediate reaction was to pick up the hat and hand it to Lillee. Sadly for those who are fascinated by such items of memorabilia Mrs Lillee did not know what was going on, and later threw the treasured trophy into the washing machine causing it to rather lose its magic.

In New Zealand Pakistan were more successful, winning that series 1-0. There was another century for Majid in the third Test, and he also scored 79 in each innings of the first Test thus failing to make a significant contribution only, rather oddly, in the match his side won. Returning home to face England Majid almost made it centuries in three consecutive series when, in the last of three draws, he was one of three men (teammate Mushtaq Mohammad and Dennis Amiss were the other two) to be dismissed for 99. Majid had led Pakistan in this series, but there was a feeling that despite the way he batted his captaincy was rather pedestrian and that the series should have been won. In any event when Pakistan played their next series, in England in 1974, Majid was back in the ranks.

Appointed county captain for 1973 Majid’s leadership of Glamorgan was no more successful than that of his country. In the end in 1976 his tenure ended and with it his association with the county. He had carried the batting through the years 1973-75 and it was not his fault that the bowling resources at his disposal lacked penetration. Nonetheless a whispering campaign against him gathered pace amongst supporters and eventually he could take no more, resigning the captaincy in 1976, a summer when he also suffered a loss of form. It was a sad end to an association that had given so much pleasure to so many.

Whilst his county career had its troubles Majid had found a new role for Pakistan, taking over as opening batsman for the second Test with England in 1974 and forging what proved to be a solid partnership with Sadiq Mohammad, the youngest of the famous brotherhood. He just missed a century at the Oval in 1974, scoring 98, but made his first century from the top of the order at home against West Indies the following winter.

If Majid wanted a distraction from events in Glamorgan he certainly got it over the southern hemisphere summer of 1976/77 with a visit from New Zealand followed by tours to Australia and West Indies. The New Zealanders were beaten 2-0, and only dropped catches prevented the Pakistanis taking a clean sweep of the three Tests. Majid’s tendency to get out when close to a century struck again in the second Test when he scored 98, but he got over the line in the drawn third Test with a magnificent century before lunch, adding another 50 in the second innings.

It was during the Australian trip that Majid surrendered his hat to Lillee, but a great Australian side, beginning to age and no doubt distracted by the forthcoming World Series Cricket adventure could not repeat their 3-0 triumph of four years before, both sides enjoying one big win with an interesting draw in the first Test meaning the series was shared. There were no big scores for Majid but he averaged almost fifty to ensure he was in the right frame of mind for the trip to the Caribbean.

The series between West Indies and Pakistan, only the second ever between the two nations and eighteen years after the first, was an excellent one. The West Indian pace battery was not quite at its most fearsome, but Colin Croft, Joel Garner and Andy Roberts were a formidable combination. In the end the home side won the series 2-1, but their last pair had to hang on amidst great tension to save the first Test. For Majid there were 530 runs at 53.00 and his six hour 167 in the third Test, destined to remain his highest Test score, ensured a draw in that one.

At 31 Majid was at his best in the West Indies and it is hardly surprising that Kerry Packer wanted him for WSC, nor that the was attracted by the financial rewards that came with it, and he was one of five Pakistanis who signed (the others were Imran, Asif, Zaheer Abbas and Mushtaq Mohammad). Majid did not however enjoy a great deal of success. Only selected for two Supertests he had a single half century to show for those. In fifteen ODIs he never once passed fifty, and had the miserable average of 11.21. 

Once peace returned to the world game in 1979 Majid resumed his Test career and played on for another three years. He wasn’t quite the player he had been although there were still some highlights, including a final century against Lillee and Australia at home in Lahore. After that however major innings eluded Majid and his last important knock was one of 74 against Australia at the MCG in December 1981 which helped set up a face saving innings victory. That apart there was little to celebrate for Majid whose relationship with cousin Imran became strained as the latter came to the view that Majid was no longer worth his place in the side.

After leaving Glamorgan in 1976 Majid had been back to England, but had not played any First Class cricket. At 35 he had a last opportunity when picked for an experienced side, led for the first time by Imran, who toured in the second half of the 1982 summer. Sadly Majid was patently not the player he had been and he struggled for runs, only coming in to the Test side for the third and final match after first Wasim Raja and then Haroon Rashid had been discarded. In a close match Majid scored 21 and 10. In the course of the first innings he became his country’s leading scorer, but there was no fluency and he never looked at ease. He passed fifty just once during the tour, although that would have given him some satisfaction as his 88 came against Glamorgan.

His many supporters would have hoped that Majid would go out on a high, and with nine home Tests scheduled for 1982/83, including six against India, the opportunity was certainly there, particularly as Pakistan took three of the first four Indian Tests to move into an unassailable 3-0 lead. Despite Imran’s views Majid came in for the fifth Test. He survived nine deliveries but was then adjudged to have feathered a Kapil Dev delivery to Syed Kirmani behind the stumps. He chose to stay put, perhaps just disappointed, or perhaps hoping that his reputation as a walker would come to his aid and the umpire would not end his innings before it had started. In any event the Majid who walked back to the pavilion for a final innings duck appeared, for once, to be less than happy with the decision that had sent him on his way. Rain made sure that he did not get a second opportunity to go out in style.

His playing days over Majid remained in the game with, at times, both Pakistan and the ICC. The most controversial of his administrative roles was after he was appointed to the position of Chief Executive of the Pakistan Cricket Board in 1996 a position he resigned three years later after making allegations of match fixing against the side following their unexpected defeat by Bangladesh at the 1999 World Cup in England. Significant as Majid’s off field contributions to the game were they paled into insignificance when compared with his majestic batting. He was a fine batsman at Test level for Pakistan, but even then was not quite the man he had been in the valleys of South Wales in the late 1960s and early 1970s.

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Worcestershire in Print

The history of Worcestershire, who joined the Championship as late as 1899, has been well covered by writers, and in particular thanks to Andrew Thomas the history is all but up to date. The early years of the club, before its First Class days, are covered in Bernard Bridgwater’s Early History of the Three Black Pears. 

The Reverend WR Chignell produced two bulky volumes of Worcestershire history. A History of Worcestershire County Cricket Club 1844-1950 was the first, and Worcestershire Cricket 1950-1968 was the follow up. Another reverend gentleman, Mike Vockins, then produced a slim volume in 1980 entitled A Pictorial History Of Worcestershire Cricket before the Worcestershire volume in the Helm series appeared in 1989, written by David Lemmon.

More recently, to mark the 150th anniversary of the formation of the County Club in 2015, Andrew Thomas produced Pears 150, a real heavyweight of a book, and a distinctly unconventional one, and only last year he produced a supplement, Pears 155, which carried the story through to the end of the most recent ‘normal’ summer of cricket, 2019.

Remarkably few Worcestershire players have been the subject of biographies, and the first seven all had the same surname. For a variety of reasons Reginald Erskine ‘Tip’ Foster is the best known of the famous brotherhood and he is, as are his six brothers, fully considered in Anthony Collis’s privately published 2018 book, Fostershire.

The Fosters apart the only Worcestershire cricketer from before the Great War who has been the subject of a book is the Australian all-rounder Jack Cuffe. Only last year Pat Rodgers’ The Perplexing and Tragic Life of Jack Cuffe dug deep to uncover a fascinating story.

With just the Fosters and Cuffe from prior to the Great War the next era in the county game, between the wars, saw only one Worcestershire player go into print. It was 1937 when Fred Root’s autobiography A Cricket Pro’s Lot appeared, a book of some importance and one that remains of interest today.

And at this point, due to the limited number of eligible volumes, I will mention a monograph on the subject of Australian Roger Kimpton. An amateur who played two thirds of his sixty First Class matches for Oxford University and just fourteen for Worcestershire. He is nonetheless the subject of an interesting booklet that was privately published by Philip Molyneux in 1998, RCM Kimpton: A Gifted Amateur Cricketer.

Don Kenyon joined the county’s staff in time for the 1946 season, and did not retire until the end of the 1967 summer. All told Kenyon appeared in 643 First Class matches, eight of them Tests although he was never able to reproduce his county form for England. Tim Jones wrote Don Kenyon: His Own Man, a biography that appeared in 2015.

In 1950 right arm medium pace bowler George Chesterton first appeared for Worcestershire. A career schoolmaster at Malvern College for a few years Chesterton appeared a few times each summer as an amateur with some success albeit not to the degree which would ordinarily justify the publication of a biography sixty years later. Chesterton’s long time teaching colleague and former Hampshire player Andy Murtagh made him the subject of his first biography in 2012, A Remarkable Man.

Wicketkeeper Roy Booth joined Worcestershire in 1956 after finding his opportunities at his native Yorkshire limited by the emergence of Jimmy Binks. He stayed until 1970 and in 2014 Richard Walsh privately published an interesting monograph, Roy Booth.

One of the most controversial figures in the history of the game was a Worcestershire player through the 1960s, albeit none of the issues were of his own making. Basil D’Oliveira was to write three autobiographies, in D’Oliveira: An Autobiography (1968),  The D’Oliveira Affair (1969) and Time To Declare (1980) before, in 2004, an excellent biography, Basil D’Oliveira, appeared from Peter Oborne.

1960 brought with it a big new signing for Worcestershire, Tom Graveney. The move was not welcomed by Graveney’s first county Worcestershire and caused something of a stir, but Graveney’s arrival certainly coincided with the county’s rise to the top. Two of Graveney’s autobiographies appeared whilst he was with Worcester, On Cricket in 1965 and Cricket Over Forty in 1980. In 1992 Christopher Sandford’s Tom Graveney: The Biography appeared. Later on in 2005 another book about Graveney appeared, Tom Graveney At Lord’s by Stephen Fay dealt primarily with his tenure as MCC President.

New Zealander Glenn Turner plied his trade at Worcester between 1967 and 1982. Turner is a man who has written a number of books, and all of My Way, (1975), Glenn Turner’s Century of Centuries (1983), Opening Up (1987) and Lifting The Covers (1998) have autobiographical elements.

In 1975 footballer Phil Neale joined Worcestershire as a batsman and was a consistent performer for the next seventeen seasons, ten of them as captain. His autobiography, A Double Life, was published in 1990. One of Neale’s men during his years in charge was Graeme Hick. Never can a cricketer have been burdened with quite as much expectation as Hick, and although he enjoyed a good career he never fulfilled his promise. To date only his My Early Life, published when he was just 25, has found its way into print.

After a couple of disappointing years with neighbours Warwickshire Moeen Ali joined Worcestershire in 2007 and went on to become an England all-rounder. His autobiography, Moeen, appeared in 2018. A rather less celebrated all-rounder of recent years is Jack Shantry, who played for Worcestershire between 2009 and 2017. Shantry’s Match by Paul Edwards is an extended monograph that was published in 2019.

The Tempus 100 Greats book on the subject of Worcestershire was written by Les Hatton, who also put together a book in that publisher’s Images of Sport series. The two books appeared in 2001 and 1999 respectively. Prior to that a Who’s Who of Worcestershire Cricket had appeared in 1990, the work of Robert Brooke and David Goodyear. As to accounts of seasons there are two for mention. In 1988 Worcestershire won the Championship and the Refuge Assurance League. Double Triumph by Frank Watson appeared the following year, and when the county retained the Championship in 1989 Patrick Murphy assisted Graeme Hick and Graham Dilley to write Hick ’n Dilley Circus.

And my two choices for Worcestershire? The first is easy and for many years I was confident it would appear, but as time goes on without a full autobiography from Graeme Hick I begin to think that perhaps it won’t. The second choice is trickier, but in the end I’ll plump for a book about the men who made Worcestershire’s back to back Championship wins in 1964 and 1965 possible. 

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CRICKET UNIVERSE IN A NUTSHELL

This year was supposed to be a return to normalcy for sports after two obstructed seasons due to the pandemic, and it has been for the most part and many disciplines around the world, except for cricket. The world of cricket is taking a hit at the moment as a new COVID-19 variant threatens all the fun in store for the end of the year. But that is not the only news around the cricket universe and fans will be delighted at the possibility of taking advantage of their bonuses on bonus-kampanjkod.se for all their loyalty to their team and hot takes on the site.

We take a look at what is going on around the cricket universe.

South Africa and Netherlands ODI postponed

First stop, in South Africa, after the postponement of their three-match ODI series with the Netherlands due to concerns over the new variant of COVID-19. South Africa has been badly hit by the virus and it continues to show no signs of slowing down after this latest development.

The ODI looked jinxed from the beginning when the first match ended in a no-result due to interruptions by the rain. The second and third ODI are only hopeful as the new variant poses more serious problems, and threats for not only the players but the country as a whole. The ICC Futures Tour will end in 2023, and missing this ODI mat well mean the teams will not meet again.

The women’s world cup qualification competition takes a big hit from COVID-19

Still, in the southern part of Africa, the women’s world cup qualifier has been cancelled as the new variant continues to rear its head. The game between the West Indies and Sri Lanka was the latest to be cancelled after a member of the Sri Lankan team tested positive for the virus. The tournament was set in Harare, Zimbabwe, with nine teams set to participate after the qualifications of Pakistan, Bangladesh and the West Indies.

Chris Gayle will soon retire from cricket

Chris Gayle has played 103 tests, 79 T20Is and 301 ODIs in a career that stretches over 22 years. The West Indian has been a reliable batter over the course of his career for the Cricket West Indies (CWI). Nothing is set in stone yet, but the hope is that the CWI can have one game, most likely a T20I, at Sabina Park, in Gayle’s hometown. The veteran has said as much that he would like to bow out by thanking fans on home soil, while the CWI chief Johnny Grave, has hinted at the possibility of that happening, though no commitments to the decision have been made.

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SPORTS BETTING MECHANICS: SELECTION, WAGER, RETURN, STAKE, AND ODDS

You will find this article helpful if you are intimidated by the terminology and mechanics of sports betting.  Once you learn the basics, sports betting is quite simple and easy to understand. Hopefully, you’ll find the information in this article helpful in your career as a football gambler.

Selection

Simply put, the selection refers to your choice of games. For instance, you can select win or draw. If Liverpool were to play Chelsea for example, then the three most basic predictions are Chelsea to win, Liverpool to win, and a draw. If you don’t want to select any option from this game, you can select two teams from another different league entirely, perhaps even another sport. Essentially, your selection is your prediction of the outcome of any sporting event.

Wager

Nowadays, saying you want to make a wager is an old-fashioned term, but it is still used. The term refers to the bet and every condition that it contains. Alternatively, the wager consists of the odds offered, the selection, the stake along the bet. You can get more information if you have a look here.

Return

The Return refers to how much a given bet pays out. The amount is based on the odds of your win and how much you get in return on your stake. In the case where a gambler makes a wrong selection, they will lose their stake and get no return.

Stake

A stake is simply the amount you want to bet on a particular selection. When you have chosen a specific outcome to bet on, you then have to determine how much you wish to wager. Therefore, if you want to wage $10, your stake is $10. When it comes to high stakes betting, the value of the bet is usually high.

For table games, a casino may set a maximum and minimum stake, and bookies may do the same for the sports bet option. Generally, online betting gives you a lot more flexibility when it comes to what you decide to stake.

Odds

Odds are the price you will pay for your selection. In theory, it is the chance that the event you selected will occur. In other words, if your chances of scoring a goal are 5/1, then for every 5 shots you take, one should come off. You should also know that the odds offered by not be the same as the chance of your selection happening. That’s where gambling comes in.

If the odds offered for your selection to happen doesn’t fall within your beliefs, then you may have spotted a bad or good bet. As a general rule, bookmakers are excellent judges of odds and appraise them accordingly. Look out for these bookies’ odds.

To put in Perspective

To win $1 in a 1/10 price, you need to stake $10 on the game. In this case, $10 would provide $11, The return is made up of your $10 stake plus the $1 you won. A bet of $1 would win you $10 if you placed it at an odd of 10/1. The return you get from your $1 bet combined with the $10 would be $11. In all cases, if a bet wins, the stake plus the amount won will be returned.

Conclusion

With the understanding of how a sports bet works, you’re ready to bet. It’s okay to make a few single bets before moving on to multiples and accumulators, but understanding these terms will help you know how to gather your bet accumulation.

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Melbet App: Instruction to download APK for Mobile Betting

Melbet app allows Indian players to enjoy daily cricket and other sports betting anytime, anywhere. By downloading the app on your Andoid or iOS, you can get a great bonus of up to 8,000 rupees, which you can use for betting.

Mobile Client Features

Download the mobile app on your phone, you will be able to bet on dozens of sports, as well as count on such features:

1. Results. In this tab, you can view past events and the results of them, which will help you to create an effective strategy for betting.
2. Support service. Support chat is available in the application, as well as a request for an official call. Technical support is available 24 hours a day and efficiently solves user queries related to the application operation, transactions, etc.
3. Live Betting. In the live betting section you will be able to bet directly during the matches. The ongoing matches will be streamed directly in video or text format.
4. Bonus. For registration and first deposit every new player can count on a bonus of up to 8000 rupees. It will be credited to the bonus account and will be available for wagering within a week.

How to download and install the Melbet mobile app on Android

You will not be able to download Melbet Apk it in the usual way from Google Play, because the store is prohibited to post gambling applications. But you can easily download the program on the official site. To do this, you need to:

1. Go to the official site from your cell phone. If necessary, use VPN and other methods to bypass blocking.
2. Select the link to download the file on Android by scrolling down the page.

To successfully install the application, go to the settings of your device and allow it to install files from third-party sources.

Системные требования для Android

In order for the application to work without crashes and other failures, your device must have certain characteristics, which we will now list:

• version of the operating system Android 4.1 or higher;
• 1 gigabyte or more of RAM
• processor from 1.2 GHz;
• 100 megabytes of free memory, so that there is room for future updates.

Even if some parameters do not match your device, try to download the application. If you are not satisfied with its performance, you can always use the handy mobile version.

How to download and install the Melbet mobile app for iOS

But Apple users can easily install Melbet for iOS in the official store, which makes the process a bit easier. There are two ways to download the client.

First:

1. Go to the official website of Melbet. If necessary, use VPN and other blocking methods.
2. Scroll down the page until you come across the “Mobile apps” section. Click on it.
3. A new page will open. There, you’ll need to select the link with the App Store download.

You will automatically be taken to the official store and will be able to install the application.

Second way:

1. Go to the App Store.
2. Enter the name in the search box.
3. Install the app.

The client can be installed on both smartphones and tablets.

System requirements of the Melbet app for iOS

In order for the app to work well, your device must have certain characteristics, such as:

• iOS version 8 or higher;
• 1 gigabyte or more of RAM;
• Processor from 1.2 GHz;
• 100 megabytes of free memory, so that there is room for future updates.

The mobile version of the official Melbet

If you for some reason can’t or don’t want to download the app, then the mobile version is available for you. Official website, app and mobile version have the same design and functionality.

At the top of the site you will find the login and registration button, as well as the advanced button with all the functions of the site. At the bottom there are banners with promotions, and a little further down – the usual sections.

How are they different?

In the appendix: 

• all interface elements load immediately
• the quality of video streaming is good here;
• slow consumption of the device’s power;
• the required amount of RAM is required for the fast operation of the application;
• Betting in the app is much faster than in the mobile version;

The mobile version of the site::

• consumes a small amount of RAM;
• it does not require updates;
• In the mobile version, the quality of audio and video streaming is quite low;
• loading of elements is slower;
• the battery of the device is quickly consumed.

As you can see, the app has more advantages, but if there is no other option, the mobile version is also a good option.

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