Anderson backs 'superhuman' Root to go past Alastair Cook as England's highest run getter

England’s bowling spearhead James Anderson has tipped his skipper Joe Root to surpass the batting record of his former skipper Sir Alastair Cook in Tests. Joe Root had walked out to bat on the second afternoon of the second Test at Lord’s when Mohammed Siraj had inflicted back-to-back blows to England batting order.

Root defended the hat trick ball from Siraj with an immense sense of confidence and Anderson credited him for bringing a “calming effect” on the rest of the batting lineup.

Root has been the lone-man warrior for England with the bat in the ongoing year with five centuries. He has been phenomenal so far in the series against India with two centuries and one fifty from three innings and is yet to fail in the three innings that have gone by.

Crediting him for carrying the weight of England batting order, Anderson said that what Root has achieved in the last 12 months have been “nothing short of superhuman”.

“Every time he goes out there he is just class, and today he looked class from ball one. When you see your captain go out and play like that on a hat-trick ball, it does seem to have a really calming effect on the dressing room. so I’m sure there’s much more to come from him,” Anderson said.

“Joe’s been amazing through his career and this last 12 months in particular. With everything that we’ve been through with the pandemic and the pressures on this team, to be able to captain the side and perform the way he has been is nothing short of superhuman.”

Anderson himself has been rated with similar adjectives to what he has lavished Root with and been the go-to man for England with the ball. He has been to England for so many years with the ball what Root has been for them with the ball.

He took his 31st five-wicket haul in Tests in the first innings and stopped India from running away with the game. It was the seventh time he got his name imprinted on the Lord’s Honours Board and while his future is being widely discussed, he has expressed hope of returning to the Home of Cricket with one more go.

“Certainly the last few times I’ve come here you think: ‘Will this be my last time playing here? So hopefully it’s not my last time here, and hopefully, it’s not my last time on the honours board,” Anderson concluded.

Anderson’s presence in the side is huge for England’s fortunes in the series as they are already without Stuart Broad, Jofra Archer, Chris Woakes and Ben Stokes. However, he is unlikely to play all five matches against India.

Discover more

IPL allows franchises to replace players from India leg, door open for Iyer, Natarajan's return

The Indian Premier League’s Governing Council has allowed the franchise to swap players which they picked as replacements for the ones who were initially signed but got injured or pulled out ahead of or in between the league’s India leg in April and May 2021. IPL's chief operating officer Hemang Amin in a statement said, “If in case any player who was injured or unavailable during the India leg of IPL 2021 and is now fit or available then the franchise which had taken a replacement player [due to] such previous unavailability, will need to elect [either] one of them." This decision has paved way for certain players which include the likes of Shreyas Iyer, T Natarajan and Liam Livingstone. While Iyer got injured ahead of the IPL during an ODI series against England in March 2021, Natarajan was injured during the IPL and had to undergo an operation on his knee. Rajasthan Royals’ Livingstone left the tournament in between to spend time with his family. The second half of the IPL - of 31 matches - will be played in the UAE between September 19 and October 15. List of replacements during the India leg of the 2021 IPL Kolkata Knight Riders: Gurkeerat Singh replaced Rinku Singh Chennai Super Kings: Jason Behrendorff replaced Josh Hazlewood Sunrisers Hyderabad: Jason Roy replaced Mitchell Marsh Rajasthan Royals: Gerald Coetzee replaced Liam Livingstone Royal Challengers Bangalore: Scott Kuggeleijn replaced Kane Richardson, Finn Allen replaced Josh Phillipe Delhi Capitals: Anirudh Joshi replaced Shreyas Iyer

SLC appreciates Rahul Dravid for continuing tour despite Covid-19 outbreak in Indian team

The Sri Lanka Cricket Board (SLC) has praised Rahul Dravid for continuing India’s tour despite Covid-19 outbreak within the team. "If he wanted, he could have easily taken the team back to India," Mohan de Silva, the secretary of SLC, told Cricbuzz. "The most encouraging aspect of the whole Pandya episode was the role of the support staff of the Indian team, led by Rahul. If he wanted, he could have easily taken the team back to India,” he added. All-rounder Krunal Pandya had tested positive for Covid-19 and was isolated along with his close contacts immediately in Sri Lanka. The players subsequently had to miss the final two T20Is that the visitors eventually lost. "We have 11 players available and we will play them. There is nothing to feel sorry about,” Dravid had said before the start of the 2nd T20I. The former India captain had travelled with the Indian team as the head coach Ravi Shastri was in the UK with the Virat Kohli-led side. The team that toured Sri Lanka was led by Shikhar Dhawan clinched the ODI series but suffered a defeat in the T20Is. After Krunal, K Gowtham and Yuzvendra Chahal had also tested positive for the virus but the three players have now returned home after recovery.

Barbados women’s team to represent West Indies at CWG 2022

The Barbados women’s team will represent the West Indies in next year’s Commonwealth Games, Cricket West Indies (CWI) has announced. The CWI made the announcement after the T20 Blaze and Women’s Super50 Cup were postponed. “Following the postponement, the Barbados Women’s team will be the representative team from the West Indies as a result of their victory in the 2020 CWI T20 Blaze tournament and in line with Commonwealth Games Association Tournament rules agreed by the International Cricket Council (ICC),” CWI said in a statement. “…we have been forced to take the decision to postpone the Women’s T20 Blaze and Women’s CG Insurance Super50 Cup for this year,” CWI CEO Johnny Grave said. “We wish them all the very best as they compete for the gold medal, and we know they will continue to do West Indies proud.” The game will return to CWG after it was played in 1998 while the women’s cricket will be introduced for the first time in the 2022 Birmingham edition. The decision of the women’s tournament being postponed was taken after the ODI and T20I fixtures between West Indies and South Africa were finalised which will take place from August 31 to September 19.

Jonny Bairstow running out of 'superlatives' for Joe Root

Jonny Bairstow, who has made a comeback into the England Test team for the first two Tests against India, said that Joe Root’s supremacy with the bat in recent times has left him lost of “superlatives”. Bairstow had the best seat in the house for the most part of Root’s 180 not out at Lord’s in the second Test as he shared a 100-run partnership with his skipper. Recalling his batting with Root, Bairstow said that they wanted to relish the opportunity of batting, and they enjoyed the” buzz” of a full house Lord’s on Saturday. “Heck of a lot as he does do for English cricket. He’s in second place for the leading run-scorer for the country, he is very special to us. To score another 180* at Lord’s, I have run out of superlatives for him. It is just great to see him in that form and putting on partnerships with him, enjoying every single moment with him,” Bairstow said in the press conference after the end of the third day’s play. “It is amazing, Saturday at Lord’s when Joe and I walked out, we just wanted to enjoy ourselves and that’s what we did. We wanted to relish the opportunity and make the fullest use of it. It was really special to see the Lord’s buzzing, it was definitely back with the crowd.” England were more than 200 runs away from India’s first innings total and it was on Root and Bairtsow’s shoulders to bridge that gap on this day. They batted brilliantly to not lose any wicket in the first session but Indian bowlers did not give up in their efforts and kept asking some tough questions of them throughout the day. At the end of the day, courtesy of Root’s daddy hundred, England were able to secure a lead of 27 runs, which Bairstow said the team would have happily accepted at the start of the day. “The game today went through different periods, the ball got a little softer as the day picked and it became tough for us to score boundaries and runs. There was a great ebb and flow in the game, if you had said that we would get a 27-run lead at the end of the day, we all would have been happy with it,” England’s new number five said. What made Bairtsow feel so confident about England’s chances in the game after having a lead of 27 runs is the factor of James Anderson, who holds a fantastic record against India at Lord’s. He had taken his seventh fifer at the venue in the first innings and Bairstow reminded the Indian batting order of “tough challenges” that await them on the fourth day. “We got a new ball in our hand, it will be a tough challenge for India early on. We would come out firing and pace in Woody, Jimmy and Rob. Hopefully, we would continue to challenge them at every juncture in the morning session,” the right-hander said. Bairstow too scored a solid 57 to aid Root and England’s strong reply to India’s first innings total. He has shown signs of improvement in his technique after going through a tumultuous phase against India away from home, and the results are beginning to show. He had looked good at Trent Bridge as well but could not stretch his score to a fifty. He would be disappointed with not converting a good 57 into a three-figure and failing prey to India’s short ball tactic but he was pleased to regain consistency in his batting. “It was pleasing, consistency is something you want, isn’t it? To get the 57 was pleasing, I would have loved to go on naturally but it was one of those things. The pitch started getting two-paced, flying to the keeper and one falling short of the keeper. It would get tricky as the game progresses,” Bairstow concluded. India have their tasks cut out in the third innings of the Test match at Lord’s and they would need the trio of Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane and Cheteshwar Pujara to come good with the bat after a prolonged period of struggles. England, on the other hand, would put their money on Anderson to dismiss India cheaply and then chase down the score to go 1-0 up in the series.