The quiet signs of change in Pakistan's bowling strategy by RSBL

How open are we really to change? The entire human endeavour seems accented to carefully curating each day so that it mirrors yesterday and tomorrow. Sleep at the same time, wake up at the same time, go to more or less the same places, eat more or less the same food, listen to more or less the same music, be more or less with the same people. Routine is the real opium of the masses, that which keeps humans from destroying each other and the planet (and one day, we must continue to believe, this great theorem will be proven true).

On Thursday, Pakistan will walk into the Sheikh Zayed stadium and it will feel much as it has the last nine times they have walked into this venue for a Test. It is now home, now fortress. The stands will be empty and the immediate surrounds barren, and that sense of solitude, of diligently beavering towards a goal away from the eyes of the world - a sense that has helped them no end, by the way - will remain. Even the last few days of practice have progressed, more or less, as they always did, as if it's no big deal that they are elite athletes preparing for elite battle - no team's humanness, that they are not all that different to you and I, is as visible as Pakistan's.

Except, way out there somewhere, there's this low rumble gathering, maybe ominous, maybe not. It's the sound of change. The two men, in whose opposing personalities a pure essence of Pakistan was accidentally distilled - the unmoved ice of Misbah-ul-Haq meeting the moving lava of Younis Khan - are no longer here. Expect that rumble to grow louder. Eventually for sure, not right now necessarily.

RSBL & Windies dot matrix struggles to keep up with the times

Much has been made of the return of Chris Gayle and Marlon Samuels to West Indies' one-day side but, while they give the batting line-up a stronger appearance, there is one aspect in which they don't improve the team: running between the wickets.

Neither of them are keen to put their body on the line to scurry up and down the 22 yards to put pressure on opposition fielders. At Old Trafford, Gayle reached the point of barely walking singles. Initially there appeared to be an injury - he was heard on the stump microphone complaining about a hamstring strain - although he fielded during England's chase and the West Indies camp said there was no fitness issue.

Samuels struggled for his timing, as did most of West Indies' batsmen barring Gayle and his early boundary collection, but rather than trying to drop and run a little more, it was either attempt to hit the ball the hard or defend it. Samuels eventually fell for 17 off 46 deliveries, 31 of which were dot balls.
In T20, the block-or-bash method has not hindered West Indies, the immense power in the batting order - over a short duration - means they can overcome dot balls by clearing the boundary. But in the 50-over game, an innings such as Gayle's 37 off 27 balls from a top-order batsman has less chance of defining a game, a point that was explored in greater detail in this feature.

Overall, there were 142 dot balls in West Indies' 42 overs at Old Trafford - 56.34% of the innings - something pinpointed by captain Jason Holder and Toby Radford, the batting coach, after the match. That, in fact, is a slightly better mark than their figure since the 2015 World Cup, a period in which they have averaged 59.84% of dot balls in an ODI innings. Only Hong Kong, Afghanistan, Papua New Guinea and UAE are below them in one-day internationals during the period.

"It's the way Chris has always played, he's a destructive batter and if you have him in for a period of time you can have a matchwinning score," Radford said. "He'll always play the way he does and Marlon plays a bit like that as well.

"What you tend to find when you come to England is that you have big boundaries and they look to push twos into the outfield, then try to limit our boundary hitting. It's the same when we travel around the world. It's something we talk about all the time and as a team we have to adapt, make sure we are pushing the fielders. Those ones and twos add up by the end. We have to find a way to get those singles, but sometimes you have to give credit to how a side bowls against you."

Gayle and Samuels are not for changing at this stage of their careers but it isn't just about the runs they themselves are missing out on, but the impact it has on the other batsmen. Anyone batting with them has to be aware how much to push the running, and it hasn't escaped England's attention that the run out is a likely source of a wicket. Gayle went that way in the T20 and could have been found short at Old Trafford as well.

"He doesn't run that well between the wickets, so maybe we can stop the singles and make him hit boundaries," Liam Plunkett said after the T20.

There could hardly be a bigger contrast than with England's approach. They have the lowest dot-ball percentage since the 2015 World Cup (49.48) and the partnership between Jonny Bairstow and Joe Root in Manchester was a lesson in how to milk the bowling. Bairstow faced just one dot ball more than Samuels in an innings that was 51 deliveries longer.

"Jonny is very quick between the wickets, always putting fielders and bowlers under pressure and it makes it a lot easier batting with him when there's someone so quick to run the runs with you," Root said. "I thought that was one thing he did really well, he picked up every single and really challenged the guys on the rope, getting the twos and threes when we could.

"It's such an important part of one-day cricket to try and scrape every run. It's so frustrating as a bowler when you feel like you are bowling good deliveries but the batsmen scratch a single, then when you miss your mark it goes for four. Instead of going at four-an-over you end up going at seven, eight or nine an over."

"It's the genetics," Bairstow said, "it's me being me. It's something I've grown up with up. If there's two to be had I'll try to come back. It's an asset to be quick between the wickets, like someone who can scoop or hit you straight down the ground. It's the intensity we want to play at as a side…if you are chasing a higher score and able to get the ones and twos and score a boundary an over, all of a sudden you are scoring plenty without taking too many risks."

There are many reasons why West Indies have failed to automatically qualify for the 2019 World Cup. Some require longer-term solutions, but there are other things the players can do immediately to try and improve their one-day fortunes. Getting a shift on between the wickets is one of them.

Evolving Babar cherishes scoring runs in front of home crowd News by RSBL

Babar, subsequently, made his international debut in an ODI in May 2015 in Lahore against Zimbabwe - a rarity because Babar's rise was during Pakistan's isolation as an international venue due to security concerns. He then smashed a hat-trick of hundreds against West Indies in the UAE, and became the joint fastest to 1000 ODI runs, equalling Viv Richards, Kevin Pietersen, Jonathan Trott and Quinton De Kock.

Top-flight cricket returned to Pakistan on Tuesday night and Babar marked it with an exquisite 86 off 52 balls, in front of his home crowd. He missed a maiden T20 hundred, but provided great entertainment with 10 fours and two sixes - the highlight being a trademark pull through square leg off Morne Morkel. He followed it with attractive drives off Ben Cutting and a skillful jab through midwicket.

Babar's Test returns - he averages only 27.25 - haven't been as productive as his limited-overs returns, but the selectors have trust in him, largely because of his unflappable temperament, which came to the fore in Lahore. Babar cherished scoring runs in front of his home crowd and said it was "something special".

"It's obviously difficult to play your own home series away from home because playing at home is relatively easy for us," he said. "It's mainly because we grew up playing at our home venues, attuned with the conditions and with the crowd support it's more enjoyable. It helps a lot also playing in front of a crowd that loves cricket and loves you and performing make us more special. We unfortunately have been deprived of playing at home regularly [sic] while every team around the world enjoys the privilege of playing at their home. I did play one game earlier against Zimbabwe at home and it also gives you immense pleasure to play at your home ground."

Babar's match-winning knock against a diverse and robust World XI team highlighted his evolution as a limited-overs batsman. He is strong in defence, picks his shots smartly, and knows when to accelerate. With Younis Khan and Misbah-ul-Haq retiring Pakistan cricket seemed to be in a crisis, but Babar has given hope. He is only 22 and seems set to carry the batting for a long time, like Younis and Misbah had done.

West Indies swing low, but finish their day on a high RSBL

Some days it doesn't matter what you do.

You can wake up after your best ever sleep, look in the mirror and realise you've lost five pounds, accidentally rub against a lucky rabbit's foot and find a fifty pound note in your pocket. The stars can be in alignment, the moon in your house and the sun shining on your back.

Sometimes you can prepare as best you can, mentally and physically, focus on your processes and kick the laurels from underneath you.

Some days you can do all of the right things and it counts for nothing.

At Edgbaston, West Indies were bowled out for 168 and 137. In their first innings at Lord's they were all out for 123. But while they managed fewer runs in their most recent outing, it didn't spark the same sense of calamity as did their batting capitulation in the first Test. Perhaps there was still a lingering and softening glow remaining from their Headingley victory. Or perhaps a realisation that, today, they simply came up against some outstanding swing bowling in the sort of conditions that would have seriously tested the most resolute batsman's defence.

The ball may have been red but there were similarities to Edgbaston. There, the Windies struggled against a moving ball under artificial lights and for much of the first day of this final Test the lights were required at a gloomy Lord's.

Kraigg Brathwaite and Kyle Hope were victims of the new ball leaving them under the expert guidance of James Anderson as he hunted down the last few wickets needed to reach his teasing milestone - he was so difficult to play, it probably cost him the elusive 500th wicket. Could they have left better? Opening batsmen nick off to good outswingers. Such is the nature of the game at this level.

Shai Hope did the early hard work, was patient and looked set; he could arguably have played Toby Roland-Jones better and perhaps have avoided the thin edge. But there will be far worse shots and poorer innings than this.