The hosts took the “wind out of Pakistan’s sails” in the 21 overs on day one, said New Zealand batting coach Craig McMillan

Andrew Fidel Fernando in Hamilton25-Nov-2016The hosts took the “wind out of Pakistan’s sails” in the 21 overs on day one, said New Zealand batting coach Craig McMillan, though he remained wary of what could continue to be a tough pitch. New Zealand had moved to 77 for 2 in Hamilton after being asked to bat on a lively surface, having become increasingly confident as the morning wore on. They hit 38 runs in the six overs preceding the rain that washed out the remainder of the day’s play.”It was favourable conditions for the bowlers, so I thought the way we played took the wind out of their sails to be fair,” McMillan said. “We were very positive and decisive in that first session. I thought our guys – especially Ross Taylor – were pretty harsh on any width that was offered up, and he made the most of it.”Taylor remained not out on 29 off 20 balls, cracking six boundaries – five of those behind square on the offside. It was a particularly important innings for Taylor, who has not only been in modest form, but has been troubled by a growth in his left eye over the past week.”I thought Ross moved really well today,” McMillan said. “Even the first ball that he left – sometimes he doesn’t like leaving the ball. I thought his decision-making was excellent. Sometimes he got some short wide ones. We know how well he enjoys playing the cut shot, so it was perfect really.”Opener Jeet Raval continued his bright start in Test cricket, finishing 35 not out off 63 balls. He had been dropped at first slip by Sami Aslam in the first over, but was largely secure against the right-arm bowlers, though Mohammad Amir continued to trouble him through the session.”He looked really good today. Always helps when you get dropped in the first over. I thought it was a quality first over from Mohammad Amir where he asked some serious questions from the left-handers,” McMillan said. “But Jeet just showed a composure that we’ve seen from him at the level below. It’s nice that you can see him take that step up and see that composure again. It’s what we’ve come to expect and what we know about him.”Really the key for any Test opener is the decision making. The good thing about this Pakistan bowling attack is that they ask a lot of questions. We know we have to be precise in the decisions we make at the top of the order in seamer-friendly conditions. I think he’s shown the ability to do that, and it’s been great to see.”McMillan expected the pitch to be just as tough upon resumption on day two because it will have been “sweating under the covers”. Nevertheless, he said New Zealand had been surprised by Pakistan’s omission of Yasir Shah. The visitors chose four quicks instead, perhaps swayed by the colour of the Hamilton surface, and the wet forecast over the first three days.”Yasir is a world-class bowler, so it’s good for us, I think,” he said. “If the game goes along to five days, you’d think that days four and five, a spinner might be needed and will come into calculations. They’ve decided that he wasn’t needed and they went for the extra fast bowler. We’ve got Mitchell Santner on our side, so we’ve got pretty much all bases covered.”

The Andhra Cricket Association (ACA) has promised a “neutral pitch” for Visakhapatnam’s Test debut

Arun Venugopal15-Nov-2016The Andhra Cricket Association (ACA) has promised a “neutral pitch” for Visakhapatnam’s Test debut a day after K Sriram, the BCCI curator who has been overseeing the pitch preparation at the venue, was quoted by as saying it would turn from lunch on the second day. Sriram’s comments came a day after Virat Kohli had expressed displeasure at the amount of grass on the pitch for the first Test in Rajkot, which ended with India having to fight out a draw.G Gangaraju, the ACA secretary, said there was no request from the Indian team management for a rank turner. “They didn’t ask for anything,” he told ESPNcricinfo. “We [also] don’t entertain anything like that. It’s a neutral pitch for both the teams. Both the teams have seen the pitch, and they are very happy. Both the curators – the board curator Mr K Sriram and our ACA curator Mr K Nagamallaiah – have done a very good job.” Ashish Bhowmick, the BCCI curator from the East Zone, is also at the venue to oversee preparations.India coach Anil Kumble, though, said at a press conference before the team’s training session that he hadn’t seen the pitch yet. “Whatever pitch we get, we will make our strategy around it and select a team accordingly,” he said. “We play to take 20 wickets and win the match.”The pitch in Visakhapatnam has been under scrutiny lately after 17 wickets fell on the third day of a Ranji Trophy game between Assam and Rajasthan last month. After Assam were bowled out for 69 inside 21 overs, their coach Sunil Joshi took to Twitter to slam the “unpredictable” pitch. Gangaraju, though, played down the controversy, and said the pitch to be used for the Test was different to the ones that staged the Ranji Trophy game, and the fifth ODI between India and New Zealand, where the visitors slumped to 79 all out chasing 270. The pitch used for the ODI was slow, batsmen struggled to time their strokes, and there was appreciable turn for the spinners, with Amit Mishra picking up 5 for 18 in six overs.An ACA official, who is closely involved in the preparation of the pitch, said the bounce was likely to remain consistent throughout the Test.”The pitch has very less grass. It won’t be to the same extent as in Rajkot, where there was not much turn even on the fourth day,” he said. “There was some uneven bounce on the fourth [third] day of the Assam-Rajasthan game, but here I think the bounce will remain consistent all the way. It is something we have worked a lot on.”He said conditions in Visakhapatnam wouldn’t allow for the ball to turn right from the first day as had been the case in some of the Tests against South Africa last year, but would remain good for batting for the most part.”The pitch is a mixture of 50% black soil and 50% clay,” the official said. “The cracks won’t open up here too much; the clay is different [to pitches seen against South Africa], and the climatic conditions are different.”

Even team-mates may not have known much about Kusal Mendis when he debuted for Sri Lanka in October 2015, so limited had his exposure been to senior cricket

Andrew Fidel Fernando in Cape Town31-Dec-2016Even team-mates may not have known much about Kusal Mendis when he debuted for Sri Lanka in October 2015, so limited had his exposure been to senior cricket. Mendis had played in 10 first-class matches before playing a Test. He was 20 at the time. If West Indies (his first opponent) wanted footage of his batting for scouting purposes, they would have had to go digging.Fourteen months on, things have changed. Mendis played arguably the best Test innings of the year, against Australia, in Pallekele. But opponents now know he tends to nick off outside off stump early in his innings. Importantly, Mendis also knows that they know.”Well, as soon as we come to cricket bowlers don’t know your weak points,” he said. “They’ll watch videos of us, like we do of them. They’ll work out a batsman’s weaknesses – so they would have of mine as well. So we need to evolve and fix our mistakes. Otherwise it’s difficult. If we do the same thing you get out.”I’ve definitely worked on the problem of being caught behind a lot with the coach at training. The main thing is to stop playing that shot in certain situations. Not to do away with it completely, but maybe in the first few overs I’ll refrain from playing it. After I get a few runs and feel comfortable, maybe I can use it. There’s no major technical adjustment or anything. It’s just a shot selection thing. It’s important also not to impose a rule on yourself that you absolutely can’t play a shot. It depends on the situation.”Mendis nicked off attempting a booming off drive on zero in the first innings at Port Elizabeth, but produced a higher-quality innings in the second dig, when he made a boundary-laden 58 off 90 balls. His dismissal, however, cut short perhaps Sri Lanka’s most promising partnership of the match. He and Angelo Mathews had put on 75 from 108 balls, while very faint hopes of a successful chase of 488 still held out.”After I got out in the first innings the seniors spoke to me a lot. They came and told me not to be too disappointed, and that I have another innings, and to hit a big one there. I tried to avoid being caught behind and scored runs off shots I felt were safe. I was desperate to make runs in the second innings. I hadn’t planned on scoring quickly, actually. It just happened that way.”But I wasn’t able to hit a big innings in the end. I had the opportunity to hit a 100 or 150, but I didn’t take it. I think my getting out was terrible for the team, in that situation.”Sri Lanka now move to Newlands, where the surface is expected to be more seam friendly than it had been at Port Elizabeth. Among their primary aims will be neutralising the pace trio of Kagiso Rabada, Kyle Abbott and Vernon Philander, who took 15 wickets at a combined average of 23.40 in the first Test.”All three of their quicks are very good. We knew they’d played very well against Australia, which we had as well,” Mendis said. “They are in form. It’s not that they are too tough for us or anything – they just did their jobs better than us in the last Test. They did that really well. We’ve faced them now. All we’ve got to do is practice and play better in the next match.”

Ten teams will run the gauntlet in Colombo, but only four will go on to the World Cup in England in June 2017

Shashank Kishore06-Feb-2017It is an anomaly that the qualifying event for a World Cup in England is being played in Sri Lanka, but that, perhaps, will be the last thing on the minds of the 10 teams fighting to be a part of the biggest event in women’s cricket.In principle, identifying four more contenders to join Australia, England, New Zealand and West Indies for the World Cup in June spells expansion and indicates the drive off the ICC to promote the women’s game. But, there is a serious gulf in the quality of the teams in the Qualifier.Thailand, for example, will be playing their first 50-over game ever on February 8 – and it will be against India, the tournament favourites. Some recent match practice might have helped even the scales, but Thailand, in the last one year, have only played five T20s. The threat posed by Zimbabwe, Papua New Guinea and Scotland seems similarly underwhelming. Expecting a level-playing field in the competition – where three teams from two groups of five will progress to the Super Six stage – would be far-fetched.The Qualifier may well become an opportunity for the bigger sides – India, South Africa, Pakistan and Sri Lanka – to get more game time and fine-tune their combinations in preparation for the World Cup. Bangladesh and Ireland, who have been in the fringes of women’s cricket showed sparks of their ability at the World T20 in India last year, would be keen to play the role of a banana skin.The four teams who progress to England will also be a part of the next ICC Women’s Championship table. Considering most of the top-eight nations play a minimum of five ODIs in a series, with three of them counting towards the championship, the new entrants could potentially stand to play a lot more than the 21 games they were guaranteed over a three-year window from 2018 to 2020.Here is a look at all the teams in Qualifier, which begins on February 7, their key players and their chances of making the World Cup.

India

Mithali Raj leads a strong side full of options•International Cricket Council

They are still hurting from a first-round exit in the 2013 World Cup and an inability to make the semi-final of the World T20 in 2016. Mithali Raj and co. could have earned direct entry for the coming World Cup had they beaten Pakistan in a series, but that was a non-starter because of political tensions. India are looking at this tournament as an opportunity to prepare back-ups for the injured opener Smriti Mandhana and their bowling spearhead Jhulan Goswami.Recent form: Won the Asia Cup T20 by beating Pakistan in the final in Bangkok in December with Raj making an unbeaten half-century in the chase. Prior to that, they beat West Indies in the three-match ODI series at home, but lost the T20Is.Chances of making it: A largely spin-based attack will thrive on Sri Lankan pitches. Add a much-improved batting unit, and they have every chance of making the final.

South Africa

Legspinner Sune Luus was the highest ODI wicket-taker in 2016•Getty Images/ICC

At the World Cup in 2013, they were the rank outsiders who made it past the group stages. At the World T20 that followed, they made their first-ever semi-final. Those performances earned them a Test, a direct sign of improvement in women’s cricket, later that year. Having failed to make the semi-finals of the World T20 in 2016, the team has had a change of guard with Dane van Niekerk, who made her debut as a 15-year old, taking over the captaincy across formats from Mignon du Preez. If their warm-up performance, where they shot out a strong Indian batting line-up for 155, is anything go by, they will be more than a handful.Recent form: They gained valuable match-time in subcontinent conditions beating Bangladesh 4-1 last month. In October, they registered their first-ever ODI win over New Zealand, but eventually lost the series 5-2.Chances of making it: Their sheer athleticism in the field, and a largely improved bowling attack that has had vital contributions from spinners recently – Sune Luus finished as the top ODI wicket-taker last year, with 37 in 22 matches at an average of 20.40 – make them a definite threat in conditions that may not be too alien, after all.

Pakistan

Pakistan nearly made it to the semi-final of the World T20 last year•IDI/Getty Images

In 2011, the PCB managed to do what even bigger boards like Australia and England did much later: 19 top cricketers were awarded central contracts following their Asian Games gold-medal performance in Guangzhou. At the World T20 last year, improvements surfaced when they came within touching distance of a semi-final. At the World Cup in 2013, they were merely looking at “gaining experience.” Now, they want a lot more.Recent form: They beat Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Thailand en route to the Asia Cup final, which they lost to India. Prior to that, they were whitewashed 5-0 in the ODIs in New Zealand. The improvements from their point of view: they topped 220 in two matches, and then ran the hosts close in the only T20I on tour.Chances of making it: Their opening game against South Africa on February 7 could likely determine the group toppers. Should make it into the Super Six stage, but have to be vary of Bangladesh, who recently beat South Africa to register their first ODI win over a Full Member.

Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka depent on Chamari Atapattu for most of their batting firepower•IDI/Getty Images

They need to look no further than their 2013 World Cup exploits in India, where they ousted the hosts and beat England to qualify for the second round. Familiarity of conditions will be an advantage, but their batting has regressed. Lack of power hitters and fitness that was rated by their own coach Hemantha Devapriya as “not up to standard” makes them vulnerable to meltdowns.They are over-reliant on Chamari Atapattu, the only Sri Lankan to score two ODI centuries in women’s cricket. Absence of a proper domestic structure has resulted in them having to learn on the job in international cricket.Recent form: Sri Lanka made totals of 168, 173 and 161 in the first three ODIs against England. Against Australia, they passed 150 just once in four ODIs. They lost both series. The defeat to Bangladesh in the Asia Cup T20 further exposed how much ground they have lost.Chances of making it: The lack of wins recently makes it a question of form v confidence. They could face stiff competition from Ireland for the second spot in the group stages.

The other contenders

Ireland, semi-professionals fighting for recognition, will bring into the tournament their experience from the World T20 in India last year. With money being pumped into their development activities and teams visiting their shores ahead of tours of England, players are finally getting good exposure. That some of them have earned contracts with Women’s Big Bash League frachises through ICC’s Associate Rookie Programme – Kim Garth, who featured for Sydney Sixers in the final two weeks ago – is an indication of how far the sport has come.As things stand, Ireland are the best-placed among the sides that don’t yet have international status to make the World Cup. Bangladesh may also be in the hunt for a Super-Six berth, but for Zimbabwe, Thailand, Papua New Guinea and Scotland, this will be an opportunity to understand where they stand on the global stage and what they need to do to bridge the gap.

Lahore lost five wickets for one run to stumble in their chase of 167 and fell short by 17 runs in their PSL clash against Peshawar in Dubai

The Report by Danyal Rasool24-Feb-2017
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details3:31

Highlights – Peshawar’s impressive win

In a nutshellThere must be something about Peshawar that sends jitters right through Lahore Qalandars. It wasn’t quite as spectacular as 59 all out, but Lahore lost five wickets for one run as they collapsed around the spin of Shakib Al Hasan and Mohammad Hafeez in the Powerplay. They never quite recovered from 43 for 6, and though gritty partnerships between Aamer Yamin and Sunil Narine, and then Yasir Shah and Sohail Tanvir, ensured they wouldn’t fold for two figures, Lahore’s race was run well before the final lap.It didn’t always look this way. McCullum and Cameron Delport got off to a blazing start, Delport being the destroyer-in-chief as he hammered 22 off the young Mohammad Asghar’s first over to take Lahore to 33 for no loss in two overs. But the innings unravelled thereafter, with five wickets falling in eight balls, including a catastrophic mix-up between McCullum and Umar Akmal that wouldn’t have endeared the Pakistan batsman to the Lahore captain. The intensity fizzled out thereafter, and the jogging pace at which Peshawar played the rest of the contest was enough to secure them a 17-run win.Peshawar weren’t completely convincing when they batted, the first time the winners of a toss this tournament had elected to do so. While they had wickets in hand through the early parts of the innings, they never quite got going, thanks in part to a superb spell of legspin bowling from Yasir Shah that sucked the momentum out of their innings. But after a 16-run final over, Peshawar had 166 on the board.Where the match was wonWell, it’s fairly obvious. Lahore’s amazing meltdown came at a time when their position was the strongest it had been at any point during the contest. After restricting Peshawar to under 170, they had gotten off to a flyer, and with Delport going great guns, it had looked like McCullum might find the time to play himself into some form too. But from the moment the South African skied a short ball from Hasan Ali for a caught and bowled, panic and confusion reigned supreme, and Peshawar were canny enough to take full advantage.The men that won itThat Peshawar got to 166 was due in large part to Kamran Akmal, who returned to form that had eluded him since the first match. Striking the ball sweetly down the ground, he anchored the first half of their innings, setting them up for what looked like a big total. He was helped by the indiscipline of Lahore’s pacers, but was sharp enough to punish them for it every time. So good was Kamran that he scored 58 at a strike rate of 145 without hitting a single six in a chanceless innings.Straying out of their creaseThe match saw two stumping dismissals, which doubled the number of batsmen falling in that fashion during the entire tournament. First, Kamran Akmal failed to drag his foot back in time during Peshawar’s innings in what was a soft dismissal. Then, Yasir perished when he was beaten by a quicker delivery from Afridi that he tried to hit for six in the last over of the chase. The match in general was marked by batsmen not being able to stay in their crease, with two run-outs as well, with Afridi and McCullum the victims.The moment of the matchThe manner in which the game went does not leave much opportunity to talk about Yasir, but that does not mean he was not splendid. The legspinner seems to have benefitted from McCullum’s attacking leadership, and looked to take a wicket with every ball he bowled. The pitch offered plenty of assistance too, with Hafeez’s dismissal a particularly memorable one. Yasir bowled what had looked like a poor delivery, a full ball pitching well outside leg stump. As Hafeez tried to sweep it for the boundary it seemingly deserved, it spun back in sharply, bowling a rather sheepish Hafeez around his legs.

Fast bowler Umesh Yadav said his recent performances are the result of a consistent spot in the Test team, which has allowed him to figure out his strengths and weaknesses

Karthik Krishnaswamy in Ranchi17-Mar-20171:09

‘Now know my strengths, look to focus on them’ – Umesh

Through the course of the 2016-17 home season, Umesh Yadav has played more matches and bowled more overs than any other Indian fast bowler. His efforts, though, haven’t always translated into wickets: before the start of the series against Australia, Umesh’s average for the season was 54.23.The rewards, though, have begun to arrive. Five bowling innings into the Border-Gavaskar series, he has taken 12 wickets at 22.00, at a strike rate of 44.5 – better than any other Indian bowler.Umesh has said his improved numbers in this series are a reflection of the confidence he has gained from playing regularly. He also said he has tried to weed out his weaknesses – including a widely-commented-upon tendency to bowl far too many loose balls.”Actually, I feel it is all the same. I’m doing the same things [through the season], but the confidence from playing matches, and the hard work that I have put in [have begun producing results],” he said at the end of the second day in Ranchi. “Usually, I used to be in and out of the team and so I didn’t understand what to do but as I started playing more matches, I was just focusing on my bowling – what I should do and what I shouldn’t.”I have figured out what my bowling is, where I must bowl, what my weaknesses are, and what my strengths are. Earlier, there was criticism in the media that I bowled a lot on the leg stump, and conceded boundaries on the leg side after building pressure for four balls. I have cut that down to a large extent. Slowly, I am getting back to my ways.”Australia batted first in Ranchi, and, on a pitch that played truer than expected, posted a first-innings total of 451. India began their reply confidently, ending day two on 120 for 1. Umesh felt it had been difficult for bowlers to control the flow of runs given the ease of batting on the pitch and the quickness of the outfield.”On this wicket, it is very difficult to stop singles,” he said. “450 has taken them four and a half sessions to get, so on an average [that is] 100 runs per session. We also made 120 in one session. On this pitch, it is hard to stem the flow of runs; it isn’t as easy to bowl as you might think because the singles will keep coming and the outfield is so quick that once it is in the gap, it will go to the boundary. 450 is there or thereabouts [as a good first-innings score here], 20-30 this side or that, but we will try to get to that total.”‘I have figured out what my bowling is’•AFP

Steven Smith top-scored for Australia with an unbeaten 178, his second hundred of the series and his sixth in his last seven Tests against India. Umesh said bowling to Smith was tricky given his unorthodox technique and his pronounced shuffle across the stumps.”Actually, it can be quite difficult,” he said. “You know you what to bowl in a certain way, but sometimes when he keeps moving, moves from leg to off and opens up, then it becomes a bit difficult – your plans are no longer effective. So you have to wait till the last minute, depending on how much he moves, before deciding what to do.”Umesh ended Australia’s innings with figures of 3 for 106. India’s most successful bowler was Ravindra Jadeja, who finished with 5 for 124 from 49.3 overs. Umesh said Jadeja was in the form of his life as a bowler.”I think he is bowling the best he has been. He has got a lot of five-wicket hauls in recent times and he is bowling really well. Jadeja is the kind of bowler whose bowling style suits any type of wicket. His variations and his control are very good. If he gets even a bit of rough, he knows what his aim is, where he has to bowl. I think he is bowling at his best and he is getting his rewards for that.”Virat Kohli went off the field with an injured right shoulder in the 40th over of Australia’s innings, and did not return thereafter. The BCCI have said he is fit to bat, and Umesh said he had already begun batting in the nets.”The bandage will obviously be there because if you have a shoulder injury, you need the bandage to hold it together but he [Kohli] is ready to play,” Umesh said. “He has been batting in the nets as well, so obviously he will come back.”Umesh wasn’t sure if the pitch would continue to behave as it has through the first two days, but did not think it would break up too quickly.”For now, I don’t foresee much change but still hope for the best,” he said. “If there is some change, good, but for now, as you can see, it still is good for batting. Normally you can’t say much about the wicket – how much it will change or help the bowlers.”

Dawlat Zadran and Rashid Khan took four wickets each as Ireland faltered from a dominant position in a chase of 293 to concede the first ODI to Afghanistan by 30 runs

The Report by Akshay Gopalakrishnan15-Mar-2017
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details File photo – Rashid Khan’s four wickets gave Afghanistan a come-from-behind win in the first ODI•Peter Della Penna

It was a collapse of some proportion. Ireland, who had looked dominant for a considerable portion of the match, paid the price for making a mess of what should have been a straightforward finish to a chase of 293. From 206 for 2 in the 36th over, they slid drastically to be bowled out for 262 as Afghanistan took a 1-0 lead in the five-match ODI series in Greater Noida.And it was Rashid Khan, the 18-year old legspinner who once again came to the fore, picking up four wickets, including that of Niall O’Brien that triggered the collapse. Rashid had great support from pacer Dawlat Zadran, who took the wicket that arguably swung the match Afghanistan’s way, sending back William Porterfield, whose ravaging 119 had put Ireland on cruise control.Rashid was held back until the 19th over of the match, and with Porterfield and Paul Stirling going great guns, it begged the question if Asghar Stanikzai had missed a trick. His introduction, however, did nothing to put the brakes on the scoring. His first over yielded 11 and he was taken out after a three-over first spell where he had gone at a run a ball.He was brought back in the 29th over, and struck with his fourth ball, deceiving Stirling with a googly that was harmlessly chipped back to the bowler. Dawlat’s double strike next over – first Porterfield, who was caught driving on the up and then Wilson who was trapped leg before by one that skidded on – gave Afghanistan a real sniff, and they never conceded ground thereafter.The rest of the order crumbled to a combination of poor strokes and good deliveries as an already sluggish surface showed signs of slowing down even more. Amir Hamza conjured up a beauty, opening up Kevin O’Brien with a length ball that spun away just enough to have him stumped.Rashid asked more questions of the batsmen, showing great adeptness at using the googly, and struck in each of his last two overs. Tim Murtagh, seeing one drifting away, opened up for a cut but the ball spun in to ping him on the back pad. Then, George Dockrell played for the turn to a quicker one that instead merely straightened and beat the inside edge to trap him in front. By then, Ireland were nine down, and Dawlat wrapped it up when he had Peter Chase top-edge a pull to long-on.Before the collapse, Porterfield and Stirling had produced a superb display of batting on a slow pitch. Both batsmen demonstrated the importance of singles and kept the score ticking by nudging the ball either side of the wicket. Porterfield established himself as the dominant partner and was immaculate with his shot selection. Stanikzai’s attempt to stack up the off-side field and get his bowlers to bowl full outside off was met with a series of reverse sweeps through third man. Along with Stirling, he added 157 for the second wicket at over a run a ball. Even the dismissal of Stirling hardly slowed him down as he raised his ninth ODI century with a punch off Mohammad Nabi, but could not see his team through.As with the ball, Afghanistan were solid with the bat. Most of their batsmen came good after Stanikzai opted to make first use of the surface. Mohammad Shahzad played a characteristically entertaining 43 off 41 balls, laced with seven fours and a six and dominated an opening partnership of 68. When he fell, it was to his own undoing, ambling across after pushing a Mulder delivery to midwicket.But Noor Ali Zadran, in the company of Rahmat Shah, consolidated Afghanistan’s position with a second-wicket partnership of 83. Rahmat was all poise and class in his 78, which came with the help of four fours and three sixes. His 92-ball effort took a fair bit out of him, and he fell to a tired shot, holing out to long-on off Kevin O’Brien, Ireland’s best bowler on the day. At that point, Afghanistan had lost some ground, having lost three wickets for 46 runs.Hashmatullah Shahidi and Samiullah Shenwari made up for some of it with a half-century fifth-wicket stand. O’Brien produced a timely double-strike, sending back both batsmen in the space of three balls of the 46th over. But Nabi muscled 34 unbeaten runs off just 19 balls to lift them to what proved to be a very good total on an unhelpful pitch.

Younis Khan became the first Pakistan batsman to make 10,000 Test runs, adding 131 with Babar Azam, before late strikes by Shannon Gabriel evened up the opening Test

The Report by Danyal Rasool23-Apr-2017
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsYounis Khan and Babar Azam added 131 for the third wicket•AFP

It sometimes felt as if the sole purpose for playing this Test match was to provide Younis Khan a platform to score the 23 runs he has needed to become the first Pakistan cricketer to score 10,000 runs. If that was indeed the case, then the purpose had been served. Younis swept – of course he swept – to the fine-leg boundary to reach the milestone, and the wait was over.It happened two balls after the tea interval. Younis had, of course, left us all hanging at the break with his career runs tally reading 9999, and for perhaps 15 minutes, it was a figure almost as famous in cricket as 99.94. But then after two balls (although really after 70 years), it happened. The newest addition to the 10,000-run club took off his helmet and set off for the tiny cluster of Pakistan fans huddled together. He raised his bat, pointed at the Pakistan crest on his shirt and set to work on what he knew best: batting in Test match cricket.There was almost a palpable sense that a burden had been lifted, and Pakistan’s scoring rate picked up sharply after that. The West Indies pacemen had tired themselves out, and the spin bowlers – Devendra Bishoo excepted – were child’s play for the pair to handle. Having come through a cagey second session, Younis and Babar Azam tucked into Roston Chase and Kraigg Brathwaite, during a stand of 131 for the third wicket, a six into the second tier by Younis the shot of the day.Jason Holder was forced to return to the quicks once again, and called upon Shannon Gabriel to do something about a match that was slipping away from his side. The move paid off almost immediately. In just Gabriel’s second over back, Younis, who had perhaps relaxed a bit too much, failed to keep an attempted cover drive along the ground, spooning it straight to Brathwaite at short extra cover. It wasn’t before Younis had scored a valuable 58, though, putting his side in control of an innings that had been quivering at 54 for 2 when he came in.Gabriel wasn’t done, however, accounting for Babar in his next over, the young batsman playing on to his stumps after making a composed 72 off 201 deliveries as a seesawing Test began to even up again. The new batsmen, Misbah-ul-Haq and Asad Shafiq, simply shut up shop thereafter as the quicks continued to push for another wicket in fading light. But the pair, nothing if not defensively resolute, held on till the close of play, Misbah surviving a review off what turned out to be the last ball of the day, setting the game up for an intriguing last couple of days.The day had started with Mohammad Amir wrapping up the home side’s innings, which had stretched on interminably owing to a combination of uncooperative weather and a wagging tail. They came out nine wickets down, and Amir needed just nine deliveries to account for Gabriel. It was almost a replica of the ball that did for Alzarri Joseph yesterday, angling in to Gabriel from around the wicket to crash into the middle stump and giving Amir his career-best bowling figures of 6 for 44.Pakistan were dealt an early blow when Azhar Ali, indisputably their best batsmen of late, fell to a short wide delivery from Joseph that he will rue flashing at. It caught the edge and Shane Dowrich took a smart catch behind the wicket, but from Pakistan’s point of view it will have felt like a wicket gifted. Ahmed Shahzad struck some confident boundaries on his return to the Test side but fell soon after, as a Holder delivery nipped in late to strike him on the back leg, bringing Younis and Babar together.The pair hung around gamely in the face of a disciplined West Indian attack, ensuring they went in to tea having suffered no more setbacks. It took Younis 48 minutes and ten overs across two sessions to so much as get off the mark as the pace bowlers employed a consistent off-stump line and good length in otherwise unhelpful bowling conditions. Babar and Younis were equal to it, not about to throw their wickets away playing false shots, and consequently the session took on the feel of a stalemate. However, with Gabriel’s late intervention taking the advantage away from Pakistan, the crowning glory is still very much up for grabs.

ESPNcricinfo previews the second ODI between England and South Africa at the Ageas Bowl

The Preview by Andrew Miller26-May-2017

Match facts

May 27, 2017
Start time 11am local (1000 GMT)2:32

Morgan’s innings was the game-changer – Amla

Big picture

With due respect to their recent triumphs over West Indies and Ireland, Wednesday’s emphatic win over South Africa, the No.1-ranked team in ODI cricket, was the result that Eoin Morgan’s men needed to rubber-stamp their credentials as favourites for next week’s Champions Trophy.For months on end, almost since the moment of England’s white-ball awakening after the 2015 World Cup, this is a team that has scotched all pre-conceptions – so much so that even the captain of one of the few teams to have got the better of them in recent times, India’s Virat Kohli, was yesterday forced to concede that England have “no weaknesses” going into a tournament that surely counts as their most outstanding opportunity to lift that elusive 50-over global trophy.Well, they have perhaps one weakness. Despite being passed fit to play at the Ageas Bowl following a scan on his knee, the sight of Ben Stokes, the team’s talismanic allrounder, limping from the pitch during the Headingley contest was enough to make both the management’s and marketing men’s blood run cold.Stokes, the newly-crowned MVP in his maiden IPL season, is utterly fundamental to the balance of England’s first-choice XI. With his tub-thumping presence in England’s top six, England have the luxury of including two spinners and four genuine quicks in what is surely the most versatile (if not necessarily the most incisive) attack in the competition. Without him, the choices become more stark – sacrifice a spinner to shore up the batting firepower (and Jonny Bairstow, to be fair, is just gagging to get involved), or trust the occasionally mercurial Moeen Ali to front up with bat as well as ball, as he did to fine effect with a match-turning 77 from 51 balls in the opening ODI.Mind you, these are not the sorts of worries that England are used to addressing on the eve of a global tournament. To cast one’s mind back to the horrors of the 2015 World Cup, for instance, is to be reminded of an era when Stokes’ temperament wasn’t trusted, when Gary Ballance’s ballast at No.3 was preferred to the long-levered walloping of Alex Hales, and when Jos Buttler was treated as an orthodox wicketkeeping No.7, rather than a order-roving deliverer of batting hellfire.None of this is to say that England are either shoo-ins for the Champions Trophy, or even out of sight in this still-to-be-settled three-match series against South Africa. But the underlying truth of their 72-run win in Wednesday’s opening match is that England didn’t actually play to their absolute potential, but still rolled out handsome winners – thanks as much to South Africa’s exhaustion in the closing overs of the run-chase, as much as anything else. As Kohli succinctly put it, “for them it’s all about attack, throughout the 50 overs, which is exciting for the fans and challenging for the opposition.”As for South Africa, there were plenty of reasons for optimism in the midst of their opening defeat. Hashim Amla showed enduring form at the top of the order, Faf du Plessis played a strong hand as well, while AB de Villiers showed glimpses of his true self before his 45 from 38 balls was undermined by wickets tumbling at the other end.But they’ll need their bowlers to regroup quickly if they are to restore their challenge in this series – not least the legspinner Imran Tahir, whose nine wicketless overs were milked for 68 runs at Headingley, a rare toothless day for one of his side’s most enduring one-day weapons.Quinton de Kock and Kagiso Rabada are two other players to factor into South Africa’s challenge. Both are too good to fail for long, as de Kock in particular showed during England’s last ODI campaign against South Africa in February 2016, when his twin centuries helped turn a 2-0 deficit into a 3-2 win.It’s all food for thought as two of the best ODI teams in the world fine-tune their preparations. But, both sides know, there’s a far bigger prize than the Royal London trophy up for grabs in the coming weeks.Ben Stokes had to leave the field at Headingley after feeling pain in his knee•Getty Images

Form guide

England WWWWW (last five completed matches, most recent first)
South Africa LWLWL

In the spotlight

There’s surely no pressure being exerted from the England management, who know full well what Jason Roy is capable of, but there’s little doubt either that he is stuck in a bit of a fallow patch of form at present. His maiden IPL stint with Gujarat Lions was a disappointment – just three appearances and a top score of 31 – and following scores of 0 and 20 against Ireland, he chose to return to Royal London Cup duty with Surrey, rather than head back out to the nets in India. His game remains in good working order – one scorching straight drive off Tim Murtagh at Lord’s was a reminder of how effortlessly powerful his game can be. But he could do with a score going into the Champions Trophy.Roy, however, wasn’t the only stroke-playing international batsman to suffer a rough time at this year’s IPL. AB de Villiers fell a long way short of the standards that he expects of himself, and that his adoring fans at Bangalore Royal Challengers expect of him too. He produced flashes of his most brilliant self – not least in making 89 not out from 46 balls against Kings’ XI Punjab – but more often than not he appeared weighed down by the collective malfunction of RCB’s storied batting line-up. He looked a touch jaded in the Headingley ODI, if truth be told. And, shock horror, he even produced a fumble in the outfield. South Africa desperately need him to build on the relative success of his cameo in the first ODI.

Team news

Stokes was declared fit to play in the second ODI after taking a full part in England’s training on Friday. But nevertheless, having bowled just two overs in Wednesday’s opening rubber, and with a heavy IPL workload behind him, there must have been a temptation to protect such a talismanic figure with less than a week to go until the Champions Trophy opener. Jonny Bairstow is in the form to deputise supremely with the bat, even Stokes’ absence would have left England’s bowling options a touch stretched. David Willey was the obvious addition to the fast-bowling ranks.England: (probable) 1 Jason Roy, 2 Alex Hales, 3 Joe Root, 4 Eoin Morgan (capt), 5 Ben Stokes, 6 Jos Buttler, 7 Moeen Ali, 8 Chris Woakes, 9 Adil Rashid, 10 Liam Plunkett, 11 Mark WoodFew reasons for wholesale changes in South Africa’s line-up, despite the eventual size of their defeat at Headingley. It’s a case of improving what they’ve got, rather than reinforcing what they lacked. However, there may be a temptation to find room for Morne Morkel and his aggressive line of attack in light of the relative success that the short ball had against England’s top-order – Joe Root, for one, fell victim to a top-edged bouncer from Andile Phehlukwayo.South Africa: (probable) 1 Quinton de Kock (wk), 2 Hashim Amla, 3 Faf du Plessis, 4 AB de Villiers (capt), 5 JP Duminy, 6 David Miller, 7 Wayne Parnell, 8 Chris Morris, 9 Kagiso Rabada, 10 Andile Phehlukwayo/Morne Morkel, 11 Imran Tahir

Pitch and conditions

The weather is gleaming and runs are all but guaranteed on a surface that rarely fails to offer plenty for the bat. Only once in the last seven ODIs at the Ageas Bowl, dating back to 2012, has the side batting first made less than 287, while New Zealand racked up a hefty 359 for 3 back in June 2013, thanks to Martin Guptill’s 189 not out.

Stats and trivia

• On the last 10 occasions that they have batted first in ODIs, England have racked up a formidable run of totals: 324 for 7, 444 for 3, 302 for 9, 309 for 8, 350 for 7, 321 for 8, 296 for 6, 328, 328 for 6 and 339 for 6. An average figure of 334 for 7.
• Amla needs another 47 runs to reach 7000 in ODIs. He has 12 innings in which to get there ahead of Virat Kohli and continue his record of being fastest to 2000, 3000, 4000, 5000 and 6000.
• Ben Stokes and Moeen Ali both need four more wickets to reach 50 in ODIs.

Quotes

“”You get guys batting at 4 and 5 coming late in the game and getting a hundred, that’s why Morgan’s innings was a game-changer.”
“Batting at No. 7 is one of the hardest jobs going because you don’t know whether to shoot or not. [Moeen] was very calm and composed in what he did, gave himself some time at the crease and was able to take the game to South Africa at the end.”
England captain Morgan praises Moeen Ali’s game-turning innings at Headingley

Leicestershire’s dreadful start to the second day gave Northants the advantage at Wantage Road

ESPNcricinfo staff27-Jun-2017
ScorecardMohammad Azharullah took three wickets•Getty Images

Northamptonshire took hold of the pink-ball Specsavers County Championship match on the second day against Leicestershire, reaching 60 for 3 in their second-innings and a lead of 164 before rain curtailed play.With a first-innings advantage of 104, Northants were reduced to 12 for 2 before Alex Wakely’s unbeaten 34 – featuring a top-edged pull over the wicketkeeper – steered them to the close in steady shape. But setting a target above 300 will still be a challenge if cloudy floodlit conditions remain on day three.Northants were set for a much bigger first-innings lead when Leicestershire, having resumed day two 65 for 4, slumped to 86 for 8 before lunch but a stand of 60 for the ninth wicket between Lewis Hill and Matt Pillans ensured the follow-on would not be of concern.

More pink ball theories

Richard Gleeson, Northants seamer: “I think with this pink ball it tends to bounce a little bit more so everyone has been saying you need to get the ball up there a bit more and not let players just hang back and that seemed to work.
“It’s more like the Readers club ball I used to use: the seam seems to stay up a little bit longer. The new ball has been very difficult but after that it depends on the conditions and the overheads have definitely helped the ball swing here.”

Conditions favoured the bowlers all day with the floodlights on under gloomy skies and Leicestershire responded with two early wickets. Rob Newton was lbw to Klein for the second time in the game and Ben Duckett, after a first-inning century, was taken at second slip off Clint McKay for a second-ball duck.Max Holden’s 37-ball stay featured countless plays-and-misses, driving McKay in particular to distraction. He eventually edged Pillans to first slip to give Leicestershire a third wicket and further hope. Their chances of getting deeper into the Northants middle order were denied by rain.It was the Northants’ bowlers who enjoyed the conditions in the opening session of the day – during the first 25 minutes, 33 balls were bowled, Northamptonshire didn’t concede a single run and took three wickets.The first of those was McKay, who was dropped to the final ball of day one but caught off the first ball he saw of day two – driving loosely at Richard Gleeson and edging to first slip Chesney Hughes, the same man who dropped McKay the previous evening.Gleeson struck again when Ned Eckersley tamely chipped a catch to point. Between those dismissals, Sanderson nipped a ball back into Colin Ackerman, forcing an inside edge into the off stump.When Azharullah trapped Neil Dexter lbw for 11 – the decision appeared to be a marginal call – Leicestershire were facing the prospect of being asked to follow-on. But Hill rode his luck and with Pillans, who found five boundaries from No. 10, avoided being asked to bat again and kept a finger-hold on the game for the visitors.The second session was delayed by 55 minutes by the lightest of drizzle but when play did resume, Northants took only six overs to remove the Leicestershire tail. Sanderson, who probed away without full reward before lunch – nine overs for just eight runs and one wicket – changed ends to send a ball from wider on the crease through bat and bat and into the bails of Pillans. He finished with 3 for 36 from 20 overs.Azharullah cleaned up No. 11 Dieter Klein and Leicestershire’s 157 all out still gave Northants a very good first-innings lead.