All posts by n8rngtd.top

Seven’s move marks a major change from the formula used by Nine, which had preferred to restrict its on-air team to ex-cricketers rather than broadcasting professionals

Daniel Brettig10-Jul-2018Respected commentators Alison Mitchell and Tim Lane will join a Seven broadcasting team including Mel McLaughlin, James Brayshaw and Bruce McAvaney on the network’s roster for the forthcoming Australian summer, after Cricket Australia took free-to-air rights away from Channel Nine for the first time in 40 years.The additions of Mitchell, a longtime radio caller for the BBC and part of BT Sport’s Ashes coverage last summer, and the former ABC cricket caller Lane mark a major departure from the formula used by Nine, which had long preferred to restrict its on-air team to ex-cricketers rather than broadcasting professionals.”I’m tremendously excited to be joining Seven in a new era for Australian cricket coverage,” Mitchell said. “Test cricket holds a very special place in the hearts of the Australian public and it will be a privilege to take a lead role in bringing the action into people’s homes.”Seven had previously named Ricky Ponting, Damien Fleming and Glenn McGrath as experts, and on Tuesday also added Lisa Sthalekar, Jason Gillespie, Greg Blewett, Simon Katich and Brad Hodge to that group. McLaughlin, who had been a part of Ten’s successful Big Bash League coverage before moving to Seven in 2016, will co-host Test matches with Brayshaw, who was moved on from Nine’s commentary box in 2016 but found a new home calling AFL matches at Seven. The well-regarded Fox Sports host Abbey Gelmi will also be part of the team.McAvaney, considered the face and voice of Seven’s sporting coverage since he joined the network in 1990, will be part of Test match coverage by hosting a lunchtime interview show during the highly visible Melbourne and Sydney Test matches across the Boxing Day-New Year holiday period. He had recently explained why he did not think he was suited to a ball-by-ball commentary role on the coverage.”I don’t think I’m capable of calling Test cricket now,” McAvaney said when interviewed by Peter Donegan on SEN. “I reckon I might’ve been 35 years ago, because I don’t think my knowledge now is up to scratch. I could call Donegan [bowling] to McAvaney but if McAvaney hooked and got caught on the boundary line, I wouldn’t be able to recall that three years ago he did the same thing, and I reckon that’s important. I think that’s how well you’ve got to know the sport.”One of Seven’s earliest moves after winning the free-to-air rights to all home Test matches and a majority of BBL games in April was to hire Dave Barham as the network’s head of cricket. A former Seven executive producer, Barham had moved on to Ten and been instrumental in building a distinctive BBL coverage for the network.However, Ten and Nine lost out to Seven for free-to-air rights over the next six years. Fox Sports, owned by News Corp, paid the majority of the overall A$1.18 million deal with CA and in return will broadcast every ball of the summer, including exclusive access to Australian men’s ODIs and T20Is. It’s the first time any international matches played in the Australian summer have been hidden behind a paywall.”We are looking forward to the summer of cricket enormously,” Barham said. “Throughout the coverage, we will be showcasing the players, bringing out their character and personality with more than 30 player features and vignettes.”Heartland cricket will also be championed as Seven highlights stories at community level and local cricket. And we’ll do all of this while respecting the history of cricket, now that we are custodians of the sport.”Fox Sports had previously announced commentators including Adam Gilchrist, Mark Waugh, Shane Warne, Mike Hussey, Michael Vaughan, Mel Jones and Isa Guha. The network, which was desperate to gain access to stronger summertime sporting content after losing the rights to the English Premier League in 2016, is expected to unveil a cheaper, sports-only streaming service before the start of the summer in addition to its existing pay television packages.

The Australian picked up where Martin Guptill had left off to strength Worcestershire’s position at the top of the table

Jon Culley at Trent Bridge04-Aug-2018Worcestershire 206 for 2 (Ferguson 102*, Moeen 65) beat Nottinghamshire 134 (Mullaney 55, Parnell 3-20, Brown 3-21) by 72 runs

ScorecardMartin Guptill is a tough act for any batsman to follow but Worcestershire may not miss the hard-hitting Kiwi for very long if Callum Ferguson performs in the way he did here as the Rapids maintained their momentum in the Vitality Blast.Ferguson’s first T20 hundred in 88 attempts helped the Rapids build their biggest total of the season, one that proved far too much for Nottinghamshire Outlaws, whose grip on the trophy they won so impressively last season is looking decidedly shaky.Ferguson’s unbeaten 102 off 56 balls is the second personal milestone he has achieved during his two spells at New Road this summer.  He opened his first visit by hitting 192 against Leicestershire in the Royal London One-Day Cup, easily his best in List A cricket.As it happens, Guptill signed off with 102 against Northamptonshire in the last of his seven Vitality Blast matches before leaving to join Barbados Tridents in the Caribbean Premier League.Worcestershire have now won seven of their nine completed matches and lead the North Group by three points as they seek to reach finals day for the first time, having been losing quarter-finalists three times. They had targeted this match as one that might be a yardstick of how far they are capable of progressing and in the end exceeded the best hopes.”Nottinghamshire are a really good side and that was a big game for us,” Ferguson said afterwards. “We thought 160 or 170 would maybe be a par score on this pitch after getting 200 we were confident we could defend the total, especially on a surface that we felt was slowing up towards the end of our innings.”It was a really good performance and sets us up nicely for the rest of the competition.”Nottinghamshire seemed to have corrected their losing habit at home this season, winning their last two fixtures in front of packed houses at Trent Bridge, including a nine-run victory over East Midlands rivals Derbyshire.Yet, even with Alex Hales back from a side injury to play his first domestic match for two months, they could never reach the scoring rate needed to have a realistic chance of chasing down a target of 207 after Ferguson and Moeen Ali had put on an exhibition of destructive batting that even the most partisan in the home crowd had to applaud.After Hales had chipped Wayne Parnell straight to mid-off, their best hope of getting anywhere close ended in a fashion that rather summed up their night when Steven Mullaney, the one Nottinghamshire batsman who had looked capable of making a meaningful game of it, was run out for 55 when he made the schoolboy error of failing to ground his bat after comfortably completing a single.After his demise, the Outlaws capitulated all too rapidly. Billy Root and Jake Libby were out in the same Patrick Brown over. The last five Nottinghamshire wickets fell in the space of three overs. Parnell claimed 3 for 20, finishing the match off with two in two balls, but too many Nottinghamshire batsmen gave their wickets away cheaply.Joe Clarke had been an early scalp for Harry Gurney after Worcestershire had opted to bat first, chipping an easy return catch to the left-armer in the second over of the innings, but there was no more success for the Nottinghamshire bowlers until the 15th over as Ferguson and Moeen took turns to find gaps in the field.Moeen was ruthlessly brutal, clearing the rope four times in his 36-ball 65, a couple of blows threatening the upper levels of the Radcliffe Road stand as Samit Patel suffered the indignity of conceded 19 in an over.Having been 51 for 1 at the end of the Powerplay, Worcestershire powered on relentlessly to be 83 for 1 at the halfway stage, then adding 47 in three overs to be 138 for 1 after 14 before Dan Christian took a well-judged catch on the off-side as Moeen miscued Ish Sodhi.With Ross Whiteley, never one to pass up a chance to throw the bat, taking over from Moeen, there was no loss of momentum in the Worcestershire innings, 60 runs coming in the final six overs, which was just enough time for Ferguson to reach three figures.He said that the confidence shown in him by his team-mates is helping him with the pressure of trying to pick up where Guptill left off.”Guppy is a tough act to follow but there is a lot of belief in the dressing room and I guess some of that rubs off on you as an individual,” he said. “And when you get the chance to  bat with Moeen Ali when he is in that kind of mood it helps too.”I’m enjoying my time here. I’ve played most of career in Australia batting the middle order so I have really enjoyed the opportunity to bat higher up the list.”

‘Osama’ investigation closed, but doesn’t rule out possibility of facing unnamed abuser in next year’s Ashes

ESPNcricinfo staff25-Sep-2018Moeen Ali believes there is no need for sledging to involve personal insults, after it was confirmed that Cricket Australia would be taking no further action in the wake of his allegations that a member of Australia’s 2015 Ashes squad had called him “Osama” during the Cardiff Test match.Speaking to BBC Radio 4, Moeen insisted he was happy to move on from an incident which occurred three years ago, but which came to light in a serialised extract of his forthcoming autobiography. However, he didn’t rule out the possibility that he could come up against the same unnamed individual in next year’s Ashes.”That was probably the one [comment] that stands out,” Moeen told the programme. “You always get stuff from the crowd, but that was the one that really upset me, I can’t believe he actually said that. But you move on and try and get on with performing for England. It was investigated and it’s all done now, and it’s in the past.”In the wake of Moeen’s allegations, CA’s integrity unit interviewed numerous Australian players from the 2015 Cardiff Test and team management, while also communicating with the ECB’s own integrity unit. And though they reiterated their “zero-tolerance approach to remarks of this nature”, they concluded that no new evidence had come to light.Though Moeen conceded that sledging was an accepted tactic for putting an opponent off their game, he felt that the incident in question had crossed the line. “One hundred percent,” he said. “If that is trying to put your opponent off … there’s no room for that in life in general, not just in sports.”There are ways of putting your opponent off,” he added. “Sometimes you don’t need to say anything. Sometime you can intimidate your opponent just by standing there. There’s ways of doing it, but it’s not my sort of way, you just get on with it.”Sledging has never been personal, from the stories I hear, it’s been serious but in good humour. More of a mental thing, rather than going personal and taking it too far.”Personally I don’t do anything,” he added. “I don’t feel like I need to. You can have the passion, but for me it’s more about being a good person and trying to play cricket the right way.”Asked whether he was likely to face his abuser in the Ashes next summer, Moeen insisted he was not looking any further ahead than the tour of Sri Lanka next month. “I don’t know if I’ll be in the squad next year,” he said. “If I ever come up against him or someone in that mindset, so be it, but it doesn’t bother me.”

The left-arm spinner cut through Pakistan A’s middle order before the game ended in a draw

ESPNcricinfo staff02-Oct-2018Getty Images

Jon Holland added to a slew of impressive individual performances for the Australians in the four-day tour game against Pakistan A, which ended in a tight draw in Dubai on Tuesday. The left-arm spinner took 5 for 79 on the final day, as Australia pushed for a win, after declaring on their overnight score of 494 for 4, with a lead of 216.However, Pakistan A, led by fifties from Asad Shafiq and Abid Ali survived, despite a flurry of late wickets. They were 261 for 7 in 85 overs when the match ended.Abdid – who struck his second half-century of the game – and captain Asad Shafiq led Pakistanis’ second innings with fifties each. No. 5 Iftikhar Ahmed contributed 45, but Hollad ripped through the middle order. Shafiq was dismissed for 69 off 151 balls when Holland had him caught behind in the 63rd over. Holland bowled unchanged through to stumps, as Pakistan A went from 213 for 3 to 257 for 7.Holland had also dismissed opener Shan Masood for a 44-ball 41, after the opener had attacked Mitchell Starc and Nathan Lyon. The opening stand between Masood and Sami Aslam was worth 53, but once it was broken with the wicket of Masood, first-innings half-centurion Aslam, also departed soon, falling to Michael Neser for 12. The two wickets were followed by the highest partnership of the innings, between Abid and Shafiq, who added 84 before Lyon removed Abid.Wicketkeeper-batsman Mohammed Rizwan and Wahab Riaz saw off 16 balls, helping their side get away with a draw.”Really great preparation, it’s been fantastic,” Australia coach Justin Langer said after the match. “We came here a little bit earlier, we have adapted to the heat, we have got some great individual and collective results, I think it has been the perfect preparation so far.”

Nottinghamshire’s rush of batting signings have been followed by Riki Wessels leaving the county for pastures new

ESPNcricinfo staff02-Oct-2018Worcestershire have completed their second signing in the space of two weeks with Riki Wessels moving from Nottinghamshire.Wessels, 32, has been released from his contract to take up a three-year deal after Nottinghamshire strengthened their batting resources with the signings of Ben Slater, Joe Clarke and Ben Duckett.He leaves after seven seasons at Trent Bridge and follows South African-born seamer Wayne Parnell, who also signed a three year deal, in strengthening the county’s ranks for next summer.It is another sign of Worcestershire’s intent to assemble a squad capable of making an instant return to Division One of the Specsavers County Championship as well as continue the limited-overs form which saw them win the Vitality Blast for the first time this season.Australian born Wessels, who obtained British citizenship in 2016, is particularly known as a destructive hitter in the white ball format.Worcestershire supporters know that only too well: he hit nine sixes in making 55 for Nottinghamshire in the Vitality Blast at Blackfinch New Road this summer.”Leaving Nottinghamshire was a difficult decision to make,” said Wessels. “I’ve spent eight years at Trent Bridge and enjoyed being part of successful teams that challenged for trophies but now is the right time for me to make a change.”Worcestershire will provide a new challenge and I’m really looking forward to starting another chapter of my career at a club that I have a lot of admiration for.”Notts’ director of cricket Mick Newell said: “Both parties feel that now is the right time for a change and for Riki to move on. We wish him luck for the future.”

England have confirmed two changes to their XI for the third Test, with Jonny Bairstow set to replace the injured Sam Curran and bat at No. 3

George Dobell in Colombo21-Nov-2018James Anderson is to be replaced by Stuart Broad in for the final Test of the series against Sri Lanka in Colombo, while England have also confirmed that Jonny Bairstow will come in for the injured Sam Curran.With England having taken an unassailable 2-0 lead in Pallekele, they are taking the opportunity to rest Anderson and give Broad a run with a view to matches later in the winter.”The thinking is that, with the series sewn up, it’s an opportunity to rotate,” Anderson said. “The management want Broady to get some Test cricket under his belt before we go to the West Indies.”With England’s next Test, in Barbados, more than two months away, it is debatable what benefit Broad will derive from the match, but it will not be the only change. After Curran suffered a side strain in the second Test, they have decided to alter the balance of the team by bringing back Bairstow to bat at No. 3.Although Bairstow has not given up on winning back the wicketkeeper’s gloves, which he lost to Ben Foakes after straining ankle ligaments during the one-day series, the possibility of a route back as a specialist batsman had been floated. He will become England’s fourth No. 3 of the series, after Moeen Ali, Ben Stokes and Keaton Jennings (due to the use of a nightwatchman).The confirmation of England’s XI also means no debut for fast bowler Olly Stone. While the pitch in Colombo would have been unlikely to offer much assistance to Stone, it may have been interesting to see how he handled the pressures of playing at the highest level ahead of selection for the Caribbean tour.In the end, strengthening the batting was the logical choice. The third seamer in Pallekele, Stokes, bowled only one over in the match, while Anderson was the only seamer to bowl in the second innings.The decision to bring in Broad ends a tour that Anderson described as “frustrating”. He has taken only one wicket – and that with his second ball of the series – and, despite his best efforts, found it hard to coax any life out of the pitches or the Kookaburra ball. He is, therefore, delighted to hear that the Duke’s ball is to be used in the Caribbean series.”It’s been a frustrating trip for me really because you want to contribute to the wins,” Anderson said. “But I feel like I’ve tried my best but it’s not really been a series for the seamers.”You go into the games with the best intentions and try and work hard in the nets and make sure you’ve got all the skills you need to get wickets out here. But the opportunities for me to bowl in games have been fairly limited. Bowling a seven-over spell in Kandy, which I thought I bowled pretty well with the second ball. Apart from that, the opportunities have been limited and it is frustrating in a way.”One thing that playing out here has really made me look forward to is getting a Duke’s back in my hand. Sometimes, when the conditions are more seamer friendly, you have to do a lot more bowling and you can take it for granted. Playing out here makes you appreciate it a bit more.”Despite his personal frustrations, Anderson has enjoyed being part of a series win and feels the side has taken a significant step forward.”I think the improvements we’ve made and continue to make have really shown this trip,” he said. “Ben Foakes and Rory Burns have come in and done really well. Keaton Jennings, too.”I certainly feel that, in the past, previous [England] teams might not have played as positively as we have with the bat. The message from Joe Root has been go out and play your way. Be confident. This win is right up there and a real big stepping stone for us as a team.”

William Somerville’s 4 for 75 helped restrict Pakistan’s lead to 74 but the hosts struck back with two quick wickets before stumps

The Report by Danyal Rasool05-Dec-2018Stumps
William Somerville, who had looked at best inoffensive and at worst simply not good enough for the best part of the day, is at the moment the difference between a dead series and one that could yet go either way. His four wickets ensured Pakistan failed to put up any significant resistance following the Azhar Ali-Asad Shafiq stand, losing their last seven wickets for 62 runs. Some fell in a freaky manner, like Babar Azam dragging it on off his bat and both legs onto the stumps. Others were so comical as to channel memories of Basil Fawlty and Del Boy, notably Yasir Shah, who lost his shoe turning around for a second run, and just couldn’t send his captain back. Yasir never stood a chance of completing the run hopping on one foot, leaving Sarfraz Ahmed hopping mad at the other end. He could make little difference with the tail, as Somerville and Ajaz Patel wrapped up the last three wickets for just two runs. It gave Pakistan a 74-run lead, and if that sounds familiar, it should.Make no mistake, Pakistan are still in the driving seat in this Test match, but just the fact they haven’t already put this out of New Zealand’s hands will be frustrating. The visitors may still be 48 runs behind and already down two wickets, thanks to an impressive start by Shaheen Afridi. To further press home the advantage, Yasir had Tom Latham caught in the deep off his penultimate over of the day, putting himself one away from becoming the fastest to 200 Test wickets. But Pakistan will almost certainly be forced into a fourth-innings chase here, with all the psychological baggage that entails, and from the position they were in half an hour before tea, that will disappoint them.If yesterday’s talk of couples had revolved around Trent Boult and Tim Southee, today was all about Azhar and Shafiq. A 201-run partnership that spanned the bulk of the day between Pakistan’s most dependable batsmen had put the hosts in firm control of the deciding Test in Abu Dhabi, beyond New Zealand’s total. Before lunch Azhar had reached his first Test hundred since Misbah-ul-Haq and Younis Khan’s retirements, while Shafiq got to his shortly before tea.For much of the session, the duo carried on the solid work they had done since the start of the day, but they were challenged by better bowling, particularly in a probing spell by Tim Southee, who kept finding the outside edge of the right-handers without a wicket to show for it. However, the absence of an enforcer like Neil Wagner was telling, with Pakistan always confident of a pressure release from any end Southee or Trent Boult weren’t operating from.It was those two quicks who regained a measure of control with the second new ball after Pakistan had got off to a lightning start. Boult, in particular, gave Shafiq a number of nervy moments, exploiting movement and angle both ways. The seamer was judicious in the use of well-directed short balls too. But Shafiq overcame the habit of giving his wicket away after a good start to ensure Pakistan finished the first session with no wickets lost.For much of the day, Somerville remained one of New Zealand’s most economical bowlers, but manifestly lacked the bite required to take advantage of a pitch that rewarded both Yasir Shah and Bilal Asif on the first two days. The surface offered less turn than it had earlier, but one couldn’t help wonder if Pakistan’s spinners would have found a way to be far more troublesome to the batsmen; it is the one facet of the game where the visitors found themselves clearly outclassed. Even Patel from the other end was largely subdued for much of the day.But it was those same spinners who allowed their side a glimmer of hope just before tea, with Somerville removing Azhar for his first Test wicket, and Patel trapping Shafiq in front, allowing their team a crack at an out-of-form Sarfraz Ahmed and subsequently, the lower order. Azhar was on 134 when he fell in the softest fashion, edging a sweep off an absolutely harmless delivery from Somerville, carrying straight to Patel at short fine leg. It got rid of a pair that had frustrated New Zealand for 72 overs, and at that stage, looked like it had killed off Williamson’s hopes of walking away with a series win.The lower-middle-order collapse, alongside with the capitulation of the tail, exposed Pakistan’s weaknesses that have been festering over the past couple of years, and explained their fragility in the time since they became the world’s best Test side. New Zealand were offered the smallest of windows back into the match after tea, and fittingly enough, it was Somerville, an accountant in a previous life, who ensured the wickets column continued to tick over while maintaining immaculately economical figures. The balance sheet isn’t quite a perfect match yet, but New Zealand have bought some time to ensure amends can be made over the next 48 hours.

England’s senior bowler claims 200th overseas wicket as late breakthroughs redress balance

ESPNcricinfo staff23-Jan-2019James Anderson admitted he was relieved to return to wicket-taking ways in the first Test in Barbados, but added that the tour of Sri Lanka before Christmas – in which he claimed a solitary wicket in England’s 3-0 series win – made him appreciate it all the more when conditions are even remotely in his favour.Anderson produced a superb sustained performance with new ball and old on the first day against West Indies, conceding just 14 runs in his first 14 wicketless overs, before striking hard in his latter spells to finish with 4 for 33 in 24 overs all told, as West Indies slipped from 240 for 4 to 264 for 8 at the close.In the process, he claimed his 200th wicket in overseas Tests, and also went past the combined tally of 1000 wickets with his long-term new-ball partner, Stuart Broad, who was not selected for this match as England opted for the all-round option of Sam Curran.”I’ve always enjoyed the challenge but it’s often been difficult for me to get to grips with conditions away from home,” Anderson said. “I guess it’s getting to know my game and getting my skills and confidence up. Now I feel I can bowl on most pitches – though you could probably take Sri Lanka out of that.”Tours like that make you appreciate when there’s a bit of something for you. There was a bit of swing even though the wicket was pretty flat. You’re always encouraged with that movement through the air. I say I’ve enjoyed it – I’ve not enjoyed the times I’ve bowled rubbish, but in recent years as I’ve improved overseas, I’ve really enjoyed that challenge.”Of the 1000-wicket feat, Anderson said: “It makes you feel old. [Broad and I have] played for a long time together. I think it’s amazing to think we’ve taken that many wickets together. It’s a shame that he wasn’t out there today but hopefully he’ll get a go at some stage on this tour.”The decision to leave out Broad – and his personal haul of 433 wickets – was one of the main talking points of the day, and Anderson said he completely understood why.”Of course it causes conversation, it’s a massive decision. A guy who has played 124 Tests but then you have a really talented allrounder [in Curran]. In that respect it shows how strong our squad is. There will be difficult decisions as this team improves. I thought it was harsh on Jack Leach to miss out after Sri Lanka.”It’s tough for Joe [Root, the captain] but that’s why he gets paid the big bucks. It’s Joe and Trevor [Bayliss]’s job. As players we just turn up and prepare to perform. We know there will be tough calls.”England looked like ruing Broad’s absence in the early part of the day, as Curran in particular endured a tough time, conceding 54 runs in 12 wicketless overs. But with Ben Stokes chiming in with three wickets of his own, England finished the day with their noses fractionally in front.”We really weren’t sure how [the wicket] was going to play,” he said. “It was scruffy-looking so it was difficult to tell what we were going to get. We thought it might have a little more pace in it. The odd ball kissed through nicely but on the whole it was a slow wicket.”Kraigg Brathwaite left really well early on because we were getting some swing. So we’ve got to take a lift from how they played early on, because that new ball is tricky on there with the movement through the air. When we bat, that’s what we have to negate.””That last session with the second new ball got us right back in the game,” he added. “It was a good wicket to bat on today. There’s wasn’t too much off the wicket and it was a bit slow, but there was a bit of swing for most of the day.”All in all, it was a day where we had to sit in and I thought we did that really well. We didn’t really let them get away from us at any stage and we know in cricket if you stay in the game, the second new ball can bring two or three wickets. We bowled really well with that second new ball and got our rewards.”

Scotland steal a march on rivals after Mark Watt ends burgeoning stand in Al Amerat

Peter Della Penna in Al Amerat 15-Feb-20192:22

‘We put the past in the past and came out on top’ – Mark Watt

Scotland 181 for 4 (Coetzer 74, Munsey 50) beat Ireland 180 for 7 (O’Brien 65, Stirling 56) by six wickets

ScorecardPaul Stirling and Kevin O’Brien each notched half-centuries as part of a 115-run opening stand, an Ireland T20I record for any wicket. But left-arm spinner Mark Watt nabbed both sandwiched around No. 3 Andy Balbirnie in a game-changing spell of left-arm spin to restrict Ireland to a well-under par 180 before Kyle Coetzer and George Munsey produced a Scotland T20I record opening stand of 109 in a six-wicket win.After a morning display in which Oman scored 120 off their last 10 overs after being sent in, Ireland appeared destined for 200 or more given the platform that was laid by Stirling and O’Brien. But the innings stuttered after Watt intervened, paired with some sharp catching on the boundary by Michael Leask and Munsey. O’Brien drove to Leask at long-off before Balbirnie skied a sweep to Munsey at deep square leg. Leask made his presence felt again at long-off to nab Stirling as Ireland lost 3 for 15 to slip to 130 for 3.Richie Berrington was an unsung hero on the day, returning 0 for 26 in a spell that built on Watt’s breakthroughs to put the brakes on Ireland’s batting once the top order was removed. Safyaan Sharif was then responsible for two wickets in the 17th, knocking back Lorcan Tucker’s off-stump before running out Simi Singh with an underhand flick in his follow-through on the next ball to make it 138 for 5.Ireland fought back in the final three overs as Alasdair Evans’ short-ball plan failed to the tune of 35 runs conceded off the 18th and 20th. George Dockrell’s cameo of 15 not out off 7 balls propped up the total but Ireland’s lull in the middle of the innings came back to bite them, as did an uncharacteristically poor fielding display.Coetzer was named Man of the Match for his 74 off 38 balls to pace the Scotland chase. But he benefitted greatly from three dropped chances – the first on his second ball when he was yet to score – as well as being caught off a no-ball when Peter Chase overstepped with Coetzer driving to Shane Getkate at long-off on 39.At the other end, there was no doubt about the crispness of Munsey’s knock. He scored Scotland’s first 18 runs across the opening two overs of the chase, driving Singh back down the ground for four and six. He brought up his half-century off 26 balls, two slower than Coetzer, before a false drive against Getkate resulted in an edge behind to Stuart Poynter in the ninth.Coetzer smashed back-to-back sixes over long-on in the same over to bring up his fifty, then followed it with two drives through mid-off against Boyd Rankin in the following over for another pair of boundaries. He took one more off Rankin through mid-off again in the 13th before he was beaten driving on the next ball to fall for 74, the seventh half-century of the day on the pitch.By that stage, the required run-rate had come down to less than a run a ball. Despite Berrington and Matthew Cross both falling for ducks to complete a mini-collapse of 3 for 3, Calum MacLeod and Craig Wallace added an unbeaten 37 together to see Scotland home. MacLeod ended the match with a straight six off Peter Chase to clinch victory with nine balls to spare.For Scotland, it’s their second ever T20I victory over a Full Member following a win over Bangladesh at the Hague in 2012. It also kept them alive for a shot at the T20I Quadrangular Series title. A win over Oman on Sunday would take them to 2-1. Ireland also has a chance to end with the crown if they can beat 2-0 Netherlands on Sunday, which would create a three-way tie to bring the net-run-rate tiebreaker into play.

Cross-border tensions between India and Pakistan had put the matches in Lahore and Karachi in doubt

Umar Farooq28-Feb-2019Following a resumption in political tensions between India and Pakistan, the PCB has assured fans that the Pakistan leg of the PSL will take place as scheduled, with Lahore and Karachi hosting a total of eight games. Ehsan Mani, the PCB chairman, made the announcement after a meeting with all six franchises and other stakeholders at Dubai Cricket Stadium.Over the last few days, in the aftermath of the militant attack in Pulwama in the northern Indian state of Kashmir, India and Pakistan have exchanged hostilities. These events had thrown a question mark over the PSL’s Pakistan leg. The UAE leg of the tournament is set to finish on March 5, after which the action will move to Pakistan, with Lahore set to host three games and Karachi five, including the final on March 17.”We want to reconfirm that the PSL matches will all be played in Pakistan as scheduled,” Mani told a press conference with five of the six franchise owners by his sid. “I would like to thank my colleagues sitting alongside me for their support. There is no doubt in anyone’s mind that PSL will continue with business as usual as we planned and this is a unanimous decision from all of us.”I am also very grateful to our overseas players who are ready to come to Pakistan. All those who had given their commitment from the start are still with us. I am also grateful to all support staff who are working at the ground. We have a few challenges as you know on the production side, with one of our production partners pulling out overnight. But then the team we got together, they made sure that we had seamless transition and now I am absolutely confident that we will be in Pakistan as we had planned.”In the immediate wake of the Pulwama attack, the Indian company IMG-Reliance opted out of its deal to produce television coverage of the PSL worldwide. Techfront, owners of the Cricketgateway website, had also pulled out of its deal to stream matches in India, and , the television channel showing the PSL in India, also stopped its coverage.A consortium of Blitz and Trans Group have since stepped in to fill the void.The new production company, however, is comprised largely of the same staff, including Indian nationals working as freelancers based in Dubai. There is still uncertainty over who will travel to Pakistan from the production team in case of problems with logistics for Indian nationals.PCB chairman Ehsan Mani speaks at the PSL 2019 draft•Getty Images/AFP

“We are monitoring the logistics very closely and we are in contact with our appropriate authorities on a day-by-day, minute-by-minute basis,” Mani said. “By the time we are ready to move out there won’t be any hiccups, and even if it comes through, we will adapt.”At the most we have to readjust a bit but we have a solid commitment that it will be played in Pakistan. There are logistical challenges but we will deal with them and unless anything significant happens there is nothing changing. At a working level, we are in contact with all agencies, but as per our policy, it is our commitment to go back to Pakistan.”If we decide to change it for some reason then I could speak about it. But for now, we are going on with business as usual. There are one or two players who we know had already said no [to going to Pakistan] for other reasons, but those who had confirmed with all franchises have reassured us about their commitments being intact.”A few of the overseas players are understood to have raised concerns over growing tensions in Pakistan, but all franchises have said they have the consent of their players. ESPNcrininfo understands the Quetta Gladiators opener Shane Watson didn’t make a commitment to go to Pakistan at the very start. Karachi Kings’ Aaron Summers, another Australian player, is mostly likely to travel, while one of the biggest names in the tournament, former South Africa batsman AB de Villiers, will play two matches in Lahore for Lahore Qalandars.”Whatever is happening in Pakistan it’s the same in India as well,” Mani said. “But we have no doubt on our side that we cannot do this. So far we don’t see anything that will make us change our decision. Cricket is happening all over the subcontinent and it will go on as usual. Also, I don’t think I will need to talk to the [PCB] patron (Pakistan prime minister Imran Khan) about taking this decision because whatever was in our plan, we are just abiding by it. (The) Patron just has a wish that we should get as many matches as quickly as possible, in Pakistan.”