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For West Indies, Kemar Roach is unwell, while Joshua Da Silva has been dropped

Danyal Rasool16-Jan-2025

Big picture: Expect plenty of turn in Multan

The timing of this series does not exactly help raise its profile. It comes after the top two World Test Championship (WTC) berths have been decided at the tail-end of the cycle. West Indies are at the bottom of the standings, Pakistan only fractionally ahead of them. This series was originally due to be held in January 2024 and would have carried the potential to turn a side’s cycle around but T20Is against New Zealand replaced it. This time, in that larger competition, it is little more than a basement battle.At a remove from the WTC, though, there’s more intrigue. West Indies will be playing a Test in Pakistan after more than 18 years, although they have played Pakistan in the UAE in the meantime. This series will be a continuation of the PCB’s experiment, so successful against England last year, to turn the pitches in Pakistan into havens for spin bowling. It was in Multan, where both Tests against West Indies will be held, that this was first tried. Pakistan have made no secret they will look to replicate it there again, with heaters and a makeshift greenhouse making this look as much cutting-edge horticulture as pitch preparation.They have the squad, especially the bowlers, for such conditions, too. The express quicks have been left out, and Sajid Khan is back to partner Noman Ali, as is Abrar Ahmed, who had missed the last two Tests against England with illness. Shan Masood continues to lead the side. He will open the innings in a batting line-up that has also seen a tweak. Abdullah Shafique’s loss of form and Saim Ayub’s injury have pushed Masood up the order and also brought Muhammad Hurraira into the fold who is set to make his debut.Related

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But the spin-experiment could meet more resistance from West Indies than it did from England. The latter attempted to subdue Pakistan with the same cavalier belligerence that has served them well on flatter tracks, ending up playing right into the hosts’ hands. West Indies are unlikely to do the same, and while they do not possess a star-studded batting line-up, they will show up with one that has experience in these conditions – as well as a spin attack that can potentially thrive in them.However, West Indies sit at the bottom of the WTC points table for a reason. Their results – both at home and away – haven’t been consistent enough. The exhilarating win over Australia in Brisbane feels like a long time ago. It was followed up by England clean-sweeping them away, a home series defeat against South Africa, and a drawn one against Bangladesh.They are aware things need to change, and have made a significant call already; vice-captain Joshua Da Silva has been dropped after a run of underwhelming performances with the bat. However, Brathwaite and his team will know their problems run deeper than that, and this series allows them, at the very least, the chance to move off the bottom.

Form guide

Pakistan: LLWWL (last five Tests, most recent first)

West Indies: LWLDLGudakesh Motie’s height gives him a whole array of options to work with•AFP/Getty Images

In the spotlight: Saud Shakeel and Gudakesh Motie

Batters proficient at negotiating spin-friendly conditions will become invaluable, and this is where Saud Shakeel comes in. In theory, Shakeel should thrive with the slow, low turn Multan will provide. But he has, somewhat counter-intuitively, suggested he enjoys playing on quicker wickets. And in Pakistan’s most recent Test in Multan against England, where spin was heavily favoured, Shakeel scored 35 runs across two innings. On the whole, though, he still averages over 50 in six innings on this ground, and if he can come close to matching that in what is likely to be a quick, low-scoring game, he could well be a point of difference with the bat.Few people should enjoy this series more than Gudakesh Motie. West Indies’ perceived greater spin ability than England makes the preparation of slow-turning tracks potentially riskier than it was against England, and it is the left-arm orthodox that Pakistan will be most wary of. Nine Tests in, Motie’s ceiling remains to be determined, but his height gives him a whole array of options to work with on surfaces conducive to his skill set. Motie has a better bowling average than Sajid and almost the same as that of Noman – Pakistan’s most potent threats in these conditions against England – even if 19 of his 28 wickets have come against Zimbabwe.

Team news: Roach unwell, Imlach to debut

Pakistan have named their XI, featuring three spinners, as well as uncapped Muhammad Hurraira.Pakistan (probable): 1 Shan Masood (capt), 2 Muhammad Hurraira, 3 Babar Azam, 4 Kamran Ghulam, 5 Saud Shakeel, 6 Mohammad Rizwan (wk), 7 Salman Agha, 8 Noman Ali, 9 Sajid Khan, 10 Abrar Ahmed, 11 Khurram ShahzadKemar Roach is unwell, while Anderson Phillip is not likely to be picked either in what is set to be a spin-heavy West Indies side. In Roach’s absence, their seam attack will be led by Jayden Seales. Tevin Imlach, who made an unbeaten 57 against Pakistan Shaheens in the tour game, will make his international debut in Multan. Meanwhile, Da Silva has been dropped, with uncapped wicketkeeper-batter Amir Jangoo all but set to debut.West Indies (probable): 1 Kraigg Brathwaite (capt), 2 Mikyle Louis, 3 Justin Greaves, 4 Tevin Imlach, 5 Alick Athanaze, 6 Kavem Hodge, 7 Amir Jangoo (wk), 8 Gudakesh Motie, 9 Kevin Sinclair, 10 Jomel Warrican, 11 Jayden SealesWest Indies last played a Test in Pakistan in 2006•AFP

Pitch and conditions

This is the question, isn’t it? Pakistan continue to rage against the elements, determined to suck the Multan surface dry in bitter cold by erecting a greenhouse on the square to heat the surface up. This has never been attempted here in January before, though Pakistan did succeed in bending the Rawalpindi surface against England to their will in October. If they’re successful once more, expect significant turn right from the outset, and for spin to operate almost across the Test without pause. The weather, meanwhile, is expected to be bitterly cold.

Stats and trivia

• Kraigg Brathwaite is 99 runs away from surpassing Richie Richardson’s Test tally, and 149 away from becoming the tenth West Indies batter to score 6000 Test runs.
• The last Test these two sides played in Multan, in November 2006, saw just 27 wickets fall across more than 439 overs and five days, with more than 1400 runs scored.

Quotes

“Home conditions are very important in Test cricket. We’ve adopted a certain style of play and pitch preparation, and we want to take the momentum of the England series forward.”
“We’ve adjusted well – similar conditions to Islamabad [where the warm-up game was held]. We have acclimatised and are looking forward to the Tests.”

Cummins happy in the knowledge that Australia “don’t have to be at our absolute best to challenge any team, we can find a way through”

Shashank Kishore18-Nov-2023When Yuvraj Singh walloped Brett Lee through the covers to hit the winning runs in the 2011 World Cup quarter-final in Ahmedabad, it brought an end to an era of domination that had spanned nearly 12 years and delivered three back-to-back World Cup wins. Now, 12 years later, Australia return to Ahmedabad to try and cement a legacy of a different kind.They have been T20 World Cup champions, in 2021, and became Test world champions this year, during which they have also won a Test match in India and retained the Ashes in England. And now, they are on the cusp of an unprecedented sixth World Cup title – no one else has won more than two.Pat Cummins is thrilled to be in a position to achieve “something special”. Ahead of Sunday’s final against India, he stressed on how winning the World Cup would make it a “career-defining year” for many.Related

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“It’s been a huge year. There are four marquee events. If you have one of those in an off-season, it’s a big off-season. We’ve got four of them,” Cummins said in his press interaction ahead of the final. “So being really proud of all those things [the wins], not only the wins but the guys have spent… for some of the guys, probably spent less than a couple of weeks in their own bed since the end of the Aussie summer.”One thing that’s stayed consistent has been the morale in the group. The guys have been awesome. They’re so up for every game they play. And to put ourselves in a position [like] this, it would just top off an incredible year and probably a career-defining year that a lot of us will look back on in years to come and be pretty proud of.”It looked so different six weeks ago when Australia began their World Cup campaign with losses to India and South Africa. In their third, they lost the toss on a slow Lucknow surface and saw Sri Lanka race away to 125 without loss. At that point, Cummins briefly thought they wouldn’t make it too far.”Absolutely! Yeah! The proposition at that stage was basically we had to be flawless to make it through to the semis,” he said. “And fortunately, we were. But yeah, absolutely, we knew we came up against two very good sides to start off with, but we were off the pace so we knew that we had to change pretty drastically and yeah, glad we did.What have we got here? Members of the Australia set-up investigate the pitch•AFP/Getty Images

“I think one of the pleasing things is I still don’t feel like we’ve played the complete game. Maybe against Netherlands, but outside of that, we probably haven’t. There have been no huge wins. We’ve had to fight for every win, but we’ve found a way to win. And different players have stood up at different times.”So I think, by taking that confidence, knowing that we don’t have to be at our absolute best to challenge any team, we can find a way through it. Yeah, I’m sure we’ll draw a lot of confidence, all the boys draw a lot of confidence from that going into tomorrow.”India are on a bull run, undefeated and not pushed too far during the course of the past seven weeks. It’s reminiscent of Australia’s own campaign from 2003, where they beat India in a one-sided final. Cummins isn’t one to live on past glory, though.”Yeah, I mean, neither player from both sides were there in 2003, so it feels a long time ago,” he said. “But we know it’s going to be a packed house. There’s going to be 130,000 fans here supporting India. So it’s going to be awesome. They’ve been playing really well, undefeated in this tournament. But we know at our best we can give them a good shake. We’ve played them quite a lot over the last couple of years with success, so it’s all building up for a nice final.”Playing in front of big crowds isn’t that big a deal for most from the current Australian side. From this group, Steven Smith, David Warner, Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood and Glenn Maxwell were all part of the 2015 final (and Cummins and Mitchell Marsh were in the squad) when Australia beat New Zealand at the MCG in front of over 80,000 fans. And many of them are IPL-experienced too.Seven of the current Australians were around when they won the 2015 World Cup final in front of over 80,000 people at MCG•ICC

In Ahmedabad on Sunday, there are likely to be well over 100,000 fans in, mostly in India’s blue. It can be an intimidating prospect at the best of times. Is this Australia team equipped mentally to be immune to a partisan crowd of this size?”I mean, potentially. We play over here in India a lot, so the noise is not something new,” Cummins said. “Yeah, I think, on this scale it’s probably bigger than we would have experienced before, but it’s not something totally foreign to what we’ve had before. Everyone deals with it slightly differently. You see Davey [Warner] probably dancing and winning the crowd over [and] other guys just staying in their own bubble – yeah, it should be good.”I think you’ve got to embrace it. The crowd’s obviously going to be very one-sided but, in sport there’s nothing more satisfying than hearing a big crowd go silent and that’s the aim for us tomorrow. Yeah, you’ve just got to embrace every part of it, every part of a final – even in the lead-up, there’s going to be noise and more people and interest, and you just can’t get overwhelmed.”You’ve got to be up for it, you’ve got to love it, and just know whatever happens it’s fine, but you just want to finish the day with no regrets.”

Record Wantage Road crowd enjoy Zaib’s maiden List A hundred as Essex are beaten in tight chase

ECB Reporters Network07-Aug-2022Northamptonshire’s Saif Zaib treated a record Royal London Cup crowd at Wantage Road to a commanding 136, as Northamptonshire pulled off their highest ever run chase in one-day cricket to beat Essex in a thrilling 50-over clash.It was a maiden List A century for Zaib, who was forced to retire hurt on 129 after diving for a second run with Northamptonshire still needing 110. But he returned later to record his highest score in all forms of first team cricket before Tom Sales and Nathan Buck saw their side home by three wickets with two balls to spare.Zaib had combined with captain Will Young in a stand worth 212 in 27.1 overs to set Northamptonshire on their way. Zaib was in aggressive form throughout, hitting boundaries all around the wicket, finishing with 14 fours and four sixes.Related

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Essex’s total of 343 for nine was set up by a sparkling century from Feroze Khushi who shared a partnership worth 169 in 23.4 overs with his captain Tom Westley (67). It was his second List A hundred since making 109 against Durham on 50-over debut last summer. But hopes of capitalising on that start were dashed by Buck who took three wickets in the space of just seven balls to finish with career-best figures of 5 for 59.Essex had lost a wicket in the second over when Josh Rymell chopped on to Buck. Khushi though showed immediate intent, stroking consecutive boundaries off Buck and hooking him for six before greeting a loosener from Tom Taylor with disdain, smashing it square for four. He was equally adept against the slower bowlers Alex Russell and Zaib, firing the ball down the ground and playing a delicate cut to the ropes.He had some moments of luck, earning a reprieve on 43 when he was caught hooking a Taylor no-ball. Later, one delivery after hitting Zaib for a big six over deep midwicket, he was caught in the deep by Ricardo Vasconcelos who threw the ball back in just before he stepped over the ropes. Then on 86, he was dropped at long-on off Zaib but dispatched the next delivery over the bowler’s head for six to move into the nineties.Westley meanwhile kept up the rate at the other end, scoring at a run a ball, stroking the ball sweetly around the park, hitting eight boundaries before he fell to a brilliant diving catch by Will Young at short cover off Russell..Grant Roelofsen (16) played a few aggressive shots but departed when he picked out Vasconcelos on the deep square leg boundary to give Russell a second wicket.Khushi’s stay finally ended when he swung Taylor to Young at deep midwicket.In total He hit 12 boundaries and three maximums off just 93 balls.Robin Das got off the mark by hooking Tom Taylor for four to bring up Essex’s 200 in the 30th over and took consecutive boundaries against Zaib. But on the verge of a half century, he smacked Jack White straight to Young at short cover for a well-made 47.Buck’s spell though was telling. He bowled Will Buttleman and picked up Aaron Beard and Aron Nijjar, both to catches, in quick succession before celebrating his maiden List A five-wicket haul when Shane Snater was caught on the boundary.Feroze Khushi swings over the leg side•Getty Images

Northamptonshire lost two early wickets in the chase against a tight opening burst from Beard and Jamie Porter. Emilio Gay was caught off a leading edge, the first of two early wckets for Beard who also got one to nip back and bowl Vasconcelos (11).Young and Zaib began the process of rebuilding, the captain pulling Porter for four while Zaib steered Beard took two boundaries behind square in the same over.Northamptonshire ended the powerplay on 58 for 2, 13 behind Essex at the same stage, but soon started to make up lost ground. Young, dropped by keeper Buttleman on 27, stroked the seamers around the ground, but reserved his biggest shot for slow left-armer Nijjar when he swung an enormous six over deep midwicket and moved to his half-century off 51 balls.Zaib meanwhile swung Porter through midwicket.and smacked Nijjar ferociously through the covers for another boundary, moving to his half century off 47 balls. He greeted Jamal Richards by hooking him high over backward square leg for six followed by an off-side four to bring up Northamptonshire’s 150 in the 23rd over.He reached three figures off just 79 deliveries and showed no signs of slowing down, hitting a Beard delivery out of the ground over deep extra cover.Young finally fell lbw to Nijjar, one ball after hitting him for six and Northamptonshire quickly lost a second when new batter Rob Keogh was adjudged lbw to Snater.With Zaib still there and Northamptonshire well ahead of the run rate, there still seemed little cause for panic until Zaib went down after diving for a second run.Keeper Lewis McManus (28) though held his nerve, hitting Nijjar down the ground for six and combining in a 54-run stand with Taylor (27). When both fell, Zaib returned to the crease to a huge ovation and dispatched Snater down the ground for six.When he was out caught off Richards, Northamptonshire needed 26 off the last two overs. Snater gifted two no balls before James Sales struck consecutive boundaries and ran a three. Buck hit down the ground for six and played a deft cut down to third to leave Northamptonshire needing just three runs off the final over.

Unbeaten 205-run stand turns the tables as champions endure frustrating day in the field

Andrew Miller10-Apr-2021Worcestershire 350 for 6 (Libby 141*, Barnard 116*, Wessels 54, Cook 4-77) trail Essex 490 for 9 dec by 140 runsThere’s been a fetching pink beanie sitting on the wall by the traffic lights on New Writtle Street for three days now. It’s nearly new, to judge by its lack of contours, although perhaps a touch too Middlesexy in hue for these parts. But much like Jake Libby and Ed Barnard throughout their indomitable seventh-wicket stand of 205, it seems to have hit upon an unlikely strip of Chelmsford real estate, and decided that – come wind, rain or shine – there’s nowhere else that it would rather be.The beanie was still there at the close – of course it was. More improbably, so too were Worcestershire’s incumbents, as they warmed to their task on the coldest, gloomiest day of the season so far, to turn a position of pre-ordained defeat into one from which Sunday’s probable stalemate will feel like a hugely significant victory. A punch of the gloves as the pair strode off at the close underlined the extent to which they had changed the narrative of this contest, and that there’s only one team left that’s likely to derive any enjoyment from its denouement.For Libby, of course, this was business as usual. Of all the batsmen in last year’s Bob Willis Trophy, only Sir Alastair Cook managed more than his haul of 498 runs at 55.33, and Cook only vaulted that tally with his commanding century in the final. But in battling his way to the close on 141 not out from 369 balls, Libby reaffirmed his credentials by putting Cook himself – for much of his innings a chilly onlooker from the slip cordon – through the sort of ordeal that all the best openers should aspire to inflict on their opponents.Barnard, by contrast, came with rather less warning of what was in store. Despite his youthful promise – not least as a white-ball allrounder – a previous best first-class score of 75, and a grand total of four centuries in any representative format (most recently a Birmingham Premier League knock for Shrewsbury in 2017) did not exactly scream of the sort of durability that Worcestershire were crying out for, especially when he arrived at the crease at a listless 145 for 6.Worcestershire were still almost 200 runs shy of saving the follow-on at that moment, and if Libby’s dour half-century was providing a steadfast imitation of Tom Westley’s first-day efforts, no-one other than the been-and-gone Riki Wessels had shown any intention of doing likewise. Wessels had thumped and ground his way to a punchy 54 in a fifth-wicket stand of 89 to hint that resistance wasn’t futile after all. But it was surely going to have to be the second innings, with the threat of imminent defeat to focus the minds, where Worcestershire made their stand.But this was not to be the day that Essex’s frustrated champions had in mind. Not after their surging finish to the second day’s play, when Sam Cook’s biting seam movement had shredded the top of Worcestershire’s reply; not after Cook’s fourth-ball breakthrough on the most bitter, wintery morning of the match had taken his personal tally to four wickets in the space of 12 balls. And certainly not in the first over after lunch, when Ben Cox dropped to one knee for a wild sweep that gifted Simon Harmer the first of what, presumably, will be another bucketload of first-class wickets this season, and brought the diffident Barnard out to join his senior partner.Jake Libby is congratulated by Ed Barnard after bringing up his century•Andrew Miller

But if there was one clear difference between the approaches of Essex and Worcestershire in their two innings, it was in the willingness of the latter to go from their strokes – the life lessons, no doubt, of 157.4 overs of hard yakka across the first two days. For all of Worcestershire’s seamers – not least Barnard himself, whose 3 for 67 looks even better in hindsight – there had been a distinct lack of April zip off the deck, and what few edges they had found had been falling consistently short of the cordon.So Barnard himself chose the pro-active route, trusting himself to aim through the covers with relative impunity. Sure enough, it wasn’t until late in the afternoon session that Essex chose to plug a third man through which more than 50 runs had whistled in the course of the innings, with not a single catchable opportunity among them, beyond Adam Wheater’s second-ball drop of Daryl Mitchell right at the top of the innings.Essex are not used to being made to toil for their wickets on home soil – in three home fixtures in last season’s Bob Willis Trophy, only one team, Kent, managed to post more than 200 in any of their six innings, and even they were rolled aside for 112 second-time around. And their frustrations were epitomised when Sam Cook, in his penultimate over of the day, attempted a shy at Barnard’s stumps in his followthrough, but shanked his throw so badly that it almost took out Alastair Cook’s shins at slip before streaking to the boundary.Related

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Both men brought up their centuries in near-identical fashions – a pair of flicks off the pads on 98, and a pair of urgent scampers back for the second run that brought a pair of throaty roars from the visiting dressing rooms. Barnard in particular bore a look of wonder in his eyes as he contemplated his achievement. It was, he admitted afterwards, “a monkey off his back” to broach three figures given his obvious talent, and his stated ambition, given his current age of 24, to become a genuine allrounder at 5 or 6 in the order.”When there is someone at the other end who is confident it makes it easier,” he added. “It gives you the calmness and the confidence you can do it as well. It was a case of batting as long as we can and trying to save the game. We saw it was a good pitch and knew it could be done, so we just had to get a head start and get on with it.”For Essex, this likely failure to record their habitual home victory is far from panic stations despite the rejigged format for this season – especially given the ECB’s decision to up the points from five to eight for a draw. But, for all of the resolve shown by Libby and Barnard, the lack of life in the surface is already a concern given the truncated group stage.”We knew leading up to the season that the ground was particularly dry for this time of year,” admitted Anthony McGrath, the head coach.”Firstly, credit to Worcestershire. The partnership between Libby and Bernard was really good. They batted well. But there hasn’t been a lot in the wicket all game. We needed to make in-roads with the new ball, which we managed last night, but as we’ve seen through the three days that if someone has got through that then it is a pretty benign pitch.”People talk about us not scoring enough runs at home but in this match we have scored a lot of runs but haven’t taken the wickets. That’s the way it goes sometimes.”There is still a day left so I wouldn’t be going anywhere yet. As we have seen over the last couple of years anything can happen here. We still have a healthy lead and if we can go bang-bang in the morning then we will be trying to push the game forward.”

Maharashtra, Delhi and Jharkhand also make it to the Super League on the last day of the group phase

Hemant Brar18-Nov-2019Despite losing their final Group C match against Maharashtra and finishing with the same number of points as four other teams in the group, Punjab made it to the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy 2019-20 Super League on the basis of their superior net run rate.Apart from Maharashtra, who topped the group, and Punjab, Delhi and Jharkhand from Group E also advanced to the next round on the final day of the group-stage action. Karnataka and Baroda from Group A, Tamil Nadu and Rajasthan from Group B, and Mumbai and Haryana from Group D were already through to the Super League, which will be followed by the semi-finals and the final.Punjab win five-way race despite defeatAzim Kazi and captain Rahul Tripathi’s unbeaten half-centuries helped Maharashtra beat Punjab and took them to the pole position with 20 points. Railways also had a chance to join them but they faltered against Himachal Pradesh, leaving five teams – Punjab, Chandigarh, Chhattisgarh, Hyderabad and Railways – tied on the second spot with 16 points each.Had there been only two teams tied on points, the winner of the head-to-head contest would have qualified for the next stage. But that particular playing condition didn’t apply here and Punjab made the cut, thanks to their healthy net run rate.After opting to field, Punjab had Maharashtra on 90 for 4 in the 12th over but Kazi (71* off 36) and Tripathi (63* off 27) added 111 in just 48 balls in an unbroken fifth-wicket stand to propel them to 201 for 4. Punjab captain Mandeep Singh led the chase with 67 off 49 balls but there wasn’t much support from the other batsmen. In the end, Punjab could manage only 156 for 7 and fell short by 45 runs.In the Railways v Himachal game, Nitin Sharma (76 off 51) and Prashant Chopra (47 off 30) helped Himachal to 193 for 4. Mrunal Devdhar (26 off 15) started well for Railways but once he was dismissed, the chase fell apart. Railways eventually stuttered to 139 for 9, losing the game – and the qualification spot – by 54 runs.Delhi prevail, Jammu & Kashmir failThe equation was relatively simple in Group E. Jharkhand with 22 points were at the top, with Delhi and Jammu & Kashmir tied on 18 points with a match in hand.Delhi beat Odisha by 20 runs on the back of Lalit Yadav’s three-wicket haul. After opting to bat, Delhi made 149 for 6, with Shikhar Dhawan top-scoring with a 33-ball 35. In response, Odisha were all out for 129 in 18.1 overs. Apart from Lalit, Nitish Rana and Pawan Negi also chipped in with two wickets each.Had Jammu & Kashmir won their game against Gujarat, they would also have been on 22 points, making it a three-way tie at the top. But they crumbled against Chintan Gaja and Hardik Patel and were dismissed for 101. Gujarat then knocked down the target in just 13.3 overs. Jammu & Kashmir’s defeat meant Jharkhand also made it to the next round.Elsewhere, Haryana trounced Meghalaya, Madhya Pradesh eked out a narrow win against Puducherry, and Bengal defeated Assam but none of those results had any bearing on the qualification scenarios.

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.”

As Sussex brushed aside their promotion rivals in three days at Worcester, the sense was that the balance of power was shifting in Division Two

Vithushan Ehantharajah at New Road08-Aug-20171:06

County Championship round-up: Warwickshire secure first win

On a day when those around them were hampered by the weather, Sussex completed perhaps one of their most professional wins of the season, beating Worcestershire and the deluge that engulfed most of the Midlands by nine wickets and a day. Having started the match in fifth, Sussex leap to third, with a game in hand on Worcestershire, whose lead in second has been cut to 17 points.Worcestershire were poor. It is hard to remember a Championship game where they have folded so meekly. To lose 12 wickets in five hours play is simply not what you would expect from a young side with a determination at their core that has seen them punch above their weight consistently over the last five years. This is only their third loss of the season but it is the manner of defeat that will jar even the most partisan Pear.Sussex, though, have unfurled a run that now reads five wins in seven, a streak brought about by returns from injury, to form and the sort of swagger that has characterised their teams of the past. Chris Nash’s revival with a first-innings 118, on a tricky day one pitch, wickets shared (Chris Jordan, Jofra Archer and David Wiese took 14 in the match between them) and an array of difficult catches held speak of a team peaking at the right time.Even with rain washing out the morning session, Sussex were still able to make significant strikes in the first passage of play, which started at 1.10pm, removing the remaining two wickets in the Worcestershire first innings – 162 behind – and taking out their top order to leave them reeling on 66 for 5 at tea in their follow-on innings.Aside from the rains, Ed Barnard was the only other uncontrollable that Sussex came up against today. The pick of the Worcestershire bowlers, he held firm to finish the first innings unbeaten on 65 – his third half-century of the season and fourth of his first-class career.His knock threatened to take the hosts beyond their follow-on target, attacking well as he managed the strike effectively with No. 11 and debutant Pat Brown. He managed to take time out of the game when he struck David Wiese for a towering six that landed in the car park towards Worcester Cathedral. However, two balls later, Brown edged behind and Worcestershire had to start all over again.Wiese continued from the Diglis End with an opening eight-over burst that saw him remove Daryl Mitchell, (bowled) Tom Fell (caught at second slip by Harry Finch, his sixth of the match) and then Clarke (bowled off an inside edge) – all three deliveries brought about by movement into the right-hander off the surface.For the second time in the day, it was left to Barnard to fight for Worcestershire’s pride. He took a couple of blows from Stuart Whittingham, who bowled with good pace to remove George Rhodes and Brett D’Oliveira for his first two wickets of the match. Both times, Barnard inspected his helmet and smiled like a man who had found a tenner in his spare pair of jeans rather than knocked on the bonce. If he was punch-drunk, he was snapped out of it by a cluster of wickets at the other end, as Jofra Archer removed Ben Cox, Joe Leach and John Hastings in the space of five balls. Barnard’s smile was long gone.Even in his grind, he was still able to show a wide range of strokes – his charge and thwack back over Wiese’s head for six was Kevin Pietersen-esque in execution and attitude. He had no interest in keeling over like the rest of his side.When he reached 35, he was given a round of applause from Worcestershire fans who had sat through the morning rain – it was his 100th run of the match, without being dismissed. Naturally, it was Barnard who put the hosts into the lead and he fell trying to add to it, skying Stiaan van Zyl to long on, where Whittingham ran in to take a catch (the same fielder had shelled Barnard in the first innings on 43).Naturally, Barnard picked up a wicket in Sussex’s chase of nine: Luke Wells chipping to skipper Joe Leach at midwicket after Mitchell had dropped the same batsmen at second slip. A streaky four through gully from Angus Robson sealed the win for Sussex. It may seem premature, but this match felt like two teams passing each other, with one very clearly on the way up.

Anil Kumble, India’s new head coach, has acknowledged the influence of his predecessors John Wright and Gary Kirsten, and expects to adopt their low-visibility style and remain mostly behind the scenes

ESPNcricinfo staff24-Jun-20161:30

Anil Kumble’s journey from player to coach

Anil Kumble, India’s new head coach, has acknowledged the influence of his predecessors John Wright and Gary Kirsten, and expects to adopt their low-visibility style and remain mostly behind the scenes. Wright was India’s head coach from 2000 to 2005, and was head coach at Mumbai Indians in 2013-14, when Kumble served as the team’s mentor. Kirsten was India’s head coach from 2008 – Kumble’s last year as a Test cricketer – to 2011.”I played a lot under John Wright, he’s been a great influence on how I’ll go about [the role], in terms of being in the background,” Kumble told . “When I became a mentor for Mumbai Indians, I brought John in because he understood a lot about Indian culture and then the way coaches work. So I’ll pick his brain.”I was involved with Gary Kirsten only for the Test matches, a very short period. He was, again, someone who worked in the background and didn’t make himself visible. Exactly how I’d like to work as well. Not in the front, but behind the scenes.”As a bowler, Kumble combined a cerebral approach with a willingness to keep pounding in for long spells no matter what the match situation. Accordingly, he said his coaching style would have “a bit of everything”, giving data its due while trying to strengthen his players’ response to adversity.”Data is important when you have to devise strategies and man-management is extremely crucial,” he said. “You need the team environment to be consistent and healthy, but also competitive. That is something I would look to have in the team.”The team comes first, the coaches play the background role, you are just trying to prepare the team for the best of their ability, for all conditions and all eventualities. You can’t really plan for adversity, but to try to prepare the team to handle those adversities. That’s exactly what we’ll try and address.”Kumble said he wanted to “build leaders” in his playing group, and said his coaching would have to deal as much with off-field as with on-field issues.”[It is] important as a coach to take the burden off the captain,” he said. “Captain has a lot of things on his head, all cricketing decisions and non-cricketing as well. When I was captain I realised that it’s not just taking decisions on the field but off it as well. Those are quite stressful.”Having been with the Indian team for such a long time and having had various experiences of not just conditions, but outside the cricket field, when you’re a coach, you’re not just coach on the field but also off it. You’re trying to build personalities, trying to build leaders. That’s how I’d like to look at this team. There is some wonderful talent, you need to make leaders out of them, try and understand what ticks them. It’s not a quick fix, you have to understand and then take a call.”Defining his role as that of an “enabler”, Kumble said he would not impose his views on the players.”They are already playing a good brand of cricket,” he said. “I will bring my characteristics as well but won’t impose on them. My job is to convince players to buy into what I believe in and what they believe in. At the end of it, they need to own it. If the team doesn’t own what we agree on, then it’s not going to work. I’m only an enabler. I work as an enabler to make sure things happen.”You need to be tough to play international cricket. It’s not only highs that you will see, you will also see lows. The coach’s role is not only to be a coach during successful periods but to be a coach during tough times.”Kumble said he had already spoken to India’s Test captain Virat Kohli, and looked forward to starting his tenure with a camp in Bangalore, his hometown, ahead of the four-Test tour of West Indies in July-August.”We have the West Indies Test series coming up, so that’s something our focus will be on,” he said. “I’ve spoken to Virat [Kohli] and MS [Dhoni, India’s ODI and T20 captain] must be on the flight back from Zimbabwe. It’s nice to have a camp here in Bengaluru before we tour. We’ll sit down and iron out and get ready for the West Indies tour.”Bowling, getting 20 wickets in Test cricket will win you matches. That’s the focus and we’ll take it from there. Batting, we have some great talent there. I believe this team has the potential. It’s a young team and driven by young leaders. Looking forward to working with Virat and MS. Long-term, we have lots of Tests coming up in India, that’ll be our focus.”Kumble starts his role on a one-year term, and most of India’s Test cricket in that period will be at home. Despite this, Kumble said he would focus on improving their overseas record, and that the process could begin at home itself.”I’m really excited,” he said. “This [overseas record] is something I wanted to commit to. You’ll have lot of time to strategise. The team needs to be really fit to meet the demands of Test cricket. Lot of Tests coming up, the first four are in West Indies where the conditions are not that different to India. But the Indian conditions are where we are comfortable with. Focus will be on our overseas record and the mindset we have to address from home itself. We’ll sit down and make a plan to ensure that we train towards achieving those goals.”Returning to a constantly on-the-road lifestyle was the one major concern Kumble had before he applied for the job; he said he finally decided to go ahead after a “long chat” with his family.”I felt it was the right time for me to get involved. I’m still fit enough to run around. It’s a young team so I believe you have to get your hands dirty, you need to be with the players, train with them, be amongst them. If it was a senior team, you can sit back, strategise and address that. But as a young team, you need to be in the middle and that’s something I can do at this stage.”I had a long chat with the family, 18 years on the road, they’ve taken the stress and the burden. My wife and kids have been really supportive. Not easy travelling again so that was a major decision. Once those two were clear, I put my hat in the ring. The process was great, I felt more comfortable because the three members who were interviewing me were my own team-mates, former colleagues. Process was professional and I enjoyed being a part of it. The presentation that was requested, I made my plan and put a blueprint, a blueprint for others to contribute and make it larger and ensure that all stakeholders own that plan and continue to take Indian cricket forward.”

Ben Stokes at his most intimidating muscled England beyond 300 for the third successive match but New Zealand sparked a late collapse to remain very much in contention at midway as the Ageas Bowl produced another excellent batting surface in the Royal Lon

The Report by David Hopps14-Jun-2015
Live scorecard and ball-by-ball details1:24

England pay the price for late collapse

There is more than one way to lodge a score of 300-plus in a one-day international. You can dash there with a state of delirium, as England did, staying true to a spirit of devil may care. Or you can chase it down with ease, as New Zealand did in response, displaying not excitement but merely the composure that grows from two centuries of draining authority.By the time that Kane Williamson and Ross Taylor’s third-wicket partnership was broken, they had added 206 in 32 overs and New Zealand’s last seven wickets needed only 61 from 67 balls, the platform for what ultimately became a slightly edgy victory by three wickets with six balls to spare – a win which gave them a 2-1 lead in this five-match series.Taylor – after his century at the Kia Oval – achieved back-to-back ODI hundreds for the third time in his career. The pair also set a new benchmark in ODI’s for New Zealand’s third wicket, surpassing Geoff Howarth and Martin Crowe in Auckland in 1984.Williamson could probably bungee jump without any measurable rise in his heartbeat or blood pressure. Few international batsmen proceed with such equanimity; he picked off Adil Rashid’s leg spin – a player he knows well from his time at Yorkshire – with aplomb. Taylor’s classy strokeplay provided a perfect accompaniment.England, who for long periods in the field looked resigned to their fate as the Ageas Bowl produced the latest in a succession of excellent batting surfaces, will be left to rue a calamitous end to their innings in which their last five wickets tumbled for 14 in 22 balls.Conservatism does not enter England’s thinking at the moment as they try to reinvent themselves in a more attacking guise, but it was only with nine wickets down that they belatedly nodded to the virtue of batting out their overs and 28 deliveries went unused when the last man, Steven Finn, was cleaned up by Tim Southee. Those wasted deliveries proved hugely influential. They might have accepted the reality of their position a wicket earlier.There were four dropped catches too, catches that might well have turned the game. Taylor escaped twice in successive overs from Mark Wood, firstly on 67 when Jos Buttler might have gone two handed to his right in an attempt to take a catch well within range, and again on 72 when Ben Stokes could not hold a fierce pull, relatively close in at square leg.Wood, fresh again after feeling the effect of back-to-back Tests, often surpassed 90mph and was the likeliest England bowler on view. His return of 1 for 48 is the most economical so far in a series where batsmen have prospered extravagantly.Williamson was also dropped on 109, this time Wood the culprit at mid-off as he drove at David Willey. In Willey’s next over, the 200 partnership was raised, Williamson planted a six down the ground and finally England broke through when Wood this time leapt well at mid-off to hold the catch. Taylor got New Zealand within 13 runs of victory before he fell for 110, dragging Willey onto his stumps. It proved close enough.Earlier, Stokes had been in his most intimidating batting form for England, muscling England past 300 for the third successive match – unparallelled in their one-day history. There will be no more muscular shot all summer than Stokes’ strong-arm heave of Mitchell McClenaghan towards the midwicket burger vans. At a commanding 288 for 5 with 50 balls remaining, England had visions of 370.When Sam Billings’ innovative 34 came to grief, and Adil Rashid fell first ball, Stokes was in no mood to recognise a few complications, still seeking to be the King of the Swingers, the jungle VIP. He was bowled for 68 as he stepped away to batter Ben Wheeler to oblivion and Willey, in his second ODI, and fresh from a productive release to his county, Northamptonshire, in the NatWest T20 Blast, also fell with what by then felt like naïve attacking intent. “Ooh-bi-do, I wanna be like you.” Not this time.Instead, New Zealand’s pace attack had fought back strongly, with Wheeler returning a creditable 3 for 63 on debut, adding Stokes and Billings to his first-up wicket of Alex Hales.It was a bowlers’ morning – at least it used to be. Overcast skies were not quite enough to persuade Eoin Morgan to field first, not with 1369 runs logged in the first two matches, batsmen on both sides feeling a million dollars and bowlers reduced as emphatically as they ever have been to the ranks of the poor bloody infantry.There was swing for New Zealand in the first hour, and some bounce too, and they made decent use of it by removing both England openers, Alex Hales and Jason Roy, cheaply. England’s new-ball attack responded in kind, in less encouraging conditions, later in the day.Wheeler was presented with his debut cap before play by his fellow left-armer Trent Boult, ruled out of the series with a stress-related back condition. Boult’s part in the ceremony was appropriate because Wheeler is very much Boult Lite, finding some serene inswing.Morgan cut a somewhat impotent figure in the World Cup, a captain unable to stamp his imprint on the side. His 71 as the sun burned the clouds away was an innings from a captain who now has a sense of purpose. Add Joe Root’s crisp half-century and England’s third-wicket alliance was a productive one – 105 in 19 overs – before Santner cramped Root as he made room to leg and bowled him off his pads.Santner, heavily punished in the first two matches, but more resourceful here, also might have dismissed Morgan, first when he outwitted him down the leg side but the stumping was missed and again when he failed to cling to a low return chance to his left. Instead, it was Williamson who revived memories of his golden-arm display on the final day of the Headingley Test, defeating Morgan’s slog sweep and setting up the opportunity for the drainingly calm batting performance to follow.

Australia is building a support system in place for offspinner Nathan Lyon, to ensure his path of advice is defined

Daniel Brettig in Adelaide21-Nov-2012If Nathan Lyon’s growing confidence was summed up by the back-spinner he unleashed to dismiss Jacques Rudolph in Brisbane, his valued place in Australian cricket can be measured by how carefully the national team is building a support network around him.Ahead of the Adelaide Test match, Lyon was advised on bowling by the former Australian spin bowler Ashley Mallett, but not directly. Instead, Mallett had discussions with the senior coach Mickey Arthur, who passed Mallett’s advice along to Lyon and also Steve Rixon, who has been appointed as the designated spin coach to allow the other specialist bowling coach Ali de Winter time to work purely with the pacemen.As the season began, Lyon had spoken of how difficult he had found sorting through a myriad of advice during his first year as an international bowler, whether it had arrived via friends, the media or other bowlers and coaches simply calling him up at random to state what he was doing wrong. Eager for Lyon to learn but equally keen to ensure he is not overloaded with voices, Arthur, Rixon and South Australia’s coach Darren Berry have worked assiduously to make sure Lyon’s path is consistently defined.”We’re filtering it through the people he knows best,” Arthur told ESPNcricinfo. “Darren Berry and SA have done a really good job with him, Steve Rixon within my support staff is a really experienced coach and has been very good with him as well. They’ve built a good relationship so he’s been monitoring those messages, and I wanted to have a chat with Ashley Mallett because he’s so knowledgeable on spin bowling and he confirmed what we were doing with Nathan. So I opened up a nice little communication channel there.”I just asked Ashley if he had anything he could mention to me. I’ve designated Steve Rixon within our squad as working with Nathan and I’m really happy they’ve got a good relationship going. Our messages are very consistent with the messages of Darren Berry. Everybody is saying exactly the same thing and that’s the message being delivered to Nathan within our team. That to me is really important, that the players are getting the same messages and not a conflicting message.”No one was more delighted to see an Australian spinner benefit from his expanded repertoire than his captain Michael Clarke, who has shown an instinctive feel for leading slow bowlers from the moment he dived to pouch the sharpest of slip catches from Lyon’s first ball in Test cricket, against Sri Lanka in Galle last year. In addition to knowing the value of spin bowling, Clarke also finds a great deal of fun in it, and the twinkle in his eye when he spoke of Lyon’s variation could only have come from someone who has bowled spin for years himself.”Well, we’re calling it a more than a back-spinner,” Clarke said, grinning. “It’s something he’s worked on and it was nice to see him get a wicket with it [in the] last Test match, so hopefully we’ll see him get plenty more wickets for Australia with balls spinning in both directions.”He can contain if he has to and we can dictate that by the fields we have, but then if there’s an opportunity for Nathan to put more pressure on the [batsmen] I think he’s got the skill to be able to do that as well. He’s bowling well, I thought he came back really well in Brisbane and that shows his character.”I know he wants to do well in front of his home crowd, but as I’ve said to Nathan plenty of times he needs to keep doing exactly what he’s doing, don’t change a thing and he’ll continue to have success at the highest level.”South Africa’s batsmen have now tried several times to hit Lyon out of Australia’s attack in the manner they took to Bryce McGain in Cape Town in 2009, but each time the bowler has responded with better subsequent spells and important wickets. The touring captain Graeme Smith noted Lyon’s importance to this match with a good degree of respect.”Nathan has proven to be a solid performer for Australia. That’s exactly how we view him,” Smith said. “We haven’t taken an arrogant view of him, maybe some other people have. We respect what he is capable of and he will play a role in this game.”