Ross Taylor, the New Zealand batsman, has signed to play as an overseas player for Nottinghamshire during the first half of the season

ESPNcricinfo staff08-Mar-2018Ross Taylor, the New Zealand batsman, has signed to play as an overseas player for Nottinghamshire during the first half of the season. Taylor injured himself during the course of his epic 181 not out in the fourth ODI against England, but is expected to be fit for a spell of eight Championship games and the Royal London Cup group stage at Trent Bridge.Taylor turned 34 on Thursday but had to put a birthday drink on hold after aggravating a quad problem in Dunedin, which makes him a doubt for the deciding ODI on Saturday, as well as forcing Notts to delay the announcement of his signing.One of New Zealand’s most prolific batsmen, he scored his 19th ODI ton – and second of the series – against England on Wednesday. As long as there is no reaction to his latest leg injury, Taylor will also be looking to add to his 6246 Test runs during the two-match series in late March.Taylor has been contracted until mid-June but could stay on for the Royal London Cup knockout stages, with Nottinghamshire looking to defend the trophy the won in 2017. He has previously played county cricket for Durham and Sussex.”I’m really excited about joining Nottinghamshire as they return to Division One of the Specsavers County Championship, and I hope I can play an important part in helping them become re-established at the higher level,” Taylor said. “It’s also great to be joining a team who are defending a white-ball trophy, with the club having won the Royal London One-Day Cup last summer, and hopefully the team can mount a strong challenge again.”I’ve enjoyed playing against England for New Zealand in the early part of this year, and I’m looking forward to testing myself in the early-season English conditions when I arrive at Trent Bridge for the start of the new season.”Taylor’s arrival will add significant red-ball experience to the middle order at Notts, after the retirements of Michael Lumb, Greg Smith and Chris Read, Brendan Taylor’s return to Zimbabwe and the request by Alex Hales to only play limited-overs cricket.Notts finished second in Division Two of the Championship last year, winning promotion after a season in the second tier, and also claimed a white-ball double by lifting the Royal London Cup and NatWest T20 Blast.Nottinghamshire’s director of cricket Mick Newell said: “Ross is a world-class performer who brings with him an excellent record at the highest level in both red- and white-ball cricket, as well as plenty of experience. He is just what we were looking for to strengthen the top order of our four-day batting line-up, where we have lost the likes of Michael Lumb and Brendan Taylor from last year, and his aggressive style suits the type of 50-over cricket we look to play.””With Ross suffering a recurrence of a previous quad injury in his century for New Zealand against England on Wednesday, we have been monitoring his fitness, which delayed the announcement of the signing by us. We will continue to check in with Ross and the New Zealand team’s medical staff, but he’s confident that he will be fully fit come the start of our season.”

Cricket Australia has made a written complaint to Cricket South Africa about taunts largely directed at the partners and families of Steven Smith’s team

Daniel Brettig in Cape Town23-Mar-2018Personal abuse directed by Newlands spectators at the Australian side during the third Test has been labelled “disgraceful” by the coach Darren Lehmann, as Cricket South Africa responded to a written complaint from Cricket Australia following taunts about the partners and families of Steven Smith’s team.David Warner’s post-dismissal exchange with a spectator on day two was the visible tip of an iceberg’s worth of abuse over the first two days of the match, with nine spectators ejected on day two, after three had been blocked from entry on day one for wearing offensive t-shirts on the opening day. None of the ejected spectators have been banned from returning later in the match.Lehmann said the abuse, typically directed at the nearest Australian fielder to the boundary when the South African side was batting on days one and two, was the worst his team had witnessed anywhere in the world. “We accept it all around the world, but as soon as they cross the line and they talk about players’ families the whole time and getting abused like that, it’s just not on,” Lehmann said. “There’s been various incidents throughout the Test series but this one has taken the cake.”I think it’s been disgraceful. You’re talking about abuse of various players and their families and personal abuse, it’s not on at a cricket ground anywhere around the world, not just here, it shouldn’t happen. You can have the banter, that’s fine, banter is good-natured, fun by crowds but they’ve gone too far here. We’ve written to Cricket South Africa, Cricket Australia have done that, we’ll see their response, but it’s been poor. We’ll see what happens, hopefully something.”In response, South Africa’s acting chief executive, Thabang Moroe, said fans on both sides needed to behave. “Cricket South Africa and the players appreciate the fans’ passionate support displayed at all our games,” he said. “However the events that transpired today were not tolerable and something that we don’t want to see at any of our Test matches.”We have since taken it upon ourselves to beef up our security personnel to ensure that players from both sides don’t have to endure such unfortunate behavior. Both CSA and the players encourage supporters to continue rooting for their teams and also to behave in a decorous manner that will allow this Test series to be played in true spirit of the game.”Australian touring teams have long acknowledged that they receive some of their harshest treatment from spectators in South Africa, although up to this point Warner’s tour had involved more exchanges with opponents than fans. In Durban he was captured on CCTV cameras exchanging words with Quinton de Kock, then responding angrily to the response from the South African wicketkeeper and needing to be physically restrained by team-mates as he climbed the stairwell at Kingsmead.That incident saw Warner fined and handed three demerit points under the ICC code of conduct, meaning he is one further disciplinary infraction away from a ban. De Kock was also fined over the episode, albeit on a lesser charge. Warner had alleged that his aggression was sparked by de Kock making personal remarks about his wife Candice.Between Test matches, offensive masks were distributed by fans in reference to her brief bathroom encounter with the rugby league player Sonny Bill Williams years before she and Warner became a couple. Two Cricket South Africa officials, Clive Eksteen and Altaaf Kazi, were suspended by the home board after allowing fans wearing the masks to be admitted to St George’s Park in Port Elizabeth and then posing with them for a photograph. In Cape Town, the t-shirt fans were barred from wearing into the ground stated “Warner where’s your wife? She’s just gone to the toilet for a minute”, while abuse of other players and their partners ramped up.”Yep it was personal and it was poor and he wasn’t the only one,” Lehmann said of the taunts at Warner. “There’s always going to be banter, as long as it doesn’t get personal, but it has gone too far with the crowd here and they’ve got to be better than that when they’re coming to international arenas to watch a game of two quality sides playing against each other. They go hard on the ground, there’s no doubt about that, but off the ground you don’t expect that when you’re leaving the ground or you’re having a go at someone’s family. It’s just disgraceful.”David Warner’s stump goes cartwheeling•AFP

Morne Morkel, who took his 300th Test wicket on day two, stopped short of criticising the Newlands crowd, and stated he had been on the receiving end of abuse from crowds in Australia.”We can’t control that. Unfortunately, there is a bit of alcohol and there’s hot sun and we expect that,” Morkel said. “When we play in Australia, I have played in Melbourne, I have copped the same sort of abuse. It’s part of the game but there is a line and its important not to cross that.”The crowd here is always amazing. They come out and support us all the time. Tomorrow is going to be even louder being a Saturday. It’s always special playing here at Newlands. It’s the marquee event and the way they get behind the boys and lift us up when we are out in the field is special.”South African teams playing in Australia have a history of facing verbal abuse or worse, dating back to the spin bowler Pat Symcox having a cooked chicken thrown at him on the SCG outfield during a limited-overs match in 1997. On more recent tours, other members of the South African side, including Hashim Amla, have been subjected to racial taunts. In 2005-06, Andre Nel, Makhaya Ntini, Ashwell Prince, Garnett Kruger and Shaun Pollock were among players racially abused.”None of the team minds any form of abuse because it happens in any country, the home side really gets behind it,” South Africa’s then coach Mickey Arthur said at the time. “But we feel once it becomes a racist taunt then the boundaries are being overstepped and the South African team categorically deplores that type of behaviour. I don’t think we can do too much more other than just make our point that we categorically deplore it and we do feel that boundaries are being crossed when that sort of thing transpires out there.”The events of that summer brought a fiercer focus from CA on crowd behaviour at grounds, including a “zero tolerance” policy for racial abuse, which could attract a life ban from venues. Advertising campaigns were also devised to educate spectators as to what was appropriate and what was not.Asked about crowd behaviour in Australia, Lehmann said improvement was needed across the board. “That’s not good enough from an Australian crowd point of view either,” he said. “We’ve just got to get better at watching the game of cricket, actually supporting both teams generally, and that’s something that both boards have got to get around.”

The allrounder will play for Renegades for the next three seasons, having signed a multi-year deal at the age of 35

ESPNcricinfo staff14-May-20180:56

Dan Christian signs with Melbourne Renegades

Allrounder Dan Christian will play for Renegades for the next three Big Bash League seasons, having signed a multi-year deal with the Melbourne team at the age of 35. Christian was part of the Hobart Hurricanes side that made the BBL final in 2017-18.However, another allrounder James Faulkner has joined the Hurricanes, after spending seven seasons with the other Melbourne team, the Stars, according to a  report. The signing is meant to make up for Christian’s departure and is expected to be announced on Tuesday.”By signing Dan we know we’ve got a T20 player who has proven his ability around the world over a long period of time,” Renegades coach Andrew McDonald said. “He has the ability to change the game with his big hitting in the middle order. He also brings useful variations with the ball and plenty of experience bowling at the death, so having that option gives the team added flexibility.”Christian is presently playing in the IPL, for Delhi Daredevils coached by former Australia captain Ricky Ponting, but he has been picked for only four out of 12 games. His batting form has been poor – 26 runs off 33 balls – and he has four wickets in 11.5 overs at an economy rate of 8.53.In the 2017-18 BBL, however, Christian was more productive in home conditions for Hobert Hurricanes. He scored 216 runs at a strike rate of 153 and average of 27, and took 11 wickets in 33 overs at an economy rate of 8.87.

The franchise is pressing for a stake in CSA’s new T20 tournament since – contractually – it still holds the rights to a T20 franchise based out of Durban

Umar Farooq and Firdose Moonda21-Jun-2018The owner of the Durban Qalandars franchise is weighing up legal options against Cricket South Africa (CSA), accusing the board of abusing a franchise rights agreement.The Qalandars were in line to own a team in the inaugural Global T20 League last year, but CSA at first postponed and then scrapped the tournament altogether. Numerous logistical challenges and serious financial concerns, not least the lack of a broadcast deal and title sponsor, led to the board launching a replacement league that it co-owns with the broadcaster SuperSport.None of the eight team owners from the GLT20 will be involved in CSA’s new competition, which is essentially a South African product, but the Qalandars are pressing for a stake since, contractually, they still hold the rights to a T20 franchise based out of Durban.”We have had a successful experience with Lahore Qalandars in PSL and wanted to grow globally,” the Qalandars CEO Sameen Rana told ESPNcricinfo. “We couldn’t resist investing in South Africa, a country which has a big cricketing history and with the talent around I felt it was an excellent opportunity for us expand our venture. We were particularly keen to invest in cricket development in the Kwa-Zulu Natal province.”We also set up our office, invested a lot on recruitment to bring people to run the cricket operations in South Africa. It all came after we were awarded the rights for Durban franchise with Kingsmead Cricket Ground as our home venue. But unfortunately after [former CSA CEO] Haroon [Lorgat] departed things started to fall apart and CSA stopped interacting with us. Reportedly there were a lot of discussions within CSA board without even taking us into confidence, despite us being a stakeholder for the entire project.”CSA’s efforts are now concentrated on making sure the new T20 tournament goes off without a hitch, and the board has begun giving back the deposits paid by the GLT20 team owners – USD 250,000 along with an interest of 3.5%.And, in a letter from CSA to a GLT20 owner seen by ESPNcricinfo, the board offered to pay an additional USD 180,000 to each franchise to reimburse them for the expenses incurred in planning for the tournament, a figure some owners are reportedly unhappy with.The Qalandars aren’t satisfied with how everything has panned out.”To our surprise we now read that CSA and SuperSport have signed a deal for yet another T20 venture and we were asked to take the refundable USD 250,000 back without any explanation,” Rana said. “This is a serious breach of trust and contract with us. We do not want our refundable money back, but we require CSA to fulfill the agreement they have signed with us. They also offered us 3.5% interest on the refund along with the reimbursement of expenses incurred. But this is again something we did not demand. We simply need CSA to respect the agreements around the awarding of the franchise to us, which they themselves have given to us in perpetuity. I do not agree to this refund as condition to give up my rights so we will challenge CSA via legal [proceedings].”All of these reimbursements will cost CSA a further R 19.6 million (USD 1.44 million) adding to their already depleted stocks. That will bring losses incurred by the board, which were reported at USD 14.1 million last year, to USD 15.6 million (R 212 million).However, even though it appears CSA have cut ties with the people who had initially invested in the concept a T20 league in South Africa, an insider told ESPNcricinfo otherwise. “CSA’s view is that we were in a partnership and would ideally like to retain the relationship in case there’s an opportunity in selling equity in teams.”

Sachin Tendulkar’s son, a left-arm quick, is set to play two four-day matches in Sri Lanka next month

ESPNcricinfo staff07-Jun-20181:15

Archive: Tendulkar’s son bowls at England in the nets

Arjun Tendulkar, the son of Sachin Tendulkar, has been picked in the India Under-19 squad for two four-day matches in Sri Lanka in July.A left-arm quick, Arjun, had been picked in the Mumbai Under-19 one-day side for the JY Lele invitational tournament in September last year. He also bowled in the nets in the lead-up to the Lord’s Test between England and South Africa in 2017, sending Jonny Bairstow off with an injury scare when he struck him on the toe with a yorker. Arjun also bowled in the India nets during the home series against New Zealand last year.However, he did not find a place in the one-day squad that will play five games against Sri Lanka. The four-day squad will be captained by 18-year-old Delhi wicketkeeper-batsman Anuj Rawat, who had scored two half-centuries, including one on debut, in as many matches for Delhi during the 2017-18 Ranji Trophy.”We are happy on Arjun being selected in Indian under-19 team. It is an important milestone in his cricketing life. Anjali and I will always support Arjun in his choices and pray for his success,” Sachin told The one-day squad will be led by 16-year-old Uttar Pradesh wicketkeeper-batsman Aryan Juyal, who had played two matches in the 50-over Vijay Hazare Trophy earlier this year and was part of the Under-19 World Cup winning team in January.Seventeen-year old left-arm spinner from Gujarat Siddharth Desai was picked in both squads. He also made his first-class debut in the 2017-18 season and was named the Man of the Match in his first two matches, taking nine and eight wickets against Kerala and Haryana respectively. He currently has 29 wickets from five first-class matches and three scalps from as many one-day matches.Atharwa Taide, also picked in both squads, was the captain of the Vidarbha Under-19 team that won the Cooch Behar Trophy earlier this year. He led them to their maiden title with a marathon knock of 320 off 483 balls in the final against Madhya Pradesh.

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.”