Joe Denly hit a career-best 116 not out as Kent chased down 206 in the NatWest T20 Blast to beat Surrey by eight wickets in front of a near 25,000 sell out at the Kia Oval

ECB Reporters Network14-Jul-2017
ScorecardJoe Denly’s unbeaten hundred shocked Surrey at the Kia Oval•Getty Images

Joe Denly hit a career-best 116 not out as Kent chased down 206 in the NatWest T20 Blast to beat Surrey by eight wickets in front of a near 25,000 sell out at the Kia Oval.Denly carried his bat, hitting 76 of his runs in boundaries – including six sixes – to ease the visitors home with three balls to spare for their second win in three South Group starts.Kent’s reply to Surrey’s 205 for 5 started in the twilight with Denly seemingly struggling to pick-up the early deliveries as Jade Dernbach conceded only a single in his opening over.Denly and Daniel Bell-Drummond opened their boundary accounts in the second and third overs of the pursuit, but starved of sixes the crowd entertained themselves by starting a Mexican wave. They soon sat and watched as Denly took the game by the scruff of its neck.Ravi Rampaul conceded 10 as Kent finished their Powerplay on 47 without loss – yet they were already 33 runs shy of Surrey’s total at the same stage. Denly upped the tempo with a massive six against offspinner Gareth Batty into the first tier of the OCS Stand and, in trying to follow suit, Bell-Drummond, on 34, sliced into the deep off Rampaul to be dropped by Dernbach at deep cover.Denly pulled his sixth four to reach a 32-ball 50 as Kent coasted to 91 without loss at the mid-point of their reply. The former Middlesex batsman clipped three sixes into the Pavilion in Sibley’s next over to match Aaron Finch and Jason Roy by posting a century opening stand to leave Kent needing 94 off the final nine overs for victory.Bell-Drummond notched his eighth fifty in the format from 36 balls and with five fours then Denly lifted six off Tom Curran to post Kent’s record stand in the format for any wicket, beating Denly and Bell-Drummond’s 151 scored against Surrey in Tunbridge Wells last July.With only 43 needed the opening stand ended for 163 when Bell-Drummond heaved a Dernbach full toss to Ollie Pope at deep midwicket to go for 64 off 44 balls.Kent promoted their IPL star Sam Billings to No. 3 and he soon laced Dernbach for a four through extra cover, then walked outside off stump to lap a six and four over fine leg against a bemused Sam Curran.Denly reached his hundred in the 18th over from 54 balls, with eight fours and six sixes, and made it a competition-best before Billings forced a low Dernbach full toss into the hands of Tom Curran at deep point to make it 187 for 2. With 17 needed off 12 balls Denly clattered a straight four that almost felled bowler Tom Curran and scampered three to be on strike for the final over from Rampaul with seven needed.Denly made room to clatter Rampaul’s first delivery to the ropes at extra cover to raise Kent’s 200. Alex Blake sprinted a single to tie the scores but Rampaul’s slow-ball bouncer sailed past Denly over head-height leading to umpire Jeremy Lloyds to call a no-ball and spark Kent celebrations.Batting first on an unusually green-tinted Kia Oval pitch after losing the toss, Surrey made a flying start through Finch and Roy, who plundered 108 for the first wicket.Surrey’s 50 was on the board after only 28 balls, forcing Kent to introduce the offspin of James Tredwell for the sixth over. The ploy backfired dreadfully for Kent skipper Sam Northeast as Finch clubbed three successive sixes and, with 23 coming off the over, the hosts reached
74 without loss by the end of their Powerplay.Roy raced to a 26-ball 50 with eight fours and then posted his side’s 100 with an impudent flip to the ropes at third man in the ninth over from Mitch Claydon, who ended the over by having Roy caught at long-off off a low full toss.In a bid to keep pace off the ball Northeast introduced legspinner Denly and was rewarded when Finch dragged on to go for 49 off 25 balls with three fours and as many sixes.Kumar Sangakkara’s back-foot force against Adam Milne was caught overhead at mid-off by Blake. Milne yorked Dominic Sibley in his final over and then sprinted from his follow-through to run out Sam Curran by kicking the ball on to the stumps at the striker’s end.Milne finished with 2 for 33 and Surrey eased past 200 to their second highest T20 total on the ground and set Kent a tough asking rate of 10.3 an over for victory.

The investment company was one of two local buyers – out of eight – unveiled as franchise owners by Cricket South Africa in June

ESPNcricinfo staff14-Aug-2017Brimstone Investment Corporation Limited, the investment company which had been unveiled as one of the eight franchise owners of South Africa’s T20 Global League in June, has said it will not proceed with the acquisition, according to IOL. The company, headed by Mustaq Brey, was set to run the Stellenbosch franchise that was likely to play out of Boland Park in Paarl.Brey, CEO of Brimstone, was quoted by IOL as saying: “We follow a rigorous investment process. This venture had to undergo the same process and be tested against our standard investment criteria as all other investment proposals. Our investment decisions take cognisance of the risks and benefits to all our stakeholders. We wish Cricket South Africa well with the T20 Global League and will continue to support the development of, and access to, the sport in various other ways.”Brimstone was one of only two South African owners in the league proposed by Cricket South Africa. Osman Osman, the owner of a lifestyle brand, was the other local buyer, while the other six franchises went to two IPL franchises, two PSL franchises, and representatives from Hong Kong and Dubai. These seven franchises will be based out of Durban, Benoni, Pretoria, Cape Town, Bloemfontein, Johannesburg and Port Elizabeth.More than 400 players have registered their interest in playing in the league’s inaugural edition ahead of a player draft in August, and Faf du Plessis, South Africa’s Test and T20 captain, was named the Stellenbosch franchise’s marquee player by the South Africa board.

Chris Gayle and Evin Lewis set the agenda as West Indies withstood a chilly autumnal evening, and a spirited England fightback, to seal victory by 21 runs at Chester-le-Street

The Report by Andrew Miller16-Sep-2017
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsChris Gayle set the agenda with a traditionally six-laden cameo, while his heir apparent, Evin Lewis, lived up to his lofty billing with 51 from 28 balls, as West Indies withstood a chilly autumnal evening, and a spirited England fightback with the ball, to seal victory by 21 runs in the one-off T20 at Chester-le-Street.On a night that could not have been further removed from the balmy, barmy circumstances of their previous T20 encounter, in the World T20 final in Kolkata 18 months ago, West Indies choked England’s ambitions, first through the spin twins of Sunil Narine and Ashley Nurse, and then through a canny spell of pace-off-the-ball from Kieron Pollard, Kesrick Williams and Carlos Brathwaite, at precisely the moment when it seemed their own resolve was about to crack in the inhospitable conditions.After losing the toss and being asked to bat first, West Indies served up the definitive innings of two halves. At the halfway mark they had rampaged to 106 for 1, with Gayle and Lewis crunching seven sixes between them in a freewheeling partnership, but they were restricted to 70 for 8 thereafter, as Liam Plunkett’s deck-hitting aggression, allied to another wily spell of legspin from Adil Rashid, looked to have kept their target well within manageable proportions.With the weather beginning to deteriorate as quickly as the temperature, the contest seemed to have swung decisively in England’s favour – the first-ball dismissal of Jason Roy notwithstanding – when Alex Hales smashed 43 from 17 balls to launch their pursuit in a fusillade of boundaries. But when, in the sixth over, Hales missed a loose drive to be bowled by a gleeful Brathwaite, England’s usually power-packed middle order could produce no adequate substitute for his sublime ball-striking.Joe Root, often so adept at working the gaps to allow his team-mates to clear the ropes, this time turned in a stodgy innings of 17 from 19 balls that came to an end with a low catch at short cover as Nurse struck with his third delivery. And spin continued to apply a tourniquet to England’s run-rate, as Eoin Morgan ducked and dived against Narine to no avail. After three consecutive dot-balls, Morgan reversed his hands for flick through backward point, but picked out the fielder to depart for 2 – his seventh consecutive single-figure score in all T20 innings.Eoin Morgan picked up another low score•Getty Images

The conditions were never easy for West Indies’ fielders – the cold and damp combined to create a funereal over-rate as well as regular protests about the slippery out-field. But with the umpires adamant that the show must go on – and the hardy Durham crowd certainly never lost the faith in that regard – West Indies found a second wind as England’s innings dribbled through the middle overs.If anyone was going to reignite the run-chase, it was Jos Buttler, whose mere presence was a reminder that nothing could be taken for granted. But with little pace to work with, he was unable to risk his habitual dinks over the keeper’s head for fear of holing out behind square, and he had been limited to two boundaries in a 27-ball stay when a Williams short ball induced a spliced pull to Rovman Powell at deep midwicket.Williams – who had borne the brunt of Hales’ earlier onslaught, when pace on the ball had equalled pace off the bat – then made it two in the over as a skittish Rashid gloved an attempted ramp to the keeper. Narine returned for his final over, that included the stumping off David Willey for 1, before Jonny Bairstow – England’s final, final hope – capped a collapse of 4 for 11 in 14 balls when he shovelled a Brathwaite slower ball to backward square leg.Fittingly, it was the captain Brathwaite – remember that name? – who put the seal on the victory as Plunkett missed a slog across the line with three balls of the innings remaining. England were all out for 155, done in by some canny bowling and a classy outfit who proved, as if it needed reiterating, that their World T20 triumph was no fluke.In the final analysis, however, it was West Indies’ flying start with the bat that proved the decisive difference between the sides. And fittingly, given that what little hype in the build-up to this contest had centred around the master and the apprentice at the top of West Indies’ order, it was Gayle and Lewis who shared top billing.Gayle, who got off the mark first-ball with an edged four through third man, soaked up a handful of sighters with that exaggerated caution that has so often been a feature of his game, before crunching from first gear to overdrive in the waft of a bat. His seventh ball, from Willey, was spanked over midwicket to bring up the 100th six of his T20 international career, and he celebrated that landmark in emphatic style one ball later, an arcing flog down the ground and over the sightscreen as Willey was once again punished for feeding Gayle’s strengths on a full length outside off.At the other end, Lewis – whose last act in West Indies’ colours had been a matchwinning 125 not out from 62 balls against India – slipstreamed his senior partner with poise and maturity. He avoided falling for the ego-trap that had done for Gayle (and his predecessor as opener, Johnson Charles) in the World T20 final, when Root was tossed the ball for the second over of the Powerplay for tidy over of darting offbreaks, and instead saved his change-up for the introduction of Tom Curran, whom he cracked for four, six, four, six from the first four balls he faced.West Indies finished the Powerplay on a daunting 72 for 0, but England – to their credit – found a means to claw back into the contest. The catalyst came with the introduction of Plunkett in the seventh over, as Gayle was pushed onto the back foot by a lifter outside off, and was slow to set off as Roy’s shy from backward point was sharply gathered by the bowler to pull off a tight run-out.Lewis’s half-century then came to an end as he smashed a Plunkett slower ball into the midriff of Root at mid-off, and when Plunkett followed up with two more major scalps – Marlon Samuels, caught at midwicket off a cramped pull for 10, and Pollard – expertly plucked at fine leg by a stretching Curran – England had found a means to restore their foothold in the game.Rashid, who’d been teasing out a tidy line and length in his mid-innings holding role, then dragged one down for Chadwick Walton to flog a top-edged pull out to Willey at deep midwicket, then did for Brathwaite and Narine in quick succession as an untimely rain interruption – with seven balls remaining – further disrupted West Indies’ flow. But, just as had been the case on that famous night in Kolkata, West Indies would not be denied. The prize on this occasion was rather more low-key, but with their big names back on parade after a low-key Test leg of their tour, it was a notable return to the colours nonetheless.

The Test squad, which contains as many as six uncapped players, will be culled from 15 to 13 after next month’s three-day clash with an ACT XI

Darren Arthur10-Oct-2017

Australia squads for the 2017-18 Ashes

ODI squad: Kristen Beams, Alex Blackwell, Nicole Bolton, Lauren Cheatle, Ashleigh Gardner, Rachael Haynes (capt), Alyssa Healy, Jess Jonassen, Tahlia McGrath, Beth Mooney, Ellyse Perry, Megan Schutt, Elyse Villani, Amanda-Jade Wellington
Test squad: Kristen Beams, Alex Blackwell, Nicole Bolton, Lauren Cheatle, Ashleigh Gardner, Rachael Haynes (capt), Alyssa Healy, Jess Jonassen, Tahlia McGrath, Beth Mooney, Ellyse Perry, Megan Schutt, Belinda Vakarewa, Elyse Villani, Amanda-Jade Wellington

Australia have named near-identical squads for the ODI and Test legs of the 2017-18 Ashes, with Lauren Cheatle and Tahlia McGrath recalled to the 50-overs team after missing out on World Cup selection. Cheatle and McGrath are among six uncapped players in the Test squad, the others being Belinda Vakarewa, Amanda-Jade Wellington, Beth Mooney and Ashleigh Gardner.”I’m really excited about the final squad that has come together,” captain Rachael Haynes said on Tuesday. “I think it is really well-balanced and it’s going to be pretty hard to pick the final XI on the day… I think we’re coming into the Ashes series in some really good form.”Haynes is not overawed by the task of leading Australia in the absence of superstar and regular captain Meg Lanning.”I feel very confident in my ability to lead the team and it’s great that there are so many good senior players around the group as well, who can contribute in that environment,” Haynes said.”The likes of Ellyse Perry and Alex Blackwell who will be vice-captain, Alyssa Healy, Elyse Villani who is captain for WA, I think there is a really great balance in the team and I will draw on that experience as well.”Fresh from scores of 103* and 83 for New South Wales, Haynes is confident the Australians can step up to replace the Lanning-shaped hole in the batting order.”Meg is obviously a world-class player, she is the best batter in the world, so she’d be a loss to any team she was part of… but I feel very confident that we have the depth in our team,” Haynes said. “It’s a great strength of Australian cricket and we’ll be really well-placed heading into the series.”England have shown that they are really going to bring an aggressive brand of cricket and we’re very much prepared for that, but we have very different conditions over here and we’re looking forward to using that to our advantage.”The 15-strong Test squad will be reduced to 13 players at the conclusion of next month’s three-day clash with an ACT XI. National selector Shawn Flegler believes the game in Canberra will provide vital pink-ball experience to the players.”There is always a couple of positions up for grabs,” Flegler said. “We have to have a look at the conditions for the Test match in North Sydney. It’s a pink ball as well, a day-night Test match, the girls haven’t played that before, so it’s a good opportunity during that three-day practice match in Canberra to see how the girls perform with the pink ball and under lights.”The Women’s Ashes is decided through a multi-format points system. Following the ODIs and day-night Test, Australia will announce another squad for the three T20Is which could decide who takes the trophy home.The three ODIs will be played on October 22, 26 and 29. They will be followed by the day-night Test from November 9 to 12, and three T20Is on November 17, 19 and 21.

Joe Root has admitted England were given a “massive shock” by their experiences in Brisbane four years ago but believes it will be different this time

George Dobell in Brisbane21-Nov-20171:59

‘Australia realise that The Gabba is their fortress’

Joe Root has admitted England were given a “massive shock” by their experiences in Brisbane four years ago that set them back for the rest of the series.But Root, the England captain, insisted the current England and Australian teams were “completely different” from 2013-14 so the talk of reopening “scars” that has dominated the build-up to this year’s Ashes series was “completely irrelevant”.Root was part of an England team who travelled to Australia at the end of 2013 on the back of a good year. But then they ran into Mitchell Johnson at his best and were unable to cope with either him or the period of introspection it precipitated. Instead, it proved the final stand of one of the best England sides for many years.”Last time round we came here at the end of a year when we hadn’t lost a Test match,” Root said. “We had a very experienced side with a lot of guys who had won a lot of Ashes cricket and had great success on the last trip to Australia.”It was a massive shock and we struggled to come back from that.”But this time round it is a completely different set of players. And we’re playing against a completely different Australia side.”So of course you want to harness those experiences and make sure you don’t fall into a similar trap. But both sides are in two very different places to where they were.”Root was especially underwhelmed by Nathan Lyon’s recent comments, dismissing them as “bizarre” and suggesting they could backfire on Australia.”The more guys talk going into a series the more they put pressure on themselves,” Root said. “You can sort of see through it a little as well.”We’ve won four of the last five Ashes series. We’ve a lot of guys who were part of the squad in the last series, in 2015, and have very fond memories of it. Maybe they are trying to brush that under the carpet but for me it’s completely irrelevant what happened four years ago.”They have a completely different bowling attack. Their seam bowlers haven’t played an Ashes series in Australia themselves.”And they haven’t lost at the Gabba for such a long time. So they are under pressure, too. It’s not just our team that is going to be feeling the heat, it is those guys as well.”One thing Australia did very well last time was talking up certain things and they delivered. But this is a completely different tour and a completely different series and we have to make sure we don’t give them those opportunities this time.”Of course we have to be ready for everything the Gabba brings and all the media hype around the series. But ultimately it is about how we perform on the field. If we keep trusting what we have been doing really well for the last six to eight months then we give ourselves a great chance.”One area England hope to exploit is the relative lack of depth of the Australian seam attack. While there is no lack of respect for the trio of seamers they expect to see in Brisbane, there is a belief that, if they can be pushed into fourth and fifth spells, their venom can be extracted. So an England side with a reputation for playing relatively aggressive cricket may, at times, need to be patient with bat and ball.”Whenever you get sides bowling three or four spells you’re on top of them,” Root said. “That’s always an aim: to bat long and put overs in their legs. We have got to be quite pragmatic and realistic. Certain players in certain periods of the game will have to, I’m sure, be patient.”It will be quite hostile and potentially slightly intimidating but it shouldn’t scare us. It is part of Ashes cricket. It should excite us. We have a chance to do something that not many people do.”We just need to find a way of concentrating on what we do best out in the middle. And remember that we’re not the ones out there. There are 16 or 17 guys in the dressing room who are all out there with you.”

The fast bowler made his maiden first-class fifty and topped it up with two wickets in two overs. Elsewhere, defending champions Gujarat too built a solid case for qualification

ESPNcricinfo staff27-Nov-2017Basil Thampi enjoyed a fine day out in Lahli. It began with his walking out as a nightwatchman, without a single run to his name. It ended with him scoring a maiden first-class half-century and picking up two vital wickets to reduce Haryana to 83 for 5. On the back of that effort, Kerala retained a lead of 98 runs and appear well placed to secure the victory which will seal their progress into the quarter-finals.That may have been timely consolation for Rohan Prem, who had battled for 314 balls in search of a century only to fall seven runs short. His was the first wicket of two wickets to fall in the 101st over bowled by legspinner Amit Mishra but Thampi ensured there was no transfer of momentum, striking 10 fours and a six during his stay at the crease. Although Kerala’s tail folded relatively meekly – medium-pacer Ajit Chahal picked up his second five-for in as many matches – the damage had already been done.It would only get worse for Haryana as they found themselves 6 for 1 in the seventh over. The run-rate remained dismal for the rest of the day – they were 39 for 3 in the 27th – and were hurt further when Thampi picked up two wickets in successive overs to leave the score at 61 for 5.Defending champions Gujarat took a few further steps towards making the knockouts in Ranchi with Kamlesh Thakor, the debutant left-arm seamer, playing a pivotal role. The 25-year old picked up five wickets in the day to ensure Jharkhand were bowled out for 242 and then made to follow on. The hosts could not stand up to scoreboard pressure, with six of the XI falling for single-digits in the first innings. Only opener Nazim Siddiqui (71) and Kumar Deobrat (80) provided any resistance but they were removed by Gujarat’s two most impressive bowlers Thakor (3 for 43) and Chintan Gaja (3 for 49). Deobrat was promoted to open alongside Siddiqui in the second innings, but both batsmen fell to Thakor to leave Jharkhand 106 for 2 in at stumps.As well as Saurashtra fought, making Rajasthan follow-on in Jaipur, their bid to stay alive in the tournament took a hit due to the way the other two matches in group B progressed. A win for Gujarat and Kerala will see them through regardless of what Saurashtra do. Still, captain Jaydev Unadkat (3 for 77), Dharmendrasinh Jadeja (3 for 42) and Shaurya Sanandia (3 for 62) bowled Rajasthan out for 275 and helped secure a lead of 259. Robin Bist (63) and Mahipal Lomror (52) were the only batsmen to put up concerted resistance. There was time for 12 overs in the follow-on innings, which openers Amitkumar Gautam and Chetan Bist safely negotiated.

Any news is good for England – and the Lions provided it by becoming the first team to win at the Perth Stadium

ESPNcricinfo staff11-Dec-2017England Lions team held their nerve to beat a strong Perth Scorchers line-up and become the first ever winners at the new multi-sports stadium.The Lions were given the honour of playing the first match at the 55,000-capacity Perth Stadium which is due to stage England’s ODI against Australia in the New Year.After a difficult few days for England cricket, there was finally cause for some satisfaction as the Lions beat a Scorchers team who are preparing to launch their defence of a Big Bash title they have won three times in the last four years.The Scorchers included England’s ODI regular David Willey, as well as Australian internationals Hilton Cartwright, Andrew Tye, Ashton Agar and Adam Voges.Lions captain Keaton Jennings said: “It’s been an intense few days for all of us but winning a game always puts some smiles back on faces. It was an awesome experience for all of us playing in the Coliseum they’ve created here, and I thought the boys did really well to beat a very strong and experienced Scorchers side.”The Lions managed 160 for 6 in this Twenty20 affair on a pitch that Jennings assessed as “not easy to bat on” and ran out winners by 12 runs as Scorchers ended on 148 for 9, their challenge cut short by Lancashire’s promising young quick bowler Saqib Mahmood who finished with 4 for 14.The Lions return for a Day-Nighter on Wednesday.A consistent Lions batting display helped see off Willey, who ended with 3 for 32 from his four overs, with Liam Livingstone top-scoring with 36 from 30 balls.Mahmood then gave the Lions’ defence the perfect start when he trapped the dangerous Josh Philippe lbw with the first ball of the Scorchers’ reply. He later returned to skittle the lower order as Agar was bowled for a duck, and Willey holed out at deep midwicket.

The legspinner was eligible to feature in his second successive Under-19 World Cup, but the selectors did not want to distract him from his progress at the senior level

Nagraj Gollapudi10-Jan-2018Rashid Khan is eligible to play his second Under-19 World Cup but isn’t part of Afghanistan’s squad for the 2018 edition of the tournament. Rashid, the second-highest ODI wicket-taker in 2017 (43 wickets), was one of the names on the selectors’ shortlist, but they decided not to pick him, given how far he has progressed at the senior level, and given the wealth of other spin options in their squad.Players born on or after September 1, 1998, are eligible to play the 2018 edition of the tournament, which begins on Saturday in New Zealand; Rashid was born on September 20, 1998.Rashid was Afghanistan’s top wicket-taker in the 2016 edition of the tournament, with 10 wickets at an average of 17.10. The legspinner made his ODI and T20I debuts a few months before that tournament, and has since gone on to become the senior Afghanistan side’s leading strike bowler. He is also among the most sought-after wristspinners in franchise T20 leagues. Delivering stump-to-stump legbreaks and a well-disguised googly at a brisk pace, Rashid has flummoxed a number of batsmen around the world.Afghanistan, who earned Full Membership of the ICC last June, enter the Under-19 World Cup as contenders based on their recent form: the Under-19s won their maiden Youth Asia Cup late 2017. Afghanistan’s strength remains their bowling attack, which is dominated by spinners including the mystery offbreak bowler Mujeeb Zadran, the third-highest wicket-taker in Under-19 ODIs since the 2016 World Cup.Immediately after the Under-19 team’s Asia Cup triumph, coach Andy Moles requested the selection panel, led by the former Afghanistan captain Nawroz Mangal, to consider including Rashid in the squad. Yet, despite the temptation of playing him, the Afghanistan selectors felt bringing Rashid back into the Under-19 fold would only distract him.”We have three very good spinners in the squad and the selectors felt that Rashid has moved on with his career and these young spinners need to develop their game for the good and future of Afghanistan cricket,” Moles told ESPNcricinfo. “I am very happy with the selection policy as it ensures and encourages growth in our outstanding talent for the future.”If Rashid had been picked, he would have been the fifth member of the Afghanistan squad to feature in consecutive Under-19 World Cups, the others being Naveen-ul-Haq, Tariq Stanikzai, Zahir Khan and Ikram Ali Khil.Those four could be the last Afghanistan players to feature in two Under-19 World Cups. Chief executive officer Shafiqullah Stanikzai has said the ACB has put in place a policy that, going forward, no player can play more than one edition of the tournament.”We have passed a new resolution about our junior cricket that a player will participate in only one Under-19 World Cup [from the next edition],” Stanikzai said. “That way every two years we will have a new pool of players and help our development programmes in junior cricket.”Stanikzai also said the ACB backed the selectors’ decision on Rashid. “The core idea is for the player to go from strength to strength. Rashid has represented Afghanistan senior side, he is playing all the leagues, so we have to push him up, not bring him down. Instead of giving Rashid, we (the selectors) preferred giving a chance to Qais Ahmad, Zahir Khan and Mujeeb Zadran. We are quite strong in the spin department and we are keen to see how these bowler cope in New Zealand.”

Despite stalling late in their innings, Zimbabwe put up a total that proved to be well out of Hong Kong’s reach

The Report by Liam Brickhill10-Mar-2018Getty Images

Zimbabwe recorded their third win on the trot with an 89-run victory over Hong Kong at Queens Sports Club in Bulawayo. Zimbabwe’s was an innings of two distinct halves. The tournament hosts raced to 137 for 2 in the first 20 overs, but then, as the pitch slowed and Hong Kong’s lines tightened, they failed to hit a single boundary after the 32nd over and finally limped to 263 for 9 despite Hamilton Masakadza’s 84. Hong Kong’s response never really got going, and though Anshuman Rath recorded his second consecutive fifty in the tournament, they were bowled out in the 47th over.”We knew today was going to be tough,” Zimbabwe captain Graeme Cremer said after the win. “They’ve beaten Afghanistan, and we didn’t want to be in the same boat. So the guys came out firing. The guys really wanted it, I could see it out in the field.”Solomon Mire and Cephas Zhuwao got Zimbabwe’s innings off to a flying start after they were, somewhat surprisingly, put in to bat. Dispensing with the need for singles, Zhuwao favoured all out attack and slog-swept the second ball over the match to the square-leg boundary. By the end of the third over, he had added two huge sixes and another boundary to race into the 20s.More carnage was to come. Against Afghanistan, offspinner Ehsan Khan bowled with both economy and guile, but in different conditions at Queens, Zhuwao smashed his first four deliveries to the boundary. At the other end, Solomon Mire had just a single to his name while Zhuwao rushed into the 40s. But the fun was not to last; shortly after raising Zimbabwe’s fifty, Zhuwao slogged at one too many and was well caught by Waqas Barkat on the ropes at square leg for 45.”I think those [top-order] runs cost us the game,” Hong Kong’s captain Babar Hayat said. “Although, the way we bowled in the middle overs and in the last overs was brilliant.”Masakadza soon picked up where he left off, and with Mire striking the ball with fierce power at the other end, Zimbabwe ended the opening Powerplay in the healthy position of 81 for 1.”I think life is quite easy for me at the moment,” Masakadza, who was named Man of the Match for his innings, said. “Coming in behind those two – Cephas and Solomon – is quite easy, because they really put the bowlers under pressure. They’re getting us off to fast starts, so it’s a lot easier for me to come in and take my time and get myself in.After Mire fell victim to Nadeem Ahmed’s left-arm spin, Brendan Taylor joined Masakadza at the crease for the definitive partnership of the match. Together they put on 98 in just over 18 overs, setting what should have been a commanding platform for the tournament hosts.Masakadza brought up his fifty, from 64 deliveries, with a push down the ground in the 25th over. Masakadza’s celebrations often have a relevance, either personal or popular, and today, upon reaching fifty he gave the Wakanda salute from the movie .ICC

Taylor, meanwhile, had looked in particularly good touch through (or over) cover today, but an attacking offside shot eventually brought his dismissal. He drove hard at Nawaz and Ehsan Nawaz held a stinging catch inches from the turf at extra cover. The umpires conferred with the fielder to confirm that the catch was taken cleanly, and off Taylor went.Zimbabwe were 181 for 3 then, and Masakadza took them to the second drinks break in the relatively healthy position of 211 for 3. Just before the break, Masakadza had hit his one and only six, but that boundary – in the 32nd over – remarkably proved to be the last of Zimbabwe’s innings as Hong Kong’s bowlers staged a brave comeback. With Raza slicing a catch to the cover sweeper and Masakadza slashing a cut to short third man, Zimbabwe slipped to 216 for 5, and to their credit Hong Kong never let them back into the innings.”There was a period that I got a little ahead of myself, but I calmed down and I was looking to bat at least 45 overs,” Masakadza said. “So that [not batting through] was the most disappointing thing for me. It definitely did [slow up] and I got a little frustrated.”Wickets tumbled with some regularity as Zimbabwe tried to hit their way out of trouble, and when Craig Ervine pulled Nawaz to Nizakat Khan on the midwicket boundary, the bowler had his fourth wicket and Zimbabwe were nine down. Just 40 runs had come from the last 10 overs, with four wickets lost.”It might have had to do with the ball,” Cremer said. “Once it got a bit softer, it started sticking in the wicket. Even our guys that were in found it a bit harder to rotate the strike. But the wicket did slow up. When the ball was new, it would skid on and you could just hit through the line of the ball.”Hong Kong must have fancied their chances of pulling off a second upset in as many matches, but Zimbabwe’s new-ball bowlers immediately put them on the back foot. Jarvis and Chatara picked up a wicket apiece in their opening spells, and when Hayat failed to read a Cremer wrong ‘un, Hong Kong were 35 for 3.The response from Rath and Scott McKechnie was to cut out all risk from their batting, and they cobbled together a partnership that extended beyond 50 and was composed mainly of ones and twos. But once again it was Sikandar Raza’s golden arm that brought the breakthrough. Tired of nudging and pushing, McKechnie aimed an expansive sweep at a full delivery and was bowled for 18.”We did know it was going to spin a bit in the afternoon, and get a bit slower,” Cremer said. With Zimbabwe’s spinners constricting Hong Kong’s scoring options, their resolve seemed to evaporate. Sean Williams, returning from a broken spinning finger, showed there was no permanent damage with two quick wickets, and Hong Kong were 101 for 6. Raza struck again, spinning one past Barkat to pin him in front of his stumps and reduce them to 107 for 7; it seemed the match would finish in a hurry.Rath had other ideas. Just as he had done against Afghanistan two days earlier, he slowly built momentum in his own innings. Initially accumulating with correct, upright batting, he slowly came out of his shell and reached his fifty in the 35th over. But there was little support from the other end, and in an unwinnable position Rath eventually fell playing one shot too many.”The way we bowled, to restrict them to under 300, we knew that if we stayed in we could chase this target,” Hayat said. “But with the way they bowled, they didn’t give us any chance to get back in the game.”The victory left Zimbabwe assured of a Super-Six berth, though the result of their final match will determine how many points they take through to that stage (only points scored against the other teams that progress are carried through). Hong Kong are also still very much in with a chance of progressing, provided they can beat Nepal at Bulawayo Athletic Club on Monday.

A look at security arrangements ahead of Karachi’s biggest cricket event in nearly a decade

Umar Farooq in Karachi24-Mar-2018After nine years with no cricket of comparable magnitude, Karachi, the largest city in Pakistan, is gearing up to host the Pakistan Super League final. This is the second major venue after Lahore’s Gaddafi Stadium to host a high-profile game in recent years, and it is considered a crucial step on the long road to reviving international cricket in the country.The final between Islamabad United and Peshawar Zalmi will be played at the National Stadium and the entire route from the hotel to the stadium will be lined with guards from Pakistan’s paramilitary force, the Rangers, and the Sindh police. A full house (around 33,000) is expected, with tickets sold out hours after they were released. There is a three-tier security layer, heavily guarded by security forces. Deputy Inspector General Traffic Imran Yaqoob Minhas, while addressing a press conference, said a total of 8500 police personnel will be deployed around the stadium for the match.The landscape of the city has changed drastically over the last nine years and the law and order situation has improved significantly. Karachi still remains the venue of the last completed Test match in Pakistan, a few days before the 2009 terror attack on the Sri Lankan team bus in Lahore.Karachi is generally viewed as a more challenging city in terms of its law-and-order situation, and providing a complete security plan, what with the nearest hotel being at least 12 km from the National Stadium, is harder than it is in Lahore.The stadium is situated in the centre of the city, and all major routes from all four directions that connect with the stadium will be closed for the general public. The two biggest hospitals of the city, Agha Khan and Liaquat National, are located close to the stadium, but the roads leading to them will be open. A shuttle service will be in place to take fans from the parking area to the stadium gates. The flow of traffic is likely to be reduced, but a strict directive has been issued to follow the day’s plan to avoid congestion. The fact that the game will be held on Sunday will help.”It’s a big occasion for Karachi and the whole country,” said Rashid Latif, the former Pakistan wicketkeeper who is now team director at Karachi Kings. “I am very much thankful to the PCB for making this possible. This was a much-needed step because you cannot revive cricket by playing at one venue. It’s important to involve at least three or four cities to get this going. Otherwise, you cannot have a positive impact. Karachi is a huge city and I cannot explain in words how big this would be for us and for this country.”We have played a month in Dubai and Sharjah but we actually felt the intensity when cricket came to Lahore for the playoffs. We realised how people are hungry for cricket and how desperate they are to have cricket back in their stadiums. This is huge for fans; they are really passionate about the game and during isolation we have suffered a lot in world of cricket.”I think the security is somewhat overdone. I don’t want to be critical but I feel security should be given to the foreigners only, not to us. When we were in Lahore for playoffs, even local players and officials were restricted from going out freely. So this shouldn’t be the case because this will give off a bad impression among the overseas players.”The security protocols are being overseen by international security consultant Reg Dickason who has praised the “remarkably thorough” security arrangements for the final, saying they were “as good as I have seen in all my years”.The PCB plans to bring a major chunk of the next edition of the PSL to Pakistan, with at least three venues hosting more than 15 games in total. “We plan to have half of the PSL next year in Pakistan,” Najam Sethi, the PSL chairman, said on Friday. “But for that, we need four stadiums. As of now, we have Lahore, Karachi and Multan ready to host big matches, so now our focus is on preparing the stadiums of Rawalpindi and Peshawar. We’ve been working day and night to bring international cricket back to the country.”