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The third day saw 24 wickets fall in little more than two sessions but Nathan Lyon expects the Test strip to be very different

Andrew McGlashan01-Dec-2023Former Australia captain Tim Paine has slammed the SCG pitch produced for the Sheffield Shield match between New South Wales and Tasmania as an “absolute disgrace”, after 24 wickets tumbled on the third day with the visitors bowled out for 68, but there remains confidence in the quality of surfaces for upcoming matches including the New Year’s Test against Pakistan.The clatter of wickets came across just 63 overs on Thursday, as batters were confronted with extreme seam movement and uneven bounce. Tasmania fell well short of chasing 143 after the home side had themselves lost 9 for 55 in the second innings.”That wicket was absolute disgrace,” Paine told SEN Tassie. “This a Test venue in the strongest state in the country, and they rolled that up. That’s embarrassing. The ball was seaming sideways, it was going up and down, it wasn’t fit for first-class cricket. That was a disgraceful wicket.”I haven’t spoken to people, but you could see it on the screen it had those cracks where it’s like got grass over it. You don’t even see that in club cricket.”Related

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Paine questioned how such a surface could be produced at a major Test venue, and said that it undermined the Sheffield Shield competition.”What’s going on at Cricket New South Wales or the SCG? That was such a bad wicket to play cricket on,” he said. “Whether we won or lost, whatever, I could have bowled on that and taken wickets. It’s not good enough.”How that can happen at one of the premier Test venues around the world is a disgrace. That was below standard for grade cricket and this is meant to be the premier first-class cricket competition in the world, and that is meant to be one of the iconic Test match venues… and that’s what we are getting served up.”New types of grass are being used at the SCG this season, with the Shield surfaces comprising a different variety than will form the Test pitch against Pakistan in early January. ESPNcricinfo understands that there are no concerns about the quality of pitch that will be brought up for that Test, which is shaping as David Warner’s farewell from the format, and will be played on one of the centre wickets used for TV games.Nathan Lyon, who played in the Tasmania match, was sure the pitch for the Test match would bear little resemblance. “I expect totally different,” he said.The ground will also host three BBL matches before the Test, with Sydney Sixers facing Melbourne Renegades (December 8), Adelaide Strikers (December 22) and Melbourne Stars (December 26).However, it also understood that elements of the pitch preparation will be reviewed with the proximity of the WBBL double-header matches on November 26 a potential factor as well as some poor weather.Chris Tremain, the New South Wales quick who claimed 6 for 31 in Tasmania’s second innings, defended the groundsmen by saying they had been hampered in the build-up by the weather and that the surface had started soft which caused divots to form that then hardened to create the uneven bounce.”Don’t think that wicket was poorly prepared,” Tremain told ESPNcricinfo. “In the balance of bat versus ball obviously ball was the winner, but I wouldn’t be too quick to hang the groundsman out to dry.”Tasmania captain Jordan Silk, while more measured than Paine in his views, said conditions had been skewed too far towards the ball.”I’ve played quite a lot Shield cricket, and can’t say I’ve played on a wicket quite like that where the ball was nipping around a lot. There were cracks on lines, and it was snaky,” he said. “You had not just the sideways movement but you also had a few balls climbing up then some climbing down.”Think you can cop a bit of wear and tear over the course of a game; but when there’s been 40 wickets in 160 overs of cricket, you probably think it’s a bit too heavily weighted towards the bowlers. And that’s coming from someone who is really keen on having some sporting wickets, but it was slightly too far towards the bowling side.”

Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Jasprit Bumrah among the premier players rested for the series

ESPNcricinfo staff22-May-202211:36

Shastri: On current form, India might just play Malik against SA

Rohit Sharma, the designated all-format captain, Virat Kohli and Jasprit Bumrah are among the senior players to be rested for India’s five-match T20I series at home against South Africa next month. KL Rahul has been named the captain of the 18-man side, which welcomes back Hardik Pandya, and has maiden call-ups for Umran Malik and Arshdeep Singh.Also missing from the squad are Deepak Chahar, Ravindra Jadeja and Suryakumar Yadav, who are all carrying injuries. Chahar, of Chennai Super Kings in the IPL, has a back injury, and played no part in the tournament. Jadeja, also of Super Kings, left the IPL with a bruised rib that he picked up earlier this month, while Mumbai Indians’ Suryakumar also left the IPL earlier this month because of a left-forearm injury.Related

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From the squad that took on Sri Lanka in their T20I series, also in India, in February this year, Mohammed Siraj and Sanju Samson have been left out. Kohli, who last played a T20I in February, against West Indies, had been rested for the Sri Lanka series as well. In fact, since stepping down as India’s T20I captain after the 2021 T20 World Cup, Kohli has played only two T20Is.As such, both Kohli and Rohit have been in patchy form at the IPL. Rohit, whose Mumbai Indians finished last on the points table, had a best score of 48 and tallied 268 runs overall from 14 innings, scoring at an average of 19.14 and a strike rate of 120.17. Kohli’s run was arguably even poorer, but he has shown signs of returning to form of late, hitting 73 in 54 balls in Royal Challengers’ last game, against Titans, which gave them an eight-wicket win and helped them stay in contention for the playoffs. Overall, Kohli has 309 runs from 14 innings, at an average of 23.76 and a strike rate of 117.93.IPL form is likely to have played a part in the Hardik and Dinesh Karthik recalls too.ESPNcricinfo Ltd

Karthik, one of the top finishers in the competition this year, last played a T20I – or a match in any format for India – in 2019, but forced the selectors to turn to him after hitting 287 runs at a strike rate of 191.33 in the IPL 2022 league stage. He has also been the best Indian batter in the death overs this season [min 30 balls faced], striking at 226.37.Hardik, meanwhile, last turned out for India at the 2021 T20 World Cup, but played primarily as a batter, bowling only in a couple of games in the group stage. But he has bowled a lot more in IPL 2022 – 24.3 overs across eight innings – where he has led Titans to the top of the points table. With the bat, he had an excellent start to the tournament, but then tapered off before smashing 62 not out in 47 balls in their last match, against Royal Challengers Bangalore.His international appearances have been sporadic of late, especially since back problems, which necessitated a surgery, cropped up in 2019. But Hardik has always remained a part of India’s plans, which was evident when he was asked by the BCCI to take the fitness tests at NCA days before the IPL began. It is understood that the national selectors wanted to be sure that Hardik can consistently bowl at least a couple of overs in every match.Arshdeep and Malik, meanwhile, have been among the most exciting young Indian quicks at the IPL. Malik has consistently bowled at speeds upwards of 150kph, and has 21 wickets to show for his efforts even while he has, at times, been expensive. Arshdeep has been the go-to bowler for Punjab Kings at the death, his yorkers reaping great rewards for him on most occasions. He hasn’t always been a big wicket-taker, though, with ten strikes in 13 outings, but has an overall economy rate of 7.82 this season, and an impressive death-overs economy of 7.31, the best among all bowlers to have sent down at least 50 balls in that phase.The players to retain their places in the squad were Ruturaj Gaikwad, Deepak Hooda and Shreyas Iyer in the batting line-up, wicketkeeper-batters Rishabh Pant and Ishan Kishan, allrounder Venkatesh Iyer, spinners Yuzvendra Chahal, the Purple-Cap holder at the IPL at this stage, Kuldeep Yadav, Axar Patel and Ravi Bishnoi, and seamers Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Harshal Patel and Avesh Khan.But two of the names that had been discussed during IPL 2022 after making big impressions – batter Rahul Tripathi and quick bowler Mohsin Khan – didn’t get a look-in.

Dom Bess on a rollercoaster season for England and Somerset, and the realisation that he may need to move counties to fulfil his ambition

Jon Culley11-Nov-2018After a head-spinning summer that saw him question the direction of his career after going from the England Test team to Somerset’s second XI in the space of a month, Dom Bess says that it was one particular moment during the England Lions training camp ahead of the upcoming series against Pakistan A that helped him find clarity of thought.It came during a squad meeting in which motivation and goal visualisation were the topics.”A couple of boys came up with a great scenario in which, when you finish your career, you have all your caps lined up, from under-10s, club cricket, county cricket, all the way through your career,” Bess said.”The last one you have is your England Test cap, which for me is the pinnacle of the sport. You ask yourself the question: do you want that England cap to look brand new or look like the other caps that have seen so much hard work and sweat and tears?”That’s the thing that really got me. Some of the caps I’ve got have had a lot of hard sweat and tears gone into them and I want to make sure at the end of my career that my England cap has seen a lot of sweat, and a lot of champagne hopefully, so it’s just like the others.”The 21-year-old off-spinner tells the story of his roller-coaster season, his relationship with county team-mate Jack Leach, and his feeling that he may have to leave Somerset to fulfil his ambitions, with extraordinary candour.In his words, he had a season with an “Everest followed by a massive descent”. Both were linked with the fortunes of his team-mate Leach, whose place he took when he made his Test debut against Pakistan at Lord’s in May after Leach had broken his thumb.Bess made a favourable impression. He took no wickets at Lord’s but scored a remarkable 57 batting at No 8 to stave off an innings defeat, following up with 49 as nightwatchman in the second Test at Headingley and 3 for 33 as England bowled Pakistan out for an innings victory.The rapid descent came at Worcester at the beginning of July, just four weeks after walking off the field as a Test winner.”We had a game at New Road,” he said. “Leachy hadn’t played. He’d been out with concussion and had had a broken thumb and I thought I was potentially the option but they picked Leachy. I’ll admit that I struggled with that decision.”I had to go back and play in the second XI. It was like going from Lord’s in front of 30,000 people to Taunton Vale in front of a man and his dog.”Bess is not part of Somerset’s white-ball teams so the second XI became his domain for the next six weeks. He played for the senior team only twice more.”It was tough at times,” he said. “I had a lot of what you would say were honest conversations with Jason Kerr [head coach] and Andy Hurry [director of cricket] in which at times we disagreed with each other.”But actually we finished second in the Championship and everything we do is for Somerset so looking back it was a decision that was made and there is no point in sobbing about it. That’s professional sport.”Now Leach is back in the Test team but Bess smiles at the suggestion that people looking from the outside might expect that he secretly wants his rival to fail.”You can’t start to think that way,” he said. “If you did it would just get toxic. This is professional sport and you have to remember that at the end of the day it is about the team.”We are good mates. I’m buzzing that he’s having success and taking wickets. It’s a fascinating relationship because when we are on the field we don’t compete against each other, we play together, we bowl together, for the team. Yet in training my goal is to knock him off the No 1 spot.”Yet he accepts that, at Taunton, he may never be No 1, which leads inevitably to questions about where his future might be.”I’m contracted for next year and the year after. I love Somerset. They have always given me the opportunity, but if I am not progressing to where I want to be… At some point I feel I will have to be No 1 somewhere.”I know I’m young and people say I should be patient but when I look back on my career, do I want to be a good county cricketer who was patient and sat behind somebody like Leachy for a while, or do I want to have seven, eight, 10 years playing for England? Or at least give myself the opportunity to have that?”The first chance to further those ambitions comes now, as England Lions depart for the UAE.”For me this is a hell of an opportunity for wickets and runs after not playing in the Somerset side, but also to contribute in a Lions side with some exciting young players but also a lot of experience.”I have gone away and got my head space right and now I’m back on it. I’ve got a really strong fire in my chest now to play England cricket.”

Ben Stokes will continue his rehabilitation from a calf tear that kept him out of England’s last two Tests against Pakistan by appearing for Durham on NatWest T20 Blast Finals Day

ESPNcricinfo staff15-Aug-2016Ben Stokes will continue his rehabilitation from a calf tear that kept him out of England’s last two Tests against Pakistan by appearing for Durham on NatWest T20 Blast Finals Day. Stokes is one of a number of England players made available for their counties this week in the knockout stages of the white-ball competitions.Stokes, who has been cleared to bat and bowl, is set to come up against England team-mates Joe Root, Gary Ballance and Jonny Bairstow in the second Blast semi-final between Durham and Yorkshire on Saturday. Durham will also have centrally contracted pace bowler Mark Wood at their disposal.Wood and Stokes are hopeful of being involved in England’s limited-overs series against Pakistan, after a summer disrupted by injuries. Wood has twice undergone surgery on his ankle but bowled with impressive pace to help Durham beat Gloucestershire at Bristol and book a place at Finals Day; Stokes also had an operation, on a knee injury suffered during the Sri Lanka Test series, and then hurt his calf playing against Pakistan at Old Trafford.England have allowed seven of the players who were involved in England’s defeat at The Oval to turn out in the Blast and Royal London Cup. Stuart Broad is set to play his first white-ball game for Nottinghamshire in almost a year (he was selected for a Blast game in July but it was abandoned without a ball bowled), with Alex Hales also available for Finals Day, when they will play Northamptonshire.Yorkshire’s trio of Root, Ballance and Bairstow are also in line to play the Royal London Cup quarter-final at Kent on Thursday. Moeen Ali has been released for Worcestershire’s quarter-final trip to Taunton and Chris Woakes will be part of Warwickshire’s squad for the visit of Essex on Wednesday.The only member of the Test side that won’t be in the reckoning for his county is the captain, Alastair Cook, who has been requested to take a break by the England management.

Graeme Swann’s performances in the one-day series are putting significant pressure on Xavier Doherty and he is feeling the strain

Daniel Brettig at Edgbaston03-Jul-2012Watching Shane Warne’s 1993 Ashes demolition of England from the dressing room, Phil Tufnell is said to have remarked the legspinner’s performances were “ruining my career” by extracting far superior results from the same surfaces. After two matches in which his unfussy left-arm spin has been milked for runs, Xavier Doherty is under a similar level of pressure from his opposite number, Graeme Swann.Both bowlers have one wicket from two matches, but there the parallels end. Swann tied Australia’s middle order in knots at The Oval, and should have taken more than the wicket of Shane Watson, while bowling eight overs for 27 runs. He was principally responsible for the mid-innings torpor the tourists fell into, resulting in a final total England chased with ease.In marked contrast, England have not allowed Doherty to settle into a rhythm, the use of the reverse sweep by Jonathan Trott and Ian Bell encapsulating the comfort with which the hosts have played him. George Bailey, Doherty’s state captain with Tasmania, admitted that Australia’s slow bowler on tour was being set a difficult task, both by the batsmen he opposes and the spinner he is invariably compared to.”They’re not letting him settle, and that’s something we’re talking about with him,” Bailey said ahead of the third ODI at Edgbaston. “The opposite of the way we’ve played Graeme Swann, they’re really challenging Dohey from the moment he comes on, not giving him the chance to get into his rhythm and set the fields he wants.”The way they’re manipulating the field is making it difficult for him to settle, along with probably some pressure of knowing the opposition does have a spinner of the calibre of Swann. He’s probably feeling that pressure a little bit, the comparisons will be there between the two spinners in the game. That’s a challenge for him, but I’ve seen a lot of him, and every time he has been challenged, he normally finds a way to respond.”Just as Doherty must find a way to set the agenda for England’s batsmen rather than reacting to theirs, so Australia’s batsmen need to find a better way around Swann. A greater use of the sweep has been advocated by some, and Bailey said there were plenty of ways to gain greater change from Swann’s bowling than he managed in a halting start to his innings at The Oval.”I was pretty happy with how I played him Lord’s, not so much the other day where I found it a little more difficult,” Bailey said. “I thought he bowled better. That balance of keeping wickets in hand for the final onslaught and to get that total up versus weighing up the risk and reward of putting a bit more pressure on him is something we’ll talk about.”The sweep’s a good shot … there are a myriad of options, changing where you bat, use your feet more, sweep more, you can hit shots you’re trying to hit better. They’re all options and I guess the way he’s trying to bowl is try to limit your opportunities to play those shots.”Bailey is in a curious position in Australian cricket, as captain of the Twenty20 team while still aspiring to a regular place in the 50-over side and a first baggy green cap in Test cricket. He will stay on in England after the conclusion of the ODI series for the Australia A tour, which he said would be as important if not more so than these matches in determining whether he might return for the 2013 Ashes series.”When Test spots have come up over the last few years it’s been a matter of being in the right place at the right time and I don’t think this would be any different,” Bailey said. “I pushed really hard to be on that A tour. There’s a lot of other cricket on around it and after it but it’s something I feel is really important. I just don’t feel this is a time to be missing any form of red-ball cricket.”Proving that you can handle the pressure of international cricket and handle different situations, there’s no doubt it’s transferable from ODI cricket to Tests. But I think to back that up you are going to have to be scoring some long-form runs as well.”

A too-thin layer of sunblock was about the only mistake Trent Copeland made on his first day as an Australian cricketer as he knocked over Sri Lanka Board XI’s top order on his way to figures of 5 for 47

Daniel Brettig at P Sara Oval25-Aug-2011A too-thin layer of sunblock was about the only mistake Trent Copeland made on his first day as an Australian cricketer as he knocked over Sri Lanka Board XI’s top order on his way to figures of 5 for 47. If those figures are an accurate indicator of his quality, and based on the calibre of the victims it is difficult to argue that they aren’t, there are likely to be many more days in an Australian shirt to come.Chief among his victims was Thilan Samaraweera, the middle order batsman with an average of 54.08 in Tests. Copeland reckoned that was the most satisfying of his wickets, but there was also Tharanga Paranavitana, the Test opener, and Angelo Mathews, the allrounder who was recently named Sri Lanka Test vice-captain.”Samaraweera is a guy who is entrenched in their middle order and he’s averaged 60-odd in Test cricket for the last few years,” Copeland said. “To build some pressure on him and get him to play a loose shot like that – it probably wasn’t the best ball I bowled all day, but that’s something I aspire to do is take Test wickets, so for me he is a Test player and it is something I can measure myself against.”I’m absolutely stoked to have played my first real game as an Australian cricketer and to have taken five wickets is absolutely astonishing. We’ve still got a second innings to play in this game and I’m just absolutely enjoying where I’m at the moment. Opening the bowling for an Australian side, getting some nicks through to Brad Haddin and talking to Michael Clarke about field settings and stuff like that, it’s a little bit beyond my wildest dreams. I said to myself I needed to make an impression when I got here and hopefully I have done.”The Board XI began in a manner that might have frustrated a less focused touring side, scrapping to 82 for no loss before Copeland struck with the last ball before lunch. Regular wickets ensued once play started after the interval and by stumps the Australian openers were in firmly entrenched at the crease.”I think it was all about patience,” Copeland said. “We spoke before the game and at length at lunch about the lengths we were going to bowl and about being patient and I suppose I got the rewards. The boys all bowled well and in different patches I got rewards where the other guys were bowling well as well.”Early on it [the pitch] was a little bit tacky and seamed around a little bit, but overhead conditions and the on-field conditions allowed the ball to go reverse a little bit for us, so that’s a good sign and something we can expect over the Test series, so getting used to bowling a little bit of reverse swing is always going to be helpful, but yeah conducive to fast bowling is about results.”It’s not about how much swing you get, I think it’s just about being patient and you get the rewards when you build some dots and build some pressure. People obviously know I can bowl long spells and today was a really good hit-out, getting out there today and bowling some long spells. It’s hot over here, the wickets are flat, the opposition are very talented, so you’ve just got to be able to bowl, and bowl and bowl until you get them out.”Reverse swing was cited as one area of Australian deficiency in the pages of the Argus report, but Copeland said the tourists had managed to get the ball swinging against the shine on a dry pitch and wicket square. Peter Siddle, not the best of the bowlers with figures of 0 for 55 from 11 overs, was nonetheless important as the custodian of the ball.”Peter Siddle did most of it today, he’s one guy who doesn’t sweat too much and keeps the ball dry and looks after it,” Copeland said. “But it doesn’t matter where you play in the world you’ve got to look after the ball, whether it is for genuine swing or reverse. But I think we got our head around how we can make it go reverse and when we do we’ve got some good bowlers to take advantage plus two good spinners to bowl at the same time.”As for the only mistake of his day, Copeland’s red face is not something that should be seen too many more times this tour. “I’m a little bit sunburnt, but I’ll learn from that, I’ll put some more on tomorrow,” he said. On the evidence of his bowling, Copeland is among the fastest of learners.

Brett Lee sledged, Gautam Gambhir sighed in agony, and the crowd lapped it up in delight as Chris Gayle’s brutal cameo obliterated the below-par target set by Kolkata Knight Riders in a rain-hit game in Bangalore

The Bulletin by Sriram Veera14-May-2011Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsEarly wickets gave Bangalore an ideal start•AFP

Brett Lee sledged, Gautam Gambhir sighed in agony, and the crowd lapped it up in delight as Chris Gayle’s brutal cameo obliterated the below-par target set by Kolkata Knight Riders in a rain-hit game in Bangalore. Though the chase went into the final over, and Royal Challengers Bangalore lost a few quick wickets in the end, Gayle’s 12-ball 38 had effectively killed the contest in just 2.4 overs of the chase. With the win, Bangalore made it seven victories on the trot and qualified for the playoffs.Though Gayle dealt them the final blow, it was Kolkata’s batting, which bordered on over-aggression, and the rain, that reduced the game to a 13-over contest, that really cost them the game. Kolkata were 69 for 3 in 11 overs when rain left them with only two more overs to bat, and they reached 89 for 4. Bangalore were set a Duckworth/Lewis adjusted target of 102 and Gayle’s blitz ensured they could soak up the loss of quick wickets and reach the target.The first over of the chase perfectly caught Gayle’s fury and Kolkata’s disappointment: Edge. Blast. Sledge. Edge. Crash. Gayle edged the first delivery to the third man boundary, crashed the second over cover, dug out a screaming yorker next – Lee sledged at this point, collected a four with a top-edged pull off the fifth ball and walloped the fifth to the cover-point boundary.Kolkata’s troubles didn’t end with that 16-run over, for Jaidev Unadkat was looted for 23 in the next over. Luke Pomersbach, who replaced Tillakaratne Dilshan, started with a square-cut boundary before Gayle took over. He top-edged a six over third man before launching the next delivery on to the second tier of the stand beyond long-on. Although Gayle fell, top-edging a Lee delivery to Kallis, he had put Bangalore on course. They lost a few wickets in the end but there was never any danger of them losing their way.It was with their batting that Kolkata lost the game. Sometimes, you can get over-aggressive. Sometimes, you need to shift to a Plan B but Kolkata seemed too eager to dominate. In their attempt to attack, they perhaps crossed the line. Even Jacques Kallis was nearly slogging and heaving at deliveries. Gautam Gambhir went too hard at deliveries and Eoin Morgan tried to cut nearly every delivery he faced. The result? They were reduced to 30 for 3 in the sixth over. They recovered to reach 69 for 3 in 11 overs but then rain soaked the playing arena. A long wait ensued and the game was restricted to 13 overs upon resumption.Bangalore did everything right; they attacked relentlessly and suffocated the batsmen. They hurled down the bouncers, slipped in the occasional yorker, they got the ball to swing and seam a bit and always attacked. Eoin Morgan couldn’t get Zaheer Khan away and fell, charging out and flicking straight to midwicket. Jacques Kallis was intent on playing the big shots and he fell, edging an attempted heave off Charl Langeveldt. Bangalore’s change-up bowlers, Abimanyu Mithun and S Aravind, too kept it really tight and Bangalore’s sharp fielding did its bit in keeping Kolkata in check. When Gambhir tried to break free with a cut, AB de Villiers lunged to his left at backward point to take a sharp chance. It was left to Yusuf Pathan to give Kolkata a decent total but it didn’t prove enough.

Daniel Vettori was pleased with New Zealand’s position at stumps on day two at the Basin Reserve after guiding his side to a competitive 356 with a composed century

Andrew Fernando16-Jan-2011Daniel Vettori was pleased with New Zealand’s position at stumps on day two at the Basin Reserve after guiding his side to a competitive 356 with a composed century. He put on a 138-run partnership with Reece Young to rescue New Zealand from 180 for 6 and took advantage of a flat Pakistan attack, who were a bowler short after Wahab Riaz had been stricken by flu overnight. Vettori struck on the last ball of the day to remove Taufeeq Umar, leaving Pakistan on 134 for 2.”[My century] was pleasing considering the situation we were in,” Vettori said. “We were 170 for 6 when we came in and Reece and myself were able to put on that partnership. We thought 350 was a par score after winning the toss and putting ourselves in, so pretty happy to be in that position. Another couple of wickets tonight would have made it really nice, but it’s pretty comfortable to be where we are at.”Vettori had failed to cross fifty in his last four Tests, and today’s century – his sixth, was his first since December 2009. “People correlate form and runs. If you aren’t scoring runs then you’re out of form, but I’ve felt relatively good the whole way through, but it just hasn’t worked for me in the last four Tests. It was disappointing because I set pretty high standards [for myself], so it’s nice to get it back today.”Three of Vettori’s centuries have come against Pakistan, who also happen to be his favourite opposition, averaging 47.15 against them. “I also have a 99 against Pakistan” Vettori said, laughing, “which Younis Khan actually reminded me of. We’ve played them when I happen to be in good form with the bat and we’ve played Pakistan a lot lately so it’s just worked out that way.
“4000 runs was my big goal. I’m thinking about 400 wickets now, I’ve sort of put the runs to the side. But people always remember Test match hundreds, so hopefully the more I can get, the higher I can go up in the echelons of New Zealand cricket.”Vettori and Young came together late on day one when New Zealand looked set to capitulate once more, but the pair arrested the slide and put on a gutsy display of Test match batting replete with canny placement and smart running to take the hosts past 300.
“Reece and I have known each other for a long time,” Vettori said. “We played age-group cricket against each other, so we had a good understanding.”Vettori was quick to praise Young, who is in his first Test series, hinting that Young’s temperament and range of strokes could well see him filling the role of wicketkeeper-batsman in the long term for New Zealand.”It’s quite nerve-wracking being in your second Test and being under a bit of pressure, but I thought he played really well. He never really looked nervous, and it showed in the way [the Pakistan bowlers] got a little flat to him because he actually played some really good shots. That’s important for a guy coming in at seven because you need a guy who can play his shots and can be aggressive when he needs to be.”Vettori also claimed he wasn’t nervous when Brent Arnel was dismissed with him on 96 not out, leaving Chris Martin with three Umar Gul deliveries to face before Vettori could regain strike.
“That’s Tommy’s onion – that situation. He never let’s anyone down so I was pretty confident.”Martin Guptill took a terrific catch in close to dismiss Taufeeq, after the batsman had played intelligently for 70. Taufeeq had been caught behind off Vettori on 34, but not for the first time in the series, the umpires failed to detect an edge and Taufeeq was reprieved.”[Taufeeq’s wicket] made the day little bit easier,” said Vettori. “It was a great catch and to be able to walk off the park [with the opposition] two down and a new batsman in just made things easier. We’ve got a big first session tomorrow that’s probably going to set up the game if we’ve got a chance of winning it.”Vettori said he’d be satisfied with restricting Pakistan to 350, with his side set to bowl in the fourth innings on a pitch that is already beginning to show signs of deterioration. “If we can keep them to around our score then that would be great. We’ve obviously got to step up in the third innings and make sure we perform a lot better than we have and it will be trickier for them as the game goes on.”It’s a fantastic wicket. Guys love coming in and playing here on this sort of wicket. It’s good for everyone. If you apply yourself you can score a lot of runs and there’s a little bit in it for the bowlers. A couple of balls turned for me, so if we can put ourselves in a position where we can come out [to bowl] on the last day then hopefully I’ll have a big say, weather permitting.”
Rain is forecast for Wellington on the last two days of the Test.

The opener made 81, while Rodrigues chipped in with a 15-ball unbeaten 28 to help India out-bat Nepal

Srinidhi Ramanujam23-Jul-2024

Shafali Verma blitzed her way to a 26-ball fifty•Getty Images

Shafali Verma’s career-best 81 and a disciplined bowling effort propelled India into the semi-finals of the Women’s Asia Cup 2024 with an 82-run win over Nepal. With three wins from three games, India topped Group A. Pakistan, who defeated UAE earlier in the afternoon, were the second team to advance to the knockouts, with two wins out of three.Opting to bat first, the Smriti Mandhana-led India posted 178 for 3 thanks to Shafali’s breezy knock and a solid opening stand with D Hemalatha. It was an uphill task for Nepal, who don’t play under lights and, against an in-form bowling attack, they could only manage 96 for 9 in 20 overs.

Shafali blazes away but Hemalatha scratchy

With the semi-final spot almost in the bag, India rested their regular captain Harmanpreet Kaur and allrounder Pooja Vastrakar and gave some game time to S Sajana and Arundhati Reddy. There was also a change at the top of the order, with India promoting Hemalatha to open with Shafali. The openers took their time to assess the conditions and several loose deliveries went unpunished early on. But soon enough Shafali found her feet and accelerated. The same cannot be said of her opening partner on the day.D Hemalatha scored her T20I best of 47 in a 122-run opening stand with Shafali Verma•Getty Images

After an unbeaten 41 against Bangladesh in April in her comeback game, Hemalatha had crossed 30 only once in the next eight innings across ODIs and T20Is before Tuesday. This however was a golden opportunity for Hemalatha to cement her spot in the XI, batting against an Associate team on a slow surface. She did get a few good shots away thanks to a strong bottom hand, but in general struggled to find her timing in a 42-ball 47.Shafali, on the other hand, capitalised on the Nepal bowlers’ struggle to find the right line and length. She used her feet and wrist well to flick, hit straight drives down the ground, slog sweep to deep midwicket and, overall, played with good intent. India finished the powerplay on 50 for 0 and Shafali brought up her tenth T20I fifty in the eighth over, off just 26 balls. At the halfway stage, India were 91 for 0 and looked set to breach the 200-run mark again.

India finish strong despite a brief stutter

However, Nepal’s experienced left-arm spinner Sita Rana Magar pulled things back and removed Hemalatha and Shafali in the 14th and 16th over respectively. Shafali ended her knock with 12 fours and a six, and the duo’s 122-run partnership was the highest opening stand across editions of the Women’s T20 Asia Cup and the second-highest for any wicket.Sita Rana Magar was the pick of the Nepal bowlers•Getty Images

India’s scoring rate slowed down when the new batters came in but Jemimah Rodrigues’ clever batting, which fetched her five fours in her 15-ball 28 not out, helped India get close to 180. Sajana, like Hemalatha, also struggled in her 12-ball stay. Whether India persist with Hemalatha or give more opportunities to Sajana at No. 3 is something to keep an eye on, leading up to the T20 World Cup in October.

Reddy grabs her opportunity

An injury to Titas Sadhu opened the door for Reddy to get back with the Indian squad, following impressive performances in domestic cricket and the WPL. In the limited opportunities she has got since her comeback against South Africa last month, Reddy has stepped up to the challenge. Against Nepal, she delivered again, picking up 2 for 28 in her four overs. Having worked on her variations and the ability to swing the ball both ways in the last 12 to 15 months, Reddy struck off her fourth delivery, bowling opener Samjhana Khadka. She went for 11 runs in her second over, but fought back to dismiss Magar for a 22-ball 18 with a delivery that seamed back in to hit the middle stump.Nepal were rocked early in the chase, and never really recovered.

With World Cup preparations in full swing, Pakistan have, as expected, named a young, second-string squad

Danyal Rasool24-Aug-2023Qasim Akram will captain Pakistan at the Asian Games, where the men’s team will play for a gold medal in – T20 – cricket between September 28 and October 7 in Hangzhou, China. With World Cup preparations in full swing, Pakistan have, as expected, named a young, second-string squad, with Asif Ali, Mohammad Hasnain, Shahnawaz Dahani and Usman Qadir among the highest-profile names.Neither the captain, Akram, nor the vice-captain, have played international cricket for Pakistan in a squad where only eight out of 15 players have. Much of the squad’s recent playing time has come with the Shaheens, with whom eight players from this squad toured Zimbabwe for two four-day games and six 50-over games, before triumphing in the ACC Emerging Cup in Sri Lanka last month, and later finishing as runners-up in a T20 tournament in Darwin.Pakistan will enter the tournament at the quarter-final stage, which means their first game will take place in early October, with the final set for October 7.ESPNcricinfo Ltd

Cricket has been played at the Asian Games twice before – at Guangzhou 2010 and Incheon 2014. Bangladesh won the first edition with Sri Lanka emerging triumphant the second time. Afghanistan were runners-up on both occasions. Pakistan did not feature in 2014, and finished as bronze medallists in their only appearance in 2010.They will also field a women’s team at this edition of the Games. That squad, led by Nida Dar, was announced in July. The women’s competition at the Games will be played before the men’s commences.

Pakistan men’s squad for the Asian Games:

Qasim Akram (capt), Omair Bin Yousuf, Aamir Jamal, Arafat Minhas, Arshad Iqbal, Asif Ali, Haider Ali, Khushdil Shah, Mirza Tahir Baig, Mohammad Hasnain, Muhammad Akhlaq (wk), Rohail Nazir (wk), Shahnawaz Dahani, Sufiyan Muqeem, Usman Qadir