All posts by csb10.top

Matthew Wade’s return home to Tasmania has been officially confirmed after he was named in the state’s list of contracted players for 2017-18.Wade, who has captained Victoria for the past four seasons, grew up in Tasmania and played a single game for the Tigers before moving to Melbourne at the age of 19 for greater opportunities. But Wade, who now has a young daughter, was keen to return to his home state for extra family support.How much he turns out for Tasmania will depend on whether Wade remains Australia’s preferred gloveman in all formats throughout the summer. He and fast bowler Jackson Bird are the only two Cricket Australia-contracted players in a squad that will hope for significant improvement under new coach Adam Griffith after finishing last on the Sheffield Shield table in the past two seasons.Other additions to the list of full contracts include Nick Buchanan, Charlie Wakim and Tom Rogers, while Gabe Bell has been upgraded from a rookie deal. New rookies for this summer are Aaron Summers and Liam Devlin.Tasmania squad George Bailey (captain), Gabe Bell, Jackson Bird (Cricket Australia contract), Cameron Boyce, Nick Buchanan, Alex Doolan, Jake Doran, Ben Dunk, James Faulkner, Andrew Fekete, Jake Hancock, Ben McDermott, Simon Milenko, Tim Paine, Andrew Perrin, Sam Rainbird, Tom Rogers, Jordan Silk, Matthew Wade (CA), Charlie Wakim, Beau Webster, Cameron Stevenson. Rookies Caleb Jewell, Riley Meredith, Corey Murfet, Mac Wright, Aaron Summers, Liam Devlin.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details1:33

Tait: Pakistan save their best for last

If the 2017 Champions Trophy were to have had another two games, Pakistan might be scoring 750 and bowling teams out for negative 12 by the end of it. Even for a side that is routinely unpredictable, even for a team with a long history of starting slowly then making a white-hot charge through a tournament, what Pakistan have pulled off here is some diamond-studded, galactic-scale nonsense.

Award winners

Golden ball: Hasan Ali (13 wickets at 13.69)
Player of the Tournament: Hasan Ali
Golden Bat: Shikhar Dhawan (338 runs at 67.60)

They have not just defied logic, they have spat in logic’s face, questioned the moral inclinations of its parents, kicked it in the shins, kneed it in the groin, strangled it unconscious, then shoved it into the mud and set its trousers on fire.Remember how, before the match (how long ago that now seems), the cricket world thought India’s batsmen would put the match beyond Pakistan if they scored 300? Ha. What actually happened was that newbie opener Fakhar Zaman, playing his fourth international innings, hit 114 from 106 balls in one of the highest-pressure cricket matches of the decade, before a bristling middle order grew the total to 338 for 4, with the kind of power and skill which not even their mothers would have suspected they possessed.Remember how the cricket world thought the key period in the contest would be the middle overs in India’s innings? In actual fact, Mohammad Amir would decapitate the India innings in a scintillating opening burst that brought him the scalps of each of the top three, and then by the middle of the 14th over, India would be 54 for 5, the trophy basically handed over.Thank the cricket gods that Azhar Ali dropped Virat Kohli at slip in the third over, before Kohli was caught the very next ball. Thank heavens that Pakistan’s opening stand of 128 was brought to an end by a running mix-up, whereby both batsmen wound up on the same side of the pitch. Without such moments of incompetence, there is no chance we could plausibly accept this is the same side that lost their opening match to India by 124 runs.The winning margin here was 180, just for the record. But it may as well have been 180 million, so ridiculous were Pakistan in this match.It was also impossible, at times, to believe that India were the side playing their fourth major final in six years. The first mistake – the error that bust open the flood gates – was Jasprit Bumrah overstepping in the fourth over to reprieve Fakhar, who had edged the ball to the keeper on three. Soon, India were a mess of uncharacteristic misfields. By the end of the innings they had delivered 13 wides and three no-balls.And perhaps no top order in the world could have survived Amir today, but the likes of Yuvraj Singh and MS Dhoni – big-daddy, big-match players – fell away with surprising meekness. Hardik Pandya swatted six sixes off spin and got himself 76 off 43 balls, giving India – six down now – a microscopic speck of hope. But then he was run out when a less-fluent Ravindra Jadeja refused to sacrifice his wicket. Pandya left the field breathing fire. That about encapsulated India’s day.Not that fortune smiled on them either: at one point, in the death overs, a ball had even hit Mohammad Hafeez’s off stump, and failed to dislodge the bail.Beyond Amir’s spectacular opening burst – in which Rohit Sharma was trapped in front by a seaming ball and Virat Kohli sent a thick leading edge to point – Shadab Khan insisted on an excellent review that found Yuvraj to be plumb in front of the stumps. Then after the rapid 80-run stand between Pandya and Jadeja, Hasan Ali wiped out the tail, finishing with match-figures of 3 for 19 (second only to Amir’s 3 for 16), and a table-topping haul of 13 wickets for the tournament. This, after he had missed the first game. India were all out in the 31st over.Hasan Ali was Named Player of the tournament•Getty Images

But it was the batting that had set Pakistan’s victory up, and of all the surprises they have sprung this tournament, a snowballing innings such as this, in which only one batsman was dismissed for a score of less than 45, seems the most incredible. This was not an innings, really. It was a fantasy.Even after Fakhar was reprieved by that no-ball in the fourth over, the wisps of madness that have defined Pakistan’s campaign were sprinkled right through his knock. Thick edges and mistimed shots off bouncers would become almost reliably fruitful for him – one particularly woeful leg-side heave in the 32nd over landing safe, just beyond midwicket. Constantly, Fakhar got himself into awkward spots and bad positions, and unfailingly, he would find a way to go through with the shot, and survive.But there were also flashes of inspiration and the roaring ambition of Pakistan’s campaign. Uncowed by the near misses, he ran down the pitch to smite India’s quicks to the leg side. He flitted about his crease to manufacture shots against the spinners. With no little help from Azhar, he heaped pressure on key members of the opposition attack.Bumrah was never allowed to recover from the shock of that early missed wicket, going for 24 in his first three-over spell, and 12 off the following two overs. R Ashwin was clattered around almost clinically in his initial spell – this mostly by Azhar – and he went for 28 from his first four overs as well. For the remainder of the innings, both bowlers struggled with their lines and lengths – Bumrah delivering too many hittable length deliveries, Ashwin bowling too predictably straight.It was after Azhar’s dismissal, for which his partner can take most of the blame, that Fakhar raised the tempo to an extent that set Pakistan on track to their eventual score. He hit 15 runs off one Jadeja over (the 26th of the innings), then went after Ashwin next over as well. Having been 56 off 73 balls at one stage, he hit the remaining 44 runs he needed for a hundred off the next 19 balls. The off-balance sweep for four off Ashwin was a fitting way for this innings to go to triple figures.Fakhar was out soon after, leaving Pakistan at 200 for 2 at the start of the 34th over, but Babar ensured the party would carry on. He was regal square on either side of the wicket, and in a particularly memorable sequence, slapped Pandya past point, then cracked him to the square-leg boundary next ball. Mohammad Hafeez and Imad Wasim then took the baton from Babar, and together, added 71 off the final 45 balls of the innings – Hafeez especially effective as he hit three sixes and four fours in all, to wind up with an unbeaten 57 off 37 deliveries.I mean, who even knew Hafeez was capable of such things? Did he? Sarfraz Ahmed, in his first major assignment as captain, played his part virtually perfectly, ceding his batting position to men who went on to score rapidly, then managing his bowlers astutely in the early overs.Bhuvneshwar Kumar, and Hardik Pandya delivered good spells, but India’s remaining bowling figures did not make for pretty reading. Bumrah, Ashwin and Jadeja all went at seven an over or higher.There is no shame, though, in losing to a Pakistan side in the kind of nuclear form that if ever harnessed, could solve the planet’s energy needs for centuries. There were a few areas that India could have brushed up, but nothing, perhaps, that might have changed the result.

Ten Pakistan cricketers returned home to a heroic welcome in four different cities as hundreds of fans thronged the airports, and gathered outside their residences, to celebrate the Champions Trophy triumph.Pakistan dismantled arch-rivals India by 180 runs – the largest margin of victory in an ICC final. While five of the squad – Mohammad Amir, Junaid Khan, Mohammad Hafeez, Shoaib Malik and Azhar Ali – stayed back in England, the Player of the Series Hasan Ali stepped out of the Lahore airport and into a red-carpet ceremony arranged by the Punjab government. The 23-year old fast bowler was accompanied by Babar Azam, No. 5 in the ICC ODI rankings for batsmen, allrounder Faheem Ashraf and opener Ahmed Shehzad.

Bonuses approved for Pakistan team

The PCB has approved an award of Rs 10 lakh for each of the players in Pakistan’s squad after they won the Champions Trophy. This is in addition to the Rs 29 million in bonuses and personal incentives to be divided between the 15 members as per their central contracts.
The board’s press release also conveyed the chairman Shaharyar Khan and executive committee head Najam Sethi’s appreciation of the players, the backroom staff led by Mickey Arthur and chief selector Inzamam-ul-Haq

Sarfraz Ahmed, Pakistan’s title-winning captain, was received by the mayor of Karachi and the Sindh sports minister, who honoured him with a traditional Sindhi cap and an [shawl]. An equally poignant reception was waiting for him at his house as well. A horde of people had lined the streets to catch a glimpse of him and when Sarfraz stepped onto the balcony, a huge Pakistan flag hung in front of his home. holding the trophy aloft and roaring “Pakistan”, they responded with “Zindabad”Left-arm seamer Rumman Raees, who was one of three debutants in the tournament, touched down in Karachi as well. Shadab Khan, the 18-year old legspinner, and Imad Wasim, the left-arm-spinning allrounder, landed in Islamabad before dispersing to their homes in Rawalpindi. Batsman Haris Sohail, who did not get a game in the Champions Trophy, returned to Sialkot.Fakhar Zaman, who smashed his maiden ODI hundred to be named Player of the Final, was met by his family in Peshawar. He will travel with them to his hometown of Katlang in Mardan. Having hit 50, 57 and 114 in back-to-back knockout matches, he dedicated his success to the Pakistan Navy, who had trained him to become a sailor before he switched careers.”This one is bigger than anything else for the nation,” he said at his residence. “I am feeling really proud of the way we played. We went as the No. 8 team in the world but at the end we won the trophy and I think for Eid this is biggest gift for Pakistan. I want to thank the media and all the supporters who came here to support me.”Zaman was caught behind in the fourth over for only three runs, but it was off a no-ball. When asked about the incident, he said: “Actually I had a very good record in domestic cricket, especially in the bigger games so I wanted to have a hundred in the final. I felt really bad when I got out but then the umpire held me back and told me they were checking for a no-ball. I started praying for it to be a no-ball and it was. So then I re-gathered myself and never looked back. At the end, my hundred worked and we won the game.”Sarfraz Ahmed greets crowds outside his house in Karachi with the Champions Trophy•AFP

Lahore was an absolute buzz of activity even in the wee hours of the night. So many fans turned up to greet their cricketers, chanting “Pakistan Zindabad”, that the police had to cordon off the arrival lounge at the airport.Hasan was in great demand for bowling Pakistan to their sensational victory. His flight landed 40 minutes late but the moment he appeared, the screams for selfies became deafening. Along with him came Babar, Ashraf and Shehzad, who were showered with rose petals, presented with a special guard of honour by the Lahore police band, and escorted to their vehicles.The PCB had not organised an official ceremony to welcome the players, but it hardly seemed to matter. Hasan’s brother, for example, had arranged a rally from the city of Gujranwala to their village Ladhewala Waraich, about 30 minutes away.”I am really happy to see how happy people are,” Hasan said. “It’s a great moment for me, for my family and for the entire country. I am honoured and I feel privileged with all the love I have been given by the people.”Babar was welcomed by his neighbours and fans outside his home, his car sprinkled with petals all around. “I always try to give my 100% and want to improve with every passing game,” he told reporters who were gathered as well. “I am happy that I have contributed in the victories and excited to be the part of this historic moment.”

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details5:04

Hogg: It was a big choke from Rising Pune Supergiant

Delhi Daredevils have, over the years, perfected the art of the bizarre, and usually that leads them to lose unloseable matches. On Friday, however, they magicked a way to defend a total of 168 even though Steven Smith appeared in top form and Ben Stokes looked like he was one hit away from finishing the game.Rising Pune Supergiant needed 91 off 60 balls with seven wickets in hand. They brought that down to 52 off the last five overs, and then, were just shut down. Only three boundaries came in the slog overs as a disciplined bowling attack led by the street-smart Zaheer Khan secured a memorable victory and left the opposition unsure of their place in the playoffs.A Powerplay of two halvesAt the toss, both captains said they wanted to bat, even though only once in four IPL seasons has that led to a victory at the Feroz Shah Kotla. Daredevils’ efforts to defy those stats were off to a terrible start. Sanju Samson was run-out in the first over and Shreyas Iyer caught behind in the third. The score was 11 for 2.Rising Pune then turned to Washington Sundar because he has the second-best economy rate (7.35) among the spinners to have bowled at least 50 balls in the Powerplay. But those numbers meant nothing to Karun Nair. All he knew was he was a superb sweeper of the ball and fine leg was up inside the circle. That was the first of nine boundaries in 18 balls.Rishabh Pant, too, received preferential treatment from the bowlers. He had come into the match making 190 of his 321 runs this season on the leg side and that’s exactly where he found 32 of his 36 runs on Sunday, including four fours and two sixes.The squeezeWhile Nair and Pant were together, the lowest a full over went for was nine runs. But once the 74-run partnership was broken, Rising Pune regained control. The new batsman Marlon Samuels could make only three runs in his first 10 balls. He fell top-edging to MS Dhoni, who had to run back, jump up, extend his right hand as far as it could go. Such acrobatics weren’t necessary to stump Corey Anderson; just fast hands and a sixth sense for when the batsman’s back foot lifted up as he toppled over.All the while the set batsman Nair could only watch from the other end. He faced only 11 deliveries in five overs between the 12th and the 16th. He finished 64 off 45. His team-mates 97 off 75.The Supergiant’s supergiantIf Stokes raised eyebrows by becoming the auction’s costliest buy, his performance is making them disappear beyond people’s hairlines. Case in point was the catch he took in the final over. The ball was soaring over his head at midwicket, but he positioned himself on the edge of the boundary, leapt back, caught it in mid-air and threw it back up because he was going over the ropes and then came back to take the rebound.Aside from such remarkable athleticism, there is his power hitting. At 92 for 3, he ran at Daredevils’ fastest bowler Pat Cummins and pummeled a one-bounce four to midwicket, launched Marlon Samuels’ third ball of the match over long-on and nonchalantly flicked Mohammed Shami for a six over deep square leg.Peak DaredevilryIt was amid this carnage that a scorching yorker arrived. So good was it that Stokes, despite putting bat to it, had to worry about not being bowled. The next ball changed the game.Shami ran in looking for the blockhole again. Stokes took a shimmy down the pitch and was surprised by a low full toss. The bat turned in his hand as his loft ended up in long-off’s hands.By the time Dhoni was taking guard for his second delivery the required rate was 12. And before he could get set, he was caught short of his ground by a direct hit. It was only the seventh time in 141 IPL innings that he was run-out.As badly as Rising Pune choked, the Daredevils bowlers were remarkable. They bowled straight, gave no room and nailed the yorkers. The inherent risk in this plan is if the ball doesn’t land where it is supposed to, it can be launched halfway around the world. But the big-hitters were gone, and Manoj Tiwary, as well as he had played for his fifty, wasn’t really a threatening presence.He managed two sixes to start the last over to tempt the Pune fans, but Cummins closed the game out with a slew of 145 kph yorkers.

A better understanding of his own game and knowledge of coping with specific match situations has helped Jason Mohammed transform his game over the last year, leading to a knock like the unbeaten 91 off 58 balls in the first ODI against Pakistan on Friday. Mohammed’s half-century, his third of the year, was the bedrock of West Indies’ record chase of 309, as they rallied from 158 for 4 in the 34th over to complete a four-wicket win with an over to spare.

West Indies were brave in chase – Arthur

Pakistan coach Mickey Arthur said West Indies’ come-from-behind win in a record chase of 309 was very brave but conceded his team should have been able to defend their total.
“I think we should probably have got 20 more, with the bat,” Arthur said. “But, saying that, we should be defending 308 or whatever it was. But, you know, credit to West Indies; I thought they played really well. They took their time and they chased beautifully, they put us under pressure at the back end and then got over the line.
“I think from about 35 overs – that’s when West Indies put us under serious pressure. I thought they were brave: they took the game on and hit the ball extremely well, put us under pressure in the field took the game away from us. It was disappointing that we couldn’t close it out. Really disappointed we couldn’t execute properly there. Some of our main bowlers fell short of the mark today, and that’s the disappointing thing.”

“Starting from CPL [2016] with Guyana Amazon Warriors, my whole game has changed a lot,” Mohammed said after the match. “I have really gained a lot of confidence and momentum and I did well with the A team as well. I think I just know my game a little better now, in terms of maturity, and knowing how to play certain situations has definitely brought me a long way.”With 287 runs in 12 matches, Mohammed was the second-highest run-getter for Amazon Warriors after Chris Lynn, and played a few key knocks in the side’s successful chases during the tournament. Last month, in the home series against England, he played his first ODI in a year and a half, and was one of the few bright spots in West Indies’ 3-0 defeat, scoring fifties in the first two matches.On Friday, West Indies needed 128 off 13 overs with Mohammed batting on 15. He quickly switched gears, bringing up his fifty off 31 balls, and dominated the 70-run fifth-wicket partnership with Jonathan Carter, which revived the chase. That was followed by an unbroken 50-run partnership with Ashley Nurse for the seventh wicket.Nurse, who took 4 for 62 in Pakistan’s innings, slammed 34 off 15 balls, while Mohammed ended the match with 11 fours and three sixes. Mohammed said he was a momentum player, who needed to settle in before going for the big shots.”It was a very good innings. Coming in to bat early, there was a little bit of pressure in terms of strike rate and stuff but I knew that I had to play myself in and rotate the strike and gain momentum, and take it down to the end as much as possible. That’s exactly what we did as a team.”As I always say, I tend to start off a little bit slower. I am a momentum player and I know that so long as I get my game right, it’s going to come off. Try and work the ball around till I get a start and then I can hit the ball when I get in. That was my plan today and everything worked out excellently.”Nurse was pleased that three of his four wickets came in the last 15 overs of Pakistan’s chase, with the opposition looking for big overs. “My job first and foremost is to bowl and get people out so I was very happy with the wickets,” Nurse said. “I won’t say I was happy with the bowling because I bowled some bad balls in between but it was nice to get the Pakistan wickets when they were really going helter skelter at the back end, and it was nice to come back even in the last 10 overs and get some wickets.”Coming in to bat with West Indies needing 50 off 33 balls, Nurse went after Pakistan’s quick bowlers in the end overs, buoyed by the fact that he had been striking the ball well in the nets.”Jason was hitting the ball really nicely and he came out to rotate the strike,” Nurse said. “I was hitting the ball well in the nets so I knew my form was good and I just kept trying to hit the ball nice and straight and I backed myself to get the ball past the boundary and also give him the strike.”The second ODI will be played in Providence on April 9.

Rangana Herath, the Sri Lanka captain, said he was confident of defending 191 in the fourth innings, although they would have liked more runs to work with. Herath has been the central figure in each of Sri Lanka’s five most recent home victories, when they have bowled out visiting sides for 171 (West Indies), 161, 183 and 160 (Australia), as well as dismissing Bangladesh for 197 in Galle.However, though Herath struck early in Bangladesh’s final-day chase at P Sara, removing Soumya Sarkar and Imrul Kayes off consecutive deliveries, he couldn’t sufficiently quell Tamim Iqbal or the Bangladesh middle order.”I really thought that we could defend it, because we have played games with India and Pakistan and defended low scores,” Herath said. “We also had three spinners. When we got two early wickets, I felt the same way, but after lunch they were in an attacking mood and scored some quick runs. That’s where the match slipped from us in the fourth innings.”Herath also pinpointed Sri Lanka’s catching at the end of day two and their collapse on the fourth afternoon as definitive passages of play. Of particular consequence was the dropped catch off Shakib – he was spilled by Upul Tharanga at deep square leg on 11 – with Sri Lanka spurning the chance to have Bangladesh 210 for 6 after the hosts had hit 338. Bangladesh would eventually go on to establish a first-innings lead of 129.”I thought we made too many mistakes while fielding and batting,” Herath said. “We dropped a couple of crucial catches and that was the main reason for us to lose the match. Shakib’s catch was especially bad because he went on to a century. With a team this competitive, we can’t let the little mistakes like that that come into our game.”Though Sri Lanka began the third innings well, pulling into the lead with nine wickets remaining, they had a horror session after lunch on the fourth day. Five top order batsmen were out in the space of 15 overs, to Mustafizur Rahman and Shakib.”If you take the second innings we were batting well. After Upul Tharanga got out, Dimuth Karunaratne and Kusal Mendis were going great. Then Kusal got out and suddenly we lost four more wickets for 40-odd runs. That was the key and that’s what we should have prevented. That was the start of our downfall.”Herath said the loss was “one of” the worst defeats of his career, but was adamant that at no stage did Sri Lanka underestimate Bangladesh. Sri Lanka are 31 points clear of Bangladesh on the Test rankings, but are only two places ahead – seventh, where Bangladesh are ninth.”Before the series started I said that this was a challenging series as both teams were equally matched. We had a good chance in Galle as we got close to 500 runs, and we capitalised. Here we couldn’t do the same.”Bangladesh have certainly improved a lot. Earlier when they got partnerships going, we would put pressure on them, and they wouldn’t be able to handle that. This team tries to stay in the game a lot more, and now they counter our plans. They have been very clever.”

Ben Stokes will not necessarily be promoted to lead England’s Test side if Joe Root is obliged to miss a game.Root and Stokes were both appointed last week following the resignation of Alastair Cook. But while describing Stokes as “the perfect man” for the role of vice-captain to Root, Andrew Strauss, the director of England cricket, clarified on Wednesday “that doesn’t necessarily mean Ben is going to be a shoo-in to be England captain at some stage in the future.”Strauss explained: “The way we’ve approached this is we’ve said: ‘What do we need in a vice-captain? And what will complement Joe as captain as well as possible?'”Ben Stokes is far and away the best candidate to do that. He’s developing fantastically quickly. So as second in charge, he’s the perfect man for that role at the moment.”But just as when Joe was made vice-captain, that doesn’t necessarily mean Ben is going to be a shoo-in to be England captain at some stage in the future. I don’t think it would be right for me to say that, in absolutely every circumstance, Ben would definitely take over from Joe.”Stokes has even less captaincy experience than Root. While Root has led in four first-class games, Stokes had not led in any first-class or limited-overs matches for Durham or England and only has skippered Durham junior sides on three occasions (two for the Academy and one for their U17s). While Strauss suggested opportunities would be given for him to lead in tour matches where possible, he has retained the option of appointing an alternative stand-in for Root if he feels it is appropriate.While such a move might raise questions about the need to appoint a vice-captain in these circumstances, it remains likely that Stokes would be the man to stand in for Root if required. While Stuart Broad and Jos Buttler, if selected, have some captaincy experience – both have captained England in the shorter formats – neither could be considered such an outstanding candidate at this stage that they could expect to step in if Root is indisposed.Instead, the England management will look to find opportunities for Stokes to gain some captaincy experience during tour games with Strauss stating that “the intention” would remain that Stokes was the man to replace Root if he is injured or ill.”It’s not an easy thing to give people leadership experience when they’re in the England team 12 months of the year,” Strauss said. “So of course, we’ll look for opportunities to be able to do that. And I do think that, by and large, there’s no reason why he can’t take over. That’s certainly the intention.”

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details4:54