The head coach also backed captain Sarfaraz Ahmed for his wicketkeeping form over recent months

Umar Farooq08-Feb-2019With under four months to go for the World Cup in England, Pakistan head coach Mickey Arthur has said the selectors and team management will look at the upcoming PSL and the ODI series against Australia before finalising a squad of 15 for the global tournament. Pakistan play 10 ODIs before the World Cup – five against Australia in the UAE after the PSL and five in England in May – and Arthur said he and chief selector Inzamam-ul-Haq had 19 players in mind and would want to have two game plans in place for the conditions in England during the summer.”Inzi and I have been on the same page for a long while here. And I’m going to be honest because I’ve told the boys in the dressing room the same thing the other night,” Arthur said in Lahore after returning from South Africa. “I think we’ve got probably 19 players for 15 positions. PSL always throws up one or two good individual performers, so we are going to have a look at some of our borderline players, the guys that we are not sure about. We have to look at them during the Australian series and then we will make our minds up leading into England, obviously we will be taking 15 there. The key is players get clarity in terms of their roles and role clarity is particularly important.”Pakistan have given opportunities to youngsters with the advent of the PSL in the last couple of years. With the T20 league starting in under a week, players will want to impress the selectors particularly for slots in the middle order and the fast-bowling attack. The current probables for the pace attack comprise Mohammad Amir, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Hasan Ali, Usman Shinwari and bowling allrounder Faheem Ashraf. Among the spinners, Shadab Khan and Imad Wasim are the likely candidates to make the trip to England.”The other thing that’s important for us is having an option with two game plans,” Arthur said. “I’m saying two game plans because the weather in England at any given time is very unpredictable, so we need an option where we have our spinners, who are able to suffocate through the middle [overs] because the key for us to win one-day games is about taking wickets through that middle period.”Either we do that with two spinners or little bit of reverse-swing if the weather stays dry, or if the weather is wet over that period of time there we have to have an option of a seam-bowling allrounder who can come in and bat at No. 7 for us. So we’re very close, we’ve covered all our bases in terms of our personnel at the moment.”Pakistan fought hard against South Africa in the ODIs, losing the series 3-2, but their form since they won the Champions Trophy in June 2017 hasn’t been impressive. They have won 15 of their 27 completed matches since then, completing series wins only against Sri Lanka, ranked eighth, and Zimbabwe. In this time they were also blanked 5-0 in New Zealand a year ago, won matches only against Hong Kong and Afghanistan in the Asia Cup in September, and drew the three-match series 1-1 against New Zealand in the UAE in November.AFP

Looking back at the South Africa tour, where Pakistan lost the Test series 3-0, ODIs 3-2 and T20Is 2-1, Arthur said he was proud of the way the team showed their “passion” and “intensity”.”I just think it is really important that I reiterate how proud I am of the cricket team,” he said. “We were two months away on the road. Four-and-a-half months away is a hell of a long time and the intensity and the passion that these guys trained with has been fantastic. So, look I am very very proud, players are very proud, of the development of the lot of our young players.”We’ve played the most cricket over the last four-and-a-half months than any other team in the world. That’s not an excuse, I’m not using it as an excuse because that’s the way it is. We’ve got to handle that. India have a large pool of players available to them. We didn’t rotate our players as much because we are in a process, we need to educate them in all conditions so that’s exactly the decision we’ve made.”Our planning is done. We’ve got our schedules, we’ve got everything in place leading upto the World Cup. Myself, Inzamam and Sarfaraz [Ahmed] have been completely united in the process that we are going forward.”Even though Sarfaraz’s own form has been under scrutiny, he recently got the backing of the PCB to lead the team in the World Cup. He has averaged only 26.62 in 12 ODI innings over the last year, scoring only one half-century. But with his replacement Mohammad Rizwan not impressing much with the bat in two ODIs and three T20Is against South Africa, the pressure on Sarfaraz was not mounting and Arthur, too, backed the captain primarily for his wicketkeeping skills and form.”It’s very simple, we need to be very fluid with out game plans,” Arthur said. “Sarfaraz has done exceptional work for us up and down the order. I think the thing that we’ve got to realise is over a long tour, form comes and goes and players start playing well and then they slip off the radar a little bit, and we need to then be able to send our form players at any given minute. In terms of fluidity in our batting order it’s whoever is in form and what that situation demands at that particular time. If you see all the best teams in the world have the ability to be flexible. We’re trying to be as flexible as we can. If we didn’t give the opportunity to players in those positions we wouldn’t know.”Understand that Sarfaraz’s first and foremost thing is captain and wicketkeeper, people forget wicketkeeping is a specialist position. Sarfaraz’s numbers over the last four-and-a-half months are mindblowing, one catch dropped, one stumping missed. I can tell you I did the research on the plane coming last night, he’s dropped eight balls in four-and-a-half months, so he is not out of form in his core job. His core job is to keep wickets and to take the catches and make the stumpings, he’s done a job over four-and-a-half months.”Sarfaraz will be the first one to admit that his batting form has come and gone. We have worked exceptionally hard on Sarfaraz’s batting going forward. When Sarfaraz plays well, he wins games for us. I want to reiterate I am not worried about Sarfaraz’s form. Sarfaraz Ahmed is a very very good cricketer. He and I work incredibly close together, we’ve got very close working relationship, as good as I had with any captain. I just need to put that to bed.”

While Australia are overseas playing ODIs there is much at stake for a number of domestic players in the final month of the season

Alex Malcolm22-Feb-20192:26

Siddle sees positives in lack of recent cricket

Batsmen

(Stats: leading run scorers)Marcus HarrisThe left-hander looked a lock for the Ashes series at the end of the Sydney Test having been the best performer against a top-quality India attack. But his failure to convert starts in that series came back to bite him in the two Tests against Sri Lanka and with the return of David Warner he may yet be forced out. There is no doubt the talent is there, he reached 20 in seven of his 11 Test innings, but only twice did he reach 50. He is the equal second leading run-scorer in the Shield this season with 501 runs having played four fewer innings than the leader Matthew Wade, who has made 572.Joe BurnsAfter being left out for the UAE tour and the India series Burns was finally recalled against Sri Lanka and made the most of the opportunity posting 180 in the second Test in Canberra. He now has four Test hundreds in 16 Test matches yet, somehow, he’s still not a certainty for England. His Shield record overall is what propelled him back into the Test side and he should score runs in the back half of the season. Significant scores in any of the games will carry extra weight and further reinforce his Ashes credentials.Marnus LabuschagneCompared to some others it might be harder for Labuschagne to miss the Ashes tour than to make it based on the positive reviews he has received following his performances in the last three Tests of the summer. He was a Test incumbent at the start of the Shield but a lean start meant he missed out until being somewhat surprisingly recalled for the fourth Test against India and he then made 81 at against Sri Lanka at the Gabba to shore up his place. His record against the Dukes ball in Shield cricket is solid with 707 runs at 39.30.

Sheffield Shield squads

New South Wales Peter Nevill (capt), Sean Abbott, Harry Conway, Trent Copeland, Jack Edwards, Moises Henriques, Daniel Hughes, Nick Larkin, Stephen O’Keefe, Kurtis Patterson, Jason Sangha, Greg West
Western Australia Hilton Cartwright (capt), Cameron Bancroft, William Bosisto, Liam Guthrie, Aaron Hardie, Bradley Hope, Josh Inglis, Matthew Kelly, Lance Morris, Liam O’Connor, Joel Paris, Josh Philippe, Sam Whiteman
Victoria Travis Dean (capt), Scott Boland, Andrew Fekete, Seb Gotch, Marcus Harris, Jon Holland, Nic Maddinson, Will Pucovski, Matt Short, Peter Siddle, Chris Tremain, Cameron White
Queensland James Peirson (capt), Joe Burns, Luke Feldman, Cameron Gannon, Sam Heazlett, Charlie Hemphrey, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan McSweeney, Michael Neser,Matthew Renshaw, Mark Steketee, Mitch Swepson
South Australia Travis Head (capt), Tom Cooper, Callum Ferguson, Jake Lehmann, Conor McInerney, Joe Mennie, Harry Nielsen, Lloyd Pope, Chadd Sayers, Cameron Valente, Jake Weatherald, Nick Winter
Tasmania Matthew Wade (capt), Gabe Bell, Jackson Bird, Alex Doolan, Jake Doran, Jarrod Freeman, Ben McDermott, Riley Meredith, Tim Paine, Alex Pyecroft, Tom Rogers, Jordan Silk, Charlie Wakim

Kurtis PattersonAn unbeaten century in his last Test innings against Sri Lanka will be hard to ignore. He will at the very least go on the Australia A tour. The last four Shield games are a chance to really bed down an Ashes berth. Steve Smith’s return means one of the incumbents in Australia’s Test middle order is likely to miss out in the first Ashes Test plus the ever-present need for an allrounder always means the sixth batsman is vulnerable. Patterson can alleviate any doubts with a stack of runs.Matt RenshawHe finds himself on the outside looking in after being in the squad for the Sri Lanka series but missing out on selection. He found some good form in the closing stages of the BBL tournament and he played well at the end of the last Shield season scoring three centuries post-BBL. Like Burns, he has the challenge of two games at the Gabba and one at the WACA as well one against Victoria.Will PucovskiAll eyes will be on Pucovski in the last four games of the season. He has yet to play two games in a row this season at domestic level and only played two Shield games out of six before the BBL-break due to mental health issues. He has only had four innings in matches since Christmas, two for his club side in Melbourne and two for the Cricket Australia XI. How Pucovski handles four straight games and maybe a final, could determine whether he heads on the Australia A tour.Matthew WadeChairman of selectors Trevor Hohns explained Wade’s omission from the Test squad was partly due to him batting too low in the order for Tasmania. He will get a chance higher up the order, likely at No. 4, with Tim Paine back as wicketkeeper batsman and George Bailey injured. He has an opportunity to do something no player has done in Sheffield Shield cricket for four years: score 1000 runs. Not since Adam Voges and Michael Klinger both did it in 2014-15 has the mark been crossed. It was enough to earn Voges an Australia call-up aged 35. If it’s not enough to get Wade to England then the chorus of criticism from the public and media will reach an unprecedented level.Mitchell MarshHe started the summer as Australia’s new vice-captain and now he finds himself in no man’s land, out of favour for all three formats and unsure of his place in Australian cricket. To make matters worse he will miss WA’s first Shield game following the BBL break after suffering a nasty groin injury. He may need more runs and wickets than most to be recalled after failing to capitalise on his opportunities over the last 12 months.Daniel Worrall celebrates a wicket•Getty Images

Bowlers

(Stats: leading wicket-takers)Peter SiddleSiddle has been a victim of his own success in that his trustworthiness and return to form led to him being included in all Australian squads across the summer but he ended up carrying drinks more than playing. Now he gets the chance to settle in for Victoria and bowl a lot of overs with the Dukes balls which will suit him perfectly. He was superb for Essex in England last year taking 37 wickets at 16.40 in just seven matches and he remains likely to be part of the Ashes touring squad.Chris TremainMuch like Wade, there’s nothing he can do other than pile up wickets in the hope of forcing the selectors hand through sheer volume of performances. He has dominated the Sheffield Shield over the last two seasons and is dueling teammate Scott Boland to be the leading wicket-taker once again.Scott BolandHe has been in tremendous form this season leading the Shield wicket-takers with 36 at 17.41. He didn’t get to play much in the back-end of the BBL season for Melbourne Stars and it will be interesting to see whether that affects his rhythm on return. He and Tremain might be in a straight shoot-out for a spot on the Australia A tour and the Ashes.Daniel WorrallThere has been a lot of discussion about Worrall’s chances for the Ashes tour. Injury will be the biggest issue. He is being rested from the first Shield game after the BBL due to concerns over his troubled back. If he can get up and going and play the last three games without interruption, and bowl well, he will almost certainly be part of the Australia A tour.Chadd SayersSayers has quickly become a forgotten man after making his Test debut in South Africa the match after the ball-tampering scandal and claiming the prized scalp of AB de Villiers. Since then he has played only three JLT Cup games and three Shield games earlier this season before needing minor surgery to fix a knee issue. He gets a chance to re-establish himself as one of Australia’s premier swing bowlers over the last four rounds to stake a claim for an Australia A berth.Jon Holland gives the ball a twirl•Getty Images

James PattinsonThe potential of having Pattinson join Australia’s already rapid attack has got tongues wagging. He made a cautious return to the Shield earlier this season after back problems before a side strain injury curtailed his BBL. He won’t be back until next month and remains a long-shot for the Ashes, but that is unlikely to stop the chatter if he gets among the wickets. Durability rather than wickets could be the deciding factor.Jon HollandHe was Australia’s second spinner in the UAE but has scarcely played in this home summer with three Shield games for Victoria out of six before the BBL and an outing for the CA XI where he claimed 4 for 28. How much bowling he gets between now and then might depend on the dominance of Victoria’s quicks, although they are playing on four flat pitches where his services will be needed in the third and fourth innings especially.Steve O’KeefeHe candidly admitted ahead of the BBL semi-final that his prospects of playing for Australia again are very unlikely. But Ashton Agar’s serious finger injury means that experienced spin options beyond Nathan Lyon and Holland are thin on the ground. O’Keefe’s record is exceptional and he can never be discounted.

Captain praises Rashid Khan, Yamin Ahmadzai and Waqar Salamkheil for setting up the victory by bowling Ireland out for 172 in the first innings

ESPNcricinfo staff18-Mar-2019History awaited them – a first-ever Test match win – but Afghanistan were still 118 runs off from the mark at the start of the fourth day in Dehradun. And a fourth-innings chase is nothing to be scoffed at, especially in India, where it’s been five years since anyone has taken down a target over 125. But Rahmat Shah and Ihsanullah played with the calmness that is normally found in Test-match veterans, both men reaching fifties to ease the team’s passage into the record books.How were they able to stay so calm? Well, their captain Asghar Afghan felt it was because of the domestic cricket they have played back home. “We have played a lot of multi-day cricket and automatically we have matured because of that,” he said at the post-match presentation. “Nowadays we are playing first-class cricket at home as well. Before we played three-day, two-day cricket but now we’re playing first-class.”Playing Test cricket was our dream and today we played our second Test and we won the game. It is a historic day for Afghanistan, for Afghanistan people, for our team, for our cricket board.”
The seven-wicket victory, though, was set up by the bowlers, with seamer Yamin Ahmadzai and spinners Rashid Khan, Mohammad Nabi and Waqar Salamkheil bowling Ireland out for 172 in the first innings after they had won the toss and chosen to bat. And that is significant because it’s been six years since a non-Indian side has won a Test despite losing the toss in this country.”I would like to congratulate the bowlers especially, Rashid, Waqar, Yamin, because the wicket was good for batting.” Asghar said.Ireland captain William Porterfield also pointed to their first innings as a turning point in the game. “I thought at the time, I fancied winning the toss, it was a big toss to win. Any multi-day game, you have to capitalise on your first innings. If we batted remotely like our second innings [when they made 288] in our first innings, I think it could’ve been a completely different game,” Porterfield said.”You’re taking about chasing upwards of 280-300, which could’ve been a completely different story. But taking nothing away from how Afghanistan played. They played very well throughout the whole game and came out deserved winners.”It’s still their second game, five lads making their debut… but I’m glad with they way they came in and went about it. How prepared they were. You want the lads to kick on and make big contributions and obviously we didn’t do that in the first innings and you’re always looking to come back into the game from that and once Afghanistan got past us, they never really let us do that.”

SLC hopes the hefty fine will send a “strong message” to the rest of the players regarding such behaviour

Madushka Balasuriya02-Apr-2019Sri Lanka’s Test captain Dimuth Karunaratne has been fined USD 7500 (LKR 1.3 million approx), by Sri Lanka Cricket, following his drink driving episode, which was a violation of his player contract. Karunaratne’s fine is the equivalent of the match fee he would receive for one Test.”When you’re preparing for an important competition like the World Cup, and we’re spending so much money on this upcoming [Super Provincial] domestic tournament, we just cannot tolerate this kind of nonsense,” SLC secretary Mohan de Silva told ESPNcricinfo.On Sunday morning Karunaratne was involved in an accident with a three-wheeler in Borella, a neighbourhood of Colombo, which put the three-wheeler’s driver in hospital with minor injuries. Following the incident Karunaratne was arrested and released on bail, and his driver’s licence suspended. The three-wheeler’s driver has since been discharged from the hospital.Karunaratne, who will be captaining Kandy in the upcoming Super Provincial Tournament starting on Thursday, offered an apology on his Facebook page. SLC however was keen to ensure such incidents are not repeated; the hefty fine, it felt, will send a “strong message” to the rest of the players.”We just want to send a strong message to everyone that we mean business,” de Silva said.

The win means Capitals moved to the top of the IPL 2019 points table, the first time the franchise from Delhi has attained that position in the second half of an IPL season since 2012.

The Report by Saurabh Somani22-Apr-20191:29

We had a plan for Archer’s short balls and yorkers – Prithvi Shaw

Ajinkya Rahane brought out his full repertoire of shots and then some uncharacteristic ones, charging to a second T20 century, but even his 105* off 63 couldn’t carry Rajasthan Royals to a total that was safe from Delhi Capitals’ powerful top order.Shikhar Dhawan smashed 54 at two runs a ball, and Rishabh Pant shrugged off a run of low scores where he seemed to get himself out more than the bowlers. Pant came in at 77 for 2, with the required rate having crept over 10, and stayed till the end to steer the chase, smacking 78* off 36 balls that was full of one-handed slog-sweeps and stunningly timed sixes – including the winning hit in the final over.The win meant Capitals moved to the top of the IPL 2019 points table, the first time the franchise from Delhi has attained that position in the second half of an IPL season since 2012. They are level on 14 points with Chennai Super Kings, but ahead on net run-rate.Victory also put to bed the chasing jitters that had plagued Capitals. They have now won their last two matches while chasing. For Royals, defeat meant their chances of making it to the playoffs dwindled significantly, and they will most likely have to win each of their remaining four games to even be in contention for a spot.Rahane’s turbo charge after the dropHe had been involved in a mix-up with Sanju Samson that resulted in a run-out for Samson without facing a ball. He had looked like getting bogged down at the start. And he would have been on his way for 16 off 18 if Ishant Sharma had held on to the easiest of chances in the fifth over. Ishant clanged it, and from that point on, Rahane’s innings was turbo-charged. The next 45 balls he faced would bring 89 runs, and that included the end phase when he was tiring, with only 11 runs coming off his last 10 deliveries. In the middle period of his innings, between the drop and the sluggish end, Rahane was scoring at an Andre Russell-ian run-rate of 13.37.This was the avatar of Rahane that people had clamoured to see: aggression, innovation in shot-making and even the much-maligned ‘intent’. His classical shot-making has always been a beautiful sight, but he married that with scoops, paddles and whips too. Most crucially perhaps, his mindset appeared to be one of attacking the bowlers.Capitals pull it back at the deathAfter 13 overs, Royals were motoring at 135 for 1, with both Rahane and Steven Smith carting the bowlers around. The home side would have backed themselves to finish above 210 from there, but the last seven overs brought only 56 runs, with five wickets falling.It began with Smith skying Axar Patel to the long-off boundary where Chris Morris held the ball over his head just inside the boundary line. Royals had Ben Stokes and Ashton Turner to follow, and would have expected a powerful finish. Instead, they fizzled out. Stokes’ poor season with the bat continued, but even his returns looked massive when set against the unfortunate Turner, who got a third successive golden duck. Turner has now scored ducks in his last five consecutive T20 matches, four of which have been off the first ball.Rahane had done all the running for his team and in an ideal world, he should have played second fiddle at the end with the big-hitters powering through. Instead, it was left to him to continue the power-hitting, and a tiring Rahane couldn’t find the boundary as regularly as he had, and the ball wasn’t going off the middle as often either. Capitals had kept the trio of Kagiso Rabada, Morris and Ishant for the end, and all three kept the batsmen relatively quiet, meaning Royals ended with a slightly below par total on a flat track.Dhawan starts, Pant finishesDhawan has reinvented himself as a T20 opener midway through this IPL season, and the new version of Dhawan ensured Capitals rocketed off at the start. That meant there was no run-rate pressure from the outset, and Dhawan’s onslaught had given Capitals the dual cushion of allowing Prithvi Shaw the luxury to settle in, and not let the natural downturn when a wicket fell let the required rate climb too high. Dhawan didn’t try to see off any bowler, or play himself in against anyone. He simply attacked each one, and won his battles against each one too. The spectre of dew later on forced Smith to bowl Shreyas Gopal in the Powerplay, but Dhawan carted him for 15 runs in his opening over to nullify his threat.Pant walked in when Dhawan and Shreyas Iyer fell within eight balls. It was a delicate situation, which could have gone pear-shaped for Capitals if Pant had fallen. But with Shaw playing within himself to hold one end up, Pant opened up successfully. He didn’t attempt extravagant shots at the start of his innings, which was perhaps the crucial difference from how his last few knocks had gone. But he didn’t go into a shell either, which meant that by the time he was well set, he was already scoring at a rapid rate. Once set, he unleashed his full range. There are few bowling attacks in the world that can go unscathed against Pant in these situations, and Royals weren’t one of them.

The senior quick bowler lashes out at his team-mates, says they haven’t learnt from their mistakes even as the losses have piled up

Jarrod Kimber in Cardiff03-Jun-2019Sri Lanka quick bowler Lasith Malinga was scathing in his criticism of his team-mates’ attitude, saying that they have moved from one defeat to another in recent times without learning any lessons.Speaking to the Sri Lankan press before their game against Afghanistan in Cardiff on Tuesday, Malinga said, “In the last one-and-a-half years or two years, we have been saying, ‘we have lost one game, move on, do well in the next game’. You can’t play cricket like that. We need to learn lessons from those defeats. There’s no point in forgetting those defeats.”I have played four World Cups and I still feel the pressure for tomorrow’s match. The other players must also feel it. You can’t play cricket anywhere without feeling the pressure. If a player doesn’t feel that pressure, that excitement, the nervousness, then there’s no chance of getting 100% from that player. They must think to themselves that if they don’t deliver, they have not done justice to the team.”In the last three years, Sri Lanka have won just 26% of their ODIs; they have lost to Scotland in a List A match, and Afghanistan beat them in their most recent contest in the Asia Cup.In their opening match of the World Cup, Sri Lanka, who have won just four of their 21 completed ODIs in the past 12 months and lost warm-up matches to South Africa and Australia before the tournament, went down by ten wickets to New Zealand after folding for 136.”All the players must realise their own mistakes first. We can’t repeat the same mistakes over and over,” Malinga said. “As a senior player and as a member of the squad, I hope everyone will have that fear of not doing their duty and feel the shame of losing. Everyone must realise that it’s a must that they perform because if not our cricket will not go forward.”At least from tomorrow, I hope everyone will have that fear because they have been selected as the best 15 to represent the country, not to be passengers. It’s essential that they identify different game situations and support each other in the middle.”I feel players need to get confidence, but we can’t improve our skills at the moment. We need to become mentally tough.”Dimuth Karunaratne, leading Sri Lanka in the World Cup despite not being an ODI regular since March 2015, was the only batsman to show some grit against New Zealand, carrying his bat for 52 runs as wickets fell in a heap around him.”I feel our top-seven batsmen have to take responsibility,” Malinga said. “We need to be patient. Patience is very important.”We know these conditions; we can have someone get 60-70 runs and some balls can still move around. Each bowler has their own method of setting up a batsman and taking wickets. So each bowler has their own ways of bowling those wicket-taking deliveries. I can’t decide that for the others.”

Two impressive performances have taken into the semi-finals with confidence restored but they know this is the bare minimum they needed to do

George Dobell at Chester-le-Street03-Jul-2019Mark Wood admitted he “got lucky” to dismiss Kane Williamson in freakish fashion in Durham.Williamson was well set and averaging over 100 in the tournament when Ross Taylor punched a delivery from Wood down the ground only to see the bowler stick a hand out and, in attempting to stop the ball, gain only the slightest of deflections onto the stumps at the non-striker’s end. Williamson, backing up in anticipation of a run, was out of his ground and out of the game.And while Williamson generously suggested England’s tight bowling might have played a part in forcing him to back-up so aggressively – “the English bowlers put us under pressure,” he said, “I don’t know whether the run-out came from that” – Wood accepted luck was a more pertinent factor. Especially bearing in mind his “small hands.”WATCH on Hotstar (India only): How England bowled out New Zealand“I got lucky,” Wood said. “He backed-up because he was looking for the run. It was nothing to do with my bowling. And it’s not as if I deliberately palmed it back on the stumps. I was trying to actually stop it and got a little bit fortunate. I am pleased that in such a big game I managed to be so lucky.”He doesn’t know how unlucky he is because I’ve got the smallest hands for a bloke you’ve ever seen. I managed to just get a fingertip to it. The umpire wasn’t sure if I’d tipped it, and I was like ‘I swear to God I did.’ I knew it had flicked the end of my finger.”He is one of the best players I’ve ever bowled at. So to get him out any way you can is pretty important. It saved me bowling at him any more so I was pretty pleased.”Jos Buttler, meanwhile, reckoned that England’s performance in their last couple of games – matches in which they have beaten India and New Zealand at a time they knew defeat could mean elimination from the tournament – should both give the side confidence and remind them to play the “brand of cricket” which works best for them.”It’s a really good sign for us,” Buttler said. “We stood up and played our brand of cricket under that pressure. That breeds a lot of confidence for the group. It reminds us that our way is the best way and gives us a lot of chance of performing. That’s what we have resorted to in the two must-win games and shows that we must continue that.”Both men admit their excitement at reaching the semi-final stage, though Buttler also accepted it had been a “minimum requirement” ahead of the tournament.”We are very excited to be in a semi-final,” he said. “But I think it was the minimum requirement; the first stage we had to get to. We have given ourselves a great chance and we’re really excited for that challenge. We’ve obviously had two tough games to finish to qualify and we showed great character to come through with two very good performances.””We’ve got some great momentum,” Wood agreed. “We’ve had our backs up against the wall so to play with the values we have talked about in the past has showed a lot of courage from the team. Now we are going on to another huge game, but one we’ll be pretty confident in.”

Wicketkeeper unbeaten overnight but Warwickshire turn the screw at Edgbaston

Jon Culley at Edgbaston19-Aug-2019Such is the romance that has come to be associated with Somerset’s quest for their first County Championship in 144 years of history that lovers of cricket are cancelling September holidays in the hope of being at Taunton to witness a doubtless tearful celebration.Whether it will be worth it remains in the balance. As things stand, the side they will meet in the last fixture of the season, the 2017 winners Essex, who beat them at Chelmsford in June, are in pole position. Four matches remain after this isolated, mid-Blast round, yet Somerset could do without losing ground at this moment.They might not find it easy to prevent that happening. Having winkled out two important wickets in the final session of the opening day, when Sam Hain and Adam Hose were dismissed before they were able to inflict too much damage, they picked up an early bonus on day two when Rob Yates, whose maiden century had been the thorn in their flesh on Sunday, was out to only the seventh delivery of the morning.Yet their bowlers failed to build on that, gaining only one extra bonus point and, more importantly in the context of potentially taking the 16 points for a win, allowing Warwickshire, themselves casting anxious glances at the one team behind them in the Division One table, the luxury of passing 400 for only the second time this season.Then came a pretty torrid start to their reply, encompassing three wickets lost for 15 runs between the eighth over and the 11th, including a first-ball duck for Babar Azam, their Vitality Blast star, on his red-ball debut for the county.By the close, they had recovered to a degree, thanks in large part to Steven Davies, who showed his adaptability by opening in a rejigged top order and willingness to graft as necessary in finishing 11 runs short of a hundred. Somerset, though, are still 103 runs away from the follow-on target and lost George Bartlett in the penultimate over, a moment of celebration for 19-year-old debutant George Garrett in claiming his maiden first-class wicket.Jack Brooks had made what they had hoped would be a decisive morning breakthrough as Yates, stretching to drive, edged to gully. When the former Yorkshire seamer followed up by having Tim Ambrose caught behind four overs later to claim the second bowling bonus point in the 102nd over, all looked well.Helped by a remarkable gully catch by Roelof van der Merwe as Henry Brookes somehow offered him a leading edge as he shaped to clip Jamie Overton to the short Hollies Stand boundary on his leg side – which he had already cleared with a square cut off Brookes – Somerset had the seventh wicket at 338 in the 107th over and were into the Warwickshire tail.And it did look more like a tail than is customary in a team that generally bats deep, with Oliver Hannon-Dalby making a rare appearance at No. 10 ahead Garrett.In the event, it was a while before they had a look at either, thanks primarily to Michael Burgess, who made it his business to use the aforementioned short boundary to his advantage whenever the Somerset bowlers gave him the opportunity, hitting 52 off 58 balls in a manner that was very easy on the eye.He and his captain, Jeetan Patel, added 66 in 13 overs to claim a fourth batting point and take the total beyond 400, to which Hannon-Dalby celebrated his promotion by making his first score in double figures since he giddily hit 11 not out and 13 against the same opponents at Taunton in May. At the other end, young Garrett manfully survived 22 deliveries to mark his maiden first-class innings with a red-inker and two runs.As if that were not enough to furrow Somerset brows, a positive response in terms of quick runs on the board was rapidly undermined as Tom Abell was bowled shouldering arms and Hannon-Dalby continued to influence the game by gaining the desired reward for bowling into James Hildreth’s pads. He then reaped an unexpected bonus when Babar, who has been drafted into Somerset’s red-ball team in place of his compatriot Azhar Ali, clipped a legside half-volley direct to midwicket.Azhar’s return to Pakistan for a training camp meant a rejigged top order with Davies opening with Abell. Happily for Somerset, he looked comfortable in the roll from the outset, anchoring a 63-run partnership for the fourth wicket that ended when Tom Banton edged behind off Will Rhodes, who was unlucky during an impressive spell when Tim Ambrose was not quite able to grasp an inside edge offered by Davies on 72.

Spin-bowling allrounder becomes fifth Pakistan international to sign up for tournament

ESPNcricinfo staff26-Jul-2019Imad Wasim, the Pakistan spin-bowling allrounder, has signed for Nottinghamshire as an overseas player for their Vitality Blast campaign. He will be available immediately, going into the squad for Friday night’s game against Derbyshire.Ranked second among T20I bowlers by the ICC, Wasim has been an integral figure in Pakistan’s rise to the top of the team rankings in the format, and has an economy rate of just 6.28 in T20 cricket over the course of his career.”With the nature of the international schedule, it’s a very difficult market in which to sign overseas players – far more difficult than it used to be,” Nottinghamshire director of cricket, Mick Newell, said. “With Imad becoming available on the back of the World Cup, we acted as quickly as possible to secure him.”The paperwork and clearances have taken a little bit of extra time, meaning we’ve had to start the tournament without him. But it’s good to now be welcoming him into the squad ahead of the next fixture against Derbyshire.”He brings an additional spin-bowling option that we think we can benefit from and he’ll strengthen our middle-order batting as well. With the venue we’ve got here at Trent Bridge and with the level of support we get here now, we are an attractive proposition to overseas cricketers.”Imad joins compatriots Faheem Ashraf, Babar Azam, Mohammad Amir and Fakhar Zaman to become the fifth Pakistan international with a contract for the Blast this season, though Zaman’s Glamorgan debut was delayed by visa issues and Amir has still to feature for Essex due to a similar issue.Nottinghamshire, who won the competition in 2017, were the favourites for the title this season, but started their campaign with a defeat against holders Worcestershire and a washout against Yorkshire before getting back on track with victory over Northamptonshire.Imad will fill the club’s second overseas slot, alongside captain Dan Christian. Notts had previously suggested Christian would be their only overseas signing for the Blast, but a serious knee injury to allrounder Steven Mullaney meant they swooped for reinforcement.”I can’t wait to represent the Outlaws in T20 cricket,” Imad said. “Trent Bridge is a wonderful ground with fans who are passionate and knowledgeable.”They were a generous audience during the One-Day International earlier this year and Trent Bridge under floodlights looked amazing.”My aim is to contribute to the Outlaws going all the way. They did it in 2017 and we have an exciting squad with lots of international talent that’s capable of doing it again.”This will be Imad’s first stint in the county game, though he has previously played club cricket for several different teams in England, including Papplewick, Burnley and Bradshaw. He will be available for the whole of the Blast, barring a two-game break at the end of August for his upcoming wedding.He was only picked in six of Pakistan’s eight World Cup games, but ended the tournament with 162 runs at a strike rate of 118.24, and was his team’s most economical bowler.

An unbeaten 85 from discarded England allrounder see Blast holders to nine-wicket win over Midlands rivals

David Hopps23-Aug-2019At least one England batsman was a picture of charm and grace after a desperate Ashes day. The only problem was that it was Moeen Ali, not required at Headingley, but instead refreshed by a bit of an August break and playing with grace and charm to win an engrossing West Midlands derby in the Vitality Blast.Moeen is a World Cup winner, with 186 England appearances to his name, but for all that experience he never appears more at home than in this fixture. His unbeaten 85 from 46 balls, allied to a half-century from Riki Wessels, immaculately judged a difficult run chase as Worcestershire overhauled Birmingham’s 184 for 5 with eight balls to spare.Moeen certainly enjoys facing his former county and last season hit centuries in the Royal London One-Day Cup and Vitality Blast matches at Edgbaston.Worcestershire go second in North Group and, along with Lancashire and Notts, are well placed to reach the quarter-finals by the time the group stages end next Friday: Moeen, unlikely to win an Ashes recall, can concentrate his thoughts on leading them to successive Finals Days. Birmingham, now eighth, are left to scrap with the rest and can console themselves that none of their rivals are posturing with intent.Blast crowds are on the up and around 12,000 at Edgbaston witnessed a match that was in doubt until deep into the contest. With 34 needed off four overs, Alex Thomson conceded 20 – Moeen strking successive sixes over long-on – and that was that.Worcestershire were under pressure when they required 80 off eight overs, but Moeen targeted Will Rhodes’ first over, which went for 19. A conservative over against Henry Brookes seemed too close for comfort, but when the boundaries were essential, Worcestershire found them: Moeen’s straight six off Jeetan Patel with 51 needed from 32, or Wessels’ leg-side drag against Oliver Hannon-Dalby to leave 34 off 24.Moeen stroked six sixes, five of them down the ground, while Wessels, typically, found innumerable ways to deflect and drag the ball square of the wicket. Wessels came close to falling lbw when he failed to reverse sweep Chris Green on 39, and Moeen plopped a ball or two into the open spaces, but for the most part their judgment was impeccable”I always felt we were one big over away from winning it,” Moeen said. “There was a bit of dew around and it wasn’t easy for their spinners. It’s always nice to be back playing for Worcestershire. I’ve just been going back to basics a bit.”Thoughts did not just alight on an England player currently jettisoned, but also on those who might yet be called up to reinforce a frivolous batting line-up. If Jason Roy can make a case for Test inclusion solely because of the splendour of his limited-overs form then with England in an Ashes pickle, Dominic Sibley must have had designs on a persuasive 30-odd in a T20 derby? After all, there is no Championship cricket to be had at the moment, so absurd as it sounds how is he meant to do it?Sibley, uncapped and, compared to Roy, unheralded, is a batsman designed for the long haul. He is leading the chase to 1000 runs in Division One, with 949 runs at 55.82, ahead of Yorkshire’s Gary Ballance and Hampshire’s Sam Northeast, but it’s unclear if anybody is all that interested.He began in such orthodox fashion against Worcestershire that it briefly looked as if he actually thought he on Test debut. Sadly, for collectors of cricketing oddities, he then he awoke to his task in hand and charged down the pitch to swing Pat Brown over midwicket into the Hollies Stand. Then he upped the ante, missed a sweep against Ed Barnard, wandered out his crease in vague expectation of a run and was stumped. Twelve runs off 14, as they say at Headingley, where England’s batting had been vanquished earlier in the day, was “neither nowt nor summat”.If Sibley had a unmemorable night, the Bears’ batting line-up had one of their most productive nights of an up-and-down campaign. Sam Hain, Adam Hose, Matthew Lamb and Mark Burgess all energised the innings in turn.Hain has had an extraordinarily consistent tournament with nine innings between 21 and 85, but although he comfortabley tops Birmingham’s run chart with 382 at 42.44, he is only striking at 119. The impression lingers that he is always driving himself forward, never entirely content with his scoring rate, and when he advanced to Dillon Pennington and popped him into the hands of deep midwicket, he left with another condemnatory shake of the head, one caused primarily by healthy ambition.Hose showed a bigger hitting range. His 48 from 23 included two sixes apiece off Moeen and Barnard. He hit Barnard for two sixes in an over, the second of which struck a spectator in the face at long-on. As if momentarily losing concentration, he changed tack and was caught off extra cover, trying to clear the infield.Lamb hunted out the short leg-side boundary – when he wasn’t threatening to injure the Worcestershire attack with straight drives. Pennington, sensible lad, ducked out of the way of a straight drive. Brown, stopped the next straight drive with his shin, grimaced his way through a third over, and never made the fourth. Birmingham had a score to reckon with, but they didn’t reckon with Moeen.