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Hosts could look to rest some of their bowlers with a packed ODI series coming up shortly

Himanshu Agrawal15-Dec-2021

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It hasn’t been the best of tours for West Indies: first they were forced to leave out seven first-choice players due to a combination of workload management, injuries and personal reasons; that followed their regular white-ball captain’s withdrawal due to a hamstring issue; after all that, three members of their touring party tested Covid-positive, thus ruling them out of the T20Is. They now find themselves 2-0 down and facing a 3-0 sweep.There have been glimpses of the possible damage even a weakened West Indies can cause on the current tour already, not least when they had Pakistan at 141 for 7 after 18 overs, and then had eight wickets in the shed with 88 to get in just over nine overs during the second T20I on Tuesday. But they ended up conceding 172 as Shadab Khan, an able but not generally threatening No. 8, got into them with the bat; they eventually fell short of the target by nine runs despite a spirited fight by their own No. 7 Romario Shepherd. All that said and done, it is another opportunity for a fresh and untested unit to not only prove they can perform but also eye on a permanent place in West Indies’ starting XI.Pakistan, on the other hand, seem to be the side in form in the shortest format. They have won ten out of their last 11 T20Is – including a 3-0 sweep of Bangladesh last month after the T20 World Cup – and six out of their last seven bilateral T20I series, including the ongoing one. Their openers have developed a dominant union, their middle order has been boosted by the likes of Asif Ali and Shadab, youngsters Haider Ali and Mohammad Wasim Jr have rapidly adapted to international cricket, and the skill of Shaheen Afridi and Haris Rauf has repeatedly come to the fore.The fact that they fielded the same XI across the two wins in the series says a thing about how settled this side is, having three members yet unused. And although the third and final match might be labelled as a dead rubber with the series already in Pakistan’s pocket, it provides just the perfect opportunity for the team management to experiment with fresh faces, as they aim to build a solid pool and go two steps better at the next edition of the T20 World Cup, which starts in less than a year’s time.

Form Guide

Pakistan WWWWW (Last five completed matches; most recent first)
West Indies LLLLW

In the spotlight

He didn’t get to play a single game in the T20 World Cup despite being in Pakistan’s final squad, but spin-bowling allrounder Mohammad Nawaz has had an impactful five matches since. His two wickets came at 27 and an economy rate of exactly six an over against Bangladesh, and he has followed that up with three wickets at 20 against West Indies. That aside, a cameo of 18* off just eight balls helped Pakistan inch ahead in a tense finish in the first T20I against Bangladesh, while 30* at a strike rate of 300 in the first T20I versus West Indies pushed his team up to a match-wining total of 200. Should Nawaz continue to blossom with both ball and bat, he could prove tough competition for the more established Imad Wasim.West Indies’ death bowling so far in the series has made it tough for their batters during the chase. The visitors conceded 53 in the final three-and-a-half overs in the first T20I to Haider and Nawaz, and 31 in the last two overs to Shadab on Tuesday. However, they have the best economy rate of 8.57 and the third-most wickets in the final four overs among all T20I sides in the calendar year. The West Indies bowlers would quickly want to get back to that level.

Team news

Pakistan wouldn’t mind giving some of their regulars a break and bring in the three unused members of the squad: right-arm quicks Mohammad Hasnain and Shahnawaz Dahani, and legspinner Usman Qadir. With the ODI series starting just two days after the third T20I – the three ODIs will all be done inside five days – resting Afridi, Rauf and Shadab, although the latter is their vice-captain, ahead of matches that count for World Cup Super League points would be prudent.Pakistan XI (possible): 1 Babar Azam (capt), 2 Mohammad Rizwan (wk), 3 Fakhar Zaman, 4 Haider Ali, 5 Iftikhar Ahmed, 6 Asif Ali, 7 Shadab Khan (vice-capt)/Usman Qadir, 8 Mohammad Nawaz, 9 Haris Rauf/ Shahnawaz Dahani, 10 Shaheen Shah Afridi/Mohammad Hasnain, 11 Mohammad WasimLeft-arm spinner Gudakesh Motie is the only real choice for a change for the third game. With nothing further to lose, he could be drafted in for an international debut although that would imply leaving out one of the quicks, with Akeal Hosein having done appreciably well and Hayden Walsh Jr having played just one game. But dropping a fast bowler may not be all that bad considering the pitches have been slow, and where the spinners’ economy rate has been just 5.86.West Indies XI (possible): 1 Brandon King, 2 Shai Hope, 3 Shamarh Brooks, 4 Nicholas Pooran (capt, wk), 5 Rovman Powell, 6 Romario Shepherd, 7 Odean Smith, 8 Dominic Drakes/Gudakesh Motie, 9 Akeal Hosein, 10 Hayden Walsh Jr, 11 Oshane Thomas

Pitch and conditions

Scores batting first in the series read 200 and 172, and more of the same can be expected given it is a placid pitch at the National Stadium in Karachi. The weather should remain pleasant and clear, with dew often present post 8pm local time.

Stats and Trivia

One debutant and another playing only the second ODI of his career shepherded the visitors’ chase to give them a 1-0 lead

Danyal Rasool08-Aug-2025An unbeaten 104-run partnership between debutant Hasan Nawaz and Hussain Talat – playing his second game – helped a nervous Pakistan overcome a stutter to chase down 281 in the penultimate over and take a 1-0 lead in the ODI series with a five-wicket win.West Indies had put up 280 through three half-centuries in the first innings, but Pakistan’s spinners contained them to keep them to a below-par score with Shaheen Shah Afridi (4 for 51) and Naseem Shah (3-55) mopping the hosts up at the death.Pakistan’s pursuit was far from convincing, struggling to pace the innings too. Babar Azam (47) and Mohammad Rizwan (53) each fell after promising, if placid, starts, and West Indies found themselves burrowing into the lower order when Rizwan fell with 101 still to get. But Nawaz overcame early struggles and briefly rode his luck with a couple of dropped chances to turn the game around with 63 not out, eventually finishing it at a canter alongside the more solid Talat, who made an unbeaten 41 in 37 balls.Much of Pakistan’s ODI success over the past year depended on Saim Ayub getting them off to a flyer, so it felt significant West Indies neutralised that threat early, Jayden Seales extracting rubber-ball bounce that took his edge and flew on command into the keeper’s gloves. While Babar took his time to settle, Abdullah Shafique looked classically pretty through an even-paced knock, but found himself undone by slightly lower bounce that excited Shamar Joseph enough to force his captain’s hand into a successful review.Initially, it appeared the worst of Babar and Rizwan was on display in that third-wicket partnership. At one point early on, they would play sixteen successive dot balls as the asking rate crept above six. They began, as they so often do, to catch up, finding regular boundaries and running a few twos, and the asking rate gradually eased back down into the fives. Whether that redeemed their slow start or made them even more culpable is by now an intractable question to answer.But West Indies trusted their pace bowlers longer than Pakistan had, only delivering one over of spin until the 20th over. But that wasn’t a commentary on Gudakesh Motie’s skills, who began to trouble the pair, ultimately sending Babar packing when he ventured out for a slog and was deceived by the turn three runs short of his half-century.Salman Ali Agha was more proactive, but threw away a decent start when he scooped a ball that gripped right back into a grateful Roston Chase’s hands. The value of Rizwan’s wicket was growing with each passing wicket, and he’d eased himself past a half-century by once more, Joseph found a way to rap him in front of the pads, this time securing the on-field decision that put West Indies on top.Nawaz and Talat, one ODI in 2019 the sum total of their 50-over international experience, seemed unlikely saviours at that point. Hasan scored just three off his first 12 balls, and looked vulnerable against spin. Shai Hope dropped him early as a nick off an attempted slog couldn’t nestle into his gloves, and with the asking rate rising, he was the one Pakistan required out there until the very end.The tide began to turn in the 39th over by which time the dew was making the ball hard to grip. Talat smacked Chase for two boundaries, before a rare errant over from Joseph saw five wides and 17 runs scored which brought the asking rate to just above seven. It was the break Pakistan needed to pace the innings on their terms, with each player finding the boundary anytime the equation became uncomfortable.With four overs to go and Nawaz on 49, Motie put down an unforgivably easy chance at short third, and as Seales went down on his knees in disbelief, the fate of the game was sealed. Talat plundered 15 off the following over, and five balls later, Nawaz had sealed the win.Evin Lewis and Keacy Carty’s 77-run stand got West Indies flowing despite losing an early wicket•AFP/Getty Images

Earlier, West Indies were put in to bat partially because of the uncertainty of conditions both overhead and underfoot, and once they’d brushed off the customary first-over wicket Afridi tends to take so often, Evin Lewis and Keacy Carty began to set a platform in the powerplay. Shaheen and Naseem struggled to find bite with the new ball, and by the eighth over, Rizwan had turned to the spin of Ayub. On a surface that has seen just the one ODI played, no one really knew how successful that would be, but the next two and a half-hours answered that question.With the surface gripping, each of Pakistan’s three spinners – Ayub, Agha, and Sufiyan Muqim – were thrust in immediately. The following 27 overs saw just one over of seam bowled as West Indies found themselves bleeding the occasional wicket while the run-rate Lewis and Carty had helped keep around six dipped below five. It was telling that the one over of seam – from Faheem Ashraf, saw Lewis pillage a six and a four bringing up his half-century in the process.But Lewis – on 60 – felt Ayub was the spinner to target, and having dispatched him for a boundary, opted to heave the final ball of his third over into the air. Shaheen spun himself around a couple of times before improbably holding onto it. A tortured innings from Sherfane Rutherford then concluded when he spooned Agha to cover-point.Chase (53) and Hope (55) put together a stand for the fifth wicket, but with no break from the stifling spinners, the run-rate began to fall. The 64 they added came off 89 deliveries, and with just one ball after the 34th over, Shaheen and Naseem began to find reverse swing. It took them a couple of overs to find their accuracy, during which Chase brought up his half-century. But he holed out to Naseem almost immediately afterwards, and just as the ball began to reverse, West Indies’ tail was exposed.The yorkers began to land, and West Indies had no answer. Naseem and Shaheen found pinpoint accuracy, and any runs West Indies scored had luck attached to them. At one point, the matting for the stump-mic helped lift the ball over Rizwan for four byes, and the following over a 140kmph yorker from Naseem hit leg stump, but without dislodging the bails.Even so, the last three were cleaned up by Pakistan’s two frontline quicks hitting the base of the stumps, and bowling West Indies out with an over to spare. Later, Pakistan would achieve their own target with seven balls to go.

Initial scans in Dubai appear to show the injury could rule him out for the rest of year and even the Australia tour

Danyal Rasool16-Sep-2023Pakistan fast bowler Naseem Shah is likely to miss the entire World Cup after scans revealed an injury to his right shoulder that is worse than was initially suspected. The PCB is understood to be seeking a second opinion, but scans from tests in Dubai appear to show the injury could rule him out for the rest of year. A note from the board on Saturday evening said, “the PCB medical panel will decide on the fast bowler’s return to cricket based on further assessments.”Should secondary results back up the initial ones, Naseem could be looking at a long layoff. His participation in the Test series in Australia at the turn of the year is in doubt, and he could also miss the next Pakistan Super League in 2024.Naseem walked off in the middle of the 46th over during Pakistan’s second game against India at the Asia Cup last week on the reserve day organised for that game, and was ruled out of the tournament soon after. The PCB had, ironically, pushed for that reserve day for the game against India, as a hard-won concession after the games weren’t moved to Hambantota, which was expected to be drier. It was on that reserve day that Naseem sustained the injury to a muscle just below his bowling shoulder, one that ESPNcricinfo understands is not a recurrence of any previous shoulder injuries.Related

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Naseem’s absence from the World Cup, as well as the subsequent series in Australia, will come as a huge blow for Pakistan. Over the past year, Naseem has gone from a red-ball specialist to an all-format bowler for Pakistan, and on current form is the best of Pakistan’s much-vaunted triumvirate of Naseem, Shaheen Shah Afridi and Haris Rauf.The PCB is expected to make an official decision once it has results from his secondary scans in a few days. He was replaced at the Asia Cup by Zaman Khan, while Mohammad Hasnain, another possible replacement, is currently also injured.Naseem has had injury issues in these early stages of his career. A back injury he sustained one year into his international career, when he was 17, kept him out of cricket for 14 months. Six weeks after his return, he was sidelined for a month with a shoulder injury he suffered on his debut in the County Championship with Gloucestershire.In the 18 months since, his workload has increased significantly. While he was only a red-ball player at the time, Naseem has become a crucial bowler for Pakistan across all formats. He is their most potent bowler since making his ODI debut, with 32 wickets in 14 matches while averaging just under 17.But that workload, especially with someone as young as Naseem, has built up quite steeply. Since July 2022, only eight fast bowlers have bowled more international deliveries than Naseem’s 2246, none of them nearly as young as Naseem. Afridi and Haris Rauf combined have only bowled 2732 balls. In addition, Naseem has also been in demand on the T20 circuit, recently coming off the LPL. On Friday he was included in the SA20 auction shortlist, a tournament he is now almost certain to miss.

Coach Justin Langer explains why Peter Siddle was picked ahead of Mitchell Starc at Edgbaston

Daniel Brettig in Worcester07-Aug-2019Australia’s Ashes blueprint to starve England’s boundary-hungry batsmen from scoring paid off handsomely at Edgbaston and may see Peter Siddle playing as expansive a role in the series as any of the touring pacemen.In a plan that the national team coach Justin Langer has hinted was partly inspired by the way a 2004 touring team to India won Australia’s only series victory in the country for the past 50 years, England’s scoring – and boundary count – were drastically clamped down upon, after Siddle was chosen when the selectors resisted the urge to choose the faster Mitchell Starc or Josh Hazlewood on a Birmingham pitch that was drier than anticipated.While Siddle did not have the sort of seam movement at his disposal that has characterised many of his spells for Essex over the past couple of seasons, his nagging lines and lengths, pressuring England into the sort of shots played by Jonny Bairstow in the first innings and Jason Roy in the second, helped the Australians suffocate an England team that is used to getting regular release from pressure by finding the short boundaries of their home grounds.Over the course of the Test, England were restricted to 0.33 boundaries per over and 2.75 runs per over, a long way behind Australia’s 0.47 boundaries per over and 3.99 runs per over. Across 39 overs for the match that cost 80 runs, Siddle’s economy rate of 2.09, conceding just eight boundaries at 0.21 per over, made him the only bowler in the match to go under 2.5 runs per over. It was a performance that not only reaped wickets at the other end, but also prevented England from surging to high-scoring bursts that would also bring Edgbaston’s crowd to life.”We knew 10 of the [starting] XI two days before; we made a decision between Starcy and Peter Siddle quite late actually, on the morning of the game,” Langer said. “We were going to have a last look at the wicket on the morning and when we got here it was a pretty strong gut feeling.”For some reason, the way Sidds played in the practice game and the way he’s been bowling and the style of cricket we need to beat England – it was a line-ball decision and it is easy to say in hindsight, but I thought Peter Siddle was almost the bowler of the game. He was brilliant. That was the best none-for I’ve ever seen.”We’ve got a pretty clear view on how we think we can beat England in this series. I go back to 2004, India, when we finally beat India in India. We had a very, very clear [plan]. Adam Gilchrist drove that. Remember, he was the captain at the time; Punter [Ricky Ponting] was injured, so he drove that. We’ve got a really clear plan for how we can beat England. We’ll stick to that.”Gilchrist has spoken about how the 2004 plans in India called for the denial of boundaries to India’s batsmen, playing on patience and fitness by forcing them to run frequently between the wickets. “The main thing with the quicks was that we went really negative,” Gilchrist had said in 2017. “We started with one slip, a deep point, a deep square leg and just played on the Indians’ egos. That was probably the key tactical change we made in that series, and it worked nicely. It was a patience game, but it came through. That allowed us to get into the game without being blown away, and the deeper you take it the more chance you have.”Siddle echoed these words in assessing how he, Pat Cummins, James Pattinson and Nathan Lyon had complemented each other in Birmingham. “That’s the good place that the team is in at the moment,” Siddle told Macquarie Sports Radio.”The bowling group is happy to get the job done and build the pressure. You’re not always going to be the one to take the wickets and gets the rewards. But that’s the strength of this bowling group, that’s how to have success in England. The second innings was a perfect example, Nathan and Patty [Cummins] got the rewards but Patto [Pattinson] and myself were able to build pressure when we had the chance. To bowl them out so cheaply, it was a great start to the series.”Travis Head, a deputy to the captain Tim Paine alongside Cummins, said that the team was committed to ensuring that they would not chase wickets too aggressively at the risk of conceding rushes of boundaries. “The only time I remember them doing it was a couple of overs on day two where we chased it a little bit. I think we bowled two overs for 10,” he said. “We spoke about that, and said we don’t mind going for wickets but we have to consolidate and keep the scoreboard quiet.”We know that if we can do that there will be enough balls in the right area and enough balls to create an opportunity and then we can keep them at a low total. I think that will be the same throughout the series. You can see how quickly we scored [on day four], that great day we had.”On the flip side of that is minimising how much they can score, as defensive as it looks, making sure we have our catches, getting our wickets, we can protect at the same time and build pressure that way. A couple of ones to the boundary is better than a four. I thought we had a really good mix of trying to get boundaries [with the bat] and containing the scoreboard [with the ball].”

High Performance Review may yet scupper season’s aim, as lowly Leicestershire are routed

David Hopps07-Sep-2022Nottinghamshire 201 (Montgomery 43, Wright 3-26, Barnes 3-32) and 390 for 7 dec (Clarke 67, James 61, Hameed 60) beat Leicestershire 93 (Evans 50*, Fletcher 4-23) and 257 (Finan 58, Mullaney 3-29) by 241 runsJust as Mark Wood can ride an imaginary horse during a Test match, so Nottinghamshire fear they are again contesting an imaginary promotion race as they approach the winners’ enclosure. For the moment, they can do little else but hope. But at least in a Championship season which still has no confirmed denouement, and in a format that has no confirmed future, they have all but done what they can, stretching their lead in Division Two to 34 points with a thumping 241-run win inside three days against Leicestershire.Nottinghamshire’s nearest pursuers, Middlesex and Glamorgan, have three matches left to their two, but they play each other at Lord’s next week. Their next match, against Worcestershire at New Road a week on Tuesday, will be a promotion party. Presumably.Their latest win ended amid some drama as the players trooped out after six o’clock, the rain briefly relenting, Leicestershire nine-down, floodlights blazing, and the threat of a dodgy weather forecast on the final day. They grabbed that wicket within 10 balls as drizzle again began to fall. The Gods then are shining upon them, but the question remains as to whether they will be doubly blessed by the cricket authorities, who would have forced even Zeus to procrastinate and form another sub-committee.The bigger picture was that Nottinghamshire’s win came on the day when Andrew Strauss openly lobbied in a podcast for his oft-signalled preference for a future of three divisions of six and warned that if the counties did not accept a reduction in the amount of Championship cricket played, then more and more players would take the easy option and abandon county cricket for an ever-growing number of worldwide T20 leagues. Result: disaster.Basically, the High Performance Review message is that you old guys might want to watch wall-to-wall Championship cricket, but we young guys don’t want to play it, so you’d better get used to the idea before the walls come tumbling down.Strauss will officially unveil his proposals to the ECB Board next Wednesday, with Richard Thompson taking the chair for the first time. The Board will then decide what exactly to propose to the counties, and when, and there is every chance that a September deadline will not be met. There is also a growing sense that any changes might not come into effect until 2024. If that is so, Nottinghamshire, then your promotion might actually exist.Nottinghamshire would deserve as much. They finished fourth in the Conference system in 2021, a format introduced because of Covid-19, but when the counties voted to revert to two divisions this summer, that achievement was ruled irrelevant. Instead, they were demoted to the Second Division on the basis of their bottom-placed finish in Division One in the last pre-Covid season two years earlier.For all Strauss’s warnings, it is eminently possible that county cricket could opt to stare down the possibility of a talent drain (after all, they have suffered an ECB-approved talent drain for years) and calculate that a surfeit of short-form global tournaments will ultimately implode.But the contention that England’s professional circuit needs the best versus the best has more in its favour. One look at Leicestershire insisted as much. They can be grateful that Strauss is not trying to dismantle the 18-team professional system in the naïve belief that shrinking a game somehow makes it stronger, but their inadequacies are a powerful advocacy of a steeper pyramid system that three divisions of six would bring.They were largely dire on the third day at Trent Bridge, entirely lacking in conviction and application once their openers had departed, happy to tumble to defeat in fatalistic fashion until the merriment of a last-wicket stand of 83 put a gloss on proceedings that they did not deserve. Leicestershire’s last-wicket pair even survived a statutory extra half-hour to reach tea at 251 for 9, their stand worth 77 in 13.2 overs and the last man, Michael Finan, a 26-year-old triallist from Cheshire, finding himself the possessor of a maiden Championship fifty on debut – an innings that involved Nottinghamshire pounding the old ball at him from short of a length with a short leg and five fielders back for the catch, and Finan surviving through a mixture of luck, judgment and dropped catches.Related

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There followed a rain delay of more than two hours before the sides reappeared. Leicestershire had six overs plus an extra half hour to withstand. The skies were dark and the floodlights were on. From the 10th ball, Finan edged Dane Paterson to second slip where Matthew Montgomery held a low catch. Notts celebrated as if it matters, and let’s hope that this time it does.Leicestershire have not won a first-class game in 11 attempts and look as weak as when they failed to win a single match in 2013 and 2014. A threadbare squad not been helped by the absence of Wiaan Mulder, who has been called up by South Africa, and Ben Mike, who is bound for Yorkshire at the season’s end. They have competed more ably in white-ball formats, only missing a place in the T20 Blast quarter-finals when they were docked points, and reaching the Royal London Cup play-offs, but over four days they are again scraping the barrel. It is due to freakish circumstances that they are playing Nottinghamshire in this season’s Championship, but in the longer format the gulf in class has been apparent.Leicestershire’s director of cricket, Paul Nixon, sounds increasingly dismayed by their four-day failures. “There were too many soft dismissals, too many times we got ourselves out. It’s tough when the odds are against you, but that’s the mindset of a winner. You’ve got to believe that you’re the man who is going to take responsibility for your team and if people haven’t got that mindset, I don’t want them playing for Leicestershire County Cricket Club.”Their openers did resist the new ball gamely enough, albeit rendered largely strokeless. Sam Evans had batted through the first innings for 50 out of 93, no other player reaching double figures (extras contributed 17). His downfall, though, was disappointing as, foot planted a few inches down the pitch, he stretched for a drive at a wide ball from Paterson and edged to the keeper.With Hassan Azad also embedded, Notts appeared to be faced with a bit of a grind on a slow surface, only for their skipper, Steven Mullaney, to change the tone with a pre-lunch spell of 3 for 15 in four overs. He swung the ball prodigiously at times and offered subtle variations of pace. A straight one from around the wicket had Azad lbw; Louis Kimber, who has been promoted to No.3 on the back of excellent 50-overs form, checked a drive to mid-off; and a huge inducker did for Colin Ackermann, who was lbw.As Ryan Patel and Harry Swindells contrived to flick catches to midwicket, six wickets had fallen for 121. Ed Barnes, struggling for oxygen as high as No. 7, banished the doubters in a positive innings of 37, even if his eventual demise was slightly embarrassing as Brett Hutton, having loaded the legside field, banged one in that followed Barnes as he backed away, and he popped a catch to short leg in self-protection while falling on his bottom.Mullaney reckoned Nottinghamshire looked “rusty”. But only Leicestershire had disintegrated.

Matt Kelly suffered a nasty blow to the face late in the contest which became closer that looked likely

Tristan Lavalette22-Jan-2023Cameron Bancroft smashed a career best 95 not out before Perth Scorchers survived a late Aaron Finch onslaught to lock up top spot on the BBL ladder after a dramatic 10-run victory over Melbourne Renegades at Optus Stadium.Finch, playing his 100th BBL game, was left to rue inserting Scorchers into bat as Bancroft capitalised after quick David Moody was removed from the attack in the second over for bowling two dangerous waist height deliveries.Chasing 213, late fireworks from Finch almost hauled in the huge total but it wasn’t quite enough as fourth-placed Renegades (6-7) remain in a fight for a playoff spot.Scorchers will host arch-rival Sydney Sixers in a qualifying final on Saturday with the winner to progress into a home final on February 4.Related

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Bancroft, Eskinazi smash shorthanded Renegades attack

It’s been tough going for teams batting first at Optus Stadium this season with the surface playing occasionally sluggish. With temperatures in Perth soaring in recent days, the hardened surface oozed runs in sunny conditions and Stephen Eskinazi’s boundary off the first ball of the innings foreshadowed what was ahead.Eskinazi dominated early and took full advantage of a lacklustre Renegades attack with inventive batting, including several scoops to the boundary, to smash 37 off his first 13 balls. Bancroft had been mostly an onlooker until he greeted WA team-mate Corey Rocchiccioli with two sixes off the spinner’s first three deliveries.The openers smashed 62 runs off the powerplay with Eskinazi shortly after hitting another boundary to reach his half-century off just 26 deliveries. He couldn’t go on with it but Bancroft continued to plunder a wayward Renegades attack.Bancroft was mostly sidelined earlier in the season with Scorchers perhaps unwisely preferring English recruit Adam Lyth, who could never get going. Perhaps more renowned as a sedate longer format batter, a bolder Bancroft has been aggressive this season marked by cavalier batting as underlined in his belligerent 50-ball knock.Matt Kelly is helped by medical staff after a blow in the face•Getty Images

Moody’s horror homecoming

It was a horror homecoming for Moody, who is the nephew of Western Australian great Tom Moody. In a short-lived performance he would rather forget, Moody shared the new ball in the second over but lasted just one legal delivery amid a nightmare.Moody started well enough with a dot delivery until disaster struck when he bowled a wild full toss at 144kph that hit Bancroft’s rib cage and the batter required medical attention.His next delivery was a wide before a rattled Moody delivered another full toss which Eskinazi scooped for a boundary. It was deemed above waist height and Moody was summoned out of the attack after conceding eight runs off one legal delivery to finish with an eyesore economy rate of 48.Without spearhead Kane Richardson, a further depleted Renegades attack were under major pressure and their best laid plans derailed without Moody. They never recovered with their only bright spot being a screamer of a catch by Will Sutherland, who showcased his athleticism by plucking a one-handed grab to dismiss Nick Hobson after running back from mid-off.

Finch almost conjures incredible heist

Renegades were dead and buried needing 68 off the last three overs until Finch wound back the clock with three consecutive sixes as seamer Andrew Tye leaked 31 runs in the 18th over.It left Renegades needing 37 runs off the last two overs but they ultimately fell short. Finch, however, showed he still had something left in the tank with 76 off 35 balls and so too Shaun Marsh who also hit a half-century.WA veteran Marsh returned home in his first match since suffering a hamstring injury against Melbourne Stars on January 3. He showed no rust at the top of the order with four trademark glorious boundaries off his first seven deliveries and Marsh played fluently before falling for 54 in the 11th over.Nick Hobson held a spectacular catch•Getty Images

Kelly’s nasty injury

Scorchers have injury concerns ahead of the playoffs with an injury scare to quick Matt Kelly, who in the 15th over had to be substituted out of the match under concussion rules.In a scary incident, Kelly suffered a blow to his face after a throw from Hobson to the non-striker’s end deflected off Finch’s bat. For several seconds, Kelly lay motionless on the ground amid hushed silence from the 32,000 crowd.A bloodied Kelly eventually got to his feet and gingerly walked off the ground and was replaced by legspinner Peter Haztoglou, who had been omitted for the clash alongside frontline spinner Ashton Agar. Scorchers do have enviable pace depth if Kelly is ruled out against Sixers with star quick Jhye Richardson set to return from a hamstring injury.

He had advanced colon and liver cancer, and is survived by his wife Nadine and four children

Firdose Moonda03-Sep-2023Heath Streak, the former Zimbabwe captain and arguably their greatest allrounder, has died at the age of 49. He had advanced colon and liver cancer and had been receiving specialist treatment at a Johannesburg hospital, travelling from his home in Bulawayo on a bi-weekly basis since May. He is survived by his wife, Nadine, and four children.”In the early hours of this morning, Sunday the 3rd of September 2023, the greatest love of my life and the father of my beautiful children, was carried to be with the Angels from his home where he wished to spend his last days surrounded by his family and closest loved ones,” Nadine wrote on social media.Streak was a major figure in the Zimbabwe team of the 1990s, when they enjoyed their most successful run in international cricket. He represented Zimbabwe in 65 Tests, making him their second-most capped Test player, and 189 ODIs between 1993 and 2005. He was their leading bowler, with 216 Test wickets and 239 ODI wickets – also the only Zimbabwe bowler to take more than 100 Test wickets and over 200 ODI wickets. He was also their seventh-highest Test run-scorer, with 1990 runs, and one of 16 Zimbabwe batters to score more than 2000 ODI runs, finishing with 2943.”This is a very sad day for Zimbabwe and a sad day for cricket as we, on the one hand, mourn the demise of a true great of our beautiful game and, on the other, celebrate the greatness of what Heath gave us: he played with passion, spirit and was nothing less than an inspirational figure who raised our flag high and touched lives within the sport and beyond,” Zimbabwe Cricket chair Tavengwa Mukuhlani said. “On behalf of the ZC board, management, players and staff, I would like to pass our heartfelt condolences to Heath’s loving wife, Nadine, his family, friends and the entire cricket fraternity on the loss of the icon.”The son of Denis, who played cricket for Rhodesia, Streak made his international debut as a 19-year-old in an abandoned match against South Africa in Bengaluru during the 1993 Hero Cup, a five-team tournament played in India. Coincidentally, one of the umpires in Streak’s debut game – Piloo Reporter – also died on September 3 in Mumbai at the age of 84.Streak also got his Test cap that year, against Pakistan in Karachi, and took eight wickets in the next match in Rawalpindi.Related

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Pakistan would become something of a favourite opponent. He took more Test wickets – 44 – against them than any other team, including three of his seven five-fors.He made his first Test fifty in his ninth Test, against South Africa, and it would be followed by 10 more. His only Test century came against West Indies, in Harare in 2003.After making his debut, Streak played in all eight Tests that Zimbabwe won over the course of his career. He was a mainstay of the ODI side and played in three World Cups – in 1996, 1999 and 2003 – and took 3 for 36 and 3 for 35 in their wins over India and South Africa in the 1999 tournament in England.Streak became Zimbabwe captain in 2000, but it proved a tumultuous tenure.In 2001, he resigned for the first time, officially citing the impact of leadership on his performance. Behind the scenes, politics was rife in the country, and Streak was in the crosshairs.Heath Streak got his Test cap in 1993, against Pakistan in Karachi, and took eight wickets in the next match, in Rawalpindi•Stu Forster /Allsport

As part of Zimbabwe’s white, privileged minority, his family was targeted in the land-reform projects of the early 2000s, where white farmers’ lands were seized and redistributed. More than 70% of the Streaks’ farm in the Turk Mine area, 60 kilometres north of Bulawayo, was taken but they were left with enough to continue farming cattle and run a small safari park.In sporting terms, the increased political push to transform Zimbabwe’s previously elite sporting codes, such as cricket and rugby, into representative games meant the introduction of quota systems. And all the while, Zimbabwe’s economy suffered. Selection interference and payment issues were behind Streak’s first resignation as captain but he accepted the job again in 2002, and led them at the 2003 World Cup, where Zimbabwe were co-hosts.The difficulties never went away, though, and in 2004, Streak resigned as captain for the second time after a clash with the board, prompting the walkout of 13 other white players from the national side. That was a pivotal moment for Zimbabwe cricket and led to them rebuilding the national side with inexperienced players, which resulted in a sharp decline in results. Streak was the only one of the players who returned to the national side and made an international comeback the following year. He played six Tests and six ODIs (two for Africa XI against Asia XI in August 2005) before retiring from international cricket at the age of 32 in 2005.Streak went on to play for Warwickshire and had a short-lived stint as captain before leaving the club in 2007. He then signed up with Ahmedabad Rockets in the short-lived Indian Cricket League. From there, he returned to Zimbabwe and moved into coaching. He was appointed Zimbabwe’s bowling coach in 2009 and went on to work under Alan Butcher as Zimbabwe made their Test comeback after a six-year self-imposed exile in 2011. They enjoyed fairly regular game time over the next two years but in 2013, Streak’s contract was not renewed. He remained coach at his domestic union, Matabeleland Tuskers, and founded his own academy, the Heath Streak Academy, in Bulawayo in 2014.Heath Streak captained Zimbabwe at the 2003 ODI World Cup•Getty Images

He also found gigs as a bowling coach around the world and had stints with Bangladesh (2014-2016) and Gujarat Lions (in the 2016 and 2017 editions of the IPL) and then returned home to take over as Zimbabwe’s head coach in October 2016, tasked with ensuring the team qualified for the 2019 World Cup. At the 2018 World Cup qualifier held in Zimbabwe, the team lost a crucial match to the UAE and missed out on the World Cup. Streak and his entire coaching staff were sacked. He went on to have short stints with Scotland, Somerset and Kolkata Knight Riders.In 2021, he was banned for eight years after being charged with – and admitting to – five breaches of the ICC’s anti-corruption code, including accepting payment in bitcoins from a potential corruptor. However, he later said he was not involved in any attempts to fix matches, but admitted to disclosing inside information pertaining to international matches.As such, he was serving his ban at the time of his death. Streak would have been 57 at the time the ban ended and had expressed doubts on whether he would be able to return to having a role in the game. He was understood to be considering appealing the length of his ban before he took ill.His academy continues to run and was renamed the Zimbabwe Youth Academy when Streak had to resign last year. He spent his final months fishing and tending to the family farm.

Sussex leave out overseas pair after previous-match collision but pull off tenacious victory

ECB Reporters Network28-May-2023Tom Alsop’s tenacious unbeaten 51, and a classy 28-ball 48 from Michael Burgess, swept Sussex Sharks to a tenacious, against-the-odds Vitality Blast five-wicket victory against Surrey at the Kia Oval – with just one ball to spare.After bowling out the hosts for 148 on a used pitch, Sussex looked out of it when they struggled to 57 for four after Sunil Narine, who took two for 18 from his four overs, produced a wicket maiden in the 11th over.But then Burgess joined Alsop in a match-winning partnership of 77 in eight overs that shocked Surrey, who had won their first two Blast fixtures of the season, and propelled the Sharks to the brink of an opening South Group win.Burgess, having just deposited Dan Worrall for a huge six into almost the second tier of the JM Finn Stand, was brilliantly caught at short third man from the last ball of the 18th over – slashing a low full toss to Nathan Barnwell, the substitute fielder, who hung on gallantly.That left Sussex needing 16 from the last two overs, and then ten from the last after Sam Curran bowled a tight penultimate over, and Alsop was equal to the task of taking ten off Tom Lawes.Left-hander Alsop hit the second ball through extra cover for three and, with James Coles taking a single from the next, levelled the scores by hammering Lawes’ fourth ball back past the bowler for a lofted boundary.Alsop then pulled Lawes over a ring field for the victory-clinching single and his 42-ball anchor knock included legside sixes off Cameron Steel and Worrall and four fours besides.But it had been Burgess, on-loan from Warwickshire and originally a product of Surrey’s youth system before joining Sussex for three seasons from 2017, who played the innings of the game. He took the lion’s share of the 19 runs that came from the 15th over, off Worrall, including a remarkable square cut six that landed on the boundary rope.That left Sussex needing 52 from the final five overs and Burgess, in all, hit two sixes and five fours as the Sharks shook off injury setbacks that included opener Ali Orr having to bat with a runner – but still hitting 24 from 15 balls – after hurting his knee trying to take a boundary catch early in the match.Narine earlier hit three sixes in a quickfire 29 but he then became the first of Ravi Bopara’s three victims in a canny spell of three for 18 from the 12th, 14th and 16th overs, and Surrey’s innings rather fizzled out as their last four wickets tumbled for just two runs in nine balls.Surrey at first took the attack to a Sussex bowling unit shorn of both their overseas players, Pakistan’s Shadab Khan and Australia’s Nathan McAndrew, who were rested as a precaution following their unfortunate on-field collision in the Sharks’ opening game defeat against Somerset at Hove.Laurie Evans took two legside fours off George Garton in the second over and then lifted Coles’ left-arm spin for a six into the back tier of the Bedser Stand in a third over that brought 16 runs as Will Jacks also plundered two fours.But Tymal Mills, introduced for the fifth over, made the breakthrough when Evans, making room to carve, lost his off stump on 23 and Jacks fell for 13 – splicing Henry Crocombe’s fast-medium to mid wicket – as Surrey ended the six-over powerplay on 42 for two.A quite brilliant low diving catch at backward point by Coles cut Sam Curran’s innings short on just two, the fielder scooping the ball up right-handed as the England all-rounder slashed Archie Lenham’s leg spin hard for what he must have thought would be a boundary.Narine’s mid-innings aggression helped to take Surrey to 82 for three by the halfway point as he and Tom Curran added 53 for the fourth wicket but then Bopara began to produce his own particular brand of medium-paced magic as Narine lofted to long on and Curran (23) skied to extra cover, where Alsop took a fine running catch over his shoulder.Jamie Smith did bludgeon Lenham for two straight fours but on 19 was bowled by Bopara as he tried to sweep a straight ball after moving outside his off stump.Mills returned to help his captain turn the screw on Surrey’s lower order and Jamie Overton was bowled for 13 by a thunderbolt that hit his off stump and both Steel and Lawes were run out trying to come back for a second run – Lawes being dismissed without facing a ball.The innings ended with three balls unused, Jordan Clark swinging and missing at Garton to go for just eight and leaving Surrey short of a par total and guilty of losing their way against some excellent Sussex out-cricket.Tom Clark was Sussex’s first wicket to fall, caught at extra cover off Worrall for 9 and after Orr was taken at backward point off Lawes the Sharks reply stuttered further when Bopara edged Narine’s third ball behind and the West Indian mystery spinner also had Garton caught by keeper Smith for 7.Alsop and Burgess, though, held their nerve in front of a big crowd and, with Narine bowled out at the end of the 14th over, an equation of 71 from six was achieved. Their stand, meanwhile, was a fifth wicket T20 record for Sussex against Surrey.

The seamer reflects on the lessons he has learnt en route to his 50th Test, against Pakistan in Adelaide

Daniel Brettig26-Nov-2019If this year’s Ashes retention against England at Old Trafford in Manchester seems a little too recent to be the highlight of Josh Hazlewood’s entire career – one that will reach 50 Tests in Adelaide against Pakistan this week – then there is some fundamental logic to the New South Welshman’s choice.To return home from the northern hemisphere with the urn in Australia’s keeping for the first time since 2001 was not only the breaking of fresh ground for Hazlewood and the rest of the touring team, it was also an achievement that could be enjoyed all the more for the fact that the 28-year-old had seen plenty of difficult days and defeats that made it something more to savour.ALSO READ: ‘Cherry ripe’ Hazlewood brings peak precisionFor a young, tall fast bowler to whom, injuries aside, so much had come rapidly, here was a garland he had spent time chasing, to the point of struggling on one previous Ashes tour in 2015 when a team led by Michael Clarke had been widely expected to succeed. Test cricket, Hazlewood had long since learned, was far harder than he imagined as a teenager making his debut for NSW as a 17-year-old in 2008, or for Australia in an ODI two years later.”Probably Manchester, not that long ago,” Hazlewood said. “To retain the Ashes over there and be the person to get that last wicket. It was a pretty special moment. There are some good moments of the team celebrating. It’s just a great memory.”I didn’t know it [Test cricket] was going to be this hard. You learn patience. You bowl in the nets all the time and you try and take two or three wickets and you’re only bowling for half an hour. Things like that you try a lot of things. Once you get into Test cricket it’s about building that pressure and patience and working on it all day. And a side is never going to roll over I think. That’s a big one. That patience stands out for me.”There is something fitting, too, about Hazlewood’s 50th Test arriving in Adelaide, a venue where he has plucked 22 wickets at 20.22 and a strike rate of 44.5 in four matches (as against a career average of 26.3 and strike rate of 56.7) and has little hesitation in labelling the best all-round pitch in the country. “I love Adelaide the most I think,” he said. “I have had good success there. Often it is a pink-ball game now. But we played red ball last year and it still did a bit for most the game.”It keeps you a little bit interested when the ball is a bit older and the wicket is a bit flatter, there is still a little bit there for you throughout the day. And it is a new-ball wicket, so I think it’s an even contest between bat and ball. I think everyone would have their own favourites, but I think that is one that sticks out. I think Nath [Lyon] loves bowling there as well, there is spin there for most of the game. I think it’s just a great all-round wicket to be honest.”I think pink ball in Adelaide is a pretty similar length to red ball [in Brisbane]. You want to get it up there, you want to get it quite full. The pink ball does swing for probably a bit longer and if you’ve got a new one at night we know what can happen. I’m looking forward to getting it back in the hand, it’s been quite a while. I missed the one last year against Sri Lanka [at the Gabba], so I am looking forward to getting back bowling with the pink one.”Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood, Nathan Lyon and Mitchell Starc celebrate Australia’s Ashes win•Getty Images and Cricket Australia

Knowing what to expect and how to respond, namely by applying relentless pressure to opponents, has always been a part of Hazlewood’s game, but there is a sense among the bowlers who toured England that they are growing in their proficiency at doing so.Noting the evolution of the game towards ever more aggression and short-form hitting, Hazlewood believed the reward for the build-up of pressure through diligence and control – plus natural bounce and a little movement either way – is growing all the time. Having not conceded more than three runs per over in any Test series since March 2016, Hazlewood is reaping the rewards.”As cricket goes on more players are limited-overs players and they play more of that. And the guys want to play their shots,” Hazlewood said. “With that strangling, if you can do it for long enough you get rash shots as we saw in the first innings. It’s building that pressure and strangle we talked about, and I think moving forward it’s a big thing for us.”We didn’t strangle them like we did the first innings [at the end of the Gabba Test]. We had a few more runs to play with and we probably over-attacked at certain stages and they got away with us in that middle session. I think the best thing was we had the best part of two days off between innings. The boys batted phenomenally this Test. We had our feet up for a long period and we could come out fresh last night and today. You’re feeling very fresh. That is probably the one thing that stands out for this Test.”That freshness should ensure that Hazlewood is joined by Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc and Nathan Lyon in Adelaide, with James Pattinson set to return to the squad but not yet the XI – keeping the “big three” fast men together is certainly to their liking. “I think it’s huge. We know everything about each other basically,” Hazlewood said. “But on the field you know when guys are going well and when they might need to slow it down and have a word with them.”I talk to Nath a lot, I field at mid-off for him a lot and we talk a lot about how things are going and we talk a lot about how things are going, if we’re not bowling the right areas or getting the wickets, and what can we try here. It’s huge I think. The same as batters batting together. We’ve all played together now for a long time. And we all know what needs to be said at different times to different people. That balance and that partnership is huge.”Being a fast-bowler you can never look too far ahead. It’s quite tough the summer in Australia with the wickets seeming a lot harder than England and places like that. They do take their toll. But ideally you want to keep the same bowling group together, the same as the top six. Guys get confidence, they relax when they know they are not on their last chance. We’re no different.”As for Pakistan, the advantages Hazlewood enjoys in Adelaide will be available to the visiting seam bowlers also, including the potentially recalled Mohammad Abbas. The chance for the pink ball to wobble around in his and other visiting hands will be another reminder of why Hazlewood knows how hard Test cricket can be, and why Old Trafford will linger in his memory.”I think the Adelaide wicket and pink ball will suit them. A lot of them have nice wrists and present a nice seam,” he said of Pakistan. “So I think they will be able to swing it around. Whether Abbas comes in or not is up to them obviously. I think they have got a number of guys who can bowl well with the new ball. I think it will be hard work, especially when it’s new. But throughout the whole Test I think it will be hard work.”

Haider Ali’s enterprising 49 and Kamran Akmal’s attacking 41 not enough as Zalmi fall short in 200 chase

ESPNcricinfo staff02-Feb-2022Haider Ali’s enterprising 49 and Kamran Akmal’s attacking 41 weren’t enough for Peshawar Zalmi, as a whirlwind knock of 66 by Fakhar Zaman helped Lahore Qalandars to a 29-run win.After Shaheen Afridi bowled Hazratullah Zazai off the third ball of the 200 chase with no run on the board, Akmal and Hussain Talat added 62 as Akmal went for the boundaries while Talat struggled to get going. But Zaman Khan got them both off back-to-back balls in the ninth over, first having Talat caught at deep midwicket before getting Akmal to chop on to his stumps.Akmal’s 41 came off 24 deliveries, including 4, 4 and 6 off successive balls in the fifth over against Rashid Khan, while Talat couldn’t make the most of three drops to limp to 15 from 24 deliveries.But after Akmal fell, Haider ensured Zalmi didn’t lose the momentum, getting off to a rapid start after himself being dropped. With Mailk also gone and the required run rate up to nearly 15 with seven overs remaining, Rutherford also targeted Rashid, cracking 6, 4 and 4 off consecutive deliveries. However, Zaman Khan dismissed Rutherford for 21 from 11 balls, and despite Haider’s effort, Zalmi were left with too much to do in the end, as David Wiese nearly had a hat-trick for Qalandars with DRS reversing the umpire’s initial out verdict.And with the bat, Qalandars were set up by an aggressive 94-run opening stand between Fakhar Zaman and Abdullah Shafique. Initially, Fakhar Zaman was the one who went after the bowlers, scoring 26 off his first 13 balls after four overs. Shafique then upped the tempo, slamming Arish Ali for 6 and 4 off the first two balls of the next over. At least one boundary was hit every over until Usman Qadir got Shafique for 41 off the last ball of the ninth to break the partnership.But Fakhar Zaman pumped Qadir for two more boundaries – the ball drooping off Haider’s fingers at deep square leg facilitated the six – before Talat got him for 66 in the 13th over. That is when Mohammad Hafeez, Kamran Ghulam and Rashid combined to provide the finishing touches to Qalandars’ innings, as they crashed 82 off the final seven overs, with Rashid hitting three sixes in an unbeaten eight-ball 22.