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Durham bowler makes chase harder than Worcs might have liked

Jon Culley at New Road17-May-2019The yo-yo team of County Championship cricket – relegated six times, promoted six times – are back in familiar territory as Division Two leaders after following up their victory at Leicester in the opening match of their red-ball season with the win that was theirs for the taking at the close of day three.Chris Rushworth, still Durham’s most potent weapon even in his testimonial year, provoked some serious jitters among those spectators not deterred by the serious drop in temperature after the first three days, single-handedly reducing Worcestershire to 55 for five in pursuit of their modest target of 81 to win.With a new ball and heavy cloud cover, conditions were ideal for the 32-year-old seamer, whose swinging deliveries twice took two wickets in the same over. But Worcestershire, with their depth of batting, never seemed at serious risk of an embarrassing defeat and once Rushworth was given a breather after nine overs, Ross Whiteley and Ben Cox guided them to the finish line a half-hour or so before lunch.There is a lot of ground to cover yet – and next week’s clash with Lancashire at Old Trafford could be informative – but new first team coach Alex Gidman is allowing himself to be relatively optimistic, especially given that there is an extra promotion spot available this season.”It will sound like an awful cliche to say that we are looking only at the next couple of games and trying to get as many points as we can,” he said.”But that’s what we are aiming for and I do have a lot of faith and trust in this group. They are a very talented group of players. Some are very young but there are also some experienced players now and we can’t now really hide behind the young and inexperienced tag that we’ve had in the past.”We have a really good blend and I believe we have enough experienced players now to really help with the development of the younger players, perhaps bringing them on quicker than before, which hopefully gives us the chance to perform a bit more consistently and getting those performances that will give us a chance to achieve our goal.”The young player to the fore in this match was Josh Dell, the 21-year-old batsman whose debut 61 in the first innings was critical to giving Riki Wessels and Whiteley the platform to build the 117-run first-innings lead that put Worcestershire in control.”Josh has come on a long way from this time last year and played a hugely important part in the victory,” Gidman said. “That partnership of Dell and George Rhodes was absolutely crucial.”He has had a tough learning curve. He was on the academy and played for England Under-19s and then did not make the step up that he should have. But he has learned and he has come back now looking a real good prospect.”Equally eye-catching was the contribution in the bowling attack of Charlie Morris, who is 26 now but after his long struggle to rebuild his action is playing in a way that winds back the clock a little to his early days. His seven wickets in this match followed eight at Leicester.”It’s almost like having a new bowler, a new member of the squad, having him available and bowling the way he has,” Gidman added. “He had to iron a few things out but we knew what ability he has with the ball and those days are well behind him. It is all about looking for Charlie now.”Durham’s prospects, meanwhile, are at the other extreme of the scale of expectations. This was their third defeat in three and a fifth in a row when the end of last season is tagged on. They have just 11 points and eight of those have been won by Rushworth and company, so it is easy to see where their problems lie.”It was ideal conditions for me and if we’d had another 60 or 80 on the board here it might have been a different story,” Rushworth said.”Everyone knows where we need to improve and it is something we have been trying to change for a few years now but you can say everything off the field and have great plans but until things change on the pitch the results are going to stay the same.”There were points in the game, the dropped catch (Whiteley on five before going on to make 72), two or three run-out opportunities, which might have changed things but you have to take them.”In the second innings, though, we were not good enough with the bat, so we have got to do better.”

War of words erupts – wicketkeeper-batsman says he is fit, board officials claim otherwise

Umar Farooq10-Jun-2019Afghanistan have been plunged into controversy with wicketkeeper-batsman Mohammad Shahzad claiming that he was incorrectly declared unfit and omitted from the World Cup squad. However, the Afghanistan Cricket Board insists that Shahzad was indeed unfit, which is why he has been replaced by Ikram Alikhil.Shahzad, 32, retired hurt during Afghanistan’s warm-up game against Pakistan on May 24, but subsequently played the team’s first two World Cup matches.He underwent a knee scan during the warm-up match against Pakistan. In the two matches that he did play, he was out for a three-ball duck against Australia, and made 7 off 12 against Sri Lanka. Afghanistan lost both matches.But while Shahzad has reportedly insisted that he was fit, the ACB chief executive, Asadullah Khan, was adamant that there had been no foulplay in dropping the wicketkeeper-batsman.”It’s absolutely wrong to say that he was unfairly dropped,” Asadullah told ESPNcricinfo. “We have given a medical report to the ICC to prove that he is unfit, and after thorough deliberation they allowed us to replace him. He is our main batsman, who can make a big difference with the bat, and it was a really difficult decision to drop one of our key players.”Shahzad’s medical report, a copy of which has been accessed by ESPNcricinfo, does confirm that he has a mild ACL strain on his left knee.Asadullah explained that since attaining full membership, Afghanistan had increased their focus on fitness. “Now that we are full members, our priority will be on fitness, in international and domestic cricket,” he said. “We can’t carry unfit players. We understand Shahzad was not fully fit when he still went on to play two games and this is not acceptable anymore.”Shahzad, after returning to Afghanistan, launched a broadside against his ouster while speaking with local media, accusing the ACB higher management for the move. “I went to a doctor in London and he drained my knee of some fluids, gave me a pill and said that I could play after resting for two-three days,” Shahzad told media in Kabul.”I had a practice session, bowled, batted, and had a keeping session… had lunch with my team-mates, and then sat down in the team bus (to return to the hotel) only to see the ICC press release on my phone saying I am out of the World Cup,” he explained. “That was the moment when I found out that I was unfit.”I asked the manager, who asked me to put the phone in my pocket and talk to the doctor. The doctor looked at me helplessly and said he couldn’t do anything. I don’t know what is the problem. If they have a problem, they should let me know. If they don’t want me to play, I will quit cricket.”I don’t see myself playing anymore. It’s a dream to play the World Cup. I was removed from the 2015 World Cup [he wasn’t selected for fitness reasons] and now this one as well. I am going to consult with friends and family. My heart isn’t in cricket anymore.”Shahzad is no stranger to controversy, despite having been a pivotal figure in Afghanistan’s extraordinary journey through the ranks to Test status. He missed out on playing during a large chunk of 2017 following an ICC suspension over a doping violation. Last year, he was found to be in breach of the ACB’s code of conduct when he played in a local Peshawar tournament, and was asked to reside permanently in Afghanistan or risk having his contract terminated.Shahzad is Afghanistan’s highest ODI run-getter, with 2727 runs at an average of 33.66 in 84 games.

Star batsman to team up with India team-mate Deepti Sharma at the franchise she starred for last season

ESPNcricinfo staff02-Jul-2019Smriti Mandhana, the star performer in Western Storm’s ride to the Kia Super League semi-final in 2018, will rejoin the team for the upcoming 2019 season, alongside India team-mate Deepti Sharma.Mandhana, the 22-year-old opener, topped the KSL batting charts last year with 421 runs at an average of 60.14 and a strike rate of 174.68, hitting a century and two half-centuries, helping Storm reach Finals Day before having to return for India duties.”I enjoyed my time with Western Storm last year and I’m looking forward to coming back in 2019. We played some outstanding cricket last year and hopefully we can go a little further this season and lift the trophy,” she said in a statement on the team’s website. “Everyone involved with Western Storm made me feel so welcome and, if given the opportunity, I was always going to come back.”The culture around the team, from top to bottom, was very good and I know that everyone will be looking for success once again. The squad has a good mix of experienced players plus young players who have a point to prove. I hope that I can score the runs that will help to contribute to a successful year for Western Storm.”Speaking about the signing, Storm head coach Trevor Griffin said, “Everyone knows what Smriti is capable of and she was absolutely sensational for us last year. Her performances on the field were superb and really set the tone for what we were trying to achieve in each match.”It wasn’t just the volume of her runs that was impressive, it was the manner in which they were scored that really caught the eye. She was exceptional off the field as well. Her team ethic and the way in which she goes about her training will no doubt inspire some of our younger players, who will certainly learn from someone like her.”On June 28, allrounder Deepti was announced as a Storm player, a few days after batsman Jemimah Rodrigues had signed up with Yorkshire Diamond.Storm recently announced re-signing the England quartet comprising Heather Knight, Anya Shrubsole, Fran Wilson and Freya Davies, and the New Zealand wicketkeeper-batsman Rachel Priest, who have all been part of the franchise since the inaugural season, held in 2016.

Rohit Sharma’s century in vain as India’s middle order falters in a chase of 338

The Report by Deivarayan Muthu30-Jun-20191:38

Why did Dhoni not show more intent?

Jason Roy was back, despite not being fully fit. Jonny Bairstow was back to his monster-hitting mode. Liam Plunkett was back in the XI in a tactical swap, replacing Moeen Ali, and took out Virat Kohli in a chase of 338. ‘New’ England got their wobbling World Cup campaign back on track at Edgbaston, outbatting and outbowling India, clad in new, orange-and-dark-blue jerseys.If England can follow up their 31-run victory on Sunday with another win against New Zealand on Wednesday, they will make the semi-finals, irrespective of the other results.Watch on Hotstar (India only): Bairstow’s centuryBarely two weeks after Roy tore his hamstring during the match against West Indies, England risked Roy’s fitness and he rewarded them with a tone-setting 66 off 57 balls in a 160-run opening partnership with Bairstow – the second-highest for England in a World Cup. Bairstow teed up his first World Cup hundred and although Mohammed Shami whipped up some magic with the old ball and ended with a five-wicket haul, Ben Stokes applied the finishing touches with a violent 79 off 54 balls.Jason Roy and Jonny Bairstow share a light moment with Hardik Pandya•Getty Images

In pursuit of a steep target, India dawdled to 28 for 1 in the Powerplay – the lowest in this World Cup. Rohit Sharma made his third hundred of the tournament and cranked up the tempo along with his captain Kohli, who reeled off his fifth successive fifty-plus score, but the middle order crumpled like a cheap suit. The first – and only six – of India’s innings came in the last over of the game, which petered out to a tepid finish.Watch on Hotstar (India only) – Shami’s maiden ODI five-forMS Dhoni struggled to find the boundary, as did Kedar Jadhav, and they even drew boos from the crowd. They gulped seven dots and took 20 singles in the 31 balls they were there together. Dhoni made 42 off 31 while Kedar had 12 off 13 in a bizarre passage of play as India managed only 306 despite five wickets in the shed.In the morning, by contrast, England had kept pinging the short, 59-metre boundary. Both Bairstow and Roy were initially bothered by Shami’s seam movement and Jasprit Bumrah’s cramping lengths. Yuzvendra Chahal’s second over, though, was a portent for the carnage that followed. Roy first spanked the legspinner through the covers and then slog-swept him over midwicket. Roy then greeted the other wristspinner Kuldeep Yadav with a down-the-track loft over the bowler’s head.India could have got Roy on 21 when he had gloved a leg-side delivery from Hardik Pandya to Dhoni. Umpire Aleem Dar deemed it a wide and Dhoni missed a tricky by not calling for India to review it. Roy added 45 to his tally before Ravindra Jadeja pulled off a blinding catch as a substitute at long-on to dismiss him.Bairstow had endured a nervy start – 11 of his first 17 runs came off edges – but he too took a liking to India’s wristspinners and the short leg-side boundaries. All told, he cracked six sixes, all off spin in the arc between deep midwicket and long-on. He marched to his half-century off 56 balls in the 16th over when he launched Chahal over long-on. KL Rahul, who was at the edge of the boundary, tried to grasp the fast-travelling ball but to no avail, and wound up hurting his back and left the field immediately.Chris Woakes shakes hands with MS Dhoni after England’s victory•Getty Images

By the halfway stage of the innings, Bairstow had a hundred off 90 balls and celebrated the landmark with a fist pump that was followed by a thumbs-up to the dressing room. England then topped 200 in the 30th over, but two overs later Shami had Bairstow carving a catch to sweeper cover for 111 off 109 balls. Shami bounced out Eoin Morgan, but then Stokes went crazy coco bananas with some assistance from Root, who contributed a more sedate 44 off 54 balls.Stokes rolled out one outrageous stroke after another, en route to his third successive fifty-plus score, including a reverse slog-sweep off Chahal over point, who had just been whisked into the circle. Chahal would finish with 0 for 88 in his ten overs – the most expensive for India in World Cups. Stokes blitzed Shami for three successive boundaries in the penultimate over to haul his side closer to 350.WATCH on Hotstar (US only) – Full highlightsThe target looked much bigger when Chris Woakes got rid of Rahul, who returned to open, for a duck during a sequence of three consecutive maidens. Jofra Archer found Rohit’s outside edge in the second over of the chase, but Root dropped a fairly regulation catch in the slips to reprieve him on 4. Archer, too, found the outside edge of Kohli, but the ball flew wide of second slip.The two batsmen then blunted Woakes and Archer, and grew more fluent against the change bowlers. Kohli crunched Mark Wood through the covers and then Stokes through midwicket, but Plunkett sucked him into a familiar trap by hanging one up wider than a set of stumps outside off. Kohli did bite, scooping a catch to backward point.Rohit couldn’t quite adjust to the two-paced track in the early exchanges, but once he got to his fifty, he struck four fours in seven balls and just like that outscored Kohli. It was Woakes who claimed the prized scalp of Rohit in the 37th over when he tricked him with a offcutter.Taking pace off the ball was a theme the rest of the bowlers would emulate in the end overs. In addition to bowling cutters, Plunkett ventured back-of-a-length cross-seamers and came away with the wickets of India’s new No. 4 Rishabh Pant (32) and Hardik Pandya (45) was well. Pant got his World Cup debut in place of Vijay Shankar, who was nursing a toe niggle, but couldn’t quite bring the target within India’s reach.India needed 104 off the last ten overs and later 71 off the last five, but with a long tail to come, Dhoni and Jadhav engaged in a snoozefest and played for the net run rate.

Senior fast bowler won’t feature against Australia again after suffering recurrence of calf issue

Alan Gardner30-Aug-2019James Anderson has been ruled out of the rest of the Ashes after suffering a recurrence of his calf injury while playing for Lancashire’s 2nd XI in a bid to prove his fitness. England had been hoping to add him to their squad for the Old Trafford Test, but have instead called up Somerset allrounder Craig Overton as bowling cover.Anderson played in the first Test against Australia but only managed to bowl four overs before suffering pain in his calf, having picked up the problem playing for Lancashire. England were heavily beaten at Edgbaston but came back to level the series at 1-1 with two to play after Ben Stokes’ heroics at Headingley.Having featured for Lancashire’s seconds in a three-day friendly against Leicestershire, Anderson stepped up his recovery programme this week, bowling 20 overs on the first day against Durham 2nd XI at Chester Boughton Hall. However, while delivering his ninth over on Thursday, he felt pain in his right calf and was subsequently assessed by England’s medical team.The most-prolific fast bowler in Test history, Anderson has in all likelihood made his final Ashes appearance. He has never hinted at setting a retirement date, but will be 39 by the time England next tour Australia in 2021-22.It is possible he has played his final Test altogether, although the lure of becoming the first fast bowler to 600 wickets might encourage him to push for a return on the winter tours to New Zealand and South Africa. Anderson is currently fourth on the all-time list of Test wicket-takers, with 575.His partnership with Stuart Broad is the most-successful in Tests between two quicks – they have taken more than 850 wickets in games together. In Anderson’s absence, Broad has led the way during the Ashes with 14 wickets at 25.35, although the emergence of Jofra Archer has given England an additional cutting edge.The selectors have otherwise stuck with the same players that helped secure a one-wicket win in Leeds, despite some speculation about the top-order batting after England were bowled out for 67 in the first innings. Overton, who featured twice in the 2017-18 Ashes, is likely to join Sam Curran in vying with Chris Woakes for the No. 8 spot.The Old Trafford Test begins on Wednesday, with England needing to win at least one of the two remaining Tests – and avoid defeat in the other – in order to regain the Ashes.England squad: Joe Root (capt), Jofra Archer, Jonny Bairstow, Stuart Broad, Rory Burns, Jos Buttler, Sam Curran, Joe Denly, Jack Leach, Craig Overton, Jason Roy, Ben Stokes, Chris Woakes

The hosts know the pressure will be on them next year and are not afraid of talking about within the team

Andrew McGlashan26-Sep-2019All roads lead to the MCG for the Australia Women’s team this season – or at least that’s the plan. The T20 World Cup final on March 8 is being billed as the chance to set a new world record for a women’s sporting event with the hope the ground can be sold out.A big part of achieving that will probably involve Australia reaching the final as they aim to defend the title they won in West Indies last year. Given their recent dominance – winning 19 of their last 21 T20Is – it would be a brave person to bet against them achieving that, but it does bring a weight of expectation.However, that is something the team is already embracing as they map out their season which begins against Sri Lanka at the weekend.”There will be a lot of pressure and expectation on us being there in that final, there’s a lot of talk about breaking world records and the crowds we could get but I think we are a big part of that and actually being in that final will make that happen,” Alyssa Healy told ESPNcricinfo. “For us it’s about not being scared to talk about it, not being scared to talk about the pressure and expectation we will be put under to be there.”I think everyone in the squad is very realistic that it’s there and we aren’t afraid of that either, making sure we are doing the right things on and off the field, playing some good cricket will enable us to go into that World Cup and put in a dominant performance. Talking about it with one and other will be crucial and we’ve already started that, playing the cricket is just part of that.”Allrounder Ashleigh Gardner said: “There’s been a lot of talk about wanting to sell out the MCG, having 90,000 people there would be a record, but we have to focus on things before that. We have to get to the final, we have another tough pool, India first who beat us last year, but we back ourselves that we can get to that final.”This confidence is well-placed given the way they have beaten England and West Indies convincingly since their title success a year ago, but Australia are aware that the tournament play can bring a different dynamic to bilateral contests, especially in the knockout rounds with Healy picking out India as the “real threat”.”I think it will be a very exciting World Cup. We saw in the West Indies that it was right open a lot of the way,” Healy said. “England and India were right up there, West Indies in the [semi] finals as well. It will be a tough one, but I think India are probably the favourites going into it. Obviously us being at home is pretty big for us but I think India are a really talented side. They came out here a couple of years ago and beat us in our own back yard so they’ll be a real threat and England, depending on their selectors, they’ll be a real chance as well.”Australia’s season gets underway on Sunday with the first of three T20Is against Sri Lanka in Sydney, followed by a three-match ODI series in Brisbane. The focus then shifts to the first standalone WBBL, which begins in mid-October, before a return to international cricket in late January, with a T20I tri-series involving India and England as the side’s final preparation for the World Cup.

Drawing on his own experience of being banned, the former Bangladesh captain has expressed words of support for Shakib

Mohammad Isam31-Oct-2019Mohammad Ashraful, the former Bangladesh captain, has some words of support for the banned Shakib Al Hasan, but believes the next 12 months will be a challenging time for the country’s most iconic sportsperson.Ashraful, who has now returned to playing first-class cricket after his five-year ban (two years suspended) for match-fixing in 2013, was speaking from his own experience of finding himself out in the cold after being implicated in the Bangladesh Premier League corruption scandal.”Our cases are different; he didn’t inform the fixing approaches to authorities, while I was fully involved in match-fixing,” he told ESPNcricinfo. “But this is going to be a shock to the system. We love playing cricket. What Shakib is going through is hard to explain in words. I think there shouldn’t be too much news about him. Dealing with so much news was hard [for me].”ALSO READ: A wretched day in DhakaAshraful admits to sleeping through the day when he was banned, until he found a new calling. He doesn’t think Shakib will face similar issues, though. “I slept through the first six months,” he said. “I used to watch TV all night, and then wake up at around 2pm in the afternoon. I then performed Hajj, which gave me a new perspective.””I always wondered whether I would be able to play again, mainly because of my age [Ashraful was 30 when he was banned]. The cricket board is helping Shakib. I got support but it wasn’t what Shakib will get. Also we must remember that players like Mashrafe Mortaza, who was often injured, and Shakib have always made extraordinary comebacks.”Ashraful admitted to being pleasantly surprised to receive overwhelming support from fans during his time away. “When I played for Bangladesh, I always had half the people support me and the other half disliking me,” he said. “After I confessed [to my involvement in the match-fixing scandal] and apologised to everyone, around 95% were in my support. Nobody believed that I did it alone. It wasn’t possible.”Ashraful spoke of the ground realities of a banned cricketer, saying keeping fit was the biggest challenge for him. While he couldn’t train or play recognised cricket in Bangladesh, Ashraful tried to find other avenues overseas, even if it meant playing in unsanctioned tournaments. He even helped out a team of lawyers wanting to get a grasp of the game.”I wasn’t allowed to play or train anywhere during the three years. I used to play with lawyers in Dhaka,” he said. “I played in tournaments in the US where there were no sanctions. I played around the country in different places. I met new people, had new experiences. Shakib wouldn’t have to go through anything like this. He will be allowed to train in Mirpur. He won’t have any problem like I did.”Still, Ashraful admitted to feeling a sense of sadness at seeing a fellow player suffer similar fate. “I had the belief that no Bangladeshi cricketer would get into this kind of trouble after me,” he said. “We have very different cases, but still the punishment is to stay away from cricket.”I felt bad. Shakib is the No. 1 allrounder in the world. He is our best player. He plays franchise leagues. When I say Shakib made his mistake, I think he didn’t take it [reporting approaches] too seriously. What also happens now is that everyone will be alert with these approaches. What to do when there’s an approach. Nobody should make this mistake. We could never imagine that Shakib would make this mistake.”

Dawid Malan says he felt like he was banging his head against a wall as Middlesex captain

ESPNcricinfo staff05-Nov-2019England batsman Dawid Malan has described his frustration at the way his time with Middlesex ended. Malan gave up the captaincy at the end of the 2019 season and subsequently agreed a move to Yorkshire after 13 seasons with the London club.Under new head coach, Stuart Law, Middlesex finished eighth in Division Two of the Championship, despite Malan leading the way with more than 1000 runs. They reached the quarter-finals of both the Vitality Blast and the Royal London Cup but Malan announced his decision to step down at the end-of-season members’ forum.Malan is currently on tour of New Zealand with the England T20I team and after his move to Yorkshire was announced said that it had begun to feel like he was “banging my head against a wall” at Middlesex, after a communications breakdown with Law.”I just needed a fresh challenge,” he said. “I’ve been captain of Middlesex for two years, and I’ve been banging my head against a wall for a wee while. I didn’t really enjoy the cricket as much as I’d have liked to.”When I spoke to them, Yorkshire seemed like a team that really want to win trophies, and that’s the ambition. I don’t want to finish my career just plodding along in county cricket. I want to be somewhere that really wants to challenge to win stuff.”I was wanting things to move in the right direction [at Middlesex]. That was it. It frustrated me that I didn’t really know what was going on, or what the plans were and so on.”While Malan has played all three formats for England, he has struggled to nail down a spot. He was their leading run-scorer in a T20I tri-series featuring New Zealand and Australia two winters ago but then did not feature again as England utilised Jos Buttler as an option at opener.With several first-choice players such as Buttler, Jason Roy and Joe Root rested from this tour, Malan has another opportunity to stake his claim, contributing scores of 11 and 39 in the first two games.”It was disappointing Jos went back up to open the batting, because it made position for guys like Vincey [James Vince] and myself, who bat at the top of the order, really tough,” he said.”I think I was the leading run-scorer in the last series I played in, but I hadn’t played a game for the last 18 months in Twenty20. That’s just the way it goes. I did everything I could to be part of the squad, but unfortunately it didn’t work out because of the players they’ve got above you.”He also indicated he hopes to force his way back into Test contention, despite England’s national selector, Ed Smith, suggesting that Malan’s game was better-suited to overseas conditions when he was dropped from the side during the 2018 summer.”I still want to play for England across all three formats,” Malan said. “I’m only 32, so I’ve got a lot of good years ahead of me, it’s just up to me to perform.”What Ed said wasn’t ideal but he’s clarified it to me – my Test record in England isn’t as good as it should be, which is my own fault and no one else’s. But that doesn’t mean I can’t play Test cricket again. It’s up to me to score runs for Yorkshire and keep my name in the hat.”

Senior fast bowler urges batsmen to seize moment after New Zealand are limited to 375

George Dobell in Hamilton30-Nov-2019Stuart Broad has challenged England’s batsmen to bat for 150 overs and “set up the game” over the next couple of days in Hamilton.Having been frustrated for hundreds of overs by New Zealand’s batsmen in the series to date, Broad urged his team-mates to show similar determination if England are to secure a series-equalling victory. And while it wouldn’t quite be true to suggest that Broad intimated the bowlers had done their job, now let’s see the batsmen do theirs, it wouldn’t be entirely untrue, either.England’s bowlers again performed with heart and stamina in restricting New Zealand to 375 on a docile pitch in Hamilton. But England’s batsmen were soon struggling in reply and were probably fortunate to reach the close with just two wickets down. Rory Burns was dropped twice.ALSO READ: Pope keen to prove he’s a keeperThat left Broad calling on his batting colleagues to seize the opportunity to record a substantial total over the next day or two. And he called on Burns, in particular, to make a telling contribution.”We know we’ve got to go and bat 150 overs here to set up the game on day five,” Broad said. “Our opportunity is there. There’s not a lot happening in the pitch, there’s not a lot of scoreboard pressure. There’s a chance for a couple of people to go and get hundreds.”Someone like Rory Burns is our key batsman because he’s a player that has his areas that he scores in. If he can stay in that bubble and not chase balls outside off stump, he’s someone who could go and get 200. We need someone to go and get a big hundred for us to win this game and we’ve got the players to do it. If a batsman really applies himself on these pitches and doesn’t play loose shots and wants to just score in their area, they can be a real handful.”While Broad’s words were, no doubt, meant as encouragement, he could be forgiven if there was an element of frustration behind them, too. For Broad was one of the bowlers sentenced to 201 overs in the field in New Zealand’s only innings in Mount Maunganui after England’s batsmen squandered the opportunity to make first use of a benign surface. At one point on day two, with the score 277 for 4, it looked as if England might make a game-defining total, but a first innings of 353 turned out to be deeply inadequate.Equally his highlighting of Burns’ role is intriguing. Burns was originally selected as something of an old-fashioned, solid opening batsman. But in the last hour of play on Saturday, he played a couple of oddly aggressive strokes and was fortunate to survive. Broad, it seems, was gently trying to remind him of his strengths and the team’s requirements.”We had an opportunity at Mount Maunganui on the morning of day two to heap all the pressure on New Zealand for the rest of the game,” Broad said. “And we didn’t manage to take that. But if we had gone and scored 450-500 then they would have been batting under pressure.”Equally, when they were 200 for 5 in their first innings, we had another opportunity to take pressure off ourselves and apply it to New Zealand. But Mitchell Santner and BJ Watling batted fantastically well. We gave the pressure back to them and lumped it on ourselves at the end of the fourth day.”Here we’re not batting with a scoreboard of 500. They made 375. So, I think our pressure is reduced slightly and we just go and play. If you’re a batsman, you’d want to bat out there, wouldn’t you? If you were good at batting, you’d fancy that.”For us to win this game, we’ll need a batter to get 150-plus and someone else to get a hundred and leave ourselves a day to bowl them out on day five. I think that’s how New Zealand won the last Test they played here: they got 700 for six. Arguably, they’re probably 300 under par.”If we bat through the whole of day three and go past New Zealand, we can apply some pressure on them in the second innings. If we don’t go and get 400, we can’t. The opportunity is there to bat big and bat big once.”While some will look at the scoreboard from these two Tests and suggest the bowlers might do well to worry about their own jobs rather than give advice to the batsmen, Broad has a point. The pitches in both Tests have been painfully slow and, armed with a Kookaburra ball that has offered little after 20 or so overs, England’s bowlers have been demonstrated impressive control and discipline. “They make your work hard for the wickets here,” Broad said.Broad finished with 4 for 73 here. While he dismissed Jeet Raval, caught at slip in fairly conventional fashion on day one, and then ended Tom Latham’s excellent innings when the batsman left a straight one, he was forced to think outside the box for his other two victims.Watling, for example, was deceived when Broad deliberately bowled one from at least a foot behind the popping crease in a bid to put the batsman’s trigger movements out of sync.”I tried it once at The Oval, where Steve Smith was causing us a lot of problems,” Broad said. “Because he triggered so much, I thought if I bowl it a yard before the line, it might surprise him and catch him off guard. But I hadn’t practised it all.”So leading into tea here, I thought I’d nothing to lose. I thought it might change the balance of the trigger movement for the batsman. It caught him by surprise a bit. I don’t know if it did him for lack of pace, but you take anything out here.”I’ve tried to vary my pace and I’ve tried to use the short ball at times. I’ve got a lot of respect for how Tim Southee, Neil Wagner and Trent Boult have gone about their business over a long period of time. I looked at Tim Southee at Mount Maunganui and he changed his position on the crease a huge amount. Wagner bowls a bit of everything. The mindset is a bit different here. I feel I’m learning a bit as well.”Now it’s up to England’s batsmen to show they can pick up new tricks, too. If their first innings doesn’t extend into day four, it’s hard to see how they can claw their way back into this series.

Dates of the Under-19 World Cup clash with Pakistan’s yet-to-be-confirmed Test series against Bangladesh

Umar Farooq25-Dec-2019Sixteen-year-old Naseem Shah’s participation in the Under-19 World Cup in South Africa early next year is not certain yet, with the senior team management not in favour of releasing him for age-group cricket. The junior team management, understandably, wants the star fast bowler freed up for the World Cup, as originally planned.ESPNcricinfo understands that the Under-19 team is waiting for Shah, who was named in the World Cup squad on December 6 after making his Test debut in Australia last month, to link up with his team-mates, who have been at a preparatory camp in Lahore since November 25.The issue at the moment is the senior team’s next assignment: a multi-format home series against Bangladesh, which is far from confirmed yet given the visiting team’s stated unwillingness to play Test cricket in Pakistan. If the Test matches – the only format Shah has played so far at the international level – do take place, they must be in early February. The last T20I against Bangladesh is scheduled for January 27, and the PSL begins in the third week of February. The Under-19 World Cup, meanwhile, runs from January 17 to February 10.”I don’t mind if they play him against Bangladesh in Tests, but if the series isn’t happening, then I would very much want Naseem in the squad for the World Cup,” Ijaz Ahmed, head coach of the Under-19 team, said. “He is important not just because he played Test cricket, but he was always the first-choice bowler for us in the World Cup. He was named in the squad and even the PCB chairman had given a clearance on his name. Having him in the squad will give our squad a major boost and the hype having him around us will give other boys a motivation.”I had requested Misbah [ul-Haq to release him if he is not playing the Tests against Bangladesh] and he, too, understands the importance of the World Cup and we are in discussion to sort this out once and for all. But if this isn’t go according to the plan, then we have reserve players on the bench who are with us from the last 25 days and very much part of our preparations. So I do have a plan B, but if it’s not Tests and only T20I against Bangladesh, then I think they [the senior team] have plenty of options to pick from and can easily release Naseem.”Pakistan, like the other teams, can make changes to their squad till January 10 without worrying about an ICC approval. After that, players can be replaced only on fitness grounds and will require the approval of the ICC’s event technical committee.Naseem Shah celebrates a wicket•AFP

As far as workload management is concerned, the senior team management had charted a course for Shah’s holistic development much before his international debut. To that end, he has been asked to skip the final of the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy, where his side, Central Punjab, take on Northern from December 27 in Karachi. He is firmly in Pakistan’s plans for the England tour next year, too.Shah’s rise through the ranks has had its share of ups and downs. On Test debut, he dismissed Australia opener David Warner for 154 but was dropped in the next Test because of a niggle in his knee, which is understood to have hindered his rhythm in the nets.The teenager, however, emerged as an automatic selection for the home series against Sri Lanka that followed, taking seven wickets in the two Tests, including a second-innings five-for in the second game. The earned him the distinction of being the second-youngest bowler – behind compatriot Nasim-ul-Ghani in 1958 – to take a five-wicket haul in the longest format as Pakistan completed a 1-0 series victory.Shah’s Test debut in Australia was largely an experiment, with him having played only seven first-class matches prior. He had created quite a buzz even before landing in Australia, with footage of his express pace from the domestic circuit going viral. He was named in the starting XI in the tour game against Australia A, too, but didn’t bowl in the first innings following the death of his mother. He, however, made quite an impression with an eight-over burst in the second innings, picking up the wicket of Marcus Harris.