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This is the first time in Pakistan history three bowlers have taken five wickets in a single Test

Danyal Rasool10-May-2021It took exactly five overs on the fourth day for Pakistan to take the solitary wicket they needed to complete a 2-0 clean sweep over Zimbabwe, bowling them out for 231 and winning by an innings and 147 runs. Shaheen Afridi was the man to make the breakthrough, coaxing Luke Jongwe into a drive the batsman could only edge through to the wicketkeeper Mohammad Rizwan.

Taylor gets one demerit point for showing dissent

Brendan Taylor got one demerit point and an official reprimand for showing dissent at the umpire’s decision after he was adjudged caught behind in Zimbabwe’s second innings. The incident took place in the 37th over, when Taylor pointed to his thigh pad and held his head after being given out.

Taylor was found to have breached Level 1 of Article 2.8 of the ICC Code of Conduct for Players and Player Support Personnel. It was his second offence in a 24-month period, taking his cumulative demerit points to two.

Level 1 breaches carry a minimum penalty of an official reprimand, a maximum penalty of 50 per cent of a player’s match fee, and one or two demerit points.

It saw him complete a five-wicket haul, becoming the third Pakistan bowler in the Test to do so after Hasan Ali and Nauman Ali. This is the first time in Pakistan history three bowlers have taken five wickets in a single Test, and just the sixth time overall. Despite the bowling heroics, it was Abid Ali who scooped up the Player of the Match award for his first double-century.The day began with Jongwe looking to farm the strike, ensuring he faced Afridi while Muzarabani was left to negotiate the less menacing Tabish Khan. The pair looked largely comfortable with this arrangement, but with Zimbabwe having little hope in the wider context of the game, it was only a matter of time before the breakthrough would arrive. Pakistan will fly home content with the way they came back in the Test series after the indifferent T20I leg.Zimbabwe, meanwhile, will rue their performances in two rare Tests against high-quality opposition, and gear up again for a series against Bangladesh later this year.

The Bangladesh coach delivered some tough words during the tea interval on the third day in Mirpur and the players responded with an astonishing display

Mohammad Isam31-Oct-2016Bangladesh coach Chandika Hathurusingha said that at tea time during on third day of the Mirpur Test there was apprehension that another winning position was slipping from their grasp after England had moved to 100 without loss chasing 273.Hathurusingha, who has been influential in Bangladesh’s rise in the last two years, praised the role of the players who stood up to his challenge to turn the situation around, particularly the likes of Tamim Iqbal, Shakib Al Hasan and Mehedi Hasan. Tamim, Mushfiqur Rahim’s deputy, took an active role in setting fields while Shakib and Mehedi shared the ten wickets that fell in the third session, handing Bangladesh their maiden Test win over England.”The best thing I can tell you is that the big players stood up,” Hathurusingha told ESPNcricinfo. “I was disappointed and upset that we are nearly wasting another opportunity which we had in our hands. I had a chat with the boys. I challenged them to stand up. I told them that this opportunity will never come again. I am glad that a few people stood up and decided to do something different.”Bangladesh had previous frozen when near to a winning position on a number of occasions during England’s tour this year – particularly the first one-day international and at key moments of the opening Test – but Hathurusingha said that the team will become more successful if they keep getting out of difficult situations in matches.”This group is still learning. They have a long way to go. Otherwise we would have had more success. I hope that after this win, they will have better memories if they get into such winning positions in the future, to do on their own. They can find the ways on their own in the middle. There’s a lot of idea sharing and making sure we create the environment that they get challenged.”Hathurusingha, who has now overseen four Test wins for Bangladesh, said that he is more interested in getting the job done rather than pleasing those around him. He said that the players and the BCB were supportive of him.”I got lot of support from the players, who are open for ideas, and the board members which is all you want. You don’t need everyone to like you. In that way, you’re pleasing people. The more people criticise you, it means you are challenging what is happening. Results on top of that, give you a positive sign.”

Zafar Ansari’s six wickets gave Surrey a thumping win against Notts and will encourage hopes that the hand injury that cost him an England tour is behind him

Tim Wigmore at Kia Oval22-Jun-2016>ScorecardZafar Ansari’s six wickets put his hand injury behind him•Getty Images

As Zafar Ansari led Surrey off, having bowled his side to a thumping final day win just as spinners are meant to, the moment was infused with catharsis for the man and his team.In a split-second, September 15 last year went from being one of the best days of Ansari’s cricketing life to amongst the most agonising. All it took was a rasping cut from the blade of Ashwell Prince: Ansari, fielding at cover point, shelled the chance, fell to the ground and immediately sensed he had damaged much more than just his pride.And so a day that begun with his maiden Test call-up would result in a broken thumb ruling him out for six months – not merely the Test tour to the UAE, but also Surrey’s first game of 2016.When he has made it onto the field, Ansari joined a team who have been frustrated by the ever-growing chasm between Division One and Two. Besides a couple of dispiriting trips to the Lancashire and Yorkshire, Surrey have seldom been embarrassed, even as they threatened to mark the season’s halfway point winless and marooned to the bottom.But the pain of a one-wicket defeat at Taunton, in their last game, has now given way to an emphatic 228-run victory from which they will draw great strength, and none more so than Ansari. In 6.2 overs of bedlam, Ansari took 6-16: vindication for all those hours of solitude readying himself for his return.This was high-class left-arm spin bowling, exploiting a pitch that was wearing, but far from turning square, with subtle variations in pace and flight. Still, that cannot obscure the distinctly self-inflicted element to Nottinghamshire’s demise.From the moment Jake Libby cut Ansari tamely to point, he was abetted by some rank shots; Samit Patel, who replaced Ansari in the UAE last winter, would not reflect gladly on chipping his eighth ball straight into the hands of cover.Of all Ansari’s wickets though, it was that of Brendan Taylor, who had batted with magnificent assurance for his 68, on which he could reflect with most pride: a slightly quicker delivery spun wide of Taylor’s attempted drive and, with his backfoot having strayed from his crease, Ben Foakes completed a smart stumping.It was enough to prompt the thought that, in time, caught Foakes bowled Ansari could be a mode of dismissal in a Test match – perhaps even on England’s looming tours of Bangladesh and India.”I feel as ready as I ever have done,” Ansari said. “Going into Test cricket is a step up obviously and it’s a challenge but I feel like my game’s in a pretty good place now. I’ve been back for a couple of months to get back into the swing of things, and today will give me a lot of confidence going forward.”I feel like I’m close to where I was at my best last year, which given that break is relatively surprising and nice. The expectation on my part is it would have taken a little bit longer.”If Ansari’s bowling lacks any great mystery, he is a bowler gaining in cunning and self-assurance with every game. “It’s just consistency of action – it’s about being able to repeat the same things over and over again, especially when players come hard at you, as some of the guys started to out there. It’s about being able to stay consistent in that approach and not start to unravel in that kind of pressured environment.”Not that Ansari even looks anything less than phlegmatic on the field. Perhaps his oft-remarked upon academic prowess enables him to view professional sport with a little more balance.Ansari’s bowling has also been aided by his shift down the batting order. While he performed admirably as an opener, albeit sometimes of the funereal variety – in a Championship game at Guildford last year, he went a full 50 overs without hitting a boundary, a feat that even the dark ages of English ODI cricket never approached – there has never been a Test cricketer in the history of the game who has combined regularly bowling 30 overs with opening the batting.His move to six, facilitated by the unexpected blooming of Arun Harinath since his career was reinvigorated by a pair of centuries against Glamorgan one year and one week ago, allows Ansari to devote more time to his spin bowling.”Six makes sense for me going forward,” he reflected. “Going from bowling 30 overs to opening the batting puts you under quite a lot of pressure. it’s not easy and facing the new ball is tough. It’s given me a bit more space to enjoy my batting and not be put under the pressure that you are when you’re opening.”Ansari has been aided, too, by his spin partnership with Gareth Batty: they are the premier spin bowling pair in the country, an accolade that speaks not only of the dearth of alternatives but also their skills as a duo. Surrey know plenty about spin bowling pairs – if they are not quite Laker and Lock, never mind Saqlain and Salisbury, Ansari and Batty will do just fine.”We’ve managed to do it for the last three years now,” said the junior by 14 years. “We know each other’s games well, and do talk a lot about pace and field placements. I’m really lucky to have Gareth around – not many young spinners have someone to work with who’s that good a bowler and has the cricket brain he does. I do owe a lot to him. We also enjoy having this partnership as a spin bowling pair – you don’t get that often in English cricket.”Were he not self-effacing almost to the point of caricature – one cannot ask Batty about a fine personal performance without him belittling himself, on this occasion as a “very average player and captain” and “old geezer who just turns up every now and again” – Batty might even be of a mind to dare to advance his own international credentials.Certainly he is a better and more accomplished bowler than when he played his seven Test matches, as a delivery that lifted to surprise Michael Lumb and induce an edge to slip was testament to.Instead, Batty prefers to advance the claims of his team-mate. “Zafar bowled quite magnificently today. He’s the best young spinner in the country, but we need to allow him to develop and go about his business,” he said. “Samit Patel is supposedly England’s third spinner, but I would be raising a glass to Zafar tonight.” He will not be the only one.

All-round excellence of local hero sees India maintain their dominance of second Test

Alan Gardner15-Feb-2021As India flexed their muscle on day three, moving inexorably towards a series-levelling triumph over England, the second Chennai Test began to take on a carnival feel. Already well ahead in the game and with time to indulge, they served up an exhibition for a grateful Chepauk crowd. R Ashwin, the local hero, proved himself worthy of such billing with a fifth Test hundred and England were hanging on by stumps as the ball fizzed and the close catchers circled.After the subcontinental batting masterclass, followed closely by a trial against spin, now was the moment for England to contend with an Indian wall of sound. Despite scrapping hard to take five wickets during the morning session, they were steadily enveloped by the hoots, whistles and cheers from the stands, as first Virat Kohli and then Ashwin steadied India’s second innings, before the home spinners returned to their task with relish.Notionally, England needed 482 to win or two-and-a-bit days of rearguard resistance. Practically, they were merely searching for scraps of encouragement to accompany them on the road to Ahmedabad.There could be no more appropriate in India’s efforts to drive home their advantage than Ashwin. He came into this game having not passed 50 in a Test since 2017, but after taking an aggressive approach from the outset, he eventually reached a raucously received hundred during the evening session – achieving the double of a century and a five-wicket haul in the same match for the third time. Just imagine the decibel level if Chepauk had been at more than 50% capacity.Related

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His route to three figures had featured numerous sweeps, a few hearty biffs and no little drama. When India resumed after tea, Ashwin was on 68 and had only the last two batsmen to keep him company; he might have been stumped almost straight away, but the ball eluded Ben Foakes – the brilliance of whose keeping had kept up English spirits earlier in the day – and he was still 23 short when Mohammed Siraj walked out at the fall of the ninth wicket.But with the crowd cheering every dot ball that Siraj negotiated, Ashwin raised the tempo and the volume. England took the new ball but Ashwin carved Jack Leach away to move into the 90s, then took on Moeen Ali, striking a clean six into the stands before charging down to slice four more to third man and bring team-mates, family and spectators to their feet.No one celebrated more gleefully than Siraj, who having upheld his part of the bargain swung a couple over the ropes himself as India’s last-wicket pair added 49 to give England one final kick, as well as silence any lingering discontent about the state of the pitch. The issue on a turning surface has simply been one of skill, and despite a more proactive batting effort England were soon in trouble once again.For the seventh time in eight attempts, England’s openers failed to take the scoreboard past 17, as Dom Sibley was pinned by an Axar Patel arm ball. Rory Burns and Dan Lawrence enjoyed marginally greater success with deliberate use their feet, but Ashwin picked up his sixth wicket of the match when Burns closed the face to be caught at gully, and Patel removed nightwatchman Leach to leave England three down at the close.R Ashwin removed Rory Burns on the third evening•BCCI

Such was the intensity of Kohli’s desire to extract maximum retribution for defeat in the first Test that he could be seen heatedly arguing with the interpretation of DRS after his counterpart, Joe Root, survived an lbw appeal by millimetres in the final over of the day.Having failed so abysmally with the bat first time around, England were given an extended spell in detention before their fourth-innings examination. Wickets fell quickly inside the first hour of the day, with Foakes’ glovework responsible for two stumpings and a run-out, but Kohli and Ashwin were able to fashion an extended union as the ball got softer. Having come in on a pair and taken 20 balls to get going, Kohli played with steely resolve in conditions that were still tricky, passing 50 for the second time in the series during a 96-run stand.Kohli was eventually trapped lbw by Moeen, who claimed an eight-wicket haul on his return to Test cricket, but the force was increasingly with Ashwin as England missed several chances to dismiss him. Stuart Broad was twice the unlucky bowler during an old-ball spell of fast legcutters with the keeper up to the stumps: Ben Stokes could not hold on one-handed at slip with Ashwin on 28, and Foakes put down a thin outside edge (off a 132kph/82mph delivery) when he had made 56.England were perhaps already resigned to their fate, but Foakes’ efforts deserved to be remembered for the soft hands and lightning reactions that did for Rohit Sharma and Rishabh Pant – making him the first England wicketkeeper to effect three stumpings in a men’s Test since Alan Knott in 1968. That will remain a footnote in a Test that is all over by the shouting (and whistling) in Chennai.

The former BCCI women’s cricket head details the areas that need urgent attention

Shamya Dasgupta29-Jun-2021Women’s cricket in India has been making headlines since India made the finals of the 2017 50-over World Cup and the 2020 T20 World Cup. By the end of 2021, India would have played two Tests after a gap of almost seven years: One just ended, in England, and there’s another lined up, a pink-ball Test – the second for women – in Australia in September. The BCCI has also been tapping talent with the T20 Challenge that is played alongside the IPL playoffs’ week every year.All of that would make it appear that women’s cricket in India is heading in the right direction. However, Saba Karim, who was until December the BCCI’s general manager for cricket operations, feels that the board needs to make the administration of the women’s game more professional and have a plan that is separate from that for men’s cricket. Only then, he says, can women’s cricket grow faster.Related

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“It is a good start, but there needs to be a solid plan, a plan different to that for the boys and men, for things to move forward and for us to build on it,” Karim said in a chat with ESPNcricinfo. “I feel the way to go forward is to make it much more professional, and growth of women’s cricket has to be different from boys’ cricket, and the planning has to be different. One has to have a different plan, a constructive plan, with lots of outreach programmes.”While Mithali Raj, Harmanpreet Kaur, Jhulan Goswami Smriti Mandhana and a couple of others are household names in India, Karim said the pathway for young women to move from the lowest rungs to the top are yet to be properly put in place. “In India, we don’t have many girls who come and play, even now. One has to ensure that their passage from entering the system to the time they exit is without obstacles,” he said. “For instance, for a boy to walk two kilometres to play cricket, or to go to school, is easy. But it’s not for a girl. So how do we remove that? How do we make it more accessible?”Also, the BCCI has Under-19 and Under-23 cricket, but 40-50% of the girls end up playing [both] Under-19 and Under-23 for certain teams, because there aren’t too many girls playing. We had to have separate calendars so there was no clash. That isn’t the case with the boys, because there are so many players and there is so much talent. So the plan for women has to be different.”When India played the Bristol Test earlier this month, it wasn’t just the team’s first Test match in seven years. It was also the first long-format game the players had been involved in in years, with the BCCI discontinuing its women’s domestic first-class competition after the 2017-18 season.During Karim’s three-year term in the BCCI, domestic and women’s cricket were among his primary responsibilities, his mandate being to draw up roadmaps and structures for holistic development. There was the occasional chat at the BCCI – run by the Supreme Court-appointed Committee of Administrators (CoA) for the best part of his time there – about women’s cricket, Karim said, but nothing that suggested a revival of the first-class and Test formats so soon.”Only England and Australia had Test matches, and no country was very keen to play, there were lots of constraints: lots of women cricketers are not professionals, getting out for so many days was a problem; not just in India, but elsewhere too,” Karim said. “I think that’s why the BCCI took the decision not to have Test matches, and therefore no first-class tournament.”There were discussions, there were talks, between some of the other nations too. More so after England and Australia introduced the points-system-based multi-format Ashes. This gained momentum in India too; the BCCI wanted to be in that position. I am glad it has happened. But to sustain it, we need multi-day cricket for women in the domestic circuit also. It might start from the Under-23 level, and take it up to the seniors.””The women’s IPL will have the same quality as the men’s IPL if there is a strong foundation”•ESPNcricinfo Ltd

It is, however, easier said than done, and Karim accepted that. “The only way forward is to have a full-fledged three-day competition. But the issue is not conducting the matches; the BCCI hosts an incredible number of matches anyway. The issue is the calendar – it’s packed, and we have limited time to conduct so many tournaments,” he says. “You can’t start before September, even mid-September, to accommodate the increase in the number of matches. It was possible because so many new venues came up, but it was a logistical nightmare for sure.”For a women’s multi-day event, we need to look at some more venues. Plus, don’t forget, this means an increase in the number of match officials, scorers, groundspersons, video analysts, the entire contingent. It’s not only about grounds. All that needs to be considered.”Karim, often in consultation with National Cricket Academy director Rahul Dravid, had chalked out a comprehensive plan to try and take Indian women’s cricket to the next level, and much of it involved a greater focus at the lower levels, and a lot of collaboration with the state associations.”Outreach programmes with Tier-2 and Tier-3 towns, schools, those were in the pipelines. The Women’s IPL [in discussions for a while now but yet to become a reality] is at the highest level, and that we can have. But for it to be successful, we need a stronger domestic circuit, a better structure,” Karim says. “The women’s IPL will have the same quality as the men’s IPL if there is a strong foundation. The way men’s cricket is played in India, we don’t need to do too much, because there is so much talent, so many players in the system. That has to happen for the women.”The onus, Karim said, was not just on the BCCI, but primarily with the states. “Initially, the responsibility of the state associations and the BCCI is to come up with a proper plan. A proper roadmap needs to be in place. That will come from the BCCI. But the BCCI can’t do everything. The states need to play their part to make it happen.”

The Australia captain does not expect many players to withdraw but will support anyone who does

AAP13-Jan-2022Pat Cummins believes the vast majority of Australia’s Test squad will travel to Pakistan but the skipper fully understands if any team-mates opt out of the tour.Cricket Australia is yet to press players for a final decision regarding the multi-format series in Pakistan, which is slated to begin on March 3 with a Test in Karachi.But selectors have started to thrash out plans for a busy couple of months, when Australia’s white-ball series against New Zealand and Sri Lanka will be quickly followed by the Pakistan tour then the IPL.Players and staff have been given a preliminary briefing about security measures in Pakistan before Australia’s first tour of the nation since 1998.Related

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“Still a bit to work through…but at this stage it’s all looking really positive,” Cummins said. “The amount of work the PCB has put into it is fantastic.”It’s shaping up as, I think just about everyone – if not all – will go. If some players need to make a choice, it’s absolutely fine that they won’t be there. Still got a bit of water to go under the bridge, a bit more info to gather and get around to everyone.”In February, Australia’s best players will likely be split into a white-ball squad at home and a Test touring party in Pakistan. Cummins is concerned about bubble fatigue, knowing freedoms for players will likely continue to be restricted because of Covid-19.”We’re two years in, so we’ve learned a lot,” he said. “But it also means probably some players are further along their tether. It’s unprecedented times, we just have to make sure we look after each other. Conversations are happening. The selectors have been great along with the coaching staff.”This summer marks the first time Cummins has donned the baggy green since losing to India a year ago, while it is the first five-Test series during the Covid-19 era.Cummins said he doubted whether the rivals would get through five Tests, especially after Travis Head contracted coronavirus.”And just about everyone I know in Sydney has Covid,” Cummins said. “We’ve been tested just about every day for the last 20 days. It’s just been fantastic that we’ve got through the series.”

The batsman’s residency status is causing issues but the coach is in no doubt he is a Test player

Andrew McGlashan02-Apr-2021New Zealand coach Gary Stead is hopeful that issues around Devon Conway’s ability to leave and return to the country in the prevailing Covid-19 border restrictions will be sorted in time for him to be part of the Test squad to travel to England in May.The tour includes two Tests against England and then the World Test Championship final against India at the end of June. Conway, who qualified for New Zealand last August, has yet to make his Test debut but after a stellar season in limited-overs cricket, he has made an almost irrefutable case for a place in the squad, although how he gets into the XI remains a puzzle for the selectors.Under current New Zealand government border regulations, only permanent residents of the country can leave and return because of the Covid-19 processes involved. Although Conway qualified for national duty last year, his residency application remains to be completed – with the pandemic adding to the delay – so either that needs to be fast-tracked or an exemption will need to be gained.Related

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“Think it’s still in the pipeline but my understanding is Devon has been spoken to and is hopeful everything will be in place before [the tour],” Stead said. “You’ve all seen how Devon’s played this year; think I want him part of that Test squad, definitely.”I knew he was a good player, guess at times you can be pleasantly surprised how people make that adjustment. Devon looks like he’s got all the skills of being an amazing player. We are very fortunate that we’ve had people in our squad like Ross Taylor and Kane Williamson and you see someone like Devon Conway come along and you think here’s another guy who could be in that class.”New Zealand will take a large squad of 20 players on the England tour•Getty Images

New Zealand will take a squad of 20 to England – the group will be named next Thursday – so there is plenty of room for Conway, but there isn’t an easy answer for who he replaces in the XI if he is to make his debut. Will Young was preferred as the next-in-line batsman earlier in the season against West Indies.Apart from captain Williamson, Taylor, Tom Latham and Henry Nicholls would appear to be locked in. But with an average of 29.75 in his last nine Tests, the spotlight could come on Taylor, which potentially leaves one batting slot unless the balance of the side is changed to leave out an allrounder.There could be a short-term opening for the first Test against England, which starts June 2, if Williamson is unavailable because of his IPL commitments, but that would only kick the longer-term decision down the road.Tom Blundell has been Latham’s most recent opening partner (Young replaced him for one Test this season when Blundell took the gloves) but although Conway averages over 60 at No. 3 in first-class cricket, opening would not be his natural position.New Zealand have rotated their No. 7 between Daryl Mitchell and Mitchell Santner this season, depending on conditions, and if they feel able to go into a Test with just four specialist quicks, Conway could play as another batsman.The early part of the England tour is likely to be a bit of a juggling act for New Zealand. There is the potential for IPL players to arrive at various stages depending on when their teams are knocked out, and then their availability would be based on any quarantine required, although at this stage Stead expects everyone to be available for the second Test. The initial 20-man squad will then be trimmed to 15 for the WTC final.”It’s an interesting time at the moment because there’s a whole heap of different moving parts. We’ve selected what we think our XI is likely to be – or 12-13 depending on conditions – then looked that we have cover for each of those spots as well,” Stead said of picking the larger squad. “They’ll still be people disappointed to miss the squad and again think that’s the great thing about the depth we are showing at the moment.”The final round of the Plunket Shield takes place this weekend with some New Zealand players involved then those on contract will have two or three weeks off before a series of training camps are arranged ahead of the England trip with the squad due to depart mid-May.