South Africa grappling with the unavailability of their experienced Test stars away at the IPL

Mohammad Isam30-Mar-2022

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362 caps v 206 caps.For the first time since they got Test status in 2000, Bangladesh are in South Africa with an opportunity to challenge the home team. They have already won the ODI series, they have the more experienced Test squad, and can potentially take advantage of South Africa missing their IPL stars in the two-match series.South Africa captain Dean Elgar has toned down the rhetoric after he had called the players’ choice between national duty for this series and IPL as a “litmus test of loyalty.” Having not got his way with the squad, the onus is on Elgar to bat, bat and contribute big.Elgar will heavily bank on Temba Bavuma and Keshav Maharaj, the other experienced players, along with Duanne Olivier, the fast bowler who leads an inexperienced pace attack. Maharaj may be able to bowl in tandem with offspinner Simon Harmer. who is set to return to international cricket for the first time since 2015.The only solace for the home side is that Bangladesh won’t have Shakib Al Hasan, who is home for personal reasons. Shakib aside, Bangladesh have their best players available, particularly with Tamim Iqbal back in the Test fold after missing the New Zealand series. Bangladesh can look at that tour for inspiration too, having recorded their first-ever Test win in New Zealand.Tamim, Mominul and Mushfiqur would once again carry the batting. Their form will be particularly crucial because Bangladesh have averaged 18 with the bat in South Africa, so just like the ODI series, they have a lot of room for improvement in this country.

Form guide

South Africa WLWWL (Last five completed matches; most recent first)

Bangladesh LWLLW

In the spotlight

Taskin Ahmed was named Player of the ODI Series. This has helped rebuild his reputation in South Africa after his disastrous 2017 tour. That said, Taskin has lots to prove in Test cricket still. The initial signs are encouraging. Over the past 11 months, he has brought down his bowling average from 97.42 to 56.73. He’ll be looking to improve further.All eyes will be on Dean Elgar whose 74 caps make up for one-third of South Africa’s Test experience ahead of the series. Apart from, of course, wanting talk about the missing stars to die down, he has to bounce back with some runs too, having managed just 55 runs in four innings.

Team news

From the XI that beat New Zealand by 198 runs to level the series last month, South Africa will be without Aiden Markram, Rassie van der Dussen, Marco Jansen and Kagiso Rabada. Ryan Rickelton is likely to be handed a debut, while Harmer, Olivier and Keegan Petersen could also get games.South Africa (probable): 1 Dean Elgar (capt), 2 Sarel Erwee, 3 Keegan Petersen, 4 Ryan Rickleton, 5 Temba Bavuma, 6 Kyle Verreynne (wk), 7 Wiaan Mulder, 8 Simon Harmer, 9 Duanne Olivier/Glenton Stuurman, 10 Keshav Maharaj, 11 Lutho SipamlaTamim Iqbal and Mahmudul Hasan Joy will form the opening pair while Mushfiqur Rahim returns to the middle order after missing the second Test in New Zealand in January.Bangladesh (probable): 1 Tamim Iqbal, 2 Mahmudul Hasan Joy, 3 Najmul Hossain Shanto, 4 Mominul Haque (capt), 5 Mushfiqur Rahim, 6 Yasir Ali, 7 Litton Das (wk), 8 Mehidy Hasan Miraz, 9 Taskin Ahmed, 10 Shoriful Islam, 11 Ebadot Hossain

Pitch and conditions

Rain is in the forecast for the first four days in Durban. The Kingsmead pitch is synonymous with pace and bounce but spin has played its part in recent years. First-class teams this year have averaged 400 runs in the first two innings.

Stats and trivia

• South Africa have four uncapped players in their current Test squad. In 2017, they fielded two debutants in the Potchefstroom Test, the most against Bangladesh.
• Bangladesh captain Mominul Haque and South Africa’s Temba Bavuma will play their 50th Test in Durban on Thursday. Mominul will be Bangladesh’s seventh, and Bavuma South Africa’s 24th.

Mumbai challenge could prove tricky since Rohit’s side have very little to lose

S Sudarshanan16-May-20222:35

Should Rohit experiment with batting down the order?

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Okay, let’s get this straight. Bowling isn’t really Sunrisers Hyderabad’s major worry. Yes, they have conceded runs at an economy rate of 8.74, which is the second-most. But it is not too much if you see that the best team has an economy rate of 8.09.That Sunrisers are still in contention for the playoffs – after five straight losses following five straight wins – is purely down to their batting from Nos. 3 to 6. Rahul Tripathi, Aiden Markram and Nicholas Pooran have been the key players at those positions and Sunrisers average 35.5 per dismissal for those spots combined, the best among the teams in IPL 2022.Kane Williamson’s run at the top of the order has been quite a forgettable one; his batting average of 18.9 this season is only better than Rohit Sharma’s 18.2 among captains. Moreover, his strike rate of 92.9 is the fifth-worst by any player to have batted in ten innings in an IPL season.With Abhishek Sharma being the leading run-getter for Sunrisers this season, it is perhaps time for Williamson to move down the order with either Glenn Phillips, who can bat anywhere in the top five, or Tripathi to take his spot at the top in order to maximise the powerplay. After all, Sunrisers have to win both their remaining matches in order to keep their hopes of a top-four finish alive.

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For Mumbai Indians, though, it is all about continuing to check out how their players do at different spots with an eye on the next season, something they have already started. Very little of Tristan Stubbs could be seen against Chennai Super Kings and they could continue to back him in the middle order, while young Tilak Varma continues to impress. While Mumbai are playing for pride, stopping another team from qualifying could be enough motivation to bring out their A-game.

In the news

Medium-pacer Akash Madhwal has joined Mumbai Indians as a replacement for the injured Suryakumar Yadav.

Likely XIs

Mumbai Indians: 1 Ishan Kishan (wk), 2 Rohit Sharma (capt), 3 Tilak Varma, 4 Tristan Stubbs, 5 Tim David, 6 Daniel Sams, 7 Hrithik Shokeen, 8 Ramandeep Singh, 9 Jasprit Bumrah, 10 Riley Meredith, 11 Kumar Kartikeya SinghSunrisers Hyderabad: 1 Abhishek Sharma, 2 Kane Williamson (capt), 3 Rahul Tripathi, 4 Aiden Markram, 5 Nicholas Pooran (wk), 6 Washington Sundar, 7 Shashank Singh/Glenn Phillips, 8 Marco Jansen/Kartik Tyagi, 9 Bhuvneshwar Kumar, 10 Umran Malik, 11 T Natarajan

Strategy punt

• Both Rohit and Ishan Kishan strike at 90 or lower against Washington Sundar. As a result, it could pay for Sunrisers to bring the offspinner in early.
• Jasprit Bumrah has dismissed Kane Williamson once in ten T20 innings and Nicholas Pooran twice in three innings. That is perhaps a case for holding Bumrah back for the second half of the innings

Stats that matter

Notts need 162 fourth-day runs with 10 wickets in hand after Paterson, Pattinson strike

ECB Reporters Network21-May-2022Derbyshire defied Nottinghamshire’s push for a three-day victory with a final0session fightback in the LV= Insurance County Championship match at Trent Bridge.Trailing by 98 on first innings, Derbyshire slipped to 161 for 7, putting the home side within sight of the fourth win of the season that would take them back to the top of the Division Two table before attention turns to the Vitality Blast next week.But Alex Hughes, a late call-up to the Derbyshire XI after Anuj Dal was injured on Thursday morning, led a show of post-tea resistance, sharing an eighth-wicket stand of 90 – the highest of the match from either side – with fast bowler Liam Hurt before Derbyshire were all out for 262, leaving Nottinghamshire still with work to do on the final day chasing 165 to win.Hurt, making his Derbyshire debut on loan from Lancashire, posted a career-best 49 before he was caught behind off former Australian Test bowler James Pattinson. He hit six boundaries – four of them off England’s Stuart Broad. Hughes also missed out by one on a half-century when he was bowled by Pattinson, who took 3 for 59 with Dane Paterson finishing with 3 for 35.Nottinghamshire, who were three without loss after facing two overs at the close, are still clear favourites to win but Derbyshire – unbeaten so far – can at least take credit for putting up a fight.Related

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Earlier, 19-year-old seamer Nick Potts, in only his third first-class match, took 4 for 50, his best return so far, and 23-year-old Sam Conners 4 for 93 as Nottinghamshire were bowled out for 358 in their first innings.Potts struck in the first full over of the morning as Liam Patterson-White was leg before trying to work one, falling on 39. Broad was bowled by Conners making room for himself before Pattinson, having sent the previous delivery soaring over deep backward square for six, was caught at deep midwicket as he tried to clear the ropes again, giving Potts his fourth wicket.Nottinghamshire’s first-innings lead looked still better when Broad then pinned Shan Masood in front for a third-ball duck, bringing an abrupt end to the Pakistan opener’s outside hope of completing 1,000 first-class runs in May. He remains on 844.Brooke Guest was leg-before to a ball from Paterson that kept low, after which Billy Godleman’s third-wicket partnership with Wayne Madsen was beginning to look durable when Godleman, whose 27 had taken him past 10,000 all-format runs for Derbyshire, fell into a trap set by Paterson and was caught on the hook.Madsen cut Steven Mullaney for three boundaries as Derbyshire wiped out the first-innings arrears yet two wickets in the space of seven deliveries saw them suddenly five down and only 26 in front.Du Plooy looked unlucky, given out leg before as Lyndon James celebrated his first wicket in four matches, but there were no doubts over the demise of Luis Reece – carrying a groin injury and belatedly joined by a runner – who was caught behind off a snorter from Pattinson.Madsen moved past fifty for the sixth time this season but then wafted at a ball from James to be caught behind, plunging Derbyshire into seemingly terminal decline at tea, effectively 40 for 6.Patterson-White had Alex Thomson lbw on the back foot as Derbyshire slipped into more trouble but, one low chance to Moores on 23 apart, Hurt stuck with Hughes impressively and their efforts kept Derbyshire in the game against the odds.

Mumbai were 49 behind at stumps on day four after MP secured a 162-run first-innings lead

Shashank Kishore25-Jun-2022Madhya Pradesh are nearly there. But no one from the team or from the periphery is ready to celebrate just yet. That is because there is still one full day, offering a minimum of 95 overs left in the Ranji final. Mumbai trail by 49, with eight wickets in hand, but must find a way to not just wipe out the deficit but also get ahead, and then take the ten remaining wickets to pull off a coup.It’s improbable but Mumbai have nothing to lose, and it’s this fearlessness they will try and carry forward on Sunday. Prithvi Shaw’s robust second-innings 44 has given them just a glimmer, but there’s a mountain to climb.That is because Rajat Patidar and MP’s lower order extended Mumbai’s agony on the field to 177.2 overs in which they made 536, securing a first-innings lead of 162. Patidar was the third centurion of the innings, after Yash Dubey and Shubham Sharma. It was also the most enterprising of the three, an innings full of authority, class, and a slice of luck on 52, when he was reprieved off a no-ball on the third day.Having shut shop after the reprieve until stumps on Friday, Patidar restored normalcy under overcast skies on Saturday, picking off runs with ease and giving a crowd of around 1500 people something to cheer about. Apart from ensuring the bad balls were put away, Patidar respected the bowling and ensured Mumbai weren’t handed any chance of a comeback despite striking twice in the morning.Aditya Shrivastava was out to a short ball from Mohit Avasthi, which was grabbed on the rebound at slip by Sarfaraz Khan, while Tushar Deshpande sent Akshat Raghuwanshi’s stumps cartwheeling with a superb in-ducker he should’ve been playing forward to.Parth Sahani, the debutant, was reprieved early when Shaw put down a tough chance at slip, but he was out lbw soon after to Shams Mulani, the left-arm spinner. It was largely down to Patidar from there on to steer the lower order.When Sahani became the sixth wicket to fall, MP were just 56 ahead, but Patidar found an able ally in allrounder Saransh Jain, who hung around to support him for as long as he was around, and then brought out his shots to make a maiden half-century to extend Mumbai’s misery. In all, the last four wickets added106. Mulani finished with a five-for after 63.2 overs of toil taking his wickets tally this season to 42.Needing to start aggressively, Mumbai lived up to their side of the bargain as MP quickly went on the defensive, mindful of cutting out Shaw’s scoring areas, especially the point region. Without Yashasvi Jaiswal, who spent large parts of the day off the field due to an ankle niggle, Mumbai opened with wicketkeeper Hardik Tamore, and he was off the blocks quickly too.It was Shaw who played some jaw-dropping shorts, like the swat for six over long-on, but he also rode his luck, with Gaurav Yadav failing to latch on to a mistimed pull to fine leg. Gaurav also reprieved Armaan Jaffer early in his innings but hit back to dismiss Shaw right at the close when the batter toe-ended a wide delivery to cover.Towards the end, MP bowled defensively, with spinners landing deliveries outside leg and pacers bowling wide outside off. For a team on the cusp of history, MP appeared just a tad nervy, even if they were within their rights to imply such tactics. To Mumbai’s credit, they found ways to play around it and give themselves a window of opportunity, however slim it may be.Tonight’s sleep or the lack thereof could either jangle MP or relax them to such an extent that Sunday is a mere formality. It’s one team fighting the odds to try and gun for No. 42, the other their first.

Glamorgan never get close in chase of 255 to push Eagles up to second in South Group

ECB Reporters Network02-Jul-2022Dan Lawrence and Paul Walter’s sensational hitting fired Essex Eagles to their highest Vitality Blast total as they kept their home quarter-final dreams alive.Lawrence thrashed 71 off 37 balls, Walter a blistering 23-ball 58 and Adam Rossington a booming 45 to take Eagles to 254 – beating the 244 set barely two weeks ago. Glamorgan reached 185 for 7 in reply, with stand-in captain Sam Northeast pumping an unbeaten 97, to lose by 69 runs.Essex, the 2019 winners, had already confirmed a knockout spot and moved up to second in the South Group. They will host a last-eight match if Surrey beat Somerset on Sunday.Essex were put in and blasted it from ball one on a belting wicket with short boundaries. Robin Das struck the first of 16 sixes in the third over by pinging over long-off before following it up with a second over deep midwicket with the next ball.Das pulled another ball to the boundary before he skied to cover to give Jamie McIlroy his first T20 wicket on debut. He would later pick up Lawrence to claim an impressive 2 for 32 – the only bowler to go at under 10s.Rossington skipped his way to 45, having scored 95 the previous evening, with seven boundaries and a six off 23 balls. But his quick scoring was just the prelude for what was to come.Michael Pepper was caught on the reverse and Rossington holed to long-on before Lawrence and Walter went ballistic with their 101-run partnership off 69 balls, although there was an 18-ball gap between boundaries at one point.Dan Douthwaite took the biggest tap going for 12 and 13 in successive overs as he returned the fourth-worst bowling figures in Blast history, eventually conceding 66 in four wicketless overs.But the showpiece over for Essex was the 31 taken off Prem Sisodiya. Walter started off with four sixes, once over the long square boundary and three straight down the ground, before scrapping a single, then Lawrence completed the over with another swinging maximum.It started a final five overs where 95 runs were plundered. Walter fell, having brought up 20-ball fifty, but Daniel Sams picked up where he had left off with three sixes in his first four balls.
Lawrence had been 18 off his first 20 balls but caught up in style to reach his 11th T20 half-century in 30 balls before eventually clothing to long off for 71. Fifteen came off the final over as Eagles crashed the joint fourth-best total in the tournament’s history.Glamorgan never looked like replicating their greatest chase of 224 – against Essex in 2017 – with three wickets falling in the powerplay. Aaron Beard was the chief destroyer as he picked up 2 for 16 in his three overs with debutant Tom Bevan top-edging to deep third and Billy Root seeing his three stumps obliterated. Sams had Colin Ingram flicking to deep square leg.Eddie Byrom and Chris Cooke were both caught, but Northeast, skippering his third Blast side for the first time, stuck around and plundered a couple sixes of his own on his way to a 38-ball fifty – his third in T20s against Essex. Douthwaite chipped in with 34 off 17 in a 62-run stand but had his stump broken by Sams. As the required rate rose beyond the impossible 36 mark, Andrew Salter and Northeast started to have fun with 16 runs coming from three successive overs.Salter holed out and Northeast ended his campaign needing a boundary for a second Blast century but could only bunt a single.

England six down and struggling despite Ollie Pope’s unbeaten half-century

Alan Gardner17-Aug-2022South Africa took a grip on proceedings on a rain-affected first day at Lord’s, plucking out six England wickets before the weather closed in half an hour into the afternoon session. Kagiso Rabada struck twice in his opening spell and Anrich Nortje’s pace brought three more to keep the home side under the cosh.Dean Elgar cited the “overheads” for his decision to ask England to make the running with the bat for the first time this summer (all four of the Tests won under Ben Stokes’ captaincy have been based on a template of chasing a target in the fourth innings), and his seam attack responded with the perfect blend of skill and aggression in cloudy, humid conditions.England were grateful to Ollie Pope, whose proactive half-century made sure they were not completely sunk by the time forecast rain arrived, moments after Ben Foakes had been bowled off his inside edge, poking tentatively at Nortje in the post-lunch murk.Elgar had announced in his final press conference before the start of the series that he was “not going to entertain” any more talk of Bazball – as England’s new approach to Test cricket has been dubbed – and the focus of the morning quickly became how Stokes’ team might tailor their preferred batting style to setting up a game in the face of a probing examination from South Africa’s four quicks.England’s most-productive stand was 45 added for the fifth wicket between Pope and Stokes, the only two batters to get into double-figures. Both openers fell cheaply, and there was little of the buccaneering intent that brought four successive victories at the start of Stokes’ tenure as captain. Joe Root was lbw for 8, a marginal decision backed up by DRS in the impressive Marco Jansen’s second over, and Jonny Bairstow lost his middle stump to Nortje as England slumped to 55 for 4.South Africa, buoyed by winning the toss, could call on Rabada as their attack leader after he “pulled up 100%” following an ankle ligament injury, and he was on the mark from the outset. Alex Lees got away with one ambitious swipe that flew over the slip cordon but fell in the same over, wafting away from his body to be caught behind.Zak Crawley, retained as Lees’ opening partner despite averaging 17.75 from four previous Tests this summer, did his best to negotiate a thorough examination around off stump, largely packing away his aggressive strokes. But having squirted a thick outside edge through gully for a second boundary, he was undone by Rabada’s wobble-seam delivery, which produced just enough movement to find the edge and present a low catch to the cordon.South Africa lost a review when asking for a second look at Lungi Ngidi’s lbw appeal against Pope, but things continued to go their way when Jansen struck from the Pavilion End, where he regularly used the slope to bring the ball back in to England’s right-handers. Having declined another lbw shout that ball-tracking showed would have just clipped the top of Pope’s leg stump, Nitin Menon raised his finger in the affirmative to the politest of appeals against Root. The former Test captain reviewed, but in vain.Root has actually been usurped as England’s most in-form Test batter, with Bairstow coming into the series on the back of a stellar run against New Zealand and India. But following four hundreds in five innings, he notched the 16th duck – and the 38th dismissal bowled – of his Test career, as Nortje brought one back through the gate to make a mess of the wordwork.England had only scored four boundaries during the first hour, but Pope took Nortje for back-to-back fours and, although he survived some close moments against Jansen’s left-arm inswing, played punchily through the morning to bring up a 69-ball fifty.Stokes did produce a familiar charge at his sixth ball, swiping and missing at Jansen, and flirted with danger while also finding the boundary four times. Pope, too, was fortunate when an edge off Nortje evaded the diving Keegan Petersen at third slip in the final over before lunch. But Nortje finished a strong morning showing for South Africa by jagging one away to find Stokes’ outside edge and end a minor recovery.Nortje picked up his third shortly after the break but, with the floodlights on amid heavy cloud cover at Lord’s, England No. 8 Stuart Broad only had to face two balls before the umpires took the players off. Rain came steadily before turning torrential, an early tea followed by the abandonment of play at 4.30pm.

They shared seven wickets, as Michael Rippon and Joe Walker’s 89-run ninth-wicket stand gave visitors some respectability

Srinidhi Ramanujam22-Sep-2022Pace bowlers Shardul Thakur and Kuldeep Sen bowled New Zealand out for a paltry 167, sharing seven wickets between them, as India A posted a comfortable seven-wicket victory in the first of the three one-dayers at Chennai’s MA Chidambaram Stadium on Thursday to take the hosts 1-0 up in the series.After asking the visitors to bat, Thakur – who had replaced the injured Prasidh Krishna in the squad – struck in his second over on a pitch that had pace and bounce on offer, cleaning up opener Chad Bowes for 10. Known for his outswingers and nip-backers, Thakur soon after removed Dane Cleaver with a short ball, forcing him to pull only to be caught at fine leg after a top edge.Sen, making his debut for India A, bowled in tandem with the senior quick to trap No. 3 Joe Carter leg before wicket. That was the third wicket of a collapse which saw New Zealand A slide from 14 without loss to 74 for 8 in a span of 16 overs.However, there was some resistance from the lower order, thanks to tailenders Michael Rippon and Joe Walker. Their 89-run partnership off 126 deliveries for the ninth wicket eventually lifted New Zealand A to 167. While Rippon top-scored with 61 from 104 balls and hit four boundaries, Walker made 36 off 49, hitting three fours and a six during a stable partnership.But Walker was run-out in the 39th over, and it took India A less than more overs to bowl New Zealand A out, as Thakur ended with 4 for 32 – including getting Rippon out last – while Sen returned figures of 3 for 30.A below-par score on a batting-friendly pitch was never going to pose a threat, and India A made short work of the chase.After Prithvi Shaw perished for 17, Ruturaj Gaikwad and No. 3 Rahul Tripathi, who got 31, stitched 56 runs. Gaikwad’s three fours and two clean sixes helped him accumulate 41 before he was caught-and-bowled by Rippon.But an entertaining partnership followed between India A captain Sanju Samson and the in-form Rajat Patidar. Samson was welcomed with a rousing cheer from the 200-odd spectators as the pair put on an unbroken fourth-wicket stand of 69 to chase down the target with seven wickets and more than 19 overs to spare.Samson remained unbeaten on 29 – including hitting three sixes – while Patidar, who punished the bowlers whenever they went full, struck a quick 45 off 41 balls. His knock included seven boundaries.The second of the three one-dayers will take place on Sunday at the same venue, with the visitors now in a must-win situation to remain alive in the series

On-field incident between Asif Ali and Fareed Ahmed in nail-biting finish, before tempers flared in the stands

Shashank Kishore08-Sep-2022The PCB will write to the ICC to “lodge a protest” over the crowd trouble and “gruesome visuals” that followed the Afghanistan-Pakistan game at the Asia Cup.Addressing the media, PCB chairman Ramiz Raja said: “You can’t link hooliganism with cricket and this environment makes you sick. We will write to ICC, raise concerns, and do whatever we can because the visuals were gruesome.”This [crowd trouble after an Afghanistan-Pakistan game] didn’t happen for the first time. Wins and losses are a part of the game. It was a gruelling contest, but emotions should have been kept in control. Until the environment is right, you can’t grow and go forward as a cricket-playing nation.”So we are going to express our anguish and frustration to the ICC. We owe it to our fans, anything could have happened… Our team could have been in danger… So whatever the protocol is we will follow that and lodge our protest.”Raja is also part of the ICC’s working committee tasked with reviewing the state of cricket and how it is run in Afghanistan following the Taliban takeover of the country last year.Following a spectacular, see-sawing game in Sharjah, in which Afghanistan were fighting hard to stay in the tournament only for Pakistan’s last-wicket pair to dramatically clinch their own spot in the final, crowd trouble erupted in the stands. Several Afghanistan fans were detained by the Sharjah police following the incident. However, no arrests were made.Tempers flared as soon as Pakistan brought up victory courtesy Naseem Shah’s twin sixes in the final over. In the aftermath, fans, believed to be Afghanistan supporters, began throwing punches at people wearing Pakistan jerseys.ESPNcricinfo understands the trigger for the incident was Asif Ali’s run-in with Afghanistan fast bowler Fareed Ahmad after he had been dismissed. A visibly charged-up Fareed threw celebratory air-punches very close to Asif’s face, who responded by pushing Fareed back and raising his bat at his face. Both players exchanged heated words before Afghanistan’s Azmatullah Umarzai and Pakistan’s Hasan Ali stepped in to calm things down.Footage captured in the stands also showed fans pulling out bucket seats and flinging them at each other. Cushioned seats were also torn up. Considerable damage had been done by the time the ground authorities and the police swung into action. The organisers quickly ushered the public out of the stadium to prevent any further damage.The Afghanistan Cricket Board put out two tweets on September 8 calling for people to “work together” to bring the “cricket fraternity closer”, and “somehow try to spread love”. “Cricket is regarded as a phenomenon of harmony and more intimate relations between nations. Let’s work together for bringing the cricket fraternity closer. Cricket does not allow for us to show negative emotions on the field and turn the friendship atmosphere into violence,” one of the tweets read. The other tweet was: Earlier on social media, former Afghanistan Cricket Board CEO Shafiq Stanikzai had called for a ban on Asif for his aggression. “This is stupidity at extreme level by Asif Ali and should be banned from the rest of the tournament, any bowler has the right to celebrate but being physical is not acceptable at all,” Stanikzai had tweeted.This elicited a response from former Pakistan fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar. “Afghan players put right back into their place by 19-year-old kid Naseem Shah. Unforgettable match against people we have loved & supported always. ,” (But bad behaviour and arrogance showed them in poor light).Afghanistan and Pakistan are set to next face each other on October 19, in a warm-up match in Brisbane in the lead-up to the T20 World Cup. The teams are not in the same group in the first stage of the tournament.Flashpoints between Afghanistan and Pakistan fans are not an uncommon occurrence. At last year’s T20 World Cup, “thousands of ticketless fans” from both teams tried to force entry into the stadium in Dubai. When this was met with resistance by the local ground authorities and private security agencies, heated exchanges between both sets of fans led to the external barriers being pushed over.Prior to that, at the 2019 ODI World Cup, security personnel appeared to underestimate the feeling between the fans of the two countries, who began fighting in the stands, hurling rubbish on the field and invading the pitch even as the players scrambled to reach their respective dressing rooms.The increased number of incidents stems to some degree from longstanding and complex geopolitical tensions between the two countries. But the players themselves have largely been quite cordial with each other. Afghanistan’s have taken an active part in the Pakistan Super League and Pakistan greats like Inzamam-ul-Haq and Rashid Latif have been part of Afghanistan’s coaching staff. Umar Gul is their current bowling coach.

Hayley Jensen took two wickets in a three-run final over to drag the game into overtime

ESPNcricinfo staff05-Oct-2022

Sophie Devine started and ended the Super Over with sixes as New Zealand hunted down 16 to seal the series and break West Indies’ hearts in the fourth T20I in North Sound. Devine faced all but one ball in the Super Over, bowled by West Indies captain Hayley Matthews, and ushered New Zealand home under pressure.How did it even come down to a Super Over? West Indies were cruising 52 for 2 in the tenth over chasing 112. Wicketkeeper-batter Rashada Williams’ run-out triggered a collapse as the hosts lost their last seven wickets for 59 runs to level the scores in regular time. Hayley Jensen, who was also recently in action in the Caribbean for Trinbago Knight Riders Women, took the wickets of Chedean Nation and Afy Fletcher in a three-run final over to drag the game into overtime.Super Overs are a familiar territory for Devine. She has hit 87 runs off 26 balls in Super Overs being dismissed. Devine had also contributed handsomely with the ball by removing West Indies’ top three.ESPNcricinfo Ltd

Much like Devine, Matthews had played a role with both bat and ball – she even did the dual job in the Super Over. She helped West Indies score 15 in the Super Over, bowled by Jensen, but her all-round effort went in vain.After having been asked to bat, New Zealand had lost both Devine and Suzie Bates early. However, Amelia Kerr’s unbeaten 49 off 47 balls hauled them to 111. Amelia and previous match-winner Maddy Green (14 off 13 balls) were the only New Zealand batters to strike at over 100. Fletcher was the pick of the bowlers for West Indies, returning 2 for 16 in her four overs.Amelia’s sister Jess and Jensen picked up two wickets each to assist Devine pull off a stunning win.The fifth – and final T20I – will be played at the same venue on Thursday.

The hosts have won each of their last 13 home ODIs, and each of their last five meetings with India

Himanshu Agrawal26-Nov-20223:08

Jaffer: India might be tempted to go with Kuldeep in place of Chahal

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With 16 matches, New Zealand have played the second-fewest ODIs of any team in the ongoing World Cup Super League. But just one more win, and they can topple India from the top of the table. Given that they’ve won each of their last 13 ODIs at home, the odds would favour them to do just that.Having seemingly moved on from Trent Boult and Martin Guptill, the hosts seem to have built a solid foundation as they build towards the 2023 World Cup. Michael Bracewell isn’t a guaranteed starter despite his stellar recent form, and even injury to James Neesham couldn’t prevent them from beating India comfortably in the series-opener in Auckland.Their quartet of fast bowlers offer both pace and movement, while Neesham, Bracewell and Mitchell Santner complete a trio of allrounders. Batting depth might be New Zealand’s one major concern, given that they can’t accommodate all their allrounders, and that Tim Southee’s returns with the bat have faded of late.India, meanwhile, are still in search of a sixth bowling option. None of the top six batters who played in Auckland bowl, and with no Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja or Axar Patel in their squad for this series, they also have a lack of experience in the lower middle order.They could look to address the sixth-bowler issue by bringing Deepak Hooda into their line-up, but that would leave them with the dilemma of who to leave out. They have the luxury of experimenting, however, since they have automatically qualified as hosts of next year’s World Cup. But they still have a series to win, which would need them, first and foremost, to win on Sunday and end a five-match losing streak against New Zealand.

Form guide

New Zealand: WLLLW
India: LWWLW

In the spotlight

Kane Williamson has played just seven ODIs since the 2019 World Cup, with five of them coming this year. A troublesome elbow and the Covid-19 pandemic combined to limit his participation in the format, and his seven innings in this time have brought only one 50-plus score. That came at Eden Park on Friday, when he selflessly kept giving the dangerous Tom Latham the strike, and eventually ended up six short of a century. With less than a year left for the World Cup, New Zealand will not only hope their captain puts his fitness worries behind him and features more regularly in ODIs, but also that he makes big scores as often as he used to.Yuzvendra Chahal has been the third-highest wicket-taker among spinners from Full-Member teams in ODIs this year, with 21 wickets at an average of 27.09. But he’s not had a great time of it in recent weeks. Having spent the entire T20 World Cup on the bench, Chahal returned to action on this tour of New Zealand, where he has taken a bit of stick: he went for 35 in three overs in the tied third T20I, and began this ODI series with a wicketless 10 overs that went for 66 runs. With intense competition in the spin department ahead of the 2023 World Cup, Chahal will need a swift return to his best to remain among India’s first-choice options.India’s top order can look forward to good batting conditions judging by the trend of high-scoring games at Seddon Park•Getty Images

Team news

New Zealand were forced to leave Neesham out in Auckland due to a niggle. If he returns, they might have a difficult choice to make. While they will welcome the extra batting depth he offers if he replaces one of the four specialist quicks, they might need him to bowl his full ten-over quota, with Daryl Mitchell and Glenn Phillips having been used very sparingly of late.New Zealand (probable): 1 Finn Allen, 2 Devon Conway, 3 Kane Williamson (capt), 4 Tom Latham (wk), 5 Daryl Mitchell, 6 Glenn Phillips, 7 James Neesham, 8 Mitchell Santner, 9 Tim Southee, 10 Matt Henry, 11 Lockie FergusonThere is a chance India might bring in Hooda as a sixth bowling option, but this could force them to leave out Suryakumar Yadav, who hasn’t yet replicated his T20I success in ODIs. He was the only member of India’s top seven to be dismissed for a single-digit score in Auckland, and his last seven ODI innings have brought him a highest score of just 27. India’s three fast bowlers were all expensive in Auckland, so there is a chance that Deepak Chahar could replace one of them.India (probable): 1 Shikhar Dhawan (capt), 2 Shubman Gill, 3 Shreyas Iyer, 4 Rishabh Pant (wk), 5 Suryakumar Yadav/Deepak Hooda, 6 Sanju Samson, 7 Washington Sundar, 8 Shardul Thakur/Deepak Chahar, 9 Umran Malik, 10 Arshdeep Singh, 11 Yuzvendra Chahal

Pitch and conditions

Seddon Park in Hamilton has hosted only three ODIs since 2020, with two of them producing first-innings scores in excess of 330. India scored 347 in one of them, only for New Zealand to hunt it down comfortably thanks to a Ross Taylor century. Expect another high-scoring game come Sunday. There remains a good chance of rain interrupting play, however, with showers forecast throughout the afternoon and evening.

Stats and trivia

• India posted contrasting totals of 92 in 2019 and 347 in 2020 while batting first in their last two ODIs at Seddon Park, and lost both matches.
• Tim Southee got to 200 ODI wickets while taking 3 for 73 in the first ODI, and two more wickets will take him past Chris Harris and into third place among New Zealand’s highest ODI wicket-takers.
• Since Dhawan’s ODI debut, only three batters have scored at least 6000 runs at a 90-plus strike rate. Dhawan’s strike rate is second on that list, sandwiched between those of his team-mates Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma.

Quotes

“You can catch up, and give yourself more time. It’s 50 overs… you’ve got that time up your sleeve to get the innings going and play your innings.”
New Zealand batting coach Luke Ronchi on how Tom Latham and co pulled off a chase of 307 in Auckland despite a sedate start.