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Charlotte Edwards, the England women’s captain, has said the return of Sarah Taylor and Claire Taylor to the squad is a huge boost in her team’s attempt to defend the World Twenty20 title

Cricinfo staff26-Apr-2010Charlotte Edwards, the England women’s captain, has said the return of Sarah Taylor and Claire Taylor to the squad is a huge boost in her team’s attempt to defend the World Twenty20 title. Both batsmen were among the top ten run-getters in the competition in 2009. England were beaten by West Indies in a Twenty20 series in November last year, and Edwards acknowledged that home advantage meant the hosts were strong contenders in this year’s tournament.”We have obviously really missed her [Claire Taylor’s] experience more than anything and we also missed Sarah Taylor as well,” Edwards said in an interview with the ICC. “They are two of our top four batters. If any side loses two of their top batters they would struggle. It would leave a hole and we are really looking forward to getting them back on board.”Edwards said the defeat to West Indies last year, in the context of the World Twenty20, had helped them prepare better than other teams for the competition. “We are really excited having been there in November as we saw what the conditions are going to be like and I think we actually want to be a step ahead of most of the teams,” she said. “I think I misread the conditions of the West Indies when we were there in November. They had quite slow wickets and actually at Warner Park the outfield is not that quick, so I guess it is going to be different strategy that we need to put in place now.”West Indies, Edwards said, have improved considerably and she tipped them to be the surprise team of the tournament. “I think it’s just going to be Australia, New Zealand and India but having seen the West Indies and how they played in St Kitts in November I think they are going to be real threat to all the teams,” she said. “They are on home soil as well and they have shown they can play some fantastic cricket. They are always improving year on year – they could be a surprise team for the tournament.”When asked to name the players she thought were the ones to watch out for, Edwards said: “Deandra Dottin is going to be a key player for the West Indies. I think she is an awesome talent. What I’ve seen of her with both bat and ball has been really exceptional and l have been really impressed by her. Having been in India recently, I think their young spinner Gouhar Sultana is likely to be a real threat. All the teams are playing really good cricket and the Australians have the likes of Shelley Nitschke in the form of her life.”The women’s World Twenty20 gets underway on May 5.

Batter’s stock continues to rise after fifth Test hundred and first on home soil

Vithushan Ehantharajah24-Jul-2024″I want to be my own batter. I want to be Harry Brook, not anybody else.”Harry Brook is not the first athlete to trot out variations of this line in response to comparisons of the greats of yesteryear. Brook himself has used it in the past when others have sought similarities in his traits to some of the finest batters of the modern era.If such comparisons are a burden, it is one he finds easy to shed. And part of that is down to the fact that the player he is and the player he might become has never seemed closer. On Wednesday, he ascended to No.3 in the ICC Test rankings, fresh from his fifth century in just his 14th match – and first at home. A jewel in England’s Test batting line-up is already sparkling.That’s not to say the events of Nottingham were a coming of age. His work so far, across all formats, has been more about productivity than potential. His absence was felt in India, even if his presence would not have necessarily changed the 4-1 series result. Even the 14 innings between centuries number four and five were littered with half-centuries; a chase-saving 75 against Australia at Headingley and an 85 in the first innings of that final Ashes Test at the Kia Oval. England would not have come back from 2-0 down without them.But his second innings at Trent Bridge, particularly on the third evening under lights against a threatening West Indies pace attack, as he took the sting out of the session and somehow still finished unbeaten on 71 from 78 deliveries, felt quintessentially Brook. Calm yet destructive. At ease while eliciting discomfort.If the ball was not defended under the eyes, it was stroked through cover with sighing ease. Bouncers were swayed and pulled with enough regularity for West Indies skipper Kraigg Brathwaite to use the short-ball tactic so intermittently that it was both a first and last resort. Brook did not seem to go through the gears, yet by the time his innings had come to an end on 109, England were comfortably out in front.Brook produced a crucial half-century to help turn the Ashes series•AFP/Getty Images

And yet, Brook’s strive for individuality has been aided by some sparrow-ing of his favourite players. Including the bloke at the other end in a fourth-wicket stand of 189.”Nowadays you have to take different parts of other batters and put it into your game,” Brook said. “There’s so many good players out there.”An example is Rooty [Joe Root] playing the ball so late, or AB de Villiers hitting all around the ground, Kevin Pietersen for his power. So yeah, you do see little bits of other people’s games and try to fit it into yours. I’ve done a little bit of that… but not too much.”The mention of Pietersen – tee-ed up to Brook but embraced all the same – provides too convenient an avenue not to take. Both love to dominate, feet still, head to the pitch, hands so brutally into the ball it’s as if they’re trying to punch through it and cuff the bowler.They also – as method rather than fate would have it – do seem to have a shared knack of getting themselves out when their opponents seem incapable of doing so.Of the disparaging labels put on Pietersen during a hall-of-fame career, the occasional dismissal attributed to alphadom meant “selfish” stuck firmest. The easier you make the batting seem, the bigger the sin it is to waste.Related

• Ben Stokes calls for more player input on cramped international schedule

• Kevin Sinclair the latest casualty as Mark Wood steps up pursuit of 100mph

• Unchanged England seek 3-0, as Test cricket desperately seeks a contest

• Ben Duckett 76, Harry Brook 71* hand England solid advantage over West Indies

• Bashir, Root, Brook give West Indies a 241-run hammering

More than a decade on, attitudes have changed, particularly in the England dressing-room. Even during a period of self-imposed refinement, Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum are still encouraging their shotmakers and ceding to their judgement, particularly if they sense an opportunity to shift momentum out in the middle, as Pietersen often did.Brook’s first two dismissals in the series reflected this. At Lord’s, on 50, he decided to show Alzarri Joseph he would not relent against the short ball by taking it on again, only to cloth a top edge to Joshua Da Silva. It bore some similarities to his dismissal at the ground the year before, though, being an Ashes, that drew much harsher criticism.On day one at Nottingham, he walked off with a breezy 36, having toed a paddle scoop to short leg off Kevin Sinclair. Two innings played, two good starts burned.”I identified a gap behind square on the leg side and I wanted to manipulate the field to open other parts of the ground to score,” Brook said of that first Trent Bridge dismissal. “Maybe I didn’t need to play that shot but if I’d nailed it, they might have had to change the field and it would have opened up another gap.”It’s remarkable clarity from a 25-year-old, though nothing out of the ordinary for such a straight-shooter. That thrill-seeking proactiveness was still evident in his century. Once more, Joseph went after him. Only this time Brook, serene on 46, stepped to the leg side and attempted to carve the quick over cover. He came within a matter of inches of having his stumps rearranged and leaving England in a hole.Could a more risk-averse Brook be more productive going forward? That does not feel like the right question.Because, ultimately, that wouldn’t be the Harry Brook we have, or the Harry Brook he wants to be. And while he continues to make strides to better himself, notably with his fitness, fuelled by a desire to turn ones into twos and twos into threes, and contribute more in the field, the progression of his batting is likely to forever be governed by the lavish brazenness we have already witnessed.What was particularly instructive was his reaction to being informed his career average of 62.54 is now second only to Sir Don Bradman. How did Brook feel to be within faint sight of not just true greatness, but near-batting perfection?Well, a little nonplussed.”That could definitely fluctuate either way,” he remarked, before adding, “Hopefully I can keep if that high. But if not, so be it.”

Australia A will face New Zealand A in two four-day matches over the next couple of weeks

Andrew McGlashan31-Mar-2023Alongside those appearing at the IPL and preparing for spells in county cricket, there is a group of Australian players across the Tasman looking to make an impression on the national selectors.The Australia A squad that faces their New Zealand counterparts over two four-day games in Lincoln – using the Dukes ball to replicate Ashes conditions in the UK – is a combination of players close or recently in the Test team, some with a realistic chance of pushing for a place in the near future, a few reasonably experienced domestic cricketers and those at the younger end of their careers.It is not what an Australia A squad would look like if everyone was available – anyone with a county deal was not considered because they will already be playing in UK conditions – but Matt Renshaw and Mitchell Swepson are included from those recently in India. Peter Handscomb was in the original group but withdrew after getting his deal with Leicestershire.Related

• Spencer Johnson on Ashes radar after being named in Australia A squad

• Bruce, Bracewell, Ajaz in NZ A squad for four-day matches against Australia A

• Aussies overseas: IPL and county cricket amid Ashes build-up

It will be an important couple of weeks for Renshaw who is viewed as a serious candidate to open again for Australia in the long term when a vacancy arises. However, India was a difficult tour for him where he missed out twice in the first Test in the middle order, having been preferred to Travis Head, then fell cheaply again in Delhi after being called in as David Warner’s concussion sub.He is likely competing with Handscomb, Cameron Bancroft and Marcus Harris for a spare batting spot in the Ashes. One thing in Renshaw’s favour is his versatility of being able to cover any position in the top six.Swepson, meanwhile, faces an interesting time in his career having been overlooked for the three Tests in India where he was available (he missed the Delhi Test to fly home for the birth of his child). With Australia’s next subcontinent Test tour not until visiting Sri Lanka in early 2025, it is difficult to see where Swepson’s chance to add to his four caps will come.Outside Renshaw and Swepson, the only other member of the squad previously capped by Australia is pace bowler Wes Agar who played two ODIs on the 2021 tour of West Indies when a number of first-choice players were not available.Matt Renshaw will still hope to be in Ashes contention•Getty Images

The name closest to breaking through to international level is Western Australia allrounder Aaron Hardie. He made an important 45 in last week’s Sheffield Shield final, and claimed four wickets, but his overall batting returns for the season with an average of 29.07 were probably a little below expectation.Hardie was touted as a possible replacement for Cameron Green when he was injured during the Australian season and is the closest like-for-like available, although Mitchell Marsh could yet come back into the frame if he is able to bowl substantially after his ankle surgery. Hardie and Nathan McSweeney will share the captaincy in New Zealand.With an eye on the Ashes, the selectors will need to consider how to provide wicketkeeping cover for Alex Carey. They could use Handscomb as was the case in India, but if they wanted a full-time keeper as back-up, Queensland’s Jimmy Peirson has a strong case to be considered although Josh Inglis likely remains in pole position. Over the last three seasons, Peirson has made 1337 Shield runs at 37.13 with five centuries (Inglis has averaged 51.56 in his 14 matches for WA in the same period) and he also impressed on the Australia A tour of Sri Lanka last year.However, the most intriguing name in the squad is left-arm quick Spencer Johnson whose remarkable rise continues after a season that brought BBL and Shield success for Brisbane Heat and South Australia respectively, including six and seven-wicket hauls for the latter.With Joel Paris, the WA quick, having withdrawn through injury, Johnson is now the one left-arm fast bowler in the squad and while it remains unlikely he will get an immediate international call-up, he could well be back-up to Mitchell Starc across formats.Elsewhere in the squad, there is a collection of top-order batters in the 18-25 age group with an eye on the future. The most exciting of them is 18-year Teague Wyllie, another from the WA production line, who made a maiden Shield century this season and was unbeaten in the chase to secure the title.Mitch Perry, a talented allrounder from Victoria, Xavier Bartlett and Jordan Buckingham (who replaced Parris) are pace bowlers who should enjoy the chance to operate with the Dukes ball.New Zealand’s resources are also stretched due to the ongoing series against Sri Lanka, but the side features a number of players with international experience, including Doug Bracewell and Scott Kuggeleijn who have played Tests this season and left-arm spinner Ajaz Patel. They will be captained by Tom Bruce who has 17 T20I caps.New Zealand A squad: Tom Bruce (capt), Adithya Ashok, Doug Bracewell, Henry Cooper, Jacob Duffy (game 1 only), Dean Foxcroft, Cam Fletcher, Mitch Hay, Scott Kuggeleijn (game 2 only), Cole McConchie, Robbie O’Donnell, Will O’Rourke, Ajaz Patel, Brett Randell, Sean SoliaAustralia A squad: Wes Agar, Xavier Bartlett, Jordan Buckingham, Aaron Hardie, Caleb Jewell, Spencer Johnson, Campbell Kellaway, Nathan McSweeney, Mitch Perry, Jimmy Peirson, Matthew Renshaw, Mitchell Swepson, Tim Ward, Teague Wyllie

Quetta Gladiators came close via Iftikhar’s mighty blows, but fell just short in the end

Danyal Rasool31-Jan-2022It was a game that was the length of a shoelace from going to a Super Over, but because Tim David ensured the shoelace in question didn’t touch the boundary rope, Multan Sultans sealed a scintillating six-run win against the Quetta Gladiators. For the first time this tournament, a side managed a successful defence of a total after Sultans scored 174, thanks to a blistering 57-ball 88 from unlikely leading scorer of the tournament Shan Masood. In a chase that saw wild swings of the pendulum, especially in the final five overs, David Willey was the star of the night, sending down two sensational death overs to just about keep Sarfaraz Ahmed’s men at bay.Chasing 175, Khushdil Shah was superb in nailing the Gladiators down early with the ball, a superb return catch to get rid of Will Smeed the highlight. Ahsan Ali was good for a few lusty blows but the Sultans kept chipping away with wickets, and Imran Tahir burst through the middle order with the successive wickets of Ben Duckett and Ashir Qureshi, before Khushdil returned to remove a struggling Sarfaraz Ahmed for 21 off 23.The final five overs of the contest were an epic in themselves. Sultans appeared to have sealed the game after Tahir’s three wickets helped his side burrow deep into the Gladiators’ lower order, but they hadn’t yet got rid of Iftikhar Ahmed. Traded in from Islamabad United, he demonstrated why he’s been such hot property in Pakistan T20 cricket over the last year or so. Three sixes and a four in the 17th over suddenly put the Gladiators back in charge against all logic, with the asking rate down to under nine once more.But Willey came in and bowled a nerveless, near-perfect 18th over, removing Iftikhar for a 13-ball 30 and conceding just three runs. Shahnawaz Dahani was less accurate in the penultimate over and fortunate not to see more slot balls dispatched, leaking 15 in his six deliveries. Crucially, however, a bit of brain-fade running from Sohail Tanvir cost Gladiators the priceless wicket of James Faulkner, and Quetta still needed eight with Tanvir off strike.It was down to Willey to execute once more. Three balls later, he had allowed just one run and seen Tanvir hole out to square leg. Mohammad Rizwan, calmness personified in a game of nail-biting drama, fatefully sent the tall Tim David out to the cow corner boundary where Naseem walloped the next ball. David held on, and ensured he’d tipped the ball back in before overbalancing and came back to collect cleanly, clinching a dramatic win for his elated side.Earlier – ages ago, it now seems – the Gladiators won the toss and inserted Sultans in. Mohammad Hasnain and Faulkner were miserly up top, and aside from Masood, no one could quite find their range for much of the innings. Rizwan fell for a rare second-ball duck after a miscue into the onside, and in his absence, the Sultans looked wobbly in the Powerplay. It was only at the death when the Gladiators lost their discipline slightly that the Sultans really made up for lost time. Once Masood slapped Iftikhar for two sixes in the 16th, the batters switched to death hitting mode, and a switch appeared to flicker on for Rizwan’s side.Tanvir missed his lines at the end and found himself punished, and despite Hasnain continuing the good work he’d begun in the Powerplay, the Gladiators conceded 67 off the final five overs. The Sultans subsequently took the momentum with them at the change of innings, and though it ebbed and flowed over the next 20 overs, the final swing, for once, went to the side that batted first.

Former England fast bowler honoured for services to cricket and charity

ESPNcricinfo staff10-Oct-2020Darren Gough, the former England fast bowler, has been awarded an MBE for services to cricket and charity in the Queen’s birthday honours list.Gough, 50, took 229 wickets in 58 Tests for England between 1994 and 2003, as well as playing 159 ODIs and two T20Is. He represented Yorkshire and Essex in county cricket, before retiring in 2008 and moving into a career in broadcasting. He currently hosts a radio show on talkSPORT.A Level 3 qualified coach, Gough was used as a bowling consultant by England on their tour of New Zealand last year, and was credited with helping the likes of Chris Woakes make better use of the Kookaburra ball.He has also dedicated much of his time to raising money for charity, in particular wildlife and conservation efforts. Earlier this year, he donated memorabilia to an auction for the Centre for Disaster Philanthropy in response to the Covid-19 pandemic.The Queen’s birthday honours are usually announced in June, but this year were held back in order to recognise the efforts of those helping to deal with the coronavirus.

Isle of Wight fixture a triumph for Hants in more ways than one

Paul Edwards at Newport23-May-2019
Just before 11.30 on the final morning of this game the Radio Solent gazebo nearly blew away. For an alarming moment we thought the excellent Kevan James and Dave Bracegirdle would have to broadcast to the nations of the world as it were. But decency was soon restored and the gazebo’s bid for freedom was an isolated incident in any case. No one else expressed a wish to depart this paradise on the island of chines and chapels.Eight Nottinghamshire batsmen shuffled away, of course, but they were given no option by Sam Northeast’s attack, who completed their side’s 244-run victory at just gone three o’clock when Jake Ball looped a ball from Mason Crane into the covers where Aneurin Donald took the catch. Yet it was slightly ironic that the final wicket should fall to a spinner; Hampshire’s three seamers had been the chief architects of victory on this final day and it was appropriate that Kyle Abbott, Fidel Edwards and Keith Barker should each take six wickets in the match.Other spectators may identify the importance of Wednesday’s partnership between Ajinkya Rahane and Northeast in deciding the game’s outcome. Aesthetes would agree but there is surely an equally sound argument that Nottinghamshire’s failure to make any breakthroughs on the first morning when the ball was nipping around was as significant as anything else in shaping the match.Sam Northeast bats for Hampshire•Getty Images

What is plain, though, is that this was Hampshire’s third championship victory of the season and they seem set fair for honours. From an island on which Prospero might have chosen to remain they now go to Lord’s, which is possessed of its own insularity, for the Royal London Cup Final; and thence on Monday to Yorkshire, whose inhabitants would probably welcome a ten-mile Channel round its boundary as a physical expression of the spiritual detachment they have always felt in any case.To judge from their cricket over these four days, Northeast’s cricketers are ready for the battles to come. They took their time over their win on Thursday but they truly lost only one of this game’s 11 sessions, albeit they took only three wickets on the last morning. The first of these fell when nightwatchman Matt Carter failed to jab down on a straight ball from Barker and was lbw for 23 in the fifth over of the day; then Joe Clarke, having laboured over 19 balls was out for nought when he prodded at his 20th and nicked a catch to Tom Alsop off Abbott. It was a shot that could have brought Clarke nothing but grief but it was entirely consistent with the rest of his innings.The most vital wicket, though, was that of Jake Libby, who batted for over an hour with Chris Nash before he fell to the perfectly legitimate aggression of the Hampshire seamers. Away from their sport, Edwards and Abbott probably contribute to worthy charities and fuss over their neighbours’ pets. Put a cricket ball in their hands, however, and they become, like William Munny in , men “of notoriously vicious and intemperate disposition.”Such an approach is part of the fast bowler’s armoury, of course, and it was particularly evident when Edwards roughed up Nash and Libby in the half-hour before lunch. Aided by three short legs, the battering was enough to put any chap off his couscous and it worked when Libby, having paddled the ball to the fine leg boundary, prodded a catch to the vulturesque Oli Soames. That left Nottinghamshire on 131 for 5 and suddenly the main question being asked was ‘when’ not ‘if’.The answer to that query soon became clear. Abbott was brought on at the Carisbrooke End immediately after tiffin and he trapped Nash for a gutsy 60 – his third fifty of the season – with one that seemed to nip back a fair way. Any hopes that visiting supporters might have harboured that their team could kindle comparisons with Rorke’s Drift were probably extinguished four overs later when another ball from Abbott kept very low and gave Tom Moores no price whatever when it thudded into his pad. Half an hour later Steven Mullaney was bowled by a similar delivery and all that remained was to dot an “i”, cross a “t” and dismiss Stuart Broad.Yet even when this game was done, several spectators stayed at Newclose and pondered what they had just seen. And not just the cricket, you understand, but the event itself and its many triumphs. Before very long tiredness will hit the volunteers like heat in the desert. But they can put their heads down knowing they have rendered Hampshire a noble service. In the winter cricket people will look back and choose their best week of the year. Some will choose Newclose in May and they will not be far wrong. It has already been one of the songs of summer.

Mitchell Starc and Nathan Lyon systematically dismantled South Africa’s batting order on the second day in Durban to give Australia a 189-run lead

The Report by Brydon Coverdale02-Mar-2018
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsThis was the reason South Africa picked an extra batsman. Australia’s attack, led by Mitchell Starc and Nathan Lyon, systematically dismantled South Africa’s batting order on the second day in Durban; such was Australia’s complete dominance that it seemed an achievement for South Africa even to avoid the follow-on. Starc wrapped up the day neatly with a five-wicket haul to dismiss South Africa for 162 in reply to Australia’s 351.If the first four sessions of the Test seemed rather low-key, the octane level rose considerably after lunch on day two. Last time the teams met in Durban, in 2009, Australia did not even pick a specialist spinner, but here Lyon struck twice in his first over of the Test, removing Dean Elgar and Hashim Amla to open up South Africa’s order for the fast men. Pat Cummins then broke through with a fierce bumper, before Starc began his procession through the middle and lower order.Only AB de Villiers looked like pushing South Africa to a competitive total, but almost inevitably he ran out of partners, left unbeaten on 71 when the final wicket fell to finish the day’s play. Fittingly, it was Starc who put the icing on the cake, or to coin a more appropriate Australianism, the coconut on the lamington, by trapping Kagiso Rabada lbw and smashing the stumps of Morne Morkel. Starc finished with 5 for 34, his best work having been done against the right-handers earlier.Mitchell Starc removed Faf du Plessis•Getty Images

Like a hustler of the highest order, Starc played the angles to perfection and conned mark after mark into nibbling outside off stump. Coming around the wicket, he found the perfect line and often enough moved the ball away, beating edges not left, right and centre, but left, left and left. This method first accounted for Faf du Plessis for 15, then Theunis de Bruyn – the extra batsman not helping South Africa – for 6, and finally Vernon Philander for 8.It was an exquisite display of left-arm pace bowling, though Starc had support from all other members of Australia’s attack. Lyon was the man who sowed the first seeds of doubt in South Africa’s minds. His second ball of the Test caught Elgar’s leading edge and was brilliantly taken by the bowler leaping to his right, and three balls later Hashim Amla’s inside edge was snapped up at short leg by Cameron Bancroft to give Lyon a double-wicket maiden.He later returned to add a third wicket, Quinton de Kock’s recent batting struggles continuing when he was bowled by Lyon’s quicker delivery for 20. Josh Hazlewood chipped in by rattling the stumps of Keshav Maharaj, which meant all four of Australia’s bowlers were wicket-takers. Cummins had earlier ended an enterprising innings of 32 from Aiden Markram, who could only fend an accurate short ball to Bancroft in close.Markram was the only batsman beside de Villiers who threatened to worry the Australians. But really, de Villiers was in a league of his own. He scored all around the ground and was especially strong through the leg side, striking 11 boundaries on the way to his highest Test score since his recent return to the side. But one man making a half-century was nowhere near enough; South Africa needed a more even list of contributors, as Australia had possessed.The day had started with Australia on 225 for 5 with Mitchell Marsh and Tim Paine at the crease. Paine edged behind off Rabada early, but Marsh compiled useful partnerships with Starc and Lyon to continue frustrating the South Africans.Marsh seemed destined for a century, which would have been his second in consecutive Test innings, when he tried to bring up the milestone with a boundary over mid-on, where the giant Morkel hurled his hands up to clutch the chance. Had Temba Bavuma been fit and fielding there, Marsh might have had his hundred. Instead he fell for 96, but his impressively patient innings was more than enough for Australia to post a competitive total.Starc had provided an entertaining cameo of 35 from 25 deliveries, clubbing two sixes over deep midwicket off Maharaj and striking four fours, including three in one Morkel over, before he was bowled by Maharaj. Cummins had fallen in similar fashion, bowled through the gate by Maharaj, though after an innings very different from that of Starc – Cummins occupied the crease for 38 balls for his 3 runs. His innings was just about the last quiet passage of play for the whole day.

HBL took the last five WAPDA wickets for nine runs before Imam-ul-Haq and Fakhar Zaman hit hundreds in a double-century stand

ESPNcricinfo staff13-Dec-2016
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsFile photo – Imam-ul-Haq struck 10 fours•Getty Images

Centuries from openers Imam-ul-Haq and Fakhar Zaman underlined Habib Bank Limited’s dominance over Water and Power Development Authority on day three of the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy final at the National Stadium in Karachi. HBL, who had conceded a 42-run lead, were 264 without loss at stumps.WAPDA, who resumed on 244 for 5 after a rest day for Rabi-ul-Awal, lost their last five wickets for just nine runs to be bowled out for 278. Abdur Rehman, the left-arm spinner, took three of those to complete a WAPDA batting collapse – they were at 162 for no loss at one stage. Salman Butt’s 125 – his third first-class century of the season – was the top score for WAPDA.They were dealt another blow when Kamran Akmal, their wicketkeeper, didn’t take the field in the second innings because of an injury, and had to be replaced by Zahid Mansoor.Imam, nephew of Inzamam-ul-Haq, and Zaman then powered ahead to record the highest opening stand for HBL when they surpassed a 16-year record of 252, held by Asadullah Butt and Mujahid Jamshed against Sargodha in 1999-2000.Along the way, both batsmen enjoyed slices of luck. Imam was reprieved on 37 when left-arm spinner Zulfiqar Babar put down a return catch. Zaman was handed a lifeline on 140 when Mansoor, filling in for Kamran Akmal, missed a stumping chance off Babar. Imam hit 10 fours, while Zaman struck 19.Mohammad Asif, who picked up four wickets in the first innings, bowled only seven of the 73 overs on Tuesday, while Mohammad Irfan bowled 10 overs.

Afghanistan completed a stunning comeback win as they overcame a 151-run first-innings deficit to thrash Papua New Guinea by 201 runs in Sharjah

ESPNcricinfo staff24-Nov-2015
ScorecardFile photo – Asghar Stanikzai smashed 13 fours and six sixes in his 127 off 163 balls•ICC/Helge Schutz

Coach Inzaman hails Afg’s come-from-behind win

Afghanistan coach Inzamam-ul-Haq has said the win against PNG was all the more significant given his team had been switching between formats a lot of late.
“The performance was exceptional and outstanding because this was the third different format they were playing inside four weeks,” he said, adding their aggressive approach after a poor start was important. “These are big, powerful and talented lads who play without fear. It requires a lot of guts and courage to hit the number of fours and sixes they hit in the second innings when they had their backs against the wall.
“These are positive signs and we just want to build upon these foundations without burdening them with too much information.”

Afghanistan completed a stunning comeback win as they overcame a 151-run first-innings deficit to thrash Papua New Guinea by 201 runs in Sharjah. Asghar Stanikzai (127), Mohammad Shahzad (116) and Hashmatullah Shahidi (112) all struck centuries as Afghanistan piled on 501 in their second innings – along with handy lower-order fifties from Gulbadin Naib and Mirwais Ashraf – to set PNG a target of 390.PNG were never in the chase at any point as they lost wickets in clumps to succumb for 188. Assad Vala struck his second half-century of the game and offered some resistance with his 81 but it was not close to enough. Zahir Khan and Yamin Ahmadzai both picked up four wickets to break the back of the PNG chase.Earlier, it was PNG that dominated with both bat and ball as they bowled Afghanistan out for 144, with Norman Vanua doing most of the damage with figures of 4 for 36, and then put up a total of 295 through Mahuru Dai’s 129 and Vala’s 62 to earn a lead of 151. Zahir and Ahmadzai were again the pick of the bowlers, taking three wickets apiece.

After sending down more than 25 overs in his first spell of the season, and taking four wickets, James Anderson emerged as nightwatchman for Lancashire

Andrew McGlashan at Old Trafford25-Apr-2013
ScorecardDarren Stevens took the first wicket to fall as Lancashire crawled to 43 from 34 overs•Getty Images

James Anderson has certainly not shirked any responsibility on his return to Lancashire. After sending down more than 25 overs in his first spell of the season he emerged as nightwatchman on a day where a combination of rain and a cautious approach from the home side’s top-order meant the match did not progress very far.In 38.1 overs there were 71 runs and four wickets, with the weather costing the best part of the two sessions. Two of those scalps went to Anderson during the morning session as he wrapped up Kent for what he termed “an under par” 244 before Lancashire set about laying the platform for a substantial reply, however long that takes.He then reprised the job he did for England for a number of years before losing it to Steven Finn in New Zealand. After Finn’s epic rearguard in Dunedin, Anderson will not be getting the nightwatchman position back anytime soon – at least while Finn is in the team – but it appears to be his whenever he makes rare county appearances.”I’m delighted,” he said, with a hint of a smile, about returning to the role. “There was a bit of discussion, but I was out the room for most of it. I don’t mind doing it. It would have been a bit unfair on Simon Kerrigan as he hasn’t done it a lot before whereas I have. I felt it was a nice pitch to bat on at the end, but I’m sure I’ll get a few bouncers, which I’ll look forward to. I’m not saying I’ll blast fifty or a hundred, but I think I can do a job for the team.”In the more important part of his job, Anderson bowled with pace and hostility on a sluggish surface throughout his five spells – the last of which was spread over the first evening and second morning as he claimed all four of his wickets in the space of seven overs with the second new ball. He had bowled well enough to claim top-order scalps, so the late rewards were justified and it was certainly not a case of padding out figures.”It was a useful amount of overs first day back,” he said. “There was a bit in the pitch and all in all I was pleased with the way I bowled. It was frustrating at times, but that’s the way it goes and I knew if I hung in long enough, and with the way I was bowling, I’d get some rewards in the end.”Lancashire built on the bowlers’ work – Anderson singled out Kyle Hogg’s role as well – with a determination to see off the new ball that was very similar to their approach in the opening game of the season against Worcestershire. On that occasion the platform was converted by a 181-run stand in 32 overs between Ashwell Prince and Simon Katich; this game will need either something similar or a clatter of wickets for Kent if it is to spark into life.The way the top-order played – and Kent went about their innings in a very similar manner – was understandable in April conditions, but it will be interesting to see how adaptable players such as Luke Procter, Paul Horton and Karl Brown are as the season develops. Run rates of under two for such a sustained period leave some catching up to be done.”We’ve got some serious players to come,” Anderson said. “It’s dangerous looking too far ahead but, as we saw in the last game against Worcestershire, if you can get through the tough periods the batsmen we have left to come can accelerate the innings, so that will be the plan.”The Kent bowling was accurate and steady but not much above medium pace, although Matt Coles was a touch more lively. The first boundary did not arrive until the 70th delivery when Horton clipped one off his toes in front of square, but just as his and Procter’s diligence appeared to be taking Lancashire to lunch unscathed Procter pushed at one from Darren Stevens and was well caught at second slip.After a long break for rain, 19 overs remained – the type of session where there is not much to gain for the batsmen and Lancashire’s aim was purely survival. Perhaps that mindset played a small part in Horton’s dismissal when he left a ball from Coles that took off stump.April 25, 9pm BST: This story has replaced the earlier match report