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Pollard, Rashid, du Plessis among several prominent players also slated to take part in tw0-match series in Bangladesh

Mohammad Isam25-Feb-2020Virat Kohli is likely to be available for one match for the Asia XI side that will take on a World XI in the two-match T20I series in Dhaka next month as part of the nationwide celebrations to mark the birth centenary of Sheikh Mujibur Rehman, often referred to as the father of the nation. Kohli is among six Indian players named in the Asia XI side, with KL Rahul also slated for a one-match appearance. Shikhar Dhawan, Rishabh Pant, Kuldeep Yadav and Mohammed Shami have been included for both the matches.BCB president Nazmul Hassan announced the names of the players in Dhaka on Tuesday, naming Faf du Plessis, Chris Gayle, Rashid Khan and Jonny Bairstow among the members of the World XI side.However, although BCB said Kohli would play one game, ESPNcricinfo understands the BCCI is still waiting for the India captain to confirm his participation. Workload management remains an issue with Kohli in particular, with India having a packed schedule.India’s second Test against New Zealand is scheduled to end on March 4, and their three-match home ODI series against South Africa runs from March 12 to 18. The two matches in Dhaka are slated for March 21 and 22, and the IPL starts on March 29.Hassan also explained that the squads didn’t include any Pakistan players because they would be busy with the PSL, with the tournament final scheduled on March 22.”We have already received four names from India,” Hassan said. “We haven’t signed contracts but Rishabh Pant, Kuldeep Yadav, Shikhar Dhawan and Mohammed Shami are supposed to come. They have said KL Rahul and Virat Kohli will play one game each, but that hasn’t been finalised.”Players like Rashid Khan and Mujeeb Ur Rahman have finalised with us, from Afghanistan. Nepal’s Sandeep Lamichhane will play while from Sri Lanka, we will have Lasith Malinga and Thisara Perera. From Bangladesh, we will have Tamim Iqbal, Mushfiqur Rahim, Mustafizur Rahman, Mahmudullah and Liton Das.””I don’t remember all the names, but we will have three or four players from South Africa. Definitely, there will be the same number of players from West Indies. Australia and New Zealand will be playing but we will try to find some (players). Bairstow is definitely coming. Ngidi is coming. Chris Gayle is supposed to play. Faf du Plessis. We will have some of the best players around. We are uncertain about Pakistan since the PSL is will be ongoing. We will invite some of the cricketing greats.”While Hassan named all the players linked with the Asia XI, it has been learnt that the BCB is also contacting Kieron Pollard, Nicholas Pooran, Sheldon Cottrell, Brendan Taylor, Alex Hales, Andrew Tye and Mitchell McClenaghan, apart from the names mentioned already.Tentative squadsAsia XI: KL Rahul, Shikhar Dhawan, Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Thisara Perera, Lasith Malinga, Rashid Khan, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Mustafizur Rahman, Tamim Iqbal, Mushfiqur Rahim, Liton Das, Sandeep Lamichhane, MahmudullahWorld XI: Alex Hales, Chris Gayle, Faf du Plessis, Nicholas Pooran, Brendan Taylor, Jonny Bairstow, Kieron Pollard, Sheldon Cottrell, Lungi Ngidi, Andrew Tye, Mitchell McClenaghan

The fast bowler is yet to fully recover from his shoulder injury. Shadab Khan is out too, but Fakhar Zaman is fit to play

Danyal Rasool in Centurion24-Dec-2018Pakistan will have to fight for just their third Test match win in South Africa without the services of Mohammad Abbas. Sarfraz Ahmed confirmed at a press conference at Supersport Park that the Boxing Day Test came too soon for Abbas, with the shoulder injury that kept him out of the third Test against New Zealand ensuring he will play no part in the opening Test.”Abbas is not fit for the first Test, hopefully he will be fit for the second Test,” Sarfraz said. “Shadab Khan, too, will be back for the second Test, but Fakhar Zaman is fit.”Legspinner Shadab has been nursing a long-term groin injury which caused him to miss the home Tests against Australia and New Zealand, although he did take part in the limited-overs games against New Zealand. Opening batsman Fakhar, meanwhile, has not featured for Pakistan since November 11 thanks to a knee injury, but played in the tour game against a CSA Invitation XI last week.Abbas’s sensational performance in the two-Test series against Australia on the generally placid UAE tracks in October – he took 17 wickets in two Tests at 10.58 – meant he was considered Pakistan’s trump card for the seamer-friendly pitches in South Africa. After the shoulder niggle last month, he was initially thought to be ruled out for the entire South Africa tour, before it emerged that he could participate in the bulk of this series. He had at one point been believed likely to win the fitness race by Boxing Day, only for Sarfraz to confirm otherwise.Abbas’s absence means Pakistan are left with just three specialist seamers in Mohammad Amir, Hasan Ali and Shaheen Afridi along with the allrounder Faheem Ashraf. That quartet is all set to feature in the Centurion Test now. Sarfraz also hoped the surface would allow the legspinner Yasir Shah some purchase in the later stages, effectively confirming the spinner’s involvement in Shadab’s absence.

All national players will feature in the tournament, which is scheduled to be played from November 10 to December 16

Firdose Moonda23-Oct-2017South Africa’s domestic franchise T20 tournament has been confirmed as the replacement for the postponed T20 Global League.CSA had unveiled the GLT20 as a 57-match event, featuring eight privately-owned teams, to be played from November 3, but it is now under investigation to determine whether the organisational process was above board.Instead, South Africans fans will have to make do with a six-team domestic tournament that will now take place four months ahead of schedule. Originally due to be played from March 14 to April 15, it will now run from November 10 to December 16, with each franchise playing another in the home and away format. The competition features a total of 33 matches. Each franchise will play one another at home and away with two semi-finals and a final.A bonus is that all national players will be available, a rare occurrence for domestic T20 cricket in South Africa, which is usually played when the senior side is occupied. Dale Steyn, Chris Morris, Morne Morkel, Duanne Olivier and Wayne Parnell are all expected to make their returns from injury in this competition, while Vernon Philander and Lungi Ngidi were back in action during this week’s first-class fixtures and will also take part in the T20 tournament.South Africa’s captain Faf du Plessis, who has been ruled out of the T20s against Bangladesh this week with a lower-back strain, could also come back during this period. However, no foreign internationals are expected to participate in the tournament. Most of those who had signed up for the GLT20 are already otherwise engaged and, in any case, CSA’s transformation targets make it tricky to accommodate them.An insider told ESPNcricinfo that there is already unrest in the domestic ranks. “The players are still very angry and disappointed that the T20 Global League is not going ahead and it is going to take time to restore their confidence.”One way of going about that is to ensure speedy compensation for the T20 Global League payouts. CSA have been in talks with the South African Cricketers’ Associations about that and Tony Irish, the SACA chief executive, said after “several hours of negotiation, the ball is in now in CSA’s court.”The possibility of increasing salaries for those playing the domestic T20 tournament has also been raised and it may yet pan out despite the board’s current financial problems. Apart from the millions it has lost in the planning, marketing and launching of the postponed T20 Global League, the domestic T20 tournament is without a sponsor for a second successive season. While CSA are in talks to find a corporate backer, it may prove tough given the competition’s recent history.Two summers ago, it was hit by a match-fixing scandal that has since seen seven players, including four internationals, banned. Ram, the courier company that had the naming rights to the event, chose not to renew their deal in 2016. It claimed the decision was the result of a disagreement with the board, as opposed a reaction to the news of match-fixing.Another company which did not see eye to eye with CSA is broadcaster who have emerged as the biggest beneficiaries of this change in the South African cricket calendar. It is likely to telecast a higher-quality T20 tournament – considering the availability of national players – without having to pay for any extra television rights. A source said they understood would use this event as a test case for negotiating the rights figure for the GLT20.With 24 fewer games than the T20 Global League would have had, and with some matches taking place at the same time, not every game will be televised. But the presence of star players will allow to judge the worth of a high-profile T20 event in South Africa. “They will be able to see what the viewership figures, what kind of ad revenue they can get and that sort of thing so that it when it comes to talking about a T20 League, they will know what to ask for,” the source said.CSA will have to return to the negotiating table with again if they aim to stage a version of the GLT20 next year but the source believes the board needs a completely different business model going forward. “They [CSA] shouldn’t be talking about it [GLT20] as a postponement because they will need to completely scrap it and relaunch it. The financial model fell over and now they need to look at whether privately-owned franchises is the way to go. There’s a lot of work ahead for them.”

Northants Steelbacks confounded the sceptics yet again with a third Finals Day appearance in four years as Adam Rossington led them to victory against Middlesex

Vithushan Ehantharajah09-Aug-2016
ScorecardAdam Rossington saw Northants to Finals Day•Getty Images

Northamptonshire Steelbacks sealed the second Finals Day spot with a commanding seven-wicket win over Middlesex. “No one likes us and we don’t care” rang out from a few in the Ken Turner Stand, as they rose to embrace more Twenty20 success.While the sentiment seems a tad forced, there is a feeling in this part of the world that many take delight in shedding light on their faults, while applying the dimmer when success comes their way. For the third time in four years, they will command the Edgbaston spotlight.It was a game that boiled down to how both sides operated outside the Powerplay overs. And even that can be caveated by the fact that the Steelbacks, who were all for chasing before Dawid Malan won the toss and opted to set a target, knew they didn’t have to break sweat.That Northants were led to victory by a measured and unbeaten 67 from Adam Rossington will have stung Middlesex supporters. Rossington used to be theirs: a plunderer of runs in the Middlesex second team while the first XI stuttered, hammering away at a door that, ultimately, never fully opened for him.Opportunities came with the white ball, but Middlesex’s ambivalence to limited overs cricket at the time, coupled with John Simpson’s desire to play all forms, meant he was beginning to exist in a void. The cheers of six-and-a-half thousand filled every bit of air above Wantage Road when he helped the final ball of the match around the corner for four.So much of the occasion spoke of being Northants’ night. Two hours before the start, Abington Avenue was at a standstill as members were turned away from the car park as Sky set-up their various trailers across most of the Wantage Road car park behind the Pavilion. “That’s why we don’t invite ’em round,” snarled an attendant.Sky’s cameras, or rather their absence, has been a point of contention in these parts. Despite reaching Finals Day twice in the previous three seasons and starting the 2016 campaign with a bang, this quarter-final was only their third televised match of the season.Originally scheduled for just one – at home against Birmingham Bears – a second came due to a last minute switch, when Yorkshire Vikings needed a win to guarantee a quarter-final spot (or at least that was the Northants slant). It did not take long in this broadcast for viewers to figure out what happens next.Malan, who rattled off an unbeaten 185 off 126 balls for the England Lions in his last innings at Wantage Road, was dismissed for a two-ball duck by Rory Kleinveldt, before Nick Gubbins followed in a similar manner to Richard Gleeson to reduce Middlesex to 10 for 2 in the second over. As a pair, it Kleinveldt and Gleeson’s opening spell, hitting just back of a length with all they could, that scuppered Middlesex’s chances of posting a competitive total.Paul Stirling’s natural instincts were reined in and, when he departed, thoughts turned to George Bailey, who they restricted to a run-a-ball 46, for Gleeson’s second wicket of the innings. Legspinner Seekkuge Prasanna’s 2 for 20 from his four in the middle of the innings – accounting for Stirling and the destructive John Simpson for eight – and regular bowling changes eventually saw Middlesex stumble to 132.It meant that when pressure was built during the opening six overs of Northants’ innings, through dot balls and a packed and expectant off side, it was easily relieved with a six over midwicket from Richard Levi, an exquisite swing into the stand at extra cover from Rossington or consecutive fours muscled down the ground by Josh Cobb.If there was one moment that might have turned the game, it was when Ben Duckett, Northants’ leading T20 Blast run-scorer, was dropped on three after driving aerially to Gubbins stationed at cover to Nathan Sowter, at the end of the eighth over. It was hit low and hard to Gubbins’ right and, given the measly target, the quality of the batsman and the importance of the match, it simply had to be taken.With the first ball of the very next over, Duckett stepped down and flicked James Franklin over midwicket for four to bring up 2,000 runs in all competitions. He would go on to make 29 in a 58-run partnership with Rossington that effectively sealed Northants’ passage to their fourth Finals Day.Given the uncertainty that exists at the club, that is a remarkable feat. Middlesex were shorn of Brendon McCullum, Eoin Morgan and James Fuller through injury. But Northants, too, have had a plethora of ailments to such an extent that they have spent as much time at a nearby sports therapy clinic as they have in the nets recently. That they have only used 16 players this season is remarkable. “We don’t have any more than that,” remarked Northants skipper Alex Wakely.No doubt some will insist on labelling them as “outsiders” in the lead-up to Edgbaston. But this will be their third appearance at Finals Day in the last four years, winning the competition in 2013 and finishing runners-up in last year’s showpiece. That is far beyond the work of “underdogs”. That’s what you call pedigree.

Darren Bravo powered Red Steel to an imposing total, and then Dwayne Bravo and the spinners dismissed all the Tridents batsmen before they made 20 to secure a 72-run win

ESPNcricinfo staff17-Jul-2015
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsDarren and Dwayne Bravo added 59 runs in 2.4 overs•Caribbean Premier League

Darren Bravo’s late flourish converted Trinidad & Tobago Red Steel’s middling score into an imposing one, and then his brother Dwayne and the spinners dismissed all the Barbados Tridents batsmen before they made 20 to secure a 72-run win at Queen’s Park Oval. The result improved Red Steel’s standing at the bottom of the league: they are now two wins away from catching Tridents at the top, with two games in hand.Red Steel had started steadily after choosing to bat, but with no great acceleration, and that platform eroded when Cameron Delport and William Perkins fell in the space of four balls. From 50 for 2 in 8.1 overs, Jacques Kallis and Darren Bravo built steadily, adding 75 in 9.1 overs. However, when Kallis lost his off stump to Ravi Rampaul for 49 off 43 deliveries Red Steel, at 125 for 3 with 16 balls left in the innings, needed a special finish.Darren Bravo was on 36 off 32 balls at the time but now he went into overdrive and smashed 44 off his last 12 deliveries, nearly a boundary a ball. He targeted the area between square leg and long-on and finished with seven sixes, adding 59 with his brother Dwayne, who scored 14 off the four balls he faced. Rampaul conceded 16 runs in the 18th over and 25 in the 20th, while Jason Holder went for 22 in the 19th over.The Tridents chase never took off. Misbah-ul-Haq was their top-scorer with 19 and their highest partnership – between Misbah and Shai Hope for the fourth wicket – was 26. They collapsed from 65 for 3 to 85 for 8 and were eventually dismissed for 112 in 18.4 overs. Dwayne Bravo claimed figures of 3 for 16 in 3.4 overs, and spinners Samuel Badree, Derone Davis and Johan Botha had combined figures of 11-0-64-5.

India have dropped Virender Sehwag for the first three matches of the five-ODI series against England, which begins on January 11 in Rajkot

Amol Karhadkar06-Jan-2013India have dropped Virender Sehwag for the first three matches of the five-ODI series against England, which begins on January 11 in Rajkot. The decision came after Sehwag was left out of the XI that beat Pakistan in an ODI in Delhi earlier in the day. India gave a maiden limited-overs call-up to Cheteshwar Pujara, who scored 203 off 221 balls in a Ranji Trophy match last week.A BCCI source told ESPNcricinfo that this could well be the end of Sehwag’s limited-overs career. Sehwag has been dropped, said the source, because “he doesn’t figure in the plans for the 2015 World Cup”. Pujara has been brought in “to anchor the innings, especially in the wake of new rules”, which now allow a maximum of two bouncers per over and require a minimum of five fielders inside the circle at all times, which encourages more attacking bowling. The selectors have left it to the team management to decide Pujara’s batting position.Pujara’s inclusion was the only change to the squad that lost 1-2 to Pakistan, which meant MS Dhoni, India’s best batsman in the series, kept his captaincy despite calls from former selectors for fresh leadership. The sources said Dhoni’s captaincy didn’t go through much of a debate.Rohit Sharma was retained despite poor returns in ODIs of late. His last six scores were 5, 0, 0, 4, 4 and 4. Since the end of the series against West Indies in 2011, when he was the Man of the Series, Rohit has averaged 13 over 14 matches with one half-century. Rohit escaped the axe primarily because of “lack of alternatives”. He might not have made it had Manoj Tiwary been fit.Since his double-century against West Indies in December 2011, Sehwag has averaged 23 over 11 matches, including a top score of 96. Sehwag is possibly seen as the weaker fielder, which becomes significant keeping in mind the World Cup in Australia.Sehwag’s replacement, Pujara, is quick in the field and has been scoring runs. After his double-century that stunned Madhya Pradesh six days ago, Pujara said he knew his time was not far away. “That [ODI selection] is something that is not in my control,” Pujara had told ESPNcricinfo. “I have always performed in domestic one-dayers. I don’t need to worry about it. My time will come. One way or the other I will get my chance to play in the ODI team. I just need to keep performing.”The bowlers were all retained after they successfully defended 167 against Pakistan on Sunday, India’s fourth-lowest score batting first in an ODI win.Squad: MS Dhoni (capt), Cheteshwar Pujara, Gautam Gambhir, Virat Kohli, Yuvraj Singh, Rohit Sharma, Suresh Raina, Ravindra Jadeja, R Ashwin, Ishant Sharma, Ajinkya Rahane, Ashok Dinda, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Shami Ahmed, Amit Mishra.

Sydney Thunder’s captain courageous, David Warner, spanked an unbeaten century after sparkling in the field to lead his team to a six-wicket victory over the Melbourne Stars in the Twenty20 Big Bash League encounter at the MCG

The Report by Daniel Brettig17-Dec-2011Shane Warne dominated the build-up, David Warner dominated the match. Sydney Thunder’s captain courageous, Warner, spanked an unbeaten century after sparkling in the field to lead his team to a six-wicket victory over the Melbourne Stars in the Twenty20 Big Bash League encounter at the MCG.Combative but also imaginative, Warner marshalled his team intelligently to restrict the Stars to 7 for 153 on a pacey surface. He then crashed no fewer than six sixes in an innings of belligerence, peaking at the moment Warne entered the attack in front of a 23,496-strong Melbourne crowd that has adored him for nearly 20 years.Warner chose that over to launch into the most monstrous six over long-on, and heaved another in Warne’s second. He would bowl only two overs for 19 runs, no doubt restricted by the burns a cooking accident had inflicted on his bowling hand.The Thunder’s bowlers had given Warner a decidedly manageable target to aim at with a stolid ensemble, highlighted by the bowling of the unheralded Scott Coyte and Luke Doran. Doug Bollinger grabbed two wickets though he struggled for rhythm and speed.Chris Gayle accompanied Warner to the middle for the chase, an opening combination of awe-inspiring power. However Gayle’s stay was brief and painful – he was struck a blow on the gloves by the sharper-than-you-think James Faulkner, before being yorked by the left-armer’s slower ball before the first over was complete.Warner was thus left a free stage on which to perform, which he did with all the confidence of a man who must surely now be an integral part of the Australian Test team against India. Of the Stars’ bowlers only Faulkner escaped punishment, as Warner biffed them in a display that showed how far he had come as a batsman since his international Twenty20 debut against South Africa at the MCG in 2009. The England bowlers Luke Wright and Jade Dernbach went for a combined 71 from their eight overs.The only other talking point was the sight of wicketkeeper Matthew Wade wringing his hand after a painful blow on the gloves – his is a set of digits the national selectors would prefer not to be harmed while Tim Paine convalesces.A speedy, skiddy pitch had greeted the Stars batsmen after Warner sent them in upon winning the toss – a task performed by Elizabeth Hurley – and the pace offered value for strokes as well as possibilities for the bowlers. Bollinger struck first, causing Rob Quiney to miscue to mid-on, while Wade managed only 14 before top-edging a Doran delivery slanted across him to short fine leg.David Hussey and George Bailey added 41 and seemed to be setting the hosts on the path to a substantial tally, but Bollinger found a way past the flailing bat of the Tasmanian captain. Hussey’s striking was typically clean and powerful, including one Bollinger delivery swung many rows back into the Great Southern Stand.Coyte was delivering a fine spell, and his wickets either side of Hussey’s run-out kept the Stars in check. Hussey was clearly aggrieved at his own misjudgement, when he chanced a second run on the arm of Warner and lost conclusively.Wright added some useful late runs with a bevy of skimming blows, but the final total felt middling at best. Thanks to Warner, it was ultimately made to look considerably less than that.

Harbhajan Singh says his team was well-prepared for the series, but not for the damp pitch where the toss was vital, where the ball seamed and nipped around, and where a few stopped on the batsmen

Sidharth Monga at SuperSport Park16-Dec-2010Harbhajan Singh says his team was well-prepared for the series, but not for the damp pitch where the toss was vital, where the ball seamed and nipped around, while some stopped on the batsmen. He did not think a warm-up game would have made any difference because it wouldn’t have prepared them for what they received at the SuperSport Park where they lost nine wickets on a day in which four-and-a-half hours were lost to rain. He also believed his side could get South Africa out cheaply, and make up for their batting failure in the second innings. It was that kind of a day.To be fair to Harbahjan, he never suggested it was a designer pitch, and also gave credit where it was due. “We were quite prepared to play on a good track, but unfortunately with the rain and stuff it was quite a damp wicket,” he said. “The toss was very crucial to this match. We lost the toss. They bowled well in the given conditions, and they got the rewards. If we had won the toss, I think we would have done the same thing. We would have bowled first, then who knows what would have happened.”The bad news for India is that Harbhajan doesn’t expect similar assistance from the pitch later on in the Test. “I don’t know how long it will help the seamers,” he said. “But definitely there is a lot of movement after pitching, swinging and cutting both ways, because it is damp. If we get the sun tomorrow, obviously it will play a lot better than it did today. That’s what I think. I could be wrong.”We are playing on a wet wicket where the ball is seaming or nipping. A warm-up game would have been on a perfect cricketing wicket. You can’t complain about wickets, but we need to make sure we come back into the game.”Harbhajan put up a fight with the bat, scoring 27 off 25 balls, and adding 39 runs for the seventh wicket with MS Dhoni, which could yet prove to be crucial, but was disappointed at how he got out. Taking the third run, Harbhajan’s bat got stuck in the ground as he tried to slide it into the crease, and a smart back-flick from Mark Boucher converted a wide throw into a run-out.”If the ball was in my area, I was looking to hit, not just survive,” he said. “I was there to get runs, not to kill time. It’s important to get as many as you can in the first innings. It will make an impact when you go to bowl. If you score 150 or 200, whatever you get is good enough. We will go out and give our best shot.”Very disappointed the way I got out. My bat got stuck and I got run out. I was batting really well, I was hitting the ball really well. Unfortunately I couldn’t score too many runs. I hope in the next innings I don’t even have to bat. Hopefully the batsmen will score a lot of runs.”Harbhajan called on the spirit of this team that has bailed them out of more than a few crisis situations in recent times. “Obviously we had a bad day with the bat,” he said. “It’s not over yet. We have got to believe that we can go out and get their batsmen out. And once we go out to bat in the next innings, we will show what batting actually means.”As I said, it is not over yet. We played one session badly, it doesn’t mean we can’t come back. We have shown enough number of times that we are a team that likes to be challenged. We are in a situation where we have to go out and give our best, and try to get them out, and make sure they don’t go too far from us. Whatever has happened is gone, and I think we can make a match out of this.”

Salman Butt’s third Test century and Ricky Ponting’s decision not to enforce the follow-on should ensure the Hobart Test goes for the full five days

The Bulletin by Brydon Coverdale at Bellerive Oval16-Jan-2010
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsSalman Butt made 102 as Pakistan fought hard, but they are well behind after three days•Getty Images

Salman Butt’s third Test century and Ricky Ponting’s decision not to enforce the follow-on should ensure the Hobart Test goes for the full five days, although Australia remain in control with a 277-run advantage. After the second day’s play, Ponting talked up the likelihood of making Pakistan bat again straight away, but his mind was changed when it took the bowlers 105.4 overs to dismiss them the first time.Eventually, after a 60-minute last-wicket partnership between Umar Gul and Mohammad Asif that spanned both sides of the tea break, Nathan Hauritz finished off Pakistan for 301, leaving them 218 short of Australia’s total. But Ponting wanted a break for his fast men and, despite the expected showers over the next two days, will set Pakistan a fourth-innings target.Australia reached 1 for 59 at stumps with Simon Katich on 33 and Ponting on 25 after Shane Watson departed in the second over for 1. Watson skied a catch when he miscued Mohammad Aamer and it was the first time since the summer-opening Gabba Test match that he had failed to post a half-century in either innings.Batting wasn’t difficult on the good surface, as demonstrated by the inability of Australia’s fast men to break through with the second new ball when they were trying to prise out Gul and Asif. Peter Siddle, Doug Bollinger and Mitchell Johnson didn’t help their cause by abandoning the key principle of new-ball bowling – pitching up to allow swing – and banged it in far too short against the tailenders.The pair added 53 for the final wicket and provided some entertaining highlights, including three powerful sixes from Gul, who finished unbeaten on 38. Asif posted 29, his highest Test score, before he skied a catch to mid-on off Hauritz, who ended up with 3 for 96. The tail-end pluck only served to highlight how disappointing much of Pakistan’s batting effort was, with the exception of Butt and Shoaib Malik.Their fighting three-hour stand that lasted until after lunch was characterised by concentration and patience, two traits that Pakistan’s batsmen have so often lacked on this trip. Butt was strong off the back foot through the off side and Malik put in a good audition to permanently return to the Test line-up before the part-time spin of Katich split the pair up.Katich had Butt caught at slip for 102, which was his first Test century for four years and a much-needed one after he was responsible for running out Mohammad Yousuf and Umar Akmal on the second afternoon. It was enough for Yousuf to brand Butt a “lazy” runner and although the captain wasn’t spotted cheering Butt’s century, he must surely have been pleased that his opener took on the extra responsibility after his lapses.The loss of Butt led to a collapse of 5 for 35 as Katich ran through the lower middle-order and finished with 3 for 34, his second-best Test figures. Katich tossed one up across the body of the right-hander Sarfraz Ahmed, who edged to slip for 1, and then drew Aamer into an exotic slog-sweep that flew high in the air and was swallowed by Watson at cover.In between, Hauritz had chipped in with the key wicket of Malik, who by then was Pakistan’s best hope of avoiding the follow-on. He threw his innings away with a lusty aerial drive that was taken at mid-on, and Hauritz followed with Danish Kaneria, caught at cover.Then came the last-wicket stand, which was Pakistan’s best in Tests for three years. Together with the efforts of Butt and Malik, it was enough to make Ponting think twice about the follow-on and the next two days will reveal if it was enough to save the match.

West Indies have called up Shawnisha Hector as her replacement

ESPNcricinfo staff20-Jun-2025Senior batter Stafanie Taylor has been ruled out of the T20I series against South Africa with a shoulder injury, with West Indies calling up fast bowler Shawnisha Hector as her replacement.Taylor sustained the injury during the third and final ODI against South Africa in Barbados, where she was declared absent hurt as West Indies folded for 121in the DLS-adjusted chase of 288. South Africa won the ODI series 2-1, with Taylor scoring 30* and 17 in the first two ODIs.Hector, meanwhile, made her ODI debut in 2019, becoming the first woman from Antigua to play for West Indies. She is yet to feature in T20Is.The rest of the squad is largely unchanged. Experienced allrounder Chinelle Henry, who replaced Cherry Ann-Fraser in the ODI squad, will be part of T20Is as well.The three-match T20I series will begin on June 20 at the 3Ws Oval in Barbados while the remaining matches will be played at the same venue on June 22 and June 24.West Indies T20I squad: Hayley Matthews (capt), Shemaine Campbelle, Aaliyah Alleyne, Jahzara Claxton, Afy Fletcher, Shabika Gajnabi, Jannillea Glasgow, Realeanna Grimmond, Shawnisha Hector, Chinelle Henry, Zaida James, Qiana Joseph, Mandy Mangru, Ashmini Munisar, Karishma Ramharack