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Karachi Kings were given a scare at the death by James Faulkner and Tim David, but held on to keep their qualification hopes alive

Danyal Rasool17-Jun-2021There was almost a repeat of Lahore Qalandars’ stunning win over Karachi Kings earlier this season, but this time, the Kings held on – just, keeping their playoff hopes alive with a 7-run win over their biggest rivals.That was in large part to a sensational bowling effort, spearheaded by Afghanistan teenager Noor Ahmad, whose figures of 4-0-19-2 derailed Lahore’s chase at a time when the game hung in the balance. That didn’t mean the game was over, though, with an astonishing onslaught from Tim David and James Faulkner at the end briefly taking the Qalandars to the brink of victory. But when they holed out, the Kings established control again, and despite a brief scare in the final over from Rashid Khan, the Kings finally got themselves into a situation even they couldn’t fluff up.The Kings had won the toss and opted to bat, perhaps buoyed by the way the earlier game panned out, where Islamabad United racked up 247 in the first innings. The innings began somewhat unsteadily and stuttered throughout, with the Kings never quite able to pick up the pace when required, but crucially, never decelerating either. Qalandars were especially profligate in the field, dropping Babar Azam no fewer than three times, and even if Kings’ star batter wasn’t close to his best, his 44-ball 54 helped build a platform that took his side to 176. Martin Guptill at the other end was more free-flowing, and the two combined for an 88-run partnership that ensured Kings would not have to worry about wickets as they chased a final flourish.Lahore began the chase breezily, Fakhar Zaman depositing a couple of sixes off Imad Wasim in the first over, but the wheels soon came off. Mohammad Ilyas got rid of Sohail Akhtar early before Noor began to strangle the batters. The asking rate had ballooned past 16 when he was done with his spell, but lapses of concentration with the ball allowed David and Faulkner to blaze their way to a 24-ball partnership that added 58 runs and left Qalandars needing 27 off two. However, Abbas Afridi had David hole out to long-off, and Qalandars finally had the fight knocked out of them.Noor’s teenage dreamIt’s impossible not to be left awestruck by the magnitude of Noor Ahmad’s talent, embodied as it in within a slight, unassuming 16-year old boy’s frame. When he was brought on in the seventh over, Qalandars were behind in the game, but it was the Afghan teenager who blew them out of the water. He toyed with Mohammad Hafeez – a man who made his debut before Noor was born – in the first over, keeping him honest with a quirky, unplayable mix of googlies, flippers and conventional left-arm legspin. But it wasn’t until the end of his third over that the rewards for his skill began to show up in the wickets column. Ben Dunk, who had been beaten by prodigious turn off the previous ball, was taken at first slip by Azam as he looked to play with the turn.The cherry on top came off the last ball of his spell, though, when Hafeez was finally dealt the knockout punch. Hafeez tried to drive him inside out over cover, but the this particular delivery had been pushed through, and Hafeez struggled to get height on it. It would go straight to Imad Wasim at extra cover, and Noor had his second, conceding just 19 in his spell.Azam’s charmed inningsIt’ll be a while before Azam can complain about fortune not favouring him. After he was perhaps a shade unlucky against Peshawar Zalmi to be deemed lbw when the ball might have missed leg stump, the cricket gods made it up to him, and then quite a bit more. It was only the second over when Dunk grassed an outside edge off Azam’s bat, but lady luck was only just getting to work at that point. He survived an lbw shout from Faulkner by about the breadth of a hair in the fourth over, struggling to quite get his rhythm going.Not that he wouldn’t get further chances. Haris Rauf rushed onto him with a sharp bouncer he skied towards midwicket, where substitute fielder Zaid Alam made a mess of a routine high catch. In the 9th over, he was stranded in the middle of the crease after a mix-up with Guptill, only for Rashid to scupper the run-out chance. Rauf soon turned from aggrieved bowler to the man responsible for reprieving him yet again, putting down an absolute sitter at third man off Ahmed Daniyal’s bowling. Daniyal’s suffering wasn’t over, though as Rashid allowed Babar another life by putting him down at point.It almost seemed as if the Qalandars had forgotten just because he was from Lahore didn’t mean he was on their side. Hafeez finally put paid to the scratchiest of innings from Pakistan’s premier batter, holding onto one at point as Azam finally fell for a forgettable 44-ball 54.The Karachi squeezeA stodgy batting effort from the Kings was followed up by a wayward start with the ball, and for the first three over of the Qalandars chase, elimination beckoned. Thirty-four runs were plundered off the first three overs, with Wasim, Mohammad Amir, and Ilyas all taking a pounding. But Amir’s second over proved a momentum shifter, mixing up changes of pace with a couple of yorkers to put the brakes on. Ilyas carried the momentum from there, a wicket maiden accounting for Akhtar, in addition to putting Qalandars on the back foot. Noor did much of the rest through the middle overs, but without arresting a seemingly irresistible Qalandars top order, the task for the 16-year old would have proved significantly more complicated.Where they standKarachi Kings move up to eight points, and are behind fourth-placed Multan Sultans on net run rate. Lahore Qalandars remain stuck on ten points after their third defeat in a row, but maintain their hold on third place for now.

PCB chief executive Wasim Khan is confident their new policy will be right for all stakeholders involved

Umar Farooq27-Mar-2020The PCB has confirmed a massive change to their policy, allowing both international and domestically contracted players to take part in a maximum of four T20 leagues a year, including the PSL.The earlier policy, which was introduced in 2018, had restricted player participation in several leagues, but as ESPNcricinfo reported last month, the PCB decided to put it up for review for the very first time.Pakistan’s players are already among the lowest-paid professionals in world cricket, and aren’t allowed to take part in the IPL. The old policy had added to the uncertainty, with players often given NOCs for an entire tournament, only to be pulled out by the PCB midway to return home and either join national camps or undergo fitness tests. That sparked frustration and discontent among the leading white-ball cricketers and emboldened them to revolt against PCB’s restrictive participation policy on foreign leagues.”I think this is a flexible, balanced and comprehensive NOC policy which addresses as many of the likely scenarios that we will face,” Wasim Khan, the PCB chief executive officer said on Friday. “We have given primacy and importance to player workload, international and domestic commitments, but at the same time it was important that players are given the opportunities to make additional earnings and develop their skills around the world.”The 19 Pakistan national players with central contracts will now go to the International Cricket Operations department to get their NOCs going forward. They will also need permission from the head coach or the team management, who are well placed to assess a player’s workload and international commitments. “As per NOC policies around the world, the Chief Executive of the Board will then be the final approving authority at the final stage of the process,” the PCB’s policy says.Domestic players will have to go through one extra layer of red tape. They will have to reach out to their provincial associations for the initial consent and approval and only then will their cases be taken up by Cricket Operations department. In addition, the PCB policy says, “domestic players, who don’t feature in red-ball cricket but are white-ball regulars, it is has been made mandatory for them to commit to domestic 50-over and 20-over competitions in order to be eligible for NOCs.”One major bone of contention between the players and the board about the earlier policy was about how even retired players had to seek an NOC to play in an overseas league. But now the board has decided it will automatically issues NOCs to everyone who has been “retired for 24 months or more, unless there are compelling reasons which the PCB will provide in writing”.”I am optimistic that moving forward, all the relevant stakeholders will have clarity and a better understanding of the process,” Khan said about the change. “To ensure that we maintain our relationships with cricket boards around the world, once granted, NOC’s will only be revoked if there are any injury concerns, or there are international or domestic playing obligations that need to be fulfilled.”

Usually an unrepentant strokemaker, Sri Lanka’s No. 4 overturned his batting style to block his way to an outstanding match-saving hundred

Andrew Fidel Fernando in Wellington19-Dec-2018Kusal Mendis didn’t quite manage the double ton he had hoped to score as a leaving present for batting coach Thilan Samaraweera, but he did get something else after the innings in Wellington: the label of Samaraweera clone.After making a hundred on day four, Mendis had thanked Samaraweera for helping him out of a substantial batting rut over the last few months, and said that he hoped to make double-century for Samaraweera on day five. As only 12 overs of play were possible on Wednesday, Mendis could only get himself to 141 not out. However, in having batted dourly during the afternoon and evening sessions on day four, the naturally attacking Mendis had inspired his team-mates to label him the new Samaraweera – the most obdurate from among Sri Lanka’s former greats.”After the match yesterday everyone was having a bit of fun telling Mendis that he was batting like Thilan Samaraweera,” captain Dinesh Chandimal revealed after Sri Lanka had drawn the match. “He works really closely with Thilan on his batting, and we were just making fun of the way he’d played.”The gag is that Mendis had had to completely overturn his batting style in order to produce the kind of innings that he did in Wellington. Though the two are close, Mendis as a batsman is generally an unrepentant strokemaker, completely unlike Samaraweera, who had been a batting boulder – unmoving and, at his best, immoveable.Team-mates especially enjoyed Mendis’ blocking, leaving and ducking in the final session of day four – a period in which he scored only 18 runs off 80 balls.”We’re really happy with Mendis, because this innings was very different from the normal knocks he plays,” Chandimal said. “Right through it was very different.”We should especially mention that at tea yesterday, he had 98 runs, and at the end of the day, after batting 31 overs and playing out a whole session, he had only made it to 116. You look at that and you really see he played for the team. It’s a really valuable century, and it’s one that he had to go away from his natural style to produce.”Chandimal, who had spent seven hours padded up as the next batsman in on Tuesday, was also overjoyed with the performance of Angelo Mathews – the senior-most batsman in the side. Mathews finished on 120 not out, off 323 deliveries. Unlike Mendis, who had enjoyed brief flurries of scoring in the first sessions of days four and five, Mathews stonewalled for virtually the entirety of his innings. He was rewarded with his first century of the year, having failed to convert five fifties into triple figures across his eight previous innings.”When Angelo got out in the first innings for 83, I had a chat with him and he said: ‘Yeah, I missed a century. Again I have to go from zero to get a century from here,” Chandimal said. “He has a lot of courage and he has a lot of concentration when he’s batting. He’s one of the most experienced players we have in our line-up. If he’s scoring, that gives us a lot of confidence going forward. I’m extremely happy with the way he played.”The most important thing about both their innings was that they were playing for the team. That’s the most important thing.”

The legspinner could be Australia’s trump card in Coffs Harbour as they look to go 2-0 up against the world champions

Adam Collins25-Oct-2017For a ground that has only been in existence for 23 years, Coffs Harbour’s International Stadium has multiple claims to fame. It’s where the Socceroos posted the highest score in the history of international football, piling on a 31-0 win against American Samoa in 2001. Lately, it has become the international home of Austag. Last month it hosted Midnight Oil. In the early days, it was where you went if wanting to catch a rodeo.But maybe it’s best yet? It is where, in November last year, Amanda-Jade Wellington made her international debut. Predictably, with what had been seen of her in domestic cricket, with her first delivery in green and gold she defeated South African champion Mignon du Preez with the most exquisite leg-break.Australia returns to the ground for the second ODI in this multi-format Ashes series 1-0 up after their win in Brisbane. While she didn’t nab a wicket there, it was the 20-year-old Wellington who made herself the talking point across 10 pulsating overs, where all her main tricks – drift and spin – were rolled out routinely, with edges beaten time and again.To get picked, Wellington had to supplant incumbent wrist spinner Kristen Beams, a dozen years her senior but Australia’s most effective operator at the World Cup. But the performance was so good that it builds the case that she may already be the most potent weapon that skipper Rachael Haynes has at her disposal.Mark Robinson, the England coach, has a slightly different take. Acknowledging that Wellington is a “quality bowler” he was quick to add that the wicket “properly ragged” that lent her considerable assistance. “We’re really happy how we played her with all the cards in her favour,” he said. “For us not to lose a wicket and to take her for 40 we were really happy. I wouldn’t expect many of the wickets to spin to that extent.”Haynes, by contrast, believes Wellington could do the same wherever she was turning her arm over. “She has shown she can turn it on any wicket,” she said. “I don’t think she is a one trick pony. She has got more up her sleeve than just the leg-spinner.”And she might have to. Indications on match eve are that the Coffs Harbour ground staff have produced a belter: hard, flat and starkly off-white in colour. There is less margin for error as well, the boundaries wound in noticeably from the opening fixture, especially down the ground.Robinson is comfortable with this adjustment, having himself directed the ropes to be set at the minimum permitted length of 55 yards in the English summer of 2016 to encourage Nat Sciver to start trying to take down attacks. She did then and has barely stopped doing so since.”I just think for the good of the women’s game it’s a better spectacle,” he said, “It allows the girls confidence to be able to swing and not over-hit.”Under Robinson, this England side has averaged two sixes per innings in ODIs since when the previous Women’s Ashes were contested in 2015. In the two years prior to that, they were hitting just one maximum every four games. It shows that if afforded the chance to bat first, they have the tools to go big. But Australia do too, Haynes insists.It will be England’s first game under lights since July 2016, and one where the pressure is dialled up further for the fact that they aren’t the current trophy holders. With 16 points available across the seven rubbers, England needs to claim ten of to win. If they go down here, they will be nearing the stage where they need to run the table thereafter.But that sort of difficulty doesn’t concern their captain Heather Knight, who recalled how little room they had to move after losing their World Cup opener against India before winning every match that followed to unexpectedly lift that trophy. “We made a habit of doing well when our backs were against the wall and that’s the same situation now,” she said.Both captain and coach expressed frustration at not finding a way to win on Sunday after reducing Australia to 87 for 4 chasing 229, before having eventual match-winner Alex Blackwell dropped by Alex Hartley in her follow-through when she was 35. “We were gutted,” Robinson said. “We should have won that game. If we took that catch, we win.”It is expected they will go into the fixture with the same XI. Australia too may do that. Haynes signalled that a harder and bouncier surface should provide a more meaningful opportunity to Tahlia McGrath, the seaming all-rounder used for only one over on Sunday with spin mainly deployed to win.She acknowledged that if conditions are favourable then more runs will need to come than on Sunday, Blackwell then the only Southern Star to pass 50. For that, she will hope Ellyse Perry can repeat her back-to-back half-centuries from their last visit here in 2016.Upon her arrival at the ground yesterday, the omnipresent all-rounder gushed about her fondness for the place. Little wonder with that record. If she and Wellington can make Coffs Harbour their own again on Thursday, Australia will already be a long way towards retaining their trophy.

Allrounder Jimmy Neesham has been named in New Zealand’s Test squad for the upcoming tour of India, having not played an international since the Brisbane Test against Australia last November

ESPNcricinfo staff05-Sep-20160:43

Quick Facts: Jimmy Neesham

Allrounder Jimmy Neesham has been named in New Zealand’s Test squad for the upcoming tour of India, having not played an international since the Brisbane Test against Australia last November. Fast bowler Matt Henry and batsman Jeet Raval have been dropped from the 16-man squad that toured Africa, with Neesham the only addition to what is now a 15-man group.Neesham was forced out of last summer’s Australia tour due to back pain, but he has since then played for Otago during New Zealand’s home season and for Derbyshire in England’s county competition. New Zealand selector Gavin Larsen said Neesham’s all-round ability made him an attractive proposition for the tour of India, while Corey Anderson could not be considered due to a back injury.”Jimmy has put in a lot of work to make sure he is physically ready for a return to Test cricket,” Larsen said. “Having two pace-bowling allrounders in Jimmy and Doug Bracewell helps the balance of the squad, particularly if playing on pitches which demand a spin-heavy bowling attack.”Jeet Raval misses out on this tour, but we were really pleased with what we saw of him in Africa. He did everything asked of him and we’ll continue to monitor him closely.””Mitch Santner and Ish Sodhi will have benefitted from getting a taste of Indian conditions earlier this year at the ICC World Twenty20 and both showed excellent form at that tournament. It’s another big challenge for them early in their young careers, as well as for Mark Craig, who has made some changes in the past six months and has shown growth in his game.”India’s the No.2 ranked side in the world, and their record at home is formidable. We’re yet to win a Test series over there and that’s motivating for everyone. We’ve got three Tests to try create a special piece of history.”The first Test is in Kanpur beginning on September 22, followed by Tests in Kolkata and Indore.Squad Kane Williamson (capt), Trent Boult, Doug Bracewell, Mark Craig, Martin Guptill, Tom Latham, Jimmy Neesham, Henry Nicholls, Luke Ronchi, Mitchell Santner, Ish Sodhi, Tim Southee, Ross Taylor, Neil Wagner, BJ Watling.