ECB Reporters Network13-Jul-2017
ScorecardRyan ten Doeschate produced the innings of the night•Getty Images

South African spin bowler Simon Harmer led a parsimonious attack in defending a total of 170 to give Essex their first win of the NatWest T20 Blast campaign.Harmer, who has taken the red-ball domestic cricket by storm with 47 Specsavers County Championship wickets to date, added three more white-ball victims to his tally as his 3 for 39 from four overs ended Essex’s two-defeat start to the campaign.It was a fine response by Essex as they recovered from the shock of losing Tamim Iqbal who had abruptly returned to Bangladesh after only one match in unexplained circumstances.Harmer was backed up by a fine spell by Pakistan paceman Mohammad Amir, who posted outstanding figures of 1 for 17 from his 24 balls. Paul Walter took two wickets in the final over to finish with 3 for 28.Somerset were undone by two wickets in five balls by Harmer mid-innings and were unable to keep up with the required run rate, falling short by 22 runs.Essex had struggled to penetrate some outstanding Somerset fielding and were indebted to Ryan ten Doeschate’s 37-ball 56 and some lusty late hitting by Ashar Zaidi, who included three sixes in his 35, for setting what turned out to be a matchwinning total.Chasing 171, Somerset lost Johann Myburgh to a top-edge that lobbed to Harmer at backward point to give Jamie Porter his first T20 wicket.

‘I’d like to see top order get going’ – ten Doeschate

Ryan ten Doeschate (Essex captain):
“I’d like to see the top-order get going a little bit. It’s crucially important in T20 cricket. But we’ve relied heavily on the top three in the past – someone like Tom Westley has been leading run-scorer at the club for the last three or four years. It wasn’t a typical Chelmsford pitch – you couldn’t hit through the line easily – and the second half of the game with the ball was our best showing for a long time.”
Matt Maynard (Somerset director of cricket):
“This was probably the hardest game to try and get our batting form back. I would be lying if I said I wasn’t concerned about it. If you start doubting yourself then things creep into your game. If you see the ball in the right area you’ve just got to try and hit it out of the park. But, look, we’re two games in, Essex were in the same position as us before this game and there is a long way to go.”

Two wickets in the eighth over for Harmer knocked the stuffing out of Somerset’s reply after they had reached 47 for 1. He had Jim Allenby caught in the covers by ten Doeschate and Peter Trego pouched on the long-off boundary by Tom Westley.Steven Davies was next to go when he swished at a wide one down legside from Ravi Bopara and was caught behind. Suddenly Somerset were 58 for 4 and nine overs gone.Like Essex, Somerset were struggling to get the ball away on a slow pitch, but Adam Hose and James Hildreth tried the aerial route with straight sixes off Zaidi and Bopara respectively. But when Hildreth attempted to do the same to Harmer he was caught by ten Doeschate diving forward on the long-leg boundary for 27.Hose got a bottom edge to Amir to give James Foster his second catch behind and Lewis Gregory was caught behind for a belligerent 23 off 12 balls. But time and overs were running out for Somerset. They required 36 from 12 balls with Amir restricting them to just eight from the penultimate over.Craig Overton went for broke but was caught at cow corner by Dan Lawrence before Tim Groenewald was held by Zaidi to give Walter two wickets in the final over.Essex had looked in some trouble themselves from the start of their innings and were 36 for 3 in the sixth over after being put in.Lawrence started the rot when he lost his off-stump going for an ungainly heave against Gregory. He was followed swiftly by Varun Chopra who was reprieved by Hose’s dropped catch at deep mid-on, but next ball skied Craig Overton and Groenewald took the catch at short third man. And Westley departed when he played over a slower delivery from Groenewald.Bopara and ten Doeschate set about a repair job, turning singles into twos, with the captain upping the tempo with a straight six and a one-bounce four off successive balls from Roelof van der Merwe.Lewis Gregory celebrates an Essex wicket•Getty Images

But when the partnership had reached 50 inside six overs, Max Waller took a brilliant return catch low to his left to remove Bopara for 24.Essex became bogged down in the middle overs before Zaidi pulled Waller for successive sixes over the short midwicket boundary and out of the ground.Ten Doeschate hooked Overton for four before pushing a two into the on-side to reach fifty off 34 balls that included five fours and a six. But he departed in the penultimate over, caught on the long-off boundary by Overton diving forward.Zaidi launched his third six over midwicket in the same over, but was caught out of his ground for 35 when James Foster hit the ball straight back to van der Merwe who turned and removed the bails. But Essex’s total proved to be enough.

Bowlers dominated on a fluctuating first day at Arundel where Clint McKay’s four wickets gave Leicestershire hope that they can win their first game of the season

ECB Reporters Network05-Jul-2017
ScorecardBowlers dominated on a fluctuating first day at Arundel where Clint McKay’s four wickets gave Leicestershire hope that they can win their first game of the season in the Specsavers County Championship.The wholehearted Australian fast bowler picked up 4 for 59 in searing heat at Arundel as Sussex were bowled out for 262 and appeared to have squandered the advantage of winning the toss.But a two-paced pitch, which is expected to turn, gave seamers assistance all day and Sussex’s new ball pair Chris Jordan and Jofra Archer each picked up one of the Leicestershire openers as they closed on 77 for 2.It was a day to remember for Leicestershire’s 19-year-old debutant William Fazackerley. Guernsey-born but educated just down the road from Arundel at Lancing College, he claimed his maiden Championship wicket when he had Jordan lbw for 34.Jordan was one of several Sussex players who got starts without pushing on. Eight of their batsmen got to 20 but only South African Stiaan van Zyl, who top scored with 49, looked capable of dominating a persevering Leicestershire attack.Van Zyl shared in a fourth-wicket stand of 62 in 12 overs either side of lunch with Luke Wright, whose first scoring shot for the second successive game was a six.But from 138 for 4 Sussex lost three wickets adding 27 runs. Wright played on to Richard Jones for 25, van Zyl was lbw half-forward to McKay after hitting nine boundaries before skipper Ben Brown drove McKay’s slower ball to cover for 19.Jordan and leg-spinner Will Beer, who took 11 wickets at Arundel last month against South Africa A, put on 54 for the seventh wicket but Leicestershire wrapped up the innings with three wickets after tea, two of them to Matt Pillans.Earlier, Luke Wells had passed 700 Championship runs after being restored to the top of the order. The left-hander lost opening partner Chris Nash, who played on to McKay before Harry Finch fell for a golden duck shuffling in front to a ball from Jones which nipped back.Wells and van Zyl briefly prospered together, taking the score to 74 before Wells, who had struck eight fours in a fluent 42, was caught behind off Pillans.By then umpire Martin Saggers was on the pitch, his arrival having been delayed by traffic congestion. Martin Bodenham, who retired from the first-class list last season but lives in nearby Ferring, stood at square leg before Saggers arrived.

Edgbaston is due to lose the 2019 T20 final to Trent Bridge but they are eager for horse trading to retain the competition for good

George Dobell at Edgbaston02-Sep-2017Warwickshire hope to persuade the ECB to let them become the permanent home of T20 Finals Day.While Edgbaston has become the regular home of the event – it has been the scene for the last six finals day – in 2019 Trent Bridge is scheduled to be host.Edgbaston is already scheduled to host an Ashes Test and several World Cup games (including a semi-final) in 2019. Trent Bridge missed out on an Ashes Test and is scheduled to host only group games in the World Cup. The loss of Finals Day would undoubtedly dent their financial
plans.But Warwickshire argue that, if Edgbaston is to remain the ‘home’ of T20 Finals Day when the allocation for major matches from 2020 to 2024 is announced in early 2018, it might be considered unhelpful to divert the event for one year. It might also be relevant that, while a record
crowd of 24,432 attended Finals Day at Edgbaston on Saturday, Trent Bridge’s capacity is around 17,500.”As things stand, Trent Bridge will be staging T20 Finals Day in 2019,” Neil Snowball, the Warwickshire CEO, told ESPNcricinfo. “And there’s no doubt at all they would make a fine job of it.”But we have opened discussions with the ECB and Nottinghamshire making our case for the day to be reallocated.”If we are going to remain the home of T20 Finals day after 2020 – and we very much hope that is the case – then it might make sense to keep it at the same ground. People are used to coming here and we have a really good record of selling the event out.”Clearly Nottinghamshire aren’t going to be giving up the games without getting something else in return. And we don’t see any appropriate games we could swap with them. But our understanding is
that it may be possible they could be allocated something else by the ECB instead. Clearly if that is not the case then Notts will retain the allocation but we felt it was worth making our case.”The move may well reflect an ever more competitive climate in the market for the allocation of major matches. It is anticipated that, from 2020, there will be fewer Tests – it is likely there will be six
Tests, six ODIs and six IT20s per season – meaning Lord’s is unlikely to retain two Tests a year and the others will face a fight for regular Tests. The allocation for the 2023 Ashes might prove
particularly intriguing.

Star India’s strong presence in both television and digital spaces, as well as global markets, prompted the company to make a record-breaking bid for the IPL broadcast rights for the period 2018 to 2022

Arun Venugopal04-Sep-20172:19

‘India, cricket and IPL have changed dramatically in the last 10 years’ – Shankar

Star India’s strong presence in both television and digital spaces, as well as global markets, prompted the company to make a record-breaking bid for the IPL broadcast rights for the period 2018 to 2022. Star’s bid of INR 16,347.5 crore (US $2.55 billion) was the only global bid made on Monday in Mumbai and was nearly INR 528 crore (US $82.45 million) more than the combined value of the highest bids in each individual category.Star already owned both broadcast and digital rights for international cricket in India until March 2018, and broadcast rights to ICC’s global cricket tournaments till 2023, for which it paid about $ 1.9 billion.With the IPL deal – the biggest for cricket – Star, according to its CEO Uday Shankar, was equipped to create a “complete experience” for cricket fans.”As you can see from our bidding numbers, we made a conscious call that we will bid for the global rights,” Shankar said after the bids were disclosed by the BCCI. “We have significant presence in each of these three universes. We have a television presence in India, we have a very robust, very exciting digital platform in India, which we are rolling out across the world. And, our channels are globally distributed, so it made sense for us to make an attempt to win it for all the markets.”Star’s bids in the individual categories for Indian television and digital rights were much lower than those of its competitors. Star had bid INR 6196.94 crore for TV rights in India, and INR 1443 crore for digital. When asked for an explanation, Shankar said Star’s aim was to bag both categories.”Look, it is a matter of bidding strategy. It is also a matter of how each company evaluates each segment of the rights,” Shankar said. “Our view was that we will be able to create a complete experience for cricket fans if we had TV and digital both. And that is why we felt that we were going to make an attempt to get TV and digital both. Otherwise, we have lived without IPL and we were happy to live without IPL.”Star had already established its IPL presence through Hotstar, its online streaming platform, having paid INR 303 crore for digital rights from 2015-17. Shankar said Indian consumers had taken the world by surprise by warming up to the digital platform. While Facebook was the highest individual bidder – INR 3900 crore – for this cycle of digital rights in India, Airtel (INR 3280 crore), Jio (INR 3075.72) and Star (INR 1443) also put up sizeable bids.”Till a few years ago, India was characteristically dismissed as a country that was not broadband-ready,” Shankar said. “People said there was not enough broadband, the data was too expensive, there were not enough phones. It was still only a voice-only market. And then, in less than two years, it has emerged as one of the world’s most exciting markets for video consumption.”You should see the number of people who bid for digital rights and the number of people who took interest by buying the tender document. So, that should tell you the story. I think it can become a lot more exciting depending on how the data prices behave and how the availability and access to broadband and wifi continues to grow in this country. But if that happens, it will be one of the world’s most exciting digital markets.”Over the last three IPL seasons, Hotstar broadcast the matches with a five-minute delay. However, with Star now owning both television and digital rights, Shankar was asked if Hotstar would broadcast matches in real time. Shankar was non-committal and said Star would think about it in due course.

England made the most of the opportunity to bat first and set a target that was beyond Australia’s reach in a rain-affected match

The Report by Daniel Brettig29-Oct-2017
ScorecardGetty Images

Led firmly by the captain Heather Knight, England outmanoeuvred Australia in the third match of the women’s Ashes at Coffs Harbour to close the gap between the sides to just two points ahead of the Test match leg of the contest in North Sydney next week.Much as Australia had done in game two, England made the most of the opportunity to bat first and set the hosts a target beyond their reach, aided by a rain delay that reduced the pursuit by two overs and upset the momentum of the opener Alyssa Healy and Nicole Bolton when they were motoring along at better than a-run-a-ball.It was Knight who provided the spinal contribution of England’s innings, gliding to 88 from a mere 80 deliveries, aided by strong top-order contributions from Sarah Taylor and Tammy Beaumont, who lasted until the 36th over after losing her opening partner Lauren Winfield for a duck to Ellyse Perry with the new ball.Australia’s response began briskly through Healy and Bolton, but while they made it as far as the 22nd over in a stand of 118, England’s bowlers were able to peg back the run rate gradually after the rain delay, which then added pressure to the home side’s middle order once wickets began to fall. Alex Blackwell, playing a record 250th match for Australia, was left to try to mount a late pursuit but the requirement proved to be beyond her and the tail.On a sunny morning, Perry had given Australia the ideal start by pinning Lauren Winfield lbw with the last ball of the second over. But any hopes the captain Rachael Haynes had of inducing a rush of wickets were to be denied by Taylor and Beaumont, who set a terrific platform for the England middle order by adding 122.Their efforts ensured Knight could play with plenty of freedom by the time she made it to the middle, as Australia struggled to contain the scoring rate. Most of Knight’s runs came through deft placement and plenty of hustle between the wickets, but she also smote the only six of the innings. Beaumont’s equally important contribution was ended when a brilliant back-handed flick by Healy found her overbalancing out of the crease by a matter of centimetres.Australia needed a rapid start to their response, and were handed it by a proactive Healy in particular. But at 0 for 39 after 37 deliveries, heavy rain stopped play and revised Australia’s target to 278 from 48 overs via Duckworth Lewis Stern. While Healy and Bolton carried on strongly, they were unable to get ahead of the required rate. This meant that once Healy was taken in the outfield, when trying to loft Alex Hartley, there was immediate pressure to keep momentum ticking.Bolton was unable to bat through the innings as had seemed her intention, Perry made a start but could not go on to a truly influential score. Elyse Villani and then Haynes were both dismissed when trying to lift the rate by taking the aerial route to the boundary. Blackwell and the fit-again Ashleigh Gardner were left with primary responsibility to chase down the target, but the latter was unable to repeat her heroics from the first match as the asking rate continued to climb.While determined to take the game as deep as possible, Blackwell could not summon the big hits she needed, and Australia reached the final over needing no fewer than 31 to win. The vastly experienced Jenny Gunn was never likely to concede anywhere near that many, and after Blackwell’s exit there was time for a quicksilver Taylor stumping of Amanda-Jade Wellington before England were able to celebrate closing the gap on Australia.

B Indrajith and Washington Sundar led Tamil Nadu’s fightback against Mumbai, while Rajat Patidar and Harpreet Singh Bhatia shored up Madhya Pradesh against Tripura

ESPNcricinfo staff25-Oct-2017Andhra captain Hanuma Vihari (302*) slammed his maiden triple-hundred and propelled his team to 584 for 5, before declaring the innings against Odisha in Vizianagaram. Resuming on 278 for 2, Vihari put on a 208-run stand with Ricky Bhui (100) and deflated Odisha, who had to wait 43.3 overs for their first wicket of the day. During the course of his 456-ball knock, Vihari smashed 29 fours and two sixes and added 159 to his overnight score. This was Vihari’s 13th first-class ton and second consecutive score of 150 or more.Bhui, meanwhile, brought up his fourth first-class hundred before Odisha captain Govinda Poddar trapped him lbw in the 134th over. In the next over, seamer Suryakant Pradhan dismissed D Ravi Teja to pick up his second wicket, but nothing was going to stop Vihari’s march. Odisha suffered an early jolt in their first innings when left-arm spinner Bhargav Bhatt had opener Natraj Behera lbw in the fourth over. Sandeep Pattanaik and Poddar, however, ensured there was no further damage as Odisha went to stumps at 32 for 1.B Indrajith (105*) and Washington Sundar (69) mounted a rescue effort with a fifth-wicket partnership of 157 runs to lift Tamil Nadu from 69 for 4 to 239 for 5 by stumps against Mumbai. Indrajith’s sixth first-class hundred, which included 12 fours, stood out as much for its elegance as its risk-free nature. While he mostly preferred to hit down the ground, he wasn’t averse to playing the horizontal shots on either side. Giving him useful company was Sundar, who drove and cut confidently, and responded swiftly to his partner’s calls for tight singles. Sundar, however, fell with 6.2 overs left in the day, after a half-hearted pull off Dhawal Kulkarni found deep square leg.Mumbai had hit the ground running in the morning with some quick wickets after being bowled out for 374. Seamer Akash Parkar cleaned up captain Abhinav Mukund in the fourth over before M Vijay (11) was caught behind by left-arm spinner Vijay Gohil in the 11th over. Mumbai captain Aditya Tare juggled the ball on a few occasions before snaffling it.After Kaushik Gandhi fell three overs later, Vijay Shankar, who had recovered from an injury scare to pick up his fourth wicket in the morning, looked to have settled down in the company of Indrajith. However, he gave Gohil the charge in the 25th over and was stumped. Indrajith, though, remained steady and took Tamil Nadu to safety in the company of R Ashwin.A 62-run partnership between opener Bishal Ghosh (65) and Gurinder Singh, who smashed a 55-ball 57, helped Tripura finish on 220 against Madhya Pradesh in Agartala after tottering on 88 for 6 at one stage.Tripura’s bowlers then reduced Madhya Pradesh to 200 for 7 to set up an interesting battle for the first-innings lead. Ishwar Pandey and Ankit Sharma finished with three wickets each for Madhya Pradesh. In their reply, Madhya Pradesh got off to a shaky start, as they lost opener Wasim Ahmed and Shubham Sharma inside the first 10 overs. With Naman Ojha (8) and captain Devendra Bundela (3), too, falling cheaply, it was left to opener Rajat Patidar (79) and Harpreet Singh Bhatia (70) to resuscitate the innings with a 104-run alliance for the fifth wicket.However, Gurinder trapped Patidar in front with his left-arm spin in the 52nd over before Ankit Sharma and Bhatia were dismissed in quick succession.

The squads of all the PSL franchises after the player draft on November 12 in Lahore

ESPNcricinfo staff12-Nov-2017Chris Lynn was the first pick at the PSL draft•IDI/Getty Images

(players in italics were picked today)Multan Sultans: Shoaib Malik, Kieron Pollard, Kumar Sangakkara, Sohail Tanvir, Mohammad Irfan, Junaid Khan, Sohaib Maqsood, Irfan Khan, Kashif Bhatti, , , , , , , . Supplementary players: , , , .Peshawar Zalmi: Mohammad Hafeez, Wahab Riaz, Shakib al Hasan, Kamran Akmal, Darren Sammy, Hasan Ali, Haris Sohail, Chris Jordan, Mohammad Asghar, , , , , , , . Supplementary players: , , , Karachi Kings: Shahid Afridi, Usman Khan, Usama Mir, Khurram Manzoor, Ravi Bopara, Imad Wasim, Babar Azam, Mohammad Amir, Mohammad Rizwan, , , , , , , . Supplementary players: , , Lahore Qalandars: Umar Akmal, Sunil Narine, Brendon McCullum, Fakhar Zaman, Yasir Shah, Cameron Delport, Aamer Yamin, Bilawal Bhatti, Sohail Khan, , , , Raza Hasan, , , . Supplementary players: , , Islamabad United: Mohammad Sami, Andre Russell, Rumman Raees, Shadab Khan, Misbah-ul-Haq, Samuel Badree, Iftikhar Ahmed, Amad Butt, Asif Ali, , , , , , , , Supplementary players: , , , Quetta Gladiators: Sarfraz Ahmed, Kevin Pietersen, Rilee Rossouw, Mohammad Nawaz, Anwar Ali, Mahmudullah, Umar Amin, Mir Hamza, Asad Shafiq, , , , , , , , Supplementary players: , , ,

Lahore Blues secured victory over Lahore Whites while Umar Akmal’s sensational 148 saw UBL beat Fawad Alam’s SSGC

ESPNcricinfo staff06-Dec-2017Delaying the declarationSui Northern may have bossed the game, but an experienced captain like Mohammad Hafeez will regret not declaring earlier for so long. Batting first, they out on 511 in 150.1 overs against Habib Bank before being dismissed. Azhar Ali and Khurram Shehzad scored centuries – 118 and 133 respectively as they ground HBL’s bowlers down. Amad Butt did come away with a six-wicket haul, but not before bowling 38 overs and conceding 106 runs.In response, HBL were dismissed for 202 and asked to follow on. However, with bad light meaning several overs were lost, only 19 overs could be bowled in the second innings, with Ahmed Shehzad’s side at 67 for one when the match was called off. Given the extent of HBL’s dominance, they will be disappointed to kick off the Super Eight stage with a win.The two-day gameHave you ever heard of a contest where 167 runs were enough to secure an innings victory? Well, here’s one. On a pitch that seemed to have laid a particularly potent curse on all who batted upon it, WAPDA beat Khan Research Laboratories by an innings and seven runs in a game that lasted merely 120 overs. KRL were skittled out for 95 in their first innings, 40 of them coming from one man, Junaid Ali. WAPDA’s Waqas Maqsood registered the best figures of the tournament, taking nine wickets for 32.WAPDA appeared to have let KRL back into the contest with a fairly ordinary batting display of their own, getting dismissed for 167. More than half of those runs – 86 – came off the bat of No. 8 Khalid Usman as they opened up a 72-run lead. As it turned out, KRL’s second innings was even more listless than the first as they meekly surrendered for 65. Mohammad Asif took six wickets as WAPDA wrapped up a comfortable win.The Lahore DerbyLahore Whites and Lahore Blues played in the final of the recently concluded National T20 Cup, with the Blues coming out on top. They played each other again in the QeA’s Super 8 round, with the same outcome, the Blues sealing a 9-wicket win.They began sharply, bowling out Lahore Whites for 141, Aizaz Cheema and Bilawal Iqbal sharing 8 wickets between them. Their batsmen followed that up with a solid 281, with opener Tayyab Tahir and captain Saad Nasim scoring 83 runs each. Having opened up a 140 run lead, they proceed to clean up the Whites for 207, Cheema’s 7 wickets securing him an 11-wicket haul for the match. That left the Blues with the straightforward task of chasing 68 runs for a win, which they did in under 10 overs for the loss of just one wicket.Fawad watchFawad Alam stormed back to form, scoring 124 for Sui Southern. It was, albeit, an innings in vain as a second-innings collapse saw them slump to 149 runs.United Bank captained by Younis Khan, scored 252 in the first innings, with Shan Masood top scoring with 75. Saad Ali, who has been far and away the highest scorer in the tournament, also scored 52, while Ahmed Jamal’s 6 for 52 ensured UBL weren’t allowed to bat SSGC out of the game.While Alam’s century secured his side a 27-run lead, the innings of the round belonged to Umar Akmal, who once again demonstrated his seemingly boundless ability with the bat – if he is motivated enough. He smashed 148 in 166 deliveries, effectively batting SSGC out of the game as they declared at 328, setting SSGC a target of 302. SSGC never looked like escaping with a draw, let alone clinching victory, with no batsman scoring more than 27 (Alam managed 26) as they were bundled out for 152.

New Zealand looked formidable in the first ODI in Wellington, and Pakistan need to turn things around quickly to push out fears of their recent unbeaten run being a flash in the pan

The Preview by Umar Farooq08-Jan-2018

Big picture

Until the previous game, Pakistan enjoyed a nine-game winning ODI streak stretching all the way back to the Champions Trophy last June. So clinically were they beaten in the first ODI in Wellington, that it felt like Pakistan fans’ fears about it being a flash in the pan look to have re-emerged. It wasn’t entirely surprising, however; New Zealand at home pose a very unique challenge, and have been one of the form sides off late. But the loss in the opening game brought Pakistan back down to earth sharply, and it is crucial that they respond as soon as they can. The Saxton Oval on Tuesday would do just fine.New Zealand are bursting with confidence, their powerful bowling unit and explosive batsmen looking to capitalise on the run of good form. Everything looks to be going according to plan; the captain is in form, the openers have clicked, the middle order has done its job, and the fast bowlers have hit the deck exceptionally well. At the same time, New Zealand will be cerebral enough to appreciate the unpredictability of their visitors, and look to guard against complacency on their part. After all, Pakistan lost to India in their opening game in the Champions Trophy, before turning their form around to end up with the title.Pakistan would have been banking on their bowlers, but they were off colour in Wellington, with Mohammad Amir and Rumman Raees conceding 57 and 68 runs respectively. Hasan Ali did manage to take three wickets, but leaked too many runs, and the fearsome pace unit was comfortably outdone by New Zealand’s fast bowlers. While Pakistan will also look for their senior batsmen to stand up, supporting the younger lot is important, too. Fakhar Zaman was their only plus in a dispiriting first game, while Faheem Ashraf looked sharp in his little cameo before rain put paid to the game. The bowlers, meanwhile, need to shake off the rust to carry their weight.

Form guide

New Zealand WWWWL (last five completed matches, most recent first)
Pakistan LWWWW

In the spotlight

Zaman proved dangerous, but the onus is on Pakistan’s two senior-most campaigners, Mohammad Hafeez and Shoaib Malik, to take their share of responsibility with bat in hand. Both bring a lot of experience in the side together, and while Malik has historically struggled in New Zealand, Hafeez averages 37.10 in the country, nearly five runs higher than his career average. Both may also feel the pressure to justify their inclusion, as they are effectively playing as specialist batsmen instead of as allrounders. Hafeez was banned from bowling last year, while Sarfraz Ahmed seemed extremely reluctant to give Malik the ball in Wellington, preferring the more innocuous Zaman to make up the overs.Lockie Fergusonbowled at consistently over 145 kph, with his fastest delivery bowled at 153.4 kph. He remained wicketless in a rain-interrupted game, but hugely impressed nonetheless, and the batsmen’s discomfort at playing him, particularly in his first spell, was evident. Besides, from a purely aesthetic perspective, watching a fast bowler steaming in, given the licence to operate at those kinds of speeds is a rare treat these days. If he can keep it up for the rest of the series, there’s no question that wickets column should begin to tick over rapidly.

Team news

New Zealand are expected to field an unchanged side. Pakistan, while disappointing on Saturday, will look to recreate the spark that saw them perform to their potential in Nelson – the venue for this ODI – in a tour game last week. They, too, are expected to field the same eleven.New Zealand (probable): Martin Guptill, Colin Munro, Kane Williamson (capt), Ross Taylor, Tom Latham (wk), Henry Nicholls, Mitchell Santner, Todd Astle, Tim Southee, Lockie Ferguson, Trent Boult
Pakistan (probable): Azhar Ali, Fakhar Zaman, Babar Azam, Mohammad Hafeez, Shoaib Malik, Sarfraz Ahmed (capt/wk), Faheem Ashraf, Shadab Khan, Mohammad Amir, Hasan Ali, Rumman Raees

Pitch and conditions

The forecast in Nelson isn’t ideal, with rain expected throughout the week. Clouds may clear early enough for the game to begin on time, though stoppages would not be a surprise.As for the pitch, it has historically been slower than most New Zealand surfaces, and so the spinners may find themselves more in the game than they did in Wellington.

Stats and trivia

• Zaman made his ODI debut in the second game of the Champions Trophy, and had won all nine of the ODIS he had played until the loss in Wellington. His average didn’t suffer for it, however, going up nearly ten runs to 53.55.
• Of the eight completed ODIs played at the Saxton Oval, six have been won by the chasing side. New Zealand have won four and lost just one of the five ODIs they’ve played at this ground.

Quotes

‘We have a young side but have the potential to beat anyone. We have skill and it won’t be an easy task for New Zealand to win the series.’

‘They do have a good attack all round, they complement each other well and they’re a well balanced side, much like ourselves. It is a tough series and it’s important we’re good again in the next [ODI].”

Afghanistan were cruising in their chase of 197 but then they collapsed, before their last wicket took them within touching distance of victory. But it wasn’t to be.

ESPNcricinfo staff06-Mar-2018
0:40

WATCH – Bulawayo goes wild as Zimbabwe win thriller

A match that swung one way and then the other several times boiled down to an incredibly tense finish in Bulawayo, where Afghanistan’s last wicket slowly whittled away at the target set by Zimbabwe. The Zadrans – Dawlat and Shapoor – had added 17 in 8.1 overs for the final wicket, bringing the equation down to three needed off four balls. But the half hour of unbearable tension finally ended in joy for Zimbabwe, as Brian Vitori drew the edge from Shapoor and wicketkeeper Brendan Taylor took the catch to seal a two-run victory.The result left Zimbabwe well placed to progress from Group B, having won two out of two matches along with Scotland. Afghanistan, on the other hand, suffered their second defeat in as many games, and can afford no slip-ups against Nepal and Hong Kong if they are to make the Super Sixes.
The possibility of a Zimbabwe victory seemed remote after they had been dismissed for 196 in 43 overs. And more so after Rahmat Shah and Mohammad Nabi steered Afghanistan to 156 for 3 in the chase with a 98-run partnership.Blessing Muzarabani gave Zimbabwe a small opening, trapping Shah for 69, and then Sikandar Raza turned the game on its head by striking three times in the 37th over. His dismissals of Nabi, Sharafuddin Ashraf and Rashid Khan reduced Afghanistan to 169 for 7. And when two more wickets fell cheaply, the visitors had lost 6 for 21 and all seemed lost.Dawlat and Shapoor came together for the tenth wicket with Afghanistan needing 20 off 53 balls. They went about their task slowly, playing out plenty of dots as they eked out run after run, and victory – once so improbable – now was within sight. They stumbled eventually, only three runs from victory. Muzarabani’s four-wicket haul was his career-best performance.Before the Afghanistan collapse, Zimbabwe had been on the back foot for most part of the match. Electing to bat, they were set back immediately, losing their top three for just 17 in seven overs. Brendan Taylor and Raza revived the innings with counter attacking half-centuries and a 98-run stand.Taylor smashed seven fours and three sixes in his 88-ball 89 before being the fifth wicket to fall. Then Rashid, Afghanistan’s stand-in captain, dismissed the in-form Raza – he was coming off a century against Nepal – for a 68-ball 60. That triggered the innings’ second collapse.Barring Graeme Cremer, who stuck around to make an unbeaten 19, the other four lower-order batsmen quickly fell prey to Rashid and mystery spinner Mujeeb Ur Rahman. Both these spinners finished with three wickets apiece. In total, Zimbabwe lost 7 for 118 to spin, while fast bowler Dawlat Zadran took two wickets.As many as four Zimbabwe batsmen, including opener Cephas Zhuwao, who had made a belligerent 23-ball 41 against Nepal, were out without scoring. Their total of 196 seemed inadequate, until Afghanistan suffered a spectacular collapse of their own.