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Pakistan fast bowler suffered injury on Gloucestershire debut

ESPNcricinfo staff20-Apr-2022Naseem Shah, the Pakistan fast bowler, has been ruled out for a month of his stint with Gloucestershire through injury.Naseem bowled 11 overs on his Gloucestershire debut against Northamptonshire in the opening round of the season before suffering a shoulder injury which rendered him unavailable for their fixture against Yorkshire last week.Related

• Pakistan County Championship round-up: Shan Masood piles on the runs, Hasan Ali's nine-for routs Gloucestershire

• Pakistan County Championship round-up: Shan Masood, Hasan Ali take top billing

• Karunaratne joins Yorkshire for short-term Championship stint

• Naseem joins Gloucestershire for Championship and Blast

Gloucestershire confirmed on Wednesday that Naseem would miss their next four County Championship fixtures, but said he should be available for selection in their opening T20 Blast game against Middlesex on May 26. He will stay in Bristol for his rehabilitation.”Following discussions between the medical teams of both Gloucestershire and the Pakistan Cricket Board, it has been decided that a period of workload management is in Naseem’s best interest to allow him to get back to full fitness as quickly and safely as possible,” a statement said.Naseem had initially been signed for the first half of the Championship season and the Blast, though his availability may be limited if he is selected for Pakistan’s ODI series against West Indies in June.Gloucestershire have two other overseas players in their squad, Marcus Harris and Zafar Gohar, who will continue to play in the Championship during Naseem’s absence.

The left-arm will miss the final two matches of the T20 series due to a family illness

ESPNcricinfo staff06-Dec-2020Mitchell Starc has been withdrawn from Australia’s T20 squad on compassionate grounds due to a family illness and will miss the final two matches of the series.It has not been confirmed when Starc will rejoin the squad. The Test group is due to link up in Adelaide next week ahead of the opening match of the series on December 17.”There is nothing in the world more important than family and in this case Mitch is no exception,” head coach Justin Langer said. “We will give Mitch all the time he needs and welcome him back into the squad with open arms whenever he feels the time is right for him and his family.”Starc missed the third ODI with soreness but returned for the opening T20I in Canberra and impressed with the new ball.Starc’s absence could open the door for AJ Tye or the uncapped Daniel Sams to come into Australia’s XI for the second T20I on Sunday.Australia’s resources for the T20 series have been stretched due to injuries and absences. David Warner, Ashton Agar, Marcus Stoinis and Mitchell Marsh have all been missing while Pat Cummins was rested for the series. Captain Aaron Finch is also doubtful for the second match having picked up an injury in Canberra.

Completing chases and walking off the field a winner something the youngster needed to experience, the India captain said

Aishwarya Kumar in Guyana07-Aug-20195:16

Dasgupta: The unbeaten 65 could change Pant’s career

Rishabh Pant came good in the third T20I against West Indies, his unbeaten 65 off 42 helping India negotiate a potentially tricky chase to sweep the series. He top-scored for India and hit the match-winning six, prompting his captain Virat Kohli
to say “we are looking at Rishabh Pant as the future”.Kohli said all the youngster needed after two poor outings on the bounce was one innings to settle in and show the world what he could do. The message was for him to finish the game – there’s a lot of confidence that comes with hitting the winning runs and walking off the field with bat raised, and Pant needed to experience that, Kohli said.”For the first two games, he was disappointed that he didn’t get any runs,” Kohli said. “He was playing really well, hitting the ball really well, but that’s how T20 cricket goes. Sometimes you don’t have the rub of the green. But today he made sure he applied himself and batted to his skills and backed himself to hit the big shots when required and really played with the tempo of the innings.Rishabh Pant whips one into the leg side•AFP

“He’s got a lot of skill and talent. [But] it’s about winning and finishing games like these and gaining confidence, which he wants to do as well. It’s about giving him a bit more space to ease himself into international cricket and not putting too much pressure because of the way he’s played in the IPL.”At the international level, you need to tackle pressure differently and play yourself into the whole set-up. He has come a long way since he started. If he plays like this more regularly, we will see his potential shine for India.”With the focus now shifting to the ODI series, starting on August 8 at the same venue – Providence Stadium – Kohli said he was glad the team got a full game despite the early rain, and got the chance to have a proper hit. All the while, with an eye on the bigger picture: the priority is to make sure India play consistent cricket, with young players like Pant and Rahul Chahar – the debutant legspinner – helping strengthen the team’s resources.”I think the priority is to keep Indian cricket at the top, go out there and win games and find ways to win games for your team,” Kohli said. “That’s the reason we have been one of the top teams in the world for a while now.”The players are going to take the day off on Wednesday to rest and recover ahead of the 50-over games, Kohli said, as the humidity and the high temperatures would be tricky to deal with over a whole day.And when the ODI action begins, the teams would know that the weather – the forecast isn’t ideal for cricket – might not deny them 100 overs of action, based on the evidence on Tuesday. The drainage at Providence is excellent: a downpour earlier in the morning had resulted in a one-hour delay to the start, and at one point it was coming down so hard that there were concerns over whether a single ball would be bowled. But, as Kohli said, one could hardly tell it had rained as much as it had.

The bowler revealed his disappointment at Yorkshire’s decision to drop him during the Royal London Cup and will talk to other counties with his deal expiring this year

Melinda Farrell15-Jun-20181:16

England looking for a complete performance – Plunkett

Liam Plunkett has revealed his disappointment at Yorkshire’s decision to drop him during the Royal London Cup, shortly after his return from the IPL, and indicated he is open to moving to another county when his current deal expires. The comments follow on from David Willey’s revelation that Yorkshire threatened to tear up his contract when he signed with the Chennai Super Kings.Plunkett, in the final year of his county contract, made seven IPL appearances for Delhi Daredevils but following his return from India he told he was dropped by Yorkshire’s director of cricket, Martyn Moxon, for the 50-over fixture against Northamptonshire after he took 1 for 76 from eight overs against Lancashire earlier this month. Speaking ahead of England’s second ODI against Australia in Cardiff, Plunkett said he disagreed with Yorkshire’s assessment that he was “undercooked”.”Yes, I was disappointed,” Plunkett said. “I’d played the previous games and felt I went all right. We won the previous game, so I felt in a good place – but I had one bad performance, and if they want to drop me on that … They said I wasn’t ready, that I looked undercooked.”In what might seem an unusual sequence of events, days after being dropped for a domestic fixture Plunkett was selected in England’s playing XI to face Scotland in the same format. Yorkshire and then-coach Jason Gillespie were given credit for helping Plunkett resurrect his international career after leaving Durham in 2012, but he now appears set to move on.”I just felt I was getting back into it,” Plunkett said. “That was the decision they took … I feel I was coming into a good place and I feel I can help win games for Yorkshire so obviously I was disappointed and I let them know on that.”It’s my last year and I went in for a chat with Martyn Moxon, and obviously as you get a little bit older you maybe think about your base salary coming down and you’re playing for incentives and stuff but I didn’t really get offered anything. They just said we’ll look into it in the next month or so but it gives me a right to speak to other counties and it gives me that option and I’m looking to do that.”Plunkett, along with the rest of the England attack, was hammered by Scotland’s batsmen at The Grange, where he took 2 for 85, but after making changes to his run up he felt his rhythm return at The Oval.”I think in the IPL I came a little bit wider and tried to angle the ball in a little bit and skid it on to the batters,” he said. “But I think my strength is to be on top of the ball, use my bounce and bowl that hard length. I think when I came in I was trying to angle it in a little bit and I was bowling a few wides down the leg side.Liam Plunkett could be leaving Yorkshire when his contract expires•Getty Images

“I played against Lancs and struggled coming off it. So I just looked at a bit of video footage and in the last couple of games – especially the last game – I felt a lot better, I felt my timing came back and my lengths were getting better.”Even if Plunkett bowls well for the rest of the summer, he will relinquish his place in the ODI side for at least two of England’s matches in Sri Lanka in October, when he will marry his partner, Emeleah Erb. The couple set the wedding date before England’s tour dates were finalised.”We planned because originally it was a Test series that was there and I didn’t think I’d be around the Test squad,” Plunkett said. “It’s been eleven years, it’s been long enough so I thought I’d better get married.”We did look at schedules and the best time to do it. There were flights booked from America and a lot of guests coming over and everything was booked, so it was so hard to change it then.”I’m really excited to get married but I am going to miss part of that series. All I can do is try and do well for England this summer and be a part of that team and [make them] think well, he might miss a few games, can we get him for the rest of that Sri Lanka series and keep me in mind going forward.””I’m so excited and can’t wait for the day that I’m not going to change and ruin everything for her.”

Steve O’Keefe produced his second-best first-class figures, of 6 for 35, in a fine spell of spin bowling after lunch to lead Australia’s charge, and put his own career back on track

Brydon Coverdale24-Feb-2017Steve O’Keefe knew this Test was his big chance. He had played four Tests before, but never more than one in a series. One in Dubai, one in Sydney, one in Pallekele, another in Sydney. So when he saw a pitch that threatened to be a raging turner, he knew the pressure was on to perform. And, having been given the new ball to share with Mitchell Starc, O’Keefe went to lunch on day two with 0 for 23 from seven overs.He was disappointed with how he had bowled. He was not leaking runs, but nor was he threatening much either. So, O’Keefe spent some of his lunch break training with Sridharan Sriram, the former India allrounder serving as Australia’s spin consultant on this trip. And when O’Keefe was handed the ball for his first spell upon the resumption, he took three wickets in his first over to turn the match in Australia’s favour, and finished with 6 for 35 from 13.1 overs.”When I first started to bowl, my first six overs, I went probably back to my comfort zone, which is what I bowl in Australia,” O’Keefe said after play. “You probably won’t see it on camera, but I know how it feels. I was probably just going a bit over the top and whenever I tried to bowl quick it was too full, and it was ordinary bowling the first six overs.”I’d been working in the nets on some other variations, just changing the seam angle and arm angle and you probably don’t notice it, but for me it made all the difference. Sree was like ‘let’s go out and bowl it so you feel comfortable with it’.”It’s amazing how things can quickly change over here. I probably didn’t bowl very well at all in my first six overs. And then it all just happened really quickly. I guess that’s the sort of wicket it is. We played and missed at a lot of balls, and fortunately for us they nicked them and we caught them. It was a good day to be a part of and well finished off by the batters.”O’Keefe’s success should guarantee that, unless he suffers an injury like he did during last year’s Sri Lanka tour, he will play multiple Tests in a series for the first time in his career. At 32, he knew this tour was make or break for his international career, after the disappointment of being forced home from Sri Lanka, which had been followed by a drunken incident at a Sydney hotel that led to a fine from Cricket Australia.Steve O’Keefe returned the third-best figures by a visiting left-arm spinner in India•AFP

“Going to Sri Lanka, I thought that was my big opportunity, and I sort of messed that one up,” he said. “To be honest, I always thought an India tour was there but that it was almost unreachable. To be given this opportunity – I’ve tried to make the most of it and I’ve prepared for it back home by giving away some of the Big Bash cricket to prepare solely for red-ball cricket … It means a lot to do well, but we’re day two in a four-Test series, so we’re not getting ahead of ourselves.”O’Keefe was well backed up by the fielders on day two in Pune – Peter Handscomb’s take at second slip to get rid of Ajinkya Rahane was particularly special, but also by his captain. Steven Smith trusted O’Keefe to take the new ball and then went to him again soon after lunch, despite his struggle for impact in his opening spell.”I think the important thing is I’ve been well backed up by Steve Smith, who I think is a brilliant captain,” O’Keefe said. “When you play under a captain who shows a lot of belief in you, it’s amazing what can happen.”O’Keefe’s final analysis of 6 for 35 was the third best by a visiting left-arm spinner in India, behind Hedley Verity’s 7 for 49 in 1934 and Michael Clarke’s 6 for 9 in 2004, and they were also the second-best figures of O’Keefe’s first-class career. And while he was still coming to terms with his triumphant performance shortly after play on day two, he knew it would count for little if Australia let India off the hook in the second innings.”It hasn’t really sunk in yet,” he said. “I think it will if that contributes to a win. Right now we’ll enjoy it, we had a good day, but that’s all it is. It’s just a good day’s cricket. We know this Indian team, how well they can bat, and even in spinning conditions they’re exceptional players. They’re all match-winners, all their top seven batters, you’d even argue the top eight. We’ve got our work cut out for us. We’re 300 ahead – let’s get more and let’s create 10 chances tomorrow and hold on to them.”

The England and Wales Cricket Board’s answer to the breakout success of Australia’s Women’s Big Bash League was unveiled today

ESPNcricinfo staff25-Feb-2016The England and Wales Cricket Board’s answer to the breakout success of Australia’s Women’s Big Bash League was unveiled today, with the announcement of the schedule and team names for this summer’s inaugural Women’s Cricket Super League.

The WCSL teams

• Lancashire Thunder Lancashire Cricket Board with partners
  Loughborough Lightning Loughborough University
  Southern Vipers Hampshire Cricket with partners
  Surrey Stars Surrey County Cricket Club
  Western Storm Somerset County Cricket Club, Gloucestershire County Cricket Club, University of Exeter
  Yorkshire DiamondsYorkshire County Cricket Club

Six teams, comprising a total of 90 players from England and the rest of the world, will come together for a 16-day round-robin competition from July 30 to August 14, with a finals day at Chelmsford to follow a week later on August 21.The six teams are Lancashire Thunder, Loughborough Lightning, Southern Vipers (who will be based at Hampshire’s Ageas Bowl), Surrey Stars, Yorkshire Diamonds and Western Storm, who will be drawn from the best players at Somerset, Gloucestershire and the University of Exeter.”Today represents another huge step towards delivering our vision of creating a dynamic, inspirational and high quality domestic women’s game in England,” said Clare Connor, the ECB’s director of women’s cricket. “This time last year the Women’s Cricket Super League was simply a concept, and now we have six exciting new teams, some innovative partnerships and a fixture list that includes at least 11 matches being played at seven different first-class grounds across the country.”The key aims of the WCSL, according to the ECB, include the development of ever higher standards for the England women’s team with greater competition for places, alongside inspiring more women and girls to play cricket at all levels. It will offer, the press release added, “new opportunities, a new narrative for the game and new role models, as well as a network of six new teams linked to their communities.””As each stage of the process unfolds, we keep striving to push new boundaries,” added Connor. “We are now looking forward to working with the six teams over the next few weeks to reveal their kits, colours and brands, as well as the central competition logo and branding.”In total, seven first-class counties, five non-first-class counties and three universities are involved in the project, which is intended to expand from T20 only in its inaugural year to both T20 and 50-over cricket in future seasons. All six teams have been awarded hosting rights for a four-year period from 2016-2019 inclusive.

South Africa have a task on hand, facing up to the No. 1 Twenty20 side and their much-vaunted short-format attack so soon after the ODI series thumping

The Preview by Andrew Fidel Fernando01-Aug-2013

Match facts

Friday, August 02, 2013
Start time 1900 local (1330 GMT)South Africa’s batsmen have the demons of the ODI series to overcome•AFP

Big Picture

Before South Africa can even allow the lessons of a deflating ODI series loss to sink in, twelve of their one-day squad must now gather themselves for battle in a different format. The teams will play three matches over the next five days, beginning with a game at the R Premadasa Stadium, which has not only been the scene of two mammoth South Africa defeats in the past two weeks, but also a venue that only brought them sorrow in the World Twenty20 last year.Worse for the visitors, Twenty20 has become Sri Lanka’s strongest suit. They have been the top-ranked side in the format since October last year, and have arrived at a short-form formula few teams have successfully countered. The diversity in their attack is Sri Lanka’s greatest forte, but the top order packs a punch as well, and with two bona fide Twenty20 finishers in addition to Nuwan Kulasekara, lower down, they are not far from being a complete Twenty20 side.Chief among South Africa’s concerns has been their batsmen’s inability to handle Sri Lanka’s spinners, and they will hope the format’s demand for aggression will help them shake their funk against the slow bowlers. Ajantha Mendis was their primary tormentor in the ODIs, and though Mendis’ record has worsened in the longer formats overall, his Twenty20 statistics remain as daunting as they have ever been. Teams have unsettled Mendis by attacking him early in his spells in the past, but in order for South Africa to be in a position to do that, they must ensure the top order provides a more stable foundation than they have managed so far in the tour.

Form guide

Sri Lanka WWWLW (most recent first, last five completed matches)
South Africa LWLWL

Players to watch

Mahela Jayawardene could not make a significant score in the ODIs, and will want to emphasise his continuing importance to the side as the two other seniors have already done during the tour. He has been Sri Lanka’s best Twenty20 batsmen in the past, but his best innings have come when he has opened, which he may not do on Friday. He did not play in the fifth ODI and perhaps that short break will assist a return to form.AB de Villiers had been woeful with the bat in his first four innings in Sri Lanka, but indicated he had finally come to grips with the conditions with a run-a-ball 51 in the last match. He has been adamant that he is hitting the ball well in training, but may need to shoulder greater run-making responsibility as the most experienced batsman in the Twenty20 side. He will also be rid of the captaincy that appears to have worn him thin in the last fortnight, and perhaps a less burdened mind can spark the sort of innings his side expects from him.

Team news

Sri Lanka may think about batting Kusal Perera in the middle order, given that is where he has prospered in domestic cricket, but will also be tempted to try him at opener once more. Kulasekara is available for the first time in three weeks, but whether he plays or not will be determined by whether his batting now is deemed good enough for him to replace a batsman. Lahiru Thirimanne will likely make way if so.Sri Lanka (probable): 1. Kusal Perera, 2. Tillakaratne Dilshan, 3. Kumar Sangakkara (wk), 4. Mahela Jayawardene, 5. Dinesh Chandimal (capt), 6. Angelo Mathews, 7. Lahiru Thirimanne/Nuwan Kulasekara, 8. Thisara Perera, 9. Sachithra Senanayake, 10. Ajantha Mendis, 11. Lasith MalingaDe Villers will likely open the innings alongside Henry Davids, as he did in South Africa’s last Twenty20 against Pakistan. Imran Tahir is likely to play as well, and will provide the attacking spin option South Africa have lacked in the ODIs, but the pace bowling spots are less secure, with at least four frontline fast bowlers vying for spots there.South Africa (probable): 1. AB de Villiers (wk), 2. Henry Davids, 3. Faf du Plessis (capt), 4. JP Duminy, 5. David Miller, 6. Ryan McLaren, 7. Chris Morris, 8. Wayne Parnell/Lonwabo Tsotsobe, 10. Rory Kleinveldt/Morne Morkel, 11. Imran Tahir

Pitch and conditions

Slow surfaces have compounded South Africa’s woes, and they should not expect respite from the Premadasa curators for this match. Thunderstorms continue to blow through Colombo, but the rain expected for Friday is forecast to ease well before the match is set to begin.

Stats and trivia

• If Sri Lanka defeat South Africa, they will have the best win-loss ratio in Twenty20 internationals, edging out Pakistan, who have won 1.68 games for each of their losses
• South Africa beat Sri Lanka by 32 runs, the last time the teams met, during the World Twenty20. The match had been reduced to seven overs a side, due to rain.

Quotes

“They’ve got some great Twenty20 players coming in; Wayne Parnell, Imran Tahir, Henry Davids. We haven’t played a lot of these guys before, so we can’t take this side lightly – they are still very good.”
“It’s great to have Imran with us because he gets wickets. That’s something that the Sri Lankan spinners have done very well, they’re always picking up wickets. It’s nice to have one of our own to do that and I’ll be using him to attack.”

Craig Kieswetter continued his superb form with a hard-hitting 103 as Somerset moved off the bottom of Clydesdale Bank 40 Group B with an eight-wicket victory over Durham at Taunton

22-Jul-2012
ScorecardCraig Kieswetter made it two hundreds in two days•Getty Images

Craig Kieswetter continued his superb form with a hard-hitting 103 as Somerset moved off the bottom of Clydesdale Bank 40 Group B with an eight-wicket victory over Durham at Taunton.Fresh from his match-winning 152 in the LV= County Championship success over Warwickshire on Saturday, Kieswetter plundered nine fours and six sixes in his 61-ball innings as Somerset overcame Durham’s 147 with almost half their 40 overs to spare.Gareth Breese top-scored for Durham with 31 not out, while Peter Trego removed three of the top four to finish as Somerset’s most successful bowler with 3 for 26 in six overs.More good news for Somerset was the return to action of former England batsman Marcus Trescothick, three months after he ruptured ankle ligaments while fielding against Nottinghamshire at Trent Bridge.Trescothick made 15 from 17 deliveries before being bowled by Chris Rushworth and, having proved his fitness, now looks set to lead Somerset in Tuesday’s Friends Life t20 quarter-final against Essex at Taunton.Durham, with three wins from their previous six CB40 games, were always struggling once Trego had ripped through the top order. He had Phil Mustard caught behind off the last ball of the first over and Johann Myburgh taken at cover by Jos Buttler in his next.Then, after Craig Meschede had Paul Collingwood caught at cover by Max Waller, Trego struck again when he held a return catch to dismiss Mark Stoneman, which made it 34 for 4. A fifth-wicket partnership of 33 between Ben Stokes and Gordon Muchall transpired to be Durham’s best of the innings, but it came to an end when Stokes was caught on the mid-wicket boundary by James Hildreth off leg-spinner Waller.Waller claimed his second wicket, when Muchall chipped to Trescothick at short mid-wicket, and then provided the direct hit which ran out Dale Benkenstein to make it 96 for seven. Alfonso Thomas had Scott Borthwick lbw for a duck and the veteran seamer went on to finish with a very economical return of 1 for 12 in seven overs.Mitchell Claydon made an aggressive 18 before being caught behind down the leg-side off Lewis Gregory. Breese played well for his unbeaten 31, but Durham’s innings ended when Rushworth was bowled by Gregory and a total of 147 never looked likely to trouble Somerset’s formidable batting line-up.Trescothick hit a couple of boundaries – a late cut off Myburgh and a back-foot force off Rushworth – before he was bowled by a slower delivery from the latter. It turned into the Kieswetter show after that as the England one-day international wicketkeeper peppered the boundary boards.Kieswetter hit two sixes off Claydon in the seventh over, the first deposited over extra cover and the second over mid-wicket. He brought up his half-century from 38 balls and required only 20 more to register his hundred.His four remaining sixes were all struck down the ground. The first came off Borthwick’s leg-spin, the next off Collingwood and then the last two were taken from successive Claydon deliveries.Kieswetter’s remarkable innings ended in the 18th over when he holed out to Borthwick on the long-on boundary off Rushworth, which left Nick Compton and Hildreth to complete a comfortable victory.

West Indian fans are approaching the Sabina Park Test with optimism because of its reportedly fast pitch

Sriram Veera in Kingston19-Jun-2011There’s hope in the Caribbean air. You can feel it at Sabina Park. You can hear it in the chuckle of Charles Josephs, the curator, and in conversations with ground staff. “This is Jamaica. Not Mumbai. The ball will bounce and get your men,” is its essence. A simple, age-old theory: bounce the Indians and expect them to wilt. Though we’ll have to wait to see how the pitch actually plays, and whether West Indies’ fast bowlers can unsettle India’s batsmen, it can only be a good thing that home fans are approaching the Test with optimism, considering the shenanigans beyond the boundary.There is confidence in the West Indian camp as well. Darren Sammy, the captain, expects the pitch to suit his bowlers, who will be aggressive. Even young Darren Bravo said “a few of the Indians can get intimidated.” Ian Bishop, a former West Indian fast bowler and commentator, isn’t convinced a few Indian players, Suresh Raina for instance, can handle the bounce and pace.”This is the pitch that suits our style,” Sammy said. “We managed to restrict India to 250 and the batters were very comfortable chasing it. The mindset is different, the batsmen are confident that the ball won’t spin like it did in the first three ODIs. Records speak that if you have more firepower, you have a better chance against India.”Darren Sammy says the Sabina Park pitch will suit West Indies better than it will India•Associated Press

Sammy’s presence in the Test side is still a thorny issue, though. Does he upset the balance? Wouldn’t Fidel Edwards or Andre Russell be a better pick? Is Sammy weakening the attack? “My role has been the same since I started playing for West Indies,” Sammy said. “I am a stock bowler. I go out and do it to the best of my ability.” If he can be a consistent performer with the bat, it wouldn’t be so bad. “I am disappointed that my Test batting hasn’t been as consistent as it should be, but I am working hard.”Sammy expects West Indies to restrict India to less than 300. “In the last two games played here, the most recent one was against England, both teams scored around 300 in first innings. The one before was against Australia. We lost by 60 runs. We restricted them to just over 250. If we restrict them [India] to under 300 or so and can get a lead …”West Indies’ batting, though, has been the discipline with the most problems in the recent past. Sammy is confident that Kingston’s conditions will help. “Our batsmen will favour their chances against Indian bowlers knowing the type of wicket we will get,” he said. “Harbhajan is very experienced and Mishra has given us some trouble. You can’t be complacent. This wicket would be suited to our batsmen. I am expecting our batsmen to give a better show.”Adrian Barath, Lendl Simmons and Darren Bravo, who comprise the top order, are light on experience, but Sammy highlighted their quality. “Barath is very promising cricketer. He scored a hundred in his first Test. He is coming back from injury but we all know his mental strength. He has the mental capability to carry on with his starts. Young Darren Bravo came to form in the last ODI and Simmons is in good nick. He knows his game and executes his plans. The top order might be short of experience but they have the game to do it.”

Shahzaib Hasan’s aggressive half century and a blistering 13-ball 42 from Shahid Afridi helped Pakistan thrash a weakened Northamptonshire by six wickets with 27 balls to spare

Nagraj Gollapudi at Northampton03-Jul-2010
Scorecard
Shahzaib Hasan’s aggressive half century and a blistering 13-ball 42 from Shahid Afridi helped Pakistan thrash a weakened Northamptonshire by six wickets with 27 balls to spare. At the halfway mark the visitors had moved cautiously to 57 for 1 but Afridi, returning from injury, bulldozed the opposition in his short stay at the crease to put Pakistan in the right frame of mind ahead of next week’s twin Twenty20 internationals against Australia at Edgbaston.Pakistan launched their chase at a-run-a-ball with both Hasan and Kamran Akmal taking advantage of any loose deliveries. Hasan slashed Jack Brooks over point to open the chase and a couple of overs later pulled the same bowler for six. Kamran, restless at the wicket, hit two strong cover drives against David Lucas to erase a scratchy start. But he soon faltered, offering a simple catch against a slow, looping full toss from left-armer David Willey.At the other end Hasan continued the attack, picking up two boundaries behind square leg in Elton Chigumbura’s first over. But the Zimbabwe allrounder bounced back with some tight lines and lengths which slowed Pakistan’s progress and both Hasan and Fawad Alam suddenly found it difficult to pick the gaps.Alam had replaced Salman Butt, who had been rested, and looked apprehensive on the front foot. Frustration soon set in and he offered an easy catch to Chigumbura at point trying to cut James Middlebrook, the offspinner. The run rate had dipped considerably as Pakistan added just 16 runs in the four overs after the Powerplay.But any hopes Northants entertained were smashed to smithereens by Afridi. He swung his bat at almost everything and three boundries resulted from thick edges off Middlebrook. In the same over the Pakistan captain had lofted the offspinner over the long-on boundary for his first six.The turning point arrived in the following over from Brooks. Against the first ball, a short delivery on the off side, Afridi moved back and smartly tapped the ball between point and gully to pick up an easy boundary. Next came a punched straight drive past the ropes, and this was followed by a huge slog only for the leading edge to race past thirdman for a third successive boundary. A handsome pull then flew over square leg for his second six. Hasan made it the most expensive over of the match (23 runs) with a lofted square drive for another four.From 57 for 1 after 10 overs Pakistan had rushed to 121 in the next four overs. Afridi duly retired, soon followed by Hasan who was caught in the deep but Pakistan finished on a high note.In the absence of senior players such as Andrew Hall, Chaminda Vaas, Nicky Boje and wicketkeeper Niall O’Brien Northants were always going to find it difficult to challenge the 2009 World Twenty20 champions. Fighting half-centuries from Alex Wakely and Chigumbura kept them in the contest but 133 was never going to be a big hurdle for Pakistan.