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ScorecardThe England dugout celebrate their last-ball victory•ICC/Getty

For the second time in the space of three days, England turned a routine canter into a tense trudge through error-infested swampland. Despite a brisk start to their chase of West Indies’ 108 – with 12 overs to go, they required 50 runs and had all ten wickets in hand – it was a bye off the final ball that snatched victory from the jaws of defeat.With two legitimate balls remaining, Rebecca Grundy, England’s No. 11 – in position as well as ability – came to the crease with three runs needed. A wide and then a dab to point gave the more accomplished Natalie Sciver, batting on 19, the strike. With one run needed, she missed a delivery outside off stump from Deandra Dottin and West Indies’ wicketkeeper Merissa Aguilleira, who had adopted a closer position to the stumps without standing all the way up, ran forward before flicking the ball towards them.But her throw went wide, Grundy ran through the crease and England had escaped. Had Aguillera continued her run and removed bails in the manner of MS Dhoni in an identical situation in India’s game against Bangladesh on Wednesday, the game would have been tied. Instead, England are on the brink of the semi-finals.Crucially, this match was not broadcast on television, which meant there were no cameras at the ground, including at square leg. As a result, there was no third umpire. When you consider that Charlotte Edwards survived a sharp stumping attempt early on and an appeal to have Lydia Greenway run out at the non-striker’s end off a straight drive from Sciver was turned down, it could have been all very different.Similarly to the match against India, it was the wicket of Tammy Beaumont that started the collapse. Then, it was 5 for 29 from eight overs – here, 6 for 24 off 39 balls was the almost irreparable damage. But it was again Beaumont’s runs that proved to be the difference.Given the opportunity to open the batting with Charlotte Edwards, Beaumont has been backed by the coach, Mark Robinson, who admitted he was bemused by the contrast between her poor T20I record – she averaged 8.83 going into this tournament – and her ball-striking in practice. Having made her debut in the format back in November 2009, she has never quite been able to nail down a starting spot. And when you look a little closer, you can see why: ridiculously, by the time she had played her 20th innings, Beaumont had batted in every position apart from No. 4 and No. 10.Here, in her 25th innings, she passed 30 for the first time, showcasing what Robinson saw. She dealt in boundaries, including hitting her and England’s second six of the tournament – a crisp pick-up over midwicket as Dottin darted one in on leg stump. It is worth noting England did not clear the ropes at all in their previous World T20 campaign. With Edwards moving along nicely at the other end, the pair brought up England’s first 50-plus opening partnership since April 2014. Up until that point, the team had played a perfectly judged game.The pitch had a bit of pace in it but still gripped, meaning that while West Indies’ top order could hit through the ball, Anya Shrubsole, Jenny Gunn and Grundy were able to reel them in with a bit of finesse. The Powerplay typified this: 34 were scored off the opening six overs, yet two of them were maidens.Shaquana Quintyne, West Indies’ No. 3, got off to a brisk start with 22 off her first 14 balls, but her next 14 produced just seven more before Sciver got her to find Gunn at long-on. Stafanie Taylor and Dottin then decided to take the innings deep and reassess. But, having done the donkey work, their partnership ended at 52, with West Indies managing to score just 12 runs off the final three overs.An indication of just how confounding England’s brain fade was came in the figures of part-timer Afy Fletcher, who took 3 for 12 off her four overs, having only taken three wickets in her previous nine T20Is. It was only when Sciver was joined by Katherine Brunt that the right approach was found: the risky shots were packed away, singles were picked up and the arrears cut down slowly and surely.It was a far from convincing performance. But England can argue that they have not played anywhere near their best and yet still hold a 100% record after three matches.

On February 17, 2005, men’s T20 International cricket was born in Auckland.In a match that was seen as a novelty, Australia and New Zealand made retro cool with body hugging canary and beige – and who could forget Hamish Marshall’s ‘fro?Ricky Ponting came within two runs of scoring a century and Australia smashed 214 runs, a total well beyond the reach of Stephen Fleming’s side.No one really cared about the result, it was all about the entertainment.Fast-forward 11 years, as the two countries prepare to meet in the World T20, and the game’s landscape couldn’t be in greater contrast than Dharamsala’s Himalayan backdrop is to Auckland’s modern seaside setting.T20 is now cricket’s big money-spinner and the trophy is sorely coveted by the two sides who started the international ball rolling but have never won the major prize.Australia and New Zealand have only met four times since that inaugural match and have never played each other outside Australasia. New Zealand won their last encounter – back in 2010 – in a Super Over but Australia have been winners on every other occasion.

Big bat plans

They like big bats and they cannot lie. Australia’s players are beefing up for the World T20, but not in the gym.
Shane Watson is one of several Australian batsmen who will go into the tournament carrying heavier bats in a bid to amp up their power hitting on pitches that are generally slower than the more familiar hard and bouncy surfaces back home.
“My bats are a little bit heavier definitely in T20 cricket,” Watson said. “They are a little bit heavier so when you swing hard, which you have to in Twenty20 cricket, even if I’m unfortunate enough that I don’t totally get it there’s still a chance of it still going over the fence, especially in smaller grounds. You need a little bit more behind your swing to be able to hopefully clear the fence.”
“Dave Warner can’t [play with a heavier bat] because his bats can’t get any bigger! I know some guys, Steve Smith and Jimmy Faulkner and a lot of the different guys play with the weight a little bit, especially when you’ve got a good block of Twenty20 cricket. Everyone is a little bit different. But coming to Indian conditions as well where the wickets at times can be a bit slower and a bit lower, I find having a slightly heavier bat and the wood a little bit lower comparatively to what it would be in Australia or in South Africa [helps]. It’s making sure I give myself the best chance.”

Without recent T20 results to fall back on Australia will seek to use last year’s emphatic World Cup final victory to gain a mental edge when the two sides meet at HPCA stadium, with Shane Watson hinting that his side won’t shy away from reminding their opponents of their capitulation at the MCG.”Look there’s no doubt that the Kiwis always play very well and they always punch above their weight and they’ve been playing very good cricket especially over the last couple of years,” Watson said. “But knowing the history I’ve had playing against them, we’ve always played very well against them as well and there’s still quite a few people – players who are still there in that New Zealand team – who know that history and have been involved in the history as well. So we’ll certainly be letting them know of that, because they’re going to have to be at their absolute best to beat us.”In the end we are going to have to play well whoever we play in this tournament no doubt,” Watson said. “But knowing that there’s a good rivalry and a good history there as well in big games that I’ve been fortunate enough to be a part of against the Kiwis, hopefully it follows a similar route.”If Australia are using the 50-over format as inspiration, their opponents could do the same after claiming a 2-1 ODI series victory over Australia last month. New Zealand have also sounded a stern warning with their stunning opening victory over India, widely regarded as tournament favourites, and Watson knows Australia will face a road as steep as the one that switches back and forth to HPCA stadium if they lose their opening match.”It’s very difficult if you lost the first game but the way Twenty20 cricket goes, if you get onto a roll, then you can be unstoppable,” said Watson. “It’s not the absolute be all and end all if we lose the first game but I’ve seen in so many tournaments that I’ve played in that if you get on a roll at the right time and qualify, that’s when a lot of teams win the tournaments.”But most importantly, to take the pressure off to start off – it would be ideal if we put out a very good performance in the first game.”Shane Watson will be bringing up the 2015 World Cup final on the field when Australia take on New Zealand in Dharamsala•Robert Cianflone/Getty Images

Much has been made of Australia’s lack of T20 matches in the past year – they have played just seven since the start of 2015 – and they come into this match having tinkered and tinkered again with their line up, particularly their top four batting positions. The search for the strongest T20 line up while gunning for a Test series win in New Zealand left Australia flailing against India and still experimenting against South Africa but Watson isn’t worried about the lead in to the tournament.”First of all we’ve got our main players playing every game,” Watson said. “Obviously in that T20 series [against India], guys were coming in and out; going to New Zealand. Players were being tried in different positions.”There’s a lot more stability now, with our batting order and also our bowling options. So that’s always going to make a huge difference. And everyone’s just getting more comfortable now with what our roles are. Across all aspects, once you get that down then it’s a good starting point to be able to go from.”But while Watson is adamant they are now a settled side, he also admits he doesn’t know who will open the batting on Friday.”I’m comfortable with whoever I’m batting with,” Watson said. “That’s a good question. At the moment both options, whether it’s Aaron [Finch] or Usman [Khawaja], they’re world-class options. So whichever way it goes it’s going to be great to bat with whoever it is.”Thirty-four-year-old Watson is the veteran of an Australian side with a wealth of IPL experience in Indian conditions. But even he is unsure of how the HPCA pitch will play after a week in which two matches were rained out and two were curtailed by the unpredictable weather.”The guys who have played here in the past said that the wicket normally has a fair bit of pace and bounce, a little bit along the lines of the wicket in Mohali,” he said. “The games that I’ve seen here in the lead-up games looks like the wicket has been a bit slow and turned.””It seems like there has been a fair bit of moisture around too, so that seems like the turn has had a fair bit to do with the moisture in the wicket as well. It’s going to be interesting see what happens. The forecast is not ideal, game day doesn’t look great. The forecast hasn’t been great the last week either.”But, after losing his place in the Test and ODI sides, nothing it seems can dampen Watson’s eagerness for Australia’s campaign to get underway, not even the prospect of a hair-raising 40-minute bus ride to the ground through hairpin turns in the wet – he jokes about getting back to the hotel in one piece.”I’m loving every single minute of it. To know that the end isn’t too far away, I’m continuing to live the dream of playing cricket for Australia…””I’m just excited about the opportunity of playing this tournament. Whatever happens, I’m just making the most of every single day that I’m here.”

Match facts

Sunday, May 1, 2016
Start time 1600 local (1030 GMT)

Big Picture

Kings XI Punjab were at the centre of many indelible moments in the Indian Premier League during their march to the final in 2014. Two years on, they find themselves searching for answers midway through the season despite the same team core.David Miller’s form – 76 runs in six innings this season – has mirrored their struggle. With Kings XI languishing at the bottom of the table, following only one win so far, the axe fell on Miller, as M Vijay was named captain for the remainder of the season. Vijay himself has blown hot and cold with 143 runs in six innings. However, Kings XI’s dearth of options and Vijay’s past IPL success may have gone in his favour.The team’s problems, though, go much deeper. With the exception of Shaun Marsh, their batsmen have had a forgettable tournament. After five ordinary outings, Glenn Maxwell found form with a half-century in a chase of 190 against Mumbai Indians, but Kings XI need much more than just the odd spark of brilliance. Like their batting, the bowling, too, has looked shallow. Sandeep Sharma is the only bowler in the side with an economy rate of less than seven an over.

Narrow wins hurting Lions’ NRR

In seven matches this season, Rising Pune Supergiants have won two matches and lost five; in the same number of matches, Gujarat Lions have won six and lost one. Supergiants’ net run rate after seven matches is +0.265, while Lions’ is +0.038.
At first glance it would seem the NRR numbers have been interchanged, but Supergiants have won their two matches so convincingly, and lost a few so narrowly, that their NRR is second to Kolkata Knight Riders’. Their two wins were by margins of 32 balls to spare and 34 runs, which is huge in the 20-over format. The 34-run win was even bigger as it came in a rain-affected game in which Supergiants batted only 11 overs – effectively scoring three runs per over more than their opponents, Sunrisers Hyderabad. On the other hand, the sum of balls remaining in their four defeats when defending a total is only 23, while their only defeat in a chase was by a 13-run margin.
Lions, meanwhile, have won every close game they have been involved in: two of their chases culminated in last-ball wins, while they beat Daredevils by one run. The aggregate of balls remaining in their three other wins is 29, while their only defeat was a massive one – by ten wickets, with 31 balls remaining, against Sunrisers. The margin of that defeat has very nearly wiped out the margins of their six wins put together, which is why their NRR is almost zero.

Chasing has been the theme of the season and no team has demonstrated that better than Suresh Raina’s Gujarat Lions, with five successful chases out of their six wins. Lions’ Indian pace contingent has had an important role to play in their success. Dhawal Kulkarni has been sharp in the early overs, while the experienced Praveen Kumar has used slower balls and yorkers to choke batsmen in the end overs. Dwayne Bravo has leaked runs, but has also picked wickets to make up for it.They are spoilt for choices in the batting department, too. Aaron Finch’s untimely injury has resulted in a prolific opening combination between Dwayne Smith and Brendon McCullum. Lions’ run rate of 10.14 in the Powerplay is the best for any team in this year’s tournament. Dinesh Karthik and Suresh Raina have chipped in with vital contributions, but the blazing starts provided by Smith and McCullum have meant the rest of the batting line-up was only tested in their last-ball win over Rising Pune Supergiants on Friday.

Form guide

Gujarat Lions WWWLW (last five matches, most recent first)
Kings XI Punjab LLLWL

In the spotlight

Mitchell Johnson seems to have lost his bite. The former Australia fast bowler made way for Kyle Abbott in three matches before returning in their previous game against Mumbai, where he conceded 43 runs in four overs. Johnson has the pace to unsettle batsmen, but how effective he will be on a flat, batting track in Rajkot remains to be seen.Brendon McCullum’s belligerence has typified Lions’ dominance. Lions rely heavily on their openers and McCullum has played his part despite scoring just one half-century. He has biffed 218 runs in seven outings at a strike rate of 160.29.

Team news

With Smith grabbing his opportunity at the top, Finch, who is recovering from a hamstring injury, may have to wait in the sidelines once he is fit. Pravin Tambe, who missed the last game because of a finger injury, could slot back in for chinaman bowler Shivil Kaushik, who conceded 32 in three wicketless overs on debut. Ishan Kishan has struggled for runs and opportunities lower down the order and Lions could be better served by playing an extra bowler. Shadab Jakati could return if the team management decides to take that route.Gujarat Lions (probable): 1 Dwayne Smith, 2 Brendon McCullum, 3 Suresh Raina (capt), 4 Dinesh Karthik (wk), 5 Dwayne Bravo, 6 Ravindra Jadeja, 7 James Faulkner, 8 Shadab Jakati, 9 Praveen Kumar, 10 Dhawal Kulkarni, 11 Shivil Kaushik/Pravin TambeWith Miller relieved of his captaincy duties, it remains to be seen if he will still find a place in the side. His South African team-mate Farhaan Behardien could be a potential replacement.Kings XI Punjab (probable): 1 M Vijay (capt), 2 Manan Vohra, 3 Shaun Marsh, 4 Glenn Maxwell, 5 David Miller/Farhaan Behardien, 6 Nikhil Naik (wk), 7 Axar Patel, 8 Mitchell Johnson, 9 Mohit Sharma, 10 Pardeep Sahu 11 Sandeep Sharma

Pitch and conditions

The sequence of scores so far in Rajkot have been on the higher side. Lions gunned down 164 against Supergiants in 18 overs and Sunrisers Hyderabad knocked off 136 with 31 balls remaining. Even a blistering century from Virat Kohli, the Royal Challengers Bangalore captain, didn’t suffice as Lions’ batsmen chased down 182 in the previous match at the venue. Temperatures are expected to soar over 40 degrees centigrade, but given the string of successful chases, the team winning the toss might still choose to bowl.

Stats and trivia

• Gujarat Lions have plundered 72 runs in the Powerplay on two occasions, the highest by any team
• Glenn Maxwell’s 56 against Mumbai Indians was his first half-century in 35 T20 innings in India. In 34 innings, Maxwell had made 499 runs at 15.12.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsDavid Warner hit 11 fours and three sixes in his unbeaten 58-ball 93•BCCI

An unbeaten 58-ball 93 from David Warner, his eighth half-century of the season, steered Sunrisers Hyderabad into their maiden IPL final. Warner batted through a tense chase of 163 even as Lions chipped away at the wickets, and found a calm lower-order ally in Bipul Sharma at a critical juncture when Sunrisers needed 46 from 25 balls. They won with four wickets in hand.Bipul has excellent first-class numbers for an allrounder – a batting average of 43.45, a bowling average of 28.98 – and is perhaps more of a batsman than a bowler at that level: he has six hundreds and nine half-centuries in 38 matches, but only 76 wickets and two five-fors. He has had more opportunity to bowl his left-arm spin rather than bat in his IPL career, though he showed his ball-striking ability in the Eliminator, hitting two clean sixes off Morne Morkel in the final over of Sunrisers’ innings.Warner wasn’t in a good mood when Bipul came to the crease. He had addressed angry words to Tom Moody, the Sunrisers coach, who had come out with drinks and instructions at the fall of the sixth wicket. Warner was ostensibly displeased with the way Naman Ojha had got out, taking on Dwayne Bravo and picking out the fielder at deep midwicket.Bipul quickly gave Warner reason to trust him, taking the safe but clever option against Praveen Kumar’s yorker, shuffling across to clip into the deep-set leg side field, picking up two twos in three balls in this manner. In between, Praveen bowled a half-volley, and Bipul lofted it for a straight six. Dhawal Kulkarni began the next over with four wide yorkers, conceding only one run from them. But then, with Sunrisers needing 32 from 14, Bipul walked across his stumps, and scooped a full-toss over the square leg boundary.Bravo began his final over with figures of 3-0-13-2. He and the left-arm wristspinner Shivil Kaushik had been responsible for a mid-innings slump that had seen Sunrisers go from 61 for 2 in eight overs to 91 for 5 in 13. But now the momentum was with Sunrisers, and Warner confirmed it in the classic T20 manner – an attempted extra-cover loft that ended up streaking to the third man boundary. Another four from Warner – a surgically placed slap past point that was better representative of his innings – and another big six from Bipul down the ground left Sunrisers needing only five to win off the last over. Warner only needed two balls.Lions probably knew even before the match that Warner would be their biggest obstacle, and he reinforced that feeling with a boundary off the very first ball of the chase, a sweetly timed clip to the square-leg boundary off Praveen. But Lions soon discovered they didn’t necessarily have to go through Warner to win; they could go around him. The first two wickets were gifts – Shikhar Dhawan went for a silly run in the second over and paid the price; Moises Henriques slapped a short, wide ball straight to cover. Yuvraj Singh tried to hit his way out of the pressure of seven dots in 12 balls, and holed out to long-off.Bravo, mixing up his pace expertly, and Kaushik, not turning the ball all that much but turning it both ways from a length just beyond the reach of a safe front-foot hit, intensified the pressure on Sunrisers, consuming Deepak Hooda and Ben Cutting in the process. When Ojha came to the crease, Sunrisers needed 79 from 45.Warner kept Sunrisers in the hunt, swinging the last ball of Kaushik’s spell for a leg-side six and taking heavy toll of the 15th over, bowled by Dwayne Smith, flat-batting a short ball for a six over long-off and squeezing a wide yorker past point for four. Ojha joined in with a pulled six off the last ball, taking the tally from that over to 19, and bringing the equation down to 47 from 30. A sensational 16th over from Bravo, conceding only two and picking up Ojha’s wicket, seemed to swing it back Lions’ way, but Warner and Bipul had the final word.Sunrisers suffered a blow even before a ball had been bowled, with Mustafizur Rahman ruled out with a hamstring injury. Trent Boult came into the side and made an immediate impact, catching Eklavya Dwivedi at third man to leave Lions 7 for 1 at the end of the first over. Changing Brendon McCullum’s opening partner had not made any difference to Lions, whose last four opening partnerships had yielded 9, 0, 0 and 2.Boult then dismissed Suresh Raina in the fourth over, lbw playing across the line, and Lions were 19 for 2. There was little in the pitch to really bother the batsmen, but Lions’ progress was slow, with McCullum playing a strange innings, with a few fierce boundary hits, a number of dots arising from shots hit straight to fielders in the ring, and a general struggle for rhythm. Dinesh Karthik looked in good touch, piercing the gap between extra cover and mid-off with a sweet drive off Boult and shuffling across to sweep an off-stump ball from Bipul wide of short fine leg. But he was run out immediately after hitting Bipul for six in the ninth over, a Boult direct hit finding him short after a mix-up with McCullum.When McCullum picked out sweeper cover in the 12th over and fell for a 29-ball 32, Lions were 81 for 4. It became 83 for 5 when Smith slapped Ben Cutting straight to deep point in the next over. Lions were tottering.But Aaron Finch, demoted to No. 5, was already flowing, having hit Barinder Sran for a four and a massive six over long-off. He plundered two sixes and a four off Moises Henriques in the 14th over to take Lions to 100, and uppercut and drove Boult for successive fours in the 15th. He fell in the 18th, for 50 off 32, but Bravo carried the momentum forward, beating deep point – first to his right and then to his left – off successive Boult deliveries in the 19th. Lions finished on 162. Sunrisers had defended the same total, on the same ground, in their Eliminator. Lions couldn’t quite give them a taste of their own medicine.

ScorecardNotts will hope to see these sort of celebrations from Imran Tahir [file picture]•AFP

For the second season in a row, Nottinghamshire are meandering through midsummer at the uncomfortable end of the Division One table, looking like a team in need of inspiration. Last year, after being bottom at the halfway stage, they seemed to be find it in Peter Moores, the former England coach, whose addition to the staff at Trent Bridge coincided with a revival that saw them finish third.This year, evidently, they need something to spark them again, having won their opening match of the Championship programme against Surrey in April but not one since in an eight-match winless run that began, as it happens, with an eight-wicket defeat by Lancashire at Old Trafford.Perhaps this time the uplifting factor will be Imran Tahir. Back at Trent Bridge for a second spell after his first, last year, was curtailed early by injury, the South Africa leg-spinner began by conceding 13 runs in his first over, six of them before he had bowled a legitimate delivery, but thereafter produced evidence that the skills that have sustained him through an extraordinary career might be just what Nottinghamshire need, even in a summer as damp and miserable as this one.Although Lancashire, the Division One leaders, took a chance with the toss and decided to bat first, it was on a surface that had some grass left on and looked dark in colour after more heavy downpours on Saturday, one that surely had Stuart Broad and Harry Gurney licking their lips.Yet it was Tahir who proved Lancashire’s most troublesome opponent, offering few cheap runs, even when he was attacking, and having enough guile to snare two of his three wickets with his googly.At the heart of his contribution was an engrossing battle with the Lancashire opener, the left-handed Tom Smith, who was 40 from 95 balls as his side reached lunch at 109 for 1 but was thereafter so comprehensively pinned down by Tahir that of the next 46 deliveries he faced from the legspinner he managed to score off just six before he was lured down the pitch and stumped after the ball kicked past the outside edge.It had been the googly, too, that earlier bowled Luke Procter for 48. In between, Steven Croft was possibly unlucky to be given out leg before after taking a long stride forwards but Tahir’s 3 for 78 from 27 overs did not flatter him in any way.After his 7 for 45 against West Indies in Basseterre, in the process of which he became the fourth fastest bowler to reach 100 wickets in one-day internationals, he has arrived with form and confidence high. Nottinghamshire, who have managed thus far to stay out of the relegation places but have played more of their matches than those around them, will have their fingers crossed that it continues.Tahir was one of three changes in the Nottinghamshire bowling compared with the rain-affected draw with Warwickshire last week. He replaced the young off-spinner Matt Carter, with Gurney and Broad coming in for Luke Fletcher and Jake Ball, who is being rested after bearing a heavy workload in recent weeks.Ball, Nottinghamshire’s leading wicket-taker, is strongly tipped to make his Test debut against Pakistan at Lord’s next week and Mick Newell, wearing both his Nottinghamshire and England hats, wants him to be in peak condition should his chance come.Broad bowled a fine spell with the new ball without reward and was then rather fortunate after lunch to see Alviro Petersen given out to a legside strangle when he barely appealed. In the last of his four consistently-disciplined spells he held a brilliant return catch from a full-blooded hit to dismiss Jordan Clark before Liam Livingstone took a mighty swing at him towards midwicket and was caught at backward point off a steepling top edge.There was a scare late on when Neil Wagner ducked into a ball from Harry Gurney and took a blow on the back of the head. Happily, amid obvious concern among the Nottinghamshire players, who summoned help immediately, the New Zealand bowler was able to get to his feet and walk off.As it happened, he was also out, which seemed somewhat unfair, the ball dropping behind him as he dropped to his haunches and rolling on to the stumps with enough force to dislodge a bail and provide the in-form Gurney with a second wicket he deserved, if not by a route he would have chosen.

ScorecardChris Rushworth makes a mess of Richard Levi’s stumps•Getty Images

The scrap for qualifying places in the NatWest T20 Blast North Group hotted up further as one-time leaders Northamptonshire lost by six wickets to Durham at Chester-le-Street.By maintaining their unbeaten home record, Durham strengthened their hold on fourth place with two of their remaining three games also at home.But they turned a stroll into a scramble as they replied to 149 for 5 with an opening stand of 77 inside ten overs, then slipped to 89 for 4 with Ben Stokes falling for one.Both he and Mark Stoneman were lbw trying to sweep Sri Lankan leg-spinner Seekkuge Prasanna, who also had Phil Mustard caught off a towering straight drive to finish with three for 24.Both teams were on 100 after 14 overs, but whereas Ben Duckett was unable to accelerate in his unbeaten 48 off 42 balls, Keaton Jennings continued his excellent season by seeing Durham home with nine balls to spare.He cut Rory Kleinveldt for six in making 36 not out off 24 balls and shared an unbroken stand of 64 with Michael Richardson.That over from Kleinveldt, the 16th, included two wides and cost 15, one fewer than the ninth, bowled by Steven Crook.Bowling round the wicket to the left-handers, he began with a wide and conceded four leg byes with another leg-side ball before Mustard hit him for four and six over mid-wicket.It was also a poor night for the competition’s leading dot ball bowler, Richard Gleeson, who finished the match with a no-ball followed by a wide which flew down the leg side to the boundary.Stoneman beat his season’s previous best T20 score of 25 by making 40, as did Mustard.Despite Josh Cobb hitting 68 off 51 balls, Durham kept a tight rein on the visitors after putting them in.Going in at 14 for 2, Duckett shared a stand of 95 with Cobb. But he lacked the firepower to take his side to a winning total.Chris Rushworth knocked out Richard Levi’s off stump with the first ball of the match and in the fourth over Adam Rossington went down the track to Mark Wood, only to sky a comfortable catch for Mustard.Wood, whose four overs cost only 19, almost had a second wicket when Cobb, on 16, narrowly cleared mid-off.Cobb lifted Scott Borthwick over long-on for six then a lofted straight drive off Jennings gave him his fifth four and took him to 50 off 40 balls before driving Ryan Pringle for a straight six.Cobb departed in the 16th over when he tried to scythe Jennings through off side and played on, then Crook went down the pitch to a slower ball and was stumped.Kleinveldt scored 23 of the 35 runs which came off the last four overs, including a huge six over the sightscreen off Jennings, before he was caught by Wood at long leg off the last ball.

Pakistan’s players are ready to close ranks around Mohammad Amir when he makes his long-awaited Test comeback at Lord’s this week – but they are also focused on shutting out the noise surrounding Amir’s return to the scene of his spot-fixing involvement six years ago and intend to let their efforts on the pitch do most of the talking.Wahab Riaz has already described Amir as the team’s “little brother” and he reiterated their support for the 24-year-old, who is likely to be under intense scrutiny in his first Test since 2010, after which he served time in a young offenders’ institute as well as a five-year ICC ban from all cricket for agreeing to bowl deliberate no-balls.

Wahab plays down Trott tussle in 2010

Wahab Riaz has described his altercation with Jonathan Trott in the nets at Lord’s in 2010 as nothing more than an argument that got out of hand. With tensions running high in the wake of the spot-fixing revelations, Trott and Riaz had to be separated after a physical confrontation before the fourth match of the ODI series that followed on from the Tests.
Both players were spoken to at the time by the match referee, Jeff Crowe, and the matter was not taken any further. Asked to recall the incident six years on, Wahab played down its significance in typically light-hearted fashion.
“He was a bit rude and when it comes to being rude, you can never beat the Pakistanis on it,” he said. “We are the most rude when it comes to it. We are nice but if somebody is rude we won’t spare it.
“He was a bit rude, he was angry, he was not scoring runs, he was getting out early in the ODIs, [after] doing well in the Tests. It was a frustration he tried to take out on me. It’s gone now.”

Despite the shadow cast over Pakistan’s last visit to Lord’s, Amir’s name remains on the honours board for his first-innings 6 for 84. Wahab said he hoped Amir would be able to repeat the feat this time around and that another five-wicket haul in sunnier circumstances would help to rehabilitate his reputation, as well as put Pakistan on their way to upsetting England in the first Test.”What has happened has gone now, it has gone a long way now so I think the best thing is that he can perform well,” Wahab said. “I want him to take five wickets in this Test match to get his name back and to get his image back, which has been spoiled, and I wish him all the best to win this Test for Pakistan.”While the current England team – a handful of whom played in the 2010 Test – have largely expressed a willingness to face Amir, some former players, notably Graeme Swann and Kevin Pietersen, have suggested that match-fixers should automatically be banned for life. Speaking last month, Alastair Cook put forward a similar view, although he was satisfied that, in Amir’s case, he had served than ban that he was given at the time.The question of how the Lord’s crowd will react when Amir readies himself to bowl at the ground once again also looms over the Test, but Wahab said his team-mate was mentally strong enough to handle the pressure.”I think he will deal with all those things and he is ready to answer with his performance and that is what counts,” Wahab said. “He is ready for everything. If you make a mistake it doesn’t mean that you are out of this world and people will keep blaming you for that. Once he has done his punishment then it is a new life for him and he is ready to have a go again.”Responding to several questions about the significance of the occasion, Wahab said the Pakistan players were getting used to letting it go “in one ear and out the other”.”You cannot stop what people say and what people think,” he said. “It doesn’t matter what people think and we are not here to answer what people think. The only thing is we are here to play good cricket and here to play competitive cricket against an England team who are very good in their home conditions.”Our focus and concentration is to win this Test match and play as good as we can for our country and win this game. That is all we are thinking. We know things will come and go but you hear it in one ear and you leave it with the other and you just concentrate on your cricket.”Pakistan’s last two tours of England have ended in controversial – not to mention heavy – defeats: the forfeiture at The Oval in 2006 led to a 3-0 scoreline, while England wrapped up the series 3-1 four years later. Their last Test series win in this country came 20 years ago, in 1996, but they arrive this time as the higher ranked side, on the back of a thorough programme of preparation and acclimatisation, and having won their five of their last six Test matches against England.Pakistan briefly rose to No. 2 in the ICC Test rankings – they are currently third, a place above England – after beating England 2-0 in the UAE last year and Wahab pointed to Misbah-ul-Haq, who stepped up to replace Salman Butt as captain after the 2010 spot-fixing crisis and oversee the rebuilding of the team, as the main reason for their recent success.”What has happened before has gone,” he said. “It was six years ago and Pakistan have made their name in Test cricket. From the last four years we have had a Test ranking of two, three, four. Under the captaincy of Misbah this team is much more united.”We have seen the hard time of Pakistan cricket. It’s easy to see and easy to talk about but we have worked hard after what happened. We have managed to make people all over the world believe that Pakistan is a good Test team. The belief will come – it depends how much crowd will come and want to see the Test matches. If it is a full house that means they do believe in the Pakistan team. Pakistan are a strong team and can always give you a hard time.”

India coach Anil Kumble is “very impressed” with the facilities at the Central Broward Regional Park Stadium in Florida, which is set to host two T20 internationals between West Indies and India over the weekend. This will be the first time India will be playing international matches in the USA. The Central Broward Regional Park in Lauderhill, close to 50kms north of Miami, is the only ICC certified ODI standard stadium facility in the USA and hosted six Caribbean Premier League matches last month.”I certainly didn’t expect the facilities to be as good as what it is in the United States,” Kumble said in Lauderhill on Thursday. “I certainly felt that it could be a makeshift. I had heard about Florida and this ground, but very impressed with the facilities that we have seen today. It’s the first time that I’m seeing this ground and the wickets are good, ideal probably for a T20, and the practice facilities have been good, the outfield looks fantastic. So all in all, really impressed with the facilities here.”It’s a wonderful initiative and we are really looking forward to our matches here, it’s going to be a sell out. We know US…the expats and the huge Indian diaspora who are wanting for quality cricket to come to the US. We have played in the past in the West Indies and a lot of Indians come over form the US to watch us. So this is a great opportunity for all of them and I’m sure this is the start of a new beginning in the United States and I’m sure there will be a lot more of the Indian team in the US going forward.”The two-match series is going to be the first of what will develop into an annual event in the USA as part of efforts to “reach out to new markets and audiences,” BCCI president Anurag Thakur had said. The Indian squad arrived in Florida from the West Indies on Tuesday, before they were joined by T20 captain MS Dhoni and fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah on Wednesday. Even though India won the Test series 2-0, the players from the Test squad are coming with hardly any recent match practice because of the rain-affected fourth Test in Port-of-Spain where the last four days didn’t see any play. Kumble was still optimistic about the confidence the team would carry from his first series as coach.”Of course the start [of coaching career] always makes it that much sweeter when you’ve had success and I can’t ask for a better set of players in terms of what I want from them,” Kumble said. “They are extremely committed, very disciplined and you tell them what you need and they are ready to put their hand up and do it.”This is the first time that I’ll be working with MS, obviously we have played together over a long period of time and we had a chat yesterday and today as well. I’m really looking forward to working with him and the new set of boys like Bumrah who’s joined as well. I’ve worked with him in the IPL so it’s nice to be a part of the India dressing room again.”Describing the shift from Tests to T20s mainly as a “mindset change”, Kumble was also aware of the change they may see in their opposition. Ranked eighth in the ICC Test rankings, West Indies are also the T20 champions and will play under a new captain, Carlos Brathwaite.”West Indies has always been a tough side, they are the T20 world champions,” Kumble said. “About the shift that we need to make from Test cricket to T20, the West Indies players may not have to do that because some of them are coming straight from the CPL. They are quality cricketers and have shown consistently how good they are and we had a tough match in the semi-finals of the T20 World Cup as well. In terms of the quality that we are going to encounter, we are aware of that. It’s going to be a challenge and I think the Indian team has done really well over the last six months as a T20 side as well so that’s something that we are looking forward to.”The Central Broward Regional Park has previously hosted four T20Is – in 2010, New Zealand played two matches against Sri Lanka, and returned in 2012 for two games against West Indies.

There is losing, and then there is being completely and totally outplayed. For the last three times that Ireland have played ODIs against Full Members, it has been the latter. They were beaten by 255 runs by Pakistan, and before that, by 136 runs and 76 runs by Sri Lanka, making for grim reading. However, William Porterfield, their captain, managed to find the positives.”We’ve done a lot of things well for 80 to 85 overs in a lot of those games,” Porterfield said. “Against Pakistan, we pretty much had an off day, and Sharjeel (Khan) had a very good day. He was the big difference in the game. If we kept him out of it, it would have been a decent enough contest. We probably lost the Sri Lanka game in seven or eight overs on the field. Those things can happen if you’re not right on it.”Realistically, that is a generous analysis. Sharjeel’s 152 off 86 balls accounted for almost half of Pakistan’s total of 337, but even if he had been kept quiet, Ireland only managed 82 in response. Similarly, they were unable to muster strong replies against Sri Lanka after conceding heavily in both the matches they played in June.The real reason for Ireland’s recent struggles may lie a little deeper, and Porterfield was willing to acknowledge that. “The biggest thing for ourselves was that we had quite a few debutants in those games, especially with our bowling attack, and the experience they have taken from that is going to be key.”Against Sri Lanka, Barry McCarthy earned his first cap to join a young pace pack that included Andy McBrine, who has played 16 ODIs, and Max Sorensen, who has 13 ODIs to his name. Add that to new faces in the batting line-up such as Stuart Poynter and Sean Terry, and you have a team in a transition of sorts, which makes the dip in consistency understandable.That makes it particularly important for Ireland’s stalwarts like Porterfield and the O’Brien brothers to perform well in the two matches in South Africa, but even more important that Tim Murtagh provides influence and inspiration through his presence. Murtagh joined the squad early on Saturday morning after winning the county championship with Middlesex, and Ireland will see the value of having someone with that success.Whether Murtagh plays the first game remains to be seen, especially as he would only have had little more than 24 hours of recovery time, but simply having him around will boost Irish spirits. “He is here today, training,” Porterfield said, his tone notably lighter than when he was dissecting Ireland’s last few performances. “He has got 20 years of experience behind him, so he knows what he needs to do and how his body is going to feel, and he will be pretty open and honest himself, how he is feeling.”How Ireland are feeling is also transparent. They are both nervous and excited at the possibilities that lie ahead in the next four days, and they are determined to make the most of them, so that they can be asked back to these shores in future. “Having the opportunity to come to South Africa and play them in their own backyard, and to play the world champions – Ireland play Australia in a one-off ODI after the South Africa match – in different conditions is what we have been building towards,” Porterfield said. “We’ve got to keep improving and keep putting in performances to merit the games that we get. We’re not here to just make up numbers for a couple of games, but we are here to win games of cricket.”

Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsBangladesh’s pursuit of a first Test win over England has been nothing if not absorbing. Following their narrow defeat in Chittagong, they once again fought themselves into a promising position in the second Test, leading by 128 runs and hopeful of setting England a significant fourth-innings target to chase on a wearing surface. Only Bangladesh’s recent record – and history itself – would lead you to bet against them.The second day at Mirpur highlighted their fragility, as well as the weaknesses of an England team one-and-a-half games into a seven-Test odyssey on the subcontinent. England were struggling to stay afloat after being reduced to 144 for 8 during the morning session, 19-year-old offspinner Mehedi Hasan bewitching the top order for his second consecutive six-for, before a record stand between Chris Woakes and Adil Rashid carried them into a scarcely believable first-innings lead.Bangladesh’s openers responded with a counterattack against the new ball, led by the irrepressible Tamim Iqbal, before two wickets in three balls caused another tremor. Mahmudullah’s dismissal from the last ball of the day, slogging wildly at Zafar Ansari, then took the gloss off a recovery stand of 86 with Imrul Kayes and England, mindful of the way Bangladesh plunged from 171 for 1 to 220 all out on Friday, will not have given up hope. Like one of the many tributaries flowing into the Bay of Bengal, this fluctuating match has refused to follow a set course.

Root leaves field with stomach complaint

England’s prospects of pulling off what promises to be a taxing run-chase could be dealt a blow after Joe Root was laid low by a stomach complaint on the second afternoon in Dhaka.
Root, who top-scored in England’s first innings with 56, left the ground early during Bangladesh’s second innings and is currently being assessed by the team medical staff.

The resurrection of England’s first innings, another stark reversal of fortunes, demonstrated the point. Having been eight down and 76 runs in arrears, Woakes and Rashid put on 99 together as Bangladesh visibly wilted after a dominant morning session in which they had claimed five wickets and seemingly regained control of the match.Their mettle was further tested by an off-field intervention. England had edged in front when Woakes, on 38, slapped a high full toss from Sabbir Rahman straight to midwicket but Chris Gaffaney, the TV umpire, deemed the delivery a no-ball for being above waist height – an undoubtedly harsh decision – and England went on to add another 22 runs to their total. Given that was the margin between the sides in Chittagong, it could still prove crucial.Tamim and Imrul wiped out the deficit, as momentum continued to shift and England’s spinners once again came under attack. Ansari removed Tamim for his maiden Test wicket and Ben Stokes struck in the following over but Imrul moved past 50 and was steady at the close – even if Mahmudullah was not.The Woakes-Rashid partnership was England’s highest for the ninth wicket in Asia and kept the tourists in game after another trial by spin. At lunch, England had been left sagging on the ropes and contemplating a significant first-innings deficit, despite a battling fifty from Joe Root.Woakes and Rashid were initially only focused on getting to the break, though both needed some luck to survive. Woakes was given out caught behind but successfully reviewed, while Mushfiqur Rahim’s resort to the DRS could not dislodge Rashid after the ball deflected off his body to slip. Rashid could also have been stumped when Mushfiqur dropped the ball on to the wicket but the bails stayed in place.They remained glued together for almost the entirety of the afternoon session, playing straight against the softening ball and frustrating Bangladesh’s hopes of a potentially decisive lead. After 57 overs exclusively of spin, Mushfiqur finally called on his one seamer, Kamrul Islam Rabbi, before the captain turned, slightly in desperation, to Sabbir, who ought to have had Woakes as his first Test wicket – though it was neither a shot nor a delivery to be proud of.Gaffaney’s decision further deflated Bangladesh and although Mehedi had Woakes smartly caught at leg slip by the diving Shuvagata Hom four runs short of a second Test half-century and Steven Finn did not last long, edging to Mushfiqur in the next over, the scales had tipped England’s way.On this security-heavy tour, England have become used to travelling in convoy through closed-off roads, free from the usual traffic, Dhaka’s notoriously sclerotic system bypassed. The two Tests against Bangladesh have been similarly fast-moving, the traditionally glacial progress of subcontinental cricket melting into something far-less predictable.The challenge for England was clear from the outset. Mehedi was again Bangladesh’s spin kingpin and there were already signs of the pitch offering more grip after Moeen Ali edged the third ball of the day to slip on the bounce. Fourteen runs had come from 11 deliveries in slightly frantic fashion when Moeen tried to manufacture a sweep and Mehedi slid the ball past the bottom edge to shudder off stump.During an extended morning session, which spanned almost 40 overs, on a surface that was perfectly suited to the talents of the home attack, Mushfiqur bowled his three spinners throughout. Root provided the principal roadblock to Bangladeshi ambition. He survived one tough chance to slip and many more deliveries spitting past the bat to compile his first half-century of the winter before becoming the eighth man out shortly before lunch. Having seen Taijul Islam spin the ball practically at right angles past his bat, he was defeated by the very next delivery, one that pitched in almost exactly the same spot only to zero in on leg stump.Jonny Bairstow was the only other top-order batsman to reach 20, while Ansari, the debutant at No. 8, hung in as best he could. It took a superb reaction catch from Shuvagata at gully to remove him, giving Mehedi his five-for in the process; he became only the second offspinner after Sonny Ramadhin to do so twice in his first two Test matches.Taijul might have dislodged Root on 19, but Mahmudullah failed to get more than fingertips on a thick edge that gave him little time to react as the ball diverted past Mushfiqur’s gloves. The next delivery brought the wicket of Stokes, taken at short leg for a duck, the ball spinning in sharply from over the wicket to deflect off the inside edge via the thigh pad.England were 69 for 5 and once again in need of a sixth-wicket rescue job. Bairstow provided one of sorts (these things are relative), although his 45-run association with Root was not quite enough to extend a run of 50-plus stands that had stretched back to England’s defeat to Pakistan at Lord’s in July. The Yorkshire pair were proactive in their running and watchful in defence, accepting that the ball would frequently rip past the edge but quickly resetting their sights for the next delivery.Bangladesh reviewed unsuccessfully when Root was on 33, seeking an lbw, but after their doughty association had held for 16.3 overs – by far the longest of the innings until Woakes and Rashid came together – and England were perhaps just beginning to think about parity, Bairstow played absentmindedly around Mehedi’s first ball back into the attack to be pinned in front of his stumps.