The threat of rain loomed over gloomy Chittagong but the weather stayed clear enough for Bangladesh to demolish West Indies for their second-lowest total in one-day internationals

The Report by George Binoy18-Oct-2011
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsBangladesh took their chance to rip through West Indies and pay them back for the humiliating World Cup defeat•Associated Press

The threat of rain loomed over gloomy Chittagong but the weather stayed clear enough for Bangladesh to demolish West Indies for their second-lowest total in one-day internationals, after which their batsmen knocked off the target of 62 in 20 overs to win the dead rubber. From 33 for 1, Bangladesh’s bowlers began to hack through the West Indies line-up as nine wickets fell for 28 runs. The strong crowd that turned up despite the wetness cheered as the home side dished out retribution for the two defeats in the series, and for the humiliation in the 2011 World Cup.West Indies had lost only two and four wickets during their victories in Mirpur but this Chittagong pitch was different. Its pace was sluggish, its bounce low and the ball did not come on to the bat. There was turn too. To add to that, rain on the eve of the match had left the outfield soggy, and shots hit along the ground lost speed quickly. Batting conditions were far from ideal. Mushfiqur Rahim won his fourth out of four tosses on the tour and put West Indies in.To succeed, the batsmen needed tremendous patience and application, and West Indies had neither. Bangladesh’s bowlers, to their credit, did not give an inch and Danza Hyatt and Kieran Powell, playing because Lendl Simmons had a back problem, struggled. They added 10 runs in six overs before Hyatt lost composure and attempted to loft Nazmul Hossain, who replaced Rubel Hossain for this game, down the ground and edged to slip.Marlon Samuels, the scourge of Bangladesh, tried to play like he had in Mirpur. He stayed back in his crease irrespective of whether the ball was full or not and attempted to drive and steer behind point. After 14 quiet deliveries Samuels carved Shafiul Islam and holed out to Suhrawadi Shuvo at sweeper cover. West Indies were 33 for 2 in the 11th over.Powell was the best of the batsmen, which wasn’t saying much, as he played with an upright stance and used his top hand to drive straight and through the off side. He hit the only four boundaries during the mandatory Powerplay, all of them against medium-pace. Spin in the 12th over, however, was a tougher test and Powell was bowled off the second ball he faced from Nasir Hossain. The offbreak drifted into the left-hander, pitched on leg stump, and ripped across the outside edge to hit the top of off. It was the delivery of the match.The very next ball, Nasir induced a return catch from Kieron Pollard. These were his first one-day wickets and Nasir had reduced West Indies to 34 for 4.The innings went into free-fall thereafter. Darren Bravo edged a square drive to the keeper off Shafiul in the 13th over and Darren Sammy was lbw to Shakib Al Hasan’s first ball. Shakib went on to cut through the lower order, finishing with figures of 4 for 16 as he ended the innings in the 22nd over.Defending 62, no matter how hard the pitch and outfield was to bat on, was impossible. West Indies could have dismissed Imrul Kayes before he lofted Sammy down the ground for six, but Powell dropped a regulation chance at first slip of Kemar Roach. Kayes fell soon after, though, getting a leading edge to cover while trying to fend off a short ball from Roach. Bangladesh were 25 for 1.Bangladesh lost Shahriar Nafees – picked ahead of Mohammed Ashraful – as well but Tamim Iqbal and Mushfiqur, who promoted himself to secure victory on a demanding pitch, finished the job. Tamim top scored with 36 and hit the winning runs off the last ball of the 20th over, as rain began to fall in Chittagong.

ESPNcricinfo previews the second ODI between Pakistan and Sri Lanka in Dubai

The Preview by Siddarth Ravindran13-Nov-2011

Match facts

Monday, November 14
Start time 1500 (1100 GMT)Misbah-ul-Haq’s stock continues to rise•AFP

Big Picture

With every passing match, the stock of Misbah-ul-Haq continues to rise. A dysfunctional board, the loss of world-class fast bowlers to the spot-fixing crisis, a fall-out between captain and coach earlier in the year leading to the brief retirement of the talismanic Shahid Afridi – none of that has stopped Misbah from steering Pakistan to an almost six-month unbeaten run. Some of the opposition along the way might have been the lightweights, but the thumping win in the first one-dayer came against one of the top limited-overs sides in the world. For a man whose international career seemed well and truly over a little more than a year ago, it’s been quite a ride since taking over as captain.Things haven’t been as smooth for the man who became Sri Lanka’s leader after the World Cup. There’s been some scattered Twenty20 success, but Tillakaratne Dilshan’s side has lost all their major Test and ODI assignments over the past six months. After the abysmal batting collapse in the first one-dayer, Dilshan was critical of the shot-selection, especially from a hugely experienced top order. His own one-day form hasn’t been great, and Sri Lanka have the added worry of Mahela Jayawardene struggling with a knee injury, which could put him out of Monday’s match.

Form guide

Pakistan WWWWW
Sri Lanka LWLWL

Watch out for…

The solidity of Pakistan’s openers in recent matches have reduced the opportunities for Umar Akmal, but a substantial performance from him will deter the team management from being tempted to replace him with Shoaib Malik. Umar was Man of the Match when Pakistan halted Australia’s 34-match World Cup unbeaten streak, but he hasn’t made a half-century against Test opposition in more than a year. The talent has never been in doubt, and he’s still only 21, but the results need more consistency.Another highly rated 21-year-old batsman looking to make an impression is Dinesh Chandimal. After the highs of a Lord’s century, his form has nosedived – three low scores against Australia led to him losing his spot. He regained his place in the XI on Friday and top scored with 28 but his position in the order is a source of debate. Jayawardene usually prefers to bat as high as possible, but Chandimal’s presence at No. 4 pushes Jayawardene down to three-down. “I want Chandimal to bat between Sanga and Mahela,” Dilshan said. “Sanga comes in at three and Mahela at five, and if Chandimal can bat around the two of them it would be good.”

Team news

After their comprehensive victory on Friday, Pakistan are unlikely to want to tinker with their combination.Pakistan (probable) 1 Imran Farhat, 2 Mohammad Hafeez, 3 Younis Khan, 4 Umar Akmal, 5 Misbah-ul-Haq (capt.), 6 Abdul Razzaq, 7 Shahid Afridi, 8 Sarfraz Ahmed (wk), 9 Umar Gul, 10 Saeed Ajmal, 11 Aizaz CheemaThough it was the batting that was abject in their defeat in the previous game, Sri Lanka’s top six is more or less set in stone, unless if Jayawardene fails to recover from his knee problem. In that case, Dimuth Karunaratne, the 23-year-old top-order batsman from SSC, will likely take his place. Changes are likely to come lower down in the order, with Thisara Perera and Jeevan Mendis as possible replacements for the new boys, Kosala Kulasekara and Seekkuge Prasanna. Perera could even be brought in at the expense of Dilhara Fernando, who was erratic on Friday though he touched express speeds of 145kph.Sri Lanka (probable) 1 Upul Tharanga, 2 Tillakaratne Dilshan (capt), 3 Kumar Sangakkara (wk), 4 Dinesh Chandimal, 5 Mahela Jayawardene, 6 Angelo Mathews, 7 Kosala Kulasekara 8 Thisara Perera 9 Seekkuge Prasanna/Jeevan Mendis 10 Lasith Malinga 11 Suranga Lakmal

Stats and trivia

• Shahid Afridi’s Man-of-the-Match award on Friday was his 25th, one more than Inzamam-ul-Haq has received. Saeed Anwar (28) is the only Pakistan player with more such honours.
• Tillakaratne Dilshan’s batting form has deserted him in ODIs since he took over as captain after the World Cup. In 12 matches, he has only one half-century and averages a paltry 13.66.

Quotes

“He handles things well and is somewhat like Arjuna Ranatunga and he has the patience to wait until he achieves what he wants to.”

“I’ve got experienced guys in the team and they’re really doing very well, especially Younis Khan, who’s always contributing to the team, now Shahid Afridi has come in and performed very well and Abdul Razzaq also bowled very well (on Friday).”

R Ashwin, who was the most effective of India’s bowlers on day two of the tour match against the CA Chairman’s XI in Canberra, has said that he has worked on his strategy ahead of the Test series

ESPNcricinfo staff20-Dec-2011R Ashwin, who was the most effective of India’s bowlers on day two of the tour match against the CA Chairman’s XI in Canberra, has said that he has worked on his strategy ahead of the Test series.”You have to spin it; for the few days of a Test, I don’t expect the ball to turn,” Ashwin told . “It has to be in the air [have flight], and later [in the Test you can] exploit the rough. For the left-handers you attack the stumps and for the right-hander bowl outside the off-stump.””I have been speaking to a few umpires and they say it spins on day four and five. But I have to look at the match as a whole, keep spinning and flighting the ball, and hoping the batsmen would attack me. Later, probably, if I could sit down with Shane Warne and chat with him [it would help].”Ashwin picked up four of the seven wickets the Indians claimed on the second day, while reducing the Chairman’s XI to 215 for 7. He said that he had expected the batsmen to be more aggressive against him. “I was very surprised that they were not attacking me. I bowled a few bad balls, I wasn’t hit for a six. I am always prepared to be hit for a few sixes anyway.”His victims included centurion Ed Cowan, Phillip Hughes, Tom Cooper and Alex Doolan. He particularly enjoyed Doolan’s dismissal, he said. “It [the delivery] didn’t have much of spin but it just bounced a bit more. The catch belonged to Ajinkya Rahane … I haven’t seen such a good catch for a long time.” Doolan was caught at forward short leg for a duck.

For the first time in their notional home series, Pakistan had a crowd to strengthen their resolve. They came in their thousands after Friday prayers and sat on the grassy banks at the Sheikh Zayed stadium

The Report by David Hopps27-Jan-2012
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsAzhar Ali made an unbeaten 46, sharing 71 with Asad Shafiq as the pair fought back to put Pakistan into the lead•AFP

For the first time in their notional home series, Pakistan had a crowd to strengthen their resolve. They came in their thousands after Friday prayers and sat on the grassy banks at the Sheikh Zayed stadium. What they witnessed was Test cricket at its most attritional but they also witnessed a clue to Pakistan’s batting future.Azhar Ali and Asad Shafiq came together at 54 for 4 with Pakistan still 16 runs in arrears and England’s bowlers coming to terms with the rigours of playing Test cricket in Asia. It is a rare sight to see England with two spinners bowling to an attacking ring. With Pakistan faltering, they were even beginning to think they might like it.This time Azhar and Shafiq did not have Misbah-ul-Haq at the non-striker’s end learnedly chiding them to be patient but they were patient all the same. They ground out 71 at barely two an over and when the third day closed they had drawn the fire from England’s attack. Shafiq treated Pakistan’s supporters to two successive boundaries off Monty Panesar, Azhar offered a couple of serene drives and a skip down the pitch to loft Graeme Swann over long-on but it was stern-minded stuff.Their response was essential. Much was made of England’s flimsy top-order batting during their 10-wicket defeat in Dubai; Pakistan’s looked just as brittle. Panesar and Swann have not been as magical as Saeed Ajmal, nor have they turned the ball as sharply as Abdur Rehman, but in their first Test together for two-and-a-half years they laid down a challenge.Mohammad Hafeez and Taufeeq Umar fell to nothing more substantial than artfully-pitched straight balls; a substantial sandstorm could blow through the gap between Taufeeq’s bat and pad. Younis Khan got a beauty from Panesar which turned to uproot his off stump. Then the old fox, Misbah, fell: a third wicket for Panesar. Misbah looked for a reprieve on DRS but the dispassionate conclusion had to be that the third umpire, Billy Bowden, was right to conclude that the ball had hit pad before bat.The growing quality of pitches in the UAE has contributed to two engrossing Tests. It was widely anticipated that this could be a tedious series on unresponsive pitches. Instead, there has been enough life for bowlers to relish an even contest. For those watching from England, whichever side they have been rooting for, it has been well worth an early alarm call.

Smart stats

• Sixteen batsmen were dismissed bowled or lbw in the first innings of both teams, which equals the record for the first two innings of a Test. The record for an entire Test is 26, in last year’s game between West Indies and Pakistan in Providence.

• Saeed Ajmal is playing his 19th Test, and has taken 97 wickets at 27.92. After 19 matches, Graeme Swann had taken 85 wickets at 30.84.

• Of the 25 Test wickets that Mohammad Hafeez has taken, 20 have been of left-hand batsmen. He averages 21.30 for each of those wickets; against right-handers he averages 91.20.

• Stuart Broad’s batting average at Nos.8 and 9 is 30.43. With a cut-off of 40 innings at those two positions, only four batsmen have done better in Test history.

But the main benefits have come from the advent of DRS. Technology is rapidly making defensive pad play a thing of the past as umpires grant lbw decisions where once they would have looked askance. The game is different now: livelier, more combative and eminently more watchable. The downside is that lbw decisions are at an all-time high but with the future of Test cricket in such doubt, technology has provided a timely shot in the arm.That England were able to put the squeeze on Pakistan owed everything to Stuart Broad, whose enterprising, unbeaten, 58 from 62 balls gave them a 70-run first-innings lead. England made 116 runs in the morning session at a rate of nearly 4.5 runs an over as Broad poured his frustration with England’s careworn batting in the series into every shot. He had made some mildly provocative remarks about his England batting colleagues after Pakistan had been bowled out for 257, remarking on Twitter that it would make no difference if the batsmen did not frame themselves.When Ajmal had broken England’s dominance with three quick wickets on the second evening, frustration had been etched into Broad’s face as he watched from the boundary edge. At such times there is something endearing about his unabashed desire to win a cricket match.He batted like a man on a mission. If it was up there he would hit it, old ball and new. He needed good fortune on 33 when he survived the narrowest of run out decisions by the third umpire Bowden. Azhar pounced on the ball from cover and threw down the stumps as Broad chanced a single off Junaid Khan. As he dived for the crease it was debatable whether his bat was grounded. But he brought up England’s 300 by slog-sweeping Abdur Rehman’s left-arm spin for six into the Knocking Area – a sanctuary perhaps for the England batsmen he had previously chided.The old ball was 84.5 overs old at start of play but Misbah entrusted the task of dismantling England’s lower order to his spinners. Matt Prior was intent on playing them off the back foot whenever possible but Ajmal had his measure. He was badly dropped at deep square-leg by Junaid and then spared from an lbw decision by the tiniest inside edge. By the time Ajmal had him lbw on the back foot, a decision upheld after an England review, it was apparent he needed to be put out of his misery.Ian Bell was also dropped, a rasping return catch to Rehman which flew through his hands for four, and was also beaten several times by Rehman’s sharp turn. His tremors against Ajmal’s doosra were less apparent but he fell to Gul and the second new ball, England failing with DRS for the second time.Pakistan finally parcelled up England’s innings one over into the afternoon as Hafeez, an increasingly redoubtable all-round cricketer, took two wickets in three balls. Panesar, whose last Test innings had been a heroic rearguard action against Australia in Cardiff, this time managed a more prosaic second-ball duck. Panesar, lbw, signalled that he had hit it, but England had omitted to save a review for him.

Australia scraped home with one ball remaining after Jess Cameron’s half-century set up their successful chase in the first Twenty20 at North Sydney Oval

ESPNcricinfo staff20-Jan-2012
ScorecardKatie Perkins made 31 on debut but it wasn’t enough for New Zealand•Getty Images

Australia scraped home with one ball remaining after Jess Cameron’s half-century set up their successful chase in the first Twenty20 at North Sydney Oval. New Zealand made 7 for 145 having been sent in to bat in the first match of their tour and it was a tense finish as the Australians needed six off the final over.Amy Satterthwaite was handed the task of bowling the last over, with Sarah Coyte and the debutant Jess Jonassen at the crease. It came down to two from the final two balls and Coyte managed to drive a boundary through extra cover to ensure the hard work of Cameron, who was Player of the Match for her 59, was not wasted.Cameron and Alex Blackwell (35) guided Australia’s chase until they departed from consecutive balls, leaving New Zealand with a sniff. Ultimately, the visitors were a few runs short and needed someone to have posted a half-century to lead the way like Cameron did for Australia.Frances Mackay (31) and Suzie Bates (33) put on 63 for the opening wicket but they were the best scores, along with the 31 made by the debutant Katie Perkins. The series continues with the second T20 on Saturday.