Tim Murtagh has been given special dispensation to arrive late for Ireland’s tour of South Africa later this month, in order to play Middlesex’s County Championship decider against Yorkshire at Lord’s

ESPNcricinfo staff16-Sep-2016
Tim Murtagh has been given special dispensation to arrive late for Ireland’s tour of South Africa later this month, in order to play Middlesex’s County Championship decider against Yorkshire at Lord’s.Ireland take on South Africa and Australia in two ODIs at Benoni on September 25 and 27, two days after the conclusion of the final round of Championship fixtures, in which a Middlesex victory would end their 23-year wait for the title.”This match means a huge amount to both Tim and Middlesex,” said Cricket Ireland Performance Director, Richard Holdsworth. “Having played with the club for ten years, it would be the culmination of one of his most fiercely-held ambitions.”While the remainder of the squad will travel out tomorrow [Saturday], we felt this was an exceptional situation and a game which we should allow Tim to play in.”There has been a long and mutually beneficial relationship between Middlesex and Ireland, and we felt it would further strengthen our close ties by showing some flexibility on this occasion.”Middlesex have agreed to fly Murtagh out to South Africa as soon as the game finishes, in time for him to join the squad ahead of the first ODI against South Africa on September 25.
Ed Joyce, meanwhile, has withdrawn from the tour after being diagnosed with a progressive knee injury which requires minor surgery.Joyce, who turns 38 next week, will be replaced in the squad by Leinster Lightning batsman Sean Terry, who made his Ireland debut earlier this summer during the series against Afghanistan.”It’s obviously a blow to lose someone of Ed’s calibre, but Sean Terry is a batsman of undoubted promise,” said John Bracewell, the head coach. “Given the likely pitch in Benoni, and the likelihood we will facing two majority pace attacks, the selectors felt that Sean was the logical replacement.”

Two late wickets undid West Indies’ good work after Shannon Gabriel’s maiden five-wicket haul had helped keep Pakistan to a first-innings total under 500

The Report by Karthik Krishnaswamy22-Oct-2016
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsSarfraz Ahmed scored an enterprising 56 before he was bowled by a Shannon Gabriel rocket•AFP

Through most of the second day, West Indies fought to keep Pakistan from assuming an impregnable position in the Abu Dhabi Test. Shannon Gabriel’s maiden five-wicket haul helped bowl Pakistan out for 452, and West Indies seemed to be in a fairly manageable position heading to stumps, but two wickets in the last two overs of the day sent them spiralling back to square one. At stumps, West Indies were four down and trailing by 346 runs, with Yasir Shah beginning to cause all manner of problems, ripping the ball out of the rough from around the wicket.Leon Johnson and Dwayne Bravo, opening because Kraigg Brathwaite had to make up for time spent off the field during Pakistan’s innings, looked comfortable at the start of the West Indies innings, with the conditions offering little help for either the seamers or the spinners. Then, in the third over after tea, Rahat Ali produced reverse-swing with a 13-over-old ball to get Johnson lbw, beating his inside edge as he looked to work the ball into the leg side. Rahat then nearly had Brathwaite third ball, finding his outside edge as he poked uncertainly with no footwork at a length ball swinging away from him, but the ball fell just short of the wicketkeeper Sarfraz Ahmed.Rahat and Sohail Khan continued to reverse the ball, though not extravagantly, and Bravo was untroubled by both of them as he drove with authority off both feet. It took until the 23rd over for Misbah-ul-Haq to turn to his legspinner, and Yasir struck at the start of his fourth over, straightening one from a middle-stump line to beat Bravo’s risky front-foot pull and strike his front pad. Michael Gough turned down Yasir’s appeal, but Pakistan’s review showed there was no inside-edge and that the ball pitched in line, and indicated it would have gone on to hit middle and leg stumps.

Shannon Gabriel on…

How the ankle injury he picked up in Australia changed him.
“Coming back from Australia, I had time to reflect and come up with different ways of improving my career. I decided to get fitter; I knew once I got fitter, I’ll be able to bowl better for longer. Plus, I’ve been trying a few things and I’ve been given the encouragement from Roddy [Estwick, West Indies’ bowling coach], so I am just lucky to be able to go out there and back my skills and ability and put all that I have practiced into the game.”
On the match situation in Abu Dhabi.
“Unfortunately we lost a couple of wickets here, but we still have a lot of guys who are capable of batting, guys who have scored Test hundreds already. We just need to believe in ourselves; we have the guys needed to go out there and put a good score on the board. The wicket seems to be doing a bit, it seemed to be spinning a lot. But we back our batsmen to go out there, whatever spin there is.”

Marlon Samuels nearly went first ball, an inside-edge saving him, on review, after Gough had given him out lbw. Samuels’ front-and-across trigger movement continued to cause him problems early in his innings against the spinners, but having survived that period, he began to play his shots. He took three fours off one Yasir over, moving back to slap him twice through the cover-point region and stepping forward in between to drive through mid-off.But he never really looked settled, and Rahat, in the penultimate over of the day, got the ball to reverse away from just short of a good length. Staying leg-side of the ball and not covering its line, Samuels poked at it and edged to slip. Then, Brathwaite pushed Yasir into the covers and called for one. Devendra Bishoo, the nightwatchman, sent him back when he was already halfway down the pitch, and two set batsmen had disappeared had disappeared in a flash.Pakistan were 304 for 4 overnight, and had gone past 500 in their last three first innings at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium, but Gabriel and Jason Holder prevented them from doing so again. They took two early wickets in the morning session, and then, after a 70-run seventh-wicket stand between Sarfraz and Mohammad Nawaz, picked up the last four wickets in the space of 9.2 overs.The lower-order slump began in the second over after lunch, when Gabriel speared a reverse-swinging 152kph full toss between Sarfraz’s bat and pad and hit the base of off stump. Sarfraz had just stroked him for two fours in four balls and moved past the half-century mark.Another full, reverse-swinging delivery sent Nawaz back for 25 when he played across a Holder yorker from around the wicket. Sohail responded by hitting three fours in one Gabriel over, barely moving his feet but timing his shots crisply. He couldn’t quite middle an attempted pull off Holder, however, and fell to a catch at midwicket.A successful lbw review from Sohail had kept Gabriel waiting for his fifth wicket, but he didn’t have to wait too long before Zulfiqar, failing to get fully forward to drive, sent a thin edge through to wicketkeeper Shai Hope.West Indies took the second new ball at the start of the day’s play, and Gabriel struck in the fifth over of the morning. The last six times Misbah had resumed his innings overnight before this, he had added no runs to his score four times. Today he added six runs to his overnight 90 before Gabriel got one to seam back a touch and go past his inside edge as he looked to work the ball into the leg side. Misbah reviewed Gough’s decision to give him out, and had to walk back when ball-tracking returned an “umpire’s call” judgement on whether the ball would have gone on to strike leg stump or not.
Yasir, who walked in as nightwatchman on the first evening but didn’t get to face a single ball, played some pleasing shots in reaching 23 – his three fours including a straight drive and a wristy pull, both off Holder – before pulling one straight to square leg.Pakistan were in danger of losing some of the ground they had gained on day one, but in Sarfraz they had just the right batsman for the situation, with the ability to score quickly and put the bowling team back on the back foot. Moving around the crease and often out of it to disrupt the bowlers’ lines and lengths, he began finding the gaps and rotating the strike as soon as he walked in, usually with nimble flicks and deflections into the leg side.Sarfraz didn’t hit any boundaries in his first 25 balls, but then hit two in two balls when Miguel Cummins tried to peg him back with the short ball, pulling him through square leg before helping him over the slips. Those were the last two balls of pace in the session. Spinners Devendra Bishoo and Roston Chase bowled the last 10 overs before lunch, and Pakistan comfortably milked 43 runs off them.Nawaz, who made a duck in his only innings on his debut Test in Dubai, waited ten balls to get off the mark here, but didn’t show any urgency or nerves while doing so. The introduction of the spinners freed him up to an extent, and he brought up his first Test boundary in the fifth over before lunch with a rasping square cut off Chase. It remained the only boundary in his 71-ball 25.

The WICB has decided to re-introduce day-night matches with the use of pink ball in their domestic first-class competition – the Regional 4-Day Tournament – in the upcoming season

ESPNcricinfo staff21-Oct-2016The WICB has decided to re-introduce day-night matches with the use of pink ball in their domestic first-class competition – the Regional 4-Day Tournament – for the upcoming season. The board had first carried out the experiment in 2009 to boost spectator interest that had been declining in the preceding years. Six of the 30 first-class matches in the upcoming season will be day-night matches, the WICB said in a release.”The purpose of the re-introduction of day-night matches is two-fold,” Roland Holder, WICB manager, Cricket Operations, said after the regional governing body released fixtures for the first half of the season on Thursday. “First, it allows our elite players to familiarise themselves with the pink ball, and secondly, it allows for greater spectator attendance, as patrons can have a relaxing evening watching their favourite team.”Each team has two matches – one home, one away – as gradually international boards begin to embrace this concept.”Four of the six day-night matches, which will begin at 3pm daily, have been scheduled before the Christmas and New Year’s holiday break. Those four also include the opening-round fixture between Trinidad & Tobago and Windward Islands at the Queen’s Park Oval from November 11 to 14. Defending champions Guyana will feature in the second day-night match, against St Lucia in the third round from November 26 to 29. The last two day-night matches are scheduled for the second half of the tournament in 2017.West Indies recently played their first day-night Test, against Pakistan, in front of empty stands in Dubai, where they lost by 56 runs. Their next Test with the pink ball is against England next summer at Edgbaston.

English cricket’s ceaseless search for a solution to stress fractures for fast bowlers has a new ally because of the ECB’s partnership with a global leader in athlete analytics

David Hopps12-Nov-2016English cricket’s ceaseless search for a solution to stress fractures suffered by fast bowlers has a new ally because of the ECB’s partnership with a global leader in athlete analytics.England teams – both men’s and women’s – have the opportunity to wear micro-sensors underneath their shirts in a three-year partnership with Catapult, a leading analytics provider.Raph Brandon, the ECB’s head of science, medicine and innovation, and Andy Flower, the former England coach, introduced the system to England Lions at the national performance centre in Loughborough this week and Brandon says the tie-up, which goes through to the 2019 World Cup in England, has already had “major benefits”.”Lower-back stress fractures will always be a challenge for us,” Brandon said. “It is particularly important for the U-19s that we monitor them very closely and do our best to protect them from injury.”Get the insight and then you can change your decisions. It is a series of learning. Thanks to the Catapult data, we have a comprehensive picture now of combined workload and training and we are establishing that joined-up picture for the best England bowlers, whether they are on contract or on the international pathway.”The challenge facing young fast bowlers as their growing bodies comes under enormous strain is the subject of a two-year research programme at Loughborough into how a young player’s spine adapts to the rigours of fast bowling.Evidence already gathered before the Catapult tie-up is that the spine of a successful England fast bowler such as James Anderson or Stuart Broad becomes as thick as any comparable spine in international sport in order to withstand the constant demands it has to bear.Brandon said: “What we know is if you get to become a Broad or an Anderson your spine on the opposite side of your bowling arm is the thickest spine in world sport. It is thicker than that of a rugby forward or any sports spine that we know. That is based on years of MRI scans with our international group.”As a young fast bowler, you will have your growth spurts where your spine grows but where it is not fully thick. You have to have a super-adapted spine to become an international fast bowler. The challenge is how to get from this thin piece of bamboo spine when you are 18 and very talented to the super-thick spine of Jimmy Anderson.”The bone adapts to loading cycles and gets stronger. You need to load it and then you need to rest and recover. The quality of data we can now capture and analyse means we now have far more facts to support the ‘feel’ we get from the expertise of our coaches in their support of the players.Catapult work with Miami University in 2015•Getty Images

“We can measure run-up speeds, the amount of acceleration going through the body, the amount of rotation going through their trunk, and so much more – in practice as well as matches. We will always have something to learn about the science behind the elite cricketer.”The decision about when to bring a player back from injury is now also likely to be built on many factors other than the old question: “Do you think you can get through okay?” being asked by a coach.”Selection is not dependent upon such data,” Brandon said, “but selectors are aware that we do have this information now. We are adding facts to the feel and the knowledge and the insights that the expert coaches and the players themselves have.”We understand the demands on individual players intimately. So when we are bringing players back from injury we know what demands they will face. If they are coming back to a Test match we have to build them up so they can cope with a certain amount of running, a certain amount of time on their feet, the total distance they are likely to travel and the likely amount of high intensity work. This very detailed work allows us to individualise our training for the players and that gives them confidence.”Although the collaboration with Catapult was motivated by the desire for fast-bowling analysis, it has also provided other insights.”Scoring a century in a one-day international will generally involve between seven and 12 miles total distance on your feet, including many sprints,” Brandon said.Such evidence has informed England’s coaches, and indeed the players, of the fitness demands involved. They will continue to give England ammunition when they chose to pull contracted England players out of county cricket – a regular bone of contention – and they are likely they played a part in Mark Robinson’s demands for better fitness levels when he took over as coach of England women earlier this year.

Azhar Ali has been retained as Pakistan’s ODI captain for the five-match series against Australia starting January 13 in Brisbane

Umar Farooq30-Dec-2016Azhar Ali has been retained as Pakistan’s ODI captain for the five-match series against Australia starting January 13 in Brisbane. Fast bowler Mohammad Irfan, who missed the limited-overs as well as Test series against West Indies in the UAE, returns to the squad, while Sohail Khan and Yasir Shah, who were in the squad for the ODIs against West Indies, have been dropped.

Pakistan ODI squad

Azhar Ali (capt.), Sharjeel Khan, Babar Azam, Shoaib Malik, Asad Shafique, Umar Akmal, Sarfraz Ahmed (wk), Mohammad Rizwan, Imad Wasim, Mohammad Nawaz, Mohammad Amir, Wahab Riaz, Hasan Ali, Rahat Ali, Mohammad Irfan
In: Mohammad Irfan
Out: Sohail Khan, Yasir Shah

“The ODI team has been selected keeping in mind the conditions in Australia and the performances of players in the recent ODI series against West Indies and in domestic cricket,” Inzamam-ul-Haq, the chief selector, said. “The team is a fine blend of experience and youth, and the selectors have decided to stick to the same combination of players selected for the West Indies series earlier. We believe that the team will do well in the tour.”A day before the first Test against Australia, PCB chairman Shaharyar Khan said the board had lost trust in Azhar’s leadership skills. Azhar responded with 324 runs in his next four innings, including an unbeaten 205 at the MCG.Azhar had reportedly refused to relinquish the captaincy after the PCB asked him to step down and focus on his batting following the 4-1 series defeat in England. Azhar has had a tough 19 months since he was appointed ODI captain in March 2015, soon after the World Cup. During his tenure, Pakistan had slipped to ninth place on the ICC rankings, with 86 points, their lowest tally since the points system was introduced in 2001.Irfan, who had been drafted into the squad for the ODIs in England as a replacement for the injured Mohammad Hafeez, bowled only five overs in the fourth ODI at Headingley, before leaving the field with cramps. He was then ruled out of the rest of the series, with his fitness leaving coach Mickey Arthur frustrated.Irfan regained fitness ahead of the series against West Indies in the UAE, but was ignored. He has now worked his way back into the squad at the expense of Sohail, having bowled 150.3 overs for 20 wickets, including two five-wicket hauls, in WAPDA’s title-winning run in the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy.Yasir’s exclusion means Pakistan have only two frontline spinners in the 15-member squad – Imad Wasim and Mohammad Nawaz. Kamran Akmal, who was the only player to pass 1000 runs in this season’s Quaid-e-Azam Trophy, was in contention for selection, but a reported disagreement between the team management and selectors saw him miss the cut. His brother Umar Akmal had earned a recall for the ODIs against West Indies, but he did not get a game. His last ODI appearance came against Australia in the 2015 World Cup.

New Zealand can regain the Chappell-Hadlee Trophy with a win at McLean Park, while Australia will be aware they need to improve drastically on their performance to stay in contention in the series

Daniel Brettig01-Feb-2017

Match facts

Thursday, February 2, 2017
Start time 1400 local (0100 GMT)New Zealand’s relief at Eden Park can become series-winning joy in Napier – if the weather holds•Getty Images

Big Picture

As the world waits to see whether or not Marcus Stoinis has another performance in him to rank with what he produced at Eden Park, the rest of Australia’s patchwork team know they cannot again perform as they did in game one and expect to level the Chappell-Hadlee Trophy in Napier. The visitors were presentable with the ball but sloppy in the field, dropping plenty of chances and allowing New Zealand to wriggle to a defensible total. Then in the pursuit, Stoinis’ brilliance obscured the collapse of the top order in a fashion that could have been an action replay of Australia’s previous two visits to Auckland. Aaron Finch, the stand-in captain for the previous stand-in Matthew Wade, is in need of runs to press his case for inclusion the next time Australia pick an ODI squad – namely for the Champions Trophy in England.The loss of Martin Guptill is a major one for New Zealand, but the hosts at least know they had a broad cross-section of contributors in the opening match. Kane Williamson will be hoping one of his batsmen can go on to a hundred this time around, while the bowling attack will be eager to repeat their early spells to Australia’s top order. Lockie Ferguson’s pace made for a challenging change-bowling option after Tim Southee and Trent Boult, while Mitchell Santner’s left-arm spin was also useful. However the targeting of Jimmy Neesham by Stoinis will be a cause for thought, as will the Australian allrounder’s star burst of sixes against all the bowlers at the pointy end of the match. More yorkers and fewer length balls would appear a straightforward solution to that particular question.

Form guide

(last five completed matches, most recent first)


New Zealand: WWWWL
Australia: LWWWL

In the spotlight

Having conjured the winning run-out in Auckland, Kane Williamson will want to back that moment of composure with substantial runs in Napier. The importance of Williamson’s next innings has only grown with the absence of Martin Guptill due to injury, depriving the hosts of their most obviously destructive top order figure. While Williamson’s method relies more on placement than power, he is capable of accelerating once he’s made a start – New Zealand will hope he can go further than he did at Eden Park, where he made 24.It was little more than a week ago that Peter Handscomb was making his ODI debut for Australia in Perth. Now he is the wicketkeeper for the remainder of this series with Wade flying home to rest his injured back. Handscomb struggled behind the stumps on short notice in game one, and the contrast with Tom Latham’s neater work was a key reason for Australia’s defeat. Having had more time to prepare for the gig this time around he can be expected to do better, both with the gloves and the bat.

Team news

Dean Brownlie, who has recast himself as an opener in recent times, will take the place of the injured Martin Guptill, and Tom Latham is set to keep the gloves after impressing at Eden Park.New Zealand (possible) 1 Dean Brownlie, 2 Tom Latham (wk), 3 Kane Williamson (capt), 4 Ross Taylor, 5 Neil Broom, 6 Colin Munro, 7 James Neesham, 8 Mitchell Santner, 9 Tim Southee, 10 Lockie Ferguson, 11 Trent Boult.Adam Zampa will be considered for Australia and Sam Heazlett is also likely to be retained.Australia (possible) 1 Aaron Finch (capt), 2 Travis Head, 3 Shaun Marsh, 4 Pete Handscomb, 5 Glenn Maxwell, 6 Sam Heazlett, 7 Marcus Stoinis, 8 James Faulkner, 9 Pat Cummins, 10 Mitchell Starc, 11 Josh Hazlewood.

Pitch and conditions

McLean Park is experimenting with a drop-in pitch this season with a view to digging up the entire square to turn the ground into a multi-purpose venue. However, the ODI track will come from the traditional pitch block. Showers are forecast for Napier on Thursday.

Stats and trivia

• This will be Dean Brownlie’s first appearance for New Zealand in more than two years.
• New Zealand won the most recent meeting between the two sides at McLean Park in 2010. Each side has won twice at the ground in their four encounters since the first one in 1998.

Quotes

“I’m aware if I do get the chance I’m warming Guptill’s seat but it’s also an opportunity to play against a very good side, which I’ve always enjoyed. Hopefully if I get a shot I can make a good contribution.”
“I’m really frustrated, I’d love to be out there. It was hard to sit there and watch the other day and it’s going to be the same tomorrow. It just hasn’t pulled up as quick as what I want. The travel probably hasn’t helped with that.