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Joe Root passes 150, Matt Fisher claims maiden Test wicket with second ball

Valkerie Baynes17-Mar-2022Ben Stokes made a welcome return to the ranks of Test centurion with a belligerent display against West Indies as England set a commanding first-innings total.It had been well over 18 months and 23 Test innings without a ton for Stokes and much has happened in that time – from losing his beloved father, Ged, to a four-and-a-half-month absence from the game during which he had two operations to repair a serious finger injury and took time out to manage his mental health. But once he got going on the second morning in Barbados, it was something to behold.He struck four sixes and 11 fours as he reached 89 off just 92 balls by lunch, having started the day on nought after Dan Lawrence fell on the last ball of the opening day.A quieter period ensued after the interval as Kemar Roach and Jason Holder put the lid on England’s scoring for a time, but Stokes went out swinging once more, for 120, after bringing up his 11th Test hundred with a scampered single and celebrating with his crooked-fingered salute to the heavens in memory of his dad, who died in December 2020. Stokes’ last Test century had come against West Indies at Old Trafford in July of that year.Meanwhile, his captain, Joe Root, was at the other end of the pitch for the most part, during a 129-run partnership for the fourth wicket, having brought up his second consecutive Test century the evening before, his eighth in 19 Tests since the start of 2021.Root ended up with 153 on this occasion, before leaving Stokes to carry on and then seeing a 75-run seventh-wicket stand between Chris Woakes and Ben Foakes, allowing him to on 507 for 9 shortly after tea.Debutant Matthew Fisher, drafted into the squad after the Ashes debacle and handed his chance when Craig Overton fell ill on the eve of this match, struck with just his second ball in international cricket before Kraigg Brathwaite and Shamarh Brooks resisted further damage to steer West Indies to 71 for 1 at the close.Having seen John Campbell thread his first ball to the rope through backward point, Fisher elicited a prod outside off-stump and the ball flew off the toe-end of Campbell’s bat to Foakes behind the stumps. Poignantly, as he celebrated his maiden Test wicket, Fisher raised his finger skyward in tribute to his own father, Phil, who died when Matthew was just 14.Fisher thought he had his second wicket when Brooks jabbed in the direction of second slip, where Zak Crawley stooped very low to grab the ball in his fingertips, although he came up looking uncertain as to whether it had been grounded in the process and replays showed it had, confirming the not-out soft signal.Brathwaite was then given out lbw on 14, Jack Leach skidding one into his back pack – but not before it had grazed the bat, as the DRS confirmed to reprieve West Indies’ captain.Earlier, Stokes and Root had England innings looking like London buses as they carried their side past 300. That mark had evaded them for 12 innings and more than six months, until the first Test in Antigua, when they racked up 311 and 349 for 6 declared.Matt Fisher struck with his second ball in Test cricket•Getty Images

Having begun the day on 244 for 3, with Root on 119, Stokes lit up the morning. He twice advanced on left-arm spinner Veerasammy Permaul to launch him down the ground for six in consecutive overs, bringing up his fifty in the second instance. He later muscled Permaul over the fence at midwicket before clubbing the very next ball over cover for four.Stokes took to Alzarri Joseph in the following over with three consecutive fours, bringing up the 100-partnership with Root via a powerful drive through cover before launching him over long-off and through midwicket. But Stokes wasn’t done, passing 5000 Test runs with a mow down the ground to clear the fence by some distance.Root passed 150 for the 12th time in his career, the most by any England batter, but then Roach, with his first ball back into the attack and the seventh after lunch, ended his stay with one that nipped back from outside off and rapped the front pad. Initially adjudged not out by umpire Nigel Duguid, the hosts reviewed and Hawk-Eye showed the ball crashing into the top of leg stump to move Roach past Sir Garry Sobers and clear into seventh on West Indies’ list of all-time wicket-takers.Jonny Bairstow crashed Jayden Seales down the ground and through the covers before holing out to deep midwicket off Joseph, and with that Stokes threw the bat again. He heaved Brathwaite over the fence at deep midwicket for his first boundary since lunch, some 13.2 overs after the resumption, and was very nearly out on the next ball, lofting Brathwaite to long-on, where Campbell spilled a tough chance while stepping on the rope. Stokes came undone going big again one ball later, this time skying Brathwaite to Brooks at long-off.West Indies took three wickets for eight runs in the space of 14 balls, prompting Root to call his men in six overs into the evening session. Permaul, who had come in for some tough treatment, particularly at the hands of Stokes, had Foakes and Leach stumped by Joshua Da Silva to bookend Woakes’ dismissal, sending Roach high into the air on the leg side to be caught by Seales.

Shanaka’s unbeaten 64 had taken Sri Lanka to 168 but it wasn’t enough

Andrew Fidel Fernando20-Sep-20251:49

Chopra: You look at Saif and go ‘there’s some serious talent there’

Three top order stands, one after the other, led by Saif Hassan, then Towhid Hridoy, propelled Bangladesh to overhaul Sri Lanka’s 168, on a dry Dubai track.Saif’s 59-run stand with Litton Das came off 34 balls. It saw Bangladesh set the platform. Then Saif joined Hridoy for a 54-run stand off 45 balls, that consolidated their innings through the middle overs. Hridoy then took charge in a 45-run partnership off 27 balls with Shamim Hossain that put Bangladesh on the cusp of victory. There were some wobbles very late in the game, but those batters had done enough. Bangladesh only needed five to win going into the final over, and they got there with a ball to spare, even if they’d lost two wickets and almost a third scoring the winning run.Sri Lanka struggled for wickets right through the innings, with Saif especially good at keeping the seamers at bay in the powerplay. By the end of the 15th over, Bangladesh had still only lost three wickets, and needed only 39 more to win. It seemed highly unlikely they would lose from there. In fact, they had looked good for the majority of this chase.In Sri Lanka’s innings, Dasun Shanaka’s promotion to No. 5 had yielded results, as he struck 64 not out off 37 balls, to give Sri Lanka a decent – if not spectacular – finish. But two Bangladesh bowlers had also shone: Mustafizur Rahman took 3 for 20, and Mahedi Hasan claimed 2 for 25.2:07

Maharoof: Shanaka showed up when the chips were down

Saif neutralises Nuwan Thushara

When Nuwan Thushara dismissed Tanzid Hasan in the first over, you wondered if this would be another match which his first spell goes some distance to winning. He has tended to have rich hauls against this opposition. But in Saif, Bangladesh had a beautiful counter to Thushara. Saif was outstanding down the ground as Thushara kept going full (as he often does in the powerplay). Saif hit a four over the bowler’s head first ball of the second over, before running at Thushara next ball and depositing him over the rope. Thushara’s second and third overs would cost 14 runs each, Saif doing the majority of that damage.

Hridoy takes down Kamindu Mendis

Sri Lanka’s general strategy is to have Shanaka and one of the spin-bowling allrounders share four overs between them. Usually Charith Asalanka bowls himself. But in this game he chose not to bowl, and gave the 15th over of the innings to Kamindu Mendis. It would be the one in which the match would swing definitively in Bangladesh’s direction.Hridoy crashed him over cover for four second ball, then when Kamindu fired a shortish ball at the stumps, Hridoy got inside the line and launched it high over the deep square leg boundary. Later in the over, he slashed one between cover point and backward point to fetch another four. At the start of that over Bangladesh had needed 55 off 36 balls. Hridoy’s 16 runs off that over made the equation much simpler.1:55

Chopra impressed with Hridoy’s cricketing smarts

Shanaka’s blitz

Unlike Sri Lanka’s bowlers, Bangladesh kept striking regularly after Sri Lanka’s openers had put on 44 runs together. Shanaka was the only one to make a substantial score through the middle and later overs, crashing six sixes and three fours. He’d been dropped off the bowling of Mustafizur on 38, in a period in which Bangladesh gave at least three batters reprieves. Shanaka’s most productive over was against the spin of Nasum Ahmed, whom he clobbered for two sixes and a four in the 15th over.

Mustafizur and Taskin close well

Arguably the best over Bangladesh bowled was delivered by Mustafizur, who had both Kamindu and Asalanka caught in the 19th over, in which he conceded only five runs. Taskin Ahmed then bowled four dots to a mid-blitz Shanaka in the next over, delivering a clutch of good slower balls. He was hit for a six and a four too, but between them Bangladesh’s senior quicks had conceded only 15 in the last two overs, which Sri Lanka had been well-set to exploit.

Kyle Jamieson called up as back up and will train with the national side but isn’t part of the 15-member squad officially

ESPNcricinfo staff26-Sep-2023Tim Southee has been cleared to join the New Zealand squad for the ODI World Cup as he continues to recover following surgery on his fractured right thumb.The 34-year-old dislocated the finger while attempting a catch during New Zealand’s fourth and final ODI against England at Lord’s earlier this month. He subsequently went under the knife, and will now fly to India on Saturday with an aim to be fit for New Zealand’s opening World Cup game against England on October 5. If he does manage to recover in time, it will mark Southee’s fourth ODI World Cup appearance having been part of it in the 2011, 2015 and 2019, and seventh international visit to India.Related

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Fast bowler Kyle Jamieson will also link up with the New Zealand squad as well. He is not a part of the 15-member World Cup unit, officially, and therefore will not be available to take part in any of the warm-up matches. He is just there as cover. Jamieson was with the side that beat Bangladesh 2-0 in a three-match series ahead of the World Cup.New Zealand already have injury concerns with their captain Kane Williamson recovering from a ruptured ACL that he suffered in last season’s IPL. While he has been included in the New Zealand World Cup squad, it remains to be seen whether he is fit enough to line up with the team when the tournament gets under way next week.The second group of New Zealand players and support staff are set to depart to India from Christchurch on Wednesday, while a few players will join the squad from Bangladesh.New Zealand play two warm-up matches – against Pakistan on September 29 in Hyderabad and South Africa on October 2 in Thiruvananthapuram before playing the opening game of the World Cup in Ahmedabad.

Queensland’s openers needed 16 runs from three overs when the umpires called of play due to bad light.

AAP21-Oct-2022Umpire Greg Davidson determine the light was not good enough•Getty Images

It was so close and yet so far for Queensland in a drama-charged final session when bad light robbed them of Sheffield Shield victory against NSW with three overs remaining.Queensland’s openers needed 26 runs to win from the final five overs at Sydney’s Drummoyne Oval in what seemed like a formality. Joe Burns and Matt Renshaw polished off 10 of them in two overs before the umpires took the players off due to the light reading at 6.34pm AEDT.Bulls captain Usman Khawaja came onto the field to ask the umpires why they could not continue as the Blues players swiftly made their way to their dressing room delighted to have secured a draw.The bails were flicked off the stumps by umpires Greg Davidson and Simon Lightbody minutes later to bring an end to an extraordinary day’s play.Related

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When legspinner Mitchell Swepson removed Nathan Lyon to dismiss the Blues for 256, victory had seemed assured.Queensland allrounder Michael Neser summed up the mood in the camp.”It is not the result we wanted. We fought so hard throughout the game,” he said. “We were so close to that win. If we could have [bowled NSW out] a couple of overs sooner it might have been a different result.”NSW batter Moises Henriques was left stranded on 99 after featuring in two match-saving stands.”We were just doing our best to stay out there for as long as we could,” Henriques said of his resistance.Henriques and Matthew Gilkes (48) batted through most of the first two sessions, which included a break for rain, in a 112-run stand. With Henriques at the crease NSW went to tea on 5 for 211 before the game took a roller coaster turn.Pacemen Neser and Mark Steketee then captured 3 for 2 in the space of 12 deliveries with Joe Burns taking two diving catches at slip and wicketkeeper Jimmy Peirson snaring one of his own to remove Sean Abbott, Baxter Holt and Ben Dwarshius.Chris Tremain (5 off 68 balls) combined with Henriques to hold up Queensland for 27 overs in a 39-run ninth-wicket stand that was ultimately decisive.

Test captain wants to keep playing all formats but acknowledges challenge from next generation

George Dobell22-Oct-2019Joe Root has admitted he will have to be at the top of his game if he is to win a place in England’s side at next year’s T20 World Cup.Root, England’s Test captain, accepts he could be “swept away and eaten up” by the emergence of younger players such as Tom Banton, but insisted he remains as keen as ever to play in all three formats of the international game.With Root and other senior members of the England sides rested for the T20I series in New Zealand, Banton is among a number of young players who will have a chance to stake a claim for a prolonged run in the side. The T20 World Cup takes place in Australia next October and November.ALSO READ: Bairstow targets T20Is as first step to Test comeback“For me to get in to the T20I side, it will mean that I have to keep getting better,” Root said. “If someone like Tom Banton comes in and sets the world alight, I’ve got to try force him out in the limited opportunities I get to play.”If that happens, it raises the standard of English cricket in that format. That’s the food chain that cricket is sometimes. You have to be at the top of it otherwise you get swept away and eaten up.”Root’s T20I record is respectable. He made an unbeaten 90 in his first T20I innings, against Australia in 2013 – it remains his highest score in the format – and an impressive 54, top-scoring for England in the 2016 World T20 final. But he has reached 10 only twice in his most recent six T20I innings and, despite a healthy-looking average of 35.72 in the format (of England players to have enjoyed 20 innings in the format, only Kevin Pietersen’s average is higher), a strike rate of 126.30 places him only 14th on the list of England players to have featured in 20 matches.He has also struggled for opportunities to work on his game in the format. While he did have an unremarkable spell at the last edition of the Big Bash, scoring 99 runs in seven innings with a best of 26 and an average of 14.14, he has generally either not been picked up by T20 franchise leagues or not been available to appear in them due to his schedule. He remains confident, however, that should he win a sustained opportunity to play T20 cricket, he can adapt to its demands.”I obviously scored runs in the 2016 final and I’ve always felt that when I have had a block of that format, to really get stuck into it, I’ve generally done pretty well,” he said. “I felt that was the case with the last T20 World Cup. It took me a couple of warm-up games over a two-week period beforehand to really get back into it.”But then once the tournament started, I found my way in, and felt like it was very similar to the one-day team where I knew how everyone else was going to play. Then you dovetail around them.”I’ve got good experiences to call upon. I know what it’s like to have to perform in those scenarios.”Pat Cummins bowled Joe Root for 57•Getty Images

There will be those who suggest Root should accept he is not cut out for the T20 format and decide instead to concentrate on the other formats of the game. His Test average has fallen to 47.91, after all, and as captain to 40.81. A case could be made to suggest he had plenty on his plate without worrying about improving his T20 batting – not to mention grappling with a new format in the form of the Hundred.But, while he acknowledged the importance of his Test form, Root was adamant that playing all formats will improve him as a batsman.”I know how important it is that Test cricket is my main focus,” he said. “But as long as the other formats aren’t a distraction or taking away from what I can give to the Test team then I’ll always look to improve my game and put myself in as many situations and scenarios which I think will long-term help me as a player.”To that end, he has already started to prepare for the Test team’s tour of New Zealand admitting he felt there were some technical issues to address by the time the Ashes series ended.”I want to start the winter off with a bang,” he said. “I want to set a marker early in terms of going out to New Zealand and making big scores. I really want to try to lead from the front.”I felt sometimes [in the summer] I was getting a little bit too off side of the ball and then as though I was trying to fight that. So if I can find something which feels very rhythmical, that’s a big part of how I bat well. Also if I am better aligned, I can access everywhere a lot easier.”Four years ago is the last time I had a break as long as this and that was because I broke my thumb. So to have a block and a chance to spend some time working at certain technical things without the pressure of a game around the corner is invaluable really.”

The left-arm spinner underwent remedial work under CSA’s head of High Performance, Vincent Barnes

ESPNcricinfo staff28-Mar-2023Aaron Phangiso, the South Africa and Joburg Super Kings’ left-arm spinner has had his bowling action cleared following a re-test, the SA20 league announced via a press release. The league has also lifted the suspension previously imposed upon the spinner.Phangiso was reported for a suspect bowling action during Super Kings’ game against Pretoria Capitals on January 17 in the inaugural SA20. He was deemed to have a non-compliant action after undergoing a number of laboratory tests and subsequently suspended from bowling in the league.Related

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The 39-year-old has since undergone bowling action remodelling and remedial work under the guidance of CSA head of High Performance, Vincent Barnes. He undertook a test at an ICC Accredited Testing Centre at the University of Pretoria, which “noted an improvement in his action, and cleared the way for him to return to bowling.” The Independent Assessment report on Phangiso’s bowling action was presented to SA20’s Independent Expert Panel, which consisted of Zama Ndamane, Gerrie Pienaar, Russell Domingo and Vernon Philander.Phangiso played six matches at the SA20, picking ten wickets – including two four-wicket hauls – and finishing as the second-highest wicket-taker for his team. Super Kings made it to the semi-final of the tournament, where they were beaten by eventual winners Sunrisers Eastern Cape by 14 runs.This was the second time in his career that Phangiso’s action was deemed illegal. He was first reported during Lions’ win against Warriors in the semi-final of the Momentum One-Day Cup in 2016 and was cleared after undergoing remedial work on his action.Phangiso has played 21 ODIs and 16 T20Is for South Africa and last donned the national jersey in a T20I against India in 2016.

England allrounder will travel to New Zealand rather than play in two Southampton Tests

ESPNcricinfo staff09-Aug-2020Ben Stokes will miss the rest of England’s Test series against Pakistan after withdrawing from the squad for family reasons. He is set to travel to New Zealand, where his parents live, next week and will not be available for the two behind-closed-doors Tests in Southampton.Stokes’ father Ged was hospitalised ahead of the Boxing Day Test against South Africa during England’s winter tour, and has since been recuperating back home in New Zealand.”The England and Wales Cricket Board, along with the Stokes family, requests that all media respects the family’s privacy at this time,” an ECB statement said.England’s Test vice-captain, Stokes has played a central role in the summer so far. He led the team in Joe Root’s absence for the opening Test against West Indies, scored a century and a fifty in the second, and has chipped in with 11 wickets despite more recently playing as a specialist batsmen.ALSO READ: Dobell: England are lucky to have WoakesHis absence will likely add to England’s selection headaches for the rest of the series. In order to compensate for the loss of his bowling, after he experienced a sore quad during the second West Indies Test, England have fielded a five-man attack in the last two games, with Stokes batting at No. 4.Although he scored 0 and 9 in the first Test against Pakistan, he again demonstrated his all-round value by coming on to bowl in the second innings and picking up 2 for 11, as England came back from conceding a 107-run deficit to take a 1-0 lead in the series.Zak Crawley is the likeliest candidate to come into the top order, potentially returning at No. 3 and allowing Root to drop back down a place. The return to form of both Jos Buttler and Chris Woakes, whose 139-run partnership was pivotal in securing victory against Pakistan, may also help compensate for Stokes’ absence, with the allrounder understood to have told his team-mates of his decision after the conclusion of the Test on Saturday.Buttler, whose form with bat and gloves had been under scrutiny, was also playing despite a health scare for his father, who went into hospital on Friday but was well enough to return home on Saturday.England have called up Sussex seamer Ollie Robinson to add to their options ahead of the second Test against Pakistan, which begins at the Ageas Bowl on Thursday. By the end of August, England will have played six Tests in seven weeks, all under strict bio-security protocols as part of ECB efforts to combat the effect of Covid-19, with only a short break in between the two series.

Smriti Mandhana leads Indian batting effort again, just two days after retiring hurt when she was struck by a Shabnim Ismail bouncer

ESPNcricinfo staff01-Mar-2022India beat West Indies in their second warm-up fixture ahead of the Women’s World Cup, and now enter the main tournament on the back of successive warm-up wins after also beating South Africa on Sunday. While half-centuries from Smriti Mandhana and Deepti Sharma set them up for a total of 258, a solid all-round effort with the ball ensured West Indies stopped at 177 for 9.Mandhana and Deepti added 117 for the second wicket after Shafali Verma fell for a second-ball duck, the opener’s relatively dry recent run continuing – she made 0 and 9 in the last two ODIs against New Zealand last week after having hit a 57-ball 51 in the third game, her first score of note in some time.Related

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But India would be relieved with Mandhana’s innings, as she cracked 66 from just 67 balls just two days after being forced to retire hurt when she was hit in the helmet by a Shabnim Ismail bouncer that caused “a mild soft tissue injury to her left earlobe which caused discomfort while batting”.Mithali Raj and Yastika Bhatia also chipped in with decent hands, of 30 and 42 respectively, after Cherry-Ann Fraser dismissed Mandhana and Deepti. Despite the good contributions, it was a worry for India as they slipped from 142 for 2 in the 27th over to 195 for 5 by the 37th. Fraser finished with 2 for 24 from five overs.Karishma Ramharack and Hayley Matthews picked up two wickets apiece too, but West Indies’ batters didn’t quite come to the party during the chase, losing their top four with just 53 on the board.Pooja Vastrakar struck twice up top, while Deepti and Meghna Singh picked up a wicket each. A brief recovery between Matthews and Shemaine Campbelle took West Indies to 122, before Meghna got rid of Matthews for 44 in the 38th over.By then, West Indies’ required rate had shot up, as they needed another 137 from the remaining 73 deliveries. And Vastrakar pretty much sealed it for India after she bowled Campbelle for 63.Sophie Devine smashed 161 not out in just 117 balls•ICC via Getty

New Zealand chased down a steep target of 322 seemingly with ease against Australia, getting to 325 with nine wickets in hand and nearly seven overs to spare. Captain Sophie Devine led the show with an unbeaten 161 off just 117 balls, an innings that featured 23 fours and four sixes. She got great company from fellow opener Suzie Bates, who hit 63 in a stand of 119 for the first wicket.There was no respite for Australia even after Alana King got rid of Bates, as Amelia Kerr continued her excellent form to remain undefeated on 92 from just 75 balls, cracking 13 fours on her way. The New Zealand batters took a special liking for Annabel Sutherland, smashing her for 41 in three overs, and Ashleigh Gardner, who went for 34 in her three.Before that, four half-centuries from Australia’s top six took them to what seemed like a winning total of 321, with captain Meg Lanning leading the way with 87 at just over a run-a-ball. Opener Alyssa Healy hit 64 and Beth Mooney struck a 51-ball 55, but the real impact came from Gardner at No. 6, as she clattered 60 from only 32 balls with six fours and four sixes.But Hannah Rowe, with 4 for 49, cleaned up Australia middle-order to help bowl them out with three balls left.In the end, though, the total wasn’t enough for Australia, who had beaten West Indies in their first warm-up. New Zealand, meanwhile, hit their straps after losing to Pakistan on Sunday. They will play the tournament opener against West Indies on Friday.

Extreme speed backed up by new-found subtlety as Wood makes his home comforts count

Andrew Miller06-Jul-20230:32

Does Mark Wood think he can reach 100mph?

Hindsight is a terrible tease, but where might this series be now had Mark Wood been fit to play the first Test at Edgbaston? To judge by his ferocious pad-thumper to a motionless Pat Cummins in the afternoon session, Australia’s captain probably wouldn’t have been quite so composed in that fraught run-chase, especially against a bowler with a proven ability to transcend the conditions on flat decks – see Wood’s priceless performance on the final day at Multan for recent evidence.But he’s here now, all right, and after claiming his fourth five-wicket haul and his first on home soil, a sensational 5 for 34 in 11.4 overs, Wood was champing at the bit to make up for lost time in England’s hour of Ashes need.”I’m delighted,” Wood told Sky Sports at the close. “Obviously I haven’t played a Test match in a while, but to be able to come back fairly fresh and produce that was pretty special.”However, Wood was also keen to prove that he’s learnt a few new tricks since he was last unleashed in a home Test, against India at Lord’s almost two years ago. For pace may be pace (yaar) when you’re playing on a road in Pakistan, but on one of the most helpful home surfaces that he’s ever been unleashed on, Wood had a mission to ensure that his eye-watering speed was translated into wicket-taking success.”I was really happy that I could show in home conditions that I can bowl as well,” he said. “Movement, that’s what’s deadly I think. If you just bowl fast, these top players are just used to that. They face dog-stick guys [throwing the ball] off 17 yards, so they’re used to facing quick bowling. So I the thing that helped today was the movement really.”For all that his day’s work was done in the blink of an eye (or three-and-a-bit, to be exact – four precisely measured bursts of four, two, three and 2.4 overs, spread evenly across the innings) Wood’s tactics were more carefully calibrated than his raw speed might suggest, as he explained in front of the Sky Sports replay screen at the close.”In general the wicket felt to me like, when you went up there, it came onto the bat, it slid on,” he said, referencing how David Warner had leant on Stuart Broad’s first ball of the match and pinged it for four down the ground.Mark Wood unleashed extreme speed in his first outing of this summer’s Ashes•Getty Images

“So it was about trying to hold the good length to keep [the batter] on the crease and then I thought, ‘right, this is the one I’m going to try and get the wicket’, push it right up there with a bit of swing, and luckily it paid off.”No wicket was more spectacular in that regard than his first, a stunning stump-wrecker to Usman Khawaja that was clocked at 94.6mph – and given Khawaja’s prior record in this series, 300 runs from almost 20 hours of application across the first two Tests, no wicket was more essential to England’s cause, either.”We were discussing it as a bowling group out there,” Wood said. “At Headingley you think, ‘full, full, full’, but then you can get drawn in, so it’s just that balance of when to attack the stumps and when to hold it in. It was more a case of bashing the top of the stumps on that nicking length, and then the odd one full rather than being full all the time.”A still image of Wood’s point of release during that spell emphasised the extraordinary physical toil his bowling puts on his body, but also the remarkable rewards when his action is perfectly aligned, with a braced front knee, and fully loaded torso, compared to a fractionally buckled load-up for his second spell, when his speeds intermittently dipped below 90mph.”When I’m at full biff, it feels like all my body’s going towards the batsman. It looks like an awful position, but it’s almost like a catapult sling that, when you let it go, all the chinks in the chain fizz the ball out.”But it was the subtlety that Wood brought to his performance that pleased him the most – especially knowing that, in the past, he probably wouldn’t have been given first dibs on such a pitch.Related

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“I’m usually on the flat ones, to be fair, and my record is much better away from home,” he said, citing a record of 49 wickets at 24.18 overseas, compared to 35 at 40.71 prior to today, both from 13 Tests.”On wickets like today, when the ball moves around, you’re automatically thinking Anderson, Broad, Robinson, Woakes,” he added. “They are your top guys who can trouble people in these conditions.”For me, being able to move the ball today, it’s really helped me, because that’s not something that I’ve always done to be, to be brutally honest. I’ve tried to work hard behind the scenes on the wobble-seam, through speaking to the other guys and the bowling coaches.”It’s something I’m trying to get better at. I’m 33, but I’m still trying to get better and better, even though it’s a slow progress. It doesn’t just happen overnight.”But I like bowling away from home, because it brings in reverse-swing. And the bouncer attack on flat pitches, I feel really that suits me, because they sometimes skid through and it’s hard to play especially with the field.”The short ball at Headingley, however, proved a trickier weapon to get right, particularly when the WACA-born-and-bred Mitchell Marsh was climbing into his sensational run-a-ball counterattack in the afternoon session.”If you bowled it too short, it looped over the keeper, and then if you didn’t get short enough, it’s in that Australian sweet spot, where they play it really well,” Wood said. “It’s about that happy medium you got to find.”Mitch Marsh played fantastically well. He was difficult to bowl at in that period, when the ball went from having that zip off the wicket, and all of a sudden, it looked very different when he was in. But of course, when a new batter came in, it was tough again.”I’ve had a good day. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves, I’ve got to back it up. This is a must-win game, and we’ve got to back it up in the second innings. But the outfield is rapid and rock hard. We’re gonna score quickly if the lads can get in tomorrow.”

The two teams will meet again in Qualifier 1 on Monday, the winner of which will move to the final

Danyal Rasool19-Jun-2021There was little riding on this game, but that didn’t mean conventional PSL rules ceased to apply. Give Islamabad United a below-par chase, and they’ll eventually run it down.In yet another exhibit of that maxim, Shadab Khan’s side coasted – despite the slightly frantic final-over finish – to an impressive four-wicket win against Multan Sultans thanks to a commanding bowling performance towards the back-end of the innings. Sultans’ collapse saw them lose all ten wickets for 56 runs after losing none in the first 9.3 overs and the 150 United needed was knocked off fairly routinely.Both sides were aware this was little more than a dry run of the high-intensity qualifier they will contest on Monday and, as such, there was an experimental element to the contest. United rested their key openers as well as Hasan Ali, but Sultans made the early running with a sizzling 93-run partnership between Mohammad Rizwan and Shan Masood. But when Iftikhar Ahmed and Fawad Ahmed prised out the top three, the bottom hollowed out, allowing Mohammad Wasim – who’s also had a breakout tournament, a clear crack at the tail.United’s start was authoritative without being explosive, but with an asking rate of 7.50, it didn’t need to be. Mohammad Akhlaq and Umar Amin followed the team philosophy of trying to exploit the Powerplay overs, and the 54 they managed in the first six was more than adequate to keep them on course. A stuttering innings from Shadab, who looked severely affected by stifling heat at one point, still saw him compile 35 off 27, before Asif Ali was sent in to inflict the knockout punch. In his kind of form, under virtually no pressure, his 16-ball 25 took his side ever closer.United may be annoyed at how deep they allowed Sultans to take it, with the contest appearing over long before the final leg-bye was actually taken. United perhaps lost focus slightly as Sultans continued to burrow their way back into the contest after Asif fell. Usman Qadir removed Brandon King and Shahnawaz Dahani’s stunning catch in the final over got rid of Talat, which suddenly meant United needed three off four. They got there in the end, making what should have been a thumping win look like an attritional one.Mohammad Wasim strikes backThe heroics of Dahani and the fast-moving nature of the PSL meant Wasim flew under the radar for much of the past week. That wasn’t helped by a horror start to his day when he came in to bowl while Masood and Rizwan were in full flow. He was tonked for 18 in his first over. He was hauled off, but when he returned ten overs later, he seemed a transformed bowler.Choosing his variations with guile and executing them with high class, he accounted for four Sultans batters, conceding just 13 further runs in his remaining three overs. Given the task of polishing up the tail in the final over, he did that, and then some. On Friday, Haris Rauf had ceded the momentum to the Sultans by leaking 24 in a similar situation, but Wasim’s final over permitted just two. He ended up taking three wickets in those final six balls, bowling out a Sultans side that hadn’t lost a single wicket till the tenth over.Masood shines, no one else does Sultans might have been trying to offer up a live-action animation of the phrase “innings of two halves” when they were put in to bat. Rizwan and Masood got them off to a start that was both blistering in its urgency and elegant in its implementation. There were few risks taken as Masood placed and timed his way to a sumptuous half-century; even the sixes he hit were risk-free drives through the line of the ball. They were rollicking along at nearly ten an over by the tenth over, the stage set for what might possibly be an immense finish.In the tenth over, though, Iftikhar, off all people, struck in the only over he bowled, and once Masood departed, bedlam ensued. Multan went on to lose their ten wickets for a mere 56 runs, compiled painstakingly over a further 63 balls as an innings that promised so much petered out with no more than a whimper. United have a formidable record chasing totals; they have lost just 5 of 31 such games, and 150 was never going to challenge them.Where they stand The game guarantees Sultans will finish second, and play Islamabad United in the first qualifier, which takes place on Monday. Peshawar Zalmi and Karachi Kings finish third and fourth respectively. Lahore Qalandars – fifth – were eliminated over poor net run rate, tied on points with the teams at second, third and fourth.