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Matt Henry will be back for the second Test against England, as hosts seek to level the series after defeat in Mount Maunganui

Deivarayan Muthu21-Feb-2023New Zealand allrounder Daryl Mitchell rues the “small moments” that slipped away from their grasp in the first Test in Mount Maunganui, but insists that there isn’t a gulf between his team and England.”If you looked into that third innings, I think we had them six down for 230-240 – I’m not sure of the exact numbers – but if we had taken a couple of quick wickets, the game could have been a lot different,” Mitchell said after arriving in Wellington for the second Test.”So, for us, it’s actually not too far away. It’s sticking true to who we are as Kiwis and Blackcaps, and what’s worked for us for a number of years now. Yeah, we are missing a couple of small moments now, which is disappointing, but we also know that’s the nature of Test cricket, and it’s not always going to go your way, and it can be a bloody hard game at times. But we also know we are not too far away.”Related

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One of those small moments was New Zealand allowing England get away to 374 in their second innings after they were 237 for 6. England’s innings had threatened to spiral out of control when Joe Root fell to the reverse sweep for the second time in the Test at the stroke of tea on day three. But a composed half-century from Ben Foakes, and swift cameos from captain Ben Stokes and No. 9 Ollie Robinson powered England that far.Stuart Broad then tore through New Zealand’s top order under the Mount Maunganui floodlights to put the fourth-innings chase of 394 well beyond the hosts’ reach.New Zealand coach Gary Stead lamented New Zealand’s inability to throw the sucker-punch during that passage of play, which changed the mood and tempo of the game.”I thought there were times through this Test we did that really, really well,” Stead said. “I think in that second innings when they were 230 [237] for 6, if we could’ve bowled them out in the next hour, then we bat [for] a good period of time in the daylight as well with the softer ball. They are the little variables that affected us in this Test match, but looking forward to the challenge that’s ahead because we know that’s a big challenge.”Matt Henry is in, and Jacob Duffy is out for the second Test at the Basin Reserve•Getty Images

New Zealand suffered a big blow ahead of the Wellington Test, with Kyle Jamieson ruled out for another three to four months with a suspected recurrence of a back injury. So far, they have also resisted the urge to recall Trent Boult, who has handed back his New Zealand central contract, with Stead backing the current group to bounce back against England.”They [England] are obviously playing very, very good cricket,” Stead said. “I think they’ve won 10-11 of their last 12 Tests, and they’re on a bit of a roll and playing with some real confidence. I don’t think it’s unfair to say we’re probably lacking a little bit of that confidence at the moment because you don’t get the results.”But I can assure you that the faith is still with the group of these guys. We believe that these are our best cricketers, and we’re going to put everything behind them to make sure we can go out there in Wellington and really some throw punches back at England as well.”New Zealand, however, will be boosted by the return of Matt Henry, who has linked up with the squad after his partner Holly gave birth to their daughter last week. Henry is set to directly slot into the XI at the Basin Reserve in place of either Scott Kuggeleijn or Blair Tickner.”He’s obviously a seasoned bowler in international cricket now,” Mitchell said of Henry. “It’s awesome that he has just had the birth of his little girl, and I know he’ll be excited to come and join this group and hopefully take some wickets, which will be awesome. And yeah, I’m sure he’ll be pretty proud to do that with his little girl watching on TV.”Matty is my domestic team-mate at Canterbury as well, so it’s always nice having him in this group. He’s a fierce competitor, he will keep running in for you, he’ll do the job. Look forward to having him back. I think we will all do our job and see what happens.”Reserve seamer Jacob Duffy and legspinner Ish Sodhi have been released from the Test squad for the four-day Plunket Shield competition that will resume this week.

Henry looking forward to ‘taking it’ to England in Wellington

Henry is the top wicket-taker in the Plunket Shield this season, with 23 strikes in three games at an average of 11.69. But injury sidelined him from the ODIs in Pakistan and India. Having been passed fit, Henry is now looking forward to returning to action in front of a sell-out crowd at the Basin Reserve.”Not ideal with the injury – torn knee and everything,” Henry said. “So, it has been a bit of a rehab for the last few weeks. But it has been good; kind of ones of those ones where you look forward to playing some cricket. No better place to do it than the Basin.”Always well-supported here in Wellington. The Basin always has a great crowd and to hear it sold out for the first three days is amazing, and playing against England… the style of cricket they’ve been playing is an exciting one to watch as well. It has been cool to watch them play in that first game, and I’m sure everyone has learnt a lot from that first game as well and look forward to taking it to them come Friday.”The weather could play spoilsport in Wellington, with showers and strong winds predicted on the first day.

Late wickets even out day one after a century stand between Conway and Will Young

Mohammad Isam31-Dec-2021Devon Conway returned from injury and promptly struck his second century in Test cricket, on his home debut in the format. New Zealand, as a result, finished ahead of Bangladesh on the first day in Mount Maunganui, going to stumps 258 for 5 on New Year’s Day. The visitors however would still be happy with the way they did not let the hosts get further away from them, fighting back with late wickets after New Zealand had two decent partnerships in the first and second sessions.Conway made 122 off 227 balls with 16 fours and a six over midwicket, which brought up his fifty after lunch. He favoured the on-side and remained strong square of the wicket, only hitting straight drives when fed something absolutely full. He steadied New Zealand after an early wicket with a 138-run second wicket stand with Will Young, who made 52. Conway added a further 50 with Ross Taylor, who looked to attack Bangladesh after tea.The limelight however remained on Conway who was nearing his maiden Test hundred at home. He struck Ebadot Hossain through the covers to reach the nineties, before reaching the milestone with a single down to fine leg.In the following over however, Shoriful Islam had Taylor – who will be retiring from Tests at the end of this series – caught at cover for 31. Conway looked well settled at the other end, but he too fell just before the second new ball was due. Part-timer Mominul Haque, bowling his floaty left-arm spin to fill in the overs, had Conway caught down the leg side for 122, sparking vigourous from his team-mates.Ebadot also got a reward at the end of the day when he had Tom Blundell bowled off the inside edge, giving Bangladesh something to be pleased about as they trudged off the ground. Much of the day had belonged to the hosts, though.Shoriful removed New Zealand’s stand-in captain Tom Latham in the fourth over of the morning – the left-arm quick got one to nip back into Latham, who inside edged the ball on to his pad and it lobbed behind where wicketkeeper Liton Das dived in front of the first slip to complete the catch. It was a big wicket given Latham was averaging 90-plus against Bangladesh before this game.The early wicket meant that Young and Conway had to build from scratch almost. They left a lot of balls in the first hour, which allowed them to get the measure of the lengths they would want to attack. Bangladesh’s fast bowlers, particularly Taskin Ahmed and Shoriful, did bowl impressively in the first hour. But the pressure was off shortly after the first hour, when Conway and Young struck seven fours between them to given the home side some breathing space.Both batters reached their respective fifties early in the second session, but Young escaped a chance when he was on 27. Shoriful got Young’s outside edge with a beautiful delivery in the first over after lunch, but neither the bowler nor wicketkeeper appealed.Conway reached his fifty with a six off Mehidy Hasan Miraz, who he then smashed for two more fours later in the over. Young fell on 52, though, run out through a slight miscommunication with Conway. It was a waste of a wicket as Young, like Conway, seemed to have sized up the Bangladesh attack and looked on course for a big one. Conway went on to do the joy, batting steadily for much of the rest of the day to prop New Zealand up.

Quaid-e-Azam Trophy will be held in Karachi; domestic season to begin September 30

Umar Farooq04-Sep-2020With three ICC tournaments due to be played over the next two years, Pakistan have doubled the number of white-ball games in their domestic structure. The National T20 Cup, ODI Cup and the Under-19 one-day tournament will now be played in a double round-robin league format.The PCB has announced a full season with six associations aiming to showcase their ability to form bio-secure bubbles to attract international teams. Pakistan are slated to host Zimbabwe and South Africa over the next six months.With an apparent decline in covid cases in Pakistan, the PCB in August principally decided to resume professional cricket after a 24-week hiatus. The PCB has opened up training facilities at its National High-Performance Centre (NHPC) in Lahore, while maintaining a strictly controlled environment.They have also issued an advisory to restart the sport at the grassroots and recreational level with adequate safety measures in place. The situation around Covid-19 in Pakistan is nearly under control, and a sense of normalcy has begun to return. Tourism, stores and malls, restaurants and public transportation have already opened up, and educational institutes are likely be operational in phases from September 15.The season is set to start from September 30 with the National T20 Cup, played over two legs, in Multan or Rawalpindi. The Quaid-e-Azam Trophy, with both first XI and second XI, will be held entirely in Karachi across six venues with the format unchanged. However, with teams not needed to travel inter-city for matches, the gaps between matches have been reduced by, resulting in the tournament having a total length of 72 days as compared to 104 in the previous season.ESPNcricinfo Ltd

All white-ball tournaments across all levels were played on a single-league basis until the previous season. However, the presence of three ICC events over the next two years have forced a change. This new structure will allow each side to play minimum of 10 league matches in each white-ball competition. Teams making the semi-finals and finals will get additional games. Tournaments involving the second XIs will continue to be single-league format.”In the uncertain Covid-19 situation, I am pleased that we have been able to put together a complete domestic cricket schedule,” said Nadeem Khan, director High Performance. “It is challenging, but this will contribute significantly in getting the best out of all the players that, in turn, will uplift the quality and standard of our home cricket. There has been a strategy and vision behind preparing this schedule, and the most notable is the increase in number of white-ball matches at the senior and age-group level.”The increase in number of matches will not only provide a fair and equal opportunity to all the talented players, it will increase their earnings too. This is something we have been very mindful of and careful about since the revamp of the domestic structure. This has been done after taking into consideration our team’s current international performances and rankings in white-ball cricket as well as with a look into the future. All this while also providing optimum chances to the deserving and budding cricketers to thoroughly show their mettle and impress the national selectors.”Until July, there was considerable doubt over the possibility of the season, with Pakistan recording around 275,000 covid cases. The curve started to flatten even as the PCB briefly considered the possibility of postponing the season. However, with the cases coming under control, the PCB has decided to go ahead to form bio-bubbles to conduct the domestic season.As such, the postponement wasn’t going to cost PCB much financially since they spent over a billion rupees from their own kitty, knowing fully well they wouldn’t be able to leverage much commercially. Any delay or postponement as such would have however cost a year to the next batch of Under-19 players in the system.

Nottinghamshire move a step closer to qualifying for the knockout stages of the Royal London Cup with a brutal batting display

ECB Reporters Network26-Apr-2019Nottinghamshire moved a step closer to qualifying for the knockout stages of the Royal London Cup with a brutal batting display against Leicestershire at Trent Bridge.For the sixth time in three years Notts went past 400 in one-day cricket, before closing on 433 for 7. Ben Duckett and Steven Mullaney led the assault upon the Foxes attack but the four other member of the Outlaws top order also hit punishing half-centuries. Duckett scored 86 from only 61 balls and Mullaney went even faster, bludgeoning 81 from 41 balls.The run chase was interrupted by rain, resulting in a revised target of 347 from 37 overs but the soaring run rate counted against the visitors, as wickets began to tumble at regular intervals. Luke Fletcher claimed figures of 3 for 53 as the Foxes were bowled out for 259 in 33.2 overs, leaving the home side as victors by 87 runs under the Duckworth-Lewis-Stern method.Earlier, Notts’ initial plans were thrown into disarray just before the toss when the in-form Ben Slater was withdrawn after picking up a slight niggle in the warm-up. His deputy at the top of the order, Chris Nash, proved to be an able replacement and an ideal foil for Joe Clarke as the hosts added 82 in the opening 10-over Powerplay.Clarke had been spilled on 26, driving Chris Wright to the finger-tips of Paul Horton at cover but he offered very little else to the fielding side until clipping to short fine leg for 55. Nash, who had helped add 108 for the first wicket, then fell to the spin of Colin Ackermann for 56.Duckett went through his full repertoire of shots, hitting boundaries all around the wicket as he reached his 50 from 41 balls. The left-hander dominated a third-wicket partnership of 106 with Jake Libby, before tamely ramping the ball straight into the hands of wicketkeeper Lewis Hill. Libby had reached his first one-day 50 from 45 balls and advanced his score to 66 before holing out.The impetus was maintained with a thrilling partnership of 91 in only 7.3 overs between Mullaney and Tom Moores. Both eventually lost their wickets to Gavin Griffifths, the most successful Leicestershire bowler with 3 for 92, leaving James Pattinson to club the 14th and final six of the innings.The Outlaws total was their second highest in history, falling just short of the 445 for 8 that they made against Northants in 2016.Mark Cosgrove and Harry Dearden put on 106 for the first wicket in only 13.2 overs as the Foxes tried to lay the foundations for an unlikely victory chase. Pattinson broke their stand, pinning Cosgrove lbw for 59, shortly before Mullaney bowled Ackermann.At 152 for 2 from 21.5 overs, a shower of rain forced the players from the field and left a revised target of almost 13 runs per over. Dearden, who had become the eighth player in the match to pass 50 fell in the quest for quick runs and was immediately followed back to the pavilion by two team-mates.Sharp work by Pattinson ran out Paul Horton for 36 and Arron Lilley was bowled first ball by Patel. Hill scored a defiant 21 from only 10 balls but was one of three wickets to fall in the same Fletcher over.The outcome means that Notts have taken maximum points from their first four matches for the first time since 2013. Leicestershire’s defeat leaves them on two points from five matches and unable to qualify from the group.

Australia suffocated England with the ball and hammered them with the bat to register three Twenty20 wins from three games and secure a place in the triangular series final

Report by Daniel Brettig10-Feb-2018
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsAustralia suffocated England with the ball and hammered them with the bat to register three Twenty20 wins from three games and secure a place in the triangular series final as the series moves to New Zealand after the match at the MCG on Saturday night.In front of a crowd of 42,691 for the closing fixture of the international summer, the Australians galloped to their target with 33 balls to spare, as Chris Lynn, D’Arcy Short and Glenn Maxwell all contributed. The fit-again Aaron Finch then put an exclamation mark on the result with a pair of mighty sixes off the bowling of David Willey, after he had been demoted to No. 5 to allow the younger Short to continue his impressive audition alongside the stand-in captain David Warner.Another low score for Warner was just about the only trouble spot for the Australians, with Billy Stanlake, Kane Richardson, Marcus Stoinis, AJ Tye and Ashton Agar all bowling exemplary spells with the ball. They were well and truly backed up in the field, epitomised by Warner’s quicksilver running throw to beat Dawid Malan and Agar’s athletic running take to dismiss Jos Buttler at the end of a halting England innings.Buttler had been the only England batsman to make a substantial score, but even he was at less than his best, a rare occasion when he scored below a run a ball. All of the visiting bowlers suffered for the fact they had few runs to defend, while also lacking the advice of their captain Eoin Morgan, ruled out with a muscle strain before play.Though he has led the team expertly and energetically in the field, Warner has found himself mired in a rut with the bat, and Willey’s early away swing proved too much for his minimal footwork, resulting in a thin edge behind in the very first over of the chase. Lynn was once again beaten by the ball moving back into him first up, but this time saw the ball squirt away towards the off side rather than thudding into the stumps.Duly reprieved, Lynn set about clobbering some trademark blows, cutting short balls over the off side field, swinging a leg-side delivery over the rope behind square leg, then arrowing a boundary to wide long-on. His stay was eventful but brief, ending with a top edge from the bowling of Chris Jordan that settled comfortably into the gloves of Buttler.A career opener for Australia, the returned Aaron Finch found himself shuffled down as far as No. 5 with Maxwell coming in at the fall of Lynn’s wicket, and quickly reprising his effective Hobart stand with Short. The pair found the boundary consistently in bringing down the target, taking a particularly heavy toll on Liam Dawson’s flat left-arm spin. Tom Curran was also expensive, while Adil Rashid was unable to claim the rush of wickets England desperately needed to be a chance.Maxwell’s third substantial contribution of the series ended with 22 runs still required, as he swung presumptuously at a slower bouncer from Jordan and skied another catch for Buttler, but this at least afforded Finch the chance to bat for the first time since he was injured last month. He duly accompanied Short to the finish, leaving Australia’s players with three T20 wins from three in this series and a spring in their step ahead of the Allan Border Medal awards ceremony in Melbourne on Monday night.The visitors were shorn of the services of Morgan due to a right groin strain suffered at training on Friday, Dawson and James Vince coming into the team and Buttler standing in as leader. Mark Wood was dropped. In the final international match of the Australian summer, Finch returned for the hosts following a hamstring strain that he suffered during the preceding ODI series, but significantly Short was retained at the top of the order and Travis Head left out of the team that won in Hobart.Stanlake had been harshly dealt with by England’s batsmen in that match, but this time he was able to get into the game early when Alex Hales skied one in the first over and Finch made decent ground running with the flight of the ball towards the boundary from mid-on to hold a juggling catch. Jason Roy’s quiet series continued when he tried to run Richardson towards third man but succeeded only in snicking to Alex Carey – a very 1990s ODI dismissal – and Malan could last only 10 balls for as many runs when he was brilliantly thrown out by Warner from mid-on, the captain picking up and throwing in virtually the same motion.These early blows caused England to pull back on their customary aggression, but the fall of regular wickets meant this policy did not work particularly well either. The recalled Vince was fooled and yorked by a terrific slower ball from Tye, before Sam Billings’ useful union with Buttler was ended by a mistimed swing and a catch for Warner at mid-off. Billings had been fired out earlier for a deflection behind off the bowling of Stoinis, but his use of England’s lone review showed the ball had struck trouser rather than glove.Willey seldom needs an excuse to swing hard, and first ball of the final over he found the boundary with a miscue over Carey’s head, before another top edge skewed into the off side and allowed Warner to claim another catch. The excellent Richardson was to claim his third wicket when Buttler tried to clear the fence from the final ball of the innings, but could not quite reach the sight screen, where Agar, who had also been economical with the ball, made a running chance look far less difficult than it was. Australia’s T20 fortunes have taken a decided turn for the better; Warner and company will hope they stay that way after the flight to New Zealand.

Manoj Tiwary, the Bengal captain, has called for surfaces of the kind that hosted the India-England Tests in Rajkot and Visakhapatnam to be prepared for the Ranji Trophy

Shashank Kishore22-Nov-2016Manoj Tiwary, the Bengal captain, has called for surfaces of the kind that hosted the India-England Tests in Rajkot and Visakhapatnam to be prepared for the Ranji Trophy. His assessment comes after the season’s first two-day finish, Baroda’s 21-run win against Bengal in a Group A fixture in Lahli, where the fast bowlers claimed 38 of the 40 wickets to fall.As many as 23 wickets fell on the opening day, the most in a day so far this season, with neither side managing to pass 100 in their first innings. The remaining 17 fell on day two. That Tiwary’s fourth-innings 39 was the highest score of the match indicated how tough batting was at a venue that has traditionally been regarded as a seamer’s paradise.”I think we should be playing on surfaces close to what the Indian team plays on in the current season so that those who perform and are picked immediately don’t have to make drastic adjustments,” Tiwary told ESPNcricinfo. “I said it even yesterday, when we had a chance of winning despite conceding a lead, that on these kind of surfaces you can’t be chasing more than 120. Not really ideal, isn’t it?”It would be good to play on surfaces that bring not just the fast bowlers but spinners into the picture too. It’s disappointing to lose, we played some bad shots too, but surfaces of this kind take skills out of the picture. It’s understandable if it’s a greentop with consistent bounce, but here it wasn’t. Lahli is probably the toughest surface in the country, but unfortunately this was simply very very tough. Having said that, credit to Baroda. The wicket was same for both sides. “Tiwary pointed to damp patches at both ends as the cause of the inconsistent bounce. “There were green patches at drive-able lengths. Even fast bowlers weren’t sure which way the ball would move if it pitched there. Every time you pitched the ball in certain areas, there were indentations. After a few overs, it was reduced to a guessing game. Some balls reared up, some balls kept low. This contributed to the dismissals no doubt, but it wasn’t ideal to be playing on this kind of surface.”Would his assessment have changed had Bengal won? “Deepak Hooda has made a big double-century just two matches ago. He made centuries in his first two games. Sure, you can have a bad game, but on this surface, he too was struggling. In one game you can’t be that bad,” Tiwary said. “It would be nice to play on surfaces that at least offer consistent bounce.”As a side we are disappointed, no doubt. But without making excuses, I’ll say it was tough. As a state captain, I will highlight these observations to Dada (Sourav Ganguly, head of the BCCI’s technical committee that proposed neutral venues in the Ranji Trophy). The think-tank can then decide. If you ask me, the surface that we played on in Bilaspur [against Punjab] earlier this season was the most ideal, where there was a little bit of everything for everyone.”Tiwary said Bengal’s bowling after they sent Baroda in was the decisive his side’s defeat – surprisingly, considering Baroda only made 97, with Ashok Dinda picking up six wickets. “We shouldn’t have allowed them to get that much,” Tiwary said. “We shouldn’t have conceded more than 60. That made the difference especially with our second-innings scores being identical.”

Bangladesh’s 58-run win against Zimbabwe in the second ODI defending a total of 241 for 9 gave them an unassailable 2-0 lead and sealed their fifth consecutive bilateral ODI series win.

The Report by Mohammad Isam09-Nov-2015
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsImrul Kayes top-scored with 76 in an otherwise middling innings for the hosts•AFP

The last four series wins have drilled into Bangladesh the way to get out of tight corners. So when they were faced with another, in the second ODI against Zimbabwe in Mirpur on Monday, they stuck to the known paths and ensured a way out. Their 58-run win defending a total of 241 for 9 gave them an unassailable 2-0 lead and sealed their fifth consecutive bilateral ODI series win. They beat their own record of four series wins in a row in 2006-07 and 2009 and the lead means that, in ODIs, Bangladesh will be unbeaten in bilateral series throughout 2015 unless there is another series next month.Bangladesh’s bowling effort was steered smoothly by the captain Mashrafe Mortaza and the line-up hardly missed Shakib Al Hasan, who left Dhaka to be with his wife for the birth of their first child. Mustafizur Rahman was the pick of the bowlers, taking three wickets for 33 runs, while Al-Amin Hossain, Arafat Sunny and Mashrafe himself bowled with control and showed a knack for putting together dot balls.Wickets in clumps always help and Bangladesh got those early in Zimbabwe’s chase, and at a later stage when Elton Chigumbura and Sikandar Raza were starting to look dangerous.The visitors started the 242-run chase by losing both openers Regis Chakabva and Chamu Chibhabha within the first 5.1 overs. Chakabva was trapped leg-before in Arafat Sunny’s first over and four balls later Mashrafe Mortaza had Chibhabha inside-edge one on to the stumps.Sean Williams and Craig Ervine were fidgety, edging many and missing some too. Williams was caught at short midwicket after he misread a Mustafizur off-cutter. Ervine and Chigumbura tried to consolidate for the fourth-wicket stand but the former was run-out after Liton Das threw down the stumps from mid-off to leave the score at 78 for 4 in the 21st over.Chigumbura badly needed Sikandar Raza to stay with him, and the pair added 73 runs for the fifth wicket with minimal effort. Raza hardly played a false short after he blasted Sunny over long-off early in his innings. Chigumbura was looking for a release point and it came in the 32nd over when he went after Mashrafe for a six and two fours off consecutive deliveries.The six was blasted over the bowler’s head before Liton and Nasir Hossain couldn’t chase down a ball near the leg-side boundary. The third boundary came off an outside edge but it seemed Zimbabwe were turning a corner.Al-Amin removed both in the 34th and 36th overs. Raza holed out to mid-on for 33 off 42 balls, which included two fours and a six, while hit an upper-cut to Kayes at third man, who took the catch diving forward. The Zimbabwe captain’s knock could hardly be described as berserk and he hit two fours and a six in 47 off 77 deliveries.Mustafizur took two more wickets, removing Luke Jongwe and Tinashe Panyangara, while Nasir took the wickets of Malcolm Waller and Graeme Cremer, to shut Zimbabwe down for 183 runs in 43.2 overs.Earlier in the afternoon, Bangladesh were presented with a situation similar to the first ODI when they were put into bat and lost two early wickets. This time, however, there were no moderate or big partnerships. Imrul Kayes was the only batsman with some semblance of prolonged authority as he made 76 off 89 balls and batted until the 32nd over.Tamim Iqbal got out to peach of a Panyangara delivery that held its line and took the outside edge in the seventh over. Liton Das’ tough start to his ODI career continued after he got out trying to pull Panyangara, when he could have left the high-bouncing delivery. Mahmudullah’s struggle continued, too – this time he batted for 32 minutes to make 7 and his dismissal made it 79 for 3 in the 18th over.Mushfiqur Rahim, fresh from his fourth ODI hundred in the first match of the series, looked in ominous touch as he started off with a slog-sweep and a loft over cover for boundaries. The fourth-wicket partnership added 48 runs before another attempt at an inside-out shot took the edge and he was caught at short third-man, in the 28th over. Sabbir Rahman also looked to be hitting clean but, like the batsmen above him, he flattered to deceive with his 40-ball 33 that had four boundaries. Just when it looked like he would take the team to a high-scoring finish in the last ten overs, Sabbir fell to a poor slash outside off stump that gave Chakabva his fourth catch behind the stumps.Mashrafe and Nasir, who made 41 off 53 balls, tried to up the ante but Bangladesh ended up with only 53 runs in the last ten overs as Zimbabwe took good catches and bowled tightly to keep the scoring down to 241 for 9 in 50 overs.

Jimmy Adams progressed to a double hundred before his bowlers claimed five wickets to leave Worcestershire struggling to avoid the follow-on

Ivo Tennant at the Ageas Bowl25-Apr-2013
ScorecardMoeen Ali took four wickets before scoring a half-century but Hampshire took charge on day two•Getty Images

While Rod Bransgrove, the Hampshire chairman, was affixing the last bolt to the framework that will support a 175-bedroom hotel at the Northern End of the Ageas Bowl, the grand view afforded of the middle was of his captain completing the third double-century of his career. A measure of Jimmy Adams’ dominance was that his unbeaten 219 was the highest score by a Hampshire captain since Dick Moore made 316 against Warwickshire at Bournemouth in 1937.Many captains have come and gone since then. One or two of them, such as Roy Marshall and Richard Gilliat, have been better batsmen, but none can have concentrated so determinedly. There was no difference in the tempo of Adams’ innings from the first session of this match on Wednesday – and there was no greater likelihood that Worcestershire would take his wicket.Indeed, all that was in question was whether Adams would surpass the highest score of his career, an unbeaten 262 against Nottinghamshire at Trent Bridge in 2006. After Chris Wood had gone, having added 96 with the captain, David Balcombe and Danny Briggs did not remain at the crease for long enough to encourage Adams, who had struck 29 fours, to continue batting. A declaration at 500 for 9 left Worcestershire already facing a job to avoid the follow-on.To judge by the way they had batted against Glamorgan in their last fixture, that would constitute an ambition of sorts. Not that there was anything in the pitch for the quicker bowlers, or Briggs, or Moeen Ali, whose offspin had brought him four wickets without any discernible indication of turn.Still, Worcestershire laboured. Daryl Mitchell was nicely taken low down to his left by Liam Dawson at second slip, Matt Pardoe was caught at midwicket, the shot a loose one. Thilan Samaraweera hung his bat out and only edged into Sean Ervine’s midriff. Alexei Kervezee flicked to gully. This was the upshot of steady, saturating seam-up; nothing more. The quicker bowlers shared the five wickets to fall.Still, Moeen remained, all wristy flicks and cover drives that seemed to persuade the ball to the boundary. At least, he remained until he had reached a half-century, whereupon he too flicked a catch to the slip cordon: another dismissal that could have been avoided. Worcestershire are, of course, missing Vikram Solanki; they are deserving of some sympathy for losing players to Surrey through an unattractive form of transfer market. The harsh reality, though, is that they are 341 runs behind and require 192 to avoid the follow on.Rupert Kyrle, the Mayor of Eastleigh Borough Council, which is funding the £32m hotel here, had left the ground by now; Bransgrove and his delegation had completed their tour of what will become a four star Hilton, with some bedrooms facing the cricket and others looking out at the proposed 18-hole golf course at the back. It will open next April. Chris Huhne, formerly the local MP, may or may not be invited to the gala opening but rest assured that Sir Ian Botham, Bransgrove’s friend, will be on the guest list.

Stuart Broad did not bowl during England’s first training session in Galle to protect an ankle injury he picked up earlier in the tour

Andrew McGlashan in Galle24-Mar-2012Stuart Broad did not bowl during England’s first training session in Galle to protect an ankle injury he picked up earlier in the tour but is still expected to be available for the first Test against Sri Lanka which starts on Monday.Broad tripped on a boundary rope shortly before the first warm-up match against a President’s XI in Colombo and was pulled out of the game. However, he was part of the team for the second practice game where he sent down 23 overs against the Sri Lanka Development XI for four wickets and was the most impressive of England’s bowlers.”He just wanted an extra day off from bowling after the game he played,” James Anderson, his new-ball partner, said. “He bowled quite a few overs in the last game and he’s just giving his ankle a little bit of extra time to recover.”However, if England maintain the balance of playing two quicks and two spinners with which they completed the series against Pakistan in the UAE, they cannot afford any doubts over one of the pacemen. England are not short of fast-bowling reserves — Steven Finn has played both warm-up matches and Tim Bresnan is also in the squad — but Broad has become an integral part of the team after recapturing his form against India last year. Since the first Test of that series, at Lord’s, he has taken 38 wickets at 16.10 in seven matches.The make-up of England team is one of the major talking points heading into the series, particularly following a side strain to Ravi Bopara which could likely prevent him from bowling in either of the two Tests. He is still expected to return to the side at No. 6 to replace the dropped Eoin Morgan, but in energy-sapping conditions the thought of having a better-than-part-time fifth-bowling option will be one that Andrew Strauss and Andy Flower will continue to ponder.”It is going be a difficult decision with Ravi not being able to bowl,” Anderson admitted. “It’s always difficult going in with just two seamers and two spinners and not having a fifth bowling option. Trotty and KP can bowl a few overs but the decision the selectors have to make is whether they want the fifth bowler to be someone who is more capable with the ball.”England do have a couple of ways to balance the side if they so wish; a Test debut for Samit Patel at No. 6 or a recall for Bresnan with Matt Prior moving up the order one place. The latter would be a positive statement to make at the start of the short series but remains a long shot with Strauss and Flower reluctant to play five frontline bowlers. Patel, meanwhile, showed form with the bat in the last warm-up game with 72 off 78 balls but in 18 overs during the first innings conceded four-and-a-half an over and in the second innings seven.The least likely route England seem like taking is dropping a spinner to accommodate a third seamer after the success of Monty Panesar in the UAE. “We started going with two seamers and two spinners in the UAE and it worked well for us. Hopefully we can continue with that form,” Anderson said. “It makes things slightly different for the quicks because in this heat the spells will be shorter than we’re used to. It puts more focus on us to be right on the money every ball.”

Marlon Samuels, the West Indies and Jamaica batsman, has said he declined a chance to play in the ongoing World Cup as a replacement for an injured Dwayne Bravo

ESPNcricinfo staff01-Mar-2011Marlon Samuels, the West Indies and Jamaica batsman, has declined a chance to play in the World Cup as a replacement for an injured Dwayne Bravo. Samuels, who served a two-year ban from official cricket for links with an Indian bookmaker, said he was “not 100% ready” for one-day cricket, and wanted, instead, to focus on the four-day game on the domestic circuit.”First of all, I want to say thanks to the regional selectors for sitting down and thinking about selecting me for the World Cup. I am honoured to get such a phone call,” Samuels told the . “But as I had said in interviews before the start of the tournament, I want to focus on four-day and not one-day cricket, and try to be out there in the sun for hours on top of hours. I am doing that at the moment.”I still don’t think I am 100 per cent ready and I want to be honest with myself. I hope the selectors understand and respect my decision.”Samuels had been banned by a West Indies Cricket Board disciplinary committee in 2008 for discussing team information with Mukesh Kochar and later approaching him to pay a hotel bill. He returned to official cricket in May last year and is now playing for Jamaica in the Regional Four Day Competition, the Caribbean’s first-class domestic tournament.Samuels played 29 Tests and 107 ODIs for West Indies over an eight-year span, and is keen to return to Tests during the home series against India and Pakistan following the World Cup. “I am definitely looking to play in the upcoming home series, so hopefully I will continue on the road that I am and continue to score centuries,” he said.Bravo, who suffered a knee injury in West Indies’ opening game against South Africa, was ultimately replaced by the Guyana legspinner Devendra Bishoo.