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Jeet Raval may have to wait little longer for his first taste of Test cricket after intermittent rain meant no play was possible on the opening day in Christchurch

The Report by Shashank Kishore17-Nov-2016First day abandoned
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsSome rain is forecast for the second day in Christchurch too, but not as much as on the first•Getty Images

Jeet Raval will have to wait little longer for his first taste of Test cricket after intermittent rain meant no play was possible on the opening day of New Zealand’s 2016-17 home summer in Christchurch. Covers were on for most parts of the day at the Hagley Oval, which meant even the toss wasn’t possible.With chances of a start looking bleak, umpires S Ravi and Ian Gould called off play at 4pm, shortly after the scheduled tea interval. Play will start 30 minutes early on each of the next four days – at 10.30 am – to make up for lost time, weather permitting, although intermittent showers are forecast for the second day too.There was hope of a start time shortly before lunch when the sun broke through to allow Pakistan’s players a football session, but the rain returned soon to force them indoors. A scheduled inspection at 2.45pm had to be called off as the drizzle persisted.Pakistan’s preparation coming into the two-Test series has been less than ideal. Their three-day practice match in Nelson was completely washed out. They arrived in New Zealand last week straight out of a long series comprising three T20Is, three ODIs and three Tests against West Indies in the UAE.Pakistan have not lost a Test series in New Zealand since 1985. They won by a 1-0 margin, also under Misbah-ul-Haq who is set to captain in his 50th Test, on their previous tour to New Zealand in 2011.

أعاد محمود الزنفلي، حارس مرمى الأهلي السابق وحرس الحدود الحالي، سرد تجربته مع القلعة الحمراء خلال فترة إعارته، وكشف عن تفاصيل حديثه مع المدرب مارسيل كولر.

وقال الزنفلي في تصريحات عبر قناة “أون تايم سبورت”: “أنا لعبت للأهلي على سبيل الإعارة، ولم يتحرك أحد من مسؤولي القلعة الحمراء لتفعيل بند شرائي نهائيًا، لذلك عدت إلى فريقي بعد نهاية الموسم”.

وتابع: “كنت أتمنى أن أشارك مع الأهلي، أنا انضممت للفريق في آخر شهر يناير الماضي، حتى نهاية الموسم، وكانت هناك مباريات في آخر الدوري كنت أتمنى أن أشارك بها، لكن مارسيل كولر قال لي أنا سأمنح اللاعبين الكبار كلهم راحة وسأدفع بالناشئين”.

وأضاف: “مع احترامي للناشئين، كلهم لاعبين كبار وعلى أعلى مستوى، لكن طبيعي أفكر أنني انضممت للفريق على سبيل الإعارة وأريد أن أشارك وأظهر بشكل جيد، لأنني لم ألعب منذ فترة”.

واستكمل: “قلت له أنا أريد المشاركة وسط لاعبين كبار لكي أظهر بصورة جيدة مع الأهلي، حيث إنني منذ 8 أشهر لا أشارك، لكن كولر صمم على موقفه بالدفع بالناشئين، وقال لي انظر ماذا تريد أن تفعل”.

طالع أيضًا | جوزيه بيسيرو: أخطأت في قرار رحيلي عن الأهلي.. وأرحب بالعودة إلى مصر

وأردف: “قلت له لو اللاعبين الكبار شاركوا سأشارك لأن هذه أول مباراة لي مع الأهلي، وهناك جماهير ستحضر والناس سيتابعون المباراة بشكل كبير، وبالتأكيد أريد الظهور بشكل جيد، وقلت له مع احترامي أن اللاعبين الناشئين على أعلى مستوى، لكن أنا طبيعي أريد أن أظهر بشكل جيد”.

واستمر: “لكن كولر صمم وقال هذا قراري، سأدفع باللاعبين الناشئين، فقلت له إذًا أنا لاعب إعارة ولا أعرف موقفي من النادي، لو عرفت موقفي سألعب مع أي فريق”.

وأشار: “بعد ذلك وجدت أن هناك لاعبين كبار شاركوا في المباريات الأخيرة من الدوري، رغم أنني قلت للمدير الفني لو ستدفع بلاعبين كبار سأشارك، لكنه لو كان يريد الدفع بي لفعل ذلك، لكنه كان قد اتخذ القرار بأن من شاركوا هم الذين سيستمرون معه”.

واختتم الزنفلي حديثه بالتعبير عن حزنه لعدم حصوله على فرصة الظهور بشكل جيد مع الأهلي وسط اللاعبين الكبار، لكنه أكد أنه لو عاد به الزمن، فإنه سيشارك مع الناشئين ولن يرفض، قائلًا: “حزنت، لأنني في ناد كبير وكنت أريد أن أظهر بشكل جيد وسط اللاعبين الكبار، لكن لو عاد بي الزمن كنت سألعب مع الناشئين ولن أرفض”.

Shivnarine and Tagenarine on playing professional cricket together in the Caribbean

ESPNcricinfo staff22-Feb-2018

Imagine you were a professional cricketer. Now imagine you had to share your dressing room with… your father. And, on top of that, your dad is a legend of your sport. A lot to handle? Doesn’t quite seem to be the case with Tagenarine Chanderpaul, who shares the Guyana dressing room with his father Shivnarine. Chanderpaul junior, 21, jokes that Shiv, 43, “knows how I am, so he’s kind of free up with that”.Tagenarine says he knows enough to make good use of the vast experience of his father – the most capped player for West Indies in Test cricket – but does not let his record put unreasonable pressure on himself. “I just try and be myself. I can’t be him, you know,” Tagenarine said, according to the . “[But] most of the training, I use him to get some help. He gives me a few pointers.”Shivnarine, not unexpectedly, had plenty of advice for his son: “He’s been around [the domestic circuit] for a while. He had a good season in the [first-class] Regional Four-Day tournament. It’s the first time he had a full season, but that’s just the beginning.”He needs to keep going. He’s young and he needs to learn as quickly as possible and take it a distance because, whenever you get an opportunity, you have to grab it sometimes.”That said, the equation was not all work and no play between father and son. “We still have our fun and have our jokes,” Shivnarine said. “In any team sport, you need to have fun. That’s the only way to keep going.”When I went into the Windies team, we had people who used to give us a lot of jokes – guys like Kenneth Benjamin, Amby [Curtly Ambrose]. Those are the guys who keep you going on tour. I know how important that is. You need people like them around to keep you going. So yeah, there’s a time when you make your jokes and a time to get serious and down to business.”Guyana are currently in Antigua, to play the semi-final of the Regional Super50 List A tournament. They take on Windward Islands at the Coolidge Cricket Ground on Thursday afternoon.

Warwickshire have confirmed that Varun Chopra is to leave the club at the end of the season

George Dobell05-Jul-2016

Warwickshire have confirmed that Varun Chopra is to leave the club at the end of the season.Chopra was captain of the club until January and has a good long-term record as a batsman. He has been Warwickshire’s top run-scorer (if all competitions are combined) in four of the five previous seasons and, after a modest 2015, has rediscovered his consistency this year. Only Samit Patel has reached 50 more often of Division One batsmen and, in his only T20 appearance of the season, he hit a match-winning 97 not out.But, as ESPNcricinfo revealed last week, somewhere along the way, the relationship between Chopra and the club management has soured. His desire to have more time off at the end of the season – the club want all players to report back for training in early November – and his reluctance to commit himself to a long-term future at the club have been perceived as not buying into the team culture and setting a less than perfect example to younger players.The club, mindful of the number of senior players on the staff, are also keen to provide opportunities to younger men and make room in the budget for acquisitions.But Chopra is just 29 – significantly younger than the likes of Ian Bell, Jonathan Trott, Rikki Clarke, Tim Ambrose and Jeetan Patel – and could have his best years ahead of him. He retains England aspirations and is known to be of interest to several clubs. He comes across as a most unlikely rebel – he was widely praised for his calm leadership as he led the club to the NatWest Blast title in 2014 – and Warwickshire may come to rue the failure to manage him more effectively.”Both parties believe that now is a good time for Varun to accept a fresh challenge and he is now able to talk to other counties in order to realise his own career ambitions,” a statement released by Warwickshire says. “In the meantime, he remains fully committed to the club and will continue to perform at his best through to the end of the season.”Whilst everyone at the club is fully aware of his capabilities as a top order batsman, there is also a need to look at the development of the squad in order to be able to maintain a challenge on all fronts in the coming years.”Everyone at Edgbaston would like to thank Varun for his contribution to Warwickshire over the last seven seasons.”

Plans to include Salman Butt in the Test squad to tour the West Indies were afoot, but the PCB has decided to shelve them for now in the wake of the PSL spot-fixing affair

Umar Farooq20-Mar-20170:47

Quick Facts – Salman Butt

Plans for an international recall for former Pakistan captain Salman Butt have been shelved for now, in light of the continuing fallout from the recent corruption allegations emanating from the PSL.Butt has no connection to the PSL corruption issue, but his role in the spot-fixing scandal in England in 2010, for which he was banned, has forced a selection rethink ahead of Pakistan’s tour of the West Indies. The PCB chairman Shaharyar Khan had publicly cleared Butt’s potential selection earlier this year, but it appears he will have to wait longer for a comeback.ESPNcricinfo understands Butt was even informed by a selector last month that he was being considered for the national side. But last week he was told that those plans had been set aside for now, as the present circumstances were not ideal for his return.Five players – Sharjeel Khan, Khalid Latif, Mohammad Irfan, Shahzaib Hasan and Nasir Jamshed – were provisionally suspended for their alleged involvement in spot-fixing during the PSL and face various corruption charges. The PCB was thus keen to avoid criticism by recalling Butt, who has not featured for his country since returning to domestic cricket from a five-year ban for corruption.Butt’s name had cropped up in recent selection meetings – headed by Inzamam-ul-Haq – as a reflection of Pakistan’s continuing struggle with opening batsmen. There was reluctance among some members of the management but the proposition wasn’t rejected outright, and the chairman’s clearance was seen as a green signal.Since his return Butt has impressed on the domestic circuit. He was the second-highest run-scorer in the National One-Day Cup with 536 runs at 107.20 in 2015. He resumed his first-class career in 2016, as captain of the WAPDA side which won the Quaid-e-Azam trophy, and scored 749 runs at 49.40 in the season, including twin hundreds in the final. He was also the second highest run-getter in the National T20 Cup last year.Butt was 26 when he was banned, having played 33 Tests, 78 ODIs and 24 T20Is. Since then, he has attended anti-corruption rehabilitation programmes conducted by the PCB, taken part in social work and publicly apologised, though he had pleaded his innocence until 2013. Butt, who was Pakistan captain at the time, was also sentenced to 30 months in jail for his part in the Lord’s scandal. The two other players punished at the time, Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Amir, have also returned to cricket after completing their bans. Amir has been successfully re-integrated into the national set-up, and so forms a precedent of sorts for any more returns.Butt’s selection had also been mooted ahead of Pakistan’s tour to England in 2016, when the captain Misbah-ul-Haq admitted he was impressed by Butt’s form.”We have a settled line up between numbers three and seven but the opening slot is not as consistent as the rest of the order,” Misbah had told ESPNcricinfo last year. “There are issues and we are looking at a couple more options including Shan Masood and Salman Butt. Salman is playing well and overall I didn’t see any such difference since he left [in 2010]. He is a good prospect and he has also scored ample runs after his comeback.”With an average of 30.46 from 33 Tests, Butt was never prolific at Test level, but a dearth of other options has made Pakistan look towards him again. Ahmed Shehzad has not played a Test since being dropped from the side in 2015 and Masood has struggled to cement his spot at the top of the order. Mohammad Hafeez’s inconsistency has made him a less attractive option at the top.Sami Aslam had impressed with twin fifties in his first Test against England last year but faded away, with only one score above 22 in his last nine innings. Sharjeel’s suspension has deprived Pakistan of yet another opening batsman, and the only bright spark has been Azhar since being pushed up as a makeshift opener.

Victoria’s coach David Saker has mounted an impassioned defence of the Sheffield Shield final, saying he would be “shattered” if CA excised the pinnacle of a domestic competition

Daniel Brettig24-Mar-2016

Victoria’s coach David Saker has mounted an impassioned defence of the Sheffield Shield final, saying he would be “shattered” if Cricket Australia excised the pinnacle of a domestic competition he rates comfortably ahead of the County Championship after his years as an assistant coach with England.The Bushrangers flew into Adelaide on Thursday ahead of a meeting with South Australia that reflects the increasingly marginalised state of the Shield decider – played at Glenelg rather than Adelaide Oval, clashing with the opening round of the AFL season and broadcast only through a streaming service by CA’s website.Saker, however, argued the Shield final should be cherished as an Australian strength relative to the English game, in that a leaner domestic tournament was taken to an even higher pitch of intensity and therefore learning by staging a play-off match.”It is very important to Australian cricket,” Saker told ESPNcricinfo. “If you take away the Sheffield Shield final you’re taking importance away from the game of Sheffield Shield cricket and if you ask any of the players what they think about it and what they strive to do it is to play in a Sheffield Shield final.”It’s as close to a Test match as some of them will ever get, and the day they scrap that would be a poor day for Australian cricket in my opinion. The people making those decisions are more qualified than me, but I’ve been in the first-class system for a long time and I’d be shattered if that was the case, if we lost the Shield final.”There is a sense of ambivalence at CA about the final, summed up by the former chairman Wally Edwards at last year’s AGM: “I don’t think it plays any real part in our season. When I played Shield cricket, we didn’t have a Shield final. The Shield final, over many years, has proved itself to be a bit of a non-event, to be honest.”The chief executive James Sutherland has said the final could make way for an expanded Big Bash League schedule. Neither Sutherland, nor Edwards’ successor David Peever, will be present for this year’s final, as they will be in India for meetings around the World Twenty20 tournament.More broadly, Saker judged the Shield to be the superior competition to the County Championship, pointing to the number of dead fixtures played out over the lengthy English season. The high volume of matches has been a valuable tool for many players learning their craft, but Saker said the greater intensity of Shield contests was his preference.”I still think the Shield system is as good as you get,” he said. “It’s so competitive and that’s been shown again this year in the last three or four weeks of the competition, so tight and so hard to compete. That’s the one thing we’ve got over the English system with so many dead games in the County system. Since it’s become first and second division it has got better, but the Sheffield Shield is still the pinnacle of first-class cricket in the world.”At the end of his first season back in Victoria after a largely successful stint as mentor to England’s pace bowlers, Saker reflected on a role that has occasionally brought him into conflict with CA. Most notably, he was rebuked by the national team coach Darren Lehmann for taking issue with the handling of James Pattinson at the start of the summer, an experience that left Saker somewhat chastened. He counselled the game’s custodians against hubris.”It has had some hiccups because obviously I’ve said some things in the press that maybe I shouldn’t have said,” Saker said. “Most of the time I’m just trying to support the players in my team and what I think is best for the Victorian team. Not at any stage have I said things to downgrade the Australian team or the system. I think it’s a good system, I think they still need to tinker with some things to a degree.”What you have to be aware of no matter what organisation you’re in, you should never think your organisation does it better than someone else. I think you should always be open-minded to how others do things, and that’s not just in cricket, that’s in life and business. You’ve got to be open-minded enough to take some ideas from other teams and countries and use them, and make sure you’re not blinkered.”A source of tension in recent times has been the introduction of a strategy for CA and the states called One Team, which takes the view that all should be moving in the same direction with the same goals. While Saker agreed with the overall concept, he argued that states should still be allowed to develop their own coaching philosophies and approaches in a truly competitive environment, rather than turning the Shield into a mere greenhouse for emerging talent.”I’m all for this One Team idea, but I also think we should be trying to have our own ideas from our states, so if we want to have our own coaching philosophies or ways of going about it that should be encouraged,” Saker said. “If you have six teams coached in the same way and trying to coach the same way, I can’t see that being a good thing.”One of the beauties of the Shield system is it is usually coaches having control of the team and coming up with their own ideas of how to coach and how to train. Sometimes in my brief time so far back in Australia we’re getting taught how to coach, instead of letting the coaches coach. Of course we want to come together and share our ideas, but in the Shield system and the way we’ve produced players across all the states, they should get a free rein on how they run their system.”I’m sure they [CA] understand that, and I think we’ll eventually get to that stage, but it’s just in its infancy at the moment with One Team so I’m sure it’ll get to that.”

Benny Howell hit back for Gloucestershire after Kiran Carlson fell nine runs short of a notable Glamorgan record

ECB Reporters Network20-Sep-2017

Benny Howell, a limited-overs specialist, has not played any championship cricket this season. Opening the innings for Gloucestershire is just as rare, although he fulfilled the role in 2012 when he joined the county from Hampshire.But when play ended early the 29-year-old all-rounder was only four runs away from a second Championship century, the first made against Leicestershire two years ago. Gloucestershire will resume on 161 for 1, still trailing by 281, with Howell on 96 and James Bracey on 45.Howell said: “It was very pleasing to hit the ball well after a frustrating season where I have been out of the side because of various niggles and injuries. I began my career as an opener, and after today hopefully I can push on and refresh my career in that position. I still want to play in all forms of cricket, especially the one- day format, and I could possibly move up the order and bat higher.”Howell adapted well to his new role, and with Chris Dent in fluent form, the opening pair put on 53 in 15 overs, before Dent sparred at one from Ruaidhri Smith to give wicketkeeper Chris Cooke a straightforward catch.Howell was then joined by 20-year-old James Bracey, a local product from the Bristol area, and after playing himself in, the wicketkeeper batsman played some elegant shots through the offside.The second wicket pair have added 108 for the second wicket, and with the slow pitch not offering anything to pace or spin, and with further rain likely to cause interruptions over the final two days, a draw is the likely outcome to this end of season encounter.Earlier Kiran Carlson was dismissed nine runs short of becoming Glamorgan’s youngest double centurion, when he chipped Jack Taylor to mid-on. The 19-year-old from Cardiff scored 191, an innings that lasted 7 hours 23 minutes.After losing two wickets in the final 15 minutes at the end of the first day, Smith helped Carlson add 97 runs for the eighth wicket, before Jack Taylor took two wickets in three balls, Smith edged Taylor’s arm ball to slip and Marchant De Lange was trapped leg before without scoring.

Eoin Morgan’s moderate run has left some Middlesex supporters uneasy but he came good with a judicious half-century at Chelmsford that with the help of a partial floodlight failure proved good enough to stave off Essex’s run chase

ECB Reporters Network10-Jun-2016
ScorecardEoin Morgan recovered some form for Middlesex•Getty Images

England’s T20 captain Eoin Morgan anchored Middlesex’s second T20 NatWest Blast victory of the season with a calm reassertion of his ability which was enough to tame an out-of-sorts Essex who had to manufacture a chase with one floodlight pylon out of action.Morgan, coming in at No 4, finished unbeaten on 59, topped up by a last-over thrash in which he hit Graham Napier for what turned out to be 22 priceless runs. Morgan clubbed Napier for two big sixes in that over to add to five fours in a knock that encompassed 41 balls.New Zealand pace bowler Mitchell McClenaghan starred in his first appearance for Middlesex, taking 4 for 33.Middlesex, winning the toss and batting, went off at a fair lick and were 71 for one off seven overs. But they became becalmed mid-innings by the occasional spin bowling of Dan Lawrence and Tom Westley and lost wickets with almost wanton abandon. Even Morgan’s rescue job did not remove suspicions that they had an underpar total.However, their 173 for 8 looked better the longer Essex’s response went on. Only when Ashar Zaidi came to the wicket and cracked three sixes in a quickfire 27 did the home side look remotely in the chase.But the target grew larger and larger in the gloom of a Chelmsford evening with one floodlight pylon out of action – making it difficult for the batsmen, and the occasional fielder, to spot the ball. Ryan ten Doeschate’s unbeaten 58 could only take them within 17 runs.It had started well for Essex. Matt Quinn beat Dawid Malan for pace twice in successful balls and then had him dropped in the covers by Westley. Brendon McCullum went after him with a one-bounce four over long-on and a six over long-off before he was caught on the midwicket boundary by Callum Taylor for 16 off Napier.Quinn’s second over also went for 16 with Paul Stirling scooping a six into the balcony of the executive suite, before Malan greeted Wahab Riaz with a six over square and two fours in an over that cost 18. Riaz stopped Stirling’s 14-ball rampage the ball after he was hooked for six by knocking over his off-stump.Lawrence’s leg spin applied the brake. In his third over, he accounted for Malan and James Fuller in three balls and ended with remarkable figures of 2 for 22. Malan was caught on the long-on boundary by Jesse Ryder, and Fuller went two balls later, snapped up by Napier.Ryan Higgins was run out to an incredible piece of fielding on the cover boundary where Quinn scooping the ball into Taylor’s hands for a throw into James Foster’s gloves that caught the batsman stranded halfway down the wicket.And John Simpson didn’t last long either, caught at wide mid-on by Ravi Bopara off Quinn, before James Franklin and McClenaghan were bowled within two balls by Napier.In Essex’s reply, Lawrence had a let-off on two when he clubbed Tom Helm to wide mid-on where Fuller put down a relatively simple catch. But Jesse Ryder was not so fortunate when Ryan Higgins raced round to claim his scalp at deep midwicket off Tom Helm.Westley underclubbed McClenaghan to McCullum at midwicket before Ravi Bopara was run out as Franklin followed up a tip-and-run from Lawrence and kicked the ball into the stumps. Lawrence, on 29, tried to reverse-sweep Nathan Souter over John Simpson’s head only for the wicketkeeper to turn and dive to claim it.That brought in Zaidi, who thumped Souter’s first ball over midwicket for six, and was then dropped next ball by Stirling. Zaidi made the most of his escape with two massive heaves over wide midwicket for sixes off Stirling. But after the second maximum he advanced down the wicket to Stirling and was stumped by Simpson for a 13-ball 27. Essex then required 68 off six overs.Callum Taylor hammered Helm to cow corner for six and ten Doeschate did the same next ball by pulling McClenaghan over square for another six. But Taylor was then caught and bowled by the New Zealander, two balls later Foster lobbed into Stirling’s hands. McClenaghan claimed his fourth wicket when Napier hit to Fuller without scoring.Ten Doeschate reached his fifty off 39 balls, including four fours and a six, later sending a second six into the River Can. But it was no more than consolation for the home crowd.

Afghanistan lost their group games to Scotland, Zimbabwe and Hong Kong and entered the Super Six with no points, but victories over West Indies, UAE and Ireland – as well as helpful results in other games – meant that Friday’s win took them to the 2019 Wo

The Report by Liam Brickhill in Harare23-Mar-2018

Afghanistan completed a miraculous revival to secure their passage to the World Cup in England next year with a five-wicket win over Ireland in the final Super Six match of the qualifying tournament in Zimbabwe. Afghanistan lost their group games to Scotland, Zimbabwe and Hong Kong and entered the Super Six with no points, but victories over West Indies, UAE and Ireland – as well as helpful results in other games – meant that their World Cup dreams came to rest on their final match against Ireland. Chasing 210 on a slow track, Mohammad Shahzad led the way with a rapid fifty before Asghar Stanikzai, who missed the group stage due to an emergency appendectomy, secured the result with an unbeaten 39.Shahzad, who had been suspended from taking part in Afghanistan’s last two group games after picking up a demerit point in the team’s loss to Zimbabwe, quickly showed what his team had been missing in his absence. Despite the sluggish pitch, he made scoring look easy and his first boundary came from a remarkable pick-up six over long leg off a Barry McCarthy half-volley.In his second match as an opener, Gulbadin Naib was the perfect foil to Shahzad’s more rambunctious style. Having started in Afghanistan’s lower-middle order, Naib has slowly moved upwards and today he wore the responsibility of opener well. Foregoing all but the safest of shots, together with Shahzad he ensured Afghanistan got through the first 15 overs unscathed.At the other end, Shahzad kept the scorecard ticking. Having seen the shine off the ball, he launched the attack on Ireland’s spinners, and moved through the forties with a series of boundaries. Andy McBrine was clubbed to wide long-on, and then onto the roof of the three-storey building at the City End of the ground. Shahzad brought up a 48-ball fifty in the 17th over, but then played one shot too many and was caught in the deep off Simi Singh in the same over.ESPNcricinfo Ltd

That dismissal gave Ireland the opening they needed to start working through the middle order, and by the 30th over Afghanistan had added just 31 runs, losing Rahmat Shah and Gulbadin Naib along the way. Simi had his third wicket when Mohammad Nabi dragged a ball to McBrine at deep midwicket, and at 145 for 4 in the 38th over, Afghanistan were wobbling a little.They had been in a very similar position in their match against Zimbabwe in Bulawayo earlier this month, but this time around there was one crucial difference: their captain, Stanikzai, was at the crease. With the required rate creeping above seven, Stanikzai helped take 15 off an over from McCarthy, and he responded to Samiullah Shenwari’s dismissal with an ice-cool dab to the third man boundary off a slow bouncer from Tim Murtagh. Stanikzai was clearly in pain all the while, clutching his side after every big shot or every hard-run two.Najibullah Zadran narrowed the gap between Afghanistan and World Cup qualification to single figures with an enormous six that landed at the top of the grand stand, but fittingly it was Stanikzai who brought them home in the last over. Jamming his bat down on a McCarthy yorker, an inside edge sent the ball skidding down to the fine-leg boundary, and Afghanistan’s incredible revival was complete.For Ireland, a tospy-turvy campaign ultimately ended in disapppointment. Having decided to bat , they adopted a slow and steady approach in the morning. Openers William Porterfield and Paul Stirling had both scored hundreds in this tournament, but neither was at their most fluent on Friday. Under heavy, grey skies on a slightly tired pitch they managed just 37 from the Powerplay, despite Stirling taking three boundaries off Dawlat Zadran.Mohammad Shahzad leads Afghanistan’s post-match revelry•International Cricket Council

At the other end, Porterfield accumulated his runs with more substance than style, and his dismissal – chipping an attacking stroke in the air to a fielder inside the circle – set the tone as, with the pitch slowing up, catches tended to go to fielders in front of square inside the circle.Stirling brought up a 77-ball fifty in the 28th over while Niall O’Brien, bucking the trend of laboured scoring, raced through the twenties with a flurry of boundaries, including a confident swipe over long-on off Nabi. The pair had put on 44 in under 10 overs when a horrible mix-up resulted in Stirling’s dismissal for 55. Niall O’Brien reverse-swept to backward point, Stirling set off for a stop-start single, but then turned and dived for the crease – but by then the ball had been thrown to Mujeeb, who whipped the bails off with the batsman well short.Three overs later, Niall O’Brien drove Zadran low to Shenwari at extra cover, and Ireland were looking a little rudderless at 130 for 4. Simi struggled to get the ball off the square as Afghanistan’s multi-faceted spin attack circled like sharks, but Kevin O’Brien struck three fours and a six in his 41 to help Ireland take 66 off the last 10 overs. Their total of 209 for 7 was modest on paper, and left Afghanistan with plenty to do in these conditions. But having been living on a prayer throughout the Super Sixes, Afghanistan weren’t about to fall at the final hurdle.

Worcestershire’s batsmen are heading to the 2nd XI for recuperation after a third successive defeat extended a dismal return to Division One

Paul Bolton at New Road30-Apr-2018
ScorecardIt is only seven months these sides were promoted together from Division Two of the County Championship but the gulf in class between them was startling in a one-sided affair that was completed in just five sessions.Worcestershire, who went up as Second Division champions, were routed twice in the equivalent of just two sessions by a high quality attack who made expert use of a slow seaming pitch.Stuart Broad, playing his first match of the season, played his part, surviving a mid-pitch collision with Luke Fletcher along the way, but he was not Worcestershire’s chief tormentor. Instead it was Jake Ball, another member of England’s Ashes attack, who wrecked their second innings by taking his second five wicket haul of the season.Worcestershire have now lost all three matches since they were promoted for the sixth time and with a trip to the Oval this week followed by the visit of reigning champions Essex, things are unlikely to get any easier.Kevin Sharp, who was installed as head coach following the sacking of Steve Rhodes during the winter, had some difficult times during his time as Yorkshire’s batting coach but preventing Worcestershire from being relegated after just a season in the top flight for the fifth time may yet prove to be his biggest challenge.”We know that there are some really top sides in this division. Division One sides are more experienced and they have strength in depth but there lies the challenge. If we didn’t know before we certainly do now about what is expected,” Sharp said.After a lengthy post-match team Sharp announced that five of his punch drunk top six – Travis Head is the exception – will play in a Second XI Trophy match against Warwickshire at New Road on Tuesday in an attempt to find form and confidence..Brett D’Oliveira and George Rhodes have scraped together just 35 runs in 12 innings between them and Worcestershire’s only half centuries have come from Ben Cox and Ed Barnard at seven and eight in the order.”It hurts and it’s not nice. Someone asked me the other day if I was enjoying myself. I said sometimes because it’s not easy to enjoy yourself in such circumstances,” Sharp said.”I have been at this club for four years, I have seen these lads grow up and they are fine players but they have not performed as yet. But I have every confidence and belief they will come through and by September things will have turned round.”Jake Ball showed England form at New Road•Getty Images

Nottinghamshire have yet to play at Trent Bridge this season because of building work but they will return there to face Hampshire on Friday having won twice on the road.”We started this little block of five matches thinking of it like a Test series of five. We are 2-1 up at the minute and everyone is excited at going back to Trent Bridge,” Ball said.Ball already 21 wickets this season and with a new National Selector in Ed Smith, he remains hopeful of reclaiming his England place after he was dropped for the two Tests in New Zealand.”It’s nice to have had this start having had the winter I had. It’s something I wanted to do. Hopefully I can kick on again and see where we go from there,” he said.Ball was given the opportunity to pitch the ball up and attack here thanks to the early aggression of Tom Moores and Broad who accelerated Nottinghamshire towards their declaration. They pulled out after the last wicket pair of Luke Fletcher and Harry Gurney had scrambled the 12 runs they needed for a third batting point and then set about Worcestershire’s feeble batting.Daryl Mitchell, who has made only five of his 26 championship centuries in the First Division, was bowled by a full length ball for the second time in the match and only Tom Fell, who batted 28 overs for his 37, threatened to delay Nottinghamshire.Fell looked distraught when he was bowled shouldering arms to Gurney and Worcestershire’s version of Kwik Cricket meant it was all over long before a party of 150 schoolchildren arrived hoping to see some cricket before a presentation evening.