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Ashwell Prince has resigned from South Africa’s selection panel to concentrate his efforts on coaching

Firdose Moonda12-Sep-2016Ashwell Prince has resigned from South Africa’s selection panel to concentrate his efforts on coaching. Prince was one of two former internationals, alongside Errol Stewart, on the four-man committee which also includes convener Linda Zondi and former Gauteng player Hussein Manack. There is no indication of when a replacement for Prince will be announced.”I feel I have more to offer as a coach, so that’s what I want to concentrate on,” Prince told ESPNcricinfo. “Being both a coach and a selector was not an option as it is regarded as a conflict of interest.”Prince, a batsman who played 66 Tests, 52 ODIs and a T20I between 2002 and 2011, signed off as a selector before South Africa A’s tour to Australia, where he travelled as the team’s assistant and batting coach. He is considering opportunities at domestic level for the upcoming season and is close to confirming a position. He is also hopeful of completing coaching qualifications, although he missed out on the Level Three course that started last Monday. The course is only run once a year, so Prince may have to wait until 2017 to further his studies.Prince became a national selector in June 2015, a tough period for South African cricket. In that time, the team played 12 Tests and won just two, played 22 ODIs and won 11 and were victorious in 10 of their 15 T20s. Among the positives from the period was the rise of Kagiso Rabada, Temba Bavuma and Tabraiz Shamsi.

Malik was allegedly seen agreeing to potentially carry out corrupt acts on the field

Umar Farooq08-Jun-2020Saleem Malik has formally responded to a pending inquiry stemming from a newspaper sting operation carried out 20 years ago. The responses, filed to the PCB, ESPNcricinfo understands, are to questions surrounding an investigation by the now-defunct – the same newspaper and reporter that carried out the Lord’s 2010 sting – in which Malik was allegedly caught on video offering to potentially corrupt players and games.The revelations and allegations from the sting were not part of the Justice Qayyum inquiry which banned Malik for life in 2000 – that inquiry and sentencing had taken place just before the tabloid sting.The board has confirmed the receipt of Malik’s response and says it is under review. Although Malik had volunteered to clear his name when the PCB set up an integrity commission in the wake of the 2010 spot-fixing saga, he hadn’t, before Monday, responded to the PCB summons relating to the sting operation.Last month, Malik re-emerged after a movement appeared to have begun urging the PCB to reintegrate him. The Qayyum report found him guilty of attempting to fix a Test match, before a Lahore sessions court lifted the ban in 2008. Shortly after that verdict, the PCB denied that it had offered him the post of head coach at the National Cricket Academy, a day after he said he had accepted an offer for the same. Since then, he had been largely off the grid.”I have never been quiet, I wasn’t given ample coverage,” Malik said outside the Gaddafi Stadium after submitting his response to the PCB’s Security and Anti-corruption head. “I have been disheartened when my previous press conferences were under-reported, but now we have social media [which is] a good medium to be heard. Even if you guys [the media] are not coming to cover me, I can still record and make it viral on social media. I have become a grandfather now and I don’t like to be maligned every now and then on TV.”I have submitted a detailed reply and the transcript they gave me was totally [in bad faith]. I’ve been fighting my case in courts for eight years and they [the PCB] never offered any such transcript [against him in court] ever. The Justice Qayyum report doesn’t carry any value and it was biased. So this is all lies against me and I have been suffering with injustice for long. I never criticise anyone in my statements […] they’re all great players who served the country with distinction. But at the same time, I also served Pakistan and won a lot games for the country and I deserve to be treated equally. I know there have been a lot changes at the helm in the last ten years but for now I hope for the best.”Malik is one of only five Pakistan players to play over 100 Tests. He played 103 Tests and 263 ODIs for Pakistan from 1981 to 1999, but his career was ultimately overshadowed by the match-fixing scandal. In a judicial inquiry that began in 1998 and continued for 13 months, he was found guilty of attempting to bribe the Australia cricketer Mark Waugh to fix the 1994-95 Karachi Test.

The ninth-shortest non-abandoned Test ended just before noon on the fifth day, with wet conditions and intermittent drizzle washing out a fourth day in a row

The Report by Sidharth Monga18-Nov-2015
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
Persistent rain washed out the fifth day too•BCCI

The ninth-shortest, non-abandoned Test ended just before noon on the fifth day, with wet conditions and intermittent drizzle washing out a fourth day in a row. Only one Test in India has had fewer overs bowled than the 81 here. In that time, India put South Africa in, and their spinners bowled the visitors out for 214 before Shikhar Dhawan followed up his pair in Mohali with 45 not out. Playing his 100th Test, AB de Villiers scored 85, showing to his team-mates how to play spin in India.India led the series 1-0. The third Test is to begin in Nagpur on November 25.

The batsman struggled for the first part of his innings but was able to turn in a match-winning hand

Andrew McGlashan01-Feb-2021Sam Heazlett showed the value of hanging in as he turned a batting struggle into a match-winning display against the Sydney Thunder in the BBL Knockout final.Heazlett was 19 off 26 balls in the Brisbane Heat’s chase of 159 before he finally scored a boundary and that flicked a switch for the left-hander, who scored 51 off his next 23 deliveries in a career-best T20 score of 74 not out.With Heazlett labouring and Marnus Labuschagne controversially run-out, the asking rate had pushed above 11-an-over but, having been brought into the side as a match-up for the Thunder legspinner Tanveer Sangha, he then took to him with a pair of leg-side sixes as the game swung back to the Heat.”My head was probably spinning a bit early,” Heazlett said. “I played and missed at a few balls but we had more batting to come, Jimmy’s [Peirson] been in great form this season and we had full confidence that we could lift the rate towards the end.Related

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“I was looking to go hard towards the short boundary with the legspinner on, lucky enough to get a few away and that took the pressure off a little bit and from there tried to hit the ball hard and thankfully it came off.”When Heazlett was recalled for the Eliminator final to break up a batting order filled with right-handers, he had not played since January 2 in a season that had brought 99 runs in six innings – 48 of those in one knock against the Hobart Hurricanes where he struck five sixes – and he admitted to uncertainty at the start of his innings.”I haven’t scored a whole heap of runs this year. [You] still try to go out there with confidence but you don’t want to get out, [it was] two for not many, and I probably wasn’t quite as clear as I needed to be, not watching the ball as hard as I should have,” he said. “But you have to back your skills. It’s good to get that one in now and go into the next game with a few runs under the belt.”Heazlett has had a curious career so far, selected for Australia’s limited-overs squad before he had made a one-day appearance for Queensland, debuting against New Zealand in the match where Marcus Stoinis made 146 not out and having statistics in the 50-over game (average 54.05) that far outweigh his T20 numbers (average 18.18).”[It’s been] frustrating…to have pretty good stats in one-day cricket and coming to T20 cricket and know I have what it takes but not being able to do it enough is disappointing,” he said. “But thankfully the [Heat] coach and captain had a lot of faith in me. I’ve enjoyed that middle-order role a couple of times this year, good to have the field out, get my eye in then take it from there.”The Heat, who qualified for the finals series in fourth meaning they would need to win four games in a row to take the title, will now face the Perth Scorchers in the Challenger final on Thursday to decide who plays the Sydney Sixers at the SCG on February 6. The match will be played in Canberra after Perth was put into a five-day lockdown because of Covid-19.

Southee and Henry strike early to turn the screw after disciplined batting display

The Report by Andrew Miller30-Nov-2019England 39 for 2 (Burns 24*, Root 6*) trail New Zealand 375 (Latham 105, Mitchell 73, Watling 55, Broad 4-73) by 336 runsEngland’s dicey fortunes took another turn for the precarious on the second day at Hamilton, as New Zealand’s seamers found movement and energy with the new ball in a torrid final hour, to consolidate their grip on the series after another four-and-a-half sessions of hard graft from their batsmen had visibly drained their visitors’ resolve.By the close, England were clinging on through their under-pressure captain, Joe Root – who has rarely felt more desperate for a score – and Rory Burns, who survived two dropped catches and an under-edged drive past the off stump in scratching his way to an unbeaten 24. Ugly runs will do just fine, of course, but the hounding that England endured in their 18 evening-session overs merely compounded the difference in confidence between the two camps.Though a late flurry of wickets (and runs) in New Zealand’s own innings had hinted at a pitch that had quickened up from the slightly spurious greentop of the first morning, the contest came alive from the moment that Tim Southee and Matt Henry were handed New Zealand’s new ball.Dom Sibley had barely found his bearing when he was thumped a savage blow on the helmet by Southee – sconed on the badge just as he had been in England’s warm-up in Whangarei – and four overs later he swished loosely across the line to be pinned lbw for 4.Daryl Mitchell plays a shot•Getty Images

Joe Denly barely endured any longer: Henry had already been denied Burns’ scalp when Ross Taylor shelled a diving chance at first slip, but Denly couldn’t escape his clutches, grazing an edge for BJ Watling to cling on low behind the stumps. Burns, his balance all over the place, was lucky to survive again when Jeet Raval flung himself at an airy clip at midwicket, and England could well have lost a third to the final ball of the day when New Zealand’s master of chaos, Neil Wagner, forced Root to flinch a lifter just wide of leg gully.The intent New Zealand displayed with the ball made light of a surface that England’s own bowlers (with the honourable exception of Stuart Broad) had at times made to look like a featherbed. But moreover it was a tribute to the tactics employed by New Zealand’s batsmen – particularly their first-day centurion Tom Latham, and today’s sixth-wicket mainstays, Watling and the debutant Daryl Mitchell.Between them, that trio marshalled a first-innings total of 375 that spanned a hefty 129.1 overs. It ended up being some way shy of the 201 overs they had ground out at Mount Maunganui last week, largely thanks to Broad, whose cross-seaming screamer from the final ball before tea dislodged the steadfast Watling for 55 from 192 balls and set in motion a frantic race through the tail as the final five wickets fell for 60 inside 13 overs.Up until that finale, England had gone through their motions with as much energy as they could muster. Chris Woakes was line-and-length personified in another economical display, while Jofra Archer occasionally touched 140kph in another barrel-scraping display from a hard-worked thoroughbred who desperately looks in need of a rest. His fortunes were best summed up in a lively joust with Mitchell Santner, who twice in an over hoicked his short balls over fine leg for six, on the second occasion taking out a luckless security guard who had been looking the other way behind the rope.But ultimately it was the sight of Ben Stokes, his dodgy knee already causing him so much discomfort, charging in time and again in a bid to be his side’s game-changer once again, that was the clearest indication of the direction in which this contest is currently headed. After limping out of the attack after two overs on the first day, he defied logic by returning for a further 11 today. Lion-hearted and loyal to his captain, maybe, but wicketless and futile at the same time, especially with four Tests in South Africa looming within the month.Stokes’ involvement was at least an indication that England believed the contest was not out of reach. And at 191 for 5 in the first hour of the morning, it had indeed looked rather promising, after Broad had induced a rare misjudgement from Tom Latham to peg back his off stump for 105, before Henry Nicholls’ flapped a Sam Curran bouncer down Broad’s throat at backward square leg.

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But then again, England had thought they were in the contest in Mount Maunganui as well, where New Zealand had been tottering at 197 for 5 before Watling and co cranked their innings up to a monstrous 615 for 9 declared. And while such riches proved to be out of reach here, their runs on the board felt mightily significant by the close.The bulk of those were mined from Watling’s sixth-wicket stand of 124 with the new boy Mitchell, whose handful of cameos in the T20 series were scant preparation for the emotion and pressure of a Test debut innings, but who proved very much up to the challenge. He took his time to get going, digging deep for eight scoreless deliveries (with his mum filming them all on her phone) before lumping a rare Woakes long-hop through midwicket for a very cathartic first boundary.And thereafter he was away – not in the sense of a free-flowing rampage, but in the “block, block, cash in” sense of a man who trusted his technique, the pitch, his team-mate and his team’s tactics, to force England to dig deep, exhaust themselves, and offer up the odd ball that had to be put away – such as the monstrous golf-swing of a straight drive with which Mitchell climbed into an otherwise perfectly serviceable legbreak from Denly that travelled the best part of 110m back over the bowler’s head.There wasn’t much of that ilk to be seen from either batsman throughout their alliance. Watling had one significant let-off, on 1, when the stand-in keeper Ollie Pope was unable to stay low enough to scoop a low edge off Curran, and New Zealand were able to add just 24 runs in the first hour after lunch – a-nip-and-tuck period in which two quick wickets at 280-odd for 7 could well have dragged their innings quickly back into the mire.But that just never looked like happening. The new ball came and went with the minimum of alarm, and as the second hour wore on, so the scoring opportunities became more frequent. Mitchell motored to his maiden Test fifty with a brace of boundaries in a tired over from Stokes, the latter a sweetly timed pull through midwicket that earned a wave from a very proud mum, and Watling passed his own landmark soon afterwards – crunching a Curran half-volley through the covers.But then came the one that misbehaved from Broad – a snorter that fizzed off a startled splice to Burrns in the gully, and suddenly the door was open once more. Broad kicked his way through it after the resumption, persuading Mitchell to top-edge a bouncer to Archer on the square leg boundary for 73 before Woakes found Southee’s edge to give Pope that overdue maiden keeper’s catch. Archer added his first wicket of the match, and only his second of an arduous series, when Santner chanced his arm once too often, and one ball later Wagner chipped a Curran full-toss to midwicket.But that rush of breakthroughs proved a double-edged omen for England. By the close, with their innings in serious jeopardy, they might even have missed the ennui of New Zealand’s mid-innings go-slow.

Cricket South Africa is understood to be mulling filling the Boxing-Day slot with a one-off Test against a different opponent

Nagraj Gollapudi19-Aug-2017Not only will India not feature in the Boxing Day Test against South Africa later this year, but even the New Year’s Test in Newlands is in danger of being pushed back. The Boxing Day Test is usually the highlight of South Africa’s international season while the iconic venue in Cape Town usually hosts the second Test of the South African summer from January 2.However, it is understood that India will only land in South Africa in the last week of 2017 and will want to acclimatise for at least a week before starting the tour comprising four Tests, five ODIs and two Twenty20 internationals.According to a BCCI official, India cannot reach South Africa for the Boxing Day Test which starts on December 26 only because their home series against Sri Lanka is scheduled to finish on December 24. “We can’t make it make it in time. The Sri Lanka tour ends on December 24. After that we need to give the boys a few days’ rest,” the board official told ESPNcricinfo. “The South Africa tour is a big one, so they need to play two warm-up games, so it will take at least 10 days [before the first Test].The BCCI has already alerted Cricket South Africa on the scheduling difficulties, which both boards expect to sort out by next week. ESPNcricinfo understands CSA has accepted the fact that India will miss the Boxing Day Test, and, hence, have started looking for other options to stage a one-off Test. Pakistan and Afghanistan are reportedly the two possible options, but nothing concrete has emerged yet on that front.Tony Irish, the head of the South African Players Association, said that if the Newlands Test failed to start on January 2 or 3, it would be a “major blow” for CSA only because the match coincides with the holiday season. “I had been aware of the fact that they were unlikely to be there for Boxing Day, but for them not to be here for the New Year’s Day is a major blow to CSA and the fans,” Irish said. “To lose Boxing Day is a big thing, but to lose both of them would be massive hit for the fans.”Irish felt India could play a solitary two- or three-day game ahead of the first Test to facilitate things. But the BCCI official said that the Indian players could not be pushed.There are other repercussions of the India tour starting late. As soon India depart, South Africa are scheduled to host Australia for a four-Test series before the players arrived in India for the IPL. If CSA do manage to find an opponent for the Boxing Day Test, that would mean nine Tests crammed inside a two-month period.Irish felt such an “extremely gruelling” Test schedule combined with the limited-overs matches against India would exacerbate the workload on players. “If the India Test matches start much after January 2 or 3, there will be a lot of concern about the players’ workload,” Irish said. “You really compound the workload issue.” Irish has raised this concern with CSA, which has noted it.

Marlon Samuels is adamant he is the man to revive West Indies’ embattled batting line-up when he returns from a two-year suspension for links to an Indian gambler

Alex Brown02-Dec-2009Marlon Samuels is adamant he is the man to revive West Indies’ embattled batting line-up when he returns from a two-year suspension for links to an Indian gambler. Samuels, who was banned by a West Indies Cricket Board disciplinary committee for discussing team information with Mukesh Kochar and later approaching him to pay a hotel bill, will be eligible to return to cricket on May 9 next year and is confident of being promptly reinstated to the regional team.Samuels has consistently maintained his innocence over the charges, and his belief that the WICB disciplinary committee were pressured into delivering a guilty verdict by both the board and the International Cricket Council’s Anti-Corruption and Security Unit. He told the hearing last year that phone taps in which he was recorded discussing bowling and personnel changes were never intended to assist in gambling, and that the $1,238 paid by Kochar for a hotel room in Mumbai was intended as a loan after his own credit card was declined.A four-man panel consisting of Richie Richardson, Justice Adrian Saunders, Lloyd Barnett and Aubrey Bishop voted 3-1 that Samuels had violated the ICC’s code of conduct, but stated the Jamaican batsman had not acted “dishonestly or in a corrupt manner” and that he “is an honest cricketer … [who] has never betted on cricket matches”. Richardson, one of the three panel members to rule against Samuels, later said he regretted his decision and argued that the minimum two-year sentence set down by the ICC was “unfair”.Samuels has maintained a low profile during his suspension, having abandoned his original plan to conduct a judicial review of the verdict through the Antiguan courts. He has spent much of the last 18 months in the gymnasium preparing for his re-entry to cricket – which coincides with the second week of the World Twenty20 tournament in the Caribbean – where he hopes to revitalise West Indies’ misfiring top- and middle-orders.”It’s always hard to see your team lose,” Samuels told Cricinfo. “I’m a West Indian and that will always be my team. I hope Chris Gayle will pick up his troops and take them to bigger and better things. I watch a lot of games and a lot of tapes. It has been very frustrating sitting and watching cricket all this time, but I am hoping to come back better than before. I will definitely come back with a stronger frame of mind.”Most definitely my intention is to return to the West Indies team. I have trained very hard and been very disciplined while I have been out of the game. The two years will be over soon. I want to bat No. 4 for West Indies. That is where I always wanted to bat, but unfortunately I haven’t been able to get that opportunity. I am very much looking forward to batting again with guys like Chris Gayle and Ramnaresh Sarwan. I think I could have a positive impact.”Samuels is not alone in making that assessment. Clyde Butts, West Indies’ chairman of selectors, is buoyant about the exiled batsman’s international prospects for a year that will include Test series against South Africa and Sri Lanka.”Once Marlon’s suspension is over and he’s playing cricket again he will be considered,” Butts told Cricinfo. “Of course, the performances have to be there. When Marlon was suspended he was just starting to score a lot of runs and look the part. He’s someone who could strengthen the middle order and he also offers part-time off-spin.”Samuels insists he has no regrets over his dealings with Kochar, whom he befriended during a limited-overs series in Sharjah in 2002. He claims his tapped telephone conversation with the Indian gambler before a one-day international against India in Nagpur two years ago did not amount to corruption, and Kochar’s settling of the hotel bill in Mumbai two weeks later was the result of Samuels being short of cash when a paid television appearance was cancelled at short notice.”I don’t want to go into too much detail, but it has really been one man against the world,” he said. “An appeal would not have worked. I had a lot of telephone conversations with all kinds of people, and they told me an appeal would be a waste of time. Why would I do anything different? Anyone in that situation would have done the same thing. There have been past players come out and say things about me when they have done the same things themselves. The entire world has seen my case and know that I am innocent.”It is nine years ago to the month that Samuels, then 19, made his Test debut against Australia at the Adelaide Oval, the same venue where West Indies will attempt to improve their Frank Worrell Trophy prospects this week. Memories of confrontations with the Glenn McGrath-led Australian attack evoke in him both pleasant memories and sadness. He had hoped to make a third tour of Australia.Samuels achieved notoriety at the conclusion of the 2000 series when he asked Steve Waugh, the then-Australian captain, for a piece of his famous red rag. Waugh obliged, and Samuels to this day counts the tattered piece of cloth among his most treasured items. “To me, he is one of the greatest players I have seen,” he said. “That red rag is very special to me. It will die with me. I have it in a glass case inside my house so when my career is over I will have something to show the world. He is a great Australian icon.”I would have loved to be making my third tour of Australia and giving Ricky Ponting a good run for his money. I have great memories of being there as a 19-year-old making my debut. It was good to see (Adrian Barath) scoring a century also as a 19-year-old and I wish him all the best. I wanted to go there as a fearless cricketer and approach the Test matches as if they were club games for Melbourne in Jamaica. I was just trying to play the ball, not the name that was Glenn McGrath.”Just how Caribbean and international audiences will greet the return of a player linked to gambling remains to be seen, but Samuels is hopeful of a positive response. He is spending the last few months of his suspension in the company of family, whom he expects to see less of from May 9, and mentally preparing himself to return to cricket’s elite competitions. “I know that when cricket starts again I will be away more often, so I am using this time now to do the things I want to,” he said. “When the time comes to play again, I know I will be ready.”

West Indies T20 captain Carlos Brathwaite has defended the allrounder against criticism over his fitness issues

ESPNcricinfo staff02-Aug-2019Andre Russell has ruled himself out of West Indies’ first two T20Is against India starting on Saturday. The allrounder had only just returned to action after knee surgery but experienced “some discomfort” while playing in the Global T20 Canada and then expressed his unavailability to the West Indies selectors. However, only hours after a CWI press release had said this, Russell turned out to play for Vancouver Knights against Edmonton Royals.Carlos Brathwaite, the West Indies T20 captain, launched a stirring defence of Russell in the pre-match press conference in Florida. “I think he’s been knocked in the press a bit because of his injury woes. And I think it’s easy for us to see him hobbling around the field and just take for granted that he’s injured but we can also look at it on the other side and say he can be home, he could be elsewhere and not trying to play for the West Indies.”And speaking for myself as captain of the T20 team and speaking for myself as Andre’s friend, whenever we speak about playing for West Indies, that’s always his main goal. And we’ve seen in the World Cup -whether he was 100% or not, it’s debatable – but the fact that he wanted to be at the World Cup, wanted to pull on the shirt and wanted to perform for the people in the West Indies and his mates in the dressing room, I think, is testament to the person he is. And I think we need to start commending the fact that he actually tries to get on the park and stop lambasting the fact that he probably doesn’t stay on it till the end of the 50 overs or the 20 overs.”Even against my better judgment, I told him to sit out this series, but he really wanted to play, he really wanted to come and show off his skills and show off what he does in franchise cricket for the West Indies. Unfortunately, he took another knock and he doesn’t think that if he comes here that he’d be doing justice to other people who could be here and are 100%. Obviously, he’s a big loss, not only on the field but off the field. In the dressing room, in and around the team, he’s a big character, very jovial and in my eyes, a leader in the dressing room as well. But obviously, if we need to get him ready for the Twenty20 World Cup, we have to do without him for a couple of series, I prefer that than pushing him in this series and making a long term injury.”Jason Mohammed scored a 59-ball half-century•AFP

This, incidentally, is not the first time something like this has happened. In late 2018, Russell missed tours of India and Bangladesh, with chairman of selectors Courtney Browne saying that Russell – as well as Sunil Narine – “are injured at this time”. But when the first T20I against Bangladesh was played on December 17, Russell was playing for Somerset Cavaliers in the US Open Cricket tournament, a T20 competition, in its tenth year, played in Florida’s Central Broward Regional Park.With Russell absent, middle-order batsman Jason Mohammed gets to revive his West Indies career. “He [Mohammed] is a player with lots of experience in all three formats and – having done well for Trinidad & Tobago as well as Guyana Amazon Warriors,” Floyd Reifer, West Indies interim head coach, said.”It is not easy to the fill the shoes of someone like Andre Russell, who has dominated T20 cricket all over the world and helped West Indies win the ICC T20 World Cup on two occasions. We believe Jason is capable of good performances and we back him to perform at this level and win games as well.”Russell was last seen in a West Indies shirt in the World Cup, but after playing four matches, his knees gave out and he had to be replaced. The 31-year old played his first match since recovering from that injury on July 25 but he didn’t bowl or bat in it.Mohammed, who last played for West Indies in the ODI series against Bangladesh in July last year, was Trinidad & Tobago’s highest run-scorer last season in the four-day domestic tournament. The 32-year old captained a weakened West Indies side that toured Pakistan for a T20I series last year, where he made just 28 runs in three games. He has played nine T20Is and averages 18.The first two T20Is against India are scheduled to be held at the Broward County Stadium in Florida on Saturday and Sunday. The third and final T20I will be played at the Guyana National Stadium on Tuesday.

Pakistan will hope to extend their T20I winning run to nine in a row having already sealed an 11th consecutive series victory

The Preview by Danyal Rasool03-Nov-2018

Big Picture

Pakistan have been pushed this T20I series, in a manner they weren’t against Australia, but no matter the challenge thrown at them, they seem to find a way in this format. The detractors are finding it harder to explain away Pakistan’s spell of dominance as a purple patch, a streak of good fortune, or a consequence of playing against weaker teams. They have now put Australia and New Zealand to the sword with the same ruthlessness that overpowered West Indies, Sri Lanka and Scotland, showing a versatility in the paths to victory this side can take. They have won tough, they have won easy. They have won by enormous margins and heart-stoppingly narrow ones. They have won batting first, they have won chasing. And now, with one to spare, they have won another T20I series, their 11th in a row.This one comes against the side that has tested them more in this run than arguably any other, both this week and in New Zealand earlier this year. Yet, they go into the final game in Dubai having won their last four against Kane Williamson’s men, and their last eight overall. Should they stick to their plans, they are well-fancied to come out of yet another series unblemished, their strength lying not just in the playing XI, but their overall depth. They might make the odd change to the fast-bowling unit, but in what is overall a very settled side there should be no overhaul for a dead rubber. With Pakistan having such a proud recent record to defend, there really are no dead rubbers for Sarfraz Ahmed’s team.Despite having lost one series within three days of the tour beginning, it is unlikely Williamson will be too disappointed with what his men have showed. There is plenty to suggest New Zealand have a lot to offer for the remainder of this tour, with the visitors always likely to mount sterner challenges in the longer formats. A win in the final T20I could well be a springboard to success in the games that follow, and with New Zealand having lost one game by two runs and the other by two balls, it isn’t a stretch for them to hope they can put one on Pakistan even if they cannot prevent them lifting the trophy.New Zealand have missed Martin Guptill’s big hitting at the top, with the young Glenn Phillips unable to complement Colin Munro quite as effectively. They have to work out how to make better use of the first six overs to relieve some of the pressure on Munro. It may see the captain promoting himself to open, with Williamson famous for his ability to pierce narrow gaps in the infield. There is a large discrepancy between Phillips’ T20I strike rate – 98.27 after nine innings – compared to the 134.20 he boasts in T20s overall, and if he is backed for a third game, he will need to bring his best to give his side the greatest chance to victory.

Form guide

Pakistan WWWWW (last five completed matches, most recent first)New Zealand LLLLL

In the spotlight

There are few more exciting players in Pakistan cricket than Fakhar Zaman, and yet, since his heroics in Zimbabwe, he has been going through a slightly barren limited-overs run. Either side of a successful Test debut, Fakhar has scored 105 runs in his last eight white-ball innings at an average of 13.13, numbers that sit uncomfortably with his deservedly elite status in the current Pakistan side. There is no particular reason you could put this down to except just one of those runs every cricketer will go through; after all, in his maiden Test appearance against Australia, he amassed 160 runs. But having returned for the second T20I from a slight niggle, Fakhar may be itching to make the sort of singular impact only he can. With the series won and the pressure off, it is an ideal opportunity, and if Fakhar is primed to grasp it, he could smash New Zealand out of the game very early on.While New Zealand have almost matched Pakistan in both games, the one area where the difference in quality is vast is the spinners the respective captains can turn to. While Sarfraz has a plethora of options the envy of any international side – think Shadab Khan, Imad Wasim, Mohammad Hafeez, perhaps even Shoaib Malik – Williamson is limited to Ish Sodhi and Ajaz Patel. There is a reason Sodhi is ranked among the top ten T20I bowlers, but his economy rate is higher than any of Pakistan’s quartet of spinners, and it was his 17-run over that put Pakistan on course on Friday. Add to that the inexperience of Patel, who after an impressive debut was indifferent in the second game, leaving Williamson to draw on three overs of Munro’s medium pace. If New Zealand are to seriously challenge Pakistan, Sodhi and Patel have to perform out of their skins in these conditions where spin matters so much, because so far, the gulf is evident.

Team news

It is unlikely Pakistan will make too many changes to a side so brimful of confidence. With the series sealed, Waqas Maqsood is set to make his debut.Pakistan: (Possible) 1 Babar Azam, 2 Fakhar Zaman, 3 Asif Ali, 4 Shoaib Malik, 5, Mohammad Hafeez 6 Sarfraz Ahmed (capt & wk), 7 Faheem Ashraf, 8 Imad Wasim, 9 Shadab Khan, 10 Hasan Ali/Shaheen Afridi, 11 Waqas MaqsoodIt has been a bit of a surprise not to see Mark Chapman feature yet. He may be drafted in for the third T20I, should New Zealand decide to drop Phillips. Lockie Ferguson’s pace, too, may see him get a start ahead of Adam Milne, who despite looking promising, hasn’t quite hit the heights he may have this series.New Zealand: (Possible) 1 Colin Munro, 2 Glenn Phillips/Mark Chapman, 3 Kane Williamson, 4 Colin de Grandhomme, 5 Ross Taylor, 6 Corey Anderson, 7 Tim Seifert (wk), 8 Tim Southee, 9 Adam Milne/Lockie Ferguson, 10 Ish Sodhi, 11 Ajaz Patel

Pitch and conditions

Winning the toss and batting first seems to be the favoured formula at the moment, and there has been nothing to suggest the teams rethink that. As has been the case all series, competitive totals appear to nestle in the narrow strip between 145 and 155.

Stats and trivia

• Colin Munro’s strike rate of 162.00 is better than any player ever to have faced more than 250 balls in T20I cricket. The best performer in the Pakistan squad is Fakhar Zaman, with a strike rate of 142.12.
• Babar Azam needs 48 runs to reach 1000 in T20Is. Should he get there on Sunday, in his 26th innings, he will beat Virat Kohli (27 innings) as the fastest to the mark.

Olly Stone finished with seven wickets but Warwickshire face an immense task on the final day

ECB Reporters Network06-Sep-2018Warwickshire 310 and 28 for 1 lead Durham 292 (Stone 7-59) by 46 runs
ScorecardWarwickshire’s attempt to press for victory were thwarted by the weather on day three of their Specsavers County Championship match against Durham at Edgbaston.After heading into lunch on 28 for one, a lead of 46, rain started towards the end of the interval and continued throughout the day.The umpires did see an improvement as a 3.20pm inspection was called, but the weather deteriorated and no further play was possible meaning 70 overs in total had been lost.That will surely cause frustration for Warwickshire as promotion rivals Sussex have already won and Kent sit in a strong position again Northants.Jeetan Patel’s side must now bat aggressively in the morning to set-up a Durham run chase and unlikely victory with only 96 overs available on the final day.The day started under blue skies with the visitors resuming on 224 for 7, 86 behind.Olly Stone immediately exposed the tail by bowling Paul Collingwood first ball of the morning for 38, but any Warwickshire expectation of a sizeable first innings lead diminished as Barry McCarthy and Salisbury put on a resolute 42 between them.McCarthy was eventually dismissed, trapped lbw to Chris Wright for 43, but Durham were buoyed as they made inroads to the first innings total set.Chris Rushworth, the last man in, supported Salisbury in another valuable 26-run partnership before Stone struck with his seventh wicket to remove the stubborn number ten, who’d made a career-best 38, and bowl Durham out for 292.With conditions darkening, the Bears faced eleven overs before the interval and they saw opener Will Rhodes trapped lbw by Rushworth for 16.