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Australia begin a new era under the captaincy of Steven Smith against a more settled and experienced New Zealand side

The Preview by Daniel Brettig04-Nov-2015

Match facts

November 5, 2015
Start time 1000 local (0000 GMT)2:05

‘New Zealand’s best chance in 30 years’ – Hayden

Big Picture

In the four years since Australia last deigned to meet New Zealand in a Test match, they have played England in 15 Tests and India in 12. That discrepancy has helped make Cricket Australia enormous profits, but has also stored up a desire in New Zealand’s cricketers to prove themselves worthy of matches against the cross-Tasman rival. Trent Boult has even spoken of this encounter being a “reward” for New Zealand’s excellent results over the past two years, which would have earned them a higher ICC Test match ranking than No. 5 if they had been permitted to play in the longer series so commonly enjoyed by Australia. Even so, Brendon McCullum’s team is now the more experienced and settled of the two, and looked better equipped to defeat England during the northern summer had they been granted the privilege of a deciding Test match.Under a new leader in Steven Smith, the Australians will be eager to put a fresh stamp on the national side. They do not lack for talent but experience and knowledge are thinner on the ground, particularly among the top seven. Should Boult and Tim Southee bowl well there will likely be a heavy reliance upon Smith and his deputy David Warner to score the majority of their team’s runs, unless the likes of Joe Burns, Usman Khawaja and Mitchell Marsh can show themselves to have grown appreciably as batsmen. Smith has the advantage of a piercing bowling attack of his own, though in omitting the reliable Peter Siddle the selectors have indicated they expect Mitchell Johnson and Mitchell Starc to balance speed with economy.Wickets can fall quickly at the Gabba. Most of New Zealand’s top order experienced the horrible sensation of a swift batting collapse in 2011 when a young James Pattinson got the ball swerving at pace to sway the match in the space of a couple of overs. The likes of Martin Guptill, Kane Williamson, Ross Taylor and McCullum will remember that episode, but they will also be aware of the disasters that befell Australia in England against the type of bowling well within the grasp of Boult and Southee to produce. Both batting line-ups will be eager to create any sort of foundation, for it is upon that sort of base that a pair of highly skilled bowling attacks can capitalise.

Form guide

Australia: WLLWL (last five completed matches, most recent first)


New Zealand: WLWWW

In the spotlight

Last time these two sides met, Usman Khawaja batted at No. 3 and was not a success. He made one decent start at the Gabba before being run out in a mix-up with Ricky Ponting and then twice falling cheaply on a dicey pitch at Bellerive. Dropped for Shaun Marsh, he was briefly recalled in 2013 before again finding himself on the outer. It is almost five years since Khawaj’s debut at the SCG in January 2011 and in that time his first-class record has declined appreciably despite a successful move to Queensland. A succession of retirements have opened up an opportunity for him again, and few doubt his talent. But against skillful New Zealand swing bowling on a lively Brisbane pitch, the world will quickly find out whether Khawaja has what it takes to become Australia’s first long-term No. 3 since Ricky Ponting.Another man who struggled in the 2011 series was Kane Williamson, who at the time had just turned 21 and was still finding his way. Four years on and he has scored prolifically enough to have Sir Richard Hadlee declare Williamson will be New Zealand’s finest ever batsman by the time he is finished. To do that, Williamson’s technique and temperament will need to hold up under Australian pressure in this series, as it did when he sealed a memorable victory for McCullum’s men in the World Cup group match at Eden Park earlier this year. Still, a red ball and white clothing is a different matter, and the Australians have already stated that if they can get through Williamson and McCullum they expect the visitors to crumble.

Teams news

Peter Siddle has been named 12th man despite his outstanding display in the final Test of the Ashes series at the Oval, meaning Josh Hazlewood, Mitchell Starc and Mitchell Johnson will form the pace attack. Khawaja is set to bat at No. 3 with the captain Smith dropping back to No. 4, where he enjoyed enormous success last summer.Australia: 1 Joe Burns, 2 David Warner, 3 Usman Khawaja, 4 Steven Smith (capt), 5 Adam Voges, 6 Mitchell Marsh, 7 Peter Nevill (wk), 8 Mitchell Johnson, 9, Mitchell Starc 10 Josh Hazlewood, 11 Nathan LyonDoug Bracewell beat Matt Henry to the third seamer’s spot, with the former’s success in Australia in 2011 weighed up against the latter’s more recent incumbency. Jimmy Neesham will slot into the allrounder’s role in the absence of Corey Anderson.New Zealand: 1 Martin Guptill, 2 Tom Latham, 3 Kane Williamson, 4 Ross Taylor, 5 Brendon McCullum (capt), 6 Jimmy Neesham, 7 BJ Watling (wk), 8 Mark Craig, 9 Doug Bracewell, 10 Tim Southee, 11 Trent Boult

Pitch and conditions

The Gabba curator Kevin Mitchell Jnr has tipped a surface of typical Gabba dimensions, offering lateral movement on day one before quickening up over the next two days and then possibly playing a few tricks towards the end. The Brisbane forecast is for tropical temperatures with the ever-present threat of late afternoon showers.

Stats and trivia

• New Zealand have not won a series down under since 1985, but did win the most recent Test match meeting between the two nations, in Hobart in 2011
• Australia’s XI boasts a combined tally of 253 Test matches played. The recent retirees Michael Clarke, Brad Haddin, Ryan Harris, Chris Rogers and Shane Watson played 292 between them
• Australia’s captain, Steven Smith, has never played a Test against New Zealand. He was well out of contention for a Test spot the last time the two sides played in 2011

Quotes

Faf du Plessis has been ruled out of the remaining two ODIs against Pakistan and the first four weeks of the IPL with back trouble

Firdose Moonda19-Mar-2013Faf du Plessis has been ruled out of the remaining two ODIs against Pakistan and the first four weeks of the IPL with back trouble. Du Plessis will require six weeks rest and has been replaced by Quinton de Kock in the South Africa squad.”Faf has been troubled by low back pain over the past while,” Mohammed Moosajee, South Africa’s team manager, who is also a medical doctor said. “He was recently diagnosed with bony inflammation in the lumbar spine. His symptoms have worsened over the past two weeks to the extent that it has become necessary to withdraw him immediately in order to allow for rest and rehabilitation as well as a course of hyperbaric oxygen therapy to further facilitate healing.”Du Plessis revealed after the second Twenty20 in Centurion just over two weeks ago that he did not bowl himself in the match because of his back condition, although he was tempted to call on his own legspin. “The doctors advised that I don’t bowl for a while, until this is sorted out,” he said then.Since that has not happened, du Plessis will be sidelined for six weeks. He is certain to miss the first nine matches of the IPL, where he plays for the Chennai Super Kings, and is expected to make a comeback in the week starting April 29. If his recovery goes as planned, he should play seven matches for his franchise as well as any knockout contests in preparation for the Champions Trophy in June.Du Plessis’ unavailability leaves a gap in South Africa’s middle order which young de Kock may be required to fill. Also in the squad is Dolphins batsman David Miller who could play in du Plessis’ place as well.De Kock was dropped from the ODI squad after the series against New Zealand, in which he kept wickets and opened the batting with limited success. He will not be handed the gloves in this series, because AB de Villiers has gone back to wicketkeeping permanently in ODIs, neither will he bat upfront so he will have a change of roles.”As disappointing as Faf’s injury is, it must be seen as an opportunity for Quinton,” Andrew Hudson, convenor of selectors said. “He made a good start to his international career during the previous series against New Zealand and this is a chance for him to build on that.”De Kock will play for his domestic team, the Lions, in Tuesday’s T20 match against the Titans in Centurion before joining the national squad tomorrow. The fourth ODI takes place in Durban on Thursday and the final match of the series will be played in Benoni on Sunday. Should de Kock feature in both, the Lions will have to do without him on Friday when they play the Warriors but they may have already qualified for the tournament final by then.

Chris Gayle, the West Indies batsman, is scheduled to meet officials from the West Indies Cricket Board and CARICOM in St Vincent on Monday to discuss his future with the West Indies team

ESPNcricinfo staff19-Mar-2012Chris Gayle, the West Indies batsman, is scheduled to meet officials from the West Indies Cricket Board and CARICOM in St Vincent on Monday to discuss his future with the West Indies team. The has reported that Gayle is likely to either submit an apology or retract his comments made against the board and the coach Ottis Gibson during a radio interview.”A meeting has been arranged for tomorrow morning (today) between Gayle, the WICB and a few heads of government in a bid to arrive at an amicable solution that could result in Gayle returning to the team,” Fritz Harris, the Jamaica Cricket Association (JCA) secretary, was quoted as saying in the paper.”As we are all aware, there have been efforts to have the matter resolved in recent weeks, including all the workings coming out of CARICOM etc, and I suspect that this meeting is a sort of culmination of the efforts.”In October last year, the WICB had said that Gayle could return to the West Indies team if he retracted his critical statements about the board. Gayle had initially said the board was playing mind games with him by not specifying exactly what he needed to apologise for. That meant the already longstanding impasse between Gayle and the board continued, with even the Jamaican prime minister becoming involved by coming out in support of Gayle.In February this year, the WICB chief executive Ernest Hilaire said he wanted Gayle to make his priorities clear, saying that Gayle could not ask for unconditional no-objection certificates (NOCs) to play domestic Twenty20 tournaments around the world and simultaneously make himself available for West Indies selection.Gayle last played for West Indies in the 2011 World Cup, and has since taken part in Twenty20 leagues around the world, including the IPL, the Big Bash League in Australia and the BPL in Bangladesh. He has turned out for Jamaica in the domestic one-day and four-day competitions. He was left out of the WICB’s 30-man squad for a fitness and training camp ahead of the home series against Australia. However, he was spotted in the stands during the second one-dayer against Australia on Sunday, in St Vincent.Edited by Kanishkaa Balachandran

Lancashire have signed the Sri Lanka allrounder Farveez Maharoof for the 2011 domestic season

ESPNcricinfo staff17-Mar-2011Lancashire have signed the Sri Lanka allrounder Farveez Maharoof for the 2011 domestic season and the club expect him to be available for the whole summer after he drifted out of the national side.Maharoof, 26, played the last of his 94 ODIs last June against India and missed out on a place at the World Cup. He has also appeared in 20 Tests, but the last of those was in 2007 so he’s unlikely to come into consideration for Sri Lanka’s tour of England.”I am really looking to playing for such a great club like Lancashire and excited by the challenge of contributing towards a successful season,” Maharoof said.” “I’ve had a good domestic season in Sri Lanka and I believe a season of county cricket will be a fantastic learning experience that will help me develop as a player.”Lancashire were preparing to go without an overseas player for the season due to the mounting legal costs of getting their planning application for Old Trafford approved, but a major hurdle was cleared last week when they were given the go-ahead to begin the development work.”Farveez has a track record of getting important runs and picking up vital wickets. He’s available to us for the full season and will be a competitive addition to our squad,” Peter Moores, the Lancashire coach, said.In first-class cricket Maharoof has three centuries to go alongside a bowling average of 32.28 and he should also be a useful player in Twenty20 where his economy is 7.40.Lancashire begin their season with a match against Oxford University on April 2 before their opening Championship match against Sussex, at Liverpool, on April 8.

Brendon McCullum will spend New Zealand’s off-season pondering his future as a Test wicketkeeper after the successful emergence of Gareth Hopkins in the shorter formats

Brydon Coverdale in Wellington24-Mar-2010Brendon McCullum will spend New Zealand’s off-season pondering his future as a Test wicketkeeper after the successful emergence of Gareth Hopkins in the shorter formats. McCullum opens in one-day and Twenty20 internationals but bats at No. 7 in the Test team and made his fifth century against Australia in Wellington this week, an innings he described as his best Test hundred.Although McCullum has for many years been considered the best wicketkeeper-batsman in New Zealand, he has expressed a desire to hang up the gloves and focus on his batting. During the Twenty20s and ODIs against Australia, Hopkins kept wicket and proved a very handy lower-order batsman and New Zealand will discuss whether that could work at Test level as well.The main problem is that McCullum’s run scoring in Test cricket has been less consistent than in the shorter formats, although in the past year he has lifted his output and has made three centuries and averaged 48.60. It appears likely that Hopkins will retain the gloves for the upcoming ICC World Twenty20, but New Zealand have no Tests scheduled in the next few months, so McCullum has time to consider his five-day future.”We’ve got a few months coming up that we’ve got off, so it’s something that we’ve got to try and weigh up during that downtime,” McCullum said. “At the moment I’m very much fixed on making sure that I can make a contribution in this next Test match as a wicketkeeper-batsman. I have to continuously score runs to warrant a place in the top six.”The captain Daniel Vettori said it was a matter of team balance in each format as to whether McCullum could play purely as a batsman. The two men have spoken about the issue but have not yet come to a resolution as to what is best for the Test outfit.”It’s a tough one,” Vettori said. “Brendon and I have had a number of discussions on it. The emergence of Gareth Hopkins in the limited overs has probably made the decision a little bit easier if it does go that way. But I still think Brendon is one of the best wicketkeeper-batsmen in the world.”If we can get him for all forms of the game that would be great, but we also understand that probably in one-dayers and Twenty20, his runs are the most important thing to us. If that’s the best thing for the team then I support it.”

Sussex recruit scores 126, Tom Prest unbeaten on 65 against Durham

ECB Reporters Network10-May-2024New boy Ali Orr began to fulfil the expectations placed on him with a smart maiden Hampshire century as he led a positive batting day for his side against Durham in the Vitality County Championship.Opening batter Orr, who moved from boyhood club Sussex in the winter, expertly amassed 126, his first Championship hundred since September 2022 and his fifth all told.Spinner Callum Parkinson was the pick of the Durham attack – taking 3 for 110 – but Tom Prest’s whirlwind 65 gave the day to the hosts, who ended on 336 for 4.Orr had become the latest high-profile player to leave Hove – after the likes of Luke Wells, Ben Brown and George Garton – and his departure coincided with Chris Adams and Ian Gould leaving their posts on the cricket committee. It was said it was the latest illustration of the ‘big’ counties consuming the ‘smaller’ ones.In eventuality, Hampshire have their best shot at ending their opening-batting woes, while Sussex have barely felt the effects – they are top of Division Two despite playing a game fewer than the three teams behind them.It hadn’t been a smooth start to life at the western end of the A27 for Orr – unsurprising given the mixture of hype and anger that marked his transfer.He ran out his opening partner Fletcha Middleton in their first innings together to start a scoring run of: 10, 13, 4, 26 and 6. This innings was exactly what had been promised when he signed.Orr saw off the new ball with little worry after captain James Vince had chosen to bat, and showed a business to rotate the strike early on.Hampshire were without the ill Mohammed Abbas – a blessing for Durham as he dispatched them for their two lowest first-class scores in one afternoon when playing for Leicestershire in 2018. Felix Organ was brought in as his replacement, on a pitch expected to turn.Left-arm wrist spinner Parkinson got the first look at those capabilities when he was tossed the ball in the 18th over. With his third ball he ripped one back almost 18cm with a googly to pin back Middleton’s middle stump.But the breaking of a 48-run opening stand did not spark a rush of spinning wickets. Instead, Orr found his rhythm against the pace of Matt Potts and the wiliness of Peter Siddle as he reached his maiden Hampshire half-century in 94 balls.Almost 60 per cent of his runs would come on the leg side, although that masked his true tactic; namely to scamper singles off his legs and score his boundaries pleasingly around the ground.He added another 86 with Nick Gubbins – who never found fluency in his 31 before he scooped Parkinson straight up to Ollie Robinson.Orr got stuck on 90, for almost half an hour, with blocking and ball replacements stopping his route to three figures, but when it came – in 168 balls – he delivered a triumphant fist pump towards a cheering home balcony.He departed with a tame plink to extra cover to give Siddle his first for his new county, before Vince edged behind for a disjointed 41 to give Parkinson his third.The quick-fire double didn’t put Prest off entering with gusto, sending four of his first 12 balls to the boundary before smashing his 13th for six. With Liam Dawson he upped the run-rate considerably, despite the second new ball, reaching his fifty in 62 balls during an 81-run unbroken partnership.

For Strikers, Mushfiqur Rahim and Najmul Hossain Shanto’s half-centuries went in vain, as 175 proved short in the end

Mohammad Isam16-Feb-2023Comilla Victorians aced a tricky 176-run chase to claim their fourth BPL title, and second in a row. Victorians were turbo-powered by fifties from Johnson Charles, who smashed 79* from 52 balls, and Litton Das, who hit 55 off 39, as they beat Sylhet Strikers by seven wickets with four balls to spare. It was the icing on the cake after an 11-match winning streak for Victorians, who had lost three matches to start the tournament.It was the fourth BPL title for Victorians coach Mohammad Salahuddin, who is rapidly acquiring legendary status in Bangladesh. Victorians were woeful in the field, but their superstar batting line-up took them over the line.Strikers were worthwhile finalists too after they came through the second qualifier by beating Rangpur Riders. They made 175, with Mushfiqur Rahim and Najmul Hossain Shanto hitting attractive fifties.Related

• Shanto, Hridoy, Mahmud headline ESPNcricinfo's BPL XI

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A manic start

Shanto and Towhid Hridoy ran four off the first ball of the match after an overthrow from Mukidul Islam, who tried to run the non-striker Hridoy out. Two balls later, Shanto struck back-to-back fours before Tanvir Islam’s overthrow off the final delivery of the over gave Strikers five runs. If all this was not enough, Tanvir then removed Hridoy first ball of the second over.Strikers’ captain Mashrafe Mortaza promoted himself to No. 3 for the third game in a row, with the move now appearing less surprising. But he fell cheaply to Andre Russell, as Strikers couldn’t quite capitalise on an otherwise good start. Victorians further contributed to the mess when Sunil Narine let the ball through his legs at short third in the fourth over to allow four to Shanto.

Shanto, Mushfiqur propel Strikers

Only three of Strikers batters got into double figures. Those included knocks of 74* and 64 from Mushfiqur and Shanto, respectively. In the process, Shanto became the first Bangladesh player to reach 500 runs in a BPL season.Shanto provided the initial thrust despite the mayhem at the other end, hitting the ball cleanly over the 30-yard circle in the powerplay against both pace and spin. He added 79 for the third wicket with Mushfiqur before being bowled by Moeen Ali. But Mushfiqur soldiered on with an unbeaten 74, hitting Russell for a fine six – his third of the innings – in the final over.Johnson Charles and Litton Das shared a 70-run stand•Bangladesh Cricket Board

Dropped catches and brain fades

Apart from overthrows and misfields, the Victorians fielders dropped as many as six catches. Mustafizur Rahman dropped two of those, the first a tough one at short fine leg when Shanto was on 29. But his second, that of Ryan Burl when the batter was on 1, was a howler. He misjudged a simple skier so poorly that the ball nearly hit his head.Imrul Kayes also dropped Shanto on 37, a simple catch at midwicket, which the Victorians captain made a mess of. Moeen and Litton then dropped George Linde in successive balls at long-on and long-off, respectively; but eventually, it was Litton who took the catch to dismiss Linde for 9 in the 18th over. What followed on the final delivery of the innings was another brain fade: Litton caught Mushfiqur and under-armed the ball back towards the pitch, only to suddenly realise that the ball was actually a free hit.

Litton makes up for fielding errors

Opening the batting in the run chase, Litton provided Victorians with the quick start which they needed, particularly when their pinch-hitter Narine fell in the third over. Litton mixed aggression on the leg side with deft touches through gaps on the off side.Litton’s innings included seven fours and a six, and he got out to a great catch by Shanto, who ran and dived forward from deep backward square leg after Litton had mistimed a pull. That was his third fifty this season, which he finished with 379 runs – the most by a Victorians batter – thus warming up in style ahead of a first IPL stint, having been picked by Kolkata Knight Riders.

Charles turns the screw

Victorians required another 72 from 44 deliveries when Litton departed, a tricky stage of the match where Charles was on 33 off 29 balls. He scored only another six runs from his next ten deliveries, with Victorians’ required rate up to 13 an over for the last four overs. Rubel Hossain started the 17th over, the first ball of which Moeen slammed for six.A dot ball and a single followed, which brought Charles on strike with victory another 45 runs away. The remaining three balls of the over went for 6, 6, and 4, all deposited with severe power. As a result, the requirement was down to a very manageable 29 needed from the last three overs.Strikers were still in the game when Victorians managed only eight runs in the 18th over – that left them with 21 more required from 12 balls – as Charles crashed Luke Wood for consecutive sixes to start the over. A four followed three balls later, leaving the last over – from which they had to get only three – a mere formality.

R Ashwin closes in on top-ranked Pat Cummins among Test bowlers after picking up eight wickets in Mumbai

ESPNcricinfo staff08-Dec-2021Ajaz Patel, who became only the third bowler in the history of Test cricket to pick up all ten wickets in an innings, against India in Mumbai, has risen to No. 38 following a match haul of 14 for 225. New Zealand still lost the Test by a record 372 runs, and India opener Mayank Agarwal, the Player of the Match for innings of 150 and 62, has jumped 30 positions to No. 11, just one off a career-high tenth spot.For Ajaz, who emulated Jim Laker and Anil Kumble at the Wankhede, it meant a gain of 23 spots; his previous highest was No. 53, and he had started the two-Test series against India, which New Zealand lost 1-0, at 62nd place. He picked up a total of 17 wickets in the series.As for Agarwal, his previous best rankings of No. 10 came back in November 2019, after he had scored 243 against Bangladesh in Indore in what was his eighth Test.

Full rankings tables

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R Ashwin was named Player of the Series for his tally of 14 wickets in two Tests, to go with 70 runs across three innings. Ashwin, No. 2 on the bowlers’ chart behind Pat Cummins, has now moved within 25 points of the Australian quick, his 883 rating points well clear of third-placed Josh Hazlewood, who has 816 points.Cummins, however, has started the Ashes series with a bang, returning 5 for 38 on the opening day of the first Test in Brisbane as England rolled over for 147. Hazlewood hasn’t done badly either, picking up 2 for 42.4:11

Daniel Vettori: Ajaz Patel haul is greatest individual feat in NZ Test cricket

Ashwin has also moved up one place to No. 2 among allrounders. Jason Holder is top of the tally there, while Ravindra Jadeja has dropped from second to fourth, with Ben Stokes between him and Ashwin. Holder, meanwhile, has also moved up one spot to the 14th place among bowlers at the end of the second Galle Test against Sri Lanka, which the home side won by 164 runs to complete a 2-0 series win.Among the others to gain at the end of the India vs New Zealand series were Shubman Gill, up 21 places to 45th, and Daryl Mitchell, up 26 places to No. 78, on the batters’ table, and Mohammed Siraj, who moved up four spots to 41st in the bowlers’ list.Following the Sri Lanka vs West Indies series, three batters made significant gains: Dhananjaya de Silva, whose 155* was the highlight of Sri Lanka’s win in the first Test, moved up 12 places to No. 21, Kraigg Brathwaite went up ten places to 39th, and Nkrumah Bonner was up 17 places to 42nd.Of the bowlers in action, Sri Lanka spinners Lasith Embuldeniya (up five slots to No. 32) and Ramesh Mendis (up 18 places to 39th) made big gains.

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.

Zimbabwe Cricket donating towards rescue and relief efforts following cyclone in which estimated 2.6 million affected

Liam Brickhill26-Mar-2019Zimbabwe’s cricketers have joined the response to the devastation of Cyclone Idai, which ravaged eastern Zimbabwe, Mozambique and Malawi last week causing widespread damage. Hundreds have been killed, with an estimated 2.6 million affected by the cyclone across the region. Zimbabwe Cricket has been one of a huge number of organisations to donate to the rescue and relief effort.Batsman Brendan Taylor also had a personal connection to the disaster. His father Graham witnessed the aftermath of the cyclone first hand, becoming stranded in the flooded area around Beira, Mozambique’s second largest city and the place hardest hit by winds of up to 115mph/185kph, huge swells and more than 150mm of rain in the first 24 hours.”My old man had a torrid couple of days on his way back from Beira helping my older brother out, who took some damage with his properties there,” Taylor told ESPNcricinfo. “He witnessed a lot of chaos, carnage and death. And a lot of destruction. We didn’t have signal or contact with him for 48 hours. He did a lot of walking, covered a lot of ground, and saw a lot of things you don’t want to see. It was a pretty humbling experience for him. But he’s safe. He’s fine.”
Graham Taylor described a scene where communities were “absolutely, totally obliterated”, telling the : “Any roof that was left, and old eucalyptus plantations and any cashew tree, any tree had four, five, six, seven people in it. People were trying to wade across – I think 95% of the houses were obliterated.”Having also caused deadly flooding in Malawi, the cyclone moved inland to Zimbabwe, washing away roads and bridges, and causing landslides that destroyed entire villages in the Chimanimani area. As the army and police aqua units moved in to help those affected, ordinary Zimbabweans and local businesses also rallied and organised a response to the emergency.”It’s been good to see the way the whole country’s come together and contributed as a whole,” Taylor said. “It’s been fantastic. I think ZC has reacted really well. And the players have been on board, so that’s great.”
National men’s captain Hamilton Masakadza said that the followers of cricket in the country are many, and that these followers share in moments of both joy and sorrow with the team, and hence ZC also shares in the grief of the victims of the cyclone. Women’s captain Mary-Anne Musonda wrote on Twitter: “We are all affected by Cyclone Idai. They are us, we are them.”ZC made an official donation of blankets, clothing, cooking oil and sugar beans, among other supplies, to be sent to communities in the Eastern Highlands affected by the cyclone, which has been described as possibly the worst weather-related disaster ever to hit the southern hemisphere.”It is a call that us as Zimbabwe Cricket feel demands every institution to play its part in ensuring the [country’s] president’s call for assistance is fulfilled, hence our small gesture towards supporting victims of Cyclone Idai,” ZC chairman Tavengwa Mukhuhlani said.Sikandar Raza donated his entire match fee and winning bonus from the domestic Twenty20 final won by his team Matabeleland Tuskers to the effort. “The cyclone has definitely hit Zimbabwe, Malawi and Mozambique quite badly,” Raza told ESPNcricinfo. “But what it’s also done is brought all the communities together.””It was hectic last week,” Peter Moor said. “But what was amazing was how the whole Zimbabwean community just came together. On my way home from training I drive past Nazareth House and Highlands Presbyterian Church and these places, and they were just ram-packed with people. Volunteers helping out, food packs, blankets, everything. And it was very special to see how, despite everybody’s political differences and what have you, and even different economic backgrounds, everyone was just helping out and it was really special.”

We are all affected by Cyclone Idai. They are us, we are them. @ZimCricketv Lady Chevrons this afternoon showed up at the Highlands Presbyterian Church to help out with packing provisions going to our family in Chimanimani/Mutare. #CycloneIdai #LadyChevrons #Zimbabwe pic.twitter.com/noP7rTTgNS

— Mary-Anne Musonda