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Cricket South Africa will offer central contracts to their women’s internationals for the first time this season.Through the increased investment of CSA’s main partner, final services provider Momentum, six players will be afforded contracts. In December 2012, the sponsorship enabled CSA to employ a full-time women’s coach, Hilton Moreeng.In a boost for the women’s game, the move sees South Africa join England, Australia, West Indies and Pakistan in centrally contracting some women’s internationals.Captain Mignon du Preez, allrounders Dané van Niekerk and Marizanne Kapp, bowlers Marcia Letsoalo and Shabnim Ismail and wicketkeeper Trisha Chetty are the players to benefit in the forthcoming season.”In Australia, New Zealand and England, the women are playing on national television,” Du Preez said. “It’s as big as the men’s game, so hopefully we will get there soon.””Momentum once again deserves to be praised for being more than just a major sponsor of cricket in South Africa,” CSA chief executive Haroon Lorgat said. “Involvement is not merely investing money in cricket but goes much further through an impressive social investments programme which seeks to build a society that promotes family values and support for under-privileged cricketers.”Danie van den Bergh, head of Momentum brand, added: “I have said this on previous occasions: nothing unites our country more than success on our fields of play and the more we expose our children to the spirit of the game, the more chance we have of shaping future champions. The heroes of our future are born from the boys and girls that dream about taking to the field for real and not just during match breaks.”

Jamaica Tallawahs allrounder Andre Russell has been incisive in his team’s march to the semi-finals of the inaugural Caribbean Premier League. With Chris Gayle and Danza Hyatt garnering the attention mostly, Russell, estranged in the Windies wilderness recently, has been an unsung hero for Jamaica, and with Barbados Tridents awaiting on Friday at the Queen’s Park Oval, he is looking to cement a spot in the national team.”I’ve been working hard on my batting and bowling so I am not really surprised by form at the moment,” Russell said. “I’m bowling good yorkers, I’m hitting the ball cleanly and I’m waiting for my type of balls to dispatch so I’m happy. We’ve qualified for the semi-finals but we want to keep up that winning momentum so we just want to take it step by step.”Russell leads his team’s batting average with 35.25 and is their second-highest runs-scorer with 141, behind Gayle. Russell says his recent performances were testament to the determination he has shown since losing his spot in the West Indies team. He admitted that he felt he was doing enough to register on the selectors’ radar once more and the CPL would be a triumphant signal to them. “I’m feeling good. I got dropped from the West Indies team but I know what I have to do and I know how important it is for me to work harder than everyone else,” said Russell, who last played for West Indies during Zimbabwe’s tour of the Caribbean in March.”As an allrounder you have to be extra fit. I’ve been doing a lot of work. I’ve played in England for Worcestershire and I’ve been doing a lot of running and stuff like that. Getting dropped made me stronger. I went back in the nets. I have my own training facility at home with a bowling machine so I made use of that. I know what I have to work on and I spent extra time working on those things.”I know what it is to play international cricket and I know what it takes to stay there. I’ve been dropped but when I return to the West Indies team I think I will be a better player,” Russell said. Russell, who has played 34 ODIs and 15 T20s for West Indies, said much of Jamaica’s success had been a result of the atmosphere the senior players had created in the camp.”The guys that we look up to like Chris Gayle and Murali… they are all fun guys and that is very important when guys like those can come and say something funny and you laugh,” he said. “It really keeps the team going. Murali is a true legend – off the field, on the field – and that’s one of the best things. We just have to keep going and keep doing well. We have the team and we have the confidence. Our confidence is sky high right now because winning gives you momentum.”

Ever since he cracked 187 off 174 against Australia on Test debut in March, Shikhar Dhawan has been the hot topic for the year 2013. And he keeps doing stuff that keeps making him a hotter topic. Man of the Series in the Champions Trophy. Another hundred in Zimbabwe. Now, a 248 in a one-dayer in South Africa. How is he doing what he is doing? How is it different from what he was doing all those years in domestic cricket? How is it different from what he did when he first played for India in 2010? Two men who have watched him closely over the years say that mostly, it is all in the head. Call it what you want – frame of mind, confidence, temperament, mental strength, self-belief; Dhawan’s positivity, along with improved shot selection, has translated into this extraordinary comeback, feel Vijay Dahiya and Lalchand Rajput.Dahiya, the former India and Delhi wicketkeeper, knows Dhawan from his days in junior cricket. He has played with him and later coached him. Was Dhawan always special and just ignored or has something critical fallen into place? Dahiya says he has never come across this avatar of Dhawan before.”I have not seen him batting before the way he is now, even in the nets,” Dahiya told ESPNcricinfo. “That kind of batting display is just phenomenal. There is no comparison. Last year, he had a pretty mediocre Ranji season, if you go by the standards he is setting right now. [Dhawan made 461 runs in 11 innings] which I think is alright for an opener in Indian first-class cricket when you end up playing seven-eight games. He had a fantastic Challenger Trophy [a domestic one-day tournament]. But what he is doing right now is something really special.”After a short, unsuccessful stint with the Indian one-day team, Dhawan was out for a couple of years before the sensational Test debut against Australia. Lalchand Rajput, the former India batsman and now India A coach, says that one knock has generated so much confidence, it continues to feed itself and extend Dhawan’s streak.”One good innings against Australia in the Test match … ” Rajput said. “Cricket is a game of confidence. If you are confident, you bat like a dream. Plus, playing the way he did in England in the Champions Trophy … He has gone from strength to strength and is batting at his peak now.”Dahiya concurs, saying not much has changed in terms of ability. “I think it is more mental,” Dahiya said. “I’ll say that skill-wise, he was the same. What I see now is that mentally he has become very strong. He is backing himself. He is extremely confident, which plays such an important role in any sport. He is playing all the shots against all bowlers in any conditions. That shows how confident he is.”Every time you see him batting, it looks like a display of cricket intelligence. A lot of players who make runs sometimes end up playing shots as if they are millionaires and don’t care about the value of their wickets. If you look at him, though, he is beautifully stretching his purple patch and making it count.”Also, I don’t think he is carrying any baggage. That is something you can’t see from the outside yet – the baggage of expectations. Every time he goes out there, he starts beautifully, understands what is required, and goes on from there. He takes his time to build and then flourishes.”Rajput had witnessed a very different Dhawan from close quarters just a year ago, when he was coach on the A side’s tour of the West Indies, where the opener averaged 7.50 in the unofficial Tests. Rajput believes Dhawan has used the time away from the national side to tighten his game.”It is not only mental, it is about selecting the right balls [to go after] as well,” Rajput said. “He has matured now and is never satisfied. He wants to do well every game. Look at his conversion rate. If he passes 50 or 60, he gets a hundred, in Champions Trophy, in Zimbabwe, now as well, big hundreds.”In the West Indies [in 2012], he used to play too many shots too early, and as an opener, that is taking too much risk. He always had the shots but not the selection, but now he knows what shot to play and what to not play. He has really developed control over his off-side game.”Dhawan’s form has lasted half a year now. How long before international bowlers find a chink somewhere? Dahiya does not think that moment, although inevitable, has arrived yet. “Everyone will always have shortcomings,” Dahiya said. “It is for the opposition to figure them out. Right now, he has played against almost all the top sides and it does not look like people have sorted something out. We saw in Zimbabwe in one of the games he got out to a short ball but in the next game he was scoring off them. Again, I will say his frame of mind is brilliant right now.”

ScorecardJames Foster completed a fine match with the bat by energising Essex’s run chase•PA Photos

Essex’s topsy-turvy Championship season continued with a battling four-wicket win against Leicestershire in their LV= County Championship Division Two clash at Grace Road.Ten days after the humiliation of being bowled out for 20 by Lancashire, it was a nervy and edgy victory by Essex, who scrambled over the line with 3.4 overs to spare.But it kept their promotion hopes alive, leaving them 17 points off a promotion place.Chasing a target of 161 in 40 overs, Essex slipped to 79 for 5 in the 27th over and it needed a 66-run stand between Ryan ten Doeschate and James Foster to put them back on track.After seeing their victory bid initially held up by Leicestershire’s tail-enders, Essex made a dreadful start to the chase losing their first two wickets for 13 runs in five overs.Jaik Mickleburgh was lbw to Alex Wyatt offering no shot and Matthew Hoggard trapped Nick Browne plumb in front.It became 34 for 3 when Owais Shah, whose return to Championship cricket has brought little benefit so far, edged Wyatt to wicketkeeper Niall O’Brien and Tom Westley fell in the same fashion. And when Mark Pettini drove a catch to cover off Ollie Freckingham the alarm bells were jangling.But Essex counterattacked vigorously. Foster and Ten Doeschate put on 66 in eight overs with Foster making 42 off 27 balls before popping up a catch to mid-wicket.By then Essex were just about home and dry, and Ten Doeschate, with an unbeaten 37, and Graham Napier (13) saw them to the win that earned 23 points. Wyatt claimed 3 for 35 in 13 impressive overs for the hosts, who take six points from the match to remain two points above the bottom club Kent.Leicestershire began the final day at 91 for 4, leading by 37 runs, and when Shiv Thakor and Matt Boyce were out to successive deliveries with only 18 runs added, it suggested there could be a quick finish to the game.Thakor nicked a catch behind off the last ball of a Napier over and Reece Topley trapped Boyce lbw with his first delivery.At one stage it looked likely Essex could be batting before lunch. Instead, with Jigar Naik leading the way, Leicestershire’s last two wickets added another 79 runs in 33 overs spread over two hours.Naik and Hoggard, who made 24 off 73 balls, shared a stand of 43 in 21 overs. Then Naik was joined by Wyatt in a last-wicket partnership worth 36 in 12overs.Wyatt was finally out lbw to Topley for 17, leaving Naik unbeaten on a season’sbest 47 off 141 balls. Ten Doeschate claimed 4 for 28 and Topley 3 for 53.It was a long haul – but Essex were not to be denied.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsKieron Pollard’s wicket, to the last ball before the rain, changed the outcome of the match•International Cricket Council

It has been a decade since South Africa’s miscalculation of Duckworth-Lewis saw them exit the World Cup in the first round. Finally, they will consider themselves redeemed.In a twist of fate as perfectly formed as the ringlet on a young girl’s crop of hair, West Indies were pushed out of the Champions Trophy after a rain-affected tied match. After 26.1 overs, with six wickets down, they needed 191 runs to win the match. They left the field on 190 for 6 as the drizzle drifted down. The result awarded a point to each side and South Africa progressed to the semi-finals by virtue of a greater net run rate.If ever one ball was wholly decisive on the outcome of a match, the first ball of the 27th over was it. Kieron Pollard was dismissed when he threw his bat at a Ryan McLaren short ball and was caught at third man.Had Pollard not been out, West Indies would have won the match because they were ahead of the Duckworth-Lewis par for five wickets down. Then it would have been them, not South Africa, who advanced to the semi-finals.As the second innings developed, it seemed more likely West Indies side would pull off a heist. Despite losing Chris Gayle early and seeing their required run-rate soar to 9.5 per over, Marlon Samuels and Pollard plundered 58 runs off 33 balls to resurrect ghosts of tournaments past for South Africa.When the requisite 20 overs had been reach to make sure the match would count West Indies were 14 runs behind the Duckworth-Lewis total they would have needed to win. At 130 for 4, Samuels decided it was time to tuck in and he took 15 runs off Robin Peterson’s next over to close the gap.

West Indies fined for slow over-rate

West Indies have been fined for maintaining a slow over-rate during their rain-affected match against South Africa in Cardiff. Match referee Andy Pycroft found West Indies one over short of their target at the end of the match, taking time allowances into consideration. The captain Dwayne Bravo, who accepted the penalty without contest, was fined 20% of his match fee and his team-mates were fined 10%.

But the fit-again Dale Steyn swung the pendulum back South Africa’s way. He sent down four dot balls, including a superb bouncer, before conceding just two singles and the onus was on the batsmen again. Lonwabo Tsotsobe entered the ring next and Pollard took him on. Two blistering boundaries, one mistimed over third man, the other a pull to midwicket, clawed West Indies in again.The protagonists would not have been misplaced at a Wimbledon doubles match as Samuels set on Steyn again. A pull for four off the first ball of his next over put pressure back on Steyn but he delivered the ace. Full, straight and on-target, he uprooted Samuels’ middle-stump.Enter Dwayne Bravo, whose clip for four kept West Indies exactly on par at the end of the 24th over. Pollard played the shot of the match with a straight drive for four off Tsotsobe in the next over and West Indies inched ahead. They stayed ahead after 26 overs and then Pollard made the mistake he will rue on the flight back home.West Indies had taken 72 runs off the seven overs before Pollard was dismissed and seemed capable to continuing in that vein. The way West Indies batted will not answer questions of whether South Africa – propped up by Colin Ingram’s 73 at the top of the order and the 68-run fifth-wicket stand between Faf du Plessis and David Miller – had managed enough runs in a rain-affected affair.The performance will, however, put to rest some of their other concerns. Ingram notched up his highest score since taking over the opening role and acquitted himself particularly well against the spin of Sunil Narine. He and Hashim Amla put on the highest first-wicket stand of South Africa’s campaign so far.Their finishers had the opportunity to get into the game and did. Du Plessis and Miller took an average total and turned it into something South Africa would feel comfortable with. Most importantly for them, Steyn made a successful return from his side-strain. He bowled at good pace and found swing to restore confidence in their pace attack they can present later in the competition.West Indies showed glimpses of the same. Tino Best bowled quickly – his fastest ball was 151.3kph – Ravi Rampaul had a menacing slower ball and Gayle, Samuels and Pollard cleared the boundary at will. They got the most crucial thing wrong.So often, South Africa have been on that side of the equation. In 1992, they were eliminated from the World Cup because of rain. In 1996, the lost to West Indies. In 1999, they tied a semi-final against Australia and had to leave the World Cup because they had lost to them in the group stage. In 2003, they fell foul of Duckworth-Lewis. And at the 2004 and 2006 Champions Trophies defeats to West Indies put them out.They may well see this result as a cathartic way to move past all of those and an omen that their major tournament fortunes are changing. But the real knockouts are still to come.

South Africa’s Champions Trophy hopes have suffered another setback, with Morne Morkel ruled out of the tournament with a quad strain. Allrounder Chris Morris has been announced as Morkel’s replacement and approved by the ICC’s event technical committee*. ESPNcricinfo understands that Morris will join the squad in Birmingham on Saturday.Morris is uncapped in ODIs for South Africa but played two Twenty20 internationals last season. He opens the bowling and can reach speeds into the mid 140s. He has just completed his first IPL, in which he was one of the standout players for Chennai Super Kings with 15 wickets at 26.73. He is also a handy lower-order batsman.Morkel is the fourth big-name player to become unavailable for South Africa after Graeme Smith, Jacques Kallis and Dale Steyn, although there is hope Steyn will return. Morkel bowled 6.5 overs during South Africa’s opening match against India before he left the field in obvious discomfort. He was taken for an MRI scan following the team’s defeat which revealed a Grade 1 injury that is more serious than it initially looked.”There is a tear in the layer covering the muscle which means the recovery time will be longer than we thought. He will take at least three weeks to recover,” Mohammed Moosajee, South Africa’s team manager who is also a medical doctor, explained.That leaves South Africa’s pace stocks severely depleted, especially as Steyn is still nursing a side strain. Steyn picked up the niggle during South Africa’s warm-up match against Pakistan at The Oval on Monday. At the time Moosajee said he would need five to seven days to recover, a period that ends in time for South Africa’s next match against Pakistan at Edgbaston.That does not mean Steyn is a guaranteed starter, though. “Dale is a work in a progress as far as recovery is concerned. We can only get him to start bowling once he is symptom free,” Moosajee said. “It’s a challenge, because if we allow him to bowl and the injury is aggravated, we will be back to square one. The physiotherapist is working hard on him and taking it day by day. It’s a wait and see thing.” More information on Steyn’s condition will be known when the squad trains on Saturday.Both Morkel and Steyn played in the IPL but Moosajee did not want to lay all the blame on that competition for the problems South Africa are experiencing. “There is a huge volume of cricket for guys who play across all formats. While I can’t blame the IPL, at the same time, there is no guarantee that the volume of cricket is not leading to this.”From a South African perspective, for both your marquee fast bowlers to be ruled out of a major tournament… I guess it could have happened at any time. Dale and Morne are our premier bowlers and we want them to play but I’d like to believe we have become a very resilient team. We’re hoping other guys have a chance to shine.”Morris was preferred over Wayne Parnell, who played four games in the IPL for Pune Warriors and has been on the fringes of the South Africa squad in recent months, and Marchant de Lange, who made a return to cricket late in the 2012-13 season after recovering from stress fractures.He also beat competition from a man former players such as Michael Vaughan and Pat Symcox are pleading for: Vernon Philander. After Tsotsobe and Kleinveldt conceded heavily against India and looked tactically out of sorts, Philander’s lengths were spoken of as being missed.However, the Test ace is not considered part of South Africa’s one-day plans. He has represented them in the fifty-overs format eight times, with his last appearance in January 2012. Philander is usually reserved for Test cricket only and injuries have also hampered his progress in the one-day format.*11.30GMT, June 7: This article has been updated after Morne Morkel’s replacement was approved by the ICC

ScorecardNeil Wagner dismissed Billy Godleman for the second time in the match and finished with eight wickets•Getty Images

Neil Wagner provided compelling evidence for his inclusion in New Zealand’s Test team by bowling them to victory on the final day of their opening tour match against Derbyshire.Despite losing his right big toenail during the day, Wagner claimed the 13th five-wicket haul of his first-class career as New Zealand vindicated their decision to declare overnight by wrapping up a 107-run victory shortly after tea.Bowling coaches often talk of the need for their charges to harness their “inner dog” and in Wagner New Zealand have their own version of the Hound of the Baskervilles. While not express pace, Wagner bowls an excellent length with sustained hostility that few batsmen can enjoy. With his slightly round-arm action taking the ball away from the right-hander and his ability to swing the ball back into them, he demands a stroke more often than most and has a never-say-die attitude that might border on the barking mad but, New Zealand coach, Mike Hesson, later agreed was “a captain’s dream”.”Even when it’s flat he wants the ball,” Hesson said. “He just keeps charging in. He’s a guy that can bowl long spells, so he allows us to rotate the other bowlers and he is good at bowling with the old ball. We got some good reverse swing here.”There is something of the pantomime villain about Wagner. While quietly spoken and modest off the pitch, he bristles with aggression on it in the manner of Andre Nel or Steve Kirby. Here, scooping to field a defensive prod from Billy Godleman off his own bowling, he noted the batsman standing outside his crease and attempted to throw the stumps down. Instead he hit Godleman’s gloves and knocked the bat out of his hands. Umpire Nigel Cowley seemed unhappy with the incident and called the New Zealand captain, Kane Williamson, over for a chat. But Godleman was out of his ground at the time and, had the ball hit the stumps, might well have been run out.”I must be the most hated guy in cricket,” Wagner, who admits to being a victim of ‘white line fever,’ said afterwards. “Even my mates hate me when I play cricket. But I take a lot of passion and pride in playing for my country and I’m very aware that every ball I bowl is representing New Zealand.”Once I step-off the pitch, I’m fine. I’ll have a beer and a chat with anyone and I leave it all out there. But I like to create little battles to keep myself going and stop myself from getting lazy.”Certainly New Zealand were grateful for his contribution here. Having given Derbyshire the whole final day to score 335 to win, New Zealand had seen off the new ball bowlers without too much trouble when Wagner was introduced into the attack. Chesney Hughes, unsure whether to play or leave, ending up doing a bit of both and a lot of neither and was caught behind prodding half forward, before Godleman was leg before to a full delivery that skidded on with the arm. Later he returned to have Richard Johnson caught behind as he flashed outside off stump – Wagner’s 300th first-class wicket – before Dan Redfern and Peter Burgoyne were punished for indeterminate prods at balls on or around off stump.Whether it was enough to earn Wagner a place in the New Zealand line-up for the first Test remains to be seen. With Trent Boult, another left-arm seamer, all but certain to play, New Zealand may be reluctant to contribute a plethora of foot marks for Graeme Swann to bowl into.Doug Bracewell also produced a reminder of his own qualities later in the day. While his first spell lacked bite, Bracewell’s latter spells rediscovered the pace he found in the first innings. Impressively strong, Bracewell looked too hot for some of the Derbyshire batsmen to handle and benefitted from two loose strokes outside off stump. He does not gain the swing of some of his colleagues – New Zealand have been practising with the Dukes ball for a month before arriving in the UK and look completely comfortable with it – but gains movement off the seam and has a little extra ability with the bat than Wagner.With Hesson later hinting that New Zealand would be loathe to go into the Lord’s Test without a specialist spinner – “it’s quite nice to have someone with a change of pace,” he said – it still appears Wagner and Bracewell are fighting for one place in the side. Boult and Tim Southee, who looks in peak form in practice, will both play at Grace Road this week.”Everyone is always in a bowl out,” Wagner said. “It’s a great spot for the team to be in. Bracewell is a class bowler at international level as his record shows.”But this was not a perfect game for New Zealand. The top order of Peter Fulton, Hamish Rutherford and Martin Guptill struggled for runs in either innings and Mark Gillespie, despite swinging the ball more than any of his colleagues, failed to take a wicket in 29 overs in the match and confirmed himself as fifth seamer in the tour party.Yet New Zealand won without ever making victory their aim and gained useful exposure to the conditions without ever allowing personal milestones to obscure their objectives. By declaring both innings, they tested their bowlers under pressure and, while neither went on to make major scores, both Williamson and BJ Watling looked in fine form. New Zealand will play their first choice batting line-up in Leicester in the hope that the top-order can find form before the Tests.There were some positives for Derbyshire, too. While their captain, Wayne Madsen, admitted he was “looking for more from the batsmen” he could be encouraged by the performance of Mark Footitt, who claimed 6 for 48 in the match – all of them top-order international batsmen – and Alasadair Evans, who showed enough to suggest he is a seamer with what it takes to enjoy a career at first-class level. Both showed they could be considered viable replacements for the injured pair of Mark Turner, who has a quad injury, and Tony Palladino, who has a side strain.Dan Redfern, with a run-a-ball half-century, also impressed on the final day. Demonstrating some unusual flair off the legs and a couple of rasping extra-cover drives, he thumped six fours in nine balls at one stage, including five in eight balls from Gillespie.The setbacks Derbyshire have suffered this season have eroded their confidence. But they are better than they have shown so far and, if the likes of Whiteley and Godleman – richly talented but lacking in belief at present – can recover their form, Derbyshire may yet surprise a few teams in Division One.

Unbeaten half-centuries by Asad Shafiq and Hasan Raza helped Habib Bank Limited ease to a seven-wicket win against United Bank Limited in a Group B match in Karachi. Chasing 201, Habib Bank were reduced to 87 for 3, but Shafiq and Raza steadied the innings and put up an unbeaten stand of 116 for the fourth wicket, overhauling the target comfortably in the 38th over. Imran Farhat, the opener, added vital 49 runs at the start of the innings.Put into bat, United Bank were reduced to a precarious 110 for 7 after an incisive spell by Mohammad Aslam, who took four wickets. But Kashif Bhatti slammed a quick fifty down the order and added 71 runs for the eighth wicket with Mohammad Irshad which helped United Bank end their innings on 200.Pakistan International Airlines earned their first points on the table with a commanding eight-wicket win against State Bank of Pakistan in Karachi. Openers Kamran Sajid and Agha Sabir, both of whom scored fifties, added 118 for the first wicket setting a strong platform in their chase of 197. Sabir fell for 72, but Kamran stayed unbeaten as PIA completed the chase in the 42nd over. Hasan Mahmood picked up both wickets to fall.State Bank opted to bat but lost opener Kashif Siddiq early. After a strong stand for the second wicket, by Gulraiz Sadaf and Rameez Raja, they started losing regular wickets and were bowled out for 196 in 45 overs. Aizaz Cheema inflicted the most damage with 3 for 37 while Salman Saeed and Adeel Malik accounted for two wickets each.Umar Amin’s fighting century for Port Qasim Authority went in vain as they lost their Group A match against Khan Research Laboratories in Lahore by 40 runs. Amin forged a critical century stand for the sixth wicket with Aariz Kamal that kept the team’s hopes alive after they were reduced to 127 for 5 in chase of 313. But soon after Yasir Arafat accounted for both batsmen, their challenge ended with the team being bowled in the 48th over.Earlier, Khan Research Labs were given a strong start by their openers, with Zain Abbas scoring a half-century and their middle order chipped in with useful runs. The push, though, came through Shoaib Ahmed (53 off 45 balls) and Saeed Anwar jnr (33 off 20) and the team racked up a formidable total of 312.An aggressive half-century by Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited’s captain Misbah-ul-Haq set up the team’s 76-run win over National Bank of Pakistan in Lahore. After Mohammad Hafeez was dismissed early, Taufeeq Umar and Azhar Ali set up a strong platform for Sui Gas. But from 97 for 1, they slipped to 177 for 6 before Misbah resurrected the innings with a 60-ball 79 that included six fours and four sixes to help the team finish on 262.National Bank’s chase got off to a poor start when Nasir Jamshed was run out early. Sami Aslam and Kamran Akmal added 57 for the second wicket, but then they lost the next four wickets for 14 runs. Fawad Alam and Mohammad Nawaz scored half-centuries but were kept in a tight leash and they were only able to manage 186.

On the fourth anniversary of the terrorist attack on the Sri Lankan team bus in Lahore, the PCB chairman Zaka Ashraf has called on the world to stand with Pakistan and help revive international cricket in the country. “It was the tragic episode in the history of Pakistan cricket,” Ashraf, who is also a member of the ruling Pakistan People’s Party’s central executive committee, told ESPNcricinfo. “We have suffered a lot in fighting against terrorism – a war that is the entire world’s and Pakistan is fighting as a front-line state. The whole world should stand with us in helping revive international cricket.”On March 3, 2009, the Sri Lanka team was on its way to the Gaddafi Stadium for the third day of the second Test against Pakistan, when gunmen opened fire and threw grenades at the bus, killing eight people at Liberty roundabout, one-and-a-half kilometres away from the stadium. The match was abandoned, Sri Lanka left the country the same day, Pakistan was stripped of its right to host the 2011 World Cup and there has been no international cricket in the country since. For the last four years, Pakistan have been playing their ‘home’ series mostly in the UAE.Youth development in Pakistan cricket is on hold as no team, even at the youth level, is ready to tour. The PCB has suffered a budget deficit for years, stadiums are getting rusty, fans have been deprived. Around two dozen players made their international debut for Pakistan in this period, but are yet to play an international game in their own country.The PCB is still haunted by the impact of the incident and doesn’t like to be reminded of what happened. The board is now waiting for a change in the political landscape in the country, hoping it will lead to greater stability.The PCB had tried to win back the confidence of players by organising the lucrative Twenty20 league, offering top players from around the world a chance to earn over $100,000 tax-free in 10 days. But the plan was hit by logistical arrangements and the board had to postpone it indefinitely. The PCB also tried hard to negotiate with the Bangladesh Cricket Board to commit to a tour of Pakistan but the series never happened, with Bangladesh withdrawing after committing twice. West Indies, in recent times, have refused to send their A team to Pakistan, proposing instead to play in the UAE.The PCB, in the meantime, is focusing on building cricket infrastructure in Pakistan, a chaotic process in a time of isolation. A new stadium, Shaheed Benazir Bhutto International Cricket Stadium at Garhi Khuda Bakhsh in Naudero, Sindh, was completed last year; another one has been sanctioned in the capital Islamabad with a lodging facility. Domestic cricket has been revamped, with the introduction of an additional Twenty20 national championship between eight top teams around the country to keep the stadiums active.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsSteven Finn reached the first fifty of his first-class career•Associated Press

Steven Finn, excelling in a new role as nightwatchman, struck a maiden first-class fifty to make a huge contribution towards England saving the first Test in Dunedin and saving face in the bargain. As Finn walked back to the dressing room with 56 to his name, and perhaps his first experience of pad burn after not far short of five hours at the crease, he was in danger of being rewarded with a full-time appointment to go alongside the gratitude of his team mates.Finn’s marathon resistance stretched until the second over after tea, at which point he succumbed to an ambitious slog-sweep at the left-arm spinner Bruce Martin. Spared Finn’s sudden appreciation of the art of batsmanship, New Zealand might well have triumphed. As their bowlers strove gamely for victory on a docile surface, they will also have rued the rain and bad light which prevented play on the opening day.England lost Nick Compton on a slow final morning, with Jonathan Trott and Kevin Pietersen following in the afternoon. Ian Bell’s senseless run-out of Joe Root, thrown out second ball for nought by a direct hit from cover, kept New Zealand’s interest flickering enough in the final session to take a third new ball, but by then England’s lead was 117 with four wickets and 25 overs remaining. Bell wisely saw the job through until, with the advantage stretched to 128, the match was called off at the final drinks break.Pietersen’s out-of-sorts innings immediately invited conjecture that he might be protecting an injury and, to add to the intrigue, he watched the last rites in front of the dressing room with a large black X on his right knee. To offer such target practice was especially dangerous in New Zealand, who can invent a sport for most things and who even now are probably drawing up the rules for world championship knee archery.Pietersen, Trott and Compton fell to the unflagging left-arm swing of Neil Wagner, who will need every hour of his three days off before the second Test begins in Wellington, but New Zealand never quite got on a roll.Finn could take much credit for that. The wagon wheel, which might one day be framed in his downstairs toilet, showed five boundaries scooting off in the general direction of third man, but he generally made good use of his long reach on a pitch which slumbered to the last. James Anderson, his predecessor, has taken a battering in some of the most threatening situations Test cricket can offer, but Finn got a cushier job and relaxed into it with aplomb. Wagner did test him against the short ball eventually, but only at around 130kph and only when his eye was in.He reached his 50 from 142 balls, angling Wagner through gully, but then decided to take stock, scratched a new guard and did not score for the next hour and a quarter. His next single brought ironic applause from the Barmy Army and a blast from Billy Cooper’s trumpet. It was just as well that he did dig in because Trott fell for 52 in the same over, Wagner taking a good leaping catch in his follow-through from a leading edge, and Pietersen soon followed to an inside edge from a nondescript shot.Perhaps Pietersen was just having one of those days. Just as he is intoxicated by the big occasion, he can run on empty if a game feels flat. If he guested in a club knockabout, there is every chance that somebody would get him out for nought, just as there would be every chance that Finn would get a hundred.Finn escaped a couple of tough chances; in the first over of the day edging very low towards Dean Brownlie at third slip and later, on 37, sending an edge between the slips off Kane Williamson. The middle of the bat often proved elusive, especially when compared to the timing shown by Trott, but his stay was testament to the work England’s bowlers put in their batting.England began the day still 59 runs behind and a couple of early wickets, with the second new ball still new, would have opened the door for New Zealand. However, it took them more than an hour to make the breakthrough which came when Wagner swung one back into Compton’s pads who, for a moment, considered the review before deciding, wisely as replays showed, that it would have been a waste.Compton’s seven-hour innings – 117 from 310 balls – was a study in concentration and determination. He was given a warm ovation as he walked off, his father Richard leading the applause from the crowd, and was safe in knowledge that his Test berth is now secure.Trott’s half-century was effortless, a punchy straight drive off Martin emphasising that there would be no last-day encouragement for the spinner, who instead continued to toil on a dead surface.England made only 53 from 28 overs between lunch and tea and Finn was responsible for 14 of them. But the overs were ticking down and for England, that was all that mattered.