All posts by csb10.top

Malinga 'rested' for India T20s

Lasith Malinga has been “rested” from Sri Lanka’s T20 squad, one week after he had left the Bangladesh Premier League early due to personal reasons. Suranga Lakmal has also been omitted. Only six players remain from the T20 squad that faced Pakistan in October, as several first team players – left out of that last squad after their refusal to travel to Lahore over safety concerns – make their way back into the team.In the squad, however are slew of allrounders: left-arm spinners Sachith Pathirana and Chaturanga de Silva included. Akila Dananjaya is the lone specialist spinner.Malinga’s exit from the BPL had been vexing – he returned to Sri Lanka ahead of the final of that tournament, which his team, Rangpur Riders, was playing in. Few details were given about what precipitated that departure, and the Sri Lankan selectors have not divulged why he is being rested for the forthcoming series.What is clear, however, is that his form has been extremely patchy of late. His economy rate in his two most-recent BPL games was well over 10. His international form since returning from ankle surgery in 2015 has been modest as well. Though available for ODIs, Malinga has already been dropped from that format.On the batting front. Kusal Perera is in competition with the likes of Sadeera Samarawickrama, Danushka Gunathilaka and Upul Tharanga for top-order places. Kusal has not played an international since injuring his hamstring during the Champions Trophy in June, and Niroshan Dickwella has established himself as Sri Lanka’s wicketkeeper batsman across formats, in the interim.The absence of Lakmal and Malinga leaves the seam-bowling contingent short of experience – Dushmantha Chameera and Nuwan Pradeep having played 15 T20 internationals between them, while Vishwa Fernando is uncapped. Sri Lanka does have the seam bowling of Angelo Mathews and captain Thisara Perera to call upon, however.The T20s will be played in Cuttack, Indore and Mumbai, starting on December 20.Sri Lanka T20 squad: Thisara Perera (capt.), Upul Tharanga, Angelo Mathews, Kusal Perera, Danushka Gunathilaka, Niroshan Dickwella, Asela Gunaratne, Sadeera Samarawickrama, Dasun Shanaka, Chaturanga de Silva, Sachith Pathirana, Akila Dananjaya, Dushmantha Chameera, Nuwan Pradeep, Vishwa Fernando

Curran to replace Finn in Australia

Steven Finn has been ruled out of the Ashes due to a knee injury. Finn sustained the injury when batting in the nets in Perth on the first day of middle practice. He was given an injection a couple of days ago but the injury,­ which has now been diagnosed as torn cartilage in his left knee, has failed to improve as hoped.Finn will return to England in the next 48 hours where he will seek the advice of a knee specialist to ascertain whether he will require an operation.Surrey’s Tom Curran has been named as Finn’s replacement*, ahead of candidates such as Tom Helm and Liam Plunkett. Curran has not played Test cricket but did impress during his limited-overs appearances for England during the summer. It is understood Mark Wood is still not considered fully fit.The news is a cruel setback for Finn. Sent home early from the 2013-14 winter tour of Australia having been deemed “unselectable”, the series offered an opportunity for redemption. He was also dropped midway through the 2010-11 Ashes series.England were already without Ben Stokes. Finn was named as his replacement in the squad following Stokes’ arrest after an incident in Bristol ­and Toby Roland-Jones, who was diagnosed with a stress fracture in his back.Meanwhile England trained with a pink ball in Adelaide on Tuesday ahead of their maiden first-class match of the tour, starting on Wednesday. They have decided to limit the workload of their main seamers so Stuart Broad will miss the game – he is fully fit and bowled at full pace in the nets – and James Anderson will play but then sit-out next week’s game in Townsville.As a result, Jake Ball and Craig Overton will go head to head in competition for the position of fourth seamer in Brisbane – Ball is very much in pole position following the match in Perth – and Mason Crane will have another chance to impress as the side’s only specialist spinner.Selection for the match against a Cricket Australia XI also confirms that James Vince will bat at No. 3 in the first Test in Brisbane and that Dawid Malan will bat at No. 5. Gary Ballance and Ben Foakes find themselves on the sidelines.England team to play Cricket Australia XI: 1 Alastair Cook, 2 Mark Stoneman, 3 James Vince, 4 Joe Root (capt), 5 Dawid Malan, 6 Jonny Bairstow (wk), 7 Chris Woakes, 8 Craig Overton, 9 Jake Ball, 10 Mason Crane, 11 James Anderson*1415 GMT – This story was updated with confirmation of Curran’s call-up

'Bowling unit has been outstanding all year' – Estwick

West Indies bowling coach Roddy Estwick credited an “outstanding” bowling attack for setting up West Indies’ first-innings lead over Zimbabwe in the first Test at Queens Sports Club in Bulawayo. Estwick, who has worked with the team’s bowlers for the last 18 months, gave special mention to legspinner Devendra Bishoo, who had a quiet tour of England but came to the fore with 5 for 79 against Zimbabwe.”Over the last year the bowling department has been functioning well, so I’m not surprised that we were able to bowl them out under our score,” Estwick said. “The bowling unit has been outstanding all year, and once Bishoo came to the party. I wasn’t surprised we restricted them to this score.”Bishoo, who took just three wickets across two Tests in England, picked up the fourth five-wicket haul of his career and ran through Zimbabwe’s top order with a combination of spin, bounce and accuracy in helpful conditions on the second day.”He didn’t have the best tour of England,” Estwick conceded. “It’s a difficult place to bowl. But if you look [at the last year], he got 30 wickets in that period so he’s been quite successful. He got eight wickets in Dubai on a flat track as well, so he does his job. The bowling unit has been outstanding; you can’t fault them. They’ve been able to stay on the park and stay fresh. It’s been a long year but we keep going and we keep getting teams out.”Estwick suggested that West Indies had taken their cue from Zimbabwe’s first-day bowling effort, when the patience and consistency of the seamers set up the spinners’ demolition. “Obviously we learnt from the way that Zimbabwe bowled in their first innings where they were patient and soaked up pressure,” he said. “We tried to do the same thing, block it with our seamers and try to get wickets from the other end.”West Indies’ lead stood at 148, with nine wickets standing, at the close of play, but in what has been a fast-moving, see-sawing Test match so far Estwick also warned against any complacency. “[The pitch] is going to get a bit more difficult because it’s going to lose pace, and that means strokemaking is going to get difficult. Zimbabwe lost 7 for 53 [58] after lunch, so the game can change very quickly on a pitch like this. We’ve got to try and take the game as long as possible. Bat until lunchtime and then assess from there. You can’t get ahead of yourself on this pitch. There’s a lot of cricket left.”

'Declaring was the positive approach' – Root

Having become the first England captain to lose a home Test against West Indies for 17 years, Joe Root conceded his players had been beaten by the better side at Headingley but said he did not regret his decision to declare on the fourth evening and would continue to take positive options in pursuit of victory in future.England only managed to take five wickets on the final day – one of them a run-out that came via yet another dropped catch – as West Indies were led home by an unbeaten century from Shai Hope. The result levelled the series at 1-1 and completed a huge swing in fortunes, after West Indies’ innings defeat in Edgbaston, as well as compounding England’s reputation for inconsistency as a Test side.”In hindsight it’s easy to say the declaration might not have been timed right but I thought last night it was a positive thing to do,” Root said. “We’re a side that want to go out there and win Test matches, we got ourselves in a position where we can do that – but credit to the West Indies, they played really well today. They made it difficult to get on top of them, create much pressure against them.”England had been eight down with Chris Woakes, on 61, and Stuart Broad both unbeaten at the crease when they were waved in. With England 1-0 up in the series, it was an attacking move by Root, captaining a Test on his home ground for the first time. Perhaps he should have been more wary of the local lore: of the four captains to lose a Test in England after declaring the third innings, three have now come at Headingley.Sitting uncomfortably alongside Norman Yardley in 1948 and Adam Gilchrist (deputising for Steve Waugh) in 2001, is now Root in 2017. Asked if it had been the most difficult experience of his captaincy so far, he admitted: “It was tough”.Root trusted his senior attack of James Anderson and Stuart Broad, who bowled more than half of the overs, but England were again let down by their catching – most damagingly when Alastair Cook dropped Kraigg Brathwaite on 4. Moeen Ali was tried from both ends but, although he did eventually remove Brathwaite for 95 on the stroke of tea, he was unable to maintain pressure as the contest began to tilt towards West Indies.Ben Stokes was not introduced until the 48th over and only bowled five overs, something Root conceded he may have done differently a second time around. While admitting “the surface didn’t misbehave as much as we might have thought or liked”, Root said there had never been any thought of trying to play for the draw once Brathwaite and Hope were settled.”I thought the best chance of slowing things down was to take wickets,” Root said. “As the game progressed, wickets were the best way of us getting the result. It would have been very easy to try and go 7-2 and go at two an over but I wanted to take the positive option and put them under pressure by taking wickets.”Last night we were in a position where we could win the game, it was a fifth-day wicket and maybe we slightly misread the surface. Looking at two guys who’ve taken nearly 900 Test wickets between them, and the other bowlers we have available, on a fifth-day pitch, I thought we had a great opportunity to win the game.”England’s failures were not limited to the final day. Having chosen to bat first – rather than put West Indies’ batsmen in the firing line again after they had been dismissed for 168 and 137 at Edgbaston – Root acknowledged their first-innings total of 258 was not enough. Ben Stokes made a hundred (having been dropped on 9), Root made fifty (having been dropped on 8) but the next-highest scores was Woakes’ 23. West Indies then compiled 427 to give a truer reflection of the pitch.”I think if we’re being brutally honest we weren’t as good as we can be,” he said. “To bat first, win the toss and only make what we did was not anywhere near what we’re capable of. We didn’t see that the ball was moving around and we maybe could have played that slightly differently. Again guys got in and got out and didn’t support Stokesy, I thought he played tremendously well in that first innings. It was a slightly bowler-friendly wicket, it did surprise me having seen it. Sun out at the toss, it looked like a dead-cert bat-first.”The most pleasing thing for me was the way we fought back into the game. Previously, when we’ve been behind the eight-ball, we’ve struggled to do that. I thought we showed great character, great determination and fight to get in a position last night where we could declare and try and get a win. Looking at the back end of day two, that was an unlikely possibility … [just] very frustrating that we weren’t able to take the ten wickets today.”England’s catching has periodically been cause for concern over recent years and there were four drops on the final day, to go with two in West Indies’ first innings. England benefited from seven themselves but it was not enough to keep them ahead in the series.”You’ve got to take your chances in Test cricket,” Root said. “When you get to this level, if you give guys chances, they generally go on and hurt you. It’s been a strange Test match, there’s been so many catches go down. It’s not always the easiest viewing ground … But we have to be better.”

Patriots win three in three with Lewis' 92

Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsEvin Lewis chucks his helmet to the floor to celebrate his second T20I hundred•AFP

Evin Lewis struck the highest score of CPL 2017, bashing 92 off 52 balls as St Kitts & Nevis Patriots maintained their record as the only unbeaten team in the competition. They thrashed St Lucia Stars by 33 runs and are looking strong contenders to make the playoffs for the first time in franchise history.Lewis wakes up
After scoring five runs last weekend on the spongy pitches of Florida, Lewis feasted on a batting beauty, and the Stars’ wayward bowling unit – 16 wides were part of 23 extras – hitting five fours and seven sixes. His wagon wheel was heavily weighted to the leg side, as he punished the bowlers for straying on his pads with authoritative flicks.He had motored to 88 off 46 balls when rain stopped play after 15.2 overs, causing a half-hour delay. A century seemed certain, but Lewis struggled to regain his touch after play resumed, scoring four off six balls. Eventually, Kyle Mayers’ plan of bowling full and wide paid off as the batsman sliced a catch to a wide slip placed in the 17th over.No mercy NabiMohammad Nabi came to the crease at the fall of Lewis and sent five of nine balls faced to the boundary. Mayers’ first ball to him strayed on the legs and was pulled past fine leg for four and Nabi powered Mayers over cover for four and six through the wind in the final over to finish unbeaten on 24 off 9 balls. The flourish helped Patriots equal the 196 posted by Barbados Tridents two nights earlier on the same ground as both the highest CPL total at the venue and for the 2017 tournament.Hafeez swan songDespite the Pakistan Cricket Board’s demand for all players at the CPL to return home immediately, Mohammad Hafeez, Hasan Ali and Kamran Akmal had at least one more night to leave a mark on CPL 2017. It started off poorly for Hafeez with a golden duck at the hands of Jerome Taylor on a leg before decision that may have been missing leg stump, but by the end of the night he created more positive memories, nabbing 3 for 22 after entering in the fourth over to stifle the Stars chase.Johnson Charles fell to Hafeez’ third delivery for 13, skying a slog that eventually came down into Devon Thomas’ gloves at point after running out from behind the stumps for the take. Akmal’s brief but charmed stay finally ended after six balls, caught at mid-off in Hafeez’ next over by Brathwaite. He took his final wicket – a fortunate return catch off a full toss to Marlon Samuels – on the last ball before drinks to make it 85 for 3, snatching back momentum from the Stars that had been seized by Andre Fletcher and Samuels.No mercy Nabi Part DeuxStars’ top-order has been starved of meaningful contributions early in CPL 2017 but it looked like they were going to get a major one from Fletcher, who had reached 48 at a strike rate of 150 to give Stars hope. But after Hafeez’ spell ended, Nabi replaced him and struck at the end of his first over, spearing in a yorker length ball to beat Fletcher.After left-arm wristspinner Tabraiz Shamsi beat Darren Sammy with a quicker ball in the 15th, Nabi made further inroads when Shane Watson lunged at a flighted delivery and skied a catch to long-on. Mayers was stumped off a charge down the pitch for Nabi’s third to put the Stars seven down. Nabi should have had another before his spell ended had Brathwaite held on to a relatively straightforward chance coming in from the boundary offered by Mitchell McClenaghan.It hardly mattered though and by the time he grabbed the cap from the umpire for the last time on the evening, he had figures of 3 for 15 and Stars’ equation was 58 off two overs. Some lusty hitting from Rahkeem Cornwall in the final over narrowed the final margin.

Miller bolsters Glamorgan in packed Blast schedule

Glamorgan have signed South African international batsman David Miller as an overseas player for the NatWest T20 Blast campaign.Miller arrives on Saturday and will be available for six T20 Blast matches, starting with Essex Eagles on July 23, with his last match set to be against Surrey only 12 days later in a packed schedule.Miller is available because he has not being included in the South Africa A 50-over squad that will compete in a triangular series against India A and Afghanistan A which starts on July 26. It is expected he will be part of the four-day squad that play India A in two four-day matches, starting on August 12.He has played 52 T20 internationals and 99 one-day Internationals for South Africa with previous experience in the NatWest T20 Blast for both Durham Jets and Yorkshire Vikings in previous campaigns. The white-ball specialist has enjoyed successful spells for St Lucia Zouks in the Caribbean Premier League and in the IPL for the Kings XI Punjab.He adds to a strong South African contingent in Glamorgan’s middle order which also include Kolpak-registered Colin Ingram and overseas player Jacques Rudolph.Miller’s last outing in Cardiff was at the end of June for South Africa in the third NatWest International T20 when England were victorious.”We are delighted to sign David Miller for a six-game stint,” said Hugh Morris, Glamorgan’s chief executive and director of cricket. “David is a fine batsman, with a wealth of experience in T20 cricket. He is a match-winner and a finisher, proven to be one of the most destructive batsmen in the game at both domestic and international level.”Hopefully his signing will add depth to our batting and boost our prospects of replicating last season’s form when we secured a home quarter-final in the knockout stages.After four matches Glamorgan currently sit in a qualifying position from the South Group having won two games against this weekend’s opponents in Cardiff: Sussex Sharks and Essex Eagles.

Rabada's absence could require extra seamer – du Plessis

Never mind the pace and the wickets, it’s the overs South Africa will miss most from Kagiso Rabada, who has to sit out of the second Investec Test because of a suspension. Rabada sent down 48 overs in the first Test at Lord’s, slightly more than Morne Morkel (46.3) and many more than Vernon Philander, who was injured for much of the second innings (25). South Africa are pondering picking two quicks to make up for Rabada’s absence.”KG has been our spearhead for the last year and a half and he has been bowling very well but it’s also the amount of overs that he bowls,” Faf du Plessis, South Africa’s returning captain, said. “In a three-seam attack, he has been the guy that has been bowling the most overs, so you lose your skill and you also lose the overs that he has bowled.”While du Plessis confirmed Duanne Olivier would definitely come into the XI for Rabada, he also suggested South Africa could include for a fourth quick. Chris Morris could be that bowler and will share the load with Olivier, Morkel and Philander, who has been struggling with injuries on the tour. Philander went into the first Test on the back of an ankle problem that he picked up during a county stint at Sussex, and was then hit on the hand while batting, which kept him off the field for the third afternoon.X-rays revealed no fracture to his hand and he has been passed fit for the second Test but his bowling workloads may still be managed which means that South Africa could be willing to weaken their already weaker suit – batting – to accommodate more bowling options.If anything, that illustrates the value Rabada has brought to the team since making his debut in November 2015. He has played in 18 of South Africa’s 20 Tests and has bowled more overs than any other South African in that time. Rabada’s 531.2 overs puts him sixth on the overall list and speaks to the workload he has had to carry.Though he has not been at his best in this series and has struggled for rhythm, Rabada remains a big threat and South Africa would have wanted to be able to call on him as they look to square the series. Instead, they will have to rely on a different attack but, if du Plessis has it his way, a changed mindset.”We understand where we made mistakes in the first game, it is probably how we respond to that. This is a big test of character for us. It’s just about knowing we can do it and going into this next game and doing it.”South Africa have a hard-earned reputation for fighting back, especially when they are without players. In Australia last year, they lost Dale Steyn to an injury in Perth and then rallied to win the match and the series. This time, they have had more disruption with du Plessis missing the first Test on paternity leave and coach Russell Domingo not in Nottingham after the death of his mother.Du Plessis said he saw some signs that it was all getting to the group when he sat on the sidelines at Lord’s. “There were times when it was too easy for England,” he said. “When they threw a punch back at us, we just sit back and let it happen and expected something to happen and it never did.”With or without Rabada, they intend to counterpunch.

IPL increases exposure to big moments of play – Stokes

Experience of playing in the IPL helped Ben Stokes compile the “best innings” of his ODI career to date, against Australia at Edgbaston.Stokes plundered an unbeaten century – a career-best 102 – as England overcame a sticky start to their run-chase to secure victory and sentence Australia to an early departure from the Champions Trophy.Stokes had only once previously made fifty – an innings of 69 when England defeated Pakistan at Leeds in 2016 – when batting second in an ODI. And so powerful and clean was Stokes’ hitting against Australia, it earned praise from Virat Kohli on Twitter.Afterwards, as well as crediting the big-match exposure of the IPL, Stokes also suggested the insight of working alongside other top players at the tournament had contributed to his improvement.”I think that was my best innings in terms of chasing,” Stokes said. “I don’t think my record is too flash in terms of chasing for England in ODI cricket. It’s also nice on a personal level to be there at the end of a chase.”The whole thing with the IPL is the exposure you get to big moments in games playing in front of a huge crowd all the time. You get exposed to those situations more.”At Edgbaston we were 35 for 3 but you can just mentally look back to a time in the past and reflect on that and also take confidence in knowing that you have been in that situation before and done well.”You play against the best players in the world, whether batsmen or bowlers. Knowing that you have done well coming into a tournament like this it gives you confidence that you can do well against some of the world’s best batsmen and bowlers.”Stokes enjoyed a successful first season in the IPL. Going into the tournament under some pressure as the most expensive pick in the auction – he was bought by Rising Pune Supergiant for £1.7m – he finished with a maiden T20 century (against Gujarat Lions), 12 wickets and some outstanding displays of fielding to earn the Most Valuable Player award. And, among the top players he rubbed shoulders with while he was there was Australia captain, Steven Smith, who suggested a minor technical change.”He just gave a little tip out in India, something on my technique, something that he felt could help me with,” Stokes said. “Just that I was losing my backside a bit when I was hitting.”I am always trying to get better as a player, no matter how things are going. I’m always trying to expand my game and look into how I can hit more areas or bowl different balls or whatever it is. I’m always looking to learn and am never happy with how I am going. I think once you get comfortable with what you are offering it is dangerous territory to be in.”The most noticeable aspect of Stokes’ batting on Saturday was his composure. Whereas, in the past, he might have become flustered by the match situation or the number of dot balls he faced against a decent Australia attack, on this occasion he gave himself the time to build an innings secure in the knowledge that he had the power and range of strokes to make up time.”I didn’t put any pressure on myself,” Stokes said. “I knew I could catch up. Obviously having someone like Eoin Morgan at the other end, playing like he is does, takes the pressure off. He is always looking to be positive and I think we are boundary-hitters, so we know that if we have a few dot balls it is not going to faze us too much.”We are always going to try to take the positive route regardless of the start that we get, play every good ball on its merit but at the same time we know we have got to be aggressive and on the front foot because that is what has made us such a dangerous team. Being 35 for 3 doesn’t mean there is any real reason for us to change that.”Despite the praise for England’s batting, Stokes was keen to credit the bowlers for their part in England’s success. He praised Mark Wood and Adil Rashid, in particular, with both men bagging four-wicket hauls as England again found a way to claim wickets in the middle-over period during which other attacks have struggled to make much of an impression. He also confirmed that his knee, a source of concern going into the tournament, was giving him no trouble.”There will probably be quite a lot of write-ups about how we chased,” he said. “But the fact that the bowlers managed to restrict Australia to under 300 – when at one stage it looked as if they might score 340 – was credit to how we bowled, for Woody and Rash to get four wickets each on that wicket with that boundary.””My bowling is obviously not back to where I want it to be but I am trying and training to get it back to where I want it to be. My knee is good. The confidence is there now knowing that I am not going to have to worry about it.”England, the only unbeaten side in the competition, took Sunday off and will resume training on Monday in Cardiff. Their semi-final takes place there on Wednesday.

Ageless Chanderpaul makes Surrey toil

ScorecardA little before noon, Shivnarine Chanderpaul flicked Mark Footitt off his front pad. As he scampered back to complete the second run, Chanderpaul reached his 74th first-class hundred.It was a remarkable achievement, and yet for Chanderpaul it also seemed entirely mundane. He gave a perfunctory raise of his bat, to acknowledge the warm applause at The Oval, briskly punched gloves with his partner and then, without removing his helmet or showing any emotion or discernible joy, was ready to face his next ball. For Chanderpaul, after all, a century is merely a milestone passed on the way to something greater.There are certainties in life: death, taxes and Chanderpaul, shaping peculiarly towards midwicket, playing inside the line of the ball, nudging to the leg side or gliding the ball precisely through the offside, and, more than anything, steadfastly doing everything at his own pace. At 42, among the oldest players playing first-class cricket today, he remains clinical, cold-blooded and utterly unflappable, even after discomfort in his leg necessitated the use of a runner for the last portion of his innings.All the Chanderpaul trademarks were here in eight remorseless hours that made it easy to understand why, uniquely, he four times went 1,000 minutes in Test cricket without being dismissed. Yet, as Lancashire’s position became more assured, so Chanderpaul slowly dared to show off a repertoire of shots so expansive that he once scored a 69-ball Test century against Australia.He gallivanted down the wicket to caress Gareth Batty through the leg side for four, and then greeted Scott Borthwick with a pair of straight sixes hit with the nonchalance of a man swatting away an irritating fly. It was a matter of considerable surprise when he eventually drove Batty to cover. By then, though, after amassing 182 from 328 balls and putting Lancashire in an impregnable position in the game, his work was long done.”I’ve loved playing cricket and the passion for it is still there,” Chanderpaul said. “Always when you come into a new environment you want to show the guys that you’re here to contribute. They look up to you, as the senior player, to go out there and put your head down and hold things together.”On a chilly day at The Oval – Chanderpaul was trembling a little after play – he was again ably supported by Jordan Clark, who began the day with a series of booming drives. By the time Clark was dismissed, clearly aggrieved to have been judged to have edged a sweep to slip off Batty for 140, the two had added 243 for the seventh wicket, only five shy of Lancashire’s all-time record.Clark’s impact would later be felt with the ball, too: his fourth delivery angled in to trap Mark Stoneman, who had driven with panache, lbw for 40. In the next over, Rory Burns was almost strangled by Luke Procter down the legside; Alex Davies’ despairing reaction to shelling the ball suggested a dropped chance.Those two incidents apart, Surrey seemed relatively unperturbed as evening sunshine marked the end of a marathon 104-over day. While Chanderpaul nursed his leg in the dressing room, Burns and Borthwick proceeding attritionally but without any great alarm.Yet, in the final over, Kyle Jarvis found Borthwick’s outside edge, the ball after a sumptuous back-foot cut for four, imbuing Lancashire with hope about what could yet be possible later in this game. Still, they must overcome not just promised showers later in the match, but also a fundamentally benign wicket, save for some seam movement under cloud cover on the opening morning. Now Taunton has been reinvented as Cyderabad, a spin bowling haven, perhaps only Lord’s rivals The Oval as the truest first-class batting surface in the country.And so, after reducing Lancashire to 122 for 6, Surrey spent the next day toiling as Chanderpaul remained serene, adding 135 runs after his reprieve at second slip on the first afternoon. While Footitt remained hostile deep into the innings, snaring Stephen Parry and Jarvis with two short deliveries in three balls – his fifth five-wicket haul in just 12 first-class games for Surrey – the rest of the attack threatened little. The extra pace of Stuart Meaker, not selected for either of Surrey’s opening fixtures, might have been welcome. Then again, Surrey are hardly unique in having being driven to despair by Chanderpaul.

Javed and Naveed demolish PNG

Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsFile photo – Mohammad Naveed picked up three wickets and effected a run out•AFP

Seamers Amjad Javed and Mohammad Naveed shared six wickets between them to dismiss PNG for 102 and set up a five-wicket win for UAE in the first T20I in Abu Dhabi. Debutant left-arm spinner Sultan Ahmed, who took the the new ball, also impressed by taking 1 for 12 in four overs.UAE lost three early wickets in the chase, but Shaiman Anwar’s 25-ball 39 ensured they completed the win with 29 balls to spare.After UAE opted to field, Sultan struck in the first over to have PNG opener Vani Morea caught behind for a duck. Javed then had Lega Siaka caught at mid-on for a duck as well. By the tenth over, PNG had slipped to 41 for 4, but Sese Bau and Mahuru Dai mounted some resistance with 22 and 31 respectively. Norman Vanua was the only other PNG batsman to reach double figures as Naveed carved through the middle and lower order. UAE folded when Rohan Mustafa bowled Willie Gavera in the 19th over.Mustafa was then the first UAE batsman to be dismissed when Vanua had him caught behind. Before the end of the Powerplay, UAE had been reduced to 46 for 3, but Anwar offset the early wobble, hitting four fours and a six. He was bowled by Reva in the tenth over, and Muhammad Usman soon followed, but Mohammed Quasim and Ghulam Shabber sealed victory with an unbroken 19-run stand.