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The India captain shared a 75-run third-wicket stand with Rodrigues to shore up the side, before Deepti, Poonam and Radha ripped through the opposition batting

ESPNcricinfo staff25-Sep-2018Getty Images

India women wrapped up a dominant tour of Sri Lanka with a 51-run victory in the final T20I in Katunayake. The victory meant India won the series 4-0, with the second game in Colombo being washed out. They had also won the preceding three-match ODI series 2-1.Early on, the Sri Lanka bowlers validated their captain Chamari Atapattu’s decision to field first by dismissing both India openers, Smriti Mandhana and Mithali Raj, inside the first five overs to reduce them to 30 for 2. That left the onus on the in-form Jemimah Rodrigues, coming into the match on the back of successive half-centuries, to repair the innings, and she once again did the job, joining hands with captain Harmanpreet Kaur to put on 75 for the third wicket. However, once Sri Lanka found a way past the duo, with the wicket of Rodrigues for 46, the end was swift as India lost their last eight wickets for 51 runs. Harmanpreet was the eighth batsman dismissed, for 63 off 38 balls – an innings that contained three fours and five sixes. As was the case when Sri Lanka batted, spinners did the bulk of the damage, with the offspinning duo of Shashikala Siriwardene and Inoshi Priyadarshini snaring three wickets each.Sri Lanka lost Atapattu on the fourth ball of their chase and never quite recovered. Anushka Sanjeewani (29), Siriwardene (22) and Oshadi Ranasinghe (22) got the starts, but Sri Lanka needed them to stay on and steer the chase. The hosts also did not help themselves with three run-outs, including that of Priyadarshini, who was the last batsman dismissed as Sri Lanka crashed to 105 all out. Poonam Yadav was the most successful bowler, picking up 3 for 18 in four overs. Deepti Sharma, who opened the bowling, and Radha Yadav grabbed two wickets each from their respective three overs.

The South Africa batsman put some of the side’s problems down to conditions, which he expects to become more difficult to bat on as the game goes on

Firdose Moonda in Durban02-Mar-2018AB de Villiers has defended his team-mates, whose nine wickets fell for 91 runs, leaving his contribution of 71 not out as the only score of significance on an otherwise humbling scorecard. While de Villiers conceded that “the deficit (of 189) looks really bad,” he maintained that South Africa were “not far off,” matching Australia’s skill set and hoped they can pull off “something special,” in the days to come.”There were a couple of softies (dismissals) today but also some really good bowling,” de Villiers said. “Australia had a really good intensity about them and they seemed to be clear with their plans. We could feel that they seemed to know what they were doing.”But it’s not all lost. Some guys looked really good out there and we just didn’t convert. We just didn’t cross that line today. If you cross that line with two batters out there, things change very quickly. We came up just short. The wicket is getting harder by the day and it won’t be easy for them to bat out there tomorrow. It’s up to us to make sure we have the right game plans in place. We are not out of it.”De Villiers’ generous assessment did not reveal any secrets towards explaining his own ability but he put his own success down to good preparation. “I just felt really good leading up to this Test in the nets, did some really good things in the nets, and I felt confident going into the Test,” he said. “You don’t always feel that way in Test cricket. And I was very motivated to score some runs for the boys.”While the rest of the South African line-up struggled against movement from Mitchell Starc and spin from Nathan Lyon, de Villiers felt the hosts allowed Lyon, in particular, to gain the upper hand because they were unable to form partnerships. South Africa’s highest stand was worth 42 runs – between de Villiers and Quitnon de Kock for the sixth wicket – and their lower order had no partnerships in double figures. Contrastingly, Australia’s eight-wicket stand was worth 49 and their ninth-wicket pair put on 41, which helped take them past 350 in the first innings.”Starc was swinging the ball one way and I felt I had him covered,” de Villiers said. “He bowled a couple of good deliveries and there’s not much you can do about that. Swing is one thing but when it’s moving a bit off the deck, it’s really difficult to cover that. Lyon did a really good job from the other end more often than not. We had him under pressure at times but kept losing wickets. That allowed him to bowl with more freedom.”As for South Africa’s age-old problem against spin, de Villiers put some of that down to conditions, which he expects to become more difficult to bat on as the match goes on. “We play spin well but it didn’t show today. I played spin well today,” de Villiers joked. “There’s no one with a flaw in their game when it comes to spin. Obviously the results don’t say the same thing. Lyon is the top wicket-taker in the world for this season and he is bowling well. He is a confident guy. I don’t think we played him badly. There’s a bit of rough out there, it’s a dryish Kingsmead surface, and he got a bit of assistance.”De Villiers was hopeful South Africa’s attack could rescue the situation on the third day, as they chase an elusive Test series win over Australia at home. “We’ve got our work cut out tomorrow. But we still believe we can turn this around.”

The country’s Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull called the ball-tampering incident in Cape Town a “shocking disappointment”

Daniel Brettig25-Mar-2018Hours after Cricket Australia said it would investigate the actions of the Australian team’s leadership in relation to the ball-tampering confession in the Cape Town Test, the Australian government has asked the board to remove Steven Smith as captain.The country’s Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has also called the incident a “shocking disappointment”. “We all woke up this morning shocked and bitterly disappointed by the news from South Africa,” Turnbull said. “It seemed completely beyond belief that the Australian cricket team had been involved in cheating.”I’ve spoken with David Peever, the Chairman of Cricket Australia, a few moments ago and I’ve expressed to him very clearly and unequivocally my disappointment and my concern about the events in South Africa.”It’s their responsibility to deal with it, but I have to say that (to) the whole nation, who holds those who wear the Baggy Green up on a pedestal, about as high as you can get in Australia … this is a shocking disappointment. It’s wrong, and I look forward to Cricket Australia taking decisive action soon.”The Australian Sports Commission (ASC) Chair John Wylie, the ASC Board, and CEO Kate Palmer – essentially speaking for the Australian government – called for severe action against the team. “The ASC condemns cheating of any form in sport,” it said in a statement. “The ASC expects and requires that Australian teams and athletes demonstrate unimpeachable integrity in representing our country.”Given the admission by Australian captain Steve Smith, the ASC calls for him to be stood down immediately by Cricket Australia, along with any other members of the team leadership group or coaching staff who had prior awareness of, or involvement in, the plan to tamper with the ball. This can occur while Cricket Australia completes a full investigation.”The government’s point of view emerged shortly after CA chief executive James Sutherland had said the board would investigate the ball tampering affair and take further action against the national team beyond the ICC charge accepted by Cameron Bancroft.With the CA chairman David Peever in transit home from South Africa, Sutherland chose not to travel to see the team himself, instead delegating the matter to the head of integrity, Iain Roy, and the team performance manager Pat Howard. The initiation of this “process” left Sutherland unable to offer anything beyond the conditional endorsement of Steven Smith as “current” captain of the national team.Sutherland and Howard were central to the sacking of Mickey Arthur, predecessor to the current coach Darren Lehmann, ahead of the 2013 Ashes series.”This morning [Australian cricket fans] have every reason to wake up and not be proud of the Australian team. It’s a sad day for Australian cricket,” Sutherland said in Melbourne. “Activities on the field yesterday in Cape Town are neither within the Laws of the game or within the spirit of the game. For us at Cricket Australia that’s extremely disappointing but more importantly it’s extremely disappointing for Australian cricket fans.”That isn’t the end of it and can’t be the end of it. We have a responsibility to take this further and to understand more about the issue. We will over the next couple of days get a deep understanding of what happened and why and to that end I’ve asked our head of integrity Iain Roy to travel to South Africa today, Pat Howard will also go with him. Iain’s brief will be to gather the relevant information we need to understand the matter better.”I understand that isn’t the fullness of response that everyone is looking for right now but you will appreciate there is an element of process that needs to be undertaken. It is being dealt with as a matter of urgency and seriousness. It will be dealt with promptly.”Sutherland, who has been chief executive since 2001, revealed he was yet to speak to Smith about events at Newlands, where the Australians admitted to knowingly cheating by way of a ball tampering attempt in South Africa’s second innings.”I haven’t spoken to Steve Smith… but he will know. In recent times I’ve had the need to speak to Steve about the behaviour of the team,” Sutherland said in reference to the first Test of the current series in Durban. “I have very strong views on the responsibility of the Australian team and no one will be under any illusions to what I think about this.”We are extremely disappointed and shocked to what we woke up to this morning and we are dealing with this issue with the utmost urgency and seriousness. Steve Smith is currently the captain of the Australian team. We are working through a process and once we have a clearer picture of the facts then we’ll be able to make further comment.”Our responsibility right now is to understand the facts and respond accordingly. I want to reiterate that we are dealing with this matter with appropriate urgency. I said right from the outset that I am shocked and extremely disappointed. This is a very sad day. I’m not happy about this at all.”Despite the ICC match referee Andy Pycroft already informing the Australians of a ball tampering charge against Bancroft, Sutherland said Roy’s investigation would home in on the team issues at hand.”We need someone to go over there and talk to the relevant people and understand the detail and then we’ll make appropriate decisions on the next steps,” Sutherland said. “We are in the middle of a game and that game needs to conclude but in course of next couple of days we’ll get to the bottom of this.”I’m not going to speculate on who is involved. We have to understand from the action of the umpires and the press conference. But we need to have those discussions.”

This is not the first recent instance of Dhaka Premier League players turning to the board to resolve pay disputes with their clubs

Mohammad Isam13-May-2018Kalabagan Krira Chakra’s players have met the BCB chief executive Nizamuddin Chowdhury, informing him that they are yet to be paid their dues for playing in this season’s Dhaka Premier League.Following the pre-season players’ draft, the BCB had instructed the clubs to pay the players 25% of their fees before the start of the league, 25% at the end of the league’s first phase, and the remaining 50% six weeks after the end of the Super League. By this time, the players should have been paid their dues in full.Tasamul Haque, who played for Kalabagan in the recently concluded 2017-18 season, said the players were forced to inform the BCB since their club had made it clear it wouldn’t be paying the squad their dues.”Some days back we had written to the BCB who had informed the club,” Tasamul said. “They also replied to the board, based on which the board will now sit with the club, but we are unaware of any decisions. They cannot withhold our payment. We have informed the BCB that we want the remaining 50%. The club has told us that after we give our complaint in writing, only the board can pay us. Not the club.”Chowdhury said the BCB would engage in talks with the Kalabagan club officials to resolve the pay dispute. “Players are important to us while clubs are also stakeholders,” he said. “We will try to end the dispute with the concerned club as soon as possible.”The complaint has come up because the club didn’t pay in the stipulated time. We will talk to the club officials directly, and try to solve it.”This is not the first time DPL players have had to rely on the BCB to get their full payment. BCB had to pay Kalabagan and Cricket Coaching School players in 2016 while Victoria Sporting Club also refused to pay their players in the same year.The link between the two years is the players-by-choice draft system, by which the clubs have to adhere to board instructions in paying players in installments. In the open-market transfer system, the players and the club go into a verbal (and sometimes written) agreement in which case most players are paid at least 80% of their fee in advance.Clubs have successfully arm-twisted the BCB into using the players-by-choice system three times now, mainly because of players’ rising payment demands. Under the players-by-choice system, clubs can be less punctual with payments in the knowledge that the players are tied to playing for them, and cannot negotiate with other clubs. The system restricts players into categories, with most taking a pay cut.Nadif Chowdhury, the Victoria captain in 2016, had said at the time that the player drafts didn’t allow instant payment to the players.
“The conventional players’ transfer system was much better,” Nadif said. “Under that system, we got a large chunk of the agreed amount before the league started. Sometimes we got around 80-90%. Now we are hardly even getting half of that amount. We are sad that nobody is following the instruction given by the board.”

England seamer claims five-for despite delayed start as Derbyshire succumb to 153 all out

Jon Culley at Derby17-Jun-2019Unlike Worcester, which pays a heavy price for its glorious proximity to the Severn, Derbyshire’s home ground can normally handle a deluge with few far-reaching effects. Last week’s downpours were exceptional, though. Spectators encouraged by a warm, drying wind to anticipate a prompt start arrived to see a huddle of Lancashire bowlers toeing dark patches of turf at the Racecourse End, exchanging shrugs and shakes of the head.No one looked less enthused at the idea of running in than James Anderson, although England’s finest fast bowler seldom looks enthused even when he is. He bent down and touched the ground with the palm of his hand, warily examining the droplets of water that attached themselves. Six weeks away from what may be his last Ashes series, by which time he will have turned 37, you can imagine what thoughts were in his mind. Having made his senior Lancashire debut here in 2001, he may well have a soft spot for this ground but he had no wish to jeopardise his summer by turning his ankle in one. Yet his captain had already determined that, if there were to be any play, Lancashire would bowl first.There was no play before lunch. Showers were forecast for later. Yet by 1.40pm the groundstaff had squeezed out enough moisture for umpires Nick Cook and Ian Blackwell to determine that even limbs as vital to the national interest as Anderson’s would be no more than normally at risk. Under an overcast sky, the air nicely humid, Derbyshire batsmen were now wishing the officials had decided on a longer delay.Opening at the City End, Anderson’s line was not perfect at the start, although twice he thought he had Luis Reece, his one-time county team-mate, caught off the glove. His appeals were well supported by keeper and slips but Blackwell was unmoved.Anderson’s new-ball partner, that other evergreen, Graham Onions, was more on the money. Billy Godleman survived a confident shout for caught behind as the ball whistled close to the outside edge but was reprieved only momentarily, edging the next one to gully with a rather loose drive.It was not the Derbyshire captain’s first mistake of the day, having earlier signed off a teamsheet that included a player he had actually left out. Despite the late start, play was under way before the error was spotted. Informed over his earpiece, umpire Cook had to halt proceedings before informing his colleague and asking Dane Vilas, Godleman’s opposite number, if he was happy with Sam Conners playing instead of Tony Palladino.Having drawn first blood in this mini-contest with Anderson, his senior by just a couple of months, Onions surged ahead. Wayne Madsen, also tempted to drive, was taken at first slip by Keaton Jennings, whose height made a difficult catch look deceptively easy. Then Tom Lace, playing across a full length swinging delivery, was leg before.Derbyshire were 14 for 3. It was the kind of fragility their followers had easily envisaged against the Division Two leaders and Anderson was not even started. Onions took a breather with 3 for 9 off six but Anderson kept going, no hint of reluctance now. Reece, after his early survival, was beaten for pace and bowled; Harvey Hosein was trapped in his crease, trying to work away a full delivery.Now Anderson did rest and, for a while, it seemed a different game. Richard Gleeson, Lancashire’s leading wicket-taker before this match, was not selected, which says something about the strength of the Red Rose’s bowling resources. Yet neither Josh Bohannon, a skiddy seamer who adds also to the depth of batting, nor Saqib Mahmood could duplicate the control exerted by the new ball pair. Alex Hughes and Matt Critchley added 62 in 14 overs and, from 24 for 5, Derbyshire went to tea at 86 for 5.All changed again, however, as Anderson returned, refreshed, immediately afterwards. The fifth ball of his new spell accounted for Critchley, caught behind jousting outside off stump; the third over saw Hughes beaten by one that clipped off stump and Logan van Beek leg before to one that clipped his pad. Suddenly, for all his earlier foreboding, Anderson had his second five-for of the season, his 17th in first-class cricket for the county.”We did well to get out there are play,” Anderson said afterwards. “It was very wet and there were a few issues with the ground but once we did get out there it was not too bad under foot.”I thought we bowled really well to start with and having had them 25 for five I felt we could have pressed home that advantage a bit more than we did.”We felt we let them off the hook a little bit. You need all four bowlers to be on it to bowl sides out and maybe we did not have that today. But we are relatively happy with where we are.”It might have been worse for Derbyshire had Leus du Plooy’s unbeaten 39 not been supported with late-order runs from 20-year-old Conners on debut and Ravi Rampaul, the last two wickets adding 62. All out for 153 hardly felt like grounds for optimism, however.More rain, perhaps torrential, is on the radar for Tuesday into Wednesday, another test for the groundstaff. The local forecast is that Lancashire may not need much playing time to register a fourth win of the season, although Reece landed a late counter-punch with the wicket of Jennings.

“If he had batted through the powerplay, we would probably have scored 190”

Danyal Rasool22-Sep-20251:45

Was Fakhar Zaman out or not out?

Pakistan have made their dissatisfaction over Fakhar Zaman’s dismissal against India in the sides’ Super Four game in the Asia Cup known to the match officials. Following the game, in the captain’s customary report to match referee Andy Pycroft and the Umpires and Referees manager, Pakistan shone a spotlight on the TV umpire’s decision to declare Fakhar caught by the wicketkeeper off a slower delivery from Hardik Pandya. Sanju Samson dived forward to complete a catch, one that was only confirmed after the on-field umpires sent the decision to the TV umpire Ruchira Palliyaguruge.In the post match press conference, on Sunday night Pakistan captain Salman Agha also took slight issue with Fakhar’s dismissal, saying it “did look like it bounced ahead of the keeper”. Fakhar, promoted up the order to open the batting, got Pakistan off to a brisk start, scoring three boundaries in his first eight balls and speeding to 15.Hardik had rolled his fingers over the ninth delivery, and the deviation drew an outside edge from Fakhar. But with little pace on the ball, Sanju Samson had to reach forward to get his gloves underneath the ball. Feeling satisfied he had done so, India went up in appeal. The TV umpire had a couple of looks at the replay before deciding the catch was cleanly taken, and that the ball had bounced in the gloves rather than just in front.Related

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Post-match, Agha guardedly disagreed. “Umpires can make mistakes,” he said. “But it did look like it bounced ahead of the keeper to me. I might be wrong. The way [Fakhar] was batting, if he had batted through the powerplay, we would probably have scored 190. But those are calls for umpires to make. To me, it looked like it bounced before the keeper. I might be mistaken, but so might be the umpire.”At the time, the dismissal did little to halt Pakistan’s momentum. While Saim Ayub couldn’t score at the same rate, Sahibzada Farhan at the other end sped along to a 34-ball half-century as Pakistan darted to 55 in the powerplay and 91 in the first ten, both Pakistani records against India.”The batting was a lot better today, and that’s a positive,” Agha said. “The way our start was, we could have scored 15 more. But when the ball goes soft after ten overs, it’s not as easy to bat. But we didn’t bowl as well in the powerplay and got punished. But our start should have ensured we scored 180.”Ultimately, Pakistan finished with 171 after India’s bowlers came back strongly following the drinks break. The subsequent seven overs produced just one boundary and 38 runs, the lowest for any side in that phase all tournament. India made short work in pursuit, reaching 100 without loss in the ninth over, and ultimately coasting to a six-wicket win. During that time, Mohammad Nawaz put down a sharp chance Shubman Gill provided, while Farhan palmed one off Abishek over the rope for six.”Bowling or batting, we look to play the perfect game,” Agha said. “To win, you have to excel in all three facets of the game. We didn’t field well or start well with the ball. We have to forget this game because we have one the day after tomorrow. We’re looking forward to delivering a better performance there.”

New Zealand captain says it’s tough to process losing the World Cup in such a fashion after scores were tied at end of each innings and in the Super Overs

Melinda Farrell at Lord's15-Jul-2019Kane Williamson admitted it was “tough to swallow” the fact that the boundary countback eventually decided the World Cup winners. England and New Zealand were equal on runs after both the regulation part of the match and the Super Overs that followed, but England had scored a hit of 26 boundaries to New Zealand’s 17, including the Super Overs.When asked if the system was a fair way to decide a World Cup final, Williamson was typically gracious while admitting the situation was completely unexpected.”I suppose you never thought you would have to ask that question and I never thought I would have to answer it,” Williamson said with a wry smile. “Yeah, while the emotions are raw, it is pretty hard to swallow when two teams have worked really, really hard to get to this moment in time and when sort of two attempts to separate them with a winner and a loser it still doesn’t perhaps sort of shine with one side coming through, you know. It is what it is, really. The rules are there at the start.Watch on Hotstar – The Super Over (India only)“No one probably thought they would have to sort of resort to some of that stuff. But yeah, very tough to swallow. A great game of cricket and all you guys probably enjoyed it.”The rules are there I guess, aren’t they, and certainly something you don’t consider going into the match that maybe if we could have an extra boundary and then tied two attempts at winning it we will get across the line and they didn’t think that either. I don’t even know what the boundary count was but we were slightly behind. Yeah, very, very tough to… yeah, there you go.”Eoin Morgan said England considered the possibility of it coming into force during their chase but were also mindful of the rule before the match.”When we took the field,” Morgan said, when asked at which stage he knew that boundaries would decide the match in the case of a tied Super Over. “I asked what would happen because we sat in a meeting pre-tournament and then when it got close to the chase we started refreshing our minds whether it was going to be a Super Over or not and then communication from [fourth umpire] Aleem Dar up to the changing room before we batted and then reaffirmed when we went out to field.”

Scotland, UAE, Netherlands and Nepal, the four latest teams to gain ODI status, have been integrated into the ranking system

ESPNcricinfo staff01-Jun-2018The four latest teams to gain ODI status have been integrated into the ICC team rankings for ODIs, effective June 1, 2018. Scotland and United Arab Emirates (UAE) have slotted into 13th and 14th places respectively, while Netherlands and Nepal will be added after they’ve played four more ODIs (teams need to play a minimum number of ODIs to get a ranking). The addition of these teams did not affect the standings of the 12 Test-playing nations above them on the table.

The ICC ODI rankings

• 1 England (125 points)

• 2 India (122)

• 3 South Africa (113)

• 4 New Zealand (112)

• 5 Australia (104)

• 6 Pakistan (102)

• 7 Bangladesh (93)

• 8 Sri Lanka (77)

• 9 West Indies (69)

• 10 Afghanistan (63)

• 11 Zimbabwe (55)

• 12 Ireland (38)

• 13 Scotland (28)

• 14 UAE (18)

Netherlands secured ODI status by winning the World Cricket League Championship last year, while Scotland, Nepal and UAE earned ODI status by finishing as the leading Associates (along with Netherlands) at the World Cup Qualifier 2018.The introduction of these four teams means that any matches they play against each other or the 12 other ODI teams now count for rating points, which will influence their ranking. The initial rankings for the four new teams are based on games played – under various criteria – since May 2015. For all teams on the rankings, matches played between 1 May, 2015, and 30 April, 2017, will be weighted at 50%, while matches played after 1 May, 2017, will be weighted at 100%.

Pakistan’s spinners were the difference between the two sides as they derailed the West Indies chase of 179

Danyal Rasool01-Aug-2025In a game which wasn’t as close as the final scorecard would suggest, Pakistan’s spinners were the difference between the two sides as they derailed the West Indies chase of 179 in the middle overs to ease to a 14-run victory in the first T20I in Lauderhill.That target was put up thanks to a brisk half-century from Saim Ayub up top and contributions through the order. West Indies’ bowling had the discipline to never truly let the batters cut loose on a surface that rewarded pace off the ball, but the flow of runs remained steady, if not explosive. Pakistan backloading some of their power hitters would come in handy when Jason Holder trapped Ayub in front for 57; cameos from Hasan Nawaz and Faheem Ashraf, as well as a six off the only ball Mohammad Haris faced helped Pakistan fetch 58 off their last 31 balls.West Indies knew it was chaseable and batted like it up front. But there was an uneasy fragility to that line-up in the face of a multitude of Pakistan spinners, as well as a standout bowling performance from Shaheen Shah Afridi, the standout Pakistan seamer on the day. It left the hosts with too few overs to target as the asking rate climbed, and too few wickets to play with as Mohammad Nawaz, Sufiyan Muqeem and Ayub wreaked havoc.WI last 19 T20Is•ESPNcricinfo Ltd

Holder reminded his side how easy big hitting can sometimes be with a blistering late attack as he helped himself to an unbeaten 30 off 12 with four sixes. It ensured West Indies finished strongly with 38 runs in the final two overs, but of all the things it threatened to do, changing the outcome at that stage wasn’t one of them.

Ayub sets himself apart

Asked to bat first, each of Pakistan’s top-order batters chipped in, but the runs never came at the dynamic strike rate Pakistan have repeatedly promised they would. Sahibzada Farhan was trapped in front early by Shamar Joseph, who would also account for Fakhar Zaman after a stodgy 24-ball 28. Five of the top six saw their innings conclude with strike rates between 110 and 133.33. And this would have been a problem, but for Ayub.For the first 25 balls of his innings, he found himself ambling along at the same pace as his team-mates. However, Ayub burst into life with a boundary off the final ball of the ninth over, and for a tiny, match-turning window, the fog lifted for him. Romario Shepherd was smashed for four in the following over, before two sixes in a 20-run Jediah Blades over flew Ayub past 50. His last 28 runs came in 13 balls, and by this time, Pakistan’s run rate was well above nine.That, when thrown the ball for a couple of overs, picking up a wicket in each was merely the icing on the cake.Saim Ayub scored a quick half-century•Associated Press

The platform, and its dismantling

For all of Pakistan’s late surge, a chase of 179 wasn’t near insurmountable, and West Indies would set about demonstrating that in a mature powerplay that balanced intent with calculated risk-taking. The hosts showed deference to Afridi, content to see off his two powerplay overs for five runs, but pounced on the others. Pakistan tried to sneak in a cheeky second over of the innings from Nawaz, only to watch it go for 11, while Johnson Charles took another ten off Haris Rauf’s first.But even without wickets falling, Pakistan began to rein West Indies in. Before the powerplay had ended, Rauf sneaked in an over for just seven, and as the field spread out, West Indies’ scoring ability nosedived in the face of some superbly accurate lines from Nawaz and Muqeem. The eight overs following the end of the powerplay produced just 37 runs and yielded four wickets, gutting West Indies before the final launch.

Nawaz’s triple strike guts the hosts

West Indies had begun to fall behind the asking rate following the powerplay, and that pressure brought a glut of wickets in dramatic fashion in Nawaz’s final over. Accurate without being menacing, until then, Nawaz provided Pakistan their first breakthrough by breaking West Indies’ 72-run opening stand when debutant Jewel Andrew holed out to long-off. Johnson Charles appeared to have cleared cow corner two balls later with an on-side heave, only for a brilliant effort on the boundary from Shaheen Afridi to parry it back and save his side four runs.Things got better for Pakistan when Charles top-edged the very next ball to the wicketkeeper, before West Indies slid further into the mire as Gudakesh Motie biffed one to deep midwicket. Nawaz, once famously termed a “match-winner” by Babar Azam, had indeed lived up to Babar’s estimation on this occasion.

Neither team was a pre-tournament favourite but now they have a chance to make it to the final

Sruthi Ravindranath17-Oct-2024

New Zealand vs West Indies

Sharjah, 6pm local timeNew Zealand squad: Sophie Devine (capt), Suzie Bates, Eden Carson, Isabella Gaze (wk), Maddy Green, Brooke Halliday, Fran Jonas, Leigh Kasperek, Amelia Kerr, Jess Kerr, Rosemary Mair, Molly Penfold, Georgia Plimmer, Hannah Rowe, Lea TahuhuWest Indies squad: Hayley Matthews (capt), Aaliyah Alleyne, Shamilia Connell, Deandra Dottin, Shemaine Campbelle (wk), Ashmini Munisar, Afy Fletcher, Stafanie Taylor, Chinelle Henry, Chedean Nation, Qiana Joseph, Zaida James, Karishma Ramharack, Mandy Mangru, Nerissa CraftonTournament guide: New Zealand started the tournament with a big win against India. Following a loss against Australia, they went on to win the next two matches, against Sri Lanka and Pakistan, to seal a semi-final spot in a Women’s T20 World Cup for the first time since 2016. West Indies started their campaign with a loss but won their next three games. They knocked out one of the tournament favourites England in their last group-stage match to qualify for the semi-final.News brief: Stafanie Taylor missed the England game with a knee injury. In her absence, Qiana Joseph opened the innings and smashed 52 off 38 balls to give West Indies a memorable win. New Zealand, meanwhile, brought in left-arm spinner Fran Jonas for offspinner Leigh Kasperek for their match against Pakistan. Jonas picked up 1 for 8 in her two overs in a winning cause.West Indies have won just five out of the 23 T20Is they have played against New Zealand. Two of those five wins came in the T20 World Cup, in 2012 and 2016. The 2016 game was also a semi-final, where West Indies defended 143 before going on to beat Australia to lift the trophy.Player to watch: Few can hit the ball as hard as Deandra Dottin, and she has shown that at this World Cup too. She has the highest strike rate (167.30) and most sixes (6) so far in this tournament. Against England, she smashed offspinner Charlie Dean for two sixes and a four in an over. Her quick knocks meant West Indies did not have to worry about their net run rate throughout the group stage.Georgia Plimmer has contributed crucial runs at the top of the order for New Zealand. The 20-year-old scored a 53 off 44 against Sri Lanka to set up the chase. In New Zealand’s opening match, it was her 34 off 23 balls that took India by surprise. With 108 runs from four innings, at a strike rate of 122.72, she is currently New Zealand’s top run-getter in the tournament. Given the average first-innings total in Sharjah in this tournament has been only 119, another quick start from her could be decisive.