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For a team like Pakistan which is going through a transition, nothing could have been better than two relatively young batsmen staging a terrific turnaround

Umar Farooq in Galle20-Jun-2015For a team like Pakistan which is going through a transition, nothing could have been better than two relatively young batsmen staging a terrific turnaround. Pakistan were reeling at 96 for 5 on the fourth day, but Asad Shafiq and Sarfraz Ahmed partnered to convert a position of worry into a commanding one by the end of the day.Pakistan’s Test team has relied on the experienced hands of Younis Khan and Misbah-ul-Haq, both at the end of their respective careers. The unorthodox 96 by Sarfraz and 131 by Shafiq were therefore a reaffirmation that Pakistan’s transition was headed in the right direction.Azhar Ali, who scored a double-century in April, has already established himself at No. 3 and now the middle order is stepping up as well.Much hype surrounded Sarfraz’s absence and then the batting position during the World Cup but in Tests, he is well settled at No. 7. He demonstrated a vast range of strokes, warming up initially with quick singles before unleashing smart stokes. He became the first Pakistan wicketkeeper to score a World Cup hundred, but missed out in Galle. Still, there is much to admire about his impeccable ability to attack.”He (Sarfraz) and I had been playing together for the last many years,” Shafiq talked about his partnership with Sarfraz. “We play in the same club, department, live nearby and even practice together which actually helped us to play in a good combination. I understand his mind and he understands my style, so it works both ways. I know exactly what he is trying to do and what I should be doing to get the momentum in our combination.”When I came in, the situation was not good, but I had a belief in me that I could do it. What I had to do was to be patient with my innings. The way Sarfaraz played, he actually took away the pressure off me and let me play according to my comfort. He scored quick runs and let me play my own way and if we manage to win this match, this will be my best innings so far.”Over the last one year, Shafiq, thought to be the most technically correct batsman in Pakistan, has played many innings under pressure and has thrived in the situations.  He built his innings with control regardless of the breezy hand being played by Sarafraz from the other end.”With the loss of Younis and Misbah I knew I had to be patient and the biggest responsibility was to hold the tail together and spend as much time as I can as time was the one thing I had no issue,” Shafiq said. “Because after my fifty I knew I can convert my half-century into hundred as well so I stuck with the plan and played my part.”It was hard to find a flaw in his innings as he went on constructing his century with a lot of maturity. The innings that lasted 376 minutes included 65 singles, 17 twos, 4 threes and five fours. Apart from that, his 139-run sixth-wicket stand with Sarfraz, he stretched the Pakistan total by another 182 runs along with the tail, most notable being the 101-run stand with Zulfiqar Babar.”Since our last tour here wasn’t that good, so we had planned many things,” Shafiq said. “Some sessions might have slipped away from us but we want to take the game at the end. We might have lost our top order but idea was to hold the tail as much as I can. I knew our tail can bat out if needed and it worked. We didn’t panic and executed our plan till the end.”After taking lead and removing Kumar Sangakkara in the final hour of the day, Pakistan were in a good position to press for a win. Their bowlers had already created ample opportunities before signing off the day.”It’s still possible to get this game in our way as we are in a very good position,” Shafiq said. “The idea was to take at least two or three wickets today. We will come fresh to take them out the next day. We have already taken Sangakkara which is a huge plus for us and also their in-form batsman Silva, so we are very much in the game. “

Mashrafe Mortaza has been sidelined for the next three weeks, Mushfiqur Rahim has confirmed

Mohammad Isam09-Dec-2012Mashrafe Mortaza has been sidelined for the next three weeks, Mushfiqur Rahim has confirmed. Mortaza missed the fifth ODI with a thigh strain which has put him at risk for the one-off Twenty20 against West Indies on Monday.”Mashrafe bhai’s situation is very risky and we will lose him for a long time if we ask him to play again in this series,” Mushfiqur said. “We want to give him a break, but I am sure he will recover within the next 2-3 weeks. He will get better.”Mashrafe, apparently, played with this injury in the third and fourth ODIs as well, which aggravated the strain. It forced the team to make a last-minute switch by including Shafiul Islam as the only pace bowler in the Bangladesh attack.Mortaza has undergone ten surgeries on both knees in his 11-year international career. “I don’t think he’s a human being. He played the last two matches with pain and I don’t think anyone else could have done what he’s done. Hats off to him,” said Mushfiqur.He made his last major comeback in March to play the Asia Cup, after he broke down with a knee injury a month before the 2011 World Cup. At the time of return, Mashrafe had said he would only be available for limited-overs cricket.He was named in the Twenty20 side for the one-off game against West Indies.

Sri Lanka Cricket’s elections scheduled for December 27 have been postponed by one week and will now take place on January 3, 2012

Sa'adi Thawfeeq25-Nov-2011Sri Lanka Cricket’s elections scheduled for December 27 have been postponed by one week and will now take place on January 3, 2012.The Ministry of Sports which is conducting the elections stated on Friday that it was postponing the election to enable the new office-bearers to run their affairs for the full term of one year.”If we hold elections before December 31st, there should be another election on or before March 31, 2012, according to the Sports Law in the country,” Ranjani Jayakody, the Director-General at the Ministry of Sport said. “There’s no point having two elections within four months. So we decided to put it off by a few days. If the election is held in 2012, the new officials can run their affairs throughout the year and according to the Sports Law, they can stay in office till March 2013.”Nominations will be called from November 24 and will close on December 9, 2011.
Sri Lanka Cricket has been administered by government appointed interim committees since 2004.

Harbhajan Singh has criticised the Hyderabad pitch that was prepared for India’s second Test against New Zealand, saying India is developing a reputation for batsmen-friendly pitches

ESPNcricinfo staff18-Nov-2010Harbhajan Singh has criticised the Hyderabad pitch that was prepared for India’s second Test against New Zealand, which offered no help to the fast bowlers or spinners and produced a draw, saying India is developing a reputation for batsmen-friendly pitches.”These days foreign teams come to India secure in the knowledge that it is the best place to get runs,” he told the . “Gary Kirsten told me that when he came to play a Test series in India, the best place to bat was as an opener, because once the spinners came on, batting became difficult. But now, every wicket has been re-laid and the black soil has made the wickets pretty firm. It just doesn’t turn and the wicket plays well even on the final day.”He was critical of the curator, saying he “deserves to be given the contract to build national highways”.Harbhajan has had more success with the bat than the ball in the series, having scored back-to-back centuries but taken just six wickets in the first two Tests. In the Hyderabad Test, he and Sreesanth put together a 105-run partnership for the last wicket in India’s first innings, which Harbhajan thinks signifies how flat the wicket was. “Even our No. 11 was playing like Sachin Tendulkar,” he said. “So we should give all the credit to the groundsmen.”India’s bowlers have failed to take 20 wickets in each of the two Test matches and India captain MS Dhoni had blamed the pitches for failing to produce results and said teams would “have to play 10 days” to get a result.

Rain foils India’s practice session

India’s preparations for the third Test against New Zealand on Saturday are being scuppered by the Nagpur weather, as a heavy downpour washed out Thursday’s practice session. New Zealand finished their practice session before the weather struck on Thursday and have the afternoon slot for Friday’s nets. The Regional Meteorological Centre predicted that the clouds would clear by Friday afternoon

Harbhajan said flat pitches had become a recurring problem in Test series in India. “I can’t remember the last time I bowled on a turning track where the ball spun and bounced,” he said. “I think Kanpur was the last and we got the desired result against South Africa in 2008. I don’t suggest we play on bad wickets. But we should play to our strength, and our strength, over the years, has been spin bowling.”India go into the deciding Test at Nagpur, on Saturday, without Zaheer Khan, which will increase the pressure on Harbhajan to spearhead the attack. Harbhajan’s centuries have elicited suggestions he is turning into an allrounder, but his bowling has received criticism from some quarters. “I think I have bowled well in the last two Tests,” he said. “But the way our critics think, you bowl well only when you take wickets. When I took four wickets in the first innings in Hyderabad, I bowled well. But on the final day, when I took just one wicket, I was in the line of fire. Some days, I can bowl a few full tosses and get five wickets. Figures do not always do justice.”India came into the series ranked No.1 in the ICC Test rankings, with New Zealand at No.8, and having recently beaten Australia 2-0 at home, anything less than a win in Nagpur would be considered a disappointment. But Harbhajan still has his hopes up. “Hopefully, Sachin Tendulkar will get his 50th Test hundred, I’ll get another hundred and pick up 7 to 8 wickets and India will win.”

The scoreline says the series is all-square, but after such a convincing 112-run victory at Cape Town South Africa are now the side with the momentum

The Preview by Andrew Miller03-Dec-2009

Match facts

Friday, December 4, 2009
Start time 14.30 (12.30GMT)Preparing for the puddles: Stuart Broad warms up on Durban beach•Getty Images

Big picture

Somewhat astonishingly, England stand on the verge of their first ODI series victory in South Africa, and their second in consecutive rubbers against Graeme Smith’s men following their 4-0 victory at home in 2008. After three fluctuating performances and a washout at the Wanderers, they have emerged with a 2-1 series lead – a scoreline that they have reached on merit thanks to two dominant performances at Centurion and Port Elizabeth. The fact that those games were punctuated by a record-breaking thumping at Newlands merely underlines the ongoing battle for consistency that is forever England’s weakness.Nevertheless, for the first time in a long time, England have displayed the makings of an impressive one-day outfit. Andrew Strauss’s personal form and tactical acumen make it hard to imagine a world in which he was exiled from the ODI set-up for two years, as was the case from the 2007 World Cup onwards. Eoin Morgan and Jonathan Trott have performed like instant veterans, while the veteran, Paul Collingwood, has rediscovered some of his finest form, with both bat and ball. The young guns, Luke Wright and Tim Bresnan, have started to move on from being merely promising, and all that remains is for Kevin Pietersen to rediscover his touch, and the renaissance will be complete. Or at least until their next Cape Town-esque relapse.South Africa, on the other hand, have got a few issues to resolve. Whereas England have had plenty practice at moulding a side in which Andrew Flintoff makes cameo appearances, the loss of Jacques Kallis has proven stupendously hard to overcome. At Newlands, the decision to trust five specialist batsmen paid handsome dividends when Smith won the toss and AB de Villiers blazed a 75-ball century; but at Port Elizabeth, the middle-order looked threadbare to say the least once James Anderson started to turn the screw.On the plus side, the addition of Morne Morkel has provided an extra layer of menace to South Africa’s attack, particularly when coming round the wicket to England’s left-handers, but the likely loss of Dale Steyn to a hamstring strain will undermine their bid for a share of the series. Nothing, however, could undermine it as much as the Durban weather, which has been abysmal all week. A washout would suffice for England – and provide a neat symmetry to the results column – but Strauss wants more than that. “We’re fully expecting to play tomorrow,” he said, “and if we do we will make sure we’re at the races and put South Africa under pressure again.”

Form guide

(last five completed matches, most recent first)
South Africa – LWLWW
England – WLWLL

Team news

South Africa’s dilemma is whether to stick or twist … do they recall Herschelle Gibbs to the middle order in an admission that their batting is vulnerable, or do they trust Ryan McLaren to knuckle down at No. 7 and put his consecutive ducks to the back of his mind? Given that Steyn’s injury leaves them lacking in firepower, the likelihood is a reprieve for McLaren, whose medium-pacers have had their moments in the series, and a silent prayer that de Villiers comes as good as he did at Newlands.South Africa (possible) 1 Graeme Smith (capt), 2 Hashim Amla, 3 AB de Villiers, 4 JP Duminy, 5 Alviro Petersen, 6 Mark Boucher (wk), 7 Ryan McLaren, 8 Wayne Parnell, 9 Johan Botha, 10 Morne Morkel, 11 Charl LangeveldtNo such concerns for England, who have a settled first XI for arguably the first time since the 1992 World Cup final (when even then they had to decide between Allan Lamb and Robin Smith). James Anderson reported a knee injury in the build-up to the Port Elizabeth match, but figures of 5 for 23 in ten overs suggest he shook it off pretty effectively, meaning Graham Onions will once again be left carrying the drinks.England (possible) 1 Andrew Strauss (capt), 2 Jonathan Trott, 3 Kevin Pietersen, 4 Paul Collingwood, 5 Eoin Morgan, 6 Matt Prior (wk), 7 Luke Wright, 8 Stuart Broad, 9 Tim Bresnan, 10 Graeme Swann, 11 James Anderson.

Watch out for

Kevin Pietersen needs a score to settle him down, because it’s not so much nerves as nervous energy that has been his problem so far in the tour. After a four-month lay-off, KP has been visibly rushing to pick up where he left off, never more so than at Port Elizabeth, when he could have been dismissed twice in a six-ball innings. More haste, less speed is the motto that springs to mind. If he allows himself a little longer to regain his timing, the entire squad could find themselves reaping the benefits as the Test series approaches.It ought not to be a coincidence, but such is the hold that Graeme Smith has over his team these days, that his rare failure at Port Elizabeth – lbw for 2 – was the cue for South Africa to crumble to an ignominious defeat. Conversely, when his agenda-setting strokeplay has come off – never more so than during his 44-ball 88 in the second Twenty20 at Centurion – there’s been no stopping the momentum he generates. If, as could happen amid the showers, the Durban game becomes a rain-reduced sprint, his 20-over prowess could well come to the fore again.

Stats and trivia

• South Africa’s overall record in ODIs against England since 2008 now reads seven defeats and a solitary win in eight completed games, which is their worst clutch of results since the two teams first met in 1992
• Ominously, the last ODI match that England played in Durban, in 2005, was a washout. The match was abandoned with England uncomfortably placed on 7 for 2, chasing 213.

Quotes

“”We really want to come and win this series 3-1. When you start thinking about rain and things like that, it is going to affect your preparation.”
.”For us the priority is the Test series and we would never compromise Dale’s chances of being 100% fit for the first Test [at Centurion] by playing him on Friday.”
Mickey Arthur hasn’t abandoned the ODIs entirely, but it’s clear he’s already shifting his focus.