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Unlike Karachi, it was perhaps not the England’s day. The ground at he Gaddafi Stadium Lahore was green but the pitch absolutely devoid of grass. According to the experts, the ball was expected to come on the bat and it did so wonderfully well. England made no change in the team that brought them a thundering victory at Karachi. Pakistan, however, brought Shahid Afridi and Azhar Mahmood to replace Imran Nazir and Waqar Younis. Afridi was brought in to strengthen the spin department on which Pakistan depended largely to win the series.Moin Khan won the toss but contrary to team’s obsession of batting first he opted to field first. It was done to off set the bitter experience of dew blamed for Pakistan’s defeat at Karachi. The decision paid off, for the bowlers made good work of England’s strong batting line, ousting the team for 211 runs, an easily manageable total unless a mishap was in the offing. For a magnificent haul of 5 for 40, Shahid Afridi emerged as the star bowler of Pakistan.England opened with Marcus Trescothick and Alec Stewart against Pakistan’s pace attack of legendary Wasim Akram and young Abdur Razzaq. While runs constantly flowed from Trescothick’s bat, Steward remained rather on the defensive.England reached 50 of the innings in 10 overs but lost the 1st wicket at 66 when Alec Stewart was stumped by Moin Khan off Mushtaq Ahmed for 22. Skipper Nasser Hussain joined Trescothick, both of them plying some exciting cricket to record a partnership of 50. They were quite severe against the pace men but the introduction of spin lowered the run rate considerably.Trescothick was the 2nd batsmen to leave after playing an enterprising innings of 65 runs scored in 74 balls. Graeme Hick walked off without showing his mettle. In 30 overs England was 125 for 3. Trescothick’s era of flashy stroke play having ended the game adopted a steady posture.It was after a lapse of 124 overs that Hussain hit 2 consecutive fours off Shahid Afridi, creating some excitement among the spectators. Hussain lucky for being dropped twice by Wasim Akram, was eventually stumped by Moin Khan of Shahid Afridi after playing an entertaining innings of 54 runs. England lost 6 wickets for 178 runs,ultimately ending the innings at 211 for 9.Shahid Afridi the pinch hitter cum reserve leg spinner who got married during the match at Karachi returned to the side. The honeymoon having acted as some sort of a tonic, he became almost unplayable. He virtually ran through the England side claiming 5 wickets for 40 runs.With Pakistan team in high spirits, a victory target of 212 apparently looked easily manageable.Facing a moderate target Pakistan was not in a hurry. The team adopted a sensible policy of achieving the target at a slow and steady pace. Saeed Anwar and Shahid Afridi opened the innings. Not deterred by the England pace duo of Darren Gough and Andrew Caddick they carried the score to 43 in 10 overs.The players being in good trim and the target too easy, the batsmen were not under any pressure. Saeed Anwar was, however, out in the 18th over after playing an invaluable innings of 41 glorious runs and giving Pakistan a wonderful start. Saleem Elahi joined Afridi and the two of them punished the bowlers with strokes all over the ground but at a steady pace. In 20 overs Shahid Afridi hoisted his individual 50 and 100 of the Pakistan innings. He was out after scoring an enterprising 61, a special point about his innings being that at no stage he resorted to rashness.Yousuf Youhana joined Saleem Elahi and the two of them took Pakistan to the 200 runs mark in 43.1 overs. Pakistan now needed only 12 runs in 41 balls. Saleem Elahi who exercised complete command on the game hoisted his 50 with a cover drive to the boundary. A little later he brought victory to Pakistan with a sparkling four to the fine leg region. Pakistan ended up with 214 for 2 thus defeating England by 8 wickets.The victory was Pakistan’s sweet revenge for the defeat at Karachi. They were successful in squaring up the series, leaving the result to the 3rd ODI at Rawalpindi on 30th October. For his highly impressive all round performance, Shahid Afridi won “Man of the Match” award.

Michael Clarke will not play in the first Test against West Indies next week after staying in Sydney following a family funeral. The decision means Simon Katich has a huge chance to press for a recall during the three-day tour match against a Jamaican XI that starts on Friday night (AEST).While Ashley Noffke is also a possibility to win a Test debut if Australia push for five bowlers at Sabina Park next Thursday, Katich is the most likely replacement in a straight batting swap with Clarke. The funeral of Graham Bingle, the father of Clarke’s fiancee Lara, was held in Sydney today.”It has been a tough week for Lara and her family, I am glad I have been here,” Clarke said. “I have decided to remain in Sydney for a couple more days to be with the family. I will miss the first Test and am sure the boys will serve Australia well.”I am looking forward to catching up with the team and being ready to go for the second Test in Antigua.” The match starts on May 30 and Clarke will accept the vice-captaincy, which is temporarily in the hands of Michael Hussey.When Clarke arrives there is unlikely to be any room for the shadow player Brad Hodge, who will return to the Indian Premier League if he is not picked in the first Test squad. Clarke is expected to land in the West Indies next Friday, the second day of the opening game.While the Australians have had some disruptions, the West Indies have had a smooth lead-up to the series during a camp in Antigua. John Dyson, the West Indies coach, has been telling his team it is time to deliver against the world champions.”This is a really great opportunity for them,” Dyson told AFP. “As I look at the main players it is a chance to further enhance their reputations. When you look at the less high-profile players, it is a golden opportunity for them to put their hands up and say: ‘I have arrived.'”I have been telling them this is the time to really deliver and be counted, and what better occasion than against the best side in the world and in front of your supporters on home turf. If everyone delivers the team will surely benefit.”

Craig Ervine, whose maiden ODI hundred drove Zimbabwe to a famous win against New Zealand, has said he scented victory during the last eight overs of the hosts’ chase though they needed over nine runs an over.Though Zimbabwe were always largely on track during their pursuit of 304, doubts remained if the team could actually go all the way: the hosts had previously chased a 300-plus score only once, and in recent months have fallen short during the final stages of matches despite competing earlier on.However, even with 72 needed from 48 balls, Ervine and his partner at the other end, Elton Chigumbura, did not panic, keeping the score ticking with ones and twos, and putting the bad deliveries away for boundaries.”Maybe started believing that we could win in the last seven or eight overs,” Ervine, who was named Man of the Match, said. “I thought if we could go at eight or ten an over and try to take it as deep as we can, we would always have a chance to go over the line. It was about taking it ball by ball and not thinking too much about the end result.”Ervine said the win was particularly “special” for him since he was able to stay unbeaten till victory was secured. From 32 previous ODIs, Ervine had made six half-centuries, but could not convert any of them into a hundred. Today, after making a steady start, Ervine accelerated as the innings wore on and as the situation demanded, finishing with a 108-ball 130, including 11 fours and five sixes.”I thought the wicket was really good [to bat on], whereas against India it misbehaved maybe due to the dew. It feels very good, especially to be there at the end to take the team home, it’s something special. There was a bit of a tough period during the game when I slowed down in my nineties, but thankfully Elton batted really well to take the pressure off me.”Going into the match, Zimbabwe had won just one ODI in 2015, and lost 10. They had also suffered defeat in 15 of their last 17 one-dayers in Harare, and were beaten by New Zealand in nine of their last 10. Given the odds were stacked so high against them, Zimbabwe captain Chigumbura was very pleased with the effort.”It has been a hard road for us,” Chigumbura said. “This result shows that we’re still capable of winning games. I want to thank everyone who has been behind us during the hard times. Hopefully we can carry this on to the next couple of games.”Chasing 300 is always difficult, but I felt it was good wicket to bat on. The foundations were good from Hamilton [Masakadza] and Chamu [Chibhabha] who showed the way, and we had a very good performance from Ervine to take us home.”

Mushfiqur Rahim, Bangladesh’s Test captain, has said that the upcoming two-Test series will be his side’s best chance to beat Australia. Mushfiqur drew comparisons between the current team and the one that pushed Australia more than nine years ago in Fatullah.”This is the biggest chance to beat Australia,” Mushfiqur said. “We will definitely try to give more than our 100% in both Tests.”Bangladesh have been excellent in one-day cricket since late 2014, winning four bilateral ODI series in a row against Zimbabwe, Pakistan, India and South Africa. In Tests, they won 3-0 against Zimbabwe and lost one Test to Pakistan in May this year; the others were all rain-affected drawn games.The Australia series is Bangladesh’s last international assignment in 2015, and Mushfiqur wants to cap the year with another high.”It would be a great way to end the year [with a win]. In 2006 they had the greatest team of all time. At that time we were long way from even thinking about beating them, and some even questioned whether we can play for four days,” he said.”If that team can go close to beating them [in the first Test in Fatullah], why can’t this team beat them? A win won’t be impossible if we can play five days. I hope we become like our ODI side. Our cricket has come to such a stage that expectations are a bit more these days.”Part of the reason for the rising expectations has been Mashrafe Mortaza’s captaincy, and in particular his backing of the pace attack. Since taking over as limited-overs captain last year, Mashrafe has regularly employed Taskin Ahmed and Rubel Hossain in a three-man pace attack. Mustafizur Rahman’s unprecedented early success has forced the team management to pick four pace bowlers at times, but the same can’t be said about the languishing Test pacers.Mushfiqur is hoping that the added choices in the ODI bowling attack can adapt well to Tests . Taskin and Rubel are part of the Bangladesh A team that will play three one-dayers and two three-day games in India from this week. Shafiul Islam and Al-Amin Hossain are also in the Bangladesh A squad.”We have choices in pace bowling, which is great news for Bangladesh cricket. A lot of matches this year were won by pace bowlers. If we can combine pace and spin and our batsmen do well, the series against Australia will be a good one.”We hope that the Bangladesh A team does well. Those of us who are playing in the NCL, will also try to give good performances although we are playing just one game. I hope everyone makes the best use of it. We are mentally focused from now.”Mushfiqur was also wary of the threat of Australia, who find themselves shorn of experience following the retirements of Ryan Harris, Michael Clarke, Chris Rogers, Brad Haddin, and Shane Watson.Mushfiqur, however, said that his side would focus on their strengths and consistency: “They are suddenly not going to lose because they are a young side. The top-class players from India and South Africa came here but lost. We played good cricket and were consistent, enabling us to win. We have to do well the things in which we are good at.Mushfiqur also identified his opposite number – Steven Smith – as Australia’s ‘main’ man”It was expected that they would rest Johnson and Hazlewood. They have two new cricketers but we will know about them soon enough,” he said. “They may be a young team, we can’t forget this is Australia. In these conditions, Smith is their main cricketer. And Maxwell is making a comeback after playing in the UAE. We will try to keep these two under pressure and get them out quickly.”Mushfiqur said that the threat posed by Nathan Lyon would be tackled the same way Bangladesh nullified South Africa legspinner Imran Tahir, who took just two wickets in the ODI series in July.”They are not weak in playing spin. Look at Nathan Lyon’s record,” Mushfiqur said. “He is among the top-three spinners in the world. He is effective against left-handers and we have a few of them. We have made some plans for him, something similar to what we did against Imran Tahir.”Australia are scheduled to arrive in Dhaka on September 28. The first Test, in Chittagong, will begin on October 9.

ScorecardSteven Finn gave his chances of playing in the first Test a significant boost as he took four early wickets before England’s bowlers capped off an encouraging day by reducing Pakistan A to 192 for 12. With the teams having agreed to spend a day each in the field, several of the Pakistan A side batted twice as a much-changed England attack got a good workout.Finn appeared to be behind Mark Wood in the running to support James Anderson and Stuart Broad – he said so himself afterwards – but impressed during two penetrative spells that yielded figures of 11-7-5-4. Wood had been given the first opportunity in the two-day game earlier in the week but was rested this time, along with Anderson and Broad.Although Finn and Wood played two Tests together at the end of the Ashes, one will have to make way due to Anderson’s return from injury. Given the sapping conditions, having both in form will not be to England’s disadvantage.This was a more responsive surface than the one on which Pakistan A made 216 for 5 on Tuesday and Finn’s pace helped reduce them to 73 for 6 before a 93-run stand between Umar Amin and Adnan Akmal brought some respectability to what was soon to become a rather confusing scorecard.England selected Alex Hales and James Taylor in their XI, in place of Alastair Cook and Joe Root, while the inclusion of Samit Patel and Liam Plunkett meant everyone in the squad got a workout. Cook and Root were still involved in the field, sharing the captaincy along with Ian Bell for a session each, while Jonny Bairstow and Jos Buttler took turns behind the stumps.Finn had Khurram Manzoor caught behind in his fifth over – although the opener appeared to dispute the decision – and then Ali Asad slashed a drive to second slip. He returned after lunch to have Iftikhar Ahmed lbw and Usman Salahuddin taken at third slip two balls later, providing a reminder of his ODI performances in the UAE three years ago when he was the leading wicket-taker on either side.Focus has been on England’s spin resources and Moeen Ali had Fawad Alam taken at slip after extracting some turn before Adil Rashid picked up his first wicket on tour by inducing an edge from opener Sami Aslam on 43.Akmal and Amin rebuilt the innings during the afternoon, taking their seventh-wicket stand beyond tea. Shortly after Akmal had reached his fifty, Patel had Amin caught behind and Manzoor was then dismissed for the second time in the day trying to hit Patel over long-off.Asad walked out again only to be dismissed for another duck, his stumps rattled by Plunkett, and Rashid picked up the 10th wicket of the innings after a brief stand between Akmal and Zafar Gohar. With 12 overs left, Pakistan A continued to bat and there were further wickets for Rashid – Salahuddin the third batsman to fall twice – and Plunkett before the teams walked off with Akmal unbeaten on 74 and the scorers comparing notes.England will conclude their preparations for the first Test, which starts in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday, by giving chances to Hales and Taylor with the bat. Hales will open alongside Moeen, with both looking to make their case to become Cook’s latest partner at the top of the order.

Debutant left-arm spinner Tendai Chisoro finished with impressive figures of 5-2-16-3 in Zimbabwe’s eight-wicket win in the first ODI against Afghanistan. His attention now shifts towards trying to keep up the good work and become a regular member of the team.”On your first match you’d like to do well and I wouldn’t have asked for something better and I’m very happy about it,” Chisoro said. “Hopefully I’ll keep doing well and be a permanent member of the team.”

We were looking to score 230-250 – Stanikzai

After his team’s eight-wicket loss, Afghanistan captain Asghar Stanikzai said that his batsmen played some “poor shots” as a result of which they made only half of the total they had in mind.
“Yes, 122 is a very low score and we thought if we would make 230-plus or 250 then it would be tough competition,” Stanikzai said. “But today was our bad day and we will try to come back strongly in the upcoming games. We have learnt a lot from this game, especially the batsmen [who] played some poor shots.
Stanikzai also credited the Zimbabwe spinners for their tight bowling.
“Today Zimbabwe have played outstanding cricket, especially [Wellington] Masakadza the left-arm spinner – he bowled brilliantly throughout his spell. They (spinners) bowled brilliantly with a tight line and length and did not let the batsmen to hit their natural shots.”

Chisoro had already been in good rhythm having played the three tour matches as part of the Zimbabwe Chairman’s XI against Afghanistan in Bulawayo. In those, he returned with figures of 3 for 43, 2 for 29 and 3 for 48 with a combined economy rate of 5.31 from the three matches. In last season’s domestic one-day tournament too, the Pro50 Championship, Chisoro had finished with an average of 25.88 and economy rate of 4.56 from eight matches.”I’ve been successful so far and I think last season I finished and did very well with the ball, and I think I have a bright future with my spin,” he said.Chisoro has not always been a spinner, though. He started out as a left-arm seamer and the switch happened not too long ago as a means to address some injury concerns.”In one of the games we played against Mountaineers Dave Houghton was our coach, he just asked me to bowl left-arm spinners in the net. And I did alright in the nets and he asked me if I could bowl them in the games – if I could bowl spin and then pace on pace-assisting wickets. So that’s how it started. I permanently tended to spin because I was struggling with my ankle and back so that’s why I’ve tended to bowl spin for good.”Chisoro’s day had not started well, though. He dropped Afghanistan batsman Najibullah Zadran while fielding at mid-off off the bowling of Wellington Masakadza. Wellington said he had forgiven his team-mate for a nervous moment in his first match.”Obviously he won’t feel good about that but playing in his first game we forgive that because it’s always hard to come in and do well especially with catches and stuff,” Wellington said.

An ICC security assessment team, led by CEO David Richardson, has arrived in Dhaka to assess arrangements for the Under-19 World Cup in January next year. The team includes ICC’s head of events, Chris Tetley, and security consultants Sean Norris and Reg Dickason.On Thursday, the team will meet the High Commissioners of UK and Australia before the BCB presents its event security plan. They will leave for Cox’s Bazar on Friday and upon returning to Dhaka, they will meet two security agencies, the country’s home minister and have a final wrap-up meet with the BCB.During their October meeting, the ICC ratified Bangladesh as the Under-19 World Cup host. BCB media committee chairman Jalal Yunus said the board is confident the ICC delegation will leave Bangladesh satisfied with the arrangements.”This is a regulation inspection,” Jalal told ESPNcricinfo. “These take place before every big event. They also came before the ICC World T20 last year. It is quite obvious to require a security assessment. We are very much confident that they will be satisfied with our preparation. I am also confident that the event will be held properly in Bangladesh.”The Richardson-led security assessment team is scheduled to leave on November 7.

Mike Atherton’s first County Championship century for almost a year was a predictable blend of textbook defence and careful shot selection. Keith Parsons’ first five-wicket haul of the season came from just 7.5 overs and was far more difficult to forecast.The two outstanding individual performances dominated a rain-interrupted, yet fascinating opening day at Taunton, which saw Lancashire bowled out for 239 after losing the toss and Somerset reply confidently with 48-0. While Atherton’s 51st first class hundred rolled smoothly off the production line, Parsons’ 5-13 lifted a season which had previously seen him take 1-214 from 71.5 overs.Even the all-rounder himself was surprised. “I don’t think I did anything different to normal, yet the batsmen kept getting out,” he smiled after career-best figures had ensured Lancashire’s last six wickets fell for only 23 runs.The total was 204-4 when Parsons was first introduced into the attack at the Rover End in the 52nd over, with Atherton and Joe Scuderi comfortably building a fifth-wicket stand of 112.Scuderi became his first victim with the total on 216 and from then on a mixture of accurate bowling and poor shots produced a sorry procession of visiting batsmen.Even Atherton himself joined in, playing no shot to a Parsons inswinger that nipped further back off the seam to pin him lbw for 113 after a four-hour stay.Warren Hegg looked unlucky to be judged leg before pushing forward, but there could be no complaints from the other late order batsmen, who failed to show any trace of Atherton’s application in the overcast conditions.By the time Gary Keedy fell to a brilliant one-handed Parsons catch low to his left off his own bowling the day had swung dramatically Somerset’s way.And in the closing stages Jamie Cox and Mark Lathwell cemented the advantage with an untroubled partnership that confirmed the true nature of another blameless Taunton pitch.The first two sessions had belonged to Atherton, who was unusually aggressive early on, hooking Steffan Jones for two sixes as he reached his half-century before lunch off 73 balls, with 7 fours.There was not much early support. John Crawley’s miserable run continued when his off-stump was sent cartwheeling as he shouldered arms to Jones, while Neil Fairbrother quickly followed, lbw to Graham Rose.Teenaged seamer Peter Trego celebrated his call-up to the England Under-19 squad with an impressive spell that accounted for Sourav Ganguly and Graham Lloyd, leaving Lancashire 104-4 at lunch.The best batting of the day came after the interval as Scuderi compiled a Championship-best 46, with seven boundaries, while Atherton progressed with an air of inevitability to his ton.It was his first in the competition since scoring 268 not out against Glamorgan on July 14 last year and came off 140 balls, with 14 fours and the two sixes.His dismissal, shortly after that of Scuderi to a loose cut shot, came out of the blue and, judging by what followed, Lancashire never recovered from the shock.There were three short breaks for rain during a day in which heavy clouds were always threatening. But 82.5 overs were bowled and the cricket was never less than absorbing.

A sedate 85 by Mohanish Mishra helped Madhya Pradesh to score 215 intheir first innings against Rajasthan on the first day of theirCentral Zone Cooch Behar Trophy Tournament match at the KL SainiStadium in Jaipur on Sunday.Put into bat Madhya Pradesh lost opener N Ojha (8), when he offered areturn catch to Ankush Singh in the fifth over of the day. Then, SDholpure (28) and Mohanish Mishra brought up the fifty for Madhya Pradesh.With the score at 58 Dholpure departed, caught by D Yagnik off NGehlot. Mukesh Panjwani (40) joined Mohanish and forged a 72-run thirdwicket partnership in 30 overs.Panjwani was the next to be dismissed when he offered a catch toYagnik off Dalpat Singh. Maninder singh (7) did not last long and inthe 60th over of the innings, he fell leg before to Dalpat Singh. Nineruns later, Nitin Menon (7) was caught by N Gehlot off Shashi Ranjan.Mishra kept scoring at the other end even though he kept losing hispartners. He was the eight batsman to be dismissed at the score of 196in the 82nd over – caught by Ankush Singh off Ranjan. During a 267minute stay at the crease, Mishra faced 221 balls and hit nineboundaries. Shashi Ranjan was the most successful bowler for Rajasthanfinishing with figures of 5 for 70 in 29.2 overs.

A fine all-round performance by Robin Morris highlighted Mumbai’s tenwicket victory over Maharashtra in the West Zone Ranji Trophy one daymatch at the Central College Ground in Baroda on Saturday.Opting to bat, Maharashtra ran into trouble against Mumbai’s fourpronged pace attack. The bowlers justified the strategy adopted byMumbai and ran through the batting, restricting Maharashtra to 167/9in 50 overs. Robin Morris made his comeback to the Mumbai side withfigures of 2/12. Santosh Saxena (2/27) and Swapnil Hazare (2/38) werethe other wicket-takers.In reply, Mumbai crossed their modest target in the 33rd over. Theopeners Robin Morris (93 not out, 6×4, 6×6) and Wasim Jaffer (64 notout, 9×4, 1×6) scored at a brisk pace and the end came quickly. Robin,who returned to the Mumbai side after a year’s stint with Orissa,played a stellar role in his team earning two points.