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Big Picture

The ODI leg of a series that began all the way back in October is finally set to be staged just two months out from the World Cup, with both Pakistan and Australia looking to gather momentum ahead of the marquee tournament in England and Wales. For Pakistan, the tournament begins just five days after the end of the PSL, with five ODIs packed into a ten-day window, and is one of the last remaining chances to assure fans that they are ready to turn a corner after a poor 50-over run over the past 18 months.There was a ripple of excitement when Shoaib Malik was handed the armband while Sarfaraz Ahmed served a suspension midway during the ODI series in South Africa. He began with a comprehensive win over the hosts in Johannesburg, inflicting a first ever Pink Day loss upon South Africa. Since then, however, results under his leadership have tailed off, with a loss in the decisive ODI and the following T20I series meaning Pakistan surrendered their unbeaten 11-series streak in the shortest format, one that had been built under Sarfaraz. To drive the point home further, Multan Sultans finished joint-bottom in the PSL under Malik’s leadership, while the Sarfaraz-led Quetta Gladiators romped to the title in Karachi last week.All of that means Sarfaraz’s absence for this five-match series – he is being rested – places particular scrutiny on Malik’s leadership skills. He will also have to cope without two young players who have become stalwarts over the past two years – Shadab Khan and Babar Azam – while uncapped batsmen Abid Ali and Saad Ali are new additions to the side, as is Quetta pace sensation Mohammad Hasnain.Australia, by contrast, are coming off a somewhat unexpected 3-2 series win against India, where they won the last three games after going 2-0 down. That result came against the run, popular opinion, and a general trend that had seen the world champions in a rut in the format. After the second game, Australia had won four of 28 ODIs since they last played against Pakistan in January 2017, and nearly doubled that in a week against one of the World Cup favourites, that too away from home.If Australia, who bring much the same squad to the UAE to face Pakistan, continue to play the sort of cricket that trumped India, a less than full strength Pakistan will have their hands full in Sharjah. Pakistan may have triumphed in both the Test and T20I legs of this series, but the 50-over format isn’t nearly as predictable at the moment.

Form guide

Australia WWWLL (last five completed matches, most recent first)
Pakistan LWLLW

In the spotlight

You would have got long odds just a few weeks ago on Umar Akmal ever playing for Pakistan while Mickey Arthur remains the coach. Following Umar being sent home from the Champions Trophy in 2017 and dropped from the contracted players’ list, there was a high profile bust-up between the coach and the player in September 2017. Since then, Umar hasn’t been in contention for any Pakistan squad, and the decision to recall him for the five-match series against Australia took many by surprise. His last international for Pakistan came against Australia in January 2017, and here, against the same opposition, is his chance at an astonishing redemption. Is he finally, belatedly, ready to become the player he promised to be all those years ago? Don’t hold your breath, but do tune in.Usman Khawaja hadn’t scored an ODI hundred till a fortnight ago. That was before the series was on the line against India, and since that third ODI, he has registered scores of 104, 91 and 100, nearly increasing his career ODI run tally by 50% over those three games. It is by no means a run that’s come from nowhere, with Khawaja looking a more focused, relaxed player ever since he revamped his whole fitness routine last summer, dropped around seven kilos and added a burst of speed that his game often lacked. Since then, he has scored a hundred against Sri Lanka in Canberra last month, and most impressively, a Test-match-saving hundred against Pakistan in Dubai in October, the second longest fourth-innings effort in Test history. As he faces his country of birth once more, Khawaja is at present the leader of the Australian batting line-up, and has looked the part for the past few months.

Team news

Pakistan are obviously taking the opportunity to experiment ahead of the World Cup. Abid Ali, Mohammad Hasnain and Saad Ali could all be in line for debuts at some point, but when that happens over the course of this series remains to be seen.Pakistan (possible): 1 Imam-ul-Haq, 2 Shan Masood, 3 Umar Akmal, 4 Haris Sohail, 5 Shoaib Malik (capt), 6 Mohammad Rizwan (wk), 7 Faheem Ashraf, 8 Imad Wasim, 9 Yasir Shah, 10 Mohammad Amir/Usman Shinwari, 11 Mohammad HasnainAn illness has swept through the Australian camp and has put Glenn Maxwell in doubt for the opening match. But on a dry Sharjah pitch, they could be expected to field more than one spinner.Australia (possible): 1 Usman Khawaja, 2 Aaron Finch (capt), 3 Peter Handscomb, 4 Shaun Marsh, 5 Marcus Stoinis, 6 Ashton Turner, 7 Alex Carey (wk), 8 Jhye Richardson, 9 Pat Cummins, 10 Nathan Lyon, 11 Adam Zampa

Pitch and conditions

Sharjah hasn’t hosted an ODI for over a year, but the pitch looks notably dry, which will bring quality spinners into the game. Conditions are expected to be humid and sunny, with no rain expected.

Stats and trivia

• No international ground has seen more ODI cricket played than Sharjah’s 236. Pakistan have been involved in 124 of them, winning 83 and losing 40.
• Pakistan last won a bilateral ODI series against Australia in 2002, one of just two such victories over the Australians in their history.

Quotes

“We have a few places left so performance here is crucial for those final places that Inzi [Inzamam-ul-Haq] and I have identified.”
“We are starting to get a real clear strategy and game plan for how we want to play one-day cricket and it’s just about making sure we continue that. We are always improving, we obviously want to win, that’s important, but leading into the World Cup it’s important to keep improving the whole time.”

Australia will play New Zealand in the second half of March – their latest series of home internationals outside a World Cup in more than 40 years – as a result of the dispute with the BCCI that has forced an ODI tour of India in the middle of January.That aside, ESPNcricinfo can also reveal that a day/night Perth Test in mid-December may be the start of a tradition for Western Australia’s Test match, as Perth Stadium and Cricket Australia look for more consistent programming to attract bigger crowds to the long form of the game outside of the popular Adelaide, Melbourne and Sydney matches.Not since a two-Test series against Pakistan in late March 1979 – the last matches to be played in Australia during the two-year World Series Cricket split wrought by Kerry Packer – have Australia hosted bilateral matches so late. It underlines the extent that the Board and its host broadcaster Fox Sports have been stretched by the BCCI’s insistence that it host the Australians for an ODI series in mid-January.That stipulation causes a knock-on effect whereby India then travel to New Zealand for a series, while the Australians are occupied by visits to Bangladesh and South Africa before returning home in mid-March for the three ODIs against the Black Caps. At the same time, Australia will host the women’s Twenty20 World Cup in February and early March.ALSO READ: BCCI-CA conflict leaves female stars in limboCA and the BCCI remain fundamentally at odds over whether dates were ever agreed for the series, with arguments dating back to ICC-facilitated workshops to iron out the FTP for the 2019 to 2023 cycle. Two major meetings in late 2017 and then February this year failed to bring a uniformity of views, but seemingly the BCCI has ultimately held sway. CA’s chief executive Kevin Roberts and chairman Earl Eddings are expected to visit India for talks with their opposite numbers around the IPL final on May 11.Given the dominance of the AFL on most major grounds in Australia after February, plenty of last-minute negotiations loom to ensure suitable venues for the series. While the 2015 World Cup was played deep into the last week of March, this was done with plenty of advance warning and planning before Australia thrashed New Zealand in the tournament final at the MCG. Similar arrangements were made for 1992 World Cup, won by Pakistan.There will be two day/night Tests during the summer, with Pakistan ultimately acceding to CA’s request for a floodlit match at Adelaide Oval to conclude their two-match series, which will begin with the return of the Gabba as the first Test of summer after missing out in 2018-19.More intriguing will be the scheduling of the first Test of the New Zealand series as a day/night affair at Perth Stadium, given the vast time difference with Australia’s major eastern states markets. Perth Stadium’s management, helmed by the former CA commercial and marketing chief Mike McKenna, are eager for a more reliable time slot in the calendar, the better to attract fans to the ground not only from WA but the rest of the country.Through Boxing Day and New Year, the Melbourne and Sydney Tests attract a major recurring following irrespective of the touring opponent each summer. Adelaide has also managed to have a similar pull for spectators given the attractiveness of the venue and its sheer convenience just a short walk from the heart of hospitality districts in the South Australian capital.The domestic season will feature a significant change as the domestic limited-overs tournament is played in brackets interspersed with the first half of the Sheffield Shield competition to build adaptability and relevant performances in the 50-over format after six years of its use as a pre-season carnival of sorts.Australia’s first international assignment of the season will be a Twenty20 series against Sri Lanka starting in early November. CA will reveal the schedule for the Chappell-Hadlee Series on Tuesday.

After scaling impressive heights last year, Surrey’s 2019 season is still at base camp. Like Somerset, who at this stage look favourites to take their title, they have yet to suffer a defeat, but neither have they registered a win. Warwickshire have tasted only defeat yet at the halfway point are the team in control.Their most potent weapon, as it has been so many times in the last eight seasons here, in only one of which he has not snared at least 51 first-class wickets, has been Jeetan Patel. The New Zealand offspinner and club captain turned 39 earlier this month, yet has a contract until the end of next season.It is not difficult to appreciate why Warwickshire value him so highly. On a slow surface from which Gareth Batty had been able to extract some turn on the first day, Patel introduced himself in the ninth over of Surrey’s innings and bowled beautifully for 31 overs unchanged.The heavy weight of left-handers in Surrey’s line-up doubtless came into his thinking and he troubled Scott Borthwick and Rory Burns from the outset, while simultaneously blocking off one end. Five of his first nine overs were maidens.Repeatedly, he turned the ball past the bat or found the edge only for the ball to fall safe. He had three or four men in a claustrophobic cluster round the batsman. There were stifled appeals, oohs and aahs from spectators, but no wickets for 15 overs until, suddenly, three came at once, in the space of five balls.Dean Elgar, another left-hander, frustrated for almost an hour, ran out of patience and smacked one straight to extra cover. It was a wicket well earned and there were two more right behind it. Patel’s namesake Ryan survived his first two balls but nicked the third to Dominic Sibley at second slip. Will Jacks lasted only one, Will Rhodes snatching the ball almost off the floor at first slip.It meant that Surrey, who had been 73 for 1 barely 40 minutes earlier, were in something of a spot at 92 for 6. Back in the pavilion, Burns was regretting still more keenly that he had played so loosely after working hard to get to 40 that a wide long-hop from Olly Hannon-Dalby had ended up in the hands of backward point.Liam Norwell, whose free-scoring 64 at No. 10 was now growing in value, had followed up his early dismissal of Mark Stoneman with a fine delivery that clipped the top of off, claimed a second success when Scott Borthwick, trying to work to leg, was pinned in front. Surrey could now think only of damage limitation, still more than 200 behind.They managed at least to avoid the follow-on. Rikki Clarke, who spent eight-and-a-half seasons pulling on a Warwickshire shirt before returning to Surrey during the 2017 season, launched a counter-attack, beginning with 14 runs from three balls off Norwell, prompting the former Gloucestershire bowler’s temporary removal from the attack.Clarke and Ben Foakes added 58 but the charge ended when a brilliant throw from cover point by Sibley ran out Clarke with a direct hit. Sibley, of course, is the ex-Surrey man who moved to Edgbaston as part of the agreement that allowed Clarke to travel in the other direction.Surrey immediately lost Morne Morkel, who lasted only four deliveries before Patel bagged him as his fourth success. With Batty at the other end, Foakes completed his half-century, but two wickets in two balls by Henry Brookes left the champions with a deficit of 105, to which Sibley and Rhodes added 26, coming through a testing 12 overs unscathed at the close.Patel was as pleased with the collective effort as much as his own performance. “To win three sessions today was huge,” he said. “To perform as we did all day was tremendous.”It is only halfway and we have to keep it going session after session. We have a young team but we have showed signs in the last two matches that the younger players are learning about playing Division One cricket and that is very positive for us.”

Bangladesh captain Mashrafe Mortaza defended Mushfiqur Rahim after he hit the stumps with his elbow when trying to run out Kane Williamson. The incident took place in the 12th over of the New Zealand innings when the Ross Taylor – Williamson partnership was at an embryonic stage.As the two batsmen got involved in a mix-up, Tamim Iqbal threw the ball from mid-on with Williamson still well short of the crease and almost given up. But Mushfiqur took the ball in front of the stumps, with his feet behind, and tried to break the stumps. Straight away Tamim and Shakib reacted in a way that suggested they knew what had happened, while the rest of the stadium were cheering the big wicket.Williamson and Taylor went on to add 105 runs for the third wicket, that set New Zealand in the right path.Mushfiqur Rahim’s error hands Kane Williamson a lifeline•Getty Images

Mashrafe, who was also following the ball closely during that incident, said that he wouldn’t blame Mushfiqur for the mistake and expects him to bounce back from it quickly. He said that with the catches he had taken off Taylor and Colin de Grandhomme, Mushfiqur had already started to make amends.”I don’t think we need to go after Mushfiqur,” Mashrafe said. “He was also trying hard to get him out. That throw was straight, but as a keeper it was hard to know if it was straight or not. Suddenly the stumps hit his elbow, but it happens. Mushfiqur is a professional player. He knows how to handle all of this. It is not as if this was the first mistake in Mushfiqur’s life. Every player makes mistakes.WATCH – Highlights of Mushfiqur’s error on Hotstar (India only)”For example, in the last match Soumya dropped a catch, but he has caught many difficult ones before that. I think that it can happen with Mushfiqur, and that it may happen again is a normal thing. We are not here to blame anyone, we are here to give our best. Even after that, the catches that Mushfiqur took off Ross Taylor and Grandhomme, those could have been turning points.”I don’t think there is a need to create pressure for anyone and neither do I think that he needs to think about this. If everything goes well in the next match, you will see that everything is fine again.”Mashrafe said that falling 30 runs short of their desired total was a bigger problem on the day. He said that Mushfiqur himself getting run out after a mix-up with Shakib, after they had added exactly 50 runs for the third wicket, was also a crucial point in the game.”If you don’t score big, you have to take all those chances. It happens in cricket. No one wants to make mistakes. I think the bigger mistakes was when we batted. If we managed to score 30 more runs, it could have been a different game.”That run out [of Mushfiqur while batting] was the turning point. They both got set in that moment. Again, Shakib and Mithun had their partnership broken when they were putting it together. If any of those two partnerships had gone into eighties or a hundred, things would have been different,” he said.

Tickets for Sunday’s World Cup final between England and New Zealand at Lord’s are being offered for resale with a mark-up of thousands of pounds, despite the ICC warning it will cancel tickets purchased via unauthorised outlets.The ICC provides its own platform on which unwanted tickets can be sold on, and has repeatedly made clear its dissatisfaction with secondary ticketing sites offering seats at vastly inflated prices.On Friday morning, two seats in the Compton Stand were on sale on StubHub for £16,584.80 (US$20,776) each – more than 50 times their face value of £295. Several other packages were being touted at prices of £3000-4000 (US$3700-5000).The ICC has previously counselled those with unwanted tickets not to use unauthorised resale sites.”In order to maximise attendance and support the long-term growth of cricket, we have worked hard to ensure that genuine fans from around the world can attend CWC19, with an affordable and fair ticket-pricing policy being a top priority for this tournament,” Steve Elworthy, ICC Cricket World Cup managing director, said.World Cup final tickets for sale on StubHub•Screenshot

“It is therefore very disappointing to see tickets on secondary ticketing websites selling at vastly inflated prices. We are doing our utmost to limit the secondary ticket market, however, a lack of legislation in the UK means we are restricted in the preventative action we can take to stop fans being ripped off and forced to pay over the odds. We have been and will continue to cancel the accounts and tickets we see being sold on secondary sites.”The only way fans can guarantee their ticket will be valid is to buy it from the Official Ticket Re-sale Platform, which allows fans unable to attend the final to sell to other genuine fans at face value. Anyone purchasing tickets from an unauthorised source, either online or in person, faces the risk of being left out of pocket and unable to enter the venue.”Tickets for the final were originally sold in Platinum, Gold, Silver and Bronze bands, ranging in price from £395 (US$495) to £95 (US$120). The ICC site offers fans until midday on Saturday to put unwanted tickets up for sale.There had previously been concerns about the possibility of low attendance for the semi-final between England and Australia at Edgbaston – although in the end the ground was very near full – with many tickets having been bought in advance by India fans expecting their side to play there. A similar situation could affect the final, after India suffered a surprise defeat to New Zealand at Old Trafford.England and New Zealand will contest the World Cup final, with both teams looking to lift the trophy for the first time. The game will be broadcast free-to-air in both countries, after the respective host broadcasters made arrangements to lower their paywalls.

Sarah Taylor has decided to withdraw from the T20 leg of England Women’s Ashes campaign, as part of the ongoing management of her longstanding anxiety issues.With the series already out of England’s reach following their 3-0 defeat in the ODI series and last week’s drawn Test in Taunton, it has been decided that Taylor would benefit from the break, with Fran Wilson coming into the squad to replace her.Taylor and the ECB staff have been working together over the last three years to manage her mental health, ever since she took an extended break from the game in 2016, before returning to play a key part in England’s World Cup victory the following year.She also missed the last World T20 in the Caribbean in November, where England were beaten by Australia in the final.”I first took a break from the game in 2016 but I don’t want people to feel this is exactly the same,” Taylor said. “I’ve made progress in that time and there are plenty of challenges I’ve met on the way and hurdles I’ve overcome.”That said, mental health is not something you ‘beat’. It’s a continual management process and at the moment I don’t feel in a good enough place to compete in international sport.”The T20 leg of the Ashes begins in Chelmsford this evening, where England’s aim is the same as it was on their last Ashes tour of Australia – to tie the points series at 8-8, even though Australia retain the title as holders.”I wish the girls all the best across the IT20 series. 8-8 is a very different score from 8-2 and I know they’re all working incredibly hard to win these last three matches and draw the series.”

Perhaps it was the gorgeous Bank Holiday weather; maybe it was the opportunity to see a Lancashire side which is excellent T20 form at present; quite possibly it was what we shall soon have to call “the Stokes effect”. But whatever the cause or combination of causes 14,752 spectators turned up at Old Trafford this Monday afternoon, most of them hoping to see the home side clinch top spot in the North Group of the Vitality Blast.And as is so often cricket’s endearing way, Lancashire’s record crowd for a non-Roses T20 match saw Derbyshire secure their place in the last eight with a thoroughly deserved 11-run victory. There is therefore still a chance that the county coached this season by Dominic Cork will qualify for their first Finals’ Day, although they will certainly be away in the quarter-finals.One doubts that prospect will daunt Billy Godleman’s team. Lancashire have been arguably the most powerful team in this year’s Blast but Derbyshire gave as good as they received. First they posted a competitive 162 for 3 and then they defended that total with a fielding display which was far from faultless but was still competent in the later overs when it mattered. When Lancashire needed 75 off eight overs and Liam Livingstone was going well, the odds were on a home win but Livingstone was caught at the wicket by Daryn Smit for 58 as he attempted to cut Alex Hughes and none of the succeeding batsmen could stay long enough to see their side home.The run out of Dane Vilas for 19 off the first ball of the 18th over when 28 runs were still needed was clearly crucial. The result was more or less decided by the start of the last over but Ravi Rampaul picked up the wicket of Liam Hurt with the final ball of the match and added it to those of Steven Croft and Josh Bohannon, whom he had dismissed with successive deliveries in the early exchanges.Derbyshire’s victory was all the more impressive given that their total looked no better than par on wicket which played well, albeit it was a used pitch. Indeed, having been 96 for 1 after 12 overs and 112 without further loss after 14, Derbyshire may have expected more than their eventual 162 but their limited progress can partly be explained by the fact that three of those later overs were bowled by James Faulkner.The problem for Derbyshire was that they lost their two main scorers within six balls of each other at a crucial point in their innings. Having made 69 off 39 balls, a tally that included three leg-side sixes, Wayne Madsen was caught by Danny Lamb off Glenn Maxwell when attempting a paddle sweep. Five balls later Godleman, the country’s leading scorer in white-ball cricket this season, hit Matt Parkinson straight to Livingstone at long-off and departed for 57. The later batsmen found it difficult to accelerate but Cork’s Derbyshire are a hard-working team and will be a match for anyone their meet in the last eight.Nor did the home supporters seem particularly disappointed by what is only Lancashire’s second defeat in the Blast this season. The good humour and general bonhomie following the Headingley Test was very clear across the Pennines this afternoon and was shown at its most trivial when a bloke on a sofa in the Thomas Cook attempted to catch one of Livingstone’s sixes and not only failed to do so but also fell backwards with the furniture toppling over on top of him. How everybody roared.More seriously there was a mood that cricket was a game which had even more reason to be proud of itself after the third Ashes Test. “Stand up if you love Ben Stokes,” sang the crowd for no more reason than that they wished to do so. The next Test begins here a week on Wednesday and it is all but certain that the country’s new hero will receive a standing ovation when he walks out to bat in England’s first innings. This thing will run and run.The quarter-finals of the Vitality Blast are due to be played during the Manchester Test, so although Lancashire have qualified for a home game, they will travel to Stokes’ home patch up at Chester-le-Street. Derbyshire, on the other hand, have won their last three Blast games and do not mind where they go next as long as their journey ends at Edgbaston on September 21, preferably late in the evening and with a trophy in Godleman’s hands.

Australia women are likely to experiment with their batting order in the T20Is against Sri Lanka later this month as they further fine-tune planning ahead of defending the T20 World Cup title next year.Having completed a comprehensive 3-0 victory over West Indies in Barbados, they have now won 19 of their last 21 T20Is dating back to March 2018.They were not given much of a challenge by a depleted West Indies side, securing back-to-back nine-wicket wins following a six-wicket victory to start the series.Alyssa Healy was the leading run-scorer in the series and is locked in at the top of the order, but coach Matthew Mott said there were still various combinations to be tried ahead of the T20 World Cup which starts at the end of February although did not see them moving much outside this group of players.Beth Mooney made 4 and 8 in the first two T20s before finishing with an unbeaten 24 while Ellyse Perry came in at No. 3 ahead of captain Meg Lanning to knock off the target in the final outing.Australia play Sri Lanka in three matches in Sydney, starting at the end of September, and then have a tri-series with England and India ahead of the World Cup.”Our batting has been really good, thought we got better with each game, Mott said. “Our first chase wasn’t our best but the last two we did it in style. But we’ve still got some tinkering to do, think we’ll tinker a bit in the T20s against Sri Lanka with that batting order and get the right formula leading into the World Cup.”I think [the squad] will be pretty close to what we’ve got here. The only changes will be in batting orders. We’ve got a strong nucleus of players who we have earmarked to take a lead into the World Cup. Back home there’s a WNCL round which is a good opportunity for the players to put their hand up and show what they can do, but pretty sure we’ll be close to this 14.”Mott was impressed with the performance of legspinner Georgia Wareham in the final T20I against West Indies as she claimed 3 for 14 and was also pleased with the point-of-difference provided by pace bowler Tayla Vlaeminck even though she was wicketless.”We are really happy with the way the bowling until is going, there has been some great changes there, even seeing Megan Schutt trying some new things – coming round the wicket to the left-handers – and thought Georgia Wareham bowled incredibly well and spun the ball, so that’s good for her confidence.”[Tayla’s] bounce is really potent, fires the team up each time she comes in. You can see the batters are getting hurried up so even if she’s not taking wickets she’s changing the way the batters are moving their feet, putting pressure on at the other end.”The T20I series against Sri Lanka starts on September 29 at North Sydney Oval with all three matches played at that venue before three ODIs take place in Brisbane from October 5.

Gloucestershire 220 for 7 (van Buuren 93, Charlesworth 77*) v NorthamptonshireWe might be living through strange times, but surely not so strange that either of these counties will now be denied promotion to the first division. Rain has made a mockery of the myriad equations so let’s be done with arithmetic and talk the simple language of cricket: Glamorgan must bat with the precision of Donald Bradman at the speed of Brian Lara, then take wickets at the strike rate of SF Barnes to beat Durham and stop Northamptonshire and Gloucestershire from going up.The game here at Nevil Road is heading for a draw, probably of the dullest and soggiest variety. That will matter not a jot in the wider context. Nor will Northamptonshire lament a strangely disengaged performance on Wednesday when they took only a single wicket and Gloucestershire claimed the batting point they needed to ensure promotion remains entirely in their own hands. They require a draw plus three more points with either bat or ball. A mere draw will do for Northants.Concern around noon on Monday when Gloucester collapsed to 67 for 6 had dissipated – drowned is perhaps a better way of putting it – by the time Graeme van Buuren pushed Rob Keogh through extra cover for the boundary that carried Gloucester to the critical 200 mark. His stand of 151 with Ben Charlesworth began pre-lunch on day one and was ten minutes from continuing into the fourth when van Buuren, who scored 93, stabbed outside off stump to Gareth Berg and was caught behind.The fact that Gloucester lost their first division status as far back as 2005 might explain why so many supporters stayed on with barely a murmur for the four-and-a-half hours between the scheduled start and eventual three o’clock beginning. Such a long and hard-fought return will be something to celebrate despite the absence of prize money for third place. Northamptonshire will receive £57,000 as runners-up to Lancashire.In other circumstances, they might have grown more restless. It is hard to imagine the crowd at an international match behaving as placidly with the sun shining, the playing field open, nets in place and stumps beside the pitch ready to be inserted. Yet the place was a hive of inactivity through the morning save for the occasional sight of a player or the umpires wandering out, scraping the soles of their boots on problem areas and wincing their way back off.With the situation even worse at Chester-le-Street, the slippy, sludgy areas around footmarks on the edges of used pitches might have suited both teams. Gloucester, in the weaker position, would have been content not to risk defeat. “Mud, mud, glorious mud,” they must have sung, like Flanders and Swann, in the sanctity of their dressing room. Yet once umpires David Millns and Mike Burns did consider play to be possible, it was they who switched on quicker.Van Buuren played and missed a couple of times against Ben Sanderson in the early exchanges and Charlesworth survived a reasonable appeal for leg-before by Keogh, the most dangerous of the bowlers on a surface offering some turn. Otherwise, the closest that Northants came to breaking the stand as it developed was a run out opportunity when Charlesworth was sent back by his partner, Keogh missing with the throw.They made a tricky pair: Charlesworth tall, upright and left-handed, van Buuren a short, right-handed croucher. Van Buuren punched anything slightly short, especially through the off side, while Charlesworth’s off-drives again flowed like cream from a jug. At 18, he is a prospect who will make crowds purr with his strokes. That in turn may lead to frustration if returns fall short of unreasonable expectations. He needs to be allowed to develop at his own pace.”Ben is so solid,” van Buuren said. “He makes bowlers look slow, he plays them with ease. It is a sexy forward defensive he has. He is an attractive player but he is already a good player too and you have to remember how young he is. I said to somebody yesterday how he reminds me so much of Aiden Markram, the way he loads up, stands still and has that same whirl of the bat. He is class.”Van Buuren is a friend of Markram, a fellow South African, who averages 43.80 from his first 17 Test matches. It is quite a compliment. He also drew a comparison with Chris Dent, blooded young by Gloucester but now their steadiest batsman approaching 9,000 career runs. Sanderson was generous too, praising Charlesworth for his temperament and judgement of what to leave.Charlesworth has already equalled his career best; tomorrow would be quite a day to set a new one. Equally, while van Buuren was disappointed at missing his own hundred he could reflect on the more important picture. “We just have to rock up for one more day and play good, hard cricket,” he said. “Stay grounded, keep humble and hopefully cricket will look after us in the end.”