Pakistan fast bowler Wahab Riaz has been ruled out for two weeks after suffering a knuckle fracture to his bowling hand on the first day of the second Test against Sri Lanka

Umar Farooq26-Jun-2015Pakistan fast bowler Wahab Riaz has been ruled out of the remainder of the Test series in Sri Lanka, after he suffered a hairline fracture on the knuckle of his bowling hand on the first day of the second Test in Colombo. With both Wahab and the injured Haris Sohail being withdrawn from the squad, the PCB has drafted in batsman Babar Azam and left-arm seamer Rahat Ali as replacements*.Azam, 20, made his international debut during the historic series against Zimbabwe last month, scoring 54 in the third ODI. Rahat last played for Pakistan in April before a hamstring injury ruled him out of the two-match Test series against Bangladesh.Wahab is expected to be out of the game for at least two weeks and according to a PCB release, will return home after the conclusion of the ongoing Colombo Test. The release added that Azam and Rahat “will leave on Sunday early morning to Sri Lanka” and join the team.”We had sent him (Wahab) for an X-ray last night and the result shows a hairline fracture,” Pakistan team manager Naveed Akram Cheema told ESPNcricinfo. “We are not sure if he recovers ahead of the ODI series but he is at least out for two weeks. That means he can’t be the part of the Test series.”Wahab was struck on the gloves by a delivery from Sri Lanka fast bowler Dushmantha Chameera while batting on the first day. Wahab bowled nine overs during Sri Lanka’s innings in the last session on Thursday but he was seen struggling with his follow through and clutching his left hand between deliveries besides getting assistance from the physiotherapist at the boundary.He stayed in the field for two hours and bowled three spells before going off. “Despite the blow on his bowling hand, he was still willing to come out and bowl many overs,” Pakistan coach Waqar Younis said. “Hats off to him as he tried to give his best shot.”His injury is a significant setback to Pakistan, who were dismissed for 138 on the opening day at P Sara Oval. Pakistan, who are leading in the series after a win in the Galle Test, had opted to bat but imploded in the second session, losing eight wickets for 64 runs. With Mohammad Hafeez reported for a suspect action after the first Test, Wahab’s injury puts considerable pressure on pacer Junaid Khan and the spin pair of Zulfiqar Babar and legspinner Yasir Shah.The final Test of the series will be played in Pallekele between July 3 and 7.*17:10 GMT: This story was updated after Babar Azam and Rahat Ali were drafted into the squad as replacements

ESPNcricinfo previews the two World Twenty20 Qualifier playoff matches on Thursday

Peter Della Penna in Malahide22-Jul-2015

Afghanistan v Papua New Guinea

The hunters have become the hunted at this year’s World Twenty20 Qualifier, and nowhere is that more evident than in the case of Afghanistan. A group-stage loss to Oman in Scotland has now been followed by their first ever loss to Hong Kong in T20 cricket.Afghanistan must now win against Papua New Guinea on Thursday, or be left home for next year’s World T20 in India. The pair of losses for Afghanistan coincided with strike bowler Hamid Hassan being out of the line-up after taking six wickets in the first three games. His possible return may galvanise the team in the field, but if he can not go again, PNG will be very much in the contest.On the batting side, Samiullah Shenwari has been relatively quiet since scoring 44 and 30 not out in the team’s first two wins over Netherlands and UAE to start the qualifiers. He is one of only three batsmen in the side, along with opener Mohammad Shahzad and captain Asghar Stanikzai, to pass 100 runs for the team. Najibullah Zadran has the capacity to devastate in the middle alongside Shenwari, but his aggression has backfired in the two losses to Oman and Hong Kong, scoring just 2 and 5. Shenwari and Najibullah must back up the good starts laid at the top.PNG flew out of the gate with three straight wins, including a stunner over Group A favourites Ireland in Belfast. However, having three games scheduled back-to-back in Dublin clearly took its toll on the team. After a straightforward win over Nepal to kick off that stretch, they were beaten by Namibia. A tired bowling and fielding effort against USA followed, and it cost them a chance at the top spot and an automatic berth to India.The one positive to finishing fourth on net run-rate behind Hong Kong and Namibia despite being equal on points, is that they got three days to rest instead of one. A fully charged PNG unit will be a handful for Afghanistan to deal with, and will help close the talent gap between the two sides.On the whole, though, PNG’s batting unit has struggled. The team’s highest individual score has been 34, made by both Assad Vala and Tony Ura. Only once have PNG had a fifty-plus stand in the whole tournament, between Vala and Ura against Namibia, tied for the fewest in the tournament. If it were not for the No.10 batsman Norman Vanua’s four sixes against Ireland, they may not even be in this game. The batting needs to pick up the slack to have any chance against Afghanistan’s bowlers.

Namibia v Oman

An Oman win against Namibia will make them the lowest ranked team to qualify for a World Cup•ICC/Donald MacLeod

After blowing two chances to qualify for the World T20 in 2012, Namibia tripped up again on Tuesday against Netherlands. The tournament’s most explosive batsman, Gerrie Snyman, was run out before facing a ball while fellow opener Stephen Baard, the tournament’s leading scorer, fell for single digits and from there, Namibia had little chance against a clinical Netherlands outfit.Of Namibia’s five highest partnerships during the tournament, four have involved Baard. He is arguably more crucial to Namibia’s hopes of putting up a defendable total than Snyman just for his consistency.Bernard Scholtz almost single-handedly kept Namibia in the match against Netherlands with his slow left-arm spell of 3 for 13. He now has 13 wickets in the tournament, but lack of support from the seamers continues to be a problem hindering Namibia’s performance on the field. To make matters worse, JJ Smit left the field during the Netherlands chase with what appeared to be a rib injury. If he can not go on Thursday, more responsibility will fall on Jason Davidson and Sarel Burger to pick up the slack with the ball.Oman currently sit in World Cricket League Division Five and have a global ranking of 29th, which pits them seventh among Asian Associates behind even Singapore and Malaysia, who sit in Division Three. If Oman were to continue their remarkable journey through this tournament with a win over Namibia, they would become the lowest ranked team to qualify for a World Cup.Foremost among their heroes in Scotland is allrounder Zeeshan Maqsood. In their first win of the tournament over Canada, Maqsood raced to an unbeaten 86 off 41 balls, a knock which Oman technical consultant Derek Pringle told ESPNcricinfo was Chris Gayle-esque. He also took 4 for 23 in the 40-run win over Afghanistan.But Maqsood has not done it alone. Slingy fast bowler Munis Ansari’s 4 for 15 against Netherlands reduced them from 134 for 5 to 135 all out. No.3 batsman Jatinder Singh then struck an unbeaten 65 not out to round out their first shock win before sucker-punching Afghanistan. If Oman can outlast Namibia on Thursday, it would make a fantastic fourth win and a spot in India will be theirs.

Legspinner Amit Mishra has been recalled to India’s Test squad for the tour of Sri Lanka in August

ESPNcricinfo staff23-Jul-20154:49

Agarkar: Mishra’s selection shows lack of young spinners

Legspinner Amit Mishra has been recalled to India’s Test squad for the tour of Sri Lanka in August. Mishra, 32, last played a Test in 2011 and he took legspinner Karn Sharma’s place in the team that had travelled to Bangladesh in June. It was the only change to India’s 15-man squad.Mishra has not played a Test since the 2011 tour of England, where he played two matches and took three wickets at an average of 106.66. In the 2014-15 Ranji Trophy season, Mishra played six matches for Haryana and took 10 wickets at an average of 20.40.”Amit Mishra has always been part of our thinking,” India’s chairman of selectors Sandeep Patil said in Delhi. “If you remember, even last year he was in the reserves [for the West Indies series]. The final authority of picking the XI is the role of the captain and the team management. Why A was not played and why B was picked it is not what we get into. Looking at the conditions, we have picked him for this SL tour.”Karn and fast bowler Mohammed Shami were not considered because of fitness problems. Karn had been ruled out of India’s tour of Zimbabwe in July with a fractured finger, and Shami is presently recovering from knee surgery.Opener KL Rahul had missed the Test in Bangladesh because of dengue fever and his replacement Shikhar Dhawan made a hundred in that game, leaving India with three openers – M Vijay being the third – to choose from in Sri Lanka.The selectors have not picked a reserve wicketkeeper in the squad as back up for Wriddhiman Saha. “We have a standby wicketkeeper we have nominated,” Patil said. “Secretary and selectors, we are aware who is the wicketkeeper nominated if there is injury on the SL tour.”Does he have the technique or not, time will tell,” Patil said of Saha batting at No. 6. “We have backed him looking at his performance in domestic cricket. The kind of experience he carries. You immediately cannot replace someone like Dhoni and come in and deliver the results. But we certainly feel that Wriddhiman is the right option and looking at his ability in batting as well, he should strike a good balance.”BCCI secretary Anurag Thakur also said Virat Kohli would turn out for India A in the second unofficial Test against Australia in Chennai from July 29-31.”Virat Kohli had requested the selection committee for some match practice and wanted to play a game against Australia A,” Thakur said. “He will be playing the second four day game against Australia A.” Patil, however, confirmed that Cheteshwar Pujara would lead India A in the game.Squad: Virat Kohli (capt), Varun Aaron, R Ashwin, Shikhar Dhawan, Harbhajan Singh, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, Wriddhiman Saha, Ishant Sharma, Amit Mishra, Rohit Sharma, M Vijay, Umesh Yadav, KL Rahul

If stardom is about taking your moments then David Willey surely has a chance at stardom. He turned Northants’ quarter-final against Sussex into a rout, striking the fastest century of the season in the NatWest Blast

David Hopps12-Aug-2015
ScorecardIf stardom is about taking your moments then David Willey surely has a chance at stardom. He turned Northamptonshire’s quarter-final against Sussex into a rout, striking the fastest century of the season in the NatWest Blast – and the eighth fastest of all time – to secure victory by seven wickets with four overs to spare.Willey reached his hundred in 40 balls. He was out to the next, caught in the deep at midwicket by George Bailey, 10 sixes and seven fours to his name. You can study the wagon wheel if you wish, or you can just take it as read that all the spokes were roughly in the same place. If stardom lands one invitingly in his arc, and the wind is with him, he will probably flay it over midwicket and take the plaudits.This was a performance to awaken the IPL, one produced by a player who made his England limited-overs debut earlier this summer. But Willey, like his father, the former England allrounder and umpire Peter, does not gush to order: quite the contrary. Invited for his comments in the dugout by Sky TV with the match not yet settled, he gave the impression he regarded it as an imposition.”Got a decent bat,” he said, plugging the make. “Managed to get hold of a few.” Deadpan, possibly techy. But he did mention a few beers in Brighton later when one imagined he would celebrate at the right time. Old-fashioned convictions. And no worse for that.After the match, he was relaxed and happy. “I started quite slowly and didn’t pick up the pace of the wicket but I used the wind and the short boundaries to my advantage,” he said. “The guys know if I stand still and give myself a chance the boundaries aren’t always big enough.”So Northants go to Finals Day. They are increasingly debt-ridden, have asked the ECB for an emergency loan and Willey is bound to leave at the end of the season: perhaps more players besides. Yorkshire, desperate to stretch their Championship domination into T20 are among the leading suitors. Northants’ pre-match chats have included lots of chats about the need for strength in adversity. Willey certainly showed that.Michael Yardy, Sussex’s former England one-day allrounder, suffered the headline over, although to be fair to him there was ample carnage elsewhere. He has announced his retirement at the end of the season, but he might feel like retiring forthwith after Willey swung him for 34 from an over, five sixes and a flat midwicket four off the second ball which fell short by two yards. It was the ninth of the Northants chase and, by the end of it, they needed 54 from 11 with nine wickets in hand. Game over.It was as if Willey said, whether Yardy bowled his left-arm slows over or round: “I know you don’t spin it, I see no guile, you are in my arc, you are disappearing many a mile.”Predictably, Willey went to his century in the next over, one of the largest hits of all, Tymal Mills, the fastest of Sussex’s attack, disappearing into the crowd at deep square. Mills also conceded three sixes, but dismissed Willey with his next ball, George Bailey catching, for once no grin to be seen.Willey’s record-breaking hundred surpassed Brendon McCullum’s 42-ball effort for Birmingham Bears against Derbyshire at Edgbaston earlier this season.Willey launched his onslaught in the third over when he took 18 off England team-mate Chris Jordan, who was playing his first competitive game after two months out with a side strain. He lost opening partner Richard Levi in the eighth over when Levi, who had struck Chris Liddle for two sixes in the previous over, was leg before to the first ball from legspinner Will Beer after they had put on 78.Northants have reached Finals Day for the third time, and Willey will have fond memories of their title triumph in 2013 when he first shot to prominence with a matchwinning performance with bat and ball and enjoyed a run-in with Surrey’s Jade Dernbach along the way.With Willey fit again after missing several weeks earlier in the season with an ankle ligament injury, Northants will feel anything is possible when they return to Edgbaston on August 29.Sussex must have imagined a quite different outcome when they were 97 for 2 midway through their 20 overs. But Mahela Jayawardene’s silky half-century had just come to an end – his scoop off a full toss from Azharullah stunningly caught by Josh Cobb running around the fine leg boundary – and Sussex’s innings immediately declined. Chris Nash, the mainstay, was leg before in the 13th over for 53, hitting across the line at Rory Kleinveldt. Only 67 runs came in the second phase – no wonder Sussex prefer to chase at HoveOne of those responsible was Willey, one of two reliable death bowlers in Northants’ line-up, the veteran Azharullah being the other. Willey returned 3 for 27 with the ball as well. Luke Wright, the Sussex captain who had done so much to plan their progress to the quarter-finals, had fallen third ball for nought and, for good measure, he added Jordan at mid-off – another facet of a malfunctioning return – and Will Beer, undone by a slower bouncer.Willey’s bowling possessed variety, his batting was predominantly a succession of leg-side swings but Hove’s tight square boundaries, his excellent eye, and a bat kindly provided by the makers who will remain anonymous (no point cheapening a record, after all) did the rest.”We were hoping to be 180, but that catch by Cobb changed the innings, we were playing beautifully at the time,” said Wright. “That innings was pretty special. Everybody else made it look like hard work. That innings was pretty special. It was like watching Gayle bat. If we could have had fielders standing in the middle of Hove we might have had an answer to him.”

Plans for the county season to start overseas are back on the table as the ECB looks to find a solution to fixture congestion in the domestic season

George Dobell17-Sep-20155:01

Dobell: Spectators haven’t been consulted

Plans for the county season to start overseas are back on the table as the ECB looks to find a solution to fixture congestion in the domestic season.With the ECB’s plans to reduce the County Championship schedule to 14 games per side abandoned for at least another year and clearly unacceptable to several counties, further options will now be considered. And one of those plans, favoured by Sussex among others, is to move part of the domestic programme into March and play the games overseas. Possible destinations include Spain, the UAE, South Africa and various Caribbean nations.While Sussex have suggested only playing “part of a domestic 50-over tournament overseas before the start of the normal season” it is possible that up to two Championship matches and two 50-over matches per county could be played outside England and Wales.When the plans were first mooted, in June 2013, they received a lukewarm reception. But now, as county members reflect on some of the possible scenarios, this may be considered the least bad option.There are decent cricketing reasons for the initiative. It would ensure a symmetrical fixture list in both divisions and it would enable players to gain more exposure in conditions that would favour spin bowling far more than would be the case in early-season England. It would also ease fixture congestion during the rest of the season and allow the time the England team management insist is required for rest, recovery and practice.It is understood that, at the time the idea was first aired, several tourist boards and travel companies contacted the ECB to offer sponsorship or incentives, so the costs may not be as much of an issue as they might appear at first glance. About half of the counties currently prepare for the domestic season with overseas tours. The UAE and Barbados are the most common venues.While county members would be encouraged to travel to watch the games, many would find the cost prohibitive and would naturally resist the reduction in cricket available close to home. But with compromise likely over the coming months, it is one option that will warrant further discussion.

A round-up of all the Ranji Trophy Group A matches on October 18, 2015

ESPNcricinfo staff18-Oct-2015
ScorecardFile Photo: Karun Nair struck 15 fours for his unbeaten 101 and put up an unbroken 176-run stand with R Samarth•K Sivaraman

J Suchith had made it clear at the end of the third day that Karnataka were not going to push for an outright win on Sunday. “We are looking to bat and bat and bat,” he said. R Samarth and Karun Nair lived up to the talk, and helped themselves to their fourth and seventh first-class hundreds respectively, as Karnataka declared their second innings on 331 for 3.During the course of collecting their milestones, they also put on an unbroken stand of 176. Once Nair got to his hundred, captain Vinay Kumar called them in and the tea interval was advanced by four minutes.Set an improbable target of 372 in a minimum of 22 overs, Vidarbha batted for another half an hour before both the captains agreed to settle for a draw at the start of the mandatory overs, with no prospect of an outright win for either team.In the morning, Vidarbha must have had a tiny ray of hope after seamer Swapnil Bandiwar’s full-length delivery knocked KL Rahul’s off stump out of its groove in the third ball of the day. It turned out to be a false dawn, as the visitors managed only one more wicket, of Manish Pandey, all day. Samarth and Nair then went about gathering runs patiently even as Vidarbha’s shoulders drooped.Later, Wagh was fined 60% of his match fee by the match referee for his outburst against the umpires on Saturday. Wagh had slammed the umpiring, accusing them of favoring the home side. Wagh had also questioned the integrity of Karnataka wicketkeeper CM Gautam, accusing him off claiming bump balls. Vidarbha captain S Badrinath refused to comment on Wagh’s accusations against the umpires and Gautam, but said his team “was on the unlucky side.”
ScorecardBengal walked away with first-innings honours from a clash against Rajasthan that was severely interrupted by rain in Kolkata. Manoj Tiwary, who rescued Bengal with a century against defending champions Karnataka in their season opener, top-scored with 83, while Abhimanyu Easwaran and Pankaj Shaw contributed 53 and 52 respectively.Behind by 84, Rajasthan were struggling at 15 for 3, with Ashok Dinda, the pace spearhead, accounting for the openers. But Ashok Menaria absorbed the pressure and faced 174 balls for his unbeaten 69 to take Rajasthan to 146 for 5 in 57 overs before the umpires called for stumps. The result left both teams in the bottom half of the group, with Bengal having a game in hand after playing just two matches as compared to Rajasthan’s three.Delhi v Haryana – Shreyas Iyer wins Delhi tough chase

George Worker’s all-round performance powered Central Districts to a four-wicket victory in a low-scoring game against Otago in New Plymouth

ESPNcricinfo staff07-Nov-2015George Worker’s all-round performance powered Central Districts to a four-wicket victory in a low-scoring game against Otago in New Plymouth. Worker’s 5 for 10 in four overs triggered Otago’s middle-order collapse, and his 26-ball 42 in the chase helped Central Districts achieve a target of 142 with nine balls to spare.Put in to bat first, Otago got off to a strong start with a 58-run partnership between openers Anaru Kitchen and Neil Broom. However, Worker’s left-arm spin cut through Otago’s top and middle-order, reducing them from 58 for 0 in the ninth over to 90 for 5 by the 15th over. Worker struck in each of his four overs and took two wickets in the space of four balls in the 13th over. Broom, however, held steady and it was his unbeaten knock of 70 off 49 deliveries that eventually lifted Otago to a score of 141 for 8.Worker shared a vital 47-run partnership with Will Young for the second wicket. By the time Worker was dismissed by Nathan McCullum in the seventh over, he had scored 42 of the side’s total of 50 runs and Central Districts stuttered again when McCullum dismissed Young in the same over. A 50-run partnership between captain Kruger Van Wyk and Dane Cleaver then revived the chase. Otago struck once again with quick wickets but an unbeaten 32-run partnership between Josh Clarkson and Marty Kain for the seventh wicket eased Central Districts to their first win in the tournament.

Ben Dunk’s second century in consecutive matches gave Tasmania a hefty lead on the third day against New South Wales at Bankstown Oval

ESPNcricinfo staff16-Nov-2015
ScorecardBen Dunk finished the day as the leading run scorer in the Sheffield Shield season•Getty Images

Ben Dunk’s second century in consecutive matches gave Tasmania a hefty lead on the third day against New South Wales at Bankstown Oval. At stumps, the Tigers were 6 for 272 in their second innings, with a lead of 352 runs, and Dunk was still at the crease on 127 alongside Hamish Kingston, who was on 23.It continued Dunk’s outstanding start to the summer after he scored his maiden first-class century, an innings of 142, in the previous game against Queensland, and then 68 in the first innings of this game. As at the end of day three in this round of Shield matches, Dunk was on top of the competition run tally, narrowly ahead of Victoria’s Travis Dean.Dunk and 18-year-old batsman Jake Doran combined for a 103-run partnership that steadied Tasmania after Doug Bollinger claimed two early wickets to have the visitors wobbling at 2 for 39. George Bailey chipped in with 28 but the key man was Dunk, who by stumps had struck 15 boundaries in his 229-ball innings.New South Wales had started the morning on 6 for 150 and they added 65 for the loss of their last four wickets, with Kurtis Patterson the top scorer on 86. Kingston, Sam Rainbird and Jackson Bird each finished with three wickets.