Ismail’s new-ball spell of 3-0-9-3 helped reduce Pakistan to a precarious 20 for 4

ESPNcricinfo staff31-Jan-2021A second consecutive half-century from Tazmin Brits and career-best figures of 5 from 12 from experienced fast bowler Shabnim Ismail powered South Africa to a series win with an unassailable 2-0 lead in the three-match T20I series. Defending 133, Ismail and Marizanne Kapp reduced the visitors to 20 for 4 in the sixth over before middle and lower-order contributions from Kainat Imtiaz, captain Aliya Riaz and Ayesha Naseem took Pakistan past 100, but they fell 18 runs short.Opting to bowl, Pakistan opened with left-arm spinner Anam Amin who took a return catch to send back Lizelle Lee for 6 in the fifth over, and along with medium-pacers Diana Baig and Aiman Anwer, she hekped restrict the hosts to 43 for 2 at the halfway mark. Brits and Laura Wolvaardt then collected 16 runs off Riaz in the 12th over and even though Wolvaardt fell to Nashra Sandhu for 13, Brits combined with the middle order to smash 49 off the last five overs, with five fours and two sixes. Brits eventually fell in the last over but her 66 off 58, studded with eight fours and a six, powered the hosts to a challenging total.Pakistan went off track in the chase early with their top four contributing 4, 2, 1 and 0 as Ismail and Kapp hit the stumps thrice within the first six overs. Kapp set the tone by starting the innings with a maiden before Ismail had Muneeba Ali caught behind and bowled Nida Dar off consecutive balls in the fourth over in a new-ball spell of 3-0-9-3.From 20 for 4, Riaz (39 off 40) first stitched a partnership of 28 with Imtiaz off 38 balls, and then put on a quick 65 in 42 balls with Naseem (33 off 22), but they couldn’t pull the asking rate below 11 runs an over. Riaz even struck Sune Luus for 16 in the 15th over, but the required 55 from the last 30 balls proved to be out of reach. Ismail returned in the last over to remove both Naseem and Riaz to wrap up the win.

Klinger leaves the Renegades job with a year to run on contract after two unsuccessful seasons

Alex Malcolm02-Feb-2021Michael Klinger has stepped down as Melbourne Renegades coach after an unsuccessful two seasons to take up a role as the head of male cricket at New South Wales.Klinger, 40, had a year to run on his three-year contract with the Renegades after being appointed to the role just prior to the 2019-20 season when BBL08 title-winning coach Andrew McDonald vacated the position to become Australia’s assistant coach.Klinger’s two years at the helm of the Renegades, his first experience as a senior coach, were disastrous with the club winning just seven of 28 games and finishing last on the BBL table in both seasons.”I’m grateful for the opportunity that I was given by the Melbourne Renegades. I’d like to thank everyone at the Renegades for their continued support throughout,” Klinger said.”Although the seasons didn’t go to plan, I thoroughly enjoyed my time as head coach and can see a bright future in the coming seasons with such a young and talented group. I wish them all the best for the future.”My new role as Head of Men’s Cricket with CNSW is an extremely exciting position. I’m looking forward to this great opportunity working with Greg Mail and their senior squads, pathways, and Big Bash programs.”Renegades general manager David Lever said the club was supportive of Klinger’s move.”On behalf of everyone at the club I’d like to extend our thanks and best wishes to Michael in his new role in New South Wales,” Lever said. “Maxy’s dedication to the role, his composure, and broader role as an ambassador for the Renegades has been exemplary.”Despite injuries and unavailability of key players, limited preparation time in his first season, and an extended period on the road in his second season, Maxy never looked for excuses and confronted each challenge with the same commitment, character, and class that made him such an excellent player for so long.”We thank Michael for his service and outstanding leadership and wish him and his family all the best for their new opportunity.”The Renegades will now begin searching for a new coach for the second time in three years.At New South Wales, Klinger will oversee the men’s program working alongside Leah Poulton, NSW’s head of female cricket, and reporting to head of cricket Greg Mail.”We are delighted to have a person of Max’s calibre joining our team,” Mail said. “He is a universally respected figure in Australian cricket and brings experience across a wide range of high-performance environments and across all formats of the game.”We’d like to thank Cricket Victoria and the Melbourne Renegades for releasing Michael from the remainder of his contract so that he could pursue this opportunity that we believe will benefit not just CNSW, but Australian cricket as a whole.”

England vice-captain also backs return of Alex Hales once trust issues are dealt with

Matt Roller09-Mar-2021Jos Buttler has admitted it would be “bittersweet” to miss the start of England’s home summer in order to play in the knockout stages of the IPL, and said that the prospect of having to choose one over the other has left him in a “far-from-perfect situation”.England’s home season will begin with a Test against New Zealand at Lord’s on June 2, three days after the final of the IPL on May 30. While it is not yet clear whether England’s multi-format players would be able to appear in both competitions, the ECB has told them they will be able to stay in India until their involvement in the IPL has come to an end.Buttler, a key player for Rajasthan Royals since he was signed ahead of the 2018 season, admitted that he had considered opting out of the IPL, but emphasised the positive impact that players’ involvement in the competition has had on England’s limited-overs sides and defended the ECB rest-and-rotation policy that saw him fly home for the final three Tests of the recent series in India.Related

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“I completely understand certain people will have an opinion one way and certain people another way,” Buttler said. “All I can say is the IPL has had an outstanding effect on English cricket so far and the individuals involved in it.”The tournament is the biggest in the whole of cricket in terms of money. Careers can be short. But we know playing for England is a huge draw for everyone and we’re very well remunerated playing for England – we’re very fortunate in that case.”It makes it a tough decision. Of course the schedule at the moment is very tough and there is no perfect balance to it. The ECB and the players work very closely together to try and manage that, so is there a perfect answer at the moment? No. And certainly not in the times we are operating in at the moment.”Buttler confirmed that he is likely to miss the first Test against New Zealand if Rajasthan reach the latter stages of the competition – the group stage ends on May 23, so players whose teams do not make the knockouts should be available – but said that the fact the Tests had been added to England’s calendar late in the day had been a major factor in the clash.”Those New Zealand Tests have been added to a very busy schedule quite late on,” he said. “It’s always going be bittersweet if you’re missing games with England or whatever opportunities you are missing, but we don’t know how far players are going to get into that tournament [the IPL] or if you’re actually going to miss them.”The ECB have said it looked like if you were involved in the IPL you’d be staying. I think that agreement was probably in place before the NZ Tests were announced. I think the ECB are keeping consistent with where they were at before those games got put in the schedule.”Buttler also said that he had no objections to the prospect of Alex Hales being recalled to the side following his two-year absence from international cricket, sparked by a second positive test for recreational drugs shortly before the 2019 World Cup.Ed Smith, the national selector, hinted last month that Hales might be reintegrated into the squad during the summer, and Eoin Morgan, England’s captain, echoed his comments in an interview with the on Monday.”My view on that has always been that the trust that Alex has lost will take time to rebuild and one of the issues we have had around having players who would either be trying to get into the side or wanting to come in and us have a look at them in and around training, hasn’t been possible around Covid,” Morgan said.”Trying to integrate players in that sense hasn’t been possible during this period. It’s looking like by the time we get home for the international summer the restrictions might be eased so that for the process of getting guys in and around the squad, there could be an opportunity to do that. There is a chance that he might be around the group and that opportunity might be there.”Buttler said: “I’d be fine with that. We were all disappointed with how that episode played out. As Eoin has talked about a lot of the time, there’s an element of trust that needs to be rebuilt. He’s said it’s harder to do that in this day and age: it’s harder to get people in and out of teams and environments. I’m sure when the time is right Eoin will talk to Alex and the selectors. We all know what a brilliant player he is, so if he can be reintegrated into the side and is playing well and warrants selection I’m all for that.”I think everyone is pretty grown-up and if there were ill feelings, [they would be] nothing that couldn’t be sorted out with some man-to-man conversations. The white-ball side has been together a long time and Alex was a huge part of that for a long time. I’m sure a lot of the guys stay in close touch with him. I don’t foresee there being problems and if there were then they could be sorted out.”

Can Afghanistan sustain momentum in lead-up to the T20 World Cup?

Shashank Kishore18-Mar-2021

Big Picture

Cricket is a confidence game. Afghanistan, searching for a spark in the first Test in which they were ambushed in less than two days, found it a week later in the second Test. And they’ve carried that forward into their favourite format, the T20s, breaking little sweat in seeing off Zimbabwe in the series opener.Rashid Khan, a global T20 superstar, one of the architects of their series-levelling second Test win, singlehandedly works magic for them. His presence automatically lifts a young side, many of whom are slowly spreading their wings in leagues like the BBL, CPL and the Abu Dhabi T10. Most times, his four overs are like an insurance policy when they defend or are under sustained aggression from opponents.While he lived up to his reputation on Wednesday too, the star was opener Rahmanullah Gurbaz, who displayed a ferocity to his batting to make a 45-ball 87 at the top of the order. Asghar Afghan, chipping in with just his fourth T20I fifty in his 64th innings, may have steered away from some of the “is he good enough” debates. Only a week ago, he also became the country’s second Test centurion. And it all bodes well for Afghanistan: the batting not being dependent on just one or two people alone is something they’d want to cultivate as they build up to the T20 World Cup in India in October.Zimbabwe have no immediate requirements of that kind, because they won’t be playing in that showpiece event after failing to qualify for administrative reasons – their board was suspended at the time of the qualifier. But there’s plenty of pride at stake and an opportunity to look a year into the future, when there’s another T20 World Cup in Australia in 2022.For a while now, Zimbabwe’s schedule hasn’t been defined. So having an intense stretch of games such as this in a span of four weeks by itself is a positive sign. Now the next step is for them to overcome the batting dependency on Sean Williams and Sikandar Raza, if they’re to put up tall totals or chase down scores like the 199 were faced with in the first T20I. There’s also a streak to break. They’ve lost each of their last five T20Is, including nine of the last 10 against Afghanistan.

Form guide

Afghanistan: WLWWW (completed T20Is, most recent first)
Zimbabwe: : LLLLL

In the spotlight

Twenty-two-year old Karim Janat, brother of Afghan, is developing into an allrounder. He first showed shades of his brilliance against West Indies in November 2019, after his selection had become somewhat of a talking point because at that stage, he had averaged 31 with the bat, while his bowling numbers weren’t that impressive either. Then, he shredded a power-packed West Indies by first making a freewheeling 18-ball 26 and then taking 5 for 11, Afghanistan’s second-best T20I figures, in a win. Over the past year, while his bowling has come on superbly, he’s fallen behind slightly with the bat. For an opener, he’s yet to hit a T20I half-century. Can he on Friday?Can Karim Janat continue to improve as an allrounder?•AFP

A prodigious batting talent at 16, Wesley Madhevere has found the transition to international cricket tough. A member of two Under-19 World Cup squads and a heavy scorer for Eagles in domestic cricket, Madhevere’s struggled for runs on tour. He’s made two ducks in his first two Test innings and, on Wednesday, managed just 2 before being foxed by Rashid trying to slog. It speaks of the side’s confidence, perhaps, that he’s also batting at a lowly No. 7 currently. He didn’t bowl either in the opening game, so there is much to prove.

Pitch and conditions

It’s likely to be a good surface in Abu Dhabi, but one of the square boundaries will be considerably shorter. The heat at this time of the year isn’t yet intense by UAE standards, but it’ll still test the fitness and endurance of the players nonetheless.

Probable XIs

The status of Mujeeb Ur Rahman and Gulbadin Naib is as yet unclear after the two were among a group of five players whose UAE visas were delayed.Afghanistan (probable): 1 Rahmanullah Gurbaz, 2 Usman Ghani/Gulbadin Naib, 3 Karim Janat, 4 Asghar Afghan (capt), 5 Mohammad Nabi, 6 Najibullah Zadran, 7 Afsar Zazai (wk), 8 Rashid Khan, 9 Naveen Ul Haq, 10 Amir Hamza, 11 Fareed Ahmad/Mujeeb Ur RahmanZimbabwe (probable): 1 Tarisai Musakanda, 2 Tinashe Kamunhukamwe, 3 Sean Williams (capt), 4 Sikandar Raza, 5 Ryan Burl, 6 Richmond Mutumbami (wk), 7 Wesley Madhevere, 8 Donald Tiripano, 9 Brandon Mavuta, 10 Blessing Muzarabani, 11 Richard Ngarava

Stats and trivia

• Mohammad Nabi, now just a white-ball player, hasn’t picked up a wicket in his last 12 T20I bowling innings. This is the longest streak without a wicket for any player who’s bowled regularly in this format.
• Rashid Khan will make his 50th T20I appearance on Friday.
• Rashid is currently the joint-fourth-highest wicket-taker in men’s T20Is, with Shakib Al Hasan. He needs two more wickets to go past Tim Southee (93 wickets). Lasith Malinga (107) and Shahid Afridi (98) occupy the top two spots

Also said that selectors have told him to go beyond just scoring half-centuries in ODIs

Andrew Fidel Fernando13-May-2021Fearlessness. If there’s one change Sri Lanka’s new ODI captain Kusal Perera would like to usher in, it is for his team to play as he says he does: completely unafraid.Perera has been appointed leader of a young squad, which is without several big names, including Angelo Mathews, and now has the opportunity to turn around Sri Lanka’s poor form in the format – the side having slipped to ninth on the ICC rankings. Perera has long been one of the most aggressive batsmen in Sri Lanka’s ranks, and early indications are that he would like the team to embrace that ethos.”We have to play fearless cricket to win matches,” he said, a day after his appointment as captain was made official. “You can’t be fearful about losing. If you’re worried about your place, you aren’t going to give 100%. What I’m going to tell the players is to go and give it everything. If we play fearlessly even when we are practicing, then you will be able to play the same way in a match. That’s what I’ve told the team. If we are fearful, we will fall even further. I’m trying to build a culture where the players have a lot of confidence.”Perera’s own most notable innings have been aggressive ones. In Tests, his 153 not out off 200 in Durban is now counted among the format’s greatest knocks. In ODIs, he has hit the second-equal fastest half-century – off 17 balls, against Pakistan, in 2015.”I really like to play fearless cricket personally, and that’s where my success has been. Whenever I’ve played with fear, it hasn’t worked for me. I want everyone else to play like that. You can’t guarantee that you will go right playing this way, but the chances of things going well are greater.””But you have to practice well to instill that fearlessness. Because if you are 100% certain about the shot you’re playing, you can play without fear. You need to understand your strengths and weaknesses. Where does the ball need to be for me to hit it? Will I get myself in trouble by hitting there? You need to have that understanding. If you’re a bowler, you need to know which ball can get you a wicket, and which will help you bowl a dot. These things help you play fearlessly. As a fielding unit, you have to carry that same ethos as well, and I have big hopes for the upcoming Bangladesh series about our fielding.”Although Perera has sparkled briefly, however, his overall record as a batsman is modest. After 96 ODI innings, he averages 31.04, with a strike rate of 92.04. The responsibility of leadership, he hoped, would bring bigger personal scores as well.”What the selectors told me when they appointed me was that I often get a 50 or a 60 and get out without getting to a 100. I accept that. If I score a hundred, the chances of winning the match go up. You can’t get a 100 every game, but when you get a start, you need to make sure you convert. They expect me to take that responsibility.”

Captain’s knock revives Surrey after table-toppers make early running

Alan Gardner27-May-2021If Surrey supporters could name one thing that they missed most about not being able to come to the Kia Oval in recent times, the sight of Hashim Amla in full flow would surely have been high on the list. Amla has an imposing record on this ground, the scene of his unbeaten 311 for South Africa in 2012, not to mention a double-hundred against Hampshire a few weeks ago, and that aside there are few batters in world cricket so unarguably worth the admission fee.Those who made the pilgrimage for Surrey’s encounter with Gloucestershire were duly rewarded. Amla moved serenely to three figures during the dying embers of the day, as if to order for those wishing to slip in for a glimpse of greatness on their way home from work. Some 2500 were in the ground, and the majority of them rose to their feet as he stroked his 12th boundary through the covers, then removed his helmet to salute the four corners.This was also a captain’s innings, with Amla taking over responsibilities from Test-match bound Rory Burns. Leading with the bat has always come naturally for Amla and, having started well by winning the toss, he coasted up and down through the gears as required to ensure Surrey finished the day ably placed – an unbroken century stand with Jamie Overton quietly closing the door on Gloucestershire after they had picked off the majority of the top six without too much damage.Despite Ryan Patel’s neatly compiled half-century, Surrey had looked a little ill at ease on 181 for 5 approaching tea. Taking on the Group Two leaders, this is a game they arguably need to win to keep their prospects of being involved in Division One later in the summer alive; Amla’s third Championship hundred for Surrey (the first came back in 2013) ensured they were well placed to make good on the expected advantage of batting first on the same pitch as used against Middlesex last week.Ryan Patel celebrates reaching his fifty•Getty Images

Amla’s repertoire of silk and steel is well known, but there’s nothing wrong with playing the old favourites. His first boundary of the day was a wristy clip off Dan Worrall that perfectly bisected two leg-side fielders; a few overs later he eased on to the gas a little, pinging Worrall for four fours in 10 balls, daubing the canvas on either side of the wicket. Worrall, strong of shoulder and unruly of hair, looks rather like one of the bad guys from a 1980s high school movie – but the twinkling Amla nimbly gave him the slip.The only blemish came during the evening session, when he attempted to back-cut the left-arm spin of Tom Smith only to edge a catchable chance to slip, which Miles Hammond put it down. Amla was on 76 at the time, and Gloucestershire may well have plenty more time left in the field to rue that miss.Crowds had made their return in the previous round of the Championship, but here was a balmy south London day to create a genuine frisson of excitement among those trooping along the Harleyford Road, rucksacks full and straw hats in place, and plenty came to bask in late May conditions worthy of the name. One chucklingly referred to the hand “sataniser” dispensers dotted liberally around the ground; for Surrey, who have been off the pace in their group, the devil was in the detail.There were six changes to the XI that went a long way towards winning and then almost managed to lose against Middlesex. Out went Burns, Ollie Pope and Kemar Roach to international duty, Ben Foakes to the treatment room after his hamstring tear, Jordan Clark and Reece Topley to the exigencies of rest and rotation. In came Patel, Laurie Evans and Will Jacks to fill the batting spots, with Sean Abbott, Roach’s replacement as overseas, and Overton as bolstering the seam department, and Dan Moriarty the extra spinner.The initial exchanges hinted at an Oval surface of the most benign variety – although, already somewhat worn, Surrey will hope it offers a crumble of comfort for their trio of tweakers (Jacks’ offbreaks being a genuine consideration). Mark Stoneman clipped and cut efficiently to add 50 alongside Patel, before Ryan Higgins succeeded in dragging him across his crease before angling one back to hit the pads in front of leg stump.Related

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Patel, the 23-year-old allrounder making his first appearance of the season and opening the batting in Burns’ absence, was soon comfortably riding the mid-morning zephyrs on the way to a 100-ball half-century, despite being clocked on the helmet by Worrall early in his innings. Patel was particularly dismissive on the pull, and carved Worrall for back-to-back fours in bringing up his fifty – one slashed behind square, the other flayed through the covers. He had just swatted David Payne to the backward square leg boundary when a change of ball brought his dismissal from the very next delivery, a flying edge taken by the lone slip, Kraigg Brathwaite.Gloucestershire had not done too much wrong during the morning session, with little in the conditions to assist their four-pronged seam attack. Reward came after lunch, as Patel became the first of three wickets to fall inside eight overs; Jamie Smith was undone by Payne’s left-arm angle of attack, steering a thick edge to slip, before Evans got a good one from Matt Taylor, which straightened on him from round the wicket. Jonny Tattersall, on loan from Yorkshire as cover with James Bracey set to become the first Gloster to play a Test for England since 2006, plunged to his right to hold a thin edge.Jacks then dragged on after a 48-run stand with Amla, a wide half-volley from Higgins leaving him on his knees. But with Amla immovable and Overton haring through to complete his half-century from the final ball of the day, it was Gloucestershire in need of a pick-me-up.

Skipper slams 75 from 44 to help make short work of small chase

ECB Reporters' Network15-Jun-2021Luke Wright entered the 2021 Vitality Blast with a stunning 75 off 44 balls as Sussex Sharks made it three wins from three with a seven-wicket victory over Essex Eagles.The Blast’s all-time leading run-scorer missed the opening two rounds after splitting the webbing in his hand while practising fielding on the eve of the competition. But he made up for lost time by bringing up his fifty in 33 deliveries as Sussex chased down Essex’s below-par 128 for eight with 36 balls to spare.Wright looked at home right from the start, with boundaries from his second and third deliveries – two of eight fours.Opening partner Phil Salt earned a life when he bludgeoned a full toss to mid-on, only to earn a reprieve for the umpire to judge the ball to have been above waist-height, much to Simon Harmer’s chagrin. Salt was run out for 13, after putting on 54 with Wright before Travis Head added 60 together with the skipper.Wright continued to his 26th Blast half-century, going past 8000 T20 career runs, with a pair of straight sixes and another over cow corner. He departed with six still needed but Delray Rawlins clattered the winning runs over long-off soon after.Wright’s day had started perfectly as he won the toss and stuck the hosts in – although Will Buttleman struck successive sixes in the fourth over. On a used hybrid pitch, scoring proved difficult for Essex with only Buttleman, Michael Pepper and Jimmy Neesham’s strike rates topping 100, for those who reached double figures.The strain on scoring was exemplified by the last over of the Powerplay, which saw just one run, as Paul Walter struggled to lay a bat on Chris Jordan – the run rate throughout the innings hovering just below seven an over.To add to the Eagles’ woes, wickets were a regular occurrence. Tom Westley and Buttleman fell in the Powerplay – the former picking out deep midwicket off George Garton and the latter slapping a Tymal Mills slower ball to cover.Walter was stumped, Ryan ten Doeschate clubbed old pal Ravi Bopara to long off, Pepper – having scored 38 off 25 balls – drilled to extra cover, Harmer miscued to midwicket, Jack Plom skied to mid-off and Neesham was comprehensively bowled.Garton ended up with 3 for 31, with Mills, Jordan and Bopara all going at under a run-a-ball.

Kent stay just out of reach as New Zealand quick defends 18 off final over

ECB Reporters' Network02-Jul-2021Adam Milne took a hat-trick off the final three balls to clinch a thrilling 11-run victory for Kent Spitfires over Surrey at Canterbury, smothering the visitors in the death overs to leave them on 180 for 6, in reply to the Spitfires 191 for 4.Milne took 4 for 38 and defended 18 in the final over, bowling Ollie Pope with the fourth delivery and getting Kyle Jamieson caught on the long-on boundary with the penultimate ball to make the result all but certain. He then had Laurie Evans caught off the last ball of the innings to seal an astonishing recovery.Surrey looked heavy favourites when Will Jacks smashed a T20-best score of 87 from 54 balls, but after putting on 92 for the second wicket with Evans, who made 57, the run rate steadily increased.Kent had posted a challenging 191 for 4, thanks to another hefty partnership between Jordan Cox and Jack Leaning, who hit 61 not out and 50 respectively.After winning the toss and choosing to bat, Kent lost skipper Daniel Bell-Drummond to the second ball of the innings, lbw to Jacks, for nought. Zak Crawley made 24 before he was bowled by Jordan Clark and Joe Denly top-edged Gus Atkinson to Pope for 36. The run rate slowed before, not for the first time this season, Leaning and Cox rescued Kent with a stand of 90 for the fourth wicket.Leaning reached 50 and although he was out next ball, driving Jamie Overton to Clark, Clark’s final over went for 19, Alex Blake hitting 12 not out and Cox ending the innings with a six over cow corner.Surrey made a ferocious start. Fred Klaassen ripped out Jamie Smith’s middle stump for 9, but Evans and Jacks batted through the next 10 overs until Klaassen had the latter lbw.Kent were right back in it when Jamie Overton holed out off Milne, caught by Qais Ahmad for 6, and Surrey needed 34 from the last two overs. The penultimate, bowled by Klaassen went for 16, and Milne’s first three balls cost six runs, but the fourth splayed Pope’s stumps and needing to hit successive sixes, Jamieson perished in the deep.

Henriques praises Mustafizur’s skills in restricting Australians

Sreshth Shah04-Aug-20211:59

‘Great for Australia to be exposed to these conditions’ – Moises Henriques

On a difficult, sticky and turning Mirpur deck, 21-year old Afif Hossain hit an unbeaten 31-ball 37 to drag Bangladesh out of a bit of a mess, helping rescue the hosts from 67 for 5 to winning with eight balls to spare. After the victory, Afif said he knew all along that as long as he was not dismissed, Bangladesh would emerge victorious. However, he said that a useful piece of advice from Mahmudullah, the T20I captain, went a long way in achieving that outcome.”When I went out to bat, Riyad bhai just told me one thing. To take two-three overs to settle in,” the 21-year old said. “And personally, my ambition was to return after finishing the game. First thing I did was to assess the wicket and to understand what needs to be done on this surface.”I was aware that if I stay late, I can finish the match. The plan for both Nurul Hasan and me was to just score without losing a wicket because the run-rate was under check.”Afif Hossain is pumped after taking Bangladesh to victory•AFP/Getty Images

After the match, Mahmudullah said that Afif and Nurul showed “maturity” in their partnership. He said that their half-century stand brought “relief” to a “tensed” camp that was downcast after sliding into a losing position after a terrific bowling show.The T20I captain also praised Shakib Al Hasan. Shakib blitzed his way to a 17-ball 26 to keep Bangladesh ahead of the required run-rate early on after returning 1 for 22 in his four overs. Mahmudullah said that “Shakib once again showed how important a player” he is for the Bangladesh team. Shakib’s momentum-building innings, in a low-total run-chase, allowed Afif and Nurul to play risk-free cricket when the pressure was high.Henriques praises Mustafizur’s skillsThat Afif had to take Bangladesh only past 122, however, was courtesy of the bowling effort in the first innings. Left-arm seamers Mustafizur Rahman and Shoriful Islam shared five wickets for 50 runs in their combined eight overs, and Afif said their returns had equal impact on the match result that now sees Bangladesh lead Australia 2-0 in the five-match series.”Our pace bowlers made full use of the home advantage we have,” Afif said. “It was natural that our bowlers would bowl to a plan that is successful on these decks. But it needed backing up from the fielders too, which we received.”Mustafizur – who finished with an economy of 5.75 and the wickets of Josh Philippe, Matthew Wade and Ashton Agar – was also the beneficiary of praise from the opposite camp. Moises Henriques, who has played both with and against Mustafizur in the IPL, said that for Australia to put up better totals, it would be paramount to combat the sort of skill Mustafizur brings to games on slower surfaces.”Today Mustafizur showed how quickly he adapts,” Henriques said after the match. “He bowled 24 slower balls (laughs) and did not bowl anything pace on. He just summed up the conditions really well tonight.”The amount of revolutions he gets on the slower ball even on a good wicket is hard to play anyway, let alone on a surface like that. We need to find a way to combat that, and try and get as many runs as possible. It’s quite clear it’s not a 160 to 200 wicket, but we need to find a way to get to 140 or 150 whatever that might be.”

Roston Chase dismissed Dimuth Karunaratne late in the day, but not before another century opening stand

Andrew Fidel Fernando29-Nov-2021Pathum Nissanka breezed his way to a half-century, Dimuth Karunaratne fell eight short of a fifty that would have seen him equal a world record, and on a day in which rain washed out the first two sessions, Sri Lanka gained a significant advantage, moving to 113 for 1 in the 33.4 overs that were possible.Before Roston Chase caught-and-bowled Karunaratne late in the day, Sri Lanka’s openers had put on 106 runs in 31 overs – their second century stand in the series. Kemar Roach, returning for this game after having been left out in favour of Shannon Gabriel, was perhaps the best of West Indies’ bowlers, delivering six overs and conceding just 12. Sri Lanka’s batters were largely untroubled by the others.Nissanka was positive almost from the outset. He drilled a full Jason Holder ball down the ground for four to begin the second over, carved Roach past the slip cordon soon after, and although occasionally beaten by deliveries that jagged past his outside edge, was on a constant hunt for runs, moving to 20 off his first 30 balls. Karunaratne was typically conservative by comparison – defending and leaving the majority of deliveries he faced from the seamers, making just 4 from his first 30 deliveries.Eventually though, Holder and Roach wrapped up their spells, and batting seemed to get easier. Kyle Mayers was hit for three fours – twice through the leg side by Karunaratne – in his first two overs, the only two he bowled on the first day. Nissanka attempted to dominate the left-arm spin of Veerasammy Permaul, who was playing his first Test since 2015, coming down the track in Permaul’s second over to launch him into the sightscreen.Soon, Captain Kraigg Brathwaite had spinners bowling from both ends, and although they prompted the occasional mistake, the batters largely settled into a rhythm against them, with Nissanka scoring primarily through the off side, and Karunaratne favouring the leg side, as he often does. Nissanka got to fifty – his third in Tests, and second in the series – off the 74th ball he faced.Karunaratne’s dismissal came against the run of play. Earlier in that Chase over, he had played a late cut and a flick through midwicket, both of which went for four. But Chase found some rip off the last delivery of that over, and turned a ball more than the batter expected, which produced a return catch off the inside half of the bat as Karunaratne attempted to drive him down the ground.If he had got to fifty, Karunaratne would have made seven Test half-centuries in as many innings, a feat only six batters had accomplished. In any case, his last seven scores read 42, 83, 147, 66, 118, 244 and 75.Oshada Fernando survived ten balls before the players went off for bad light. Nissanka was 61 not out off 109 balls, his scoring rate having slowed as the light faded.