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Pakistan overcame a deficit of 421 but South Africa’s target of 58 was little more than a formality

Danyal Rasool06-Jan-2025South Africa marked their qualification for the WTC final in style, romping to a ten-wicket win over Pakistan. It is their seventh successive Test win, and came after two and a half days of toil with the ball before they finally prised Pakistan out for 478 in the third innings. A valiant century from Pakistan captain Shan Masood and numerous other contributions forced South Africa to bat again as the visitors overcame the second-highest first-innings deficit in Test history. However, the target – 58 – was little more than a formality, and South Africa took 7.1 overs to knock it off.But Pakistan made them wait for the win. When South Africa enforced the follow-on leading by 421 on Sunday afternoon, they did not anticipate having to bowl another 122.1 overs. Masood, unbeaten overnight on 102, carried on and tried to rebuild after a mammoth 205-run opening stand with Babar Azam. South Africa were frustrated for large parts of the day, most notably during an 88-run stand between Mohammad Rizwan and Salman Agha in the afternoon. But Keshav Maharaj, who had been denied for most of the day, found the breakthrough, and regular wickets after that ensured a finish was on in the late-evening sunshine.Related

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Earlier in the day, Marco Jansen got nightwatcher Khurram Shahzad out early on before Rabada cleaned up Kamran Ghulam. Maharaj more or less bowled through the entire session, interrupted only when he switched ends at one point. His variations in pace and flight, as well as a ball that continued to turn, posed the most significant threat to the batters, but the wickets came to pace.Shahzad had done his job and never quite looked equipped to carry on too long. When a length ball from Jansen grew too big on him, he chipped it straight to Maharaj at point. Ghulam never quite appeared to settle, keeping the slip cordon interested throughout his innings. He should have been on his way without scoring when, in the same over as Shahzad fell, he slashed at a wide one but it burst through David Bedingham’s hands at first slip.Kyle Verreynne celebrates the key wicket of Mohammad Rizwan•AFP/Getty Images

That wicket was always coming though. Rabada’s increasing frustration at his wicketlessness and general indiscipline – he bowled another four no-balls this morning – was mounting. Just after overstepping, he found a beauty that nipped back off the seam into Ghulam, pegging back his middle stump. It was an excellent way to bring up his 50th Test wicket at Newlands, with the roar that followed it making clear how much it meant to him.Saud Shakeel and Masood continued to make South Africa work for each scalp, and yet South Africa could have had one more before lunch. Kwena Maphaka squared Shakeel up with a lovely delivery that straightened as it hit the pad, only for South Africa to opt against a review. As Shakeel received extensive treatment for the blow, Hawk-Eye showed it was hitting leg stump.Masood’s vigil at the crease ended in somewhat contentious circumstances. Maphaka got one to shape away off the seam that kept low before cannoning into the batter’s front pad. Umpire Nitin Menon felt it was missing off stump, but when South Africa reviewed, Hawk-Eye showed it hitting. It prompted a furious response from Masood, whose protests continued all the way along his slow walk off the crease and into the dressing room.It capped a bright first hour post lunch for South Africa. Shakeel had been dispensed with shortly after play resumed in much the same way he fell in the first innings: nicking off into the slips while drove at Rabada. With Masood departing, there was a danger Pakistan might crumple in a heap, as they have tended to recently.David Bedingham made short work of South Africa’s victory target•AFP/Getty Images

But Agha and Rizwan rebuilt once more. They wore off the sheen of the second new ball and kept the strike turning over. There were just three fours in the first 55 runs of the partnership as Pakistan looked to milk the tiring bowlers, but when Mulder erred, Agha was quick to put him away for two fours in three balls.The two carried on as Pakistan wiped out the deficit, but soon Rizwan chipped Maharaj to short cover, precisely where Bavuma had placed a fielder for the shot, and South African nerves began to loosen once again.Agha, having been reprieved by DRS, fell quickly after – two runs shy of his half-century – when a Maharaj delivery ripped and bounced, drawing a sharp catch for Aiden Markram in the slips. Mir Hamza came out and had a bit of fun, including a heave back over the bowler’s head for the only six of the innings. But it wasn’t built to last. Aamer Jamal reverse-swept Maharaj to slip before Rabada wrapped the innings up, and Bedingham and Markram sprinted off the field.Six years ago, at this very ground, Pakistan’s third innings ended on the third evening, with South Africa needing 41 to wrap the series up. Stumps were called, with the game concluding on the fourth morning.This time around, the South Africa openers did not let the match go into the next day. Bedingham provided a shot in the arm with an eye-catching little knock – an unbeaten 47 off 30 – that ensured it took South Africa just 43 balls to seal a win that, despite a very long wait in the field, was ultimately routine.

Afghanistan captain believes his team is “far better” at playing spin than what they showed against Bangladesh

Sidharth Monga10-Oct-2023Afghanistan may have been undone by the Bangladesh spinners in their first match of this World Cup, losing six wickets to them for 62 runs in 18 overs, but they are not overly worried about facing spin against India, whose spinners got the better of Australia in their tournament opener.”You know, we play better spin in the nets sessions,” Hashmatullah Shahidi, their captain, said when asked what the conversation has been around playing a spin trio even better than the Bangladesh spinners.Shahidi probably meant they play high-quality spinners in the nets and not necessarily better ones than India or Bangladesh, but even if he did indeed mean Afghanistan’s spinners are better, it is not a claim to be summarily dismissed.Related

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“If you see Rashid [Khan], Nabi [Mohammad], Noor [Ahmad] and Mujeeb [Ur Rahman], we play them every day,” Shahidi said. “I think our team is far, far better [than what it showed against Bangladesh in Dharamsala] at playing spin bowling. That game we know we struggled, but [based on] one game, you can’t say you’re not good enough. That game is gone now, and we know we can play spinners better and we’ll try to come back in next game.”Also, looking at the conditions at Feroz Shah Kotla for its first match of the tournament, there might not be much turn on offer for the spinners. It was a true pitch with good bounce, which yielded the highest World Cup team score, the quickest World Cup century and a 300-plus effort from Sri Lanka in response. It won’t be a surprise if India play Shardul Thakur in R Ashwin’s place.However, Shahidi did say the batters needed to do better. “We have a good spin-bowling attack, but only one department can’t win you games,” he said. “You have to score runs for that, to win the game. I still believe, and as a team we have that belief, that we can come back in the next game and throughout the tournament, so the belief is there and the talent is there and we will try to move on and make it better and improve in tomorrow’s game.”As a team, the important thing is, when you lose [the sense of] how to deal with that situation. For me and for everyone, it’s the important thing. But still, it’s a long tournament. That game is gone from us. Now we are thinking and moving forward and the morale is still not down. We are looking forward to the other games. We have chances to win, and that’s [the feeling] inside the dressing room.”

A fourth side, from South Africa, is expected to take part in the tournament, to be held in September

Sreshth Shah23-Jul-2022An Indian team is set to go up against a Pakistan team come September, away in Namibia. Around the time the Asia Cup takes place – most likely in the UAE – Cricket Namibia will host the four-team Global T20 Namibia series, with Bengal [from India], a representative Lahore Qalandars side [from Pakistan], and a South African domestic side.Bengal have confirmed their participation, and Qalandars have agreed in principle, with a South African side likely to be named soon. ESPNcricinfo understands that some logistical niggles need ironing out before the final go-ahead.On Friday, Bengal named a 16-man team for the tournament. Abhimanyu Easwaran will be at the helm, and a number of other regulars – Shahbaz Ahmed, Ishan Porel, Mukesh Kumar, Akash Deep, Writtick Chatterjee, among others – are included, with some fresh faces too.The opportunity to play against a team that will be taking part in the 2022 T20 World Cup would be priceless for the Bengal players, Debabrata Das, Cricket Association of Bengal joint secretary, said.”The broadcasters for the tournament came before our president [Avishek Dalmiya] and invited us. We took the opportunity to play six-seven games before the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy [India’s domestic T20 tournament for men], because we can get to play against a World Cup team,” Das told ESPNcricinfo. “The ambition is that there are several young players who are playing in local cricket in Bengal and performing fantastically with respect to T20s. So we are sending mostly those young guys so that we can make our team for the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy.Namibia are grouped with Sri Lanka, Netherlands and UAE in the first round of the 2022 T20 World Cup•ICC via Getty

“The team we are sending abroad, this is a new team. We want to see how they play, how they tackle this tournament.”For Namibia, it will be a chance to finetune their preparations for the T20 World Cup, to be held in Australia in October-November. At the 2021 T20 World Cup in the UAE, Namibia finished fifth in Group 2 after making it from the preliminary round to the Super 12 stage. Namibia will play an ODI tri-series in Papua New Guinea after this T20 tournament before leaving for Australia, where they are grouped with Sri Lanka, Netherlands and UAE in the first round.There has been very little representative cricket between domestic sides from India and Pakistan in recent years.The last occasion was in the 2014 Champions League T20, when Lahore Lions played against Kolkata Knight Riders, a game that featured Mohammad Hafeez, Wahab Riaz, Umar Akmal, Gautam Gambhir, Robin Uthappa and Suryakumar Yadav.Prior to that, between 2006 and 2008, the Nissar Trophy – a four-day first-class competition between the winners of the Ranji Trophy and the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy – was played. But the competition was scrapped after three editions.

“If I am not selected, I will take BCB’s advice,” says pacer who was picked up by Rajasthan Royals in the 2021 auction

ESPNcricinfo staff23-Feb-2021Mustafizur Rahman has said that he will be available for Bangladesh’s two-match Test series against Sri Lanka in April, if selected. Rahman had been picked up by the Rajasthan Royals in the IPL 2021 auction for his base price of INR 1 crore, and the tournament is expected to clash with the Sri Lanka series.Both Tests that the two teams are scheduled to play are part of the World Test Championship, and they will also play an ODI Super League series in May.Related

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With the Bangladesh Cricket Board having allowed Shakib Al Hasan to miss the Tests against Sri Lanka after he had requested to be allowed to do so, there was speculation about whether Rahman, too, would follow suit. However, Rahman said he was putting his Bangladesh commitments ahead of his IPL ones.”Country comes first for me. I will play Tests if the team management selects me,” Rahman told reporters on Tuesday, shortly before Bangladesh were to depart for New Zealand for a white-ball tour.”If I am not selected, I will take BCB’s advice. I spoke to the BCB president, who has left the decision to me. If they let me play the IPL I will, otherwise I am choosing to play for the country.”Shakib’s decision also led to the BCB saying they would add clauses in central contracts where players would have to specify their availability.Rahman was part of the XI for the first Test of Bangladesh’s recent series against West Indies and not the second. He has played only 14 Tests in all since making his debut in mid-2015 – less than half of the 30 Tests Bangladesh have played in the same period. Consequently, his selection for the Test squad is not a given, unlike Shakib’s.However, the BCB hadn’t given Rahman an NOC for last year’s IPL. Two years before that, he was reprimanded by the board for not reporting an injury he picked up in IPL 2018, while playing for Mumbai Indians.”There’s no pressure to play in the IPL or for Bangladesh,” Rahman said. “It is not new for me. I have forgone IPL in the past to play for the country. I am thinking along similar lines this time too.”.In his last IPL stint, Rahman played for Mumbai in 2018, taking seven wickets in seven matches at an average of 32.85 and an economy rate of 8.36. He had much more success with Sunrisers Hyderabad in the previous two seasons, although he featured in just one game in 2017. In 17 matches for Sunrisers overall, he collected 17 wickets at 26.16 and an economy rate of 7.14 – his figures somewhat spoiled by his solitary outing in 2017 in which he bowled 2.4 overs for 34 runs without picking up a wicket.

AB de Villiers will not lead the team at MSL 2019, with coach Mark Boucher saying the veteran doesn’t need that burden

ESPNcricinfo staff05-Nov-2019Heinrich Klaasen, appointed captain of Tshwane Spartans by head coach Mark Boucher, expects the contingent of home-grown players to give his squad an advantage at the upcoming Mzansi Super League.Klaasen, who turned out for Titans in the CSA’s 4-Day Franchise Series in late October after returning from India, where he made his Test debut, joked, “I had a conversation with Boucher, he said I got fired from the previous job (as Titans captain), so I can get a chance here. I’m looking forward to this, especially with guys who have heaps of experience around the world.

Tshwane Spartans squad

Heinrich Klaasen (capt), AB de Villiers, Tom Curran, Lungi Ngidi, Theunis de Bruyn, Lutho Sipamla, Tony de Zorzi, Morné Morkel, Heinrich Klaasen, Roelof van der Merwe, Pite van Biljon, Waqar Salamkheil, Dean Elgar, Wiaan Mulder, Vaughn van Jaarsveld, Corbin Bosch

“I’m quite a relaxed captain. I try to get everyone’s point of view. Everyone has different ideas, so it’s always been my way.”Klaasen captained Titans with some success, even winning the 4-Day title in 2017-18, but with South Africa using him in all three formats in recent times, Titans turned to Grant Thompson to lead them.Last year, Klaasen played for Durban Heat, but playing for the Spartans means playing with many players who have intimate knowledge of SuperSport Park.”There’s a lot of old Titans players like Roelof van der Merwe and Morne Morkel,” he pointed out. “The characters and quality of players we have is unbelievable. It’s going to be good fun and hard cricket.”AB de Villiers is part of the set up, as are current Titans players Lungi Ngidi, Dean Elgar and Tony de Zorzi. “There are a few warm-up games, for us to find our feet, to get to know each other, it’s a good and exciting season ahead,” Klaasen said.‘Don’t think AB needs that burden’De Villiers was the captain of the team last year, but Boucher explained that the team was happy to have him in their midst as just a player.”AB won’t be captain, we’ve discussed that,” Boucher was quoted as saying on the MSL website a day before announcing Klaasen as the team leader. “He’s a fantastic player but he must go out there and play and perform like he’s been performing in the last while.”I don’t think AB needs that burden, he’s in that stage of his life where he must enjoy his cricket and that’s probably when he plays his best.”

Mumbai captain lauded his team’s consistency throughout the tournament and credited their relationship on and off the field as the main reason for success

Saurabh Somani20-Oct-2018Before the tournament final on Saturday, Siddhesh Lad had batted only five times in the Vijay Hazare Trophy this face, facing 124 balls and staying unbeaten thrice. Aditya Tare had batted only four times, staying not out twice and facing a total of 48 balls.This is not surprising because Mumbai’s top order featured Shreyas Iyer, Prithvi Shaw, Ajinkya Rahane at various times, and even Rohit Sharma for a couple of matches. They either finished off games quickly, leaving little work for the lower middle-order, or simply batted through. Against a Navdeep Saini-inspired Delhi in the final though, Mumbai found themselves 40 for 4 in the eighth over, with the 177-run target suddenly looking a lot more troublesome than it ever had. Tare and Lad were in the position of stage prompters who have suddenly been thrust in the starring role because the protagonists’ no-show on the big night.They responded with a 105-run partnership in 23 overs that knocked the wind out of Delhi’s defiance. Tare got 71 off 89, an incredible 58 runs coming from boundaries. Lad made 48 off 68, and looked more measured than Tare but just as reassuringly solid for Mumbai.”Amazing is the one word,” gushed Iyer after the four-wicket win. “The consistency which we have shown in the tournament has been brilliant from the first match. The lower order batsmen hardly got a chance to bat, and today when they got an opportunity, they showed what they are made of. Everybody in our team can bat and bowl. We are a perfect team, and that is why we have won.”They are batsmen who have performed previously in pressure situations,” added Iyer. “We believed in them because we knew that they would finish off the game. Ajinkya [Rahane] and I were chatting and said they would win us the game.”The feature of the Tare-Lad stand was how they counter-attacked, despite having lost important wickets. Iyer said that was the strategy that made most sense, given the attacking fields Gautam Gambhir had employed.”We (the top order) were also doing the same, but we got out,” Iyer said. “We had to play that way as they had put an attacking field. If we got bogged down, they would have been on top. You never know, we might have lost five-six wickets and the match would have been sealed (in Delhi’s favour). But our team were going at six runs per over, which was a positive sign for us. We just knew that they (Tare and Lad) had to play out this phase. Delhi did not have a fifth bowler with [Pawan] Negi having got injured as well.”Mumbai’s bowling attack has been the unheralded champion of their campaign. The batting had drawn the most eyeballs, but match after match, the bowlers stepped up too. “Our bowling has improved really well,” Iyer agreed. “Since the batting has been really strong through the league phase, it was a bit of a worry for us how our bowling unit would perform. But they lived up to expectations. We had planned how we would go up against each batsman, and they really executed plans really well. Not only against Delhi but also against other teams. I wasn’t there in a few matches, Ajinkya wasn’t there, and Dhawal [Kulkarni] was leading and we defended a good total against Punjab. From there on, we got the momentum. They (the bowlers) have been really focused and motivated since the start of the league phase, and they wanted to do something good for the team.”While most teams stress on reducing the pressure before big games, harping on the ‘treat-it-as-another-game’ byword, Mumbai chose to do the opposite.”We decided yesterday that we’ll play this match as a final and not as just another match,” Iyer said. “Right from the toss, it went with me and I gained momentum from there onwards. We were a little bit confused when we saw the wicket and couldn’t analyse how it would play. The best chance was to bowl first and everything went really well until we came on to bat.”What sets us apart is that all of us gel together really well. Even off the field, we stay together, cherish each other, play around with a little bit of pranks and fun. This is what the team is made up of.”

The England opener had 94 off 29 deliveries when he aimed for his 10th six that would be equalled the record for a 30-ball T20 century

ECB Reporters Network05-Aug-2017
Alex Hales’ barnstorming white-ball form continued•Getty Images

A brutal display of ball-striking from Alex Hales powered the Notts Outlaws to a convincing victory over Durham Jets in the NatWest T20 Blast competition.The England international, who scored an unbeaten 187 to help his county win the Royal London One-Day Cup final a month ago, clubbed nine fours and nine sixes in a stunning innings of 95, made from just 30 deliveries.West Indies’ star Chris Gayle holds the record for the fastest individual T20 century of all-time, getting to the landmark from only 30 balls and Hales could have equalled it but his mighty assault off James Weighell sliced high into the Nottingham sky and then down into the waiting gloves of wicketkeeper Stuart Poynter.”I knew there was a chance to go for the quickest T20 century of all-time and you don’t get those opportunities very often,” Hales said. “I love batting at Trent Bridge, for me it is utter paradise, the wickets are great and there are some short boundaries, so I knew there was a chance of doing it.It’s a special feeling to play here and to get so many in the Powerplay overs with Riki. As a team we’ve got real momentum at the moment and hopefully we can keep it going.”Riki Wessels made an undefeated 41 to ensure that Hales’ work didn’t go unrewarded, although there was a clatter of wickets before the home side got over the line to chase down a target of 184 and complete a five-wicket win with 37 balls remaining.

A record-breaking chase

106 Runs scored by Nottinghamshire Outlaws in the Powerplay against Durham Jets – Most runs ever scored in the Powerplay in T20s where ball-by-ball data is available. They broke the record set by Kolkata Knight Riders who scored 105 against Royal Challengers Bangalore earlier this year in the Indian Premier League.
19 Balls taken by Alex Hales to reach his fifty. This is the second time this season he has scored a fifty in 19 balls or fewer. He reached his 50 in 18 balls against Yorkshire.
13.30 Run rate at which the Notts Outlaws chased down the target of 183 set by Durham – second-highest in all T20s where the target was above 150. Netherlands chased 189 in 13.5 overs at 13.95 runs per over which remains the best.
9.63 Average run rate at Trent Bridge since the start of 2016 – highest for any ground that has hosted more than 10 T20s. The ground has a strike rate of 153.09 in the same period which is also the highest.

Durham had earlier scored 183 for 7, after being asked to bat first, with Michael Richardson top-scoring with 53 and Paul Coughlin was left undefeated on 42 from 25 deliveries. Pace off the ball proved beneficial for the home attack, with Samit Patel taking 2 for 23 and both Steven Mullaney and Ish Sodhi also picked up two wickets.The Outlaws’ run chase began in highly dramatic circumstances, with Durham suddenly finding themselves two bowlers short.Thirteen runs, including a six from Hales, came from Weighell’s opening over of the innings but it was the next over that produced a flurry of incidents, with three different bowlers needed to complete the set of six.Usman Arshad was ordered out of the attack after sending down two waist-high full tosses. Coughlin took over and went for two fours and a six before he had to leave the field after being struck on the hand by a blow from Hales. Jack Burnham completed the over with a dot ball.Hales and Wessels brought up the team 50 in only 3.2 overs but only five more balls were bowled before a short shower sent the players off the field.The break seemed to re-invigorate the opener as Hales powered his next three balls to the ropes, to leave the total on 78 without loss after five overs.Ryan Pringle came in for extreme punishment as Hales then took 28 off the next over, passing his 50 from just 19 balls, with seven fours and three sixes. The board read 106-0 at the end of the sixth over, a world record for the Powerplay overs.No bowler was spared, although Cameron Steel put down a bullet of a caught and bowled chance when the international was on 82. Typically, the next two balls disappeared out of the ground.Once Hales had departed mayhem set in. Both Tom Moores and Mullaney departed to the first ball they faced and Christian only made 10, with Steel getting his first two wickets in the format – but at a personal cost of 60 runs.Patel made 26 but fell to Brydon Carse when only four runs were needed, leaving Wessels and Brendan Taylor to take the Outlaws over the finishing line.Earlier in the day, Durham were put under pressure from the very start of their innings when Graham Clark was bowled in the first over by Patel.Richardson and Steel began to re-build the innings with a stand of 54 but Mullaney separated them as soon as he came into the attack. The first delivery sent down by the medium-pacer was helped out by Steel, straight into the safe hands of Hales at deep midwicket.Burnham was bowled by Sodhi for 1 and Gareth Harte, in for the resting Paul Collngwood, lofted Mullaney out to Taylor at deep cover.The visitors had slid from 57 for 1 to 68 for 4 but then had around 15 minutes to regroup after a sudden shower sent the players scurrying back to the dressing rooms.Upon the resumption Richardson went on to reach his 50 from 37 balls but hit all around a Patel delivery and was bowled.Sodhi removed Stuart Poynter but an eighth wicket stand of 52 between Coughlin and Ryan Pringle, who made 25, helped the Jets towards a competitive total.Overthrows helped the Jets take 21 from the final over, with Ball’s last delivery being scooped over his own head for six by Coughlin.
Durham’s defeat was their eighth in 10 matches, whilst the Outlaws now top the North Group table, despite having lost their first two matches in the competition.

Mustafizur Rahman is set to leave Dhaka on July 13 to finally join Sussex for his first county stint

Mohammad Isam01-Jul-2016Mustafizur Rahman is set to leave Dhaka on July 13 to finally join Sussex for his first county stint. He will be available for four matches each in the NatWest T20 Blast and the Royal London One-Day Cup.BCB’s media committee chairman Jalal Yunus said Mustafizur’s medical report was positive and he was expecting the UK visa imminently. Mustafizur was recovering from multiple injuries to his right leg, which he sustained during the IPL.”Our medical team gave positive report about his physical condition,” Yunus told . “He is doing fine in training at the moment and we expect him to improve. He will leave for England on July 13 subject to the availability of visa.”Mustafizur’s first match is likely to be Sussex’s home T20 game against Hampshire on July 15. He will be with his new team till at least August 2, when the league stage of the one-day competition ends, and will also be around if they make it to the knockout stages of both tournaments.”I feel better than I was after I came to Dhaka from the IPL. I can bowl now, which I wasn’t able to previously,” Mustafizur said. “It would be good to go to Sussex. I will try to give my best there. I have played one Under-19 game in England in 2013 but had to return home soon after due to an injury.”His arrival will end Sussex’s frustration about his delay, for which they have had to hire David Weise and lately Nuwan Kulasekara as their overseas players.