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Match Facts

June 14, 2017
Start time 10.30am local (0930 GMT)

Big Picture

To say that the Champions Trophy has reached its knockout stage would do a gross disservice to the journey back from oblivion that one of Wednesday’s contenders has already had to make.If you’d surveyed the wreckage around Edgbaston after Pakistan’s lamentable defeat against India in their opening Group B game, you would have seen a side living down to their ranking of No. 8 in the world, and beating a hasty path towards the first available flight to Lahore. Wahab Riaz’s bowling figures, Imad Wasim’s duck. The sea of resigned faces in the stands. Nothing about Pakistan’s performance left any room for hope at all. But now, just look at them go!A rain-affected win against South Africa was a huge step on the road to recovery, but let’s be frank. Not even “Chacha Pakistan” would have bet his best “If you look at the game we started well but, after Fakhar Zaman got out, we lost the momentum and then most of our dismissals were soft, which definitely is an area of concern for us.”

The Supreme Court-appointed Committee of Administrators (CoA) has made it clear that any attempted move by the BCCI office bearers and state associations to bring former board president N Srinivasan back into the fold would need the approval of the Supreme Court.The office bearers want to nominate Srinivasan as the BCCI representative for the crucial ICC Board meetings later this month in Dubai. A final decision is likely to be taken at the board’s special general body meeting (SGM) on April 9 in Delhi.Although Srinivasan has not made his thoughts public, he met the three existing BCCI office bearers in Hyderabad on Wednesday. This was just before the three men – Amitabh Choudhary (acting secretary), Anirudh Chaudhry (treasurer) and CK Khanna (acting president) – were headed to meet the CoA, led by Vinod Rai and Vikram Limaye. It is understood that Rai, the CoA chairman, told the three office bearers that members attending the SGM or any ICC meeting would need to comply with the eligibility criteria approved by the Supreme Court.Srinivasan fails the eligibility test on three main fronts. He is past the age cap of 70 years. He has also completed nine years as an office bearer both at the Tamil Nadu Cricket Association (TNCA) and the BCCI, which disqualifies him automatically. Srinivasan is also yet to resign as the president of the TNCA, thereby flouting the court judgement of July 2016, which had approved the Lodha Committee’s recommendations.However, in their meetings with the CoA, the office bearers pointed out that there were no restrictions on the states or BCCI appointing a representative to attend the ICC meetings.The CoA, on Thursday, said it would seek the court’s approval, but asked the BCCI members to adhere to the court order. “Members may kindly note that the Committee of Administrators has decided to seek appropriate directions from the Hon’ble Supreme Court on matters relating to eligibility for participating in any Special General Meeting or Annual General Meeting of the BCCI (both with reference to Members and their nominees/representatives) as well as eligibility for being appointed to represent the BCCI at the ICC.”Members are requested to consider the above issues and ensure that attendance and decisions at any Special General Meeting or Annual General Meeting of the BCCI is in compliance with the orders passed by the Hon’ble Supreme Court as well as all applicable norms, rules and regulations.”There have been murmurs in the past few weeks of Srinivasan making a return at the ICC Board, which was considered improbable after he was forced to step down as BCCI president by the Supreme Court in 2015.In its meetings on April 26 and 27, the ICC Board is expected to deliberate, and probably vote, on the various resolutions concerning the governance structure and the revenue distribution model. Last month, the CoA sent an expansive e-mail to the ICC elaborating on its differences on the various resolutions.Nonetheless, the BCCI office bearers and most state associations have been sceptical of the CoA’s accommodating attitude towards the ICC Board. The CoA has stressed that the BCCI ought to engage and not confront the other member boards. However, the office bearers are adamant that the BCCI could not afford to loosen its grip and certainly not come down on its share derived from the ICC’s broadcasting rights.These office bearers and the other members of the BCCI have strongly objected to the reformist drive put in place by ICC chairman Shashank Manohar, who was the board president until last April. To take on Manohar, the office bearers felt a strong opposing voice was necessary.Incidentally, in an order issued in February, the court had approved three names – Limaye, Choudhary and Chaudhry – who could attend the ICC meetings that took place couple of months ago. Choudhry attended the ICC chief executives committee meeting while Limaye sat in the Financial & Commercial Affairs as well as the ICC Board.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details1:10

Moonda: All eyes on Bavuma after Elgar

On 22 consecutive occasions, the captain winning the toss in New Zealand had opted to bowl. When South Africa were 22 for 3 on the opening day in Dunedin, Dean Elgar may have pondered if Faf du Plessis had picked the right time to end that run. But Elgar did more than most to make sure it worked out fine in the end as his seventh Test hundred carried South Africa to 229 for 4.The dominant stand of the day came between Elgar, who was dropped by BJ Watling on 36, and du Plessis as they added 126 for the fourth wicket before further consolidation alongside Temba Bavuma in a stand of 81 which survived the entire final session. However, New Zealand ensured the game did not run away from them, for the most part keeping a lid on the scoring, after making the surprise decision of selecting two frontline spinners.Elgar’s seventh Test century, and a third in his last seven outings, came from 197 balls including 20 boundaries which highlighted how focused he was on leaving and defending unless there was something on offer to attack. He has become one of the preeminent opening batsmen in the game, although his returns can fly under the radar. He was named Man of the Series against Sri Lanka in January and this innings took his average above 40 for the first time since his third Test (which was also against New Zealand) as he finished within two runs of a new career-best score.While Elgar’s recent returns mean this performance shouldn’t be unexpected, there was plenty at the start of the day which did confound expectation. Kane Williamson had put considerable faith in his luck with the coin changing after making the crunch decision to leave out vice-captain Tim Southee in favour of Jeetan Patel. But after losing all five tosses in the one-day series the run continued which meant bowling with an attack New Zealand would be more expected to field on the subcontinent than at home: it was the first time they had selected two specialist spinners at University Oval.Patel was bowling by the sixth over and conceded just eight runs in his first 10 overs to help New Zealand build and sustain pressure in the first session. There was certainly some grip for him and Mitchell Santner to suggest the selection call was not out of the realms of fantasy, but there were times when New Zealand felt a quick bowler light.There was nothing strange, however, in the manner of the early wickets. Stephen Cook’s defensive mindset led to him padding up against Trent Boult. Then Neil Wagner, on his home ground, produced a superb over at the start of his second spell. Firstly, he caught Hashim Amla flat-footed, after he had made 1 off 27 balls, with a full delivery which clattered into the stumps and then he switched to Wagner 101 mode with a brute of a short ball to bounce out JP Duminy.When you are a captain who was undecided what to do until moments before the toss, you are probably questioning your decision to bat when walking in at 22 for 3. But alongside Elgar, du Plessis took the sting out of the morning session. A penny for Southee’s thoughts as he saw the ball swinging but a spinner in operation.Neil Wagner’s double-strike in the 19th over sent back Hashim Amla and JP Duminy•AFP

The major moment of the day came off the first delivery of the second over after lunch when Elgar tickled Boult down the leg side but Watling could not gather the low catch. He did not offer another chance. As the fourth-wicket partnership bedded in, Williamson was left with the juggling act of not over-bowling Boult and Wagner. The way in which Elgar and du Plessis bided their time reinforced how they knew they could force Williamson’s hand and their reward was a period before tea which brought seven boundaries in 19 deliveries, although that was a rare period of brisk scoring.Du Plessis reached his fifty with a delightful drive off Santner before handing New Zealand a boost during an action-packed over against James Neesham who had been selected ahead of Colin de Grandhomme but not bowled until the 57th over. Clocking over 140kph, Neesham had du Plessis given lbw only for the decision to be overturned by the DRS due to a very thin edge (du Plessis initially reviewed for height, so thin was the nick). Three balls later there was no doubt, du Plessis pulling to Boult at deep midwicket ten minutes before tea in uncharacteristically careless fashion.It was an opening for New Zealand, especially with Bavuma coming off 21 runs in five innings against Sri Lanka, but while the bowling remained accurate it was difficult with the ageing ball. Elgar moved into the 90s with a neat skip down the pitch to loft Santner down the ground then reached three figures with a crunching pull through midwicket off Neesham.Bavuma took 20 balls to open his account but after a top-edged hook evaded long leg became more secure, surviving Wagner’s attempts to rough him up with the older ball. The new ball was taken and caused a few uneasy moments, but could not conjure the breakthrough New Zealand needed. There was much that went against history on the opening day of this series and though it’s too early to say how history will judge the match, South Africa will have ended highly satisfied with having hauled themselves out of the mire.

David Warner, who is likely to be among the batsmen impacted if the MCC’s proposal to limit bat sizes is passed into law, has said playing with a slimmer piece of willow would not to make too much of a difference to his game.”We’re just going to have to adapt to the changes,” Warner said on Saturday. “And, you know what, the ball’s still going to go the same distance, the ball will still go to the fence, and we’re still going to get our ones and twos, and the odd nick might not carry this time.”Warner’s T20 bat reportedly measures 85mm at its thickest part. Under the proposed rule, bats will be limited to a thickness of 67mm at the spine and 40mm at the edge.Warner reckoned that these limits would force a number of batsmen to trim down their bats. He said he had been to his bat-maker to have his bats checked by a gauge, and that even the bats from the start of his career did not go through it. He still reckoned he would cope with a slimmer bat, referencing the double-sided model he had used a few years ago in domestic T20 cricket.”I was down there previously, about six months ago, and I had a look, and we put a whole various range of bats, from when I started and a few other guys started, and I’m not sure if they were the correct measurements , but they weren’t going through the measurement thing they were doing,” he said. “But at the end of the day they’ve got to govern that as well.”For us, we’ve just got to use whatever the bat-maker brings us, but remember, I used a double-sized bat which wasn’t even 30 mils or 40 mils. I used that quite well as well.”

Cape Cobras earned their first points of this season’s Momentum Cup when half-centuries from Richard Levi and Omphile Ramela and four wickets from right-arm quick Jason Smith led them to a comprehensive 57-run win against Warriors in East London. Cobras marched to 319 for 6, with middle order contributions too, after opting to bat and dismissed Warriors for 262 with Yaseen Vallie unbeaten on a valiant 93.Cobras were given a strong platform with an opening stand of 118 in under 20 overs even though Ramela scored slowly – 58 from 96 balls. But Levi hammered 11 fours and a six in his 73 off 55 before he handed a return catch to Sisanda Magala. Ramela was run out just over 10 overs later even as Stiaan van Zyl chipped in with 44 and the middle and lower order saw useful contributions from Dane Vilas (46 off 35) , Smith (29 off 26), Aviwe Mgijima (21* off 15) and Vernon Philander (16* off 8).Cobras broke Warriors’ opening stand in the seventh over when Rory Kleinveldt removed JJ Smuts. Warriors struggled to stitch substantial partnerships after that until Vallie accompanied opener Gihahn Cloete in a 58-run fourth-wicket stand. Once Dane Piedt dismissed Cloete, Vallie held up one end but wickets kept falling around him. His unbeaten 93 off 96 balls was not enough, as all Cobras bowlers were among the wickets, led by Smith’s 4 for 38, and Warriors were bowled out in 44.2 overs.

Andhra coach Sanath Kumar has said he was surprised at spinners picking up 19 of the 20 wickets to fall on a Dhanbad surface that had a “lot of grass”. Goa left-arm spinner Shadab Jakati, on the other hand, said he expected the surface to offer turn, but not on the first day itself.Goa, sent in to bat, were shot out for 115, with left-arm spinner Bhargav Bhatt and debutant offspinner B Siddharth taking six and four wickets respectively. In response, Andhra, well placed at 100 for 3, were bowled out for 159 with Jakati taking career-best figures of 8 for 53. Andhra opener Srikar Bharat, who scored 68 off 67 balls, was the only batsman to pass 50 on either side.Only 13 overs of the 90 were bowled by seamers from both sides. “We thought it was initially going to be a seamer-friendly wicket,” Sanath told ESPNcricinfo. “We went with three seamers, and when we bowled the wicket was slow. Just to check the extent of moisture in the pitch, we bowled Bhargav and it started turning square. Then we continued with both the spinners.”We have never played here, so nobody had an idea. Everybody thought the first day will help the seamers and then it will be good for batting and probably will turn on the third and fourth day. Also, the practice wicket we played on was nice – there was a lot of bounce and it was coming on nicely.Jakati, who had a contrasting take on the practice pitches, said Goa would likely have batted first anyway had they won the toss, but admitted there was a bit of temptation to bowl because of the overcast conditions in the morning.”I am not really surprised by the pitch because the practice wickets were similar to this, and I have played on this ground before,” he said. “We knew batting fourth would be difficult on this wicket. The only thought in favour of bowling first was the conditions. We felt if you could play out those 45 minutes when the wicket was damp, it would have become good to bat on later. But, we didn’t expect it to turn straightaway from the eighth or ninth over.”Jakati, who felt the excessive turn may have been caused by a high proportion of sand in the surface, said batsmen may have contributed to their own downfall by playing from the crease. “If you are really good at stepping out and playing to the spinners, then it’s a challenge for the spinners,” he said. “If you stay in the crease, it’s difficult for the batsmen. Bharat played very positive cricket – anything short outside off stump, he was cutting, and any over-pitched ball he was trying to hit straight over the bowler’s head.”Both Sanath and Jakati said there wasn’t any variable bounce so far, but Sanath said it was hard to predict how the pitch would play hereon. “You don’t find any big marks [on the pitch]; there is evenly distributed grass, too. Just like that we won’t get fooled, no?” he laughed, clearly referring to how they misread the pitch. Jakati, meanwhile, underlined the importance of wiping out the deficit quickly. “A lead of 45 runs is obviously crucial on this type of a wicket, so hopefully we can first [wipe that out tomorrow]. If we can set them a target of around 140-150, then I feel we have a chance.”

Tom Latham saw his team-mates fall in all sorts of ways as he battled for nearly three hours and became the first New Zealand batsman to carry his bat in an ODI.While his more experienced colleagues crumbled once again during what has become an arduous tour of the subcontinent, Latham was firm in Dharamsala, where his half-century was the only resistance India faced until he was joined by two defiant lower-order batsmen. From 65 for 7, Latham first collaborated with Doug Bracewell to add 41 runs, and then Tim Southee smacked 55 off 45 balls – his maiden half-century in his 100th ODI – in a 71-run stand for the ninth wicket.New Zealand finished with 190, which was no where near enough to prevent them from going 0-1 down in the five-ODI series, having lost the Tests 0-3. Latham was the only New Zealand batsman to make more than one half-century during the Test series against India and he scored his unbeaten 79 in the first ODI in the same manner as his long-form runs.He either left or defended deliveries that moved outside off stump and accumulated his runs through 39 singles and three twos. With a few deliveries bowled from the College End stopping on the batsmen after landing on a good length, Latham played the ball late. His most productive stroke was the cover drive.As he began to run out of partners, Latham went after the legspinner Amit Mishra, hitting his seventh four and only six before Ish Sodhi’s dismissal made him the tenth batsman to carry his bat in an ODI.”As an opener you want to spend as much time out in the middle as possible,” Latham said after New Zealand’s six-wicket defeat. “Obviously, losing wickets at the other end dictated the way I could play and I couldn’t be as free as I wanted to be throughout the middle [overs], when I had to build a partnership towards the end with the tail. I suppose that’s the reason for batting the way I did in the middle and towards the end.”When Latham bats, especially when he plays the back-foot punch and the flick, he reminds you of Kumar Sangakkara, but he said he grew up idolising Michael Hussey. Like Hussey did, Latham sweeps powerfully and the stroke has brought him runs against the Indian spinners.”It is one of my favourite shots and it’s a shot that seems to work for me, especially in conditions where it’s slow and turning,” he said. “I find it an easier option than maybe hitting down the ground. Obviously I have to adapt to conditions and that’s a shot I like.”Latham said the Dharamsala pitch had offered variable bounce early on and that New Zealand could have adopted a better approach. “We know we weren’t quite there in all facets of the match, with the ball especially and in the field too. Hopefully we can change a few things in the next couple of days. When we play our best cricket we will beat most teams in the world.”He also defended New Zealand’s decision to rest fast bowlers Trent Boult and Matt Henry from the first ODI because of the workload they had in the Tests. Boult bowled 106.4 overs in three matches while Henry sent down 82 in two.”I think it’s important for our team that they rest and they are able to go in the next few matches,” Latham said. “It is pretty tough for the bowlers when they play every game, especially [after] the amount of overs they bowled in the Test series. Hopefully they are rested and recovered and when they do play they are ready to go.”

Leicestershire have announced the signing of Sharjeel Khan as an overseas player for the 2017 NatWest Blast season.Sharjeel, who is currently part of the Pakistan limited-overs squad in England, thrashed his maiden ODI century against Ireland recently (he reached his century in just 62 balls) and also made an impressive 58 from 30 balls against England at Trent Bridge.Leicestershire have previously announced that former Australia international Clint McKay will be their other overseas player in the NatWest Blast. They finished bottom of the North Group this season, with four wins, eight losses and two no-results from their 14 games. Sharjeel is expected to be available for the duration of the Blast campaign.”I am aware that there was keen interest from other counties, so I am delighted that we have managed to secure someone of Sharjeel’s ability for the duration of the 2017 NatWest T20 Blast campaign,” Leicestershire’s CEO Wasim Khan said: “He is a powerful hitter who will offer us another option as a T20 opener.””It has been an ambition of mine to play county cricket and I would like to thank Leicestershire for this great opportunity,” Sharjeel said. “A number of fine Pakistan batsmen have played for Leicestershire over the years including Shahid Afridi, Abdul Razzaq and Umar Akmal, and I’m pleased to be following in their footsteps.”

The BCCI has exempted Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals from paying the annual IPL franchise fee during their suspension period, between 2016 and 2017. It is understood that the board made the decision during its most recent working committee meeting in Delhi, and has agreed to return the first instalment of the fee paid by the franchises.While there was no comment forthcoming from the Royals camp, a Super Kings official confirmed that the two franchises have now withdrawn legal proceedings after the board opted to settle the matter out of court. After the board had insisted on the payment being made, Super Kings had contended that they need not pay the fee while they were not playing. However, it is learnt that the Super Kings paid the first instalment of around Rs 11 crore in protest, before filing a case in the Bombay High Court.”There is no need to pay the franchise fee when we are suspended,” the CSK official told ESPNcricinfo. “They will refund the franchise fee which we have paid so far [under protest]. We have already withdrawn the case from the Bombay High Court.”When they asked for the full and final [instalment] of payment, we approached the court for a stay and then we invoked the arbitration clause. Arbitrators were also in favour [of Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals], so they [BCCI] went for an out of court settlement.”The BCCI’s change of heart comes following a stand-off with the franchises over the matter for more than six months. Super Kings and Royals were suspended for two years in July 2015, following the corruption scandal in IPL 2013, and two new franchises inducted into the league in the interim.

Pakistan seamer Sohail Khan, who returned to Test cricket recently, has said that doing his homework on England batsmen had helped him reap rewards on the tour. Sohail first played in the third Test at Edgbaston, where he troubled England’s top order and took 5 for 96. He followed that with another five-for in the next Test at The Oval, where he was instrumental in limiting the top and middle order.”I had done my homework about their [England batsmen] strengths and weaknesses,” Sohail told . “All I did was bowl in the right areas. Of course, there were runs taken off me because they are fine players, but bowling a tight length reaped me a lot of success.”My aim was to bowl consistently at my line and length. I had told myself to not deviate from it and thankfully it paid off. The English batsmen don’t gift away their wickets. You have to think out of the box to get their scalp. Arriving in England a month ahead also helped me a lot to get acclimatised and understand the Duke ball better.”Before the tour of England, Sohail had last played a Test in 2011, in Zimbabwe, taking only one wicket in a match Pakistan won by seven wickets. After almost a five-year hiatus, Sohail was drafted into the Test XI at Edgbaston in place of Wahab Riaz, with the series level 1-1. He broke the opening partnership by having Alex Hales caught behind and also got the big wicket of Joe Root, for 3, by inducing an outside edge. He took the last wicket of the innings – that of James Anderson – as England were all out for 297.During the long day in which he bowled 23 overs, Sohail hit fuller lengths for lateral movement and said he was not tired though there had been questions over his fitness.”I wasn’t tired at all,” he said. “I was bowling with the new ball. In English conditions you need to give more air to the ball so it can swing. It is all about the understanding of the game. Bowling is not only about hammering short-pitched balls at the batsmen or generating pace. It is about varying your pace according to the situation.”To further prove his fitness levels, Sohail celebrated his five-for on return with a set of push-ups, a trend his captain Misbah-ul-Haq started after scoring a century at Lord’s.”The push-ups I did (with a clap in between) were hard and not everyone can do them. I wanted to prove my fitness to the world that even after bowling long spells, I could still go on.”After Pakistan lost at Edgbaston by 141 runs, Sohail took 5 for 68 in the last Test at The Oval to finish the series with 13 wickets at an average of 25 and strike rate of 40.4. His performance helped Pakistan win the fourth Test by ten wickets and level the series 2-2.Sohail had taken five wickets on his ODI return too – against India in the World Cup last year – dismissing Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Suresh Raina, MS Dhoni and Ajinkya Rahane.Sohail, however, did not want to settle for just bowling rewards. He said he wanted to become an allrounder. “I am working on my batting these days. I aim to become a successful allrounder since modern-day cricket demands from a player to be on top in all facets of the game. I have also been scoring runs in the domestic circuit.”