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Stephen Parry’s 5-13 routed Worcestershire for 53 as Lancashire stunned one of the pacemakers in the North Group of the NatWest Blast

Paul Edwards at Old Trafford24-Jun-2016
ScorecardStephen Parry wrecked Worcestershire with five wickets [file picture]•Getty Images

“Democracy,” wrote HL Mencken, “is the theory that the common people know what they want, and deserve to get it good and hard.” A modern sensibility might recoil from the aphorism’s vulgar reference but Mencken’s sardonic wit has its applications. To judge from their roars many in the crowd at a T20 match show up because “what they want” is to see cricket balls hit “good and hard” and long and often.Yet the spectators’ appreciation of the skills on show at a short-form game is becoming ever more sophisticated. This was particularly fortunate at Old Trafford on Friday evening because a mere eight fours were struck in a quite bizarre contest which lasted 33.5 overs. And even those statistics do not do justice to the full lunacy of Lancashire Lightning’s 96-run win over Worcestershire Rapids.For while the home side batted their full allocation to make 149 for 5 with Alviro Petersen’s unbeaten 68 representing his first T20 half-century for Lancashire, Daryl Mitchell’s men were hustled out in 83 legitimate deliveries for a paltry 53, their lowest short-form score. It was Lancashire’s second biggest victory in this format.Moreover, slow left-armer Stephen Parry returned his county’s best T20 bowling figures of 5 for 13, taking three wickets in four balls as the Rapids’ later batsmen made lemmings seem cautious. Three were caught in the deep and Ed Barnard was the last man to go, attempting to reverse sweep Arron Lilley. Jack Shantry ran out of partners yet again. There were tears before bedtime across the Malverns.Yet there was also interesting strategy behind the remarkable facts of the game. Steve Rhodes, Worcestershire’s director of cricket, did not spare his top order batsmen from criticism after the game but he also accepted that he and probably by inference his skipper, Mitchell, too, had erred both in not playing another slow bowler and in not opting to bat when they won the toss.”I sat there watching it and thinking we’ve done this wrong, we should have batted first,” said the admirably candid Rhodes. “But we all made mistakes and that was a mistake. We didn’t read the pitch as well as we could. We thought it looked dry and had the potential to take spin and we did think about changing our side but we didn’t and that was a mistake. But let’s take nothing away from Lancashire, they are the current T20 champions and they outbowled, outbatted and outfielded us in every respect. The disappointing thing for me was the way we keeled over.”That rapid subsidence began with the first ball of Worcestershire’s innings when Nathan Buck had Tom Kohler-Cadmore caught at the wicket after he apparently gloved a leg side catch to Tom Moores, who was playing his first game of county cricket after agreeing his one-month loan spell from Nottinghamshire.Moores later added another leg side catch and, indeed, a leg side stumping off Parry to his tally of victims. He was busy and competent and so must think the county game a fine way to spend your time. The first batsman he removed was not so cheery. It was confirmed that Kohler-Cadmore really didn’t think he’d gloved the ball. So KC was hardly a member of the sunshine band as he trooped off.That wicket began a slide which only gathered pace. Bowling with speed and accuracy and extracting good lift from the Old Trafford wicket, Buck also removed both Mitchell and Joe Clarke in a three-over spell which cost 12 runs. Then Parry more or less took over, bouncing to the wicket with good rhythm and taking wickets with the gleeful delight of a man who keeps feeding a fruit machine which is stuck on three triple bars. Worcestershire hit three fours in their innings and only Brett D’Oliveira got to double figures. The Worcestershire boys were, as they say, not that happy.Yet Lancashire’s innings had hardly been a run-stuffed idyll. Petersen’s innings included a four and a couple of sixes and Liam Livingstone deposited successive balls from Barnard over the ropes before falling leg before to D’Oliveira for 28. All the Worcestershire seamers stuck to tight lines and there was plenty of debate in the mid-innings break as to the match-winning merit of 149 for 5. Such discussions were stilled early in the second half of the contest.

Umesh Yadav said bowling maidens has been a central part of their plans for the tour, given the predominance of slow pitches in the Caribbean

ESPNcricinfo staff24-Jul-20161:47

Shami and I have excellent chemistry – Umesh

Of the 103.2 overs India have bowled to West Indies so far in the Antigua Test, 34 have been maidens. Umesh Yadav, who took four wickets in the first innings to help India enforce the follow-on, said bowling maidens has been a central part of their plans for the tour, given the predominance of slow pitches in the Caribbean.”When we came to the ground and saw the wicket, we realised we won’t get wickets where the ball will seam or swing,” Umesh said, at the end of the third day’s play. “We knew the conditions would be pretty hard, especially because it was going to be hot as well.”The main thing we planned was to bowl as many maidens as possible, and not give easy boundaries. Whether it’s the coach [Anil Kumble] or Virat [Kohli, the captain], the whole team sits and discusses the same thing, that it won’t be easy to take 20 wickets, and so it becomes very important to plan. And it can’t end there. If it’s said in the meeting that we have to bowl maidens, then we have to bowl maidens, because we know we won’t take 20 wickets otherwise.”India’s bowlers, according to Umesh, made a conscious effort to not relax after their batsmen had piled up 566 in the first innings. “We don’t look at it like we have 566,” he said. “We look at it like we have only made 350, and the earlier we bowl them out, the better it is for us in the second innings. Our effort was that, if we got them out by the end of today, we would have two more days to bowl them out again.”India went into the Test with three genuine fast bowlers, and five frontline bowlers in all, and Umesh praised the chemistry among them.”We always give that kind of confidence to each other, always we are pushing [each other],” he said. “Whenever things are a little difficult, we need to push our friend or team-mate a little bit, and lift them. When we see, for example, that [Mohammed] Shami is bowling very well but he’s not getting wickets, my job is, I go to him and say, “Shami, you’re bowling very well, keep going.” Because I know that if someone is bowling well from one end, then it helps the person at the second end, so if we don’t plan and bowl as a combination, it becomes difficult for us. Main thing is, you push each other and complement each other, and recognise that, “yeah, it’s not my day today [to take wickets], it’s your day”.Shami, playing his first Test in over a year-and-a-half after returning from a long-term knee injury, also took four wickets in West Indies’ first innings. Umesh said the team never doubted whether Shami would come back successfully.”There was no doubt about it, because he’s a natural bowler. We never thought he’ll struggle. If he struggled, it was only until he had recovered from his injury. No one has to tell him, bowl here, bowl like this. He’s a smart bowler, he’s got everything – outswing, inswing, bouncers.”

Steven Finn has admitted enduring the most frustrating period of his career after a hamstring injury ruled him out of the one-day series against Pakistan

Andrew McGlashan16-Aug-2016Steven Finn has admitted enduring the most frustrating period of his career after a hamstring injury ruled him out of the one-day series against Pakistan.Finn has been sidelined for four weeks after tearing his hamstring during Pakistan’s brief second-innings chase at The Oval. While he hopes to play again for Middlesex before the end of the season – in what could be a County Championship winning campaign – it caps a difficult period for him where his standing in the England side has slipped.”This has been the most frustrating nine months of my career so far. But, will come out the other side of this latest setback stronger for it,” Finn tweeted following confirmation of his latest layoff.Finn flew home from last year’s tour of the UAE to face Pakistan with a foot injury before returning to be the most consistent of England’s quicks at the start of the Test series against South Africa. However, his troublesome 2016 then took hold when he picked up a side strain in the Johannesburg Test and, during his recovery from that, suffered a calf injury which, much to Finn’s frustration, ruled him out of the World T20.Finn made his belief that he was fit for the World T20 known, which led to a mild ticking off from the England management, and head coach Trevor Bayliss encouraged him to channel those frustrations into success in the middle at the start of the home season.However, Finn was short of his best in the Test series against Sri Lanka, although he managed seven wickets at 28.14, before not playing a part in the following one-day series.Against Pakistan, he endured his first wicketless Test in the opening match at Lord’s and was omitted at Old Trafford. He returned at Edgbaston and in the second innings made a crucial contribution with the wickets of Misbah-ul-Haq and Sami Aslam during England’s victory push. At The Oval, though, he finished with 3 for 110 to end the series with five wickets at 70.40 – plus a torn a hamstring.Finn’s place in the one-day squad has gone to Durham’s Mark Wood after his successful return from injury.

In Jos Buttler, who has accepted the one-day captaincy on a locum basis, England seem to have a sensitive and thoughtful leader for the challenges to come in Bangladesh

Alan Gardner29-Sep-2016England’s tour of Bangladesh, with its attendant security concerns resulting in the absence of the ODI side’s captain and first-choice opener, is one that requires handling sensitively. In Jos Buttler, who has accepted the captaincy on a locum basis, they seem to have as sensitive and thoughtful a leader as there is among the young group.Buttler has already insisted that, as far as he is concerned, Eoin Morgan remains the captain of the one-day side and will return to the job when England go to India in the New Year. “I fully expect it’s a short-term thing,” he reiterated before the team’s departure for Dhaka, having been in touch with Morgan over the phone to discuss the challenge ahead. Alastair Cook, the Test captain who will be joining the ODI squad as part of his preparations for the tour, has also texted his encouragement and will be on hand for advice.The next few weeks will ask a lot of Buttler. Some were surprised when he was named Morgan’s deputy ahead of the 2015 World Cup and he still does not have much in the way of captaincy experience beyond leading England in a T20 against Pakistan in Dubai last November. With his soft-spoken demeanour, he is not what some people expect of a classic on-field general but he is determined to do the job his way.”I’ll try and be genuine, I’ll try and be myself, I’m not going to be anyone I’m not as a captain,” he said. “I think I view the game in a very similar way to Eoin Morgan, I’ll try and be aggressive. The way we have been playing the last 18 months, I’ll ask the guys to play in exactly the same way – obviously conditions will dictate that to an extent as well. It’s a young squad but it’s an experienced squad in terms of cricket and game awareness, and that’s something we’re going to need in Bangladesh.”As well as the increased level of security for the players to deal with – “for the first few days it will be in your mind” – England will face an opponent eager to give them a cricketing headache. Although they lost to Afghanistan this week, Bangladesh have won their last five ODI series at home, stretching back to 2014; the last non-Asian team to come away from the country with a one-day trophy was Australia more than five years ago.Bangladesh have also beaten in England in three of their last four ODIs, which included handing Morgan’s side their passports during the group stage of the 2015 World Cup. That defeat served as a catalyst for England’s radical limited-overs reinvention and the rematch will provide another opportunity to show how far they have come.”It was a really tough day in Adelaide, very disappointing,” Buttler said. “But we got to rock bottom there and have come back, turned that corner. It’s going to be a great tour, they’ve been very successful at home in their recent past, so it’s a great challenge for us as a group to play in those conditions.”England’s arrival is likely to be a major event in Bangladesh, which last hosted a tour by another Full Member in July 2015. Australia pulled out of a planned trip last year on government advice and England’s tour was only confirmed as going ahead last month – with Morgan and Alex Hales opting to make themselves unavailable. Buttler has been to Bangladesh on three previous occasions, most recently for the 2014 World T20, and was confident that it would be a good experience for the players involved.”We are aware of that,” he said when asked about the significance of England’s visit. “It’s not massively at the forefront of your mind when you make a decision that is right for you, based on security … However, we want to broaden our horizons and it’s fantastic for Bangladesh that we are going to tour. When we get there, cricket will be that universal language and we’ll be welcomed, and it will be fantastic for Bangladesh.”It’s going to be a good tour. It’s nice that the security stuff can take a back seat and we can start talking about cricket. They’re very passionate fans and it will make for a good atmosphere to play cricket in and we’ll have to play well to win.”Talk should quickly turn to cricket, as England play a single warm-up match ahead of the first ODI next Friday. With Hales and Morgan missing out and Joe Root rested, England will field a much-changed batting line-up, likely to include the debutant Ben Duckett and two from Jonny Bairstow, James Vince and Sam Billings. They have played just 26 ODIs between them, although it is a mark of how quickly England have grown since the World Cup that Buttler could refer to Billings, who made his debut in the subsequent series against New Zealand, as someone who “has been around for a long time”.England were flying out the morning after the Professional Cricketers’ Association awards dinner – the schedule barely allows room for end-of-season revelry these days – and the inclusion of Duckett, the first man to win both Player and Young Player of the Year, gives Buttler a weapon that none of his predecessors have been able to draw on.”He’s obviously had a great year, last night he picked up both PCA awards and rightly so he’s being talked about. He’s a fantastic talent, someone I’m actually really looking forward to getting to know better and to see in training, because that’s really when you start to see how good guys are. It’s very exciting, some of the performances he’s put in – that double-hundred for the Lions was fantastic, so it’s a great opportunity for him. He is a very exciting prospect for English cricket which just shows in one-day cricket there’s some great depth and great competition.”

A roundup of the second day’s action at ICC World Cricket League Division Four in Los Angeles

Peter Della Penna in Los Angeles 31-Oct-2016USA preserved their perfect start to WCL Division Four with a tense one-wicket win over Italy in a match that was reduced to 41 overs a side due to rain. Timroy Allen was named Man of the Match for his vital 53 off 27 balls at No. 7, which rescued USA after they were 107 for 5 in their chase of 186.Allen struck four fours and two sixes and teamed with Elmore Hutchinson to add 46 for the eighth wicket – USA’s best partnership of the match – before falling in the 35th over with nine still needed to win. Allen was dismissed by left-arm seamer Luis di Giglio. Hutchinson was also caught behind off di Giglio two overs later to force last man Danial Ahmed into the fray with two runs still required.The 37th over ended with two dot balls and and No. 10 Jessy Singh took a single to third man off the first ball of the 38th, from Gian Meade, to level the scores. Ahmed then guided the next ball to short third man and a frantic single clinched victory for the hosts. It was a moment of redemption for Ahmed after he conceded 18 runs in his only over of the day.Italy elected to bat first on an overcast morning and rain then caused a 30-minute delay to the start of play and curtailed the match to 46 overs a side. Allen had bowled only one delivery before the rain returned and play was delayed for 45 minutes, causing the overs to be cut down to 41.USA’s pace bowlers struggled to grip the wet ball but USA added to their troubles by missing six chances in the field. Italy’s openers Manpreet Singh and Supun Tharanga got a reprieve each when they were on 5 and 1 respectively. Tharanga’s was the easier of the two chances, spilled at second slip by Alex Amsterdam off Hutchinson in the sixth over. Both batsmen went on to make half-centuries and put together a 118-run opening stand.The partnership showed no signs of slowing down but was broken due to a blunder by the batting pair, which arguably cost Italy the match. Manpreet flicked a single off Timil Patel to deep midwicket to bring up his fifty in the 26th over and, in their excitement to celebrate the milestone, both batsmen left their crease to meet at the centre of the pitch. However, Jessy Singh had not yet collected the ball running in from the boundary, let alone relay it in to the wicketkeeper Akeem Dodson. The bails were taken off by Dodson and USA appealed. After a lengthy discussion to confirm the ball was still live, umpire Iftikhar Ali raised his finger to rule Tharanga out for 52.It was the catalyst USA needed to slow down Italy’s progress and three balls later Manpreet top-edged a pull off Amsterdam’s part-time offspin to be caught at midwicket by Allen for 50. Italy struggled to regain momentum as Allen took 1 for 16 bowling five overs of offspin after going wicketless in three overs of medium-pace with the new ball.Oman survived a scare from Bermuda before prevailing by four wickets at Severn Cricket Field. Following their loss to USA in the first match, Bermuda shook up their batting order, promoting Kamau Leverock and Dean Minors as openers after they were asked to bat in a match reduced to 40 overs a side. The move had the desired effect as Leverock left Oman shellshocked by racing to 30 off 18 balls in the first five overs to take the score to 40 for 0.Leverock eventually made 47 off 37 balls before the opening partnership of 72 was broken by Mohammad Nadeem in the 13th over. Once Leverock fell, Bermuda added 101 runs to their score in 27.2 overs and were kept in check by legspinner Khawar Ali’s 4 for 25, which limited them to a score of 173 for 9.The Oman chase got off to a shaky start as both openers fell within the first three overs to make it 15 for 2. Midway through the chase, Oman lost two wickets in the space of three balls – Saturday’s Man-of-the-Match Swapnil Khadye was run out by Leverock’s relay throw for 24 and Ajay Lalcheta fell for a golden duck in the next over – and found themselves at 70 for 5.Jatinder Singh held his nerve to score an unbeaten 68 off 52. His unbeaten 55-run seventh-wicket stand with Amir Ali helped get Oman over the line with six overs to spare.Denmark, too, were unbeaten after recording a six-wicket win over Jersey in another match reduced to 40 overs after morning rain. Denmark sent Jersey in to bat at the toss and bowled them out for 158 in 36.4 overs. Offspinner Bashir Shah wiped out Jersey’s top order, taking four of the first five wickets, to finish with his second successive four-for.Anthony Hawkins-Kay top-scored with 35 at No. 6 for Jersey and dismissed Freddie Klokker for 9 at the start of Denmark’s chase but Denmark cruised through the rest of the innings. Man-of-the-Match Saif Ahmad struck an unbeaten 67 and added 83 for the third wicket with Hamid Shah to take their side to within 17 runs of victory. Ben Kynman broken the stand and then added Michael Pedersen to his haul of 3 for 45 but lacked support from the rest of the attack as Denmark achieved victory with 7.5 overs to spare.The tournament will resume on Tuesday after a rest day on Monday. USA and Oman will clash at Wright Cricket Field while Denmark will take on winless Bermuda at Wong Cricket Field. Italy and Jersey will square off at Severn Cricket Field with both sides seeking their first win, while the loser will be in danger of relegation.

Damien O’Donohoe, the chief executive of the Caribbean Premier League, believes there is space in the cricket calendar for the CPL and the new English T20 league, set to start in 2020, to co-exist and eventually benefit each other

Andrew McGlashan28-Oct-20161:39

‘CPL second only to the IPL’ – O’Donohoe

Damien O’Donohoe, the chief executive of the Caribbean Premier League, believes there is space in the cricket calendar for the CPL and the new English T20 league, set to start in 2020, to co-exist and eventually benefit each other.The 2016 CPL was staged from June 29 to August 7, which is likely to be the timeframe the ECB will try to exploit with the new T20 league that is causing much angst in the county game. The ECB is keen to make use of the school summer holidays, which run from mid-July through August, to try to attract a new, younger fan base to the sport.But the fact that English cricket is only now looking to revamp its domestic T20 competition – and is still three years from having the new venture ready to launch – means other T20 leagues are well ahead in their development. While the ECB has managed to find a way of accommodating the IPL, allowing players who wish to compete to take part in the tournament, and in some cases actively encouraging participation in the Big Bash League, which has no impact on the English summer, the direct competition from the CPL could cause problems.There may be an indication of the impact during the 2017 English season when the NatWest Blast returns to a block in later summer after three seasons of being played largely on Friday nights from mid-May until late July. In those three years, the CPL has forged its position as an attractive proposition for overseas cricketers. Staging the NatWest Blast at the same time might mean missing out on the West Indian T20 stars – some of the more attractive signings in the game – who will already be in action for their CPL teams.”It probably will be a similar window but we work quite closely with the ECB and at the end of the day there will be room for both leagues,” O’Donohoe told ESPNcricinfo. “The ECB has their own challenges, and I really wouldn’t envy their job, but they are real professionals who will make it a success. What we’d love in time is that we get the English stars in the CPL and they get some of ours.”But there is no denying that English cricket is playing catch-up with the format of the game they launched in 2003. “They have much bigger challenges in terms of the politics of the game than anybody else,” O’Donohoe said. “Of course, they created this form so they should be leaders in this space, but they are not. But they have huge plans…so there will be great things to come.”Of more immediate interest to O’Donohoe is the continued growth of the CPL. He was speaking in London on Thursday when St Lucia Zouks became the last of the six sides to become a privately-owned franchise after its acquisition by Jignesh Pandya, the founder of the Rohan Group of companies, who currently serves as the Chairman of Global Sports Ventures and Royal Sports Club. Global Sports Ventures was recently announced as having signed a $70million deal with USACA.The CPL staged six matches in the USA during the 2016 season and its plans for expansion in the country are well documented. O’Donohoe hopes that “in the not too distant future” there will be two franchises based in the US. He is also determined, though, that the CPL, which he believes stands second to the IPL among the various T20 leagues, needs to continue to play to its own strengths.”When we speak to the guys at the Big Bash, which we do on a daily basis, they have a very different idea of what they are trying to do, trying to bring a whole new audience to the game. Some of their games get 80,000 people, which we could never do in the Caribbean, but from an international point of view we have 80 million TV viewers in India, are the first professional league to go into America and have our six franchises sold and hopefully in the not too distant future we can have two franchises in the US.”Our single-biggest issue with the CPL has always been time zones and when we play our games. We have a huge international audience but if we play games during the day it doesn’t fit with our product, we are a local product and can’t fit it just for an international audience. The great thing about the east coast would be the time zone. Los Angeles would be fantastic so would San Francisco and Silicon Valley. We would love to go there in time, but the east coast will be our focus initially. New York would be No. 1 on our list. But we have a lot of work to do.”

New Zealand has been dealt another injury blow on the eve of the second Test with fast bowler Trent Boult ruled out after aggravating a right knee injury

Andrew Fidel Fernando24-Nov-2016New Zealand fast bowler Trent Boult has been ruled out of the second Test against Pakistan by a knee injury. Doug Bracewell has been added to the squad in place of Boult.Boult had “irritation in the joint of his right knee” since the tour of India, coach Mike Hesson said, and had since aggravated the complaint while fielding in the first Test in Christchurch. He did continue to bowl through each of Pakistan’s innings in that match, however, claiming match figures of 5 for 76.”We were optimistic he would be ready for Hamilton, but during training on Wednesday felt further pain and has subsequently been ruled out of the Test,” said Hesson. New Zealand hope Boult will recover in time for the three-match ODI series in Australia, which begins December 4, but will “continue to monitor him over the coming days”.Matt Henry is foremost among those vying to replace Boult in the starting XI, having been in the squad since the beginning of the series. He had bowled creditably in the Kolkata Test during New Zealand’s recent tour of India, but like other seamers, had struggled in Indore.Boult has not missed a New Zealand Test since early 2012, having played in 44 consecutive Tests.

The confusion surrounding security arrangements ended after the BCCI agreed to pay the actual cost for the security cover provided by the police

Arun Venugopal09-Jan-2017Fans will be allowed free entry into the Brabourne Stadium to watch the first warm-up game between India A and England after the BCCI agreed to pay the actual cost for the security cover provided by the police. A Cricket Club of India official told ESPNcricinfo that entry for what could be MS Dhoni’s last game as captain of an Indian side would be restricted to the north and east stands, which can accommodate around 10,000 fans, as the west stand was undergoing renovation. If the stands were filled by 3 pm, an hour and a half after the start of the game, the gates will be closed.The decision to allow fans into the stadium came a day after confusion prevailed around the security arrangements for the game. According to and , fans were in danger of being locked out after the police demanded Rs 60 lakh to provide security, and the CCI redirected the request to the BCCI. The BCCI, according to the reports, had subsequently instructed the club to not allow spectators and restrict the attendance to members of the Cricket Club of India, in the premises of which the stadium is located, should the police not lower their fee.According to the CCI official, the police, having initially asked for Rs 2 lakh to provide security, had hiked up the fee after anticipating a greater crowd in the stadium. The request was then forwarded to the BCCI, who, after closed-door meetings with the police department, eventually accepted to cover the actual cost incurred for security late in the evening. The BCCI, it is understood, has communicated the decision in writing to the CCI and the police department.”There were only 40 policepersons who were set to be deployed initially,” the official said. “There are normally hardly 200-300 people for warm-up matches, but with Dhoni [possibly] playing his last match as a captain, the game has become high profile. There will be a bigger crowd now. So, more police personnel will have to be deployed; there will be around 300 policepersons now.”The CCI gets only a grant of Rs 1 lakh per game from the BCCI and our expenses are generally reimbursed by the board. Even in this issue, the police dealt directly with the BCCI.”

Hashim Amla said he has not noticed any change in approach from the South Africa coaching staff since the news that positions will have to be reapplied for

Firdose Moonda31-Jan-2017News that South Africa’s coach Russell Domingo will have to reapply for his job if he hopes to continue in the role after the team’s tour of England in August resulted in “a few sad hours in the changeroom” according to ODI captain AB de Villiers but fellow senior figure Hashim Amla said he has not noticed any change in approach from the coaching staff.Domingo has a support staff of five: assistant Adi Birrell, bowling coach Charl Langeveldt, batting coach Neil McKenzie, spin consultant Claude Henderson and fitness trainer Greg King, whose deals are tied to his and as a result, they will also face contract renegotiation later this year, but none of them have appeared distracted.”It hasn’t affected the coaches too much. They still seem extremely motivated, which is brilliant. They have been professional in everything they have done,” Amla said ahead of the second ODI against Sri Lanka in Durban. “Don’t forget it’s still six or seven months away, which is a long time. In between that, we have so many different challenges to keep our focus on.”Chief among those is the Champions Trophy, which will doubtless have some bearing on whether Domingo wants to stay on and whether Cricket South Africa’s board will be keen on keeping him. If South Africa win the competition, it is almost a given Domingo will be in demand, especially as he is already the man who has achieved the most with the team at a major tournament.He was the first coach to oversee a South African victory in a 50-over World Cup knockout match, when they beat Sri Lanka in the quarter-final in 2015, and even though Domingo has not had the same success at World T20s with the 2019 World Cup looming, a strong showing at the Champions Trophy could stand him in good stead for a new two-year term.But the trophy drought has proved a nemesis for so many and no-one has yet come up with the answer to break the hoodoo. Like his predecessors, Domingo’s plans are focused on meticulous preparation – South Africa are regularly the team who have played the most matches in the months leading up to a major tournament – and so far, they seem to be working.”If you look at the build-up we have had as a team, winning the last series [against Australia] as convincingly as we did and being 1-0 up here, it’s building very well,” Amla said. “The coaches and the captains have tried to put the structures in place for us to succeed and it’s really pleasing that everything is working really well.”Amla has been part of all this before though, and knows that even the best laid plans can be derailed on the day, when pressure takes hold. In South Africa’s case, the major tournament bug has most often bitten their batsmen, who have botched modest chases – think Dhaka 2011. Then, South Africa’s line-up contained at least some inexperience. This time, it is unlikely to have any with all of the top six senior figures and all of them in decent nick.”The batting line up looks really solid. Quinny is one of the best, Faf has been in very good form, AB is a legend, JP is batting well, everybody has been contributing,” Amla said.However, even with things go as well as they could, South Africa have every reason to be cautious and not to get ahead of themselves. “Nobody is under the illusion that everything is hunky-dory and things are just going to keep going up and up. There will be some challenges inbetween here and the Champions Trophy and if that comes, we’ve got to be patient with it go through it,” Amla said.The waiting game is something Amla was forced to become well-versed in over the last few months when he went through a rare lean patch in the lead up to his 100th Test. Amla went 13 Test innings without a century before bringing up three figures in his milestone match to end speculation that the end was nigh. He has since topped up on that with a 57 in the first ODI and is feeling like his old self, with no intention of slowing down.”Sometimes you go through those patches. If I can think back, there are other players, much better players, Tendulkar, those guys, they have been through similar. That’s the nature of the game,” he said. “I take it as it comes. I try not to plan too far ahead. Whether its 100 Tests or 50 Tests, the fact that I am playing international cricket is what motivates me. I enjoy batting and I enjoy playing for the country. I feel very fresh. I still feel 18.”

Jamshed has become the third player to be provisionally suspended by the PCB as the board continues its investigation into the corruption scandal that has hit the ongoing Pakistan Super League

ESPNcricinfo staff13-Feb-2017Nasir Jamshed, the out-of-favour Pakistan opener, has become the third player to be provisionally suspended by the PCB as it continues its investigation into the corruption scandal that hit the Pakistan Super League this weekend.”PCB has provisionally suspended Nasir Jamshed from all forms of cricket for violating its anti-corruption code,” said a statement issued by the board on Monday.Unlike Sharjeel Khan and Khalid Latif – the two Islamabad United players who have already been sent back from the league for alleged breaches of the anti-corruption code – Jamshed was not part of any PSL franchise.Jamshed’s name had cropped up initially in speculation surrounding the news of Latif and Sharjeel’s suspensions. But the exact nature of his involvement has not been made clear.The PCB named three other players who were questioned in the fallout: Islamabad United’s Mohammad Irfan, Quetta Gladiators’ Zulfiqar Babar and Shahzaib Hasan of the Karachi Kings. None of them, however, faced the prospect of immediate provisional suspension. Shahzaib’s questioning, according to his team Karachi Kings, was the result of his reporting an approach to the PCB and Quetta are understood to have volunteered Babar for questioning to clear his name as it had also emerged during speculation.Sharjeel, Latif and Jamshed will now be sent a show cause notice by the PCB according to board chairman Shaharyar Khan.”There is a legal way to move forward and first show cause notices are being sent to both players (Sharjeel and Latif) and they are likely to receive it tomorrow,” Khan said in Lahore, before the news about Jamshed emerged.”Two players Shahzaib and Zulfiqar were under the scanner but are cleared and free to play. Irfan, however, is still under observation but he hasn’t been issued any show cause notice so far.”But probably in a day or two he will also be served. Apart from these five players I confirm no other player playing in the PSL is related to this issue.”It is likely the PCB will then set up an inquiry committee involving one or more judges.Not that long ago, Jamshed was Pakistan’s first-choice opener in limited-overs cricket, and with three ODI hundreds against India between March 2012 and January 2013, one with a potentially long career ahead of him.Since then, however, a dip in form and confidence has pushed him to the periphery. Between the end of the India series in January 2013 and the start of the 2015 World Cup, Jamshed scored 458 runs at an average of 19.91 with only two fifties, featuring in 23 of Pakistan’s 50 ODIs in this period. Before this, he had averaged 50.26 in 22 ODIs since his debut, scoring 955 runs, with three centuries and six fifties.His last appearances for Pakistan were miserable ones at the World Cup: he made only five runs in three matches. An indicator of how far he has fallen was evident by his absence from the PSL in both seasons.Overall, Jamshed has played two Tests, both against South Africa in February 2013. In 48 ODIs between 2008 and 2015, he scored 1418 runs at 31.51. Jamshed played only 18 T20 internationals, scoring 363 runs.