BJ Watling made his second Test century as he and Trent Boult frustrated Bangladesh with a 127-run partnership for the final wicket, after which Mominul Haque counterattacked for Bangladesh

The Report by Mohammad Isam10-Oct-2013
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsBJ Watling and Trent Boult put on 127 runs for the final wicket•Associated Press

New Zealand were braced to defend a below-par first innings score in the first session of the second day. BJ Watling and Trent Boult slowly developed a mischievous plan that has been repeated seven times already this year. They fended off the Bangladesh bowlers first, then got comfortable, soon they were dominating the attack and New Zealand were in charge of the Chittagong Test.Watling and Boult, the tenth wicket pair, added 127 runs. It shot their total up from 342 for 9 to 469 all out by the end of the second session. Watling completed a second Test century off 171 balls. He was finally dismissed for 103 while Boult was unbeaten on 52 – the fifteenth time a No. 11 has made a half-century in Tests.The visitors added 189 runs on the last day, after which Bangladesh went to stumps at 103 for 2 with Mominul Haque, on 77 off 71 balls, and debutant Marshall Ayub at the crease.But the home side were shaken by New Zealand’s late charge, and it was evident in how they lost two wickets in the first 3.3 overs. Opener Tamim Iqbal chased a slightly full ball while Anamul Haque was done by Doug Bracewell’s predictable inward movement. Mominul and Ayub, however, stopped the rot till the end of day’s play, as they added 95 runs for the third wicket.It was Tamim’s first-ever golden duck, and the shot he played wasn’t much of a surprise. It is one that has fetched him boundaries throughout his career, but here Boult got the ball to move slightly towards the slips. Kane Williamson, fresh from two sessions of rest, took a fine catch at gully that greatly delighted captain Brendon McCullum.Anamul had survived an edge to slip off a no-ball off the sixth ball of the innings from Doug Bracewell. But it wasn’t for too long, as he was done by the same bowler’s in-ducker that was as predictable as Anamul’s gap between bat and pad.But as Ayub’s confidence grew after a few overs when he looked genuinely nervous. He left and ducked any delivery that shouldn’t be bothered with, playing only those within his reach as he mostly defended and letting Mominul do the scoring.Quite different than his usual dour method of batting, Mominul went after New Zealand who committed the mistake of bowling too wide to him at first and then too full. He latched onto Bruce Martin’s left-arm spin, taking him for three boundaries in a row in his first over. In the next over, he struck Bracewell for three more on either side of the ground. There were six more boundaries, and each one in front of the wicket.He completed his third half-century off 36 balls, the second fastest for Bangladesh. Ayub supported him quite well for a debutant but they are still some ways short of doing what Boult and Watling did for the first half the day.The duo put on the fourth-highest final wicket stand for New Zealand, and also the second-highest against Bangladesh, after the 133 added by Sachin Tendulkar and Zaheer Khan in 2004.Watling was the more technical of the two, but didn’t have to sweat too much when he left Boult on strike. Boult was severe on the Bangladesh spinners, particularly Shakib Al Hasan who was struck twice for sixes over deep midwicket.Watling also survived an early let-off when he was on four. Rubel Hossain, who had bounced out nightwatchman Bruce Martin for the first wicket of the day, was celebrating when Nasir Hossain safely held an edge from Watling at gully but a replay asked by the on-field umpires confirmed a no-ball by Rubel, who has been quite regular in stepping over the line.Razzak bowled the most, 55 overs, taking three for 147. Sohag Gazi took two wickets while there was one each for Rubel, Nasir and Mominul.

Rizwan Cheema and Junaid Siddiqui inspired Canada to a 62-run win over Suriname in their ICC Americas Regional Division One T20 game in Indianapolis

Peter Della Penna in Indianapolis03-May-2015Rizwan Cheema started his newest reign as Canada captain in winning fashion with a 62-run victory over Suriname in the first match ever played at Indianapolis World Sports Park on Sunday morning.Suriname won the toss and wisely sent Canada in to bat on a wicket never before used on a slightly overcast and cool morning but were unable to capitalize on a series of chances offered in a sloppy batting display. Cheema was the chief beneficiary, top-scoring with 34 off 31 balls in Canada’s total of 121 for 8 after being dropped on 0 at extra cover in the second over by star allrounder Sauid Drepaul.Cheema was the only player in Canada’s top six who scored at better than a run a ball as the middle order struggled to come to terms with the slightly sluggish nature of the pitch. Drepaul was on a hat-trick in the 18th over after Jimmy Hansra was caught at long-off for 15 and Hamza Tariq bowled for 16 mistiming a cut to make it 96 for 6 with 15 balls to go in the innings.Nikhil Dutta and Satsimranjit Dhindsa provided a late burst for Canada and though the output with the bat was average at best, it could have been much worse. By the end of the first innings, Suriname had dropped four chances and missed a stumping but still held hopes of an upset.However, Junaid Siddiqui sparked Canada in the field as he opened the bowling with back-to-back maidens, including the wicket of Shazam Ramjohn pinned on the crease for a duck to end the first over. He eventually finished with 2 for 7 from his four overs.Medium-pacer Khurram Chohan opened at the opposite end and struck three balls later to keep up the momentum for Canada, getting Muneshwar Patandin edging to Srimantha Wijeratne at slip for 1 to make it 2 for 2 nine balls into the chase. After 10 overs, Suriname were 30 for 4 with captain Mohindra Boodram lofting Hansra’s offspin to Cecil Pervez at long-on for 1 to end the 10th.Dutta arrived to start the 12th and struck with his first ball, getting Troy Dudnath stumped for 3 after the batsman overbalanced groping at a full and wide delivery out of reach. Dutta proceeded to rip through the rest of Suriname’s middle order and finished with 4 for 8 in four overs to be named Man of the Match. Wasim Akram Haslim was the only Suriname batsman to reach double figures, scoring 19 off 35 before he fell to Dutta in the 14th. Suriname eventually finished on 59 for 9.

Ahmed Shehzad and Shan Masood have been included in Pakistan’s 15-man squad for the Test series in Sri Lanka in June while offspinner Saeed Ajmal has been left out

ESPNcricinfo staff03-Jun-2015Ahmed Shehzad, Shan Masood and Ehsan Adil have been included in Pakistan’s 15-member squad for the Test series in Sri Lanka in June.Offspinner Saeed Ajmal, who was part of the squad in the two-Test series against Bangladesh, was left out because of his lack of impact with the remodelled bowling action. Ajmal picked up a solitary wicket in the tour game before the start of Bangladesh Tests, but couldn’t make it to the Test XI with Zulfiqar Babar and Yasir Shah pipping him for spinners’ spots. He played two ODIs and one T20 on the tour, but managed just one more wicket.Babar Azam, Bilawal Bhatti, Sami Aslam were also excluded, while Rahat Ali, Sohaib Maqsood and Sohail Khan continued to be unavailable due to their respective injuries.Shehzad was dropped from both Test and ODI squads after the 2015 World Cup on disciplinary grounds. He was recalled for the Zimbabwe ODIs but remained on the bench throughout the three-match series. Shehzad is one of three openers – Mohammad Hafeez and Masood, being the other two – in the squad.Interestingly, the selectors said they had considered the performance of Pakistan A players on their tour to Sri Lanka recently but both Umar Amin, the top-scorer in longer format, and Fawad Alam, leading run-getter in the limited-over games, were ignored. For Aslam, his 47 runs from three innings in Bangladesh, went against him.”While selecting the squad, the selection committee considered the following key areas: suitability to play in varied playing conditions, potential to perform at international level, current form and fitness, performance in the previous tours of Bangladesh and recently concluded Pakistan A team’s tour of Sri Lanka, and feedback from the team management on the performance of players on Bangladesh tour,” PCB chief selector Haroon Rashid said.”Fawad Alam, Sami Aslam and some other players were also under consideration but could not be included but they remain on the selectors radar. Rahat Ali (hamstring), Sohail Khan (back) and Sohaib Maqsood (wrist) are still on rehab after sustaining injuries and it is hoped that they would be available for selection in the near future. Selection committee has also kept its options open in case of need for the 16th member keeping in mind the extreme weather conditions in Sri Lanka.”Pakistan squad: Mohammad Hafeez, Ahmed Shehzad, Shan Masood, Azhar Ali (vc), Misbah-ul-Haq (capt), Younis Khan, Asad Shafiq, Haris Sohail, Sarfraz Ahmed (wk), Yasir Shah, Zulfiqar Babar, Wahab Riaz, Junaid Khan, Imran Khan, Ehsan Adil.

Rain washed out the opening day of the Test series between Sri Lanka and Pakistan, without a ball bowled or even a coin tossed in Galle

ESPNcricinfo staff17-Jun-2015
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsThe ground remained under covers right through the day•AFP

Rain washed out the opening day of the Test series between Sri Lanka and Pakistan, without a ball bowled or even a coin tossed in Galle. The pitch and outfield remained under covers right through the day, and the umpires officially called off play after an inspection at 1.45pm.By then, it was clear no play would be possible. Persistent showers had kept both teams in their hotel, and the heavy cloud cover had ensured the groundstaff kept the covers on even during dry intervals.Play will begin 15 minutes early on the four remaining days, with the middle session extended by another 15 minutes.

Marlon Samuels’ 71 and South African chinaman Tabraiz Shamsi’s career-best figures of 4 for 10 set up an eight-wicket win for St. Kitts & Nevis Patriots against Barbados Tridents

ESPNcricinfo staff07-Jul-2015
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsTabraiz Shamsi bettered his best figures in the last match with 4 for 10 against Tridents•Caribbean Premier League

Marlon Samuels’ stroke-filled 71 and South African chinaman Tabraiz Shamsi’s career-best figures of 4 for 10 set up a convincing eight-wicket win for St. Kitts & Nevis Patriots against Barbados Tridents in Basseterre.The Tridents openers – Dilshan Munaweera and Dwayne Smith – began the innings solidly, adding 47 in 38 balls before the introduction of spin halted their progress. Shahid Afridi struck with his second ball and in the eighth over Shamsi bowled Smith. Jason Holder, batting at No. 4, struggled to find fluency during his 19-ball 17 and Shamsi’s double-strike in the 14th over left Tridents wobbling at 76 for 5. However, Kieron Pollard resurrected the innings with a 33-ball 49, including five sixes – with two each in the 19th and 20th overs. Tridents smashed 47 off the last three overs to end with 135 for 8 – all wickets falling to spin except for a run-out. While Afridi took three wickets, Shamsi bettered his best bowling performance of 4 for 23 against Jamaica Tallawahs in his last match with figures of 4 for 10 – all his wickets were of the top-six batsmen.Evin Lewis and Martin Guptill started the chase by hitting three fours and a six inside the first three overs, before Lewis was caught at mid-off. Tridents struggled to prevent the boundaries as Samuels and Guptill clobbered three sixes and two fours within the Powerplay. The pair continued to rotate the strike with the occasional boundary before Guptill was run out for 45 in the 15th over to end an 85-run second-wicket stand. Samuels, however, plundered 18 in the next over and eventually hit the winning runs in the 18th over.

Six cricketers with two T20 caps or fewer played in the Sri Lanka team on Saturday, and Malinga believed he had done Sri Lankan cricket a service by showcasing these cricketers at the top level.

Andrew Fidel Fernando02-Aug-2015So often the most polarising cricketer in Sri Lanka, this time Lasith Malinga was himself split on the value of his contribution to the T20 series. On one hand, he appeared almost distraught at the decline of his bowling. He not only suggested again that he lost Sri Lanka the match, but also conceded his career may end if he doesn’t improve soon.On the other hand, Malinga responded tersely to criticism of his influence over team selection. Six cricketers with two T20 caps or fewer played in the Sri Lanka team on Saturday, and Malinga believed he had done Sri Lankan cricket a service by showcasing them at the top level.”The people who watched the match would have been able to see how talented the new players are and how useful they can be,” Malinga said. “Personally, I’m disappointed about my own form, but I happily take criticism as captain. I believe that even if I was criticised by one or two people, I was personally able to unearth two or three future national players. That’s what a captain should do.”Malinga was Sri Lanka’s most expensive bowler for the second T20 running, and his figures of 1 for 40 from four overs played a role in the loss. Malinga’s international form has been indifferent since the middle of 2014, when a long-term ankle injury began to deteriorate further. He had surgery in September and was in recovery for 18 weeks before the World Cup.”I played for a year and a half before the World Cup with an injury,” Malinga said. “I was using injections then. After that I had surgery. I didn’t have time to recover – the World Cup started. I went there and I wasn’t able to get my rhythm back. I’m playing cricket continuously and I think I might have a chance to get back into rhythm. If not, I expect better bowlers than me will develop in Sri Lanka. I came to the national team to fill someone else’s shoes. I think a good player will come and be suitable to take my place, in time.”Malinga led Sri Lanka to the 2014 World T20 victory in Bangladesh and was reappointed T20 captain by the new selection committee this year. However, there have been reservations about his leadership, particularly about his man-management ability. These concerns have been inflamed by his recent dip in form.”I don’t think I should step down as captain,” Malinga said. “What I hope is that I can work on my fitness. The selectors have the opportunity to give the captaincy to someone else. Whether I’m captain or not, I think I’ll have a chance to get back into form. If not, a better captain and a better bowler will replace me, and take Sri Lanka’s cricket forward.”Questions have also been raised about the omission of Lahiru Thirimanne and Dinesh Chandimal, which Malinga is said to have influenced. Malinga, however, said he had done right by Sri Lanka, given the limited number of T20 internationals scheduled before next year’s World T20.”In past World Cups, I’ve heard and seen people say, ‘We should have brought that player’, or, ‘This other cricketer would have been better in these conditions.'” Malinga said. “But whether I’m the captain or someone else is, I thought that I would save the captain that fate. I wanted to choose a young group of players early and present them. There’s no need to guess at how good the players are.”Though Sri Lanka’s senior players have been underwhelming throughout the Pakistan tour, which the hosts have finished without a trophy, Malinga believed results would begin to improve soon.”I don’t think Sri Lankan cricket will stagnate for long,” he said. “The new players we’ve introduced are already showing they are suitable for international cricket, and showing they have ability. Chamara Kapugedera, Milinda Siriwardana, Dhananjaya de Silva have all done that. They’ve all shown they have a long cricket journey.”When seniors retire, it’s not the runs and the wickets we miss. The knowledge and their ability to manipulate matches – a skill they’ve gained over 14 or 15 years – is what is missed. It takes a while to build up that kind of knowledge. But in terms of producing good cricketers, I don’t think Sri Lanka will have much trouble.”

Losing the toss in Sri Lanka usually demoralises visiting sides, but India – led by R Ashwin’s second successive five-for and his best figures away from home – did a stellar job to seemingly neutralise Sri Lanka’s advantage of batting first

The Report by Sidharth Monga12-Aug-2015
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
1:02

‘Ashwin was willing to pitch it up fuller’

Sri Lanka is not a place where you want to lose the toss as an opposition captain. Over the last 14 years, only two visiting captains have managed to win despite losing the toss. Virat Kohli raised the possibility of becoming the third after R Ashwin registered the best figures for an India bowler in the first innings of an away Test to bundle the hosts out for 183. India stumbled in response initially, but Shikhar Dhawan and Kohli steadied them with an unbroken 100-run partnership.On a pitch that offered turn and bounce as early as the first session, this toss was all the more important to win, which is what will rankle the home captain Angelo Mathews the most. Not only did he win the toss, he also showed the others with his 64 that it was possible to bat on this pitch. There was little resistance from the other end – Dinesh Chandimal’s half-century was a charmed innings and included a drop on 5 – as Ashwin ran away to his fastest five-for in Tests, also his second in two Tests and the best figures by an Indian in Sri Lanka. Had India taken all their catches – to go with two excellent ones by KL Rahul and Rohit Sharma – Sri Lanka would have been bundled out for much less.It took Ashwin only 63 balls to reach his fifth wicket, and left-hand batsmen in particular were easy pickings for him. He took out four of them, including Kumar Sangakkara for 5 in his penultimate Test, in 30 balls. As well as Ashwin bowled, a six-wicket haul in 82 balls for a visiting spinner on day one should worry the batting side. Ashwin, who has been through tough times in away series in the last two years, will gladly take it. He will also be glad that by the time he came on to bowl in the 12th over, India’s quick bowlers had already softened Sri Lanka up.It did not start all that well for India, though, as ordinary slip catching reared its head again, with Dhawan dropping Kaushal Silva at first slip in the fourth over. Kohli will be glad his quick bowlers responded with pace, bounce and hostility to send back the openers. Dimuth Karunaratne edged while fending a bouncer from Ishant Sharma, and Silva was given out caught off the arm guard as he went to hook Varun Aaron. Dhawan redeemed himself with a diving catch, but DRS would have made for an interesting decision.R Ashwin collected 6 for 46, the best figures by an Indian in Sri Lanka•AFP

That brought in Sangakkara in the eight over. At the end of the first hour, Kohli went to Ashwin, and the procession continued. In his first over, Ashwin beat Sangakkara in the flight before a freak dismissal sent the celebrated veteran back. The third ball that Ashwin bowled was short of a length, and drew a defensive shot from Sangakkara, which went fast towards Rahul at silly point. Rahul stayed low, pushed his hands in the general direction of the path of the ball, and it stuck in his fingertips. This was no edge, and nor did it come off the pad to soften the impact.Lahiru Thirimanne looked to block, and captain Mathews – playing his 50th Test – looked to hit a few shots to get the close-in fielders out of his face. Having come together at 27 for 3, they doubled the score before Thirimanne fell to an Ashwin beauty. Until then Thirimanne had faced only four balls from the offspinner, and had looked really comfortable facing only one of them. The fifth one, though, was perfect: nicely flighted, dipping short of Thirimanne’s reach, and then turning away to take the edge on a tame push. Poor Mubarak got to face only Ashwin, and the seventh such delivery did not turn, bounced and resulted in a bat-pad catch. Mubarak’s duck made it 60 for 5, and the only consolation for the hosts going into lunch was that their last recognised pair were both right-hand batsmen: Mathews and Chandimal.Soon after lunch, the consolation ended. Ishant bowled beautifully and drew Chandimal’s edge with one that held its line, but Wriddhiman Saha dropped an absolute sitter. What is more disturbing for India is that Saha is showing a bit of a tendency to drop the easier ones. That was not the only time India took the eye off the game. Ashwin, 6-1-15-3 now, was taken out of the attack for the other offspinner Harbhajan Singh. It would have been okay to give the fifth bowler a chance had Kohli not persisted with Harbhajan for too long. While Harbhajan showed no patience, often bowling round the wicket, often too straight, Kohli showed remarkable patience as Mathews and Chandimal added 79.While Chandimal’s effort was charmed, Mathews played a calculated and clever innings. He attacked only to get the fielders out, and then picked the ones and twos easily. Finally Kohli gave in, and gave Ashwin the end he had taken the three earlier wickets from. The pay-off was immediate, but it needed an exceptional catch from Rohit. In his second over back, Ashwin got one to dip on Mathews, but the bat-pad looked destined to loop over forward short leg’s head. Rohit, though, sprung up, got a hand to it, and ended up deflecting it back towards the wicket. He then dived back against his momentum, and took it one-handed.The floodgates now opened. Only a breezy 24-run stand between Chandimal and the adventurous Rangana Herath – who scored 23 off 24 – resisted India’s march. The innings ended when Herath had had one slog too many, but his real job was only about to begin.Before Herath and Tharindu Kaushal were asked to do their job, though, Dhammika Prasad and Mathews got rid of Rahul and Rohit. The rest of the bowling, though, failed to test Dhawan and Kohli for long enough. Dhawan and Kohli were prepared to defend and wait for loose balls, which Kaushal in particular provided readily. Dhawan, who scored a hundred in his last Test, went past 50 by stumps, and Kohli looked set to do so. More importantly, India could entertain thoughts of batting only once.

Former South Africa captain Graeme Smith has backed Jason Holder’s appointment as West Indies captain but hopes he can separate the politics from the playing

Andrew Miller17-Sep-20151:28

Graeme Smith says that Holder will need time to learn his role

Graeme Smith, the former South Africa captain who took charge of his country’s Test fortunes as a callow 22-year-old in 2003, hopes that Jason Holder can put the team politics to one side when he takes over as West Indies’ Test captain for the first time in Sri Lanka next month.Holder, 23, was named as Denesh Ramdin’s successor for the two-Test series that gets underway in Galle on October 14 after displaying impressive leadership credentials at the World Cup in Australia and New Zealand earlier this year. Coming only months after a pay dispute led to West Indies’ withdrawal from their tour of India in October 2014 – a move that landed the WICB with a multimillion dollar bill for compensation which is still being thrashed out – the team battled back from an early defeat against Ireland to reach the quarter-finals, where they eventually lost to the finalists, New Zealand.Despite his tender years, Holder has already received the endorsement of one of the region’s greatest players, Brian Lara, who praised his “demeanour” during that tournament and likened his stature to that of a young Clive Lloyd.”Clive Lloyd was not the best batsman, he was not the best bowler back in the early 70s but you could tell that a lot of the players respected him,” Lara told ESPNcricinfo ahead of the Help for Heroes charity match at The Oval. “I hope that Jason gets the same respect from the players, and also the board. He finds himself in a very tough situation where there are unhappy players but if the board give him the support that he needs and he can express himself, then he can become a very successful captain.”There are no better role models for young captains than Smith, whose tenure began against the backdrop of South Africa’s humiliating early exit as hosts of the 2003 World Cup, and with the Hansie Cronje match-fixing scandal still an open wound for many of the country’s leading cricketers. He went on to lead South Africa for 11 years and a record 109 Tests after being appointed at an even younger age than Holder.However, Smith recalled how he had been forced to learn on the job in the early years of his captaincy and warned that Holder would face as many challenges from outside the dressing-room as from within it.”I think he’s got to understand the unique challenges within West Indies cricket,” Smith told ESPNcricinfo. “From my perspective I had to do that in South African cricket also. It took me three or four years to come to terms with it.””I think when I was 26, I had captained South Africa for four years and I only really started figuring it out then. I think that next period was probably my best period as captain, when I understood my team, the type of players I had, myself as a leader, and how I wanted the team to play.”Smith sustained his authority in the intervening years through his sheer weight of runs, not least his extraordinary scores of 277 and 259 in the opening two Tests of the tour of England in 2003. But, by his own admission, he “bumped his head” as a leader on several occasions, not least during a feisty one-day series in 2004 when he was outmanoeuvred by New Zealand’s veteran captain, Stephen Fleming.”The sooner [Holder] learns his own strengths and weaknesses, the better he’ll be able to lead that team,” Smith said. “We all know West Indies has the unique challenges. I wish him all the best but we all know it’s not going to be easy.”Smith added that the best means of sustaining his authority and escaping the pressures caused by the inter-island rivalries that have often beset cricket in the Caribbean was for Holder to foster a team environment that protects and nurtures West Indies’ competitive spirit.”You’ve got to separate the two,” he said. “You have to understand and manage that space as well as possible outside, but if you can protect that environment, you can get those players playing for you and get the most out of them.””The minute the two environments leak [into each other], when there’s a lot of politics, it’s tough. He’s got to find a way of galvanizing that environment, and create a culture within that team space where the players want to play for him, want to do well, and separate the two in many ways.”Lara praised the selectors for the appointment of Holder, but reiterated the need for the WICB to follow that move up by backing their captain. However, he also believed the new leader would be fully capable of looking after himself.”He’s a tall, good-looking guy,” said Lara. “Nobody would have backed Clive Lloyd into a corner back in the day, looking for a fight. I don’t think anyone is going to back Jason Holder into a corner. I think he’s going to get a lot of respect from his team-mates.”

The well-drilled New Zealanders exposed familiar flaws in Australia’s young batsmen on their way to a dominant opening performance, trouncing the Prime Minister’s XI by 102 runs at Manuka Oval, despite the absence of their resting captain Brendon McCullum

The Report by Daniel Brettig at Manuka Oval23-Oct-2015
ScorecardTom Latham struck 12 fours and 2 sixes in his knock of 131•Getty Images

New pink ball, same old problems. The well-drilled New Zealanders exposed familiar flaws in Australia’s young batsmen on their way to a dominant opening performance, trouncing the Prime Minister’s XI by 102 runs at Manuka Oval, despite the absence of their resting captain Brendon McCullum.The national selector Rod Marsh had described this as “one of the strongest Prime Minister’s XI sides we have selected in recent years”, but the inclusion of probable Test players such as Peter Siddle, Usman Khawaja, Joe Burns, Cameron Bancroft and Adam Voges allowed the tourists to strike an early psychological blow in conditions similar to those expected for the inaugural day-night, pink-ball Test at Adelaide Oval next month.Marshalled by stand-in captain Tim Southee, the New Zealanders did so in fine style, running up a healthy 8 for 307, thanks largely to an opening stand of 196 between Martin Guptill and Tom Latham. While Guptill fell short of his century, Latham carried on to 131, shrugging off the loss of both Hamish Rutherford and Ross Taylor for ducks.Southee and the highly impressive Trent Boult then made the pink ball speak in a language still foreign to the local batsmen, slicing the top off the PM’s XI innings with full, swinging deliveries they will hope to replicate during the Tests. Khawaja, Bancroft and Burns were all hoping to press their claims this night, but none could find a way to survive as the invitational team slid quickly to 3 for 13, and more or less out of contention.Of the international batsmen present, only Voges could make any headway, and his neat 55, following 81 for Western Australia in his last Matador Cup start, shows evidence he has pulled himself out of an early-season dry spell that reaped just 50 runs in five innings. The Australian Capital Territory product Ryan Carters then played with invention and intelligence, though never in with a realistic chance of hauling in the target.On an overcast Canberra afternoon, Siddle and Jason Behrendorff found only the merest fraction of early movement, allowing Guptill and Latham to get quickly into stride. The visibility of the pink ball did not appear to be a major issue for batsmen, fielders or spectators, and the PM’s XI captain Michael Hussey appeared to have little answer to the long stride of Guptill and the power of Latham.Guptill’s exit opened up one end, and both Rutherford and Taylor would have been miffed to be out without scoring to the functional spin-bowling of David Hussey and Ashton Agar. Jimmy Neesham and Mitchell Santner contributed cameos to support Latham, and a healthy tally was posted.Khawaja had admitted the PM’s XI did not get much in the way of preparation for this game, by dint of the fact they assembled on the Thursday night for a Friday game. Even so, his brief stay was not convincing, missing a swinging full toss by Southee to be nearly lbw before driving optimistically at Boult and edging into the slips.Bancroft’s Test credentials have been endorsed by plenty of sound judges, but if he is to be a success he will have to stretch further forward than he did to Southee, who found late away-swing to turn the young West Australian around and flick the outside of off stump – a fine ball that could have been better played. Burns looked momentarily better, but he was tempted into a drive at Boult and dragged onto the stumps.From this position, the PM’s XI could hope only to minimise the margin, and Voges, and then Carters, showed good presence of mind. They were helped by the fact that the ball did not deign to move much once it had lost most of its shine, as Southee rotated his bowling resources.In addition to their attractive batting and precise bowling, the New Zealanders also excelled notably in the field. Santner clutched a wonderfully athletic catch low to the ground to dismiss Agar, before Doug Bracewell threw down the stumps to account for Siddle.At the start of the day, the two teams had been greeted by Australia’s new Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull amid considerable fanfare. But Turnbull was gone not only from Manuka but also Canberra by the evening, moving on to other engagements. By contrast, the Australian selectors may find themselves without that kind of mobility should New Zealand continue to play as well as they did here – batting talent is not so easy to fly in.

A boundary from Kyshona Knight off the final ball of a Super Over sealed a thrilling win for West Indies Women against Pakistan Women in Grenada

ESPNcricinfo staff02-Nov-2015

ScorecardKycia Knight and Kyshona Knight celebrate West Indies women’s dramatic win•WICB

A boundary from Kyshona Knight off the final ball of a Super Over sealed a thrilling win for West Indies Women against Pakistan Women in Grenada. Chasing a revised target of 78 from 17 overs, Pakistan were on course for victory at 57 for 3, but a dramatic collapse which included three wickets in the final over, meant that the visitors could only tie the score, allowing West Indies to win the resulting Super Over and seal the series 3-0.West Indies, after being inserted, began poorly, as the team folded for 88 in 19.5 overs. Kyshona’s twin sister Kycia top-scored with 49, but no other batsman was able to manage more than 8, as offspinner Sana Mir collected 4-14 to run through the line-up. Pakistan did not start their innings any better, losing three wickets inside six overs, but Bismah Maroof (30) and Mir (22) chipped in with handy knocks to leave Pakistan within sight of a consolation win. The team needed eight runs off the final over, and looked set to get them when Nida Dar hit the second ball of the over, bowled by Deandra Dottin, for four. However, three wickets off the last three balls, including two consecutive run-outs, helped West Indies force the tie.Pakistan could manage just 3 for 2 in their Super Over, but West Indies found it difficult to overhaul even that score, managing just 2 for 1 from their first five deliveries. However, with two needed for victory off the last ball, Kyshona swung the final ball of the match, from Mir, to the deep mid-wicket boundary to spark wild celebrations among her team-mates.