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Shan Masood drew a sharp line between his side’s batters and bowlers after their innings defeat against England in Multan – he defended the batters and criticised the bowlers for failing to do their job. Speaking after the match, Masood lamented their inability to take 20 wickets, largely dismissing the pitch as a mitigating factor for their struggles.”What England showed us is you can find a way. They took 20 wickets on this pitch, so you can’t say it’s impossible to take 20 wickets on this pitch,” Masood said. “We can’t find the easy way out to those 20 wickets, because then we wouldn’t have scored a huge first-innings score. You have to find a way as a team, and the formula of Test cricket is you can’t win a Test without taking 20 wickets. That, and first-innings runs.”We’ve repeated mistakes, by setting up the match and then letting those positions slip. When you score 550 and bat for two days, there’s a human element where there is scoreboard pressure. If in these conditions you are to set up a game, you put up a big score. And then not let the team take too big a lead.”Related

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It was a point – Pakistan’s failure to take 20 wickets – Masood repeatedly brought up. There was significantly less introspection about Pakistan’s showing with the bat in the second innings. He admitted losing “one or two fewer wickets yesterday” would have been useful, but that was about as far as Masood went in his evaluation.Much of the wider talk has revolved around the placidity of the surface, and how little it offered the bowlers, even as the game wore on. Chris Woakes, who removed Babar Azam in the first innings and knocked back Abdullah Shafique’s off stump off the first ball of the second, called it “a pitch that offered bu****r all”. Mike Atherton, working as a broadcaster on the game, called it “a shocking pitch”. Masood would have had little pushback if he’d chosen to line up behind them to exonerate his bowlers, but he opted to take a different route.”It was the same pitch for both sides, and both sides were similar – three pacers and two spinners,” he said. “They found a way, and we didn’t execute as well. Conditions change over the course of a Test, and we have to learn to find a way.”We take the discussion of the pitch too seriously. You plan a pitch for your squad and your strategy, but you can’t control every aspect of the pitch. The last Test we played here in 2022, that was a slightly different pitch. England’s squad was different, as was ours. Here, we expected this pitch to break up very quickly. Maybe around the end of Day 2 and the start of Day 3. Which is why we tried to prolong the innings.”Masood, in particular, blamed a “lapse” from the bowlers with the second new ball. By that time, England had gone past 400, with Harry Brook and Joe Root well into the partnership that would become the largest away stand in Test history. Abrar Ahmed had proved ineffectual, perhaps hampered by the illness that put him in hospital the following day. Pakistan did not make any inroads overnight, or the morning that followed.”The pitch today and yesterday wasn’t a Day 1 or Day 2 pitch,” Masood said. “The new-ball bowlers got a spell; there was enough with the new ball and there were open cracks. That was an opportunity the bowlers had to drag the game back to Pakistan. We’ll have to absorb pressure in that period and improve. These lapses have occurred before. You set up a big total and restrict the opposition, so you can drive the game on the third day. The 220 we scored, if we had conceded only a 50-run deficit, then scoring 170 in two sessions would have been a different story.”Masood’s review of that period may come off as harsh, particularly on Naseem Shah. Late on the third day, he had Joe Root trapped in front off a ball that came in, but missed out because of umpire’s call when a fair chunk of the ball was hitting leg stump. The following morning, Root pulled one off Naseem straight to Babar Azam at midwicket, and it went down.There wasn’t much introspection about Pakistan’s second innings on Shan Masood’s part•Getty Images

The hostility of the conditions is unlikely to have helped the bowlers either. The Test has been played with temperatures hovering in the high 30s and the sun blazing down; high-performance coach Tim Nielsen said yesterday “the heat and length of time” Pakistan were out on the field ended up getting to them.Meanwhile, there will invariably be criticism that Masood has been selective in the way he has framed his argument. Slumping to 82 for 6 on a surface England piled on the fourth-highest score in Test history can hardly be seen as spectacular batting, particularly in light of Pakistan’s repeated third-innings failures. It’s also worth mentioning that a 170-odd run fourth-innings target is precisely the situation Pakistan found themselves in during the second Test against Bangladesh, only for the visitors to knock it off with little drama.Masood mentioned the importance of not falling into a huge deficit to help Pakistan’s third innings, but even when that goal has been realised during his tenure, a decent third innings has not. In Sydney, Pakistan managed a narrow lead against Australia before slumping for 115, as they did during the second Test against Bangladesh after sneaking a 12-run lead in Rawalpindi. This is the largest lead they have given up during his time, but as he admitted, a spicier pitch may simply have meant a failure to put up the big first-innings total Pakistan did.”We’ve got into good positions three times, and if you keep in mind the first-innings scores – 448, 274, 556 – you’d have to accept they are good innings scores. We have to look at the batting and bowling effort and how to combine them, and stay in the game. The third and fourth innings will only be match-winning when the bowling and batting innings are in tandem.”

Allrounders often tend to draw from doing well in one discipline to do well in the other but there is perhaps a chance that R Ashwin’s primary skill might have held back his secondary one.”Bowling and batting are very separate sports in the same game,” Ashwin said after the second day of the Chennai Test between India and Bangladesh. “One is done consciously. The other one is done subconsciously. So, for me, to compartmentalise both has taken its own due.”He scored 113 off 133 balls that helped the hosts post 376 in the first innings. The bowlers then ran through Bangladesh, knocking them over for 149 and taking almost complete control of the proceedings.Related

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Ashwin walked in at 144 for 6 and immediately put what he has learned over a long career into practice: that with the bat in hand, he needs to be an entirely different person from the one who has gone on to become one of the greatest spinners in history.”At this stage, I am able to sequence that and split both of them and see as a cricketer. So, when I walked there [to bat] the only thing I wanted to do was to settle down my game. The mind can play tricks because I am a bowler who plays on 12, 18, 24 balls ahead when I am sequencing it. As a batter, I shouldn’t do that. I just use my experience when I get in. So, now it’s more about just focusing on the ball and hitting it as I see it.”This was Ashwin’s second successive century at his home ground, Chepauk, following on from a 106 against England in similar circumstances in 2021. He wasn’t quite able to pick which one he liked better.”I worked quite a lot on how I can maximise my shots, maximise my game”•BCCI

“Both. [The England Test] had so much riding on it. We lost the first one and came to the second. Last time when I played at Chennai, I felt like I was making sort of a comeback in more than one way. I was a little here and there. I went to Australia and came back here. That was different and I enjoyed it. I think my batting has come along a lot better since that particular game. I worked quite a lot on how I can maximise my shots, maximise my game. I worked on how I can play fast bowling and all that sort of stuff. I’m glad it’s coming out nicely.”Ashwin does this – pushing himself even at 38 with 500 wickets already in the bag – for a very simple reason.”Happiness. You want to be good. You excel. You feel happy at the end of the day. It drives me towards that. Every time I do well, it leaves me in a good, happy state of mind. That’s what you get on this journey for. You want to do well. You want to excel on the global stage. People are watching you and you feel happy about it.”There was a time, though, when Ashwin couldn’t find a way to play his cricket with this kind of freedom. “I was critical of myself earlier but not much now because I have already put so much pressure on myself. Not only did I put myself under pressure, but there was pressure from outside too. I used to find happiness in answering my critics with my performance, or in the press conference. But that’s not the case now. The most important thing for me these days is to enjoy my game, by staying in the moment, by playing my cricket with a smile on my face. Four-five years ago, I made a promise to myself, with great difficulty, that I would not respond to anyone from then on and would play for my own happiness. And I have maintained that to date.”As is often the case with his bowling, Ashwin had Jadeja as his partner for the course of a match-turning 199-run seventh-wicket stand.”You don’t plan for such things. Jaddu is one cricketer who has evolved so nicely. I always envy him. I have made that amply clear. So gifted, so talented. He has found ways to maximise his potential. Keeps it really simple. He can repeat it day in and day out. I wish I could be him but I am glad I am myself. He is an exceptionally good cricketer. I am happy for him. Likewise, in so many ways, watching him bat over the last couple of years has given me insight into how [much] better I can be. Both of us have grown together. Both of us have done some special things. We really value one another at this stage. Both of us are enjoying each other’s success more than ever before.”

A trademark, enterprising century from Dinesh Chandimal led Sri Lanka’s charge towards a big score, making New Zealand rue multiple lapses in the field on the opening day in Galle. Chandimal switched gears across the first two sessions on his way to a 16th Test century, helping the hosts finish on a commanding 306 for 3. Unbeaten half-centuries from Angelo Mathews and Kamindu Mendis provided the support act.New Zealand would have picked up more than three wickets in the day had Daryl Mitchell not put down two catches at first slip, Tom Blundell not missed Dimuth Karunartne’s stumping, and William O’Rourke not overstepped when he had Mathews caught behind. It was Chandimal’s chanceless innings, however, that hurt the visitors the most. He raised his sixth hundred in Galle and his fourth 50-plus score in eight Test innings while batting at No. 3 – out of his usual position in the middle order, to accommodate Kamindu at No. 5 and Kusal Mendis at No. 7.The only thing that went New Zealand’s way was the early wicket of Pathum Nissanka who edged an outswinger from Tim Southee behind at the end of the first over. Chandimal took on the fast bowlers when the new ball was still swinging around to set an early base for his team, and once the ball got older and conditions eased out for batting, with the sun beating down nicely, the hosts piled on the runs.Tom Blundell missed a stumping chance of Dimuth Karunaratne•AP

Karunaratne was the beneficiary of two lives; first dropped at slip on 5, off O’Rourke, and then he survived a stumping chance on 17 when he came down to attack Ajaz Patel and took a big swing but missed. Chandimal also edged the ball a few times early on against the pace bowlers but that didn’t deter him from going for his shots. He got off the mark with a fierce scythe that crashed the ball to the deep-point boundary and then went over the covers against Southee’s outswinger. He took on Ajaz’s left-arm spin from around the wicket to score quick runs.The most picture-perfect of his boundaries was against O’Rourke when he drove a full delivery on the up, square on the off side with a lot of power and impeccable timing. When he raced to 41 off 42, Southee brought on left-arm spin from both ends to stem the flow of runs before lunch and the tactic worked as Ajaz and Mitchell Santner bowled in tandem for 15 overs for 36 runs, with the odd ball turning sharply. A now-patient Chandimal was on 49 for 13 balls before finally getting to the landmark on his 79th ball.A brief spell of showers in the first hour pushed the lunch break from 12pm to 12.22pm and when play resumed, it was a fielding effort, aided by a mix-up, that ended the century partnership. Karunaratne flicked a ball from Santner to midwicket and ran all the way to the other end, but Chandimal barely left his crease. Glenn Phillips’ throw from midwicket, meanwhile, reached short leg and not the keeper, and Latham hit the stumps with an under-arm throw just in time to find the batter – scrambling to regain his ground – short.New Zealand then handed a life to Mathews. When O’Rourke had to re-bowl the last ball of the 44th over because he had overstepped, he had Mathews tickling one down the leg side and saw the umpire’s finger go up only to see the hand stretched to the side seconds later. Mathews settled his nerves thereafter by patiently seeing off the spinners who stuck to tight lines and lengths with slightly flat trajectories.Dinesh Chandimal, who recently had a baby, made 116•SLC

Chandimal, meanwhile, continued to drive full deliveries through the covers, loft the spinners down the ground when the field wasn’t spread out, and he even got a bonus four runs via overthrows to reach 95. He soon acknowledged his century with a rock-the-baby celebration having become a father in June. Mathews relied heavily on back-foot cuts and punches off the spinners, transferring his weight on the ball with his powerful arms and wrists. Chandimal fell soon after Mathews registered his 44th Test half-century, when he danced down and missed an offbreak to lose his off stump, a reward for Phillips for bowling tight lines through the day.Luck continued to favour the hosts even in the last session. Kamindu, the centurion from the first Test, edged his seventh and eighth deliveries in almost identical fashion off Southee not long before the second new ball was taken, but on both occasions the ball flew through the gap between Blundell and wide slip. After being dropped by Mitchell at slip off O’Rourke after the new ball was taken, Kamindu produced a flurry of boundaries, which started with a slog-swept six off Ajaz and included three more fours in quick succession to bring up his 53-ball half-century.O’Rourke used his height and bounce to also draw an edge off the splice of Matthews’ bat late in the day, but when the ball only kissed Tom Latham’s fingertips before going for four, Latham’s wry smile summed up New Zealand’s day.

Maddy Darke’s unbeaten 106 along with Katie Mack’s 68 set up Australia A’s eight-wicket victory over India A in the second one-dayer in Mackay. The openers added 131 as Australia A chased down India A’s 219 with ease to take an unassailable 2-0 lead in the three-match series.Having been put into bat, Raghvi Bist and Tejal Hasabnis hit fifties helping India A fight back with a 124-run stand for the fourth wicket. But Charli Knott and Grace Parsons triggered a collapse as the visitors slumped from 176 for 3 to 218 all out.The game started with Tayla Vlaeminck’s superb opening spell of 4-3-3-1 where she had Priya Punia caught behind. Nicola Hancock replaced Vlaeminck and dismissed Shweta Sehrawat in her first over before Knott sent back Shubha Satheesh for a 38-ball 24.Bist and Hasabnis started slowly before picking boundaries in overs from Parsons and Kate Peterson. They focused on rotating the strike in the middle overs and eased past fifties. But India’s acceleration was cut short by Parsons having Hasabnis caught and bowled and Knott having Minnu Mani caught behind in successive overs.Shipra Giri got going with a couple of fours but with Bist getting run out in the 45th over, India slipped to 203 for 6. Maitlan Brown cleaned up the tail in a triple-wicket maiden over, which included a run out, as India were bowled out in 48 overs.Mack and Darke were aided by wides and a couple of threes from Soppadhandi Yashasri and Sayali Satghare’s opening spells as Australia A coasted past fifty in the 11th over. Between overs eight and 16, every single one went for at least five as Mack reached fifty in the 16th over. Darke reached hers in the 21st over with Australia A on 121 for 0.Satghare trapped Mack lbw in the 23rd over but Darke carried on. Her 38-run stand with Knott included just one boundary but brought the asking rate well under three. Tahlia McGrath hitting four boundaries in her first 15 balls quashed the little chances for a visitors’ comeback and allowed Darke to complete a century in the 37th over. The duo stayed unbeaten to take Australia A home with 58 balls to spare.Australia A had swept the T20I series 3-0 and have the chance to repeat the feat in the ODIs at the Gold Coast on Monday.

Tristan Stubbs will be backed as South Africa’s Test No. 3 for both his batting approach and intimidating presence, according to Test coach Shukri Conrad. As the sole selector of both the squad and the playing XI, Conrad has made the decision to give Stubbs a “good run” in the position despite his inexperience, because he sees something special in him.”Technique is obviously a big factor because you’re going to be facing the new ball the bulk of the time,” Conrad said from Trinidad, where South Africa will play West Indies in the first of their two Tests from Wednesday. “And he’s quite an imposing character, a big, strong, strapping boy, and I quite like that. I like the fact that at the top of the order, there are quite imposing guys; guys that have got a good aura about them and strong body language.”South Africa’s top three for this series will be: Aiden Markram, who stands at 1.85 metres, is an Under-19 World Cup-winning captain and the only national men’s captain to qualify for a senior World Cup final; Tony de Zorzi, a bubbly character who is not afraid to speak his mind, especially on social media; and Stubbs, who is 1.84 metres tall and broad-shouldered.Related

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Conrad didn’t elaborate on what the advantage of three physically big players would be, but it may have something to do with who they are being followed by: their diminutive captain Temba Bavuma, who is 1.62 metres tall and has not batted in a Test match since March last year.Bavuma was forced to withdraw from the Boxing Day Test against India with a left hamstring injury, a month after he suffered a right hamstring injury at the ODI World Cup. He is fully rehabilitated after a lengthy off-season and last week said he was ready to take on the responsibility of the No. 4 spot, as South Africa’s most experienced batter and one of only three squad members (Kagiso Rabada and Keshav Maharaj are the others) with more than 50 Test caps. That doesn’t mean Bavuma needs protecting, but that he needs players who can bat around him and lay a foundation. And Stubbs has been identified as someone who can do that. “His psyche and his technique speak to someone who will do that job really well,” Conrad said. “We’ve got a good one for the future of South African cricket.”The numbers suggest Conrad is on to something. Stubbs has played 18 first-class matches over his career and has an eye-catching average of 50.20. His most notable long-format innings was the 302* he scored against (now-relegated) Kwa-Zulu Natal (KZN) Inland in Pietermaritzburg last February. Although the opposition was the weakest in South Africa’s top tier, Stubbs scored his runs quickly, off 372 balls, to demonstrate his dominance. His first red-ball hundred also came against KZN Inland, in February 2020, in the second tier of South Africa’s domestic system. Stubbs was playing for Eastern Province (EP) and batting at No. 7 when he hit a 232-ball 105 to take EP from 135 for 5 to 327 for 8, and give them a first-innings lead. He has three more centuries in the format, the most high profile being 117 for South Africa A against Sri Lanka A in Colombo last year, when Conrad first decided to try him up the order.It was on that tour that Stubbs was identified as a possible long-term pick for the No. 3 spot and Conrad has all but committed to giving him the rest of this World Test Championship cycle to see if he can make the spot his own. “I’m going to give him a good run,” Conrad said, “I’d be surprised if we didn’t back him throughout the rest of the cycle. I’m pretty confident Tristan is going to come good.”South Africa play eight more Tests in this cycle – two in the West Indies, two in Bangladesh and two at home against each of Sri Lanka and Pakistan – which will give Stubbs a variety of oppositions and conditions to adjust to. He has received no special instructions or expectations from Conrad other than to express himself in the way he feels most comfortable and believes that the results will come. “We do who we are,” Conrad said. “It’s become quite a cliche now being the best version of yourself, but…”But that’s the mantra Conrad is adopting, albeit not in catch phrases. “Whatever that identity is, you couple that with the conditions that you’re confronting and then marry that with what the skills the opposition bring, but ultimately, you still operate with your own identity in mind. That’s the only messaging I’ve given Tristan and the rest of the batters.”

Worcestershire 147 for 7 (Libby 61*, J Taylor 2-11, Lawrence 2-27) trail Surrey 490 (Lawrence 175, Smith 86, Sibley 76, Taylor 3-99) by 343 runsShoaib Bashir equalled the most expensive over in the history of English first class cricket while on loan to Worcestershire for the Vitality County Championship encounter with Surrey at ‘Visit Worcestershire New Road.’The England spinner, on loan for a month to Worcestershire from Somerset, conceded 38 runs including five successive sixes to Dan Lawrence.It was a wake-up call for Bashir who in the winter picked up 17 wickets in three Tests in India.Lawrence cleared the boundary with the first five deliveries of the over between long off and wide long on.The next ball went for five wides and then Lawrence took a single off a no ball before last man Dan Worrall failed to score off the eighth delivery.It equalled the 38 struck by Freddie Flintoff off Alex Tudor for Lancashire against Surrey in a Championship match at Old Trafford in 1998.Lawrence went onto to make a career-best 175 before he was last out with the Surrey first-innings total on 490.Worcestershire then slumped to 147 for 7 with only Jake Libby, with a 145-ball half century, offering much resistance as Lawrence’s fine day continued with two wickets.Lawrence surpassed his 161 for Essex – against Surrey in 2015 at the Kia Oval – in only his second first class match.The only other time more runs have been conceded in an over was a Shell Trophy encounter in New Zealand in 1990 when Lee Germon and Roger Ford (Canterbury) took advantage of contrived bowling from Robert Vance (Wellington) and hit 77.Lawrence had a scare in the middle of his sixes blitz when the third was caught by Adam Hose at long on but the Worcestershire batter carried the ball over the boundary rope.Surrey advanced from their overnight 340 for 5 in sedate fashion during the morning session, adding 88 in 29 overs for the loss of three wickets before Lawrence cut loose on the resumption.Worcestershire were without the injured pace bowler, Adam Finch (leg) and Academy player Chris Ellison deputised in the field.Tom Taylor struck in the first over of the day after Surrey had resumed on 340 for 5.Jordan Clark added only a single before he played back and picked out Bashir at midwicket.Lawrence, who had resumed on 91, completed his century in regal style with a cover drive off Taylor for his 14th boundary.Sean Abbott showed plenty of aggression in the chase for a fourth batting point but he paid the price after giving Taylor the charge and was bowled.Gus Atkinson tried to work Bashir to leg and was bowled to give the spinner his second wicket.James Taylor was run out after playing Bashir to third and attempting a second run and Lawrence’s fine knock ended when he was caught at deep backward point off Allison, his 223-ball knock containing six sixes and 16 fours.When Worcestershire batted, Sean Abbott struck with his first delivery after replacing Worrall when Gareth Roderick was caught behind from a delivery which nipped away.Kashif Ali, back in the side after his break from the game, made 17 before being strangled down the leg side off Atkinson at 59 for 2.Rob Jones was undone by a delivery of extra bounce by James Taylor to give Ben Foakes his third catch.Foakes held onto another chance after Hose (10) aimed a drive at a widish delivery from Taylor.Ethan Brookes, in his first Championship appearance for five years, then fell to a sharp catch at first slip by Ollie Pope off Clark at 99 for 5.Matthew Waite played back to Lawrence and was bowled and Tom Taylor departed in similar fashion for a duck.

After spending the group stage waiting in the wings, Kuldeep Yadav continued his run as Super Eight specialist, taking 3 for 19 in India’s comprehensive victory over Bangladesh in Antigua.Kuldeep has now taken five wickets across India’s two Super Eight matches, after picking up 2 for 32 against Afghanistan on Thursday in Barbados.India held Kuldeep back for the Caribbean leg of the tournament in the belief the pitches would suit his left-arm wristspin more than those in the USA. And, while he admitted he was keen to play in the group stages, he knew once he returned to the islands where he made both his white-ball debuts for India, during the 2017 West Indies tour, his experience would be called upon.Related

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“I was helping out the team-mates and carrying the drinks [in the US]. That is more like playing,” joked Kuldeep. “I would have loved to bowl there. But it’s more like an Australian sort of wicket. But here I made my T20 [and] ODI debut back in 2017. I knew the conditions very well, just the length and trying to vary my pace. So it’s perfect for spinners to come here and bowl.”While there was a sound reason to bring Kuldeep into the side on Caribbean surfaces, having a bowler play their first competitive match so late and at such a crucial stage of a T20 World Cup is unusual. But Kuldeep said he didn’t feel any added pressure playing for the first time in the tournament at the Super Eight stage.Kuldeep Yadav was at the top of his game•CREIMAS

“It’s very important to play every game, take every game as a normal game. Now obviously we playing at Super Eight, obviously we have a lot of pressure as well. We’re going to play Australia in a couple of days’ time. The wickets are good for spinners, as you have seen in the last few games as well. Nothing changes. I’ve got four overs to bowl and that was my plan. Just sticking with the length and varying my pace. For me it’s nice.”Bowling in the middle phase, Kuldeep went wicketless in his first over but struck in each of his next three. He flummoxed Tanzid Hasan with a fizzing googly that jagged back in and cannoned into the front pad before foxing Towhid Hridoy with a straight one that struck the back pad. After Shakib Al Hasan slog-swept a looping delivery for six, Kuldeep tossed another one up as a tempter, but the slower pace and extra bounce drew a top edge and a third wicket.Kuldeep bowled his four overs from the Sir Andy Roberts End, which gave assistance to left-handed batters hitting into the wind on the leg-side and help to right-handers outside their off stump. But while the stiff cross breeze posed challenges, he said it was important not to overthink its effect.”It was difficult from this end as a spinner because my rhythm is like, not like running rhythm, it’s more like a one step and then aggressive. I didn’t think about the wind, just the length matters. And obviously reading the batter what they are expecting from me, just reading one step ahead, what they are thinking. So just keeping this in mind and changing the line and length, and obviously they were targeting the windy side, and just reacting to what they are doing.”When the other team needs 10 runs or 12 runs per over and the batter’s going against you my plan is to just stick with the length, and obviously when they try to attack you, if you have a proper plan against them and you are bowling in probably the better length, you have maximum chances of getting the batter out. So that is my thinking, not thinking I have to get him out, just the length.”

Match abandoned Sydney Thunder were robbed of a WBBL win when umpires abandoned play when they were just three runs from downing Adelaide Strikers on a rain-soaked Adelaide Oval. Chasing 46 to win in five overs, Phoebe Litchfield’s 38 not out from 15 balls powered the Thunder to 43 for 0 from 2.5 overs.And while rain was falling – and had been for a quarter-hour – in the late game, umpires suddenly called off Friday night’s contest, leaving Thunder stunned.