All posts by h716a5.icu

West Indies go into their 500th Test with a 1-0 lead and Bangladesh’s confidence at a low ebb brought about by their form and their bench strength being depleted by injury and other concerns

The Preview by Mohammad Isam12-Sep-2014Match factsSeptember 13-17, 2014
Start time 1000 local (1400 GMT)Big PictureKraigg Brathwaite, the new Chanderpaul?•WICB MediaWest Indies have a distinct advantage ahead of their 500th Test. Besides their 1-0 lead, Bangladesh’s state of mind would be at a low ebb after seamer Al-Amin Hossain was reported for a suspect action and Imrul Kayes was ruled out with a skin infection.The hosts have one setback of their own with Chris Gayle unavailable due to “personal matters.” Leon Johnson, who is yet to make his debut, comes in place of a man with over 100 Tests. The rest of Denesh Ramdin’s team looks well settled in this series. Apart from a favourable result on their milestone Test, West Indies have a chance to win their first Test series in 2014.Kraigg Brathwaite, with his maiden double-hundred, would have taken the most out of the first Test, and his captain has urged him to continue playing his natural game. The responsibility would then be on the likes of Kirk Edwards, Darren Bravo and Shivnarine Chanderpaul to play around Brathwaite, if he drops anchor.West Indies’ bowling doesn’t particularly have a leader, but the left-arm spinner Sulieman Benn took five wickets and was seen constantly chatting to the other bowlers. Kemar Roach would feel encouraged by his four-wicket haul in the second innings, which makes 2014 his best year since the 39 wickets he took in 2012.Bangladesh’s confidence has taken a significant hit with a 3-0 defeat in the ODIs before conceding the St Vincent Test. They batted better in the second innings but still could only manage a negligible target. They are also unsure on using Al-Amin because of the scrutiny on his action. The obvious risk is that the umpires may call him but Sohag Gazi played the third ODI after he was reported, and so has Prosper Utseya without any incidents. Although the same umpires who reported him, Marais Erasmus and Richard Illingworth, are in charge of the second Test too.The occasion may make West Indies a bit nervous, and it would be factors like these that Bangladesh would have to latch on to and salvage an already wretched tour.Form guideWest Indies (completed matches, most recent first) WLWLL
Bangladesh LDLDDPlayers to watchThe pace of Kraigg Brathwaite’s double hundred was under the scanner throughout the first Test, but ultimately West Indies won with more than two sessions to spare. But neither he nor his captain wants anything different which means Bangladesh will have to continue working very hard to dismiss him.For a player of Mahmudullah’s quality, it was only a matter of time before he ended a 21-month drought for a Test half-century. With that bogey off his back, there is always a chance that his bowling would improve too.Team newsWith Chris Gayle out, it is unlikely that West Indies will drop Kirk Edwards despite his run of low scores during this series. Edwards could well open considering Leon Johnson has mostly played at No 3 in first-class cricket. With a 1-0 lead to fall back on, it is also unlikely that they would pick a five-man bowling attack by bringing in either Jason Holder or Shane Shillingford.West Indies (probable): 1 Kraigg Brathwaite, 2 Kirk Edwards, 3 Leon Johnson, 4 Darren Bravo, 5 Shivnarine Chanderpaul, 6 Jermaine Blackwood, 7 Denesh Ramdin (capt & wk), 8 Jerome Taylor, 9 Kemar Roach, 10 Shannon Gabriel, 11 Suleiman BennWith Imrul Kayes out, Bangladesh is likely give Anamul Haque his first Test since October last year. Robiul Islam might get into the XI should Bangladesh opt to lessen the spotlight on Al-Amin.Bangladesh (probable): 1 Tamim Iqbal, 2 Shamsur Rahman, 3 Anamul Haque, 4 Mominul Haque, 5 Mushfiqur Rahim (capt & wk), 6 Nasir Hossain, 7 Mahmudullah, 8 Shuvagata Hom, 9 Robiul Islam/ Al-Amin Hossain, 10 Taijul Islam, 11 Rubel HossainPitch and conditionsRamdin’s observations regarding the pitch at Beausejour Stadium indicates there might be more grass than at St Vincent and the quicks would enjoy good bounce and carry. This will only be the fourth Test at the venue, and the first after eight years.Stats and trivia The two teams are locked at 2-2 in Tests played in West Indies. West Indies have won 38% of their Tests till 2000, having won 138 out of 368 Tests. Since then, it has dropped to 18% as they have won just 24 out of 131 Tests.Quotes”You cannot save a Test match by scoring 70s or 80s. I made a hundred in the first Test but that still didn’t matter in the end. The main target should be to get set and ensure that the innings should be 100 to 150. I am hoping for that to happen.”

“It is very important that we play competitive cricket but the Bangladeshis are not going to lie down. They have aggressive batters so our bowlers need to be on par with them. We have to take our chances in the slip cordon.”
.

New Zealand, after being 159 for 3 at tea, capitulated to lose their last seven wickets for 62 runs in a dramatic last session

The Report by Devashish Fuloria16-Jun-2014
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsJerome Taylor picked up 4 for 34•WICBThe sight of the green surface at the Queen’s Park Oval was a welcome change after the slow-and-low pitch in Sabina Park but it appeared there was not much of a change in the script. New Zealand chose to bat, lost an early wicket, then Tom Latham and Kane Williamson laid anchor and put on a century stand as West Indies’ bowlers struggled to make impact.However, just when it seemed it was slipping away, two wickets in the second session sparked a resurgence from West Indies. New Zealand, after being 159 for 3 at tea, capitulated to lose their last seven wickets for 62 runs in a dramatic last session.Sulieman Benn, the lone spinner in the West Indies XI, trapped Brendon McCullum plumb in front with the second delivery after tea. That wicket set the tone as the bowlers applied relentless pressure from both ends and forced batsmen into false shots. Jimmy Neesham slashed a Jerome Taylor delivery to first slip, BJ Watling offered a loose poke soon after to be caught behind and then Ish Sodhi was caught at slip too, all in the space of seven runs.Ross Taylor scratched around for an 80-ball 45, but his stay lacked conviction as a bulk of his runs came through iffy shots. As he stood circumspect in the middle, he witnessed helplessly the disintegration of the innings that had started promisingly with Latham scoring yet another half-century.Jerome Taylor, playing his first Test series since 2009, was the pick of the West Indies bowlers with a probing spell of 4 for 34 and although he lacked the same level of support in the first half of the day, the other three bowlers rallied behind him later.The turnaround happened when Latham, who had looked set to breach the 100-mark for the first time in Tests, edged a Kemar Roach delivery to gully at the stroke of tea, ending a 163-ball innings during which he had showed no signs of flinching in his concentration.The remaining overs in the session produced nervous moments for the batsmen; Ross Taylor was reprieved off the last two balls of the session from Roach, first by Denesh Ramdin, who didn’t go for a thick outside edge, then by Kirk Edwards, who dropped a simple chance to his left at short mid-on.In the third session, there were no let-offs as West Indies tightened their loose ends: Roach upped his pace, Jerome Taylor bowled fuller lengths and got the ball to move away, Benn kept the batsmen on their toes with his arm ball, Gabriel firmly stood at the door preventing an escape and all catches were swallowed by the fielders.The way the innings finished must have left the bowlers wondering what could have been had they not been lax in the first half of the day. Jerome Taylor and Roach used the conditions to their advantage, getting the ball to swing and seam with decent bounce, but all West Indies had to show for the effort was one wicket – that of Hamish Rutherford. Then followed a period of New Zealand dominance, led by Latham, which threatened to take the game away from West Indies.Latham, impressive during his twin half-centuries in the first Test, was unfazed during that testing first period, and even later. He was prepared to leave a number of deliveries outside off, a trait that also rubbed off on Rutherford, who had replaced Peter Fulton. Both batsmen refrained from pushing unnecessarily at deliveries to start with, until Rutherford’s patience ran out.Latham continued playing a compact game. His first boundary – a classical off-drive past the non-striker – came off the 32nd delivery he faced, in Gabriel’s first over. Twice, when he appeared in trouble against rising deliveries, he still managed eight runs with a couple of controlled guides through gully.Ramdin opted for spin in the 16th over and Benn, with his height, posed a threat with the appreciable bounce he extracted. Latham was untroubled, using a solid front-foot defence to smother most of those deliveries. The runs came easily off the seamers at the other end and Latham went on to reach his third successive half-century of the tour, in 83 balls. Seventy-one runs came in the 18 overs just before lunch, a far cry from the slow start to the innings.Both Williamson and Latham stuck to the same template in the second session, playing out five consecutive maidens before opening up. Williamson, on 19, had been dropped by Chris Gayle at slip off Benn in the first session and in the second, Latham survived a tough chance on 58 as a thick edge off Benn didn’t stick in Ramdin’s gloves.Soon after the two batsmen had put up a century stand, though, Williamson blinked, top-edging an attempted pull off Gabriel to fine leg. That wicket buoyed Gabriel, who had been ordinary otherwise as he sent down a few probing overs. Then as Latham fell, two overs before tea, the bowlers found their mojo.New Zealand’s seamers responded with prodigious swing, one such out-swinging full delivery from Trent Boult taking Gayle’s off stump late in the day, raising hopes of a counter from the visitors on day two.

Squad rotation is a reality that modern football has become well acquainted with. To most counties, their meagre playing resources make that notion an unimaginable luxury. Surrey are different

Tim Wigmore at The Oval13-May-2014Surrey 132 and 47 for 0 (Smith 39*) need another 220 runs to beat Gloucestershire 168 and 230
ScorecardKevin O’Brien will be returning to play in Surrey’s colours for the NatWest T20 Blast•Getty ImagesSquad rotation is a reality that modern football has become well acquainted with. To most counties, their meagre playing resources make that notion an unimaginable luxury.Surrey are different. On a day limited to 17 deliveries – Surrey’s quest for a second Championship win since September 2012 will resume on Wednesday – they provided another reminder of their financial strength by signing Ireland’s Kevin O’Brien. It adds lustre to their Twenty20 batting line-up ahead of their tournament opener at Hove on Friday night.But it is in pace bowling that Surrey’s resources are most plentiful and where resting players is a luxury they can afford.While Tom Curran, Matt Dunn, Tim Linley and Chris Tremlett illustrated their contrasting qualities to take 20 Gloucestershire wickets for only 398 in this game, Jade Dernbach and Stuart Meaker were rested with the NatWest Blast in mind. Add in George Edwards and Surrey, for all their plight near the foot of Division Two in the Championship, have seven pace bowlers with strong claims.The club’s approach to managing these talents evokes Claudio “The Tinkerman” Ranieri’s selection policy at Chelsea a decade ago. “You generally try and get your quick bowlers to play between ten and twelve games each, so that when they play they’re fresh and when they’re just lagging a bit you can leave them out and someone else can come in fresh,” Surrey’s director of cricket – and Chelsea fan – Alec Stewart explained after the first day. “That’s how we try and do it with the bowling resources.”Tremlett is among those who should benefit. “That’s the joy of having a big squad,” he said. “I don’t want to put my body under too much stress.”In other positions, the need for rotation is less pressing. Behind the stumps, Gary Wilson, who has deposed Niall O’Brien as Ireland wicketkeeper, will be in no mood to relinquish the responsibilities that he has gained while Steven Davies works on his batting.Stewart warned Davies that, “No one has a divine right to say ‘I’m a keeper therefore I keep’. It’s how the selectors feel.” Wilson strengthened his case with impressive keeping in both innings against Gloucestershire, which was not reflected in a match total of 25 byes.With rain dominating the day, Wilson had the chance to welcome his compatriot Kevin O’Brien. In the spirit of the age, he tweeted a selfie, though one imagines that it resonated rather less far than David Cameron’s attempt at Nelson Mandela’s funeral last year. O’Brien is expected to be available for nine games before he heads to the Caribbean: such is the life of the nomadic cricketer.The lack of regular team-mates is “probably one of the hardest things to get used to” but O’Brien said that it was “easier when you come back and you know the guys in the changing room”. He made a big impression in very little time last season, relishing the short boundaries to the Mound and Tavern stands in scything a 24-ball 54 at Lord’s.That innings was from No. 4, though it is opening – as when smiting a century for Gloucestershire in 2011 – that O’Brien prefers. “It’s the best time to bat in Twenty20,” he said. “You’ve got an opportunity to face the most balls.” It is expected that O’Brien will be used in the middle order, with Graeme Smith, Jason Roy, Steven Davies and – once his IPL commitments are done – Kevin Pietersen at the top.It all promises no shortage of razzmatazz. Surrey’s challenge to win this game is more mundane but, against a Gloucestershire attack who bowled them out for 132 in their first innings, no less challenging for that.

An incisive bowling performance from Trinidad & Tobago paved the way for the team’s seven-wicket mauling of CCC at the Queens Park Oval

ESPNcricinfo staff10-Feb-2014
ScorecardJason Mohammed finished with 3 for 19•WICBAn incisive bowling performance from Trinidad & Tobago, spearheaded by the captain Dwayne Bravo and offspinner Jason Mohammed, paved the way for the team’s seven-wicket mauling of Combined Campuses and Colleges at the Queens Park Oval. As a result of the win, T&T have now qualified for the semi-finals where they will face Guyana.CCC, choosing to bat, failed to produce even one significant partnership and lost wickets right from the off. Only three batsmen reached double figures, as Dwayne and Jason shared six scalps between them to dismiss the team for 98 in 44.2 overs. Both the bowlers ended with identical figures – 3 for 19 from their 10 overs- while Ravi Rampaul, Sunil Narine and Rayad Emrit chipped in with a wicket each.T&T made a bright start in their chase, as the openers Lendl Simmons and Evin Lewis forged a 65-run stand. The pair eventually fell in quick succession – Lewis for 44 and Simmons for 38 – but by then, the hosts’ second win of the tournament had all but been sealed.CCC, who are second in Group B, will only qualify if Leewards Islands beat Barbados in their final group game.

Aaron Finch and David Warner gave Australia the chance to go home with a solitary win in an otherwise forgettable tournament

The Report by Daniel Brettig01-Apr-2014
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details1:19

Crowe – Australia efficient against poor bowling

Al-Amin Hossain fined

Bangladesh fast bowler Al-Amin Hossain was fined 15% of his match fee, for giving David Warner a send-off after dismissing him. He was found to be in breach of article 2.1.4 of the ICC code of conduct, which relates to “using language or a gesture that is obscene, offensive or insulting during an international match”.

If the destructive power brought to bear by Aaron Finch and David Warner allowed Australia to evade the ignominy of their worst-ever global tournament display, then it also underlined why the sometime favourites will fly home with an especially bitter memory of the 2014 World Twenty20.Finch and Warner alone possess enough pyrotechnics to dominate a match – as Bangladesh discovered in a chase that consigned the hosts to the ignominy of failing to win a single fixture in the main draw. So for the Australians to be leaving the tournament at such an early stage will be the cause of some introspection by the captain George Bailey, the coach Darren Lehmann and the selectors. To avoid going home without winning any of four games was the most modest of rewards.It remains to be seen whether Bailey will continue as the specialist T20 captain, having guided Australia through two tournament campaigns for diminishing returns. He ended Australia’s tournament with a hollow-feeling six as Finch and Warner swung lustily but intelligently, but looked nonplussed at times in the field as Bangladesh wriggled to a higher total than a more ruthless and balanced Australian combination might have conceded.Smart Stats

Shakib Al Hasan’s 66 in this match was the first fifty by a Bangladesh batsman in this World T20 and the third-highest individual score for Bangladesh in any World T20. The highest also belongs to Shakib – a 54-ball 84 against Pakistan in the last World T20.

Shakib, with 752 runs at 22.78, is now the top run scorer for Bangladesh in T20Is. Shakib and Tamim Iqbal were the joint-top run scorers for Bangladesh before this match, both having scored 686 runs from 35 innings.

The 112-run partnership between Shakib and Mushfiqur Rahim is the highest for Bangladesh in the World T20 for any wicket and only the fourth hundred partnership in T20Is by a Bangladesh pair. Tamim and Mahmudullah added an unbeaten 132 runs for the second wicket against West Indies in a T20I in 2012, which is their highest partnership.

Aaron Finch’s 45-ball 71 is his fifth fifty in T20Is and Australia’s second-highest score in this World T20. He fell just three runs short of Glenn Maxwell’s 74 against Pakistan, which is their highest in this World T20.

Australia’s openers added 98 runs – their second-highest partnership in this World T20. The 118-run partnership between Finch and Maxwell against Pakistan is their highest.

Shakib gave away 36 runs from his three overs in this match. His economy of 12.0 in this match is his worst in T20Is. Shakib’s economy in this match equalled the second-worst by a Bangladesh spinner to have bowled three or more overs in a T20I.

Equally glum were Brad Hodge and Brad Hogg, the two most venerable members of Australia’s squad, left out for the final match and unlikely to figure in future assignments. Both Hodge and Hogg might have been utilised differently in the team, something that Shane Warne certainly felt preferable, suggesting on commentary that the former could have been used at No. 3 throughout.Shakib Al Hasan and Mushfiqur Rahim had prospered through the middle overs against a fairly monotone collection of medium pace and above, while Glenn Maxwell’s spin was not in the class of that in the armoury of Hogg and James Muirhead, also left out of this match, or numerous others sitting at home, including the Test spinner Nathan Lyon.The omission of both specialist spin bowlers chosen for the tournament seemed a kind of concession that Australia’s slow bowling plans had been awry, with the use of five seamers a rare curiosity in a tournament where all the most accomplished teams have relied on quality exhibitions of flight, dip and turn. Mitchell Starc looked underdone, as he has appeared all tournament, while Doug Bollinger huffed and puffed to little effect.The best of the pacemen was the third string Nathan Coulter-Nile, who gained some new ball swing for a pair of early wickets, before maintaining his economy for the remainder of a spell that strangely went uncompleted. Instead, Shakib and Mushfiqur accumulated soundly against bowling that did not offer much in the way of a threat, while speckled with five wides and two no balls.Granted 153 to defend, Bangladesh bounced onto the field in expectation, but soon found themselves being smashed around Mirpur by Warner and Finch. This was the kind of display many had expected to see earlier in the tournament, when Pakistan, West Indies and India all escaped unharmed from their encounters with Australia’s opening pair.Warner skied an early half-chance that fell short and essayed one other reverse hoick but otherwise clattered the ball in sensible areas. Both he and Finch sat on the back foot to the spinners and capitalised on any shortness of length, before climbing out to swing sixes when the bowlers tried to compensate.By the time Sohag Gazi coaxed a thick edge behind from Finch the match was well on the way to being over. Kumar Dharmasena did not see the deflection and shook his head, leading to a sequence of verbal conflict between Warner and Mushfiqur. Warner’s departure the following over drew a send-off from Al-Amin Hossain, but like Australia’s eventual victory, it was sound and fury signifying nothing.

Services crumbled to the lowest score of the season – 31 all out – as Munaf Patel picked up a career-best 6 for 13 and spearhead Baroda to an innings victory in Vadodara

Alagappan Muthu16-Dec-2013
ScorecardFile photo: Munaf Patel grabbed 6 for 13 in the second innings•AFPServices crumbled to the lowest score of the season – 31 all out – as Munaf Patel grabbed a career-best 6 for 13 and spearheaded Baroda to an innings victory in Vadodara.Services began at 2 for 1, and still 176 behind. Only two runs were added in the first five overs of the morning when seamer Gagandeep Singh struck. With the opening made, Munaf burst through to leave Services dangling at 5 for 5 in the 11th over. Only two batsmen – none of them from the top order – scored more than 2 and Vishnu Tiwari was the only one to get into double figures with 14, as Services folded in the 20th over and slumped to their second innings-defeat of the season.”He [Munaf] was bowling sharp and was extracting some good bounce,” the Baroda coach Sanath Kumar told ESPNcricinfo. “The pitch suited our bowlers who tend to hit the deck. Going into the day, we were looking to restrict them to around 150, but we never expected something like this to happen.”Kumar said the Services collapse wasn’t due to any gremlins in the track. “It was a superb pitch,” Kumar said. “There was a lot of bounce, which is normal at the Reliance ground. We expected a little turn for the spinners but there wasn’t much, but they were getting good bounce as well. They [Services] did play a couple of poor shots, but we bowled really well.”Notorious for his susceptibility to injury, Munaf returned to first-class cricket after a two-year gap this year and was used rather sparingly. He has played three of Baroda’s six games so far, an improvement over a record of 11 Ranji Trophy games in the last six years.”We save him for the right games,” Kumar said. “He is coming out of injury so we have to use him the right way so that when he is picked, he can give it his all. He wasn’t doing anything different [today]. He just bowled normally and was excellent for us and was ably supported by Gagandeep Singh”Deepak Bhaskar, the Services manager, hoped the manner of their defeat was a one-off. “We batted poorly and Munaf did very well by keeping it in the right areas. There were no devils in the pitch. It was a positive wicket,” he said. “It is just one of those things that happen in cricket. The batsmen just failed to click.”Baroda’s victory was all the more sweet as Irfan Pathan made his first appearance for the season, but he was still “not fit enough to bowl”, said Kumar. “He’s bowling 20-30 balls a day but will need a couple of weeks [to be fully fit].”Dhiren Mistry was another positive for the home side as the 22-year old opener converted his third successive fifty-plus score into his maiden first-class century. His hundred in the first innings served as the backbone of Baroda’s 369. “It was a very mature innings, especially with the other batsmen being a bit out of touch. He used to go for too many shots and was a little flashy last season, but he’s become more compact.”The seven points from the innings win doubled Baroda’s tally, reviving a sagging campaign ahead of two away matches to round out the league phase.

A round-up of the One-Day Cup matches that took place on December 10, 2013

ESPNcricinfo staff10-Dec-2013Group ILegspinner Tanzeel Altaf took two wickets in the final over as Lahore Eagles defeated Rawalpindi Rams by one run at the Lahore City Cricket Association Ground. Zahid Mansoor struck an unbeaten 96 off 61 balls in Rams’ chase of 318, but watched from the non-striker’s end as Altaf dismissed Munir Ansari and Mujahid Amin with the third and sixth balls of the last over.Chasing 316, Rawalpindi Rams stayed on course with Awais Zia and the captain Babar Naeem scoring 53 each, and Mansoor striking 11 fours to reach 94 off 58 when the 45th over began.Rawalpindi Rams needed six off six balls, with two wickets in hand. Altaf had smashed five sixes in an unbeaten 14-ball 44 to propel Lahore Eagles to 317 for 6, but had been expensive with the ball, conceding 54 in his first six overs. He gave away a single off the second ball and followed that with a wide, before trapping Ansari lbw. Singles off the next two balls left Mujahid needing to score two off the last ball, and Altaf bowled Mujahid for 1 to give Lahore Eagles their first win of the tournament.Sent in to bat, Lahore Eagles were 101 for 5 after losing two wickets in the 17th over. Ikhlaq Butt and Zeeshan Ali put on a 144-run partnership before Butt fell in the 41st over for 109, after which Zeeshan and Altaf smashed 72 off the last 29 balls. Zeeshan finished on an unbeaten 84-ball 93, while Altaf struck left-arm spinner Babar Naeem for two fours and three sixes off the last five balls of the innings.Babar Agha made an unbeaten 116 as Karachi Zebras beat Peshawar Panthers by two wickets at the Arbab Niaz Stadium. Chasing 246, Karachi Zebras were 34 for 4 – fast bowler Azizullah had taken all four wickets – when Agha joined Naved Khan in a 119-run partnership for the fifth wicket.Karachi Zebras still needed 93 when Naved fell for an 83-ball 74, but the lower order rallied around Agha. He put on 59 with Ali Mudassar, who made 14, and an unbroken 25 with No. 10 Usama Basharat to take his team over the line with two balls remaining, after left-arm spinner Jibran Khan had struck twice to reduce them to 223 for 8.Earlier, Adil Amin scored a 121-ball 123 to take Peshawar Panthers’ 245 for 8. Five other batsmen got into double figures, but Mohammad Idrees’ 27 was their second-highest score. Ali Mudassar was Karachi Zebras’ most successful bowler with 3 for 35 in nine overs.Zahir Siddiqi took four wickets and scored 28 off eight balls as Bahawalpur Stags beat Abbottabad Falcons by four wickets at Abbottabad Cricket Stadium. After Mohammad Naeem built Abbottabad Falcons’ innings with a 58-ball 60, Siddiqi ran through their lower order to trigger a collapse from 200 for 6 to 219 all out with 5.5 overs to go.Bahawalpur Stags lost an early wicket but Mohammad Yasir and Faisal Mubashir steadied the innings with a 62-run partnership for the second wicket before two more wickets fell in quick succession. Adeel Basit, coming in at No.5, scored 62 off 74 balls and put up an unbroken 34 with Siddiqi, who hit three fours and two sixes in eight balls, to take the team home with 14 balls remaining.Group IIAhsan Kareem took three wickets and scored an 11-ball 15 to steer Islamabad Leopards to a one-wicket win over Faisalabad Wolves at Iqbal Stadium. Making his List A debut, the 25-year-old Kareem struck three early blows to leave Faisalabad Wolves reeling at 45 for 4. Hamza Zaheer and Hasan Mahmood scored 30s and added 56 for the fifth wicket, but a 26 from wicketkeeper Mohammad Miqdad was Faisalabad Wolves’ only other notable score as they were bowled out for 198 with an over to go.Opener Sarwar Khan made 47 and Sarmad Bhatti scored 33 but Islamabad Leopars kept losing wickets regularly as they slumped to 155 for 8, with 44 still to get. Wicketkeeper Salman Haider and Kareem took them to 198 when Shehroz Raza took his fourth wicket, dismissing Haider for a 29-ball 43. Kareem and his No.11 partner Shehzad Azam nonetheless held their nerve and completed the win with five balls remaining.Mir Hamza and Khurram Shahzad shared seven wickets, and Mohammad Waqas scored an unbeaten 62 as Karachi Dolphins beat Hyderabad Hawks by five wickets at the National Stadium in Karachi.Hyderabad Hawks never recovered after being reduced to 41 for 4, with Shahzad picking up three of the top four wickets. Shoaib Laghari scored 48 and put on 50 with Lal Kumar for the fifth wicket, but Hamza swept through the lower order to finish with four wickets, and their innings closed with 6.2 overs still remaining.Chasing 152, Karachi Dolphins were 23 for 4 before Waqas and Mohammad Hasan helped them recover with an 82-run partnership. Jawad Ali dismissed wicketkeeper Hasan for 46, but that was to be Hyderabad Hawks’ last success. Waqas saw Karachi Dolphins through to finish with 62 off 101 balls, and put on an unbroken 52 with Shahzaib Ahmed, who scored 25.Opener Arsalan Arshad scored 94 as Lahore Lions thumped Quetta Bears by 89 runs at the Gaddafi Stadium. Arshad struck nine fours and two sixes in a 123-ball knock that helped anchor a Lahore Lions innings without any other major contribution. Extras, in fact, were the team’s second-highest score – 40, of which 30 came in wides. Left-arm spinner Mohibullah took 5 for 43 in eight overs.Chasing 261, Quetta Bears never really got going and dwindled to 123 for 8 before Fareeduddin Agha and Gohar Faiz put on 43, the highest partnership of the innings. The visiting side were eventually all out for 171, with offspinner Agha Salman taking three wickets. Fareeduddin remained not out on 56, having hit six fours and a six in his 63-ball knock.

Australia international Cameron White starred yet again as Northamptonshire claimed their second Yorkshire Bank 40 win in three days with a four-wicket victory over Netherlands.

15-Aug-2013
ScorecardCameron White made an important innings in a tense chase•Getty ImagesAustralia international Cameron White starred yet again as Northamptonshire claimed their second Yorkshire Bank 40 win in three days with a four-wicket victory over Netherlands.Playing in their last match in this year’s competition, Netherlands were limited to 176 for 8 from their 40 overs with White and Muhammad Azharullah each taking two wickets. White’s 63 not out off 86 balls then helped Northants recover from a bad start to their chase and reach their target with 19 deliveries remaining to stay in the hunt for the semi-finals.Netherlands won the toss and chose to bat but they lost Steven Myburgh for 11 in the third over when Steven Crook’s delivery crashed into his off-stump. Michael Swart then went cheaply for 26 when he swept Andrew Hall straight to Matt Spriegel at deep midwicket.Netherlands wicketkeeper Wesley Barresi toiled to 18 off 50 balls before he was eventually put out of his misery when he was bowled by James Middlebrook. Ben Cooper plundered 29 off as many deliveries before he was trapped lbw to become Australia international White’s first victim.Tim Gruijters was next to depart when he was taken by Lee Daggett running in from mid-off off White before Netherlands captain Peter Borren smashed Spriegel to Kyle Coetzer at long-on. Mudassar Bukhari then perished in the final over on 28 when he played Azharullah on to his stumps. The same bowler took out Paul van Meekeren’s off-stump two balls later, leaving Dominic Michael unbeaten on 25.Chasing 177, Northants lost their captain Alex Wakely for 5 when he was pinned lbw by Bukhari in the third over before David Sales pulled the same man to Michael at square leg two overs later and departed for 9. The hosts were then left struggling on 44 for 4 when Scotland international Coetzer and Crook both edged van Meekeren to Barresi in the ninth over.A stand of 86 between fifth-wicket pair White and Middlebrook put Northants back on track, but it was broken when Middlebrook was bowled for 37 by 15-year-old offspinner Daniel Doram. Nerves were sent jangling again when Swart’s delivery hit Spriegel’s off stump and sent him packing for five – but White helped to soothe them by completing his half-century off 66 balls as the hosts edged to victory.Hall contributed a valuable 21 not out but it inevitably it was White who sealed the win with two runs off a van Meekeren no ball in the 37th over.