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Big Picture

The Ashes is alive heading to Melbourne…thanks to the schedule. In the last two series Australia have had things tied up before Christmas, but with two Tests in the New Year this iconic fixture was always going to have plenty riding on it regardless of what happened in the first two games.And what has happened is that England have been steamrollered. Sydney, the venue for the fourth Test, has not had an Ashes Test without the urn retained since 1994-95 and it would be a brave person to think it will come the first week of January.Things have gone almost perfectly for Australia barring the lack of runs for Marcus Harris. And it’s still possible to say that when their captain, Pat Cummins, was ruled out on the morning of a Test as a Covid close contact. The way they won the second Test with half their first-choice attack missing and a stand-in skipper (albeit an experienced one) was an encouraging sign for the way this team is developing.England, however, have barely challenged them so far. When there was a glimpse of the batting wobbling in Brisbane Travis Head slammed the door shut with a thrilling century. When England briefly fought back on the second day in Adelaide, Alex Carey’s maiden Test fifty helped repel them. When Joe Root and Dawid Malan threatened a counterattack on the third day, Mitchell Starc, Nathan Lyon and Cameron Green sucked the life out of the innings.Related

• Scott Boland handed Boxing Day debut with Australia cautious over Jhye Richardson

• Are England enjoying themselves? Or has cricket turned into an obligation for them?

• No Hazlewood, no worries with Green cherry-ripe

• Joe Root might need to set new record to make sure England don't

It is perhaps worth noting that in their last two Ashes drubbings, Melbourne has produced some of England’s better cricket. In 2013-14 they actually claimed a first-innings lead before being unable to make the most of it and slumping to defeat while four years ago Alastair Cook’s unbeaten 244 put them on top but a dour pitch had the final say. Even that, however, is slim pickings.What they need this time is something akin to the spirit of 1998-99 when they arrived 2-0 down (Australia had retained the Ashes) and having been humiliated by Australia A but through the performances of Alec Stewart, Darren Gough and Dean Headley among others conjured a remarkable 12-run victory. Anything less than a win and the Ashes are gone with jobs perhaps to follow.

Form guide

(most recent first)
Australia WWLDL
England LLLWL

In the spotlight

When the two parts of Cameron Green‘s game come together he could be a world beater. But it hasn’t quite happened yet. Last season against India his batting impressed as he worked his way back to bowling after injuries. In this series, the bowling has taken centre stage while the batting has been less convincing. It remains early days in what should be a long career, but England’s success against Green has been one of their few plus points (the second-innings runs in Adelaide were largely freebies). At the Gabba he shouldered arms first ball and lost off stump then in Adelaide he was beaten by a terrific delivery from Ben Stokes that did the same damage. Things are not quite in sync. However, he’s still had a major say by removing Joe Root twice. That would be a handy skill to continue.England’s entire top order is under the scanner, even those who have made runs. In lower-scoring games back home a brace of 80s might be enough on occasions, but that will rarely be the case in Australia. Techniques are being picked apart as well, especially with the opening pair of Rory Burns and Haseeb Hameed. The former has lost his place to Zak Crawley. Jos Buttler was a missed chance away from having his series – and maybe Test career – ended after Adelaide. It is not just this contest that has shown up the batting failings, but unless they find some answers it could be a particularly gruesome few weeks.Pat Cummins is back to lead Australia (barring late drama) as they look to wrap up the Ashes•Getty Images

Team news

Australia have juggled their fast-bowling pack again. Cummins’ is back after his enforced absence in place of Michael Neser while Scott Boland will make his debut in place of Jhye Richardson who has a leg injury. Josh Hazlewood has not recovered from his side strain.Australia 1 David Warner, 2 Marcus Harris, 3 Marnus Labuschagne, 4 Steven Smith, 5 Travis Head, 6 Cameron Green, 7 Alex Carey (wk), 8 Pat Cummins (capt), 9 Mitchell Starc, 10 Scott Boland, 11 Nathan LyonAs expected, England have made a number of changes. Rory Burns, Ollie Pope, Chris Woakes and Stuart Broad have all been left out in favour of Crawley, Jonny Bairstow, Mark Wood and Jack Leach. It means that England have what looks a more balanced attack with the extra pace of Wood and left-arm spin of Leach, although he is sure to be targeted by the Australia batters as he was in Brisbane.England 1 Haseeb Hameed, 2 Zak Crawley, 3 Dawid Malan, 4 Joe Root (capt), 5 Ben Stokes, 6 Jonny Bairstow, 7 Jos Buttler (wk), 8 Ollie Robinson, 9 Mark Wood, 10 Jack Leach, 11 James Anderson

Pitch and conditions

The MCG surface has been through a facelift since the last Ashes and everything points to a pitch that should offer something for everyone. There was a decent covering of grass two days out although some of that may be trimmed off. In recent seasons bounce and carry has also returned. The weather is set fair through with temperatures ranging from the low teens to mid-20s so heat should not be a factor.

Stats and trivia

• Joe Root needs 159 runs to set a new record for a Test batter in a calendar year
• Steven Smith needs 46 runs to go past the tally of current coach Justin Langer while David Warner needs 13 to go past Mark Taylor
• England are five ducks away from equalling their duck-est year of 54 in 1998

Quotes

“I love that just about every player from our team has got into the series and had a real big impact.”
“The only thing I’m worried about is winning this week. Start well and get that first hour right.”

Brisbane Heat strengthened their hold on a finals berth – and kept themselves in the hunt for top spot – while at the same time pushed Sydney Sixers closer to the exit as they held their nerve in a low-scoring contest.The ball dominated throughout and though Heat had plenty of overs to spare (5.5) they were well into the lower order when Nadine de Klerk hit the winning runs. Left-armer Lauren Cheatle had given Sixers hope, adding to her first-over removal of Grace Harris with two further wickets in the space of four balls in the fifth over, as Heat slid from 1 for 34 to 4 for 37 when Maitlan Brown produced a stunning delivery to remove Anneke Bosch.Jess Jonassen’s departure, caught at square leg against Ash Gardner, further buoyed Sixers before a crucial moment came with 19 runs needed when Laura Kimmince was caught at mid-on but Ellyse Perry, who went for 23 in two overs, had overstepped. Next over Kimmince launched a six off Stella Campbell and though she was lbw next ball attempting a reverse sweep, the target was into single figures.Sixers had been set back early by a superb spell from Courtney Sippel, whose 2 for 12 included a maiden and 15 dot balls. She removed Alyssa Healy with her first delivery as the ball nipped away although Healy did not think she had hit it, and five balls later, Gardner pulled to deep square leg.Jonassen then had Perry caught behind cutting in the sixth over and Shafali Verma, having been given an early life when Poonam Yadav and Jonassen left a catch to each other, was taken at long-on off Poonam to leave them 4 for 34. Nicole Bolton played neatly before falling to a stunning catch by Mikayla Hinkley at mid-off and all the lower order could do was bat out the overs. The entire innings produced just three boundaries, the joint-lowest ever in the WBBL, but in the end Sixers weren’t that short of having enough.Darcie Brown took out Hobart Hurricanes’ top order•Getty Images

Darcie Brown played a starring role as Adelaide Strikers maintained their push for a place in the finals with a resounding 48-run victory in Mackay.Brown removed Hobart Hurricanes’ opening pair in her first spell before returning to take Richa Ghosh’s off stump with a terrific delivery. Between those incisions, Tahlia McGrath had removed the dangerous Mignon du Preez, and Nicola Carey was run out by a direct hit from Amanda-Jade Wellington, moments after being dropped, as Hurricanes crashed to 5 for 44 inside ten overs. It did not get any better from there as the legspin of Wellington and Dane van Niekerk went through the lower order.Strikers had not hit top gear with the bat until Bridget Patterson struck 25 off 17 balls in the closing stages to form a stand of 54 in 5.5 overs with McGrath. The final over from Carey cost 17 runs including two boundaries by McGrath, a no-ball, a wide and a six by Patterson. van Niekerk’s consistent form continued with 44 off 38 balls after Katie Mack had been cleaned up in the first over of the game by a good delivery from Tayla Vlaeminck, who took 1 for 16 off her four overs, while Molly Strano kept a lid on the middle order with 2 for 23.

IPL 2022 welcomes two new franchises and with them come a whole host of questions like how will they impact the tournament format?
This will not be the first time the IPL will comprise 10 teams – that already happened a decade ago. The BCCI confirmed in a release that the season will comprise 74 matches (instead of the current 60), with each team playing seven home and seven away games. That means the tournament is likely to revert to the format used in 2011.Then, the 10 teams were broken into two groups of five but were ranked on one consolidated points table. Each team played the other four in their group both home and away (eight matches), four of the teams in the other group once each (four matches, either home or away), and the remaining team in the other group twice, both home and away. A random draw decided the composition of the groups as well as who played whom across the groups once and twice.The last time more than eight teams played in the IPL was in 2013, when nine teams took part and played a total of 76 matches.ESPNcricinfo Ltd

Will it affect player retention?
The IPL has not shared any firm details of its retention policy with the franchises, but it is now known that there will be no right-to-match cards. It is also likely that a franchise will be allowed to retain a maximum of four players, with the local and overseas combinations yet to be ascertained.The two new franchises will then get to buy an equal number of players before the auction through a draft system, the same one that was used in 2016 when Rising Pune Supergiant and Gujarat Lions briefly replaced Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals.Will it impact the value of the eight original franchises?
Yes. The higher the amount the two new entrants bid for their franchises, the higher the amount the original eight will get if they ever decide to sell, like Delhi Capitals did in 2018, when Jindal South West (JSW) bought 50% ownership from the GMR group. At the time, the valuation of the Delhi franchise was pegged at about INR 1100 crore and JSW paid half that amount. So, it isn’t over for the people who lost out on procuring an IPL team on Monday. They can still buy a share of it from an existing franchise for lesser money and enjoy the perks of being an owner.According to one analyst who has been crunching IPL numbers since its inception in 2008, if each of the two new franchises had sold for at least INR 3000 crore, then each of the original eight would have had a minimum value close to INR 2500 crore. And the two new franchises have sold for much bigger sums: INR 7090 crore (Lucknow) and INR 5625 (Ahmedabad).Is there a downside to paying such huge sums of money to own an IPL team?
Paying these massive amounts to the BCCI means the new franchises will take that much longer to make a profit.There are three main revenue streams for a franchise: the central rights income (a share of media rights income and central sponsorship), team sponsorship and gate revenues. After the record sum paid by Star India in 2017 for media rights, each of the existing eight franchises earned close to INR 200 crore from the IPL’s media rights central pool. That is bound to get even bigger as a result of Monday’s events, potentially inching up to the INR 275-350 crore mark per season per franchise going forward for 10 years. All the franchises derive their main income from IPL’s central media rights pool.The new franchises will need to pay out their bid amount over a 10-year period. From year 11, each franchise has to pay 20% of its overall revenue as franchise fee to the BCCI.

Umar Akmal has ended an 11-year association with Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited (SNGPL) and will play for United Bank Limited (UBL) in the 2017-18 domestic season that begins in September. The department has vowed to revive the player’s career and return him to international cricket in better shape.Akmal played 47 first-class games for SNGPL, scoring 3216 runs at 45.29, with four hundreds and 20 fifties. His relationship with SNGPL had suffered a blow last season, when he went on to play for Lahore Whites despite his department not releasing him. His stint with Lahore only lasted two games.The 27-year-old Akmal last played for Pakistan in January, during the ODI series in Australia. Originally part of their Champions Trophy in England, he was sent back home before the tournament for failing two fitness tests in two days. Just under two months later, he was left out of the PCB’s list of 35 centrally contracted players.”He has been discarded from the national team, but we want him in our fold, and look forward to help him become a better player,” Mansoor Khan, UBL’s sports head, told ESPNcricinfo. “He is an asset and we want to work with him and help him revive his career.”There are high expectations as he has the talent but has not been able to find middle ground. He is an exciting player and ambitious, but has not been able to get himself settled. He has immense talent and we want to shape him up. There always something in him and we want to give him an opportunity for his good and for Pakistan cricket.”Despite his omission from the list of centrally contracted players, Akmal was named among the players selected to undergo the ongoing 10-week high performance camp at the National Cricket Academy in Lahore. He pulled out, however, citing a knee injury. He excused himself for five weeks, during which he intended to undergo rehabilitation with his private trainer in England. On Friday, though, he returned to Lahore, hoping for a call-up to Pakistan’s conditioning camp, which begins on August 22, in preparation for a full series against Sri Lanka starting in October. Any such call-up, however, was ruled out by head coach Mickey Arthur.

File photo: Shreyas Iyer’s unbeaten century handed India a the series title•Cricket Australia/Getty Images

A quickfire unbeaten century from Shreyas Iyer and a half-century from Vijay Shankar steered India A to a seven-wicket win against South Africa A to seal the tri-series final in Pretoria. Iyer and Shankar put on 141 for the third wicket to eclipse Farhaan Behardien’s century earlier in the day, when five wickets between Shardul Thakur and Siddarth Kaul had restricted the hosts to 267 for 7 in 50 overs.India A were jolted early when Junior Dala removed openers Sanju Samson and Karun Nair in the first six overs, leaving them in trouble at 20 for 2. But Iyer, who had not scored a fifty earlier in the series, and Shankar, who had scored a duck in his previous match, joined forces to deny South Africa another wicket for more than 28 overs, while lifting India’s run rate towards five an over. Shankar fell for 72 off 86 after striking nine fours, before Manish Pandey joined Iyer, who went on to register his highest List A score of 140 off 131 balls, with 11 fours and four sixes. The fourth-wicket pair put on an unbroken 109 in only 12.3 overs to seal the win with 19 balls to spare. Pandey, with scores of 55, 41*, 86*, 93* and 32*, was named Man of the Series.India A had capitalised on their decision to bowl when Kaul and Thakur cut through the top order and left South Africa A 32 for 3 in the ninth over. Khaya Zondo and Behardien steered them past 100 before No. 7 Dwaine Pretorius scored a quick 58 off 61 balls, which featured five fours and two sixes, to help them past 200. Behardien remained unbeaten on 101, having helped set India A a challenging target, but it wouldn’t prove enough against their middle order. Thakur ended with 3 for 52 and Kaul with 2 for 55.

India have a “50-50” chance of beating defending champions Australia in the Women’s World Cup semi-final on Thursday, an opinion the former India captain Anjum Chopra insists isn’t merely the “hope” of a positive outcome. Chopra has been closely following the fortunes of Mithali Raj’s team as a commentator, but concedes Australia’s superior experience and pedigree will be a factor going into the clash.Australia have won six of the 10 World Cup tournaments prior to this and hold an overwhelming 34-8 win-loss record against India in ODIs. Since the last World Cup in 2013, India have won just one of their four ODIs against Australia. In the group stages of this edition, Australia won six of their seven games while India won five.”Yes, I think India can beat Australia,” Chopra told ESPNcricinfo from London. “When I say that, I am not just being hopeful that India should be in a final. The reason I say that is, I’ve always felt that anytime you get into a quarter-final or a semi-final, there’s always one match that as a team you need to play well together, even if they are the current world champions.”Definitely they are a beatable side. Yes they have been world champions often, so they’ve seen themselves as an Australian team in this situation many more times than the Indian team. So yes, the confidence is there, they know how to come to this stage and how to conquer this stage, which will apparently be missing in the Indian line-up.”One of India’s major concerns going into the game will be the sharp decline in the form of their opener Smriti Mandhana. Mandhana, who turned 21 on Tuesday, started the tournament with scores of 90 and 106*, helping the team secure wins over England and West Indies, but has subsequently been dismissed for 2, 8, 4, 3 and 13. India do have the option to promote 19-year old Deepti Sharma, a specialist opener who has been playing in the middle order, but Chopra believes such a move could only have been contemplated had Deepti been tested in the role in the group stages.”Against an Australian line-up where Smriti as an attacking left-hander will be required to come good at the top, I don’t think the Indian team will be looking at that change,” she said. “As players, we have seen ourselves go in and out of form. In the last four days, the Indian team would have had the time to relax, if required, or go and hit the nets. I think four days is good enough time for any cricketer to make that turnaround. At the top, that strong partnership that India can come up with it, like they did against England, I think that will be very crucial.”While Mandhana’s form has tapered off, her opening partner Punam Raut has been consistently providing solidity to the top order. Raut is, in fact, second behind captain Mithali Raj among India’s leading run-getters in the tournament and made a hundred against Australia in the league stage. India will also be encouraged by the contributions of Harmanpreet Kaur and Veda Krishnamurthy, who struck half-centuries in their final game of the league phase, a must-win encounter against New Zealand.”At this level, it is a mental game,” Chopra said. “It is not just about realising that you are playing for India, it’s about making your presence felt that you are an Indian player, where the world is actually watching and following you. Veda, of course, has good shots down the ground, she has the power to clear the field as well. You just have to make sure that as a player you give yourself enough time to get yourself in such a position that you can play in an attacking way. Harman, too, wasn’t getting enough time out in the middle, she got it against New Zealand and she really made it count.”Currently the second-highest run-getter in the tournament, Ellyse Perry is one of the more significant threats for India in the semi-final•ICC/Getty Images

Although Australia are brimming with skilled players, the biggest threat to India will come from their captain, Meg Lanning. Though Lanning has missed two matches due to shoulder problems, she is still among the top run-scorers of the tournament. In fact, she made a serene, unbeaten 76 to guide her team to a comfortable win in their league encounter against India. Chopra reckons while Lanning is a big thorn in India’s flesh, they have to be wary of the threat from other players, too.”She is a world-class batter, there is no doubt about her ability to lead the team,” Chopra said. “She has been a prolific run-getter for Australia, someone you as a spectator would like to pay money to watch. She is so good, playing front foot or back foot, fast-bowling or spin, she provides class to her batting. But I think a very important factor here is also Ellyse Perry. She’s been batting at No. 3 or 4 for Australia. Remember the partnerships she’s been stitching together with Lanning or whoever else she has been batting with.”India’s bowling tactics for this make-or-break encounter will also be carefully watched. India’s spin bowlers have taken 36 wickets in the tournament so far, while the seamers have taken just 13. Considering their area of strength, could India contemplate opening their attack with an off-spinner, especially as Australia’s opening pair of Nicole Bolton and Beth Mooney are both left-handed?Chopra isn’t sold on the idea and says any strategy India employ will rely heavily on how well they do with the bat, if they win the toss and take first strike.”All these tactics will come into play if the Indian team is able to put up a good score in excess of 250-260 on the board and then come out defending it,” she said. “I am not a big fan of bowling the second over in English conditions with a spinner, no matter what the wicket is like. I still feel in these conditions the first few overs should be bowled by the quicks. In women’s cricket, only one ball is used throughout the innings, so the shine of the ball can only be utilised in those initial overs, not later.”If India do get past Australia, it will be their second entry into a World Cup final. Chopra was a member of the team that reached the final in 2005, losing to Australia by 98 runs in Centurion. After a lifetime in the game, including an international career spanning 17 years, she is enthused by the positive vibes around women’s cricket at the moment and confesses to being pleasantly surprised at the scale of interest.”It is wonderful to see the response back home,” she said. “I have to confess I never expected it. I knew it would be a very big coverage before the start of the World Cup or before the build-up but the way the response has come about, I think it is phenomenal. The reason is the Indian team is winning and also that the men aren’t playing a series presently! Even the men’s cricketers, their support coming in the form of tweets, with encouraging words to the players, it has been phenomenal.”

Surrey earned a spot in the Royal London Cup playoffs after both their match in Bristol and Sussex’s game against Hampshire at the Ageas Bowl were washed out.The point meant Surrey clinched third spot in the south group ahead of Sussex and Glamorgan and they will now face Yorkshire at Headingley on June 13 with the winner of that match playing Worcestershire at New Road in the semi-finals.A washout for Somerset at Lord’s meant they took second spot in the group and will face Nottinghamshire in the other playoff, the winner of that match facing Essex in the semis.In Bristol, umpires Jeff Evans and Billy Taylor delayed the abandonment for as long as possible. But there was no let-up in the rain and after a 3pm inspection they decided there was no chance of the ground drying out sufficiently.That left Surrey hoping that Sussex, the one team with a chance of snatching third place from them, would suffer a similar fate at Southampton at that match was abandoned a short while later.At Lord’s umpires Richard Evans and Rob Bailey called off play at Lord’s at 5pm following an afternoon of persistent rain and with a bleak evening forecast.Middlesex, who had no chance of qualifying, finished eighth in the group with just two wins from their eight matches.

England and Pakistan were the biggest gainers in the ICC’s annual T20I rankings update, climbing to second and third place respectively. New Zealand held on to the top spot despite losing two points, while India and South Africa slipped down the table.

ICC T20I rankings update

1.New Zealand (125 points)
2. England (121)
3. Pakistan (121)
4. India (118)
5. South Africa (111)
6. Australia (110)
7. West Indies (109)
8. Sri Lanka (95)
9. Afghanistan (90)
10. Bangladesh (78)
11. Scotland (67)
12. Zimbabwe (65)
13. UAE (52)
14. Netherlands (49)
15 Hong Kong (46)
16. PNG (39)
17. Oman (38)
18. Ireland (36)

England gained seven points and climbed three places on the table to second, while Pakistan, who were ranked seventh last year, climbed to third place after gaining five points. Both teams had 121 points but Pakistan were ranked behind England by a fraction. India and South Africa both lost six points and dropped to fourth and fifth on the table.Older results – between May 2013 and April 2014 – were disregarded for the points calculation while matches played from May 2014 to April 2016 were weighted at 50%, and matches played from May 1, 2016 weighted at 100%.Both India [14 wins in 20 matches] and South Africa [10 wins in 15 matches] had good results between May 2015 and April 2016, which were weighted at 100% in the previous cycle; these results are now weighted at 50%. Over the last 12 months, however, both teams have played fewer matches and have not had as much success: India played eight games with four wins, while South Africa won two of their four T20Is.Pakistan, on the other hand, had consistent results over the last year. They beat West Indies by margins of 3-0 and 3-1 in the UAE and the Caribbean respectively, while also winning a one-off T20I against England.Australia moved up one place from last year to sixth on the table, while West Indies dropped to seventh. Sri Lanka and Afghanistan remained at eighth and ninth respectively – Afghanistan gained six points over this cycle to take a 12-point lead over tenth-placed Bangladesh.The rankings are important for qualification for the 2020 World T20. Australia, hosts for the tournament, and nine other top-ranked teams as on December 31, 2018 will gain automatic entry. The bottom eight sides will join regional qualifiers in the 2019 World T20 Qualifier. Six sides from the qualifier will then join the 16-team World T20 pool.

ScorecardMahmudullah found some form after a string of poor performances saw his exclusion from the second Test against Sri Lanka•AFP

Mahmudullah hit an unbeaten 71 off 68 balls and strode into some form in Bangladesh’s practice match against the Sri Lanka Board President’s XI, but his half-century could not see the visitors through as they lost by two runs, chasing 355. Also making fifties in the high-scoring encounter were Sabbir Rahman, Mosaddek Hossain, Mashrafe Mortaza, Kusal Perera, Sandun Weerakkody and Dhananjaya de Silva.In pursuit of the President’s XI’s 354 for 7, Bangladesh’s result was of little consequence: the visitors rifled through eight bowlers, and the match did not have List A status. However, a brisk half-century against bowlers who have all played for Sri Lanka may buoy Mahmudullah, who was chastened by his omission for the second Test in Colombo, hit four fours and a six. Bangladesh’s chances had seemed dim at 239 for 7 in the 39th over, until Mahmudullah put on a 101-run partnership with Mashrafe Mortaza, who hit a 35-ball 58. They couldn’t quite push the visitors to victory as Mahmudullah could manage just one run – needing four – off the final ball.Setting up the chase was Sabbir, who hit 11 fours and a six in his 72 from the No. 3 position, before Mosaddek contributed 53. Soumya Sarkar had also hit a 43-ball 47 to follow his good run in the Test series.Meanwhile, at the top of the President’s XI’s innings, Kusal had struck the latest in a series of uncharacteristically slow limited-over fifties. His 64 (retired out) came off 78 balls and featured only four fours. His two half-centuries for Sri Lanka A had also come at less than a run-a-ball. These three fifties came after a long slump for Kusal, during which he was dropped from the Sri Lanka side in all three formats.Nevertheless, his fifty and de Silva’s half century now creates a little competition at the top of the order, with captain Upul Tharanga, and wicketkeeper-batsman Niroshan Dickwella also having opened the batting for Sri Lanka over the last few months. Sandun Weerakkody, who had played in the South Africa series, but has not been chosen for the forthcoming one, also struck a fifty.There were no eminent bowling performances for the hosts, save for Akila Dananjaya’s 3 for 61.

Shadab Khan has taken to international cricket in style. The 18-year old legspinner’s statistics after only two matches for Pakistan read seven wickets at an average of 3, a strike-rate of 6.8 and an economy rate of 2.6. And the opposition he dismantled is not at all happy. West Indies coach Stuart Law thought his batsmen “gifted” some wickets away to Shadab and the best way to combat him was to be “more ruthless.”

Pakistan waiting on Shehzad’s injury

There were three collisions during the second T20I between Pakistan and West Indies at Queens Park Oval and perhaps the worst of them involved Ahmed Shehzad. Fielding at point, he ran in to get the ball, but lost balance and crashed into Chadwick Walton. Shehzad appeared to have hurt himself in the back of the neck and had to be stretchered off the field for treatment. He did, however, come back on a few overs later.
“Ahmed returned from hospital after imaging found nothing wrong with his spine,” Shane Hayes, the physiotherapist, said. “On concussion examination before return to play he was found normal on symptoms, neck examination, cognitive ability, and balance assessments. We will continue to monitor him further.”

“We have plans for everyone. He’s not the only one we’re talking about, we’re talking about everyone else. So we just need to come up with better execution when we’re out in the middle and that’s what it boils down to,” Law said, “He’s bowled very well, but I think we’ve gifted him a few wickets as well. I think we just need to be a little bit more ruthless against him and see what transpires after that.”The Pakistan camp, meanwhile, is reveling in their new young talent. Shadab has played such a starring role in their victories in the Caribbean so far that on each night he was named Man of the Match.Among his 4 for 14 on Thursday were the wickets of Marlon Samuels, who top-scored with 44, and the finisher Kieron Pollard. If removing such key batsmen wasn’t enough, Shadab got rid of them within 13 overs leaving the lower order vulnerable in a chase that should have been straightforward.”I must appreciate and praise Shadab for the way he has been conducting himself, and taking wickets,” team-mate Shoaib Malik said. “Obviously we all know, if you’re playing against West Indies, you have to keep taking wickets. They are big guys, they hit boundaries and I think this is what we have been doing.”As a result, West Indies are stuck with a lot of questions and no ready answers. They have gone 0-2 down in a four-match T20I series and have to win Saturday’s match to stay alive. Since they were crowned World T20 champions in March 2016 – and then beat India in a high-scoring match in Florida – the team has lost five matches in a row. All to Pakistan. Coach Law, while admitting the need to “start playing better cricket,” cautioned against taking reactionary decisions.”It’s pretty new at this stage,” he said. “We just want to take the emotion out of it tonight. Get up with a clear head tomorrow morning and start thinking about it.”I think we are clicking. We’re getting better. We’ve gelled really well as a team over the last couple of days. I don’t think that’s the case. I think we’ve just got to start playing better cricket. There’s glimpses of our talent, we just need to have that glimpse for a lot longer.”Our bowling has been excellent over the last couple of games, our catching’s been outstanding, few mistakes in the ground fielding but our batting is where we need to really have a look. Apart from Marlon, no one’s really gone in and got the scores. We’ve had a couple of starts, but I just think we need someone to go on and I think it’s getting better. Fingers crossed on Saturday we turn up and play a proper game of cricket.”Pakistan have their mind firmly on winning their second straight T20I series against West Indies. In a SWOT analysis of the team’s performance so far, Malik picked out their fielding as an improvement and their batting in the Powerplay as needing work.”Positives, if you look at our fielding, that’s where we’ve always lacked. But the way the guys are putting in an effort here, I think that’s a great sign for Pakistan cricket. And our physical fitness. You could see even in the field, the guys roaming around, moving fast. And negatives. We really need to improve our first six overs in the batting. I think we’re going to sit and talk about it and we will come up with something.”