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New Zealand fast bowler set for international return after suffering back injury in June

ESPNcricinfo staff03-Feb-2023Kyle Jamieson has tried to treat his extended spell on the sidelines as “more of a blessing than a hindrance” and hopes to return to New Zealand’s Test side both mentally and physically fresher after missing the last seven months with a back injury.Jamieson hurt his back during the Trent Bridge Test in June, on New Zealand’s tour of England, and has only played a handful of games for Auckland since, as part of a “cautious” return to playing. He was named in the Test squad on Thursday for the home series against England starting later this month and is keen to pull on a black cap again, albeit he is only likely to feature in one of the two Tests.”It’s certainly nice to be back in the squad, first time in a wee while, so excited about that,” he said. “It’s been nice, the journey through club cricket and the process of coming back. Nice to tick off a couple of milestones, and to have another one today [after being selected for the Test squad].”Jamieson had enjoyed a rapid rise since debuting for New Zealand in 2020, helping his country to win the ICC World Test Championship and being ranked the ICC’s No. 5 bowler in Tests at the start of the England tour. But the injury gave him a chance to step off the treadmill and recharge at home before beginning rehab.Related

• Kyle Jamieson, Will Young included in NZ XI squad to face England

• Jamieson returns for Test series against England

• Broad, Potts, Lawrence back in England Test squad for NZ tour

• Jamieson sent for back scan, ruled out of remainder of innings

“[I’ve gone through] probably a whole range of emotions,” he said. “You go through the initial frustration of the injury, you have a little bit of time at home and it’s not too bad, then you see the boys playing on TV and you want to be out there. So a whole range of emotions, but right from early on I wanted to treat the process as more of a blessing than a hindrance and try to focus on what I was gaining from this time, six, seven months or whatever it’s been. Try to focus my energy in that sort of way, and obviously nice to be back.”The nature of the schedule these days, we play so much cricket, and it had been two, two-and-a-half years straight for me. So to have an extended period at home as been nice, certainly feeling fresh, energised, both mentally and physically. So looking forward to taking this next step.”

Jamieson to play in England warm-up match

Jamieson played two T20s and two List A games in domestic cricket for Auckland last month, and will take the next step towards a comeback when playing for a New Zealand XI against the tourists in Hamilton ahead of the first Test, a day-night game in Mount Mauganui starting on February 16.New Zealand will be without Trent Boult for the series, but while Jamieson said he had been building up his workloads bowling in the nets, Gary Stead, New Zealand’s head coach, indicated that he was only likely to play one Test against England, with a view to managing his availability through the year.”Feeling good, bowled a huge amount of overs,” Jamieson said. “Not so much in games but I’ve been bowling since the start of November time, so there’s a decent workload under my belt. It’s just another step on the journey, how we manage these next couple of weeks will be an ongoing discussion.”Stead said that New Zealand could look to make greater use of Daryl Mitchell’s bowling, potentially as a fourth seamer in home conditions, while Ish Sodhi was preferred to Ajaz Patel as an attacking spin option who was more likely to thrive against the aggressive approach pioneered by England under Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum, which saw New Zealand beaten 3-0 during last year’s tour of the country.Jamieson was involved in two of those three Tests, and was keen to tussle with Stokes’ side again. “Certainly going pretty good, aren’t they? It’s been entertaining to watch them change the way they play their cricket. As a fan of the game, it’s just exciting to watch. It’ll be nice to see it again, up close and personal, in a couple of weeks’ time, but it’s been great for the game.”

Taskin Ahmed also included in 20-man squad after regaining fitness

Mohammad Isam30-Nov-2021Opening batter Saif Hassan has been ruled out of the second Test against Pakistan starting December 4 after he fell ill with typhoid.Saif had a tough time in the Chattogram Test, getting bounced out twice by Shaheen Shah Afridi for 14 and 18. Saif averages 14.45 in 11 Test innings with a high score of 43. The BCB’s medical team will monitor his recovery.Bangladesh’s Test loss in Chattogram was followed by good news after Shakib Al Hasan was ruled fit for the second Test. Shakib missed the first Test, as well as the T20I series against Pakistan and the last couple of matches in the T20 World Cup due to a hamstring injury.Shakib passed a fitness test in Dhaka on Monday, which brought him back into a team that badly needs his contribution. Fast bowler Taskin Ahmed has also returned to the side, while Mohammad Naim, the T20 specialist, makes his first appearance in the Test squad. Taskin had hurt his finger during the third T20I against Pakistan on November 22, which had ruled him out of the first Test.Naim is the standout call-up in the squad. The 22-year-old has played 32 T20Is and two ODIs. He played the last of his six first-class matches in February 2020. Naim averages 16.63 in the format, and has scored only one half-century.The team management had already picked fast bowlers Khaled Ahmed and Shohidul Islam for the Chattogram Test. The new inclusions make it a 20-man squad for the Dhaka Test, which is unusual for a home game.Squad for second Test: Mominul Haque (capt), Shadman Islam, Najmul Hossain Shanto, Mushfiqur Rahim, Shakib Al Hasan, Liton Das, Yasir Ali, Nurul Hasan, Mehidy Hasan Miraz, Taijul Islam, Taskin Ahmed, Ebadot Hossain, Abu Jayed, Nayeem Hasan, Mahmudul Hasan Joy, Rejaur Rahman Raja, Khaled Ahmed, Shohidul Islam, Mohammad Naim

TNCA will now look at November 2020 or March 2021 to hold the tournament

Deivarayan Muthu31-Jul-2020The fifth season of the 20-over Tamil Nadu Premier League (TNPL) has been postponed again and is “unlikely” to go ahead this year due to the growing threat posed by the Covid-19 pandemic in the state.The league was initially scheduled to run from June 10 to July 12, but the Tamil Nadu Cricket Association (TNCA) postponed the tournament in May, hoping to host it in the August-September window. On Saturday, the association issued a statement, saying it will now try to host the tournament in November 2020 or March 2021.*There have been nearly 240,000 positive Covid-19 cases in Tamil Nadu, with nearly 58,000 still active, and the latest government order has prohibited sporting events in August. While Chennai continues to be among the worst-affected cities in India, Salem and Coimbatore, which were set to be introduced as new venues, have also recorded cases of Covid-19.”The TNCA was looking at a window between end July-August to end September as a possible window for playing the 5th edition of the TNPL tournament. However, due to the ongoing Covid related issue in the State of Tamil Nadu, TNCA will not be in a position to host the tournament in this window,” TNCA secretary RS Ramasaamy said in the statement.”We will explore possibilities of playing the 5th edition of the tournament in an alternate window i.e either in November 2020 or in March 2021.”With IPL 2020 scheduled to run from September 19 to November 10 in the UAE, most of Tamil Nadu’s top players – R Ashwin (Delhi Capitals), Dinesh Karthik (Kolkata Knight Riders), Vijay Shankar (Sunrisers Hyderabad), and M Vijay (Chennai Super Kings) – will be out of India.A TNCA official told ESPNcricinfo official they may not be able to conduct the TNPL towards the end of the year as it may clash with a possible Indian domestic season. “The IPL is going to happen now and after the players may return from the IPL, the Ranji Trophy season may begin, so there is no window,” he said.The TNPL has attained sizeable popularity and following, especially in Tamil Nadu, providing a platform for youngsters to break into the IPL. Spinners Varun Chakravarthy, who was bought for INR 8.4 crore and INR 4 crore in 2018 and 2019 respectively, and R Sai Kishore, who was snapped up by the Chennai Super Kings for INR 20 lakh in the most recent auction, are among the league’s success stories. Chepauk Super Gillies had won the 2019 edition of the tournament, beating Dindigul Dragons in the final.*0950GMT: The story was updated after a statement from TNCA

With the World Cup less than two month’s away, Pakistan’s head coach has cast doubts over the fast bowler’s inclusion in the side “going forward”

Umar Farooq26-Mar-2019Mohammad Amir’s ODI numbers since the 2017 Champions Trophy make for worrying reading if you’re a Pakistan fan. With just five wickets from his last 14 ODIs and the World Cup less than two months away, Pakistan’s head coach Mickey Arthur has cast doubts over the fast bowler’s inclusion in the side “going forward”.In the 21 months since that Champions Trophy final against India in June 2017, Amir has gone for an average of 92.60, failing to complete his quota of 10 overs even once. The spotlight on him only increased after he was named in the Pakistan squad for the ongoing series against Australia, only to be dropped immediately after another wicketless, expensive outing in the first ODI in Sharjah.While both Arthur and chief selector Inzamam-ul-Haq have previously backed Amir as a bowler for the big occasion, it is becoming increasingly more difficult to see him seal a spot in the squad for the World Cup, which begins on England on May 30.”Yes, Amir’s form is a worry and nobody is more worried than Amir,” Arthur said. “I still think he is an incredibly skilled bowler and has all the attributes to be successful. He has got a big match temperament and we will see how we use him going forward.”Amir has potentially three more chances to make an impression in Dubai, with three ODIs left in the series against Australia. Things haven’t gone according to plan so far for Pakistan, who lost the first two matches convincingly after resting six key players (as well as a seventh later in Faheem Ashraf). The team faced further ire when makeshift captain Shoaib Malik suggested after the second ODI in Sharjah that Pakistan were using the series merely to test their bench strength, and that winning or losing did not matter.Arthur, however, put those suggestions to bed, claiming that Pakistan were always out to win, and that the environment in the dressing room was positive.”Every time we play for Pakistan, we are playing to win,” he said. “You ask the guys in the dressing room, I am a very bad loser. We hate losing. We are representing a very proud cricket nation and we never want to lose. We are testing our bench strength, but we will never sacrifice our intensity and the will to win.”The attitude of the guys that we have around here has been incredible. These guys will become very, very good cricketers. The other guys [who have been rested for this series] have been in a tough system for two years. These guys are only now making their way like Mohammad Hasnain, Abid Ali, Saad Ali. Shan [Masood] and Rizi [Mohammad Rizwan] have been in and out of our ODI side. Umar Akmal is back. We are trying to increase the depth of Pakistan cricket.”We get castigated for not giving opportunities to the younger guys. Now we are giving them the opportunities are we are being castigated again. There seems to be no winning. What people need to understand is that we are a very passionate cricket team and whenever we go on the field, it is to win. We represent 210 million people and it is so important. Myself, Inzi [Inzamam ul Haq and the selection panel have a plan in place which is to have our core group of 15 ready and firing to go by April 23, when we go to England, to win the World Cup for Pakistan.”

The former South Africa captain has raised doubts over Virat Kohli’s ability to get the best out of his players in high-stress situations, the type of which they will repeatedly come up against on tour

Sidharth Monga in Johannesburg22-Jan-2018South Africa’s most successful Test captain Graeme Smith has raised doubts over Virat Kohli’s ability to get the best out of his players, and wondered aloud if Kohli is a long-term captaincy option for India. Smith also said Kohli needs a person in the support staff who can challenge his ideas and help him grow as a leader. Smith and former India captain Sunil Gavaskar were speaking to former Zimbabwe bowler Pommie Mbangwa at a breakfast event organised by South African television network SuperSport.A recent column by Ramachandra Guha, historian and former member of the BCCI’s Committee of Administrators, has brought into open the power Kohli enjoys. Almost every BCCI functionary, Guha wrote, defers to Kohli, and the big fear is that Ravi Shastri is the India coach only because Kohli wanted an agreeable man to run the team alongside him. “When I look at Virat, I think he needs someone in the support staff who can constructively challenge him and help him grow,” Smith said. “He has all the capabilities tactically, he knows his own game, he sets the standard in the field for everyone else.”I think if he had a really constructive person in his environment, who could talk to him, make him think, maybe even challenge him with some different ideas, in a constructive way, not an angry or aggressive way, but make him think, open his eyes to other possibilities, that would make him a really good leader.”Gavaskar said Kohli was a good leader but he needed to bring himself down to the level of other players in the side and then take them up the level he wants them to be. Smith was more categorical in pointing out the disconnect between Kohli and the rest of the team.”We all know he’s an outstanding player, his intensity really benefits his own personal game, he loves that confrontation, that intensity brings the best out of him,” Smith said. “Sometimes as a leader you’ve got to consider how you impact the others in the environment, that’s an area of his leadership that he needs to grow. You can see, he’s often at his players. He’s very aware, he’s focus on the game is on, sweeping or mid-on.”[But] often his reaction to situations… I think that can sometimes impact on your team negatively. We all know how powerful Virat Kohli is in world cricket, in Indian cricket. For him, he’s built this aura and for him maybe to find a level where he can connect with all his players, to get to a level where can get the Indian team to be as successful as he is, that’s something that he, when I watch him, is grappling with.”Kohli’s reactions to events in the Centurion Test could be seen as displeasure with his team-mates. Every time a wicket fell, even as he stood tall on an Indian kind of pitch, Kohli would react in frustration, smashing the bat into his pad, looking the other way or generally not looking impressed.”I don’t know, when I look at him, if he is a long-term captaincy option for India,” Smith said. “At the end of this year, he’d have been away from home for a while, the pressure he’ll face, the scrutiny from the press – I know he only gets that in India – but if you’re away from home and you’re struggling for form as a team, I don’t know if I’d want to burden Virat Kohli with that… Or if India have a better leader in that environment.”Gavaskar joked that they had a leader – vice-captain Ajinkya Rahane – but he wasn’t selected for the first two Tests, both of which India lost. “You might have some players who don’t have the same understanding of the game, or the same fierce desire, but sometimes you have to bring yourself down to a completely different level,” Gavaskar said. “Down, not up. Because that is the only way you are going to get the others who are down up to a level that you want to be. By making them understand that this is not the level where you’ll be doing well yourself, but rather where you are going to do well for the team to win.”Captains evolve in their thought process not only when they are captaining. On off days too, they are always thinking in terms of how can they take the team forward. And sometimes in that process, with that thinking – ‘how do I take the team forward?’ – you lose sight of simple simple things because as an individual you don’t think it is not necessary for you – but it is necessary for some of the lesser guys… As soon as Virat realises that and starts to recognise that, he will become a better leader.”Smith agreed that Kohli needed to take the whole team along with him. “You can be the best player in the world, and you love that intensity and you often don’t think what your team-mates are going through,” Smith said. “Sometimes you talk to AB de Villiers, he gets down and reverse sweeps, he makes it look so easy, and sometimes you need to remind AB that other guys don’t see it that way.”As a leader you need to understand the whole environment, talk to the players to try to get the best out of the environment. He might grow as he learns to soften that a little bit. His performances speak for themselves, it’s about whether he can get the best out of those around him when they are under pressure.”Kohli has captained India in 34 Tests and has fielded a different XI every time. In the process, apart from first-choice keeper Wriddhiman Saha and newcomers Hardik Pandya and Jasprit Bumrah, everybody has been dropped by Kohli at least once. That could be the kind of reactions Smith might have been talking about.

Pakistan have added batsman Younis Khan to their squad for the second Test against West Indies in Abhu Dhabi, which starts from October 21

ESPNcricinfo staff17-Oct-2016Pakistan have added batsman Younis Khan to their squad for the second Test against West Indies in Abu Dhabi, which starts from October 21. Younis’ inclusion is the only change to the squad for the ongoing series.Younis had missed the first Test after being advised extended rest as he recovered from a bout of dengue. The 38-year-old batsman had contracted a high fever last month that was later diagnosed as the mosquito-borne disease, as he underwent treatment at a Karachi hospital. The illness also forced him out of the first round of the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy, Pakistan’s premier first-class tournament.Younis is Pakistan’s leading run-scorer in Tests with 9456 runs at 53.72. Before the Dubai Test, he had last missed a Test in May 2011, and had since played 41 successive matches, scoring 3839 runs at an average of 59.06. He scored 218 against England at The Oval in his last Test appearance.

Part-time offspinner Kraigg Brathwaite took six wickets but contrasting forties from Milinda Siriwardana and Angelo Mathews helped Sri Lanka set West Indies a target of 244 on the third day in Colombo

The Report by Deivarayan Muthu24-Oct-2015
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details0:56

Braithwaite six-for gives Windies chance

Part-time offspinner Kraigg Brathwaite, who had managed only three wickets in 81 first-class matches before this Test, claimed figures of 11.3-4-29-6 to run through Sri Lanka’s middle and lower order, but contrasting forties from Milinda Siriwardana and Angelo Mathews set the visitors a target of 244. However, Brathwaite then get out for a scratchy 3, minutes before scheduled tea as rain ended the session and eventually the day with West Indies still 224 away from their target.With the pitch starting to play more tricks, West Indies face the prospect of delivering their best batting performance of the series for them to draw level with Sri Lanka. Brathwaite’s struggle with the bat continued. He was pinned lbw by a Dhammika Prasad incoming ball, after surviving two loud appeals on 0 – one for lbw and the other for a catch down the leg side.The other opener, Shai Hope, also survived an lbw appeal, on 11, but the on-field call of not out prevailed because of umpire’s call, after Mathews had reviewed the decision. Hope stayed unbeaten on 17 off 28 balls before rain interrupted.Despite the regular loss of wickets, Sri Lanka were earlier pushed ahead by a busy 67-run partnership between Siriwardana and Mathews.If Kaushal Silva’s 105-ball vigil was boundaryless, Siriwardana’s second and third scoring shots were caressed past the covers for fours. He clouted Jomel Warrican over midwicket and to the cow corner for a four and six, and then sent Devendra Bishoo straight down the ground for another six. By then the lead had crossed 150. Bishoo got alarming turn but erred short, as he has been throughout the series, allowing Mathews to settle down.Mathews wedged the ball into the gaps, and was the ninth Sri Lanka batsman dismissed, off Brathwaite for 46, falling short of his fifth fifty-plus score in five Tests at the P Sara Oval. Dilruwan Perera nicked to slip the next ball, giving Brathwaite his sixth wicket, and Jermaine Blackwood his fifth catch.West Indies had also begun well before ceding the stage to Siriwardana and Mathews. Warrican found the outside edge of Dinesh Chandimal’s bat in the first over of the day, but it snuck away to the right of Denesh Ramdin and did not carry to slip either.It was not long before Silva’s bubble burst as he played against the turn, lobbing a catch straight to Blackwood at slip. Two balls later, Jerome Taylor removed Chandimal with an inducker, Ramdin taking a sharp catch flinging himself to his left.Brathwaite followed it with another double-strike. He first got one to spin away from round the wicket and nipped out Siriwardana. He then struck at the stroke of lunch, having Kusal Perera forcing an edge behind to leave the hosts six down for 165.Herath came out swinging after lunch, hitting reverse sweeps as well as orthodox sweeps in a 30-run stand with Mathews. Brathwaite, however, polished Sri Lanka off, the last four wickets tumbling for 11 runs.

WV Raman, the former India opener, has been appointed assistant coach of Kings XI Punjab

ESPNcricinfo staff21-Mar-2013WV Raman, the former India opener, has been appointed assistant coach of Kings XI Punjab. This will be Raman’s first assignment in the IPL, and he will work with head coach Darren Lehmann, who oversaw the now defunct Deccan Chargers last season.Raman, who played 11 Tests and 27 ODIs for India, has plenty of domestic coaching experience, having been in charge of Tamil Nadu for four years and is currently the coach of Bengal.”We are pleased to have WV Raman as the assistant coach of our team for IPL 2013,” Kings XI Punjab’s COO Arvinder Singh said. “Given his vast experience as an ex-Indian player and his coaching stints over the years, I am certain that he shall bring another dimension to our coaching staff and help our players perform to the best of their abilities.”Raman said he looked forward to his new assignment. “Kings XI Punjab has the right mix of experienced as well as young players supported by a world class coaching staff and I shall do my best to get the best out of the players.”

Kevin Pietersen struck his first ODI century in more than three years as England sealed the series against Pakistan with a nine-wicket win

The Report by David Hopps18-Feb-2012
ScorecardKevin Pietersen made 111 not out, his first ODI century in 37 innings•Getty Images

Kevin Pietersen was captain of England when he struck his last hundred in a one-day international. It sounds so long ago that it might have belonged to a different world. In some ways it did.As the England coach left Cuttack that night he could hardly have imagined what lay in wait. A major terrorist attack on Mumbai was already underway and was about to force the postponement of England’s tour of India. After England returned for a Test series played under heavy security, his relationship with the coach Peter Moores broke down irrevocably and both men lost their jobs.It is a history that has played heavily upon him. Pietersen toyed for a while, nobody quite knows how seriously, with abandoning one-day cricket as his star began to wane. It has taken three years, three months and 37 ODIs to draw a line and when he walked down the pitch in his audacious style of old, and flicked Aizaz Cheema through the leg side, the intervening years seemed more aptly summed up not by his routine kneel and punch of the air as a slightly rueful raise of the eyebrows.It is no longer Pietersen’s one-day side now but Alastair Cook’s, and it was perhaps appropriate that his batting renaissance contributed to Cook’s achievement in leading England to a rare one-day series victory in Asia. England now hold an unassailable 3-0 lead with one match to play and a nine-wicket victory with 12.4 overs remaining, fashioned by an opening stand between Cook and Pietersen of 170, could hardly have been more emphatic. Whitewashed in the Test series against Pakistan, they will now be bent upon returning the favour in the final match in the same stadium on Tuesday.Cook’s only regret will be that he narrowly failed to become the first England batsman to make hundreds in three consecutive ODIs. He had reached 80 when he pushed gently forward at the off-spin of Saeed Ajmal and gave Adnan Akmal a faint catch. Cook had again been in unruffled form, his cut shot more to the fore than it had been in Abu Dhabi on a quicker batting surface, but his exit cleared the way for Pietersen to claim the limelight.This has been an opening partnership assembled partly through adversity as Pietersen looked forward to a few sighters against the fast bowlers after a traumatic Test series against Pakistan’s spinners. It now looks bedded in and that coud spell trouble for Craig Kieswetter, whose keeping has been patchy – he dropped Umar on 28 off Broad – and whose range is too limited to convince as a No. 6 in Asia.Pietersen’s habitual pre-match claim that he was in “fantastic” form was backed up by adventurous footwork and flowing strokeplay. He passed 4,000 runs in ODIs in spectacular fashion as he danced down the pitch to strike the offspin of Mohammad Hafeez over the sightscreen for six.He was dropped on 45 when a fierce, flat pull against Aizaz Cheema smacked into the body of the onrushing Azhar Ali at deep square. That apart, his most awkward moments came against the Akmal brothers. Adnan, who had replaced his brother Umar behind the stumps, ill-advisedly tried to run Pietersen out after he had tapped the ball back to him, and apologised. Umar tried to run him out more legimately only for the ball to ricochet off the stumps and career away for five overthrows.

Smart stats

• This is the 11th occasion that England have achieved an ODI win by a margin of nine of more wickets and the first time they have won by such a margin against Pakistan. The target of 223, however, is the highest achieved by England in nine and ten-wicket wins.

• The target of 223 is the highest achieved by any team in a nine or ten-wicket win against Pakistan. West Indies and South Africa are the only other teams to chase 200-plus targets against Pakistan and win by nine or ten-wicket margins.

• Kevin Pietersen became the seventh England batsman to reach the 4000-run mark in ODIs. Among England players with 4000-plus runs, Pietersen has the best average (41.60) and the joint second-highest number of centuries (8).

• Pietersen’s century is his first in ODIs since the 111 against India in Cuttack in November 2008. In 38 matches in between the two centuries, Pietersen scored just 896 runs at 24.88 with three half-centuries.

• Alastair Cook became the third England batsman in the last two years, after Andrew Strauss and Jonathan Trott, to make three fifty-plus scores in a bilateral ODI series. Pietersen leads the list with four fifty-plus scores against South Africa in 2004.

• The 170-run opening stand between Cook and Pietersen is England’s highest against Pakistan and their seventh-highest overall. It is also the fifth-highest opening stand in ODIs played in the UAE.

• Since their 3-0 win against West Indies in 2007, Pakistan have gone on to lose four of their five series (three-plus matches) played in the UAE.

• The number of deliveries remaining at the end of the win (76) is the third-highest for England when they have scored over 200 in successful ODI chases.

A sandstorm had disrupted the practice day and when the Kaus – meaning “bow” in Arabic – a vigorous south-westerly off the desert, cleared in the nick of time it revealed the same flaky Pakistan top order. They lost three wickets in 15 balls to slump to 50 for 4 before Umar, his lips daubed in luminous green sun cream, and the ageing swinger Shahid Afridi, who needs no war paint to convey his belligerence, summoned half-centuries to keep Pakistan in the match.Umar’s last two dismissals have taken Samit Patel’s fielding reputation to new heights. In Abu Dhabi and Dubai, on off side and leg side, he has flung himself to the ground to hold an excellent catch. He knows that his fitness remains borderline – if you enquire innocently about the weather there is every chance he will reply “chicken and salad”, and guiltily wipe the trace of an imaginary beef burger from his lips – but he is a decent cricketer and should be seriously considered to bat No. 6 for England in the Sri Lanka Test series.Afridi was at his most restrained: that is he gambolled along at only a run a ball. He began in haywire fashion but then played responsibly, a straight six off Graeme Swann’s offspin his most emphatic moment. Like Umar, he fell soon after reaching his half-century, bowled by James Anderson as he whipped to leg.For the third successive match, Finn pronounced himself as fine a young fast bowler as anyone in the world. He took two wickets with the new ball, bowling straight and finding steep bounce at close to 90mph. He finished with 3 for 24, taking his series’ tally to 11 wickets at 8.36 runs each.Pakistan had won 13 ODIs out of 14 going into this series and had also whitewashed England 3-0 in the Test series, but such statistics seemed from another age. The loss of Imran Farhat, caught at the wicket as he struggled to cope with Finn’s hostility, seemed a blip. But Stuart Broad caused Azhar Ali to flirt with one outside off stump, Mohammad Hafeez was lbw to an inducker from Finn and Misbah-ul-Haq dangled his bat at Broad to edge to first slip.Broad conceded 16 from his first over, his mood not enhanced by a no-ball that prevented him from dismissing Azhar to a catch by Eoin Morgan at gully. His interrogation of the umpire Aleem Dar was borne out of frustration, but it looked disrespectful. Broad does not need sand stinging his face to become a bit irascible; a ball in his hands normally does the trick.Shafiq’s first run would have brought his downfall if Pietersen’s flat throw had hit the target and he did not learn his lesson. He was unsettled by Swann’s lbw appeal as the ball ran into the legside and had to dive back into the crease as Cook threw the ball to the wicketkeeper, Kieswetter, but the third umpire, Kumar Dharmasena, ruled that his bat was not grounded behind the line. It summed up Pakistan’s day.

Tim Bresnan has been ruled out of the remainder of the one-day series against Australia with a torn calf muscle but is expected to be fit for next month’s World Cup

Andrew McGlashan at the SCG23-Jan-2011Tim Bresnan has been ruled out of the remainder of the one-day series against Australia with a torn calf muscle as England went 3-0 down in Sydney but is expected to be fit for next month’s World Cup.Bresnan picked up the injury during the second ODI at Hobart and required a runner when he batted. Subsequent scans have revealed the extent of the problem and he’ll return to the UK for treatment. Steven Finn is being retained in the squad for the rest of the tour before heading to the Lions tour in the West Indies.It is another blow for England, who already have a depleted bowling attack due to the absence of Stuart Broad and Graeme Swann. Kevin Pietersen also missed the Sydney match with a groin strain as the schedule began to take its toll but Andrew Strauss refused to make excuses after the team’s four-wicket defeat.”That is how injuries occur and that is why with the schedules we have the rotation policy is in place,” he said. “You’ve got to manage these situations. You can’t just throw your hands up and say ‘we can’t compete’. You just have to find a way to complete and the guys that have come in have an opportunity to make a name for themselves. They need to grab that with both hands.”England have just three days at home before leaving for the World Cup, yet Strauss said there was no point complaining because tours are planned well in advance. “There’s no point moaning about it we’ve just got to get on with it. We’re here to play cricket and that’s what we’ll do.”Broad has rejoined the squad in Australia to continue his rehabilitation from the stomach injury he picked up in the second Ashes Test, at Adelaide, but isn’t expected to take any part in the one-day games.Swann is out for up to two weeks after sustaining a knee injury in the first Twenty20 at Adelaide, although James Anderson will be available again for the next ODI after his rest period following the Test series.”Graeme Swann I don’t think will be available this week but hopefully for the last couple of games,” Strauss said. “Kevin Pietersen we are hopeful will be fit for Wednesday, but we’ve got to see how he develops in the next couple of days.”Chris Woakes, the Warwickshire seamer, earned his ODI debut in place of Bresnan at the SCG but Bresnan’s is a tough role to fill because he provides valuable lower-order batting and the ability to find reverse swing.