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Brilliant bowling at the death by Kane Richardson and Tom Helm with Welsh Fire needing 13 to win off 10 balls allowed Birmingham Phoenix to snatch a four-run victory from the jaws of defeat at Sophia Gardens.Having only reached 130 in their 100 balls it seemed set up for Fire to notch their first win of the summer in front of a 10,901 crowd. David Miller, with 35 off 30, almost got the Welsh team over the line, but the final push wasn’t good enough.Phoenix now have two wins from three games and look set to challenge to go one better than last year. Aussie quick Richardson was named as the Hero of the Match as he took 2 for 15 in his 20 balls, including 11 dot balls.Fire skipper Josh Cobb was delighted to have won the toss and put the Phoenix into bat. Three days earlier, last season’s runners-up had notched 176 in a revenge win over the reigning champions Southern Brave, with 20-year-old opener Will Smeed hitting the Hundred’s first century.Thoughts of a repeat may have been on his mind, but David Payne had other ideas and sent him back after a mere four balls without scoring. The home pace attack kept a tight rein on the Phoenix batters and they limped to 50 off 50 balls, having lost four wickets.Moeen Ali and Chirs Benjamin steadied the ship with a stand of 22 for the second wicket before two wickets fell in a superb set of five from George Scrimshaw. Moeen was caught behind after striking a boundary and three balls later Liam Livingstone gave his much-prized wicket away trying to ramp the home paceman. That made it 27 for 3 at the end of the powerplay, Phoenix’s lowest in the format.Cobb then threw himself into the attack and managed to tighten the noose. Chris Benjamin was caught on the boundary by Dwaine Pretorius, although claimed the maximum as the South African fell over the boundary, but Cobb bowled him next ball.Phoenix were 37 for 4 after 40 and in need of a partnership. It came from Aussie star Matthew Wade and Miles Hammond, who put on 52 for the fifth wicket. Wade hit Scrimshaw, Pretorius and Adam Zampa for sixes, but then fell to Zampa as he went for a repeat. He scored 38 as the Phoenix slumped to 94 for 6 with 22 balls to go.They reached 130 for 7 in the end, Helm pulling the last ball for what was to prove an invaluable six.Fire, having lost their opening two games, desperately needed to hold their nerve in a moderate run chase. Their two totals this season in those defeats were only 119 and 107.Phoenix didn’t concede a run in the first set of five balls from Richardson and he also removed Joe Clarke. Sam Hain wasn’t going to hang around, ramping a six to get off the mark. He eventually chopped on to a slower ball from Helm having scored 23 off 15 balls to leave Fire 28 for 2.Tom Banton finished off the powerplay with a four and a six to take the home side to 34, but when Ben Duckett was bowled by Ben Howell, Fire were 53 for 3. They reached the 50-ball mark with 59, nine runs ahead of the Phoenix total, and it was anyone’s game.Banton and Miller put on 32 for the fourth wicket, including 11 runs from Imran Tahir’s only set of five. Successive sixes – 90 and then 96 metres – from Miller off Livingstone put Fire back in the driving seat, but Richardson conceded just two from the penultimate set and Helm defended 11 from the last to leave home supporters crestfallen.

MI Cape Town – Mumbai Indians’ franchise in the upcoming CSA T20 league – have announced Rashid Khan, Liam Livingstone, Sam Curran, Kagiso Rabada and Dewald Brevis as their five signings ahead of the player auction.As per the league’s rules, each of the six franchises will get to pre-sign five players – three overseas, one South Africa international player and one uncapped South African player – prior to the auction, and MI Cape Town are the first team to announce their list of players.”I’m excited as we begin our journey in building MI Cape Town,” Akash Ambani, Chairman of Reliance Jio, the owners of MI Cape Town, said. “With our direct player signings, we have taken the first step towards building the MI philosophy – having a strong core around which the team will be planned. I am glad to welcome Rashid, Kagiso, Liam, Sam, to the #OneFamily and happy to have Dewald continue with us on this new journey.”On Wednesday, the CSA league had announced that it had signed over 30 marquee players and that each squad could have 17 players on their roster.While no other team has announced signings yet, it has been confirmed that Jos Buttler, Moeen Ali, Faf du Plessis, Quinton de Kock, David Miller, Eoin Morgan, Jason Holder, Jason Roy and many others will participate in the league. While Livingstone and Buttler will earn $US500,000 each, Moeen will take home $400,000, du Plessis 350,000 and the likes of Rabada, de Kock, Miller, Morgan and Curran will get $300,000 each.So far 11 England names have signed up for the league – the largest overseas representation – followed by 10 from Sri Lanka. As expected, there are no Pakistani names in the list.The CSA release on Wednesday also said the auction would take place “in the next few weeks” before the league begins in January 2023. All six franchises of the league have been bought by groups that own teams in the IPL and the league is likely to allow four overseas players in the playing XI with no requirements for transformation as of now.

It’s been a whirlwind few months for Nathan Ellis and he is still trying to take it all in. A late call-up to Australia’s tours of the Caribbean and Bangladesh culminated in a debut hat-trick, then came a stint with Punjab Kings in the IPL this season and a spot as a travelling reserve for the T20 World Cup.He will shortly start another BBL season with Hobart Hurricanes – the competition that has helped make his name – and he admitted it feels different to now have an “Australia cricketer” among his credentials.”Even just hearing you say that it doesn’t sound like it’s right, doesn’t feel real, to be honest,” Ellis told ESPNcricinfo. “It was a dream come true…to hear you say Australian cricketer it’s a really proud thing.”I didn’t expect to be on the Caribbean and Bangladesh tours. Then, to get a game at the back end and have the luck I did, I was really content and stoked with that. But then to get the call-up to the World Cup was a dream, rubbing shoulders with the biggest stars we have in the Australian cricket set-up, going onto win it, it’s an experience I’ll never forget.”Related

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The actual volume of cricket Ellis has played during that period has been limited: two matches in Bangladesh and three games for Kings in the IPL. But he believes he has put his time to good use and, having initially begun by focusing on the death bowling he is most renowned for, has worked to widen his game.”Would be remiss of me not to talk to all the players and get as much out of it as I can. I feel like I’ve done that. I haven’t played that much cricket, but just the experiences in the nets and talking to those guys, and even watching them in tough situations, I feel like it can only do me good.”Initially, I tried to hone those skills and grow that death bowling skillset, but I’ve also done a lot of new-ball bowling in the powerplay, and as a T20 bowler, you need to keep trying to evolve. My role is the tough overs, so I tried to bowl a lot with the new ball.”Having a ringside seat at one World Cup triumph, Ellis now has sights set on remaining in the T20 set-up with an eye on next year’s home tournament. While for now, the shortest format appears the likeliest route to higher honours his domestic numbers – a first-class average of 25.11 and one-day average of 23.75 – suggest he has the potential to expand.”In the short term, we’ve just had a T20 World Cup, and we have another one next year, then a one-day World Cup following that, so there’s a lot of white-ball cricket coming up,” he said. “Naturally, I’d love to play for Australia in all formats, but at the moment, my opportunity is in the T20 set-up, so I’ll do everything I can to stay in the mix.”Winning this World Cup was amazing, but the possibility of going back-to-back in front of home fans is mouthwatering.”

Marcus Harris’ magic touch continued at Drummoyne Oval, where the opener snaffled a one-handed catch to help Victoria secure a 204-run Sheffield Shield victory over NSW.NSW, set a target of 339 when Peter Handscomb declared late on day three in Sydney, resumed at 1 for 33 on Saturday morning. The hosts were bowled out for 134, with top-scorer Peter Nevill fighting hard to almost drag the contest into its final hour but eventually running out of partners.Former Test keeper Nevill remained unbeaten on 29 from 129 deliveries, with Tanveer Sangha’s dismissal to Jon Holland ending the match.On-song paceman Scott Boland, who snared the key scalp of captain Kurtis Patterson with a delivery that kept low and struck off stump, finished with a match haul of 7 for 73. Boland also removed Gilkes and Jack Edwards on day four. Edwards, Sean Abbott, Trent Copeland and Nathan Lyon faced a combined 209 balls during NSW’s stonewall.Related

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Friday’s centuries from Harris and Handscomb put their side in the box seat for victory, while also sending a timely reminder of their talent to national selectors. Harris then held catches to dismiss Matthew Gilkes and Abbott on Saturday, with the former a sensationally sharp effort at gully.”I’m not sure he saw that,” Handscomb said. “It happened to stick…it was awesome. In terms of his batting, he’s picked up where he left off last season for Victoria and also in England this year.”He’s in red-hot form. Great for him to come out here and do this in the first game. Especially with the Ashes coming up, he can take a lot of confidence going into that.”Handscomb noted he would relish a chance to play for Australia A or Australia in coming months but was looking no further ahead than the MCG clash with NSW that begins on Friday.”If that opportunity came, I’d grab it with both hands,” Handscomb said.Prodigy Will Pucovski, who sat out this match because of concussion, and express paceman James Pattinson, who recently retired from international cricket, are likely to return next week.”What a good problem to have. You have a win then two Australia players coming back into the fold,” Handscomb said. “I’m sure all the right protocols are happening [with Pucovski] and when he’s ready to go, he’ll be out there.”NSW coach Phil Jaques indicated allrounder Moises Henriques was an unlikely starter in the next Shield match. Jaques praised the venue-record stand of 261 runs between Harris and Handscomb, while lamenting his own charges’ batting.”We were on the wrong end of a pretty good partnership between two pretty good players at the top of their game,” former Test opener Jaques said. “I know they’re hurting. We’ll bounce back really quickly…we’ll be looking to try to get some revenge on them next week.”

Chasing down 191 was never going to be easy for Scotland but no one would have expected them to collapse in the manner they did. Mujeeb Ur Rahman rocked their chase with a three-wicket over, and went on to complete his maiden five-for in T20Is, finishing with figures of 4-0-20-5.The lower order then stood no chance against Rashid Khan, who picked up 4 for 9 in 2.2 overs as Scotland were bundled out for 60 in 10.2 overs. The margin of victory, 130 runs, was the biggest for Afghanistan in this format.

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Earlier, after Mohammad Nabi had opted to bat, Hazratullah Zazai and Mohammad Shahzad provided Afghanistan with a blazing start, with the fifty coming up in just 5.1 overs. Najibullah Zadran and Rahmanullah Gurbaz then added 87 in 8.4 overs for the third wicket to lift the side to a total that proved well out of Scotland’s reach.A power-packed powerplay
Coming into this match, Shahzad had scored 309 runs in six T20Is against Scotland at an average of 51.50 and a strike rate of 148.55. In four of those games, he was the Player of the Match.Shahzad was playing his first game for Afghanistan since June 2019, but it didn’t seem to matter as he started in his typical aggressive manner: smashing the first ball he faced, from offspinner Michael Leask, over long-off for a six.Two balls later, Zazai targeted the deep-midwicket region for his first six. That was the shorter side of the ground as well. But soon the dimensions stopped mattering. In the fifth over, Zazai took on the longer boundary and smashed Brad Wheal for a 101-metre six.Shahzad fell to Safyaan Sharif for a 15-ball 22 on the penultimate ball of the next over, but the onslaught from the openers meant Afghanistan ended the powerplay on 55 for 1, the joint-most by a team in this World Cup.Watt applies brakes before Zadran, Gurbaz re-accelerate
After the powerplay, Zazai hit only one boundary – a six off Chris Greaves – before Mark Watt bowled him with a 107kph yorker.Gurbaz, meanwhile, took seven balls to open his account. At one point, he was on 15 off 20 balls and it started looking like Scotland could pull things back.Mujeeb Ur Rahman registered his best figures in T20Is•ICC via Getty

That wasn’t to be the case though as Zadran kept founding boundaries at regular intervals. The hundred came up for Afghanistan in the 13th over. Soon Gurbaz too found his touch. After moving to 23 off 27, he helicoptered Josh Davey over deep-midwicket before launching Wheal for two more sixes in the 17th over.Watt, who had conceded only ten from his first three overs, bore the brunt too, with Zadran hitting him for a four and a six in a 13-run over. Gurbaz fell for 46 but Zadran didn’t miss out on the half-century, bringing up the milestone off 30 balls and helping his side to a daunting total.Mujeeb rocks Scotland’s chase
George Munsey started Scotland’s chase with a reverse-swept four followed by a reverse-swept six off Nabi in the first over. He tried the same shot against Mujeeb in the next over, but the bowler’s pace didn’t allow him to connect his attempts.Kyle Coetzer hit two fours off Naveen-ul-Haq to take the side to 27 for no loss after three overs. That was the last time anything went Scotland’s way as Mujeeb picked up three wickets – all off googlies – in one over.Coetzer was the first to go, bowled through the gate. Calum MacLeod lasted just one ball and was lbw. Richie Berrington survived the hat-trick ball but lasted only two more deliveries as Mujeeb snared him lbw on the last ball of the over.Mujeeb completes five-for, Rashid cleans up the tail
From the other end, Naveen had Matthew Cross caught behind, Shahzad diving full-stretch to his right to take the catch.Mujeeb then rattled Munsey’s stumps from around the wicket to leave Scotland 36 for 5, with Rashid still to come into the attack.Rashid struck with his third ball, this time Leask failing to read the googly and being lbw. In the next over, Mujeeb completed his five-for by bowling Watt with a carrom ball before Rashid polished off the tail.

Opener Lizelle Lee’s 75 off 52 balls helped South Africa set up a 50-run win over the hosts West Indies in the second T20I in Antigua and move up 1-0 in the series.The visitors, who were put in to bat, were off to a strong start with Lee and Dane van Niekerk combining to put up a 53-run opening stand. It was left-arm quick Qiana Joseph who made the breakthrough with van Niekerk’s wicket in the seventh over. But Lee continued on, partnering with Marizanne Kapp this time for the second wicket as the duo put up a 69-run stand. Lee brought up her fifty off 39 balls.The duo kept the runs flowing before Hayley Matthews thwarted them with a double strike in the 18th over. Lee departed for 75, hitting 12 fours and one six while Kapp was dismissed for a 32-ball 24. Laura Wolvaardt then provided the perfect finish with a nine-ball 33 in which she cracked four consecutive sixes off Matthews in the last four balls of the innings, taking the total to 165.The hosts made a good start in the chase, racing to 21 in 2.3 overs. But following Matthews’ dismissal off the next ball, Nonkululeko Mlaba and Kapp struck regularly to keep West Indies’ top-order batters in check with the asking rate climbing. Ayabonga Khaka was frugal in her four overs, conceding just eight runs and picking two wickets.”We are very happy with how we handled ourselves in today’s match against the West Indies,” Wolvaardt said after the match.”As a team I feel we did what was required from us and executed our plans very well. This result goes a long way in lifting our confidence for the rest of series against a very strong Windies team and hopefully keep that good performance going.”The sides will meet in the decider in the third and final T20I, scheduled to take place at the same venue on September 5. The first T20I was called off due to rain.

Chris Silverwood, England’s head coach, has admitted that Mark Wood may end up joining a list of absentees including Ben Stokes, Stuart Broad, Jofra Archer and Chris Woakes for next week’s third Test against India, after bowling through the pain of an injured shoulder during England’s disastrous final-day capitulation at Lord’s.Wood, who landed heavily on his right shoulder while fielding on the fourth evening of the second Test, was still able to touch speeds of 94mph during a hostile but ineffective spell on the final morning. However, the effort caused him clear pain – not least when he jarred the same shoulder after tumbling in his followthrough – and Silverwood said he would be closely monitored by the England medical team ahead of the third Test, which gets underway at Headingley on August 25.”The medics are working on him, we’ll find out more in the next couple of days,” Silverwood said on the morning after England’s 151-run loss. “We will make a decision, along with him and our medics, closer to the time. But if he’s not right, he’s not right. I certainly won’t push him into playing if he tells me he’s not right. I will look after him.”The prospect of England losing yet another of their point-of-difference bowlers is a daunting one, given how shell-shocked the team was by the events of the fifth day at Lord’s. A winning position was ripped away by an unbeaten ninth-wicket stand of 89 between Mohammed Shami and Jasprit Bumrah, before the same pairing led the line in blasting England out for 120 in just 51.5 overs across the final two sessions.While Wood’s effort in the course of India’s decisive partnership could not be faulted, the tactics most certainly could – with Root accepting responsibility at the end of the match for what was interpreted as an over-emotional attempt to get back at Bumrah in particular, after his short-pitched assault on England’s No.11 James Anderson in the final moments of the third day’s play.”I saw Joe took that on himself in the interview afterwards, but it’s a collective and I’m part of that as well,” Silverwood said. “Emotions ran high, there’s no doubt about it. They obviously targeted Jimmy in that first innings, so we went back hard at them as well. We tried to go toe-to-toe with them, but what we could have done better is shift from that tactic back to Plan A, and hitting the top of off.Mark Wood did some damage to his shoulder while diving to field a ball•Getty Images

“I don’t mind the aggressive approach,” he added. “One thing we have to become good at is removing lower-order batsmen. But equally I’d like to give some credit to the Indian batsmen as well. I thought they handled the situation really well. They navigated their way through it and put their team in a really strong position. They have to take some credit but equally we have to look at our tactics.”However, Silverwood had nothing but praise for the manner in which Wood himself had interpreted those tactics, especially given that his fierce extraction of India’s top three earlier in the innings – including Rohit Sharma on the hook and Cheteshwar Pujara with a lifter late on the fourth evening – had been instrumental in setting up England’s victory chance.”What he did for the team, and the effort to bowl at 90mph with a sore shoulder, it just shows how much he cares about the team and how much he cares about playing for England, and how passionate he is,” Silverwood said.”It was a superb effort. I’m very proud of him for what he did there. He’ll be trying his best to get ready for Leeds, and I will give him every chance to be fit, but at the same time, it is massively important that we look after Woody. He is a prized asset. We have found ourselves in the position, when you lose Archer and [Olly] Stone, we have got one guy left that can bowl that fast.”Silverwood also warned that there was little prospect of seeing the return of Stokes next week at Headingley, the venue where he etched his name into Ashes folklore in 2019 with his epic match-winning century. Stokes withdrew his availability before the start of the India series due to burn-out, allied to the complications caused by a badly broken finger, and despite the apparent desperation of England’s series situation, Silverwood said there would be no SOS from the England camp.Chris Sliverwood will not be pushing Ben Stokes to come out of his self-imposed break•Getty Images

“There’s still no time limit on it, to be honest,” he said. “The important thing is that Ben is okay, his family are okay, and that he comes back strong, and when he when re-enters the frame, he’s ready in his mindset to come back to perform for England, like we know he can.”I’m certainly not pushing him for an answer. I don’t think that would be the right thing to do. There’s people around him, supporting him, and when he’s ready to come back in, obviously we’ll welcome him back with open arms.”But until then he’ll get all the support he needs. There’s no pushing from my point of view, I don’t think you can push these issues. I’ll wait.”Woakes also remains a doubt for Headingley after sustaining a foot injury prior to the series, with Silverwood admitting he “didn’t have an answer” about his prospects of a return. England’s problems, however, extend far beyond their fast-bowling stocks, given that their top three of Rory Burns, Dom Sibley and Haseeb Hameed each made ducks at Lord’s, with only Burns contributing a score of any note with his first-innings 49.The current lack of red-ball cricket in the county schedule is an added complication, and Silverwood admitted that England’s selectors would “have to think of everything” when they meet on Tuesday evening to decide on the squad for Headingley – including a prospective break for Sibley, and recalls for two men whose last extended runs in the side came on the 2017-18 Ashes tour, James Vince and Dawid Malan.6:25

Harmison: England openers have reached an all-time low

“I’ve got to keep my eyes and ears open, and my mind open to all suggestions, and it’s certainly something that we’ll be talking about this evening in selection, when we all get together,” Silverwood said. “It’s not like I’m not in touch with these guys.I’ve seen them over the various formats and my relationship with these guys is very good. I’m quite close to them so I wouldn’t say you can’t do it.”I don’t think there is any ideal process out there. We have to make the best of what we’ve got,” he added. “It’s difficult to bring people in from, say, the Hundred or the Royal London Cup. To throw them into Test cricket, we’ve seen that the pressure is huge in this series. It’s being played with a lot of passion, which is great to see, but it is a difficult transition.”You’ve got to do what’s best for the team, ultimately, and find the best way of progressing England to a place where big first-innings runs – and second-innings runs – come in on a consistent basis.”For the time being, however, Silverwood urged his players to use their week off wisely before reconvening at Headingley with fresh minds, safe in the knowledge that they have battled back from 1-0 deficits before, both in the 2019 Ashes, and in their 3-1 victory in South Africa the following winter.”We’ve got a little bit space now, so they can go home, spend a bit of time with their families, calm down a little bit, and clear their minds and come back fresh.”It’s not a position that we’re not used to. We’ve been in this position before, so I’ve made sure that we remember those feelings, remember those times, and how we did it. They’ve got the belief that they can do it, because they have done it before.”

Amid growing speculation around his future as PCB chairman, Ehsan Mani is set to meet Prime Minister Imran Khan on Monday. The meeting has, it is understood, been convened on Imran’s wishes, and could be seen as significant to Mani’s future within the board.Mani’s current term is due to end on August 25, two days after the meeting, though he has recently said he intends to continue in the post. Whether he does or does not, however, has become the subject of intense speculation in recent days in which the name of Ramiz Raja, the commentator and former Pakistan captain, has cropped up as a potential successor.The Prime Minister is also patron of the PCB and the constitutional authority who, via the two nominees he appoints to the PCB board of governors, has a say in who becomes board chairperson. The ten-member governing board also includes four independent members, three provisional cricket association heads, and the chief executive officer. While all nine existing board members are eligible to contest the elections, historically only one of the two individuals directly nominated by the Prime Minister has become the PCB chairman.Though the two nominees are yet to be named, the patron’s office has already named a former supreme court judge, Justice (retired) Sheikh Azmat, as the commissioner to carry out the election of the PCB chairperson. Mani was previously the only candidate to have submitted his nomination papers for the post, and all members of the Board of Governors unanimously voted for him to head the PCB. He had replaced Najam Sethi, who had resigned when Imran’s party, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), came to power in the federal government.In case the patron extends Mani’s tenure, he will have to go through another process for his re-election as, according to the PCB constitution, a chairperson’s total tenure “shall in no case exceed a period of six years”. Mani has only completed three years so far.No agenda has been revealed for the meeting with the Prime Minister, but the performance and the highlights over Mani’s three years as chairman are likely to be discussed. During his term, Mani revamped the functioning of the PCB, redrafting the board’s constitution to bring it in line with the practices of corporate governance. Until 2019, the PCB chairperson could also act as CEO, which gave them the power to implement whichever of the board’s policies they thought were fit. This has since been curbed by introducing the position of a chief executive officer.The PCB under Mani also brought in enormous changes in the domestic structure, dismantling the previous mix of departmental and regional cricket and implementing the provincial-team model at Imran’s insistence. The change sparked country-wide outrage with the new system costing several players their livelihoods, but the PCB eventually created jobs for all veteran cricketers at the association level, offering them opportunities on various scales ranging from administrative jobs to field jobs.Mani has also put in place a through review of Pakistan cricket’s biggest revenue-generating product, the Pakistan Super League, and faces a time crunch to revise the financial model of the league. The PSL is set to reassess the value of its assets this year before selling its commercial and broadcasting rights. The last three-year cycle for the TV and digital streaming rights, worth approximately USD 36 million, has come to an end this year.

Haris Sohail has been ruled out of the England tour with a grade 3 hamstring injury and will return to Lahore by the first available flight to undergo a four-week rehabilitation programme at the high performance centre. He was meant to make a comeback in ODIs after he was dropped last year after the Zimbabwe series.Pakistan have not named a replacement because they are carrying a large squad and have the options of Sohaib Maqsood, Saud Shakeel and Agha Salman to fill in.Sohail was dropped from the Test side as well after the New Zealand tour earlier this year and since then he only played four List A games – for Balochistan – in January. He scored an unbeaten century in four games in the Pakistan Cup, scoring 164 runs but he missed a big chunk of the tournament when he was in New Zealand. He was picked for the ODIs in England after missing out in the series against South Africa.Pakistan landed in England on June 25, started training on June 28, and Sohail complained about a strain in his leg muscle after two net sessions. He pulled out of the first intra-squad practice game on July 1 and later missed the second one as well. An MRI scan on Wednesday confirmed he had a tear in his hamstring. The PCB said he sustained the injury during a training session in Derby last week.”I was keenly looking forward to the ODIs as part of my objective to contribute in the side’s success and also cement my position in the side,” Sohail said after being ruled out of the tour. “I am disappointed that my tour has been cut short, but I will return to Lahore and undergo a rehabilitation programme so that I can fully recover for the 2021-22 season.”Sohail, who made his international debut in 2013, is considered one of the finest batters in Pakistan but was never able to cement his place. In 2015, he was “spooked” in his Christchurch hotel room and he returned home without playing for Pakistan after the frightful experience.Earlier this year he was named in the Test squad for New Zealand, but he missed the training sessions and practice match owing to a thumb injury. He later turned up to play both the Tests and scored 3, 9, 1 and 15 before being dropped across formats.In the last eight years, he has played 16 Tests (847 runs at 32.57), 42 ODIs (1685 at 46.80) and 14 T20Is (210 at 19.09, strike rate of 102.94).Last year he pulled out of the England tour due to the Covid-19 pandemic as he decided not to stay in isolation, which was a mandatory quarantine period for all foreigners travelling to the UK.Pakistan’s three-match ODI series begins later today in Cardiff, which will be followed by three T20Is on July 16, 18 and 20. The side will depart for the West Indies on July 21 where they will play five T20Is and two Tests from July 27 to August 24.

Those in the US can watch in English or Hindi here3pm

That’s it for day 4 then

ICC/Getty Images

They have taken the call to end it here. We now have a maximum of 196 overs to get a result out of this otherwise the trophy and the award money will be shared. I leave you with this yarn from Nagraj Gollapudi:

Gopi walks from behind as I stare at the empty expanse of the wet and soggy Hampshire Bowl. We are standing at the mouth of one of the alleyways in the bowels the Shane Warne stand. “I need to decide whether to stay back or head back,” Gopi says.Gopi is from a small village in Madurai in southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu. He is in London for a short duration on an assignment with an IT company. His working hours are synched with the US timezone and hence he is desperate to know whether the fourth day of the WTC final will start at all or should he head back. Gopi has to start work at 1500 hours UK time (1930 IST) but reckons he can still pull it off in case he leaves for London by 1600 hours.Monday is a very special day in his life: it is the first time Gopi has come to a cricket ground. After a work colleague cancelled his visit, Gopi bought the ticket, a gold category one, for 150 pounds (about INR 15000). Gopi paid an extra 49 pounds to get his return train ticket on Monday from London and spent another 10 quid for the bus journey to the ground.Why did he want to come to the ground when the rain had been forecast for the virtually the entire day? “I just hoped there would play,” Gopi says, mouth covered by the mask, but with twinkling eyes and a gold ear stud shimmering in the gloomy light. “It is a big day for me. I come from a middle-class family froma village near Madurai. In India I could never think of buying a ticket and going to a match while I was growing up. But now I got the opportunity so I took it up.”While at the ground Gopi went closer to the on-site team hotel to wave at some Indian players including Rohit Sharma, Ishant Sharma, Mohammed Shami and even spotted Virat Kohli and his family holed up in their room. Will he disappointed if there is no play? “No. I came the ground and it is an experience I will not forget. I still got to watch some players and feel happy that I come.”Even if there is no play on Monday Gopi says he will be back on Wednesday when the ticket prices will be halved. He has already asked his friends to buy him one.As the drizzle carries on I leave Gopi to wrestle with the vital question: stay back or go?

2.40pm

Kohli’s non-centuries

Virat Kohli hasn’t scored a century since November 2019, but he has played some gems nonetheless. Which one do you think is the best?