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Pakistan Under-19 inflicted a sixth straight defeat on Zimbabwe Under-19 at the Stellenbosch University Ground

ESPNcricinfo staff18-Jan-2012
Scorecard
Pakistan Under-19 inflicted a sixth straight defeat on Zimbabwe Under-19 at the Stellenbosch University Ground. Zimbabwe, after choosing to bat, appeared to be in a comfortable situation at 73 for 1 in the 19th over. Luke Masasire (65) and Kevin Kasuza were involved in a 59-run second-wicket stand but things fell apart after the pair was separated. In a collapse, Zimbabwe lost 9 wickets for 65 runs and were bowled out for 138 in 40.5 overs. Seamer Zia-ul-Haq grabbed three wickets and was supported by Usman Qadir and Mohammad Nawaz, who took two each. Opener Faraz Ali top-scored with 68 in the chase and Pakistan sealed victory with 22 overs to spare and seven wickets in hand.

Samit Patel, the England allrounder, has withdrawn from next year’s IPL auction in a bid to boost his chances of earning a Test place

ESPNcricinfo staff30-Nov-2011Samit Patel, the England allrounder, has withdrawn from next year’s IPL auction in a bid to boost his chances of earning a Test place. If he had been picked up for the IPL – and it was far from certain he would have gained a deal – it would have meant missing up to seven County Championship matches at the start of the English season.Patel returned to England’s one-day side against Sri Lanka during the 2011 season having missed out on a World Cup berth due to his fitness issues. He played every game during England’s recent tour of India, scoring 160 runs at 40.00 and took four wickets in the 5-0 whitewash to emerge as one of the few players with some credit.However, although Patel’s move will be noted by the England management, he faces a tough task to force his way into the Test reckoning as either a second spinner or frontline batsman but is hoping the weight of runs in the early domestic season will bring him into the selectors’ thinking for the series against West Indies and South Africa in 2012.”My biggest ambition is to play Test cricket,” Patel said. “I need to score a high volume of runs in the Championship to push my case. If I was selected for the IPL then I would miss several Championship matches and that won’t help me at a time when I need to do everything I can to impress the selectors.”I have listened to the advice from people that I trust and it is clear that this decision is the right one to have made for cricket reasons. The IPL is an exciting tournament and I would like to be involved in it in the future, but not to the detriment of my England ambitions.”Mick Newell, the Nottinghamshire coach, supported Patel’s move which will also strengthen the county during a crucial period of Championship cricket.”Samit has got himself back into England’s limited-overs teams but he feels that he can become a Test match regular and it goes without saying that scoring a high volume of runs for Nottinghamshire will help him to achieve his ambition,” said Newell. “Staying away from the IPL this year is a mature decision and one that we hope will benefit Samit’s career and improve our prospects in the Championship.”Patel’s decision mirrors that of Ravi Bopara who decided not to play in last season’s IPL, in an attempt to secure a place against Sri Lanka, while Stuart Broad has also resisted the the tournament’s lure. Yet, despite Bopara’s 408 runs in the opening five matches last season, the England selectors favoured Eoin Morgan for the first Test, who did play in the 2011 IPL, after he struck 193 for the Lions in the tour match against Sri Lanka at Derby.As ever with Patel, runs and wickets won’t be the only factor, either, as Andy Flower, the England team director, made clear in a recent interview with the when he said Patel “hasn’t properly addressed his fitness issues. He’d better, otherwise he’ll be out of the side.”Patel faces a challenge to dislodge one of England’s established top six batsmen, while Bopara and James Taylor are also ahead of him in the pecking order. The most likely route into the Test team remains as a second spinner, which England rarely require on home soil.Last season Patel took 33 first-class wickets at 30.81, together with over 1,000 runs at 47.56. Monty Panesar, England’s reserve spinner on the 2010-11 Ashes tour, was the highest wicket-taker in Division One of the County Championship in 2011 with 69 victims at 27.24 and also boasts 126 Test match wickets at 34.37.The England Test squad is set to be announced in the forthcoming weeks for the three-match series against Pakistan in Dubai.

A round-up of the second day of the first round of matches in the Ranji Trophy Elite 2011-12

ESPNcricinfo staff04-Nov-2011Group ARavindra Jadeja scored his maiden first-class triple-century to carry Saurashtra to 545 against Orissa at the Barabati Stadium in Cuttack. Jadeja’s 314 became the highest-ever score by any Saurashtra batsman, going past Cheteshwar Pujara’s 302, and is the 11th highest score overall in Ranji history. He got his runs at an impressive strike-rate of 83.73, including 29 fours and nine sixes, though it is not the fastest triple-hundred in the Ranji Trophy.The rest of Saurashtra’s middle and lower order could not get going, and no one managed more than Pratik Mehta’s 39 on the second day. New-ball bowler Basant Mohanty finished with the best figures for Orissa: 4 for 86. Despite Saurashtra’s daunting total, Orissa’s openers managed to safely negotiate 18 overs and take their side to 51 for 0 at stumps. Saurashtra’s spinners, Kamlesh Makvana and Jadeja, conceded one run in four overs between them.Jadeja has so far only entered contention for a spot in India’s limited-overs side, but has shown the ability to bat long in first-class cricket. His previous highest score was against Orissa as well – an unbeaten 232 in 2008-09 – and he had an unbeaten 170 in the Duleep Trophy semi-final last season.

KB Pawan, who did not manage a single century over eight matches last season, has started this year’s Ranji Trophy with his highest score in first-class cricket – an unbeaten 251. Stuart Binny also got his highest first-class score, 151, and the two big innings gave Karnataka a total of 623 for 6 declared against Rajasthan at the Field Club Ground in Udaipur. Rajasthan, last year’s champions, lost two early wickets in reply, leaving them under pressure at the end of the second day in Udaipur.They had started the day under pressure too, with Karnataka having reached 273 for 3 by stumps on day one. But Pankaj Singh, who swung sides out for fun in the Plate League last season, got a couple of early wickets on the second morning, bowling Amit Verma for 69, and trapping CM Gautam in front for 10. Pawan, though, carried on from his 121 not out overnight, and at the other end Stuart Binny attacked. Binny, who had two centuries last season, scored his 151 at a strike-rate of 107.09, striking 23 fours and three sixes. His aggression meant Karnataka were able to lift their rate and scored 350 runs in 73.3 overs on the second day before declaring.Deepak Chahar, the seamer who had an impressive first season last year, found the going hard in the Elite division, toiling for 42 overs for figures of 1 for 165. Rajasthan’s problems were compounded when Vaibhav Deshpande, promoted to the opening slot in the absence of Aakash Chopra who is out for this game with a back spasm, was dismissed off the first ball of their innings by R Vinay Kumar. In the seventh over, their captain Hrishikesh Kanitkar perished to Abhimanyu Mithun and they ended the day on 49 for 2. Ashok Menaria, the 21-year-old allrounder of whom much is expected, has been promoted to No. 4 and will face the tough challenge of pulling his team back into the match on Saturday.

Punjab collapsed on the second morning at the Punjab Cricket Association Stadium, losing their last five wickets for 10 runs to finish with 350 against Uttar Pradesh. UP then got themselves to 221 for 3 and their first motive on Saturday will be to secure a first-innings leadPunjab’s remarkable slide started in the eighth over of the day, when RP Singh removed Sandeep Sharma to complete his ninth five-wicket haul in first-class cricket. In the next over Bhuvneshwar Kumar, UP’s leading wicket-taker last season, took three wickets in four balls. First to go was Bipul Sharma, trapped lbw for a six-ball duck. That brought Harbhajan Singh, Punjab’s captain, who was recently dropped from the India Test squad, to the crease; but he was sent straight back as Bhuvneshwar trapped him lbw too. Manpreet Gony denied Bhuvneshwar the hat-trick but was gone the ball after that, giving Bhuvneshwar figures of 4 for 82. Piyush Chawla took the last wicket and Punjab’s Mandeep Singh, who had started the day on 158, was left stranded on 175.UP lost opener Eklavya Dwivedi early to a run-out, but a century stand between Tanmay Srivastava and Mohammad Kaif steadied them. The pair were both dismissed in the 60s, but Parvinder Singh came in and got 57 not out, and he and Suresh Raina negotiated safely till stumps. Raina faces a battle to get back into India’s Test squad after a poor tour of England. He did not feature in the Ranji Trophy at all last season because of international commitments but will be hoping to catch the selectors’ eye with some big innings.File photo: Wriddhiman Saha is looking to keep his place as reserve keeper in India’s Test squad•Associated PressMumbai’s lower order backed up Rohit Sharma with steady cameos, to carry the team to 483 against Railways at the Karnail Singh Stadium. Mumbai resumed on 338 for 5 and lost Onkar Gurav in the first over of the day, to a run-out affected by Shivakant Shukla. Railways would have wanted to finish things off early after that bright start but Mumbai’s tail wagged. Ankeet Chavan got 44, Ramesh Powar made 30 and Dhawal Kulkarni scored 26 not out. Meanwhile, Rohit Sharma got himself from his overnight score of 133 to 175 before being bowled by offspinner Shreyas Khanolkar, who finished the innings with figures of 5 for 78.Railways’ day got worse when they came out to bat and lost three wickets in the 23 overs they had to bat out at the end of the day. Aavishkar Salvi, the 30-year-old seamer, provided an early breakthrough, dismissing Khanolkar caught-behind. Mumbai captain Wasim Jaffer did not wait long before bringing on his spinners Iqbal Abdulla and Ramesh Powar, and the offspinner Powar picked up two wickets to leave Railways in trouble at 66 for 3.Group BDelhi, who missed out on the quarter-finals last year after winning just one match in the group stage, have made a positive start to this season, bowling neighbours Haryana out for 293 at the Roshanara Club Ground in Delhi, and then getting to 214 for 3. Delhi had to manage without their highest wicket-taker from last year, Sumit Narwal, and would have been encouraged that their young fast bowler Pradeep Sangwan took his first five-for since the 2009-10 season. Sangwan had picked up three wickets on the first day and did not waste time wiping out the tail, finishing with 5 for 67 as Haryana could only add 37 runs to their overnight score of 256 for 7.Delhi’s opening pair of Shikhar Dhawan and Unmukt Chand will be carefully watched this year. Dhawan has been on the fringes of the India one-day squad, while the 18-year-old Chand’s performances in the Under-19 Quadrangular series in Visakhapatnam have marked him as someone to watch for the future. They both fell within the first 15 overs however, and it was debutant Milind Kumar and the experienced Rajat Bhatia who gave Delhi control with unbeaten half-centuries. Milind, a 20-year-old batsman, had only played three List A matches and a couple of Twenty20s for Delhi before this season but remained unbeaten on 84 at the end of the second day, and will be looking for a century on Ranji debut on Saturday.

Wriddhiman Saha’s unbeaten 167 took Bengal to an imposing 560 for 6 declared against Gujarat at Eden Gardens. Bengal lost Manoj Tiwary, who was on 120 not out overnight, early to Amit Singh but Laxmi Ratan Shukla settled in to keep Saha company. Shukla and Saha were involved in a record-breaking 417-run stand last season. This time they did not quite manage something of that magnitude but the 130 runs they put together helped Bengal reach a formidable position.Shukla edged Rikin Chauhan behind on 78. Saha then strung together his third-century stand of the innings, putting on 142 – the best partnership of the three – with Saurasish Lahiri at almost five runs an over. Tiwary declared late in the day, allowing his bowlers a six-over crack at Gujarat.Parthiv Patel and Priyank Panchal batted till stumps. Parthiv is in direct competition with Saha for the spot of India’s reserve wicketkeeper and will want to match Saha’s performance. Gujarat will need a remarkable effort, though, to prevent Bengal from taking first-innings point at the least.Heavy rain prevented any play in the Tamil Nadu v Baroda match at the MA Chidambaram Stadium, for the second day running.

Benny Howell blasted an explosive half-century as the Hampshire Royals demolished the Northamptonshire Steelbacks by 174 runs in the Clydesdale Bank 40 Group B match at Wantage Road

26-Jul-2011
ScorecardBenny Howell blasted an explosive half-century as the Hampshire Royals demolished the Northamptonshire Steelbacks by 174 runs in the Clydesdale Bank 40 Group B match at Wantage Road.Howell smashed an unbeaten 84 runs off just 54 balls, including six fours and three sixes as the Royals piled on 307 for six from their 40 overs. Liam Dawson weighed in with 70, while David Lucas took five for 48 – his first five-wicket haul in one-day cricket.The Steelbacks were woeful in response as they collapsed to 133 all out with Ben Howgego absent hurt as Chris Wood took three for 34 and only captain Andrew Hall’s 44 not out provided any resistance. The Royals won the toss and chose to bat and they started confidently before losing James Vince for 38 off 23 balls when he chipped Lucas straight to David Willey at extra cover.Lucas then accounted for Hampshire captain Jimmy Adams for 23 when he was caught by Willey at deep extra cover before he trapped Michael Carberry leg before wicket for a single. Former Zimbabwe international Sean Ervine bludgeoned 38 off 34 deliveries before launching James Middlebrook to Willey at long-off.Dawson reached 50 off 48 balls by smashing James Middlebrook for six over midwicket before he perished by top-edging Lucas to Evans at short third man.Dimitri Mascarenhas smashed 26 off just 16 balls before giving Lucas his five-for by launching him to substitute Rob Keogh at long-on. Howell then completed his half-century off 44 balls as the hosts conceded their highest total in a 40-over match.Chasing a mammoth 308, the Steelbacks lost Mal Loye in just the third ball of their reply when he was pinned lbw by David Griffiths before Rob White (six) swept Mascarenhas to Dawson at deep square leg.The hosts’ wicketkeeper Niall O’Brien walked on 22 as he mistimed his scoop shot off Wood and was easily caught by Ervine at backward point. Rob Newton (22) was next to fall when he chipped Wood to Vince at midwicket, before the same bowler bowled Middlebrook for a six-ball duck.Chaminda Vaas (one) continued the Steelbacks’ miserable procession when he was caught by Ervine at slip off Mascarenhas. Ervine was brought on in the 17th over and he forced both Willey (one) and Lucas (four) to edge to Royals wicketkeeper Michael Bates.With Howgego not fit enough to bat, the final nail in the coffin was hammered down when Luke Evans (18) launched Imran Tahir to Wood at long-on, sealing the hosts’ second-heaviest defeat in one-day cricket.

Last year’s losing Intercontinental Cup finalists Scotland will be hoping to go one better this time, as they begin their 2011-13 campaign

ESPNcricinfo staff20-Jun-2011Last year’s Intercontinental Cup runners-up Scotland will be hoping to go one better this time, as they begin their campaign in the opening game of the 2011-13 season of the tournament against Netherlands on Tuesday in Aberdeen.”We’re looking forward to it,” Peter Steindl, Scotland’s head coach said. “It’s our first international since the final last year and we’re looking to hit the ground running. We’ve been involved in the English county 40-over competition and so it will be a switch but we’re looking forward to the challenge.”It’s going to be a tough game with the Netherlands putting up a strong squad and few new faces who haven’t previously played for the side in this format. They’ve got some depth and experience there which will be a real challenge for us but we’re looking forward to it.”Scotland will be boosted by the return of Durham batsman Kyle Coetzer, who has five ODI caps to his name, and brings some experience to the middle order.Meanwhile, Netherlands have an almost full-strength squad available for selection, though allrounder Ryan ten Doeschate misses out, due to county commitments. Captain Peter Borren said he expected the conditions to suit his team. “[Neil] Kruger and [Michael] Swart are experienced cricketers who will add to our batting line-up having been performing well for us in the English 40-over competition that we participate in,” he said.”We’ve also got a young bowler in Ashan Malik who is an exciting prospect and hopefully when bowling long spells with the Kookaburra ball will get some good swing and perform well.”I’m not concerned about our batting at all. It’s a strong line-up and although we have a young bowling attack, I think the conditions will suit us,” Borren said. “I think we’ve a team that is good – a bit more of an experienced team than our previous outings in this event, particularly with the batting line up, so hopefully we can get the points.”Netherlands last played international cricket in the 2011 World Cup, in which they failed to win a single game. They finished sixth in last season’s Intercontinental Cup, losing five of their six games, with one draw.Scotland squad: Gordon Drummond (capt), Fraser Watts, Preston Mommsen, Alasdair Evans, Kyle Coetzer, Ryan Flannigan, Neil McCallum, Simon Smith (w/k), Gordon Goudie, Calum MacLeod, Majid Haq, Richie BerringtonNetherlands squad: Peter Borren (c), Wesley Barresi (wk), Mudassar Bukhari , Tom Cooper, Tom Whol, Tom Heggelman, Neil Kruger, Matthijs Luten, Ahsan Malik, Peter Seelaar , Eric Szwarczynski , Michael Swart, Berend Westdijk

Australia’s new pace bowling coach Craig McDermott believes empathy can be his most valuable addition to the dressing room, after a career he admits had plenty of “bad days at the office”

Daniel Brettig17-May-2011Australia’s new pace bowling coach Craig McDermott believes empathy can be his most valuable addition to the dressing room, after a career he admits had plenty of “bad days at the office”.Handed a Test debut at 19 in 1984 and then shuffled in and out of the Australian team until he re-emerged at his fittest and most incisive to make a place his own in 1990, McDermott knows very well the range of emotions and anxieties that can grip a young player. He was appointed to replace Troy Cooley as the man to guide the current crop of fast bowlers while preparing the way for the next, and is in a pivotal role for a pace battery that was made to look very ordinary indeed during the Ashes.”Everybody has a bad day at the office and I certainly had my fair share of bad days at the office when I was playing cricket,” McDermott told ESPNcricinfo. “I was dropped a number of times, re-selected a number of times and then stayed in the team for a seven-year period straight towards the end, so I’ve been through all the roller-coaster stuff and you’ve got to have a plan A, plan B and plan C.”We’ve got a number of young players in and around the team now and some young quicks who may get a guernsey over the next one or two years. So I think it’s good to have somebody there who can actually talk them through the nerves and the butterflies in the dressing room where you walk in there for the first time and you’re standing next to Ricky Ponting at 150 Tests. (For them) it’s the opposite end of the scale there by a big margin.”There’s a lot of feelings and emotions to help those younger guys through, and even guys who’ve played 10 or 15 Tests, it’s not a lot of games and they’re still settling in; there are some things off the field that you can give them advice on.”Allan Donald was the most high-profile applicant for the job, but McDermott’s coaching apprenticeship at Cricket Australia’s Centre of Excellence gave him worthwhile knowledge of Josh Hazlewood, Mitchell Starc, and James Pattinson among others, all expected to push for Test spots in the near future. He has also spent time with Mitchell Johnson, Peter Siddle, Ryan Harris and Ben Hilfenhaus during the Ashes, and has “some ideas of my own” about their faltering progress during that series.”I’ve had a little bit to do with most of the guys during the Test series against England before the first Test and on a couple of other occasions on very short camps and then in Bangladesh,” said McDermott. “I’ve found it quite easy to fit back into the dressing room scene because I’ve been there before myself. It certainly has changed a little bit from when I was playing and it’s all for the positive and I really enjoyed Bangladesh with the new squad and under a new captain.”I think it’s going to be a difficult period for Australia, we’ve got tough series, Sri Lanka, South Africa and then India out here, which all adds up to a tough summer. We’ve got our work cut out, but I’m sure if we do the work and execute correctly I’ve no doubt we can come up trumps.”Truism though it might be, hard work is a key to McDermott’s coaching philosophy, because it was by that route that he pushed himself back into the Australian team and stayed there as the spearhead of the attack before Glenn McGrath emerged from Narromine. He was perhaps the first Australian cricketer to commit himself fully to the fitness regime of a professional athlete, and reaped handsome results whenever he wasn’t struck down by freak injuries: a twisted bowel ended his 1993 Ashes tour, while a badly sprained ankle culled him from Mark Taylor’s 1995 Caribbean triumph. McDermott isn’t sure Australia’s bowlers are as fit as they need to be, in order to avoid the fatigue that can blur the mind and cause the ball to be sprayed around.”That becomes part and parcel of planning, the top of end of the game is actually more in the head than in the body,” he said. “You’ve got to be physically fit no doubt, extremely fit to be a fast bowler for a long period of time, but certainly the mental side of the game, it is very important to be able to think batsmen out and spot their weaknesses, and to be able to execute your skills, being able to pursue those weaknesses in batsmen.”It’s okay putting one ball or two balls in the right spot, but you’ve got to do it 25 times in a row to build up pressure. Execution only comes with hard work and practice and being fit enough to be able to execute for long enough, you don’t want to have fatigue come into it.”I think we’ve got a number of players who can do that, we’ve just got to make sure we do the work and making sure we’re physically fit enough to execute for long enough to create problems for batsmen. Glenn McGrath was strong, fit and bowled a lot of balls in the right spot, there’s no secret to that. It’s been no secret that’s the way to get batsmen out since WG Grace.”

Worcestershire registered their second Friends Life t20 victory of the week as they squeezed past local rivals Warwickshire by one wicket in near darkness at Edgbaston

17-Jun-2011
Scorecard
Worcestershire registered their second Friends Life t20 victory of the week as they squeezed past local rivals Warwickshire by one wicket in near darkness at Edgbaston.The Bears’ highest Twenty20 total of the season – an imposing 184 for 6 – still proved inadequate as the ever-dangerous Gareth Andrew led the Royals home with five balls to spare. The big-hitting all-rounder smashed an unbeaten 65 with four fours and four sixes from 32 deliveries as Worcestershire’s lower order successfully chased 51 from the last five overs.With steady drizzle falling at the start of the innings, Vikram Solanki kept them up with the Duckworth-Lewis rate with a rapid 33 but when Chris Woakes knocked out his leg stump, wickets fell at frequent intervals, three of them to Steffan Piolet.However, the medium pacer’s last over then cost 21 runs and Warwickshire fell apart under a withering assault from Andrew in his second Twenty20 half-century of the season. With four wanted from the last over, he finished the match by pulling Neil Carter for six.For the first time in seven matches Warwickshire batted first. William Porterfield got them under way with a brisk half-century and Tim Ambrose gave the innings a final flourish with an unbeaten 44 from 23 balls.Umpires Mark Benson and Peter Hartley kept the game going despite steady rain and it was Worcestershire’s bowlers who suffered first as they struggled with a wet ball.The pressure got to them at the death when Ambrose and Woakes (17 not out) stretched an unbroken partnership to 65 after plundering 36 from the last two overs by Jack Shantry and Andrew.Warwickshire lost two early wickets to full tosses and Porterfield’s destructive performance could have ended prematurely as a steepling shot off Chris Whelan only just cleared Shakib Al Hasan in front of the fence at midwicket.The Ireland captain was finally caught at deep point for 54 as Worcestershire adopted their regular formula by getting their spinners into play at an early stage but Shakib and Moeen Ali became a shade more expensive than usual.Their three wickets cost 57 in seven overs against a strong bating line-up. Rikki Clarke chipped in with a useful 22 and Ambrose scooted away at the end, scoring 33 runs from the last 12 balls he faced and reaching his highest Twenty20 score in four years.

Ajmal Shahzad is hopeful the England selectors will stick with him for the World Cup after he waited patiently for his chance on the tour of Australia

Andrew McGlashan17-Jan-2011Ajmal Shahzad is hopeful the England selectors will stick with him for the World Cup after he waited patiently for his chance on the tour of Australia. Shahzad didn’t feature during the Ashes after being added to the squad, but played both Twenty20 internationals and the first ODI at the MCG.Shahzad wasn’t originally part of the Test party although flew out with them at the end of October to help with the preparations and impressed the management enough to stay on the trip. Against Australia A at Hobart he took 3 for 57 to help England to a 10-wicket victory and he even had an outside chance of playing in Adelaide, but Steven Finn’s form meant he wasn’t able to add to his one Test cap against Bangladesh.Now Shahzad is waiting to find out whether he’ll make the cut for the World Cup, having made an encouraging start to his one-day career with nine wickets at 22.44 from five matches. He produced a solid display in the first ODI, which Australia won by six wickets, taking 1 for 51 while England’s other frontline quicks, Chris Tremlett and Tim Bresnan, were very expensive as Shane Watson hit a brilliant 161.”Personally I thought I did OK,” Shahzad said. “I wish I could have changed it a little bit more our way and got a few wickets in the middle period. I was happy with my all-round performance. I don’t know what they are going to do in regards to the World Cup squad. I’d love to be in there and keep learning and keep progressing. Hopefully I can give the coaches and selectors other options. I guess we’ll see in the next couple of days.”With James Anderson and Stuart Broad due to return to the set-up after being rested and injured respectively, they will form the first-choice pace attack alongside Tim Bresnan which will be followed by the spin of Graeme Swann and Michael Yardy. It means Shahzad will fill a back-up role, but having been on tour for nearly three months he’s used to biding his time although he admitted endless nets can become hard work.”Personally, I’ve learned a lot from it,” he said. “I’ve been sat out of the Ashes and not played, but I have observed and learned a lot from it which was the key thing for me. Hopefully I can learn and give some impetus into the ODIs now.”There’s only so much you can do in the nets,” he added. “It’s been frustrating and difficult just to bowl at batsmen in the nets. After the Hobart game [against Australia A] I felt I was a little bit rusty and there was a few things I wanted to work on. I feel as though I’m getting into a better rhythm now in regards to everything.”Andy Flower, the England team director, also likes cricketers who can contribute in all three formats and Shahzad believes he can fit that mould. “I give a lot of energy in the field. I’ve been working hard on my fielding and my all-round game. I haven’t been paying the Test matches.”With regards to the ball I can control the reverse swing in the sub-continent, that will be a key factor for us. Just keeping it tight and bowling at the death. I think I’ve shown what I can do opening the bowling and coming on at the end. Then also coming in late on and hitting a few balls out of the ground. My batting, my bowling and my fielding. I feel like I belong on the pitch now. Hopefully I can get a decent run and show what I have got to offer.”

David Warner’s maiden first-class century has kept alive New South Wales’ slim hopes of hosting the Sheffield Shield final

ESPNcricinfo staff11-Mar-2011
ScorecardDavid Warner enjoys reaching triple-figures in the four-day format•Getty ImagesDavid Warner’s maiden first-class century has kept alive New South Wales’ slim hopes of hosting the Sheffield Shield final. The Blues need full points from their match against Western Australia to have any chance of hosting the decider and at stumps on the second day, they were 5 for 248 in reply to the Warriors’ 382.Warner fell late in the day for 114, the first breakthrough for the debutant fast bowler Matt Dixon. At the close, Steve O’Keefe was yet to score and Ben Rohrer had 1, and the Blues needed another 135 runs to take first-innings points.Phillip Hughes made 54 and was the first to depart, one of three wickets for Nathan Coulter-Nile, who also picked up Phil Jaques (13) and Simon Katich for 1. Nic Maddinson chipped in with 44 before he was run-out by Mitchell Marsh, who earlier in the day had become Western Australia’s fourth-youngest centurion.Marsh, 19, beat his brother Shaun by 54 in reaching his maiden first-class ton and he finished with 111, a strong contribution in his 248-run stand with Marcus North. The Western Australia captain North made 158, while the teenager Pat Cummins had the best figures for the Blues, with 3 for 111.

It’s a historic night in east London as West Ham host the first leg of their Europa League semi-final clash with Frankfurt later this evening.

David Moyes’ have enjoyed a stunning campaign across Europe, already defeating both 2020 champions Sevilla and Ligue 1 outfit Lyon in the knockout stages.

The Scotsman heavily rotated his starting XI at the weekend, even despite the tricky test of Chelsea, so we can expect plenty of changes ahead of kick-off tonight.

Here’s the lineup we could expect to see from the Irons…

There may be as many as five changes from the side that were narrowly defeated by the Blues 1-0 on Sunday afternoon.

Between the sticks, designated cup keeper Alphonse Areola is set to resume his shot-stopping duties over veteran Lukasz Fabianski, though the back three is likely to be unchanged.

Craig Dawson is the Hammers’ only fit senior centre-back and he was sent off late on at Stamford Bridge but he remains available for this encounter, so he’ll continue to partner left-back Aaron Cresswell and young versatile gem Ben Johnson in the backline.

Vladimir Coufal and Arthur Masuaku are likely to continue on either flank as wing-backs, too.

In midfield, you can expect to see a return for the well-rested Declan Rice, who will undoubtedly take the armband as he replaces club captain Mark Noble in the slot next to Thomas Soucek, and they will be joined by Argentinian playmaker Manuel Lanzini, who takes over from Pablo Fornals in the no.10 role.

Both of the Irons’ big attacking threats, Jarrod Bowen and Michail Antonio, were also on the bench against Chelsea and they too are likely to come straight back into the starting XI.

That’s at the expense of Andriy Yarmolenko, 32 – who was once dubbed the dud “embarrassing” for a dive against non-league Kidderminster Harriers by BBC Sport pundit Dion Dublin, and Algerian winger Said Benrahma.

Predicted West Ham XI (3-4-1-2): Areola; Cresswell, Dawson, Johnson; Masuaku, Rice, Soucek, Coufal; Lanzini; Antonio, Bowen.

AND in other news, Moyes must unleash “unplayable” £31.5m-rated West Ham machine, he’ll terrify Frankfurt…