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Essex have admitted “further work needs to be done” on their approach to diversity after photographs of their celebrations at Lord’s appeared to show a Muslim player being showered with alcohol.Essex lifted the Bob Willis Trophy on Sunday, triggering scenes of jubilation on the balcony of their dressing room at Lord’s. Amid the photographs of those moments, Feroze Khushi, a 21-year-old batsman who played several games in the earlier stages of the tournament, is seen grimacing as beer is poured over his head by another young player on the staff. ESPNcricinfo has chosen not to name that player.While Essex released a statement insisting the club “pride themselves on their work within multi-diverse communities”, they admitted the celebrations “did not meet the inclusive values of the organisation”.”As an organisation, Essex County Cricket Club prides themselves on their work within multi-diverse communities throughout the county and the surrounding areas,” the statement said.”For a substantial period of time, Essex have had a multi-diverse team with players from different backgrounds, religions, and races, where cricket is at the heart of these communities.”The club has worked extremely hard and will continue to bring cricket to anybody and everybody, and educate on diversity, but further work needs to be done across both sport and society in general, to widen people’s knowledge and make them more aware of cultural differences.”Essex County Cricket Club are in regular dialogue with the ECB and the PCA around the education and development in this area.”But the statement left some members of the Muslim cricket community underwhelmed. “I’m not really satisfied with that,” Sajid Patel of the National Cricket League, told ESPNcricinfo. “We’ve been discussing such issues for a long time. I would have thought the answers to these issues had filtered down by now.”I don’t think there’s any benefit in blaming one, young player. Looking at those photographs, it seems the issue is more about ignorance than malice. No doubt the young man will learn from the experience.”But I do blame the whole system. I do blame the team manager and the senior players who didn’t foresee this problem. I do think the PCA should be doing more to educate young players in this regard.”In recent years, England’s Test and ODI teams – which have regularly featured two Muslim players in Moeen Ali and Adil Rashid – have desisted from spraying champagne during their trophy presentations to allow the pair to take a fuller part in the celebrations.”We’ve seen the England team manage their celebrations in such a way that the Muslim players are included,” Patel added. “We should be better than this by now.”

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa beat Southern Punjab by 73 runs
Southern Punjab are on the blink of elimination after a crushing 73-run defeat at the hands of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, who have sealed their spot in the last four. After a 34-ball 68 from Fakhar Zaman and a productive last six overs that saw Mohammad Rizwan’s side plunder 81 runs, Khyber set Southern a target of 206, the sixth time in seven matches that Shan Masood’s side conceded more than 200. Shoaib Malik and Iftikhar Ahmed chipped in with useful 30s, while a spectacular unbeaten nine-ball 33 from Musadiq Ahmed ensured Khyber finished with a flourish.Southern simply had no response to that. Masood was removed in the first over by Shaheen Afridi, who continued his brilliant form in the tournament, allowing only 14 runs to be scored off his four overs. Malik bowled a wicket maiden that removed the dangerman Khushdil Shah before twin run-outs happened in the same over, as Southern pressed the panic button. The chase might have been over as a contest when Southern slumped to 78 for 7, but there was enough time for Ali Imran to reduce the margin of defeat, with an entertaining 28-ball 48. That, though, wasn’t enough to prevent Southern from crashing to the heaviest defeat of the tournament.Central Punjab beat Balochistan by 9 wickets
In the second game, Central Punjab injected some much needed momentum to their flagging campaign with a nine-wicket win thanks to a Babar Azam masterclass. They have entirely looked like a different side since the return of their captain from the UK; he eased to his third successive half-century, an unbeaten 40-ball 64 making short work of the 126-run target. An 86-run opening stand with Kamran Akmal had effectively put the game beyond Balochistan’s reach, and when Abdullah Shafique chipped in with 27 not out from just 15 deliveries, Central sealed the win with more than six overs to spare.But if the classic Azam was responsible for the chase, it was the virtually unknown Ahmed Bashir who ensured his side wouldn’t have to hunt down a big target. Promoted from the second XI, he removed four Balochistan batsmen while conceding at less than a run-a-ball. The fast bowler accounted for opener Awais Zia, and – just as he had began settling in – the opposition captain Haris Sohail, whose 41 was the highest score of the Balochistan innings.And if Bashir was the pick of the bunch, the others did not leak runs either. Zafar Gohar aside, no one conceded at more than 7.50 runs per over, and it meant the strong Central batting line-up would have little trouble hunting down one of the lowest chases of the National T20 Cup this season.

No Meg Lanning, no Ellyse Perry, no problem for Australia. There could not have been a more emphatic way for Australia to equal the world record for consecutive ODI wins than the performance they produced against New Zealand in Brisbane, both in the context of the individual match itself and also as a reminder of the depth they have built over the last three years.Lanning’s century sealed the series on Monday but she tweaked her hamstring part-way through the chasing masterclass, meaning she was unable to be part of the XI that equaled the 21-match run of Ricky Ponting’s team in 2003. However, Rachael Haynes slipped seamlessly into the captaincy, as she has done in the past, and then helped set the tone with 96 and an opening stand of 144 alongside Alyssa Healy.As with a lot of sportspeople and teams, the Australians have insisted on not building up the winning streak beyond trying to win the next game but Haynes said the significance of what they had achieved – and run they have no intention of stopping, although when their next ODI will be is uncertain – is something they will savour.”It will probably be one of those things we will reflect back on and are really proud of the achievement,” Haynes said. “It’s been across the course of a few years and I think 20-odd players have been a part of it and contributed to the success. It’s a really special achievement.”I definitely followed the men’s side growing up, they had a pretty extraordinary period of success so to hear our group compared to that is really special. When you are playing, it’s really hard to get your head around how significant it is, but definitely from our point of view it won’t be lost on us.”Winning this series without Perry and this match without Lanning has reinforced that Australia have built a talent pool not seen before in the women’s game and it has set a new bar for oppositions to reach. Annabel Sutherland was promoted to No. 3 and, after a sluggish start, gave further glimpses of the talent that has her compared to Perry while allrounder Tahlia McGrath, playing her first match since 2017, came in and swiped 29 off 11 balls.”It was really pleasing today that we were able to put out a performance like that even without arguably two of the best players in the world not walking out,” Haynes, one of four players to appear in all 21 victories, said. “It’s really nice to know our depth is there and those players are more than capable of performing on any given day.”The selectors, Matthew [Mott] and Meg have done really well bringing new players into that environment who are now becoming important for the squad. It’s a really positive sign for the team and what’s ahead even though we aren’t sure when you next game will be. I think that’s the standout for me, we haven’t relied on one or two players, there’s been new players brought in and people have stood up at different times.”For New Zealand coach Bob Carter, who had the job on an interim capacity when Australia won the 2019 ODI series 3-0, it was another reminder of the gap that needs bridging but he was hopeful his players would emerge better for the experience.”Australia do have depth, it’s a great strength of their team,” he said. “There’s no surprises when you start talking about them not being beaten for three years and they brought in a couple of new players today. It’s something for us to look at and say are we building our own depth and how are we going to keep competing with Australia as we head towards the World Cup.”It’s about what we can take from it [the series]. We are very aware of the strength of Australia and what we have to do more consistently. Our players will be stronger for this, sometimes you learn a lot more from failure than you do from winning so hopefully we’ll be able to rebuild.”At the moment, the game is watching whether anyone can catch Australia.

They won the toss, batted, and lost, when batting first was in vogue. Then they lost the toss, and got blown away. They won the toss again, chased, and lost, when chasing was in vogue.Between that third match and the final, they discovered that they play their best cricket when batting first. So, in the final of IPL 2020, the Delhi Capitals won the toss and did just that. And were blown away again. The Mumbai Indians were way too good for the second-best team of the tournament on four different occasions. With their fourth win over the Capitals, they sealed their fifth IPL title, their most comfortable to date, a crown jewel for the most dominant T20 empire across the cricketing world.Mumbai had made a big play for that title even before the start of the final. Offspinner Jayant Yadav was drafted in for only his second match of the tournament, to counter the Capitals’ left-hand hitters. Before Jayant got into the act, Trent Boult took out the Capitals’ superhero Marcus Stoinis. Despite a first fifty of this IPL from Rishabh Pant, the Capitals finished with an underwhelming 156. Quinton de Kock and Rohit Sharma then killed off the chase in the powerplay, with the captain going on to see the chase through.Trent Boult struck first ball•BCCI

Former Capitals boys strike
It was a perfect start for Mumbai. They wanted Boult to carry on taking early wickets, and he struck with the first ball, getting Stoinis with extra bounce and inwards movement. In Boult’s second, Ajinkya Rahane tickled one down the leg side, probably having moved too far across trying to cover the swing. That made it 16 powerplay wickets for Boult in this IPL, the joint-best for a season alongside Mitchell Johnson who got it in Mumbai’s maiden championship year – 2013.It was in the fourth over that Mumbai struck real gold. Against Jayant – like Boult, not long ago a Capitals player – Shikhar Dhawan had two options: the obvious one was to let the right-hand batsman Shreyas Iyer take Jayant on, or he could try to use the field restrictions himself. He took the less obvious route, trying the big sweep, exposing his stumps, and getting bowled. Capitals 22 for 3 in 3.3 overs.The Capitals’ old firm comes together
They are still young men, but Iyer and Pant had been the core of the Capitals’ revival last year. They are probably the two faces that come to mind when you think Capitals. Perhaps not wanting to waste the big overs against an out-of-form Pant, Mumbai chose not to encash the Bumrah match-up so early. The duo picked singles and twos off three straight overs of spin, getting themselves in, before Pant opened up.Left-arm spin, for some reason, has had the most success against Pant in T20 cricket. His dismissal to Mitchell Santner in the 50-over World Cup semi-final last year also comes to mind. In the last match against Mumbai, he had fallen to a slog-sweep off Krunal Pandya. Here, though, he went straight for his first six as opposed to the slog-sweep. And after that he nailed the slog-sweep. Mumbai were worrying all of a sudden with Pant reaching 32 off 20, and with the Capitals 75 for 3 in 10.Rishabh Pant and Shreyas Iyer revived Delhi Capitals with a 96-run stand•BCCI

The next five overs went this way and that. Bumrah bowled one without a boundary, but Kieron Pollard – a sign Mumbai were panicking and wanted to get one over out of the way – was not allowed to settle. Nathan Coulter-Nile held his own, but Krunal conceded another boundary. Capitals 108 for 3 after 14.Coulter-Nile strikes, and Mumbai finish off wellUnder pressure as the third seamer, Coulter-Nile was picked over short fine twice, the first of those bringing Pant his only fifty of this IPL. It is not known if Pant noticed the fine leg go back because, later in the over, he appeared to just help along a bouncer. This didn’t look like an attempt to hit a six, and deep fine leg took an easy catch.Now Mumbai tightened the screws. Jayant bowled an excellent 16th over, turning two past the outside edge of Shimron Hetmyer. Boult came back to take out Hetmyer with a slower bouncer. Bumrah bowled the 19th without a boundary. Iyer seemed to run out of gas, not getting enough power into his shots. Having been 37 off 28 at one time, he scored just 28 off the next 22. He spent nine balls in the 40s, and took just five off six Jayant deliveries. The last six overs, when the Capitals would have wanted to do the business, brought 48 for 4.Rohit Sharma smashes one of his four sixes for the night•BCCI

The chase is a runaway trainIn the last match between these sides, R Ashwin had trapped Rohit with a big offbreak first ball. The match-up was on. With two dots first up, both dipping short of Rohit’s reach, he took a risk third ball. He skipped down, Ashwin bowled a slider, which was too close to him to get any great power in, but Rohit went ahead with a straight loft. He cleared long-on by a couple of feet. That was the closest Capitals would come to Mumbai.In dream form, de Kock has been hitting out selflessly and getting Mumbai off to quick starts. In particular, he has been fierce against his compatriot Kagiso Rabada. He just likes pace on the ball, and he laid into Rabada, hitting 4, 6 and 4 in Rabada’s first. Stoinis got de Kock out with the first ball he bowled, for 20 off 11, but immediately Suryakumar Yadav hit him out of the attack with a four and a six the first two balls he faced. Mumbai 58 for 1 in five.Rohit sees it throughWhile in the background, Rohit wasn’t exactly slow at 23 off 14. The next three overs from spinners taking the ball away from both right-hand batsmen brought about a period of lull. The asking rate went up from 6.6 to 7.5. Rohit was facing legspin now, his weakness. If the Capitals were going to come back, it had to be now. Rohit dashed their hopes with two emphatic sixes down the ground off Praveen Dubey. Soon he ran Suryakumar out, but that only made him more determined and he kept picking the boundaries to never let the asking rate rise. Ishan Kishan was an able ally, handing over the strike at first and then making it a double-barrel attack. By the time Rohit got out, they needed just 20 off 22, a job easily accomplished.

The prospects of the Ranji Trophy not happening for the first time have become real after the BCCI informed state associations that the domestic season will comprise, for the moment, just the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, the domestic T20 tournament. The SMA Trophy will start on January 10 with the final on January 31.In an email to the state associations on Sunday, BCCI secretary Jay Shah said that the teams would need to assemble at the respective bio-secure hubs across the country by January 2. The details of the groups and hubs, Shah said, would be finalised and circulated shortly.Last month, the BCCI sought feedback from the states on what tournaments they would want to feature in 2020-21 domestic season. Majority of the states preferred the SMA Trophy, but several also wanted the Ranji Trophy to be conducted after the domestic T20s. However, in the email announcing the dates, the BCCI did not make a mention of the Ranji Trophy.Related

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“[…] The BCCI will subsequently seek further feedback from members on organising on any other domestic tournament and a decision will be taken after the group stage of Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy,” Shah said. “The members requested to factor a subsequent tournament in their planning and make arrangements accordingly.”With just a two-month window left before the 2021 IPL begins in April, several state associations said that hosting the Ranji Trophy would become an impossible task during the Covid-19 pandemic, which has imposed several logistical and operational challenges in additional to personal safety. The BCCI is looking to create six bio-secure hubs for the domestic season as a result. Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) and Karnataka State Cricket Association (KSCA) are among those who have offered to host.

Is it possible to dominate a day and walk off demoralised, fearing the next one? That might be how Pakistan view proceedings after an absorbing opening day of hard-fought Test cricket that should have left them well on top, but had a nasty sting lying in wait in the fading light in Karachi. Having bowled South Africa out in just over two sessions for 220, playing tricks on the visitors’ mind with the ball and in the field, Pakistan should have found themselves sitting pretty. Instead, having lost their openers and Babar Azam cheaply in the final hour, they are perched precariously at 33 for four.You could see why Pakistan wanted to prepare a surface that afforded as little assistance to the quicks as possible given the way Kagiso Rabada and Anrich Nortje tormented them after tea. While variable bounce was an uncomfortable weapon for Pakistan’s spinners, it was downright lethal when Rabada used it, removing Abid Ali with one that kept low and debutant Imran Butt with another that reared up and took his glove. And just when it seemed there was nothing South Africa could do to salvage an incriminatingly ordinary batting performance, Keshav Maharaj popped up to trap Babar in front, while Nortje sent the nightwatchman Shaheen Afridi on his way in the next over.Having won the toss, South Africa had opted to bat, and it looked like they had bought Pakistan’s line about this being a series dominated by spin hook, line and sinker as they prepared to field three of their own. That Tabraiz Shamsi pulled up because of back spasms just before the toss might end up being a blessing in disguise for the impression the quicks would make towards the end of the day, and both sides went into the game with three seamers and two spinners.Elgar and Aiden Markram welcomed Hasan Ali back to Test cricket with five fours in his first two overs to send South Africa off to a breezy start. That approach, though refreshingly entertaining, was punctuated by a couple of wickets, with Afridi getting one to seam away from Markram, Butt diving to his left at second slip to pouch the edge.The wicket didn’t stymie South Africa, with Elgar and Rassie van der Dussen keeping the scoreboard ticking. Well into the second hour, the batsmen had the edge before a moment of self-destruction handed Pakistan a wicket that might as well have been gift-wrapped. Van der Dussen set off for a single Elgar hadn’t agreed to, and with the non-striker only turning him down after he was halfway down the pitch, Rizwan effected the run-out.Yasir Shah picked up three wickets•Associated Press

The game was blown wide open in a frantic middle session as Pakistan ran through a South African middle order whose plans to combat spin remained half-baked. It required a combination of Pakistani brilliance and South African self-destruction, with the visitors appearing to believe low-percentage attack against spin was an acceptable substitute for neutralising it. When Faf du Plessis was put down off the first ball after lunch, it seemed like an omen, and thus it proved when a magnificent Yasir Shah legbreak kissed his outside edge through to Mohammad Rizwan. South Africa tried to hit their way through the looming threat without looking convincing. Quinton de Kock fell hoicking Nauman Ali to wide midwicket – the shot needed no further criticism than the look of despair on the South Africa captain’s face.Elgar had put together a nifty little innings, never looking as susceptible against spin as the batsmen at the other end. When a couple of authoritative boundaries off Afridi took him to a half-century, he would have had thoughts of converting it into three figures, but poor shot selection struck once more. He tried to drive Nauman away from his body, playing for the turn that never happened, and offered first slip a straightforward catch.George Linde and Temba Bavuma provided some resistance, but the self-destruct button was never far away. Minutes before tea, Bavuma found himself calling for a suicidal extra run, and when Hasan’s throw from fine leg reached Rizwan, a valiant dive didn’t prove enough. Pakistan’s stranglehold would only deepen after tea, with the hosts skittling out South Africa inside the first hour of the final session. That South Africa managed to get to 220 was thanks only to a happy-go-lucky 25-run partnership between Lungi Ngidi and Rabada for the tenth wicket. Yasir ended with three while Afridi bookended the innings by claiming No. 11 Ngidi just as he had dismissed opener Markram.Pakistan were walking off in full command. An hour later, they would walk off once more, having ceded all control to a South Africa side that had undone six hours of damage inside 18 spellbinding overs.

India took giant strides towards levelling the series in Chennai after running through England and then building steadily on a 195-run lead. Fifteen wickets fell in the day, R Ashwin claiming five of them in an innings for the 29th time in Tests, as England’s hopes of hanging in the contest on a turning pitch were obliterated in two sessions of skittish batting.England were in trouble from the outset of their reply, losing Rory Burns in the opening over and Joe Root, the batting talisman during three consecutive wins in Sri Lanka and India, before he had managed double – let alone triple – figures. They sneaked past the follow-on mark thanks to a nuggety, unbeaten 42 from Ben Foakes, but India were doubtless content to bat again on a commanding lead, and leave England to worry about facing their demons on days three and four.Related

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Chepauk might be dry as a tinderbox but England needed more than a spark to turn the third innings into the sort of conflagration that might get them back into the game. Jack Leach chipped out Shubman Gill cheaply but once again Rohit Sharma marshalled the India batting effort, although England felt aggrieved when he was given not out on review after appearing to offer no shot against Moeen Ali – the impact was outside off but the ball would have hit middle stump.Rohit also survived a tough stumping chance off Moeen – a rare mistake by Foakes after he had gone through the first innings without conceding a single extra – and successfully utilised the DRS himself when Leach won an lbw decision, with technology confirming an edge on his reverse-sweep.India had already forged themselves a strong position on the back of Rohit’s conditions-defying 161 on day one, and although they could only add 29 runs to their overnight 300 for 6, the bowlers were soon tucking into their work on a responsive surface.Ishant Sharma trapped Burns lbw third ball for the opener’s second consecutive duck and Ashwin struck twice either side the dismissal of Root to leave England in dire straits on 39 for 4 at lunch. Axar Patel, on debut, was the man to deny England’s captain and batting bellwether a first-innings hundred for the first time this year, detonating a sharply turning delivery as Root looked to deploy his favoured sweep shot, a top edge safely pouched by Ashwin at short fine leg.Ashwin, on his home ground, gave an exemplary display of how to harness helpful conditions, alternating his pace, lines of attack and method of delivery to keep England’s batsman pinned down. Dom Sibley was his first victim, caught at short leg off the back of the bat attempting to sweep, while Dan Lawrence struck a tortured pose through much of his 52-balls innings, which ended with the last delivery before lunch and a catch to short leg. Lawrence’s slump over his bat handle said much about the tourists’ chances.With Ben Stokes seemingly opting against the “take a few runs with me” approach in the hope of getting accustomed to the surface as the ball lost its hardness, England continued to creep along at around two an over – but the inevitable occurred when Ashwin struck again to remove Stokes for the ninth time in Tests. India had burned a review before lunch, when Ashwin hit Stokes on the back leg only for ball-tracking to show it going over, but he bypassed such considerations with a beautifully flighted delivery that defeated the batsman in the air and off the pitch to shudder off stump.Mohammed Siraj got a wicket with his first ball in Test cricket on Indian soil•BCCI

From 52 for 5, England briefly cobbled some resistance, as Ollie Pope and Foakes put together a 35-run stand – their highest of the match. But having grazed in the outfield for almost 40 overs of his first home Test, Mohammed Siraj produced a wicket-taking intervention with his first delivery, Rishabh Pant’s leaping, one-handed take down the leg side accounting for Pope.Moeen and Olly Stone fell in quick succession before tea, and it needed some doughty resistance from Foakes, playing his first Test in almost two years, to steer them past the follow-on target. Pant then produced another stunning catch – part of a blemish-free showing behind the stumps – to dislodge Leach and Stuart Broad dragged a sweep on to his stumps to complete Ashwin’s five-wicket haul.Pant had been the danger man, as far as England were concerned, at the start of the day, although they managed to sneak through largely unscathed after India resumed in pursuit of quick runs stretch their advantage. Two wickets fell in Moeen’s first over, the second of the morning, and while Pant helped himself to four more boundaries on the way to an unbeaten 58, England wrapped up the innings via two in three balls for Stone. But as the events of the day unfolded, it was clear that India were already in control of their own destiny.

Harmanpreet Kaur has stressed that senior allrounder Shikha Pandey, who was left out of the squads for the upcoming South Africa series, had been rested, and “not dropped”. The rationale behind the omission, she explained, was to give opportunities to other players with a view to settling on team combinations in both limited-overs formats ahead of the 2022 and 2023 seasons, when three major tournaments are on the women’s calendar.”I know it was a very tough call, but sometimes you need to give chance to other players. She’s not dropped; we are just giving rest to a few players and we just want to try other players,” Kaur, the India T20I captain, said at a press conference on Friday. “I know we are playing after a long time and we wanted to go with the same combination. But, at the same time, when you haven’t played too much cricket, sometimes you need to take some chances and try to give a chance to other players.”Separate 17-member squads have been picked for the five ODIs and three T20Is, and ESPNcricinfo understands that both Kaur and ODI captain Mithali Raj, along with head coach WV Raman, were part of the selection meeting. Six uncapped players were picked across the two squads but Pandey and Taniya Bhatia, the wicketkeeper, were the prominent names missing from the two lists, along with those of Veda Krishnamurthy, Ekta Bisht and Anuja Patil. With India not having played any international cricket since the T20 World Cup final in March last year and a 50-over ODI World Cup and the Commonwealth Games scheduled for 2022, followed by a T20 World Cup in 2023, Kaur said the new-look squads could aid the selectors figure the best combinations.Related

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“I hope after this tournament (series against South Africa), we’ll be able to set our combination because the next two-three years we have a lot of cricket coming up,” she said. “And that’s the reason they [the selectors] are just giving chances to a few other players.”When asked about the likely bearing India’s near-year-long inactive spell could have on their performance – Australia, England, New Zealand, Pakistan, South Africa and West Indies have all got opportunities to play during the pandemic – Kaur said India were hoping to capitalise on the game time against South Africa.”Yes, you’re right. It’s been a long break for us, but sometimes things are not under your control. We are getting some cricket now, so we’ll make sure to make good use of it,” Kaur, who is set to make her 100th ODI appearance in the series opener on March 7, said. “I will be very excited [going into the series opener], first of all because we are playing after a long time and then my 100th ODI. Both things will give a lot of energy to play and I hope I’ll do better.”

Sean Williams and Donald Tiripano saved Zimbabwe from an innings defeat and ensured Afghanistan will bat again in Abu Dhabi. They shared an unbroken stand of 124 for the eighth wicket, with Tiripano reaching his first Test half-century and Williams completing his second hundred in as many matches.The pair came together when Zimbabwe were 142 for 7 and needed another 116 runs to make Afghanistan bat again. Rashid Khan had just completed his fourth five-wicket haul in only his fifth Test, and was only one wicket away from ten in the match for the second time in his career.Tea was still over half an hour away too, and Afghanistan seemed on the brink of a big, series-levelling win. By stumps, however, they had bowled a further 42.4 overs without taking another wicket, leaving questions hanging over their decision to enforce the follow-on.Afghanistan have now spent 197.3 overs on the field in the space of two days, and Khan has bowled 79.3 of them. This, for a bowler who has made his name in the shortest format of the game, is a workload equivalent to nearly 20 T20 games back-to-back.Forty-three of those overs have come in the second innings, with Asghar Afghan turning to his star legspinner repeatedly with successes few and far between at the other end. As the bowlers tired and the ball lost its fizz off the surface, Williams and Tiripano prospered, using the slowness of the surface to their advantage by reading the turn off the pitch. Tiripano showed he had a range of shots too, playing a number of reverse-sweeps off Amir Hamza’s left-arm spin.For all that, Afghanistan remain favourites to win this Test match, with Zimbabwe effectively 8 for 7 with a whole day left to play.Rashid Khan took his fourth five-wicket haul in only his fifth Test•Abu Dhabi Cricket

The ball turned every now and then on day four and occasionally kept low too, but the surface remained good for batting throughout. Considering that, Zimbabwe will be disappointed with the bulk of their second-innings showing. They lost wickets in clusters with openers Kevin Kasuza and Prince Masvaure falling in the space of five balls in the morning session, Tarisai Musakanda and Wesley Madhevere falling in the space of six balls post lunch, and Sikandar Raza, Ryan Burl and Regis Chakabva falling in the space of 14 balls as tea approached.Kasuza and Masvaure started the day cautiously, scoring just 10 runs in the first 11 overs. Then, Masvaure decided to take on the offspiner Javed Ahmadi and found boundaries behind square on the on and off side as Ahmadi tossed it up. In Ahmadi’s next over, Masvuare was caught-and-bowled driving a full-toss carelessly in the air. Four balls later, Kasuza played inside the line trying to defend a Khan googly and edged to Rahmat Shah at first slip.The loss of the top two did not put Williams off his usual approach and he counterattacked as soon as he was given the opportunity to. When Ahmadi gave him a half-tracker, Williams dispatched it through wide long-on for four. When Ahmadi offered width, he drove square for four more, and when Hamza tossed it up, Williams slog-swept over midwicket for six.Williams’ short-ball technique almost let him down when, two overs after lunch, he gloved a hook off Sayed Shirzad, but Nasir Jamal at wide slip could not hold on to an overhead chance. Williams was on 35 at the time.At the other end, Khan continued to pose problems for Musakanda, who struggled to read the googly. He went forward to defend one that took the inside edge and evaded leg gully but was eventually trapped lbw by another.Sean Williams reached a fighting century in the last session•Abu Dhabi Cricket

That brought the 20-year old Wesley Madhevere to the crease, and his series only got worse. He fell for his third duck in three innings when he hung his bat out to a Shirzad delivery that straightened and was caught behind. Madhevere faced three balls on this occasion after first-ball ducks in his previous two Test innings.In the Williams mould, Sikandar Raza opened his account by hitting a Khan long-hop for six, went after another short delivery to offer a chance at catching height to Hamza at deep square leg, which was parried over the rope, and lofted Khan over his head for a third six, but his enthusiasm got the better of him. In the next over, he tried to hit Khan through midwicket but ended up edging to second slip. Three balls later, Burl was out for his second duck of the match, trapped lbw in front of leg stump, and in Khan’s next over, Chakabva missed a sweep to depart the same way.Zimbabwe could have folded from there but Tiripano and Williams built solidly while offering just one clear chance. Tiripano was on 33 when he stepped out to slog Hamza and missed, giving Afsar Zazai a stumping chance, though the ball kept low and sneaked under his gloves. Tiripano seemed to read Khan out of the hand for most part, though there were a couple of anxious moments against him, including two massive appeals – for a catch at short leg and another behind the stumps – in the same over, both rightly turned down. Two balls after the second appeal, Tiripano reached fifty by hitting Khan over his head for four.By then, Zimbabwe were closing in on erasing the deficit. Williams, who had moved swiftly through the nineties with a pair of boundaries off Ahmadi, killed two birds with one stone off Khan, slapping a short ball to the cover-point boundary to bring up his hundred as well as move Zimbabwe into the lead.Only six more overs remained in the day, and Khan showed Zimbabwe they still have a mountain to climb on day five if they are to get anything out of this game other than defeat. In the final over of the day, Tiripano had to summon up all his watchfulness and defensive nous to keep out two balls that skidded through at shin height from just short of a good length.Three more good balls in the space of an hour should still do it for Afghanistan, but Zimbabwe can still dream. Test cricket at its best.

Joe Root must have spent the past couple of months feeling like the little boy who tried to stave off disaster by sticking his finger in the dike. England in India one moment, Yorkshire at Headingley the next. All around him has been calamity.Yorkshire’s belief that they are Championship challengers lay in tatters at tea on the second day when they conceded a 137-run first-innings lead to Glamorgan, whose only Championship win at Headingley came in 1999. Glamorgan then faltered second time around, closing at 68 for 4 thanks to three new-ball wickets from the ever-productive Ben Coad, but a lead of 205 still leaves them with a 50-50 chance.The first Championship match between the Root brothers has been much closer than many imagined, and it would be no surprise if one or the other still has a major influence on it. Billy, 25 not out at the close, has the first opportunity to fashion the contest to his liking, but he survived by the smallest of margins when he missed a late cut against Joe in the final over of the day.Related

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Life was going splendidly for Joe Root when he struck 228 and 186 in successive Tests in Galle and followed up with 218 in Chennai. Here was a batsman in total command of his game, heading towards a Test average of 50-plus that would rightly confirm him as one of the finest players of his generation.Then came wretchedness in three spin-dominated Tests in Chennai and Ahmedabad and, even though England’s captain looked the likeliest to resist, he failed to reach fifty in seven attempts. Back at Headingley, dutifully turning out for Yorkshire in the first two Championship matches of the summer, he scratched around for 16 in 59 balls before Glamorgan added to his woes.Root commands great respect in Yorkshire for the way he takes his county appearances seriously. In his last stint in 2019, against Nottinghamshire and Hampshire, he made 297 runs and was only out twice, although his satisfaction was tempered when Stuart Broad struck him on the head. The man from the compared his bravery to the indomitable Brian Close only to read the paper the next day and find that the subs had subsequently confused Close with “the legendary football manager” Brian Clough.Against Glamorgan, on a sunny, yet bone-chilling day, he determinedly set about batting himself into a semblance of form, only for a low full toss from Callum Taylor finally to tempt him into a miscued hit down the ground that was claimed at long-off by Dan Douthwaite. To avoid further confusion, that is Callum Taylor the Glamorgan offspinner, not the recently released Southend United goalkeeper.The languid off-driven four against Michael Hogan that got Root off the mark augered well, but his only other boundary came when he edged Taylor wide of the slips in the over before the spinner dismissed him in what was only his third first-class wicket. He even had to withstand an exploratory two overs of offspin from his younger brother, which almost had him lbw on the sweep on 4, the subject perhaps of a light-hearted exchange moments later. Billy’s introduction was a worthwhile gambit by Glamorgan’s captain, Chris Cooke, and the dynamics were interesting enough to have let it run a couple of overs longer.The evergreen Michael Hogan unhinged Yorkshire’s top order, defeating Tom Kohler-Cadmore’s booming off-drive and then bowling Tom Loten for nought; Loten, playing only his fourth first-class innings, has a wide-legged, open, baseball stance that is not exactly easy on the eye. He was only in the side because Gary Ballance had been injured in the nets by none other than Merlin, the spin bowling machine, which presumably now bowls a dangerous quicker one.The most cultured innings was Harry Brook’s. His sculptured strokeplay and slightly stiff movements are reminiscent of Michael Vaughan, and if he can tighten his defence he will one day be knocking on England’s door. He was a long way back and across when he fell lbw to David Lloyd. Dom Bess, charged with developing into an allrounder at No. 7, edged through the slips on nought, but shepherded Yorkshire past the follow-on with an unbeaten 38.That Yorkshire still have a whiff of victory owes much to Coad. Over the past 10 years, he has the lowest average of any English bowler to have taken 30 wickets in first-class cricket. Perfect outswingers sent back Nick Selman and Kiran Carlson and Brook pulled off a fast catch to his right at third slip to account for Andy Balbirnie. England may never look at him because he bowls in the low-80s mph, but he is a hugely effective county bowler.All to play for then when the third day resumes. Sunny. 5C.