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Match facts

March 4, 2014
Start time 1400 local (0800 GMT)Shakib Al Hasan will return after a three-match ban•AFP

Big picture

Pakistan’s one-wicket win against India has put them in a strong position. A victory against Bangladesh on Wednesday will seal their place in the Asia Cup final, and their opponents are under tremendous pressure because of a string of losses and other controversies.Bangladesh will bank on Shakib Al Hasan, who will return from a three-ODI suspension. He will strengthen a middle order that is suffering because of Nasir Hossain’s poor form, but the pressure on Bangladesh’s top three will remain. Anamul Haque failed against Afghanistan and he could have a new opening partner in Imrul Kayes, if the team management decides Shamsur Rahman’s strike-rate is too low.While Nasir’s form is a concern, Bangladesh have not covered for him. They chose batting allrounder Mahmudullah as replacement for the injured offspinner Sohag Gazi, despite him being dropped from the original Asia Cup squad after making only six runs in the three bilateral ODIs against Sri Lanka. Since Mahmudullah has replaced a specialist offspinner, he will be expected to fulfill the role and provide batting cover.Pace bowling is also a concern in Mashrafe Mortaza’s absence. Rubel Hossain has had to lead the attack but his new-ball partner has kept changing. Shafiul Islam and Al-Amin Hossain are the options against Pakistan, as Bangladesh search for the right combination.Pakistan, on the other hand, have far fewer worries. They will want their openers Sharjeel Khan and Ahmed Shehzad to score runs, instead of leaving the responsibility to the middle order, which has been in form. The Pakistan management confirmed Mohammad Talha was fit to play, and with Umar Gul and Junaid Khan, the pace attack will Test Bangladesh.The last game between these sides was the 2012 Asia Cup final, which Bangladesh lost by two runs. The hosts will have to raise their game significantly to run Pakistan that close again.

Form guide

(Completed matches, most recent first)Bangladesh LLLLL
Pakistan WWLLW

Watch out for

Mominul Haque made 50 against Afghanistan but got out just when the team required his presence at the crease during a crucial period. He has been in form at No. 3 but struggles to convert starts into defining innings in ODIs.Ahmed Shehzad has threatened to score big but hasn’t done so in the first two games. This is his third opportunity in this tournament, and his experience in Bangladesh domestic cricket could help him succeed.

Team news

Because of questions about the commitment of four players in the Bangldesh team that played Afghanistan, all the squad members stand a chance to play. Shakib will definitely replace Naeem Islam while Shamsur’s place is also under scrutiny.Bangladesh (possible): 1 Anamul Haque (wk), 2 Shamsur Rahman/Imrul Kayes, 3 Mominul Haque, 4 Mushfiqur Rahim (capt), 5 Shakib Al Hasan, 6 Nasir Hossain, 7 Ziaur Rahman, 8 Mahmudullah, 9 Arafat Sunny, 10 Abdur Razzak/Al-Amin Hossain, 11 Rubel Hossain.Mohammad Talha pulled up with a leg injury against India and might be given a rest, though the management says he is fit to play. Sharjeel Khan injured his foot while fielding but he batted against India.Pakistan (possible): 1 Sharjeel Khan, 2 Ahmed Shehzad, 3 Mohammad Hafeez, 4 Misbah-ul-Haq (capt), 5 Sohaib Maqsood, 6 Umar Akmal, 7 Shahid Afridi, 8 Umar Gul, 9 Mohammad Talha/Bilawal Bhatti, 10 Saeed Ajmal, 11 Junaid Khan.

Pitch and conditions

No matter which pitch is used, the conditions will not change much. Pakistan’s quicks were able to extract bounce against India, but Bangladesh will hope for a slower wicket.

Stats and trivia

• Among the current players, Shahid Afridi has most runs and wickets – 468 runs and 32 wickets in Bangladesh-Pakistan ODIs.
• Among the Bangladesh players, only Shakib Al Hasan and Nasir Hossain have scored ODI hundreds against Pakistan

Quotes

“I think one of their main players, Shakib, comes back. He was missing in the first two games. They are a good side in their own conditions. We are not relaxed, do our basics right and try to win that game.”
“We have to give extra effort against any team, whether it is Pakistan or any other team. Tomorrow is a big opportunity to improve on our performance.”

ScorecardChris Woakes ensured Warwickshire ended the first day of Peter Moores’ last match at Lancashire in control•Getty Images

“The coach is leaving!” These words, voiced in either expectation or panic, will be spoken in many pubs and clubs during the Easter weekend. This morning, though, they carried a very different meaning for Lancashire supporters, one far removed from excursions to Morecambe or the Bank Holiday trip to watch Bury at York.However, while the news that Peter Moores had been reappointed as England coach may have disappointed the warmly-clad diehards as they made their way to Old Trafford for the first match of the season, it can scarcely have come as too much of a surprise; the 51-year-old had been strongly tipped to regain one of the top jobs. For their part, Lancashire officials were at pains to stress that they will not be rushed as they ponder their options in the wake of Moores’s departure at the end of this game against Warwickshire.”It’s all pretty new,” said director of cricket Mike Watkinson. “We’re only 24 hours into this, so we need to take time and look at our best way forward. The feeling among the lads is outstanding and we need to ensure that we don’t upset their equilibrium as we move through the season.”We got this confirmed only 24 hours ago, so it’s not a case of we’re definitely going to do this or that. Glen Chapple’s doing an excellent job as captain and we need to make sure that he’s fully supported in every way and the players are fully resourced to help them achieve their aims and objectives. That won’t change because Peter’s moving on.”We had Peter contracted until the end of 2015, so if you’re following a natural succession plan we didn’t expect that to change on Easter Saturday 2014 when we had a game starting on the Sunday. It’s just a bit early at the moment and Peter will be part of the conversation we’re having during this game to make sure that there is continuity in the structures he’s put in place. We have a good staff and plenty of experience here as it stands and it’s not as if we have to panic.”Well perhaps not, but Moores and Watkinson cannot have been too happy with the profligate manner in which Lancashire batsmen surrendered a good position on the first day of his game. Having won the toss on what looks a good wicket, the home side were decently placed on 168 for 3 in the 56th over when Luke Procter, who had played with fluency and confidence, flicked Oliver Hannon-Dalby to Ateeq Javid at square leg and departed for 37.That dismissal, which occurred just after an out of shape ball had been changed, began a collapse either side of tea which saw seven wickets fall for 79 runs in 19.1 overs. Lancashire were eventually bowled out over an hour before the close for 247, three runs short of a second batting bonus point and perhaps 75 shy of a par score on this wicket.By the close, visiting openers Varun Chopra and William Porterfield had added 63 runs in fairly untroubled fashion and firmly given the lie to any suspicion that this pitch conceals hidden demons. This was indisputably Warwickshire’s day.But the dominance of Ian Bell’s side cannot be explained merely by reference to Lancashire’s shortcomings. In cold, blustery conditions which were hardly ideal for either bowlers or fielders, Chris Woakes stuck to his task to finish with 5 for 63 from 16 overs, and Keith Barker offered fine support in taking 3 for 52.True, the shot selection of some of the Lancashire batsmen helped the seamers: Andrea Agathangelou, for example, made 48 off 62 balls before perishing when playing an expansive drive on the stroke of lunch. But others were got out in admirable fashion: Ashwell Prince was caught behind for a second ball duck when Woakes compelled a shot at the beginning of the afternoon session. The best innings was played by Paul Horton, whose 253-minute 83 was a monument to his patience and craftsmanship; but far too few Lancashire batsmen were truly got out by for the comfort of home supporters.All of which may prompt Lancashire supporters to urge their officials to appoint a new coach as soon as reasonably possible after Moores relinquishes his duties at the end of this game. There is, of course, no shortage of qualified candidates on the current staff at Old Trafford.Academy director John Stanworth and second team coach Gary Yates are just two of them, and already many Red Rose supporters are pressing the claims of the current skipper Chapple. Watkinson acknowledged Chapple’s expertise as a Level 4 coach, but having quickly ruled himself out of contention – “I’m only wearing a tracksuit because it’s cold,” he quipped – the he counselled caution and careful thought before any decision is made.”Glen is a very experienced captain and he’s developing his coaching role, too,” he said. “It’s his dressing room but he is also our go-to cricketer and he would find it tough to spend hours in the nets as well. His leadership role will not be diluted and it may well be strengthened, certainly in the short term. He’ll play a major part in selecting the team as he has now, and he has a hunger to play but he also has a great passion for the next chapter of his life.”We appointed someone Paul Downton described yesterday as the best coach of his generation and he’s done a great job for us in the last five years. We need to make sure we don’t lose momentum. What that looks like in the months and years ahead we’ve yet to determine. We need to make sure that everything remains on an even keel during the run of matches we have coming up.”If we wanted to do a thorough, robust recruitment process now, it would take months. Getting through to the end of the season and maintaining our aims and objectives as they are now is our priority. I spoke to the players this morning and I told them that we will do everything we can to make sure they have the resources they need. There will be a coach with the team at Northampton next week.”

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
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Agarkar: ‘Chennai were always in control’

It seemed at the halfway point that Chennai Super Kings would face a challenging chase. Two big overs at the death had propelled Sunrisers Hyderabad to 145 on a slow Sharjah pitch, which had seemed difficult to play big shots on. Sunrisers had gone into the match with five specialist bowlers, each different from the other, all of them capable of exploiting the conditions.But as early as the first over of Super Kings’ innings, delivered by Dale Steyn, something seemed to have changed. Dwayne Smith only took six runs off it, but he middled every ball, despite Steyn delivering most of them with a scrambled seam.After a close shave in the next over, off Bhuvneshwar Kumar, when the ball narrowly missed the top of middle stump after hitting his inside edge, Smith continued timing the ball beautifully, raced away to a 46-ball 66, and put on 85 for the first wicket with Brendon McCullum, who was hitting it just as crisply. Dew had come into play, and the ball was coming nicely on to the bat.When Super Kings lost Suresh Raina, they had eight wickets in hand and 36 balls in which to get 32 runs against a Sunrisers attack that was reaching for the towel stuck in the umpire’s waistband with increasing frequency. The chase seemed well in control.Just then, when everything was stacked against them, Sunrisers came back into the game. Suresh Raina mistimed a big hit off Ishant Sharma, turning a poor over into a reasonable one. Bhuvneshwar Kumar took two wickets in one over, including a lucky break when Smith hit a full-toss straight to long-off. Steyn bowled a superb last over, giving away just four, and Bhuvneshwar followed it up by giving away just five in the next one.Ishant Sharma, who had gone for 33 in his first three overs, got his leg-cutter to work all of a sudden, bowling Ravindra Jadeja off his pads and beating Mithun Manhas twice in two balls. Four runs off that over left Super Kings needing six off the last over.Sunrisers hadn’t used anyone apart from their five specialist bowlers, and they stuck with that plan, handing Amit Mishra the task of bowling the last over. Only two runs came off the first two balls, but the dew, the pressure of defending four off four balls, and the fact that MS Dhoni was on strike came together for a high full-toss to slip out of Mishra’s fingers. Dhoni swatted it away to the midwicket boundary, and a result that had seemed a formality five overs earlier had now belatedly come to pass.Having chosen to bat, Sunrisers never recovered after losing two wickets inside the first three overs. Shikhar Dhawan pulled Ben Hilfenhaus straight to the midwicket fielder, and David Warner fell victim to a poor umpiring decision two balls later.The ball, from Ben Hilfenhaus, was short, pitched well outside leg stump, and hit Warner high on the pad with the batsman on the hop. Umpire Vineet Kulkarni gave it out, and Super Kings had sent back two-thirds of Sunrisers’ heavy artillery. The third member of that trio, Aaron Finch, was now forced into circumspection.Super Kings’ bowlers, for their part, did everything in their power to make life difficult for the batsmen. Their three seamers, Mohit Sharma in particular, made clever use of the slower ball, and the best strategy against R Ashwin’s around-the-wicket line, at times, seemed to be to let the ball go and hope for wides. No one, barring Ravindra Jadeja on a couple of occasions, gave the batsmen any width.Finch and KL Rahul put on 52 at just over a run a ball, and Venugopal Rao made 13 off 15 before he was out off the last ball of the 15th over. Sunrisers were 98 for 4, and their hopes of getting to a competitive total rested on Finch and Darren Sammy. Finch fell in the 18th over, foxed by one of Mohit’s back-of-the-hand offerings, but Sammy and Karn Sharma tonked 36 off the last 16 balls to propel the score to 145. It shouldn’t have been, considering how much of an effect the dew was to have, and it wasn’t in the end, but they almost made it look like a big enough total.

The eve of England’s first Test in six months did not see Alastair Cook entirely rip up his usual script and name his XI early – although it will be a big surprise if Liam Plunkett is not preferred ahead of Chris Woakes – but he did reveal two noteworthy pieces of information.Gary Ballance will fill the No. 3 spot – the void created by Jonathan Trott’s withdrawal from international cricket – as he did in the one-day series, and while there is no official vice-captain, Ian Bell will assume the responsibility of captaincy should Cook have to leave the field. Bell, recently named England’s Player of the Year, has also got what he wanted with a chance to bat at No. 4 in place of Kevin Pietersen.There are strong arguments to say that it should have been Bell filling the No. 3 role given his senior position in the team, but there could have been a desire to split up some of the inexperience in the order rather than having Ballance, Joe Root (an option for No. 3) and Moeen Ali following each other. And, of course, some of the most prolific Test careers have also been forged at No. 4.When Trott left the Ashes last November, Root was initially promoted to No. 3 before Bell filled in for the final Test in Sydney. The fact England will have had three batsmen in that position in five matches just goes to emphasise the stability that Trott brought to the team. Neither is it Ballance’s role for Yorkshire in the County Championship, where he normally finds himself at No. 5. There is a sense of a square peg for a round hole.Bell’s unofficial position as Cook’s lieutenant also means Matt Prior’s recall has not come with the role that was his when he was dropped in Australia. He has previously admitted that he struggled to combine the multiple tasks of vice-captaincy, batting and keeping, and there must remain a degree of uncertainty about how long-term his comeback can be with a troublesome Achilles.But Cook left no one in any doubt about the high esteem Prior is still held under. “We’ve got a guy in Matt Prior who averages over 40 in his Test career, he’s an outstanding batsman who had a tough six months. I’m backing his ability at the moment and the quality we know he’s got.”He’s played almost 80 games, that’s a wealth of experience in a side which is changing. Matt is a senior guy who knows his game. Of course we’ve been in constant communication with his fitness to make sure he’s 100% right and he is. He should be very proud of his record, it’s outstanding, and he has a lot more to offer and we should support that.”Although the words “new” and “fresh” have been thrown around like confetti in the build-up to this series, Cook sees a bigger role than ever for the senior players who remain in the team.”I was talking to Ian Bell about it the other day and he said he didn’t really feel comfortable until he’d played 40 games,” Cook said. “I think that can lead to a bit of inconsistency at the start and a lot of the senior guys have had their ups and downs until they’ve got to where they are now.”There has been almost as much reaction to those players not in the squad than those who have made it. Jos Buttler would have probably won the popular vote and the explanation that Ben Stokes is just a bit short on bowling has not been universally accepted.”He’s gone for four-and-a-half, almost five runs an over so when you’re playing an all-seam attack you’ve got to be very confident about all the bowlers,” Cook said of Stokes. “We’ve got no doubt how good he will be for England but unfortunately with that injury he received he hasn’t played much cricket and it’s a big ask to come back quickly from something like that at this stage of his development as a player.”Punching a locker has delayed Stokes a first home Test appearance, but for three others – Sam Robson, Moeen and Chris Jordan – their careers will begin at Lord’s on Thursday. Cook also made his debut in a match of three new caps, alongside Monty Panesar and Ian Blackwell in Nagpur, and has been energised by the influx of new faces.”It feels like a fresh start, it feels good,” he said. “It’s a really exciting time for the players. When you look around the changing room and see guys who are about to make their debut at Lord’s – you don’t get that opportunity too often.”And, although there is precious little teams do not know about each other these days, he hopes to catch Sri Lanka unawares. “Sometimes when you go into the unknown the opposition don’t know anything about you.”

ScorecardJack Brooks took three wickets to help dismiss Warwickshire cheaply•Getty Images

If Yorkshire’s ability to cope with the demands of the England selectors is key to their title prospects, then here was evidence that their squad has the necessary depth. With Joe Root, Gary Ballance and Liam Plunkett on international duty, Tim Bresnan nursing a sore elbow and Adil Rashid waiting to nurse a new arrival on extended paternity leave, their numbers were heavily depleted. Yet against another side with designs on the Championship, they ended the opening day in a strong position.Having dismissed Warwickshire, whom they have beaten by an innings twice in a row, for relatively little damage, they recovered from the loss of Adam Lyth and Jack Leaning in a lively opening spell from Chris Woakes to close at two down after Alex Lees and Andrew Gale added 45 without further alarm.The understudies who stepped into the spotlight to the most telling effect were Rich Pyrah, the willing allrounder, and Karl Carver, an 18-year-old left-arm spinner who answered the call to be Rashid’s stand-in with a nerveless performance that brought him a maiden first-class wicket.Pyrah is the epitome of the squad player, a solid middle-order batsman with three first-class centuries to his name and more than 50 first-class wickets, but with the temperament to wait patiently for opportunities. Last season he had scarcely a look-in and took two wickets at 122 runs each. This week alone he has five; his 3 for 37 on day one here are the third-best figures of his career.They were important wickets, too, particularly the first two, which swung the balance of the opening session back in Yorkshire’s favour after Warwickshire appeared to be weathering the early loss of William Porterfield, who had been in his best form for the county.Bowling from the Pavilion End, Pyrah took two wickets in the space of three balls, drawing Varun Chopra forward and finding a thin edge that Jonny Bairstow snapped up, and in the next over bowling Jim Troughton through the gate as the left-hander shaped to drive. Troughton, the Warwickshire captain, was making his first appearance in a Championship match at Edgbaston in more than a year after his long struggle with a back injury.It meant Warwickshire reached lunch three down having chosen to bat first and they capitulated in the afternoon, losing seven wickets between lunch and tea in a session prolonged to 40 overs because of the nine-wickets-down rule, with Jeetan Patel’s boisterous hitting at least enabling them to claim a batting point after being 180 for 9. His unbeaten 63 came off 67 balls with three fours and three sixes.Carver claimed his maiden wicket when Keith Barker, who was going well on 36, aimed a wild swing in the direction of midwicket and was caught at first slip, one of four catches for Aaron Finch, who might well have taken six had he not been off the field being treated for a groin injury when Rikki Clarke and Tim Ambrose were out, at which moments Lees was standing in for him.Two of the Finch catches assisted Jack Brooks in removing Sam Hain and Chris Woakes with consecutive balls. He took his 40th wicket of the Championship season later when he bowled Chris Wright middle stump. Only Worcestershire’s Saeed Ajmal has more wickets.Yorkshire will not comfortably build a lead on a pitch that has given the seamers a chance and will probably turn to Patel’s advantage under the drying sun. Woakes found something in it, taking the edge twice in the space of four deliveries as Lyth and then Leaning gave catches to the slips.After his two T20 appearances last week, some Warwickshire supporters thought they might see Jonathan Trott’s name on the scorecard. The possibility was discussed after his 39 off 38 balls in front of a large crowd against Worcestershire on Friday but clearly a return to Championship cricket at this stage was not considered appropriate as he continues his recovery from the anxiety issues that surfaced in Australia during the winter.Dougie Brown, the Warwickshire director of cricket, said last week that it was “highly unlikely” that if Trott declared himself ready to play he would not be picked, so the assumption is that the 33-year-old batsman had the final word on this occasion. Trott’s only Championship match so far this season was against Sussex at Edgbaston in April, after which he admitted he was still struggling.

Ravindra Jadeja has said batting with aggression was his best chance to score runs in the Lord’s Test. Jadeja came to the crease with India in a tricky position but smashed his way to a 57-ball 68 – his first Test half-century – that tilted the scales firmly in India’s favour.Jadeja had scored 25 and 31 runs in the first Test in Nottingham using two different methods: while he dashed away in the first innings, hitting two sixes in his 24-ball stay, he appeared uncomfortable during the 98-ball 31 in the second innings. He scored only 3 in the first innings at Lord’s.”I started thinking how I was going to play today and decided that the best way for me is to play my game,” Jadeja told . “If I play any differently I won’t get runs. So I decided that irrespective of the situation I will back myself and go for my shots. That’s the only way I can score runs. When I went in to bat, the team also needed runs.”India had been reduced to 235 for 7, with a lead of 211 soon after the new ball was taken, but Jadeja’s counterattack surprised the England bowlers. Sixty-five runs were scored in the first eight overs after lunch with the new ball. Bhuvneshwar Kumar, who had two fifties in the first Test, continued his good form and stuck around with Jadeja as the two added 99 runs for the eight wicket.”The good thing about our partnership was that both of us were scoring runs fluently and so we didn’t let them build pressure from one end,” he said. “Bhuvi is in very good form and all his four innings so far have been very important for the team and personally for him. We hope that he continues to score runs throughout the series.”The elaborate celebration – the twirl of the bat – after Jadeja reached his fifty signified the importance of the innings. Jadeja explained later: “It has got to do with a tradition that we have among the Rajpoots. During festivals and special occasions, we have professional sword-fighters perform with a sword in each hand, moving them in that fashion. It’s called . I only had one bat with me so I did it with one hand. I wanted to have a different celebration and so I had decided whenever I get a fifty, I will do that. MS must have seen it and realized what I was doing. So, he was mimicking me.”The pitch, having roughened up, also afforded sharp turn and variable bounce, forcing MS Dhoni to use Jadeja for 16 out of the 46 overs India bowled on the fourth day. With a few scooting along the floor, Dhoni chose to stand further away from the stumps while keeping to Jadeja. “It was because of the foot marks, it was very difficult for the left-hander, as the odd ball was taking off, a few kept low and some turned square,” he said.”We thought it would be a good idea for the keeper to stand back because in case there was a nick, it would be an easy catch for him standing back. And that’s exactly what happened in the second last over but then MS was standing up to the stumps.”

ScorecardGareth Roderick’s fluent, unbeaten 88 put Gloucestershire in the ascendency•PA Photos

Promotion favourites Worcestershire endured one of their worst days of the summer in the Championship when dismissed for 194 by Gloucestershire on a seaming surface at New Road. Having come into the match with a game in hand and 43 points ahead of second-placed Surrey, they are already looking at a sizeable deficit after the visitors’ smooth progress to 181 for 2.Gloucestershire briefly wobbled at the start, slipping to 43 for 2 when Will Tavare was caught in the slips off Charlie Morris’ second delivery, but Gareth Roderick seized the initiative, adding a fluent and substantial half-century to five catches behind the wicket.The South African cruised to 88 not out with 15 fours off 107 balls and so far he has put on 138 with Alex Gidman, unbeaten on 57, in cutting the gap to a mere 13 after a day when most things went right for their side.Gloucestershire became the first county to dismiss the Division Two leaders for under 200 in a first innings this season, despite the absence of Will Gidman through injury in advance of confirmation that he will be with Nottinghamshire in 2015.One look at a grassy first-day pitch made it a straightforward decision for Alex Gidman to field first, after taking over the captaincy when Michael Klinger rested a neck injury prior to a make-or-break fixture in the Royal London Cup. With a quarter-final spot secured this week, Gloucestershire are looking to book a home tie by winning their final Group A game against Derbyshire at Derby next Thursday.Another objective is to improve their form in the Championship. Injuries have been a major factor and apart from the absence of the younger Gidman, the attack here is probably as strong it has been following the last-minute registration of New Zealand offspinner Mark Craig.With the ball consistently moving about off the seam, Craig Miles led the assault on Worcestershire with 4 for 54 and the other wickets were equally shared by Liam Norwell and Benny Howell.The batsmen could quickly see trouble ahead, when Daryl Mitchell, the leading batsman in Championship cricket, registered his first duck in a season of 1,222 runs. He was stranded in front when a delivery from Miles kept low and ducked into his pads. Miles also removed Tom Fell with the first of Roderick’s dismissals, but there was hope for Worcestershire as Richard Oliver collected a dozen fours from only 46 balls in maintaining his record of a half-century in each of his four Championship appearances.Howell finally stemmed the flow when Oliver, on 52, was added to Roderick’s haul and Worcestershire quickly slipped to 112 for 5, with Alexei Kervezee lbw to Norwell for 31. The only other higher-order contribution came from Ben Cox with 25 before he, too, was caught behind the wicket.The ninth wicket went down at 149, but infuriatingly for Gloucestershire the last pair put on 46, the biggest stand in the innings. A missed chance in the slips allowed Shaaiq Choudhry to reach 27 not out and the No. 11 Morris made his highest Championship score before falling for 24, another victim for the Roderick-Norwell combination.Matt Mason, Worcestershire’s assistant coach, said: “It was probably our most disappointing day of the season so far. We were put in and it was tough to bat early on. Richard Oliver acquitted himself well but everyone else struggled. With the ball, we were disappointing as well, if for once I can criticise the bowlers.”

ScorecardFile photo – With a tally of 15 wickets, Saqlain Sajib achieved the best match figures by a Bangladeshi bowler•Bangladesh Cricket Board

Saqlain Sajib took 6 for 50 in Zimbabwe A’s second innings to put Bangladesh A in a winning position on the third day of the first unofficial Test in Cox’s Bazar. Sajib, who took 9 for 82 in the first innings, achieved the best innings and match figures by a Bangladeshi bowler, with a match tally of 15 wickets.The home side require another 61 runs to win on the final day, after going to stumps on the third day at 43 for 1, chasing 104.The day started with Bangladesh A collapsing from their overnight score of 162 for 3 to 211 all out, their last seven wickets falling for 49 runs. Left-arm spinner Wellington Masakadza took his first-class best of 6 for 63, while legspinner Tinotenda Mutombodzi finished with 4 for 38.During Zimbabwe A’s second innings a four-for from legspinner Jubair Hossain, on his first-class debut, also stood out. Brian Chari made 23 out of Zimbabwe A’s total score of 108, as the side lost their last six wickets for 43 runs.

While most of the attention in the Champions League T20 has been on the IPL franchises, Northern Knights have emerged as the team to beat after dominant performances in the qualifiers and a comprehensive victory in their first group game. The results may have surprised a few people but Ish Sodhi, the Knights legspinner, insisted they were the outcome of the team’s intense preparations in the run-up to the tournament.”We haven’t surprised ourselves at all. We have been preparing hard for this tournament for a long time,” Sodhi told ESPNcricinfo. “Most of our players had been busy playing some tournament or the other before we came here. And then we had an intense weeklong preparatory camp in Bangalore, which helped us get the best combination going. All sorts of combinations that we have tried have worked for us.”After thumping their opponents, including defending champions Mumbai Indians, in the qualifiers, Knights carried the form into the group stage and beat Cape Cobras in their first match. The core players – Kane Williamson, Scott Styris, Trent Boult and Tim Southee – have made crucial contributions, while others like Anton Devcich have supported their efforts well. Williamson has been the standout performer for the team, with 220 runs in four games, including a century [the fastest in CLT20] and two fifties and Sodhi said Williamson’s 49-ball 101 against Cobras was a “wonderful knock, especially with all the clinical strokes he played all over the ground”.If Northern Districts sign off their prolonged stay in Raipur with a fifth consecutive victory, against Hobart Hurricanes, they will boost their chances of making it to the knock-outs. Since 2011, when the qualifying stage was introduced to the Champions League T20, no team starting in the qualifiers has won the tournament. Sodhi said Knights were not too worried about that trend.”It’s too early to think about it. All that we are thinking is to keep delivering the way we have been and the results will follow,” he said. “We have a protocol of not thinking too much about the future.”In the last year, Sodhi has played eight Tests and two T20Is for New Zealand but has not yet cemented his place in the team and his bowling average of 47 in first-class cricket and 46 in Tests has come under scrutiny. The India-born spinner, however, said he was not bothered too much by criticism against him.”I think criticism is always going to be there. It’s not been that difficult to deal with and I don’t start to lose my sleep over it,” Sodhi said. “Hopefully I can continue and keep doing the things that I am and improve my stats. What matters more is what my team-mates think in the nets, more than anything else. That [criticism] doesn’t really bother me.”Sodhi admitted he is still a long way from becoming a “finished product” as a bowler and cricketer and hoped he could accomplish that goal over the next few years.”Being a part of three Test series victories, winning the Twenty20 competition with my domestic team and now being here for the Champions League has surely helped me start understanding my game a little bit better each day,” he said. “I am looking forward to keep improving and I hope I can be a finished product as a bowler and as a cricketer. It will not come for another few years.”

Michael Clarke has conceded that his men appear not to have learnt from their crushing 4-0 defeat in India last year after losing 2-0 to Pakistan in the UAE. Following Pakistan’s victory in the first Test in Dubai, Clarke played down the result and comparisons to the Indian tour of 2013, but after the 356-run thrashing in Abu Dhabi, he raised the Indian series unprompted, and said Australia still had much to learn about playing on slow pitches.The result means Australia have now won only one of their past 15 Tests in Asia – against Sri Lanka in Galle in 2011 – and have lost 10 in the same period, which started with their 2008 tour of India. Last year in India the Australians managed only one century for the series, scored by Clarke on the opening day of the first Test, and similarly in the UAE David Warner’s first-day ton in Dubai was Australia’s only one of the series.Steven Smith fell just short of joining him on the final day when he was lbw shortly after lunch for 97, one of 12 wickets claimed in the series by legspinner Yasir Shah. The left-arm spinner Zulfiqar Babar picked up 14 wickets and between them they collected more than all of Australia’s bowlers combined. Throw in 11 dropped catches and Australia were outperformed in every way.”We have got to obviously talk about what’s just happened,” Clarke said after the loss. “We were hopeful that we learnt some lessons from our trip to India but it doesn’t look that way. Your goal has to be to try and become better. I say that regularly, but our performances here weren’t any better than they were in India.”There might have been some individual positives come out of the series. Mitchell Marsh was certainly a stand-out for me, I know he didn’t take a wicket but he was unlucky on a number of occasions and I thought for him to come in and bat the way he batted was a really pleasing sign for us. Davey Warner is still in good form which is a positive, Steve Smith played really well today.”There’s been some individual positives but as a group we need to assess where we didn’t go particularly well and that’s over all three facets of the game. We need to try and look to improve the next time we play in the subcontinent. There’s no doubt the players will be happy to go home and play in conditions we are accustomed to.”The win catapulted Pakistan from sixth up to third on the ICC’s Test rankings, while Australia remained in second position. However, the gap between Clarke’s men and the No.1 South Africa has widened. It is no coincidence that South Africa are a strong team on the road as well as at home; they have not been beaten in an away series since visiting Sri Lanka in 2006, and it is nearly a decade since anyone but Australia have beaten them at home.”The best teams win away from home consistently,” Clarke said. “It shows we have a lot of work to do. It shows, like a lot of countries around the world, we have success at home consistently. Let’s hope that continues through the summer, that’s going to be a tough series against India … It’s a fair indication of where we sit as a team. We’re a lot more comfortable playing in our own backyard and we need to continue to work hard to have success away from home.”‘My batting is unacceptable as captain and leader of this team’•Getty Images

A big part of Australia’s failure in the UAE was down to the inability of their bowlers to make regular breakthroughs, which led to this being easily Australia’s worst collective bowling series in Test history. Pakistan handled Australia’s spinners with ease; Nathan Lyon finished the tour with three Test wickets at 140.66, Steve O’Keefe claimed four at 54.75 from his only game, Smith collected three at 48.33 and Glenn Maxwell went wicketless.”I’m not going to sit here and blame one department,” Clarke said. “There’s no doubt the batting has been extremely poor this series and that’s led by myself. My batting is unacceptable as captain and leader of this team. That hasn’t helped our bowlers one bit. I think we dropped 11 catches this series, that hasn’t helped the bowlers one bit. I’m not going to sit here and blame any area, I think bat, ball and in the field we’ve been outplayed by a really good Pakistan team.”The chasm between the sides in these conditions meant Clarke has become the first Australian captain to lose a Test series to Pakistan since 1994, when Mark Taylor began his reign as Allan Border’s successor by scoring a pair and leading the side to defeat in the first Test in Karachi, and lost the series 1-0.Clarke has had a similarly wretched tour personally and finished the series with only 57 runs from his four innings, continuing a disappointing 2014 that so far is his worst calendar year since 2005. He has managed only 294 runs at 29.40 in his six Tests so far this year; in 2005 he played 12 Tests for 476 runs at 28.00.”I am probably most angry with myself, most disappointed with my personal performance,” he said. “I have always prided myself on leading by example and in the series that we have lost since I have been captain I have been able at least to stand up and lead from the front, where in this series I haven’t done that. I don’t have any excuse or reason for it. I feel like I have been working as hard as I can on my game.”I don’t have any excuse for underperforming and I will be judged like any other player that’s underperformed. That’s what burns me at the most at this time – there’s no doubt I am disappointed we lost the series 2-0 but when you are captain you take things personally and when you don’t perform that makes it even harder.”