All posts by h716a5.icu

New Zealand are in for a tough time in India in the Test series, according to Mark Richardson and Simon Doull

ESPNcricinfo staff20-Aug-2012New Zealand are in for a tough time in India in the Test series due to questions over their ability to take 20 wickets in a Test, the lack of world-class players, and some poor form coming in to the tour, according to former opener Mark Richardson and former fast bowler Simon Doull.Richardson and Doull, in conversation with Harsha Bhogle on ESPNcricinfo’s audio show , said the changes in structure, the appointment of a new coach and inconsistency from some of the team’s senior players added to New Zealand’s problems.”I think New Zealand are going to struggle,” Richardson said. “There’s no form behind them, they’re going to a very difficult place to succeed. The motivation will be there but I believe they are down on confidence.”I just can’t see this New Zealand team bowling out India. So draws, and one or two times that [Brendon] McCullum and [Ross] Taylor might come off may give them a chance in the shorter games.”New Zealand were beaten 0-2 in the Tests against West Indies before this tour, and they will be without Daniel Vettori, their lead spinner, due to injury. They have five seamers in the squad and two spinners, Tarun Nethula and Jeetan Patel. Doull, though, said a four-pronged pace attack – Chris Martin, Tim Southee, Trent Boult and Doug Bracewell – was the way to go for the visitors.”If they [spinners] are part of your four best bowlers, play them,” Doull said. “The flip side is, the Indians play ordinary spin a lot better. Our four best bowlers are our four quicks. There’s no point playing average spinners against very good quality Indian batsmen.”New Zealand’s lean run in recent times owed in part to their senior players, like Vettori and McCullum, not meeting expectations, Richardson said. Vettori picked up just four wickets in his previous four Tests, while McCullum got starts in five of his last eight innings, but went past 50 only twice.”McCullum is massively talented but massively overrated as well,” Richardson said. “He just doesn’t perform enough. When he does, it’s staggeringly good and sticks in people’s minds, but in the end it averages out to around about 30. Vettori once was a magnificent left-arm spinner. He is still very good but has lost the ability to take wickets. The key players have failed to be the catalyst for performance and the youngsters simply aren’t at the level to make up for that.”McCullum, Vettori and Taylor are among the New Zealand players with IPL contracts and there could be uncertainty over their availability for part of the tour of England next year as it clashes with the league. Doull said they were able to play in the IPL because they performed for their national team on the world stage. “I wonder if too many players around the world forget that that is where they were predominantly first seen [international cricket], and that’s where their loyalties should lie.”New Zealand are currently ranked No. 8 in both Tests and ODIs. When asked if they could only become a bigger force in the shorter formats, Doull said: “The stats are just not stacking up, to say we’ll be a better one-day side. There will be the odd good performance like there was in the World Cup, but remember South Africa [in the quarter-final] was the only side we had to beat in a one-off situation. To play [and win] three or four games in a row, we don’t seem to be able to do that.”Listen to the show here

Defending champions Rajasthan have virtually sealed the Ranji Trophy title, after bowling out a Tamil Nadu batting line-up that crumbled under the pressure of big runs

The Report by Nagraj Gollapudi in Chennai22-Jan-2012
ScorecardDinesh Karthik scored 150 but it will most likely be in a losing cause•K SivaramanDefending champions Rajasthan have virtually sealed the Ranji Trophy title, and are set to become only the fifth team to win the crown in successive years. They bowled Tamil Nadu out on the third day at Chepauk, securing a massive first-innings lead, which will be enough to see them pronounced winners. Taking advantage of the Tamil Nadu batsmen’s fragile mindsets, over-eagerness to play attacking strokes and false shot selections, Rajasthan bundled out Tamil Nadu in 102.4 overs, less than half the overs the visitors had consumed during their first innings. Sitting on a 326-run lead, Rajasthan did not enforce the follow-on and finished the day 347 runs ahead.The Tamil Nadu batsmen have only themselves to blame for the failure. After their top-order batsmen, M Vijay, Abhinav Mukund and S Badrinath, had perished playing across the line on Saturday, you would expect the rest of the batsmen to learn from those mistakes. They did not.With a midwicket and short midwicket in place, K Vasudevadas decided to play, of all shots, an uppish flick to the leg side off Rituraj Singh. Vasudevadas had walked a yard out of his crease, indicating he had already made up his mind to play a stroke, and Gajendra Singh accepted the catch at midwicket.Dinesh Karthik and R Prasanna stayed positive, taking advantage of the innocuous lines and lengths on offer from Rajasthan’s change bowlers: Sumit Mathur and left-arm spinner Gajendra. Prasanna, who had scored a crucial century in the semi-final against Mumbai, swept Gajendra frequently. He was into the 40s in no time; the run-rate was three runs per over; and the partnership was worth 76.Then, Karthik committed the worse mistake of the match.He pushed Mathur towards mid-on, called for a single and set off quickly; but instead of running straight he ran across the pitch, into Prasanna’s lane. Though the batsmen averted a collision, Prasanna, who did not help himself by ball-watching, had been slowed down. Karthik dived in at the non-striker’s end, but the fielder, Rituraj, had missed the stumps by a long distance, and Dinesh Yagnik collected the wide throw and caught Prasanna short.As he walked back, Prasanna slammed his bat into his pads in disgust. The best batting line-up in domestic cricket, containing several batsmen tipped to be future India players, was crumbling.Karthik somewhat made up for his mistake by top-scoring for Tamil Nadu with 150. Having kept wickets for eight sessions, he knew the pitch was slow and waited for the ball to come on. After lunch, he square drove Pankaj Singh for four, and, when Pankaj went around the wicket and pitched fuller, cover drove for another boundary. Then, he stepped out against Rituraj and sent the ball sailing over long-on for the first six of the Tamil Nadu innings, bringing up 3000 runs in the Ranji Trophy with the shot. A tap behind square in the next over took Karthik to his third century of the season, and his second in a Ranji final.Tamil Nadu lost two more wickets at the other end, and with the match slipping from their grasp, the hosts’ frustration became apparent. Tamil Nadu’s captain L Balaji, who looked solid in a 60-run partnership with Karthik, was adjudged lbw by umpire Vineet Kulkarni when there was a clear inside edge. Balaji was shocked by the decision, showed his bat to Kulkarni to indicate he had got an edge, and then threw his bat and gloves to the ground once he crossed the ropes.Karthik remained unruffled and continued playing his strokes when Rajasthan took the second new ball. He scored most of his runs with aggressive shots through the off side and eventually fell inside edging an attempted drive off Mathur onto his stumps. J Kaushik hooked Mathur down fine-leg’s throat to end the inningsRajasthan, with the title all but secure, decided to bat again, and will tomorrow be able to celebrate having rattled a line-up as strong as Tamil Nadu’s with the weight of big runs.

Omari Banks, the former West Indies allrounder, has announced his retirement from cricket at 29

ESPNcricinfo staff30-Jan-2012Omari Banks, the former West Indies allrounder, has announced his retirement from cricket. Banks, 29, was the first Test cricketer from the island of Anguilla, and represented West Indies in ten Tests and five ODIs between 2003 and 2005. He continued to play for Leeward Islands till 2010-11, after a three-season spell with Somerset ended in 2009.One of the highlights of Banks’ international career was his unbeaten 47 against Australia in 2003 when West Indies famously hunted down 418, still the largest successful chase in Test history. He also captained Leeward Islands on the domestic circuit, and played 80 first-class matches after making his debut in 2000-01.Banks currently works as a physical education teacher in Anguilla, and has also been trying to build a career in music. He is the son of reggae musician Bankie Banx, and his first single ‘Move On’, will be part of his father’s upcoming album, ‘Just Cool’, due to be released on March 6.

Eoin Morgan has been ruled out of the remainder of the one-day series against India due to the recurrence of a shoulder injury he first suffered on the Ashes tour

ESPNcricinfo staff06-Sep-2011Eoin Morgan has been ruled out of the remainder of the one-day series against India due to the recurrence of a shoulder injury he first suffered on the Ashes tour after he felt “acute” pain during the Twenty20 international at Old Trafford last week.Due to the first one-day international at Chester-le-Street being abandoned seven overs into England’s innings Morgan hasn’t batted again since the Twenty20 although did spend fifty overs in the field in Durham. As yet there is no time frame or clear outline for Morgan’s treatment and that will be determined after he is assessed next week.However, it would appear unlikely that he will be available for the two Twenty20 internationals against West Indies, at The Oval, later this month and, depending on the seriousness of the problem, may be a doubt for the one-day tour of India in October.”We really don’t know. We hope he will be,” Alastair Cook, England’s ODI captain, said when asked about availability for India. “At the moment we don’t know. It’s been ongoing for a while, and he woke up [in Southampton] and knew he just couldn’t play because it was too sore. So he’s off to see a specialist at some stage over the next few days, and then we’ll know far more.”England chief medical officer, Dr Nick Peirce, said: “Eoin initially developed discomfort in his right shoulder during the Ashes tour in the winter and has been managing the injury until now with a conservative program. Unfortunately there has been an acute flare in his pain which has not responded to treatment.”This is a chronic injury and predominantly affects Eoin’s diving and throwing,” he added. “He now requires a progression in his treatment and will undertake further specialist assessment in the next week before a decision on his forthcoming treatment will be determined.”Earlier this year Morgan suffered a finger injury during the one-day series in Australia but continued to play on after suffering the blow and by the time he was sent home two days before the end of the tour the damage was serious enough to stop him heading to the World Cup. However, he did eventually join the tournament after Kevin Pietersen suffered his hernia.Late last month Morgan made his international captaincy debut when he led England against Ireland in Dublin and has also begun to settle himself in the middle-order of the Test side. England aren’t going to name a replacement player for the current series with means a chance for Ravi Bopara in the middle order.

A round-up of the action from the third match-day of the ICC Women’s World Cup Qualifier in Bangladesh

ESPNcricinfo staff17-Nov-2011West Indies Women picked up their second win of the qualifiers, handing Pakistan Women their first defeat, by eight wickets, in Savar. It was a comfortable win for West Indies, who kept Pakistan to 140 and then completed the chase in 34.5 overs thanks to half-centuries from Stafanie Taylor and Deandra Dottin. West Indies lost a couple of early wickets in their chase but Dottin and Taylor, who scored a century in the last game, against Ireland, built a 123-run unbeaten stand. Offspinner Anisa Mohammed was West Indies’ star with the ball, taking her third five-wicket haul in ODIs. Pakistan chose to bat but were 33 for 3 before Nain Abidi and Sana Mir put together 89 for the fourth wicket. Their stand was followed by a collapse and Pakistan were bowled out for 140 in 49.2 overs.Sri Lanka Women beat Zimbabwe Women in Savar in almost identical fashion to the way they beat Netherlands Women two days ago. In that game, Sri Lanka bowled Netherlands out for 61 in 41.3 overs and then chased the target in 14.2 overs while losing three wickets; in the game against Zimbabwe they skittled their opponents for 62 in 41.4 overs and again won by seven wickets, this time reaching the target in 10.5 overs. Seamer Chamani Seneviratna, who went wicketless against Netherlands, took 5 for 15 against Zimbabwe, while Sherina Ravikumar picked up three wickets. Zimbabwe were in trouble from the start, batted slowly and had only two batsmen who reached double figures. Sri Lanka lost two wickets in the first three overs of their chase but Yasoda Mendis’ unbeaten 35 off 31 balls saw them home in quick time.Ireland Women picked up their first win, and it was a comprehensive one, by 255 runs in Mirpur, against Japan Women, who are becoming the whipping boys of the tournament. Ireland were put in and amassed 311 for 9. Cecelia Joyce scored 64 off 68 balls, Eimear Richardson got 57 off 45 and the rest of the top order all made contributions to the big total. Japan’s inexperience was belied by the fact that they gave away 41 runs in wides. Japan’s batsmen made some improvement to the 38 all out they made against Bangladesh, but it was a minor one. Only one batsmen reached double figures as they were bowled out for 56, with Richardson capping off an impressive all-round performance with figures of 8.2-4-4-5.There was another trouncing in Fatullah, where Netherlands Women beat United States of America Women by 225 runs. Netherlands chose to bat and their top order fired, getting them to a total of 329 for 5. Opener Miranda Veringmeier ensured they got off to a brisk start and scored 99 off 115 balls. Kerry-Anne Tomlinson and Esther Lanser provided the impetus at the end, smashing 80 off 58 and 51 off 42 respectively. Their partnership was worth 110 runs from just 12.1 overs. USA never attempted to chase the runs and crawled to 104 all out in 49.5 overs.

Michael Hussey has not given up hope of making it to the World Cup after recovering from his hamstring injury, although he’s unlikely to be named as a shock replacement for the injured Doug Bollinger

Brydon Coverdale26-Feb-2011Michael Hussey has not given up hope of making it to the World Cup after recovering from his hamstring injury, although he’s unlikely to be named as a shock replacement for the injured Doug Bollinger. Australia’s captain Ricky Ponting said he was expecting a bowler to take the place of Bollinger, who is heading home due to an ankle problem, although “not necessarily” a fast man.The Victoria seamers, Peter Siddle and James Pattinson, are possible candidates, although the Australians could look to James Hopes as an all-round option, or the spinner Xavier Doherty, who has now recovered from a minor back injury. Whatever the selectors decide, the allrounder John Hastings looms as the likely man to come in for Australia’s next match, against Sri Lanka on March 5.”Doug’s a big loss for us,” Ponting said. “At his best he’s as good a bowler as probably anyone taking part in this tournament, which is backed up by the fact he was in the one-day and Test teams of the year last year. He’s a big loss for us but I’m sure whoever comes in will do a good job if required.”[Hastings] has been particularly good in every training session and a couple of practice games that he played at the start of the tournament. I thought even in Australia the games he played there were particularly good. He’ll be well suited to these conditions.”We had a bit of a chat last night and I’ll have a chat with the selectors and coach and see who the most adequate replacement is. We have a lot of fast bowlers around the country who are on the sidelines so we’ll have a good chat, but I’d be surprised if it wasn’t a bowler.”That means Hussey will only get a chance to join the squad if another batsman is injured during the tournament, but at least he is pleased to have been told he is not out of the mix. There had been some confusion about whether an injured player, once withdrawn, could later return to the squad to replace another injured man, and after initially suggesting it was out of the question the ICC has said such a move would be allowed.”Initially I thought that you were in the initial 15 and if you were injured then you were pretty much out for the tournament and you can’t be replaced,” Hussey said on Fox Sports on Friday. “But I had a call from Cricket Australia saying that’s not actually the case. If there was another injury, then, because I’m now fit again, I could be considered as the replacement player. You don’t wish an injury upon anyone, but I guess there is a glimmer of hope now.”Hussey and Shaun Marsh, who has also recovered from a hamstring injury, are likely to play club cricket in Perth this weekend. Both men should return for Western Australia in the Sheffield Shield match against Queensland starting at the WACA on Thursday.

Sachin Tendulkar and Ambati Rayudu took Mumbai to 159, a gettable score on this pitch, but not against an attack as ruthless as their’s

The Bulletin by Nitin Sundar02-May-2011
Live scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsAmbati Rayudu played some big shots in his half-century•AFPIf Sachin Tendulkar doesn’t get you, Ambati Rayudu will. If Lasith Malinga doesn’t get you, Harbhajan Singh will. Unfortunately for Kings XI Punjab, all four men were on top of their game today, and the rest of the Mumbai Indians XI was ruthlessly efficient. Tendulkar played within himself, Rayudu launched the occasional sortie and the middle order kept up the momentum to lift Mumbai to 159. It was a gettable target on this pitch, but not against this attack.Harbhajan and Malinga cracked open the game in their opening spells. Harbhajan nailed Adam Gilchrist on the sweep in the opening over, before Malinga put Paul Valthaty in his place with an over of pace-bowling brilliance. He began with a full ball that was through Valthaty in a blink. The second was a swerving full toss at 144.5 kph that Valthaty barely managed to get bat to. The third was faster, and Valthaty nervously glanced to fine-leg, but he was back on strike for the last two. Malinga let him have two short balls; Valthaty did not pick the first one, and missed a feeble attempt at a pull off the second. Valthaty, clearly outclassed, was stunned into his shell and Punjab never recovered.Tendulkar smelled blood, and went for all-out attack. Malinga bowled with two slips, while Harbhajan trotted in with a slip and a silly point. Valthaty continued to struggle, but Shaun Marsh managed to sneak a couple of boundaries off Malinga. Abu Nechim kept the pressure on Valthaty, who was so late on a pull in the fifth over that he ended up playing it uppishly to cover. Cover is not where a pull shot should go, neither is it the place for Munaf Patel to field: he grassed the catch, tumbling forward. Unfortunately for Punjab, that was the only fielding error from Mumbai.After dawdling to 8 off his first 24 balls, Valthaty eventually found respite against the back-up bowlers. He carted T Suman and Andrew Symonds for sixes, but holed out soon after. Marsh was in his groove by then, charming a Munaf half-volley for four and clattering a half-tracker from Nechim to midwicket, but he needed someone to hold up the other end.Mumbai ensured that did not happen: David Hussey was held spectacularly at long-on by Rohit Sharma, who hurtled forward and dived full-length. Dinesh Karthik was trapped in front by Kieron Pollard, and Abhishek Nayar allowed the entry ‘c Symonds b Harbhajan’ to enter the scorecard. Malinga tied up the loose ends in his second spell.Earlier, Mumbai were efficient rather than excellent with the bat, as Punjab’s spinners held them back in an attritional first half. Punjab were clearly looking to capitalise on Tendulkar’s weakness against left-arm spin, when they opened the attack with Bhargav Bhatt. Bipul Sharma took over for the third over, and struck with his unusual trajectory from well wide of the crease. Davy Jacobs was lazy leaning out to one of those deliveries, and turned his wrists too early as the ball slipped through to hit the stumps. The early dismissal forced Mumbai to rebuild cautiously, and the left-arm gambit had paid off though Tendulkar hadn’t fallen for it.Rayudu attempted to break free with a couple of against-the-spin heaves, while Tendulkar skipped inside the line to sweep Bhatt over deep square leg, but Mumbai showed their first real sign of intent only in the 12th over of the innings. As always, Praveen Kumar was cannon fodder once the shine disappeared from the ball, and Rayudu clubbed him for two fours and a six off consecutive balls. Punjab did not help their own cause, dropping Rayudu twice in two balls. The second a comical error in judgement from Ryan Harris at long-off, that allowed Rayudu reach his half-century.Rayudu and Tendulkar fell soon after getting to their half-centuries, but Pollard ensured there was no let-up, smashing two sixes and in the process increasing his tournament tally by a factor of five. His closing surge, aided by Rohit, took Mumbai to a score that Punjab would have fancied chasing, but Malinga and Co. had other plans.

Manchester United have appointed Erik ten Hag as their new manager to join the club this summer, and there is already mounting speculation about players who may join him to be part of the new era at Old Trafford.

What’s the latest?

The Athletic has reported that Man United have begun “exploring” the idea of bringing Kalvin Phillips to the club this summer.

The sports publication tweeted: “MUFC have begun exploring the prospect of £50m move for Kalvin Phillips.”

[snack-amp-story url= “https://www.footballfancast.com/web-stories/read-the-latest-man-united-news-transfer-rumours-gossip-and-more-nunez-ten-hag-nkunku-richarlison” title=”Read the latest Man United news!”]

Ten Hag masterclass

If the Red Devils were able to convince Phillips to leave his beloved boyhood club at Leeds United to join Ten Hag this summer in Manchester, it would be an incredible coup for the club and would be the first masterclass in the new manager’s revolution.

The £38k-per-week ace who was hailed “outstanding” by Martin Keown and a “destroyer” by Steve McLaren, has been a force for the Yorkshire club in their push for promotion to the Premier League and last season when they finished 9th in their first season in the top-flight, as well as being a standout performer for England in the Euros last summer.

In midfield for Manchester United, Phillips is the exact profile of player that the team needs to integrate to improve the possession of the ball and control games better in the centre of the pitch, which has been a huge problem for the current team who, for example, lost the ball 167 times against Newcastle United earlier this season.

The 26-year-old Leeds midfielder this season had lost the ball on average just 11.8 times per game, compared to Bruno Fernandes who loses the ball 18.3 times, and Paul Pogba has lost the ball every 12.1 touches, so adding a player like Phillips could boost the ball retention in the team.

With that being said, there is a huge rivalry between Leeds and Manchester United that has existed for decades and with Phillips being a complete product of Leeds United, the golden boy at the club and in the city it would be surprising if he does make the move to Old Trafford, but from a quality perspective, he is exactly what the team needs.

AND in other news: Fabrizio Romano drops huge £50m transfer update that will excite Man United supporters

Zimbabwe’s plans for a third Test ground in the country are set to come to fruition after the Victoria Falls local council granted planning approval for a stadium near the iconic site

ESPNcricinfo staff09-Jun-2011Zimbabwe’s plans for a third Test ground in the country to complement those in Harare and Bulawayo are set to come to fruition after the Victoria Falls local council granted planning approval for a stadium near the iconic site. Zimbabwe Cricket chief executive Ozias Bvute and chairman of selectors Alistair Campbell confirmed the council approval, and said that construction work will begin early next year.”This is one of the great natural wonders of the world and playing international and first-class cricket there will cause a lot of excitement among visiting players and fans,” said Bvute. “Tourism is on the up in this country and sporting tourism especially so.”We had eight or nine thousand for a recent Twenty20 tournament in Harare and that has given us additional confidence to go ahead, apart from other factors,” added Campbell. “People now go to Dubai for cricket. We will soon be an alternative to that. There is a lot of vision here at the moment.”As well as hosting Tests and ODIs, the ground will also provide a second home, after Queens Sports Club in Bulawayo, for domestic side Matabeleland Tuskers. In addition, ZC are hoping that other teams – particularly English representative and county sides – will be attracted to use the facilities for pre-season tours.Widely considered to be one of the seven natural wonders of the world, Victoria Falls sits on the Zambezi river on the border between Zambia and Zimbabwe, and is also a World Heritage site. At the height of Zimbabwe’s tourism industry it attracted several hundred thousand visitors a year. Those numbers dwindled as the country’s political situation deteriorated, with most travellers opting to reach the Falls through Zambia, but amid relative stability in recent years the number of tourists has started to pick up again.Development on both the Zimbabwean and Zambian sides has not been without its problems in the past, and in 2007 plans to build 500 chalets in a national park on the Zambian side, and the collapse of infrastructure in Zimbabwe, prompted Unesco to warn that the area could lose its World Heritage status. That never happened, however, and the development of the cricket ground will utilise the latest ecologically-friendly features.Approximations of the total capacity of the ground range between 4,000 and 12,000 and no cost estimates have been made available so far, but architects are said to be drawing up plans for a clubhouse. Once completed, it will be accessible by road, rail and air in Zimbabwe, while several airlines offer flights from Johannesburg, the journey taking under two hours.

Pakistan began their warm-up for the ICC World Twenty20 with a comprehensive win over Australia in Dubai, where their spinners flummoxed Australia’s long batting line-up

The Report by Brydon Coverdale05-Sep-2012
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
Raza Hasan picked up two wickets on debut•AFPPakistan began their warm-up for the ICC World Twenty20 with a comprehensive win over Australia in Dubai, where their spinners flummoxed Australia’s long batting line-up. Not since the second T20 international ever played had Australia scored as few in an innings as the 89 for which they were dismissed in this match, and although Pakistan lost three wickets in the chase they were never in danger of losing. They cruised to the target with 31 balls to spare.Statistics don’t always mean much in T20 but the story of this match could be summed up with a few numbers. It was the first time since another loss to Pakistan in Dubai in May 2009 that Australia failed to hit a six in a T20 innings. They struck only three fours in the 19.3 overs they faced; Pakistan had that many within four overs. The only time Australia scored fewer in a completed T20 innings was 79 against England in Southampton in 2005, back when the IPL was not even a glimmer in Lalit Modi’s eye. Never before had a team beaten Australia with so many balls to spare.But the figures don’t tell how Pakistan managed such a one-sided result. Sohail Tanvir finished with 3 for 13 but it was the work of the spinners, Mohammad Hafeez, Saeed Ajmal and the debutant Raza Hasan that kept Australia from posting a competitive score. They picked up two wickets each and the regular breakthroughs and large boundaries starved the Australians.Again they found Ajmal difficult to pick, while Hasan’s clever variations showed that he can be a force at international level, while Hafeez was typically tidy. Pakistan also held their catches, which they had not always done during the ODIs, and only three Australians reached double figures, making it irrelevant that they had entered the game with eight batsmen.David Warner top scored with 22 from 25 balls, an innings that at the time looked scratchy but was solid when compared with the rest of the performances. Warner was the third man to fall when he pushed a catch back to the bowler Hafeez, after the innings had started shakily when Shane Watson was trapped in front by Umar Gul for 8.Smart stats

Pakistan beat Australia with 31 balls to spare. This is the highest number of balls remaining in a T20 defeat for Australia.

Australia’s total of 89 is their second-lowest in Twenty20 internationals. Their lowest total of 79 came against England in Southampton in 2005 (min seven wickets lost in innings)

Pakistan have the most wins in Twenty20 internationals (34). South Africa are second with 29 wins.

The win was Pakistan’s fifth against Australia in Twenty20 internationals. South Africa and Sri Lanka are second with four wins each.

The number of fours hit in Australia’s innings (3) is the second-lowest for a completed team innings in Twenty20 internationals. The lowest is two fours hit by South Africa against West Indies in Port Elizabeth in 2007 (major Test teams only).

Promoted to No.3, Michael Hussey chipped a catch to cover when he failed to pick Tanvir’s slower ball. Warner and George Bailey provided a slight recovery with a 33-run stand before Warner went, and that was followed soon after by Hasan’s first international wicket, which came when David Hussey failed to clear the man at long on.Bailey fell for 14 when he top edged a sweep off Hafeez and was caught at deep backward square leg, and it was up to Cameron White and Matthew Wade to attempt a recovery. But Pakistan’s spinners were too good for White and Wade, Ajmal’s variations especially deceptive, although it was Hasan who broke the partnership when Wade holed out to deep midwicket for 6 from 13 balls.Glenn Maxwell, who came in at No.8, was caught at deep square leg off Ajmal for 4 and next ball White failed to read Ajmal and was bowled for 15 off 22 balls. Xavier Doherty survived the hat trick ball but that was about all the Australians had to celebrate, as Tanvir finished off the tail to end up with 3 for 13.Australia’s bowlers had nothing to defend and their cause was hopeless from the start. Hafeez and Imran Nazir, playing his first international for two and a half years, gave Pakistan a solid start with their 30-run opening stand. They both found the boundary and Nazir showed a willingness to take on the Australian bowlers, despite the small chase.Hafeez (17) fell to a slower ball from Pat Cummins when he chipped a catch to midwicket and the Australians claimed a second when Ben Hilfenhaus bowled Nasir Jamshed for 10 with a good inswinger. Nazir eventually fell for 22 when he pushed a Watson full toss to cover, but Kamran Akmal and Shoaib Malik saw Pakistan home. Akmal struck the only six of the match and finished unbeaten on 31 from 24 balls. He hit more boundaries on his own than the Australians did for their entire innings.It was a clinical performance from Pakistan, but Australia did little to suggest their ninth place in the ICC T20 rankings is anything but accurate. Of course in T20 anything can happen on any day; Australia just need to make sure happens for them before this series is out. Because one day like this in the World T20 could be enough to send them home early.