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Hosts fail to capitalise on bowlers’ discipline but don’t feel match has got away from them

George Dobell in Mount Maunganui21-Nov-2019New Zealand were left to rue missed opportunities after a day of hard work and few rewards at the Bay Oval.On a slow – some might say painfully slow – surface, New Zealand kept such a check on England’s scoring that, for much of the day, the run-rate barely rose much above two-an-over.But a couple of missed opportunities – not least a dropped chance offered by Ben Stokes on 63 – meant New Zealand were unable to capitalise on their bowlers’ discipline. Rory Burns also survived a chance on 37, when he edged the deserving Tim Southee between slip fielders who left the chance to one another while Burns might also have been given out had New Zealand reviewed an appeal for caught behind when he had 10. Replays suggested he had edged Trent Boult to the keeper, but New Zealand were unable to hear the edge in the blustery wind.Also read: Patience pays off in England’s new old-fashioned wayWhile Neil Wagner later insisted, with more than a little justification, that New Zealand were satisfied with the way they bowled and “fairly happy” with the match situation, he accepted such moments were “frustrating”.”By no stretch have they got away from us so I think we’re still fairly happy with where we are at,” he said. “It is frustrating when catches go down and those things happen, but we’re a close group and no-one drops a catch on purpose. It can happen.”Ben Stokes is a special talent and he is a bit of a freak at times. Everyone wants to get him out because you know how important a wicket he is.”When it’s windy it’s quite hard to hear those things [edges]. There was a little bit of a noise but it was a bob each way, you have to take that risk with reviews but also you want to keep hold of them for when you do need them.”I thought we bowled well today and stuck at it. I know that our bowlers have bowled way worse than that and had more luck.”Although New Zealand were able to gain more swing than was, perhaps, anticipated the slow nature of the pitch meant both sides were persuaded to take a fairly attritional approach to the game. And Wagner was quick to pay tribute to England’s patient batting.”They batted really well,” he said. “They showed lots of patience and left well. There was swing on offer throughout the day and everything we threw at them they played quite well. At times they had a bit of luck but you need a bit of luck sometimes in cricket. The toss was always going to be crucial. It tends to be nice to bat on on day one.”There may be questions about the role – or the usage – of spinner Mitchell Santner, though. He was not called upon to bowl until the 72nd over of the day and delivered only five overs on the day. He may yet win the game for New Zealand in the second innings – though it doesn’t seem especially likely; he’s taken 13 wickets in 10 Tests in New Zealand – but his lack of overs on the first day does increase the workload on his colleagues.Much of the burden was taken up by Colin de Grandhomme. In 19 disciplined overs he conceded only two boundaries and went at under one-and-a-half an over. He also claimed the wickets of both openers as he maintained a perfect length and gained just enough swing to threaten the edge of the bat.”He’s got good skills and, with the pitch being on the slow side and getting slower, his slight lack of pace makes it hard to force the gaps,” Rory Burns said. “The men in the ring become catching options and you have to wait to pick him off.”The pitch seems like it’ll probably get slower so it’s lending itself to quite attritional cricket. You’ve got to scrap in and get in.”Wagner added: “There’s a long way to go and a lot of cricket to play. It is hard to say if the pitch will deteriorate. There’s a lot of unknown factors at the ground. This is the first Test match here and in the domestic games we’ve played here it tends to dry out with the wind.”

Pakistan’s openers added a double-century stand before the visitors fought back with late wickets

The Report by Danyal Rasool07-Oct-2018
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The scorecard suggested nearly total domination from Pakistan. After all, they finished the day at 255 for 3, thanks to a 205-run opening stand from Mohammad Hafeez and Imam-ul-Haq. They made Australia wait for the opening wicket in the first innings of a Test longer than they’ve ever done – 63 overs, to be precise.And yet, anyone who tuned into the final session would have wondered how Pakistan had amassed those runs, so complete was the Australian bowlers’ command. Pakistan scored 56 runs in 29 overs for the loss of three wickets in that session on an attrition first day in Dubai.Test cricket in the UAE is a game of phases. In other parts of the world it might be harder for teams to get back into the game once they’ve fallen behind, but surfaces here give teams an opportunity to bounce back. And so, even as Hafeez, who scored a century in his first Test in two years, and Imam accumulated the fifth-highest opening stand batting first against Australia, the visitors’ bowlers came roaring back into the contest, with a chance of bowling Pakistan out under 350.It began with Nathan Lyon, expected to grow in importance as the game and the pitch wears on, tempting Imam to cut a ball that was a bit too full, drawing a faint edge through to Tim Paine. At the the other end, Peter Siddle bowled a scintillating spell, justifying his inclusion in the side. Vicious reverse swing combined with relentless accuracy slowed down Pakistan’s merry progress. Siddle finally got one to beat Hafeez’s defences, with a beauty that just kept coming in, hitting the opener halfway up his shin, right in front of middle.With both openers gone, Pakistan’s scoring rate almost ground to a halt altogether – at one stage, they managed 16 runs in 16 overs as Haris Sohail and Azhar Ali dug in, desperate to see it through to stumps. All that work, however, was undone by a moment of madness from Azhar. Having gutsed his way to 18 off 79, he lofted a drive off Jon Holland, nowhere near middling it as Mitchell Starc dived forward to complete the catch. Nightwatchman Mohammad Abbas and Haris took their side to stumps without any further damage.Pakistan had settled into a formidable position by the first evening on a flat Dubai surface, with both openers still around when tea was called. Hafeez, who scored his tenth Test century was instrumental in pushing the run rate up right from the outset, and ensuring the Australians were always on the back foot. He regularly forced the bowlers to adjust their lines and coaxed Tim Paine into introducing spin as early as the ninth over in the day. He wasn’t afraid to come down the track against spin, either, without losing control of his shots.The run rate picked up after lunch as the openers shook off any nerves or fears they might have had about the pitch or the Australian attack. Hafeez also went after Nathan Lyon, who was the most economical bowler for Australia in the first session. There was a period, midway through, when he lost his focus, playing a series of false shots, displaying the concentration lapses that have prevented him taking the next step in his career and becoming the batsman he could have become. While the sun beat down, lady luck, too, was smiling at him, as a lofted cover drive off Holland was put down at long-off.Imam’s innings, meanwhile, was almost chanceless. He appeared to be mentally ready for the grind of Test cricket in this inhospitable weather. His footwork against the spin, in particular, was excellent, moving back and forward to the rhythm of the pitch of the ball with the deft expertise of a tap dancer. However, It wasn’t just in service of defensive strokes, with a couple of charges down the pitch against Holland earning him two sixes.Australia bowled well despite the unhelpful conditions, with Starc the most menacing for much of the day, getting swing early on while regularly coming close to finding Hafeez’s outside edge. The odd yorker kept the batsmen on their toes, and on another day in another country he might have finished with a five-wicket haul. Here, he ended the day wicketless.But the day would end on a very different note. Life seemed to have crept back into this pitch, and, by extension, this Test match.

Admitting that he has been disappointed by the selectors overlooking him, the Nottinghamshire allrounder has announced his continuing desire to play international cricket again

George Dobell at Edgbaston03-Sep-2017Samit Patel has admitted his “hurt” after being overlooked by England’s selectors.Man of the Match as Nottinghamshire won the NatWest Blast final at Edgbaston, Patel insisted he was “ready” for an England recall and suggested he would “be disappointed” if the selectors were not watching his Edgbaston performance.Having last played limited-overs cricket for England in early 2013, Patel believes he is a much-improved player with something to offer in all formats. But the lack of contact he has had with the selectors – he says there has been none at all since returning from South Africa as a non-playing member of the tour party in early 2016 – has left him considering phoning those involved to see what more he can do.”I love playing for England,” Patel said. “It means the utmost to me. I don’t think that I’ve let them down when I’ve pulled on an England shirt.”The selectors haven’t spoken to me since the South Africa trip that I went on and didn’t play.”And yes, that has hurt. I’m not going to lie to you, especially, in the white-ball format. I’m an ambitious player. You shouldn’t play for Notts if you don’t want to play for England in my opinion. Putting on that England shirt… it means everything to me.”I have thought about picking up the phone, but there’s only one winner there. It won’t go down well if I pick up the phone. The only way I can get back in is by putting in performances like today.”I’d be disappointed if they didn’t watch that. It should have put my name back in the shop window.”Coming to the crease with Nottinghamshire in trouble at 30 for 3, Patel made an unbeaten 65 – his third half-century this season – to lead his side to a total of 190. He was also second on the Nottinghamshire averages when they won the Royal London One-Day Cup – 67.37 with two centuries and three half-centuries – and has scored more runs (824 at an average of 68.66) than anyone else in their Championship campaign. Based on that, his suggestion that he is, aged 32, playing better cricket in all formats seems well founded.”I know my game much more now,” he said. “I’m a different player. The tempo of my batting has improved this year. Class will always show.”Don’t even count me out of Test cricket. I know I’m ready. If the selectors ring me, I’m ready.”Meanwhile Ashley Giles, the Warwickshire director of sport, expressed his “pride” in his new-look Birmingham side and suggested they will be able to build on their recent success next year. In particular, he celebrated the progress made by his young top-order – three of whom have come into the side during the campaign – and their success in reaching the final in what is clearly a transitional season.”I’m proud that we got close and think there are some really good signs for us,” Giles said. “The four guys at the top of the order have come in and done really good things. I’m proud we’ve been able to make that transition.”There was no fear in the way we played. We need to continue in that mode. The game is moving that way.”So yes, this will change the way we play 50-over cricket. We are playing a more modern game now and we’ve seen the more successful sides – Notts and Surrey, for example – just take it on. We’ve got to be prepared to do that.”You look at the way Ed Pollock played in the semi-final. He batted beautifully. I just hope he keeps batting in the same way. With experience and baggage people tend to change. I hope he just keeps playing with that freedom.”

BCCI president Anurag Thakur has said his board will oppose the proposed two-tier Test system to “protect the interests” of smaller member nations

ESPNcricinfo staff03-Aug-2016BCCI president Anurag Thakur has said his board will oppose the proposed two-tier Test system to “protect the interests” of smaller member nations. As the head of the powerful BCCI, Thakur’s statement lends heft to the criticism of the proposal by Sri Lanka Cricket and the Bangladesh Cricket Board, even as the boards of Australian and New Zealand have welcomed the move.”The BCCI is against the two-tier Test system because the smaller countries will lose out and the BCCI wants to take care of them,” Thakur told the . “It is necessary to protect their interests.”The proposal to split Test cricket into two tiers – with seven nations in tier one, and five, including two new Test nations, in the second tier – was mooted at the ICC’s annual conference, in Edinburgh, where ICC chief executive David Richardson advocated a “proper competition structure”, with promotion and relegation, for Test cricket to have greater context. “Unless we can give some meaning to these series beyond the rankings and a trophy, then interest in Test cricket will continue to waver,” Richardson said. “The same applies if we allow uncompetitive Test cricket to take place too often.”While SLC voiced skepticism about the financial model of the two-tier system, the BCB felt Bangladesh’s growth would be affected should they be divorced from the top teams. “We believe that more we play against competitive sides, the better we will get,” BCB vice-president Mahbubul Anam said. “If we didn’t play against better-standard sides in ODIs, we wouldn’t have come this far. We were given a reality check when we were promoted to the highest level. I feel that if we go backwards, our cricket will regress.”Thakur’s comments seemed to address both concerns as he spelt out the drawbacks of the two-tier system. “In the two-tier system, they will lose out on a lot, including revenue and the opportunity to play against top teams,” he said. “We don’t want that to happen. We want to work in the best interests of world cricket and that is why our team plays against all the countries”.In Galle, meanwhile, Cricket Australia chairman David Peever urged nations to embrace change and balance notions of tradition with progress.

Wasim Jaffer, the highest individual run-getter in the Ranji Trophy, has switched to Vidarbha from his home team Mumbai

Amol Karhadkar22-Jun-2015Wasim Jaffer, the highest individual run-getter in the Ranji Trophy, has switched to Vidarbha from his home team Mumbai. Jaffer, who will replace Rakesh Dhurv, would thus join S Badrinath and Karnataka’s Ganesh Satish to complete a solid line-up of Vidarbha’s professionals.”Wasim will obviously bring in loads of experience and expertise. His presence will not only be handy in the batting department but also with regard to helping young batsmen from Vidarbha hone their skills and take their game to the next level,” Prakash Dixit, the president of the Vidarbha Cricket Association president, told ESPNcricinfo.Jaffer, who is currently overseas, said he will speak about his move only after returning to India. After an illustrious 19-year stint in first-class cricket with Mumbai, Jaffer is 241 runs short of becoming the first batsman to score 10,000 runs in the Ranji Trophy.Jaffer will be reunited with Paras Mhambrey, the former Mumbai and India pacer who took over as Vidarbha coach last year. Mhambrey’s move to rope in three experienced professionals worked wonders as Vidarbha finished third in Group B last season and qualified for the Ranji knockouts after almost two decades.Since a domestic team can sign a maximum of just three players on its roster, Vidarbha decided to release Dhurv, the left-arm spinner, once Jaffer agreed to come on board.Jaffer’s decision comes on the back of his most forgettable seasons in first-class cricket, mainly due to the multiple injuries he suffered during Mumbai’s Ranji campaign. He scored just 22 runs from the two games he played. Despite his finger injuries, Jaffer remained with the squad for most of the season and mentored a young Mumbai batting line-up.Jaffer’s move will result in Mumbai being forced to field one of its least experienced squads in the forthcoming domestic season. Last season, Jaffer was the lone player in Mumbai’s ranks with more than a decade’s experience in first-class cricket.Jaffer had been one of the most sought-after professional signings ever since he lost his place as India’s opener towards the end of the last decade. He had been approached by multiple teams even when he was leading Mumbai in the Ranji Trophy, but had decided to stick with his alma mater.

Lonwabo Tsotsobe, the left-arm pace bowler, has been ruled out of the three-match Twenty20 series against New Zealand which starts on Friday with an ankle injury

ESPNcricinfo staff21-Dec-2012Lonwabo Tsotsobe, the left-arm pace bowler, has been ruled out of the three-match Twenty20 series against New Zealand which starts on Friday with an ankle injury.Tsotsobe, who has 10 wickets from 11 Twenty20s, was one of the more experienced players in a new-look South Africa squad for the series. He was unlikely to be in contention for the Test matches which start in the New Year.Dr Mohammed Moosajee, the South Africa team manager, said: “Lonwabo complained of pain to his ankle yesterday during practice after bowling 10 balls. He was sent for an MRI scan which revealed bony bruising of the talus bone at the back of his ankle joint.”The medical committee feel it will be best if he doesn’t take part in the current T20 series, recommending a two to three week rest period along with consultation with an ankle specialist.”Tsotsobe joins Wayne Parnell, a fellow left-armer, on the sidelines after he was ruled out of the series with a wrist injury. No replacement has yet been named for Tsotsobe with Dale Steyn, Morne Morkel, Ryan McLaren, Rory Kleinveldt the other pace options in the squad.

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.

The IPL player auction for the 2011 season will be held on January 8 and 9 in Mumbai

ESPNcricinfo staff17-Nov-2010The IPL player auction for the 2011 season will be held on January 8 and 9 in Mumbai, the league’s governing council has announced. The tournament itself will feature eight teams, playing 60 matches, and run from April 8 to May 22.

Key IPL dates

• November 27, 2010 – Kochi franchise deadline

• January 8,9, 2011 – Player auction for IPL 2011

• April 7, 2011 – Opening ceremony

• April 8, 2011 – First match

• May 22, 2011 – Final

The tournament, which begins a week after the World Cup ends, will involve each of the eight sides playing playing 14 games, adding up to 56 matches, the same as in previous IPL editions. The top two from the league rounds will then contest a play-off match, with the winner qualifying for the “Grand Final.” The teams that finish third and fourth in the league stage will contest the other play-off, and the winner of that game will play the defeated team from the first play-off to decide the second finalist.The auction is likely to be on the scale of the first one, held in 2008, with teams starting largely from scratch, and will be held under rules framed in September. One difference will be the absence of “icon” players – originally, five franchises had one player each named as its icon. The auction was initially to have been held this month but uncertainty over the composition of the tournament – with two franchises expelled and a third, Kochi, in limbo – forced a postponement.The governing council, which met in Mumbai on Wednesday, was expected to have discussed the status of the Kochi franchise but Rajiv Shukla, a BCCI vice-president and council member, said it did not figure. He did, however, reiterate that the 2011 season would have eight participating teams.Kochi have until November 27 to reply to the IPL’s notice asking it to set its house in order; if, as seems likely, the franchise owners decide to call it quits, the IPL will start the auction process for a replacement team. With a majority of the current franchises in the southern half of the country, any new franchise is likely to be from the north – Ahmedabad being the front-runner.The new auction rules governing player retention, which have been criticised by the franchises, allow a team to keep up to four players but at a steep price.The first player retained will cost a team $1.8 million against the salary cap of $9 million, regardless of the amount the player is actually paid. The second player will cost $1.3 million, the third $900,000 and the fourth $500,000.

The Ranji Trophy final between Karnataka and Mumbai will be played at the Gangotri Glades Stadium in Mysore, and not at Bangalore’s Chinnaswamy Stadium

Siddarth Ravindran at the Chinnaswamy Stadium 06-Jan-2010The Ranji Trophy final between Karnataka and Mumbai will be played at the Gangotri Glades Stadium in Mysore, and not at Bangalore’s Chinnaswamy Stadium. This will be the first Ranji final since 1996-97 to be held away from the primary venue of the hosting association but it’s clear the hosts have decided to back their bowlers on a pitch likely to have pace and bounce.”The centre wicket is being regrassed here [Bangalore], that’s why they are not able to give us a good bouncy track,” Karnataka coach Narasimha Sanath Kumar said at the Chinnaswamy Stadium soon after the semi-final against UP. “Our strength is fast bowling. It is a little difficult for the fast bowlers here and that (Mysore track) probably will be a better one.”Mysore has already hosted a league match and the quarter-final against Punjab this season, and both games drew decent crowds. Rahul Dravid, the Karnataka captain, had no apprehensions about a small city hosting perhaps the biggest match in the domestic calendar.”I’m sure the game will be very well supported, there will be a lot of crowd on all the days,” he said. “It will be a great advertisement for the game, it’s a good chance to develop the infrastructure at Mysore and take the game away from the big cities and to the smaller towns, which I feel is where the future of the Ranji Trophy is.”It was Dravid’s chanceless double-century that virtually shut UP out of the semi-finals, and Karnataka are still fretting over his availability for the finals, which ends on the 15th. India’s first Test against Bangladesh starts two days later. Last-ditch efforts were still on to advance the final by a day, so that it finishes on the 14th, which will make it easier for Dravid to participate.”I’ve had a chance to speak to the Indian team management and they expect me to be in Dhaka by the 15th evening, latest,” he said. “To do that, it (the Ranji final) will probably have to be preponed by a day, if not, it may not be possible.”Dravid has only played in four of Karnataka’s eight matches this season, and even without him the state has steamrolled opposition. That left coach Sanath confident, irrespective of Dravid’s availability. “Obviously it’ll make a big difference if he’s there,” Sanath said, “but we have won outright three out of the four matches when he didn’t play.”

Craig Ervine, batting on 53, holds the key for Zimbabwe, who are 73 runs from their target but have just two wickets in hand going into day five

Abhimanyu Bose05-Jan-2025Ismat Alam’s century on debut and Rashid Khan’s six-for bookended a day of dominance for Afghanistan, who will come back on the fifth and final day needing just two wickets to seal the match and the series against Zimbabwe.Ismat, who had come into the Test with a first-class average of 92 and had converted all four of his fifties at the level into centuries, also converted his maiden Test fifty into a century to help Afghanistan finish on 363, setting Zimbabwe 278 to win.After that, it was all Rashid magic as he ran through Zimbabwe, who fought back with a gritty fifth-wicket stand between captain Craig Ervine and Sikandar Raza, but in the end Afghanistan were in a winning position at stumps.Zimbabwe had a bright start in their chase of 278. Ben Curran hit two late cuts as Zimbabwe took 12 runs off Fareed Ahmad’s first over. Seven runs came off the next over before the Afghanistan bowlers found more discipline and started to dry out the runs. While there was some movement on offer with the new ball, the fast bowlers could not really threaten the Zimbabwe openers.Spin was introduced in the tenth over in the form of Zia-ur-Rehman and the left-arm spinner struck in his third over. Joylord Gumbie had reverse-swept him for four off the first ball of the over, but when he went for another reverse-sweep he ended up gloving the ball behind to first slip.From there on in, it was the Rashid show for Afghanistan. He first got one to spin in from the rough outside off to knock Curran over. In the next 37 balls, Zimbabwe managed just 14 runs and Takudzwanashe Kaitano released the pressure by authoritatively pulling Fareed for a six over backward square leg.Rashid then changed ends and drew the top edge from Kaitano as he went for a sweep. Abdul Malik ran across from slip to take the catch down the leg side, giving Zimbabwe another breakthrough just before tea.Blessing Muzarabani walks back with his career best innings figures of 6 for 95•Zimbabwe Cricket

In the third over of the final session, Dion Myers slashed at a wide delivery from Rashid and got a thick edge for four, but Rashid hit back by trapping him in front with a wrong’un, for his 400th international wicket.At 99 for 4, Zimbabwe were in trouble but the senior pair of Raza and Ervine combined to frustrate Afghanistan with a 58-run stand. They were watchful and kept the runs ticking with plenty of singles in the absence of close-in fielders. They hit just the one boundary in a partnership that lasted 19 overs.Rashid finally broke through, although it had little to do with his bowling. Raza, ever so watchful until then, was tempted into a drive as Rashid threw down a half-volley outside off, but he couldn’t get it over the cover fielder, much to his frustration.Sean Williams, nursing a back injury from the first day of the Test, was next on Rashid’s radar, as he got another one to spin in from the rough outside off to crash into off stump with Williams missing a sweep. That completed Rashid’s fifth Test five-for in just eight games. One ball later, he darted in a quick, flat legbreak that spun past the outside edge to crash into Brian Bennett’s off stump.In the next over, Zia trapped Newman Nyamhuri, as Zimbabwe lost three wickets in seven deliveries, still 100 runs away from their target.Ervine fought on for Zimbabwe, hitting Rashid for two boundaries either side of the wicket in the next over before depositing Zia over midwicket. He took Zimbabwe past 200 with a cover drive and hit another boundary down the ground – a misfield at long-on that helped him to a second half-century in the match.Soon after, Zimbabwe’s No. 10 Richard Ngarava pulled up holding his calf, and with lights fading, it brought on stumps with Zimbabwe still needing 73 and Afghanistan two wickets from victory.Afghanistan began the day 205 runs ahead and scored quickly with Ismat and Rashid finding the boundary regularly. But the latter failed to get out of the way of a Blessing Muzarabani bouncer and gloved a catch behind to give him his maiden Test five-wicket haul.Ismat carried on, hitting three fours in four overs after Rashid’s dismissal, and went past Ibrahim Zadran’s 87 in 2019 for the highest score by an Afghanistan batter on Test debut. With Zimbabwe spreading the field, he was forced to slow down but with Yamin Ahmadzai for company, he brought up his century and celebrated with a series of fist pumps. The celebrations were worth it after he had fallen for a two-ball duck in his maiden international innings.He fell on 101, miscuing a pull off Muzarabani, after which Afghanistan added just seven runs.