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The fast bowler spent the last many weeks recovering from a fractured forearm at the NCA

PTI29-Mar-2021Mohammed Shami is “absolutely fine and ready to go” for the Punjab Kings in IPL 2021 after spending time at the National Cricket Academy (NCA) recovering from the fractured forearm he suffered during the first Test in Australia in mid-December.”The injury while batting was unfortunate as I have not had any fitness issues for a long time, but this was something I couldn’t do anything about but it is part of the game,” Shami, who left the NCA on March 20, told . “I always look at the positives. The last season was good for me and hope I can carry that form into the IPL. Because of the injury, I got more time be ready for a big tournament like the IPL.

On life in the bubble

“It is very tough as you can’t meet your friends and family they way you usually do. That helps take your mind off the game, which is very important. But, right now, it is the need of the hour. It is better to have the bubble than not having the event at all.”

“I was at NCA most of the time. I could have gone back home but because of the current Covid environment, I decided to spend more time at NCA as the facilities are much better and you can follow the Covid protocols.”The 2020 season, played in the UAE, was Shami’s best – after his first go in 2009 – on all markers: he got 20 wickets from 14 games at an average of 23.00 and strike rate of 16.10, with an economy rate of 8.57, all superior to his numbers in previous seasons. His IPL best of 3 for 15 also came last season.But with Ravi Bishnoi the only other bowler to have an impact, the Punjab Kings [Kings XI Punjab till last year] failed to make the playoffs. They have bolstered the bowling department ahead of the upcoming season, buying Jhye Richardson, Riley Meredith, Jalaj Saxena, Moises Henriques and Fabian Allen at the auction earlier this year.”We can’t change the past,” Shami said. “I tried my best last season and also helped the fellow pacers whenever I could. We got good overseas players now. It is a stronger squad so we should do better this time.”Your mind has to be absolutely clear in the shortest format. As a unit, we did good work, but lost close matches we should have won. The support staff and players were frank with each other about that. Our death bowling seems better compared to last year, so we should do better.”

Watling, Labuschagne, Agarwal and Rahim also make substantial progress

ESPNcricinfo staff26-Nov-2019New Zealand left-arm quick Neil Wagner has moved up to No.3 among bowlers in the ICC Test rankings. He gained five places after bagging eight wickets, including a five-for in the second innings, to lead New Zealand to victory in the first-ever Test in Mount Maunganui. Wagner’s team-mate BJ Watling, who became the first New Zealand wicketkeeper to make a Test double-hundred, shot up 12 spots to be placed 12th among Test batsmen.Watling had soaked up 473 balls in Mount Maunganui – only Sri Lanka’s Brendon Kuruppu has faced more balls than the New Zealander among wicketkeeper-batsmen in a Test innings. Watling’s effort took his points tally to a career-best 693. Australia’s Marnus Labuschagne also reached career-best points of 684 and slotted in at 21 – nine places behind Watling.Labuschagne’s 185 in the Brisbane Test was central to Australia securing an innings victory over Pakistan. David Warner, who endured a horrid Ashes series in England, opened the home Test summer with 154 and consequently gained six places to move to 17th. Steven Smith continues to be the No.1-ranked Test batsman with 931 points. India captain Virat Kohli is hot on his heels, with 928 points, having hit a century in the first-ever pink-ball Test in India.England captain Joe Root, meanwhile, dropped out of the top ten for the first time since August 2014. India opener Mayank Agarwal replaced Root in the top ten, also achieving career-best points of 700. Ishant Sharma, who took nine wickets in the pink-ball Test in Kolkata, moved from 20th to 17th while Bangladesh’s Mushfiqur Rahim gained four places to reach 26th among batsmen after making a counterattacking 74 in Kolkata.

Shaun Marsh followed up his 80 from the first innings with a 92-ball 98 to help his side romp to a seven wicket win over Tasmania at the WACA

Alex Malcolm27-Oct-2018Shaun Marsh played on trying to drive•Getty Images

Shaun Marsh has gone a long way to shore up his Test spot with a scintillating 98 to help Western Australia romp to a seven wicket win over Tasmania at the WACA.The Warriors were in early trouble chasing a tricky fourth innings target of 192. Gabe Bell and Jackson Bird removed both openers Jonathan Wells and Josh Philippe respectively to leave the home side 2 for 5. But Marsh and Hilton Cartwright made light work of the chase from there.After plundering 17 boundaries in his first innings 80, Marsh following up with 19 fours in a 92-ball 98. He and Cartwright put on 170 in just 33.1 overs before Marsh was trapped lbw by Beau Webster with just 17 runs to win. But his two fluent half-centuries on a surface where the bowlers held sway for the majority of the three days saw him named Player of the Match.Cartwright’s unbeaten 84 from 126 balls was shaded by Marsh but was no less valuable as WA responded to the round one innings defeat to Victoria in fine fashion.Earlier, Cameron Green took 3 for 12 to finish with career-best match figures of 9 for 42. Tasmania were looking to set a significant fourth innings target with Jordan Silk and Jake Doran laying a strong platform courtesy of a 73-run stand. But both men chopped on to Marcus Stoinis and Jhye Richardson in consecutive overs and the innings never recovered.Matthew Wade made his fourth consecutive half-century of the season but ran out of partners for the fourth straight innings as Green, Matt Kelly and David Moody ran swiftly through the Tigers’ tail.Marsh and Cartwright then rattled to victory in the chase to win with seven wickets and a day to spare.

Steve Davies rewarded Somerset’s patience with the most timely of centuries as Somerset insisted that survival was not beyond them

Paul Edwards at Taunton12-Sep-20171:34

The highlights from a crucial round of the Specsavers Championship

Time was when Steve Davies was considered an England cricketer of some promise. But so transitory can be international fame and so rapid the churn of players that his eight one-day internationals now seem distant occasions. Add a recent loss of form to the mix and Davies has been returned to the ranks of county professionals, one of a dozen or more admirable wicketkeeper-batsmen in the first-class game.All of which tempts one to forget what a fine player Davies still is and how capable when it comes to organising an innings. To their relief, however, Somerset supporters at Taunton were reminded of those virtues on the first day of this match when he made a painstaking 111, an innings that was as welcome to home supporters as ginger cake on a mellow autumn afternoon.But Davies’s 226-minute hundred was warmly appreciated by the ruddy regulars at the County Ground not so much for its rich luxury as its grave necessity. Despite last week’s victory at Edgbaston, Somerset trail the teams above them by at least 13 points and surely need to win at least one of their final three games if they are to stay up. Davies’s innings may have had its slight – it contained only a dozen boundaries – but it held the Somerset effort together against Lancashire bowlers who were striving to justify Steven Croft’s decision to bowl first in a game where both sides have picked two spinners.That decision was probably explained by the belief that the Lancashire seamers would make early breakthroughs but by the close it was Matty Parkinson’s leg-spin that was causing Davies and his colleagues most of their problems. The four wickets Parkinson took and the turn he extracted suggested batting last will not be a straightforward task on this Taunton pitch against a side which already has 330 runs on the board. That does not bode well for the visiting batsmen in a game they almost certainly need to win to sustain their own championship ambitions.It barely seems a year since Somerset were striving to win the title while Lancashire were struggling to avoid their third relegation in five seasons. The teams began this game having swapped concerns, although that in itself is not so surprising in an eight-team division, where mid-table respectability is a mirage. Lancashire have toughened up under Glen Chapple and Mark Chilton’s new regime while Somerset’s hopes have foundered amid batting frailties. “The wheel is come full circle. I am here” says Edmund in Act V Scene iii of .Steve Davies’ century gave Somerset’s survival bid a boost•Getty Images

During the morning session it seemed that the sides would play their accustomed roles. Three of Somerset’s top order played themselves in and then duly got out for scores between 25 and 38. Their dismissals illustrated Somerset’s problems this season. Marcus Trescothick, having batted pleasantly for 25, was leg before when playing around his front pad to Tom Bailey. George Bartlett, whose crouching stance suggests imminent rheumatism rather than obvious comfort, was lbw to Kyle Jarvis for 3 when falling across his off stump. Neither batsman demurred at their decisions.James Hildreth hit four boundaries, a couple of them as pleasant as anything one has seen this season, before he played loosely at McLaren and was bowled off the inside edge for 25. Hildreth has now been dismissed between 22 and 43 in 11 of his 21 championship innings this season. Such fallibility is endearing only to slack-minded neutrals. In Somerset it produces irritation that one of the most abundantly gifted batsmen in the English game manages at times to make relatively little of his talent.As three of his colleagues departed, young Eddie Byrom batted with conscientious care and a pleasing awareness of the location of his off stump. His reward was to be 38 not out at lunch but he had not added to that total when McLaren moved the third delivery after lunch away from him and he failed to cover the deviation.But as the ball aged and Parkinson initially struggled to find his length, Somerset recovered from 105 for 4. Davies added 119 for the fifth wicket with his captain, Tom Abell, whose own innings of 46 was a reminder of how sweetly he times a cricket ball when the gods are with him. It seemed likely that the pair would steer Somerset to tea without further loss but Abell edged Parkinson’s fine leg-spinner to Liam Livingstone at slip in the over before the break, a wicket which encouraged Croft’s bowlers without restoring parity.Parkinson added the scalps of Peter Trego, Craig Overton and Dom Bess, two of them stumped by an alert Alex Davies, in a gloomy rain-threatened evening session, and one wondered if his namesake would run out of partners before reaching three figures. But Jack Leach offered stout support and was unbeaten on 26 at the close of a day’s cricket which had been packed with delights. Davies, himself, had been bowled off the inside edge by Bailey three overs before the close. He played a tired shot but he will enjoy the sleep of the just. One or two Lancashire batsmen, on the other hand, may be haunted by visions of spitting balls and predatory fielders.

Four uncapped players – Arjun Thyagarajan, Nisarg Patel, Usman Rafiq and Prashanth Nair – have been picked in a USA team that will play a Caribbean Premier League Invitational XI on Friday in Florida

Peter Della Penna in Florida29-Jul-2016Four uncapped players – Arjun Thyagarajan, Nisarg Patel, Usman Rafiq and Prashanth Nair – have been picked in a USA team that will play a Caribbean Premier League Invitational XI on Friday at the Central Broward Regional Park in Lauderhill, Florida. The game will be played as a curtain-raiser ahead of that night’s CPL match between St Kitts & Nevis Patriots and Trinbago Knight Riders.The players were chosen by USA selectors and announced by USA national selector Barney Jones at the conclusion of the team’s training session at the Central Broward Regional Park (CBRP) on Thursday. Speaking shortly after the team announcement, ICC Americas high performance consultant Tom Evans said the selectors were looking to see a mix new players but also see how some of USA’s most recent squad members perform against players of CPL standard.”The 12 for tomorrow is a bit of a combination,” Evans said. “Twelve guys that we want to have a look at. Some guys who have played a bit, some guys who haven’t. Twelve guys who we’re keen to have a look at.”

Squads for the invitational match

USA: Alex Amsterdam, Fahad Babar, Adil Bhatti, Akeem Dodson, Elmore Hutchinson, Prashanth Nair, Nisarg Patel, Usman Rafiq, Saqib Saleem, Jessy Singh, Nicholas Standford, Arjun Thyagarajan
CPL squad: Shamarh Brooks (capt, Patriots), Steven Katwaroo (wk, Amazon Warriors), Kyle Corbin (Tridents), Nitish Kumar (Zouks), Jeremiah Louis (Patriots), Gidron Pope (Zouks), Kristopher Ramsarran (Zouks), Alex Ross (Tallawahs), Shemar Springer (Tridents), Hamza Tariq (Knight Riders), Steven Taylor (Tridents), O’Shane Thomas (Tallawahs)

Six of the other eight players in the team were part of USA’s most recent tournament squad, in Ireland, at the 2015 World T20 Qualifier. Two of those six, leading scorer Akeem Dodson and batsman Alex Amsterdam, were also part of the ICC Americas squad that travelled to Trinidad in January for the Nagico Super50 competition.Similarly, three other ICC Americas squad members have been named in the CPL Invitational squad, including USA’s Steven Taylor, who is part of the Barbados Tridents. The other two are Canada’s Hamza Tariq and Nitish Kumar, who are contracted with Knight Riders and St Lucia Zouks respectively. Kumar played in the first two games this season for the Zouks but has not appeared since July 3, while Tariq has yet to play for Knight Riders. Taylor started the first give games for Tridents but was dropped after making just 55 runs with a best of 37 in the season opener against Knight Riders.One overseas player outside of the ICC Americas members had also been included in the CPL Invitational XI: Australian Alex Ross of the Jamaica Tallawahs. The CPL XI will be captained by Shamarh Brooks and coached by CPL international director of cricket Tom Moody, assisted by St Lucia Zouks assistant coach Trevor Penney.The 30-man USA national squad arrived in Florida on Wednesday night and Thursday morning for the start of a week-long camp. The team’s training session on Thursday at the CBRP included a fielding masterclass coordinated by the ICC and CPL led by Penney and Moody.USA squad players will be given the opportunity to shadow CPL squads throughout the weekend in Florida – Nosthush Kenjige and Danial Ahmed (Amazon Warriors); Japen Patel and Francis Mendonca (Tridents) had the privilege for Thursday night’s CPL game – before commencing with three 50-over intra-squad trial matches on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. A final 14-man squad is then expected to be picked following the matches to compete for USA at WCL Division Four in Los Angeles from October 29-November 5.

Angelo Mathews was the rock in Sri Lanka’s middle order once again, soaking up all the pressure Pakistan created, and rebuilding from 35 for 3 to take the hosts to a commanding position

The Report by Abhishek Purohit05-Jul-2015
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsAngelo Mathews led another recovery effort•AFP

Angelo Mathews was the rock in Sri Lanka’s middle order once again, soaking up all the pressure Pakistan created, and rebuilding from 35 for 3 to take the hosts to a commanding position. Upul Tharanga, Jehan Mubarak and Dinesh Chandimal supported their captain as Sri Lanka gradually stretched their lead to 291 until bad light ended play on another rain-hit day.It was typical Mathews resistance, blocking and blocking most of whatever Pakistan hurled at him, working the ball into gaps for singles and twos, and exploding into the odd emphatic boundary against the run of play. The few times he was beaten during his 177-ball stay, he shrugged and concentrated harder.

Smart Stats

3 Sri Lankan bowlers who took three wickets during the first innings – Dhammika Prasad, Nuwan Pradeep and Tharindu Kaushal. This is the first time three Sri Lankan bowlers have taken three wickets each in a home Test.

3 Wicket-keepers who have scored 1000-plus Test runs at an average of 50 or more – Andy Flower, AB de Villiers and Sarfraz Ahmed. Sarfraz has now scored 1157 runs in 18 Tests at an average of 50.30, including three hundreds and seven fifties.

11 Instances since 2011 where Sri Lanka have lost their first two wickets for 25 runs or less in a home Test, the second-most for any Test nation after West Indies, who have suffered this fate on 17 occasions. Sri Lanka were 22 for 2 in their second innings in Pallekele.

0 Runs scored by Imran Khan in five Tests. No other player (as of today) has played more than three Tests without scoring a single run. It is, however, worth noting that Imran has only played two innings in these five Tests. He was dismissed for a duck during Pakistan’s first innings this Test.

1 Number of Sri Lankan batsmen who have scored 500-plus runs at a 50-plus average when batting at No. 5 – Angelo Mathews is the only one. Second and third on the list are Aravinda de Silva (48.45) and Thilan Samaraweera (47.59)

The pitch slowed down as the day progressed, although the legspinner Yasir Shah started turning and bouncing it from the line of off. Although Yasir gave it everything in a 25-over spell of 2 for 70, Sri Lanka dearly needed this effort from their captain to recover from the jolts Rahat Ali and co had delivered.Sri Lanka had taken two overs to dismiss last man Imran Khan in the morning, making absolutely no attempt to target Sarfraz Ahmed, who was left stranded on 78. But Rahat led a stirring fightback from Pakistan after they had conceded a 63-run first-innings lead.Ehsan Adil played his part but Rahat was the standout bowler for Pakistan, bowling with sustained pace and control, varying his lengths and extracting bounce and movement off the pitch and in the air.Consistently taking it away from the left-handers, Rahat straightened two rippers past the defenses of Dimuth Karunaratne and Lahiru Thirimanne, the latter’s 11-ball duck ending with a swinging yorker.Using the short ball sparingly, Rahat created doubts in the minds of the batsmen, and both Karunaratne and Thirimanne were caught half-forward after being beaten numerous times. Thirimanne was also hit on the base of the arm guard as he ducked into a lifter, and had to take treatment on the field.Adil created similar issues for the right-handed Silva, hitting a tight line and length outside off and moving it away. Silva is a difficult batsman to bowl to, his tendency to play with soft hands ensuring most edges don’t carry to the cordon. But the kind of effort Pakistan were putting, and the zip they were generating, even Silva could not avoid nicking one for Misbah-ul-Haq to take a sharp, low catch at first slip.Rain reprieved Sri Lanka immediately after the third wicket fell, and Tharanga and Mathews batted positively upon resumption in the few overs until lunch.Mathews survived a review for leg-before off Rahat at the stroke of lunch, but Pakistan did not review when Imran hit Tharanga’s pad first ball after the interval. They were probably confused by the two sounds, but one of them was that of Tharanga’s bat crashing into his pad. Tharanga was on 29 then, and went on to hit a few more boundaries in a 47-ball 48 before popping one off the inside edge to short leg off Yasir.Rahat, in such fine rhythm in the first session, was introduced in the second only after Tharanga fell. His second and third spells lacked the threat of the first, and it was Adil who created problems for Mubarak with a hint of reverse, beating the left-hander often outside off.Mubarak was solid after another shower forced tea to be taken early, and played some superbly-timed drives through extra cover. Mubarak and Mathews doubled the score from 80 for 4 till the former fell in the short-leg trap to Yasir for 35.Chandimal’s arrival quickened the pace of scoring, and he comfortably worked the ball off the back foot as Pakistan started to flag. He progressed to 39 smoothly, and with Mathews inching to 77, Sri Lanka’s lead was in touching distance of 300. Only twice has a target more than that been achieved in a Test in Sri Lanka, and a visiting side has never done it.

A proposed Twenty20 league in the USA, headed by the USA Cricket Association and New Zealand Cricket, may be on the verge of collapse

Peter Della Penna20-Dec-2012A proposed Twenty20 league in the USA, headed by the USA Cricket Association and New Zealand Cricket, may be on the verge of collapse after USACA president Gladstone Dainty allegedly informed stakeholders at the annual general meeting on December 15 in New York that the board’s partnership with Rajiv Podar, the primary investor supplying funding to USACA through Cricket Holdings America LLC, might be coming to an end.It is a scenario that is being denied by Podar.”It is true we have been and we are still in active discussions with some investors,” Podar wrote in an email to ESPNcricinfo.”There have been some delays, mainly due to detailed planning and putting a proper structure and plan together. Given the magnitude of the project and our desire to have a world-class event, delays are normal. Frankly, I do not see how this is going to be a potential danger in ending the league. The company is being financed and progressing as planned.”When the CHA LLC agreement was signed in 2010, USACA was supposed to receive $2 million in annual payments from Podar in the form of advances drawn against future earnings from licensing fees secured by the proposed league. A further $3 million bonus payment was set to be disbursed to USACA from Podar by the end of 2011 in the form of share sales after securing another investor in the CHA LLC partnership to join Podar, Top Bloom, Neil Maxwell’s Insite Organization, USACA and NZC.Dainty admitted to ESPNcricinfo in November that USACA had actually been getting “about half” of the $2 million in annual payments from Podar that were originally agreed to as part of the CHA LLC deal.According to sources, an additional investor was never secured and USACA never received the $3 million bonus despite two extensions granted to broker an agreement. The latest extension passed on December 15. Podar however was quick to dispel notions that the proposed league or his affiliation with CHA is in danger of coming to an end.Dainty, who is also the chairman of the board of CHA in addition to being USACA president, is set to have a meeting in New York with Podar next month regarding the funding issues. If the sides part ways, it could mean that there will be no CHA T20 league unless a different investor is found to take Podar’s place within the CHA structure to prevent it from collapsing.It could also mean that USACA would have to repay Podar the millions of dollars he has already advanced them since 2010, which could pose problems for USACA since they do not have any significant revenue streams to facilitate repayment.The money Podar extended to USACA was initially seen as a resource for funding USA development programmes. However, on-field endeavours took a back seat to legal battles in 2012 as USACA spent well into six figures this year on lawyer fees.Consequently, USACA only organised one domestic tournament in 2012, a solitary 50-over match for the national championship on November 11 in Florida between a group of players handpicked by the USACA administration and designated as the Eastern and Western Conference. Despite multiple press releases promising to do so, USACA failed to organise a women’s national tournament in 2012 and never put together a national junior tournament either despite receiving roughly $300,000 in funding from the ICC for the purpose of such development initiatives.As of now, the CHA-organised USA Twenty20 league is scheduled to begin in June but signs that the league initiative was on shaky ground came to the surface earlier this month.Dainty and Maxwell, the chief executive of CHA, gave conflicting accounts on the state of proposed league. Dainty told ESPNcricinfo that Associate-level players would be recruited to form the nucleus of the player talent pool while Maxwell stated in a separate interview that the league was still hoping to secure top-flight players from Full Member nations for a launch next summer with six teams playing on artificial pitches in New York.According to a source with knowledge of the situation, Dainty is also at odds with Maxwell over the latter’s plan to stage matches on artificial pitches, which is presently the only viable way to play matches in New York and other major metropolitan markets due to a lack of turf facilities.

A round-up of the action from the third day of the eighth round of matches in the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy Division One 2011-12

ESPNcricinfo staff26-Nov-2011An improved batting performance in the second innings could not help Sialkot avoid an innings defeat to Rawalpindi at the Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium. After having crumbled to 97 to concede a lead of 307, Sialkot made 288, with half-centuries from Mohammad Yasin, Nasir Iqbal and Mohammad Ayub. But no one went on to make a big score, with Yasin’s 78 being the highest score of the innings. Sadaf Hussain and Rashid Latif too four wickets apiece for Rawalpindi.Habib Bank roared back into contention against State Bank of Pakistan, skittling them out for 185 and starting strongly in their chase of 246 at the Diamond Club Ground in Islamabad. Having conceded a lead of 60 yesterday, Habib Bank’s bowlers came hard at State Bank, with Sarmad Anwar leading the way with four wickets. Rameez Raja made 54, but apart from Rameez Alam’s 31, there was little support. State Bank were 91 for 6 at one stage but the lower order dug in to carry them to 185. Ahmed Shehzad started Habib Bank’s chase with an aggressive 77, hitting 14 fours off 89 deliveries. Habib Bank ended the day on 147 for 3, needing another 99 for a win.Wajid Ali stretched Abbottabad‘s first innings to 288 but they still ended up conceding a 49-run lead to Islamabad at the Abbottabad Cricket Stadium. The lower order hung around with Wajid who hit 15 boundaries in making an unbeaten 94 off 150 deliveries. Nasrullah Khan claimed the last four wickets to finish with 6 for 95. Afaq Raheem and Umair Khan extended Islamabad’s advantage further with a 129-run opening stand before Nabeeullah struck twice, removing Raheem for 66 and Raheel Majeed for 11. Umair was unbeaten on 72 at stumps with Islamabad on 198 for 2, an overall lead of 247.Naseer Akram and Aqeel Ahmed triggered a collapse to dismiss Karachi Blues for 248 but the visitors were well in front against Faisalabad at the Iqbal Stadium in Faisalabad. Karachi had begun well, with Shahzaib Hasan and Asad Baig making fifties upfront. At 153 for 2, Karachi were sitting on a lead of 260 and looking good for much more. Naseer and Aqeel then struck repeatedly, with only Wajihuddin managing to resist for a while with his 41. Naseer finished with 6 for 71 while Aqeel had figures of 4 for 55. Mohammad Sami struck early as Faisalabad’s chase got off to a poor start. They ended the day on 18 for 1, chasing a stiff 356.Hammad Azam helped National Bank of Pakistan recover to set Pakistan International Airlines a target of 259 at the Jinnah Stadium in Sialkot. National Bank had slipped to 86 for 5 but Nasir Jamshed (66) helped Azam revive the innings. Azam played an attacking knock, smashing 12 fours and three sixes in his run-a-ball 93. Najaf Shah was the most successful bowler for PIA with three wickets. PIA started well in their chase, reaching 84 for 1 in 14 overs with Agha Sabir unbeaten on 41.Water and Power Development Authority put up a strong display in their second innings, reaching 270 for 2 against Zarai Taraqiati Bank Limited at the National Ground in Islamabad. Rafatullah Mohmand made a breezy 117 while opener Ahmed Said dug in with a patient unbeaten 76 off 221 deliveries. Mohmand hit 17 fours and a six in his 141-ball knock after opener Asif Khan had fallen for 22 to Iftikhar Anjum. With ZTBL having taken a first-innings lead of 123, WAPDA ended the day 147 runs ahead.

James Hopes and Chris Hartley rescued Queensland from a precarious position on a slow-moving opening day against Victoria at the MCG

ESPNcricinfo staff26-Nov-2010
ScorecardChris Hartley helped Queensland recover, with an unbeaten 64•Getty Images

James Hopes and Chris Hartley rescued Queensland from a precarious position on a slow-moving opening day against Victoria at the MCG. The Bulls recovered from 5 for 89 to reach 5 for 226 by stumps, with the captain Hopes unbeaten on 75 and the wicketkeeper Hartley on 64.The early stages of the day were a struggle for the batsmen, after Cameron White sent the visitors in on a pitch tinged with green. Clint McKay picked up two early wickets, trapping Ryan Broad lbw with an offcutter before adding Craig Philipson, who was caught behind for 4.Wade Townsend and Chris Lynn tried to steady the ship, but it was desperately slow going. Townsend was caught behind off Will Sheridan for 31 off 120 balls and the man who replaced him, Ben Dunk, soon became the first victim of Damien Wright.Wright was next to impossible to get away, and finished with 2 for 25 from 20 overs, finishing with the wicket of Lynn, who was bowled for 24 from 102. Hopes and Hartley found it much easier to score and they’ll be aiming to push on to a strong total on the second day.