Kane Williamson managed just 1, while Ross Taylor and James Neesham scored half-centuries in their respective games on the opening day of the Plunket Shield

ESPNcricinfo staff10-Oct-2018Fast bowler Trent Boult smashed a 37-ball 61 for Northern Districts against Otago in Mount Maunganui on the opening day of Plunket Shield 2018-19. Coming in at 59 for 8, Boult smashed six fours and five sixes to register his highest first-class score – bettering his unbeaten 52 against Bangladesh in 2013 – on a day where 21 wickets fell.Boult looted 28 from one Mark Craig over, hitting the offspinner for three successive sixes over midwicket off the first three balls. He then steered the next ball past first slip for a boundary before finishing the over with yet another six, this time over long-off. But two overs later, Craig got his revenge when he dismissed Boult to end the innings on 136.Northern Districts had the services of New Zealand captain Kane Williamson, but he managed only 1, while BJ Watling and Colin de Grandhomme were dismissed for ducks.Earlier, Boult, Neil Wagner and de Grandhomme shared eight wickets to bowl Otago out for 108. However, in their second innings, Otago cruised to 88 for 1 to finish the day 60 ahead.Meanwhile, at Saxton Oval, Ross Taylor’s 75 helped Central Districts to 301 for 7 against Canterbury despite Matt Henry’s 4 for 87.At Basin Reserve, James Neesham and Michael Bracewell struck half-centuries, but Wellington could manage only 255 in their first innings. In response, Auckland were 64 for 2 at stumps, with Neesham chipping in with one wicket.

Role oversees the board’s billion-dollar revenues from rights deals, as well as the distribution of profits from global tournaments

ESPNcricinfo staff14-Nov-2018Colin Graves has been named as the new chairman of the ICC’s financial affairs committee.The role, which oversees the board’s billion-dollar revenues from rights deals as well as the distribution of profits from global tournaments, is one of the most influential within the game’s governing body.It also offers Graves a potential next step as an administrator for when his turbulent term as ECB chairman ends in May 2020.His popularity within English cricket has waned amid controversy about the impending launch of the board’s new Hundred competition, while two directors recently resigned from the ECB board citing their dissatisfaction with his style of leadership.It remains to be seen whether he will seek re-election at the ECB, and if not, then the ICC role could be a logical next step if he wishes to stay within the game.Manohar, the ICC’s first independent chairman, was re-elected last year for a second two-year term which ends in 2020.Giles Clarke, Graves’ predecessor as ECB chairman, also held the financial affairs role at the ICC, but failed to gain enough support to mount a bid to become ICC chairman.

If successful, the league could serve as a core revenue driver to fund all other operations of the board

Peter Della Penna27-Nov-2018USA Cricket is planning to start its own T20 professional domestic competition by 2021. It could also possibly be sooner after the governing body announced a request for proposals (RFP) on Monday.”This is an exciting time for cricket in the United States with the formation of our new Board of Directors, USA Cricket’s pending recognition as an ICC approved National Federation and the performance of our athletes on the field of play,” USA Cricket chairman Paraag Marathe said. “This RFP continues on the positive momentum as we seek to build a successful and sustainable league domestically.”Newly released global research shows there are more than 20 million cricket fans in the United States. A well-run T20 professional league is the platform needed to engage existing fans and grow new ones to support the bullish vision this Board has for cricket in the US.”If USA Cricket is able to get a league off the ground, it could serve as a core revenue driver to fund all other operations of the governing body and reduce the reliance on the ICC funding support. One of the other key goals listed in the RFP is setting up a league that can help cricket “establish itself as a mainstream sport in the United States”.Another core objective mentioned is to “support the sustainable development of cricketing infrastructure across the United States”. Currently, the only ICC certified T20I/ODI stadium facility is the Central Broward Regional Park (CBRP) in Lauderhill, Florida.The Florida facility has hosted eight T20Is so far, beginning with a two-match series between Sri Lanka and New Zealand in 2010. The series that drew the best attendance at the facility was a pair of T20Is between India and West Indies in August 2016, which included a first-day sellout of 15,000 people. But most other matches not involving India have struggled to draw in crowds.In terms of the domestic T20 circuit, the CBRP has hosted the Caribbean Premier League fixtures since 2016. Six matches were held at the facility in 2016, including a pair of sold-out weekend double-headers when capacity was set at 10,000 people. But attendance has continued to fall significantly each year culminating in an estimated 700 people attending a mid-week fixture between Jamaica Tallawahs and Barbados Tridents this past season, casting doubt on the viability of an expatriate-dominated USA fan base to support a full-fledged domestic franchise league.USA Cricket’s attempt to start their own pro T20 league follows several failed attempts at domestic professional leagues during the USA Cricket Association (USACA) era. The first was Pro Cricket, an eight-team T20 professional league started by New Jersey businessman Kal Patel that signed several international players as its marquee players including Robin Singh, Colin Miller, Ricardo Powell, Marlon Samuels, Franklyn Rose and Mervyn Dillon. It never received official sanctioning from USACA and lasted just one season in 2004 before it folded.USACA signed a licensing deal in December 2010 with New Zealand Cricket, Podar Enterprises and Neil Maxwell’s Insite Organisation for a franchise T20 league that was scheduled for a 2012 launch. As part of the deal, USACA was due to receive up to $9 million in advance payments on anticipated future revenue from the league but a failure to secure investors resulted in a breakdown in the licensing partnership, and the league was never formed.The most recent attempt at a T20 professional league was announced by USACA in September 2016 when they claimed that they had reached a 20-year, $70 million licensing deal with Global Sports Ventures (GSV) to start a new T20 league. USACA were under the ICC suspension at that point, prior to eventually being expelled in June 2017 and as such, the ICC guidelines stated that USACA had no sanctioning authority for such a league.Sources have told ESPNcricinfo that no money was ever exchanged between Global Sports Ventures and USACA. The head of GSV, Pennsylvania-based businessman Jay Pandya, eventually bought the St Lucia franchise in the Caribbean Premier League.

The offspinner stands suspended from bowling in international cricket, but, with the consent of SLC, he can still bowl in Sri Lanka’s domestic competitions

ESPNcricinfo staff10-Dec-2018Sri Lanka spinner Akila Dananjaya has been suspended from bowling in international cricket after failing an independent biomechanics assessment in Brisbane. He may, however, bowl in Sri Lanka’s domestic competitions, with SLC’s consent.The news is a major blow to Sri Lanka ahead of next year’s World Cup. Dananjaya had been the most consistent bowler in Sri Lanka’s ODI ranks over the past year, and had begun to have success in the Test format as well. Dananjaya is likely to undergo remedial work over the next few months, but it is as yet unclear when he may be able to undergo the biomechanics test again, with a view to being cleared for international cricket. As such, the Sri Lanka selectors and coach Chandika Hathurusingha may have to begin looking at other options for a lead spinner.Dananjaya had been reported for a suspect action following Sri Lanka’s first Test against England in Galle last month. Of the three main deliveries he bowls, it is understood to be his offbreak – the stock ball – that was found to be breaching the 15-degree limit for elbow flexion.Even if Dananjaya does undergo remedial work and gets himself cleared to bowl at the top level, there is no guarantee he will be as effective a bowler. Sri Lanka offspinner Sachithra Senanayake had returned to the international fold with a re-worked action late in 2014, after earlier failing a biomechanics test, and was unable to replicate the success of his early career. Tharindu Kaushal, another Sri Lanka offspinner, also had his doosra banned in 2015, and has since been unable to flourish in top flight cricket.Dananjaya has 28 ODI wickets at an average of 23 this year. In Tests, he has 27 wickets at 24.25.

West Indies only need to win one of the next two matches to seal a rare series win against top-eight opposition but Holder is refusing to be distracted

ESPNcricinfo staff30-Jan-2019Jason Holder, the West Indies captain, has urged his players to focus on the job at hand ahead of the pivotal second Test against England in Antigua. After his side’s demolition job in Barbados, West Indies only need to win one of the next two matches to seal a rare series win against top-eight opposition but Holder is refusing to be distracted.While West Indies have shown steady improvement over the last couple of years, their only series wins in recent times have come against Zimbabwe and Bangladesh. Just twice in the last ten years have they beaten another Test team ranked in the top eight: a 2-0 win over New Zealand in 2012, and the hard-fought 1-0 victory against England in 2008-09.”It’s great to be 1-0 up, but that’s history,” Holder said. “We are happy to be leading in the series but we have our feet firmly on the ground. We are not focusing on what happened before in Barbados. We are looking forward to this match and what we have ahead of us.”It’s a matter for us to move on and understand what we need to do. We speak about consistency in the dressing room and I think we’ve got to be hitting all three departments well every time we step on the field.”Asked about the potential significance of a series win over England, he added: “It would mean a lot but again I don’t want to focus too much on the series at this point in time, I want to focus on the second match. We need to be consistent in all three departments.”The key feature of West Indies’ performance in Barbados was contributions coming from throughout the side. Holder led the way with his second-innings double-hundred, but there was a five-wicket haul for Kemar Roach, career-best figures for Roston Chase and important innings from Shane Dowrich and Shimron Hetmyer.Holder said that while his players had shown “glimpses” of what they were capable of in the past – such as their dramatic 2017 win at Headingley – he was pleased that the team was growing stronger as a collective.Jason Holder in a relaxed mood at West Indies’ training•Getty Images

“It’s a matter for us to continue to build the side,” he said. “What’s really encouraging is that we’ve seen glimpses that this team can perform, and beat top sides in the world. We’ve had personal success and it’s good to see us bringing it a little bit more together as a side, so hopefully we can continue in that vein and the guys continue to be hungry for success.”West Indies had a couple of fitness question marks over Dowrich, who did not keep on the fourth day due to a sore back, and Shannon Gabriel, but both are expected to be fit to play in Antigua. The sight of Gabriel giving Joe Root, England’s captain, the hurry up was a throwback to traditional West Indian strengths and Holder was looking forward to unleashing his pace spearhead once again.”It wasn’t a surprise, it’s something that Shannon’s done to many batsmen around the world. He carries pace and he was aggressive in that spell, which we asked of him. It was really good to see him come out after lunch – we were probably a little flat with England two down and over 100, we needed to break the partnership and Shannon really gave us that momentum. It was really good to see.”He’s generally quick and awkward [to face]. Just expect Shannon to run in – he had a bit of a toe injury in the last game but that seems to have healed up pretty nicely. So we expect Shannon to be running in tomorrow.”Should West Indies produce a similar performance, England might find it hard to live with them and Holder admitted the thought of sealing the series with a game to play had not escaped him – though he was keen to insist West Indies remained the underdogs.”It’s at the back of my mind. I just said to the guys, make sure we keep it out of our minds, make sure focus on what we need to do here – we need to get 20 wickets to win this game, we need to put up runs, and if we do that and hold our chances, we have a good chance. We’re still ranked No. 8, England are No. 2 or 3, so we’re definitely the underdogs.”

National selector felt allrounder was not England’s first-choice spinner, nor suitable to overseas conditions

George Dobell14-Feb-2019Moeen Ali says he was “hit hard” by comments from the national selector, Ed Smith, suggesting he was neither England’s first-choice spinner nor suitable to overseas conditions.Smith, appointed as England’s national selector last April, could not find space for Moeen in his first Test squad for the series against Pakistan, which started in May. Instead, Dom Bess was selected with Smith making it clear Jack Leach would have played had he been fit.”Moeen had a difficult winter,” Smith said at the time. “We know he can be a very productive player in English conditions. But the role of first-choice spinner might not be best suited to him. His best way might be as second spinner.”But while Moeen says those comments were “disappointing”, he also believes they “spurred” him to win a recall. That happened for the fourth Test of the series against India, when he won the man-of-the-match award after out-bowling Ravi Ashwin and picking up nine series-sealing wickets.And now, having finished both winter tours as England’s highest wicket-taker (he and Jack Leach both claimed 18 wickets in Sri Lanka, while Moeen claimed another 14 in the Caribbean) he has both responded eloquently to Smith’s challenge and re-established himself as the side’s No. 1 spinner.”It hit me hard,” Moeen said. “It was disappointing. I felt like they were looking for someone else.”But it spurred me on. I did need that break at the time. Maybe if I’d been picked versus Pakistan I wouldn’t have bowled well. But I came back against India fresh, scoring runs and taking wickets and I felt at the top of my game.”I still had the belief. So to get back in the side and prove I can do the job is… [pleasing].”Moeen had endured a grim 2017-18 Ashes. He failed to pass 40 with the bat and claimed only five wickets at a cost of 115 each with the ball. After another wicketless Test in Auckland, he was dropped for the final Test of England’s winter.There were mitigating factors. With England having picked only two spinners in their touring squad – one of which was 20-year-old legspinner Mason Crane – Moeen was obliged to go into the first Test carrying a finger injury that compromised his performance. England had been reluctant to throw Crane into the hostile environment of an Ashes Test in Brisbane on debut as the only spinner. While Moeen’s injury had healed by the back end of the series, his confidence had dipped and he was unable to compensate with his batting.That seems a long time ago now. This year, Moeen has continued to rise up the tally of England’s leading wicket-takers and is currently tied with Angus Fraser on 177. Only 17 men have claimed more Test wickets for England; only four (Derek Underwood, Graeme Swann, Jim Laker and Sydney Barnes, whose categorisation is not straightforward) are spinners.And while his average – 36.37 – is higher than all those above him, his strike-rate – 60.4 – compares well even with England’s two most prolific Test spinners: Underwood’s 297 wickets came at a strike-rate of 73.6, while Swann’s 255 came at 60.1. Over recent weeks, Moeen has surpassed the wicket totals of such respected spinners as Tony Lock, Monty Panesar, Fred Titmus and John Emburey. On every occasion, he has done having bowled far fewer – sometimes several thousand fewer – deliveries.”I’ve done better than I thought I ever would,” Moeen admits. “I must have done okay to get that many wickets. I remember reaching 50 and thinking that was a massive achievement. Someone said ‘maybe 100?’ and I thought no chance.”But when you go past some of the greats, you think ‘maybe I am a good spinner?'”I feel like I belong. People might think I don’t because they think I’m not a proper spinner. There will always be good days and bad days but I am improving. I think I can get into the side as a bowler now, even if I didn’t bat.”There have been times this winter when that has probably been just as well. While he top-scored in the Antigua Test, that innings of 60 was his only half-century of the winter. In 11 innings, he only reached 35 once. As a result, he admits he has work to do on his batting, though he now – for perhaps the first time – appears to see himself as a bowling all-rounder.”It needs working on,” he says. “But I feel set. I will stay at No. 8 and I know it. I have got my head around that and it feels natural now. Being a bowler: I’m very happy with that. Even if I do well people may say I should move up. But I’m happy.”Having experienced such ups and down, Moeen is well qualified to offer some hope to Adil Rashid who was dropped after the Barbados Test and could face an uphill journey to win a recall. But, at least as far as Moeen is concerned, Rashid requires a bit more understanding and “backing”.”Things can change quickly,” Moeen said. “We didn’t expect him to play Tests a year ago. He bowled better than me in the first innings in Barbados. Both of our beliefs is that people can plan or say things, but God’s plans are different.”He’s got so much skill maybe sometimes he confuses himself. His role is to take wickets. He will go for runs. As players, supporters, media, we have to realise that.”No one will be Shane Warne. But a mystery guy like Rash will pick up wickets given the right time, backing and mindset.”I hope it’s not the end. We know what he can do. If we can manage him right, we can get so much more out of him. I still feel he can be one of the best in the world at Test cricket.”

The Knight Riders opener smashed 24 runs in the mystery spinner’s first over

Sreshth Shah at Eden Gardens27-Mar-2019It was, in case you were wondering, the worst debut over in IPL history.ESPNcricinfo Ltd

1.1 Varun to Lynn, 1 run, looped onto a full length, dabbed cautiously off the legs to midwicket
1.2 Varun to Narine, SIX runs, plonked into the dug-out! Plants the front foot, swings through the line, clean over long-off! Old Mystery 1 New Mystery 0
1.3 Varun to Narine, 2 runs, through Varun’s fingers! Smashed back down the track and he can’t cling on to his left!
1.4 Varun to Narine, FOUR runs, honked through midwicket! That’s another calculatedly aggressive mow. No need for finesse, just pummel it to the rope!
1.5 Varun to Narine, SIX runs, that’s gone many a mile! Right to the pitch of this one, a booming slog sweep, high over the leg side! Big pressure now!
1.6 Varun to Narine, SIX runs, sliding down the leg side, and launched over backward square! Yeegads, Narine’s at it again!
To his credit, after conceding 25 runs in his first over – Chris Lynn had scored one off the first ball – and nine in his second, he ended with 1 for 35, after sending back Nitish Rana in his third over.

No room for Cephas Zhuwao, Wellington Masakadza and Tarisai Musakanda in the group, which will be trimmed for the four-ODI series against the UAE

Liam Brickhill25-Mar-2019Zimbabwe have picked three uncapped players in a squad of 27 to train together in preparation for the home ODI series against the UAE, to be played next month. Star batsman Brendan Taylor, whose stint with Lahore Qalandars in the PSL was cut short by a calf injury, is also part of the squad, suggesting that he will have returned to full fitness ahead of the first ODI on April 10.Two of the uncapped players – left-arm spinner Ainsley Ndlovu and middle-order batsman Charles Kunje – play for Matabeleland Tuskers, while offspinner Tony Munyonga debuted for Rising Stars last season and has since moved to Eagles.

The 27-man training squad

Hamilton Masakadza, Brendan Taylor, Brian Chari, Solomon Mire, Tinashe Kamunhukamwe, Craig Ervine, Sean Williams, Peter Moor, Sikandar Raza, Timycen Maruma, Regis Chakabva, Kyle Jarvis, Tendai Chatara, Richard Ngarava, Chris Mpofu, Donald Tiripano, Brandon Mavuta, Ainsley Ndlovu, Richmond Mutumbami, Charles Kunje, Natsai M’shangwe, Ryan Burl, Elton Chigumbura, Tendai Chisoro, Roy Kaia, Carl Mumba, Tony Munyonga

Some familiar names from the fringes also returned to the mix: batsmen Roy Kaia and Timycen Maruma, wicketkeepers Richmond Mutumbami and Regis Chakabva, and legspinner Natsai M’shwangwe have all been recalled on the strength of their performances this season in franchise cricket.Kaia, Chakabva and Maruma all scored hundreds in the Pro50 tournament, while Maruma was also the leading runscorer in the Logan Cup, where he guided Mountaineers to the title with 409 runs at 81.80.Also returning to the national frame is fast bowler Carl Mumba. Mumba was on the sidelines for a year after seriously injuring his knee during Zimbabwe’s tour of Sri Lanka in 2017, but marked his return to professional cricket with 8 for 24 in a Logan Cup match at the beginning of the season, and could now force his way back into the national team.The experienced core of the national team is in place: captain Hamilton Masakadza, Sikandar Raza, Sean Williams, Tendai Chatara, Kyle Jarvis, Elton Chigumbura and Craig Ervine, who will head into the training camp in red-hot limited overs form. Ervine stormed through the Pro50 and Domestic T20 competitions, averaging 211 at better than a run a ball as he topped the local fifty-over batting chart, and carried that form into the T20s, during which he was again leading run-scorer as he powered Tuskers to the title with 328 runs at a strike rate of 154.71.There were also a couple of notable absences from the squad, with hard-hitting opener Cephas Zhuwao overlooked and left-arm spinner Wellington Masakadza unable to force his way in despite decent domestic limited-overs returns. Batsman Tarisai Musakanda has also fallen out of favour after an unspectacular season, while seamer Daniel Jakiel has not been called upon despite topping the Pro50 bowling table with 13 wickets at 11.84.The ODIs against UAE are scheduled for April 10, 12, 14 and 16, all at Harare Sports Club. Before the series gets underway, UAE will face Zimbabwe A in a 50-over warm-up match at Old Hararians Sports Club on April 8, two days after their arrival in the country.

They’ve lost four matches on the trot – not the best place to be when you have to play IPL 2018 finalists Sunrisers Hyderabad, at their home ground

The Preview by Varun Shetty20-Apr-20198:57

Dasgupta: KKR bowlers haven’t done anything at all

Big picture

Sunrisers Hyderabad were able to snap their three-match losing streak dominantly at home against Chennai Super Kings on Wednesday. Kolkata Knight Riders, on the other hand, missed out narrowly against Royal Challengers Bangalore on Friday and now have four consecutive losses. They’re now tied on eight points with Sunrisers, but having played one more game, and more worryingly, lost three in three at home, Knight Riders might be hitting their panic buttons.In theory, they are only two points behind the fourth-placed Kings XI Punjab. they’re also the team with the worst form in the IPL at the moment, and have to turn it around in an afternoon game against Sunrisers in Hyderabad: that is fewer than 48 hours between games.Captain Dinesh Karthik said after the loss to RCB that the situation can sometimes get overwhelming; that it can become difficult to see where the next win is coming. If that has crept in, the silver lining for Knight Riders is that the last time they won, they were on the road in Jaipur. Karthik still believes one win is all they would need to switch the momentum in their favour.Sunrisers won’t be letting their own momentum slip too easy. They have six matches remaining, and only two of those are at home. It will also be the beginning of the end for their star opening pair, with Jonny Bairstow expected to leave for the England World Cup camp on April 24, and David Warner to follow soon after. They’ll be looking to squeeze every last bit of that advantage with the knowledge that they need at least four of their six remaining games to stay in contention.

Form guide

Sunrisers: beat Super Kings by six wickets, lost to Capitals by 39 runs, lost to Kings XI by six wickets
Knight Riders: lost to Royal Challengers by ten runs, lost to Super Kings by five wickets, lost to Capitals by seven wickets

In the news

It has rained in Hyderabad for two consecutive afternoons – around the time the match is scheduled to start. On Saturday, the ground was completely covered as a thunderstorm accompanied the Sunrisers’ bus into training. However, several weather services have forecast a clear afternoon on Sunday.Knight Riders did not train on match eve.Robin Uthappa lends a helping hand to Andre Russell•BCCI

Previous meeting

The second match of the season, when Sunrisers’ new opening pair showed the first glimpse of what’s to come, putting up 118 and helping Sunrisers post 181 in Kolkata. Unfortunately for them, it also turned out to be the star of Andre Russell’s outrageous season, his 19-ball 49 helping them scale down the target with three balls to spare.

Likely XIs

Sunrisers Hyderabad:1 David Warner, 2 Jonny Bairstow (wk), 3 Kane Williamson (capt), 4 Vijay Shankar, 5 Deepak Hooda 6 Yusuf Pathan, 7 Rashid Khan, 8 Bhuvneshwar Kumar, 9 Shahbaz Nadeem, 10 Sandeep Sharma, 11 Khaleel AhmedKolkata Knight Riders: 1 Chris Lynn, 2 Sunil Narine, 3 Nitish Rana, 4 Robin Uthappa, 5 Dinesh Karthik (capt & wk), 6 Shubman Gill, 7 Andre Russell, 8 Piyush Chawla, 9 Kuldeep Yadav/KC Cariappa, 10 Prasidh Krishna, 11 Harry Gurney

Strategy punt

• The last time they met, Knight Riders did not open with Sunil Narine after he sustained a finger injury, going instead with Nitish Rana. If they go that way again, Shubman Gill could go back to opening – where his only fifty of the season has come – and allow Robin Uthappa to go back to a more suitable No. 3 after his 9 off 20 balls against Royal Challengers
• Knight Riders may also think about resting Kuldeep Yadav who has currently taken four wickets in nine innings at 71.5, his worst returns in an IPL season. KC Cariappa is an option to replace him
• Kane Williamson is yet to bat beyond ten balls this season. He could be allowed time to settle down by promoting someone like Yusuf Pathan to No. 4 should the openers provide another big start

Stats that matter

• Warner and Bairstow have put on six 50-plus partnerships in eight innings this season. Three of those have been century stands
• Having taken no wickets in the first three matches and going at 10.6 an over, Bhuvneshwar has turned it around with five wickets in the last five games at an economy of 7 per over
• Knight Riders have won 71.4% of the matches in which Kuldeep has gone at lesser than 8 per over. On the flip side, they’ve lost 72.7% of the time when his economy is greater than 9 per over
• Knight Riders need one more win to become the sixth T20 team to have 100 wins

The paceman insisted that Pakistan were still together as a team despite their World Cup hopes hanging by a thread

Sharda Ugra22-Jun-2019Pakistan know that defeat to South Africa on Sunday is virtually not an option if they are to stem the backlash the team are facing at home after their defeat to India. Ever since the loss, speculation in Pakistan has been rife once again of factionalism within the side and of deteriorating support for the captain Sarfaraz Ahmed.That was rubbished by Mohammad Hafeez on Thursday and on Friday one of their most resolute World Cup performers, left-arm paceman Wahab Riaz, turned up at Lord’s to remind fans that, “none of us like the fact that we lost to India, we feel very strongly at having disappointed people, I’d say we are more hurt and disappointed than people back at home.”When asked whether the public disappointment to the defeat had affected the team, Wahab said “there is demoralisation when they are personal attacks on us in the media. Criticise us, criticise our performances and we will accept it because we want to do perform better.” He said that what bothered players was when the criticism of the players involved their families as it has in the case of Shoaib Malik. “I think if people stay away from getting our families into it and focus on our game, that’s more important.”Wahab is in his third World Cup, one of the team’s more experienced players, and said that the team has found a way to band together to prepare for the South Africa match. “The players are each other’s strength. When we speak to people at home, they tell us why did you do this, if you’d done that, you’d have done better. So as a team we know we can lift each other up more than what even our families can do.”He reminded the public back home that “Pakistan plays better under pressure and inshallah, we will quality for the finals and semi-finals.” Accepting that the team’s progress in the competition was beyond their direct results, Wahab said, “Our focus is on beating South Africa, and we know we shouldn’t get ahead or think about the future. We need to go one by one on what do every day. On what we do in the now and not what is happening elsewhere. We shouldn’t be thinking about the future beyond the one by one. Everything one by one.”He did say that he thought the Pakistan team had “more talent” than the South Africans despite the quality of the opposition bowling. “But execution of skills is everything,” he added. “They have failed in that aspect as well like we did, we had matches we could have won. In this match it depends on who handles pressure better and plays better. They will win.”The team had spoken about their cricket and their mistakes in past matches “openly.” “Good teams are those that discuss and talk about their mistakes openly to each other and we’ve done that. Inshallah we will make up for our mistakes.”The “small things”, Wahab said, was keeping control of their innings with the bat and taking early wickets with the ball. Pakistan conceded more than 130 runs before taking a wicket in their defeats to Australia and India. Against Australia, he said, “it was a 260-270 wicket [Australia scored 307] and we didn’t bowl well at the start. In England it is important to strike with the new ball. If you take wickets up front it affects that batting team. If you don’t…this a high scoring World Cup.”The match against India, where Pakistan conceded 336 he said was “a pressure game and every player feels it. But we didn’t play as well as we can. We didn’t play as good as we are. And we need to play better. We were in very good positions with our batting against Australia and then we gave it away. We did the same against India. We will need to do the small things better and we need to be in control of those. We need to play our A game throughout.”