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As there might be with a blind date, there is both excitement andtrepidation at the announcement of Shoaib Malik as the 25th man to captainPakistan.At 25, he is still young in years and in that sense, it is a progressiveappointment. Seniority and hierarchy matter in Pakistan, and choosingcaptains is generally a pragmatic decision based on the best ormost-established player in the side, rather than the best leader. Fewrecent captains have been young.The World Cup brought to an end one dark, jaded mini-period, so startingagain, with a new, fresh-faced captain has a good feel about it. SouthAfrica did something similar four years ago, and on balance of where theyare now, probably don’t regret it. Youth will anyway have its day so whynot now?Gauging a leader of men is not simple. Weight of runs, wickets orall-round performances, as Andrew Flintoff and Ian Botham among othersdiscovered, does not a captain make. Something more is needed, somethingnot easily seen, something that is properly visible only after a captaincaptains.That much-loved phrase ‘the best captain that never was’ is actually anempty one; unless a player is or has been one, nobody can ever know howgood a captain he can be. Until Malik leads his men out, makes a bowlingchange, a slight fielding adjustment, a testing declaration, or battlesthrough poor form, through on-field crises, or rallies ten wildlydifferent personalities around him, the jury will be out.That the appointment of the second Malik to captain Pakistan is not asbold as it may initially appear is key. He hasn’t been discussed bythis administration alone as an option, but by the one before it as well.Inzamam-ul-Haq, Wasim Akram and Imran Khan – albeit cautiously – haverepeatedly cited his sharp cricketing brain and selfless attitude as signsof potential leadership, as did Bob Woolmer. You have to think, betweenall of them, they must know something.But, as ever, history tugs at optimism. On the rare occasions Pakistanhave flirted with young captains, especially in a team of seniors, disasterhas been the result. Malik is not as young as were Javed Miandad (22) andJaved Burki (24) when they became captains but is close enough.Both had miserable experiences: Burki oversaw, in a 4-0 loss in England in1962, one of Pakistan’s worst tours in their early years. Miandad, madecaptain in 1980, fell to a revolt by his own players two years and 13Tests later. Wasim Akram was 26 when he first took on the captaincy, yetfive Tests later, his own players had forced him out.Even considerable experience couldn’t save Akram and Miandad. The former’sfirst Test as captain was his 46th overall, while the latter’s was his28th Test. Crucially, both were established players already.Malik’s first Test as captain will only be his 19th (over five years).Though lately, he has become a regular of sorts, nobody would argue thathe is an established indispensable, as he is in the shorter form of thegame. And in neither form of the game do we know his ideal position in theorder. Captaincy can make a player or break him and Malik is no exception.As with Akram and Miandad, there is also a fear that senior players – anominous phrase only in this context – might not take so readily to Malik.Intikhab Alam voiced these very concerns and the signs are alreadypresent; when asked publicly, a number of players said they were willingto accept the captaincy offered. Privately, many are believed tohave it to be offered to them. Will they be entirely happywith a younger, less established player in charge?How he handles his men off the field, in the dressing rooms and in hotels,may well be the key to what happens on the field. It initially escaped menof Akram and Miandad’s stature, though both came back to become two of themost successful captains Pakistan had.There is not much that Malik has not done on a cricket field. He hasremarkable adaptability; Test opener one day to middle-order battler next;one-down ODI organiser today, lower-order slogger tomorrow; he has beenre-invented many times. Most of it he has done with minimum fuss and dueefficiency, some of it outstandingly well. He now has another role tofill. It is, by a country mile, the most challenging one yet.

Innings of the dayRoss Taylor began his innings on Wednesday afternoon with an unflattering accolade from the PA man ringing in his ears: “With a highest score of 17 …” boomed the announcement as he strode out to bat. But Taylor put all such insecurities to one side and set about proving that he’s more than just a one-paced wonder. His mighty hitting was there to see when the delivery merited the shot, but for the most part he played straight and late, and made crease occupation his primary concern. It was an eye-opening performance from a man who’d been under-estimated after failing in his first two Tests.Shot of the dayDaniel Vettori didn’t need to play too many expansive strokes in his beautifully paced innings. The majority of his 12 boundaries came from dabs behind square and sweeps through midwicket, as he waited for England to err in line on a decidedly sluggish pitch. But he did enjoy one majestic moment when Monty Panesar floated a full-length delivery right into the arc of his bat. Down he dropped to one knee, and deposited the ball clean over long-on. Two balls later he was back to basics, with a sweet late cut that whistled to the third-man fence.Bowling change of the dayNot a lot went right for England in the field. Their front-line bowlers were off the pace and the pitch was unforgiving, and midway through the afternoon session, Michael Vaughan turned to his last resort. Kevin Pietersen has pretensions as an offspinner – indeed that is what he was when he played against England for KwaZulu-Natal in 1999-2000. But no-one quite expected him to have such an immediate impact. Ross Taylor allowed himself a solitary sighter, then launched into a mighty mow towards midwicket. The ball spiralled straight up in the air, and Pietersen claimed his third Test wicket.Just desserts of the dayRyan Sidebottom has earned a justifiable reputation as England’s most luckless bowler. Against India and Sri Lanka last year, if a catch was going to be dropped, it would doubtless be off one of his deliveries. But in Hamilton he’s at last earned a measure of payback. First there was Alastair Cook’s outstanding pluck at gully to remove Stephen Fleming, and then today, just when it seemed he’d run out of time to massage his figures, he popped up with two wickets in three balls to give them the sheen they deserved. He left the field with 4 for 90 in 34.3 overs. A testament to a job very well done.Improbable coincidence of the dayYesterday Matthew Bell cleaned up his namesake, Ian Bell, with a whistling pull shot that clattered into his right wrist as he took evasive action at short leg. Today, Matthew – also positioned beneath the lid – got his comeuppance courtesy of England’s captain, Michael Vaughan. Jeetan Patel served up a short ball, Vaughan pulled hard, down into the ground and back up into Bell’s outstretched left fingertip. Blood poured out, presumably from a removed nail, and off he trooped to join the casualty ward.Duff dismissal of the dayAlastair Cook scored a century in his most recent Test innings, at Galle in December, and had been easing benignly along on a pitch that was proving to be as dead as the England bowlers had claimed. But then, with five overs to go until the close, he pulled loosely at the tireless Chris Martin, and the substitute fielder Nick Horsley pouched a simple catch at square leg. Cook was kicking himself as he left and rightly so. Once again England’s inability to convert promising starts into prolific finishes had undermined their day’s work.

Greg Chappell, the coach of the Indian team, has sought to deflect criticism of the team’s disappointing performance in the first match of their South African tour, saying the players had been pitted against quality opposition without adequate time to adjust to the local conditions.”It can happen, stepping out of the airplane and playing in two days’ time against genuine quality bowling. But that’s the only way you are going to learn,” Chappell said in a stout defence of his players after the 37-run loss to Rest of South Africa in a warm-up game on Thursday. Chasing a target of 256, the Indians were blown away by the express speed of Dale Steyn, who finished with five for 22 from ten hostile overs.”I don’t know too many players who are well equipped to handle real fast bowling when they first walk on to the international stage. Most of them have to get used to it by experience,” Chappell said.Not only did the batsmen find the going tough, even the bowling came apart in the final overs, with Munaf Patel and Sreesanth both going for more than 60 runs. “We gave a couple of guys an opportunity of bowling in the death overs which they haven’t done before. If you want to get better you have got to have those opportunities,” Chappell said. “Sometimes it is a painful initiation you have to go through. But then you learn the lesson.”Chappell also felt Mahendra Singh Dhoni has now been part of international cricket long enough to take on more responsibility. “He is going to get better if he takes risk and bears responsibility. I think MS is ready for that role. He has played a reasonable amount of international cricket now.”The one Indian batsman who played a long innings was Rahul Dravid, who made 79, and Chappell felt there was a lot that the younger members of the team could learn from him. “Rahul goes through difficult periods. He did what he has to go to get through those periods. You sometimes don’t look very good and you could rather appear uncomfortable. And yet if you go through you gain confidence. It could make it easy next time. It’s not something you can teach somebody. It’s something you learn by experience. Rahul has learnt it as well as anyone has ever learnt it.”Chappell also found words of praise for Anil Kumble and Zaheer Khan, the two bowlers returning to India’s fold. “Zaheer brought his experience to good use and Kumble is the consummate professional. He does everything that needs to be done. He plays with youthful enthusiasm which belies the number of years he has played international cricket.”

With the ICC Champions Trophy just a month away, Sean Williams is in dilemma whether to finish his contract with Clara Vale in England or join the rest of the Zimbabwe squad.Williams is in excellent form for in the Northumberland first division and the club is not willing to release him as they are top of the table and need him until the season ends on September 16. But Kevin Curran, Zimbabwe’s coach, has told Williams that he wants him in his squad for the Champions Trophy provided he makes himself available for Zimbabwe’s preparatory matches in neighboring South Africa where they play three ODI matches later this month.”I want to play in the Champions Trophy, hopefully I get selected but my club can’t release until the end of the season,” Williams explained. “They are on top of the log at the moment and I am their top player. No club would want to sign me next season if I leave early.”Curran was quite clear where he thought Williams’s priorities lay. “I have spoken to him a couple of times and he is clearly aware of the situation … he has to choose between playing club cricket in England joining the other guys in camp. He is not playing in a competitive league there it is just club cricket. Even my father can play club cricket in England.”Curran is keen on Williams on because he is a capable middle-order batsman, a tight left-arm spinner and a brilliant fielder at backward point. Williams, a former Zimbabwe Under-19 captain turned down a contract offer from Zimbabwe Cricket in March this year and signed up for Clara Vale two months later.He was approached by Curran in June and agreed to return to the Zimbabwe colours but failed to impress the national selectors against Bangladesh A and was not called up for Zimbabwe’s five-match series against Bangladesh.Four other Zimbabwean players who have been on club contracts in England – Anthony Ireland, Edward Rainsford, Terrence Duffin and Brendan Taylor – rejoin their team-mates on Monday.Left-arm spinner Keith Dabengwa, who was also playing in England, returns home on Tuesday but he has paid the price for not keeping in touch with Curran while abroad and he does not feature in plans for South Africa.

Left-arm seamer Obed McCoy bagged career-best T20 figures of 4 for 41 and Rahkeem Cornwall blitzed 36 off 14 balls, but it still wasn’t enough for St Lucia Zouks as Guyana Amazon Warriors opened their CPL 2019 campaign with a 13-run win in front of a boisterous home crowd at Providence.In pursuit of 156, Zouks enjoyed a blistering start, with Cornwall carting six boundaries in a mere eight balls. However, spinners Shadab Khan and Chris Green claimed five wickets between them to put the target beyond their opponents’ reach.ALSO READ – CPL updates: St Kitts and Nevis Patriots penalised for slow over rateIt was stand-in captain Green who took the prized scalp of Cornwall and marshalled his resources smartly after regular captain Shoaib Malik copped a blow on his right forearm in the batting innings and did not take the field in the chase. His arm was seen in a sling at one point, but Green said later that it was just a precautionary measure.The calm before the storm
Zouks will be without Lasith Malinga for the entire CPL 2019, but Krishmar Santokie and Kesrick Williams made an early impression with their pace variations and reduced Amazon Warriors to 25 for 2 in the fourth over. Shimron Hetmyer tempered his naturally attacking strokeplay and set about working past the early strikes along with Malik on a slow Providence track.They put on 48 together in 47 balls before McCoy duped Hetmyer with his back-of-the-hand variation in the 12th over. Guyana’s new marquee player Nicholas Pooran fell for a golden duck and then Fawad Ahmed had both Malik as well as Sherfane Rutherford stumped with fizzing wrong’uns, but Keemo Paul and Green landed the mighty blows at the death. They, too, forged a 48-run stand, but this came at a breakneck speed, off only 21 balls.Paul showed why he was named West Indies’ T20 player of the year, marrying power with composure. He took seven balls to get off the mark, but then teed off with a rasping slogged six over midwicket against the break off Fawad. He pressed on to smash Santokie for three successive boundaries in the penultimate over of the innings, helping Amazon Warriors breach 150.Jimbo’s opening salvo
Shadab had Andre Fletcher chopping on for 8, but Cornwall showed off his T20 prowess a week after making his Test debut. He golf-swung Paul down the ground, short-arm jabbed Ben Laughlin over the midwicket boundary, and laced Green against the turn over extra-cover. However, moments after he had taken Green for back-to-back fours, he was pinned lbw by a slider. Where’s your middle order, Zouks?
Malinga’s Sri Lanka team-mate Niroshan Dickwella, too, had pulled out of the tournament while big-hitting New Zealand allrounder Colin de Grandhomme was away on international duty. The onus was on Darren Sammy, Thisara Perera, Najibullah Zadran and Chris Barnwell to see off the chase. But the spin of Shadab and the seam of Romario Shepherd were too much for the allrounders. From 52 for 2, Zouks slid rapidly to 109 for 7. Shadab, in particular, excelled with his legbreaks and googlies that gripped and turned sharply.Santokie made a late cameo (15* off 9 balls), but all it did was to reduce the margin of defeat. These are still early days in the tournament, but Zouks need to patch up their flimsy middle order.

An allround performance by Bradley Scott helped Otago beat Wellington by 18 runs at Invercargill. The win has secured them hosting rights for the State Shield final on February 10. Set a target of 231, the Wellington top order wobbled and a 107-run stand between Stu Mills (60) and Luke Woodcock (47) for the seventh wicket wasn’t enough to secure a victory. Otago seamers Scott and Mathew Harvie took three wickets each and seized the initiative as Wellington were struggling at 100 for 6, before Mills and Woodcock tried the resurrect the chase.The Otago innings too had followed a similar script after they were struggling at 103 for 6. Gareth Hopkins top-scored with 47 off 48 balls while Nathan McCullum chipped in with 31. Scott’s late cameo of 35, scored off 26 balls with three sixes lifted his side to 230, a knock which made a difference to the final result of the match.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsChris Gayle smashed four successive sixes of Jeevan Mendis as Barisal won in a canter•BCB

Chris Gayle sent out a stern warning to the rest of the playing field with a blazing unbeaten 92 that flattened the already demoralised Chittagong Vikings. The eight-wicket win consolidated Barisal’s position in the top half of the BPL standings as they moved to 12 points.Gayle struck nine sixes and six fours in his unbeaten 47-ball knock. But the big hitting was triggered by Mehedi Maruf, who slammed Bilawal Bhatti, before the Jamaican took over by slamming Maruf for 18 in the fifth over of the innings. There was more carnage as Gayle slammed Asif Ahmed for 19 courtesy three fours and a straight six.The six-hitting spree didn’t stop there as Naeem Islam and Tillakaratne Dilshan also came under fire, as Gayle brought up his 53rd T20 half-century in just the 13th over to put Barisal in cruise control mode. From there on, it was simply one-way traffic. With 21 needed to win, Gayle struck Jeevan Mendis for four sixes over long-on to end the game within the bat of an eyelid.However, there was controversy in the first over of the Barisal chase when Dilshan bumped into Rony Talukdar, who was trying to take a quick single. The collision meant Talukdar was well short of the crease when Dilshan picked up the ball and threw it to the wicketkeeper Anamul Haque, who removed the bails instantly. Both Talukdar and Gayle discussed the matter with the umpires but ultimately it was given adjudged run out.Earlier in the day, there wasn’t much drama, but there was inconsistency that has hampered Chittagong time and again this season. Their makeshift captain Dilshan had a new opening partner in Anamul for the first time in the tournament after Tamim Iqbal pulled out due to a groin niggle. They put on 52 for the first wicket before Dilshan fell. His 22-ball 28 was courtesy ith two fours and two sixes, which he hit in the same Al-Amin Hossain over.Anamul also struck two fours before Sohag Gazi, playing in his first BPL match this season, had him bowled. The offspinner finished a fine four-over spell in which he conceded only 17 runs.Kevon Cooper had Yasir Ali caught at point in the tenth over before Mendis got into a tangle trying to play a reverse-sweep and was given out. Mohammad Sami then got into the act, first dismissing Umar Akmal after being hit for a six, and then Asif Ahmed in the last over. On both occasions, the batsmen had just changed their bat before the delivery. As far as these performances were handy in restricting the final total, none of it could match the might of Gayle on the night.

Australia’s captain Steven Smith has criticised the nature of home pitches this summer, arguing that the Gabba and the WACA Ground in particular have work to do to ensure they regain their natural characteristics in the future.Following the loss of the fifth and final ODI against India in Sydney, Smith noted the series’ record tally of 3159 runs in a five-match limited-overs bout. He went on to state that Australian pitches needed to show more variety than had been the case this time around, when the Test matches against New Zealand and West Indies were also marked by dull surfaces, with the exception of a well-grassed Adelaide pitch for the inaugural day/night Test.The man of the ODI series was India’s prolific opener Rohit Sharma, but Smith reserved a special mention for his inexperienced bowlers. John Hastings, Kane Richardson and Scott Boland all shouldered a heavy load on wickets that offered precious little help, and were largely able to restrict India’s talented top order to tallies within Australia’s reach.”It was quite remarkable wasn’t it, to see over 3000 runs scored in five ODI matches,” Smith said. “For me the most disappointing thing was the characteristics of our wickets. I’d like to see the Gabba and WACA produce the traditional fast and bouncy wickets that we’re used to. I thought they were pretty slow and benign and it was very difficult for the bowlers.”I was really proud of our bowlers throughout this series though, I thought they really stepped up at pivotal times, we’ve got quite a few bowlers out at the moment and quite a young, inexperienced attack and we were able to pull it back in every game including [the SCG], so I’m really proud of the performance of those guys.”Smith can at least be consoled by the fact that others at Cricket Australia are aware of the imbalance and eager to alter in for next season, when South Africa and Pakistan will be the touring teams. The CA team performance manager Pat Howard has said he will be working on more equitable surfaces for 2016-17.”In an ideal world we’ve got some of the best fast bowlers in the world who like it hard, fast and bouncy and we’re not getting that at the moment,” Howard told the . “We’re after the old fair balance between bat and ball and the unique characteristics [of each ground].”And we do try and get the domestic cricket to try and mirror the Test stuff so we’ll have to sit down and do that at the end of the year and make sure we get those better aligned. The balance probably hasn’t been as good as we’d like this year.”There was somewhat more assistance for pace bowlers at the SCG on Saturday, and Smith bemoaned dropped catches and the scoring of only seven runs in the final two overs of Australia’s innings as reasons for defeat. India, by contrast, held their chances and collared 22 from the last 10 balls of the match to squeak home.”We got seven off the last two overs and we probably should have got a bit better than that, we were in a pretty good position with some wickets in the shed as well, so you probably want to score a few more off the last two overs,” Smith said. “Having said that I think it was our fielding that cost us quite a lot. We dropped a couple of quite regulation chances and when you’re dropping players like that they’re going to come back and bite you.”Australia’s prime solace from the match was a breakout century by Mitchell Marsh, even if his pursuit of three figures contributed to the late slowing of team momentum. Smith said the way Marsh started was most significant, taking a positive attitude and working the ball around despite a delicate match scenario. He has been more stilted at other times this season when granted batting opportunities.”Anytime you get a hundred you get some confidence out of it and the most pleasing thing for me today was the way he started,” Smith said. “He came out and was nice and positive from ball one, he hit the ball hard down the ground, he hit his sweepers, got himself in. We know when he gets himself in he’s got incredible power and we saw that. Hopefully it’s the start of something really special for Mitchell.”

Michael Vaughan will have a scan on the injured hamstring which forced him to use a runner during the 17 he made in England’s run chase at Hobart.The problem came after he fielded a delivery at backward point during New Zealand’s innings, immediately grabbing the back of his left knee and hobbling through the remainder of England’s stint in the field.At first the fear was that it was a return of the knee injury that kept him out of international cricket for a year. But it was quickly confirmed that this was a new injury to the other leg.After receiving treatment during the interval Vaughan opened the batting with Andrew Strauss but was clearly uncomfortable. After struggling to complete quick singles he eventually called for a runner and Jamie Dalrymple came out. He wasn’t needed for long as Vaughan soon pulled James Franklin to midwicket.Following England’s three-wicket win, Vaughan was fairly relaxed about the problem. “The knee is fine. I’m hoping it is not too bad and I can play again Friday.”If he can’t line-up against Australia, at Brisbane, England will be faced with a tricky decision. They haven’t appointed a vice-captain for the CB Series so would have to decide whether to return to Andrew Flintoff, who is showing an upturn in form since leaving the job, or switch tactics and bring back Andrew Strauss. Even rare England victories don’t come without their problems.

Inzamam-ul-Haq, the former Pakistan captain, has expressed his interest in playing county cricket in a bid to regain his Test place.”I have offers from league clubs in England but I want to play for a county to ascertain my form and fitness for a place in the Test team,” Inzamam said. “I am training hard and am fit. I played a one-day match at the weekend and will continue my efforts to get into the Test side.”Pakistan selectors have said Inzamam will have to prove his fitness to get a place in the home series against South Africa in late September this year. However, there are no further domestic matches in Pakistan, meaning Inzamam is looking to England to gain match practice.”I have been in touch with people,” he said, “and if there is a place vacant in the county I would definitely like to go and play.”Inzamam, who retired from ODIs after Pakistan’s disastrous World Cup and resigned from the Test captaincy, has never played for a county in a long and illustrious career. Although the Pakistan Cricket Board left him out from their list of centrally-contracted players, the country’s chief selector Salahuddin Ahmed said “the doors of Test cricket are open for him”.Pakistan’s one-day team are in Scotland for two one-dayers, against the hosts on Sunday at Edinburgh before facing India in Glasgow next Tuesday.