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South Africa earned their first T20I victory under new white-ball captain Temba Bavuma and successfully defended a score under 170 for just the third time since the 2016 World T20 to level the five-match series against West Indies 1-1.While Kagiso Rabada took wickets at the start and end of the innings, South Africa had their spinners George Linde and Tabraiz Shamsi to thank for the win. Between them, Linde and Shamsi bowled eight overs, conceded 35 runs and took three wickets to take West Indies from 62 for 2 in the ninth over to 70 for 5 in the 11th, in pursuit of 167.Despite late cameos from Jason Holder and Fabian Allen, the required rate proved too high. Both teams will be concerned with the performances of their middle orders, who failed to build on promising starts. No South African batter outside the top three scored more than 11 while West Indies’ No. 3-6 batters were all dismissed in single figures.Positive in the powerplay With as many as five potential opening batters in their squad, South Africa have several combinations to choose from but stuck with Reeza Hendricks and Quinton de Kock for the second successive match. After putting on 33 in 3.4 overs on Saturday, the pair came good with 73 in 6.4 overs in this match. They scored 69 runs in the Powerplay including seven fours and three sixes and were aggressive against the opening spin pair and the seamers that followed.

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De Kock took 14 runs off Holder’s opening over, including the first six of the innings as he cleared midwicket. At the other end, Hendricks plundered 14 off Allen, and hit him back over his head for six before hitting two fours off the next three balls and then being gifted four leg-byes. South Africa have only scored more runs in a Powerplay three times – 88 for 0 and 83 for 0 against England in 2016, and 78 for 0 against Zimbabwe in 2010. In the end, it set them up for a match-winning total.Ultra-Edge fails…Hendricks was well-set to score the sixth fifty of his T20I career but two balls after the halfway mark was beaten as he attempted a reverse-sweep off Kevin Sinclair. He was given out on-field and reviewed after consultation with his captain, Bavuma. A cutaway of the players was shown but Ultra-Edge was not available and the television umpire, Joel Wilson, eventually had to make his call based on the split-screen. There was a clear gap between bat and ball and ball-tracking upheld the on-field call, with the ball clipping off stump, so had to go. South Africa were 96 for 2, with 200 still well within sight.Temba Bavuma plays one fine on the on side•AFP/Getty Images

…and so does South Africa’s middle-orderSouth Africa’s top-heavy squad has left them with a soft middle-order and that showed after the Powerplay and particularly in the second half of their innings. They lost 7 for 97 between the 7th and 20th over, adding only 21 for the loss of three wickets in the last four overs.Left-arm seamer Obed McCoy was the standout performer at the death. After his first over cost 10 runs in the Powerplay, he conceded only 15 runs in his next three and claimed the wickets of David Miller, caught at deep midwicket, Linde, lbw on review, and Heinrich Klaasen, holing out in the last over. Dwayne Bravo bowled the penultimate over and gave away just six runs to build on the start Sinclair had given West Indies. He opened the bowling and finished with 2 for 23 in his four overs, the most economical West Indian return and his own career-best.South African spinRelated

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Linde and Shamsi bowled six overs in tandem after the Powerplay and gave away just 23 runs between them. Importantly, they picked up three wickets in that period to put South Africa in a winning position. After the seventh and eighth overs yielded just eight runs between them, Nicholas Pooran, batting at No. 4, felt he needed to do something; he tried to hit Linde over long-on but played for turn when there wasn’t any and skied the ball to Miller on the boundary. Pooran has been dismissed in single figures in eight out of his last 10 T20 innings.In the next over, Kieron Pollard attempted a slog-sweep off a Shamsi legbreak and found a diving Hendricks at midwicket. Four balls later, Andre Russell did not get hold of a leg-side heave off Linde, whom he tried to dispatch over deep midwicket. Klaasen negotiated between staring into the sun and losing the ball in the shadows and ended up taking the catch of the match to leave West Indies 70 for 4.How’s that?We all know the old trick when the fielding side appeal for caught behind when the ball has drifted down the leg side to avoid having the umpire call wide, don’t we? Well, South Africa did that at the start of the 17th over when Allen missed a pull off Anrich Nortje, which was called wide. For once, it worked: de Kock convinced Bavuma to review but a working Ultra-Edge showed no contact between bat, or glove, and ball – though the wide was reversed, with the ball flicking the thigh pad.In the event, the next ball brought a wicket: Allen drove Nortje to Bavuma at extra-cover, whose quick pick-up and release back to Nortje allowed him to catch Holder short of his crease coming back for two, all but ending West Indies’ chances of a successful chase. Allen hit the expensive Lungi Ngidi for three sixes in the final over, but by then the game was lost.

Zimbabwe’s offspinning-allrounder Roy Kaia has been reported with a suspect bowling action during the one-off Test against Bangladesh in Harare.Kaia bowled a combined 23 overs across two innings without picking up a wicket. With bat, he bagged a pair as Bangladesh went on to win the match by 220 runs.An expert panel will analyse the video footage of his bowling action from the Test as an in-person assessment at an ICC accredited testing centre is not possible due to various restrictions resulting from Covid-19. Until the panel makes its decision known, Kaia can continue bowling in international cricket.Kaia, 29, first played for Zimbabwe in an ODI in Pakistan in 2015, when he was picked more for his batting abilities. That remains his only appearance in while-ball cricket for the country. He made his Test debut earlier this year, also against Pakistan. The Test against Bangladesh was the third of his career.He has over 100 wickets in domestic cricket but hasn’t picked up one at the international level so far.Zimbabwe are yet to announce their squad for the ODI series against Bangladesh that starts on July 16.

Yorkshire 197 for 6 (Bess 45*, Abbott 3-45) vs HampshireGary Ballance continued his Ageas Bowl love affair by helping Yorkshire finish an attritional opening day of the LV= County Championship Division One clash against Hampshire on 197 for 6.Ballance, who has scored more than 1000 runs at the Southampton venue, including a Test high 156, scored 42 hard-fought runs in conditions tailor-made for seam bowling to admirably hold the innings together alongside Dom Bess. Bess hit the last ball of the day for four to be unbeaten on 45 before bad light brought play to a conclusion 10 overs before the scheduled close.On an overcast Bank Holiday Monday morning, Hampshire skipper James Vince had no hesitation in asking the visitors to bat on a green-tinged surface after winning the toss.Kyle Abbott and Keith Barker immediately posed plenty of questions for the openers Adam Lyth and George Hill, who eked out just 13 runs between them in the first 10 overs before the South African quick made the breakthrough. Having beaten the bat on numerous occasions, Abbott finally got a ball to nip back and trap Lyth on the pad for 6, with the umpire, former Yorkshire allrounder James Middlebrook, raising the finger.Despite the tough conditions and some probing bowling from Ian Holland, who conceded just four runs from his first five overs, Hill and Tom Kohler-Cadmore showed great patience and discipline to help Yorkshire reach lunch at 60 for 1. However, Hill’s good early work was undone immediately when Abbott struck with the first ball following the resumption, thumping the 21-year-old’s front pad with a delivery that would have clipped the stumps and he departed for 31.The brought Ballance, who has scored three centuries and a double-ton on his previous three visits to the Ageas Bowl, to the crease. Like his fellow batsmen he was forced to graft for every run with the floodlights turned on half-an-hour after lunch.Abbott picked up his third wicket when Kohler-Cadmore tried to break the shackles with an attempted drive down the ground but could only edge behind to Lewis McManus. Kohler-Cadmore, who ground out 20 runs from 91 balls, threw his head back in frustration following his departure as his side slipped to 84 for 3.Former England Under-19 skipper Harry Brook soon followed him back to the pavilion after playing on to a Brad Wheal ball just before tea.Ballance and Bess looked relatively untroubled, despite the scoreboard not accelerating rapidly. But just when Ballance looked to be heading towards 50 for the eighth time in 13 innings on this ground, he was dismissed in a somewhat tame fashion when he chipped Liam Dawson to Joe Weatherley at midwicket.Wheal struck again to dismiss Harry Duke for 12 to leave Yorkshire on 159 for 6 before Bess and Jordan Thompson added a potentially priceless unbeaten 38-run stand for the seventh wicket.

Tim Paine has made a pitch for Hobart to host the fourth Ashes Test while casting doubt on teams’ willingness to play Afghanistan at the T20 World Cup.Cricket Australia (CA) all but confirmed on Thursday its men’s season-opening Test against Afghanistan, slated to start November 27, will be scrapped because of the Taliban’s ban on women’s sport.Paine backed the governing body’s strong stance, adding the relative silence from the ICC was “fascinating” and he can’t see how Afghanistan can be allowed to compete in next month’s T20 World Cup.The ICC has flagged it won’t discuss the issue until a board meeting in November, although pressure from members could potentially expedite things.Related

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Afghanistan named its World Cup squad with Rashid Khan as skipper, only for the star spinner to immediately relinquish the captaincy in a sign of his cricket board’s tumult.”I don’t think we want to be associated with countries that are taking opportunities or things off literally half their population,” Paine said on his SEN radio show. “It’s sad.”We’ve heard nothing from the ICC, which is fascinating given there is a T20 World Cup in just over a month’s time. I’d imagine it’s impossible [for Afghanistan to take part] if teams are pulling out of playing against them and governments are not letting them travel to our shores.”How a team like that can be allowed to play in an ICC-sanctioned event is going to be very, very hard to see.”Paine suggested a boycott is “something that teams will discuss on the eve of that World Cup”.CA refused to wait for the ICC to make a call on Afghanistan’s member status, sharing Paine and Tasmania Premier Peter Gutwein’s view a rejig to this summer’s schedule was morally required.Gutwein says he will “advocate very strongly” for Hobart to still host its first Test since 2016, providing Paine a chance to finally captain Australia at his home ground.West Indies or Sri Lanka are hypothetical options but finding a late replacement for the one-off Test will be tricky, especially given the tourists will need to spend a fortnight quarantining.Paine has hatched a left-field plan, which he shared while interviewing Gutwein on Friday. Pointing to the likely difficulties involved with travelling from Sydney to Perth after the fourth Test, he nominated shifting the SCG match to Blundstone Arena.”With the AFL we’ve had those Covid quarantine corridors,” Gutwein replied. “Tasmania to Western Australia is probably the safest COVID quarantine corridor you can be in, in this country. I’m very happy to push that conversation further.”CA is working through several contingency options for the Ashes. But the governing body, which demonstrated its commitment to the SCG by staging a Test in Sydney during the Northern Beaches outbreak, wants to stick to the nominated schedule if possible.

Queensland’s star batters Marnus Labuschagne and Test hopeful Joe Burns blew promising starts against Tasmania in their Sheffield Shield match.Labuschagne struck 32 from 29 balls but chopped an innocuous Lawrence Neil-Smith delivery onto his stumps – the inside edge just clipped, and removed, the leg bail.Burns, seeking to press his claims for a Test recall for the Ashes series against England starting December 8 in Brisbane, also failed to capitalise on a lively start.The opener – who, like Labuschagne, struck five fours – made 26 from 30 deliveries but was carelessly dismissed: he advanced down the pitch to spinner Jarrod Freeman but his drive was caught at wide mid-off.Related

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Both Labuschagne and Burns departed as frustrated figures, missing out on a chance to cash-in on a batter-friendly pitch at Karen Rolton Oval.Earlier, Tasmania batters Tim Ward and Jordan Silk posted centuries before the Tigers declared their first innings at the tea break.The 23-year-old Ward, who moved from Sydney last year to join Tasmania on a rookie contract, made 144 in his second Shield match.Silk was unbeaten on 100 – he registered his ton from 131 balls in the last over before tea and Tasmania promptly declared.Silk scored 90 runs in Friday’s middle session as Tasmania accelerated after Ward and nightwatchman Neil-Smith frustrated Queensland’s bowlers in the opening session with a 54-run stand.Queensland quick Michael Neser (2-60) and Mark Steketee (2-87) were multiple wicket-takers while Ward’s impressive knock – a maiden first-class ton featuring 19 fours from 343 balls – ended when leg before wicket to spinner Matt Kuhnemann.

A spell of rain soaked up Northern’s hopes allowing Sindh to post a three-run victory under DLS method in the National T20 Cup, played in Rawalpindi. With this victory, Sindh climbed to the top of the table, winning four out of five matches. Northern suffered their second defeat to sit at third place with three wins from five games.Chasing Sindh’s 176 for seven, Northern got off to a decent start scoring at a rate of 8.64 in the powerplay, but when the revised target was set at 66 from 7.3 overs, Northern fell short by a small margin to end at 62 for three.Earlier in the overcast conditions, Northern picked up the wicket of Shan Masood in the second ball of the innings after opting to bowl first. Both Sharjeel Khan and Khurram Manzoor (15 off 17) helped recover from an early wobble putting on a 52-run stand for the second wicket. Sharjeel fell after hitting 10 fours and two sixes in his 43-ball 64. A few quick wickets saw Sindh reeling at 128 for five. Saud Shakeel played a cautious 28 off 21, but a cameo of 13 each by Anwar Ali and Rumman Raees in nine and five balls respectively boosted the total, with Sarfaraz Ahmed also helping the cause with his 18-ball 26.For Northern, Salman Irshad, Shadab Khan and Muhammad Musa picked up two wickets each.Northern made an impressive start to the chase by scoring 12 runs in the first over but lost Sarmad Hameed soon for five off six. Haider Ali (11 off 9) was the next man to fall, followed by Nasir Nawaz (27 off 19 balls), leaving Imad Wasim unbeaten at 13 when the rain came into play.

Stumps After Shaheen Shah Afridi blew Bangladesh away in the second innings, Abid Ali and Abdullah Shafique dashed the home side’s hopes of making a comeback in the Chattogram Test. Afridi took 5 for 32 before Abid and Shafique added 109 runs for the unbroken opening stand, leaving Pakistan with just 93 runs to win on the final day.Abid, who made 133 in the first innings, finished day four unbeaten on 56 while Shafique became the fifth Pakistan player to score two fifties on Test debut. He was unbeaten on 53 off 93 balls with six fours and a six. The pair had put on 146 for the opening stand in the first innings. It was only the second time Pakistan openers put on a century stand in both innings of a Test.Abid and Shafique hardly drove the ball forcefully down the ground, instead focusing on playing shots square of the wicket. They were steady since before the tea break, after Afridi – who picked his fourth five-wicket haul in Tests – helped bowl out Bangladesh for 157. Afridi took out the top three on the third evening, when he had Shadman Islam lbw, Najmul Hossain Shanto caught at slip and Saif Hassan stunned by a chest-high bouncer. In between, Mominul Haque, too, got out playing a soft shot, leaving Bangladesh at 25 for 4.Mushfiqur Rahim’s dismissal off the third ball of the morning compunded Bangladesh’s problems. Hasan Ali bowled Rahim, who shouldered arms to a delivery that nipped back in, following which Liton Das and Yasir Ali tried to revive Bangladesh’s fortunes, but they hardly looked settled. Liton survived a missed stumping and a miscued hoick, while Yasir nearly ran himself out, and inside-edged a couple of boundaries.Shaheen Shah Afridi ended with 5 for 32•AFP/Getty Images

Afridi put paid to Bangladesh’s recovery at that stage when he struck Yasir on the back of his helmet with a bouncer, around the first hour mark. A concussed Yasir walked off after seven deliveries, and was sent for scans.His concussion substitute, Nurul Hasan, struck three fours before playing a needless lofted shot, straight to long-on. Liton followed him back to the pavilion shortly, trapped lbw by Afridi, who then removed Abu Jayed with another rip-snorter that struck him on the gloves and grille, before reaching wicketkeeper Mohammad Rizwan.Offspinner Sajid Khan wrapped up the innings with his third wicket, when Taijul Islam was stumped for a duck.