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Dwayne Smith has performed for Sussex but can’t secure a place with West Indies

Cricinfo staff02-Jun-2010In the midst of a career that started with Barbados almost a decade ago, lead to selection for West Indies, and on to stints with Sussex, Deccan Chargers, Mumbai Indians, and New South Wales it would seem that Dwayne Smith is a player in demand in the game’s shortest format.At 27, playing international cricket should be at the top of his priorities, but since his last appearance for West Indies in the tense, two-run loss to Zimbabwe in Guyana, Smith’s services have apparently not been required, and it is unclear when he may get a chance to boost his stalled international career.Asked by reporters what his standing with West Indies currently is, Smith could only reply: “If I knew I could tell you. I’m in the same position as you are. I’m still available but they’re not picking me. I haven’t heard anything yet so I’m still waiting to see what happens.”In the meantime, Smith has settled in at Sussex. So much so, in fact, that when his Kolpak status expired at the end of the 2009 season, he was signed as an overseas player for the county for 2010.”Here in England, for me, at Sussex, I love it here, especially when we play at home,” he said. “I have the crowd behind me, and the competition you have is probably at the same level [as the IPL], so it’s still good.”Although Sussex won their opening match of the Friends Provident t20, Smith failed in the game, falling to Murali Kartik for a first-ball duck and conceding 13 runs in his solitary over. But his contribution was vital to Sussex’s success in the format last year, and for the moment West Indies’ loss continues to be the county’s gain.

Adam Rossington gives Essex chase a chance but hosts fall short

ECB Reporters Network14-Jul-2024Will Jacks hammered five sixes in a scintillating 86 to consolidate Surrey’s place at the head of the Vitality Blast South Group and guarantee a home match in the quarter-finals.Jacks hit five sixes in his 46-ball knock and put on 63 in five overs in a stand with Jordan Clark that constituted a record for the sixth wicket against Essex. That rescued Surrey after they suffered a mid-innings collapse before the reset that helped them post 189 for 9 and eventually prevail by 13 runs.Surrey had struggled against the Essex spin pair of Matt Critchley, who took 2 for 22, and Simon Harmer, whose 3 for 44 was a season’s best. Paul Walter chipped in with two late wickets to finish with 2 for 26 to take his tally to 15.Adam Rossington tried manfully to take Essex to a third win in four days, and qualification for the knockout stages, but he fell for a 49-ball 78 with five sixes and with it went home hopes. Essex now need at least a point from Friday’s final match at Hampshire to reach the quarter-finals.Chasing 190 to win, Essex lost Dean Elgar in the third over as he slapped Clark to cover point, but that was before Rossington and Michael Pepper got moving. Sam Curran was lofted for sixes by both batsmen in one over to square leg as they put on fifty inside five overs.When he reached 12, Pepper, a centurion at Hove 24 hours earlier, passed 500 runs in this season’s Blast. But he had added just 15 more when he skied Cameron Steel to short extra cover. Steel struck again five balls later when he bowled Charlie Allison with one that kept low.Steel had piled pressure on Essex by conceding just seven runs in his first two overs before Rossington smashed him for six over long-on shortly after he reached a 33-ball fifty.Clark got lucky with a full-toss that Walter hit vertically into orbit, giving Rory Burns time to run round and take the catch in front of the stumps. And Critchley followed quickly when he lifted Chris Jordan to deep midwicket.However, with Jordan and Curran both conceding single-figure overs, the required run-rate rose towards 15 with 47 runs needed from the last three overs. And that became an impossible target when Rossington fell to the third ball of the 18th over, flailing Curran to the mid-off boundary.Surrey, put in on a used wicket, moved along serenely initially, reaching the end of the powerplay at 62 for the loss of Dom Sibley, lbw to Shane Snater to one that kept low. However, the stuffing was knocked out of their stride when Critchley and Harmer shared three wickets in eight balls and stemmed the mid-innings runs.Laurie Evans was first to go, bowled by one that turned appreciably from Critchley before Harmer accounted for Burns and Curran in consecutive balls. Burns was beaten by on the outside of his bat to dislodge his stumps and Curran misjudged his first ball and was lbw.Jamie Overton was typically belligerent, hitting a six off Luc Benkenstein over midwicket and smashing another past the bowler for four. But he then picked out Eathan Bosch on the long-off boundary to give Critchley a second wicket.All the time Jacks was quietly accumulating. He had already swept Harmer for a huge six, launched Snater for another, and reached his half-century from 28 balls with a straight maximum off the Essex captain.Jacks hammered Harmer for two more sixes off successive balls but departed to the next ball trying for a third, caught on the boundary at cow corner. But his sixth-wicket stand with Clark got Surrey back on track.Jacks’s departure signalled another clatter of wickets as Clark, Jordan and Tom Lawes all fell to catches in the deep.

Taijul Islam also comes in for Nasum Ahmed in a like-for-like change for the three ODIs in Chelmsford

Mohammad Isam09-Apr-2023The Bangladesh selectors have called up Mrittunjoy Chowdhury as the injured Taskin Ahmed’s replacement in the 14-member squad for the three-match ODI series against Ireland in Chelmsford next month. Taskin’s side strain, that kept him out of the Dhaka Test – also against Ireland – this week, has sidelined him for four weeks.Mrittunjoy is a left-arm fast bowler who has impressed in domestic white-ball tournaments in the last two seasons. He has 12 wickets in eight games the ongoing Dhaka Premier League, Bangladesh’s domestic List A competition, following 17 in the previous season. He was also quite good in the last two Bangladesh Premier League seasons, having taken 15 and eight wickets, respectively. Mrittunjoy also bowled in the Bangladesh national team’s nets multiple times during the domestic season.In the only other change in the squad, left-arm spinner Taijul Islam was drafted in for Nasum Ahmed in a like-for-like replacement. Thus, the core of the squad that beat Ireland 2-0 in the home ODI series in Sylhet last month was retained.

Bangladesh squad changes

In: Taijul Islam, Mrittunjoy Chowdhury
Out: Nasum Ahmed, Taskin Ahmed

Tamim Iqbal will continue to lead the side, with Shakib Al Hasan, Mushfiqur Rahim and Litton Das also headlining the batting department. The impressive Towhid Hridoy remains in the squad, alongside Najmul Hossain Shanto and Yasir Ali. Rony Talukdar is the back-up opener after his remarkable recall into the senior team saw him do quite well in the T20Is, although he is yet to make his ODI debut.All of this also means that senior batter Mahmudullah, who was rested for the Ireland ODIs at home last month, remains out of the team.Mehidy Hasan Miraz provides a spin-bowling option alongside Shakib and Taijul, while Ebadot Hossain, Shoriful Islam, Mustafizur Rahman and Hasan Mahmud are in the pace department alongside Mrittunjoy.Bangladesh will leave for Chelmsford in early May. They will play a practice match on May 5, followed by the three ODIs – part of the World Cup Super League – on May 9, 12 and 14. This series is the last one of the Super League, the top eight sides from where directly qualify for the World Cup later this year. Bangladesh, though, are guaranteed participants, by currently sitting fourth on the points table.This, if Ireland – who are currently placed 11th – manage to sweep Bangladesh 3-0, they can climb straight up to eighth at the expense of South Africa if they have a better net run rate (NRR). Although both teams will have then ended on 98 points each, the first tie-breaker would be the number of wins; that too would be nine in case Ireland win all three ODIs against Bangladesh, and so NRR would come into play.Bangladesh squad: Tamim Iqbal (capt), Litton Das, Rony Talukdar, Najmul Hossain Shanto, Towhid Hridoy, Shakib Al Hasan, Mushfiqur Rahim, Yasir Ali, Mehidy Hasan Miraz, Taijul Islam, Ebadot Hossain, Shoriful Islam, Mustafizur Rahman, Hasan Mahmud, Mrittunjoy Chowdhury

Rahul also set to be captain of new franchise

Nagraj Gollapudi18-Jan-2022KL Rahul, who will lead India in the ODI series in South Africa, is one of the three players who have been picked up by the Lucknow IPL franchise. Australian allrounder Marcus Stoinis and uncapped Indian legspinner Ravi Bishnoi are the other two.ESPNcricinfo understands that the Lucknow franchise will go into the February auction with a purse of INR 60 crore – Rahul cost them INR 15 crore, Stoinis INR 11 crore, and Bishnoi INR 4 crore. It is learned that Rahul will also captain the franchise.Rahul, 29, was the first acquisition for the Lucknow franchise, which was bought for INR 7090 crore (USD 940 million approx.) last October by the RP Sanjiv Goenka Group. One of the most consistent batters in the IPL since the 2018 IPL, Rahul had earlier told his previous franchise, Punjab Kings, where he was the captain the last two seasons, that he wanted a change, and was subsequently released by the management.Related

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After starting his IPL career in 2013 when he was bought by Royal Challengers Bangalore, Rahul went to Sunrisers Hyderabad in 2014, and was traded back to Royal Challengers in 2016 before the Punjab franchise (then Kings XI Punjab) paid INR 11 crore to buy him in the 2018 auction.While the team has continued to fall short of expectations, Rahul’s form has soared. After four seasons with Punjab, Rahul signed off as the leading run-getter for the team, scoring 2548 runs at an average of 56.62 including 25 fifty-plus scores – two of them hundreds – in just 55 innings.Rahul scored 26.52% of Punjab’s runs in that period, with season aggregates of 659, 593, 670 and 626 respectively between 2018 and 21, while averaging over 50 in each of those seasons. These are four of the five best season aggregates for any batter for the Punjab franchise in the IPL. However, his runs were also accompanied by a discussion about his strike rate, with several observers pointing out that Rahul’s rate of scoring was sometimes counter-productive. His 670 runs in IPL 2020, in fact, came at a strike rate of 129.34, the lowest of anyone who has made 600-plus runs in an IPL season since the start of the tournament. Even the 626 runs he got in IPL 2021 were scored at a strike rate of 138.80, making Rahul the only batter with two sub-140 strike-rate tallies in a 600-plus IPL season.As for Stoinis, Lucknow will be his fourth IPL franchise. He had started in 2015 with Delhi Daredevils (now Delhi Capitals), where he returned in 2020 after being bought for INR 4.8 crore. In the 27 matches he has played for the Capitals, 32-year-old Stoinis scored 441 runs at a strike rate of 142.71 and picked 15 wickets. In between, he had also turned out for Punjab and Royal Challengers.Bishnoi, who impressed with his performance in the 2020 Under-19 World Cup in South Africa, where he finished as the leading wicket-taker, was one of the most sought-after uncapped players ahead of this year’s IPL auction, with several franchises showing keen interest in him. That included Punjab, who had won the bidding war for him with Mumbai Indians in the 2020 auction to bag him for INR 2 crore.Bishnoi then quickly became the lead spinner for Punjab, and took 12 wickets in 14 matches in his first season, and in 2021, he had 12 wickets from nine matches. Overall, he has an economy rate of 6.95.The other new IPL franchise, based in Ahmedabad, named their three players of choice yesterday, picking up Hardik Pandya, Rashid Khan and Shubman Gill. With both the new teams finalising their players, the cap set by the IPL, the focus shifts to the auction, which is scheduled for February 12 and 13 in Bengaluru. The BCCI, however, is yet to formally inform the franchises about the dates and venue as it weighs in the pandemic situation across India.

Her alert catch to remove Lauren Down was her 92nd T20I wicketkeeping dismissal

Andrew McGlashan27-Sep-2020Alyssa Healy was caught unaware when TV commentator Mel Jones started asking her about MS Dhoni towards the end of New Zealand’s innings in the second T20I.Her alert catch to remove Lauren Down was her 92nd T20I wicketkeeping dismissal, making her the most prolific keeper in the format. Fittingly, too, she had equalled Dhoni’s tally with another brilliant piece of glovework to stump Amy Satterthwaite; the decision, which took nearly five minutes to make, can be debated but as with the leg-side stumping to remove Sophie Devine the day before it was a wonderful piece of wicketkeeping.Not one to dwell over individual statistics, Healy said it was a “very nice accolade” but shifted the praise towards her bowlers. She even conceded she did not believe she had a great day with the gloves with a stumping chance going down against Katie Perkins and a few byes slipping through.”I had no idea about it, I wondered why Mel Jones was asking me about MS Dhoni, I thought it was a very strange discussion we were about to have,” she said. “It’s obviously a very nice individual accolade but it reflects better on our bowling attack than myself.”It just shows the strength of our bowling attack we’ve had throughout my career that they are giving these opportunities. Makes me think about all the ones I’ve missed but at the same it is nice, but it’s more credit to the bowlers.”There’s a lot of stuff you do as a wicketkeeper, so for me I’m always really content when I come off the field and I’ve had a good day behind the stumps. Didn’t feel like I had a great day today so it’s sort of a weird feeling. I love wicketkeeping, have done it my whole life – much as I wanted to be a bowler I love my keeping – so if I come off the ground and I’ve done my job for the bowlers and team, more often than not I’m pretty happy.”The stumping to remove Satterthwaite was also her 50th in T20Is and she has more than catches which is a testament to her alertness up to the stumps where she will spend most of an innings. While the borderline decisions have gone Australia’s way in the first two matches of this series, all Healy can do is be ready for a batter’s error and force a decision from the umpires. “Being a wicketkeeper you’ve sometimes got to create opportunities for your side,” she said. “It’s not something I pride myself on or anything like, it’s just how I can swing the momentum back in our favour, whether that’s driving our fielding standards or taking a half chance that could change the game.”On the Satterthwaite dismissal specifically, Healy said: “From my point of view I could see a lot of the line so that’s probably why I seemed a bit more confident than not. I thought it was out, but I haven’t seen a replay and it taking so long it must have been incredibly tight. It’s not every day you get the benefit of the doubt going to the fielding side so I’ve got two in a row now, so hopefully it continues.””It was a big play, we wanted the wicket, but either way being so tight one side would have been unhappy. If it had been not out, I think people would have been happy with that as well.”Healy, who would have been a worthy Player of the Match, then contributed a blistering 33 off 17 balls which virtually sealed the match inside Australia’s Powerplay and secured them a tenth T20 prize in a row dating back to 2018 which has included two World Cups along the way.”There’s probably a little bit of rust floating around with my bat in hand but in saying that when we are chasing down totals like it’s my job to take it to the opposition, see if I can get that run rate down as low as possible for our middle order to get the job done,” Healy said. “Pleasing it came off today and puts me in good stead for the one-day format.”The final T20I takes place on Wednesday before the three-match ODI series begins on October 3.

While recovering from his side strain, the allrounder put in extra work on his batting with Ricky Ponting

Melinda Farrell21-Jun-2019Marcus Stoinis feared his World Cup was over when he suffered the side strain which kept him out of Australia’s team for two matches. Stoinis returned to the side and took two wickets in the 48-run win against Bangladesh at Trent Bridge and also contributed an unbeaten 17 with the bat.Australia flew Mitchell Marsh, who was already heading to England for an Australia A tour, over early as cover while Stoinis’ fitness was assessed and he admitted he feared the worst when he felt the pain in his side while bowling in Australia’s group match against India.”Your mind goes there,” said Stoinis. “But I think once everything sort of settled you knew it was going to be alright. My initial thought when I did it in the second over was ‘oh no, I’m out of the World Cup’.”The last couple of weeks have been so exciting and a bit of a roller coaster. I was a bit down in the dumps after I hurt myself. And again now I’m back in the team and able to do my thing.”ALSO READ: New David Warner, same old wheelhouseHis absence forced changes to Australia’s batting and bowling line-ups against Pakistan and Sri Lanka which threatened to upset the balance of the side, although they were successful in the two matches he sat out. But Stoinis said, while the initial prognosis was unclear, he had to recover sufficiently by the game against Bangladesh to stay in the squad.”We didn’t put a time on it. The support staff did a really good job with that and not over reacting. At least going into this game, this was the deadline. I spent a bit of time with [David Beakley], the physio, and the doc. We were just doing some exercises on the side. A lot of icing at night. There’s not much you can do outside of ice and get on the [resistance band] to get the muscle moving, really.”Stoinis added he was generally able to bowl at full pace against Bangladesh and was confident he could get through his allocated overs.”It’s different bowling in the nets and once the adrenaline gets going in the game. It’s different bowling four overs compared to eight or 10. We weren’t real sure but I was always confident.”Before he was back bowling at training, Stoinis continued to work on his batting in the nets and had a lengthy one-on-one session with Ricky Ponting feeding a bowling machine the day before his return to the side.”If I could have one person in the world if I could have picked them when I was young to be coaching me in my batting, it would have been Ricky Ponting,” he said. “He is an absolute legend, he’s got a lot of knowledge about the game, so we have just been speaking about where he thinks I can go to the next level with my batting and that sort of thing. It’s more just an open discussion, raising points, problem solving as we go. Coming up with different ideas.”Australia now head to London to prepare for their match against England at Lord’s on Tuesday and Stoinis is keen to test his bowling mettle against England’s formidable middle order.”Yeah, it’s going to be a good challenge. Hopefully I can nail some yorkers and bowl some good slower balls because we’ll have to come up with some plans.”Stoinis pointed to Australia’s recent ODI record stretching back to their tours of India and Pakistan as reasons for confidence against England and insisted Australia’s record against them in recent years – they have won just four out of sixteen since the last World Cup and have been defeated in their past six encounters – counted for little in this tournament.”Everyone has been working towards this for a long time,” said Stoinis. “We’ve got two of the best players in the world who have come back into our side. We’re doing things at the right time.”

The England fast bowler will be playing in the IPL for the first time

ESPNcricinfo staff07-Apr-2018England fast bowler Liam Plunkett will replace the injured Kagiso Rabada in the Delhi Daredevils squad for the 2018 season of the IPL. Plunkett entry takes the number of England players in the IPL to 11, with Jofra Archer – who is qualifying to play for England – the 12th.Rabada, who was Player of the Test series against Australia for taking 23 wickets, was sidelined by a back-stress reaction and was expected to be out of action for three months. He is expected to make a comeback for South Africa’s tour of Sri Lanka in July.Plunkett, 33, had a base price of INR 2 crore (USD 308,000 approx) at the 2018 player auction in January, where he went unsold. Daredevils bought him at that price, having paid INR 4.2 crore (USD 647,000 approx) for Rabada at the auction.This will be Plunkett’s first appearance at the IPL, with England players increasingly attractive after the ECB changed its stance towards the competition, despite the overlap with the county season. Plunkett is unlikely to be involved in England’s Test squad against Pakistan next month, so could theoretically stay with Daredevils for the whole of the tournament.His absence might raise an eyebrow or two in Yorkshire, however. Plunkett injured a hamstring while on duty for England in Australia and New Zealand over the winter and was not expected to be fit for Yorkshire’s Championship opener next week – although the demands of bowling four T20 overs are different to spending four days on the field.Plunkett recently indicated that he wanted to continue playing first-class cricket – rather than pursue a white-ball contract like Yorkshire and England team-mate Adil Rashid – but a spell in the IPL is likely to be both financially and professionally rewarding for a bowler who has become a key part of England’s limited-overs sides.Yorkshire were happy for Plunkett to appear in the Bangladesh Premier League last year and will benefit from a slice of his IPL deal, but the situation for counties is far from ideal. The club’s director of cricket of cricket, Martyn Moxon, is set to chair a meeting between county coaches next week to discuss the issue of players’ involvement in global T20 leagues.”It’s another example of us being between a rock and a hard place,” Moxon told the . “Surrey have had the same thing with Tom Curran [signed this week by Kolkata Knight Riders as a replacement for Mitchell Starc].”What do you do, stop a player going and earning a shed-load of money and have him disappointed around the dressing room for not allowing him to go, etc? It’s a lose-lose really for the counties, and it’s one of the items that we’ll be discussing on Tuesday because, as counties, we feel powerless at the moment.”

Batsman says the proposed league will serve as motivation for youngsters in South Africa and will attract talent from around the globe

Firdose Moonda05-Feb-20170:57

‘New league will do wonders for our cricket’ – de Villiers

AB de Villiers has become the first big-name player to throw his weight behind South Africa’s new T20 competition, which is set to launch in the 2017-18 summer. The tournament will comprise of eight privately-owned franchises and will aim to attract high-profile internationals in a model similar to the Indian Premier League, the Big Bash League and the Caribbean Premier League.”I am so excited about it. It’s going to be great. Lots of credit to Cricket South Africa for coming up with that. It’s vital for our cricket. It will motivate some of the youngsters to stick around, to fight it through and to play for South Africa,” de Villiers said.”The domestic tournament is going to do wonders for our cricket and I think it can definitely come up [] an IPL when it comes to entertainment and quality of cricket. With some of the names that I have heard who are interested in coming over, it’s going to be fantastic.”Cricket South Africa (CSA) put out a tender notice to invite bids for franchise ownership on Saturday and is in the process of securing sponsors – some international – to fund the event. Should foreign currency be behind the tournament, CSA will be able to match or even rival payments in leagues around the world – something that was identified as a major hurdle in luring internationals to the current domestic tournament, where they are paid in Rands.The benefits will also extend to locally-based players. More money will mean big pay-days for South African cricketers too, which Haroon Lorgat explained was a consideration when the event was conceptualised.Complete details of South Africa’s tournament are yet to be revealed but CSA have identified a window in November-December for the competition, with a final pencilled in for December 16, a public holiday. The proposed dates are in the middle of the South African summer, which also means they will clash with the Australian summer – and potentially the BBL – and the Indian home season, and could create scheduling conflicts.De Villiers, though, is hopeful South Africa will attract some of the best players from all over the world. “I think there are quite a few countries already available. I am not sure about India. I haven’t heard anything from them yet,” he said.South Africa’s current domestic T20 has had a smattering of internationals taking part. This season Kevin Pietersen (Dolphins) and Kieron Pollard (Cobras) were involved while in the past Andre Russell (Knights), Owais Shah (Cobras),Darren Sammy (Titans), Dwayne Bravo (Dolphins) , Sohail Tanvir (Lions), Craig Kieswetter (Warriors) and Chris Gayle (Dolphins and then Lions) had brief stints at the tournament. South Africa’s internationals have only been briefly available for their franchises but with the new event, that is set to change.

Dale Steyn has been ruled out of the ODI series against England as he continues to recover from a shoulder injury.

ESPNcricinfo staff26-Jan-2016Dale Steyn has been ruled out of the ODI series against England as he continues to recover from a shoulder injury.A call will be taken on Steyn’s availability for the T20s at a later stage, with the aim to have him fit for the Australia T20s in March and the World T20 which follows that.

Kyle Abbott, who suffered a hamstring niggle in the Centurion Test will also miss the first ODI against England with Morne Morkel and Kagiso Rabada likely to be rested for some of the matches.”They definitely won’t play all five games,” Russell Domingo, South Africa’s coach, said. “We will look to bring one or two new fast bowlers in.”That means South Africa are likely to add to their one-day squad, which currently only has Chris Morris as back-up to the bowlers. Wayne Parnell, and Hardus Viljoen, who are playing for the A side in a warm-up match against England on Saturday, could come into contention. Vernon Philander, however, will not.Philander tore ankle ligaments in the warm-ups for the second Test against India in Bangalore in November and has missed seven Tests as a result. He was expected to recover by mid-January but is still “two to three weeks away from competitive cricket”, according to Mohammed Moosajee, South Africa’s team manager . Philander is unlikely to make an international appearance this season.Moosajee is more optimistic about Steyn, even though the exact nature of the shoulder injury, which followed a groin strain, has not been discovered. “All initial scans were clear but when symptoms did not improve, we discovered a reaction in the bone itself,” Moosajee said. ‘This is very rare in fast bowlers as it is usually caused by trauma. We are treating it conservatively because he is a fast bowler and we know we have the World T20 coming up.”Steyn is still receiving treatment in a hyperbaric chamber and is being monitored every two weeks. Moosajee is “confident he will make a full recovery” and that in “six, eight or 10 weeks when he is fit, will be bowling as well as he ever has”. He also emphasised that Steyn’s current niggle is “not career-threatening.”

A dominating all-round display by Shahzaib Hasan helped Port Qasim Authority thump National Bank of Pakistan by nine wickets in the opening Group B match of the Ramadan Cup in Karachi

ESPNcricinfo staff14-Jul-2013
ScorecardShahzaib Hasan with the Man-of-the-Match award•Pakistan Cricket Board

A dominating all-round display by Shahzaib Hasan helped Port Qasim Authority thump National Bank of Pakistan by nine wickets in the opening Group B match of the Ramadan Cup in Karachi. Shazaib dismissed the dangerous Kamran Akmal as National Bank were looking to accelerate, then smashed four sixes enroute an unbeaten 68 as Port Qasim overhauled the target with 14 balls to spare.Chasing 151, Shazaib and Port Qasim captain Khalid Latif gave the team a quick start, bringing up the fifty in the fifth over of the innings. Latif was dismissed after an opening stand of 60, but Shahzaib continued to attack, while Khurram Manzoor stayed solid at the other end. The two put up a 94-run stand in 11.4 overs, with Shahzaib doing bulk of the scoring. National Bank’s Raza Hasan and Usman Qadir were economical in their spells, but the other bowlers were not able to put any pressure on the batsmen.Earlier, Akmal, the National Bank captain, had revived the team with a 37-ball 47 after the openers had fallen cheaply. National Bank had elected to bat, but were immediately on the back foot losing their openers in the first four overs. But apart from the 79 Akmal, together with Aqeel Anjum, put up for the third wicket, their were no notable contributions.