Pakistan

Ben Duckett admitted that the vibe within England’s Test team was everything he had hoped it would be while looking on from the county circuit last summer, as he marked his Test comeback with one of England’s four centuries in an extraordinary day of record-breaking in the first Test at Rawalpindi. Even the loss of

Toss England chose to bat vs Pakistan Illness-hit England won a crucial toss and opted to bat in their first Test in Pakistan for 17 years to begin the three-match series in Rawalpindi. Play was set to start as scheduled despite England being struck down by a sickness bug on the eve of the match

“If it doesn’t happen, it doesn’t happen.” On Tuesday, Ben Stokes announced Liam Livingstone will be making his Test debut against Pakistan in Rawalpindi. Just 24 hours later, with the start of the first Test up in the air as a virus coursing through the England squad threatened to leave them shy of 11 fit

If you’ve been paying even vague attention, you’ll have heard that James Anderson is the only member of this England touring party to have played international cricket in Pakistan prior to this winter. Back in the winter of 2005, a younger, sprightlier but no less downbeat Anderson was part of the squad that last played

Northern 593 (Hurraira 221, Amin 114, Waheed 109, Rohail 94, Aaliyan 4-96, Umar 4-116) beat Sindh 284 and 254 (Fawad 113, Musa 3-49, Jamal 3-63) by an innings and 55 runs Northern fast bowlers Aamer Jamal and Muhammad Musa shared six wickets between them to wipe out the second Sindh innings inside two sessions on

Northern, who resumed with Hurraira on 193 and Amin on 79, didn’t lose any wickets in the opening session but Danish Aziz broke through with Hurraira’s wicket after lunch, and Aaliyan then sent back Amin not long after to raise Sindh’s hopes. But Waheed, playing only his fourth game of the season, and Rohail ensured

Northern 296 for 2 (Hurraira 193*, Amin 79*, Umar 2-56) lead Sindh 284 (Mehmood 78, Alam 61*, Musa 3-61, Jamal 3-76) by 12 runs Muhammad Hurraira scored his third hundred in four matches as Northern took command over Sindh in the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy final on the second day. This one was the most impressive of

Sindh 230 for 7 (Mehmood 56*, Alam 38*, Musa 2-53, Mubasir 2-59) vs Northern Cometh the hour, cometh the man – with some help. Fawad Alam has not had a bad season, certainly not poor enough to have been dropped from the Pakistan Test side. But it has not been as prolific, perhaps, as previous

Hasan Ali has signed for Warwickshire for the first four months of the 2023 county season. His contract covers the duration of the T20 Blast, including the knockout stages, and Warwickshire’s County Championship fixtures until the end of July. Hasan played five games for Lancashire in the early stages of the 2022 County Championship and

The PCB and the UK high commissioner to Pakistan met with Imran Khan, the country’s former prime minister, in Lahore on Tuesday in a meeting that is believed to have given the Pakistan board assurances that a planned political rally will not disrupt the Rawalpindi Test between Pakistan and England. The venue of the series

Pakistan have handed maiden call-ups to legspinner Abrar Ahmed and fast bowler Mohammad Ali for the home Test series against England next month. The selectors also dropped Fawad Alam, Yasir Shah and Hasan Ali, who had been part of the Sri Lanka tour in July earlier this year. Both Abrar and Mohammad Ali have been

Shaheen Shah Afridi is “feeling better” following an appendectomy on Sunday. The fast bowler tweeted a picture after the surgery. Afridi is also currently undergoing rehab for his knee injury. At the MCG in the T20 World Cup final against England, Afridi had to hobble off the field after experiencing some discomfort in his knee,

England’s first Test in Pakistan in 17 years will go ahead in Rawalpindi, as originally planned. The potential of political unrest, caused by an anti-government long march led by Imran Khan, the former prime minister, had raised the prospects of a switch to Karachi. Even as the fluidity of the political situation continues, however, the

Mohammad Abbas, the Pakistan seamer, has signed a contract to appear for Hampshire as one of their overseas players for the next two seasons. Abbas has taken 91 Championship wickets at 16.83 for Hampshire since joining in 2021. He was part of a potent seam-bowling trio, alongside Kyle Abbott and Keith Barker, last summer as

Karachi is being discussed as an alternative venue for England’s historic first Test in Pakistan, as part of a back-up itinerary the PCB and ECB have been discussing as political unrest continues in Rawalpindi, the original venue for the series opener. In this itinerary, the dates of the tour remain the same but Karachi hosts

Put into bat, Ireland lost opener Gaby Lewis in the third over and were kept quiet most of the time. Amy Hunter top-scored for the visitors with a 39-ball 36 and Orla Prendergast chipped in with 20 off 17. However, regular strikes dented Ireland’s progress. Eimear Richardson and Rebecca Stokell did manage to find some

At the last T20I World Cup 12 months ago, Shan Masood was doing commentary work with ESPNcricinfo. Two months ago, he had never played a T20I for Pakistan. Yet, immediately after Pakistan’s five-wicket loss to England in the T20 World Cup final, he was the one sent out to the MCG press area to try

Pakistan are facing the prospect of losing Shaheen Shah Afridi for a longish spell. He is likely to miss the home series against England and New Zealand, between December 2022 and January 2023, after injuring himself during the Men’s T20 World Cup final in Melbourne on Sunday. It is understood that he has aggravated the

England 138 for 5 (Stokes 52*, Rauf 2-23) beat Pakistan 137 for 8 (Masood 38, Curran 3-12, Rashid 2-22, Jordan 2-27) by five wickets England became the first team to hold both men’s World Cups simultaneously, sneaking past Pakistan in a tense run chase to win the 2022 Men’s T20 World Cup final at the

Babar Azam‘s T20I side has always taken its fans on a ride, but the pain that lies at the end is beginning to feel familiar. Much like Pakistan’s agonising defeat in last year’s T20I World Cup semi-final and the Asia Cup final in September, Pakistan fell short of silverware in the T20 World Cup final

Ireland Women 139 for 4 (Lewis 69*, Prendergast 39) beat Pakistan Women 135 for 5 (Dar 61, Riaz 24, Prendergast 3-10) by six wickets An all-round show from Orla Prendergast backed up by a measured half-century from Gaby Lewis helped Ireland get past Pakistan by six wickets in the first T20I in Lahore. The hosts,

At the moment, Babar is the only player in the Platinum category for Zalmi, who also got the first pick in the supplementary round of the draft in exchange. Similarly, Haider is currently Kings’ only player in the Platinum category, while Malik joins Imad Wasim and Mohammad Amir in the Diamond. The franchises can have

The T20 World Cup final between England and Pakistan will be broadcast on free-to-air television in the UK and Ireland. While Sky Sports are exclusive UK rights holders to the tournament, it was announced on Thursday* that an agreement had been reached to share Sunday’s showpiece event at the MCG with Channel 4, as they

“By far, I think we probably saw him at his best,” Urooj said on ESPNcricinfo’s T20 Time Out show. “He has grown into his element throughout the tournament.” Afridi was returning from a serious knee injury at the start of the World Cup and picked up 2 for 24 in the semi-final in Sydney, striking

Pakistan 153 for 3 (Rizwan 57, Babar 53, Boult 2-33) beat New Zealand 152 for 4 (Mitchell 53*, Williamson 46, Afridi 2-24) by seven wickets Pakistan, who lost to Zimbabwe earlier in the tournament, who limped into the semis thanks only to Netherland’s unlikely win over South Africa, have stormed into the final of the

The most crucial factor in Pakistan’s commanding win over New Zealand in the T20 World Cup semi-final was not that they were better with bat and ball, but that they out-fielded their opponents, according to former India captain Anil Kumble. “The best part of today was yes, Pakistan definitely out-bowled New Zealand, they out-batted New

Ireland’s batters, for their part, got starts but did make full use of them. Six Ireland batters got past 20 but, from there, none could get past 35 – Mary Waldron (35) and Arlene Kelly (34) were the top scorers. Most of the damage was caused by regular strikes from the spin bowlers. Left-arm spinner

Opting to bat in sunny conditions at the Gaddafi Stadium, where the pitch was flat, Ameen and Muneeba got off to a breezy start with the latter hogging more of the strike. Seamer Arlene Kelly‘s third over, where she hit a couple of fours, got Ameen truly going. She then hit three fours in legspinner

Former captain and prime minister of Pakistan Imran Khan suffered injuries to his leg after being shot at in a protest march he was leading in Wazirabad in Punjab. Nine other people are believed to have been injured and one person died in the attack. TV footage showed Imran being taken to hospital and party

Big picture It’s not quite the quarterfinal we were hoping for, but the clash between South Africa and Pakistan has a lot riding on it for both sides. A win for South Africa will guarantee them a place in the final four – even before they’ve played their last group fixture against Netherlands – while