All posts by h716a5.icu

Michael Lumb’s hundred came at a good moment for Nottinghamshire with concerns over their top-order batting

Jon Culley at Trent Bridge14-Jun-2013
ScorecardMichael Lumb’s hundred helped compensate for problems elsewhere•Getty ImagesAfter Yorkshire’s victory over Middlesex and Durham’s defeat of Warwickshire, Nottinghamshire are in danger of losing contact with the leading group and this is not the moment they would want to start feeling pressure to keep up, not least with another crisis looming at the top of their batting order.Having beaten Derbyshire once already, this is a match they would have earmarked as a win, but with less than half the allotted overs possible in the first two days and a further two hours lost on the third, it is difficult to foresee anything but a draw as the outcome, unless the captains can reach an agreement to contrive a run chase.This is the last match in which Nottinghamshire have Ed Cowan at their disposal, while Alex Hales, who has opened with the Australian since the beginning of the season, is so out of form he has been sent off to the 2nd XI in a bid to rebuild his confidence. Dismissed for 0 and 8 in the fixture with Derbyshire 2nd XI, that exercise has not started well. Riki Wessels, promoted to open in Hales’ place, retired hurt after taking a blow on the right hand, although the diagnosis is bruising rather than a break.It is just as well, then, that Michael Lumb has hit a vein of good form that promises to continue, and which he has underpinned with his second century in as many matches after making 135 against Yorkshire at Scarborough. The 33-year-old left-hander, who still has ambitions to play Test cricket, resumes on 115, having hit 17 boundaries in an innings notable for his eye for an opportunity and the crisp timing of his execution. He had an escape early in the innings, when an edge off Mark Footitt went between second and third slips, but was otherwise, for the most part, in control.”He just carried on from where he left off at Scarborough,” the Nottinghamshire assistant coach, Wayne Noon, said. “When he came to us last season he had a point to prove to one or two people about what he could do in red-ball cricket and he was our leading run-scorer. He was short of 1,000 runs, but only because he had to go off and play Twenty20.”This season, after a bit of a dodgy start, getting a pair in the first game, he has worked hard and prepared well and is seeing the benefits.”He has a presence at the crease, hits the ball straight and clean and once he gets in he is a pleasure to watch. He was up against a couple of quick bowlers today in Footitt and Turner but he has matched them, hitting them in front of square and I hope it continues tomorrow.”His was an innings Nottinghamshire needed to keep in touch in this match, let alone in any broader context. Wessels had made only 9 when he decided, after treatment on the field, that he could not continue. Cowan again played himself in only to get out disappointingly early, this time taking three fours in a row off Tim Groenewald before edging the next ball to second slip.James Taylor reached 40, he and Lumb having added 121, when he misjudged a ball from Groenewald that bowled him off an inside edge; Samit Patel had not settled by time he went to help a ball from Footitt make its way to the long leg boundary only to lift it into the hands of Shivnarine Chanderpaul.Derbyshire had earlier added 85 to their overnight position before Nottinghamshire could claim the last four wickets, with every lower order batsman bar Groenewald chipping in with runs that gained a fourth batting point comfortably and almost a fifth. Nottinghamshire are 187 behind and with more rain likely it is difficult to envisage as positive result, although both sides will be willing to look for a way.

While the political storm over Sri Lankan players’ involvement in the IPL rages in India, Angelo Mathews has insisted his side is focussed solely on the series at hand, against Bangladesh

Andrew Fidel Fernando27-Mar-2013While the political storm over Sri Lankan players’ involvement in the IPL rages in India, Angelo Mathews has insisted his side is focussed solely on the series at hand, against Bangladesh. Sri Lanka have an ODI and Twenty20 to play before the tour is completed, and must win the final game to take the series, after rain forced the abandonment of the second match.Ten of Sri Lanka’s playing XI for the first two ODIs have been contracted to IPL teams for the 2013 season, and most players had planned to leave for India as soon as their national commitments for this series had been fulfilled. Nuwan Kulasekara will not be joining his IPL side as scheduled, however, after the Chennai Super Kings franchise instructed both him and Akila Dananjaya to postpone their travel to Chennai, and although the remaining players will travel to India as planned, they will not be play any league matches in Tamil Nadu.The BCCI had ruled on Tuesday that no Sri Lankan player would participate in matches in Chennai, and Sri Lanka Cricket reinforced that rule on Wednesday, when they decided to add a caveat to the players’ no objection certificates, stating they cannot play matches in Tamil Nadu. “Based on a note sent by the minister of external affairs regarding the safety of players, and reports appearing in the electronic and print media, it was decided that the no objection certificates issued to the players be restricted to exclude their appearance at any venue in the state of Tamil Nadu, and also to obtain the Players’ personal opinion on their willingness to participate in the event,” a release said. The players are understood to be largely satisfied with the security arrangements elsewhere in India.SLC had effectively cleared Sri Lanka’s schedule to accommodate the full IPL tournament by cancelling a Test tour of the West Indies, and postponing a Test series against South Africa until 2015 – though the latter was also due to a scheduling conflict with the Sri Lanka Premier League. The indebted board relies on income from the IPL, which comes in the form of a 10% cut of player salaries.Although the players have been urged by some, including Arjuna Ranatunga, to boycott the IPL, they are unlikely to do so, particularly given they have the board’s implicit support to play in the tournament. Some players had flights changed, so as to avoid being routed through Tamil Nadu, but will join their teams as planned over the next week.Mathews said he and his team were aware of the evolving situation, but had left the decision in the hands of the two boards. “As far as the players are concerned, we’ve got nothing to do with it. We’ve always enjoyed playing in India. But there is a situation and the cricket board will let us know on that. As far as the team is concerned we’re not very much bothered.”It’s not a distraction at all. We’re not concentrating on the IPL right now. We’ve got one ODI and a Twenty20 against Bangladesh to go, so we’re concentrating on that. Maybe after the two games, we can look into it, but for now we’re not interested in it.”

Michael Bracewell slammed 83 off 48 deliveries to set up Otago’s victorious chase of 309 against Northern Districts in Mount Maunganui

ESPNcricinfo staff04-Jan-2015Michael Bracewell slammed 83 off 48 deliveries to set up Otago’s victorious chase of 309 against Northern Districts in Mount Maunganui. Aaron Redmond (64) and Sam Wells (93) had provided a solid platform with an opening partnership of 134 in just under 28 overs, but it was Bracewell who gave the innings the momentum it needed. Bracewell dominated the second-wicket stand of 111 that came in only 79 deliveries. He hit ten fours and four sixes before falling in the 41st over. Wells became one of Ish Sodhi’s three victims in the next over, and when Nathan McCullum fell cheaply to the legspinner, Otago still required 42 off 27. They lost Iain Robertson as well, but Derek de Boorder and Josh Finnie found the boundary a few times to haul the side home with three deliveries to go.Daryl Mitchell’s maiden List-A century had led the hosts to 308 for 8 after they chose to bat. Mitchell’s unbeaten 100 came off 98 balls and included eight fours and three sixes. Dean Brownlie contributed 66 at the top of the order while Mitchell Santner made a run-a-ball 45. Jacob Duffy was the most successful Otago bowler with 4 for 64 from ten overs.

A round of matches in the Faysal Bank T-20

ESPNcricinfo staff06-Dec-2012
ScorecardHaris Sohail scored a brisk half-century to give Sialkot Stallions a target their bowlers defended comfortably against Abbottabad Falcons. The 34-run win was Sialkot’s fourth success in five matches and they were second in Group A.Sialkot’s top order had stumbled – they were 69 for 3 in the 11th over – before Sohail made an unbeaten 62 off 43 balls to lead his team to 164. Sohail had a 79-run stand for the fourth wicket with his captain Shoaib Malik. Fast bowler Junaid Khan was Abbottabad’s best bowler, with figures of 3 for 22.Abbottabad overcame the early loss of Mir Azam to reach 79 for 1 in the 13th over but they failed to accelerate from that platform. They lost four wickets for 14 runs to slip to 110 for 6 and eventually ended on 130.
ScorecardMultan Tigers rose to the third spot in Group A with a 17-run win against Karachi Zebras in Lahore. Put in to bat, Multan lost opener Sohaib Maqsood in the second over, but made steady progress for the next seven overs as Zain Abbas and Gulraiz Sadaf scored 48 together. But Karachi’s Faraz Ahmed and Haaris Ayas picked up two wickets apiece to reduce Multan to 87 for 5 in the 15th over. It was then that Saeed Anwar Jr launched a counterattack, hitting 39 off 22 and sharing a 52-run stand with Kashif Naved to help the team finish on a high.Multan carried the momentum into their bowling, with Mohammad Irfan striking off the first ball of the innings. Two more wickets went down in the next two overs, pushing Karachi onto the back foot. Rahat Ali and Anwar Jr shared seven wickets between them to derail the chase and help Multan win comfortably in the end.
ScorecardBahawalpur Stags maintained their winning run with an 11-run win against Hyderabad Hawks, who are yet to register a victory. Bahawalpur were set back early after choosing to bat, but healthy contributions of 40, 34 and 37 from Ali Haider, Usman Tariq and Bilal Khilji ensured the team crossed the 150-run mark. Haider was the most aggressive – his 40 came off 26 balls with five fours and a six.In their chase, Hyderabad had made brisk progress to 44 when Ataullah struck in the sixth over to remove Sharjeel Khan. Other Bahawalpur bowlers soon joined in; they kept the scoring under tight control and picked up the wickets as the pressure got to the batsmen. Twenty-eight were required off the last two overs, but Kamran Hussain and Mohammad Talha both picked up two wickets each in the last two overs to seal the win.
ScorecardFaisalabad Wolves kept their unbeaten record intact with a narrow two-wicket win against Karachi Dolphins at the Bagh-e-Jinnah in Lahore. Chasing 148, Faisalabad were in danger of running out of batsmen when 19 were required off 16 balls and only two wickets were left. But Misbah-ul-Haq remained unbeaten on 72 and scored 17 out of 19 in the ninth-wicket partnership to help Faisalabad cross the line off the last delivery.Misbah took only 47 balls to score his runs and hit four boundaries and three sixes in the innings. He didn’t receive much support at the other end, 17 being the second highest score.Earlier, Karachi were cruising on 85 for 1 in the 12th over after a half-century stand between Khurram Manzoor and Khalid Latif. However, both batsmen were out in the space of three balls off Ehsan Adil’s bowling and that slowed down the charge. Adil picked up four wickets as Karachi were restricted to 147.
ScorecardA big-hitting century partnership between the Rawalpindi Rams openers helped their team to overhaul Lahore Eagles’ total with ease – they won by eight wickets with more than five overs to spare. Naved Malik and Awais Zia hit 11 sixes between them and put up 135 runs in 12.1 overs to make short work of the 156-run target. Malik scored 77 off 41 balls and Zia, 54 off 36, but both fell with the target in sight.Lahore Eagles had chosen to bat and with the help of contributions from everyone in the batting order, had scored 155. Yasir Arafat was the most successful bowler for Rawalpindi with 3 for 37.
ScorecardIn a clash that pitted the bottom-rung Group A teams against each other, Islamabad Leopards beat Quetta Bears by five wickets at the Gaddafi Stadium. This was Islamabad’s first win in five matches, while Quetta remained winless after the same number of games.Islamabad chose to bowl, and the decision paid off straightaway as seamer Iftikhar Anjum struck in each of his first three overs to leave Quetta reeling at 17 for 3 in the sixth. Apart from getting the wickets, Iftikhar kept a tight leash on the scoring, having conceding only 2.75 runs per over by the end of his spell. The other bowlers too kept things tight for the most part, and struck with regularity to restrict Quetta to 111 for 7.The chase was off to a poor start too, as Islamabad lost opener Shan Masood for a golden duck and No. 3 Moed Ahmed for 1, but the rest of the top and middle order produced cameos and that was enough to propel their team past their meagre target with nine balls to spare.

Salman Butt, the former Pakistan captain, has asked for a chance to resume his playing career as he prepares to challenge his ICC ban handed down for spot-fixing

Andrew McGlashan and Nagraj Gollapudi06-Feb-2013Salman Butt, the former Pakistan captain, has asked for a chance to resume his playing career as he prepares to challenge his ICC ban handed down for spot-fixing during the Lord’s Test against England in 2010.Butt, who was banned for 10 years with the possibility of five suspended, and Mohammad Asif, currently serving a seven-year ban with two suspended, will appear at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in Lausanne, Switzerland, over the next two days in a last-ditch attempt to appeal against the bans.In a statement released through his lawyer on Wednesday, Butt said: “It may be easy for some people to say that a five-year ban from cricket is all right but what they don’t realise is that for a sportsman like me – this is like a lifetime ban,” he said in a statement issued by his solicitors this afternoon.”Cricket is my life and every single day that has passed has been so painful because I have not been able to play. All I want is an opportunity to get back into cricket whilst I am still young and I can still play well.”Asif’s hearing is scheduled for Thursday and Butt’s for Friday. Unlike criminal trials, CAS hearings are held in private and not open to either the public or media.Lawyers from both parties – the ICC and the player – will present arguments in front of the three-strong arbitrators panel, including the current president of CAS. Butt will be represented by Yasin Patel, a London-based barrister, who was also part of the legal team that fought his case in the UK.”We are appealing the sanctions that were imposed upon us and they should not have been so high,” Patel said. It is understood that Asif’s arguments will be similar.CAS, which was formed in 1983 to rule on a variety of disputes within sport, is widely regarded as the final point in the appeal process. It cannot reverse the UK court rulings because the criminal proceedings were under UK laws, but it does have the power to reduce or overturn the ICC sanctions as they are part of the appeal system laid down in the ICC anti-corruption code. If the outcome was an alteration to the bans it is unlikely that there would be a counter-appeal process open to the ICC. No new witnesses or evidence can be produced by the players.It is not yet clear whether the CAS will issue an instant verdict and that will depend on the arguments they have heard and if they are satisfied or if they require more time to study the case.Mohammad Amir, the third player to be caught in the sting, has decided not to appeal against the five-year ban against him. The ban does not permit the players to take part in any official match – international, domestic or club – until at least September 2015. All three players served time.Butt served seven months of a 30-month prison sentence, Asif was released from Canterbury Prison in Kent on June 3 last year after he served half of a year-long sentence while Amir spent three months in a young offenders’ institution after admitting his charge at a pre-trial hearing.

Stuart Broad found himself in a familiar position for England captains – trying to explain a calamitous display against spin bowling

David Hopps in Colombo23-Sep-2012Stuart Broad found himself in a familiar position for England captains – trying to explain a calamitous display against spin bowling – as his side, dismissed against India for 80 in 14.4 overs, registered England’s lowest total in Twenty20 internationals.”It doesn’t change our destiny a huge amount – we still hop on a bus to Kandy in the morning,” Broad said. “It is not like tomorrow is going to be a different day. It is not as if we have to go home or anything.”It was understandable, indeed it was necessary, that Broad found consolation in the fact that both sides had already qualified for Super Eights and that, for the sake of their travelling supporters, England and India were already locked into matches in Pallekele (near to Kandy) or Colombo respectively, irrespective of whether they finished first or second in the group.But that underplayed the psychological effect that a defeat of such magnitude will have on a relatively untried England batting line-up that had grown in confidence during the warm-up matches but which collapsed spectacularly when faced by the first real test against significant opposition.As Broad had mentioned destiny, he did bring to mind Freud’s theory of repetition compulsion – a psychological phenomenon in which a person (or in this case the England cricket team) repeats a traumatic event, or its circumstances, over and over again.Freud’s theory says the patient does not remember anything about what he has forgotten or repressed, but just acts it out until the end of time, which is a depressing thought for when England next face spin bowling in Asia as well as an intriguing challenge for the team psychologist. The alternative, of course, would be to listen instead to Mushtaq Ahmed, the spin bowling coach, and start hitting the ball down the ground.”Our error today is we lost early wickets,” Broad said. “Spinners always enjoy bowling to new batsmen. We talked the other day about how we need to hit straight and hard and today to lose the first couple of wickets across the line was a bit disappointing. Hitting straight was a much better option than going across the ball.”England’s display was so woeful that when they lost their ninth wicket at 60 they were in danger of recording the lowest score in T20 internationals, undercutting Kenya’s 67 against Ireland. Somehow, they avoided that. But this was their heaviest defeat, by runs, in T20 internationals.There was no alibi for the batsmen and Broad was not about to give them one. There was no sharp turn – there may be as the tournament progresses so if England do reach the semi-finals and face India once more at Premadasa it could be worse – and India’s 170 for 4 was, at most, 10 over par so the target did not demand the impossible.”I don’t think the wicket turned massively to be honest,” Broad said. “The guys getting out said it was just skidding on a little bit. There was a little bit of turn, Harbhajan bowled very nicely with his top-spinner going well but no, I don’t think it was a raging turner or anything.”We made it easy for India in the end. We will have to learn from our mistakes and there were some pretty clear ones in the batting line-up. Young guys seem to learn pretty quickly.”He did not entirely exonerate the bowling, where England suffered in this match by giving Tim Bresnan a run out as a fourth seamer, in defiance of a dry pitch, because of their conviction that the ball will seam and swing in Pallakele and he will play in their opening Super Eight tie against West Indies or Ireland on Thursday as a result. The fielding was also scrappy by England standards, but these were details compared to the car crash of a batting performance.”I think we were a little bit sloppy in places: we had a few soft twos in the outfield,” Broad conceded. “We didn’t hit our lengths as well as we could up front. But I think it was the lowest first-innings score on this ground so far in the tournament. We thought it was very chaseable. The wicket was pretty flat, although it didn’t have the pace in it that it had the other night.”It will be interesting to see what the Pallakele wickets offer. There has been talk that in the Sri Lankan Premier League it seamed around a bit. We knew it was a bit dryer at the start but we wanted to try a different balance of side with the four seamers in a game that we could afford to lose. It was a risk that we took and it didn’t help us.”Sunil Gavaskar, the former India captain, was quick to point out England’s deficiencies. “This is a sorry display from England,” he said. “There’s been a lack of footwork, application and the will to stick around and fight it out.” It was accurate enough but England regard Gavaskar as a serial critic; perhaps this is a comment that will be heading for the dressing room wall.

Ruhuna Royals crashed out of the SLPL with a 14-run loss to Wayamba United, after Dinesh Chandimal shook off a poor run of form with a 54-ball 75

The Report by Andrew Fernando26-Aug-2012
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsDinesh Chandimal found form to score a 54-ball 75•Shaun Roy/SPORTZPICS/SLPLRuhuna Royals crashed out of the SLPL with a 14-run loss to Wayamba United, after Dinesh Chandimal shook off a poor run of form with a 54-ball 75. The loss means Nagenahira Nagas will join the three teams already qualified for the semi finals, and Nagenahira’s match tomorrow night against Uva Next will simply decide who will face top-placed Wayamba in the semis.Chandimal played in Tamim Iqbal’s slipstream in the opening overs, as Tamim supplied the start Wayamba had grown accustomed to when Kamran Akmal was still in the country. Tamim hit three sixes and two fours in his 36, and the pair took a particular liking to Wahab Riaz, whose second over disappeared for 19.Chandimal was fortunate early in his knock, edging past the keeper twice, but grew more confident as the booming drives and thrashed cuts returned. Chandimal rarely attacked good length, but was quick to punish short deliveries as he regularly beat the sweeper on the on-side. He fell in the sixteenth over with his side eyeing a score in excess of 170, at 132 for 4, but three quick wickets and a terrific final over from Riaz allowed Wayamba merely a challenging total, rather than an intimidating one.Aaron Finch and Daniel Harris began the chase at a canter, making 21 from the first two overs, but Ruhuna ran aground shortly after, as they lost six wickets for 34 in the next seven overs. Isuru Udana and Brad Hogg took one wicket apiece, while Abdul Razzak recovered from a poor first over to nab Chamara Silva and Mohammad Ashraful in his next two. Twenty-year-old medium pace bowler Chathuranga Kumara embellished an already striking SLPL campaign with a double strike in his first over, and a miserly four over spell, before Brad Hogg contributed four cheap overs of his own.Lahiru Thirimanne remained not out on 40, having taken apart Akila Dananjaya, who collected his first poor figures of the tournament, but Ruhuna could not find a batsman who could stay with Thirimanne to make any meaningful charge on the target.

Shakib Al Hasan, the Bangladesh allrounder, is intent on getting a bit of rest from competitive cricket after the upcoming IPL, as he has not taken any substantial time off the game for more than two years

Mohammad Isam30-Mar-2012Shakib Al Hasan, the Bangladesh allrounder, is intent on getting a bit of rest from competitive cricket after the upcoming IPL, as he has not taken any substantial time off the game for more than two years. That could mean skipping a stint on the English county circuit this season, following his second season with Kolkata Knight Riders – the IPL ends on May 27, and Shakib is yet to firm up his county plans.”The county cricket [stint] hasn’t been confirmed yet. I still don’t know if I would play [county cricket], even if I am fit,” Shakib told ESPNcricinfo. “I haven’t stopped [playing] for the last three years, so I am thinking that only if I get a 15 to 20 days rest after the IPL, I will go and play in England. If they [whichever county team he might sign with this season] tell me to go and join them straight after the IPL, I won’t go, that’s what I have planned.”Shakib has had only three major breaks from cricket ever since making his international debut in 2006. He had about three months off in 2008, a few months in early 2009 and, more recently, a break from mid-August to mid-October in 2009, between an away ODI series against Zimbabwe and a domestic Twenty20 tournament. Ever since, Shakib has risen significantly in world rankings and has grown in stature as an international cricketer by playing in the county championship for Worcestershire and the IPL for the Kolkata franchise. This apart, he has turned out in several domestic competitions in Bangladesh.”I have played a lot of cricket, I need a break. I have some stuff of my own to take care of,” Shakib said. “To play good cricket, one needs to stay away from cricket too.”Shakib is coming off a productive year, in which he averaged 44 with the bat and 29 with the ball in ODIs and 50 and 29 with bat and ball respectively in Tests. In Bangladesh’s stirring showing in the just-concluded Asia Cup he made 64, 49, 56 and 68. However, he admitted that the responsibility on him as an allrounder was not always easy to deal with and that there is still room for improvement.”Personally, I want to improve by finishing matches for the team,” he said. “My bowling isn’t going that well too. It’s difficult to keep both going, batting and bowling. I feel that it is hard to concentrate on both in training. I have seen that if I take one discipline and work on it, it gets better. But to work on both is a bit difficult. It is a problem at times [as an allrounder], so there’s a lot of room to work hard.”While he remained realistic about Bangladesh’s chances in Test cricket and their plans for the immediate future, the success in the Asia Cup, he said, will help them think of themselves differently. “We may not win Tests [for now] because we haven’t got the attack to take 20 wickets. We need genuine bowlers to take 20 wickets, but we will win one-day games. This [Asia Cup performance] has helped us set new goals. It is important that four or five players are performing [in the same game] for Bangladesh.”I feel that at home we can handle teams a lot better than we can away from home. [Bigger teams like] India still have trouble [playing] away from home. So I think we should [first] become tough competitors at home so that in the next year or two, no one can come and whitewash us easily.”

Tamim Iqbal, one of Bangladesh’s senior players, has said he had no idea that the national coach Stuart Law was going to resign

Nagraj Gollapudi16-Apr-2012Tamim Iqbal, one of Bangladesh’s top batsmen, has said he had no idea that the national coach Stuart Law was going to resign. He was talking hours after Law announced his decision to quit as Bangladesh coach.”I’m completely taken by surprise,” Tamim told ESPNcricinfo. “But family comes first.” Law was stepping down less than a month after guiding Bangladesh to the final of the Asia Cup.Tamim said Law had added to the professionalism brought in by his predecessors as coach, the Australian pair of Dav Whatmore and Jamie Siddons. “Law gave us the belief that we can do it,” Tamim said. “And that only pumped up the players. He used to give us tremendous amount of confidence. A team like us needs the confidence and he always supported us.”The relationship between a coach and the players takes time to develop usually and with Stuey, we were almost there. Everyone was enjoying his presence in the dressing room and he was enjoying being with us as well.”Tamim also gave a personal example of Law’s influence. “When I was going through a rough patch during the Pakistan series (last December) he kept pushing me to work hard. There is one line I can never forget. He said: ‘Someone is hurt now and someone will be hurt in the Asia Cup.'” Tamim made four half-centuries in four matches in the Asia Cup and finished as the second-highest run-maker in the tournament.Tamim said he was also disappointed as he felt Law’s departure was a bit of a backward step for Bangladesh cricket. “We will miss him definitely. This is the tragedy with Bangladesh cricket: whenever we do something good, something bad happens.”Edited by Siddarth Ravindran

Pakistan Under-19 warmed up for the tri-series final with a resounding win in the dress rehearsal against South Africa Under-19 at the Stellenbosch University Ground

ESPNcricinfo staff19-Jan-2012
Scorecard
Pakistan Under-19 warmed up for the tri-series final with a resounding win in the dress rehearsal against South Africa Under-19 at the Stellenbosch University Ground. After being asked to field, Pakistan had their opponents in trouble at 13 for 3. The middle order put up a resistance – Shaylin Pillai made 36, Thenuis du Bruyn chipped in with 29 and Murray Coetzee remained unbeaten on 31. However, none were able to really push on. Legspinner Usman Qadir, son of Abdul Qadir, picked up three wickets and South Africa were skittled out for 152.Opener Sami Aslam led Pakistan’s charge in the chase, making a patient, unbeaten 84. Things were a little tricky at 77 for 3, but Umar Waheed joined Aslam to guide Pakistan to victory in 40 overs. The two teams play the final in Paarl on January 22.