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Australia coach Andrew McDonald has said there will be further investigation into Usman Khawaja’s back issue in the lead-up to the Brisbane Test and admitted the selectors have “a lot to consider” around the batting order after Travis Head’s match-winning performance as a stand-in opener.Australia’s players and staff flew to their home cities on Sunday after the first Ashes Test finished inside two days in Perth.Khawaja’s back spasms have become a major talking point, with the 38-year-old unable to open in both innings and only able to bat once in the game. He also dropped a catch at slip before leaving the field in England’s second innings.Related

• The Khawaja debate: for and against his Test career continuing

• Inglis hammers rapid ton amid Australia batting order debate

• Head adds to career catalogue of mind-blowing knocks on the biggest stage

• Smith stalls talk on Head's permanent role as Ashes opener

• Head: 'It's not going to get much bigger than this'

McDonald confirmed that the medical staff would look into the injury further as Khawaja has never suffered a back spasm of that nature in his lengthy career.”There was discussions around further investigation to whether it was more serious than what we sort of first anticipated,” McDonald said on Monday. “So we’ll work through that. We’ll get a squad together. We’ll step through everything that we normally step through.”We get to camp in six days’ time. It’s a long way out, a lot of information to gather between now and then, and hopefully Usman is fit and available for selection.”I think anytime you spasm, it’s a result of something going on in your back. So I think that further investigation is just due diligence around that. You spasm for a reason. He hasn’t had it before, so that’s what will probably entail a bit more further investigation.”My gut feel is that it should be okay, but as I said, we’ll wait for that information to present.”McDonald dismissed Khawaja’s age as a reason for the back issue flaring up. Khawaja did play 18 holes of golf on each of three days leading into the Test match (54 holes in total), something he had done previously leading into a Test without issue. But McDonald, like CA chief executive Todd Greenberg, reiterated that it had never caused a problem before.”These things can happen,” McDonald said. “And I don’t think you can join the dots to something around his age. I think it’s just one of those things that’s happened.”Travis Head smashed his way to an extraordinary 69-ball century•Getty Images

McDonald was asked whether Head’s extraordinary performance in the second innings, where he made 123 off 83 balls to win the Test match, would cause a rethink about a permanent change at the top of the order.”We’ve got a lot to consider,” McDonald said. “Batting orders are always debated heavily over a period of time. Middle order players haven’t been sort of the ones that have been the popular ones to open the batting. So we’ll discuss and work through what it looks like.”I think it gave us a little bit of a lens potentially to the future in terms of adjusting batting orders in second innings, which is something that we have discussed. To be able to put different people in different positions with the scenario that was presented. So this one happened probably through a bit more chance and obviously the unfortunate injury to Usman. But I think it really probably opens up that discussion more than, more than anything else for us.”Australia’s selectors do not have a history of making a change off a sample size of one innings. Steven Smith made 91 not out in an unsuccessful fourth innings chase in his fourth innings as an opener but the experiment was shelved after he averaged 28 across eight Test innings in the role.The impact Head had on the pink-ball Test in Adelaide last year, where he made a match-winning century at No. 5 in Australia’s first innings having been shielded from batting in a difficult period under lights on the first night, will also be a key factor in any decision to move him permanently to the top for Brisbane. Head had looked reasonably good in the first innings in Perth when he entered in the 16th over before shovelling a pull shot to mid-on.The potential to be flexible with Head looks more appealing to the coach.”We’ve sort of hypothesized around a middle order player going up to the top order if the second innings happened to flatten out,” McDonald said. “In particular, if we needed quick runs, and the wicket was going to deteriorate. So in our strategy and our planning, we have tabled that from time to time.”We’ve had a conversation around Travis opening the batting for a long period of time, and Trav’s has been on the record this week and previously around that also. I suppose, now that it’s out there, yeah, happy to talk about it. Will we do it? If it presents at the right time, potentially.”

The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has revoked its provisional suspension on batter Haider Ali, who has not played any competitive cricket since he was cleared of rape allegations in Manchester in September.Related

• Haider Ali under criminal investigation in the UK, suspended by the PCB

• Haider Ali arrested and granted bail after report of alleged rape

• Manchester police drop all charges against Haider Ali

The PCB on Wednesday confirmed that Haider had been issued an NOC to play in the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL), alongside Mohammad Nawaz, Abrar Ahmed, Sahibzada Farhan, Faheem Ashraf, Hussain Talat, Khawaja Nafay and Ehsanaullah.Haider, who has represented Pakistan in 35 T20Is and two ODIs, was touring England with the Pakistan Shaheens squad when a UK-born Pakistani woman filed charges of rape against him with the Manchester city police.The PCB had suspended Haider “pending the outcome of the ongoing investigation.” The Manchester police dropped the charges against Haider on September 25, stating they had not found sufficient evidence to send the matter to court.

Will Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli play the 2027 World Cup? Chairman of selectors Ajit Agarkar feels it’s too early to take any calls about that event, but he has made it clear Rohit and Kohli will not be “on trial” during India’s three-match ODI series against Australia, which begins in Perth on Sunday.”Look they [Rohit and Kohli] are part of the squad at the moment for Australia,” Agarkar said during on Friday. “In two years’ time, we don’t know what the situation is going to be. So why just them two? It could be some other younger players [who might miss out on the tournament].”Related

• Shami: If I can play Ranji Trophy, I can play 50-overs

• Kohli finds rhythm, Rohit shakes off the rust in India's first training session

• The wait for 'Ro-Ko' is over and it's okay to be a bit emotional about it

• Axar: 'It's perfect that Rohit and Virat are here to help with the transition'

Rohit and Kohli are now ODI-only players for India, having retired from Tests and T20Is. Rohit, ahead of this Australia tour, also lost the ODI captaincy, with the baton passing on to Shubman Gill. With both senior players now in their mid-to-late 30s, and with little chance for match practice between ODI series, there is a sense that their presence in the ODI team could depend on churning out performances in every series they play.”That would be a bit silly, isn’t it, when one averages over 50 and the other averages close to 50?” Agarkar said, when this was put to him. “You are not going to put them on trial in every game. But 2027 is a long way away, both of them play one format […] they haven’t had a lot of cricket [in recent months]. Once they start playing, then you assess as you go forward.”They are not on trial, they’ve achieved all they had to achieve, not just winning trophies but runs [as well], so it’s not that if both of them don’t get runs in this series that will be the reason they won’t be there, or if they get three hundreds, [that will be] the reason they play 2027.”It’s still a long way away, we’ll see how the team shapes up, but we have some ideas, and as we go along we’ll probably have a better idea of where the team is progressing.”Rohit and Kohli retired from T20Is after helping India lift the T20 World Cup in 2024, and called time on their Test careers after the 2024-25 tour of Australia. The Test retirements came in the weeks leading up to India’s tour of England, which began in June 2025, and Agarkar said both Rohit and Kohli had wanted to make way for younger players at the start of a new World Test Championship (WTC) cycle. The selectors, he said, were keen to have their experience in England, where Gill led the Test team for the first time. A young India team drew the five-Test series 2-2.”Both [Rohit and Kohli] have been stalwarts of Indian cricket. They felt it was a new WTC cycle, and whatever people might think or not think, that is the reality,” Agarkar said. “Both were very aware, perhaps they may not have gone [on] for those two years as Test players for the WTC cycle.”And look, England was a series where we would have loved some experience, frankly, and the performance was incredible even though we didn’t win, under a young captain, which would have always been difficult. We would have liked some experience, but they had made their decision, and once you have played for as long as they have and they are sure about what decision they want to make, to walk away from a particular format, you’ve got to respect that.”Agarkar on Shami: ‘Our domestic season has just started, and we’ll see if he’s fit enough’•PTI

On Shami: ‘My phone is always on’

The selection for the Australia tour ruffled at least one player’s feathers. Mohammed Shami, who hasn’t played for India since the Champions Trophy in March, wasn’t picked on fitness grounds; the fast bowler, who is currently playing for Bengal against Uttarakhand in the first round of the Ranji Trophy, disputed the idea that he wasn’t fit. “If I can play four-dayers [Ranji Trophy], I can also play 50-overs cricket.” Asked about this, Agarkar said the domestic season had only just begun, and that the selectors would keep an eye on Shami’s fitness as the Ranji Trophy progresses.”If he says that to me, I’ll probably answer that,” Agarkar said. “I’m not quite sure what he said on social media. Maybe if I read that, I might give him a call, but my phone is always on for most players, and I’ve had multiple chats with him over the last few months.”Look, he’s been an incredible performer for India. If he’s said something, maybe that’s a conversation for me to have with him or him to have with me, but [if he was fully fit] he would have been on that plane. Unfortunately he wasn’t, and our domestic season has just started, and we’ll see if he’s fit enough, and we’ll see where it goes, because this is the first round of Ranji games that’s going on. We’ll find out in a couple more games if he’s fit.”Look, with his quality, if he’s bowling well, why would you not want to have someone like a Shami? But what we found in the last six-eight months to a year, even leading up to the Australia tour, which we were desperate to have him on, unfortunately his fitness wasn’t there. If he does keep fit over the next few months, who knows, the story might be different. But at this point, as far as I know, he wasn’t fit enough for that England tour.”

Chennai Super Kings coach Stephen Fleming has said that CSK haven’t been able to read the Chepauk pitch in recent years. During the IPL 2025 auction, CSK had stacked their squad with spin, but the Chepauk pitch seemed to assist the seamers more than the spinners during their second home game of the season. Royal Challengers Bengaluru’s Josh Hazlewood and Bhuvneshwar Kumar claimed combined figures of 7-0-41-4 to shut CSK down in their chase of 197.”Well, as we’ve been telling you for a number of years, there was no home advantage at Chepauk,” Fleming said after CSK suffered their biggest defeat against RCB at home. “We’ve won away from home a couple of times. And we haven’t been able to read… we’ve been really honest with you. We haven’t been able to read the wickets here in the last couple of years. So, it’s not new. We are trying to come to grips each day with what we get, and we don’t know.”Related

• Teams face up to home truths in first half of IPL 2025

• KKR coach bats for home teams getting favourable conditions

• Pujara 'quite surprised' by Fleming's 'no home advantage' comment

• Spellbinding Hazlewood and RCB conquer Chepauk and CSK

• Patidar, bowlers lead RCB to first win over CSK in Chennai since 2008

The Chepauk pitches in IPL 2024 didn’t suit spin, which has been CSK’s traditional strength. The fast bowlers took 74 wickets while the spinners claimed only 25 at the venue last season.”It’s not the Chepauk [of old] where you can just go in and play four spinners,” Fleming said. “We’re having to work really hard to try and understand what the nature of each pitch is, and it’s quite different.”On Friday, Fleming had expected the dew to set in and aid their chase. However, it wasn’t to be and the surface got even slower in the second innings. CSK ended up losing by 50 runs.”No, we didn’t get it right,” Fleming said. “It’s so hard to read, but we thought it was going to skid on with the dew, but it actually got a bit tacky. So, it certainly made it harder here.”CSK’s batters don’t usually swing from the get-go – which can become a talking point when big chases go wrong – but that doesn’t make them a bad team, Fleming insisted.When Fleming was asked if “this [batting approach] was his way of playing cricket”, it didn’t go down too well with him. Somewhat testy reactions from the usually calm Fleming suggested that CSK might be feeling the heat.”We talk about firepower, we have firepower all the way through,” Fleming said. “I don’t understand this question. Just because we don’t swing from ball one and have a little bit of luck go away, we’ll see at the end. Just see at the end who wins it. It’s a positive brand of cricket, no doubt about it, but don’t discount us.”

The important thing is that the golf has been played.Australia had arrived in Dubai not knowing whether they would be staying in Dubai or heading to Lahore for the second semi-final in the Champions Trophy. Players on the Australia team, however, took every chance they could to get a round in.More importantly, the extra time allowed Australia to train in Dubai – even if it is at the nearby ICC Academy, rather than at the main stadium, which essentially has been too busy over the last two days to host a centre-wicket practice session.Related

• Can Australia's weakened bowling stand up to India's top-order might?

• Favourites India enter Australia's territory in semi-final

• Rohit: 'Dubai not our home, it's new for us as well'

“We guessed right in the end,” Australia captain Steven Smith said. South Africa had also arrived in Dubai and had to head back to Lahore. “So yeah, ideal to be here and have a couple of days’ preparation. I think had we stayed and waited for last night’s result, we would have had to have flown here today and play tomorrow.”We wouldn’t get a chance to train on the surface or get used to the conditions that we have at the academy and if we had to go back, we would have just got on the same plane back as New Zealand and had a day there before playing. So this arrangement made sense to us.”Part of the teams’ complaints have been about the security measures they have had to adhere to in Pakistan.”We had a little reset and a chance to have a couple of days here outside of a pretty strict sort of bubble in Pakistan with the security and stuff,” Smith said. “It’s been nice to just have a couple of days to chill here. A couple of guys have played some golf and wandered around and done some stuff like that. So yeah, we’re well prepared for tomorrow now and looking forward to it.”

Australia’s spare Test batter and wicketkeeper Josh Inglis has suffered a low-grade calf strain while fielding during the fourth Test at the MCG, which rules him out of the squad for the final Test in Sydney and puts his BBL in jeopardy as he is expected to be managed ahead the Test tour of Sri Lanka.Inglis was the sole spare batter with the squad on day three as allrounder Beau Webster was released to play in the BBL on Saturday. He shared sub fielding duties with spare bowler Sean Abbott but suffered a low-grade strain according to a Cricket Australia statement.Inglis has been released from the Test squad and officially ruled out of the Sydney Test although it was unlikely he would play barring injury. But he is expected to be fit for the two-Test tour of Sri Lanka where he is a distinct possibility of making his Test debut as a specialist batter in Galle given his prowess against spin.But the injury is a major blow for Perth Scorchers. He was allowed to play two of Scorchers’ first four matches against Hobart Hurricanes and Melbourne Renegades as the matches fell between the third and fourth Tests. But he will only have 22 days to recover from the calf strain before Australia’s Test squad depart for the UAE for a pre-tour camp prior to the first Test starting in Galle on January 29.CA will announce a replacement batter to join the squad for the fifth Test in Sydney. It does open the door for Nathan McSweeney to return to the squad given his ability to bat in multiple positions despite being dropped for Sam Konstas ahead of Boxing Day. Webster remains in the squad and available to play if required despite playing in the BBL on Saturday night.Jhye Richardson also remains with the squad alongside Abbott as fast bowling cover. There were some concerns over Mitchell Starc on Saturday after he received some treatment on-field for back pain. But Starc told SEN on the morning of day four that he was fine to bowl even though he wasn’t called upon before Australia picked up the final wicket of India’s first innings.

In the absence of Aiden Markram, who is currently involved in the Test series against Sri Lanka, Heinrich Klaasen will lead South Africa in their home T20I series against Pakistan.Apart from Markram, several other all-format players – such as Marco Jansen, Keshav Maharaj, Kagiso Rabada and Tristan Stubbs – will miss the Pakistan T20Is, scheduled between December 10 and 14, with the second Test against Sri Lanka concluding on December 9. These players will, however, be a part of the ODI series against Pakistan in early 2025, which will be part of their last leg of preparations for the Champions Trophy.That apart, Anrich Nortje and Tabraiz Shamsi have returned to the T20I side for the first time since the T20 World Cup in June. Allrounder George Linde has also been named in the squad, after having last played a T20I in July 2021, against Ireland. He has played 14 T20Is and had an impressive performance in this season’s CSA T20 Challenge, scoring 171 runs at a strike rate of 178.12 and claiming nine wickets at an average of 18.33.”Anrich is very much in line for the Champions Trophy,” South Africa’s white-ball head coach Rob Walter said. “He has a lot of experience so playing lots of 50-over cricket is not necessary. Before that, he will be very active in the SA20 and in this series. I am not worried about him from a playing point of view. He is not a young cricketer, he understands his game. There’s enough cricket between now and then for him to be selected.”ESPNcricinfo Ltd

He added that South Africa’s No. 7 is normally filled with a seaming allrounder but with Wiaan Mulder injured and Jansen unavailable, they “needed to look for a spinning allrounder and George was someone who filled that role.” South Africa do have two seam-bowling allrounders in Patrick Kruger and Andile Simelane, a 21-year-old, who has excellent potential for the future. “I’m very excited about Andile. He has got some wonderful attributes. The first ball he faced in international cricket he hit out of Kingsmead. He has got some power with the bat, he took some key wickets, he has a wonderful overall skill set that is still in its infancy. We want to keep giving him opportunities, keep growing his game.”Although South Africa qualified for June’s T20 World Cup final, they have not won a single bilateral series this year, largely because they have not had a first-choice squad available. Still, the microscope is on Walter, who was asked if he felt his position was in jeopardy. “I feel the most pressure from myself personally. I want the team to be better, expect the team to play better and that starts with me as the head coach. We are in the results business.”The squad will begin preparations with a two-day camp at the Centre of Excellence in Pretoria from December 6-8. On Sunday, they will head to Durban where the first match will be played, followed by back-to-back games in Centurion and Johannesburg on December 13 and 14, respectively.

South Africa T20I squad for Pakistan series

Heinrich Klaasen (capt), Ottneil Baartman, Matthew Breetzke*, Donovan Ferreira, Reeza Hendricks, Patrick Kruger, George Linde, Kwena Maphaka*, David Miller, Anrich Nortje, Nqaba Peter, Ryan Rickelton*, Tabraiz Shamsi**, Andile Simelane, Rassie van der Dussen*Matthew Breetzke, Kwena Maphaka and Ryan Rickelton will join the squad following their Test commitments against Sri Lanka**Tabraiz Shamsi’s participation in the ongoing Global Super League in Guyana may affect his availability for the first T20I

Big picture – History on the line for Renegades and Heat

The stakes are obviously huge as the 10th edition of the WBBL culminates on Sunday at the MCG.Both teams have history on the line, but for vastly different reasons. Melbourne Renegades have struggled for most of the tournament’s history. Other than fellow stragglers Hobart Hurricanes, Renegades have been the only team to never reach the final, and they finished with the wooden spoon last season.But they’ve been the competition’s success story this year after producing a remarkable turnaround to finish on top of the ladder and secure a home final. Their off-season recruiting spree has paid dividends, while skipper Sophie Molineux has led from the front with her stellar all-round season rewarded after being named captain in the WBBL team of the tournament.After vaulting into the final, Renegades have been in the midst of an extended break having not played since November 23. They are giddily eyeing a first WBBL title but will confront a confident Brisbane Heat side that tuned up for the final with a nine-wicket shellacking of Sydney Thunder at Allan Border Field on Friday.Heat have similarly been in rich late-season form as they look to make amends for last season’s heartbreak of falling short to Adelaide Strikers in a thrilling final.A powerhouse of the competition, having qualified for seven straight finals series, Heat are aiming to become the first team to win three titles after back-to-back triumphs in WBBL 04-05.Galvanised by captain Jess Jonassen, Heat have brilliantly weathered off-season departures of several key players along with a coaching revamp to reach a fourth final from the last seven seasons.With compelling storylines and a contest between two red-hot teams, this mouth-watering final shapes as a fitting way to end a shortened WBBL season that broke several attendance and broadcast records. It will also be the first standalone WBBL final played at the iconic MCG.

Form guide

(Last five completed matches; most recent first)
Melbourne Renegades WWWWW
Brisbane Heat WWWWW

In the spotlight – Deandra Dottin, Grace Harris

Some eyebrows were raised when Renegades selected Deandra Dottin with the third pick of this season’s draft. She had not played a professional match for almost a year to that point, but Dottin fitted Renegades’ plans to be more aggressive and unshackle a conservative approach that had long weighed them down. Given her ultra-attacking ways, she hasn’t always come off but Dottin’s assertiveness has rubbed off on her team-mates. Her strike rate of 151 is the sixth highest in the competition, while she has also taken nine wickets with her pace bowling.Featuring in all 10 seasons, Grace Harris has been one of the very best players in the WBBL’s first decade. Even after all these years, she is still the ultimate match-winner for Heat if she gets going at the top of the order. Harris has scored the most runs for Heat this season although her strike-rate of 134.46 is well down on her staggering T20I mark of 153.86. Harris started the season spectacularly but has gone off the boil recently with three single-digit scores in her past four innings. But Harris will relish the big stage and she’ll be extra motivated having been overlooked for Australia’s ODI squad against India.Jemimah Rodrigues could miss the title clash after retiring hurt in the Challenger final•Getty Images

Team news – Injury concerns for Rodrigues

There are fears over the fitness of India star Jemimah Rodrigues, who had to retire hurt in the Challenger final after the 10th over of Heat’s chase. She aggravated a left-wrist injury sustained earlier in the field while attempting to save a boundary in Thunder’s innings. But Heat coach Mark Sorell said the initial assessment by the team’s medical staff was “quite positive”. If she can’t recover in time then it could open the door for talented 19-year-old allrounder Sianna Ginger, who has played six WBBL matches this season. But she has batted previously at No. 8, so a reshuffle of the batting order would be required if Rodrigues is ruled out.Brisbane Heat (probable): 1 Grace Harris, 2 Georgia Redmayne (wk), 3 Jemimah Rodrigues/Sianna Ginger, 4 Charli Knott, 5 Jess Jonassen (capt), 6 Laura Harris, 7 Lauren Winfield-Hill, 8 Lucy Hamilton, 9 Shikha Pandey, 10 Nicola Hancock, 11 Grace ParsonsRenegades are well rested and likely to field an unchanged XI from their previous match against Thunder.Melbourne Renegades (probable): 1 Courtney Webb, 2 Hayley Matthews, 3 Sophie Molineux (capt), 4 Deandra Dottin, 5 Georgia Wareham, 6 Naomi Stalenberg, 7 Nicole Faltum (wk), 8 Grace Scrivens, 9 Georgia Prestwidge, 10 Sarah Coyte, 11 Milly Illingworth

Pitch and conditions

There has been heavy rain in the lead-up and further showers on Sunday are forecast in Melbourne, a city well known for its fickle weather. The conditions might prove favourable for bowling and the ground’s large boundaries could ensure this is a low-scoring final.

Stats and trivia

• Heat have won 11 of 18 matches overall against Renegades, including a 28-run victory at Allan Border Field on October 30.
• Renegades won their only fixture at the MCG this season having beaten cross-town rivals Stars by nine runs on November 15.
• Renegades batters Molineux, Dottin and Rhys McKenna are ranked in the top six for highest strike rates this season.

  Quotes

  “We’ve been a pretty successful team over a long period of time. We have made Big Bash finals and WNCL finals so it is not an unfamiliar challenge for us.”

India’s hopes briefly arose. New Zealand could perhaps feel a sense of déjà vu. Pakistan themselves threatened to do the unthinkable. Only for all of it to come crashing at the end of it all.New Zealand crushed Pakistan in their final group game to qualify for the semi-final of the Women’s T20 World Cup for the first time since 2016. Batting first, they could only finish on 110 for 6. India needed Pakistan to beat New Zealand for them to make the semi-final. Pakistan themselves needed to hunt down the score anywhere inside 11.3 overs to qualify for the last four at the expense of India and New Zealand. In a bid to do so, they were bowled out for 56, their lowest all-out total in T20 World Cups.Nashra Sandhu led Pakistan’s charge with the ball, picking up three wickets to pull the plug on New Zealand’s scoring. But Amelia Kerr returned with three of her own, following Eden Carson’s strikes up top as New Zealand completed a remarkable comeback having come into the competition on the back of a record ten-match losing streak.

Bates, Plimmers and a start

When Suzie Bates drove the second ball of the game down the ground to beat mid-off, it looked as if New Zealand’s decision to bat first was vindicated. An over later, both Georgia Plimmer and Bates managed to hit a four apiece off Fatima Sana before Plimmer bisected the gap at extra cover in the fourth over. By the end of five overs, New Zealand had hit five fours and looked good for more, despite a slightly higher number of dot balls faced.Only when Omaima Sohail was brought on for the final over of the powerplay, did there come a sign of what was to follow.

Pakistan drop catches, NZ drop scoring

Nida Dar’s first over, the fifth of the game, gave an indication of her fortunes for the day. Bates attempted a reverse lap on the second ball against Dar, only to deflect it to the wicketkeeper. But Muneeba Ali failed to hang on. That was the first of five dropped chances Pakistan missed off Dar’s bowling alone. In the sixth, Bates pulled Sohail straight to midwicket but Sandhu could not hold on. A ball before, Plimmer had survived a run-out chance.Plimmer and Bates could not make those chances count. With New Zealand’s score on 41, the former skewed a top edge off Sandhu towards cover, where Sana fumbled before hanging on. In Sandhu’s next over, Bates hit one down long-on’s throat. Sohail had grassed a tough caught and bowled chance when Amelia Kerr was on nought but manage to have her caught at the deep midwicket ropes cheaply.Boundaries were hard to come by. Sophie Devine tried using her feet to counter spin but to no avail. She was also given a life when she was on 13. Pakistan dropped five catches in the last three overs. Despite that, New Zealand could hit only seven fours – the last two coming off Brooke Halliday’s bat – and were restricted to a total that seemed very gettable at the halfway mark. Sandhu finished with 3 for 18 while Dar, Iqbal and Sohail also picked up a wicket apiece.

Pakistan’s attacking ways play into NZ’s hands

Pakistan knew they had to hunt down the 101-run target inside 12 overs for a semi-final place. Their intentions were clear when they sent Aliya Riaz up to open the batting alongside Muneeba. It was only the second time that Riaz had walked out to open in a T20I, the first time since 2014. Her stay lasted only three balls as she miscued offspinner Carson to cover. Muneeba began solidly, first skipping down to loft Carson straight back and then pulling Lea Tahuhu through deep backward square leg – aided by a misfield. But Tahuhu got one to seam in, past the inside edge, to make a mess of Muneeba’s stumps.That was the start of a massive collapse from Pakistan. They lost five wickets inside the powerplay to be 28 for 5. A massively reworked batting order – that saw Dar bat at No. 7 – did not bear the desired result. Dar and Sana’s 24-run partnership for the sixth wicket was Pakistan’s best. But once their most experienced allrounder fell in the tenth over, Pakistan folded as quickly as New Zealand started. They lost their last five wickets for just four runs in 11.4 overs, the exact over mark by when they had to complete the chase to qualify.

James Wharton completed a mammoth 285, posting the fifth highest individual first-class score ever at Headingley and the joint-eighth highest in Yorkshire history as their Vitality County Championship clash with Northamptonshire drifted to a final day draw.England’s Jonny Bairstow also added an aggressive 78 as promoted Yorkshire, who started the day on 371 for two in reply to a first-innings 147, decided to bat on instead of chasing a season-ending sixth victory in seven games.They declared at tea on 726 for seven, a lead of 579. When the players shook hands at 4.20pm, Northamptonshire were 71 for two in their second innings. Yorkshire claimed 16 points from the draw to Northamptonshire’s nine.Considering Yorkshire, who posted their second highest first-class total ever and the highest by any team on this ground, had clinched promotion late on day three behind champions Sussex, it was no shock that they opted against exerting their bowlers during the final day of 2024.That opened the door for Bairstow to post his third 50 plus score in five late-season Division Two appearances, including one century, and for 23-year-old Wharton to write his name into the record books.Wharton’s 319-ball innings, including 32 fours and 10 sixes, marked a career best score, usurping the 188 he scored in the mid-summer win over Derbyshire at Chesterfield.Darren Lehmann’s 339 against Durham in 2006 remains the highest first-class score at Headingley, while Don Bradman twice and John Edrich both posted triple centuries in Test Matches from 1930 to 1965. Wharton now sits as the best of the rest.He started the day unbeaten on 162 and completed a third-wicket partnership of 117 with Will Luxton, who was bowled by Jack White’s seam for 49 – 392 for three in the 89th over, the day’s sixth.He then added 194 with fourth-wicket partner Bairstow – 84 balls, 10 fours and two sixes, through to early afternoon, the pair uniting for just less than 25 overs.Although fourth-placed Northamptonshire, quite understandably, were not at full tilt with nothing at stake, Wharton and Bairstow royally entertained the spectators who had braved the late September chill.Visiting captain Luke Procter was off the field managing a back injury.Much of the morning took place under the Headingley floodlights, and Wharton and Bairstow became increasingly brutal.At one stage late in the morning, Wharton hit 44 of 45 runs to come off successive overs of seam from James Sales and Gus Miller as Yorkshire moved to 503 for three after 99 overs, a lead of 356.In that two-over period, Wharton hit six fours and three leg-side sixes. Two of them were pulled. He reached his double hundred in that period, off 272 balls, and went to 250 in only another 17 deliveries.Some of Bairstow’s striking was particularly fearsome, hitting well on the up through and over the cover region.A 15-minute delay to the afternoon preceded Wharton’s departure as he holed out at long-on off Fateh Singh’s left-arm spin before Bairstow was bowled by Saif Zaib – also bowling left-arm spin – as Yorkshire fell to 600-5, a lead of 453. Zaib also bowled Jonny Tattersall.It was harsh on on-loan Nottinghamshire spinner Singh – he plugged away encouragingly in the face of adversity through his first debut – that his haul of three for 193 from 40 overs was the most runs conceded in an English first-class cricket.His third wicket was that of Dom Bess lbw – 646 for seven – before George Hill and Jordan Thompson took the hosts beyond 700 with 54 and 56 not out respectively.This was the highest first-class total Northamptonshire have conceded.Matthew Fisher, on his final day as a Yorkshire player, then claimed two new ball wickets after tea, getting Gus Miller brilliantly caught by a diving Bess at deep midwicket and the other opener Krish Patel caught behind.