The former cricketer was among eight sportspersons who were picked on Friday to receive the country’s fourth-highest civilian award

ESPNcricinfo staff25-Jan-2019Former India cricketer Gautam Gambhir was among eight sportspersons who were picked on Friday to receive the prestigious Padma Shri, the country’s fourth-highest civilian award.Besides Gambhir, the seven other sportspersons named for the award were football player Sunil Chhetri, chess grandmaster Harika Dronavalli, table tennis player Sharath Kamal, archer Bombayla Devi Laishram, wrestler Bajrang Punia, basketball player Prashanti Singh and Kabaddi player Ajay Thakur.The eight sportspersons were among 94 Padma Shri awardees announced by the government on the eve of the Republic Day, while mountaineer Bachendri Pal was among those chosen for the Padma Bhushan, the third-highest civilian award.

Tamim, who made 126 of Bangladesh’s total of 234, said that his only plan was to bat long enough and strike the ball whenever he had the chance

Mohammad Isam in Hamilton28-Feb-2019At some points on the first day in Hamilton, Tamim Iqbal looked downright ugly. He crouched a lot more than he usually does, saw the short ball closely and ducked under it. Or he jumped off the ground, to get the body behind the line of the short ball. He nearly played on twice and even when he was playing the pull or the cut shots, you could say they weren’t perfectly executed.
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With all of this going on, Tamim kept looking for singles and never missed a chance to hit boundaries. In the first session itself, he struck 15 fours, and it was not by just hanging back and guiding it past the wicketkeeper. He drove the ball, he timed it through square-leg and midwicket with his wrist work, or simply dropped it down when the field hung back.It was not as fluent as his unbeaten 141 in the BPL final earlier this month. It was very different to many of his Test hundreds, especially the elegant knocks at Lord’s and Manchester in 2010. This innings, which he has said was special, was more about making the runs, especially with batsmen rapidly falling at the other end.Tamim scored 126 of Bangladesh’s total of 234. At times, he played doggedly and looked like he was losing concentration. He didn’t care how he looked while pulling the ball, or if his drives were picture perfect. It was just about making the runs. He wanted them badly.

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It was a wicket where runs were available if batsmen were willing to ride out a good spell or the odd bad bowling. Trent Boult wasn’t swinging it like he had done in the ODIs. Tim Southee did not seem threatening. Yes, Neil Wagner tested them with the bouncers and Todd Astle got the odd ball to spin back into the stumps but it was a case of the batsmen impatiently throwing away their wickets.Tamim said that his intention was only to score runs. He didn’t veer off it for the 191 minutes he was in the middle, and it gave him his ninth Test century.”I just batted long enough, I thought,” Tamim said. “I had a very clear plan. If the ball was there to hit, I would try to hit it. Luckily, I got a few boundaries early and then kept on batting the way I liked to bat. It was a very, very good wicket. It was greenish, but it didn’t do too much. We should have scored lot more than what we have put on. We have ourselves to blame. If we could have batted the whole day, scored somewhere between 350-400 runs, it could have been a decent day.”Tamim said that he didn’t mind ducking under the ball, and only brought out the pull shot when he judged the wind direction and sized up which side of the ground was smaller. “Every individual should have plans. I think we gave away our wicket just when we were batting well. We know for a long time that Neil Wagner will do this, but how you tackle this, depends on the individual. Some want to pull the short ball, I think ducking is a better option for me, so I kept on ducking.”In my case, I pulled Tim with the wind and towards the smaller side. I knew that it was a better option from this end, rather than the far end.”You have to mix and match, duck, take singles. It keeps your mind fresh. Look, the batsmen know their mistakes but we know we will come back strong,” he said.It was disappointing, he said, to give away such a sound start, especially on a pitch that was bound to get better. “We batted well in patches but we gave away the wicket in the wrong moment. We had two fifty-plus stands. I thought we handled Wagner, who is a quality bowler, really well in the first ten overs. When [Mohammad] Mithun got out, he got two more extra overs because that could have been his last over.”It was a dream start for us in these conditions. Disappointing was not being unable to take advantage of it. We had them covered at one point but then we gave away our wickets at the wrong times,” he said.One example from his own batting illustrates that point: His caution while closing in on a hundred in the first session of a Test, potentially a high point of his career. He knew that hanging around after lunch would give him the hundred and played out the last few overs.Not pretty, but pretty effective.

England captain Heather Knight puts faith in shero Cross, now for Sri Lanka

Annesha Ghosh in Guwahati09-Mar-2019In a few hours’ time, England women will be flying to Sri Lanka for their next assignment, the very reason their last post-match media conference on this near-one-month-long tour of India, is somewhat rushed. That’s not to suggest, though, it would be bereft of insight or calm.Presiding over the formalities is captain Heather Knight, herself the face of composure, with Kate Cross, the shero of their scintillating last-ball win in the third T20I against India, by her side.There was a moment in June 2016 when, after bowling an expensive over in an ODI against Pakistan, Cross, the first female cricketer accepted into the Lancashire Academy and among the first 18 women to be awarded professional contracts by the ECB, had to put on her glasses to hide her tears. It wasn’t so much a show of mortification as it was of something she could barely express.”I’m so out of my depth – I don’t know what I’m doing here,” she would recount of that moment, of her struggles with anxiety, in a poignant interview to the BBC, last August.But the Cross who is preparing to field the first question in the Barsapara Stadium’s press room after scripting the heist, cuts an effervescent figure (akin to her Twitter persona that’s perennially engaged in retweet-worthy banter with team-mate Alex Hartley).Cross is beaming and, much to the relief of anyone remotely aware of her journey, the sunglasses are perched atop her cap. Most pertinently, there’s no hint that Cross, now 27, had, during the peak of her battle with anxiety in the wake of that Pakistan ODI, nearly convinced herself that there was “nothing for me to carry on with”.Three years on and after much support, she acknowledges, from England head coach Mark Robinson, management and her team-mates, those dark times seem so long ago, particularly in light of the last over she bowled in the third T20I.Kate Cross conceded just one run in the final over•PTI

Defending 119, and two off the last over, Knight picked Cross to bowl. In response, the medium-pacer delivered three dots, two wickets, a single – and victory.”It’s been a long couple of years [for me],” Cross says after setting up one of England’s most memorable performances, in her third T20I since February 2015. “But it’s nice to be back on the field. Taking the match till last over was unbelievable. I am glad I pulled off the last over, managed to defend the low total.”Cross put on the England shirt for the first time, in 2013, two years after being called up to the national squad for the 2011 tour of Australia. A match-winning 4 for 51 in that game would be followed by impressive returns in Tests, before that ODI against Pakistan kept her out of international cricket until July 2018.In the past four months, though, Cross has emerged as an upgraded version of herself on the cricket field – as a bowling allrounder who can hit the long ball. The first glimpse of it came in her first innings with the Perth Scorchers, where she struck a 10-ball 20 at No. 5, including a six off Sydney Sixers’ Dane van Niekerk.”The Big Bash was a big help for me because I got to play some tough cricket consistently, which is something that I have not been able to do in international cricket, Cross says. “I have been in the nets a little bit more. Obviously when you are not playing, you will have some time to practice and develop some skills.”In this series, though, she had not had to use the bat, but her four wickets across the three T20Is helped England’s cause as did their match simulations back home and the presence of a psychologist on their support staff. In contrast, their rivals, India, to this day don’t have any such personnel to seek help from, despite having fluffed their lines time and again under pressure. Most telling of those instances came against England, in the 2017 World Cup final and the 2018 World T20 semi-final.”We’ve come a long way as a side,” Knight says of closing out tight games and learning from their mistakes. “Speaking to Laura [Marsh] at the end of the game, she said we would have probably lost that three or four years ago. It’s just about knowing how you work as a player, and I guess me trying to work out what the best thing to say to a player is and try and keep them quite calm, and quite slow as well [because] in pressure situations, you tend to speed up things, you go through situations quickly.”We actually did a few pressure tests in terms of batting with some crowd noise playing whilst we were training. It’s more individual, knowing how you react to certain situations.”Cross wasn’t part of that drill, for she was playing in the WBBL. But on a day she silenced a stadium crowd of more than 10,000 people, she says replicating match scenarios in training had set her up for Saturday’s final-over glory.”That’s the kind of thing we practise when we’re back home, in indoor school,” Cross says. “We practise scenarios when you’re defending a low total, you’re setting your fields. That’s the most pressure obviously we can create when not out there in the field. So it almost felt to me [today] like I’ve been in that situation before.”

The team was en route to the Al Noor mosque for Friday prayers at the time of the attack but escaped to the nearby Hagley Oval

Mohammad Isam in Christchurch15-Mar-2019Bangladesh’s tour of New Zealand has been called off following a terrorist attack on two Christchurch mosques, in which at least 40 people have been killed. The players and other members of the touring party are safe, in lockdown at their hotel; some of them were on their way to one of the mosques for Friday prayers at the time of the attack but escaped to the nearby Hagley Oval.

Timeline of the Christchurch attack

1.40pm (local time): A man enters a Christchurch city mosque and opens fire on the people inside. Witnesses hear multiple gunshots.
1.52pm: Senior Bangladesh batsman Tamim Iqbal calls travelling ESPNcricinfo journalist Mohammad Isam for help. He asks Isam to call the police and inform them about the “shooting” at the mosque they were about to enter.
2.45pm: The team, after consultation with NZC and BCB, heads to the hotel on Cathedral Street.
2.54pm: New Zealand police commissioner Mike Bush says the situation involves an “active shooter”.
4.15pm: Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern speaks publicly, calling it “one of New Zealand’s darkest days.” Later, calls it a “terrorist attack”.
5pm: The third and the final Test of the tour is called off by NZC, after consultation with the BCB and ICC.

New Zealand police commissioner Mike Bush said police had made four arrests in connection with the attack, which included multiple improvised explosive devices attached to vehicles.Prime minister Jacinda Ardern called it a terrorist attack. “There is no place in New Zealand for such acts of extreme and unprecedented violence, which it is clear this act was,” Arden said. “This is and will be one of New Zealand’s darkest days. I would describe it as an unprecedented act of violence, an act that has absolutely no place in New Zealand. This is not who we are.”The attack took place just after 1.30 pm local time. The players and some support staffers were on their way to the Al Noor Mosque, less than a mile from Hagley Oval, when they saw signs of the unfolding carnage. They initially stayed in the bus and made phone calls, including one to this reporter, who was at the ground. Several journalists then came over to where the bus was and accompanied the players to the ground.ALSO READ: ‘There’s shooting here, please save us’Much of the coaching staff were back in the team hotel while the head coach Steve Rhodes was at the ground. Later, the players went back to their hotel.Team manager Khaled Mashud said the players had had a lucky escape. “We must have been about 50 yards from the mosque. I would say we were really lucky. Had we reached even three or four minutes earlier, we probably would have been inside the mosque. This could then have been a massive incident.”He said arrangements were being made to fly the team back to Bangladesh as soon as possible.Within a couple of hours the two boards had decided on the fate of the tour. “We are shocked and appalled as I am sure all New Zealanders are,” NZC CEO David White said. “We are offering support to all those within the teams affected by the situation and are continuing to take advice from authorities on the ground.”The Bangladesh team will take off from Christchurch at midday on Saturday and arrive in Dhaka in the evening.

With the fast bowler suffering a flare-up to his right shoulder, Cricket South Africa are putting measures in place in an attempt to get him ready for the World Cup

Liam Brickhill25-Apr-2019A shoulder injury to Dale Steyn has thrown South Africa’s World Cup preparations off track, with the 35-year-old fast bowler cutting his time with Royal Challengers Bangalore at the IPL short after only two games.Steyn will return to South Africa after his right shoulder – which had previously been seriously injured – flared up. He will be assessed by a shoulder specialist, with Cricket South Africa putting measures in place in an attempt to get him ready for the World Cup next month.

South Africa’s other injury concerns

• Having recovered from knee ligament damage picked up in the field during South Africa’s trip to Australia, Lungi Ngidi sustained a Grade II muscle strain in his side while bowling against Sri Lanka in the fifth ODI last month. The strain will require four weeks of rest followed by a rehab programme in the lead-up to the World Cup.

• Anrich Nortje also played in that fifth ODI, but he picked up an injury in his bowling shoulder that requires six weeks on the sidelines. That ruled him out of the ongoing IPL season, where he would have been part of the Kolkata Knight Riders squad, and his timeline for achieving fitness before the start of the World Cup is quite slim. Nortje is currently seeing a specialist in Cape Town, and CSA say he is on course for his recovery process. He will join the national academy at CSA’s High Performance Centre this week – along with Ngidi – and continue to work under high-performance coaches Shukrie Conrad and Vincent Barnes.

• JP Duminy missed most of the home season after aggravating a long-standing shoulder injury during Zimbabwe’s visit in September. His recovery required surgery, and though Duminy returned to competitive cricket with Cape Cobras in March before slotting back into the South Africa side, he has not yet played a game in the CSA T20 Challenge. He has missed games in the T20 Challenge to allow him to continue his physiotherapy and conditioning regime for his shoulder. Duminy will also join the national academy, and is expected to play against the visiting Afghanistan Academy next week.

• Tabraiz Shamsi has not played competitive cricket for almost a month after experiencing slight discomfort in his lower back while playing for Titans in the last two games of their triumphant One-Day Cup tournament campaign. As a precaution, he was withdrawn from the CSA T20 Challenge and is undergoing physiotherapy and rehab. He is expected to be fully fit when the team assembles for their camp on May 12.

• Andile Phehlukwayo picked up an injury in his right foot, but it was minor and he has since recovered and has turned out for Dolphins in the ongoing CSA T20 Challenge.

“Dale felt discomfort after playing his second match at the tournament,” explained South Africa team manager, Dr Mohammed Moosajee. “Upon assessment and subsequent investigations, a flare-up of his right shoulder was confirmed. With the World Cup around the corner, it is our priority to get him back to full fitness before the squad departs on May 19. He will consult with a shoulder specialist upon his return and a recovery plan will be put in place.”Having gone unsold at the IPL 2019 auction, Steyn was a late addition to Royal Challengers’ roster. He jetted in as a replacement for Nathan Coulter-Nile, who pulled out of the tournament with a stiff back. Royal Challengers won both the matches Steyn played in, with the fast bowler taking 2 for 40 against Kolkata Knight Riders and following that up with 2 for 29 in the one-run win over Chennai Super Kings.”Dale Steyn has been prescribed ample rest due to inflammation in his shoulder,” said Royal Challengers chairman Sanjeev Churiwala. “On account of state of his health, Dale will not be available to take part further in the ongoing season of IPL.”His presence has helped the team immensely and we are very thankful for the inspiration and passion that he brought to the squad. The team will deeply miss his energy and presence around. We wish him a speedy recovery and all the luck for all future endeavours.”Steyn has been named in South Africa’s 15-man squad for the World Cup, but it is unclear yet how much time he will take to recover. South Africa’s squad will assemble for their week-long camp on May 12, prior to their departure for the tournament.Worryingly, Steyn’s current injury has flared up in the same shoulder in which he snapped a coracoid bone during South Africa’s tour of Australia in November 2016. That injury almost ended his career, and required surgery and 13 months in recovery. During the Wanderers Test match against Pakistan earlier this year, Steyn left the field early on the second day clutching the same shoulder, causing worries in the South Africa camp, but that injury scare did not prove to be serious, and he later returned to the field to help wrap up a 107-run win.The full extent of the latest flare-up remains to be seen, but if Steyn is unable to recover in time to play in the World Cup, it could signal the end of his white-ball career. Steyn has hinted that he would retire from ODI cricket after the tournament, but has made clear his intentions to keep playing Test cricket.The World Cup squad named by South Africa can be amended until 23 May, one week before their tournament opener against England at The Oval.

Taylor’s 75 off 53 balls set the platform before the legspinner picked up 4 for 14 as Ireland were bundled out for 75

ESPNcricinfo staff26-May-2019Captain Stafanie Taylor’s half-century and legspinner Afy Fletcher’s four-wicket haul helped West Indies women cruise to a 64-run victory over Ireland in the first game of the three-match T20I series in Dublin.Batting first, Taylor led from the front with 75 off 53 balls, laced with 11 fours and a six. Britney Cooper (17) and Shemaine Campbelle (20) gave Taylor the required support. West Indies didn’t have a great start as Hayley Matthews was run out for 3 in the fourth over of the match. But Taylor and Cooper took the side past 50 in the tenth over. Sophie MacMohan broke the stand in the next over by dismissing Cooper with her medium pace.Taylor then joined hands with Campbelle and the two added 75 in just 47 balls for the third wicket to give impetus to the innings as West Indies finished with 139 for 4.In response, Ireland were bundled for 75 in 18.4 overs as Fletcher and medium pacer Chinelle Henry shared six wickets. Kim Garth was the only one to reach double figures, scoring 46 off 55 balls, and when she became the ninth wicket to fall, Ireland’s innings came to an end as their captain Laura Delany wasn’t available to bat after being hit on the right ankle by a Campbelle shot in the first half.Just like the visitors, Ireland lost their first wicket cheaply with Gaby Lewis walking back in the first over of the chase. Mary Waldron and Garth took the side to 32 before Waldron was run out. In the next over, Henry dismissed Shauna Kavanagh and Una Raymond-Hoey to reduce Ireland to 34 for 4.Garth held one end up but the wickets kept tumbling at the other. Fletcher cleaned up the middle and the lower-middle order, taking four of the next five wickets to fall, including that of Garth, as Ireland failed to last the full 20 overs, finishing up with eight balls left in their innings.

Essex claim one wicket before the close after setting Warwickshire 401 to win

ECB Reporters Network15-Jul-2019Liam Banks dug in with great determination as Warwickshire set about batting out a minimum of 121 overs to prevent a heavy defeat at Chelmsford.Banks was 36 not out as Warwickshire reached 67 for 1 in their pursuit of 401 to pull off a mission improbable and record a third victory of the season. More realistically, the capture of another nine wickets stand between Essex and the seventh victory in eight games that would take them to the top of the Specsavers County Championship by just four points, assuming Yorkshire do not let slip their stranglehold over Somerset at Headingley.The Warwickshire openers took advantage of some wide open spaces in the field to pass fifty in the 13th over. But Aaron Beard’s arrival into the attack heralded the breakthrough Essex wanted with Will Rhodes lbw for 25. Warwickshire made it to the close without further alarm, still 334 runs from their target.The match had essentially been put beyond Warwickshire’s reach during an eighth-wicket rampage between Dan Lawrence and Simon Harmer that extended Essex’s lead from 299 to nearly 400 in just 20 overs. Both batsmen fell straight after tea, but not before they had put 84 valuable runs on the board. Lawrence departed to the second ball of the final session, charging Rhodes and nicking to Tim Ambrose for 74.That gave Rhodes his fourth wicket of the innings, and ninth of the match, at a combined personal cost of 55 runs. The part-time seamer’s first-innings 5 for 17 was a career-best; his 4 for 38 in the second constituted the next best.Harmer followed without addition, attempting to hit Jeetan Patel over the top and being caught on the long-leg boundary by Banks.Alastair Cook had laid the foundations in the morning towards the eventual declaration with a carefree 83 from 168 balls. He was the senior partner in a second-wicket stand of 63 off 26 overs with nightwatchman Matt Quinn that frustrated Warwickshire for an hour and a half. Quinn contributed nine to the partnership from 69 balls.Cook hit 11 boundaries in his sixth Championship half-century of the season, and went on the attack once he had reached that milestone, hitting Patel for three of them in quick order.The return of Rhodes accounted for Cook when he was pinned lbw. The Yorkshireman had another in the same over when Tom Westley was caught behind wafting outside off stump. Quinn finally departed next over, nicking behind as Essex collapsed from 135 for 1 to 139 for 4.Rishi Patel fell to the first ball after lunch when he deflected a ball from pad on to bat to Banks at second slip. Brookes claimed a second wicket in the over when Ryan ten Doeschate lost his middle stump as he attempted to force the pace. Adam Wheater had scored 21 at almost a run-a-ball when he reverse-swept at Patel and Rhodes threw himself from first slip to where second slip would have been to take the catch.Lawrence rattled along apace and clobbered Brookes off the back-foot for four to bring up his second fifty of the match from 101 balls.Essex took the field in the evening without wicketkeeper Wheater, who had struggled in Warwickshire’s first innings after taking a blow to his thumb. Will Buttleman replaced him behind the stumps.

Seamer puts injury struggles behind with four-wicket haul as Hampshire fall short in run chase

David Hopps24-Jul-2019Life is just a party and parties weren’t meant to last. So sang Prince in “1999” – and Twenty20 hadn’t even gained a foothold then. Well, who knows, maybe the party won’t last, but let’s raise a glass or two in the meantime. Reece Topley has feared countless times that his party was over, but this was a time to dance until dawn as England’s most injury-hit fast bowler returned to the professional game at Hove with devastating effect.The end result: 4 for 33 against Hampshire, the county who understandably felt they had to let him go last October after only 21 matches in three years, and a 14-run margin for Sussex as they defended their 188 for 6. He had to deliver and he did just that.Hampshire are now without a win in three matches, but they are a fine T20 side and they were unrelenting even as they lost wickets. With 25 needed from 10 balls, and Topley having to return for a final over, Kyle Abbott struck him down the ground for six and then survived a catch at deep midwicket to Rashid Khan. But when he spliced the next one, Rashid made no mistake.A left-arm quick with the ability to swing the ball in has always been a priceless commodity, whatever the format, attractive enough for England to give Topley 10 ODIs and six T20 internationals.In his first over, he looked uncomfortable, and down on pace. If it was a party, he would have been in the kitchen, head down, not quite sure he should be there, struggling to make eye contact. In his second over, everything clicked: Hampshire’s top order in the shape of Aneurin Donald, James Vince and Sam Northeast evaporated within the space of four balls.Donald was beaten on the drive around leg stump and adjudged lbw. Perhaps the fact that replays suggested the ball was too high should be politely glossed over because the punch-of-the-air celebration was one of supreme, blushing happiness. Vince sought an off-side drive and inside-edged an inswinger – out second ball for nought: you can always rely on Vince, as talented as he is, to play the fall guy. Then Northeast’s leg stump was cleaned up with a first-ball yorker. There had been a six by Donald, but everybody had forgotten about it by then.Five absences in six years because of stress fractures of the back, and he is still here: only 25, but his back must have felt 75 at times and, in his lowest moments, how old he felt mentally barely warranted thinking about. But Sussex and Middlesex remained open-minded about his potential and he opted for Sussex, playing club cricket for Reigate Priory before Sussex offered him a summer contract in early July and Jason Gillespie, their coach, assured him that what would be would be.Topley’s five fractures were in two areas – L3 and L4 for the experts. He has so many screws in his back that when he passes through airport security the alarm could play the national anthem. But in his dark days he didn’t leave it there and added a broken hand and shoulder surgery for good measure. England coaches remedied his action, removing the leap to the crease, to try to reduce the stress. But through it all his wrist position – his perfect wrist position – remained entrenched.The last time Sussex lost after posting a score so large was back in 2008 when (no prizes for guessing) Hampshire were the victors. Few Blast batting sides appear so vulnerable yet so awash with potential, Phil Salt and Delray Rawlins might have “ephemeral” as their middle name. “Party over, oops out of time”, as Prince went on in “1999”, can be uttered at any moment.For Salt, the party was long lasting, 73 from 46 balls as he rapped the ball to all parts for his fifth T20 half-century. That’s only five fifties and already he has been called up for an England squad, although without making his debut. For Rawlins, it was much more fleeting, six off two balls – meeting Mason Crane’s legspin with a confident skip-down-the-ground six and then outwitted by his follow-up – yet even those balls felt somehow special. Rashid’s 22 off seven was pretty transient, too.Salt set the tone for Sussex as Chris Morris leaked 18 from his second over, climaxed by a rasping straight drive. Luke Wright fed him the strike before Abbott’s bouncer defeated his pull shot, and Laurie Evans fell to a ridiculous run out, even by T20 standards, when he was beaten by Crane, kept his back foot resolutely in the crease but then made an ingrained attempt at a run as the wicketkeeper, Lewis McManus held the ball over the stumps.Hampshire might have ruined the night had Rilee Rossouw’s 60 off 38 not been briefly interrupted when he went off for further concussion checks after he was struck attempting a ramp shot against David Wiese (those dressing room conversations would have been interesting) and McManus struck 32 from 15 balls late on.But Sussex, with their England pair Jofra Archer and Chris Jordan looking on in the crowd, secured their first win. Their promotion challenge in the Championship is looking ragged, but after Topley’s great night their T20 side should have the fans queuing down to Hove sea front wondering what further miracles might ensue.

The fast bowler has stated that he wants to focus on white-ball cricket

Umar Farooq26-Jul-2019Mohammad Amir has announced his retirement from Test cricket. The 27-year-old left-arm quick, however, has said he will continue playing white-ball cricket for Pakistan.Amir brings his Test career to a close with 119 wickets at an average of 30.47. His Test career was split into two parts. He made his debut as a 17-year-old in July 2009 and played 14 Tests, picking up 51 wickets at 29.09, before being banned for five years for his role in the Lord’s spot-fixing scandal. After his return in July 2016, he played 22 Tests, taking 68 wickets at 31.51. The retirement has come at a time of excellent returns across formats for Amir. Since the start of 2018, he has taken 24 wickets in six Tests at an average of 21.00, and in the recently concluded World Cup he was Pakistan’s leading wicket-taker with 17 at 21.05.Unlike other fast bowlers who have given up the longest format in their 20s, Amir has not suffered too many injury setbacks. But his workload has been a major talking point. In the time since his return, Amir has bowled the seventh-most overs in international cricket, across formats, among fast bowlers worldwide. Among Pakistan’s fast bowlers, he has bowled 419 overs more than Hasan Ali in second place.The physical toll led Amir to contemplate Test retirement last year, but he put that decision off, after coming to an agreement with Pakistan coach Mickey Arthur to manage his workload in order to extend his career.”Cricket is different since 2010 and if you look back I have lost five precious years of my career,” Amir told ESPNcricinfo then. “Just imagine had I played in all those years, the count could have been 70-80 Tests.”I can’t roll back that lost time but I can manage my workload to extend my career as much as I can. With every passing day I’m getting older and I know fans want me to play. But if you look rationally I’m human and not an iron man. My passion is still there and I want to be there for fans, serving the country for a long time.”Has Mohammad Amir lived up to his potential?•ESPNcricinfo Ltd

Now Pakistan fans will only see him in the green ODI and T20I kit, and not the Test whites.”It has been an honour to represent Pakistan in the pinnacle and traditional format of the game,” Amir said in a statement. “I, however, have decided to move away from the longer version so I can concentrate on white ball cricket.”Playing for Pakistan remains my ultimate desire and objective, and I will try my best to be in the best physical shape to contribute in the team’s upcoming challenges, including next year’s ICC T20 World Cup.”It has not been an easy decision to make and I have been thinking about this for some time. But with the ICC World Test Championship commencing shortly, and Pakistan boasting some very exciting young fast bowlers, it is appropriate that I call on my time in Test cricket so that the selectors can plan accordingly.”I want to thank all my team-mates as well the opponents in red ball cricket. It has been a privilege to play with and against them. I am sure our paths will continue to cross in limited-overs cricket as all of us play and compete with the same vigour and determination.”I also want to thank the PCB for providing me the opportunity to don the golden star on my chest. And, I am grateful to my coaches who have groomed me at various stages of my career.”

Alex Gidman said his team had improved from last season after once again securing their spot in the last eight

Richard Hobson at New Road28-Aug-2019No team has successfully defended the T20 Blast, but Worcestershire Rapids took a significant step towards becoming the first when they secured their quarter-final spot courtesy of a third abandoned game at New Road this season. Given that they adopted the “Rapids” moniker in a knowing nod towards the long and sad association between heavy rainfall and the ground it might seem a fitting way to progress.The point was all they needed to guarantee progress and they can now earn a home tie with victory against Northamptonshire Steelbacks on Friday as long as Nottinghamshire Outlaws lose at home to Durham Jets. As well as any cricketing advantage, the additional home fixture would be worth around £100,000 to the club, some compensation for the loss of the group matches to the weather.Alex Gidman, the first team coach, praised his side for overcoming a number of setbacks in recent weeks. Not least, given the importance of taking pace off the ball, has been the loss to injury of three spinners in Brett D’Oliveira, Ben Twohig and George Rhodes. Moeen Ali’s omission by England has provided strong recompense: 140 runs and six wickets at a strike rate of one every 11 balls in his three matches.In all, as many as 12 of the 18 counties have lifted the cup in its 16 seasons. Gidman knows a thing or two about the pressures of trying to retain trophies having been a young allrounder at Gloucestershire over the turn of the century, when they won seven one-day competitions in six years. Success, he thinks, brings its own complications.”Defending it has been harder this season,” he admitted. “We have found that teams are slightly better prepared either individually or collectively with certain plans. They have a better idea of how our guys perform and that sort-of happened too in the good old days at Gloucester. Teams know what to expect and pay you a bit more respect.”One example might be Pat Brown, a sensation last season with his quiver-full of variations which helped to bring 31 wickets. This time he has taken 13, not helped by the abandonments of course, and far from a disgrace for a lad who turned 21 only last week. He has just not been quite as prolific, even though he is, again, the county’s leading wicket-taker in the format.If you are going to learn then it may as well be from the best, and Gidman revealed that he has encouraged the squad to take heed of England’s white-ball example under Eoin Morgan. “I told someone the other day that I genuinely think we’ve improved this season,” he said, “and one thing we have taken from England is to embrace the fact we are champions, not fear it.”Why wouldn’t we try to draw from them given what they have done? They are literally the world champions, so it makes complete sense to copy the language and behaviours associated with them. And I’m very proud of our side. To make it to the quarters with a game to spare is a great effort. When teams have tried the different tactics I talk about, we’ve overcome them.”Which does beg a topical question: who is Worcestershire’s Ben Stokes? Gidman seems to sense a headline as he pauses and smiles, but he whispers his answer anyway. “Moeen.”As well as both reaching the last eight in T20, Worcester and Nottinghamshire, the would-have-been opponents here, share a less illustrious feature. Both are enduring dreadful first-class campaigns, with Nottinghamshire 42 points adrift at the bottom of the Championship first division and Worcester next to bottom of the second. If they are still there in a month’s time it will represent their lowest finish since 1992.One theory is that the white balls offer little movement so batsmen are able to hit through the line without fear of repercussion. In truth, the nature of the format would probably demand they do so anyway. But when the red ball seams and jags, the same approach can all too easily lead to a clatter of wickets. Interestingly, Worcestershire have qualified for quarter-finals in five of the last six white-ball competitions, but were relegated in the Championship in 2018.If this suggests they have concentrated on the shorter formats, it is a charge they would deny. They won their first two four-day games this season, but the top five has subsequently chopped, changed and struggled to perform. And so T20 is their one chance of success.Gidman said: “It was a huge day for the club last year and to win the first trophy for donkeys’ years [actually, since 2007] was a very proud moment for everyone. I think in the back of everyone’s minds here the desire to do it again this year is very strong.”