Cricket Banter

Latest ICC Test Rankings
Batting
1 - Williamson
2 - Smith
3 ^ Labuschagne
4 Kohli
5 - Root
6 - Babar Azam
7 ^ Pujara
8 ^ Stokes
9 Rahane
10 - Nicholls

Bowling
1 - Cummins
2 - Broad
3 - Wagner
4 ^ Hazlewood
5 Southee
6 - Rabada
7 ^ Anderson
8 ^ Ashwin
9 ^ Bumrah
10 ^ Holder

Got to say I'm loving the Big Bash in Australia this year.
Some funky new extra rules making it quite interesting. Tight for qualification for the knockout stage.

Pakistan v south Africa 1st Test Karachi
South Africa won the toss & elected to bat
SA 220 (69.2 overs) Elgar 58 Linde 35 Shah 3-54 Ali 2-38 Afridi 2-49
Pakistan 33-4(18 overs) Rabada 2-8
Pakistan trail South Africa by 187 runs with 6 wickets remaining

Look out for Khurram Manzoor from the Pakistan Punjab.

(26-01-2021 07:07 )Nadam Wrote:  Look out for Khurram Manzoor from the Pakistan Punjab.

He's not in the current test Squad, wonder if he;s in contention for a place. Are Pakistan looking for a 34 year old opener ? He's not exactly past in at that age, 2 centuries in his last 3 first -class matches would suggest he has the form, but not played an International since 2016 & his last Test Match was in 2014. Can do no worse than todays opening pair
.

Great recovery, so far by Pakistan on Day 2. Azhar Ali & Fawad Alam batted through the morning session. Good to see proper Test Match batting, so often we see games played at One Day or T20 tempo. Azhar Ali's half-century came off 146 balls before he was dismissed by Maharaj, the pair added 94. It will be interesting to see if Mohammad Rizwan bats in his usual positive manner.

Pakistan 135-5 (60 overs) Trail by 85 runs

Fawad brings up his century with a six ! off Maharaj, 100 runs from 220 ball, fantastic innings

Pakistan 242-6 lead by 22 runs

1st Test Pakistan v South Africa Karachi Day 2 Close
SA 220
Pakistan 308-8 (107 overs) Fawad Alam 109 Faheem Ashraf 64 Azhar Ali 51 Mohammad Rizwan 33
Pakistan lead SA by 88 runs with 2 wickets remaining

Pakistan's tail wagged, with everyone chipping in, The 10th wicket added 55, with the major contributor being Yasir Shah, with 38 from 37 balls, taking their total to what was once an unlikely 378.
Trail by 158 runs, South Africa made a solid start as Markram added 48 with Elgar, who made 29, before Yasir Shah took his wicket.

1st Test Pakistan v South Africa Day 3 close
SA 220 & 187-4 (70 overs) Markram 74 van der Dussen 64 Yasir Shah 3-53
Pakistan 378 Fawad Alam 109 Faheem Ashraf 64 Azhar Ali 51 Yasir Shah 38 no Rabada 3-70 Maharaj 3-90 Ngidi 2-57
South Africa lead Pakistan by 29 runs with 6 wickets remaining