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Greater challenges lie in store, ideally in the Caribbean next month, but Jofra Archer gave the impression that he’ll be ready to make his England comeback against Pakistan next week with a lively six-over display for Sussex’s second XI against Kent in Beckenham.It was a low-key outing, overseen by a handful of spectators and media on a sunny morning in South London, but when he walked off the field on the stroke of 12pm – exactly one hour after he had been parachuted into the final day of this four-day fixture – he took with him figures of 6-1-11-1, and a heightened belief that another injury-plagued year could finally be behind him.Archer has not played for England since the tours of South Africa and Bangladesh in early 2023, and even that short-lived comeback came after nearly two further years on the sidelines, as he struggled initially with a long-term elbow injury, and then a stress fracture of the back.And while he admitted in a recent interview that “another stop-start year” could force him to consider his options at the age of 29, Archer showed few signs of reticence in a feisty display that featured one wicket, one further appeal for a leg-side catch, and a fierce blow to the helmet that required some running repairs for the batter, Ekansh Singh.Amid the anticipation, Archer’s first delivery was a short and wide loosener that the Kent opener, Ben Dawkins, slapped up and over backward point for four. He didn’t receive many more in his half after that, with Archer’s very next ball significantly shorter and sharper, and causing the keeper to leap high to his left to gather.Ekansh then wore another sharp bouncer on his visor, and was soon undone by Archer’s pace and lift in the channel outside off, as he fenced loosely off the back foot for Henry Rogers, at third slip, to dive across second and cling onto a sharp chance. Archer responded with a pump of his fist as he jogged over to celebrate with his team-mates, his broad grin confirming the personal importance of the moment on this long road to recovery.Jofra Archer claimed a wicket early in his spell at Beckenham•PA Photos/Getty Images

He was less impressed half-an-hour later, however, throwing his arms out in frustration when he thought he’d landed his second. Gareth Severin, en route to a hard-earned half-century, jabbed a lifter on his hips through to the keeper, only for the umpire to shake his head – rightly noting that the ball had flicked Severin’s shirt.Archer’s final over of the morning was a maiden, whereupon he walked straight off the field and back into the pavilion, ready to link up with England’s T20I squad in Headingley over the weekend, ahead of their first practice session on Monday afternoon.Jos Buttler, England’s white-ball captain, told the PA news agency that Archer’s comeback was a “huge encouragement”, but guarded against expecting too much too soon, as his team sets about fine-tuning their plans ahead of their defence of the T20 World Cup title that they won in Australia in November 2022.”Everyone knows what he is capable of and the attitude he possesses,” Buttler said. “As a captain he is someone you can always turn to in a game because he always has a trick up his sleeve.”It’s great to be able to call on him but it’s important to manage expectations. He has been out of it for a while now so we will need to look after him and realise that it might just take him a little while to be the Jofra of 2019.”He is a proper superstar but we do have to be smart with him. It’s a jump in intensity from what he’s doing now to international cricket and you can’t really replicate it.”

Darshan Nalkande took four wickets in four balls, but the right-arm seamer’s history-making effort was not enough to push Vidarbha past Karnataka in the second semi-final of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy. Karnataka will now take on Tamil Nadu in a re-match of the 2019 final, on November 22.Nalkande’s four-wicket burst came in the final over of Karnataka’s innings, keeping them to 176 for 7. Vidarbha made a good fist of the chase, but were playing catch-up in the final stages, and eventually ended at 172 for 6.Karnataka’s total was built around Rohan Kadam’s aggressive 87 at the top of the order. It was Kadam’s ninth T20 fifty in only his 27th innings. He was the main driver in an opening stand of 132 that took up 15.1 overs, in partnership with captain Manish Pandey, who made a rather sedate 54 (42 balls) at the other end.Kadam reached his fifty off 36 balls, and remained aggressive after that, eventually falling to Lalit Yadav after a 56-ball innings that was laced with seven fours and four sixes.Abhinav Manohar, who made his debut this season and was playing only his third game, gave Karnataka impetus at the death with a 13-ball 27 after coming in at No.3, and the team was on 175 for 3 after 19 overs, with Manohar off strike. He eventually got strike only on the fifth ball, when he became Nalkande’s fourth victim. Nalkande had Aniruddha Joshi hooking to short fine leg, then wicketkeeper BR Sharath caught behind while looking to scoop, and completed the hat-trick with J Suchith holing out to deep square leg off a pull shot. He made it four in four when Manohar, who crossed and took strike next ball, spliced a top edge to cover.It meant Karnataka finished about 10 runs short of what they might have expected to, but the bowlers still had a sizeable score to defend.Vidarbha began well, with the 21-year-old Atharva Taide carrying on his good form, smashing 32 off 16 at the top of the order. Taide set the tone by taking 15 runs off the first five balls of the chase, but mystery spinner KC Cariappa, introduced in the third over, made the breakthrough, having Taide caught by Pandey to leave Vidarbha 43 for 1 in five overs.While Vidarbha’s top order continued to make starts, none of them stayed on and gave the innings impetus as Kadam had done for Karnataka, or even kept one end ticking as Pandey had done. Every single batter in the top seven got into double figures, but Taide’s 32 was the highest score.Karnataka’s bowlers kept striking regularly, and the required rate steadily crept up. Akshay Karnewar and Apoorv Wankhade offered a glimpse of revival with a 41-run sixth-wicket stand in 4.2 overs, but Karnewar fell to the first ball of the final over, having faced up to Vidyadhar Patil with 14 runs needed. Karnewar hit two sixes and a four in his 12-ball 22, and with his wicket, the outside chance Vidarbha had of storming to victory receded. Patil kept things tight through the rest of the final over, and a last-ball four from Wankhade only served to narrow Vidarbha’s margin of defeat.

Shakib Al Hasan has been ruled out of Bangladesh’s remaining matches in the T20 World Cup because of a hamstring injury. Shakib has not recovered sufficiently from the injury he picked up in his left leg during the game against West Indies on Friday, and after a 48-hour observation period, the team medical staff decided to rule him out.”Shakib sustained a left lower hamstring strain while fielding during the match against the West Indies,” team doctor Debashis Chowdhury said in a statement. “In clinical examination it was diagnosed as an injury of Grade 1 intensity. He is ruled out from participation in the last two matches of the tournament and until further review.”Related

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Bangladesh’s star allrounder pulled up when chasing a ball in the fifth over of the match. He went off the field briefly at the time but returned to complete his four overs, even though he hobbled around and was spotted clutching the back of his left leg on occasion.Shakib later opened the innings, for the first time in international cricket, in a bid to use his physical limitations during the powerplay, but visibly limped while taking singles before being dismissed for 9.Bangladesh, after getting through the first round of the competition, have struggled, losing all their three games so far. Qualifying for the knockouts looks improbable for them anyway, and Shakib’s absence can only make things tougher for them.Wicketkeeper-batter Nurul Hasan is another injury worry – he missed the West Indies game with a a lower midriff injury. The team doctor has asked him to rest till November 1.Bangladesh’s next match is against South Africa on November 2, and their last Super 12s game is against Australia on November 4. They are scheduled to play three T20Is and two Tests against Pakistan shortly after the T20 World Cup.

Cricket South Africa has not been able to find “any evidence” that a clique of players influenced selection in the past, and stands by the robustness of its current selection policy, which came into effect in 2014. That was the testimony of Eddie Khoza, CSA’s acting head of cricket pathways, who appeared at the Social Justice and Nation-Building (SJN) hearings on Thursday and responded on a variety of issues including controversies in team selection.Asked specifically about Roger Telemachus’ assertion that a group of senior white players known as the “big five” had a big hand in selection at the 2007 World Cup, Khoza, who was not working for CSA at that time, said it was difficult to corroborate some of Telemachus’ allegations.”I do respect Mr Telemachus, he is one of the players who played for the Proteas. But the issue of a clique that controlled selection may not be entirely true, because of the policies we have in place,” Khoza said. “From where I am sitting, we tried to verify the statements that he made. We couldn’t go to Goolam (Rajah, the former team manager who died of Covid-19 earlier this year). We cannot verify some of the assertions. I have to have the confidence that the policy was followed in terms of what needed to be done. If there was a clique, we don’t have any evidence of it.”Khoza conceded the ombudsman’s assistant Sandile July’s point that if there was a “big five”, the players in that clique would not have labelled themselves as such, and that because there was no formal complaint laid at the time does not mean that the experience of players of the likes of Telemachus is invalid. But, he said, things are different now. “Things have changed. We have certain mechanisms we have put in place to detect certain issues,” Khoza said. “Our relationship with SACA (the South African Cricketers’ Association) is also at a different level. If any player cannot even speak to the union themselves to say I have this issue with CSA, I will hear from SACA.”At the time of Roger Telemachus, you have to accept that certain things might not have been in place to bring some of these concerns to the fore. It’s very unfortunate. I want to make sure everybody that comes through cricket has a positive experience. It was saddening to me listening to some of these former players, who I regard as my heroes, to hear that they went through some of these issues.”CSA’s lawyer, Aslam Moosajee, who led Khoza through his testimony, acknowledged that “Roger Telemachus may have suffered from the fact that prior to 2014, there were no clear guidelines on who was ultimately responsible for selection”.Related

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The 2014 policy, which excludes the captain from having a vote in selection, came into place after Hussein Manack, a former selector who also appeared at the SJN, proposed that CSA formalise the process. Manack’s testimony focused largely on the non-selection of Khaya Zondo for an ODI in India back when AB de Villiers was captain – de Villiers was adamant that an out-of-form David Miller play ahead of Zondo. Khoza said not picking Zondo at the time was a “missed opportunity, especially with the challenges we are faced with trying to encourage black African batters to come to the fore. At the time, Zondo was performing. If we would have taken the opportunity then, how many aspirations of young cricketers would we have reached out to?”He clarified that a formal complaint was lodged in the Zondo instance and that CSA put in place a subcommittee to investigate. “They felt it was unfair but not on the basis of race,” Khoza said. “But we still missed an opportunity.”Khoza maintained that selection is a complex and subjective process, and that CSA is continually refining its process. “Selecting is a very contentious issue. It doesn’t matter which sport. When it comes to cricket, there’s different views because you are not only playing here at home but you are also playing away and the strength of the type of combinations you might find might differ,” he said. “It’s an issue that’s why we normally leave it to independent people to facilitate for us. We need to make sure they are assertive enough and the bridge between them and the players is brought closer so that there is a better understanding.”The hearings are expected to conclude tomorrow, with the end of CSA’s submission and a guest appearance by Michael Holding. Among those whose responses have not been heard are director of cricket Graeme Smith and former captain AB de Villiers. Both have submitted written affidavits, which have not yet been made public.

Australia allrounder Ellyse Perry believes it is a “no brainer” that there should be multi-day cricket at domestic level in the women’s game.Test cricket has returned to the women’s game this year for the first time since 2019 when England playing India in June with Australia set to face India in a day-night Test at the end of September followed by an Ashes encounter in January. Since 2004 only England, Australia, India, South Africa and Netherlands have played Tests.Currently the only way for players to hone their long-format skills is if specific warm-up matches are arranged. There is a push among female players for more opportunities to play Test cricket and Perry sees having a proper structure at the level below can have multiple benefits.Related

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• Perry: 'The more Test matches we play, the better we are going to get at it'

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“It’s really important and I actually think it serves dual purposes. Certainly, it helps identify longer format players, it helps prepare the Australian team to play Test cricket but, equally, and perhaps more importantly it’s such a great tool for development,” Perry told ESPNcricinfo.”We’ve got so many young players in domestic squads now a lot of them haven’t played a lot of cricket and don’t get a chance to play a lot of cricket, particularly at domestic level just because of the way that the summer set up.”So for them to be exposed to longer days in the field, or longer days batting, it just gives them an incredible resource to improve their skills and develop as cricketers. So to me that it’s sort of a bit of a no brainer in a little lot of ways because it serves that dual purpose.”In Australia, if a state player does not have a WBBL deal they will play maximum of eight days of cricket in a season as part of the WNCL – plus a possible final – and there have been calls to expand that competition.The chief executive of the Australia Cricketers Association, Todd Greenberg, said last month that he would be bringing the topic of long-form cricket in the women’s game to the next round of the MoU discussions with Cricket Australia which will take effect from the middle of next year.”An easy headline is to say our female players want to play more Test cricket,” Greenberg told the newspapers. “But the reality of that statement is to play more Test cricket, you have to have long-form cricket available to females at a domestic level and right through the pathway. That will occupy as much of our attention as the top of the pyramid.”Peter Roach, Cricket Australia’s head of cricket operations, has previously said that all options are on the table but setting up a multi-day competition is not the only solution.”What is worth pointing out is that there’s a lot of different ways to prepare players for international cricket,” he told ESPNcricinfo in July. “We understand Test cricket is a passion for them which is great and we’d be disappointed if it wasn’t. The players’ association is working through that with us at the moment to say what’s the best way to structure our domestic cricket in the future. We often default to answer of it being more, but there’s different ways of finding the right solution.”

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details1:41

De Kock stalls New Zealand despite finger trouble

Injured tendon? The liability New Zealand hoped to exploit became a blaring irritant to their hopes of levelling the series as Quinton de Kock – with a strapped finger on a splint – produced 90 runs of the highest quality. That he has turned 12 of his 29 innings into scores of 50 or more is testament to why South Africa wanted him in their XI for this Test, no matter what.

NZ’s rare opening stand

• 3 Fifty-plus opening stands by New Zealand in 38 Test innings against South Africa since 2000. Before this, they had averaged 17.43 in the last 37 innings.

• 36.50 Average runs per wicket added by South Africa’s last four wickets this series. Their first six wickets have averaged only 32.69. South Africa added 124 runs after the fall of their sixth wicket in Hamilton, and 265 runs for their last four wickets in the first innings in Wellington.

• 29.22 Average of South Africa’s batsmen at No. 8 or lower in this series, as opposed to New Zealand’s average of 14.60. South Africa’s tail has had a significant bearing on this series given that the two teams’ top-orders have similar averages.

• 76.27 Quinton de Kock’s strike rate in his 118-ball 90; the other South African batsmen scored at 52.63. De Kock had rescued South Africa with quick runs in Wellington too – a 118-ball 91 after coming in to bat at 94 for 6.

• 4-93 Matt Henry’s best figures in Tests, on debut at Lord’s in 2015. His figures in South Africa’s first innings equalled that effort.

On a pitch supporting seam movement and under clouds promising swing, South Africa’s 314 was a better-than-par total. To Tom Latham, it might have looked like a monstrous one. He had not passed 10 in the series, and suddenly had 28 overs to survive against Vernon Philander, Morne Morkel and Kagiso Rabada. By stumps, however, he had put on the highest opening partnership of the series with Jeet Raval. The determination both men showed, making 67 runs in the process, was necessary, considering they had let South Africa off the hook. A team that had been 190 for 6 should not have made it to 314.Apart from undermining themselves, New Zealand were also fighting their weather. Forty nine overs were lost on the first day and a few more went down the drain at Seddon Park on the second. Both delays were caused by showers that did not last that long.Perhaps the only reason Kane Williamson thought better of leaving the field to investigate who was sabotaging his team with repetitive rain dances was the wickets his bowlers were able to give him. Matt Henry, on comeback, was responsible for four of them. His strength is bowling a full length and controlling his line well enough to test batsmen outside off stump. So much that in 75 deliveries to right-handers, barely any slipped down the leg side.De Kock, being left-handed, coped far better as he made 26 runs off 28 deliveries from New Zealand’s stand-in spearhead. And if Henry couldn’t make him budge, what chance did the rest have? De Kock launched Jeetan Patel’s offspin for a six over midwicket. He carved cuts behind point when there was little room, and his pull shots were outstanding. He finished with 90 off 118 balls – an innings in defiance of a pitch that wasn’t all that great for strokeplay.It was slow as Temba Bavuma found out, toe-ending a pull to first slip. The humidity and cloud cover ensured there was consistent swing too. Knowing that – and perhaps the fact that a draw was enough to win another trophy – Faf du Plessis reached into his closet and put on his Adelaide gear: do as you please but you won’t get past me. It wasn’t that he was particularly troubled by the bowling. At a drinks break, when a chair was run out for him, the only way du Plessis could have looked more at home was if his dog Giorgio had been by his side and there a braai in the background. So calm was du Plessis, just sipping on his water and chatting with his partner.New Zealand needed something magical to remove the South African captain, and they got it soon after he got to his 12th Test fifty. Latham, at short leg, saw du Plessis premeditating a lap sweep and began moving quickly to his right. He had already covered a yard or so when the ball came within his reach, and then, it was a matter of letting his reflexes take over and hoping they were good enough. Latham stuck out his right hand and secured a catch to give Mitchell Santner a wicket. The left-arm spinner had to wait 61 overs to get into the mix.Williamson was far more partial to his quicks, and Henry would feel unlucky that he still does not have a five-for in Tests. He nabbed Philander, who became the sixth South African to the double of 1000 runs and 100 wickets, with a teaser outside off stump. Latham did his bit again to enable the wicket with a fine catch, low to his right at second slip.Henry found the edge again the very next ball, but it fell short of the cordon and Keshav Maharaj survived. Later, an inswinging yorker only just missed making a mess of Morkel’s leg stump. Neil Wagner knocked over Rabada in the next over to finish the innings and deny his team-mate his fifth.

Knights have won South Africa’s first-class competition with an innings and 121-run victory over Lions in Johannesburg. The trophy is the franchise’s first since the 2010-11 40-over competition and third in the first-class format since the franchise era began in the 2004-05 summer.Knights wrapped up victory before lunch on the third day to bring an early end to what was a thrilling final round. All six teams were in with a chance of claiming the cup in a hotly contested competition that has seen Knights become the first side to win four matches.Although Knights’ bowling was the hallmark of their success this season – spearhead Duanne Olivier finished with 52 wickets at 18.13, the leading wicket-taker – it was their batting that triumphed on the final weekend. After choosing to bat at the Wanderers, Knights posted an imposing 443 and Lions could not match that score over two innings.The runs came from the top five with Luthando Mnyanda and Diego Rosier sharing a first-wicket stand of 112 before Beuran Hendricks broke through. Rosier followed him three overs later but another big stand – of 94 between Theunis de Bruyn and Pite van Biljon – followed. De Bruyn, Knights’ captain, scored 72 and sits near the top of the runs charts – making a strong case to continue travelling with the South African Test team as their reserve player – while van Biljon went on to score 119. Rudi Second’s 45 further frustrated Lions as Knights closed out the first day on 408 for 7. They only added 35 runs on the second morning and Hendricks finished with five but the damage had been done.Poor first-innings totals had been a concern for Lions throughout the season and they could not get poorer than this. They were shot out for 87 to underline the quality of Knights’ attack. Opening bowlers Olivier and Marchant de Lange – an off-season acquisition from Titans – combined pace and bounce to take five between them before change-bowlers Shadley van Schalkwyk, who sits in the top 10 on the wicket-takers’ charts, and Mbulelo Budaza took the second five. Reeza Hendricks’ 35 was the top score with Rassie van der Dussen the only other batsman to get into double figures.Sensing success, Knights asked Lions to follow on and although their second innings was better it was not still not good enough. Test opener Stephen Cook and Hendricks put on 101 for the first wicket and Hendricks topped up to make 112 but the rest fell away. Lions lost their last eight wickets for 66 and Olivier did most of the damage. His 4 for 59 scythed through the middle order, where only Mangaliso Mosehle made a score over 20. Depending on the outcome of the Titans-Warriors match, Lions could finish last.They will take some positives from a campaign in which they lost several players to national duty, in that Dominic Hendricks was among the top-ten scorers and Wiaan Mulder, the schoolboy allrounder, sat just outside the top ten on the wicket charts. But Knights’ glory was much greater. Olivier and de Lange lie first and second on the bowlers’ list. Bloemfontein could not be prouder.Titans ensured a second-place finish in the Sunfoil Series as Heino Kuhn’s unbeaten 165 helped them chase down a target of 315 against Warriors with four wickets to spare. The star performance, however, came from allrounder Shaun von Berg, who took a match haul of 10 for 203, including a six-for in the second innings, and struck a crucial century at no. 8 to lift Titans from 83 for 7 to a first-innings score of 227 and a lead of 40.Von Berg took 4 for 59 in the first innings with his legspin to help restrict Warriors to 187, complemented by the pace-bowling pair of Malusi Siboto and Rowan Richards who took five wickets between them. Siboto and Richards’ support for von Berg extended into Titans’ first innings as well, as they shared crucial partnerships of 55 and 70 for the eighth and ninth wickets respectively to haul the total past 200.Warriors did better in their second innings, thanks largely to Colin Ackermann’s 150 at No. 3 and a 60 from Simon Harmer who shared in a 137-run partnership for the seventh wicket, which helped take Warriors’ lead past 300. Von Berg had returns of 6 for 144, including the wickets of Ackermann and opener Gihahn Cloete, who scored 49.Kuhn and Dean Elgar had already whittled away 49 runs off the target on the third evening and stretched their partnership to 113 on the fourth day before Elgar was dismissed for 58. Kuhn then added 69 for the second wicket with Aiden Markram and once the latter was dismissed took charge of the chase, eventually sealing the win with von Berg at the other end.Stiaan van Zyl struck a century in each innings as Cape Cobras drew with Dolphins to take third place in the league. Van Zyl’s 108 in the first innings, and a century from opener Andrew Puttick (116 off 240 balls) helped Cape Cobras pile on 381 in the first innings. Van Zyl struck 13 fours in his knock and shared a 160-run partnership for the second wicket with Puttick before a cameo from Aviwe Mgijima (52 off 41 balls) lifted the score past 350.Daryn Smit’s 150 not out pulled Dolphins out from 88 for 5 to 329 for 8 dec. The side were 5 for 2 in the third over before stabilizing through Divan van Wyk and Khaya Zondo. Both fell off successive deliveries to Jason Smith, triggering another slump that Smit helped steady. Calvin Savage added 115 for the sixth wicket with Smit, before the batsman shepherded the lower order before the declaration. Smit’s 150 came off 264 deliveries with 16 fours.Cape Cobras then added 291 in their second innings, steered once again by van Zyl and Puttick, with the latter scoring 55. Van Zyl remained unbeaten on 101 off 263 deliveries.

Hashim Amla’s moved up four places to sixth in the latest ICC rankings for Test batsmen after he struck 134 in his hundredth Test in Johannesburg. Kagiso Rabada, meanwhile, moved up three spots to fifth in the Test bowling rankings after returning match figures of 5 for 94.Amla, who became only the eighth batsman to score a century in his 100th Test, had earlier dropped to tenth after a string of poor performances in 2016. He had moved to first in the Test rankings back in February 2013 and at one point had held top positions in both the ODI and Test rankings.Rabada’s strong performances in the series against Sri Lanka made him South Africa’s highest-ranked Test bowler, moving him one place above Dale Steyn, who is recuperating from the shoulder fracture he suffered during South Africa’s tour of Australia in November. Rabada’s ten-wicket haul in the second Test in Cape Town had earlier helped him break into the top ten.Australia captain Steven Smith continued to lead the Test rankings for batsmen while India’s R Ashwin topped the bowlers’ rankings.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsEoin Morgan made amends for a slow start to deliver Sydney Thunder their first win of the tournament•Cricket Australia/Getty Images

The defending champions are still alive – mathematically at least. Eoin Morgan crunched a last-ball six straight down the ground to give the Sydney Thunder a famous six-wicket win – their first of the season – in his last game for them before he flies to India with the England team.The Thunder required five to win from the final ball, and as the smite – off a half-volley from Ben Hilfenhaus – flew into the sightscreen, Morgan dropped his bat and leapt. Pat Cummins, the bowler who reinvented himself as an allrounder at No. 6, and who had already hit a huge six earlier in the over (from which the Thunder had required 16), gave him a bearhug.Earlier, Morgan’s former England team-mate Kevin Pietersen had guided the Stars, who were invited to bat, to 8 for 166. But his dismissal sparked a dismal collapse in the final five overs, and it came back to haunt him.KP’s backWithout the middle-order ballast of Peter Handscomb – who should return for the latter half of the pool stage – the Stars’ batting line-up looks rather top-heavy. Over 70% of Stars’ runs this season have been scored by their top three – if they are to make the finals again, this needs addressing.And so it proved here. Glenn Maxwell and Luke Wright had given Pietersen a punchy platform in the Powerplay, but he got off to a slow start. There was the standard Red Bull run to get things going, but he could barely manage more than a single, moving to 28 from 27. From there, he flew, taking 32 from his next 10, with Chris Green reverse-swept, then tonked over midwicket, for four and six, and Gurinder Sandhu ripped to shreds.Watson stalls the StarsAfter Sandhu leaked 21 from the 15th over, Stars looked set for a huge total. Pietersen was on 60 and had shared 55 with Faulkner for the fourth wicket. Shane Watson appeared to be running out of bowling options; Russell had pulled up lame, Sandhu and Cummins had been too costly, and he had just one over of spin – from Green – up his sleeve.So Watson turned to his own bowling, which had looked in fine fettle earlier on. Pietersen drilled one back to the left of Watson, who took a magnificent caught-and-bowled in an over that cost just five. With the partnership broken, it was the perfect time to reintroduce the hitherto expensive Cummins. He sent down the 17th, which cost just seven, before Green bowled Faulkner and Sam Harper in consecutive balls with his skiddy offbreaks in the 18th over that went for just one. He nearly had Adam Zampa, too. Never mind, Watson brought himself back, dismissed Zampa and conceded two.With Cummins’ last yielding just five, the final five overs had been worth 20 runs for the loss of five wickets. With rain tumbling, the Thunder had hauled themselves back into the game.Morgan’s innings of two halvesThunder found themselves in a spot of bother early. Aiden Blizzard had played out eight dots in the 11 balls he had faced when he fell. Kurtis Patterson’s fast start fell to nothing. Watson was brilliantly caught by Harper. Morgan and Ben Rohrer, realistically, were the last hope. Russell was carded to come in at No. 6, but his left hamstring injury ruled that out, so Cummins was promoted. Against the likes of Zampa, who bowled beautifully, Morgan looked horribly scratchy at first. He managed just 15 runs from his first 28 balls.But then, Michael Beer – very tight until then – returned for the 15th over. Thunder needed 72 off 36. Beer’s first ball was whacked down the ground for four, before he was slog-swept for six. Morgan was away, and he didn’t look back. On a pitch favouring spin, Morgan realised that seamers were to bowl each of the last five overs. When they dropped short, he pulled, and he flat-batted over long-on too. By the time his winning six had sailed into the night, he had taken 56 off his last 22 balls to finish with 71. Finally, Thunder had a win.Legspin it to win itAs Morgan recognised, pace off was the order of the day, and two legspinners were to the fore. In the chase, Beer’s first two overs cost just seven, while Zampa’s four excellent overs cost just 19, with a wicket, 10 dot balls and one boundary. The blueprint had been set earlier, however: Thunder’s three best bowlers were the variations in pace of Watson, the darts of Green and particularly the dangerous leg-breaks of Ahmed, who wasn’t afraid to give the ball some flight and rip, notably when bowling David Hussey. The trio’s 12 overs cost 79 and resulted in seven of the eight wickets.

A spectator has been slapped with a three-year ban from attending any matches in Australia, and will also face court in Hobart after allegedly writing a racially offensive message on a fence inside the Bellerive Oval on day one of the Test.The message was reportedly directed at South Africa batsman Hashim Amla, and police have confirmed a 24-year old man from Longford in Tasmania’s north has been charged on summons.”Cricket Australia and Cricket Tasmania can confirm a crowd behaviour issue that occurred on day one of the Commonwealth Bank Test match against South Africa in Hobart,” a Cricket Australia spokesperson said.”Tasmania Police identified the person of interest through CCTV and witnesses in the area. Cricket Australia has issued the person with a three-year ban from any Cricket Australia match, nationally.”Cricket Australia takes a zero-tolerance approach to anti-social behaviour at any of our matches, which includes racial vilification.”Our message to any fan attending a match is that if you display anti-social behavior, you will be removed and risk being banned from any cricket match across Australia, as well as police action being taken.”Cricket South Africa also issued a statement on the matter: “We have been informed that the man has been formally charged and has been handed a three-year ban from the stadium.”From our point of view, it is disappointing and disconcerting because this is not the first act of racial vilification we have received while touring Australia over the years. It is unacceptable. There is absolutely no place for racial stereotyping and such offensive acts in society, let alone in sport.”We thank Cricket Australia and the authorities for dealing with the matter in a swift, professional and stern way and for carrying out the full might of the law.”