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Afghanistan and Ireland have been approved as Full Members by the ICC, meaning they have become cricket’s 11th and 12th Test-playing nations. This was signed off on by the ICC Board in London on Thursday, during the ICC’s AGM.Afghanistan and Ireland’s boards had applied to the ICC to have their status upgraded from Associates, and this was put to vote at the meeting on Thursday and unanimously supported.Ireland first gained ODI status in 2005 after finishing runners-up in the ICC Trophy tournament, which they hosted, to gain their first World Cup berth. Two years later they scored a shock upset of Pakistan on St Patrick’s Day in Jamaica and they’ve never looked back, qualifying for two subsequent World Cups in which they defeated England and West Indies to further press their case that they could maintain competitiveness with other Test nations.”Test cricket is the pinnacle, it’s the best. Not being able to play Tests was the reason cited by some players, who weren’t able to achieve that career fulfilment with Ireland, as the reason they went to England,” Cricket Ireland chief executive Warren Deutrom said. “That reason is now removed, we can play Tests ourselves. Who can say for certain that players won’t leave in the future, but that can’t be the reason for it now.”Afghanistan’s rise has been even sharper having first gained ODI status in 2009 with a sixth-place finish at that year’s World Cup Qualifier in South Africa. It followed three consecutive promotions over the previous year when they began in Division Five of the World Cricket League. Like Ireland, they have demonstrated the talent to stand toe-to-toe with Full Member nations, securing three straight ODI and T20I series wins over Zimbabwe as well as a win over eventual champion West Indies at the 2016 World T20. Most recently they drew their maiden ODI series in West Indies.ESPNcricinfo Ltd

“Another day that we can lock in our history and be proud,” Shafiq Stanikzai, ACB chief executive, said, adding there was still more work to be done. “Every achievement is great, but it opens the door to challenges. We’ll be hosting our international matches in Greater Noida and Sharjah, there should be a day when we can host inside Afghanistan.”The vote is not just an endorsement of each country’s respective on-field talents but a seal of approval for efforts made in recent years to build up their domestic structures. In the last three years, both countries have started a multi-day competition with each receiving first-class designation from the ICC in the last year, a harbinger of Thursday’s Full Member affirmation.Since 2005, both countries have demonstrated their readiness for five-day cricket through their dominance in the Intercontinental Cup, the ICC’s first-class competition for Associates. Ireland has won four of the last five editions, with Afghanistan interrupting that streak with a victory in the 2010 tournament. The two sides currently sit in the top-two spots in the current edition of the competition, Afghanistan holding a one-point lead after securing an innings victory at Greater Noida over Ireland earlier this year.Afghanistan have only lost once in the 20 Intercontinental Cup matches they’ve played, that coming in the 2013 final to Ireland. Ireland’s record is just as enviable, with 24 wins, three losses and 10 draws in 37 matches. But they will now be leaving that competition behind at the end of the year, with the door to Test cricket now wide open to them.

ScorecardFile photo – Michael Rippon’s 79-ball 71 carried Netherlands to a strong total•Peter Della Penna

Incisive opening spells from Shane Snater and Fred Klaassen ripped through Zimbabwe’s top order, leaving them 44 for 5 in the 13th over, in their chase of 280. Malcolm Waller struck a counter-attacking 50 off 43 balls, but without much support, Zimbabwe’s resistance didn’t last long. Roelof van der Merwe picked up the last three wickets to fall, completing a consolation win for Netherlands by 149 runs.Snater finished with figures of 3 for 30, while Paul van Meekeren and Logan van Beek claimed one wicket apiece. Zimbabwe were bowled out for 130 in the 27th over.After being put in to bat, Wesley Barresi and Stephan Myburgh put on a 53-run opening stand off 69 balls. Netherlands’ middle order – Ben Cooper (27), van der Merwe (32) and Peter Borren (29) – all got starts, but only Michael Rippon, batting at No. 4, went on to make a half-century. His 79-ball 71 carried Netherlands to 279. Fast bowler Chris Mpofu finished with 4 for 41.

Match facts

June 07, 2017
Start time 13.30 local (12.30 GMT)
3:14

Tait: Without Wahab, Amir needs to show authority

Big Picture

South Africa and Pakistan are cricketing opposites in every conceivable way at the moment. South Africa are the highest-ranked team in the Champions Trophy, Pakistan the lowest. South Africa hammered Sri Lanka to kick off their tournament, while Pakistan were at the end of a pasting – against arch-rivals India, no less. South Africa’s power-hitting stocks are the envy of virtually every other side in the tournament, while seemingly the only power-hitter in all of Pakistan has been suspended on charges of corruption during the Pakistan Super League. South Africa are favourites to win this game, Pakistan are not.Pakistan have traditionally gone into big tournaments believing their bowling to be their biggest asset, but anyone who took a look at their performance during the game against India would begin to seriously wonder if that was the case this time around. In any case, the top-two ODI bowlers according to the ICC rankings are South African – Kagiso Rabada and Imran Tahir – so their opponents certainly have the edge in that department.What other ways can we compare Pakistan and South Africa? Batting? What about (if only for amusement’s sake) fielding?South Africa did indeed lose the last series they played, but they got better with each game, culminating in a demolition of England in the final ODI. They continued that upsurge with a comfortable win over Sri Lanka, a game in which they were by no means excellent. It was a mark of their quality that victory never seemed to be in doubt, except for a brief period at the start of the second innings when Sri Lanka got off to a flyer. Hashim Amla scored a hundred, Quinton de Kock is perhaps the world’s best young batsman, Tahir was Man of the Match. You could run through all the other names, without finding any real chink in the armour.Pakistan can take inspiration from recent history. These two sides were similarly mismatched when they last took each other on at the 2015 World Cup, and South Africa were on course for a routine victory chasing a below-par total, before a few quick wickets derailed the chase and had Pakistan snatch an unlikely win. Eight of the XI that started for South Africa in the opening game of this tournament also played in that contest, so Pakistan may harness hopes of reopening old wounds.

Form guide

South Africa WWLLW (last five completed matches, most recent first)
Pakistan LWWLL

In the spotlight

David Miller is the sort of player Pakistan are crying out for: an explosive middle-order player who can have a devastating impact towards the close of an innings. He isn’t just a slogger, though; it’s just that South Africa’s top order is so reliable he doesn’t often get in before the 35th over. He’s fresh off a 51-ball 71 in a thrilling ODI against England not too long ago, and though it couldn’t get South Africa over the line, it highlighted the value Miller provides as a stable No.5 to a superb top order. Pakistan’s death bowling was clueless against India, and it has been that way against the better teams for a while now. Miller should be licking his lips at the very prospect of facing them tomorrow.Besides Mohammad Amir, Shadab Khan was the only Pakistan bowler who could claim a passing grade from their game against India. The 18-year-old legspinner held his own against a daunting Indian batting line-up, ensuring the batsmen couldn’t target him in a tournament where spin bowlers’ chances haven’t been fancied. Fifty-two runs came off his ten overs, and he even provided the opening breakthrough, deceiving Shikhar Dhawan in the air. He might be expected to perform a similar role against South Africa, who will be aware of the damage quality legspin can do, what with Tahir’s heroics against Sri Lanka.

Team news

South Africa may be tempted to stick with the side that beat Sri Lanka so comprehensively, although that would mean they miss the transformation target – a minimum of six players of colour on average over a season – two games in a row. Phehlukwayo might be given a start, and in such an eventuality one of Chris Morris and Morne Morkel could make way.South Africa (possible): 1 Hashim Amla, 2 Quinton de Kock (wk), 3 Faf du Plessis, 4 AB de Villiers (capt), 5 David Miller, 6 JP Duminy, 7 Chris Morris, 8 Wayne Parnell, 9 Kagiso Rabada, 10 Morne Morkel/Andile Phelukwayo, 11 Imran TahirWahab Riaz has been ruled out of the tournament, and Junaid Khan will take his place in the side. Sarfraz Ahmed also confirmed that Fakhar Zaman will open the batting, replacing Ahmed Shehzad.Pakistan (possible): 1 Fakhar Zaman, 2 Azhar Ali, 3 Babar Azam, 4 Mohammad Hafeez, 5 Shoaib Malik, 6 Sarfraz Ahmed (capt, wk), 7 Imad Wasim, 8 Shadab Khan, 9 Mohammad Amir, 10 Hasan Ali, 11 Junaid Khan

Pitch and conditions

There has been some drama surrounding the Edgbaston pitch. This game was scheduled to be played on an unused pitch, but it has gone soft due to the amount of rain. As a result, the match will be played on the same pitch that was used previously this tournament. As for weather, rain is expected to stay away for most of tomorrow, and a full game is expected.

Stats and trivia

• Pakistan have lost six successive Champions Trophy matches, a run that stretches back to 2009
• Hashim Amla became the quickest batsman to 25 ODI centuries with a hundred against Sri Lanka on Saturday. He needed 151 innings to get to the mark, overtaking Virat Kohli who took 162

Quotes

“Yes, definitely.”
“We have tried to lift the team’s spirits, and the mood in the camp is very good now.”

Match facts

Royal Challengers Bangalore v Sunrisers Hyderabad
Bengaluru, April 25, 2017
Start time 2000 local (1430 GMT)3:28

Hogg: No changes for RCB despite record low

Form guide

• Royal Challengers Bangalore (eighth): lost to KKR by 82 runs, beat Lions by 21 runs, lost to Rising Pune by 27 runs

• Sunrisers Hyderabad (third): lost to Rising Pune by six wickets, beat Daredevils by 15 runs, beat Kings XI by five runs

Head to head

This season
Last year’s finalists faced off in the season’s opening fixture in Hyderabad. Fifties from Moises Henriques and Yuvraj Singh helped Sunrisers post 207. That total was 35 runs too many for a Royal Challengers outfit sans Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers.Overall:
Sunrisers lead 6-4 and have won their last three games against Royal Challengers. That being said, the hosts lead 3-2 at the Chinnaswamy.

In the news

Royal Challengers are languishing at the bottom of the table after seven games, following their rout for 49 – the lowest total in IPL history – in their last game at Eden Gardens. Sixteen points was the magic number teams needed in IPL 2016 to qualify for the playoff stage and Royal Challengers would need to win six of their last seven matches to get there.Sunrisers Hyderabad don’t have as much to worry about. They were done in by an MS Dhoni special in their previous match – a last-ball finish – but seem to have their overseas four set in stone, especially after Kane Williamson has scored 110 in his first two games at a strike rate of nearly 170. Yuvraj Singh missed the last game due to illness, but should return to the XI at the Chinnaswamy. Ashish Nehra, who has a superlative record against Virat Kohli, may get a look in if Sunrisers pay attention to the numbers.

The likely XIs

Royal Challengers Bangalore 1 Virat Kohli (capt), 2 Chris Gayle, 3 AB de Villiers, 4 Mandeep Singh, 5 Kedar Jadhav (wk), 6 Stuart Binny, 7 Pawan Negi, 8 Samuel Badree, 9 Tymal Mills, 10 S Aravind, 11 Yuzvendra ChahalSunrisers Hyderabad 1 David Warner (capt), 2 Shikhar Dhawan, 3 Kane Williamson, 4 Moises Henriques, 5 Yuvraj Singh, 6 Naman Ojha (wk), 7 Deepak Hooda, 8 Rashid Khan, 9 Siddarth Kaul/Ashish Nehra, 10 Mohammed Siraj, 11 Bhuvneshwar Kumar

Strategy Punt

• Sunrisers Hyderabad may give Ashish Nehra a start and a shot with the new ball – he is the only bowler in the IPL to dismiss Virat Kohli more than four times (six).

Stats that matter

• Sunrisers have lost all three of their away games this season. Royal Challengers, though, no longer can call the Chinnaswamy their fortress. They have lost two of their three matches at home.
• Before 2017, the Chinnaswamy had the highest run rate (8.61) among all grounds. This season, it has the lowest run rate (7.41). Alternatively, Bangalore had the worst average (28.37) for bowlers before 2017. This year, it has favoured the bowlers the most among all venues – a wicket falls every 19.57 runs. Bengaluru is also the only venue to have not seen a 180-plus total this season.
• Royal Challengers’ middle-order batsmen have the worst average among all teams in 2017. Their Nos. 4 through 7 average 18.45 and have the poorest strike-rate (125.51).
• Moises Henriques is one of two batsmen – the other being Nitish Rana – to have struck three fifties this season. He has scored 193 in six innings at an average of 64.33. He has already gone past his tally from 15 innings in 2016 – 182.
• Ashish Nehra has dismissed Kohli six times in 54 balls. Kohli has had a hard time getting runs off his senior from Delhi: he has only scored 60. For context, no other bowler has dismissed Kohli more than four times in the IPL.
• Kohli’s batting partners enjoy facing the Sunrisers bowlers, though. De Villiers has scored 61 runs off 28 balls against Nehra while Gayle has scored 104 runs off 70 deliveries off the season’s leading wicket-taker, Bhuvneshwar Kumar.

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.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsIn a nutshellIt was a game between the top side and the bottom, and boy did it show. Quetta Gladiators thrashed Karachi by six wickets in what was the most one-sided match in the PSL so far, making Sarfraz Ahmed’s squad the first to qualify for the knockout stages.The game was won on the back of a splendid bowling display by the Gladiators as they squeezed the opposition in the middle overs, the pace bowlers flummoxing the batsmen with controlled pace variations and teasing slower bouncers. Karachi had got off to a fast start, reaching 46 for 0 in five overs through their new opening pair of Kumar Sangakkara and Babar Azam.But in the middle 10-over stretch from the sixth through the 15th, Karachi managed a mere 52 runs. Chris Gayle’s ongoing struggles were a feature of the Karachi innings. He scratched around and attempted to dispatch the odd ball out of Dubai in a laboured 34-ball 29 that took all the air out of his side’s innings.Quetta, in contrast, were assured right from the start of their chase, with Ahmed Shehzad and Asad Shafiq scoring a solid 49 from the Powerplay. After that, Shehzad ripped into the bowling, taking the young Usama Mir to task in his first over. Shehzad smashed him for two fours and two sixes in a costly 22-run eighth over and the hundred partnership eventually came up in 11 overs.An enraged Mickey Arthur called for a strategic timeout after the tenth over, chastising his side in full public view. It had a short-term effect as Quetta stuttered to lose three wickets in the 13th over but the damage had been done early and, in truth, the win was a comfortable one.Where the match was wonAfter the first five overs of the Karachi innings, with Sangakkara looking in fine touch and his side at 46 for 0, a solid platform appeared to have been set. But the middle overs saw Quetta’s bowlers strangle the opposition.The spinners bowled a tight line and the fast bowlers dipped into their bag of tricks to leave the opposition – Gayle in particular – flapping at thin air. Anwar Ali and Tymal Mills deceived Kieron Pollard and Gayle a number of times with slower short balls, depriving the West Indian power hitters of the pace they can so lethally use to their own advantage. The stand between the pair, on paper arguably the most menacing duo in T20 cricket, turned out to be a frankly benign one.The men that won itQuetta’s innings had a touch of the clinical right from the start. Shehzad and Shafiq preferred to hit along the ground early on, knowing they did not have to take too many risks in a chase of 155. Shafiq, not often celebrated for his strike rate, was the more destructive of the pair during the Powerplay, scoring 29 off 19. Their 105-run stand meant Quetta even had the luxury to bear a brief collapse, including a diamond duck from Kevin Pietersen, yet still seal a comfortable two points.The easiest of dropsThat stand might not have been so lethal had Pollard, almost as famous for his spectacular boundary catches as he is for monstrous ball striking, taken an easy catch that Shafiq had spooned up to short extra cover in the sixth over. Mohammad Amir had forced a leading edge, but Pollard was slow to react. Even so, he overran the ball when he dove forward in an attempt to catch it, the ball hitting the top of his palms before slipping out. To the Kings’ massive frustration, Shafiq then hit the next two balls for four, twisting the knife into an already wounded Karachi.The moment of the matchOne might have wondered how Karachi coach Arthur would have felt watching his side at the end of a hammering like the one they were experiencing in this match, with inconsistent bowling, poor fielding and a sensational opening stand by Quetta combining to humiliate them. Well, one only needed wait till the end of the tenth over to find out.Arthur called for the timeout and demonstrably tore into his side with the cameras rolling as Sohail Khan appeared to bear the brunt of the South African’s rant. Sir Alex Ferguson would have been proud of that hairdryer. It worked, too, with three wickets coming off Sohail’s subsequent over, including a direct hit from backward point by Imad Wasim to run out Pietersen before he had faced a ball. However, Karachi’s rude awakening had come far too late.Where they standThe result reinforces the status quo, with Karachi extending their lead at the top of the table to three points. Karachi remain last on four points, and now need to win both remaining games to have a chance of qualifying.

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.”