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Scorecard and ball-by-ball details6:20

Bazid: Even Younis will rate it as one of his finest knocks

Younis Khan’s epic, unbeaten 171 led Pakistan to their highest successful chase, the second highest in Asia for any side, and the sixth highest in all Test cricket. It also gave them their first series win in Sri Lanka since 2006, and catapulted them to third in the ICC Test rankings.The feat required the highest fourth-innings partnership for Pakistan, 242 between Younis and Shan Masood, who fell on the fifth morning for 125. Misbah-ul-Haq arrived with 122 needed, saw off Sri Lanka’s quicks till lunch, and opened up after that to reel off an unbeaten 59, finishing the match with a six.Sri Lanka’s fast bowlers put in a spirited effort, especially with the second new ball, but could not break down Younis and Misbah.Pakistan needed 147 more at the start of the day, and Masood and Younis’ record partnership grew by 25 before the former fell to his nerves. Masood had been tied down by Sri Lanka’s accuracy, and was itching to break free. No release was provided by Angelo Mathews and the specialist seamers. When the offspinner Tharindu Kaushal was introduced in the 11th over of the morning, Masood, eyeing some runs, jumped out, but was beaten by the turn to be stumped.Sri Lanka’s specialist spinner had begun promisingly after a wayward return of 0 for 92 in 20 overs on day four, but again, he failed to sustain the pressure. He did shift his line wider outside off and spun it in sharply with men waiting in the leg trap, but was too inconsistent with his lengths. Misbah and Younis used the sweep frequently, and put away the regular full tosses with ease.It was a different story against the quicks. The first boundary of the day came only in the tenth over, when Younis forced an edge through the vacant slip region off Nuwan Pradeep.There was little in the pitch by way of variable bounce to suggest it was a day-five subcontinent wicket. Despite their discipline at the start, Sri Lanka were dependent on the new ball. Pakistan needed 101 more when it was taken, and they had the personnel in the middle to get them through.Misbah was happy to deny himself against the new ball, going 22 balls without a run. Batting on a big hundred, Younis was eager to move across and play as much as he could. There was an unsuccessful review for leg-before against Younis, on 128, by Dhammika Prasad, replays returning umpire’s call for points of impact on pad and stumps.As Mathews tried Kaushal again at the stroke of lunch, Misbah stepped out to lift him over mid-on. Sri Lanka’s challenge fell apart after lunch, Misbah and Younis raining boundaries on the hapless Kaushal, who had played ahead of veteran Rangana Herath, and was to end with figures of 1 for 153 in 31 overs.The winning runs came again from Misbah’s bat, as they had come during their Sharjah chase of 302 against Sri Lanka in 2014. Younis ended with the fifth-highest score in a chase.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsMartin Guptill brought up his tenth ODI hundred in the company of Ross Taylor, who made 61•Getty Images

Martin Guptill’s measured tenth ODI hundred helped drive New Zealand to 294 for 5, but it was fast bowler Matt Henry, in his third outstanding turn in the series, who clinched the match and the series for New Zealand with 5 for 40.Sri Lanka had been in sight of their target, with 58 required from 40 balls, before Henry struck thrice in ten deliveries to swing the match definitively in New Zealand’s favour. He first rushed Chamara Kapugedara with a waist-high short ball, which the batsman could only top-edge to fine leg. Then next over, Henry delivered a head-high bouncer just outside off stump, which Angelo Mathews dragged to the deep square-leg fielder, to get out on 95. Sri Lanka’s great hope now dismissed, Henry also removed Dushmantha Chameera in that over. When Nuwan Kulasekara holed out at the start of the 48th over, Sri Lanka fell 36 runs short of the hosts, who took the series 3-1.Ross Taylor and Kane Williamson had also produced fine supporting innings for Guptill, contributing 61 apiece, while Trent Boult took 3 for 43 in his first game of the series. Mathews had helped resurrect the chase from 3 for 33, but though he had some support from Dinesh Chandimal, who hit 50, and Milinda Siriwardana, who struck 39 from 22 balls, he did not find a partner with whom to wrest the advantage for Sri Lanka.It had seemed an unlikely pursuit from the early overs, in which the required rate had also climbed. Boult made the first dent in Sri Lanka’s innings, but it may be fair to say that Tillakaratne Dilshan was equally complicit in his dismissal. Boult angled balls across Dilshan from around the wicket, but he still attempted an over-the-shoulder scoop in the third over. Dilshan only managed to send the ball floating to the wicketkeeper, off the edge. Lahiru Thirimanne played the ball onto his stumps next over, to give Henry his first scalp, before Danushka Gunathilaka mis-hit a lofted drive off Henry to Ish Sodhi, who took a good catch backpedaling from mid-on.Mathews and Chandimal then rebuilt sagely after those losses, but their pursuit of singles and twos was hindered by another sublime New Zealand fielding performance. The hosts made sprawling saves in the infield and on the fence, and perhaps their only fault was missing the stumps with their throws. They had at least two opportunities to have Mathews out for less than fifty, but could not effect direct hits.Chandimal departed attempting a heave over the legside after the required rate had crept above eight. His 65-ball 50 had helped give Sri Lanka a platform, but they required acceleration. Siriwardana provided that for a while, launching two leg-side sixes off Adam Milne in one over. He even reverse-slapped Mitchell Santner for four, but the spinner hit back to have Siriwardana caught at deep square leg in the same over.Mathews’ running was characteristically chaotic, but his bating was serene. He took smart runs into the outfield while Sri Lanka rebuilt, but also made calculated srikes, which were often perfectly executed. Mathews ran at the seamers often, and generally smoked them down the ground. The midwicket region was also productive for him. Mathews’ dismissal was a double-blow, because not only had he fallen to the short ball yet again this tour, but it was also another score of 90-odd – this one particularly unfulfilling, as it came in a series defeat.Earlier, there were signs of Guptill preparing for another assault in the Powerplay, but for most of his 102 off 109 on Tuesday, Guptill sought to accumulate, instead of accosting. It was against Thisara Perera that his innings eased into gear. Guptill flayed Thisara through the covers in the fourth over, then collected a high, straight six and two consecutive square boundaries off the bowler before the end of the Powerplay.When the field relaxed, with New Zealand at 55 for 1 after 10 overs, Guptill and Williamson quickly established a pattern of collecting risk-free runs into the outfield. The seam movement and carry that Mathews had hoped for at the toss did not materialise, and Nuwan Pradeep was the only bowler to get any movement off the deck. Once that disappeared, Guptill and Williamson both began hitting short balls in well in front of square, which suggested the surface was not particularly quick either.Williamson was serene as ever at the crease, inching towards his eighth fifty in 12 innings as Sri Lanka introduced spin via Tillakaratne Dilshan and Siriwardana. Guptill himself moved to his third half-century in the series with a swept four off Siriwardana in the 19th over; Williamson got to the milestone in the 22nd. Their stand grew to 122 before something of a freak dismissal ended Williamson’s stay two overs later. He aimed a swivel-pull off a short leg-side delivery from Dilshan, but managed only to glove it, then bounce it off his thigh pad towards wicketkeeper Chandimal, who snatched it low to the ground.Guptill progressed in much the same fashion alongside Ross Taylor, striking the occasional boundary off the bad balls, but otherwise happy to exploit the vacant green spaces. There were two sixes off his bat in the middle overs – one over deep midwicket and a flat-batted strike over the long-off boundary. He went on to bring up his century with an edged four through vacant slips.Guptill departed soon after, mistiming a hoick to long-on off Kulasekara, but by now Taylor had shaken off his poor form. He and Luke Ronchi began the death-overs charge – Taylor favouring the deep midwicket area – after Henry Nicholls had holed out for 2.With six wickets still in hand after the 45th over, New Zealand might have hoped for a brutal finish, but those expectations were tempered by Taylor’s departure, slogging Kulasekara to the square-leg fielder. Excellent death bowling from Kulasekara crimped the flow of boundaries, and Pradeep bowled well in support until the final over, where he leaked 16 runs, including two Santner sixes from the last three balls. Kulasekara was the best of Sri Lanka’s bowlers, carried through by experience to figures of 3 for 53, though he still hasn’t recovered his lost swing.

Aneurin Donald, the Glamorgan batsman and former England Under-19 captain, has been recalled to the England U-19 squad for the World Cup in Bangladesh early next year. However, the Hampshire offspinner Brad Taylor will retain the captaincy for the tournament.Donald will return to a batting line-up which rested heavily on Essex’s Dan Lawrence on the recent tour of Sri Lanka in which England finished winless in the triangular series against India and Sri Lanka. Lawrence, who will be vice-captain at the World Cup, was England’s leading scorer with 132 runs at 33 as none of the other batsmen managed 100 runs in the tournament.Lawrence scored two centuries against Australia U-19s earlier this season and also become the third-youngest player to a score a Championship century when he made 161 against Surrey.

England squad

George Bartlett (Somerset), Jack Burnham (Durham), Mason Crane (Hampshire), Sam Curran (Surrey), Ryan Davies (Somerset), Aneurin Donald (Glamorgan), George Garton (Sussex), Ben Green (Somerset), Max Holden (Middlesex), Dan Lawrence (Essex), Saqib Mahmood (Lancashire), Tom Moores (Nottinghamshire), Brad Taylor (capt, Hampshire), Callum Taylor (Essex), Jared Warner (Yorkshire)

The 15-man squad includes considerable first-team county experience, notably Surrey’s 17-year-old left-arm seamer Sam Curran who took 42 wickets in all competitions during the 2015 season, including 15 in the 50-over Royal London Cup in which Surrey reached the final.Taylor, meanwhile, will form the front-line spin attack alongside his Hampshire team-mate Mason Crane, a legspinner who has already been talked about as a full England cricketer of the future. The squad also includes Tom Moores, the son of former England coach Peter.David Graveney, the national performance manager and chairman of selectors, said: “We have been building towards this competition for some time and I think we’re a lot further down the road than we were before the last Under-19s World Cup in Dubai two years ago. England finished third in that tournament which was a fine achievement and there is no reason why this squad could not do as well or even better than that.”The team have spent the last three weeks in Sri Lanka and although the results were disappointing, it was a valuable learning experience against two very talented teams in conditions similar to those we expect to find in Bangladesh.”Three players who were involved in the Sri Lanka tour – Lancashire’s Haseeb Hameed, Durham’s Adam Hickey and Kent’s Hugh Bernard – have not made the World Cup squad.England will prepare with a week in Dubai, which includes a warm-up match against defending champions South Africa, before travelling on to Bangladesh. They begin the tournament against Fiji before further group matches against West Indies and Zimbabwe.

Pakistan coach Geoff Lawson, in his tour report on the away series against India, has advised against the selection of Shoaib Akhtar for Tests, so that the fast bowler can prolong his international career.”I have made that suggestion [that Shoaib should not be considered for Tests], but I have spoken to Shoaib about it and the idea is it would prolong his career,” Lawson said yesterday. “Maybe he would be better just playing ODIs because of his reliability factor for Test match cricket.”A lot of players are doing it — specialising in one mode. I just feel that he is important for the team and if he is more comfortable in the one-day mode, he should concentrate on it instead of Test cricket.”Shoaib has only played four Tests since 2007, and though he took nine wickets at 33.11 in the three-Test series against India, he was plagued by injuries, missing out of the most part of the third Test in Bangalore.Meanwhile, Shoaib is in further trouble with reports that the PCB have filed a strong chargesheet against him for his comments against the board after being overlooked for a central contract, and his subsequent refusal to explain his comments. His latest tiff with the board could result in a life ban as he is on a two-year probation period, as part of the punishment he received for his infamous altercation with Mohammad Asif at the Twenty20 World Cup in South Africa last August

Form is temporary, class is permanent goes the adage. When a classybatsman is in form, that is the ultimate problem for a bowling side.Zimbabwe today were at the wrong end of an exhilarating battingdisplay from three men – Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid and SouravGanguly. If Tendulkar provided the initial impetus with a run a ballblistering 39, Dravid (70 not out) and Ganguly (65 not out) took Indiato their fourth consecutive victory in the first Test of the currentseries at the Feroz Shah Kotla. The pair added 110 runs for the thirdwicket and took India past the target of 190 in 37.3 overs with sevenwickets to spare.The session between lunch and tea proved to be a most dramatic one,and settled the issue in India’s favour. The Indian bowlers, freshfrom the rest and rejuvenated by the meal knocked out the Zimbabwetail. But not before they let at least three chances go abegging.Skipper Ganguly floored a sitter in the slips and Vijay Dahiya added ablackmark to a good match for him by dropping a regulation catchbehind the stumps. Fortunately for India, the error was rectified soonenough as Henry Olonga, the last man, missed a full, straight Srinathyorker and was trapped plumb in front. After charging in for 24.1overs, Srinath returned 5/81, taking his match tally to nine wickets.Although Srinath had created the chance for the Indians by restrictingZimbabwe to 225, there was still a challenging target to beoverhauled. Challenging or not, it was easy work for India given thekind of form the top three batsmen have been in.Sadagoppan Ramesh and Shiv Sunder Das walked out to the middle endingany speculation that the Indians might change the batting order in anattempt to make a quick start. Unfortunately for Ramesh, his poor formcontinued. Playing at a ball outside the off stump from Heath Streakwithout really moving his feet, Ramesh (0) presented Andy Flower withan easy catch. First innings double centurion joined Das out in themiddle and started off in splendid fashion, pulling Brian Strang tothe fence in style.Unfortunately for India even this combination was not to last. Dasmade an error of judgment, backed up too much and could not regain hiscrease before a Brian Murphy direct hit broke the stumps at the nonstriker’s end. For the third time in this match, the score read 15/2.In walked Sachin Tendulkar. Playing as only he can, the Mumbai classact decimated the Zimbabwean bowling. Driving the ball with immensepower, Tendulkar found the gaps with ease. The momentum was sofrenetic, the hitting so clean, that even Heath Streak was forced tostop and applaud.When the spinners were brought into the attack, their fate was nobetter. Tendulkar employed the sweep shot with great results. Plantinghis foot and sweeping the ball all along the ground, Tendulkar poundedthe hoardings square of the wicket. Unfortunately for India thefairytale didn’t last long. Tendulkar went hard at a ball from PaulStrang that was well outside the off stump and miscued it to backwardpoint. The other leg spinner, Brian Murphy who suffered so much at thehands of Tendulkar pouched the catch. Tendulkar’s 39 ball assault thatyielded as many runs, was over. His innings however, had put India inthe driver’s seat.Ganguly and Dravid then came together to forge a sensible 110-runpartnership that saw India through to victory. Dravid added anunbeaten 70 to his first innings double ton. Stroking the ball withgay abandon, he realised very early on that this target could beoverhauled by sensible batting. Ganguly too was patient and prudent inshot selection. When the ball was there to be hit though, neithermissed out. If Dravid’s pet stroke was the pull, Ganguly’s was thedance down the wicket that deposited the ball in the stands. WhenGanguly nudged the ball behind square for his 65th run, India hadcompleted their triumph with 9.3 overs to spare. Srinath was adjudgedthe man of the match.

Look Sir Curtly Ambrose in the eye (you may need a ladder) and tell him the West Indies have no hope of beating Australia.Tell him this first Test in Hobart will be over in two days – three, if Jason Holder’s men are lucky – and that more humiliation will follow in Melbourne and Sydney.Tell him that David Warner and Steve Smith will feast on a modest bowling attack and that Australia’s greenest bowling line-up in years will embarrass the West Indies batsmen.Tell him any of this and you’ll be on the wrong end of the fearsome glare that terrorised many a champion batsman throughout his celebrated career as one of the game’s very best fast bowlers.”You as reporters have got to report what you see,” Ambrose said. “So I’ve learned over the years to, I won’t say ignore, but know what to take from the reports and what not to take. But we’re going to be focused. We’re not going to worry about what has been said about us not being a good team or not going to compete … At the end of the day when we perform and beat Australia, then the reporters will have to change their tune.”We played against Australia not so long ago in the Caribbean and even though we lost 2-0 there were moments or periods when we had them on the back foot and had their backs against the wall. And we never really finished them off. So we believe we can compete and not only compete but we believe we can beat them and that’s our focus to beat Australia. Not just to compete but to win and, being the underdogs, sometimes it’s good to be that way.”We have nothing to lose. As far as I’m concerned the Australians are the ones under pressure. They have to beat us because Australians and cricket in general expect them to steamroll us. So they’re the ones who are under pressure, not us. And we’re going to put up a good show.”They are fighting words and there are few who can deliver them with as much conviction as Ambrose, the giant quick who generally let the ball – and his eyes – do the talking on the field.It’s two decades since Ambrose and Steve Waugh conducted one the most famous stare-offs in cricket’s history, the flint-eyed Australian stoic in the face of a blistering spell from Ambrose in Trinidad during the third Test in the 1995 battle for the Frank Worrell Trophy.20 years may have passed since his man-of-the-match performance, but Ambrose’s gaze has lost none of its intensity. And now, as West Indies’ bowling consultant, he wants to use the predictions of impending doom to fire up his charges after an insipid showing in the tour match in Brisbane.”Well first of all we’re not going to be distracted by those comments,” said Ambrose. “We’re here to do a job and we’re going to make a good job of it.”Being here alone should be more than enough motivation for the players but having heard or read those comments should be added motivation for them to prove the critics [wrong], if you will. We are not really distracted. We’re focused and in light of what happened in the warm up game, we are confident that we can put up a good show against Australia.”On its own, the West Indies’ 10-wicket loss to an inexperienced Cricket Australia XI side ahead of the series was a heavy blow. That they avoided an innings defeat thanks only to a stubborn partnership between Holder and Kemar Roach has given former players and current commentators ample fodder to question how the West Indies could take any confidence into the first Test. However, Ambrose pointed to frank discussions in the wake of the match as a potential turning point for the tourists.”We had a meeting, we had a talk about it,” Ambrose said. “And I explained to the guys in no uncertain terms that that’s unacceptable and if we’re going to struggle against an Under-19 team how do we expect to compete against a strong Australian line-up?”But we had a good meeting. Coach Phil Simmons called a meeting and we talked about a lot of things and I expect that, going forward, what’s gone already cannot be changed. So we’ve got to stay focused and move forward. I believe strongly that we’re going to put up a better show against Australia.”Ambrose took up his consultancy role in February 2014 and admits it took time for his charges to “bind” to his concept for their approach to bowling. His status alone ensured the players listened – “Well, I am bigger than most of them so they have to,” he joked – and, while their lack of patience was initially the biggest stumbling block, Ambrose has witnessed an improvement in the control and consistency he believes is necessary to succeed in Australian conditions.West Indies will look to Jerome Taylor, whom Ambrose dubs “the leader of the pack”, to replicate his best spells from the second Test of Australia’s 2-0 series victory in the Caribbean earlier this year. Taylor’s impressive first-innings haul of 6 for 47 off 25 overs in Kingston offered a spark of hope for renewal in his side’s heavy defeat and Ambrose is confident a Taylor-led attack has the ammunition to take 20 wickets, particularly if they can account for Warner and Smith.”Of course they are in some good form at the moment,” said Ambrose. “They are two good batsmen as well, they are going to be key. If you can get them out pretty early for not too many runs and get into the middle as quick as possible, I believe the middle order for Australia is not that solid at the moment.”Once we get them out early that is going to give us some leeway to get into the middle and really test them.”Ambrose isn’t the only member of the 1995 side that defeated Australia in Port of Spain – but, ultimately, lost the series – trying to inspire the current crop of players. Richie Richardson, Courtney Walsh and Stuart Williams all have roles within the West Indies set-up.But whether or not their defiant words can inspire a Test side ranked above only Zimbabwe and Bangladesh to victory over Australia remains to be seen. It will certainly take more than a withering glare. If West Indies manage to pull off an unexpected victory, they will need all the self-belief and passion of their predecessors.”I’m going to do whatever I can, and the coaching staff of course, to put up a good show here,” said Ambrose. “And I believe, once the guys are focused, we’re going to do well.”We’re going to do much better than you think.”

Delhi took a strong grip over their Under-16 Vijay Merchant Trophysemifinal against Hyderabad at the Calcutta Cricket & Football Club groundon Tuesday.After inserting their opponents into bat, Delhi dismissed Hyderabad for 139in all of 85.3 overs. Openers Pritpal Singh and Shikar Dhawan proceeded tocomplete a satisfying day for Delhi, knocking off 58 without beingseparated, before stumps were drawn.Hyderabad lost opener Prasant Peter in the second over of the match afterwhich Imran Khan and skipper Ambati Rayudu added 47 for the second wicket.The last nine wickets plunged for just 92 runs with Sumit Kapoor doing mostof the damage, claiming figures of 6/34. Khan’s 29 was the top score.Hyderabad used seven bowlers in the 25 overs they hurled down, but withscant success. At close of play, Pritpal was batting on 35 (80 balls, 6fours) and Dhawan on 22 (70 balls, 3 fours).

Delhi Daredevils conceded 15 runs off the final over in their last-ball defeat to the Chennai Super Kings, but instead of faulting Shoaib Malik, the bowler, his captain Virender Sehwag blamed the defeat on the lack of a specialist spinner in the side.Sehwag said it was a choice between him and Malik for the final over. “I consulted my team-mates and they said either me or Malik should bowl [the last over]. I thought he would do a better job than me, so I gave it to him,” Sehwag said. “Such things happen in Twenty20, sometimes you are hit and sometimes you are not.” .Delhi had posted a formidable 187, but Sehwag felt they lost the plot in the end stages of the match. “187 is not a small score. [Gautam] Gambhir and [Shikhar] Dhawan batted superbly and then [Vijaykumar] Yo Mahesh and Pradeep Sangwan did their job while bowling. Everything was going to our plan till the 15th over [of Chennai’s innings]. At the end we lost at the last over.”If we had a specialist fifth bowler, we would have saved 30-40 runs, we missed a fifth bowler,” Sehwag said. Together he and Malik gave away 58 runs off their four overs, and Sehwag suggested a change for the next game. “We are including a specialist spinner in the next match.”That means legspinner Amit Mishra might get a game, as Daniel Vettori is away on New Zealand duty. Following the match, Delhi were fourth in the points table, but Sehwag wasn’t too perturbed. “We lost a match today but it happens in cricket we will bounce back,” he said. “Our top order was batting beautifully and bowlers bowled well, it so happened that we lost in the last over.”

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