Pakistan tightened their grip on the second Test match after they increased their lead to 281 runs with eight wickets still in hand

The Report by Danyal Rasool17-Oct-2018

Siddle to stay back as T20 cover for hamstrung Starc

Australia’s spearhead Mitchell Starc has complained of tightness in his left hamstring while bowling in the second Test against Pakistan in Abu Dhabi, leaving him in doubt for the T20 series that follows. Peter Siddle, a revelation with the white ball for the Adelaide Strikers in their BBL-winning campaign last summer, will be retained as cover for the T20 matches rather than flying home.
Starc took on a heavy workload in the first Test in Dubai and has looked stiff and sore in the second, bowling only one spell so far in the second innings and also fielding in the slips rather than running round the outfield.

Today was the day all days this series were supposed to be like. With a Pakistan team that has historically been near-invincible in the UAE against an Australian Test unit that was near-unrecognisable, the hosts, at last, dominated in every single facet. Their fast bowlers outbowled Australia’s, their spin bowlers were a class apart, and the batting was in a different league to the visitors’ calamitous effort that they offered this morning. The upshot was Pakistan lead by 281 runs with eight wickets still in hand. With three days remaining in this Test, any fourth-innings batting heroics this time, however Herculean they may be, are unlikely to prevent an Australian defeat.Australia’s only chance of victory lay in turning over Pakistan cheaply, but those hopes were dashed courtesy another deft innings from debutant Fakhar Zaman. This one was more to type, the opener clever enough to understand he would be able to cut loose in the way that’s become his strength, quick runs being the best way to put the game out of Australia’s reach. He put on 66 of them, and looked on track to reach the debut hundred he was so agonisingly denied yesterday. But a stunning catch from Nathan Lyon off his own bowling dashed Fakhar’s hopes. Lyon looked to be taking evasive action after Fakhar struck the ball hard, but the cherry lodged itself in his hands, and Australia could celebrate a fleeting moment of joy.Even Azhar Ali, who had struggled for runs over the past 18 months, found form today, finishing unbeaten on 54 when the day drew to a close. He looked more confident than he has in months, looking more certain when he used his feet. He was also willing to be patient when the bowling grew tight, refusing to yield in the manner he had in two of his three previous innings this series. While Lyon remained – by a distance – Australia’s best bowler, it wasn’t compliments but numbers in the wickets column that Australia needed to feel more hopeful at the end of the second day.For the second time in as many Tests, Pakistan punched big holes in Australia’s middle order, establishing firm control right from the outset. It was Mohammad Abbas, the flavour of this season, who continued to endear himself to Pakistan’s fans. He teased and tested Australia’s batsmen in a game of patience, as Shaun Marsh and Travis Head were his third and fourth victims this morning, adding to the two scalps he had from last evening. The pair fell in almost identical fashion: Abbas pitching on a line just outside off stump and nipping away ever-so-slightly, the outside edges almost drawn to the ball as if they were in its magnetic field.Sarfraz Ahmed, keen to take advantage of the new ball while the pitch was cooperative, kept Abbas in for a lengthy seven-over spell, and Pakistan seem to have unearthed a gem who looks dangerous whatever the conditions or situation. He can bowl in England, West Indies or the UAE without so much as noticing where he is. Right-handers, left-handers, new ball, old ball. He is a trump card Pakistan may continue to play for years to come.Mitchell Marsh looked solid for the time he was at the crease, and with Aaron Finch, who had managed to survive all morning, Australia needed a partnership of the sort Sarfraz and Fakhar had put on on Tuesday. But within the last half hour before lunch, the session’s pendulum swung decisively in Pakistan’s favour as the spinners made their presence felt. First it was Yasir who took Marsh’s edge, another catch for the reliable Asad Shafiq at first slip. Bilal Asif then struck the hammer blow when he removed the opener Finch for 39, with short leg diving to take a smart catch after the ball had skimmed the inside edge. And there was still time for Asif to remove the Australia captain Tim Paine in the last over before lunch, trapping him on the crease as the ball spun sharply into his pads.Pakistan didn’t need any help, but they were assisted by a moment of madness from Marnus Labuschagne which ended Australia’s biggest partnership – 37 runs. After Starc drove Yasir tamely back to the bowler, Yasir got a touch onto the ball as it headed towards the stumps. Labuschagne had his bat in the air as he watched the ball hit the stumps, but inexplicably failed to ground his bat. Soon after, Asif broke through Lyon’s defences, before Abbas completed a five-wicket haul – and his career-best innings figures – to wrap up Australia’s innings.With none of the batting concerns Australia had before this series coming close to being resolved, it appears hard to see a way out of this hole for Paine’s men. Pakistan, meanwhile, are on course to put last week aside as an unfortunate blip, and walk away with the authority to claim that their UAE formula still adds up.

The left-arm spinner admitted that it was about discipline and not luck, when asked about the chances West Indies missed on the first day

Mohammad Isam in Chattogram22-Nov-2018Left-arm spinner Jomel Warrican credited his team-mate Shannon Gabriel for bringing West Indies back into the game on the first day in Chattogram after Bangladesh had reached a “commanding” position earlier. The hosts were cruising on 222 for 3 after opting to bat, but Gabriel’s third spell broke the back of Bangladesh’s innings with four quick wickets.Gabriel dismissed Mominul Haque, Mushfiqur Rahim, Mahmudullah and Shakib Al Hasan single-handedly to reduce them to 235 for 7 before Bangladesh’s lower order “put the momentum back” in their innings.”Obviously Bangladesh were in the commanding seat from the morning until the tea break,” Warrican said. “I think Shannon bowled very well to get those four quick wickets. He brought us back in the game. But unfortunately they finished well as a team and put the momentum back in Bangladesh’s hands.”Warrican had an eventful outing on the first day, finishing with 2 for 62 from 21 overs, but it could have been better. He dismissed Imrul Kayes for 44 at the stroke of lunch but he could have removed the batsman earlier for 16, had he not overstepped when Imrul swept a catch to deep square leg earlier in the morning session.West Indies dropped two clear chances too. The first came in the fifth over when Imrul was on 3 and Roston Chase dropped him at second slip. Later, wicketkeeper Shane Dowrich put down centurion Mominul Haque on 67 off Devendra Bishoo.”I won’t say we were unlucky. I think we create our own luck,” Warrican said. “As a team you don’t want to drop catches or get wickets off no-balls. I don’t think it is luck. It comes down to discipline and doing the right things.”Amid all this, Gabriel produced a brilliant spell at the start of the third session, in which he took 4 for 26, sparking the middle-order collapse. Warrican said that Gabriel’s advantage is his pace that he extracts from his height, that adds to his discipline.”I think Shannon’s pace really works for him. He is very tall, so pace with height is very crucial,” Warrican said. “He bowls good areas as well. He is just not someone who bowls quick, but he is also very disciplined. It is very important as a fast bowler.”Warrican said that West Indies were aware of the dangers of the Chattogram pitch as it already started to turn, adding that the batsmen must be wholly alert.”It is very good for batting but assists the spinners,” he said. “I think the spinners can get something out of it if they bowl in the right areas. Also, the ball is coming on well for the batsmen but the bounce is inconsistent. You have to watch it closely.”

Aaron Finch also pitched in with a half-century, helping Australia progress to 6 for 277 at stumps on day one

The Report by Deivarayan Muthu14-Dec-20181:44

Laxman: Bumrah is leading the pace attack in a short span of time

Contrasting half-centuries from local boy Marcus Harris, Aaron Finch and Travis Head helped Australia overcome a mini-collapse of 4 for 36 and made India feel the heat – both literally and figuratively – on a 39-degree day at the new Perth Stadium. Despite the late dismissals of Shaun Marsh (45) and Head (58) on a pitch where one ball exploded and the next rolled at shin height, Australia progressed to 6 for 277 at stumps on day one.After India went into a Test without a frontline spinner for only the third time in their history, Harris and Finch, perhaps, made them rue the decision by putting on a 112-run opening stand. Although part-time offspinner Hanuma Vihari plucked out Harris and Marsh, India’s attack lacked the control a fit R Ashwin or Ravindra Jadeja could have provided. Their absence also ramped up the workload on Jasprit Bumrah, Ishant Sharma and Mohammed Shami, who had just sealed the Adelaide Test for India on Tuesday. Ishant even left the field in the post-tea session because of an abdominal strain before returning and stretching his body at the edge of the boundary.The scorecard will tell you Ishant conceded only 35 runs in 16 overs, but he had struggled for rhythm with the new ball. His lengths weren’t full enough and his lines didn’t quite threaten the stumps either. That umpire Kumar Dharmasena pulled him up for a front-foot no-ball, when he had a fair margin of his foot behind the crease, perhaps, rattled him.Finch, meanwhile, was rattled by a bevy of inswingers, including Shami’s first ball, which drew an lbw appeal. Despite Finch getting pinged above the knee-roll, India chanced a review and lost it, with ball-tracking confirming that it would have bounced over the stumps.Harris, though, at the other end was simply unflappable. He needed 16 balls to get off the mark, but once he bed in with a variety of strokes, he looked the part. He got cracking with a triptych of drives: back-to-back hits down the ground off Ishant and then one through the covers off Umesh Yadav. He was just as unflustered when Shami sent down a shooter that crept under his defensive bat and bounced twice before Rishabh Pant collected it in the 28th over. The next ball was scythed through cover-point and Harris continued to be severe on anything that was remotely full and wide outside off.1:53

Kartik: Finch needed this innings to resurrect his Test career

He raised his maiden Test fifty with a neat clip through midwicket and elicited warm applause from his coach Justin Langer, who has a stand named after him at this venue, and his father Kim Harris, who was in the grandstand. He could have been dismissed on 60 had KL Rahul latched onto a difficult catch at second slip off Shami.Finch scored a less fluent fifty before Bumrah pinned him with a perfectly pitched inswinger. Bumrah then got on a roll with the old ball and had bouncers snarling at Khawaja’s throat from around the wicket. Khawaja wore blows on his body, stabbed and fended his way to 1 off 25 balls against Bumrah. Something had to give, and that something was Khawaja throwing his hands at a short, wide ball from Umesh and nicking off for an utterly painstaking 5 off 38 balls. Three overs later, this place flew like the curator had promised. A back-of-a-length offbreak from Vihari took off like a NASA rocket and had Harris fending a catch behind to Pant for 70 off 141 balls.Three for 134 then became 4 for 148 when Peter Handscomb slashed Ishant to second slip, where Virat Kohli who had replaced Rahul pulled off a blinding one-handed catch.India’s seamers tested Head and Marsh with extra bounce after the pitch seemed to have quickened up in the final session. They somehow weathered the burst and settled down, adding 84 for the fifth wicket. However, three overs before the second new ball was due, Marsh chased a wide offbreak from Vihari and sent a thick outside edge flying to Ajinkya Rahane for a chest-high grab at first slip.Head pressed on to follow his first-innings 72 in Adelaide with an equally vital fifty here. However, he threw his wicket away when he went after a wide ball from Ishant and carved it to third man in the 83rd over. Tim Paine and Pat Cummins ushered Australia to stumps without any further damage and left India with a teasing thought: what might have been on a pitch where the ball is turning sharply for even a part-time spinner.

Abdur Razzak’s match haul of 12 for 144 helped curb North Zone after South Zone’s strong batting innings

ESPNcricinfo staff27-Dec-2018South Zone retained the Bangladesh Cricket League first-class title after their nine-wicket win over North Zone in Chittagong. This is the fourth time they have won the competition, having earlier been champions in the 2013-14 and 2014-15 seasons.Veteran left-arm spinner Abdur Razzak struck the decisive blows in South Zone’s last round match, taking 12 for 144 to pick up the Player-of-the-Match honours.Razzak took seven wickets in North Zone’s first innings, restricting them to 293 runs in 83.4 overs. Ariful Haque missed a century by two runs as he made 98 off 151 balls with six fours and three sixes. He added 135 runs for the seventh wicket with Ziaur Rahman, who scored 69 off 103 balls with seven fours and two sixes.South Zone replied strongly, making 541 in 125.3 overs, with centuries from Anamul Haque and Al-Amin. The pair added 176 for the fourth wicket before Al-Amin retired hurt when he was on 110. He eventually made 128 off 161 balls with 12 fours and three sixes. Anamul struck 16 fours in his 180 off 314 balls, that spanned seven hours and 44 minutes. Sunzamul Islam took 6-158.North Zone, behind by 248, were then bowled out for 280 in 82.2 overs with Razzak taking 5-75 from his 32.2 overs. Junaid Siddiqui (77), Naeem Islam (67) and Ziaur (77 not out) struck fifties but neither could push past the sixties or seventies.Anamul and Fazle completed the very short fourth-innings chase of 33, making 35 for 1 in 7.1 overs.

Both batsmen made unbeaten 80s to put India A on top after Navdeep Saini had blown away England Lions’ lower order in the morning

The Report by Sruthi Ravindranath in Wayanad08-Feb-2019A composed KL Rahul marked his return to form with a measured unbeaten 88 that led India A’s reply to England Lions’ first-innings total of 340. Rahul found an equally sturdy partner in Priyank Panchal, who made an unbeaten 89, the second-wicket pair raising an unbroken 171 to take India to 219 for 1 at stumps on day two.Rahul ended the day looking primed to make his first century since his 149 against England at The Oval in September. Since that innings and a 60 in the Asia Cup against Afghanistan, he had batted 16 times across formats without reaching a half-century.Earlier in the morning, incisive bowling from Navdeep Saini and Shardul Thakur did not allow the visitors to add more than 37 runs to their overnight score of 303 for 5, with Saini picking three more wickets and finishing with a five-for.Saini removed a set Steven Mullaney in the fifth over of the day. Two more wickets fell in the next four overs, leaving overnight batsman Will Jacks alone in his fight against India A’s disciplined bowling. However, he was left crestfallen when he played back to Shahbaz Nadeem to be pinned in front on 63. Saini came back in the next over to dismiss Zak Chappell, closing out the Lions innings on 340 and wiping out most of the advantage they had gained over the first day’s play.Rahul began cautiously, scoring his first runs off the 12th ball he faced. His opening partner Abhimanyu Easwaran was the more aggressive of the two, and didn’t shy away from attacking the fast bowlers, slapping three boundaries off Jamie Porter and Lewis Gregory early on. At lunch, Rahul was on 2 off 21 balls while Easwaran was on 16 off 27, the latter scoring most of his runs behind square. Rahul then found his groove, unfurling a cover drive off Jamie Porter to score his first boundary.Chappell, mixing his lengths well, tied Easwaran down and eventually sent him back with a yorker that crashed into his off stump. Rahul took control of things from then and went after Porter in particular, hitting him for three back-foot punches through the covers.He brought up a well-crafted fifty with another cover drive off Porter, making the local crowd rise to their feet and cheer for a man back in form. Rahul was comfortable not only against pace, he also used his feet freely against the spin of Daniel Briggs.Having arrived at the crease at 48 for 1, Panchal showed equal resilience and brought up his half-century with a straight drive off Mullaney. Apart from the boundaries they scored, both batsmen also rotated the strike freely. Having scored a lot slower until then, they added 147 after tea, snatching all momentum away from the Lions and putting India A in a dominant position at stumps.

Jofra Archer set to win a chance in England’s next ODI engagements as coach admits some are playing for their places in the World Cup squad

George Dobell in St Lucia03-Mar-2019You might think, after four years as England coach, that Trevor Bayliss might be inured to England’s occasional – and, perhaps, not so occasional – propensity for a batting collapse.But, seeing him at the team hotel on the morning after the night – okay, the early afternoon – before is to see a man clearly struggling to come to terms with events. He uses words such as “embarrassed” and admits he “can’t get my head around” the disparity in quality between England’s performances. For them to suffer the largest defeat, in terms of how long it took West Indies to knock off the target, in their ODI history on Bayliss’ watch clearly hurts.It wasn’t just the extent of the defeat, though. It was the fact that it came in the final ODI before England were obliged to select their World Cup squad. Despite all the tours and training and faith in the players, it seems the England team retain a propensity, when confronted by conditions outside their comfort zone, to collapse in spectacular fashion. A difficulty in adapting to conditions is clearly a recurring problem.And while Bayliss admitted the performance – perhaps it would be more accurate to call it the lack of performance? – could be the “wake-up call” his side required, he also said that some of the current players have had every opportunity to nail down their places and failed to do so. As a consequence, Jofra Archer be given an opportunity to show what he can do during the ODIs against Ireland and Pakistan despite having just 14 List A appearances to his name. He would appear to have every chance of winning a World Cup spot.ALSO READ: ‘It’s been an honour to wear the crest’ – Gayle bows out“Was it the worst yet?” Bayliss said of defeat in St Lucia. “I think it was. To lose in such a fashion… I think they [the players] were embarrassed.”We talk all the time about playing smart cricket but, quite simply, we didn’t play smart cricket. We kept making the same mistakes.”Whether it’s a bit of overconfidence – have we gone into the match with, not a blasé attitude, but an overconfident attitude where they go out and play their natural games and think it’ll just happen? Batting can’t be easy and free flowing all the time. And it’s happened a few times.”Bayliss hopes the game will prove to be something of a watershed moment. Straight afterwards, the team held a long meeting in the dressing room where they reflected on their failings and, he believes, understood where they went wrong.”I didn’t have to say very much,” he said. “Eoin Morgan started the conversation and three or four of the most experienced players in the team led it. They were on the money.”They were talking about getting to 220-230 on that pitch. That conversation was going on out in the middle and in the dressing room. But we didn’t put it into play.”You’re not going to score 400 on a wicket like that but you make high 200s, 300, 350 and it’s enough to win games on those wickets. Yesterday we just didn’t. Two hundred and we would have been right in the game.”If it doesn’t sink in after this one – so close to the World Cup – then there’s something wrong. I’d like to think that, after their chat yesterday in the changing room, it will sink in.”While the batting was the focus of most reports, Bayliss was also underwhelmed by some aspects of the bowling during the series. There had, for example, been talk ahead of games about bowling yorkers at Chris Gayle. But very few were delivered and Gayle was able to hit 39 sixes in four innings; one every 8.10 balls.”We just bowled a lot of balls in his strike zone,” Bayliss said. “We just didn’t get the ball in the right area enough. Yorkers were spoken about a lot. Sometimes the bowlers go out to try and do it and just can’t.”Partly as a result, Bayliss confirmed that Archer – who is now just a few days from qualifying as eligible for England – is almost certain to made his debut in the ODIs to be played in May ahead of the World Cup. While England are obliged to name their 15-man World Cup squad by April 23 (they are expected to name it a week or so early), they can make as many changes as they like until May 22. After that date, they need ICC approval for any change and they will only be allowed in the event of injury or exceptional circumstances.”Jofra Archer’s name keeps cropping up and I think, at some stage, we will give him an opportunity,” Bayliss said. “Those matches against Pakistan and Ireland, I think he will get an opportunity to show us what he can do. He’s said publicly that he’s keen.”He’s a bowler you don’t get many of: someone who is able to bowl in all three phases of the game. He can take the new ball, he can bowl through the middle and he can bowl at the end which is a good skillset to have.”There was a little bit of contact made during the Australian summer and there was talk a month or two ago about when the date was that he qualified. At the time, it was around 31 days that he needed to be back in the UK.”Are the players he’s competing with aware of the situation? I don’t know, you’d have to ask them. There is plenty of speculation all the time in the papers and I’m sure they read that.Ben Stokes was dismissed by Carlos Brathwaite•AFP

“The guys in the team, they’ve got hold of those positions and in a way it’s theirs to lose. If they keep performing and doing well it’s difficult to bring people in.”The implication? That they been performing. Several fringe members of the squad now face an anxious wait.England resume training on Monday ahead of the first of three T20Is against West Indies in St Lucia on Tuesday. They will be without Ben Stokes, Jos Buttler and Moeen Ali, who have all been given time off before they depart for the IPL, while Jason Roy will shortly go home to be present at the birth of his first child. Mark Wood is also likely to be rested for one or two of the T20 games.The likes of Sam Billings, Dawid Malan, Chris Jordan and Sam Curran – who have all been brought in for the T20I series – are likely to win opportunities in the coming days, as is Joe Denly who has been a non-playing member of the ODI squad.

The picture features Moises Henriques leaping to take a catch at the SCG and came out on top from over 700 entries

ESPNcricinfo staff11-Apr-2019A picture from the Big Bash of Moises Henriques leaping for a catch at the SCG has been named the Wisden-MCC Cricket Photograph of the Year.The photo taken by Phil Hillyard of New Corp was captured on December 27 when Henriques plucked the ball out of the air to remove Melbourne Stars’ Nick Larkin.Wisden-MCC Cricket Photograph of the Year: Moises Henriques leaps to catch Nick Larkin•Phil Hillyard/News Corp

Hillyard took the top prize of GBP2000 from over 700 entries from professional and amateur photographers.Hillyard said: “It’s such an honour to win the Wisden-MCC Photo of the Year for a sport I am so passionate about and have spent much of my career covering.”I love the game of cricket, its people and the challenge of photographing it. I feel very privileged that my image will be on display at Lord’s, the Home of Cricket.”A big thank you from me goes to Moises Henriques for taking such a great catch at the wonderful Sydney Cricket Ground.”The competition was judged by a panel chaired by Chris Smith, the former Chief Sports Photographer of The Sunday Times>, and this year he was joined, for the first time, by Diana Keen, Senior Production Manager at Sunset+Vine.The rest of the panel comprised acclaimed cricket photographers Patrick Eagar and Adrian Murrell, music photographer Kevin Cummins and former art director of The Cricketer, Nigel Davies.

Michael Lewis pushed Victoria to their first win in Hobart in 25 years despite strong resistance from Michael Bevan

Cricinfo staff01-Sep-2005Victoria 162 & 9 for 432 dec beat Tasmania 101 & 366 (Bevan 167*, Wright 111, Lewis 6-84) by 127 runs

Scorecard

Michael Lewis pushed Victoria to their first win at Hobart in 25 years despite strong resistance from Michael Bevan in the Pura Cup match at Bellerive Oval.
Bevan was unbeaten on 167, his first century for his new state, when Lewis picked up the No. 11 Brett Geeves to claim his sixth wicket.Lewis also broke the 215-run partnership, a Tasmanian record for the seventh wicket, between Bevan and Damien Wright, who reached his maiden first-class century after being 99 overnight. The pair joined at 6 for 46, adding respectablity to the second innings, but could not prevent Victoria registering their first six points of the summer.Victoria, the defending champions, last beat Tasmania at Hobart at the TCA ground in 1980-81. “It was a great win and created another bit of history,” the captain Cameron White said. “We are pretty relieved to be in the position we are in now.”

Squad named for one-off ODI against England, and tri-series against West Indies and Bangladesh

ESPNcricinfo staff01-May-2019Wicketkeeper Gary Wilson, who missed Ireland’s winter tours for the T20I Quadrangular series in Oman and the tour of India to play Afghanistan, has been declared fit for the start of the Ireland home season. He has been included in a 14-man ODI squad for the one-off ODI against England in Malahide on May 3 and the start of the ODI tri-series with West Indies and Bangladesh, which kicks off on May 5.Wilson, 33, had to stay at home in February and March to receive treatment for a condition that was affecting his vision, but has since sufficiently recovered.The uncapped Lorcan Tucker has been retained in the squad from the series against Afghanistan ahead of Durham-contracted Stuart Poynter, who made 15 runs in four innings against Afghanistan in a series that Ireland drew 2-2 in Dehradun. Tucker, a tall 22-year-old from Dublin, has started off the Irish domestic season in good form, making 81 last week for Leinster in a win over Northern Knights in La Manga. He also excelled on the Ireland Wolves tour of Sri Lanka, scoring a century in Hambantota.Left-arm spinner James Cameron-Dow and offspinning allrounder Simi Singh have also been dropped from the group that played Afghanistan in March, leaving George Dockrell and Andy McBrine as the only specialist slow-bowling options in the squad.Josh Little, who has played ten T20Is, has been called up as the Ireland selectors opted for more seam options in home conditions. The 19-year-old left-arm pacer has impressed with his variations at the death in particular, and joins an attack led by veterans Tim Murtagh, Boyd Rankin, Barry McCarthy and allrounder Stuart Thompson.”Of those emerging players, we have been delighted to watch the continued improvement of Josh Little and Lorcan Tucker – both of whom will now be in the running to make their debuts in one-day international cricket,” Cricket Ireland selection chairman Andrew White said. “Josh gives us that left-arm pace variation and he has continued to impress with some consistent performances – we believe he can transfer his T20 skills into the one-day arena.”As for Lorcan, fans of Irish cricket have seen some stellar performances by him over the first few months of the year, most notably in Sri Lanka and La Manga. While he has been on our radar and around the senior squad in recent times, we’ve started to see greater confidence and consistency in his approach, and he is definitely one of those putting his hand up at the moment.”Cricket Ireland has announced that the squad for the remainder of the tri-series will be announced at a later date to give members of the Ireland Wolves squad a chance to press for selection when they take on Bangladesh on May 5, the same date as Ireland’s first ODI of the tri-series against West Indies.Squad: William Porterfield (capt), Andrew Balbirnie, George Dockrell, Josh Little, Andrew McBrine, Barry McCarthy, James McCollum, Tim Murtagh, Kevin O’Brien, Boyd Rankin, Paul Stirling, Stuart Thompson, Lorcan Tucker (wk), Gary Wilson (wk)

Offspinner’s 12-wicket haul sees Essex to an innings win and up to third in the table

David Hopps at Chelmsford17-Jun-2019The debate over whether Simon Harmer is the finest spin bowler in Essex’s history has sounded premature for a player contesting only his third Championship season, but the evidence is growing at a rapid rate. Twelve more wickets, at a cost of only 61 runs, dispensed of Hampshire before tea on the second day at Chelmsford. Harmer was irrepressible, but in considerable part that was because Hampshire were dire.No county can host a result within five sessions and feel entirely comfortable about the outcome and a post-match conversation between the Essex groundstaff and the ECB’s cricket liaison officer, Stuart Cummings, a former Rugby League referee, was inevitable, but there was no sense whatsoever that they saw anything too untoward about a surface that had also been used for a women’s ODI between England and the West Indies last Thursday.During that match, a West Indies player was reportedly sick on the pitch. Presumably on a length. For a spin bowler operating from the River End.Hampshire’s two innings spanned only 63.5 overs as Harmer rushed Essex towards victory as inexorably as a river flows to the sea. He is now the leading Championship wicket-taker with 42 and the Chelmsford pitches do encourage him, as did the rough created by Hampshire’s left-arm seamer Keith Barker.But as well as he bowled, Hampshire’s supposed Championship challenge – they began the round in second place – should surely be categorised under Fake News. They met Harmer with an air of defeatism disguised as counterattack. Even Harmer felt obliged to politely chastise them, saying: “There was turn and bounce with the new ball. They needed to be more patient before taking me on. When it flattened out it would have been easier.”Joe Weatherley, showing the circumspection Harmer advocated, batted through the second innings for 29 from 80 balls. The India international Ajinkya Rahane made a pair and lasted only three balls in the match, twice edging Jamie Porter to the wicketkeeper; decisive breakthroughs because he might have had the wherewithal to play Harmer with aplomb. As for Rilee Rossouw, he succumbed to two of the wildest slogs imaginable.Adi Birrell, Hampshire’s coach, summed things up fairly enough. “Harmer bowled fairly well but the ball wasn’t turning square, it wasn’t impossible to bat,” he said. “Joe Weatherley batted through. He applied himself and needed someone to bat through with him.”It is a painful and hurtful result. Hopefully it is a defeat in isolation. We can’t afford to let this affect us. It was a very bad two days.”Essex had begun the day on 147 for 3 but were themselves bowled out before lunch, as they lost seven wickets for 67 runs, seven to lbw decisions with Kyle Abbott the main recipient as he jagged the ball back sharply.Observe Harmer from behind the arm and he flows into the crease. Watch him from side-on, however, and he is a more unprepossessing sight. Dare it be suggested, his run is little more than a gentle waddle, but the snap of his fingers fills his action with energy.He was on by the fourth over, initially because pace bowler Sam Cook had limped from the field. In the time needed to sneak off for a cheap haircut close to the ground, Hampshire’s second innings had been snipped back. When Harmer is bowling, do not attempt this if you have a luxuriant head of hair.Facing a first-innings deficit of 96, Hampshire lost seven wickets for 32 in only 13.5 overs before finally coming to grief 15 minutes before tea. They were in danger of registering their lowest score against Essex – they made 54 at Southampton in 1931 – but at least that ignominy was avoided.Harmer began by having Sam Northeast stumped; advancing down the pitch he contrived to let the ball squeeze between bat and pad and his ponderous efforts to regain his ground allowed Adam Wheater enough time to stretch to his right to gather and complete the stumping.In the same over, Rossouw paddled his first ball for four then tried to slog over long-on and edged a simple catch into the off side. Aneurin Donald slog-swept a non-turning delivery to midwicket before Harmer took two wickets in his seventh over, having James Fuller lbw, leaving a ball that turned out of the footholds, and finding gentle turn as Barker, reaching forward, edged to first slip.Harmer rounded off the victory as Mason Crane was caught in circus-trick style with the edge running down Adam Wheater’s chest at which point he expertly volleyed it, left-footed, to forward short leg. Never criticise all those pre-match football kickabouts ever again.This was Harmer’s third 10-wicket haul for the county, and fourth of his first-class career. He has taken four five-wicket hauls in his six innings bowling at Chelmsford this year. Essex, who have comfortably won all three of their Specsavers County Championship at home, have moved within seven points of Hampshire, and boast a game in hand.If they beat the leaders Somerset at Chelmsford next week, they will begin to believe a repeat of their title triumph of 2017 is not beyond them. When Harmer has the ball in his hand, anything is possible, but surely Somerset will play him better than this.