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PCB appeals against ICC's decision to award Rawalpindi pitch demerit point
The appeal was one of the first actions of the new PCB administration, led by Najam Sethi, who replaced Ramiz Raja late last month
The PCB has appealed against the ICC's decision to award a demerit point for the Rawalpindi pitch used for the first Test against England last month.
That surface was eventually declared "Below par" by match referee Andy Pycroft, the second successive Test pitch at that venue to have been given that assessment. At the time, Pycroft said: "It was a very flat pitch which gave almost no assistance to any type of bowler. That was the main reason why batters scored very fast and both sides posted huge totals. The pitch hardly deteriorated during the course of the match."
That was the second demerit point for Rawalpindi in the year, after being given one for the Test against Australia in March. If a ground gets five points in five years, it can face a suspension from hosting international cricket for 12 months.
The appeal was one of the first actions of the new PCB administration, led by Najam Sethi, who replaced Ramiz Raja late last month. And it underlines the stark contrast of this new management with the assessment of Ramiz, who was PCB chairman at that time of the Test, of that surface. He told reporters then: "It is embarrassing for us, especially when you have a cricketer as chairman. This is not a good advert for cricket. We're a better cricketing nation than this."
Sethi took over as the head of an interim management committee now running the board on December 22, nine days after the ICC announced the sanction. On December 26, the PCB officially appealed the decision.
Ramiz and the ICC were not the only ones critical of the Rawalpindi wicket. Former England batters Nasser Hussain and Michael Atherton, on the broadcast commentary team, both criticised it and after the match, the Pakistan captain Babar Azam expressed his unhappiness with the pitch as well.
"Yes my input was there in the preparation of the pitch and we made it clear what we wanted but we didn't get that because of the weather or whatever reason… we wanted a track with some turn for the spinners," Babar had said.
The Test ultimately produced a thrilling result - and likely one of the greatest wins in England's history - after the visitors scored a record-breaking 506 runs on the first day. Their 657 in the first innings came from 101 overs, and in reply, Pakistan made 579 runs from 155 overs. That there was a result was ultimately down to England scoring at 6.7 runs per over during the course of the Test and a widely-praised declaration from captain Ben Stokes that allowed Pakistan a sporting - given the nature of the pitch - tilt at the target. Jack Leach took the last wicket of a game in which yielded the third-highest aggregate of runs ever in a Test and the highest in over 80 years. Leach took the wicket minutes before the game was likely to end because of fading light.
The Rawalpindi Test against Australia provided no such spectacle, with nearly 1200 runs scored for the loss of only 14 wickets. Australia took only four wickets through the game and registered, collectively, the second-worst bowling performance of all time.
Their captain Pat Cummins was clear that the surface had been made to "nullify" their pace attack and knowledgeable enough to say the Test pitch was very different to that made for domestic first-class games at the venue - a charge that has often been made about the Rawalpindi Test pitch. Ramiz all but acknowledged Pakistan's ploy at the time, given they were missing fast bowlers of their own.
Match referees make their assessments based on watching the match and the results, which can lead to subjective verdicts but it also makes the appeals process even trickier. With major international cricket now using Hawkeye data, it would be easier to base judgements on the information from each ball compared with previous Tests at that venue and beyond.
The exact basis of the PCB's appeal is not clear though one official with knowledge of it said there were "multiple reasons, supported by data, videos, reports" and a "long list" of other reasons.
WTC final: The road ahead for Australia, India, South Africa and Sri Lanka
South Africa's hopes of reaching the WTC final were dented by their series defeat in Australia
With just three series left in the 2021-23 cycle of the World Test Championship, we look at the main contenders for the final and what they need to do to get there.
Have Australia booked their spot in the final?
With the 2-0 home series win over South Africa, Australia have 75.56% points and have all but secured their place in the final. The only scenario in which they will miss out is if they lose all their four Tests in India and Sri Lanka win both their matches in New Zealand.
A 4-0 defeat in India will see Australia's percentage drop to 59.65 and a series sweep in New Zealand will take Sri Lanka up to 61.11. If Sri Lanka win 1-0 in New Zealand, their percentage will only go up to 55.56, which will below Australia's even if they lose 4-0 in India.
The minimum Australia need to do to not depend on other teams is to draw one Test in India, provided they don't concede any penalty points. If they earn a draw and lose 3-0 in India, and don't concede any penalty points, they will finish on 61.40%, marginally ahead of the maximum that Sri Lanka can achieve. However, a single penalty point will push them down to 60.96%.
If India win the home series against Australia 3-1 or better, they will qualify for the final regardless of the results in other series. Currently second on the table with 58.93% after their 2-0 series win in Bangladesh, they will go to 68.06% if they win 4-0 against Australia, 62.5% with 3-1, and 56.94% if the series ends 2-2.
So, if the series ends 2-2 and Sri Lanka win 2-0 in New Zealand, India will finish outside the top two.
India could also slip behind South Africa if they collect fewer than 21 points against Australia and South Africa win 2-0 at home against West Indies. Thus, India will stay ahead of South Africa even with a 1-0 series win or a 2-2 draw (24 points), but not with a 1-1 draw (20 points).
So South Africa still have a chance?
The 2-0 defeat in Australia has hurt South Africa's chances, but the draw in a rain-affected match in Sydney was useful. They are currently fourth with 48.72%, and if they win both home Tests against West Indies, they can go up to 55.56%.
For South Africa to go through to the final, they will need to win both their matches, Sri Lanka to only get one win in New Zealand or worse, and for India to get fewer than 21 points.
Can Sri Lanka make the final?
Yes, third-placed Sri Lanka do have a chance. Assuming they sweep New Zealand away from home, they will get to 61.11%. In that case, they would need India to either win 4-0 against Australia or for the series to end in a draw, or for Australia to win the series so they can finish above India.
If Sri Lanka draw the series 1-1, they will finish on 52.78%. For them to qualify with that percentage, they will need India to get no more than 12 points from the series against Australia (3-1 or 1-0 series defeat), and for South Africa to get no more than 16 (1-0 series win).
What about the rest?
England, West Indies, Pakistan, New Zealand and Bangladesh are the remaining teams and they are too far behind to make it. New Zealand and West Indies are the only two teams among the lot to have fixtures left and even maximum points for them from these matches won't be enough for the former.
West Indies, with a 2-0 win in South Africa that would take their percentage to 50, can reach the final if Sri Lanka get fewer than eight points against New Zealand and India fewer than 10.
England, with 46.97%, are the only side with an outside chance of sneaking into the final, but only in the unlikely event of India and Sri Lanka losing all their remaining games, and South Africa getting no more than two draws.
Jamieson-like Henry Shipley ready for the big stage
His towering frame and ability to generate steep bounce could give NZ's attack a point of difference in Pakistan and India
Henry Shipley often imagined himself as Shane Bond during Christmas Day clashes with his cousins when he was a kid. Having earned his maiden New Zealand call-up, Shipley, now 26, is on the verge of becoming a Black Cap himself.
While Shipley can generate sharp pace, he is more of a bowler in the mould of Kyle Jamieson than Bond. His towering frame (1.96 metres) and ability to produce steep bounce often draws comparisons with Jamieson. It's something that even selector Gavin Larsen has acknowledged.
"Bounce is the key for him, given his height, but equally the reason he gets given the new ball at times for Canterbury is he has the ability to move the ball in the air," Larsen had said after selecting Shipley in the New Zealand squads for the tours of Pakistan and India. "Anyone that can bowl à la Kyle Jamieson with that sort of a height, swinging in and getting bounce, the potential is there that he will be a handful."
In the absence of Jamieson, who is still recovering from a back injury, Shipley is expected to provide New Zealand's attack with a potent point of difference on what could be flat tracks in Pakistan and India. Bowling to the likes of Babar Azam and Virat Kohli could unnerve a rookie, but Shipley plans to shut out the outside noise and just do his job.
"I think it will just be cool to say [post-tour that] I've been over there, and not be too worried about what happens I guess," Shipley said. "We want to come away with some wins and hopefully win both series, but it's [about] just getting over there, getting your feet on the ground and doing your job that's at hand."
Shipley's national call-up is reward for his remarkable consistency with the ball on the easy-paced hit-through-the-line one-day pitches and small grounds in New Zealand in domestic cricket. In November, he took career-best List A figures of 6 for 40, including a hat-trick in the Ford Trophy opener for Canterbury against Wellington. It was the first hat-trick for Canterbury and only fourth overall in 52 years of the tournament.
Shipley continued his rich form in the Ford Trophy and is currently the second-highest wicket-taker in the tournament, with 12 strikes in five games at an economy rate of 4.20. Earlier in last season's 20-over Super Smash, he had emerged as the top wicket-taker, with 18 scalps in 11 games at an economy rate of 7.25 in Canterbury's run to the final, where they lost to Northern Districts.
Shipley's Canterbury coach Peter Fulton has had a hand in his progress. "Fulty is a pretty straight up character," Shipley said. "He tells you what you need to do to get better and he can be pretty black and white. When you don't have that clarity, it can be quite hard to understand what it is that's going to get you to the next level. He simplified it from the very beginning and kind of took my thoughts away from it and let me do my work at the domestic level."
Working with international players like Tom Latham and Daryl Mitchell at Canterbury has also helped Shipley. He has now reunited with them in Pakistan.
"I don't know [on what has clicked for him recently]. I think there can be some individual success but on the back of a team performance as well," Shipley said. "I've been quite lucky with Canterbury, and we've had a lot of success in all three formats and the guys around you pave the way for the individual side of things."
Shipley hails from a strong cricketing background. His uncle Mark Priest was a stalwart for Canterbury and even played 21 international games for New Zealand while his father James is a "cricket tragic".
"My old man is a bit of a cricket tragic, and my uncle played a bit of cricket for New Zealand and Canterbury," Shipley said. "So that [cricket] was always around me growing up and I've always been involved with Canterbury Country, Greendale and Darefield [clubs]. I guess it was something not I didn't have a choice, but it was put in front of me from an early age and I kind of just took it from there."
However, the path to the top hasn't been smooth. Shipley has been on New Zealand's radar for a while, but multiple injuries have derailed his career. The injuries bothered him so much that at one point he stopped enjoying his cricket. Shipley has now learnt to embrace setbacks and just wants to cherish every moment on the field.
"I guess I'm never really looking to play safe," Shipley said. "I think injuries are just a part of it and I guess they're frustrating whenever they pop up and I'm sure they're going to pop up in the future. It's one of those things where you try and get on the park and stay there and enjoy it as long as you can.
"For a while there, I was probably so conscious of that side of the game that I never really just enjoyed playing and perhaps something in the last 24 months has changed and the attitude has been to just enjoy being out there each game."
Shipley can also give it a good whack with the bat, as his T20 strike rate of 137 indicates. Larsen backs Shipley to become a genuine allrounder.
"He's a player who has been on our radar for a few years now - probably five-six years," Larsen said. "He has performed really well over the past couple of years. I consider him to be a genuine allrounder. He's tall and he's a power-hitter. So, he offers a really good all-round skillset. Genuine allrounders are like gold dust in cricket and we would like to think he will develop his skills on this tour and push hard for us."
Trent Boult, Jimmy Neesham and Martin Guptill have all turned down their New Zealand contracts to become T20 freelancers, but the domestic system is still robust enough to feed promising talents like Shipley to the national side. A strong early impression in Pakistan and India could potentially propel Shipley into New Zealand's World Cup plans.
Sean Abbott, Moises Henriques and Jordan Silk put Sixers on top of the table
Henriques, Silk fifties help Sixers chase down 134 with 3.4 overs to spare in Sydney derby; Abbott takes three for nine
Sydney Sixers 134 for 3 (Silk 59, Henriques 53, Green 2-29) beat Sydney Thunder 133 for 8 (Whiteman 42, Ross 34, Abbott 3-9, Dwarshuis 2-28) by seven wickets
Sydney Sixers stalwarts Sean Abbott, Moises Henriques and Jordan Silk starred as their side moved to the top of the BBL ladder with a seven-wicket win over Sydney Thunder.
Paceman Abbott spearheaded a strong Sixers bowling effort as they restricted Thunder to 133 for eight in their Sydney Smash derby at Sydney Showground Stadium.
Sixers slumped to 25 for three after four overs, but middle-order linchpins Silk and Henriques took control of the game with an unbroken fourth-wicket stand of 109 off 75 balls.
Silk (59 off 42) and Henriques (53 off 38) displayed their experience, working the ball into gaps for singles and hitting the occasional boundary when the Thunder bowlers erred.
It was Silk's first BBL 50 of the season and Henriques' highest score in this season's campaign.
The win, which was achieved with 3.4 overs left, lifted the Sixers above the Scorchers to first, though Perth have two games in hand. Thunder, who lost for the first time five games, dropped to fourth on net run rate below Melbourne Renegades.
Both innings started in a similar fashion in front of almost 21,000 spectators. Thunder crashed to 12 for three inside the first three overs, with all three dismissed batters trapped lbw.
A fourth wicket stand of 64 between Alex Ross (34 off 34) and Sam Whiteman (42 off 34) in his first BBL game of the season, revived the Thunder innings.
The Sixers regained the initiative by taking 3 for 17 but some lusty late innings hitting from Ben Cutting (26 not out from 15 balls) boosted Thunder's total.
Abbott (3-9 off four overs) bowled 17 dot balls and boosted his haul for the season to 16, joint second-highest along with the Scorchers Andrew Tye and the Strikers Henry Thornton.
Thunder needed quick wickets and like the Sixers struck three times in the powerplay.
Captain and spinner Chris Green (2-29 off four) had Josh Philippe caught at slip in the second over and Cutting took a fine leaping catch at third man off Brendan Doggett (1-23 off four) to remove James Vince.
Green then had the recalled Kurtis Patterson caught in the deep.
English internationals Hales, Vince and Sixers paceman Chris Jordan were all playing their final game of this season's BBL.
The Sixers will regain Test stars Steve Smith and Nathan Lyon, while Thunder welcome back David Warner.
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