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Afghanistan sealed an emotional victory over Pakistan with a sublime performance from their spinners, squeezing Salman Agha’s men out and triumphing by 18 runs. In the wake of the earthquake at home where the death toll has crossed 1400, a resilient performance from Afghanistan in Sharjah proved much too good for Pakistan with Ibrahim Zadran and Sediqullah Atal producing a 113-run second-wicket partnership that formed the backbone of their innings.It was an innings held up almost entirely by that single pillar; while Zadran and Atal scored 65 and 64 respectively, no other batter managed to get beyond single figures. Pakistan’s bowlers might have felt the had done enough as an economical showing from Saim Ayub and a sensational one from Faheem Ashraf kept Afghanistan on a leash, with Pakistan needing 170 to win in wet, dewy conditions.For the Afghan spinners, though, the dew proved an almost laughably negligible impediment. Fazalhaq Farooqi set them up by getting rid of Ayub for a golden duck and a misfiring Sahibzada Farhan shortly after. It was just the window Rashid Khan, Noor Ahmad and Mohammad Nabi needed to run riot in the middle. No Pakistan batter was ever really able to work out which way Noor turned the ball or how to target Rashid without taking extreme risks.The trio took six wickets among them as Pakistan lost 7 for 49 to slump to 111 for 9. At the time they were looking at a chastening defeat, but Haris Rauf restored some balance to the scorecard with a breezy little cameo, an unbeaten 34 off 16 that took Pakistan past 150, and made the game look more competitive than Afghanistan’s dazzling spin attack had ensured it really was.Ibrahim Zadran scored a second fifty in two games•Emirates Cricket Board

Zadran, Atal combine for a special stand

Pakistan made a dream start after being put in to bowl with the early dismissal of Rahmanullah Gurbaz. By the end of the fourth over, Afghanistan had only shuffled along to 18. But Atal and Zadran have made a bit of a habit of partnerships that straddle multiple phases of an innings, and they produced their most impressive one yet.The first signs of a gear shift came when Rauf, who struggled all day with the ball, was smashed for a four and a six in the fifth over. Thereon, Atal and Zadran rendered the Pakistan bowlers strangely toothless, while gradually cranking up the scoring rate. The signal to launch had been building, but at the same time seemed to come out of nowhere as the pair plundered 20 off Sufiyan Muqeem in the 14th over. By the time the partnership was finally broken, the duo had added the second-highest second-wicket stand in Afghan T20I history.Faheem Ashraf returned his best T20I figures•AFP/Getty Images

Ashraf’s silver lining

On a forgettable day for Pakistan, Ashraf’s spell stood out, going some way to burnishing his short-form bowling credentials. It was a slow, spin-friendly wicket, but with Pakistan struggling to break that Atal-Zadran stand, they turned to Ashraf in the tenth over. He went through it without either inflicting or sustaining much damage, but it was his three-over stint at the back-end that demonstrated his value.It was he who broke that partnership off the second ball of the 16th, and was unfortunate not to snare Azmatullah Omarzai later on that over when Mohammad Nawaz shelled one. He would get his man with a beautifully disguised slower delivery next over, with another change of pace doing for Zadran two deliveries later. Taking pace of the ball continued to work when it proved too good for Nabi. At a time when Pakistan’s bowlers were travelling from the other end, Ashraf’s last three overs had seen just 18 scored and four wickets taken, ensuring the batting side were kept below 170.Noor Ahmad and Mohammad Nabi made life tough for the batters•Getty Images

Afghan spinners rip through the middle order

This is why Afghanistan feel so confident defending totals. There was plenty of dew by the midpoint of Pakistan’s pursuit, but Afghanistan’s spinners buzzed around the batters, relishing their defence of a total that was just about par. Pakistan had consolidated after two early wickets, and kept up with the rate; Fakhar Zaman took 15 off Omarzai’s first over to help Pakistan to 52 for 2 in the powerplay.In the eighth over, though, the spinners began to weave their web. Nabi threw in the change-up, darting the ball in as Fakhar sliced his smear to short third for Farooqi to grab. With the runs drying up, Pakistan threw in a signature unforced error, some lazy running combined with a clever bit of work from Rashid catching Salman short of his crease.Left-arm spinner Noor, curiously benched for the first two games, made up for lost time with a wicket off his first delivery to send Hasan Nawaz packing. Mohammad Haris failed to punish a long hop from Nabi the following over to allow Afghanistan to burrow deep into Pakistan’s tail. They had gone from 62 for 2 to 82 for 6, and no amount of deep batting can hedge against that kind of collapse against an attack of Afghanistan’s quality.

Essex 504 (Cox 132, Critchley 123, Harmer 53) beat Sussex 204 (Coles 52, Porter 4-30) and 261 (Coles 108, Alsop 72, Critchley 4-41) by an innings and 39 runsEssex needed just 25 minutes to secure only their second victory of the season in the Rothesay County Championship when they beat Sussex by an innings and 39 runs at Hove.James Coles completed his third successive Championship hundred, but Sussex were bowled out for 261 in their second innings and suffered their first Championship defeat at Hove since May 2022.”I think that was our most complete performance of the season,” Essex skipper, Tom Westley, said. “At a crunch time, with where we are in the table, to turn up and play like that is testament to everyone in our changing room: 24 points and a win is massive for the club and hopefully we can take that into the last four games, starting against Warwickshire next week.”We don’t want to make excuses about injuries – we probably haven’t played anywhere near our ability through the season and it has been challenging getting our strongest XI at times, so it was nice here to bowl them out for 200 in the first innings and then throughout the game everyone chipped in.”Sussex’s cause at the start of the final day was pretty hopeless with 55 still needed to make Essex bat again and only three wickets in hand. But at least Coles, 99 not out overnight, was able to follow up centuries against Durham and Warwickshire by reaching his seventh first-class hundred, when he cut the fourth ball of the first over of the day from Matt Critchley to the boundary.Coles was ninth out for 108, when he slog-swept Simon Harmer and top-edged to Jamie Porter at backward square leg. He’d faced 214 balls, hitting 14 fours and a six.Harmer had made the breakthrough in the second over when Ari Karvelas tickled a ball down the leg side and was well caught by Michael Pepper.The end came when Critchley bowled Henry Crocombe for 2. The legspinner finished with 4 for 41 and played his part in an excellent performance by Essex, who will fancy their chances of climbing the table in the remaining four games now they have a full-strength bowling attack available again, having controlled this match from the first session.Sussex’s head coach, Paul Farbrace, said: “It’s been hugely disappointing. In the three years I have been here it’s comfortably our worst performance in four-day cricket. We never got into the game. We played poor shots with the bat and made poor decisions throughout.”Apart from James Coles and Tom Alsop in the second innings we haven’t batted anywhere as well as we can, there were a lot of soft dismissals and our bowlers haven’t done much better to be fair, we didn’t play Division One standard cricket which is really frustrating and disappointing.”It’s on me and the rest of the coaching staff as much as the players to reflect and then get into the right mindset for next week’s game at Scarborough. Ollie Robinson had an injection in his groin on Wednesday and won’t be available until the back end of the One-Day Cup.”

David “Syd” Lawrence, the former Gloucestershire and England fast bowler, has passed away at the age of 61 following a year battling motor neurone disease (MND).A strapping fast bowler, Lawrence played five Tests for England and making 280 appearances for Gloucestershire, taking 625 wickets for the county. In 1988, he became the first British-born Black cricketer to represent England. In 2022, he became his county’s first Black president. This month, Lawrence received an MBE in the King’s Birthday Honours, having been named as one of the inaugural Honorary Life Vice-Presidents of the ECB earlier in the year.Lawrence was diagnosed with MND in 2024, a degenerative condition that affects the brain and nerves, causing muscle wastage. There is no cure, and Lawrence was working to raise money and awareness of the condition.Related

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In that time, he remained an inspirational figure at the club, sharing in their Vitality Blast success last summer. Gloucestershire assisted fundraising efforts with a “Pink 4 Syd” evening at the club, honouring Lawrence with a pink kit to raise funds for Motor Neurone Disease Association (MNDA) during their men’s fixture with Hampshire Hawks in the Vitality Blast. Last week, his autobiography, “In Syd’s Voice”, written in partnership with his friend and former Mirror cricket correspondent, Dean Wilson, was published.A statement from Lawrence’s family read: “It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of Dave Lawrence MBE following his brave battle with Motor Neurone Disease.”‘Syd’ was an inspirational figure on and off the cricket field and no more so than to his family who were with him when he passed.”A proud Gloucestershire man, Syd took on every challenge with everything he could and his final contest with MND was no different. His willingness to encourage and think of others right up to the end was typical of the man he was.”As President of Gloucestershire County Cricket Club, Syd took on the role with incredible pride and passion and loved every minute of it.”Syd’s wife Gaynor and son Buster thank everyone for the kindness and support that has been shown to them and the family so far and would ask that they are now given some time and space to grieve in private.”Lawrence played his five Tests and single ODI between 1988 and 1992. A genuine quick bowler, he debuted at Lord’s against Sri Lanka and went on to take 18 wickets, including his best of 5 for 106 against West Indies at The Oval in 1991.His career was cut devastatingly short when, in 1992, he fractured his kneecap as he ran in to bowl against New Zealand in Wellington. Though a comeback never truly materialised, barring a four-game stint for Gloucestershire five years later, he used retirement as a springboard to expand his horizons, becoming a nightclub owner and later a competitive bodybuilder.He was also a leading advocate for inclusion and diversity in cricket. In 2021, he spoke openly of his experience of racism at Gloucestershire, for which the club offered an unreserved apology. He was also involved with the African-Caribbean Engagement programme (ACE) in Bristol.”Everyone connected with Gloucestershire County Cricket Club will be devastated with the news of Syd’s passing, and we send all our love to his incredible family and friends,” said Gloucestershire Cricket chief executive Neil Priscott.”The executive team at the Club were of course aware of his fine record as a one-county man but we all got to truly know and love him as our current President. He was so passionate about the power of cricket and how our sport can touch people’s lives. Syd pushed us to reach out to communities far and wide and we shall continue to do that in his honour. Friday night’s ‘Pink 4 Syd; match was a fitting tribute to a Gloucestershire great, and we are very sad to have lost someone so special.”In a statement released by the ECB, chair Richard Thompson said: “David ‘Syd’ Lawrence was a true trailblazer of English cricket and a man of immense courage, character, and compassion.”His impact on the game extended far beyond the boundary ropes. As a fast bowler, he thrilled crowds with his pace and passion. As a leader and advocate, he broke barriers and inspired change, becoming a powerful voice for inclusion and representation in our sport.”Even in the face of his illness, David showed extraordinary strength and dignity, continuing to uplift others with his resilience and spirit. He leaves behind a legacy that will endure in the hearts of all who love cricket.”Our thoughts are with his family, friends, and the entire cricketing community at this time.”

Salman Agha has promised to deliver a brand of “fearless cricket” as he becomes the fourth T20I captain for Pakistan since January 2024. Agha replaced Mohammad Rizwan as T20I captain for the upcoming white-ball tour to New Zealand, the latest in a revolving door of captains that has seen Shaheen Shah Afridi and Babar Azam come and go before him.Pakistan’s results have remained poor, highlighted by a group-stage exit at the T20 World Cup last year, in which they lost to the USA. That has prompted a wholesale change in the squad, with a number of new faces and, significantly, the absence of a few familiar ones.Chief among them are Rizwan and Babar, whose batting at the top of the order has widely been as a key cause for Pakistan’s outdated, risk-averse approach. While the door has not been permanently shut on them in the format, it is clear they have been dropped, not rested.Related

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“It’s an honour for me and also a challenge,” Agha said at a press conference in Lahore. “We’ve brought a few youngsters into the team who have been playing the brand of cricket in domestic cricket that we want to play in the national side going forward.”We have to focus on our intent and approach. We have to improve that. In modern day cricket, these things are important. This is a young team and we want to play fearless cricket. That is high-risk cricket, which is a requirement in modern cricket. There will be failures with that approach, but we have to support our players.”The PCB said it has made Agha captain with an eye on the Asia Cup (in the T20 format) later this year and the World Cup in India and Sri Lanka next year. They have recalled Shadab Khan, a player in tune with this brand of cricket, as vice-captain ostensibly for this project.”The reason for Shadab coming back is that he has good captaincy experience, plus also his mindset is to play aggressive cricket,” explained the interim head coach Aaqib Javed. “His mindset is important because as vice-captain, with Agha also thinking that way, Shadab will be good. The combination is good.”Aaqib, who is also the selection head, remains in those positions for the series of five T20Is and three ODIs against New Zealand, though there has been speculation about a new coach. Asked specifically about the fates of Babar and Rizwan, he linked their non-selection clearly to the style of play Pakistan were hoping to adopt.”You can’t rule anyone out forever, but for the moment, we feel that we need to bring in newer, younger players and change the style of cricket we are playing,” he said. “Many teams have separated their T20 sides from the others, up to 80-90% [of the personnel] different.”Afridi and Haris Rauf missing from the ODI squad add to the sense of big-name axings, and Aaqib was clear that they would have to go back to domestic cricket to improve their games.”Top players like Babar, Shaheen, Riz, they travel so much they don’t have time to play their domestic cricket,” he said. “Now they have time to play domestic cricket. Until you play four-day cricket you will not improve in Tests or ODIs. It cannot be that you play 70% T20 cricket all year and then suddenly you play Tests or ODIs.[File photo] Shaheen Shah Afridi has been dropped from the ODI side, while Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan are out of the T20I side•AFP/Getty Images

“The players have to think about this themselves because ultimately they are responsible for their own game. You can’t force players… don’t players have a responsibility themselves to think about their game and where it is going? That I should sacrifice and take a break from T20 and play four-day or List A so that I can get my form back?”Both Agha and Aaqib spoke of developing a pool of 20-25 players for Pakistan to work with over the next 18 months or so. Both also stressed that backing them through failures would be just as important.Aaqib acknowledged the instability that has beset Pakistan cricket over the last couple of years, of which he is, for now, a beneficiary.”We have changed nearly 16 coaches and 26 selectors in the last two years or so,” he said. “You put that formula on any team in the world, I think they will also be in the same situation. Until you get consistency right from the top down to the bottom, from the chairman down, then your team will not progress.”

South Africa’s sports minister, Gayton McKenzie, has added his voice to the growing backlash at Afghanistan’s participation in next month’s ICC Champions Trophy, comparing the Taliban regime’s treatment of women in the country to Apartheid, and saying it would be “hypocritical and immoral to look the other way”.McKenzie’s intervention comes with South Africa due to face Afghanistan in their tournament opener in Karachi on February 21, and follows similar political pressure on fellow Group B participants, England. Earlier this week, a group of 160 British politicians called on the ECB to boycott its fixture against Afghanistan in Lahore on February 26.”If it was my decision, then it certainly would not happen,” McKenzie said in a statement from South Africa’s Ministry of Sports, Arts and Culture. “As a man who comes from a race that was not allowed equal access to sporting opportunities during Apartheid, it would be hypocritical and immoral to look the other way today when the same is being done towards women anywhere in the world.”His intervention comes after Peter Hain, the renowned anti-apartheid campaigner and former British government minister, wrote to Cricket South Africa to voice his own concerns about the ban on women’s and girl’s cricket in Afghanistan, which has effectively been in place since the Taliban’s return to power in 2021.In a subsequent statement, CSA acknowledged receipt of Hain’s letter, but echoed the response offered by the ECB, saying that, as the Champions Trophy is an ICC event, “the position on Afghanistan must be guided by the world body in accordance with international tournament participation requirements and regulations”.This stance has also been taken by the UK prime minister, Keir Starmer, who urged the ICC to “deliver on their own rules”, which state that all Test-playing nations must also have in place a national women’s team and a programme of women’s cricket.However, an ICC spokesperson told ESPNcricinfo that the Afghanistan Cricket Board could not be held responsible for policies set out by its national government.”The ICC will not penalise the ACB, or its players, for abiding by the laws set by the government of their country. We will continue to constructively use our influence to assist the ACB in developing cricket and playing opportunities for both men and women in Afghanistan.”Both the ECB and Cricket Australia – who complete the four-team Champions Trophy Group B – have refused to engage Afghanistan in bilateral contests, with Australia having indefinitely postponed a T20 series that had been scheduled for last March.South Africa did, however, face Afghanistan in a three-match ODI series in the UAE in September, with CSA stating at the time that it would continue to schedule bilateral engagements as there was “no justification for subjecting Afghan cricket players – both male and female – to secondary persecution for the actions of the Taliban.”

Bad light forced the third day’s play of the Dhaka Test to be called off at 4pm local time, an hour before the scheduled end of the day. Bangladesh fought back in the game and now lead by 81 runs, with South Africa still short of three wickets. The hosts ended the day on 283 for 7, thanks mainly to half-centuries from Mehidy Hasan Miraz and the debutant Jaker Ali.Play was stopped at 3.17pm after 17 minutes of play under floodlights at the Shere Bangla National Stadium. There was earlier a 78-minute stoppage due to rain from 1.42pm onwards. This is unseasonal rain in Bangladesh due to a depression in the Bay of Bengal, which is forecast to turn into a cyclone on Wednesday.Mehidy was Bangladesh’s saviour on the day with his fourth half-century this year, once again saving the team’s blushes from a difficult position. They were 112 for 6, from where Mehidy and Jaker added 138 runs for the seventh wicket. It is Bangladesh’s third century stand from the seventh wicket in their last five Tests.Mehidy struck nine fours and a six in his 171-ball stay on the third day, batting confidently enough to pass some of that confidence to Jaker, who had got only 2 in the first innings. But the day had started horribly for Bangladesh, who lost three wickets in the first 30 minutes of play, with a Test to save.Kagiso Rabada had removed both of Bangladesh’s overnight batters Mahmudul Hasan Joy and Mushfiqur Rahim by the fourth over of the day. Mahmudul edged a wide one, giving first slip an easy catch after making 40. Rabada then blew away Mushfiqur’s middle stump later in the over with a delivery that was similar to his dismissal of the same batter in the first innings; while Mushfiqur lost two stumps on the first day, this time it was the middle pole which came off.When Litton Das was caught behind off Keshav Maharaj shortly afterwards, Bangladesh slipped to 112 for 6, and were in danger of an innings defeat on the third day. Mehidy and Jaker then stepped in, battling through a tough first session, and helping Bangladesh go past South Africa’s 202-run first-innings lead.Jaker, who played second fiddle to Mehidy, struck the ball nicely through the covers. He pinched two fours through fine leg too, one of them getting him to a half-century. Jaker hammered Rabada with a confident pull shot too. He also took three fours off Rabada, twice through the off side and once through a pull.Mehidy, meanwhile, was mainly effective against Maharaj, hitting him for four boundaries through the covers – sometimes even lofted ones, but mostly along the ground. He generally handled spin well, as Bangladesh got within one run of South Africa’s lead at lunch.An hour into the second session, rain stopped play for 78 minutes. Before the rain break, Jaker reached had his maiden Test fifty. He fell lbw to Maharaj after getting beaten trying to turn the ball on the leg side. The umpire gave it out despite a casual appeal from the visitors, but replays showed it was the correct decision. Jaker struck seven fours in his 111-ball stay.

New Zealand 340 and 207 for 8 (Ravindra 91*, Jayasuriya 3-66, Ramesh Mendis 3-83) need another 68 runs to beat Sri Lanka 305 and 309 (Karunaratne 83, Chandimal 61, Ajaz 6-90)Rachin Ravindra led New Zealand’s charge as they scored 194 runs in the final two sessions of day four in pursuit of their target of 275, but a fast-deteriorating Galle surface and relentless pressure from Sri Lanka’s spinners meant they have only two wickets in hand to notch the remaining 68 runs.At stumps, Ravindra was unbeaten on 91, but he was fast running out of company; Ajaz Patel just about managed to survive through to stumps. New Zealand will, no doubt, fancy their chances of completing this chase, but it will not be easy when the nature of the surface is taken into account.This was a day, therefore, that belonged to the spinners, starting with Ajaz’s five wickets in the morning session – he finished with 6 for 90 – and ending with Prabath Jayasuriya and Ramesh Mendis grabbing three apiece. In all, 14 wickets fell in the day, 13 of them to spin.Related