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Ramith Rambukwella is back playing domestic cricket after being released on bail on Saturday, with SLC yet to make a decision on what disciplinary measures – if any – will be imposed.Arrested on Friday night for assault and drunk driving, Rambukwella has since had the assault charges dropped, having come to a settlement with the complainants. The drunk driving charge remains however; he is due in court on Tuesday.Although initially an SLC official told ESPNcricinfo that the board had only found out about the incident “through the media” and that it had “not had any official reports of the incident”, Rambukwella’s behaviour is set to be discussed at a manager’s committee meeting on Tuesday. As such his contract with SLC may be under review. His ongoing participation in domestic cricket – he played a one-day match for Tamil Union on Monday – is less likely to be affected, but may also be under scrutiny.Of particular concern to the board will be Rambukwella’s history of disciplinary issues. He was arrested in 2016 under another drunk driving charge after he crashed his car into a wall. In 2013, he had also caused mild panic onboard a flight, when he attempted to open a cabin door at 35,000 feet while returning from a tour with the Sri Lanka A side.A tall offspinning allrounder, Rambukwella played two T20 internationals for Sri Lanka, the most recent of which was in July 2016.

Shaharyar Khan, the PCB chairman, has hinted at sweeping changes in Pakistan’s entire management, following the team’s early exit in the Asia Cup. Shaharyar has formed a special committee, which includes former T20 captains Misbah-ul-Haq and Younis Khan, to monitor Pakistan’s performance and examine the selection process for the upcoming World Twenty20*. Shakil Sheikh, who heads the PCB’s cricket committee, will chair the special committee, which also includes PCB chief operating officer Subhan Ahmad and former chief selector Iqbal Qasim. Shaharyar, however, insisted that Shahid Afridi will remain captain of the T20 side unless he himself pulls out.Pakistan lost their opening match of the Asia Cup to India, beat UAE convincingly, only to bow out of the tournament after defeat at the hands of Bangladesh. More worryingly for the team, Pakistan’s batting issues resurfaced in Bangladesh, with three wickets falling during the Powerplay in each game.”It wasn’t just a matter of disappointment but it was a painful experience to watch Pakistan play like that,” Shaharyar said. “The performance was very poor other then few individuals’ performances, but I can assure that accountability is inevitable and whoever is responsible has to answer. Changes are important in the electoral process and leadership but we have to sit and think wisely. We are not going to make anyone a scapegoat or do the witch hunt but whatever we will do, it will be done with clarity.”Afridi’s role as captain came under scrutiny after Pakistan controversially dropped Wahab Riaz for Anwar Ali in the game against Bangladesh, ESPNcricinfo understands. It was also observed that Afridi was missing from training sessions and skipped meetings with the coaching staff.”I understand there is a lot of criticism but I am not going to change anything one week before the major tournament in India,” Shaharyar said. “Afridi will remain captain unless he himself pulls out of the job. He has been serving Pakistan from the last 15 years. There are problems in his captaincy which can’t be mended and especially at a time when his career is about to be end.”Also, we don’t want to disregard the longest serving players of Pakistan cricket. So, I am not going to push a panic button and take any decision in haste. This is not my style. Some changes you will see will be done before we play our first matches in World T20 and other important changes will be done after the tournament.”Pakistan have already rejigged their original 15-man squad ahead of the Asia Cup and World T20 by adding Sharjeel Khan, Mohammad Sami and Khalid Latif. After the Asia Cup debacle, Shaharyar hinted at another wave of change, with the new ICC regulations allowing teams to change their squads before the start of the tournament.ESPNcricinfo understands that the selectors are considering dropping Khurram Manzoor, whose inclusion did not impress Waqar Younis, for the excluded Ahmed Shehzad. It is also understood that one of the senior members of the team management touched upon Salman Butt’s name, mentioning his utility after he was the second-highest run-getter in the recently-concluded National One-Day Cup, where he finished with 536 runs at 107.20.Manzoor’s controversial selection was cited as a “judgement error” by Shaharyar. “It wasn’t an unfair call but I did show my reservation. Haroon Rashid made his point that Khurram is the best they have for the opening slot as there is no alternative. I was told that he was in form and has scored enough runs for Pakistan A team but eventually he failed at the top. But I can assure you that ahead of the World T20 there will be changes in selection as we will have time to change.”* March 4, 1106 GMT. The news report was updated to include information regarding the special committee

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details1:22

Great to have some success – Gabriel

Twenty years ago, a West Indies side led by Brian Lara set India 120 for victory at the Kensington Oval. They had never lost a Test in Bridgetown to a subcontinent side, but that record looked in serious threat against the likes of Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, Mohammad Azharuddin, Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman. West Indies, however, took just 35.5 overs to skittle India out for 81 to extend a glorious run at their stronghold.Fast forward to 2017 and a completely different West Indies side, both in personnel and prestige, took on another subcontinent powerhouse, Pakistan, at the same venue. West Indies were dominated for most parts of four days, but Shai Hope’s 90 that set a 188-run target helped script a remarkable turnaround.On the final day, Shannon Gabriel took five wickets in a hostile spell as Pakistan were skittled for 81 again. This Bajan fortress might have creaked, but it did not tumble as the hosts put in an inspired bowling performance to level the series.Pakistan found their legs turning to jelly in a chase of 188 on a pitch that had shown signs of deterioration very early in the Test. They played for the demons in the pitch, and paid the price. Azhar Ali and Ahmed Shehzad’s conservative approach – they scored six in the first six overs – set the tone.Azhar was the first to fall, attempting to pull a short delivery from Gabriel over midwicket, unwisely trusting the bounce. He mistimed the shot horribly, sending it straight to midwicket. Babar Azam nicked down leg two deliveries later to record his first pair in Tests. That one of Pakistan’s brightest prospects was undone by an innocuous delivery could arguably be seen as the decisive wicket.More misery awaited Pakistan as Younis Khan was dismissed shortly after. Jason Holder banged one in slightly short of a good length, well outside off stump. As Younis shaped up, it darted back in, kept low and made a beeline for his pads. It struck him dead in front of middle.Shannon Gabriel’s hostile spell in the first session set up West Indies’ series-leveling win•AFP

Misbah-ul-Haq and Asad Shafiq both came and went within minutes of each other, their wickets brought about by Gabriel’s brilliance. Misbah got a thick inside edge that lobbed to gully, but West Indies may not have had the wicket if they did not review, for the original appeal was for lbw. Two balls later, Shafiq’s poke was taken on the third attempt at first slip by Kieran Powell, who had reprieved Ahmed Shehzad earlier.The procession continued after lunch as Shehzad and debutant Shadab Khan fell within three overs of the resumption. Shehzad was unfortunate, falling to a delivery from Alzarri Joseph that was almost a replica of the ball that accounted for Younis, but Shadab – whose introduction to Test cricket has been less spectacular than his limited-overs debuts – was removed by a delivery that held its off-stump line. Shadab could only nick to the wicketkeeper.Sarfraz Ahmed and Mohammad Amir counter-attacked to take Pakistan past their lowest Test score of 49, but they were riding their luck. When Amir sliced a drive into the hands of point, it was a wicket that had been coming all along.There was time for Gabriel to clinch a richly deserved five-wicket haul with the perfect fast bowler’s delivery. It pitched on off stump and clipped the top of off, and batsmen better than Yasir Shah would have done well to keep that out. The knockout blow came next over as Sarfraz lofted Holder to wide long-on, with Roston Chase stationed there for precisely that shot.The man who had got West Indies’ fightback started with a first-innings century made no mistake, but Pakistan, dazed and shell-shocked after a remarkable morning’s cricket from the hosts, had plenty to rue.

Australia’s vice-captain David Warner is one demerit point away from a ban after he accepted a level two charge from the ICC for his part in the stairwell confrontation with Quinton de Kock in Durban.De Kock, however, has contested the level one charge against him and will attend a hearing – along with South Africa captain Faf du Plessis and manager Mohammed Moosajee – in Port Elizabeth on Wednesday evening. Match Referee Jeff Crowe will adjudicate on the matter.Warner was hit with three demerit points for the offence and also fined 75% of his match fee, about A$13,500, after meetings between the match referee Jeff Crowe and Australian team management on Tuesday night and Wednesday morning. Warner joined Kagiso Rabada and Faf du Plessis on the South African side in this series, as players who will be suspended if they are found guilty of one more disciplinary infraction.CCTV footage from the fourth day of the Durban Test showed Warner walking up the stairs to the players’ dressing room, engaged in heated conversation with someone else. As the clip rolled on, it emerged that he was talking to de Kock, and at several points had to be restrained by his team-mates until the Australia captain Steven Smith came out to pull his vice-captain away from the scene.

ScorecardJosh Cobb’s half-century sank his former team-mates•PA Photos

Josh Cobb and Adam Rossington eased Northamptonshire back to the top of the NatWest T20 Blast North Group with a six-wicket waltz over Leicestershire at Wantage Road.Chasing just 150 after Mark Pettini’s 56 for the visitors, Cobb and Rossington knocked off the bulk of the chase with a partnership of 89 for the second wicket in 9.4 overs. Northants cruised home with three overs to spare and now, with 11 points on the board, just two more wins from their final seven matches should be enough for a quarter-final place – a home tie is very much in their sights.Rossington arrived in superb touch after a career-best 138 not out in the County Championship during the week and here made his third T20 fifty and second for Northants in 29 balls with nine fours. His timing was exceptional with some clean striking down the ground and also showed a clever touch with two late cut fours – the second of which during a over from Jigar Naik that went for 12 to leave only 57 needed from the final 10 overs.Cobb has relished the number three role and was again in excellent touch. He began by cutting Rob Taylor for his first boundary and he lifted another over midwicket. Kevin O’Brien was introduced and his first ball was heaved over mid-on. His third half-century in four inning was raised in 40 balls with four fours and a six. He chipped Cameron Delport to extra-cover for 57 when two were needed to win.Northants didn’t need a contribution from Richard Levi, in his first game back after a shoulder injury. He took 12 from the opening over – two leg side flicks and a straight drive – but edged Clint McKay to third man. His failure mattered not. There was time for Ben Duckett to lift Mark Cosgrove down the ground and wide of midwicket for boundaries as he and Cobb took their side home.Leicestershire’s total was well below par. Their 149 for 5 was built around a partnership of 74 in 8.1 overs for the third wicket between Pettini and O’Brien. They recovered the innings after the early loss of Mark Cosgrove for 2 and Cameron Delport for 6 – both bowled by Richard Gleeson, whose opening two overs conceded only seven runs.But Pettini clipped the first ball of Azharullah’s spell for six over midwicket – an over that yielded 17 runs and injected momentum into the innings. Petting swung Azharullah to long leg and deftly cut Steven Crook for four en route to a half-century in 31 balls with six fours and a six.Cobb ended the stand with the second ball of his spell – O’Brien chipping him into the hands of Graeme White at long-on – and three overs later Pettini also fell, trying to paddle sweep White and being plumb lbw for 56. It left Leicestershire 111 for 4 with five overs remaining.Paul Horton, playing his first T20 of the season, was left to try and provide the late-innings power and he twice classically drove through extra-cover for four. But facing the first ball of the final over, was struck in the ribs by a Gleeson beamer and retired hurt for 29. Only six runs came from the final over.

England, according to their slogan, are striving to ‘go boldly’ in this World Cup campaign. It isn’t hard to see that disposition reflected in their words as well as their play: expansive and forthright. Liberated of major host-nation expectations, a process that was actually helped along their opening-round loss to India, Heather Knight’s side are as healthy as they are happy.In turn, there couldn’t be a better time for them to cop Australia in the group stage of this tournament, and they know it. The world champions, of course, have done little wrong to date, reflected in a faultless win-loss ledger after four starts. But, as a result of captain Meg Lanning’s shoulder injury – it was still unclear on match eve whether she will take her place at No.3 in Bristol – they strike the more discombobulated figure of the two. Unavoidably so: all the depth in the world cannot replace the best player on the planet.”It’s still attached last time I looked,” Joe Dawes, Australia’s bowling coach, said. “That’s for the medical people to work out, I’m not sure. We’re preparing for her to play tomorrow, as far as I know, and see how she wakes up in the morning, I guess.”England are too, Knight confident that, no matter what, the utterly dominant batsman will be ready to roll when the team sheets are being inked. “We’re fully preparing for Meg,” she said.England have long been gearing up for this blockbuster. No moment was more significant to coach Mark Robinson’s wholesale reform of the side than their loss on the previous occasion the two teams met, in last year’s World T20 semi-final. It’s a constant point of reference any time he’s drawn on the post-Charlotte Edwards era.”We were different on the day when we played that semi-final,” he recalled. “We couldn’t do some of the basics – the non-skill things – in that semi-final. So, that’s just non-negotiable – an England coach should never have to talk about fitness.”In Robinson’s New England, his side also cannot allow themselves to be intimidated by the Australian machine. “We respect Australia but we have to respect ourselves and what have done as a coaching staff, and Heather as captain, is try and give the girls belief in themselves,” he said. “So for me, it is not about winning or losing, it’s about making sure we all turn up.”For Knight’s part, she sees the squad as being “in a really good place” – radically different to when they capitulated in that 2016 clash. “We function as a team a lot better,” she said. “We don’t rely on a few players; we have got a lot more leaders.”Meg Lanning’s shoulder injury has come at an inopportune moment for the world champions•Getty Images/ICC

Helping with the psychology of preparing for an Australian clash is familiarity, with so many of the frontliners facing off regularly on the semi-professional T20 circuit. So now is as good a time as any, she thinks, to break England’s 24-year World Cup hoodoo against them.”It is the big games that we have been preparing for, and a lot of the work we have done is towards these big games and standing up,” she said. “There is always going to be that added pressure with the old enemy but hopefully we can, as a group, rise to that.”The precondition for an upset is England’s record-breaking batting continuing apace. They now boast four World Cup century-makers: Knight and Nat Sciver clocking their maiden ODI tons against Pakistan, then Tammy Beaumont and Sarah Taylor combining for an outrageous 275-run tryst against a full-strength South Africa on Wednesday.”It is as good as it gets,” Robinson said of the stand – the highest for England in ODIs. “Both of them got into that lovely place where they were just playing with absolute freedom, on auto-pilot, in the zone, that magical place. And the joy they had with each other. They hopefully express that as a team; they play best when they are playing with a smile.”It capped Taylor’s return to the game in emphatic style, her 147 from 104 balls a galaxy away from when she walked away from it all following the aforementioned World T20 nadir due to crippling anxiety. “She never really expected to be in this position,” Robinson said. “The thing we talk about with Sarah is the bonus of her being here. Everything she achieves is extra.”Her year-long omission, according to the coach, did have unexpected benefits as the side quickly found its way under Knight’s leadership. “We played a lot without her which was probably quite good for us as a team (with) other players coming to the fore,” he said. “The team now know that they don’t have to rely on anybody.”Australia are less interested in words. They just want to do what they’re good at. “Win,” Dawes said of their plan against England. “We don’t worry too much about the opposition.” Simple as that. “We’re pretty happy coming into the business end and peaking nicely.”The surface, a fresh pitch, is expected to be hard and fast – just the way Robinson likes it. “Gloucestershire have been outstanding with the wickets they have produced so far,” he said. “With the way (women) play nowadays, hitting and manipulating the ball the way they can, they need the surfaces to do their skills justice.”For how that effects selection, Knight said it is “unlikely” a trio of tweakers will be used. But that has been the status quo for Australia’s side so far in this tournament, three of Australia’s four spinners rotated through the XI in each fixture. Dawes hinted that it will be the same again, regardless of the pitch, due to the tap seamers have been taking across the board.Robinson’s relaxed final thoughts are that they have earned this chance to knock off the champions. “Australia are an outstanding team,” he said. “We have got a great opportunity to see how far we have come, win or lose. We’ll have a yard stick to see exactly where we are at the moment.” Not at all a bad place to be.

Colin Munro may not have been the most confident player in the New Zealand camp when the ongoing tour of India started last month. He had just returned to the ODI side, he was being asked to open for the first time in his international career and he didn’t have the best technique to combat spin on the slow Indian surfaces. The troubles swelled when his opening partner Martin Guptill was unable to get strong starts, and Munro fell victim to slower balls for two straight matches at the beginning of the series.After Munro’s blistering half-century in the third ODI in Kanpur, the Indian bowlers thought of deceiving him with some slower ones again in the second T20 on Saturday. Munro didn’t have to face many in the Powerplay, until debutant Mohammed Siraj sent down a few in his second over. That eighth over had two slower deliveries dispatched by Munro over his favoured leg side for sixes.Munro showed his issues with slower balls was not a weakness, but only a brief trend based on a small sample size, something he overcame pretty soon, especially once the formats changed.”To be honest, I wasn’t expecting too many slower balls in the first couple of ODIs,” Munro said on Saturday. “Bhuvi [Bhuvneshwar Kumar] and [Jasprit] Bumrah just bowled back of a length, trying to nick you out, get lbws. And the way I came out was aggressive and that made them change a bit. They bowled really well in terms of that. Bumrah’s slower ball… he has made a name of himself with that slower ball and Bhuvi’s knuckle ball is very good with the new ball.”[Now] it’s Twenty20 and you’ve got to be aggressive. Tonight it came off, another night it might not.”India’s best fast bowler against Munro on Saturday was Bumrah but he said changing his plans on the field was not easy and does not always work when a batsman like Munro is in that mood.”You can’t have a fixed plan,” Bumrah explained of bowling to Munro. “Over here if you had a fixed plan that you bowl slower balls, he was hitting them really well.”As compared to the hitches at the beginning of the tour, Munro looks a different player now. Twenty20 is the format he is more suited to as he gets to express himself “more freely” without the pressure of building a long innings. Munro is a specialised T20 player who struck his first T20I century earlier this year against Bangladesh. He may have been dropped from the ODI side then, but he followed it by racking up 366 runs for Trinbago Knight Riders in the CPL, with three half-centuries, at a strike rate of 135. Munro had even considered turning into a freelance T20 player as he was not a regular in the ODI side and has played only one Test so far.”I enjoy Twenty20,” Munro said. “It’s a game where you know it’s a short game and you go out there to express yourself and when it comes off, it comes off. Sometimes you put too much pressure on yourself in the longer form where you’ve got to score runs all the time. In Twenty20, you just got to go out there and express yourself and take the good with the bad. Sometimes it comes off like it did tonight and the other night it didn’t come off. You just got to go with the flow.”I think I’ve always felt good in this format. It was just a matter of it hasn’t quite clicked. It’s one of those games where when you’re going well, you’re going really well. And when you’re not, you’re not. For me it’s a mindset thing. I’ve tried not to expect too much from myself playing at this level or at Twenty20. It’s just about trying to keep as even as you can and I think I’ve done that over the last two years.”Switching formats requires both technical as well as mental changes. To combat the challenges posed by India’s quick bowlers, Munro batted with a slightly more open stance on Saturday that helped him clear his front foot and hammer four sixes over his preferred long-on arc, an area that fetched him 30% of his runs. The key is not only to score runs though. Munro is frank about why things have not worked for him in the past when he put too much pressure on himself.”For me, the biggest part of being successful at this level is the mental side,” Munro said. “I’ve scored runs for Auckland for a long time, it’s just trying to get the same mental aptitude at this level. I think in the past I’ve probably put too much pressure on myself and haven’t always cemented my spot in the team. So it’s always what can I do to make the team rather than what I do now – which is what can I do to win a game. Or what I can do to contribute to the game. And that’s what makes a difference. Even if it’s 20 off 10, that’s a contribution, whereas in the past I’ve been not good enough to stay in the team. But now it’s more of a mental mindshift.”Munro’s innings had the elements a T20 century usually has – he attacked from the very first ball he faced, he survived at least two chances – put down by the Indian fielders – and he collected a lot of runs off edges. Not just the innings on Saturday, his scores in T20 internationals this year also reflect the ups and downs of a T20 game: 0, 101, 0, 0, 7 and 109*.No matter how the third T20 goes for Munro, he would be fairly pleased with the performances on the India tour so far. He now says he “loves” batting at the top of the order and scoring a hundred through the innings in India “means a heck of a lot”.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsAdelaide Strikers belied expectations after holding their nerve against Sydney Sixers at the SCG.The Strikers were in control after high-quality innings from Alex Carey and Jonathan Wells and excellent Power-play bowling upfront left the Sixers needing 61 from 30 balls will no recognised batsmen left. But Steve O’Keefe, Johan Botha and Ben Dwarshuis found a way to reduce the equation to 22 off seven before O’Keefe and Dwarshuis hit consecutive sixes off Ben Laughlin and Michael Neser. Another well-run two made it eight runs off three balls but Neser responded with three pinpoint yorkers to secure the Strikers second straight win.Conversely, the talent-laden Sixers slumped to their third straight loss after their batting line-up failed to fire again.Lefties galore
The Strikers’ new-look top four is made up exclusively of left-handers. It allowed the Sixers to set up their attack specifically to counter them. The Sixers made several changes to the side that lost their first two matches. Moises Henriques was ill, with Botha standing-in as captain. Dwarshuis came in for Doug Bollinger as a like-for-like but the Sixers picked the extra right-arm off-spinner in Will Somerville specifically to counter the left-handers. Jake Weatherald has a poor record against left-arm quicks in the BBL and the trend continued after he skied a Dwarshuis short ball in the first over. Botha and Somerville were able to bowl six of the first 12 overs at Carey and Travis Head, conceding 40 runs between them and picking up Head. By the time Colin Ingram fell to Dwarshuis for a run-a-ball 15 the Strikers had only managed to score 7.23 per over through 13 overs and were headed towards a below-par total at the SCG.O’Keefe not used, Carey and Wells cash in
According to , Steve O’Keefe has the third-best economy rate at the SCG in the last three BBL seasons. Botha, understandably, did not use the left-arm spinner in the first 13 overs against the four left-handers. But when the right-handed Wells walked out, with one boundary significantly larger than the other, it seemed a perfect time to bring O’Keefe on. Instead, Botha opted for Somerville again. Wells nailed a sweep, with the turn, for four to get himself going. Wells and Carey put together an unbroken 74-run stand in the last seven overs to get the total up to 167 without facing a single delivery from O’Keefe.Carey displayed power and placement early to get to his maiden BBL half-century. But despite losing his timing late in the innings, his supreme fitness saw him sprint four twos and one three. He finished with an unbeaten 83 from 59 balls. Wells’ cameo was outstanding too. He hit two fours and a massive 104m six onto the roof of the Bill O’Reilly stand in the last four balls of the innings to finish with 33 not out from 19 balls.Strikers strike early again
Taking early wickets in the Powerplay has been Perth Scorchers’ modus operandi for years when defending totals. The Strikers look to have copied the blueprint, attacking with their seamers upfront. Billy Stanlake conceded just two runs in the first over. Jason Roy flicked him for a huge six in the third over, but Stanlake set the trap for Daniel Hughes tucking him up with two men back and Hughes picked out one of them on the boundary. Neser had Nic Maddinson nicking off with Carey completing an outstanding one-handed catch. Roy, who looked to be fighting his way out of a form slump, did not do his homework on Ben Laughlin, lofting a predictable slower ball first-up high to mid-off. The Sixers were 3 for 42 at the end of the Powerplay before spin was needed.Silk road too long
Jordan Silk did his best to make the chase interesting. In his first appearance for the season as a replacement for Henriques, he struck ball as sweetly as any batsman all night. He raced to 50 off 31 balls with seven classy boundaries. But when he chopped Rashid Khan onto his stumps all hope seemed lost.Rashid had earlier bowled the Sixers’ last recognised batsman in Sam Billings. Botha and O’Keefe kept hopes alive with a 17-run over off Neser. O’Keefe and Dwarshuis then raised heart-rates with two massive blows inside the last seven deliveries after Laughlin and Neser missed their lengths. But Neser found the mark with his last three to wrap up the Strikers’ win.

Misbah-ul-Haq, Pakistan’s Test captain, has expressed confidence in international cricket returning to the country soon, and said it was ironic his team’s rise to No. 1 in the ICC rankings had to be accomplished without home-crowd support.The ICC chief executive David Richardson presented Misbah with the Test mace at Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore on Wednesday, after Pakistan had risen to No. 1 for the first time since the current Test rankings were introduced in 2003, by virtue of their 2-2 draw in England this summer. Pakistan are the fifth side after Australia, England, India and South Africa to top the ICC Test rankings.”There is nothing better than being No. 1 in the Test rankings,” Misbah said. “It’s one of the best days in my life; the happiest day in my cricketing career. And there can’t be a better location to receive the ICC Test Championship mace than this ground where we last played a home Test seven years ago. It is ironic for both the players as well as the fans that the journey to the No. 1 position has been outside Pakistan.”The players have missed on the crowd support, while the spectators have been unable to watch live some magnificent team and individual performances. But I am confident that things will change and international cricket will soon return to Pakistan.”I would like to congratulate everyone who has been part of this achievement and part of this journey; every individual, every coach, every selector who has worked hard for this No. 1 position.”The families of the players have really sacrificed a lot too. We have to spend almost six to seven months out of the country without them and that’s difficult [for both parties]. Credit should be given to the families. It’s a proud moment for all of us and I hope we can go together at the top for a long period.”Apart from a visit by Zimbabwe in 2015, no Full Member country has toured Pakistan since March 2009, when gunmen attacked the bus transporting the Sri Lankan team to Gaddafi Stadium on a morning of the Lahore Test. Since then, Pakistan have had to host their home fixtures at neutral venues, primarily the UAE.”Being part of a team that is ranked No.1 in Test cricket is a pinnacle achievement for any cricketer. Pakistan is a deserving recipient of the mace,” Richardson said. “It is all the more impressive that it has reached the number-one Test ranking despite not being able to play a series in front of its home crowd since March 2009.”Today is all about the team, today it’s all about Misbah. One of the things that makes Pakistan one of the most watchable teams in the world is the fact that they’ve got a man for all occasions. They’ve got batsmen who can deal with a tight situation, and on the bowling side, you can’t prepare seaming wickets against them because they’ve got the seamers to exploit those conditions, left-arm and the right-arm and of course you’ve got a world class legspinner, so you’ve got all the ingredients for a top team and we are looking forward to Pakistan if not staying at No. 1 then certainly challenging for good many years to come. A strong Pakistan side is good for international cricket.”Pakistan face a challenge to hold on to their No. 1 Test ranking. India, presently No. 2, will displace Pakistan if they beat New Zealand in the upcoming three-Test series at home. Pakistan’s next Test series is in October against West Indies in the UAE. The team that is No. 1 on April 1, 2017, will receive $ 1 million from the ICC.”The next target we have set for ourselves is to finish as the No. 1 Test side at the April 1 cut-off date,” Misbah said. “It is not going to be easy as we have series against formidable sides like the West Indies, New Zealand and Australia. But instead of getting overawed by our opponents, we need to trust in our abilities, focus on our strengths and try to be as consistent as possible.”

ScorecardMiddlesex defeated Glamorgan by the slender margin of two runs in a high-scoring game at Sophia Gardens, and achieved their second successive win in the competition.Glamorgan, meanwhile, suffered their third loss and need to win nearly every game to have any chance of qualifying.The home side needed 16 from the last over and would have tied the game had the final blow from Timm der Gugten against the Middlesex pace bowler Tom Helm, with six needed, not landed a metre or so inside the boundary.Earlier, Middlesex, who were put in on a true pitch, made 304 for 6 with three batsmen passing 50, but no one going on to reach three figures.Paul Stirling and Nick Gubbins gave their team a rapid start, with 50 coming in the first seven overs, with eleven boundaries struck by the openers, before Stirling wafted at a ball wide of the off stump, with the edge well taken by wicketkeeper Chris Cooke.Gubbins was strong through the offside, but shortly after reaching his half century, he was well held low down on the cover boundary by Aneurin Donald, his 53 coming from 55 balls with 4 boundaries.Steve Eskinazi and Eoin Morgan then settled into a productive partnership, and at 185 for 2, Middlesex appeared set for a large total, but Colin Ingram had other ideas, as he dismissed Morgan, Eskinazi and John Simpson in his first three overs.Morgan had made 57 from 55 balls, before attempting to hit Ingram into the River Taff, he holed out on the long on boundary. In his next over, he had Eskinazi caught down the legside by Cooke, before Simpson gave Cooke his third catch when he edged behind.The visitors then recovered, thanks to a breezy 62 not out from James Franklin, and with a wayward over from De Lange yielding 20 runs, Middlesex went past 300.Glamorgan, needing to score at 6.1 an over, also made a promising start, with Nick Selman and Aneurin Donald, who was dropped for the two opening games, racing to 50 in the ninth over. They put on 86 before they were dismissed in successive overs by Ravi Patel. Donald edged to the wicketkeeper, before Selman was unlucky to be given out LBW with a ball that pitched outside leg stump.Worse was to follow, when Shaun Marsh drove Stirling’s first ball back at the bowler, with Glamorgan having lost three wickets for ten runs after their good start. Ingram was then joined by David Lloyd, and after a steady start they accelerated, with Lloyd, the junior partner, playing the major role. He was the first to reach 50 before driving Patel and Nathan Sowter for two straight sixes.When Steven Finn and Helm returned to the attack, they were also struck over the ropes, but when the fourth wicket pair had added 126, Ingram swept Patel into the hands of Cartwright at deep square leg. Cooke soon followed, then Lloyd’s excellent innings ended when Sowter fired one down the leg side to have him stumped for 92 from 75 balls.When Andrew Salter was out, Glamorgan required 37 from 28 balls, then 22 from the last two overs. But when Wagg was bowled in the penultimate over, Glamorgan’s chase faltered, for all der Gugten’s attempt to remedy matters at the last.