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The PCB has roped in Tania Mallick, a member of the Pakistan Olympics Association, to head their women’s cricket wing. The position was vacant since May this year after Urooj Mumtaz – who was holding multiple jobs in PCB – relinquished the main role, allowing PCB to hire a full-time head.Tania, 52, an alumnus of Lahore University of Management Sciences and a former badminton player, represented Pakistan at the Seoul Asian Games 1986. She became the national champion in the 1987-88 season. She has been vice-president of the Punjab Olympic Association since 2010, is currently vice-president of the Punjab Squash Association, and is also serving as a member of the Pakistan Olympic Association’s Education and Women’s Commissions.The PCB has taken over three months to find a candidate for the post, with the first lot of candidates who applied not making much of an impression in the initial interviews. The board had to invite more candidates to come forward, and extended the deadline to do so, having begun their search for a replacement immediately after Mumtaz left.Related

• Bismah Maroof available for 2022 World Cup; Urooj Mumtaz quits as PCB selection chair

• Urooj Mumtaz leaves role as PCB's Head of women's cricket

• Fatima Sana and Kainat Imtiaz added to expanded Pakistan Women contracts pool

• PCB's new ethics code takes aim at conflict of interest

Mumtaz wasn’t working on a full-time basis, with the former captain holding multiple positions, including that of the chief selector of the women’s team apart from having a place in PCB’s cricket committee. She was also a commentator on PCB’s panel. The multiple roles she held began to come under increasing scrutiny, especially with the board’s new ethics code looking to clamp down on any potential conflicts of interest.The PCB women’s wing functions independently under the PCB. Previously, the department was headed by a general manager before it was revamped, creating a full-time role. Before Mumtaz, Shahid Aslam – who is the Pakistan team’s assistant coach – had a stint to oversee women’s cricket. The women’s wing is more structured than ever, with PCB and looking to expand the pool of women cricketers in the country.The PCB has also been offering hefty salaries across the board for the country’s top women cricketers, as well as more lucrative financial incentives for domestic cricket. They have also launched a parental support policy for all contracted cricketers. The women’s cricket selection committee is headed by Mumtaz, and till recently had fellow former cricketers Asmavia Iqbal and Marina Iqbal as it’s members, until Marina gave up the post to focus on her commentary career.

England became only the third team to defend a total in the Super 12s stage of the T20 World Cup thanks to a 26-run victory against Sri Lanka in Sharjah and match-winner Jos Buttler hailed their adaptability as they effectively sealed a spot in the semi-finals.This was the third time that this strip had been used since the start of the Super 12s, following Afghanistan vs Scotland and Pakistan vs New Zealand, and England struggled with the low bounce during the first half of their innings, creeping to 47 for 3 after 10 overs.Buttler’s first T20 international hundred – and his partnership of 112 with Eoin Morgan, England’s captain – led a surge to 163 for 4 as dew began to take effect, and despite Sri Lanka losing early wickets, they stayed in touch with the required rate as England began to struggle with the wetness of the ball, which was skidding onto the bat under floodlights.Related

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• Jos Buttler lays claim to England's best T20 World Cup innings

Tymal Mills, England’s leading wicket-taker across their first three games, then limped off with an injury to his right quadriceps during his second over, leaving England’s ‘fifth’ bowler – the combination of Liam Livingstone and Moeen Ali’s spin – to bowl three of the final six overs, compounded by an arithmetical error which meant Chris Woakes bowled the second half of Mills’ incomplete over.”We showed a lot of character,” Buttler told Sky Sports after England closed out the win. “Obviously conditions changed quite a bit and with Tymal picking up an injury as well, guys stepped up really well. Liam Livingstone was asked to bowl two tough overs there and picked up the key wicket of [Wanindu] Hasaranga.”The dew was bad. That was one reason we bowled Adil [Rashid] out early, to give him the best chance to bowl with the ball as dry as we could. You don’t know if it [the dew] is coming or not. What’s pleasing for us today is that we didn’t have the best of conditions, which we probably have had in the three games before, and we still managed to show the character to get a win.”It made the ball skid on a bit more,” he said in his post-match press conference. “I think especially in the first 10 overs of our innings, the ball sat in the wicket a little bit – there’s obviously very different bounce here in Sharjah to Dubai – and it was hitting the toe of the bat quite a bit. Maybe when the ball got wet, some of them skidding on a little bit more. It’s definitely a swing in the game so we’re delighted with the character we showed against those conditions to come through.”

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Mills will be assessed by England’s medical team but the early signs were not promising. He headed straight to the dressing room after walking off the field, having immediately said the word “quad” and called for a substitute fielder. He has a chequered injury history and if the muscle is torn, he is unlikely to play a further part in the World Cup.”I’m not sure our maths quite worked out there,” Buttler said of the decision for Woakes to complete his over. “We just felt with the short side there, we felt it was going to be a big three balls in the game: those two [Hasaranga and Dasun Shanaka] would have targeted Moeen in that situation.”To be fair, we got the wickets which helped in his over. But with the long side, he was confident to bowl with a good field set. We put an immense amount of trust in the guys to ask Livi to bowl two overs there and for Moeen to bowl the 19th.”England are not mathematically through to the semi-finals but their impressive net run-rate means that it would take a series of dominating wins for certain other sides for them to miss out on the knockout stages. Morgan hailed the contribution of Buttler, their top-scorer for the second game in a row, and said that his team were “delighted” with their start to the competition.”Conditions did continue to change and obviously Tymal going down asked another question of ourselves, but I thought Moeen Ali and Liam Livingstone stepped up unbelievably well to support the other guys with the ball,” Morgan said. “I can’t fault our guys tonight.Eoin Morgan and Jos Buttler put on a century stand•Getty Images

“I thought Jos Buttler played one of his best-ever innings in an England shirt. It was incredible to be at the other end and watch the ebb and flow, then the sheer dominance at the end. He really is one of the best in the game, a privilege to play with and great to have in our team.”Sri Lanka pushed us further than we’d been pushed so far in the tournament. I think they’ve boxed above their weight so far in the World Cup so they should be incredibly proud of what they’ve achieved, but we’re delighted with four wins.”

Fifteen years elapsed before the pink-ball Test pitted Australia against India again in the longest format. A fixture that kicked off with Meg Lanning winning her fourth consecutive toss of the multi-format series and sending the visitors in on Carrara Oval’s drop-in surface, witnessed three declarations, two on the final day alone, as the curtains came down on India’s astonishingly remarkable debut in day-night Tests, stretching their unbeaten streak in multi-day cricket to six matches.The debate whether women’s Tests should have a fifth day, as was the bone of contention during and after the riveting England-India drawn Test earlier this year, gathered further topicality in the wake of rain eating into the bulk of the overs on the first two days. With only one Test in the women’s game ever having been a five-day fixture and seven out of 142 women’s Tests ever having had three declarations, as opposed to six out of 2,433 in men’s Tests, the debate for an additional day will likely rage on as Australia gear up to host England for the multi-format Ashes early next year.India, for their part, can only play the guessing game, as they did through the seven years until June when they remained absent from longest format, as to when they might put on the whites again. Equally, whether they’ll see their captain, Mithali Raj, and Jhulan Goswami, their standout bowler from the pink-ball fixture in which her battle with opener Alyssa Healy lit up the last two evenings, take the field again in a Test match remains anybody’s guess.Related

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• Smriti Mandhana, and the search for the 'feel'

Before Lanning offered Raj the draw at the drinks break in the closing session on Sunday, Goswami and Pooja Vastrakar had taken out Australia’s openers, Healy and Beth Mooney, inside 10 overs. By the time the captains shook hands, with Lanning delivering a congratulatory word to first-innings centurion and Player of the Match Smriti Mandhana, Ellyse Perry added yet another unbeaten Test innings to her name, albeit a 14-ball 1, having made 213*, 116, 76*, and 68* earlier on Sunday, in her four most-recent outings in the format.Only when seven overs into the final session, with No. 4 Punam Raut having begun hitting the next gear in her unbeaten 41, did India declare, barely dangling before Australia the carrot of four points for an outright victory, setting them 272 to chase in 32 overs. This, after Ashleigh Gardner spiced up an evenly poised – though eventually ineffectual – second session, having plucked a blinder in the deep, inches off the ground, to remove Mandhana and break a 70-run opening stand. It wouldn’t be long before Gardner gave Australia their second wicket, bowling first-drop Yastika Bhatia. India, nonetheless, largely remained unhurried in their approach despite Shafali Verma’s third Test fifty in four innings.Ashleigh Gardner took a brilliant catch in the deep•Getty Images

India’s second innings followed an action-filled opening session as Perry’s charmed life continued with her becoming the first Australian woman to score four straight Test fifties. Perry, who took her 300th international wicket on day three, struck an unbeaten 203-ball 68, helping the hosts weather a scintillating swing-bowling burst with the second new ball and escorted them past the follow-on score of 228. A collapse of 5 for 32, including the fall of the ninth wicket shortly before dinner break, saw Lanning declare on 241 for 9, with Australia still 136 behind.Dropped on 58 and 61 on day four, having survived on 2 and 8 during a nervy session under lights the previous night, Perry boosted her Test average to 86.62 – the best ever in women’s Tests for a player to have batted at least 10 innings. She built on her overnight score of 27 with an attacking approach from as early as the first ball of the session, even in the face of Goswami’s mostly flawless charge in the corridor of uncertainty.Facing an overnight deficit of 85 to avoid follow-on, Perry found able support in Gardner, who was dropped on 20 by a diving Vastrakar at gully off Rajeshwari Gayakwad. The left-arm spinner had had three previous chances shelled in the series, and remained wicketless across three innings while Perry and Gardner punished anything short and wide that came their way. In a commanding display of back-foot strokeplay, bejeweled with an assortment of cuts, the duo steered Australia from 119 for 4 to 208 for 5.Such was their prowess that to intercept the cut, India inserted Raut in the close-in position between gully and silly point in the 18th over of the day. Gardner, in response, whipped Gayakwad past short midwicket for two runs that took her to a maiden Test fifty, the first by an Indigenous Australian woman. She would, however, last just another six balls. Driving a loopy offbreak uppishly to mid-off, Gardner perished off Deepti Sharma, Raj taking a good low catch.India took the new ball at the 80-over mark, and their three-pronged pace attack found their day-two mojo back soon, moving the ball both ways off the seam. The scoreboard could have read 219 for 8 had Deepti not shelled a sharp chance off Meghna Singh at gully when Perry was on 58. The debutant, having taken her maiden Test wicket with a peach of an outswinger to Annabel Sutherland, wouldn’t long be away from a second wicket, though. She nipped back the next ball into the left-hander Sophie Molineux and had her trapped in front.Vatsrakar then took out Georgia Wareham before No. 10 Darcie Brown’s first scoring shot in Tests, a four through extra cover, took Australia past the follow-on mark. Deepti had Brown caught lbw four balls before dinner.After debutant Stella Campbell faced her first delivery in Test cricket, Lanning sprung the declaration somewhat surprisingly. A draw, however, predictably remained the likeliest result through the best part of the day. The teams eventually took home two points each, the lead 6-4 in Australia’s favour heading into the three-match T20I leg.

Super over
Ritwik Roy Chowdhury’s unbeaten 18-ball 36 went in vain for Bengal as Karnataka’s Manish Pandey effected a final-ball run out in the second quarter-final to take the game into a Super Over when the scores were level. In the Super Over, Bengal capitulated to lose their two wickets for only five runs, which Karnataka surpassed easily to secure their place in the semi-final.Chasing 161, Bengal started their innings with 20 off the first over, but slowed down as Shreevats Goswami, Abhishek Das and Sudip Chatterjee fell inside the powerplay. Writtick Chatterjee, the No. 3, then scored 51 in 40 balls, but his dismissal – along with the wickets of Kaif Ahmed and Shahbaz Ahmed – brought Karnataka back into the contest.

Semi-final line-up

• 1st semi-final: Tamil Nadu vs Hyderabad, November 20, Delhi
  2nd semi-final: Karnataka vs Vidarbha, November 20, Delhi

However, Roy Chowdhury nearly won Bengal the match when they needed 20 to win off the final over off seamer Vidyadhar Patil. Roy Chowdhury started the over with two sixes followed by a single, after which No. 9 Akash Deep hit a four and ran a double to bring the equation to one run off one ball. But, Deep was run out trying to pinch a single off the final ball courtesy Pandey’s direct hit.In the Super Over, Roy Chowdhury was stranded at the non-striker’s end, facing zero balls. Kaif was out for a duck, and Goswami was run-out for 5 while trying to pinch a second run. Pandey took just two balls to chase the target down and ended the game with a six over midwicket.That Bengal had to chase 161 was courtesy Karun Nair’s unbeaten 55 off just 29 balls. Karnataka’s scoring rate hovered around six for most of the innings, but they accelerated towards the death overs. Nair hit three sixes and four fours and the late boost was provided by Abhinav Manohar, who scored 19 off nine balls, and Aniruddha Joshi, who scored 16 off 10.Sanjay Yadav’s 32 off 22 and a nine-ball unbeaten 19 in the death from Shahrukh Khan sealed a chase of 182 for defending champions Tamil Nadu in the first quarter-final against Kerala, with three balls to spare.TN needed exactly 50 from the last five overs, and Sanjay and Shahrukh struck a combined three sixes and a four in the next three overs to bring the equation down to a more comfortable 14 off 12 and later four off the last over.Sai Sudharsan top-scored for them, hitting seven fours in his 31-ball 46, and there were handy contributions from Hari Nishaanth (32 of 22) and captain Vijay Shankar (33 off 26) as well.Although Kerala’s left-arm seamer Unnikrishnan Manukrishnan took 3 for 26, he did not find support from his team-mates.Kerala’s innings began with a 45-run opening stand between Rohan Kunnummal (51) and Mohammed Azharuddeen. Kunnummal added another 46 for the second wicket with Sachin Baby (33), but two wickets at the score of 91 off Sanjay’s left-arm spin jolted Kerala as they lost captain Sanju Samson for a duck.No. 5 Vishnu Vinod then smacked an unbeaten 65 off just 26 balls, at a strike rate of 250. In the last three overs, Kerala smashed 62 runs – featuring seven sixes and a four – to reach 181 for 4, but the late rally wasn’t enough.File photo: Former Under-19 batter Tilak Varma impressed for Hyderabad once again•ICC via Getty

After Tilak Varma cracked a 50-ball 75 to take Hyderabad to 158, their bowlers rallied to restrict Gujarat to 128 and seal a semi-final spot in the fourth quarter-final. Ravi Teja, the right-arm seamer, was Hyderabad’s standout bowler with three wickets for 27 runs while left-arm seamer Chama Milind took two wickets for 28.It was the two early wickets from Milind and Teja that rocked Gujarat’s chase. Saurav Chauhan was then run-out for 9 to leave Gujarat reeling at 33 for 3 after eight overs. Although Het Patel (25), Piyush Chawla (25) and Ripal Patel (35) contributed from the lower-middle order, the slow scoring rate in the first eight overs meant Gujarat were hardly in control of the chase.For Hyderabad, Tilak – the team’s most consistent batter this season so far – hit five fours and two sixes for a strike rate of 150. He was supported by captain and opener Tanmay Agarwal’s 21-ball 31. The death-overs fireworks were provided by Rahul Buddhi, whose unbeaten 16-ball 25 took Hyderabad past 150.Vidarbha’s well-rounded bowling attack rattled Rajasthan in the morning game and secured their semi-final spot with a comfortable nine-wicket win in the third quarter-final. Ambidextrous spinner Akshay Karnewar’s four overs for only seven runs strangled Rajasthan after they were 18 for 5 inside the powerplay.Rajasthan’s recovery was slow and they managed only 84 for 8. Thirty-nine of those came off Kamlesh Nagarkoti’s bat from No. 5, as he stayed unbeaten. Only two other Rajasthan batters – Mahipal Lomror and wicketkeeper Suraj Ahuja could score in double digits.The eight wickets that Vidarbha took were shared by every bowler, with right-arm seamer Yash Thakur taking two and the rest collecting one each. No Vidarbha bowler had an economy of more than six an over.Rajasthan gave the new ball to Ravi Bishnoi, but he had a wicketless run as Vidarbha openers Atharva Taide (40*) and Ganesh Satish (28) put on a 63-run stand. Vidarbha captain and No. 3 Akshay Wadkar and Taide then finished the game off with 31 balls to spare.

On average, a woman is murdered in South Africa in the time it takes for a T20 match to be played. Over the course of an ODI, two women die. Those are numbers Lungi Ngidi finds hard to ignore.”A woman is killed every four hours in South Africa. That is unbelievable. Mentally, I can’t grasp it,” Ngidi said to ESPNcricinfo. “Just hearing things like that and knowing I have my own mother, cousins, sisters and female friends, it shocks me. It’s not something that you want to be sitting worrying about every day, so something needs to be done about it.”Ngidi’s remarks have come during the annual international campaign against gender-based violence, instituted by the United Nations, that takes place between November 25 and December 10, but he has been thinking about the impact of gender-based violence for months.”This is something that really took off during the lockdown period for me. We are always so busy, we don’t really get time to read up on the stuff that’s happening in the country, but during that period this was something that was highlighted and it stuck out like a sore thumb,” he said.Related

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Many countries reported an increase in domestic abuse during the hard lockdowns of 2020. South Africa confirmed more than 120,000 cases in the first 21-day shutdown. Police figures say 53,293 sexual offences were reported in 2019-20 in the country, an average of 146 per day, up from 52,420 in 2018-19 (143 per day). Most of these were cases of rape: the police recorded 42,289 rapes in 2019-20, nearly 116 per day, up from 41,583 in 2018-19.”I felt that in some way I could contribute and I could make some sort of difference,” Ngidi said. “The main thing is trying to make sure it’s no longer just lip service and that there’s actually something being done. And those who have the power to actually make sure are being held accountable.”Ngidi will be partnering with the United Nations Women for Change programme and the Uyinene Mrwetyana Foundation, set up in memory of the 19-year-old student of that name who was sexually assaulted and murdered in Cape Town in August 2019, sparking nation-wide protests against the abuse of women.Mrwetyana was also honoured by Springbok rugby player Makazole Mapimpi, who wore a wristband with her name on it at the 2019 rugby World Cup. “With Mapimpi, the tribute to Uyinene was a massive statement because it happened on a stage like that,” Ngidi said. “This is why I believe sport has the ability to effect change. Just that little gesture brought a lot of attention and some people who didn’t know [now] know what happened.”Protest in sport against social discrimination has become common over the last 18 months, since the murder of George Floyd and the rise of the antiracism movement. In South Africa it was Ngidi who sparked a dialogue with the Black Lives Matter movement when he answered a question at a press engagement last July, shortly after England and West Indies became the first international teams to take a knee.”As a nation, we have a past that is very difficult, with racial discrimination, so it’s definitely something we will be addressing as a team, and if we are not, it’s something I will bring up. It’s something that we need to take very seriously, and like the rest of the world is doing, make the stand,” he said at the time.It has taken the South African men’s team 15 months and a board-mandated instruction to reach the point where they are collectively making the gesture. Through that period, Ngidi has been one of the players who has been steadfast in taking the knee on every occasion he could, and in speaking out about injustice.”The way I was raised is to speak about something if it’s not right,” he said. “I believe I have the responsibility as someone who plays for the national team. As someone who can influence change, I feel it’s one of my responsibilities to say something.”It’s not like I am out here looking for attention or trying to rally other people to do what I believe in, but this is what I believe in and I can see there’s other people affected by this as well. I will do as best as I can to try and effect some change.”Ngidi’s work against gender-based violence will focus on education and support for those who are abused, and for the perpetrators of that abuse, he said. “Fundraising is important but the main objective is to start seeing a difference in terms of what is actually being done instead of just financial donations. To actually physically do stuff is the most important.”South Africa’s statistics of violence against women are a consequence perhaps of the overarching environment of toxic masculinity in the country. Ngidi said he “could never explain” why crimes against women take place but that he wants to understand and prevent them from happening as frequently.

Andrew Strauss, the interim director of England men’s team, says that the ECB should not be afraid of being “ambitious, bold and radical” as it seeks to restore the country’s red-ball fortunes in the wake of this winter’s Ashes defeat.Strauss, who took up his position on Wednesday following the sacking of his predecessor Ashley Giles, has set in motion a “full independent review into the role and structure of the domestic game”, amid concerns voiced by Joe Root, among others, that the county game as it stands is not preparing young English players for the rigours of Test cricket.”Anyone that’s coming into this Test team at the minute is doing it in spite of county cricket, not because of county cricket,” Root, England’s captain, had said in the wake of the fifth-Test defeat in Hobart. “Some things need to change over a long period of time, but there are a lot of things that can change quite quickly that would hopefully make a significant impact.”And while Strauss stressed that the county structure is not the sole reason for England’s poor showing, not only in Australia but throughout a difficult 12 months, he acknowledged that it was a “contributing factor” that will come under scrutiny as the ECB embarks on the so-called “red-ball reset” that Tom Harrison, the chief executive, acknowledged would be required to reboot their Test fortunes.”I think it’s very fair to say that you cannot lump the Ashes defeat on the domestic game’s door, it’s a contributing factor,” Strauss said. “I would say that I have spoken to a lot of people in and around the game over the last 18 months. I don’t think there are very many at all who believe the domestic structure is best suited to international cricketers.”A lot of the analysis when you look at the international and domestic game backs that up as well. We need to be ambitious, we need to be bold and be prepared to be radical in the solution to those issues.”What we need to do is best replicate the challenges of international cricket in our domestic game. That is very clear and I don’t think anyone would disagree with that.”Strauss’s recommendations were compiled in his recent role as chairman of the ECB’s cricket committee, which considered the end-of-tour report from Giles and Chris Silverwood, the outgoing head coach, and presented its findings to the board in the wake of an Ashes campaign in which England struggled to compete on equal terms at any stage of the five-match series.Related

• Harrison: Ashes defeat a 'brilliant opportunity' for England to 'reset'

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“One of the recommendations that came out of the cricket committee review was for a full independent review into the role and structure of the domestic game, with particular focus on its suitability to produce international cricketers,” Strauss said.”That has gone to the board. We are reaching the next steps on that, which are, if it takes place, what are the terms of reference for that group, and the make-up of the group.”In his previous stint as England men’s director, from 2015 to 2018, Strauss played a key role in establishing the framework for Eoin Morgan’s white-ball team to rise from the ignominy of that year’s World Cup to win the trophy on home soil four years later.While the fruits of that project were plain to see, the longer-term impact on the Test side have become apparent in recent seasons. But Strauss is adamant that England has the wherewithal to thrive across all formats at once, much as Australia have done this winter with their victory at the T20 World Cup ahead of the Ashes.”The focus of that white-ball reset was to try and get the balance between the formats, because prior to that the majority of our focus was on the red-ball game,” he said. “The game is moving more towards white-ball opportunities, the best cricketers in this country are playing a lot of white-ball cricket both in the summer and the winter, so any red-ball reset has to take that into account.”It isn’t about just what happens in the England environment. It is much broader than that. And that’s what it’s going to take on the red-ball side. But, by the way, there is no reason why the men can’t be the best team in both white and red-ball cricket.”We’ve seen it from other teams in the past. India are very strong in both formats. Australia just won the T20 World Cup. We need to have a seat at that table and our ambition has got to be better than both those teams.”

Capri Global, a non-banking financial company based in India, has bagged one of the six franchises in the UAE T20 league, which is scheduled to be launched later this year. The acquisition is Capri Global’s maiden entry into cricket and becomes the fourth franchise owner in the UAE T20 league, which is owned by the Emirates Cricket Board (ECB).The other three firms that have already bought franchise rights comprise: Lancer Capital, the owners of Manchester United Football Club, Reliance Strategic Business Ventures Limited, a subsidiary of Reliance Industries Limited, the owners of Mumbai Indians and GMR Group, co-owners of Delhi Capitals.Capri Global might not be a familiar name in cricket, but the company has been trying hard in recent years to get a toe-hold in the lucrative franchise cricket league, and even raised the fourth-highest bid last year for the two new IPL teams.”Our foray into sports franchising allows Capri Global to leverage on the passion that Indian audience has for cricket,” Rajesh Sharma, managing director of Capri Global, said in a media release on Wednesday.The owners of Kolkata Knight Riders as well as the Sydney Sixers, one of the teams in the BBL, are understood to be the two other parties to have expressed interest in owning the two other franchises in the UAE T20 League. The six-team league, comprising 34 matches, was originally meant to be played in the February-March bracket, but the ECB remains confident it will host the inaugural edition of the league in 2022.ESPNcricinfo understands that one probable window would be in June, immediately after the IPL which is scheduled to end on May 29.

Kemar Roach, West Indies’ veteran attack leader, believes that the “quite surprising” omissions of James Anderson and Stuart Broad from England’s Test plans give his side a slight advantage going into Tuesday’s first Test, but says that the wickets of Joe Root and Ben Stokes are his team’s truest route to victory in the coming weeks.Roach, 33, was instrumental in West Indies’ triumph in their previous home campaign in 2019, when his five-wicket haul in the first Test in Barbados contributed to England’s catastrophic 77 all out. And given that England have just emerged from a 4-0 Ashes loss in which they failed to pass 300 in ten attempts, he recognises the frailties are once again there to be exploited.Asked if it was simply a case of dismissing Root to win the series, given that he made 1708 Test runs at 66.00 in 2021 when no other batter picked for this tour passed 500, Roach replied: “Joe Root and Ben Stokes. If we can put immense pressure on those both, I think we’re in for quite a good chance.”Stokes, who struggled for form during the Ashes after missing most of the 2021 season with a finger injury, has conceded that he “just wasn’t me” as he struggled to 236 runs at 23.60 in the five Tests. However, West Indies witnessed Stokes at his very best on their tour of England in 2020, particularly in the second Test at Old Trafford when he made 254 runs for once out.As for Roach, he is now closing in on 250 Test wickets – a mark that only five all-time great West Indians have previously surpassed – and he admits that the challenge of extending his side’s proud record of one home series loss to England since 1968 will spur him on in the course of these three Tests.”We take the English coming to the Caribbean very seriously,” he said. “Only losing once at home in 50 years is a long time. So the onus is on us as players to have that in the back of our minds, and play the best we can on the day to keep that record intact.”I don’t want to lose that record, so it would be great to win the series, and take that tradition and that record further and further forward. Hopefully we can hold it for 100 years. That’d be fantastic. But this is a stepping stone as we go ahead.”I always put my best foot forward for the West Indies,” Roach added. “For me, playing against England is definitely one of the hallmarks of your career, so it’s all about expressing yourself, being positive and taking it to the English.”At the age of 33, and having been a part of the West Indies Test set-up for 13 years, Roach recognises that he is entering the latter years of his career. Having proved insightful analysis during his commentary stints in the T20I series in January, he is keen to further his opportunities in the media.However, having signed a new deal last week to play Surrey for the start of the 2022 season, he’s in no mood to think about winding up just yet, and said that he would not have taken kindly to the sort of phone-call that Anderson and Broad received from Andrew Strauss last month, informing them that they were being omitted to give younger players a chance.”I definitely would not have taken it too well,” Roach said. “There may have been some breaking news coming for you guys, for sure.Related

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• Warne shock overshadows final day as Wood and Stokes boost England Test hopes

• Ben Stokes vows to dig deeper after 'letting myself down' in the Ashes

“It’s quite surprising,” he added. “I thought that both of them would still be involved, but the decisions have been made from that end, and I think it’s a slight advantage for us.”England’s seamers toiled for penetration on a flat deck at Coolidge this week, claiming a solitary first-innings wicket between them, and though they produced a sparkier display on the final day, a back spasm for Ollie Robinson, and concerns about Mark Wood’s health, meant that there’s some uncertainty in the ranks going into the first Test.”Obviously, those experienced players missing leaves a little bit a hole for England,” Roach said. “Robinson, Wood and [Chris] Woakes are still fantastic bowlers, we will still take them seriously, but once we get our plans right, we should be pretty good going into the series.”They have been good battles over the years, even before myself, so it’s all about continuing that tradition and obviously keep playing good cricket against the English cricketers. Just keep putting your name out there, to be that person to win a series, or be the defining player who takes West Indies over the line.”Following his stint at the Kia Oval last year, Roach may come up against some familiar faces in the coming weeks, most particularly Surrey’s wicketkeeper Ben Foakes, who is in line for a recall. Ollie Pope is set to miss out in the first Test but may feature at a later date, and while there has been much criticism of county cricket since the Ashes loss, Roach believes the competition still offers plenty of vital experience.”I love playing for Surrey, I enjoyed a really fantastic stint last year,” Roach said, after making a lasting impression with 22 wickets at 20.54 in his five Championship appearances. “Hopefully I can use some of those great memories in this series.”I rate county cricket very highly,” he added. “It’s quick changeovers in different conditions. Sometimes it’s sunny, sometimes it’s cold, so it can be very challenging on your body as a fast bowler.”It’s pretty surprising to hear the comments coming in about the standard of cricket there, but I still rate it as probably one of the better first-class seasons going on around the world. It’s on the players to show the world their quality, but I have no issues with the county cricket season.”

Veteran spinner Nathan Lyon resoundingly answered the critics with five wickets on the final day, as Australia’s unwavering attack ended Pakistan’s resistance late on day five to win the deciding third Test by 115 runs. Lyon claimed 5 for 83, while Player of the Match Pat Cummins finished a brilliant series with 3 for 23, and eight wickets in the Test.Needing 351 to win or batting through 121 overs – both feats never achieved in Lahore before – Pakistan were dismissed for 235 after losing five wickets in the final session. In the historic first series between the teams in Pakistan since 1998, Australia broke the deadlock after draws in Rawalpindi and Karachi. It is the same 1-0 scoreline that Mark Taylor’s team famously achieved 24 years ago.After giving Pakistan a sniff with a bold declaration, captain Cummins was vindicated as he led Australia to their first overseas Test series victory since 2016, as they also ended their 11-year drought in Asia.Pakistan’s hopes nosedived when captain Babar Azam fell for 55 after tea when Steven Smith took a sharp catch near his left boot off Lyon. After a torrid series in the slips, Smith atoned in a big moment to put Australia on course for victory.Australia were relieved after Babar, who had produced a masterful 196 to secure a draw in Karachi, had been dropped before tea by Travis Head at deep midwicket after rashly charging Lyon. He also may have enjoyed some luck moments earlier when Australia chose not to review after he prodded a Lyon delivery that ballooned to a diving Smith at slip. With just one review left, Cummins chose not to pull the trigger but replays showed Babar may have gloved the ball.Australia’s nerves were raised when Babar played fluently against the second new ball but his dismissal sucked the life out of the crowd, as Australia soon claimed their first Test win against Pakistan in Asia since 2002.Cummins was predictably brilliant with the ball and gave Australia a stranglehold with a superb burst before tea to dismiss Fawad Alam and Mohammad Rizwan. He made all the right moves, starting with his sporting declaration late on day four, which dangled a carrot to Pakistan, who had defied the odds during their remarkable chase of 506 in Karachi when they finished at 443 for 7 from 171.4 overs.Cummins, who remains unbeaten as skipper from seven Tests, knew the slow Lahore surface marked by low bounce offered more assistance for bowlers than flat pitches in Rawalpindi and Karachi. Having struggled recently in bowling Australia to victory on the final day, Lyon proved a point with a five-wicket haul as he expertly targeted the rough patches and occasionally made deliveries spit off the wicket.Fittingly, Pat Cummins claimed the final wicket after comprehensively bowling Naseem Shah•AFP/Getty Images

He started his terrific performance by removing Imam-ul-Haq for 70 with his second ball after lunch when he had the opener inside-edging to silly point. It was a reward for Lyon’s accuracy and Cummins’ persistence with deploying four catchers around the bat.Lyon had also toiled manfully in the middle of day three to fuel Australia’s fightback just when Pakistan appeared set for a mammoth first-innings total.Amid batting friendly conditions throughout, Australia’s series victory was built on the back of indefatigable batting, even though Player of the Series Usman Khawaja was their only centurion. Pakistan-born Khawaja enjoyed a remarkable homecoming with 496 runs at 165.33 and two hundreds, while Australia had enough contributors without any other standouts.Pakistan will rue a horrendous batting collapse on day three when they had lost 7 for 20, as they eventually fell short of staving off defeat for the second straight match. They were left to ponder the decision to deploy a five-pronged bowling attack at the expense of allrounder Faheem Ashraf, which left their batting weakened.Even though they faced a daunting task, the hosts entered the final day with hope. But it soon eroded in the first session after the controversial dismissal of Azhar Ali for 17 following an overturned review. Replays detected a faint edge from an attempted sweep off Lyon that lobbed to Smith at first slip. Smith was absolutely convinced that he had heard a sound, but replays only detected the slightest deviation in the wave.In his 94th Test – and first in his hometown – Azhar’s match ended in major disappointment as he trudged off angrily in a blow for Pakistan who had earlier lost in-form Abdullah Shafique for 27.Pakistan were again dependent on Babar, and fans in the terraces still believed he could produce something miraculous on the 30th anniversary of Pakistan’s World Cup triumph at the MCG.But those dreams were thwarted by Australia’s sustained attack, which never buckled in the series despite flat conditions and formidable Pakistan batting. Fittingly, Cummins claimed the final wicket after comprehensively bowling Naseem Shah to trigger memorable celebrations for Australia who have waited a long time to savour victory in Pakistan.

Derbyshire 274 for 4 (Masood 113, Guest 77) trail Worcestershire 368 (Haynes 133, Ali 88,Conners 5-109) by 94 runsShan Masood scored his third century of a remarkable season to stay on course for 1000 runs before the end of May as Derbyshire dominated the second day of the LV= Insurance County Championship match against Worcestershire at Derby.The Pakistan left-hander made 113 from 132 balls to take his tally to 826 with a possible three more innings to come before the end of the month.Brooke Guest scored 77 with Derbyshire plundering 172 runs in 36 overs between lunch and tea before Worcestershire hit back in the evening session to leave the home side on 274 for 4, trailing by 94.Fast bowler Sam Conners took four wickets in the morning to complete a five-wicket haul as Worcestershire lost their last five wickets for 42 to be bowled out for 368.The day had promised much more for the visitors but after subsiding to Conners they felt the full measure of Masood’s elegant strokeplay.Ed Barnard and Ben Cox represented Worcestershire’s best chance of passing 400 but they both fell in the same over to Conners, Barnard driving loosely to cover and Cox lbw to a ball that looked to be missing leg stump.Conners made it three in seven balls when he found lift and away movement to remove Josh Baker before nightwatchman Adam Finch, after 22 overs of determined resistance, pulled Ryan Sidebottom to deep backward square.Sidebottom immediately left the field with a calf injury but Anuj Dal pulled off another stunning catch at point to quickly end the innings and give Conners his fifth wicket.Derbyshire set the tone for what followed by scoring 30 in seven overs before lunch and the afternoon became one to remember for Masood and one to forget for Worcestershire.Although they are missing three frontline bowlers through injury, there was no mitigation for the way runs were leaked on both sides of the wickets with the bowlers unable to exert any pressure.After Billy Godelman got an inside edge onto his leg stump, Masood and Guest cruised along at almost a run-a-ball against indisciplined bowling and increasingly ragged fielding.Masood’s timing and placement was exemplary but Worcestershire helped him along the way, Barnard spilling a chance at backward point off Ben Gibbon on 67 and then fluffing a run out chance 10 runs later.Inevitably, he moved to his third century in seven innings from 115 balls but Worcestershire regrouped after tea with Gibbon claiming the prized wicket of Masood during an impressive 11-over spell from the City End.The 21-year-old beat Masood’s attempted drive in the first over after the interval, the first of three wickets to fall for only 27 runs in 15 overs which reflected Worcestershire’s improvement.Guest lost his concentration and edged a big drive at a wide ball from Barnard and Wayne Madsen was lbw trying to work Baker’s left-arm spin to leg.Gibbons was unlucky not to make further inroads but Leus du Plooy and Luis Reece saw Derbyshire through to the close although Worcestershire have the prospect of a second new ball early on day three.