BPL corruption hearing begins in Dhaka

The preliminary hearing into the alleged match-fixing and spot-fixing scandal in the 2013 Bangladesh Premier League began in Dhaka on Sunday. Legal representatives of eight of the nine people charged participated in the proceedings; the next hearing is scheduled for January 19, 2014.

Noorus Sadik, the legal representative of Mosharraf Hossain and Mahbubul Alam, said he had put forward a statement on the players' behalf and pleaded not guilty. Dhaka Gladiators' legal advisor Aminuddin said the team had asked the tribunal to stop its proceedings because it had already filed a case in the civil court. "We asked them to stop the proceedings as they failed to form the tribunal in 40 days and we had filed a case in the civil court," Aminuddin said. "As the case is pending in the court, we want it to end before the tribunal starts its proceeding."

ICC legal head Ian Higgins, Shelly Clarke and Jonathan Taylor were present at the hearing that was convened by Justice Khademul Islam along with panel members Azmalul Haque and Shakil Kashem.

According to the BCB's anti-corruption code, the purpose of the preliminary hearing was to "allow the convenor of the anti-corruption tribunal to address any issues that need to be resolved prior to the hearing date".

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Deeper problems than first-Test nerves for England

England's recurring first-Test failure may this time point to more ingrained issues

Had you never seen England play Test cricket before this match in Brisbane, you would be forgiven for concluding that they had no hope of fighting their way back into this Ashes series.

This defeat was as emphatic and complete as any in recent years. Indeed, only five times in history have England lost a Test by a larger run margin. It is understandable that some are suggesting that this game may be remembered as the start of a new era. An era in which Australia hold the upper hand.

But we have seen England play before. We know that they have experienced similarly crushing defeats - Leeds 2009, Perth 2010 and Ahmedabad 2012 - and bounced back to win the next games and the series in which they were played. Perhaps they can do the same thing again?

Certainly that was the view taken by Alastair Cook. England's captain conceded that his side had been "outplayed" but then insisted that "there's plenty of time to fight back".

"We've done it a lot of times in the past and that's what we're going to have to draw upon now," he said. "In Ahmedabad everyone was looking at us and wondering how we could play cricket and we bounced back to win an amazing series in India.

"The first thing we have to do is remember we are a very good side and there are some very good players in the dressing room. We've had a bad game and we can hold our hands up and say that. But we've got 10 days now. We'll stay strong as a unit and we'll come back fighting."

Whether that proves to be wishful thinking remains to be seen but it would be a mistake to dismiss the Test as an aberration. A team that has failed to score 400 for 18 consecutive innings is not in a barren run; it is in a famine. A team who continually start poorly in series and rely on their bowlers to bail them out of tough situations are not unlucky; they are flirting with danger. This result has been an accident waiting to happen.

Just as worryingly, England have only played two Tests on quick wickets in the last four years - here and in Perth - and they have lost them both heavily. It bodes ill that Perth, perhaps the fastest wicket in the world looms again just around the corner in the third Test.

By reputation, Adelaide, the location of the second Test, is something approaching a batting paradise. It might, in normal circumstances, be expected to provide a tonic for England's beleaguered batsmen. But no-one is quite sure how the fresh drop-in pitch will play and it would seem oddly hospitable of Australia to offer anything other than another pitch of pace and bounce. There may be no respite in store.

The headlines will be dominated by Mitchell Johnson and England's batsmen's struggles against pace and bounce. Probably quite rightly, too. Even his poor deliveries - and there were a few - proved beneficial as they left the batsmen unsure what to expect from his slingy, low action. His success was another example of the benefits of unorthodoxy in cricket. The debate over whether such a player could emerge through the English system can wait for another day.

There were other issues at play apart from Johnson. England also played the offspin of Nathan Lyon like novices; the lack of an effective third seamer saw them unable to exploit Australia's position of 132 for 6 on the first day and Graeme Swann, arguably the best spinner England have ever had, was out-bowled by his Australian counterpart.

The individual form of a couple of players is causing concern, too. Jonathan Trott appears most rattled by Johnson's pace and, in his last nine Tests, has a better bowling average than batting average: 21.50 with the ball and 31.94 with the bat. Matt Prior has averaged 15 in the eight Tests he has played since May and only 17.50 in first-class cricket since the start of the last English season. He has passed 50 only once in 24 innings.

England will be loathe to abandon their consistency of selection policy, but there was just a hint that changes could be made. Ironically after a defeat due to poor batting, it is the position of Chris Tremlett, the third seamer, which is most under threat, but Trott, too, is looking as insecure as at any stage in his four-year Test career.

"We are going to have to be very honest with ourselves in how we go about trying to play Johnson," Cook said. "You can't brush the issue under the carpet, he's hurt us in this game and we're going to have to come back show our ability in the next game.

"We all need to be honest with each other as a group. It's not just those three who haven't had a good game - all eleven of us really need to improve if we want to win this series.

"Trott has had a tough game and he knows that. But you have to remember the guy is class. He is a very good player. He's had a little blip in these last couple of games but he's a class player and class players bounce back.

"I know he's been working incredibly hard at playing the short ball and anyone who has seen the net sessions can see he is trying to work on it. It is just a matter of him trying to take that into the middle. When the emotion and the pressure of the game is on, it can be quite tough to think as clearly as you need to."

In the long-term, Trott has a good chance of finding a method to deal with the line of attack with which he is confronted. He will know, too, that his captain endured a similarly grim run of form in 2010 and benefitted from England's loyalty and patience. But if the team management feel that Trott is, for now, mentally shot, he may not win a reprieve for Adelaide. It may be to his benefit that none of the squad's reserve batsmen - Jonny Bairstow, Gary Ballance or Ben Stokes - is hammering at the door of the team.

England can take consolation from one area: they know they have prevailed against Australia - with Johnson - on several previous occasions. Indeed, Trott's debut century was against an attack that included Johnson.

"We've got to look at the way we're going to play him," Cook agreed. "He's bowled well in this Test. He bowled well in Perth last time and he hurt us there.

"But there have been times in the past when we've played really well against him. We can draw on that. You can't brush the issue under the carpet, he's hurt us in this game and we're going to have to come back and show our ability in the next game."

Perhaps most damaging of all for England is the fact that this result will encourage an Australian team who have been starved of success for almost a year. Motivated and now full of confidence, they may prove hard to stop.

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Dale Steyn fined for foul language

Dale Steyn has been fined 10% of his match fee for breaching the ICC Code of Conduct during the second Twenty20 international against Pakistan in Cape Town on Friday.

Steyn was booked under Article 2.1.4, which relates to "using language or a gesture that is obscene, offensive or insulting during an international match". The incident occurred at the end of Steyn's second over and he admitted the offence and accepted the sanction from match referee Andy Pycroft.

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England unravelling through run drought

They have slumped from grinding sides down with mountains of runs to battling to stay in matches

The 2011 series between India and England was supposed to be a heavyweight contest for the No. 1 Test ranking. But had England played Ravi Shastri on his own holding a microphone, they would have got stiffer opposition. England won 4-0. England were No. 1.

Until today, England were unbeaten in their ten Tests this year. It is not a record to be mocked. A closer look does show that five of those were draws, four against teams with far worse recent records and low rankings.

It would be foolish and idiotic to say this England team is shot because they have lost this one Test. First Tests are not England's speciality; they outlast and win over teams in the long haul. That might still happen; they could come back in Adelaide and win this series. But despite that fact, England have certainly not been at their best since they demolished India at home. Something is not quite right with this team.

Jonathan Trott's second innings shot might be the one people remember, but the sight of a well-set Alastair Cook nicking Nathan Lyon behind might be the real story of the last two years of English cricket. A lack of daddy hundreds.

In 2009, Andy Flower picked Graham Gooch from commentary duties and got him to look after his batsmen. It started as part-time but soon became a full-time position. In 2010, Alastair Cook was an edgy, flawed mess at the crease. A year later he was a batting like a lizard God.

Gooch may have fixed, tweaked and encouraged better results, but what the world heard was "daddy hundreds". A hundred was okay, but a score of 150 and over was a daddy. Gooch wanted Gooch-style hundreds, he wanted England players to approach the 333s, he wanted them to control the game, grind the bowlers into the ground and cash in when they were on top.

It was almost as if anything under 150 was seen by Gooch as flirting. An inconsequential occupation of the crease. The hundreds he wanted were the ones that bat companies use on the stickers of their bats. The kind that you tell your friends you were at. The ones that win series and kill bowlers.

England responded by scoring many of these hundreds. They ground bowlers into the turf, they won series after series, they became the best side in the world. The daddy hundred was their foundation.

The idea was simple enough; England wanted to bat for the longest time, blunting the new ball, setting up the game for their batsmen to tire out the bowlers for this Test, and the next, ensuring that their bowlers were fully rested between innings. Opposition batsmen would look at scores of 500, 600 or 700 and be mentally defeated.

It's not a radical plan, although it was different to the more attacking smash-the-opposition-bowlers-around-the-head-and-mentally-beat-them style of Australia and West Indies. Most importantly, like a team of well-programmed robots, England did it almost perfectly.

They lost to West Indies at the start of 2009. They were bowled out for 51. It was a low point. Andrew Strauss was the new captain, Flower interim coach. But in their next nine Test series, they won eight and drew one. And considering the one they drew was in South Africa, it was a pretty great time to be an England player. In that period they played 31 Tests and they scored 16 daddy hundreds. When their players got in, they didn't leave until the opposition bowlers were completely defeated.

By the time India arrived in England, they were entering a machine of efficiency that they couldn't compete with. They handed their No. 1 crown straight over.

England blew past them and started talking legacy. Being No. 1 was nice, but this was a team that wanted to be the sort of side that people talked about for generations to come. With only Strauss nearing retirement, No. 1 was a step on the way to cricket's next dynasty.

You had to be at the Gabba in 2010 to know how complete Cook, Strauss and Trott's domination of Australia was. England had stuttered in the first innings. They'd very nearly broken Australia with the ball, before being smashed by Haddin and Hussey. All the hope and expectation that England had coming into the series had already started to evaporate for all but their most fanatical fans. Then came 517 for 1.

Strauss made a normal hundred. Trott was on the way to a daddy. Cook made a daddy. It was solid, clinical and sweatless. Mitchell Johnson was embarrassed. Ben Hilfenhaus was milked. Neither would play in the next Test. If Steve Harmison's first ball was a symbol of how weak and ill-equipped England were for the Ashes in 2006-07, then 517 for 1 in this series was a statement they were absolutely ready.

It was only a draw. But that innings changed the dynamic of the two teams. England weren't afraid, they weren't useless, and once they got in, they weren't moving.

A week later, in Adelaide, Cook made 148, practically a daddy. Pietersen made 227. Dougie Bollinger, Peter Siddle and Ryan Harris bowled 88 overs. From that moment onwards, even with the freak win in Perth, Australia were never going to win that Test series.

The series after beating India, England lost their first series in ten attempts. They went to play Pakistan in the UAE with a clear plan to sweep. Saeed Ajmal and Abdur Rehmann tormented them. England's bowlers did very well and did everything they could to keep them in the game but their batsmen couldn't find any runs, and Pakistan struck down the No. 1 Test side.

Soon after, England went to Galle and lost to Rangana Herath. In Colombo, in the second and final Test against Sri Lanka, Kevin Pietersen made a daddy hundred. England drew the series. It was a good end to a horror winter.

Perhaps it was a hangover from becoming No. 1, maybe just a blip, or even a weakness against spin. But England had rightly been favoured to win both series and won neither. They bounced back by beating West Indies, and Tino Best's innings aside, they were okay.

Then South Africa arrived and there was something not quite right about England. The South Africa batsmen were playing the way England used to, and the English batsmen had become cavalier. Strauss was in a funk that would end his career. Cook started nicking off at balls he wouldn't previously have given the time of day. Trott was loose. Ian Bell never got going. Matt Prior was good but couldn't make a ton. Only Pietersen, who played one of the great innings, and caused off-field carnage, looked anything like his best.

For South Africa, three daddy hundreds were made. Amla's (a family patriarch 311) was the one that set up the whole series. It was only three Tests, a woeful playoff for world No. 1, but England never looked like the better team. They almost stole the Test at Headingley, they were close enough not to get embarrassed at Lord's, but South Africa were just better.

Coming off a loss to South Africa, with an ordinary result against Sri Lanka, and a beating by Pakistan in their minds, England were hammered in Ahmedabad. Almost no sides would have come back from that. And they might not have, had it not been for Cook, the new captain.

Much like at the Gabba, they were massively behind in the game, and looking shaky, when Cook batted for 556 minutes and made his daddy 176. England were still humiliated by nine wickets. But Cook had shown them that they could score in India, and when they did, they could do it for a very long time.

The next Test, Cook made a normal hundred, Pietersen made a daddy, England won by 10 wickets. The third Test Cook made 190. England won by seven wickets. The fourth was drawn, largely because of Trott's 143.

England had won in India for the first time since 1984-85, coming from one Test down. After losing their No. 1 crown and the ast series against South Africa, it was an amazing effort and a historical win. Perhaps the other series were a temporary blip.

Graeme Swann missed the trip to New Zealand, Pietersen came home during it, both with old-man wear-and-tear injuries. A New Zealand team missing a few players as well shouldn't have been a real challenge for the recent No. 1 and conquerors of India. It turned out that the best England could do in the series was hold on to a draw, with Prior and Monty Panesar holding on to lifeboats. They only just managed to lose a series they should never have been in a position to lose. But they atoned back in the UK with an easy win over a now-hapless New Zealand.

Against Australia earlier this year, they were never at their best. They went very close to losing the first Test, smashed Australia in the second, were in a very dangerous position when the rain came in the third, founded an inspirational Stuart Broad to win the fourth, and almost stole the fifth before bad light spoiled the party.

For the batsmen, Bell was outstanding, but no one else was. Pietersen was good, Root had one amazing innings, but without Bell, the entire series might have looked different. The Australian bowlers were never pushed into the ground. The Australian batsmen were never kept waiting for hours on end. England just won almost every important moment in the series.

In their eight series since becoming No. 1, England had won four, drawn two, and lost two. It was hardly a collapse, but it was a long way from 517 for 1.

The early Flower years had 16 daddy hundreds. The last two years had only five from five fewer Tests, three of which were in their amazing win over India. Back in the old days, even Broad was making daddy hundreds.

In the last two years all their regular batsmen are averaging below their career averages. Cook is minus five, Prior minus four, even Bell minus eight despite his magical Ashes. Trott is down eight runs, along with Pietersen, even though he has made two of the best Test hundreds ever in that time. The story has been one of deterioration.

In the two years before that, Cook averaged 12 runs above his career total (17 more than in the previous two-year period), Prior 1 more (an increase of five), Bell 26 more (an increase of 34), Pietersen 1 more (nine ahead), and Trott 11 more (19 runs better). That was a whole lot of improvement.

But with poorer individual numbers have come lower totals. England have not passed 400 in the last 18 attempts. And it's hard to grind the opposition down when you don't pass 400.

None of the other batsmen have fared much better. Strauss retired. Eoin Morgan and Ravi Bopara are now perceived as limited-overs specialists. Samit Patel was a horse for a course in Sri Lanka. James Taylor and Nick Compton are out of favour; one might come back, the other probably never will. Jonny Bairstow never really got going but should be back. Root oozes talent, and has a decent record so far, but he needs to find his position and be trusted for a while. Other than Strauss, none of the above average over 40 in Test cricket.

	The legacy England were trying to build is now secondary to just trying to regain their best form

Anderson, Swann and Broad haven't had the same drop-off. They are all the same or better than their career averages in both periods. Even without the rest and the psychological advantage that their batsmen used to provide, they are still players who have been constantly winning matches for England, or keeping them in them.

The only weakness in England's bowling in that time has been the fourth man in the attack. Tim Bresnan, once presented as a novelty good-luck charm, was actually averaging 23 with the ball in that period, and often bowled the hard spells to rest the strike bowlers. He had the ability to keep the run rate down or take the wickets.

Then Bresnan picked up an elbow injury. Because it was Bresnan, and everything about him is so low key, it was barely talked about. But from that point on, Bresnan never looked like the same bowler. In the last two years, he has averaged 45 with the ball. Some of that was on Asian pitches but his average at home is also 40. Currently Bresnan is out of the team, his recovery from a stress fracture not yet proven.

The other fourth bowlers have not been much better. Chris Tremlett was brought back much on the form of three years ago and looks like a bad artist's impression of the Tremlett from then. Steve Finn is deemed too expensive and cannot consistently stay in the team. Graham Onions dominates county cricket but couldn't get in the squad for this tour, let alone the team.

England's newer options haven't looked great. Chris Woakes and Simon Kerrigan were average and poor respectively at The Oval, but they at least have youth and, in Woakes' case, batting on their side. Panesar will be back, possibly as soon as Adelaide, but his form in county cricket won't have Australia scared. A long-term answer for the fourth bowling spot is not that apparent, unless Finn learns the discipline Flower craves.

That England could not win or save the Test at the Gabba was always inevitable. None of their batsmen stepped up, none of them ever looked remotely unmovable, and at no time did two men get together and become the rocks that at least would bring England some respect. There was no fight, no runs, and no hundreds, let alone a daddy.

The key men are changing. Strauss is gone. Geoff Miller has announced his intention to stand down as chairman of selectors. Flower might be next. The core of the team is still almost all there - because you don't fluke repeated double-centuries and totals of over 500 - but will this lot of quality players be able to lift England to those heights again?

The legacy they were trying to build is now secondary to just trying to regain their best form, and chasing South Africa as the best team on earth. There was a time when a missed run-out of Cook would have almost certainly cost you a daddy hundred, and any chance of winning a game. This time it cost Australia 65 runs and an earlier finish.

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USACA forms governance implementation committee

The USA Cricket Association postponed any immediate action on remodeling its governance structure at last weekend's AGM and has instead opted to form a committee to review and explore the implementation of recommendations on governance from a report submitted earlier this year. USACA chief executive Darren Beazley had been pushing for changes to take place by the end of 2013, but a USACA press release stated that it might take till the summer of 2014 for any of the recommendations to be approved by the board and its members.

Beazley had spent much of the summer championing a number of recommendations from the governance review done by TSE Consulting, which was funded by a grant from the ICC. He visited administrative leaders around the country from the eight regions of the USACA in October and was joined for part of his tour by ICC global development manager Tim Anderson on a mission to convince stakeholders to support and approve the measures.

A key recommendation from the TSE report included changing the power structure of the USACA to reduce the size of the current USACA board, cut their power in half and give 50% of it to independent directors. Among the other recommendations were to establish term limits for board members, redefine membership categories and introduce athlete representation into the board.

However, rather than moving to take a vote to approve the measures at the USACA AGM on November 16 in Florida, the USACA press release issued late on November 22 said that a governance implementation committee will be formed to attempt to install the measures following up from the governance review committee which dealt with the TSE report prior to the AGM.

"The USACA governance review committee has worked hard over the past year," USACA president Gladstone Dainty said in the release. "We now have several recommendations and themes that will be invaluable in charting a new direction for cricket in this country which is a tremendous positive for the sport. The board of USACA is committed to evolve. We understand that in order for cricket to achieve its ambitious goals outlined in the USACA Strategic Plan 2014-16, the manner in which the game is administered must build on the strong foundation we have and step forward.

"Further, now is the time to form a governance implementation committee to take good governance practices and implement them at USACA. Some of the changes can be implemented by the board and others will require constitutional changes."

The dates for next year's USACA national championship were also finalised for August 21-24 at a new multi-million dollar turf-wicket facility in Indianapolis, Indiana. It will be the first USACA national tournament held since 2011.

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Gibson wants better execution from WI as Gayle sidelined

West Indies opener Chris Gayle will miss the remainder of the India ODIs , as well as the Test-match-leg of tour of New Zealand that follows due to the hamstring injury he picked up in the first India game, in Kochi. He will need three to four weeks to regain full fitness, the West Indies physiotherapist confirmed.

"Chris is returning to the Caribbean for injury management and subsequent physical rehabilitation," CJ Clark, the West Indies physio, said. "He will be assessed continuously over the period with a view for him to be fit for the five ODIs and two Twenty20 Internationals in New Zealand."

West Indies will not send a replacement player for Gayle to India, but Kraigg Brathwaite will take his place in the squad for the New Zealand Tests.

West Indies coach Ottis Gibson said losing Gayle was a major setback for the side as they tried to come back from a 0-1 deficit to win the three-match series against India. "He is our best batsman in this format," Gibson said. "He is one of the senior players in the team and one of the players that know Indian conditions quite well. But I will always try to look at the positive and it gives an opportunity for somebody else to make a name for himself."

Gibson said the team's overall showing in ODIs, recently, was disappointing. "It's frustrating because we sit as a team and we have targets about where we want to be at 10 overs, 20 overs, 30 overs, 40 overs, not only in terms of runs, but also wickets lost," he said. "At every stage, we are way ahead of our targets or on-par with where we want to be [but] we have lost one or two wickets too many.

"In the last 10 overs, it's then left to the bowlers to negotiate and this has been something that has been happening for the last few series we have played and it makes it tough on the team."

West Indies have won only seven of 21 ODIs in 2013, of which three victories have come against Zimbabwe. Going into the must-win game in Visakhapatnam, Gibson said he used the free day on the eve of the match - rain forced practice to be abandoned - to have a word with his players individually. "I have been going around having one-on-one discussions with certain players about certain situations in which they find themselves during matches and discuss how perhaps they can do things better when they find themselves in those situations."

The team, he said, had once again let things slip in Kochi, after being in a decent position. "Judging from the series that India recently played at home against Australia, we know that 211 is not really going to be a competitive total. We had a platform to put 280 on the board. We do not know if that would have been enough, but at least it would have been a decent total, that didn't happen.

"When we bowled, we were able to create some pressure, but we could not sustain for a long enough period and the total we had was not enough. It's frustrating because the guys are working hard and we have what I consider to be solid plans, but we are not executing those plans well enough."

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Van Zyl, Hendricks star in Cobras' innings win

Cape Cobras 398 (van Zyl 167*, Kleinveldt 72, Subrayen 4-115) beat Dolphins 88 (Kleinveldt 3-15, Hendricks 3-21, Piedt 3-41) and 212 (van Wyk 52, Hendricks 6-54) by an innings and 98 runs
Scorecard

Stiaan van Zyl recorded his 12th first-class century and scored almost twice the entire Dolphins total, while 23-year old seamer Beuran Hendricks' six-for sealed an innings win for Cape Cobras in Pietermaritzburg to kick off their Sunfoil series campaign.

Only three batsmen managed double figures after Dolphins elected to bat. Rory Kleinveldt and offspinner Dane Piedt joined Hendricks in picking up three wickets each, and facilitated a fatal collapse - seven wickets for 31 runs. Vaughn van Jaarsveld held firm for 120 balls and was the last man out for 39.

Cobras were 140 for 5, held in check by the early loss of Andrew Puttick, when van Zyl found an able ally in Justin Kemp to stabilise the innings. Kleinveldt came in at 214 and pushed the lead further with a rapid half-century, his ninth in first-class cricket. Van Zyl continued in his role as anchor during the 111-run union for the seventh wicket and remained unbeaten on 167, as his side captured a lead of 310 runs.

Hendricks took centre stage in the second innings, dismissing four of the top-five batsmen, though Dolphins exhibited some backbone this time. Divan van Wyk, who scored the only fifty for the Dolphins, and Khaya Zondo enjoyed an 81-run stand for the second wicket. However, the momentum shifted drastically when that partnership was broken as Dolphins lost five wickets for 12 runs. Keshav Maharaj, the wicketkeeper, resisted with a knock of 37, but Hendricks was too good for the tail, dismissing the last two batsmen in the space of four balls to end up with 6 for 54.

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Cook fights, but England lose KP

England 136 and 3 for 98 (Cook 40*, Bell 20*) need another 463 runs to beat Australia 295 and 7 for 401 dec
Live scorecard and ball-by-ball details

England's task to save the Gabba Test looked insurmountable, but if they could draw sustenance from anywhere it was from the Brisbane Test three years ago. They batted for ten-and-a-half hours, Alastair Cook made an unbeaten double hundred and the series shifted irrevocably in their favour.

Brisbane's humidity levels were high, despite a violent storm the previous evening, but anticipation of an England backs-to-the-wall response was yet to build up. After three days of capacity crowds, the Gabba was half full, amplifying the sense of a job almost done. The task seemed too great, two days remained: lightning had already struck (literally and metaphorically) and surely it was not about to strike again.

Cook, though, is designed for the long game. Endurance defines him. He batted throughout the morning, patient and unflustered, intent purely on survival, and scoring occasionally by happenstance.

But such is Australia's dominant position that one wicket made it incontestably their morning, especially as that wicket was Kevin Pietersen, who once again looked focused on the job, but whose 100th Test has failed to be munificent. He made 26 before he fell to the first over after the drinks interval, leaving Cook and Ian Bell to negotiate the rest of the session.

Pietersen's swivel pull against Mitchell Johnson felt smooth enough but all he did was pick out the fielder at fine leg. Pietersen, whose knowledge of first-class players is not encyclopaedic (he once played a match with Hampshire's Chris Wood without knowing who he was) could be forgiven for not knowing that the catcher in question was Chris Sabburg, specialist fielder and smiter for Brisbane Heat.

It was only the second ball Pietersen had faced from Johnson on the third morning and his determination to assert himself proved to be his downfall. It was a well-directed short ball at his body and he got underneath it.

Sabburg, his job done, immediately left the field, replaced his orange substitutes' bib and yanked his sunnies over his ginger hair, a look of total satisfaction on his face. It was the finest substitute's intervention in an Ashes Test since Gary Pratt ran out Ricky Ponting at Trent Bridge.

Australia introduced Shane Watson for the first time in the Test just before lunch and, although his nagging, wicket-to-wicket approach has been known to trouble Cook, it invited fears as to whether his damaged calf would stand the strain. Ryan Harris slid into the boundary boards in a failed attempt to stop Bell's straight hit against Steve Smith crossing the boundary; an unnecessary risk by Harris in the circumstances. He rose to his feet and Australia breathed easily.

They were more likely to look to Nathan Lyon's offspin. His ability to get overspin makes him dangerous at the Gabba and likewise in Perth, too, later in the series. One ball reached Cook on the full and he made a hash of trying to hit it through midwicket as it deflected off his thigh. In the great scheme of things, it mattered not a jot.

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Akmal, spinners help Pak draw level

Pakistan 176 for 4 (Akmal 64, Steyn 2-29) beat South Africa 170 for 4 (Amla 48, Afridi 3-28) by six runs
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details

A 102-run stand between Mohammad Hafeez and Umar Akmal allowed Pakistan to put on their most competitive batting display in limited-overs matches against South Africa in the last month and break a six-match winless streak. With both batsmen enjoying their first half-centuries in 13 innings, South Africa were required to chase the second-highest total in T20s at Newlands.

The hosts started as though they would get there but their innings was halted by Pakistan's spinners, led by Shahid Afridi who took the first three wickets. Bilawal Bhatti, in just his second match, showed the variations needed to stem the run flow of runs so that even a 34-run blitz in two overs by David Miller and JP Duminy at the end was not enough, with Sohail Tanvir bowling low full tosses at the death.

The example for seamers was set by Bhatti, who used both the yorker and the slower ball bouncer to good effect, unlike South Africa's seamers. They lacked the control that is usually provided by Lonwabo Tsotsobe. Morne Morkel and Dale Steyn started well but both fell into an over-reliance on the short-ball.

This time, Pakistan's openers were able to deal with them comfortably. They saw off the barrage and attacked the rest. Nasir Jamshed showed ominous signs when he tore into both South Africa's front-liners.

Ahmed Shehzad was equally confident but he slashed at Wayne Parnell's first ball and was caught at slip. That over turned into a wicket maiden as Mohammad Hafeez gave himself time to settle in.

The next shot in anger was off a free-hit, when Parnell overstepped and Hafeez sent his bouncer into the stands. Jamshed tried to charge Aaron Phangiso, off the first ball of spin he faced, and was stumped, to allow South Africa to pull Pakistan back to a scoring rate of under six an over before Hafeez really got going.

He beat Steyn at short third man to hit his first four, played a delicate leg glance off David Wiese and then launched Phangiso for two straight sixes down the ground. Akmal started his boundary count with a similar shot. Hafeez brought up his half-century - the first of this marathon limited-overs series against South Africa - with a sweep off Duminy.

With the spinners nothing but cannon fodder, Faf du Plessis brought back Wiese but he could not land two balls in the same area. Morkel's third over was similarly wayward. He pitched it up and Akmal hit him for six, he went short and wide and Akmal did the same, just with a different shot. Parnell was also unable to contain and it was only when Steyn came back that runs dried up.

Hafeez was caught at mid-of, trying to hit Steyn over the top and that slowed Pakistan down. They promoted Shahid Afridi up the order in the hope of finishing strongly but he was horribly out of touch. He played and missed at most of the next over before handing back to Akmal.

While Afridi was a liability to Pakistan at the end, and they managed just 31 runs in the last four overs, he made up for it with the ball.

Hashim Amla and Quinton de Kock seemed up for the task as they motored their way to 49 runs in the first five overs. De Kock played the expansive shots, a drive through extra cover, a pull off Junaid Khan, while Amla accumulated runs with the fine-tuned placement and timing he is known for.

Saeed Ajmal kept things quiet in the last over of the Powerplay before Bhatti continued his impressive start to international cricket. Nine runs came off their first two overs and it was enough to prompt de Kock into going for a big shot.

He tried to slog sweep Afridi's first ball but did not get enough on it and Jamshed took a good catch at fine leg to give Pakistan their first breakthrough. Bhatti kept up the strangulation with an array of short balls and varied pace to frustrate du Plessis.

In Afridi's next over, de Plessis pulled to deep midwicket to take the catch. With AB de Villiers still at the crease, South Africa's hopes stayed alive. But when he tried to be innovative against Afridi, he failed. De Villiers stepped outside the leg stump and was bowled.

South Africa needed 90 runs off 51 balls and despite Amla and Duminy's efforts to work the ball around and find the occasional boundary, the required run-rate became too great. Miller and Duminy turned it on against an out of sorts Junaid Khan as the end approached to leave themselves with 17 runs to get off the last over.

Tanvir took the pace off while keeping his length full to ensure Pakistan squared the series and moved up to No.4 on the rankings. South Africa have dropped from second to third.

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Farhat, Masood fifties set up Habib Bank win

Fifties from Imran Farhat and Shan Masood powered Habib Bank to 294 before a comprehensive bowling performance helped the side defeat United Bank by 94 runs in the President's One Day Cup Tournament. Farhat and Masood shared an opening stand of 129 in a little under 21 overs after the side were put into bat. Masood was dismissed for 65-ball 50, while Farhat scored a pacy 87 off 78 balls with 11 fours and a six. Younis Khan's solid 48 and a cameo from Hasan Raza, who hit 44 off 31 balls, helped Habib Bank post 294 for 4. In reply, the United Bank chase briefly resisted in the form of a third-wicket stand between Saad Sukhail and Wajihuddin, which yielded 70 runs. The rest of the line-up failed, however, and the side folded for 200 in the 41st over. Offspinner Sulaman Qadir took 3 for 44.

Zarai Taraqiati Bank Limited snuck in a narrow one-wicket win over State Bank of Pakistan with three balls to spare to move to second place in the President's One Day Cup table. Chasing 198, ZTBL were struggling at 97 for 5 before a string of lower-order stands, led by forties from Shakeel Ansar and Zohaib Khan brought them closer to the target. State Bank kept striking, however, and ZTBL lost their ninth wicket with the score at 197, only to manage a victory in the final over. Earlier, a three-wicket haul from pacer Imran Khan helped ZTBL restrict State Bank for 197. Opener Farrukh Shehzad top-scored for State Bank with 45 off 52 balls.

A five-wicket haul by the right-arm seamer Yasir Ali and a back-to-the-wall fifty by Ali Khan helped Khan Research Laboratories (KRL) secure a three-wicket win in a low-scorer against Port Qasim Authority (PQA) at Gaddafi Stadium. PQA were bundled out for 133 but the KRL batting itself was a shambles at 39 for 6 in the chase. KRL were jolted by the pace trio of Mohammad Sami, Mohammad Talha and Sohail Khan as PQA looked like pulling off an unlikely win. Khan and Zulfiqar Jan then added a match-winning 92 for the seventh wicket, with Jan contributing a patient 32 off 80 balls. Khan remained unbeaten on 57 off 69 balls with three fours and three sixes. Earlier, PQA's Shahzaib Hasan was the only other player to pass fifty on a bowler's day in Lahore. Hasan smashed 59 off 54 balls as an opener while the rest collapsed around him. Yasir, who played one Test for Pakistan in 2003, finished with 5 for 19 off 8.5 overs, taking three middle-order wickets. KRL, the table leaders, scampered home to record their fourth successive win.

A century by Mohammad Rizwan helped Sui Northern Gas Pipelines (SNGPL) to five-wicket win over Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) in Islamabad. Rizwan's knock overshadowed Kamran Sajid's 122 that helped PIA to 264. The captain Sajid's knock stood out because none of the other batsmen passed 30. He hit 12 fours and two sixes in his knock. The legspinner Yasir Shah took 4 for 55. SNGPL's chase was built around a stand of 122 between Rizwan and Saleem Mughal, who remained unbeaten on 68 off 82 balls. Mughal saw the team through with nearly an over to spare after Rizwan fell for a 115-ball 116

Mohammad Haseeb's four-wicket haul set up Water and Power Development Authority's 24-run win over National Bank of Pakistan, after the WAPDA batsmen put up 250 in their allotted overs. Chasing 251, National Bank were troubled by the loss of regular wickets and failed to cross the target in spite of three fifties from Sami Aslam, Umar Waheed and Usman Qadir. The most substantial stand in the National Bank innings was for 55 runs between Sami and Waheed for the fourth wicket. The rest of the batsmen failed to support the in-form batsmen and the side were dismissed for 226 in 42 overs. Earlier, an unbeaten 75 from Ayaz Tassawar and 49 from Adnan Raees resurrected WAPDA's innings after quick wickets had wiped out the advantage of a solid start. Tassawar's 75 came off 81 balls with nine fours and two sixes and helped the side reach 250.

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