Pakistan won the basement battle against Netherlands in a low-scoring game, with Gull Feroza’s half-century inspiring them to a 37-run win. In a low-scoring contest where momentum ebbed and flowed, Feroza held the first innings together to put on 126 for Pakistan, their joint-highest score this tournament.

Netherlands appeared on course initially with a bright start from Heather Siegers, but lost their way dramatically after she was dismissed as Pakistan squeezed them through spin. The last seven wickets fell for just 13 runs, with Fatima Sana returning to the attack to apply the coup de grace, knocking back the stumps three times in the final over to send Netherlands’ last three batters on their way as they folded for 89.

Pakistan won the toss and opted to bat, recovering from an uninspiring start thanks to a 79-run second-wicket stand between Feroza and Ayesha Zafar. But the Netherlands hit back through Silver Siegers and Iris Zwilling, the latter arguably the pick of the Netherlands attack. They triggered a Pakistani collapse which saw them lose 5 wickets for 24 runs, including the early loss of Sana, who had promoted herself up to four, her highest T20I batting position. It pegged Pakistan back from what had looked like a score in excess of 140 to one Netherlands genuinely fancied chasing.

Heather Siegers breezy start meant it was the Netherlands who looked as if they might pip Pakistan, but there wasn’t much to back her up after Diana Baig sent her on her way. Pakistan’s spinners asphyxiated the Dutch, and as the asking rate ballooned, the Netherlands began to shrink away. It was, in the end, a tame capitulation from a Dutch side that promised so much more for the best part of this game.

Feroza stands tall

Trying to remain oblivious to the bedlam all around is among Pakistan cricket’s more challenging tasks, but Gull Feroza managed exactly that. With Pakistan managing only a sedate start and suffering the early loss of Muneeba Ali, Feroza put on a 79-run partnership with Ayesha Zafar. She was the more aggressive partner through that second-wicket stand, particularly after the halfway mark.

The attack was launched with a couple of nifty boundaries off Hannah Landheer in the tenth over, and another pair against Heather Siegers in the one that followed. Between the tenth and 14th overs, Pakistan enjoyed their best spell with the bat, smashing 36 in four. Though a collapse would soon follow, they had, thanks to Feroza, built up just about enough of a buffer to give their bowlers breathing space.

The review that almost wasn’t

Netherlands made an inspired start against South Africa on Thursday, and were aware anything close to that would virtually guarantee victory in pursuit of 127 today. Heather Siegers began threatening just that racing along to 24 in 15 with the side racking up 31 in the first 20 balls. But Diana Baig came back from being smashed for two boundaries off her first two balls strongly, in perhaps the most consequential moment of the match.

Siegers missed an attempted steer into the onside, and it hit her high on the pad. The umpire was quick to turn down Pakistan’s half-hearted appeal, but Sana reviewed at the last moment, and Hawk-Eye spat out three reds. Netherlands brightest spark was gone, and they never recovered that position of strength in the game again.

Pakistan’s spinners overrun Netherlands

Once Siegers departed, a thin layer of pressure appeared to descend on the Dutch, one they could never quite shrug off. The following over saw a hare-brained attempt at a single end up in a run-out thanks to a direct hit from Eyman Fatima. A Sana over aside, Pakistan turned almost exclusively to spin, rushing through their overs and watching the asking rate pile up. Nashra Sandhu was most effective at stifling the batters, maintaining a tight line that gave nothing away. She would end up registering figures of 3-0-8-1 through the middle, with the Netherlands managing just 23 in seven overs since Siegers’ dismissal.

Scores:
Pakistan Women 126 for 6 in 20 overs  (Muneeba Ali 12, Gull Feroza 63*, Ayesha Zafar 32; Iris Zwilling 2-19, Heather Siegers 1-28, Hannah Landheer 1-19, Caroline de Lange 1-24, Silve Seigers 1-17) beat Netherlands Women  89 all out in 18 overs (Babette de Leede 30, Steere Kalis 12; Fatima Sana 3-12, Diana Baig 1-11, Nashra Sandhu 1-08, Ayesha Zafar 3-13) by 37 runs

[Cricinfo]

Amir Jangoo amassed 233, RostonChase hit 194, and through a record-breaking 401-run partnership, the pair slow-roasted Sri Lanka on day three in Antigua. Their gargantuan stand delivered West Indies to a position of extraordinary strength, securing them a 318-run first innings lead. That in the four overs they got to bowl at Sri Lanka, West Indies dismissed the dangerous Pathum Nissanka, and created other chances, buoying them further heading into day four.

Jangoo and Chase now not only have the highest sixth wicket stand in the history of Test cricket, they also have the second highest partnership for West Indies, behind only Garfield Sobers and Conrad Hunte. Both batters improved on their previous first-class high scores, Chase easily beating his 137 not out, and Jangoo surpassing his domestic 218.

That Jangoo produced a knock of such astonishing concentration, and expansive range, in just his third Test innings was especially impressive. Until he got out attempting to accelerate about midway through the last session, his innings was largely chanceless. He batted 373 deliveries on his own, and he and Chase batted 100.2 overs, seeing out three complete sessions together. Though they had begun slowly, both batters sped up through the day and were finding boundaries off both the quicks and spinners through the second and third sessions of the day.

Sri Lanka’s attack found the pitch utterly docile for most of day three. They were missing their fastest quick Lahiru Kumara, who went off the field with a hamstring niggle early the previous day. Their quicks were earnest in the first hour, but once Jangoo and Chase saw out the second new ball (the ball was four overs old when day three began) with a period of disciplined batting, Sri Lanka’s quicks lost some venom, and captain Dhananjaya de Silva went increasingly to his spinners – Sonal Dinusha in particular.

The one exception for Sri Lanka was Milan Rathnayaka, who was intense in each of his day three spells, and created chances even in a dreary second session, having Chase dropped by a diving wide slip for 108. Later in the day, it would be Rathnayaka who would break the enormous stand, and would go on to complete a well-deserved five-wicket haul, finishing with 5 for 124. Dinusha, the left-arm spinning allrounder, conceded 234 runs himself in this innings, though he did also pick up two wickets, including that of Chase.

Patience had defined Jangoo and Chase’s batting in the first hour. Jangoo, for example, didn’t score off the first 15 deliveries he faced on day three, while Chase was only marginally less defensive. When conditions began to ease after the first hour, however, they began to slip into more fluent modes of operation. In the afternoon session, when the pair really propelled West Indies into the ascendancy, they plundered 136 runs at a rate of more than five an over. Jangoo was especially strong square of the wicket on the offside and down the ground. Chase was excellent through the covers. Jangoo, additionally, would sometimes tonk the spinners over the straight boundary.

Right through the day the pair would notch up milestones – both for themselves, and the partnership. The milestone that drew the most raucous celebration came soon after tea, when Jangoo completed his double with a sweep through square leg, leaping in the air as he took off for the run. Although only hundreds were in attendance, the house was on its feet for him, coach Daren Sammy and the West Indies dressing room giving him an especially warm ovation. Having come into the XI only as a replacement player for the injured Shai Hope, Jangoo has essentially made himself undroppable for the second Test.

After tea the pair took the scoring up even one further gear, Jangoo hitting some memorable sixes over square leg, while Chase continued to drive powerfully. Jangoo was out attempting to repeat a pulled six though the ball was not quite short enough for that shot. The resultant top-edge was gobbled up by the wicketkeeper. Chase was out much later, under-edging Dinusha into his stumps when a sweep went awry. He was six short of what would also have been his first double century.

Rathnayake would take two further wickets before West Indies declared the innings. Nissanka was out caught behind feeling for a Jayden Seales away-swinger first ball of the second over. Nightwatcher Kasun Rajitha could have been out too, had Jangoo at short leg held a sharp, low chance off the bowling of Kemar Roach.

Scores:
Scores: Day 3 Stumps
Sri Lanka 308 and 15 for 1 (Kasun Rajitha 4*, Nishan Madushka 2*; Jayden  Seales 1-5) trail  West Indies 626 for 9 dec (Amir Jangoo 233, Roston Chase 194; Milan  Rathnayaka 5-124) by 303 runs

[Cricinfo]

This week, Sri Lanka returned to Test cricket in the Caribbean after an absence of exactly one year. To think that the national team has gone a full 12 months without playing a single Test is staggering. The administrators who run the game have let down both the players and the fans.

It is equally disturbing to think that players like Dinesh Chandimal and Kasun Rajitha, who are specialists in the longest format, have effectively been left without work for an entire year. Let us hope the new administration gives Test cricket the respect it so richly deserves.

Cricket boards such as Sri Lanka’s and even South Africa’s seem content to play only the bare minimum required for the World Test Championship – 12 Tests in a two-year cycle. To make matters worse, there appears to be little appetite to organise matches outside the championship. Three-Test home series have become a distant memory, while a five-Test series is little more than a fantasy. At this rate, it is unlikely to happen in our lifetime.

For a nation that fought so hard to gain Test status, the way we now treat the format is deeply disappointing. Gentlemen like Gamini Dissanayake must surely be spinning in their graves.

Sri Lanka Cricket’s stock response is that Test cricket does not make money. Someone needs to remind them that SLC is not a business enterprise but a sporting body. Had they shown the same enthusiasm for nurturing the game’s foundations as they did for building cricket grounds to satisfy the whims and fancies of politicians, Sri Lankan cricket would be in a far healthier place today.

The authorities argue that, unlike the last 12 months, the next year looks promising, with the team scheduled to play 10 Tests. That may well be true, but it does not erase the fact that their attitude towards Test cricket has been woefully lackadaisical.

Cricket officials cling to statistics like a drunkard clings to a lamp post – for support rather than illumination.

We play so little Test cricket these days that we may never again produce a player who reaches 100 Tests or a bowler who claims 300 wickets. Great careers are built on opportunity, and opportunity is becoming increasingly scarce.

India, despite reserving more than two months of the calendar for the IPL, still manages to play a healthy number of Test matches each year. The number of nations playing Test cricket has grown in recent times, so logic dictates that the number of Tests Sri Lanka plays should also increase. Sadly, the opposite has happened, with the fixture list shrinking year after year.

One small ray of hope is the assurance given by Sidath Wettimuny that the issue will be addressed. As Chairman of the Cricket Committee, he is in a position to push the board’s executives to find ways and means of ensuring Sri Lanka plays more Test cricket.

by Rex Clementine ✍️