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Williams’ unbeaten 145 leads Zimbabwe’s domination against Afghanistan on Boxing Day

Published

1 year ago

2024/12/27

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Sean Williams hit his fifth Test hundred [Zimbabwe Cricket]

With his family and well-wishers watching along from the Queens Sports Club balcony, Zimbabwe’s veteran batter Sean Williams celebrated his fifth Test ton in Bulawayo to give the hosts the upper hand in the Boxing Day Test against Afghanistan, as they finished on 363 for 4.

Williams not only negated Afghanistan’s spin challenge comfortably but also dominated the other bowlers to finish unbeaten on 145. His control percentage of 90 on a surface that offered decent turn right from the start of play displayed just that, with the inexperienced Afghanistan bowling attack – the visitors were missing Rashid Khan for the Test owing to personal reasons – looking both deflated and bruised by the end of it.

Walking in at the start of the second session to face his first ball with Zimbabwe at 92 for 2, Williams relied on his footwork to get on top of the bowling. Usually a frequent sweeper, Williams, on this occasion, took to the cuts, drives and pulls to shepherd the Zimbabwe innings. With Afghanistan not offering anything too full knowing Williams’ love for the sweep, he countered the bowlers’ lengths by rocking back or going on to the front foot with equal ease.

When Williams charged down the track, he lifted sixes over long-on and long-off. When he hung back, he created the time to slap boundaries through the off side. Williams’ enterprising batting earned him a half-century off 58 balls, and a century off 115.

But Williams’ innings wasn’t the only one to help Zimbabwe finish the day on a high. Opener Ben Curran, one of three Zimbabwe debutants and one of six across the two XIs, set the tone early with 68 off 74 balls. He welcomed fellow debutant Azmatullah Omarzai into Test cricket with a boundary off the allrounder’s first ball in the format, before unleashing ten more boundaries.

Curran was the majority contributor in a 43-run opening partnership with Joylord Gumbie (9), and a 49-run second-wicket stand with Takudzwanashe Kaitano (46), but fell to teen debutant AM Ghanzafar in the last over before lunch after a wrong’un sneaked through his defence to knock his stumps back.

Kaitano and Dion Myers (27), batting at No. 5, could not make full use of their starts, but their time in the middle ensured Zimbabwe lost just one wicket apiece in the two sessions after lunch. With Williams, Kaitano added 78 for the third wicket, while Myers put on 50 for the fourth.

Myers’ dismissal in the 56th over, caught and bowled by Ghazanfar for his second strike, brought in Zimbabwe’s captain Craig Ervine at No. 6, and he made certain that Afghanistan finished the day with way more questions than answers. With Williams showing how to score freely, Ervine dug in and quietly brought up his sixth Test fifty with a leg-side dominant innings.

Ervine’s knock was chanceless, unlike Williams, who, when on 124, needed the aid of a no-ball from Zahir Khan to continue batting. However, Ervine’s 56 in an unbeaten partnership of 143 for the sixth wicket was equally crucial for Zimbabwe to stamp their dominance on the day.

Play was called off five overs before the scheduled stumps owing to bad light, with Zimbabwe ending the day with a run rate of 4.27.

Brief scores:
Zimbabwe 363 for 4 in 85 overs (Sean Williams 145*, Ben Curran 68, Takudzwanashe Kaitano 46, Craig Ervine 56*; AM Ghazanfar 2-83) vs Afghanistan

[Cricinfo]

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Afghanistan to bat first against New Zealand

Published

29 mins ago

2026/02/8

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Rashid Khan and Mitchell Santner greet each other at the toss [Cricinfo]

Afghanistan won the toss and elected to bat first in the 2026 T20 World Cup Group D encounter against New Zealand..

New Zealand XI Finn Allen, Tim Seifert (wk), Rachin Ravindra, Glenn Phillips, Mark Chapman, Daryl Mitchell, Mitchell Santner (capt), James Neesham, Matt Henry, Lockie Ferguson, Jacob Duffy

Afghanistan XI Rahmanullah Gurbaz (wk), Ibrahim Zadran, Sediqullah Atal, Darwish Rasooli, Azmatullah Omarzai, Gulbadin Naib, Mohammad Nabi, Rashid Khan (capt), Fazalhaq Farooqi, Ziaur Rahman, Mujeeb Ur Rahman

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‘I’d like to play on flat tracks’ – Shanaka links Sri Lanka’s batting woes to spin-friendly pitches at home

Published

1 hour ago

2026/02/8

Priyan

Dasun Shanaka fell for low scores in the England series [Cricinfo]

Dasun Shanaka’s got 99 problems, and the pitch is also one. If cricket writers misappropriating Jay Z lyrics from 22 years ago is getting kind of old, so is the complaint, sadly. For years now, Sri Lanka’s captains have been campaigning to get more batting-friendly tracks on the island. For years now, surfaces have been given to substantial spin, depressing totals while envenoming spinners through the middle overs, especially.

At the World Cup, though, a struggling Sri Lankan captain hopes his batters can perform on what he thinks will be better tracks. Sri Lanka arrive at this tournament fresh from a 3-0 bruising at home at the hands of England. Shanaka’s own returns in that recent series were modest. His scores were 20 off 16, 1 and 4.

“I think in this World Cup the ICC has told the groundstaff that they have to leave a certain amount of grass on the pitch,” Shanaka said. “Because of that, I think the number of dismissals will fall. Eventually, I’d like to get a good track on which to show how I can bat, because it’s harder to showcase my striking ability on turning wickets. Lots of people see me negatively because of this.”

In fact, there is no actual official requirement from the ICC regarding length of grass – it is only that there is greater pressure to produce surfaces conducive to good cricket (read: batting tracks) in global events.

In any case, Sri Lanka’s problems at home go back far further than the series against England, however. Since the start of 2024, Sri Lanka have lost 13 and won only nine T20Is at home. Previous captains – Charith Asalanka and Wanindu Hasaranga among them – had asked for flatter decks. But then Sri Lanka were having success on big turners in the ODI format.

“Recently, we’ve had a lot of issues with the pitches,” Shanaka said. “I know the middle order hasn’t performed well. If you want to know why that happened, you should look at the kind of pitches we played on. You’ll be able to figure out why the strike rates are low and we’re losing wickets.

“I was only recently reappointed as the captain. I didn’t know what the plan was before that. In my opinion I’d like to play on flat tracks. Yes, we have some good spinners in our side, but at the same time other teams also have quality spinners. I think giving 50-50 wickets will help in future. I’d like to bat on flat tracks.”

Although Shanaka expects Sri Lankan surfaces to be better for batting, there may still be a gap between Indian tracks and Sri Lankan ones in this World Cup. Since the start of 2020, the T20I strike rate in India is 143 (the highest in the world), compared with 123 in Sri Lanka.

“If you look at India you will see how good the pitches they play on are,” Shanaka said. “Some people have a problem with India scoring so many runs and ask why Sri Lanka can’t do the same. It totally depends on conditions. You’ll be able to assess what the numbers in the World Cup are and what the previous numbers were. I think this will be a good tournament for our batters.”

[Cricinfo]

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Australia’s opposition coalition reunites after row over hate-speech laws

Published

2 hours ago

2026/02/8

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Sussan Ley said it was time to look to the future [BBC]

Australia’s Liberal-National Coalition, the country’s main opposition, reunited on Sunday, more than two weeks after the centre-right partners split in a row over hate speech laws.

“The Coalition is back together and looking to the future, not to the past,” Liberal Party leader Sussan Ley said, appearing alongside National Party leader David Littleproud in Canberra.

The Coalition split on 22 January after the Nationals, citing free speech concerns, refused to back reforms moved by the government after two gunmen targeted a Jewish festival at Bondi Beach in December, killing 15 people.

“It’s been disappointing, we’ve got to where we are but it was over a substantive issue,” Littleproud said.

The Coalition suffered a heavy election loss last year and the split last month was the second in less than 12 months.

Last year’s separation in May – largely over climate and energy policy – was resolved within a week.

This time the divisions were sown by hate speech reforms introduced by the centre-left Labor government after the Bondi Beach attack.

While the Liberals sided with the government, their National colleagues abstained from the vote in the lower house and voted against the measure in the senate, saying the measures had been rushed and posed a threat to free speech.

The legislation includes provisions that will ban groups deemed to spread hate and introduce tougher penalties for preachers who advocate violence.

Ley said the coalition had a responsibility to find a way back to government.

“I acknowledge this has been a difficult time. It has been a difficult time for millions of our Coalition supporters, and many other Australians who rely on our two great parties to provide scrutiny and leadership,” she said.

The Liberal Party leader said both parties had struck an agreement that neither party could overturn decisions taken by the Coalition’s joint “shadow cabinet”.

Dating back to the 1940s, the Coalition had not split since 1987 before the brief separation last year.

The National Party mainly represents regional communities and often leans more conservative than the Liberals.

The Coalition is facing pressure from populist Senator Pauline Hanson’s anti-immigration One Nation party, which has surged in polling, while the Liberal Party lost a swath of seats at last year’s federal election.

[BBC]