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Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
Nasir Hossain fell four short of his maiden Test century•AFP

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• Kieran Powell became the ninth West Indies batsman overall and the first since Brian Lara (2001) to score a century in both innings. George Headley and Clyde Walcott are the only players to achieve the feat twice.

• Bangladesh’s total of 556 is their highest ever in Tests surpassing their previous best of 488 against Zimbabwe in Chittagong in 2005.

• The number of fifty-plus scores in Bangladesh’s innings (5) is a record for the hosts. They have managed four fifty-plus scores in an innings on two occasions.

• The 189-run stand between Darren Bravo and Powell is the second-highest second-wicket stand for West Indies in Tests in the subcontinent. The highest is 196 between Bravo and Chris Gayle in Galle in 2010.

• Among West Indies bowlers who have conceded 100 or more runs in an innings, Sunil Narine’s economy rate (4.55) is the sixth-highest overall and the highest in a subcontinent Test. The 148 runs conceded is the highest by a bowler in an innings against Bangladesh.

As it often happens on the subcontinent, the first Test between Bangladesh and West Indies burst open with possibilities out of nowhere in the last hour on day four. From the safety of 209 for 1, West Indies lost 5 for 35 in the space of 13.1 overs. They still lead by 215 going into the final day, but with the ill Shivnarine Chanderpaul uncertain to bat tomorrow, there is hardly any batting left. Though it still looks unlikely, this may well be Bangladesh’s best chance to achieve what would be their first Test win against top opposition.They have already made a huge statement for a side playing its first Test in a year by posting their highest total, 556. It beat the 488 they had made against Zimbabwe in Chittagong in January 2005. They also took the first-innings lead for only the ninth time in 74 Tests as Nasir Hossain cut loose in the first session.After the euphoria of the morning, it seemed the final session would be a letdown for the vocal Mirpur holiday crowd when Kieran Powell and Darren Bravo motored towards a double-hundred partnership. However, Bravo’s dismissal was to start a cascade of wickets.Having batted with stylish authority for his 76, Bravo slashed a Rubel Hossain delivery to the wicketkeeper. The pitch, which had done next to nothing till now, suddenly made its presence felt. In the next over, Marlon Samuels watched in disbelief as a Sohag Gazi offbreak reared from good length, took the inside edge and flew to forward short leg.Despite Chanderpaul not coming out at his designated No. 5 position, Powell – who became only the second West Indies opener after Gordon Greenidge to make a hundred in each innings – and Denesh Ramdin seemed to have quietened things again. It was to be the interval amid the twin storms.Shakib Al Hasan, who had been carted around, struck in successive overs with arm balls – Powell edged one behind, Ramdin was trapped in front off the other. With no sign of Chanderpaul, debutant Veerasammy Permaul walked in. He drove Shakib for consecutive fours but the other debutant in the game, Gazi, bowled him off the last ball of the day with one that did not turn as much as the batsman expected. Darren Sammy survived two close lbw shouts from Shakib to round off the evening’s chaos, which hardly anyone could have foreseen given the way Powell and Bravo were going.After Chris Gayle fell cheaply to Rubel, Powell and Bravo grew in confidence to toy with the attack. Both used their feet well to spin, and slithered down every now and then to hit boundaries as the pitch refused to degenerate into a day-four subcontinent turner.Bravo drew more comparisons with his famous uncle as he dispatched Shahadat Hossain for fours through the covers. Powell drove and steered Rubel for three fours in the 50th over to become only the ninth West Indies batsman to make two hundreds in a Test. Powell should not have made more than 17, but Bangladesh squandered two opportunities when they put him down off successive deliveries in the 16th over off Shahadat.Shahadat had played his part with the bat in the morning, when he hung around for 29 deliveries to help Nasir carry Bangladesh past 550. The hosts made an emphatic start to the day when Mahmudullah punched the first delivery from Sunil Narine to the deep cover rope. Mahmudullah became the fourth Bangladesh batsman to go past fifty this innings, but also became the third to fail to convert it into a hundred when Narine got one to kick in for a catch to forward short leg.Narine’s first wicket had taken 158 deliveries, but he had the second four balls later when he bowled Gazi. Narine’s belated relief was also to be short-lived as Nasir took charge after Mahmudullah’s departure.Nasir started the day on 33 off 75 deliveries; he went on to take 63 off the next 61. What stood out in his knock was the calm manner in which he attacked the spinners, who were lofted and slog-swept for boundaries. But he was to join Tamim Iqbal and Shakib, both of who had fallen short of centuries earlier. Tino Best bowled a sucker ball, full, slow and wide outside off, and Nasir edged it to wide slip on 96.Nasir’s was the third wicket to fall today, and seven more were to follow to make it ten for the day. That was as many as had gone down in the first three days put together. The pitch might not have turned alarmingly, but this game certainly has.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
Seekkuge Prasanna took an excellent catch to dismiss Lahiru Thirimanne•Shaun Roy/SPORTZPICS/SLPL

Seekkuge Prasanna spun a canny spell that reaped four for 19, as the Ruhuna Royals suffered their second failed chase in two nights, succumbing by 14 runs to Uva Next.Wahab Riaz injected late excitement, after the Royals’ appeared to have run aground at 119 for 8 from 18.1 overs, in pursuit of 156. But despite a first-ball 6 and three wides, 30 from the final over was never likely to be hauled in, particularly with Lasith Malinga for company at the other end. Andrew McDonald also contributed a miserly spell of 2 for 16, having already made 28 from 14 at the tail-end of Uva Next’s innings.The openers had already been dismissed before Prasanna’s introduction, but in two overs, he’d struck thrice and effectively derailed the chase. The Pallekele pitch offered more grip and bounce than on previous evenings, and it was the latter that defeated Aaron Finch as he top-edged a cut into the keeper’s gloves off Prasanna’s second ball. The googly accounted for Lahiru Thirimanne two balls later, as he shaped to pull the legbreak, but could only lob it back to the bowler when the ball spun the other way.Prasanna continued to mix his variations cleverly, and was only sent to the ropes twice. Both times, he dismissed the assailant next ball. The Royals attempted to hit out several times, but with Prasanna and McDonald giving them few bad balls at either end, boundaries were not forthcoming, and the run rate flagged while wickets fell.Uva Next had progressed slowly for much of their innings, but they did it with wickets in hand, and when the crescendo came, it proved adequately forceful to set a challenging total. Upul Tharanga was the innings’ anchor, as he collected a 40-ball 48 that showcased an array of easy offside drives once more. He went at close to a run a ball to begin with, but gathered speed towards the middle with three fours in four balls off Wahab Riaz.Shoaib Malik combined with Tharanga for a measured 58-run stand, but when both batsmen fell within three overs, McDonald’s cameo provided the late acceleration, lifting Uva Next to 155 for 4.

ScorecardMichael Thornely continued to repay Leicestershire’s faith by scoring his second Championship century to lead his side to 336 for 9 in response to an Essex total of 434 for 3 in their Division Two battle at Chelmsford.Thornely, the 24-year-old right-hander, was released by Sussex at the end of the 2010 season and was playing for the Unicorns in the Clydesdale Bank 40 competition earlier in the campaign when offered a trial by Leicestershire.He showed his appreciation by scoring 97 and 131 on his debut against Glamorgan at the end of May, a performance that earned him a two-year contract. Thornely’s latest innings of 115 was further proof of his ability to make his mark at first-class level. It combined solid defence with bursts of aggression whenever the opportunity arose.His century came up from 209 balls and in all he smashed four sixes, two each against spinners Harbhajan Singh and Tom Westley. All of them were superbly timed drives, while he also collected eight fours before he was snapped up in the gully by Westley to provide fast bowler David Masters with success.It was Masters, playing against his former county against whom he returned career-best figures of 8 for 10 at Southend last summer, who led a fine Essex fightback on his way to figures of 6 for 47 from 24 overs.Masters was not long adding to his two overnight victims when Harbhajan took a superb catch above his head at second slip to get rid of Ramnaresh Sarwan. But it was another 57 overs before Essex were able to celebrate another success.Thornely and Matt Boyce were responsible for such a long delay with a partnership of 178 against bowlers who, apart from Masters, rarely posed problems. Boyce’s contribution was 77, including nine boundaries, before Masters struck with the first delivery with the new ball by trapping him lbw with the total on 241.Thornely followed in Masters’ next over while Wayne White and Paul Dixey also departed, victims of Maurice Chambers and Harbhajan, before they reached 285 to avoid the follow-on.That left the impressive Shiv Thakor to usher Leicestershire to a third batting point. Still only 18, Thakor, completed his maiden Championship half-century from 62 balls with the help of three fours and a six, this an off-drive against Harbhajan who had to settle for his solitary success at a cost of 88 runs from 34 overs.Thakor and captain Matthew Hoggard have so far added 33 runs for the last wicket as their side ended the day 98 runs adrift on first innings going into the final day.

Adnan Akmal, the Pakistan wicketkeeper, has suffered a hairline fracture on his left ring finger during the opening day of the third and final Test against Sri Lanka in Pallekele. Akmal was hit on the hand while trying to fend off a delivery from Dilhara Fernando in the first innings and had to retire hurt on 10. He resumed his innings and scored 24 before he was dismissed. Taufeeq Umar kept wicket in his absence when Sri Lanka came out to bat late in the evening.The Pakistan team management had confirmed to the media that Akmal had a hairline fracture, and that it was uncertain if he would be fit to play on the second day. Though he hasn’t been ruled out of the Test yet, the injury is a blow to Pakistan’s chances as they look to win the match and square the series. It will also be a challenge for a makeshift wicketkeeper to keep to the spinners. Umar once stepped in for the injured Rashid Latif during the 2003 World Cup match against India at Centurion.

England will play three practice matches before the first Test when they arrive in India in October for the winter tour. The itinerary, announced on Tuesday, confirmed the first leg of the tour, including four Tests, will finish on December 22 with the second Twenty20 before England return for the one-day series in early January.England’s build-up to the Test series is long by touring standards nowadays and replicates the lead-in they had for the 2010-11 Ashes in Australia. They are trying to avoid a repeat of the series against Pakistan in the UAE where Andy Flower admitted they were under-prepared with just two three-day games after a lengthy break. It is also in contrast to the brief preparation India had in England last year where they played a single match against Somerset having come straight from a tour of West Indies.The Test series will start in Ahmedabad on November 15 before moving to Mumbai, Kolkata and Nagpur making it England’s longest in India since 1984-85. Three new venues – Rajkot (new stadium), Dharamsala and Ranchi, MS Dhoni’s hometown – have been awarded ODIs with that series starting in Rajkot on January 11.The fixtures in Mohali and Dharamsala are both day-night games and could pose problems for the teams with freezing temperatures – Dharamsala is at a height of 5000 feet – and dew. The two T20Is will be played in Pune and Mumbai before Christmas; there is no warm-up match scheduled for that format.”This will be England’s first full tour of India since 2008 and I am sure that cricket fans in both countries will be eagerly anticipating an exciting series of contests in all three formats of the game,” ECB managing director Hugh Morris said.England tour to India 2012
30 October-1 November 3-day tour match Mumbai, CCI

3-5 November 3-day tour match Mumbai, BKC

8-11 November 4-day tour match Ahmedabad, SPS Navrangpura

15-19 November 1st Test Match Ahmedabad, Motera

23-27 November 2nd Test Match Mumbai, Wankhede Stadium

5-9 December 3rd Test Match Kolkata

13-17 December 4th Test Match Nagpur

20 December 1st T20 (f) Pune

22 December 2nd T20 (f) Mumbai, Wankhede Stadium

6 January 50-over tour match (D/N) Venue tbc

8 January 50 over tour match Venue tbc

11 January 1st ODI (D/N) Rajkot

15 January 2nd ODI (D/N) Kochi

19 January 3rd ODI (D/N) Ranchi

23 January 4th ODI (D/N) Dharamsala

27 January 5th ODI (D/N) Mohali


Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsShane Watson powered Royals to No.4•AFP

Shaun Tait set it up and Shane Watson finished the job in clinical fashion. Rajasthan Royals delivered a seven-wicket drubbing to a low on morale Pune Warriors and moved to fourth in the points table. Warriors looking to reverse a five-match losing streak, struggled against restrictive Royals bowling to post 125, but lacked the firepower to cause a scare. After an impressive start to the tournament, they limped out of the race for the playoffs.Royals conceded just five fours – the least in a completed innings this season – and were spearheaded by Tait, who took 3 for 13. Unlike Royals, who duly opened with the aggressive Watson, Warriors saved their power hitters for the middle order. Sourav Ganguly promoted himself to open after, curiously, coming in at No.7 against Kolkata Knight Riders. It was a questionable move having Ganguly and Michael Clarke right at the top, given that they aren’t the quickest scorers in the line-up. What followed was a sluggish opening passage, in which the Powerplay overs had 14 dots.Ganguly charged the seamers, made room, but failed to find the timing to match his intentions. Clarke’s drives failed to find the middle of the bat, often resulting in edges and mistimed flicks. Both openers were searching for a release, but the slower balls and the wicketkeeper Dishant Yagnik standing up to the stumps thwarted them.Warriors lost Ganguly as he miscued a pull off Tait, giving a swirling catch to square leg. Despite Warriors struggling to find the boundaries, they persisted with their conservative approach by promoting little-known Bengal batsman Anustup Majumdar ahead of more aggressive options like Angelo Mathews and Steven Smith.Only two fours were scored in the first ten overs, the lowest this season. Save for the first over, never at any stage in that period did the rate go above six an over. Majumdar interrupted a 42-ball snoozefest when he gave Ankeet Chavan a charge and launched him for the first of two sixes over wide long-on in the 11th over, which cost 16 runs – the most expensive of the innings.However, his cameo didn’t last longer than 20 balls when he was yorked by a 98.4 kph missile from Johan Botha the following over. The last eight overs produced just 46 runs to give Warriors a total well under par.Royals lost their star player Ajinkya Rahane for a duck courtesy a brilliant one-handed catch at point by Smith. Smith nearly pulled off a freak catch at the boundary which would have sent Watson back on 11, if the rule on outfield catches hadn’t been tweaked. After going deep in his crease to pound a six off Murali Kartik, he repeated the shot four balls later. Smith cupped the ball over his head, realised the momentum was taking him over the rope and threw the ball up. He was outside the field of play and airborne when he palmed the ball back in front of the rope, deeming it a six, owing to the rule change.Watson capitalised on that lifeline and proceeded to hammer boundaries. At the end of five overs, Royals had hit five fours and two sixes, the same number Warriors managed in 20. Watson tore into Ashish Nehra, clipping two half volleys to the leg side for fours, before pulling another loosener over fine leg for six to bring up his fifty. Watson scored a massive 71.4% of the team’s total, underlining his dominance on a pitch which flummoxed 11 Warriors.Royals coasted home with 22 balls remaining, making it one of the more one-sided encounters this season. Warriors, with eight points from 13 games, now have only pride to play for.

Stuart Law, who stepped down as Bangladesh coach, has said merely challenging the top teams in international cricket is “not good enough” for Bangladesh and that working hard was the only way to go to win more games. Law resigned for personal reasons after nine months with Bangladesh, the highlight of his tenure being their impressive show in the Asia Cup this year, when they beat India and Sri Lanka and went down by just two runs in the final against Pakistan.”Near enough is not good enough,” Law told ESPNcricinfo. “You’re never good enough, you always try to be the best you possibly can. I will miss them a hell of a lot and I wish them all the best but there’s no substitute for hard work.”Law started as coach on the tour of Zimbabwe in August 2011, when Bangladesh were beaten in the only Test that marked the hosts’ return to the longest format after a period of self-imposed isolation. “As a coach you’re not going to walk in and have success immediately,” Law said. “You have to work out how the players respond in certain pressure situations. You have to work out how to treat them, you can’t treat everybody the same. It is totally different to how you treat people in other parts of the world.”I think to get trust between me and the players; there were a lot of things, not just one or two.”There was some disappointment, Law said, in him leaving at a time when “we started to see the plans come into fruition, what we talk about being acted out in the field. The boys are listening and responding and respecting the way we are talking about our cricket.”His focus, while with Bangladesh, was to create a strong collective unit, Law said, speaking from his experience in Queensland. “The culture we created in Queensland had everyone on equal terms. It was more of a family and that’s what I wanted to create here.”The way that superstars are treated in this part of the world, I’ve never seen it before outside this part of the world. To their credit, Shakib [Al Hasan] and Tamim [Iqbal] have gone out of their zone to be part of the team. We saw the rewards of that in the Asia Cup.”Law said he would continue his association with cricket. “It’s not a done deal for me by any stretch of the imagination. I get a buzz out of watching players replicate what we’ve been talking about. I’m moving back to Brisbane, my hometown. I have applied for a position there so I am just waiting to hear on the outcome of that.”

Group ADawlat Zadran’s five-wicket haul helped Afghanistan demolish Hong Kong by nine wickets in Sharjah and confirm their place in the knockout rounds. Zadran took 5 for 14, and along with Izatullah Dawlatzai, who took 2 for 19, dismantled Hong Kong’s batting line-up with only two batsmen getting into double figures. Irfan Ahmed scored 54 off 52 balls to provide some respectability to the total as Hong Kong finished on 103. Afghanistan’s opener Karim Sadiq did not waste any time as he hit 20 runs off the first over during the chase. After Sadiq’s dismissal for 22, Javed Ahmadi’s 38 and Mohammad Shahzad’s 43 prevented any further damage and finished the game in the 12th over.In another low-scoring game, Netherlands beat Nepal by six wickets in Dubai, also sealing a berth in the knockouts. Nepal, who were put in to bat, had no answers to Netherlands’ bowling as they were reduced to 25 for 5 after 11 overs. Michael Swart took 2 for 13 and Mudassar Bukhari took 1 for 9 to stifle Nepal. That was followed by similar spells by other bowlers as only one boundary was hit in the first 17 overs. Some frantic shots by Gyanendra Malla, who scored 32, and Basanta Regmi took Nepal to 85. While chasing, Netherlands lost four wickets, three of them to Regmi, but maintained a healthy scoring-rate to win the game inside 14 overs.”I think Nepal has played some reasonable cricket in this competition, so we weren’t taking them lightly,” Netherlands captain Peter Borren said. “We bowled pretty well and they were always going to struggle to defend 86. It is going to be really difficult for us. The format of the tournament means, having lost to Afghanistan, if you are first in your group you have a huge advantage here.”Janeiro Tucker’s hat-trick of sixes in the last over helped Bermuda steal a win against Papua New Guinea by five wickets in Dubai. Sixteen runs were required off the last six balls, but Tucker only needed three, the last six bringing up his half-century as well. The chase was setup by Dion Stovell’s 31 off 24 balls and David Hemp’s 30. However, when Rarva Dikana, who had given away 18 runs in his previous three overs, was given the ball in the last over, PNG looked favourites. But Tucker’s last-minute violence earned Bermuda their first win in the tournament. Earlier, PNG had set Bermuda a competitive target of 156, courtesy a 31-ball 49 from Vani Morea. At one stage, PNG were tottering at 105 for 5 after 16.2 overs. But, 46 runs came off the last three to give PNG bowlers a defendable score. A victory for PNG would have given them an outside chance of making it to the knockouts, but this result means that both teams have failed to make it to the next stage.”My personal performance was really outstanding today,” Tucker said. “I haven’t really had a good last four or five games, but today all came together.”Hitting that last ball was amazing. That was always my intention to try to get us to victory in the last over. I guess our strategy for the last couple of games will be pretty much the same as today. We got a victory so I guess we’ve done something right.”Ruvindu Gunasekera scored a 65-ball 95 in Canada‘s 55-run win over bottom-placed Denmark in Abu Dhabi. With the heavy win, Canada are in a strong position to become the third team from the group to qualify for the next stage. Opting to bat first, the team was bolstered by a 109-run second wicket partnership between Gunasekera and Hiral Patel to post 178. In response, Denmark’s Rizwan Mahmood hit 65 and Freddie Klokker scored 40 in a third-wicket partnership worth 84 runs. But Canada bowlers, led by Henry Osinde’s 2 for 16 kept the scoring rate under control as Denmark finished on 123. Canada play Nepal in their last league game and barring a heavy defeat, they should finish third in the table.Group BTwenty20 is a tough format to be consistent in but Namibia have made victory a habit, winning their sixth game in row to stay on top of Group B. Despite being restricted to 120 for 7, Namibia beat Oman by 36 runs in Sharjah. Their total was set up by the captain, Sarel Burger, who made 53 off 44 balls. The defence was headed by Christi Viljoen, who took 4 for 8 in 3.4 overs, and Burger, who claimed 3 for 14 to cap a terrific all-round performance. Oman were dismissed for 84 in 18.4 overs.A half-century by Richie Berrington helped Scotland ease to a seven-wicket win against Italy in Dubai. Italy were restricted to 136, thanks to a combined bowling effort. The Italy top order failed to convert their starts, with Gareth Berg top-scoring with 29. Majid Haq, the offspinner, finished with the best figures: 2 for 16 off four overs. Scotland lost Calum MacLeod early, but the stand of 76 between Berrington and Preston Mommsen put them on course for victory. Berrington’s 67 contained six fours and three sixes. Scotland are currently third in Group B, and a win in their final group game, against United States of America, will guarantee them a place in the next round.”The boys played very well today and bounced back after yesterday’s game against Ireland. It takes a lot of character to come back and win today,” Berrington said. “So, we’re just focusing right now on every game and taking each game as it comes.”It was very nice to spend a bit of time in the middle today and bat through most of the innings. I would have liked to have seen it through to the end, but the boys managed to put a few away.”United States of America slid to their fifth defeat in six games after they were demolished by nine wickets by Kenya in Abu Dhabi. The USA scorecard was littered with single-digit scores, with only their captain, Sushil Nadkarni, passing double figures. Nadkarni made 41 as opener and when he departed, USA were 73 for 6 in the 14th over. Ragheb Aga and and Nelson Odhiambo took three wickets each to dismiss USA in 18.2 overs. Kenya reached the target in ten overs, with Duncan Allan and Alex Obanda scoring 34 each. They will need to beat Uganda in their final group game, and hope other results go their way, to qualify for the next phase.Ireland trounced Uganda by 82 runs in Dubai to put them in the playoff stages of the World Cup qualifiers. Read the full report here.

Michael Clarke believes Peter Forrest’s excellent one-day form will boost his chances of winning a place in Australia’s Test squad for the tour of the West Indies. Forrest scored a composed century, his first for Australia, in Friday’s loss to Sri Lanka in Hobart and it carried on his outstanding entry to international cricket after making his debut earlier in this series.Forrest has scores of 66, 16, 52 and 104 in his four one-day internationals and his tally of 238 is the biggest total any Australian has compiled in the first four ODIs of his career. Even more impressive was the fact that Forrest scored his century at No.3, shrugging off the pressure that came with replacing Ricky Ponting in the position he had filled for nearly all of his 375-match career.Ponting will be part of the Test squad on the West Indies tour but there will be one spot available for a back-up batsman after Shaun Marsh’s horrendous series against India. Usman Khawaja would have seemed the logical man for the role a few weeks ago but Forrest’s strong performances have now made him the front-runner, especially considering he averages 58.10 in the Sheffield Shield this summer and has made three centuries.”I think it certainly helps, no doubt,” Clarke said of Forrest’s one-day form. “The key is to make runs or take wickets in whatever form of the game you’re playing. Playing one-day cricket for Australia means he can’t play first-class cricket at the moment for Queensland, so he just needs to keep making runs and knocking on that door, make the selectors select him. That’s his goal, to keep scoring runs and keep throwing his name up there, that’s all he can do.”Clarke said deciding who should replace Ponting at No.3 hadn’t been easy, and he had considered taking the role himself. But he felt Forrest deserved the opportunity to build an innings, and he certainly didn’t let his captain down in his first game in the position.”I thought long and hard about it,” Clarke said. “I thought what was best for the team. At the end of the day the decision to bat Pete at No.3 was about what I thought was best for the team. I could have batted myself there, Michael Hussey there, a couple of the senior players, but I thought it was a really good opportunity for him on a very good batting wicket. I’m really pleased he made the most of it.”Clarke spent plenty of time at the crease with Forrest on Friday during a 154-run partnership that rescued Australia from a precarious opening. As he has throughout the series, Forrest showed that his style involves getting himself in, picking the gaps and finding boundaries along the ground, respecting the good balls and taking as few major risks as possible.As a result his hundred wasn’t quick – it was the third-slowest triple-figure ODI score by an Australian in the past 15 years – but it was no less impressive for that fact. His style should make him an attractive proposition for the selectors when they choose the Test squad, and Clarke said Forrest was comfortable with his game and could have a very bright future ahead of him.”I’m sure he gets nervous like all of us,” Clarke said. “But he knows his game quite well. That’s what Pete does do and at the moment he has the confidence to play his way, which has allowed him to walk straight into the Australian team and perform. He’s in good form. As we all know, you’ve got to make the most of that, and he’s certainly doing that.”It’s the start of his career and there’s a long way to go, but he’s got a lot of potential. He’s got a lot of talent. He plays spin and fast bowling well. He works hard, trains hard, and he’s got everything you need to become a very good international cricketer. He’s just got to keep taking it one game at a time and keep making the most of his opportunities. If he keeps batting the way he batted today, he’s in for a very bright future.”Forrest also caught the eye of Mahela Jayawardene, the Sri Lanka captain and one of the best batsmen of the past decade and a half. Jayawardene said he was impressed by the way Forrest rebuilt Australia’s innings after they stumbled to 2 for 27, and while Sri Lanka ended up winning the match, Forrest had made their task difficult.”I think he batted really well,” Jayawardene said. “Up against us he had a couple of good knocks but today I think was something special. It was tough up front when they lost the two wickets, the ball wasn’t coming on. I thought our guys were bowling really well but he was very patient, building that partnership with Michael. He carried through that middle period which was great to see. He’s got a lot of potential. I’m quite impressed with him.”Edited by Siddarth Ravindran

Zimbabwe’s innings and 301-run defeat in their one-off Test against New Zealand represents, in numerical terms, the massive gulf between them and the next tier of the Test playing world. In more literal ones, it symbolises a significant stride backward for a nation that made a respectable comeback to Test cricket last year.Having seemingly built up the ability to compete and even sometimes win, their progress was smashed to smithereens on a single day. But, take into account that it was their maiden voyage from home since their return to the Test fold and the hard edges of how badly they performed are somewhat softened. “For most of us, it’s our first tour in New Zealand but as professionals we are expected to adapt,” Regis Chakabva told ESPNcricinfo. “It would have been disappointing to lose like that, no matter what conditions we played in.”Chakabva is the only Zimbabwe batsmen who could walk away from the match claiming to understand New Zealand’s pitches. His 63 in the second innings was the highest score and most accomplished performance in an otherwise abysmal Zimbabwe showing. In his typically unassuming style, Chakabva has not read too much into the effort and given the result, he probably can’t.”All our batsmen are good players, it just didn’t happen for them on the day,” he said. “I didn’t do too much differently or make too many adjustments; I just tried to stick around as long as possible. Once the ball got older it was easier, it was a good batting pitch.”If there was an area Chakabva led the way in, it was mindset. Instead of panic, even though he walked in to bat with the score on 12 for 5, he showed rare grit, something Alan Butcher has tried to develop in his players since he took over as coach. Butcher has long lamented that Zimbabwe are quick to get spooked. Tell them the pitch will be difficult to bat on and they will struggle with shot selection, tell them someone is a good bowler and they will crumble at the sight of him, tell them they have to put in a respectable performance away from home and the pressure will cause them to melt.It seemed to be the case in Napier but Chakabva said the squad were not affected by outside influences. Even though they were aware of what was expected of them, they tried to create an environment of calm in the lead up to the match. “We weren’t under that much pressure to do well, we knew it wouldn’t be easy but we were aware of the situation and what we needed to,” he said, following it up with a simple enough explanation for what went wrong. “We just didn’t do well.”With Chris Martin doing most of the demolition job, it would appear that Zimbabwe were equally outdone by a quality fast bowler as they were by conditions that suited him. Chakabva said that was not the case.Four seamers, he said, were not the problem. “I wouldn’t say they have a fearsome attack, they are very good but not fearsome.” Neither was the strip. “The wicket had more grass than usual but we have a ground at Harare, the country club, which is also bowler friendly, with more bounce. We have seen pitches like this before.”Zimbabwe have had five days to prepare for the limited-overs leg of the series, instead of three, and Chakabva said they have worked on everything from “one-day cricketing skills” to “getting our minds ready”.Far from sulking, Chakabva said they are “enjoying” the trip. While taking in the sights and sounds of a place most of them have never been to before, they have also been reminded that they still have a job to do and Chakabva said they will do it properly. “We will be more competitive, we are working hard and we want to represent our country well. Like Brendan Taylor said, we want to show the world we can play.”