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A sensational counterattack by Haider Ali, who smashed an unbeaten 91 off 53, upstaged Babar Azam’s hundred as Northern upset Central Punjab in a thrilling high-scoring match.Central Punjab won the toss and opted to bat, and their captain Babar assumed control right from the outset. His side got off to a flying start in the powerplay, with a 20-ball 37 from Ahmed Shehzad helping set the early tone. Once Shehzad fell to Mohammad Nawaz, Muhammad Akhlaq and Shoaib Malik lent support from the other end.Related

• Haider Ali and Asif Ali get Northern off to winning start

• Babar, Wahab, Qadir star in Central Punjab's win

Really, though it was all about Babar. After mellowing through the middle overs, he came to life once more at the death as Central Punjab pushed towards 200, and brought up his 100 in 58 balls with three successive boundaries.Chasing 201, Northern initially fell well behind the asking rate, with Ehsan Adil and Wahab Riaz accounting for the openers. It required Northern to throw caution to the wind, and in the out-of-form but very able Haider Ali, they had their answer. A blistering 84-run partnership at two runs a ball alongside Mohammad Nawaz dragged his side back into the game, and with Central Punjab’s bowlers wilting, he finished the job off alongside Asif Ali, putting Northern above Central Punjab on the table.

A brilliant record-breaking maiden List A century by Tom Wood led Derbyshire to a 41-run victory over Nottinghamshire in the Royal London Cup match at Derby.Wood’s 55-ball hundred was Derbyshire’s fastest in List A cricket and the second-fastest in all formats for the county.The 27-year-old smashed 14 fours and three sixes in his 59-ball 109, which propelled Derbyshire to 258 for 6 in a game reduced to 27 overs by heavy rain the previous evening.Harry Came scored 57, his first List A fifty, and an unlikely target of 259 proved beyond Nottinghamshire, who were bowled out for 217 with Brett Hutton scoring 46 from 20 balls and Finn Hudson-Prentice taking 3 for 37.The start had been delayed by three-and-a-half hours while groundstaff dried out part of the square that was saturated when it was left uncovered overnight.After matting was eventually put over the wet areas, the match began at 2.30pm with Wood and Came going into overdrive after Nottinghamshire elected to bowl.Although Mitch Wagstaff skied Joey Evison to point, Came pulled Hutton for six and drove Liam Patterson-White over the long off boundary.Dane Paterson conceded 14 from his third over which also included four byes and Came pulled Evison for his third six before missing a sweep at Patterson-White.Brooke Guest was bowled advancing at Patterson-White but Wood pulled Hutton for a big six as 18 came from the 20th over.Alex Hughes was lbw trying to swing a full length ball from Paterson and after Hudson-Prentice lofted Patterson-White over long off for six, he was brilliantly caught by Peter Trego diving full length at mid off.Wood took three fours from Luke Fletcher and then drove Paterson for six as Nottinghamshire leaked 65 from the last four overs.His hundred came when he pulled Hutton for his third six and he left to a standing ovation when he was caught at short third man off the last ball of the innings.It needed something special for Nottinghamshire to deny Derbyshire their first victory in the competition and although Trego briefly threatened to match Wood’s pyrotechnics with 28 from 20 balls, they fell well short.Trego and Matthew Montgomery added 54 in five overs but an athletic catch by Wagstaff at point removed Montgomery and Trego miscued a pull at George Scrimshaw.Lyndon James was stumped coming down the pitch to Mattie McKiernan and Nottinghamshire’s fading hopes ended when former Derbyshire batsman Ben Slater drilled Alex Thomson to long off.Hutton enjoyed himself in the evening sunshine but could not save Nottinghamshire from their first defeat to Derbyshire in one-day cricket since 2004.

The USA Cricket Association issued a defiant statement late on Tuesday, saying that the organisation “intends to vigorously defend its rights” in the face of possible expulsion from the ICC. It is a strong hint that USACA is prepared to engage in a legal battle with the game’s global governing body after the ICC announced on Monday that a resolution to expel USACA as an Associate Member will be put before the ICC board at the annual conference in June.”USACA is saddened and disappointed at the ICC Executive Board decision to recommend that the ICC membership expel USACA from the ICC,” the USACA statement said. “This decision is manifestly unfair, prejudicial, unlawful, and unreasonable.”In the three-page statement put out by USACA, they also claim that the ICC’s mandate for USACA to accept an ICC-approved constitution, which includes appointing an ICC-approved independent chairperson to lead the board of directors, laid out as one of 39 terms and conditions in order to achieve reinstatement from their current suspension – in effect since June 2015 – is an “anti-democratic straightjacket [sic]”.”The ICC does not want a strong and unified, , US cricket community,” the USACA release said. “It wants one that the ICC will control and dominate.”The USACA statement repeatedly refers to its own approach to formulating a constitution that was approved by members at an April 8 Special General Meeting in New York as “democratic” while railing against certain aspects of the ICC-approved constitution which USACA’s 45 voting leagues rejected at the same meeting.USACA’s statement is also noteworthy for claiming they have “worked diligently and cooperatively with the ICC to achieve reinstatement by satisfying the reinstatement conditions set forth by the ICC.” That stance directly contradicts the ICC’s statement put out on Monday in which they stated that the resolution for expulsion came as a result of a two-year process in which they have attempted to include members of USACA on ICC advisory groups tasked with trying to unify a fractured cricket community.”It has become clear that this is just not possible and, having invested so much time and resources into helping USACA and with little in the way of cooperation from USACA, the ICC Board now felt that the only remaining option was for the ICC Full Council to consider expulsion of USACA as a member of the ICC,” the ICC statement said on Monday.USACA also states that their constitution will “unify the US cricket community”, though their current self-reported membership of 45 leagues places them in a minority position with approximately 150 leagues in operation nationwide.

Tarun Nethula’s all-round show – a match haul of nine coupled with a brisk half-century – helped defending champions Auckland trump Northern Districts by 71 runs, despite resilient counterattacks with the bat from HR Cooper across both innings.Nethula waltzed to a run-a-ball 52 in the first innings, after five other Auckland batsmen scored in excess of 45 to post 461, validating captain Rob Nicol’s decision to bat. Robert O’ Donnell (75) shared a 115-run stand with Nicol (46) for the third wicket, before a 139-run tenth-wicket stand between Mitchell McClenaghan – who remained unbeaten on a career-best 73 – and Rajvinder Sandhu – who hit a 94-ball 82 in only his second match, the record for Auckland by a No. 11 – propped them up further.Nethula, along with Sandhu, then ran through the opposition line-up, claiming four wickets each to bowl out Northern Districts for 334 in 106.4 overs in the first innings. Cooper stood out with a 101, ensuring his third-wicket stand with Corey Anderson (80) took his side close to 300.Having conceded a 127-run lead, Northern Districts medium-pacer James Baker removed the Auckland openers for 68, but found little support from the other bowlers, as 20-year-old Glenn Phillips scored 109, his maiden first-class century in only his second Plunket Shield match and third first-class innings – he became the first player in New Zealand’s domestic history to score tons across all three formats – first-class, T20 and List A one-day – in a single season, with all three of his hundreds coming on the same ground, the Eden Park Outer Oval.Phillips, who peppered 16 fours and a six in his knock, was also involved in a 130-run stand for the third wicket with Nicol, who scored 47 before declaring on 202 for 4.Chasing 329, Cooper backed up his first-innings century with a fighting 83 to keep Northern Districts in with a chance of victory, but Nethula bettered his first-innings returns with a five-for, the 11th of his first-class career to bowl out the opposition for 258 in the final session of the match.Auckland, by virtue of this victory, have earned maximum bonus points from round seven of the Plunket Shield and trail top-ranked Canterbury by one position, while Northern Districts are placed third.Ajaz Patel is the leading wicket-taker in the tournament with 38 scalps•Getty Images

Central Districts, on the other hand, were knocked out of the tournament after a dramatic second-innings collapse. They did just about enough to salvage a draw against Wellington in a last-over thriller at McLean Park, but that was not enough.Chasing 199, Central Districts raced away to 150 for 3 in 29.1 overs, after captain Will Young coupled his first-innings century with a 37-ball 38 alongside George Worker, who plundered 85 off 100 balls, smashing nine boundaries and one six. The duo added 71 for the third wicket off only 68 balls, but Young’s dismissal in the 32nd over triggered a six-wicket collapse, with his side capitulating to 190 for 9 in the second ball of the 39th over. The last pair of Ajaz Patel and Blair Tickner, however, ensured they played out the remaining four balls, denying an outright victory to Wellington.During Wellington’s second innings, Patel’s 5 for 106 from 49.2 overs was pivotal to Central Districts’ bowling them out for 336, after captain Michael Papps (116) and Tom Blundell (51) put on 73 for the fourth wicket to guide Wellington to 183. Patel, the offspinner, thwarted any possibility of the opposition nearing 400, taking his tournament tally to 38 wickets while ensuring his side had a target under 200 to overhaul in less than two sessions.Earlier, Central Districts responded to Wellington’s first-innings total of 245 with 382, with Young’s 124 and Jesse Ryder’s 61 helping Central Districts take a lead of 137. Matt McEwan returned the best figures for Wellington, picking up 6 for 81, while Brent Arnel scalped four in the second innings, as Central Districts hung on to end the final session on 191 for 9.

Like many before him, Joe Root was plunged into muck the moment he took the England captaincy.Unlike his predecessors, Root’s issues were much more tangible and resolvable. He was changing his new son’s nappy when he took the call from Andrew Strauss offering him the job. Others inheriting the role would have loved such easily solved problems.For Root inherits a more harmonious environment than the majority of his 79 predecessors; certainly the recent ones. There are no rivals slighted in their ambition for the captaincy, no senior players with a damaging relationship with the coach or team-mates and no obvious cliques in the dressing room. Yes, there are some concerns about an ageing James Anderson and a brittle batting line-up, but it is a trifle compared to the problems facing Strauss in 2009 or Alastair Cook in 2012.As Strauss put it: “We’re in a good place. Often when there is a change of leader it’s at a time of crisis one way or another. Certainly when England captains have resigned in the past it’s often been on the back of times when the team or they are in turmoil and we are not in that place at all.”It’s fantastic that Alastair has been able to go out on his own terms and that Joe and Alastair have a really close relationship and that Alastair will continue playing.”Instead Root inherits, in his words, “a great blend of experience and raw talent” and “a core group that have played 20-30 games.”I’m very lucky to have inherited an exciting team who are ready to take some more responsibility,” he said.With six months to plan and plot before England’s Test program resumes, Root is sensibly non-committal about many details. He hasn’t decided where he is going to bat; he wouldn’t be drawn on potential differences between his team and Cook’s and he wants to “speak to the lads first” and makes sure they don’t hear of any changes of direction “in the media.”There were a few hints, though. While much has been made of the flair of the younger England players, Root clearly wants it combined with grit when required. Asked if he wanted to be an entertaining captain, he replied that he has to be “a captain that wins” and asked whether he could retain his “cheeky” image he suggested it had been “over-played” in the media. “I want us to be tough to play against,” he said several times.That’s not to suggest he wants England to be inhibited. He just wants it channelled. As both he and Strauss noted, the last couple of years have been marked by inconsistency in England’s Test cricket. Now, with the young and inexperienced team not so young or inexperienced, expectations are increasing.”I want the guys to enjoy playing cricket,” Root said. “You have 10 to 15 years, you have to enjoy being at the pinnacle of the sport and the more I can get that across to the lads, the more we can have that environment the better.Joe Root undertook his first official duties as England captain at his home ground•Getty Images

“I think that suits the make-up of our squad. And it’s important for the game too. I just want to be very natural, instinctive and find something that naturally works.””We’ve been very inconsistent,” Strauss agreed. “We’ve had some fantastic results and some fantastic series wins, and then we’ve had some times when we’ve got ourselves into good positions in series and we haven’t been able to get over the line.”I don’t know if it’s about stagnation, but it’s certainly about players developing. I think we’ve got to the stage now where you can recognise we’ve got a number of world-class players in that team. Now we’ve got to put it together more often and more consistently than we have done. We need to be more consistent and we need to be harder to beat.”Many of the questions directed at Root concerned his own form. While he could hardly be expected to admit to fears over the potential effects of captaincy, he did point out that the examples of Virat Kohli and Steven Smith suggested that the added responsibility could benefit his batting.”I do look at what they have done, yes,” Root said. “And that excites me.”This is an opportunity for me. It’s a great motivator to make sure I do everything I can to get my batting in the best place possible and set the example for the rest of the guys in the team.”I like to think that, in the past, the more responsibility I’ve been given I’ve stepped up to that and taken it in my stride. Looking around the world, other guys in a similar position to me have taken similar responsibility and taken their game to the next level, so I’d like to think if I go about it the right way I’ll be able to do the same thing.”Strauss, too, was optimistic about the effects on Root’s batting. Pointing out that the captaincy – described as “the biggest honour in the game” by Root, who declined the invitation to have a few days to think about the offer before accepting – could be “incredibly energising,” Strauss expects few downsides in “the next 18 months.””You walk a bit taller,” Strauss said. “And you are passionate about taking the team forward. You want to contribute to winning games of cricket, and we’ve seen a lot of captains that it’s had a really positive effect on their game generally. There’s no reason why that wouldn’t happen to Joe for the next 18 months.”There is no immediate prospect of England appointing one captain to cover all three formats, though. Even if Eoin Morgan had not led the white-ball sides’ improvement over the last 18 months, Strauss is inclined to believe that the demands of leading across formats is too demanding to be sustainable.”When I started this job I saw great value in us having separate captains for the different formats,” Strauss said. “And the reason behind that is because it allows that person to spend every waking hour thinking about how to take the team forward in that particular format.”When you have a captain for all formats, it’s very hard to be able to do that consistently. You almost inevitably start sleep-walking from one format to the other, so I still think there’s great value in having those two captains.”Eoin has done a fantastic job as one-day captain, and we’ve seen the change of method and philosophy in white-ball cricket – and how successful that’s been. There’s certainly no reason why I’d want to upset that apple-cart at this stage.”Either way, it seems nobody within the ECB is going to try to shape Root’s captaincy. He will be encouraged to find his own way and”The advice everyone gives you when you take over as captain is to do it your way,” Strauss said. “It’s got to feel right for you.At the same time, you should always listen to people that have been in that position before and understand how to manage yourself a bit and how to manage others.”But I think if you have a depth of character about you, and you have a realisation that you only get this chance once in your life, you pretty much get to the stage where ‘I’m going to do what I think is right, and I’ll be judged on that.’ And certainly that’s how I anticipate Joe will go about doing things.”

AB de Villiers has made a “wise decision” in the “best interests of South African cricket,” by sitting out of Test cricket for most of the rest of 2017, according to Ali Bacher, the former South Africa captain and veteran administrator.Bacher met with de Villiers on Tuesday, shortly after de Villiers had ruled himself out of the New Zealand Tests in March, and told ESPNcricinfo he thought de Villiers had done the right thing.”AB is an extraordinary individual and the amount of cricket he has played has taken its toll on his body. If he had to play all formats, his body will break down,” Bacher said. “He has made a wise decision to go about things cautiously and get his body ready to take on the world again.”De Villiers has spent the last six months on the sidelines as he recovered from an elbow injury that required surgery. He is due to make a comeback in a T20 against Sri Lanka on January 25, with a view to playing in the five-match ODI series that follows, and hopes to lead South Africa to the Champions Trophy and ultimately the 2019 World Cup.Fifty-over cricket is his focus and Bacher believes de Villiers will not rest until he has his hands on an ICC trophy. “He is extremely passionate about South African cricket and about winning that World Cup,” Bacher said.Bacher also brushed aside concerns that de Villiers’ extended time out of the Test arena will see the team move on without him.”He is one of the greats and I would think that, when he is fit and ready, he will be an automatic pick.” He asked the South African public to be patient with de Villiers because “he has given 100%”, and has served them “non-stop”.De Villiers had played international cricket for 12 years, including 98 Tests in succession from his debut to July 2015. He missed South Africa’s series in Bangladesh on that occasion, because of paternity commitments.”It is vigorous. The practice schedule and the playing. And he has been going like this since 2004. He has done so much and if he is not wise he will break down again. I have seen no difference in the way he feels about playing for South Africa.”Bacher was interviewing de Villiers for his television series at de Villiers’ old school, Affies, where Bacher also read out a message from Sachin Tendulkar in praise of AB.”I got hold of Sachin Tendulkar, who was my first interviewee for the show in 2010, and I asked him to send me a few words about AB. He holds AB in such regard for the way he has changed the context of the modern game. AB is a special person and a special cricketer. South Africa must not forget that.”

Former South Africa opener Sid O’Linn died in Randberg on Sunday at the age of 89. An obdurate left-hand batsman and stand-in wicketkeeper, O’Linn had played seven Tests for South Africa between 1960 and 1961.He also played 92 first-class matches for Transvaal, Western Province and Kent, scoring 4525 runs at 35.62. A sharp fielder in most positions when not keeping, he took 97 catches to go with six stumpings. His Test call up came in mid-1960 for a tour of England, after a season in which he scored 619 runs at 68.78 for Transvaal. On the tour, he scored his best of 98 – made over five and a half hours – at Trent Bridge. The following year he played two home Tests against New Zealand, before being dropped on form.O’Linn’s sporting skills extended beyond the cricket field: he played top-flight football for English football club Charlton Athletic, and even represented South Africa in football in one game in 1947.