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The Frenchman continues to torment English opposition, opening the scoring in his side's 2-0 win over Chelsea at the Santiago Bernabeu

Karim Benzema just loves playing against Premier League clubs.

The French forward opened the scoring in Real Madrid's 2-0 win over Chelsea on Wednesday night, meaning his last 11 goals in the Champions League have all come against English opposition. Imagine how many he'd score if he was playing against the likes of Wesley Fofana and Ben Chilwell on a weekly basis!

Vinicius Junior would run riot, too, in fairness. The winger danced through the Blues' back-line all evening and it was his shot which allowed Benzema to open the scoring, and his pass which Marco Asensio whipped into the bottom corner to seal victory for the home side.

This quarter-final tie is not yet over, of course. Chelsea could yet turn things around in the second leg at Stamford Bridge but that appears highly unlikely right now for two reasons: firstly, the Blues' abject form; and secondly, the continued presence of Benzema up front!

Below, GOAL runs through the winners and losers from another great night for the Ballon d'Or holder, who has now netted 20 goals against Premier League clubs in continental competition (only Lionel Messi has more!)…

Getty ImagesWINNER: Karim Benzema

He was always going to score, wasn’t he? Chelsea made it rather easy for Benzema to break the deadlock, but his positioning to create the tap-in opportunity should not be ignored. The French forward simply ghosted into the box, and was entirely unmarked as he turned the ball into an empty net.

Benzema was equally effective for the remainder of the contest, working in tandem with Vinicius to terrorise the Chelsea backline. He could’ve perhaps had a second in stoppage time, but will still be satisfied with his opener. And besides, he'll get another chance to add to his impressive haul against Premier League clubs when these two sides meet again in west London next week…

AdvertisementGetty ImagesLOSER: Joao Felix's finishing

How Chelsea would dearly love to have a No.9 of the quality of Benzema. The club's clueless new owners have spent a record-breaking amount of money since taking over last year and yet they've not got a single reliable goalscorer.

After all, anybody who was expecting loan signing Joao Felix to score freely for Chelsea was obviously deluding themselves. The Portuguese has never been prolific, neither for club nor country.

But nobody could have foreseen that his finishing would be this poor. When big chances have presented themselves, particularly in the Champions League, Felix has fluffed his lines time and time again. At this stage, it's not even surprising.

What shocking about his failure to score after being put clean through on goal early on was the dreadful lack of pace which allowed Eder Militao to catch up with him. Felix may have plenty of technical qualities but one really does wonder what top club would be willing to take the forward of Atletico Madrid's hands at the end of the season.

GettyWINNER: Vinicius Junior

Vinicius seems to do this every game these days. The winger tormented Wesley Fofana for 90 minutes, twisting Chelsea’s centre-back inside out with a series of cuts, feints and stopovers.

His neat run in behind led to the Madrid opener, while his electric pace stretched play for Los Blancos. He was good at keeping the ball here, too, and made the right decision more often than not.

That was exactly the case for Madrid’s second, when the winger fed a wide open Marco Asensio, who curled one into the bottom corner from outside the box. He tried to force it later on, and clearly wanted a much-deserved goal. But it was an absolutely tireless showing from a player that is somehow still getting better.

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GettyLOSER: Wesley Fofana

Chelsea have overpaid for an awful lot of players this season but giving Leicester nearly £70 million for Wesley Fofana looks like a particularly dreadful deal. The centre-back's potential is obvious but he Frenchman is nothing like the finished article, as we saw once again at the Bernabeu.

Now, as outlined above, Vinicius Junior is capable of destroying even the most experienced of defenders but the easy with which he repeatedly breezed by Fofana was staggering. The one positive for the former Leicester City man is that he managed to stay on the pitch after picking up a booking inside five minutes, although that was mainly because he failed to get anywhere near the Brazilian thereafter.

A draw for the Gunners in Holland would be enough to guarantee top spot in Europa League Group A

Arsenal return to Europa League action on Thursday night when they visit PSV Eindhoven.

Four wins from four games has already seen the Gunners secure qualification through to the knockout stages of the competition, but they have yet to guarantee top spot in the group – something that would see them earn a bye through to the round of 16 early next year.

A point in Holland would be enough for Mikel Arteta’s side to achieve that with a game to spare.

So how are Arsenal shaping up ahead of their clash with PSV? Below, GOAL takes a look.

Arsenal team news

Arsenal could be without Marquinhos on Thursday night.

The 19-year-old has appeared in three of Arsenal’s four Europa League games so far this season, scoring once and getting an assist.

But he could miss the trip to PSV, after being forced to sit out training on Wednesday due to illness.

Oleksandr Zinchenko is definitely still out with the calf problem that has seen him sidelined since the win against Tottenham on October 1.

Long-term absentees Mohamed Elneny (hamstring) and Emile Smith Rowe (groin) remain sidelined and are not due back until after the World Cup.

AdvertisementGettyTalking point

Mikel Arteta’s potential team selection has generated lots of debate ahead of the game.

With qualification through to the knockout stages already secured, the Arsenal manager could potentially rest lots of his star names with one eye on Sunday’s Premier League meeting with Nottingham Forest.

But Arsenal still need a point at PSV to secure top spot in the group, which would see them given a bye into the round of 16 when the competition restarts in 2023.

So Arteta could opt to name a strong starting XI, featuring the likes of Granit Xhaka and Bukayo Saka, in a bid to get the result needed to win the group with one game to spare.

That would then allow the Spaniard to rest everyone in the final group stage game against FC Zurich next Thursday, knowing that the result would not matter.

GettyKey man

Matt Turner: Arsenal’s back-up keeper has enjoyed some good performances in the group stages so far, making some impressive stops on his way to three successive clean sheets.

But you would expect that this will be his toughest test so far, with PSV a strong attacking outfit – especially at home.

So Arsenal will need Turner to be at his best in what will no doubt be a hostile atmosphere in Holland.

Given the Gunners only need a draw, Turner will know that another shut out will guarantee the Gunners passage through as group winners.

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GettyArteta's view

Asked whether he feels fatigue is now creeping into his squad, Arsenal’s manager said: “We have the same that we had a month ago, two days ago, and the same as what we’re going to have next week. 

“I don’t like to have any excuses. 

“I think the team looked really fresh at the start [against Southampton]. I put it [the second half performance] more down to the way we played. We should have played better.”

Read our updated power ranking of Nigerian players in England’s top-flight

Folarin Balogun

Balogun continues to be uninvolved with the Arsenal first-team, missing Saturday’s 3-0 win over Southampton, and his position does not change.

AdvertisementEberechi Eze – Crystal PalaceEberechi Eze

Eze played no part in Sunday’s 3-1 success over Everton. Thus, he remains in situ in our rankings.

Watford.Peter Etebo

The injured Watford star dropped a place last week but is a beneficiary of Eze not getting game time against Everton.

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Getty ImagesCarney Chukwuemeka

Chukwuemeka supplanted Etebo last week but was not involved in Aston Villa’s 1-0 loss at Liverpool at the weekend, losing the chance to supplant anyone above him.

A sluggish surface at the MA Chidambaram Stadium produced an attritional first day on which India A took the early initiative through a century stand between KL Rahul and Cheteshwar Pujara before losing five wickets for 94 runs to Australia A’s constricti

The Report by Karthik Krishnaswamy in Chennai22-Jul-2015
ScorecardKL Rahul hit 14 fours for his 96•K SivaramanA sluggish surface at the MA Chidambaram Stadium produced an attritional first day on which India A took the early initiative through a century stand between KL Rahul and Cheteshwar Pujara before losing five wickets for 94 runs to Australia A’s constricting tactics. When rain brought the first day’s play to a close at half past four, India were 221 for 6.With Varun Aaron missing out due to fever, India went in with an attack consisting of two seamers in Umesh Yadav and Abhimanyu Mithun, and the spin pair of Amit Mishra and Pragyan Ojha. India’s early progress, after they chose to bat, gave no hint as to how the day would pan out. Rahul eased Gurinder Sandhu for drives to the cover and straight boundaries in the first over, and Mukund caressed two cover-driven fours off Andrew Fekete in the next over before playing all around a yorker.The match settled into a steadier rhythm thereafter, but there were enough bad balls for Rahul and Pujara to score off and keep the score ticking along at more than three runs an over. Rahul flicked Sean Abbott off his toes to the fine leg boundary and took two fours off the left-arm spinner Steve O’Keefe’s first over – a flat-bat drive between cover point and short cover, and a dismissive square cut when he pitched short. Pujara soaked up some good bowling early on, but caught up with Rahul as the session wore on, driving Abbott through cover and gliding Marcus Stoinis between slip and gully for two fours in two overs.Both batsmen were in their 40s at lunch, with India 104 for 1 in 30 overs. They both brought up their fifties with boundaries after lunch; Rahul cutting Fekete behind point, Pujara driving Sandhu down the ground.Australia, though, had worked out a plan for their seamers. From start of the second session through the rest of the day, they bowled a nagging stump-to-stump line with five fielders on the leg side – usually a short mid-on and a short midwicket, a deeper mid-on in between, and two back for the hook. Given the slowness of the pitch, the batsmen had to be careful about flicking or driving anything that was not overpitched. It was hardly the kind of test Rahul Dravid, the India A coach, had hoped his batsmen would be exposed to when he had called for quick, bouncy pitches in the lead-up to the series. It was still a test, nonetheless.Fekete got the ball to stop on Pujara twice in two overs. Both times, he jabbed early at the ball while defending from the crease. The first one fell just short of Usman Khawaja at short mid-on. The second one carried to him.Abbott, replacing Fekete after his successful spell, nearly struck in the same manner in the 48th over, Rahul popping one in the air between short mid-on and short midwicket. In between, O’Keefe, and the pressure of playing out 14 dot balls, had sent back Karun Nair, who drove too early and scooped a catch to short cover .Nair’s wicket brought Shreyas Iyer to the crease, and his arrival brought a thrillingly discordant note to the day’s play in a fourth-wicket stand of 55 with Rahul. Seeming to pick up length earlier than most, Iyer cut Abbott for four off a ball that was barely short and only marginally wide, and pulled Sandhu for two fours in one over – either side of deep square leg – when he went around the wicket shortly before tea. But a silly shot was always around the corner; having earlier attempted, unsuccessfully, to paddle Abbott, Iyer was bowled while trying to whip Sandhu across the line.Five overs later, Rahul gave short mid-on another moment in the sun. Trying to flick Abbott off the stumps, he played a touch too early, and fell four runs short of a hundred.Australia continued to constrict: only seven runs came off the ten overs that followed Rahul’s dismissal. The pressure finally told on Naman Ojha; having scored 10 off 55 balls, he saw a bit of air from O’Keefe, went after him, and failed to clear mid-off. The light was fading rapidly already, and Travis Head, brought on to bowl his offspin from the other end, could only send down one ball before the groundstaff raced in with the covers.

When two of the post-lunch highlights are the arrival of the T20 Claphits and the stately progress of a green and yellow cement mixer, it is fairly clear what sort of afternoon it has been

Paul Edwards at Old Trafford10-May-2016
ScorecardJames Vince survived some testing bowling from Lancashire•Getty ImagesWhen two of the post-lunch highlights are the arrival of the T20 Claphits and the stately progress of a green and yellow cement mixer, it is fairly clear what sort of afternoon it has been. Yet the tedium that sometimes envelops a cricket ground during rain was particularly noticeable on the third day of this game because it was in such sharp contrast to what had gone before.In the morning session Lancashire’s bowlers tried all they knew to take more than Michael Carberry’s wicket in Hampshire second innings, but a 53-run second-wicket stand between James Vince and Will Smith kept them at bay. The cricket was of high quality with Smith facing 42 balls before getting off the mark and Vince, who was run out without scoring on the first day, pressing his case for England selection with a crunching drive down the ground off James Anderson and a couple of back foot fours played when Luke Procter dropped short.Yet as we watched Anderson, a current Test cricketer, examine the skills of Vince, who aspires to play at that level, one’s sympathy went to Carberry, who has been restricted to a single Test at Chittagong and all five on the “two wheels on my wagon” Ashes tour a couple of winters ago. That looks like being the 36-year-old’s lot as far as England is concerned, yet given other chances in other years, he might have offered his country fine service.On Tuesday he departed to the 11th ball of the morning when he was caught by wicketkeeper Alex Davies off Anderson for 16. He left the field gesticulating a little and shaking his head. He returned to the dressing room and showed his team-mates a red mark on his flannels. Somehow it rather encapsulated Carberry’s career. People will remember his modest 281 runs on the Ashes tour (although that made him England’s second-highest scorer) and that dropped catch off Brad Haddin. There could have been so much more.The rest of the session confirmed three things: the rhythm of Simon Kerrigan’s bowling action; the richness of Neil Wagner’s competitive juices; and the need for Vince to develop a clearer strategy against high-quality, short-pitched bowling.The second and third of these are plainly connected, so let us consider them together. In the hour before lunch Wagner bowled an excellent ten-over spell which cost 24 runs. It was fast, hostile and, most importantly, discriminatory. Bouncers were a thoughtful option, not a tedious addiction. Carefully-rationed short deliveries were precisely targeted: one struck Smith on the helmet while another planted Vince on his backside, a fact which international attacks will probably need to analyse.Vince will not always face fast bowling of Wagner’s quality but he will face a great deal more of it should he receive a life-changing phonecall from James Whitaker on Wednesday evening. Sitting on your bum in the batting crease with a South African bowler commenting on your indignity does not generally cost you your wicket. But Vince, who batted tightly and toughly for most of the third morning, needs to answer a couple of questions. Is he going to hook at all? If the answer is yes, is he going to hook when there are men on the fence? He did so this morning and a top-edged six only just cleared Alviro Petersen at long leg.As for Kerrigan, he is bowling with the sort of rhythm and control he last exhibited for long periods a few years ago, before his evisceration at the hands of Shane Watson in The Oval of 2013. What seems to be happening is that his right arm is doing more work and coming through properly in advance of the left. That is always important to a left-arm spinner. Kerrigan celebrated his 27th birthday on Tuesday; the permanent rediscovery of his mojo would have made a fine present but one imagines that the work began over the winter and that Ashley Giles played a role in its completion.Kerrigan is probably fortunate that Giles got the director of cricket’s job at Lancashire. The ex-England man understands that one small change is often enough. He is not one of those coaches who takes a good spinner with a smooth if slightly flawed action and “remodels” it, so that before you can say “Verity”, a once-promising slow bowler is approaching the wicket like a crab on Benzedrine and the ball is disappearing into nearby parishes. According to Luke Procter, this pitch is “turning aggressively”; if so, there is more work ahead for both Kerrigan and Vince on the final day of this compelling game.

UAE’s opening bowlers – Mohammad Naveed and Manjula Guruge – took seven wickets between them to set up a comfortable five-wicket win against Kenya in Southampton

ESPNcricinfo staff25-Jun-2015
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsFile photo – Mohammad Naveed finished with figures of 4 for 36•AFPUAE’s opening bowlers – Mohammad Naveed and Manjula Guruge – took seven wickets between them to set up a comfortable five-wicket win against Kenya in Southampton.UAE made good use of their decision to insert Kenya by having them 31 for 3 within nine overs. Collins Obuya threatened with a 47-ball 36, in which he hit seven fours, but the most substantial stand of the innings was 65 between Nelson Odhiambo (24) and Nehemiah Odhiambo(62) for the sixth wicket, but Nehemiah’s dismissal in the 31st over retracted any hopes of a comeback. Kenya lost the last four wickets for 24 as they were bowled out for 171 in the 41st over. Naveed finished with figures of 4 for 36.In reply UAE lost Qais Farooq in the second over for 4, and two more wickets by the end of 11th over as the match evened out. Amjad Ali (49) and Swapnil Patil (38) then added 66 for the fourth wicket to wrest the game from Kenya’s grasp. Nehemiah contributed with the ball as well, taking 2 for 28. Mohammad Shahzad and Amjad Javed chipped in with cameos to help UAE reach the target.

Martin Guptill showed some fine form to press his claims further for a Test recall while the battle for New Zealand’s third seam still looks tight

George Dobell at New Road16-May-2015
ScorecardRoss Whiteley’s hundred made New Zealand’s bowlers work hard•Getty ImagesAs England prepared for their World Cup match against Australia, it was suggested – tongue in cheek – that the presence of Jack Shantry at their net sessions was an attempt to ready them for the pace of Mitchell Johnson and Mitchell Starc.Shantry, the Worcestershire seamer who spent the winter playing Grade cricket in Melbourne, does have a few similarities with Johnson and Starc. Like them, he bowls left arm. And, like them, he is a mammal.But there the similarities cease. For while the Australian duo bowl at a furiously fast pace, Shantry bowls at a pace that might be described, in comparison, as slow to stationary. While he has recently taken to calling himself Jack ‘the hurricane’ Shantry, it is with self-deprecating humour: he reasons that the Beaufort scale – used as the measure of wind intensity based on sea conditions – rates that anything over 74mph can be described as hurricane force. And Shantry, on a good day, running downhill, at sea, probably does just about top 74 mph.That is not to decry Shantry’s talents. Blessed with an unusually high action, he combines impressive control with an ability to nip the ball around sharply and actually has a better first-class bowling average than either of the Australians. 189 first-class wickets at under 28 apiece deserves respect. Pace isn’t everything as Terry Alderman, Vernon Philander and Chaminda Vaas proved.What is the point of this, you may well be asking? Well, the point is that Shantry is now preparing New Zealand for their Test series against England. In early season conditions, Shantry and co. are proving the measure by which the tourists must settle on their Test XI.With only five days to go until the Lord’s Test begins, it seems New Zealand have chosen nine of the 11 that will play. With the captain Brendon McCullum – in IPL action today – likely to return at No. 5, Kane Williamson at No. 3 and Tim Southee and Trent Boult certain of sharing the new ball, the only vacancies are at the top of the order – where Tom Latham, Martin Guptill and Hamish Rutherford are battling for two spots – and as third seamer, where Doug Bracewell, Matt Henry and Neil Wagner are competing for a single position.On the evidence of this game, it would appear that Guptill – dismissed by Shantry in the first innings – has earned himself a decent chance of playing at Lord’s. While he was unable to play in the previous match at Taunton due to a side strain sustained while playing for Derbyshire (he scored a double-century in his last game for the county), he looked in imperious touch here, driving with power, pulling with contempt and dealing with Shantry’s movement with confidence.By contrast, Latham fell to a catch at leg slip – Shantry will no doubt claim, with a smile, that it was “leg theory” in action – and has now failed to reach 10 in three of his four innings on tour. While the other was a half-century against Somerset, he may have slipped behind Guptill and Rutherford, who made a patient 75 in the first innings here and 37 in the first innings at Taunton.Rutherford was unable to put the issue beyond doubt in the second innings here, though. Playing back to Moeen Ali’s first delivery, he was aghast to see the ball pitch middle and leg and turn sharply to clip the top of off stump. Had Ross Taylor been taken by Rich Oliver at leg slip when he had 12, as he probably should have been, Moeen would have finished the day with two victims.The day still ended much better for him than it started. He was able to add only three to his overnight total when he flicked a fairly innocuous looking delivery from Wagner to midwicket.Perhaps it was relevant that he looked somewhat unsettled by the short ball that preceded it. Australia have made no secret of their plans to test Moeen with the short delivery and, while he has rarely looked troubled by the delivery at county level and insists it is not an issue now, his ability to deal with it may well define his summer.Wagner was probably the most impressive of the seamers contesting a Test place. While Henry, blessed with a lovely, strong action, was rated the quickest of the attack by Worcestershire’s batsmen, Wagner conceded only 17 from his 14 overs and looked a man well in command of his game. Henry, by contrast, conceded almost four-an-over.Bracewell also looked strong and took the key wicket of Daryl Mitchell – brilliantly caught by Guptill high above his head at second slip as he failed to get on top of a short ball – after grinding for 37 overs in making 22.That New Zealand did not take a first innings lead was largely due to the resistance provided by Ross Whiteley. He has long been seen as a talented player but, due as much to a lack of confidence as any technical issues, has rarely fulfilled that ability in red-ball cricket. This, his first century for Worcestershire in first-team cricket – though it is not a first-class match – was full of powerful strokes and provided a reminder of the potential that remains. If he can take confidence from it – and he really should – he can go on to enjoy a fine career.But in the longer term, it may be Ed Barnard’s career that proves more substantial. While he has yet to make his first-class debut, the 19-year-old made an impressive first-team debut here. The 81 runs he added with Whiteley demonstrated composure and plenty of time for the ball. He looked, in short, a promising young player with the ability to forge a decent career in the game.So what a shame that so few people will hear about it. Sadly – in a worrying reflection of cricket’s decline in the UK – the local newspaper no longer sends a reporter to watch the local side and there is no agency writer at this match. Watching cricket at New Road remains a rare delight, but if the game is to remain relevant, it will have to fight harder for the exposure that is its oxygen.

A round-up of the National Cricket League matches which ended on February 11, 2015

ESPNcricinfo staff11-Feb-2015Dhaka Division won their third consecutive match of the National Cricket League by an innings, this time crushing Chittagong Division by an innings and 174 runs. It put them top of the points table with 75 points, 19 ahead of second placed Rangpur Division, while Chittagong are scraping near the bottom with only seven points.While it was Mosharraf Hossain’s five-wicket haul (his 13th in first-class cricket) that handed Dhaka the early advantage, once again it was the grand start given by the openers Rony Talukdar and Abdul Mazid that put them in total control of the game. The pair put on their second consecutive 300-run stand for the first wicket, adding 304 runs in 77.1 overs. They also had a 197-run partnership in Dhaka’s first match against Barisal Division.Talukdar struck his second double-hundred in three games (and his third consecutive 150-plus score), making 201 off 240 balls with the help of 22 fours and seven sixes. Mazid was slightly more sedate with his 248-ball 113 that had 17 fours. It was his second hundred in as many games.After the Rony-Mazid pair had plundered the Chittagong bowlers, Shuvagata Hom struck his sixth first-class century while Raqibul Hasan and Taibur Rahman hit fifties as Dhaka declared on 616 for 5 on the third day. Chittagong, who had made 155 in the first innings, folded for 287 in the second innings with Tasamul Haque making 114 off 180 balls. Irfan Sukkur also made 74. For Dhaka, pace bowler Dewan Sabbir took four wickets while Mosharraf added three more to his first innings five-for.Rangpur Division moved into second position after their 193-run win over Khulna Division in Mirpur. Mahmudul Hasan’s nine wickets was pivotal for Rangpur and the haul fetched him the Man-of-the-Match award.Batting first, Rangpur were bowled out for 310 with Tariq Ahmed and Ariful Haque making 63 and 68 respectively. Khulna were bowled out for 213 in reply, falling 97 runs behind. Mahmudul took five wickets with his offspin while debutatnt offspinner Sanjit Saha took four wickets.Rangpur batted slower in the second innings, making 259 for 8 in 105 overs before declaring on the fourth morning. Khulna lost their first three wickets by three overs for just two runs, and were ultimately bowled out for 163 in 51 overs with more than an hour to spare on the fourth day. Mahmudul took four wickets, while there was two each for Subashis Roy and Sanjit, who recently returned from Bangladesh Under-19’s tour of Sri Lanka.Rajshahi Division and Sylhet Division played out a draw at the BSKP-2 ground. Batting first, Rajshahi made 482 with Maisuqur Rahman and Junaid Siddique hitting centuries.But the most significant moment came in the 137th over of Rajshahi’s innings when Enamul Haque jnr became the first Bangladeshi bowler to take 400 first-class wickets, in his 100th first-class match. He finished with 4 for 137, the 46th time he has taken four or more wickets in an innings.Sylhet were bowled out for 324 and asked to follow on by Rajshahi captain Farhad Reza. They batted through the fourth day to make 335 for 3, with Rahatul Ferdous notching his maiden first-class hundred.The Barisal Division-Dhaka Metropolis match was also drawn in Fatullah.Batting first, Dhaka Metro were bowled out for 400 with Shadman Islam hitting his maiden first-class hundred. His innings was quite two-paced as he made 140 off 301 balls, with 110 runs coming in boundaries (26 fours and a six). He made the rest of his 30 runs off 274 balls. Left-arm spinner Al-Amin took his first five-wicket haul.In reply, Barisal raced to 161 for 0, but once the the opening partnership between Shahriar Nafees and debutant Saif Hasan was broken, they were bowled out for 261. Elias Sunny took a career-best 7 for 73, his 13th five-wicket haul.Dhaka Metro furthered their lead by another 247 runs in 52.4 overs before declaring their second innings. Shadman struck 89 while Asif Ahmed and Mehrab Hossain jnr made 53 and 51 respectively. Nafees and Saif once again gave a good start adding 90 for the first wicket. Unlike the first innings though, the next two batsmen held it together. Fazle Mahmud struck his second first-class century and added 140 runs for the unbroken third-wicket stand with Mohammad Sajib.

The UAE captain says West Indies’ batting has been inconsistent and their bowling not in the same class as other teams

Firdose Moonda in Napier14-Mar-2015In the years since their decline, West Indies have copped criticism from former players, from current players, from fans and now, even from the opposition.”They are not playing as consistently as they should be,” Mohammad Tauqir, UAE’s captain said. “They are very unpredictable and rely heavily on Chris Gayle. We can see some opportunity playing against them tomorrow.”Gayle is fit and has been training since Thursday, even as his back problem continues to nag at his form. His 215 against Zimbabwe remains his only score of substance in the tournament so far and Tauqir and co want to keep it that way. “He has played a good couple of innings but he has been out of form as well,” he said. “We need to bowl and field well.”UAE were on the receiving end of big runs from both Pakistan and South Africa and could find themselves in the same position in their final outing. West Indies are under pressure because they not only need a win, but also need to up their net run rate and Jason Holder indicated that may act as a catalyst for them to play freely.”We will play with as much freedom as we can because that’s when we are at our best,” Holder said. “Hopefully guys will free up as much as possible and remember that what’s important is to be aggressive.”Holder’s instruction was intended at his bowlers too, especially after seeing how UAE reacted to the short ball barrage they received from South Africa on Thursday night. “We need to be aggressive. They seem not to like the aggressive stuff,” Holder said.But Tauqir was not too threatened by the warning that Kemar Roach and Jerome Taylor may attack his batsmen with the same venom the South African pack did. “West Indies have a good pace attack but South Africa are in a different league. Philander and Morkel and Steyn, they are world class. They bowled some very hostile deliveries,” he said.On the night of that game, Tauqir was “shocked,” by the South African’s body-beating tactics, but now he believes that has prepared his line-up for what’s to come. “Playing almost 50 overs against them gave us a lot of confidence and it’s a big positive for us,” he said. “West Indies will be under pressure and it will give us opportunity to play freely and express ourselves.”Holder’s response was measured. “They are an international cricket team and we don’t expect them to be a walkover,” he said, before ending with a little warning of his own. “There’s no point trying to force the result but we know it’s ideal that we wrap it up as quickly as possible. If we see an opportunity to do that, we should take it.”

Brendon McCullum was happy setting Pakistan 261 in 72 overs, in the hope that temptation might get the better of Misbah-ul-Haq’s previously impervious side

ESPNcricinfo staff21-Nov-2014Hesson ‘pleased’ with spinners’ performance

New Zealand coach Mike Hesson is optimistic about his bowlers’ performance – both seamers and spinners – who took 15 wickets in the second Test in Dubai, compared to only five in the first Test in Abu Dhabi. Hesson said the seamers’ outing in Abu Dhabi was only an “aberration.”
“They are two quality bowlers [Tim Southee and Trent Boult] who in the last couple of years have performed everywhere,” Hesson said. “It was a bit of an aberration in Abu Dhabi where they weren’t able to create anything but they still bowled tightly enough. Those guys have gone away and worked on a few things and tried to find ways of creating opportunities. I thought the way they kept chugging in today was exceptional, and over the last five days was great.”
Hesson said his spinners were not used to bowling on subcontinent pitches but he was pleased with the way they had adapted in the two Tests.
“Our spinners aren’t used to bowling on conditions with footholes playing such a part,” he said. “Pakistan spinners beat us off the wicket and at home traditionally we try and beat guys in the air. When you have footholes to hit, it’s very hard to change the method that you’ve trained your whole life. I thought the way Ish [Sodhi] and Mark [Craig] have adapted over the last couple of Tests is pleasing but they are still striving for consistency of pace as well.
“[Yasir] Shah and [Zulfiqar] Babar don’t give away lot of freebies so you’ve got to scrap hard for your runs. And that’s something that our spinners are learning, these guys are little more experienced than us but we are getting better.”

When your opponent has chased down a score of 300 at more than five runs an over in recent memory, most captains could be forgiven for approaching a second-innings declaration with caution. Brendon McCullum is happy to describe himself as an “eternal optimist”, however, and preferred to dangle the carrot of victory in front of Pakistan rather than take the draw that would keep alive New Zealand’s chances of levelling the series.No matter that Pakistan had chased 302 in 57.3 overs in Sharjah at the start of the year to overcome a defensive-minded Sri Lanka; McCullum was confident enough to set them 261 in 72 overs, in the hope that temptation might get the better of Misbah-ul-Haq’s previously impervious side.With Pakistan 75 for 4 and tea some way off, McCullum’s gamble looked to have been well-judged. Asad Shafiq’s dogged innings, in partnerships with Younis Khan and Sarfraz Ahmed, made sure Pakistan would hold on to their 1-0 lead but New Zealand could draw strength from denying the hosts a fourth straight Test victory while maintaining their chances of squaring the series in Sharjah next week.”When you’re making those kind of decisions, you look at the history of what’s happened, how the opposition team has responded in situations like this and try and get a bit of information, rather than having to come up with a willy-nilly score,” McCullum said. “So we looked at all of that stuff, the strength of their line-up, and we thought if we keep them semi-interested, that would give us our greatest opportunity.”We didn’t want to hand it to them, that’s for sure, because we worked far too hard throughout the game to make a reckless decision. But the one we came up with kept them interested but also kept us interested and gave us enough time if we’d been able to knock over the top order. Credit to them but we’ll walk away pretty happy as well.”Having posted 403 in their first innings, New Zealand were looking at a significant lead when Pakistan were reduced to 312 for 9. However, Sarfraz battled his way to a century during a last-wicket stand worth 81, which McCullum said prevented New Zealand from “dictating play a little bit more”.New Zealand were then wobbling at 125 for 5 in their second innings but recovered through Ross Taylor’s century. In keeping with his reputation for positive captaincy, McCullum chose to declare New Zealand’s innings nine down, after a brief salvo from Tim Southee took the target above 250, to give the visitors their best chance of victory.”I thought it was a pretty fair declaration, there was enough there for the batting team to stay interested if they got off to a good start and there was also enough time for us if we’d been able to knock over the top order reasonably quickly to be able take 10 wickets on a wearing track,” McCullum said. “From our point of view, we’re trying to win Test matches and hence we went down that route rather than looking to try and bat out more of the day. I thought it was a brilliant Test match and, whilst there was no winner, a really good advert for Test cricket.”It almost deserved a winner, it was that good a Test. We’ll hark back to that 10th-wicket partnership where if we’d been able to make inroads at that point we’d have been able to go on and dictate play a little bit more. But it wasn’t to be and credit has to go to Sarfraz, I thought his innings under an immense amount of pressure was outstanding, the way he shepherded the lower order through to that score.”In times gone past there’s probably a tendency for us to have gone into our shell after losing some of that momentum but I thought the way we came out and played positively and with some intent, looking to try and win the Test match was a real credit to us. It’s a really good sign from my point of view because it shows that a young team is prepared to play aggressive cricket to get some wins in the column. The wins are what you remember most – we’ll remember a lot out of this Test match but it would have been great to get across the line. It was certainly a gamble worth taking.”McCullum conceded that “winning the toss helped”, breaking Pakistan’s run of batting first and racking up match-winning scores, and he will hope to call correctly again at the start of the third Test, as New Zealand seek to extend an unbeaten run in series stretching back to May 2013. More runs from Taylor, after a relatively dry year, would also aid their chances.”Ross’ innings was brilliant,” McCullum said. “The game was teetering. For him to come out, he’s been a little bit lean on runs in the series, to have that utter confidence in his game, his proactive-ness put some pressure back on Pakistan. To keep doing that in trying circumstances takes a lot of courage and it was great to see him get a hundred and get us into a position where we could make a bold declaration. That was a big feather for us as well, delighted for Ross and delighted for the group, we’ll take a lot out of that innings and the way we responded.”