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Jofra Archer impresses on comeback as Jos Buttler makes the difference in 23-run win
Joffra Archer took 2 for 28 and was clocked at 92mph/148kph in his first professional match in 385 days, as he overcame an expensive start to close out England’s victory over Pakistan at Edgbaston.
Playing in front of an international crowd in England for the first time since the 2019 Ashes, Archer slashed his first ball for four and crunched his third for six in a four-ball cameo of 12 not out. But his first over cost 15 runs, as Fakhar Zaman swung him over midwicket for four and scooped him for six after Babar Azam had rifled Archer’s second ball over mid-off.
But he struck with the first ball of his next over when Azam Khan chipped to short cover – prompting a broad smile after months of rehabilitation – and effectively sealed the win when he had Imad Wasim caught at deep point in his final over. He conceded a solitary boundary in his final three overs and was regularly clocked at 90mph/145kph or above.
Jos Buttler who described Archer’s performance as “brilliant”, was named player of the match for his own innings of 84 off 51 balls. Buttler looked scratchy early on but ruthlessly targeted Shadab Khan who bowled four wicketless overs for 55, only a fortnight after conceding his previous worst figures of 0 for 54 against Ireland. Buttler brought up 3,000 T20I runs in the process, the first Englishman to reach the landmark.
Pakistan kept the required rate manageable for much of their pursuit of 184, thanks primarily to Fakhar’s powerful innings of 45 off 21 from No. 4. But they lost wickets too regularly, with no partnership lasting for even 30 balls, and were eventually bowled out with four balls unused.
Buttler, playing a record-equalling 115th T20I for England, inside-edged his fourth ball past his leg stump and though he and Phil Salt traded boundaries in the first three overs, they both struggled for timing. Salt fell early, hauling Imad Wasim’s first ball to Shaheen Afridi at wide long-on, but Will Jacks looked in pristine touch at No. 3.
He lofted the fifth ball he faced for a straight six off Haris Rauf – playing his first match since February, when he dislocated his shoulder at the PSL – and had 21 off 10 balls at the end of the Powerplay, crashing boundaries through the covers off both Haris and Mohammad Amir. At the same stage, Buttler had a more sedate 19 off 17.
But Shadab’s introduction prompted a change in Buttler’s approach: he slapped the first ball of the legspinner’s over for four, and the final ball disappeared over long-on. Buttler went through his repertoire, deftly scooping Haris for six in between reverse-sweeping and reverse-slog-sweeping Shadab for four and then six. All told, he took 40 off the 15 balls he faced from him.
After Jacks slapped Rauf to point, Jonny Bairstow ground out four runs off his first 10 balls before slog-sweeping Shadab for six in his final over, which cost 20. He crunched Shaheen over extra cover for four then flicked his full toss away for six, but his top-edged pull to deep square leg set about a collapse of 5 for 25 in 25 balls.
Imad – whose four miserly overs cost only 19 runs – bowled Harry Brook as he backed away second-ball, while Buttler mistimed Haris’ slower ball to long-on as he looked to launch at the death. His 84 was his highest score in any international cricket since his hundred against South Africa in February 2023.
Shaheen struck twice in his final over, having Moeen Ali caught at wide long-on and Chris Jordan top-edging to short fine leg. Having looked set for 200, England at least went past 180 thanks to Archer’s cameo but when Liam Livingstone could only toe-end the final ball of the innings back to Amir, Pakistan looked in the game.
After 14 months since his last match for England, Archer had to wait another five overs until he was brought into the attack: Buttler threw the new ball to Moeen instead, and Mohammad Rizwan fell into the trap. After defending the first two balls of the innings, Rizwan charged down looking to haul Moeen over the leg side but could only pick out Livingstone at short midwicket.
Reece Taylor hared the new ball with Archer held back, and struck in his second over when Saim Ayub swung his rising length ball straight to deep square leg. Fakhar was nearly dismissed by the first ball he faced, edging just past Moeen at wide slip, but then deftly scooped his second for four and swung his fourth through midwicket.
Archer’s first ball was right on the money at 86mph/138kph, but his first over – the sixth – cost 15 as Fakhar raced to 27 off his first nine balls. But Babar fell without making much of a dent in the target, trapped lbw on the sweep by Moeen for 32 off 26 balls: the sort of innings that ignites debate over his role in Pakistan’s T20I side.
Fakhar continued to attack, swinging Moeen into the third tier of the pavilion, but struggled to get on strike. Adil Rashid – playing his first match since the ILT20 in February – conceded seven runs in his first two overs and accounted for Shadab, whose difficult afternoon culminated in a miscued slog-sweep to long-on.
Azam Khan crashed Jordan for back-to-back boundaries through point but when he miscued Archer to short cover, England were back on top. Archer’s second over cost only a single, and after Fakhar fell for 45 – swinging Livingstone down to long-on – the required rate climbed towards 12.
Imad and Iftikhar both briefly threatened, both launching towering sixes, but after the latter holed out off Topley, England’s seamers closed things out. Jordan, Archer and Topley conceded a solitary boundary between them in the final 20 balls of the innings, with Shaheen caught at deep midwicket to leave Pakistan bowled out 24 short of their target.
Brief score:
England 183/7 in 20 overs (Jos Buttler 84, Will Jacks 37, Jonny Bairstow 21; Shaheen Shah Afridi 3-36, Imad Wasim 2-19, Harris Rauf 2-34) beat Pakistan 160 in 19.2 overs (Babar Azam 32, Fakhar Zaman 45, Ifthikar Ahmed 23, Imad Wasim 22; Moeen Ali 2-26, Reece Topley 3-41, Joffra Archer 2-28, Chris Jordan 1-31, Adil Rashid 1-25, Liam Livingstone 1-09) by 23 runs
(Cricinfo)
The aid group Doctors Without Borders has reported recovering 11 bodies and rescuing dozens of people off the coast of Libya as it criticised the migration policies of the North African country and European countries.
In a statement on Friday, the group, known by its French initials MSF, said its Geo Barents rescue vessel managed to recover the bodies following a search operation lasting more than nine hours after being alerted by German nongovernmental organisation Sea-Watch, which also rescues refugees and migrants.
“As we cannot determine the reason behind this tragedy, we know that people will continue to take dangerous routes in a desperate attempt to reach safety, and Europe must find safe and legal pathways for them,” MSF said in a post on X. “This catastrophe must end!”
Sea-Watch said it is unclear whether the bodies were victims of a previously unknown shipwreck, adding that they tried to contact Libya’s coastguard to go and retrieve the dead, but received no reply.
“The so-called Libyan coastguard – financed by the EU – ignored our call demanding that the bodies be recovered,” the group said.
Thousands of people trying to head from Africa to Europe use Libya as a departing point, with the Italian island of Lampedusa the nearest European destination as they undertake the dangerous journey across the Mediterranean to escape war, poverty and persecution.
Italy, which wants to put a stop to the migration stream, has said Libya and neighbouring Tunisia must do more to stop people from going to sea. It has also clamped down on the operation of the rescue ships, arguing that they encourage people to head to Europe, a charge that is denied by the charities.
Emphasising its policy on the rescue ships, Italy said on Friday that it forced the MSF rescue vessel to take the 165 people that it had saved from boats in the Mediterranean operation to the northern port of Genoa. The port was more than 650 nautical miles (1,200km) from their position and much farther than the more convenient ports in nearby Sicily, significantly delaying assistance to the rescued.
The route in the central Mediterranean is the most dangerous migrant crossing in the world, with the United Nations registering more than 20,000 deaths and disappearances in the area since 2014.
More than 3,000 refugees and migrants went missing in 2023 while attempting to use the route, according to the International Organization for Migration.
According to Italy’s interior ministry, the number of arrivals in the country has dropped in 2024 to fewer than 21,800 people since the beginning of the year, compared with close to 53,300 in the same period last year.
[Aljazeera]
Nuwan Thushara’s last over brought Sri Lanka screaming back into the match,as he first bowled Rishad Hossain, and then nailed Taskin Ahmed in front of the stumps with a pinpoint swinging yorker. This left Bangladesh eight wickets down, with 12 runs still to get.
However, the experienced Mahmudullah was at the crease for Bangladesh, and despite some further nervy moments, pushed Bangladesh across the line off the last ball of the 19th over.
But this was a match chiefly decided by Bangladesh’s own outstanding bowling. Mustafizur Rahman was the best among them, using shorter lengths and his cutters efficiently, to claim figures of 3 for 17. Rishad Hossain’s three-for through the middle overs also kept Sri Lanka quiet.
Mustafizur was instrumental in Sri Lanka’s downward spiral through the middle overs, which culminated in a crash-and-burn end. Ultimately, their inability to find boundaries, or even rotate strike against good Bangladesh bowling resulted in their downfall. A score of 125 for 9 always seemed poor on a decent pitch, even if their bowlers made a match of it in the end.
Brief scores:
Bangladesh 125 for 8 in 19 overs (Towhid Hridoy 40, Litton Das 36; Dhanajaya de Silva 1-11, Nuwan Thushara 4-18, Wanidu Hasaranga 2-32, Matheesha Pathirana 1-27) beat Sri Lanka124 for 9 in 20 overs (Pathum Nissanka 47, Dhananjaya de Silva 21; Tanzim Hasan Sakib 1-24, Taskin Ahmed 2-25, Mustafizur Rahman 3-17, Rishad Hossain 3-22) by two wickets
[Cricinfo]
Afghanistan boosted their Super Eight chances with yet another dominating win, this time thumping New Zealand by 84 runs in Providence. Having beaten Uganda by 125 runs in their opening match, they are now at the top of Group C with a net run rate of 5.225.
After being sent in, Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Ibrahim Zadran gave Afghanistan a start of 103 in 14.3 overs. It came off the back of the 154 the pair added against Uganda, thus making them the first opening pair to register two successive century stands in the history of the T20 World Cup.
Afghanistan’s was an innings of two halves. They scored 55 for no loss in the first ten overs and 104 for 6 in the last ten, with Gurbaz contributing 80 off 56 balls. New Zealand, who had decided not to play any warm-up games, looked every bit rusty as their fielders dropped catches and missed run-out opportunities.
With the pitch assisting both seamers and spinners, chasing 160 was not going to be easy. But few would have expected New Zealand to collapse in the manner they did.
Fazalhaq Farooqi picked up three wickets in the powerplay and Rashid Khan three just after it. Eventually, both ended with identical figures of 4 for 17 as New Zealand were bowled out for 75 in the 15.2 overs. Glenn Phillips and Matt Henry were the only New Zealand batters to reach the double digits.
Trent Boult found some swing in the opening over but Gurbaz and Ibrahim showed their intent by picking up three fours off Henry from the other end. Both batters had luck on their side, too. Gurbaz got a second life when he skipped down the track to Santner and missed the ball, which went on to brush the leg stump but the bails did not budge. In the following over, Finn Allen dropped Ibrahim off Henry at the deep-square-leg boundary.
That was not all. Gurbaz got another reprieve after being involved in a miscommunication with Ibrahim. Having taken off for a single, Gurbaz had to retrace his steps and would have been run out had Conway not fumbled the throw.
Two balls later, New Zealand finally seemed to have found success when Santner pinged Ibrahim’s pads and umpire Kumar Dharmasena ruled it lbw. But the batter got the decision overturned on review as the ball was heading down the leg side. Immediately after that, Ibrahim hit Santner for an inside-out four as Afghanistan ended the powerplay on 44 for no loss.
New Zealand went against the prevailing wisdom of not bowling an offspinner when two right-hand batters at the crease, and Michael Bracewell repaid that faith by conceding only six off his first two overs.
Lockie Ferguson was even more frugal, going for five in his first two. He could have had Ibrahim off a slower full toss but a leaping Kane Williamson failed to pull off a one-handed stunner at mid-off. That meant while Afghanistan remained unscathed, they had only 55 on the board after ten overs.
Afghanistan had not hit a single six in the first ten overs, but there were five in the next three, including three in one Bracewell over as Gurbaz and Bracewell stepped on the accelerator. The pair took the side past 100 in the 14th over. New Zealand finally broke through when Ibrahim bottom-edged a short ball from Henry onto his stumps, after having been hit on the grille on the previous delivery.
Promoted to No. 3, Azmatullah Omarzai played his part with 22 off 13, which included two sixes in three balls off Henry. Mohammad Nabi fell for a first-ball duck but Gurbaz kept finding the boundary at regular intervals. However, a three-wicket, three-run final over by Boult kept Afghanistan to 159.
Farooqi gave Afghanistan a dream start with the ball. With the very first delivery of the innings, he uprooted Finn Allen’s leg stump as the ball moved in late. In the seamer’s next over, Conway pushed at one that seemed to come slower off the surface and was caught at extra cover.
The decision to give Farooqi a third over in the powerplay brought further rewards. This time, bowling around the wicket to Daryl Mitchell, he got a length delivery to just straighten and take the outside edge. Gurbaz took a regulation catch to complete the dismissal and leave New Zealand 28 for 3.
It could have been worse for New Zealand. In between, Naveen-ul-Haq had rapped Kane Williamson’s front pad after the batter had moved across to play a delivery. Afghanistan sent it upstairs for an lbw review but the umpire’s call saved the New Zealand captain.
Afghanistan did not have to wait too long for Williamson’s wicket. Rashid brought himself on after the powerplay and struck straightaway as Williamson guided one to first slip. But Rashid was just warming up. In his next over, he dismissed Mark Chapman and Bracewell off successive deliveries to leave New Zealand on 43 for 6. Chapman went for a pull and got bowled; Bracewell was late to bring his bat down and was lbw.
Phillips was New Zealand’s last hope. He did hit a couple of boundaries but was soon caught at long-on when he tried to take on Nabi. That ended any hopes of revival New Zealand might have had.
Brief scores:
Afghanistan 159 for 6 in 20 overs (Rahmanullah Gurbaz 80, Ibrahim Zadran 44, Azmatullah Omarzai 22; Trent Boult 2-22, Matt Henry 2-37, Lockie Fergusoan 1-28) beat New Zealand 75 in 15.2 overs (Glenn Phillips 18; Rashid Khan 4 for 17, Fazalhaq Farooqi 4 for 17, Mohammad Nabi 2-16) by 84 runs
[Cricinfo]
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