Pakistan’s crushing 124-run loss to title-holders India in their tournament opener at Edgbaston on Sunday was labelled the “Mother of all mismatches” by the Indian Express newspaper.

Yet, worryingly for Pakistan coach Arthur, there is the potential for an even more lopsided match when they return to Edgbaston on Wednesday — and that’s not simply because South Africa are top of the International Cricket Council (ICC) one-day international rankings while Pakistan are eighth.

Pakistan were outplayed in every department by an India side who were nowhere near their best.

Having conceded 319 for three as India’s top order ran riot, Pakistan were dismissed for just 164, having never once threatened a rain-adjusted target of 289 in 41 overs.

It led former Pakistan captain Shahid Afridi, to slam the current team’s “clueless” batting and “abysmal fielding”.

Now, in the space of just a few days, Pakistan must somehow raise their game to beat a South Africa side who defeated Sri Lanka by 96 runs at the Oval on Saturday in their opening Group B fixture if they are to have any chance of reaching the semi-finals.

Arthur suggested too many Pakistan players had suffered ‘stage fright’ against India in front of a capacity crowd of more than 24,000.

“My issue is fear,” he said. “My issue is getting out there and really looking to take the game on.

“The worrying thing for me…is we just do the basics wrong.

“We drop simple catches. We don’t run well enough between wickets. We don’t understand when to bowl our variations.” But Arthur, a former coach of both South Africa and Australia, was adamant all was far from lost.

“We’ll be thinking firmly of coming back and beating South Africa,” he said. “Because that’s what I think our players can do. “So, we’re going to be up for the fight.” Pakistan will be without Wahab Riaz after he was ruled out of the rest of the tournament on Monday with an ankle injury sustained when falling in his delivery stride against India. But given by that stage the left-arm paceman had conceded a whopping 87 runs in 8.4 wicketless overs, his absence may not be that big a blow.

Pakistan have applied to the ICC for an injury replacement, but they appear to have a stand-in already with them in Junaid Khan, who took four for 73 in a warm-up match against Bangladesh.

Mohammad Amir provided rare moments of respite amid the India run-spree with a return of none for 32 in 8.1 overs. Yet, concerningly, the left-arm fast bowler was unable to complete his full allocation of overs because of cramp, despite being repeatedly on and off the field on what was a cool day. If Arthur has some ‘inside knowledge’ on South Africa, the Proteas’ have a ‘spy’ of their own in Pakistan-born Imran Tahir. The leg-spinner, who changed allegiance after falling in love with his South African wife, played a key role in Saturday’s match.

Despite a fine hundred by South Africa’s Hashim Amla, Sri Lanka were well-placed to chase down a target of 300 at 116 for two. But man-of-the-match Tahir’s return of four for 27 turned the tide.

“It was close to ten out of ten,” said South Africa captain AB de Villiers of Tahir’s performance, which also included a run-out. “He takes wickets and he is also economical most of the time,” added the skipper, who was equally delighted by Amla’s “amazing innings”.

The cliche of Pakistani ‘unpredictability’ may be wearing thin, at least in ODI cricket.

South Africa, however, have a nasty habit of not playing to their potential in ICC tournaments and de Villiers promised they were not about to “get ahead of ourselves”

India, who had reclaimed the top spot in the Test rankings after taking an unassailable 2-0 series lead in Kolkata, won the third and final Test by 321 runs Tuesday to consolidate their position.

Batting legend and ICC Hall of Famer Sunil Gavaskar presented Kohli with the mace on behalf of the International Cricket Council at Indore’s Holkar Stadium.

Kohli was only the second India captain after Mahendra Singh Dhoni and the 10th overall to receive the mace since its introduction in 2001.

The others are Steve Waugh, Ricky Ponting, Michael Clarke, Steve Smith (Australia), Andrew Strauss (England), Graeme Smith, Hashim Amla (South Africa) and Misbah-ul-Haq (Pakistan).

India are now four points in the ratings above arch-rivals Pakistan, who enjoyed the top spot only briefly after Misbah received the mace last month in Lahore.

“I’ve got a few Man of the Match awards, so have the boys. This is much more special. The last time India got the mace, I was watching on TV,” said a delighted Kohli.

“The key right now is maintaining our game. We’re working really hard on the areas needing improvement and we’ve been able to correct the wrongs quickly and we’d like to continue that and give the people what they want to see.”

India had replaced Australia at the top of the rankings after their series win against the West Indies in August, only to be leapfrogged by Pakistan later.

“The number-one ranking has changed hands three times in as many months, indicative of the current competitiveness of Test cricket,” ICC chief executive Dave Richardson was quoted as saying in a release

The Proteas can nudge up one place to sixth in the International Cricket Council (ICC) Test rankings if they win, while the Black Caps will remain fifth irrespective of the result.

But the reputation of Test cricket is at much at stake as rankings points after a farcical first Test in Durban where less than 100 overs of cricket were played before a wet, soft outfield prevented any play on the last three days. There was even less cricket in a Test match between the West Indies and India in Port of Spain, also because of outfield conditions.

It is the first time Test cricket has been played in South Africa in August, almost two months before the usual start of the season.

Preparing grounds for winter conditions has been a challenge – which Durban failed to meet after re-seeding the outfield only two months before the match. Following reports from the match referees, the outfields in Durban and Port of Spain were condemned as “poor” by the ICC.

Centurion groundsman Rudolph du Preez had the advantage of planting winter grass much earlier than Durban, with work starting in April, almost immediately after the 2015-16 season.

He said it was necessary to plant winter grass because fielders struggled on dry, dormant summer grass when the same two countries met in a one-day international in August last year.

With virtually no rain falling on the South African Highveld during winter – and no rain predicted during the Test – Du Preez is confident that conditions will be suitable for Test cricket. He said more time had been necessary to prepare the pitch because cool conditions meant it took longer to dry out after watering.

Du Preez said he did not expect uneven bounce to be as much of a factor as it has been in the later stages of matches in recent seasons.

“It might not deteriorate as we are used to. It might be a little bit slower, it might be holding back a bit more,” he said. Centurion has been a fortress for South Africa in Test cricket, with the home side having won 16 of the 21 Tests at the ground. Their only two losses were against England in a contrived result in 1999-2000, engineered by the late Hansie Cronje before he was banned from cricket because of his association with bookmakers, and against Australia in 2013-14.

South Africa: Faf du Plessis (capt), Dean Elgar, Stephen Cook, Hashim Amla, JP Duminy, Temba Bavuma, Quinton de Kock (wkt), Vernon Philander, Kagiso Rabada, Dale Steyn, Dane Piedt

New Zealand: Kane Williamson (capt), Martin Guptill, Tom Latham, Ross Taylor, Henry Nicholls, BJ Watling (wkt), Mitchell Santner, Doug Bracewell, Neil Wagner, Tim Southee, Trent Boult

South Africa thrashed Sri Lanka by eight wickets in their final game at the World Twenty20.

Sri Lanka reached 45-0 but then lost all 10 wickets for 75 runs to slip to 120 all out, with Kyle Abbott, Aaron Phangiso and Farhaan Behardien each taking two wickets.

Hashim Amla made an unbeaten 56 in a comfortable chase that an AB de Villiers six completed with 14 deliveries to spare.

Both teams had already been eliminated.
Group 1 table
Sorry Sri Lanka

This was a horrible display from Sri Lanka, who arrived as the defending champions but leave having beaten only Afghanistan.

Without injured captain Angelo Mathews, their middle-order fell apart after openers Tillakaratne Dilshan and Dinesh Chandimal raced to 45 in 28 balls.

Left-arm spinner Phangiso was hit for 10 runs from the first two balls he bowled but, later in the same over, bowled both Chandimal and Lahiru Thirimanne in successive deliveries.

As South Africa, in particular the excellent leg-spin of Imran Tahir, took pace off the ball, Sri Lanka perished to poor shots and sloppy running.
Jeffrey Vandersay
Defending champions Sri Lanka won only once at the 2016 World Twenty20
Late pride for the Proteas

South Africa finish third in Group 1, behind West Indies and England, who play India and New Zealand respectively in the semi-finals.

They may feel unfortunate not to be in the last four – their two defeats both came in the last over of the match – but this was the most comfortable of victories.

Amla was never troubled, occasionally taking boundaries behind square on the off side or wristily whipping through the leg, including one six.

He lost Quinton de Kock to a direct hit from Dilshan and Faf du Plessis to an erroneous lbw, the latter allowing De Villiers to arrive and belt the winning runs off a Suranga Lakmal full toss.
What they said

South Africa captain Faf du Plessis: “Unfortunately we played our best game tonight when we were already out. We should have won the first game when we scored 230 and not to get over the line against West Indies was disappointing. I’ve picked up a few grey hairs in this tournament but hopefully I’ll still be here in four years’ time.”

Sri Lanka captain Dinesh Chandimal: “You can’t say every time you are a rebuilding team. Someone has to put their hand up and perform well. Batting has let us down throughout the tournament. We didn’t execute in the middle and that’s why we lost.”

It took England only 80 minutes to take South Africa’s remaining six wickets for the addition of 38 runs, with man-of-the-match Moeen Ali setting the tone by dismissing batting kingpin AB de Villiers with the third ball of the day. He followed up with two more wickets and had match figures of seven for 116.

Cook said a key factor had been batting solidly in bowler-friendly overhead conditions on the first day after being sent in.

“It was an interesting toss, the overheads were suggesting you want to bowl first but the pitch was quite dry,” said Cook. “We would also have bowled first.

It was a matter of getting through that first day. The way Nick (Compton) played really set up the first innings. From that moment on, the guys bowled particularly well to take 20 wickets and we scored enough runs in the second innings.”

Cook said a convincing win against a strong South Africa A team in the build-up to the Test had given the players a lot of confidence. “It was particularly pleasing to back up our form under pressure in a Boxing Day Test match.”

With only a two-day turnaround before the second Test starts in Cape Town on Saturday, Cook said it was important to recover well and to avoid complacency. “It can turn very quickly. They have world-class players so we can’t get too carried away. But it would be nice to get our noses ahead again and to continue to put pressure on South Africa.”

Despite his fifth-ranked side defeating the current Test number ones, Cook said it was too early to predict a period of ascendancy for England. But he said: “The guys have taken big strides forward as a team over the last eight months or so. It’s a good side to captain, there’s a good balance, the guys are happy and they seem really hungry.

“Potentially this team can do some really good things. There’s so much talent in this side. But it will take relentless hard work and good results over a long period of time.”

South African captain Hashim Amla, meanwhile, admitted that his team’s batting had been “most disappointing”, especially following a poor performance on a similarly good batting pitch in the final Test in Delhi earlier this month during a losing series in India.

Amla said his team’s lack of batting form was “a confidence thing” and acknowledged that his own lack of runs was a concern. “As captain you want to lead from the front not being in the runs is most disappointing from me. It’s a developing team but certainly from my perspective getting runs on the board is most important.”

After winning the toss and electing to bat, Warner’s third century in as many innings saw the home side reach a commanding 416 for two at stumps against the demoralised Kiwis in what is shaping up to be a disappointingly lopsided three-Test Trans-Tasman series.

At stumps Warner was unbeaten on 244, having notched the highest score by an Australian in a single day on home soil, with captain Steve Smith on five.

The Australian total was the highest on the first day of a Test at the venue.

Usman Khawaja posted his second century of the series before falling just before stumps for 121 to end a 302-run stand with Warner.

That set a new second-wicket partnership mark for Australia, surpassing Arthur Morris and Don Bradman’s 301-run effort at Headingley in 1948.

Already down 1-0 in the three-Test series after being thumped by 208 runs at The Gabba, the Kiwi bowlers gained little assistance from the pitch and were again on the wrong end of the decision review system.

Warner cashed in to notch his 15th Test century in 45 matches and went on to post his highest score.

After narrowly surviving a decision review on 78, he reached triple figures with his 12th boundary, having faced 118 balls.

It was also his fourth successive century against New Zealand, making him just the fifth batsman in history to score four hundreds in a row against the same opponent. The others in the select group are South Africa’s Alan Melville and Hashim Amla, West Indian Everton Weekes and Pakistan’s Shoaib Mohammad.

Kiwi heartbreak

Warner went on to post his maiden Test double century late in the day, having faced 236 balls and hit 17 fours and two sixes in reaching the milestone.

Left-handed Warner has scored 676 runs against the Kiwis at a formidable average of 169, and has 638 runs at 127.60 at the WACA in four Tests.

His total is the second biggest individual score at the ground behind Matthew Hayden’s 380 against Zimbabwe in 2003 and Warner also passed 4,000 Test runs during his innings.Warner and fellow opener Joe Burns put on 101 for the first wicket — their third century opening stand in as many innings together.

The feat emulates the great Australian partnership of Hayden and Justin Langer, who passed centuries in their first three outings together in 2001 and went on to become the fourth-highest scoring partnership in Test history.

It also takes Australia to a Test cricket world record of five successive century opening partnerships, including Warner and Chris Rogers’s last two innings together in this year’s Ashes.

Burns made 40 before chopping a ball on from the bowling of recalled seamer Matt Henry (1-51).

Warner and Khawaja then broke Kiwi hearts as the visitors toiled without reward in the searing heat on a day where even skipper Brendon McCullum had a rare bowl.

The Kiwis wasted an early decision review on a leg-before-wicket (lbw) appeal when a replay showed a clear inside edge from Burns from the bowling of Tim Southee.

Their second review was much more marginal, with Warner given not out lbw and the replay showing fractionally less than half the ball was hitting the bails, leaving the decision as umpire’s call and the visitors without any more reviews.

Khawaja was then given not out caught behind from the bowling of spinner Mark Craig for 38, with replays showing he clearly edged it to add to Kiwi frustration.

Without addition to his score, Khawaja survived another close appeal for lbw by the unlucky Southee. Khawaja was also dropped on the boundary on 62 just before tea, with the ball deflecting for six to compound Kiwi misery. AFP

After winning the toss and electing to bat, Warner’s third century in as many innings saw the home side reach a commanding 416 for two at stumps against the demoralised Kiwis in what is shaping up to be a disappointingly lopsided three-Test Trans-Tasman series.

At stumps Warner was unbeaten on 244, having notched the highest score by an Australian in a single day on home soil, with captain Steve Smith on five.

The Australian total was the highest on the first day of a Test at the venue.

Usman Khawaja posted his second century of the series before falling just before stumps for 121 to end a 302-run stand with Warner.

That set a new second-wicket partnership mark for Australia, surpassing Arthur Morris and Don Bradman’s 301-run effort at Headingley in 1948.

Already down 1-0 in the three-Test series after being thumped by 208 runs at The Gabba, the Kiwi bowlers gained little assistance from the pitch and were again on the wrong end of the decision review system.

Warner cashed in to notch his 15th Test century in 45 matches and went on to post his highest score.

After narrowly surviving a decision review on 78, he reached triple figures with his 12th boundary, having faced 118 balls.

It was also his fourth successive century against New Zealand, making him just the fifth batsman in history to score four hundreds in a row against the same opponent. The others in the select group are South Africa’s Alan Melville and Hashim Amla, West Indian Everton Weekes and Pakistan’s Shoaib Mohammad.

Kiwi heartbreak

Warner went on to post his maiden Test double century late in the day, having faced 236 balls and hit 17 fours and two sixes in reaching the milestone.

Left-handed Warner has scored 676 runs against the Kiwis at a formidable average of 169, and has 638 runs at 127.60 at the WACA in four Tests.

His total is the second biggest individual score at the ground behind Matthew Hayden’s 380 against Zimbabwe in 2003 and Warner also passed 4,000 Test runs during his innings.Warner and fellow opener Joe Burns put on 101 for the first wicket — their third century opening stand in as many innings together.

The feat emulates the great Australian partnership of Hayden and Justin Langer, who passed centuries in their first three outings together in 2001 and went on to become the fourth-highest scoring partnership in Test history.

It also takes Australia to a Test cricket world record of five successive century opening partnerships, including Warner and Chris Rogers’s last two innings together in this year’s Ashes.

Burns made 40 before chopping a ball on from the bowling of recalled seamer Matt Henry (1-51).

Warner and Khawaja then broke Kiwi hearts as the visitors toiled without reward in the searing heat on a day where even skipper Brendon McCullum had a rare bowl.

The Kiwis wasted an early decision review on a leg-before-wicket (lbw) appeal when a replay showed a clear inside edge from Burns from the bowling of Tim Southee.

Their second review was much more marginal, with Warner given not out lbw and the replay showing fractionally less than half the ball was hitting the bails, leaving the decision as umpire’s call and the visitors without any more reviews.

Khawaja was then given not out caught behind from the bowling of spinner Mark Craig for 38, with replays showing he clearly edged it to add to Kiwi frustration.

Without addition to his score, Khawaja survived another close appeal for lbw by the unlucky Southee. Khawaja was also dropped on the boundary on 62 just before tea, with the ball deflecting for six to compound Kiwi misery. AFP