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Asghar Stanikzai, the Afghanistan captain, has welcomed the call from a trio of former international captains, Sachin Tendulkar, Brian Lara and Michael Vaughan, for greater opportunities to be given to Associate nations, and has challenged cricket’s senior sides to offer his team bilateral series in which their true ability and progress could be assessed.In the wake of Afghanistan’s spirited showing against South Africa in Mumbai on Sunday, in which Mohammad Shahzad’s blistering 44 from 19 balls briefly threatened an upset, Vaughan took to Twitter to reiterate his criticism of the 10-team format that has been agreed for the next World Cup in 2019.”Such a shame we won’t see Countries like Afghanistan in the next WC.It’s refreshing and great for the game.Please change your minds @ICC,” he wrote.His sentiments were echoed by Lara and later Tendulkar, who added: “Completely agree. Spirit & performance of teams like Afghanistan & Oman echo the need for more teams at WC & beyond!”Speaking on the eve of Afghanistan’s penultimate Group 1 showdown, against England in Delhi, Stanikzai said that his players had been emboldened by the support, and stated that their ambition was to claim at least one Full Member scalp in their remaining two Super 10s fixtures.”Definitely, it’s been highly proud for us that we are hearing such tweets from cricket legends,” he said. “It is true that the team is playing good cricket, so definitely we need ICC support for the upcoming World Cup [in 2019].”In this World Cup many people thought that our games would be one-sided, but now [our opponents] are really preparing and planning, and scaring to be honest, that this is a side which can beat us.”Our guys have the potential so we need the ICC’s support,” he added. “Definitely we are eager to play in each and every World Cup, and we have requested Full Members to play a series with us. If you only play one game with a team, you cannot compare how good they are, but if you play two or three matches, you have a good chance to beat them.”In the past six months alone, Afghanistan have proven this point handsomely with home and away series victories against Zimbabwe, in both ODIs and T20Is. They won 3-2 and 2-0 respectively in Bulawayo in October, before repeating the same scoreline in Sharjah two months later.”We have beaten them in all of them, we have won four series against a Full Member,” said Stanikzai. “So you can see how competitive we would be if we were given the chance in the upcoming World Cup.”Eoin Morgan, England’s captain, also leant his support to Afghanistan’s cause, adding that his experiences with Ireland in the early part of his international career demonstrate the importance of nurturing emerging nations.”I think it is very important for the sport to grow,” said Morgan. “Associate nations are key in evolving our sport and giving them as much opportunities as we can.”Asked whether he would welcome the prospect of playing Afghanistan in a bilateral series in the future, Morgan was cautiously positive about the prospect.”Certainly, as an England captain sitting here and captaining guys who play in all three formats of the game, I know the gruelling schedules they go through and the need for time off.”But I can see a time when we do play tri-series against different sides, not necessarily with our strongest side, but with as good a side as we can at the time and giving some guys a bit of a break. I see that coming down the line.”

A day after the Supreme Court criticised the BCCI’s method of disbursing funds to state associations, board secretary Anurag Thakur has suggested it would be untenable to treat all state associations alike. He believed “democratisation of sport is not in the interest of sport,” and pushed the idea of state associations earning their dues.Thakur took questions on the BCCI’s Facebook page, and his statements were in response to one seeking his views on the Lodha Committee’s recommendations. His answer, though, seemed tailored to the criticism of the Supreme Court, which pointed out that bigger associations like Mumbai and Gujarat were allocated sums to the tune of Rs 60 crores whereas 11 other, smaller members were neglected.

‘Women’s IPL good suggestion’

BCCI secretary Anurag Thakur has said the Women’s World T20 generated plenty of interest for women’s cricket, and that the board would look into the creation of an IPL-like league for women cricketers.
“I think it’s a good suggestion,” he said, responding to a question on the BCCI’s stand on an IPL-like league for women and allowing India’s women to play in Australia’s Women’s Big Bash League.
“This World T20 when the women teams were made to play before the men’s matches it created a lot of interest in women’s cricket. We will look into this.” Many of India’s women cricketers, including captain Mithali Raj, have expressed a desire for the BCCI to support their participation in the Women’s Big Bash.

“When it is said that why we are not treating all states equally,” Thakur said. “I think democratisation of sports is not in the interest of sport. Look at FIFA. They are struggling today because of this. Even the ICC, which is our parent body, they have Associates and Affiliate members. They treat Full Members separately and deal [with] Affiliate members separately. This is the norm [the] world over. We are not different from others.”The Lodha Committee had recommended that the categories of Affiliate and Future Members be removed, and only Full Members and Associate Members remain. Thakur, however, took the view that “You have to earn [your dues].”If you don’t believe in earning your share then I think nobody will work hard. Look at Himachal [Pradesh Cricket Association] – we were not Full Member [with the BCCI] till early 80s. When we [were] made a Full Member, we worked hard, we created stadia and done well. I think that should be done by all the states.”When asked about the Supreme Court’s observations that the BCCI was operating like a “mutual benefit society”, Thakur replied it wouldn’t be fair to gloss over the board’s contribution to Indian cricket over the years.”When you are dealing with cricket and you have millions of followers and cricket lovers you get to hear a lot of comments,” he said. “All I want to say is we have put in a lot of hard work to create this board. Without the hard work and efforts of the board’s members and players and the great cricket fans we wouldn’t have achieved what we have achieved today. Why not others try to improve other sports – hockey or maybe other sports? If there are shortcomings, we are ready to improve that. But don’t say we haven’t done anything. We have done something that’s why you love the game of cricket.””BCCI has taken many, many steps in the right directions. We are not doing well only in India but we are helping other nations improve as well. We have created wealth for not only the BCCI and cricket but for the players as well. And we are dominating world cricket today. We might have done something right which has brought us to this level.”Thakur also said the BCCI was focussed on contributing to the enhancement of cricketing infrastructure in the north-eastern region, which he said was an “integral part” of the board.”I have personally visited states like Manipiur, Meghalaya, Tripura, Arunachal Pradesh, and we have seen the infrastructure. They are now going for a tender process to create grounds and better infrastructure. Special funds [are] being allocated to develop the sport in that area. Our experience with certain associations could have been bad but the BCCI is very, very focussed under our New Area Development programme to implement those in those regions.”

The ICC’s head of global development Tim Anderson has said that the task of drafting a new constitution for USA cricket is the biggest priority following the announcement of four advisory groups this week.A 10-person group has been formed under the title Sustainable Foundation and they are the ones tasked with forming the new constitution which is seen as a vital step in trying to pull USA cricket out of years of infighting and uncertainty.”It’s a difficult and complicated thing, the development of a new constitution, particularly given the diverse nature of the US cricket community,” Anderson told ESPNcricinfo. “So I don’t know how long it will take but it’s obviously the most important thing that there is to do right now within the future of US cricket, to set up a framework or governance structure that enables the game to move forward.”The USA Cricket Association was suspended last year at the annual conference and given 39 terms and conditions to meet for reinstatement, which they have failed to meet. Part of the reason for the initial suspension, and inability to be reinstated, was that they failed to ratify a new constitution at each of their last three annual general meetings. Anderson denied that the instructions from the ICC to form a new constitution mean that USACA will definitely be expelled at the ICC annual conference in June, but conceded that “USACA probably wasn’t best placed to do that piece of work”.”They don’t represent the large majority of cricket stakeholders in the USA,” Anderson said. “That was what was uncovered by the working group that put together the report that went to the ICC board last year and there’s nothing to suggest that still isn’t the case today.”We thought it was better for us, after we went through the strategic framework exercise with the community, to develop a group that included people that are from within the USACA structure as well – they’re not excluded, they’re very much included – but was more diverse than just USACA to consider what a new constitution and new governance framework might look like.”We’re not sure what the group will come up with at this point but we think we’ve got a really strong and diverse group of people that have great expertise across the American sports landscape. That will include USACA, leagues aligned to USACA and not aligned to USACA. Our whole mantra around trying to unify cricket in the USA, which the ICC board wanted to do back in June last year, that holds very true in this exercise and that’s what we’re trying to do.”Anderson’s determination to attempt to satisfy and unify the various groups in US cricket was most evident in the composition of the seven-man advisory panel on high performance. The group includes six people with extensive playing and coaching experience in international cricket or professional sports, including three former USA national team players and former West Indies international Ricardo Powell.However, the seventh member of the panel, Mir Ali, is a USACA regional administrator from Chicago who has no high level cricket playing or coaching experience. Anderson justified his inclusion by reinforcing the ICC’s position that the various US cricket groups need to be represented on each advisory panel.”We want to try for all of these groups to be as representative as possible of all the various and diverse areas of US cricket, be that geographic, cultural, from a gender perspective and political as well,” Anderson said. “There are various political factions in US cricket. USACA is the ICC’s member in the USA and although it is suspended we felt it was important that we included people from within the USACA structure in all of the groups.”We talked to USACA about that. Mir Ali is someone that is heavily involved and extremely keen to assist cricket both within the Chicago region and around the country. He was put forward by USACA as someone that they would like us to consider to be involved in one of the groups and we thought he was well suited based on his experiences in US cricket to represent USACA in that particular group.”While USACA has never had a female board member, Anderson said that picking seven women to be included as part of the 32 people on the four advisory panels was part of the ICC’s effort to encourage more female cricket development. At the first two USA Combines in San Francisco and Florida last month in which female players were invited to attend for tryouts, only 16 appeared in San Francisco while just one pre-teenage girl came to the tryout in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.”Females are absolutely fundamental to the future of USA cricket,” Anderson said. “The female involvement in cricket in the USA isn’t significant. It’s quite minimal in fact. We’ve got seven women out of the 32, which is significantly disproportionate to the amount of female cricket happening in the USA. But I think it’s an indicator to how important we see women in the future of US cricket.”Above all, Anderson is hoping that the various groups represented on each of the four advisory groups will be able to cooperate and produce meaningful results, rather than hang onto past grudges as an impediment to making progress.”We weren’t sure of the reaction we were going to get but we’re really satisfied that there’s lots of people in the USA that want to contribute,” Anderson said. “We thought that a bit over 150 [applications], people mainly from within the USA cricket community that wanted to be involved was a positive, strong response.”It’s important that people are aware that just because they may not like a person or what some person has done in the past, in order to take the game forward in the USA we need to put those things behind us and move forward in the best interests of the sport. The ICC board has been very clear that we believe in the best interests of cricket in the USA, we need to have a unified approach.”

ScorecardTymal Mills took three wickets and bowled a maiden in his four overs•Getty Images

South African David Wiese hit boundaries of successive deliveries in the final over to ease Sussex to a four-wicket win over Kent in a low-scoring thriller in the NatWest T20 Blast at Hove.Chasing 141, after Tymal Mills had again impressed with 3 for 15, Sussex needed eight off the final over but after David Griffiths conceded a single and then bowled a wide, Wiese – who has extended his stay as second overseas player at Hove for another two weeks – drove to the extra cover boundary before guiding the next delivery to the third man rope to seal victory with three balls to spare.It was Sussex’s other overseas player, Ross Taylor, who set up the win with a measured 62 off 50 balls. Sussex were struggling on 68 for 4 after 12 overs in their response when Taylor was joined by Chris Jordan in a match-winning stand of 61 from 39 balls.Taylor struck offspinner James Tredwell for 16 off three balls in the 16th over to tilt the contest Sussex’s way and although both he and Jordan fell to catches in the deep off Mitch Claydon in the penultimate over, Wiese held his nerve to secure a third win out of four in the South Group for his side.Claydon took 3 for 25, having earlier bowled Ben Brown while Matt Coles also impressed, finishing with 1 for 17 and claiming the key early scalp of Sussex skipper Luke Wright, who was caught at deep square leg for 3.Kent had been bowled out for 140 off the final ball of their innings, having been put in, after some impressive work from Sussex’s seamers on a slow pitch.England international Jordan led the way with 3 for 18. In his first spell he removed Daniel Bell-Drummond with a slower ball and returned to the attack to have Alex Blake caught at cover and Darren Stevens at midwicket.Jordan was well backed up by left-armer Mills, whose searing pace made it tough for the Kent batsmen. Mills yorked Coles and then removed Tredwell and Griffiths in his final over to finish with 3 for 15 while Wiese took 2 for 33 including Kent captain Sam Northeast, who returned to form with 53 off 33 balls which included two fours and four sixes, all struck in the area between long on and mid-wicket before he mis-timed a leg-side pull allowing Wiese to take a simple return catch.Sussex’s seamers were well supported by leg-spinner Will Beer, who had the dangerous Sam Billings lbw sweeping as Kent’s innings tailed off alarmingly, with the last five wickets falling for nine runs.

The blow Suhrawadi Shuvo took on the neck during a Dhaka Premier Division Cricket League (DPL) game on Saturday has raised concerns about Bangladesh players’ attitude towards safety. The BCB had, last year, circulated the ICC’s latest memo on safety, but several of the country’s professional players have failed to upgrade to helmets with stem guards due to various reasons, mostly related to comfort levels.The stem guard is made of a material called impact-modified thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU), a rubbery plastic. It is a clip-on that attaches to the side of the grille. Shuvo wasn’t wearing a helmet with a stem guard which, while not mandatory as per safety standards, would have softened the blow to his neck.Batsman Marshall Ayub, who played for Sheikh Jamal Dhanmondi Club in the DPL this season, said Shuvo’s injury would push many players to review their helmets. “I have ordered one [helmet with a stem guard] from Melbourne recently,” Marshall told ESPNcricinfo. “I should have got one sooner. I think now everyone will be keen on getting these helmets given how Shuvo got injured. It is an eye-opener.”This type of helmet is not available commercially in Bangladesh, but the BCB provided it to those playing for representative sides like the national team and Bangladesh A.Soumya Sarkar, one of those using the stem guard, said players often did not want to compromise on comfort. “Using the helmet with the stem guard depends on the person,” Soumya told . “I felt comfortable with it, so I started using the type. It is very rare to find a batsman who compromises the comfort of his helmet. Then again, it has only been some time that this guard has been in the market. I do think the cricketers are much more aware now when it comes to safety.”Soumya also said the conditions in Bangladesh, with the tracks’ relative lack of bounce and pace, might have contributed to the casual attitude towards upgrading helmets. “The types of wickets we play on in our domestic cricket can be one good reason behind the cricketers not using the stem guard. Also, not all the teams have good pacers in their side. But because we had an accident today, I hope the cricketers will take note of it and start to ensure safety.”Stem guard aside, the professional players’ helmets in Bangladesh meet safety standards. But that does little to protect the back of the head and the neck, and many of the recent cases where a batsman had got hit on the head have featured blows to the neck region that can be protected using the stem guard.Some cricketers have said the unavailability of stem-guard helmets in the local market is a reason for not being interested in getting one. The counter to this would be that some of these same cricketers order top-quality cricket gear from abroad, but have not sought out these helmets.During the Bangladesh Premier League in 2015, several of the six teams in the tournament had provided the guard to their players, only to see it not being used. Again, players pointed to the comfort factor being a reason for that.Perhaps, after Shuvo’s injury, most cricketers will attach as much importance to safety as comfort.

All through Monday, weather experts in lands surrounding the Caribbean Sea tracked a low-pressure trough moving westwards across the Atlantic, anxious to see if it would develop into a tropical cyclone, with a wind speed ranging from 63kph to 119kph. If it met those conditions, they could officially call it a tropical storm. They already had a name ready for it – Earl.All through Monday, even as blue skies gave way to grey over Sabina Park, the occupants of India’s dressing room were not worried about the weather. There was no point worrying, because it was not in their control.Eventually, 43 overs of day three were lost to rain, and more showers are expected on days four and five of the Test match. Nonetheless, Ajinkya Rahane, who scored an unbeaten 108 to lift India to a declaration with a lead of 304, believed there was still more than enough time left for his team to force a win. India only made 142 runs in the 46.1 overs played on day three, and Rahane credited West Indies’ bowlers for keeping India’s scoring rate down, particularly their captain Jason Holder, who bowled a spell of 11 overs spread across the first two sessions, nine of them before lunch.”We were not thinking about the weather,” Rahane said. “Initially, in the morning, we wanted to play normal cricket. Unfortunately, Wriddhiman [Saha] got out just before lunch. That partnership was really important for us. The plan was to bat once and bat long, and I think we did that. There’s still some help for the fast bowlers in the wicket, and I thought Holder bowled a very good spell before lunch. He bowled pretty well. After lunch, the plan was to play positive and try and get a 300-plus lead. Unfortunately, the rain came in, that’s not something we can control.”Later, asked the same question in Hindi, Rahane said the timing of Saha’s dismissal might have prevented India from accelerating immediately after lunch.”On the islands, it rains, but clears quickly also,” he said. “You can’t be thinking about the weather and playing. The important thing was how much of a lead we could get and how quickly we can get it. We wanted to play normal cricket till lunch, and then, if we played positively, our lead would have grown. Anyway, there is plenty of time left in the Test match.”India lost two quick wickets – of Amit Mishra and Mohammed Shami – after the day’s first rain interruption, which lasted 52 minutes. Between resumption and India’s declaration, Rahane moved to his seventh Test century. He had a hundred in the West Indies to go with tons in New Zealand, England, Australia, Sri Lanka and India, and 90-plus scores in South Africa and Bangladesh.Rahane seemed to quieten in the 80s, and for a time, farmed the strike, with No. 10 Umesh Yadav at the other end, before soaring into the 90s with an inside-out six off the offspinner Roston Chase.”Frankly speaking, I was not thinking about my hundred,” Rahane said. “When Mishra and Shami got out, I told Umesh to play normal cricket. Just give your 100% whether defending or playing a shot. When I was 84-85, I wanted to play normal cricket, but the offie brought his long-off in and I wanted to clear the fielder. When I was on 95, [I told Umesh] just play normal cricket, and once I get my hundred, we’ll play some shots.”Despite the help still available from the pitch, Rahane said India’s bowlers would need to be patient to bowl West Indies out in the second innings.”There is something for the fast bowlers, but it’s important for us to bowl a decent line and length tomorrow,” he said. “We have to bowl patiently. In the first Test match, we bowled in good areas and we bowled consistently. If we do that, we will be in a good position tomorrow.”

ScorecardFile photo – Western Australia allrounder Hilton Cartwright delivered with bat and ball for NPS•BCCI

Hilton Cartwright starred with bat and ball to deliver National Performance Squad (NPS) a 12-run win (Duckworth-Lewis method) over Australia A in a rain-affected match at the Tony Ireland Stadium in Townsville.Rain had reduced the match to 49 overs a side before Cartwright scored 81 off 92 to lay the platform in the NPS total of 231. He then took 3 for 26 to ensure that Australia A fell 13 runs short of the D/L-adjusted target of 190 from 28 overs.Put in to bat, NPS lost opener Caleb Jewell after a laborious opening partnership of 19 off 52 balls. Cartwright then shared half-century stands with Sam Heazlett and Sam Harper to carry NPS to 2 for 143 in 35 overs. Fast bowler Chris Tremain dismissed Cartwright and Harper in the 36th over, to precipitate a passage of play in which NPS lost 4 for 15 in 26 balls.However, handy lower-order cameos from Sean Abbott (44 off 28) and Michael Neser (31 off 32) helped NPS make good use of their last few overs to register 9 for 231. Tremain ended up with 5 for 47, having dismissed four of the five batsmen to have reached double figures. This was his second successive five-for, following on from returns of 5 for 25 against India A in the previous match.Australia A’s run chase was complicated by the early loss of Kurtis Patterson – trapped lbw by Abbott for a third-ball duck – and the rain interruptions, which ultimately left them with a target of 190 from 28 overs. Captain Chris Lynn, batting at No. 3, did his best to set up the chase with 42 off 21, and was ably complemented by opener Marcus Stoinis, who also scored 42, albeit at a more stately pace.But Abbott and Cartwright continued to strike for NPS, reducing Australia A to 7 for 138, at which point the batting side needed 52 off 28. Cameron Bancroft (37* off 32) and Tremain (26* off 16) did their best to make a match of it, but could not provide enough firepower to get Australia A past the line.

ScorecardKiran Carlson’s historic hundred held up Essex•Getty Images

Delayed at the start of the day by the absence of Glamorgan’s equipment from the ground, Essex were delayed at the end by the presence of a record-breaking teenager at the crease. Needing six points to confirm promotion and the Division Two title, Essex managed two in short order before Kiran Carlson’s maiden first-class hundred staved off a seemingly inexorable collapse. At 18 years and 119 days, Carlson became the youngest player to score a first-class century for Glamorgan.These are heady days at the ECG but Essex are not yet champions and Carlson’s unheralded intervention – his previous best score in four innings was 10 – meant the metaphorical bunting that was being brought out by the time Graham Napier’s fourth wicket reduced Glamorgan to 83 for 6 had to be stowed away by the close. As if to compound the frustration Napier, playing in his last home match before retirement, limped off during the afternoon and will have to wait until the morning to find out how much more of a role he can play.A club that have become so used to near misses have embraced their status as frontrunners warily. The Essex members who had seen their team finish third in each of the last three seasons were convinced that, with only one promotion spot available as the ECB whittles away a couple of games from the Championship schedule, this would doubtless be the year they finished second. Three innings wins in a row at the climax of the season – not to mention Kent’s welcome capitulation against Northamptonshire last week – has grudgingly brought people around.They have become used to waiting, however, and the news that the start would be put back, ultimately by an hour and a half, because Glamorgan’s kit van was stuck on the A12 was met with ironic chuckles by those Essex fans who had got in early to see every moment of a game that is expected to be a coronation. Bonus points alone could be enough to see Essex go up – they lead Kent, who only have one game left, by 20 points and Sussex by 43 – and this game pitted the team with the most wins in Division Two against the team with the most losses.Napier began the first spell of his final appearance at Chelmsford with two wickets in two balls and it was all beginning to seem disconcertingly easy. It took the contributions of a couple of young Welshmen to give the Essex worry ball a squeeze, as Carlson and Owen Morgan put on an unbroken 129 during the second half of a shortened day. Truly a case of better late than never for Glamorgan.Carlson took a five-for with his offspin on debut at Northamptonshire a couple of weeks ago but this performance, eclipsing that of Mike Llewellyn in 1972, was less of a surprise. Batting at No. 6, he produced several stylish drives and cuts among plenty of watchful accumulation that was capped off by a scampered single to bring up three figures and an ovation from his team-mates on the balcony.”I am more of a batsman, it’s lovely to get my first hundred under my belt pretty soon into my career,” he said. “It’s amazing, I can’t put into words how I feel. When you start playing cricket, aged seven or eight, you go and watch Glamorgan and think that could be me in a few years. It’s great to have Welsh boys doing well.”To emphasise the latter point, his team-mate Morgan then went on to conduct an interview in Welsh. Both players gave chances, with Carlson dropped on 67 in the gully by Daniel Lawrence – a sharp catch that would have given Napier his five-for – and coming close to running himself out on 81. Morgan was put down at second slip when he had 7, by Nick Browne off Ravi Bopara, and gave a tough caught-and-bowled opportunity to Jamie Porter when had reached his half-century.Glamorgan’s young batsmen are making their mark. Carlson was the fourth Glamorgan player aged 22 or under to score a first-class hundred this season and three of them are Welsh born: reasons for pride in a challenging season.After a sorry morning session (which technically began at noon), it appeared losing their bats on the motorway had been Glamorgan’s best chance of holding Essex up. A great cheer went up from the pavilion when the van was spotted driving in through the gate shortly before 11.30am – an hour after the scheduled start due to an accident on the motorway – and it was as if the Chelmsford regulars knew what was in store.Glamorgan were initially compliant extras. Jacques Rudolph requested a toss, doubtless concluding that the pitch was firm enough and the sun high enough to bankroll a day of batting if only the opening exchanges against the new ball could be won; he and Nick Selman then got through nearly a dozen overs of fretful playing and missing before Napier, the local hero and man for this season of all seasons, took centre stage.His fifth delivery was full and wide – it is probably not a calumny to call it a half-volley – but Rudolph’s flailing bat could only deflect a thick edge to second slip. The next ball, to Will Bragg, offered no such margin for error and thudded into the front pad, Steve O’Shaugnessy’s front finger duly raised. Graham Gooch, watching on from the executives boxes, might well have repeated his enquiry to Ian Botham in 1986: “Who writes your scripts?”The slide became 3 for 0 in six balls when Selman was bowled by Porter – Essex’s other 50-wicket bowler this year – and although Aneurin Donald stroked Napier’s hat-trick delivery through the covers for four, he followed David Lloyd back to the pavilion a couple of overs later as the carefully piloted Glamorgan dirigible plummeted from the cautious optimism of 30 for 0 to the grim reality of 34 for 5. It was all too much for one wag to resist the question: their kit has turned up but have Glamorgan? Time for Carlson and Morgan to deliver a pithy riposte.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsPakistan’s bowlers held their nerve to seize a 56-run win over West Indies after an intense, attritional fifth day in Dubai, in which Darren Bravo led his side’s plucky tilt at a come-from-behind victory. Bravo scored a 249-ball 116, taking his side to within 83 runs of the target, before Pakistan finally overcame his dogged resistance to wrest back a match that had looked like slipping away. They wrapped it up with 12 overs remaining, to register a memorable win in their 400th Test.For much of the final day, Bravo proved to be an immovable object at the centre of the Dubai cricket ground. He carried forward his fine form and doughty resistance from the first innings, showing the application and patience to rebuff whatever Pakistan threw at him. His forward defensive shots, of which there were many, were perfectly middled, and he was equally convincing when leaving the ball. On occasion, he unfurled one of his crisp drives or cuts to the off-side boundary, but his knock was more about grit than flair.Bravo began the day batting on 26 off 67, with West Indies on 95 for 2, still 251 runs short of their target. After seeing Marlon Samuels depart off the first ball of the day and losing Jermaine Blackwood inside the first hour, Bravo shared a fighting 77-run fifth-wicket stand with Roston Chase and continued his vigil well after Chase departed. As West Indies pursued what would have been their second-highest successful chase, more and more came to depend on Bravo. He shouldered that burden until almost an hour into the final session. But with 83 runs to win and four wickets in hand, he played a tired drive off Yasir Shah, managing only to squirt the ball back towards the bowler, whose sensational diving catch was the last, decisive turn on a gripping final day.Yet West Indies had made Pakistan work much harder for the win than they would have expected after a promising start to the day. After Pakistan’s demoralising collapse on the previous day, Amir’s first-ball wicket was just the tonic they needed. It was a rather unremarkable delivery, bowled from around the wicket, pitching on a good length well outside off and angling in. Samuels was drawn into poking at a ball he could easily have left and a thin edge was gleefully accepted by Sarfraz Ahmed behind the stumps.Blackwood, coming in at No. 5, played a scratchy knock, fishing at balls outside off, with the bat well away from the body. He got away with numerous plays and misses against Amir, as well as a checked drive off a slower ball that fell between mid-off and mid-on. But it was to spin that he perished, when he played a length ball from Mohammad Nawaz from deep in his crease and was wrapped on the pads in front of leg stump.Chase then joined Bravo for a partnership that steadily revived West Indies and unsettled Pakistan over the course of 28.2 overs of stubborn fight. Wahab and Sohail Khan tested the batsmen with occasional bouncers and yorkers, Amir bowled probing lines, the spinners plugged away – but Bravo and Chase looked untroubled through it all.By the 71st over, Chase’s confidence had grown to the extent that he dared to drive Yasir against the turn for a boundary through midwicket. Perhaps that was when confidence became overconfidence. Next ball, Yasir flighted another one pitching outside leg and Chase attempted the same shot again. This time the ball turned past his outside edge to crash into leg stump.Two balls later, Wahab yorked Shane Dowrich to hit his middle and off stumps, sending him back for a first-ball duck. West Indies were now reeling at 194 for 6, and Pakistan had a firm grip on proceedings again.But Bravo was still at the crease and he had his captain, Jason Holder, for company. The two men saw the side through to dinner, leaving 114 to win in the final session. They continued to chip away at the target after the resumption, and Pakistan’s anxiety gradually built. When Amir wrapped Holder on the front pad with a delivery that appeared to be sliding down, Pakistan’s review of the not-out decision seemed more out of desperation than expectation. Hawk-Eye gave them no respite.Another hopeful review followed when Yasir’s appeal for a catch at slip was turned down. The ball had gone off Holder’s pad. Pakistan had no reviews remaining. West Indies were 84 runs from victory. The tension was mounting.Two balls later, Yasir flew to his left to take the return catch of Bravo that decisively swung the match in Pakistan’s favour. West Indies’ last three wickets added 26 runs, but the sting had gone out of the contest, and a pair of run-outs handed Pakistan a hard-fought win.

Match facts

November 3-7, 2016
Start time 1030 local (0230 GMT)

Big Picture

So often in recent years, series between Australia and South Africa have been heavyweight title fights. Two of the most successful Test nations of the past two decades, they have more than once met with a No.1 ranking on the line. When they last played, in 2014, Ryan Harris and Mitchell Johnson bowled Australia to a series triumph in Cape Town that resulted in South Africa losing top spot and Australia gaining it when the ICC recalibrated its rankings a few weeks later. In fact, only once since the Test rankings were introduced in 2003 have these teams started a series with neither of them holding top spot. That was the two-Test battle in South Africa in 2011, when Graeme Smith’s men were No.2 and Michael Clarke’s side held No.4.This year, it is more of a middleweight bout, with Australia sitting at No.3 and South Africa having slipped to No.5, an unprecedentedly low combination of rankings for these two teams at the outset of a campaign. And yet it remains an enticing contest. How could it not, given the history? One remarkable feature of Australia-South Africa battles is that the home advantage means almost nothing. In fact, of the past six series between these two sides, the away team has won five and the other was drawn. Not since 2005-06 in Australia – the era of Warne, McGrath, Ponting, Gilchrist et al – has the home side won an Australia-South Africa or South Africa-Australia series.The odds might look to be stacked in favour of Australia breaking that drought this summer. South Africa have won only two of their past 12 Tests, and are without their captain and arguably best player AB de Villiers. Australia, meanwhile, have not lost a home Test series since the last time South Africa visited, in 2012, and last summer crushed New Zealand and West Indies such that by the end of February they were – albeit briefly – top of the rankings again. But facing Dale Steyn, Kagiso Rabada and co will be a very different challenge, as will keeping the likes of Hashim Amla and Faf du Plessis quiet. Bear in mind too that Australia’s strike bowler, Mitchell Starc, is coming off a nasty leg injury and has just one fairly underwhelming innings of first-class bowling to his name since then.And then there is the venue. For more than two decades Australian Test summers have started in Brisbane, and such has been their dominance at the Gabba – West Indies in 1988 were the last to beat Australia at the ground – that it has been nicknamed the Gabbatoir. But this year, to allow for the Gabba hosting a day-night Test later in the season, the summer opener has been moved to the WACA. And that holds no fears for South Africa, who have played three Tests at the WACA for two wins and a draw. Australia have never beaten South Africa at the ground. And as many as seven of South Africa’s likely XI – Steyn, Amla, du Plessis, JP Duminy, Morne Morkel, Vernon Philander and Dean Elgar – have experience of winning WACA Tests.Who cares if it’s not a heavyweight bout this time? Marvin Hagler, Sugar Ray Robinson and Jake LaMotta were all pretty good to watch. Middleweights, all of them.

Form guide

(last five completed matches, most recent first)

Australia: LLLWW
South Africa: WDWLD
Peter Siddle has been preferred as Australia’s third fast bowler•Getty Images

In the spotlight

South African readers may wish to look away now. Put your hands over your eyes and scroll down to the next paragraph because you don’t want to see these figures. David Warner‘s Test average at the WACA: 95.85 (from four Tests). Warner’s Test average against South Africa: 68.09 (from six Tests). Warner’s last innings against South Africa: 173 (in a Cape Town ODI last month). Warner’s last first-class innings: 134 (in the Sheffield Shield last week).Welcome back, South Africans. You will be happier to read this section. Australians? Yeah, you might want to flick ahead to the team news. Faf du Plessis‘ Test average against Australia: 63.37 (from five Tests). Du Plessis’ Test average in Australia: 146.50 (from two Tests). Du Plessis’ score in South Africa’s last warm-up game in Adelaide: 102 (retired).

Team news

Australia confirmed their XI on the eve of the match, with Peter Siddle preferred for the third pace-bowling position. The uncapped Joe Mennie has been named 12th man.Australia 1 David Warner, 2 Shaun Marsh, 3 Usman Khawaja, 4 Steven Smith (capt), 5 Adam Voges, 6 Mitchell Marsh, 7 Peter Nevill (wk), 8 Mitchell Starc, 9 Peter Siddle, 10 Josh Hazlewood, 11 Nathan Lyon.South Africa’s main question is whether to include Morne Morkel as a fourth fast man alongside Steyn, Vernon Philander and Kagiso Rabada, or whether to pick a specialist spinner. The left-arm orthodox spinner Keshav Maharaj would seem to have the front-running if the selectors want a spinner, but Morkel’s experience would be tempting them. However, having missed the series against New Zealand with a back injury, Morkel would need to convince the selectors he is ready to get through five days.South Africa (possible) 1 Stephen Cook, 2 Dean Elgar, 3 Hashim Amla, 4 Faf du Plessis (capt), 5 Temba Bavuma, 6 JP Duminy, 7 Quinton de Kock (wk), 8 Vernon Philander, 9 Dale Steyn, 10 Kagiso Rabada, 11 Keshav Maharaj/Morne Morkel.

Pitch and conditions

The WACA provided a disappointing high-scoring draw last summer, and the curator is hoping to avoid such a road this year. He has left a little extra grass on the surface, which he hopes will also have more pace in it. The forecast for the whole Test is sunny with temperatures in the high 20s and low 30s.

Stats and trivia

• Dale Steyn needs six wickets to go past Shaun Pollock as South Africa’s all-time leading Test wicket taker
• Australia have won only five of their 10 most recent Tests at the WACA
• South Africa have never lost a Test in Perth

Quotes

“They will take comfort in the fact that they are playing in home conditions. When we went to India and we lost there, we were a little bit scarred and we took comfort in going home but it took time. Guys needed to find form.” “