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Alex Hales’ century helped Notts chase a formidable target [file picture]•Getty Images

An explosive century from Alex Hales led Notts Outlaws to a thrilling victory over Yorkshire Vikings in their NatWest T20 Blast meeting at Trent Bridge.Hales scored 101, his first hundred for the county, as Notts completed a record run chase to defeat the Vikings by five wickets with five balls remaining.Yorkshire had posted 223 for 5, with Adam Lyth scoring 59, one of five top order batsmen to register 28 or more, after the visitors had been invited to bat first.Amidst the carnage Samit Patel maintained creditable figures of three for 29 but there was little joy for any of the other bowlers to celebrate as Yorkshire plundered 10 sixes in their 20 overs.Requiring more than 11 runs an over Notts got off to a flying start with Hales and Riki Wessels putting on 87 in the first 5.4 overs before Wessels fell to Azeem Rafiq for 34.Tom Moores, promoted to No 3 in the order, was unluckily run out by a direct hit from David Willey, who threw down the stumps from 60 yards.Hales reached his hundred from 45 balls, heaving four huge sixes and 14 fours, before falling shortly afterwards, lofting Willey to deep midwicket, to leave the score on 177 for 3 in the 15th over.Brendan Taylor made 41, having put on 83 with Hales, before being trapped lbw by Rashid. Outlaws’ captain Dan Christian hit a quickfire 24 but when he fell 17 were still needed from the final two overs.Steven Mullaney immediately calmed any nerves amongst the home supporters by twice lifting the ball over the ropes, including the winning blow from the bowling of Tim Bresnan.Earlier, Tom Kohler-Cadmore made 37 in an opening partnership of 83 with Lyth, a stand that was broken by Mullaney, with the first ball of the seventh over.Australian internationals Shaun Marsh, who made 47, and Peter Handscomb, 31, added 68 from 35 balls and the final lustre to the Vikings’ innings was supplied by Jack Leaning’s 16-ball unbeaten 28.Notts had never successfully chased anything higher than 207 before but thanks to Hales’ magnificent effort they accomplished the feat with time to spare.Despite the loss Yorkshire remain top of the North Group but the table is so tight that sixth -placed Notts are only two points behind them, with a game in hand.

It was a “dream to play more international cricket” that made the newly-retired Luke Ronchi switch allegiances from Australia to New Zealand back in 2012.Steady performances since his first-class debut for Western Australia in 2002-03 – and an untimely injury to Brad Haddin – shoehorned Ronchi into Australia’s tour of the Caribbean in 2008. He showed promise with a 22-ball fifty in only his second ODI innings but then his numbers dipped. Eventually, he found himself out of favour.Ronchi returned to his country of birth – New Zealand – in a bid to restart his career. A first-class century on debut for Wellington in March 2012 might well have assured him to keep at it. “In the end, it wasn’t really a hard decision,” he told ESPNcricinfo last year. “I wanted to play international cricket and I wanted to play more. It wasn’t like I had retired or wasn’t playing or dropped and wasn’t getting picked. The thought of not trying in New Zealand would’ve been a lot harder for me.”Everyone was right behind me, even players from Western Australia and coaching staff. That was a nice feeling. You get a bit worried about what might happen, but everyone was fully behind me.”In 2014, Ronchi made his ODI and T20I debut for New Zealand. He fell for ducks in both those games but was persisted with until he smashed 170 not out off 99 balls against Sri Lanka. That innings remains the highest score by batsman at No. 7.Ronchi played his first Test in May 2015. Coming in with his side trailing England 0-1 in a two-match series, he struck 88 and 31 at Headingley, to help spearhead a memorable victory. “It was something I always dreamed of and wanted to do well in,” he said. “Leading up to the match, I thought I shouldn’t go in nervous, because if you go in nervous and muck it up, that might be the only time you ever get to play. So I sort of went out there, just being relaxed, and, just free off whatever happens. To get the win in the end was pretty cool. It was pretty cool to be one from one (win-match ratio).”As for career highlights, Ronchi said “you can’t get past the World Cup.” New Zealand, fuelled by passionate home support, earned their first ever final after beating South Africa in the semis – a game that went down in history as an ODI classic.”To be involved in semi-finals, to get into the finals, even thought that wasn’t our best game of the tournament… For the New Zealand team to get into a World Cup final and play in front of 90-odd thousand people, the whole six-eight weeks was a fantastic time to be playing cricket.”Having been on both sides of the Trans-Tasman production line, Ronchi, in 2016, believed “Australia has got a little more depth and more money to put into development and facilities.”But having said that New Zealand cricket has been doing fantastically well at the moment in all three forms,” he added. “So, depth doesn’t always make a big difference but if you want to stay consistent – like how Australia have – you need to have the depth to keep pushing guys and making guys perform and getting better. I think New Zealand’s getting there. We still have a little way to go, but we’re doing pretty well at the moment.”

Sheikh Jamal Dhanmondi Club beat Mohammedan Sporting Club by one wicket with two balls to spare at the BKSP-3 ground in Savar. Dhanmondi Club chased down their 340-run target, a List A record for the highest-successful chase in Bangladesh, when No. 11 Shahadat Hossain struck the winning four after they needed three runs from the final over.The record for the previous highest chase was held by Chittagong Division, who made 333 for 6 against Rajshahi Division in 2007. Dhanmondi’s chase was also the highest second-innings score in List A games in Bangladesh, bettering Mohammedan’s 339 for 9 against Abahani earlier this season.Both Dhanmondi Club and Mohammedan made it to the Super League phase of the Dhaka Premier League, alongside Gazi Group Cricketers, Abahani Limited, Prime Doleshwar Sporting Club and Prime Bank Cricket Club. But it was Dhanmondi Club’s chase that stole the show on the final day of the first round.Their fast start was upended when they lost their first two wickets by the seventh over. Then, Prashant Chopra, their Indian recruit, and Sohag Gazi added 96 runs for the third wicket. Chopra’s dismissal for a 60-ball 86 was followed by that of Rajin Saleh for a duck six balls later, in the 20th over. When Gazi fell for a 64-ball 89, Dhanmondi Club slipped to 233 for 6 in the 33rd over.The chase was revived through an 87-run stand between Tanbir Hayder and Elias Sunny. Hayder struck six fours and a six in his 72-ball 77 while Sunny’s cameo ensured the lower order didn’t capitulate quickly. Sunny ended unbeaten on 39 off 45 balls. Mohammedan pace bowler Mohammad Azim took four wickets for 70 runs.Dhanmondi Club’s brilliant chase overshadowed centuries from Shamsur Rahman and Rony Talukdar as Mohammedan were asked to bat. Shamsur struck seven fours and as many sixes in his unbeaten 144 off 152 balls, which was his highest List A score. Talukdar’s 110 came off 99 balls and was his third List A century.Gazi Group Cricketers finished as table toppers at the end of the Dhaka Premier League’s first phase despite slipping to their second successive loss. Prime Bank Cricket Club trounced them by seven wickets in Fatullah and finished on 16 points to draw level with Abahani Limited and Prime Doleshwar Sporting Club while Gazi Group were on 18 points.Batting first, Gazi Group made only 214 for 9, with Mominul Haque (79 off 106) and Jahurul Islam (66 of 84) consolidating the innings after they were 3 for 2. But Gazi Group slumped again, losing their last five wickets for 16 runs after the 149-run stand between Mominul and Jahurul was broken, with Nazmul Islam finishing with three wickets. Zakir Hasan and Abhimanyu Easwaran set up Prime Bank’s chase by adding 95 runs for the second wicket. The formalities were completed by Al-Amin who was unbeaten on 41.Kalabagan Krira Chakra kept themselves firmly afloat in the Dhaka Premier League after their five-wicket win against Khelaghar Samaj Kallyan Samity at the BKSP-4 ground in Savar.Having finished tenth in the points table, Khelaghar now have to take part in the relegation playoff matches with Partex Sporting Club and Victoria Sporting Club. Only one of these three teams will remain in the DPL next season while the bottom two will be relegated to the Dhaka First Division League.Khelaghar were restricted to 204 for 7 as No. 5 Rafsan Al Mahmud top-scored with 71 off 98 balls while No. 7 Arifurzaman Sagor made 46. Saad Nasim, the Pakistan allrounder, finished with 3 for 34 in his 10 overs.After adding 50 runs for the opening stand with Tasamul Haque, Jashimuddin (89) added 104 runs for the second wicket with Mohammad Ashraful (56). Even though Kalabagan lost five wickets, the chase was completed by Muktar Ali and Mehrab Hossain jnr with 13 balls to spare.

Rishabh Pant’s unfettered approach to ball-striking has constantly been likened to that of fellow Delhi resident Virender Sehwag. On Thursday night, Pant’s breathless, yet artful decimation of Gujarat Lions with a 43-ball 97, including nine sixes, moved Sehwag to hail his “special ability” on Twitter.Had Sehwag watched Pant’s media interactions following Delhi Daredevils’ chase of 209 with 15 balls to spare, he would likely have smiled at how the 19-year-old channelled his inner Sehwag with straight-faced one-liners.The most revealing insight into Pant’s batting philosophy was provided by Sanju Samson, who made 61 off 31 balls, during their post-match interview with Daredevils mentor Rahul Dravid on . During the course of their 143-run partnership off 63 balls for the second wicket, Samson had struck two sixes in an over and was looking to play safe. Pant, however, didn’t approve of the tactic.”I started the innings really well. After hitting two sixes [in an over], I thought about taking a single,” Samson told Dravid.”He [Pant] came to me and told me: (brother, don’t think too much, just keep hittting)’. I think that really helped me to go on. I really enjoyed batting with him.”Pant walked the talk. Two balls after Karun Nair was dismissed, he whacked Basil Thampi over cover for six. He similarly avenged Samson’s departure by smacking Ravindra Jadeja’s next two deliveries for six and four. He blitzed his way to a half-century off 27 balls and his next 44 came off 16 deliveries.”I will see the ball – if the ball is there to hit, I will hit it,” Pant said of his mind-set. “I was not thinking I will get out or something like that. If the ball is bad, you have to punish it. That’s what I am doing.”‘If I would have got three runs, I would have finished the match. If I would have finished the match, I would have got three runs’•Getty Images

When Dravid asked Pant which bowlers he and Samson targeted, the answer was a variation of the see-ball, hit-ball theme. “We were not thinking about the next ball,” Pant said. “Like I told you, sir, if we get a bad ball … we planned everything like that. I told Sanju [to keep hitting the balls that were there to be hit] – [he] was planning a few things at the start – but when he started getting in the middle, he told me ‘I will go for everything.'”Even when Pant was three short of his hundred, he didn’t hold back. An attempted slog into the leg side off Thampi only resulted in a thick outside edge to the keeper. Pant had to drag himself back to the dugout, but he later said he wasn’t thinking about the hundred.”I was just thinking about chasing down the total as quickly as I can,” he said. For good measure, he topped it off with a philosophical nugget right out of the Sehwag school. “If I would have got three runs, I would have finished the match. If I would have finished the match, I would have got three runs.”It was an attitude that gladdened Dravid. “What was impressive for me was Rishabh – batting on 97 and not thinking about his 100 at that stage and still going for his shots,” he said. “[He was] not worrying about the 100 and [was] looking to get the team home. Incredible innings from the two boys and truly well-deserved.”Dravid, however, raised the bar for Pant and Samson. “I am a hard taskmaster [and] I hope that you guys will next time finish the job and stay not out.”

Mitchell Marsh, Callum Ferguson, Nic Maddinson, Hilton Cartwright, Mitchell Marsh … Marcus Stoinis? The man who may become the latest in a string of Test No. 6s for Australia since the start of the summer has arrived in India, and is confident that he will be able to adapt quickly to the conditions if called on to make his debut in Ranchi this week.Stoinis was flown to India to replace Marsh, who was sent home after Australia’s loss in Bengaluru with a shoulder problem that had also caused him troubled during the home summer. Should Australia’s selectors opt for an allrounder at No.6, the seam-bowling Stoinis and the offspinning Glenn Maxwell are the two likely candidates. Usman Khawaja as a specialist batsman is a third possibility.The call-up of Stoinis raised a few eyebrows in Australian cricket, given his poor batting form this Sheffield Shield season, during which he has made 197 runs at 17.90 without a half-century. It is hardly the kind of form expected of a Test No.6, but national selector Trevor Hohns made it clear Stoinis had been picked due to his performances on a 2015 Australia A tour of India, as well as because he was the strongest bowling option among allrounders.Perhaps the selectors also noted that when they last picked Stoinis, for the Chappell-Hadlee Series tour of New Zealand earlier this year, he was able to step up despite a lean patch that featured only one half-century from his past 29 innings across all formats. Stoinis flew to Auckland and smashed an unbeaten 146 in his first match of the series.”New Zealand was a breakout for me,” Stoinis told reporters in Ranchi on Tuesday. “Waiting 18 months for another international game after my first one was really pleasing personally. And then I still know [I’ve had] a good three or four years of Shield cricket where I’ve been in the top four or five run scorers. So the confidence is there and that’s cricket, it can change so quickly.”It is true that despite Stoinis’ lack of Shield runs this summer, he has been a consistent performer in the long format for Victoria in the past few years. Since the start of the 2014-15 season, Stoinis has been second only to Peter Handscomb on Victoria’s Shield run list – during a period in which the state has won two out of two Shield titles and has also reached the final of this year’s tournament.During that same period, Stoinis was part of the Australia A squad that played two first-class matches in Chennai in 2015, and he impressed the selectors in the first of those games with a first-innings 77. He also picked up three wickets at 31.00 during the series, including the wickets of current India Test players Cheteshwar Pujara and Karun Nair.”Coming here for the Aussie A, it actually did suit my bowling,” Stoinis said. “A couple staying low, a couple grabbing off the wicket, off-cutters. You’ve just got to hit the wicket hard here and see if anything happens off the wicket there.”It remains to be seen whether Stoinis will become Australia’s 451st Test cricketer in Ranchi, or whether the selectors will lean towards either Maxwell or Khawaja. Either way, it will mean a fifth change of Australia’s Test No.6 since the start of the home summer.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsRahmat Shah hit 10 fours and a six in his unbeaten 108•Associated Press

Twice in this series, Rahmat Shah failed to kick on after scoring a half-century. In the decider, he scored in triple-figures, for the second time in ODIs, to help Afghanistan recover from an early wobble and convert a potentially tricky 230 chase into a cruise. He steered them towards the target in Samiullah Shenwari’s company and then sealed a seven-wicket win with a six that helped them clinch a 3-2 series win to go along with the T20 clean sweep in Greater Noida, their adopted home ground.While Rahmat came up with the blockbuster knock, Shenwari’s unbeaten 62 was also important. The fourth-wicket pair added 133, helping them recover from 98 for 3 and overcoming pressure Ireland’s slow bowlers built in the aftermath of Asghar Stanikzai’s wicket for 39 in the 25th over. They eventually won with eight balls to spare and completed their second bilateral series win in three attempts against Ireland. The five-match ODI series in July 2016 in Ireland ended 2-2.Ireland, who won their first toss of the series, elected to bat and were driven by the experienced pair of Ed Joyce (42) and Paul Stirling (51), who added 69 for the first wicket. William Porterfield and Niall O’Brien also got off to starts and put Ireland in a position from where 275 looked a possibility. But the absence of the big-hitting Kevin O’Brien, out due to a hamstring niggle, perhaps hurt them in the end overs.The inability of the lower middle order to bring out the big hits on a slow wicket resulted in a flurry of wickets, the bulk of which were taken by Rashid Khan. The legspinner finished with 4 for 29 to top the wicket-takers’ list with 16 as Ireland lost their last seven wickets for 59 runs to be bowled out for 229 in the penultimate over.Left-arm quick Fareed Ahmad, playing his first game of the series, picked up three wickets, while Dawlat Zadran, who kept the pressure up early on in cloudy conditions, finished with two scalps including a ripper of a yorker that sent back the experienced Gary Wilson in the 39th over to delay their slog.Afghanistan lost the big-hitting Mohammad Shahzad in the fifth over when he was snuffed out courtesy a sensational catch at cover by Porterfield. Three overs later, Najeeb Tarakai, who faced 18 deliveries for 5, let pressure get to him as he skewed a catch to long-on to leave Afghanistan wobbling at 25 for 2.Stanikzai, the captain, held down the fort briefly before falling to George Dockrell’s left-arm spin. With the asking rate escalating and pressure building, Afghanistan needed a rescue act and they had one with Rahmat and Shenwari scoring together at a run rate of over 5.5 per over.

Virat Kohli on how he has evolved as captain

“You know, sometimes I stand in the field and think the wicket is not falling, you literally cannot do anything as a captain. You just have to accept the game is going, probably look to be more consistent with the ball and the fields that you set. Honestly it is the players that make you the captain that you become. To be very honest, anyone knows how to set fields in the ground, its just that you know, make sure you have the responsibility of keeping the energy of the team up. I look to push myself, throw myself [around], so guys know that they have to push for a wicket. I need to do that first, for the guys to show that energy. I am able to maintain that and that has been a takeaway from the games that I have been captain so far. Lot of times, you know that there is only so much that you can do as a captain.
“Before I would still be a bit of relentless with fields but now, I understand, when a pair is going for runs, I immediately go for in-out fields, no point giving them 4-5 boundaries. They might as well score 25 runs in singles, and take 15 overs to do that. That creates pressure and when you know you are bowling good balls, one ball does something you are back into the game. That’s something I have learnt and hopefully we will take it forward.”

India captain Virat Kohli has said his fast bowlers’ performance in the Hyderabad Test has raised his hopes that they can succeed on foreign soil. While their numbers during this home season haven’t been as imposing as those of R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja, the likes of Ishant Sharma, Umesh Yadav and Bhuvneshwar Kumar have chipped in with incisive spells at key moments.Umesh’s spell on the third morning was described by Shakib Al Hasan as the best spell he had ever faced. Ishant picked up two wickets in the second innings while Bhuvneshwar impressed Kohli with his work with the old ball.”It is always a good thing to have good fast bowlers in the team especially in Test cricket,” Kohli said. “If you can have 3-4 seamers in your squad who are attacking bowlers and can pick you wickets at any stage during the day, then it is a bonus for any side. When we start going away from home, it is going to help us big time. The more the guys understand how to pick up wickets and how to set batsmen up, it is going to be really good for us.”Sides will know that these are not easy runs for the taking, they will have to work hard given the way our fast bowlers are bowling. It gives us more strength as a team having fast bowlers in rhythm and confidence and that’s something we always believe in doing in the team, giving our bowlers more importance and telling them they are the match-winners.”Kohli said that like Umesh in the first innings, Ishant stood apart among the bowlers during the second innings. Ishant took the key wickets of Sabbir Rahman and Mahmudullah after the sixth-wicket pair had added 51 in 18 overs.Ishant removed Sabbir with a delivery that came back in subtly; the batsman’s review of the leg-before decision was more out of hope than anything else. Soon after, he banged one in short to get Mahmudullah caught on the hook. Bangladesh’s back was broken in their quest to save the Test.Bhuvneshwar Kumar bowled Mehedi Hasan with reverse-swing early on the fourth day•Associated Press

Kohli said the quality of India’s spinners ensures that the fast bowlers play a more aggressive role. He said Ishant breaking the partnership was crucial.”In the first innings it took a bit of patience for us to get wickets,” Kohli said. “I thought Umesh [Yadav], Bhuvi and Ishant Sharma were brilliant but Umesh stood out. In the second innings, all three bowled really well and Ishant stood out. I said in the post-match [presentation] that the quality of our spinners allows our fast bowlers to attack because of the way spinners bowl and contain runs, the pacers can really attack as soon as it starts reverse-swinging. I thought today Ishant’s spell was really good, bowled with pace and had to put in effort to take wickets at that stage and he took both the set batsmen out. That was really good for us.”Kohli also said Bhuvneshwar Kumar’s improvement in the last few matches has added to India’s pace bowling stocks. While Bhuvneshwar took only one wicket in the game, his spells with the old ball, particularly on the fifth day, didn’t let Bangladesh settle down for the rest of the day.”[Mohammad] Shami, Ishant [Sharma] and Umesh [Yadav], we all know. They’ve done it with the old ball many times. The way Bhuvi has bowled in the last few games he has played, with the old ball – it’s all because of his fitness levels having increased.”Having more strength in the body, he’s been able to put more pace in the ball which is key for reverse-swing. The other three guys, naturally, have more pace than him. I think Bhuvi has stepped up the game with the old ball too.”

ScorecardBen Raine finished with 5 for 66•Getty Images

Derbyshire put themselves in a position to secure their first championship win of the season after turning the tables on Leicestershire on the third day of the second division match at the Fischer County Ground.The visitors’ lower order and tail batted with huge determination in the first half of the day, ensuring Leicestershire’s first innings advantage was just 18, before the bowlers picked up five wickets to leave the Foxes leading by only 127 with five second innings wickets in hand at the close.Resuming on 199 for 6, Alex Hughes and Alex Mellor, the latter making his first-class debut, batted without giving a chance in raising a 50 partnership for the seventh wicket. Having done so, however, and with a personal half-century within reach, Hughes had his off stump knocked out by Richard Jones, the delivery keeping a touch low as it burst through the batsman’s defences.Mellor continued to acquit himself impressively, showing an admirably calm temperament in the fact of testingly straight bowling before being bowled off the inside edge by Ben Raine.Tom Milnes and Tony Palladino added another 39 for the eighth wicket before Milnes became the fifth Derbyshire batsman in the innings to be bowled, albeit off an inside edge.Callum Parkinson, another making his first class debut, had already impressed with his left-arm spin, picking up four wickets in Leicestershire’s first innings, but the 19-year-old showed he can also bat, giving Palladino good support as the last-wicket pair took the attack to the Leicestershire bowlers in the extra half hour.Parkinson hit 32, from just 39 balls, as the 50 partnership was raised just before the break, and the pair extended the last wicket partnership to 73 before Palladino edged Raine to O’Brien.Raine finished with 5 for 66, his best return of the season.With their confidence boosted by their efforts with the bat, Derbyshire’s seamers made early inroads. Milnes bowled Angus Robson in the first over for a duck with a full delivery, and Palladino had Paul Horton caught at second slip in the following over to leave the Foxes struggling on 1 for 2.Neil Dexter and Mark Cosgrove added 29 for the third wicket before Dexter was given out leg before half forward to Milnes, umpire Rob Bailey deciding the ball had hit pad before bat, to reduce the Foxes to 30-3, a lead of just 48.Mark Pettini took 24 balls to get off the mark, but together with Cosgrove then steadied the ship, adding 73 for the fourth wicket before Cosgrove, on 49, edged a delivery from Shiv Thakor which stayed a little low into his stumps.No further runs had been added when Parkinson straightened one into Pettini as the right-hander stretched forward, and won the leg before decision.

In four completed Tests at the Pallekele Stadium, Sri Lanka have never been winners. In the only matches that reached a fourth innings, chasing sides have found no terrors on the pitch, particularly when Pakistan ran down 377 in the most recent Test at the venue.With 185 more runs to get and seven wickets in hand, Australia batting coach Stuart Law is hoping the trend continues. Both teams were shot out for relatively modest first-innings totals, but counter to what is usually believed about Asian surfaces, Law said batting had become easier since then.”It’s not going to be a day-five pitch,” he said. “We have played like three days thanks to the rain and light interruptions. History says that teams have chased big totals here before. Those pitches might have been prepared differently than for us, coming in.”This pitch doesn’t look like deteriorating a great deal. If you look at the footmarks, big Mitchell Starc has been bowling left-arm over, and has hardly broken the surface. It’s hard as concrete and it’s very dry. Overnight these conditions do tend to get the moisture back up into the surface. The first half-hour to an hour, can be tricky. But the wicket drying up shouldn’t be a problem. The first two days it was tacky in the mornings. But it’s progressively dried out, and is probably at its driest now.”But it is exactly that lack of moisture that Sri Lanka will hope their spinners will be able to exploit on day five. Several deliveries took sharp turn on day four – particularly Lakshan Sandakan’s stock ball to dismiss Joe Burns – and with three frontline spinners in his XI, Sri Lanka coach Graham Ford hoped the seven wickets would be forthcoming.”I think we’ve fought really hard to get ourselves into a situation when we can win this Test match,” he said. “Pleasingly, a few balls started to turn quite sharply before the players came off for bad light. Hoping tomorrow that a few things will go our way, and we’ll be able to press home.”Ford also said Sri Lanka would have been “in the driving seat” had the lbw decision against Adam Voges been upheld. Voges had been given out when rapped on the pad first ball by Dilruwan Perera, but projections showed that ball to be missing leg stump. Voges remains at the crease with Steven Smith, and the two are reputed to be Australia’s best players of spin.”They are class players and their records are outstanding,” Ford said. “The partnership is crucial and if we can break it in the morning – who knows what can happen? Day-five pitch – I know it hasn’t had a full four days on it, but it is a wearing wicket. One just has to misbehave, and that can break a partnership.”Law agreed that the overnight stand was a crucial one. “The two guys who are batting at the moment need to put up a good partnership,” he said. “Everyone else has to chip in where they can. We are still confident. We always want to play to win and not to draw.”

Match facts

July 14-18, 2016
Start time 11am local (1000 GMT)

Big Picture

How big do you like your pictures? It took Michelangelo four years, from 1508 to 1512, to paint one of the biggest of the lot, the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel – with its depictions of the rise and fall of man, and all that malarky. Well, it’s been six years and counting since Mohammad Amir succumbed to temptation at Lord’s in 2010, and tomorrow, he launches his bid for redemption at the scene of his original sin, with the full backing of a Pakistan team that has rarely seemed more focussed or united than they do at this potentially epochal moment of their history. This is a big picture, all right. One of the biggest that Test cricket could ever have conceived.All eyes will be on Amir, and rightly so, as he marches back out through the Long Room and down the pavilion steps to relaunch his Test career after the highest-profile hiatus imaginable – and memories of that abject August Sunday are sure to be recalled in gory detail as the contest begins to take shape. Nevertheless, the focus of both teams will be very much on the here-and-now – out of respect for the challenge in store, and doubtless for the sanity of the competitors as well.Pakistan have spoken at length about how they intend to close ranks around Amir and block out the “noise” that will surround his return to the fray, but England also have plenty of reasons to treat this occasion as ordinarily as possible. From Jake Ball, inked in for his Test debut at the age of 25, to Gary Ballance – back in the team after a year of exile and introspection – there will be enough emotion doing the rounds without getting caught up in the whys and where-fors in the opposition ranks.Besides, after a low-key start to England’s international summer, in which a rebuilding Sri Lanka team was put firmly in its place across all three formats, there is a distinct sense of occasion surrounding the arrival of Pakistan. They may not have won a Test series in England since 1996, but they have more regenerative properties than the T-3000, and under the leadership of Misbah-ul-Haq, they have gelled into one of the most consistent opponents in the world game.This is, as Misbah acknowledged last week, the ultimate challenge for a team that he has coaxed back to prominence over the past six years. All roads since the ignominy of the 2010 tour have led straight back to where it all began, and the diligence of their preparations – from their training camp in Lahore, to their acclimatisation at the Ageas Bowl, to the discipline of their practice sessions under the focussed eye of the new coach, Mickey Arthur – underlines the sense that they want this shot at redemption more than they have wanted any other challenge in recent times.We are about to find out whether Misbah’s men are ready and able to emulate the great Pakistan teams of the 1980s and 1990s. But, as with their forebears, there’s nothing like an underlying sense of grievance to galvanise one of world sport’s most naturally talented outfits. Whatever the size of the picture, it promises to be a spectacle.Mohammad Amir is ready for his shot at redemption•Getty Images

Form guide

England: DWWLW (last five completed matches, most recent first)

Pakistan: WWDWL

In the spotlight

Err … have a guess. Still, if we take it as read that Amir will hog every inch of the limelight in this contest, then the way is clear for his less conspicuous team-mates to thrive in his slip-stream. Not least his fellow left-armer, Wahab Riaz, who proved to be the single most significant difference between the teams in the recent series in the UAE. His searing pace on unforgiving surfaces returned little in the way of eye-catching figures – his best return of 4 for 66 came in the second Test at Dubai, but that included the prime scalps of Joe Root, Ben Stokes and Jos Buttler in a ferocious nine-over spell. No-one in England’s ranks can rival his out-and-out pace.Joe Root’s promotion to No.3 is the most eye-catching statement of intent from an England line-up that has had more than its fair share of top-order wobbles in recent times, but the recall of Gary Ballance at No.5 is the surprise move from the selectors. His technique has been put through the wringer since his glut of failings against New Zealand and Australia last year, but showing a commendable streak of stubbornness of which his captain, Alastair Cook, would no doubt approve, Ballance has resolved not to deconstruct his methods, but simply to apply them better. He returns to the fray with a proven track record, including four Test hundreds and an average of 47.76. He’s done it before, and can do it again.

Team news

The Nottinghamshire debutant, Jake Ball, has been confirmed as James Anderson’s replacement, after Alastair Cook revealed his hand on the eve of the contest – he edges out the Lord’s local, Toby Roland-Jones, for the final spot in the XI. Anderson himself is said by Cook (somewhat euphemistically, you suspect) to be “disappointed” not to be playing. Joe Root steps up to the hot seat at No.3, following Nick Compton’s failure to cement his place against Sri Lanka, while Ballance is back at No. 5, a full year after his last Test appearance on this same ground against Australia. Chris Woakes (illness) and Steven Finn (knee) have come through their respective niggles and will be fit for Thursday morning.England 1 Alastair Cook (capt), 2 Alex Hales, 3 Joe Root, 4 James Vince, 5 Gary Ballance, 6 Jonny Bairstow (wk), 7 Moeen Ali, 8 Chris Woakes, 9 Stuart Broad, 10 Jake Ball, 11 Steven Finn.Pakistan can put forward an imposing and settled line-up, one that will be very familiar to England following their 2-0 loss in the UAE last winter, and one that has been significantly bolstered by the return of You Know Who. With Wahab and Yasir Shah ready to resume their leading roles, Rahat Ali and Imran Khan seem to be in a shoot-out for their fourth bowling slot. Imran might just have the edge, seeing as three left-armers might be overdoing it.Pakistan (probable) 1 Mohammad Hafeez, 2 Shan Masood, 3 Azhar Ali, 4 Younis Khan, 5 Misbah-ul-Haq (capt), 6 Asad Shafiq, 7 Sarfraz Ahmed (wk), 8 Wahab Riaz, 9 Mohammad Amir, 10 Rahat Ali / Imran Khan, 11 Yasir Shah.

Pitch and conditions

Stuart Broad has already expressed his fears about the state of the Lord’s wicket – a surface on which no side has yet managed to claim 20 wickets this season. Middlesex’s most recent fixture at Lord’s, against Lancashire two weeks ago, resulted in a mercy killing on the final day; rain washed out the contest with the scores entrenched on a towering 513 v 419 for 5. There is, at present, a green tinge to the surface, and the weather promises to be dry but overcast, which may offer some assistance to the quicks on either side. But Pakistan, with all their experience in the UAE and their traditional pace-and-legspin combination, may fancy their chances if the carry is as slow and low as anticipated.

Stats and trivia

• Pakistan have won three and lost five of their previous 14 Tests at Lord’s – including two crushing defeats on their last tour in 2010. One, of course, came in the aftermath of the spot-fixing saga, but the other – less-well-remembered – contest came earlier that summer, against Australia in the first neutral Test at the venue since 1912.
• Auspiciously for Pakistan, however, both of their last two wins at the venue came in their most recent series victories in England – in the heyday of Wasim and Waqar in 1992 and 1996. The 1992 victory, by two wickets, was one of the most thrilling in Lord’s illustrious history.
• At the age of 42 years and 47 days, Misbah-ul-Haq will be playing his first Test in England. With 20 wins in 42 Tests as captain, he is already Pakistan’s most successful captain, ahead of Imran Khan and Javed Miandad (both 14).
• Stuart Broad, in his 95th Test, needs five more wickets to become the 22nd bowler to take 350 Test wickets.

Quotes

“Unfortunately Jimmy’s missed out, it gives a great opportunity for Jake, one he’s really looking forward to. He’s had a great year with Notts and looks a fine bowler.”
Alastair Cook confirms that Ball is set to make his Test debut in place of England’s leading wicket-taker.“It’s an advantage if one of the main bowlers is missing. We feel ready. Preparation has been good. Everyone is ready to go.”