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Alex Hales turned from scapegoat to saviour in the space of 72 hours, as England bounced back from an ignominious batting collapse at Old Trafford to square the T20I series with a hard-fought five-wicket victory at Cardiff.And no-one fought harder than Hales himself, as he clubbed England over the line with 58 not out from 41 balls to atone for his momentum-squandering knock of 8 from 18 in the opening match of the series.”It’s right up there,” Hales said after the match. “The game at Manchester was a very, very bad day at the office personally and as a team, we didn’t quite get going. But today was brilliant, to bounce back in a must-win game shows a lot of character as a team.”One of the keys to England’s success was the negation of Kuldeep Yadav, the left-arm wristspinner whose wiles had bamboozled their batsmen to the tune of five wickets at Old Trafford. After intensive work against their spin-bowling machine, Merlyn, England came up with a plan to combat his angles, much of which involved staying deeper in the crease.”I’d never faced him before and I didn’t know much about him,” said Hales. “Maybe I just went out in Manchester without a plan and couldn’t get going. I watched a bit more footage, worked with Merlyn and looked to play a bit more off the back foot and waited for him to float one up hit a bit straighter, rather than cross bat like my dismissal the other night. It’s about having a bit more of a plan and more composure.”We picked him the other night, but I don’t think we played him very well,” he added. “You can see it out of his hand which way it’s spinning, but the other night we were maybe a bit rusty and had never played against him. Now we have had good look, had a good plan and it’s important to take that into Sunday and keep on top of him.”Asked if England’s success against Kuldeep had dealt him a psychological blow, Hales responded: “I think so. I guess it would do, yeah. It’s good for us to have that momentum heading into a must-win game on Sunday. Everyone collectively had a poor day on Sunday, but we bounced back well and it was brilliant today. Particularly Adil [Rashid], I think the Indians were looking to line him up to that short boundary so to go for under 30 was amazing.”Despite his personal success, Hales is under no illusions that his place in England’s starting XI remains vulnerable, especially with Ben Stokes nearing full fitness and potentially pressing for inclusion in the series decider at Bristol.”I’m doing all I can to score runs and keep putting pressure on the guys who know they’re playing,” he said. “We will have to see what happens. If it’s me that’s left out, you look at the guys who are playing ahead of me and what can you do? It’s up to me to keep training hard, being positive and have a decent mindset. It’s funny how quickly things can change.”It’s what Jonny [Bairstow] did for three years. Every time he got a chance he delivered, and has now made four hundreds in six games. I maybe find myself in that position now and have to see what I can do.”One of the strengths of England’s current white-ball set-up is the adaptability of their line-up, with batsmen moving up and down the order according to the match situation. Hales himself came in at No.4 at Cardiff, having been at 3 at Old Trafford, but he admitted that learning new roles was part of the challenge of playing in this team.”The batting line-up is that strong, you look how well Jos [Buttler] is playing, he’s batting on a different planet. Just to be part of this batting line-up, anywhere in the order is a great effort. Wherever I find myself I have to adapt and keep learning, and that was a different role tonight, it was like me and Jos swapped roles. I have to keep learning going forward if that’s the role I’ll play.”Whatever happens to Hales in the course of the next few games, he believes he has the wherewithal to cope with being left out of the side, which is something that he was forced to learn at a young age in county cricket.”When I was young, 22 or 23, I was dropped from the Notts team and was sent on loan,” he said. “Being on a downer is something I have had to deal with in my career so it’s nothing new to me, so when I face those moments, as I did the other night, I had a poor night, I know how to deal with it and bounce back and know that can happen in cricket. It’s a funny game.”

Ajit Wadekar, who led India to historic series wins in the West Indies and England in 1971, has died at the age of 77. He had been suffering from a prolonged illness.Wadekar, an aggressive left-hand batsman and an excellent catcher in the slips, played 37 Tests, scoring 2113 runs at an average of 31.07. His one century, a match-winning 143 at Wellington, came during India’s 1967-68 tour of New Zealand, where they won a series away from home for the very first time.It was a time when India, led by Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi, were growing into a genuine force in world cricket. And it was Wadekar who, with Pataudi sitting out the tour of the West Indies in 1970-71, took over the captaincy, thanks to the casting vote of Vijay Merchant, the chairman of selectors.Fuelled by the batting exploits of Dilip Sardesai and the debutant Sunil Gavaskar, India would go on to clinch a 1-0 victory over Sir Garfield Sobers’ side. When they followed that up with another 1-0 win in England, inspired by BS Chandrasekhar’s 6 for 38 at The Oval, many considered India unofficial world champions.Getty Images

Another series win, against England at home in 1972-73, burnished Wadekar’s standing as captain, but the end, when it came, was swift and cruel – a 3-0 series loss on the 1974 tour of England, which included the infamous 42 all out – still India’s lowest-ever Test total – at Lord’s. Sacked as captain after the tour, Wadekar announced his retirement.In later years, Wadekar served as India’s first ever official head coach, taking over in 1992 and overseeing a four-year period in which they were dominant on spinning tracks at home, memorably blanking England 3-0 in 1992-93. In December 2011, the BCCI conferred him with the CK Nayudu Lifetime Achievement Award.

Only one of Cricket South Africa’s three domestic sponsors remain in place ahead of the 2018-19 season, in which there could be no corporate backing for either the franchise first-class competition or the 20-over tournament. Only the 50-over format continues to be sponsored, by the financial services company Momentum.Sunfoil, the sponsors of Test cricket and both the franchise four-day and provincial three-day competitions, opted not to renew its deal with CSA at the end of the 2017-18 summer, ending a relationship which lasted seven years. ESPNcricinfo understands that the company would prefer to use its marketing budget differently. A CSA spokesperson said the organisation is at “at a more advanced stage in negotiations with a replacement and are confident we will be able to conclude the arrangement soon”.In the shortest, and most troubled format, for CSA, courier company RAM have decided not to back the T20 Challenge. RAM re-signed for the 2017-18 season, when the tournament replaced the postponed Global League T20 (GLT20), after also pulling out of a deal with CSA in 2016. For the 2018-19 summer, the competition has no sponsor and, given its timing and the uncertainty over whether another 20-over competition will also take place in South Africa, it is difficult to see how it could attract a backer.The franchise T20 tournament will be played from the April 5 to May 5, 2019, which is particularly late in the South African season. It will also clash with the IPL, meaning big-name South African players who are contracted to the Indian competition are unlikely to be able to play for their domestic franchises. Moreover, if a replacement for the GLT20 takes place, this competition will be an afterthought that could become defunct in years to come.The rest of the domestic season takes its usual form, and starts with the first-class competition in the last week in September. All six franchises will play each other, home and away. The one-day cup will be played between February 8 and April 1, with the semi-finals and final set to feature international caps. The knockouts will be played after the white-ball leg of Sri Lanka’s tour to South Africa, so the national players should be free to participate in the franchise fixtures and thereby have further preparation for the 2019 World Cup.

England’s misfiring top order will be tasked with turning things around in the week before the fourth Test starts in Southampton, with captain Joe Root highlighting the example shown by Jos Buttler and Ben Stokes at Trent Bridge. Buttler scored his maiden Test hundred during a 169-run partnership but it was not enough to prevent England falling to a heavy defeat on the fifth morning, leaving them 2-1 up against India with two Tests to play.Facing a notional target of 521, England had slipped to 62 for 4, before Buttler and Stokes showed the application to bat through 57 overs and give the scorecard a measure of respectability. However, England’s hopes of winning the Test and taking an unassailable lead in the series had practically disappeared when they were dismissed for 161 in their first innings.”I think it’s fair to say we very much underperformed in that innings,” Root said to Sky Sports in a post-match interview. “You look at the second innings, that partnership between Jos and Ben, I think that’s a real lesson to our side of how to play Test match cricket. Not the fact that they scored at a slow rate or looked slightly more defensively-minded but the way they adapted to the situation, the way they built that partnership and looked very clear about how they were going to score runs.”For us that’s a really nice thing to see and to learn from and we have to look at that, adapt our own games individually and make sure that when we turn up to Southampton we give ourselves the best chance of getting scores over 400, and do it in the first innings, and try and apply that scoreboard pressure that is so important in Test cricket.”After three Tests against India, only Root among the top four has made a half-century, with openers Alastair Cook and Keaton Jennings averaging 16.60 and 18.00 respectively; in eight Tests in 2018, England have not had a centurion at higher than No. 6 in the order. Cook could yet miss the Southampton Test to attend the birth of his third child, but Root defended the openers and said it was up to the batting group as a whole to put bigger totals on the board.”If you look at this series and some of the conditions we’ve played in it’s been very challenging for the top order – and that’s on both sides. It’s very easy to look past that, we’ve got to be quite realistic about things, we’ve got two very good players at the top of the order. We have got time now to go away and look at individually how we’re going to play in these conditions, find our own methods – that’s not just those two guys, I think that’s the whole batting group, and I’m sure we’ll come back with a strong response.”Jos Buttler and Ben Stokes share a laugh•Getty Images

England may need to juggle their batting anyway for the fourth Test, with Jonny Bairstow’s fractured finger putting him in doubt – though Root did not rule out the possibility of him relinquishing the wicketkeeping gloves and playing as a specialist batsman.”It’s very early days, we’ll have to see how that swelling goes down, see how he pulls up,” Root said. “We have got time on our side, over the next couple of days we’ll have a clearer idea of where he’s at, I’m sure he’ll be desperate to play, he’s in fine form and you want guys like him in your side, so it would be great if he pulls up well.”Buttler’s hundred, in his 23rd Test, came after taking over behind the stumps following Bairstow’s injury, and Root was full of praise for his performance, which helped push the game into a fifth day.”People’s perception of Jos is someone who can crash the ball to all areas, and play a very expansive game, but one thing he has got is a great cricket brain, he works out situations very well,” he said. “To be able to go out and do everything you’re talking about in the dressing room and have that performance in the bank will give him a huge amount of confidence. It’s great to see what we all know he’s capable of doing and hopefully it’s just a start for him to go on and score many more hundreds in this format.”Root was also asked about his decision to insert India at the toss. Despite having been bowled out for 107 and 130 in testing conditions at Lord’s, India put on a much-improved display, led by Virat Kohli’s 97, to score 329 and set the game up.”At the toss there was some live grass on the wicket, we’ve been performing extremely well with the ball and saw it as an opportunity to try and get ahead of the game, unfortunately it didn’t quite unfold like that,” Root said. “Potentially we could have bowled slightly fuller and a little bit straighter – but that’s nit-picking, I though India played extremely well, made it very difficult for our seamers to make those early inroads and you have to give them credit for doing that.”

Wanderers, Kingsmead, Newlands, SuperSport Park, St. George’s Park and Boland Park will be the host venues for the six teams in Cricket South Africa’s new-look T20 league.CSA announced the venues following an assessment by Nielsen Sport, a sports industry data analysis firm. While CSA has asserted that they own all the teams, the chief executives at the various bodies that run South Africa’s cricket grounds – Cricket Boland, Western Province Cricket Association, Eastern Province Cricket Board, Gauteng Cricket Board, Northerns Cricket Union and KwaZulu-Natal Cricket Union – will essentially be the team managers, appointing coaches.”The key mandate given to all our Members in applying to be a host venue was the primary goal of luring new and traditional fans, other sports fans and the wider general public to our stadia,” said CSA chief executive Thabang Moroe. “This process was, in fact, started some time ago when CSA embarked on a National Stadium Grading Process of all our first-class venues.”The various CEOs who have been running those stadiums will act as managers for these various teams. They will come out and announce the new names of the teams, the logos of what the teams will look like, and they are the ones who will then appoint the coaches, and the coaches will appoint their own support staff.”The league itself has not yet been named, but Moroe explained during a pitch-side interview at South Africa’s T20I against Zimbabwe in East London that it would have a “uniquely South African” name.”It won’t be called the Global T20,” he said. “I hope it’s a name that South Africans will be proud of. We just thought of a uniquely South African name.”Moroe’s interview during the game was aired on SABC 3, the same channel that the T20 league games will be shown on after CSA’s announced a partnership with SABC, South Africa’s public broadcaster. That deal reportedly gave the SABC exclusive official broadcast rights for the Sub-Saharan regionThe new league is set to launch on November 9, with the player draft scheduled for October 17. While the details of the draft are yet to be divulged, team names are expected to be announced in the next few days. But with under a month to go, the timeline to market and deliver the event is shrinking, especially as CSA and SABC are still yet to agree to the specifics of their deal and sign a full contract.”We’re working very hard with SABC in terms of drafting the contract, we just want to wrap up the long-form agreement between us, the SABC as well as our other partners then we can make all the necessary announcements,” Moroe said at Buffalo Park.”This is purely a step that we need to follow from a risk point of view, giving the disappointment of us having to postpone the league last year. The board has given me a strict mandate that before we announce anything, we have all the necessary agreements in place and they’re signed.”Despite losses of over R200 million following the failure of the inaugural GLT20, CSA has said that its annual financial statements would still show “substantial reserves”. They will have to dig a little deeper into those reserves in their new league’s first season, for which they are budgeting for a R40 million loss.While those sorts of costs are nothing unusual – it took years for IPL teams to start making a profit, the Big Bash League made a AUD33 million loss over its first five years, and the ECB’s new competition, The Hundred, is facing spiralling costs – CSA is also facing the threat of legal action from several owners of the initial GLT20. That may necessitate further costs before the new T20 league gets underway.

Run rates are climbing, but this was something else. Welcome to the world of Joe Carter and Brett Hampton, the Northern Districts pair, who smashed the List A record books in Hamilton on Wednesday. The pair took 43 off an over bowled by Central Districts’ Willem Ludick in a Ford Trophy fixture, the most conceded in an over in List A cricket.This toppled the 39 conceded by Alauddin Babu, a Bangladesh first-class cricketer, in a Dhaka Premier League match in 2013. At the other end of the record then was former Zimbabwe captain Elton Chigumbura, who smashed four sixes and three fours in a seven-ball over courtesy a no-ball.Back to Hamilton, Hampton started the onslaught with a four followed by two sixes off two waist-high no-balls. He then hit a third six off a legitimate delivery before taking a single to give Carter the strike. Carter, playing in only his fifth List A matches, smashed the last three balls for six to blaze into the record books. The over read: 4, 6nb, 6nb, 6, 1, 6, 6, 6. Ludick’s bowling figures nosedived from 9-0-42-1 to 10-0-85-1.In all, the pair added 178 for the sixth wicket after coming together at 95 for 5. Hampton missed his maiden List A century by just five runs, while Carter brought up his. The stand was a Northern Districts record for the sixth wicket, surpassing the 150 set by BJ Watling and Peter McGlashan.

Neither camp believes any line of personal decency was crossed during on-field exchanges between Tim Paine and Virat Kohli during the Perth Test between Australia and India.The series had been incident-free on the first seven days, but on the eighth the two captains exchanged a few verbals, which carried on into the ninth day, and paused momentarily with a cheeky Josh Hazlewood saying Kohli was not the most prized wicket for Australia.It all possibly started in Perth on the third day with Kohli telling Paine he was staring at a 2-0 deficit if he messed up with the bat. Paine responded with telling Kohli he had to bat last on this pitch. The needle continued into the fourth morning where the umpires had to intervene. There nearly was physical contact when Kohli and Paine’s paths crossed as they looked to field the ball and take a single respectively.Two subplots to these confrontations arguably made it bigger than it might have been. Australia find themselves under intense scrutiny for their behaviour after the events in Cape Town and the culture review. The confrontation, coming as it did when India started to feel they were falling behind for the first time in the series, could possibly be seen as a cynical attempt to push the Australian buttons.Australia’s concentration on Kohli – not just the players, but the media, the former players, the broadcasters – has at times been excessive with each move of his being scrutinised. Even after getting Kohli out, Paine used his name for banter with M Vijay, basically asking him how he could possibly like Kohli despite his being the captain.At the press conferences at the end of day four, both sides strove to downplay the incidents as “part of the game”, “bit of fun”, and something that shouldn’t be read too much into. “I think it was all good fun,” Australia fast bowler Hazlewood said. “It’s quite competitive out there as you know, and there’s going to be words from time to time, but it was all in good spirits I think.”Shami was of a similar view. He was asked if he found any inconsistencies with how Australia had promised they would behave and how they have actually gone.”See it is a long match, and there might be some moment where you say something and you get a reply in that moment,” Shami said. “So maybe in that moment, things get heated up but it is not something to be made a big issue out of. According to me, we should leave this here. It is part of the game, and it is a way to enjoy things in the Test match. Sometimes we say things, they get upset and make mistakes. These are the moments, but nothing personal.”Virat Kohli and Tim Paine exchanged a few words•Getty Images

When asked if the Australians started it, Shami refused to commit either way. “If there is no sledging, you won’t enjoy the game, the public won’t enjoy the game. If there is aggression, the match becomes more interesting. It is part of the game. As it should be.”Hazlewood was asked if Australia felt frustrated and if they felt the opposition was trying to capitalise on the scrutiny they were under.”No, I don’t think so,” he said. “I think at stages in a game it is going to get heated from time to time. I think we are pretty confident that we can hold that line that we have talked about as a group. It’s more in the heat of the moment, definitely not a ploy to attack any batsman at any stage. It has been really good so far. Just good banter.”I don’t think we read too much into it, we go about our work as we see fit and the Indians can do what they like. We control what we control, and our behaviour is what we control. We’ll worry about that, and let everything else take care of itself.”In a way, Kohli is under similar scrutiny with all the cameras trained at him, scanning every move, be it celebration, reaction to crowd or banter with the opposition. Shami said they didn’t feel concerned about that, but Hazlewood might have made the cheekiest comment yet about the entire thing.Asked if Australia were risking focusing too much on Kohli alone, Hazlewood left with this reply: “I probably see [Cheteshwar] Pujara as the big wicket as far as when I’m bowling,” Hazlewood said. “The glue that holds them together I think. He has batted the most balls this series, and scored nearly the most runs. I see him as a big wicket and [Ajinkya] Rahane as well. So the Nos 3, 4, 5 as the key wickets, and we see it a bit unstable in the other parts of the order. Certainly not all the focus is on Virat.”

Selection is easy in hindsight, claimed Joe Root in the wake of England’s 381-drubbing in the first Test against West Indies. But rarely has a line-up been made to look quite so wrong-headed as in Barbados. ESPNcricinfo looks back on five other selection shockers that the brains trust came to rue.India v England, Calcutta, 1992-93Arguably the most scandalous selection of England’s tour of India in 1992-93 occurred before a ball was bowled: David Gower’s and Jack Russell’s omissions outraged MCC to such an extent that a special general meeting was convened in protest. But even if those two causes célèbres had been picked, there’s no chance on earth that it could have made a difference in the series opener at Eden Gardens – thanks to the catastrophic line-up with which Graham Gooch took the field.The facts of the contest speak for themselves. England picked four frontline quicks (combined figures: 6 for 321), with the legspin of Ian Salisbury elevated ahead of John Emburey and Phil Tufnell on account of his greater rhythm in the nets. India, on the other hand, opted for three frontline spinners – Venkatapathy Raju, Anil Kumble and Rajesh Chauhan – who claimed 17 for 354 between them.Kapil Dev and Manoj Prabhakar (both allrounders) bowled just a handful of seam-up in either innings, while England’s only threat came from the part-time offspin of Graeme Hick (5 for 28 in the match). Mohammad Azharuddin (182) outscored England (163) in their first innings, and the tone for the series had been set.India’s Mohammad Azharuddin after scoring a century•Getty Images

England v Australia, Headingley, 1997On his day, Andrew Caddick was as awkward a seam bowler as England have selected in a generation – but it was his awkwardness as a character that seemed to count against him on far too many occasions. His non-selection for the 1998-99 Ashes tour was self-defeatingly dim-witted – he proved his point by taking 10 wickets at Sydney four years later – but a harbinger of that call had come at Headingley in the fourth Test of England’s home Ashes campaign in 1997. The series was locked at 1-1 but, after being stung into action by England’s incredible win at Edgbaston, Australia were the team on the march. They were denied by rain at Lord’s before Steve Waugh duked a dogfight at Old Trafford.But then came Headingley, a traditional seamers’ paradise – and what did England choose to do? In their infinite wisdom, they decided the time was ripe to ditch Caddick, their leading hit-the-deck exponent, and choose instead a rookie left-arm swing bowler. I mean, who’d do such a thing?With Australia wobbling at 50 for 4 in their first innings, legend has it that the series turned when Matthew Elliott, who made 199, was dropped by Graham Thorpe on 29 off the debutant Mike Smith. And yet that narrative ignores the fact that Smith never again came so close to claiming that elusive maiden wicket.Graham Thorpe drops Matthew Elliott off the bowling of Mike Smith during the 4th Ashes Test in 1997•Clive Mason/ALLSPORT

Caddick, on the other hand, still went on to glean 24 wickets at 26.41 in the other five Tests of the series – comfortably England’s outstanding performer.England v India, Lord’s, 2018For all that they have been the pre-eminent Test team of the past couple of years, India’s selection has let them down on more than a few occasions – particularly in South Africa and England in 2018, where they slumped to hard-fought series losses that looked more comprehensive on paper than they actually had been in reality.Cheteshwar Pujara’s omission at Edgbaston was a case in point, but nothing was more self-defeating that their absurd team balance for the second Test at Lord’s. The left-arm wristspin of Kuldeep Yadav had been a sensation in the one-day leg of the England tour, so the urge to include him at some stage of the series was overwhelming.Kuldeep Yadav delivers the ball•Getty Images

But, given that the whole of the first day of the second Test had been washed out by rain, and that the second dawned dank and overcast too, the inclusion of Kuldeep, alongside a second spinner in R Ashwin and instead of the seamer Umesh Yadav, beggared belief.Sure enough, James Anderson claimed 5 for 20 to rout India for 107, and in reply, Kuldeep was called upon for just nine flaky overs as England pounded out 396 for 7 declared to set up a thumping innings win, and a 2-0 series lead.England v South Africa, Headingley, 2008One of the weirdest selections of all time, and that’s saying something given England’s reputation for pinning donkeys onto their tails. There was something distinctly amiss about the latter months of Michael Vaughan’s England reign – the team was in transition and Graeme Smith’s South Africa (after finding their feet in a towering rearguard at Lord’s) were suddenly itching to outgun them on home soil.But when Ryan Sidebottom, one of the few stalwarts of that mini-era, went lame on the eve of the match, the selectors decided to replace him with an Australian roof-tiler, two weeks shy of his 30th birthday, whom Vaughan admitted at the toss he knew next to nothing about – Darren Pattinson.Apart from anything else, the decision was a final kick in the teeth for the hard-toiling Matthew Hoggard, who had been dumped unceremoniously during the winter tour of New Zealand, and who now wasn’t even trusted for an emergency encore on his Yorkshire home ground. England were duly stuffed by 10 wickets, and though Pattinson was an all-too-easy scapegoat, Vaughan admitted afterwards that the bizarre circumstances of his selection had left the dressing room baffled and unsettled.Unsurprisingly, he never played again, though his brother James went on to play in the 2013 Ashes … for Australia.Darren Pattinson lies on the pitch after failing to catch Mark Boucher off his own bowling•PA Photos

England v Australia, The Oval, 2009Long before Nathan Lyon rocked up to provide Australia with their most reliable spin option since the mighty Shane Warne, Nathan Hauritz had been plugging away on a diligent line and length, fulfilling an unglamorous role with as much skill and professionalism as he could muster. He was, in short, an easy player to overlook.But by doing just that, Australia squandered arguably their best chance of an Ashes win in England in nigh on two decades. Hauritz had picked off ten wickets in the first three Tests of the series when he was justifiably omitted for the fourth at Headingley – an extraordinary contest in which England were blitzed inside three days to draw the series level at 1-1 and leave everything hanging on the decider at The Oval.Nathan Hauritz at training ahead of the fifth Ashes Test in 2009•Getty Images

But flushed with familiar Aussie confidence, and reassured that their pace attack had the measure of an England team that had seemed to be living on its wits for much of the summer, they failed to pay heed to a suspiciously dry Oval deck. And though Stuart Broad set up the win with the first of his now familiar Ashes rampages, the sight of Marcus North claiming four second-innings wickets was an indication to Australia of what they might have overlooked.Sure enough, England’s own spinner Graeme Swann sealed a nervy victory with four scalps of his own, just when it seemed that a target of 546 might not be completely out of the question.

It didn’t come without the signature Pakistan wobble, promising to derail the whole thing. But Pakistan got their tour off and running with what, in the circumstances, must be considered a clinical victory even if it did come in the final over. It came thanks to a glorious 86 at the top of the order from Imam-ul-Haq and a classy half-century from Mohammad Hafeez at the end in a chase that was – for 40 overs at least – scripted to perfection.South Africa appeared to have left some runs out there with some conservative batting, despite a century from Hashim Amla and Rassie van der Dussen’s 93 on debut. In an absorbing game of fine margins, that made all the difference in the end as Pakistan wrapped up a five-wicket win.Chasing 267, more than Pakistan have ever successfully overhauled against South Africa in South Africa, they began steadily enough, even if the out-of-form Fakhar Zaman was streaky for the duration of his cameo at the top. It was the partnership between Imam and Babar Azam that broke the back of the chase, the 94 runs they added keeping the asking rate in check. More importantly, they arrived in comfortable fashion, with none of South Africa’s storied fast bowlers able to make the slightest inroad, giving the impression this would be a cakewalk.It was the innocuous spin bowling of Reeza Hendricks that broke the pair up. It is safe to say Hendricks doesn’t bowl too many jaffas in a spell, but even by those standards, the ball which got rid of Pakistan’s best batsman was well below average. Hendricks had dropped one in far too short, and as Babar looked to guide it to third man for the single that would bring him a half century, he miscalculated the line, allowing it to crash into his stumps.Still, the ball wasn’t doing much and there was little South Africa could do to stop Pakistan keeping the asking rate under six. It was only when the chase came down to the final stages, and Imran Tahir’s influence began to grow, that Pakistan began to panic slightly. Once Shoaib Malik chopped Andile Phehlukwayo on with 49 needed, Pakistan began to feel the pressure and the dots grew more plentiful. Sarfraz Ahmed was struck in front and, shortly after, the asking rate rose to seven an over.Hafeez, however, was playing the type of innings he has so often throughout his career in the middle overs without quite getting the credit it merits. On a slow surface, he timed the ball better than almost anyone from either side – perhaps even Amla – regularly finding the boundary that would relieve the pressure. Twice, when he sought to go over the top, he did so effectively reading the pace and bounce off the surface. He might not have hit the winning runs, but when the last ball of the penultimate over was smashed to the midwicket boundary, bringing the scored level, he did all but.Hashim Amla shapes to drive through the leg side•Getty Images

In their innings, South Africa showed flexibility with the bat to construct a total of 266. Despite only losing two wickets getting there, the home side might have felt they could keep Pakistan at bay on a slow pitch. Amla’s 27th ODI century ran like a spine through the innings, with van der Dussen keeping him excellent company during a 155-run partnership.The nature of the pitch, better suited to spin than any other in South Africa, perhaps explained Pakistan’s selection. Imad Wasim operated as early as the seventh over, while Hafeez, Shadab Khan and Fakhar Zaman all got a bowl. It may also explain why Pakistan are yet to lose an ODI at this ground, winning all three games that produced a result.After choosing to bat, South Africa appeared to make preservation of wickets their central priority, with only one lost in the first 46 overs. With hindsight, though, there is little question South Africa were too conservative in spite of the challenges of the surface.Only a late flurry, with 76 scored off the last ten, got them close to the 275 they had seemed on track for throughout the innings. Pakistan’s bowlers made up with control what they had lacked in penetration, with Shadab and Hasan Ali the picks; South Africa’s scoring rate tailed off almost precisely when the duo were introduced in the 15th over.Amla averaged just 28.63 in 2018 but clicked back into gear here, his full repertoire available for the viewing pleasure of the Port Elizabeth crowd. The wristwork was a delight to behold, present in almost every one of the eight boundaries throughout his innings, his ability to spot even the slightest lapse in length or availability of width exceptionally early the marker of a batsmen whose form woes are behind him. When three figures were reached, they arrived with a six over cow corner to produce the loudest cheer of the afternoon.Van der Dussen alongside him initially appeared to have taken too much time to get himself set, but from the moment he reached his half-century with a six over midwicket, he caught up with the deliveries in quick time. The last 49 runs of his innings came in 37 balls; his first 44 had taken 64. In the end, it was a high full toss that he mistimed to mid-off that denied him a hundred on debut. But faced with the task to scoring quickly towards the end, there was no time for personal indulgence.There was little personal indulgence on Pakistan’s side either, with the chase being a true team effort. Two half-centuries and a 49 helped Pakistan get there, and for all the talk of the sour dressing room environment earlier on in the tour, there will be little but cheerful laughter emanating from it after a much-needed victory.

Sri Lanka have made history in South Africa, becoming only the third team overall – after England and Australia – and the first from Asia to breach the fortress in a Test series.It came against all calculations. After all, Sri Lanka have had very few reasons to cheer on the cricket field – or off it, for that matter – in recent months. Not to forget they had a new captain in the form of Dimuth Karunaratne for the series, with Dinesh Chandimal getting the axe after two huge defeats in Australia. The sword was hanging over coach Chandika Hathurusingha’s head too, and more than one key player picked up injuries and dropped out.”Beating South Africa two-nil isn’t easy. When we came here, we were underdogs. But we learnt a lot of things on previous tours, and the players executed really well in these conditions. That’s why we are here. It’s a great achievement for us,” Karunaratne gushed after Kusal Mendis and Oshada Fernando struck unbeaten half-centuries to take Sri Lanka to an eight-wicket win in Port Elizabeth for a series sweep.Just how big was the result? Karunaratne admitted that even when, at various stages, there were words of positivity and hope thrown about in the dressing room, “we didn’t take that seriously”.”I think we never expected to do it,” he said. “But when we started winning, we had the faith. We wanted to compete. Winning is the ultimate goal, but if we do the right things, the result will definitely be good for us. Most of the guys said that but we didn’t take that seriously, because when we have additional pressure, it’s not easy.”Cut to Saturday, which started with Sri Lanka 60 for 2 in their chase of 197, and “we said when you go out there, you play your natural game; if you can score, if you can hit over the fielder, go for it. That’s what in the first hour Mendis and Oshada did … when we played like that, South Africa were on the back foot.”Kasun Rajitha is pumped up•Getty Images

Karunaratne stressed on “keep smiling” and “keep enjoying” as the main mantras for the players. After over two months on the road – with very little joy – the words proved useful.”The tour (in New Zealand) started in December, so we are out of the country for three months. If you don’t enjoy and if you can’t free your mind, you can’t give your best,” Karunaratne said. “I know the talent we have, so we wanted to get those out. If you’re enjoying yourself, you can definitely get those out.”With Mendis, who hasn’t had his best run with the bat while on the road, the new captain had to work extra hard. “He was really feeling the pressure, he was thinking about the social media and everything,” Karunaratne said. “But I said, ‘When you get a good knock, you’ll forget about it and we’ll keep supporting you. It’s high time you do it.’ And he did it for me.”Mendis and Oshada pulled it off in the end, but Sri Lanka had many other heroes in Port Elizabeth after Kusal Perera had done it all almost single-handedly in the first Test in Durban.South Africa only scored 222 and 128, and that was because the pace trio of Suranga Lakmal, Vishwa Fernando and Kasun Rajitha picked up 13 wickets between them and Dhananjaya de Silva, the lone spinner after Lasith Embuldeniya dislocated his left thumb, provided crucial breakthroughs in conditions not too suited to his brand of offspin.And no, comments from South Africans like Keshav Maharaj didn’t serve to spur the players on, according to the new captain, who now looks set to hold the job at least for the foreseeable future.”We had a few discussions, what I expect, what the management expects, and after that, we kept hanging together, we ate dinner together, we were together,” he said of the team culture he has tried to put in place. “When you make that culture, when you come overseas, only the squad will stay here … I wanted them to give their best and stay in the game all the time. They enjoyed a lot, still they are enjoying. It’s really a great feeling, when we are playing together, and my job becomes easier.”When we came here, no one thought we can win a series here. But if we back ourselves, we can win those matches. We wanted to do something good for the team, for the Sri Lankan fans. End of the day, we did a really good job.”