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Less than three months after she became New Zealand’s youngest representative at the Women’s World Cup, 16-year-old legspinner Amelia Kerr has become the youngest female cricketer from the country to earn a full-time central contract.

List of contracted players for 2017-18

Suzie Bates, Erin Bermingham, Sophie Devine, Maddy Green, Holly Huddleston, Leigh Kasperek, Amelia Kerr, Katey Martin, Thamsyn Newton, Katie Perkins, Anna Peterson, Rachel Priest, Hannah Rowe, Amy Satterthwaite, Lea Tahuhu.

Kerr is one of two new inclusions in New Zealand Cricket’s 15-member list of contracted players for the 2017-18 season, along with allrounder Maddy Green. Anna Peterson, the 27-year-old allrounder, has also made her way back to the list, having missed out on a contract last year. Morna Neilsen, Liz Perry and Sam Curtis have been excluded from the list.In August last year, a three-year Memorandum of Understanding was signed between NZC and the New Zealand Cricket Players Association, confirming retainer contracts for 15 of the country’s top women cricketers, with the pay ranging between $20,000 and $34,000, an increase from $10,000 to $12,000.Having made her international debut in November last year, Kerr has made great strides in her fledgling career, bagging 25 wickets from 15 matches across the ODI and T20I formats. She was one of the top performers for New Zealand at the recent Women’s World Cup, although the side failed to make it to the semi-finals. Her knack for snaring big names brought her 10 wickets in six matches – the joint highest for the side with Leigh Kasperek – at an economy rate of 4.48.”I’ve always wanted to be a professional cricketer and to play for the White Ferns regularly,” Kerr, a student of the 12th grade in Tawa College, told the website. “The last year’s all happened pretty fast, but I’ve really enjoyed the experience and I’m excited about the future.”Lauding Kerr’s achievements, New Zealand coach Haidee Tiffen said the teenager represented the next generation of cricketers from the country.”I think we all know what a precocious talent Amelia is and she certainly showed that with her performances at the World Cup,” Tiffen said. “She’s extremely skillful and confident, especially considering her age, and I think we’re seeing that more and more in the players that are coming through.”Tiffen also praised Auckland’s all-round pair of Green and Peterson, who, too, made it to the contracts list.”Maddy’s shown plenty of promise in her limited opportunities and we’ve been impressed by her all-round skills and athleticism,” she said. “Anna’s made it back on to the list through pure performance. She’s taken her chances when they’ve come and obviously claimed that memorable hat-trick in our Twenty20 series win against Australia earlier this year.”Tiffen pointed to Kerr, offspinner Kasperek and fast bowler Hannah Rowe as the side’s rising stars after their showing in the World Cup.”We’ve got a group of experienced players currently leading the way for the White Ferns, but we know they won’t be around forever.”What the likes of Hannah, Leigh and Amelia showed in the UK is that there are players coming through who are ready to take up the mantle.”New Zealand, who ended their World Cup campaign in June with a fifth-place finish, are scheduled to play Pakistan in the UAE next month, with the itinerary of the tour set to be announced soon.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsJunior Dala picked up his fifth first-class five-for•Getty Images

There were three India A wickets left standing in Pretoria at the start of the fourth day, and they were toppled in fewer than six overs as South Africa A registered victory by a whopping 235 runs. Stephen Cook, who had been dropped from the senior team, was awarded the Man of the Match after scoring 120 – a score that took all 11 of India A’s players to match in the first innings, and as such might give him hope that he remains a contender for the opener’s position when South Africa’s home season begins.India A’s first-innings capitulation featured a top score of 31. On their next try, Ankit Bawne got as far as 46 before he was dismissed off what became the last ball of day three. Junior Dala, the 27-year old seamer, had made that blow and he proved too good for the tail as well, taking all of the wickets the tourists had left on the final day to finish with 5 for 36 in 10.1 overs. India began the day at 192 for 6 after 46.5 overs and, thanks to Dala completing his fifth five-wicket haul in first-class cricket, they ended it 211 all out in 52.1. Allrounder Vijay Shankar who retired hurt for 26 in the first innings did not bat again.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsWin first toss: check. Score first hundred as captain: check. Bat through to the close: check. Joe Root stepped into the breach with England in a familiar spot of bother on the first day of the series and produced an equally familiar response to repel South Africa at Lord’s. If Root might have preferred his scriptwriters to provide a more solid base from which to begin his work in charge of the Test side, he could have barely a quibble with how his own day progressed.South Africa, on top after a morning session in which they claimed four wickets, contributed generously to Root’s cause. He was missed twice early on in his innings and then, during the evening session stumped off a no-ball; no sooner had Keshav Maharaj’s mistake been broadcast on the big screen, then Root was heading back to his crease for more. His next delivery was tapped through the covers for a single to bring up his 150, as cries of “Rooooot!” rolled down from the stands once again.On a glorious day with all the Lord’s trimmings, Root forged century stands with Ben Stokes and Moeen Ali to ensure England’s new regime got off to an fittingly exuberant start. Vernon Philander claimed three early wickets but mistakes crept into the South African effort. Root was not the only England batsman to benefit from being dismissed off a no-ball, with Stokes reprieved by an on-field call as Morne Morkel overstepped by a distance, also from the Nursery End.Stokes was not able to capitalise fully, top-edging a pull off Kagiso Rabada after tea to depart in frustration for 56. Rabada was the unlucky bowler on both occasions during the morning session with Root was given left-offs on 5 and 16; when he thought he might have had Root taken in the gully, after raising his fifty, South Africa’s review only succeeded in proving it had come off the batsman’s helmet (with Rabada’s boot right on the margin of delivering another no-ball).Having dug in to reach lunch on a dogged 33 and then steadily battled through to take tea on 79, Root moved through the gears during the evening session. Twice Rabada was left huffing as Root steered fours to third man to move into the 90s, before a dab for three off Maharaj made him the fourth England captain in succession to start his tenure with a century. His next fifty came off just 43 balls, including lofting Maharaj down the ground for six, and by the close he had skipped to the highest score by an England captain in their first Test.Things had not started so well, as England slipped to 49 for 3 and then 76 for 4 – a change of leader failing to imbue any greater degree of top-order stability – before Root and Stokes, newly installed as vice-captain, began the counter, adding exactly 100 together during the middle session. It was a similar response to when the effervescent pair lifted England from trouble on this ground against New Zealand two years ago, although they were made to work harder for their runs against a South Africa attack that was always threatening, despite the indiscipline.Stokes got off the mark with a clipped four through midwicket from his first delivery, and showed his touch with a crisp straight drive off Morkel after lunch, but his innings was an unusually watchful affair. He planted Maharaj into the pavilion benches midway through the afternoon and was a little fortunate to clear mid-on running back when he had 26; the scoreboard error that arose from Morkel’s no-ball when he had 44 led to Stokes twice acknowledging his fifty, the second time accompanied by a sheepish grin.England cracked on even after Stokes fell. With Moeen contributing a number of flowing drives at the other end, pushing his average at No. 7 towards 100, England’s sixth-wicket pair added 166 unbroken during a lengthy evening session. South Africa visibly seemed to flag as 38 runs bled from seven overs against the second new ball, with Root closing in on a double-century.Root had gained his first slice of luck by winning the toss on a pristine morning, and so it continued. His second scoring shot was an uppercut over the slips, suggesting his attacking instincts would remain untempered, before an attempted hook off Rabada cleared fine leg, where the substitute fielder Aiden Markram was standing in from the rope and the ball bounced behind him for four, and then a thick-edged drive at the same bowler hit the fingertips of JP Duminy in the gully. Authorities as diverse as Napoleon and Richie Benaud have noted the importance of a good leader being lucky.His decision to move back down to No. 4 (where his average is almost ten points higher) was immediately justified, though Gary Ballance’s return to Test cricket at first drop was less successful. Although Ballance struck a couple of attractive cover drives for four, South Africa’s judicious use of the short ball ensured he remained camped in the crease, which was to be his undoing when struck in front by a delivery from Morkel that nipped into him. A burned review added to England’s sense of waste.England’s Test summer had been launched amid nervous excitement and the clatter of early wickets, as South Africa immediately set about demonstrating why they are such indomitable tourists in this format. Philander removed both openers in his first spell, then switched to the Nursery End to trap Jonny Bairstow lbw shortly before lunch – Bairstow chose not to turn to the DRS, which was England’s first good review of the morning.The pitch, which had been cut first thing but retained a green tinge, demonstrated encouraging pace and carry from the start. “If there’s any moisture in the pitch, it’s going to be in this session,” Dean Elgar, South Africa’s stand-in captain, had suggested at the toss. That appeared a shrewd assessment, and there was also some turn on show – notably when Root walked past the delivery from Maharaj – but errors in the field took the shine off South Africa’s early optimism.It was 1983 the last time an English Test summer began as late as July but Lord’s was creaking into life as Root walked to the middle in his blazer to meet his obligations as England’s 80th Test captain, after a five-month wait. His predecessor, Alastair Cook, took his place back in the ranks but did not last long in his first Test innings without having to contend with the burden of captaincy. The first ball of Philander’s second over was by no means his most probing, a touch short and wide, but it drew Cook into an uncharacteristic fiddle off the back foot that sent a thin edge to the keeper.Philander claimed a five-wicket haul on his previous Test appearance on the ground, five years ago, and soon had his second this time around – though it owed more than a little to the (mis)judgment of both Keaton Jennings and umpire S Ravi. Philander rapped Jennings squarely on the pad, having straightened the ball off the seam, and Ravi raised his finger; Jennings then elected not to review after consulting with Ballance. Both decisions were proven to be erroneous, with Hawk-Eye suggesting the ball pitched fractionally outside leg and would have missed leg stump.It wasn’t the most auspicious of starts but, not for the first time, Root was working to his own script.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
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Agarkar: Rohit’s form the biggest plus for India

For what can be significant part of a match against many other teams, India were not at their best in the first match of their title defence. Yet, confirming how far Pakistan have fallen behind modern limited-overs cricket, they won by a whopping 124 runs. Even if Pakistan had not grappled with the age-old problem of dropped catches – Yuvraj Singh and Virat Kohli plundered 45 off 24 and 38 off 12 after being reprieved – Pakistan might have still had to chase 280, which on the evidence of their batting might have been a handful. Thanks to the fielding lapses, all of India’s top four scored half-centuries – only the third time for them – to set Pakistan 324, which, given their batting, was pretty much game over.The first two to score fifties for India were reuniting at the top after 17 months, having started the partnership four years ago, in the same tournament, in the same country, with instant success. Success was instant on reunion as the two added India’s first hundred opening stand against a top-eight ODI side since they themselves did it last January. The platform of 136 runs in 24.3 overs between Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan was strong enough to survive a mid-innings slowdown, especially when Yuvraj and Kohli punished the generous Pakistan by taking 89 runs in the last six overs.At various times, though, Pakistan could have held India back. The match began with Mohammad Amir beating Rohit Sharma’s bat three times in a maiden over, but the next ball was bowled by Imad Wasim and misfielded at point to sum up Pakistan’s day. There is no data to suggest India might struggle against unsubtle left-arm spin early in the innings, but Rohit, Dhawan, and later Kohli, got a soft start to their innings through Imad’s welcome. It might be safe to presume Pakistan wanted to get rid of Imad’s overs when India were taking it easy: since the 2015 World Cup, they had scored 4.95 an over in the first 10. Imad wasn’t hit out of the park – his first eight overs went for 43 – but India’s batsmen got set with no threat to their wickets.And soon enough, both Dhawan and Rohit began to hit. It was, in many ways, a typical Rohit-Dhawan partnership. Rohit started off slowly and took a large share of the early strike, then he opened up, then Dhawan went big, and Rohit then set up his stall for a long innings even as Dhawan perished. Rohit got going with languid punches with Pakistan’s lengths letting him sit back, and Dhawan took a shine to the error-prone Wahab Riaz, scoring 23 off 12 balls from him. Rohit’s ascent was more gradual than Dhawan’s, who went from 12 off 22 to 50 off 48. He then put a full toss straight down deep midwicket’s throat. Pakistan went back to Imad immediately.A curiously slow partnership – 56 in 12.1 overs – followed between Rohit and Kohli. Having got two more Imad overs out of the way, Pakistan went to Amir and Hasan Ali from the 30th over onwards. This is when India were pulled back. A rain break didn’t help. The bowling was accurate, but India didn’t go out of their way to hit either. These overs – from around 25 to 40 – can be the difference between 300 and 325, which can be crucial in matches against stronger opposition. Here India scored 75 in those 15 overs.In his 90s, Rohit was run out failing to keep his bat down as he dived. For a moment it seemed Pakistan’s out-and-out defensive tactics might work. They had their best bowlers on when India were looking to break free, and the frustration had given them an opening. For defensive tactics to work in modern ODIs, though, you need fielders on your side and you need to keep at it for the duration of the innings. Pakistan couldn’t manage either.Yuvraj had just come in, and had been given a couple of short balls before a Shadab Khan wrong’un brought about an easy – by international standards – catch for long-off. Hasan dropped it. Mayhem followed. Playing his first ODI in 10 years in a country where he played perhaps his most famous innings back in 2002, Yuvraj unleashed sensational checked drives to beat fielders all over the ground. The endeavour was not to look for power but for timing, and he was not too fussed about the odd dot ball when the bowlers bounced him. At the other end, though, Kohli still struggled for timing, and would have been out with a strike rate of under 80 but Fakhar Zaman, substituting for Amir who had walked off mid-over with cramps, dropped him off Wahab.Wahab’s nightmare continued as his length remained all over the place. Injury was added to insult as he did his ankle but not before registering the most expensive analysis in the Champions Trophy: 87 in 8.1 overs. Poor Imad had to come back – in the absence of two frontline bowlers – to be hit for three successive sixes by Hardik Pandya in the last over of the innings.This was all too much for a struggling batting unit, which has been able to win them only one of the last 13 matches against top-eight sides in which their bowlers have conceded over 250. There was hope, but only for about half an hour when it rained. The moment the rain relented to leave Pakistan 289 to get in 41 overs, it was back to despair for them even though India were a little sloppy in the fielding, dropping two catches, missing a couple of run-outs, and letting the odd ball slide through their reach.Only three batsmen managed to play 20 balls, and because these batsmen did so at strike rates of 77, 55 and 77, the others were obliged to play high-risk cricket and give India a sixth straight win over them in ICC events.

ScorecardNot for the first time, it was quite a day for Gary Ballance as Yorkshire captain. A century brought up by lunch was Yorkshire’s sole resistance of note before lunch and, as they addressed an inevitable follow-on, he provided hope that safety could still be achieved.Ballance has not had much help from those around him, illustrious names included. England’s new Test captain Joe Root, having scored just eight in the first innings, returned managed another two in the afternoon, undone by a ball from Kyle Abbott that kept low.It is not too dramatic to say that all hope rests with Ballance, who returns on the final morning unbeaten on 78 with Yorkshire, three down, trailing by 46. Of the 283 overs of play so far, he has only been off the field for 17.2 overs of them.This was Ballance’s 31st first-class hundred of his career. The phrase “captain’s knock” is overused, but Ballance’s record as skipper is remarkable. Of his 13 matches leading Yorkshire and Zimbabwe side Mid West Rhinos, he averages above 80 and, today, made it nine hundreds and six fifties with the armband.Adil Rashid proved Ballance’s most reliable partner in the first innings, sharing a stand of 60 for the seventh wicket. But even Rashid let his love of driving get him into trouble when he tried and failed to clear James Vince at cover for the first wicket of the day.David Willey, yet to do anything of note with the bat for Yorkshire, stuck around for 23 balls, before Steve Patterson came in, struck a few fours and risked his own wicket to allow Ballance to scamper the single that took him to a second hundred of the season (the other came against Hampshire, too, in the first match of the summer) from 180 balls. He eventually fell to Liam Dawson, playing for turn that wasn’t there and giving Sean Ervine the chance to take a fine diving catch at first slip.When the Yorkshire first innings was eventually ended on 231 – Reece Topley removing Ben Coad for his first wicket for Hampshire since signing at the end of the 2015 season – lunch was taken before they were asked to follow on, trailing by 224.For Ballance, there was scant time to rest. The wicket of Adam Lyth – Gareth Berg claiming his wicket for the third time in four dismissals against Hampshire this season – brought Alex Lees back to the crease in the fourth over.Ballance joined him at the end of the ninth and, until the end of the 56th, they were picking off the deficit at will, eventually putting on 150 before Lees departed when Abbott drew an edge with a delivery that moved across him.The narrative to both the Hampshire-Yorkshire tussles this season is derived from the Northerners’ homegrowns and the swanky Southerners’ Saffers. Neither side have backed down, with many on Yorkshire’s side, including their chairman Steven Denison, referring to their opponents as Kolpakshire.That Yorkshire are led by a Zimbabwean-born No 3 pilfered from Derbyshire was not missed in Hampshire. And while the game, along with modern society, could do with not being so precious about man-made boundaries, especially when county cricket needs to ensure its standards, there is something so unshakeably Yorkshire about Ballance.He takes a two-leg guard but stands on leg stump, “just because”. After he was dropped by England in 2015, he was asked that winter if he would change his technique – the assertion being that he had been “found out”. He replied that it was more about doing what he did better rather than trying to do it differently.A year later, he was recalled for the Test side. Today, when Alex Lees survived a caught-behind appeal off Reece Topley and responded to some taunts from the close-in fielders, Ballance left his perch from the non-striker’s end to tell him to cut it out.It was Geoffrey Boycott who first spotted kindred traits in Ballance – and who are we to argue with his Tykedar? During his time as Yorkshire president, Boycott called up Dave Houghton, a family friend (his wife and Ballance’s dad are cousins) who was batting coach at Derbyshire, where Ballance had been playing for two years.Unsurprisingly, there was little sweet talking in the conversation. While commending Ballance’s ability – he was particular impressed by how well he played pace (at the age of 16, Ballance scored 48 against a West Indies A attack featuring Tino Best) – Boycott made it clear that neither he nor Yorkshire were going to bend over backwards for him. If he were to make the move to Yorkshire, he would have to turn his back on a full-time contract at Derbyshire for an academy one at Headingley.”If he plays well for our academy, then we’ll give him a second XI contract,” Boycott told Houghton. “If he plays well enough there, he’ll get a 1st XI contract. And if he plays well enough for Yorkshire, he’ll have every chance of making the England setup.” In 2007, aged 17, Ballance signed that academy deal and, well, you know how the rest played out.He is on the cusp of a remarkable feat: to save a game from the pits Yorkshire have found themselves in over the last three days would be remarkable. It says a lot about Ballance’s career that twin hundreds to single-handedly stave off defeat might not register in its top three moments. As it happens, he managed two centuries in a Championship match at the end of the 2013 season against Surrey.Both he and Lees have shown the rest the way. Ambition to score does not need to be curbed and, as Lees did, the follow-on presents the perfect chance to make amends for the woes of the first go. Peter Handscomb is one of many in the Yorkshire line-up with a rough first innings decision in the back of his mind, while Jonny Bairstow would love a score to quieten the white noise around his early season absence.So to tomorrow, when Ballance will continue his saviour act. He has performed many roles with distinction: a rock at first drop, a middle order motorer, an England cricketer and, occasionally, “a drunken bastard”, even if he did say so himself. On the evidence so far this season, it won’t be long till we can add “fine Yorkshire captain” to that list.

While it’s not quite all doom and gloom yet, Royal Challengers Bangalore are not far from the point of no-return on the league table. One win in five games leaves them with the prospect of having to win at least seven of the remaining nine games – five of which are away – to have a chance of securing a play-off berth. And the lack of balance when it comes to the selection of overseas players is giving coach Daniel Vettori sleepless nights.After watching a match “snatched from under their nose” by Mumbai Indians – who recovered from 7 for 4 to chase down 143 – the team management strengthened their bowling by leaving out Chris Gayle for Shane Watson against Rising Pune Supergiant on Sunday. In addition, Adam Milne was brought in for his first game of the season at the expense of Tymal Mills. As a result, the batting order was shuffled around for the third time in as many matches, and the slow surface exposed Royal Challengers’ struggles. They lost to Rising Pune by 27 runs.”The thing is, in the IPL we’re constantly searching for the right balance,” Vettori said. “In the Mumbai game, we were down a bowler. Shane has been such a successful allrounder in T20 cricket for a long period of time. So we made the decision to back Shane because of his all-round contribution.”It’s tough for everyone in T20 cricket. A lot of domestic players have had to step in and perform after missing a few games or not being in their best form. We know Chris Gayle is a very good performer and we know if he can get on a roll than we can utilise Chris in a positive manner. At this stage we are just trying to find the right balance.”Vettori attributed the frequent changes in selection to being caught a little off guard by the kind of surfaces they’ve encountered at home, but insisted that wasn’t an excuse to cover their shortcomings. “It’s probably a case of dealing with a kind of wicket that we haven’t played on before,” he said. “It’s obviously slightly slower. We are used to wickets that make it a lot easier for batsmen to hit the ball for six, hit the ball for four, to catch up with a few dot balls.”Chasing 162 against Rising Pune, Royal Challengers did not hit a single four and struck only one six between the fourth and 15th overs. The inability to adjust, Vettori felt, added to the pressure. “We are probably creating pressure on ourselves through dot balls, striking at below 100,” he said. “Trying to catch that up in the back end on a slow wicket is incredibly difficult. I think in a lot of ways we need to be more proactive.”I think the wickets are not batting-friendly, but that doesn’t mean it’s not a good T20 wicket. It’s been exciting for the bowlers. All three games have been pretty entertaining and I think we have showed that we can compete on this wicket. It is different, we just need to adapt like we did in the Delhi game.”Without mincing words, Vettori was also clear about the problems with their batting. “We saw what the likes of KL (Rahul), Sachin Baby, all those roles players from last year performed,” he said. “The expectation is on AB and Virat to excel, but we need the likes of Mandeep (Singh), Kedhar (Jadhav), Shane (Watson) and Stuart Binny to complement their performances. We haven’t made it easy on Mandeep by chopping and changing the line-up. We are trying to find the right combination. Once we find the right combination we can get on a roll.”I won’t say drastic changes are required. We back the quality of our performance on our day and we know that we haven’t had enough of those when we need consistent performances across the board. We have had little pockets of it. Aravind was exceptional today, Milne in his first game for RCB in a long time did a great job. We need more of those performances, we can’t rely on one or two people and that’s why we did so well last year. We need more performances from more people.”

Bangladesh captain Mashrafe Mortaza said that his aversion to T20s ultimately pushed him to retire from the format. Speaking on the day that he announced the current T20I series against Sri Lanka would be his last for Bangladesh, Mashrafe said that he was asked to rebuild the T20I side when given the captaincy in 2014, but now he was blocking the path of other fast bowlers like Rubel Hossain.”It is always tough to hang up your jersey,” Mashrafe said following Bangladesh’s six-wicket defeat in the first T20I at Colombo on Tuesday. “But I thought that if I look behind me, someone like Rubel is missing out. He should have been in the first XI, but he is missing out because of me. Since he is performing better than me, he should be in the team. I still feel this team is the best place for our youngsters to grow for a bigger stage like Tests and ODIs.”I never enjoyed that format when T20 started. I played five World Cups but I never enjoyed it. Maybe because of my injuries. This format is quick and sharp so you don’t get enough chances to warm up your body, especially my legs which hurt a lot. I still kept going because cricket board was respecting me as a captain. I was trying really hard to build this team as much as I can. I don’t know how much I did but it was a real pleasure to captain in T20s.”Bangladesh had picked four fast bowlers in the game on Tuesday, with Mustafizur Rahman, Taskin Ahmed and newcomer Mohammad Saifuddin accompanying Mashrafe. The captain had taken just one wicket in Bangladesh’s previous T20I series, against New Zealand, while Rubel took seven wickets but still missed out. Interestingly, it was the exiting Mashrafe who bowled better than the rest in the game, finishing with figures of 2 for 32 in four overs.Mashrafe didn’t reveal too many details about what pushed him to take such a decision, but said that the final call was made the night before the game. He informed the BCB president Nazmul Hassan almost immediately but also stated his intention to continue in one-day cricket.”I am not thinking about [quitting ODIs] at this moment,” Mashrafe said. “I don’t plan out many things, but [retiring from the T20I team] was a tough decision. A lot of people are involved in such a decision, like my family, friends, team-mates and the media. I thought it would be the same if I took the decision today or two days later.”The only thought was that I would leave the format. Perhaps it was a sudden decision. I didn’t think too much about it. I felt that I didn’t want to play T20s.”

The ECB is looking into the possibility of using artificial pitches in its proposed new T20 competition.Keen to ensure the best-possible surfaces (for batsmen, anyway) for a competition seen as vital in attracting a new audience to the game, the ECB recently held a meeting with county groundsmen where the idea was discussed. ESPNcricinfo understands that Chris Wood, the ECB’s Pitch Consultant, has been charged with researching how to introduce such surfaces ahead of the launch of the competition in 2020.There are significant pros and cons to the use of such pitches. While it would likely result in a certain homogenisation of conditions and provide even less opportunity for bowlers to extract anything from surfaces, it would also enable grounds to provide the centre-wicket pitches required by broadcasters multiple times without concerns about deterioration. Artificial surfaces might also be considered to provide uniformity of conditions for both teams, which a turf surface will not always offer.Drop-in surfaces have also been considered but are not thought to be cost effective or provide quite the same uniformity of performance.While long-term lovers of cricket may have reservations about artificial surfaces, the ECB’s mantra over the new competition is that it is not designed to appeal to those already watching the game: it is designed to appeal to the vast potential audience that is currently immune to its charms. The ECB feels that providing such good-paced surfaces will help create the high-scoring, boundary-filled cricket it believes will attract that new audience. It might also minimise delays after poor weather.To that end, Wood is looking into the best options and cost implications of laying such pitches close to the middle of squares in all first-class grounds.It is a move that will do nothing to address the increasing imbalance between bat and ball and might rob the game of the sort of low-scoring thrillers that made the 1983 World Cup final, the 2015 World Cup match between New Zealand and Australia and the 2003 World Cup match between Australia and England – among many others – so memorable. But subtlety appears to be one the likely victims of the T20 revolution.

ScorecardFile photo: Iftikhar Ahmed, who last played for Pakistan in August 2016, followed a century with three wickets•PCB

Unbeaten centuries from Gauhar Ali and Iftikhar Ahmed crushed Karachi Whites and gave Peshawar the Regional One Day Cup at the National Stadium in Karachi. They joined hands at 45 for 2 in the 12th over and propelled Peshawar to 321 with an unbroken 276-run stand – the highest for any wicket this season.Facing a steep target, Karachi lost their openers within five overs, and although the middle order mounted a fight, they slumped to 197 all out. Iftikhar followed his career-best 131 not out with bowling figures of 3 for 12 in four overs. Gauhar and Iftikhar shared the Man-of-the-Match award.Having been sent in, Peshawar lost Musadiq Ahmed for 1 in the fifth over. Israrullah, who struck an unbeaten 153 against Karachi Blues in the semi-finals, fell in the 12th over. Gauhar and Iftikhar then took the side past 100 in the 23rd over. Soon after, both batsmen brought up their half-centuries, but it was Gauhar who reached three figures first, in the 41st over. Iftikhar got there four overs later as Peshawar seemed set for a hefty score. They kicked into a higher gear in the last five overs, taking 59 runs. Gauhar ended with 19 fours and one six, while Iftikhar ended with 13 fours and one six.Karachi Whites used as many as seven bowlers but they could not find a way past Gauhar and Iftikhar.That their openers departed early only accentuated their woes. Akbar-ur-Rehman, the Karachi captain, and Saad Ali added 59 for the third wicket, before Akbar was run-out for a 48-ball 45. Anwar Ali gave them hope by hitting a 46-ball fifty, but was bowled by Sajid Khan off the next ball.From 160 for 4 in the 31st over, Karachi were ultimately dismissed in 39.5 overs. Sajid and Taj Wali claimed two wickets each to complement Iftikhar’s part-time offbreaks.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsAhmed Shehzad made an impression upon return from a stint with Comilla Victorians in the BPL, striking 104 off 137 balls•AFP

Habib Bank Limited (HBL) were on the verge of a stunning come-from-behind win in the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy after conceding a first-innings lead against Water and Power Development Authority (WAPDA) at the National Stadium in Karachi.HBL, who recovered from 21 for 6 in the first innings to post 236, made WAPDA toil for 122.5 overs in the second innings. Their top three made centuries in the team’s 485 for 1 declared. Imam-ul-Haq, nephew of Inzamam-ul-Haq, top scored with 200 not out, while Fakhar Zaman and Ahmed Shehzad made 170 and 104 not out respectively.Set an improbable target of 444, WAPDA ended the penultimate day on 83 for 2, with Salman Butt (38) and Mohammad Saad (20) at the crease. Usman Khan, the left-arm seamer, picked up both wickets to fall.Having eclipsed Asadullah Butt and Mujahit Jamshed’s 16-year record for the highest opening stand (252) for HBL, Imam and Zaman, who resumed on 264 for 0, added 39 more before Zulfiqar Babar broke through. Ahmed Shehzad, returning to the first-class format after a stint with Comilla Victorians in the Bangladesh Premier League, then made a mark, hitting five fours in his 137-ball 104 before Abdur Rehman declared.WAPDA will need Butt, their captain to come good with support from the middle order if they are to win the tournament, having taken the first-innings honours.