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Unflashy display from captain puts runs on the board in slow-burn opening day at Chelmsford

Andrew Miller08-Apr-2021Essex 207 for 3 (Westley 84*, Walter 26*) v WorcestershireWhat is the new normal anyway? It seemed very much like the old normal, as far as Essex were concerned. In the uncomplicated surroundings of Fortress Chelmsford – the sort of venue that rocks when it is full, but is too low-rise for the current Covid-enforced emptiness to distract from the more important matters in the middle – the Champions launched their twin title defence with a serene display on a brisk spring day.By the time bad light brought their endeavours to a premature close (or two closes, as it happens, after a seven-ball postscript before stumps were finally pulled) Essex’s captain, Tom Westley, had located the form that eluded him during last season’s Bob Willis Trophy, reaching 84 not out from 210 balls, while their man of the moment, Dan Lawrence, had rumbled along ominously to 46 until an unlucky afternoon dismissal.Paul Walter was unbeaten alongside his captain at the close, on 26 from 84 balls, an innings compiled at a near-identical one-run-in-three tempo to the only other wickets claimed by Worcestershire’s attack – the openers Nick Browne and Sir Alastair Cook, who had each seemed utterly entrenched until the moment that they weren’t. For it was that sort of a day.Cook, in the final year of his contract but apparently very content to keep on batting so long as he “finds the middle of his bat not his pad”, did just that to get off the mark with a sweet cover drive – not the sort of shot he often unfurls so early in an innings, let alone a season. He then followed up with an under-edged cut and a more trademark mark clip off the pads for further boundaries, before Morris slammed him on the knee-roll to send him on his way for 15.And so it was six of one, half-a-dozen of the other, so far as Cook’s pre-season declaration was concerned, but he’d shown enough to hint that more is yet to come. As did Browne, although in his case, his best shot of the day was also his undoing, as he attempted to repeat a pleasing drill through the covers off Ed Barnard, and scuffed a similar delivery two balls later straight to cover. Such are the errors that can occur in batting’s cruellest month.Worcestershire’s attack toiled hard, but edges were few and far between, and the few that were found fell well short of the slips. Even plays-and-misses were limited, save for a brief spell of pressure in the overs after lunch, as Joe Leach and Charlie Morris settled into their rhythm. Had there been a crowd, the Chelmsford faithful would have been agreeably lulled by these early-season proceedings. No cause for alarm – few false alarms either – but plenty reason to believe that, had there been any, this hardened line-up would have been jolted into a fitting response.Instead, they cruised as a collective through the motions – which included seeing off a 20-over diet of legspin from Brett D’Oliveira, which must have been a peculiar way for Lawrence in particular to be welcomed back to Championship action, after his travails against Axar Patel and R Ashwin in India this winter.His response was a determined one. Firmly camped on the front foot to the seamers and sure-footed against the spin, he was the dominant partner in a 73-run stand with Westley for Essex’s third wicket, and unfurled a selection of strokes that backed up his hunger for further England recognition – the pick of which was a top-of-the-bounce tonk through long-on off Dillon Pennington that confirmed he is a player with power and technique in abundance.A fifty for Lawrence seemed pre-ordained, until Barnard – the pick of Worcestershire’s attack – rapped his back pad midway through the afternoon session. To the naked eye, he appeared to have been struck outside the line, and height was an issue too, but umpire Neil Mallender’s finger wasn’t hanging around, and nor was a mildly bemused batsman.By this stage, however, Westley was too settled into his stay to allow Worcestershire a route to the ascendancy. His highest score in 2020 had been 51, albeit he saved his best for last in the Bob Willis final at Lord’s, but he cruised past that mark with a hoisted four, high over the leg side off Barnard, then repeated the dose as Leach dropped short one over later.”Attritional isn’t a word that has been used at Chelmsford for a couple of years but it was hard to score and I thought they bowled well,” Westley said afterwards. “For us as a batting unit, who haven’t scored as much as we would have liked to in the last few years, to be in this position on day one in the season is a good start for us.”Westley had been warmed up well on a chilly day. His first three boundaries had all been in a familiar arc through the leg side, as Worcestershire strayed too regularly into his pads early in his stay, and from that moment he was up and running – a back-foot punch through the covers off Morris giving way to his shot of the day, a full-faced striding drive through the covers off Leach.”One of my strengths is my leg-side game and I’ve lost my balance in the past trying to take on balls that I thought were going down leg but were straighter than that,” he added. “It was challenging for me last year, in a strange season, where I was struggling to get past 10. So I’ll take 80 not out to start my season.”I thought Dan made batting look the easiest on that wicket,” Westley added. “I think year-on-year he is maturing as a cricketer and is working out him game very quickly. I think it is only a matter of time before he starts scoring big hundreds for Essex. He’s been successful for us for a number of years but he seems to be getting better and better which is very good for Essex cricket and England.”With the clouds rolling in after tea and the floodlights blinking into action, Westley’s quest for a first first-class century since September 2019 had to be postponed. But all in all, county cricket’s pre-eminent red-ball outfit put together the sort of unflashy day of superiority that has underpinned their domestic dominance in recent seasons. It was as if we had never been away.

Jonny Bairstow has credited his experience playing with England Lions as one of the contributory factors in his impressive innings of 95 at Lord’s

George Dobell at Lord's18-Aug-2012Jonny Bairstow has credited his experience playing with England Lions as one of the contributory factors in his impressive innings of 95 in the Lord’s Test against South Africa.Bairstow was dropped from the England Test side after the series against West Indies when Kemar Roach, in particular, appeared to highlight some deficiencies against the short ball. Recalled for this Test, due to the unavailability of Ravi Bopara and the dropping of Kevin Pietersen, Bairstow responded with an innings of courage and skill that rescued England from a precarious 54 for 4 and revived their hopes of securing the victory that would see them retain the No. 1 Test ranking.Bairstow scored 139 for England Lions against Australia A last week, dealing confidently with an impressive pace attack that included Mitchell Johnson. As a result, Bairstow came into the Test believing he had the technique and temperament to deal with the barrage of short balls that he knew would come his way.Lions games are not universally popular in English cricket, due to the scheduling of some games towards the end of the domestic season, causing counties that may be striving for promotion or to avoid relegation to be weakened. But Bairstow’s words support the England team management’s insistence that such matches play an important role in the development of international players.”I was confident in the way I was playing coming off the back of the Lions game,” Bairstow said. “Mitchell Johnson and Jackson Bird are world-class bowlers. It was really good to go out and test yourself against bowlers like that, and the two spinners as well were obviously a test on a turning Old Trafford pitch.”I did perhaps go through a bit of a dry spell after the series against West Indies. When you get exploited in some sort of way, you go away and look at things. You can’t just change via the click of a finger. It goes through practice, through stages. You’re going to fail sometimes.”But at the same time, there were no drastic changes that I made. You work on your strengths, and look at little things you can improve on. I went away and worked with Martyn Moxon and Graham Thorpe over the last couple of weeks and made some little improvements.”Jonny Bairstow fell five runs short of his maiden Test hundred•PA Photos

Bairstow admitted his runs in this Test had been the hardest he had ever scored and praised Ian Bell’s calming influence in a fifth-wicket partnership of 124 that stabilised the England innings after a poor start.”They’re a world class attack,” he said. “Playing out there in a Test against the No. 3 side in the world is never going to be easy. The likes of Steyn, Morkel, Philander, Kallis and Tahir are formidable bowlers. There isn’t a single bowler in that attack that isn’t world-class.”Obviously it was a tough period when I came in, so I was happy to ride that. Ian Bell played fantastically well as well during that period and that partnership. When you walk to the crease and you’re under the pump a little bit, it’s something I quite enjoy. But Belly’s experience and expertise was a very calming influence.”Michael Vaughan, the former England captain, was even moved to praise Bairstow’s innings as “the best 95″ he had seen and, despite falling just short of a maiden Test century, Bairstow insisted that the pleasure at his important contribution far outweighed the regret at narrowly missing out on the personal landmark.”I was pleased with the way that I played,” Bairstow said. “I was delighted to get 95. But yes, I am a little bit disappointed not to get to the 100. It’s only five runs, but it would have been nice.”

Formulating a compensation plan for domestic players the top priority

Shashank Kishore11-Jul-2021Mohammad Azharuddin, the former India captain, and Jaydev Shah, former Saurashtra captain and current president of the SCA (Saurashtra Cricket Association), are part of a seven-member working group formed by the BCCI to oversee the conduct of the upcoming 2021-22 domestic season.The other members include Rohan Jaitley, (DDCA president), Yudhvir Singh (UPCA secretary), Devajit Saikia (ACA secretary) Avishek Dalmiya (CAB secretary) and Santosh Menon (KSCA secretary). The working group’s immediate task is to formalise a compensation package for BCCI’s domestic players for the pandemic-induced, truncated 2020-21 domestic season.India’s rising Covid-19 cases and a small available window made even smaller by the staging of IPL 2020 in the UAE between September and November meant the BCCI couldn’t conduct their premier men’s domestic tournament, the Ranji Trophy, last year. In the women’s circuit, the domestic T20 competition was called off, while none of the age-group tournaments were possible.The absence of the Ranji Trophy, the biggest source of income for domestic male cricketers in India, led to a significant decrease in player earnings, leaving many layers without government jobs looking for opportunities elsewhere. A domestic male player on an average takes home INR 12-14 lakh per season. This amount decreased to INR 3-4 lakhs for the 2020-21 season.Related

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• Indian cricketers wait for upswing after lost year

• Ranji Trophy returns as BCCI announces full 2021-22 season

Earlier this month, the BCCI announced a full domestic season beginning September with the women’s one-day tournament. As many as 2127 matches – men’s, women’s and age-group – are slated to be conducted across the country. The men’s season is set to kick off with the Syed Mushtaq Ali T20s, which will begin five days after the IPL final in the UAE, on October 20. The Ranji Trophy has been slotted into a three-month window, from November 16, 2021 to February 19, 2022.The seven-member committee will also be responsible for feasibility of bio-bubbles across the country for the conduct of the domestic season, apart from finalising venues and logistics. Board president Sourav Ganguly has already underlined the importance of creating bio-bubbles for the season.”We will create bio-bubbles,” he told reporters last week. “We created bubbles for Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy and Vijay Hazare Trophy last time. We will have to do the same. Without the bubble, cricket cannot happen even for this season.”

Mahmudul Hasan Joy was the home team’s top-scorer in a tense chase of 264

ESPNcricinfo staff07-Mar-2021Shamim Hossain played a match-winning hand in the Bangladesh Emerging Team’s four-wicket win over Ireland Wolves in Chattogram. Shamim, who was part of Bangladesh’s title-winning team at the 2020 Under-19 World Cup, struck an unbeaten 53 off 39 balls, with three fours and two sixes, to seal the 264-run chase with two balls remaining.Related

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Shamim arrived at the crease in the 36th over, at the fall of Mahmudul Hasan Joy, who top-scored with 66, and added 42 runs for the fifth wicket with Towhid Hridoy. Akbar Ali, the World Cup-winning captain, was run out for a duck with 44 left to win off 28 balls. Shamim and Sumon Khan took them home, the latter scoring a nine-ball 11.Earlier, Ruhan Pretorius was Ireland Wolves’ top-scorer with 90 as they made 263 for 7 in 50 overs. Pretorius struck nine fours and a six off 125 balls as he anchored the innings. He added 88 runs for the first wicket with James McCollum, who made a 62-ball 41.Pretorius tested negative for Covid-19 yesterday after returning a positive test ahead of the first match, resulting in the game being abandoned.For the home side, Rakibul Hasan and Sumon took two wickets each.

Brisbane Heat captain will target a return on January 14 against Melbourne Renegades

ESPNcricinfo staff26-Dec-2020Brisbane Heat captain Chris Lynn has been ruled out of his team’s next six BBL matches because of a hamstring injury.Related

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Lynn injured his hamstring while running for a catch while warming up ahead of the Heat’s match against the Adelaide Strikers at the Gabba on December 23. Lynn pulled up sore and limped off the field immediately and had to be replaced in the line-up as the bat-flip had already taken place.Scans have revealed a low-grade hamstring strain and Lynn will now target a return on January 14 against the Melbourne Renegades in Melbourne.The Heat’s England recruit Lewis Gregory, meanwhile, has come out of his 14-day quarantine after arriving from South Africa earlier in December. Gregory was unable to train during the quarantine period and a decision would have to be made with the Heat medical staff on Sunday as to whether he would take his place in the line-up against the Hobart Hurricanes.

A total of 61 slots have to be filled by the eight franchises including 22 overseas players

Nagraj Gollapudi11-Feb-2021Australia batsman Shaun Marsh, New Zealand allrounder Corey Anderson and former South Africa fast bowler Morne Morkel are part of the 17 new names to feature among the 292 players shortlisted for the 2021 IPL auction, scheduled in Chennai on February 18. The auction pool, whittled down from 1097, includes 164 Indian players, 125 overseas players and three from the Associate countries.A total of 61 slots have to be filled by the eight franchises including 22 overseas players. There are 10, including the Indian pair of Harbhajan Singh and Kedar Jadhav, that have listed the maximum base price of INR 2 crore (US $274,000). The other eight are: Glenn Maxwell, Steven Smith (both Australia), Moeen Ali, Sam Billings, Liam Plunkett, Jason Roy and Mark Wood (England) and Bangladesh allrounder Shakib Al Hasan. South Afrcian batsman Colin Ingram, who had originally been part of the highest base price bracket, is no longer part of it.In a note to the franchises, the IPL said the auction, which is scheduled to start at 1500 IST, will start with the capped international players whose names will come down based on their speciality: batsmen, allrounders, wicketkeeper-batsmen, fast bowlers and spin bowlers. The same order will be followed for uncapped players.The IPL also said that the accelerated process is set to start after player 87. “The accelerated process will cover all the unpresented players and unsold players, with the unpresented players appearing first.”Of the 17 new names, which were added subsequently on request of the franchises, there are four capped players in Marsh, Anderson, Morkel and Australian fast bowler Jack Wildermuth. Marsh, the left-hand batsman, who once made headlines playing for Kings XI Punjab, has listed his base price at INR 1.5 crore (US $206,000 approximately).Morkel, too, has listed the same base price. The former South African fast man has played for three IPL franchises: Rajasthan Royals, Delhi Daredevils and Kolkata Knight Riders. Recently Morkel, who is 36, turned up to bowl for Brisbane Heat in the Big Bash League. Wildermuth, Morkel’s Heat team-mate, who played two T20Is for Australia, has listed his base price at INR 50 lakhs. Anderson, who last played for Barbados Tridents in the 2020 Caribbean Premier League, has listed his base price at INR 75 lakhs (US $103,000).At 16, uncapped Afghanistan left-arm wristspinner Noor Ahmad is the youngest player in the auction pool. Ahmad, who recently featured in the BBL for Melbourne Renegades, has listed his base price at INR 20 lakhs. The youngest Indian in the pool is uncapped Nagaland legspinner Khrievitso Kense, who impressed IPL scouts during the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy. Kense, too, is in the lowest base price bracket of INR 20 lakhs.The oldest player to feature in the auction is 42-year-old spinner Nayan Doshi, son of former Indian left-arm spinner Dilip Doshi. Nayan, who lives in England, previously represented Saurashtra, and has listed his base price at INR 20 lakhs.Also listed among the new names is Sadiq Kirmani, son of former India wicketkeer Syed Kirmani. The 31-year-old Sadiq, too, is a wicketkeeper batsman, but has played just two List A matches for Karnataka.Former India fast bowler Sreesanth, who returned to the game recently after serving a five-year ban, is not part of the final list. Sreesanth had set his base price at INR 75 lakhs (US $103,000), having played the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy for Kerala in January.

Graeme Smith, South Africa’s captain, praised an “incredible” innings from Hashim Amla and the exemplary performance of his bowlers

ESPNcricinfo staff23-Jul-2012Graeme Smith, South Africa’s captain, praised an “incredible” innings from Hashim Amla and the exemplary performance of his bowlers after a difficult first day, in condemning England to a huge defeat in the first Test.Smith, playing in his 100th Test, led his team to a victory that puts them 1-0 in the three-match series and takes South Africa a step closer to the No. 1 Test ranking. The tourists had been lacking something on day one, when England racked up 267 for 3, but roared back to dominate the rest of the match.”It’s an extremely proud moment for all of us,” Smith said. “To achieve a victory in what is the first Test of what is a big series, and play as well as we have … in the context of the first innings to come back and win the game is an incredible achievement.”I don’t think we were that terrible on day one, we lacked maybe a little bit of X-factor. We found that on day two, when maybe the conditions suited us. We found the intensity that maybe we lacked, we got a couple of plans right and all credit to our bowlers, they set the tone in this Test match and managed to finish it off on a really good batting wicket.”We felt coming into this Test that we were ready, we just needed to get ourselves into the contest. We managed to do that on day two, each player contributed, it was fantastic the way the guys played. I must give credit to Hash, it was an incredible achievement for him. A performance like that really means a lot to all of us and we’re extremely proud of him.”South Africa must win the series to regain the No. 1 spot they last occupied in 2009. The second Test begins at Headingley on August 2, with Smith hoping to confirm a first series defeat at home for England since South Africa’s last visit four years ago.”We’ve got a batting unit that’s been around for a period of time now, been successful in conditions around the world,” he said. “We know we’re going to Headingley and the conditions are going to be different. The team is very motivated to prepare as well for that Test match and understand it will be different at Headingley and we’ll need to play a slightly different game.”We believe we’ve got the players who can adapt and mentally we’ve got a lot of experience of what we need to do to be successful there.”

Mushfiqur Rahim, meanwhile, made a match-winning half-century for Dhaka

Mohammad Isam06-Dec-2020A five-wicket win over Minister Rajshahi moved Gemcon Khulna level on eight points with Gazi Group Chattogram on top of the points table. Khulna captain Mahmudullah steered his side home with an unbeaten 19-ball 31, changing the course of the game in a 15-run penultimate over bowled by Mohammad Saifuddin, leaving only six to get off the last over.Ariful Haque pulled Mukidul Islam for a four over mid-on and then took a quick single to complete the win with four balls to spare. Khulna were given a good start by openers Jahurul Islam and Zakir Hasan, but after they fell, followed by Imrul Kayes and Shakib Al Hasan by the 15th over, Rajshahi sensed a chance to break their three-game losing streak.They had earlier got off to their own good start with the bat when their captain Najmul Hossain Shanto carried their innings till the 13th over. He made 55 off 38 balls with six fours and two sixes. There wasn’t much support from Anisul Islam Emon, Rony Talukdar, Mahedi Hasan and Fazle Mahmud, none of whom got past 14.From 93 for 5 in the 14th over, Nurul Hasan and Jaker Ali finished well, adding an unbroken 52 for the sixth wicket. Nurul struck two sixes and three fours in his unbeaten 21-ball 37, while Jaker contributed 15 not out.Shuvagata Hom took two wickets while Al-Amin Hossain, Shohidul Islam and Mahmudullah took a wicket eaMushfiqur Rahim prepares to reverse-sweep•BCB

Beximco Dhaka handed Gazi Group Chattogram a seven-run defeat to end their four-game winning streak in the Bangabandhu T20 Cup. After Mushfiqur Rahim gave them a competitive total, Dhaka’s rookie left-arm quick Shafiqul Islam and offspinner Robiul Islam Robi shifted the tide with two vital wickets and a catch.With Chattogram having brought the chase down to 50 off 37 balls, Shafiqul dived to his right at short fine leg to remove Liton Das, the tournament’s leading run-scorer, after he had made 47 off 39 balls.Das had added 48 runs for the third wicket with Mohammad Mithun, who fell in the following over when he was caught at deep-midwicket off Shafiqul. Two new batsmen at the crease with 48 runs still needed off the last 33 balls played into the hands of Dhaka’s death bowlers, who closed out the game superbly. Mukhtar Ali, who took a bit of stick early on, finished with 3 for 39, while Rubel Hossain and Robi took wickets two each.Earlier, put into bat, Dhaka were in big trouble during the powerplay. Left-hander Mohammad Naim holed out for 13, while Tanzid Hasan and Sabbir Rahman both fell lbw to spinners for a duck and a scratchy 7 respectively. Rahim and Yasir Ali started the rebuilding job to take Dhaka to 50 for 3 at the halfway mark. They added 86 runs for the fourth wicket, a stand which ended when Yasir was caught for 34 but not before giving Dhaka some standing ground.The final push came from Rahim, who ensured Dhaka got 50 off the last five overs. He finished unbeaten on 73 off 50 balls with three sixes and seven fours, as his side put up a respectable 145 in 20 overs without any further loss of wickets. It was Dhaka’s third win in five games, putting them in the top three and on course for a playoff spot.

Australia’s wicketkeeper Brad Haddin has admitted he is feeling drained by a summer in which his name has seldom been far away from debate about the composition of the national team

Daniel Brettig19-Jan-2012Australia’s wicketkeeper Brad Haddin has admitted he is feeling drained by a summer in which his name has seldom been far away from debate over the composition of the national team.Haddin has endured a personally horrid series against India, struggling for runs while also missing chances, and his summer lurched into tragicomic territory on Wednesday with a second-ball duck and a dropped catch for the Sydney Sixers in the Twenty20 Big Bash League. It followed another zero with the bat in the third Test in Perth.He said he had felt down on his usual energy and pep when preparing to captain the Sixers, an indication of the effort expended over the Test summer with one match still remaining against India, at the Adelaide Oval from Tuesday.”I felt mentally and physically drained,” Haddin told Sky Sports Radio. “It didn’t feel right during the warm-up. How I felt, I just thought, ‘Oh no, this doesn’t look good’. I thought in Perth things were going well. I spent a lot of time catching leading into Perth, probably hit too many balls. You’ve just got to find that right balance.”Despite considerable public and media pressure on Haddin, he has retained the faith of the national selectors, who have not only kept him in the team but named him vice-captain to Michael Clarke in place of the injured Shane Watson, and also chosen him to captain the Prime Minister’s XI against the Sri Lankan tourists on February 3. As a gutsy, aggressive former captain of New South Wales, Haddin’s contribution to the dressing room is considered significant.Another significant factor in Haddin’s selection across the summer is the serious finger trouble afflicting his heir apparent Tim Paine, who played four Test matches in 2010 when the senior man was injured. Paine is recovering after another round of surgery on a badly fractured index finger, and his return to the game remains clouded.Matthew Wade, the Victorian gloveman, has performed strongly this summer and has won a place as Australia’s Twenty20 keeper, but it appears the injured Paine is still the preferred candidate to replace Haddin at Test level. Haddin has brushed off the effect of speculation about his place, saying he always felt he was in a fight for his spot irrespective of how he was performing.”What people underestimate is the pressures you’re under whether you’re doing well or not,” he said. “It’s a big effort to get yourself up for a four-Test series and I think [evidence of the drain of that effort] was the case last night.”The fast bowler Peter Siddle is an Australia team-mate of Haddin and a Victorian compatriot of Wade, and said he was still very much behind the Test incumbent.”I’ve played all my Test cricket with Brad and he’s been amazing contributor,” Siddle said. “He’s had some tough times at the moment but he’s a great player. He’s obviously got a good first-class record which shows he can perform at the big times.”I’m definitely backing him … I think Adelaide will be a good wicket for him to bat on and hopefully we can get a few more nicks through to him to give him some support.”As for Wade, Siddle described the 24-year-old as a most impressive character and cricketer.”Being a Victorian he’s kept behind the stumps a lot of times for me. He’s a great player and he’s shown in the last couple of years how much he’s matured,” Siddle said. “He’s a great leader for the team and his performances with the bat and the gloves have been outstanding.”When Brad’s time is up, whether that’s in a couple of weeks or hopefully I’ll get to play a few more years with him, Matthew is definitely a talented player.”

Jonny Bairstow was the biggest beneficiary on the opening day of England’s first warm-up match against Pakistan A as he scored an unbeaten 66 to press his claims for retaining a spot in the middle order for the Test series

ESPNcricinfo staff05-Oct-2015
ScorecardJonny Bairstow was the biggest beneficiary on the opening day of England’s first warm-up match against Pakistan A, as he scored an unbeaten 66 to press his claims for retaining a spot in the middle order for the Test series.Alastair Cook, Joe Root and Adil Rashid also began with half-centuries, but Moeen Ali fell for 22 after being given the first chance to open. Jos Buttler also failed in his first innings since a lean finish to the English season.Bairstow was given the opportunity at No. 5 ahead of James Taylor, who had been tipped for a spot after his successful one-day series against Australia and prowess against spin. But Bairstow, who returned to the Test side against Australia at Edgbaston, took his chance after a sticky start where he reached 11 off 46 balls before hitting his first boundary. He ended with 66 off 112 deliveries.

Root enjoys being back in the hot seat

Joe Root is eager to get back into the thick of the action after his post-Ashes break and the time away appeared to have done little to disrupt his 2015 run-scoring form as he eased to 59 before retiring against Pakistan A.
“I definitely feel like I benefited from it,” Root said “It’s very important that you don’t drop off … lose performance through tiredness or over-playing. I feel really fresh now, and raring to go for this series. I’ll crack on now and make sure I’m absolutely ready for whatever Pakistan throw at us in that first game.”
England have been sweating it on the early days of the tour with temperatures in the 40s and Root said that to spend time in the middle in such conditions was priceless ahead of the Test series which begins in Abu Dhabi next week.
“Personally, it was great … very valuable – to get used to the surroundings, the heat, the surface and facing lots of overs of spin which, after an English summer, is not something you’re necessarily accustomed to.
“It’s going to be hard work. But there’s no point moaning about it – ‘poor me’ is not for our team. We’ve just got to get on with it. It was a pitch that did spin, from pretty much the start and I think we played it really well.”

The most fluent batting of the day came during the unbroken 103-run stand in 24 overs between Bairstow and Rashid, the latter skipping to a 78-ball fifty, while the pair opened up in the closing overs with a six apiece.Pakistan A, who were boosted by the late inclusion of national captain Misbah-ul-Haq as he sought some practice ahead of the Test series, gave England a taste of what is to come by sending down a large quantity of spin – 50 overs in all – with left-armer Zafar Gohar finding the most success. Gohar claimed 3 for 72, which included the wickets of Bell, who had been given a life on 5 by Adnan Akmal, Buttler and Cook.The first breakthrough of the day, though, went to pace when Moeen hooked Zia-ul-Haq to long leg where Ehsan Adil took a fine diving catch. Moeen had not always looked certain during his stay of just over an hour, but being given the first chance during the warm-up matches reinforces the view that he is the favoured route for the first Test.Bell was scratchy during his stay either side of lunch and eventually fell lbw sweeping at Gohar, although he clearly thought he had hit the ball. Cook then tickled the same bowler to leg slip having reached his fifty off 126 balls, the sort of anchor role England will need on this trip.Root had not batted in the middle since the final Ashes Test but soon found his groove. His fifty came off 84 balls and a short while afterwards he trotted off to allow others a chance before England’s batting time ran out at the end of the day.Ben Stokes could only manage 6 before he fell cutting at the offspin of Iftikhar Ahmed and Buttler was lbw to Gohar third ball. Buttler had problems against Nathan Lyon during the Ashes, a series where he made just 122 runs at 15.25, and it is not beyond the realms that his position as keeper in Tests becomes threatened by Bairstow if his returns do not improve on this tour.