Sports Thursday, August 6, 2020 15 England-Pak Babar Azam stars as Pak make series to trial no-ball technology in Tests MANCHESTER: Front-foot no-ball technology that will see a solid start at Old Trafford the TV umpire alone deciding whether a bowler has over- AFP rain delay, Buttler missed stepped will be used for the MANCHESTER a chance to stump Masood first time on a trial basis in after the batsman charged Test cricket during the England- Pakistan’s Babar Azam down the pitch. Pakistan series, the Interna- underlined his status as one The mistakes will revive tional Cricket Council has said. of the world’s leading bats- discussion about the wicket- Currently, the responsibility for men with a fine unbeaten keeper’s place in the side with calling no-balls lies with the fifty against England on an Ben Foakes, arguably a supe- on-field umpires. interrupted opening day of the rior gloveman, waiting in the They can, however, call on first Test at Old Trafford on wings. their colleague in the replay Wednesday. Babar drew level on 45 booth for assistance if they When bad light forced an not out with Masood, who feel a wicket may have been early close, Pakistan were 139- was on 22 when the right- taken with an illegal delivery. 2, with Babar 69 not out and hander came into bat, going But many observers have Shan Masood unbeaten on 46. on to complete an impressive argued this procedure is unfair But left-handed opener 70-ball fifty, including nine to bowlers given that, with Masood was twice missed on boundaries. on-field officials encouraged to 45 by England wicketkeeper The conditions favoured concentrate on the batsman’s Jos Buttler either side of a England’s four-man pace at- end, they may not realise they lengthy rain break, with off- tack, who had been involved are over-stepping and rectify spinner Dom Bess the unlucky in last month’s 2-1 series win their delivery stride until it bowler on both occasions. over the West Indies, complet- costs them a wicket. The prolific Babar has now ed at Old Trafford. Under the new system, reached a half-century in five In contrast, Pakistan’s however, the TV umpire will successive Test innings, with preparations for the three- monitor the front foot after his previous five matches match series amounted to each ball and tell his on-field yielding four hundreds. just two intra-squad warm-up colleagues if an illegal delivery Former England captain games. has been bowled. “Front foot Nasser Hussain, commentat- Masood and fellow opener no ball technology to be used ing for Sky Sports, said Babar Abid Ali did well to survive in ICC World Test Champion- could be considered alongside Pakistan’s Babar Azam plays a shot as England’s Jos Buttler (2nd left), Ollie Pope (2nd right) and Ben Stokes look on the opening day of their the first hour before Archer ship series featuring England players such as India captain first Test at Old Trafford in Manchester, England, on Wednesday.( AFP) struck. and Pakistan, with the support Virat Kohli. Having tested Abid with of both teams,” the global “If this lad was Virat Kohli, grey skies after Jofra Archer several short-pitched deliv- governing body tweeted. everyone would be talking had pitched short to Babar. Scoreboard eries, the paceman bowled “Performance of the technol- about it but because it is Babar But even with two spinners Pakistan 1st Innings him with a full-length ball for ogy in these Tests will be Azam, no one is talking about bowling and the floodlights Shan Masood ......................................... batting 46 16 before Azhar was lbw to a reviewed before any decisions Abid Ali b Archer ................................................. 16 it,” said Hussain. on, the umpires still called a Azhar Ali lbw b Woakes ..........................................0 Woakes nip-backer for a six- taken on its future use in Test “He’s young, he’s elegant, halt at 6:12 pm (1712 GMT). Babar Azam ............................................. batting 69 ball duck. cricket.” The new procedure he’s got all the swagger,” he Pakistan were 43-2 when Extras: (b1, lb6, nb1) ............................................8 England have not won a should also avoid the kind of added. Babar came in to bat after cap- TOTAL: (For 2 wkts, 49 overs, 206 mins) .......... 139 Test series against Pakistan situation umpire Richard Illing- To bat: Asad Shafiq, Shadab Khan, Mohammad “They keep going on about tain Azhar Ali, who had won Rizwan, Yasir Shah, Shaheen Afridi, Mohammad since 2010 and they came into worth found himself in 2016 the ‘Fab Four (Kohli, Aus- the toss, fell lbw for a duck to Abbas, Naseem Shah. this match having lost the se- when he incorrectly called tralia’s Steve Smith, New Zea- Chris Woakes. Fall of wickets: 1-36 (Abid), 2-43 (Azhar) ries opener in each of their New Zealand’s Doug Bracewell land’s Kane Wiliamson and Bowling: Anderson 8-2-32-0 (1nb); Broad 11-4-24- past five campaigns against all for a no-ball that had bowled 0; Woakes 8-2-14-1; Archer 10-3-23-1; Bess 9-1- England captain Joe Root) – Stylish Babar 30-0; Root 3-0-9-0. opponents. Australia’s Adam Voges during it’s the ‘Fab Five’ and Babar Babar started cautiously but England: Rory Burns, Dom Sibley, Joe Root (capt), As was the case during a Test in Wellington. There Azam is in that.” after the lunch interval he un- Ben Stokes, Ollie Pope, Jos Buttler (wkt), Chris the West Indies series, the was no way of rectifying Il- When play resumed in the furled an array of stylish at- Woakes, Dom Bess, Jofra Archer, Stuart Broad, James three-match campaign is tak- lingworth’s mistake and Voges, Anderson. Toss: Pakistan. early evening after a long rain tacking shots. Pakistan captain Azhar Ali (left) shakes hands with his England coun- ing place behind closed doors who was on seven at the time, delay, Root was soon bowling He struck express pace- terpart Joe Root after the coin toss, ahead of play on Wednesday. (AFP) on health grounds, with Paki- went on to score a double his occasional off-breaks in man Archer down the ground er’s outside edge but Buttler stan denied the vibrant and century that was central to an tandem with Bess to try and for four before driving Bess for Pakistan’s hundred. have removed Masood for 45 dropped the chance. vocal support they usually Australia victory. (AFP) keep the match going under another boundary to bring up Bess, however, should when he took the left-hand- Then, following the enjoy in England. Hundred hero Paul Stirling kept faith as Ireland stun world champions England AFP SOUTHAMPTON Scoreboard ENGLAND IRELAND (TARGET: 329) PAUL Stirling insisted he al- J. Roy c Balbirnie b Young 1 P. Stirling run out (Roy/Curran) 142 ways believed Ireland could J. Bairstow b Adair 4 G. Delany b Willey 12 J. Vince c Tucker b Young 16 A. Balbirnie c Billings b Rashid 113 beat England after his bril- E. Morgan c Tector b Little 106 H. Tector not out 29 liant century inspired a re- T. Banton lbw b Delany 58 K. O’Brien not out 21 cord Irish run-chase in a S. Billings c Adair b Young 19 Extras: (lb2, nb3, w7) 12 shock seven-wicket win over Moeen Ali c Stirling b Campher 1 TOTAL: (For 3 wkts, 49.5 overs) 329 D. Willey c Balbirnie b Campher 51 Did not bat: L Tucker, C Campher, A McBrine, M Adair, C Luka Doncic of the Dallas Mavericks. (AFP) the world champions dur- T. Curran not out 38 Young, J Little. A. Rashid run out (Tucker) 3 ing the third One-Day In- Fall of wickets: 1-50 (Delany), 2-264 (Stirling), 3-279 S. Mahmood c Balbirnie b Little 12 ternational at Southampton (Balbirnie). Extras: (lb10, nb2, w7) 19 Doncic triple gets Mavs off on Tuesday. TOTAL: (All out, 49.5 overs) 328 Bowling: Willey 10-1-70-1 (1nb, 3w); Mahmood 9.5- Both Stirling, with 142, Fall of wickets: 1-2 (Roy), 2-14 (Bairstow), 3-44 0-58-0 (1nb); Curran 10-0-67-0 (1nb, 1w); Moeen and Ireland captain Andrew (Vince), 4-190 (Morgan), 5-202 (Banton), 6-203 7-0-51-0; Rashid 10-1-61-1 (2w); Vince 3-0-20-0. mark, Clippers, Bucks fall Balbirnie (113), scored centu- (Moeen), 7-216 (Billings), 8-289 (Willey), 9-298 Result: Ireland won by seven wickets (Rashid), 10-328 (Mahmood). Player of the match: Paul Stirling (IRL) ries during Ireland’s ultimate- Bowling: Young 10-1-53-3 (1w); Adair 7-0-45-1 (1nb, Series: England win three-match series 2-1 AFP were encouraging each other. ly successful pursuit of 329. Ireland’s Paul Stirling during his innings of 142 against England in the 1w); Little 8.5-0-62-2 (1w); Campher 10-1-68-2 (1nb, Player of the series: David Willey (ENG) ORLANDO “Really a well-deserved It was Ireland’s highest third One-Day International played at the Ageas Bowl in Southampton 2w); McBrine 8-0-61-0; Delany 6-0-29-1 (1w). Toss: Ireland. win for our guys.” successful chase in ODIs, on Tuesday. (AFP) LUKA Doncic delivered a The win saw the Maver- after they reached a target white-ball commitments -- the dropped by opposing skip- monster triple-double perfor- icks, who have already guaran- of 328 in a dramatic 2011 ‘Right up there’ Ireland’s win was all the first Test against Pakistan in per Balbirnie on 67.