Champions Trophy defeat will serve England well at World Cup - Farbrace

England's experience of "messing up" in the semi-final of the 2017 Champions Trophy should serve them well in the World Cup, Paul Farbrace believes.

England were the only side to progress through the group stages of that Champions Trophy without losing a game but, faced with a used Cardiff surface and the pressure of a big knock-out game, they appeared to suffer an attack of stage fright. In fairness, they also came up against an accomplished Pakistan side which went on to beat India in the final.

The semi-final saw England limp to 211, with their final wicket falling to the penultimate delivery of the 50th over. Tellingly, two of their most aggressive batsmen played uncharacteristically cautious innings, with Ben Stokes making 34 from 64 balls without a boundary, and Eoin Morgan making 33 from 53 balls. In reply, Pakistan raced to victory with eight wickets and almost 13 overs in hand.

While England's failure to adapt to that used surface - low and slow as it was - was thought to be a key factor at the time, Farbrace feels the pressure of expectation was more relevant. And Farbrace, England's assistant coach at the time, believes the experience should prove helpful ahead of the World Cup. In particular, he feels it should serve to enforce England's policy of playing fearless, attacking cricket.

"The experience of messing the semi-final up in Cardiff has been a really good lesson," Farbrace said. "The team will have learned a lot from that experience. It was almost a dress rehearsal for the World Cup.

"The message coming off the pitch that day was that it wasn't a great surface and we only needed 180. So instead of saying, 'right: let's try to get 180 as fast as we can and risk being bowled out with 12 overs to go; we don't mind that because we're trying to play in a certain way,' we stopped trying to play in that way.

"We went back to playing old-fashioned one-day cricket. We went back to trying to bat the 50 overs and thinking that, if we did that, we would have a score. We went against everything we had tried to do in the previous couple of years.

"That makes it even more frustrating and disappointing. If we'd been bowled out for 170 in 32 overs and lost, we could have lived with that, because that's how we set out to play. But the fact we tried to play a different way and lost is even more difficult to accept."

Partly as a result of that experience, there has been more talk in the England camp about acknowledging the expectations people will have of them this year and trying to embrace that experience.

"We have spent a lot of time talking about the experience of being a favourite going into a home World Cup," Bayliss said. "There's a been a lot of talk about embracing and enjoying the tournament. Not locking themselves away, but watching it, reading it, getting involved and trying to enjoy it.

"The team are quite comfortable with being favourite and being at home. They are comfortable with the high level of expectation that goes with it.

"They genuinely are a favourite. They've been No. 1 for 15 months. They've played excellent cricket and earned the right be No. 1.

"One of the goals we set was to be in the top two or three in the world going into that tournament. We know teams outside that have very little chance. We proved that last time: we were ranked No. 7 going into that and it was no surprise we finished where we did."


Meanwhile, Farbrace confirmed Warwickshire would continue not to play football as part of their warm-up routines. While the England sides under Bayliss and Farbrace have continued to play the game before almost every training session and game, Warwickshire's former director of cricket, Ashley Giles, banned it from the club as he felt it presented too strong an injury risk. As the new director of the England's men's teams, Giles is also expected to ban it at that level at some stage.

But while Farbrace is an enthusiastic footballer - he used to coach the game and describes himself as "a huge Chelsea fan" - and England continued to play it on the recently-concluded Caribbean tour, he will not go back on Giles' decision at Warwickshire.

"Football is off limits here," Farbrace said on his first day as director of sport at Edgbaston. "I love football and a few of us staff might play.

"But the club policy has been for players not to play and that won't change. Not for the moment, anyway. They came to that decision a little while ago."
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Hales, Asif see Islamabad through, Karachi Kings eliminated

How the game played out


Karachi Kings may be one of the less prolific sides in this competition's brief history, but they are the only side to have knocked Islamabad United out of any PSL tournament. That victory came in an Eliminator two years ago. But today, Islamabad United avenged that loss in a scrappy, entertaining game where both sides chugged along like an antique car on a dodgy engine, hurtling along seemingly without control before grinding to a halt at various stages of their innings. The upshot was a four-wicket win for Islamabad, who chased down Karachi's 161 with three balls to spare.

Despite the loss, the most memorable part of the game was arguably the first six overs. Karachi had courageously won the toss and chosen to bat first in a tournament where that decision is close to sacrilege, and blistered to 50 in just 20 balls as Colin Munro finally began to make good on the talent based on which he was signed. When he feathered an edge to Mohammad Musa, he had smashed 32 runs in a mere 11 balls, and Karachi were motoring along at 17 an over. They would go on to add an eye-watering 78 in the first six, as the boundaries flew like confetti.

Islamabad came back to choke them after the Powerplay ended, and somehow maintained that stranglehold right throughout the innings, with Karachi only just managing to double their Powerplay total, in the end limping to 161 for nine. Most of Islamabad's bowlers had recovered their figures, and the one who was most expensive - Muhammad Musa - was the highest wicket-taker, having removed Munro, Ingram and Iftikhar Ahmed.

Islamabad's chase always looked tight, not helped by a slow start and Ronchi's early departure. Alex Hales and Cameron Delport saw them through the Powerplay, but the nerves wouldn't have been eased as the asking rate continued to rise in the face of a stellar bowling attack and a world-class spell from Umer Khan. Towards the end, it came down to Islamabad's own local talent in Faheem Ashraf, Asif Ali and Hussain Talat to manage the asking rate. Mohammad Amir missed his lines once too often, Babar Azam dropped a catch once too frequently and Karachi were simply a few too short in the final overs. It all amounted to Islamabad getting to the finish line just in time, dashing Karachi's hopes of a title on home soil.

Turning point


Karachi began to struggle as soon as that whirlwind of a Powerplay came to a close, but the final three overs were especially ruinous to their chances. Positioned at 150 for six with three overs to go, they still had the opportunity to pose a stiff challenge with a brisk finish. Instead, the last three overs saw a mere 11 runs scored.
Star of the day


Pakistan have swooned over the fast bowling gems they may have unearthed this tournament, and bemoaned the lack of exciting local batsmen. But the find of the competition may be 19-year old Umer Khan, perhaps the most promising spinner to come out of the PSL since Shadab Khan. Having impressed ever since he got AB de Villiers out weeks ago, Umer has found a way to get the biggest names of the planet out just when Karachi have required him to. His spell today was one of the spells of the tournament, with the teenager the only bowler to find genuine drift and turn on a flat wicket. He wasn't afraid of flighting the ball, and found due rewards, finding the outside edges of Delport and Chadwick Walton within three deliveries of each other. He ended up with 4-0-16-2, and if ever a performance deserved not to end up in the losing side, it was his.

The big miss


Ronchi has the highest strike rate in the world off the first 10 balls, but the New Zealand opener was strangely subdued over that period today. Valued around the world because he doesn't need so much as a warm-up ball to begin attacking the bowlers, Ronchi played out nine deliveries today, unable to get one to the boundary rope. Imad Wasim, Mohammad Amir and Aamer Yamin all executed their plans perfectly, pitching the ball short of a length. It deprived Ronchi of the ability to strike the ball through the line. The change-up came off his ninth ball, with Yamin sending down a wide yorker that Ronchi could only mishit to mid-on. 5 off 9 is an unlikely innings breakdown for the Islamabad talisman, and in a game of exceptionally fine margins, they almost ended up paying for it.

Big picture


Karachi bow out with today's defeat, with Islamabad through to the playoff with Peshawar tomorrow. The winner of that contest plays Quetta Gladiators in the final.

Danyal Rasool is a sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo. @Danny61000
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Hathurusingha ordered to return to Sri Lanka after South Africa ODIs

Sri Lanka Cricket is once again moving to remove a head coach, with CEO Ashley de Silva headed to South Africa for crisis talks with Chandika Hathurusingha.

An SLC release also confirmed that Hathurusingha will be required to return to Sri Lanka following the ongoing ODI series in order to "discuss the Sri Lanka team's preparation for the upcoming ICC Cricket World Cup". Fielding coach Steve Rixon will be the acting head coach of the side during the three-match T20I series.

Although the board wants to remove Hathurusingha, its hands are somewhat tied by Hathurusingha's contract, which runs up until the end of 2020, and requires a substantial compensation to be paid in the event of early termination. As such, de Silva and the boards are expected to broach the possibility of Hathurusingha working for SLC in a limited capacity back in Sri Lanka in the short term.

"[The board is] trying to give Hathuru a break to see how Rixon fares in the team," an SLC official told ESPNcricnfo.

Since taking over at the beginning of 2018, Hathurusingha has overseen a modest string of results, winning just 16 of 49 international matches in charge. His predecessors, however, had fared little better. In fact, Sri Lanka's win rate in 2018 was better than it had been in 2017, if only marginally.

While the historic Test series win over South Africa last month did buy him a short reprieve, the ensuing succession of ODI defeats, in what is Sri Lanka's final series before the World Cup, has seen the board become emboldened to move against Hathurusingha.

The board's concerns are also thought to be only partially performance-related. According to the SLC source, Hathurusingha is said to have uneasy relations with some players and staff, while it was a prolonged spat with the new selection committee that culminated in him being removed from the role of selector-on-tour last month.

Ahead of the South Africa tour, Hathurusingha had voiced concerns over the wholesale changes being made to the limited-overs squad just months out from a World Cup, one of which was the axing of Dinesh Chandimal - someone he had earmarked as central to his limited-overs squad. Hathurusingha is also said to have been unhappy at Lasith Malinga's installation as ODI captain, a player who had until then only been at the periphery of his plans.

"The board is not happy, not only with his performance, but his attitude as well. This has been coming for a while, to be honest," the SLC official said.


The current set of administrators at SLC, however, are largely the same people who had hired Hathurusingha in the first place, pursuing him for at least several months before finally convincing Hathurusingha to leave his job in Bangladesh early, in order to join the Sri Lanka team. Roughly the same group of administrators had also hired Graham Ford at the start of 2016, then elbowed him out of the job in mid-2017.

No Sri Lanka coach has lasted more than two years this decade. Sri Lanka have had nine head coaches (including interim appointments), since 2011 - Ford serving the longest, across two different stints.

In terms of preparation for the World Cup, this is far from ideal for Sri Lanka, with neither the selectors, the board, Hathurusingha nor the fans any closer to identifying a final squad. As a final throw of the dice, SLC are expected to hold a provincial tournament next month, consisting of four teams comprising all the players vying for a World Cup spot.

"We want every player to play in each game to ensure they are fit enough to go for the World Cup. The teams will be captained by Dimuth Karunaratne, Angelo [Mathews], Upul Tharanga, and maybe Malinga or Chandimal. They will have to prove themselves to be in contention for the World Cup," the source confirmed.
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Lakmal, Vandersay back for T20Is against South Africa

Legspinner Jeffrey Vandersay, seam bowlers Suranga Lakmal and Asitha Fernando, and batsman Sadeera Samarawickrama have all been named in Sri Lanka's T20 squad for the forthcoming three-match T20 series against South Africa. Allrounder Dasun Shanaka, meanwhile, has been dropped.

Also included in the squad are some of the less-experienced players currently in the one-day outfit. Opener Avishka Fernando and batsmen Priyamal Perera and Angelo Perera have all been picked. There is no room, however, for Oshada Fernando, who had been especially impressive in the Test leg of the ongoing tour.

Dinesh Chandimal, who had been in the T20 squad in New Zealand, and had recently top-scored in Sri Lanka's club-based T20 tournament, has been omitted from this squad as well.

Several injured players were unavailable for selection for this squad. According to chief selector Ashantha de Mel, Angelo Mathews has not yet regained full fitness following his latest hamstring injury, Danushka Gunathilaka continues to suffer with a spine problem, while fast bowler Dushmantha Chameera has picked up another hamstring injury, just as he was recovering from the ankle complaint that had seen him leave the tour of Australia.

Kusal Perera's hamstring injury, meanwhile, is expected to take up to nine weeks to recover from, and he is struggling to make it into the World Cup squad, according to de Mel.

Vandersay is one of two wrist spinners in the squad, with Lakshan Sandakan also present. Akila Dananjaya has been named as well.

Seam bowler Lakmal's presence in the T20 side is something of a surprise. Although a first-choice selection in the Test format, the selectors had cooled on him as a limited-overs bowler in recent months, but have now brought him back for the shortest format.

The T20 series begins in Cape Town on March 19.

Full squad: Lasith Malinga (captain) Niroshan Dickwella (vice-captain), Avishka Fernando, Sadeera Samarawickrama, Kusal Mendis, Angelo Perera, Dhananjaya De Silva, Kamindu Mendis, Priyamal Perera, Thisara Perera, Suranga Lakmal, Isuru Udana, Asitha Fernando, Akila Dananjaya, Jeffrey Vandersay, Lakshan Sandakan
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Western Australia in driver's seat after setting Tasmania 454 target

Stumps Tasmania 197 and 0 for 54 (Silk 20*, Doolan 20*) need another 400 runs to beat Western Australia 367 and 8 for 283 dec (Whiteman 93, Short 61, Bell 3-72)

Sam Whiteman's 93 and D'Arcy Short's quickfire 61 helped Western Australia extend their overnight lead of 172 to 453 before declaring in the day's final session. Tasmania, needing an improbable 454 to win, were 0 for 54 at stumps, 400 away from victory and on the back foot. A fourth-day win for Western Australia will boost their chances of qualifying for the Shield final, while a draw for Tasmania would keep their finals hopes alive.

Medium-pacer Gabe Bell was the pick of the Tasmania bowlers, taking 3 for 72 in 21 overs. His first two wickets rocked Western Australia back after a half-century opening stand. Captain Tim Paine then used otherwise-wicketkeeper Matthew Wade to three overs, and he picked up 2 for 20.

After batting for 75 overs on the day, Western Australia declared with their lead over 450. Tasmania openers Jordan Silk (20*) and Alex Doolan (20*) made an unbeaten partnership of 54 in 19 overs before play was called off.

Earlier in the day, a 67-run third-wicket stand between Western Australia captain Mitchell Marsh (42) and Whiteman lifted them after a brief wobble caused by Bell's double-wicket spell. When Whiteman was the fifth man to go at 178, Short took control. He struck five fours and two sixes in his 69-ball innings, and was still unbeaten when the team declared at 8 for 283.
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Ireland, Afghanistan get a shot at glory as they meet in whites

This is the first time these two sides play each other in Tests, but in many ways, this could become the most likely fixture going forward in the format. When, in an act of surprising munificence for a governing body that famously prefers its club as exclusive as possible, the ICC-accorded Full Member - and as a result Test - status, to Afghanistan and Ireland in June 2017, the only worry was whether the two would actually get to play five-day cricket.

Thus far, that concern remains naggingly pertinent. Both Afghanistan and Ireland are due to play just their second Test match in the 21 months since that approval. Ireland were the first to open their account when Pakistan played a one-off Test in May last year, before India hosted Afghanistan for their first game the following month.

This may become the new Zimbabwe vs Bangladesh. In an ever more condensed FTP (Future Tours Programme), not to mention the explosion of T20 leagues across the globe, it is unlikely too many of the traditional Full Members will be allocating much time in their calendars to take on one of these two in the longest format. It simply isn't lucrative enough, or - some of the bigger boys may believe - challenging enough to make it worth their while.

But let there be no doubt about it, this is a huge fixture in the context of Test cricket. Barring the possibility of a draw, one of these teams will become the first new Test match winners since 2005, and the joint-quickest to their first Test win besides Australia in the first ever Test in 1877.

Playing at "home" in Dehradun, India, Afghanistan will feel it must surely be their time. The squad comprises a young team - six players in the squad are under 21 - but some of the stalwarts of the first global generation of Afghan cricket are still around. Asghar Afghan is captain, while Mohammad Shahzad and Mohammad Nabi are also part of the side.

Ireland ran Pakistan uncomfortably close in their first Test, and but for a few moments on the final day, they may already have come into this fixture with a Test win under their belt. This tour, however, didn't begin nearly as auspiciously as to suggest it would end with a Test win, but following on from a record-breaking demolition in the T20I series, they have begun to get into this tour just as the all-important final fixture of the tour rolls around. They came from behind twice to level the ODI series 2-2, and will feel they have enough momentum and confidence to not simply be the stepping stone for an Afghan celebration.

Form guide
Afghanistan L
Ireland L

In the spotlight
There is a particular moment when a Test nation must finally undo its safety harness and move on. For Afghanistan, that moment may arrive after Mohammad Nabi decides to hang up his gloves. The 34-year old has been ever-present in Afghanistan's side since the 2010 World T20 that first allowed the country an international cricketing forum, and the two-day Test match against India was hardly any introduction a cricketer of his commitment deserved. With a more realistic shot at salvation approaching, Nabi's form is timed especially well. No Afghan player will have envisioned this game in their mind more often than him, or put in the work to help ensure it even happens. If there is any justice in world cricket (and you'd be brave to argue for the motion), then expect Nabi to play a starring role in the Test starting Friday.

The lush green fields of Malahide and the dark grey skies above in the place where Pakistan were given such an almighty scare is a world removed from the challenges they will need to neuter in Dehradun. Fast bowlers Tim Murtagh Boyd Rankin, and Stuart Thompson took every Pakistan wicket that fell to a bowler in Malahide, but here, the spinners will have a far more important role to play.

But where Afghanistan have arguably the world's hottest young spinner among their ranks in Rashid Khan, there simply isn't enough evidence Ireland have the spin threat to provide appropriate competition in that department. It may mean the quicker bowlers have a daunting few days of work ahead of them, and whether they have the fitness and the heart to put their bodies on the line may go a long way to deciding the ultimate outcome of the Test.

Team news
Afghanistan's 14-member squad has several members who played the Test against India. Mujeeb ur Rehman, however, is a notable absentee. Left-arm wristspinner Zahir Khan and left-arm seam bowler Sayed Shirzad have been added to the squad. Their ace spinner Rashid Khan is nursing an injured right middle-finger, but will play despite it. On Thursday, he batted and then went to the physio and only had a short stint with the ball, all the while being cautious. Even when he went off, he walked off with the finger in ice.

Afghanistan (squad): Asghar Afghan (capt), Mohammad Shahzad, Ihsanullah Janat, Javed Ahmadi, Rahmat Shah, Nasir Jamal, Hashmatullah Shahidi, Ikram Alikhail, Mohammad Nabi, Rashid Khan, Wafadar Momand, Yamin Ahmadzai, Sharafudin Ashraf, Waqar Salamkhail, Zahir Khan, Sayed Shirzad.

The sense that the first rebuild of the squad is already here for Ireland after their first Test is palpable. Ed Joyce and Niall O'Brien have retired, while Gary Wilson is still out of the side with a condition that affects his vision.

Ireland (squad): William Porterfield (capt), Andy Balbirnie, James Cameron Dow, George Dockrell, Andy McBrine, Barry McCarthy, James Mccollum, Tim Murtagh, Kevin O'Brien, Stuart Poynter (wk), Boyd Rankin, Simi Singh, Paul Stirling, Stuart Thompson, Lorcan Tucker

Pitch and conditions
The conditions over the next five days seem ideal for Test cricket, with plenty of sunshine. Inclement weather should not interrupt this match.

Stats and trivia
Once this Test gets underway, all 12 Test nations will have played at least one home and away Test. Afghanistan, however, will play this "home" Test in the same country as the one where they played their only away Test: India

Londonderry-born Boyd Rankin has played as many Tests for England as he has for his native country - one. While with Ireland, he ran Pakistan close in the most recent one, his debut with England was more of a lopsided contest, with Australia bowling England away by 281 runs to complete a 5-0 Ashes clean sweep in 2014

Quotes
"It is a moment of pride that Afghanistan hosts its first Test match and it carries a lot of meaning for us. Although, we lost our inaugural Test match to India last year, we will aim to play in the upcoming Test match with full strength."
Afghanistan captain Asghar Afghan

"First and foremost, it will be completely different conditions [in the Test match] - our first Test match against Pakistan was a home game in Malahide in May whereas we are in Dehradun here in India in March. We will see how the pitch is in the next couple of days and expect it not to be very different."
Ireland captain William Porterfield had said two days before the match
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Woodcock announces retirement from cricket

Wellington and New Zealand allrounder Luke Woodcock will retire from cricket at the end of the ongoing season. Woodcock, 36, played four ODIs and three T20Is for New Zealand from 2010 to 2011 and is currently playing the Plunket Shield. He told his Wellington team-mates about his retirement decision after their match against Otago on Tuesday, a release said.

"It just feels right at this stage to move on," Woodcock said. "You always get told that you'll know when things are coming to an end and in all honesty, I never really believed that. But over the last six to nine months things have started to kick in around that final stage of my career and the decision not to play in the Ford Trophy this year was probably a sign it was time to call it a day."

Woodcock made his international debut in a T20I against Pakistan in Hamilton and played only two more matches but didn't get to bat in any of those. He did, however, pick one wicket in T20Is. He played four ODIs in all and ended with 14 runs and three wickets in those.

His domestic career was much more celebrated. Woodcock made his Wellington debut at the age of 19 in 2001 and racked up 10,594 runs and 339 wickets in 384 appearances for them across formats. In November 2017, he broke the record for most first-class appearances for one team by any player in New Zealand when he played his 128th first-class match for Wellington. With them, he won the four-day State Championship in 2004, the Ford Trophy in 2014 and two T20 trophies in 2015 and 2017.

He also played over 100 matches for Wellington in each of the three formats. "To reach 100 games in all three formats is pretty special and won't probably sink in until the season's done, but I'm really proud of being able to do that for Wellington," he said. "Cricket Wellington means a lot to me and has been a big part of my life for the last 17 years and I can't thank them and the Johnsonville Cricket Club enough for helping me have the career that I've had."

Wellington head coach Bruce Edgar said Woodcock had been a "great giver to other people".


"Woody's impact on cricket in Wellington has been felt at local level all the way through to the Firebirds," Edgar said. "He's always been committed and passionate to play club cricket and be part of the community and he has represented our values strongly.

"He's been a great giver to other people, not just himself, a lot of players have really looked up to him as a person and as a player, so he's really epitomised everything we stand for."

Woodcock said he'll miss the banter, among other things.

"Winning four-day matches is extremely difficult so it's a pretty satisfying winning those. I'll miss the banter too - I've copped a bit and given a bit in my time!"

His final appearance will be against Canterbury starting Sunday at the Basin Reserve.
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