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The allrounder was reported after Uganda’s opening match against Denmark at Division Three, during which he took 1 for 25 in nine overs

Peter Della Penna in Oman13-Nov-2018Uganda allrounder Irfan Afridi has been suspended from bowling in international cricket with immediate effect after his bowling action was found illegal following video analysis taken at ICC WCL Division Three in Oman.An ICC press release announced the news about an hour before Uganda’s third match against Kenya on Tuesday at Division Three, and Afridi was replaced in the starting XI by offspinner Frank Nsubuga. Afridi was reported after Uganda’s opening match against Denmark at Division Three, during which he took 1 for 25 in nine overs.”Per Article 3.5 of the ICC Regulations for the Review of Bowlers Reported with Suspected Illegal Bowling Actions, video footage of Irfan’s bowling spells were provided to the Expert Panel of Mark King and Andrea Cutti, who are members of the ICC Panel of Human Movement Specialists, for their analysis and assessment,” the ICC release read. “The assessment revealed that the amount of elbow extension in Irfan’s bowling action was above the 15 degrees level of tolerance permitted under the regulations.”Uganda’s second match against USA was embroiled in controversy after umpires told Uganda captain Roger Mukasa that they would no-ball Afridi on the field if he continued to bowl. Till then, Afridi had bowled only one over in the game. With Afridi kept out of the attack, USA posted a total of 252 which was easily defended.Afridi’s suspension from bowling will remain until he submits to a further assessment of his bowling action by an Expert Panel or at an ICC approved Testing Centre and the assessment finds his bowling action legal.

Being on the lookout for wickets even when Australia tried to dominate helped India’s bowlers make significant contribution towards series win, says India vice-captain

Alagappan Muthu in Nagpur01-Oct-2017Until the last day of the five-match ODI series, India were about to win it without a single centurion. Rohit Sharma’s excellent handling of a slow, grippy pitch to score 125 at a strike-rate of 114.87 – when everyone that faced at least 20 balls had to settle for 88 runs per 100 balls or less – deserves praise. But his job was made just a touch easy by the bowlers responding well to another tough situation.Australia were 100 for 1 in the 20th over with David Warner batting on 50. But they slumped 118 for 4 by the 25th with Kedar Jadhav (1 for 48) and Axar Patel (3 for 38) doing most of the damage. Then Jasprit Bumrah and Bhuvneshwar Kumar closed out the innings so well that Australia lost five wickets for the addition of 52 in the last 10 overs. Bumrah had cost 37 runs in his first five overs but he wrapped up with 2 for 51, including a wicket maiden in the 45th.Rohit, India’s vice- captain, praised this ability of his bowlers to bounce back when the team needed it most. “To restrict Australia to 242 on this particular wicket wasn’t easy, because they are a solid batting line-up and especially with the opening partnership they got,” he said. “Even in the last game, we thought 350-360 would be on the board, but we pulled it back and that’s been the hallmark of this bowling unit throughout the tournament. We have pulled the game back at the crucial time and that has allowed our batters to go and play their game.”In Chennai, after the batting flopped, India needed a leg up from Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal. The wristspinners took 5 for 63, bowling nine out of the 21 overs in a rain-shortened game.Then in Kolkata, where apart from Virat Kohli and Ajinkya Rahane, no one was able to get into the 30s, Bhuvneshwar’s new-ball swing was so vicious that Warner, a soon-to-be 100 match veteran said they were the most difficult conditions he had faced in ODI cricket. India defended 252 with Kuldeep taking a hat-trick.Indore presented the best chance for runs but Australia won the toss and it was their opener Aaron Finch who made the first century of the series. But he fell, leaving his team at 224 for 2 in the 38th over, and soon after they were kept to a mere 294 off 50 overs.Kuldeep, having been punished for bowling too full on a tiny ground, dismissed the set batsmen Finch (124) and Smith (63). Chahal later got rid of Maxwell for a third time in three games. After that Bhuvneshwar and Bumrah showed why they are perhaps the most potent bowling combination in the world at the end of an innings.The bowlers’ success has been because they’ve stuck to their brief, of trying to attack even when Australia have been on top. “We’ve played in these conditions so many times and they understand that they need to keep sticking to their strength,” Rohit said. “One boundary here and there doesn’t make a difference. That’s been their attitude throughout the tournament and we go out in the middle to take wickets, not to look to get the strike-rate down.”All the bowlers who participated in this tournament have gone with this mindset of taking wickets. When you’re doing that you will obviously strike at some point during the game and pull the match back towards you. That is what these guys have done, all the spinners and the fast bowlers as well. All the compliments should go to them as well, the way they have bowled as a bowling unit throughout the tournament.”Rohit was also highly appreciative of Rahane’s contribution in the 4-1 series victory – four successive fifties as an opener in Shikhar Dhawan’s absence.”We have played a lot of cricket together in Mumbai and we understand each other and we know each other’s game really well,” Rohit said. “We talk a lot in the middle, about when we need to take risk and when we need not. These are the little things that really help in building a partnership. In the last three games, we’ve got hundred-run partnerships and that’s only through the communication we’ve had in the middle.”It’s important that you keep talking to your partner, making him comfortable and it goes the other way as well. And he has played really well throughout the tournament, scoring four fifties in the last four games and he’s shown a lot of maturity as well handling the new ball. Whatever conditions you play, handling the new ball is pretty important and he did that pretty well.”

Virat Kohli scored a century that looked inevitable to take India to a position from where they could dominate the Test

The Report by Sidharth Monga21-Jul-2016
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
2:07

Manjrekar: ‘WI attack one of the weakest you’ll see’

In the lead-up to this series, India’s captain Virat Kohli arranged a meeting with Viv Richards to take his blessings, in the words of Richards. On the first day of the series, at a ground named after Richards, Kohli showed all the intent that was a hallmark of Richards. He picked five bowlers, going for specialists ahead of those who can bat; he went with Shikhar Dhawan, who brings the possibility of quicker runs than KL Rahul; and he chose to bat when the first session on this pitch was the only one expected to offer bowlers any assistance on the first three days.Most importantly, with India in a spot of bother at 74 for 2 and struggling to score freely, Kohli batted with similar intent, albeit against a limited attack that must have been close to tiring out. He scored an unbeaten 143, his 12th Test century and his first against West Indies, to put India in a position to dominate, a goal they seemed to have set themselves at the start of the series. To make it better for Kohli, his selection of Dhawan paid off. Some considered Dhawan lucky to be playing this Test, he enjoyed some luck against testing bowling at the start of the innings, but he helped India keep a disciplined West Indies attack at bay with his first half-century in eight innings. The two added 105 in 27.1 overs; the previous 74 runs had taken 27.4 overs.India would have expected to work hard for their runs on a slow pitch surrounded by a slow outfield in North Sound, but hands in front of helmets as protective action wouldn’t have been on the agenda. In their first Test under new bowling coach Roddy Estwick, the West Indies attack, thin on numbers but displaying tenacity, tested the Indian top order in the first session. Shannon Gabriel, making a Test comeback after good returns in the ODI triangular series earlier this season, rattled the openers with his pace, accounting for M Vijay with a bouncer, but Dhawan was prepared to fight before capitalising on the second string, an older ball and falling intensity.Play began along expected lines. As opposed to India’s intent, West Indies took the safer route given their limited resources: they picked the extra batsman, debutant Roston Chase, and chose Jason Holder, who on many sheets was marked as an allrounder, to share the new ball. India were expected to look for runs, and relatively quick runs, while West Indies were expected to frustrate India. On the field, it was going to be a test of execution and endurance for West Indies.The execution was near perfect before lunch. In his first spell of 4-2-6-1, Gabriel roughed up both Dhawan and Vijay. Dhawan had the worse of the exchanges, top-edging Holder before fending hopelessly four times in a row against Gabriel. Vijay edged the second bouncer he faced for Kraigg Brathwaite to juggle a catch at second slip. Holder – first spell of 5-2-10-0 – played his part in making Gabriel effective, and Carlos Brathwaite followed it up with a spell of six overs for six runs.Virat Kohli ended the first day in Antigua unbeaten on 143•Getty Images

Dhawan might have had a problem against the short ball, but his discipline outside off and his will to make the bowlers get his wicket stood out. He refused to fall for the sucker delivery after the short ones, shelving his cover drive – playing only seven of them – and indulging only in the late cut off the part-timer Chase, who bowled economical overs of offspin in the first session. Unlike Cheteshwar Pujara, who got stuck and fell for 16 off 67 after a 60-run second-wicket partnership, Dhawan kept finding a way to score. While it was the late cut at the start – 14 runs off five attempts – he began to use his feet towards the end of the first session. He went into lunch with 29 off his last 26 balls, and would come back to get himself in before opening up again.Pujara, though, fell immediately after lunch, getting a leading edge off a short legbreak from the returning Devendra Bishoo. The wicket changed the complexion of the day’s play. With Kohli came the intent to score runs. The flat and slow pitch didn’t call for a watertight technique, so Kohli could take a few liberties, but his attitude of looking to score first before falling back on other options exposed the limited West Indies attack.Until then, West Indies had kept India quiet by bowling well outside off, but Kohli began driving, a shot that can be dangerous early in the innings in some conditions, but not in Antigua. There was no seam, no unfriendly bounce, and the ball was too old to swing. As if a sign of how the West Indies concentration was being tested, Kohli’s first boundary came through a misfield, from Marlon Samuels.Dhawan began to find more authority in his cuts. He upper-cut Gabriel for a six, swept Bishoo and stopped missing chances for singles. All through, Kohli kept driving imperiously. In the 34th over, the run rate reached three for the first time since the third over. The two kept picking ones and twos effortlessly. At one point Kohli pinched a single to Gabriel at mid-off, and told his partner, “He is very tired.” Before you realised it, Kohli had followed Dhawan to a half-century, bringing it up off the 75th ball he faced. Bishoo, though, came back just before tea to trap Dhawan lbw on the sweep.Kohli added 57 with an enterprising Ajinkya Rahane, who like Pujara, saw a short legbreak, shaped to pull but didn’t manage to adjust as the ball stopped and bounced at him. In another sign of intent, India had R Ashwin batting at No. 6, ahead of Wriddhiman Saha. West Indies continued with their conservative approach, happy to slow India down, not taking the new ball and getting in some quiet overs before stumps as Kohli and Ashwin added an unbeaten 66 runs.Kohli brought up what had looked like an inevitable century. Only once was there alarm during his innings. After a mini quiet period, he drove at a wide Brathwaite delivery. The edge flew wide of gully. On this pitch, such a drive to prevent the bowlers from bowling quiet overs wide outside off was a risk worth taking. As was playing five bowlers. Kohli was prepared to take both.

ESPNcricinfo staff22-May-2015
ScorecardFifties from middle-order batsman Ali Asad and wicketkeeper Adnan Akmal helped Pakistan A extend their dominance over Sri Lanka A into the third day of the third unofficial Test in Dambulla, as they amassed a first-innings total of 580 for 8 declared. Udara Jayasundera’s fifty helped Sri Lanka A wipe away 119 runs from their deficit, leaving them trailing by 188 runs at the end of the day.Asad resumed his innings on the third morning from an overnight score of 31 and stretched the fifth-wicket partnership with Shan Masood to 124 runs before the latter was dismissed 18 runs short of a double-century. Asad and Akmal added 60 brisk runs to the scoreboard before Nisala Tharaka ended Asad’s innings at 89, with the batsman hitting 13 fours in his 147-ball stay. Akmal, however, carried on and finished on an unbeaten 54 off 77 deliveries with five fours, before the side declared their innings. Lahiru Gamage was the most successful bowler for Sri Lanka A with returns of 4 for 112, while Dushmantha Chameera, Tharaka, Ashan Priyanjan and Jayasundera took one wicket apiece.Jayasundera, who had scored 6 in the first innings, gave Sri Lanka A a better start in their second innings, adding 88 runs for the first wicket with Dhananjaya de Silva. However, Sri Lanka suffered a wobble towards close of play, losing their top three quickly to finish at 119 for 3.

Michael Clarke is far less equivocal about Ricky Ponting’s international future than the man himself, insisting his predecessor as leader can prosper again

Daniel Brettig at Adelaide Oval26-Nov-2012Australia’s captain Michael Clarke is far less equivocal about Ricky Ponting’s international future than the man himself, insisting his 37-year-old predecessor as leader can prosper again with the bat despite a dire Test in Adelaide.On a pitch so good that South Africa were able to survive the final day for the loss of only four wickets, Ponting was bowled twice in the Test for only the second time – the first being on a poor surface at Delhi’s Feroz Shah Kotla in 1996. Acknowledging his poor display, Ponting said he was tentative, and expected a discussion on his future to take place with the selectors soon.Clarke, however, left no-one in doubt of his desire to see Ponting go on for some time yet in his summation of the No. 4 batsman’s position at the end of the Test. Ponting’s value to the team as a senior figure, a standard setter at training and a source of batting and captaincy advice for Clarke remains highly regarded, even if his supply of runs has all but dried up.”The one thing we need to keep in mind, is he was the leading run-scorer in Shield cricket leading up to this summer. So he’s batting well,” Clarke said of Ponting. “We could all get out early in our innings. Every single one of us, the start of your innings is the toughest time to bat, especially when you’re facing the best attack in the world.Ricky Ponting was bowled in both innings of a Test for the first time since 1996•Getty Images

“Once he gets in, I have no doubt at all he’ll go on to make a big score. He knows how to make big hundreds, he’s still as good a player under pressure as anybody in that change room. He’ll just be working as hard as he can to get through the start of his innings like the rest of us, and then he’ll cash in and make a big score, I’m confident of that.”Ponting’s increasingly shaky place in the team appeared a less central concern for Clarke than how spent his bowlers looked at the conclusion of the Adelaide Test. With Nathan Lyon blunted and Ben Hilfenhaus exhausted, Peter Siddle’s attempt to win the Test virtually on his own in the final session set a rare standard for commitment, and Clarke said more of the same would be required in Perth if Australia are to gain belated reward for two strong but ultimately thwarted performances in Brisbane and Adelaide.”It’s what’s expected if you want to play for Australia,” Clarke said. “If you want to be the best, you’ve got to dig deep, you’ve got to try to find a way. I pay a lot of credit to Sidds, he showed a lot of heart today, that’s what we’ve come to expect from Sidds, that’s why he’s been a wonderful performer for Australia. That’s what I expect from all the bowlers, all the batters. Sometimes it’s tough out there with the bat or with the ball, you’ve got to find a way to have success.”From all the bowlers, it was an amazing effort. Losing James obviously hurt us, I don’t want to take anything away from South Africa, they did really well today. I thought Faf [du Plessis] was outstanding on debut to make a hundred, in conditions like that, under pressure. The wicket played really well, but I felt like we tried everything in our power – around the wicket, over the wicket, short balls, pitch it up, reverse swing, spin, I thought we had a red-hot crack. We did everything we could to try to win this Test, it was just unfortunate we couldn’t get over the line.”Some scrutiny will fall on Lyon’s spin as he wheeled away for 50 overs in the fourth innings but seemed to tighten up as a bowler on the final day. Lyon’s arc flattened notably and he appeared to rush through his overs, but Clarke said the match would provide valuable lessons for a bowler who has played half his 30 first-class fixtures on the Test stage.”I thought Gaz [Lyon] bowled really well through this Test,” Clarke said. “Things didn’t go his way, a few balls just went either side of fielders or didn’t quite grab the edge, the wicket still played pretty well, wasn’t as up and down as I’d expect on day five. But I thought Nathan did very well.”

Australia’s attack for the second Test might not be decided until the morning of the match as they wait to see how Ryan Harris pulls up from Wednesday’s training session

Brydon Coverdale in Johannesburg16-Nov-2011Australia’s attack for the second Test might not be decided until the morning of the match as they wait to see how Ryan Harris pulls up from Wednesday’s training session. If Harris, who the captain Michael Clarke said was “stiff and sore” after the defeat in Cape Town, does not play, it will almost certainly mean a debut for the 18-year-old Pat Cummins.Harris bowled only 24.3 overs in the three-day Test at Newlands and has had five days to recover but the Australians wanted to see how he felt on Thursday morning before confirming his place in the side. Harris, 32, has had a range of injury problems in recent years and is often seen walking laps of the ground to warm up while the rest of his team-mates engage in more vigorous activities.”He’s a bit stiff and sore from the last game no doubt,” Clarke said. “He’s an example of someone who needs to train today. We need to wait and see how he goes in the nets and then how he pulls up in the morning.”As is the case a lot in any form of the game, we generally have an optional session before the game which allows the players who don’t think they need to train or want to train to take that option. Generally, there’s a couple of guys who need to train to see if they will be fit for the game.”If Australia were to lose Harris it would be a significant blow. Although he has played only eight Tests he is the most consistent performer in Australia’s pace attack and in Cape Town last week his Test average dropped below 20 for a period. But Harris, who missed the final Test against Sri Lanka recently due to a minor hamstring strain, is unlikely to be the kind of bowler who can play every Test for Australia due to his brittle body.Even if Harris does play, the make-up of Australia’s bowling group was far from clear. Cummins still has a strong chance of becoming Australia’s second-youngest Test debutant, with Peter Siddle the man most likely to miss out if Harris makes the starting line-up.”I don’t want to give too much away right now but there’s certainly a chance that he could be playing tomorrow,” Clarke said of Cummins.The pitch is expected to be hard and Clarke said Australia would almost certainly play a spinner. He is also likely to back the left-armer Mitchell Johnson, who bowled superbly in the tour match in Potchefstroom but had a poor Test in Cape Town.

The ICC has praised the PCB for the measures the board has implemented to curb corruption in the aftermath of the spot-fixing controversy

ESPNcricinfo staff07-Nov-2010The ICC has praised the PCB for the measures the board has implemented to curb corruption in the aftermath of the spot-fixing controversy. In what is the second update on the progress made by the PCB since it was issued an ultimatum by the ICC to take initiatives to sort out the game’s administration in the country, the ICC said it was “impressed” with the developments.The ultimatum – which included a set of recommendations – was issued on October 13 and the PCB was told to clean up its act or face the consequences, possibly in the form of sanctions. Since then, the board, which was given a 30-day period to conduct a thorough and far-reaching review of “player integrity issues”, has revised its code of conduct for players with a special emphasis on anti-corruption, made it mandatory for players to have their agents approved by the PCB, implemented education programmers for cricketers to create awareness about match-fixing and set up an Integrity Committee to look into issues of corruption and doping.The update was provided at a meeting, by teleconference, of the Pakistan task force, a group headed by ECB chairman Giles Clarke that is aiming to bring back international cricket to Pakistan. “PCB has clearly recognized that it is imperative to protect the integrity of cricket and we are indeed impressed by the progress reported,” Haroon Lorgat, the ICC CEO and a member of the Pakistan task force, said. “Their willingness to play such an active role on the integrity issue is vital to the future of international cricket. They have shown a clear determination to tackle their challenges.”The ICC Task Team is mindful of those challenges and is committed to supporting the PCB.”Clarke said: “The PCB chairman and his team must be congratulated for the speed with which they have adopted the recommendations of the ICC Board. Everyone is encouraged by the statements and actions of the PCB and we must hope that they continue.”Ijaz Butt, the PCB chairman who has faced much criticism for his handling of the administration during his tenure, said his board adopted a zero-tolerance policy towards corruption. “The PCB is determined to implement the recommendations provided by the ICC. We at the PCB, like the ICC, are committed to a zero-tolerance approach to any form of corruption.”Most recently, the PCB revoked the central contracts of Salman Butt, Mohammad Amir and Mohammad Asif – the three players provisionally suspended by the ICC for their alleged involvement in the spot-fixing controversy. And in the ongoing tour of the UAE where Pakistan are taking on South Africa in an ODI series, the PCB fined three players for breaking curfew as per the revised code of conduct.

Kemar Roach, West Indies’ quickest bowler, believes he can go even faster in this week’s third Test against Australia in Perth

Cricinfo staff14-Dec-2009Kemar Roach, West Indies’ quickest bowler, believes he can go even faster in this week’s third Test against Australia in Perth. Roach has troubled the local batsmen with his speed in the opening two matches, taking four wickets at 58.75, and will feel the need for speed at the WACA from Wednesday.”I really think I can bowl much faster … I think I can get up to 155kph in Perth, easy,” Roach said in the Herald Sun. “I want to bowl as consistently and as fast as possible and try to bowl what the batsmen don’t expect.”Roach, who has played only four Tests, has heard all about the Perth pitch, which was once the fastest in the world but has slowed over the past few years. However, he is hoping it offers more than the typical surfaces around the globe.”Most of the wickets in the world are flat, so to get one bouncy and pacy like this makes me really happy,” he said. “I should really enjoy it here.”Roach has picked up Ricky Ponting twice so far and would like to get him again. “Ponting is one of the best batsmen in the world, I have a lot of respect for him,” he said. “To have his wicket a couple of times is a big prize, I must say.” Ponting has said he has not lost any sleep over facing Roach in Perth, where he will look to take the series 2-0.

Jamie Smith joins Ben Duckett in sitting out T20Is with World Cup just six months away

Matt Roller08-Sep-2025England will go into their T20I series against South Africa without both Ben Duckett and Jamie Smith this week, prompting head coach Brendon McCullum to concede they must learn how to cope better with their busy international schedule.Duckett, Smith and Harry Brook have been ever-present for England across their 15 international fixtures to date this summer, and all spent August playing in the Hundred. All three players will miss next week’s brief tour to Ireland, and McCullum has prescribed an additional week’s rest for his ODI openers so they can “freshen up” ahead of a busy winter away.It means that Duckett and Smith will miss consecutive T20I series less than six months out from a World Cup in the format, when better planning would have seen them skip the ODIs instead. In their absence, Phil Salt – who missed England’s most recent T20Is on paternity leave – looks set to open the batting alongside either Tom Banton or Will Jacks.Related

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England face a tight turnaround between the Ashes and the T20 World Cup this winter, interspersed with white-ball tours to New Zealand and Sri Lanka. Rob Key, England’s managing director, claimed last year that their upcoming schedule was “easing” when expanding McCullum’s role to cover white-ball cricket but it shows few signs of doing so.A one-day gap after the Hundred final meant that England’s players did not train together as a full squad ahead of Tuesday’s first ODI in Leeds, in which they were thrashed by seven wickets. ECB chair Richard Thompson acknowledged the crammed fixture list was an issue on Sunday, but admitted that it is unlikely to change significantly within the ongoing broadcast rights cycle.”The scheduling isn’t ideal,” McCullum said after England’s consolation win in Southampton. “That’s just the way it is and it’s not going to change, so we’re going to have to find ways to deal with it… We’re just going to have to find ways to be able to hit the ground running a bit quicker than what we did in this one.”I spoke to [Duckett] and I said, ‘I think you need to freshen up. You’ve played so much cricket and you’re such an influential player for us over the next few months.’ He’ll have a decent break at home, as will Jamie Smith… It gives the other guys opportunities, and it’s exciting, too. If we just rely on 11 players, then we’re not really going to be competitive.”One of those “other guys” is Sam Curran, who will bat in the top six against South Africa after winning a recall through his performances for Surrey and Oval Invincibles. McCullum has never previously picked Curran for one of his teams, and told him in an “honest conversation” over breakfast earlier this summer that he needed to “bang the door down” as a batter.”The message to Sam was that a lot’s come to you quickly and you’ve had a lot of success and a lot of fame, and a lot of things have fallen your way,” McCullum said, “but, of late, your performance had just tailed off a bit… With us resting both Jamie and Ben, it gives us the opportunity to bring Sam in and he’ll get his chance to bat in the top six.”England are expected to stick with the spin-heavy strategy they trialled against West Indies in June for this week’s series as they prepare for next year’s T20 World Cup in India and Sri Lanka. Curran will likely be their third seamer, with Jacob Bethell and Jacks supplementing Adil Rashid and either Liam Dawson or Rehan Ahmed as spin options.Bethell and Jacks acted as England’s fifth bowler in the ODIs against South Africa but their combined 10 overs in a tight defeat at Lord’s were hammered for 112 runs. McCullum said it was “really hard” to balance the side without a genuine allrounder, but has already spoken to Brook about how to give his part-time options “slightly more in their favour”.”We’ve just got to be a bit smarter with it… Utilising the big side of the ground, or also trying to set slightly more defensive fields,” McCullum said. “They don’t need to take 3 for 30 off 10 overs. They’ve just got to find a way to be able to create pressure and hold for a period so that our attacking guys can come in.”We won’t always be married to that [balance] but at the moment, we want to make sure that we’ve got that familiarity within our batting group – particularly in the middle order, as they adjust to some new roles so that they get more and more comfortable with how each of them is going to play.”McCullum said that England’s record 342-run thrashing in Southampton had provided them with “an incredible blueprint” in ODIs during an “oscillating” series. “We got hammered in the first one, we were within one blow in the second, and we dished out a pretty good performance in the third… It shows that there’s not a huge gulf between the two teams.”