Ireland bank on pace for debut Test against Pakistan

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An experienced squad led by long-time captain William Porterfield will face Pakistan at Malahide Cricket Club when the two sides meet next week in what will be Ireland's first Test match.

Cricket Ireland's 14-man squad includes many stalwarts of the Irish game, including the O'Brien brothers, Andrew Balbirnie and Paul Stirling. Left-arm spinner George Dockrell, who has struggled for form and had a disappointing World Cup qualifying campaign in Zimbabwe, was left out.

Ireland's best chance of troubling Pakistan in home conditions lies in the quality and strength of their seam bowling, and unsurprisingly, players with that skill set feature heavily in the squad. Boyd Rankin, Tim Murtagh, Stuart Thompson, Tyrone Kane, and Kevin O'Brien are all handy options in their own conditions. Less than a week ago, Pakistan were bowled out for 168 against second division Kent, their troubles to handle seam bowling particularly evident.

Despite this being their first Test match, Ireland probably won't go into it with eleven debutants. Veteran fast bowler Boyd Rankin has played one Test - for England - over four years ago. That came against Australia in Sydney, the fifth match of a series England lost 5-0.

Ireland will become the 11th side to play Test cricket, after the ICC last year approved them, along with Afghanistan, as the 11th and 12th ICC Full Members. They have been a consistently impressive side around the fringes of the top ten for the past decade or so, and Pakistan, of all nations, need no reminding of their potential to cause an upset. In the 2007 World Cup, Ireland stunned Pakistan in the group stage by three wickets, knocking them out of the competition on St Patrick's Day. They claimed a Full Member scalp in each of the following World Cups, beating England by chasing down 329 in 2011, and trouncing West Indies in the sides' opening game in 2015.

Squad: William Porterfield (capt), Andrew Balbirnie, Ed Joyce, Tyrone Kane, Andy McBrine, Tim Murtagh, Kevin O'Brien, Niall O'Brien (wk), Boyd Rankin, Nathan Smith, Paul Stirling, James Shannon, Stuart Thompson, Gary Wilson

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Heavy burden on Amir as Pakistan rebuild Test side

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Pakistan coach Mickey Arthur is hopeful that the time of the year will help them overcome the loss of legspinner Yasir Shah for the Tests against Ireland and England.

Yasir has taken 89 wickets in the last two years - more than double Pakistan's next most successful bowler in the period - but was ruled out of this tour due to a hip injury. Shadab Khan, the 19-year-old legspinner, who has impressed with the white ball but has played just one Test, has huge shoes to fill although there remains a chance Pakistan will decide to go without a specialist spinner given the early-season conditions which are likely to prevail.

There has been a significant decline in Pakistan's Test fortunes since the shared series against England in 2016 which helped them to the No. 1 ranking. They are now languishing at No. 7 following series defeats against New Zealand, Australia and most recently Sri Lanka - their record with Arthur as coach is 11 defeats and six wins from 17 Tests - and are going through a transitional phase following the retirements of batting stalwarts Younis Khan and Misbah-ul-Haq.

There are four uncapped batsmen in the squad and the absence of Yasir has shorn Pakistan of a senior figure with the ball while also leaving them with their least experienced spin attack to face England in at least 40 years.

"Any team would miss Yasir," Arthur said ahead of the team's first warm-up match against Kent. "He has the ability to hold the attack and control the game. Shadab is incredibly exciting but also I am not sure that spin is going to be a huge factor given it's early season in England, so we have covered ourselves in the seam department. But Shadab can clean tails up because he has all the tricks. It is going to be exciting to see how he goes.

"Yasir is a big loss but we have him at the National Cricket Academy [in Lahore] and he is getting fit, his stress fracture is healing and it's really important for us to have him fit and firing for the Australia and New Zealand series later in the year."

Pakistan's bowling attack will rest heavily on Mohammad Amir, who arrived in the UK on Wednesday having been granted his visa after a short delay. Two years ago he made his return to Test cricket at Lord's, following his spot-fixing ban, and since then has not earned the rewards his bowling has often deserved with 44 wickets at 37.25. How Pakistan catch will be a critical factor, with Amir suffering significantly from missed chances, although there is also a belief in the team management that the amount of white-ball cricket he has played has led him into bowling too short with the red ball.

"He's our No. 1 bowler, we back him in tough situations. He generally gets it done for us," Arthur said. "We need him to get the ball swinging, we need him to get his length slightly fuller and if he gets that he's going to ask a lot of questions."

Amir's workload has also become a topic of debate in recent times, with the indication that he may sit out some Test cricket to preserve him for the 2019 World Cup and beyond. Arthur said that Pakistan have "three weeks off" between now and the World Cup, leaving a balancing act between building a new era for the Test side while keeping an eye on the demands of the limited-overs game.

"We have had the workload debate for a long time now and every team has to do the same. We only have three weeks off in our calendar now before the World Cup next year, so we'd be silly not to arrive here with our bowlers fit and we know who they are - we have identified them - so we just have to manage them because ultimately want the best team to play in that 2019 World Cup.

"But also for us it is so important to win Test matches - we are a young team and we need to get our Test team right and to do that we have to build a core of players who can play at any given time. We are trying to resurrect our Test side, we feel we've got our white-ball cricket where we need it now, so we are really excited about this series, really excited to see these young guys come out and perform. There's some incredible talent in our dressing room, so let's hope it all goes well for us."

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India unlikely to play day-night Test in Adelaide

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India will most likely not play a day-night Test during their 2018-19 tour of Australia. Cricket Australia still hopes the first Test in Adelaide, which is scheduled to start on December 6, will be a pink-ball, day-night game, but ESPNcricinfo understands the BCCI is not in favour of the idea and has made its position clear to the Australian board.

CA announced the schedule of Australia's home summer on Monday without confirming a start time for the Adelaide Test. Since November 2015, Adelaide has hosted one day-night Test every year.

"It is our preference that we play India in a day-night Test match in Adelaide, but we are still working through this detail and hope to have an answer on this in the coming weeks," chief executive James Sutherland said.

Women's international cricket will bookend the summer, with Australia playing three T20Is against New Zealand in September-October - which leads into the women's World T20 in the West Indies in November - and then a three-match ODI series against the same opponents in February-March. In between, the Australia men's team will host a South African limited-overs tour in October-November, and full international tours by India and Sri Lanka that stretch from mid-November to early February.

Australian Cricketers' Association CEO Alistair Nicholson welcomed the increased scheduling of women's cricket.

"On the back of last years' ground-breaking gender equitable MOU which the players fought for, it is right that our female team continues to get the exposure they deserve," he said.

"We have some of the best players in the world and I think the fans will appreciate the opportunity to see them on one of the biggest TV days of the year being AFL Grand Final night. Going forward the players are interested in exploring more long-form cricket opportunities, particularly after such a successful Ashes Test last year."

South Africa will play three ODIs from November 4 to 11, and a one-off T20 on November 17, which is the first ever international game at the Metricon Stadium in Gold Coast.

India will begin their Australia tour with a three-match T20 series from November 21 to 25, and then play four Tests in Adelaide (December 6-10), Perth (December 14-18), Melbourne (December 26-30) and Sydney (January 3-7). The newly built Perth Stadium will make its debut as a Test venue when it hosts the second Test.

The Tests against India will be followed by three ODIs from January 12 to 18.

Brisbane will host first Test against Sri Lanka, a confirmed day-night game, from January 24 to 28, and the Manuka Oval in Canberra - also a first-time Test venue - the second Test from February 1 to 5.

CA has yet to confirm the dates of the domestic season, but it is likely to include an expanded Big Bash League season of 43 games. The 16-day gap between the fourth Test against India and the first Test against Sri Lanka - filled by only three ODIs - could give Australia's international players a window to take part in as many BBL games as possible, while the tournament's closing stages could be held after the end of the Test season.

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India widen gap at the top of Test rankings

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India are now the No. 1 Test team by a larger margin than they were last month. This is a result of the ICC's annual update to the rankings, which happens on May 1 every year; India have gained four points after the update, while South Africa have dropped five points, meaning the gap between the two has increased from four to 13.

Bangladesh, meanwhile, have broken into the top eight of the Test rankings for the first time ever, going past West Indies - the team from the Caribbean has dropped to a record low at No. 9.

ESPNcricinfo Ltd

The ICC's rankings system works as follows: matches played over the previous four years are taken into consideration, with the oldest matches in the cycle being left out in May of every year. For the current cycle, matches played from May 2015 to April 2017 carry 50% weightage, while matches played since then carry 100% weightage. As the No. 1 ranked team, India will receive a cash prize of USD 1 million from the ICC.

Mushfiqur Rahim, who was Bangladesh's Test captain till late last year, said the update was a fair representation of the team's form over the past few years. "I think our graph is going upwards, which is a good feeling. We have progressed quite well in ODIs. We haven't gone to that level in T20s but we did well in the last T20 tournament. But in Tests, the progress has been over the last four-five years. It is showing in our ranking.

"As it isn't possible to improve by playing one good series, our focus should be on working harder. We need to work that much more to climb up in the rankings. We have those players with the ability to take us further."

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