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Rising Pune Supergiants batsman Faf du Plessis has been ruled out of the remainder of the IPL with a broken finger

ESPNcricinfo staff28-Apr-2016Rising Pune Supergiants batsman Faf du Plessis has been ruled out of the remainder of the IPL with a broken finger. Du Plessis tweeted the news on Thursday.
Du Plessis is Supergiants’ second-highest run-scorer with 206 runs at an average of 34.33 in six matches. He scored consecutive fifties against Gujarat Lions and Kings XI Punjab, both of which came in losing causes.This is the second injury blow for the franchise, in their debut season, after England batsman Kevin Pietersen was ruled out earlier this week with a calf issue.If the injury does keep du Plessis out of action for six weeks, as he tweeted, that also makes him doubtful for the start of South Africa’s tri-series in the West Indies, which starts on June 3 and also includes the hosts and Australia.

However, Super Kings have requested to have his action tested under laboratory conditions at an ICC-accredited centre

ESPNcricinfo staff24-Jan-2023Aaron Phangiso, South Africa and Joburg Super Kings’ left-arm spinner, has been suspended from bowling in the ongoing SA20 with immediate effect due to an illegal bowling action. The Independent Bowling Action Panel on Tuesday confirmed that his action didn’t adhere to the regulations laid down by the ICC.The panel, consisting of match referee representative Gerrie Pienaar, former South Africa seamer Vernon Philander, and CSA’s High Performance Manager Vincent Barnes, submitted their final report on Monday after they were asked to judge the matter.Related

• Phangiso cleared to bowl after getting his action cleared

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• SA20 announces prize money of over USD 4 mn for inaugural season

• Phangiso reported for suspect action

Phangiso was reported by the match officials during Super Kings’ match against Pretoria Capitals on January 17.However, according to a media release on Tuesday, Super Kings have requested to have Phangiso’s action tested under laboratory conditions at an ICC-accredited centre. If the governing body’s testing shows that his action is legal, he will be allowed to resume bowling.Phangiso has taken ten wickets in six matches – including two four-wicket hauls – for Super Kings at the SA20 so far. His last game for them came against Sunrisers Eastern Cape on Saturday, where figures of 4 for 20 earned his side a win, and Phangiso a Player-of-the-Match award. With three wins in six games, Super Kings are currently occupying the fifth spot in the six-team competition.This is the second time in his career that Phangiso has been reported for a suspect bowling action. He was first reported during Lions’ win against Warriors in the semi-final of the Momentum One Day Cup in 2016, but was cleared after undergoing remedial work on his action.Phangiso, 39, has played 21 ODIs and 16 T20Is for South Africa, the last of which came against India in Cape Town in February 2018.

Anil Kumble, Faf du Plessis and Andy Flower are in favour of changing the rule

ESPNcricinfo staff24-Oct-20223:30

Should teams be allowed to change XIs after the toss if it rains?

Teams should be allowed to make changes to their XI if rain curtails play after the toss but before a ball has been bowled, according to ESPNcricinfo’s T20 Time Out experts Faf du Plessis, Anil Kumble and Andy Flower.Kumble and Flower, who have extensive coaching experience in T20 leagues, and Du Plessis, the former South Africa captain, said the tweak in the rules would allow teams to field their best XI for a rain-hit contest.The discussion happened while South Africa and Zimbabwe were made to wait after the toss for the start of their Super 12 match because of rain in Hobart. The game was eventually reduced to nine overs a side after Zimbabwe had chosen to bat.”That’s something I’m sure will get discussed in the next committee meeting, especially in this format,” Kumble said, when asked whether changes should be allowed to the playing XIs after the toss in such situations. “In a game like this, where the toss has happened, the teams have been announced, it could eventually be a five-over game, so yes.”Kumble said, however, that both teams knew there was rain around before the toss, so they would have taken that into account.Flower, who coached Lucknow Super Giants in IPL 2022, said the best combination for a five or six-over match would be different to a 20-over match.”What the fans want to see is the best contest between the best two elevens, and if the best two elevens need to be altered slightly given that the match changes to a five or a six-over game, then the fans would like to see the best elevens take each other on,” Flower said. “I don’t see why sticking with the status quo makes particular sense. I’d like someone to explain that to me if possible at some stage.”Du Plessis, who captains RCB in the IPL, said that the potential rule change will be good for the fans. “From a captaincy perspective, it’s quite a decision-making process when there’s rain around,” he said. “From a captain’s point of view, you try and push the umpires to say let’s wait for the toss, because you do want to pick the right team if it gets affected by the rain.”In terms of the rule change, I think it will be nice, especially for the fans, to see team changes and stuff after the toss.”

Aggressive half-century sets tone for comfortable win

ECB Reporters' Network11-Jun-2021A blistering half-century and two wickets from Moeen Ali saw Worcestershire Rapids complete a 32-run victory over Northamptonshire Steelbacks at Wantage Road.The England allrounder, who also effected a run-out, joined forces with Brett D’Oliveira in a partnership of 94 to set Worcestershire up for a big total in this Vitality Blast clash. Although Northamptonshire’s bowlers pegged things back once Moeen holed out for 52 from 30 deliveries, Worcestershire’s 185 for 7 proved too many.The Steelbacks played aggressively from the outset but never regained the momentum once skipper Josh Cobb and Adam Rossington were parted in successive overs at the end of the Powerplay.Earlier tight work from Northamptonshire’s bowlers restricted Rapids to a lacklustre 36 for 1 in the first six overs. D’Oliveira broke the shackles with two maximums over long-on before Moeen got in on the action with the ninth and tenth overs leaking 37 runs.Moeen brought up his half-century with his fourth six when he swung Graeme White over square leg before he attempted one big shot too many. He and D’Oliveira had more than doubled the total in the Powerplay in just 29 deliveries.Cobb pegged back the scoring with two tight overs before Tom Taylor enticed D’Oliveira to edge a wide one behind for 43. Late hitting from Ross Whiteley and Ben Cox threatened to push Rapids towards 200, but Sanderson and Taylor finished with three wickets apiece to stem the flow.The Steelbacks reply got off to a bad start when Richard Levi fell to the first ball of the innings, offering a sharp chance to D’Oliveira at backward point. Two overs later Ricardo Vasconcelos fell to a stunning diving catch in the deep by Whiteley.Cobb was not going to die wondering and took four boundaries of Ben Dwarshuis’s second over and sliced Charlie Morris for a huge six over cover in the final over of the Powerplay. But his aggression came to an end next ball when he picked out the fielder at mid-on. Rossington was then bowled playing for spin to a straight ball from Ish Sodhi.The wickets continued to fall. South African allrounder Wayne Parnell attempted a big heave across the line to Moeen and was stumped. Rob Keogh fell to a diving catch in the deep by Dwarshuis off Moeen to leave the Steelbacks in further trouble at 95 for 6. Saif Zaib mounted some late resistance with a flurry of boundaries but was left with too much to do.

Jackson Bird and Chadd Sayers have been included as specialist seam bowling role players in Australia’s Test squad for the tour of New Zealand next month

Daniel Brettig in Canberra20-Jan-20162:16

‘Hard work has paid off’ – Sayers

Jackson Bird and Chadd Sayers have been included as specialist seam bowling role players in Australia’s Test squad for the tour of New Zealand next month.In an assignment that can earn Steven Smith’s men the No. 1 Test ranking, Bird and Sayers have been included as pace support for Josh Hazlewood, James Pattinson and Peter Siddle, in expectation of well grassed and seaming pitches. Steve O’Keefe and Scott Boland were dropped from the 14-man squad for Australia’s most recent Test — the rain-marred draw in Sydney against West Indies — to make room for Bird and Sayers.Bird played his most recent Test for Australia in Durham on the 2013 Ashes tour, while Sayers has never played for the national team. However he has turned out for Australia A, including on the tour of the British Isles that preceded the Ashes three years ago. The selection chairman Rod Marsh said Sayers had been in the frame for some time, excepting time out last season due to injury that also cruelled his chances of making the 2015 Ashes tour.”Chadd’s got a terrific record in Sheffield Shield cricket, he was injured most of last summer but he started well again this summer,” Marsh said. “The season before he was rewarded with A team status in the side that went to England and did very well there. And it’s a matter of horses for courses, we think the conditions in New Zealand will suit Chadd as much as anyone. He’s a good bowler under conditions that nibble around a little bit, and we’re very happy for him to be chosen.”Even last summer when he played earlier in [2014] against India A at Allan Border Field you remember that game where it appeared thousands of runs were scored. Chadd bowled a lot of overs and got five-for and his figures outshone any other bowler. He can bowl, he thoroughly deserves his selection.”Under normal New Zealand conditions I think you have to bowl line and length, you’ve got to be patient. It’s something we haven’t always been good at, but we’ll have to get good at it if we want to win this series.”As for the contention that the selection of Bird and Sayers was a deviation from the “pace is power” mantra adopted by the coach and selector Darren Lehmann, Marsh demurred. “I haven’t deviated from anything, because what I always thought is you pick the best bowlers for those conditions,” he said. “To me speed is not everything … there’s no point bowling 150kph if you bowl half volleys and wides. Good bowling is good bowling, you pick your best bowlers. I don’t care what speed they bowl, as long as they bowl beautifully.”The batting line-up arrived as expected following a strong showing by Australia’s top order at home this summer. Mitchell Marsh remains the selectors’ allrounder of choice. “I’m not totally surprised but I’m very happy,” Marsh said of how the batting line-up had settled. “That’s the bottom line, they’ve done exceptionally well. Make hay while the sun shines. Their confidence is obviously up and it’ll need to be up, because New Zealand are a very, very good cricket team.”Australia’s most recent Test tour of New Zealand was in 2010. Of that touring party only Smith, who was then a young and uncapped project player, will be making the trip again. I don’t know what we’re going to get in New Zealand, but if you just look at the pitch they played on in the World Cup game in Auckland that did a bit,” Marsh said. “And the Sri Lankan series those did a bit, so you’re assuming they’re going to do a little bit.”It’s exciting at the moment because if we win in New Zealand we could well go to No. 1, if we play decent T20 cricket we could well go to No. 1 there, and I think we’re that far ahead in one day cricket on the ratings it could be that we could get to No. 1 in all three forms.”Australia squad: Steven Smith (capt), David Warner, Joe Burns, Usman Khawaja, Adam Voges, Shaun Marsh, Mitchell Marsh, Peter Nevill, James Pattinson, Peter Siddle, Josh Hazlewood, Nathan Lyon, Chadd Sayers, Jackson Bird.

Namibia wicketkeeper-batsman Raymond van Schoor has died in Windhoek at age 25 just five days after suffering a stroke during a match

Peter Della Penna21-Nov-2015Namibia wicketkeeper-batsman Raymond van Schoor has died in Windhoek at age 25, five days after suffering a stroke during a match. Van Schoor was batting on 15 during Namibia’s five-wicket win over Free State in a CSA Provincial One-Day Challenge when he collapsed on field and was taken by ambulance to a local hospital.Van Schoor remained hospitalised since then but never recovered and was pronounced dead on Friday night. Cricket Namibia president Richard Frankle told ESPNcricinfo by phone on Saturday morning that van Schoor had battled in hospital throughout the last week but was ultimately unable to recover due to complications following the stroke suffered last Sunday.”He had a massive stroke and this caused a lot of swelling on the brain,” Frankle said. “The doctors were unable to get the swelling to come down or stop. They did a number of blood tests and could not find any plausible medical reason for what happened. I’m not sure whether they are going to do anything more in terms an autopsy but at the end of the day, what happened in this past week is that his brain continued to swell and there was nowhere more for the swelling to go. You could progressively see how the swelling affected all his other functions.”Cricket in Namibia is most definitely in mourning today. It was most certainly a shock that at 25, Raymond was taken from us. His team-mates were all at his bedside yesterday and they’ve taken it very hard.”In a message on Cricket Namibia’s Facebook page, Frankle had said: “Raymond was a tremendous asset to Cricket Namibia and the national cricket team. He was taken far too early from us. We however accept that Almighty God needed him to represent the heavenly angels! May his soul rest in peace!”
Van Schoor was a mainstay of the Namibia batting line-up since making his national team debut in the CSA Provincial One-Day Challenge against North West at age 17 in 2007. In the same week, the right-hand batsman made his first-class debut against Canada in the Intercontinental Cup, opening the batting for Namibia – making 46 and 2 – in an eight-wicket win. In all, he played 92 first-class matches, scoring 4303 runs at 27.40 including five centuries and 20 half-centuries with a career-best 157 in 2010 against Bermuda in the ICC Intercontinental Shield.Across all formats, van Schoor scored more than 8000 runs for Namibia in 265 career matches, making him the most-capped Namibian cricketer ever ahead of Craig Williams, who has played a total of 239 matches across first-class, List A and Twenty20 cricket for Namibia. Van Schoor is currently ranked second all-time in first-class runs for Namibia behind only Williams, who has 5017 runs in 73 first-class matches. Van Schoor’s 2618 List A runs put him third behind only Gerrie Snyman’s 3671 and Williams’ 3016 while his 1550 Twenty20 runs in 70 matches rank No. 1 all-time for Namibia.At age 22, van Schoor was named the Player of the Tournament at the ICC World T20 Qualifier in the UAE after topping the averages with 324 runs at 54.00, including a career-best 79 not out against USA. During the event, van Schoor won three Man of the Match awards – against USA, Uganda and Italy – and finished the group stage as the leading scorer with 323 runs in seven matches as Namibia went 7-0 before losing to Afghanistan and Ireland in the knockout stage.That same year, van Schoor was recognised for his top form from Cricket Namibia after he was named 2012 Cricketer of the Year at their annual awards. Van Schoor served as both vice-captain and captain for Namibia in the past, leading Namibia a total of 40 times, including in the 2011-12 and 2012-13 Cricket South Africa Provincial One-Day Challenge and Three-Day Cup competitions.

Alex Lees has become Yorkshire’s youngest captain since Lord Hawke, the most formidable figure in the county’s history, upon being appointed to lead the side in one-day and Twenty20 cricket.

David Hopps05-Dec-2015Alex Lees has become Yorkshire’s youngest captain since Lord Hawke, the most formidable figure in the county’s history, upon being appointed to lead the side in one-day and Twenty20 cricket.At 22, Lees will become Yorkshire’s youngest-ever official limited-overs captain since the format was introduced in 1963. He is also the youngest-ever professional captain, Lord Hawke having no truck with anything as soiled as remuneration. Lees, as far as we know, will still draw his salary.Although Yorkshire have won the Championship twice in succession under Andrew Gale, and have supplied a steady stream of cricketers to England’s Test side in the process, their limited-overs cricket remains largely unproductive.There is even a suggestion – most regularly heard in the south – that the good folk of Yorkshire remain a little too sober-minded for the high-risk shenanigans of T20 cricket.At least Lees can be confident he takes over one of the most professional sides in English cricket. When Lord Hawke assumed control of Yorkshire in 1882, as their first amateur captain, it was said that he had taken over “a band of rogues and vagabonds”.ESPNcricinfo

Hawke soon put that right. He remains the most successful county captain ever, Yorkshire winning the County Championship a record eight times, and took an instructional view when it came to the lifestyles of those professionals under his command, instilling self-discipline and warning against the evils of alcohol. “Ye Gods, pray no professional should ever captain England,” he once said.Lees is not expected to offer lifestyle advice to his colleagues, especially as most of them are older than he is, although he does take to Twitter with a weekly recipe and to his shock has recently admitted he has become a fan of Justin Bieber. And Yorkshire’s head coach, Jason Gillespie, likes to reflect on the day’s play over a beer so an alcohol ban is unlikely.Yorkshire did reach the semi-finals of the Royal London Cup under Lees’ guidance after he took over from Gale as interim skipper in August, but their T20 cricket again disappointed large crowds at Headingley, leading the county to throw in youngster after youngster in their impatience to change the mould.Lees led Yorkshire eight times last season, but Yorkshire took time for further reflection before offering him the job full time. Gillespie said: “We thought he did a pretty good job. After considering a number of candidates, we feel Alex is the right fit for us as captain. He learnt a lot on the job last season and we think he can develop as a leader further. We are delighted to afford him this opportunity and believe that he will do a fantastic job for our club.”In 50-over cricket I thought we made some good strides last year, I thought we did a lot better than the previous year, but T20 cricket is something we still haven’t cracked. We are either very good or very ordinary.”Lees might have assumed control at a good time with the signing of David Willey, who has broken into England’s limited-overs sides, also expected to provide a catalyst when he is free from international commitments. Spin bowling, though, remains a weakness, especially when Adil Rashid is on England duty and Yorkshire’s signing of Australian batsmen Glen Maxwell and Aaron Finch did not bring the transformation envisaged.But he might regard Lord Hawke’s fate upon accepting the captaincy as a warning. He struggled for form in his first season. “I seemed to have shot my bolt – I just could not play myself in,” he recollected. Not that playing himself in is regarded as one of Lees’ priority to revive Yorkshire in T20. Quite the opposite.Lees said: “I’m really proud and it’s humbling that Yorkshire see me as the best option to take the club forward in one-day cricket irrespective of my age. With myself coming in, there’s a new direction and a new voice which will hopefully revitalise the team.””This is a big county with lots of potential and opportunity. I’m only 22, but I have a lot to offer as captain. I will be very open with my approach and will lean on the experienced players to drive us on and be successful. Everybody’s right to highlight that we have the squad to win one-day trophies now. We should seize that moment.”Yorkshire have not won a limited-overs trophy since 2002. They reached the T20 domestic final in 2012 but have disappointed since. Lord Hawke, a traditionalist to the core, would merely have sniffed and advised them to concentrate on the Championship.Lord Bradshaw, a potential new nickname, based upon the village near Halifax where Lees first took to the field as a four-year-old, may have a few things to say about that.

Nazmul Hossain Shanto, who made a match-winning 73, said Bangladesh consciously tried not to get overawed by the big stage, considering they had played South Africa in 11 out of the 14 matches leading into the Under-19 World Cup

Mohammad Isam in Chittagong27-Jan-2016There is a bit of fire about Liam Smith. Perhaps it was the pent up adrenaline after completing his first hundred at the under-19 level, or maybe even cramps on his leg that was bothering him. Or it just could be that South Africa’s 43-run loss to Bangladesh was hurting him even more.Standing few meters away from Smith was Nazmul Hossain Shanto, whose sparkling 73 set up Bangladesh’s win. He wasn’t beaming, but his body language had a mild strut to it. Upright, almost cocksure.Smith wasn’t exactly seething, but it was evident that the loss didn’t sit right with him, like it didn’t with Tony de Zorzi, the captain, and the rest of his team.It was a challenging day for the defending champions, and Smith played well throughout his nearly three-hour stay. His suppleness at the crease caught the eye, considering a lot of the cricket he’s played in his flourishing career has come on surfaces with more pace and bounce.He was good at using the depth of the crease and on occasions looked to dominate during his 146-ball innings that had nine fours and a six. Forty-seven singles and two twos punctuated his effort which could have been a match-winning effort had there been a couple of big partnerships.Smith was left to mostly play the anchor role before trying to up the ante at the end, but his innings was cut short courtesy a brilliant catch at cover by his counterpart Mehedi Hasan. Smith said the weather conditions were a bit challenging, even as he seemed to have worked out Bangladesh’s bowling quite well.”It is extremely hot,” Smith told ESPNcricinfo. “You do get tired quite quickly. The bowlers are playing at their home ground so they know how to bowl here, so it was quite difficult. We played against Bangladesh before (the two teams played two seven-match series in 2015), so we were well prepared. However, he was left to rue the lack of partnerships.”Only one of their bowlers has changed and we knew the pitches when practicing here. We did try [to build partnerships] so I can’t blame us. We would have won the game if we built bigger partnerships.”For Bangladesh, who displayed tremendous energy on the field and were on cruise control with the bat, this had been a highly anticipated game. Shanto, who was also part of the 2014 Under-19 World Cup squad, said he urged the rest of his teammates to not get overawed by the occasion. After all, they had beaten the same opponent in 11 out of 14 games last year.”There was a bit of nervousness today because we have some new guys in the team,” he said. “But at training yesterday and before we took the field, the only thing we talked about was to play our normal game. We can’t think of it as a World Cup game.”The experience of playing against them helped us. We knew where they would bowl and the strength of their batsmen. The wicket was for a 240-250 score batting first. The ball did stop a bit and scoring runs freely wasn’t easy but I think my own experience at this level helped me today. I knew what to do in this situation,” he said.Shanto said that he initially tried to base his innings on ones and twos, but didn’t hesitate to put the bad balls away. He struck four boundaries and three sixes in all during his 82-ball innings. “My first thought was to rotate the strike and only latch on to the bad balls,” he explained. “When we lost a couple of wickets, I thought I wouldn’t go for the shots but go ahead with singles. But it was hard to pick singles because the wicket was stopping a bit and they were fielding very well.”Bangladesh’s technical advisor Stuart Law said while Shanto stuck to the task expected of him, it would have been better if one of him, Pinak Ghosh and Joyraz Sheik carried on to make a big score. “This is Shanto’s job. He has instructions to bat through. He took his time but once he got in, he played some beautiful shots,” Law said. “It was disappointing that one or two others weren’t able to push on and get a really big score. We thought 241 would be tough to get if we bowled well.”I think South Africa bowled and fielded well to restrict us to 240. Their cover and midwicket cut off a lot of runs. I think we did what we could. We saw Smith get a 100. If we get one of our top-order to do that, we will get close to 300 runs.”It would be easy to think that Smith’s 100 went in vain but he hardly had anyone supporting him. Shanto however had Sheik and Mehedi at the other end making sure he didn’t have to do all the running.It was ultimately the difference in outcome between two splendid batting efforts.

Former PCB CEO succeeds Geoff Allardice, who held the post for eight years, before being appointed full-time ICC CEO

ESPNcricinfo staff22-Apr-2022Former PCB chief executive Wasim Khan has been appointed ICC’s General Manager of cricket. He is slated to start his new role next month, as he takes over from Geoff Allardice, who vacated the position last November.”I am honoured to be joining the ICC, I can’t wait to get started and work in partnership with our Members to strengthen and grow our sport,” Wasim was quoted in a press release by ICC. “I’m particularly excited by the ICC’s commitment to the growth of the women’s game, and I look forward to playing my part in really accelerating that growth over the next decade.”Related

• Wasim Khan steps down as PCB CEO

• ICC appoints Geoff Allardice full-time CEO

A left-hand batter in his playing days, Wasim played 58 first-class matches and 30 List A matches for Warwickshire, Sussex and Derbyshire. However, he is known more for his administrative roles, having served as the CEO of Cricket Foundation, Leicestershire County Cricket Club, and Chance to Shine in the past, apart from leading the PCB.Wasim was awarded an MBE, a British honour conferred upon a person for a particular achievement in their line of work, in 2013.Welcoming Wasim to the role, Allardice said: “I am delighted to welcome Wasim to the ICC. He brings an in-depth knowledge of our sport and its stakeholders, and his first-hand experience of the international cricket landscape will be of enormous benefit as we implement the ICC global growth strategy and move forward into a new events cycle.”Wasim was appointed CEO of PCB in 2019 but stepped down from the role in September 2021, four months before the end of his contract. He joins ICC after Allardice held the post for eight years before being appointed full-time ICC CEO.

Younis Khan has broken the 22-year-old record of Javed Miandad to become Pakistan’s leading Test run-scorer

Andrew McGlashan and Umar Farooq in Abu Dhabi13-Oct-2015After breaking the 22-year-old record of Javed Miandad to become Pakistan’s leading Test run-scorer, Younis Khan said he has the hunger to aim for the 10,000-run mark.Younis went past Miandad’s tally of 8832 runs in emphatic style when he lofted Moeen Ali over deep midwicket shortly after tea on the opening day in Abu Dhabi. Given the prolific 12 months he has had – averaging over 80 since last October – the expectation was of something significant but he was not at his most fluent and chipped Stuart Broad to short mid-on for 38.But Younis was relieved to have ticked off the milestone, saying that it had been on his mind since he moved within touching distance during the series against Sri Lanka earlier this year.”I kept on thinking about crossing Javed , the greatest batsman Pakistan had. I might not be as skilful as he was but I am feeling privileged to cross him. Due credit should also be given to him because he is the one whom I have been following and heeding his advice to make it possible.”Younis admitted he was nervous as the landmark approached, describing Miandad’s two decade-old record as like a “wall” in front of him that he had to “jump” to get across.”I had to push myself,” he said. “The last two weeks had been difficult because of fatigue, traveling and that’s the reason I just went with fast-forwarding mode and wanted to just do it at once.”With one weight lifted from his shoulders, Younis is now refocussing himself for a final push in the closing stages of his career although he said he felt he had at least two more years left in him at international level.”I am not satisfied yet and I don’t want to be complacent with these records. I feel I can do more than this,” he said. “Every day is a new day, every innings is a new one and every moment in the game is a new one so I think of all the advice from Javed . I don’t want to relax and want to carry on with my runs.”Someday I might be satisfied with my goals and achievements but I am pushing myself for more. I believe in next the two years if I remain in the same mode I see myself bigger than this and would like to score 10,000 runs.”Ahead of the first Test against England, Pakistan captain Misbah-ul-Haq paid tribute to Younis’ role as a fulcrum of the middle order.”It’s always an honour to share dressing room with players like Younis Khan,” he said. “He has always been the key man in the Pakistan sides, so important for our wins and has been doing well for the last few years. He is really performing well with an average of 54 which is great and we always love the way he plays and the way he helps every other player, especially the youngsters and it’s an honour to play with him.”The other player Younis overtook, Inzamam-ul-Haq, narrowly failed to take the record off Miandad in 2007 when he was stumped for 3 in his final Test innings against South Africa in Lahore.