ACS Overseas First-Class Annual 2015

Rest of the World in 2014/15 This section includes Namibia’s five home matches in the Sunfoil 3-Day Cup, in which they compete alongside thirteen other sides from South Africa. For the final tables of the Cup, in which Namibia finished winless at the bottom of Pool B, see the South Africa section. Also included are Pakistan’s five ‘home’ Tests in the United Arab Emirates, played in October and November: two against Australia and three against New Zealand. These games produced some remarkable cricket. Australia had been riding high after a triumphant Test season in 2013/14; but their visit to the UAE brought them down to earth with a bump. Pakistan spun their way to wins by margins of 221 runs and 356 runs - the latter their biggest-ever Test win by a runs margin, and Australia’s third-heaviest defeat by runs. Younis Khan’s feat of scoring a century in each innings at Dubai was emulated by both Azhar Ali and Misbah-ul-Haq at Abu Dhabi, where Misbah became the first 40-year-old ever to score two hundreds in the same Test. In the second innings he batted with uncharacteristic flair to reach his 50 off a record 21 balls, and his century off 56 balls to equal Viv Richards’ 28-year-old Test record. Against New Zealand, Pakistan carried on where they had left off against Australia, with a huge win in the first Test. But the Kiwis proved more obdurate than the Kangaroos; a fighting draw in the second Test was followed by a brilliant win in the third, as a mammoth 297-run stand by Brendon McCullum and Kane Williamson wrested the initiative from Pakistan, and the previously unsung off-spinner Mark Craig claimed 10-203 in the match. The final match in this section is the annual game between MCC and the previous season’s County Champions, Yorkshire, played in Abu Dhabi in late March. Yorkshire won comfortably by nine wickets. This section usually features some matches in the Intercontinental Cup, but the 2014/15 season fell into an interval between the sixth and seventh editions of the Cup. The next competition will run from 2015 to 2017 and its early matches will be found in the ‘Matches in 2015’ section. 595