England’s new era started with a win over New Zealand at Lord’s last week, but it would be inaccurate to say they were convincing.
They required a fourth-innings classic from Joe Root to drag them to it, and plenty of questions remain for both sides ahead of the second Test at Trent Bridge on Friday. Here are a few of the talking points ahead of that game.
England unchanged
England have opted not to change a winning formula, and retained the same XI for the second Test – sort of.
Jack Leach started the game at Lord’s, but missed most of it because of concussion.
He has been passed fit to return to the line-up, meaning Matt Parkinson – who bolted from a barbecue to Lord’s to make his debut – slips back out of the side.
Trent Bridge is not generally regarded as favouring spinners, but Leach does have good memories of the ground.
He has only played there three times – and never in a Test – but the last time he did so, for county side Somerset, he took six for 36, which is among his best ever returns in first-class cricket.
The Broaderson test
Whether England’s revival is going to be sustained depends largely on their batting line up discovering more of a backbone.
The seam attack was in good working order in the opening Test. It hardly seemed as though James Anderson and Stuart Broad had been away, given how seamlessly they slipped back into the old routine.
If New Zealand’s batters found the task of facing them at Lord’s tough, they might find it even more exacting this week.
Trent Bridge is Broad’s home ground, and some of his greatest moments in an England shirt – a hat-trick against India, eight for 15 in the Ashes – have come there.
And yet Anderson’s record at the ground is even better. Broad has taken 41 Test wickets at 23.80 there, while his new-ball partner has 68 at 19.44.
Captain’s struggles
Class is permanent, so it is safe to assume Kane Williamson will return to his best at some point.
But will it be soon enough to play a role in turning around this series for his side?
New Zealand’s captain has only passed 50 once in his past eight innings in Tests.
That is hardly the longest extended rut in history, but given what went before that, it definitely represents a cooling off.
In his four innings preceding this run, he made two doubles centuries, and another single one besides.
Having been dismissed cheaply twice by debutant Matthew Potts at Lord’s, Williamson needs to bounce back.
Patel’s fall
Williamson is not the only New Zealander to follow boom time with woe.
Ajaz Patel became just the third player in history to take 10 wickets in a Test innings, on tour in India back in December.
His reward was to be dropped. The Test match at Lord’s was his first since then, but he, too, came back down to earth with a bump.
Patel was given just two overs to bowl in the match, and was taken apart in those by Ben Stokes.
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Milestones on the road to union
1970
October 26: Bahrain withdraws from a proposal to create a federation of nine with the seven Trucial States and Qatar.
December: Ahmed Al Suwaidi visits New York to discuss potential UN membership.
1971
March 1: Alex Douglas Hume, Conservative foreign secretary confirms that Britain will leave the Gulf and “strongly supports” the creation of a Union of Arab Emirates.
July 12: Historic meeting at which Sheikh Zayed and Sheikh Rashid make a binding agreement to create what will become the UAE.
July 18: It is announced that the UAE will be formed from six emirates, with a proposed constitution signed. RAK is not yet part of the agreement.
August 6: The fifth anniversary of Sheikh Zayed becoming Ruler of Abu Dhabi, with official celebrations deferred until later in the year.
August 15: Bahrain becomes independent.
September 3: Qatar becomes independent.
November 23-25: Meeting with Sheikh Zayed and Sheikh Rashid and senior British officials to fix December 2 as date of creation of the UAE.
November 29: At 5.30pm Iranian forces seize the Greater and Lesser Tunbs by force.
November 30: Despite a power sharing agreement, Tehran takes full control of Abu Musa.
November 31: UK officials visit all six participating Emirates to formally end the Trucial States treaties
December 2: 11am, Dubai. New Supreme Council formally elects Sheikh Zayed as President. Treaty of Friendship signed with the UK. 11.30am. Flag raising ceremony at Union House and Al Manhal Palace in Abu Dhabi witnessed by Sheikh Khalifa, then Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi.
December 6: Arab League formally admits the UAE. The first British Ambassador presents his credentials to Sheikh Zayed.
December 9: UAE joins the United Nations.
The Perfect Couple
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Creator: Jenna Lamia
Rating: 3/5
Test
Director: S Sashikanth
Cast: Nayanthara, Siddharth, Meera Jasmine, R Madhavan
Star rating: 2/5
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Recent winners
2002 Giselle Khoury (Colombia)
2004 Nathalie Nasralla (France)
2005 Catherine Abboud (Oceania)
2007 Grace Bijjani (Mexico)
2008 Carina El-Keddissi (Brazil)
2009 Sara Mansour (Brazil)
2010 Daniella Rahme (Australia)
2011 Maria Farah (Canada)
2012 Cynthia Moukarzel (Kuwait)
2013 Layla Yarak (Australia)
2014 Lia Saad (UAE)
2015 Cynthia Farah (Australia)
2016 Yosmely Massaad (Venezuela)
2017 Dima Safi (Ivory Coast)
2018 Rachel Younan (Australia)
Rashid & Rajab
Director: Mohammed Saeed Harib
Stars: Shadi Alfons, Marwan Abdullah, Doaa Mostafa Ragab
Two stars out of five
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Two-step truce
The UN-brokered ceasefire deal for Hodeidah will be implemented in two stages, with the first to be completed before the New Year begins, according to the Arab Coalition supporting the Yemeni government.
By midnight on December 31, the Houthi rebels will have to withdraw from the ports of Hodeidah, Ras Issa and Al Saqef, coalition officials told The National.
The second stage will be the complete withdrawal of all pro-government forces and rebels from Hodeidah city, to be completed by midnight on January 7.
The process is to be overseen by a Redeployment Co-ordination Committee (RCC) comprising UN monitors and representatives of the government and the rebels.
The agreement also calls the deployment of UN-supervised neutral forces in the city and the establishment of humanitarian corridors to ensure distribution of aid across the country.
FIGHT CARD
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Marcos Costa (BRA) v Abdelhakim Wahid (MAR)
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8. Catchweight 73kg
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9. Featherweight 66kg
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Company Fact Box
Company name/date started: Abwaab Technologies / September 2019
Founders: Hamdi Tabbaa, co-founder and CEO. Hussein Alsarabi, co-founder and CTO
Based: Amman, Jordan
Sector: Education Technology
Size (employees/revenue): Total team size: 65. Full-time employees: 25. Revenue undisclosed
Stage: early-stage startup
Investors: Adam Tech Ventures, Endure Capital, Equitrust, the World Bank-backed Innovative Startups SMEs Fund, a London investment fund, a number of former and current executives from Uber and Netflix, among others.
Sholto Byrnes on Myanmar politics
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TV: World Cup Qualifier 2018 matches will be aired on on OSN Sports HD Cricket channel
Mohammed bin Zayed Majlis
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Tank warfare
Lt Gen Erik Petersen, deputy chief of programs, US Army, has argued it took a “three decade holiday” on modernising tanks.
“There clearly remains a significant armoured heavy ground manoeuvre threat in this world and maintaining a world class armoured force is absolutely vital,” the general said in London last week.
“We are developing next generation capabilities to compete with and deter adversaries to prevent opportunism or miscalculation, and, if necessary, defeat any foe decisively.”
