If
Younis Khan had retired after the World Cup, his one-day career would have ended with no guard of honour or acknowledgment to the fans. He clearly felt this mattered, winning a recall for a final ODI then immediately announcing his ODI retirement after the match. The innings was not momentous, the crowd was not huge, but the guard of honour from his team-mates was hastily assembled and he went, bat brandished in acknowledgment, into the one-day sunset.
With Mohammad Irfan delivering from about three feet above
James Taylor head, such is their difference in height, attention was on whether even on this surface he might be unsettled by bounce. What he can't have planned for was the delivery that flew at him on the full above waist height. It should have been called a no-ball, but for some reason it wasn't. Taylor was happy to emerge unscathed.
Jos Buttler was dropped for the final Test in Sharjah after averaging only 13 since the start of the Ashes series. He must have hoped a switch to ODI mode would bring a change of luck, but after Buttler had faced two balls, James Taylor drew him into a push-and-run single into the leg side and Azhar Ali, not even needing a direct hit, ran him out by a foot. It was cruel on Buttler - and an embarrassing error for Taylor.
Should we review it? Pitched in line? What do you think? Pakistan spilled well over their 15-second maximum in considering whether they should review a refused lbw appeal against Taylor. By the time Azhar had come to a view, it was too late, umpire Ahsan Raza refused to accept the request, and Shoaib Malik went unrewarded as replays showed it would have been overturned.
Bilal Asif attracted Pakistan's attention because of a rapid hundred in domestic T20 cricket, so there was some logic in trying him out at the top of the order, but it never looked like working as he became one of three new-ball victims for Reece Topley, the left-armer nipping one back into his pads to win an lbw on review.