New Zealand beat Pakistan by nine wickets in Tri-series
NFL to discuss roughing calls, no change imminent
CHRISTCHURCH, New Zealand, Oct 11, (AP): Finn Allen and Devon Conway shared a 117-run opening partnership as New Zealand cruised to a nine-wicket win over Pakistan with almost four overs remaining Tuesday in the Twenty20 Tri-Series.
Allen made 62 including a half century from 32 balls and Conway followed his match-winning 70 against Bangladesh on the weekend with an unbeaten 49 on Tuesday as New Zealand easily surpassed Pakistan’s 130-7.
Conway underlined his importance to the Black Caps ahead of the T20 World Cup with consecutive unbeaten innings. Allen took a moment to judge the pace and bounce of the pitch at Hadley Oval, then went on to 62 from 42 balls with six sixes, marking himself as a player to watch when the world tournament starts later this month.
Pakistan and New Zealand are level in the series with two wins each from three matches, while Bangladesh are yet to win. The next match is between New Zealand and Bangladesh on Thursday.
New Zealand’s win Tuesday was set up by the bowlers. Mitchell Santner conceded 11 runs from his opening over then joined with Michael Bracewell to uproot Pakistan’s top order.
The pair combined to contain Pakistan’s powerful batters, sharing four of the first five wickets.
Bracewell, who took 2-14 in New Zealand’s eight-wicket win over Bangladesh on Sunday, bettered that with 2-11.
He claimed the first Pakistan wicket to fall, dismissing Mohammad Rizwan for 16. Rizwan fell in the manner of several Pakistan batters who made the mistake of trying to hit the ball down the ground.
With the ball turning a little and holding in the surface of a worn pitch, it was always dangerous to try and hit lofted straight shots.
“I wouldn’t say there was huge amount of turn,” Bracewell said. “The ball was just holding in the wicket and bouncing a bit which creates the illusion of turn.
“It was a slightly different role today. Bowling in the power-play makes it a bit nerve-wracking against world-class batsmen. I’m really enjoying the role that I’m playing and just providing quality overs for the team.”
Shan Masood gave Santner his first wicket when he was out for 14. He was enticed by a flighted delivery outside off stump to also go down the ground but couldn’t clear long-on, where Bracewell took the catch.
Shadab Khan (8) fell in the same manner. Santner again tossed the ball up outside off and Shadab holed out to Tim Southee at long-on.
Bracewell then claimed the vital wicket of Pakistan captain Babar Azam. He tossed up a slower ball which floated away from the batter and Babar feathered an edge to Devon Conway behind the wicket.
Leg spinner Ish Sodhi got into the act with the wicket of Haider Ali who also was deceived in flight and was caught at long-on. Pakistan was 77-5 in the 14th and under pressure to lift its scoring rate.
Southee made that difficult in the later overs, removing Iftikhar Ahmed and Mohammad Nawaz to finish with 2-31.
Pakistan was 91-5 after 15 overs but the earlier wickets made the last five overs less profitable than they might have been.
The New Zealanders had the chance in fielding first to study the nature of the pitch. When they batted they looked to hit squarer and the tactic paid off, especially for Allen who hit one of his sixes out of the ground.
“I think our first innings was a little bit slow,” Babar said. “We will sit down now and discuss our mistakes and be better in the next match.
“We had a bad day and I think in the batting we were not up to the mark. With 150 or 160 it’s possible to defend, but not with 130.”
WASHINGTON, Oct 11, (AP): The NFL did not give officials a directive to emphasize roughing-the-passer penalties following Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa’s concussion, but the topic will be discussed next week when NFL owners meet in New York, a person with direct knowledge of the matter told The Associated Press.
The person, speaking on condition of anonymity because the conversations are internal, said the league isn’t planning to make any rule changes amid outrage over two disputed calls in Week 5. Roughing-the-passer penalties are down 45% from this point last year. Through Week 5 in 2021, 51 were called. Only 28 have been called this season, according to league stats.
The league’s Competition Committee - comprised of six team owners/executives and four head coaches - makes most of the recommendations for rule changes. Teams can also propose rule changes to be voted on by owners, which require 24 votes to pass.
One idea, suggested by Chiefs defensive tackle Chris Jones on Monday night after he was flagged, might be to allow video review of roughing calls.
That is unlikely, acccording to a person with knowledge of the situation.
The league already went down that road, making pass interference reviewable for one season after an egregious missed foul late in the fourth quarter in the NFC championship in January 2019 cost the New Orleans Saints a trip to the Super Bowl.
The experiment failed miserably and the rule wasn’t considered the next year.
Protecting quarterbacks is a priority for owners, who pay big bucks for the faces of their franchises. Twenty-five QBs are making at least $25 million this season.
The questionable call against Jones - the second in two days - nearly cost Kansas City in its 30-29 comeback victory over the Las Vegas Raiders.
The Chiefs had just scored to trim their deficit to 17-7 when Jones stripped Raiders quarterback Derek Carr from behind just before halftime. The Pro Bowl defensive tackle landed on Carr while also coming up with the ball - replays showed it was clearly loose and that Jones cleanly recovered - but referee Carl Cheffers threw a flag for roughing the passer.
“The quarterback is in the pocket and he’s in a passing posture. He gets full protection of all the aspects of what we give the quarterback in a passing posture,” Cheffers told a pool reporter after the game. “My ruling was the defender landed on him with full body weight. The quarterback is protected from being tackled with full body weight.”
On Sunday, Falcons defensive tackle Grady Jarrett was flagged by referee Jerome Boger for a seemingly harmless sack on Tom Brady. The penalty gave the Buccaneers a first down and allowed them to run out the clock on a 21-15 victory.
Boger made a similar critical call late in the fourth quarter of the Ravens-Bills game a week earlier on a play that many also thought didn’t to warrant a flag.
Boger called another borderline roughing penalty in the FalconsBuccaneers game when Vita Vea was pushed into Atlanta quarterback Marcus Mariota.
Roughing the passer is the only rule where referees are instructed to err on the side of caution.
The NFL rulebook notes: “When in doubt about a roughness call or potentially dangerous tactic against the quarterback, the referee should always call roughing the passer.”
Jones, who has been flagged for roughing the passer nine times in his career, has a solution.
“We’ve got to be able to review it in the booth, you know what I mean?” Jones said. “I think that’s the next step for the NFL as a whole. If we’re going to call it a penalty at that high (of rate), then we’ve got to be able to review it and make sure, because sometimes looks can be deceiving.”
Meanwhile,Las Vegas Raiders receiver Davante Adams could be suspended or fined for shoving a photographer to the ground as he left the field following Monday night’s loss at Kansas City.