as brief as it was eventful - he might have been run out and bowled in the space of two deliveries, before Broad delivered him a

The NSW Swifts must break through two big historical barriers to overcome arch-rivals Queensland Firebirds in the trans-Tasman netball Australian conference final.Despite their record as a netball powerhouse, the Swifts have surprisingly lost all 10 matches theyve ever contested in Brisbane, including last years epic grand final which was decided by one goal at the death.Its just as well that Mondays big match wont be won on paper as Swifts fans will be further concerned to learn the Firebirds have never lost a finals match in Brisbane.First though, the New Zealand conference final will be contested on Sunday, with the unbeaten Southern Steel hosting Waikato-BOP Magic in Invercargill.Magic are the only one of the 10 teams to have made each of the nine finals series, but they will start as underdogs against a Steel side that scored 10-goal wins over them in both regular season clashes.The Firebirds are the first defending champions from Australia to make it back to the finals the following season.Theyve done it just in time, with the competition finishing in its ninth year and being replaced in 2017 by separate tournaments in Australian and New Zealand.The Swifts can take heart from the fact they won their last scrap with the Firebirds in late May in front of a competition-record crowd of 13,314 at Sydneys Qudos Bank Arena.The two teams met at the corresponding stage of last years tournament, but the Swifts will be much more rested than they were before the 2015 Australian conference final.They lost to the Firebirds by 11 in Brisbane, less than 48 hours after winning a home elimination game.We had to play on the Friday night and then had to travel Saturday and play the Sunday lunchtime, Swifts goal attack Susan Pettitt recalled.That was obviously an experience and something that was very difficult for us to do, turning around in that quick a time to match up against the Firebirds, who are a quality side.Weve had an eight-day turnaround (this year), so its a little bit longer than a normal week.Mentally and physically its an advantage to have the whole week to prepare to get our bodies right from the last game and to work on things we want to work on. 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The candidates -- all previously announced in their own countries -- are: Almaty, Kazakhstan; Beijing; Krakow, Poland; Lviv, Ukraine; Oslo, Norway; and Stockholm. Joe Flacco Jersey . -- Peyton Manning will have all of his wide receivers available for the first time in a month when the Denver Broncos begin their playoff run Jan. Bangladesh 248 and 253 for 8 (Sabbir 59*, Taijul 11*) need another 33 runs to beat England 293 and 240 (Stokes 85, Bairstow 47, Shakib 5-85) Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsBangladeshs hopes of securing their greatest Test victory were in the hands of their debutant batsman, Sabbir Rahman, and his final two tail-end partners, after an enthralling fourth day at Chittagong finished with three of the four results possible, and history on the cards for Test crickets youngest nation.The situation at stumps, after a sensational final session played out in front of a fervent, expectant and ever-growing crowd, was simple. Bangladesh, chasing 286 for victory, were 33 runs short with two wickets remaining and Sabbir standing tall on 59 not out from 93 balls - a supremely gutsy performance from a man who utilised his experience in ODI and T20 cricket to break down the chase into calm and manageable chunks.Alongside him at the close was the redoubtable figure of Taijul Islam, whom Sabbir trusted with the strike as he accepted every single on offer from a deep-set field, and who subverted all conventional tactics in the final over of the days play by swiping Gareth Batty for two ambitious lofted strokes down the ground, to reach the close unbeaten on 11 in a ninth-wicket stand of 15.England, by that stage, had earned the right to be considered favourites once again, having cracked the crucial partnership of the innings - Sabbirs 87-run stand for the sixth wicket with Mushfiqur Rahim - before dispatching two more of Bangladeshs debutants, Mehedi Hasan and Kamrul Islam Rabbi, with minimum fuss.But, with a notable lack of faith in his trio of spinners (notwithstanding a hard-earned three-wicket haul for Batty) Alastair Cook telegraphed his teams anxiety throughout a gripping final session. The new ball, due in two overs time and such a key weapon throughout this contest, may well be ignored if Ben Stokes and his fellow seamers can locate the sort of reverse swing that derailed Bangladeshs first innings when play resumes on the final morning.It was a far cry from Englands ambition at the very top of the innings. After being bowled out for 240 in the first 20 minutes of the day, England had made their intentions plain from the outset by handing the new ball to two spinners, Batty and Moeen, for the first time since the Lords Test against South Africa in 2008.Both men bowled some unplayable deliveries, but Bangladeshs attitude was established in a skilful and aggressive 43 from Imrul Kayes, who found a means to counterattack in style, sweeping with intent to disrupt their lengths and pick off his boundaries behind square, while playing with confidence off the back foot in between whiles.Tapping into their recent success in one-day run-chases, Bangladesh were happy to live dangerously in the opening overs - Tamim in particular twice came close to holing out - but their positive mindset sowed some early seeds of doubt in Cooks mind, as he shed a few close catchers to patrol his boundaries. Nevertheless, Englands patient approach slowly reaped its rewards, and after removing Tamim and Kayes before lunch - the latter caught on the sweep as he attacked Adil Rashid out of the rough - Batty returned with a spring in his step and an extra zip through his action, to grab two lbws in eight balls and put England firmly in command at 108 for 4.Bangladeshs middle-order, however, contains two of their toughest nuts in Mushfiqur and Shakib Al Hasan, and for the best part of an hour, the pair pushed back against the tide. Mushfiqur produced yet another unflustered display of patience, skill and experience - he has, after all, been playing Test cricket for longer even than Cook, Englands newly crowned most-capped cricketer - while Shakib seemed eager to atone for his wasteful dismissal in the first innings. A pair of fizzing boundaries off Rashid lifted the spirits of the crowd - a slammed drive through mid-off and a vast bottom-handed swipe over long-on for six - but, on 24, he received the best ball of the innings to date, a perfect ripping offbreak from Moeen that he couldnt help but nick to the keeper.Enterr Sabbir, with the chase in the balance at 140 for 5.ddddddddddddHis performance featured two distinct tempos - firstly, when he arrived at the crease in the 41st over, Sabbirs one-day instincts were to go for his shots, and with two big sixes and a four in his first 25 runs before tea, he gave a nervous crowd plenty reasons to cheer as their numbers and belief mounted with every stroke.After tea, however, he was sufficiently confident to retreat back into his shell without losing any of his intent. England resumed the final session with 107 runs to defend and, with the ball exactly 50 overs old, Cooks instinct was to revert to the familiarity of his seamers - Stokes from one end, Chris Woakes from the other - with Rashids legspin thrown into the equation after half an hour of attrition in a bid to buy a breakthrough.Stuart Broad, who had bowled a total of four overs in the first two sessions, joined the fray with a tight angled line into the off stump. But with the reverse-swing of the first innings proving hard to replicate, Mushfiqur and Sabbir had no reason to rush their approach. With caution on the front foot and an eye for the occasional flick off the pads, the pair ground down the requirement on a ball-by-ball basis, embracing the need to take the match into the fifth day if required, in spite of the mounting excitement in the stands.On 34, Sabbir had the moment of good fortune that most players need in such tense scenarios, when Jonny Bairstow - whose glovework had been impressive for much of the match - failed to gather a thin leg-side tickle as Broad strayed onto the pads. It was a tough opportunity, but the sort that needed to be taken, and Englands frustrations mounted after the drinks break when Broads second over of the restart was taken for two boundaries, Bangladeshs first for 19 overs. A short ball was gleefully pounded in front of square by Mushfiqur, before Broad fizzed a yorker out of the footholes and away for four byes.Cook had no option but to revert back to his spinners, and the situation looked ominous when Battys second delivery was paddle-swept through fine leg for four by Sabbir. But, before the over was out, Batty had made the critical breakthrough, bursting a leaping offbreak through the top of the pitch and into Mushfiqurs glove, for Ballance to snaffle at leg slip.The breakthrough had come with 59 runs still required, but if Sabbir had any doubts about the task now in his hands alone, he banished them in style, drilling Batty out of the rough through long-off to bring up his maiden half-century from 76 balls.But Sabbir couldnt bat at both ends at once, and two of his fellow debutants came and went with minimal resistance. Mehedi was pinned on the crease by a nipbacker from Broad for 1, before Rabbi endured a three-ball stay that was as brief as it was eventful - he might have been run out and bowled in the space of two deliveries, before Broad delivered him a pair on debut courtesy of another important grab from Ballance at short leg.With the light fading and 48 runs the requirement, Sabbir declined the temptation to farm the strike and regularly helped himself to a single off the first ball to expose his partner, Taijul. The tactic kept England frustrated to the close, with Broad completing a valiant nine-over spell that went for 12 runs in total, although Taijul was lucky to survive on 3 when a thick edge from Batty fizzed through the cordon at a catchable height. Cooks refusal to bowl spin from both ends spoke volumes as the umpires called off the chase in the twilight.Win, lose or tie, this has been a contest to savour, on a surface that deserves huge praise for offering a distinctly subcontinental challenge without descending into a puff-of-dust farce. And whatever the outcome, Bangladesh have played their part and more in the most compelling Test match in this country since Australias terrific scare at Fatullah in 2006. On Monday, within an hour of the resumption, Sabbir could have made himself a national hero. ' ' '