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Sri Lanka were quick to lose six in their second innings, but took their lead past 450

Mohammad Isam01-Apr-2024Asitha Fernando put Bangladesh on the backfoot with a four-wicket haul, as the hosts collapsed to 178 all out on the third day in Chattogram. Sri Lanka themselves slipped to 102 for 6 with debutant Hasan Mahmud picking up four of those wickets. But the visitors’ lead stands at a formidable 455 runs at stumps after they didn’t enforce the follow-on on Bangladesh.The Sri Lankan fast bowlers attacked in pairs and benefited greatly from captain Dhananjaya de Silva’s innovative field placings. Vishwa Fernando, Lahiru Kumara and Prabath Jayasuriya took two wickets each as Bangladesh slipped from 96 for 1 to be bowled out in the next 35.5 overs.It was also their fifth successive sub-200 score in Tests, as their batting crumbled on either side of the lunch break on the third day.Bangladesh started the day confidently. For the first time in the series, two home batters – Zakir Hasan and nightwatcher Taijul Islam – looked in some control. Zakir, unbeaten overnight on 28, struck two confident fours in the first two overs. He reached his fourth Test fifty with a streaky four but looked mostly in control.Sri Lanka had a few whiffs of a wicket but Zakir and Taijul kept them at bay for an hour and 19 minutes in the morning session. That changed spectacularly when Vishwa burst an inswinger through Zakir sending the leg-stump for a cartwheel. Soon after, Prabath got Najmul Hossain Shanto to chip one to short midwicket.Bangladesh lost a third wicket in three overs when the left-arm quick Vishwa got another of his fast in-duckers ripping through Taijul’s defences. The nightwatcher, sent in at No. 3 on the second evening, resisted for an impressive 61 balls.Sri Lanka continued the pressure after lunch when Asitha set up Shakib Al Hasan with a two-card trick. After bowling a series of short balls, he surprised the left-hander with a full ball that struck his front pad plumb. Shakib in his first Test innings in almost 12 months fell for 15.Three balls later, Asitha removed Litton Das. The wicketkeeper-batter, under fire for his careless shot in Sylhet last week, struck a nice cover drive before edging a straight, slightly wide delivery from Asitha. Kumara then got Shahadat Hossain to edge one to second slip.Sri Lanka dropped two catches around this time, while Mominul Haque became the fourth Bangladeshi batter to reach 4,000 Test runs. The experienced left-hander batted confidently on the ground where he has seven Test centuries. But Asitha’s yorker resulted in his lbw dismissal, for 33. Khaled Ahmed fell in Asitha’s next over, another yorker, giving the fast bowler his fourth wicket of the innings.Hasan Mahmud took four Sri Lanka wickets on the third day•AFP/Getty Images

The pacers’ domination continued in Chattogram when Mahmud and Khaled rocked Sri Lanka with six wickets.Dimuth Karunaratne and Kusal Mendis were cleaned up by Mahmud and Khaled respectively. Mahmud then removed Nishan Madushka, Dinesh Chandimal and Dhananjaya in consecutive overs in his second spell.Madushka struck one to extra cover while Shahadat Hossain finally caught one in the slips, removing Chandimal for 9. De Silva was caught behind for 1, as Mahmud was rewarded for his off-stump channel consistency.Khaled rounded up the day with Kamindu Mendis’ wicket, edging one behind the wicket for 9. Captain Shanto took the timely review which showed the edge. Bangladesh’s fielders enjoyed the wickets; at one stage, five fielders from the slip cordon chased an edge to the boundary much to the tiny crowd’s glee. The players walked off slightly happier than earlier in the day although they have a mountain to climb in the fourth innings.

Mehidy Hasan Miraz has been left out of the T20I squad while mystery spinner Al Islam earns maiden call-up

Mohammad Isam13-Feb-2024Shakib Al Hasan’s eye condition has kept him out of Bangladesh’s ODI and T20I squads for the upcoming home series against Sri Lanka. However on the same day that the selectors announced the squads for the Sri Lanka series, Shakib struck a whirlwind 31-ball 69 for Rangpur Riders in a BPL game in Chattogram.Shakib had reportedly said that batting was an issue for him – he demoted himself down the order for Rangpur before returning to the top three in the recent games.Chief selector Minhajul Abedin, who will be relieved of his duties from February 28, selected his last squads of his eight-year stint. Mehidy Hasan Miraz, the vice-captain of the T20I side, was left out among six changes. Afif Hossain, Shamim Hossain, Tanvir Islam, Hasan Mahmud and Rony Talukdar were also left out.Instead Anamul Haque, Mohammad Naim, Mahmudullah, Taijul Islam and Taskin Ahmed were brought back. Mystery spinner Aliss Al Islam, who is currently in action for Comilla Victorians in the BPL, earned his maiden call-up to the national side.Mahmudullah returned to the T20I side after more than a year, having scored two fifties so far for Fortune Barishal in this BPL season. Mahmudullah, though, has been a regular in the ODI team, having only missed the New Zealand tour last December. Taijul Islam and Taskin Ahmed were also back in the T20I squad. However, there was no room for Rakibul Hasan, Afif Hossain and Hasan Mahmud. Rakibul is a young left-arm spinner while Afif and Mahmud lost their places in both white-ball sides.Bangladesh will play the three T20Is against Sri Lanka in Sylhet on March 4, 6 and 9. The ODIs will be held in Chattogram on March 13, 15 and 18.

Bangladesh T20I squad

Najmul Hossain Shanto (capt), Litton Das, Anamul Haque, Mohammad Naim, Tawhid Hridoy, Soumya Sarkar, Mahedi Hasan, Mahmudullah, Taijul Islam, Rishad Hossain, Taskin Ahmed, Mustafizur Rahman, Shoriful Islam, Tanzim Hasan, Aliss Al IslamIn: Anamul Haque, Mohammad Naim, Mahmudullah, Taijul Islam, Taskin Ahmed, Aliss Al IslamOut: Mehidy Hasan Miraz (vc), Afif Hossain, Shamim Hossain, Tanvir Islam, Hasan Mahmud, Rony Talukdar (wk)

Bangladesh ODI squad

Najmul Hossain Shanto (capt), Anamul Haque, Soumya Sarkar, Tanzid Hasan Tamim, Litton Das, Mushfiqur Rahim, Tawhid Hridoy, Mahmudullah, Mehidy Hassan Miraz, Taijul Islam, Rishad Hossain, Taskin Ahmed, Shoriful Islam, Tanzim Hasan Sakib, Mustafizur RahmanIn: Mahmudullah, Taijul Islam, Taskin AhmedOut: Rakibul Hasan, Afif Hossain, Hasan Mahmud

The Australia captain believes his team needs to learn from the way Eoin Morgan’s men bat without fear

Daniel Brettig15-Jan-2018Three years ago, England looked to the World Cup finallists Australia and New Zealand for the combination of power and freedom that would take them out of the ODI doldrums. Now Australia’s captain Steven Smith admitted that his side must take heed of the unbridled fury exhibited by Eoin Morgan’s side to return to the top of the 50-over game.Jason Roy’s record England score made the headlines on Sunday night at the MCG, but it was emblematic of a wider approach where most of the top-order batsmen have the licence to attack. The recall of Alex Hales slid Joe Root down to No. 4, if anything a better post from which to act as England’s rudder while other batsmen put three sheets to the wind.Smith, who has seen Australia slip away from the best of the world’s ODI practitioners over the past year amid plenty of changes to the line-up, said that England’s approach needed to be considered by Australia ahead of the 2019 World Cup. “England’s got to be up there as one of the best teams in the world in one-day cricket at the moment,” he said. “It just looks like the way they play is for everyone to go really hard and Joe Root is sort of the rock in the middle. He just plays good cricket and guys bat around him.”That works for them and it’s something that we might have to think about as well. Having guys that are going really hard and having someone, it might be me, who just bats normally and then you see how you go. I guess when you do that, perhaps you’re going to have days where you get bowled out for not many. But you back your players to come off maybe more often than not and get those big totals. That’s what the English players are doing at the moment. They’re playing with such freedom and have pretty good game plans.”Through history, ODI cricket has been dominated either by outstanding teams – think West Indies 1975 to 1983 or Australia 1999 to 2007 – or those prepared to push new boundaries, whether it was Australia setting new fielding and strike-rotation standards in 1987, Pakistan chasing wickets over economy in 1992, or Sri Lanka bossing the early overs in 1996. Morgan has stated bluntly that this is England’s goal, and his attitude to a chase of 305 on Sunday only underlined the fact.”I certainly would have taken it at the start, 300 these days isn’t quite a big total to chase down,” he told . “Certainly in the last couple of years we’ve found ourselves on the right side of it so it wasn’t a huge task. It was surrounded by Jason’s incredible innings, but I’ve no doubt somebody else would’ve put their hand up if needed.”We are going with the mantra that we always need to be on top of our game and testing the opposition the whole time. We have done that a bit with the bat, we will try and continue taking wickets with the ball. This time next year we need to be in a good enough space to be contenders for the World Cup. To be in that space you need to be setting or bucking trends or being able to adapt. We are very open-minded with the way we are going. Also the best way to address it is to be on the front foot.”Both teams lost wickets in clumps on Sunday. The difference however was that Australia’s early struggles against a swift Mark Wood sapped momentum from the early part of the innings, whereas Roy and Jonny Bairstow supercharged England’s chase in such a way that Root was able to play without undue haste in establishing a longer union with Roy. Their stand assumed far larger dimensions than the equivalent partnership between Aaron Finch and Mitchell Marsh.Aaron Finch was in terrific touch from the first ball of his innings•Getty Images

“I think we probably left ourselves a bit short, we had a good opportunity at 3 for 196 with 14 overs to go and then we lost two wickets, the two set batters, pretty quickly,” Smith said. “Stoinis and Painey had to reset and probably did well to get up over 300 at that point in time, but if a couple batters stayed for a little bit longer and gave ourselves that chance to really go hard at the back end we probably could’ve got up around 340, which was probably where we needed to be.”It was pleasing [Finch and Marsh] were able to form a nice partnership. They played some good cricket for that period there. They hit the loose balls, hit the ball to the areas that they wanted to hit it to and rotated the strike really well.”That’s what they needed to do in the middle overs and try and take it a little bit longer. That’s the disappointing part of it. We had our chance to set ourselves up to get a big score, or what I thought was par, around 330. But we just weren’t able to do it.”As for how to handle England’s aggression as a fielding captain, Smith said it was simply a case of taking more wickets. “You try and do whatever you can to take wickets, that’s the key,” he said. “If you’re getting them out then they’re not going to be doing the damage out there, but they’ve been pretty consistent playing that way. Someone comes off more often than not and sets their team up really nicely, and this was Jason Roy’s night.”

Kane Richardson and Marcus Harris will also take part in the Darwin event which included eight teams

ESPNcricinfo staff08-Aug-2024Josh Brown and Will Sutherland have been included in the Melbourne Renegades Academy squad for the Top End T20 series in Darwin while Australia quick Scott Boland will be part of Melbourne Stars Academy.Sutherland, who made his ODI debut against West Indies last season, will captain Renegades. He has spent the winter recovering from another stress fracture of the back which ruled him out of a second consecutive county stint having lined up a deal with Somerset.Brown, meanwhile, was one of the big off-season moves after he was lured away from Brisbane Heat having lit up last season’s BBL with some spectacular innings include a stunning 140 off 57 balls against Adelaide Strikers. While the much-anticipated pairing with Jake Fraser-McGurk will have to wait for the BBL in December, the Top End tournament will be Brown’s first outing with his new club.Renegades have also included Kane Richardson and Victoria opener Marcus Harris who does not currently have a BBL deal. Harris made one appearance for Perth Scorchers last season, in the Eliminator final, having been signed as a late replacement.Meanwhile, Boland will have a dual role for Stars having been included in their academy squad for the tournament where he will also serve as a bowling coach. Should Boland play it will be his first competitive cricket since April when he had a county deal with Durham cut short by a heel injury.Stars have also included the experience of Hilton Cartwright who is part of their BBL squad.Alongside the Stars and Renegades academy sides, the Top End T20 features Northern Territory Strike, Adelaide Strikers, Perth Scorchers, Tasmania, ACT Comets, Pakistan A and a Bangladesh High Performance side.Jake Weatherald (Tasmania and Adelaide Strikers) and D’Arcy Short (Western Australia and Strikers) will play for NT Strike.

All the squads for the Top End T20 series

Northern Territory StrikeJacob Dickman, Lachlan Bangs, Harshtik Bimbral, Connor Carroll, Isaac Conway, Coby Edmonstone, Matt Hammond, Hamish Martin, Cadell McMahon, Tom Menzies, D’Arcy Short, Charlie Smith, Caelan Maladay, Jake WeatheraldMelbourne Stars AcademyAustin Anlezark, Max Birthisel, Scott Boland, Dylan Brasher, Liam Blackford, Ashley Chandrasinghe, Hilton Cartwright, Sam Elliott, Jaga Koduru, Reiley Mark, Joe Medew-Ewen, David Moody, Arjun Nair, Connor RutlandMelbourne Renegades AcademyWill Sutherland, Tom Brooks, Josh Brown, Xavier Crone, Harry Dixon, Marcus Harris, Mackenzie Harvey, Matt Hennig, Jai Lemire, Blake MacDonald, Fergus O’Neill, Tyler Pearson, Kane Richardson, Callum StowAdelaide StrikersLiam Scott, James Bazley, Jordan Buckingham, Hamish Case, Josh Kann, Ryan King, Harry Manenti, Harry Matthias, Tim Oakley, Tom O’Connell, Lloyd Pope, Sam Rahaley, Jake WinterPerth ScorchersSam Fanning, Keaton Critchell, Joel Curtis, Baxter Holt, Luke Holt, Bryce Jackson, Matthew Kelly, Lucas Martin, Declan Power, Jhye Richardson, Matthew Spoors, Josh Vernon, Corey Wasley, Teague WyllieTasmaniaGabe Bell, Lachlan Clark, Zac Curtain, Nick Davis, Jake Doran, Kieran Elliott. Rafael MacMillan, Jack Montgomery, Will Prestwidge, Nivethan Radhakrishnan, James Scott, Louis Smith, Charlie Wakim, Tim WardACT CometsTyler van Luin, Scott Murn, Nick Allen, Nic Broes, Kai Brunker, Tom Hogan, Zak Keogh, Tyler Hays, Hanno Jacobs, Zac Maron, Mikey McNamara, Esam Rahman, Jake Smith, Hayden WatlingPakistan AMohammad Haris, Abdul Faseeh, Arafat Minhas, Arif Yaqoob, Faisal Akram, Haseebullah, Jahandad Khan, Muhammad Irfan Khan, Mohammad Imran, Mubasir Khan, Omair Yousuf, Sahibzada Farhan, Tayyab Tahir, Usman Khan.Bangladesh High PerformanceTanzid Hasan, Jishan Alam, Parvez Hossain Emon, Afif Hossain, Shamim Hossain, Ariful Islam, Akbar Ali, Wasi Siddiquee, Rakibul Hasan, Al Islam, Mahfuzur Rahman Rabby, Abu Hider, Mukidul Islam, Ripon Mondol, Maruf Mridha

Gloucestershire’s long wait for home victory goes on after draw

ECB Reporters Network29-Apr-2024Gloucestershire 322 (Hammond 81, van Buuren 75, Brooks 3-55) and 127 for 3 (Price 52*) drew with Middlesex 203 (de Lange 6-49) and 449 for 7 dec (Higgins 155, Holden 111, Eskinazi 65*)Gloucestershire’s long wait for a Vitality County Championship victory on home soil continued as their Second Division match against Middlesex at the Seat Unique Stadium in Bristol petered out into a draw.On a day which began with all three results still possible, Middlesex did their utmost to force a result by declaring their second innings on 449 for 7 and setting the home side a target of 339 to win in 58 overs on a hybrid pitch offering negligible assistance to the bowlers.The visitors still fancied they had an outside chance of prevailing when reducing their opponents to 102 for 3 in the final session with 27 overs still available, but Ollie Price displayed resilience in compiling an unbeaten 52 as Gloucestershire reached 127 for 3 to frustrate London ambition.Resuming their second innings on 262 for 3, Middlesex had earlier played positively in adding a further 187 in 36 overs, Ryan Higgins top-scoring with 155 and sharing in a stand of 202 for the fourth wicket with Max Holden, who contributed 111. Stephen Eskinazi’s breezy 65 not out prompted the declaration, which came half an hour into the afternoon session.Forced to contend with a cold and blustery wind and battleship grey skies – hardly conditions conducive to a successful run chase – Gloucestershire were never in a position to realistically pursue a first red-ball win since September 2022. Their 11-point haul from this game saw Middlesex overtake Sussex and assume leadership of the table after four matches, while Gloucestershire collected 13 points to move off the bottom.Starting the day with a handy lead of 143, Middlesex were intent upon hastening to a point where they could declare their second innings and set Gloucestershire a target. As such, Holden and Higgins picked up where they left off the previous evening, going for their shots and looking to carry the attack to the bowlers.When Holden slashed at one delivery outside off stump too many and was held by Price at second slip off the bowling of Ajeet Singh Dale, the fourth-wicket partnership stood at 201 from 39.4 overs. Having added just six runs to his overnight tally, Holden fell on 111, his transformative innings spanning 154 balls and containing 15 fours and a six.Undeterred by the departure of his long-time partner, the ebullient Higgins went to 150 in the grand manner, hoisting Graeme van Buuren high over deep mid-wicket and into the car park for his fifth maximum. He was out to the next ball, again attempting to hit Gloucestershire’s captain out of the ground and skying a catch to mid-off.In terms of its longevity, this latest innings might not have matched the career-best 221 Higgins compiled against Glamorgan at Lord’s three weeks earlier, but it certainly exerted a more profound impact upon proceedings. Having arrived in the middle on day three with Middlesex in some discomfort at 79 for 3, he departed with the score on 352 for 5 and the visitors in a position to dictate terms for the first time in the contest.Gloucestershire trailed by 234 when they took the new ball which realistically represented their last opportunity to wrest back control of the game. Marchant de Lange and Singh Dale bent their backs, only for the flow of runs to continue as Eskinazi and Jack Davies joined forces in a progressive alliance of 45 in nine overs. Davies eventually holed out to mid-on off the bowling of De Lange, but only after plundering five fours and a six to put a dent in the South African’s figures.Deploying a characteristically unorthodox approach, Eskinazi contributed an unbeaten 65 from 96 balls with eight fours, his innings a hit and miss affair that served to raise the tempo. Gloucestershire’s best efforts with the new ball would have done little to encourage the Middlesex bowlers in the belief that they could take 10 wickets on a hybrid pitch to win the game, but the declaration arrived nevertheless, Leus du Plooy calling the batters in with the scoreboard on 449 for 7 shortly after lunch.Required to score at a little under six an over, Gloucestershire were no doubt mindful of the alarming second-innings collapse that sent them spiralling to defeat at the hands of Sussex in their last game. When Chris Dent succumbed to a leg-side strangle at the hands of Tom Helm without scoring in the second over, the home side could have been excused for harbouring negative thoughts.Any fears of a repeat performance were allayed by Cameron Bancroft and Price, the second-wicket pair proving reassuringly obdurate in the face of testing spells from Helm and Henry Brookes to see Gloucestershire through to the tea interval at 69 for 1.Although the prospect of the home side scoring a further 262 runs to win in the final session remained no better than notional, there appeared to be precious little in the pitch to offer Middlesex any encouragement. Clearly undeterred, Helm removed Bancroft for 32 shortly after tea, locating the Australian’s outside edge and presenting an opportunity for du Plooy to demonstrate his athleticism at second slip.Price was fortunate to survive when dropped by Eskinazi at first slip off the bowling of Ethan Bamber, but the seamer breathed new life into the contest when inducing Miles Hammond to pull straight to midwicket soon afterwards. When Price and James Bracey proved obdurate, the two sides shook hands at 5.25pm with 18.3 overs unused.

Batter withdrew from India Test tour and IPL but is focussed on World Cup comeback

ESPNcricinfo staff28-Apr-2024Harry Brook says his performances this summer are dedicated to his late grandmother Pauline, who passed away in March.Pauline Brook was visible throughout her grandson’s career and became a cult hero within English cricket. She often collected awards on Harry’s behalf, of which there have already been many in the player’s short career. She was the figurehead of the Brook family and lived next to Burley-in-Wharfedale Cricket Club, where Harry learned the game.Pauline fell ill in January, while Brook was preparing for England’s Test tour of India in the UAE. The 25-year-old subsequently pulled out of the five-match series, before missing the Indian Premier League with Delhi Capitals after she passed away.Brook has since returned to action with Yorkshire and marked his first match for the county since July 2022 with an emotional 69-ball century against Leicestershire, looking to the sky upon reaching three figures. It was his first competitive appearance since England’s fifth T20I against West Indies in December. A second century – 126 not out – came on Saturday against Derbyshire at Headingley, as Yorkshire posted 450 for 5 declared in their first innings.Speaking publicly for the first time since Pauline’s death, Brook dedicated both his centuries to his grandmother and reflected on a tough time for the family. He was also grateful for the time he had with her at the start of the year before her condition deteriorated.”Both of those hundreds [for Yorkshire this season] and all of the runs I’ve scored so far this year are all dedicated to her,” Brook told the ECB Reporters Network.”When I came home from Abu Dhabi, it was a very tough time, and I’m glad I did come home. Obviously, it was a big decision to make. I hadn’t played hundreds of games for England, so to just turn down a big Test tour like that [India] was a big decision to make.”But she comes before all of that. She would have come out there a couple of years ago, so I had to come back and support her as much as I could. I managed to take her out for a coffee and whatnot in that first week I was back.”I was still training with a mindset of trying to get back out for the last couple of Tests, all being well. It all disintegrated fairly quickly, so that didn’t happen. I just tried to support her as best as I could and everyone around us.”Following the conclusion of Yorkshire’s match with Derbyshire, in which rain washed out the entirety of the scheduled third day’s play on Sunday, Brook will play his final County Championship match of this portion of the season, against Glamorgan next week. He will then join England for their T20I series against Pakistan ahead of the T20 World Cup in the Caribbean.Brook was an ever-present in England’s 2022 T20 World Cup triumph and will be integral to their title defence. Jos Buttler and Matthew Mott announce their provisional squad on Tuesday (April 30) with Brook set to be a pivotal figure in a relatively young group. He will then return to the Test side this summer for series against West Indies and Sri Lanka from July.”I’m looking forward to it, if selected,” Brook said of the World Cup. “We join up at the end of next month. I’m looking forward to being back with the lads and hopefully producing the goods for England again.”

Ben Duckett had set things off with a 59-ball 71 as West Indies rue missed chances

Valkerie Baynes18-Jul-2024Ollie Pope’s century combined with fifties from Ben Duckett and Ben Stokes led England to a strong position on the opening day of the second Test as West Indies were left to regret squandered opportunities at Trent Bridge.Pope built on a blistering start by Duckett, who peppered the boundary on his way to 71 off just 59 balls. The duo shared a 105-run stand for the second wicket after Zak Crawley fell to the third ball of the match, lined up by Alzarri Joseph with a back-of-a-length delivery which drew a chunky edge and flew to Alick Athanaze at third slip.Pope went on to reach 121 off 167 balls, his sixth Test century and second this year after his 196 against India in January. Stokes made 69 before he sent Kavem Hodge’s 14th ball straight to deep midwicket with England 342 for 6. Left-arm spinner Hodge had entered the attack in the 68th over and ended up with 2 for 44 off 10 overs with a hand in two more dismissals, catching both Pope and Gus Atkinson in the slips.Stokes, Jamie Smith and Atkinson fell for 28 runs in the space of 7.2 overs but by the close, the hosts were all out for 416, soft dismissals taking some of the shine off their innings.West Indies skipper Kraigg Brathwaite said upon winning the toss and sending England in on a welcoming batting surface under clear skies that he wanted more discipline from his bowlers following a heavy innings defeat in the first Test at Lord’s. At times, they put England’s batters under pressure but West Indies gave away too many chances with the ball and in the field.Pope rode his luck after being dropped on 46 in the final over before lunch when he struck a Jayden Seales delivery hard towards wide gully where Athanaze failed to hold on. The tourists gave him another life on 54 when he slashed Shamar Joseph to second slip, Jason Holder the culprit this time.West Indies’ day was marred by a succession of missed chances in the field•Getty Images

Harry Brook punished some wayward line and length from Alzarri Joseph with three consecutive fours before being dropped on 24 at gully.Brook had arrived at 142 for 3 when Joe Root fell shortly after lunch to a fluffed pull which flew straight to mid-on. Seales’ heart was in his mouth as Alzarri Joseph juggled the ball twice before grabbing it for good.Brook moved to 30 with an effortless six over deep point off Alzarri Joseph and up to then, he and Pope had added 10 further fours within the first hour of the afternoon session.But Brook fell attempting to paddle Kevin Sinclair – a late inclusion after Gudakesh Motie woke up feeling unwell – and succeeded only in sending a toe-end high towards midwicket, where Kirk McKenzie swallowed the catch.Pope brought up his century with four off Seales over square leg then, adding to West Indies woes, Shamar Joseph hobbled off the field midway through his 12th over – the last before tea – clutching a cramping left leg. The tourists could take some comfort from Pope’s dismissal, however, driving at Alzarri Joseph and the ball ballooning to Hodge.Smith had put on 61 runs with Stokes, smashing Hodge for six beyond deep midwicket in the process before thumping another down the ground, but Hodge responded next ball when Smith attempted a similar shot and picked out Holder in the deep, continuing the trend of soft dismissals for England.After surviving a missed stumping, Mark Wood was dropped by Mikyle Louis diving forwards at point off Sinclair, continuing that other unwanted theme for West Indies.The visitors took the second new ball after 86 overs and Jayden Seales and Alzarri Joseph used it to prise out the last two wickets, Chris Woakes for 37 and Shoaib Bashir for 5.Despite the imminent arrival of his first child, Duckett had been supremely focused in the middle. He found the boundary four times in a row off Seales in the second over, two glorious extra cover drives bookending a cut in front of point and a clip through midwicket. He helped himself to two more in Seales’ next over and another, off Alzarri Joseph, brought up England’s fifty in just 26 balls, the fastest for any team in Tests.Holder conceded just one run when he was brought on in the sixth over but was soon dispatched over extra cover by Duckett, who brought up his fifty off just 32 balls guiding Holder for four through deep third.It was Sinclair and Shamar Joseph who found some control for West Indies after the first drinks break, but Duckett threatened to break free when he lunged forward to sweep a full delivery from Sinclair for four to bring up England’s hundred and punished a wide one from Shamar Joseph through the covers. Shamar Joseph finally broke through when he drew an outside edge from Duckett and Holder held on at second slip.

Lahore and Multan to host a total of four matches; Colombo the other venue in Sri Lanka

ESPNcricinfo staff19-Jul-20230:45

Rahul Dravid: Would be ‘fantastic’ if India meet Pakistan thrice in Asia Cup

The 2023 Asia Cup will kick off in Multan with Pakistan taking on Nepal on August 30, a day earlier than originally planned by the Asian Cricket Council. The first-round Pakistan-India game will be played in Kandy on September 2, and if both teams make it to the Super 4s, the R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo will be the host for that game.Lahore is the other venue in Pakistan that will host the matches. The final is scheduled in Colombo on September 17, with the provision of a reserve day.The original draft schedule, prepared by the PCB (the hosting board), went through several iterations, mainly because of the six-nation tournament being played in Pakistan and Sri Lanka based on the hybrid model approved by the ACC recently.As per the original draft, Pakistan were meant to host four matches in just one city. However, Multan was added as the second venue after a new PCB administration, under new chairman Zaka Ashraf, took over this month.ESPNcricinfo Ltd

In all, 13 matches will be played in the tournament across four venues. Pakistan are grouped with India and Nepal in Group A while Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Afghanistan are in Group B. The top two teams from each group will qualify for the Super 4s with the top two teams in this phase advancing to the final. The Asia Cup, which will be played in the 50-overs format this time, is essentially a preparation run for five of the six teams – barring Nepal – for the ODI World Cup, which begins on October 5 in India.Bangladesh are slotted to play Afghanistan on September 3 in Lahore followed by Sri Lanka vs Afghanistan at the Gaddafi Stadium on September 5. Regardless of where they finish in the first round, Pakistan will remain A1 and India A2, while Sri Lanka will be B1 and Bangladesh B2. In case Nepal and Afghanistan qualify for the Super 4s, they will take the slot of the team knocked out (Pakistan or India in Group A, and Sri Lanka or Bangladesh in Group B).The only Super 4s match listed to be played in Pakistan is on September 6 in Lahore, between A1 and B2.

They gave the hosts a 93-run first-innings lead, which Pakistan grew to 202 courtesy Shan Masood’s fifty

Danyal Rasool18-Jan-2025Noman Ali and Sajid Khan put on a spin-bowling masterclass on a surface they found to their tastes, taking nine of the ten wickets to skittle West Indies out for 137 in less than a session. Either side of that, Pakistan fared better with the bat, putting up 230 in the first innings despite a collapse after Saud Shakeel and Mohammad Rizwan’s 141-run stand was broken.But they pulled away from the visitors in the final session with a commanding second-innings show with the bat. That was spearheaded by their captain Shan Masood, whose half-century drove Pakistan’s lead to 202 with seven wickets still in hand. The dominant story of a day when 19 wickets fell, though, came in the middle session, where West Indies had little answer to Noman and Sajid, who bowled all but 14 deliveries of their innings.Sajid started the dismantling in just his second over when he dismissed Mikyle Louis and Keacy Carty off successive balls, even as Carty fell thanks to a superb slip catch from Mohammad Hurraira. By the end of his third over, Sajid had four wickets as West Indies floundered, unable to either defend or attack against an unerringly accurate spin duo.Noman joined the fun, getting drift and turn to clip the edge of Justin Greaves’ off stump. It was the first of five wickets for the left-armer, who was beginning to get huge rip off the barely formed footmarks.As the innings proceeded, West Indies began to adopt a more bellicose outlook, trying to swindle some runs along the way. But there was limited success as multiple batters dragged it on to their stumps, before the final two partnerships flourished. Gudakesh Motie and Jomel Warrican began to play belligerent shots, with Warrican utilising the back of the bat while playing the reverse sweeps a handful of times.Shan Masood was adept against spin bowling•AFP/Getty Images

From 66 for 8 at one stage, West Indies added 71 for the last two wickets. After Motie and Warrican had a partnership of 25, it was only during the last-wicket stand between Warrican and Jayden Seales when West Indies dominated the spinners. Both batters connected cleanly as they hit the spinners over cow corner for multiple sixes.That forced Pakistan into bringing on Abrar Ahmed for the first time. Eventually, Abrar did end the partnership, but only after the pair had plundered 46 runs off 21 balls. Seales failed to pick up a googly and miscued it straight up, as Rizwan took the catch and ended the punchy counterattack.If West Indies thought that their collapse against spin meant they too would be among the wickets in the final session, Masood and Hurraira soon disabused them off that notion. Seales, whose pace and seam movement had made him the surprise pick of the bowlers on the first day, reprised his potent threat but without the wickets that would reflect this in the scorecard.Masood, meanwhile, was proactive in his use of the feet, and adept against spin bowling, eager to attack and expand the lead even further before the day was done. Some untidiness crept into the bowling; there were 12 byes as the spin became as tricky to handle for the bowlers as it was for the batters. But Warrican was dangerous with the one that carried on with the arm, and got both his wickets that way – Hurraira at first, before Babar Azam played for the spin and found himself rapped in front of middle.West Indies were unfortunate not to snare Kamran Ghulam too when a miscued sweep struck him on the arm as he got down low. The umpire raised the finger, although HawkEye, incongruously, projected the ball to be rising well above the stumps.Jomel Warrican took three wickets in the first innings, before hitting 31* with the bat•PCB

As if to compensate, West Indies were gifted the wicket of Masood. He called for a run and didn’t quite realise that Ghulam was well down the pitch in response, and found himself stranded in the middle of the pitch. Thus, Masood was left with little chance of getting to the non-striker’s end, before Warrican whipped the bails off.Earlier, during the morning session, West Indies took four wickets for 13 runs to trigger a Pakistan collapse. That started by breaking the stand between Shakeel and Rizwan, leaving West Indies two wickets away from wrapping the hosts up. Shakeel and Rizwan had begun with the same authority with which they had ended the first day. But once Kevin Sinclair snared Shakeel 16 short of what would have been his fifth Test hundred, Pakistan’s resistance melted away.Only a punchy rearguard partnership between Sajid and Khurram Shahzad prevented West Indies from running through the innings even sooner, but Pakistan were still bowled out for 230 on the stroke of lunch.West Indies had begun the day by sticking to disciplined and tight lines, at one point conceding six runs in seven overs as Seales and Warrican locked in. But neither batter offered up chances during this time, and when Pakistan negotiated the first hour without loss, West Indies were in danger of being shut out of the game.Saud Shakeel fell 16 short of what would have been his fifth Test hundred•AFP/Getty Images

But the first ball after drinks brought joy for West Indies. Sinclair lured Shakeel forward before getting the ball to grip, and then taking his edge. As if it had been forgotten, the pitch suddenly began to remind everyone how hostile it could be to batters against quality spin, as the ball hissed and spat off the surface.Salman Ali Agha was deceived in the flight from Warrican to drag on before Pakistan imploded. A bizarre mix-up between Rizwan and Noman saw the former turn his back on Noman to leave him unsuccessfully scrambling to return to the non-striker’s end. But an attempted reverse sweep off the next delivery ended Rizwan’s own innings, as a sharp review from West Indies finished Rizwan’s innings on 71.It was only an entertaining stand from Sajid and Shahzad that saw a few more runs flow for Pakistan, before the innings petered out. Sajid launched Sinclair over cow corner for six amid a little flurry as Pakistan added 25 quickfire runs. But Warrican returned to fold the innings, making short work of both, as West Indies took the last six wickets for 43 runs in a session of two halves. It was a harbinger for the rest of the day, when the wicket-taking continued unabated.

Mahela Jayawardene has withdrawn from his planned stint with Lancashire during the NatWest T20 Blast campaign due to personal reasons.

ESPNcricinfo staff22-Jun-2017Mahela Jayawardene, Sri Lanka’s former captain, has withdrawn from his planned stint with Lancashire during the NatWest T20 Blast campaign due to personal reasons.Jayawardene, 40, had qualified to play for the club as a non-overseas player by virtue of his Danish wife, Christina, and had been expected to join up with the squad later this month ahead of their opening game against Durham on July 7.”It’s disappointing that Mahela won’t be joining us for the upcoming T20 campaign,” said Glen Chapple, Lancashire’s head coach.”We are currently reviewing and reassessing all options from a player perspective ahead of the NatWest T20 Blast campaign in light of this news.”Jayawardene added: “I am very disappointed to be unable to join Lancashire Lightning in the upcoming NatWest T20 Blast as planned.”I would like to wish the club a successful campaign this year.”After retiring from international cricket in 2015, Jayawardene has featured in T20 leagues around the world as a player and mentor. He has previously played in the NatWest T20 Blast with Sussex and Somerset, and is currently head coach of the Mumbai Indians in the Indian Premier League.He played in 149 Tests for Sri Lanka, scoring nearly 12,000 runs at an average of just below 50, and also made 448 ODI and 55 T20I appearances.