All posts by n8rngtd.top

Fynn Hudson-Prentice top-scores as visitors recover from 140 for 6 to 278 all out

ECB Reporters Network10-May-2024Wickets came in clusters on the first day of the Vitality County Championship match between Glamorgan and Sussex in Cardiff with the visitors posting 278 in their first innings after a middle-order collapse left them in trouble.Four wickets apiece from James Harris and Mir Hamza were the highlight for Glamorgan but Sussex did well to recover from 140 for 6 thanks to late-order runs from Jack Carson, Ari Karvelas and Jayden Seales.Several Sussex players got starts but none went on to make a big score on a pitch where it seemed difficult to get fully settled, Fynn Hudson-Prentice producing the top-score with 48. In recent years this Cardiff square has flattened out as the match wears on, so those extra runs could prove vital.Glamorgan faced six overs before the close of play and finished on 21 for 1 with Eddie Byrom falling lbw to Karvelas for 12.Glamorgan’s decision to bowl first on a beautifully sunny day in Cardiff was a matter of some debate before the game started, and a quick start from the Sussex opening pair of Tom Clark and Tom Haines only added to those questions. Haines had reached 19 from just 22 balls when he was trapped lbw by Hamza and that slowed things down.Clark was dismissed playing a pull shot that took a top edge and was easily caught by Chris Cooke, the first of a number of wickets that suggested that there was a two-paced nature to this Sophia Gardens surface.A stand of 50 between Tom Alsop and Cheteshwar Pujara steadied things after the loss of both openers but a flurry of wickets after the lunch break justified Glamorgan’s decision at the toss. A brilliant 18-ball spell from Hamza saw him claim three wickets while conceding just four runs as Sussex went from 131 for 3 to 136 for 5.One of those wickets was that of Pujara who was caught behind to a ball that Hamza got to seam away. Despite his sustained success in county cricket, Glamorgan were something of a bogey team for Pujara before this match. He had made just nine runs in four innings, his last outing against them resulting in an 11-ball duck. His average of 2.25 going into this game was the worst of his career against any first-class opposition. The 41 runs he made in this were well put together but he could not go on.Harris claimed his third wicket when he had Danny Lamb caught at third slip by Andy Gorvin to leave the visitors 140 for 6. A 66-run partnership between Carson and Hudson-Prentice took Sussex past 200 but when Harris forced a second drag on to the stumps it saw the end of Hudson-Prentice.Crane took the ninth wicket when he had Carson caught at slip by Colin Ingram for a well-made 39 before a last-wicket stand took Sussex past 250 for their first bonus point. Karvelas and Seales eventually put on 43, but they were aided by Glamorgan fielding. Karvelas was dropped on 18 and 32 and finished undefeated on 39.The final wicket was claimed by Gorvin who was playing in his first game for Glamorgan this season on his 27th birthday. He bowled Seales for 17 as Sussex finished 278 all out.The one Glamorgan wicket to fall before the close was Byrom who was trapped by a lovely ball from Karvelas which swung in to leave him leg before.

Babar (107) and Salman (58) excelled with the bat before Usama Mir’s ODI best stopped NZ well short

Danyal Rasool05-May-2023After a somewhat off-colour performance where Pakistan allowed New Zealand to get close to them, this was back to business for the hosts. A century from Babar Azam – his 18th in ODIs – helped Pakistan post an intimidating 334 for 6 after being put in to bat.It was then up to the bowlers, who were at their ruthless best, to shut New Zealand out. The game as a contest was over well before the final wicket fell and New Zealand folded for 232, putting Pakistan up 4-0 in the five-match series and at the top of the ICC rankings for ODI teams in the process.From the moment the chase began, it was apparent that keeping up with the asking rate would be a problem for New Zealand. Shaheen Shah Afridi and Haris Rauf were metronomically accurate and fearsomely fast in the powerplay, and Will Young and Tom Blundell are not natural aggressors. The two fell within two overs of each other after a sedate start.Both were, to their credit, dismissed seeking boundaries their side desperately needed. Mohammad Wasim struck off his first ball, with Young spooning it high into the night sky for a straightforward catch, before Blundell failed to get elevation on a drive off Rauf, the ball heading straight to Iftikhar Ahmed in the covers.The period of stagnation through the third-wicket stand that followed, between Daryl Mitchell and Tom Latham, was probably what ultimately did New Zealand’s chances. A total of 83 painstaking runs were scored at a rate under five, but the asking rate had climbed to around 8.50 by then. Usama Mir – who did his World Cup chances no harm with an excellent display deputising for Shadab Khan – drew Mitchell into a stroke that caused his downfall.ESPNcricinfo Ltd

The stand between Latham and Mark Chapman, which followed, was New Zealand’s brightest passage, as Chapman dispensed with all conservatism. The two put on 55 in 43 balls with Chapman taking the lead, smashing Iftikhar and Agha Salman out of the attack with 34 in three overs.But the fast bowlers returned, and Afridi cleaned up Latham yet again for a well-made, if less than explosive, 76-ball 60. Chapman continued to flay the bowling, but a quicker one from Mir saw his stumps knocked back for a 33-ball 46. Thereafter, New Zealand’s resistance melted away. Mir helped himself to a couple more wickets to register career-best figures of 4 for 43, and Pakistan secured a 102-run win.Earlier, another Babar hundred helped Pakistan to a total that always looked well beyond New Zealand. Across an innings where he also became the quickest player to 5000 ODI runs, the batters – especially Babar and Salman – were in control for the most part on a flat pitch. However, New Zealand, spearheaded by Matt Henry, punctured Pakistan regularly enough to ensure the total wouldn’t completely get out of hand. Some late Mohammad Haris and Afridi fireworks ensured that the platform Pakistan’s middle order had set would lead to a big enough total.Pakistan rung the changes in after sealing the series already, and Shan Masood – who replaced Imam-ul-Haq – guided Pakistan through the powerplay with characteristic ease after Henry removed Fakhar Zaman early with a similar delivery to the one that got him the previous game, the back-of-a-length ball miscued high into the air.The innings continued to cruise on autopilot through a 50-run, ten-over stand between Masood and Babar, before sharp work behind the stumps from Blundell saw Masood fall to Ish Sodhi. With Pakistan’s reliance on the top order well-known, the fall of Mohammad Rizwan after a Henry direct-hit caught him short would’ve given Pakistan the wobbles. But in that moment of slight adversity, Salman rose magnificently.Usama Mir registered career-best figures of 4 for 43•AFP/Getty Images

Exquisite with the sweep and reverse sweep, as well as commanding in his use of footwork, Salman cranked through the gears to put New Zealand on the back foot again. With a straight six off Cole McConchie, he brought up a 40-ball half-century as well as the hundred partnership between him and Babar.Babar had blended into the background but he still eased past 50, as he usually does in ODIs. By the time Henry pouched a stunning return catch to dismiss Salman, Babar was just 12 away from his century, and content to let Iftikhar lead.Iftikhar assembled an entertaining cameo – 28 off 22 – before Babar tickled one through the off side to bring up his century in 113 balls. When Babar holed out to deep midwicket to give Ben Lister his first wicket on ODI debut, Pakistan had got stuck somewhat, with two overs to go and still not past 300.Wasim and Shaheen remedied, plundering 38 off the final two overs, also making compelling cases to bat higher up. The four sixes and two fours between them meant they had done enough to break New Zealand’s spirits. In reality, Pakistan’s bowling demonstrated the Afridi-Wasim cameos merely added flourish to what was a near-guaranteed victory anyway.

Kenya gained some revenge for back-to-back Twenty20 defeats earlier in the week with a comprehensive nine-wicket win over Uganda

Cricinfo staff18-Dec-2009Kenya 105 for 1 (Patel 57*) beat Uganda 104 (Obado 3-10, Oluoch 3-23) by nine wicketsKenya gained some revenge for back-to-back Twenty20 defeats earlier in the week with a comprehensive nine-wicket win over Uganda in the first ODI at Nairobi Gymkhana. The result also buys a little relief for Kenya’s under-fire selectors after recent poor results.In the two Twenty20 matches it was Kenya’s batsmen who let them down – this time it was the Ugandans whose inexperience was plain to see. None of them was able to play an innings of any substance or to take the attack to the bowlers, so much so that there were only eight boundaries in their innings.There was the briefest worry when David Obuya fell to the fourth ball of Kenya’s reply, but then Rakep Patel (57*) and Maurice Ouma (44*) chased down the target in 17.2 overs with no further alarms. Patel played with increasing confidence, cracking five fours and two sixes in his 59-ball innings.

Bhuvneshwar Kumar named vice-captain, Chetan Sakariya and Nitish Rana among new faces in the mix

Nagraj Gollapudi10-Jun-20218:17

Sanjay Manjrekar: Dhawan rewarded with captaincy after longevity in white-ball cricket

Devdutt Padikkal, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Nitish Rana, K Gowtham and Chetan Sakariya have all received maiden call-ups to the national team, figuring in the 20-man India squad for the white-ball series in Sri Lanka, scheduled for July. The second-string squad – the main team will be in England at the time – will be captained by opening batter Shikhar Dhawan, who has never led India previously, and have fast bowler Bhuvneshwar Kumar as the vice-captain.India’s Sri Lanka tour comprises six matches: three ODIs (on July 13, 16 and 18), followed by three T20Is (July 21, 23, 25). Former India captain Rahul Dravid has been confirmed as the head coach for the tour, although the BCCI did not announce the entire roster of support staff on Thursday when it made public details of the squad, which will have five reserve bowlers.India will have to field a team in Sri Lanka shorn of its premier players because the main squad, captained by Virat Kohli, is currently in England getting ready for the inaugural World Test Championship final against New Zealand (June 18 onwards), followed by a five-Test series against England starting in August. That makes this the first instance of two senior Indian men’s teams operating simultaneously in bilateral series.It is no surprise that four of the five uncapped players – Gowtham the exception – all made strong impressions in the last two seasons of the IPL. Padikkal and Gaikwad have been successful as openers at the Royal Challengers Bangalore and the Chennai Super Kings respectively, while Rana has been a regular in the top order at the Kolkata Knight Riders for a few seasons, and pacer Sakariya made an impressive start to his stint with the Rajasthan Royals in the truncated 2021 edition.Padikkal became the first Indian to hit four consecutive List A centuries, while opening for Karnataka during the Indian domestic Vijay Hazare 50-over tournament this year. Padikkal, who made his IPL debut with the Royal Challengers in IPL 2020, has 668 runs in 21 IPL matches at an average of 33.40 and a strike rate of 131.75.ESPNcricinfo Ltd

Gaikwad, who has a healthy average of 47.87 in List A cricket, has scored five half-centuries in 13 IPL matches. As for Rana, the Knight Riders’ regular, he has 13 fifties in the IPL and a total of 1638 runs. He also has three centuries in List A cricket for Delhi in the domestic circuit.Probably the biggest surprise in the squad, though, is Sakariya. The left-arm fast bowler from Saurashtra was bought by the Royals in the auction before the 2021 IPL for INR 1.2 crore (USD 164,000 approx.), which proved to be an inspired investment. Sakariya, 23, has picked up seven wickets in seven IPL matches so far, and his victims include MS Dhoni, KL Rahul, Mayank Agarwal, Suresh Raina, Ambati Rayudu and Rana.The India call-up is bound to be a bittersweet moment for Sakariya, who lost his father to Covid-19 immediately after he returned home once the IPL had been suspended indefinitely in early May.For 32-year-old Gowtham, too, the India call-up means a step up from the fringes. He was included as a reserve bowler during the four-match home Test series against England recently and, during that series, he captured the headlines when he became the most expensive uncapped Indian player in the IPL when the Super Kings paid INR 9.25 crore (US$ 1,273,000 approx.) for him, beating bids from the Sunrisers Hyderabad and the Knight Riders. In the 2020 IPL, too, Gowtham had bagged a massive sum from the Punjab Kings (then Kings XI Punjab), who released him after the season after fielding him in just two matches. Gowtham has 57 wickets in 35 List A matches for Karnataka and has a batting strike rate of 141.26 in List A and 159.24 in T20s respectively.The squad also features spinner Varun Chakravarthy, who has been picked for the third time by the selectors since the 2020 IPL. Chakravarthy, who plays for the Knight Riders, had been selected for the T20I series in Australia last year but did not travel because of a shoulder injury, and was again picked for the home T20I series against England earlier this year, but failed to clear the mandatory fitness test.The pair of Shreyas Iyer and T Natarajan were not considered for selection as they are both still recovering from surgeries. Iyer had hurt his shoulder during the ODI series against England and had undergone surgery in April, which had ruled him out of the IPL. Natarajan, who made a fairy-tale debut in Australia in all three formats at the turn of the year, had to abandon the IPL to undergo knee surgery.Squad: Shikhar Dhawan (capt), Bhuvneshwar Kumar (vice-capt), Prithvi Shaw, Devdutt Padikkal, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Suryakumar Yadav, Manish Pandey, Hardik Pandya, Nitish Rana, Ishan Kishan (wk), Sanju Samson (wk), Yuzvendra Chahal, Rahul Chahar, K Gowtham, Krunal Pandya, Kuldeep Yadav, Varun Chakravarthy, Deepak Chahar, Navdeep Saini, Chetan SakariyaNet bowlers: Ishan Porel, Sandeep Warrier, Arshdeep Singh, R Sai Kishore, Simarjeet Singh

Their captain, Azhar Ali, said he will consider changes to his batting line-up in addition to the likely recall of Mohammad Abbas for Adelaide

Daniel Brettig in Brisbane24-Nov-20191:46

Missed the chance to put up a good first innings total – Azhar Ali

Pakistan captain Azhar Ali will consider changes to his batting line-up in addition to the likely recall of Mohammad Abbas after his side’s defeat to Australia in the first Test, in which the visitors offered up numerous promising phases but still left the Gabba bruised and smarting from an innings defeat.Haris Sohail looked very much out of his depth at No. 3, allowing the Australians to follow up their first wicket with damaging follow-ups in each innings – a marked contrast to the superb 185 piled on by Marnus Labuschagne at first drop for the hosts. And though Azhar called for calm in assessments of the visiting team, noting how Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan had shown the way with sparkling second-innings displays, he conceded that in Australia there was no room for the lapses seen at the Gabba.ALSO READ: Abbas still ‘main man’ for Pakistan – Waqar“When you play Test cricket in Australia, you cannot afford to go behind as it is very difficult to then catch up,” Azhar said. “The way we won the toss and we played in the first session without losing a wicket, that was an opportunity for us to go in front and take the initiative in the game. That chance we lost in the second session and that made sure we could’t reach the kind of total we needed to put pressure on them.”Similarly, we failed to create pressure early on with the ball. We couldn’t take wickets with the new ball and couldn’t control the run rate either. But the boys kept fighting in the second innings and also when we bowled on day three. Babar played a great innings and so did Rizwan. Shan [Masood] was batting well too. They were the positives. But the reason we don’t win in Australia is that way too often we get behind in the game early on rather than make the most of the opportunities that come our way.”The most difficult session was the opening session; it was not easy. But we lost the second session where we lost a lot of wickets in no time. That was a great setback for us. There were soft dismissals, that’s why [we] missed the opportunity to score a big total. After scoring 240, we weren’t able to get wickets with the new ball. The bowlers kept fighting even when their score read 300 for 2. Labuschagne played a brilliant knock. [David] Warner played a great knock.”Addressing the batting line-up, Azhar reckoned that the post-mortems would possibly result in change, keeping in mind the challenges to be offered up by the pink ball on an Adelaide pitch that will likely feature at least some grass to aid the seam bowlers on both sides.Josh Hazlewood celebrates the wicket of Iftikhar Ahmed•Getty Images

“Facing the new ball is very important in Australia, and they made full use of it in the second innings. Sometimes you have to give credit to the opposition. They bowled in very good areas last evening,” Azhar said. “But in the first innings, the top order started well but then lost their way in the middle. I still think they are capable, but we have a few days now and we will rethink our strategy for the Adelaide Test.”We will sit and do a recap of this game and discuss everything and try to figure out the best playing XI for Adelaide. It’s not fair to raise too many questions over our batsmen this early on. At times, a player can have a tough Test but that doesn’t make him a bad player. I have full faith on all the batsmen that they can score runs here. You’ve seen the way Babar batted. Rizwan is a nice addition to the side but the confidence with which he came out and faced the Australian attack [is commendable]. Not scoring runs doesn’t mean you are not capable of doing so.”As for the visiting bowlers, Azhar said that a lack of experience had been costly when defending a mediocre first-innings total, and also intimated that the extra pressure of a Test match had affected various members of the touring XI. A recall for Abbas may help, but there will also need to be greater presence of mind shown whoever takes the ball – there was a yawning gap in the performances of the tourists against Australia A in Perth, and it was under the spotlight again in Brisbane.”The young attack has a lot of potential but you can’t buy experience. It’s never easy in a place like Australia,” he said. “They started off little shaky but they came back strongly the next day even though the Australian batsmen were really set. They came back strong and kept bowling in good areas after that. I believe if they manage to do that from the start of the innings, they’ll be a totally different attack after that.”I think that game [in Perth] was a first-class game and this is a Test. The pressure is different and the pitch condition is different. There we scored 400-plus runs and bowled really well with the new ball. Here we didn’t put up a very big total and we didn’t bowl in the areas that we did against Australia A. The execution was not there. But again, I still feel there is potential there and we have to obviously do those things well to create problems for the opposition.”

The victory was set up by the bowlers who dismissed Zimbabwe for 124 in Chattogram

Mohammad Isam03-May-2024Bangladesh’s bowlers set up a comfortable eight-wicket victory in the first T20 against Zimbabwe by dismissing the visitors for 124 in Chattogram. Rain interrupted the chase twice, but debutant Tanzid Hasan remained unbeaten, steering his team to victory in just 15.2 overs with 67 off 47 balls.Tanzid got into Bangladesh’s T20I side on the back of a strong BPL season and struck two sixes and eight fours in his innings. He was only the second Bangladesh batter – after Junaid Siddique in 2007 – to score a half-century on T20I debut.Zimbabwe’s 124 was their lowest total against Bangladesh – the previous low was 131 in 2015 – but it could have been lower after they slipped to 41 for 7. Taskin Ahmed and the returning Mohammad Saifuddin took three wickets each while Mahedi Hasan bowled economically for his two scalps.

Bennett’s bright start

Zimbabwe’s innings had got off to a bright start. 20-year-old Brian Bennett struck Shoriful Islam for three consecutive boundaries in the third over after senior batter Craig Ervine had fallen in the previous one. Bennett’s first boundary was a cover drive, the second a ramp past third man, and the third a well-timed punch off the back foot through cover. But that bright start was short-lived.

Zimbabwe collapse

Taskin Ahmed’s first over, full of 140 kph-plus deliveries, was an omen for Zimbabwe’s next half hour. Bennett and debutant Joylord Gumbie struggled to connect with most of his deliveries, but the next dismissal was a soft one against Mohammad Saifuddin. Gumbie swivelled awkwardly at a poor delivery down the leg-side and gave Taskin a simple catch at short fine-leg.Bennett was run out first ball of the sixth over, and then Mahedi Hasan dismissed Zimbabwe’s captain Sikandar Raza for a golden duck. Raza’s attempt at a lap sweep resulted in him gloving a catch to slip. Three wickets had fallen off three balls, and then Taskin dismissed Sean Williams and Ryan Burl with the first two deliveries of the seventh over. When Saifuddin got Juke Jongwe out for 2, Zimbabwe had gone from 36 for 1 to 41 for 7 in 17 balls.Blessing Muzarabani and Joylord Gumbie collide and drop Tanzid Hasan•AFP via Getty Images

Madande and Masakadza’s record stand

Clive Madande was Zimbabwe’s last recognised batter and he found support in Wellington Masakadza. They rotated strike regularly as Bangladesh eased the pressure for a little while. The pair added 75 runs, Zimbabwe’s highest partnership for the eighth wicket in T20Is. It nearly broke the all-time record of 80. Madande struck six fours in his 39-ball 43, while Masakadza made his highest T20I score, hitting 34 off 38 balls.

Muzarabani superb start goes sour

Blessing Muzarabani gave Zimbabwe the perfect start to the defence of 124 when he got his second ball to scissor through Litton Das’ forward press. Litton’s white-ball misery continued with scores of 0, 36, 7, 0, 0 and now 1 in 2024.In his next over though, Muzarabani first collided with wicketkeeper Gumbie when Tanzid had skied a catch. The ball was high above the batter himself but Muzarabani wandered close to the advancing Gumbie, before the wicketkeeper dropped the catch as they collided.Later in the over, Bennett dropped a sitter at cover off Tanzid, who was on 4 at the time. In Muzarabani’s next over, Tanzid smashed two sixes and a four through midwicket to exacerbate the bowler’s disappointment.

Tanzid cashes in

It took Tanzid 14 balls to score his first boundary on T20I debut, but once he laid into Muzarabani in the sixth over, the left-hander looked more at ease. After the second rain break, Tanzid struck a couple of fours off Luke Jongwe, and another pair got him close to his fifty.Bangladesh lost Najmul Hossain Shanto in the tenth over for 21, but Tanzid enjoyed some more luck. He got a third life when Gumbie dropped him for a second time on 56. Towhid Hridoy struck Ainsley Ndlovu, who had come on as a concussion sub for Masakadza, for 15 runs in his first over. Hridoy remained not out on 33 off 18 balls, as Tanzid struck the winning runs with 28 balls to spare in the chase.

The potential cost of reducing the tournament length will mean changes are made in-game

Daniel Brettig10-Jun-2020Next summer’s Big Bash League will be subject to a host of in-game tinkering that does not allow for a wider debate over the tournament’s overall value to broadcasters, and stops short of the macro changes desired by its independent reviewer, the respected television executive Dave Barham.At a time of major upheaval in the game, as Cricket Australia, its state association owners, and the Australian Cricketers Association haggle over cricket’s cost-base and general finances in the time of the Covid-19 pandemic, the 10th edition of the BBL will not depart from the 56-game regular season and five-game finals series that formed the basis of the league’s major increase in rights value to be worth about half the A$1.18 billion total in 2018.Instead, the BBL’s managers, including the tournament head Alistair Dobson and CA’s executive in charge of events, Anthony Everard, are to propose a raft of tweaks to playing conditions to the joint CA-ACA and umpires playing conditions committee that is due to meet in July.These changes are expected to include:

• Bonus points available to teams for their progress at the 10-over point of an innings
• Substitutions also allowed within that same period
• Powerplay split between the first four overs of the innings and two overs floating elsewhere
• Free-hits for the bowling of wides
• The addition of extra breaks for advertisements and player strategy after every five overs.
• A draft for overseas players is also expected to be up for consideration

While Barham has publicly raised the question of the tournament’s size in addition to his findings in a confidential discussion report tabled to CA earlier this year, the governing body is understood to be extremely hesitant about opening up any form of content-level discussion with its broadcasters Fox Sports and Seven, due to the likelihood of any reduction in content meaning a discount in the fees owed. This has certainly been the case for the AFL and NRL, which have had to put on shorter seasons due to the impact of Covid-19 and paid for it in terms of rights fees.CA’s earlier announcement of a full schedule of international cricket for the summer was geared at the same outcome, to calm any fears among domestic and overseas broadcasters about the possibility of reduced amounts of matches – none more vitally than the 10 fixtures to be played between Australia and India in Tests, ODIs and T20Is.Debutant Nathan McSweeney made a spectacular attempt to catch Steven Smith•Getty Images and Cricket Australia

At the same time, the inclusion of white-ball fixtures against New Zealand in the back half of January appear to crowd the period in which Barham and others have hoped the BBL will conclude in, free of competition from international matches so as to ensure the likes of David Warner, Mitchell Starc and Pat Cummins join their other Australian counterparts in taking up deals with local clubs. Declining standards of overseas players has been an issue, as the Bangladesh Premier League has been successful in attracting players to earn more money for fewer games.”I hope they’re brave,” Barham told this week. “I hope they actually make some serious change and be brave and be bold because I wouldn’t want the Big Bash continue on the path it’s on. It’ll always be an interesting deal, and I think sports have really got to look at quality over quantity and I always look at the NFL. They’ve got 16 rounds, it’s been 16 rounds for a long time and it’s so easy for sporting administrators to think we need more money, let’s play more, let’s do more.”It’s not necessarily the best answer; the NFL rights have been going through the roof and they haven’t changed the number of rounds ever as far as I can tell. It depends on your ratings. The AFL’s now gone to that format and that’s what it is and has been established, but cricket went from 35 games to 61 in two years. So 35 games to 61 is a massive increase that is way out of proportion.”That’s really tested everybody, and it was a school holidays sport that was doing a million people a night on Channel Ten, that’s a massive audience, averaging more than what AFL and NRL did on a per-game basis. So you go from a million people a night, and I think they’ve dropped 40% in ratings by expanding. You’ve got to look and think carefully before you think that the answer is just putting on more games.”There has been considerable debate between CA, broadcasters and the ACA about the shape of the BBL and its size. While the extra games attracted a greater fee, production costs to cover 61 games, a significant number of them in regional centres, have added to the balance sheet headaches for broadcasters while they have also seen audiences thinning out as a result of the increase in number of matches to watch.

They haven’t won a Test against India in the last 21 years but the Queen’s Park Oval pitch could help them change that

Hemant Brar19-Jul-2023

Big picture

It’s a historic occasion. The second Test between West Indies and India, in Port-of-Spain, will be the 100th Test between the two teams. Of the 99 played so far, West Indies have won 30 and India 23, while 46 have been draws.In the last 21 years, however, West Indies have not managed a single win against India. Their previous victory came in 2002, when Yashasvi Jaiswal, the Player of the Match in the first Test of the current series, was not even five months old.Since then, the two sides have met 24 times, with India winning on 15 occasions and drawing on the other nine. Given how the first Test went – India winning by an innings and 141 runs – West Indies will have to put in a serious effort to end that streak.Related

• Secret to Kohli's longevity? 'A lot of hard work and sacrifices,' says Dravid

• Dravid lauds youngsters for performing 'straightaway' in India's transition

Having said that, this could be one of their better chances to do so. The pitch at the Queen’s Park Oval has been, traditionally, conducive to fast bowling, and West Indies have a far more experienced seam-bowling attack in this series.Neither West Indies nor India play another Test for the next five months at least. So both teams will be looking to make the most of this opportunity, apart from pocketing some World Test Championship points. West Indies will be looking to achieve some stability with the bat, and India will hope that Shubman Gill and Ishan Kishan spend a considerable time in the middle.

Form guide

West Indies LLLWD (last five Tests, most recent first)
India WLDLW

In the spotlight

The world first took notice of Alick Athanaze when he topped the runs chart at the 2018 Under-19 World Cup. Last month, against UAE, he smashed the joint-fastest fifty by a batter on ODI debut. Then on his Test debut last week, against R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja and a turning track, he showed he had the temperament for the long format as well. With wickets tumbling at the other end, he top-scored for West Indies in each innings with knocks of 47 and 28. Ian Bishop said he could be “a leading light in the years to come”, and West Indies will hope he proves Bishop right.In Dominica, Athanaze was impressive on a pitch that offered turn and bounce to spinners•Associated Press

At the same U-19 World Cup where Athanaze was the leading run-scorer, Shubman Gill was second on the list, and was named the Player of the Tournament. While it took Athanaze five years to make his international debut, Gill is already seen as the heir apparent to Virat Kohli. In the first Test, by asking to be moved down to No. 3, he took another step in that direction – experts believe the middle order is his natural home. But a failure in India’s only innings in Dominica meant he now averages 31.96 after 17 Tests. The good thing is he has all the time in the world and the backing of the team management.

Team news

With Raymon Reifer out of the squad, left-hand batter Kirk McKenzie could be in line for a debut. West Indies may also be tempted to bring in Shannon Gabriel for either Jomel Warrican or Rahkeem Cornwall. Meanwhile, uncapped offspin-bowling allrounder Kevin Sinclair will be on standby as a like-for-like replacement for Cornwall in case the latter is yet to fully recover from his chest infection.West Indies (probable): 1 Kraigg Brathwaite (capt), 2 Tagenarine Chanderpaul, 3 Alick Athanaze, 4 Jermaine Blackwood, 5 Kirk McKenzie, 6 Jason Holder, 7 Joshua Da Silva (wk), 8 Rahkeem Cornwall/Kevin Sinclair, 9 Alzarri Joseph, 10 Kemar Roach, 11 Shannon Gabriel/Jomel WarricanTwo days out from the Test, India captain Rohit Sharma said he was not looking to make “any drastic changes”. He also backed Ishan Kishan, saying he was “very impressed” with the wicketkeeper’s glovework. So it will not be a surprise if India field an unchanged XI.India (probable): 1 Rohit Sharma (capt), 2 Yashasvi Jaiswal, 3 Shubman Gill, 4 Virat Kohli, 5 Ajinkya Rahane, 6 Ravindra Jadeja, 7 Ishan Kishan (wk), 8 R Ashwin, 9 Shardul Thakur, 10 Jaydev Unadkat, 11 Mohammed Siraj

Pitch and conditions

While the Queen’s Park Oval has not hosted a Test since 2018, fast bowlers have always enjoyed the conditions here, registering a much better average (27.39) and strike rate (61.0) as compared to spinners (36.57 and 88.7). Rain is forecast on all five days of the Test, though.

Stats and trivia

• Kohli (8555) needs 32 runs to go past Virender Sehwag’s Test tally of 8586. Among Indians, only Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Sunil Gavaskar and VVS Laxman have more Test runs.
• Ashwin is 14 short of 500 Test wickets.
• In Dominica, Athanaze became only the second West Indies batter to top-score in each innings of his Test debut. The first was Lawrence Rowe, who scored 214 and 100 not out against New Zealand at Sabina Park in 1972.
• India have won three of their 13 Tests at Queen’s Park Oval. Another win here will make it their joint-most-successful overseas Test venue alongside the MCG.
• England and Australia are the other two teams West Indies and India have met India 100 times in Tests.

Litton Das will be Shakib’s deputy as the allrounder takes over from Mominul Haque

ESPNcricinfo staff02-Jun-2022Shakib Al Hasan will take the reins for Bangladesh in Test cricket once again, being confirmed as captain on Thursday. He takes over from Mominul Haque, who had resigned as captain on May 31 after leading the side since October 2019. Litton Das has been named Shakib’s deputy.”What I have discussed – or, what we have discussed – and learnt is that he [Shakib] is available to play,” BCB president Nazmul Hassan said on Thursday. “After the series against West Indies, we have a series against Zimbabwe. Shakib is uncertain for that series, and it’s unclear how long Shakib will remain the captain for.”I had three names. The people responsible for [selecting the captain] had their discussions and gave me three names – one of them would be the captain and one of the others would be the vice-captain. If Shakib had refused the captaincy, we would have turned to the other two.Related

• Back injury sidelines Yasir Ali from West Indies Tests

• Mominul Haque steps down as Bangladesh Test captain

• Shakib: 'We are physically fit, but mentally behind'

• Ban vs SL: Crafty Shakib Al Hasan conjures a bit of old magic

• The Shakib saga: All you wanted to know (or didn't)

“We wanted to appoint both the new captain and the vice-captain. And after the preliminary discussions, we decided to have Shakib Al Hasan as the captain and Litton Das as the vice-captain.”Results did not go Bangladesh’s way a lot during Mominul’s tenure: in all Bangladesh won just three Tests under him, losing 12 and drawing two. Also, Mominul’s own batting form fell away – he has 162 runs in six Tests so far in 2022, averaging 16.20 – as a result of the pressures of captaincy, and that was one of the primary reasons for him giving up the job. “When you play well, even if the team doesn’t win, you are still in a position to motivate them. I felt that captaining a side is tough when I am not scoring and team is not winning,” he said at the time of announcing his resignation.Shakib, 35, has had numerous stints as Bangladesh’s Test captain, first leading the side in a game against West Indies in 2009. He captained for six more matches in the first half of 2010, and again in August 2011 against Zimbabwe, before falling out of favour with the then BCB chief Mustafa Kamal. He took over the Test captaincy once again in December 2017, replacing Mushfiqur Rahim. He held the role for nearly two years, till he was handed a one-year ban from all cricket in 2019 for failing to report a bookie’s approach.Incidentally, Shakib’s future in Test cricket has been a topic of discussion in recent months, with the allrounder going back and forth on his commitment to red-ball cricket. In February, Shakib had reportedly asked the BCB for some time off from Test cricket, but was nonetheless selected in the squad for the tour of South Africa.Shakib, though, suggested that he was “jaded”, and requested a break from international cricket, which the BCB eventually granted him. But then board president Nazmul Hassan publicly questioned Shakib’s commitment to his country and, following another round of meetings between the allrounder and the BCB boss, Shakib was included in the squad for South Africa. In the end, though, he did miss the Tests due to illness in his family.In the Test series assignment that followed, at home against Sri Lanka, Shakib finished as the highest wicket-taker for the hosts. The visitors, though, won the series 1-0.Hassan further confirmed that former Indian batter Wasim Jaffer and former Australia batter Stuart Law will join the Under-19 coaching team.”Our Under-19 [men’s] coaching staff will have Stuart Law and Wasim Jaffer,” Hassan said. “Stuart Law will be the head coach and Wasim Jaffer will be BCB’s batting consultant. We can use them in various capacities.”

Colin Ingram has signed with the Hurricanes while Phil Salt has returned to the Strikers

Alex Malcolm and Daniel Brettig11-Nov-2020West Indian batsman Nicholas Pooran has joined the Melbourne Stars for the start of the BBL season as cover for new signing Jonny Bairstow.*Bairstow, along with a host of other England internationals are unavailable until after Christmas due to England’s limited-overs tour of South Africa which finishes on December 9. Australia’s international border security rules due to Covid-19 require travellers from overseas to quarantine for 14 days in a secure hotel upon arrival.But Australia has a travel bubble with New Zealand where West Indies will be touring at the end of November with the T20I series concluding on November 30. Pooran, who is not part of the Test squad, is likely to be allowed to travel to Australia from New Zealand without quarantining having already done so in New Zealand prior to the series following his arrival from the IPL.Pooran was courted by several BBL clubs last year but was unable to play in the tournament. He will be available for six matches.The Stars have also confirmed that Haris Rauf, the Pakistan fast bowler who was one of the breakout stars of last year’s BBL, will not be available for this edition due to international commitments.Meanwhile, Hobart Hurricanes have signed South African Colin Ingram as cover for Dawid Malan in the early part of the tournament. Ingram previously played for the Adelaide Strikers and was part of their tournament triumph in BBL07, but left the club in abrupt circumstances the following year after captaining the Strikers for part of the season.Adelaide Strikers have re-signed Sussex opener Phil Salt after he made an impressive BBL debut last year scoring four half-centuries at a blistering strike-rate of 164.09.Australia’s hard international border will affect a number of the BBL clubs with Bairstow, Malan, Sam Billings, Tom Curran, Lewis Gregory, Liam Livingstone, Jason Roy all touring South Africa. Malan may get to leave for Australia a week earlier than his countrymen as he is only part of England’s T20 squad.*November 12, 9.45am: the story was updated to reflect confirmation of Pooran’s signing