Author: Parasan
South Africa’s series loss in Australia damaged their chances of competing in the WTC final. We examine the top candidates for the World Test Championship final and what they must do to get there with only three series remaining in the 2021–2023 calendar. Have Australia booked their spot in the final? With a 2-0 series victory against South Africa at home, Australia has 75.56% of the points and has all but guaranteed their spot in the championship game. They will only be eliminated if Sri Lanka wins both of its games in New Zealand and they drop all four of…
Josh Hazlewood hadn’t thrown a ball in a Test match on his home field in two years. He hardly could have put on a more impressive show to announce his comeback. It would be a stretch to argue that Hazlewood needs a strong performance; he already has 217 Test wickets at an average of 26.16 before today. However, there is a rivalry between Australia’s two fast-bowling places, especially when there are only two. This week, test average leader Scott Boland is observing from the sidelines. For Hazlewood, the 2021–22 Ashes series was also being played out during this miserable summer,…
Sam Harper led Melbourne Renegades to a six-wicket BBL victory over Hobart Hurricanes with a spectacular return to form and a career-best performance. Harper has struggled in his first five BBL dives this season, averaging 5.40 and recording three ducks. Marcus Harris, a part of the returning Test team, was booted out as a result of his lack of decision during his most recent attempt, which didn’t start well. At Marvel Stadium, he swiftly refocused and found his rhythm, scoring 89 runs off just 48 pitches. Before Harper was finally out caught by Tim David off Nathan Ellis, the inning…
Khaya Zondo of South Africa questioned whether the light was appropriate for play to be continuing at the time of his dismissal in the Sydney Test and also thought he had an advantage on Pat Cummins’ yorker. Zondo was stuck in front deep in the last session on Saturday with floodlights on when Cummins ran around the wicket and delivered a fantastic piece of bowling. Zondo had to work hard for his 39 after entering with South Africa 37 for 3. Zondo did not immediately check the lbw when it was called on the field, but he did so after…
BCCI sources have verified that Rishabh Pant underwent a successful knee ligament procedure on Friday at Mumbai’s Kokilaben Dhirubhai Ambani Hospital. Rishabh Pant underwent successful knee ligament surgery on Friday. He’ll be watched closely. The BCCI sports science and medical team will follow Dr. Dinshaw Pardiwala’s recommendations for further courses of action and rehabilitation “A BCCI source was quoted by PTI as saying. Pant was evacuated from Dehradun to Mumbai on Wednesday to have treatment for one of the two ligament injuries in his knee. Doctors examined him as soon as he arrived at the hospital in Mumbai. Sachin Tendulkar,…
Asian Cricket Council (ACC) President and BCCI Secretary Jay Shah’s “unilateral” announcement of the ACC schedule of events for 2023 and 2024 without contacting the Pakistan board has been refuted by PCB Chairman Najam Sethi. In his position as ACC president, Shah unveiled information on all ACC contests for the following two years on Thursday. He tweeted, “Presenting the 2023 and 2024 cricket calendars & the @ACCMedia1 route structure.” This represents our unmatched enthusiasm & commitment to raising the bar for this game. It looks to be a terrific moment for cricket as players from various nations prepare for remarkable…
Sarfaraz Ahmed and Saud Shakeel saved Pakistan from 80 for 5 to add an unbeaten 99 runs as New Zealand went wicketless in the second session, setting up what might be an entertaining conclusion to the Karachi Test. The hosts were now 140 runs short of their 319-run goal, while the visitors were two wickets away from victory and another three from catching up. Officially, either of those outcomes required 31 overs on the final evening. The plan, it seemed clear, was for Shakeel, who was on 27 off 129 balls, to bat deep and serve as the team’s anchor,…
Rohan Jaitley sent an email to some of the officials saying, “Therefore, these committees are not only doing harm to the DDCA but also to the game of cricket.” A day after rumours of internal strife and “dubious selection” surfaced, Rohan Jaitley, the president of the Delhi & Districts Cricket Association (DDCA), fired the state’s top selection committee. Mayank Sidana left a meeting to choose Delhi’s Under-25 team for the forthcoming CK Nayudu Trophy match after selectors Gagan Khoda, the committee head, and Sidana had a public falling out on Tuesday. A few of the choices selected for Delhi’s Ranji…
Rahul Dravid, the head coach of India, defended his team’s choice to bowl first in the second T20I by pointing out that there was a lot of dew when the game ended and that one could not make such decisions based just on historical statistics. Sri Lanka scored 206 runs after being given the chance to bat, but India only managed 57 runs before losing by 16 runs. Before Thursday, teams batting first have won 34 games at the MCA Stadium in all T20s, compared to 29 victories by the pursuing teams. Dasun Shanaka, the captain of Sri Lanka, made…
Mrittunjoy Chowdhury (Chattogram Challengers) The left-arm fast, 21, who was participating in his debut BPL, concluded the season among the top five wicket-takers with 15 strikes at 14.93, including a hat-trick against the Sylhet Sunrisers. In the 50-over Dhaka Premier League, he added a 17-wicket haul to his very strong BPL showing. Mrittunjoy was chosen for the Bangladesh A team during their West Indies tour a year ago, however at the start of the 2022–23 season, he only managed to take three wickets in three National Cricket League (first-class) games. Also playing for the Bangla Tigers in the Abu Dhabi…
For their three One-Day Internationals against New Zealand next week, Pakistan has called up opening batsman Fakhar Zaman and middle-order hitter Haris Sohail. The 29-year-old middle-order batsman Tayyab Tahir, the legspinner Usama Mir, and the middle-order batsman Kamran Ghulam have all received their first calls to the 16-man team. At the Big Bash League, Shadab Khan had a finger injury and is no longer available. He has been told to take three weeks off of work after imaging tests revealed a broken index finger. The temporary head selector, Shahid Afridi, stated at a press conference naming the team, “We had…
Following finger surgery, Australia all-rounder Cameron Green said he is “touch and go” for the opening Test in India, but he dispelled any concerns about his bowling availability for the IPL. During the Boxing Day Test match in Melbourne against South Africa, Green broke his right index finger. With the injury, he was able to bat in Australia’s first innings and scored an unbeaten half-century, but he was unable to play in the Sydney Test after needing surgery to fix the fracture. Prior to Australia’s first Test in a four-match series against India, which begins on February 9 in Nagpur,…
On the fourth day of the second Test, Pakistan’s bowlers worked together to gently put New Zealand on the back foot. In a fast-paced 20 minutes of cricket that included multiple reviews, Tom Latham and Kane Williamson both fell in short succession. Then, Henry Nicholls was given back, leaving New Zealand four down for 151 and their lead at 192 with four sessions left. A fifth-wicket stand was being formed by Tom Blundell (22*) and Michael Bracewell (10*) at the crease. Soon after lunch, Latham and Williamson got the scoring going, gradually pushing up the tempo until Latham, by cutting…
South Africa was confident that Simon Harmer had taken a clean catch from Marnus Labuschagne in the slips, despite the third umpire ruling it not out. But they could at least rest a bit better knowing that it had not been too expensive because of Anrich Nortje’s tenacity. When Labuschagne reached 70, he edged Marco Jansen low to Harmer at slip, who promptly took the catch. Labuschagne, though, resisted and the decision was made upstairs. The television umpire, Richard Kettleborough, decided it hadn’t gone in cleanly after considerable rocking, rolling, and zooming. We all believed it was out, Nortje remarked.…
You could tell this was not going to be the kind of balance typically seen for an Australia Test squad at home when Marnus Labuschagne marked out his medium-pace run-up alongside Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood before play on the first day at the SCG, albeit perhaps not totally seriously. Due to a variety of circumstances, Australia’s injuries—most notably the one to Cameron Green—and the difficulty of adequately replacing two players, it had been one of the more exciting lead-ups to a Test in this country. Debating the deployment of two spinners is one of the New Year’s Test customs.…