Uncapped Delhi quick Navdeep Saini has been named as his replacement

ESPNcricinfo staff11-Jun-2018India quick Mohammed Shami has been left out of the squad for the Afghanistan Test in Bengaluru after failing a fitness test at National Cricket Academy (NCA). It is understood Shami has a hamstring issue in the right leg and it was decided to rest him keeping in mind the five-Test series in England which starts in August. Uncapped fast bowler Navdeep Saini, who was the highest wicket-taker for Delhi in the Ranji Trophy with 34 wickets in eight games, has been picked as a like-for-like replacement.Shami tested his hamstring while bowling in the nets on the first day of India’s training sessions ahead of the Afghanistan Test. It is not yet clear whether the decision to drop him from the squad was taken after Monday’s training.Shami had been hampered by the niggles right through the IPL, where he played for Delhi Daredevils. ESPNcricinfo understands that Shami played the first three matches with some niggles and, though he was not 100% match fit, played Daredevils’ fourth game but struggled once again for rhythm. Once the coaching staff noticed that Shami could not even run properly during training sessions, it was decided to not play Shami for the rest of the IPL.He has been at the NCA in Bengaluru undergoing rehab. Reportedly, he also underwent yo-yo tests, a mandatory process for selection, though the results of these tests could not be confirmed. To clear them, Shami would have had to meet the 16:1 mark set by the Indian team.After the IPL, Shami was named as a replacement for allrounder Hardik Pandya in the World XI squad for the charity T20I match against West Indies at Lord’s on May 31, but did not turn up for the match.Saini consistently generated speeds upwards of 140kph in the Ranji Trophy – two such thunderbolts dismissed Aamir Gani and B Amit off successive deliveries in the semi-final against Bengal in Pune. He claimed seven wickets in the match and bowled Delhi into the final. He then picked up eight wickets in six matches in the 50-over Vijay Hazare Trophy at an economy rate of 5.13. He was subsequently picked for the Deodhar Trophy and the Irani Cup.More recently, Saini was named in the India A squad to tour England for a four-day match from July 16. Saini did not get a game for Royal Challengers Bangalore in the IPL, but the franchise’s bowling coach Ashish Nehra rates him highly.Updated India squad: Ajinkya Rahane (capt), Shikhar Dhawan, M Vijay, KL Rahul, Cheteshwar Pujara, Karun Nair, Dinesh Karthik (wk), R Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Umesh Yadav, Navdeep Saini, Hardik Pandya, Ishant Sharma, Shardul Thakur

Sri Lanka ended the first day on 277 for 9 with the left-arm South Africa spinner leading the fightback; Dale Steyn’s wait for his record-breaking wicket to overtake Shaun Pollock continued

The Report by Firdose Moonda20-Jul-2018Stumps Keshav Maharaj and Hashim Amla celebrate a wicket•Associated Press

Keshav Maharaj singlehandedly kept South Africa competing on a dry pitch in Colombo, where he claimed the best figures by a visiting spinner on Sri Lankan soil. Maharaj was operating as the only specialist spinner in the XI, and his career-best 8 for 116 engineered mini-collapses in a Sri Lankan innings that could not sustain its strong start.Danushka Gunathilaka and Dimuth Karunaratne, put on the first century stand for the opening pair since October 2016 , and the first at home since 2010. Both went on to score half-centuries. Dhananjaya de Silva joined them with the milestone but none of the three pushed on to a three-figure score, and no-one in the middle-order made more than 22.Sri Lanka lost 3 for 37 after their first-wicket stand and 5 for 41 later in the day, and may not get to 300. But with three spinners in their attack, they will believe their total is worth much more.South Africa have armed themselves with an extra batsman to prepare for the challenge, leaving out the second specialist spinner, a selection which threatened to backfire on them when the seamers failed to make inroads.Dale Steyn’s wait to overtake Shaun Pollock as South Africa’s leading wicket-taker continues. Steyn bowled 15 overs but caused few problems, fewer than Kagiso Rabada or Lungi Ngidi, who was selected ahead of Vernon Philander for this Test. Of the three, Rabada was the stand-out performer, putting in the most work and enjoying some reward, when he claimed the only other wicket in the day.Gunathilaka and Karunarathe began confidently, taking on the full ball and in Karunaratne’s case, the short ball too, and it was only when Ngidi replaced Steyn, seven overs into the morning, that they were properly challenged. Ngidi had an appeal for lbw against Karunaratne with his fifth ball, beat his outside edge with his next, drew a leading edge from Gunathilaka in this third over, an uncontrolled aerial shot four balls later and an outside edge that fell short of point. Gunathilaka settled after that trial by Ngidi and registered the first half-century of his five-Test career, with the milestone coming post-lunch, the delivery after Karunaratne’s.By then, Maharaj had bowled nine overs without success, and he went on to deliver a 10th before things started to happen. Maharaj tossed one up, Karunaratne flicked feebly as it spun down the leg side and Quinton de Kock moved quickly to take the catch. In his next over, Maharaj dangled a delivery outside off, Gunathilaka went on to slog sweep and top-edged to deep-square leg, where Rabada took an impressive diving catch.Kusal Mendis carried on where the top two left off and played enterprisingly for his 34-ball 21 but became the second batsman to fall to the sweep. Sri Lanka had lost three of their top four in the middle session and needed to consolidate.But Angelo Mathews did little to aid the cause when, three balls after tea, he played at a Maharaj ball that bounced and took the outside edge to offer Faf du Plessis a catch at slip. Mathews did, at least, manage to score the eight runs he needed to become the ninth Sri Lankan to 5,000 Test runs.Instead, it was up to de Silva to steady Sri Lanka. He found runs off Maharaj fairly easily, used his feet well, built a fifth-wicket stand of 54 with Roshen Silva and recovered from a blow to the shoulder after he ducked into a Rabada short ball to bring up fifty off 100 balls. But he could not stop the slide that followed afterwards.Roshen became the only Sri Lankan to fall to a seamer in the innings when he was bowled by a Rabada yorker, and the lower order fell away, largely of their own doing. Niroshan Dickwella gloved a sweep to first slip, de Silva was given out on review off a slider, Dilruwan Perera swept to backward-square leg and Suranga Lakmal drove to short extra cover. Maharaj bowled 25 overs in his first spell and seven in his second, putting a workload of 32 overs on the first day, and leaving South Africa to question whether they should have instead sacrificed a quick for a second slower bowler, especially on the evidence late in the day.Part-timer Aiden Markram, bowling offspin with the second new ball, found substantial turn and bounce and on one occasion, got the ball to explode off the pitch as it spun sharply away outside off stump. After South Africa take the last Sri Lankan wicket, their batsmen will have to step up on this pitch, and will need to show better application than they did in Galle if they are to stay alive in the series.

Two Tests, three ODIs and three T20Is are scheduled in November and December, meaning the tour will take place alongside Bangladesh’s general elections

ESPNcricinfo staff25-Jul-2018West Indies are set to visit Bangladesh in November and December this year for their first full tour of the country since 2012. There will be a two-day practice match before the tour kicks off with two Tests. Three ODIs and three T20Is follow.

Tour itinerary

• 1st Test, Nov 22-26, Chittagong

• 2nd Test, Nov 30-Dec 4, Mirpur

• 1st ODI, Dec 9, Mirpur

• 2nd ODI, Dec 11, Mirpur

• 3rd ODI, Dec 14, Sylhet

• 1st T20I, Dec 17, Sylhet

• 2nd T20I, Dec 20, Mirpur

• 3rd T20I, Dec 22, Mirpur

West Indies’ visit means Bangladesh will have a packed home season, with Zimbabwe touring in October and the Bangladesh Premier League scheduled in January. The November-December window had been left empty due to the general elections scheduled in the country at that time, but, as things stand now, the West Indies series will happen alongside the elections.The last match West Indies played in Bangladesh was during the 2014 World T20. Their last bilateral tour of the country was in 2012-13. West Indies had blanked Bangladesh 2-0 in the Test series then, but the home side fought back to take the ODI series 3-2, while West Indies ended the tour with victory in the solitary T20I.The two sides are currently playing each other in the West Indies, where the home side brushed Bangladesh aside 2-0 in the two Tests but the visitors came back to win the first ODI of the ongoing three-match series. The teams will also play three T20Is.

The fast bowler has been named in the India A squad for their Quadrangular series third-place match against South Africa A on Wednesday

ESPNcricinfo staff27-Aug-2018Bhuvneshwar Kumar has regained full fitness and will be part of India A’s squad for their third-place game against South Africa A in the ongoing A team Quadrangular Series. The BCCI confirmed the development with a tweet on Monday evening.Bhuvneshwar had been undoing intense rehabilitation at the National Cricket Academy in Bengaluru for the last four weeks, after being ruled out of the first three Tests against England with a lower-back issue. He had been managing this injury for a few months – he had been rested from the Nidahas Trophy T20s and the one-off Test against Afghanistan, and sat out a few IPL games too – and aggravated it while playing the third ODI against England at Headingley.The selectors announced the squad for the fourth and fifth Tests on August 22, but Bhuvneshwar’s name didn’t feature in it. It is possible the selectors wanted the fast bowler to prove his fitness by playing a match at the domestic or India A level before picking him in the India squad.On India’s previous tour of England, in 2014, Bhuvneshwar was India’s most successful bowler in the Test series, picking up 19 wickets in five Test at an average of 26.63.India A will face South Africa A in the third-place match on Wednesday in Alur. On the same day, India B will face Australia A in the final at the Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru.

Kent could only manage 137, but that was made to look a significant total as Northamptonshire’s batting was blown away

ECB Reporters Network04-Sep-2018
ScorecardKent pace bowler Matt Henry bagged 6 for 31 to leave Northamptonshire reeling on 71 for 8 when bad light and rain ended prematurely an action-packed opening day of Specsavers County Championship action.On a thrilling day when 18 wickets fell, Henry – the New Zealand Test paceman – took his season’s red-ball wicket tally to 56 as the Division 2 promotion hopefuls recovered from a poor batting display to leave the visitors punch drunk and still 66 runs in arrears by the time the umpires stopped the contest and took the sides off for bad light just before 5pm.Northamptonshire, who started their first innings response at 2.42pm, struggled to cope with the guile of Darren Stevens and the pace of Henry, the Championship’s leading wicket-taker.Henry, who went into the game with 50 scalps to his name at an average of 15.84, forced Ben Curran to play on to leg stump and then plucked out the middle and off stumps of Ricardo Vasconcelos after rushing one through the South African left-hander’s gate.Stevens snared Luke Proctor leg before with an in-swinger, Henry re-arranged Alex Wakely’s poles with a yorker and then Richard Levi scooped a rearing delivery from Henry to square leg to send the visitors in at tea on 31 for 5.Three overs after tea, Saif Zaib feathered an attempted leg-glance against Stevens through to the keeper then, three balls later, Henry sent Nathan Buck’s off stump cartwheeling to secure his fifth five-wicket return of the summer.Northamptonshire limped past their lowest ever score against Kent – 39 all out at Wantage Road in 1907 – but with their score on 44 Adam Rossington’s top edged pull against Henry skied to long leg.Henry gave way after 12-overs as did Stevens, with 2 for 26, allowing Brett Hutton and Richard Gleeson to add a precious 27 before the players went off for bad light.Batting first after an uncontested toss, Kent’s top-order were soon in trouble against the new ball and under leaden skies and had lost both openers within five overs.Zak Crawley, fending down the line of off stump, feathered a Hutton away-swinger through to the keeper, then, seven balls later, Sean Dickson went back and across his stumps to miss an off-cutter from Ben Sanderson and depart leg before.Experienced third-wicket partners Joe Denly and Heino Kuhn took advantage of the short St Lawrence boundaries to keep the board ticking over at a decent rate and raise the home 50 after 15 overs. But, with his score on 16, Kuhn played around a full, in-swinger from Buck to also go lbw.Having batted 76 minutes for his 14, Denly’s late decision to withdraw the bat outside off stump against Gleeson proved fatal as the ball glanced off the bat face and through to the keeper.Batting under floodlights after lunch, Kent’s position quickly became gloomier as they lost their last six wickets for 46 runs inside 18 overs.Sam Billings nicked off against Gleeson, Stevens prodded at Sanderson to become the third leg before victim and, having scratched around for 98 minutes for 23, Daniel Bell-Drummond edged behind.Sanderson ran one in off the seam to peg back Grant Stewart’s off stump, then Buck polished the job off with two wickets in as many balls. Henry heaved across the line to lose off stump then Ivan Thomas was caught on the crease and palpably leg before as Kent succumbed inside 47 overs with Gleeson, Sanderson and Buck claiming three wickets apiece.Gleeson suggested the pitch was nothing out of the ordinary.”To bowl them out for 137 you think ‘great start’ but they bowled tremendously in helpful conditions,” he said. “It’s not really brightened up all day, it’s stayed overcast and the wicket has been doing a little bit throughout.”When we turned up we felt the wicket looked quite flat and that we were in for a long toil, but it doesn’t look that way from the scoreboard. The pitch has done a little bit, but nothing out of the ordinary. They were just very tough overhead conditions all day.”

The left-arm spinner will play the first Test at Galle where he needs one wicket to reach 100 at the venue

Andrew Fidel Fernando22-Oct-20181:35

A tribute to the most-successful left-arm bowler in Test history

Rangana Herath, the most-successful left-arm bowler in Test history, will retire after the first Test in Galle, having told the selectors that he is reluctant to play through an entire three-Test series.Galle is a sentimental venue for Herath – not only did he make his Test debut there in 1999, he also needs only one more wicket to join Muttiah Muralitharan in having taken 100 wickets at the ground. It was at this venue that Herath also reignited his career at the age of 31, taking five wickets in a Test against Pakistan in 2009, after having been suddenly called up to the Test side while he was playing league cricket in England.Herath, 40, has not played a complete three-Test series since January 2017, having since left two India series early due to injury, before playing no more than one of the three Tests in West Indies in June this year. Herath has had to manage knee injuries for several years now; the strain of carrying Sri Lanka’s spin attack since the retirement of Muralitharan is understood to have caught up to him.His retirement will leave a substantial hole in the Sri Lanka side, with offspinner Dilruwan Perera likeliest to replace him as leader of the spin attack, for the remainder of the England series at least. Sri Lanka also have three other spinners in the squad: all-sorts offspinner Akila Dananjaya, left-arm wristspinner Lakshan Sandakan, and left-arm orthodox bowler Malinda Pushpakumara. Of the remaining spinners only Dilruwan has played more than 10 Tests, however.A beloved figure across the island, Herath’s retirement will also bring to an end one of the most remarkable careers in modern cricket. Not only is he the 10th most successful Test bowler in history with 430 wickets, all but 36 of those dismissals came after he had turned 31, with Herath having struggled to maintain a place in the Test side in the first decade of his career. No bowler has also taken as many as his 230 wickets after turning 35. If he takes five wickets in his final Test, he could move up to seventh on the all-time list, passing Richard Hadlee (431 wickets), Stuart Broad (433) and Kapil Dev (434).Herath is also the last active Test cricketer to have made his debut in the 1990s.The Galle Test begins on November 6.

The Rajshahi game between North Zone and East Zone was a high-scoring draw with centuries from North Zone batsmen Naeem Islam, Jahurul Islam and Farhad Hossain

ESPNcricinfo staff24-Nov-2018Shuvagata Hom and Abu Hider shared nine wickets between them in the fourth innings as Central Zone beat South Zone by 77 runs in Sylhet. After the two sides were in a near deadlock after their respective first innings, South Zone were bowled out for 188 runs while chasing 266 on the last day.In Central Zone’s first innings, Abdul Mazid made an unbeaten 141, most of it during his 10th-wicket stand with Shahidul Islam who made 58 off 75 with eight fours and two sixes. Mazid struck 13 fours and five sixes to carry them to 282.Fazle Mahmud led South Zone’s reply with 94 off 194 balls that had 13 fours. He was involved in a 77-run second-wicket stand with opener Shahriar Nafees (71). Veteran left-arm spinner Mosharraf Hossain took 4 for 53 as South Zone conceded a one-run lead.Liton Das’ 84 led Central Zone in the second innings as they made 264. He struck 12 fours in his brisk 95-ball knock. Offspinner Mahedi Hasan took five wickets, and despite Nafees’ second half-century in the game, South Zone were bowled out in 49.5 overs. Shuvagata took 5 for 53 while Hider finished with 4 for 44.The Rajshahi game between North Zone and East Zone was a high-scoring draw with centuries from North Zone batsmen Naeem Islam, Jahurul Islam and Farhad Hossain.Batting first, North Zone scored 445 with Naeem making 137 with 16 fours and a six. Jahurul scored his 15th first-class hundred – 104 off 163 balls with 15 fours. Nineteen-year-old medium-pacer Hasan Mahmud took three late wickets in his 4 for 44.Yasir Ali (94), Farhad Reza (85), Mohammad Saifuddin (64), Rony Talukdar (54) and Enamul Haque jnr (51) struck fifties as East Zone reached 443 in reply.In the 45.3 overs remaining in the game, Farhad crammed in an unbeaten 103 off 128 balls with 12 fours and a six. Sabbir Rahman and Junaid Siddique scored quickfire fifties as North Zone ended on 270 for 4 with a run rate of almost six per over.

Faf du Plessis’ Paarl Rocks stuttered after opting to bat as three-wicket hauls from Shaun von Berg and Lutho Sipamla bowled them out for 121

The Report by Liam Brickhill05-Dec-2018This match was billed as a showdown between Faf du Plessis and AB de Villiers, who were at Afrikaanse Hoër Seunskool together in this very city, playing alongside each other there before moving on to be team-mates at Northerns, Titans and, of course, South Africa. In the end, it was de Villiers’ Tshwane Spartans who triumphed in a see-sawing, low-scoring thriller, chasing down Paarl Rocks’ 121 in the final
over.Spartans came into this match wanting not just a win, but a bonus point in order to keep their Mzansi Super League campaign on track. The end result doesn’t rule them out, but they are still in the fifth position on the points table and will need other results to go their way (as well as winning all of their remaining matches) in order to get to the playoffs.Spartans had only won two matches in this competition before the game, but they had also squandered some strong positions, and that was very nearly the case in this match. Needing to score at a run a ball to win, Spartans would also have had the potential bonus point – on offer for a victory in 16 overs or less – on their minds as they started their chase.All seemed to be going to plan when they had reached 63 for 1 midway through the 10th over, Andrea Agathangelou powering the chase with a flurry of boundaries to make up for Dean Elgar’s slow start at the top of the order. But when he was given out caught behind off the glove – somewhat contentiously – aiming a paddle scoop over short fine leg, Spartans started to slide.On a pitch that had plenty of cracks to encourage the spinners, Tabraiz Shamsi rocked the Spartans with two quick wickets in his third over, including that of de Villiers, bowled through the gate by one that gripped and spun in to him. Shamsi concluded by pinning a reverse-sweeping Eoin Morgan lbw for 4 as Spartans slipped to 82 for 5.While wickets were falling, the runs also dried up, and Spartans couldn’t find the boundary between the 11th and 16th overs. That put paid to any hopes they might have had of still securing a bonus point, but it also brought what should have been a straightforward chase to a nerve-jangling conclusion.Tony de Zorzi flat-batted David Wiese over cover to break the shackles, and then brought up the 100 in the 17th over with a shovel over Paterson’s head. With two overs to go, Spartans needed 15, and their job could have quickly become even harder when de Zorzi missed an attempted paddle at a Dwayne Bravo slower ball to be struck on the pad, but was very luckily not given out even though the ball would have cannoned
into leg stump.Bravo had his revenge three balls later, de Zorzi mistiming a heave at a slow bouncer to be easily caught in the deep, and Spartans went into the final over needing 11. Robbie Frylinck, who had nudged his way to 11 off 18, biffed the first ball over long-on for six, and the second straight down the ground for four more to draw level, before turning the third to fine leg for the winning run.While Frylinck was their hero with the bat, Lutho Sipamla was Spartans’ spearhead with the ball, operating as a one-over strike bowler and repeatedly returning to the attack to break through whenever Paarl threatened to lay a platform.First, he had a flat-footed Aiden Markram caught behind to snap the opening stand in his first over. With du Plessis scoring at a strike rate of 200 in the Powerplay, Sipamla returned to have him caught at cover by de Villiers for 38. After Dwayne Bravo hit three sixes off legspinners Jeevan Mendis and Shaun von Berg, Sipamla returned once more to remove him via a sliced drive, and he completed his bowling
work for the day by conceding just two runs in his final over, the 17th of the innings, to finish with figures of 3 for 19.Though they leaked runs early when du Plessis and Bravo were on the counter-attack, Spartans’ spin attack struck back superbly to deal with the lower order. Von Berg had Vaughn van Jaarsveld caught at long-on at the start of his spell, and then returned to repeat the treatment against Mangaliso Mosehle. In the same over, von Berg combined with Rory Kleinveldt to get rid of Fortuin via the outside edge, Kleinveldt
holding a stunning reflex catch at slip as Rocks slipped to 100 for 8.Paterson struck a couple of lusty blows, but Mendis returned to bowl the 18th over and brought the innings to a swift end. His googly caught the inside-edge of Tshepo Moreki’s bat, wicketkeeper Gihahn Cloete holding the catch between his legs, and Paterson mistimed a slog two balls later as Rocks were bowled out with more than two overs to spare. Had they scored just a few more, they might have won this game, but Rocks’ defeat mean they now have a slim lead of three points over Spartans, and the play-off race is still wide open.

He will fly back to Sydney for a check-up but is expected to be back in Bangladesh sometime next week

Mohammad Isam10-Jan-2019Steven Smith will miss Comilla Victorians’ next two matches in the BPL, after a previous elbow injury flared up in the last couple of days. He will fly back to Sydney for a check-up but is expected to be back in Bangladesh sometime next week.”He is quite positive about returning, possibly during the Sylhet phase of the competition,” Victorians media manager Sohanuzzaman Khan told ESPNcricinfo. “He will undergo an MRI in Australia, which isn’t available in Bangladesh, and will inform us about it.”Their next two matches in Dhaka are against Rajshahi Kings and Chittagong Vikings on January 11 and 13, while their Sylhet phase begins on January 15.Smith, who led the Victorians to one win in the two outings, has so far made 16 and 0 in his two innings against Sylhet Sixers and Rangpur Riders. The former Australia captain’s participation in the BPL made news after the organisers had to change the drafting rules to accommodate him.Meanwhile, Khulna Titans have replaced Ali Khan with Junaid Khan after the US fast bowler was ruled out due to a hamstring injury he suffered during his only match in the BPL.

An elbow injury will keep David Warner out of Sylhet Sixers’ BPL campaign from January 21, according to Cricket Australia

ESPNcricinfo staff17-Jan-2019An elbow injury will keep David Warner out of Sylhet Sixers’ BPL campaign from January 21, according to Cricket Australia. Warner will return to Australia where he is likely to need six weeks to recover from the injury.”David has reported some pain in his right elbow. He will return to Australia on January 21 to be assessed, but is expected to play in the remaining BPL matches until his return. We will have a clearer understanding of the extent of the injury once he has been assessed,” a CA spokesperson said.Warner, who is the Sixers captain, will play two more matches for them, on January 18 and 19, before flying back home which will make him miss their last five league games. It will be a big blow for Sixers as Warner has been their second-highest run-scorer so far and they are placed second from bottom on the points table. Against defending champions Rangpur Riders on Wednesday night, Warner had also batted right-handed for three deliveries during his 36-ball 61 against Chris Gayle, hitting him for 6, 4 and 4.Warner follows Steven Smith back to Australia after the Comilla Victorians captain was also ruled out due to an elbow injury. Unlike Smith, whose international return may be delayed because of his elbow surgery, Warner could still be on track to represent Australia as soon as his ban for ball-tampering finishes on March 28. Australia will take on Pakistan around that time in a one-day series which will potentially clash with the IPL, which will begin on March 23.