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Shanto: If we take the match into final session, anything can happen

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“It will be a challenging series but we have the extra confidence from the Pakistan series”

Mohammad Isam15-Sep-2024Bangladesh captain Najmul Hossain Shanto says his side is confident going into the first Test against India in Chennai, after their 2-0 win against Pakistan earlier this month. The two-match Test series against India starts on Thursday, followed by three T20Is.”It will be a challenging series but we have the extra confidence from the Pakistan series,” Shanto said in the pre-departure press conference in Dhaka. “I guess the whole country has that confidence now. Every series is an opportunity. We want to win both Tests, but we have to stick to our process. If we do our job, we can get a good result.”They are well ahead of us in the rankings. But we did play well recently. We want to play well for five days, that’s our goal. We want to get the result in the last session of the Test match. At that time, the match can go in any direction. It is an opportunity [to get our first win in India]. We will play with a win in mind. But we don’t want to think too far ahead. We want to do well for five days, and play to our strength. That’s most important.”Related

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  • How Bangladesh pulled off their greatest feat

  • Uncapped Jaker Ali replaces injured Shoriful Islam for India Test series

Bangladesh played an inspired brand of cricket in Pakistan where their batters and bowlers combined to beat the home side by ten wickets in the first Test and by six wickets in the second. Much of the focus was on their fast bowlers who combined to take all ten wickets in the Pakistan second innings in the second Test, a first for the country.Shanto knows Bangladesh’s pace attack is not as experienced as India’s, but the recent success will keep them in a positive frame of mind. At the same time, he feels Bangladesh’s spinners – Shakib Al Hasan, Taijul Islam and Mehidy Hasan Miraz – are much closer to India’s.”We are in a good place with our bowling attack, both spin and pace,” he said. “Perhaps our pacers are behind them in terms of experience but our spin attack is close to theirs. They can bowl in any conditions. All I can say is that our pacers, spinners and batters will give 100%.”I think we can make a difference only if we play as a team. It is not just the spinners but the pacers and the batters also. The whole team has to play together.”Shakib Al Hasan, here with Alec Stewart, picked up nine wickets in the match for Surrey•Getty Images

Bangladesh’s batters also made an overall recovery of their form. They had an ordinary time in the last 12 months, particularly against Sri Lanka earlier this year when the team crossed 300 only once during the home series. But they batted splendidly in the first Test in Rawalpindi, with Mushfiqur Rahim getting 191 and three other batters crossing fifties. In the second Test, too, they fought hard despite a top-order collapse. Litton Das struck his fourth Test century, and Mehidy his second fifty in the series.Shanto and Shakib, though, could not get a half-century in Pakistan. Shanto hasn’t emulated his 2023 form when he scored 1650 runs across formats, with five centuries. He has scored only one century so far this year. Shakib has scored just one half-century in 16 innings. But he has continued his strong bowling form, and took nine wickets for Surrey against Somerset recently. He will join the team in India directly from London.”My personal goal would be for the team to win,” Shanto said. “I want to contribute as a batter, for which I have prepared to the best of my ability. I am hopeful [Shakib] will do well. The expectations are always the same with him. He is in good form with the ball. He didn’t get runs [for Surrey], but he had a good outing with the ball.”Before the Pakistan series, the new BCB president, Faruque Ahmed, had said that he did not want Chandika Hathurusinghe to continue as head coach, but he has reportedly toned down that rhetoric. On Sunday, he also said that the team would donate a portion of their bonus for winning the Pakistan series.”The captain [Shanto] has said that they will contribute a portion of their bonus to the flood-affected people and those who were affected in the student-led people’s movement,” Ahmed said. “The amount is BDT 3.2 crore [approx. US$270,000] for winning two Tests and the series. Some different bonuses have added up also. A portion of the amount will go to the chief advisor’s relief fund for the flood-affected people.”

Didn't assess Hamilton pitch well enough – Gabriel

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The fast bowler also said that on a surface that was “flatter than Wellington,” West Indies would have taken having New Zealand seven down at stumps

ESPNcricinfo staff09-Dec-2017Although West Indies “didn’t assess the wicket well enough,” they would have taken having New Zealand seven down at stumps, according to fast bowler Shannon Gabriel. New Zealand finished the first day in Hamilton at 286 for 7 after they were put in on a grassy surface.”I think they scored 30 or 40 runs too much, but it was a good day of Test cricket,” Gabriel said. “I think if we told ourselves this morning we’d win the toss and have them seven down by the end of the day’s play, we’d have taken that.”I think judging from what happened in the last game, once we win the toss, you back yourself when it’s bowler-friendly. But I don’t think that was the case on this wicket, I think it was a bit more flat than in Wellington.”West Indies conceded 87 runs in the first session at 3.10 runs per over, and Gabriel allowed 36 of those in six overs. He said West Indies switched tactics at lunch, choosing patience over aggression.Getty Images

“After lunch, we decided that we wanted to be patient and luckily things happened for us,” Gabriel said. “When we started this morning we bowled a little too full – myself. It was a bit soggy, the crease. So my landing was skidding along the wicket, and it was a bit difficult to control my line and my length. But when the sun came out the pitch got a bit dry so it was a little bit easier for me.”We told ourselves once we soak up the runs and bowl the ball back into the wicket it was going to be a bit difficult to score runs. Once we build that pressure, we know 90% of the time a wicket is going to come. In cricket, you could be 100 for 1 and you could be 150 all out. We just had to believe in ourselves, as a group we always believe in ourselves.”In conditions that assisted seam more than spin, Gabriel backed stand-in captain Kraigg Brathwaite’s decision to pick Raymon Reifer over legspinner Devendra Bishoo.”Most of the guys started well this morning,” Gabriel said. “Hats off to Raymon, I think he bowled beautifully, his figures didn’t really show how he stuck to his task. The conditions may favour Bishoo a little bit, he’s been our No 1 spinner for the past two years, so it’s a bit difficult leaving him out. But I think the fast bowlers bowled good enough in the last game to warrant a place in this team for this game.”

Seales strikes as Robinson seeks rhythm in curtailed Hove opener

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Northants battle through to 95 for 2 after being inserted on soggy southcoast day

ECB Reporters Network05-Apr-2024Northamptonshire had the better of the half day’s play that was possible on the opening of the Vitality County Championship match at Hove. They lost the toss but their batters battled hard and reached 95 for 2 when bad light – with no option for floodlights – drove the players from the field just after 6pm.Play started four hours late, at 3pm, with 51 overs scheduled but there were only 38.1 bowled. The good news for Sussex – and England – is that Ollie Robinson, in only his second first-class game since last July, bowled with an easy rhythm and some pace and carry from the Cromwell Road end.He opened the bowling down the hill after new Sussex captain John Simpson had won the toss and chosen to bowl under sullen skies. It was surprising that Robinson was taken off after bowling just four overs – his figures were 4-1-9-0 but his workload is being managed at this stage of the season.When Robinson opened the bowling again after tea he was even more impressive, with a spell of 5-3-5-0, and looked back to his best speeds. The only frustration for Robinson, and the other Sussex bowlers, was that there was so little movement with the Kookaburra ball.Northants were making their first visit to Hove for three years and the first runs of the season at Hove came when the left-handed opener Emilio Gay drove Robinson wide of mid-on for four. But Sussex broke through with the first ball of the fourth over when Gay glanced Jayden Seales down the leg-side and Simpson made a distance to his right to pull off a fine catch.Northants captain Luke Procter showed his intent when he pulled Seales over the square-leg boundary for a nonchalant six. And Procter was given solid support by makeshift opener Justin Broad at the other end. Broad played an excellent back-foot drive through the covers for four off Danny Lamb, the allrounder who – along with Seales and Simpson – was one of three players making his first-class debut for Sussex.At tea, Northants had reached 58 for 1 from 24 overs, with Broad on 23 and Procter 29 not out. After the interval, it was again Seales who made the breakthrough, having Broad, who was only half-forward, lbw for 27, to make it 66 for 2. Broad had hit five handsome fours in his 76-ball innings.But Procter and Karun Nair – who scored such an impressive 150 against Surrey at The Oval last season – carried Northants to the close without any further loss.

County commitments force Ackermann and van der Merwe to miss T20 World Cup

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Injuries have forced Brandon Glover and Timm van der Gugten to miss out too

Matt Roller13-May-2024Netherlands will be without the experienced pair of Colin Ackermann and Roelof van der Merwe at the T20 World Cup 2024. The two of them made themselves unavailable for selection, choosing to fulfil their county commitments instead.Netherlands have called up Daniel Doram, the Leeward Islands left-arm spinner, to a full T20I squad for the first time.The T20 World Cup clashes with the start of the Vitality Blast, England’s county T20 competition, which has forced Associate players to choose between their primary employers and their national teams.Bas de Leede (Durham) and Fred Klaassen (Kent) will be released by their counties for the T20 World Cup, but ESPNcricinfo understands that Ackermann and van der Merwe have committed to Durham and Somerset respectively. Neither was named in the Netherlands’ provisional squad on Monday.Brandon Glover, meanwhile, wasn’t considered as he continued his comeback after an injury, while Timm van der Gugten is out of action with a calf injury.In van der Merwe’s absence, Doram has been named as one of two left-arm spinners in the squad along with Tim Pringle. He is a Dutch passport-holder from Saint Maarten, a constituent state of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, and played first-class and List A cricket for Netherlands as a teenager.ESPNcricinfo Ltd

Doram, who is 6′ 7″ tall, has been playing for Leeward Islands in the West Indies Championship and picked up 29 wickets at 20.27 this season. He has never played a professional T20 match but was on standby when Netherlands toured Nepal earlier this year.”We have been able to select a well-balanced team, which we are confident will be able to perform in the conditions against the opposition we face in the US and West Indies,” Ryan Cook, the Netherlands head coach, said in a release. “All of the players have been training well and have been involved in the recent ProSeries with some exciting performances showing the growing depth and quality in Netherlands cricket.”We have managed to perform admirably in the last two World Cups we have participated in and will be determined to rise to the challenges we face ahead to reach the next round of the tournament.”Scott Edwards will to captain the side, as he did at the 2022 T20 World Cup, and there are several changes to the squad that finished fourth in their Super 12s group in that tournament. Shariz Ahmad, Tom Cooper, Stephen Myburgh, Ackermann, van der Merwe, Glover and van der Gugten are out; Wesley Barresi, Aryan Dutt, Michael Levitt, Sybrand Engelbrecht, Vivian Kingma and Doram have come in.Netherlands will prepare for the tournament with a tri-series against Scotland and Ireland, which starts on Saturday. They have been drawn in Group D of the T20 World Cup alongside Bangladesh, Nepal, South Africa and Sri Lanka.

Netherlands provisional squad for the T20 World Cup:

Aryan Dutt, Bas de Leede, Daniel Doram, Fred Klaassen, Logan van Beek, Max O’Dowd, Michael Levitt, Paul van Meekeren, Scott Edwards (capt/wk), Sybrand Engelbrecht, Teja Nidamanuru, Tim Pringle, Vikramjit Singh, Vivian Kingma, Wesley Barresi

Da Silva hits century as West Indies find positives before Test challenge

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Kavem Hodge fell for 99 as the tourists made good use of the final day of their warm-up match

AAP12-Jan-2024West Indies 251 for 8 (Greaves 65, Hodge 52, Brathwaite 52) and 315 for 5 dec (Da Silva 105, Hodge 99) drew with Cricket Australia XI 174 (Ward 50) and 149 for 5 (Sinclair 3-38)Joshua Da Silva wrapped up West Indies’ on-field preparations for the Frank Worrell Trophy by hitting a century against a Cricket Australia XI in Adelaide.Five days out from the first Test in the South Australian capital, Da Silva offered the tourists hope on Friday with a fine 105 against an inexperienced attack at Karen Rolton Oval.Related

  • Meet West Indies' new names: the seven uncapped players in Australia

  • Hodge, da Silva impress for West Indies after fast bowlers run through CA XI

Test hopeful Kavem Hodge did his chances of a debut no harm with 99, before being bowled by spinner Doug Warren agonisingly close to reaching three figures.Hodge was desperately unlucky when a ball spun out of the rough, hit the right-hander’s back leg and bounced onto the stumps.Justin Greaves hit an unbeaten 41 to go with his first-innings 65, helping the tourists to 315 for 5 declared in their second visit to the middle, and a sizeable lead of 392.There do, however, remain some concerns for the tourists. The men likely to bat No. 3 and No. 4 in Adelaide both failed again, with Kirk McKenzie and Alick Athanaze backing up their first-innings scores of 23 and 0 with 9 and 15 respectively.West Indies need more out of the pair in the two-Test series, given they are likely to field debutants in Hodge and Greaves at No. 5 and No. 6.The CA XI were able to hold on for 39 overs to draw the game. West Indies off-spinning allrounder Kevin Sinclair, famous for his somersault celebrations after wickets, claimed three scalps. That will help his case for a Test call-up as he battles with Greaves for a spot in the side.The tourists will have to play at least three debutants at Adelaide Oval, with seven uncapped players in their 15-man squad.That lack of top-level experience highlights the predicament Test cricket finds itself in, with Jason Holder and Kyle Mayers the latest West Indies players to prioritise T20 leagues over the five-day format.

Head 'almost out' of Covid, set to start day-night Test at the Gabba

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“Even if he’s still positive he can still play, [but] there’ll just be a few protocols,” Pat Cummins said

Andrew McGlashan23-Jan-20240:59

Clarke: No Australia attack will reach McGrath and Warne levels

Australia are confident that Travis Head will be able to take his place in the second Test against West Indies despite having Covid since the end of the opening game in Adelaide.Head delayed his arrival into Brisbane by a day to give himself extra time to recover at home and opted not to take part in Australia’s main training session at the Gabba on Tuesday evening in order to rest further but will take part on Wednesday. There remains hope that he will test negative before the start of the game, but even if he doesn’t, he will be able to play although there will be some additional protocols in place.”Think he’s almost out of it. He’s fine, feeling good,” Pat Cummins said. “Think he’ll train tonight. Obviously, even if he’s still positive he can still play, there’ll just be a few protocols. But think he’s pretty close to a negative.”Last season against South Africa, Matt Renshaw came down with Covid during his comeback game at the SCG and was kept separate from team-mates while off the field.Related

  • Australia's marvel and crisis man, Head again shows why he's a cult hero

  • Renshaw could remain available to Brisbane Heat in Test lead-up

  • Khawaja cleared for Gabba Test after Adelaide head blow

With Usman Khawaja having cleared his concussion tests since the blow on the head late in the game in Adelaide, Australia are set to be unchanged. Renshaw has been made available to Brisbane Heat for the BBL final at the SCG on Wednesday and will then rejoin the Test squad.Head played the decisive hand in Adelaide with his 119 off 134 balls turning around an uncertain Australia first innings into a lead, which was almost enough to win by an innings inside two days.There was considerable assistance in the Adelaide surface and two days out at the Gabba, the pitch had a distinctive green tinge although it may lose some of that colour before the first day for what will be the venue’s third day-night Test. Last year, the match against South Africa ended inside two days and the ground was handed a demerit point by the ICC, but this surface is not expected to be as wild.”The aim is definitely to wind it back from what it was last year for sure but we have to be careful we don’t go too far,” head groundsman Dave Sandurski told the last week. “We want a contest between bat and ball. We don’t want a T20 batathon. We have to find a happy [middle] ground and hopefully we will find it this year.”The early finish in Adelaide meant the ground was left with no Test cricket over the weekend given the game started on a Wednesday. As a bowler, Cummins is rarely going to shy away from early finishes – and has pinpointed the shorter Tests this summer as a reason why Australia’s attack is set to remain unchanged throughout the home season – but he also believed matches where the ball holds sway provide more enthralling cricket.”I’ve played in Tests that have fizzled out into a five-day draw and think everyone walks away feeling a bit empty whereas [have] played in two or three-day matches where everyone can’t take their eyes off the TV for a minute,” he said. “Ideally you want it to go a bit longer than two days but you want it to be a good contest between bat and ball. A couple of the Tests this summer have been fantastic, feels like every session has importance and each side can win.”With Australia’s three frontline quicks all averaging under 20 in day-night Tests, life is unlikely to get any easier for West Indies’ batters. However, one element that may yet prevent a short finish in Brisbane is the weather, with the forecast deteriorating in recent days with significant rain now expected over the weekend.

New BCCI committee to identify hurdles in implementing Lodha reforms

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The new committee will identify “exceptional and extremely limited areas of difficulty” in the implementation of the Supreme Court’s order of July 2016 and the passing of key Lodha reforms

Arun Venugopal26-Jun-20171:49

‘Areas of difficulty with Lodha reform will be brought before the CoA’ – Choudhary

Nearly a year after the Supreme Court judgement approving a majority of the Lodha Committee recommendations, the BCCI has set up a committee of its own to identify “exceptional and extremely limited areas of difficulty” in the implementation of the reforms.The committee’s suggestions will be presented to the Committee of Administrators, a court-appointed panel tasked with running the board until fresh elections under the Lodha guidelines. No CoA representative is part of this new BCCI committee, which was announced during the board’s special general meeting in Mumbai on Monday.

‘Wait till selection of the World XI’

BCCI’s acting secretary Amitabh Choudhary was non-committal when asked if India’s players would be available to participate in a proposed T20 series in Lahore.
The ICC Board, on Friday, extended its support to the idea of a World XI side playing Pakistan in Pakistan as part of efforts to bring international cricket back to the country. Choudhary, however, said it was premature to discuss if India will play any role in it.
“We should wait till the selection of the World XI because it is possible that if those matches are scheduled alongside any of our series than obviously none of our players will be eligible, will they?” he said. “So, we will have to wait for that. I think it’s fair.”

This move seems likely to delay the implementation of the reforms, which were approved by the Supreme Court in July 2016, but the BCCI acting secretary, Amitabh Choudhary, has said it was formed with the intention of examining “how best to quickly implement [the recommendations].” Choudhary stated the committee, whose members will be named on Tuesday, will offer their report in a fortnight.It is understood that apart from Choudhary, who will play the role of the convener, acting board president CK Khanna, treasurer Anirudh Chaudhary and a member from a north-east association are likely to be among the “five or six” members of the committee. They will have to come up with a decision on this matter before July 14, when the Supreme Court is set to hear the case again.”The house deliberated in detail and with a view to completing the implementation process, constituted a committee which will examine how best quickly to implement [the recommendations],” Choudhary told reporters. “The committee should have its first recommendations in a fortnight’s time. So, that’s as far as the implementation of the principal judgment is concerned.””The committee will go into each and every action point necessitated by the principal judgment and then only those exceptional and extremely limited areas of difficulty would bring it to the notice of the CoA, which will thereafter decide the course of action.”Choudhary added that another SGM would have to be convened to approve the proposals of the committee which “will start its work in two days’ time and the rest will follow.”The BCCI is likely to have another special general meeting to approve the proposals put forward by the panel looking into the difficulties of implementing key Lodha reforms.•PTI

The BCCI is inclined towards incorporating most of the Lodha committee’s recommendations, a board official told ESPNcricinfo, except for policies such as the age cap of 70 years for office bearers, the tenure cap of nine years with cooling-off periods in between, the one-state-one-vote policy and the trimming down of the number of selectors from five to three.These recommendations had drawn opposition from the BCCI even before the court’s order last year and on Monday a senior state association official from the west zone indicated nothing had changed. “How can I let go of my vote?” asked the official. “These are the recommendations that the committee will have to sit down and decide on.”Some of the delay in the BCCI adopting the Lodha reforms has been because the state associations are averse to them, but when asked to list the recommendations that have been met with objections, Chaudhary said the board would convey their thoughts to the Supreme Court directly.For a while now, the CoA has urged the board’s member units to identify a few points of objection, which could be raised with the Supreme Court even as the other recommendations were implemented. A CoA official sounded optimistic of the BCCI toeing the Supreme Court’s line after the meeting on Sunday.”They understand that implementing Lodha is not an option [but is mandatory],” he told ESPNcricinfo. “So what is the point in obstructing and dragging it further? What we have told them is if you adopt the report with the two-three points you want the court to consider then the court will also look at it favourably. Otherwise the CoA will be left with no other option than to ask the court to enforce.”

West Indies face another trial by spin, Pakistan eye clean sweep

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The pitch in Multan is expected to play like it did in the first Test. But can West Indies prepare and execute better this time around?

Danyal Rasool24-Jan-2025

Big Picture

It is not difficult to know what’s coming this Test match. It is an easy one to analyse, a straightforward one to predict. West Indies will have prepared studiously for the challenge Pakistan will pose, and Pakistan, themselves, have made no secret they will double down on the nature of the surfaces they prepare. The wicket might begin to break up when the two captains head out for the toss. Whoever wins will bat first, and spin bowling will feature right from the outset.But forewarned is not necessarily forearmed. The challenge Pakistan pose with these surfaces that crackle in the winter heat is much easier to understand than to do anything about. The outcome of the game hinges on West Indies’ execution; any mistakes they made in terms of understanding what kind of pitch this was will have been ironed out.Kraigg Brathwaite threw the gauntlet down to his team at the end of the first Test, while encouraging them with the reminder they were ahead in the game at a few key stages, and there was significant room for improvement to offer them belief.Related

  • Aaqib Javed says Pakistan's spinning pitches are here to stay

West Indies’ own spinners showed they could go toe to toe with Pakistan’s, and Jomel Warrican registered better figures than any of his Pakistani counterparts. In Kemar Roach, they possess the best fast bowler on either side, on the few occasions that one will be required. They even worked out how to make the sweep and reverse-sweep productive, if not necessarily risk-free. And they found runs with the lower order, an inveterate Achilles’ heel of Pakistan’s bowling, no matter the conditions.Aaqib Javed made an impassioned defence of the pitches Pakistan have begun preparing at home, but he knows he has not won everyone over yet. Concerns about what it means for the country’s Test batting and fast bowling linger, and the only thing – the main thing, in his view – his style has got going for it is simple; it wins Pakistan Test matches. Pakistan are aware they must continue getting these wins, because the moment results turn, that spring-loaded criticism is waiting to be unleashed.

Form guide

Pakistan: WLLWW (last five completed matches, most recent first)West Indies: LLWLD

In the spotlight – Shan Masood and Alick Athanaze

Pakistan cricket brings with it short attention spans, and Shan Masood knows he will not have much of it for the next nine months. He has now been now been captain for just under the full WTC cycle, and this is Pakistan’s last Test in a disappointing year and a half of Test cricket. Reports about his position as Test captain being vulnerable have surfaced more than once, and with a new cycle beginning at the end of the year, Pakistan will likely reevaluate at some point. However, this game represents a chance to finish off strongly, and continue making his case. With the bat, there are possible signs of a patch of form with a hundred and a fifty in his last three innings, and while he has not been viewed as the reason for an upturn in Test results, victory here will mean he finishes the cycle off with four wins in his last six TestsAlick Athanaze compiled a fine fourth-innings half-century on a tough Multan surface•AFP/Getty Images

Alick Athanaze came into this series with runs against Bangladesh, and appears to have enjoyed batting in Pakistan more than most of his team-mates He scored 99 and 58* in the three-day game before the series in Islamabad, and was responsible for nearly half of his side’s runs in the fourth innings in Multan, becoming the only visiting batter to score a half-century. Praise for the Dominican’s technique has come from exalted quarters, with Brian Lara and Ian Bishop among his admirers, and if the visitors top six are to rise to the challenge their captain laid out for them, Athanaze is expected to have a significant role.

Team news

Pakistan have not yet named an XI, with Aqib Javed saying they would take a final look at the surface.Pakistan (likely XI): 1 Shan Masood (capt) 2 Muhammad Hurraira 3 Babar Azam 4 Kamran Ghulam 5 Saud Shakeel 6 Mohammad Rizwan (wk) 7 Salman Agha 8 Noman Ali 9 Sajid Khan 10 Abrar Ahmed 11 Khurram ShahzadWest Indies, too, have yet to name a starting line-up. Jayden Seales misses out with a slightly niggle in his leg. Kemar Roach is available again alongside Amir Jangoo.West Indies: 1 Kraigg Brathwaite (capt) 2 Mikyle Louis 3 Keacy Carty 4 Alick Athanaze 5 Kavem Hodge 6 Justin Greaves 7 Tevin Imlach/Amir Jangoo (wk) 8 Gudakesh Motie 9 Kevin Sinclair 10 Jomel Warrican 11 Kemar Roach

Pitch and conditions

The pitch has been prepared in the same way as the one for the first Test was. Weather conditions have not changed in the week since, and it remains cold and dry. Any deviation from what happened in the first Test would be a surprise.

Stats and trivia

  • None of the last 62 wickets Pakistan have taken in home Tests have come from a fast bowler
  • Pakistan have not won back-to-back Test series since February 2021

Quotes“Of course we were right to prepare a spin pitch against West Indies. Their batters are not as proficient against spin when compared to fast bowling.”
“I’ve played on surfaces that spun from day one, but this was the first time I’ve seen such cracks on a pitch on day one.”

Molineux ruled out of WBBL in blow for Melbourne Renegades

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The allrounder is still recovering from the ACL injury sustained last year leaving the club needing a new captain

ESPNcricinfo staff12-Oct-2023Melbourne Renegades’ captain Sophie Molineux has been ruled out of the entire WBBL as she continues her recovery from the ACL injury suffered last season.Molineux, the left-arm spin-bowling allrounder, picked up the injury against Melbourne Stars in November and is now hoping to return to domestic cricket in the second half of this campaign following the WBBL.It was announced on Thursday that Molineux had signed a new two-year deal with Renegades.”I’m really disappointed that my ongoing recovery from an ACL reconstruction means that I won’t be fit and available in time for this season,” she said. “But I’m very much appreciative of the support the club has shown me during the process and I’m very keen to repay their support by helping the team in any way possible over the coming months.”Molineux’s absence means Renegades will need a new captain for the upcoming season, and it could be they look to one of their overseas signings having secured Harmanpreet Kaur and Hayley Matthews at the draft. Another option would be Australia allrounder Georgia Wareham.”While we’d love to have her on the field this year, it’s important Sophie returns to full fitness and her leadership around the group off the field will be just as important,” Renegades general manager James Rosengarten said.Renegades will also be without fast bowler Tayla Vlaeminck for the whole WBBL after she underwent shoulder surgery following the Australia A tour of England earlier this year.

Injury hits Maxwell's Shield hopes, leaves race for BBL

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The allrounder picked up a hamstring strain in the final T20I against Pakistan

Andrew McGlashan20-Nov-20241:07

Finch: Shield cricket not a factor for Maxwell’s Test hopes

Glenn Maxwell’s hopes of making a return to first-class cricket before Australia’s tour of Sri Lanka have been scuppered by the hamstring injury he picked up against Pakistan in Hobart. Maxwell faces up to a month on the sidelines, which would rule him out of either of Victoria’s next two Sheffield Shield matches and leave a tight timeframe to be fit for the start of the BBL with Melbourne Stars.Maxwell limped off during Pakistan’s innings on Monday evening and has been diagnosed with a grade two hamstring injury. He had also been in the frame for the Prime Minister’s XI for the two-day pink-ball match against India in Canberra between the first and second Tests alongside potentially a Shield outing in one of Victoria’s two upcoming matches against Queensland.Related

  • Stoinis named new Melbourne Stars BBL skipper

  • Sheffield Shield: Cricket Australia and NSW divided over left-field Zampa selection

  • Maxwell's Test dream: 'While there's still a glimmer, I'll keep going for it'

  • Sri Lanka confirm two Australia Tests in Galle, plus a one-off ODI

  • Maxwell sets up Australia win in seven-over thrash

Although missing those matches is not terminal to Maxwell’s hopes of returning to Test cricket in Sri Lanka they had been viewed as an opportunity to further prove he can withstand the rigours of four-day cricket following his badly broken leg in 2022. Last month he played his first red-ball game in over a year when he featured for Victoria’s Second XI against Queensland and was encouraged by a long stint in the field.Maxwell was left bitterly disappointed when he narrowly missed playing against Sri Lanka on the 2022 tour and adding to his seven caps remains a major ambition before his career finishes after he last featured in 2017.”I think if I gave up on that Test dream now, I don’t think I’d be doing justice to that younger Glenn Maxwell who was dying to put on the baggy green when he was a kid,” Maxwell told ESPNcricinfo last month. “And I think while there’s still a glimmer of hope, I’ll keep going for it.”Glenn Maxwell is unlikely to play again before the BBL•Getty Images

Former Australia captain Aaron Finch does not believe the latest injury will change whether Maxwell is selected for Sri Lanka or not.”Don’t think it makes any difference,” Finch told ESPN’s . “The very little red-ball cricket Maxi’s played over the last probably five years, if they want to pick him, they’ll pick him regardless, and it’s not about if he goes and gets runs in Shield cricket. I don’t think that comes into it at all because it’s the skillset he has got – he’s very good against spin, he’s very versatile, [and] his offspin is better than part-time.”Chair of selectors George Bailey has previously said they will make specialist picks for Sri Lanka, and that performances in Shield cricket would not be the overriding factor given the vast differences in the conditions, while head coach Andrew McDonald confirmed Maxwell was firmly in the mix.”The ability to play on that horizontal plane sweeping and reverse sweeping, I think will be a critical skill if the conditions are extreme,” McDonald said. “Does he [Maxwell] fit that profile? 100 percent he fits that profile.”The big challenge for Maxi is clearly body and whether he can get through Test cricket, and what that may look like on the back of BBL. With Maxi, it’s he plays, see how he pulls up and then make the next decision on the back of that injury that he had.”The first Test in Sri Lanka starts on January 29 with Australia expected to have a 10-day lead up meaning those selected for the tour will miss the BBL finals and potentially the late regular-season games.Melbourne Stars’ first BBL match is the opening game of the tournament against Perth Scorchers on December 15.