Security drills were a regular feature of England’s tour of Bangladesh © STR/AFP A patient crowd in Mirpur waits for “VIP movement” to pass through, beyond the barricade. This is the Dhaka term for a motorcade that is given high priority in traffic and the one that is about to pass through, the England cricket team convoy, is of the highest importance. It starts with an advanced team of police…
Moeen Ali and Adil Rashid in harness for England © Getty Images Reg Dickason, England’s security advisor, has played down any concerns that England’s Muslim players, Moeen Ali and Adil Rashid, may have about touring India after media reports that Pakistan umpire Aleem Dar would not stand in the series because of the further potential for nationalist protests. Dar was never scheduled to stand in the India vs England Test…
Toby Radford on Kraigg Brathwaite: ‘He is very unflappable as a character. When he gets into his bubble, he just wants to bat’ © AFP West Indies batting coach Toby Radford‘s advice to his players going into the final day in Sharjah is bat calmly till tea if required, in their attempt to get 39 more for a rare away-Test win. The main thing to avoid, he said, was being…
Sarfran Ahmed, one of Pakistan’s overnight batsmen coming into day four, was out to a tame shot © AFP If you Google “Pakistan batting collapse”, you will find dozens of results. Batting lapses are a recurring feature for the team, with hardly a series going by without their batsman being rattled. They became the No. 1 Test team this year, but the ride to the top was not always smooth,…
Sri Lanka 537 (Kusal Perera 110, Tharanga 110, Cremer 4-142) and 247 for 6 dec. (Karunaratne 110, de Silva 64, Mumba 4-50) beat Zimbabwe 373 (Cremer 102, Moor 79, Lakmal 3-69, Herath 3-97) and 186 (Cremer 43, Dilruwan 3-34, Herath 3-38) by 225 runsScorecard and ball-by-ball details Graeme Cremer followed his hundred in the first innings with 43 © Associated Press Graeme Cremer soaked up 175 balls and 121 dots…
West Indies 337 and 114 for 5 (Brathwaite 44*, Dowrich 36*, Yasir 3-30) need 39 runs to beat Pakistan 281 and 208 (Azhar 91, Sarfraz 42, Holder 5-30)Scorecard and ball-by-ball details Jason Holder claimed career-best figures of 5 for 30 © Getty Images After subsiding for 208 to set West Indies a target of 153, Pakistan took five wickets to leave the Sharjah Test tantalisingly poised at stumps on day…
Tea Zimbabwe 136 for 6 (Williams 40*, Cremer 11*) and 373 need a further 276 to beat Sri Lanka 537 and 247 for 6 dec.Live scorecard and ball-by-ball details Suranga Lakmal’s reverse swing made deep inroads into the Zimbabwe line-up © AFP Seamer Suranga Lakmal and offspinner Dilruwan Perera wrecked Zimbabwe on the fifth morning, but Sean Williams and Greme Cremer, employing varying methods, boosted Zimbabwe’s hopes of saving the…
Karun Nair could be in line for a Test debut in Rajkot if India play six specialist batsmen © AFP In July, six people drowned and a few others were reported missing when a boat with more than a hundred people on board capsized in a river in Kerala. Karun Nair was on that boat, taking part in a temple festival with his family as thanksgiving for making his India…
Lunch Zimbabwe 74 for 5 (Williams 0*, Moor 0*) and 373 need 338 to beat Sri Lanka 537 and 247 for 6 dec.Live scorecard and ball-by-ball details Suranga Lakmal’s swing made deep inroads into the Zimbabwe line-up © AFP After Sri Lanka declared on their overnight score of 247 for 6, setting Zimbabwe a target of 412 in 98 overs, seamer Suranga Lakmal and offspinner Dilruwan Perera wrecked the hosts….
Having suffered Test series defeats to India and England last year, Faf du Plessis knows how difficult Australia will find it to bounce back from their poor tour results © Cricket Australia/Getty Images The house that South Africa built to become the No.1 ranked Test team in the world had its foundations in winning away from home. They went 15 series and nine years undefeated in contests from the UK…