Month: August 2017

The prospect, albeit a short-lived one, of Lasith Malinga as an ODI captain is a fascinating one © AFP Big Picture Riot police, bottle-throwing, selector resignations, heated debates over cricket in cabinet meetings, and an ever-growing list of injuries – the past few days in Sri Lankan cricket have been as acrimonious as any in recent memory. Every time the situation seems to have reached rock bottom, new depths, somehow,…

Alex Hales enjoys the moment of victory © Getty Images In the days when a strong performance in a one-day final at Lord’s could make up the mind of an indecisive England selector, Alex Hales would surely have had his winter itinerary firmly mapped out by now, with Christmas in Australia at the centre. After all, it is hard to imagine anything much stronger than his record-breaking unbeaten 187 as…

Lasith Malinga has taken eight wickets in 11 matches since coming back, at an average of 63.25 © Lakruwan Wanniarachchi/ AFP His hauls may be lighter of late, and his pace may have diminished, but Sri Lanka’s acting captain Lasith Malinga remains defiant as ever of criticism, and has no plans to quit. In fact, he wants to continue adding skills to his bowling repertoire. Though Malinga is hardly Sri…

Tamim Iqbal and David Warner in a mid-pitch altercation © Getty Images Bangladesh’s first Test against Australia in 11 years had its fair share of flashpoints between the sides. After a historic maiden win, Shakib Al Hasan and Mushfiqur Rahim, Bangladesh’s vice-captain and captain, echoed how Australia were seeing a different side to Bangladesh with bat, ball, body language and sledging. Shakib gave Nathan Lyon a send-off on the first…

© Getty Images Ottis Gibson has been appointed as the head coach of the South Africa team. Gibson, the former West Indies seamer, will leave his role as England bowling coach at the end of the Investec Test series against West Indies. He has previously been head coach of West Indies (2010-2014), during which time he helped lead the side to success in the 2012 World T20. ESPNcricinfo had previously…

© Associated Press Sharjeel Khan has been banned from all forms of cricket for five years for his role in the spot-fixing scandal that marred the PSL earlier this year. Sharjeel was facing five major charges of breaches of the PCB’s anti-corruption code and was found guilty for all five. Sharjeel’s ban will take effect from when he was first suspended, on February 10, 2017. Sharjeel played for Islamabad United…

Bangladesh 260 (Shakib 84, Tamim 71, Agar 3-46, Cummins 3-63) and 221 (Tamim 78, Mushfiqur 41, Lyon 6-82) beat Australia 217 (Renshaw 45, Shakib 5-68) and 244 (Warner 112, Shakib 5-85) by 20 runsScorecard and ball-by-ball details Shakib Al Hasan picked up his second ten-wicket haul in Tests © Getty Images So, Test cricket is in danger, is it? Ha! Test cricket laughs in the face of danger. Twice in…