In what could be the end of an illustrious Test career for Shakib Al Hasan, the allrounder has had to make himself unavailable for the first home Test against South Africa. He was unable to make it to Dhaka while traveling from New York earlier this week. Shakib has been replaced by uncapped left-arm spinner Hasan Murad for the first Test starting October 21 in Dhaka, which was supposed to…
Not quite vindication just yet, but certainly relief. That was the tone Pakistan captain Shan Masood tried to strike after Pakistan had skittled England out for 144 in Multan. It gave them their first home win in four years, and on a personal note, Masood his first Test win as captain. “This was a very important win for Pakistan cricket,” he said. “The recent results were unacceptable. There is relief….
Karunaratne’s exclusion confirms the notion that he has simply fallen out of favour with the new selection and coaching regime. He last turned out for a game for Sri Lanka in the 2023 ODI World Cup despite being part of several squads since. But his downward trajectory has coincided with Wickramasinghe’s rise following impressive showings with the bat in July’s Lanka Premier League. He played in the first game of…
Ben Stokes, England’s captain, said he had apologised to his players for his show of frustration on the third evening in Multan, at the point that the second Test against Pakistan began to slip out of his team’s control in a spate of dropped catches and fielding lapses. Stokes, back in the side for the first time in nine weeks after a hamstring tear had ruled him out of their…
Pakistan 366 (Ghulam 118, Ayub 77, Leach 4-114) and 221 (Salman 63, Bashir 4-66) beat England 291 (Duckett 114, Sajid 7-111) and 144 (Noman 8-46) by 152 runs It had been a long time coming for Pakistan, but the conclusion was swift. Noman Ali and Sajid Khan combined for the second time in the match to bowl out England and seal Pakistan’s first win in a home Test since 2021….
West Indies head coach Daren Sammy has declared a “moral victory” for his side in the aftermath of the 2-1 T20I series defeat to Sri Lanka, and questioned the wisdom of the home side pivoting to turning tracks for the final two games, both must-wins for Sri Lanka. In a fairly scathing assessment, Sammy argued that while the next T20 World Cup – in 2026 – was going to be…
Alyssa Healy revealed a ruptured plantar fascia in her foot forced her to watch from the sidelines as Australia were knocked out of the T20 World Cup. Healy’s absence wasn’t confirmed until the toss but after the game she spoke for the first time about the full extent of the injury to the connective tissue which runs under the arch of the foot from the heel bone to the base…
Transgender women who have gone through male puberty will be excluded from Tiers 1 and 2 of the ECB’s new women’s county competition, as well as the women’s Hundred, after the ECB chose to bring its eligibility policy into line with that adopted by the ICC in 2023. In a statement, the ECB acknowledged that the transgender issue was a “complex area” in which it was “impossible to balance all…
Salman Agha pledged that Pakistan will put every effort into securing a first home Test win in “God knows how many years” after England lost two late wickets on the third evening in Multan. England need 261 more runs on a worn, re-used pitch to take a 2-0 series lead, while Pakistan require eight wickets to set up a decider in Rawalpindi. Pakistan ripped up their long-term plans after their…
Two days after suspending Chandika Hathurusinghe, the BCB has terminated him as Bangladesh’s head coach. The sacking came on the grounds of misconduct and breach of employment terms. BCB president Faruque Ahmed said on Tuesday that Hathurusinghe assaulted a Bangladesh cricketer and took more leaves than mentioned in his contract. The board had served him a show-cause notice, seeking an explanation on the two counts of misconduct. Hathurusinghe responded on…