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Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood and Mitchell Starc have won everything there is to win, and they triumphed again in conditions designed to nullify them

Sidharth Monga19-Nov-20233:18

Pat Cummins explains his decision to bowl first

Recency bias affects almost everything in life, but cricket is especially cursed. It lives with both recency bias and its opposite, nostalgia bias, at the same time. While there is a new GOAT identified every day, we also run the risk of not recognising actual greatness while it is still amid us.That’s perhaps why Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood and Pat Cummins are perhaps not spoken of in the same breath as, say, Glenn McGrath, Brett Lee and Jason Gillespie. In the cricket circles in Australia, there is even frustration that these three get selected whenever they make themselves available in limited-overs cricket even though they play very little of it. Or maybe they are just too woke for certain people.Consider the body of work, though. They have now won two ODI World Cups (Cummins was in the squad but didn’t feature in the XI in 2015), a T20 World Cup, a World Test Championship, have kept the Ashes ever since they got together, and are the men behind the second-most dominant Test side at home in their time.Related

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The only blip on their careers is losing two home series to a generational Indian side, and not winning a Test series in India. That’s not because they are any less as bowlers, but because India have almost been unbeatable at home, were better than their depleted side during the 2018-19 tour, and the 2020-21 series could have gone either way.The trio will want to be around to correct that blip but they have already done enough to cement a legacy across formats in an era when so much cricket is played that it is difficult to imagine fast bowlers playing all formats, let alone win world titles eight years apart. It is a tribute to their fitness, their workload management, their commitment, their priorities, and of course their skill.They are an irrepressible trio. Starc is direct and the most attacking: full, fast, at the stumps, swinging the new ball, reversing the old one. He holds the best strike rate among those who have taken 200 ODI wickets and seventh-best in Tests. Hazlewood doesn’t have the pace but he has the impeccable control of length, the ability to put the ball exactly where he wants to put it.Among the six bowlers ahead of Starc in terms of strike rate in Tests is Cummins, the complete fast bowler. He has pace, he swings the ball, he seams it, and he bowls perhaps the meanest bouncer in the world. Like the hyperextension of the other complete fast bowler in this era Jasprit Bumrah, he also has another “gift”, a partially amputated middle finger that apparently gives him a great grip on the ball.Josh Hazlewood, Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc: Australia’s World Cup-winning pace trio•ICC/Getty ImagesFor some reason, they were never considered a real threat in these World Cup knockouts. You can sort of see why they would give that impression. Starc was not picking up wickets at 10 and 19 apiece as he did in the last two World Cups. Hazlewood was accurate and miserly but No. 16 on the wickets’ tally in the league stage. Cummins was doing the grunt work in the dirty overs, averaging 43, going at 6.15 an over. They almost lost defending 388 against New Zealand, conceded 291 to Afghanistan, and could hardly take a wicket after reducing India to 2 for 3 in their first fixture.Who would fear such a bowling attack?Anyone given the right conditions, that’s who.It was one of those freak things where they didn’t get the right conditions in the whole league stage. The new ball didn’t swing at their venues. Mumbai and Lucknow went ahead and made them look even poorer with the conditions changing dramatically when Australia came out to bat. There wasn’t even reverse at their venues. In a candid press conference before the semi-final, Starc said as much.Then came the semi-final, which coincided with a sudden depression in the Bay of Bengal. A cloudy day, floodlights in the afternoon, South Africa chose to bat because they had only one option, and all three showed their class, taking eight wickets between them for 97 runs. Starc swung the new ball, Hazlewood nibbled it, and Cummins again did the dirty work of bowling bouncers and cutters once the movement died down.The final was going to be different. The photo of Cummins taking the photo of the pitch told a story. It was almost a collector’s item for Cummins, also the captain. The pitch was dry on the edges at a spinner’s length and expected to have no life in the middle. In other words, kryptonite.And yet, it was all going to come down to the three quicks if Australia had to have a chance against the marauding Indian side. The only perceivable way for them to win was to insert India, restrict them, and then hope the pitch quickens up in the evening as it did in the match between England and New Zealand at the same venue.Restrict India – that’s easy to say. To do it, they would have to firstly withstand the onslaught of the quickest batting side in the powerplay with no new-ball movement to work with. Then they would have to get past the most consistent batter, the Player of the Tournament, as it turned out. They would also have to make their spinner look better because he isn’t a great match-up against the Indian middle order.Pat Cummins taking a photo of the Ahmedabad pitch should be a collector’s item•Getty ImagesCummins was at the heart of it all. He chose to field despite the threat of the Indian spinners on a slow pitch. The slowness actually brought Australia into the game. From ball one, they didn’t have a deep third for Rohit Sharma, the quickest and most prolific batter in that phase of the game. The deep point instead let them bowl defensively. In the first two overs, that fielder saved five runs.As expected, Rohit charged at Hazlewood to try to disrupt his length and succeeded. Pretty quickly, the bowlers started testing the middle of the pitch. A cutter appeared as early as the fourth over. The first ball Cummins bowled was a slower one. Coming into this match, Cummins had bowled a higher percentage of cutters than anyone. It tells you the kind of conditions they had to deal with.Two wickets came not with magic balls but one short ball that skidded on and then the catch of the tournament. Cummins again took on the job of bashing the middle of the pitch in the middle overs. And he got his fielders to throw the ball every chance they got. They even conceded overthrows but the throws were mandatory. They were going to get it to reverse. India had done the same at the same venue, and this was an even drier pitch.Cummins kept switching the bowlers at the other end. Overs 16, 18, 20 and 22 were bowled by four different bowlers. One-over spells from that end continued till the 24th. These were the lesser bowlers, and he didn’t want the batters to be able to line them up.Then Cummins bent his back to draw bounce from the surface that surprised even Virat Kohli, which led him to play with a diagonal bat. “There’s nothing more satisfying than hearing a big crowd go silent,” Cummins had said before the match.1:56

Moody: Cummins’ field placements were a masterstroke

Sure enough, once the ball got reversing, Hazlewood and Starc came back with renewed threat. They both moved the ball against the angle, Starc at higher pace, angling it in from around the wicket and then swinging it away to take edge of KL Rahul, who was batting on 66 and was the only one who could take India to an above-par total.Reversing it against India in a World Cup final would have felt extra special after their helplessness during the 2018-19 Test series because they couldn’t even think of reverse in the fallout of the Newlands scandal whereas India kept getting the old ball to move.Between them, the three bowled 30 overs for 154 runs and seven wickets. Cummins, whose experience of bowling cutters into the pitch throughout the tournament came in handy, ended with figures of 2 for 34.They would have had a sense of déjà vu when the new ball started to hoop around in the evening, but it turned out Cummins, the first out-and-out bowling captain to win an ODI World Cup, had read the conditions just right.This is fast-bowling royalty setting up wins across formats and conditions. Their last two limited-overs World Cups in two years have come in Asia with just one frontline spinner. In doing so, they have smashed a few cliches. Fast bowlers can’t be captains. Test bowlers don’t make good limited-overs bowlers because you need variations. Runs on board in a final. Fast bowlers shouldn’t be nice or woke.One conventional wisdom remains, though: you can’t ever count out quality fast bowlers. Especially when there are three of them.

She’s had a patchy run since the 2016 T20 World Cup final, but on Friday, the West Indies allrounder put in a performance to remember against New Zealand

Annesha Ghosh04-Mar-2022It was almost as if Hayley Matthews was sending out a message in the first five overs of the 2022 ODI World Cup opener: “Save the legs, I’ll do it in fours.”After all, at one stage, she had raced to 21 in 15 balls, just one of those runs not a boundary.Almost like she was asking us to remember her name, and her range, that was most memorably on view that day six summers ago, which you probably remember for another name.Related

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On April 3, 2016, just hours before Carlos Braithwaite scripted a heist for the West Indies men’s team, fellow Barbadian Matthews, too, had achieved cricketing immortality. With a 45-ball 66 in the final of the Women’s T20 World Cup, she unseated Australia from the T20 throne, thwarting their hopes of a fourth straight title in the format.One of the narratives that emerged on that heady April evening of West Indies’ twin T20 World Cup triumphs in Kolkata was of Matthews’ likely dominance on the international stage in the foreseeable future. She was clearly destined for even bigger things, for herself and for her team.In the six years since, West Indies have somewhat fallen short of expectations that 2016 T20 World Cup-winning campaign set for them. They made the 2018 T20 World Cup semi-final at home but crashed out in the league stage in the 2020 edition, and their performances in the 50-over format especially have been on a downward spiral. Since their 2016 high, they have won 22 of their 49 T20Is and tied one; in ODIs, they have won 18 out of 55 games, including the win on Friday over New Zealand, and tied two.After an unbeaten hundred against Pakistan at home last year, Matthews scored only 12 runs in five innings as opener•CWI”I guess our batters probably like the shorter format of the game and find it more exciting,” captain Stafanie Taylor had said before the latest World Cup when asked why West Indies, finalists in the 2013 edition, have struggled to get going in ODIs more recently.Inconsistency has long been Matthews’ problem, too. In the last 20 T20Is, for example, she has a high score of only 32. Having debuted in ODIs in 2014, she made three fifties in her first three matches, but she has made 50 or more only seven times in the 58 innings that followed. More recently, after an unbeaten hundred against Pakistan at home last year, she scored only 12 runs in five innings as opener, following which she was pushed down to No. 5.In the opening match of the World Cup on Friday, Matthews was back in the opening position but only because the regular opener, Rashada Williams, was out, recovering from concussion. Partnering Deandra Dottin, Matthews scored 16 in her first four scoring shots to set the tone for her maiden ODI World Cup century.”Obviously, I’ve been shuffled around the order a little bit over the past maybe eight or nine months. But at the same time, I think my job is to do as best as I possibly can for the team wherever they need me,” she said after West Indies’ thrilling three-run win over New Zealand in Tauranga. “When I got the call yesterday that I had to go up the order, it was just about me going out there and doing as best as they possibly could. And, yeah, I got some (runs) today.”

“You talk about playing on the biggest stage, you talk about World Cups… To be able to put on a really good all-round performance obviously means a lot to me”Matthews on leading her side to an opening victory in the World Cup

Pivotal to West Indies’ total of 259 – their third-highest score in a 50-over world tournament – were Matthews’ three fifty stands in the middle-order – with Taylor, Shemaine Campbelle and Chedean Nation. Along the way, she struck 17 boundaries, with a solitary six, measuring 75 metres, against Sophie Devine.”Initially, going out there to open, I probably thought I try to take it a bit steady, obviously; [I] haven’t opened the batting in a couple of months,” she said. “But when we got out there and saw how good the wicket was playing, I was able to capitalise without trying too much.”That’s pretty much how I just played my whole innings – taking it ball by ball, setting small targets with my partner, always looking for partnerships. That happened to work really well and then we were able to push pretty hard at the end.”Asked of her up-and-down batting performances across limited-overs formats since the 2016 T20 World Cup final, Matthews said, “I feel like that’s what I’ve been doing over the last couple of years. Maybe I guess some people might say I haven’t hit the expectations I’ve wanted to.Remember the names! Carlos Brathwaite and Hayley Matthews pose by the sea in Mumbai after West Indies’ double triumph in 2016•Getty Images”But at the same time, I feel like over the last one year or two, I’ve really been able to improve. Yeah, just show what it takes, and yeah, hopefully I can continue doing that.”It wasn’t only with the bat that Matthews left a mark in West Indies’ final-over victory, twice pegged back as she was through the day by a hamstring niggle.First, Matthews dealt New Zealand a critical blow with the wicket of the in-form No. 3, Amelia Kerr. Her bowling forearm strapped with Kinesio tape since the start of New Zealand’s chase, Matthews pushed Kerr deep into the crease with just her second ball and trapped her lbw for 13. Later, in the 35th over, she had left-hander Brooke Halliday caught at first slip, the mix of Matthews’ high-arm action and generous revolutions in her offspin too good for the New Zealand No. 7.An innings of 119, and 2 for 41 with the ball from ten overs: did she ever have a more memorable all-round outing?”Probably not,” she said. “I think you talk about playing on the biggest stage, you talk about World Cups. First game, obviously – really, really big for us against the home team. To be able to put on a really good all-round performance obviously means a lot to me and even more to the team seeing that we got the win.”

Mohamed Salah has come in for huge criticism following the bombshell post-match interview, where he took aim at Liverpool boss Arne Slot and accused the club of "throwing him under the bus", but Egypt national team boss Hossam Hassan has posted a message of support for his star forward. Salah was an unused substitute in the 3-3 draw with Leeds, the third match in a row he has been named on the bench.

Damaging draw too much for Mo

Leeds United secured a dramatic draw in a match Liverpool led twice, with Hugo Ekitike scoring a quickfire second-half brace, but were pegged back both times. Dominic Calvert-Lewin's penalty and Anton Stach's goal made it 2-2, Dominik Szoboszlai restored Liverpool's lead and the Reds looked like they had sealed the three points, but Ao Tanaka's 96th-minute equaliser sealed a point for the home side. And while there was high drama on the pitch, the main headlines came after it, following an extraordinary rant from Salah. 

Speaking to reporters, Salah said: 'I can’t believe it, I’m very, very disappointed. I have done so much for this club down the years and especially last season. Now I’m sitting on the bench and I don’t know why. It seems like the club has thrown me under the bus. That is how I am feeling. I think it is very clear that someone wanted me to get all of the blame.'

He added: 'I got a lot of promises in the summer and so far I am on the bench for three games, so I can’t say they keep the promise. I said many times before that I had a good relationship with the manager and all of a sudden, we don’t have any relationship. I don’t know why, but it seems to me, how I see it, that someone doesn’t want me in the club. This club, I always support it. My kids will always support it. I love the club so much, I will always do. I called my mum yesterday — you guys didn’t know if I would start or not, but I knew.'

AdvertisementGetty Images SportPundits queue-up to slam Salah 

Danny Murphy and Chris Sutton have strongly criticised Salah for his explosive post-match interview. Murphy labelled the Egyptian's timing as poor, arguing such issues should be handled internally, stating: 'Salah is making it all about him when the focus should be on Liverpool's draw. That just creates more problems.'

And Sutton posted to X on Saturday night: 'Embarrassing from Mo Salah and disrespectful to his team-mates and his manager. Salah is no different from any other player … if a player’s form drops as Salah’s has he is the same as anyone else and has to accept being benched… but he thinks he’s too good to be benched sadly…'

Egypt boss shows support

While pundits formed an orderly line to criticise Salah, he found support in the shape of his national boss, Hassan. Salah will join-up with his national team later this month to participate in AFCON and could miss as many as eight games for Liverpool. Hassan posted a picture of himself and Salah on Instagram, with the caption (originally in Arabic): 'Always a symbol of determination and strength.'

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Getty Images SportMilan showdown next up for Reds

Liverpool head to Italy for a Champions League clash with Inter Milan on Tuesday and fans will wait with baited breath to see the team sheet, and specifically whether Slot has included Salah. The Reds are desperate for victory after the damaging 4-1 home defeat by PSV Eindhoven in their last match and need wins in their remaining league phase matches to stand a chance of automatic qualification through to the knockout stage.

With the Minnesota Twins entering the All-Star break at 47-49 and in second place in the AL Central, there's reason to believe they'll decide against trying to contend for a title this season and instead look to trade away some pieces at the month's end.

One player who would certainly draw plenty of interest from teams across the league is superstar center fielder Byron Buxton, who is making his second All-Star appearance Tuesday night. Buxton issued a hands-off warning to teams that may be looking to inquire about his availability, however, kindly reminding everyone that he has a no-trade clause in his contract and he'd be more than willing to block any potential trades.

"I can't be traded. I gotta no-trade clause. I'm a Minnesota Twin for the rest of my life. So that's the best feeling in the world, knowing I get to walk into a clubhouse and it's going to say ‘Twins’ for the rest of my life," Buxton said while addressing the media at Monday's Home Run Derby.

Buxton made clear he doesn't pay any mind to the rumors that may come up involving his future in Minnesota, because as far as he's concerned, that's where his future will be.

Buxton, 31, is under contract through the 2028 season and is making $15.14 million per year. He'll be an unrestricted free agent in 2029, though he's made clear that he wants to remain with the Twins for the remainder of his career.

Leicestershire 398 (Hill 151, Rehan 115, Handscomb 101, Reece 6-56) and 236 for 9 dec (Holland 90, Reece 5-64, Thomson 4-81) beat Derbyshire 189 (Came 56, Jewell 54, Rehan 6-51) and 256 (Thomson 55, Chappell 50, Rehan 7-93) by 189 runsLeicestershire took another big stride towards promotion when they finally overcame stubborn Derbyshire by 189 runs in the Rothesay County Championship Division Two match at the Central Co-op County Ground Derby.Once again England allrounder Rehan Ahmed enjoyed another memorable day, taking three wickets to end with 7 for 93 and match figures of 13 for 144 to become the first Leicestershire player to take more than 12 wickets and score a century in the same game since Fred Geeson in 1901 at Glossop.Leicestershire’s sixth win of the season takes them 34 points clear of second-placed Glamorgan with Derbyshire dropping down to third.Derbyshire can take consolation from the way they made the visitors work hard for the win before they were bowled out for 256. After Zak Chappell made 50, the last pair of Alex Thomson, who scored 55, and Jack Morley with 12, resisted for 156 balls before Ian Holland clinched victory with 23 overs remaining.The previous evening Derbyshire captain Wayne Madsen had spoken about the importance of showing resilience and his team certainly did that starting with the overnight pair of Brooke Guest and Aneurin Donald.Rehan continued to bowl from the City End while England pace bowler Josh Hull peppered the pair with short-pitched deliveries. Guest was struck on the hand and Donald took a couple of blows to the body along with one to the helmet but the visitors were frustrated until a change of bowling did the trick.Ben Green took over from Rehan and in his second over he brought one back to beat the forward defensive push of Donald.Rehan switched ends and he celebrated his fifth wicket of the innings and 11th of the match by having Guest caught at short leg for 32.Another bowling change brought the next wicket with Louis Kimber taking over from Rehan and trapping Luis Reece lbw with one that straightened to hit him in front.Derbyshire got to lunch without further setbacks and when Leicestershire took the new ball, Chappell took three fours from a Liam Trevaskis over. The entertainment continued with Chappell reverse sweeping Rehan for his 10th four to reach 50 from 78 balls but when he went for another big shot against the legspinner he was caught at wide long-on.When Rehan bowled Blair Tickner in his next over, it seemed only a matter of time but Thomson and Morley dug in to delay the tea interval.Thomson edged Logan van Beek past a diving Peter Hanscomb to reach 50 but when Holland was brought on for the first time, his third ball was edged by Thomson and Rishi Patel took a one-handed catch at slip to end a compelling contest.

Notts remain in quarter-finals contention with comfortable victory at Wantage Road

ECB Reporters Network supported by Rothesay20-Jun-2025Tom Moores smashed 53 off just 27 balls to help set up a 24-run Vitality Blast victory over Northamptonshire Steelbacks at Wantage Road.Moores struck five fours and three sixes to regain the initiative for the Outlaws after they made just 33 for 2 in the powerplay. He shared a 43-run partnership with Jack Haynes (32) in five overs. However, the visitors were still well behind the pace on 111 for 5 after 16 overs before Moores blazed 20 off one over from Luke Procter and, with three of the lower order each smashing a six, Nottinghamshire closed on a competitive 164 for 8.Ricardo Vasconcelos and Justin Broad started briskly in the chase, but the hosts lost early wickets and failed to push on, struggling on 50 for 4 after 10 overs. Outlaws offspinners Matt Montgomery (3 for 22) and Farhan Ahmed (2 for 23) were key in putting the squeeze on the hosts.David Willey thumped two sixes in his 20 and while Saif Zaib and Lewis McManus put on 45 in 4.3 overs, the game finished in a clatter of wickets, the last five falling in 12 balls.Earlier Willey (1 for 17) conceded just three runs off his first two overs, but on a rare expensive evening for Ben Sanderson, Lyndon James smashed three leg-side boundaries before driving him through the covers.But it was Sanderson who made the first breakthrough when Joe Clarke was caught by Willey at wide mid-on. The Outlaws lost a second when James played expansively against Procter and edged behind to McManus. With just two coming from the over, the Outlaws finished the powerplay on 33 for 2. It was McManus’ 50th T20 catch for Northamptonshire, the first Steelbacks keeper to reach that milestone and on his 50th T20 appearance for the club.Freddie McCann fell to a sensational catch by Willey running backwards at long-off, but that brought together Moores and Haynes who had opened his account with a punch through the covers off Sanderson and two off-side boundaries off Australian spinner Lloyd Pope’s first over.George Scrimshaw conceded 19 off his second, Moores dispatching him over square leg for six before pulling his next ball behind square.Pope broke the partnership, trapping Haynes as he went to sweep, the Outlaws losing another wicket in the next over when Daniel Sams was bowled by Willey eyeing up a leg-side strike.Moores motored on, smashing Pope aerially for four. Then in one extraordinary over from Procter he clobbered him down the ground for consecutive sixes, thumping his next ball straight for four. Moores brought up his half-century by pulling Procter’s next delivery for four before he was caught by a diving Willey at long leg.Montgomery, Liam Patterson-White and Calvin Harrison all struck sixes down the ground in the closing overs, adding crucial runs. There were consolation wickets for Sanderson who had Montgomery caught in the deep and Scrimshaw who bowled Patterson-White.In the chase, Vasconcelos top-edged and scooped Sams over the keeper for two sixes in his first over, but Matt Breetzke, playing his last innings before joining up with the South African Test squad, fell cheaply caught on the boundary.Broad picked up early boundaries before picking out deep midwicket to give Farhan his first wicket as the Steelbacks ended the powerplay on 34 for 2.Farhan picked up a second when Vasconcelos top-edged to Dillon Pennington at short fine-leg off an attempted sweep. Next over Ravi Bopara chipped a return catch back to Harrison.Willey swept for a big six behind square and deposited another maximum over deep midwicket, but was caught attempting one more big hit off Montgomery. McManus was fluent against the spinners, sweeping and reverse sweeping as well as cutting seamer Sams for four.Sams almost removed Zaib but he was dropped at deep midwicket by Haynes, the ball going for six. Zaib then slog-swept an enormous six off Pennington before holing out at long-off off the same bowler, heralding the end.

Nepal scripted a seven-wicket win over Malaysia with Puja Mahato starring with ball and bat

ESPNcricinfo staff24-Jan-2025Pakistan signed off from the Women’s Under-19 World Cup with a win over Samoa as the winless teams from the group stage of the tournament played for ranking spots in Johor on Friday.The batters did it for Pakistan, though they were helped along by indiscipline on the part of the inexperienced Samoa bowlers, who conceded 21 extras, including 18 wides, after opting to field. The major contributions for Pakistan came from opener Maham Anees, who scored 28 in 42 balls, and Fatima Khan, who hit 25 in 14 balls with three fours and a six from No. 6. Three other batters also got in double-digits as Pakistan stopped at 136 for 8.For Samoa, Norah Salima, the medium pacer, picked up three wickets and only went at five runs an over, but some of the other bowlers were less effective.Samoa, who had scored 16 (against South Africa) and 40 (against New Zealand) in their two completed matches earlier, put up an improved show with the bat even though they had lost three wickets by the end of the third over. Haniah Ahmer, who ended with 4 for 17, picked up two of those wickets in the same over.Indeed, Samoa kept pace with the asking rate for the first half of their innings, but they got to the ten-over mark with five batters gone. But with contributions – none bigger than opener Verra Farane’s 19 – from around the batting line-up, they got to 84 before they were bowled out. A little more discipline with the ball, and it could have been much closer.Puja Mahato top-scored in Nepal’s chase•ICC/Getty Images

Nepal, meanwhile, made sure hosts Malaysia‘s campaign ended as it had gone all along as they eked out a seven-wicket win in the later match in Johor. Captain Puja Mahato was the standout performer for Nepal, first picking up four wickets with her medium pace and then top-scoring in the small chase.Malaysia, who came into the match after putting up scores of 23, 31 and 59 in the group stage, only managed 45 in 16.5 overs this time after being asked to bat. Nuriman Hidayah was the only batter to get into double-digits as she scored 15 from 23 balls, with Mahato (4 for 9) and left-arm spinner Rachana Chaudhary (3 for 5) doing most of the damage.The chase was straightforward, and Nepal got there in 11 overs for the loss on three wickets, with Mahato scoring a 32-ball 23 not out. Marsya Qistina Binti Abdullah, the left-arm spinner, picked up all the wickets to fall.

Mahidul Islam Ankon has received a maiden national call-up as the wicketkeeper-batter’s replacement

Mohammad Isam28-Oct-2024

Jaker Ali has been ruled out of Bangladesh’s second Test against South Africa with a concussion.Mahidul Islam Ankon has been named his replacement. Jaker suffered a concussion during training at the Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium in Chattogram on Sunday.”Jaker Ali suffered a concussion while batting in practice yesterday [Sunday],” Bangladesh’s physio Bayjedul Islam Khan said. “He has a history of concussions and is still showing symptoms. Given his previous concussion record, recovery may take some time. Based on the clinical findings, he has been ruled out of the second Test.”Wicketkeeper-batter Jaker made a fifty on Test debut in Bangladesh’s second innings in the first Test against South Africa.Related

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He has also played 19 T20Is, having made his debut in the format earlier this year.This is wicketkeeper-batter Mahidul’s maiden call-up to the Bangladesh side. He has played most of his first-class matches for Dhaka Division, hitting all three centuries for the NCL team. He has also played one game for Bangladesh A against Pakistan A in August this year.Mahidul comes into the squad on the back of good form, having struck 118 against Sylhet Division last week.Earlier the selectors also called up pace bowler Khaled Ahmed to replace Taskin Ahmed.

Saha has will turn out for Rashmi Medinipur Wizards in the Bengal T20 league which starts on June 11

ESPNcricinfo staff10-Jun-2024Wriddhiman Saha is all set to return to Bengal for the upcoming Indian domestic season, and will also feature in the inaugural Bengal Pro T20 league that gets underway on Tuesday at the Eden Gardens.Saha, who represented Bengal for close to 15 years since making his first-class debut in 2007, moved to Tripura ahead of the 2022-23 domestic season as a player-cum-mentor. He had asked for his NOC after being hurt by comments by a senior administrator before the 2021-22 Ranji Trophy quarter-finals. After two years at Tripura, Saha is now back at Bengal.He wasn’t on the initial draft list of the Bengal Pro T20 league but has been picked by the Rashmi Medinipur Wizards team as a replacement for the injured Abhimanyu Easwaran. Wizards will be led by Sudip Chatterjee in the league and also have former India U-19 fast bowler Ishan Porel in their ranks.There are a total of eight teams taking part in the Pro T20 league. Each team will play seven league-stage matches, followed by the semi-finals and the final on June 28 at the Eden Gardens.”We are very happy to have Wriddhiman back in Bengal. Also, his interest in playing at the Bengal Pro T20 League will add more glamour to the League,” Snehasish Ganguly, the president of the Cricket Association of Bengal, said.Saha, 39, has played 136 first-class matches, scoring 7013 runs at an average of 41.99. So far, he has hit 14 centuries and 43 half-centuries. This includes 1353 Test runs in 40 matches at an average of 29.41.Saha was picked up by Gujarat Titans at the IPL 2022 auction and was part of the side that won the title in its inaugural season. He had an underwhelming IPL 2024, though, where he could only manage 136 runs in nine innings while averaging 15.11. His loss of form coincided with Titans’ slide as they finished eighth in the season.