Craig Ervine becomes fifth Zimbabwe captain since 2020, to lead side on Ireland-Scotland tour

I'll probably fail a hell of a lot more than I'll succeed in cricket: Dawid Malan

Dawid Malan was called into the English side after the more fancied Test players and the team was without the experience of Ben Stokes, someone who thrives under pressure situations. To be called back in itself was a surprise for Malan, but what surprised the cricket pundits and journalists is the learnings that Malan had gathered in his time away from Test cricket. Having played 15 Tests and averaged around 28 in his first go at Test cricket in the 2017-18 season, the 33-year-old feels that he tried a lot to become too perfect and wanted to score in every inning, but he just lets it be and plays with a realisation that failing is also a process and he is bound to fail more than he succeeds. "I'm beginning to accept that I will fail in cricket. I'll probably fail a hell of a lot more than I'll succeed. Even the greats have failed more often than they've succeeded. And just accept that” Malan was quoted as saying to Cricbuzz. “When I get another opportunity make sure what's happened is in the past and play the way I play. If it's good enough it's good enough and if it isn't it just wasn't meant to be,” the southpaw added. But asked whether he feels hard done by Ed Smith, the previous England Men’s selector especially because of the reason that Smith gave for his non-inclusion in the side after the first Test against India in August 2018, Malan said he couldn’t recover for the next five-six months from it. "You work your absolute socks off in your career to earn the right to play for England and you get that call. To then have comments that derail you slightly as a player and get pigeon-holed into things, it's amazing how it leads to every single Tom, Dick and Harry having an opinion on you,” the left-hander lamented. Smith had reasoned that Malan was not the right fit for English conditions. “It probably did affect me for the next four, five-six months,” said the player of South African descent. But in a manner of poetic justice, the Yorkshire man has got a chance in the same month of August and against the same opposition, playing whom he was removed from the Test set up. Asked how he feels about it, Malan said, "I have always wanted to have another crack at Test cricket. Realistically did I think it would happen? Probably not. It's a fantastic opportunity, it's an unbelievable opportunity to get another crack when you didn't think it would happen." Having played only on County game this season it was indeed a surprise that he was selected. But in that very game, the man had scored 199.

All Pakistani batsmen must learn perseverance from Fawad Bhai: Babar Azam

Pakistani skipper Babar Azam credited veteran Fawad Alam for the win that the team registered in the second last Test of the two-match series against West Indies at Sobaina Park in Jamaica. He lauded the spirit of the cricketer who tiled in domestic cricket for a long time before proving his potential at the highest level. “I always say this about Fawad Bhai that he is an experienced player and has scored a lot of runs in First class, around 10,000, which is huge. The way he applied himself under such tough conditions and so much pressure and built his innings was outstanding,” Bar said in a video uploaded by the Pakistan cricket Board on their official Twitter handle. “All the batsmen must learn from him the way he has shown his potential and proved himself on the big stage,” added the 25-year-old. Fawad Alam came to bat at such a situation where the team was three down for only two runs on the board. He worked with Babar himself and with a hundred, got the team to a position from where they could fight. Lauding the team for its performance, Babar revealed the plans of the unit to get West indies out as quickly as possible in the first innings and then make them play the last few overs on day four of the Test having lost one day to rain already. “It’s an effort of the whole team. We lost early wickets and then me and Fawad Bhai put on a good partnership and thankfully we finished around 320. After that, the way Shaheen Shah bowled, was outstanding. We pushed them on the backfoot and that was the plan,” said Babar. “Then when we batted in the third innings, we had at the back of our minds that we must make West Indies bat the last 20-25 overs on the fourth day and we did so,” the skipper revealed further saying that this move helped them on the final day of the Test. With the help of Nauman Ali and Shaheen’s bowling efforts, Pakistan were able to bowl out the Windies batting lineup and thereby win the Test by 109 runs to level the series 1-1. “We benefitted a lot from that move as we could bowl the whole fifth day to them and were able to get them all out,” said Babar.

WI vs PAK | 2nd Test: Shaheen Afridi, Nauman Ali break Windies' resistance to level series

The West Indians didn’t give up as easily as Pakistan would have expected them to on the last and fifth day of the second Test between the two sides at Sabina Park, Jamaica. Batters like Kyle Mayers, Jason Holder, Karaigg Brathwaite and Joshua da Silva at times made the Pakistani players feels that the match might just slip out of their hands. However, Shaheen Afridi and Nauman Ali made sure that Pakistan remained in the hunt at every hour in the game. It was courtesy of their four and three wickets respectively that the Babar Azam led team was able to bowl the Men in Maroon out and win the match by 109 runs and level the series 1-1, having lost the first match narrowly by one wicket. Starting on their overnight score of 46-1, Alzarri Joseph and Brathwaite looked in good touch, but it took only one good bouncer from Shaheen Afridi to break the 31 runs stand as Joseph was caught by Mohammad Rizwan trying to pull head high, rising ball. Nkruma Bonner was then trapped before the wicket by Hasan Ali before a stunner by Imran Butt at the stunner resulted in Roston Chase’ demise. At 73-4, the team was struggling to survive even the first session when Jermaine Blackwood got together with Brathwaite and the duo added 28 for the fifth wicket, most importantly stopping the barrage of wickets. However, it was short-lived as Blackwood nicked one to the wicketkeeper off a Nauman Ali straighter one giving the left-arm spinner his first wicket of the innings. Kyle Mayers, who had got three ducks in three innings prior to this one, decided to fight it out and even as Brathwaite was dismissed just after lunch, caught at point by Fawad Alam, trying to cut a Nauman delivery, that wasn’t as short as it should ideally have been. The left-hander partnered with Holder for 46 runs, but while trying to play one shot too many, tried playing an out-swinging Shaheen delivery towards the leg side and edged it for a simple catch to Rizwan. Holder tried to resurrect the innings and played a few glorious drives. He went on to add 40 runs with wicket-keeper batter da Sliva. However, a plan was set up by the Pakistanis making the tall man drive to flighted delivered from the left-arm spinner and fell in the trap driving one straight to Faawad at short cover. Soon after Kemar Roach, the hero from the last game was also trapped LBW by Shaheen, making it his ninth wicket of the match. It wasn’t long before that his 10th wicket as well when da Sliva, trying to get one over mid-on, got it straight into his hands and Windies were bowled out for 219. For his 10 wicket haul, the left-arm pacer was selected Man of the Match ahead of Fawad Alam, even as the latter scored a fighting hundred in the first innings.

CPL 2021: With fiery batters, lethal bowlers, experienced all-rounders, Barbados ready for battle

Can the change in name bring change in fortune for Barbados? The CPL franchise was renamed from Barbados Tridents to Barbados Royals after the owners of the IPL side Rajasthan Royals purchased the majority of the stakes. “The idea of creating a global network behind the Royals brand is something that we are keen to do for many years. It was an opportunity too good to miss. The IPL is only on our screen for a short period of the annual calendar. Secondly, it gives our fans an opportunity to follow Royals teams across the world and in different locations. Thirdly, from a cricketing perspective to trial new things,” owner of EM Sporting Holdings Ltd, Manoj Badale asserted as reported by ESPNcricinfo earlier. The Barbados team has lifted the CPL title twice in 2014 and 2019 respectively beating Guyana Amazon Warriors on the both the occasion but had a dismal show in the last edition where they ended the competition at the fifth spot in the points table. But as they say bygones be bygones. The only way is to move on and move forward and this is what the Barbados franchise needs to do especially with the kind of firepower it has in the kitty. From experienced campaigners like Jason Holder and Mohammad Amir to young guns such as Azam Khan and Glenn Phillips, the Royals do have a unit that can leave an impact. Barbados will be facing St Kitts And Nevis Patriots in their opening match of the competition which is also the second encounter of the opening day of the tournament. Team News First things first. Barbados will be without the services of all-rounder Chris Morris, who had opted out of the tournament citing personal reasons. The right-hander was earlier snapped by Rajasthan Royals for an amount of INR 16.25 crore that made him the costliest buy ever in the cash-rich league. The South African cricketer could have played an important role for Barbados as an all-rounder alongside Holder. Morris is an experienced customer and brings a lot to the table both with the bat and ball and the glimpse of which was visible during the first half of the IPL. While he is a dangerous bowler on his day as he produces good pace and bounce, the Proteas is pretty handy with the willow too. He is capable of chipping in with some valuable runs at the end of the innings at brisk pace. Nevertheless, as mentioned above, Barbados will have to move on and plan things accordingly. New Zealand’s Glenn Phillips joined the side as the replacement later on. Dependence on ‘BIG NAMES’ Jason Holder, Mohammad Amir and Thisara Perera. Who doesn’t know these names? No matter, if you follow the game or not, these are some prominent names in the tally which can’t be ignored. Holder’s major responsibility in this setup would be to work as a bridge in the line up between the middle, lower-middle order and tailenders. Everyone is well versed with his capability of taking on any bowling attack or ripping apart his opponents with the ball but the genre in this setup demands a bit of tweak. The right-hander would be fed with distinguished tasks at different situations. He might have to get some quick runs in a lesser number of balls at one instance while the side might need him to stay at the crease and hold one end in a steady manner. To add to this, Holder’s bowling experience would also play a crucial role in putting a halt at the batsmen’s scoring rate. Next is Mohammad Amir. There have been no questions on his ability and talent. Despite missing out on playing cricket for such a long time, Amir returned back in action and produced some brilliant performances for Pakistan. Though, he bid adieu to international cricket later on citing some differences with the team management. Despite hanging his boots from international cricket, the left-handed pacer is still considered as an asset to any team for which he plays for. Amir’s role is simple here. Don’t let the batsmen take advantage at any given stage of the game especially in the beginning (power play overs). The tracks at St. Kitts don’t really help the batsmen in the initial phase of the game and if Barbados bowl first, Amir can create huge problems for the batsmen. He can move the ball away while is equally efficient to deceive the batsman with the balls coming in. Bowling back of the hand deliveries and slower ones regularly might help the left-hander to scalp some good amount of wickets in the tournament. Next up we have Thisara Perera. Perera’s recent T20 form isn’t really an impressive one where he has scored a couple of ducks in the last three games that he played during the PSL and picked up 4 wickets but at a decent economical rate. He might not have left a major impact in the recent past but Perera’s experience especially in this format is immense. Having played over 290 matches, The right-hander has scored more than 3000 runs and has 247 wickets to his name. The stats speak volumes about his calibre and class. Armour with YOUNG GUNS Glenn Philips was in some brilliant touch recently while he was playing The Hundred tournament in England. The right-handed batsman scored some good runs in the competition and the Barbados side would be expecting him to continue his form in this CPL edition as well. Pakistan wicket-keeper batsman Azam Khan has shown a glimpse of his ability as a good striker of the ball in the PSL. Following the PSL, Azam also made his Pakistan debut but didn’t really get much opportunity to perform. He is pretty good at finding the gaps. However, he now has a chance to show his capabilities with the bat if he gets the opportunity in the final XI. Oshane Thomas will be a vital cog in the wheel for the Barbados side’s bowling attack. The 24-year-old has already proven his worth in T20s after picking up 57 wickets in 44 matches at an average of under 24. The only issue with his bowling is that Thomas gives away a lot of runs at times. His overall economy rate in the T20s and in the T20Is is more than 9 which can prove costly for the side. Though he is among wickets, the economy rate is something on which Thomas needs to work on. Trump Cards Joshua Bishop and Hayden Walsh can prove to be the trump cards for the Royals. Bishop’s left-arm spin might extract something from the pitch if they are slow in nature. On the other hand, Walsh’s leg break can be useful to deceive the batsmen especially when he bowls a googly. The batsmen do have a tendency of going after the leg-spinners especially in the shorter format and this could come as a boon for the side in keeping the scoring-rate down and picking up wickets. Help from the pitch The track doesn’t really have much on offer for the teams batting first. The sides batting first don’t really win much at the venue and the kind of bowling attack Barbados poses, the team can be lethal if they bowl first. For now the team looks balanced and stable. The only thing that they need to do is “stick to basics” as they do have the players who can win matches single-handedly on their day. Probable XI Shai Hope, Johnson Charles, Kyle Mayers, Glenn Philips, Justin Greaves, Thisara Perera, Jason Holder, Hayden Walsh, Oshane Thomas, Mohammad Amir, Joshua Bishop