India vs West Indies schedule in doubt over rising Covid cases in the country

Watch | Pat Cummins bowls two lethal inswingers to turn the tide

Captain Pat Cummins led by example on the final day of the SCG Test to turn the tide for the hosts on Sunday, 9 January. Just when England were looking like they will see through the day by negotiating the final few overs with five wickets in hand. However, England’s plans were thrown out of the window in the 85th over of the game when Pat Cummins bowled two stunners to get rid of Jos Buttler and Mark Wood in a space of three deliveries. Cummins set up Buttler by bowling outside the off stump and then unleashed a full and straight one on the money to go through the gap between his bat and pad. The Mark Wood delivery was more magical as the captain gave the English bowler no chance with a booming inswinging yorker that banged him on his front foot. Australia need three more wickets to win and have 14 overs remaining. Jonny Bairstow and Jack Leach are batting in the crease.

The Ashes | 4th Test, Day 5 - With 20 overs remaining, England batsmen hanging on

In a collective effort to survive the final day of the fourth Test match at the Sydney Cricket Ground, England batsmen are hanging on by bare margins against the Australian bowling attack. 5 down for 215 runs, England had given up the hope of chasing the target down after two early dismissals in the morning. Zack Crawley showed a glimmer of hope with a counter-attacking innings, but after his dismissal at 77 off 100 balls, England looked to soak up as many balls as possible. Ben Stokes and Joe Root built a good partnership that lasted close to 30 overs, but then the England captain was removed by a jaffa of a delivery from Scott Boland. England lost another wicket in Ben Stokes later in the day and right now have Jos Buttler and Jonny Bairstow in the crease. At the time of writing the visitors were batting at 216 runs for the loss of 5 wickets and have 19 overs to negotiate.

Watch | Bangladesh’s misery in the field against New Zealand

Bangladesh had an awful day in the field on Day 1 of the second Test match on Sunday, 9 January against New Zealand. Playing the second and the final match in the series, Bangladesh erred in their lines throughout the day and conceded 349 runs at the end of play. All Kiwi batsmen took Bangladesh bowlers to the cleaners scoring at a healthy rate of 3.88 runs per over. Openers Tom Latham and Will Young put up an opening stand of 148 runs and then the scoring was taken over by Devon Conway who scored an excellent 99 off 148 balls. Tom Latham was the star of the show and scored 186 runs off 278 balls and was the prime reason behind Bangladesh’s miseries. The visitors were not helped by their poor effort in the field and dropped catches in the field. Their day out was perfectly summed up by an Ebadot Hossain delivery where he saw a catch getting dropped in the slips. He further had to run back off his own bowling on a run out attempt by the keeper. Bangladesh are leading the Test series 1-0 and are threatening to dethrone New Zealand from their undefeated streak at home.

No NOC for Sri Lankan players to play Bangladesh Premier League

Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) have decided that they will not be offering No Objection Certificates to any player for the upcoming Bangladesh Premier League. The development comes right before BPL 2022 which is scheduled to begin on January 21. The decision is aimed at making the national stars prioritise international cricket holding them responsible to their Futures Tour Programme (FTP) calendar in a busy year. Cricbuzz reported that the SLC have been forced to take this decision after two of their players retired from international cricket. The board has apparently been taken aback by the decision and have considered the development ‘alarming’. In a knee jerk reaction, the board has set up guidelines for its players. The media release from SLC reads National players would have to provide three month’s notice to the board ahead of their retirement. The retired players will have to serve a six month cooling period if they wish to play any franchise league across border. The retired players have to complete at least 80 per cent of the domestic matches ahead of the local leagues like the Lanka Premier League.