Ireland level series courtesy Joshua Little and Andy McBrine stellar bowling performances

Afghan Board Chairman takes a U-turn from Taliban policy, says nation to soon have women’s team

In a very dramatic set of events, only days after deputy head of the Taliban's cultural commission Ahmadullah Wasiq confirmed that no Afghanistan woman would be participating in any sport, Afghanistan Cricket Board chairman Azizullah Fazli has said that soon the board will be fielding its women’s team to avoid losing its Test status. "We will give you our clear position on how we will allow women to play cricket. Very soon, we will give you good news on how we will proceed,” Fazli was quoted as saying by SBS Radio Pashto’s English website. Suggesting that all the 25 women selected last year as possible central contract awardees are still living in Afghanistan, Fazli said, "The women cricket coach Diana Barakzai and her players are all safe and living in their home country.” "Many countries have asked them to leave Afghanistan, but they have not left Afghanistan, and at the moment, they are in their places,” he added. Earlier, after Cricket Australia’s threat of cancelling the Hobart Test between its national team and Afghanistan, the ACB had pleaded to not isolate them as they are "powerless to change the culture and religious environment of Afghanistan". "Do not isolate us and avoid penalizing us," the board had said.

Sourav Ganguly contradicts himself, says 'rescheduled' Test to be part of incomplete series

Hours after indicating that if the ECB accepts BCCI’s offer of rescheduling what was the final Test of the series between England and India and play a Test match later in the near future will be a standalone Test, the BCCI President Sourav Ganguly has now said that the rescheduled Test will be part of the original series. However, he has not ruled out playing the extra limited-overs games in order to help the ECB and Lancashire reduce the burden of financial stress after the cancellation of the final Test. "We are ready to play extra ODI and T20Is and that’s not an issue. Just that the Test match that will be played later will be the fifth match of the series. We want the series to be completed as this will be our first series win (in England) since 2007," Ganguly told PTI in an interview. He also rubbished the criticisms mounted by former England players and press that Indian players and the BCCI preferred IPL over Test cricket and rated it as the “ultimate format” of the game. "The BCCI maintains that Test cricket is the ultimate format and we won’t compromise it for anything," Ganguly asserted. The last Test of the series between India and England was cancelled in the eleventh hour after Indian players refused to participate in the fear of catching Covid-19. A late decision that did not allow spectators information before they could abort their travel plans and other logistical issues that arose out of the cancellation created chaos for the Lancashire county and the ECB. The series of events in the Indian camp started midway through the fourth Test when all the main support staff such as the head coach Ravi Shastri, bowling coach Bharat Arun and fielding coach R Sridhar tested positive for Covid-19 in the lateral flow tests. However, the fielding coach tested negative in the RT-PCR round. The team’s principal physio Nitin Patel was deemed close contact with support staff and hence the onus of keeping the players fit came on the shoulders of Yogesh Parmar. When Parmar tested positive after arriving in Manchester when he has had close contact with all players, the gloves were off in the Indian camp and players refused to take the field.

SL vs SA | 3rd T20I: Before the World Cup, Sri Lanka look to iron out the creases in its playing XI

Having lost the T20I series and that too quite badly against South Africa, Sri Lanka’s captain Dasun Shanaka and coach Mickey Arthur now have up their sleeves the most important task of tuning up the batting lineup which has now failed twice, both while batting first and second against a South African bowling lineup which isn’t really the best among the lot currently present in the world. The experiment of making Dinesh Chandimal, an established middle-order batter to open hasn’t really worked neither has Charith Asalanka’s slow and lacking intent middle-order batting. While both these men have been outstanding in ODI cricket, Chandimal still did well to notch up a fifty in the first T20I. Although it might have failed initially, playing Kusal Perera and Avishka Fernando as two openers is the only way out with Chandimal at three and Bhanuka Rajapaksa at four. Dhananjaya de Silva is the ideal number five and so Shanka should bat at six. If Asalanka needs to play, he would have to wrestle the position from Rajapaksa, who too hasn’t really done much well either. With Wanindu Hasaranga at seven and Chamika Karunaratne at eight, the lineup looks settled with Dushmantha Chameera, Praveen Jayawickrama and Maheesh Teekshana completing it. Shanka needs to bowl and so does de Silva while Hasaranga and Rajapaksa need to show that they are more than capable with the bat than just and hit or out candidate. South Africa on the other hand would look to continue the momentum as this is the last opportunity for them to gel as a team ahead of the all-important T20 World Cup in October-November. Sri Lanka vs South Africa: Details Match Number- 03rd T20I Date and Time: September 14, 2021, 07:30 pm IST and Local, 02:00 pm GMT Venue: R.Premadasa Stadium, Colombo Broadcast and Livestream: Sony Sports Network and Sony LIV Pitch Report If the pitch is to be taken on the face value of what happened in the first two games, then it is spin friendly no doubt, but not really a rank turner. With dew coming on late at night, more or less it would be a good wicket for a great match. Weather Forecast A cricket game in Sri Lanka played in September-October has to always remain under the threat of rain. Ther are predictions of light to heavy rainfall with thunderstorms for Friday, September 14 in Colombo. Probable XI Sri Lanka Kusal Perera, Avishka Fernando, Dinesh Chandimal (wk), Bhanuka Rajapaksa, Dhananjaya de Silva, Dasun Shanaka (c), Wanindu Hasaranga, Chamika Karunaratne, Dushmantha Chameera, Maheesh Theekshana, Praveen Jayawickrama South Africa Quinton de Kock (wk), Reeza Hendricks, Aiden Markram, Rassie van der Dussen, Heinrich Klaasen, Dwaine Pretorius, Kagiso Rabada, Keshav Maharaj (c), Bjorn Fortuin, Anrich Nortje, Tabraiz Shamsi Dream XI Team Wicketkeepers Quinton de Kock, Dinesh Chandimal Batters Kusal Perera, Reeza Hendricks, Aiden Markram All-rounders Wanindu Hasaranga, Dwaine Pretorius Bowlers Tabraiz Shamsi, Dushmantha Chameera, Maheesh Theekshana, Keshav Maharaj Vice-Captain Wanindu Hasaranga Captain Quinton de Kock

Joe Root, Ireland Women's Eimear Richardson voted ICC Player of the Month for August

England Test skipper Joe Root has been named as International Cricket Council’s Player of the Month (Male) for August for his outstanding run during the Test series against India. In the series, the 30-year-old hit 564 runs in only seven innings at an average of 94 to ward off the competition against India pacer Jasprit Bumrah and Pakistan speedster Shaheen Afridi to win the award. This performance also saw the English skipper reach the top of the ICC Rankings for batters in August and he currently occupies the top spot having taken it from Kiwi skipper Kane Williamson. Talking about his performances, former South Africa international JP Duminy, one of the panellists in the ICC Voting Academy said, “With the expectation and responsibility on his shoulders as the captain, I was really impressed with how he led from the front with the bat, and become the number one ranked Test batter in the world.” The award in the female category went to Ireland’s Eimear Richardson who surpassed her teammate and record-breaker Gaby Lewis, who became the first Ireland Woman to score a century in T20Is and Thailand’s Nattaya Boochatham. While Gaby’s was a great achievement and Boochatham has been sensational throughout the team’s Zimbabwe tour in which they drew the ODI series and won the T20I series, Richardson’s all-around show in the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup Europe Qualifier last month was too much to take ignore. She took seven wickets at an economy rate of 4.19 and scored a crucial 49-ball 53 in their final match against the Netherlands to win it and keep the hopes of her team for qualifying for the ultimate Qualification round and eventually the World Cup alive. The 34-year-old veteran, who has represented her team in 29 ODIs and 52 T20Is was excited to have won the award and said, “It was very exciting to be nominated for the ICC Women’s Player of the Month for August and to now be voted as the winner is just so amazing and humbling.” “It was great to contribute to overall team performances at the European Qualifiers and hopefully we have done enough to make the next stage and compete on a global level again,” added the Dublin born who has 67 wickets and 868 runs to her kitty in all of the international games combined.