Mustafizur Rahman down with ankle injury, could be doubtful for ODI series against Zimbabwe

WI vs Aus | 4th T20I: 'Mr. Consistent' Mitchell Marsh hands Australia first win of the tour

The visiting Australian side finally managed to salvage some lost pride after beating West Indies by 4 runs in the 4th T20I to make the scoreline 3-1 in favour of the home team. It all boiled down to the final over where premier Aussie speedster Mitchell Starc held his nerves and bowled a sensational over restricting the swashbuckling Andre Russell under immense pressure. A target of 190 was always going to be a challenging one for any side. However, with the Windies batters firing all cylinders in the 2nd and the 3rd encounter, they would have backed themselves to chase the total down and it looked all more realistic once openers Lendl Simmons and Evin Lewis blazed away in their respective knocks and shared a 62 runs partnership in less than 5 overs. It was power-hitting of the highest order as both Simmons and Lewis took the Australian bowlers by the scruff of the neck and displayed some exceptional shots. Adam Zampa was entrusted with the job of bowling in the powerplay and he didn’t disappoint. After conceding a boundary, he castled Lewis with a flatter delivery which zipped through his defence and disturbed the timbers. However, Lendl Simmons went on his merry way even in the final powerplay over, taking West Indies to 75 at the end of 6 overs. The foundation was laid and the rest of the batters needed to bat sensibly to see the run chase through. After a blazing knock in the previous encounter, Chris Gayle was dismissed early by the man with the golden arm Mitchell Marsh. It was the dodgy knock of Andre Fletcher which turned the tides in favour of Australia. The hard-hitting right-handed batsman struggled to time the ball and was eventually dismissed by Adam Zampa after scoring just 6 of 14 deliveries. The middle overs proved to be decisive for Australia as they tightened the screws on the Windies batters putting them under the strife. Despite wickets falling at the other end, Simmons looked in complete command and found the boundaries just when the asking rate crept up. Two back to back wickets of Nicholas Pooran and Simmons again tilted the scales in favour of Australia as Mitchell Marsh continued his dream run in the series. With their backs to the wall, Windies needed some fireworks in the last four overs and it was provided by Andre Russell and Fabian Allen. A good 18th over was followed by a massive penultimate over which almost sealed the deal for the home team. Riley Meredith was carted for 25 runs including three consecutive sixes off the blade of Fabian Allen to bring the equation down to 11 required of the final over. With Andre Russell on strike, Windies looked the clear favourites but Mitchell Starc had other ideas. He went around the wicket and kept attacking the pads and Russell never managed to get under any of the first five deliveries. He refused singles on three occasions but with the power and skill set Russell poses, he would have backed himself to finish it off. However, it was a high-class final over which eventually helped Australia win their first game of the series. Early on in the day, it was Australian skipper Aaron Finch who won the toss and opted to bat. After conceding a boundary, fast bowler Oshane Thomas who was playing his first match of the series came back strongly, bagging the wicket of Matthew Wade with some pace and extra bounce. Mitchell Marsh continued his good work at No 3 blazing his way to a stupendous knock of 75 of just 44 deliveries. Along with his skipper Aaron Finch, Marsh shared a mammoth 114 runs stand to lay the foundation for a brisk finish. Marsh in particular carried on his rich vein of form at his new role. He struck some delightful shots, none better than the lofted extra cover drive of a very good delivery of Hayden Walsh Jr. Finch also got back to some run-scoring form and after struggling for a while, he too got hold of a few and went on to score a half-century. Yet again it was leg-spinner Hayden Walsh Jr who left a lasting impression on the Australian batting line-up bagging back to back wickets of Finch and Alex Carey. Fabian Allen and Hayden Walsh Jr applied the brakes on the Aussie middle order, jolting their chances of going beyond the 200 mark. Walsh Jr bowled brilliantly bagging three more wickets to eventually restrict Australia to 189 in their allotted 20 overs. Mitchell Marsh was Australia’s top scorer while the leggie was again the most successful bowler from the home team. The score proved to be just enough as Australia eked out a narrow 4 runs victory. Brief Scores Australia 189/6 in 20 overs (Mitchell Marsh 75, Aaron Finch 52, Hayden Walsh Jr 3/27) West Indies 185/6 in 20 overs (Lendl Simmons 72, Mitchell Marsh 3/24, Adam Zampa 2/20) Australia won by 4 runs West Indies lead series 3-1.

ENGW vs INDW | 3rd T20I: Wyatt's aggressive knock helps England thump India in decider

England women’s team defeated India comprehensively by 8 wickets in the deciding T20I of the three-match series in Chelmsford on Wednesday. Chasing 154 in 20 overs, the hosts rode on an emphatic 112-run partnership for the second wicket between Danielle Wyatt and Natalie Sciver to clinch victory. The hosts lost an early wicket after opener Tammy Beaumont was trapped in front of the stumps by Deepti Sharma for 11 but the stand between Wyatt and Sciver steadied the ship for the side. While Wyatt remained unbeaten at 89, Sciver was eventually cleaned up by Sneh Rana for 42. England didn’t see any further fall of wickets as Wyatt and captain Heather Knight took them over the line in the 19th over. Earlier, India who batted first started the proceedings in a disappointing manner after losing Shafali Verma and Harleen Deol early in the innings. But Smriti Mandhana and skipper Harmanpreet Kaur showed some resistance and the two batters put 68 runs for the third wicket before Kaur departed for 36 off 26. Mandhana continued her form and notched up a fifty before getting out to Brunt for 70 off 50. Wicket-keeper batter was the only third batter to have crossed the double-figure mark apart from Mandhana and Kaur after she chipped in with a 13-ball 20 that included four boundaries. India eventually managed to score 153/6 in 20 overs. For England, it was Ecclestone who returned with a three-for while Brunt scalped a couple of wickets. India captain Kaur expressed disappointment at losing the series. “Firstly, we're thankful to the support we've got in all the games from the crowd. But yes, it was disappointing to not finish with a win. We could have scored a bit more runs with the bat and then dew made it tough in the second innings. Someone had to bat till the very end, it was something we had talked about but didn't happen today. Hopefully it will come off soon,” she said. England skipper Knight was ‘pleased’ with the way her team performed in this bilateral tie. “Really pleased with the girls. After the game at Hove, we wanted to take more responsibility. Happy for Danny, she had worked really hard and it's paid off today. We all know how good she is, probably hasn't scored as many runs as she could in the last 18 months. She put her head down and did what she does well - she loves being aggressive and scoring boundaries,” she said. India had suffered a 2-1 defeat in the ODI series as well earlier and lost the T20Is by the same margin.

Rishabh Pant tests positive for COVID-19, undergoing home quarantine

An unnamed player from the UK bound Indian cricket squad has tested positive for COVID-19 and has been put under home isolation. As per reports in the Indian Express, the player is self-isolating himself at a relative's place and is expected to join the rest of the team members after serving his mandatory quarantine. The whole Indian squad barring that particular player will join the bio-bubble back on Thursday in Durham. As per sources close to Indian Express, the player experienced a sore throat which led to a PCR test and it returned positive. The members of the Indian contingent who were deemed close contact of the affected individual were already kept in isolation for three days and have completed their quarantine without showing any symptoms. It has been testing times for England and the Wales Cricket Board (ECB) after they were forced to name a whole new squad against the touring Pakistan side after three players and four support staff who played in the series against Sri Lanka tested positive for the deadly virus. While the second-string new-look England team blanked Pakistan 3-0 but the situation in England is getting trickier with each day and there hasn’t been any answer as to how the virus breached through the bubble. Even the remaining T20 Blast matches involving Derbyshire have also been called off after the ECB understood that it was impossible for them to field an XI with so many players injured and forced into self-isolation. “We have been mindful that the emergence of the Delta variant, along with our move away from the stringent enforcement of biosecure environments, could increase the chances of an outbreak. We made a strategic choice to try to adapt protocols, in order to support the overall wellbeing of our players and management staff who have spent much of the last 14 months living in very restricted conditions,” ECB chief executive Tom Harrison had said in his statement. It must be noted that Sri Lanka was in England for an ODI and a T20I series very recently. Upon arrival in Sri Lanka, batting coach Grant Flower and data analyst GT Niroshan tested positive for the virus forcing Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) and BCCI to postpone the series by 5 days. The series will now start from 18th July instead of 13th July. Meanwhile, the Indian bound squad who is currently in England is enjoying their time out of the bio-bubble. They were allowed by the BCCI to leave the bubble following the ICC World Test Championship final against England. They are supposed to join the bubble back in mid-July with the first Test of the five-match Test series slated to kick off on 4th August.

India to play three-day warm-up match against select County XI in Durham

The Indian Test unit has been given an opportunity to finally play some red-ball cricket prior to the Test series against hosts England. The Virat Kohli led side will be using the riverside ground in Durham as their home ground base and would play a three-day first-class game against a select County XI starting July 20. "The three-day game will see a number of players from the county circuit feature as they go up against the Indian national side," Durham cricket said in a press release. It also confirmed that the match would be streamed Live on Durham Cricket's YouTube channel. The match would be played behind closed doors. Earlier, post the WTC Final loss, Indian skipper Kohli had said that they would have dearly liked a First-Class game as preparation before the Test series against England. "We obviously wanted first-class games, which I believe have not been given to us. I don't know what the reasons for that are. But yeah, other than that, I think our preparation time will be ample for us to be ready for the first Test,” Kohli had said. Right now, the Indian team is on a break in England and while some players enjoyed Wimbledon and Euro Cup Final, Ravichandran Ashwin played a County game for Surrey and also picked a six-wicket haul in the second innings.