PAK vs WI | ODI captain Shai Hope, others test Covid-19 positive, raise doubts over future of series

The Ashes | Day-Night Test: England drop Jack Leach, again

England have gone back to playing an all pace bowling attack and dropped the lone frontline spinner Jack Leach from the playing XI of the second Test of the Ashes series underway in Adelaide. There was direct competition between him and Stuart Broad for a place in the side and Joe Root opted for seam and control of Broad with the Pink ball for the second Test. Notably, Leach played his first Test in more than six months in the first Test at the Gabba but came under severe onslaught against Australian batsmen. All Australian batsmen right from David Warner and Marnus Labuschagne to Travis Head and Mitchell Starc came hard at Leach and took him to the cleaners. There was the discussion over his place in the side for the second Test as Pink ball generally offers more to seamers than a spinner and Root has taken what he called “brave call” to drop Leach from playing XI. England welcomed the experienced duo of James Anderson and Stuart Broad back for the Day-Night Test and continued with Ollie Robinson and Chris Woakes in a four-man pace attack. They rested Mark Wood after his spells of pace bowling at the Gabba in a move that brought a lot of criticism to the team management.

The Ashes | Day-Night Test: Steve Smith returns as Test captain as Covid scare rules Pat Cummins out

Australia suffered a massive setback as their skipper Pat Cummins got ruled out of the second Ashes Test being played at the Adelaide Oval after coming in close contact with a Covid-19 infected person. In his absence, Steve Smith returned to lead Australia for the first time since the ball-tampering scandal. Apart from missing Cummins as the skipper, Australia are playing also without the leader of their bowling attack. Cummins has been the number one bowler in the longest format for the last one and half years and missing him along with Josh Hazlewood from the Day-Night Test will affect their chances big time. The hosts handed their reputed Baggy Green to Michael Neser in place of Cummins while Jhye Richardson has made a comeback in place of Hazlewood. Smith started his second stint of captaining the Australia Test side by winning a vital toss and decided to bat first on a flatter looking surface at Adelaide Oval. The hosts are 1-0 up in the five-match long series on the back of a big win at the Gabba in the first Test and would be eager to continue their winning streak albeit without two of their first choice pacers from the four-man bowling attack.

PAK vs WI | 3rd T20I: With just pride to play for, will Windies finally break the Pakistan deadlock?

The third and final T20I between Pakistan holds nothing but formalities if it is just looked at from the perspective of results, but cricket is not only about end results, especially in bilateral tournaments. Thus even as Pakistan lead the three-match series 2-0, there are still things that the team would be looking to improve. As far as West Indies are concerned, they are without the core of their team and even after that they showed in the second game how dangerous they could be if they play to their potential. Hence this game gives an opportunity for both eth teams to test their strengths and bench strengths and try and put yet another solid performance. Babar and Fakhar's worrying form If one thing that Pakistan team management and the fans at the National Stadium in Karachi would be eager to see is the class of Babar Azam, of which they have so far been devoid of in the first two games. While a peach of delivery got Babar out in the first match, a cruel run out saw his back in the second one. Similarly, Fakahar Zaman has not been his usual self either, be it the Bangladesh tour just after the World Cup, or this series at home. He looks like a pale shadow of his batting. But given the amount of potential he carries and has displayed over the years, expectations are high and the team would expect a senior member to get up and perform. Pooran and Powell need to cash on For West Indies, it has mainly been the failure of their batting as their bowlers however have been on their toes, even if they are not naturally as talented as their predecessors have been. Skipper Nicholas Pooran and senior all-rounder Rovaman Powell, who was called into the side from in between his stint in Lanka Premier League, need to show what mettle they are made up of and why they are rated as highly as they are. Pakistan vs West Indies: Match Details Match number: 3rd T20I Venue: National Stadium, Karachi Date and Time: December 16, 06:30 PM IST, 01:00 PM GMT Broadcast and Live Stream in India: Sony Ten and Sony LIV Pitch Report The pitch in both games has slowed down as time passed and the spinners were able to get grip, bounce and turn, meaning that even a total of 160 looked defendable if bowled well. The boundaries have been pulled in, otherwise, had they been at their natural length, it would have been very tough to get past 150 on that pitch. Weather Forecast In winters, Karachi remains rain-free as has already been witnessed in the first two games. Similarly, there are no chances of rain for the third game as well. The temperature will be chilling as it is in these days and help the pacers with swing early on as well. Team News Pakistan The management would be looking to play the players who have so far not got the chance and that would include pacers Shahnawaz Dahani and Mohammad Hasnain in place of senior men Haris Rauf and Shaheen Afridi. Even Usman Qadir could be given an opportunity in place of Mohammad Nawaz as the second spin option and Khushdil Shah can be tried at Asif Ali’s position who has not been able to do much in the first two games. Probable XI Babar Azam (C), Mohammad Rizwan (WK), Fakhar Zaman, Haider Ali, Iftikhar Ahmed, Khushdil Shah, Shadab Khan, Usman Qadir, Mohammad Wasim Jr, Shahnawaz Dahani, Mohammad Hasnain West Indies As far as West Indies are concerned they would not be in a mood to make a lot of changes, although they can play experienced Darren Bravo in place of Shamarh Brooks and Probable XI Brandon King, Shai Hope, Darren Bravo, Nicholas Pooran (C) (wk), Rovman Powell, Odeon Smith, Romario Shepherd, Dominic Drakes, Hayden Walsh Jr, Akeal Hosein, Oshane Thomas CE Fantasy XI Nicholas Pooran, Babar Azam, Brandon King, Haider Ali, Iftikhar Ahmed, Khushdil Shah, Shadab Khan, Romario Shepherd, Odeon Smith, Akeal Hosein, Mohammad Wasim Jr Captain: Shadab Khan Vice-captain: Nicholas Pooran

AB de Villiers defends his decision as SA captain after SJN terms them prejudicial and discriminatory

The Social Justice and Nation-Building (SJN) commission published and haded over its 235-page report after six months of questioning and investigation in matters of racial discrimination in South African cricket. The report claimed that AB de Villiers, one of the pioneering figures in recent South African cricket history was prejudicial and discriminatory towards players of colour in his team selection as captain. However, the 38-year-old cricketer refused to be identified as such and tweeted a clarification immediately after the publication of the report. Writing on his personal Twitter handle, de Villiers said, “I support the aims of CSA’s Social Justice and Nation Building process, to ensure equal opportunities in cricket.” “However, in my career, I expressed honest cricketing opinions only ever based on what I believed was best for the team, never based on anyone’s race. That’s the fact,” his tweet added. The SJN ombudsman Dumisa Ntsebeza though in his finding said that de Villiers flouted the National Selection policy during the ODI series against India in 2015. The report said that by not selecting an already available batter Khaya Zondo and asking the then CSA CEO Haroon Logart to fly in Dean Elgar, a prominently long format batter to replace an all-rounder JP Duminy who got injured on the tour. The report also says that AB was wrong in bypassing the convenor of national selectors Linda Zondi and talking directly to the CEO to receive favourable results in favour of his decision. The report says that AB did so, "just to ensure that a black player was not placed in a position which he deemed as requiring greater experience. The only reasonable conclusion is that Mr de Villiers unfairly discriminated against Mr Zondo on racial grounds." In this very report, the SJN has also levelled serious charges of discrimination and racial biasedness against the current coach of the national outfit Mark Boucher and the current director of cricket, CSA, Graeme Smith. In relation to former bowling all-rounder, Andre Adams testifying against Boucher saying that he was instrumental in nicknaming the former as "b**** s***" by his national team-mates, the ombudsman called the national coach a person that lacked "sensitivity and understanding of the racist undertones.” This comes after Boucher attempted to excuse racism in his apology saying that white players were unprepared for the realities of post-Apartheid team dynamics. In the case of Smith, who threatened to quit cricket if Thami Tsolekile replaced Mark Boucher after the latter was injured during South Africa’s tour of England in 2012, the report says that Smith’s decision making showed clear signs of systemic racism. "The decision of the panel was totally irrational. CSA, Mr Graeme Smith and some selectors at the time really failed Mr Tsolekile and many black players of this time in many ways," read the report. Tsolekile was set to replace injured wicketkeeper Boucher, but instead, de Villiers who was in the team purely as a batter was played in the role of the wicket-keeper shattering the then 32-year-old Tsolekile’s hopes of making a return to the national side post his Test debut in 2004.