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Record Breaking Kyle Mayers Seals Historic Win For West Indies

Record-breaking Kyle Mayers seals historic win for West Indies

Kyle Mayers, on his Test debut for West Indies, hit a record-breaking double hundred to help his team chase down a mammoth total of 395, set up by Bangladesh, to win the first Test of the two-match Test series by three wickets at Zahur Ahmed Chowdhary Stadium in Chattogram. Mayers, with his knock of 210 also became the first cricketer in history to make a double hundred in the fourth innings of a Test match.

At the start of the last day of play, West Indies required more than 300 runs with all the big names like Kraigg Brathwaite and John Campbell back in the hut and a pair of debutants in Nkrumah Bonner and Kyle Mayers at the crease. A win for Bangladesh was written all over the walls until Mayers and Bonner decided to show some Caribbean courage.

The two of them added a record 216 runs, the second-highest partnership by debutants in Test match history. The record for the highest partnership by a debutant pair sis held by Khalid Ibadulla and Abdul Kadir of Pakistan who together scored 249 for the opening wicket against Australia in Karachi in 1964.

Bonner got out for 86, but Mayers continued his pursuit of the unachievable. Growing in confidence, he started increasing the run rate and by the time Bangladesh realised what had struck them, they were left to only gather the remains of what would go down in history as the highest ever run chase achieved on Asian soil. Mayers, before hitting the winning run was joined in the middle by Rahkeem Cornwall as the 9th man on the crease when just one run was required.

Mayers, apart from being the highest run-scorer on debutant in the fourth innings, also got past Sir Vivian Richards’ 109 as the highest fourth-innings score by a West Indian in Asia. Speaking after the win, Cornwall said, "I'm always positive and believed in my ability, and believed that we could get there. We never give up, and keep fighting. The skipper and the coach tell us to keep fighting." "I'd love to thank the coach, captain, teammates, coaches and family back home as well. I'm really grateful to everyone. A guy making his debut and scoring a double will definitely inspire youngsters," he added.

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Vijay Hazare Trophy to begin on 20th February: BCCI

The Board of Control for Cricket in India has confirmed the Vijay Hazare Trophy, the annual and premier domestic ODI tournament will be held from 20th February this year. This is the second tournament in a covid curtailed domestic season which saw the prestigious Ranji Trophy being cancelled for the first time since it’s inception 87 years go. In a letter addressed to all state associations, the BCCI, while informing about that start of the tournament, also explained the further procedure for the scheduling of the tournament. "The teams are required to assemble in their respective host cities on February 13 and will be needed to undergo Covid-19 testing procedure and Quarantine in accordance with the State regulatory authorities and the BCCI's SOPs," Cricbuzz quoted BCCI letter as saying. Much like the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy which concluded recently, the players will go through a six-day quarantine after undergoing covid-19 tests scheduled for 13th February. The teams have been divided into five Elite and one Plate group. The Elite groups have been stationed at Surat, Bangalore, Jaipur, Kolkata and Indore while the Plate group teams will be stationed at a city in Tamil Nadu which is yet to be named by the BCCI. The venue for the Knockouts and Final has yet not been decided. The league stage starts from February 20 and run-up to March 1. The teams would then undergo another round of Tests before the Knockout stage begins on March 8. The Semi-Finals are scheduled for 11th March while the final would be played on 14th. Karnataka are the defending Champions of the Vijay Hazare Trophy. Elite A (Surat): Gujarat, Chhattisgarh, Tripura, Hyderabad, Baroda and Goa Elite B (Indore): Tamil Nadu, Punjab, Jharkhand, MP, Vidarbha and AP Elite C (Bangalore): Karnataka, UP, Kerala, Odisha, Railways and Bihar Elite D (Jaipur): Delhi, Mumbai, Maharashtra, HP, Rajasthan and Pondicherry Elite E (Kolkata): Bengal, Services, J&K, Saurashtra, Haryana and Chandigarh Plate (Tamil Nadu, city TBC): Uttarakhand, Nagaland, Assam, Meghalaya, Manipur, Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram and Sikkim

Former West Indies pacer Ezra Moseley dies aged 63

Former West Indies pacer Ezra Moseley has died aged 63 in a road traffic accident as a car hit him while he was riding his bicycle in Christ Church, near Bridgetown in Barbados. Moseley had burst onto the scenes in the English couty cricket as he was signed to play for Glamorgan as a 22-year-old, before risisng to the West Indies international team and earning a name for himself in the series against England in 1990. He went on to play only two Test matches, and nine ODIs as a stress fracture diagnosed at a fairly early age of 24 limited his rise. Cricket West Indies expressed their shock and dismay on the news of his death and rated Moseley as ‘one of region’s premier fast bowlers in late 1970s. “It has come as a shock to hear of the passing of Ezra Moseley, earlier today, with the tragic news coming out of Barbados," CWI director of cricket, Jimmy Adams, said. "The entire CWI family are deeply saddened. Ezra was one of our region's premier fast bowlers from the late '70s through the '80s and into the early '90s, when he went on to play for the West Indies after playing professionally in the Caribbean, England and South Africa. "After his playing day were over Ezra continued to serve cricket in the region by coaching at the junior levels in Barbados and moving into positions with our international women's team. On behalf of CWI I want to extend our sincere condolences to his family and let them know they are in our thoughts and prayers at this time." Moseley’s demise led to a downpour of tributes and memories from the players of his generation and commentators who had played with or against him in the county cricket.

Mohammed Shami resumes bowling, may comeback in D/N Test against England

In a good sign for the depleted Indian side, pacer Mohammed Shami has resumed his bowling and may well be fit and ready to take the field in the third Test against England. However, he looked bowling only with ‘low intensity’ and will need some overs under his belt before he can stake a claim in the Indian team. "Shami's forearm is fine right now. He will have some low-intensity net sessions for the next few days. He has been advised to bowl around 18 deliveries a day at 50 to 60 percent effort. Since has been out for more than month and a half, that is how the workload will be built,” PTI quoted an unnamed source from the National Cricket Academy as saying. Shami was injured in the first Test against Australia in Adelaide when he was hit by a short delivery from Pat Cummins and fractured his right wrist. He had walked out of the pitch and never returned to bat in the match. Later, he was ruled out for six weeks’ time as scans revealed a hairline fracture on his wrist. India are already missing the services of Ravindra Jadeja and while he is yet to recover from the thumb dislocation, Shami’s possible return will bolster the bowling resources. India are likely to field an extra pacer in the day-night Test scheduled to be played in Ahmedabad and Shami will make the options richer for the Indian team management.

Don’t think half the English batsmen can play spin as well as Root: Ben Stokes

England vice-captain, Ben Stokes was all praise for his skipper Joe Root, who scored a brilliant double hundred on the second day of the first Test going on between India and England at the MA Chidambaram in Chennai. Speaking in the virtual press conference, Stokes said that among the English batsmen, there is no one better than Root when it comes to playing spin. “He dominates spin and in such a good form. The way he plays spin, I don’t think half the English batsmen play spin the way he does,” said the 29-year-old. Root became the first cricketer in the world to score a double century in his 100th Test and he did in style by hitting Ravichandran Ashwin for a six. Speaking about that, Stokes said, “I was quite surprised to see him run down the wicket and hit a six to bring up his double hundred.” “The way he bats, he makes us all look rubbish. He simply makes batting look easy,” he added praising the skipper who is the second youngest cricketer after Sir Alastair Cook to play 100 Tests. Saying that it was nice for him to get some runs in the middle (82 of 118 balls), Stokes made it clear that England were in no mood to declare today and would like to bat some more tomorrow morning to add as much as possible to their overnight score of 555-8. “Winning the toss and batting first and scoring above 500 with two wickets left, going into the third day, we are in a good position I guess. There were no thoughts of declaration in the evening. Rather if we can bat another hour tomorrow morning, we would be very happy,” said the Durham player.