Seven England squad members test Covid-19 positive, Stokes to captain England against Pakistan

Tim Paine points out 'spots up for grabs' as Australia shaping up for Ashes series

Australia Test captain Tim Paine has reiterated the competition for spots in the batting lineup in the upcoming summer when his side will be hosting Afghanistan and England for an all-important Ashes series. Paine has alerted the contenders about the schedule of the next season of the Sheffield Shield where they will get an opportunity to press on for a place in the side before the Test against Afghanistan. There are certain openings in the batting order with both Travis Head and Matthew Wade losing their place in the side at some stage last summer and there will be few more if Australia will make it to the final of the T20 World Cup. If not for the T20 World Cup and quarantine related norms, Australia will have a fairly settled batting lineup leading up to the first Ashes Test at Gabba. David Warner will be fully fit and raring to bat at the top of the order followed by Marnus Labuschagne and Steve Smith. The lower middle-order looks settled with Cameron Green and skipper Paine himself and that leaves only two positions that of the second opener and the number five batsman up for the grab. Will Pucovski, who made an enterprising debut against India at the SCG last summer before disintegrating his shoulder should be favourite to partner Warner with Marcus Harris waiting in the wings for his chances. "[It should be] very competitive, there's a few spots up for grabs there's no doubt about that. We are lucky that we get four or five Shield games before the Afghanistan Test, and some away in the T20 World Cup, so they'll be opportunities for guys to press their case in the first few rounds of Shield cricket. The Afghanistan Test will be an important game as well if some of our guys are not here,” Tim Paine said in a virtual press conference. "It will be up for the guys to grab their opportunity and think every batter around the country will be licking their lips at the moment thinking there is an Ashes series in Australia with a couple of spots up for grabs." Big players such as Warner and Smith will come into the Ashes series without any match practice with the red ball if Australia go all the way in the T20 World Cup which can be a bit of concern. However, Paine concedesd the problem as part and parcel of the modern-day game and has chosen to bank on their experience to adapt having done those sort of adjustments successfully before to excel in the Ashes series. "It's part of modern-day cricket. You have to be able to chop between tournaments and formats. Normally those players doing it, the three-format players, are the very best at it and are used to doing it. I don't see it as a huge issue,” Paine added. "We know the conditions here in Australia. If we can get a few games into those guys would be ideal but they are really experienced and either way, our team will be ready to go." Steve Smith is recovering from a recurrent elbow injury and could well opt-out of the T20 World Cup to be played in the UAE and Paine has already expressed his selfish satisfaction of a possible option.

Danish Kaneria raps Arjuna Ranatunga for 'second-string' India remark, points Sri Lanka's decline

Former Pakistan spinner Danish Kaneria has taken a dig at Sri Lanka's 1996 World Cup-winning captain Arjuna Ranatunga for his remarks on the Indian team. Ranatunga had earlier called the Shikhar Dhawan-led Indian side ‘a second-string team’. Dhawan and Co. are in Sri Lanka for limited-overs fixtures beginning on July 13. "Ranatunga has made the statement just to stay in the limelight. India is one such nation that contains 50-60 players and can make two international teams. Many players, including Shikhar Dhawan and Bhuvneshwar Kumar, have been with the Indian team for a while. It is sad to hear such a statement from a cricket of your stature,” Kaneria said on his Youtube channel. The spinner also criticised the way Sri Lanka have fared against England after they lost both T20I and ODI series away from home. "Sri Lankan cricket is on the decline. Look at the way they are playing the series in England. It is as if they have forgotten playing cricket. The Sri Lankan board should feel blessed that India is sending a team to help the board will be out of a financial crisis," Kaneria signed off. India and Sri Lanka will lock horns in a three-match ODI series and as many T20Is. All the matches will take place in Colombo.

India vs England Test series to be played with capacity crowd at grounds

The five-match Test series between India and England scheduled to begin on August 4 in Nottingham will be played in front of a packed crowd. UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson had announced the lifting of restrictions related to Covid-19. The final of the World Test Championship between India and New Zealand in Southampton was played in front of a limited crowd. While the first match takes place in Nottingham, the sides will then move to London to play the second encounter which begins on August 12. The third (starting from August 25) and fourth Test (slated to begin on September 2) will be held at Headingley and Kennington Oval respectively while the final match will be played in Manchester which commences on September 10. The Indian team is likely to play a couple of tour games ahead of the series. The England and Wales Cricket Board had agreed to BCCI’s request of having one or two warm-up matches before the series begins. India’s squad: Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill, Mayank Agarwal, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli (Captain), Ajinkya Rahane (vice-captain), Hanuma Vihari, Rishabh Pant (wicket-keeper), R. Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Jasprit Bumrah, Ishant Sharma, Mohd. Shami, Md. Siraj, Shardul Thakur, Umesh Yadav, KL Rahul (subject to fitness clearance), Wriddhiman Saha (wicket-keeper; subject to fitness clearance). Standby players: Abhimanyu Easwaran, Prasidh Krishna, Avesh Khan, Arzan Nagwaswalla

Shakib looks hungry to play Test cricket: Bangladesh coach Russell Domingo

Shakib Al Hasan, who is returning to Test cricket for the first time since January this year, seemed to have impressed coach Russell Domingo who praised the player’s hunger to play in the longest format of the game. “Shakib looks hungry to play Test cricket again. And this is the thing with the big players, their desire and attitude when they play Test cricket is an asset,” Domingo said in a video uploaded by BCB’s official Twitter handle. “He balances the side. He bast in the top six and is a frontline bowler and that’s what any international team is looking at. He has brought in really good energy and it’s really nice to have him back,” the coach added about the all-rounder. Domingo, who has spent a lot of time in Zimbabwe with the South Africa A side feels that the Bangladesh team must be patient to be able to create chances at Harare. “Patience is very important while playing in Harare. I have been here a few times and the scoring rate is not going to be very high It’s going to be a patient game, whether you are batting or bowling, you got to maintain pressure for a long time,” he said. The 46-year-old, whose contract was renewed by the BCB till the upcoming T20- World Cup, also warned his team to not let chances go begging as they come very hard in Test cricket and especially on this Harare wicket. “It’s not going to be like you can run through the batting lineup or score 350 runs in a day. Now we know that we have our work cut out for the next few days. Chances do not come around very often on these surfaces and when they do come, we have to make sure that we hold on to them,” Domingo said. It has been seven years since a Bangladeshi fast bowler took a five-wicket haul in Test cricket, the last one being Robiul Islam, who took a five-wicket haul on the 2013 tour of Zimbabwe. He went on to become Player of the Series for his 15 wickets in the two matches. But ever since then, it has been a hard toil for Bangladeshi pacers. Domingo however believes that the days are not far when a fast bowler would win a game for Bangladesh once again in Test cricket. “The fast bowlers have been working hard with Otis [Gibson] and they never shy away from putting in the hard yard. The success has bit really shown though they have been putting in a lot of effort. But I am sure we are not far away when one of the fast bowlers would win us a Test in tough conditions,” the coach said. Bangladesh plays a solitary Test starting July 7 on their tour of Zimbabwe where they will play three ODIs and three T20Is as well.