Shakib Al Hasan, Stafanie Taylor win ICC Player of the Month Awards for July

Massive setback for England; after Broad, James Anderson is doubtful for Lord's Test

After the injury to Stuart Broad, England have suffered another massive blow in the form of injury to James Anderson leading up to the second Test against India starting August 12 at Lord’s. The pacer has reported issues in his quad muscle and missed the training session on the morning of August 11 and might as well get ruled out of the second Test. If Anderson goes on to miss the Test, it will be the only first instance since 2007 that both Anderson and Broad will miss a home Test. Injury to Anderson will further weaken the hosts who are already plagued with the inexperienced and inconsistent batting order. They had formidable bowling attack to make up for the batting failures, but the absence of both of the senior pacemen will make them thin in the bowling department as well. England have already called up Saqib Mahmood in place of Stuart Broad and Mark Wood is most likely to play the Lord’s Test in place of him. It would interesting to see who does get a look in if England suffer a massive setback in the form of James Anderson. Anderson and Broad will join the long list of injured England pacers namely Chris Woakes, Olly Stone and Jofra Archer.

Andrew Strauss not in favour of Ashes postponement

Former English skipper and currently the chair of the England and the Wales Cricket Board, Andrew Strauss is not in favour of the Ashes slated to be played later this year in Australia getting postponed. Instead he wants both the cricket boards to work out a possible way to allow the English players to travel Down Under with their family members. Strauss feels the tour should go ahead despite several opinions being voiced by other former England skippers Michael Vaughan and Alastair Cook. Both felt that the series should be cancelled if the English players are not allowed to travel with their family members. The English Test team is slated to travel to Australia in November for the first Test which is slated to be played at the Gabba in Brisbane from 8th December. However, in all likelihood, they won’t be allowed to be accompanied by their family members due to the stringent COVID-19 protocols in place in Australia. "No, I wouldn't want a postponement, I would want to make sure that the players' families can get there," Strauss was quoted as saying by ESPN Cricinfo on Tuesday. "The last thing anyone wants is players having to make that choice between 'my family can't come and therefore I'm not going to go' or 'I'm going to go'. The solution to this is to find some sort of middle ground between the Australian Government, Cricket Australia, and the ECB, to make it as easy as possible for families to get out there and to have as few restrictions as possible when they are over there," Strauss further added Meanwhile, recent reports in the British media states that most of the English players are not happy with the protocols in place in Australia and expressed their apprehension on touring Australia if they are refused to accompany their families on the long tour. Strauss said that in these tumultuous times, it is practically not possible for the players to stay in Australia for such a long period of time without spending time with their families especially after what has happened in the last 18 months. Strauss wants everyone to work towards ensuring that the players are allowed to accompany their families on the tour rather than thinking of what will or may happen. "Of course we all understand, having been through the pandemic here for the last 18 months, that this stuff (quarantine protocols) isn't easy. [It requires] setting precedent and all that sort of stuff, but I do think it is unrealistic to expect players to go over there for months on end without their family seeing them, especially with what's gone on over the last 18 months and all the time they've had (to) spend away from their families in bubbles," said Strauss. "I think that's going to be asking them to go one step too far, and some sort of compromise needs to be reached. That's what everyone should be working towards at the moment, rather than worrying about something that may or may not happen,” the former ECB director concluded.

ENG vs IND | 2nd Test Preview: Teams search elusive balanced XI as action moves to Lord's

There were huge expectations from the Test series between England and India and the first round of a five-game long contest had everything in it to justify the expectations. It had multiple bowling spells of the highest quality, a couple of stupendous batting knocks and also average performances scattered across the five days. However, all of that could not please the rain gods to have some mercy on the flow of the game and ultimately they left it with no chance of a result on the final day. For a change, in a Test series in England, India were favourites to start with, and they only proved their mettle on the very first day of the series. Their bowlers kept asking tough questions of the England batsmen and handed them a harsh reality check with immense control over line and length. However, they were not allowed to run away with the game by the hosts with skipper Joe Root leading their riposte to shoulder the burden of his failing teammates. He scored what experts rated one of his best Test ton to put England in an equal position by the end of the penultimate day. India were 157 runs away from having a 1-0 lead over the hosts, only to be denied the opportunity by persistent rain on the final day. The hosts were not shy of having a crack on the remaining nine Indian batsmen either and Root asserted that they had in them to create nine opportunities in whatever time was left on the final day. So, after all the promises and brilliance in the first Test where both teams believed they could win, the caravan now moves to the Home of Cricket—Lord’s. Both these sides have had a mixed bag at the venue in the recent past. India have had one of their most remarkable wins overseas at this ground while some of their terrible performances have come at Lord’s as well. England too have lost Test matches to Pakistan and were close to losing one earlier in the summer against New Zealand. They had lost their first Test against India in 2014 but bounced back sharply by handing the Virat Kohli-led side a crushing defeat in 2018. From the last time, teams and mindset have changed a lot. India are now a formidable opponent irrespective of the conditions while England are without the opening solidity of Alastair Cook and are playing with ever so fragile top order. England vs India: Match Details Match Number- 02 Date and Time: August 12-16, 2021, 3:30 pm IST, 10:30 Local, 10:00 GMT Venue: Lord’s, London Broadcast and Live Stream: SonyLIV, Sony Six Pitch and weather The pitch at the Lord’s should not be a green one considering that England will not be willing to play against Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj or Ishant Sharma in case he is selected on a lively surface. Also, the Root-Silverwood duo had indicated that England were willing to play on flat surfaces to prepare for hard grind in the Ashes and in general, the overseas Tests. As it’s said that the overhead condition matter as much as the nature of the pitches in England, and hence it should not be a pace-conducive pitch at Lord’s. The weather conditions in London across the five days of the Test should all but compromise for the frustrating rain intervals in the first Test Team News England England are set to induce wholesome changes for this Test as they are looking to field a balanced playing XI with an in-form top order. They have called upon Moeen Ali to search for elusive balance in absence of Ben Stokes and Chris Woakes. Moeen is likely to bat at the number seven position behind Jos Buttler while Haseeb Hameed could well be back after a long gap of five years at the top of the order. He is likely to replace Zak Crawley, whose marathon double century against Pakistan last year has appeared to be in the last century due to perennial failures with the bat. Hosts’ problems have been compounded by the injury to Stuart Broad and they will have to bring back Mark Wood, who will add pace and impact to the bowling attack. However, the team will miss Broad’s mastery of bowling at Lord’s and will rely on Ollie Robinson to produce goods. The team will also have to deal with a muddled batting order. If Hameed comes in the place of Crawley and bats at the number three position, Dan Lawrence will make way for Moeen. However, the hosts can also look to replace both Sibley, whose resistance at the crease has not been proven beneficial in recent times, and Crawley with Hameed and Ollie Pope. The quartet of Root, Jonny Bairstow, Jos Buttler, and Moeen Ali are all but certain to bat at the number four, five, six and seven respectively while there will be discussions around the composition of the top order. Only Rory Burns, who has a hundred to his name against a strong New Zealand bowling attack in the last series should be certain about his place in the side. An injury scare has been sounded for James Anderson too as he missed his net sessions on Wednesday. It would be interesting to see if he plays. Saqib Mahmood has any been called up as Broad's injury cover Probable XI Rory Burns, Dom Sibley, Haseeb Hameed, Joe Root (C), Jonny Bairstow, Jos Buttler (WK), Moeen Ali, Sam Curran, James Anderson/ Saqib Mahmood, Mark Wood, Ollie Robinson, India India do not seem to have too many injury problems to solve while deciding the playing XI for the Lord’s Test, but an injury to Shardul Thakur may limit their options. Shardul played the last Test in place of Ravichandran Ashwin as he could bring both his good enough batting and pace bowling to the table. However, in his absence, and with clear weather in sight, India would be eager to play Ashwin. They could also consider bringing one extra pacer that will be fraught with a huge risk of elongating tail. Ishant Sharma has a decent bowling number to show at Lord’s and India would be tempted to play him ahead of Mohammed Siraj, who bowled well at Trent Bridge but got carried away looking at the movement off the pitch and in the air. Mayank Agarwal missed the last Test due to a concussion injury and KL Rahul got a fortunate entry into the playing XI. He batted magnificently in both the innings and the spell of his good and Agarwal’s misfortune should continue at Lord’s. Probable XI KL Rahul, Rohit Sharma, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli (C), Ajinkya Rahane, Rishabh Pant (WK), Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Mohammed Shami, Ishant Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah Fantasy XI Rishabh Pant, Joe Root, KL Rahul(C), Ajinkya Rahane, Virat Kohli, Ravindra Jadeja (VC), Sam Curran, Ravichandran Ashwin, Jasprit Bumrah, Ollie Robinson, James Anderson

MS Dhoni lands in Chennai, Indian bound CSK players likely to leave for UAE on August 13

Chennai Super Kings skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni has started his preparations for the second half of the 14th edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL). He landed in Chennai on Tuesday as the yellow brigade set for departure to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) which will host the remainder of the IPL starting next month. A group of Indian players from the CSK outfit will travel to UAE on 13th August as told by CSK CEO Kasi Viswanathan. "Indian players in the team, whoever is available, will travel to UAE on August 13 in all likelihood," Super Kings CEO Kasi Viswanathan was quoted as saying by PTI. Viswanathan further added that there won’t be any preparatory camp in Chennai for the team before the fly out to UAE for the remainder of the 14th season. The tournament which was originally held in India was brought to an abrupt end after COVID-19 breached through the bio-bubbles and it became almost impossible to continue the tournament. The second half of the tournament will commence on September 19 with arch-rivals Mumbai Indians and Chennai Super Kings locking horns against each other. The tournament final will be held on October 15. When the tournament came to a standstill earlier this year, CSK was occupying the second spot with 10 points in seven games.