The Ashes | Pat Cummins tests Covid-19 negative, stays in isolation

Team India off to South Africa; see pics

The Indian team is off to South Africa for three Tests and as many ODIs. The BCCI on its official social media handle made a post that was captioned, “All buckled up . South Africa bound.” The Test series between the two sides is slated to begin on December 26 in Centurion while the ODIs will commence on January 19, 2022 in Paarl. The selectors made a tweak in the leadership group ahead of the South Africa after Rohit Sharam was handed over the full time captaincy in the limited-overs format and he was also appointed the vice-captain in Tests. On the other side, Virat Kohli will now only lead Team India in Test format. Talking about the series, Kohli said that the side is motivated. "South Africa is one place where we have not won a series yet, so we're motivated to do that. And the mindset (anyway) is to go out there and win a series in any country that we play. We don't think of just winning a Test match here and there,” he said in the press conference. Unfortunately, Sharma will be missing the Test fixtures because of a hamstring injury. The right-handed batsman had a brilliant start to his captaincy career after he led India to a 3-0 clean sweep win against New Zealand in T20Is at home.

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

As many as five members of the West Indies touring party in Pakistan including three players such as Shai Hope, Akeal Hosein, and Justin Greaves have tested positive for Covid-19 and they have been ruled out of the remaining part of the T20I and ODI series. Notably, Windies are already without Sheldon Cottrell, Roston Chase and Kyle Mayers, who tested positive for the virus in the first round of Covid-19 in the camp and the fresh inclusion of Hope and others have cast a doubt on the future of the tour. Cricket West Indies has confirmed that none of these six players will take part in the remainder of the tour and that they will have a discussion with the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) after testing rounds of remaining members of the West Indies squad including the support staff over the fate of the series. After seven players tested positive, West Indies have only 13 players to choose from in the remaining one T20I of the three-match series and a three-match long ODI series scheduled to follow the ongoing T20I series. If the Cricket West Indies pull the plug on the tour and ask the Windies to come back home aborting the tour, it will be a fresh setback to the PCB and their hopes of hosting international matches at home. They already suffered massive losses due to the pullout by New Zealand and England earlier this year and a pullout from West Indies will raise questions about their management of the international sides.

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.