The Ashes | Root misses start of Day 4 after being struck in abdomen during throwdowns

The Ashes | Malan gutted to squander yet another century opportunity

Dawid Malan squandered yet another chance of getting to a century in his career as he was once again out in the eighties after having done all the hard work. The left-hander was disappointed to have missed out on what could have been a great away Ashes ton. “We talk about getting 20 wickets or what have you, but in Australia, there are big runs to be had and big hundreds win you Test matches. In the last match, both Rooty and myself were in a position to score hundreds and we didn’t do it, and we were in the same position here and both times we’ve been found short as a batting unit compared to the Australian batting unit,” Malan said in a press conference after the end of third day’s play in the second Ashes Test going on in Adelaide. In the last Test in Brisbane, both skipper Joe Root and Malan had a tremendous partnership of over 200 runs together in England’s second innings. When they were together at the crease, it seemed like England could at least try and challenge Australia, but it wasn’t to be after Root got out for 89 and Malan for 82 in the second session of the fourth day. Similarly in this Test, having added 138 for the third wicket and having seen off the new ball threat and the entire afternoon session, both betters once again lost concentration, getting out within the first hour of play of the second session. This time around Root scored 62 while Malan made 80. Addressing the issue of missing out on big scores, Malan said, “That’s something we must do better from this next innings onwards, that if someone gets in, to make sure that we get that big 100. We’ve only had three innings so far, a couple of the boys have had some scores, but it’s once we’re in, it’s about making the big scores.” Much like the last Test, once the pairing of Malna and Root was disturbed, the entire team crumbled and from 150-2, England were all out at 236 in their first innings, giving Australia a lead of 237 runs. The Aussies have built upon it and were 45-1 at the end of the third day’s play, leading the English by 282 runs.

Bangladesh might pull out of NZ vs BAN Test series

The Bangladesh Cricket Board is thinking of pulling out from the two-match Test series against New Zealand. The series is part of the World Test Championship 2021-23, however, the BCB feels that lack of sufficient practice due to stringent Covid-19 rules being applied on its cricketers will mean that they won’t get sufficient practice time and hence won’t be able to perform to the best of their abilities. ''Our cricketers are mentally and physically exhausted due to non-stop bio-bubble and some of our cricketers were thinking of returning home skipping the series but that is not possible,'' BCB president Nazmul Hasan was quoted as saying by Cricbuzz, incidentally after an emergency meeting called up by the Board. The meeting was called by the board in the aftermath of the New Zealand Health Ministry asking the Bangladesh team not to do outdoor practice after their bowling coach Rangana Herath was found Covid-19 positive on arrival in New Zealand at Tauranga. Apart from Herath being asked to quarantine, there are eight players in isolation as they had come in contact with a person travelling from Malaysia who was later found to be Covid positive, carrying Omicron variant. ''If the quarantine is again extended after December 21 then we will sit with them. We have informed them that it is difficult for us to play without sufficient preparation,'' Hasan added in his meet8ng indicating that the team can pull out from the series if not allowed to practice after December 21, the date when their Managed Institutional Quarantine gets over. The Bangladesh team was supposed to play an Intra-Squad two-day practice game from December 22 and another two day game against New Zealand A from December 28 before taking on hosts in the first Test on January 01 at the Bay Oval in Mount Maunganui, Tauranga. The second Test will be played from January 9 at Hagley Oval, Christchurch.

Cricket West Indies fires senior men’s selection panel

In a very shocking set of events Cricket West Indies, the governing body of the sport in the group of Caribbean nations has decided to disband the current senior men’s selection panel with immediate effect. It has created an interim body headed by men’s head coach Phil Simmons as head and captains of all three formats as members till the time the next panel is formed. The board also informed that it will commence a new recruitment process for the new Men’s Selection Panel in January. “The recruitment will replace Lead Selector Roger Harper and fellow Selector Miles Bascombe, whose contracts will not be renewed when they come to an end on December 31,” the media release from CWI read. Jimmy Adams, CWI’s Director of Cricket, will oversee the recruitment process. “We want to thank Roger and Miles for their work and dedicated services to West Indies cricket in the last two years, as members of the Men’s Senior Selection Panel. Selecting West Indies teams for the international competition is a very challenging and thankless assignment, and both gentlemen performed their roles with unprecedented transparency and dignity,” Adams said. On the other hand, the outgoing chief selector Harper said, “I would like to thank CWI for the opportunity to serve West Indies cricket in the role of Lead Selector and I wish the organization the very best for the future. I would also like to thank all those whose efforts and cooperation helped me to perform my role efficiently. Special thanks to Miles for his professionalism and teamwork. God bless.” The West Indies Men’s next series is against Ireland at Sabina Park, Jamaica where they will play the three-match CG Insurance One-Day International Series on January 8, 11 and 14, and the one-off T20 International on January 16.

BCCI’s Chief Medical Officer Abhijit Salvi resigns abruptly

Board of Control for Cricket in India’s (BCCI) Chief Medical Officer Abhijit Salvi has resigned from his post after almost a decade of association with the board. Salvi informed news agency PTI that his notice period had ended on November 30, but he carried on till the end of the second Test match between India and New Zealand. “I thank the BCCI for giving me this opportunity. After 10 years in the organisation, I wanted to move on. It had become a 24×7 job in COVID times and I want to give time to myself and family," Salvi told PTI. ESPNcricinfo speculated that Slavi’s resignation comes at a very odd hour considering the timing of India’s Under-16 national championships, which begins on January 9, 2022. Salvi was in charge of verifying the player’s ages eligibility for the U16s, popularly known as the Vijay Merchant Trophy. BCCI have not made the announcement public and have not named any replacement for their Chief Medical Officer and it is unclear as to how BCCI are going to carry on with such a technical process. In normal circumstances, Salvi would be testing the players with the Tanner Whitehouse 3 method, which uses the bone density of the wrists to determine if the player is lying about their age or not.