The ball moves all day in overcast conditions in England: Hanuma Vihari

Taskin Ahmed to get central contract, Shakib to make all-format return to contract list

Bangladesh Cricket Board would be rolling out the central contracts for their players very soon and it has been learnt that all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan would make a return to the list, having missed out last year due to the ICC one year ban. Fast bowler Taskin Ahmed, who returned to international cricket early this year in January, is also set to be rewarded for his performances with a central contract after three years. The 26-year-old is now in the reckoning to be a long term Tigers prospect. "Taskin bowled a lot of overs in the Test series against Sri Lanka. He is very much in the ODI plans but if we push him to play all three formats all the time it can be harmful in the long run,” Khaled Mahmud, former Bangladesh captain and Team leader for the Tigers’ on their Sri Lanka tour recently, said about the tall fast bowler, who has picked up 17 wickets since his return to international cricket. "We need to make a balance somewhere and that is most important if we want long service from players like Taskin," Mahmud added. The right-handed pacer is aware of BCB plans which sees him more as an out and out attack bowler in longer formats, but Taskin believes that T20 cricket is not out of sight for him either. ''Yes, Nannu Sir (chief selector Minhajul Abedin) spoke with me after the series (two Tests against Sri Lanka),'' said Taskin. ''It is not that I will not play T20Is. It's just that they wanted me to concentrate on Tests and ODIs," he said. Bangladesh Cricket Board chief executive Nizamuddin Chowdhury confirmed that the board would soon be rolling out the contracts and there might be an increase of one player from last year’s 17 in the list. The top all-rounder Shakib would be getting an all format, both red and white ball contract as it seems, while the likes of Mahmudullah and Mustafizur Rahman would have to be content with just the white ball contract. Last year only seven cricketers could get the all-format contract and according to reports, Mushfiqur Rahim was the highest-paid Bangladeshi cricketer. "In the last board meeting we decided that we will make a final decision regarding how many cricketers are going to be in the central contract in our next board meeting," Cricbuzz quoted Nizamuddin as saying. Currently, the Bangladesh cricketers are busy with the Dhaka Premier Division T20 tournament, being played in the capital city.

Ollie Robinson likely to be dropped from 2nd Test against New Zealand for 'racist and sexist' tweets

England newcomer Ollie Robinson, who made an impressive debut in Test in the ongoing Test match at Lord’s is is likely to face exclusion from the squad for the second Test against New Zealand for the ‘racist and sexist tweets he sent out when he was just 18-year old, The Telegraph reported. The ECB has launched an investigation and Robinson’s exclusion from the team could well be extended for some part of the series against India as well, the report stated further. Also, the ECB is mulling a vetting process of profiles of new and merging players to avoid such ‘embarrassing situations in the future. “We have a zero-tolerance stance to any form of discrimination and there are rules in place that handle conduct of this nature. We will initiate a full investigation as part of our disciplinary process,” ECB CEO Tom Harrison had said in a statement on the same night when Robinson’s tweets went viral. The pacer has already apologised for what he called ‘thoughtless and irresponsible’ behaviour on his part irrespective of his state of mind then. Robinson however found support in his squad as England assistant coach Graham Thorpe said that as he has accepted his mistakes and apologised for it to the dressing room and the world, the onus was on the dressing room to support him so early in his career. “He had to say sorry to the dressing room, he had to say sorry to the world about what he did. So from that perspective it's very hard for him but he knows he made mistakes. So at the end of the day, that's why he had to make those apologies. But in our dressing room, we had to support him as well,” Thorpe said. The second Test of the series against New Zealand is scheduled to start on June 10 at Edgbaston in Birmingham while the series against India will start on August 04 at Trent Bridge, Nottingham.

It’s clearly something that needs to be looked at: Thorpe on Robinson fiasco

Batting coach Graham Thorpe has said that the social media of the players can be reviewed before they are selected for the national side. Thorpe’s comments have come after pacer Ollie Robinson’s old sexist and racist social media posts surfaced earlier this week. “It’s clearly something that might need to be looked at so that a day like yesterday doesn’t happen,” Thorpe was quoted as saying by ‘BBC’. Robinson though made the apologies for his posts and further added that he made the remarks as a teenager. “I am embarrassed by the racist and sexist tweets that I posted over eight years ago which have today become public,” he said. The fast bowler also said that he regrets his actions and is ashamed of the remarks that he made. “I want to make it clear that I’m not racist and I’m not sexist. I deeply regret my actions and I am ashamed of making such remarks,” Robinson said. Robinson made his Test debut against New Zealand in the first clash of the two-match series at Lord’s. He returned with figures of 4/75 in the first innings as New Zealand rode on some fine batting from debutant Devon Conway to put 378 on the board. Conway struck a double-century during the course. England were 111/2, trailing by 267 before the stumps were called on Day 2. The start on the third day at Lord’s was delayed due to rain.

Devon Conway breaks many, establish some records on his way to double ton on Test debut

New Zealand broke many records on his way to a brilliant double hundred on his Test debut at Lord’s against England. He walked out open the innings along with Tom Latham and was the last man to be dismissed in a run out after betting flawlessly for one and a half-day. He became only the seventh batsman in international cricket and second among New Zealand batsmen to score a double ton on Test debut after Matthew Sinclair’s double hundred against West Indies on debut in 1999-00. He became the most successful debutant in Test matches in England by beating the previous best score of 154 runs by K Ranjitsinhji. He also became the first batsman to score a double hundred at Lord’s on debut and beat the previous highest score by Sourav Ganguly, who had scored 131 on his Test debut at the Home of Cricket in 1996. Among New Zealand batsmen, Conway went on to become the 12th batsman and the fifth batsman while opening the batting to score a three-figure score on debut. He also beat the previous record of highest run by a New Zealand opener in England when he went past the 121-run mark on the first day of the Test. Also, he came second just by one run from the highest score by an opener on debut by Brendon Kuruppu, who had scored 201 not out against New Zealand in 1987. He also became the highest run-scorer on Test debut against England beating 176 by George Headley in Bridgetown in 1930. He also trumped his compatriot Hamish Rutherford who too had a blistering debut against England in Dunedin in the 2012-13 season. Also, he is just the fourth Kiwi batsman to score a double hundred against England other than Martin Donnelly, Nathan Astle and BJ Watling. Conway was played over Tom Blundell in the playing XI who too had scored a century on Test debut and the team management would be ecstatic the left-hander ratified their call with a superb double hundred that may well put New Zealand in a commanding position in the first Test of the series.