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Windies on the cusp of ending 9 years old dry run in Asia

After the heroics of Kyle Mayers with the bat in the fourth innings of the first Test match against Bangladesh, West Indies are within touch to break a nine-year-old dry run. After chasing down an incredible final innings total of 395 runs owing to Kyle Myers' debut 210* on the last day in Chattogram, the Marooned cap army is now looking to break a long-standing dry run in Asia. Last time a West Indies team won a two (or more) match series against an Asian side was way back in 2012 when Tino Best with the ball and Shivnarine Chanderpaul with the bat shone to take West Indies to a 2-0 win over Bangladesh. Now with the second Test scheduled to take place at the Sher-E-Bangla stadium, the West Indies team is ready to take the series and break the nine-year deadlock. “We have to make sure we don't go backwards again. We are trying hard to put things in place so that we don't go in that direction," said Phil Simmons, wary of the fact that a second strung Windies team could very well roll over easily as they did in the first innings of the first Test. Bangladesh, depleted in resources after Shakib Al Hasan and opening batsman Shadman Islam were ruled out, are still the favourites going into the Dhaka Test and would look to pull one back to square the series. “We lost, but we got some positives. We played the first innings as a team, and we dominated first four days,” said the Tigers skipper Mominul Haque, who in the last test became the first Bangladeshi to score 10 centuries in Test cricket, after his second-innings hundred.

Bangladesh to host New Zealand and Australia ahead of ICC T20 WC

The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) on Wednesday announced that they will host Australia and New Zealand in three-match T20 series in September-October 2021. As per reports in the Cricbuzz, the New Zealand side is expected to travel to Bangladesh in September in order to prepare for the 2021 T20 World Cup. Meanwhile, the Australian contingent is expected to arrive in October. It must be noted that Australia and New Zealand had earlier cancelled the scheduled tour of Bangladesh for a two-match Test series which were also a part of the ICC World Test Championship. However, it had to be cancelled by both the teams due to the coronavirus pandemic. BCB chief executive Nizamuddin Chowdhury confirmed that they are planning to host New Zealand and Australia for 3 match T20 series each. However, he ruled out of the prospect of going ahead with their postponed two-match Test series against the same nations. He also confirmed that England will travel to the country for three ODI’s and as many T20I’s each following the Australia series. "The England series is already in the FTP. We don't want to comment anything about the T20 tri-nation tournament because everyone needs to agree and we can get a clear picture when we get closer to the dates," he was quoted as saying by the Cricbuzz. Nizamuddin also added the fact that it is highly impossible to host the two-match Test series against Australia and New Zealand which were part of the ICC Test Championship as there isn’t enough window to play the remainder of the matches. The only time which was available for a possible reschedule was marred by the fact that it has been reserved for a series against Sri Lanka. "I don't think there is a possibility of playing those Test matches as the final is in April. We have a time slot available in April to play a Test series against Sri Lanka and we are trying to fix dates for those."

Director of SG says feedback will be taken from players while making new balls

Following India’s humiliating defeat at the hands of England in the opening Test in Chepauk, there has been huge scrutiny on the balls which were used for the match. Barring the below-par performance by the home team and expressing his disappointment at the same, India skipper Virat Kohli clearly expressed his displeasure at the Sanspareils Greenlands (SG) ball used for the opening Test. Paras Anand, the Director of Cricket Equipment manufacturer SG spoke to Times of India and said that they will definitely take suggestions from the players and will look to try to improve the quality of the ball. Several footages on TV confirmed the fact that the leather base was coming off with the stitches getting torn out. A Test match ball is always expected to last 80 overs without any prominent deterioration but it was not the case in Chennai. The hardness of the pitch might have also had a role in the deterioration of the ball. “High quality of the ball (SG-Check) was additionally not what we had been more than happy to see as that was additionally the case up to now. Simply the ball utterly being destroyed in 60 overs isn’t one thing that you simply expertise as a Check aspect and any aspect may very well be ready for,” Kohli was quoted as saying following India’s shambolic loss. On Monday after completing a 9 wicket match haul, Ravichandran Ashwin also had his say on the nature of the ball. He stated that he hasn't seen an SG ball in this condition in several years. He did concede the fact that in addition to the quality of the ball, the pitch might have done its bit. “I’ve by no means seen an SG ball tear (get torn) by the seam like that. So it might nicely be a mixture of how laborious the pitch was on the primary two days, even within the second innings after the 35th-40th over, the seam was getting kind of peeled off “It was weird, I imply, I have not seen an SG ball like that in (the) final so a few years, however, yeah, perhaps it may very well be as a result of pitch and the hardness of it by the centre which is making the ball get scuffed up.” Ashwin additional stated. Meanwhile, Paras Ananad reacted to Ashwin’s comments that he has never seen an SG ball like that, Anand said, "He (Ashwin) said 'I had never seen the ball tear like this t may very well be due to the floor’, that may be a large assertion in itself. Moderately than passing the judgement, we might be open to suggestions and based mostly on the suggestions, we really get all the way down to see how abrasive the floor was, we will work on enhancing the standard of the balls.” “I’ve solely seen the observe on TV, I have not been on the observe to see how (Sharma) talked about it after getting his 300th wicket. He stated the primary innings, which was like two and a half days, felt like ‘I’m bowling on a highway’, so it was that onerous.” Anand told Times of India. Recent studies suggest that SG had manufactured a recent set of balls for the ongoing India-England series with an extra pronounced seam but Anand clarified the fact the balls used for the first Test was from the new collection. “It isn’t a brand new ball, it’s a ball-based mostly on the suggestions we had improved upon over the past two and a half years. The ball did not lose its form and therefore (was) not modified and the second ball that India used when Ishant bought his two wickets (off consecutive deliveries), that ball was used for 104 overs. The primary ball was modified within the 81st over, the second ball was used for 104 overs, which exhibits that no matter work now we have executed within the final two and a half years is giving us an end result that even on such a tough and sluggish wicket and one which was abrasive on the fourth and fifth day, the ball retained its form and was travelling (on the outfield), which was fairly obvious,” he added.

Root, Anderson break into top three of ICC Test rankings after demolishing India

English captain Joe Root and the highest wicket-taking fast bowler in the world James Anderson have been rewarded for their unmatchable outing against India. Both the Englishmen have broken into the top three of the International Cricket Council’s batsmen and bowlers released on 10th February. Anderson, 39, moved three places up to the third position in the ICC bowlers’ ranking. It is being seen as a reward for his efforts where he ripped through the Indian top order with the help of his devastating reverse swing in the second innings of the Chennai Test. Among other bowlers, India’s Ravichandran Ashwin and Jasprit Bumrah too moved one place each to get to the seventh and eighth place respectively. Root, on the other hand, moved two places up to get to third position after hitting a mesmerising 218 in the first innings of England, his third century on the trot, which also resulted in two double centuries in three Tests. Other batsmen to gain positions in the top 10 were Pakistan skipper Babar Azam and English all-rounder Ben Stokes. While Babar, 26, got up to the sixth position after a fifty in the second Test against South Africa, Stokes reached the 9th position after a cameo of 82 runs in the first innings.