Virat Kohli- Joe Root exchange heated words in Lord’s Long Room: Report

Craig Ervine becomes fifth Zimbabwe captain since 2020, to lead side on Ireland-Scotland tour

The great captaincy juggle in Zimbabwe cricket continued even as they named Craig Ervine skipper for the team’s Ireland and Scotland tour starting August 27 in Clontarf. The left-hander has become the fifth man since 2020 to lead the team in limited-overs cricket. Prior to him, the team have tried Chamu Chibhabha, Brendan Taylor, Sikandar Raza and Test captain Sean Williams in the same role with little success. Although this would be the first captaincy experience of the 36-year-old in limited-overs cricket, he previously led Zimbabwe in a Test match, against Bangladesh in Dhaka in 2020. The southpaw has played 18 Tests, 96 ODIs and 26 T20Is for the Chevrons. However, he missed out on the ODIs, T20Is and lone Test against Bangladesh at home. The Zimbabwe team will play five T20Is and three ODIs against Ireland and the ODIs will be part of the Cricket World Cup Super League, which is also the qualifying tournament for the 2023 ODI World Cup to be hosted by India. With just a single victory from their six games in the league so far, Zimbabwe are placed bottom. Only the top seven tames will qualify directly for the World Cup with India qualifying as a host to make the top eight teams. The rest two would come through a qualifying tournament. From Ireland, the Ervine led side would march south to Scotland and play three T20Is in Edinburgh as well. Zimbabwe squad for Ireland and Scotland tours: Craig Ervine (capt), Ryan Burl, Regis Chakabva, Tendai Chatara, Luke Jongwe, Tinashe Kamunhukamwe, Wessely Madhevere, Tadiwanashe Marumani, Wellington Masakadza, Tarisai Musakanda, Blessing Muzarabani, Dion Myers, Richard Ngarava, Sikandar Raza, Milton Shumba, Brendan Taylor, Donald Tiripano, Sean Williams

I'll probably fail a hell of a lot more than I'll succeed in cricket: Dawid Malan

Dawid Malan was called into the English side after the more fancied Test players and the team was without the experience of Ben Stokes, someone who thrives under pressure situations. To be called back in itself was a surprise for Malan, but what surprised the cricket pundits and journalists is the learnings that Malan had gathered in his time away from Test cricket. Having played 15 Tests and averaged around 28 in his first go at Test cricket in the 2017-18 season, the 33-year-old feels that he tried a lot to become too perfect and wanted to score in every inning, but he just lets it be and plays with a realisation that failing is also a process and he is bound to fail more than he succeeds. "I'm beginning to accept that I will fail in cricket. I'll probably fail a hell of a lot more than I'll succeed. Even the greats have failed more often than they've succeeded. And just accept that” Malan was quoted as saying to Cricbuzz. “When I get another opportunity make sure what's happened is in the past and play the way I play. If it's good enough it's good enough and if it isn't it just wasn't meant to be,” the southpaw added. But asked whether he feels hard done by Ed Smith, the previous England Men’s selector especially because of the reason that Smith gave for his non-inclusion in the side after the first Test against India in August 2018, Malan said he couldn’t recover for the next five-six months from it. "You work your absolute socks off in your career to earn the right to play for England and you get that call. To then have comments that derail you slightly as a player and get pigeon-holed into things, it's amazing how it leads to every single Tom, Dick and Harry having an opinion on you,” the left-hander lamented. Smith had reasoned that Malan was not the right fit for English conditions. “It probably did affect me for the next four, five-six months,” said the player of South African descent. But in a manner of poetic justice, the Yorkshire man has got a chance in the same month of August and against the same opposition, playing whom he was removed from the Test set up. Asked how he feels about it, Malan said, "I have always wanted to have another crack at Test cricket. Realistically did I think it would happen? Probably not. It's a fantastic opportunity, it's an unbelievable opportunity to get another crack when you didn't think it would happen." Having played only on County game this season it was indeed a surprise that he was selected. But in that very game, the man had scored 199.

All Pakistani batsmen must learn perseverance from Fawad Bhai: Babar Azam

Pakistani skipper Babar Azam credited veteran Fawad Alam for the win that the team registered in the second last Test of the two-match series against West Indies at Sobaina Park in Jamaica. He lauded the spirit of the cricketer who tiled in domestic cricket for a long time before proving his potential at the highest level. “I always say this about Fawad Bhai that he is an experienced player and has scored a lot of runs in First class, around 10,000, which is huge. The way he applied himself under such tough conditions and so much pressure and built his innings was outstanding,” Bar said in a video uploaded by the Pakistan cricket Board on their official Twitter handle. “All the batsmen must learn from him the way he has shown his potential and proved himself on the big stage,” added the 25-year-old. Fawad Alam came to bat at such a situation where the team was three down for only two runs on the board. He worked with Babar himself and with a hundred, got the team to a position from where they could fight. Lauding the team for its performance, Babar revealed the plans of the unit to get West indies out as quickly as possible in the first innings and then make them play the last few overs on day four of the Test having lost one day to rain already. “It’s an effort of the whole team. We lost early wickets and then me and Fawad Bhai put on a good partnership and thankfully we finished around 320. After that, the way Shaheen Shah bowled, was outstanding. We pushed them on the backfoot and that was the plan,” said Babar. “Then when we batted in the third innings, we had at the back of our minds that we must make West Indies bat the last 20-25 overs on the fourth day and we did so,” the skipper revealed further saying that this move helped them on the final day of the Test. With the help of Nauman Ali and Shaheen’s bowling efforts, Pakistan were able to bowl out the Windies batting lineup and thereby win the Test by 109 runs to level the series 1-1. “We benefitted a lot from that move as we could bowl the whole fifth day to them and were able to get them all out,” said Babar.

WI vs PAK | 2nd Test: Shaheen Afridi, Nauman Ali break Windies' resistance to level series

The West Indians didn’t give up as easily as Pakistan would have expected them to on the last and fifth day of the second Test between the two sides at Sabina Park, Jamaica. Batters like Kyle Mayers, Jason Holder, Karaigg Brathwaite and Joshua da Silva at times made the Pakistani players feels that the match might just slip out of their hands. However, Shaheen Afridi and Nauman Ali made sure that Pakistan remained in the hunt at every hour in the game. It was courtesy of their four and three wickets respectively that the Babar Azam led team was able to bowl the Men in Maroon out and win the match by 109 runs and level the series 1-1, having lost the first match narrowly by one wicket. Starting on their overnight score of 46-1, Alzarri Joseph and Brathwaite looked in good touch, but it took only one good bouncer from Shaheen Afridi to break the 31 runs stand as Joseph was caught by Mohammad Rizwan trying to pull head high, rising ball. Nkruma Bonner was then trapped before the wicket by Hasan Ali before a stunner by Imran Butt at the stunner resulted in Roston Chase’ demise. At 73-4, the team was struggling to survive even the first session when Jermaine Blackwood got together with Brathwaite and the duo added 28 for the fifth wicket, most importantly stopping the barrage of wickets. However, it was short-lived as Blackwood nicked one to the wicketkeeper off a Nauman Ali straighter one giving the left-arm spinner his first wicket of the innings. Kyle Mayers, who had got three ducks in three innings prior to this one, decided to fight it out and even as Brathwaite was dismissed just after lunch, caught at point by Fawad Alam, trying to cut a Nauman delivery, that wasn’t as short as it should ideally have been. The left-hander partnered with Holder for 46 runs, but while trying to play one shot too many, tried playing an out-swinging Shaheen delivery towards the leg side and edged it for a simple catch to Rizwan. Holder tried to resurrect the innings and played a few glorious drives. He went on to add 40 runs with wicket-keeper batter da Sliva. However, a plan was set up by the Pakistanis making the tall man drive to flighted delivered from the left-arm spinner and fell in the trap driving one straight to Faawad at short cover. Soon after Kemar Roach, the hero from the last game was also trapped LBW by Shaheen, making it his ninth wicket of the match. It wasn’t long before that his 10th wicket as well when da Sliva, trying to get one over mid-on, got it straight into his hands and Windies were bowled out for 219. For his 10 wicket haul, the left-arm pacer was selected Man of the Match ahead of Fawad Alam, even as the latter scored a fighting hundred in the first innings.