West Indies to tour Pakistan in December 2021 for three T20Is and as many ODIs

Six Pakistan Women players test Covid positive ahead of series against West Indies

The Pakistan Women’s cricket team was shocked with as many as six of their players testing positive for Covid-19 ahead of their three-match ODI series against West Indies Women scheduled to begin on November 08 at the National Stadium in Karachi. The Pakistan Cricket Board confirmed that the players in the squad will not be changed and the series will also go ahead as scheduled. It also clarified that as many as three of the six players will integrate with the team by November 06 when their 10-day quarantine gets over. The 18 member squad announced for the series against West Indies Women as well as for the ICC Women’s World Qualifier to be played in Zimbabwe, was undergoing training in a preparatory camp at the high-performance centre in Karachi when the six members tested positive. As the six players tested positive, the remaining players and members of the support staff also went into self-quarantine to avoid any spreading of the virus. Pakistan squad: Javeria Khan (capt), Aiman Anwar, Aliya Riaz, Anam Amin, Ayesha Zafar, Diana Baig, Fatima Sana, Iram Javed, Kainat Imtiaz, Maham Tariq, Muneeba Ali, Nashra Sundhu, Nida Dar, Omaima Sohail, Rameen Shamim, Sadia Iqbal, Sidra Amin, Sidra Nawaz (wk).

T20 World Cup 2021 | Adam Zampa-led Australia humble Bangladesh, come knocking at semi-finals door

The arch-rivals England had given Australia real hiding in the last game and the magnitude of defeat did only threaten their existence in the tournament based on net run rate, but it would also have caused some dent in confidence. They had to bounce back quickly with two more games to go and all at stake for them in the competition, and they did it solemnly against Bangladesh and thrashed them by eight wickets with as many as 82 balls remaining to be bowled. Chasing a small total of 74 runs, Australia looked set to go for the kill and make up for the dent in the net run rate suffered in the last game. Aaron Finch took all Bangladesh bowlers to task, who were anyway helpless in the company of sloppy fielders. David Warner looked in decent touch and played some trademark shots before paying the price of being too greedy. Mitchell Marsh came and bludgeoned two boundaries and then hit a thumping pull shot for six to seal the deal for the Australians. The win was magnanimous for them but the stepping stone of that success was laid down in the first innings when Adam Zampa spun a web around the Bangladesh batting lineup that looked muddled and short of inspiration. But even before that, the pace duo of Josh Hazlewood and Mitchell Starc ripped the heart out of the Bangladesh batting unit by eliminating all of Liton Das, Soumya Sarkar and Mushfiqur Rahim before they could double-digit score. Starc found swing with the new ball to get Liton inside edging onto stumps and Hazlewood tight line and length produced another inside edge on the stumps that sent Soumya Sarkar back to the pavilion. Mushfiqur Rahim’s dismissal to an innocuous delivery from Glenn Maxwell slumped up his horrendous tournament with the bat and Bangladesh were tottering. Then, skipper Mahmudullah and Mohammad Naim tried to steady the ship with a flurry of boundaries from both ends but their success was limited as Hazlewood came back to cramp the left-hander of room and Bangladesh lost a crucial wicket just at the worst time possible. Afifi Hossain was too eager but unsure of Adam Zampa’s trick and in the end edge to Finch at slip to reduce Bangladesh five down for nothing. The next man in —Shamim Hossain fought valiantly and slapped a crisp lofted slog to Starc and slow sweep off Zampa to show his intentions. However, he was too desperate to score off the leg spinner and Zampa found a bit of extra bounce off to find his edge. He followed with another quicker one to trap Mahedi Hasan LBW to give himself a chance to claim a hat-trick. His captain Finch was may be unaware of what he was up to and offered the ball to Starc and in a way denying him that opportunity straightway. Starc did the job of wiping out the last major batsman clinically although in a fortunate way when the Bangladesh skipper glanced a leg sides delivery too fine and into the gloves of Matthew Wade. If Finch’s act of taking the ball away from him was not enough, Wade dropped a fairly easy catch off the bat of Taskin Ahmed and Zampa could offer juts a wry smile in agony. Notwithstanding the frustration of missing a hat-trick, Zampa was aware of the wickets on offer and wiped the Bangladesh tail to pick his maiden five-wicket haul in the international T20s. Bangladesh were never in the game and it was more a reflection of Australia’s outright dominance and clinical performances first with the ball and then with the bat. Bangladesh coach Russell Domingo had urged the Bangladesh players to get rid of the fear of failure and obsession of winning so that they could focus on the process, but the result in the next game against Australia has highlighted a flaw in all of his assertions. Bangladesh have been mediocre at best in the tournament and although the level of competition went up several notches in the Super 12, there were enough warning signs in the qualifying round as well. On the other hand, Australia have come storming on the qualification door to enter the semi-finals and their immediate competitor South Africa have got a task on their hand to treat the clast game against England as a must-win affair.

T20 World Cup | AUS vs BAN: Adam Zampa picks five-wicket haul as Bangladesh fall like pack of cards

Bangladesh, who have been struggling in the entire Super 12 stage apart from two games against Sri Lanka and West Indies, which also they lost, are once again in all sorts of trouble against Australia. The Tigers folded for 73, which is now their lowest total in this World Cup and second-lowest ever in any T20 World Cup. They lost their first five wickets in just 6.1 overs with all their top batsmen apart from skipper Mahmudullah back in the hut. A 29 run partnership ensued between Mahmudullah and Shamim Hossain Patwari. But just as things started getting better, Shamim, in his hurriedness of playing a cut short without their being much of a room, edged a googly by Adam Zampa which was caught by wicketkeeper Matthew Wade. On the very next ball, Mahedi Hasan was found napping and played all over yet another googly and was adjudged leg before wicket on Umpire’s call. Earlier after being asked to bat first, the Bangladeshi side has the worst possible start with Liton das getting played down on the third ball of the innings. Soon after Somya Sarkar was removed by Josh Hazlewood. Surprisingly, Mushfiqur Rahim was trapped leg before wicket by Glenn Maxwell. Mohammad Naim was the next to go as he was caught at short square leg trying to pull a climbing ball by Hazlewood. Afif Hossain, who has been harped about a lot was miserable, to say the least as he was caught by Australian skipper Aaron Finch off the bowling of Zampa. Mahmudullah was the last man to go as he nicked a wide outside leg delivery and unfortunately, it directly went into the hands of the wicketkeeper. Adam Zampa missed his hattrick as Wade dropped a tough chance on the very first ball of the 15th over of the innings and fourth over of the bowler's. However, he overcame that disappointment and picked two wickets in that very over to finish with the career-best figures of 5-19.

James Pattinson concedes he couldn't push his body to carry on despite Pat Cummins' persuasion

When the Australian pacer James Pattinson announced retirement from Test cricket earlier last month, there was a sense of disappointment among his fans and people who have tracked his journey since his debut in 2011. However, the Victorian has a different perspective to his life as a Test career and instead of ruing not having a prolonged career, he is cherishing the fact that he played the longest format for his country and is thankful for the opportunity. Pattinson made his Test debut against New Zealand in 2011 at the Gabba and promised a long and successful career for Australia. However, recurrent injuries derailed his journey more often than not and he spent more time outside of the Test squad than playing the game, and hence he knew his time was up before quitting the longest format. He said that Pat Cummins, whom he rated as one of “closest mates” in the Australian team tried to persuade him to take back the retirement decision but he was aware of the fact that the “point where you try and push and you can't push anymore” has arrived for him. "I'm pretty close with Pat Cummins, probably one of my closest mates in the team, and I rang him before I did it and he said 'is there any way I can convince you to stay?'," Pattinson said. "I said, 'to be honest I've made the decision and I'm relieved, then he was just supportive of it and everyone else was as well. It's nice people want you around, but it's a decision I made with my family. It's nice to feel like you'll be missed,” Pattinson said. "You can say I should probably have played more Tests but I'm thankful to just have the opportunity to represent my country and I'd like to think every time I went out that I gave everything," he said. "I've broken my back about seven times to try and play for Australia so that's the toll it takes and there comes a point where you try and push and you can't push anymore. I probably wouldn't change a thing, it's been an amazing journey and now I can move on to the next stage and enjoy that as well.” Pattinson, along with Mitchell Starc and Pat Cummins made their Test debut around the same time in the year 2011. Pattinson played his debut Test after only nine first-class matches while Cummins played his debut Test against South Africa in Johannesburg as an 18-year-old before not playing the format for a six-year-long gap. Pattinson conceded that he was pushed at the highest level before his body was matured for the workload it had to deal with and it could well have contributed to his back not strengthening enough to take the load with experience. He said that the Australian team have better management of pace bowlers now than they had at his time and called the handling of the fitness and workload of his mate Cummins as a “blueprint” on how to handle pacers. "I was put in the position where I was probably a little ahead of my body, being thrown into the Test arena and doing well. Went from not playing to being the lead bowler in four or five Tests. That was the hardest thing, obviously, my body wasn't ready for that. It has probably contributed to my back being the way it is,” Pattinson asserted. "They've changed the way they manage players a bit now," Pattinson said. "The way they've handled Pat Cummins is probably the blueprint for how you handle your bowlers. What they did for him is fantastic."