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KP_fan wrote:

msp83 wrote:So India is getting back on the field tonight, kicking off their WTC campaign. Rohit has already confirmed Jaiswal will open, and Gill drop down to 3. When all the talk of Yashasvi taking over from Pujara at 3 was going on, I felt he should open, particularly since the team views Gill as the eventual successor to Virat Kohli at 4. Going forward, I see a top 4 of Jaiswal, Abhimanyu Easwaran/Devdutt Padikkal/Rohan Kunnummal, Gill, Ruturaj Gaikwad.

Eswaran has been hard done by......Jaiswal was jumped over him
Mayank Agarwal should not be ruled out...he has batted very well in FC and has a decent test match showing also.

And don't forget the favorite boy of seniors and BCCI in KL Rahul...as soon as he is fit he will walk back into the 11

Its been tough on Easwaran. Think Mayank and KL might find it difficult to now fight their way back in. Particularly if Yashasvi has a good start to his career. KL might still make a comeback when Rohit leaves, but I hope Easwaran, Rohan and even Padikkal will make better cases for themselves.
As for Yashasvi jumping over Abhimanyu, though its tough on the latter, think is the right call. Jaiswal scored hundreds on his Ranji, Duleep and Irani trophy debuts. He's versatile and has shown adaptability as indicated by his IPL success. And, its not much noted these days, but he's a handy parttimer with the ball, he very much was for the U-19s, hope he'll get a few chances right away to work on that secondary skill of his...

Was a pretty tame draw in the end. Athanaze falling just short of a century. WI were about four down and needed around 7 an over with just over 20 overs left, but showed no interest in going for the target.

KP_fan wrote:

India must clean sweep their home games vs BD & NZ by doing seaming pitches vs BD & slow grinding spin vs NZ
That will give them cushion for even a narrow loss in and against Aus.

Draw vs WI did not help SA.

Eng needs to make seaming pitches to clean sweep SL & then do their Bazballing in & against weak Pak to come into reckoning.

Lanka meanwhile will hang in there if they draw the series or come back from Eng with a 1-0 loss

India will surely make the final. They've got five home tests against Bangladesh and NZ to top up their percentage, and as long as they don't get completely annihilated in Australia they'll be laughing.

Australia have got a pretty decent cushion as well. Five home tests v India and two away ones v SL to come. I suppose if they only beat India narrowly, and don't win the series in SL, their place could come under threat.

Not sure who such an insurgent will be, however. England would have to win all nine remaining games, and get no over rate deductions (!), to even have a realistic chance.

Sri Lanka and NZ have tough games left, so I can't see them doing it.

I thought SA had a good chance of making the final with a kind fixture list, but they've only won one game in five so far. Rain costing them against WI and sending out the reserves v NZ didn't help.What's left is one game v WI, two games in Bangladesh, two games home to SL and two games home to Pak. So possible for them to reach the final, but not very probable, and likely reliant on Australia slipping up.

Likely another India v Australia final. Either SA or England could claim Australia's place if either of the first two have an amazing run and Australia have a few slips.

Change of Law in ODIs from CI

"If the teams' scores are equal after both innings have been completed, then a Super Over shall be played" - ICC playing conditions

The first #SLvIND ODI which ended in tie didn't have a Super Over due to match officials' oversight

I don't think it's a bad change.

I also white ball cricket games should move towards awarding 8 RUNS if the hit is greater than 90m ...as the next innovation

Second test starting between SA and WI. Both teams with two spinners. Should be getting a result with no rain forecast.

Dream start for the West Indies as they've taken three early wickets. SA 20/3. Shamar Joseph with two in his first home test.

South Africa bowled out for 160, on a pitch which is far from a minefield. And they only got that far because of a battling 10th wicket partnership between Piedt and Burger worth 63, by far the biggest partnership of the innings.

West Indies starting their reply in brilliant sunshine with one session left in the day. But Louis has been bowled by a peach from Burger. 2/1.

Well SA chose to bat first and added a 2nd spinner so they read the pitch as good for batting.
And from 93-8 WI allowed them to get to 160...hope WI don't rue this

It seems there was dampness in first session which eased later a bit like Ranchi pitch in T4 vs Eng and debutant Akashdeep was bowling fast skiddy seaming deliveries

Well...it's all come apart for the West Indies. 47/5!

They need a late rally like the South Africans to reach parity.

Pitch hasn't settled , still doing something.
And they 67 runs for last 2 wkts from 93-8 by SA might be just match winning

Duty281 wrote:Well...it's all come apart for the West Indies. 47/5!

They need a late rally like the South Africans to reach parity.

Their batting is utterly appalling. Once again England made them look way better than they are, and even that involved a few collapses. In particular Da Silva averaging about 70 against England and 10 against anyone else

38 runs & still going last wkt stand has brought this match into the realms of a single inning shootout.
Shamar Joseph has an X factor & the old styled Calypso swagger about him when ever in action

A test of battling last wicket partnerships, it seems. Holder with the only fifty of the game so far, backed up by Shamar Joseph's panache.

Small lead for South Africa. Still don't think it's a minefield out there. SA should be looking for 300+ and putting the game beyond the hosts.

WI is one side that you can never be sure of with any kind of total set for a chase.
They will lose most games but evey now and then pull of a chase when you start taking them for granted.
138-4 now SA and for the love of game, I wish WI are able to make a match of this one.

SA 223/5 at stumps.

They were cruising at 120/1, but Seales and Motie combined to take four wickets for 19 runs to get the West Indies right back in with a shot for victory. Then a good counter attack from Verreynne, backed up by the solid Mulder (with some strong late hitting), got South Africa firmly back in control, a lead of 239.

The same as the first test, it's a consistently slow and low pitch, so can be difficult to score, but if a batsman remains patient he should get runs.

South Africa should be happy with their overnight position. They get that lead over 300 they should win, but they do have a typically long tail so a fair bit relies on these two to get back in tomorrow.

All ending softly for South Africa in the morning, with that long tail exposed.

Gives the West Indies a tough, but certainly gettable, 263 for a 1-0 series win.

Duty281 wrote:All ending softly for South Africa in the morning, with that long tail exposed.

Gives the West Indies a tough, but certainly gettable, 263 for a 1-0 series win.

From 224-5 to 246 a.o....means WI compensated for letting SA lower order get runs in first innjng
Seales looked good in Eng and nailed it in this in inning.
Anything is possible now,.... hope WI come close to 250ish atleast   to make it exciting for viewers.
If they win it would be fantastic

Louis went early, but Brathwaite and Carty have established a solid platform going into lunch.

43/1. 220 more to get.

WI has batted like WI does 6 down for 118 and a lot of runs to get (145)

Aye, some very stupid shots in amongst all of it.

Close to miracle territory now.

These days top order lacks technique and patience when ball.is seaming and falls quickly.
And lower order can bat especially when ball has stopped seaming and a bit old
That's why games are not over by mere top order collapse.

This game has some life yet.
93 to get with 4 in hand.
Even last wicket can get 30 of those we have seen so often lately

SA win by 40 runs. A couple of umpire's call decisions went against the West Indies, as well as a superb one handed catch at mid on. Lots of starts, but no one kicking on to the 70/80 score needed to chase this down.

Not the greatest test for quality, but still fairly entertaining. West Indies no doubt regretting that 63 stand for the last wicket in SA's first innings!

Pakistan and Bangladesh start a two test series on Wednesday, in Pakistan, the same day as England's next series.

Looked closer than it was, Da Silva and Motie pushed beyond the limits of their ability to have SA sweating a bit, but were always unlikely to fully recover the situation. A deserved series win for SA, who were by far the better team in all aspects of the game

SA rises to 5 just below Lanka on WTC table.
If Lanka loses to Eng then SA & Eng will be 4 & 5 between them.

The two consecutive very marginal umpires call knocked the wind out of Windies' sails

1 Abdullah Shafique, 2 Saim Ayub, 3 Shan Masood (capt), 4 Babar Azam, 5 Saud Shakeel (vice-capt), 6 Mohammad Rizwan (wk), 7 Salman Ali Agha, 8 Shaheen Shah Afridi, 9 Naseem Shah, 10 Khurram Shahzad, 11 Mohammad Ali

That's Pakistan's team for the first test on Wednesday v Bangladesh. All pace with the frontline bowlers, just the all round capability of Salman Agha (test bowling average 53) offering spin, indicating that Pakistan are persisting with the dead decks offered in 2022/early 23.

Might be worth keeping an eye on because they do play England soon. It's actually a very busy time for Pakistan. Their last test was at the very start of the year v Australia, but now they're going on a run between now and the end of January 2025 where they play nine tests (2 v Ban; 3 v Eng; 2 v SA away; 2 v WI).

Pakistan has gotten pace back in Naseem and Afridi fully fit but have lost their star allrounder from Aus tour in Amir jamal.

Surprising that they plan a test in home conditions with no specialist spinners while BD on the contrary will load themselves with 2 or 3 spinning options.
BD are coming on the back of civil strife / military coup in their country...which could leave them either galvanized or with a worried indifference.
I think galvanized and rate them slight favorites over Pak

Comment on CI that sums up the Pak-BD situation now

"How poor is this. No rain from 2-3 hours, sun on full and still ground is not ready for play"

Does sound very frustrating, but looks like they're finally getting underway around the time the toss is done in Manchester.

Bangladesh winning the toss and bowling first. Good toss to win.

Cricinfo wrote: Sri Lanka will though feel slightly hard done by, though, with both of their most experienced batters - Angelo Mathews and Dinesh Chandimal - being done in by some pretty jarring variable bounce, especially on day one of a Test

Not watching...is the pitch really variable bounce?
Never seen that on D1 in Eng

This test is much more evenly matched. Pakistan 158/4 at stumps. Half centuries from Ayub and Shakeel rescuing them from the early peril of 16/3.

Two ball duck for Babar. He's on a very grim run of no 50+ scores in his last 13 innings, his test average now barely above 45.

Early moisture helped BD but then it flattened and Pak recovered.
Don't think this or generally any pitch in subcontinent is ever worth bowling first

KP_fan wrote:

Cricinfo wrote: Sri Lanka will though feel slightly hard done by, though, with both of their most experienced batters - Angelo Mathews and Dinesh Chandimal - being done in by some pretty jarring variable bounce, especially on day one of a Test

Not watching...is the pitch really variable bounce?
Never seen that on D1 in Eng

The one that got Chandimal virtually ran along the ground... but seems to have been a bit of a freak as nothing else misbehaved that badly. Matthews just left the wrong one though.

100 each for Saud & Rizwan having played 360 balls between them.
Pitch was expected to be flat and after the first hour of help to seamers where Pak lost 3, it went to sleep.
It might spin on the last day which is worth anything only if 3 innings are completed by that time.

Have seen a bit of this and, once again, the track looks utterly lifeless in Pakistan. Not sure how three early wickets fell! Shakeel has got to 1,000 runs very quickly and his test average is closing in on 70.

If Pakistan are foolish enough to set this up against England, then England's bats will likely feast again with a barrage of quick runs.

I really do struggle to understand the logic of Shan being captain of this side....his test record is shocking, another low score here on an absolute road...3 or 4 better options to lead this side, If Shan isn't captain he dosen't make the side

BD may well be able to bowl Pak out ~475 ish
The pitch is so good that belting 600 would be posisble.....leaving Pak under pressure on Day5

And they make a Bizarre declaration the Pakistanis.
Like one of those actions take juts to show aggression, intent on surface but hollow underneath

Very odd declaration from Pakistan. Finishing at 448/6 declared. They do have a very long tail, Shaheen with a test average of 6 was out at number eight, but he was going brilliantly at 28 off 22, with Rizwan still at the other end on a test best 171*.

Should have pushed for 500+ in my opinion. Reminds me of when they declared at 476/4 v Australia on a lifeless wicket.

Perhaps won't make a great deal of difference v Bangladesh, we'll wait and see.

Nothing in the pitch afther the first hour of slight dampness yesterday, and BD see off 12 overs this evening for no loss.
They have to aim to bat 6 session and get 600+ and make Pak pay for the mindless declaration

Too much of a shell BD  has gone in that's caused the downfall of their two wickets
They need to start playing their strokes

Looks like Mominul has provided the tempo. Bangladesh 134/2 at lunch, after the extended early Friday session. Still a batting paradise.

https://www.espncricinfo.com/story/wtc-2023-2025-first-sri-lanka-vs-new-zealand-test-to-feature-a-rest-day-1448476

Roll back the clocks, there's going to be a rest day in an upcoming test.

BD has lost too many wickets but they have Mehdy also after these two.
BD need to bat out the last session and as deep as they can into tomorrow's first session

Duty281 wrote:Very odd declaration from Pakistan. Finishing at 448/6 declared. They do have a very long tail, Shaheen with a test average of 6 was out at number eight, but he was going brilliantly at 28 off 22, with Rizwan still at the other end on a test best 171*.

Should have pushed for 500+ in my opinion. Reminds me of when they declared at 476/4 v Australia on a lifeless wicket.

Perhaps won't make a great deal of difference v Bangladesh, we'll wait and see.

Probably best to wait and see what happens before judging these declarations... with Bangladesh now 273/5 it is starting to look like a useful time saver ; though the current partnership may be doing something to upend that theory.

316-5 for Bangladesh at close, with Mushfiqur and Liton both on unbeaten half centuries - have to agree with Duty, with the time lost in the game already surely the play for Pakistan was to push on and try to make 500-600 and only bat once.
Hard to see a result in that one, albeit those pitches can deteriorate rapidly on day five.

Mushfiqur gets a hundred...his 11th and rather under the radar he has gone on to be a safe WK with a good batting record aveg ~39 for a quiet but long span of 89 tests.

Draw is largely written over this test....unless Pak collapse spectacularly in the 2nd inning

Bangladesh have now tied the scores. Still got four wickets left and this partnership is currently worth 116, so Pakistan might be under a little scoreboard pressure when they come back out to bat.

In the last hour a draw written all over has turned into a possible defeat for Pak
BD lead by 20 and should get upto 50

Then if Pak collapse to under 200 , BD will have time to chase it down

Babar just dropped a pretty straightforward chance.

Even if Bangladesh get a good lead, and looks like they may get a three digit one at the moment, Pakistan should be fine to close out a draw on this, as it's still very kind for batting.

But scoreboard pressure, and a team that's been in the field for nearly 150 overs for the reward of just six wickets, all that can do strange things.

Bangladesh bowled out for 565, a lead of 117. They'll have a little time this evening to bowl at Pakistan and maybe cause an early panic. But it would be quite astonishing if Bangladesh forced victory from here.

Mushfiqur top scored with 191.

PAK are up and against it.
Conceded a 120 lead and now 1 down in single digits.
If they get bowled out by even end of second session tomm BD might have enuf time to make a 100 run dash in 20 overs.
Had they not declared Pak would.have taken 1 hour out of the game and left about 40 to 50 runs more for BD to chase.

23/1 at stumps. Very testing spell of play. Pakistan relieved to have only lost one.

Haven't seen any of this . But surely going by the scores so far there is no way Pakistan are going to be skittled in under a day on this pitch ?