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Anil Kumble wants Saha to rest
After years of playing second fiddle to MS Dhoni, Wriddhiman Saha looks to have finally earned his stripes. With a Test century on the West Indies tour and two vital fifties against New Zealand at Eden Gardens, the Bengal keeper has well and truly established himself in the Indian Test side. And this fact was reaffirmed by Anil Kumble who has apparently asked for Saha to be rested.
“I have been informed that chief coach Anil Kumble has advised Wriddhiman to take rest after three back-to-back Test matches. He is not expected to play in the first two Ranji Trophy games for Bengal. He has had a lot of workload and with the England Test matches coming up, it is only fair that he gets adequate rest,” Bengal captain Manoj Tiwary told PTI.
Bengal is set to play Uttar Pradesh tomorrow in the Ranji Trophy, but on the basis of the Kumble's orders, Bengal will be denied the services of their star wicket-keeper batsman. Saha however, might play the match against Railways from October 27 to 30 to serve as a practice match ahead of the upcoming England series.
Despite pushing 32 years of age, Saha is one of the fittest in the business and kept wickets for over 452 overs in the three-Test series against New Zealand. Also, he is well known in local circles for playing club games right after an international match. But on the back of his recent performances and special instructions from Anil Kumble, Saha has no choice but to accept the break that has been handed to him on a platter for a job well done.
West Indies cricket board have reportedly dropped Kieron Pollard from the ODI squad for next month's tri-series in Zimbabwe. The head of West Indies selection committee, Courtney Browne personally informed Pollard and Denesh Ramdin about their axing.
According to the reports accessed by ESPNCricinfo, an email was sent to both the players earlier this week. Browne sent out a clear message to both the players after their ordinary performances in the 3-0 ODI series defeat against Pakistan earlier this month.
West Indies will be playing Zimbabwe and Sri Lanka in a tri-series later this year.
England and Bangladesh will be locking horns today in the final ODI in Chittagong, which also happens to be the series decider.
However, given the dull weather at the venue, it is unlikely that the encounter will start at the scheduled time.
According to the reports served to ESPNCricinfo, the Bangladesh Cricket Board had asked the England and Wales Cricket Board whether they would like to schedule a reserve day because of the heavy downpour. However, ECB turned down the request citing concerns regarding security and the tight schedule. England are scheduled to play a practice match against BCB XI on Friday.
Bangladesh will be going into the match with a clear intention to wrap up the series and make it their seventh consecutive ODI series win at home.
South Africa will be taking on the Australians in the 5th and final ODI of the series. Having won the previous four ODIs, the Proteas will be looking for a 5-0 whitewash.South Africa will be the first team to inflict a whitewash against the Australians in a five-match ODI series, if they go on to win the final encounter in Newlands on Wednesday.
South African captain Faf du Plessis said that his team will be looking to win the final ODI despite having won the series. He said, "Everyone is fit, which is great. It gives us an opportunity to once again look at playing our strongest eleven."
Pakistan and West Indies will be playing their first day-night Test match on 13th October 2016 in the Dubai international cricket stadium. This will only be the second day-night Test match in the history of international cricket after the first one that was played between Australia and New Zealand in November last year.
Speaking ahead of the first Test, Darren Bravo said that he was ready for the pink-ball challenge. "Most of the guys were complaining that they were not able to pick up the seam that well," he said.
"We need to accept the challenge as quickly as possible and go out and give it our best shot," he was quoted as saying by Supersport.
Bangladesh are scheduled to play England in the third and final ODI of the series in Chittagong today. The match is set to be a mouth-watering contest following the heated exchanges between the two teams in the last ODI.
According to reports, Chittagong has been witnessing heavy rains over the past few hours and the forecast for the day has predicted the weather to remain the same for the rest of the day.
With the series tied at 1-1, the final ODI is expected to be fierce and intense.
New Zealand skipper Kane Williamson admitted post his side's loss at Indore on Tuesday that India did well to neutralise the pressure that New Zealand put on them throughout the series and admitted that and he and side could not put a thorough performance in the series.
“We were able to put them under a little bit pressure for some brief moments but certainly not for long enough. They showed their class to nullify any pressure we were able to put on them at times, and put it back on us. Unfortunately we couldn’t put together a complete performance. It wasn’t due to lack of effort, India were the better side through these three Test matches. We need to learn a lot from them and be better, for it is a young side and getting exposed to conditions that we haven’t had before.”
“India are a very good side and they’ve shown that throughout the series," Williamson said.
Bangladesh limited-overs skipper Mashrafe Mortaza has ruled out any talk of apologising to the England cricket team for the antics during the second ODI between the two sides on Sunday.
"We just celebrated what we felt. We don't have to say sorry for that. Whatever happened, the match referee was there. Our team is completely normal and I am 100 per cent sure that my team is not thinking about this.
"Actually we didn’t do anything wrong so we shouldn't apologise
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Phil Hughes death inquest: Doug Bollinger's claims denied
Sydney Thunder Twenty20 player Matthew Day has contradicted Doug Bollinger's evidence by stating that the left-arm fast-bowler did indeed sledge Phil Hughes with an, "I am going to kill you" rant.
This statement from Day, a close friend of Hughes, is bound to add to the already complex proceedings witnessed in the inquest thus far. Earlier, Bollinger had said, "I know in my heart I didn’t say that".
Day also stated that the then NSW coach Trent Johnston had confided with him that he was struggling with the fact that he played a big part in the NSW plans of bowling short deliveries to Hughes.
There were more startling revelations in Day's statement. When at the SCG, he said he was “with a group of players sitting where the players’ seats are in the home dressing room."
"Doug Bollinger was one of the group ... at one stage Doug Bollinger said ‘one of my sledges was, I am going to kill you. I can’t believe I said that. I’ve said things like that in the past but I am never going to say it again,’ ” Day’s statement said.
“Although I am used to sledging in cricket matches, I was stunned by Doug's comment. I did not respond nor did any of the other players.” - Day's statement said. Day also said he had relayed this information to Phillip's brother sooner after the Hughes family arrived at the SCG.
Adding more fodder to his claims, Day said, "Jason Hughes responded by saying words to the effect of ‘Tom Cooper told me the same thing".
These statements are a stark contrast to Cooper's testimony on Tuesday when he categorically denied saying so to Jason Huges.