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It was a nightmarish end to a tough tour for Australia. As if losing the series wasn’t enough, in the final T20I, they lost 8 for 24 to collapse to 62 all out in a chase of 123. This was their lowest total across limited-overs cricket. It meant Bangladesh took the series 4-1 in Dhaka.Shakib Al Hasan, who nabbed his 100th T20I wicket on the way, led with a haul of 4 for 9, with Mohammad Saifuddin grabbing 3 for 12 as Bangladesh choked Australia, not for the first time, with spin.Bangladesh’s robust start
Bangladesh decided to open with Mahedi Hasan in place of regular opener Soumya Sarkar, and the move paid off. Along with Mohammad Naim, he ensured the hosts walloped 33 off the first three overs, all bowled by the spinners. Matthew Wade first went to Ashton Turner’s part-time offspin, then to Ashton Agar and finally to Adam Zampa, before introducing pace in the fourth over through Nathan Ellis. Ellis, Christian apply the brakes
Ellis and Dan Christian pulled things back as Bangladesh managed only 32 off the next eight. Crucially, they lost three wickets in that passage to be placed at 65 for 3 at the end of 11 overs.Australia perhaps picked three frontline spinners in the hope that the slowness off the surface and the turn would help apply the brakes, but Ellis reaped the rewards for tight lines, delivering four dots amid a heap of slower deliveries.Christian was then introduced immediately after the powerplay, and he used the angle from wide of the crease to good effect, stifling both Naim and Shakib with his slower variations. These two were instrumental in sapping Bangladesh of any momentum towards the end, they managed just 20 off the last five as Christian and Ellis finished with a combined 4 for 33.Saifuddin, Nasum dismantle Australia’s top order
Left-arm spinner Nasum Ahmed’s twin blows within the first four overs meant Australia were on the back foot straightaway. Christian, promoted to open after clobbering Shakib for five sixes in an over two nights ago, was foxed by Nasum’s skidder. In the fourth over, in-form Mitchell Marsh was trapped plumb in front trying to sweep.Saifuddin then killed the chase when he arrived in the middle overs to first fox Alex Carey off a slower ball. As if that was not enough, two balls later, Moises Henriques tickled one behind to the wicketkeeper while trying to run one down to third man. And after Shakib delivered his maiden, Saifuddin got Agar, who was castled after trying to step down and slog one away.Shakib gets to a century of wickets
On his way to those magical figures, Shakib became just the second bowler to reach a hundred wickets in T20Is after Lasith Malinga. He wasn’t introduced until the seventh over, but struck off his second ball when he dismissed Wade with an arm ball that knocked back his off pole.At that stage, Australia were 54 for 6 after 11 overs with the game all but decided, which is when Shakib dismissed Turner to complete three figures. He got one to turn away from the right-hander, as the batter cut straight to cover. Shakib then had Ellis in the 14th over. When Adam Zampa pushed one to cover to finish off the innings three balls later, Australia had been skittled out for their lowest T20I total.

Hayley Matthews’ all-round brilliance and Anisa Mohammed’s four-for helped West Indies Women comprehensively beat Pakistan Women in the second ODI and take a 2-0 lead in the five-match series in Antigua. Matthews and Mohammed combined to pick up six wickets between them to restrict Pakistan to a paltry 120, after which the former made 49 as West Indies hunted down the target within 32 overs.Spinners cemented their dominance as Mohammed, Matthews and Karishma Ramharack wrecked Pakistan’s line-up. A 47-run partnership between Muneeba Ali and Omaima Sohail briefly stopped the slide, after Pakistan lost Ayesha Zafar and Javeria Khan within the first five overs. But once Ramharack dismissed Sohail, the trio combined to wipe out the remaining batters as the visitors collapsed from 60 for 2 to 120 all out.Mohammed, who holds the record for taking the most four-fors in women’s ODIs, added one more to take her tally to 13, as she claimed 4 for 27 in 9.4 overs.West Indies then got off to a strong start in the chase as Matthews and Kyshona Knight added 65 for the opening stand. Matthews struck nine fours during her 49 off 58 balls. Although both Matthews and Kycia Knight were both run-out, Kyshona Knight and Deandra Dottin completed the job for the hosts, with eight wickets and 113 balls to spare.”I’m really happy to be able to contribute to a team win,” Matthews told after the win. “Going out there we had a goal of restricting them for under 180 or so and I think we did a fantastic job.”I just wanted to spend some time, obviously we know it was a low sore we were chasing and as batters it was probably the best time to get our confidence up and just spend some time at the crease. I fell one short of a half-century but still happy with the performance and the win.”

Jayden Seales has played just one first-class match, but the 19-year-old quick has impressed the West Indies selectors enough to be drafted into the 13-man shortlist for the first Test against South Africa. It’s already “a dream come true” for Seales, and he is hoping for more.”Firstly, it’s a dream come true being in the set-up. Being in the final 13 obviously was a goal of mine,” he said in a press interaction. “Just a matter of me now hoping that I get to play the first Test match and do my best for the team.”The Trinidad & Tobago bowler made his first-class debut last December, turning out for West Indies A in New Zealand, where he picked up one wicket.Related

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More recently, he took 4 for 40 playing for Team Hamilton in a four-day intra-squad game against Team Blackwood. He had also picked three wickets in the first innings during an intra-squad tour match ahead of the series against Sri Lanka in March.In all, he has played only ten games at the senior level across formats.”I didn’t play much first-class cricket but I think being in the set-up and training with the team from New Zealand to now I think I’ve put in a lot of hard work and my body is ready,” he said. “Now I’ve to go out there and perform for the team.”As far as chief selector Roger Harper is concerned, the lack of experience at the senior level should not be a hindrance for Seales.”I saw a young bowler perform in games where Test players and the best of our best of our regional first-class players were playing and he performed exceedingly well,” Harper said. “Better than a number of players who have been playing first-class cricket for a number of years. The thing is the match wasn’t classified as first-class match but those were played by the best of our first-class players.”I would like to think that if he can perform well in those games against those players, he has the potential to transfer that onto the Test scene.”Seales had attracted attention at the Under-19 World Cup in South Africa last year, taking ten wickets in six matches with an average of 18.30 and an economy rate of 3.89. That helped him secure a CPL deal with the Trinbago Knight Riders for the 2020 season, and he picked up eight wickets in six matches then. He has been retained by the franchise for the new season, and while he isn’t looking for idols he is learning from watching his team-mates closely.”Honestly, I never really try to adapt from any other bowlers,” he said. “It just came naturally. I’ve been told I have an action similar to [Kagiso] Rabada. In terms of internationals, I look at old West Indian bowlers and now in the set-up I look at Jason [Holder], Roachy [Kemar Roach] and Shannon [Gabriel] closely. I try to hear as much from them, learn as much from them and take it under my game.”With Gabriel missing out on selection because of an injury, Seales is happy to take his cues from Roach. “There has been no conversation whether I would take the new ball,” he said. “For me, if selected, if given a new ball, follow Roachy. If Roachy is bowling good areas it’s just my job to do the same and try and get the early wicket for the team.”

There is no room for Hardik Pandya or Kuldeep Yadav in India’s squad of 20 players, including two players – KL Rahul and Wriddhiman Saha – subject to “fitness clearance”, for the final of the World Test Championship against New Zealand and the subsequent five-Test series against England. Pandya and Kuldeep aren’t among the four standby players either.India will play the WTC final from June 18 to 22 in Southampton and the Test series against England from August 4, starting in Nottingham, to September 14, with the last Test scheduled for Manchester.Virat Kohli’s side is expected to leave for England on June 2, and keeping in mind the length of the tour as well as possible contingencies because of the Covid-19 pandemic, India are carrying a total of 24 players, their reserves’ list containing Abhimanyu Easwaran, the opening batter, and three fast bowlers: Prasidh Krishna, Avesh Khan and Arzan Nagwaswalla.Mohammed Shami, Ravindra Jadeja and Hanuma Vihari returned to the squad after missing the recent home Tests against England because of their respective injuries.ESPNcricinfo Ltd

Rahul underwent surgery for appendicitis in early May after he complained of “severe abdomen pain” during the IPL. At the time, the doctors were understood to have told the Punjab Kings that Rahul would be able to resume all activity in a week’s time.Saha, the other player who has to prove his fitness in time for the tour, tested positive for Covid-19 on May 4, the same day the IPL was postponed indefinitely. Saha, who was a part of the Sunrisers Hyderabad squad, is still in Delhi, where he returned the positive test. It is understood that he will have to undergo 14 days in isolation and be able to move out only after a negative test.Of the players dropped from the squad that played against England at home earlier this year, Pandya did have a question mark over him since he has not bowled regularly for some time now, with Kohli saying he wanted to preserve Pandya the bowler for the Tests in England. He had a shoulder niggle during the IPL, and didn’t bowl at all in the seven matches he played for the Mumbai Indians. He did, however, bowl a nine-over burst in the third and final ODI against England.As for Kuldeep, while he has been a part of the India squad recently, he has not had many games. Of his seven Tests, he has played only one in the last two years – the second Test against England in February this year – in which he got to bowl just 12.2 overs overall, returning 0 for 16 and 2 for 25 as India won by 317 runs. He could have also been left out because the two spinners picked ahead of him – Axar Patel and Washington Sundar – provide better batting options and shorten India’s tail.With Patel making a big splash on Test debut in the England series with a haul of 27 wickets from three games and India mostly preferring one or both of R Ashwin and Jadeja, depending on conditions, Kuldeep’s chances of making the cut took a hit.Among the opening batters, India have the options of Mayank Agarwal and Rahul, who can also double up as middle-order batters should the need arise, apart from the first-choice pair of Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill. Vihari returned after the hamstring injury he sustained in Sydney and is currently representing Warwickshire in the County Championship in England.For fast-bowling options, the selectors included Shardul Thakur and Umesh Yadav ahead of Bhuvneshwar Kumar, who has been facing injury issues recently, apart from the more obvious names of Jasprit Bumrah, Ishant Sharma, Shami and Mohammed Siraj.Before the latest Covid-19 surge in India which led to the UK government putting India on the red list in April, the BCCI was looking at picking two separate squads with the first batch meant for the WTC final and the second leaving closer to the England tour. That had to change once the circumstances changed.In April, the ECB had announced that the Indians would be arriving with an inflated squad and would play two intra-squad practice matches in July. Those two matches replaced the original warm-up schedule of four-day fixtures between the Indians and India A in July. The ECB, in agreement with BCCI, had postponed the India A tour because of the pandemic.Squad: Virat Kohli (capt), Ajinkya Rahane (vice-capt), Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill, Mayank Agarwal, Cheteshwar Pujara, Hanuma Vihari, Rishabh Pant (wk), R Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Jasprit Bumrah, Ishant Sharma, Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj, Shardul Thakur, Umesh Yadav, KL Rahul (subject to fitness clearance), Wriddhiman Saha (wk; subject to fitness clearance). Standby players: Abhimanyu Easwaran, Prasidh Krishna, Avesh Khan, Arzan Nagwaswalla

Harmanpreet Kaur has tested positive for Covid-19, the update coming after she had experienced mild symptoms and was tested. ESPNcricinfo understands that the India T20I captain experienced a fever for four days before testing positive on Monday. She is currently self-isolating at home.Kaur did not play any part in the recent T20Is at home against South Africa as a result of a hip-flexor injury, which she picked up during the fifth ODI in the longer-format series preceding the T20Is. In Kaur’s absence, Smriti Mandhana led India to a 2-1 series defeat. Earlier, Mithali Raj had led India to a 4-1 loss in the ODIs, in which Kaur hit 160 runs in four innings at an average of 53.33, including a 54 in the fourth ODI.Kaur is the second high-profile India Women cricketer to have tested positive for Covid-19 after pace bowler Mansi Joshi tested positive last October. As a result of that, Joshi had to miss the Women’s T20 Challenge in the UAE, where she was to represent the Velocity side, led by Raj.Separately, a number of former Indian cricketers, who were part of the Road Safety Series in Raipur, have tested positive for Covid-19: Sachin Tendulkar, Yusuf Pathan, S Badrinath and Irfan Pathan have returned positive tests.

Bangladesh’s head coach Russell Domingo believes his team have a “great opportunity” to upset New Zealand in the upcoming three-match ODI series that starts in Dunedin on Saturday. Bangladesh have never beaten New Zealand in their backyard before, but Domingo, who as South Africa’s head coach won in two tours in 2014 and 2017, said that the build-up towards the 2023 World Cup can get a major boost if the visitors can pull off their maiden series win in New Zealand.Related

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“It is a great opportunity for us to do something that no Bangladeshi side has done before,” Domingo said. “We are all excited by it. It is my first tour to New Zealand with Bangladesh. I have been here previously with South Africa. I know it’s a tough place to tour, but it is a great opportunity for some of these younger players. There’s a World Cup three years away and New Zealand is one of the top sides in the world. If you want to be serious contenders in India, you have to put in big performances in a series like this.”Bangladesh beat West Indies at home 3-0 in January, while New Zealand haven’t played any ODIs since March last year. Domingo said that ODIs are Bangladesh’s strongest suit, and with a fast-bowling attack that has depth, they can potentially surprise New Zealand.”I think the 50-over format is our strongest format at the moment. If you look at the team’s performance in the World Cup and if you look at the averages of the players, we have some good numbers in one-day cricket.”I think we have some good young fast bowlers who are coming through that maybe New Zealand haven’t seen before. They maybe weren’t expecting to see. We have got some good potential, guys like Hasan Mahmud and Taskin Ahmed are bowling nicely. We are excited about some of our fast bowlers.”Domingo said that he expects a high-scoring encounter at the University Oval in Dunedin although the 11.00am start can be an advantage to the bowlers as he has spotted considerable moisture on the pitches during the morning.”I have been following domestic cricket quite a bit. I think average score in this venue is about 307 runs. I think the boundary is pretty short in some sides, 65 metres. We are expecting some good runs.”(It is) difficult to say with an 11am start. Quite a bit of moisture this morning. It will be interesting to see what happens in the first hour.”Bangladesh could also get some leeway in the absence of Kane Williamson (elbow injury) and Ross Taylor (hamstring injury), but Domingo has warned that taking New Zealand’s replacements lightly could be dangerous for his side.”It is a bit of a boost for us, not having (Kane Williamson and Ross Taylor) in the first game in particular. But we know that new players are always keen to establish themselves, so they will be highly motivated to do well,” he said.Domingo was pleased with how his players responded to the two-week quarantine, including the first seven days of in-room isolation, since arriving in Christchurch in mid-February. The Bangladesh team spent the last week in Queenstown in a training camp that was added after the initial tour schedule had to be changed.”Quarantine allows you a bit more time to prepare when you do get out it. I think the initial schedule had us playing our first ODI three days after the Christchurch lockdown so the rescheduling has been very good for us. After we had couple of individual sessions in Christchurch, we spent a good week in Queenstown.”The preparation has been spot-on. The guys have been fantastic. Lockdown was tough but no complaints from any of them. I am really proud of the way the guys have gone about their work in the last three weeks,” he saidBangladesh’s not-so-secret weapon on this tour has also been Daniel Vettori, their spin-bowling coach who joined the side after missing out for 12 months due to Covid-related travel restrictions from New Zealand. Domingo said that Vettori has been a refreshing inclusion, as he has intimate knowledge of conditions and players in New Zealand.”It is great to have Daniel (Vettori). He has been working with us for the last one year. He has been in and out of Bangladesh. We haven’t seen him for a while because of Covid but it is great to have his knowledge and experience here, not just about the venues but some of the players too.”He has connected with some of our bowlers and batters. We know what an important a batter Dan was for New Zealand. He has given us a fresh energy and dimension that maybe we didn’t have in the past.”

Brisbane Heat are riding a wave of success into the BBL Challenger final against Perth Scorchers having won their last four matches in a row including thrilling victories in the Eliminator and the Knockout. They also beat the Scorchers in the final match of the home and away season to secure their place in the BBL finals. That loss cost the Scorchers a home Qualifier which they subsequently lost to Sydney Sixers in Canberra. Adding salt to the wound was that the Scorchers could not fly home due to a Covid-19 case in Perth and have been forced to host an earned home final at Manuka Oval in Canberra.The winner will face the Sixers in Saturday night’s final at the SCG. Here are the key match-ups that could decide the Challenger.Ashton Turner vs Chris Lynn at the bat-flipRarely has a toss been more important in this tournament for a host of reasons. The Scorchers got burnt in the Qualifier after electing to bowl second when significant dew settled in and made batting look distinctly easily for James Vince and company as the Sixers motored through the chase with relative ease.Chris Lynn learned from the Scorchers’ mistake the following night on the same surface and opted to bat second. The dew wasn’t anywhere near as much of a factor but the ball swung early and the Heat could also utilise their trademark X-Factor play of bowling one over of Xavier Bartlett upfront before subbing in Morne Morkel for the second 10 overs of the bowling innings.Related

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Scorchers vs Manuka OvalThe Challenger was supposed to be played at Perth Stadium where the Scorchers were undefeated this season. The Scorchers’ record at Manuka Oval this season makes for dim reading having lost all three matches they have played there this season while the Heat are 2-2 including their victory in the Knockout. What is most concerning for the Scorchers at Manuka Oval is their scoring rate, particularly in the second half of their innings. They strike at just 8.30 runs per over in the last 10 overs of their innings at Manuka Oval this season, having struck at better than 9 per over in the last 10 at five of the six other venues they have played at, with the slower more spin-friendly surface at Manuka nullifying their powerful middle order.Will Morne Morkel be the X-Factor again?•Getty Images

Lynn vs Scorchers quicksThe Heat have won their first two finals without contributions from their captain. But the Scorchers know first hand what an impact he can have after he plundered 51 from 25 balls in the final home-and-away game in Adelaide to set up victory for the Heat. Jhye Richardson has been the outstanding bowler of the tournament this season but two batsmen have really troubled him: Lynn and Josh Philippe. Lynn has scored 69 runs off 40 balls in his career against Richardson for one dismissal. Lynn also feasts on Andrew Tye scoring 109 runs from 60 balls for three dismissals. If Lynn gets a good look at both right-armers in the Powerplay like he did in Adelaide he could set the game up for the Heat.ESPNcricinfo Ltd

The Scorchers’ best match-up for Lynn is two-fold. Jason Behrendorff has never dismissed Lynn but he does curtail him, with Lynn scoring just 43 runs from 39 balls against the left-armer. The Scorchers might also need to be bold and call upon the legspin of either Fawad Ahmed or Liam Livingstone in the Powerplay or as early as possible. Lynn strikes at just 6.54 per over against legspin and has fallen 27 times to it in his career, including once each to Ahmed and Livingstone in this tournament.Marnus Labuschagne has been a revelation with the ball•Getty Images

Scorchers batsmen vs Heat legspinThe Heat’s fortunes in the tournament have clearly turned with the return of the two legspinners Mitchell Swepson and Marnus Labuschagne. They have taken 18 wickets in five games together and the Heat have won four of them. The duo combined for five wickets between them when they beat the Scorchers in Adelaide, while neither played in the two teams the previous meeting at Docklands and the Heat bowled just one over of spin for the innings from left-arm orthodox Matt Kuhnemann as the Scorchers posted a winning total thanks Colin Munro’s 82.The Scorchers’ top order has a poor record overall against legspinners with five of the top six averaging under 28 and four of them striking at fewer than 7.65 runs per over. Lynn will want to get his legspinners into the game early against the Scorchers and may even turn to Joe Denly as well as he did in Adelaide. Munro urged his team-mates to take their egos out against Labuschagne and Swepson.A lot hinges on Livingstone and Josh Inglis. Livingstone scores at 8.63 against legspin and although he is prone to brain fades he has the power to hurt the duo. Meanwhile, Inglis has scored 144 runs from just 91 balls in his career for just three dismissals and has found or cleared the boundary 15 times while facing just 17 dot balls. He is in superb touch at the venue coming off an unbeaten 69 against the Sixers. While there are calls for Mitchell Marsh to bat higher in the Scorchers order the nature of the Heat’s attack suggests that would be unwise given Swepson and Labuschagne will be straight into the game following the conclusion of the four-over Powerplay.

Pakistan fast bowler Mohammad Amir has retired from international cricket, the PCB has confirmed. Amir represented Pakistan in 36 Tests, 61 ODIs and 50 T20Is, and recently played in the inaugural Lanka Premier League for runners-up Galle Gladiators.”Pakistan Cricket Board chief executive Wasim Khan spoke with Mohammad Amir this afternoon following reports that the fast bowler had announced his retirement from international cricket. The 28-year-old confirmed to the PCB chief executive that he has no desires or intensions of playing international cricket and as such, he should not be considered for future international matches,” a PCB statement said. “This is a personal decision of Mohammad Amir, which the PCB respects, and as such, will not make any further comment on this matter at this stage.”The statement serves as another reminder of the extent to which relations between Amir and the current team management have broken down. It came off the back of an interview he gave to Samaa TV earlier on Thursday, in which Amir claimed he had been “mentally tortured” by the team management, taunted frequently and was being deliberately sidelined by them.”I am leaving cricket for now because I’m being mentally tortured. I don’t think I can bear such torture. I’ve borne lots of torture from 2010 to 2015, for which I served my time. I’ve been tortured by being told the PCB invested a lot in me. I’ll just say two people invested in me a lot: [former PCB chairman] Najam Sethi and [former Pakistan captain] Shahid Afridi.”They were the only two. The rest of the team was saying, ‘we don’t want to play with Amir’. Recently, the atmosphere that’s been created means I get taunted all the time by being told I don’t want to play for my country. Who doesn’t want to play for their country? Every two months, someone says something against me. Sometimes the bowling coach [Waqar Younis] says Amir ditched us, sometimes I’m told my workload is unsatisfactory. Enough is enough.”Discontent had been simmering for a while before finally coming to a head on Thursday. Amir, who retired from Test cricket last year, had found himself excluded from the PCB’s list of central contracts earlier this year, and omitted from Pakistan’s 35-man squad to New Zealand last month.Upon that squad announcement, Amir said on Twitter “only Misbah” could explain why he hadn’t been included, before criticising bowling coach Waqar Younis for talking about his workload. That, coupled by Amir’s frequent praise of former Pakistan head coach Mickey Arthur, at one point saying he would “love to play under Arthur for any side in the world”, offered insight into how he viewed his relations with the current coaching staff. That he singled Sethi out for praise in his statement is unlikely to have played too well in front of his successor Ehsan Mani or CEO Wasim Khan, further condemning Amir to international exclusion.The 28-year old is still widely sought after in T20 leagues around the world, which his complete international retirement should allow more time for. Though his specific attacks on this management suggests he would be open o a return should things at the board change, for now Amir appears to have put to bed a tumultuous international career that appeared to have been sabotaged just as it began in 2010, before a promising second coming following a five-year ban that ended up fizzling out.Even so, the highs Amir enjoyed in a curtailed international career would exceed most complete careers. Bursting onto the international scene in 2009, he played a pivotal part in the 2009 T20 World Cup final against Sri Lanka, dismissing Player of the Tournament Tillakaratne Dilshan in the first over as Pakistan clinched the title. He would go on to take five wickets in the Boxing Day Test later that year, and continued to torment Australia in England in 2010, taking seven wickets at Leeds as Australia were skittled out for a first innings 88, and Pakistan won their first Test against that opposition in 15 years. Five wickets at Lord’s against England were next before the spot-fixing scandal erupted.Following his comeback, he was never quite at that scintillating best, though glimpses of that outrageous talent were obvious from time to time. The spell with the new ball in the 2017 Champions Trophy final may be his most famous, as he removed Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and Shikhar Dhawan to set up a romping 180-run win. Largely, however, he had reinvented himself as more a white-ball specialist than an out-and-out swing bowler, affording him more opportunities to play in T20 leagues across the world.Amir last played for Pakistan in the T20Is in England in August this year. He ends his international career with 259 wickets – 119 in Tests, 81 in ODIs and 59 in T20Is.

South Africa have won more competitive Test matches against more competitive teams than this Sri Lankan one – albeit that their fight was dimmed through injury and not fault of their own – but they will still savour this victory like it was one of the best ones.”A Test win never comes easy. You’ve still got to earn it,” Quinton de Kock, their temporary Test captain, said. ” We fought hard with the bat. It was very difficult. It still feels good. Our bowlers came back really nicely in the second innings. They showed what proper Test cricket is all about.”ALSO READ: Mulder, Sipamla impress as SA bowlers seal innings winAfter the South African attack conceded the highest score by a Sri Lankan team in this country in the first innings, they rallied to dismiss Sri Lanka for 180 to secure an innings win. But this match was won by the batting line-up, who scored the most runs in an innings at SuperSport Park, and ended 15 months without an individual batsman scoring a hundred.Former captain Faf du Plessis was the player to break the century drought and fell one run short of his first double-ton in what he called a statement innings to disprove the doubters. du Plessis is the most experienced batsman in the team and is showing no signs of slowing down, instead setting as an example for the newcomers in the squad.”It’s important to have senior guys in the team, guys who are experienced. We always talk about youngsters coming through but you need to find that balance between experience and youngsters,” de Kock said. “Faf came out and showed his leadership out there. He has been in a lot of pressure situations in his life and there was no better person to handle it.”Similarly, du Plessis’ was one of the people de Kock turned to when he needed guidance in the field in his first red-ball match as captain.Although de Kock has led South Africa in shorter formats, he had never previously captained a first-class game, but found the experience of the longer format comfortable because he had plenty of support.”It was a little bit easier. You have more time to think than in the other formats,” he said. “It helps that I have good leaders in my team. When I do need help, I can go to them for advice – the likes of Dean [Elgar], Rassie [van der Dussen], Temba [Bavuma], Faf – they are a big help out there when I need them.”I’ve never captained a first-class game but I have been next to Faf most of my Test career and I have learnt a lot of stuff from them so I felt very much at home. It was pretty simple out there.”de Kock did not make any obvious errors, though some may question aspects of his decision-making in the first innings such as giving debutant Lutho Sipamla the new ball. Sipamla conceded heavily in his first spell, with three overs costing 28, but improved as the innings went on and finished with 4 for 76 in the innings and six wickets in the match to show that South Africa’s fast-bowling depth is still there.”It was just Test match debut and nerves. That’s all it came down to. We spoke to him and he came back really nicely. The way he bowled in the game is the way he has been bowling in the nets. That’s what we knew he could do,” de Kock said. “It was a great comeback from him with some great character shown. He’s an opening bowler on his debut Test, obviously there were going to be a bit of nerves but once he came back we saw what he can do.”The same can be said for much of the South African team, who had not played Test cricket since January and have endured one of their toughest winters, shrouded in administrative chaos and cultural wars. When this Test began, South Africa’s biggest opposition was from sections of the public who either objected to them raising a fist to show support for Black Lives Matter or who felt they should rather have taken a knee. By the time the match ended, the race debate had quietened (for now) and the old adage that the results will give people something else to focus on for a while came to the fore.So while South Africa have won more competitive Test matches than this, they had reason to celebrate the same. And they did.”Go have a beer,” was Mark Boucher’s instruction to de Kock as they changed seats for the post-match press conference. About two hours after the final wicket fell the whole team was doing that, with a fines meeting well underway complete with applause and singing. A victory is a victory, and South Africa will most definitely enjoy this one.

Ireland lost five wickets for 98 in reply to 476 to put Bangladesh in a strong position on the second day of the Dhaka Test. The day started with Mushfiqur Rahim reaching his century in his 100th Test, before the Bangladesh spinners got into their groove.Hasan Murad took two wickets, while Mehidy Hasan Miraz and Taijul Islam picked up one each so far. Ireland’s debutant Stephen Doheny and Lorcan Tucker were the unbeaten batters, on 2 and 11 respectively.When Ireland bowled earlier in the day, Andy McBrine completed his second six-wicket haul in Tests, both having come at the Shere Bangla National Stadium. Matthew Humphreys and Gavin Hoey took two wickets each, making it the first instance of Ireland’s spinners taking all ten wickets in a Test innings.Mehidy Hasan Miraz celebrates after getting rid of Cade Carmichael•BCB

Paul Stirling’s string of boundaries, including a slog-swept six off Taiju lslam, got Ireland off to a positive start. But he fell lbw to Khaled Ahmed for 27. Captain Andy Balbirnie was next to go, when Murad had him caught at slip for 21. Cade Carmichael became Miraz’s first victim when he fell lbw, camping on his backfoot to play the shot.Murad then bowled the ball of the day, his arm-ball sneaking past Curtis Campher’s defensive push. Taijul Islam then got into the act with Harry Tector’s wicket, as the batter went back to a slightly good length delivery, only to be trapped lbw for 14.Bangladesh’s 476 was built around centuries from Mushfiqur and Litton Das. Mushfiqur became the eleventh batter to score a century in his 100th Test. He completed his 13th century when he took a single off the ninth ball of the second day after being unbeaten on 99 overnight.Mushfiqur though lasted for a short while longer before Humphreys had him caught at second slip for 106. Litton too got to his century later in the first session, taking an adventurous route with a six and a four through the nineties. He added 123 runs for the sixth wicket, making it three century stands in a row.McBrine rounded off the Bangladesh innings after trapping Khaled Ahmed lbw, with 30 minutes remaining in the second session.