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Bangladesh and Afghanistan shared the T20 tri-series trophy after rain ruined the final in Dhaka. The weather stayed true to forecasts, as it began to rain at around 5pm local time, an hour before the scheduled start, and continued to rain till the umpires called off the game at 9pm. By then, both sides were milling around the ground for the latest updates, and upon being informed by the umpires of their decision, they shook hands.The covers never came off although the crowd nearly filled up the stands by the time of the scheduled start at 6.00pm. There was definite hope among the spectators that despite the incessant rain, play would be possible. Three years ago during the Asia Cup final, even a storm and heavy rain for nearly an hour didn’t cause the match to be abandoned. However, this time it was steady rain which usually doesn’t stop easily.Bangladesh finished with three wins in the four games, but they never looked too comfortable. Coach Russell Domingo said on the eve of the final that they were yet to play their perfect game. Afghanistan won two games, and lost the last two that snapped their record-breaking 12-match winning streak in T20Is.They will leave these shores happy though, after having won the one-off Test in Chattogram earlier in the month, and dominated a more established cricket nation overall on tour.

South Australia 7 for 222 (Head 109) trail New South Wales 289 (Solway 133*, Nevill 53, Sayers 8-64)With the decision looming on Australia’s Test batting line-up, Travis Head made a timely century against a strong New South Wales attack to shore up South Australia’s first innings at Adelaide Oval although the visitors ended the second day with the advantage.Head, who was left out of the final Ashes Test when Australia rebalanced their side with Mitchell Marsh, had made an unconvincing start to the first-class season with a scratchy half-century on a flat pitch at Junction Oval before scores of 0 and 12 against Queensland.However, he was named in the Australia A side to face Pakistan in Perth later this month in what is billed as a showdown for probably two batting spots with Head vying for a middle-order role. He will now enter that game with confidence having brought up his 11th first-class hundred from 200 deliveries with a boundary off Australia team-mate Josh Hazlewood, but he could not reach the close as Hazlewood hit back during an impressive spell with the second new ball.There was less from the rest of the batting order than he would have liked. Trent Copeland struck early to trap Jake Weatherald lbw although the batsman indicated he got an inside edge and Callum Ferguson edged to gully. Copeland struck again when a Henry Hunt got into a tangle against a short ball to leave South Australia 3 for 68.Tom Cooper helped Head added 73 for the fourth wicket only to send a top edge to fine leg where Hazlewood took a well-judged catch. Another 50-run partnership followed before Nathan Lyon earned reward for a probing spell by having Harry Nielsen caught at slip, the batsman happy to take the word of Copeland that the ball had carried.When Tom Andrews was caught behind off Moises Henriques shortly before the second new ball New South Wales were firmly on top and the removal of Head left them sensing a handy lead.The day had started with New South Wales seven down in their first innings and Chadd Sayers claimed two of the remaining wickets to finish with a career-best 8 for 64. Debutant Daniel Solway, who marked the opening day with a century, finished unbeaten on 133.

A clutch of prospective England batsmen and spin bowlers will embark on a specialist training camp in Mumbai this week in an effort to hone their skills in unfamiliar conditions.On the day England fell to an innings defeat in New Zealand, the ECB announced that batsmen Will Jacks, James Bracey, Dan Lawrence, Keaton Jennings and Sam Hain would travel to India with spinners Dom Bess, Mason Crane and Amar Virdi for a three-week camp starting on Tuesday.Jacks, the 21-year-old Surrey batsman, produced a jaw-dropping 25-ball century during a pre-season T10 clash with Lancashire in Dubai in March and, on the other end of the spectrum, Jennings is hoping to resurrect his international career having played the last of his 17 Tests against West Indies in February.The batsmen will work with Surrey assistant head coach Vikram Solanki, while the spinners will train under the guidance of Gloucestershire head coach Richard Dawson and former Sri Lanka spinner Rangana Herath.The camp encompasses a series of so-called “Individualised Programmes” of training for players aimed at “delivering better prepared players” to England head coach Chris Silverwood, according to ECB Performance Director Mo Bobat.”The Individualised Programmes are a great opportunity for some of our best young cricketers to focus on specific areas of their game in unfamiliar and challenging conditions around the world,” Bobat said. “Some of the players involved are in England’s immediate plans, while others will be working on areas that will benefit the national team’s medium and long-term needs.”The ECB also confirmed that Jonny Bairstow would attend a training camp in South Africa from December 1-14, working with former England batsman Jonathan Trott in his bid to return to England’s Test squad. Bairstow, who averaged 23.77 during the Ashes, was dropped for the two-Test tour of New Zealand. He was briefly called back into the Test squad during the T20 series against New Zealand as cover for Joe Denly but returned home when Denly recovered from an ankle injury in time for the first Test at Mount Maunganui.Earlier this month, Ashley Giles, the managing director of England’s men’s cricket, revealed that James Anderson would take the next step in his return from injury at the camp in Potchefstroom. Anderson will be joined by fellow quicks Mark Wood, Olly Stone, Craig Overton and Ollie Robinson.Anderson and Wood have been undergoing intensive rehabilitation with ECB staff with a view to being available for selection for England’s tour of South Africa starting next month.Anderson has been sidelined since he broke down after bowling just four overs in the first Ashes Test in August with a recurrence of a calf injury he suffered while playing for Lancashire in early July. Wood was ruled out for the remainder of the season after suffering a side strain during the World Cup final and he has since had surgery on his right knee. Stone, meanwhile, is recovering from a stress fracture to his back.

Peter Siddle has announced his retirement from international cricket after a career that spanned 11 years.Siddle, 35, played 67 Tests taking 221 wickets at 30.66, his last match coming in the final Test of this year’s Ashes series in England. He was brought back into the squad for the current Test against New Zealand and told coach Justin Langer on Boxing Day that he was bringing the curtain down on his Australia career before informing his team-mates of his decision before play on the fourth day.In white-ball cricket he played 20 ODIs, earning a surprise recall earlier this year, and two T20Is.”It’s always hard to know what the right time is, it was sort of the Ashes – that was the main goal – to try and get on that touring party and be a part of that series,” Siddle told Fox Cricket. “Once I’d ticked that off, I’d been chatting with JL and Painey throughout that series, I could have done it there, but the chance of maybe getting one last crack if it came up in Australia, do it at home would have been nice. But I can be content, 67 Tests, to think as a young kid that I wouldn’t get a chance I’m very happy and a bit sad.”As a young kid I wasn’t super talented so I had to work hard for it. Just to wear baggy green, walk out with it, represent Australia. Chatting to three fast bowlers who are playing this Test, I played in all their debuts so to see all them go about it now, that’s part of the reason, they are a lot younger than me and you see how good they are. Every time I stepped out was amazing.”Tim Paine, Australia’s Test captain, said: “Sids has been the heart and soul of the team for a long time. I remember coming up through with him through the academies and even back then he was one of the great team men, something he has continued to this day.”He has a massive heart and is a fantastic bowler. He’ll be very much missed around the group. He’s been unbelievably good for our younger fast bowlers over the last 18 months and been a great support for me during that time, as well.”Siddle started out as a tearaway, turning heads in the 2008 Sheffield Shield final for Victoria, hitting Gautam Gambhir on the helmet and dismissing Sachin Tendulkar on his debut at Mohali later that year, and taking his famous birthday hat-trick at the Gabba against England in 2010. Around this time he was one of then captain Ricky Ponting’s go-to men – they were both vocal supporters of the North Melbourne AFL club, too.Peter Siddle celebrates a wicket•Getty Images

But Siddle needed to add subtlety and consistency to his game. Something he did alongside Craig McDermott around the time he also changed his lifestyle, giving up alcohol and meat, in 2011-12. From then until 2014, he was one of the best and most challenging bowlers to face in world cricket, claiming 110 wickets at 27.77 and a strike rate of 57.80 over a 30-match period. During the 2013-14 dual Ashes series, he was consistently successful against Kevin Pietersen.After that season, Siddle was dropped on account of losing pace, and one of the most unfair periods of time for him was being ignored by selectors during 2015 Ashes until it was too late. But not to be deterred by that or subsequent injuries, Siddle took up a deal with Essex, proving himself as a highly effective seamer with the Dukes ball, and when Australia were desperate for experience after the Newlands scandal, he found his way back.And while he did not play every Test, suffered from dropped catches and was injured in the final match at The Oval, Siddle’s expertise and experience were critical to Australia retaining Ashes in England for first time since 2001. His spell on the final day of the first Test at Edgbaston, piling on pressure from one end while Nathan Lyon cut through England at the other, was described by Langer as “the best wicketless spell I’ve ever seen”.After news of Siddle’s retirement was confirmed, Langer said: “The year after I retired from playing, Matty Hayden and Ricky Ponting were raving about this guy called Peter Siddle. If it came from them, you knew it was right and so it proved throughout his brilliant international career.”He is an unbelievable bloke and an extremely good cricketer. He is the everything of what a team player is. He has given his heart and soul to the Australian team and the game of cricket.”We’ll always be thankful to him for what he’s given to the national team, and for the critical role he played in helping us retain the Ashes in England this year. He’s going out when he’s still playing well which, in a perfect world, is something every athlete wants to do.”As for the future, Siddle has already set that up. Often pigeonholed as a red ball specialist, he is now one of the most skilful and effective BBL pacemen, helping the Strikers to the 2018 title and proving an expert closer this season in a tight victory over the Melbourne Stars. He has also indicated he will keep playing for Victoria and Essex.

Squads for the women’s Hundred are starting to take shape after each team announced four new domestic signings on Wednesday.There is a local flavour to the latest round of signings, with county captains Marie Kelly (Warwickshire) and Naomi Dattani (Middlesex) joining Birmingham Phoenix and London Spirit respectively.Each new team has now announced the signing of at least eight of their eventual 15 players. The window to complete new signings will remain open until May 30, with the tournament starting on July 22 with Birmingham Phoenix’s game against Manchester Originals.Trent Rockets look set to field a spin-heavy team, with England T20 World Cup squad members Sarah Glenn and Mady Villiers joining Australian allrounder Sophie Molineux.Three of the best young seam-bowling prospects in the country have also been picked up: Issy Wong will play for Birmingham Phoenix, Lauren Bell for Southern Brave, and Tash Farrant will represent Oval Invincibles.Full squads to date:Birmingham Phoenix
Sophie Devine, Georgia Elwiss, Ria Fackrell, Kirstie Gordon, Amy Jones, Evelyn Jones, Marie Kelly, Isabelle WongLondon Spirit
Tammy Beaumont, Aylish Cranstone, Naomi Dattani, Freya Davies, Charlie Dean, Deandra Dottin, Hannah Jones, Heather KnightManchester Originals
Georgia Boyce, Kate Cross, Mignon du Preez, Sophie Ecclestone, Alex Hartley, Emma Lamb, Lizelle Lee, Ellie ThrelkeldNorthern Superchargers
Alice Davidson-Richards, Georgia Davis, Helen Fenby, Alyssa Healy, Bess Heath, Katie Levick, Linsey Smith, Lauren WinfieldOval Invincibles
Georgia Adams, Hollie Armitage, Tash Farrant, Rachael Haynes, Laura Marsh, Rhianna Southby, Dane van Niekerk, Fran WilsonSouthern Brave
Suzie Bates, Lauren Bell, Sophia Dunkley, Fi Morris, Paige Scholfield, Anya Shrubsole, Stafanie Taylor, Danni WyattTrent Rockets
Katherine Brunt, Kathryn Bryce, Sarah Glenn, Beth Langston, Sophie Molineux, Natalie Sciver, Elyse Villani, Mady VilliersWelsh Fire
Lauren Filer, Katie George, Alex Griffiths, Georgia Hennessy, Jess Jonassen, Meg Lanning, Sophie Luff, Claire Nicholas, Bryony Smith

A brilliant bowling performance from Australia young duo of Sophie Molineux and Tayla Vlaeminck has put Australia into the tri-series final against India after England were strangled in the middle overs chasing just 133 at the Junction Oval.Molineux took 3 for 19 off the back of Vlaeminck’s two early breakthroughs in the powerplay. Jess Jonassen also bowled a superb spell as England not only failed to chase down the total but they also fell short of the 124 needed to stay ahead of India on net run-rate after all three teams were tied on the table with two wins each from four matches.Earlier, Australia’s innings was held together by a calm and skillful half-century from Beth Mooney in the face of a top-order collapse against England’s spin twins. Sophie Ecclestone and Sarah Glenn bowled superbly to take 4 for 37 between them from eight overs to leave Australia in a huge hole. But Mooney’s defiance, plus a handy 24 from Rachael Haynes late in the innings gave Australia a defendable total of 7 for 132.Australia will now meet India in the final on Wednesday at the Junction Oval.Healy’s horror run continueHealy’s last T20I innings prior to this series was a women’s world record of 148 not out against Sri Lanka back in October last year. In this series, she has scored just 11 runs in four innings and yet again she fell to Katherine Brunt. After just three balls she pulled a length ball straight down the throat of Dani Wyatt who was perfectly placed at deep midwicket. Brunt has now claimed Healy eight times in T20Is. The spin of Ecclestone and Glenn then took control. Their lengths were outstanding, hitting the top of stumps consistently but they mixed their pace to cause Australia all sorts of issues with three big guns clean bowled. Ash Gardner was undone by Ecclestone, deceived completely in flight running down the track. Meg Lanning was bowled misreading length from Glenn after struggling to rotate the strike, while Ellyse Perry tried to create a cut shot from an Ecclestone arm ball that zeroed in on off stump. It left Australia 4 for 79 in the 13th over.Mooney shinesRather than punching balls to fielders in the ring for no reward, Mooney was prepared to drop and run with soft hands and wait for the bad balls to come. Any width that was offered she was able to carve through and over the offside. She made her second half-century of the tournament from just 39 balls with six boundaries. But she too made an error in judgement against Glenn trying to pull a ball that skidded low and crashed into the stumps. But Haynes picked up the slack after a lean summer. She made a valuable 24 from 21 with a six and a four late in the innings to ensure the total ticked up over 130.Valuable VlaeminckPerry noted during the week that extra pace would be a weapon in the T20 World Cup after Vlaeminck took 3 for 13 against India in Canberra last weekend. Vlaeminck’s injury history has seen the Australian hierarchy use her sparingly in this series, playing just one game per weekend. She was badly missed against India on Saturday and proved why with a rapid spell that changed the game. England were cruising at none for 21 in the fourth over. Vlaeminck hit Wyatt in the helmet via a top edge with a ball nudging 120kph. She then had her caught off the glove down the leg side two balls later. Two overs later Vlaeminck was unfortunate not to have Nat Sciver lbw but was too quick for Amy Jones, rattling her leg stump to leave England 2 for 39 at the end of the powerplay.Spin to winLanning held her spinners back until the ninth over with Sciver and Heather Knight looking very comfortable against Australia’s other medium pacers. Sciver tried to target Molineux straight away and holed out to deep midwicket. It started a rot with Molineux and Jonassen matching what Ecclestone and Glenn did earlier. The two left-arm orthodox bowlers targeted the stumps and mixed their lengths and lines to put England in a spin. Heather Knight was stumped running past one from Molineux after her and Fran Wilson scored just 7 runs in 10 balls following Sciver’s dismissal. Wilson was also stumped off Jonassen while Tammy Beaumont was bowled trying to reverse sweep Molineux as the run-rate ground to a halt. It left England 6 for 70 needing 63 runs from 42 balls. They were unable to get near Australia’s target with the tail only scoring five boundaries in the last seven overs to miss out on the final.

Liton Das’ decision to bat with a limited amount of shots is bearing fruit after he used the methodology in the first ODI against Zimbabwe. He scored an unbeaten 126, his second international century, helping Bangladesh to a record 169-run win in Sylhet.Das said that he had planned to curb his strokes as he was making a “nervous” start in his first ODI since the 2019 World Cup. He had missed the three-match ODI series against Sri Lanka in July, leaving him a long break in the format, like most of the Bangladesh players.”When you are too high in confidence, you get into a mindset of trying to play a lot of shots,” he said after the match. “It becomes a problem. When you set yourself to play only a few shots, that I will only hit those I am really good at, and then take singles off the rest, it reduces the risk. But there’s a higher percentage of getting out when you are too confident of clearing the fielders. You may be successful to get boundaries, but there’s a higher chance of losing your wicket.”ALSO READ: Liton Das, quick bowlers hand Zimbabwe a thrashing for 1-0Das timed the ball sweetly through the off side for his first three fours, before he pulled the ball couple of times and then blasted Donald Tiripano down the ground after he had reached his fifty. Quick to act on anything short from the spinners, Das was also picking up boundaries after he reached his century off 95 balls.Along with his 13 fours and two sixes, the 51 singles, which resulted in a low dot-ball percentage, really helped Bangladesh post the 300-plus total. Das said that his initial plan was to bat for the first 30 overs, and keep picking singles, which is a mantra from their revered batting coach Neil McKenzie.”I know I have to bat 30 overs to score a hundred, against any side,” he said. “I wanted to bat normally during this period, take singles and utilise the bad balls. I was negative at the start as I was nervous, but when I got settled, I was batting better.”McKenzie tells us not to play a dot ball. Our job with him is to ensure that we keep rotating the strike. Whatever you do in practice, will serve you in the field. If you get out in ten ways in the nets, then you can’t expect to score a hundred. But if you are batting well in the nets, you can utilise in the match.”Das also said that he has become a lot more focused in the last 12 months, having incorporated a session to watch his own innings in video, to review his mistakes. “I don’t review my footage usually, but I have started to see my batting in the last 12 months. My last hundred was in the Asia Cup final, but this is also a big match for me. I have had to focus in the same way in both innings.”

Vikram Solanki has been announced as the new head coach of Surrey.Solanki, the former England batsman, replaces Michael Di Venuto who was told a few weeks ago his contract would not be renewed at the end of the season. He has remained in Australia.Solanki, who has been a coach at Surrey since his retirement from the game in 2016, will take up the position straight away and work with the Surrey squad as soon as professional players are able to return to group training.”I’d like to begin by acknowledging the outstanding contribution of Michael Di Venuto during his time at the club,” said Solanki. “I am now really excited to be taking over as Head Coach. We have a very talented group of players at Surrey CCC and will be looking to compete in all formats – both in any competitions that are able to be staged this summer and in the future.”Our squad contains a great mixture of established talent and young up and coming players looking for opportunities. I’m looking forward to working with all Surrey players to make sure the Club has the best possible chance of delivering more silverware in the years to come.”Alec Stewart, Surrey County Cricket Club Director of Cricket, added: “After recently having to make a tough decision on Michael Di Venuto, I’m very fortunate to have been able to appoint someone who knows our setup and players inside out – but has also broadened his coaching experience around the world in recent years.”I have total confidence and faith that Vikram will step up to this new role and its associated challenges and responsibilities.”During his time at Surrey, Solanki has worked in coaching roles under both Di Venuto and Graham Ford, and has also worked as an Assistant Coach at the Royal Challengers Bangalore in the IPL, in the Dubai-based T10 competition and on a recent England Lions spin camp in Mumbai.As a player, Solanki played 54 ODI and T20I matches for England between 2000 and 2007. Domestically, he played 325 first-class games with a further 484 white-ball appearances, scoring over 31,000 runs in all formats, the majority in a 17-year stint with Worcestershire, whom he captained for five years between 2005 and 2010.Further to his coaching and playing careers, Solanki has also acted as Chairman (2009-2012) and – in 2012 – interim Chief Executive of the Professional Cricketers’ Association. He is also President of the Federation of International Cricketers’ Associations (FICA), a role he has held since 2017.Surrey CCC Chairman Richard Thompson added: “Vikram has already been part of the Surrey family for a long time and it’s fantastic to now welcome him as our Head Coach. On behalf of everyone at Surrey CCC, we look forward to him taking up the role and playing an even bigger part within the Club.”

Six of the ten Pakistani cricketers who had earlier tested positive for Covid-19 – Mohammad Hafeez, Wahab Riaz, Fakhar Zaman, Shadab Khan, Mohammad Rizwan and Mohammad Hasnain – have returned negative results when tested again, Wasim Khan, the PCB chief executive, announced on Saturday. He added that Kashif Bhatti, Haris Rauf, Haider Ali and Imran Khan had tested positive again, as had team masseur Malang Ali. All the players and support staffers who had tested negative earlier were also retested, and there was no change in their status.However, given players’ need to return two negative tests before being able to enter the UK, the six previously positive players will not be on the ECB-arranged charter plane that takes the rest of the travelling party to Manchester on Sunday. The PCB announced they will be sent as soon as they returned that second negative test.ALSO READ: Pakistan prepare to fly to England without 10 Covid-positive playersThere will be 20 players in the advance group: the 18 who have returned two negative tests, as well as two of the reserve players called up as cover earlier this week, wicketkeeper Rohail Nazir and fast bowler Musa Khan. One of the reserves, Imran Butt, returned a positive result. In addition, left-arm spinner Zafar Gohar, who is already in the UK, will join the side and only be involved in pre-match preparations.Wasim said that Hafeez and Riaz had sought out tests from private laboratories independent of the PCB in the wake of them returning positive results. And though the retest came back negative, the board will not be considering them.”The private test they decided to have carried out was outside the PCB testing process,” Wasim said. “So while they have now had two negative tests, they will have to get tested again to get two negative tests in a row that are in accordance with PCB’s testing process and the protocols we have set up.”Once the 20 players and 11 members of the support staff arrive in Manchester, they will be transported to Worcestershire, where everyone will be tested once more in accordance with the ECB guidelines and testing processes. They will then begin a 14-day quarantine period, during which they will be permitted access to training and practice facilities. Following that, the squad will move to Derbyshire. Although it wasn’t set in stone, an earlier plan would have seen the Pakistan squad quarantined in Derby first.Bowling coach Waqar Younis, who has been in Australia, was tested there and returned a negative result. He will join the squad directly. Shoaib Malik, who was granted leave to spend time with his family and join the team later, will travel to England on July 24.The PCB had briefly entertained the idea of sending players who tested negative once after an earlier positive test, but that idea was swiftly put to bed, as an ECB press release on Friday confirmed that the ten players who had tested positive would not be traveling on Sunday.”The ECB contacted us at first and said since the positive tests were carried out on the 21st, seven days will have lapsed and there may be an opportunity for players to travel on the 28th,” Wasim said. “Because in nine of the 10 players, we found antibodies, which suggested they were coming to the end of it. But we changed it because the ECB have now told us that based on UK regulations, anybody to have tested positive will need to provide evidence that they have had two negative tests before they can travel. We went on the advice they were giving us earlier, but since they told us the regulations had changed, we followed their protocol.”The tour comprises three Test matches and three T20Is in August and September. All six games will be played behind closed doors.

When Shai Hope plays against England, one word comes up more than any other: Headingley. By and large, Hope’s Test career is discussed in terms of one match, in which his twin hundreds led West Indies to a memorable win in 2017. But rather than a springboard, that performance has come to feel like a high-water mark: more than one sixth of his career runs came in that match, and since then his average has been a meagre 24.77. In his last 34 innings, Hope has made two half-centuries. In most Test teams, that would be enough for him to be dropped, but West Indies have rarely had much in the way of competition for places in the top or middle order: across the last three domestic first-class seasons, the only players with over 1000 runs batting in the top four with an average above 40 are the recently-recalled Jermaine Blackwood and 38-year-old Devon Smith.But heading into the second Test against England, things are different. Most of the batsmen performed admirably at Southampton, in the knowledge that Shimron Hetmyer and Darren Bravo – both of whom opted out of this bio-secure tour – will be after their places in West Indies’ next series.Jason Holder has hinted that the ‘engine room’ of him and Shane Dowrich may move up a spot each from No. 7 and 8 at some point in the near future, while Joshua Da Silva did his best to bang the door down with a strong showing in the warm-up matches. So after years of security, the man with the question mark looming over his spot is now Hope.In his pre-match press conference, Holder was reluctant to say whether Hope was under pressure for his spot in the long term. “Going into a Test series you want to give a player as much confidence as you possibly can,” he said. “I don’t look at whether you want to drop and select somebody else.”You’ve got a core group of guys which you give every added confidence and boost to in order for them to go out there and perform. The great thing about this side is that we’ve been together now for a while. One or two players have come in and one or two players have fallen away, but more or less the nucleus of the squad has been the same. All I really want to do is keep encouraging our guys.”ALSO READ: Denly, Anderson, Wood out as England ring changesBut with a lack of Test form to go off, it was instructive that Holder again went back to Headingley and his ODI record to talk Hope up.”Shai is a quality player,” he said. “We’ve seen that particularly the last time he came here in England and then obviously his one-day form has been really good. I’ve got all confidence that Shai Hope will deliver, he just needs to get himself in, get himself going, and he’s going to go big for us.”Hope himself suggested at the start of this tour that his problems had been “more of a mental thing”, but it is difficult to ignore the technical tweaks that he has made in the last three years.