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No side has won three of their first four Tests. Afghanistan have a chance to change all that

The Preview by Sreshth Shah26-Nov-2019

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Don’t let Afghanistan’s two-day loss on their Test debut against India fool you. Incidentally then, Phil Simmons was their head coach. Today, he’s in the opposition camp, perhaps with a bank of knowledge he’d want to share with his West Indies team. Since that insipid debut, of course, Afghanistan have beaten Ireland in India and Bangladesh in Bangladesh. If they beat West Indies in Lucknow, they’ll become the only team in the history of the sport to win three of their first four Tests.The possibility is real. Under captain Rashid Khan, who has taken three five-wicket hauls in his last four Test innings, Afghanistan will run into a wonky West Indies batting line-up. The win in the T20I series should boost the ‘hosts’ to that effect. In their last three Tests, only twice have the West Indies batsmen gone past fifty. On a ground that is hosting it’s maiden Test, there are a lot of unknown variables, not least of all the pitch. Against a spin-based attack, West Indies will be tested.That said, Afghanistan would also do well to worry about their batting weakness. Barring Rahmat Shah, few have shown the tenacity to bat long. In both of Afghanistan’s Test wins, Rahmat’s contributions have been as integral as Rashid’s. But with senior allrounder Mohammad Nabi having retired from Tests, someone else too needs to step up.For West Indies, the series is about showing that they aren’t falling behind in the red-ball format. For Afghanistan, it’s time to say that, they too, possess the quality to find a spot in the next cycle of the World Test Championship.

Form Guide

(last five completed matches, most recent first)
Afghanistan WWL

West Indies LLLWW

In the spotlight

It appears that the job of filling the Nabi void has been given to 21-year-old allrounder Karim Janat, who has earned a Test berth after a splendid T20I series against West Indies. He struck an 18-ball 26 and picked up 5 for 11 in the second game before finishing the series with 1 for 33 in the third. He can find speeds of 140kph regularly, and with his elder brother Asghar Afghan there for company, Janat can find an arm around him for comfort, instead of being intimidated by the prospects of a main Test appearance.The form that made Kraigg Brathwaite ESPNcricinfo’s opener of the year in 2016 has gradually diminished as the decade comes to a close. He’s gone 19 innings without a Test fifty, and since February 2019, his only first-class century was one for Glamorgan in the English County Championship. It’s West Indies’ last Test match of the year, and with no other Test till they face England in June 2020, the team’s seniormost batsmen will ache to end 2019 with an impactful performance.Getty Images

Team news

Afghanistan coach Lance Klusener said it would be desirable to keep faith with the XI that won the Test in Bangladesh, though they’ll have to find a replacement for the retired Mohammad Nabi of course. Given the way Karim Janat performed in the T20Is, and that he offers an all-round option, he could well be the man to replace Nabi, even though he bowls seam up rather than spin. Afghanistan having plenty of spin options already with Rashid, Qais and Zahir.Afghanistan XI (probable): Ibrahim Zadran, Ihsanullah, Rahmat Shah, Javed Ahmadi, Asghar Afghan, Karim Janat, Afsar Zazai (wk), Rashid Khan (capt), Qais Ahmed, Yamin Ahmadzai, Zahir Khan.Rahkheem Cornwall had an ice-pack strapped to his left knee and didn’t take part in the warm-up drills or training session for West Indies. Coach Phil Simmons, however, said a final call on Cornwall would be taken only on the morning of the match. John Campbell is recovering from a stomach bug.West Indies XI (probable): Kraigg Brathwaite, John Campbell/Sunil Ambris, Shai Hope, Shamarh Brooks, Roston Chase, Shimron Hetmyer, Jason Holder (capt), Shane Dowrich (wk), Rahkeem Cornwall, Kemar Roach, Jomel Warrican/Alzarri Joseph.

Pitch and conditions

The match will be played on the same surface as the second ODI was played on. It’s a red-soil pitch, and is expected to aid spin bowling. Expect foggy mornings at the onset of winters up north in India. As such, conditions for red-ball cricket is relatively unknown at the ground, with only three first-class games being played at Lucknow since 2017.

Stats and trivia

• In the last three first-class games at Lucknow, an average of 2 centuries and 3.33 half-centuries have been witnessed per match
• With 333 runs, Jason Holder is West Indies’ highest run-scorer in 2019, averaging over 55 runs per innings. The second-highest run-scorer, Roston Chase, is more than 100 runs behind Holder.
• Rashid Khan averages 18 runs per wicket in Tests

What they said

“Obviously one day I’d like to play at ‘home’ home, but this is home away from home for us. The surfaces have suited us, and that’s the important thing if you’re going to have home advantage”.
“They’ve had three Tests, and did well to win in Bangladesh, but it’s still a learning phase for them and hopefully we can capitalise on that.”

Imalka Mendis and Anushka Sanjeewani have been left out from the squad that played India last month

ESPNcricinfo staff19-Oct-2018Sri Lanka have named a largely unchanged side to the one that lost at home to India last month. They made just two changes to the 15-member squad for November’s Women’s World T20 in the Caribbean.Oshadi Ranasinghe and Inoshi Fernando, who were out of the initial squad to face India only to be included midway through the series, have been retained. Ranasinghe picked up four wickets across the final two games in that series and scored a brisk 22 in the final T20I, while offspinner Fernando picked up three wickets in the same game.Imalka Mendis, who was named in the squad to face India but failed to play a game, made way, as did batsman Anushka Sanjeewani. The team will be led by Chamari Atapattu, whose century in the final ODI against India had given Sri Lanka their first win over their neighbours in over five years.Sri Lanka begin their campaign with warm-up games against New Zealand and Ireland on November 5 and 8 respectively, before facing England on November 10 in their tournament opener.Full squad: Chamari Atapattu (Captain), Yasoda Mendis, Shashikala Siriwardene, Eshani Lokusuriyage, Hasini Perera, Ama Kanchana, Rebeca Vandort, Dilani Manodara, Nilakshi De Silva, Sripali Weerakkody, Udeshika Prabodhani, Sugandika Kumari, Kavisha Dilhari, Oshadhi Ranasinghe, Inoshi Fernando. Standby list: Imalka Mendis, Anushka Sanjeewani, Nipuni Hansika, Harshitha Madavi, Inoka Ranaweera

This will be the India offspinner’s first stint in county cricket, and he could be available as early as Worcestershire’s match against Gloucestershire starting on August 28

Sidharth Monga14-Aug-20172:08

Dasgupta: India will want Ashwin primed for overseas tours

India offspinner R Ashwin, who had been left out of the limited-overs leg of the tour of Sri Lanka, will play county cricket this season. He could be available as early as Worcestershire’s match against Gloucestershire starting on August 28. ESPNcricinfo had earlier reported that Worcestershire had shown interest in availing Ashwin’s services towards the end of their season.Ashwin’s India team-mate left-arm spinner Ravindra Jadeja is also in talks with the counties, but it as yet unclear whom he will play for.Worcestershire are currently placed second in division two of the county championships. Ashwin could come up against another India team-mate, Cheteshwar Pujara, in his second match as Worcestershire take on the table-leaders Nottinghamshire starting on September 5. Pujara is all set to continue playing for Nottinghamshire, whom he signed up for at the start of the season, following the conclusion of the Tests against Sri Lanka. Pujara scored 223 runs for them in five innings over four matches, including a match-winning hundred against Gloucestershire.This will be Ashwin’s first stint in county cricket. The last time India toured England for a Test series, he was played in only two of the five Tests, losing out to Jadeja in the first three. India have another five-Test series coming up in England next year.India’s next assignment after the Sri Lanka tour is the five ODIs against Australia starting on September 17. If Ashwin is selected for those matches, he might play only two matches in England. If he is not, he could go on till the end of the season as Worcestershire make a push for promotion.

Dwayne Bravo and Hashim Amla changed the game for Trinbago Knight Riders with a record fifth-wicket partnership of 150

ESPNcricinfo staff02-Jul-2016
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsDwayne Bravo followed up his rescue act with the bat with the big wicket of AB de Villiers•CPL/Sportsfile

Five overs into the match in Port-of-Spain, it looked like visiting side Barbados Tridents would be runaway winners. Then, Dwayne Bravo joined Hashim Amla at the crease, and the game changed. Dwayne Bravo and Amla came together with Trinbago Knight Riders 20 for 4 – with Brendon McCullum, Colin Munro, Darren Bravo and Umar Akmal already dismissed – and went on to record the highest ever fifth-wicket partnership in T20 cricket. Their stand of 150 came at almost ten to the over, eventually consigning Tridents to a 11-run defeat.

Amla picks up back niggle

Following his Man-of-the-Match-winning 81, Hashim Amla did not take the field for Trinbago Knight Riders due to a back niggle. After the match, Amla confirmed he had done something to his back, but said it was nothing serious.
“I think I’ve kind of tweaked something in the back, but I think it should be fine. [Not taking the field] was more a precautionary matter; we’ve got a game tomorrow night, it’s a very quick turnaround, so it was a precaution to not hurt it anymore. But I’m fit enough.”

Tridents put Knight Riders in, and struck their early blows through the left-arm spin of Akeal Hosein and pace of Ravi Rampaul. Hosein was the first to break through, bowling the New Zealand pair of McCullum and Munro with balls that held their lines, before Rampaul had Darren Bravo and Akmal caught behind. The next bit of success any Tridents bowler enjoyed came off the very last ball of the innings, when Amla was out for 81. His innings came off 54 balls and included four sixes, two of which came in his South Africa team-mate Wayne Parnell’s final over. That over, the 17th of the innings, went for 19 runs; Amla hit the second ball into the stands down the ground and hooked the third for six more.Dwayne Bravo hit four sixes of his own, in a knock of 66 not out off 46. The partnership was the highest for any wicket in the CPL.Tridents were off to a decent start in their chase, with Steven Taylor and Kyle Hope putting on 41, before Hope was lost just as the Powerplay concluded. That Taylor survived that long was down to a good chunk of luck in the first over: off the second ball, Taylor skied one which fell in the middle of three fielders, before Munro dropped a straightforward chance at long-on – parrying it for six, to make matters worse for Knight Riders.But neither Taylor nor Hope could score at a rapid rate, a trend that continued with Shoaib Malik and AB de Villiers. Malik managed to become the tenth player to 6000 T20 runs during his innings off 28 off 24, while de Villiers scratched his way to 12 off 14 before falling to that man Dwayne Bravo. Kieron Pollard registered a golden duck while attempting an ambitious shot off seamer Kevon Cooper, and with Sunil Narine at his miserly best, Knight Riders were in control. The only real threat to them came from Nicholas Pooran, who slammed 33 off 12 from No. 6, but a run-out ended his challenge prematurely.

New Zealand wrapped up victory in the second Test by 199 runs with time to spare, levelling the series and extending their unbeaten run

The Report by Alan Gardner02-Jun-2015
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsMark Craig picked up three wickets on the final day as New Zealand swept England aside•Getty Images

Hearts and minds are one thing but what New Zealand really wanted to win was this Test. At Headingley, the ground where they first claimed a Test victory in England more than 30 years ago, they had to battle the weather, which took almost a day out of the game, and an England side still swaggering from their heroics at Lord’s last week.They overcame both with time to spare, having scored 804 runs at almost five an over and twice rattled through England with pace, swing and, on the final day, spin. Every member of the side contributed to their victory in the second Investec Test, one which levelled the series and preserved a two-year unbeaten run. In 54 Tests against England in England, it was only New Zealand’s fifth victory and their first of the 21st century.Mark Craig followed some lower-order slugging and immaculate slip catching with three wickets on a wearing surface, finishing England’s resistance by having Jos Buttler lbw without playing a shot. Kane Williamson also picked up three-for with his part-time offspin, after Trent Boult, the joint-leading wicket-taker on either side, had struck twice early on to set New Zealand on their way.That England extended the game into the final session was chiefly down to dogged half-centuries from Buttler and Alastair Cook. Obdurate crease occupation is Cook’s greatest strength and he absorbed 171 balls in making 56, bowing his head over the bat like a monk at prayer. Buttler showed a different side to his game by playing with admirable restraint during his lengthiest Test innings, in terms of balls faced.England had gone to lunch five down, any bravado about attempting to chase 455 scattered to the far corners of the Yorkshire Ridings. Cook was their chief hope of saving the game but he fell shortly after having become the youngest man to record 9000 Test runs – when he failed in an attempt to reverse his lbw decision against Williamson, who struck in the first over of a spell for the second time, Brendon McCullum things were going his way.Buttler made it through to tea, surviving a review for caught down the leg side off Tim Southee and a working over by Matt Henry, who followed a throat ball with one that took the outside edge and fell short of slip; Buttler also required treatment after a length delivery from Henry leapt to strike him a vicious blow on the hand. He was later doubled up by the same bowler, winded by a blow to the stomach. It was an apt representation of England’s pummelling.New Zealand had enjoyed a perfect morning, Boult and Craig taking two wickets apiece in the first hour to help New Zealand once again seize the initiative. Only a scattering of spectators had braved another icy day – despite reduced ticket prices – as the people of Yorkshire wisely decided England were not worth the investment. This was a working Tuesday, after all, and England did not get close to replicating the final-day drama served up against Sri Lanka at Headingley a year ago, never mind their Auckland rescue act against McCullum’s New Zealand in 2013.Still, for the couple of thousand in attendance as well as those watching on television screens around the world, there was much to admire in the way New Zealand went about their business, each wicket celebrated with joyous collective abandon. McCullum’s side have not lost a Test series since their last visit to England and they have won many more admirers besides for the spirit in which they approach a challenge.It made the absence of a deciding Test all the more disappointing, though both sides could take credit from the fact that no two-match series has ever enjoyed such a glut of run-scoring (not to mention 78 wickets as well).If England did intend to play positively and keep the threat of a world-record run chase in the back of Kiwi minds, it was not easy to discern. Five of the first six overs were maidens, one of which included the wicket of Adam Lyth, caught behind after nicking yet another good one from Boult. With Boult making the ball swing under grey skies and McCullum able to do much as he pleased with his fielders, England regressed into the defensive posture that has frequently cost them in recent years.Lyth was always the likelier of England’s openers to press New Zealand back with his strokeplay but his dismissal without adding to his overnight score brought the seemingly ill-at-ease Gary Ballance to the middle. Despite an attempt to counter a perceived weakness against full, swinging deliveries by batting out of his crease (before stepping back in as per his trigger movement), he was undone by the skills of Boult for the second time in the match. Lightning struck twice, this time via a full ball deflecting off the pads and into off stump.The offspinner Craig, who England dealt with brusquely at Lord’s, was able to settle into a rhythm from the Kirkstall Lane End and he gained rich reward halfway through the session, removing Ian Bell and Joe Root within the space of three deliveries.Both fell to excellent leg-side catches, though the decision making – from Bell in particular – was questionable. Having seen McCullum instruct Kane Williamson to go and stand at leg slip, Bell went back into his crease and steered the ball obligingly straight to the fielder, who scooped it off the ground with glee. Root struck his leg glance much more powerfully, only for Tom Latham’s woolly jumper to absorb the impact and his hands to gratefully clutch the ball.Root had declared on the fourth evening that England still had a chance of chasing 455 but a slim chance had become no chance by the time he was the fourth batsman out inside the first hour. England attempted the talk but it was New Zealand who walked it.

Ashok Dinda, the Bengal fast bowler, has been asked to join India’s squad in Mumbai as cover for fast bowler Umesh Yadav ahead of the second Test against England

ESPNcricinfo staff21-Nov-2012Ashok Dinda, the Bengal fast bowler, has been asked to join India’s squad in Mumbai as cover for the fast bowler Umesh Yadav ahead of the second Test against England, which starts at the Wankhede Stadium on Friday.Yadav did not take the field during India’s practice session on Wednesday due to a lower back injury. Though the team management remained tight-lipped, a BCCI insider confirmed that Dinda is being flown in to Mumbai since there were “doubts over Yadav’s availability” for the second Test. Dinda was called as cover in the first Test as well, for Ishant Sharma.Yadav was the most successful fast bowler in the opening Test in Ahmedabad and had supported the spinners by picking up four wickets during India’s nine-wicket victory. MS Dhoni, the India captain, was particularly impressed with the pace and reverse-swing Yadav generated on a surface that the England pacemen struggled to draw any assistance from.Dinda is expected to join the squad ahead of Thursday morning’s session. The 28-year-old who made the last of his 15 international appearances – 10 ODIs and five Twenty20 internationals – against England during the World Twenty20 in September has been in the reckoning for a Test spot for a while now. He was the second-highest wicket-taker in the last year’s Ranji Trophy, picking 37 wickets in six games at 20.64.

Chris Rogers vented his anger about years of being ignored by Australia’s selectors after he and Glenn Maxwell had taken Victoria to within sight of outright points against New South Wales

Daniel Brettig 27-Oct-2011
ScorecardGlenn Maxwell contributed runs and a wicket to the Bushrangers’ pursuit of victory•Getty Images

Chris Rogers vented his anger about years of being ignored by Australia’s selectors after he and Glenn Maxwell had taken Victoria to within reasonable sight of outright points against New South Wales in the Sheffield Shield match at the SCG.Rogers’ 50th first-class century was bolstered by 92 from Maxwell and 70 to David Hussey as the Bushrangers tallied 427, before Maxwell and Jon Holland spun out Nic Maddinson and the Blues’ captain Steve O’Keefe in the hour before stumps to have NSW 175 runs behind with eight wickets and a day remaining.While the departing Cricket Australia chairman Jack Clarke defended the soon to be outgoing chairman of selectors Andrew Hilditch at CA’s AGM in Melbourne, Rogers complained of a lack of communication with the men who chose Australian teams while he was compiling one of the most enviable batting records in the country,Across 196 matches, Rogers has made 16,521 runs at 51.62, yet played only one Test for Australia, against India in Perth in January 2008.”The last time I rang someone he never called me back,” Rogers said. “That was pretty disappointing. When I got dropped from the squad I was told I had to go and score runs and I think I topped the first-class aggregate in the world for the next two years but still didn’t hear much from them.”I guess they didn’t see me in their plans which is bad luck, but that’s how it worked out.”Rogers fell to the first of three wickets for the left-arm wrist spin of Simon Katich, another batsman with plenty of hackles for the selectors. Rogers was equally blunt in his support of Katich, left without a CA contract despite carrying Australia’s batting for much of the past two years.”I massively feel for him, it was a disgraceful decision if you ask me,” Rogers said. “That’s their prerogative … but he is still one of the best six batsmen in the country from a personal point of view.”Among the more promising elements of the day were signs of improved rhythm from the young fast bowler Josh Hazlewood, playing his first Shield match for almost two years. After a wayward start, Hazlewood improved with each delivery on day three, ultimately finishing with 2-71, including the wicket of Andrew McDonald.