If the West Indies team thought things would become easier for them to grasp after they were done and over with goodbyes for Anderson, they were not exactly wrong. That was until Mark Wood was not called back into the squad once and then announced as a part of the playing XI. Chris Woakes and Mark Wood can fuse to form a creature more lethal than Anderson at his peak. And to back them England has Gus Atkinson. The debutant from the previous game, who demolished the Windies batters by taking 12 wickets. Add another worrying factor for the visitors.…
Author: Mishaal Mubarak
Ireland is slated to play a home Test against Zimbabwe in Belfast next week. The buzz around the red-ball game is justified as it is the first time in six years that the Irish will put up a show in white on their home turf. After acquiring Test status, the European nation have only played one Test in Ireland, against Pakistan in 2018. Andrew White, National Men’s Selector of Ireland, unveiled the 14-member squad in a press conference on Wednesday. There were no surprises as most of the revealed squad had already been worked out by fans and pundits. Andy…
The first Test match against West Indies finished sooner than it should have but it did not matter, everything was eclipsed by a single news that a legend was about to retire. Now that all goodbye rituals for James Anderson have ended, it’s time for the English team to get back to the business. To mark that, England has announced their playing XI for the second Test match against West Indies two days before the match, as has become a tradition for the team now. Trent Bridge Test will be the first time in 12 years that the English men…
Although England made it to the semi-final in the recently concluded T20 World Cup, their campaign lacked the mojo title defenders are known to carry. The English team returned to the hunt quite late and were almost knocked out from the group stages by their northern neighbor, Scotland. Now that it is all in hindsight, many pundits are examining the reasons behind England’s not-so-good days at the office. While everyone is coming up with their own reasons, England’s leadership has been brought under the radar of criticism by many. While many might deem the reaction a little far-fetched, when you…
Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has opted to put all efforts into hosting the entire Champions Trophy 2025 in Pakistan, thus deciding not to succumb to any ‘neutral venue’ demands. The decision came as rumors about the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) declining to send the national team to Pakistan resurfaced. While it was not officially stated by the BCCI or an official related to the board, many media reports suggested that the Indian Board has demanded their matches be shifted to a neutral venue. PCB had once before entertained these demands by their neighbors in Asia Cup…
The International Cricket Council (ICC) has decided to start a thorough investigation into the expenses of the New York leg of the recently concluded T20 World Cup. The decision came after many members raised eyebrows apropos to many things related to the mega event with the New York pitch quality being the top of all. Moreover, some apprehensions about ticketing losses at the venue were also expressed within the board, according to a source. “The auditing is still on. There are assumptions that ICC may have incurred losses in ticketing as well in the USA leg. The tournament looked mismanaged.…
The way Zimbabwe started this series and the way they are ending it has several light years stretching between them. Nevertheless, all is not lost if they have learned a thing or two. With thing number one being the flaws in their fielding and thing number two, the team needs to be more synchronized to cash on the chances. For India, plenty of positives have emerged, the most significant being that the future of their batting is in safe hands. Shubman Gill would like to rest in the knowledge that the series has ended with way more to take home…
One win and India will win the series. One win and the last match will essentially become a dead rubber. But at this point, winning the series is lesser of Shubman Gill’s worries. Indian management as well as Gill came to Harare hoping to create a blue-print for their future tours but that task has not been quite done yet. While they still have two matches to go, you never know when the hosts wake up from their slumber and start making things difficult for the visitors. They did give India a little scare in the last game with a…
Zimbabwe won the first game but it woke the Indian team wide awake. So naturally the hosts had to pay for disturbing the sleep the very next day. India went all guns blazing and scored 234, putting the Zimbabwean batters back to bed before they could reach the 150-mark. World Champions will be World Champions, even Sikandar Raza could not disagree. However, barging through the 200-run barrier does not change the fact that this team is still very young. And what is youth if not mercurial? Scoring 102 runs as a team in one game and defeating the opponents by…
There is so much white ball cricket you can consume as a fan before getting frustrated. Once one gets tired of all the razzmatazz the short-format games have to offer, one has to retort to the OG format. The serene games where you can sit back and relax watching the sport you love. English Test Summer is bringing the first hint of that surreal feeling this year. But with the glee of red-ball cricket returning, a lingering sorrow has filled the air. A sorrow that heralds the end of a tale many children grew up listening to. While James Anderson…