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Australia’s Ashes squad members Matthew Wade, James Pattinson, Travis Head and Usman Khawaja are set to return for their states in the Marsh Cup this weekend after being rested from the first week of fixtures, but New South Wales’ Test stars will not feature against Western Australia.Steven Smith, David Warner, Nathan Lyon, Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood will all continue to rest despite the Blues being desperate for a win after losses to Queensland and South Australia in Brisbane.Western Australia have named an unchanged side to take on NSW in two matches at Drummoyne Oval after obliterating Victoria and Tasmania in their first two matches at home.Wade will return to captain and keep wicket for the winless Tasmania while South Australia will regain their captain Head for the two matches against the Tigers at Karen Rolton Oval in Adelaide. Incredibly, it has been seven seasons since South Australia have hosted a domestic one-day fixture after the competition was revamped in 2013.Victoria have added paceman Pattinson to their 14-man squad for the two matches against Queensland at Junction Oval in Melbourne.Khawaja will return to lead the undefeated Bulls after being rested from their first two home wins against New South Wales and South Australia. Ben Cutting has also been added to the Bulls’ squad after being left out of the first two games. He replaces Jack Wildermuth, who suffered a hamstring injury after his Player of the Match performance against New South Wales.

Dropped from the Test team to sort out his technique, Prithvi Shaw, leading the Mumbai senior team for the first time in place of the rested Shreyas Iyer, struck form in the 50-over Vijay Hazare Trophy.On Thursday, he converted his fifth List A century into a magnificent unbeaten 227 as Mumbai amassed 457 for 4 against Puducherry in a Group D fixture in Jaipur. The total is currently the fourth-highest List A score, just short of India A’s 458 for 4 against Leicester in 2018. Incidentally, Shaw featured in that game too, where he made 132 during the course of a 221-run opening stand with Mayank Agarwal.This makes Shaw just the eighth Indian after Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag, Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma (three double-hundreds), Karn Kaushal, Sanju Samson and Yashasvi Jaiswal to make a List A double century.This was Shaw’s second century in the tournament; the previous one, an unbeaten 105, coming four days earlier in a successful chase against Delhi.Shaw was equally well complemented by Suryakumar Yadav, who struck a 58-ball 133 during the course of a quickfire third-wicket stand of 201 that came off just 103 deliveries. Shaw batted through the innings, hitting 31 fours and five sixes. In response, Puducherry were bowled out for 224 in 38.1 overs with debutant legspinner Prashant Solanki picking five wickets.Mumbai, who went winless in the Syed Mushtaq Ali T20s, currently top Group D with three wins in as many matches. Each of the group toppers qualify directly for the knockouts. Puducherry are already out of the reckoning, having lost each of their three games so far.

Zimbabwe opener Kevin Kasuza was taken off the field on a stretcher after being struck flush on the helmet for the second time in two Tests.He was rushed to the hospital for scans and was later diagnosed with a mild concussion.* Although he is stable, medical staff will continue monitoring him. Timycen Maruma has been named as his replacement.Kasuza sustained the blow on the third morning of the second Test against Sri Lanka in Harare when Kusal Mendis nailed a powerful back-foot pull, which hit the side of the helmet of forward short-leg fielder Kasuza, who immediately hit the ground even as the ball ricocheted to square leg, where Carl Mumba took the catch to send back Mendis for 22 off 73 balls.Kasuza was in visible pain and was consequently stretchered off the field by the Zimbabwe medical staff.Incidentally, it was a repeat of what happened in the first Test. Then, too, it was Mendis, who had struck Kasuza on the helmet when he was fielding at the same position on the third day of the match. In that game, Kasuza had not immediately felt the effects of the blow, but suffered a delayed concussion and was eventually substituted out of the match, which was his international debut. As a result, Zimbabwe named a like-for-like replacement in opener Brian Mudzinganyama.While Kasuza has endured a tough time on the field in his first two Tests, he has shown promise with the bat, following up his 63 in the first Test with an equally solid 38 in the second. Kasuza helped see off the new ball in the second Test and set the base for Zimbabwe’s first-innings total of 406.*The story was updated at 13.15GMT with the concussion news.

If England had any doubts about the magnitude of the task facing them over the next few weeks, they will have been dispelled by a tough day in the field in Whangarei.Unable to coax movement from the ball or life from the surface, they were instead obliged to wait for the declaration from a New Zealand A batting line-up containing three men with Test experience. Glenn Phillips, a 22-year-old batsman with more than a hint of Steve Smith about him, recorded the fourth century of his first-class career and England conceded 3.59 runs an over.The loss of Rory Burns, who cut a long-hop to point moments before the close, rounded off the challenge. The appearance of Jack Leach as nightwatchman seemed an oddly negative response. The purpose of such games is, after all, to put players under pressure in order to prepare for challenges to come.Afterwards, Darren Gough – England’s short-term bowling consultant – was full of empathy for his charges. He had his share of such days, after all. But, among the words of support and respect, there was a reminder that the best, as he put it, “find a way” to succeed in such conditions.ALSO READ: Curran set for Test berth ahead of Woakes“The way I look at it,” Gough said, “is that New Zealand’s bowlers, Trent Boult and Tim Southee, bowl at 85mph and they somehow find a way to take wickets on New Zealand pitches. The ball has to swing here, because they are swing bowlers and they have good records. You have to find a way.”Ben Stokes suggested that the pitch was “seriously flat” and that it had provided a useful challenge. “[It was] a bit surprising,” he told Test Match Special, “but that’s a great test for us as a bowling group to be exposed to. It was a great opportunity for us to try a few different things; set different fields, bowl to different plans that we normally wouldn’t.”As ever with such warm-up games, it probably pays not to read too much into the statistics. Many of this England side are now pretty experienced and will not be striving for peak performance in such circumstances. It’s all about being ready for next week.But it was, Jofra Archer aside, hard to see where England were going to find the weapons to damage New Zealand. On these surfaces, with this ball, Kane Williamson looks a desperately tough proposition.Archer’s third spell was probably the day’s highlight from an England perspective. Generating sharp pace from a docile wicket and an old ball, he unsettled the batsmen with some well-directed short-balls. Phillips took one blow to the forearm and was thrown off his feet as he jerked his head out of the way of another. Earlier Hamish Rutherford had been struck on the side of the head by an Archer bouncer, but looked in excellent touch before departing in somewhat unfortunate fashion as he feathered an edge down the leg side.England’s problem, though, is that their opposition know Archer cannot bowl forever. And with no Mark Wood or Olly Stone in reserve, it is hard to build the required intensity from an attack that lacks the pace to sustain Archer’s threat. Stokes could, perhaps, fulfil the role of fast-bowling foil to Archer – he certainly bowled fast enough on slow surfaces in Sri Lanka – but in this game, understandably, was probably holding back just a little.While Stuart Broad struck early, neither he or Sam Curran carried much threat for the rest of the day. Curran came back pretty well after a disappointing first spell but he could face a tough series if he is unable to coax any swing from these balls. Stokes, while expensive, took two quick wickets after deceiving Tim Seifert with what appeared to be a slower ball and then saw Jimmy Neesham play-on as he attempted a forcing stroke. Leach conceded three fours in five deliveries at one stage but only conceded one more in his 26 overs. Again, there is nothing in these conditions for Leach but if he can restrict the scoring rate to 2.15 an over as he did here, he can feel he has done a decent job for his team.One thing is certain: if England are to win here for the first time since 2008, they will have to hold their catches. On the first day of this match, Dom Sibley, at second slip, put down a relatively simple stomach-height offered by Phillips on 27 off Stokes. These things happen, of course, but they are starting to happen just a little more often than can be ignored. Tom Blundell was reprieved on 60, too, when it caught behind off what turned out to be a no-ball, though he was very well caught at midwicket next ball.Joe Root suffered an injury scare in England’s warm-up•Getty Images

There was also an injury scare. Joe Root was forced off the field for a while after landing heavily when diving to prevent a boundary at long-on. He was subsequently diagnosed with a jarred hip, but returned to field well before stumps. It is not anticipated there will be lasting consequences.In the longer-term, Gough felt Saqib Mahmood could be the sort of bowler who could make inroads in such conditions. With his pace, his somewhat slingy action and a willingness to pitch the ball full, he would appear to have the ingredients to reverse this kookaburra ball as Gough once did. “He’s different to the others,” Gough said. “He’s another option when the pitch is flat. We’re working on reverse. He has the natural talent to do it and he’s desperate to be better at it. He’s keen to learn.”Some may point to Curran’s figures and suggest Chris Woakes was unfortunate to miss out here. And it is true that Woakes, with his extra pace, can at least force batsmen on to the back foot a little more readily. He also feels his recently-acquired ability to bowl the wobble seam gives him a new weapon in such conditions. But it’s not as if he has not had chances in such circumstances and it may well be wishful thinking to suggest he would have provided any more of a cutting edge. As Gough said later, while recognising Woakes’ skills, “whether he has to do something different to the past away from home, it will be interesting to see if he gets an opportunity and realises that.” The slightly depressing truth is, after years of playing county cricket on seaming wickets and with a Dukes ball, there are very few England bowlers who will flourish in these conditions.”I’ve not seen a swinging ball in the two weeks I’ve been here,” Gough said, though he did admit he had managed to swing it in the nets. “At about 70 mph. And that’s a big difference. If it swings, it will be for the first eight or nine overs.”Whatever happens on this tour, the influence of Gough has been perceived as a success. The combination of a fresh voice and his vast experience have provided new ideas to experienced bowlers who have probably heard rather a lot of the familiar, somewhat homogenised ECB voices. Gough, positive but prepared to offer some home truths where necessary, has encouraged new ideas. It seems unlikely he will be lured into anything like a full-time role – he enjoys his radio job too much for that – but conversations about future consultancy spells with England’s bowlers are ongoing.

India have called up two uncapped players in Railways medium-pacer Meghna Singh and Baroda left-hand batter Yastika Bhatia for all three formats for their tour of Australia in September and October. The T20I squad includes another uncapped player, 25-year-old pace-bowling allrounder Renuka Singh of Himachal Pradesh.Meanwhile, left-arm spinner Rajeshwari Gayakwad returns after missing the tour of England owing to a knee injury and Covid-19.The 22 playing personnel selected for the Australia tour have been spread across an 18-member consolidated squad for the three ODIs and the one-off pink-ball Test, and a 17-player squad for the three-match T20I series. ESPNcricinfo understands that the selection of an additional player for the tour of Australia, compared to 21 picked for the tour of England earlier this year, was down to allowing Gayakwad and T20I captain Harmanpreet Kaur more time to make progress on their fitness before the warm-up fixture scheduled for September 15.ESPNcricinfo Ltd

Gayakwad, who had been at the National Cricket Academy (NCA) for several weeks for rehabilitation work around her injured right knee, entered the ongoing preparatory camp in Bengaluru directly from the NCA last week, while the first batch of probables had assembled on August 10. Kaur, meanwhile, returned to India last week, having ended her Hundred stint in the UK prematurely owing to a quad injury. She then joined the other four Hundred-returnees in the camp to round out the pool of 35 probables.Kaur and Gayakwad are understood to be clinically fit, but their ability to sustain workload for the longer formats is yet to be assessed, especially of Kaur, who is currently serving a mandatory six-day quarantine in the Bengaluru bubble. Given the squad for the Australia assignment was finalised on Monday, the possibility of deferring a decision on the inclusion of Kaur and Gayakwad was off the table. They are both, however, expected to train ahead of India’s departure on August 29.The injection of pace in Thakur and Meghna aligns with head coach Ramesh Powar’s thrust on widening the fast-bowling pool ahead of next year’s ODI World Cup in New Zealand.Yastika had got her maiden India call-up in March, for the limited-overs series against South Africa in Lucknow, but she warmed the bench all through.ESPNcricinfo Ltd

Wicketkeeper-batter Indrani Roy, top-order batter Priya Punia, and medium-pacer Simran Bahadur, who were part of the 21-member squad that toured England in June-July, have been left out. None of them featured in the playing XI in any of the matches against England.India have also decided to split the wicketkeeping duties, with Taniya Bhatia selected for the Test and ODIs, and Richa Ghosh chosen for the T20Is.Before picking the final squad, the five-member selection panel met with Powar and several senior players in Bengaluru. Selectors Neetu David and V Kalpana are expected to be in the touring party to Australia, where the visitors will serve a mandatory 14-day hard quarantine. Meanwhile, Gargi Banerjee, the India manager for the tour of Australia, entered the biobubble in Bengaluru on Tuesday after a two-day delay, and is likely to be in quarantine through the best part of this week. She was felicitated in Kolkata on Saturday by the Cricket Association of Bengal for her appointment, causing the delay.India will begin the tour with three ODIs, after which they will play a day-night Test. There will be three T20Is to conclude the tour.Only Test and ODIs squad: Mithali Raj (capt), Harmanpreet Kaur (vice-capt), Smriti Mandhana, Shafali Verma, Punam Raut, Jemimah Rodrigues, Deepti Sharma, Sneh Rana, Yastika Bhatia, Taniya Bhatia (wk), Shikha Pandey, Jhulan Goswami, Meghna Singh, Pooja Vastrakar, Rajeshwari Gayakwad, Poonam Yadav, Richa Ghosh, Ekta Bisht.T20I squad: Harmanpreet Kaur (capt), Smriti Mandhana (vice-capt), Shafali Verma, Jemimah Rodrigues, Deepti Sharma, Sneh Rana, Yastika Bhatia, Shikha Pandey, Meghna Singh, Pooja Vastrakar, Rajeshwari Gayakwad, Poonam Yadav, Richa Ghosh (wk), Harleen Deol, Arundhati Reddy, Radha Yadav, Renuka Singh.

Paul Stirling, the Ireland batter, will replace New Zealand’s Devon Conway at Southern Brave, and the availability of Wahab Riaz, the Pakistan quick, for the Trent Rockets means their South African recruit Marchant de Lange will leave the men’s Hundred after four matches and return to Somerset for their Royal London One-Day Cup campaign.Conway, also a Somerset man and one of the more prominent newcomers at the international stage, had a steady run with Brave in the Hundred, getting starts on each occasion. He had scores of 18, 23, 34 and 22 for a tally of 97 runs, scored at a strike rate of 112.79. But in that last game, against London Spirit at Lord’s, Conway took a blow from a Blake Cullen delivery in the fingers of his left hand very early in his innings, and while he finished his innings, he didn’t come out to field.Stirling, the veteran batter, wasn’t at his best when he turned out for Ireland during South Africa’s visit in July for a set of ODIs and T20Is, but brings with him a wealth of experience. Not to forget the exceptional form he was in earlier this year in Abu Dhabi, when he scored ODI centuries against UAE and Afghanistan.de Lange, meanwhile, was one of the bowling stars of the competition, the joint-leading wicket-taker after the first 17 matches with eight wickets, the same as Northern Superchargers’ Adil Rashid and the Rockets’ Rashid Khan.But the Rockets will welcome back their original pick, Riaz, whose participation in the Hundred had been delayed after he reached the UK because of an issue with his visa – he didn’t have a valid work permit – which forced him to fly home, sort it out, and then return to link up with his team. He has completed his mandatory quarantine on his return to the UK, and is available for the Rockets’ next fixture, against Welsh Fire on Friday in Cardiff.The Rockets have had the better time of it at the tournament so far, three wins in four outings giving them a top-of-the-table spot with six points, while Brave are in the other half of the eight-team table, down at seventh place with four points from four games, only above Spirit.

Tamim Iqbal will miss competitive cricket for at least two months because of a knee injury. He will return home from Harare after the ongoing ODI series against Zimbabwe – the third game is taking place today – and miss the entire three-match T20I series as well as the upcoming T20I series against Australia and New Zealand at home.”Tamim will return home alongside Mehidy Hasan Miraz and Taijul Islam from the ODI side,” Minhajul Abedin, Bangladesh’s chief selector, said. “Tamim has been advised to rest for six to eight weeks. He won’t be able to play against Australia [in August] and New Zealand [in September] at home, but he might play against England [in October]. We have asked Rubel (Hossain), (Mohammad) Mithun and Mosaddek (Hossan) to stay back with the T20I side as part of our contingency plan for the Australia series.Related

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“We have to keep players in quarantine for ten days ahead of the Australia series bio-bubble. We want to have as many options as possible as we won’t be able to call up players from outside the bio-bubble.”Iqbal reportedly sustained the injury in Sri Lanka in April, but recovered enough to play the ODI series against them in May. He also played 11 matches in the T20 Dhaka Premier League, but the injury forced him to miss the Super League phase of the competition.He went on to miss the one-off Test against Zimbabwe earlier this month, before saying that he would “manage” the injury and play the ODI series, chiefly because it is part of the World Cup Super League.The decision to take time off came following a recommendation from Dr David Young, the Melbourne-based orthopedic surgeon, who many Bangladesh cricketers, including Iqbal and Mashrafe Mortaza, have consulted over the years.Australia are expected to arrive in Dhaka next week to play five T20Is, scheduled from August 2 to 8. New Zealand are likely to play three or five T20Is in Dhaka starting early September, before England arrive in October to play three ODIs and three T20Is.

India have qualified for the final of the World Test Championship (WTC), setting up a date with Australia for the biggest global honour in the format. Their presence in the final was confirmed after New Zealand pulled off one of the most dramatic wins ever, off the last ball of their first Test against Sri Lanka in Christchurch, by two wickets.The WTC final race had gone into Monday, with the results of both Test matches – in Ahmedabad and in Christchurch – equally relevant. If Sri Lanka had beaten New Zealand, they would have stayed in the race – if India didn’t win in Ahmedabad – but with Kane Williamson hitting an unbeaten 121 and Daryl Mitchell scoring a quick 86-ball 81, New Zealand pulled off a win that didn’t look possible for the longest time, off the very last ball of the game. The result put Sri Lanka out of the running for the WTC final.Now, following their loss in Christchurch, even if Sri Lanka win the next Test, they will only go up to 52.78 points. That will be lower than India’s 56.94 even if India go on to lose the Ahmedabad Test. If they draw – as looks most likely – India will finish on 58.80. Australia have already qualified: even if they lose in Ahmedabad, they will end with a percentage of 64.91.Australia and India are the only teams which have won at least twice as many Tests as they have lost in the current WTC cycle (in Tests which counted towards the WTC). Australia have been stellar with a 11-3 win-loss record so far, with series wins against England, West Indies and South Africa (home), and Pakistan (away). They also drew in Sri Lanka (1-1), with the only series defeat coming in India (assuming a draw or a defeat in Ahmedabad).India have a 10-5 record in this cycle, with series wins against New Zealand, Sri Lanka and Australia (assuming they win or draw in Ahmedabad) at home, and Bangladesh away. They drew 2-2 in England, and lost 2-1 in South Africa.The WTC title contest will take place at The Oval in London from June 7.

Khaled Mahmud, the former Bangladesh captain and current BCB director, has tested positive for Covid-19 and is currently isolating at home.Mahmud, 49, was the Bangladesh team director on their recent Test tour of Sri Lanka and was supposed to have the same role for the home ODI series that starts on Sunday, against the same opponents. He is also a coach in the Dhaka Premier League, which is scheduled to begin on May 31.Mahmud had reportedly tested negative twice after returning from Sri Lanka but tested positive recently, according to a board official. The Bangladesh squad had started training on May 18, after the Eid break, but Mahmud did not join them.The BCB currently has a biosecure bubble in place for the ODI series that has hubs in the team hotel and the Shere Bangla National Stadium where all three matches will take place.The Sri Lanka players were in quarantine for three days upon their arrival on May 16, while the Bangladesh team that arrived from Sri Lanka also had a three-day home quarantine. Shakib Al Hasan and Mustafizur Rahman were in hotel isolation for 11 days after they returned from the IPL that was suspended earlier this month.There have been 1504 new Covid-19 cases and 26 deaths in Bangladesh in the last 24 hours. The graph has taken a downward trend since early April when the country had gone into lockdown due to the second Covid wave.Bangladesh’s third Test captain, Mahmud represented Bangladesh from 1998 to 2006 and played 12 Tests and 77 ODIs. His contributions with the ball – 13 wickets in Tests and 67 in ODIs – were more noteworthy than his runs with the bat, 266 in Tests and 991 in ODIs. He was the Player of the Match in the 1999 World Cup match when Bangladesh upset Pakistan in the group stage. He later took to coaching after retirement and has been the BCB director since 2013.

Najmul Hossain Shanto has been omitted from Bangladesh’s ODI squad for the first two matches of their three-match series against Sri Lanka. Shanto is one of five exclusions from the large white-ball squad that toured New Zealand in March. Shakib Al Hasan has returned to the side and is the only addition in the 15-member squad.Shakib had missed the New Zealand tour because of a thigh injury and opted out of the subsequent two-match Test series in Sri Lanka to play in the IPL. He and Mustafizur Rahman were in hotel quarantine since returning to Dhaka after the IPL’s suspension and started training on May 18 after completing 11 days in isolation.The squad also excludes Al Amin Hossain, Hasan Mahmud, Rubel Hossain and Nasum Ahmed, who toured New Zealand for the white-ball leg. Mahmud and Rubel are both recovering from back injuries, while Mohammad Naim, who played the T20Is against New Zealand, finds himself among the four standby players.Chief selector Minhajul Abedin said Shanto, whose 163 against Sri Lanka in the first Test in Pallekele had brought him out of a batting rut, was dropped due to his ODI form. “Shanto hasn’t done well in ODIs so we thought of giving him a break,” Abedin told ESPNcricinfo.Shanto has just 93 runs in eight matches so far, including 38 runs in three innings in the ODI series against West Indies. He was in the squad for the New Zealand tour but didn’t play any of the ODIs.Abedin was confident that the selected squad can turn things around after their 3-0 defeat to New Zealand and sought to focus on their 3-0 win over West Indies at home in January.”We beat West Indies quite comprehensively in the last home series, so we didn’t change the squad too much,” he told media on Thursday. “We have almost kept every one. The selection panel hopes that we play better cricket against Sri Lanka.”Things are a little different at home and we have done well against them [Sri Lanka] in the past. The team always feels better with the best players. Everyone is fit, and playing in the practice match.”We have kept four standbys with the 15-man squad. They will stay with the team. It is a contingency for Covid-19 situation.”All 19 players are taking part in a practice match in Bangladesh Krira Shikkha Protishtan (BKSP) on Thursday, before having two days of training ahead of the first ODI on May 23.Squad: Tamim Iqbal (capt), Liton Das, Shakib Al Hasan, Mushfiqur Rahim, Mohammad Mithun, Mahmudullah, Afif Hossain, Mehidy Hasan Miraz, Mohammad Saifuddin, Taskin Ahmed, Mustafizur Rahman, Soumya Sarkar, Mosaddek Hossain, Mahedi Hasan, Shoriful Islam
Standbys: Mohammad Naim, Taijul Islam, Shohidul Islam, Aminul Islam Biplob