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wisden wrote:Another hundred for Kamindu Mendis! Averages 83 now in tests, 922 runs in 8 test matches!

amazing

42ao. I think if South Africa do a Cronje, and forfeit the third innings, we might have an interesting chase set up.

Tall left arm bowler blowing Sri Lanka away? And we all thought it was silly to call up Josh Hull to play against them.

42 , eh. Almost represents a recovery after the collapse on 32... There have been one or two lower scores in Tests : I wonder if any of them took less than 13.5 overs ?

alfie wrote:42 , eh. Almost represents a recovery after the collapse on 32...   There have been one or two lower scores in Tests : I wonder if any of them took less than 13.5 overs  ?

SA being bowled out for 30 in 12.3 overs in 1924 is the only shorter completed innings, as far as I can see.

So what we're saying is the run rate wasn't too bad?

KP_fan wrote:32/5
Amla & Shaun Pollock in break were hanging their head in dismay, lamenting the min 300 that SA should have gotten to
& I was like " Guys your head is in a different bygone era"

There aren't too many pundits worse than Pollock.

Sri Lanka's lowest ever test score. Their previous lowest was 71, which wasn't too bad from a lowest score perspective!

And the lowest ever test score v SA, also.

Safe to say this one's over, and a big step for SA towards the WTC final.

JDizzle wrote:

alfie wrote:42 , eh. Almost represents a recovery after the collapse on 32...   There have been one or two lower scores in Tests : I wonder if any of them took less than 13.5 overs  ?

SA being bowled out for 30 in 12.3 overs in 1924 is the only shorter completed innings, as far as I can see.

Yes indeed ... just researched that stat myself. Had a feeling it was possible SA might have been involved as I knew they were out very cheaply once or twice 100 years ago and more - though it was a bit before my cricket watching time

Had wondered about that record low (26 !) NZ total from 1955 ; but I see they actually batted 27 overs in achieving that milestone : talk about slow death !

Most of the very low/very short innings seem to date back to earlier days : but Ireland were skittled inside 16 overs at Lord's in 2019 ; and India in just 17 at the same ground in 1974. The other recent one of note was India's 36 in Adelaide - but that went into the 22nd...

alfie wrote:

JDizzle wrote:

alfie wrote:42 , eh. Almost represents a recovery after the collapse on 32...   There have been one or two lower scores in Tests : I wonder if any of them took less than 13.5 overs  ?

SA being bowled out for 30 in 12.3 overs in 1924 is the only shorter completed innings, as far as I can see.

Yes indeed ... just researched that stat myself. Had a feeling it was possible SA might have been involved as I knew they were out very cheaply once or twice 100 years ago and more - though it was a bit before my cricket watching time

Had wondered about that record low (26  !)  NZ total from 1955 ; but I see they actually batted 27 overs in achieving that milestone : talk about slow death !

Most of the very low/very short innings seem to date back to earlier days : but Ireland were skittled inside 16 overs at Lord's in 2019 ; and India in just 17 at the same ground in 1974. The other recent one of note was India's 36 in Adelaide  - but that went into the 22nd...

Had to look it up, but England were 23-8 off 13.4 overs in 2018 in New Zealand - so had lasted even longer than that before Craig Overton’s saved the lowest total blushes.

Markram falls for 47, 89-3 lead of 238

I wondered myself whether the SL innings was Test cricket's shortest and did look up the NZ effort of 26 in 1955, although didn't check the 30 made by SA in the 1920s.

So SL lose their "high" low of 71 snd almost certainly this match as well.

.

Well that day couldn't have gone any better for south Africa...at the close...132_3 lead of 281

Anyone only now checking the scores would think "Gosh, Bavuma's been ultra slow" bezfore seeing this was his second knock of the day.

Marco Jansen, ever since his debut against India, has been a real favorite for me. Very happy to see him do what he did. Happy for Temba too. Yet another innings where when looking back some time after, people might say another half-century not converted. But I don't think there are too many current batters who get such tough runs as Bavuma does so often. Mulder is out of the rest of the match, and most likely the series is done for him. Will be interesting to see how SA goes for the next game. Will they go in with Jansen at 7 and get another quick in? Or will they go for a batter instead, most likely Ryan Rickelton? Of course there is a match to be finished, and Sri Lanka had had produced one of the games of the century last time round when they played at Durban. So SA will have to bat well tomorrow and put it beyond them . The track already seem to have slowed down just a touch...

msp83 wrote:Happy for Temba too. Yet another innings where when looking back some time after, people might say another half-century not converted. But I don't think there are too many current batters who get such tough runs as Bavuma does so

KL Rahul does
And you know what...their test records are almost identical

KP_fan wrote:

msp83 wrote:Happy for Temba too. Yet another innings where when looking back some time after, people might say another half-century not converted. But I don't think there are too many current batters who get such tough runs as Bavuma does so  

KL Rahul does
And you know what...their test records are almost identical  

I knew this was coming the moment I posted it, KPF!!
Unlike Temba, KL does it once in a series, and twice a year!

Vishwa Fernando looks a much better bowler from around the wicket...constantly threatening and producing false shots from the batsman....if he looked as threatning from over the wicket he would be a quality bowler...just gets the ball to do something from around the wicket

Watched a bit of game in Durban before lunch.
The pitch has settled but only relative to what it was first two days....and now gripping a bit also.
SL will do better in 2nd inning which means a 200-250 type score when eventually SA will declare with a 550 run lead

Just 516 for SL to get!

SA could have set a target of 550 or 600 but got either bored or there is likely some rain forecast.
99-4 lanka as SA closing in on 12 more WTC points

Imagine 516 should be plenty...

BGT
Talk in tabloids suggest that Beau Webster will debut as the all-rounder instead of Marsh who has a niggle.
Marsh will stay in 11 as a batsman and Marnus goes out.
The order of
Mcsweeny, khawaja, Smith, Head, Marsh, Webster, Carey and bowlers, all looks very flaky with the exception of Head.

Hazelwood also ruled out with a side injury. Boland in the squad is a front runner to get into playing 11
Sean Abbott and Brendan Doggett have been added as cover.
Anyway in my oft expressed view Aussies should have been playing only 2 of their big 3 fast bowlers in rotation for last 3 or 4 years.

Boland nearing 36, Abbot nearing 33 and youngest Doggett nearing 31 are not spring chicken....atleast Abbot can bat and classifies as a bowling all-rounder with a Shield 100.

Some fight from SL today. They started 103/5, but battled up to 271/6...before being bundled out for 282.

SL's tail rivaling VTR's favourites from 1999, with just 17 runs in the 8 innings between them across this test and four ducks.

SA take a big step toward the WTC final and they just bowled SL out in time to, as I understand it, not face possible points deductions for slow over rates.

West Indies v Bangladesh starts later today.

Some fight nack from Lanka chandimal , mending and D Silva to get to 271-6. Came back after 20 min and bowled out for 282.
Hope they can fight a bit but for that pitches gotta be flatter and spin friendly.

Duty is WIndies/Bangladesh broadcast anywhere over here?

Aussies seem to be teetering with these niggles and injuries on top of what happened in the first test - lot of these call ups don't exactly inspire confidence either...this is usually when they pull a rabbit out the hat though

Good Golly I'm Olly wrote:Duty is WIndies/Bangladesh broadcast anywhere over here?

Aussies seem to be teetering with these niggles and injuries on top of what happened in the first test - lot of these call ups don't exactly inspire confidence either...this is usually when they pull a rabbit out the hat though

TNT!

Even with the players added to the Oz squad due to injuries, McSweeney and Josh Inglis remain the only players in the squad under 30. Even then, Inglis is 29.

The other batters seriously considered for the opening spot in Bancroft and Harris are over 30. Neser, injured in the A game, is well past 30 too.

Only Sam Konstas is under 30 from those who seem to have been in the discussion. He does look a fantastic talent to be fair.

It's a very old side.

Jhye Richardson has just played a rare F-C game. He was a Cummins level talent pre injury. It's so sad we haven't seen much of him. This would be beautiful timing for Aussie cricket fans if Richardson could get fit enough to play Tests for a month. A Ryan Harris or Chris Tremlett esque instance of a very talented but injury ravaged bowler summoning just enough working limbs to show what they might have done with a bit more luck.

king_carlos wrote:

Jhye Richardson has just played a rare F-C game. He was a Cummins level talent pre injury. It's so sad we haven't seen much of him. This would be beautiful timing for Aussie  cricket fans if Richardson could get fit enough to play Tests for a month. A Ryan Harris or Chris Tremlett esque instance of a very talented but injury ravaged bowler summoning just enough working limbs to show what they might have done with a bit more luck.

Aus had a pretty good bunch in Jhye Richardson, Kane Richardson, Nathan Coulter Nile, Boland,  Neser and Abbot as the second line in the last 6 years or so
They did not rotate and create a Pool of international bowlers like the Indians have done and Eng is attempting now.
Which means the second line fell apart to focus on Franchise cricket or went past peak except Jhye who was bogged by injuries.
Once you don't break into top tier as a fast or FM bowler at your peak, you lose speed, the grind of FC & Franchise cricket slows you down in self preservation.

Hazlewood out injured is a big setback for Australia. He dismantled India for 36 last time round in the pink ball test and was clearly the best bowler in the Perth test. With Cummins looking short of his best, and the team 0-1 down in the series, its a real bad time to lose Hazlewood. Boland had a very fine start to test cricket, but has been found out a bit since. when he played last, you hit him off his length a bit and he was gone. Lets see what improvements he has made afterwards. Wasn't a standout in the India A game... Indians will have to be proactive to get him unsettled at the outset though...
Shubman Gill in the mean time, has returned to the India nets. He's not yet ruled fit and ready, and it still seems touch and go... If Gill's able to go, that batting lineup discussions will be even more interesting. Will they go Rahul at 3 and Gill at 5 and Pant down to 6? Or will it be KL at 6 with Gill slotting back to 3? Cheteshwar Pujara, former India number 3, suggested that perhaps the skipper should bat 3 and KL up the order. That will still leave open the question of Gill's batting position...

South Africa moving to the 2nd spot in the WTC table. They didn't have it as easy as in the Lanka first innings, good resistance from Chandimal, Kusal mendis and skipper Dhananjaya de Silva. But SA got the job done in the end without much fuss, with Jansen finishing with 11 for the match. A concern for South Africa is that Gerald Coetzee seems to have picked up an injury concern and is a doubt for the next test. Both Lungi Ngidi and Nandre Burger are already out injured, and Mulder got injured during this game. Dane Paterson is an honest trier but is a medium pacer who doesn't quite seem test class. Nortje isn't making himself available for test cricket at this point. Who is the next big fast bowler from South Africa coming through the ranks?

The good news for the West Indies is they've been taking catching lessons. The bad news is their tutor has been the NZ cricket team!

Three drops from the West Indies in the first 20 overs, as Bangladesh opted to bat after a delayed start, on a pitch that is slow and low. 54/2 after 21 overs.

In the warm-up match against the PM's 11, India opened with Jaiswal and Rahul. Sign of things to come? Rohit batted 4 as Shubman Gill is back and batted at 3. Virat Kohli didn't take part in the game as was the case with Jasprit Bumrah. Don't know whether they are trying things out or giving indications as to how they are going ahead. Rohit turned a corner in his test career only since he opened. And until this year, he did a pretty good job upfront across a set of conditions. Will the skipper take the really big call of going back to the middle order?
Rohit's reemergence at the top level started with MS Dhoni's call to make him open in white ball games. And whenever he played for the last decade in a white ball game, he has always opened, despite India having other possible openers, Rahul, Shikhar Dhawan, Some times Kohli and Rishabh Pant. The other opener rotated, but Rohit was always upfront. Will it change?
As I mentioned above, I'd rather have KL opening if he plays. He's surely playing, think the best place to utilize him is upfront, against that new and moving ball. Rahul tends to rediscover the batter with the sound technique when he is united with the opening spot in tough conditions. Perhaps Rohit can move down to 3, and Kohli and Gill at 4 and 5...

Hi msp,
My observations are reaffirmed that GG is not messing up on no brainer commonsensical moves
Once upon a time Rohit was good but recently he appeared shot as an opener in even Indian conditions....and in ultra seaming conditions he will struggle to put bat to ball.
While KL is looking as good as his best so it's a no brainer that he opens.
Rohit can bat at 6 and if he doesn't score even useful 30s, he can be asked to report injured in this series and then arranged farewell during CT.
The other refreshing feature is picks based on visual identification of potential  and so...
Washington ahead of jadeja and Ashwin
Reddy ahead of shardul
Rana ahead of Deep and Deep and Krishna ahead of Mukesh
Good to see Gill.in runs, kohli had an extended knock so he skipped and Sarfarz did not do good to his already rock bottom image

Rohit at 6 won't be a bad call in theory. He started out as a middle order bat, should be coming in against an older softer ball, and at 6, his experience at top should come in handy to face the new ball, and of course with his range of shots, he should be a good bet to bat with the lower order. But the biggest problem is that, we have been already been there, and it was a terrible experience. He just didn't work as a test match middle order bat. Can he reinvent himself at 37? Don't see that happening. Besides, for all that KL Rahul did in the last test match, he's still KL Rahul, the most mediocre test cricketer who has played more than 50 matches as a batter for India in the last 30 years... And that holds true in the middle order or upfront... Has there been a more inconsistent batter with a substandard average having played more than 50 tests as a specialist bat in the last40 years for that matter?
But he has very recent-current form, and he's best used upfront. Will be interesting as to which way they go...

Past notwithstanding
KL had a great test,  will gef to play all5 and looks in good form and if he goes on to have 2 more good tests,  he will be in running to be  test captain jointly with Bumrah for the Eng series.

Rohit on the other hand has 2 to max 4 innings at 6, and if he doesn't cut it he will be out by 4th test and asked to retire after this series.

Bangladesh bowled out for 164 in 71.5 overs. Again, showing grit and tenacity, without doing much scoring.

Seales with astonishing figures of 15.5-10-5-4!

Bowling O M R W ECON WD NB

Seales 15.5 10 5 4 0.31 0 0

Popped up in my Twitter feed that is the most economical bowling spell in last 50 years of test cricket
Jayden seals looked good and with Roach and Joseph(s) they do have a good pace attack the WI & are winning the wooden spoon in WTC

Pretty questionable what Bangladesh were trying to achieve there. Unless it was an impression of England in the 90s

Windies scoring at less than two an over yesterday has done them absolutely no good at all, as they have now collapsed from 85-1 to 118-7.

The days are long gone when teams block their way out of trouble. This used to be the method in the 50s and 60s (and how mind-numbingly boring it was at times). But these days you hit your way out of difficulties.

Bangladesh took 9/76 today and have eked out a small lead of 18. If they wriggle the lead up to 180, I think they've got a good chance.

Scoring is very difficult on a slow pitch with a static outfield. There's good turn as well, although that doesn't aid the Windies much as, again, they didn't pick a frontline spinner.

Bangladesh counter attack and put themselves in charge.

After 310 runs in the first 137 overs of the game, Bangladesh score 193/5 in 42 overs. West Indies didn't have Roach for the new ball and that cost them, although Bangladesh were a batsman light, and Jaker Ali may only have the support of the weak tail tomorrow.

Lead at 211. West Indies will want to keep that below 250, but however the rest of the innings goes from here, I think Bangladesh should be favourites.

Really enjoy watching Nahid Rana bowl - can't help but feel he has many stress fractures of his back in his future with his action, but for the time being he is good fun, and very sharp.
Him, Taskin and Hasun form a pretty good seam trio, with Taijul and Mehidy as good spin options. Nice little bowling unit

VTR wrote:Pretty questionable what Bangladesh were trying to achieve there. Unless it was an impression of England in the 90s

Calling myself out for this comment which has aged as well as Eddie Hemmings' jockstrap. The template is clearly 90s Australia

Great work by Jaker Ali with the bat yesterday, some great shots and it got Bangladesh well beyond what WIndies could chase - Taijul doing the main damage in the last dig ably supported by the seamers.
Another good away series for the Tigers, after their win in Pakistan.

What a shame it is, as far as I can see on their future tours programme, they only play four test matches in total in 2025, with two of them against Ireland at home. In fact they have none of Eng/Aus/Ind/NZ/SA scheduled in tests until the winter of 2026.

If only the ICC really cared about test cricket and producing proper schedules for these nations.

The scheduling of Test cricket at the moment is shameful. If this was football you would get a Premier League in which nearly all the matches played by Man City, Liverpool, Man U, Spurs, Arsenal and Chelsea would be against each other.

TV, money, sponsorship and advertising are the only things that matter now in sport. They dominate the schedules and the players and spectators can go hang.

Impressive win for Bangladesh under stand-in skipper Mehidy Hasan Miraz. Jaker Ali breaking through, Mehidy taking more batting responsibility, the seam bowling unit coming together with a bit of reserves too are the achievements for Bangladesh. But their batting remains rather suspect. Shakib is as good as gone, and Mushfiqur, who anyways is closer to the end rather than the beginning of his career was out injured. But they are yet to find a replacement for Tamim Iqbal at the top and the likes of Mominul and Liton continue to to be inconsistent. If they can find a batter or 2 of decent test standard to add to this lineup, then they should keep delivering results like these on a more consistent basis.

Good win for Bangladesh. West Indies stumbled through not picking a spinner, and the type of wicket was very strange when hosting a sub continent side.

SA 269/7 v SL. Rickleton made his first test ton, but had to rely on DRS after being given out on 98!

Interesting first day that between Lanka and SA. The couple of 2nd new ball strikes just about makes it Lanka's day, but SA has 269 on the board which isn't too bad on the face of things, particularly considering Lanka doesn't have any batting after 7, and the 7 itself hasn't been on the best of form of late.
It was a very fine hand from the much rated, but so far underlivered, Ryan Rickelton. And skipper Temba Bavuma, who never scored 50+ in both innings of a test before the last one, has added another 50 to his name.

What a start for Australia ! Jaiswal pinned lbw for a golden duck...Starc with the swinging magic. Gill away with a couple of boundaries... The hour or so game overlap is going to be testing for me : thank God for the rewind button.

Gill 14 from 18...KL yet to score from the same number. Too much happening. Where is KP_fan to take over ?