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Shakib Al Hasan, whose international ban ended late last month, is among 113 cricketers who must pass a fitness test – to be conducted on November 9 and 10 – before making it to the draft of the upcoming Bangabandhu T20 tournament.A total of 80 cricketers, including Shakib, will be tested on the first day at the Shere Bangla National Stadium’s indoor facility, supervised by the board’s strength and conditioning coaches. None of them need to undergo a Covid-19 test, though they have been asked to follow health protocols.The 12-month ban on the star allrounder, for failing to report corrupt approaches, ended on October 29. Shakib is currently in Minnesota, but is expected to arrive in Dhaka later this week.Chief selector Minhajul Abedin said last week that the board wanted Shakib to play the T20 tournament, the second event in the 2020-21 domestic season, which doesn’t have too much cricket as Bangladesh is recovering from the effects of the Covid-19 situation.ALSO READ: The coaches behind the success of Bangladesh’s best playersIn October, the BCB held a three-team President’s Cup, where 46 cricketers – from the Bangladesh preliminary squad for the postponed Sri Lanka series and from the high-performance set-up – were picked. The Bangabandhu tournament is likely to be a five-team competition, beginning in late November, with the BCB, which has been trying to bring cricket back in the country slowly, managing the bio-secure bubbles.It is the board’s continuous attempt to slowly bring back all the domestic competitions one by one, but not without managing the bio-bubble on their own in these two tournaments.Apart from Shakib, 31 Bangladesh internationals have been called up for the tests, including Nasir Hossain, Sohag Gazi and Shahriar Nafees, who haven’t been in the scheme of things for the national team for a long while – 35-year-old Nafees last played internationally in April 2013.The rest of the group is made up of first-class or club-level cricketers who played in last season’s National Cricket League, the Bangladesh Cricket League, and the Dhaka Premier League. Many of these cricketers have been training in the nets and gyms, and some have even participated in small T20 tournaments around the country to stay fit, as they haven’t played any competitive cricket since mid-March.

Dasun Shanaka batted well with the tail to complete his first Test fifty on the second morning of the Centurion Test, and yet, his more significant contribution so far may have been with the ball. Shanaka is a batting allrounder but was required to deliver almost 17 overs after two Sri Lanka bowlers – a third of their serious bowling resources – were unavailable through injury.Sri Lanka are unwilling to elaborate on the extent of Kasun Rajitha’s groin injury, believing that hiding that information confers a competitive advantage – however miniscule. But the early signs are that Rajitha, one of Sri Lanka’s three frontline seamers, will bowl no more than the 13 deliveries he bowled in this Test. With Dhananjaya de Silva’s offspin also officially unavailable due to a grade two tear in his thigh, Shanaka may have a heavy bowling workload through the course of this game.”Kasun Rajitha’s injury is really going to affect us – we all know how well he bowled on the last tour here,” Shanaka said at the end of day two at Centurion. Rajitha, it is worth remembering, took nine wickets at 23.22 on Sri Lanka’s last tour in South Africa. “Dhananjaya de Silva also comes in and bowls when they are batting well, and he dries up the runs for us. He does that job. I think we will feel their absence,” Shanaka said.Related

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Both Rajitha and de Silva are understood to have been tasked with performing the holding role in this Test. Without them in the attack, South Africa scored at 4.4 runs an over through day two, getting within 80 runs of Sri Lanka’s 395, after 72 overs of batting. Sri Lanka’s remaining bowlers were somewhat indisciplined through parts of the day, but where captain Dimuth Karunaratne might normally replace a bowler after a bad over, he was forced to persist with them, due to the lack of resources.”There’s a big effect with the loss of those two,” Shanaka said. “We’ve only got four bowlers, but we’ll have to manage. We have to think of it as an opportunity. More than the number of overs we bowled today, we didn’t bowl in such a a way that we created a lot of chances today. I think that’s why they were able to score quickly.”It’s a big ask for the other bowlers. But we’ll have to come up with a different plan in the morning and get the job done. Tomorrow morning there will be a bit of freshness in the pitch, so I think the 70-odd run [lead] that we’ve got could be enough to get back in the game.”On a personal note, however, Shanaka has already impressed in his first Test in three years. He might not have played this match had Angelo Mathews been fit, but he added vital runs with the tail, hitting a six-laden 66 not out off 87. And in a similar circumstance, it is unlikely that Mathews would ever have been able to bowl 16.5 overs in a day, susceptible to injury as he is.Shanaka may, in fact, have been his team’s most consistent operator on day two. He claimed the wicket of Dean Elgar, and went at 3.32 runs per over – a better economy rate than any other Sri Lanka bowler.”I was really happy to be able to play a Test after three years,” he said. “I think I’ve got a lot more experience now, and I get a lot of support from the team as well. I was nervous but I was able to turn that around.”

England are unlikely to need any reminders about the physical challenge that their four-Test series in India will pose this month after four tough weeks in the Sri Lankan heat, but a picture Nick Compton posted on Instagram recently might serve as one all the same.Compton captured Matt Prior collapsed in a chair in the Nagpur dressing room during the drawn fourth Test of England’s 2012 tour, which sealed a 2-1 series win – England’s first in India since 1984-85. With his head on the armrest, Prior appears overcome by the exhaustion of his efforts in the series.

Shane Watson, the Australian Cricketers’ Association president, believes Cricket Australia should re-examine the notion of private ownership of BBL clubs, a decade after the governing body’s initial “float” of stakes in the T20 league met a quiet end.Private ownership of BBL clubs, the tournament model favoured by a large portion of overseas domestic leagues including the IPL, PSL, CPL and BPL, was a contentious issue at the time CA elected to move towards new identities for eight T20 teams, with a prospectus drawn up and a business mission taken to India to gauge private interest in the idea. Some of the initial structures of the BBL clubs, namely the independent boards and chief executives of the Melbourne Stars and Melbourne Renegades, were drawn up partly with private investment in mind.CA’s executives, led by the then CEO James Sutherland and former head of strategy Andrew Jones, were cooler about the idea than some members of the CA board, and the idea fizzled out as the league was launched on a trajectory towards securing a far larger slice of an A$1.2 billion broadcast rights pie in 2018. Three years on, with CA embroiled in a battle with Seven West Media over the network’s campaign for a discount to its fees and Covid-19 affecting events more broadly, Watson reckons the concept should be revisited.Related

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“Yes, it 100% needs a revisit, and it’s a way to continue to get a cash injection as well,” Watson told ESPNcricinfo. “Obviously they’d need to set things up to put things in place to make sure CA still have control that they desire across the franchises and the playing group, but absolutely, it’ll bring in an influx of different people, new money as well, to be able to continue to grow the game. So I think that absolutely would be a big step forward.”There are plenty of other backers of private investment around the ACA board table: chairman Greg Dyer and director Neil Maxwell – also a Cricket New South Wales board member – have both publicly advocated for the concept in the past. Others with considerable knowledge of the area include the NSW Cricket chairman John Knox, who in his former role with Credit Suisse drew up the prospectus when privatisation was first mooted in 2010-11. Much of the opposition to private investment focused on differing priorities between team owners and governing bodies.Other models are emerging however. Private equity investment, as is currently being explored by New Zealand Rugby to exploit the All Blacks brand, presents the opportunity to somewhat tilt the balance in negotiations over a whole range of commercial areas for a club or tournament.”I’ve seen it in a lot of the tournaments I’ve played in, one thing when you have private owners is it brings in a new type of person, a new type of industry, new money streams into a very traditional cricket environment,” Watson said. “It’s the same sort of sponsors, the same people who’ve always been around cricket in Australia for example, so if you open it up to privatisation it means you’re getting some very successful people or business with different ideas on how to be able to expand things, make them better, challenge the status quo.”Not just from a financial point of view but also just from a brand and evolution point of view. I’ve always been very surprised it hasn’t been something that CA have looked at, and gone for. I’ve seen it work so incredibly well in the IPL and the PSL for example, because it brings in new, successful people, new money into something that’s been, in CA’s case, the same sort of status quo for a long period of time.”Speaking on other issues around the game, Watson expressed his disappointment that dressing room questions about the mentoring style of the coach Justin Langer had reached the public domain, but said that it was incumbent on administrators to be “proactive” about how the national team’s leaders were operating relative to the ever-changing nature of the dressing room.”The biggest thing is having the right person at the right time, the right coach or the right captain at the right time,” Watson said. “People retire, people come in and out of the team and as soon as a couple of people move in and out of the team, that can change the whole dynamic of what’s required from a coaching or leadership perspective. That’s where we have to make sure we are really proactive, because when the decision-makers aren’t proactive around what’s required right now, that’s when we can get into trouble.”Watson noted that it was vital for the game’s custodians to be aware also that – whatever might be said publicly – leadership roles in Australian cricket were highly sought-after as prizes with rich rewards for their holders, meaning that it was critical that open discussions were had about whether anyone might be hanging onto them for too long.”That is one of the biggest things – are the people who want to be the captain of Australia doing it because that’s just been their whole goal and that’s all they want, and they’ll do anything they can to get to the top, and that’s not just in the Australian cricket team, that’s leadership in general,” he said.”What are the reasons why you want to be in the top position, is it because it’s all about you and you’ve always wanted that and you’ll just make sure you get there and then you make sure you stay there. For all different reasons, whether it’s sponsorship or marketing, whether it’s just because you love being the main man.Or whether it’s the other side of things: you love helping people, you love getting the best out of them, you weren’t chasing it, but once you got an opportunity, then you loved helping people out and guiding people. The person who stands out straight away to me there is Ricky Ponting; he was never chasing the captaincy, a great team man, but then when he got it, yes he was a leader, but he still cared about others, it wasn’t just about him.Shane Watson has branched out into producing cricket equipment•T20stars

“For some of these coaches, [Australia] is a huge job. You’re the one who’s pointing the ship of Australian cricket in one direction, you’re making the call, that’s your vision filtering down through all the layers. You’re dealing with the media, with the board, with the playing group to get the best out of them, and then your coaching staff as well. So of course, the coach of Australia does get paid incredibly well, and there’s no question that’s going to be one of the reasons why some people hang in a bit longer, because it’s such a big carrot dangling in front of them.”In addition to his ACA role, Watson has ventured into the bats and equipment game, arguing he is trying to “break the model” of established brands and high overheads with a direct-to-customer model based largely upon online sales under the T20 Stars umbrella with which he has also launched a podcast.”I’ve always been a cricket gear tragic since I was a kid, so I’m very particular about every little detail of my gear,” he said. “When it comes to challenging the pricing model that’s out there, it’s just something that when I really started to dig into it I had the realisation of just how expensive cricket gear has got from when I first started playing in my early years. My parents certainly weren’t wealthy, they just got together enough money for me to be able to feel like I never went without.”But nowadays there’s no way they could’ve afforded the top of the range gear. So when I dug into why things have got so expensive, there is a really simple way to be able to break that model down, which is going direct to consumer…and that means the people buying the equipment because they want to get into the game, can actually get it more affordably, just because it’s going directly to them.”The biggest challenge is that everyone’s used to going to cricket shops to try the gear and feel the bats. Absolutely there has to be a way for people to touch and feel the gear as well. I’m getting some guys I played cricket with around the states to be like the agents to get gear into people’s hands, and in Sydney I’ll be getting out to schools and clubs to allow them to see the products.” Shane Watson’s cricket equipment is available at shop.t20stars.com

South Africa’s left-arm wristspinner Tabraiz Shamsi has risen to a career-best second position in the ICC T20I rankings for bowlers, following his four-wicket haul against Pakistan in Lahore. Shamsi was the joint leading wicket-taker in the three-match series, picking up six scalps at an average of 10.16 and an economy rate of 5.08. He went past Adam Zampa, Adil Rashid and Mujeeb ur Rahman on the list, and is now just three points behind Afghanistan’s Rashid Khan, who occupies the top spot.Related

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For Pakistan, wicketkeeper-batsman Mohammad Rizwan was the biggest mover, jumping up 116 slots to 42nd position in the T20I batting list. Rizwan was the leading run-scorer in the series, having hit 104*, 51 and 42 in the three matches. Rizwan had also been named the Player of the Series in the recently concluded Tests.The other Pakistan players to get a boost were Haider Ali (137th), Shaheen Afridi (11th), Hasan Ali (82nd), Mohammad Nawaz (64th) and Usman Qadir (92nd).Fast bowler Dwaine Pretorius, who shared the wicket-taking honours with Shamsi, also made a significant climb in the rankings, moving from 121st to 51st on the list; his previous best ranking was 107th. Reeza Hendricks’ 98 runs in the series lifted him to 17th in the rankings, while David Miller, who smashed an unbeaten 85 in the second match, gained seven places to take the 22nd position. England’s Dawid Malan is still the top-ranked batsman in the T20I list.Pakistan, despite winning the series 2-1, remained in fourth position in the T20I ranking list with 260 points, while South Africa stayed at fifth with 259.

Stand-in captain Tom Latham’s fifth ODI hundred and Devon Conway’s maiden ODI half-century helped New Zealand beat Bangladesh by five wickets at the Hagley Oval and seal the three-match ODI series with a game to spare. Bangladesh put in a much-improved performance, both with bat and ball, but their fielding let them down as New Zealand chased down the target with ten balls to spare.Earlier, contrasting half-centuries from Tamim Iqbal and Mohammad Mithun steered Bangladesh to 271 for 6. Iqbal started cautiously, weathering swing, seam and bounce against the new ball to lay the platform with his 78 off 108 balls. Mithun, batting at No. 5 and coming to the crease in the 31st over, was aggressive right from the start. His unbeaten 73 off 57 balls was instrumental in Bangladesh scoring 88 in the last ten overs.

Jamieson fined 15% of match fee

The ICC has fined the fast bowler 15% of his match fee for “showing dissent at an Umpire’s decision” during an international match. He was also given one demerit point. Jamieson’s fine was for the incident in the first innings where Tamim Iqbal was given not out by TV umpire Chris Gaffaney after the bowler had taken a catch off his own bowling.

Martin Guptill started New Zealand’s chase briskly, hitting three fours and six, before failing to read Mustafizur Rahman’s slower ball and offering the bowler a return catch. Soon after, offspinner Mahedi Hasan bowled Henry Nicholls and Will Young in his successive overs to reduce New Zealand to 53 for 3. However, a gritty 113-run fourth-wicket stand between Latham and Conway took the game away from Bangladesh.The two put their heads down, soaking the pressure, playing the dots as Bangladesh deployed spin from both ends. Only two boundaries came between overs 11 and 25, both coming from Latham’s bat, as the required rate climbed to 6.60.Bangladesh knew they needed wickets and therefore brought back Mahedi in the 26th over. Latham and Conway also realised they needed to press on. Latham stepped out to Mahedi and aimed for a big hit only to mistime it. Luckily for New Zealand, it landed well short of long-off.Conway reverse-swept the next ball for four. The following one went down the leg side for five wides. Mahedi, who had conceded only 14 from his six overs until then, ended up leaking 13. The momentum had shifted.Devon Conway had to navigate a tricky chase•AFP/Getty Images

Conway brought up his half-century off 72 deliveries as he and Latham took New Zealand past 150. Their stand was broken when, with 106 required from 99 balls, Conway went for a quick single to mid-off but couldn’t beat Iqbal’s direct hit.But after that Bangladesh’s fielding nose-dived. Mushfiqur Rahim dropped James Neesham off Taskin Ahmed when the allrounder was on 3. Three balls later, Mithun, at cover, failed to get his fingers underneath Latham’s push. The batsman smashed the next ball for four to rub it in. In the next over, Latham offered a straightforward return chance to Mahedi but the ball slipped from his fingers. Latham was on 58 at that point.Taskin’s next over started with four leg-byes, followed by Latham hitting three successive fours. He and Neesham added 76 in 71 balls before Neesham holed out to long-on against Mustafizur. But by then the equation was down to 30 required from 27 balls. Latham pulled Taskin for four to get to his hundred in 101 balls and along with Daryl Mitchell took New Zealand over the line without further hiccups.Bangladesh’s start though was anything but promising as Matt Henry dismissed Liton Das for a duck in the second over of the match. Soumya Sarkar joined Iqbal in the middle but with Trent Boult taking the ball away and Henry bringing it back, the two left-handers found it difficult to score freely. That both Boult and Henry also slipped in an occasional bouncer meant the batsmen couldn’t commit on the front foot either.Eventually, it was Iqbal who broke the shackles. After Bangladesh had crawled to 14 for 1 in seven overs, he struck three fours in one Henry over as the seamer erred on either side of the wicket.Iqbal had moved to 34 when he drove one back at Kyle Jamieson in the 15th over. The ball went almost parallel to the ground but Jamieson, six feet and eight inches tall, swooped low to his left in his followthrough and grabbed it with both hands. New Zealand thought they had got their man. So did umpire Chris Brown, soft-signalling it out while referring upstairs. But TV umpire Chris Gaffaney deemed that while the catch was clean, Jamieson wasn’t in control of his movements when he fell forward and the ball came in contact with the ground. Jamieson, who thought otherwise, threw his hands up when the big screen flashed “Not Out”.Mohammad Mithun played some eye-catching shots as finisher•AFP/Getty Images

Tempers flared further in the next over when Iqbal punched a delivery back to James Neesham. The bowler had a shy at the stumps but ended up pinging Iqbal on the arm as the batsman turned to get back in his crease. Neesham apologised and even checked on him but Iqbal ignored him. Instead, he had an animated conversation with the umpire after being tended to by the physio.Once the ball became a bit older, Sarkar too opened up, cutting Mitchell Santner for four before launching Mitchell over long-on for a six. He and Iqbal added 81 in 110 balls for the second wicket before Santner got Sarkar stumped for 32. In a pre-meditated attempt to step out, Sarkar showed his cards early, allowing the left-arm spinner to bowl it down the leg side. Sarkar ran past it and had no chance of returning as Latham broke the stumps.Iqbal brought up his fifty off 84 balls and looked set to dictate terms, hitting Santner for back-to-back fours. Luck too seemed to favour Iqbal as a miscued pull just cleared mid-on and reached the boundary line. However, a moment of brilliance from Neesham saw his back when Rahim dropped one adjacent to the stumps and looked to pinch a single. Iqbal responded but Neesham was quick to the ball in his followthrough and kicked it on to the stumps with his left foot to find Iqbal short.Rahim and Mithun kept took the side close to 200 before Rahim fell to Santner in the 41st over. New Zealand could have had Mithun in the next over but Guptill, after making a brilliant stop at point, missed the direct hit and Mithun made full use of that reprieve.Pulling, cutting, scooping and reverse-sweeping on his way, Mithun ensured the scoring rate didn’t dip. With a six off a chest-high full toss from Neesham, he brought up his fifty in 42 balls before smashing the following free hit inside-out for four to wide long-off. Mithun got another life when he flicked Boult towards deep-backward square leg but Mitchell failed to hold on to a low catch.Bangladesh though paid back those fielding lapses with interest.