Beth Mooney wants Australia to “show off our skills” during the day-night Ashes Test at the MCG as they aim to complete a miserable tour for England by claiming a 16-0 whitewash.
Mooney, who was masterful in the third T20I with an unbeaten 94 off 63 balls, conceded there was an element of disappointment in the fact the Test wasn’t a live contest in terms of the Ashes, but on the flip side hoped that it would allow the team to play with freedom.
“It’s going to be awesome,” Mooney said. “We obviously don’t get to pull on the baggy green too often. The pink ball behaves a little bit differently so that’ll create some challenges. I’m just really looking forward to the spectacle of the game to be honest.
“We’re pumped that we’re 12-0 up. It certainly would have been nice if we played the test match while the series was still on the line, maybe earlier in the series, but that wasn’t to be. I think on an individual front and as a group it’s come at a great time for us to basically just show off our skills and really enjoy playing the four-day game.”
Mooney confirmed she will bat in the middle order for the Test as she continues to take the wicketkeeping gloves from Alyssa Healy with Australia’s captain working around the clock to try and ensure she can overcome a foot injury to play as a batter. Mooney’s last three Tests have come as an opener but the workload would be too great for her to continue in that role and keep wicket.
“I take pride in the fact that I can offer the coaching staff and selection panel different options,” Mooney said. “Whether it’s batting order or behind the stumps or in the field. It’ll be a nice challenge for me wicketkeeping and batting in that middle order role, so looking forward to what that’s going to present and hopefully I’m just warming Midge’s spot for a little while.”
Should Healy be fit it leaves Australia with an interesting selection call to make given she has moved down the order in Test cricket in recent years. She would likely have to slot back in at the top alongside Phoebe Litchfield unless the selectors were also able to find room for Georgia Voll.
There is one vacancy from when Australia last played a Test, against South Africa at the WACA, with Sophie Molineux out injured. Georgia Wareham could come into the side to partner fellow legspinner Alana King, although the pink-ball factor may bring Megan Schutt into contention as another seamer. Wareham has only played one previous Test, against India in 2021.
Ash Gardner is expected to be fit after a calf injury kept her out of the T20I series.
The BCB has put its constitution reform committee on ice in the face of an ongoing boycott by the Dhaka clubs. The city’s second-tier competition, the Dhaka First Division Cricket League, has been suspended since January 14 with the clubs refusing to play.
Their protests stem from reports that the BCB’s constitution reform committee submitted a resolution to reduce the number of BCB directors nominated by the Dhaka league from 12 to four. There has been no formal announcement, by the BCB or the committee in question, of such a move. It would require a change in the BCB’s constitution to do this, and it would need to be approved at the board’s annual general meeting.
Either way, the BCB announced on Saturday that it is going to take a look at the committee’s scope of work and terms of reference.
“The board decided to postpone the constitution review committee’s activities,” BCB director Mahbubul Anam said. “This committee could be changed or expanded at a later time. The rest of the activities will take place only after their scope of work and terms of reference are prepared. The terms of reference will be on how they will make the necessary changes to the constitution, how they will do it by involving stakeholders.”
Anam said that the reports of the committee submitting any resolution were unsubstantiated. “They never submitted any proposed changes to the board president or anyone in the board. We have also heard that they didn’t submit anything to the National Sports Council. Many of the changes spoken about isn’t also correct.
However, he said, the BCB wants the whole process to be more transparent. “The BCB directors feel that the process has to be clearer. There’s no secrecy about the constitution. It is a public information. We want to suspend their activities to stop such discussions. The board feels that stakeholders must be involved so we need change and expansion.”
The BCB also announced the names of the board directors who will lead 21 out of its 23 standing committees.
Nazmul Abedin Fahim was announced as the head of the men’s cricket operations committee and the women’s wing. Fahim had threatened to resign from the BCB’s board of directors after a rift with BCB president Faruque Ahmed, centred around Nazmul wanting to head these two committees.
Faruque himself has been named chair of the board’s marketing committee. Akram Khan, Mahbubul Anam and Fahim Sinha have also got roles as chair of various committees.
The BCB has instructed the various newly appointed chairs to form full committees for each of their posts over the next two weeks.
The heads of the BCB’s working committee and security committee will be named later.
Paarl Royals have become the first team to qualify for the SA20 2025 playoffs with an 11-run win over Pretoria Capitals by “just doing the simple things well”, according to local hero Bjorn Fortuin. The left-arm spinner, who is from the Boland, has played all his franchise T20 cricket for teams based at this venue, and understands the secret to success is being able to slow things down.
“We’ve played here quite a bit now, so I’ve sort of tailored a lot of my game plan towards playing in conditions like this,” Fortuin had said after Royals’ win over Joburg Super Kings earlier this week. “I wouldn’t quite call it subcontinent conditions, but it definitely lends itself towards that type of game plan.
“Keeping things simple is a big part of doing well here. In the past, we’ve had quite explosive players. Sometimes they come off, sometimes they don’t. This season, there’s been a lot more consistency, and playing well at home contributes to that.”
The Boland, 50 kms inland from Cape Town, is hot and dry in peak summer, and the surfaces get more difficult for run-scoring as the season grows long. Saturday’s pitch, which was slow and low, was a perfect example of that. Fortuin has spent his early domestic career here and has played five years of T20 franchise cricket for teams based in Paarl: two years with Paarl Rocks in the now-defunct Mzansi Super League, and three in the SA20. He has adapted his game for exactly these conditions, particularly with the new ball.
Fortuin is often used in the powerplay to put the pressure on upfront and usually also make a few crucial incisions. Across the three seasons of SA20, Fortuin’s economy rate of 6.08 in the powerplay is the best among bowlers who have delivered at least 15 overs in that phase. His 20 wickets in the same period is the joint most with Marco Jansen. It includes the likes of Quinton de Kock, Dewald Brevis and Ryan Rickelton (all twice); Devon Conway, Faf du Plessis, Kyle Mayers and Kusal Mendis; and on Saturday, the destructive Afghan opener Rahmanullah Gurbaz.
In another country, Fortuin’s record and reputation might see him walk straight into the national squad. But the presence of Keshav Maharaj and Tabraiz Shamsi means he plays infrequently for South Africa, and has also missed out on the Champions Trophy squad. Fortuin said the snub is “not something I can comment on right now” as he focuses on SA20 success, where Royals have set the pace, particularly with their spinners.
This season, Fortuin has been joined by offspinners Mujeeb Ur Rahman and Joe Root, and left-arm spinner Dunith Wellalage. Between them, they are dominating every bowling stat in the competition so far. Mujeeb is currently the joint-leading wicket-taker in the tournament, while Wellalage and Fortuin have the two lowest economy rates. Root has bowled 16 overs thus far – perhaps more than he expected to – and on Saturday, Royals added legspinner Nqaba Peter in the first all-spin attack in a T20 in South Africa.
Their tactics caught Pretoria Capitals by surprise and helped Royals achieve the second-lowest successful defense in SA20 history.
“Looking at their team, we were trying to find the seamers when we saw the line-up,” Rilee Rossouw, Capitals’ captain, said. “It’s definitely something different. It’s something that we are not so accustomed to, especially here in South Africa. Credit also has to go to their bowlers and how they went about their business.”
That statement might apply to the tournament as a whole. Royals have only lost one game so far – to their neighbours MI Cape Town – and have won all four at home. This is the third successive season that Royals have made it to the knockout stage, but have yet to make a final. And they will be wary of dropping form at the business end, as they have done in the past.
In 2023, they won five of their first eight matches, and then lost two of the last three. Last year, after only losing only one of their first six matches, they finished on a five-match losing streak, including defeat in the knockouts.
“So we won’t count our chickens too early,” Fortuin said. “The past two seasons, we’ve had good starts and then sort of fallen away towards the back end. So we’ll take it game by game.”
The real test will be how they adapt to conditions up country, where three of the four playoffs – including the final – will be played, and the spinners will have less of an impact. Royals have Lungi Ngidi and Kwena Maphaka in their line-up, but neither have played the last two matches (and word from the team camp is that there are no niggles). There are also the likes of Andile Phehlukwayo, Codi Yusuf, Dayyan Galiem and Keith Dudgeon. They will have confidence from beating Capitals at SuperSport Park, and completing the highest successful chase of the SA20 earlier this season, and will travel to Johannesburg next week before the playoffs.
There, Royals coach Trevor Penney expects his seam attack, and specifically Ngidi, who has not played for the last three matches, to step up.
“We’ve got the balance. We’ve got the seamers that are ready to jump in,” Penney said. “With Lungi, we know big fast bowlers like him, they sometimes needed a couple of weeks to get back into that full flow and the rhythm. It’s a tough thing for fast bowlers. He was out [with a groin injury] for like eight weeks. So he’s on a programme where he’s almost back now. So we played him in the first few games so he could get some game time. And I’m sure when we go to the Highveld, he’s going to be straight back in.”
Before that, Royals will sign off from Paarl with a match against Durban’s Super Giants on Monday in a goodbye to a crowd that has ridden the wave of their winning streak.
“They’re very passionate. The nice thing is that they’re actually quite knowledgeable as well, so they appreciate small bits of cricket here and there,” Fortuin said. “You certainly hear it when you’re not doing well, which is a bit of extra motivation as well. The vibe here is incredible. And in the future, I do hope that we can play games here at the back end of the tournament. It would be quite cool to eventually have a home final if something like that happens.”
With a capacity of 10,000, Boland Park is the smallest of the SA20 venues, and has yet to host a playoff game.
Stats inputs from Sampath Bandarupalli
Firdose Moonda is ESPNcricinfo’s correspondent for South Africa and women’s cricket
A game that was fought on an even keel in the first innings turned decisively in Haryana’s favour thanks to a massive second-innings batting effort, led by half-centuries from Himanshu Rana and Nishant Sindhu as they opened up a 32-run lead into a 369-run target. Bengal, sans the injured Abhimanyu Easwaran, were bowled out for 85 in 21.4 overs, with Wriddhiman Saha, playing in his penultimate first-class match, unbeaten on 25. Anshul Kamboj, who earlier in the season picked up a perfect ten, finished with four wickets./
In their quest to spin oppositions out, Pakistan ended up with a pitch that produced 20 wickets on day one. Against West Indies in the second Test in Multan, Noman Ali bagged 6 for 41 and on the way became the first Pakistan spinner to bag a Test hat-trick. West Indies were bowled out for 163, and in reply, Jomel Warrican and Gudakesh Motie shared seven wickets to roll Pakistan for 154.
Speaking after play on Saturday, Noman said “such a match was bound to happen”, given the extreme conditions that were on offer.
“We will try our best [to bowl West Indies out quickly] because it is 1737822928 a one-innings match,” Noman said after Pakistan fell nine runs short of the visitors’ total. “In the first innings, for their last-wicket partnership, the runs that we gave away were a little extra. So we will try not to give such runs again.”
The pitches have been in focus, with Pakistan making it a point to go spin-first in every home Test since losing the first Test to England last October. The first Test against West Indies also lasted only three days despite fog eating into the first day’s play. Pakistan ended up winning by 127 runs.
Noman said this is not something on the team’s mind, since it faced criticism even when Tests went all the way. “Even when we used to have a full five-day match before, fans criticised us a lot,” he said. “We were criticised saying the results are not coming. [But] now the results are coming. If the results are coming in two or three days, then I think [it is fine]. The results have been positive so far, and we’ll try that this match also has a positive result.”
Pakistan had West Indies at 54 for 8, before the tailenders pushed them to 163. In the first innings of the first Test, West Indies had recovered from 66 for 8 to 137. Noman said Pakistan “made some mistakes”, which they will try to avoid in the second gig.
Franklin: Both batting orders finding it difficult
West Indies assistant coach James Franklin pointed out that it’s been a challenge batting for both teams this series. In the first game, only once did a team breach 200, with Pakistan making 230 in the first innings. And today, 20 wickets…
“I don’t think it’s just the West Indies top order; I think both batting orders are finding it very difficult on this pitch,” Franklin said. “There’s a lot of spin, [and] a lot of bounce – sometimes it’s inconsistent as well. So when you go out there as a batter, I think the first 20-30 balls are very challenging to adapt to the wicket. I think you’ve seen batters that can get through the initial 20-30 balls and get 15-20 runs under their belts in their innings, the game all of a sudden looks a bit more comfortable from a batting point of view.”
“We’ve seen that a bit from [Mohammad] Rizwan over both Test matches, we’ve seen that a little bit from Saud Shakeel, [and] we’ve seen it from some of our bottom-order batters being able to do that. We saw that from Alick Athanaze in the first Test.”
Franklin is looking to set small targets for his batters, as they go into their second innings with a slender lead. He said it would be “very competitive” if West Indies end up posting a score in the “high hundreds, 200, [or] 200-plus”. Franklin just wanted his batters “to look at small milestones”.
“You know 30, 40-run partnerships can be quite significant in these Test matches here in Multan,” Franklin said. “We saw that in the first Test, we’re seeing that today. I think if we reflect over the three-and-a-bit days of this Test series so far, there’s only been one huge difference – and that was a 100-run [141] partnership on day one of Test one. Apart from that, it’s been very even-stevens between both sides.”
Cricket Australia XI 214 and 357 for 6 (Ward 120, Clayton 84, Radhakrishnan 58, Cook 3-34) lead England Lions 316 by 255 runs
A Tim Ward century helped Cricket Australia XI turn around their tour game against the England Lions who could manage only five wickets on the third day in Brisbane.
Ward’s patient 120 from 223 balls provided the foundation for the home side to take a 255-run lead into the final day after reaching stumps at 357 for 6.
Essex’s Sam Cook was the best of the Lions attack claiming 3 for 34 from 20 overs to continue his impressive tour, while Jack Clayton was the CA XI’s next best scorer with 84.
Ward set the tone for a tough day for the Lions bowlers as he dug in alongside opener Nivethan Radhakrishnan, who hit 58 from 110 balls, as they sought to blunt the tourists’ threat.
Radhakrishnan eventually pulled Pat Brown, who took a hat-trick in the first innings, to Hamza Shaikh behind square. Clayton then took a more aggressive approach to strike 84 from 101 balls in a 140-run third wicket partnership with Ward.
Left-arm spinner James Coles ended the stand when Clayton edged to Freddie McCann at first slip and, after Ward reached his ton after five hours at the crease, Cook finally prised him out with a faint nick to wicketkeeper James Rew.
Cook struck again in signature style when Hugo Burdon was trapped leg before but the home side had built an advantage to set up the final day.
Mumbai captain Ajinkya Rahane has showered praise on the Jammu & Kashmir fast bowlers who scripted a five-wicket win for the visiting team against the defending champions in Mumbai. Rahane also suggested he had misread the conditions and expected the pitch at the Sharad Pawar Ground to turn from day two, and so stacked his team with three spinners; instead the ball swung and seamed around and Rahane realised “there was no help for spinners”.
Mumbai crumbled against a fairly unknown J&K pace trio of Auqib Nabi, Umar Nazir Mir and Yudhvir Singh in both innings, collapsing to 47 for 7 after opting to bat on the first day, and then to 101 for 7 in the second attempt. J&K were set a target of 205, which they chased down with four sessions left in the game. Rahane said when he saw the pitch before the game, it was the “driest” track he had seen at this ground. But it turned out that J&K read the conditions better and went in with three quicks, who took all the 19 Mumbai wickets that fell to bowlers (there was one run-out).
“When we saw the wicket [before the match], it looked really dry,” Rahane said after the loss which puts Mumbai’s knockout qualification in danger. “Comparatively, the games which we played here previously, this was the driest wicket. We thought three spinners will be the best option. I thought in the second innings the third spinner will come handy. We thought it would turn from day two, but it didn’t. It’s fine.
“I think we were not up to the mark as a team, as a unit. And as I said, you know they challenged us and they played really well, so they deserved to win.”
For now, J&K top the Group A table and have a strong shot at qualifying for the knockouts even as the other games in this round go into day four and with one round of league matches still to go. Mumbai have slipped to third spot, behind J&K and Baroda, and even a victory against Meghalaya in the next round may not be enough if J&K and Baroda stay above them; the top two teams from each group will make the quarter-finals.
While crediting the J&K pace attack, Rahane said he was particularly impressed by the “courage” and “fitness” of the trio. They bowled long spells, sending down more than 90 of the 107.2 overs bowled to Mumbai. On the first morning they troubled the Mumbai line-up with swing, seam and bounce, and once the ball got older they tried short-ball plans to the tail to try and create opportunities.
“I’m happy to see their fast bowlers running hard, bowling in the right areas for a consistent period of time,” Rahane said. “They’re eager to do well for their team. I thought most of them bowled 8-10 over spells and that needs courage and good fitness. So really happy for them, the way they bowled, the way they showed their character. It’s a really good thing.
“We were not up to the mark as a team, as a unit. And as I said, you know they challenged us and they played really well, so they deserved to win.”
Rahane after Mumbai’s loss
“They bowled consistently in tight areas, they challenged our batting line-up, especially in both the innings, so credit to them.
“Frankly, we didn’t expect that ball will seam that much. We thought it will be a good wicket to bat and it will spin on day two but obviously they bowled really well.”
Mumbai came into this game on the back of winning four of their last five Ranji Trophy games with one draw, but the domestic red-ball season was split into two this time with the two white-ball tournaments in between. The Ranji Trophy resumed with this round and it’s possible their momentum was broken. They also had changes in their line-up because of the availability of international stars Rohit Sharma and Yashasvi Jaiswal, which meant leaving out some in-form batters like Ayush Mhatre and Angkrish Raghuvanshi.
“If you see our Ranji Trophy set-up, we had [to make] five changes. We played a different team in the first five-six games [before the break], so it’s tough to analyse this one match because all the guys coming in you know for this game – and all are quality players,” Rahane said when asked if he was concerned about the team’s batting failures in this game. “So one bad game can happen and I’m not too worried about what has happened.
“Sometimes it’s a challenge [to switch between formats], you get used to it. This is not an excuse, but I feel this is a learning for all of us as a team, especially how can we do better. Because I’m sure going forward this will be the format – red-ball, then white-ball [tournaments] and then coming into red-ball again. So this is a learning for us. Win or lose it’s all about what we can learn as a team and how we can get better. There’s still 1% chance for us to qualify. So you never know.”
Vishal Dikshit is an assistant editor at ESPNcricinfo
Suryakumar Yadav won his second toss of the T20I series against England and decided to do the same. He opted to chase when the dew makes the pitch quicker to bat on if not significant enough to make bowling nightmarish. While he dipped into the box of white new Kookaburras to choose the ball for India’s bowling innings, Mohammed Shami continued to sit on the bench, which means we wait for his international comeback some more.
Both captains, Suryakumar and Jos Buttler, expected the pitch to play better for batting than the one in Kolkata, which offered seam movement and grip at the start of the match. India were forced to make two changes, with Rinku Singh and Nitish Kumar Reddy getting injured. Reddy was ruled out of the series even as Rinku is expected to be fit for the last two matches. India brought in Dhruv Jurel and another spin-bowling allrounder in the Chennai boy Washington Sundar. That made it four spinners in the XI.
England were again left with the challenge of quickly assessing the pitch and then putting on board an above-par total for an India batting line-up that has been on a roll. They made two changes too: Jamie Smith took the spot of the unwell Jacob Bethell, and Brydon Carse came in for Gus Atkinson.
India lead the five-match T20I series 1-0 after a comprehensive win in the first game in Kolkata, where they had chased down 133 with 43 balls remaining.
Bangladesh missed direct qualification for the 2025 Women’s ODI World Cup after their eight-wicket defeat against West Indies in Basseterre on Friday. They finished on 21 points in the Women’s Championship table, level with New Zealand who had more wins – nine opposed to Bangladesh’s eight – and secured the sixth and final direct spot.
New Zealand joined Australia, India, England, South Africa and Sri Lanka in getting automatic places in the World Cup, scheduled to be held in India later this year. Bangladesh, meanwhile, will have West Indies, Pakistan and Ireland for company in the World Cup qualifiers. Scotland and Thailand will also join the competition, with two teams out of these six qualifying for the main event.
The third ODI between Bangladesh and West Indies, however, ended up being a meek affair. Batting first, the visitors were bowled out for 118 runs in 43.5 overs. Sharmin Akhter top-scored with 37. Bangladesh were looking good at 94 for 3, before collapsing badly. They lost their last seven wickets for just 24 runs in 13 overs.
Karishma Ramharack took a four-wicket haul for the second successive game, this time conceding just 12 runs in her 6.5 overs. Zaida James took two wickets.
West Indies reached their target in 27.3 overs, with Qiana Joseph making 39 and Deandra Dottin remaining unbeaten on 33. Marufa Akter and Nahida Akter took a wicket each.
Bangladesh’s tour of West Indies continues in Basseterre where they will play three T20Is on January 27, 29 and 31.
Shivam Dube is set to join India’s T20I squad against England as cover for Nitish Kumar Reddy for the ongoing five-match series against England. It is understood that Reddy is out with a side strain, and has been advised four weeks’ rest.
Dube will be available for the series from the third T20I onwards. His last outing for India was in August 2024, during an ODI series in Sri Lanka. He then missed India’s home T20I series against Bangladesh with a back injury. Dube returned to cricket with the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, where he scored 151 runs in five innings at a strike rate of 179.76, and took three wickets at an economy of 9.31.
In all, he has played 33 T20Is for India, for 448 runs at a strike rate of 134.93 with the bat, and 11 wickets with the ball. He was part of India’s T20 World Cup-winning squad in the West Indies and USA last year.
Dube’s most recent outing at the competitive level was Mumbai’s Ranji Trophy match against Jammu and Kashmir, which ended on Saturday afternoon. He was out without scoring in both innings, and picked up one wicket in the match as Mumbai lost by five wickets.
India won the first T20I against England, in Kolkata, by seven wickets with all of 43 balls remaining. Reddy didn’t have much to do in the game: he took two catches, but did not get to bowl or bat as India romped home. The second T20I against England will be played on Saturday evening in Chennai.
