[Lord Snooty]

Never in doubt.

[Ska'dForLife-WBA]

I know it's not everyone's cup of tea, but still sad (though completely understandable) to see the IPL indefinitely suspended due to the Covid situation in India. Foreign players will be returning home immediately; after quarantine, they'll presumably become available for county matches again. Can only hope India pulls through this relatively quickly with the help of the rest of the world.

[Ska'dForLife-WBA]

Provisional schedule released for the Ashes next winter.


First Test: 8-12 December - Gabba, Brisbane (00:00 GMT)

Second Test: 16-20 December - Adelaide Oval, Adelaide (d/n - 04:00 GMT)

Third Test: 26-30 December - MCG, Melbourne (23:30 GMT, 25 December)

Fourth Test: 5-9 January - SCG, Sydney (23:30 GMT, 4 January)

Fifth Test: 14-18 January - Optus Stadium, Perth (02:30 GMT)

[Ska'dForLife-WBA]

After losing by one run for the first time ever back in May, Northants are making history for all the wrong reasons again. Their match against Essex has just become the shortest ever completed County Championship game of the four-day era, with them losing in 96.3 overs, beating the previous record from 1999 by 13 overs. Northants were 81 all out on the first day, Essex 170 all out in reply, Northants then bowled out for 45 in the first hour of the second day for an innings defeat.

[Ska'dForLife-WBA]

New Zealand's Ajaz Patel makes history as the third player ever to take all ten wickets in a Test innings, joining the exclusive Laker/Kumble Club. With India batting again now, he's theoretically got the opportunity to take all twenty in the match, though I suspect they'll ruin the party with a declaration sooner or later.

[themaclad]

Gets 10 wickets in a losing cause

[Ska'dForLife-WBA]

Fourteen wickets in the match overall for Patel, which is still a magnificent achievement. Only twelve Test bowlers in history have ever bettered that haul, while another dozen have equalled it. Frederick Spofforth, Alec Bedser, Billy Bates, Imran Khan, Jasubhai Patel, Sydney Barnes, Michael Holding, Anil Kumble, Rangana Herath, Yasir Shah, Chaminda Vaas and Clarrie Grimmett are the other players who took 14.

[Ska'dForLife-WBA]

Fabulous story unfolding at Mount Maunganui, where Bangladesh stand on the verge of their first ever Test win in New Zealand. Part-timer Ebadot Hossain, who mainly plays volleyball and has a day job with the Bangladesh airforce, took three wickets in seven balls yesterday to run through the Kiwi top order, has added another two this evening to become the first Bangladesh player since 2013 to claim a Test five-fer, and NZ are now 169-9 with a lead of just 39.

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And now Taijul has taken a sensational over-the-shoulder diving catch on the boundary to dismiss Boult! Ebadot Hossain finishes with 6-46, having had a career average in the 80s up till now. Bangladesh need 40 to win, New Zealand need a miracle.

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If they succeed, this'll be a first Test win over New Zealand at the sixteenth attempt, a first win on NZ soil in any format, a first Test win over a top-five side away from home (their previous five away wins against Zimbabwe, Sri Lanka and West Indies), and an end to New Zealand's seventeen-match unbeaten run at home.

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Early wobble: Shadman Islam caught behind for 3 off Southee, Bangladesh 3-1.

[Ska'dForLife-WBA]

Mushfiqur wraps it up with a boundary, Bangladesh chalk up a historic win by 8 wickets. Now to work out how we can award British passports to the Tigers starting XI before the next Ashes series.

[Ska'dForLife-WBA]

Virat Kohli resigns his captaincy of India after seven years, effective immediately. No indication of why, beyond a Twitter statement declaring that he can't continue in the role if he's unable to give it 120%, but he quits with the fourth-best win record of any Test captain in history. Not everyone's cup of tea, but he's a fantastic player and competitor who's done wonders both for India and for Test cricket as a whole. Hopefully his playing career will continue for a good few years yet.