England are ready to play the generation game after pairing 20-year-old debutant Shoaib Bashir and 41-year-old seamer James Anderson for the second Test in India.
Bashir, who has been fast-tracked into the XI after just six first-class appearances and 10 wickets, was born five months after Anderson won his first cap at Lord’s in May 2003.
The duo come into a winning team at Visakhapatnam on Friday, with the young off-spinner replacing the injured Jack Leach and the country’s record wicket-taker in for Mark Wood.
Bashir will be the 99th player to make their England debut since Anderson made his bow against Zimbabwe more than two decades ago. Numbers 98 and 96, Tom Hartley and Rehan Ahmed, are the men to join Bashir in a three-pronged spin attack boasting just three Tests between them.
Solitary seamer Anderson is on hand to make up for their collective lack of experience as he lines up for the 184th time.
Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum have made fearless selections a hallmark of their reign as captain and coach but, emboldened by their stirring 28-run success in Hyderabad, this is their boldest move yet.
Yet Stokes, who was first alerted to Bashir’s promise via a social media clip of him bowling at Sir Alastair Cook, insisted it was a straightforward call.
“Bash coming in for Leachy was a simple one: one spinner out, one spinner in,” he said.
“Baz told him. So, when I went up to him, I knew that he knew and he just gave me a big hug. He looked very excited. I’m fully backing him and looking forward to hopefully putting on a grand show.”
Bashir impressed England during their recent training camp in Abu Dhabi and looked assured enough for Stokes to treat his delayed arrival in India, caused by visa hold-ups related to his Pakistani heritage, a non-factor.
Brushing off the disruption of his unplanned trip back to the embassy in London, he added: “There’s no issues for me that he’s been away from the group for a period of time, then come back in to make his debut. It’s not like he’s forgotten how to bowl.”
Sitting at the other end of the spectrum is Anderson, setting out on his 22nd calendar year of international cricket and his first outing since the retirement of long-time partner Stuart Broad.
He showcased his undimmed desire to play a part by throwing himself into substitute fielder duties on the final day of the first Test.
“It’s great that Jimmy is doing good things for the old boys out there,” said Stokes with a smile.
“It’s huge credit to him and lots of people should look up to Jimmy considering he is where he is at 41. Bringing in Jimmy’s experience, and the class that he has, is great for us and I think it also goes under the radar how good his record in India is.
“Considering what Jimmy is known for – ‘the swing king’ and all that – it just proves how good a bowler he is. Taking nothing away from Woody, we just feel like there’s a bit more I can turn to him for. It’s not just picking Jimmy for the new ball, it’s everything else he possesses – his reverse skills, his off-cutter skills and stuff like that.”
Stokes is playing in India as a specialist batter but bowled gently during Thursday’s practice session for the first time since undergoing knee surgery. He plans to return as a fully functioning bowling option during the English summer, when Joe Root’s newfound status as the side’s top-rated all-rounder – as confirmed by the latest ICC rankings – could come under threat.
“I’m surprised but he’s not actually mentioned he’s nipped above me,” Stokes said.
“I always said to Joe he underbowled himself as captain. I told him ‘I’ll make a bowler out of you!'”
Record-breaking Root edges England closer to Sri Lanka victory
Joe Root hit a record-breaking century as England edged closer to sealing their series victory over Sri Lanka at Lord's.
Root, who equalled Alastair Cook's record during the first innings of the second Test, made 103 from 111 balls for his 34th Test ton.
England resumed on 25-1 at the start of day three, with Root leading the way for the hosts and the crowd rose as one when a sweeping four completed his landmark century.
He helped his nation set their opponents a target of 483 after they were 251 all out.
As the light faded over Lord's, so too did Sri Lanka's momentum in their record-attempting chase, with Gus Atkinson and Olly Stone claiming Nishan Madushka and Pathum Nissanka respectively.
Play was eventually halted due to bad light, and called off to be resumed on Sunday with the tourists at 53-2 with Dimuth Karunaratne (23) and Prabath Jayasuriya (three) at the crease.
Data Debrief: Root revels on record-breaking day
Day three of the second Test belonged to Root, whose century was also his quickest in Test cricket.
Adding to his 143 in England's first innings, he registered two tons in a match for the first time, while becoming only the fourth player to achieve that feat in a Test at Lord's.
Root also joins Brian Lara and Sachin Tendulkar in scoring 5,000 Test runs in two different decades, while closing the gap on Cook's all-time England tally (12,472) to just 95.
If that was not enough for him, he also took the catches for both of Sri Lanka's wickets, making him the first England player to reach 200 in Test cricket.
Last Hurrah: Dwayne Bravo to call time on CPL career after this year's edition
Former West Indies all-rounder Dwayne Bravo says this year’s edition of the Caribbean Premier League (CPL) will be his last hurrah as he announced his retirement from the tournament on Saturday.
Bravo, who represents the Trinbago Knight Riders, made the revelation on his Instagram account hours ahead of the franchise’s opening contest against St Kitts and Nevis Patriots in Basseterre, scheduled for 7:00pm.
“It's been a great journey, and I'm looking forward to playing my final professional tournament in front of my Caribbean people," Bravo said in his post.
“TKR is the place where everything started for me and will end with my team,” he added.
The 40-year-old’s post all but indicates the end of a decorated professional career, as he retired from international cricket in 2021 after the T20 World Cup and also announced his retirement from the Indian Premier League (IPL) a year later after being part of four title-winning Chennai Super Kings campaigns.
Bravo, known for his flair and skillful batting and bowling, is currently the CPL’s highest wicket-taker with 128 scalps in 103 games at an average of 22.40 and economy rate of 8.69.
In fact, Bravo is the leading wicket-taker in all T20s, with 630 scalps in 578 matches. He has also scored 6,970 runs with the bat.
No doubt the electrifying Trinidad and Tobago stalwart will go down as one of T20's early legends, having played seven World Cups in the format, winning two titles, as well as over 15 franchise league titles. He is the first bowler to get to 500 T20 wickets.
CWI targets domestic T20 competition in 2025 to identify Caribbean representative(s) for 2028 Olympic Games
Cricket West Indies (CWI) president Dr. Kishore Shallow says plans are already afoot to host a domestic T20 competition next year to determine the Caribbean representative(s) for the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles.
Shallow, once again welcoming cricket’s return to the Olympic Games, pointed out that his administration is already in dialogue with the Caribbean Premier League (CPL) hierarchy to stage the domestic competition in 2025.
Cricket, which last featured at an Olympic Games in 1900, was always set for a long-awaited return to the global multi-sport showpiece, and the International Olympic Committee (IOC) last year confirmed it and four other sports—baseball/softball, flag football, lacrosse, and squash—for the LA Games.
“To add cricket to the agenda in the next Olympics is certainly going to be something tremendous, as we did in the Commonwealth Games a couple years ago when we had one of our teams representing the females. We at the time chose our original women’s tournament, and the winner at the time was Barbados, so they represented the region,” Shallow said.
“We anticipate something similar will be done unless they tell us all the teams can come and participate, which would be ideal, but it is unlikely for that to happen,” he added.
Shallow also explained that the CPL champions cannot represent the region at the Olympic Games given that the tournament is franchise-based and involves players from other parts of the world.
As such, he revealed that he has engaged CARICOM leaders regarding plans for a domestic T20 competition from which the winner or top finishers would secure the coveted Olympic Games spot(s).
“We have been in discussion with CPL for them to fund a domestic T20 tournament starting next year. I think Miles Bascombe and his team have already scheduled a window for that next year in 2025. Once we are able to have that tournament, then we can use that to determine which team or teams will participate in the Olympics on behalf of CWI,” Shallow shared.
“We can’t use the CPL as it is now because it’s franchises. But in the domestic tournament that we’re having, which will still have a commercial model to it but not to the extent of CPL, but that will more than likely be territories instead of franchises, so we will be able to identify teams,” he noted.
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