Cricket news round-up – 18 June: Bangladesh stun West Indies; Lungi Ngidi returns for South Africa

Cricket news round-up – 18 June: Bangladesh stun West Indies; Lungi Ngidi returns for South Africa

Shakib Al Hasan Liton Das Bangladesh

Bangladesh beat West Indies by seven wickets; Hamstring tear rules Jason Roy out for at least two games; Eoin Morgan doesn’t rule out Alex Hales’ return; Lungi Ngidi declared fit for New Zealand clash.

Bangladesh stun West Indies

Shakib Al Hasan’s prolific run with the bat and some fine support by Liton Das helped Bangladesh equal their own record of the second-highest successful chase in World Cup history when they chased down 323 runs against the West Indies in Taunton on Monday, 17 June. Hasan remained unbeaten on 124 – his second century of the tournament – off just 94 balls, an innings studded with 16 fours. Das was spectacular too, hitting 94* off 69 as the Bangladeshi batsmen thwarted the West Indies bowlers’ plans of bowling short consistently.

Hasan also crossed 6000 ODI runs and became only the second Bangladesh batsman to achieve the feat after Tamim Iqbal. He’s also the only player from his country to complete the double of 6000 runs and 250 wickets. Iqbal played a handy knock of 48 and shared a crucial 52-run opening stand with Soumya Sarkar.

Earlier, Shai Hope’s 96 and Shimron Hetmyer’s 25-ball 50 lifted the West Indies to 321/8 even as Bangladesh bowlers pulled things back in the final 15 overs – the West Indies looked set for a score in excess of 350 at one stage. Evin Lewis’ 67-ball 70 helped his team recover after losing Chris Gayle for a duck. Captain Jason Holder’s 15-ball 33 pushed the score past 300. Mustafizur Rahman and Mohammad Saifuddin picked up three wickets apiece.

Jason Roy ruled out for two games

A hamstring tear has ruled out opening batsman Jason Roy from England’s upcoming two games – against Afghanistan and Sri Lanka – and he will be assessed continuously in the lead-up to the clash against Australia on June 25 at Lord’s, for which he is expected to be fit. Roy injured his hamstring while fielding and did not come out to bat during England’s game against the West Indies on Friday, 14 June at the Hampshire Bowl. James Vince is likely to replace Roy in the XI for Tuesday’s clash against Afghanistan.

Eoin Morgan tightlipped on Alex Hales’ return

England captain Eoin Morgan remained tightlipped on the prospects of axed batsman Alex Hales returning to the squad should the injury to Jason Roy rule the opener out of the tournament. Morgan said there might be a “stigma” attached to recalling Hales for the World Cup after he was deselected from the preliminary squad for failing multiple drug tests. At the time Morgan said Hales had shown “complete disregard for those [team] values” and that there was a breakdown of trust between the two players.

“We have not considered replacing any players yet,” Morgan told BBC. “But If Ed Smith, the national selector, came to myself and Trevor Bayliss, the coach, and said he felt that Alex was the best option, we would have to assess how that would sit in the changing room and the stigma it would bring with Alex coming back.

“Ultimately Ed gets the final call on who is involved in the 15, so then we would have to address how that would look in our changing room.”

Lungi Ngidi declared fit for New Zealand clash

South Africa received a boost to their fast-bowling reserves after pacer Lungi Ngidi, who injured his hamstring in his team’s tournament opener against England, passed a fitness test on Monday, 17 June and was declared fit to compete in a crucial group stage match against New Zealand on Wednesday.

“I just finished a fitness today and I passed that. So I’m match-fit ready,” Ngidi said. “It’s 100%. That’s how a fitness test goes. If you are not bowling at a 100%, then you are not ready to play, so today was as hard as I could go in match intensity. That’s all that I can bring to the game as well, and that’s what is expected.”