Cricket news round-up – 19 August: Lord’s Test ends in draw, Sri Lanka take 1-0 lead

The Lord’s Test ended in a draw as the first ‘Concussion substitute’ Marnus Labuschagne fought for Australia. Sri Lanka recorded a fine victory after a high quality fourth innings chase. Indian bowlers had a good practice session against West Indies A. Afghanistan Cricket Board suspended Mohammad Shahzad from any kind of cricket for a year.

Second Ashes Test ends in tight draw

The Lord’s Test match finally ended in a draw as both the teams showcased their best game. England started strongly as the overnight batsmen Ben Stokes and Jos Buttler batted through the first session after a delayed start. Stokes scored his seventh Test century as he remained not out on 115 which helped him to get the Man-of-the-match award. Buttler scored an uncharacteristic 31 of 108 balls and Bairstow scored a handy 37-ball 30 as England declared on 258/8.

Australians were given a target of 267 in 48 overs and they had to face a rampaging Jofra Archer. Archer picked up Warner and Khawaja within first two overs and gave Marnus Labuschagne a sickening blow on the grill on the second ball he faced. Labuschagne was brought in the game as the first ever concussion replacement for Steve Smith and his gritty 59 was the top scorer for the Australians. His controversial dismissal off Jack Leach brought some late drama as Australia lost 3 wickets in the space of 17 runs but Travis Head (42) and Pat Cummins survived 45 deliveries to achieve a draw. Archer and Leach finished with 3/32 and 3/37 respectively.

Marnus Labuschagne steps into history

Marnus Labuschagne, the Queensland batsman and occasional leg spinner became part of history when he replaced Steve Smith as per ICC new rule of ‘Like to like Concussion substitute’. Smith did not pass the concussion Test before the start of the play after getting a terrible blow on the neck on day four off Jofra Archer’s bowling.

Australian team management applied for the replacement on the start of day five and Labuschagne entered as a substitute. He was in the ground throughout the England second innings although he did not bowl his leg spin. While batting he also had a nasty blow on his helmet grill on the second ball he faced by the same bowler, Archer. But he was immediately up on his feet and delivered a fighting 59, the highest score in Australia’s second innings.

Sri Lanka take 1-0 lead in the Test series

Sri Lanka completed a wonderful Test win with a brilliant fourth innings chase. The captain Dimuth Karunaratne led the way with a top class fourth innings century as he also got support from Lahiru Thirimanne and experienced Angelo Mathews.

Chasing 268 for a win, Karunaratne and Thirimanne added 133 runs on day four. On day five Thirimanne left early for 64 but Karunaratne went on to score 122 and became only the fourth Sri Lankan to score a match winning fourth innings century. Although Sri Lanka lost a few wickets Mathews held one end with his unbeaten 73-ball 28 as the victory came with six wickets to spare. The Kiwi spinners were not up to the mark and all the top bowlers could only take one wicket each. With this win, Sri Lanka registered 60 points in the ICC World Test Championship table.

Indian bowlers shine against West Indies A

India’s red ball specialists like Ishant Sharma and Umesh Yadav had a good outing on the second day of the 3-day practice match before the start of the Test series. They were instrumental in bowling out West Indies A for just 181 runs in 56.1 overs. Ishant took 3/21 in his eight overs as Umesh’ 10 overs went for just 19 runs and 3 wickets. Jasprit Bumrah and Navdeep Saini kept the things tight. Among the spinners, Kuldeep Yadav took three wickets for 35 runs. For West Indies A, Kaven Hodge top scored with 51.

Indians batted for 35 overs in their second innings and added 84 runs with the loss of Mayank Agarwal for 13. Ajinkya Rahane had a long haul scoring unbeaten 20 off 95 balls. Hanuma Vihari was the other batsman who scored an 84-ball 48 and remained unbeaten as Indian lead reached 200 at the end of day.

Mohammad Shahzad gets one year suspension

Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB) has suspended the dashing wicket keeper batsman Mohammad Shahzad from ‘any form of cricket’ for next one year. This came as a change from the earlier sentence of suspension indefinitely due to breaching the board’s code of conduct. Shahzad’s breach of policy was notified when he failed to seek permission from the board before travelling out of the country. He was seen practicing in Peshawar, Pakistan where part of his family lives.