Cricket news round-up – February 13: Lungi Ngidi stars as South Africa pull off win in thriller against England

Lungi Ngidi helped South Africa snatch victory from the jaws of defeat in a thrilling opening T20I against England. Elsewhere, Mahmudullah’s future in Tests look dicey, Robin Singh is brought into the UAE set up, and Glenn Maxwell is ruled out.

South Africa sneak win in thriller

Lungi Ngidi defended seven runs in the final over of a tense chase as South Africa won the first T20I by a run to go 1-0 up in the three-match series.

England were well on track when Jason Roy was on a hitting spree, but his dismissal in the 15th over for a 38-ball 70 triggered a slide from which England never recovered.

Ngidi ended with 3/30, two of those wickets coming in the last over, as South Africa defended their 177/8 successfully.

Mahmudullah’s position in Test team under scanner

Bangladesh middle order batsman Mahmudullah looks set to be axed from the Test team following Bangladesh’s drubbing against Pakistan in the first Test.

Cricbuzz has reported that coach Russell Domingo moved to inform the player to reconsider his future in the longest format and that he wasn’t in the fray for the immediate future.

Mahmudullah will now be asked to focus on limited-overs cricket – he is captain of the T20I side – and will likely be left out of the Test against Zimbabwe later this month.

Robin Singh named UAE director of cricket

Former India all-rounder Robin Singh has been UAE’s director of cricket after the Emirates Cricket Board sacked the coach Dougie Brown.

Brown was sacked despite taking UAE to the brink of qualification to the T20 World Cup in the qualifiers, despite the team being hit by a fixing handle that saw to the suspension of a few senior players.

Robin Singh, meanwhile, brings plenty of coaching experience to the table, including with Hong Kong and USA as well as T20 franchises, chiefly Mumbai Indians.

Glenn Maxwell ruled out of South Africa tour

Australia will miss their star all-rounder Glenn Maxwell for the upcoming tour of South Africa after he sustained an injury to his left elbow.

He will be replaced by D’Arcy Short in both the ODI and T20I squads, with Maxwell needing surgery to fix the issue on the elbow.

Maxwell’s recovery will sideline him for anything between six to eight weeks, meaning he could miss the opening stages of the IPL.