Cricket news round-up – January 22: Mendis, Mathews take centrestage, Dhawan to miss New Zealand tour, Ishant uncertain

Angelo Mathews and Kusal Mendis put Sri Lanka on top in the first Test against Zimbabwe; Shikhar Dhawan will miss the T20Is and ODIs in New Zealand, while Ishant Sharma may miss the Tests; Quinton de Kock has been appointed South Africa’s ODI captain; and India and Bangladesh won their respective matches in the Under-19 World Cup.

Mathews, Mendis dominate Day 3

Kusal Mendis (80) and Angelo Mathews (92*) took Sri Lanka to 295/4 at the end of Day 3. They now trail by just 63 in the first innings, but to be fair, the young, inexperienced Zimbabwean side had done a splendid job of keeping the run rate under 3.

Mendis added 60 for the second wicket with Dimuth Karunaratne (37) and 92 more with Mathews. Mathews himself batted for 5 hours, adding an unbroken 68 for the fifth wicket with Dhananjaya de Silva (42*). Debutant Victor Nyauchi has 2/38.

Dhawan out of New Zealand tour, Ishant uncertain

Shikhar Dhawan has been ruled out of the New Zealand tour following a Grade Two shoulder injury he sustained during the third ODI against Australia, at Bengaluru. Dhawan will be replaced by Sanju Samson for the T20Is and uncapped Prithvi Shaw for the ODIs.

Ishant Sharma, too, had picked up a Grade Three tear in his ankle while appealing during the ongoing Ranji Trophy match against Vidarbha. He has been advised rest for six weeks, which means he is likely to miss the New Zealand tour as well. However, no replacement has been named yet.

De Kock to lead South Africa

South Africa have named Quinton de Kock as their captain for the upcoming ODI series against England. They have also included five uncapped players, in Lutho Sipamla, Sisanda Magala, Bjorn Fortuin, Beuran Janneman Malan, and Kyle Verreynne.

Quinton de Kock (c & wk), Reeza Hendricks, Temba Bavuma, Rassie van der Dussen, David Miller, JJ Smuts, Andile Phehlukwayo, Lutho Sipamla, Lungi Ngidi, Tabraiz Shamsi, Sisanda Magala, Bjorn Fortuin, Beuran Hendricks, Janneman Malan, Kyle Verreynne.

Hat-trick for Rakibul, Bangladesh Under-19s win

Bangladesh beat Scotland by 7 wickets in the Under-19 World Cup. Opting to bat, Scotland were bowled out for 93 in 30.3 overs. Only three of their batsmen reached double figures, Uzzair Shah top-scoring with 28. Left-arm spinner Rakibul Hasan led the rout with 4/20, doing the hat-trick in the 24th over of the innings.

Bangladesh chased down the target inside 17 overs, though not before Sean Fischer-Keogh took 3/27. Parvez Hossain Emon got a 15-ball 25 at the top, while Mahmudul Hasan Joy remained unbeaten on 35.

India Under-19s win inside 28 overs

India beat Japan by 10 wickets in the other match of the day. Opting to bowl, India bowled out Japan for 41 after reducing them to 19/7 at one stage. Ravi Bishnoi led the rout with 4/5 (4/0 at one stage), while Kartik Tyagi took 3/10. Not a single Japan batsman went past 7.

Yashasvi Jaiswal (29* in 18) and Kumar Kushagra (13* in 11) then chased down the target inside 5 overs.