Cricket news round-up – September 8: Australia, Afghanistan press for wins, Bangladesh Women win ICC T20 qualifier

Australia need 8 wickets at Old Trafford to retain The Ashes; Afghanistan are eyeing history at Chattogram; Bangladesh Women crushed Thailand Women in the final of the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup Qualifier; Derbyshire qualified for the 2019 Vitality Blast quarterfinal; and Guyana Amazon Warriors beat St Kitts and Nevis Patriots comfortably.

Australia eye urn

Australia emerged on top at the end of a 13-wicket day at Old Trafford. They need 8 wickets to win at Old Trafford to win the Test, go 2-1 up with a Test remaining, and retain The Ashes. England, on the other hand, need to bat the entire day or score another 365 (they are 18/2) to prevent Australia from dong that.

England needed to score 298 to avoid the follow on. They resumed on 200/5, and reached 301 despite some scorching fast bowling from Mitchell Starc (3/60) and Pat Cummins (3/80). Josh Hazlewood (4/57) went wicketless. England were 283/9 at one point before Jos Buttler (41) took them past the follow-on mark with – who else? – Jack Leach for company.

Australia, reduced to 44/4 by Stuart Broad (2/54) and Jofra Archer (3/45), eventually declared on 186/6 to set England 383. Steven Smith got 82 before getting out while attempting a slog. Cummins (2/8) then reduced England to 0/2 after 4 balls, but Joe Denly and Jason Roy saw through the rest of the day.

Afghanistan lead by 374

With two days left and 2 wickets in hand, Afghanistan lead Bangladesh by 374 runs in the Chattogram Test. The pitch did not deteriorate as rapidly as expected, and the Afghanistan batsmen used their feet magnificently against the Bangladesh spinners to reach 237/8 by stumps.

Having resumed on 194/8, Bangladesh were quickly bowled out for 205 – 137 behind Afghanistan. Mohammad Nabi (3/56) and Rashid Khan (5/55) got the remaining wickets.

Shakib Al Hasan (3/53) then reduced Afghanistan to 4/2 off the first 4 balls. They even became 28/3 before debutant Ibrahim Zadran (87) and Asghar Afghan (50) added 108. Afsar Zazai then took over; he will resume tomorrow on 34.

Bangladesh Women win T20 World Cup Qualifier

Bangladesh Women reduced the final of the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup Qualifier to a no-contest. Sanjita Islam (71* in 60) and Murshida Khatun (33 in 34) added 68 in 61 balls for the opening stand, helping them reach 130/5. In response, Thailand crawled to 60/7 against Shaila Shamin (3-0-9-2), Nahida Akter (4-1-17-2), and Salma Khatun (4-2-4-1).

In the 3rd Place Playoff, Ireland restricted Papua New Guinea to 85/8 before winning by 8 wickets in the 12th over. In the 5th Place Playoff, Scotland (167/4) beat Netherlands (97) by 70 runs. And in the 7th Place Playoff, USA overhauled Namibia’s 84/7 in the 19th over, winning by 5 wickets.

Derbyshire complete top four lineup

Derbyshire won by 7 wickets at Bristol to reach the semi-final of the 2019 Vitality Blast. Matt Critchley (4-0-21-2) and Fynn Hudson-Prentice (4-0-26-2) first restricted Gloucestershire to 135/7, Ian Cockbain scoring 45 not out in 34 balls.

The chase was set up by Billy Godleman (25 in 18) and Wayne Madsen (47 in 33) before Leus du Plooy (29* in 33) finished the chase in 17.1 overs.

Warriors win again, Patriots lose again

Guyana Amazon Warriors won their second match as well, this time against St Kitts and Nevis Patriots at Providence. The tourists put up 153/8 thanks to Devon Thomas (62 in 49 balls) and Fabian Allen (33 in 19). Shadab Khan had 4-0-20-2 and Chris Green 4-0-18-1.

Shimron Hetmyer (70* in 47) and Chanderpaul Hemraj (39 in 24) then helped the hosts cruise to an 8-wicket win with 7 balls to spare.