August 30, 2024

Andrew Flintoff to Replace Marcus Trescothick for England’s Third Test Against Sri Lanka

Marcus Trescothick will take a brief break after the second Test before joining the white-ball squad for the first T20I against Australia. Meanwhile, Andrew Flintoff will help England’s batters prepare for their third Test against Sri Lanka at The Oval next week. Flintoff, who has been part of England’s white-ball setup for the past year, will not be involved in the upcoming T20I and ODI series against Australia. He recently served as a head coach in the Hundred, where his team, the Northern Superchargers, finished fourth.

Flintoff will join the Test squad on Wednesday for two training days and will assist Brendon McCullum’s staff during the third Test. His role is temporary, and he will not be part of the winter tours to Pakistan and New Zealand.

Marcus Trescothick will take a short break after the second Test at Lord’s, which ends on Monday. He’ll then join his white-ball squad to prepare for the first T20I against Australia at the Utilita Bowl near Southampton on September 11. His support team will be mostly the same as Matthew Mott’s, with the temporary addition of England Under-19s coach Michael Yardy.

Trescothick has not yet decided whether he will apply for the permanent white-ball head coach position. “I’m still very focused on the batting stuff with the Test team,” he told Sky Sports on Friday. “I’m going to let this play out and see what happens for this period of time, and see how much I enjoy doing the head coach’s role and then go from there really. I’m quite open to the idea of seeing what’s going to happen.”

Trescothick will work alongside Jos Buttler, his old Somerset team-mate, who has been backed to continue as captain but may relinquish the wicketkeeping gloves in the T20Is. “It’s definitely something we’ll think about,” Trescothick said, “because we can try different options, give it a go for a period of time and see what reaction it has on his captaincy and on the team.

“For whatever reason, there were a tough couple of World Cups that they had in the meantime and we’ve come out of those not feeling too great about our one-day cricket. But it’s still in a really good place, and Jos is going to lead that forward for a period of time at the moment – and I don’t see it changing.”

Surrey Close to Signing Shakib Al Hasan for One County Championship Match

Shakib Al Hasan, the Bangladesh allrounder, could play a County Championship match for Surrey starting September 9 against Somerset in Taunton. The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) has given him permission for this match before he heads to Chennai for Bangladesh’s Test series against India, beginning on September 19. Surrey will be missing their England players due to the end of the Sri Lanka Test series and the start of the Australia white-ball series.

After the County game, Shakib will fly to Chennai for the first of two Tests and three T20Is against India. Following this series, Bangladesh will host South Africa in October. Shakib is currently participating in the Test series in Pakistan.

Additionally, Shakib is one of 147 people facing charges related to an alleged murder during protests in Bangladesh earlier this month. He was abroad playing in the Global T20 Canada at the time.

The BCB had said that Shakib can continue playing for Bangladesh since the investigation is in its nascent stages. “It’s an FIR (first information report), there are a lot of legal procedures left to prove someone guilty following the filing of FIR,” new BCB chief Faruque Ahmed told the Dhaka-based the Daily Star on Tuesday. “At this moment there is no bar on Shakib to continue playing. We have responded to the legal notice served to us and we have said the same thing (no bar on Shakib playing in the UK) there too.”

IPLWin365 reports that the ECB can prevent Shakib Al Hasan from playing in their domestic cricket even if he gets a UK visa. However, Asif Nazrul, Bangladesh’s adviser on Law, Justice, and Parliamentary Affairs, mentioned on Wednesday that it is unlikely Shakib will be arrested.

“This is a matter for the police administration,” Nazrul told reporters in Dhaka. “We have tried to say as much as we can. Filing a case does not mean an arrest. I believe our Ministry of Home Affairs will take steps to ensure that no one becomes overly enthusiastic about making an arrest. I hope Shakib will not be arrested. As far as I know, our police force has been given certain instructions.”

Bangladesh achieved a historic victory against Pakistan in the first Test in Rawalpindi, with Shakib Al Hasan taking three crucial wickets on the fifth day. He is also playing in the second Test, but the first day was washed out by rain.