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Pakistan lost their 16th successive Test in Australia, even as their fast bowlers grabbed 19 of the 20 wickets at MCG

Sampath Bandarupalli29-Dec-202316 – Pakistan have lost each of the 16 Tests they have played in Australia since the start of the 1999 tour. It’s the longest losing streak for a team in any one country, with Bangladesh’s 13 at home between 2001 and 2004 the next longest.2 – Captains with ten-wicket match hauls in Tests for Australia, including Pat Cummins in the Melbourne Test. Allan Border was the first, bagging 11 against West Indies in the Sydney Test in 1989.12 – Captains before Cummins with five-wicket hauls in both innings of a men’s Test. The last of those was Rashid Khan, while on his captaincy debut against Bangladesh in 2019. Cummins also became the first Australia captain to achieve the feat – Border had picked up seven and four in that Sydney Test.ESPNcricinfo Ltd2008 – Dale Steyn was the last bowler before Cummins with ten or more wickets in a Test in Melbourne. The previous Australia bowler with a ten-for at MCG was Bruce Reid in 1991, when he took 12 wickets against India.252 – Test wickets for Cummins, making him the tenth Australian to get to 250 wickets in the format. Cummins’ average of 22.32 is the second best among the ten, behind Glenn McGrath’s 21.64, and his strike rate (46.7) is the best.ESPNcricinfo Ltd1 – Test with two 50-plus scores and two five-fors by captains before the MCG Test. Here, Cummins took two five-fors while Shan Masood scored two half-centuries.The 1983 Test between Pakistan and India in Faisalabad had Imran Khan claiming five-fors in both innings scoring a century, while Sunil Gavaskar scored a hundred in India’s second innings.Related

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41 – Babar Azam’s score in the second innings at the MCG – his highest in Tests in 2023. The last top-six batter to end a calendar year without a fifty for Pakistan, having batted eight or more Test innings, was Basit Ali in 1995.8 – Pakistan have bowled Australia out in both innings of a Test eight times out of the 39 they have played in Australia. The MCG Test was only the second instance of Pakistan getting all 20 wickets in their ongoing 16-match losing streak in Australia.19 – Wickets by Pakistan fast bowlers in Melbourne are the most by them in a Test in Australia, surpassing the 18 in Sydney in 1977. The 19 wickets are the most by Pakistan quicks anywhere in a Test since taking all 20 against Zimbabwe in Harare in 1995.

After an all-round show in the second ODI, Smith says he is “willing to learn” and “work on his batting” to produce match-winning performances

Shashank Kishore10-Feb-2022Odean Smith woke up on Wednesday morning wondering when his big chance would come. Little would he have imagined the speed at which his moment arrived. A niggle that flared up overnight meant Kieron Pollard had to pull out of the match. In came Smith, and he made quite a splash in his maiden outing in India.He grabbed the wickets of Rishabh Pant and Virat Kohli to leave India tottering at 43 for 3 in the 12th over. The Kohli wicket was particularly sweet because he had disdainfully slapped him to the cover boundary only two balls earlier. Smith corrected his length immediately by bowling full. Kohli threw his hands at the delivery, driving away from the body, only to get a big nick through to Shai Hope. It was a start he may have not imagined a few hours earlier.Related

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West Indies serve reminder of their depth of short-form talent

This up-turn in Smith’s career has come a few months after he missed the T20 World Cup bus on fitness grounds. An underwhelming show from the West Indies there coincided with Smith receiving necessary fitness clearances. With Andre Russell no longer a certainty – because of his T20 commitments – Smith was handed a cap at the first available opportunity against Ireland at home. In what turned out to be a wake-up call for the side, Smith finished with three wickets and 84 runs off just 47 balls across three ODIs.He has a bristling run-up, a skiddy action, and the ability to bowl in the late 130s. He has modelled his game on Russell. With the bat, he is a big-hitter lower down the order in T20 cricket, where much of his success has come so far. At CPL 2021, he was the second-highest wicket-taker. Life has been in fast-forward mode since.”It’s about consistency and fitness,” he said about his top priorities presently. “International cricket is not easy. In T20s, you bowl just four overs. To bowl 10 overs here, you must be fit. Especially against an Indian team which has top batters in the world.”Smith finished with figures of 7-0-29-2. These went a long way in West Indies restricting India to 237 for 9. This wasn’t by any means going to be match-winning, and West Indies had a real opportunity if they applied themselves well. All they needed to tell themselves was to occupy the crease and 50 overs. If they did that, they would’ve given themselves the best chance to level the series. They didn’t.’Never an issue around victimisation’

Odean Smith has denied suggestions his dropping during the recent T20I series against England was a result of him being “victimised”.
Smith was left out of the team for the third T20I in Barbados, with his replacement, Rovman Powell, going on to score a century. West Indies coach, Phil Simmons, rubbished the claim at the time and CWI put out a statement rejecting the idea of “discord” between captain, Kieron Pollard, and any members of the squad.
Smith, who returned to the XI for the fifth match, which West Indies won to seal the series 3-2, has now backed that stance when questioned after the second ODI against India.
“There was never an issue around ‘victimisation’,” Smith said. “The media are going to say what they have to say, but the mood hasn’t changed from what it was. So we’re all good.”

“We just didn’t spend enough time at the wicket,” Smith rued. “The wicket was difficult to bat on and as you saw in the Indian innings, two guys stayed out there, batted and got runs. We didn’t apply ourselves in terms of batting time. That was the reason we fell short.”Despite the top order crumbling, West Indies may have yet taken the game close. When Smith joined Akeal Hosein, they needed 78 off 67 balls. But they had just three wickets left. This was going to be the stand that did it for them. But one ball in, Smith saw Hosein fall. Now, he had no option but to go for broke. And he muscled Shardul Thakur for back-to-back sixes.The first was a flat-batted pull over deep midwicket. The second had some wristy magic to it. He somehow managed to flick a perfectly acceptable length delivery on the stumps over long-on. The ball was nowhere near full or driving length for him to get underneath it. But he still managed to use his strong forearms and bottom-handed power to clear the ropes.He would go on to whack one more powerful pull off Mohammed Siraj, beating deep midwicket despite him being no more than a few yards away from the ball. He’d eventually hole out to Kohli at deep midwicket for 24 after being denied free swing of the arms by Washington Sundar to close out an excellent 45th over. By then, West Indies were nine down and all but out.

“Going forward, I have a lot of work to do on my batting. Everything comes with time. This is just my fifth game; I have a lot of time to continue learning.”Odean Smith

“Going forward, I have a lot of work to do on my batting,” he said. “Everything comes with time. This is just my fifth game; I have a lot of time to continue learning. Having played T20 cricket for a while and moving from bowling four overs to 10 overs in a fast-paced game is not easy, but I am willing to learn and see how far it goes.”Smith was visibly upset at grassing an opportunity to win the match for his team. But a faint smile emerged when he was asked of Nicholas Pooran’s comments. The stand-in West Indies captain hailed Smith’s abilities, and said for someone of his all-round calibre, “sky is the limit for him.””Coming from a special player like Nicholas, it’s good, but as I said, I have lots of work to do. All those praises will go down the drain if I don’t do what I personally have to do. Whatever I did today, we are still staring at a loss. Respect to Pooran, but we still lost the series.”Smith was asked inevitably about the interest surrounding his presence in the IPL auction. Smith admits having his “hopes high” and is “quite excited”. For the moment, a match-winning performance in the final ODI will be some soothing balm.

Celtic have failed to score in six competitive games in the 2025/26 campaign so far, most recently against Dundee on Sunday, as Brendan Rodgers has struggled to find consistent performers at the top end of the pitch.

The Hoops lost one of their most productive attacking outlets in the summer when they sold Nicolas Kuhn to Italian side Como for a fee of £16.5m.

Celtic’s number ten provided 21 goals and 15 assists in 51 appearances in all competitions last season, per Transfermarkt, which shows that he offered a consistent threat as both a scorer and a creator of goals.

The German winger’s number ten shirt was vacated when he left to sign for Como, and summer signing Michel-Ange Balikwisha took over the mantle this season.

Why Celtic need more from Michel-Ange Balikwisha

Celtic signed the Belgian forward from Royal Antwerp for a fee £5m to bolster their options at the top end of the pitch, but he has yet to nail down a place in the starting XI.

The right-footed attacker has provided one assist in seven matches in all competitions for the Hoops, failing to score a single goal, and was an unused substitute against Braga in the Europa League, per Sofascore.

Balikwisha’s assist off the bench for Daizen Maeda’s winner against Motherwell before the international break has been his only meaningful contribution in a Celtic shirt to date, which is why he has only started two of his five outings in the Scottish Premiership.

Chalkboard

Football FanCast’s Chalkboard series presents a tactical discussion from around the global game.

Celtic need more quality, goals, and assists from their £5m signing in the final third to justify the price tag and the number ten shirt that he inherited from Kuhn.

Whilst Balikwisha is failing to live up to the number ten shirt, there is another summer signing whose form for the club suggests that he could snatch that number from the Belgian.

Why Sebastian Tounekti is Celtic's next number ten in the making

Sebastian Tounekti arrived from Hammarby for a fee of around £5m, so a similar price tag to Balikwisha’s, and he has hit the ground running in Scotland.

The Tunisia international has started all seven of his appearances for the club since his move to Parkhead on deadline day, including four in the Premiership, two in the Europa League, and one in the League Cup.

Tounekti endeared himself to the supporters in his first appearance for the Hoops against Kilmarnock in September, with direct play that led to four chances created, per Sofascore.

The 23-year-old star scored his first goal for the Scottish giants against Partick Thistle in the League Cup, but he has yet to register a goal or an assist in the Premiership, despite his best efforts.

As you can see in the table above, the Tunisian star has created ten chances for his teammates in just four appearances, but they have failed to take any of them, which suggests that he is incredibly unfortunate not to have assisted any goals.

Journalist John McGinley claimed “likes being a problem” to opposition defences. That is a quote that sums Tounekti up perfectly, as he is a fearless winger who likes to take players on and make things happen, just as Kuhn was for the Hoops last term.

Balikwisha, who has created 0.4 chances per game and failed to complete any dribbles in the Premiership (Sofascore), has not played with that same fearless attitude in his appearances on the flank.

Unless the Belgian winger can turn his form around and produce performances full of flair, leading to goals and assists, for Celtic in the coming months, there may be question marks over his suitability for the Scottish giants.

Forget Yang: Rodgers can solve Maeda blow by unleashing Celtic star in new role

Celtic could solve their Daizen Maeda injury blow by unleashing this star in a new role.

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By
Dan Emery

Oct 20, 2025

If that becomes the case, Tounekti’s fearless performances could see him in pole position to snatch the number ten shirt away from him when the time comes, as he embodies what Kuhn provided with his exciting displays on the wing before his move to Como.

Big picture

Since contesting a nail-biting T20 World Cup final in 2024, India and South Africa have gone in different directions in T20Is. India have arguably become an even better team since lifting that trophy, achieving a 26-4 record (24 outright wins and two Super Over wins) with a brand of play perfectly suited to the conditions they will defend their title in February-March 2026. South Africa, meanwhile, have won nine and lost 16 of their T20Is since that day in Barbados.India have a largely settled side in the lead-up to the 2026 tournament, with most of their players enjoying a sense of continuity and role clarity. The same can’t be said for South Africa. Over recent months, they’ve lost perhaps their most feared T20I player, Heinrich Klaasen, to retirement, and have been without other key players for injury and workload-management reasons. In that time, they’ve lost series to Australia and Pakistan as well as a one-off match to Namibia, and became, against England at Old Trafford, the first team to concede a 300-plus total in a Full-Member-vs-Full-Member T20I.Related

• Gambhir: Gill 'ready to start' T20Is against South Africa

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South Africa, in short, have a lot of work to do between now and February 9, when they begin their World Cup campaign against Canada in Ahmedabad. That work will begin with one of the toughest assignments they could face in this format, against a full-strength India in India. But they don’t have too much to lose in this series, and plenty of experience and knowledge to gain from playing five matches in conditions similar to what they’ll face at that tournament.

Form guide

India WWLWW (last five completed T20Is, most recent first)
South Africa LLWLL

In the spotlight – Hardik Pandya and Dewald Brevis

Since the start of 2024, India have won 25 of their 28 T20Is outright when Hardik Pandya has been in their side, losing two and tying one. That tie, against Sri Lanka at this year’s Asia Cup, coincided with Hardik going off the field injured after bowling just one over. When Hardik hasn’t been available, India have nine wins, two losses and two ties. India are still a formidable side without Hardik, but they lose quite a bit of the near-invincible aura they’ve otherwise built in T20Is. Hardik balances the team beautifully, giving them the cheat code of batting all the way to No. 8 while having six genuine bowling options. He’s back now, after recovering from the quadriceps issue that kept him out of the Australia tour, and India are at pretty much full strength.Dewald Brevis has been in fine form•Getty Images

Since his debut in August 2023, no batter in the world (minimum 50 balls faced vs spin) has been more destructive against spin than Dewald Brevis, who has achieved a T20I strike rate of 225.00 against this style of bowling while averaging 60.00. Brevis comes into the T20Is in prime form, having played crucial knocks in all three ODIs, and he comes up against an India attack that will include three – possibly even four – spinners. It should make for an exhilarating contest.

Team news

With Hardik and Shubman Gill – who returns for the first time since suffering a neck injury during the Kolkata Test – back, India have two main selection questions to address: whether Jitesh Sharma, who displaced Sanju Samson during the Australia tour, continues as keeper, and who gets the No. 8 slot, with three candidates bringing three entirely different skillsets to that role.India (probable): 1 Abhishek Sharma, 2 Shubman Gill, 3 Suryakumar Yadav (capt), 4 Tilak Varma, 5 Jitesh Sharma/Sanju Samson (wk), 6 Hardik Pandya, 7 Axar Patel, 8 Harshit Rana/Washington Sundar/Shivam Dube, 9 Kuldeep Yadav, 10 Varun Charavarthy, 11 Jasprit Bumrah.South Africa’s ordinary recent record in T20Is is a little deceptive, because they’ve seldom had their best players on the pitch. This series may give us our first glimpse of the kind of XI they are hoping to play at the World Cup, with Aiden Markram back to lead the side after being rested from the T20Is in Pakistan, and with David Miller and Anrich Nortje back from injury. Two points of interest are whether Markram opens or bats at No. 3, and whether South Africa pick a second left-arm spinner in the allrounder George Linde. And perhaps the surest indication of South Africa’s recent unsettledness is that Donovan Ferreira, who captained them in Pakistan, is far from certain to start in Cuttack.South Africa: 1 Quinton de Kock (wk), 2 Aiden Markram (capt), 3 Reeza Hendricks, 4 Dewald Brevis, 5 David Miller, 6 Tristan Stubbs, 7 Corbin Bosch/George Linde, 8 Marco Jansen, 9 Keshav Maharaj, 10 Lungi Ngidi, 11 Anrich Nortje.

Pitch and conditions

South Africa have featured in two of the three T20Is Cuttack has hosted, and won both of them. They bowled India out for 92 in 2015, in a match marred by crowd trouble, and won a closer game by six wickets, seven years later, thanks to a 46-ball 81 from Heinrich Klaasen.Conditions here tend to have something for everyone: a bit of early help for the seamers, a bit of grip for the spinners, and typically plenty of dew to complicate bowlers’ lives. Tuesday evening in Cuttack is set to be overcast and hazy, though rain-free.

Stats and trivia

• South Africa need one win in this series to become the most successful T20I team against India. Currently, they are tied with Australia and England with 12 wins each against India.
• Jasprit Bumrah (99) and Hardik Pandya (98) are within sight of their 100th T20I wickets. Arshdeep Singh (105) is the only India bowler to have got to that mark so far.
• Tilak Varma (996) and Sanju Samson (995) are both just one hit away from 1000 T20I runs.
• Of all the batters to have scored 1000 runs in T20Is, Abhishek Sharma has the best strike rate (189.51).

Quotes

“It’s T20 cricket. It’s an entertaining format and that’s the brand and the way we want to play. We want guys to free themselves up, enjoy the game, let their best skills be on show. Hopefully if we put a collective effort together, the result will be a good one. It’s just an exciting time. T20 cricket is always meant to be exciting and we’re looking forward to that.”

Shubman Gill and Hardik Pandya “are looking healthy and fit” ahead of the first T20I against South Africa, India captain Suryakumar Yadav said ahead of the series opener in Cuttack on Tuesday.”Both [Gill and Pandya] are looking healthy and fit,” Suryakumar said. Gill had suffered neck spasms during the first Test against South Africa in Kolkata, while Hardik was out with a quadriceps injury he suffered during the Asia Cup in September.Gill is yet to play since his injury, but Hardik made a comeback in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy. Playing for Baroda, he picked up a wicket in each game, but more importantly, bowled four overs both times. With the bat, his 77 not out off 42 against Punjab helped his team chase down 223.”What you saw in the Asia Cup also, when he [Hardik] was bowling with the new ball, he opened up a lot of options, combinations for us with respect to the playing XI,” Suryakumar said. “That’s what he brings to the table. His experience, the way he has done well in all big games, all ICC events, ACC events. I think that experience will count a lot and his presence will definitely give a good balance to the side.”With Gill back in the side, Suryaumar made it clear that Sanju Samson would have to compete with Jitesh Sharma for a spot in the middle order. He also emphasised that all batters apart from the openers need to be flexible with respect to their position in the order.”Sanju, when he came into the circuit, he batted higher up the order,” he said. “Now the thing is, other than the openers, everyone has to be flexible. He did really well when he opened the innings but Shubman had played before him in the Sri Lanka series, so he deserves to take that spot.”But we gave Sanju opportunities. He was ready to bat at any number, which is actually good to see a player being flexible to bat anywhere from No. 3 to 6. That’s one thing I have told all the batters that other than openers, everyone has to be very flexible. Both [Samson and Jitesh] are in the scheme of things. It’s always good to have lovely players like both of them. One can open, one can bat lower down the order. In fact, both can do all the roles. It’s an asset to the team and a good headache to have.”

MatériaMais Notícias

Sensação no início de temporada, o Nova Iguaçu conquistou classificação pela primeira vez para as semifinais do Campeonato Carioca e é dono da maior goleada de um visitante na Copa do Brasil. Com um orçamento modesto, a equipe briga de igual para igual com gigantes do futebol brasileiro.

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➡️ Siga o Lance! no WhatsApp e acompanhe em tempo real as principais notícias do esporte

O volante Albert, um dos destaques do clube da Baixada Fluminense, revelou o segredo para o sucesso do Carrossel. O atleta balançou as redes na histórica goleada de seu time sobre o Itabuna por 8 a 0, na última semana.

– O Nova Iguaçu tem uma base muito forte, é o DNA do clube revelar jovens talentos, mas a direção entendeu que o time “de cima” seria mais forte se tivesse essa mescla com atletas mais rodados, então creio que nossa maior força talvez seja essa, temos o talento e a energia dos mais jovens, junto com jogadores mais rodados, acostumados a disputar grandes torneios, que lidam melhor com momentos de mais pressão – disse Albert, que tem 27 anos.

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Volante que também gosta de chegar na área adversária para finalizar, Albert tem dois gols na temporada. Além do marcado na histórica goleada sobre o Itabuna, ele também balançou as redes na vitória por 3 a 2 sobre o Bangu, na terceira rodada do estadual.

– O meu papel principal é dar sustentação ao meio campo tanto na fase ofensiva, quanto na parte defensiva, time bom é quando todo mundo ataca e todo mundo defende, cada um cumprindo o seu papel. Busco ajudar meus companheiros da melhor forma, seja fechando os espaços ou fazendo o time jogar na construção ofensiva. Espero que a gente consiga seguir com boas atuações em busca de conquistas ainda maiores – analisa o volante.

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O Nova Iguaçu enfrenta o Volta Redonda pela última rodada já classificado e com chances – ainda que ínfimas – de conquistar a Taça Guanabara. Para isso teria que torcer por derrota do Flamengo e tropeço do Fluminense, além de aplicar uma goleada ainda maior do que a sobre o Itabuna.

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Campeonato CariocaNova Iguaçu