Sports
Bangladesh prepare for the ‘unknown’ ahead of T20 WC
Bangladesh head coach Chandika Hathurusingha said on Friday that they are trying to prepare as well as they can for the forthcoming T20 World Cup as there are lot of unknown factors. The decision to put some more grass on the surface in the Sylhet International Cricket Stadium for the three-match T20I series against Sri Lanka was largely due to the unpredictability factor especially in the United States.
Bangladesh are scheduled to take on Sri Lanka in Dallas on June 7 and South Africa on June 10 while the next two games of the group phase will be played in West Indies.
“What we are looking at is the combination for World Cup, how the individuals fit in and understanding the game plan and be comfortable. The other thing I mentioned is that we want to play on good wickets because we don’t know what we get in America and we play two very important games in America and nobody has any clue because there is not much data behind it,” Hathurusingha told reporters ahead of the series deciding third game at the SICS on Friday.
“What I understand is that New York has a drop-in wicket prepared on Adelaide and they are going to drop in there hopefully expectation is something similar to what Australian pitches are. There’s little feedback from NSW Cricket about Dallas. Washington Freedom played there. I spoke to their GM when I was in Australia. Our recollection from St Vincent is the last Test we played there,” he said.
“So we are preparing as well as we can for these unknown factors,” he said adding that playing in good wickets is also helping their bowling unit shift their mindset considering they are now learning to bowl with a different approach.
“One thing we realized is that we are playing in different kind of pitches now and in this series there is more grass and more carry and we want to play on wickets that are conducive to high scoring to get us understand what is acceptable and what areas we need to improve in bowling because it’s a mindset shift as well because when you are bowling on certain wickets 150 as a winning score. You expect to bowl in a certain way and if you bowl in these sort of pitches you are going at eight runs an over it is very good. 160 you saw the other day was not a par score and even 200 after losing four wickets in power play we nearly got there and we really need to understand those factors as well so I am pretty pleased with the way our bowling unit is shaping up,” he said.
Ahead of the final T20I, Hathurusingha said that he is pleased with the way his charges came back after the defeat in the opening game. “You are talking about the last game I thought we almost played a perfect game. Pleasing thing for me is how we quickly learnt from the first game,” he said.
He also added that both Soumya Sarkar and Litton Das admitted that they have made mistakes in the opening game but came back strongly in the following game with a 63-run stand. “Both of them put their hands up after the first game that their approach was wrong and they will work on it and played good cricket. I am old enough to understand that people make mistakes. Look at the start we got, 63 in Powerplay. T20 is amazing. As long as they are playing for the team and contributing for the team, that’s what we want.”
Chandika pointed out that he is impressed with Jaker Ali and Mahmudullah while Shoriful Islam is also becoming a leading bowler for them with each passing game. “Mahmudullah brings a lot of experience. He played the BPL with a lot of maturity. He is playing with a lot of freedom which I said in a previous interview. When I saw him in the World Cup, he is so much at-ease with his game and himself. He is playing beautifully now.
“It is very refreshing to see what Jaker can do. I only saw him in this BPL. He is very calm which is really nice to see. It is one quality you need from someone who bats at No 5, 6 or 7. Most of the times you have to do certain things with limited time. It was really pleasing to see what he can do. It gave us a lot of confidence as a team.
“We know that Shoriful had a very good BPL and I think he came up with the same confidence to bowl in these matches as well. What happened was in the first game due to dew, the ball didn’t swing as it did in the BPL and he had to adjust very quickly for the second game so that was very pleasing to see the way he bowled in the second game. Every game he is growing into a leading bowler for us with Taskin and Fizz there is another one we can bank on.”
(Cricbuzz)
Tickets for the 2026 T20 World Cup will go on sale at 18.45 IST and Sri Lanka time (13.15 GMT) on December 11, with the tournament slated to begin on February 7 in India and Sri Lanka.
Prices for phase one of the ticket sales start at INR 100 (USD 1.1) at some venues in India and LRK 1000 (USD 3.2), the ICC said on Thursday. The dates for phase two of the ticket sales will be announced soon. Tickets can be purchased at tickets.cricketworldcup.com.
“Phase I of ticket sales is an important milestone in our journey towards delivering the most accessible and global ICC event ever staged,” ICC CEO Sanjog Gupta said. “Our vision for the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2026 is clear: every fan, regardless of background, geography or financial means, should have the chance to access an in-stadia experience of world-class marquee cricket.
“With tickets starting from just INR 100 and LKR1000, we are putting affordability at the centre of our strategy. This is about opening the gates wide and inviting millions to be part of a global celebration of cricket, not as spectators from afar, but as active participants in the energy, emotion and magic that only a stadium can offer.”
The 2026 T20 World Cup will be contested by 20 teams and comprises 55 matches. The games start at 11am (0530 GMT), 3pm (0930 GMT) and 7pm IST (1330 GMT). The format for the tournament is the same as the previous edition in 2024, where the teams were divided into five groups of four each.
The first-round groups are as follows:
Group A: India, Pakistan, USA, Netherlands, Namibia
Group B: Sri Lanka, Australia, Ireland, Zimbabwe, Oman
Group C: England, West Indies, Bangladesh, Nepal, Italy
Group D: New Zealand, South Africa, Afghanistan, Canada, UAE
The top two teams from each of the groups progress to a Super Eight phase, where they will be further divided into two groups of four each.
The Super Eight groups are as follows, assuming these teams qualify from the first round; if another team qualifies, they will take the place of the team from their group that failed to make it:
Super Eight Group 1: X1 (India), X2 (Australia), X3 (West Indies), X4 (South Africa)
Super Eight Group 2: Y1 (England), Y2 (New Zealand), Y3 (Pakistan), Y4 (Sri Lanka)
Each team will play the other three in their Super Eight group, with the top two from each group qualifying for the semi-finals. The two semi-finals are in Kolkata – or Colombo if Pakistan qualify – on March 4, and Mumbai on March 5. The final of the tournament will be played in Ahmedabad on March 8 – if Pakistan qualify, it will be held in Colombo.
[Cricinfo]
Despite a bright bowling performance from the West Indies seamers, half-centuries from New Zealand’s Devon Conway and Mitchell hay extended the hosts’ advantage after an absorbing second day of the Wellington Test. New Zealand secured a 73-run first-innings lead before a double-wicket burst from their quicks left West Indies still 41 behind with eight wickets in hand.
West Indies produced bursts of quality with the ball to keep pegging New Zealand back, and several home batters contributed to their own dismissals with loose shots. But the visitors also offered enough scoring opportunities for Conway and Hay to make valuable inroads.
Conway’s 60 – his first fifty against West Indies and 13th overall – anchored one end, while debutant Hay struck an enterprising 61 from No. 6. Their efforts allowed New Zealand to declare at 278 for 9, with the injured Blair Tickner not batting.
With the relatively new ball, Kemar Roach, Jayden Seales, Ojay Shields and Anderson Phillip consistently challenged the batters as the ball swung both ways and occasionally jagged off the surface. Conway, however, punished the loose deliveries, hitting eight fours – mostly cuts and flicks – to keep New Zealand moving.
From the non-striker’s end, he saw Tom Latham (11) lose his off stump to a nip-backer from Roach from around the wicket, before watching Kane Williamson (37) have his off stump pegged back by an Anderson Phillip delivery that squared him up. After lunch, Rachin Ravindra – who made 176 in Christchurch – was caught behind off Roach while chasing a wide one. Conway himself was then caught down the leg side off a poor Justin Greaves delivery, thanks to a superb diving take from Tevin Imlach. At that stage, New Zealand seemed to be wobbling at 117 for 4.
A fifth-wicket stand of 73 between Daryl Mitchell (25) and Hay – the latter playing in place of the injured Tom Blundell – brought New Zealand closer to West Indies’ first-innings score of 205. Mitchell was conservative, while Hay leaned on his white-ball instincts to score his runs, producing strong cuts through the off side and, when tested with short balls, pulling confidently over the leg side.
Mitchell, like Conway, was eventually strangled down the leg side off Phillip. Hay later fell to the short-ball tactic: after striking back-to-back fours behind square leg, he miscued a pull off Shields straight to Roach at deep-backward square and walked back bitterly disappointed. At 213 for 6, New Zealand then leaned on Glenn Phillips (18) and the lower order to extend their lead.
West Indies continued to pepper Phillips with short balls in a cat-and-mouse exchange that brought body blows and top-edges over the keeper. Seeking a change, captain Roston Chase turned to spin for the first time in the innings, and needed only four deliveries to tempt Phillips into a slog that failed to clear deep midwicket.
Zak Foulkes then batted 43 balls and frustrated West Indies with deflections off the seamers’ through the gully region on his way to an unbeaten 23. Jacob Duffy added further runs with boundaries to long-off and long-on, and No. 10 Michael Rae joined a rare group of batters to begin their Test careers with five runs off an overthrow boundary. Rae reached 13 before the expensive Seales finally claimed his first wicket of the match, knocking back the debutant’s leg stump.
New Zealand’s batting may have been patchy, but their bowlers restored control with a sharp ten-over burst late in the day. John Campbell fell in the seventh over, beaten by a Rae delivery that zipped in to hit off stump. Next over, nightwatcher Phillip initially survived a DRS review for caught behind off Duffy, but a second look confirmed he was lbw instead. Brandon King (15*) and Kavem Hodge (3*) saw out the final few minutes, but West Indies still face a steep challenge when play resumes on Friday.
Brief scores:
West Indies 205 and 32 for 2 (Brandon King 15*; Michael Rae 1-4, Jacob Duffy 1-8) trail New Zealand 278 for 9 dec (Mitchell Hay 61, Devon Conway 60; Andeson Phillip 3-70) by 41 runs
[Cricinfo]
The International Olympic Committee says it will announce eligibility criteria for transgender athletes early next year, after months of deliberation as it seeks to find a consensus on how to protect the female category.
The issue has been a source of controversy, with no universal rule in place for the participation of transgender athletes at the Olympic Games.
The IOC, under its new President Kirsty Coventry, did a U-turn in June, deciding to take the lead in setting eligibility criteria for Olympic participation, having previously handed responsibility to the individual sports federations, leading to a confusing patchwork of different approaches.
In September, Coventry set up the “Protection of the Female Category” working group, made up of experts as well as representatives of international federations, to look into how best to protect the female category in sports.
“We will find ways to find a consensus that has all aspects covered,” Coventry told a press conference on Wednesday following an IOC executive board meeting. “Maybe it is not the easiest thing to do, but we will try our best, so when we talk about the female category, we are protecting the female category.”
Coventry said a decision would come in the first months of 2026.
“We want to make sure we have spoken to all stakeholders, taken adequate time to cross the Ts and dot the Is,” she said.
“The group is working extremely well. I don’t want to try to constrain the working group by saying they need to have a specific deadline, but I am hopeful in the next couple of months and definitely within the first quarter of next year we will have a clear decision and way forward, which I think we are all looking forward to,” said Coventry, a former Olympic swimming champion.
Before Coventry’s decision in June, the IOC had long refused to apply any universal rule on transgender participation for the Games, instructing international federations in 2021 to come up with their own guidelines. Under current rules, still in force, transgender athletes are eligible to take part in the Olympics.
Only a handful of openly transgender athletes have taken part in the Games. New Zealand’s Laurel Hubbard became the first openly transgender athlete to compete in a different gender category to that assigned at birth when the weightlifter took part in the Tokyo Olympics in 2021.
Currently, some international federations have rules in place, but others have not yet reached that stage.
US President Donald Trump has banned transgender athletes from competing in sports in schools in the United States, which civil society groups say infringes on the rights of trans people, as Los Angeles prepares to host the 2028 Summer Olympics.
Trump, who signed the “Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports” order in February, has said he would not allow transgender athletes to compete at the LA Games.
[Aljazeera]
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