South Africa fast bowler Shabnim Ismail has reversed her international retirement and is included in the Proteas’ squad for this summer’s T20 World Cup in England.

Ismail, 37, is one of the fastest bowlers in women’s cricket and is her country’s all-time top wicket-taker in the format despite making her last appearance more than three years ago.

She is joined in the squad by fellow opening bowler Marizanne Kapp, who has recovered from illness, while Dane van Niekerk, who has also come out of retirement in the past year, is included following a calf injury.

South Africa, who were runners-up at the past two Women’s T20 World Cups, open their campaign against Australia on 13 June before facing Pakistan, India, the Netherlands and Bangladesh.

They recently enjoyed a 4-1 series win against ODI world champions India.

“Having someone like Shabnim back adds a lot of value to the group,” said head coach Mandla Mashimbyi.

“We had good conversations and you could see the hunger she still has to represent South Africa and help this team achieve something special.”

South Africa squad:
Laura Wolvaardt (c), Tazmin Brits, Nadine de Klerk, Annerie Dercksen, Shabnim Ismail, Sinalo Jafta, Marizanne Kapp, Ayabonga Khaka, Sune Luus, Karabo Meso, Nonkululeko Mlaba, Kayla Reyneke, Tumi Sekhukhune, Chloe Tryon, Dane van Niekerk.

[BBC Sports]

The Bangladesh government has formed a committee to look into the previous government’s decision to not allow the team to play its 2026 T20 World Cup matches in India, a move that led to Bangladesh being removed from the tournament in February and March.

The sports ministry made an announcement on Monday that additional secretary Dr AKM Wali Ullah will head the committee that includes chief selector Habibul Bashar, the former Bangladesh captain, and Faisal Dastagir. The trio has been asked to look into all matters related to Bangladesh not sending a team to the T20 World Cup. They will be expected to submit a report within 15 working days.

The sequence of events that culminated in Bangladesh missing the tournament began on January 3, when the BCCI directed Kolkata Knight Riders to remove Mustafizur Rahman from their IPL 2026 squad for an unspecified reason, at a time when relations between the Indian and Bangladeshi governments were strained.

In the next 24 hours, Asif Nazrul, Bangladesh’s sports adviser (minister) at the time, posted on his official Facebook account that he wanted the ICC to move Bangladesh’s T20 World Cup matches out of India and to Sri Lanka. Nazrul was an adviser in Bangladesh’s interim government that was formed in August 2024 after a student-led uprising toppled the Awami League regime.

Bangladesh edged ahead of  Pakistan on a day cut in half by rain and bad light, with Monimul Haque and Najmul Hossain Shanto stretching their lead to 179, with seven wickets still in hand.

With the afternoon session wiped out entirely by torrential rains, Bangladesh were solid either side of it, thanks primarily to 105-run stand between the pair, their century partnership this Test, and just the third time a pair has done so for Bangladesh.

Pakistan’s seam bowlers threatened early after removing the openers cheaply once more, but found themselves held up by the two left-handers, with a late strike from Shaheen Shah Afridi in the final session the only triumph they had to show for the rest of the day.

The lights were on almost from the outset on an overcast morning, and the first dismissal looked like the kind a seam bowler would get on a green top under the clouds.

Abbas got one to nip back in off the surface into Mahmudul Hasan Joy’s pads, right under the knee roll. With Pakistan constricting the run-scoring, they struck again through Hasan Ali, who took advantage of the variable bounce to rear one up that caught the shoulder of Shadman Islam’s bat.

The job of rebuilding fell once more to the pair primarily responsible for putting Bangladesh in this position of relative control. Mominul and Shanto merely picked up where they’d left off, settling in and taking the sting out of Pakistan’s attack. Mominul was the more cautious one while Shanto gradually picked up the scoring rate, every run appearing to tilt the match situation ever so slightly Bangladesh’s way.

In the final half hour of the session, the pair looked positively dominant and, in a repeat of the first innings, the runs in that period flowed easily. Salman Ali Agha’s spin posed a threat early on, with Mohammad Rizwan dropping a sharp chance off an outside edge, but even that threat faded soon after. In his final over before lunch, Mominul leapt down the wicket and whacked him over his head.

That the heavens opened might have been an advantage for Pakistan, in that it broke up the pair’s rhythm and made Bangladesh’s calculations about the pacing of their innings more complicated. However, nearly four hours since then previous ball, the resumption of play saw no semblance of a loss of control from either batter. Both ambled to their half-centuries unencumbered, with only Abbas’s unerring accuracy and incessant ability to squeeze movement from a placid surface occasionally discomforting them.

Shan Masood had held off turning to Noman Ali until 35 overs had gone by, presumably largely because he did not wish to bowl a fingerspinner to two left-armers.

But as soon as he was handed the ball, he demonstrated why that theory did not deserve the weight Pakistan appeared to put in it. In his first over, he got one to rear up to Mominul, who could only splice the ball to short leg, where Abdullah Fazal put down a sharp chance. He was not taken out of the attack for the remainder of the day, often exploiting the rough around the left hander’s off stump, and nearly snaring Mushfiqur Rahim when he mistimed a slog agonisingly over long-on’s head.

Bangladesh’s serene progress was only interrupted when Afridi found seam movement to bring one into Mominul, who could not get his outside edge out of the way. With some time remaining in the final session, Pakistan may have hoped to trigger a collapse, but between then and until bad light forced the end of play, Shanto and Mushfiqur ensured there was no such thing.

Brief scores:
Bangladesh 413 and 152 for 3 in 50.3 overs (Najimul Hossain Shanto 58*, Mominul Haque 56;  Hasan Ali 1-23) lead Pakistan 386 in 100.3 overs (Azan Awais 103, Imam-ul-Haq 45, Abdullah Fazal 60, Salman Agha 58, Mohammad Rizwan 59; Mehidy Hasan Miraz 5-102, Taijul Islam 2-46, Taskin Ahmed 2-70) by 179 runs

[Cricinfo]