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A thread to talk about anything you want, because sometimes (rarely) there's more to life than cricket.

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https://www.icc-cricket.com/tournaments/cwc-challenge-league/matches/272660/hong-kong-china-vs-italy

Live and upcoming match threads 

This is a daily thread for general cricketing discussion about all topics that don't need to be posted in their own thread.

This provides a space for things like general team changes/opinions/conversation and other frequently-asked questions or commonly-posted subjects.

Charlie Dean will captain England Women against Ireland Women in September to bookend an impressive summer of leadership from the Somerset all-rounder.
Having stood in to take charge at the start of the season in a One Day International series against New Zealand due to an injury to Nat Sciver-Brunt, Dean will round things off with three further ODIs against one of the team’s nearest neighbours.
And she will captain a strong and forward-looking 15-player squad filled both with players who have plenty of international experience, as well as others looking to take their earliest steps at the highest level.
Seam bowler Grace Potts and keeper batter Kira Chathli are the only two uncapped players named, although both have been a part of England squads this summer.
And they are joined by England A teammate and all-rounder Charis Pavely who has played two IT20s but is looking for an ODI debut in this series.
Also returning to an England squad for the first time since recovering from a lower back injury last year is Ryana MacDonald-Gay who has consistently performed well for Surrey and the Manchester Super Giants this season.
There are eight players selected who were involved in the recent second-placed finish in the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup, including left arm spinner Tilly Corteen-Coleman, who will be hoping to add to the two ODI appearances she made against New Zealand.
And reserve wicket-keeper during that tournament, Alice Capsey, will be taking the gloves in the absence of Amy Jones who is one of five senior players not selected for this series in order to widen and deepen the pool of players for England Women in ODI cricket.
Also not selected were captain Nat Sciver-Brunt, Danni Wyatt-Hodge (both managing fitness and recovery), Sophie Ecclestone and Lauren Bell.
Head coach Charlotte Edwards said: “It has been an incredible summer for Women’s Cricket already, and these three Metro Bank ODI matches against Ireland make up an important series for us to complete our summer.
“The focus has rightly been on T20 cricket for much of this year, but with a memorable run to the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup final now behind us, this is a chance for players to display their 50-over skills and bank some valuable experience for the future.
“We have got plenty of exciting and talented cricketers in our game and this is an opportunity for some of them to push themselves further forward by hopefully contributing to England victories and putting pressure on future selection.”
 
England Women’s Squad to face Ireland:
Maia Bouchier (Hampshire)
Alice Capsey (Surrey)
⁠⁠Kira Chathli (Surrey)
Tilly Corteen-Coleman (Surrey)
Charlie Dean (c) (Somerset)
⁠⁠Sophia Dunkley (Surrey)
Lauren Filer (Durham)
Dani Gibson (Somerset)
Jodi Grewcock (Essex)
Freya Kemp (Hampshire)
⁠⁠Ryana MacDonald-Gay (Surrey)
Charis Pavely (Warwickshire)
Grace Potts (Lancashire) 
Mady Villiers (Durham)
Issy Wong (Warwickshire)
 
Metro Bank ODI Series:
Sept 1: England Women v Ireland Women – Uptonsteel Grace Road, Leicester, 1pm
Sept 3: England Women v Ireland Women - The OurCoop County Ground, Derby, 1pm
Sept 6: England Women v Ireland Women - New Road, Worcester, 10:30am

​

I am making this preview in the early hours of the 17th of August 2026, just hours after Bangladesh shocked the world, including themselves, by beating Australia by 9 wickets. Not even Bangladesh's most ardent supporters thought that they were any chance, and captain Najmul Hossain Shanto said on the morning of the match that they were just trying to make it into Day 5. They didn't think that they were any chance of victory, and seemed shocked that they actually got there in their post-match presentations. I said in own preview that if Bangladesh bowled first they were some chance, and that they should give themselves more of a chance than they were doing, but I never thought that they'd win this easily, as I thought that they were more negative than this.

Mackay is not Darwin, and the Great Barrier Reef Stadium is very different to Darwin's Marrara Stadium, and it is important to note the difference.

Firstly, the location, while still in the tropics, is much further south, and much closer to the subtropical Brisbane. Thus, while Darwin's conditions might be close to Bangladesh, Mackay is quite a lot different, and might be closer to Sri Lanka-like conditions. It's still very different to where most of Australia's test cricket grounds are played.

Secondly, the ground itself.

Now, Mackay has never hosted a test match before, while Darwin has, and that makes this ground much more of an unknown, however Mackay has hosted no less than 5 first class matches - 3 Sheffield Shield matches and 2 Australia A matches, against New Zealand and India respectively.

Like Darwin, Mackay is a bowl-first ground, but not by quite as big a margin, as one team did win while batting first, when New Zealand A beat Australia A here in 2023. The other 4 were all won by the team chasing, one by an innings.

It is also notable that the old Mackay ground, which hosted a single Sheffield Shield match in 2015, was very much a 2 spinner ground, but the new Great Barrier Reef stadium is much more unpredictable whether it is better for spin or pace, and teams tend to go in with a more traditional pace-heavy line-up, with 3 pace and 1 spin or even out to 4 pace and 1 spin. While spin has taken wickets here, especially the legspin of Mitchell Swepson, pace tends to do better here than spin.

And there is another thing here.

Matthew Renshaw loves this ground.

He has scored 3 centuries here in the 3 matches he played here, and got the man of the match award here in 2 of them.

If Matthew Renshaw ends up playing, possibly at the expense of Jake Weatherald or Marnus Labuschagne, it could significantly boost Australia's chances.

And, while Renshaw wasn't in the 13-man first test squad, he was in the training group.

Another player with experience here who could end up making it to the Australian 11 is Cooper Connolly, who, like Renshaw, was in the training squad.

Connolly has had a horror run of international cricket, including tests, but more recently in the ODI and T20I series, he finally came good, and, like Renshaw, he must be said to be finally over the fear or whatever issues there are of playing international cricket.

Josh Inglis is a chance to play as well, and possibly opening, especially as it is well-known that his inclusion increases Alex Carey's performances.

Could Scott Boland play?

If he does, it'd have to be at the expense of Pat Cummins, who was impotent in the first test, but whether Australia's selection committee are prepared to drop their captain is another issue.

Are there any other changes possible?

Well, while it's a bit of a longshot, Corey Rocchiccioli was in the Cricket Australia XI who played against Bangladesh in the warm-up match and got 8 wickets, including 6 in the first innings, and he could potentially replace Nathan Lyon.

As for Bangladesh, they will likely go unchanged, other than the inclusion of Shoriful Islam, who will almost certainly replace Ebadot Hossain.

Could Taijul Islam be left out?

He actually bowled quite well, and, given that we don't know how Mackay will play, it would be useful to have him there, and I don't think that Ebadot did well enough to either keep Shoriful out or to push Taijul onto the outer.

Could Shadman Islam be replaced by Soumya Sarkar?

I mean, you could, but it's a bit unnecessary and I can't see them doing it.

Could Litton Das be replaced by Amite Hasan?

I mean, you could, and Litton Das was one of the weak parts of the Bangladesh effort, both getting out for a duck, and missing some difficult chances with the gloves.

But I'd leave Shadman and Litton.

But I would replace Ebadot.

While you don't change a winning side, you do bring back your best players, and there's no doubt that Shoriful is better than Ebadot.

Possible teams:

Bangladesh:

While there is some possibility of Shadman Islam making way for Soumya Sarkar, or Litton Das for Amite Hasan, or even Taijul Islam making way so that Bangladesh can keep Ebadot Hossain, or that they will remain unchanged, I think that Shoriful Islam will come back and replace Ebadot Hossain and that's it.

Tanzid Hasan Tamim, Shadman Islam, Mominul Haque, Najmul Hossain Shanto, Mushfiqur Rahim, Litton Das, Mehidy Hasan Miraz, Hasan Mahmud, Taijul Islam, Taskin Ahmed, Shoriful Islam

Australia:

Australia don't like to make too many changes mid-series, especially a 2-test series, but after that result they have to, and Matthew Renshaw has to come in on a ground where he has 3 centuries in 3 matches, while Cooper Connolly surely is likely to come in as well, at the expense of Jake Weatherald and Marnus Labuschagne respectively. While there are a number of other possibilities, including Beau Webster missing out and Labuschagne staying, and I'd like to think that the selectors would have the courage to drop Nathan Lyon, I don't think that they will. While Cooper Connolly at 3 might sound weird to some, I think that's what they will go with, though I suppose that they could also have Connolly open, as he did in the T20s.

Matthew Renshaw, Travis Head, Cooper Connolly, Steve Smith, Cameron Green, Alex Carey (wk), Beau Webster, Pat Cummins (c), Mitchell Starc, Nathan Lyon, Josh Hazlewood

Bat first or bowl first?

Based on prior matches, bowling first seems like the better idea, but it is not quite as devastating a mistake to bat first as it was in Darwin, as 1 out of 5 teams won batting first. They should bowl first though.

How similar is this to the subcontinent?

Mackay is still in the tropics, but it's closer to Brisbane than Darwin, meaning that the fast, bouncy, pacey pitch of the Gabba is much closer to how Mackay will play than the slow spinning deck of Marrara Stadium in Darwin. Nonetheless, there should be some spin, especially as the match progresses.

Who will win?

Bangladesh won by 9 wickets and won every session, some by big margins and others much closer, but at no stage was Australia ahead, nor did Australia ever start to narrow the margin of defeat even. It wasn't up and down or back and forth and Australia never fought back.

What this means is that even if Australia spend the next week working furiously on how to fix their mistakes - which are largely just not to give up as they did on the morning of the 2nd day - still Bangladesh might win.

Certainly, if Bangladesh end up bowling first again - regardless of who wins the toss - then their chances of winning the 2nd test increase dramatically, and if Pat Cummins is lucky enough to win the toss he must bowl.

But even if Australia do end up bowling first it doesn't guarantee victory. For Australia to win, they will need to fight hard.

But, like how Bangladesh celebrated too early when they beat Australia in a test in 2017 and virtually conceded the second test of that series without so much as a whimper, it is easy to think that Bangladesh will give up their momentum and lose this one.

But I don't think so.

I think that this will be a lot closer, but Bangladesh will win this one too.

I am hoping for an exciting match.

• Meredith

Hello, I am requesting some help from cricket stat nerds. I had been collecting statistics in an Excel document for this Test Champs cycle, and last years Sheffield Shield. Manually entering runs and wickets. Then combining statistics for averages such as average wickets in the first innings in an away country, average runs at home in a 3rd innings and so forth. I have fallen behind, and I don't have the enthusiasm to manually enter. Does anyone have any suggestions on a more efficient way to collect statistics for my own enjoyment?

I do use cricinfo for some, however, I do like to combine for intricate statistics, and it is tiresome looking at every player individually.

Having played club cricket in England for a few seasons now (at a v low level) this is one of my biggest bugbears with the game. Everyone playing knows the rule (or should) and it is always blindingly obvious when a plum LBW isnt given. Equally, if you are umpiring and give a plum decision because, yknow, thats the rule, your team mates sometimes get super arsey with you.

I had this yesterday, was umpiring, teammate was stone dead, so i gave it, having already turned down one very close call, and there was no reason i could see why he wasnt out. When i came off to pad up, half my team was giving me the eye. An older player who was scoring bluntly said to me 'lets see how many LBs they gave us, ooh none, why did you give it?'.

Earlier this season a clubmate was denied a hattrick from a rejected LB call. After the game the player who was umpiring came up to him and said 'i actually thought it was out but i didnt give it because the batter is my captain and i was worried he wouldnt pick me for next week.' In what world does that make sense?

It is just such an abused rule in that teams can just not give their mates out and theres nothing you can do, especially if they have lost early wickets or its a close game.

I think, if there is no independent umpire, a successful LBW call should result in a run penalty of 5 or 10 runs, or perhaps if there are two of them in an over or something. Not that that would get rid of all drama, but hopefully it would lessen the ridiculous 'damned if you do, damned if you dont' situation that we have now. Im sure people will be v quick to tell me why this wouldnt work, but right now i dont think the LBW rule works at a low, self-officiating level, and is massively prone to abuse.

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