West Indies tried hard but lost

Bangladesh won the ODI series:

Bangladesh's batsmen held it together, but only just. After failing to chase 211 last night, they overcame three difficult phases in their pursuit of a target of similar proportion, to win a series they had led 2-0 but almost let slip out of their grasp. Twenty-four hours after their fans exited Shere Bangla in despair, the stadium was a venue of riotous celebration, as Nasir Hossain carved the winning boundary to drag his team to a two-wicket victory and claim the series against West Indies 3-2.

There was chaos at the finish. With one run needed, Nasir smashed the ball over cover and raised his arms in triumph as he completed the winning run. His partner, the No. 10 Elias Sunny, however, did not make it to the other end because he thought the ball had gone for four. The fielder in the deep returned it and Kieran Powell uprooted a stump amid the celebrations. Darren Sammy's protests that a run had not been completed prompted the umpires to check. No run had indeed been completed; nobody was run out either. Everyone took their positions again and Nasir's slashing bat sparked off another round of celebrations.

The confusion in those final moments was in contrast to the calm with which Mushfiqur Rahim, Mahmudullah and Nasir steered a tense chase, after Bangladesh's bowlers had recovered admirably from a Kieron Pollard battering.

Chasing 217, Tamim Iqbal was bowled playing across the line, Anamul Haque fended a rising delivery to point, and Jahurul Islam nicked one that burst off a length to the wicketkeeper. Kemar Roach had Bangladesh were 30 for 3 in the ninth over. The previous evening, the collapse ended only when the hosts were shot out for 136, but not in this deciding contest.

Pakistan Blind Cricket Team's captain was in big trouble

Zeeshan Abbasi drank chemical by mistake at Bangalore:

The captain of Pakistan's visually challenged cricket team, Zeshan Abbasi, who is in Bangalore to play the T20 Blind Cricket World Cup, was hospitalised on Saturday after accidentally drinking phenyl at the team hotel. He was discharged later in the day, and was 'absolutely fine' according to the doctors.

Abbasi had sipped the contents of a plastic bottle left on the table during breakfast, mistaking it for mineral water. He was taken to hospital, where was treated and kept under observation before being discharged a few hours later.

"Abbasi was discharged at 4.30pm. He is absolutely fine", the president of the hospital, Dr Shetty, was quoted. He said Abbasi had had an endoscopy and all the results were normal.

Pakistan team manager Sultan Shah said the hotel had apologised for the incident, but they wanted it probed further. "We want to know from the hotel management, who have orally apologised to us, how such an incident happened and who is responsible for such negligence," Shah said. "It has to be ensured that such incidents do not recur. Otherwise, we are happy with the arrangements here."

SP Nagesh, the president of the All Indian Cricket Association, also called for an investigation: "[The hotel must] tell us how such a lapse occurred. We are awaiting their reply."

Victory in Colombo was Ross Taylor's last act as New Zealand captain

Brendon McCullum has been appointed New Zealand's captain:

Brendon McCullum has been appointed New Zealand's captain in all three formats after Ross Taylor declined an offer to stay on as leader of the Test side in a split-captaincy scenario. Taylor has also chosen to make himself unavailable for the upcoming tour of South Africa, although New Zealand are hopeful he will be back in the side for the home series against England early next year.

The confirmation of the change came at a press conference in Auckland on Friday morning where David White, the New Zealand Cricket CEO, said he regretted the way the captaincy debate had played out in the public spotlight. McCullum, who has previously led New Zealand in eight ODIs and 12 Twenty20s, will become the country's 28th Test captain when the series against South Africa begins on January 2 in Cape Town.

There had been much speculation this week about the future of Taylor since the squad returned from Sri Lanka despite their impressive series-leveling victory in Colombo. In that match Taylor, who took over as captain in 2011 after being preferred to McCullum for the role, scored 142 in the first innings, but it was one of few highlights in a disappointing year for New Zealand, whose only other victory came in the first Test of the year against Zimbabwe.

They lost Test series against South Africa, West Indies and India before the draw in Sri Lanka while they have slipped to ninth in the one-day rankings below Bangladesh. They were also knocked out in the Super Eights of the World Twenty20. It was after the review of that tournament, as well as the tours of India and Sri Lanka, that the coach Mike Hesson recommended splitting the captaincy.

"Mike Hesson proposed a split captaincy that was endorsed by me as CEO and agreed by the board," White said. "The original recommendation was for Ross Taylor to be retained as Test captain and Brendon McCullum to be short-form captain. We regret that Ross Taylor has declined the opportunity, therefore Brendon McCullum has been appointed as Black Caps captain for all three forms of the game.

"I met with Ross ... for about three hours yesterday and we considered a number of different options. One of them was ... for him to go to South Africa and even just play the Test matches if he wanted to do that. But he thought about it long and hard and he said that he would like a break and to spend time with his family and we've agreed with that and we respect that. It's not ideal and we would be a stronger team with Ross Taylor in it."

England has tighten the grip on 3rd test

Neither the old ball nor the new one swung: 

The feeling of helplessness that enveloped much of India's horrendous tours of England and Australia descended again on MS Dhoni's side on the third day at Eden Gardens, as two of the most bloody-minded batsmen in world cricket, Alastair Cook and Jonathan Trott, set about grinding down toothless bowling in the morning. After lunch, India managed to dismiss both of them, but that didn't alter England's dominance of the match as Kevin Pietersen and the lower order stacked up some quick runs to stretch the lead towards a comfortable 200.

The moment typifying India's ineptness was Ishant Sharma putting down an absolute dolly off his own bowling when Cook was on 156. A rare Cook mistake sent the ball looping towards Ishant at waist height and at slow pace, but Ishant contrived to fluff that chance, the ball missing his palm and hitting the wrist. Ishant was left scratching his head in disappointment, while MS Dhoni maintained his famously expressionless demeanour.

Neither the old ball nor the new one swung, and though there was some uneven bounce - Cook was once surprised by a lifter from Ishant that struck the bat handle - the batsmen weren't tested much by the quicks as they wiped out the deficit.

India's spinners turned in a much-improved effort after Thursday's disappointing show, bowling accurately with the old ball in the first hour before getting some bounce and turn with the shiny one. In the second session, they got some help from the pitch as well, spinning the ball past the outside edge several times, and asking questions of the well-set Cook and Trott.

Ricky Ponting never took a backward step

Viv Richards had always been impressed with Ricky Ponting:

Viv Richards has hailed Ricky Ponting's brashness and "show-no-fear" attitude as among his greatest traits, and Shane Warne has lauded Ponting's habit of making runs when Australia most needed them. Ponting farewelled Test cricket with Australia's loss to South Africa in Perth this week and on Thursday, Warne and Richards, in Melbourne in the lead-up to Friday night's Big Bash League opener, reflected on Ponting's 17-year Test career.

"Certainly he's up there with the very best," Richards said. "What I love about him more than anything else, you look at the way he walks out to the crease. He always has presence. There is a tenaciousness about him. He walks out and believes. He's not going to be intimidated by no one. I would like guys like that. I appreciate seeing guys who come out and have a particular presence."

The same words could have been used to describe Richards, one of Wisden's five cricketers of the century, a man who never wore a helmet and stared down fast bowlers all over the world while nonchalantly chewing his gum. Although the careers of the two men did not overlap - Richards retired from Test cricket four years before Ponting made his debut - Richards saw plenty of Ponting's batting and was impressed by the attitude he displayed from his very first match in 1995.

"A young batter who wants to make it, you cannot feel like you have one foot in and one foot out," Richards said. "You've got to make that crease your house. Ricky always made the crease his house. I've always been in his corner as a player because of that brashness, he's an in-your-face sort of guy. Show no fear. Batsmen sometimes can be intimidated by a guy from how far he runs up, but you just put that at the back of your mind and bat with what you have. Ricky, to me, certainly did that."

Richards is part of the BBL this year as a batting mentor for the Melbourne Stars, who are captained by Warne, a man who played 85 Tests alongside Ponting. Although Warne was not always enamoured with Ponting's captaincy decisions, he said Ponting's ability to score runs when Australia faced potential trouble was one of the reasons the team was so successful.

 "It was fun to play with Ricky Ponting," Warne said. "I met him as a 16-year-old at the cricket academy in Adelaide. He was a guy who was pretty tough and an uncompromising sort of player. He will definitely go down with Greg Chappell and Allan Border and Bradman as the greatest batsmen Australia have had, and he'll hold up well on the international stage.

Shane Warne's sympathy for his Michael Clarke

I felt for Pup, I really felt for him:

Shane Warne's sympathy for his close friend Michael Clarke - and fervent desire to remain in the spotlight - has extended far enough for the former Australian legspinner to present an outlandish scenario by which he would return to the Test team for next year's dual Ashes series.

Watching Clarke look powerless for just about the first time as Australian captain as Hashim Amla and Graeme Smith battered a wayward bowling attack to all parts of the WACA ground during the third Test, Warne said he felt a strong urge to help out. This time, Warne said, the desire to aid Clarke went beyond the regular advice he shares with his former team-mate around Test matches.

"I felt like I wanted to jump off the couch and grab the ball," Warne told News Ltd. "I really felt for Michael Clarke from a captaincy point of view. When you've got international bowlers bowling one or two full-tosses an over and half-volleys, I felt for Pup, I really felt for him."

While the scenario is highly improbable, if not laughable, Warne said a suitable persuasive phone call from Clarke would be enough for him to forego the "Shane Warne inc." of his life since retirement in order to play for Australia again. Warne even suggested he would be happy to return through grade cricket and earn his way with wickets for club and state before a Test recall could be considered.

"If your best friend says, 'Mate, I want you to seriously consider making a commitment to Australian cricket and coming back out of retirement', (to) make myself available for selection, that's a different scenario,'' Warne said. "Especially with back-to-back Ashes coming up next year, it could be a 12-month thing where you take three spinners with you and say, 'Righto, work with these spinners and see how you go for 12 months.' That's a different kettle of fish.

Bowlers may be turned the match so quickly

Few bowlers can change the rhythm of a match so quickly:

Australia lost the Perth Test in Adelaide, where hearts were broken with no time to mend. South Africa knew this. Rarely can a team have approached a clutch match with such confidence. Imagine you are running a marathon. You give it your best shot but each time you look over your shoulder, the enemy is still there. Then, on the home run, the enemy cruises past you. Though Michael Clarke was chosen as Man of the Series for the brilliant back-to-back double-hundreds he scored in the first two Tests, Faf du Plessis was the man over his shoulder, the man who made it possible for South Africa. The prize should have been his.

A strong enough argument is made for longer series between the better-quality and best-matched teams but a short and sharp three-Test bout with two of the games played inside a fortnight provides a compelling narrative. Much was made of the damage done to Peter Siddle on Black Monday at the Adelaide Oval but it was physical and therefore had identity. The real suffering was in the mind, and most particularly the mind of the captain, who surely knew that his own team's strongest race had been run. He also knew that key members of the opposition had air left in their lungs.