Former Bangladesh captain Tamim Iqbal was involved in a heated altercation with England opener Alex Hales at the end of a Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) 2025 game. In the aftermath of the altercation, both Hales and Tamim have shot fire at the other via the media. Hales, part of Rangpur Riders, accused Fortune Barishal skipper Tamim of being “very rude”, bringing up allegations of drug abuse, while the latter then defended his actions, stating that Hales had verbally abused 18-year-old cricketer Iqbal Hossain Emon.

Hales accused Tamim of making a personal attack, stating that Tamim had brought up use of drugs. Hales was banned from representing England at the 2019 World Cup after failing a recreational drugs test. It was this matter that Hales said Tamim had brought up in a rude manner.

“He was asking if I was embarrassed for getting banned for drugs for England, and he was asking if I was still taking drugs. He was very, very rude. It’s a real shame really because if anything happens on the field that just ends on the field, but to get personal and that too after the game, I think is pathetic, to be honest,” said Hales on Bangladesh-based Channel 24.

Tamim Iqbal was furious with Alex Hales after Fortune Barisal’s loss.#BPL2025 #bplt20 #Cricket pic.twitter.com/Pnv9iq3XIS

— Mominul Islam (@MominulCric) January 9, 2025

On the other hand, Tamim hit back and defended his actions. The former Bangladesh skipper said that he had only reacted in that manner after Hales had verbally abused Barishal’s 18-year-old player Iqbal Hossain Emon.

“If you watch the celebration video, Hales kept looking at me and mocking me. It seemed like he wanted a fight,” explained Tamim, speaking on journalist Riasad Azim’s YouTube channel.

“Later, when he again insulted Emon, I had to stand up for my teammate, and I have no regrets about doing so. We both exchanged words,” Tamim added.

Tamim stated that while had little idea about Hales’ instance of being banned for drugs use, he had no choice but to defend his 18-year-old teammate.

“All I knew is that he (Hales) has faced many allegations in England, and has not been liked by his own team. It’s not like he’s very clean and calm. That’s what their media says,” Tamim said.

“If someone is going after me, or going after an 18-year-old guy, I will always stand up, regardless of how I am portrayed on TV,” he added.

“I told him ‘Be a man, if you want to say something, tell it to my face. Don’t make these kinds of gestures’,” shared Tamim.

Rangpur Riders had scripted a sensational victory over Fortune Barishal, with Rangpur captain chasing down 30 runs in the final over, sparking wild celebrations.

Former Australian cricketer Greg Chappell heaped praises on young England batter Harry Brook, comparing his performances and approach to legendary Indian cricketer Sachin Tendulkar. Brook is one of the newest faces of world cricket, having made a name for himself with some impactful knocks across all formats. Tests are Brook’s best format so far and he would be looking to make an impact in the Ashes series against Australia away from home later this year.

In 24 Tests, he has made 2,281 runs at an average of 58.48, with eight centuries and 10 fifties in 40 innings. His best score is 317. While these numbers are eye-catchy, it is his away-from-home statistics that are truly mind-boggling. In 11 away Tests, he has scored 1,520 runs at an average of 80.00, with seven centuries and four fifties. His best score is 317.

Writing in his column for Sydney Morning Herald, Chappell wrote that under the “bold and transformative leadership of Ben Stokes and coach Brendon McCullum”, the England team is not only rebuilding, but is surging ahead with a team that “looks equipped to dominate for a generation.”

“Central to this optimism is the emergence of Harry Brook, a batting sensation whose performances and approach I compare to the great Sachin Tendulkar. Remarkably, Brook’s early career stats suggest he might even have outpaced the Indian maestro in terms of impact at the same stage,” he added.

Chappell lauded Brook for his “simple but devastatingly effective batting method” that has made him one of the most talked about players in the world at the age of 25.

“Much like Tendulkar in his early years, Brook does not move excessively in the crease before the ball is delivered. His stability and minimalistic technique allow him to read the angles of the bowler and adjust his strokes with precision. The result? An extraordinary ability to score from most deliveries, whether they are pitched full, short or on an awkward length,” he added.

Chappell also pointed out that Tendulkar’s brilliance in his prime was mainly scoring on both sides of wicket and using a bowler’s pace to his advantage.

“Brook, though a bigger and more powerful player physically, has a strikingly similar ability to manipulate the field with wristy flicks, crunching drives, and punishing back-foot shots. It is a simple method, but simplicity often breeds greatness,” he added.

Chappell further drew a comparison between the first 15 Tests of both Brook and Sachin, with Sachin having scored 837 runs at an average of just under 40 with two centuries, as compared to Brook, who scored 1,378 runs at an average of almost 60, with five tons.

“To be fair, Sachin was still a teenager while Brook is in his mid-20s,” he added.

Chappell said that Brook’s ability to “combine aggression with consistency” makes him an absolute nightmare to bowl to.

“Much like Tendulkar, he’s incredibly hard to contain. For England, he is not just a bright prospect, he is a player around whom their future could be built,” he added.

Chappell also noted that under Stokes, England is playing with an “infectious swagger”.

“They do not just aim to win, they aim to dominate. This attitude, coupled with McCullum’s aggressive philosophies, has allowed England to forge a fearless and entertaining team identity.”

“Brook embodies this new ethos: he bats with a sense of inevitability. Bowlers know he will score, but they do not know how to stop him. This psychological edge cannot be overstated. By the time Brook walks to the crease, the fielding side is already under pressure,” he concluded.

The five-match Ashes series will begin in Perth on November 21, with the remaining four Tests to be held in Brisbane (day-night Test), Adelaide, Melbourne and Sydney.

England have not won a series in Australia since 2010/11, with the most recent series between the two rivals ending tied at 2-2 on English soil last year.

The series will form a crucial part of the next ICC World Test Championship period (2025-27), with Australia having won the mace in 2023 and England yet to feature in the final.

England haven’t held the Ashes since they won on home soil in 2015 under the captaincy of former opener Alastair Cook.

Series schedule:

First Test: Perth Stadium, November 21-25

Second Test: Gabba, December 4-8

Third Test: Adelaide Oval, December 17-21

Fourth Test: MCG, December 26-30

Fifth Test: SCG, January 4-8.

A group of “50 leading England cricketers” could boycott next year’s Hundred competition to protest the England and Wales Cricket Board’s (ECB) overhaul of its NOC policy, which players need to participate in franchise tournaments, according to a report. It was revealed last week that the ECB intended to not issue NOCs for tournaments which have their dates clashing with the English summer, unless the cricketer “is on a white-ball only deal with their county”, reported The Telegraph. “This includes the Pakistan Super League, which moves to a slot concurrent to the Indian Premier League (which is controversially exempt from the policy) in April and May next year,” the report said.

Players are believed to have been denied NOCs for any competitions that coincide with the Vitality Blast or the Hundred.

“Next year, that includes Major League Cricket, Canada’s Global T20 league and the Lanka Premier League, as well as the Caribbean Premier League. The list of leagues clashing with the domestic summer is only likely to grow,” the report said.

ECB’s stance on the matter has forced the players to get into several rounds of discussions with the Professional Cricketers’ Association (PCA) this week, with the players meeting the body’s members on Monday followed by their agents’ meeting with the officials on Wednesday.

While the report claimed “a group of 50 leading English cricketers” are contemplating the boycott of the Hundred, it did not specify if this group includes any of those who are currently on the Test tour of New Zealand.

“It is understood, however, that the players have held early discussions about the possibility of taking a collective stance around next year’s Hundred,” the report said.

“The nascent plan involves refusing to enter negotiations around being retained by their teams, and then refusing to enter the draft unless the NoC situation is resolved more to their liking.

“It is thought that between 40 and 50 players have been involved in discussions around this already, with more hoped to follow. This group includes a significant number of players who have represented England,” it added.

The players’ stance over the matter could also impact ECB’s process of selling stakes in the eight teams of the Hundred and would need the best players to “keep the standard high”, the report added.

During the two ongoing Test matches between India and New Zealand at Pune’s Maharashtra Cricket Association (MCA) stadium and the third Pakistan-England Test at Rawalpindi, the domination of spin on the opening days has stood out, with the tweakers established new records, milestones and memories from “Pindi to Pune”. In the second Test between the Kiwis and India, the Indian team chose a combination of three frontline spinners in Washington Sundar, Ravindra Jadeja and Ravichandran Ashwin on what was a spin-friendly surface, with all three having exceptional quality in their batting as well when in full flow.

The move to include Washington, playing his first Test in over three years since that iconic Border-Gavaskar Trophy sealing win at The Gabba in Brisbane against Australia in January 2021, raised questions as he was picked over a much more accomplished and senior as a spinner, Kuldeep Yadav, who has had to sit out often during Test matches due to Ashwin-Jadeja’s abilities as batters.

When Kiwis were 197/3, with Rachin Ravindra looking set for another century and only Ravichandran Ashwin having made some notable, but not-so-impacful dents in Kiwis’ innings, a lot was being said about Kuldeep’s absence from the field. However, Washington, who had bowled tightly so far, responded to the chatter in the most dominating way possible, taking the next seven wickets with his masterful movement with the ball. He triggered Kiwis’ collapse from 197/3 to 259 all out in the first innings.

Washington went on to register his career-best Test figures and his maiden Test fifer. He and Ashwin, two Tamil Nadu stars, teamed up to take all ten Kiwi wickets on day one, making it only sixth instance of spinners getting all the ten wickets on day one of a Test in India.

Sundar had cleaned bowled five batters in his spell, including Rachin, Tom Blundell, Mitchell Santner, Tim Southee and Ajaz Patel. He joined stars and older players like Jadeja, Anil Kumble, Jasubhai Patel and Bapu Nadkarni to be among players to have accomplished most “bowled” dismissals during a Test innings in India.

Sundar’s figures were the third-best by an Indian against New Zealand in Tests and the joint-best along with Ashwin in the 21st century. Spinner Srinivasaraghavan Venkataraghavan, who also happened to play for Tamil Nadu, had registered all-time best figures of 8/72 against Kiwis in 1965 at Delhi, followed by Erapalli Prasanna’s 8/76 at Auckland in 1975.

Ashwin also overtook Nathan Lyon to become the leading wicket-taker in the history of the ICC World Test Championship with 189 scalps in just 39 matches, as compared to Australian legend Nathan Lyon’s 187 wickets in 43 matches. He also overtook Lyon (530 wickets) to become Test’s seventh-highest wicket-taker, with 531 scalps.

On the other hand at Rawalpindi, the pitch was expected to spin from early on. While England had made over 500 runs within a single day (including four centuries) the last time they were at the venue back in 2022, it was the complete opposite this time around.

England was up for a surprise as they collapsed from 70/1 to 118/6, as Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Ben Duckett, Harry Brook and Ben Stokes all departed in quick succession. Jamie Smith (89 in 119 balls, with five fours and six sixes) and Gus Atkinson (39 in 71 balls, with five fours) counter-attacked and averted a complete collapse by taking England to 267 in 68.2 overs.

All the overs bowled in the innings were bowled by spinners, the first time in 142 years that no pacers bowled any over in a Test inning. The previous such instance was in February 1882 in Sydney, where two Australian slow bowlers – Joey Palmer and Edwin Evans – bowled 115 overs between them to bowl England out for 133, as per Wisden.

Sajid Khan continued his brilliant run in the series with figures of 6/128 at Rawalpindi, the third-best spell by a spinner at the venue, behind Noman Ali (6/107 against Australia in 2022) and Mushtaq Ahmed (6/87 against New Zealand in 1996).

Nomal Ali got three wickets for 88 runs in 28 overs and Zahid Mahmood took 1/44 in his ten overs. Only Salman Agha went wicketless, giving away three runs in only one over he bowled.

It was the sixth time Pakistan spinners took all 10 wickets in the first innings of a Test and 4th time that happened against England.

At the end of the day, Pakistan had been reduced to 73/3, with spinners Shoaib Bashir and Rehan Ahmed getting two of these wickets.

Will spinners continue getting help in these two matches and win matches for their teams single-handedly? Only time will tell.

England’s rising batting star Harry Brook said he was delighted he had finally eclipsed his father’s highest club score, when he hit a triple hundred against Pakistan in Multan on Thursday. The 25-year-old smashed a career best 317 that, coupled with Joe Root‘s 262, helped visitors pile 823-7 declared — fourth highest total in all Test cricket — England’s third best. With a big 267-run lead over Pakistan in the first innings, England then caught the home team napping at 152-6. At close, Pakistan still needed 115 to avoid an innings defeat on the final day Friday.

Brook said his father’s highest score was the target.

“I just wanted to get past my dad’s high score 210,” said Brook of his father David’s score in a club match for Burnley in 2001.

Brook had missed a chance of surpassing dad’s best when he scored 186 against New Zealand at Wellington last year.

“I said that to you guys before, I was pretty happy when I got past his score, to be honest.”

Brook said he was satisfied to contribute in team’s strong position.

“I am lost for words, to be honest, I’m just happy that the team’s in a in a strong position to win the game tomorrow morning. It’s an incredible thing.”

Brook and Root enjoyed a run feast on a flat Multan stadium pitch, adding a big 454 for the fourth wicket, England’s highest partnership in Tests.

It eclipsed the 411-run fourth-wicket partnership by Peter May and Colin Cowdrey against the West Indies at Birmingham in 1957.

“It was wonderful batting with Rooty,” said Brook. “We spoke about the game moving forward and going out there after lunch to try and put the foot down and get a decent lead.”

“It makes you feel so comfortable when you’re watching him at the other end, he makes the game look so easy, and he’s playing the ball so late and making the balls look slow.”

Brook completed his triple century with a boundary off part-timer Saim Ayub, reaching the mark off 310 balls before he top-edged a sweep off the same bowler and was caught by Shan Masood.

Brook cracked 29 fours and three sixes in his 439-minute stay at the crease.

It was Brook’s sixth Test century and his fourth against Pakistan following his three in as many Tests when England routed Pakistan 3-0 in 2022.

File photo of England Test team.© AFP

File photo of Pakistan cricket team.© AFP

Former England captain Michael Vaughan has said he would be happy to be proven wrong on stand-in skipper Ollie Pope’s leadership credentials. At the same time, Vaughan stuck to his view that Pope is an insecure person as a leader. Pope made scores of one and 17 in England’s 190-run win over Sri Lanka at Lord’s. So far in the series, he has amassed only 30 runs in four innings. Questions have been raised over Pope being fidgety while batting and criticism has increased over his leadership abilities not being up to the mark.

Though he rotated his bowlers well and set up funky fields when required, Pope also had eight unsuccessful reviews, adding more fuel to the debate of being made the England Test captain weighing him down.

“Ollie Pope is the ideal vice-captain for England. Pope is that perfect foil for Ben Stokes. He is a very good guy, trains well and is a real team man – someone who can give tactical advice when required and is happy in the background. But he is better kept in that role, as vice-captain, than elevated to captain.”

“I would be happy to be proven wrong on Pope. But I think he is someone who is a bit insecure. I can see why they gave him the vice-captaincy to give him a boost, but he really did not need the captaincy at this stage of his career. For all the focus on Pope’s captaincy, it will be forgotten when Stokes returns in Pakistan,” wrote Vaughan in his column for The Telegraph.

He also commented on Pope being unsettled and frantic when coming out to bat at number three for England. “Not every vice-captain is going to make a captain. There are also a lot of captains who cannot be vice-captains, myself included. I wanted to be the leader. I wanted to be making the decision. I did not want to be the thoughtful strategist in the background.”

“I hope that Pope fights through his poor run of form. I hope he can find a way of getting that rhythm. In a game’s time, he is not going to be a captain, and it is purely about his batting. Can he find that rhythm and that calmness at the crease?”

“By giving Pope the captaincy now, I think England have given him a pressure that he did not need. It came at a stage when it was looking like he was working out how to bat at No 3 and had done well there against West Indies earlier in the summer. Then he gets thrown the captaincy.”

Vaughan also wishes to see Harry Brook being groomed as England’s next Test captain, and feels if needed, Joe Root can take up leadership mantle in an interim capacity. “Looking ahead, Harry Brook would be a better fit as captain for this side: his whole approach makes him a natural successor to Stokes.”

“But if there is another interim period when Stokes is injured and there are concerns about whether Brook is ready, what is wrong with giving the captaincy to Joe Root? It would not be backward step. He would just be seeing out a series when you know Stokes is coming back. And Stokes is still there in the dressing room anyway.”

England head into the first Test against Sri Lanka at Old Trafford starting Wednesday with several players given a chance to prove a point after captain Ben Stokes‘s series-ending injury. Star all-rounder Stokes is set to play no part at all in the three-match contest after tearing his hamstring during the Hundred. And that means England will be without their inspirational leader for the first time since Stokes and coach Brendon McCullum launched the team’s dynamic ‘Bazball’ era two years ago.

Ollie Pope, the England vice-captain, will now skipper the side even though he has led county team Surrey in just one first-class match.

England announced their team on Monday, with fast bowler Matthew Potts recalled as they opted for a five-man attack.

Meanwhile, Dan Lawrence — rarely deployed as an opener in county cricket — returns to the England side for the first time in two-and-a-half years after Zak Crawley‘s fractured finger created a vacancy at the top of the order.

Crawley suffered his setback as England completed a 3-0 whitewash of the West Indies last month.

England will be expected to achieve a similar result against a Sri Lanka side who, like the West Indies, have played just a solitary warm-up match prior to the first Test.

Conventional cricket wisdom has rarely been a part of England’s approach under the guidance of former New Zealand captain McCullum, so it should come as no surprise they have opted against replacing Crawley with a specialist opener.

Indeed Lawrence himself is in no doubt his natural attacking game is well-suited to the approach of the current England set-up.

“I think that’s the style of cricketer that Baz McCullum and Ben Stokes are generally after and my general way of going about it is to try and be quite aggressive,” Lawrence said Monday.

“Throughout my whole career I’ve played a certain brand of cricket and that has served me well so I’m just going to do the same thing. I’m just going to go out there and try to be as free as possible.”

Experience

Sri Lanka can no longer call on star batsmen Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene, but their squad does contain experienced performers in Angelo Mathews and Dimuth Karunaratne.

Dhananjaya de Silva‘s side will, however, be able to turn to another Sri Lanka great in Sanath Jayasuriya, the squad’s interim coach, who took over after Chris Silverwood, the ex-England paceman, opted against renewing his contract in June.

And former England batsman Ian Bell, also a member of the backroom staff, is on hand to provide local knowledge for what is Sri Lanka’s first series on English soil in eight years.

Sri Lanka last played Test cricket in April but they do have recent experience of upsetting the odds after defeating India 2-0 in a three-match one-day international series earlier this month.

“We have an experienced batting order,” Jayasuriya, a dynamic batsman who pulverised England attacks in all formats, told ESPNCricinfo.

“Dimuth Karunaratne, Kusal Mendis, Angelo Mathews, Dhananjaya de Silva, Dinesh Chandimal — they have all played a lot of cricket.”

This year marks the 40th anniversary of Sri Lanka’s first Test in England, a match where Sidath Wettimuny made a superb 190 — one of several hundreds for the tourists — in a highly creditable draw at Lord’s.

And Jayasuriya believes the timing of the current campaign could favour Sri Lanka.

“The fact that we have got a late-summer tour is great,” he said. “It’s more similar to our conditions than the early summer tours.”

Spain are “deserved” favourites for Sunday’s Euro 2024 final and even if England do pull off a surprise victory English bookmakers are willing to take the financial hit as for one at least it is “only money lent”. Indeed it might be one occasion where the bookmakers allow their hearts to rule their heads and enjoy losing money. Even though English punters have weighed in since Gareth Southgate’s side beat the Dutch at the death in their semi-final, Spain remain odds-on favourites for a record fourth European crown in Berlin.

“I take the view I can’t lose, if England win, the fan in me is happy, if Spain win, the Coral man in me is satisfied,” David Stevens, head of public relations at Coral, told AFP.

“If it is the former, it’s only money lent.

“Spain have been the standout team in this Euros, and they are deserved favourites for Sunday’s match.

“But that will not prevent those many patriotic punters getting stuck into the Three Lions, and England will be big losers come kick-off.”

William Woodhams, CEO of the world’s oldest bookmakers Fitzdares, largely concurs with his rival.

“Heart always wins,” he told AFP.

“One result isn’t going to kill the business and a bit of a feelgood factor among punters never hurts.”

Indeed Woodhams also has a personal interest in England winning their first major trophy since Bobby Moore lifted the World Cup trophy 58 years ago.

“My son drew England in the nursery school sweepstake — so I’m so competitive I want to win the £50 ($65)!”

‘Rioja in the cellar’

Stevens said turnover has been ticking along nicely during the tournament though at the expense of other usually reliable money spinners.

“Football betting is a growth area, and the timing of this summer’s matches has been perfect for a UK audience,” he said.

“So we’ve no complaints about the turnover, albeit it does take away from other events, with Royal Ascot turnover hit slightly last month.”

The urbane Woodhams, who is far from one’s archetypal image of a bookmaker’s CEO having spent six years with luxury goods firm LVMH, says in contrast a largely dull tournament had had an impact.

“Turnover is definitely comparable to the World Cup but not on a par with either Cheltenham or Royal Ascot,” he said.

“It’s been quite a slow tournament and the amount of draws has left a lot of punters without much in their kitty.”

Stevens says England’s “dreary performances will be forgotten” should they win, though, many of his firm’s punters evidently believe they will once again leave fans’ nerves jangling.

King Charles III has tried to help their nerves, as he took to social media earlier this week to joke that England should avoid more last-minute drama.

“England to win on penalties has shortened from 9-1 to 13-2, which tells me plenty of England fans are expecting another nail-biter!” said Stevens.

Woodhams says one of their clients is obviously like the always pessimistic donkey Eeyore in the Winnie The Pooh books.

“Someone had a massive bet on England not to win at big odds-on,” he said.

“Presume they’re keeping the Rioja in the cellar for the time being.”

As for whether they would be happy if England were then to wait another 58 years for their next title, both became dewy-eyed patriots again.

“They’ve not won a World Cup in my lifetime so maybe a two year wait would be nice,” said Stevens.