Kane Williamson and tailender Ish Sodhi dug in — much to the frustration of Pakistan — as New Zealand moved ahead by 81 runs on the fourth day of the first cricket test on Thursday. Williamson, who completed his first test hundred in almost two years late on Day 2, was not out on 137 off 308 balls while Sodhi was unbeaten on 41 off 127 balls in his comeback test match after four years. New Zealand reached 519-6 at lunch. Read more: Liton becomes highest ranked Bangladesh Test batter ever Williamson has fully capitalized on two stumping chances early in his innings and now has batted for nearly eight hours, hitting 12 fours. Sodhi was closing in on his fourth test half century and showed plenty of determination with the bat on a slow turning wicket. Resuming on 440-6 with a lead of two runs, both batters didn’t get troubled against spinners Abrar Ahmed (3-172) and Nauman Ali (2-154), who have bowled bulk of the overs. Pakistan couldn’t get through the defenses of both overnight batters even after taking the third new ball with Sodhi hitting three boundaries against seamer Mir Hamza on the off side of the wicket. Hamza, also making a comeback after playing his only previous test against Australia in 2018, could have got his first wicket in the penultimate over before the break but Pakistan didn’t appeal as the TV replays suggested he got a thin outside edge of Sodhi’s bat. New Zealand’s lead was 24 when Nauman came close to dismissing Williamson on 116 in his second over of the day. But Williamson quickly went for a successful television referral against umpire Aleem Dar’s lbw ruling after he missed a full-length delivery down the legside and the TV replays suggested the ball had pitched outside the off stump. Both Abrar and Nauman also induced top edges that landed close to fielders as New Zealand continued to build its lead on its first test tour Pakistan since 2002.

Bangladesh suffered a disastrous defeat in the first match of the two-match series against India in Chattogram. They were unable to display the batting prowess that is essential for a successful Test match performance. The hosts needed a marathon effort in order to draw the match or triumphantly reach 241 runs with only four remaining wickets. In the end, this proved to be an insurmountable task. In pursuit of an imposing 513 runs in the fourth innings of the match, Bangladesh fell short with a final score of 324, having started from a paltry 150 in the first innings -- thus resulting in a humiliating 188-run defeat. Zakir Hasan, the left-handed batter, delivered a stunning debut century, while Shakib Al Hasan scored 84. Najmul Hossain Shanto rebounded brilliantly from a first-ball duck in the first innings by notching 67; unfortunately, the rest of the Bangladeshi batters were unable to stand firm against the relentless Indian bowling attack. Axar Patel was the best bowler for the visiting team in the second innings, taking four wickets, while Kuldeep Yadav chipped in with three of his own. In the initial innings of the match, India mustered up 404 runs after winning the toss. Cheteshwar Pujara was the star of the batting show with a well-composed 90, while Shreyas Iyer and Ravichandran Ashwin also added to the run tally with respective scores of 86 and 58. For Bangladesh, Taijul Islam and Mehidy Hasan Miraz bagged four wickets each. In response, Bangladesh crumbled to 150 all-out. The Bangladeshi batsmen were flummoxed by the quality spin of Kuldeep, who scalped five wickets for 40 runs, while Mohammad Siraj also made his presence felt with three wickets of his own. In their second innings of the match, India declared at 258 for two with Shubman Gill registering his maiden Test century and Pujara notching up yet another ton. Ultimately, they set an immense target of 513 runs for Bangladesh, with only five sessions to attempt a miraculous chase. This total was uncharted territory for Bangladesh in the fourth innings of a Test match. Kuldeep rightly earned the player of the match accolade for his stellar eight-wicket haul in the match. The second and concluding Test of the series will commence in Dhaka on December 22nd.  

The West Indies started their first innings of the Lucia Test 234 runs behind Bangladesh and finished it 174 runs ahead at the Daren Sammy Stadium Sunday. Kyle Mayers' epic knock of 146 came to an end as he fell to Khaled Ahmed on day three. It was Khaled's fourth wicket in the innings. Bangladesh picked up two wickets in the first session of the day before the rain came in. Read: Batters should learn from West Indies: Domingo In the rain-hit first session, the West Indies added 36 runs with their overnight total of 340 for five and lost two more wickets. The hosts had lost four wickets for 132 runs. But Mayers, Jermaine Blackwood and Joshua Da Silva stood firm to strike back and secure a first-innings lead for the hosts. Earlier, Bangladesh scored 234 in the first innings with only a 50 from Liton Das. All of Bangladesh's first five batters managed to have good starts, but they failed to carry on. At the end of day two, Bangladesh's head coach Russell Domingo had said the batters should learn from the West Indies. The hosts won the first Test of the ongoing series, which is a part of the ICC World Test Championship.  

Bangladesh are in trouble in the second Test of the two-match series against South Africa. At the end of day three, Bangladesh are still 386 runs short of the target set for them with only seven wickets in hand, at 27 for three in 9.1 overs. The visitors might face the same fate they endured in Durban losing a Test by 220 runs after a batting collapse in the second innings when they tumbled for 53. In pursuit of a huge target of 413, Bangladesh lost three early wickets— Mahmudul Hasan Joy, Najmul Hossain Shanto and Tamim Iqbal. Joy had a century in the first match, but in the second, he suffered a pair of ducks. Also read: Mehidy escapes injury scare after being hit on stomach Two of the three wickets Bangladesh lost went to the bag of Keshav Maharaj while Simon Harmer also got his first removing Tamim— whose dismissal ended play. With a first-innings lead of 236 runs, South Africa declared their second innings on 176 for six, and they set a big target of 413 that Bangladesh never chased in their Test history. When Mehidy Hasan Miraz Wiaan Mulder for six, Dean Elgar, the captain of South Africa, declared the innings with around half an hour to play before the end of the day. In reply to South Africa’s first innings of 453, Bangladesh tumbled for 217 despite having some good batting display from some batters who failed to carry on with a positive mind. All of Tamim, Mushfiqur Rahim and Yasir Ali passed the 40-run mark, but only Mushfiqur was able to reach a fifty. He, however, ended his innings with a fancy reverse sweep which looked awkward at that moment of the match. Also read:SA vs BAN Second Test 2022: Taijul Islam Reaches Unique Milestone However, Taijul Islam continued to prove his ability on the soil of South Africa taking three more wickets in the second innings of the hosts. His wickets tally in this Test ended with nine for 202— his best match return away from home in Tests.

South Africa raced to a 220-run victory in the first test after Bangladesh’s collapse to 53 all out on the morning of the final day on Monday. Bangladesh lasted only 19 overs in its second innings and South Africa needed only two bowlers to roll the tourists out. Read: Taskin, Shoriful out of 2nd South Africa Test They were both spinners, with left-armer Keshav Maharaj collecting 7-32 and offspinner Simon Harmer 3-21. It was a surprisingly sudden end to the match after Bangladesh had hopes of possibly pulling off its first test victory over South Africa by needing 274 runs in the final innings. But the tourists slumped to 11-3 at the close of play on Day 4 and the wickets continued to tumble dramatically on the morning of Day 5. Read: Australia Clinch ICC Women's World Cup 2022: Alyssa Healy Sets New Record Najmul Hossain Shanto (26) and tailender Taskin Ahmed (14) were the only Bangladesh batters to reach double figures and South Africa needed less than an hour of play on Monday to take those remaining seven wickets and take a 1-0 lead in the two-test series.

Sri Lankan Test captain Dimuth Karunaratne brings up his second consecutive Test ton in the second and final Test of the two-match series against Bangladesh in Kandy on Thursday.  He was dropped by Najmul Hossain Shanto at the slip region when he was 28. Karunaratne exploited the chance of hitting  a ton. Also Read: Sri Lanka off to cautious start as Bangladesh miss early chances  At the Tea break of the first day, Sri Lanka were batting at 188 for none in 58 overs with Karunaratne and his opening partner Lahiru Thirimanne were batting at 108 and 80 respectively.  It was the 12th Test hundred for Karunaratne, the highest by any active Sri Lankan player.  The wicket looked fairly dead in this Test as well. In the first Test, the wicket was flat and bowlers had nothing to get from the track.  The International Cricket Council has rated the wicket as below average due to its failure to provide a balanced opportunity to the batsmen and bowlers. The ground has awarded one demerit point as well.  Also Read: Sri Lanka bat first, Shoriful makes Test debut In the first session of the day, Bangladeshi bowlers were more disciplined, but in the second, they seemed to be a bit random and aimless. The first Test of the series ended in a draw, where Karunaratne had smashed a double-ton. Bangladesh’s Najmul and Mominul Haque had also hit a ton each.  Bangladesh made one change in this game including debutant Shorfiul Islam to replace Ebadot Hossain while Sri Lanka made two changes adding Lakshan Sandakan and Chamika Karunaratne to their squad to replace Lahiru Kumara and Dilshan Madushanka. Chamika Karunaratne made his debut with this game. 

After the contentious two-day test gave India a 2-1 series lead against England, the series and the World Test Championship equations are simple ahead of the fourth cricket test at Ahmedabad.

West Indies are looking at a big score thanks to a half century by wicketkeeper-batsman Joshua Da Silva on the second day of Dhaka Test.

Joe Root scored a century in his 100th Test match to lead England to 263-3 at stumps on the first day of the series opener against India on Friday.

Test rookies Shardul Thakur and Washington Sundar combined for a rearguard century stand that frustrated Australia’s bowling attack and lifted India from a precarious position Sunday into almost first-innings parity in the series-deciding match.