Cricket round-up: Ashes squads named and NZ Test in balance
Ashes captains Joe Root and Pat Cummins have named their squads for the fourth Ashes Test while New Zealand’s cricket match against Bangladesh goes to the final day.
Ashes
Joe Root has named his squad for the fourth Ashes Test as Stuart Broad comes in for Ollie Robinson ahead of tonight’s start in Sydney.
Broad has played just once in the series so far after earning his 150th England cap in the second Test.
The remainder of the side is unchanged with England 3-0 down in the cricket series and now unable to win.
Usman Khawaja replaces Travis Head for the Baggy Greens after the batter received a positive Covid-19 test.
Scot Boland, who achieved figures of 6-7 in the third Test, retains his place.
England: Haseeb Hameed, Zak Crawley, Dawid Malan, Joe Root (capt), Ben Stokes, Jonny Bairstow, Jos Buttler (wk), Mark Wood, Jack Leach, Stuart Broad, James Anderson.
Australia: David Warner, Marcus Harris, Marnus Labuschagne, Steve Smith, Usman Khawaja, Cameron Green, Alex Carey (wk), Pat Cummins (capt), Mitchell Starc, Scott Boland, Nathan Lyon.
Fifth day cricket
New Zealand’s Test match against Bangladesh will go into the fifth day this evening on a knife edge.
The Blackcaps posted first innings score of 328 before their opponents reached 458.
That Bangladesh first innings is the longest New Zealand have spent in the field since 2009 – against Pakistan.
At close on day four the Kiwis had achieved 147-5, amassing a lead of just 17 runs.
If Bangladesh can rip through the bottom order of the New Zealand batting tail, they’ll have a significant chance of winning their first ever Test in New Zealand.
The fifth and final day gets underway at 21:30 for viewers in the UK while the Ashes begins at 23:30 Uk time.