DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP) — Bangladesh captain Najmul Hossain Shanto wants his side to focus on the West Indies test cricket series which starts on Wednesday, rather than think about a potential World Test Championship final.
Fourth in the 2025-27 WTC standings, Bangladesh needs to win at least four of its remaining six matches and draw one to keep up hopes of reaching the final for the first time.
The team has already played six matches, winning three, losing two and drawing one. The three victories included a 2-0 sweep over Pakistan and a historic triumph in Australia.
After the series against West Indies, Bangladesh will play two tests in South Africa and two at home against England.
‘As I said always, if we can fulfil the small target, we’ll achieve the bigger target. So the immediate focus is onto the series against West Indies," Shanto said. “We have to maintain the process, play as a unit like we did in the other series.”
Bangladesh lost a test against Zimbabwe and drew with Afghanistan, both games were not part of the WTC and were held in the UAE.
“We should have won the test against Afghanistan but we didn’t play good cricket in the last two days," Shanto said.
Bangladesh head coach Phil Simmons believes the ambition of reaching the WTC final will keep his players fully motivated.
“I think everyone is very focused on the test match," he said. "I think there’s that goal and that desire to play in the World Test Championship final, and this is the first time we’ve had that opportunity to be there.
Bangladesh and West Indies have played 11 Test series, with Bangladesh winning twice in 2009 and 2018. West Indies has won eight times and one ended in a draw.
In 22 tests between the teams, Bangladesh has won five and lost 15.
West Indies won its most recent test series in Bangladesh, sweeping the two-match contest in 2021.
West Indies is eighth in the WTC standings and this series marks its final assignment in the cycle.
The team is yet to lose a test series this year and recently put up a strong fight in ODIs and T20s in India.
Head coach Darren Sammy believes those performances will inspire his players against Bangladesh.
“We obviously know Bangladesh has been playing some good cricket, but so have we been playing some good cricket this year,” Sammy said. “When we started the World Test Championship ... we’re right where we wanted to be.”
AP cricket: https://apnews.com/hub/cricket
FILE -Bangladesh's Najmul Hossain Shanto fields off the ball during the third one-day international cricket match between Zimbabwe and Bangladesh in Harare, Zimbabwe, July 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Wonder Mashura, File)
WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal law enforcement agents searched a Beverly Hills home early Tuesday as part of an investigation into Eric Swalwell, who resigned from Congress amid a wave of sexual misconduct allegations, two people familiar with the investigation told The Associated Press.
Agents searched the home of wealthy developer and Swalwell donor Stephen Cloobeck, where the ex-Congressman spent time before resigning from office in April, according to the people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the investigation.
Swalwell, D-Calif., has denied criminal wrongdoing.
Messages seeking comment were left for Swalwell’s lawyer and for a lawyer who represented Cloobeck in another matter.
Cloobeck, who founded the Diamond Resorts International timeshare company and ran last year for California governor, contributed more than $23,000 to Swalwell’s congressional campaigns since 2017, federal campaign finance records show.
He told the New York Post in April that he cut ties with Swalwell as accusations against him mounted.
"I am no longer associated with a man that takes advantage of women,” Cloobeck told the newspaper. “I support women’s rights.”
In May, Cloobeck was charged with witness intimidation in an unrelated case. He has pleaded not guilty. In August, the online prediction market platform Kalshi temporarily banned him after it said he bought $10,000 worth of contracts on his short-lived gubernatorial candidacy.
Tuesday’s search is the latest escalation in the federal investigation of Swalwell — one of several probes begun after a woman came forward with allegations that he sexually assaulted her twice, including when she worked for him.
The San Francisco Chronicle, followed by CNN, first reported the allegations. CNN also reported that three other women alleged various kinds of sexual misconduct by Swalwell, including sending them unsolicited explicit messages or nude photos.
Around the same time, another woman came forward with allegations that Swalwell raped her at a Southern California hotel in 2018. She said she had one glass of wine and believes that Swalwell drugged her. She said she planned to make a report to law enforcement.
Asked about the search at Cloobeck’s address, FBI spokesperson Lourdes Arocho said: “Early this morning the FBI conducted an operation in the Los Angeles region related to an ongoing criminal investigation. We have no further comment.”
In August, federal agents seized electronic devices from Swalwell at the San Francisco airport and searched his Washington home.
Swalwell, an Iowa native, was elected in 2012 and represented a House district east of San Francisco. He launched a presidential run in April 2019 but ended it a few months later after failing to catch on with voters.
The seven-term lawmaker had been seen as one of the leading candidates in California’s gubernatorial race before dropping out after the allegations surfaced.
The office of Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg has said it is also investigating Swalwell after a former staffer told CNN and the Chronicle that Swalwell raped her at a hotel while he was in New York City for a charity gala in 2024.
In a statement, Bragg’s office encouraged “survivors and anyone with knowledge of these allegations to contact our Special Victims Division.”
Los Angeles prosecutors were also said to be weighing charges.
Swalwell was one of Republican President Donald Trump’s top Democratic antagonists in Congress. He was a prominent member of the House Judiciary and Intelligence committees during Trump’s first term and served as one of several Democratic prosecutors for Trump’s second impeachment after the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol.
Swalwell was removed from the Intelligence Committee by then-House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., in 2023 based on Swalwell’s contact with a suspected Chinese spy, Christine Fang.
Fang was reported to have come into contact with Swalwell’s campaign as he was first running for Congress in 2012 and to have participated in fundraising for his 2014 campaign.
Federal investigators alerted Swalwell to their concerns and briefed Congress about Fang in 2015, at which point Swalwell says he cut off contact with her. He was not accused of wrongdoing and a House Ethics Committee investigation that was opened in 2021 closed two years later without any action.
The exterior of a home belonging to Stephen Cloobeck is shown on Tuesday, Oct. 27, 2026, in Beverly Hills, Calif. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
FILE - Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-Calif., talks with reporters after holding a town hall meeting in Sacramento, Calif., April 7, 2026. (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli, File)
