Big picture: Hesson’s return Punjab Kings, in their old guise as Kings XI Punjab, missed out on the play-offs on net run-rate in 2019 but that was not enough for Mike Hesson, their coach, to keep his job. Perhaps, with hindsight, Hesson was onto a good thing – but in keeping with Kings’ IPL history,
Cricket
The selectors named a 17-player group on Wednesday which will cover the WTC decider at The Oval from June 7 and the opening two matches of the Ashes although the squad to face India will need to be trimmed to 15 by May 28. The Ashes party will then be reassessed after the Lord’s Test
It’s perhaps not the toughest last over he will ever bowl in an IPL game, with the opposition eight down and 20 runs still to get, but for Arjun Tendulkar, it was a test all right. Can he hold his nerve? Does he have it in him? Is he more than just the most famous
Sri Lanka 591 for 6 (Karunaratne 179, K Mendis 140, Samarawickrama 104*, Chandimal 102*) beat Ireland 143 (Tucker 45, Jayasuriya 7-52) and 168 (Tector 42, R Mendis 4-76, 3-56) by an innings and 280 runs Ireland’s collapse rolled into day three in Galle, as Sri Lanka’s spinners scythed through them twice, to secure an innings-and-280
Chennai Super Kings 226 for 6 (Conway 83, Dube 52, Siraj 1-30) beat Royal Challengers Bangalore 218 for 8 (Maxwell, 76, du Plessis 62, Deshpande 3-45, Pathirana 2-42) by eight runs In February earlier this year Faf du Plessis was back in yellow, leading Jo’burg Super Kings to the inaugural SA20 semi-finals along with coach
The 2023 season of the CPL will be played across five countries in the Caribbean from August 17 to September 24. Compared to the five venues that hosted matches last season across four countries – there were two venues in Trinidad & Tobago – this year’s CPL will also have matches played in Barbados; the
Faith Thomas, the first Indigenous woman to play for Australia in any sport, has died aged 90. ESPNcricinfo has been granted permission to use Aunty Faith Thomas’ name and image. Thomas was a survivor of the Stolen Generations policy, and was raised at Colebrook Home in South Australia’s Flinders Ranges, where she played cricket on
Rajasthan Royals 179 for 7 (Samson 60, Hetmyer 56*, Shami 3-25, Rashid 2-46) beat Gujarat Titans 177 for 7 (Miller 46, Gill 45, Sandeep 2-25) by three wickets Rajasthan Royals had almost reached a point of no-return. Their chase of 178 was going nowhere at 66 for 4. They needed a further 112 more off
Kusal Mendis has a theory: Test batting is becoming more and more like ODI batting. This came at the end of a day in which Sri Lanka scored at 4.38 an over on a supremely flat surface at Galle. But still, in the Bazball era, perhaps everyone else is ramping up scoring rates too. On
Punjab Kings 161 for 8 (Raza 57, Short 34) beat Lucknow Super Giants 159 for 8 (Rahul 74, Curran 3-31) by two wickets Sikandar Raza‘s maiden IPL gig at the age of 36 was reward for his compelling performances with bat and ball at the T20 World Cup last year. But three games into this
Royal Challengers Bangalore 174 for 6 (Kohli 50, Marsh 2-18, Kuldeep 2-23) beat Delhi Capitals 151 for 9 (Pandey 50, Vyshak 3-20, Siraj 2-23) by 23 runs Royal Challengers Bangalore spent a large part of this game under the pump. Frustratingly, every time they thought they got ahead, like when Virat Kohli reached a 33-ball
Toss Pakistan chose to bat vs New Zealand Pakistan have won the toss and will bat first for the second game running. After cruising past New Zealand in the first game defending a total, Babar Azam saw no need to change a winning formula; Pakistan are unchanged. New Zealand make two alterations to the unit
The surgery was successful and Bumrah was “pain-free”, according to a media statement from the BCCI. The plan is to get him fully fit for the home ODI World Cup, which is likely to start on October 5. Bumrah has not featured in any cricket since late September last year, when he pulled out of
Sunrisers Hyderabad 228 for 4 (Brook 100*, Markram 50, Abhishek 32, Russell 3-22) beat Kolkata Knight Riders 205 for 7 (Rana 75, Rinku 58*, Jagadeesan 36, Markande 2-27, Jansen 2-37) by 23 runs Harry Brook put behind a string of low scores with an unbeaten 55-ball 100 that included imperious hitting against pace and calculated
Worcestershire 96 for 2 (Pollock 41, Libby 19*, Potts 2-41) trail Durham 425 for 9 dec (Bedingham 118, Raine 71, Lees 70, Gibbon 4-92) by 329 runs Two wickets from Matthew Potts allowed Durham to make inroads into the Worcestershire batting line-up before rain ended day two prematurely in their LV= Insurance County Championship Division
The ECB is “exploring” a possible breach of their anti-corruption rules by Test head coach Brendon McCullum regarding his relationship with bookmaker 22Bet India. McCullum’s deal with the Cyprus-registered company was announced in November 2022, six months after he was appointed to his current role with the England men’s side. However, over the past few
Northamptonshire 111 for 3 (Procter 39*) trail Middlesex 149 (Higgins 70, Sanderson 3-19, Tremain 3-34) by 38 runs Middlesex endured another nightmare start as Northamptonshire seamer Ben Sanderson took advantage of their fragile top-order on the first morning of this LV= Insurance County Championship clash at Wantage Road. Sanderson, returning to the side after recovering
Gujarat Titans 154 for 4 (Gill 67, Saha 30, Brar 1-20) beat Punjab Kings 153 for 8 (Short 36, Jitesh 25, Mohit 2-18) by six wickets Another day, another last-over thriller. This one, though, wasn’t as topsy-turvy as a few of the earlier games in IPL 2023. But, it still required the ice man Rahul