Cricket

Sanath Jayasuriya, Sri Lanka’s interim head coach, said that his team’s success in frustrating Harry Brook had been integral to their fightback on the second day at the Kia Oval, as they reached the close on 211 for 5 in their first innings, trailing by just 114 after bowling England out for 325 in the

After an opening day dominated by a lengthy delay for bad light, the third Test between England and Sri Lanka at the Kia Oval plumbed farcical new depths on the second afternoon, when Chris Woakes was forced to bowl spin midway through an over, due to the on-field umpires’ concerns about the deteriorating conditions. The

Imagine being a frontline spinner from a country that is known to produce world-class fast bowlers. Imagine then touring a tough place like India and grabbing a historic ten-wicket haul in only your 11th Test. Now imagine still not becoming a frontline spinner for your team and getting to feature in only five of the

Gloucestershire 138 (Bancroft 43, Foulkes 3-22) beat Birmingham Bears 124 for 9 (Payne 4-23, O Price 3-32) by 14 runs Birmingham Bears suffered a fourth consecutive quarter-final exit as Gloucestershire stunned the North Group winners with a 14-run victory in a tense, low-scoring contest at Edgbaston. The west country side scraped into the last eight

James Anderson will carry on as England men’s bowling consultant on their upcoming winter tours of Pakistan and New Zealand. Anderson has been working in the role since retiring in June after the first Test of the summer, against West Indies. Both the 42-year-old and the England management decided upon an initial stint through the

Rangana Herath and Vikram Rathour have linked up with the New Zealand Test squad, who are set to play six Tests in Asia over the next two months. Herath will be the spin-bowling coach for New Zealand’s next three Tests – one against Afghanistan and two in Sri Lanka – while Rathour will only be

Somerset 215 for 3 (Banton 75, Kohler-Cadmore 63) beat Northamptonshire 198 for 5 (Willey 57) by 17 runs Tom Banton smashed 75 off just 43 balls to set up a Somerset victory over Northamptonshire Steelbacks and book the reigning champions a place at Vitality Blast Finals Day. Banton made hay against an often-wayward Northamptonshire attack,

Big picture: Sri Lanka return to scene of 1998 triumph To The Oval, traditional venue for the final Test of the English summer – although not, by any means, the final international commitment for England’s men, who go straight into eight white-ball fixtures against Australia off the back of Sri Lanka’s visit (the first T20I

Towards the end of the opening T20I between Australia and Scotland in Edinburgh, talk switched from Travis Head’s pyrotechnics to the ‘long ball’ tactics of left-arm spinner Mark Watt and the grey areas of the Law that his innovation approach challenges. The ball after having Mitchell Marsh taken on the rope, Watt delivered one of

Sussex 118 for 2 (Hughes 35) beat Lancashire 114 (Livingstone 43, Jennings 37) by eight wickets It is not hard to imagine a world in which Ollie Robinson spent Wednesday preparing to lead England’s attack against Sri Lanka at The Oval. Instead, with weeks left to run on his central contract, he spearheaded Sussex’s charge

Josh Hull, a 6ft 7in left-arm seamer, will make his England debut in their third Test against Sri Lanka at The Oval, which starts on Friday. He will replace Matthew Potts in England’s only change from the side that won by 190 runs at Lord’s to secure an unassailable 2-0 lead in the series. Hull,

The club vs country issue is beginning to hurt New Zealand, with high-profile names opting out of central contracts. As they get ready for a burst of nine Test matches in the next few months, Test captain Tim Southee acknowledged the issue, but put it down to “the changing landscape of international cricket”. He recently

Success in English cricket is evaluated by Ashes series and World Cups. The extensions to both Brendon McCullum‘s contract and his remit, announced on Tuesday, represent Rob Key quadrupling the size of his bet: McCullum will not only take charge of the 2025/26 Ashes, but now the 2026 T20 World Cup, 2027 Ashes and 2027

Brendon McCullum has been announced as England’s new men’s white-ball head coach, and will combine that role with his existing Test duties. McCullum has agreed a remarkable new three-year deal as part of what the ECB has termed a “strategic restructure” within the men’s set-up. The contract extension, announced on Tuesday, means that McCullum is

Clarkson, the 27-year-old middle-order batter and medium-pace bowler, has played three ODIs and T20Is while 26-year-old Smith has yet to make his international debut. Smith was the leading wicket-taker in last season’s Plunket Shield with 33 at 17.18 for champions Wellington. He also represented Worcestershire this season where he claimed 27 wickets at 21.14 in

Lunch Pakistan 274 and 117 for 6 (Rizwan 38*, Rana 3-22, Mahmud 2-22) lead Bangladesh 262 by 129 runs Bangladesh took a stride towards a 2-0 clean sweep after nipping out four Pakistan batters in the morning session of the fourth day of the second Test in Rawalpindi. Fast bowler Nahid Rana was the wrecker-in-chief

England are not overly concerned about Buttler’s fitness ahead of their first T20I on September 11 and remain hopeful that he will be available to captain the side throughout Australia’s eight-match white-ball tour. England’s new-look squad are due to report to the Utilita Bowl on Sunday ahead of two training days, when their medical staff

The WBBL and BBL drafts took place on Sunday as clubs filled their overseas slots for the upcoming season. There were plenty of familiar names, but also a few surprises and some interesting tactics. Here are a few aspects that stood out Mandhana a steal for Adelaide Strikers Securing Smriti Mandhana‘s signing is rarely a