Cricket

Neil Wagner roars in celebration after dismissing Steve Smith © Associated Press Neil Wagner is almost certain to be back in New Zealand’s bowling attack for the second Test against India, which begins in Christchurch on Saturday. Wagner missed the first Test in Wellington on paternity leave, but he will return to the squad on

6:40 PM GMT When Kagiso Rabada earned his fourth active demerit point in a 24-month period and was suspended from the final Test against England last month, his father sent him a little something to make him feel better and it’s not what you might expect. “I sent him a song about the ICC. To

10:52 AM GMT Australia 5 for 123 (Haynes 60, Lanning 41*, Prabodhani 2-17, Siriwardene 2-20) beat Sri Lanka 6 for 122 (Atapattu 50, Sanjeewani 25, Carey 2-18, Strano 2-23) by five wickets Australia are not playing well at all. Australia are still in the T20 World Cup. These two truths were undeniable at the end

1:52 AM GMT ESPNcricinfo staff Over the dominant home season, India’s coach Ravi Shastri talked about taking the pitch and the toss out of equation, which, while lofty, is something for dominant teams to aspire to. To a large extent, India did do that in home Tests, but in away conditions against good teams, tosses

6:23 PM GMT While South Africans celebrate their double success in T20 cricket on a super Sunday in which both the men’s and women’s teams won crucial matches, Australia are not making any attempt to hide their disappointment that victory could have been theirs. Their men’s team lost a T20 for the first time since

9:24 AM GMT Karachi Kings captain Imad Wasim won the toss and went against type for the early part of the PSL, choosing to bat first at the National Stadium in Karachi. The winner of today’s match will break the five-team gridlock to move two points clear of the rest of the field onto the

1:40 AM GMT India’s attempts at a roaring comeback in the basin Reserve Test were thwarted by a quick 71-run stand for the eighth wicket between Colin de Grandhomme and Kyle Jamieson. After his four-wicket haul with the ball, Jamieson ended up with the highest score for a debuting No. 9 for New Zealand: 44,

5:39 PM GMT Peter Della PennaCricket Close Peter Della Penna is an American cricket journalist who also writes for ESPNcricinfo.com and DreamCricket.com. Since 2010, he has penned the USA entry in the Cricket Round the World section of the Wisden Cricketers’ Almanack.Follow Peter on Twitter @PeterDellaPenna USA Cricket board chairman Paraag Marathe and chief executive Iain Higgins

10:04 AM GMT West Indies 3 for 80 (Taylor 26*, Campbelle 25*) . beat Thailand 9 for 78 (Koncharoenkai 33, Taylor 3-13) by seven wickets West Indies opened their T20 World Cup campaign with a win they would have expected, though not without a sizeable fright chasing a small target against a Thailand combination that

12:07 AM GMT Sidharth Monga India 165 (Rahane 46, Jamieson 4-39, Southee 4-49) v New Zealand In bright sunshine on the second morning, Ajinkya Rahane and India had a strange half session of Test cricket. Rahane first ran Rishabh Pant out, then got out caught at the wicket when leaving the ball, and India lost

4:34 PM GMT ESPNcricinfo staff Moises Henriques, the Australia allrounder, has signed for defending Vitality Blast champions Essex. Henriques, who recently captained Sydney Sixers to the Big Bash League title, will arrive in last May and be available for the rest of the tournament. Essex have already re-signed Adam Zampa for this year’s Blast, after

9:00 AM GMT Big Picture Perhaps for the first time in 15 years, Bangladesh find themselves under pressure against Zimbabwe at home. During this period, Bangladesh have enjoyed, particularly at home, a heavy advantage in terms of spin-bowling, coupled with the opposition’s lack of experience. The loss in the Sylhet Test two years ago was

10:14 PM GMT New Zealand opt to bowl v India On a drizzly, windy Wellington morning, New Zealand got off to a good start to the two-Test series by winning the toss and asking India to bat first. They were missing their enforcer Neil Wagner away on paternity leave, who was replaced by the tall

8:00 AM GMT Quetta Gladiators won the toss and chose to bowl v Islamabad United Defending champions Quetta Gladiators decided to put Islamabad United in on a surface that appears to favour big runs. Captain Sarfaraz Ahmed announced Jason Roy, Shane Watson, Ben Cutting and Fawad Ahmed were their four overseas players. New Islamabad skipper

9:10 AM GMT There are a lot of big-picture themes about this T20 World Cup: participation, inclusion, expansion to name a few. They are all crucially important and will be revisited frequently over the next couple of weeks as the record-breaking attempt at the MCG nears. Now, however, after much build-up the first match is

6:17 PM GMT As Sri Lanka and the West Indies prepare to square off in the first of three ODIs on Saturday – which will be followed by two T20Is next month – the series offers the chance for both sides to benchmark themselves as they work towards the T20 World Cup later this year.

3:48 PM GMT The absence of proper pressure in South Africa’s domestic competitions is leaving bowlers ill-equipped to handle similar situations on the international stage, according to bowling coach Charl Langeveldt. Speaking three days after Mark Boucher assessed his bowlers’ skill levels as not being good enough following South Africa’s failure to defend totals in

9:23 AM GMT ESPNcricinfo staff As many as ten players opted out of Sri Lanka’s tour of Pakistan last year, the last time they played ODI cricket, and Sri Lanka have included many of them in a strong squad led by Dimuth Karunaratne, who was one of the players to withdraw, for the three-ODI series