Cricket

Toss Zimbabwe opt to bowl vs Sri Lanka Zimbabwe won the toss and chose to chase in the second T20I at Khettarama, their captain Sikandar Raza expecting the pitch to get better as the match wears on. Sri Lanka captain Wanindu Hasaranga said he would have batted first anyway. Zimbabwe have not made a change

Australia captain Pat Cummins has been in contact with Cameron Bancroft and Marcus Harris to reassure them they remain firmly in Test consideration despite being overlooked following David Warner’s retirement. With Steven Smith promoted to open, Cameron Green returning at No. 4 against West Indies in Adelaide and Matt Renshaw selected as the reserve batter,

Middlesex are highly unlikely to sign an overseas player for the 2024 season in a bid to alleviate the financial troubles which saw them placed under special measures by the ECB last year. An investigation last year concluded that Middlesex had breached the County Partnership Agreement and the ECB’s financial regulations during a period of

Prakhar Chaturvedi etched his name into the record books by scoring the first quadruple century in the final of the Under-19 Cooch Behar Trophy, against Mumbai in Shimoga on Sunday. Along the way, he surpassed Yuvraj Singh’s 24-year-old record of 358, the previous highest individual score in the tournament final. Overall, he slotted in at

Expect to see more of Angelo Mathews in Sri Lanka’s T20 side this year. Expect to see him bowl more frequently. And because this is late-career Mathews, coming back into the white-ball frame after years of being picked only for Tests, expect him also to be driven by grievance to some extent. Following his first

Toss India chose to bowl vs Afghanistan India captain Rohit Sharma won the toss and chose to bowl in the second T20I in Indore, which he called “quite a chasing ground”. Rohit is playing his 150th T20I, becoming the first men’s player to do so. India made two changes. Virat Kohli, who was unavailable for

Adelaide Strikers 141 for 1 (M Short 74*, Weatherald 47*) beat Sydney Thunder 140 (Hales, 43, Pope 4-22, Overton 3-26) by nine wickets Adelaide Strikers captain Matt Short steered his side to the BBL finals with a quality innings to down the Sydney Thunder. In sealing a spot in the top four, Short clubbed a

Shaun Marsh has announced his retirement from professional cricket with Melbourne Renegades’ final game of the BBL season against Sydney Thunder to be the last of his career. After a late start to this BBL due to injury, Marsh’s form has been impressive with 181 runs at 45.25 and a strike-rate of 138.16. Despite playing

Big picture: Virat Kohli returns to T20I action For Afghanistan, Rashid Khan has been ruled out of the entire three-match series, but they can still be a dangerous T20 team on their day. Six players in the XI that played on Thursday have IPL contracts and almost all their players feature in franchise T20 –

Melbourne Renegades 139 for 4 (Marsh 64*, Fraser-McGurk 42, Coulter-Nile 2-25) beat Melbourne Stars 137 for 8 (Cartwright 38, Richardson 2-17, Hosein 2-18) by six wickets Aaron Finch enjoyed a winning farewell despite a third-ball duck, as his Melbourne Renegades side dealt a massive blow to local rivals Melbourne Stars’ BBL finals hopes. A total

Young has played 97 T20 games overall in which he has scored 2290 runs averaging 26.62 with 14 fifties and two centuries. In 14 T20Is, he has 260 runs at 20.00 with two fifties but at a much lower strike rate of 102.36 compared to his overall T20 strike rate of 133.83. Young comes into

Kuldeep Yadav and Axar Patel are back in India’s spin-heavy squad for the first two home Tests against England. Mohammed Shami, who is working his way back from an ankle injury, is a notable absentee, though. Vice-captain Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Mukesh Kumar and Avesh Khan make up the seam attack while R Ashwin and

Sydney Sixers 151 for 7 (Philippe 47, Silk 35, McAndrew 2-17) beat Sydney Thunder 132 (Warner 37, O’Keefe 3-13) by 19 runs David Warner helicoptered into the SCG but he couldn’t pilot Sydney Thunder to victory as their BBL campaign came to end as Sydney Sixers overcame Steven Smith‘s first ball-duck to remain on course

Legspinner Alana King continues to be squeezed out of Australia’s T20I squad in what remains a settled group for the limited-overs legs of South Africa’s multiformat visit which begins at the end of January. King will return for the three-match ODI series with Grace Harris, who is part of the T20I squad, dropping out. King,

ICC CEO Geoff Allardice has met with Sri Lanka’s new sports minister, as well as the country’s President Ranil Wickremesinghe, during a brief visit undertaken to gain a better understanding of the political situation in the country as it relates to cricket administration. In November, the ICC imposed a suspension on Sri Lanka Cricket’s membership,

Adelaide Strikers 169 for 2 (Weatherald 80*) beat Hobart Hurricanes 167 for 6 (Wright 37, Boyce 2-17) by eight wickets Jake Weatherald has come from the clouds, hitting 80 from 32 balls to keep Adelaide Strikers’ Big Bash League final hopes alive and end the top-four quest of Hobart Hurricanes. Weatherald, in at No. 3

Shimron Hetmyer has been left out of both the ODI and a full-strength West Indies T20I squad for their series against Australia next month after he was dropped against England late last year. Jason Holder and Kyle Mayers have been included for the T20Is after they had made themselves unavailable for the Test tour to

Big picture: Final rehearsal for India In less than five months, India will face Ireland in their opening game at the 2024 T20 World Cup. While there is the IPL before that, the three-match series against Afghanistan, starting in Mohali on Thursday, is India’s only T20I assignment in between. Incidentally, this is the first time