Cricket

Australia’s chair of selectors George Bailey has shut down conspiracy talk around Cameron Bancroft being overlooked for the Test side as having anything to do with the 2018 ball-tampering scandal. Bancroft has played Test cricket since his ban, featuring in two games against England in 2019, but comments he made in a 2021 interview about

Steven Smith will captain Australia in the ODI series against West Indies next month while fast bowler Lance Morris has been handed his first call-up in the format and Marcus Stoinis has been dropped. Pat Cummins, having led the side to the World Cup title in November, has been rested alongside Mitchell Marsh who captained

Hampshire’s new chairman believes that expanding the Hundred “makes good sense” for English cricket and is open to speaking to prospective investors as the ECB and counties continue to debate the competition’s future. The Hundred will remain unchanged in 2024, taking place in a four-week window from late July to late August, but the ECB

Ravi Bishnoi‘s four-wicket haul in the first innings helped Gujarat overcome a 14-run deficit to clinch a thrilling win over Tamil Nadu in Valsad. Gujarat’s 236 seemed quite massive when TN were tottering on 119 for 8 in the first innings. M Mohammed and Sandeep Warrier then put on 116 for the ninth wicket to

Sydney Thunder remain committed to their western Sydney home, despite question marks over a Showground wicket labelled “substandard” by Ricky Ponting. Ashton Agar took 2 for 6 off four overs for Scorchers, as Thunder were kept to 137 for 8 from their 20 overs. Scorchers reached their target with five balls to spare. It is

Afghanistan will be topping up their Test-match experience in double quick time by facing Sri Lanka and Ireland in February 2024. With most of the focus on the two limited-overs formats, Afghanistan ended up playing just one Test match over a better part of the last three years. Now, however, they’ve found space in the

Toss Zimbabwe chose to bat vs Sri Lanka Zimbabwe won the toss and opted to bat first in the second ODI, under cloudy skies at Khettarama. The visitors made one change to their side, at the top of the order, bringing Joylord Gumbie into the XI, with Takudzwanashe Kaitano making way. Gumbie has hit two

Australia 133 for 4 (Perry 34*, Healy 26, Deepti 2-22) beat India 130 for 8 (Deepti 30, Wareham2-17, Sutherland 2-18, Garth 2-27) by six wickets A disciplined bowling effort and a memorable cameo from Ellyse Perry, on her 300th international game, handed Australia a six-wicket win in the second T20I against India, helping them level

Azeem Rafiq has criticised the expected return of Colin Graves as Yorkshire chair and urged sponsors to walk out on the club if he is reappointed. Rafiq – who spoke out against the racism he experienced as a Yorkshire player, leading to the club being fined £400,000 and docked 48 points in last year’s County

Former South Africa captain AB de Villiers is annoyed that India and South Africa played only a two-match Test series and blamed the rise in T20 leagues for the situation. De Villiers advocated for longer Test series and reckoned that “something has to change” if the best team in the world is to be identified.

Australia’s fast bowlers appear on track to play a full summer of seven Test matches against Pakistan, West Indies and New Zealand as both coach Andrew McDonald and captain Pat Cummins have been surprised at how strong all three are feeling physically following a huge year of international cricket. Cummins, Josh Hazlewood, and Mitchell Starc

The beginning of the 2023-24 Ranji Trophy brought crowds in big numbers to Patna’s Moin-ul-Haq Stadium – a venue that once hosted World Cup fixtures in 1996 – and hosts Bihar gave the people plenty of reasons to cheer. Mumbai, the 41-time champions, had been reduced to 235 for 9 on the opening day of

Toss Sri Lanka opt to bat vs ZImbabwe Looking to change their ODI fortunes around, Sri Lanka captain Kusal Mendis chose to bat first in Khettarama against a Zimbabwe side that is also searching for a way to turn their tide. There were three debutants across both sides. Batting allrounder Janith Liyanage was carded at

Pakistan 313 & 115 (Ayub 33, Hazlewood 4-16, Lyon 3-36) lead Australia 299 by 129 runs Australia thwarted Mohammad Rizwan and Aamer Jamal’s rearguard early on day four of the third Test as Pakistan lead by just 129 runs with the stage set for retiring opener David Warner to enjoy a fairytale farewell at the

India 145 for 1 (Shafali 64*, Mandhana 54, Wareham 1-20) beat Australia 141 (Litchfield 49, Sadhu 4-17, Patil 2-19) by nine wickets Friday evening was the story of one young fast bowler and two experienced openers who helped India cruise to a 1-0 series lead in Navi Mumbai against Australia. It was a dominant performance

Steven Smith has thrown his hat in the ring to be David Warner‘s replacement as Australia’s next Test opener after confirming he is interested in doing the job if the selectors need him after Warner bows out of Test cricket at the end of the Sydney Test against Pakistan. But it emerged this week that

David Warner‘s missing baggy green has been located four days after he announced it had been lost in transit between Melbourne and Sydney ahead of his final Test. The backpack containing two caps, including Warner’s original from his Test debut in 2011, was found at the team hotel in Sydney although how it got there

Rohit Sharma has called out the ICC and the match referees for what he sees as double standards at rating pitches. After winning the shortest Test in the history of the game, thanks to a lottery pitch loaded too heavily in the favour of the seam bowlers, Rohit was scathing about the slander against pitches