Cricket

Much of David Warner‘s aggressive behaviour at times before his one-year ban from international cricket for ball tampering came because he was following team instructions, according to his close friend and long-time team-mate Usman Khawaja. “For a long period of time, he was in people’s faces and doing stuff; but that wasn’t always Davey,” Khawaja

Former Australia allrounder Shane Watson believes Cameron Green has all the tools to be successful as a Test opener and says previous experience at the top of the order isn’t required as Australia’s selectors continue to mull over their options to replace the retiring David Warner for the West Indies series starting in mid-January. Coach

Dean Elgar was dismissed twice on the first day, in his last Test match. After opting to bat, he was bowled by Mohammed Siraj off an inside edge for 4 in the first innings, where South Africa folded in 23.2 overs. Siraj’s new-ball spell of 9-3-15-6 skittled South Africa for 55 – the lowest total

Matt Henry and Lockie Ferguson have made successful recoveries from their respective injuries, while Kane Williamson and Devon Conway also return after periods of rest as New Zealand named a full-strength squad for the five-match T20I series against Pakistan at home. Allrounder Rachin Ravindra was rested after being on the road since August last year.

Pakistan won the toss and opted to bat against Australia Retiring Australia opener David Warner will be made to wait after Pakistan captain Shan Masood won the toss and elected to bat in the third Test at the SCG. Masood had no hesitation to bat in sunny conditions, with turn expected on the dry surface

Ravindra Jadeja is fit and available for selection, giving India more batting depth and options when it comes to bowling combinations. He is also the only left-hand batter outside opener Yashasvi Jaiswal. Jadeja had missed the first Test with spasms in the upper back on the morning of the match. While confirming Jadeja’s return to

Pat Cummins doesn’t believe the decline in the popularity of Test cricket is “as dramatic as it sometimes gets spoken about”, but admits he does get worried about the future of the five-day game at times. His team-mate Usman Khawaja pointed to the lack of pay parity across the cricket world and said international cricket

Australia Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has praised Usman Khawaja‘s courage in fighting to show solidarity with victims of warfare during the Test series with Pakistan. Since the days before last month’s series opener, Khawaja has been lobbying to voice his support for those affected by ongoing conflict in the Middle East, first by writing “all

There is cautious hope in the Pakistan camp that legspinner Abrar Ahmed may be fit in time for the third Test in Sydney. Abrar, who was ruled out of the first two Test matches with a right leg injury, bowled for a significant period in the nets during Pakistan’s training session on Monday without obvious

UAE 166 for 7 (Lakra 63, Waseem 53, Qais 2-15, Omarzai 2-35) beat Afghanistan 155 (Nabi 47, Zazai 36, Naseer 4-24, Jawadullah 4-26) by 11 runs It was a complete all-round show from the UAE side who delivered their third win in T20Is over Afghanistan in 11 attempts. Batting first, Waseem and Lakra added 72

Melbourne Stars 211 for 3 (Webster 66, Stoinis 55*, Lawrence 50, Boyce 1-15) beat Adelaide Strikers 205 for 4 (Lynn 83*, Short 56, Maxwell 2-21) by seven wickets Marcus Stoinis blasted his way back to form by helping the Melbourne Stars pull off their greatest BBL run chase in a seven-wicket win over the Adelaide

Is the Bangladesh dressing room a better place without some of the senior – even iconic – players around? At the end of what he called a “successful tour” of New Zealand, Chandika Hathurusinghe, the coach, stopped short of saying that, but did say that “the environment in the dressing room is much better”. Bangladesh

Gill endured back-to-back failures in Centurion in the first Test against South Africa. He was caught down leg when he looked to glance a wide delivery from Nandre Burger that reared up on a spicy opening-day pitch in the first innings, and got knocked over by Marco Jansen when he tried to play across the

Deol, who bowls spin but is primarily a batter, was considered a like-for-like replacement for Rana, who is an offspinner primarily and a lower-order batter. Deol’s last ODI outing was against Bangladesh in Mirpur in July, when she scored 77 in a tied game and was named Player of the Match.

Uncapped opening batter Neil Brand has been named South Africa’s captain for their two-Test tour to New Zealand, which starts on February 4 and clashes with the SA20. South Africa will travel with a makeshift squad, which features only three players that are part of the ongoing series against India: Keegan Petersen, David Bedingham and

Everything will be considered as far as David Warner‘s replacement to open the batting for the West Indies series in January with Cameron Green still a serious contender to be recalled as part of a batting order reshuffle. Australia’s side has remained settled throughout the Test summer with no injury issues or form concerns to

Afghanistan 203 for 3 (Gurbaz 100, Ibrahim 59, Aayan 1-26) beat UAE 131 for 4 (Aravind 70*, Farooqi 2-19, Naveen-ul-Haq 1-25) by 72 runs Rahmanullah Gurbaz cracked his maiden T20I century, helping Afghanistan to 203 and eventually a 72-run win in the first T20I against UAE in Sharjah. The hosts were never quite in the

Melbourne Renegades 178 for 6 (Fraser-McGurk 70, Shaun Marsh 54, Payne 3-37) beat Adelaide Strikers 177 for 6 (Lynn 56, D’Arcy Short 54, Mujeeb 3-20) by four wickets Jake Fraser-McGurk grabbed the headlines off record six-hitter Chris Lynn to help Melbourne Renegades to their first BBL win of the season. Chasing Adelaide Strikers’ 177 for