Cricket

England captain Heather Knight will lead Sydney Thunder in this year’s WBBL, taking over from the retired Rachael Haynes. Thunder finished bottom last season but had a strong draft last month where they secured South Africa allrounder Marizanne Kapp and England quick Lauren Bell alongside Knight. It means that Knight will link back up in

Rohit Sharma pursed his lips and furrowed his brow. Sitting cross-legged on a white sofa in the banquet hall of the Gujarat Cricket Association Clubhouse, he threw up his hands to take issue with the line of questioning. “That’s not my job, sir,” he said. “Declaring all this is not my job.” He had been

Ben Stokes has emerged as an injury doubt for the opening match of the World Cup between England and New Zealand in Ahmedabad on Thursday. Stokes, the Player of the Match in the 2019 final between the same teams, came out of ODI retirement in August despite a long-standing knee injury and is not expected

Hayley Matthews expects Australia’s bowlers to change their plans – and fields – but the West Indies skipper reckons she’s in good enough form to counter them as a historic series victory beckons. She also made 99 not out in a game-one loss and has won player of the match in an incredible seven straight

Tim Southee‘s dislocated thumb is still tender and scarred but he has begun bowling and has started to build up his bowling loads, which raises hopes of a swift return at the World Cup. Southee had dislocated his thumb during an ODI against England on September 15, and now has a plate and some screws

Rest of India 308 and 160 (Agarwal 49, Bhut 7-53) beat Saurashtra 214 and 79 (Saurabh 6-43, Mulani 3-22) by 175 runs Left-arm spinner Saurabh Kumar ran through Saurashtra’s line-up to finish with a match haul of 10 for 108 and take Rest of India to an Irani Cup title. Saurashtra could add only two

India 202 for 4 (Jaiswal 100, Rinku 37*, Airee 2-31) beat Nepal 179 for 9 (Airee 32, Jora 29, Avesh 3-32, Bishnoi 3-24) by 23 runs Yashasvi Jaiswal has had a memorable 2023 already. In May, he smashed the fastest half-century in the IPL off just 13 balls. In July, his old-school 171 in Dominica,

Mark Nicholas, the incoming president of MCC, has called for 50-over cricket to be played exclusively at World Cups, in a bid to preserve the ODI format from what he describes as the “supernatural” power of T20. Nicholas, who succeeded Stephen Fry this weekend as president of cricket’s oldest and most prestigious members’ club, added

With Saurashtra in need of repairs, Arpit Vasavada produced a patient half-century. He first shared a 47-run partnership with Prerak Mankad for the sixth wicket and then put on 54 runs for the seventh wicket with Parth Bhut, who had completed a five-wicket haul in the morning. Vasavada hit just two boundaries in his 127-ball

New South Wales Squad Sean Abbott (CA), Jackson Bird, Pat Cummins (CA), Joel Davies (R), Oliver Davies, Ben Dwarshuis, Jack Edwards, Matthew Gilkes, Chris Green, Ryan Hackney, Ryan Hadley, Liam Hatcher, Josh Hazlewood (CA), Moises Henriques, Baxter Holt, Daniel Hughes, Hayden Kerr, Nathan Lyon (CA), Blake Macdonald, Blake Nikitaras, Jack Nisbet (R), Kurtis Patterson, Ross

New Zealand 210 for 4 (Kerr 100*, Halliday 37*, Malta 2-41) beat South Africa 209 (Kapp 72, Devine 3-33, Tahuhu 3-43, Kerr 2-43) by six wickets (DLS method) A calm and composed Amelia Kerr took New Zealand over the line with an unbeaten century after they were set a target of 210 in 45 overs,

Rest of India 298 for 8 (Sudharsan 72, Bharat 36, Bhut 4-85) vs Saurashtra All-new setting, same-old B Sai Sudharsan. A little over 24 hours after winning the championship with Surrey in Southampton in what was his maiden county stint, Sudharsan turned up in Rajkot via Mumbai and set himself up for another title with

Australia 149 for 2 (McGrath 60*, Healy 56) beat West Indies 147 for 3 (Matthews 99*) by eight wickets Australia overcame a masterful innings from West Indies captain Hayley Matthews to take the opening T20I in Sydney by a comfortable eight-wicket margin with Alyssa Healy marking her 250th international by smashing a 25-ball half-century. On

Match abandoned Australia 166 for 7 (Smith 55, van der Merwe 2-12) vs Netherlands 84 for 6 (Ackermann 31*, Starc 3-18) Steven Smith did the thing he loves most in the world. Mitchell Starc did the thing he can’t help but do. And Australia did the thing they are forever known for. A warm-up game

Mo Bobat, England Men’s performance director, has been confirmed as the new director of cricket at Royal Challengers Bangalore in the IPL, and will leave the ECB in February next year. Bobat, 40, has overseen the England Men’s pathway for the past four years, identifying and developing the players that have helped the team win

There will be an Australian influence on West Indies as they aim to topple the world champions on their home soil over the next two weeks with Shane Deitz taking charge for his first series as the new head coach. Deitz, the former South Australia wicketkeeper-batter who has previously coached the Bangladesh and Netherlands women’s

New Zealand 346 for 5 (Ravindra 97, Chapman 65*, Mitchell 59, Williamson 54, Mir 2-68) beat Pakistan 345 for 5 (Rizwan 103, Babar 80, Shakeel 75, Santner 2-39) by five wickets Mohammad Rizwan‘s century and half-centuries from Babar Azam and Saud Shakeel went in vain as Pakistan couldn’t defend 345 in their warm-up match against

Prior to that, England were the only side to beat India in the league stage of the 2019 ODI World Cup, after which India jettisoned their two-wristspinner strategy. As it turns out, only one of them, Kuldeep Yadav, has made it to this World Cup, but he has done so after two years in the