Cricket

Kusal Mendis has a theory: Test batting is becoming more and more like ODI batting. This came at the end of a day in which Sri Lanka scored at 4.38 an over on a supremely flat surface at Galle. But still, in the Bazball era, perhaps everyone else is ramping up scoring rates too. On

Punjab Kings 161 for 8 (Raza 57, Short 34) beat Lucknow Super Giants 159 for 8 (Rahul 74, Curran 3-31) by two wickets Sikandar Raza‘s maiden IPL gig at the age of 36 was reward for his compelling performances with bat and ball at the T20 World Cup last year. But three games into this

Royal Challengers Bangalore 174 for 6 (Kohli 50, Marsh 2-18, Kuldeep 2-23) beat Delhi Capitals 151 for 9 (Pandey 50, Vyshak 3-20, Siraj 2-23) by 23 runs Royal Challengers Bangalore spent a large part of this game under the pump. Frustratingly, every time they thought they got ahead, like when Virat Kohli reached a 33-ball

Toss Pakistan chose to bat vs New Zealand Pakistan have won the toss and will bat first for the second game running. After cruising past New Zealand in the first game defending a total, Babar Azam saw no need to change a winning formula; Pakistan are unchanged. New Zealand make two alterations to the unit

The surgery was successful and Bumrah was “pain-free”, according to a media statement from the BCCI. The plan is to get him fully fit for the home ODI World Cup, which is likely to start on October 5. Bumrah has not featured in any cricket since late September last year, when he pulled out of

Sunrisers Hyderabad 228 for 4 (Brook 100*, Markram 50, Abhishek 32, Russell 3-22) beat Kolkata Knight Riders 205 for 7 (Rana 75, Rinku 58*, Jagadeesan 36, Markande 2-27, Jansen 2-37) by 23 runs Harry Brook put behind a string of low scores with an unbeaten 55-ball 100 that included imperious hitting against pace and calculated

Worcestershire 96 for 2 (Pollock 41, Libby 19*, Potts 2-41) trail Durham 425 for 9 dec (Bedingham 118, Raine 71, Lees 70, Gibbon 4-92) by 329 runs Two wickets from Matthew Potts allowed Durham to make inroads into the Worcestershire batting line-up before rain ended day two prematurely in their LV= Insurance County Championship Division

The ECB is “exploring” a possible breach of their anti-corruption rules by Test head coach Brendon McCullum regarding his relationship with bookmaker 22Bet India. McCullum’s deal with the Cyprus-registered company was announced in November 2022, six months after he was appointed to his current role with the England men’s side. However, over the past few

Northamptonshire 111 for 3 (Procter 39*) trail Middlesex 149 (Higgins 70, Sanderson 3-19, Tremain 3-34) by 38 runs Middlesex endured another nightmare start as Northamptonshire seamer Ben Sanderson took advantage of their fragile top-order on the first morning of this LV= Insurance County Championship clash at Wantage Road. Sanderson, returning to the side after recovering

Gujarat Titans 154 for 4 (Gill 67, Saha 30, Brar 1-20) beat Punjab Kings 153 for 8 (Short 36, Jitesh 25, Mohit 2-18) by six wickets Another day, another last-over thriller. This one, though, wasn’t as topsy-turvy as a few of the earlier games in IPL 2023. But, it still required the ice man Rahul

“I’m quite surprised the umpires changed the ball for dew on their own. It’s never happened before and I’m quite surprised,” Ashwin said at the post-match press conference. “Some of the decisions in this year’s IPL on the field have left me a little flummoxed, to be honest. It left me flummoxed in a good

One round down, 13 to go. The County Championship is up and running for the 2023 season, and to judge by Hampshire’s opening-week crushing of newly-promoted Nottinghamshire, they are primed to put 50 years of history behind them, and gun for their first title since 1973. According to the odds-setters at Bet365, Hampshire are the

Big picture: Gujarat Titans look to bounce back Rinku Singh did to Gujarat Titans an extreme version of what they did to teams last year. In fact, their next opponents, Punjab Kings, last year had every reason to believe they had done enough when they got Hardik Pandya first ball of the last over with

One of the big developments during Walsh’s tenure was Deandra Dottin’s sudden retirement from international cricket. At the time of announcing her decision, Dottin had written on social media, “There have been many obstacles during my cricket career that I have had to overcome[.] [H]owever, the current climate and team environment has been non-conducive to

Ben Stokes has requested “fast, flat” wickets for the Ashes this summer and revealed he has an XI in mind for the first Test at Edgbaston on June 16. Since taking over as Test captain at the start of last summer, Stokes’ team, under the guidance of head coach Brendon McCullum, has adopted a quicker

If Mumbai Indians captain Rohit Sharma wants to rekindle his IPL batting form, he should bat a minimum of 50 balls to provide heft to an otherwise inexperienced middle order. That is the suggestion from former India head coach Ravi Shastri, who believes Rohit needs to “revisit” his approach in the IPL. A string of

Australia A 253 (Hardie 115, Jewel 66, van Beek 4-72) and 336 for 8 decl (Renshaw 140, Ward 63, van Beek 3-61) drew with New Zealand A 246 (Solia 60, Bruce 44, Hay 43, Buckingham 6-58) and 174 for 3 (Cooper 61, O’ Donnell 44*, Swepson 3-85) Mitchell Swepson made the most of some welcome

The Royal Challengers bowlers had reduced Super Giants to 23 for 3 in four overs, but Stoinis’ 30-ball 65 gave them a platform, from which Pooran’s 19-ball 62 and Badoni’s 24-ball 30 took them to the doorstep of victory. “In T20s, I think that’s the most important batting position – Nos. 5, 6 and 7,”