Month: January 2016

Manish Pandey scored his maiden one-day international century to lead India to a consolation victory over Australia in the final match of the series at the SCG. Set an imposing 331 to win after David Warner and Mitchell Marsh both scored hundreds for Australia, Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan laid a solid platform for India with a 123-run opening stand. Pandey carried on the good work and received solid support from Mahendra…

Ben Wheeler’s match-winning 80 not out for Central Districts came off 77 balls © Getty Images A career-best, unbeaten 80 from 24-year-old allrounder Ben Wheeler helped Central Districts seal a tight chase of 295 against Canterbury, and confirm their place in the final of the Ford Trophy 2015-16. Wheeler’s knock came from No. 8, and egging him on from the other end was the brutal force of Jesse Ryder –…

John Hastings: ‘I’d love to be playing for the Melbourne Stars, but any chance you get to represent your country is the pinnacle’ © Getty Images Australia’s cricketers are adamant that international fixtures should retain primacy over the Big Bash League, despite a growing tide of questions about the availability of players for the knockout phase of the Twenty20 tournament in what has become its most successful season yet. John…

Corey Anderson and Grant Elliott are among the ‘multi-skilled’ players New Zealand are leaning towards in T20 cricket © Marty Melville/AFP/Getty Images New Zealand were mindful their recent T20 series wins against Pakistan and Sri Lanka may not mean much for their World T20 campaign in India, but were grateful for having found pieces of their T20 “puzzle”, coach Mike Hesson said. Four comprehensive victories in those five T20s have…

Bhuvneshwar Kumar fractured his left thumb during the fourth ODI in Canberra. © AFP A fractured left thumb has ruled Bhuvneshwar Kumar out of the T20 series against Australia. Rishi Dhawan, who is part of India’s ODI squad, will stay on in Australia as Bhuvneshwar’s replacement. Bhuvneshwar picked up the injury while trying to stop a David Warner straight drive off his own bowling during the fourth ODI in Canberra….

Shivnarine Chanderpaul finishes his career as West Indies’ second-highest run-scorer in Tests, behind only Brian Lara © WICB Media After 22 years and 164 Test matches, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, one of West Indies’ finest batsmen, has retired. This means Chanderpaul remains the second-highest West Indian Test run-maker until now, 86 runs short of Brian Lara: Lara got 11,953 (11,912 for West Indies and the rest for the ICC World XI), while…

BJ Watling last played an ODI in February 2013 © Getty Images Colin Munro has been named in New Zealand’s squad for the ODI series against Pakistan. Wicketkeeper-batsman BJ Watling also finds a place almost three years after he last played an ODI, putting Luke Ronchi’s place in contention. Injuries to three first-choice players have depleted the squad, however. Ross Taylor is the latest to be ruled out of the…