Match facts January 3-7, 2017Start time 1030 local (2330 GMT) As much as he’d like a clean sweep of this series, Steven Smith will also have an eye on the India tour that follows it © Cricket Australia/Getty Images Big Picture Sydney’s Test match has the duality of starting the year but ending the series. Pakistan’s captain Misbah-ul-Haq has certainly been thinking about ending at the start of 2017, even…
Hilton Cartwright will wear the baggy green in Sydney © Cricket Australia/Getty Images Allrounder Hilton Cartwright will become Australia’s 450th Test cricketer after being confirmed as a debutant for the third Test against Pakistan in Sydney. Cartwright will bat at No.6 and his inclusion is one of two changes to the Australia XI that won in Melbourne, with left-arm spinner Steve O’Keefe chosen as a second spinner alongside Nathan Lyon,…
There was a significant covering of grass on the Newlands wicket the day before the Test © ESPNcricinfo Ltd “There might be another 47 all out or something like that here.” Someone in the know, and we can’t really say which someone in the know, said these words at Newlands on New Year’s Day. They weren’t said quite as robustly as a resolution, nor with as much whimsy as a…
The Tamil Nadu bowling coach believes ball quality has the ability to change the course of the game © K Sivaraman Tamil Nadu bowling coach L Balaji has expressed surprise at the frequency with which the ball was changed on the first day of their semi-final against Mumbai. It was replaced three times inside the first two sessions, and Balaji said it disrupted the momentum of both batsmen and bowlers….
Dhananjaya de Silva, who opens the batting for his first-class side Tamil Union, is believed to have the technical proficiency to flourish in the top order © AFP Dhananjaya de Silva may eventually assume a top-order position, but selectors and team management are undecided on when the move should happen, head coach Graham Ford has said. De Silva has only played six Tests, but has made 615 runs at an…
Perth Scorchers 4 for 177 (Bell 45, Marsh 44*) beat Sydney Thunder 8 for 127 (Cummins 39, Willey 2-21) by 50 runsScorecard and ball-by-ball details Ian Bell top scored with 45 as Perth Scorchers put up 177 on the board © Getty Images Perth Scorchers moved to the top of the Big Bash League table with an emphatic win over Sydney Thunder at the WACA. This was the Scorchers well-worn…
Hashim Amla and Jacques Kallis spent many hours batting together © AFP Newland’s favourite son, Jacques Kallis, didn’t say goodbye to the ground when he retired abruptly at the end of 2013 but almost three years later, he was there to say hello as the South Africans conducted their first training session of 2017. South Africa’s coach Russell Domingo asked Kallis to come in to consult at what became an…
Match facts January 2-6, 2017Start time 1030 local (0830 GMT) Dimuth Karunaratne will want to show the application he displayed in the second innings in Port Elizabeth while avoiding silly run-outs © AFP Big Picture Table Mountain looms over the Newlands ground, grand and forbidding, with sheer crags in its higher reaches, and rugged pine forests on its lower spines. It imposes itself upon the city. It leaves you daunted….
Gujarat 283 for 3 (Panchal 144*, Parthiv 62) v JharkhandScorecard Priyank Panchal is 151 runs shy of overtaking VVS Laxman’s record for most runs in a Ranji Trophy season © ESPNcricinfo On January 1, 2016, Priyank Panchal wrote in his diary – a habit he had inculcated at the age of 19 – “Need to learn to convert starts and not just be happy with 650-700 runs in a season.”…
Tamil Nadu 261 for 6 (Indrajith 64, Gandhi 50, Vijay Shankar 41*, Nayar 2-56) v MumbaiScorecard and ball-by-ball details File photo – Kaushik Gandhi scored 50 off 137 balls © PTI Tamil Nadu received their first gift of the new year after a favourable outcome at the toss allowed them to have first strike on a friendly surface. Mumbai’s seamers, though, stuffed a spring-loaded boxing glove inside the gift box…