8:40 AM ET ESPNcricinfo staff Wicketkeeper batsman Sadeera Samarawickrama and middle-order batsman Roshen Silva have made it to the 15-man squad Sri Lanka will send to the UAE to take on Pakistan in a two-Test series later this month. Injured allrounder Angelo Mathews is not part of the squad – Sri Lanka Cricket had confirmed earlier today that he will miss the first Test due a calf strain which he…
8:37 AM ET ESPNcricinfo staff The BCCI has nominated MS Dhoni for the Padma Bhushan, the country’s third-highest civilian award, PTI has reported. “Mahendra Singh Dhoni has been nominated by the BCCI for the Padma Bhushan award,” said BCCI’s acting president CK Khanna. “It was a unanimous decision by the members. He has been one of the greatest names in contemporary cricket and the most appropriate choice of the Indian…
7:35 AM ET ESPNcricinfo staff Sri Lanka allrounder Angelo Mathews has been ruled out of the first Test against Pakistan in Abu Dhabi later this month with a calf strain. He had sustained the injury during training on Tuesday, before undergoing scans on Wednesday. SLC cricket manager Asanka Gurusinha confirmed Mathews’ unavailability. This is the latest in a long history of leg injuries for Mathews – the last 12 months…
7:16 AM ET As an opening batsman, there is a target on David Warner’s back, not least because he has the capability to win games on his own. It has grown steadily larger – he is the vice-captain of the Australian team in India, and is one of the two most experienced players in the line-up. The value of his wicket is huge, and India’s left-arm wristspinner Kuldeep Yadav is…
5:25 AM ET ESPNcricinfo staff The Napier ODI in McLean Park between England and New Zealand has been moved due to a delay in re-turfing the ground. The game, which was scheduled for February 28, has been shifted to Bay Oval in Mount Maunganui. This is the third straight ODI that has been moved out of McLean Park after a match against Australia in February was abandoned due to poor…
5:12 AM ET No format of the game illustrates the startling evolution of Steven Smith from bits-and-pieces cricketer to dominant batsman quite like the ODI has done. In his first 38 matches, between 2010 and 2014, Smith cobbled a measly 477 runs at 20.73 without a single half-century, and was picked as much for his bowling and fielding as his batting. But as if flicking a switch, from the moment…
5:12 AM ET George Dobell Keaton Jennings is on the verge of a move to Nottinghamshire, a continuation of the exodus of star names from Durham in the months since their financial bail-out by the ECB and subsequent relegation. While the move is understood to be dependent on Nottinghamshire securing promotion back to Division One of the County Championship, that is expected to be confirmed in the coming days. The…
5:02 AM ET Big Picture In their last 10 completed ODIs on the road, Australia have won one game, against Ireland in September 2016. Never in their ODI history have Australia had a 10% win rate over a similar sample size. Where has it gone so wrong? With Tests preferred over bilateral ODI series, key personnel have consistently been rotated, and while it may keep the players fresh, it has…
4:12 AM ET Umar Farooq Pakistan batsman Khalid Latif has been banned by the PCB from all forms of cricket for five years for his role in the spot-fixing scandal that marred the 2017 Pakistan Super League (PSL). Latif, playing for Islamabad United, was charged with six major breaches of the PCB’s anti-corruption code. He was also fined 1 million Pakistan Rupees (USD 9489 approximately). More to follow … Source:…
2:12 AM ET ESPNcricinfo staff The bowling action of West Indies opener Kraigg Brathwaite has been cleared by the International Cricket Council, following an independent assessment at the Loughborough testing centre in England on August 31. The ICC confirmed in its release that the elbow extension in all the deliveries of Brathwaite, who bowls part-time offspin, was well inside the 15-degree permissible limit under the governing body’s regulations. Brathwaite was…