Was the Melbourne pitch suitable for Test cricket? (3:32) Steve Smith, Joe Root and Alastair Cook share their disappointment in the pitch provided for the Boxing Day Test (3:32) 12:59 PM ET George Dobell James Anderson believes England will need “a 90mph bowler” and “big hundreds” from their batsmen if they are to win the next Ashes series in Australia. Anderson said he felt the relative lack of pace in…
3:00 AM ET Vidarbha 528 for 7 (Wadkar 133*, Sarwate 79, Jaffer 78, Saini 3-126) lead Delhi 295 by 233 runs Akshay Wadkar struck his maiden first-class hundred PTI If one had to compile the top cricket surprises of 2017, Vidarbha’s Ranji Trophy campaign would feature fairly high. They continued to impress right until the last day of the year with a solid lower-order performance that gave them an imposing lead…
8:12 AM ET And on the last morning of 2017, it rained. Okay, it drizzled, but for the people of the Western Cape, the province of South Africa enduring its worst drought in more than a hundred years, the drops were welcomed like small mercies. Things in this part of the country are bad. Showers are timed at no more than two minutes, toilet flushing has been reduced to only…
3:00 AM ET Adelaide Strikers 147 for 7 (Neser 40, Lalor 3-40) beat Brisbane Heat 91 (Neser 2-7, Rashid 2-19) by 56 runsScorecard and ball-by-ball details Adelaide Strikers will begin 2018 on top of the BBL table after a dominant win over Brisbane Heat at Adelaide Oval. The Strikers formula has been predictable yet impregnable so far. They manufactured a par score and defended brilliantly again for their third straight…
5:21 AM ET Nagraj Gollapudi Phil Simmons is Afghanistan’s new head coach. He takes over the role that was left vacant when the Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB) terminated the contract of Lalchand Rajput, barely three months after the former Indian batsman was appointed. Simmons starts work from January 8, and will join the Afghanistan squad in Dubai as it prepares for the limited-overs series against Zimbabwe in Sharjah in February….
Ben Stokes’ Twitter apology © Getty Images/Twitter Allrounder Ben Stokes is set to be withdrawn from England’s ODI squad for the series in Australia, with batsman Dawid Malan his likely replacement. Stokes is still waiting to hear if he will be charged by the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) for his role in an incident outside a club in Bristol, and though the ECB had picked him in the ODI squad…
Ben Stokes’ Twitter apology © Getty Images/Twitter Allrounder Ben Stokes is set to be withdrawn from England’s ODI squad for the series in Australia, with batsman Dawid Malan his likely replacement. Stokes is still waiting to hear if he will be charged by the Crown Prosecution Service for his role in an incident outside a club in Bristol, and though the ECB had picked him in the ODI squad in…
Chris Gayle muscles a pull © Getty Images Big picture It may just be arbitrary – an illusion of time even – but a New Year can leave behind a remarkable effect. Ask West Indies. They ushered in 2017 with their trophy cabinet bursting at the seams. Then they were booted out of an ICC tournament. They will have to play fringe teams in international cricket to qualify for the…
9:53 AM ET One of the most anticipated match-ups of the South Africa-India series is between Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers. They are the superstars of their respective sides, team-mates at the Royal Challengers Bangalore and great mates off the field but Kohli confirmed that once they step over the white line, their cosiness will replaced by fiery competitiveness. “AB is a great friend of mine,” Kohli said on…
9:37 AM ET The search for high-quality practice time in order to acclimatise to South African conditions was behind India’s decision to cancel their warm-up match ahead of the three-Test series. Instead of face a South African Invitation side, which may have comprised players with scant franchise experience, as was the case against Zimbabwe 10 ten days ago on a flat, slow deck in Paarl, India have opted for two…