3:00 AM ET Sydney Thunder 5 for 150 (Watson 77, Patterson 29, Sams 4-14) beat Sydney Sixers 9 for 149 (Billings 32, Maddinson 31, Fawad 2-11) by five wicketsScorecard and ball-by-ball details Shane Watson‘s best is still better than the rest. But even after a producing a sublime 77 from 46 balls, more than double the next-highest score in the match, Sydney Thunder still needed Arjun Nair and Aiden Blizzard…
Steven Smith, the run machine (0:47) Steven Smith is only the second batsman to get 1000-plus Test runs in four successive years, while his 20 hundreds during this period is the best ever (0:47) 3:34 AM ET ESPNcricinfo staff Australia captain Steven Smith is closer than ever before to matching Don Bradman as the top-rated batsman of all time, according to the ICC rankings for Test batsmen. Smith, who scored…
3:25 AM ET AB de Villiers and Dale Steyn will make a return to Test cricket, after nearly two years and one year respectively, against Zimbabwe in the inaugural four-day, day-night Test in Port Elizabeth from December 26 to 29. The duo were joined in South Africa’s squad by Morne Morkel, who has been struggling with a side strain, and Vernon Philander, who has recovered from a lower back problem….
2:56 AM ET Big picture West Indies’ chances of finding a way past a New Zealand side on this tour have been as slim as England bowlers’ prospects of finding a way past the middle of Steven Smith’s bat across the Tasman Sea. After being outplayed and out-thought in the two-Test series, West Indies unravelled against New Zealand XI in the tour match on Saturday: from 180 for 1 they…
1:04 AM ET Australia’s coach Darren Lehmann has revealed the national selectors relied on “gut feel” calls to assemble the team that regained the Ashes in Perth, namely the choices of Tim Paine, Shaun and Mitchell Marsh. All three decisions attracted plenty of scrutiny: Paine had not been Tasmania’s first choice wicketkeeper in recent first-class matches, Shaun Marsh averaged only 39 in the three Sheffield Shield games before the Gabba…
12:20 PM ET George Dobell in Perth The most honest – and most depressing – comment about England’s Ashes campaign came after the third day of the Perth Test. Reflecting on England’s bowlers’ inability to make a dent in an Australian batting line-up that is, Steve Smith apart, good but unremarkable, the team’s assistant coach, Paul Farbrace, said: “There’s nothing that’s surprised us during the course of this series and…
If there’s any lesson to be learnt from England’s latest surrender of the Ashes, it is that Australia are never more ruthless than when the urn has started the series in the hands of their opponents. ESPNcricinfo charts the 14 series since the Second World War in which the Ashes have changed hands, and finds a recurring theme. Denis Compton plays the hook shot © Getty Images 1953 – England…
3:00 AM ET Delhi 271 for 3 (Gambhir 127, Chandela 113) trail Bengal 286 (Sudip 83, Saini 3-55) by 15 runs Gautam Gambhir plays through the off side AFP Delhi not only learnt from their opponents’ mistakes on the first day, but also thrived on them as Gautam Gambhir (127) and Kunal Chandela (113) doubled-teamed Bengal to all but secure the first-innings lead. After mopping up Bengal’s last three wickets for…
3:38 AM ET ESPNcricinfo staff A downcast Joe Root admitted that his team had been outplayed in all three Tests, as England surrendered their hold on the Ashes in an innings-and-41-run defeat on the final morning of the third Test at the WACA. Despite the loss of 28 overs in the morning session, after torrential overnight rain had led to water seeping through the covers and onto the pitch, England…
3:00 AM ET Karnataka 294 for 8 (Nair 148*, Gautam 73, Gurbani 5-90, Umesh 2-71) lead Vidarbha 185 (Sarwate 47, Mithun 5-45) by 109 runs Karun Nair converted his maiden hundred into a triple ton AFP Rajneesh Gurbani extended his spectacular streak of performances with his third five-wicket haul in as many matches, but Karnataka took big strides towards the Ranji Trophy final on the back of a sublime Karun Nair…