Month: April 2018

4:49 AM ET Tom Westley will embark on Essex’s defence of their County Championship title next week, hopeful that a winter of technical tinkering can re-establish his international credentials, with England in clear need of batting reinforcements following their disappointing Test campaigns in Australia and New Zealand. Westley made his Test debut against South Africa at The Oval last summer, and impressed with a fifty in the second innings of…

No talk of cultural issues when Australia won the Ashes – Ponting (0:46) The former Australia captain believes that the perceived cultural issues within the Australian team are blown out of proportion (0:46) 4:42 AM ET David Peever, the Cricket Australia chairman, criticised former players for expressing outrage at Australia’s behaviour before the board handed down bans of up to 12 months on the captain Steven Smith, his deputy David…

4:36 AM ET ESPNcricinfo staff Dale Steyn, South Africa’s veteran fast bowler, has signed with Hampshire for the 2018 season, in a bid to step up his return to full fitness. Steyn, who missed much of South Africa’s home international season through injury, hopes to be available to the club in two windows, the first in June and July, and then at the back-end of the season, following South Africa’s…

4:32 AM ET David Peever, the Cricket Australia chairman, criticised past players for expressing outrage at Australia’s behaviour before the board handed down bans of up to 12 months on the captain Steven Smith, his deputy David Warner, and the young opener Cameron Bancroft, following their exposure for ball tampering in Cape Town. In audio obtained by ESPNcricinfo, Peever is heard on a teleconference call to the state associations on…

3:38 AM ET ESPNcricinfo staff Former batsman Rick McCosker will lead a review of issues relating to culture and governance of the men’s national team, and set out a charter for improved on-field behaviour, in the wake of the ball-tampering scandal during the Cape Town Test that has rocked Australian cricket. McCosker, 71, played 25 Tests and 14 ODIs for Australia between 1975 and 1982, and is best-known for batting…

1:10 PM ET ESPNcricinfo staff The PCB’s legal dispute with former Pakistan cricketer Nasir Jamshed is set to go to an anti-corruption tribunal after the batsman rejected all charges against him. In February, the PCB had charged Jamshed for five breaches of their anti-corruption code. Those charges were issued five days before Jamshed’s one-year ban, for non-cooperation with the PCB’s spot-fixing investigation during PSL 2017, ended on February 13. Following…

Are the rights for Indian cricket worth USD 944 million? (6:38) Raunak Kapoor and Gaurav Kalra discuss Star India bagging the Indian cricket rights for INR 6138 crore (6:38) 12:19 PM ET ESPNcricinfo staff In 2012 Star India began its journey as a sports broadcaster after it won the Indian cricket rights. Six years later, Star has retained those rights after winning a pitched battle with archrival Sony and paying…

12:06 PM ET ESPNcricinfo staff The PCB’s legal dispute with former Pakistan cricketer Nasir Jamshed is set to go to an anti-corruption tribunal after the batsman challenged all charges against him. In February, the PCB had charged Jamshed for five breaches of their anti-corruption code. Those charges were issued five days before Jamshed’s one-year ban, for non-cooperation with the PCB’s spot-fixing investigation during PSL 2017, ended on February 13. Following…

11:38 AM ET ESPNcricinfo staff Mumbai Indians captain Rohit Sharma has endorsed the idea of having a football-style mid-season transfer window in this IPL. While there has been no official confirmation from the IPL Governing Council, it’s understood that a provision has been made for a short five-day transfer window. Under the rule, only uncapped players who have played no more than two matches at the halfway mark will be…

10:26 AM ET ESPNcricinfo staff Simon Katich, the Kolkata Knight Riders assistant coach, is confident that Sunil Narine has put behind him the issues he has recently had with his bowling action. Narine was reported for a suspect action during the PSL last month, and while he was able to continue playing that tournament since he was only reported once, he will come into the IPL with a lot of…