Month: April 2018

The sandpaper saga that changed Australian cricket (3:25) A timeline of how the ball-tampering scandal played out over the week (3:25) 12:47 AM ET ESPNcricinfo staff The Australian Cricketers’ Association (ACA) has asked Cricket Australia to consider reducing the “disproportionate” sanctions on Steven Smith, David Warner and Cameron Bancroft, the three players involved in the plan to tamper with the ball during the Cape Town Test. Australia selector Mark Waugh…

3:00 AM ET Tea New Zealand 278 and 191 for 6 (de Grandhomme 27*, Sodhi 16*) need another 191 runs to beat England 307 and 352 for 9 dec (Vince 76, Stoneman 60, Root 54, Malan 53, de Grandhomme 4-94)Live scorecard and ball-by-ball details England were in a race against the setting sun in their bid for a rare overseas Test victory on the final day of the second Test…

3:00 AM ET Lunch New Zealand 278 and 124 for 4 (Latham 65*, Watling 15*) need another 258 runs to beat England 307 and 352 for 9 dec (Vince 76, Stoneman 60, Root 54, Malan 53, de Grandhomme 4-94)Scorecard and ball-by-ball details Stuart Broad set the tempo by striking with each of his first two balls of the fifth and final morning, as England took four huge strides towards securing…

7:16 PM ET County cricket’s leading coaches will gather at Edgbaston next week in a crisis meeting to consider how to fight back against the lure of sundry worldwide Twenty20 leagues to the top limited-overs players in the country. The growing feeling within the counties is that they are paying reliable, long-term contracts to players – many of whom they have developed since childhood – who then rarely take the…

3:00 AM ET Pakistan 205 for 3 (Babar 97*, Talat 63) beat West Indies 123 (Walton 40, Amir 3-22) by 82 runs Babar Azam celebrates his half-century AFP A significant difference in quality between teams isn’t like jetlag; it doesn’t wear off in 24 hours. Pakistan turned in another dominant performance in the second game, as they had in the opener on Sunday, thumping West Indies by 82 runs to take…

3:00 AM ET 0:32 An outside edge past second slip against the bowling of Josh Hazlewood gave the South Africa captain his eighth Test century Australia 221 and 88 for 3 (Handscomb 23*, Shaun Marsh 7*) need 524 more runs to beat South Africa 488 and 344 for 6 (du Plessis 120, Elgar 81)Scorecard and ball-by-ball details This was a magical day of Test cricket – and not in the…

3:00 AM ET 0:32 An outside edge past second slip against the bowling of Josh Hazlewood gave the South Africa captain his eighth Test century Tea South Africa 488 and 344 for 6 (Bavuma 35*, Philander 33*) lead Australia 221 by 611 runsLive scorecard and ball-by-ball details South Africa batted on, and on, and on, and on, and on, and on, on the fourth day in Johannesburg, where Faf du…

10:56 AM ET ESPNcricinfo staff Delhi Daredevils coach Ricky Ponting‘s aggression and urge to win has already given “goosebumps” in the team camp, according to batsman Shreyas Iyer. “He’s very aggressive and has a positive frame of mind,” Iyer said on Monday during the team camp. “When he gave a speech to all of us on the first day, it gave us goosebumps. His frame of mind was naturally about…

3:00 AM ET Toss Pakistan chose to bat v West Indies Hussain Talat watches the ball as he sets off for a run AFP Pakistan have decided to bat in the second T20I against West Indies in Karachi. After putting on their joint-highest T20I total on Sunday night, captain Sarfraz Ahmed decided to set a total once more on what looked to be a similar pitch. Given the near-perfect performance in…