Offspinner Ben Manenti had a wonderful debut © Getty Images Sydney Sixers 7 for 132 (Silk 30, Richardson 3-22) beat Melbourne Renegades 9 for 99 (Harvey 30, Curran 3-18) by 33 runs Sydney Sixers have not solved their top-order batting woes, but they might not need to if they can defend totals as well as they did to beat the Melbourne Renegades on a poor surface at Marvel Stadium in…
5:33 AM ET India are “hurt” by comments made by commentator Kerry O’Keeffe during the third Test at the MCG. Their bowling coach Bharat Arun has said the team has looked to channelise the hurt into doing better on the field, but ESPNcricinfo understands quite a few members of the team are furious over the comments. On day one of the Test, O’Keeffe ran down debutant Mayank Agarwal‘s Ranji Trophy…
3:22 AM ET Andrew Fidel Fernando On the day in which 23-year-old Kusal Mendis became the youngest batsman since 2005 to score 1000 Test runs in a calendar year, he revealed he had been eyeing up the milestone for several months. Only four younger batsmen have ever managed a 1000-plus year, and three of them are giants of the game. Garfield Sobers, Alastair Cook and AB de Villiers had achieved…
2:59 AM ET Pitches in New Zealand tend to flatten out after a roaring start, but even though opposition teams struggle to get wickets in the second innings, New Zealand’s own quicks are generally capable of bowling their team to victory. Why? Because they hunt as a pack, according to their bowling coach Shane Jurgensen. There was evidence of that teamwork as they removed four Sri Lanka batsmen on day…
3:00 AM ET Australia 151 and 8 for 258 (Cummins 61*, Jadeja 3-82, Bumrah 2-53) need 141 more to beat India 7 for 443 dec. and 8 for 106 dec. (Agarwal 42, Cummins 6-27) For the fourth day in a row, Pat Cummins stood as the only considerable obstacle in India’s push for a 2-1 lead before the Sydney Test. Australia showed more fight in their second innings, but India’s…
MS Dhoni buckles on his pads at India training © Getty Images India players who have chosen to skip the Ranji Trophy should not be criticised for their “individual preferences”, MS Dhoni has said. Dhoni said it was important for players to preserve themselves, given the packed calendar. “It is important to safeguard players,” Dhoni said on Saturday, during the launch of a coffee-table book on N Srinivasan, the former…
© Getty Images Sri Lanka’s chances of saving the Christchurch Test was dealt a major blow after Angelo Mathews pulled up lame late in the second session on day four, with apparent hamstring trouble. Although not out, he did not take the field after tea, and will undergo scans at some point in the day before it is decided whether he can bat again in the match. At first glance,…
3:00 AM ET Sri Lanka 104 and 89 for 2 (Mendis 51*, Chandimal 33*) need 571 more to beat New Zealand 178 and 585 for 4 dec (Latham 176, Nicholls 162*, de Grandhomme 71) There are five more sessions to bat out, and rain is unlikely to rescue them this time, but in playing out a wicketless session before lunch on day four, Kusal Mendis and Dinesh Chandimal have suggested…
The magic moment: Alastair Cook reaches his century © Getty Images Alastair Cook, the former England captain and his country’s leading Test run-scorer, is to receive a knighthood in the New Year’s honours list. Cook, who retired from Tests at the end of the summer, will become the first England cricketer to be knighted since Sir Ian Botham in 2007. Cook scored 12,472 Test runs, and more hundreds than any…
12:12 PM ET Pakistan captain Sarfraz Ahmed steadfastly maintained Azhar Ali had taken a “clear catch” to dismiss Dean Elgar in the opening hour of the third day. With South Africa wobbling at 16 for 1 in a chase of 149, having lost Aiden Markram early and dropped Hashim Amla on a morning when Pakistan’s pacers were in full control, Shaheen Afridi drew the outside edge of Dean Elgar in…