Steyn’s slow, bumpy road to summit Mt.Pollock (1:21) Nearly 1450 days since getting to 400 Test wickets, Dale Steyn’s finally gone past Shaun Pollock’s South Africa record (1:21) 3:41 AM ET ESPNcricinfo staff Dale Steyn has become South Africa’s leading wicket-taker in Test cricket, after claiming his 422nd wicket in Centurion. It took just 19 balls on the day for Steyn to reach the landmark, achieved when Fakhar Zaman prodded…
Dale Steyn is pumped up © AFP Pakistan won the toss and opted to bat first against South Africa Sarfraz Ahmed called heads, the coin landed his way, and Pakistan will bat first in the Boxing Day Test at SuperSport Park in Centurion. With Dale Steyn likely to open the bowling for South Africa, he could claim South Africa’s Test bowling record early in the Test, and will target an…
UAE captain Amjad Javed took wickets off successive deliveries in the 18th over © Associated Press Amjad Javed, the former UAE captain, has retired from international cricket. The 38-year-old seam-bowling allrounder hasn’t found a place in the UAE line-up since December 2017, when he played against Nepal (http://www.espncricinfo.com/series/8650/scorecard/1124088/united-arab-emirates-vs-nepal-56th-match-icc-world-cricket-league-championship-2015-2017-18) in the ICC WCL Championship. “It is never easy when you have to call it a day,” Amjad told Sport 360. “You…
This is the second time injury has struck Haris on a tour of South Africa © Getty Images A late injury setback for Haris Sohail means Shan Masood will take his place in Pakistan’s starting eleven for the Centurion Test. Haris, who has had knee troubles for much of his career, saw another knee injury flare up, forcing him up onto the sidelines. The Pakistan team management confirmed to ESPNcricinfo…
8:20 PM ET Cameron Bancroft has confirmed for the first time that David Warner encouraged him to try to tamper with the ball in Cape Town with the tacit approval of the captain Steven Smith, leading to a scandal that saw all three banned from the game while Cricket Australia dealt with a host of cultural repercussions. The week after Smith revealed he had been aware of conversation between Warner…
Close Deputy Editor Andrew arrived at ESPNcricinfo via Manchester and Cape Town, after finding the assistant editor at a weak moment as he watched England’s batting collapse in the Newlands Test. Andrew began his cricket writing as a freelance covering Lancashire during 2004 when they were relegated in the County Championship. In fact, they were top of the table when he began reporting on them but things went dramatically downhill….
3:00 AM ET Sri Lanka opted to bowl v New Zealand Sri Lanka captain Dinesh Chandimal won the toss and opted to bowl first under cloudy skies at Hagley Oval, on a surface with enough grass to excite the seam bowlers. Kane Williamson said he would have bowled first as well. Sri Lanka made two changes to their XI from Wellington – both of them “tactical” according to Chandimal. Batsman…
1:12 PM ET Danyal Rasool While Sarfraz Ahmed had yesterday all but spelled out his intentions at the toss – bat first and, even more importantly, avoid batting last – Faf du Plessis was much more reserved in his judgement. Recalling the Centurion Test match against India in January, he talked about how South Africa had prepared for a green wicket, only for the grass to burn dead, flattening the…
3:52 AM ET In a year of near misses, in their own words, India enter their last big Test without their No. 1 spinner, R Ashwin. He injured himself on the fourth evening of the Adelaide Test, aggravated it on the fifth, and was not fit for the Perth Test. He is yet to be a 100%, but he continues to stay with the team in hope that he is…
Play 04:05 These Boxing Day Tests are a strange time. In the lead-up to perhaps the biggest Test of the year, that needle and anticipation a day out from the Test is often missing. The intensity at the nets is low. Families are around. Everybody is in a hurry to lock up the stadium after finishing off the press conferences. There is nothing to suggest 80,000 people will walk in…