3:00 AM ET New Zealand chose to bat v India Readers from the US can watch the upcoming New Zealand v India series LIVE here, on ESPN+ New Zealand chose to test India in a chase in the first match of the series, which is also the latest trend in New Zealand: in two of their three ODIs against Sri Lanka, the hosts won the toss and decided to bat…
3:41 PM ET Jason Holder has called on his side’s batsmen to show greater consistency in the series against England. Holder, the West Indies captain, feels his batsmen have “shown glimpses” of what is required to achieve more regular success. But he also accepts his team’s batting has “let them down” on occasions and knows they will have to do better if they are to sustain their fine home record…
2:23 PM ET ESPNcricinfo staff Sarfraz Ahmed could be in serious trouble after he was caught on the broadcast stump mics making what seemed to be a racist comment against Andile Phehlukwayo. Halfway through the 37th over of South Africa’s tense chase in the second ODI in Durban, Phehlukwayo inside-edged a Shaheen Afridi delivery to deep fine leg for a single. He was on 50 at the time and as…
1:28 PM ET Despite rising to No. 2 in the world rankings, despite winning eight of their nine most recent Tests and despite completing an almost unprecedented clean sweep victory in Asia, there were no England players in the ICC’s Test team of the year.But, rather than see that as a slight, England Test captain Joe Root has interpreted it as a compliment to the all-round strength of his squad.As…
3:00 AM ET Comilla Victorians 153 for 8 (Shamsur 48, Tamim 34, Shakib 3-24) beat Dhaka Dynamites 146 for 9 (Russell 46, Thisara 3-14, Afridi 2-18) by seven runs How the game played out Comilla Victorians pulled out a sloppy, see-saw affair by seven runs thanks to the all-round heroics of Thisara Perera. Though the final margin might indicate that the game went down to the wire, Victorians actually sealed…
3:00 AM ET Big Picture In case you’ve missed any of the memos from the ECB in recent months, 2019 is a moderately significant year for English cricket. The small matter of a home World Cup, closely followed by the Ashes, offers the sport a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to regain some of the relevance that it squandered in the wake of the 2005 Ashes, and build the sort of head of…
11:09 AM ET Saurabh Somani Close Saurabh Somani is an assistant editor at ESPNcricinfo Gautam Gambhir believes that the likes of MS Dhoni and Shikhar Dhawan should have been asked to play first-class cricket before joining the Indian team for the ODI series in Australia, so that they could have hit the ground running. He was also sceptical about Rishabh Pant’s chances of making it to the World Cup squad,…
9:39 AM ET Cheteshwar Pujara averages 68.01 in the Ranji Trophy, but even in a tournament he’s dominated, he has taken his batting a notch higher against Karnataka. In six games against the eight-time champions, he averages 85.44 with two centuries and three fifties, including his first-class highest of 352 in Rajkot. On Thursday, Pujara and Saurashtra will meet Karnataka for the first time since that match in 2013. This…
8:58 AM ET Taskin Ahmed is in contention for a recall to the ODI side on the back of his recent BPL form, according to ODI captain Mashrafe Mortaza. The Bangladesh selectors are likely to announce the squad for the three-match ODI series against New Zealand next month, on Wednesday. Mashrafe also mentioned Sabbir Rahman among those who are likely to interest the selectors, but his six-month ban will still…
3:00 AM ET Melbourne Renegades 9 for 152 (Finch 54, White 40, Sandhu 3-23, Sams 3-29) beat Sydney Thunder 5 for 140 (Sangha 54, Ferguson 52, Gurney 2-27) by 12 runs Melbourne Renegades solidified their place in the Big Bash League top four with a stout defence of 152 to defeat the Sydney Thunder – one of their nearest rivals on the competition table – by 12 runs in a…