Month: May 2019

1:06 PM ET Melinda Farrell Close Melinda Farrell is a presenter with ESPNcricinfo As Australia commenced their Men’s World Cup preparations on English soil, coach Justin Langer admitted the personal welfare of Steven Smith and David Warner would require sensitive monitoring and handling over the coming months. The two players joined in the centre wicket practice at Whitgift School, in the suburbs of south London, with a small media contingent…

12:55 PM ET Liam Brickhill There is a World Cup at stake, but if South Africa are under any extra pressure, it won’t be coming from inside their camp. As his team departs for a tournament where – for once – they won’t start as one of the favourites, captain Faf du Plessis is not demanding anything extraordinary from them. Rather, he believes that a focus on enjoyment and on…

12:22 PM ET Rahul Dravid has said the presence of wicket-taking bowlers in India’s line-up will greatly benefit them in the middle overs of what is expected to be a high-scoring World Cup. “I believe, having experienced some of the conditions in England last year with the A-team tour, it would be a high-scoring World Cup,” Dravid, the former India captain who now coaches the A team and Under-19s, said….

Umpire Gregory Brathwaite and Scotland captain Kyle Coetzer meet during the rain delay  3:00 AM ET Scotland v Sri Lanka Match abandoned For the second time in eight days, a rare Scotland home ODI against a Full Member was affected by rain as the series opener against Sri Lanka was abandoned without a ball bowled. After waiting through close to five hours of on and off drizzle, umpire Gregory Brathwaite…

11:11 AM ET ESPNcricinfo staff Billy Stanlake, the towering Australia fast bowler, will replace compatriot Kane Richardson as one of Derbyshire’s overseas signings for this season’s Vitality Blast. Richardson was recently called into Australia’s World Cup squad, leading to him pulling out of his planned Derbyshire stint in order to manage his workload. The club have instead recruited Stanlake – who last year pulled out of a T20 deal with…

3:00 AM ET South Africa women 129 for 2 (Kapp 56*, Lee 56) beat Pakistan women 128 for 5 (Maroof 63*, Ismail 1-17) by eight wickets Lizelle Lee and Marizanne Kapp both scored fifties as South Africa chased down Pakistan’s 128 for 5 with one ball to spare in the second Twenty20 International in Pietermaritzburg. Together they added 96 runs for the second wicket to chase down a total that…

7:51 AM ET ESPNcricinfo staff India’s assistant coach Sanjay Bangar believes that for batsmen to transition successfully from the IPL to the World Cup, they will need to guard against premeditating shots. Bangar also said India’s ODI team was not “obsessed” with the number of boundaries they were hitting in an innings, and focussed instead on a risk-free cricket. “In T20, you’re all the time expecting what the bowler will…

6:40 AM ET ESPNcricinfo staff The PCB has announced that Pakistan’s Under-19s will tour Sri Lanka from May 23 for a series of five 50-over matches. The tour was originally scheduled to begin in early May, with the team set to depart Pakistan on April 30, but was postponed following the Easter Sunday blasts that left over 250 dead in Colombo. The original schedule consisted of two four-day games and…