Month: November 2019

11:23 AM GMT Perhaps the most impressive aspect of how India’s pacers dominated their home season in resounding wins over South Africa and Bangladesh was that it was done without Jasprit Bumrah, India’s highest ranked Test bowler and arguably most potent weapon. The trio of Ishant Sharma, Mohammed Shami and Umesh Yadav have already stacked up never-before-seen numbers, and the addition of Bumrah makes for a pace quartet that could…

11:16 AM GMT ESPNcricinfo staff Nelson Mandela Bay Giants’ Farhaan Behardien has been sidelined from the rest of the Mzansi Super League with injury. Thirty-nine-year-old Port Elizabeth-born Netherlands batsman Ryan ten Doeschate has been signed as Behardien’s replacement. Behardien brings a wealth of short-format experience, having played more then 350 T20s, including stints in the IPL, Big Bash League, Pakistan Super League, Bangladesh Premier League and more recently the T10…

11:15 AM GMT ESPNcricinfo staff Joe Root has dropped out of the world’s Test batting top 10 for the first time in more than five years. Root, fell to 11th in the latest ICC rankings, released on Tuesday, after scores of two and 11 in England’s innings defeat in the first Test against New Zealand. With an average of 27.40 from 10 Tests this year compared with 47.35 for his…

10:01 AM GMT Yasir Shah may have just “woken up the best.” This is the general sense in the Australian camp after his haughty celebration following Steven Smith‘s dismissal for the seventh time in last week’s first Test in Brisbane. It’s fair to say that Smith was perhaps not at his most focused when he entered the fray, after David Warner, Joe Burns and Marnus Labuschagne had already taken Australia…

Steven Smith – wearing stem guards on his helmet – prepares for a net ahead of the Old Trafford Test  9:45 AM GMT Phillip Hughes played cricket for Australia for about five years, and it is now five years since his family, friends, teammates and the game itself lost him to a freakish and unrepeated moment. It was in Adelaide where the Australian team reconvened after his death, to play…

9:16 AM GMT ESPNcricinfo staff New Zealand left-arm quick Neil Wagner has moved up to No.3 among bowlers in the ICC Test rankings. He gained five places after bagging eight wickets, including a five-for in the second innings, to lead New Zealand to victory in the first-ever Test in Mount Maunganui. Wagner’s team-mate BJ Watling, who became the first New Zealand wicketkeeper to make a Test double-hundred, shot up 12…

Rashid Khan’s first Test win as captain – also Afghanistan’s second-ever Test victory – came when he was 20 years and 350 days old  8:00 AM GMT Big picture Don’t let Afghanistan’s two-day loss on their Test debut against India fool you. Since then, they’ve beaten Ireland in India and Bangladesh in Bangladesh. If they beat West Indies in Lucknow, they’ll become the only team in the history of the sport…

8:00 AM GMT Alex Malcolm Western Australia 6 for 210 (Marsh 101*, Steketee 2-32) beat Queensland 205 (Peirson 79, Richardson 3-35) by four wickets It really was Shaun Marsh‘s Cup. Australia’s one-day domestic competition’s title sponsor has nothing to do with Shaun or his famous cricketing family, for as much mirth as the possible link has provided. But the 36-year-old proved why he is still one of Australia’s premier domestic…

Ryan ten Doeschate lifts the County Championship Division One Trophy as Essex celebrate  Nov 25, 2019 Next season’s County Championship will begin on Easter Sunday (April 12), and will feature fixtures in each of the six months of the season, while the inaugural season of the Hundred will be launched with a Friday-night fixture between Oval Invincibles and Welsh Fire at The Oval on July 17, as the ECB attempt…