Month: January 2020

11:21 AM GMT Andrew Fidel Fernando Suranga Lakmal returned to Sri Lanka’s Test squad after missing the tour of Pakistan due to dengue fever, while Kusal Perera has been dropped. Despite having lost 1-0 in Pakistan, Sri Lanka made no other changes to the 15 that toured Rawalpindi and Karachi in December. This means that Lahiru Thirimanne remains in the squad, despite seemingly having lost his place in the XI…

11:05 AM GMT ESPNcricinfo staff AB de Villiers has confirmed he is considering “throwing his name in the hat” for an international comeback at the T20 World Cup in Australia later this year following constructive talks with the new leadership in South Africa. Late last year captain Faf du Plessis revealed conversations had already begun about whether de Villiers could return following his retirement in May 2018. Now de Villiers…

10:58 AM GMT Matt Roller Close Matt Roller is an assistant editor at ESPNcricinfo. He tweets at @mroller98 Moeen Ali will join an England Lions training camp in Loughborough this week ahead of their upcoming tour to Australia. Moeen, the offspinning allrounder whose most recent international appearance came in last summer’s first Ashes Test at Edgbaston, declared himself unavailable for the ongoing Test series in South Africa, writing in his…

8:00 AM GMT Toss Australia chose to bowl v India Aaron Finch won his first toss on the tour and put India in on what he called a “reasonably good wicket”. Finch said Australia hoped that dew would come in as they chased later, and pointed out that it had when they trained under lights in the days leading up to the match. Australia named both their frontline spinners –…

7:12 AM GMT Before Monday, the only thing that was missing from Mohammad Amir‘s glittering CV was a five-wicket haul in T20 cricket. In the first qualifier of BPL 2019-20, Amir went one better with 6 for 17 to put Khulna Tigers in the final. After being asked to bat, Khulna managed only 158 for 3 and were up against a Rajshahi Royals batting line-up that included T20 stars like…

6:19 AM GMT Andrew Fidel Fernando Sri Lanka Cricket has decided to terminate Chandika Hathurusingha‘s contract as head coach, while Hathurusingha has moved for compensation through the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), following months of deadlock. Although SLC had suspended Hathurusingha as far back as August last year, they had continued to pay him for several months, while lawyers traded letters and the board sent Hathurusingha a list of…

Fantasy Picks – Pack your team with top-order batsmen (6:52) Here are our Fantasy Picks for the first ODI between India and Australia in Mumbai (6:52) 2:52 AM GMT ESPNcricinfo staff January 14: India v Australia in Mumbai Our XI: Rohit Sharma (vice-capt), David Warner, Virat Kohli (capt), Steven Smith, Marnus Labuschagne, Kedar Jadhav, Alex Carey (wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Adam Zampa, Pat Cummins, Jasprit Bumrah NOTE: We might not always…

Brisbane Heat v Adelaide Strikers Our XI: Jake Weatherald, Phil Salt, Travis Head, Chris Lynn, AB de Villiers, Jimmy Peirson (wk), Rashid Khan, Ben Cutting, Peter Siddle, James Pattinson, Mujeeb Ur Rahman NOTE: We might not always be able to tip you off about a late injury (or other relevant) updates. Captain: Rashid Khan With 14 wickets from eight games – six of those in the last two outings –…

9:31 PM GMT ESPNcricinfo staff The man who racially abused Jofra Archer during the first Test against New Zealand at Mount Maunganui in November has been banned from attending international and domestic matches in the country for two years. Following a police investigation, a 28-year-old man from Auckland admitted the abuse, and has been issued with a verbal warning for using insulting language. Archer heard the comments as he left…