8:00 AM GMT Toss Ireland elected to bat v West Indies Andy Balbirnie won his first toss as captain and elected to bat in the first ODI at Bridgetown. Balbrinie channeled the positives from Ireland’s clean sweep of Zimbabwe recently but said they weren’t thinking too much about the past. He confirmed legspinning allrounder Gareth Delaney would be making a debut. Ireland left Gary Wilson, Caig Young and James McCollum…
The Barmy Army in full voice © Getty Images If, as the curious saying goes, Test cricket has a habit of biting you on the backside if you disrespect it, then the timing of the Newlands cliffhanger could hardly have been more apposite. A mere days after it emerged that the ICC is considering the introduction of mandatory four-day Test cricket, England and South Africa served up a fifth-day finish…
The Barmy Army in full voice © Getty Images This five-day Test cricket thing is pretty good This match provided an eloquent response to those suggesting that Test cricket should last only four days. Absorbing until deep into the final session of the fifth-day, it attracted large crowds and included fine displays of steadfast and aggressive batting, spells of intimidating fast and skilful seam bowling, intriguing spells of spin and,…
4:30 PM GMT ESPNcricinfo staff Zimbabwe Cricket announced Sean Williams as the new Test captain, with Chamu Chibhabha to lead in ODIs and T20Is on an “interim” basis. A ZC release said the appointments were recommended by former captain and current director of cricket Hamilton Masakadza, which were then “unanimously endorsed” by the ZC Board at a meeting in Harare on Tuesday. “The role of captain is an honour and…
4:28 PM GMT ESPNcricinfo staff Babar Azam, the Pakistan batsman, has signed a deal that will see him return to Somerset as the club’s overseas player for five weeks next summer. Babar, who scored 578 runs at an average of 52.54 to finish as the leading run-scorer in the Vitality Blast last summer, will be available for 12 T20 group-stage games and County Championship fixtures against Gloucestershire and Kent. He…
4:09 PM GMT ESPNcricinfo staff Ben Stokes says that England’s young team should use a memorable victory over South Africa as a stepping stone towards greater things, after sealing a 189-run victory with three late wickets on a thrilling final day at Newlands. Stokes, who also scored 119 runs in the match and claimed six wickets at slip in an outstanding personal display, paid particular tribute to Dom Sibley, whose…
8:00 AM GMT England 269 (Pope 61*) and 391 for 8 (Sibley 133, Root 61, Stokes 72) beat South Africa 223 (Elgar 88, van der Dussen 68, Anderson 5-40) and 248 (Malan 84, de Kock 50) by 189 runs Ben Stokes took three late wickets to seal a dramatic final-day victory for England at Newlands to level their series against South Africa at 1-1. Stubborn resistance from Pieter Malan, Quinton…
The Prithvi Shaw incident has raised questions about India’s anti-doping programme 2:34 PM GMT Mumbai opener Prithvi Shaw will miss India A’s upcoming warm-up matches against New Zealand due to a shoulder injury he picked up in the Ranji Trophy against Karnataka last week. Shaw, who is currently undergoing rehab, will play no part in the two 50-over matches, scheduled for January 17 and 19 in Lincoln. His availability for…
8:00 AM GMT India won the toss in Indore and chose to bowl first yet again, having done the same in the abandoned first T20 on Sunday. Both teams named unchanged XIs. Kuldeep Yadav and Washington Sundar kept legspinner Yuzvendra Chahal out of India’s XI, with Jaspreet Bumrah, Navdeep Saini and Shardul Thakur forming the frontline seam-bowling options. Sri Lanka, meanwhile, kept Angelo Mathews out of the side, preferring spin-bowling…
12:32 PM GMT ESPNcricinfo staff Neil Snowball, the Warwickshire chief executive, will become the ECB’s new Managing Director of County Cricket. The 53-year-old Snowball, who joined Warwickshire at the beginning of 2016, is expected to remain at the club during their search for his successor and take up his new role later in the year, with former MCC chief executive Derek Brewer standing in at the ECB in the interim….