Month: February 2020

5:55 AM GMT Ishant Sharma is unlikely to feature in India’s attack for the second Test against New Zealand in Christchurch, starting tomorrow. ESPNcricinfo has learned that the fast bowler has suffered a recurrence of the ankle injury that he picked up on January 20, during a Ranji Trophy match in Delhi, which had threatened to prevent his participation in the Test series altogether. Umesh Yadav is set to replace…

3:38 AM GMT Anil Kumble, one of the most prominent and influential voices in world cricket, is “very clear” that a Test match has to be five days long and hence he does not endorse the proposal to make four-day Test cricket mandatory. Kumble, who is the chairman of the ICC’s Cricket Committee, has also countered the view, expressed by many including the ICC chairman Shashank Manohar, that Test cricket…

2:59 AM GMT Australia’s World Cup campaign remains on a knife-edge but their convincing victory against Bangladesh was forged from their most convincing top-order display since the series against Sri Lanka last year. The 151-run opening stand between Alyssa Healy and Beth Mooney followed two uncertain displays in the matches against India and Sri Lanka, the first of which ended in the defeat and the second which saw Australia rocking…

7:24 PM GMT ESPNcricinfo staff Ian Watmore has been named as the ECB’s new chairman and will succeed Colin Graves when he leaves the post in November 2020. Watmore, 61, was chief executive of the FA for nine months in 2009-10, during which time he launched the Women’s Super League and the St. George’s Park project, and more recently was an independent board director of the Rugby Football Union. His…

6:20 PM GMT Quetta Gladiators 190 for 5 (Roy 50, Cutting 42*, Sarfaraz 33, Abdullah 2-17) beat Islamabad United 187 for 7 (Ingram 63, Naseem 2-23) by five wickets Quetta Gladiators pulled off PSL 2020’s highest successful chase on the back of Ben Cutting’s unbeaten 17-ball innings of 42, that helped them chase Islamabad United’s 188-run target in a five-wicket win. The result keeps them on top of the tournament…

5:57 PM GMT Rory Burns believes the injury that curtailed his winter with the Test team may prove “a good thing” for English cricket in the long term. Burns sustained serious ligament damage when playing football in warm-up the day before the second Test against South Africa. He subsequently underwent surgery and was ruled out of the remaining three Tests in that series and the two upcoming Tests in Sri…

5:57 PM GMT Deception and subterfuge are key parts of the armoury of a T20 death bowler, but for Tom Curran, Rajasthan Royals’ latest English recruit, those traits may have to be deployed in the nets at Jaipur too. That’s because, with the T20 World Cup looming large on the horizon, a number of his IPL colleagues – not least the team’s Australian head coach, Andrew McDonald – are likely…

Fans at Citi Field, New York during the Warne/Tendulkar All-Stars series in 2015  3:25 PM GMT Peter Della PennaCricket Close Peter Della Penna is an American cricket journalist who also writes for ESPNcricinfo.com and DreamCricket.com. Since 2010, he has penned the USA entry in the Cricket Round the World section of the Wisden Cricketers’ Almanack.Follow Peter on Twitter @PeterDellaPenna USA Cricket has reaffirmed their intentions to launch a “Minor League” T20 franchise…