Dane van Niekerk, South Africa’s regular captain, will miss a second major tournament after failing to recover from an ankle injury in time for the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham. Van Niekerk broke her ankle after slipping and falling at her new home in Gqberha in January, which ruled her out of the ODI World Cup, but returned to training in May. She has not regained full fitness yet and last…
It was oddly apt that, on the anniversary of England’s World Cup victory at Lord’s, the key protagonists in a series-levelling win over India were three players whose memories of that day – for differing reasons – were bound to be less euphoric than those of their team-mates. But then there was David Willey, whose World Cup experience was perhaps the most galling of them all. Having been an integral…
Big picture Through the middle of the last decade, Sri Lanka and Pakistan seemed to play Test series annually. Often, these were closely contested, and frequently produced compelling cricket. Pakistan’s two incredible fourth-innings chases stand out – the manic one in Sharjah in early 2014, the masterful Younis Khan-led triumph in Pallekele the following year. There were the Rangana Herath routs as well, such as in Abu Dhabi in 2017,…
Fast bowler Navdeep Saini has become the latest Indian player to sign a contract to play county cricket after agreeing a deal with Kent. Saini, who plays his domestic cricket for Delhi and was part of Rajasthan Royals’ squad for IPL 2022, last played for India 12 months ago on their tour to Sri Lanka. He is due to play three County Championship matches and five Royal London Cup games,…
Harry Brook, Phil Salt and Matt Parkinson will be available to play for their counties on T20 Blast Finals Day at Edgbaston on Saturday after being released by England’s ODI squad. The semi-finals and final of the Blast are all staged on the same day but player availability has been limited this year by a clash with England’s series against India. The third ODI takes place in Manchester on Sunday,…
A number of international Bangladesh players will tour the Caribbean with the A squads next month. Four players from the current senior team’s tour – Mahmudul Hasan Joy, Khaled Ahmed, Rejaur Rahman Raja and Anamul Haque – will return to the West Indies on July 31 to play the two four-day and three one-day matches. Khaled returns to the scene of his maiden five-wicket haul in Tests, as the A…
Veteran spinner Steve O’Keefe has signed on to play another BBL season with Sydney Sixers. O’Keefe will turn 38 just prior to the BBL season starting but has decided to continue playing under long-time mentors coach Greg Shipperd and captain Moises Henriques despite having retired from first-class cricket several years ago. “Greg [Shipperd] and Moises [Henriques] are two of the main reasons I want to go around again,” O’Keefe said….
New Zealand fast bowler Adam Milne has been ruled out of the remainder of the limited-overs tour of Europe with an Achilles injury. Milne felt pain during the team’s first net session in Ireland and after a scan the recovery timeframe was likely to only see him available for the two T20Is against Netherlands in early August so it was decided he would head home. Jacob Duffy, who played the…
Rashid Khan is set to be confirmed in the new BBL draft for overseas players and will be joined by former West Indies captain Kieron Pollard who leads the way in overall T20 appearances. ESPNcricinfo understands that Pollard will be among a sizeable contingent of West Indies names confirmed among the latest group to sign up for the draft later on Friday and that is also expected to include the…
No sooner had Sophia Dunkley established herself in England’s middle order, she set her sights on making a place in the top-four her own. No sooner had England switched focus to the next Women’s World Cup cycle, she is doing just that. In her first international outing at No. 3, Dunkley scored 22 from 24 balls as England convincingly beat South Africa in their first of three ODIs at Northampton….