Month: July 2022

Will Williams, the New Zealander who has played domestic cricket for Canterbury for the last decade, has joined Lancashire as a local player for the next three-and-a-half years with the use of his British passport. Williams joined Lancashire last month on a short-term overseas deal but has now been registered as a non-overseas player across formats, and is available with immediate effect. The move effectively ends his Canterbury career. Williams…

Steven Smith insists there is no lingering fallout from his mid-wicket mix-up with Usman Khawaja after his fiery first Test dismissal against Sri Lanka. Smith created headlines last week when he gestured back at Khawaja and stormed off the field after being run out for six in Galle. The incident drew criticism back home in Australia, including from former captains Mark Taylor and Ian Chappell. Chappell in particular was harsh on…

Jonny Bairstow and Rishabh Pant, the standout batting stars of the Edgbaston Test, have burst into the top ten of the ICC men’s Test player rankings – Bairstow at tenth place and Pant at a career-best No. 5. The unbeaten century in the second innings didn’t hurt Joe Root‘s cause either, as he consolidated his position at the top of the table, that too with 923 rating points, his best….

Moeen Ali has ended his 15-year association with Worcestershire by returning to Warwickshire on a three-year white-ball contract. Moeen, 35, was born in Sparkhill, Birmingham – a few miles down the road from Edgbaston – and reaffirmed his ties with the city last year by captaining Birmingham Phoenix in the inaugural season of the Hundred, a role that will continue this year. The deal marks Moeen’s return to the club…

It will be de Kock’s maiden appearance at the CPL, while for Miller, Royals will be his third franchise in the competition after stints with Jamaica Tallawahs and St Lucia Kings [earlier St Lucia Zouks]. Royals also have in their line-up Mujeeb Ur Rahman, the Afghanistan spinner who has previously played with the Jamaica Tallawahs, as well as Pakistani batter Azam Khan and South African allrounder Corbin Bosch. They still…

The draft for the third edition of the Lanka Premier League was held on Tuesday evening, with each of the five franchises allowed to pick six international players, with one from each price category barring Gold and Silver. Sri Lankan players were available for all categories. The pre-draft portion of the squad selection, however, meant that for many of the teams the top-tier draft picks had been decided well in…

“It’s like being a kid again. It’s great. It’s like how it felt when I first started playing.” With the first answer of his press conference, Joe Root summed up exactly what he and the rest of this England side are experiencing at the moment. An hour before sitting down in front of the microphones and cameras, Root had walked off on 142 not out, Jonny Bairstow by his side…

Pakistan fast-bowling coach Shaun Tait feels Sri Lanka might not prepare spin-friendly pitches for their upcoming tour considering the Pakistanis have quality spinners in their attack and batters who play spin well. He said that the series loss to Australia at home has made Pakistan “very hungry” to win and that they’re looking to put together a squad that can be successful in “any condition”, as they prepare for the…

Rahul Dravid, India’s head coach, pointed to potential issues with fitness and sustained intensity among the bowlers in the aftermath of their failure to defend a target of 378 against England in the fifth Test. England chased down their highest fourth-innings target at Edgbaston with seven wickets in hand half an hour before lunch on the final day. By the end, England had scored their second-innings runs at 4.93 per…

India have been docked two World Test Championship (WTC) points for maintaining a slow over-rate in the Edgbaston Test, which they lost by seven wickets to England for the series to end at 2-2. As a result of the penalty, India currently have 52.08 percentage points, a shade lower than Pakistan’s 52.38, and are down to No. 4 on the WTC table, below Australia, South Africa and Pakistan. The members…