In total, only 866 balls were bowled in the match, which makes it the second-shortest Test ever played in Australia, and 34 wickets fell in that time. Bowlers took a wicket every 25.5 balls, the second-best strike rate in a Test match ever (with a minimum of 30 wickets), and South Africa captain Dean Elgar said afterwards that the surface did not facilitate a “fair contest,” between bat and ball….
Ben Stokes said he has never had more fun in an England shirt after guiding the men’s Test side to an historic series win in Pakistan. Victory in Karachi, achieved in 67 deliveries of day four of the third Test, confirmed a 3-0 scoreline. England have bossed at least 12 of the 13 days of play and have now won nine of Stokes’ first 10 matches since becoming captain at…
West Indies captain Hayley Matthews has jumped to second place among T20I allrounders and is ranked fourth among bowlers after the latest ICC update. Matthews went up by three places among the bowlers, to slot in behind Sophie Ecclestone, Sarah Glenn and Deepti Sharma, and rose one spot among allrounders to be just four rating points away from No. 1 Sophie Devine. In four T20Is at home against England, who…
Brendon McCullum, England’s Test head coach, believes “it would be awesome” for Rehan Ahmed to be signed by an IPL franchise for the 2023 season in Friday’s auction in Kochi. Rehan became the youngest man to take a five-wicket haul on Test debut on Tuesday, running through Pakistan’s middle and lower order to return figures on 5 for 48 and swing the Karachi Test England’s way. He played 14 T20…
Inexperience. That was the word Babar Azam kept returning to. In the wake of Pakistan’s fourth successive home Test defeat, and a 3-0 home series defeat – both unprecedented. “There have been several debutants this series,” Babar said. “You need experience in Test cricket, and our experienced players were either unfit or not in form. Our team was young, with Azhar Ali the only experienced player. When you take a…
Ben Duckett iced his return to Test cricket by hitting the winning runs for England to complete a 3-0 series sweep in Pakistan, and then insisted he was not just a subcontinent specialist and could succeed as an opening batter in all conditions. Duckett had a brief taste of Test cricket in 2016, winning four caps in Bangladesh and India, but was swiftly dropped after struggling against R Ashwin and…
Brendon McCullum, England’s Test coach, says it is “scary” to think how good a leader Ben Stokes could become after his transformative influence in the year just gone, having secured a historic 3-0 clean sweep in Pakistan with a ninth Test victory in the space of ten games. Speaking to Sky Sports in Karachi, in the aftermath of England’s eight-wicket win in the third and final Test, McCullum played down…
England 354 (Brook 111, Foakes 64, Pope 51, Nauman 4-126, Abrar 4-150) and 170 for 2 (Duckett 82*) beat Pakistan 304 (Babar 78, Salman 56, Leach 4-140) and 216 (Babar 54, Shakeel 53, Rehan 5-48) by eight wickets England needed 38 minutes to complete a resounding eight-wicket win on the fourth morning in Karachi, eventually gunning down their last-innings target of 167 in 28.1 overs. Ben Duckett slapped Mohammad Wasim…
Australia stand-in captain Alyssa Healy has been ruled out of the fifth and final T20I against India in Mumbai on Tuesday due to a calf strain with stand-in vice-captain Tahlia McGrath set to lead her country for the first time. Healy was unable to bat again or field with McGrath taking over as captain as Australia successfully defended 188. Beth Mooney, who keeps in the WBBL for Perth Scorchers, kept…
It has been an overall productive 2022 for Bangladesh, with key wins in various series across formats against the likes of South Africa, India and New Zealand, but the team remains hungry for more success. Now, Bangladesh are starting to get used to the two captains they have, while also identifying future leaders. They will continue with the separate head coaches as they want to give a longer rope to…