Ricky Ponting believes the choice of replacement ball during Australia’s second innings in the fifth Ashes Test at The Oval was a “huge blunder” which “needs to be investigated”. Umpires Joel Wilson and Kumar Dharmasena changed the ball after the first delivery of the 37th over, deeming that it had gone out of shape after Mark Wood hit Usman Khawaja on the helmet with a bouncer. Only 11 more balls…
Big picture After India’s loss in the second ODI, their head coach Rahul Dravid said: “With the Asia Cup and World Cup coming up, we have to look at the bigger picture. We cannot get worried about every single game and every single series. If we do that, it will be a mistake.” If India walk the talk, Monday’s series decider could be another rest day for Rohit Sharma and…
Romario Shepherd was named after the Brazilian footballer, one the greatest strikers in that sport. Shepherd was born in Linden, where football – or track and field – is arguably more popular than cricket, but he took to cricket. Tall, strong and muscular, Shepherd towered over other boys during age-group and regional cricket. He has a big presence in the middle and there are no half-measures with him. He was…
Hardik Pandya has declared he’s ready to shoulder a significantly higher bowling workload as he builds towards the 2023 World Cup, but is still a “turtle, not the rabbit.” Hardik, currently in the Caribbean with India’s limited-overs squad, has had two full months off since the IPL finished. In this period, he “switched off” for a month and then underwent a three-week physical conditioning at the National Cricket Academy, where…
England insist Mark Wood is fully fit to bowl despite holding him back until the 33rd over of Australia’s run chase on a rainy Sunday afternoon at The Kia Oval, while Australia believe they have worn England’s bowlers down with their approach with the bat throughout this Ashes series. Wood, who has 13 wickets at 20.38 across the three Tests he has played in this series, bowled only three of…
Australia 295 and 135 for 0 (Khawaja 69*, Warner 58) need another 249 runs to beat England 283 and 395 (Root 91, Bairstow 78, Crawley 73, Starc 4-100, Murphy 4-110) A day which started with Stuart Broad receiving a guard of honour from the Australians follow his retirement announcement the previous night, ended with David Warner and Usman Khawaja having given them a terrific base from a where an unlikely…
India head coach Rahul Dravid doesn’t want to “make the mistake” of letting the ODI series scoreline of 1-1 take the focus away from looking at the “bigger picture” as India build towards the 2023 World Cup at home this October-November. Dravid meant the team is willing to strike a balance between providing opportunities to players, even if it means resting seniors like Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli, and winning…
Stumps England 283 and 389 for 9 (Root 91, Bairstow 78, Crawley 73, Starc 4-94, Murphy 3-110) lead Australia 295 by 377 runs Saturday at The Oval was never going to be quiet. After Australia had tried and failed to quieten the crowd here on day two of this fifth Ashes Test, England turned the volume back up to 11 on day three with a sensory overload of a second…
Stuart Broad has announced that the ongoing fifth Test of the Ashes series will be the last match of his professional career. Broad made his decision “at about 8.30pm” on Friday evening, and informed his long-standing team-mates James Anderson and Joe Root of his decision before play on Saturday morning, and was understood to be fighting back tears in the process. “It’s been a wonderful ride, a huge privilege to…
Worcestershire 406 and 316 for 8 dec (Libby 117, Waite 62, van Meekeren 5-73) beat Gloucestershire 301 (O Price 115, Pennington 3-39) and 311 (J Taylor 98, Hammond 64, Pennington 4-63, Finch 4-83) by 110 runs Worcestershire’s seamers demonstrated admirable resolve to forge a dramatic late victory over Gloucestershire on the final day of an enthralling LV=County Championship match at the Cheltenham Festival. Adam Finch claimed 4 for 83, Dillon…