Big Picture: Last dance before big names return With key senior players from India and Australia set to slot into their respective XIs for the third ODI in Rajkot later, Sunday’s fixture in Indore is perhaps the final chance for any fringe player to make an impression. Australia’s situation is a tad more complex than India’s. Travis Head’s injury has left a gaping hole in their squad, and even though…
Ireland won the toss and chose to bowl first vs England Paul Stirling won the toss and chose to bowl first at a sunny Trent Bridge, as Ireland’s ODI series against England prepared to get underway at the second attempt, following the frustrating washout at Headingley on Wednesday. With much of England’s attention already thrown forward to the World Cup in India next week, Zak Crawley will be leading the…
Toss New Zealand chose to bat vs Bangladesh After a heavy spell of rain in the morning, the weather cleared up around Mirpur in time for the toss, which Lockie Ferguson won and chose to bat. New Zealand remain unchanged, retaining the balance of five specialist batters at the top, two allrounders in Rachin Ravindra and Cole McConchie, Ish Sodhi as the primary spinner, and three quicks. Bangladesh have made…
The ECB has offered unprecedented three-year contracts in a bid to quell the threat of franchise teams co-opting England’s best and brightest cricketers. The deals are a revamp of the pre-existing central contract structure which solely featured year-long deals, and come at a time when IPL ownership has spread into other T20 competitions around the world, allowing franchises to recruit players solely for their purposes all year round. It is…
Pakistan’s plans for a pre-World Cup team bonding trip to Dubai have been cancelled as the team was on Friday still awaiting visas to travel to India. The Pakistan squad were due to fly to the UAE early next week and stay for a couple of days before flying to Hyderabad, ahead of their first warm-up game against New Zealand on September 29th. Instead, those plans have been shelved and…
Hampshire 322 for 8 (Prest 102*, Harmer 5-143) and 267 for 7 (Dawson 119, Vince 89) beat Essex 447 for 9 dec (Rossington 104, Critchley 99, Harmer 62, Yadav 51, Westley 50) and 153 for 8 dec (Lawrence 53, Abbott 4-63) by three wickets Less than a week has elapsed since Hampshire were hunting down a teasing target of 267 against Leicestershire at Trent Bridge in the Metro Bank Cup…
India have moved past Pakistan to become the No. 1 ranked team in ODIs ahead of the World Cup at home. As a result, they now occupy the top spot across formats, having already been No. 1 in Tests and T20Is. India are only the second team in men’s cricket history to achieve this feat after South Africa did it in August 2012. India are on 116 rating points, one…
Surrey 185 (Overton 51, White 4-45) and 142 for 0 (Burns 71*, Sibley 67*) drew with Northamptonshire 357 (Nair 147, Taylor 66) Northamptonshire’s relegation from Division One has been confirmed mathematically after Surrey and the weather prevented them from capping off perhaps their most impressive display of the season. That it came in their 13th match of 14 tells a clear story of a team consistently short, with just one…
Warwickshire 315 (Rhodes 102, Briggs 99, Murtagh 6-83) and 58 for 2 beat Middlesex 121 (Hannon-Dalby 5-29) and 251 (Robson 107*, Higgins 57) by eight wickets Sam Robson‘s tenacious, unbeaten hundred proved to be in vain for Middlesex as they slid into the LV= Insurance County Championship relegation places after defeat to Warwickshire at Lord’s. Warwickshire’s bowlers stuck to their task, dismissing Middlesex for 251 in their second innings despite…
Yorkshire 155 and 225 for 4 (Lyth 60, Wharton 58*) drew with Leicestershire 223 (Swindells 73, Hill 4-63) Leicestershire’s slim chance of adding promotion to their Metro Bank One-Day Cup success was effectively washed away as their LV= Insurance County Championship match against Yorkshire finished as a draw following more rain on day four at Grace Road. Every effort was made by the ground staff to make the playing area…