Month: March 2024

Bangladesh’s young batters are in the early stages of their Test careers and those watching them will need to be patient, says assistant coach Nic Pothas who is standing infor the team’s head coach Chandika Hathurusinghe in the second Test against Sri Lanka in Chattogram. Bangladesh were thrashed by 328 runs in the first Test in Sylhet earlier this week. Only Mominul Haque made a half-century as the hosts were…

Steven Smith‘s suggestion to Hardik Pandya is to simply “block out” the boos and the abuse he has been copping from fans at the IPL so far. Smith, target of constant heckling across the globe a few years ago for his role in the 2018 Newlands ball-tampering scandal, said that Hardik needed support from his team-mates at Mumbai Indians, including from Rohit Sharma, who Hardik replaced as captain ahead of…

Big picture – Chattogram won’t be like Sylhet at all For the second Test series in a row between these teams, Sri Lanka’s seamers are defining the contest. In 2022, it had been Asitha Fernando and Kasun Rajitha who claimed 24 wickets between them in the two-match series in Bangladesh. This time, Sri Lanka go to Chattogram with their quicks having taken all 20 wickets in Sylhet – the first…

USA have named former New Zealand allrounder Corey Anderson as part of their 15-man squad to face Canada in the upcoming five-match T20I series at home. Anderson, 33, last played for New Zealand in 2018, as he aimed to qualify for his adopted country. Monank Patel will continue to lead USA for the series, with the matches taking place in Houston, Texas from April 7 to 13. Aaron Jones has…

When Royal Challengers Bengaluru host Kolkata Knight Riders on Friday night, the big sub-plot is the likely face-off between Virat Kohli and Mitchell Starc. Starc is playing his first IPL since 2015, when he was part of RCB, who were then led by Kohli. The two have never faced each other in the IPL, with Starc’s first season in 2014 also coming with RCB. “I quite like [Starc’s] match-up to…

England 138 for 5 (Knight 35, Sciver-Brunt 31, A Kerr 3-30) beat New Zealand 136 for 6 (Gaze 51*, Ecclestone 3-30, Sciver-Brunt 2-24) by five wickets Nat Sciver-Brunt and Sophie Ecclestone were devastating with the ball as England secured a clinical five-wicket win over New Zealand in their final T20I for a 4-1 series victory. The pair shared five wickets between them, with Sciver-Brunt making the early breakthroughs which had…

The PCB has announced dates for Pakistan’s three-match T20I tour of Ireland. The games, which are scheduled for May 10, 12 and 14, will be taking place at Castle Avenue in Dublin. The series forms part of a 12-match run-in Pakistan have ahead of the T20 World Cup in the USA and the West Indies. Before Pakistan leave for Ireland, New Zealand arrive in Pakistan in April to play five…

Rajasthan Royals 185 for 5 (Parag 84, Ashwin 29, Axar 1-21, Khaleel 1-24) beat Delhi Capitals 173 for 5 (Warner 49, Stubbs 44*, Chahal 2-19, Burger 2-29) by 12 runs On a night that their big three batters managed 31 off 35 between them, Rajasthan Royals overcame a big conditions handicap through what many feel is the coming of age of Riyan Parag. When the ball seamed and swung, accounting…

Zak Crawley says that England will not allow their shortcomings in India to derail their positive approach to Test cricket but admits that a bit of “refinement” is needed to capitalise on their positions of dominance, such as the one that slipped through their fingers in the fourth Test in Ranchi last month. Speaking at the Kia Oval on the eve of the county season, Crawley insisted that England had…

In IPL 2023, Riyan Parag managed only 78 runs in seven innings at an average of 13 and strike rate of 118.18. It wasn’t the kind of output Rajasthan Royals would have expected of him, especially after having bought him back for INR 3.8 crore in the auction the previous year. In just two innings this season, both at No. 4, Parag has scored 127 runs at a strike rate…