Samarawickrama, a left-hand top-order batter, will join Shikha Pandey, Jemimah Rodrigues and Jess Jonassen as the other overseas players for Knight Riders. She is only the second Sri Lankan woman to be part of an overseas league after Chamari Athapaththu. The move to pick Samarawickrama comes at a time when her stocks are rising. She was the Player of the Final with an unbeaten 69 off 51 balls in Sri…
Lizelle Lee will remain with Hobart Hurricanes for at least another two seasons after she signed with the club ahead of the WBBL draft. Lee, who has lived in Tasmania permanently since retiring from international cricket in 2022-23, was Hurricanes’ leading run-scorer last season with 409 at 37.18 and a strike-rate of 146.07 which included an unbeaten 101 against Melbourne Renegades. Related ‘The older I get, I’m getting better’ –…
England’s current stand-in Test captain Ollie Pope has signed with Adelaide Strikers and West Indies left-arm spinner Akeal Hosein has joined Sydney Sixers to complete the pre-draft names in the BBL. Pope, who is leading England against Sri Lanka due to Ben Stokes’ hamstring injury, will be available for Strikers after the Test tour of New Zealand which finishes on December 18 which means he will miss at least their…
Chris Woakes believes he could lead England’s bowling attack in Pakistan and New Zealand this winter, despite his modest Test record overseas. Woakes has a bowling average of 51.88 in his 20 away Tests, compared to 21.57 in 32 at home, but said that he will not “shy away” from touring either this winter and beyond, despite having last featured in an overseas Test at Grenada in March 2022. Woakes…
Former Australia batter Matthew Hayden believes Australia’s home advantage “has been taken away quite a lot” in recent years, and that runs are going to come at a “premium” in the forthcoming five-match Test series between Australia and India to be played from November 2024 to January 2025. As for the nature of pitches at the five venues – Perth, Adelaide, Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney – Hayden said on the…
The Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB) has signed up R Sridhar as assistant coach for Afghanistan’s upcoming series against New Zealand and South Africa. Sridhar had served as India’s fielding coach from 2014-21, working as a part of Ravi Shastri’s support staff. Sridhar, 54, is a former left-arm spinner who played for Hyderabad in the Indian domestic circuit in the 1990s. He began his coaching career in 2001, and went on…
Australian left-hander Hughes will be available for all Championship and T20 Vitality Blast fixtures next season, while West Indies right-arm quick Seales is available for the first block of Championship fixtures. Hughes was the leading run scorer in the group stages of this year’s Blast with 560 runs at average of 43.07, including five half-centuries and a highest score of 96 not out. He helped Sussex secure a home quarter-final…
He had also featured twice for Surrey in September 2023, when he won the County Championship Division One title in what was his maiden stint for the team. He continued his rise with Gujarat Titans, emerging as their highest run-getter in IPL 2024, with 527 runs in 12 innings at an average of 47.90 and strike rate of 141.28. Source: ESPN Crickinfo
Lancashire want to partner with an IPL franchise and run Manchester Originals as a joint venture from 2025. The ECB will distribute prospectuses to potential investors early next month, with stakes in each of the eight Hundred teams for sale, and Lancashire have met with various interested parties over the last month. As the owners of Emirates Old Trafford, Lancashire will be gifted a 51% stake in Manchester Originals by…
Ryan ten Doeschate, the former Netherlands allrounder, didn’t think batting against spin was an area he would need to focus on when he signed up as one of India’s assistant coaches, but it’s a challenge he’s keen to take on as the team builds towards a home season comprising five Tests – two against Bangladesh and three against New Zealand. “One of the challenges I wasn’t expecting and I kind…