David Warner will be available for a full BBL season for the first time in his career after signing a new two-year deal with Sydney Thunder while Steven Smith could play the competition beyond his Test career as part of a new three-year contract to remain at Sydney Sixers. It comes as Test team-mates Marnus Labuschagne and Alex Carey re-sign with Brisbane Heat and Adelaide Strikers respectively ahead of the…
“I’d bat No.11, if I had to.” It’s a line Dan Lawrence has used before, which is as much a reflection of three years spent largely carrying drinks as his 11 caps spent ticking off every slot between No.3 and 7. But its airing on Monday in the press conference room at Emirates Old Trafford had an altogether different twist. Lawrence will not be batting at No.11 in the first…
Jalal Yunus has resigned from his position as a BCB director and the chairman of the cricket operations committee. Jalal’s resignation comes after the National Sports Council, the control authorities of 41 different sports bodies of Bangladesh, asked him to step down. Jalal, a former fast bowler who played professionally in the 1980s, has been a sports organiser since the late 1990s. He has been in the BCB continuously in…
Jonny Bairstow will play his first match of the season for Yorkshire this week when the County Championship returns following a six-week break. Bairstow has only played two first-class games for his home county since the end of the 2020 season due to his England and IPL commitments. He is yet to feature for Yorkshire in any format this season, having taken a short break from the game between the…
Chandika Hathurusinghe is a hard taskmaster. He doesn’t mince his words, not to players, board officials or journalists. It is the sort of outlook that can sometimes rub people the wrong way. On Monday, in Rawalpindi however, the Bangladesh coach showed a different side of himself. After three routine questions, Hathurusinghe was asked about his feelings having been in Dhaka, a city shaken up by political unrest. He had arrived…
This was not a vintage year for the Hundred, just as it has not been a vintage English cricketing summer. The season’s main event – the men’s T20 World Cup – happened overseas, the touring men’s Test teams are ranked No. 7 and 8 in the world, and the Olympics and football’s European Championship have dominated the attention of general sports fans. For the ECB, the 2024 instalment of their…
Matthew Potts has been announced as Ben Stokes’ replacement in the XI for England’s first Test against Sri Lanka, with Harry Brook stepping into the vice-captaincy role for the series to assist stand-in captain Ollie Pope. Potts, who earned the last of his six Test caps in the one-off Test against Ireland last summer, has been given the nod ahead of fellow quick Olly Stone and uncapped batter Jordan Cox…
The World Cricketers’ Association (WCA) has begun a comprehensive review of the game’s global structure which the players’ body hopes will provide solutions to the increasingly disjointed and cramped cricket calendar. Heath Mills, the WCA chair (formerly known as FICA), said they had “given up hope” that the game’s leaders could establish a “clear and coherent structure” in which international cricket and domestic leagues can co-exist. The review, Mills said,…
Pakistan fast-bowling allrounder Aamer Jamal will miss the two-Test series against Bangladesh, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) confirmed on Monday. Jamal was initially selected in the squad with his participation subject to fitness clearance. He was most likely going to miss the first Test, starting on August 21 in Rawalpindi, as he hadn’t completely recovered from his back injury, but is now ruled out of the second Test starting August…
Australia captain Alyssa Healy has said it feels like the “wrong thing” to host the upcoming T20 World Cup Bangladesh as the country continues to deal with the consequences of the recent violence which led to hundreds of deaths and the ousting of the government. The Australian government is among those including the UK and India to have issued warnings about traveling to Bangladesh. “I find it really hard to…