Jamie Smith has revealed that he found his first three weeks as a Test cricketer “mentally draining”, but he is open to shuffling up England’s batting order to No. 6 against Sri Lanka in Ben Stokes‘ absence. Smith kept wicket tidily throughout England’s 3-0 clean sweep against West Indies and made two attacking half-centuries down the order: 70 from No. 7 on debut at Lord’s, and 95 from No. 8…
Essex 227 for 5 (Westley 77, Lenham 1-44) beat Sussex 226 for 9 (Simpson 69, Porter 4-34) by XX wickets Essex eased to a five-wicket win over Sussex Sharks at Hove to claim their third win in the Metro Bank One-Day Cup. The early damage was done by Jamie Porter who picked up four wickets with the new ball as Sussex collapsed to 50 for 6. Skipper John Simpson led…
Temba Bavuma, South Africa’s former T20I and current Test and ODI captain, has acknowledged his focus is long-format cricket after he was left out of the team’s experimental T20 side to play West Indies later this month. After last playing a T20I in September 2023, missing out on the T20 World Cup squad and being released by Sunrisers Eastern Cape in the SA20, Bavuma was asked whether he had made…
Northamptonshire 86 for 1 beat Kent 82 (Chahal 5-14, Broad 3-16) by nine wickets India’s Yuzvendra Chahal made a stunning debut in the Metro Bank Cup, helping the Northamptonshire Steelbacks to a nine-wicket victory over the Kent Spitfires at Canterbury. Justin Broad was nearly as impressive, claiming 3 for 16 and Kent’s top scorer, Jaydn Denly, made just 22. Northants needed just 14 overs to reach the target, James Sales…
Welsh Fire 106 for 1 (Beaumont 59*, Matthews 35*) beat Southern Brave 103 (Tryon 55, Matthews 4-14, Jonassen 3-21) by nine wickets Hayley Matthews continued her remarkable all-round form as Welsh Fire cruised to a commanding nine-wicket victory over bottom side Southern Brave at the Utilita Bowl, the result guaranteeing the Fire a top-three place and progression to The Hundred’s knockout stage. The Barbadian, opening the bowling, delivered figures of…
Big Picture: West Indies, South Africa look to go back to winning ways That competitive edge we were hoping for in the series opener showed itself on the last day of the rain-affected match, where both teams did all they could to avoid a draw. In the end, too much time was lost to rain and they had to settle for Test cricket’s first draw in 28 matches. The teams…
Rishabh Pant is set to make his comeback in red-ball cricket with the Duleep Trophy, which will kick off India’s 2024-25 domestic season on September 5. This is the first time Pant will play first-class cricket since his car accident in December 2022. Mohammed Shami, however, isn’t part of any of the four squads. He is nearing full fitness and has begun bowling full tilt as he targets a comeback…
Dodda Ganesh, the former India and Karnataka medium pacer, has been appointed head coach of the Kenya men’s cricket team. It’s a one-year contract for the moment, starting August 13, and will take in, to start with, Kenya’s campaigns at the ICC Division 2 Challenge League in September, where they will face Papua New Guinea, Qatar, Denmark and Jersey, followed by the T20 World Cup Africa Qualifiers in October. “The…
Scotland have called up right-arm quick Charlie Cassell and medium pacer Jasper Davidson for their first-ever bilateral men’s T20I series against Australia this September in Edinburgh. The 15 players who played the men’s T20 World Cup in June make up the rest of the squad, which will be captained by Richie Berrington. Cassell made a sensational start to his international career, taking 7 for 21 – the best ODI haul…
Morne Morkel, the former South Africa fast bowler, has been appointed as the bowling coach of the Indian men’s team. After weeks of speculation, the signing was formally confirmed by BCCI secretary Jay Shah on Wednesday. Morkel replaced former India fast bowler Paras Mhambrey, and his appointment completes India’s coaching staff, which comprises head coach Gautam Gambhir, assistant coaches Abhishek Nayar and Ryan ten Doeschate, and fielding coach T Dilip….