Joe Root has scores of 42, 62 not out, 143, and 103 so far in this series. In general, he averages 67.55 against Sri Lanka, having hit 186 and a 228 in his last series against this opposition as well, those mammoth scores coming in Galle. He sweeps and reverse-sweeps well, tends to be proactive against the seamers, and on the occasions in which he chooses to defend, has one…
News of Josh Hull‘s Test debut will have felt like a fever dream to the 20-year-old, and not just because he was wearing multi-coloured briefs at the time. The left-arm quick was batting in the outdoor nets at the Kia Oval, decked out in rogue batting kecks over his shorts, which, at an imposing 6ft 7in, gave you an idea of what Superman might look like at Mardi Gras. Taking…
The Blaze 197 (S Bryce 34, K Bryce 31, Morris 6-35) beat Thunder 173 (Norris 53, Ballinger 4-23) by 24 runs A career-best 6 for 35 by Fi Morris for Lancashire Thunder was countered by a List A best for The Blaze of 4 for 23 by Grace Ballinger as the visitors ran out winners by 24 runs at Sale to keep their hopes alive in the Rachael Heyhoe Flint…
Western Storm 180 (Wellington 45*) beat Sunrisers 150 (Macleod 48, Griffith 39, Skelton 5-29) by 30 runs Chloe Skelton‘s five-wicket haul propelled Western Storm to victory at Radlett and dealt a severe blow to Sunrisers’ hopes of reaching the Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy semi-finals. Off-spinner Skelton finished with 5 for 29 as the home side were rolled over for 150, having earlier played a valuable role with the bat in…
St Kitts and Nevis Patriots, who had been depleted by injuries in the opening week of CPL 2024, have now been bolstered by the signing of New Zealand big-hitting allrounder Josh Clarkson. The 27-year-old is arguably the hardest hitter of a cricket ball in New Zealand and can also bowl at brisk pace. On Tuesday, Clarkson was awarded his first New Zealand central contract, but he’s not in the Test…
Australia won the toss and decided to bowl against Scotland Jake Fraser-McGurk has been handed his T20I debut as Australia begin life after David Warner but Nathan Ellis, their most senior pace bowler on the tour, has been ruled out of the opening match against Scotland as he continues to recover from a hamstring injury. Scotland have handed out two new T20I caps with Charlie Cassell, who took a world…
Shubman Gill has said working on his “defensive game” helped him turn his Test fortunes around against England earlier this year. Before heading into the home series against England, Gill’s average in Tests was 30.59. But batting at No. 3 across the five games, he hit 452 runs in nine innings, at an average of 56.50. That included two centuries and half-centuries each, as he overturned a run of low…
Josh Hull, a 6ft 7in left-arm seamer, will make his England debut in their third Test against Sri Lanka at The Oval, which starts on Friday. He will replace Matthew Potts in England’s only change from the side that won by 190 runs at Lord’s to secure an unassailable 2-0 lead in the series. Hull, who only turned 20 last month, was a left-field replacement when Mark Wood was ruled…
Ben Stokes says the decision to enlist Brendon McCullum as England men’s new limited-overs coach is “an unbelievable move”, and believes his influence will be especially beneficial to the new generation of players who are set to come through the white-ball set-up in the coming months. The ECB announced on Tuesday that McCullum will combine both roles from the start of 2025 as part of a new three-year deal that…
Ishan Kishan‘s return to the first-class fold is set to be delayed; he’s an unlikely starter for the Duleep Trophy opener. Kishan, who was named in the Shreyas Iyer-led India D, is believed to have complained of a hamstring niggle following his two outings for Jharkhand, his first set of multi-day games in over a year, at the pre-season Buchi Babu Invitational in Tamil Nadu earlier this month. No cover…