Sri Lanka chose to bat v Australia Six-time champions Australia will get their T20 World Cup campaign underway in the field after Chamari Athapaththu chose to bat first on a warm afternoon in Sharjah. Sri Lanka became the first team to play two matches at the tournament, less than 48 hours apart. They lost their opener to Pakistan and have had an opportunity to suss out the Sharjah surface, which…
Ben Stokes has been ruled out of England’s first Test against Pakistan in Multan, as he continues to recover from a torn hamstring. Stokes confirmed after training on Saturday that he is not yet fully recovered from the injury he sustained two months ago while playing in the Hundred. In Stokes’ absence, Chris Woakes looks set to play his first overseas Test in two-and-a-half years and his first in Asia…
Big picture: T20 world champions return home A T20I series in the middle of a Test season can be a hard sell but both India and Bangladesh will have their own priorities in the three-match series starting in Gwalior on Sunday. While India have rested their key players, the ones on the fringes will look to establish themselves as back-ups and will also be keen to increase their IPL value….
Andre Russell, Nicholas Pooran, Shimron Hetmyer and Akeal Hosein have all opted out of West Indies’ T20I squad for their upcoming tour of Sri Lanka for personal reasons. Opening batter Evin Lewis, who had last played a T20I during the World Cup in 2022, returned to the side for the three T20Is in Dumbulla. Lewis was also picked for the ODI leg of the Sri Lanka tour. Brandon King also…
Barbados’ Kensington Oval will host the CPL final for the first ever time, in 2026. Guyana, meanwhile, will host the final in 2025, marking the fourth straight year that the CPL final will be held at the Providence Stadium. In a press release on Friday, the CPL announced that it had agreed one-year deals with the two venues to host the final for the next two years. “I want to…
How India bounce back from their T20 World Cup upset at the hands of New Zealand will demonstrate the character of the side, Jemimah Rodrigues says. It will also have a huge bearing on their semi-final prospects with Group A – the tournament’s ‘group of death’ – delicately poised just two days in following New Zealand’s 58-run victory in Dubai on Friday and Pakistan’s fightback against Sri Lanka in Sharjah…
West Indies are waiting on injury updates for a couple of key players ahead of their next women’s T20 World Cup match, against Scotland on Sunday, where they will try to put their campaign back on track. A ten-wicket defeat at the hands of South Africa in Dubai on Friday was soured further when opening bowler Zaida James suffered a blow to the jaw attempting a return catch off Laura…
There was confusion, and no little anger, as India were at the centre of an umpiring controversy during their women’s T20 World Cup match against New Zealand in Dubai on Friday. They felt they had a legitimate wicket – a run-out of Amelia Kerr – but it wasn’t to be, with the umpires deciding the ball was dead when the incident took place. The appeal for the run-out came after…
New Zealand chose to bat vs India New Zealand won the toss and chose to bat in their T20 World Cup opener against India in Dubai. Captain Sophie Devine believes the “pitch won’t change too much”. New Zealand have gone pace-heavy, with Jess Kerr, Rosemary Mair, Lea Tahuhu as options while Eden Carson and Amelia Kerr are the spinners. India, meanwhile, have three fast bowlers in the XI for the…
As England trained in Multan’s searing heat for the first time on Friday, their fast-bowling coach was fighting the cold over 4,000 miles away in Scotland. James Anderson is spending this week playing the historic Old Course at St. Andrews in a pro-am golf tournament, and his late arrival highlights the extent to which a new batch of England seamers are stepping into the unknown. When England last toured Pakistan,…