Two weeks before they played each other in the Australian Open final in 2017, Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal were ailing, injured athletes who were perhaps fading into the twilight. When, against the odds, they wound up facing each other in the final, the victorious Federer famously said, “Tennis is a cruel sport, there are no draws, but if there was going to be one I would have been very…
Brendon McCullum, England’s head coach, says his team have “no excuses” after crashing to a 2-1 series defeat with back-to-back losses in Multan and Rawalpindi, but admits he was surprised it took Pakistan until the second Test to prepare the sort of spinning pitches that have been his team’s undoing on recent tours of the subcontinent. Pakistan had been left with no place to hide after England’s ruthless victory on…
Toss West Indies chose to bowl against Sri Lanka West Indies won the toss and put Sri Lanka into bat in the third and final ODI in Pallekele. Sri Lanka hold an unassailable 2-0 lead in the series, but this will be the first time they will be batting first on what is expected to be another spin-friendly surface. Opener Pathum Nissanka‘s return is one of two changes Sri Lanka…
New Zealand allrounder Amelia Kerr has been ruled out of the remaining two ODIs against India after tearing her left quadricep muscle. Kerr picked up the injury during the opening game on Thursday, which India won by 59 runs, and is expected to take approximately three weeks to recover. She will not be replaced in the ODI squad. This also puts her WBBL participation in serious doubt for Sydney Sixers…
Pakistan 344 need 36 runs to beat England 267 and 112 (Root 33, Noman 6-42, Sajid 4-69) Pakistan are on the cusp of their first home series win since 2021 after dismissing England for 112, leaving them a nominal chase of 36 for victory in this third and final Test in Rawalpindi. Just as it was in the first innings, and indeed the victorious second Test at Multan, Noman Ali…
Sam Konstas‘ mentor Shane Watson believes circumstances have thrown up a “perfect storm” for the teen prodigy to make his Test debut in the home series against India. Konstas announced himself as a Test bolter with twin Sheffield Shield centuries for NSW earlier this month and will feature for Australia A next week alongside the out-of-form Cameron Bancroft and another previous Test opener in Marcus Harris as the selectors narrow…
Hot on the heels of a momentous Women’s T20 World Cup, the tenth season of the WBBL is just about ready to get started. What’s new this season? When is the tournament starting? What are the squads? We have you covered. When does it take place? The WBBL begins on Sunday with a triple header starting with back-to-back games at the Adelaide Oval. Reigning champions Adelaide Strikers, who are aiming…
India 156 trail New Zealand 259 and 255 (Phillips 48, Blundell 41, Jadeja 3-72, Ashwin 2-97) by 359 runs India got the remaining five wickets for 57 runs through Ravindra Jadeja and R Ashwin, but that only meant the pitch has become more difficult, making the target of 359 look gargantuan. That Jadeja turned the ball big at the pace of mid-90s was only a promising sign for New Zealand….
Middle-order batter Ramandeep Singh and fast bowler Vijaykumar Vyshak have earned their maiden India call-ups for the four-match T20I series in South Africa, which begins on November 8 in Durban. The squad has three notable absentees, all due to injury. Batting allrounder Riyan Parag is undergoing rehabilitation for what the BCCI’s squad announcement termed a “chronic right shoulder injury”. Fast bowler Mayank Yadav and seam-bowling allrounder Shivam Dube were also…
India have named uncapped players Abhimanyu Easwaran, Harshit Rana and Nitish Kumar Reddy for the five-Test tour of Australia starting on November 22. India begin their tour with a warm-up match against India A in Perth from November 15 to 17, after which they play the first Test against Australia at Perth Stadium from November 22 to 26. They then travel to Canberra for a tour match against the Prime…