Greg Barclay, the outgoing chair of the ICC, has acknowledged the game he governed for four years is “a mess” and has warned of more challenging times ahead as he gives way to Jay Shah. In an interview with the Telegraph, Barclay, who had two two-year terms at the helm from 2020, also cautioned Shah against taking the game “under the yoke of India”. Barclay stepped down on December 1,…
Toss England chose to bat vs South Africa England captain Heather Knight called it right at the toss and opted to bat in the opening women’s ODI in Kimberley. It is England’s first-ever game at the Kimberley Oval. South Africa welcomed back captain Laura Wolvaardt and her opening partner Tazmin Brits, both of whom were not part of the third T20I on the weekend. Marizanne Kapp, who was rested from…
Ben Stokes has asked the ICC to revisit its over-rate thresholds and criticised them for not engaging with players, after both New Zealand and England copped over-rate penalties from their first Test in Christchurch. Both teams were docked three World Test Championship (WTC) points with 15% match fee fines across the board last week at Hagley Oval. New Zealand now face a stiffer task to make the WTC final next…
Big picture: Can Sri Lanka avoid another collapse? The headline is that both teams are in with a shot at making the World Test Championship final, but neither have secured a place. Unhelpfully for South Africa, the WTC points system doesn’t reward hefty winning margins, so although they crushed Sri Lanka by 233 runs in Durban, it still only goes down as a simple win. Still, they have arrived in…
Archer, who has not played Test cricket since February 2021, is one of three England quicks to have had their central contracts updated through to October 2026. Brydon Carse, who took 10 wickets in the match in the first Test against New Zealand last week, and Matthew Potts have also had their deals increased by a year. Jacob Bethell, fresh from a maiden half-century on Test debut in Christchurch, has…
Nathan Lyon is confident Mitchell Marsh will be able to play a role with the ball in Adelaide but is ready to take up any extra workload that comes his way should that not be the case. Marsh’s fitness has been one of the key watching briefs around the Australia side after he pulled up sore following Perth. Uncapped allrounder Beau Webster is part of the squad but it appears…
Shaheen Shah Afridi has been left out of Pakistan’s squad for the two-Test series in South Africa in December and January. Afridi, who was released from Pakistan’s Test side after their defeat in the first Test against England in October, remains part of the white-ball squads for the tour. Babar Azam and Naseem Shah, who were released alongside Afridi after that first Test, return to the Test squad. Afridi’s absence…
Forty-eight hours from the start of the day-night Test against Australia in Adelaide, India know what their batting order is going to look like, particularly who their openers are going to be. “I’ve been told [my position],” KL Rahul, who began the Border-Gavaskar series as opener, said on Wednesday. “But I’ve also been told not to share it. We’ll have to wait for day one or maybe when the captain…
In the absence of Aiden Markram, who is currently involved in the Test series against Sri Lanka, Heinrich Klaasen will lead South Africa during their home T20I series against Pakistan. Apart from Markram, several other all-format players, such as Marco Jansen, Keshav Maharaj, Kagiso Rabada and Tristan Stubbs, will miss the Pakistan T20Is, scheduled between December 10 and 14, with the second Test against Sri Lanka concluding on December 9….
Head coach Phil Simmons lauded Bangladesh’s mental shift from trying to survive to trying to win, after they beat West Indies by 101 runs on the fourth evening of the second Test in Kingston. Simmons said their decision to bat first – after they had lost the first Test by 201 runs – paid off in multiple ways and that the batters will now have confidence that they can bounce…