Month: December 2024

Incoming Cricket Australia chief executive Todd Greenberg has warned that cricket faces the greatest headwinds of domestic sports in the country but also has huge opportunities for growth and believes the game remains at the heart of Australian society. Greenberg was appointed as the successor to Nick Hockley earlier this week and will take up the role in March. The current Australian Cricketers’ Association CEO and former CEO of the…

Big picture: Back to Baz-ics? How on earth do you follow that? New Zealand’s 3-0 Test series win in India may not have been the greatest result in their country’s cricketing history, but it was surely in the top one. Three deeply contrasting matches, in Bengaluru, Pune and Mumbai, were united by a single unquenchable spirit, as Tom Latham’s men blended moments of virtuoso skill with down-and-dirty grit and tenacity,…

A decade ago (allow us the leniency of three weeks because it was actually Boxing Day 2014), a young Temba Bavuma made his Test debut at St George’s Park to mark one of the most significant full circle moments in South Africa cricket. Bavuma, who traces his roots back to the Eastern Cape, was the first black African specialist batter for the national men’s team and represented hope and change;…

A fast bowler who has 25 Test wickets at 22.68 for the year (Lahiru Kumara), a left-arm swing bowler who averages 24.12 in South Africa (Vishwa Fernando), a skiddy right-arm quick with 68 career wickets at 25.97 (Asitha Fernando), and more good options on the bench. Sri Lanka have likely had better quicks than they have now – Chaminda Vaas took 355 Test wickets, and Lasith Malinga burned hot until…

Rashid Khan and Mohammad Nabi, the biggest names in Afghanistan cricket, have come out strongly against the Taliban’s reported closure of institutes for women training as nurses and midwives. The closures are a new setback for women’s rights in Afghanistan since the Taliban takeover in August 2021. The Taliban has banned secondary and higher education for girls and women, though exemptions had till now existed in the medical sector. With…

It wasn’t all bad for Sri Lanka, with Kamindu Mendis moving up two spots among batters despite a poor show in Durban. He scored 13 in the first innings (the only Sri Lanka batter to get into double-digits) and 10 in the second, but it was still enough for him to jump past Steven Smith and Saud Shakeel to seventh place. Dinesh Chandimal, meanwhile, rose two places to 17th as…

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…