Month: January 2025

Pakistan have been docked five World Test Championship (WTC) points and fined 25% of their match fee for maintaining a slow over rate during their 10-wicket defeat in the second Test against South Africa in Cape Town. They were ruled to be five overs short of their target after time allowances were taken into consideration. Match referee Richie Richardson imposed the sanction, which Pakistan captain Shan Masood accepted after pleading…

Melbourne Renegades 150 for 6 (Sutherland 70, Rogers 49*, Morris 2-21, Behrendorff 2-22) beat Perth Scorchers 147 for 8 (Agar 51*, Hardie 34, Zampa 3-27, Sutherland 2-22) by four wickets Skipper Will Sutherland dismissed Mitchell Marsh for a golden duck before producing a brilliant knock under pressure alongside Tom Rogers to lift Melbourne Renegades over Perth Scorchers in a nerve-jangling match at Optus Stadium. Chasing 148, Renegades were in disarray…

Richard Gould, the ECB’s chief executive, has rejected calls from a group of British politicians for England to boycott their upcoming Champions Trophy clash with Afghanistan in February, saying that the Taliban regime’s clampdown on women’s rights is a matter that requires a “co-ordinated, ICC-led, response” rather than unilateral action from individual countries. England are due to face Afghanistan in Lahore on February 26 in their second match of the…

Steve Smith is set to play three BBL games prior to the Sri Lanka tour while Marnus Labuschagne and Usman Khawaja will only be allowed to play one, as part of a carefully negotiated deal between Cricket Australia’s high performance team and the BBL with Travis Head and Australia’s bowlers all set to rest before heading overseas. While Smith, Labuschagne and Khawaja will be restricted in their appearances, Alex Carey,…

Pakistan captain Shan Masood believes a ball-tracking failure was at fault for his being given out lbw on the fourth and final day of the Cape Town Test match against South Africa. Masood, who scored 145 in Pakistan’s second innings, was ruled not-out by umpire Nitin Menon off the left-arm quick Kwena Maphaka‘s bowling, and had the decision overturned on review when Hawkeye deemed the ball to be hitting off…

Usman Khawaja came into the Border-Gavaskar Trophy not too worried about facing Jasprit Bumrah. In fact, Bumrah hadn’t been able to dismiss him across the seven Test innings they had faced each other previously, and the Australia opener reckoned the fast bowler gets easier to navigate as you play him more. But after six dismissals to the India fast bowler across eight innings where he faced him, Khawaja admitted he…

Brisbane Heat 174 for 5 (Bryant 72, Renshaw 48*, Ferguson 2-21) beat Sydney Thunder 173 for 8 (Warner 50, Christian 23*, Johnson 3-39, Neser 2-25) by five wickets Dan Christian rewound the clock in his first match since coming out of retirement, but Matt Renshaw and Max Bryant produced a blistering century partnership to lift Brisbane Heat over Sydney Thunder in a pivotal BBL result. Chasing 174 at the Gabba,…

Relinquishing the T20 World Cup has done nothing to weaken Australia’s standing in world cricket, according to Danni Wyatt-Hodge, the England batter who knows them best. She is set to contest her eighth Women’s Ashes series, and believes Australia’s batting depth, ruthlessness and home conditions will make them as dangerous as ever in the 2025 edition, which gets underway in Sydney this weekend. Since last year’s failure to reach the…

Pakistan 194 and 312 for 3 (Masood 137*, Shakeel 16, Jansen 2-74) trail South Africa 615 by 109 runs South Africa inched closer to a series victory with two more wickets before lunch, despite a concerted effort led by Pakistan captain Shan Masood to make the hosts bat again. Marco Jansen got nightwatcher Khurram Shahzad out early on before Kagiso Rabada cleaned up Kamran Ghulam. However, Shan Masood, unbeaten for…

Afghanistan 157 (Rashid 25, Raza 3-30, Nyamhuri 3-42) and 363 (Rahmat 139, Alam 101, Muzarabani 6-95) beat Zimbabwe 243 (Ervine 75, Raza 61, Rashid 4-94) and 205 (Ervine 53, Rashid 7-66, Zia 2-44) by 72 runs It had to be Rashid Khan. After starring in each of Afghanistan’s previous three Test wins – in Dehradun, Chattogram and Abu Dhabi – he wrapped Zimbabwe up with a match haul of 11…