Nat Sciver-Brunt will miss England’s opening T20I against Pakistan at Edgbaston on Saturday after undergoing a “minor medical procedure”, her captain Heather Knight has revealed on the eve of the match. Knight said the absence of allrounder Sciver-Brunt opened the door for left-hander Freya Kemp to bat at No. 5. Allrounder Kemp is in England’s T20I squad purely as a batter as she continues her return from a back problem….
Hilton Moreeng quits as head coach of South Africa women's team
Long-serving South Africa Women coach Hilton Moreeng‘s tenure has ended after a period of 11 years. Moreeng was originally appointed in the role in 2013 and oversaw South Africa’s transition to professionalism and was at the helm as they reached two ODI World Cup semi-finals and two T20 World Cup semi-finals, and became the first national senior side to reach a World Cup final, at home in 2023. Moreeng’s assistant…
Zimbabwe bowl in fourth T20I; Shakib, Mustafizur back for Bangladesh
Toss Zimbabwe opt to bowl vs Bangladesh Zimbabwe captain Sikandar Raza chose to bowl first in the fourth T20I against Bangladesh in Dhaka. The visitors dropped wicketkeeper Joylord Gumbie and middle-order batter Craig Ervine, and brought in left-arm quick Richard Ngarava and batter Ryan Burl. Bangladesh captain Najmul Hossain Shanto wanted to bowl first too. Shakib had last played a T20I in July 2023, before an eye condition and a…
ILT20 2025 to begin on January 11, set to clash with BBL and SA20
The third edition of the ILT20 is set to be on a collision course with the BBL and potentially the SA20 in 2025. As per the fixtures of the ILT20, a five-team franchise-based competition in the UAE, announced on Friday, the tournament is set to run from January 11 to February 9 in 2025. While the dates for both BBL and SA20 haven’t been announced, ESPNcricinfo understands the former is…
Shah on Impact Player rule: 'Not permanent, but not saying that it will go'
The Impact Player rule, one of the hot topics of debate during IPL 2024, is not “permanent”, BCCI secretary Jay Shah has said, and a call on its use in subsequent editions of the IPL will be taken after a discussion with stakeholders after the 2024 T20 World Cup. “Impact Player is like a test case. We have implemented it slowly. The biggest advantage of it is that two [additional]…
BCCI to invite applications for new India men's head coach before T20 World Cup
The BCCI will not repeat the mistake it made last year when it invited for applications for the head coach only after the incumbent coach’s tenure had ended. With not enough time left for the next big assignment, the outgoing coach Rahul Dravid was convinced to take an extension till the T20 World Cup this June. This time around, applications will be invited even before the team leaves for the…
Colin Munro formally retires from international cricket
Colin Munro has announced his retirement from international cricket after missing out on New Zealand’s T20 World Cup squad for the upcoming tournament. Munro had made himself available for the upcoming World Cup despite not playing an international for New Zealand since 2020 and was in consideration. New Zealand coach Gray Stead confirmed that Munro was discussed at the selection table when the squad was announced but said there was…
Kohli: 'I've brought out the slog-sweep to counter spin'
The sweep has been a key scoring option for him to counter spin, especially in the middle overs this IPL, Virat Kohli has said. After disrupting Gujarat Titans’ spin trio of Rashid Khan, Noor Ahmad, and R Sai Kishore with the sweep in Ahmedabad earlier this season, Kohli relied on that shot once again to pick off runs against wristspinner Rahul Chahar and all-sorts spinner Liam Livingstone. On Thursday in…
Kohli turns it on to keep RCB alive in playoffs race; Punjab Kings out of contention
Royal Challengers Bengaluru 241 for 7 (Kohli 92, Patidar 55, Green 46, Harshal 3-38, Kaverappa 2-36) beat Punjab Kings 181 (Rossouw 61, Shashank 37, Siraj 3-43, Swapnil 2-28, Ferguson 2-29, Karn 2-36) by 60 runs Virat Kohli‘s breakneck 92 off 47, plus his spectacular direct hit to run Shashank Singh out, were the basis of Royal Challengers Bengaluru’s (RCB’s) fourth consecutive win, this time against Punjab Kings (PBKS) in Dharamsala….
Fleming: CSK know what Dhoni can give them, and they will 'max that out'
“Don’t worry about position, it’s time of the game that we’re looking at,” Fleming said at the pre-game press conference. “We’ve seen earlier on, when he recovered from knee surgery last year, which was quite debilitating for him, [that] there was a certain workload this year that he can manage. “Now, one of our challenges is that we got a good back-up keeper [Aravelly Avanish], but he’s no MS Dhoni….