4:56 AM ET England’s captain Eoin Morgan believes cricket’s three formats are diverging at a rate that will soon make it impossible to have a single national coach across Tests, ODIs and Twenty20 matches. The 50-over series beginning in Melbourne on Sunday begins a run up to the World Cup after which both England’s coach Trevor Bayliss and his Australian counterpart Darren Lehmann will depart their roles, with neither man…

Butcher: Wood, Rashid with a point to prove (1:10) After their dismal defence of the Ashes, Mark Butcher picks out the England players who could push for a Test spot in the coming ODIs (1:10) 3:00 AM ET Big Picture When administrators wax lyrical about needing greater context for international cricket, series like these are the ones they are talking about. Less than a week after Australia and England concluded…

3:00 AM ET New Zealand Under-19 234 for 2 (Allen 115*, Bhula 83) beat West Indies Under-19 233 for 8 (Simmons 92, Melius 78, Ravindra 3-30, Fisher 3-61) by eight wicketsScorecard Rachin Ravindra and Finn Allen, two men who were part of New Zealand’s disastrous Under-19 World Cup campaign two years ago in Bangladesh where they finished tenth, opened the 2018 edition at home with stirring displays. West Indies, the…

3:29 AM ET As Australia arrive at training ahead of their Under-19 World Cup opener against India in Mount Maunganui, a familiar stance, backlift and fidgety movements catch the eye as one gazes towards the dressing room. Jason Sangha is being filmed as he imitates Steven Smith. “Not as good as Maxi, but I’m getting there,” he laughs. Then he goes on to twirl his bat and play that whip…

3:00 AM ET New Zealand Under-19 234 for 2 (Allen 115*, Bhula 83) beat West Indies Under-19 233 for 8 (Simmons 92, Melius 78, Ravindra 3-30, Fisher 3-61) by eight wickets Rachin Ravindra and Finn Allen, two men who were part of New Zealand’s disastrous Under-19 World Cup campaign two years ago in Bangladesh where they finished tenth, opened the 2018 edition at home with stirring displays. West Indies, the…

Toss: South Africa chose to bat v India South Africa handed Lungi Ngidi, the 21-year-old Titans fast bowler, a Test debut on his home ground and chose to bat first in the second Test against India. Ngidi replaced Dale Steyn, who has been ruled out of the series with a heel injury. It was the only change to the South African line-up on a Centurion pitch that looked drier and…

#FutureStars: Prithvi Shaw (1:34) Prithvi Shaw talks about his idol Sachin Tendulkar and his journey to Under-19 cricket (1:34) 2:47 AM ET Two days ago, the internet went berserk as a group of teenagers smashed cake all over Rahul Dravid‘s face to ring in his 45th birthday. Dravid seemed at ease, soaking in what has become the norm in Indian cricket these days, before posing for several photographs. This was…

3:00 AM ET ESPNcricinfo staff Bangladesh Under-19s 190 for 4 (Hasan 84, Naim 60) beat Namibia Under-19s (van Wyk 55, Mahmud 2-12, Onik 2-14) by 87 runsScorecard Saif Hasan glides the ball away IDI/Getty Images Saif Hassan, the Bangladesh Under-19 captain, ensured his team got off to a winning start despite the complications of a rain-shortened match in Lincoln. He struck a blistering 84 off 48 balls – with a whopping…

1:38 AM ET ESPNcricinfo staff England Test captain Joe Root, allrounder Ben Stokes and Australia fast bowler Mitchell Starc are among the 282 overseas players who have signed up to be part of the 2018 IPL auction on January 27 and 28 in Bengaluru. The long list submitted to the eight franchises contains 1122 players and is set to be pruned further once the teams submit their wishlists to the…