Oval Invincibles 82 for 1 (Winfield-Hill 44*) beat London Spirit 80 (Kerr 31, Villiers 4-12) by nine wickets Spinner Mady Villiers recorded her best bowling figures in the women’s Hundred with an impressive 4 for 12, helping to decimate local rivals London Spirit for just 80, as Oval Invincibles secured their place in the knockout stages. Villers dismissed both opening batters to reduce Spirit to a dismal 4 for 3…

Oval Invincibles 124 for 4 (Jacks 54) beat London Spirit 122 for 7 (Rossington 36, Curran 3-16) by six wickets Sam Curran starred with 3 for 16 to reignite Oval Invincibles’ hopes in the men’s Hundred as they triumphed by six wickets in their derby clash against London Spirit at Lord’s. Curran produced his best figures in the tournament – a miserly display that was matched by his brother Tom,…

Ben Stokes wants England’s emphatic win in the second Test against South Africa to be the benchmark for his team. England’s reaction to a first defeat this summer was always going to be instructive of how much this group truly believes in themselves, as well as the wider ethos handed down from Stokes and reinforced by head coach Brendon McCullum. After dismissing the Proteas on the opening day for 151,…

Dean Elgar has indicated South Africa will have to make “a few tough decisions” about their batting line-up ahead of the series-deciding third Test against England, after two sub-200 totals cost them dearly at Old Trafford. South Africa were shot out for 151 and 179 to lose by an innings and 85 runs, and Elgar laid the blame squarely on his batters, after he won the toss and chose to…

A broken car with new wheels is still a broken car. So even if you blur out Dean Elgar’s dismissal by James Anderson for the sixth time in 11 matches; Sarel Erwee’s almost hour-long vigil ending with an edge; Aiden Markram failing again, and South Africa losing two wickets for 10 runs with the old ball and 5 for 7 with the second new ball, and focus only on the…

James Anderson hailed Ben Stokes as “an absolute freak” for his remarkable allround exploits in the second Test at Emirates Old Trafford, but joked that he could be better still if he had “a body that functioned properly”, after England squared the series against South Africa with a crushing innings-and-85-run victory. Stokes was named as Player of the Match following a game-seizing century on the second afternoon, but it was…

Big picture Every time there is an Asia Cup around, its relevance is brought into question. Is it not enough that it brings together India and Pakistan for an actual game of cricket outside the World Cup and Champions Trophy? This edition has the potential of as many as three matches between them. It is not the case but even if the rest of the tournament is a facade to…

India will look to experiment, mix and match combinations, and continue to push boundaries in their build-up to the T20 World Cup later this year. They will also look to give players a fair run of games, even if they are not a certainty in the first XI. This was among the biggest takeaways from Rohit Sharma‘s pre-match press conference ahead of the team’s Asia Cup opener against Pakistan in…

Toss Afghanistan chose to bowl vs Sri Lanka Afghanistan captain Mohammad Nabi said he wanted his team to take advantage of a fresh pitch. (Seamers Fazalhaq Farooqi and Naveen-ul-Haq would do just that, taking three wickets in the first two overs.) In general, Afghanistan went with an XI with plenty of bowling options. In addition to Naveen and Farooqi, who shared the new ball, they have Rashid Khan, Mujeeb Ur…

Disney Star* has bagged rights to broadcast all ICC events on a four-year deal from 2024 to 2027. The rights, widely seen as cricket’s second most lucrative, behind the IPL, are for the Indian market. Disney Star raised the highest bid for both TV and digital rights. The bids had been opened on Friday and a clear winner was apparent then but the process required ratification by the ICC Board,…