Rohit Sharma led Mumbai Indians’ batting charge with his 81 to knock Gujarat Titans out of the Indian Premier League with a 20-run win in the eliminator on Friday.
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Continue reading...‘He’s got aura’: England sensation Jacob Bethell on Virat Kohli and Test ambitions
The team’s latest big hitter opens up after his incendiary innings against the West Indies this week
Fresh off a plane from India and straight into a player-of-the-match performance for England on his home ground, Jacob Bethell’s world is a pretty hectic one these days. But the only complaint about a jetsetting lifestyle that has him rubbing shoulders with Virat Kohli and tipped for superstardom is the hotel beds.
“A lot of them are way too soft,” says Bethell after the first one-day international against West Indies, his incendiary 82 having helped Harry Brook to a winning start as England captain. “I’ve got a bad back and I’m only 21, so we need to sort that out. I might have to walk around with some memory foam. But no, I’m enjoying it.”
Continue reading...‘Phenomenal’ Poms smash Windies in record-breaking ODI rout as young star makes statement
Harry Brook made a winning start as England’s permanent white-ball captain as the hosts hammered the West Indies by 238 runs in the first one-day international at Edgbaston on Thursday.
Hazlewood guides RCB into IPL final with superb spell including dismissing Aussie teammate!
Australia’s Josh Hazlewood returned figures of 3-21 to help Royal Challengers Bengaluru storm into the Indian Premier League final with a eight-wicket thrashing of Punjab Kings on Thursday.
‘Red-ball cricket is the soul of the game’: Kane Williamson joins Middlesex
One of the game’s modern greats still wants to play Tests and is looking forward to the ‘nice buzz’ of an English summer
The world’s third-best Test batsman has made a quiet arrival in London for the beginning of a four-month stint in county cricket. Middlesex made headlines recently by saying they were keen to sign Virat Kohli. Maybe next year. This one, they’ve got his friend and contemporary Kane Williamson who, with his gear stuffed into a Karachi Kings kit bag, was picked up from the airport by his new captain, Steve Eskinazi, on Wednesday morning then went straight to training on the Nursery Ground before the game against Sussex in the Blast on Thursday night.
Williamson should do plenty for Middlesex’s middle order, but maybe not quite so much for the viewing figures their live stream brings in on the subcontinent. Still, it feels like a coup for county cricket. It has been made possible by the support of MCC, who are paying a part of the 34-year-old’s fee so that he can double up playing for London Spirit in the Hundred.
Continue reading...Marsh’s smashing parting shot as $5m star cartwheels out of form slump, RCB make IPL history
Skipper Jitesh Sharma hammered an unbeaten 85 and Virat Kohli hit 54 as Royal Challengers Bengaluru stormed into qualifier 1 of the IPL playoffs with a six-wicket win over Lucknow Super Giants on Tuesday.
Roland Butcher: ‘West Indies are struggling – we’ve not hit rock bottom yet’
The Barbados-born former England player on being jettisoned as a West Indies selector, the risks of their new cricket structure and his thwarted football dreams
After West Indies secured a one-day series draw against Ireland on Sunday their captain, Shai Hope, was asked about the team’s imminent visit to England. “We played them at the end of last year and we won that series so we know they’re going to be coming at us even harder this time,” he said. “We’re looking forward to it. We know they’re going to be a tough, tough opponent but we’re always ready to play anyone.”
Roland Butcher, child of Barbados, once of England and more recently a West Indies selector, has a less optimistic outlook: “We’re struggling, and the struggle is not over. We haven’t hit rock bottom yet.” The concentration of power across all three formats in the hands of one coach and selector – Daren Sammy – is what Butcher fears “is going to finally push us to the bottom”.
Continue reading...County cricket: Nottinghamshire flying in Division One at the break
It’s an East Midlands double in the County Championship, with Leicestershire topping Division Two
Nottinghamshire bounced back from last week’s defeat to go into the T20 Blast break with a handy 10-point lead at the top of the County Championship. Yorkshire, enduring a tricky return to the top flight, were their victims, the leaders simply too strong at Headingley.
Continue reading...Jimmy Anderson: ‘I know my body has got a certain amount of deliveries left in it’
The Lancashire bowler, 43 in July, talks about life on and off the pitch, and why cricket was never about money for him
Sir Jimmy Anderson is running late, five, then 10 minutes past 10 before he arrives in front of his computer. He is dishevelled, like he is just up and into his T-shirt and jeans. He finished his first match since July the previous evening, Lancashire against Derbyshire in the County Championship, on a flat pitch at Old Trafford, and is still feeling it.
The fourth day had been hard going: 16 overs, eight maidens, two for 25, in a thwarted attempt to force victory against a Derbyshire team hell-bent on securing a draw. Lancashire finished two wickets short. “I’ve woken up feeling like absolute death,” Anderson says. “It was a bit of a wake-up call.”
Continue reading...‘He could open’: WTC final selection dilemma unsolved as Aussie coach weighs up options
Australian coach Andrew McDonald says a decision on playing an all-rounder in the World Test Championship final will determine if one of Sam Konstas or Marnus Labuschagne misses out as selectors weigh up doing something “we’ve never done before” at Lord’s and promote Labuschagne to opener.
English club side bowled out for 2, lost by 424 runs and it was Gilly’s old mob!
In one of the most lopsided scorecards in cricket history, a London club side lost a 45-over per side match by 424 runs after being bowled out for just two runs on Saturday.
‘Something special’: Ponting praised, Aussie star fires as stunning IPL turnaround continues
Australia’s Josh Inglis scored 73 while coach Ricky Ponting earned special praise as Punjab Kings scored a seven-wicket victory over Mumbai Indians to secure a top two finish moving into the IPL playoffs.
Notts beat Yorkshire, Surrey draw with Essex, and more: county cricket day four – as it happened
Nottinghamshire dance into the Championship’s early summer break at the top of Division One, after bowling Yorkshire out just before tea at Headingley
And now D’Oliveira follows at New Road…a third for Rushworth. This turning into rather a sad little procession.
Worcestershire lost two in two balls and suddenly that run chase tilting uphill – one for Woakes, one for Rushworth., Roderick and Kashif gone.
Continue reading...Green’s stunning form continues with another hundred as Marnus struggles again – County Wrap
Cameron Green’s preparation for an all but certain return to Australia’s top order in the World Test Championship final could hardly be going better.