India’s Shreyas Iyer recovering in hospital from lacerated spleen horror injury

  • Vice-captain fell awkwardly while taking a catch against Australia

  • Iyer to remain in Sydney hospital ‘to evaluate his day-to-day progress’

India batter Shreyas Iyer suffered a lacerated spleen and was admitted to hospital in Sydney after falling awkwardly while taking catch in the third one-day international against Australia, the country’s cricket board (BCCI) says.

Iyer was injured on Saturday while taking a catch to dismiss Alex Carey, the 30-year-old clutching his side and grimacing in pain after tumbling to the SCG turf.

Continue reading...

Steven Finn: ‘Saying I was not selectable was clumsy language and it damaged me’

In his candid new book, the former England fast bowler talks about the lasting mental turmoil that ended his 2013-14 Ashes tour

“I couldn’t get the words out because I was crying,” Steven Finn says as he remembers how, hunched over a microphone, he stared at the last lines he was meant to read aloud for the audio version of his raw and revealing new book. Emotion clogged his throat after he had belonged to three Ashes-winning England squads, while never feeling he fulfilled his immense wicket-taking talent, and having ended up lost and broken on the 2013-14 tour of Australia.

Finn tried again but stifled crying choked his reading. He looked up and nodded at the encouraging producer. His mouth almost crumpled but, this time, he got through it.

Continue reading...

Pat Cummins ruled out of first Ashes Test with Steve Smith to captain Australia

  • Bowler resumes running but will not make series opener in Perth

  • 32-year-old says he ‘expects to return to bowling shortly’

Pat Cummins is officially out of the first Ashes Test as he continues his recovery from a stress injury in his back, with Steve Smith to reassume the captaincy of Australia in the series opener against England next month.

Cummins has not bowled since Australia’s 3-0 series defeat of West Indies in July and had been in serious doubt for the match in Perth on 21 November. After months of speculation over whether he would recover in time, Cricket Australia on Monday finally confirmed that the quick would have to sit out the game at Optus Stadium.

Continue reading...

Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli sign off in style as India rout Australia in third ODI

Rohit Sharma hit a century and Virat Kohli 74 to drive India to a nine-wicket win in the third one-day international in what will almost certainly be the pair’s final appearances in Australia in their country’s colours.

Australia secured series honours with victories in the first two matches in Perth and Adelaide but India’s bowlers skittled the home side for 236 and the two former captains got the tourists over the line with a partnership of 168 runs.

Continue reading...

Rookies Cooper Connolly and Matt Short help Australia to tense two-wicket ODI win over India

  • Victory hands hosts unassailable 2-0 series lead

  • Connolly’s unbeaten 61 steers Australia to target of 265

Novice batsmen Cooper Connolly, Matt Short and Mitch Owen have produced career-best ODI knocks to steer Australia to a tense two-wicket win against India.

Australia claimed a series victory after the win at Adelaide Oval on Thursday gave them a 2-0 lead in the three-match series.

Continue reading...

New Zealand v England: final men’s T20 abandoned – as it didn’t happen

England’s T20 series against New Zealand finishes on a rather damp note but the tourists claim 1-0 win

Here we go! That’s tough on the two Tims, who had made a rollicking start.

After three balls: NZ 8-0 (Seifert 8, Robinson 0) Wood’s first ball is an inswinger that swings all the way to the square-leg boundary, with an easy nudge from Tim Seifert. The second ball is a dot, and the third is another four – a full toss, thumped through the covers. But then …

Continue reading...

Rashid and Salt star as England thrash New Zealand in second men’s T20 – as it happened

England ran riot with the bat in Christchurch, smashing 236 for four to set up an impressive 65-run victory

2nd over: England 24-1 (Salt 20, Bethell 0) Duffy dug that wicket ball in short, which meant it hit high on the bat as Buttler came charging at him. Nicely bowled if he meant it.

This Hagley Oval pitch looks better for batting than on Saturday. Salt climbs into a wide ball from Jacob Duffy, blasting it square on the off side for four, then top-edges a pull over the keeper’s head for another boundary.

Continue reading...

Mitchell Marsh steers Australia to big win over India in rain-hit first ODI

Mitchell Marsh hit an unbeaten 46 off 52 balls while Virat Kohli was out for an eight-ball duck as Australia crushed India by seven wickets to spare in a rain-affected ODI series opener in Perth.

Four rain delays totalling three hours and 40 minutes caused havoc as India stuttered to nine for 136 off a reduced 26 overs at Optus Stadium. Under the Duckworth-Lewis-Stern method, Australia required just 131 for victory from their 26 overs, with Marsh and Josh Philippe (37 runs off 29 balls) ensuring the hosts made light work of it.

Continue reading...

Botham’s beef over not enough cricket is latest broadside in ever-earlier Ashes silly season | Emma John

Lord Beefy has ruffled feathers with his comments on England’s schedule and he has a point – just not the one he thinks he’s making

It was a shock to hear, this week, that Ian Botham had launched a new podcast. But only because I had assumed he already had one. It seemed impossible that the life peer was the last purveyor of strong opinions to have no permanent platform on Acast. Perhaps he has simply been too content to vent: after all, Brexit is a triumph and cricket is racism-free.

But perhaps he was cannily waiting for the dadcasting trend to peak and usher in the age of the granddadcast. This new venture with his old Question of Sport buddy Bill Beaumont will, undoubtedly, appeal to a certain demographic (myself included) who grew up watching the pair josh with each other across a perennially indulgent David Coleman.

Continue reading...

Marnus Labuschagne firms for Test selection with fourth century in five innings

  • Right-hander hits second straight Sheffield Shield ton for Queensland

  • Place in Australia’s Ashes team all but assured with knock of 159

Marnus Labuschagne appears certain to return to Australia’s team for the Ashes, his fourth century in five innings making a compelling case to selectors.

Fresh off posting 160 in the opening round of the Sheffield Shield, Labuschagne struck 159 for Queensland at Adelaide Oval on Thursday.

Continue reading...

Brydon Carse reveals Stokes and Wood are close to 100% and raring to go for Ashes

  • England duo trained in nets on injury comeback trail

  • Carse insists he’s looking forward to Australia fan verbals

Ben Stokes and Mark Wood are expected to be “raring to go” for the start of the Ashes next month, offering England a timely boost that sits in contrast to Australia’s ongoing concerns over the fitness of Pat Cummins.

As the two seamers with prior experience of playing Test cricket in Australia, Stokes and Wood are central to England’s plans this winter. Stokes missed the fifth Test against India with a shoulder injury, however, while Wood sat out the entire English summer following knee surgery back in March.

Continue reading...

Pat Cummins concedes he is ‘weeks away’ from bowling and unlikely to play in first Ashes Test

  • Australia captain to learn this week whether he will be fit for opener

  • Star quick says he is ‘less likely than likely’ to face England in Perth

Pat Cummins has admitted he is unlikely to play in the Ashes opener, conceding a return to proper bowling is still some time away.

Cummins is expected to learn this week whether he will be able to feature in Perth on 21 November, with officials conceding the quick is facing a narrow timeline.

Continue reading...

Winter is coming: England’s cricketers fly out for long tour that will decide Ashes and World Cup

Four decades ago Mike Gatting lamented 30-game schedule and while improvements were made, players will be weary of gruelling season ahead

A meteorologist would say that England’s winter will start this year at midnight on 1 December; an astronomer would point a few weeks later to the 21st, perhaps even the moment at precisely 3.03pm when the northern hemisphere is tilted furthest away from the sun, the least sun-kissed moment of its least sunny day. But a cricket fan might go a little earlier, perhaps as soon as next Saturday at about 7.15am. Leaves might still be clinging to trees as yet unbothered by frost, but that is when the national side is scheduled to play its first fixture of a hectic touring schedule, and by the time it all ends the Ashes will have been decided, a World Cup will have been won, and it will be spring.

For the players involved in all formats, these moments will bring a combination of excitement and perhaps also a bit of dread. The T20 squad departed for New Zealand on Friday, with the four men among them who have also been selected for the Ashes – Harry Brook, Jacob Bethell, Brydon Carse and Zak Crawley – knowing that only injury will bring them home within the next three months (and even then for no more than 10 days, before they depart again this time for Sri Lanka and from there a T20 World Cup in India).

Continue reading...

Harry Brook admits Pat Cummins’ absence could boost England’s Ashes chances

  • Injured Australian captain set to miss at least Perth test

  • Brook expects Stokes to play all five Tests in Australia

Harry Brook believes Pat Cummins potentially missing the start of the Ashes would play into English hands but warned that Australia’s depth in pace bowlers means any replacement should not be underestimated.

With just six weeks to go until the first Test in Perth, the fitness of Cummins remains a major talking point following the detection of a lower back stress injury earlier this year. According to some reports, his entire series could even be in jeopardy.

Continue reading...