Opener Ryan Rickelton struck a maiden one-day international hundred as South Africa routed Afghanistan by 107 runs in the Champions Trophy in Karachi on Friday.
Sports quiz of the week: fights, shocks, records, mistakes and a comeback
Were you watching the football, rugby, cricket, hockey, boxing, cycling, F1, sailing, athletics, darts and tennis?
Continue reading...How staggering 12-year truth staring at Aussies could answer glaring question
It has been 12 years since Australia played a match in an ICC men’s 50-over tournament without one of Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins or Josh Hazlewood in the starting XI.
Breaking down Bazball’s blundering expansion… and fall guy with ‘nowhere’ left to hide
A captaincy in peril and an ideology in question.
Champions Trophy 2025: Australia’s second tier up against it in absence of bowling big three | Geoff Lemon
Their attack has a distinctly Sheffield Shield flavour to it but the main thing in the two-times winners’ favour is the relative weakness of their group
For a long time, a strange situation continued in Australian cricket. Through a one-day World Cup in 2023, through a T20 World Cup in 2024, through a Test summer that sat between them, and through the lead-ups and warm-ups before all of the above, the same three fast bowlers showed up almost all of the time. Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood, Patrick Cummins, in aeternum.
Things don’t work that way. Fast bowling is a horrifically taxing art, and the mad operators who pursue it across any level of the game share a gruesome delight in cataloguing their lifetime’s injuries, discarding sneakers and peeling back socks and rolling up trouser legs to show you toes bent sideways or lurid half-moons of scars around ankles or knees. At the top level, fitness and availability are sporadic, and that’s before you come to the changes driven by each format requiring different skills. Australia’s big three have been men for all seasons, all styles, all conditions, in a remarkable show of consistency and adaptability.
Continue reading...England recall wicketkeeper Jamie Smith for Champions Trophy clash against Australia
England has recalled wicketkeeper Jamie Smith for the opening game of their Champions Trophy campaign against Australia in Lahore, which gets underway on Saturday at 8pm AEDT.
Steve Smith on Aussie collision course as superstar linked to Hundred deal
Steve Smith is reportedly a chance of playing this year’s Hundred competition in the United Kingdom as the Australian superstar closes in on a deal with the Welsh Fire.
India skipper Rohit Sharma’s blunt admission over brutal blunder as teammate robbed of Champions Trophy hat-trick
In-form Shubman Gill made an unbeaten 101 to anchor India’s chase in a six-wicket win over Bangladesh as the two teams began their Champions Trophy campaign on Thursday in Dubai.
Shubman Gill thwarts Bangladesh as India win Champions Trophy opener
- Bangladesh 228, India 231-4; India win by six wickets
- Gill hits unbeaten century, Shami shines with ball
Shubman Gill struck an unbeaten century after Mohammed Shami took five wickets as India cruised to a six-wicket win over Bangladesh in their Champions Trophy opener in Dubai.
Having slipped to 35 for five after choosing to bat, Bangladesh fought back to make 228 with Towhid Hridoy making 100 and Jaker Ali contributing 68, the pair sharing a sixth-wicket stand of 154.
Continue reading...‘He’s making it harder and harder’: Fraser-McGurk loses Aussie great’s backing after horror summer
Rising Australian cricket star Jake Fraser-McGurk has lost one of his most vocal backers in Ricky Ponting.
‘A bit of trauma’: Cameron Bancroft reveals potential return date after sickening Big Bash collision
Western Australian opener Cameron Bancroft is eyeing a potential Sheffield Shield return next month as he continues recovering from a shoulder injury he sustained during the Big Bash League.
Scott Boland destroys New South Wales in career-best demolition to further press case for WTC final
Scott Boland has further pressed his claims for selection in the World Test Championship final by snaring a six-wicket haul during Victoria’s Sheffield Shield clash against New South Wales in Sydney.
Ashes rival’s nightmare gets worse in ugly deja vu as Aussies decide historic one-ball thriller
Australian Meg Lanning and Annabel Sutherland led the Delhi Capitals towards a tense seven-wicket victory over the UP Warriorz at Vadodara’s Kotambi Stadium on Wednesday.
‘It’s pretty cut-throat’: Why depleted Aussies can’t afford repeat of World Cup wobbles at CT
Vice-captain Travis Head has confessed Australia can’t afford any early wobbles in the Champions Trophy courtesy of the tournament’s “cut-throat” format and high-quality opposition.
‘Absolute freak’: Black Caps star’s absurd catch as twin tons ruin Pakistan’s big moment
New Zealand rode on brilliant hundreds from Tom Latham and Will Young to beat Pakistan by 60 runs in the Champions Trophy opener on Wednesday (Thursday AEDT), spoiling the country’s historic return to hosting global events after three decades.