Category: Cricket

Following 27 years of agony and torment, South Africa has vanquished its demons in ICC knockouts after toppling Australia by five wickets in the topsy-turvy World Test Championship final at Lord’s.

Barring an extraordinary comeback from Australia’s champion attack at Lord’s on Saturday, South Africa will end its World Championship hoodoo and banish the memories of nightmares past.

South Africa is 69 runs away from winning the ICC Test Championship mace off Australia following a clutch performance from opener Aiden Markram and captain Temba Bavuma on day three at Lord’s.

Steve Smith has sustained a sickening finger injury on day three of the World Test Championship final against South Africa at Lord’s, but the Australian vice-captain has received a big boost in his bid to feature in the upcoming West Indies series.

After decades of heartbreak, South Africa is within touching distance of its first ICC trophy in 27 years courtesy of a career-defining century from opener Aiden Markram on day three of the World Test Championship final against Australia at Lord’s.

The Sydney Sixers have secured one of the most significant acquisitions in Big Bash League history, signing Pakistan superstar Babar Azam for the 15th edition of the T20 competition.

Another dramatic day of cricket in the World Test Championship decider between Australia and South Africa has unfolded at Lord’s, with champion bowlers Pat Cummins and Kagiso Rabada running rampant on the famous ground.

Pat Cummins would like more wickets in hand and definitely more runs in order to feel comfortable about Australia’s chances of defending the World Test Championship after another astonishing day against South Africa at Lord’s.

Australia and South Africa had plenty of reasons to be grateful to their respective spearheads as the WTC final progressed at a rapid pace

You would have to call the combination incongruous. In one of the clips doing the digital rounds before the World Test Championship, there was Pat Cummins on Jeremy Clarkson’s farm programme, having apparently just raided the activewear section, the men around him wearing those vests that help rich people believe themselves to be rugged outdoor types. It’s hard to imagine much affinity between the two, sitting presumably at a wooden farmhouse table over Clarkson’s rustic bean soup and a heel of crusty bread, talking their way to a cordial entente about carbon emissions. But there was the Australian captain nonetheless, affably rolling an arm over while a farm type plonked a rubber ball on to a nearby shed, the bowler smiling in that way that suggests a shrug as Clarkson sledged him in a most British fashion.

By the second day of the World Test Championship final, affable Cummins was not in attendance. We’re used to that half smile, half shrug: even after some galling Test losses, Cummins has offered the perspective that the game is a game, that the players tried their best, and that losing is often the price of trying to win. He declines to be drawn into the hype that frames sport as everything. But this time was different, if only by a few degrees. It’s not that there was anger in the performance, but there was something uncharacteristically flinty.

Pat Cummins squared his shoulders, stared his inquisitor in the eye and broke into a smile.

Australian wicketkeeper Alex Carey has avoided another Lord’s controversy after South African batter David Bedingham evaded what would have been a bizarre dismissal on day two of the World Test Championship final.

All eyes are on the World Test Championship (WTC) Final right now but Australia’s Test team could look quite different when the squad heads to the West Indies later this month.

The World Test Championship final is poised for an epic conclusion after South Africa’s fast bowlers flipped the contest on its head on a rollercoaster second day at Lord’s, with the Australians crumbling in a dreadful collapse.

When Oscar Piastri invited a handful of Australian cricketers to tour the McLaren factory outside London last week, insiders at the leading F1 team were in a spot of bother.