Category: Cricket

After one dominant performance in Galle the tourists cannot rely on Sri Lanka bringing about their own downfall again in the second Test

What to do after an exercise in perfection? Australia’s men ran last week’s Test match in Galle as brutally as their counterpart women did in Melbourne, both teams completing a win by an innings and plenty within 90 seconds of one another last Saturday.

The ticked boxes for the men’s side can fill a page: rack up more than 600 batting first; blazing fifty for your pinch-hit opener who was picked to blaze fifties; huge hundred for your other opener who had been a long time without one; third hundred in four Tests for your resurgent talisman, the same guy who is temporary captain and pulls the reins as well as ever; ton on debut for your No 5 who was a conditions pick ahead of others already capped; comfortable not out for your keeper who might otherwise be threatened by the debutant; bowl the opposition out twice following on in barely 100 overs across the two innings; wickets for your sole quick in a ram-raid at the top; wickets for your veteran spinner conducting the middle; and nine in the match for your left-arm spinner who almost missed with a broken thumb.

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Cooper Connolly is on the brink of an Australian Test debut with the tourists considering a surprise change for the series finale in Sri Lanka.

World Cup winning former Australian captain Ricky Ponting has called for Big Bash final hero Mitch Owen to be parachuted into Australia’s Champions Trophy squad as a replacement for injured all-rounder Mitch Marsh, while Pat Cummins is considered “highly unlikely”.

• Batter flies home after Travis Head was preferred in first Test
• Konstas will line up for NSW against Queensland this weekend

Sam Konstas’s Sri Lanka tour is officially over with the teenage batter returning to Australia to play Sheffield Shield for NSW.

Despite an impressive first two Tests, Konstas was replaced at the top of the batting order by the more experienced Travis Head in last week’s series opener in Galle.

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As the pressure on Marnus Labuschagne’s Test position continues to build, a curious training move in Galle on Tuesday has done nothing to quieten the noise surrounding his position.

Australia expects a more traditional Galle pitch for the second and final Test in Sri Lanka, after taking full advantage of conditions to dominate the series opener.

Australian legend Ian Healy is the latest high-profile name calling for Sam Konstas to return home from Sri Lanka so he can get some crucial Sheffield Shield matches under his belt before the World Test Championship later this year.

• South Australian wins Border Medal after brilliant year
• Ashes centurion claims Belinda Clark award

Travis Head is Australian cricket’s Allan Border Medallist and Annabel Sutherland has won the Belinda Clark award as the top woman in a surprise result.

It was the first time either player had won Australian cricket’s highest individual honours.

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With the men’s Test squad over in Sri Lanka and missing the Australian Cricket Awards, it was up to the dominant women’s players to light up the function.

The reign of the most popular Allan Border Medallist in recent history is over - but not without a few more brilliant gags.

Some of the biggest names in Australian cricket have made their way to Melbourne’s Crown Palladium for the 2025 Australian Cricket Awards.

His last ball four to take down the West Indies in an ODI at the SCG is one of Australian cricket’s most memorable moments, and now Michael Bevan has been rewarded for the entirety of his illustrious cricket career with inclusion in the Australian Cricket Hall of Fame.

Travis Head can recall the crossroads innings which kickstarted his dazzling international career and played a crucial role in his Allan Border Medal triumph on Monday night.

• Batter finally inducted after committee reviews selection criteria
• Bevan acknowledged for revolutionising white-ball game

Michael Bevan has been elevated to the Australian Cricket Hall of Fame after a tweak to the criteria governing selection.

Bevan, one of Australia’s greatest white-ball players, scored 6,912 runs at 53.58 from 232 ODIs while routinely steering his side to victory in chases.

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India’s Abhishek Sharma hit a brutal 135 to set up a crushing 150-run win over England in the fifth T20 international and seal the series 4-1 on Sunday.