Cameron Green’s dominant outing for Gloucestershire was exactly what the Australian selectors would have been hoping for ahead of next month’s World Test Championship final, but they would have been concerned after Marnus Labuschagne’s disappointing return to Glamorgan.
Marsh’s brutal knock can’t save $5m superstar flop as Cummins and co end Giants’ IPL hopes
Opener Abhishek Sharma struck 59 off 20 balls as Sunrisers Hyderabad beat Lucknow Super Giants by six wickets on Monday to end their opponents’ chances of reaching the IPL playoffs.
‘We are a passionately multiracial team’: Zimbabwe return to England transformed
Visitors have endured political chaos and miserable results over 22 years but cricket is finally a national game
Twenty-two years is a long time, even in a sport that measures its games in days and its history in centuries. The last time England played a Test match against Zimbabwe, in 2003, Rob Key was in the middle order instead of the managing director’s job, Jimmy Anderson was a 20-year-old tearaway playing in his very first series, and the England and Wales Cricket Board was just about to launch the world’s very first professional Twenty20 tournament. Zimbabwean cricket has changed, too. Back then the team was in the earliest stages of a transformation that was meant to turn cricket from a minority game, played by the small white population, into a sport that better represented the whole country.
They have been hard years, riven by player strikes, political interference, maladministration and a miserable drop-off in results. The team temporarily withdrew from Test cricket, suspended their domestic competition and were repeatedly censured by the International Cricket Council. They lost so many players through emigration to England, Australia, South Africa and New Zealand, that even now you could build a hell of a good Zimbabwean squad out of people who are making a living overseas. And yet, at the end of it all, the process was, by one important measure, a success. The squad that came on tour in 2003 was majority white, the team that has come this year is majority black.
Continue reading...Ben Stokes quits alcohol to help hamstring injury rehabilitation
- England Test captain to return against Zimbabwe
- ‘It’s just getting harder to do everything’
Ben Stokes has stopped drinking alcohol during his latest injury rehabilitation in an effort to be firing on all cylinders for England this summer. The Test captain is set to make his comeback on Thursday in the one-off Test against Zimbabwe at Trent Bridge, having been sidelined since December after tearing his left hamstring in New Zealand.
He rushed back from a similar injury last year but his recovery this time after an operation has been painstakingly managed and Stokes has left no stone unturned to fulfil his vow to return in peak physical condition. Speaking to the Untapped podcast, the 33-year-old said: “After my first major injury, I remember the shock of it, after the initial adrenaline had stopped, thinking: ‘How has this happened? We did have a bit of a drink four or five nights ago, could that have played a part? It wouldn’t have helped.’
Continue reading...IPL returns from 10-day hiatus as Ponting’s Punjab break 11-year drought – Wrap
Azmatullah Omarzai’s all-round show and an unbeaten century by Sai Sudharsan marked the return of Indian Premier League action on Sunday with victories for Punjab Kings and Gujarat Titans.
IPL resumes after Kashmir conflict with English players facing ODI overlap
- Bethell, Salt and Livingstone back in action for RCB
- Starc and Curran among those opting to stay back home
Only eight days after the competition was suspended amid mounting hostilities along India’s border with Pakistan the Indian Premier League returns on Saturday, with most of the foreign players who scattered across the globe in the 48 hours after the competition collapsed now back in the country, their pursuit of runs and wickets having been temporarily replaced by the rapid accumulation of air miles.
The plug was in effect pulled on the tournament 10.1 overs into a game between Punjab Kings and Delhi Capitals in Dharamsala on 8 May, when as rockets landed only 80km to the west the floodlights went out, fans were told to leave and players rushed back to their hotel. That match has been rescheduled for 24 May in Jaipur; all the remaining games are to be played in only six venues, with Chennai, Hyderabad and Kolkata joining Dharamsala in being cut from the schedule.
Continue reading...Sports quiz of the week: Giro d’Italia, Virat Kohli and two FA Cup finals
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Continue reading...Starc set for $400k sacrifice as fellow Aussie to return to IPL despite injury concerns
Mitchell Starc has become the highest profile Australian cricketer to withdraw from the remainder of the Indian Premier League amid concerns over the India-Pakistan conflict.
‘Ensure that our cricketers are not shut-out of history’: Windies plead for Olympic chance
Cricket West Indies have urged the International Cricket Council (ICC) to give Caribbean nations a chance to qualify for the 2028 Los Angeles Games and avoid the region being “shut-out of history”.
IPL eases replacement players rules as international stars withdraw following India-Pakistan conflict
The Indian Premier League on Wednesday introduced temporary replacements for the remainder of the tournament to allow franchises to fill open spots due to withdrawals of overseas players.
Jamie Smith: ‘To win an away Ashes would be every England cricketer’s dream’
England’s wicketkeeper-batter on the innings that changed his career, the influence of Kevin Pietersen and a huge year of Test cricket ahead
“When the pressure’s on,” Jamie Smith says intently on an otherwise languid morning at the Oval, “it definitely gives you more of a focus. You can’t get away from the fact that, when the game is on the line, you want to be the one that takes it on and wins it. Look at some of the best players that have played the game – and the impact they’ve had in situations where they’ve been needed the most.
“Look at Stokesy [Ben Stokes, his England captain] and some of the innings he’s played where he’s rescued the side from defeat or led them to victory. They’re the things that get remembered. So it would be nice to be the sort of player that can do similar.”
Continue reading...‘Let he without sin…’: SA coach lashes Paine, flings barbs at Aussies as fuse lit for fiery final
South African coach Shukri Conrad has laid out the increased motivation to “topple” Australia in the World Test Championship final, hitting out at the “big three” notion after making it to the Lord’s decider ahead of India and England.
Aussie stars vow to return to the subcontinent for T20 commitments after ceasefire
Pakistan’s T20 League is set to resume from Saturday after it was postponed following a series of attacks by India and Pakistan last week, with Australian David Warner vowing to return.
Injury-riddled South Africans unveil six-man pace attack for Aussie Lord’s clash
Kagiso Rabada will lead a South African pace bowling attack weakened by injury in the World Test Championship final against Australia at Lord’s in London from June 11 to 15.
England expect most players will choose country over IPL for West Indies ODIs
- League playoffs clash with international assignment
- Buttler, Bethell, Jacks could have allegiances tested
England expect most of the five IPL players picked for their one-day international series against West Indies to report for international duty rather than complete the rescheduled tournament.
The IPL’s league phase will now conclude on 27 May, two days before England play their opening game against West Indies at Edgbaston, meaning that Jofra Archer and Jamie Overton, whose teams have already been eliminated from playoff contention, will certainly be free to play for their country.
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