Cricket News
The hosts took a decisive 2-0 lead in the T20 series by chasing down the West Indies total of 196
He’s got him first ball! A snorter of a yorker beats Lewis for pace and bangs him right in front. The batter reviews but it’s more in hope than anything. Maybe he thought he made contact with the ball as he attempted to dig it out, but there’s a gap between leather and willow. A stunning start for Wood and England.
The players are now geared up and ready to roll.
Continue reading...34-year-old giving selectors headaches after strong form in IPL
Australia fast bowler missed last World Test Championship decider
Buoyed by an outstanding IPL, Australia quick Josh Hazlewood feels he is bowling better than at any point in his decorated career.
Struck down by niggling injuries in recent years, Hazlewood could be forgiven for starting to taper having already taken 279 wickets from 72 Tests.
Continue reading...Australian quick Josh Hazlewood has tried to dismiss any concerns that he will not be ready for the World Test Championship final against South Africa at Lords, starting Wednesday.
Jos Buttler produced a captain’s innings in his first T20 appearance since giving up the post as he and the recalled Liam Dawson guided England to a 21-run victory over the West Indies in a series opener at Chester-le-Street.
Liam Dawson enjoyed a fairytale return to international cricket, taking 4-20 in a comfortable England victory
4th over: England 33-1 (Smith 16, Buttler 12) Jason Holder changes ends to good effect. An early wide didn’t bode well but he was in control after that and conceded only singles. Buttler, on the charge, was also beaten by a nice slower ball.
West Indies have dragged it back after conceding 16 from the first over.
Continue reading...Jacob Bethell’s pure talent puts him in high demand, but Shoaib Bashir is the real freelancer in cricket’s deeply confusing world
Bruised skies, sun through clouds, dualism, life in death. Welcome to the bloom of another England Test Match summer, the summer, this time around, of Bethell and Bashir. But of Bethell first because he’s the easy bit.
The battle for Jacob Bethell is of course just beginning. Everyone wants a piece of England’s most thrillingly talented young cricketer. The broadcasters are frothing. The papers want to know whose shirts he wears. Actually the papers don’t really care. Maybe the Daily Telegraph wants to know this at a push. But Bethell is still kind of perfect right now, a future-bomb, all promise and new things, in a sport that is always desperate for these.
Continue reading...Have you been following the football, rugby league, cricket, horse racing, cycling, tennis, Formula One and boxing?
Continue reading...Fast bowler back in second XI action for Sussex
Woakes, Carse and Overton named in first-Test squad
Jofra Archer is being primed to make a comeback in the second Test against India at Edgbaston – his first appearance in whites for four years – with England’s stable of fast bowlers under strain before the start of this summer’s marquee series.
Naming a 14-man squad for the first Test at Headingley that starts on 20 June, Luke Wright, who is part of the selection panel, confirmed Gus Atkinson is ruled out with a hamstring injury. In come Chris Woakes, Brydon Carse and Jamie Overton, likewise Jacob Bethell to offer competition among the batting spots.
Continue reading...Packed crowds in India celebrating their cricket team’s victory ended in a deadly stampede on Wednesday with 11 mainly young fans crushed to death, the local state’s chief minister said.
White-ball captain brought fresh impetus against West Indies as he tries to ‘get a little bit funky’
It is just three games, one series, played at home against one of the few major teams ranked even lower than them. But if it would be unwise to get carried away with England’s clean sweep of West Indies there was no mistaking what we witnessed along the way: green shoots, tender and fragile but undeniable, desperately needed signs of renewal after a period of atrophy. The genesis of a new team, under fresh leadership, with fresh emphases and impetus.
It has been overdue. From the miseries of the last World Cup to the indignity of the Champions Trophy this year, England’s recent 50‑over record is dire. Between the start of that World Cup and this summer they played 26 games and won seven, along the way playing bilateral series against West Indies, Australia, West Indies again and India and losing them all.
Continue reading...Wealth of Big Three is skewing Test cricket and a big win for Australia at Lord’s would only emphasise this gulf
On a recent episode of The Grade Cricketer podcast, the hosts, Sam Perry and Ian Higgins, tore lumps out of South Africa in a foul-mouthed tirade about the World Test Championship final against Australia. Perry predicted a finish “inside three days” and Higgins, practically thumping the table, said: “If I don’t look at a scorecard and South Africa are three for spit my TV is going through the window.” Cue big alpha chuckles and main-character knee slaps.
I know they were joking, skewering Australian arrogance as much as South African frailty, and that they have built a formidable brand that runs on side-mouthed jibes and hyperbolic bluster. Still, the lizard part of my brain lit up in protest. How dare they dismiss my countrymen? I wasn’t alone in taking offence.
Continue reading...Hobart Hurricanes hero Mitch Owen headlines Australia’s T20 squad to play the West Indies later next month, off the back of his whirlwind century in last season’s Big Bash final.
Virat Kohli said on Tuesday he had given his “youth and prime” to land one of the best moments of his career as Royal Challengers Bengaluru secured him a first-ever Indian Premier League T20 title at the 18th time of asking.
Batting great Virat Kohli fulfilled an 18-year dream of winning an IPL title with Royal Challengers Bengaluru after they beat Punjab Kings by six runs in Tuesday’s final in Ahmedabad, with Australian quick Josh Hazlewood’s role again decisive.
Chaos ensued in the lead up to the third one-day international between England and the West Indies, with London traffic delaying the toss by over half an hour.