Category: Cricket

The Women’s Ashes series concludes with the first ever day-night Test at the MCG, with the historic match-up book-ending a successful home summer for Australia.

Big Bash boss Alastair Dobson has dismissed suggestions further rule changes and innovations were moving close to “gimmicks”, adamant every alteration was geared around taking the game forward.

Opener Usman Khawaja and captain Steve Smith struck stylish centuries as Australia’s batters dominated day one of the Warne–Muralitharan Trophy series opener against Sri Lanka in Galle.

In August 2021, Mel Jones was in two weeks’ hard quarantine in a Melbourne hotel when she received a message from Indian journalist Sharda Ugra, asking if she’d been in contact with any members of the Afghanistan women’s cricket team.

Former England captain Alastair Cook believes there are “two or three years of hard work” ahead of the English women after being “20 per cent behind Australia in everything” this Ashes.

Disciplined bowling and a quickfire 51 by Ben Duckett helped England bounce back to win the third T20 international against India on Tuesday and keep the series alive.

The batting order in Galle looks set – but absence of Cummins and Hazlewood leaves decisions on the variety of spinners

Australian Test teams have had a shift in their relationship with Sri Lanka, a country they tour rarely but for a long time toured with success. In five trips from 1983 to 2011, the visitors only lost one Test, which was enough to decide their only series loss after the second and third matches were heavily washed out.

But in 2016 a pretty handy Australian side got whitewashed 3-0, after first dropping the ascendancy in a remarkable turnaround in Pallekele. Then in a shorter series in 2022, after a sizeable win on a surface that spun big, Australia got pummelled by an innings in the second match, while the country they were visiting was in upheaval with massed crowds on the streets causing the popular overthrow of a broken government.

The political situation and national finances of Sri Lanka have eased a little, but its cricket administrators still make an efficiency by concentrating Tests in Galle. In the series starting this Wednesday, both matches will be played there, as they were the last time Australia visited. It suits the home team: since that Australia loss, they’ve dropped one other game at the ground but have won six. Galle is a not a place for draws anymore; the most recent was in 2013, which was 25 matches ago.

Prabath Jayasuriya, a left-arm spinner who stepped up to Tests from a humble Colombo club cricket pedigree at the age of 31, has enjoyed his trips down the coast more than anyone. Eight matches there, eight five-wicket bags, twice going on to take ten in the match. That’s eight matches out of a career totalling 18, while 71 of his 107 wickets have come at that ground. Four or five more matches at his rate and he would catch Rangana Herath and Muttiah Muralitharan to be Sri Lanka’s premier Galle specialist.

That should give an indication that it’s a handy ground for spin. Sri Lanka’s squad also has Jeffrey Vandersay’s leg-breaks, off-breaks from Nishan Pereis and Dhananjaya da Silva, left-arm spin from Sonal Dinusha, and potentially finger spin from either hand via Kamindu Mendis. But with four seamers plus Angelo Mathews also available, they have options for all conditions.

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Australian captain Alyssa Healy has confirmed her availability for the Ashes Test at the MCG after overcoming a foot injury.

• Experienced batter gets nod to open alongside Usman Khawaja
• Konstas, Nathan McSweeney and Josh Inglis contenders at No 5

Travis Head will replace Sam Konstas at the top of Australia’s batting order for the first Sri Lanka Test despite the teenager’s heroics in the triumphant India series.

Stand-in captain Steve Smith would not rule out finding a place for Konstas elsewhere in the order for the match that begins in Galle on Wednesday, with a vacancy now open at No 5.

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The disappointment of the T20 World Cup “fired up” the Aussies ahead of their Ashes demolition of England, according to star spinner Sophie Molineux, with a historic whitewash within the home team’s reach going into Thursday’s series-ending Test.

The Big Bash League’s inaugural free agency frenzy has fired up with the title winning Hobart Hurricanes luring Test player Beau Webster back home.

Big Bash final hero Mitch Owen need only look at Hobart Hurricanes teammate Riley Meredith to know the potential for million-dollar Indian Premier League contracts to come his way after his unforgettable 39-ball century delivered his team a first-ever title.

Australian vice-captain Travis Head will open in the First Test against Sri Lanka tomorrow - but where does that leave rising star Sam Konstas?

Sydney Thunder’s Big Bash League campaign finished with a brutal loss on the big stage to a history-making Hobart Hurricanes outfit, but their skipper David Warner was still able to win over the rival crowd with some classy words post-match.