Three times KFC Big Bash League (BBL) champions Sydney Sixers have strengthened their spin attack with the prized signing of Pakistani leg-spinner Shadab Khan. On their official Twitter handle, Sixers tweeted, “We have signed Pakistani star spinner Shadab Khan for the remainder of #BBL11.” We've signed Pakistani star spinner Shadab Khan for the remainder of … Read more
MELBOURNE: Joe Root has backed himself to “bang out a hundred” as England face a must-win Boxing Day Test in Melbourne and says he expects a response from his team after successive Ashes defeats. The England captain has never reached three figures in Australia but he went close in the nine wicket-defeat in the first … Read more
MELBOURNE: Australia coach Justin Langer Thursday said struggling opener Marcus Harris will play in the Boxing Day Ashes Test at Melbourne, and backed fast bowler Mitchell Starc to recover from a rib niggle. Harris’s Test career appeared in doubt after another failure in the day-night second Test at Adelaide this week, where he made just … Read more
LONDON: Eoin Morgan will captain England’s five-match T20 tour to the West Indies next month under stand-in coach Paul Collingwood. With the Ashes Test series in Australia set to end just four days before the first clash between the sides in Barbados, Collingwood will take charge with Marcus Trescothick joining him as an assistant coach. … Read more
NEW DELHI: India’s third-highest Test wicket-taker Ravichandran Ashwin says that he nearly quit several times between 2018 and 2020 due to injury and because he did not “feel backed”. “I contemplated retirement for a lot of reasons,” the star spinner told ESPN Cricinfo. “I felt like people were not sensitive enough to my injuries. I felt like … Read more
The International Cricket Council has released the rankings of Test and T20I players in which Babar Azam has once again grabbed the number one spot in the ICC MRF Batsman ranking in the T20. Babar has moved up a notch in the ICC T20I Players Rankings, after which he has again become the number one … Read more
Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Chairman Ramiz Raja on Wednesday praised the national team but stressed that ‘more needed to be done’. Flanked by newly appointed CEO Faisal Hasnain in a news conference in Karachi, Ramiz acknowledged that Pakistan was not ranked well in Test cricket. The PCB chairman underscored the need to improve cricket standards … Read more
CANBERRA, Dec. 22 (Xinhua) — Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison has urged people to “stay calm and get boosted” amid surging coronavirus infections. Morrison on Wednesday met with state and territory leaders at the national cabinet to discuss the rapid spread of the Omicron variant in Australia. Following the meeting, he announced that one-quarter of … Read more
Paul Collingwood will act as a stand-in coach in place of Chris Silverwood for England during the tour of West Indies next month. The English team is set to ply five T20Is against the Caribbean team scheduled to start on January 23 at the Kings Oval, Bridgetown, Barbados. Collingwood, being one of the assistant coaches, … Read more
LONDON: Already sidelined England fast bowler Jofra Archer is set to miss the tour of the West Indies after undergoing a second elbow operation, it was announced Tuesday. The Barbados-born quick has been out of international action since March and his absence from England duty will now extend to over a year after it was … Read more
ADELAIDE: England captain Joe Root said he was gutted Monday to lose another Ashes Test but would take confidence from the way his side battled to take the day-night clash in Adelaide to the final session. The visitors, spearheaded by a fighting 26 off 207 balls from Jos Buttler, batted through two sessions on day … Read more
ADELAIDE: Marnus Labuschagne won man-of-the-match for scoring a century ans a fifty in Adelaide, but it was “exceptional” Mitchell Starc who was praised by stand-in Australia captain Steve Smith after England were beaten by 275 runs in the second Ashes Test. The left-arm seamer led from the front after his regular partners Pat Cummins and … Read more
The three-match One Day International series between Pakistan and West Indies have been called off due to a Covid outbreak in the visitors’ camp, both the boards announced it in a joint statement on Thursday. However, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Chief Executive Officer Salman Naseer believes that there is a high probability that the … Read more
ADELAIDE: Joe Root fell in the final over of the fourth day Sunday to leave England in deep trouble at 82 for four chasing a massive 468 to win the second Ashes Test and needing a history-making miracle to avoid slumping 2-0 down in the series. No team has ever posted such a big score … Read more
ADELAIDE: Joe Root became just the fourth player in history to chalk up 1,600 Test runs in a calendar year Saturday — and the first since 2008 — but a maiden century in Australia again eluded him. The England captain has been in brilliant form in 2021, arriving for the Ashes with 1,455 runs from 12 Tests, … Read more
PARIS: The coronavirus is once again disrupting global sport, forcing the cancellation of English Premier League matches and the scrapping of a one-day cricket series. AFP Sport looks at the state of play around the world as authorities scramble to cope with the surging pandemic. Football Five of the 10 Premier League matches scheduled for … Read more
ADELAIDE: Steve Smith says he always felt that he had the support of the Australian public after slipping back into the captaincy of the Test team this week, capping a remarkable career revival. In March 2018, Smith was enemy number one in the wake of a ball-tampering scandal that shook cricket. It was a long road … Read more
Lahore: Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) on Friday launched its search for highly qualified and skilled coaches, who will be based at Lahore’s state of the art National High-Performance Centre (NHPC). PCB posted advertisements for the High-Performance Coach as well as batting, bowling, fielding and power-hitting coaches. Read More: PCB appoints Faisal Hussain as new chief … Read more
ADELAIDE: England were battling to stay in the second Ashes Test on Friday after Australia removed both openers in a fiery spell under lights on day two to leave the visitors reeling. The home team declared their first innings on a commanding 473 for nine in Adelaide, leaving England to face a trying 40 minutes … Read more
ADELAIDE: Ben Stokes told England fans that “we don’t believe we’re beaten” and said he felt ready for a big score with the bat, after another tough day at the Ashes on Friday. The visitors were forced to toil for 150 overs in the field over the past two days as Australia built an ominous … Read more
LONDON: Britain and Australia finalised in a virtual ceremony on Thursday a free trade deal that is expected to unlock more than £10 billion in trade annually. The deal, which was agreed in principle in June, is the first free trade deal that Britain negotiated from scratch since its EU exit earlier this year to have … Read more
ADELAIDE: Bowling great Jimmy Anderson said Wednesday he wants to play all four remaining Ashes Tests after being included in England’s 12-man squad for the second Test against Australia this week. Test cricket’s most prolific quick with 632 wickets was controversially left out of the visitors’ team for the series opener at Brisbane, where they crashed … Read more
ADELAIDE: Dynamic opener David Warner will play through the pain in the second Ashes Test against England, Australia captain Pat Cummins said Wednesday, as Jhye Richardson got the nod to replace Josh Hazlewood. Warner scored 94 in the first innings at the opening Test in Brisbane but didn’t field or bat in Australia’s second innings … Read more
ADELAIDE: England captain Joe Root on Tuesday backed Jack Leach and Rory Burns to bounce back from dismal Ashes performances, as star all-rounder Ben Stokes declared himself fit to carry the fight to Australia. Root refused to rule out selecting spinner Leach in Thursday’s pink-ball Test in Adelaide, even though he conceded 102-1 from 13 overs as … Read more
ADELAIDE: England head into the day-night second Ashes Test in Adelaide on Thursday under pressure and facing an ominous task against an Australian team who have won all of their eight pink-ball matches. The tourists’ capitulation by nine wickets in the opening Test in Brisbane exposed their batting and fielding frailties, exacerbated by rain-hit preparations and … Read more
SYDNEY: Australia’s bid to develop a fleet of nuclear-powered submarines will cost more than US$80 billion and take decades in the “most complex” project the country has ever embarked on, a study released Monday warned. The report from the Australian Strategic Policy Institute — an influential Canberra-based think tank — said ownership of the high-tech … Read more
Legendary Pakistan pacer Shoaib Akhtar shared a video on his social media where he can be seen taking a painkiller injection in his knees after his operation was delayed by 2 months. Akhtar was one of the fastest bowlers during his career. However, his career was cut short amid several injuries. He was fondly known … Read more
ADELAIDE: Injured Australian paceman Josh Hazlewood was Monday ruled out of the second Ashes Test against England in Adelaide this week, with Jhye Richardson or Michael Neser in line to replace him. The 30-year-old suffered a side strain during Australia’s nine-wicket thumping of the visitors in the opening Test at Brisbane and has returned home … Read more
