6:04 PM GMT Valkerie Baynes Ollie Pope knows how suddenly opportunity can come knocking… then turn around and slam the door in your face. So, rather than panic when illness robbed him of a fifth Test appearance for England at Centurion last week, he just rolled with it. Pope has learned a lot over the
Month: December 2019
4:12 PM GMT ESPNcricinfo staff England are “cautiously” backing an ICC proposal to scrap five-day Tests from 2023. The ICC’s cricket committee are expected to formally consider a proposal in 2020 to make four-day Tests mandatory as part of the World Test Championship in a bid to ease pressure in an increasingly crowded international schedule.
3:30 AM GMT ESPNcricinfo staff Trevor Penney has been named West Indies’ assistant coach in white-ball cricket for two years. He will work on the team’s fielding in this period, starting on January 2, 2020, when preparations begin for the home series against Ireland. Penney, 51, comes with the vast experience of having worked with
6:31 AM GMT ESPNcricinfo staff Jess Duffin, the senior Australia cricketer, will become the first elite women’s player to be covered under Cricket Australia’s new policy on parental leave after announcing news of her pregnancy to the cricket board. The update also means that Duffin will not be in contention for a spot in the
Dwaine Pretorius bowls for the first time in Tests © AFP Dwaine Pretorius has opted out of a Kolpak deal with Nottinghamshire and has committed his future to South African cricket. ESPNcricinfo has learned that Pretorius was ready to relocate to the United Kingdom before the change in Cricket South Africa’s administration but has since
6:00 PM GMT Chris Silverwood has insisted England “will not be afraid” to take tough selection decisions if necessary. Silverwood, the England coach, will have to weigh up whether or not his side should pick a spinner for the second Test in Cape Town starting on January 3. If they do, it could leave him
2:10 AM GMT Nathan Lyon has dismissed Shane Warne’s suggestion that he be rested against New Zealand at the SCG to make room for a Mitchell Swepson debut, indicating that he would prefer to bowl in tandem with the Queensland legspinner in Australia’s last Test until a tour of Bangladesh in June. Warne, whose opinions
Keegan Petersen celebrates his century © Stu Forster/Getty Images Keegan Petersen, the Knights’ No. 3, has been called up to the Test squad as an injury replacement for Aiden Markram, who was ruled out of the series with a fractured finger. Petersen scored 111 against England in the warm-up game in Benoni last week and
Play 01:09 Root refuses to blame illness for defeat in South Africa Spare a thought for holiday-makers catching a flight to Cape Town from Johannesburg on New Year’s Eve. For there is a fair chance some of them will be sharing a plane with an England squad so sickly that they should probably be led
10:57 AM GMT ESPNcricinfo staff A career-best fourth position for Marnus Labuschagne and a move up to No. 10 for Quinton de Kock were the headlines of the year-end ICC rankings for men’s batting in Test cricket. India captain Virat Kohli stayed on top of the list – for 274 days in 2019 – with
6:54 AM GMT Pieter Malan is set to become South Africa’s eighth Test debutant in five matches during the New Year’s Test. Malan will replace the injured Aiden Markram, who has been ruled out of the series with a fractured finger, according to South Africa’s head coach Mark Boucher, who is on the selection panel.
3:37 AM GMT It has been a tough season for visiting captains to Australia against a dominant bowling attack. Between them, Kane Williamson and Azhar Ali have scored 119 runs in eight innings. It is not the only reason the home side are on the verge of a summer clean sweep, but it’s a big
2:18 PM GMT Matt Roller Close Matt Roller is an assistant editor at ESPNcricinfo. He tweets at @mroller98 England head coach Chris Silverwood has defended captain Joe Root‘s decision to bowl first after winning the toss against South Africa, despite the decision backfiring as South Africa sealed a 107-run win at Centurion. On the first
9:05 AM GMT ESPNcricinfo staff D’Arcy Short has been called up for Australia’s short ODI series in India in January after Sean Abbott, the fast-bowling allrounder, sustained a “moderate side strain”, Cricket Australia announced. Aaron Finch (capt), D’Arcy Short, Ashton Agar, Alex Carey (wk), Pat Cummins, Peter Handscomb, Josh Hazlewood, Marnus Labuschagne, Kane Richardson, Steven
8:00 AM GMT South Africa 284 and 272 (van der Dussen 51, Archer 5-102) beat England 181 and 268 (Burns 84, Rabada 4-103) by 107 runs There were, as you might expect, a few twists and turns along the way, but in the end, the result was thoroughly comprehensive. South Africa have won the first
7:11 PM GMT Maybe the timing was simply unfortunate, but supporters of England’s Test team could have been forgiven for scratching their heads in bewilderment earlier this week. For just around the time that England were being bowled out for 181 in their first innings in Centurion – the fifth time in 12 first innings
4:34 AM GMT Had it been solely up to him, Peter Siddle would have quite happily retired at the end of this year’s Ashes series in England. It epitomises why he was so highly regarded in Australian cricket that he did not. After several years on the fringes of the Australian Test team, Siddle had
4:27 PM GMT A “gut feeling” and the spark of a fight led to South Africa taking the crucial wicket of Ben Stokes and getting their own back against Jofra Archer as they took the series lead against England. South Africa’s first Test win in six matches and first since January hinged on a key
3:56 PM GMT ESPNcricinfo staff New Zealand have called up offspinner Will Somerville to their squad for the third Test of their series against Australia as an injury replacement for Trent Boult. Boult fractured his hand while batting in the Boxing Day Test, and is set for four weeks of rehabilitation back home before he
3:22 PM GMT England have confirmed that Dom Bess, the off-spinning allrounder, will remain with the squad when they move on to Cape Town for the second Test. While Bess was not an original member of the tour party, he was added to the squad when it became clear that Jack Leach, in particular, was
7:40 AM GMT Alex Malcolm Peter Siddle announced his retirement from international cricket during the Boxing Day Test. He is one of just 17 Australians to take 200 Test wickets, finishing with 221 scalps from 67 Tests. A lion-hearted performer, he was a captain’s dream after starting his career as a firebrand in 2008 before
8:00 AM GMT Lunch New Zealand 148 and 3 for 38 need 450 more runs to beat Australia 467 and 5 for 168 dec James Pattinson left New Zealand in tatters and heading for a crushing four-day defeat at the MCG after bursting through the top order including the key duo of Kane Williamson and
5:57 PM GMT Vernon Philander has called on the umpires to “stand your ground” and withdraw Jofra Archer from the attack in the first Test in Centurion. Archer, the England fast bowler, appeared to be called for a second no-ball by the square-leg umpire Paul Reiffel after ending his day with a pair of beamers.
© Getty Images In a huge vote of confidence for the DRS technology being used in Australia, Tim Paine‘s lbw verdict in the first innings was shown to be correct by a narrow margin on both HawkEye and VirtualEye ball tracking. Both technologies showed Paine was stuck in line to ensure it would not be
Rory Burns and Dom Sibley started solidly in the fourth innings © Getty Images Just when you’re about to change that stupid lock and ask them for that key, England turn up at your door with a bottle of wine and bunch of roses. That’s how it felt by the close of day three in
11:02 PM GMT ESPNcricinfo staff Peter Siddle has announced his retirement from international cricket after a career that spanned 11 years. Siddle, 35, played 67 Tests taking 221 wickets at 30.66, his last match coming in the final Test of this year’s Ashes series in England. He was brought back into the squad for the
4:25 PM GMT ESPNcricinfo staff Somerset have confirmed that they have agreed personal terms with South Africa seamer Vernon Philander ahead of his signing as a Kolpak player, although the club do not expect to complete the signing until the new year. It had been widely reported that Philander would move to the county following
2:52 AM GMT New Zealand’s former captain Brendon McCullum has counselled his successor Kane Williamson one-on-one after he delivered stinging criticism of the visitors during his commentary stints on the second day of the Boxing Day Test at the MCG. McCullum had questioned Williamson’s tactics on the second day, notably his use of the very
4:30 PM GMT ESPNcricinfo staff Last year, India completed a historic 2-1 triumph in Australia, their first-ever Test series victory in the country. BCCI president Sourav Ganguly believes India will face an even bigger challenge when they go back down under in 2020-21 for a four-Test series against a “full-strength” Australia side. Back in 2018-19,
8:00 AM GMT England 181 and 121 for 1 (Burns 77*) need a further 255 to beat South Africa 284 and 272 (van der Dussen 51, Archr 5-102) True to their hard-earned reputation for perversity, England’s cricketers gave themselves a fighting chance of victory in the first Test at Centurion, mere hours after seemingly tossing
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