8:00 AM GMT Quetta Gladiators won the toss and chose to bowl v Islamabad United Defending champions Quetta Gladiators decided to put Islamabad United in on a surface that appears to favour big runs. Captain Sarfaraz Ahmed announced Jason Roy, Shane Watson, Ben Cutting and Fawad Ahmed were their four overseas players. New Islamabad skipper
8:00 AM GMT Big picture The last time these two teams met in this setting, things got a little rough. Even before Newlands, sandpaper and the inquisition that followed, there had been boorish behaviour on the field, boorish behaviour off it, a skirmish in a stairwell and Faf du Plessis intervening dressed only in a
3:24 PM GMT The short, sharp nature of the upcoming white-ball series between South Africa and Australia may rob the teams of the time required to recreate the drama of 2018, according to one of its chief protagonists, David Warner. A little less than two years ago, when Australia toured South Africa for a four-Test
1:41 PM GMT The one-off all-star match that was meant to preface IPL 2020 will now be played after the tournament. The match was originally scheduled to be played three days before the IPL, which begins on March 29, but due to operational reasons it is now set to be played after the tournament which
Welsh Fire head coach Gary Kirsten and star player Jonny Bairstow at The Hundred draft © Getty Images Tom Harrison, the ECB’s chief executive, has suggested the Hundred could be expanded to include teams from “the northeast and the southwest” in an attempt to reconnect with working-class communities. Harrison admitted “tough choices” had to be
12:56 PM GMT There’s a possibility of departmental teams returning to the Pakistan domestic circuit, after the Iqbal Qasim-led PCB cricket committee discussed the recent changes to the domestic structure and tasked Haroon Rasheed, the director of domestic cricket, to try and find a window to potentially squeeze in a new tournament. “The cricket committee
5:22 AM GMT ESPNcricinfo staff Umar Akmal has been suspended by the PCB with immediate effect under Article 4.7.1 of its anti-corruption code, disallowing him from taking part in any cricket-related activity under the board’s purview “pending the investigation being carried out by PCB’s Anti-Corruption Unit”. A PCB statement announced the development, but didn’t reveal
9:41 AM GMT There are a lot of big-picture themes about this T20 World Cup: participation, inclusion, expansion to name a few. They are all crucially important and will be revisited frequently over the next couple of weeks as the record-breaking attempt at the MCG nears. Now, however, after much build-up the first match is
Feb 19, 2020 Big picture Test series these days – ones between sides at close to full strength – start along predictable lines. Home sides are usually so dominant that they are overwhelming favourites or they are so weak that strong sides such as India can streamroll them. Draws are hardly a possibility either. Rarely
7:27 AM GMT ESPNcricinfo staff Kyle Jamieson will make his Test debut in Neil Wagner’s absence, and it will be a toss-up between Ajaz Patel and Daryl Mitchell for the final spot in the XI – depending entirely on conditions at Wellington’s Basin Reserve – New Zealand captain Kane Williamson announced a day off from
7:07 AM GMT Australian cricket’s schedule, with the Sheffield Shield split into two far-flung blocks by the Big Bash League, has encouraged players and coaches alike to look for more chances to be in the English county competition, Australia A assistant coach Chris Rogers has said. After the breakthrough achieved by Marnus Labuschagne in 2019,
February 20, 2020 Follow ESPNcricinfo’s updates from India’s premier domestic competition. If the blog doesn’t load, please refresh the page. Hemant Brar is a sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo © ESPN Sports Media Ltd. Comments
6:17 PM GMT As Sri Lanka and the West Indies prepare to square off in the first of three ODIs on Saturday – which will be followed by two T20Is next month – the series offers the chance for both sides to benchmark themselves as they work towards the T20 World Cup later this year.
3:48 PM GMT The absence of proper pressure in South Africa’s domestic competitions is leaving bowlers ill-equipped to handle similar situations on the international stage, according to bowling coach Charl Langeveldt. Speaking three days after Mark Boucher assessed his bowlers’ skill levels as not being good enough following South Africa’s failure to defend totals in
2:26 PM GMT Steven Smith plans to “smile and laugh and play along and have fun,” with South African crowds over the next three weeks as returns to the scene of his ball-tampering offence. And he will have to start at the most hostile ground in the country. Although the sandpaper gate had unfolded at
12:55 PM GMT BCB president Nazmul Hassan has said the upcoming three-match ODI series against Zimbabwe will be Mashrafe Mortaza‘s last assignment as Bangladesh captain. He said that a new captain will be named “within a month” as Bangladesh plan the road ahead for the 2023 World Cup. Hassan also said that the board will
9:30 AM GMT ESPNcricinfo staff As many as ten players opted out of Sri Lanka’s tour of Pakistan last year, the last time they played ODI cricket, and Sri Lanka have included many of them in a strong squad led by Dimuth Karunaratne, who was one of the players to withdraw, for the three-ODI series
Alyssa Healy had a string of single-digit scores in the tri-series © ICC via Getty Alyssa Healy will trust her instincts as she looks to put an end to the run of low scores that has brought two years of prolific returns to a juddering halt just before the T20 World Cup. Healy made scores
9:59 AM GMT ESPNcricinfo staff Cheteshwar Pujara, the Indian top-order batsman, will play six County Championship fixtures for Gloucestershire this season after signing a short-term deal with the club. Gloucestershire, who will be playing in Division One for the first time since 2005 after winning promotion last season, will be Pujara’s fourth county, following spells
7:15 AM GMT ESPNcricinfo staff He has a “rigorous three years” lined up, and Virat Kohli feels taking periodic breaks during the hectic schedule has helped him continue to play all formats of the game, at the international level and the IPL, regularly. Kohli is one of the busiest cricketers in the international circuit and
4:32 AM GMT ESPNcricinfo staff Fast bowler Matt Henry has been called up to the New Zealand Test squad as cover for Neil Wagner, who is awaiting the birth of his child. New Zealand Cricket tweeted that Henry will arrive in Wellington on Wednesday evening for the Test starting on Friday. Henry will join Trent
3:06 AM GMT James Pattinson‘s pace and fire will be missing from Australia A’s day-night match against the England Lions at the MCG from Saturday due to a back complaint, after he pulled up sore from bowling in cub cricket. The Queensland pace bowler Mark Steketee has been called in to replace Pattinson, while Cricket
Chamari Atapattu is pumped up after reaching her hundred © Getty Images Overview Sri Lanka have lost their 10 most-recent T20Is – a sequence that goes back to November 2018. Of their previous nine completed matches, Sri Lanka only won one, which means they have lost 18 of their last 19 games. Although there is
12:02 AM GMT Overview South Africa continue to tread water between the top tier of T20I teams and the more middling performers and this tournament could be used as a yardstick to measure their progress. On paper, they have all the ingredients of a strong T20I outfit: big-hitters like Laura Wolvaardt and innings builders like
3:25 PM GMT Michael Hussey is hopeful that his stint with Australia’s T20 team will continue throughout their preparation for the World Cup in October, and into the tournament itself. Justin Langer has made a point of using former players as backroom staff, often bringing them in for a series at a time on an
12:08 PM GMT Allan Donald has been appointed head coach of the Knights franchise, a job he will start at the end of the current season. Donald’s tenure with the team, which is based in Bloemfontein where his own career began, will start on May 1, well in time for the 2020-21 season. “We felt
Manu Sawhney at a Champions League T20 Gala Dinner © GCV via Getty Images The BCCI has reacted angrily to the ICC for bypassing the strong objections raised by the Indian board along with the ECB over the future set of events in the 2023-31 rights cycle. The divide is set to come out in
12:08 PM GMT ESPNcricinfo staff Fit-again Trent Boult is “very excited” at the prospect of bowling to Virat Kohli in the two-Test series starting Friday, and has already set the India captain’s wicket as his prime target as New Zealand look to bounce back after a 3-0 series defeat in Australia late last year. Boult
12:06 PM GMT ESPNcricinfo staff The big news in the New Zealand Test squad, apart from the post-injury comeback for Trent Boult, was the return to the arena for 31-year-old left-arm spinner Ajaz Patel in place of Mitchell Santner. It’s a good change, as far as former batting coach Craig McMillan is concerned, because Patel
Temba Bavuma picked up the injury during the third T20I against England © Getty Images Temba Bavuma has been ruled out of South Africa’s T20 series opener against Australia this Friday with a hamstring strain. Bavuma sustained the injury while fielding against England at SuperSport Park on Sunday and will requite seven to 10 days