Brisbane Heat 151 for 7 (Munro 46, T Sangha 3-21) beat Sydney Thunder 131 (Davies 35, Bartlett 3-35) by 20 runs Brisbane Heat continued their undefeated start to the BBL season with a comfortable 20-run win against Sydney Thunder in Canberra. A classy 46 from in-form opener Colin Munro and clinical bowling from their disciplined

Steven Smith cut a familiar figure at Australia’s optional training session at the WACA ground on Monday. It started at 1.30pm on the dot, and there was Smith, the first and only player out there on the lone centre-wicket net with coach Andrew McDonald and bowling coach Daniel Vettori carrying their trusty side-arms. While the

Sydney Sixers 139 for 4 (Hughes 60*) beat Hobart Hurricanes 135 for 8 (Jewell 42, Curran 3-19) Injury-plagued Hobart Hurricanes quick Riley Meredith suffered an apparent side strain as his side went down by six wickets to a Daniel Hughes-led Sydney Sixers. Sixers, who are 2-0 to start the BBL season, chased down the Hurricanes’

Not much fazes Alex Carey. But 2023 has tested his mild-mannered nature more than any other year. The Test tour of India was a series of ups and downs. He produced one of the best wicketkeeping performances by an Australian ever on an Indian Test tour. But he was bamboozled with the bat by Ravindra

Travis Head believes that opening the batting in Test cricket is a “specialist job” as he ruled himself out of contention to replace David Warner. Having powered Australia to an ODI World Cup triumph with spectacular batting at the top of the order, Head presented a potentially intriguing option to succeed Warner who is set

Spin bowler Tanveer Sangha has dismissed concerns about the recently rain-soaked Manuka Oval pitch ahead of Sydney Thunder’s BBL opener. On Saturday morning, play was deemed unsafe to continue on the drenched wicket and the game ended in a draw. Less than four days on from the downpour, Thunder are facing Brisbane Heat at Manuka

Melbourne Renegades’ Big Bash League clash with Perth Scorchers has been abandoned after 6.5 overs because of safety concerns over a water-damaged pitch. The ground staff in Geelong worked feverishly on Sunday to dry the pitch after heavy rain crept under the covers overnight. Renegades captain Nic Maddinson declared the pitch still “absolutely drenched” at

Having been rubberstamped as Australia’s new permanent captain, Alyssa Healy is excited about leading them into what shapes as the most competitive era of women’s cricket, with next year’s T20 World Cup potentially being the most open ever. Australia will be in the defending champions, and likely favourites, in Bangladesh next September and October, but

Alyssa Healy has been charged with leading Australia’s all-conquering women’s cricket team into a new era after officially replacing Meg Lanning as captain across all three formats. Wicketkeeper-batter Healy filled in for Lanning as captain for extended spells over the past two years, including this year’s Ashes. Now the 33-year-old, who was named vice-captain last

Will Sutherland, the Australia A allrounder, has signed to play for Somerset in next season’s County Championship and T20 Blast. The 24-year-old is due to arrive for the start of the season in April, subject to the conclusion of Victoria’s Sheffield Shield campaign – the final of which will be played March 21-25 – and

Melbourne Stars have suffered a huge blow to their hopes of bouncing back from a horror start to the BBL with Glenn Maxwell ruled out of their next match against Perth Scorchers due to injury. He had medical attention twice in middle and had his forearm taped, then was seen icing it in the dugout

Alyssa Healy has declared herself a near-certain starter for Australia’s Test against India in Mumbai. The star wicketkeeper-batter missed all-but one match of the WBBL after badly hurting her finger while trying to break up a fight between her two dogs. Healy has returned to training and is preparing to face India at the famous

David Warner has opened up on Mitchell Johnson‘s criticism of his retirement plans, saying his former team-mate is entitled to his opinions, however scathing. Warner refusing to add fuel to the fire comes as Australian captain Pat Cummins said the Test team would be “fiercely protective” of the veteran opener in the face of external

Matthew Short, last season’s player of the tournament in the BBL, has been named Adelaide Strikers’ new captain. Short takes over permanently from Travis Head having stood in for him last season. He scored 458 runs and claimed 11 wickets in the 2022-23 edition of the tournament and has since made his T20I and ODIs

A new-look BBL will begin on Thursday with a reduced 40-game regular season although the squeeze on marquee talent continues to be a challenge. We run the rule over how each side could go. You can read part one here. Squads as of December 6 and subject to change Melbourne Stars Squad Scott Boland, Joe

Australia’s World Cup-winning master blaster Glenn Maxwell has declared he will entertain crowds in the IPL until he “can’t walk anymore”. But the star allrounder is already focusing on adding a second T20 World Cup to Australia’s collection during next year’s tournament in the United States and the West Indies. After resting for a week

A new-look BBL will begin on Thursday with a reduced 40-game regular season although the squeeze on marquee talent continues to be a challenge. We run the rule over how each side could go. Part two will be published on Wednesday.Squads as of December 5 and subject to change Brisbane Heat Squad Usman Khawaja, Xavier

Khawaja was asked about the concept of Labuschagne being shifted up to open the batting when Warner vacates the role later this summer when his Test career ends, which is likely to be after the third Test against Pakistan in Sydney in the new year. The idea was floated by Australia coach Andrew McDonald last

Mitchell Johnson says he had received a “pretty bad” text message from David Warner earlier in the year which in part prompted his attack on Australia’s Test opener in his column while he called chairman of selectors George Bailey‘s response “quite disgusting”. Bailey was asked to respond to Johnson’s article during a press conference after

Australia’s World Test Championship and ODI World Cup defences will be shown exclusively on Amazon Prime Video. The streaming platform has secured the broadcast rights in Australia for all men’s and women’s International Cricket Council (ICC) tournaments. Foxtel/Kayo broadcast the entire recent ODI World Cup, while the Nine Network screened Australia’s games and a handful

Johnson said Warner had not taken full responsibility for his role in the Sandpaper affair in South Africa in 2018 that earned him a 12-month ban. He questioned, “why a player at the centre of one of the biggest scandals in Australian cricket history warrants a hero’s send-off”. Khawaja said he “strongly disagreed” with Johnson’s column

Toss Australia chose to field vs India Australia captain Matthew Wade won the toss and elected to field against India in the T20I series finale in Bengaluru. Wade had no hesitation to bowl on a surface he described as “tacky” amid overcast conditions at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium with rain threatening to impact the contest.

As anticipated, Warner was named in Australia’s 14-man squad for the first Test against Pakistan by Australia’s selectors on Sunday with Bailey, the chairman of selectors, stating he was in Australia’s best XI. In his Sunday column in The West Australian, Johnson queried both Warner’s public desire for a Test farewell and why it was

Australia’s selectors pulled no surprises naming 10 of the 11 that played in the last Ashes Test back in July, with Nathan Lyon replacing Todd Murphy after recovering from his calf injury. Green has been selected as the extra batter/allrounder and two extra fast bowlers in Morris and Scott Boland have also been named in

Tahlia McGrath lauded the all-round efforts of her team after Adelaide Strikers went back-to-back in the WBBL with a thrilling three-run victory in the final at Adelaide Oval. In a match that came down to the final ball, legspinner Amanda-Jade Wellington held her nerve, having been lofted for six by Mikayla Hinkley, to bring the

Adelaide Strikers 125 for 5 (Wolvaardt 39, McGrath 38, Hancock 3-23) beat Brisbane Heat 122 for 8 (Kerr 30*, Wellington 3-16) Adelaide Strikers claimed back-to-back WBBL titles after their star-studded attack superbly defended a low total to thwart Brisbane Heat in a nerve-jangling final. Strikers had been limited to 125 for 5 at the Adelaide

Sydney Sixers have brought back Afghanistan legspinner Izharulhaq Naveed for this season’s BBL after England’s Rehan Ahmed withdrew from the tournament following selection in both white-ball formats for the tour of West Indies. Naveed was a surprising pick by Sixers at the inaugural BBL draft last year but went on to claim nine wickets in

Toss Australia opt to bowl vs India Australia captain Matthew Wade won the toss and asked India to bat in their quest to level the series. Both teams made several changes for the first T20I to be played in Raipur. Shreyas Iyer was back for India as the vice-captain of the side. Fast bowler Mukesh Kumar,

Queensland 274 for 8 dec (Khawaja 102*, Clayton 53, Richardson 4-36) and 137 for 3 (Burns 62*) drew with Western Australia 330 (Cartwright 132, Green 96, Sandhu 5-77, Steketee 4-50) Marnus Labuschagne missed the chance to spend extended time at the crease as the Sheffield Shield clash between Queensland and Western Australia ended in an

Victoria 278 (Harper 151, Agar 5-45, Doggett 4-73) and 231 (Pucovski 65, McAndrew 4-50) beat South Australia 252 (Fraser-McGurk 101, Manenti 51, Scott 50, O’Neill 5-28) and 231 (Carey 81, Agar 46, O’Neill 5-83) by 23 runs Alex Carey gave national selectors a timely reminder of his credentials but it wasn’t enough to stop Victoria