Tag: headlines

Rauf pulled out of the series before the squad was announced, citing a desire to manage his workload and his protect his body. He played four games in the Big Bash League in Australia while the series was going on for the Melbourne Stars. Meanwhile, Pakistan went into the series with a squad that possessed very little high pace, with medium fast bowlers Khurram Shahzad and Aamer Jamal playing the first Test, and Mir Hamza and Hasan Ali the second. Shaheen Shah Afridi was the young leader of the pace battery, but even his pace has never quite recovered since a knee injury, and mostly operated in the low 130s kmph."I think Haris [Rauf] should be part of this side instead rather than [the BBL]," Afridi, speaking to media at the MCG, said." In these conditions, the kind of pace he has, he wou...

India's Test series in South Africa was being billed as the "final frontier", but when a team loses the match in 210 overs, questions are bound to be around the preparation. India's preference for an intra-squad game over a proper first-class match or practice match came into question after their defeat in the first Test by an innings and 32 runs, but their captain Rohit Sharma outright dismissed the idea because it is not in the hosts' interests to give the opposition the best practice."We have been playing practice matches for the last five-six years," he said. "We have even tried first-class matches, but we don't get these kind of wickets in practice matches. It's better we prepare on our own, make the pitch we want. When we last went to Australia, when we came to South Africa in 2018,...

David Warner is expected to miss the white-ball portion of West Indies' tour of Australia in February as he looks to start maximising his T20 league availability following Test retirement in Sydney next week.Warner is set to play BBL for Sydney Thunder after his last Test against Pakistan although there remains some doubt as to whether he would be available for finals should Thunder qualify.The chief executive of the Australian Cricketers' Association indicated on Thursday that he expected Warner to apply for an No Objection Certificate to play in the ILT20."I think the short answer to that is probably yes," Greenberg told SEN when asked if Warner would likely miss some home cricket. "I know he's pretty committed to the BBL."There's no doubt in the next phase of Dave's life he's going to ...

Moises Henriques insisted his catch to remove Tom Rogers in the Big Bash League was taken cleanly, raising fresh questions over grey areas in cricket's rules.Melbourne Stars claimed their first win of the season in Tuesday night's eight-wicket win over the Sydney Sixers, breathing new life into their season.But the main talking point from the game was Henriques' sensational catch to remove Rogers early in the Stars' chase.Leaping high in the air at mid off, Henriques took the ball cleanly before falling to the ground with the ball appearing to touch the turf while in his right hand.Cricket's rules state that a catch is not complete until the fielder is in full control of their body, meaning the ball cannot touch the ground during that period.The catch was sent upstairs with a soft call of...

Temba Bavuma suffered a strain to his left hamstring in the first session of the Boxing Day Test against India, putting his participation in the match in doubt. Bavuma left the field in the 20th over and was sent for a scan soon after. A Cricket South Africa statement said he will "undergo daily medical evaluations to determine" if he will play any further role in the match.Bavuma was fielding at mid-off when Virat Kohli drove Marco Jansen through extra cover and he gave chase. The ball stopped before reaching the boundary and Bavuma did not have to dive to haul it in but as he caught up to it, he clutched his hamstring and went down in pain. He received treatment on the field and then left, unaided. Dean Elgar, the former Test captain playing in his last series, moved himself from slip t...

Former Australia batter Michael Hussey has cautioned the Australian selectors on picking a makeshift opener as David Warner's replacement, saying he would prefer a specialist opener who has dominated Sheffield Shield cricket to be rewarded. Hussey, however, stopped short of naming a candidate.Hussey was speaking ahead of the Boxing Day Test at the MCG after he was inducted into the Australian Cricket Hall of Fame alongside former Australia women's captain Lyn Larsen.Hussey started his Test career as an opener and made a century opening the batting in his second Test match in 2005 as a replacement for the injured Justin Langer, having made his name as an opener in first-class cricket plundering 15313 first-class runs predominantly for Western Australia and Northamptonshire prior to making ...

The Afghanistan Cricket Board has sanctioned Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Fazalhaq Farooqi and Naveen Ul Haq for "prioritizing their personal interests over playing for Afghanistan," a board statement said on Monday. The board has therefore delayed their 2024 annual central contracts and also announced no NOCs (no-objection certificates) for the trio for the next two years, including the revokement of any NOC they currently possess.According to the ACB statement, the trio recently told the board of their desire to be released from the annual central contracts starting January 1 2024, while also asking for consent to play in franchise tournaments."The insistence on not signing the central contract for these players was their involvement in commercial leagues, prioritising their personal interests ove...

Saika Ishaque, Shreyanka Patil, Mannat Kashyap and Titas Sadhu have received their maiden ODI call-ups for the Australia series starting December 28 in Mumbai. Renuka Singh and Richa Ghosh also returned to the ODI set-up after missing the Bangladesh tour in July; Renuka was injured then and Ghosh had been dropped for Uma Chetry, who has now been left out without getting a game.For the three T20Is against Australia early next month, India named an unchanged squad from the one that lost 2-1 to England at home earlier this month.The changes in the ODI squad were mainly for the bowling attack and the allrounders as Priya Punia, Devika Vaidya, Anjali Sarvani, B Anusha, Meghna Singh, Rashi Kanojiya and Monica Patel were left out.Offspin-bowling allrounder Patil was among RCB's top performers in...

It follows a difficult Perth Test for Sarfaraz, particularly with the bat, after he scored seven runs across both innings, struggling particularly against Mitchell Starc's pace.It's one of at least three changes Pakistan will make for the second Test at the MCG after they named a 12-man squad, which will be cut to 11 on match day. Khurram Shahzad has been ruled out of the series while allrounder Faheem Ashraf will also miss out after a poor Test with bat and ball, with Pakistan to take a final call on the sort of combination they play with.There is a possibility, however faint, that the visitors line up with another all-seam attack, which leaves Sajid Khan, named in the 12, out. That, however, is believed to be a remote possibility, with Sajid and one of Hasan Ali and Mir Hamza getting th...

KL Rahul has started only one first-class match as the designated wicketkeeper, but that doesn't seem like it will hold India back from playing him as a wicketkeeper in the two-Test series in South Africa. Two days before the first Test in Centurion, coach Rahul Dravid spoke at length about the challenge for Rahul but also the opportunities it opens up for both Rahul, who will be making a Test comeback, and India."I see it as an exciting challenge and an opportunity for him to certainly do something different," Dravid said. "With Ishan [Kishan] not being available, the opportunity came up. We have a couple of keepers we can choose from. Rahul is certainly one. We have had this discussion with him, we've discussed this with him. You know, he is very confident, he is very keen on giving it ...