Author: Tahir

Relinquishing the T20 World Cup has done nothing to weaken Australia’s standing in world cricket, according to Danni Wyatt-Hodge, the England batter who knows them best.She is set to contest her eighth Women’s Ashes series, and believes Australia’s batting depth, ruthlessness and home conditions will make them as dangerous as ever in the 2025 edition, which gets underway in Sydney this weekend.Since last year’s failure to reach the final of the T20 World Cup for the first time since 2009, Australia have won all five of their completed matches during the home summer so far – all ODIs – defeating…

Read More

Melbourne Renegades 150 for 6 (Sutherland 70, Rogers 49*, Morris 2-21, Behrendorff 2-22) beat Perth Scorchers 147 for 8 (Agar 51*, Hardie 34, Zampa 3-27, Sutherland 2-22) by four wicketsSkipper Will Sutherland dismissed Mitchell Marsh for a golden duck before producing a brilliant knock under pressure alongside Tom Rogers to lift Melbourne Renegades over Perth Scorchers in a nerve-jangling match at Optus Stadium.Chasing 148, Renegades were in disarray at 10 for 4 before Sutherland came to his side’s rescue with 70 off 45 balls. He combined with Rogers in a remarkable 92-run partnership to inch ‘Gades closer to victory.But Sutherland…

Read More

South Africa 615 (Rickelton, Bavuma 106, Verreynne 100, Abbas 3-94) and 61 for no loss (Bedingham 47*) beat Pakistan 194 (Babar 58, Rabada 3-55) and 478 (Masood 145, Babar 81, Rabada 3-115) by ten wicketsSouth Africa marked their qualification for the WTC final in style, romping to a ten-wicket win over Pakistan. It is their seventh successive Test win, and came after two and a half days of toil with the ball before they finally prised Pakistan out for 478 in the third innings. A valiant century from Pakistan captain Shan Masood and numerous other contributions forced South Africa to…

Read More

Richard Gould, the ECB’s chief executive, has rejected calls from a group of British politicians for England to boycott their upcoming Champions Trophy clash with Afghanistan in February, saying that the Taliban regime’s clampdown on women’s rights is a matter that requires a “co-ordinated, ICC-led, response” rather than unilateral action from individual countries.England are due to face Afghanistan in Lahore on February 26 in their second match of the tournament, and the ECB is under pressure to take action after receiving a letter from the Labour MP Tonia Antoniazzi, signed by a cross-party group of more than 160 politicians, including…

Read More

Usman Khawaja came into the Border-Gavaskar Trophy not too worried about facing Jasprit Bumrah. In fact, Bumrah hadn’t been able to dismiss him across the seven Test innings they had faced each other previously, and the Australia opener reckoned the fast bowler gets easier to navigate as you play him more.But after six dismissals to the India fast bowler across eight innings where he faced him, Khawaja admitted he “was just getting Bumrah’ed”.”To be honest, I was just getting Bumrah-ed,” Khawaja told ABC Sport after Australia regained the BGT in Sydney. “It was friggin’ tough work. It was tough work.…

Read More

Pakistan captain Shan Masood believes a ball-tracking failure was at fault for his being given out lbw on the fourth and final day of the Cape Town Test match against South Africa. Masood, who scored 145 in Pakistan’s second innings, was ruled not-out by umpire Nitin Menon off the left-arm quick Kwena Maphaka’s bowling, and had the decision overturned on review when Hawkeye deemed the ball to be hitting off stump.Masood felt the pictures Hawkeye threw up did not align with the reality of what had happened off that delivery. “It’s simple,” Masood said after the end of the game.…

Read More

Zimbabwe are set to host Ireland for an all-format tour consisting of seven matches in February, the board announced on Friday. The tour will begin with a one-off Test match from February 6 to 10 in Bulawayo, before the white-ball leg in Harare. The teams will play three ODIs on February 14, 16 and 18 and as many T20Is on February 22, 23 and 25. Originally, this series was pencilled in for two Tests along with six white-ball games in the ICC men’s Future Tours Programme (FTP).Zimbabwe are currently in the final leg of their multi-format home series against Afghanistan,…

Read More

Steven Smith is set to play three BBL games prior to the Sri Lanka tour while Marnus Labuschagne and Usman Khawaja will only be allowed to play one, as part of individual plans worked out with Cricket Australia’s high-performance team. Travis Head and Australia’s bowlers, meanwhile, are all set to rest before heading overseas.While Smith, Labuschagne and Khawaja will be restricted in their appearances, Alex Carey, Sam Konstas, Beau Webster, Mitchell Marsh and Jhye Richardson have all been cleared to play in the remainder of the BBL.Head, along with Scott Boland, Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood, Nathan Lyon and Mitchell Starc…

Read More

The year 2025 is set to be an exciting one for Pakistan cricket, with several bilateral series and major tournaments on home soil. Apart from India, nearly all top cricketing nations will visit Pakistan, especially for the Champions Trophy and the Tri-Nation Series early in the year. Additionally, bilateral series will ensure frequent visits by international teams throughout the year. Key Highlights: West Indies Tour of Pakistan: Two Test matches in January in Multan. Tri-Nation Series: Initially scheduled for Multan but likely to be shifted to Lahore and Karachi. Bilateral Series: Teams like Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Ireland, South Africa, and Sri…

Read More