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England have played 21 ODIs since the 2023 ODI World Cup. Out of these 21, they won only seven, and were bowled out in eleven. When measuring their form with those dismal numbers, their mauling in the first ODI against South Africa at Headingley doesn’t seem too extraordinary. Sure, losing seven wickets for just 29 runs seems scandalous by any standard, but their consistent unawareness of how to play the format was destined to be met with such an end one day. South Africa, on the other hand, didn’t slow down with a small task thrown their way. They wrapped…

Jordan Cox, initially excluded from all three of England’s white-ball series against South Africa and Ireland, has earned a call up for T20I series against Ireland later this month. Cox was adjudged the Player of the Tournament in the recently concluded the Hundred and is in incredible form. He scored 367 runs at 61.16, and a strike-rate of 173.93 during the competition, steering his side the Oval Invincibles to their third title running. His blistering 40 from just 28 balls in the final helped Invincibles set a respectable target on board. Despite being left out of the squad earlier, Cox…

Australian captain Pat Cummins wouldn’t settle for missing out on playing the Ashes, which begins on November 21 in Perth. Cummins, whose scans revealed lumbar bone stress, will sit out the upcoming white ball series against New Zealand and India. However, he is ready to get ‘a bit aggressive’ to ensure he leads the Australian side in the home Ashes series. The Australian quick has not played any form of cricket since winning the Caribbean Test series in July, missing out on the white-ball series against West Indies and South Africa. Speaking to the reporters in Brisbane, Cummins seemed hopeful…

England had a day full of horrors against South Africa in the first ODI at Headingley, but none of them would want it to vanish from their memory as earnestly as the debutant Sonny Baker. Baker, who was handed the debut ODI cap by Jos Buttler in the presence of his family, did not see anything going his way after that. He followed up his first-ball duck with a miserable time with the ball, leaking 76 runs in his seven wicketless overs, bagging the worst bowling figures by an English bowler on debut. However, England’s captain Harry Brook threw his…

Australian Test and ODI captain Pat Cummins might not play any competitive cricket in the lead-up to the Ashes after scans revealed lumbar bone stress in his lower back. This rules him out of Australia’s white-ball series versus New Zealand (three T20Is) and India (three ODIs and five T20Is) in October and November. Cummins has been out of the side since Australia’s 3-0 red-ball series win against West Indies in July, missing the T20I leg of the Caribbean tour as well as the ODI and T20I series against South Africa in Australia’s Top End. Interestingly, his workload this year has…

Pakistan finisher Asif Ali has announced his retirement from international cricket at 33 years of age. Asif, who last played for the senior side in the 2022 T20 World Cup, wraps up his career after featuring in just 21 ODIs and 58 T20Is. In his short career, he built a reputation for himself as the country’s first proper finisher in many years, especially in T20Is. His 7-ball 25-run knock against Afghanistan in the 2021 T20 World Cup, laced with four gigantic sixes, was the kind of innings that truly captured who he was as a batter. Announcing his retirement, Asif…

South Africa captain Temba Bavuma has attributed David Miller’s exclusion from the ODI leg of the England tour to the series’ clash with the Hundred, which the middle-order batter was part of. Miller, who accepted a hybrid contract with Cricket South Africa (CSA) earlier this year, has not played any international game for South Africa since featuring in the semi-final of the Champions Trophy. Bavuma confirmed Miller is still ‘within the mix’ for selection in the upcoming ODI series as well as the 2027 ODI World Cup, which South Africa will co-host with Namibia and Zimbabwe. The 36-year-old batter has…

English pacer Jamie Overton has announced an ‘indefinite break’ from red-ball cricket, which essentially rules him out of Ashes selection. Overton, who was added to the fifth Test squad against India for the first time since his debut in 2022, was almost a certain starter for the Ashes this year. The decision, he said, was taken to ensure he is ‘mentally and physically’ focused on white-ball cricket. Besides his appearance in the fifth Test at the Oval, Overton has only one other Test to his name, which came against New Zealand in 2022. He took two wickets across both innings…

If the last game is anything to go by, Pakistan might be on the right path to rebuilding, at least in the T20I format. There was something that had long remained elusive for the side, and that was playing the format as it should be played. That they were three down within eight overs suggests that Pakistan finally got rid of the notorious caution that kept dragging them backwards for years. Sure, the new strategy has yet to be tested by time, but failing with a plan is always better than doing so without knowing what’s happening. Afghanistan might have…

They say change is the only constant, and for England, that rings more true than any other side. The majority of the players who will take the field in the first ODI against South Africa had been playing in the Hundred at least until last week, with players like Joe Root and Harry Brook featuring in games just two days out from the start of this series. And it’s hardly a rarity in England’s schedule. The side had just finished playing a two-month-long Test series against India on the eve of the opening Hundred game. What is more, once the…