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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…

Harry Brook has laid out the roadmap for every player who wants to break into England’s white-ball teams, and that is to do well consistently. Questions were raised after England dropped Jordan Cox and Zak Crawley, the highest and the third-highest run-getters in the Hundred so far, from the upcoming white-ball series against South Africa and Ireland. But Brook said Cox and Crawley, as well as other players who are eyeing a spot in the team, have to truly earn the opportunity to get into the team. Crawley has not played a white-ball game for England since December 2023, an…

Left-handed opener Imam-ul-Haq will leave Yorkshire after the semi-final of the ongoing Metro Bank One-day Cup against Hampshire in Scarborough on Sunday. The in-form batter, who joined the club in July as a partial replacement after Ruturaj Gaikwad pulled out of his contract for personal reasons, was central to Yorkshire’s top finish in the group stages. He scored 583 runs at an incredible average of 97.16. The opening batter’s eight-game stay with the county includes two centuries, in addition to his career-best 159 off 130 balls against Northamptonshire Steelbacks, as well as three half-centuries, making him the tournament’s second-highest run-scorer.…

Arshdeep Singh wasn’t aware he’d get a chance to roll his arm over with a red ball before India’s Test series against the West Indies in October. He was gearing up for the Asia Cup and had started doing so as soon as India wrapped up the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy, which he missed out on playing because of an injured hand. But an opportunity to play in a Duleep Trophy game sprang up, which meant he was reunited with a red ball sooner than he had expected. “In Test cricket or red-ball cricket, there is a time when the day gets…

The Emirates Cricket Board (ECB) has announced revised timings for the Asia Cup matches, starting September 9 across Abu Dhabi and Dubai. To counter the intense heat, 18 out of 19 games will begin half an hour earlier than originally planned, pushing play closer to sunset. This means the matches, which were initially slated for a 6 PM start, will now begin at 6:30 PM local time. The only exception is the day game between UAE and Oman on September 15 at Sheikh Zayed Stadium, which will start at 4 PM. “The start time for 18 out of the 19…

The Hundred squads are in frame for a revamp before the next edition in 2026, in a bid to maintain the competitive balance of the league. This ‘reset’, confirmed by the tournament’s managing director Vikram Banerjee on Friday, will overlap with the takeover of new investors for eight franchises. The idea for the squad overhaul would likely mirror the IPL’s mega-auction practice, under which teams retain fewer players than usual to rebuild the core. While Banerjee expects the decision to be unpopular among the coaches, he deems it pertinent to the tournament’s growth. Squads in the women’s Hundred underwent a…

Australia could resort to their Northern Territory and Queensland venues to host next year’s Bangladesh red-ball tour, which, if it happens, would mark the return of the format to the two states after 22 years. Cricket Australia (CA) are keen to extend the red-ball season into winter to reduce the strain on summer, which is already cramped with Tests and the BBL. Darwin is likely to get a game, with Townsville, Cairns and Mackay also in contention for a Test comeback. International cricket returned to the Northern Territory for the first time since 2008 with a white-ball series against South…

Originally, this would have been a straightforward bilateral to give Afghanistan and Pakistan some game time, the former having not played a T20I in almost nine months. But the UAE stepped in and, with the Asia Cup also decided to be hosted there, the value of the series somewhat increased. Although none of the Asia Cup games will be played in Sharjah, the venue for the tri-series, and with Pakistan and Afghanistan drawn into separate groups, the series might still bring something more than just practice. That might be truer for Afghanistan and the UAE than for Pakistan. Afghanistan, having…

When asked if he thinks this will be the strongest English batting lineup to visit Australia in recent years, Josh Hazlewood said, “Yeah, definitely.” That is part of the reason why he wants to stay at the top of his game for the Ashes this winter. Hazlewood, who played four out of five Tests in the last edition, is on track to play a Sheffield Shield game ahead of the series instead of easing up. Among Australia’s big three, Hazlewood has played the most games across formats this year. Unlike Starc and Cummins, he opted against sitting out the recent…

Australia currently have the urn. That is because they won it with a 4-0 victory in the 2017 Ashes and have retained it since, with one win and two drawn series. The second of those draws came in the last edition, when Australia visited England for the red-ball series in 2023. The visitors were 2-0 up, but England fought back. That fightback only managed to square the series. Even though it was Manchester rain that eventually set the draw in stone, former Australian coach Justin Langer believes it also had to do with England not having ‘killer instinct’ required to…