It did not take Jos Buttler long to recognise that his position as England’s white-ball captain was untenable. He spoke like a man who knew his time was up after their defeat to Afghanistan in Lahore on Wednesday, and within 24 hours had told Brendon McCullum that it was game over. Saturday’s thrashing by South […]

The important thing is that the golf has been played. Australia had arrived in Dubai not knowing whether they would be staying in Dubai, or heading to Lahore for the second semi-final in the Champions Trophy. Players on the Australia team, however, had taken every chance they could to get a round in. More importantly,

Nazmul Abedeen Fahim, the BCB director, has given his endorsement for Phil Simmons to continue in his role as Bangladesh head coach, beyond the Champions Trophy. Fahim said the board will sit for official talks with Simmons soon, and hope to get him into the role on a long-term basis. Simmons’ extension was one of

South Africa have taken an 18-hour stopover in Dubai between matches in Pakistan in their stride and used the opportunity to “get out and walk and have some nice steak” between the end of the Champions Trophy group stage and their semi-final against New Zealand on Wednesday. They are one of two teams, the other

Sophie Luff has been named as Somerset Women’s first professional captain, for the inaugural season of the new Women’s County competition. Luff, 31, played for Somerset’s age groups before making her debut for the senior women’s team in 2009. She has featured in 74 List A matches for the club, scoring 2330 runs at 43.14

Of the four teams remaining in the Champions Trophy 2025, Australia have travelled to three of the tournament’s four venues, while New Zealand have travelled to all four. South Africa, even though they did not play in Dubai, have been to Dubai to potentially prepare for a semi-final against India that never materialised and are

James Anderson wants to play in the Hundred this summer and has registered his name for next week’s draft, ESPNcricinfo has learned. Anderson has not played professionally since his final Test appearance against West Indies last July and has been working for England as a consultant coach this winter, including at the Champions Trophy. But

Defending champions Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) have named Ajinkya Rahane as their captain for IPL 2025. Venkatesh Iyer has been named vice-captain. Rahane was bought by the team at his base price of INR 1.5 crore at the IPL mega auction in November last year. Iyer, after not being retained by KKR, was bought back

Cooper Connolly has been called into Australia’s Champions Trophy squad after Matt Short was ruled out through injury as they prepare for what could be a trial by spin in their semi-final against India. Short picked up a quad injury against Afghanistan and would not have had time to recover for the knockout matches. Connolly,

“Sir, basically the ball goes inside, outside and goes straight. So, you can keep it that way but there are minute changes that you can do with that also.” Right at the end of a press conference a journalist understandably asks Varun Chakravarthy how many variations he has. The man ain’t having it. You can