Steve Smith (right) and Marnus Labuschagne bat together at last © Getty Images First, there was Steven Smith. At Edgbaston and Lord’s, through three consecutive innings after his return from the Newlands scandal ban, he drove England’s bowlers to distraction. They tried all manner of plans, filed placings lines, too many really, without much at
Cricket
9:44 AM ET The Pakistan Cricket Board appears to have made peace with potential conflicts of interest with the appointment of Misbah-ul-Haq as the head coach and chief selector. Though it has not been made public or official yet, Misbah is also on the verge of becoming the PSL franchise Islamabad United’s head coach but
2:27 PM ET India offspinner R Ashwin is likely to join Delhi Capitals for the 2020 IPL. ESPNcricinfo understands Ashwin is on the verge of moving out of Kings XI Punjab, who signed him at the 2018 auction for INR 7.6 crore (then USD 1.176 million approx) and appointed him captain. It is understood that
8:00 AM ET Far from pretty and at times bordering on the masochistic, the often torturous platform laid by Joe Root, Joe Denly and the early phase of Ben Stokes‘ masterpiece in the second innings at Headingley has set the template for how England believe they can outlast Australia’s three-man pace attack at Old Trafford
3:00 AM ET Toss Sri Lanka chose to bat v New Zealand Sri Lanka won the toss and chose to bat first in the second T20I in Pallekele, just as they had in the first match. Both teams have made one change each. The hosts have swapped out seam bowler Kasun Rajitha for left-arm wristspinner
Sep 1, 2019 ESPNcricinfo staff Virat Kohli has called Jasprit Bumrah “the most complete bowler in world cricket”. Those words were understandable, coming at the end of a Test series in which he picked up 13 wickets in two Tests at the average of 9.23. “There is not much you can say about Jasprit, the
11:19 AM ET “The art of competing, I’d learned from track, was the art of forgetting, and I now reminded myself of that fact. You must forget your limits. You must forget your doubts, your pain, your past.” Adam Gilchrist once penned a book called Walking To Victory. For Justin Langer, a more appropriate title
9:11 AM ET ESPNcricinfo staff Ricardo Vasconcelos has signed a new five-year contract with Northamptonshire. Johannesburg-born opener Vasconcelos still had two years remaining on his previous contract but has penned the new deal to secure his place at Wantage Road until the end of the 2024 season. “It was an easy decision for me to
2:26 PM ET ESPNcricinfo staff Wriddhiman Saha, Kuldeep Yadav and Umesh Yadav will slot back in with the India A squad following their tour of the Caribbean with the national side. Saha will lead in the second four-day fixture against South Africa A in Mysore. Shubman Gill will lead in the first four-dayer starting on
3:00 AM ET Innings West Indies 117 (Hetmyer 34, Bumrah 6-27, Shami 2-34) trail India 416 by 299 runs India took just over an hour to end West Indies’ innings on the third day, with Mohammed Shami, Ishant Sharma and Ravindra Jadeja splitting the last three wickets between them. West Indies were bowled out for