4:15 PM IST ESPNcricinfo staff The actor Sushant Singh Rajput, whose portrayals included the title role in MS Dhoni’s biopic M.S. Dhoni: The Untold Story, has died in Mumbai at the age of 34. Police said it was a case of suicide. “He has committed suicide at his residence in Bandra,” Manoj Sharma, additional commissioner

9:28 AM IST ESPNcricinfo staff Australia legspinner Adam Zampa has returned to his home state New South Wales after seven seasons with South Australia. Zampa made his first-class debut for NSW in 2012 and played three Sheffield Shield matches and four one-day games for them before moving to South Australia in 2013, where he picked

10:13 PM IST Not since their 1980s heyday have West Indies won a Test series in England, but two aspects of the forthcoming three-match encounter could work in their favour, according to head coach Phil Simmons. Firstly, due to the behind-closed-doors nature of the Tests, in response to Covid-19, there will be no supporters in

4:50 PM IST ESPNcricinfo staff Ben Stokes has described himself as ready to be the “the Scottie Pippen to Joe Root‘s Michael Jordan” if he is required to deputise as England’s Test captain against the West Indies. Root’s wife is expecting their second child in July, and he could miss part of the three-match series

West Indies will tour England for three behind-closed-doors Tests in July © Getty Images Cricket West Indies (CWI) President Ricky Skerritt has quashed speculation linking the West Indies tour of England to a US$3 million loan to CWI by the ECB in May, a loan that eventually became the subject of an ICC ethics inquiry.

11:06 PM IST ESPNcricinfo staff The ECB says it is committed to delivering “meaningful and long-term change” to the way that cricket is run in England and Wales, after acknowledging that the sport is not immune to the “systemic racism” that “spans institutions and sectors across the country”. In a reflective statement, issued in response

11:03 PM IST The prospect of a domestic first-class competition in 2020 would appear to have diminished due to logistical concerns over hotels, as well as doubts among some clubs over the financial viability of a restart. While a regionally split first-class competition remains the favoured option of the Professional Game Group (PGG), an on-line

10:43 PM IST Jason Holder, West Indies’ captain, says that his team must prepare to embrace the “new normal” after touching down in England to embark on a historic Test series, but admits that the shift in global narrative, from the Covid-19 pandemic to the ongoing Black Lives Matter protests, could help to galvanise his

10:45 PM IST ESPNcricinfo staff The ICC has bought further time before making a decision on the fate of the men’s T20 World Cup, as it keeps tabs on the encouraging progress Australia and New Zealand are making against the Covid-19 pandemic. The tournament is scheduled to be played this October-November in Australia, but the

9:59 PM IST Sophie Devine, the New Zealand captain, has advocated the use of a smaller, lighter ball in the women’s game to encourage attacking cricket. Under current regulations, the ball used in women’s cricket is fractionally smaller and lighter than that used in the men’s game. According to both the laws of the game