8:00 AM GMT England 218 for 4 (Sibley 85*, Root 61) and 269 all out lead South Africa 223 all out (Anderson 5-40) by 264 runs Joe Root said in the days before England arrived in New Zealand at the end of last year that he wanted his batsmen to “be prepared to play some

Jan 3, 2020 ESPNcricinfo staff Perth Scorchers v Hobart Hurricanes Our XI: D’Arcy Short, Josh Inglis, Cameron Bancroft, Ben McDermott (wk), Mitchell Marsh (c), Ashton Agar, Qais Ahmed, Chris Jordan, Riley Meredith, Matt Kelly, James Faulkner NOTE: We might not always be able to tip you off about a late injury (or other relevant) updates

11:34 PM GMT Marcus Stoinis, the Melbourne Stars opening batsman, has escaped with a A$7,500 fine for an alleged homophobic slur directed at Kane Richardson during Saturday night’s BBL derby between the Stars and the Melbourne Renegades at the MCG. At the conclusion of the Stars’ victory, Stoinis was seen in lengthy conversation with Richardson

Jasprit Bumrah stretches out © Associated Press Big Picture Lasith Malinga has a problem. He has captained Sri Lanka to a World T20 title, but that was way back in 2014. Now, almost six years later, there are serious doubts over his leadership. Since he took over as captain again, in 2019, Sri Lanka have

Jan 2, 2020 Australia 3 for 283 (Labuschagne 130*, Smith 63, De Grandhomme 2-63) v New Zealand If it feels as though there has been something monotonous about this series, then that is because there undoubtedly has been. Australia’s top order, given the chance to bat first in each Test, has responded with diligence, efficiency

8:00 AM GMT England 262 for 9 (Pope 56*) v South Africa There is no precise antonym for the word “ruthless”: like “nonplussed”, “disgruntled” and “underwhelmed”, it is considered by linguistics scholars to be an unpaired adjective due to the lack of a word with a perfectly opposite meaning. But if academics can find a

9:06 AM GMT England have sounded the final whistle on football as a warm-up activity in training sessions. Ashley Giles, the director of England’s men’s teams, has never made any secret of his disapproval of his side playing football. And, after Rory Burns became the latest player to sustain a football-related injury, Giles and Chris

2:42 AM GMT Hobart Hurricanes v Brisbane Heat Our XI: D’Arcy Short, Ben McDermott, Chris Lynn, Matt Renshaw, Caleb Jewell, David Miller, Ben Cutting, James Faulkner, Riley Meredith, Qais Ahmed, Ben Laughlin NOTE: We might not always be able to tip you off about late injury (or other relevant updates) Captain: Matt Renshaw The Hurricanes

5:12 PM GMT It was Ben Stokes, in his Mirror column, who first referred to this as England’s “cursed tour.” And, as Rory Burns was carried from the field at Newlands – the latest casualty of the warm-up football sessions the players so enjoy – you could see what Stokes meant. At the time of

2:08 PM GMT Bangladesh go into the Under-19 World Cup as one of the most successful teams in the world. They have won 18 Youth ODIs since the last time the trophy was up for grabs – joint-highest alongside India – and their captain Akbar Ali is confident of several more standout performances. Bangladesh depart