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War and pandemics aside, there had been seven such instances before the Afghanistan-New Zealand Test in Greater Noida

Sreshth Shah13-Sep-2024A Test to be called off without a ball being bowled is very rare. Barring games cancelled due to war and pandemics, it has happened only seven times previously, with the Afghanistan vs New Zealand game in Greater Noida being the eighth such instance in the 147-year history of the format. Here is a look at the circumstances under which the previous seven games were abandoned completely.England vs Australia, Old Trafford, 1890
Those days, Test matches were three days long, and Australia were looking to earn a consolation victory in the third and final Test of the tour against WG Grace’s England when they arrived in Manchester. But it rained on all three days, leaving the organisers with no option but to call off the Test without even a toss. It was a damp end to a thrilling tour that included 34 first-class matches and the three-Test series which England won 2-0.England vs Australia, Old Trafford, 1938
Manchester was the scene once again, nearly half a century later. The teams were the same, although by now Test matches were four-day affairs with a rest day in between. Wally Hammond and Don Bradman were the captains, and the Old Trafford Test was supposed to be the third Test in the five-match Ashes series. The weather, though, did not allow the toss again, and the teams moved to Leeds next for the fourth game.Australia vs England, Melbourne Cricket Ground, 1970
This time it was in Australia that rain played havoc. Now, Tests had become five-day affairs, and the first two Tests of what was originally a six-match series had been drawn. England elected to bowl at the toss, but right when the teams were heading out, it began to rain, and it did for three straight days in Melbourne. Once it was clear a proper Test wasn’t possible, the administrators got together and came up with a remarkable plan to thwart the idea of a third straight draw and recoup lost revenue.They organised a 60-over one-innings-a-side game on the scheduled fifth day, and it was watched by around 46,000 fans, thereby retrospectively earning status as the first-ever ODI. The organisers also hastily arranged for a seventh Test later in January 1971 to make up for the lost fixture.New Zealand vs Pakistan, Dunedin, 1989
It was an inauspicious start to the three-Test series as the heavy, sweeping rain on the first two days of the Dunedin Test left nearly no chance of a result, and the game was cancelled by day three. However, with conditions improving on the scheduled fourth day of the Test, the two captains John Wright and Imran Khan agreed to play an ODI instead where Richard Hadlee claimed 5 for 38. The next two Tests of the tour went on without a hitch, although those too were draws and the series honours were shared.West Indies vs England, Bourda, 1990
England arrived in Guyana with a 1-0 lead in the four-game series, but a week of torrential rain leading up to the second Test left the Bourda outfield under water. With three days already lost, a contentious early decision was made on the scheduled rest day to call off the game altogether and instead host an ODI on the scheduled fourth day. That ODI could not take place either due to wet conditions, and so the ODI was moved to the scheduled fifth day. A 49-overs-a-side game was finally possible, and Gordon Greenidge’s 77 sealed a comfortable win for the hosts.Pakistan vs Zimbabwe, Faisalabad, 1998
Thick December fog welcomed both sides in Faisalabad for the third Test of the series. Visibility was so poor that after the second day, most players did not even come to the venue in the morning. On day four, the umpires called off the game. However, some commentators felt the decision was made in haste as conditions had improved by the afternoon. The PCB was also criticised for scheduling a Test in Faisalabad, a place where December fog was the norm. The silver lining for Zimbabwe, though, was that the abandoned Test ensured they won their maiden Test series after 15 previous attempts.New Zealand vs India, Dunedin, 1998
It was a remarkable coincidence that the sixth and seventh abandoned Tests were called off on the same day – December 20, 1998. While fog played spoilsport in Faisalabad, it was the rain in Dunedin that had the final say. As the rain continued into the third day of the first Test between New Zealand and India, the umpires called the fixture off, forcing a second abandoned Test in Dunedin. For Umpire Steven Dunne, it was the second time in his career – after Dunedin 1989 – to have to abandon a game, and an unofficial one-dayer was played on the scheduled fourth day.

He has been smashing sixes regularly of late and has already made a name in the IPL. He now wants to take it to the next level

Himanshu Agrawal01-Sep-2024As more and more state associations in India have started running their own T20 leagues, which also attract IPL scouts, there has probably never been a wider pool of T20 players in the country. But only a handful of them graduate to the IPL. Karnataka’s Abhinav Manohar is one of them.Now, in his second coming as a T20 batter, he has developed an X-factor. Fair, all the games of the Maharaja T20 Trophy – Karnataka’s T20 league – this season have been played at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium, where the ball flies, but Manohar’s 52 sixes tower over the next best, Karun Nair’s 27.His team Shivammoga Lions finished fifth out of the six sides, but he was on top of the charts (until the final on Sunday) with 507 runs at a strike rate of 196.51 – the highest for a batter with at least 200 runs – with the standout aspect being his six-hitting. Manohar says he is blessed to have the ability to hit sixes “since a very young age,” and explains what has gone into him clearing the boundary effortlessly.”I have been practising a lot,” he told ESPNcricinfo on the sidelines of the Maharaja Trophy. “[To] each session I go, I bat [for] 300 balls, and hit about 150 sixes against spinners and fast bowlers, and to sidearm and throwdowns. That’s why it’s paying off today.”Manohar feels backing himself more has also helped him in upping his power game, something he didn’t do in the past.”When it comes to hitting sixes, I think I just back myself because I know I can clear any boundary,” he said. “Over the past few years, I didn’t back myself as much as I would like, but now I think I’m backing myself a little bit more.”The aggressive intent apart, Manohar also worked on some technical aspects over the last three to four months. He said he “didn’t have any goals as such coming into the season” and was content to just apply what he has worked on recently.”I just wanted to come out here and practice because this is the best stage to practice,” he said. “I have two batting coaches: Mithun Manhas from Gujarat Titans (GT), and Sudhindra Shinde, in Bangalore. Shinde has been helping me here because I go to him once a week, and we work on my batting.”They should take half the credit for my success in the Maharaja Trophy because they have been helping me day in, [and] day out. And hopefully, this is just the start of something better to come.”Manohar has learned to relax, even while freely flinging the cricket ball out of the ground – even with the opposition constantly in his ear and despite being a late starter in domestic cricket.Abhinav Manohar has showed some of his big hits in the IPL for Gujarat Titans•AFP/Getty Images”Just before going to bat, I tend not to be too serious because if I get into that serious zone about seeing what the other batsman is doing, [or] seeing how the wicket is playing, that plays in my mind,” Manohar said.Part of Manohar’s routine before walking out to bat includes joking around in the dressing room, which he says helps him remain calm. All he prefers in the form of practice in the lead-up to a game is to “knock the ball around just to open up my shoulders”.

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Manohar’s domestic debut came for Karnataka in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy (SMAT) in 2021-22. He was already 27, when some cricketers are at the peak of their powers.But Manohar immediately looked to make up for lost time. On T20 debut, against Saurashtra in the preliminary quarter-final, he thumped an unbeaten 70 off just 49 balls. That knock included six sixes and was a rescue act in a successful chase of 146. He walked out at 34 for 3, and with Karnataka slipping to 60 for 4 in the tenth over, he took over the chase.In his maiden T20 tournament, Manohar scored 162 runs in four innings at an average of 54 and a strike rate of 150 in Karnataka’s run to the final.In February 2022, at the IPL mega auction, (GT), Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) and Delhi Capitals (DC) battled it out for him, before GT bagged Manohar for a whopping INR 2.6 crore, an amount 13 times his base price.Looking back at his first experience of the glitz of the IPL, Manohar said playing alongside Hardik Pandya, David Miller and Rashid Khan was surreal. That season, he played only eight of their 16 games and didn’t quite set the stage on fire, even as he rejoiced in GT’s title win.”It’s something that very few people are privileged to do,” he said. “I didn’t get to play in the finals, but that’s okay. It was a great feeling to actually share the dressing room with such great stars.”Although Manohar had a quiet start in the IPL, he featured in three half-century partnerships with Hardik out of the four times they batted together across the 2022 and 2023 editions. Manohar contributed with crucial cameos each time, and enjoyed his time with his captain both on and off the field.”Hardik is a very nice person; he’s very helpful,” Manohar said. “You can go to him with whatever you want. And he’s someone who just has that positive energy and aura around him all the time.”Despite a lean IPL 2022, Manohar’s power-hitting ability meant GT continued to mostly use him as a finisher in 2023, when he batted at No. 6 on four occasions out of six. Manohar then got only two games in 2024, though GT were without Hardik, but still took back some learnings from his 19 matches across the three seasons.”Having one or two good seasons in the IPL is a way to get noticed and break into the India side”•BCCI”To back myself a little bit more, and to have a steady mindset,” he said, when asked what he takes back from his IPL experiences. “Try not to let your emotions control you. That’s something that most of us don’t know how to do.”But Manohar kept pumping the runs when he got his chances. In the Maharaja Trophy in 2022, he hammered 352 runs at an average of 70.40 and a strike rate of 175.12 to emerge as the highest run-scorer for Mangalore United. That run of form carried on into SMAT in 2022-23, when Manohar played all eight matches, and struck 62 not out in the quarter-final against Punjab with five fours and as many sixes.Manohar was even the biggest earner at the Maharaja Trophy auction, bought for INR 15 lakh by Shivamogga. With 258 runs, he became Shivamogga’s second-highest run-scorer.But something much bigger is now coming up. It is the mega IPL auction for 2025, and Manohar not only hopes to remain with GT but also hopes to get more game time.”Wherever I go, I hope I get to play as many games as possible and get to express myself in the best way possible,” he said. “I feel I have finetuned my game this year, and I’m just hoping to carry the form I have in the Maharaja into the IPL.”That, though, is only one of his goals for the near future. His next wish is to find a permanent place in Karnataka’s List A side, having played just seven games since his debut in December 2021. Add to that his intention to also play first-class cricket which he hasn’t featured in yet.”I’m hoping the selectors back me a little more and see that I’m not only cut out for T20, but that I also have the skillset to play one-day and four-day [matches],” he said. “I’ve been fine-tuning my game to play the longer format – mindset-wise as well. So I’m hoping that this year I get a run in all three formats. And if I get a decent enough run, I’m sure I’ll do well over there.”The ultimate dream, however, remains wearing the India jersey. He has even charted a way out for that.”I would love to represent my country. Having one or two good seasons in the IPL is a way to get noticed and break into the India side,” Manohar said, citing the example of Riyan Parag, who made his India debut against Sri Lanka this year.

Records tumbled at the MCG as Australia put the seal on a dominant summer

Deep Gadhia01-Feb-202516-0 – Australia bagged the multi-format Ashes series 16-0, to sum up their dominant summer. They whitewashed England across three ODIs and three T20Is, and won the historic day-night Test at the MCG inside three days to take the maximum possible points in the series for the first time since its inception in 2013.440 – Australia’s total at MCG in their first innings was their third-highest total at home. Interestingly, both of their highest scores in the Ashes at home have come in pink-ball Tests. The previous being 448 for 9, when both the teams met for the first-ever day-night Women’s Test at the North Sydney Oval in 2017.This was also the eighth instance of Australia scoring over 400 in Test cricket, going past England and India’s seven each.Innings and 122 runs – Australia’s margin of victory over England in the first-ever pink-ball Test at the MCG. It is also the third-biggest margin of victory for Australia following the innings-and-284-runs win against South Africa last year and the innings-and-140-runs win against England in 2001.270 – Australia’s lead at the end of their batting innings at the MCG, the second-biggest first-innings lead for them in Test cricket. The best for them was when they achieved a lead of 499 against South Africa at the WACA last year, which also remains the biggest by any team in the history of women’s Tests.23 – Wickets taken by Alana King across the seven games of the Women’s Ashes, the most by a bowler alongside Ash Gardner who also picked up 23 in the previous Ashes in 2023.ESPNcricinfo Ltd9 – Wickets shared between King and Gardner in the final innings of the MCG Test. It is only the second time spinners have taken nine or more wickets in an innings for Australia. The last time it happened was in the previous Test here at the MCG in 1949, when Betty Wilson, Una Paisley and Amy Hudson shared the spoils.1 – Annabel Sutherland became the first woman to score a Test match century at the MCG. In the previous two matches played here, in 1935 and 1949, England’s Betty Snowball had the highest score of 83 not out at the iconic venue.ESPNcricinfo Ltd3 – Sutherland equaled the record of Wilson and Jill Kennare to have the most centuries for Australia in Test cricket. She now has three centuries in her last six Test innings, and becomes only the second woman after India’s Sandhya Agarwal to have three or more hundreds under the age of 24.150 – Sutherland also became the first woman in Test history to have scored 150-plus scores in consecutive innings en route to her 163 at the MCG, with her previous Test innings being the mammoth 210 at the WACA last year. She is just the third cricketer to have multiple 150-plus scores in Test cricket after Karen Rolton and Heather Knight.4 – Beth Mooney’s maiden Test match century made her only the fourth woman after Knight, Tammy Beaumont and Laura Wolvaardt – and the first Australian – to have centuries in all three international formats of the game. She has three ODI and two T20I tons apart from her first in Tests.ESPNcricinfo Ltd6 – Nat Sciver-Brunt’s half century in the first innings at the MCG, means she now has a fifty in each of her last six Tests, making her the first player to achieve this feat in Women’s Tests. Three have come against Australia, two against South Africa and one versus India in 2023.5 for 143 – Sophie Ecclestone became the first female visiting bowler to get their name up on the MCG honours board. But it came at an expensive cost, as she conceded the second-most runs by a bowler in a women’s Test whilst taking a five-wicket haul. Ony former Pakistan skipper Shaiza Khan has a more-expensive five-for, conceding 167 runs for her six wickets in 2004 in what is still the country’s last Test played.It was also the fourth occasion of Ecclestone conceding over 100 runs in a Test innings, the most for any bowler. New Zealand’s Jackie Lord had done so three times over the course of her Test career.

Hazlewood has been outstanding in the IPL following injury and indications from last season are that the hierarchy remains

Andrew McGlashan01-May-20252:12

What makes Hazlewood a much-improved T20 bowler?

Plenty of Australian cricketers are currently plying their trade overseas, and Josh Hazlewood is going as well as any of them for Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) at the IPL in what has been an encouraging return from injury and shapes as bad news for Scott Boland’s hopes of featuring in the World Test Championship (WTC) final.As of Thursday, Hazlewood was the leading wicket-taker in the IPL – with 18 wickets in ten matches – and while the role and requirements of T20 are considerably different to a Test match, his trademark back-of-a-length mode of attack has been key to a number of his dismissals.Two years ago, Boland was the beneficiary when the selectors opted to preserve Hazlewood for the Ashes that followed the WTC final against India as he returned from a side injury picked up in that season’s IPL. Boland went on to bowl brilliantly at The Oval, claiming five wickets in the match, as Australia won the mace by 209 runs. This time, barring any setbacks for Hazlewood over the next month, it looks like going the other way.Related

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For all Boland’s success that sees him sit with a Test record of 56 wickets at 17.66 from 13 matches he has only once been a first-choice selection when the big three quicks have been fit or not rotated: that was the opening Test of the 2023 Ashes when he was selected ahead of Mitchell Starc at Edgbaston. The two matches Boland played in that series have been the only occasion when a team has consistently dominated him – he finished with two wickets at 115.50 and an economy rate of 4.91 – as England’s Bazballers used his metronomic length to their advantage.Last season against India, Boland was the ultimate super sub. He replaced an injured Hazlewood in Adelaide where he zipped the pink ball around but then immediately made way in Brisbane only for Hazlewood to then suffer a calf strain. Boland took 16 wickets in the next two matches at the MCG and SCG, but the pace-bowling hierarchy remained clear. Again, Boland will likely need someone else’s misfortune to make the XI at Lord’s.Josh Hazlewood had an interrupted series against India•Getty ImagesHazlewood cut a distraught and frustrated figure as he walked off the Gabba after a ginger one-over spell on the fourth day after he tested the extent of the calf strain. Having emerged from an injury-hit period between 2021 and 2023, where he played just four Tests, he featured in 12 out of 13 matches after the WTC final, only missing at Headingley in the Ashes when he was rested.As Hazlewood recovered from the calf injury, a hip problem emerged, which ruled him out of the Champions Trophy. Through the various setbacks – both the recent ones and during 2021-2023 period – Hazlewood has remained adamant that it’s largely been bad timing rather than an indication that his body is becoming a genuine concern although Aaron Finch has previously suggested the selectors may need to start cherry-picking the Tests he plays.”I’ve had a little history of sides and calves, they are probably the two things that have kept me out for the majority of the last four years, but I [can] sort of just keep adding another layer to the defence hopefully,” he said late last year. “I’ve ticked a lot of boxes in the last 12 months and it’s just the timing again – they are only little two or three-week injuries, it’s just the timing of it and missing big games so that’s probably the frustrating thing.”Hazlewood has the 300-wicket mark in his sights should he be able to string appearances together this year, currently sitting on 279 at 24.57. There are landmarks approaching for all the big three: Pat Cummins is on 294 Test wickets, while Starc has 382 and is four games away from reaching 100 caps.There will be a couple of training camps in Brisbane during May for the Australian players who are based at home, which includes Boland who opted not to play county cricket after finishing the domestic season with a knee niggle.Initial WTC final squads, which will be 15 players, need to be submitted to the ICC by May 11 but can be amended until the end of the month. After that, the technical committee’s approval will be required for any injury replacements. Australia are expected to have a couple of travelling reserves with them in England, from where they head straight to the West Indies for a three-Test series.

The bowlers set up PBKS’ win over MI, but Priyansh Arya and Josh Inglis, who are complete opposites at the crease but with the same potential to destroy attacks, hogged the headlines

Karthik Krishnaswamy27-May-20251:33

Jaffer: Arya showed a lot of maturity after low scores

Why move when you can simply stand still? Priyansh Arya asks this question every time he bats.There was a moment on Monday night when Josh Inglis called Arya for a single that was never on, and sent him back when he was a third of the way down the pitch with the ball already in the mid-off fielder’s hands. Even a dive wasn’t going to save Arya if there was a direct hit at the bowler’s end, but there needed to be one, with no one backing up at the stumps. Other batters may have dived anyway. Arya simply stood there, waiting placidly for the throw’s accuracy to determine his fate.The throw missed. Arya lived on.Related

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That was only the most extreme example of Arya’s no-wasted-energy philosophy. Monday’s other examples came when he was on strike during Punjab Kings’ (PBKS) chase of 185 against Mumbai Indians (MI). There were, for instance, two fours in the first over of the innings, both stroked over the off-side inner ring when Trent Boult offered him width, both played with languidly minimal footwork that seemed to dilate the time that elapsed between ball leaving bowler’s hand and ball meeting bat.It’s one thing to stand still and let the ball come to you when it’s coming at the pace you expect from that bowler. It’s another thing entirely to play a shot like Arya did in the fourth over, off Deepak Chahar, to move from 15 to 19.This shot came off a 118kph knuckle ball, from a bowler whose previous over had been a maiden full of knuckle balls to Arya’s opening partner Prabhsimran Singh. And that hadn’t been a bowler tying down a struggling batter; Prabhsimran has been in red-hot form all through IPL 2025. But he wasn’t quite coming to grips with the slower ball on a pitch where slower balls had been notably hard to hit – PBKS’ bowlers had used it with great skill to restrict Suryakumar Yadav, of all people, to 57 off 39 balls.Chahar’s knuckle ball to Arya, then, wasn’t a straightforward ball to hit to the boundary on this pitch. Arya, at any rate, didn’t it. He stood still, waited, waited some more, and met the ball with a checked jab to send it racing past the right hand of the diving fielder at short cover.1:48

Moody: Inglis taking on MI’s threats was a real positive

“I said, maybe four or five games in[to the season], that I felt Priyansh Arya was going to be one of the finds of the tournament,” PBKS head coach Ricky Ponting said after the match. “Think that’s pretty hard to argue with now. Just a fearless young talent, you know, going out there, seeing the ball and hitting the ball.”Arya’s see-ball, hit-ball methods have already been spoken about in excited tones. Monday night revealed a new layer: how well Arya sees the ball, and how that allows him to hold his shape and stay still for as long as he needs to before he hits it, even when it isn’t coming off the pitch at a predictable pace.So easy was Arya making batting look that it needed Prabhsimran to get wrenched out of shape repeatedly at the other end – he was out for 13 off 16, falling to the second chance he offered off a miscued skier – to put his innings in context.

It was a victory for PBKS’ tactical tweaks: they had loaded up on batting depth at the expense of a specialist bowler in their last match, a defeat to DC on Saturday, and had course-corrected here

Prabhsimran’s departure brought to the crease Inglis – and another study in contrasts, which extended over a match-winning partnership of 109 in 59 balls.Inglis is anything but languid. Even when he’s notionally still in his stance, he’s a crouching storehouse of potential energy straining to burst into a flurry of quick feet and quicker hands. And where Arya simply strokes, punches, and slaps the ball into his favourite zones no matter where the fielders are, Inglis constantly scans the field for gaps to target.At the six-over mark, PBKS were 47 for 1, going at well below their required rate. MI brought on Mitchell Santner, a master of pace changes who had taken 3 for 11 in four overs in his last game against Delhi Capitals (DC). It felt like a critical moment.2:22

Is this finally PBKS’ year?

And Inglis, batting on 8 off 8 at that point, made his intentions clear. Santner was bowling with the longer square boundary to the off side of the right-handed Inglis, with a strong breeze blowing from off to leg, all of which made straying in line doubly dangerous. Santner’s first two balls to Inglis were both aimed at making him hit to the off side, and both were dots; a firm cut to point, and a missed reverse-sweep off a 77kph dangler wide of off stump.Even though he missed it, that reverse-sweep was something of a win for Inglis. It’s hard for a spinner, even one turning his stock ball away from the batter, to protect the boundary against that shot, since you can only have five fielders outside the 30-yard circle. Inglis probably expected Santner to straighten his line next ball, and he did. And it wasn’t a bad ball: quick and only marginally short of a length, but Inglis probably expected both those things. He rocked deep in his crease and cleared the man guarding the short boundary at deep midwicket with a straight bat-pull – the shot Heinrich Klaasen has made his trademark – his low crouch helping him get under the ball and generate elevation.Inglis continued to press on with this mix of field manipulation and lightning hands and feet, ramping Hardik Pandya for a six over short third in the eighth over and reverse-sweeping Ashwani Kumar twice while hitting him for three successive fours in the 11th.1:51

Moody: PBKS attack well suited to these conditions

Arya, who had spent most of this period away from the strike, then asserted himself with back-to-back boundaries in the 12th over, slapping Hardik over the covers for four and slugging him over wide long-on for six with an effortless baseball swing to bring up his half-century off 27 balls. Inglis, who had brought up his fifty two balls earlier, was batting on 50 off 29.Contrasting methods, near-identical returns, and PBKS were cruising, needing 65 off 48 balls to seal a top-two finish and a place in Qualifier 1. They got there with nine balls to spare.It was a victory for the side that had bowled better on the day, making better use of the pitch, the ground’s asymmetry, and the wind conditions. It was a victory for PBKS’ tactical tweaks: they had loaded up on batting depth at the expense of a specialist bowler in their last match, a defeat to DC on Saturday, and had course-corrected here.Above all, it was a victory for the best batting team of IPL 2025 to this point. PBKS have passed 200 seven times this season, and their last six matches have brought them totals of 201, 194, 236, 219, 206 and 187, with the two sub-200 scores coming in successful chases. Seven of their batters have scored at least 100 runs this season at 30-plus averages and 149-plus strike rates. The thing that makes their line-up so dangerous is that any two or three of them could fire on a given day. On this day, it was a left-right pair of utterly captivating contrasts.

Serial Finals Day contenders continue to evolve, with young seamer to the fore

Alan Gardner12-Sep-2025It says plenty for Hampshire’s pedigree in the T20 Blast that one of the junior members of the side is gearing up for his fourth Finals Day appearance. Scott Currie was nine – and still to make a decision over whether he would prefer to pursue cricket or football as part of Portsmouth’s academy – when Hampshire won their first T20 title in 2010. This weekend, the club will be in contention at English cricket’s T20 showpiece for the 11th time in 16 seasons.Currie, now 24, heads back to Edgbaston as Hampshire’s leading wicket-taker in the competition this year, and having played every game as part of a seam-bowling group that features the wily old salts, Chris Wood, Benny Howell and James Fuller, as well as young pace merchant Sonny Baker, recently capped by England.Since breaking into the first XI in 2021, when his 19 wickets at 12.84 helped Hampshire to reach the Blast semi-finals, Currie has quietly carved out a niche as one of the most effective seamers operating in the domestic game. At 6ft 5in and with the required range of variations to succeed in modern short-form cricket, he has stood out for his calm temperament. “I might not be the most talented or have the express pace of, say, Sonny, but I’ve got my own skill set I try to stick to,” he tells ESPNcricinfo.Related

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Part of that is a willingness to do the “dirty work at the end of the innings”, fully aware that a bowler can just as easily become the villain as the hero in such scenarios. It’s a quality his captain, James Vince, a man involved on all 11 of Hampshire’s trips to Finals Day, doubtless values.”It’s not glamorous, but it’s about trying to get a job done for the team,” Currie says. “I do relish those moments, because I think that’s where you learn about yourself. I’d rather be in those moments, and maybe not on the right side of the result, but you’re learning about yourself, and you’re learning for next time what you need to do differently”[I’ve] probably only been doing it the last couple of years, but in that short time, I’ve messed it up untold times, I’ve got it right a few times. That’s just the nature of the game. You get it right, people think you’re great. You get it wrong and you look a bit foolish. But yeah, I’m more than happy to step into those roles, and I think the captains that I’ve played under appreciate that, and it probably helps me stay slightly ahead, and maybe gets me picked in teams where others might not necessarily fulfill those roles.”Currie has had to bide his time with Hampshire – he was 12th man when they won the Blast in dramatic circumstances in 2022, and again when they lost in the semi-finals in 2023 – but has done a diligent apprenticeship. He cites former team-mate Nathan Ellis, the Australian overseas who held his nerve (twice) to seal Hampshire’s title three years ago, as someone he has consciously tried to emulate, particularly when bowling at the death.”He always had this thing where Vince would call him to bowl, he knew he was bowling at the end, and he would always run towards the crease to give his hat to the umpire. And I saw that as ‘Wow, he looks like he wants to be there’. It’s something I sort of tried to copy and tried to use. He never shied away, he was always in those moments.”But the performances of Currie and their leading Blast run-scorer this season, opener Toby Albert, alongside other homegrown talents like Tom Prest (22) and Eddie Jack (19), suggests that the club’s culture of success won’t dry up when the likes of Vince, Wood and Dawson take their leave of the Hollies Stand in full flow.”We’re blessed with the group we’ve got,” Currie says. “We’re blessed with the coaching staff we’ve got. There’s probably more than meets the eye, it goes beyond just the playing group. It’s a whole squad effort. There’s lads who will be traveling and sitting in the stands… People won’t quite won’t get the accolade they deserve, but they’re integral parts to the club.”If you look through our season, we’ve had people step up at every juncture, every different stage. Eddie Jack played three games, and I think he played three of the tougher ones, Merchant Taylors, Taunton and Bristol … But as a 19-year-old kid, to step into those moments is massive. And then, you know, when we got Sonny [Baker] back for the back end of the group stage, it was like a breath of fresh air, almost a new lease of life for the team. We entered a period of six games where we had to win at least half, and we went on to do that, and he added real venom to the attack.”It’s great that we’ve had various different people, whether that be youngsters or the senior players, step up at different times as the sign of a good team. I’m sure there’ll be someone stepping up again come Saturday, and hopefully that leads us all the way to the final and then maybe a trophy.”Finals Day will allow Hampshire to park, for the weekend at least, the points deduction that threatens their status in Division One of the County Championship. Currie could have left to join Leicestershire permanently after his loan spell, but says “Hampshire has always been my home” and is focused on breaking into the red-ball side. It goes without saying that he would prefer to fulfil those aspirations in the top tier (not least because Leicestershire secured their own promotion this week).It is also a chance to give departing head coach, Adi Birrell, a fitting send-off after seven seasons (and almost as many trips to the Blast’s big day out). “He’s been a wonderful servant to Hampshire, and acts as almost a father figure for a lot of people around the club. Yeah, if anything, it’ll be about trying to give him what he deserves on Saturday.”

With the WPL auction, and before that retention day, coming up, some of these cricketers are likely to create interest following their World Cup performances

S Sudarshanan04-Nov-2025

Nadine de Klerk was at her absolute best in the league-phase win over India•ICC/Getty Images

Nadine de KlerkA pace-bowling allrounder who can nail the yorkers and whack more than just a few at the death? Yes, please! De Klerk is one of those whose stocks would have risen big time ahead of the WPL auction. In Indian conditions, she put up quite a show with the bat – against India, no less – rescuing South Africa from a seemingly impossible situation in a chase in the league stage. Her strike rate of 131.64 in the World Cup was second only to Richa Ghosh’s 133.52 (minimum 20 balls faced). She also picked up nine wickets, the third-most for South Africa. That she can keep her calm at the death was evident in the final, where she gave away just six singles bowling the 50th. She was with Mumbai Indians (MI) in WPL 2025 but did not get a single game. If they retain her, it will be tough not to give her a spot in the XI?Amanjot Kaur made big contributions at crucial moments at the World Cup•Getty ImagesAmanjot KaurThe start of WPL 2025 and the recent World Cup was similar for Amanjot – she was returning from a stress fracture of the back earlier this year, for MI, and she was out with niggle for two months before the World Cup. Both the competitions ended with her team winning the trophy. The World Cup would have given a massive boost to MI, who can now retain her as the Indian seam-bowling allrounder ahead of Pooja Vastrakar, who has had a long injury layoff. Amanjot has shown she could be the second seamer, she can float in the batting order, and that she is a gun fielder is no secret.Annabel Sutherland emerged from a brief run of low scores•ICC/Getty ImagesAnnabel Sutherland and Marizanne KappEven though Australia were knocked out in the semi-final, Sutherland had a memorable World Cup, outshining the likes of Ellyse Perry and Tahlia McGrath. Only Deepti Sharma (22) had more wickets than Sutherland’s 17 in the competition. Her death-over exploits often helped Australia rein opponents in.Related

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Her Delhi Capitals (DC) team-mate Kapp had a relatively sedate World Cup, where she finished with 12 wickets but went wicketless in four of the nine outings including the final. Her five-wicket haul against England in the semi-final proved she still has it in her to deliver when the stakes are high.In WPL 2025, Sutherland was the third-highest wicket-taker for DC with nine wickets, one more than Kapp’s eight. This is why DC could face a tricky choice if they have to retain one of them. Both of them have shown at the World Cup that they can rescue their teams from tricky situations with the bat, too. Whoever finds themselves in the auction is likely to trigger a bidding war.N Shree Charani was the point of difference in the games against Australia•BCCIN Shree CharaniShe played only two games for DC in WPL 2025 but that was enough for India to get her into the World Cup squad. Her ability to vary her pace, get some drift as well as enough bite from the surface makes her stand out from some of the other left-arm spinners. That made India prefer her over the more experienced Radha Yadav, and she delivered with 14 wickets, the second-most for them. She was the best bowler on show in both of India’s matches against Australia, and a prime reason why the defending champions were kept to a lower-than-par total in the semi-final. If she is not retained by DC, expect her to make a splash at the auction.Laura Wolvaardt raised her game to a higher level at the World Cup•ICC/Getty ImagesLaura WolvaardtFor three World Cups in a row, across ODIs and T20Is, Wolvaardt has topped the run chart. In this tournament, her evolution and growth were visible. She opened up scoring areas that she hadn’t accessed before, batted at a higher gear and hit seven of her 18 ODI sixes in the last four weeks. No one doubts Wolvaardt’s ability to score runs even in T20 cricket. The fact she features in our list is because she played only three matches in WPL 2025, where her team Gujarat Giants (GG) used five opening combinations in nine matches. If GG do not retain her – but why wouldn’t they? – there are a few teams who could do with a versatile batter, and leader, like Wolvaardt.

We are still several months away from the World Cup taking place in America in 2026 and while the play-offs to finalise the final few places at next year’s tournament are yet to take place, we now know who England will be facing.

Thomas Tuchel was brought into the Three Lions setup by the FA with one goal. To win the next World Cup.

Well, he can now begin to plot out the route it will take to make the final and potentially lift football’s biggest prize.

Can England end over 60 years of hurt? Time well. Here’s who they’re set to face in the USA next summer and how the rest of the draw played out.

Who are England facing and when?

England were drawn in group L, the final group. They were drawn against Croatia, the nation that beat them in the semi-finals of the 2018 World Cup and Panama, a side they also faced back in 2018, demolishing them 6-1 in the group stages. Rounding off that group is Ghana who were one of the last balls to come out in the draw.

1. Croatia

Wednesday 17th June

2. Ghana

Tuesday 23rd June

3. Panama

Saturday 27th June

What is the rest of the draw?

The first match of the tournament sees joint hosts Mexico take on South Africa, a repeat of the first game of the 2010 World Cup. They will also face Korea Republic and await the winner of a play-off to determine their other match.

Fellow hosts Canada take on Qatar and Switzerland while awaiting another play-off winner while USA face Paraguay, Australia and a play-off winner.

We all love a group of death and next year’s looks as though it could well be Group I which sees France, Senegal, Norway and a play-off winner compete for a place in the knock-out stages.

England's route to the final

Providing England win their group, then they will face a team that finished third in the group stages in the last 32 of the 2026 World Cup.

Awaiting them in the last 16 could be host nation Mexico, before a possible quarter-final awaits against Brazil. In the semi-finals it’s likely they would have to face France. Talk about a tough route.

In the final, it could be a repeat of the showpiece event from the last European Championships, where either Spain or Argentina could await if everything goes according to the script.

Could Messi and Ronaldo face each other?

Well, Messi’s Argentina are set to face Algeria, Austria and Jordan in group J and if they finish top, then their likely route to the final would see them face Saudi Arabia or Uruguay in the last 32.

A tie against the USA or Egypt could await in the last 16. Portugal or Colombia are expected to be their quarter-final opponents before they could face one of Brazil, the Netherlands or Tuchel’s Three Lions in the semi-finals.

As for Ronaldo, his final chance of winning a World Cup will see him face Uzbekistan, Colombia and a play-off winner in the group stages before potential matches against Croatia or England in the last 16 and France or Messi’s Argentina in the quarter-finals await.

Ashwin finishes his Test career with the joint-most number of Player-of-the-Series awards in Tests

Omkar Mankame18-Dec-2024#1
West Indies in India, 2011-12
After taking 13 wickets in India’s victories in the first two Tests, R Ashwin showcased his all-round brilliance at the Wankhede Stadium with a century and a nine-wicket match haul. With India needing two runs to win and two wickets in hand, Ashwin managed a single before being run out on the final delivery of the series, leading to the rare instance of a match being drawn with the scores level.Related

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#2
New Zealand in India, 2012
New Zealand’s batting lineup, featuring Kane Williamson, Ross Taylor, Martin Guptill and Brendon McCullum, had no answer to Ashwin’s spin. He finished the Hyderabad Test with 12 for 85, his first ten-wicket haul in Tests, and followed it up with another six wickets in Bengaluru as India won 2-0.#3
Australia in India, 2012-13
After a poor home series against England, Ashwin finished as the highest wicket-taker in the series against Australia, with 29 wickets at 20.10, starring in India’s first 4-0 series series win in Tests. In the opening Test in Chennai, his hometown, he set the tone with a match haul of 12 for 198. Ashwin took two more five-wicket hauls in the remainder of the series and often bowled with the new ball, something that would become a staple at home for the rest of his career.Promoted to No. 6, Ashwin scored two centuries on the 2016 tour of the West Indies•Associated Press#4
India in Sri Lanka, 2015
Ashwin’s first series award away came in a tough series in which India had to turn over a 0-1 deficit. He became the first Indian spinner to take 20 or more wickets in an away series containing three or fewer Tests. In the first Test, he claimed his maiden 10-wicket haul outside India, and his seven wickets in the second Test secured India’s 278-run victory. He dismissed Kumar Sangakkara four times in four innings in what was the batter’s final Test series.#5
South Africa in India, 2015-16
In India’s sixth Test series win since his debut, Ashwin picked up his fifth Player-of-the-Series award, going level with Sachin Tendulkar and Virender Sehwag. His haul of 31 wickets in the series remains the second-highest by an Indian bowler in seven or fewer innings, after Harbhajan Singh’s 32 wickets against Australia in 2000-01. On raging turners, Ashwin tormented South Africa’s batters, dismissing Dean Elgar four times and AB de Villiers, Hashim Amla and Faf du Plessis twice each as India won 3-0.#6
India in West Indies, 2016
Promoted to No. 6 in the first three Tests for India to play five specialist bowlers, Ashwin scored centuries in Antigua and St Lucia. With the ball, he took 7 for 83 in the second innings in Antigua and backed it up with 5 for 52 in the first innings in Jamaica. Having won Player-of-the-Match awards in both India’s victories in the four-match series, Ashwin was the obvious choice for Player of the series.#7
New Zealand in India, 2016-17
A series haul of 27 wickets, including a career-best match haul of 13 for 140 in the third Test in Indore, propelled Ashwin back to the top of the ICC Test rankings for bowlers. His series haul is the second-highest by any Indian bowler in a three-Test series, again behind Harbhajan Singh’s 32 wickets. Ashwin had opened the series with a 10-wicket haul in Kanpur and continued to hold it over New Zealand’s batters as India won 3-0.Ashwin took 32 wickets against England in 2021, but his favourite moment of the series was his hundred at Chepauk•BCCI#8
England in India, 2020-21

In another stellar series with both ball and bat, Ashwin scored a century at Chepauk, his first Test ton in almost five years, and finished with 32 wickets from four Test matches. He went past 400 wickets in the series, becoming the fastest to get there in terms of balls bowled (21,242). He also made headlines during the series by speaking against criticism of spin-friendly pitches, saying it was no different from pitches that assisted seam on the first day.#9
New Zealand in India, 2021-22
Continuing his dominance over New Zealand at home, Ashwin provided crucial lower-order contributions in the first Test in Kanpur while taking six wickets. He took 4 for 8 and 4 for 34 in Mumbai to seal India’s 1-0 win.#10
Australia in India, 2022-23
After being outbowled by Ravindra Jadeja and Nathan Lyon in the 2017 home Border-Gavaskar Trophy, Ashwin topped the wicket charts six years later and shared the Player-of-the-Series award with Jadeja, who took 22 wickets. After taking eight wickets in Kanpur, Ashwin bowled a memorable over on day one in Delhi, dismissing both Marnus Labuschagne and Steven Smith with outstanding deliveries. He showed he was in top form by even managing a five-for on a flat Ahmedabad track in the fourth Test. India’s 2-1 series win was their fourth straight over Australia.#11
Bangladesh in India, 2024
With India in trouble at 144 for 6 on day one in Chennai, Ashwin scored a fluent century, his first in three years and his second on his home ground. He went on to take 6 for 88 in the second innings, making it the fourth time in his career he had scored a hundred and taken a five-for in the same Test. He added five more wickets to his series tally in Kanpur as India romped to a 2-0 win.

The Arizona Diamondbacks have decided to dive headfirst into selling at the 2025 MLB trade deadline. After dealing Josh Naylor and Randal Grichuk, Eugenio Suarez and their top pitchers are likely next. That means Zac Gallen could have a new home for the first time in his career.

Gallen was named first-team All-MLB and finished third in National League Cy Young voting in 2023. While he has struggled this season, the 29-year-old has a strong track record of success and will be hitting free agency after the season. He's talented, and has a reason to go all-in for the rest of the year.

In 22 starts this season, Gallen is 7-12 with a 5.60 ERA and a 1.35 WHIP, with 121 strikeouts against 47 walks in 127 innings. Compared to his career norms, Gallen's Statcast page for 2025 looks depressing. A change of scenery could likely do him good.

What follows is a look at four teams the could be a great fit for the veteran righty before the trade deadline.

New York Yankees

The Yankees landed the third baseman they needed by acquiring Ryan McMahon from the Colorado Rockies, but if they're truly all-in this season, they'll need to find more pitching. They're sure to look for relievers over the next few days before the trade deadline, but they also need to find another starting pitcher.

Max Fried and Carlos Rodon have the top of the rotation locked down, but Clarke Schmidt was lost for the season thanks to Tommy John surgery, and Gerrit Cole is missing all of 2025 for the same reason. Luis Gil is on his way back, but it's a thin rotation. If New York really wants to make it back to the World Series and finish the year with a title, adding Gallen could be a big step.

Houston Astros

Like the Yankees, Houston's starting rotation is thin thanks to injuries. Framber Valdez and Hunter Brown have been great, but Cristian Javier and Spencer Arrighetti have missed time with injuries, while Ronel Blanco and Hayden Wesneski are out for the year. While Javier and Arrighetti are on their way back, the Astros could use another top-level arm.

Gallen can be that guy, with a career 3.60 ERA, making his rough stats this year a complete outlier.

Chicago Cubs

The Cubs have been one of MLB's best stories this season, boasting an absolutely punishing offense. That said, if the Northsiders want to make a deep run this season, they'll need to add another starting pitcher. Shota Imanaga and Matthew Boyd have held things down at the top of the rotation, but the team is desperately missing Justin Steele.

Cubs starters rank 14th in MLB with a 3.96 ERA, but have allowed the fourth-most home runs (91) and rank 18th in innings pitched (554 2/3), which has strained the bullpen. They need another starter who can eat innings.

Toronto Blue Jays

Jose Berrios, Kevin Gausman, and Chris Bassitt are a solid trio atop Toronto's rotation, but things fall off dramatically after them. The Blue Jays' starters currently rank 24th in ERA (4.39), and while Eric Lauer has been a nice story (6-2, 2.61), it's hard to believe he'll be able to keep up his pace. He has mildly outperformed his underlying metrics and gives up a lot of hard contact.

Another reliable, veteran arm would only help Toronto's push to steal the AL East away from the Yankees.