2:22 PM GMT You can’t control the weather. But you can plan for it. Like the boundary countback that handed England the World Cup (sorry to any New Zealanders reading this who don’t want reminding), ICC playing conditions have again become the major talking point. However, unlike the boundary countback, which was a decider for
England
10:43 AM GMT ESPNcricinfo staff Jofra Archer has signed a two-year contract extension with Sussex that will keep him at Hove until the end of the 2021 season. Though hugely in demand in all formats of the game, at international level and in T20 leagues, Archer says he retains a special bond with Sussex, the
4:15 AM GMT ESPNcricinfo staff Shafali Verma‘s sparkling batting at the top of the order for India has seen her vault 19 places to be the No.1 ranked batter in the world in T20Is. India have marched into the semi-finals of the Women’s T20 World Cup, progressing unbeaten through Group A, with Shafali playing a
12:45 PM GMT ESPNcricinfo staff Left-arm spinner Jack Leach has revealed that he feared for his life after contracting sepsis on England’s tour of New Zealand, admitting there was a point at which he thought to himself: “Don’t fall asleep because you might not wake up”. Leach suffers from Crohn’s disease, an inflammatory bowel disease
8:28 AM GMT Big picture It’s going to be the world’s No. 1 batter against the world’s No. 1 bowler. That wasn’t true just a couple of weeks earlier, before the Women’s T20 World Cup started. But with the league stage done, Shafali Verma has zoomed to the top of the batting rankings, while Sophie
2:26 PM GMT ESPNcricinfo staff Last summer’s World Cup generated almost £350 million (US$448 million) for the UK economy, according to the findings of an economic impact and benefits analysis commissioned by the ICC. The 2019 tournament, which culminated in an extraordinary tied final between England, the eventual champions, and New Zealand, was the most-watched
3:06 PM GMT ESPNcricinfo staff Keaton Jennings has insisted that he has plenty to offer England after his recall to their squad for the Test tour to Sri Lanka, regardless of whether he can break into the side. Jennings, picked as the back-up top-order batsman in the absence of the injured Rory Burns, won his
8:50 AM GMT ESPNcricinfo staff England’s players will not be shaking hands with one another on their tour to Sri Lanka, captain Joe Root has revealed, using “the well-established fist bump” as a greeting instead. Amid the coronavirus outbreak and following a tour to South Africa that saw more than half of the Test squad
10:13 AM GMT Amid the drama of Jofra Archer‘s baptism into international cricket and the explosive impact made in the fleeting appearances of Mark Wood, it might be forgotten that England have at least one more bowler capable of generating speeds well over 90mph (145kph). Olly Stone could easily be described as England’s forgotten fast
2:14 PM GMT Valkerie Baynes Heather Knight has praised Amy Jones‘ response to being demoted down the batting order, hailing her cameo in England’s 46-run victory against West Indies – which sealed a spot in the T20 World Cup semi-finals – as full of character. England had been experimenting with Tammy Beaumont, traditionally a top-order
3:03 PM GMT Paul Farbrace has admitted he is “worried” about Jos Buttler‘s form, but feels England should stick with him as their keeper for the Test series in Sri Lanka. While Farbrace, England’s former assistant coach, regards Buttler as a “brilliant professional” and a “selfless cricketer” he accepts he “needs to score runs” in
Feb 27, 2020 Rory Burns believes the injury that curtailed his winter with the Test team may prove “a good thing” for English cricket in the long term. Burns sustained serious ligament damage when playing football in warm-up the day before the second Test against South Africa. He subsequently underwent surgery and was ruled out
11:59 AM GMT ESPNcricinfo staff Mark Wood’s injury-plagued career has suffered another massive set-back, with the news that he will miss England’s Test tour of Sri Lanka after the re-occurrence of a left side strain. Wood was England’s stand-out seamer on the recent tour of South Africa, claiming 12 wickets in his two appearances at
4:33 PM GMT George Dobell Matt Roller Close Matt Roller is an assistant editor at ESPNcricinfo. He tweets at @mroller98 The PCB is hopeful that an England Lions squad will tour Pakistan next winter. ESPNcricinfo understands that the PCB’s managing director Wasim Khan has engaged in discussions with the ECB, with the hope that a
5:57 PM GMT Deception and subterfuge are key parts of the armoury of a T20 death bowler, but for Tom Curran, Rajasthan Royals’ latest English recruit, those traits may have to be deployed in the nets at Jaipur too. That’s because, with the T20 World Cup looming large on the horizon, a number of his
7:24 PM GMT ESPNcricinfo staff Ian Watmore has been named as the ECB’s new chairman and will succeed Colin Graves when he leaves the post in November 2020. Watmore, 61, was chief executive of the FA for nine months in 2009-10, during which time he launched the Women’s Super League and the St. George’s Park
11:20 AM GMT ESPNcricinfo staff Joe Root has advocated the use of the Kookaburra ball for half of the County Championship season and an increase in the value of batting bonus points. A switch from the current Dukes ball, which has a more prominent seam and favours old-fashioned swing bowlers, to a Kookaburra for some
12:25 PM GMT ESPNcricinfo staff Cricket has come a long way since Paul Farbrace, looking to make his way in the game, took a job picking celery as a way to make ends meet. Farbrace was obliged to work as a postman, customs officer and teacher, too. When he signed for Kent in 1986, he
7:19 AM GMT England 2 for 176 (Knight 108*, Sciver 59*) beat Thailand 7 for 78 (Chantam 32, Shrubsole 3-21) by 98 runs Heather Knight took England’s early World Cup campaign by the scruff of the neck after an early fright against Thailand with a maiden T20I hundred as her team secured an emphatic 98-run
4:32 PM GMT ESPNcricinfo staff England’s World Cup celebrations have continued with Ben Stokes and Jos Buttler collecting honours at Buckingham Palace. The pair were named alongside their World Cup-winning captain, Eoin Morgan, coach, Trevor Bayliss, and Joe Root on the New Year’s Honours list and received their awards from the Duke of Cambridge, Prince
6:02 PM GMT Jos Buttler admits that he cannot continue to be picked on “potential” alone at Test level, after being retained in England’s squad for next month’s tour of Sri Lanka despite an off-colour showing during the recent Test series in South Africa. In the midst of an otherwise upbeat run of performances from
2:22 PM GMT South Africa 4 for 127 beat England 8 for 123 (Sciver 50, Khaka 3-25) by six wickets In her 100th T20I, Mignon du Preez struck back-to-back boundaries in the final over as South Africa held their nerve to secure just a third victory over England in the format in what could be