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Australia have been handed a couple of Ashes boots with Steve Smith hitting a hundred in the Sheffield Shield and captain Pat Cummins returning to bowling in the nets.Smith – who will deputise for Cummins (back) as Australia skipper for the first Test against England in Perth from November 21 – scored 118 from 176 balls for New South Wales against Queensland. Smith’s knock in Brisbane, his first in red-ball cricket since the tour of West Indies in June and July, included 20 fours and a six and came against a Queensland side featuring likely Ashes team-mate Marnus Labuschagne. Image:…

Josh Philippe returns as a specialist bat as Mitch Marsh chose to bowl in first T20I against India Josh Philippe’s head-spinning start to the season continued Wednesday at Manuka Oval after the wicketkeeper-batter was recalled for his first T20 International in nearly two years.   Australia captain Mitch Marsh won the toss and elected to bowl on a chilly Canberra evening with temperatures to drop as low as eight degrees for the BKT Tyres series-opening T20I. Australia XI: Mitch Marsh, Travis Head, Josh Inglis (wk), Tim David, Marcus Stoinis, Mitchell Owen, Josh Philippe, Xavier Bartlett, Nathan Ellis, Matthew Kuhnemann, Josh…

Victoria are trying to build a match-winning lead as wickets again tumbled at the Junction Oval on day two of the Sheffield Shield game against Tasmania Victoria v Tasmania | Sheffield Shield | Day 2 Australia’s incumbent No.6 Beau Webster has fallen for just 11 in his Sheffield Shield return for Tasmania. A day after the allrounder opened the bowling and took 1-26 from 12 overs, Webster failed to make an impact with the bat in the Tigers’ match against Victoria at the Junction Oval. Tasmania ended their first innings with a deficit of 24 after being bowled out for…

There were plenty of runs for Test-capped batters on day two as Steve Smith kicked off his summer with a century Steve Smith has made a perfect start to his Ashes build up with Australia’s captain for next month’s first Test cracking a superb century in his first innings of the Sheffield Shield season. Smith’s 176-ball 118 was one of three centuries on Wednesday as former Test batters Cameron Bancroft (122) and NSW teammate Kurtis Patterson (122) also reached triple figures on day two. Smith sizzles on Shield return with scintillating century Smith and Patterson put Queensland’s under-strength pace attack…

England’s batting flopped for the second time in four days as Harry Brook’s side slumped to a one-day international series defeat in New Zealand ahead of The Ashes.England were bundled out for 175 in 36 overs during a five-wicket loss in Wednesday’s second ODI in Hamilton – Jamie Overton (42 off 28 balls) top-scoring from the No 8 spot – having been rolled for 223 in a four-wicket reverse in Sunday’s opener at Mount Maunganui. Jofra Archer (3-23), playing his first ODI against New Zealand since delivering the match-winning Super Over in the 2019 World Cup final, pinned Will Young…

Beau Webster took a wicket but missed out with the bat as he returned from an ankle injury to begin his build-up to the Ashes Beau Webster believes he is “playing the best cricket” of his life but concedes it may not be enough to keep him in the Test team if Cameron Green returns to playing as a fully-fledged allrounder in time for next month’s Ashes opener. Webster, Australia’s incumbent No.6, is making his first appearance of the Sheffield Shield season in this week’s clash with Victoria after overcoming an ankle injury that sidelined him from Tasmania’s opening two…

Our selection for the best XI from the 2025 ODI World Cup Smriti Mandhana (India) Matches: 7 | Runs: 365 | 100s: 1 | 50s: 2 | Ave: 60.83 | HS:109 Mandhana was one of the first names on this list, and after a slow start to the tournament the India opener has been at her sublime best. She struck a century at the right time to help India seal their semi-finals berth against New Zealand, while she also dominated Australia in Vizag.  Alyssa Healy (Australia) (wk) Matches: 4 | Runs: 294 | 100s: 2 | 50s: 0 | Ave:…

Rather than dwell on losses to England at previous 50-over World Cups, Wolvaardt was instead more interested in taking confidence from good results at the semi-final stage of the two most recent editions of the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup. South Africa defeated England by six runs at the semi-final stage of the 2023 T20 World Cup on home soil and then repeated the dose 12 months later against Australia in Dubai as they qualified for the decider against New Zealand. “That semi-final loss against England (at the 2022 50-over World Cup) was four years ago, we were a totally…

Sydney Thunder’s leg-spinner is ready to pick the brain of a man with 765 international wickets for India Tanveer Sangha was just eight years old when Ravichandran Ashwin made his international debut for India. Some 15 years later, the Sydney Thunder leg-spinner is set to play alongside the Indian icon in KFC BBL|15. Earlier this month, the Thunder confirmed Ashwin’s full availability for this summer’s men’s Big Bash season. With his BBL debut set to be just 48 days away, Sangha is thrilled to have the chance to work with the off-spinning maestro. “I’m super excited, I think he’s one…

Beth Mooney has been problem solver throughout the World Cup, but her intentions for the semi-final are simple Beth Mooney has declared it is time to “get on with it” as she targets big runs in Thursday’s ODI World Cup semi-final against India in Mumbai. Mooney struck a match-saving century in challenging conditions against Pakistan during the round-robin stage in Colombo, but the 31-year-old is often her own toughest critic and after making starts in Australia’s most recent games, she is hungry for more.The left-hander followed up her 109 against Pakistan with four in Australia’s world-record chase of 330 against…