Author: Kashish Chadha

Sue Redfern is all set to create history as she will become the first woman umpire to officiate in an England men’s home international game. Redfern has been appointed as the fourth umpire for the England-Sri Lanka first T20I to be played on Wednesday in Cardiff.  Redfern has replaced Alex Wharf after being kept as a standby for her. She was kept in place as standby to ensure a replacement is ready if the ongoing WTC final stretches into the reserve day, which coincides with the first T20I in Wales between England and Sri Lanka. In an interaction with ESPNcricinfo, Redfern spoke of how privileged she feels following her…

England’s limited-overs skipper Eoin Morgan came out in defence of himself after he faced accusations of mocking the Indian fans for their English through old tweets. KKR’s Morgan and his teammate Jos Buttler were under scrutiny for a conversation made over Twitter some years back where they seemed to have indulged in mocking the broken English of some of their Indian supporters by the constant use of “Sir”.  Credit: AsumeTech Opening up on the issue for the first time, Morgan, however, said he wasn’t disrespectful of anyone, adding that his use of “Sir” is a sign of admiration and respect. “I don’t really reflect on…

India’s impressive young paceman Mohammed Siraj recalled the incident involving national skipper Virat Kohli that made him grow in respect for the man. In a conversation with Cricbuzz, Siraj reminisced of the time when he invited Kohli for dinner at his residence in Hyderabad. Even though the Indian captain was complaining of a stiff back, he still made it an effort to visit Siraj’s home and hugged him the moment he reached, which the pacer says was quite a “surreal” experience. “I asked Virat Kohli Bhai for dinner at my home, he was very gracious & accepted the invitation. The moment we landed, Virat…

As the rain continued to play spoilsport during the World Test Championship final in Southampton, former India and New Zealand cricketers questioned ICC’s planning for the marquee fixture. Torrential rains led to Day 1 and Day 4 being entirely abandoned, while there was also a loss of about two hours on Day 2 and Day 3 each due to bad light. The ICC has kept a reserve day for the 23rd of June, but the match won’t have the full 450 overs of play despite that. The governing body had already clarified that the trophy will be shared if there…

England and Wales Cricket Board is aiming for an increase in the crowd capacity allowed in the stadiums for the upcoming home limited-overs series against Sri Lanka. The ECB is taking confidence from the UK government’s ‘Events Research Programme’ to bear the desired results and pave the way for increased crowds. The Pakistan bilateral white-ball series that follows is also on ECB’s radar, but the immediate priority is ensuring a larger number of crowds are allowed to visit stadiums in England for the Sri Lanka leg of the summer. “We are delighted to confirm that the ECB and our international venues are…

Outstanding spells from ace quick Kagiso Rabada and left-arm spinner Keshav Maharaj helped bundle out West Indies for just 165 as South Africa won the second and final Test of the two-match series in St Lucia, ending with a 2-0 clean sweep. After Rabada’s early strikes, Maharaj became only the second South Africa bowler to take a Test match hat-trick and went on to bag a five-fer. Together they made short work of the struggling West Indies unit and led their country’s surge to its first away Test series win since 2017 and first under new skipper Dean Elgar. West Indies headed into Day 4 in Gros Islet, needing another…

England’s star wicketkeeper-batsman Jos Buttler indicated his unavailability for the remaining matches of the Indian Premier League 2021 to be held in the UAE in September-October.  Buttler, who is an integral member of the inaugural IPL champions Rajasthan Royals, hinted that he could be an unlikely participant when their campaign resumes in the Middle East after a pandemic enforced halt.  England will be taking on Bangladesh and Pakistan at the time ahead of the T20 World Cup, and Buttler is likely to give international commitments a “precedence” over the IPL. This, after England men’s director of cricket, Ashley Giles, had said that he expects all England players…

The Board of Control for Cricket in India will be approaching the International Cricket Council with the aim to try and get as many as three major events in the next FTP cycle spanning 2024-31. The Indian board, though, won’t bid but seek to be awarded the hosting rights for those events, reported Cricbuzz, following BCCI’s apex council meeting on Sunday. The matter will be discussed between BCCI and ICC in Dubai. The Indian board’s decision to not bid but seek is borne out of two factors. One, it is against the ICC’s newly adopted bidding system to allocate major…

Having taken confidence from not letting the South African innings prosper too much, West Indies were expected to turn around their fortunes with the bat. However, what followed was another disappointing performance from their line-up on Day 2 of the second Test in St Lucia. One more inappropriate display with the bat saw the hosts being bundled out for just 149 in response to the visitors’ 298. Only four of the West Indies batters reached double digits, with only two of those – Shai Hope (43) and Jermaine Blackwood (49) – showing some fight against a high-class South African bowling attack. Dismissed for scores…

Heading into Day 3, India carried a sense of optimism about their position in the WTC final with the score reading 146/3 and their skipper Virat Kohli and his capable deputy Ajinkya Rahane not out overnight. Another session of those two batting together, it was felt, would strengthen India’s position to the extent where they could put New Zealand under real pressure. However, as it transpired, the Kiwis dismissed both Rahane and Kohli and ran through the lower middle-order as well as the tail to finish off the innings for a score of 217. Kyle Jamieson once again proved to be the chief destroyer…