Babar Azam is one of the leading captains right now: Mohammad Rizwan

ICC Women Rankings: Mithali Raj regains her top-five spot among ODI batters

Indian Women skipper has regained her spot in the top five of the Women’s batter’s rating in ODI cricket after her 108 balls 78 in the first match of the three-match ODI series against England Women. The list is still topped by South Africa Women’s Lizelle Lee. The other Indian in the top 10 among ODI batters is Smriti Mandhana who slid one position and currently sits at number nine. In the bowler’s raking Jhulan Goswami has maintained her number five position while Poonam Yadav did not play in the first ODI and had a below-par outing in the home series against South Africa has slipped to number nine. The list is topped by Megan Schutt of Australia Women. England Women’s Sophie Ecclestone entered into the top 10 courtesy of her 3-40 spell vs India Women in the last game. Among the all-rounders, Deepti Sharma has maintained her number five position in the list while other Indians including Shikha Pandey, Jhulan Goswami and Harmanpreet Kaur are in the top 20 but not part of the top 10. The list is jointly topped by South Africa’s Marizanne Kapp and Ellyse Perry. The Indian Women return to Taunton, for the second ODI against England Women on June 30 and all of these ladies would be under the spotlight if India are to get back into the series.

Salman Butt joins PCB's umpiring course

Former Pakistan captain Salman Butt has found his name in the list of players who had taken part in the umpiring and match referee course. The course was conducted by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB). Apart from Butt, Abdul Rauf, Bilal Asif and Shoaib Khan were the other international players to have taken part in the course. There were a total 346 personnel who were part of the online Level-1 Umpiring course for umpires and match referees including 49 cricketers. The course was held from June 7 to 25. The PCB had introduced Level 1, 2 and 3 courses for umpires and match referees to develop the match officials. The personnel will now undergo written tests, interviews and fitness tests in the second phase. The Pakistan Cricket Board has said that it wants the former players to get employment opportunities. Butt’s inclusion in the list didn’t really go with the fans and the PCB did face some backlash on social media for the same. The former opener was one of the three Pakistan players apart from Mohammad Amir and Mohammad Asif to be involved in the match-fixing scandal in England in 2010. The then Pakistan skipper Butt was banned for 10 years. The three players were jailed in November 2011.

ENG vs SL | 1st ODI: Sri Lanka suffer another batting collapse as hosts take upper hand

Sri Lanka’s batting woes continued against England in the first ODI of the series after Chris Woakes and David Willey ripped apart the batting unit at Chester-le-Street as the visitors were bundled out for 185. After being put into bat, Sri Lanka had a struggling start after openers Pathum Nissanka and Kusal Perera only managed to put 23 on the board for the first wicket. Nissanka was the first one to depart for 5 after he was removed by Chris Woakes and his dismissal was followed by a couple of more wickets going down in quick succession. The visiting team was struggling at 46/3 when captain Perera was joined by Wanindu Hasaranga in the middle and the two tried to show some resistance after stitching a stand of 99 runs. But Hasaranga miscued a pull stroke on a short delivery from Woakes and was caught in the deep by Livingstone for 54. The right-handed batsman’s departure broke the shackles and the visitors suffered another collapse where they were reduced to 160/8 with Perera who was also back in the hut. He was undone by David Willey for 73. A lot of credit goes to the English bowlers also, especially Woakes and Willey. The two pacers troubled the Sri Lankan batsmen with the pace and some disciplined line and length. Woakes eventually returned with a four-wicket haul while Willey had three wickets to his name during the course. While the home side was impressive with the bowling, the fielding was on spot as well. Sri Lanka lost their last two wickets, courtesy runout with Sam Billings being involved in both of them. Billings repeated what he did in the last T20I when he sent Dasun Shanaka packing. The right-hander came charging in from the deep to hit the bull’s eye at the non-striker’s end and sent Shanaka back in the pavilion. This time it was Praveen Jayawickrama at the receiving end in a similar manner. But this isn’t the first instance where Sri Lanka have suffered a batting collapse. Something similar was witnessed during the T20I series between the two sides which the Lankan side lost 0-3.

Was the toughest period of cricket I’ve been a part: Jamieson talks about WTC final

New Zealand pacer Kyle Jamieson who played a massive role in the side’s win during the final of the inaugural World Test Championship against India in Southampton. The right-arm bowler has now explained how tough it was to watch the match on the reserve day when Kane Williamson and Ross Taylor were out in the middle. “It was probably the toughest period of cricket I’ve been a part of, in terms of watching,” Jamieson told Country Sport Breakfast on Gold AM. “We were sitting inside and actually watching TV. There was a bit of a delay but it seemed like every ball the Indian crowd was up and about and I was like ‘jeez it’s a wicket’ or something like that, but it turned out it was just a block or a single.” The Blackcaps defeated India by 8 wickets after captain Williamson notched up an unbeaten half-century while Taylor remained not out on 47. “But it was nice to have Kane and Ross out there, two of our greatest ever batters really to calm the nerves and finish the job the way they did,” Jamieson said. The right-handed bowler scalped a fifer in the first innings as India were bundled out for 217 and then picked up the prized wickets of captain Virat Kohli and Cheteshwar Pujara in the second before the Kohli-led side was bowled out for 170.