Cannot lose Virat, the batsman: Kapil Dev advises Kohli to give up his ego

Women’s Ashes | Beth Mooney ruled out after fracturing jaw in the nets

Australia opener Beth Mooney has suffered a fractured jaw, effectively ruling her out for the most part of the multi-format Ashes series. Scheduled to begin on January 20, Thursday, Mooney has little or no chance to make a comeback in the later stages of the tournament, but the Australian camp is hopeful that she can, given the advancements in medical sciences. Mooney is scheduled to have surgery on Tuesday, 18 January. An integral part of the Australian line-up, Mooney will leave a huge hole in the batting order and will be leaving the think tank scratching their heads as to who will replace her. Mooney’s injury occurred in the nets during throwdowns after a ‘rouge’ ball shot up. According to head coach Matthew mott, who was on the other end of the drill, Mooney tried to avoid the ball the best she could, but ended up damaging her jaw. The multiformat series starts from 20th with three T20Is, before moving to a solitary Test match and then three ODIs.

After U-13 player clears stadium, PCB suspends tournament for age-fraud

Pakistan Cricket Board suspended its U13 and U16 amid age fraud concerns. Tensions had been looming for a while now with several associations believed to have fielded overage players. ESPNcricinfo reported an incident where a U13 player had hit 11 sixes in a game, with one ball clearing the stadium. With the situation getting out of hands, PCB decided to take over and cancel the tournaments, a major part of their Pathways Programme and impose strict regulations. PCB’s high performance director Nadeem Khan in a statement said that fresh bone tests will be conducted as overage cricketers cannot be allowed to take advantage of flaws in the system. "After visual assessment confirmed that some over-age cricketers were participating in the U-13 and U-16 tournaments, suspending the events and conducting fresh bone age tests was absolutely the right thing to do," Nadeem said. "The PCB, as the sole governing body of cricket in Pakistan, cannot allow over-age cricketers to take advantage of the flaws in the system and cause demotivation and mental stress to deserving under-age cricketers as well as their parents.” Controversy related to age fraud had risen its head recently in India as well, with BCCI’s chief medical officer resigning right ahead of the scheduled age-group tournaments. Later, BCCI had allowed overage players to participate in the tournaments but the competition had to be cancelled due to the rising numbers in third wave triggered by the Omicron variant. Speaking about the situation Nadeem said that the age fraud issue had been plaguing Pakistan for quite a while now and it needs to be corrected right away. "Falsifying age to become eligible to participate in age-group cricket is not only an offence but a menace that has been plaguing our system. This now needs to be corrected to protect the integrity of the tournaments as well as to stop the exodus of young talented cricketers."

PSL | After tremendous BBL start, Ian Cockbain gets picked up by Karachi Kings

Ian Cockbain, who scored a fiery 71 off just 42 balls to take Adelaide Strikers through to Big Bash League playoffs, has been snatched by Karachi Kings for the upcoming Pakistan Super League season. Cockbain, 34, has played three crucial knocks in the middle order for Strikers this season in his first week for the club. While in his first game, he played a grafters role to take his team over the line, his latest innings for the Strikers was a severely attacking one where he scored at a rapid rate against the likes of Dan Christian and Sean Abbott. Cockbain was signed as a replacement for countryman Tom Abell, who sustained a knee injury during the current Big Bash League season. The Pakistan Super League will start on 27 January in Karachi and will shift to Lahore for the second phase of the tournament after February 7.

What's the secret behind Marco Jansen's success? Robin Peterson explains

Former South Africa player Robin Peterson, in an interview with Anand Vasu has explained how Marco Jansen has become a sought after commodity in South African cricket. Calling Jansen a talent that will serve South Africa for years to come, Peterson has stated that Jansen’s ability to learn new skills sets him apart. He revealed that in the initial days, Jansen was not comfortable with bowling from around the wicket. “He wasn’t comfortable bowling around the wickets. In the first game he played with us he went around the wicket in Bloemfontein and took three wickets. We had to explain to him that sometimes the ball is not going to swing back at the stumps. You’ve got to bring in more dismissals from around the wickets if it’s flat. With the angle he was able to bring lbw and bowled into play, and that he was able to execute that in a game quickly was a bonus.” This addition was evident in the current series against India where Jansen picked 19 wickets at an average under 17. “It was great to see him do that in the Tests, go around the wickets and try to hit the cracks and bring the ball back into the right-hand batsmen. Those are skills that he has learned over the last 12 months. To take that into a Test match and be successful shows you how quickly he grasps things and puts them into practice,” Peterson added.