Marco Jansen gets maiden ODI call-up in South Africa's 17-man squad for ODI series against India

BBL 11 | Pakistan's Hasnain shines on debut, picks three wickets in four balls to guide Thunder to victory

Pakistan pacer Mohammad Hasnain who was signed up by Sydney Thunder just recently, had an impressive outing in his very first game in the Big Bash League as he took three wickets in four balls and broke the back of the Adelaide Strikers top order to derail their chase. Eventually, the Strikers couldn’t just recover from it and lost the game by 28 runs. The chase was started by the Adelaide openers Jake Weatherald and Matthew Short in a brisk fashion, racing to 24 in just 12 balls. However, with Hasnain into the attack in his very first over, things changed drastically. He first removed Short with a short of a length ball which the batter pouched to deep square leg and then on the very next ball, a booming outswinger saw the back of left-handed Weatherald who was adjudged Leg Before Wicket. On a hattrick, he bowled a fuller ball, but it was navigated well by Jonny Wells. But it wasn’t all too well for Wells as he hit the very next ball to diving short mid-wicket, placed exactly for the pacey bouncer. That over by the 21-year-old was game-changing as recovery from there looked very difficult. Initially, Matt Renshaw and then Thomas Kelly and Harry Nielsen hit 30, 19 and 39 respectively to sail the sinking Strikers ship to respectability before they were all out for 144 eventually. For Thunder, Jason Sangha and Saqib Mahmood picked two wickets each apart from the three from Hasnain. Earlier in the evening, it was the Matthew Gilkes show at the Sydney Showground Stadium. The left-hander went on a roll right from the time Thunder decided to bat first after winning the toss. Gilkes hit nine fours and three sixes to score 93 off just 57 balls before getting out on the gift ball of the last over. However, he was the lone rider as apart from Ben Cutting no other Thunder batter could get going as the team could reach up to only 172 in their 20 overs at the loss of seven wickets. For Strikers, Wes Agar and Peter Siddle picked three wickets each while Rashid Khan had one to his name. With this win, the Thunder cleared Hobart Hurricanes to march up to the third position in the points table with 18 points to their name, one more than the hurricanes.

The Ashes | Joe Root turns coach, helps struggling Zak Crawley, Ollie Pope prepare for Sydney Test

England’s top order has been in shambles in the first three Tests of the Ashes series and they have given no respite to their skipper Joe Root, who has had to come out to bat even before Australia changed their new ball opening pair. Having lost the series in Melbourne, and travelled to Sydney without their embattled coach Chris Silverwood, Root has taken it upon himself to give perfect preparation for his teammates. They made as many as four changes for the Boxing Day Test including Zak Crawley at the top of the order and dropping Ollie Pope for Jonny Bairstow. He turned coach for the duo and helped them prepare for the New Year Test scheduled to start on January 05. As per a Cricbuzz report, Root discussed batting stance with Crawley and may have asked him to change his bat position in which his bat comes across his body rather than coming straight down the line of the stumps. On the other hand, he gave throwdowns to Pope and helped him prepare for the balls coming into him. England team management that includes Joe Root has been under fire after their embarrassing loss to Australia in the series. Now they will have to play out of their skins to avoid a whitewash.

BBL 11 | English players to leave early, teams search for combination as a consequence

Six English players of five major Big Bash League teams would be departing before January 07 as they will have to prepare at home to leave for the West Indies tour which begins on January 22. The six players are Sam Billings, Saqib Mahmood, George Garton, Tymal Mills, Reece Topley and James Vince who will be flying out with England's T20I squad to Barbados on January 15. They will take part in a five-match series that the Windies will host after their assignment with Ireland gets over. None of the England Test squad members who are currently in Australia for the Ashes series is part of the team that would be travelling to the West Indies. Assistant coach Paul Collingwood, who left Australia prior to Christmas, will stand in for the T20I portion of the Caribbean tour. While Thunder have signed Mohammad Hasnain to cover up for the loss of Mahmood, the Sixers have also roped in Pakistan all-rounder Shadab Khan as a replacement to Vince. Other teams such as Adelaide Strikers (Garton), Melbourne Renegades (Topley) and Perth Scorchers (Mills) are still in search of a perfect replacement which is hard to find given the rise in Covid-19 cases and subsequently the toughness of the quarantine.

Rahul Dravid hails 'phenomenal' Kohli for keeping India's morale high despite 'noise' around him

Virat Kohli may well have lost the trust of the top brass of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and selectors after his decision to quit T20I captaincy and the series of statements in its aftermath, but he has not lost the trust of one of the most important voice which matters for the Indian team. India’s head coach Rahul Dravid has come out in the open to praise the intensity and commitment of Kohli and said that the Test skipper has been “phenomenal” in his efforts to lead the side despite all the “noise” surrounding him in the last few days. He hailed Kohli for keeping the morale of the side higher after coming to South Africa and reiterated the importance of keeping all the players in good mental space before a big series. Kohli has not scored a century since a Test century against Bangladesh in November 2019 but Dravid did not mark this as a point of concern and said that a big innings is just round the corner for him. He said that Kohli has been preparing really well for his batting challenges and that he will make it count once he clicks in the series. "I couldn't speak more highly about him and the way he has committed to his preparation and also just the way he has connected with the group, on and off the field," Dravid said. "Even personally, he is in a good space. Even though he hasn't been able to convert starts. I feel there is a big run of really good scores coming from him. Just observing him around the group, and looking at how relaxed and switched on he is, I do feel, we are going to see a big run of scores once he clicks. He has been a real credit to himself and the team despite the noise that has been around him. "I know there has been a lot of noise on other issues leading up to this particular Test. Honestly, keeping the morale high is not very difficult. It has been led by the skipper himself. Virat has been phenomenal over the last 20 days that we have been here, the way he has trained and connected with the group. As a coach, sometimes, leading into the series, there isn't too much you can do once the game starts. You are looking to prepare well and get the team into a good space," Dravid said in the pre-match press conference from Johannesburg. The world would have been waiting for Kohli to address the fresh set of revelations made by the chairman of selectors, Chetan Sharma over his decision to relinquish T20I captaincy. However, it has not been Kohli addressing the pre-match press conference as per tradition but Dravid has had to perform the duty. Dravid’s address to the media quashed the possibility of flaring up the controversy but the former India skipper downplayed the issue of Kohli not coming to the press conference and said that he will be up for it before his 100th Test match which will be the third and last Test of the series. “Nothing like that. I don't decide this anyway. But the BCCI media team have told me he is just being held back ahead of the 100th Test in Cape Town, you all can celebrate him in a big way then,” Dravid reckoned. India are 1-0 up in the series and they will be eager to win the second Test of the series to win their first-ever Test series in the rainbow nation.