Mohammad Hafeez to announce retirement from international cricket soon

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

South Africa have handed a maiden call up to left-arm seamer Marco Jansen in a 17-man squad for the three-match long ODI series against India led by Temba Bavuma. Bavuma is returning to lead the side after missing out in the series against Sri Lanka right before the T20 World Cup and the stand-in captain Keshav Maharaj had to lead the Proteas. The left-arm spinner has retained his place as vice-captain of the side for the series against India as well. Jansen will bolster the pace attack comprising of Kagiso Rabada and Lungi Ngidi, while he will have to compete with Wayne Parnell, who offers like for like options to the team for a spot in the playing XI. Quinton de Kock, who recently announced retirement from Test cricket but announced commitment to play white-ball formats for Proteas has also been named in the squad to face the men in blue. Andile Phehlukwayo and Dwaine Pretorious are picked as bowling all-rounders in the squad. The ODI series between South Africa and India is scheduled to begin on January 19 and is set to conclude on January 23. South Africa squad for India ODI series Temba Bavuma (C), Keshav Maharaj (VC), Quinton de Kock, Zubayr Hamza, Marco Jansen, Janneman Malan, Sisanda Magala, Aiden Markram, David Miller, Lungi Ngidi, Andile Phehlukwayo, Dwaine Pretorius, Kagiso Rabada, Tabraiz Shamsi, Rassie van der Dussen, Kyle Verreynne, Wayne Parnell

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.