Starc's 6-Fer, U19 Asia Cup Finalists And CT 2025 Update – December 6 Cricket Highlights

Australia and India U19 team [Source: @Johns, @BCCI/x]

The 2025 ICC Champions Trophy received a major scheduling update, as agreed upon by the ICC, BCCI and the PCB. In other parts of the world, three World Test Championship (WTC) fixtures simultaneously took place to pin six competing nations on the field.

Capping an eventful day in the world of cricket, here we take a look at five of the biggest news that emerged out of Friday, December 6.

Mitchell Starc Leads Australian Resurgence vs India

Australia reached 86-1 by stumps on the opening day of the Adelaide Oval Pink-Ball affair against Team India. Earlier in the day, senior paceman Mitchell Starc toppled in-form Indian opener Yashasvi Jaiswal off the first ball of the match before adding KL Rahul, Ravichandran Ashwin and Virat Kohli to his tally. Starc ended up snaring career-best Test figures of 6-48 to shoot India out for 186 in 44.1 overs.

Captain Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood’s injury replacement Scott Boland also picked up two wickets each to co-headline Australia’s dominant day out. The hosts, currently trailing by another 94 runs, will have their first innings resumed on Day 2 with Nathan McSweeney (38*) and Marnus Labuschagne (20*) batting at the crease.

Brook, Carse Ensure Day 1 Dominance For England Over NZ

In an action-packed opening day of the second Test at Wellington, as many as 15 wickets fell before stumps, including all 10 of the visiting English team. Batting first, England blazed their way to 280 in 54.4 overs with Harry Brook punching out 123 of them from just 115 balls. Ollie Pope also charted a fluent 66 before Nathan Smith’s four-fer and Will O’Rourke’s 3-49 bowled out the visitors.

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Later in the second half of the day, New Zealand ended up losing each of their top five batters before reaching stumps. For England, fast bowler Brydon Carse picked up the key wickets of Kane Williamson and Daryl Mitchell before close of play while Chris Woakes, Gus Atkinson and Ben Stokes also chipped in with a wicket each to reduce New Zealand to 86-5.

Sri Lanka Fightback With The Bat In Must-Win Test vs SA

Courtesy of centuries from Ryan Rickelton and Kyle Verreynne, hosts South Africa mounted 358 after resuming their innings on Day 2 at 269-7. Sri Lankan fast bowlers Lahiru Kumara (4-79) and Asitha Fernando (3-102) picked up seven wickets between them to limit South Africa’s early batting assault.

In response, visiting opener Pathum Nissanka defied South Africa’s new ball attack by carving 89 elegant runs from 157 balls. Dinesh Chandimal and unbeaten batters Angelo Mathews and Kamindu Mendis also unleashed valiant runs in the middle-order to take Sri Lanka to 242-3 by stumps on Day 2, thus finding themselves another 116 runs away from the hosts.

India, Bangladesh Stun Table-Toppers, Qualify For U19 Asia Cup Final

Group B runners-up Bangladesh routed Group A winners Pakistan by seven wickets in the first semifinal, while Group A runners-up India pulverised Group B toppers Sri Lanka with a similar margin in the second to qualify for the 2024 U19 Asia Cup final.

In a detailed retrospection, Iqbal Hossain Emon picked up four wickets to envelop Pakistan for just 116, before captain Azizul Hakim’s 42-ball 61* steered Bangladesh to a seven-wicket win with 167 balls remaining. On the other hand, India chased down Sri Lanka’s 173 with seven wickets and 170 balls to spare courtesy of a sizzling 36-ball 67 from Vaibhav Suryavanshi. Both India and Bangladesh will now face each other for the coveted title on December 8 in Dubai.

ICC Champions Trophy 2025 Gets Major Update

The 2025 ICC Champions Trophy will be played in a hybrid model, with India’s share of matches to be hosted by the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Earlier, the BCCI and the Indian government had expressed their reluctance in sending the Indian team to Pakistan citing the prevailing geo-political tensions shared between the two countries.

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