The Ashes | 'Sacred' Sydney Test to be played as scheduled, says NSW health minister

The fourth Ashes Test which is scheduled to take place in Sydney from January 5 will go ahead as planned, New South Wales health minister Brad Hazzard said on Tuesday. According to the Covid-19 guidelines in the New South Wales, if anyone is found to be a close contact of a positive case, he/she needs to mandatory spend seven days in isolation.

“The SCG (Sydney Cricket Ground) Test is sacred, an important date at the start of the third year of our life with Covid-19,” Hazzard said in a statement.

“I want to assure the cricket-loving public, under our rules any players with exposure to a known case of Covid-19 would be asked to test and isolate only until a negative result was received.”

“If there are any cases within the teams, their support staff, or families, we will work with the people involved to ensure they are safe, and there is as little disruption to others as possible,” he added.

The RT-PCR tests for the Australian and the English players have come negative. Earlier, there was a Covid-19 scare in the English camp as two of the support staff and two members among families had returned positive for Covid-19.

But the rapid antigen test of the England players came negative and the players were allowed to take the field on Monday.

Australia have taken a 3-0 unassailable lead in the five-match series after clinching a thumping win by an innings and 14 runs in the third Test in Melbourne.

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SA vs IND | 1st Test, Day 3: India squander dream start as Ngidi, Rabada blow them away for 327

India squandered a dominant position early on the third day of the first Test against South Africa at SuperSport Park in Centurion as South African pacers came roaring back in the game with a remarkable spell of pace bowling. The tourists started the third day at 272/3 with two set batsmen KL Rahul and Ajinkya Rahane starting the proceedings but they fell quickly off the clip with both the men falling right after the start of the day. Rahul was cramped on a short delivery from Kagiso Rabada while Rahane was guilty of attempting a cut off ball that was too close to his body. Rishabh Pant did not embolden India’s innings and fell to Lungi Ngidi to give the pacer his fifth wicket of the innings while Ravichandran Ashwin fell to Rabada to leave India in tatters. From 278/3, India lost their last seven wickets in a span 0f 11 and a half overs and where they could add only 49 runs. The last pair of Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammad Siraj added 19 runs for the last wicket but the former gifted the struggling left-arm pacer Marco Jansen his first wicket in the longest format on his debut. Rabada picked up three wickets while Ngidi was the most successful bowler with a six-wicket haul. For India, the opening pair of KL Rahul and Mayank Agarwal were the batting heroes while Rahane contributed massively to their total on the first day.

Zimbabwe to tour Sri Lanka for ODI series in January 2022

Zimbabwe is set to tour Sri Lanka for a three-match ODI in January 2022, the Sri Lanka Cricket said on Tuesday and the matches will be played behind closed doors in Pallekele. “The Zimbabwe National Team will tour Sri Lanka during January 2022 to take part in a 03 Match ODI Series,” SLC said in a statement. “The Zimbabwe team will arrive in the country on 10th January 2022. The Matches will be played at the Pallekele International Cricket Stadium, Kandy, under a Bio-Secure Bubble,” it added. The first ODI will be held on January 16 while the second and third will be played on January 18 and 21, 2022 respectively. The Lankan lions will then travel to Australia for a five-match T20I series in February. The Zimbabwe series at home will be Mahela Jayawardene’s first assignment after being appointed as the "consultant coach" across formats. "This is an exciting opportunity to work with the national cricketers and coaches in our various development squads, including the U19 and A Team teams, to help us do justice to the enormous cricketing talent and potential in Sri Lanka," Mahela said earlier.

SA vs IND | 1st Test, Day 3: Lungi Ngidi picks up six-wicket haul to jolt India

Continuing his dream run of form with the ball against India in Centurion, Lungi Ngidi picked up a five-wicket haul on the third day of the first Test between South Africa and India at SuperSport Park. He reached the landmark with the big wicket of Rishabh Pant after taking four massive wickets of Ajinkya Rahane, Virat Kohli, Cheteshwwar Pujara and Mayank Agarwal. India were in a dominant position on the first day of the Test before the persistent rain washed the entire day’s play on the second day of the Test. South Africa came roaring back in the game in the first hour of the third day with consecutive wickets of centurion KL Rahul, Rahane, Ravichandran Ashwin and Pant. Kagiso Rabada was on the top of his game and bounced out Rahul and also dismissed Ashwin to help Proteas come back in the game.

In good shape and fitness, Ambati Rayudu intends to play on for at least three more years

Almost three years into his abrupt and unceremonious decision to quit all forms of international cricket, India batsman Ambati Rayudu is eager to extend his playing days by at least three more years. He had announced retirement after being snubbed from the team squad for the ICC ODI World Cup in 2019 but has been an active member of the Chennai Super Kings in the Indian Premier League until the last edition earlier this year. He has also been playing domestic cricket in India and played for Andhra Pradesh in the recently concluded Vijay Hazare Trophy. Discussing his time on the field in the tournament, Rayudu said that he could sustain through five 50-over matches in a span of six days and hence he believes his fitness is at par and in good shape to allow him to play for the next three years. “I recently played the Vijay Hazare Trophy which is five one-day games in six days which I got through well. I am in good shape and I hope to continue to play at least for the next three years,” PTI quoted Rayudu as saying. Rayudu made his ODI debut in the year 2013 against Zimbabwe while his debut in the shortest format came against England in 2014. He could not get the opportunity to play in the longest format for India despite being in the scheme of things for a long time. He bemoaned missing out on the opportunity to play Test cricket as “unfortunate” but said that he has no regrets about it and rather savours representing the country in the other two formats. “It is a great honour to represent India and I am happy that I represented India in the white-ball format - ODIs and T20s,” he said. “I feel unfortunate about missing out on the Test cap. But I don’t regret it as I have given my best. I am happy for the opportunities I got to represent the team and that in itself is a great honour.” Rayudu was not retained by the Super Kings for the next editions of the IPL and he will have to go through the mega auction to find a new base in the tournament.