Two cricket ground staff killed in reported elephant attack in Sri Lanka

Pat Cummins expresses delight as bowling unit follows Ashes blueprint

Pacer and Australia’s newly appointed captain Pat Cummins had a good start to his captaincy stint after he returned with a fifer in the first innings of the first Ashes Test against England in Brisbane. The visitors were bowled out for 147 in the first innings with Josh Hazlewood and Mitchell Starc picking up a couple of wickets apiece during the course. Hazlewood’s dismissals included the priced wicket of England captain Joe Root who was undone for a 9-ball duck. Hailing the bowling efforts from the unit, Cummins lavished praise on Hazlewood for his “high quality relentless bowling”. "It's nice when they don't get a good look, face too many balls," Cummins said. "They are a huge part of their batting line-up. Thought Joshy Hazlewood, that's the blueprint to bowl to Joe Root, high quality relentless bowling and nice to get Stokes' wicket. Everything went to plan today." Fast bowler Mitchell Starc also expressed delight on wrapping up England’s first innings early and lauded the way Cummins and Hazlewood bowled. "Josh and Pat have almost brought that blueprint from the previous Ashes over in England where they seemed to have their plans down pat to Joe," Mitchell Starc told Seven during the rain delay. "Fantastic to get off to the start we did and have him for nothing.

BBL 2021-22 | Perth Scorchers vs Brisbane Heat: Matthew Kelly anchors Perth to positive start

Perth Scorchers etched a 6-run win against Brisbane Heat in Perth on Wednesday as they bundled out the opponents for 151 while chasing 158 in 20 overs. The Brisbane side didn’t really have a good start as they lost early wickets and were reduced to 105/6 in the 14th over. While Sam Heazlett (34 off 17) and Xavier Bartlett (34* off 25) tried to gather some runs, they didn’t really get much support from the other end and the side eventually suffered a defeat. Matthew Kelly was the pick of the bowlers for Scorchers after picking up a four-wicket haul at the cost of 28 runs in 4 overs. Earlier, the Perth side lost an early wicket in the form of Munro but Bancroft and Kurtis Patterson came in for the rescue with a partnership of 68 runs for the second wicket. While Bancroft was dismissed for 25, Patterson went on the notch up a fifty during the course. Later, captain Ashton Turner chipped in with a valuable 28 off 19 to help his side put 157/6 in 20 overs. Kelly who was adjudged man of the match acknowledged the positive start that the team got. “Great to start off with a win, was fantastic to come and play in front of the home crowd. Didn't get the hat-trick, but it was a great performance overall by all the bowlers - Jason, AJ chipped in as well - didn't have a great time around last season, but have worked hard and this was a great result to start off the tournament,” he said after the match.

Vijay Hazare Trophy 2021-22: Ruturaj Gaikwad steals the show with scintillating ton

Maharashtra captain Ruturaj Gaikwad was on a roll in Rajkot on Wednesday after he struck a match-winning century while chasing a target of 329 runs against Madhya Pradesh. Beginning the chase, Gaikwad and Yash Nahar were off to a steady start as the two batters put 107 for the first wicket before Nahar was dismissed for 49 by Mihir Hirwani. While Rahul Tripathi who had later walked in at number four struck a fifty, Gaikwad went on to score 136 off 112 to eventually win the match for the side. Earlier, in the day, the Madhya Pradesh batters had a terrific time in the middle as Abhishek Bhandari notched up a half-century while Shubham Sharma and Aditya Shrivastava scored individual tons during the course to help the side put 328/6 in 50 overs. Tamil Nadu vs Mumbai Tamil Nadu etched an easy win against Mumbai after beating them by 54 runs while defending a target of 291 in 50 overs in Thiruvananthapuram. The Tamil Nadu team rode on some fine piece of batting from Shahrukh Khan who struck 66 off 35 that included five maximums and six fours. Later, Mumbai batsmen didn’t really get into the groove and were eventually bundled out for 236. Manimaran Siddharth returned with figures of 3/43 in 10 overs for his team. UP vs Saurashtra Saurashtra’s Chriag Jani scalped a fifer for his side against Uttar Pradesh as they clinched a victory by 32 runs. Chasing 224, UP were bundled out for 191 despite fifties from Almas Shaukat and Rinku Singh. Jani returned with figures of 5/35 in 9.1 overs. Other results Goa beat Assam by 5 wickets Services beat Railways by 5 runs Rajasthan beat Punjab by 6 wickets Nagaland beat Manipur by 8 wickets Meghalaya beat Sikkim by 164 runs Tripura beat Arunachal Pradesh by 210 runs Mizoram beat Bihar by 7 wickets Gujarat beat J&K by 5 wickets Odisha beat Andhra Pradesh by 63 runs Delhi beat Jharkhand by 6 wickets Kerala beat Chandigarh by 6 wickets Chhattisgarh beat Uttarakhand by 21 runs Bengal beat Baroda by 27 runs Karnataka beat Puducherry by 236 runs Hyderabad beat Haryana by 5 wickets

Rohit Sharma appointed ODI captain as BCCI announces squad for South Africa tour

Rohit Sharma has been made the captain of the Indian ODI team as he replaced Virat Kohli and has also been given the vice-captaincy of the Test side replacing Ainky Rahanae. The announcement in both regards was made by the Board of Control for Cricket in India, the cricket governing body of the country. The BCCI also announced the squad for the South Africa tour in which saw Ajinkya Rhaane and Cheteshwar Pujara being retained in the side. The Test squad also saw Shubman Gill losing his place in the side while Shreyas Iyer has retained himself after a stellar home series against New Zealand. Interestingly enough Jayant Yadav has been named in the side but not Axar Patel. The left-arm spinner has had a superb season with India at home in Tests as well. Team India has gone with two wicket keepers Rishabh pant and Wriddhiman Saha and Hanuma Vihari has also been able to retain his place in the squad as a foreign tour specialist batter. While six pacers have been named in the 18 men extended squad, three more pacers have been named stand-by. Those include Navdeep Saini, Saurabh Kumar, Deepak Chahar, Arzan Nagwaswalla. The ODI squad has yet not been named although it is confirmed that India will now be led by Rohit Sharma in all white-ball formats. The Indian team will tour South Africa for a three-match each ODI and Test series which will begin with the Tests, with the first match beginning on Boxing Day, December 26 at SuperSport Park in Centurion. the Tests will be part of the World Test Championship 2021-23 cycle while the ODIs will be part of the ICC CWC Super League. India’s Test Squad Virat Kohli (Capt), Rohit Sharma(vc), KL Rahul, Mayank Agarwal, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, Shreyas Iyer, Hanuma Vihari, Rishabh Pant(wk), Wriddhiman Saha(wk), R Ashwin, Jayant Yadav, Ishant Sharma, Mohd. Shami, Umesh Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Shardul Thakur, Md. Siraj Standby Players: Navdeep Saini, Saurabh Kumar, Deepak Chahar, Arzan Nagwaswalla