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Cricket Australia is set to allow Big Bash clubs to sign overseas talent to multi-year deals before the draft, in a bid to stop players leaving the competition before finals.In a significant shake up, clubs will be able to agree a pre-draft multi-year offer with one overseas player. That deal will include a requirement for the player to make themself available for the entire tournament, and prevent them leaving to compete in other leagues.Related

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AAP has been told the changes are expected to be approved in the coming weeks, while a decision to cut the Women’s Big Bash League from 56 games to 40 appears increasingly likely.The changes will impact the men’s and women’s leagues, and came about after a mass exodus late in the most recent BBL competition. Under the new rules, clubs will be able to offer a multi-year deal to an overseas player well before the draft date.The signed player will count towards the minimum of three internationals that must be selected by a club during the draft, taking up either a platinum, gold or silver-round pick depending on their salary.There will be no restrictions on who the player is, making it possible for clubs to poach another franchise’s overseas talent.Signed players will be given some flexibility next summer if they already have contracts elsewhere, but will be locked in for the duration of seasons from 2025-26 on.In good news for the BBL, it is believed the UAE-based ILT20 competition is to move from the January-February window to November.If that was the case, it would alleviate significant pressure on the Australian competition, given ILT20 teams are able to sign up to nine overseas players and have regularly raided BBL stocks.That would leave South Africa’s T20 tournament as the only franchise league up against the BBL. Brisbane Heat’s English star Sam Billings last summer called for multi-year deals to give overseas players more certainty.AAP has been told the women’s competition looks almost certain to move to a 10-round season in a similar format to the men’s.The timing of this year’s women’s T20 World Cup in Bangladesh means the competition would risk beginning without international talent if it persisted with the longer season.Long-term, there is a belief a 40-game regular season would create a better schedule and context for matches, while not reducing the number of games on free-to-air TV.For that to happen, officials must decide how to replace the missing games, with Cricket Australia and the players keen to maintain the current amount of women’s matches.One option remains a state-based T20 league, while an extended warm-up series for teams in WBBL colours is another.A state-based competition could result in a financial gain for players, who earn match fees playing state cricket as opposed to a salary in the WBBL.

Virat Kohli has left South Africa for personal reasons, but is likely to rejoin the Test squad ahead of the Boxing Day Test in Centurion. Kohli didn’t take part in the Indians’ three-day intra-squad match, the only red-ball outing for a number of senior players including captain Rohit Sharma and Jasprit Bumrah, ahead of the two-Test series.Ruturaj Gaikwad, meanwhile, has been ruled out of the two-Test series because of a finger injury. Abhimanyu Easwaran, who is currently part of the India A squad that is on a shadow tour of South Africa, has been named* as Gaikwad’s replacement as the reserve opener. Rohit and Yashasvi Jaiswal are likely to continue their partnership at the top of the order, like they did in the Caribbean in July-August, which was India’s most recent Test assignment.Abhimanyu struck an unbeaten 61 on the second day of the practice game in Pretoria before he was retired by the team management. Abhimanyu is expected to feature for India A in the second four-day match against South Africa A, also beginning on December 26, barring any last-minute changes. He will then link up with the national squad ahead of the New Year’s Test in Cape Town.Gaikwad is expected to head back home and to the BCCI’s National Cricket Academy in Bengaluru. He picked up the injury on the ring finger of his right hand while fielding during the second ODI against South Africa in Gqeberha. In his absence, India handed a debut to Rajat Patidar for the series-deciding final ODI in Paarl, which India won.India’s Test squad has been in preparation for the past four days in Pretoria under Rahul Dravid’s coaching staff. KL Rahul, India’s stand-in ODI captain, and Mukesh Kumar are expected to link up with the Test squad after a day’s rest following the ODI series. Shreyas Iyer, who was also part of the ODI mix, had been released from the squad after the first ODI to prepare for the Tests.Iyer and Rahul will be returning to Test cricket after a prolonged absence. Both of them last featured for India during the Border-Gavaskar series at home against Australia in February. Rahul, who opened in the series, lost his place after the second Test. He missed the subsequent WTC final and the Caribbean tour because of a hamstring injury. He is likely to take over wicketkeeping duties for the Tests. Iyer, too, hasn’t played a first-class game since March, and has been on a steady diet of ODI cricket following his comeback from back surgery.The upcoming series is India’s second assignment in the new WTC cycle for 2023-25. They won the first Test in the Caribbean and were denied an opportunity to win the second by rain.

India hammered as many as 111 runs in their last seven overs – at nearly 16 runs an over – to post a mammoth total of 235, their fifth-highest in T20Is. During that phase, Ishan Kishan, Rinku Singh, Suryakumar Yadav, Ruturaj Gaikwad and Tilak Varma combined to clobber ten sixes and five fours, after India had managed only three sixes in the first 12 overs of their innings.That surge in the scoring rate proved to be the difference in the end as India posted the second-highest T20I total against Australia, who fell short for a 44-run loss after Ravi Bishnoi and Prasidh Krishna broke their back with three wickets apiece.The only time Australia threatened India was when Marcus Stoinis and Tim David belted 81 off 38 deliveries together for the fifth wicket after Australia were 58 for 4 in the eighth over. But Bishnoi had David caught for 37 off 22 in the 14th over, and when Stoinis fell to Mukesh Kumar for 45 from 25 in the next over, it was all but a formality for India.Australia’s middle and lower order crumbled to lose 5 for 16 to hand India a 2-0 lead in the five-match series.

Jaiswal goes 4, 4, 4, 6, 6

That the pitch at the Greenfield International Stadium was on the slower side was evident as early as the second over of India’s innings, when Nathan Ellis’ slower deliveries had already forced mistimed shots from India’s openers. Yashasvi Jaiswal, however, ensured the powerplay ended with a tall total total of 77.Jaiswal alone smashed 53 from 25 balls inside the first six, with nine fours and two sixes. The fun had begun when he targeted Glenn Maxwell in the third over, lofting inside-out over cover and slog-sweeping behind square for a four each. And come the fourth, Jaiswal bashed Sean Abbott for 4, 4, 4, 6, 6 off the first five balls. It started with two slashed boundaries to point, and finished with two pulls for sixes over deep square leg.But it was the four in between which was the most delightful: Jaiswal waited for a shortish delivery just outside off, before guiding it very late and past the wicketkeeper for four. The tone was set, even as he departed with one ball in the powerplay remaining.

Kishan switches gears before death overs

After the powerplay, Kishan and Gaikwad could tick off only 47 runs in the next seven overs. Much of that control from Australia was down to birthday boy Tanveer Sangha, who gave away just 17 from his first three overs, and Adam Zampa’s second over that went for eight.But Kishan, whose first 26 runs had consumed 22 balls, rammed another 26 from his next ten as India headed into the death overs. He first hit a six and a four off Maxwell in the 14th over, before spoiling Sangha’s day with two more sixes in the 15th. The second of those took him to a half-century, before Stoinis ended his stay on 52 off 32 balls.

Rinku repeats finishing heroics

Suryakumar’s stay lasted for just 10 balls for 19 runs, and with 14 balls left, Rinku arrived and faced nine of them. Six of those deliveries went either to or over the boundary, as he cracked an unbeaten 31 at a strike rate of 344.44. After Abbott’s first over was taken for 24 by Jaiswal, it was Rinku’s turn to pummel 4, 6, 4, 4, 6 off him in the 19th over. Three of those hits were pulled, which went for a four each to deep midwicket and deep square leg, with one of them flying for six over midwicket.And like Jaiswal, one of those shots stood out, when Rinku reached out to a low, dipping full toss outside off while the ball was angling across, and sent that soaring over Abbott’s head for six. The bat turned in his hands, but the ball still ended miles back.

Australia’s off-track chase

Both captains expected dew to play a role in the second half of the match, and naturally, Matthew Wade had opted to bowl. But dew had set in even while India were batting, and the hosts left Australia with a required rate of nearly 12 an over. That pressure forced them to keep swinging, and despite motoring along to 31 without loss in the first two overs, they soon lost 4 for 27 by the eighth over.One of those wickets came when a sharp, well-judged catch by Tilak sent the first T20I’s centurion Josh Inglis back for 2, with Bishnoi grabbing two wickets out of the first four. That is when Stoinis and David got together and counter-attacked, but a meltdown either side of that rapid partnership left Australia in must-win territory ahead of the third T20I.

Trent Boult is unlikely to feature for New Zealand during their home summer, but head coach Gary Stead is hopeful of having the left-arm seamer back next year.Boult had given up his New Zealand central contract in 2022 in order to become a freelancer, but reunited with the national team for the 2023 ODI World Cup in India, where New Zealand made the semi-finals. However, he has made himself unavailable for New Zealand’s next assignment, a two-match Test series in Bangladesh, which marks the start of a new World Test Championship (WTC) cycle for both sides. Instead, Boult will be in action for Deccan Gladiators in the Abu Dhabi T10 league. It will be his first appearance in the T10 format.Boult will then link up with MI Emirates, who had retained him ahead of the ILT20, the UAE T20 league, which will run from January 19 to February 18 next year. Boult is also with the Mumbai franchise in the MLC.”At this stage, Trent and I still need to have a conversation,” Stead said after New Zealand lost to India in the World Cup semi-finals in Mumbai. “He’s unavailable for the Bangladesh Test series. He’s got other commitments in a T10 league, and then the UAE T20 league as well. I think that eats right into the February time period.”So, it looks unlikely that Trent will play too much in our home summer. He may be available for the T20s against Australia. I still need to have that conversation with him.”New Zealand are scheduled to play three T20Is against Australia in Wellington and Auckland in February 2024, which could precede IPL 2024, where Boult is among the most sought-after overseas seamers. The T20 World Cup will potentially follow the IPL and will run from June 4 to June 30 in the Caribbean and the USA. Stead hasn’t ruled out the possibility of Boult returning to the New Zealand side in the near future.”I think there’s every chance [we will see him again] provided his desire is there to keep playing,” Stead said. “I think he’s still a world class bowler.”Related

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Boult – and Tim Southee – though might have played their last ODI World Cup. Both seamers are in their mid-30s, and former New Zealand coach Mike Hesson does not see them making it to the 2027 World Cup in South Africa.”It’s probably in the bowling we’re going to see some changing,” Hesson told . “Boult and Southee; even [Matt] Henry [is] sort of in his mid-30s as well. You think Adam Milne. You think Lockie Ferguson. So, there are five seamers who probably won’t be here in four years’ time.”They are all in slightly different stages [of their careers]. And there’s not a huge amount [of seamers] just underneath at the moment. That’s where someone like Kyle Jamieson has to absolutely pick that next group of bowlers and run with them. They’ve tried a lot of guys in recent tours – [Henry] Shipley, [Jacob] Duffy, [Blair] Ticker has come in and done a bit as well. They brought the left-armer from Auckland – [Ben] Lister. They’ve tried lots but no one has really grabbed it just yet and that’s probably the area where I’m a little bit worried about the next group of Black Caps.”Gary Stead and Kane Williamson have some work to do ahead of the next World Cup•AFP/Getty Images

At 34, Boult and Southee are New Zealand’s oldest members in their current World Cup squad, with allrounder Rachin Ravindra being the only player under 25 in the group. Captain Kane Williamson, though, had said that it’s not the end of the road yet for New Zealand’s golden generation.”It’s an ongoing effort as a side to keep trying to get better and push the boundaries of where we can get to as a team,” Williamson said at his press conference after the semi-final. “You can only hope that, as we experienced from some of our leaders as young guys, that we can continue to bring players through – not just in the quality that [the senior players] bring, because we’ve seen that in spades throughout the last seven weeks, but also in how they’re approaching their cricket in order to try and move this team forwards.”I think we’ve seen that too – so some good signs, certainly, in this last period of time. It’s not over just yet, but that’s where the focus is. You come to these tournaments and they can be small margins [which determine] whether you get further or not, but ultimately, it’s about growing as a group and becoming a better cricket team. I think the seven weeks were really valuable for us as a side: we wanted to go further, naturally, but we’ll reflect on it and take a lot of good out of it.”

Gary Stead: ‘Proud of the way we played’

Despite being beset by injuries and KO’d by India in the semi-finals at the Wankhede, Stead was pleased with New Zealand’s overall performance in the tournament. Their strike rate as a team in this World Cup is 103.24. Only Australia and South Africa in 2015 – when the batting powerplay was still in operation – and India – by a fraction – in 2023 have ever scored quicker in the history of this competition.”Look, I’m very, very proud of the way we played,” Stead said. “We stuck to our style of play and we fired some shots as well. That’s what we keep talking about. Obviously disappointed that we didn’t get over the line. You always go to world events and you want to make the final or you want to win the final. That’s the disappointing part of it, but the way we went about our cricket, it was a pretty satisfying campaign still.”Shane Jurgensen ended his stint as New Zealand’s bowling coach after the World Cup while Stead will take a break. In Stead’s absence, Luke Ronchi will be in charge of the team for the two-match Test series in Bangladesh, which begins on November 28 in Sylhet.

Tom Curran smashed an unbeaten 38 from 18 balls as Oval Invincibles snatched a tie against Welsh Fire in a final-ball thriller in front of 21,432 fans at the Kia Oval.Curran, who hit four sixes, needed three from the last ball and drove David Payne to deep square-leg, racing back for the second to beat the fielder’s throw by the barest of all margins as the scores finished level at 138. Jordan Cox had scored 51 from 43 balls before Fire struck back in the contest with Ben Green taking two wickets to reduce the hosts to 100 for 6.Joe Clarke top-scored for the visitors with 69 from 46 balls while Invincibles quick Gus Atkinson provided further evidence of his growing reputation with 3 for 26.After winning the toss and having chosen to bat, Welsh Fire got off to a fast start as Clarke and Luke Wells put on 32 from 15 balls. But Atkinson began to turn the tide with three wickets from his first ten balls, including Fire captain Tom Abell, who was caught behind for a duck, as the score slipped to 43 for 4.David Willey helped Clarke launch a recovery before he fell to Zak Chappell for 13, that being the only reward for the seamer who conceded only 15 from his 20 balls.Green gave Clarke strong support with 25 off 16 balls including two sixes. Clarke’s excellent partnership with Green continued as he reached his half-century from 39 balls by thumping Chappell to the cover boundary.Tom Curran, who took 2 for 27, ended the partnership of 58 from 36 balls as Green was caught at deep midwicket as Fire recovered well to finish the innings on 138 for 6.Fire struck with the first ball of the home side’s reply with Jason Roy caught at gully off Shaheen Shah Afridi. The visitors might have also removed Will Jacks early on when he swung Willey to deep square leg but Green fumbled the chance as the ball went over the boundary for four.Cox cut Willey for four having already driven Afridi twice to the cover fence and continued to thrive in the powerplay as he lifted David Payne over midwicket for a maximum.Payne thought he had taken revenge later in the set when Cox appeared to be caught at third by Glenn Phillips but a decision review showed that the ball bounced first. Cox almost had another close call soon afterwards edging Haris Rauf just past the diving Clarke for four.Cox dominated the partnership of 58 from 39 balls which ended as Jacks was caught at long-off with Green making amends for his earlier mistake.Having reached his half century from 39 balls, Cox could only add one more before he was brilliantly caught by Green on the boundary, as the fielder palmed the ball back and kept his balance to complete the catch.Green then took two wickets in five balls with Sam Curran and Heinrich Klaasen both caught in the deep to put pressure back on the home side.With Oval needing 13 from five, Curran smashed a huge six off Payne that flew out of the stadium, before his final-ball athleticism snatched a tie.

Surrey 433 (Smith 138, Burns 79, Clark 78, Helm 6-110) and 78 for 2 (Jacks 45*) beat Middlesex 238 (Simpson 60, Holden 55, Abbott 3-37, Overton 3-45, Lawes 3-57) and 272 (Stoneman 72, Bamber 46*, Abbott 4-60) by eight wicketsWill Jacks struck a swift unbeaten 45 as Surrey motored to a comfortable eight-wicket victory over neighbours Middlesex inside an hour on the final morning.The LV= Insurance County Championship front-runners needed only 11.1 overs to chase down a modest target of 78, completing their second derby success of the season and a first red-ball win at Lord’s for 26 years. Middlesex, who remain second from bottom in Division One, have now lost four of their last five Championship fixtures.”We were pretty clinical, I think, over three and a bit days,” Rory Burns, Surrey’s captain, said. “There are a few bits we could have tidied up on but, if you’d offered us that before the start of the game, we’d have taken it. Particularly after getting inserted on the first morning, to put up 433 as a batting group and then back that up by making them follow on – and the way we went about it – I think it’s a big feather in our caps.”I thought Jamie [Smith] played beautifully [in the first innings] and Jordan [Clark] was in pretty good nick as well. The way he came in and played was excellent, to get ourselves up to that sort of total was brilliant.”It’s a tough shift, any time you make someone follow on – I think we had about 150 [overs] in the dirt there, back to back. To take 20 wickets and keep being quite relentless over that period is a massive effort. Getting a wicket second ball [today] is always handy. The weather probably had a part to play in our chase as well, we were looking to get it done as quickly as we could.”With rain forecast for later in the day, Surrey were keen to secure the result as quickly as possible after bowling their hosts out for 272, with seamer Sean Abbott returning figures of 4 for 60.Abbott took only two deliveries to finish off Middlesex’s second innings when play resumed, banging it in short to last man Tim Murtagh, who could only fend it off into the slip area and Dom Sibley took the catch.That left Ethan Bamber stranded on a career-best 46 not out and Surrey with 78 to score – just five more than the target they chased to complete a nine-wicket victory against Middlesex at the Oval in May.First-innings centurion Smith was promoted to begin the chase with Burns, but he lasted just two balls on this occasion before clipping Tom Helm tamely into the hands of midwicket. Helm picked up a second wicket, his eighth of the match, when Burns attempted a paddle from outside off stump that was neatly taken by Murtagh at long leg, but Jacks maintained momentum by clouting Bamber over the cover boundary.Tom Latham also struck a maximum off Helm before hitting the winning runs off Mark Stoneman to finish unbeaten on 21.

The Ashes are still alive. England’s batters clinched a three-wicket win in a white-knuckled run chase at Headingley, led by Harry Brook’s 75 on his home ground before Chris Woakes and Mark Wood took them across the line.Australia, who would have sealed a first away Ashes win since 2001 with victory, struck regularly on the fourth day to leave England in serious trouble at 171 for 6. Mitchell Starc was the spearhead, taking two wickets either side of lunch – including the middle-order engine room of Ben Stokes and Jonny Bairstow.Brook and Woakes added 59 for the seventh wicket, England’s highest partnership of the match, before Starc’s fifth wicket – Brook top-edging to cover – gave Australia another sniff. But Wood, whose five-wicket haul in the first innings set the game up for England, joined Woakes and iced the run chase.Wood hooked Pat Cummins over fine leg for six, then cleared his front leg to blast Starc through cover and take the requirement down to single figures. With four to win, he survived a top-edged swipe off Starc, Alex Carey unable to cling on after scrambling back towards the boundary rope and diving at full stretch onto his front.Then, with scores tied, Woakes opened the face and scythed Starc through point for four, holding his arms aloft in celebration before embracing Wood. The pair’s all-round exploits over the last four days have kept England alive in the series: they are two-one down heading into the fourth Test at Old Trafford on July 19.There is a nine-day break before the start of that Test, one for which both teams will be grateful after another exhausting, exhilarating day which saw both teams let control of the game slip from their grasp. Australia were behind for much of the game but it took until Brook’s partnership with Woakes for England to assert their dominance on the chase. Even then, there was a twist – but it came late enough for them to scrape home.Mitchell Starc made crucial breakthroughs either side of lunch•AFP/Getty Images

England needed a further 224 runs to win at the start of the fourth day but lost a wicket in the fifth over of the morning: Ben Duckett was smashed on the shin by Starc, falling over to the off side. His review could not save him, with ball-tracking projecting that the ball would have crashed into his leg stump.Unexpectedly, it was Moeen Ali who walked out at No. 3, after Brook had deputised for the injured Ollie Pope in that role in the first innings. The experiment did not last long – Starc ripped out Moeen’s leg stump with a 90mph/144kph rocket – but gave the illusion of extending England’s batting line-up and crucially, allowed Brook to return to No. 5.Related

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Joe Root traded boundaries with Zak Crawley either side of drinks but never settled, and a change of ball in the 19th over brought a wicket in the 20th. Crawley crunched Mitchell Marsh through the off side with a trademark cover drive, but Marsh’s next ball was a fraction shorter and drew the outside edge.Brook played positively from the outset, spanking Scott Boland through cover-point for consecutive boundaries, but his stand with Root was a brief one. Cummins dug one in short, angling down the leg side, which Root attempted to pull but gloved through to Alex Carey. It was not Cummins’ best ball but extended his remarkable dominance in his head-to-head battle with Root.Stokes, no stranger to a Headingley run chase, calmly worked his first ball away through the leg side for four but was strangled down the leg side in the second over after lunch, flicking Starc through to Carey to fall for just 13. Starc smiled wryly, exerting his considerable influence on a second successive Test.Bairstow joined Brook, who had reached 42 after a handful of false shots early in his innings, but did not last long. He inside-edged his sixth ball for four, past his leg stump, then chopped his eighth onto his middle stump, beaten by Starc’s movement back into him; after 78 on the opening day of the series, Bairstow has added 63 runs across his next five innings.Jonny Bairstow looks back after dragging a drive onto his stumps•AFP/Getty Images

Australia sensed an opening. They were four wickets away and Woakes hardly exuded calm early on, regularly playing and missing and picking up boundaries via both edges of the bat. But with Cummins reluctant to introduce Todd Murphy – who bowled only two overs on the last day – Australia were reliant on their three main seamers.Brook brought up a 67-ball half-century, his second in successive Tests, but both batters continued to keep Australia’s fielders interested, particularly when facing the short ball. Top-edges looped up tantalisingly without going to hand, and ball regularly beat bat before the drinks break.Brook crunched boundaries away through point off Cummins and the lesser-spotted Murphy, but was rushed by Starc’s short ball and spooned a catch to cover via the top edge, trudging off with 21 runs still required. But It took England only 14 balls to knock them off.Murphy’s brilliant parry on the midwicket boundary denied Woakes a certain boundary, but Wood – fuelled by adrenaline – took on Cummins’ bouncer and swiped him into the Football Stand for six. When Wood crunched Starc through cover, England were close; when Woakes slashed him through point, they had their first Ashes win in four years.

In a game of high drama where both sides kept landing punches at each other with neither backing off, Sunrisers Hyderabad pipped Delhi Capitals to arrest a three-match losing streak on a low, slow pitch at the Arun Jaitley Stadium.At one stage, Capitals were on track to gun down a 198-run target when Mitchell Marsh and Phil Salt put together 112 in just 11 overs after David Warner fell for a second-ball duck.Then one wicket led to another, and before Delhi could realise, Sunrisers had clawed back courtesy the guile of Mayank Markande, who picked up 2 for 20. Sunrisers now have three wins in eight games to Capitals’ two in eight, which keeps them rooted to the bottom of the points table.

Abhishek’s powerplay salvo

Back to open the innings after a game in the middle order, Abhishek Sharma began positively, lofting Ishant Sharma for two successive boundaries in the opening over. Mayank Agarwal’s dismissal to a short ball gave Ishant some joy in his second over, but Abhishek wasn’t in a mood to slow down. He took Ishant for four boundaries in the seamer’s third over, hitting 43 in Sunrisers’ 62 for 2 after the first six.The reverse scoop, Heinrich Klaasen way•BCCI

Capitals’ comeback

The next four overs belonged to Capitals as they conceded just 21. Marsh left his mark on the game during this phase by taking pace off, the short boundaries notwithstanding, and allowing batters to force the pace on a surface where the ball was holding up. Two balls after he had Aiden Markram picking out deep midwicket, Harry Brook toe-ended a pull to the edge of the ring, Axar Patel the catcher on both occasions.

The Klaasen kick

After Abhishek raced to a 25-ball half-century, Heinrich Klaasen got into the game by taking apart Mukesh Kumar as the 11th over went for 24. Abhishek began it with two back-to-back fours and Klaasen finished it with a monstrous six down the ground off a legcutter. Axar, though, proved difficult to get away as he varied his pace and angles to finish with 1 for 29 from his four overs, the reward being the big wicket of Abhishek for a 36-ball 67. It could’ve been far more impressive if Klaasen hadn’t belted him for two sixes to end his spell. A 53-run stand between Klaasen and Abdul Samad off 33 balls and some late runs from Akeal Hosein helped Sunrisers muscle 62 off the last five overs.Mitchell Marsh and Phil Salt’s 112-run stand had kept Capitals in the contest•BCCI

Warner falls but Marsh fires

Sunrisers couldn’t have asked for a better start; Bhuvneshwar Kumar got Warner to chop on second ball of the chase. But Marsh and Salt raised the half-century of their partnership in just 29 balls by going after Hosein’s left-arm darts. Sunrisers tried to get overs out of spin seemingly in a bid to negate dew, but Hosein was far too short and the batters helped themselves to a nice spread against the short square boundaries.After five overs, ESPNcricinfo’s forecaster pegged Capitals’ chances of victory at 19.43%, but after seven, this figure had jumped to 45.68%. The reason for that partly was Marsh’s take-off against Umran Malik. Malik kept bowling short and into the body for Marsh to get inside the line and simply help it to beat long leg twice for sixes in a 22-run over. Salt opened and closed that over with two bludgeoning fours of his own against the short ball. That put Sunrisers under the pump.

Markande leads spinners into it

Markande used the slowness of the pitch to string together dots before dismissing Salt with a return catch that he just managed to hold on to. It was a big wicket considering Salt’s maiden half-century had set the tone for the chase. Then seven balls later, Manish Pandey ran down the track only for Abhishek to shorten his length and beat him in the air and off the pitch.It was now all on Marsh to see Capitals home, but that wasn’t to be as Hosein hit back superbly after the early onslaught by dismissing him. After being walloped out of the ground on the previous delivery, he bravely tossed it up for Marsh to go again, except this one gripped and turned and Marsh sliced it to Markram. That, right there, was the game for Sunrisers. Axar muscled a few towards the end, but the middle-order slowdown after the Salt-Marsh stand proved to be the difference.

It was a shortened game at the Gabba, and Australia made short work of it. After persistent rain and lightning delayed the start by nearly three hours and reduced the game to a seven-over shootout, Australia inflicted a crushing 29-run defeat upon Pakistan. Glenn Maxwell, who struggled in the preceding ODI series, blasted his way through the innings with 43 off 19, before Pakistan slumped to 24 for six in the first four overs before finishing with 64 for nine.Mohammad Rizwan called correctly at the toss and unsurprisingly put Australia in. But the hosts had a clarity of purpose from the outset, looking to hit a boundary off every ball, aware that wickets didn’t really matter as much. Shaheen Shah Afridi was plundered for 16 off his first over to set the tone, and though Haris Rauf’s tight first over had Maxwell flailing, the tide would turn soon.Maxwell deployed the reverse slog expertly, using the bowlers’ pace to get his shots away. Afridi was spectacularly dismissed over third man for six, before he ripped into Rauf, his ODI tormentor, smashing 19 off his second over. When he holed out to Abbas Afridi, Tim David and Marcus Stoinis picked up the baton, with Stoinis’ 20 off Naseem in the final over seeing Australia surge to 93.Xavier Bartlett stuck twice in his first over back for Australia•Getty Images

Pakistan began the innings with Sahibzada Farhan biffing two boundaries off the first two balls, but that’s as good as the chase got for the visitors. Spencer Johnson got him two balls later. It began a remarkable passage of play where five wickets fell in 12 balls for eight runs. Mohammad Rizwan sliced Xavier Bartlett to backward point for a duck, and Usman Khan sent one down deep third man’s throat later in the over.Babar Azam – who came in at number three – miscued a half-volley down to long-off off Nathan Ellis’ first ball, with Irfan Khan joining him two balls later. When Salman Ali Agha, debutant and vice-captain, skied one off Ellis, Pakistan were staring down the barrel of an enormous defeat, despite the heavily curtailed nature of the game.But Pakistan managed to restore some respectability to the scoreline in the final three overs, primarily when Haseebullah Khan and Abbas managed 18 off the fifth over. Wickets would continue to fall, though, with Ellis snaring Haseebullah for his third wicket. When Adam Zampa came in to bowl the final over, Shaheen managed to smear one over long-on for six, but in an innings characterised by clumps of wickets falling quickly, that Zampa signed off with consecutive wickets of his final two balls was a fitting end.

West Indies allrounder Jason Holder will miss the upcoming two home Tests against Bangladesh starting at the end of the month to continue his shoulder rehabilitation. Offspinner Kevin Sinclair, meanwhile, returns to the side after recovering from an injury that made him miss West Indies’ last Test series, against South Africa at home in August.Right-arm quick Anderson Phillip also returned to the side, having last played a Test in December 2022 in Australia. Phillip is coming fresh on the back of a few wickets for Trinidad & Tobago in the domestic 50-over competition, which followed his county stint for Lancashire that he ended with a match haul of nine wickets against Worcestershire in September end.Fast bowler Alzarri Joseph also returned to the Test fold after he was rested for the South Africa games because of his “considerable workload” at the time. He is currently playing the T20I series against England after featuring in the ODIs against them, although he was suspended for the first two T20Is.Joseph was the vice-captain before he missed the South Africa series and the selectors had named Joshua Da Silva as Kraigg Brathwaite’s deputy in the interim. But even after Joseph’s return for the upcoming series, Da Silva has been retained as vice-captain in the latest 15-man squad.Making way for the returnees are the spinning duo of Gudakesh Motie and the uncapped Bryan Charles. Motie, too, is playing the white-ball games against England, but is not part of the Test side after two unimpressive outings against South Africa. He picked just three wickets in the two matches, including his wicketless showing in Port of Spain. Charlies, the offspinner, has been left out after he didn’t get a Test debut in the South Africa series.The two Tests will start on November 22 in Antigua and on November 30 in Jamaica. Before that, Brathwaite will also lead a CWI Select XI, from a squad of 13, for the two-day warm-up against Bangladesh for November 17 and 18 at the Coolidge Cricket Ground in Antigua.

West Indies Test squad

Kraigg Brathwaite (capt), Joshua Da Silva (vice-capt), Alick Athanaze, Keacy Carty, Justin Greaves, Kavem Hodge, Tevin Imlach, Alzarri Joseph, Shamar Joseph, Mikyle Louis, Anderson Phillip, Kemar Roach, Jayden Seales, Kevin Sinclair, Jomel Warrican

CWI Select XI squad

Kraigg Brathwaite (capt), Justin Greaves (vice-capt), Ryan Bandoo, Daniel Beckford, Navian Bidaisee, Joshua Dorne, Nathan Edward, Chaim Holder, Tevin Imlach, Jordan Johnson, Jair McAllister, Shaaron Lewis, Kimani Melius