Cricket

COLOMBO- Sri Lanka will return to Pakistan after a nearly two-year absence for three short-form cricket games later this year, the sports minister said Thursday. “We are not in a position to send the team to Pakistan to play the two Tests, but we will be in Pakistan for about eight days to play the ODIs or the T20 matches,” ...

Essex 32 for 1 trail Kent 226 (Bell-Drummond 55, Podmore 54*, S.Cook 5 for 42, Amir 4 for 48) by 194 runs “Babe, I love you so I want you to know That I’m going to miss your love The minute you walk out that door.” KC & The Sunshine Band’s “Please Don’t Go” may not be everyone’s obvious earworm ...

Steven Smith will need to bat against top pace within the next three days and show no further signs of discomfort in order to be passed fit for the third Test at Headingley on Thursday. He said that he did not want to return unless he was “100% fit” to play in the next chapter of this Ashes series. While ...

Steven Smith has leapfrogged Kane Williamson to second place on the ICC Test rankings for batsmen after amassing 378 runs in three innings at an average of 126 in the ongoing Ashes series. Pat Cummins, meanwhile, has consolidated his place at the top of the bowlers rankings to such an extent that only four men have ever accumulated more rating ...

LONDON: England named an unchanged squad on Monday for this week’s third Test against Australia at Headingley. The injured James Anderson, England’s all-time leading Test wicket-taker, will continue his bid to return later in the series by playing in a county 2nd XI match starting Tuesday. England’s selectors kept faith with the XI that drew the rain-affected second Ashes Test ...

LAHORE: The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) on Monday met with Sharjeel Khan and agreed with him for his re-entry into competitive cricket. According to a PCB statement, Sharjeel Khan will complete rehabilitation designed by the board’s Security and Anti-Corruption Department, before the end of the year and then be reintegrated into top-level cricket. Part of the rehabilitation will include Sharjeel ...

Jofra Archer’s reaction after hitting Steve Smith with a bouncer was criticised by former Pakistan fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar on Sunday. Steve Smith was struck by a short ball from Jofra Archer, timed at 92.4 mph (148.7 kph), on an unprotected part of his neck on day four of the second Ashes Test at Lord’s. The right-hander fell on the ...

Australia held out for a draw after Jofra Archer and Jack Leach nearly bowled England to an improbable win in the second Ashes Test at Lord’s on Sunday. Australia were 154/6 at the close, having been set a stiff target of 267 in 48 overs when England captain Joe Root declared after lunch on the back of Ben Stokes’s unbeaten ...

Test cricket might just return to Pakistan later this year. Sri Lanka could be open to playing at least one Test in the country, after a security delegation visited Lahore and Karachi, and gave SLC “very positive feedback”. If everything goes to plan, Pakistan could host its first Test match since the Lahore attack on Sri Lanka’s team bus in ...

Mohammad Shahzad, the Afghanistan wicketkeeper-batsman, cannot play “any form of cricket” for a year. The Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB), which had earlier suspended Shahzad indefinitely for breaching the board’s code of conduct, has fixed the term of his suspension, which will now last one year. Shahzad’s suspension stems from his breach of a policy that requires players to seek the ...