Can these South African WAGs prove lucky for their men at this World Cup?
And congratulations were in store for the team.
The series should get off to an explosive start when quicks Mitchell Johnson and Dale Steyn face off.
Check out the Sunrisers Hyderabad squad for IPL 2014.
Heavy showers had been forecast for Sunday and they duly arrived early in the morning. It picked up as the scheduled start time of play approached.
Uncapped spinners Keshav Maharaj and Tabraiz Shamsi were named in South Africa's squad for next month's three-match test series in Australia on Monday as the Proteas seek to exploit a perceived weaknesses in their hosts' batting. Faf du Plessis will again captain the team in the absence of injured AB de Villiers after leading the side in the two-test series against New Zealand last month, which they won 1-0. "Basically, we are following a horses for courses policy as we feel that spinners who turn the ball away from the right-hander are going to be particularly useful under Australian conditions and against the test batsmen we are likely to face," selector Linda Zondi said in a statement.
Suresh Raina's return could not have been better-timed as Gujarat Lions, jolted by the tournament's biggest ever defeat, seek to revive their campaign when they face off with Kolkata Knight Riders.
"This will probably be the biggest World Cup, so there will be great expectations and I know we will do very well for the people of the West Indies," he added.
South Africa will rest key players for the remainder of the one-day international series against West Indies as they rotate their squad with one eye on the World Cup.
Harbhajan Singh, with three wickets in England's innings, took his tally of wickets this year to 58. Only South Africa's Dale Steyn (60) has claimed more wickets than Harbhajan in 2008.
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Thursday
Off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin, on Sunday, became the fastest Indian and second overall to take 200 wickets, reaching the milestone in his 37th Test.
Brighton and Hove Albion's Tomer Hemed grabbed the only goal as they ended Newcastle United's three-match winning streak with a 1-0 victory on Sunday in a battle between two of this season's promoted sides.
The tremors of an earthquake in Afghanistan has forced new Indian Premier League team Gujarat Lions to evacuate their hotel on the eve of their first match in the competition. The National Centre for Seismology in India has reported the epicentre of the earthquake to be in the Hindukush mountain range on the border of Afghanistan and Pakistan. The quake measured 6.8 on the Richter scale. The aftershocks were throughout northern India, including Chandigarh were the Lions are set to face home side Kings XI Punjab at the PCA Stadium on Monday. Moments after the earthquake hit, the Gujarat players and support staff were whisked out of the building by team management and to a safe area outside. "I was sitting on the end of my bed fixing a cricket bat and it felt like the bed started to move," the Lions' Australian paceman Andrew Tye told cricket.com.au outside the hotel.
South Africa crushed Australia by seven wickets to level the five-match one-day international series at 1-1 on Sunday. Australia's comprehensive defeat stemmed from a poor batting display with 19-year-old left-arm swing bowler Wayne Parnell claiming career-best figures to help bundle the touring side out for just 131.
Cricket will venture into new territory when South Africa tackle Zimbabwe in the first official four-day Test match to be played at St George's Park in Port Elizabeth starting on Tuesday.
Kagiso Rabada regained his top spot among bowlers crossing the coveted 900-point mark in ratings even as Indian off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin climbed up a couple of notches to be placed fourth in the ICC Test Player Rankings, released on Tuesday.
Stylish South African middle order batsman Abraham de Villiers and fast bowler Dale Steyn will figure in their country's domestic Twenty20 champions Titans' squad in next month's Champions League Twenty20, to be held in three cities in India. Titans, also with Test left-arm spinner Paul Harris and pace bowler Morne Morkel in their ranks, will start their campaign with a match against Middlesex, the England Twenty20 domestic champions, in Chennai on December 5.
Bangladesh's tail-enders batted well as they recovered to make 238 all out in their first innings of the first Test against a makeshift West Indies side in Kingstown, Jamaica. West Indies, missing all their first choice players due to a strike, lost opener Dale Richards in the seven overs before the close, ending the day on 17 for one.
Images from Day 3 of the first Test between India and South Africa in Nagpur on Sunday.
A century stand between skipper Ricky Ponting and vice-captain Michael Clarke kept Australia afloat as they reached 194 for five at tea on the first day of the first Test against South Africa Thursday.
Gujarat Lions would be looking to get back to winning ways when they lock horns with Royal Challengers Bangalore.
Describing their narrow defeat to Royal Challengers Bangalore as a sweet and sour feeling, Kolkata Knight Riders's impact player Andre Russell questioned his team's decision to send him lower down the order.
Pakistan beat South Africa by 7 runs to reach the final of the World Twenty20, that will take place at Lord's on Sunday.
South African captain Graeme Smith is reportedly unhappy with Cricket South Africa's (CSA) announcement of player contracts as it has been difficult for some of the players to handle.
Pakistan's Umar Gul became the first bowler to take 5 wickets in a Twenty20 International in the World Cup match against New Zealand.
England were skittled for 180 on the stroke of tea, having no answer to the pace of Dale Steyn on the first day of the fourth and final Test against South Africa on Thursday.
The countries will pin their hopes of victory on their quicks with seamer friendly wickets on order for the Tests in Durban, Port Elizabeth, Cape Town and Johannesburg, and the contests set to be dominated by fiery exchanges of fast bowling.
Left-hander Devon Smith was recalled to the West Indies squad on Friday for next month's first Test against England while Barbados opener Dale Richards earned his first call-up.
They endured a disastrous run the last time around to finish at the bottom of the heap and Kings XI Punjab would be aiming to make amends this season when they begin their campaign against newbies Gujarat Lions in their IPL opener in Mohali on Monday. Kings XI Punjab did not make any big buys this year and have a new captain in South African David Miller in place of Australian George Bailey who was released after leading the side to the last place in the previous season. Virender Sehwag has also retired and he will serve as team mentor this season. The Preity Zinta-owned side continues to lack the team balance as it has not added any significant player, only snapping the likes of all-rounders Farhaan Behardien and Marcus Stoinis, seamer Mohit Sharma and left-arm spinner Swapnil Singh. Last season, their batsmen lacked consistency and whenever they did well, the bowlers let the side down. On the other hand, debutants Gujarat Lions have a balanced side with top-class performers in both batting and bowling. They have explosive batsmen in Brendon McCullum, captain Suresh Raina, Aaron Finch and a plenty of top-notch all-rounders in Dwayne Bravo, Ravindra Jadeja and James Faulkner.
Among the Indians, while Robin Uthappa was bought by Rajasthan Royals for 3 crore, Test specialists Cheteshwar Pujara and Hanuma Vihari went unsold.
On a night of mixed fortune for Indian cricket, Mahendra Singh Dhoni was named the ODI Player of the Year, Yuvraj Singh won the Twenty20 International Performance of the Year Award but pacer Ishant Sharma failed to win the Emerging Player honour at the annual ICC awards function in Dubai.
Steyn bowled one of the great final overs in the history of T20 International cricket to earn South Africa their first victory of the ICC World Twenty20 by a nail-biting two runs against New Zealand.
Salman Khan was the biggest glamour industry campaigner in this year's elections. He campaigned for both the Congress as well as the Bharatiya Janata Party at different times and is said to have made Rs 20 lakhs (Rs 2 million) for every appearance.
Peter Siddle took three wickets to give Australia the upperhand as South Africa were reduced to 198 for seven at stumps on day two of the second Test at the MCG in Melbourne on Saturday. Captain Graeme Smith scored a fine 62 but kept losing wickets at regular intervals in reply to Australia's first innings score of 394.
India off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin became the fastest bowler to reach the milestone of 300 Test wickets in his 54th match, breaking Dennis Lillee's record during India's win over Sri Lanka in the second Test, in Nagpur on Monday.
Herschelle Gibbs hit a sparkling century and Dale Steyn took four wickets to lift South Africa to a series-clinching 61-run win over Australia in the fourth one-dayer on Monday.
England paceman Stuart Broad took 8-15 as Australia collapsed to 60 all out in 94 minutes on the first day of the fourth Ashes Test on a remarkable morning session at Trent Bridge.
The visitors went ahead through Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting but Pascal Gross equalised just before the break only for Kurt Zouma to head Stoke back in front moments later. Jose Izquierdo then levelled for Brighton on the hour to earn a deserved point.
Fast bowler Dale Steyn gave South Africa the upper hand against Australia after the first day of the third and final test as they skittled the tourists out for 209 at Newlands on Thursday.
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