India's Abhishek Sharma has surged to the second spot in the ICC Men's T20I Player Rankings for batters after a stunning 135-run innings in the fifth and final T20I against England.
Spin twins Matthew Kuhnemann and Nathan Lyon combined to dismantle Sri Lanka and bowl Australia to a crushing victory by an innings and 242 runs in the opening Test in Galle on Saturday.
Smith's unbeaten 120 is his second successive hundred of the series while Carey made a career-best 139 not out hitting 22 fours and three sixes between them.
India opener Mayank Agarwal and New Zealand spinner Ajaz Patel have made huge progress in the ICC Test Player Rankings after outstanding performances in the second Test of their ICC World Test Championship series in Mumbai.
With 539 scalps in 134 matches at an average of 30.39 and best figures of 5/39, Lyon is the seventh-highest wicket-taker in Tests and has 24 five-wicket hauls and five ten-wicket hauls.
Matt Short will have a role in Australia's leadership group during the Twenty20 series against Pakistan and has put his hand up to stand in as captain
Indian batsmen have done their homework and will not allow Sri Lanka's Rangana Herath to wreck them again at Galle, captain Virat Kohli said on the eve of the first Test between the neighbours on Tuesday.
'The 50th Test is something that has just come about. I cannot retrace how I did it. But I am grateful to having got here and every Test match is a blessing from here on'
Left-arm spinner Prabath Jayasuriya took two overs to polish off the New Zealand tail and complete a five-wicket haul as Sri Lanka sealed a 63-run victory in the opening Test at Galle International Stadium on Monday.
Between 2014 and 2019, he scored 21 centuries in just 55 Tests. Among these were seven double centuries, the most by an Indian in Test cricket. Remarkably, six of those double tons came within a span of just 22 Tests.
The sight of a pitch with a fair smattering of grass and premier pacer Jasprit Bumrah putting in hard yards at nets might be the early signs of India sticking to the three pacers theory for the first Test against New Zealand
Glenn Maxwell's hopes of reviving his Test career may be over after the all-rounder missed out on selection in Australia's much-changed squad for the Sri Lanka tour.
The 25 year old from Galle is the joint third fastest to reach five Test centuries, joining legends like Don Bradman and George Headley, who also scored five hundreds in 13 innings.
His 22nd century in first-class cricket comes on the back of his omission from the India's ODI squad for the England series and the Champions Trophy.
Off-spinner Nishan Peiris picked up a six-wicket haul on debut as Sri Lanka crushed New Zealand by an innings and 154 runs.
New Zealand captain Tim Southee said playing two Tests at Galle, known as a spinner's paradise, was always going to be challenging.
Regular captain Pat Cummins, fellow quick Josh Hazlewood and all-rounder Mitch Marsh have been ruled out with injuries, while Marcus Stoinis withdrew himself after his shock decision to quit ODIs on Thursday.
The biggest challenge for the New Zealand batters on their upcoming Test tour of India will be picking the turning ball and more so the odd one that skids through, reckons former Black Caps opener Martin Guptill.
Sri Lanka left-arm spinner Prabath Jayasuriya wreaked havoc with the ball to leave New Zealand on verge of a big defeat in the second Test.
Steve Smith is not getting unduly bothered by people's opinion over his role in the 'sandpapergate' episode
Australia's stand-in captain Steve Smith hailed his side's resounding innings and 242-run victory over Sri Lanka in Galle on Saturday as "near flawless" after the visitors retained the Warne-Muralitharan Trophy.
Australian batsman Steve Smith narrowly missed reaching the 10,000-run milestone in Test cricket during the final match against India in Sydney. He acknowledges the significance of the milestone, describing it as "a different beast." Smith's pursuit of the landmark weighed heavily on his mind during the match, and he even joked about associating the number 38 (the runs he needed) with teammate Josh Hazlewood, whose jersey number is 38. Despite falling short, Smith remains hopeful of achieving the milestone on the first day of the upcoming Test series against Sri Lanka.
'(And) we've got a fourth guy who's a regular opener for India who's not fit (Vijay). We've got all four openers firing now. Shikhar was supposed to go (home) to Melbourne, now he's got a 190 in Galle. So, anything can happen in life'
Kamindu Mendis maintained his red-hot form and struck a majestic 114 to power Sri Lanka to 302/7 on the opening day of the first Test.
Australia pacer Josh Hazlewood claimed the Men's Test Player-of-the-Year award. It marked his first Australian Cricket Award, with Hazlewood taking 30 wickets at just 13.16 in Tests against the West Indies, New Zealand, and India.
The unspoken subject of Mithya is violence, and the big zinger here is our recognition that the movie is showing us the makings of a juvenile delinquent -- perhaps the finest since Truffaut unleashed his Antoine Doinel, applauds Sreehari Nair.
Sri Lanka stayed on course for victory against New Zealand in the opening test in Galle despite Rachin Ravindra's unbeaten 91 on Sunday.
The match referee may have declared the Galle Stadium pitch poor leading to an ICC inquiry, but Sri Lanka Cricket chief Upali Dharmadasa said the pitch was not dangerous by any means.
Pakistan are 1-0 up in the two-Test series having won the opening match in Galle by four wickets.
Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli continued to be the best-placed Indians in the batting chart, while off-spinner Ravichandra Ashwin held on to second spot among bowlers in the latest ICC Test Player ranking, release on Wednesday.
The dates for India's tour to Sri Lanka next month are out.
Lyon is just 34 wickets away from surpassing Glenn McGrath to become Australia's second-highest wicket-taker in Tests.
From January 1, 2021 to September 9, 2024 -- during which Joe Root hit 17 centuries, Kane Williamson has hit, Steve Smith has made six tons but Virat Kohli has managed just two centuries.
India stayed on course to make it to their third straight WTC final.
Galle has built a reputation as a spinners' paradise but Australia captain Steve Smith hopes there will be substantial reverse swing at the venue as his top-ranked team bid for a series-levelling win against Sri Lanka in the second test. Sri Lanka inflicted a 106-run defeat on the touring side at Pallekele last week in the opening match of the three-test series with the spinners taking 18 out of 20 Australian wickets to fall.
Hasan Ali, who last played a Test against Sri Lanka in Galle in July, has picked up 77 wickets in 21 Tests.
The Sri Lankan supporters and players present at the Galle International stadium gave a fitting farewell to Kumar Sangakkara.
Sri Lankan wicketkeeper-batter Niroshan Dickwella has been suspended by Sri Lanka Cricket following allegations of an anti-doping violation during the Lankan Premier League.
Sri Lanka took complete control of the second Test against New Zealand on Friday as batting sensation Kamindu Mendis scored the fifth century of his young career and helped the hosts post a mammoth 602-5 declared on day two in Galle.
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