The overhaul of South Africa's coaching structure has given the team a major boost as they get ready to take on England in a four-Test series which begins on Thursday, captain Faf du Plessis said. Meanwhile, veteran pacer James Anderson will be back on the frontline for England, for what will be his 150th Test.
Cummins said a player is always under pressure to perform in professional cricket.
England captain Alastair Cook is all set to break India's legendary batsman Sachin's Tendulkar's record by becoming the youngest batsman in the history of the game to score 10,000 Test runs. Cook is just 36 runs shy of reaching the milestone and once he gets there, he will also become the first English batsman to reach the feat. Cook will be targeting the mark in England's first Test against Sri Lanka at Headingley on Thursday. Tendulkar's 10,000th Test run came against Pakistan in Kolkata in March 2005, a little more than a month before his 32nd birthday. Cook meanwhile, turned 31 on Christmas Day last year, meaning if he scores the 36 runs required in the opening Test against the visiting Sri Lankans, he would have reached the 10,000 barrier five months younger than India's batting legend.
Unfortunately, the day chosen for the match was the actual day of Diwali and cricket starved Houstonians were in a dilemma about staying home with family and friends or going to watch their back-in-action cricket heroes.
England captain Alastair Cook will be eyeing a place in history when his side's three-Test series with Sri Lanka begins in Leeds on May 19. Cook boasts 9,964 runs and is just 36 runs short of completing 10,000 runs in Test cricket. More notably, the 31-year old can eclipse master blaster Sachin Tendulkar's record of being the youngest to reach the 10,000-run feat. Tendulkar's 10,000th Test run came against Pakistan in Kolkata in March 2005, a little more than a month before his 32nd birthday. Cook meanwhile, turned 31 on Christmas Day last year, meaning if he scores the 36 runs required in the opening Test against the visiting Sri Lankans at Headingley, he would have reached the 10,000 barrier five months younger than India's batting legend. While Cook looks likely to become the youngest man to 10,000 Test runs, he won't be the fastest to reach the milestone in terms of innings played.
Faf du Plessis said, "Now we can trust the system a little bit more and just focus on playing cricket."
The left-handed batsman now has 497 points in the all-rounder rankings, while second-placed Jason Holder has 459 points.
Kolkata Knight Riders head coach Jacques Kallis, on Wednesday, said poor fielding was hurting the team badly in the ongoing Indian Premier League.
Veteran South African cricketer Hashim Amla has reportedly become the third player from the country to be named his country's 'Cricketer of the Year' on two occasions, when he received the award for 2012/2013 season at a gala Cricket South Africa (CSA) banquet.
The Proteas have been named Team of the Year at the 2013 South African Sports Awards function at Sun City.
Gautam Gambhir is a politician by choice but a cricketer at heart whose brain never stops ticking when it comes to conceptualising, planning and execution.
List of players who have claimed hat-tricks in the Cricket World Cup.
The IPL has produced many, many, memorable moments on the way.
With the Sydney Cricket Ground having a history of assisting spin from third day onwards, Australian left-arm orthodox Ashton Agar is hoping to get picked in the XI and play his part in the fourth and final Test against India starting January 6.
Kevin Pietersen could not deny Sydney Thunders a Big Bash League triumph but his blistering 74 for Melbourne Stars in Sunday's tense final reminded England what they will be missing at this year's Twenty20 World Cup in India.
The Aussie skipper joins the Don and Sir Gary. Rajneesh Gupta has all the numbers on the Fastest to 6,000 Tests club.
Rajneesh Gupta presents some interesting numbers from Day 2.
Guitar and card games are options former Australia speedster Brett Lee wants the IPL-bound cricketers to explore in order to maintain the bio-secure bubble during their long stay in the UAE. The IPL will be held in the United Arab Emirates from September 19 to November 10 in a controlled environment owing to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Former Indian cricketer Madan Lal on Thursday congratulated Ravichandran Ashwin for being named as ICC Cricketer of the Year, saying the ace off-spinner truly deserves the award. "I think he truly deserves this award. From two-three years, he has been performing brilliantly, especially while bowling. This year especially, his performance has been phenomenal and he has won many matches for India," Lal told ANI. "There was never any doubt that he is a world class spinner.At present, I think he is the best spinner in the world," he added.
'As Test team, we stand in a good position. Whole credit goes to Virat'
Former India opener Gautam Gambhir attributed current skipper Virat Kohli's success in the T20 format to his fitness and ability to rotate strike. Kohli, who has been successful in Tests and ODIs, has also made a mark in T20 cricket, scoring 2,794 runs from 82 games with an average of 50.8.
Australia pacer Pat Cummins believes that players tend to learn a lot from playing the Indian Premier League (IPL).
Cricket will mark its return to the Commonwealth Games after a gap of 24 years with India taking on Australia on July 29 in the 2022 Birmingham edition.
Former England skipper Ian Botham believes Alastair Cook's decision to relinquish the captaincy could see him surpass legendary Indian cricketer Sachin Tendulkar's record as the all-time leading Test run-scorer.
Sandeep Sharma scalped three crucial wickets as Kings XI Punjab produced a disciplined bowling display to compensate for their batting failure and notch up a comfortable 23-run victory over Kolkata Knight Riders in an IPL match in Abu Dhabi.
His records are a true measure of the skill and brilliance he brought to the crease, says Rajneesh Gupta.
Australian opener David Warner has recorded a series of milestones with his impressive performances in the Tests against South Africa, etching his name along with other Australian and South African legends.
The Proteas' performance in the recent series against Pakistan in Dubai augured well for the 2015 World Cup but their real test will be the upcoming home series against India, according to former captain Kepler Wessels.
Sreesanth is open to playing in overseas leagues and coaching roles
Jacques Kallis, Hashim Amla, Graeme Smith, AB de Villiers, Gary Kirsten, Herschelle Gibbs, Mark Boucher, Daryl Cullinan, and Faf Du Plessis are the other Proteas batsmen who have more than 4000 runs in Test cricket.
Riding on a superb all-round show, Gemini Arabians registered a massive 78-run win over Libra Legends in the opening match of the Masters Champions League Twenty20 tournament at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium on Friday. Put into bat, Gemini Arabians posted a massive 234 for three in their allotted 20 overs and in response the Libra Legends could manage only 156/8. The hero of the Gemini win was the pair of Kumar Sangakkara (86 runs 43 balls, 6x4, 7x6) and opener Richard Levi (62 runs, 43 balls, 4x4, 3x6). Together, they stitched together an 84-run partnership for the second wicket after skipper Virender Sehwag (21) got the tournament off to a rollicking start with a six off the first ball.
Former India captain Sourav Ganguly will join compatriot Virender Sehwag and other top cricketers from around the world in the inaugural edition of the Masters Champions League Twenty20 tournament, to be held in the United Arab Emirates in January.
Dinesh Karthik's leadership skills are under the scanner after Kolkata Knight Riders's five back-to-back defeats in the ongoing IPL season, but coach Jacques Kallis says there was no discussion on removing the under-fire captain.
Rajneesh Gupta presents all the interesting numbers from Day 3 of the India-England Test at Lord's.
If records were kept for standing ovations received in a match Alastair Cook would top that list too after a fairytale day at the Oval in which he engraved his 291st and last Test innings with a sublime century. Arriving at the crease on 46 not out to thunderous applause from a 19,000 crowd on Monday morning, England's most-capped Test player, record run scorer and century-maker rolled back the years to score 147.
Australian all-rounder Mitchell Marsh is aware that he's no Jacques Kallis but would like to bat well and contribute to the team's win in the World Twenty20, something the legendary South African is known for.
The Twenty20 league mooted by Indian batting legend Sachin Tendulkar and spin champion Shane Warne could be a risky proposition.
Would only comment on Yadav after talking to BCCI: Mysore
Fitness clouds and selection dilemmas could hamper South Africa's chances ahead of next month's series against Australia.
South Africa coach Mark Boucher said winning his first Test match in charge was as good as the many victories he enjoyed as a player after his maiden triumph against England on Sunday. The 107-run victory in the first Test at Centurion Park came a fortnight after Boucher, 43, was appointed to the post after a shake-up of Cricket South Africa's structures at the start of the month.
