IPL 2022 has passed the halfway mark after a month of high action and drama. So how will the second half play out for the teams still in contention for the playoffs?
Ponting shrugged off Australia's injury worries and the idea of there being risk in rushing Smith and Warner into the team.
Images from Day 3 of the first Test between South Africa and Australia in Durban on Saturday.
Travis Head, D' Arcy Short and Chris Lynn have been dropped, while the pace trio of Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood have been rested.
Nine months on from the Cape Town ball-tampering scandal, fans will turn up to Adelaide Oval as always, some having ducked out early from their workplaces in a city that loves the sport like few others.
Dirk Nannes (3 for 21) and Shaun Tait (3 for 30) ripped through the West Indies batting line-up to help Australia to a comfortable 38-run victory in the opening Twenty20 international at Hobart.
West Indies have said they are embracing their underdog status for the three-Test series against Australia, which starts in Hobart on Thursday, but the reality is they have very little choice in the matter.
It was the 34th ODI hundred for the Indian captain, who is now 15 shy of Sachin Tendulkar's mark of 49.
Cheteshwar Pujara says he pays no attention to talk about his slow batting, as his job is to make sure that the team wins at all times.
Wins in Adelaide and Melbourne had given Virat Kohli's side a 2-1 lead going into the final Test and a draw was enough to secure a breakthrough that had eluded all previous Indian touring parties for 71 years.
Embattled Cricket Australia (CA) Chairman David Peever is set to step down in the wake of a review into the board's governance and culture, local media reported on Thursday.
In a special segment called In Memoriam, Irrfan Khan and Oscar-winning costume designer Bhanu Athiya were remembered alongside many Hollywood actors and filmmakers including Chadwick Boseman, Ian Holl, Sean Connery and Max von Sydow.
Australia coach Justin Langer said that England are obviously the red-hot favourites going into the World Cup and said the team deserves to be the number one team in the world.
Putting up an all-round show, Kolkata Knight Riders consolidated their fourth position in the points table with a comfortable seven-wicket win over Sunrisers Hyderabad in an IPL match in Hyderabad on Sunday.
Captain Steven Smith was well-entrenched for his third century in successive Tests even though India restricted Australia to 259 for five on the opening day of the third Test at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Friday. Electing to bat, he again was the visitors' main tormentor, anchoring the innings with an undefeated 72 at stumps. Check out some photos from the day's play.
England's James Anderson is the first fast bowler to take 600 Test wickets.
Chris Rogers fell for 95, failing to turn a half-century into a hundred for the seventh Test innings in a row as Australia ended the second day of the first Test on 264 for five, 166 behind England on Thursday.
Swing and seam friendly conditions, a lack of truly scary Australian bowlers and New Zealand captain Brendon McCullum's retirement are all themes that will resonate when the first Test gets underway in Wellington on Friday.
Unbeaten in all the three games they have played so far in the tournament, Gujarat Lions would look to continue with their impressive winning run when they take on Sunrisers Hyderabad in an IPL match in Rajkot on Thursday. The Lions have been in red-hot form in their debut season with convincing wins in all the three games and they would seek to maintain a clean slate tomorrow at the Saurashtra Cricket Association Stadium. The home side will also be bolstered by the return of all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja who did not play in the Lion's seven-wicket thrashing of defending champions Mumbai Indians in Mumbai due to his wedding.
From a lower order batsman to one of Australia's prolific Test run-getters, Marnus Labuschange has carved his spot in the Australian line-up. The highest run-scorer in a calendar year in Test cricket in 2019, 'mind-blowing' Labuschange is now looking to break into the one-day team for the tour of India.
Jermain Defoe scored twice to lift England to a 3-0 victory over Trinidad and Tobago in a one-sided friendly.
The last session of play on Day 3 of the 2nd Test in Bengaluru gave India a slight edge over the Aussies. However, the DRS continues to rankle the Indians - Kohli once again failing to use the technology thoughtfully.
Australia fought back with two late wickets to restrict England to 196 for four and leave the Ashes series-opener in Brisbane delicately poised on Thursday after the tourists' unheralded batsmen threatened to dominate an intriguing first day.
The overseas market for Indian films continues to be growing rapidly.
Rising Pune Supergiants brought their stuttering IPL campaign back on track with a convincing 34-run win over hosts Sunrisers Hyderabad via Duckowrth Lewis method in a rain-affected match.
Former speed merchant Brett Lee reckons Australia's pace trio would hold the key during the year-end home Test series against India and is keen to figure out how much the kookaburra ball swings without saliva Down Under.
Trump had come under fire from both Republicans and Democrats for his muted response to the violence unleashed by white supremacists during a rally in Charlottesville.
Following the retirements of Chris Rogers, captain Michael Clarke and all-rounder Shane Watson, Smith will lead a team in transition into the three-match series which wraps up with cricket's first day-night Test at the Adelaide Oval.
Their path to the semi-finals looking relatively easier in comparison, Australia will fancy their chances when they lock horns with a struggling Pakistan side whose hopes hangs by a thread in the ICC World Twenty20, in Mohali, on Friday.
'England against Australia at Lord's, it doesn't get much bigger than that.'
India and Australia play their opening T20 match In Ranchi on Saturday. And, although the visitors have added fresh faces to their squad for the three-match series, India are clearly the dominant side in this match-up.
Australia will be desperately hoping to play a full game under clear skies when they face arch-rivals England in their must-win Champions Trophy clash in Birmingham on Saturday.
Mumbai Indians' star bowler Mitchell McClenaghan said his side is fully prepared for the IPL play-off match.
According to AFP, Clarke said the six-and-a-half weeks he had spent recuperating from hamstring surgery had not driven a wedge between him and the squad.
In the cold light of defeat and without Smith's large shadow, Australia's batsmen have nowhere to hide and most head to Old Trafford in dire form.
Though Smith is absolutely free to make a return to the national team for next year's World Cup and Ashes series in England, he can only fill back the leadership role in March 2020.
Images from the Day 3 of the 2nd Ashes Test played between Australia and England in Adelaide on Monday
Glenn McGrath cautioned that an in-form Jimmy Anderson could make things tougher for the Indian captain this time too.
Rohit Sharma's sizzling century went in vain as Australia survived a few anxious moments before pulling off a tense four-wicket win over India in a cricket tri-series ODI match in Melbourne.
Former captain Ian Chappell feels the Indian team will be quite a handful for World champions Australia in the upcoming One-Day International series but the hosts will still be the favourites to win the five-game series as the visitors are short of one specialist batsman.
