Chris Woakes took 5 for 19 as England claimed a comfortable nine-wicket victory in their first official World Cup warm-up match after dismissing a hapless West Indies for 122 in 29.3 overs on Monday.
Factbox on the four-Test series between Australia and India, which begins on Thursday
With Australia taking a 2-0 lead in the four-match Test series against India, the scales are titled highly in favour of the hosts. History also shows that the Melbourne Cricket Ground has been a happy hunting ground for the hosts. With the Boxing Day Test around the corner, here is a quick look at how the teams stand.
ICC Hall of Famer and former Australian skipper Ricky Ponting feels that batter Cameron Bancroft is leading the race to succeed David Warner and Usman Khawaja at the top of Australia's Test batting.
Following is a factbox on the first Test match between Australia and England, which starts on Thursday:
Injured fast bowler James Pattinson has returned to the Australia set-up when he was named on Tuesday for the One-day series against England in January.
Australia's cricketers are getting help from sprint legend Usain Bolt to boost their running between the wickets for the upcoming Ashes Test series against England.
One run -- that was Kohli's contribution to the India-Australia match.
The dead rubber New Year's Test at the Sydney Cricket Ground at least offers a chance for New Zealand to reset
There are those historic, memorable matches (the 1986 tied in Chennai, the Kolkata epic in 2001 and the Adelaide humdinger of 2015) that gripped our collective conscious.
Australia's Chris Rogers finally scored the big hundred he so craved in a brilliant innings of 158 not out against England in the second Ashes Test at Lord's on Thursday.
Smith was miffed after the umpire's decision to term the delivery of New Zealand paceman Neil Wagner as 'dead ball'
Will it be Naryanswami Srinivasan or Mustafa Kamal?
Praising India for having a lot of match-winners in the side, Australian great Ian Chappell has said that they are at par with Australia in terms of team strength.
Top-order batsman Usman Khawaja has been drafted into the Australia squad for the ongoing ODI series against India in place of opener David Warner whose wife is expecting the couple's second child. Khawaja will join the squad in Brisbane and, at this stage, will remain for matches two and three of the five-game series, at the Gabba on January 15, and at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on January 17 respectively, Cricket Australia said. National selector Rod Marsh said Warner would be welcomed back into the squad when circumstances allow.
Pakistan fast bowler Wahab Riaz has heaped praise on Boxing Day Test centurion Azhar Ali, saying the opener is `one of the greatest batsmen` the country has ever produced. Azhar (unbeaten at 139) struck his 12th Test century and first Down Under besides sharing an unbeaten 115-run stand with Asad Shafiq (50) to guide Pakistan to 310-6 at the end of the rain-curtailed second day's play of the second match against Australia at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) on Tuesday.
Former India batsmen Yuvraj Singh, Virender Sehwag and Kaif hailed Ajinkya Rahane's unbeaten 104-run knock.
Australia coach Justin Langer on Tuesday said India have been distinctly well-planned and disciplined, especially in bowling, so far even as his side races to address its batting woes ahead of the third match starting in Sydney on Thursday.
It was a bitter pill for James Anderson and England's bowlers, who had battled hard to limit Australia to 267 and give their batsmen a chance to set the home side a chase.
I have no idea how that happened, lost for words, says Virat Kohli
David Warner may play the third Test against India even if he is short of full fitness as Australia look to the veteran opener to strengthen the top order, assistant coach Andrew McDonald said on Thursday.
Opener Alyssa Healy bludgeoned England's bowlers in a furious 170 as Australia set a mammoth victory target of 357 in the Women's World Cup final in Christchurch on Sunday.
Rajneesh Gupta presents all the numbers.
Pat Cummins' girlfriend wants to buy dog toys with his hefty IPL pay cheque
Australia reduced South Africa to 149 for six at the close of play on the fourth day of the rain-disrupted third Test on Saturday after declaring on 475/4 in pursuit of a victory that would give them a 3-0 series sweep.
Pakistan head coach Mickey Arthur has heaped praise on right-handed batsman Babar Azam, saying he is as good as swashbuckling Indian batsman Virat Kohli. During the recently concluded Hamilton Test against New Zealand which Pakistan lost by eight wickets, Azam scored an unbeaten 90 and Arthur says the former deserves the high praise.
The batting icon claimed one of the challenges of his career was being among the best cricketers of his era.
Australian players saved their best performance until the end.
Mayank Agarwal had to endure a long wait to get there having performed consistently in the domestic circuit for Karnataka. That's when Rahul Dravid, doing duty as the 'A' team coach, helped Agarwal with his wisdom.
The return of shooting, which was controversially dropped from the Birmingham CWG earlier this year, is a welcome development for India.
'No one was able to beat South Africa but Pakistan have shown they are beatable'
The International Cricket Council will issue all umpires with helmets in the upcoming World T20 tournament in India as part of a growing trend towards the increased safety of officials in the sport. The move comes on the back of two umpires being hospitalised in the past two months after being struck by deflected straight hits from batsmen. In December, Australian John Ward was hospitalised after being hit on the head during a Ranji Trophy match in India, while English umpire Richard Kettleborough received a nasty blow to the shin while officiating an ODI between Australia and India in Canberra on January 20, spending the night in hospital before being cleared to fly to Sydney for the following match.
Pacer Josh Hazlewood claimed career-best Twenty20 international figures of 4-12 to guide Australia to a 20-run victory over Sri Lanka at the Sydney Cricket Ground on Friday, in a rain-affected opener of the five-match series.
Former Australia batsman Michael Hussey said that conditions for the third Test in Melbourne will be a lot different from those in Perth and India should consider drafting in all-rounder Hardik Pandya to bring balance to their attack.
Usman Khawaja proved his fitness with an unbeaten century in the domestic Twenty20 Big Bash League at the weekend to secure his place in the Australia team for the second Test against West Indies.
Formula One race in Melbourne will proceed as planned this week and there is 'no chance' fans will be excluded because of coronavirus fears
The part-time spinner must now have his bowling action tested within 14 days but can continue to bowl at the international level until the test results are out.
On the ropes at 43-4 early in their innings, Pakistan rallied behind spectacular half centuries from Iftikhar Ahmed and Shadab Khan to post 185 for nine and delight the lively crowd of 30,000 roaring them on at the Sydney Cricket Ground.
Australia were 126/3 at stumps on Day 1 of the 4th Ashes Test against England at the Sydney Cricket Ground on Wednesday.
Australia captain Michael Clarke will retire from One-day international cricket after Sunday's World Cup final against New Zealand. The 33-year-old will, however, continue playing Test cricket.
