'I was chatting to our team doctor, whose room was across the hallway from my mine in the hotel, and Kumar (Sangakarra, the Royals' head coach) came around the corner, and drew his finger across his throat, and then we knew it was over.'
Darren Sammy, who led the West Indies to their second World T20 title in India recently has been bestowed with a special honour with the cricket ground in his home country St Lucia to be renamed after him. St Lucia Prime Minister Kenny Anthony announced that Beausejour Stadium will be renamed Darren Sammy National Cricket Stadium after the Windies captain led his team to glory in thrilling fashion in the World T20 final against England on Sunday night. Sammy is the first international cricketer to emerge from the island nation, having first represented West Indies in ODI cricket in 2004, and has gone on to captain his country in all three formats.
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.
India's limited overs skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni was named captain of new Indian Premier League franchise Rising Pune Supergiants on Monday.
Former Australia captain Michael Clarke said his body felt 15 years younger after a spell away from cricket as he prepared for a comeback at the Hong Kong T20 Blitz. Injury-plagued Clarke said nine months without cricket and its rigorous travel, as well as a revamped diet and training regime, had given him a new lease of life as he contemplates joining the lucrative Twenty20 bandwagon. The 35-year-old batsman played his last Twenty20 international in 2010 but he will test the waters for a stint in Australia's Big Bash League at the four-team Hong Kong event this weekend. Clarke, troubled by chronic back problems, retired after last year's Ashes series but less than a year later, he will make an experimental hit-out for Kowloon Cantons. "I'm going to play these couple of games and see how I go, see if I enjoy it and then assess after that," he said. "Right now it's about coming here and having some fun. If I enjoy it, I'll assess when I get home what my exact plan will be." He added: "My body's going really well. My body hasn't felt this good in 15 years. Let's hope I'm saying that on Sunday night after four games of cricket!"
Suresh Raina smashed an unbeaten half-century as Chennai Super Kings booked a berth in the second qualifier with a comfortable seven-wicket win over holders Mumbai Indians in the IPL eliminator in Mumbai on Wednesday.
Chennai Super Kings head coach Stephen Fleming is not only ruing the absence of Brendon McCullum from the batting line-up for Indian Premier League qualifier but also the fact that Tuesday's match is an away game for them.
Openers Lendl Simmons and Mike Hussey struck commanding fifties to hand Mumbai Indians a resounding 9-wicket win over Sri Lankan outfit Southern Express and keep their team in the hunt for the main draw of the Oppo Champions League Twenty20 in Raipur.
Controversial England batsman Kevin Pietersen will be one of the first players to go under the hammer, along with senior India discards Virender Sehwag and Yuvraj Singh, when the two-day auction for the cash-rich IPL commences in Bangalore on February 12. The initial list of 651 players was pruned to 514, including 219 capped players, by the IPL governing council.
Australia head coach Justin Langer says his team is desperately looking for a finisher in the mould of Mahendra Singh Dhoni or Michael Bevan in limited overs cricket. Dhoni has won India innumerable matches from seemingly hopeless positions, and so did the likes of Michael Bevan and Mike Hussey.
The 2016 Caribbean Premier League (CPL) Player Draft was held in Barbados on Thursday, with the six franchises flexed their financial muscles to rope in their desired cricketers.
Come February, the longstanding rivalry between Virender Sehwag and Shoaib Akhtar will be renewed but this time it will play out on an ice field rather than on a cricket ground.
Unbeaten in seven Test series since 2013, New Zealand are widely viewed to have their best chance in a good while to secure a second series victory on Australian soil to go with the Richard Hadlee-inspired 1985 triumph.
Led by aggressive Australian opener David Warner, Sunrisers would be relying mostly on foreigners to deliver the goods, given the scarcity of local stars in their ranks.
With Virat Kohli set to eclipse the 1,000 runs' barrier, Rajneesh Gupta presents the top scorers in a series/tournament and the run-machine's performance in IPL-9.
The tri-series in Australia, India's final ODI engagement before the World Cup, gets underway on January 16, says Chandresh Narayanan, casting a fascinating look at the survivors from earlier World Cups.
It will be a big statement if Virat Kohli's young side could start off with a bang at Mahendra Singh Dhoni's 'spritual home', a task which will be easier said than done.
Jacques Kallis hit a 46-ball 72 and Sunil Narine claimed four wickets as Kolkata Knight Riders scored a 41-run victory over Mumbai Indians in the opening match of the seventh season of the IPL, in Abu Dhabi, on Wednesday.
Rohit Sharma, who scored a century on debut on Day 2 of the first Test against the West Indies in Kolkata on Thursday, said the endless wait to play a Test was annoying and he looked up to other sportspersons for inspiration.
A superb all-round showing from Lendl Simmons helped Trinidad and Tobago crush a formidable Chennai Super Kings by nine wickets to clinch a semi-final berth in the Champions League T20.
Praising his players for the emphatic win over South Africa in the World Cup, team director Ravi Shastri said the management's decision to stick with Shikhar Dhawan, despite his poor form in the run-up to the showpiece event, proved right.
Phil Hughes made a solid 86 on his return to Test cricket before Michael Clarke and Mike Hussey took up the running and steered Australia to 299 for four at close of play on the first day of the first Test against Sri Lanka on Friday.
Defending champions Mumbai Indians paid the price for an indifferent showing and crashed out of the Champions League T20 after being beaten by New Zealand's Northern Knights by six wickets in the final qualifying round match in Raipur, on Tuesday.
Australia skipper Michael Clarke's faith in his under-fire senior pros Ricky Ponting and Mike Hussey went a long way in his team's crushing 122-run win over India in the first cricket Test, in Melbourne, on Thursday, feels former captain Sourav Ganguly.
The ban on travellers from India by Australia had added "anxiety" for its cricketers after the Indian Premier League's suspension, Australia vice captain Pat Cummins said, as players isolated in the COVID-ravaged Asian nation on Wednesday.
Penpix of Australia squad for the Ashes series against England which starts at Trent Bridge, Nottingham, on Wednesday.
Barring Sri Lanka's Kumar Sangakkara, all players have declared their allegiances to IPL franchises over their respective countries' domestic sides ahead of the upcoming Champions League Twenty20.
Ricky Ponting and Mike Hussey scored half-centuries to put Australia in a strong position in the second Test in Adelaide on Saturday. At close on Day 2, Australia, replying to New Zealand's 270, were 241 for 3, with Hussey unbeaten on 69 and Michael Clarke on 43.
South Africa opener Dean Elgar reckons that the toss will play an important role in tougher Indian conditions during the four-Test series and said they will look to put the Indian new ball bowlers under pressure early on.
Two-time former champions and the most consistent team of the season, Chennai Super Kings will lock horns with late bloomers Mumbai Indians in a high-voltage Indian Premier League summit clash in Kolkata, bringing the 47-day T20 extravaganza to a relatively controversy-free end.
Mumbai Indians became the first team to qualify for the final of the Indian Premier League with a comfortable 25-run win over Chennai Super Kings at the Wankhede stadium.
Rohit Sharma and Lendl Simmons hit half-centuries as Mumbai Indians demolished Chennai Super Kings by 41 runs to win their second Indian Premier League title, in Kolkata, on Sunday.
"I don't know what to say. It is really a dream come true. I was confident of being picked for my base price of Rs 10 lakh but never thought of the crores. I just hope I get to play in the eleven," a soft-spoken Cariappa said.
This year's auctions will wrap up in one day.
Factbox on the third Test between Australia and South Africa, which begins on Friday.
Factbox on the second Test between Australia and South Africa, which begins on Thursday.
Australia captain Ricky Ponting won the toss and elected to bat first in Sunday's tri-series ODI against India.
Phil Hughes made a solid 86 on his return to Test cricket before Michael Clarke and Mike Hussey took up the running and steered Australia to 299 for four at close of play on the first day of the first Test against Sri Lanka on Friday.
Factbox on the third Test match between Australia and India, which starts on Friday.
South Africa's celebrated pace attack took a hammering in the first Test against Australia and has much to prove in next week's second but batsman Hashim Amla still believes it is the best in the world.
