Daryl Mitchell's runs had steered the hosts to their victories in Tauranga and Hamilton and when he departed for 44 to leave his team still 27 runs from their target on 196-8, the English scented an unlikely victory.
Jacob Bethell scored his maiden Test century to lead an England rearguard action on the fourth day of the fifth Test on Wednesday but Australia still looked firmly set for victory.
New Zealand folded for 171 in reply in 18 overs -- all 10 dismissals through catches -- as England grabbed a 1-0 lead heading into the third and final match in Auckland on Thursday.
Mumbai Indians beat Delhi Capitals by 50 runs in Women's Premier League match in Navi Mumbai.
Australia pacer Michael Neser found day one of his maiden Boxing Day Test a dream come true.
Joe Root and Harry Brook hit half-centuries to put England in control before bad light ended play early on the opening day of the fifth Ashes Test.
Ben Stokes' defiant resistance in the third Ashes Test ended in visible fury on Friday as Mitchell Starc once again got the better of England's captain on Day 3 in Adelaide.
India vs New Zealand, 3rd T20, Guwahati: Abhishek blitz hands India series win
Australia finished marginally on top at the end of a chaotic opening day of the fourth Ashes Test after an extraordinary 20 wickets fell in front of a record crowd at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Friday.
Blair Tickner took 4/34 and Daryl Mitchell hit 56 not out as New Zealand beat England by five wickets in the second one-day international in Hamilton on Wednesday to seal the three-match series 2-0.
England's Stokes praises Australia's Head, supports his own errant batters
England claimed a 1-0 victory in their three-match Twenty20 series against New Zealand after rain curtailed Thursday's final match in Auckland.
The overwhelmingly bowler-friendly Melbourne pitch on which 20 wickets fell on Day 1 of the Boxing Day Test has prompted Kevin Pietersen and Dinesh Kartik to point out the selective criticism of Indian tracks when spinners get wickets in a heap.
Sutherland, Gardner sparkle as Australia outplay England by six wickets
At 21 years and 329 days, Jacob Bethell is the youngest man to captain England in international cricket.
England captain Harry Brook smashes records with blistering 135 against New Zealand
England edged India by just four runs in a nerve-wracking finish to storm into the Women's World Cup semi-finals on Sunday night in Indore.
England recovered from a disastrous start as captain Brook bludgeoned 135 from 101 balls and Jamie Overton made 46 to help their side finish on 223 all out in 35.2 overs for a fighting chance in the contest.
England, Pakistan split points after rain washes out another Women's World Cup match.
IMAGES from Day 1 of the 3rd Ashes Test played in Adelaide on Wednesday
Spinners call shots as England start Women's WC campaign with 10-wicket drubbing of SA
Joe Root's Australian hoodoo is over. The England batter scored his first Test century in Australia, an unbeaten 135 off 202 balls, rescuing his side after a shaky start in the second Ashes Test at Brisbane's Gabba and steering England to 325 for nine following captain Ben Stokes' decision to bat first.
Mitchell Starc made a late-career bid for all-rounder status when he scored a half-century and grabbed two wickets under the Gabba floodlights to push Australia to the brink of victory at the close of day three of the second Ashes Test.
'He's a quality player, it was a matter of time for him to score.'
Former captain Heather Knight guided England to a four-wicket win over a spirited Bangladesh in the Women's World Cup on Tuesday.
Less than two weeks after being dismissed as a "dud" Down Under, Joe Root finally shrugged the monkey off his back with a first Test century in Australia on Thursday to breathe life into England's Ashes campaign.
Ben Stokes acknowledged that missed opportunities early in the match allowed India to take firm control of the second Test at Edgbaston
All-round India defeat Sri Lanka by 30 runs to take 4-0 lead in women's T20Is series
A rampaging England thrashed South Africa by 342 runs in the third and final ODI in Southampton on Sunday to register the biggest victory in men's One-Day Internationals.
Starc eclipsed Pakistan legend Wasim Akram's tally of 414 wickets to become the most successful left-arm pacer in the longest format.
Samson tried to whip Donovan Ferreira down the ground but the ball hit umpire Rohan Pandit on the shin and he required medical assistance before he was able to continue.
Matthew Breetzke became the first player to score half centuries in each of his first five One-Day International appearances as South Africa beat England by five runs in the second ODI at Lord's on Thursday.
Phil Salt set Old Trafford ablaze with a destructive century, smashing multiple records, as England hammered South Africa by 146 runs to level the three-match T20 International series 1-1 on Friday
Leading international cricketers, including Laura Wolvaardt and India's World Cup hero Deepti Sharma, will go under the hammer at the Women's Premier League auction in Delhi on Thursday, with bidding wars also expected for homegrown Kranti Gaud and Shree Charani.
Keshav Maharaj took 4/22 as South Africa thrashed a woeful England side by seven wickets after dismissing the hosts for just 131 runs in the first One-Day International.
England skipper Nat Sciver-Brunt attributed her century and big victory against Sri Lanka in the Women's World Cup match on Saturday to not allowing the rival spinners to settle down on a pitch that was slow and offering quite a bit of turn.
Images from the fifth T20 International between India and South Africa, in Ahmedabad, on Friday.
Mitchell Starc and Ben Stokes set the scene for a dramatic Ashes series.
This is the first time in nearly seven decades that India have suffered two successive series whitewashes at home.
Fired-up England reduced India to 58/4 chasing 193 for victory in a highly-charged final session on day four on Sunday as a gripping third Test at Lord's.
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