An injury-ravaged Michael Clarke may have raised doubts about his future by stating that he may never play again, but Australian cricket coach Darren Lehmann is confident that the inspirational skipper will be back sooner or later.
David Warner played another blazing knock smashing 31-ball 59 runs to power Sunrisers Hyderabad to a convincing victory against struggling Kings XI Punjab at the Hyderabad Stadium on Saturday. Chasing a modest 144-run target, the Sunrisers' skipper attacked from the start scoring seven boundaries and three sixes in his match-winning knock which gave Hyderabad it's third win in a row. Shikhar Dhawan played a supporting role scoring a patient 45 runs off 44 balls. For Kings XI Punjab, it was their fourth defeat in five matches. Earlier, the Sunrisers dished out another superlative bowling effort to restrict Kings XI to 143 for six. Electing to bowl first after winning the toss, the SRH bowlers, including the promising Mustafizur Rahman, Moises Henriques and others picked up wickets at regular intervals and also did not allow Punjab to score big runs. Moises Henriques scalped two wickets, while Bangladesh pacer Rahman deserves a special mention as he claimed two wickets, including a wicket in a maiden over, giving away just nine runs off his four overs.
Mitchell Starc smashed an unbeaten half-century to steer Australia to 256 for nine on a difficult pitch on the opening day of the four-match series in Pune on Thursday.
'We need to stick to plan and back our skills to tackle India' 'You've got to be adaptable and you've got to be able to change your game almost mid-innings'
Frustrated by the performance of his bowlers in the second One-Day International against Australia in Brisbane on Friday, India skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni declared that given the attack at his disposal right now even 300-plus scores are not enough against the home side.
On paper, Kolkata Knight Riders are overwhelming favourites against King's XI Punjab.
Aaron Finch's side will head to Sunday's decider in Hobart buoyed by Australia's first win in the short format since January and having delivered some badly needed cheer for the struggling cricket nation.
'I think they're feeling the pressure a little bit to be honest'
Dale Steyn produced a ferocious spell of fast bowling to inspire South Africa to a crushing 231-run victory over Australia in fading light on day four of the second Test on Sunday.
Delhi medium pacer Navdeep Saini, who picked up the wicket of Australian swashbuckler David Warner early in the warm-up game for India 'A', said it was a special feeling to get the feisty opener out with a bouncer.
Kings XI Punjab owner Ness Wadia said the spot-fixing scandal that rocked the Indian Premier League last year has made a dent on brand IPL.
Australia's cricketers returned to their aggressive brand of cricket in the aftermath of Phillip Hughes's death as they held their first training session in Adelaide since the tragedy.
Indian captain Virat Kohli has been rendered a doubtful starter for the fourth and final cricket Test against Australia in Ranchi, a scenario that has put the hosts under immense pressure on the eve of the decider of the bitterly fought series.
An fine all-round display by Ben Stokes and Jos Buttler's late assault with the bat ended England's long losing streak against Australia as the visitors won the fourth One-Day International by 57 runs in Perth.
Captain Steve Smith frustrated England with a fighting half-century and pushed Australia to 165 for four at the close of a see-sawing day two, rescuing the hosts after a top order collapse in the series-opening Ashes Test in Brisbane on Friday.
Australia bowled out the West Indies for 148 on the opening day of the first Test in Dominica on Wednesday, but the home team struck back by taking three wickets in the final session.
Steve Smith continued his sizzling form with an unbeaten century as Australia laid a strong foundation on the first day of the second Test .
Chennai Super Kings thrashed Kings XI Punjab by a huge margin of 97 runs, extracting a sweet revenge for a string of three losses to them in the last season of the Indian Premier League.
Struggling to be consistent, Kings XI Punjab will have their task cut out when they take on the in-form Chennai Super Kings.
Australia edged out Sri Lanka by two wickets to spoil Tillakaratne Dilshan's one-day farewell and go 2-1 up in the five-match series on Sunday. Opting to bat first, Sri Lanka were all out for 226 with four balls remaining, a total built around Dinesh Chandimal's gutsy 102 in an otherwise poor batting display by the hosts in the third match of the series. Dilshan's fluent 42 in his one-day swansong was the second highest score and the former Sri Lanka captain quit the format with 10,290 runs, including 22 centuries from 330 matches.
Factbox on the fifth Ashes Test match between Australia and England, which starts on Thursday:
Dhananjaya de Silva hit a maiden century and combined with Dinesh Chandimal to resurrect Sri Lanka's innings after a poor start against Australia on the opening day of the third and final Test on Saturday.
Steven Smith maintained his purple patch to hit a brilliant unbeaten 102 to secure Australia's three-wicket victory against England in a high-scoring tri-series match at Hobart on Friday.
Scenes from the post triumph celebrations after Australia won its first T20 World Cup championship at the Dubai international cricket stadium on Sunday.
Steve Smith completed his fourth century in as many matches on Wednesday as Australia compiled a daunting first innings total in the final Test against India at the Sydney Cricket Ground.
We saw how the pitch is playing and told ourselves we are going to dig deep, but unfortunately, myself, Travis and Shaun couldn't bat long as long as we should have'
England wicketkeeper Jonny Bairstow said the tourists were "content, relaxed, excited" as they arrived in Brisbane on Sunday ahead of this week's opening Ashes Test.
No sooner had the match ended, social media was abuzz with congratulatory messages for the team.
Australia will need to defy history to chase down the total and survive the wiles of Ravichandran Ashwin on a fifth day pitch.
Be ready to be amazed as Rediff.com encapsulates all the sporting action from the past week in this super photo feature.
Australia captain Steve Smith slammed a half-century to break Don Bradman's record for the most runs in a Test series against India and put the hosts in control on Day 4 of the fourth and final Test in Sydney.
South Africa's explosive batsman David Miller, who will lead the Kings XI Punjab in this edition of the IPL, feels that captaincy has not brought any added pressure on him. "Responsibility changes a bit as captain, but I am really looking forward to it," Miller said. "No pressure, to be honest. I see it as an opportunity. We have changed the squad a little bit this year, couple of new additions, but most of the squad stays the same. "I really believe we can win the competition this year. The fact that we haven't won it, doesn't add any more pressure. It's a great opportunity for the guys to step up," he added. The 26-year-old said he is looking forward to the captaincy challenge.
'I got pulled out of that series to prepare for India and then not playing was a bit hard'
Back-to-back losses denting their confidence, defending champions Sunrisers Hyderabad would look to put their campaign back on track when they take on Kings XI Punjab in their IPL match, in Hyderabad, on Sunday.
Umesh Yadav gave a brilliant exhibition of reverse swing bowling before Mitchell Starc's rearguard half-century helped Australia reach a competitive 256 for nine.
Under fire from all quarters after an abysmal start to their tour, West Indies have pledged to be more competitive at the traditional Boxing Day Test but will struggle to prevent hosts Australia from taking an unassailable 2-0 series lead.
Australia railed at suggestions their team resembled a 'Dad's Army' but the evidence supplied by the first four Ashes Tests against England suggests it was not an unfair moniker.
Ben Stokes took five wickets to put England on the verge of a famous victory that would win back the Ashes as Australia finished on 241 for seven after a compelling second day of the fourth Test at Trent Bridge on Friday.
South Africa were 140 for six wickets in their first innings when rain brought an early close to play on the second day of the first test at SuperSport Park on Thursday. Mitchell Johnson had figures of 4 for 51.
England failed to make the inroads into the Australian batting order they needed after gambling on bowling first in the inaugural day-night Ashes Test on Saturday and the hosts reached the second break on 138 for two.
