There's been no place like home for Australia and New Zealand on their respective paths to the World Cup final but just one of the co-hosts will enjoy that particular advantage when they meet in Sunday's title decider.
Uncapped leg spinner Ish Sodhi and all rounder Corey Anderson have been promoted from the New Zealand 'A' team to the full Test squad for a two Test series in Bangladesh in October.
Opener David Warner put New Zealand's bowlers to the sword with a masterful 163 and Usman Khawaja scored his maiden Test century as Australia dominated the opening day of the first Test at the Gabba in Brisbane, on Thursday.
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.
With a new cricket director, coach and chairman, England return to the field of play in the first Test against New Zealand on Thursday following an extraordinary period of upheaval.
Penpix of the New Zealand squad that will play the cricket World Cup final against Australia at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Sunday.
Pakistan will not only have to win the remaining three matches, starting with New Zealand, but also hope that the results in other matches favour them to salvage any hopes of a semi-final berth.
Even as they struggle to find the winning formula, laggards Kings XI Punjab will still fancy their chances when they host Mumbai Indians in the Indian Premier League cricket tournament in Mohali on Monday.
On the back of some great all-round performance, Australia thumped New Zealand by 247 runs to win the Boxing Day Test and take a 2-0 series lead. Images from Day 4 of the Boxing Day Test played at the MCG on Sunday.
The calm, assured manner in which New Zealand chased down South Africa's imposing total on Tuesday to advance to their first cricket World Cup final is a hallmark of a team that has developed into a cohesive unit over the last two years.
New Zealand will have their tails up and eye another upset when they resume the trans-Tasman rivalry with a strong Australian side.
Mumbai Indians will look to continue their rampaging run when they take on the formidable Sunrisers Hyderabad.
Brendon McCullum had possibly the easiest day of his Test captaincy on Friday but still agonised over asking West Indies to follow-on in the wake of criticism of his decision to do so last week in the drawn first Test.
Ferguson, who will need five to six weeks to recover, is returning to New Zealand and a replacement for him will be named on Tuesday, coach Gary Stead told reporters on Monday.
Mumbai Indians' hopes of starting Indian Premier League's season 10 well got a boost with information received that West Indies T20 specialists, Kieron Pollard and Lendl Simmons, would reach in time for their lung-opener against Rising Pune Giant on April 6.
It remains to be seen whether India stick to their combination of three specialist pacers and two spinners combination or bring in an extra spinner in Kuldeep Yadav to partner Yuzvendra Chahal and Ravindra Jadeja.
New Zealand captain Kane Williamson is too familiar with the fickleness of cricket's shortest format to take his team's red-hot form for granted going into Wednesday's World Twenty20 semi-final against England. The Kiwis cruised into the last four as the only unbeaten team in the tournament to book a clash with England who seem to be peaking at the right time. "I know that going into tomorrow, it's a big, exciting match but our feet are firmly on the ground and we going to be running to perform our plans as best as we can," the bearded 25-year-old told reporters at the Feroz Shah Kotla. Williamson has displayed the tactical flexibility required to win a major tournament by sacrificing pace and gambling with three spinners, a ploy that paid off in the tournament opener against hosts India.
Kieron Pollard and Jos Buttler's late assault helped Mumbai Indians keep their hopes alive with a convincing six-wicket victory against Royal Challengers Bangalore in the Indian Premier League, in Bengaluru, on Wednesday.
New Zealand batsman Ross Taylor has returned to side after recovering from eye surgery in late November and will rejoin the Test team for their two-match series against Bangladesh. Taylor had surgery to remove a pterygium, or growth, on his left eye that had affected his vision after the second Test victory against Pakistan in Hamilton. "It's great to have Ross back," New Zealand selector Gavin Larsen said in a statement on Thursday. "He has a phenomenal record that speaks for itself and he's coming off a terrific hundred in his last Test.
While both Taylor and Latham were unable to see their side through to victory, Mitchell Santner, who scored just two from his first nine deliveries then scored another 43 from the next 18, won the game with his fourth six and finished on 45 not out.
The 30-year-old Jamaican all-rounder, who has now hit a remarkable 207 runs off 77 balls with 22 sixes in four matches, came out to bat with his side needing 68 runs from 26 balls and proceeded to flay the bowling around the Chinnaswamy.
RCB to ring in changes against KKR in search of first win
With home advantage comes home expectation as Eoin Morgan leads arguably the strongest England side in the history of the tournament which has seen a co-host triumph in the last two editions.
Captain Rohit Sharma led from the front with a sparkling 84 not out as an inspired Mumbai Indians cruised to a six-wicket victory over Kolkata Knight Riders to open their account in the ninth season of Indian Premier League in Kolkata, on Wednesday.
India go into the quarter-final against their neighbours as favourites, but will certainly not take them too lightly, not wanting to suffer the same fate as they did in the 2007 edition.
Kuldeep Yadav picked up four wickets, while Shikhar Dhawan hit an unbeaten half-century to power India to a crushing eight-wicket victory against New Zealand in the first ODI.
Royal Challengers Bangalore skipper Virat Kohli is all set to give up his opening slot and will bat at No 3, a position he has made his own in the national team.
Virat Kohli and Test specialist Cheteshwar Pujara held on to their second and seventh position respectively
England could hardly have made a worse start to the sport's most important tournament, losing by 111 runs to Australia last weekend and then suffering an embarrassing eight-wicket loss to New Zealand on Friday.
Martin Guptill struck his third Test century while Kane Williamson fell just short his 13th as New Zealand blunted Sri Lanka's inexperienced bowling attack to set themselves up for a big total in the first Test in Dunedin on Thursday.
The 24-year-old wicketkeeper injured the index finger on his right hand while fielding in South Africa's eight-wicket win in the second Test in Wellington and underwent scans earlier this week.
Picking up where he left off in the first Test in Brisbane, the opener scored 244 not out for his third century in three innings as the hosts dominated New Zealand's bowlers as ruthlessly as they had in the 208-run victory at the Gabba.
Rohit Sharma won the prestigious Maruti Suzuki ESPN Cricinfo award for the third year in a row.
Images from Wednesday's World Cup match between England and New Zealand, at Chester-le-street.
India won the twin T20 Internationals in Auckland by margins of six and seven wickets respectively to go 2-0 up in the five-match series.
List of players released by IPL teams ahead of next month's auction for 2020 season:
Williamson has a chance to topple Kohli at the top of the rankings.
The 13th edition of the IPL will have added significance as 2020 is also a T20 World Cup year.
RCB have been inconsistent in their first six games in IPL-12, with both their bowling and batting faltering on many occasions.
India paid the price for some poor shot selection as New Zealand clinched the fourth cricket ODI by 19 runs to level five-match series 2-2 in Ranchi on Wednesday. - Scorecard: Chasing a target of 281 on a slow track, India were on course at 128 for 2 before a sudden middle-order collapse saw them lose four quick wickets as they were finally all-out for 241 in 48.4 overs. This was India's first loss at skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni's home ground in all the international matches that they have played so far.
