While form is important, Tim Paine's hopes of retaining his spot may ultimately rest on whether selectors feel he might be a major distraction amid the pressures of an Ashes series.
Australia's hapless performances in the 2-0 series loss to South Africa came in for huge criticism from the country's local media on Wednesday, with demands for heads to roll in both the dressing room and the corridors of power at Cricket Australia.
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 called up uncapped paceman Nathan Coulter-Nile for the first Test against West Indies on Tuesday as a replacement for left-arm seamer Mitchell Starc, who was ruled out of the series due to a broken foot.
Gauff vows to be more aggressive in Osaka showdown
Smriti Mandhana and Harmanpreet Kaur scored record half-centuries
Phillip Hughes, who has been named in the Australia squad for the first Test match against Sri Lanka in Hobart, has claimed he has worked hard on his technique and made sacrifices to earn his baggy green once again.
Despite home team featuring in the opening tie, crowds at the PCA stadium were sparse in the CLT20 match played between Kings XI Punjab and Hobart Hurricanes in Mohali on Thursday night.
Former world number four Jelena Dokic is confident she will be fit for the Australian Open after withdrawing from the Hobart International on Friday with an Achilles' tendon injury. Dokic was scheduled to play in qualifying for the Hobart tournament this weekend but strained her Achilles' tendon while practicing on Thursday.
Australia's top batsman Steve Smith says he is returning to the Big Bash League domestic tournament for the Sydney Sixers with an eye on next year's Twenty20 World Cup on home soil.
WBBL is likely to clash with India's month-long tour of the Caribbean
Australian High Commission in New Delhi said that whether the attack was 'racially-based' or not will be investigated.
Playing down comparisons drawn with Australian wicket-keeping great Adam Gilchrist, South Africa batting mainstay Quinton de Kock has insisted that he just focuses on playing his own game.
Jacques Kallis brought his years of experience into play as he guided Kolkata Knight Riders to its maiden Oppo Champions League T20 final having comfortably beaten Australia's Hobart Hurricanes by seven wickets in Hyderabad on Thursday.
Nathan Ellis says the IPL stint in the UAE is bound to provide him valuable experience going into the T20 World Cup.
Australian batsman Cameron Bancroft's return from a ball-tampering ban proved to be short lived after he was dismissed for two runs for the Perth Scorchers in the domestic 'Big Bash' Twenty20 competition at Launceston on Sunday.
Legendry spinner Shane Warne has issued an open invitation to West Indies to get aid from their former great Brian Lara following their humiliating defeat in the first Test against Australia.
Former World No 1 in doubles and six-time Grand Slam champion Sania beat Indonesia's 16-year-old Priska Madelyn Nugroho for the award in Asia/Oceania regional category.
With the #MeToo movement taking the world by storm, sexual harassment came up for discussion at the three-day ICC Board meetings in Singapore, which concluded on Saturday.
'A day after South Africa took an unassailable 2-0 lead in the Test series in Australia by winning in Hobart, footage emerged showing Du Plessis with a white lolly in his mouth, licking his finger before shining the ball'
Sania Mirza's impressive showing at the Hobart WTA saw her move to world number 53.
Australia's Samantha Stosur failed to allay fears she could be heading for another early exit at her home Grand Slam with a scrappy performance in Hobart while a trio of big names tumbled out of the Sydney International on Monday.
Rajneesh Gupta highlights important numbers featuring the Sri Lankan team from World Cups.
Australia's selectors have responded to the threat of a first ever Test series sweep on home soil by dropping five players from their squad for the third match against South Africa, which begins in Adelaide on Thursday. Joe Burns, Adam Voges and Callum Ferguson, as well as wicketkeeper Peter Nevill, paid the price for a string of batting collapses, while seamer Joe Mennie was also axed after the innings defeat in the second Test in Hobart.
Pakistan vice-captain Kamran Akmal and his brother Umar will face disciplinary action for allegedly violating their central contracts during the controversy that prevailed before the Hobart Test against Australia.
England have not picked uncapped all-rounder Jofra Archer in a preliminary 15-man World Cup squad but have named him in squads for the warm-up games against Pakistan and Ireland.
Kings XI Punjab captain George Bailey heaped praise on Glenn Maxwell and Thisara Perera after the five-wicket win against Hobart Hurricanes in Mohali and promised his team will get better in the Champions League T20.
James Pattinson will replace fellow-quick Mitchell Starc in the Australia team for this week's opening test against West Indies, captain Steve Smith said on Wednesday, reviving a promising career that had stalled because of injury.
Ravichandran Ashwin held on to his top spot, while Ravindra Jadeja rose a rung to be fifth in the all-rounders' chart of the latest ICC Test rankings issued on Tuesday.
Pardeep Singh, who is studying hospitality in the country, was beaten at the Sandy Bay McDonald's drive-through in Australia's island state of Tasmania on Saturday night.
The third one-day international between West Indies and England was abandoned due to rain without a ball being bowled in Grenada on Monday.
The 33-year-old left-hander from Luxembourg had lost all five of his previous tour finals but prevailed at the sixth attempt in the Australian Open warm-up event at the Olympic Tennis Centre.
Under-fire Chris Gayle has sought the services of a leading Australian lawyer to start defamation proceedings against Fairfax Media over allegations that the West Indian cricketer indecently exposed himself to a woman in Sydney during the World Cup last year. The allegations came to the fore following Gayle's widely-criticised live interview with Ten Sports' female presenter Mel McLaughlin while playing for Melbourne Renegades in the Big Bash League.
West Indian batting star Chris Gayle has courted fresh controversy when he made 'inappropriate' remarks to a female television presenter live on air after a Big Bash League cricket match. Gayle, who plays for the Melbourne Renegades in the T20 competition, was speaking to Channel 10 presenter Mel McLaughlin after he made a quick-fire 41 runs of 15 balls in his team's victory against Tasmania.
Petra Kvitova won her third title of the year as she fought back from a set down to beat Romanian Mihaela Buzarnescu 4-6, 6-2, 6-3 in the Prague Open final on Saturday.
Persistent rain on Friday washed out a second day's play in England's tour match against Australia A in Hobart, frustrating the tourists' hopes of getting maximum batting practice in the lead up to the first Ashes test in Brisbane.
Harmanpreet extends association with Sydney Thunder for BBL
South Africa captain Faf du Plessis has been charged with ball tampering, the International Cricket Council (ICC) said on Friday. Du Plessis was charged after television footage appeared to show him applying an artificial substance to the ball during the fourth day's play in the second test against Australia in Hobart.
A look at the records of Garbine Muguruza and Sofia Kenin ahead of their Australian Open final on Saturday.
Coach Darren Lehmann voiced concern about Australia's batting lineup after a catastrophic display in which the hosts were bowled out for 85 by South Africa on the first day of the second Test in Hobart on Saturday.
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