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South Africa needed a little over two sessions to bundle Zimbabwe out and win by an innings

Himanshu Agrawal08-Jul-2025A complete mismatch of a Test in Bulawayo ended within two sessions on the third day, as Wiaan Mulder alone scored only 23 runs lesser than what Zimbabwe’s entire line-up managed across two innings. But even that happened when, at nine wickets down after being asked to follow-on, an outside edge off Wellington Masakadza dribbled away for four wide of the slips.The tenth-wicket stand between Masakadza and Tanaka Chivanga frustrated South Africa for nearly nine overs, but couldn’t prevent an innings defeat. South Africa comprehensively won by an innings and 236 runs to wrap the series 2-0 after confining Zimbabwe to their heaviest defeat by runs in the first Test of the series. It was South Africa’s tenth Test win on the trot, including their victory over Australia in the WTC 2025 final last month.Related

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• Mulder makes 367*, the fifth-highest individual Test score of all time

Zimbabwe started day three of the Bulawayo Test trailing by a massive 405 runs, with nine wickets in hand. While an innings defeat was inevitable given the deficit and the time remaining in the Test, a middle- and lower-order collapse of 6 for 31 after lunch hastened the eventual result.But before that, overnight batters Takudzwanashe Kaitano and Nick Welch negotiated the seven overs from Codi Yusuf and Corbin Bosch to start play by mostly blocking and leaving the deliveries. The first over of spin, though, got South Africa the breakthrough. Off his second ball, Senuran Muthusamy had Kaitano chipping to cover for 40 in the 24th over.Welch, at the other end, struggled to tick along. His first 45 balls fetched him only 14 runs, and one of his two boundaries came earlier in the day when he outside-edged Yusuf between third slip and gully. In the 26th over, however, Welch swung Muthusamy for a huge six down the ground. Next ball, he went for a hoick across the line, and the ball missed both the bat and the leg stump.But that didn’t prevent Welch from keeping his counterattack going. He punched Mulder wide of gully for four, had a difficult chance dropped by David Bedingham at backward point off Muthusamy, was beaten and nearly stumped next ball, and repeated his massive hit for six off Muthusamy – all these in the space of facing nine balls.It was Mulder’s Test, though, and come the 29th over, his heel was just within permissible limits as he cleaned Sean Williams up for 11. Welch slowed down after that wicket, looking content to push for singles and bat time. He raised his fifty just before lunch when he flicked Prenelan Subrayen for two to fine leg , before both Welch and Craig Ervine went unbeaten at the interval. At the time, Zimbabwe were still another 313 runs behind South Africa.However, Welch and Ervine didn’t last long enough. Muthusamy got a leading edge from Welch, who was caught by Mulder at slip for 55 in the third over after lunch. That began the slide, as 153 for 3 soon turned out to be 184 for 9. Yusuf got among the wickets when he trapped Wessly Madhevere in front for 5 in the 53rd over. Ervine and Tafadzwa Tsiga strung together plenty of dots as the scoring stalled, before Yusuf had Tsiga chipping to short midwicket to end his stay on 1 off 20 balls.At six down, Masakadza joined Ervine, and kept South Africa waiting for more. Masakadza edged one just short of second slip off his first ball, and had a tight stumping decision go his way. It was Bosch who ended the five-run union in almost six overs when he had Ervine edging behind for 49 to start the 65th over. Three balls later, Bosch bowled Kundai Matigimu for a duck to bag his third wicket. In the 69th, Bosch had Blessing Muzarabani edging to third slip without scoring, with Zimbabwe trailing by 272 runs.It was a matter of time before South Africa wrapped up victory, but while last man Tanaka Chivanga had some fun, Masakadza too hung around to annoy South Africa. Chivanga scored 22 off 26 balls, with three boundaries and a six, but was the last man to fall when Muthusamy had him top-edging to slip. Fittingly, it was Mulder who took the winning catch, having stood in as captain for this Test, and being named Player of the Match for his marathon 367* and Player of the Series for scoring 531 runs overall and bagging seven wickets.

Kian and Michael Blignaut, twins and sons of former Zimbabwe allrounder Andy Blignaut, also feature in the squad

ESPNcricinfo staff09-Dec-2025Simbarashe Mudzengerere has been named the captain of Zimbabwe’s 15-member squad for the men’s Under-19 World Cup, which takes place from January 15 to February 6.Mudzengerere, a right-hand batter and medium pacer, has captained the Under-19 national side since making his debut for them against Ireland, in Harare, on April 10 this year. He bowled a tidy spell of 1 for 28, before returning to make 37 from the middle order in a successful chase.Their squad also features Kian and Michael Blignaut, who are twins and the sons of former Zimbabwe allrounder Andy Blignaut.The U-19 coach, Elton Chigumbura, said: “We are going in with a winning mindset. This group can compete with, and beat, the best teams. Success will come from executing our processes, staying disciplined and sticking to our roles. If we do that consistently, we give ourselves a real chance to go all the way.”Zimbabwe are co-hosts of the tournament, alongside Namibia. Harare Sports Club and Takashinga Cricket Club in Bulwayo, and the Queens Sports Club in Harare, will be hosting matches played in the country. On the pressures of playing at familiar venues, Chigumbura said: “Playing at home is an advantage – we understand the conditions and we will have great support behind us.”The tournament features four groups, consisting of four teams each, with each side facing the three others as part of their group stage fixtures. Zimbabwe have been placed in Group C: they will be playing Scotland on 15 January, England on 18 January, and Pakistan on 22 January. After a Super Sixes stage, the top four teams then face off in the semi-finals on February 3 and 4, before the winners play in the final at Harare on February 6.Zimbabwe begin their preparation with warm-up matches against United States of America on January 10, followed by New Zealand at Masvingo Sports Club on January 12.Zimbabwe squad for U-19 World CupSimbarashe Mudzengerere (c), Kian Blignaut, Michael Blignaut, Leeroy Chiwaula, Tatenda Chimugoro, Brendon Senzere, Nathaniel Hlabangana, Takudzwa Makoni, Panashe Mazai, Webster Madhidhi, Shelton Mazvitorera, Kupakwashe Muradzi, Brandon Ndiweni, Dhruv Patel, Benny Zuze

Elsewhere, Padikkal and Rahul failed to make impact for Karnataka while Siraj had a cold return for Hyderabad

Shashank Kishore30-Jan-2025Kohli frenzy sweeps Kotla
More than 12,000 fans on a Thursday caused pandemonium at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in anticipation of watching Virat Kohli bat. They had to settle for simply being able to watch him on the field, but that didn’t see to have dimmed their enthusiasm.They’ll go home knowing Kohli’s likely to be batting early on Friday as Delhi will resume on 41 for 1 after Railways posted 241. Kohli’s presence led to a minor security breach when a fan rushed in to the ground to greet his hero, but was whisked away by the security personnel. As the day progressed, the DDCA summoned extra police personnel apart from their own private security to help manage the large gathering.Shardul’s hat-trick, Rahane’s first fifty
At 2 for 6 inside the first four overs, Meghalaya were in danger of being bowled out for the lowest-ever total in Ranji history, but they eventually surpassed Hyderabad’s 21 comfortably. But it didn’t help their position as far as the match is concerned; Shardul Thakur, who picked up a hat-trick in his second over, finished with 4 for 43 as Meghalaya were bundled out for 86 against Mumbai.A maiden half-century of the season for Ajinkya Rahane (83 not out) and his unbeaten partnership of 180 with Siddhesh Lad (89*) helped them open up a lead of 127 by stumps with eight wickets remaining.File Photo: KL Rahul could not convert a good start against Haryana•Cricket Australia via Getty Images

Rahul, Padikkal make little impact
KL Rahul missed out despite getting off to a start in Bengaluru. Rahul, who batted at No. 3 against Haryana, made 26 before he was out nicking an Anshul Kamboj peach. During his stay, Rahul was largely solid and looking to score, instead of simply occupying the crease.He had a minor flutter on 9 when an attempted glide to deep third landed to slip on the half-volley. However, when he was dismissed, there was a sense that he had missed out on an opportunity to bat Karnataka into a strong position in what is a must-win game. They ended the day on 267 for 5, with Mayank Agarawal, the captain, top scoring with 91. Devdutt Padikkal too missed out, lbw playing back to a sharp, turning delivery after making 43.Pujara eyes 67th first-class hundred
Saurashtra’s decision to bat first on a turner, in a game they need to win with a bonus point, left them with no option but to try and bat big against Assam. And the top order walked the talk, beginning with openers Harvik Desai (130) and Chirag Jani (80) who put together 146 inside 30 overs.Related

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Then Cheteshwar Pujara, who had endured a lean season outside of the 234 he made against Chhattisgarh, was steadfast against the Assam attack. He remained unbeaten five short of what would be his 67th first-class century as Saurashtra ended on a commanding 361 for 3.Siraj’s cold return
Mohammed Siraj’s return to the Ranji setup was far from memorable, even though Hyderabad ended the day in a commanding position. Siraj managed just one wicket in the 18 overs he bowled, but Hyderabad managed to whittle down their deficit to just 100 after bowling Vidarbha out for 190. Siraj’s lone scalp – off Harsh Dubey, who top scored with 65 off 46 balls – was a crucial wicket. It came after Dubey hit him for three sixes in an attempt to pocket some crucial lower-order runs. Vidarbha are the only team assured of a quarter-final berth as things stand.Tamil Nadu’s stunning collapse
Tamil Nadu came into their game against Jharkhand knowing even a draw would be enough to make the knockouts, but even that is shaping towards being a herculean task after a frenetic opening day in which 20 wickets fell in Jamshedpur. TN handed the advantage to Jharkhand after being bowled out for 106 to conceding a 79-run lead. Their misery was further compounded by a calf injury to Baba Indrajith that has ruled him out of the rest of the fixture. The day began well as the left-arm spinning duo of Sai Kishore and Ajith Ram picked up six wickets between them to skittle Jharkhand for 185, but there was a major collapse in store as TN lost 8 for 40. Late in the day, they managed to pick up one wicket in the second innings as Jharkhand effectively ended on 84 for 1.

The former coach had already been banned for 20 years for inappropriate behaviour towards a female player

AAP15-Nov-2024Cricket Australia has handed former Sri Lanka Test player Dulip Samaraweera with another ban after allegations of inappropriate behaviour towards a second player while coaching.Already suspended from any involvement in Australian cricket for 20 years after being found to have behaved inappropriately towards a female player, Samaraweera has since been accused of further misconduct.The second matter relates to his time when he worked as a private coach, while employed by Cricket Victoria. Samaraweera has denied the claim but chose not to participate in the investigation and has been banned for 10 years for breaching the sport’s code of conduct.The ban will be served concurrently with his initial 20-year suspension, meaning he is still not able to return to any coaching role with Australia or a state or territory body until 2044 when he will be 72.AAP understands neither complainant has so far opted to pursue criminal charges.The seven-time Test representative had been involved in Cricket Victoria’s women’s program for almost 16 years, including as a long-time assistant coach at the WBBL’s Melbourne Stars, before resigning in May.Cricket Victoria chief executive Nick Cummins had previously labelled Samaraweera’s conduct “utterly reprehensible” and “a betrayal of everything we stand for” after CA released the findings of its initial investigation in September.”The victim in this case has demonstrated incredible strength of character and courage in speaking up,” Cummins said after the initial charge.  “She will continue to receive our ongoing support to allow her to achieve her goals on and off the field.”From an organisation perspective, the safety and wellbeing of everyone at Cricket Victoria is paramount. We will not tolerate any behaviour which compromises that position, or our people, and will always support our culture of speaking up.”The Colombo-born Samaraweera opened the batting in seven Tests for Sri Lanka between 1993 and 1995, before later moving into coaching. He was an assistant coach with the Stars from the inaugural WBBL season in 2015, and even served as Victoria’s interim head coach for most of last summer.Samaraweera had been due to take over the role full-time, but resigned in May when Cricket Victoria’s conflict of interest policy prevented him from hiring his brother Thilan to the coaching staff.

The six Major League Cricket franchises named their retentions ahead of the draft on February 19

ESPNcricinfo staff15-Feb-2025Travis Head, Pat Cummins, Kagiso Rabada and David Miller were among the big names missing as Major League Cricket franchises named their retentions ahead of the draft for the next season on February 19.Defending champions Washington Freedom retained 15 players, the most across all teams, but let go of Head, who was their joint-highest scorer last year alongside captain Steven Smith. Akeal Hosein and Andrew Tye were the other overseas players released by Freedom.San Francisco Unicorns, runners-up in 2024, also kept a majority of their core intact, including their hard-hitting opening pair of Finn Allen and Jake Fraser-McGurk, but parted ways with Cummins, Matt Henry and Josh Inglis among others.Seattle Orcas, having retained just seven players – the fewest among the six teams, will go through the biggest squad revamp. They retained just two overseas players – the South African duo of Heinrich Klaasen and Ryan Rickelton, the latter has had a successful run in international cricket since the last MLC season. Among their seven overseas players released were Quinton de Kock, Michael Bracewell, Obed McCoy and Nandre Burger.LA Knight Riders will also face a similar challenge in the draft, having retained just three overseas players in Andre Russell, Sunil Narine and Australian left-arm quick Spencer Johnson. Their releases included Miller, Jason Roy, Shakib Al Hasan and Adam Zampa.MI New York, who won the inaugural MLC title, have retained the services of Kieron Pollard – an MI veteran – along with Trent Boult, Nicholas Pooran and Rashid Khan. However, they let go of the South African pace duo of Rabada and Anrich Nortje, as well as Tim David and Dewald Brevis.Faf du Plessis and Devon Conway are expected to be back at the top of the order for Texas Super Kings in the new season. They have also retained allrounder Marcus Stoinis and Afghan left-arm wristspinner Noor Ahmad. Mitchell Santner, Matheesha Mathirana, Daryl Mitchell and Naveen-ul-Haq are among the releases.The notable domestic players who have not been retained include MI New York’s Steven Taylor, Seattle Orcas’ Shehan Jayasuriya and Washington Freedom’s Jasdeep Singh.

List of players retained for MLC 2025

LA Knight Riders: Ali Khan, Adithya Ganesh, Unmukt Chand, Nitish Kumar, Corne Dry, Saif Badar, Shadley van Schalkwyk, Matthew Tromp, Spencer Johnson, Andre Russell, Sunil NarineMI New York: Ehsan Adil, Nosthush Kenjige, Monank Patel, Heath Richards, Rushil Ugarkar, Sunny Patel, Kieron Pollard, Nicholas Pooran, Rashid Khan, Trent BoultSan Francisco Unicorns: Corey Anderson, Hassan Khan, Liam Plunkett, Carmi Le Roux, Brody Couch, Karima Gore, Juanoy Drysdale, Sanjay Krishnamurthi, Haris Rauf, Finn Allen, Jake Fraser-McGurk, Matthew ShortSeattle Orcas: Harmeet Singh, Cameron Gannon, Ali Sheikh, Ayan Desai, Aaron Jones, Heinrich Klaasen, Ryan RickeltonTexas Super Kings: Joshua Tromp, Calvin Savage, Milind Kumar, Mohammad Mohsin, Zia-ul-Haq, Saiteja Mukkamalla, Faf du Plessis, Devon Conway, Noor Ahmad, Marcus StoinisWashington Freedom: Andries Gous, Mukhtar Ahmed, Obus Pienaar, Saurabh Netravalkar, Ian Holland, Amila Aponso, Justin Dill, Lahiru Milantha, Yasir Mohammad, Marco Jansen, Glenn Maxwell, Lockie Ferguson, Rachin Ravindra, Steven Smith, Jack Edwards

England spinner starred at Lord’s last week, but reveals she ‘wasn’t sure’ she’d return from mental-health break

Valkerie Baynes22-Jul-2025Sophie Ecclestone has revealed she considered quitting cricket in the aftermath of the off-field drama surrounding England Women’s T20 World Cup and Ashes failures.Ecclestone missed the start of the international summer when England hosted West Indies, instead playing for Lancashire during the T20I series while she managed her comeback from a knee injury. She was then ruled out of the ODI series, citing the need to prioritise her wellbeing.Having returned for both white-ball series against India, Ecclestone spoke about the reasons surrounding her absence in a pre-match interview ahead of the third and final ODI at Chester-le-Street.She had come under fire during the Ashes in Australia, where England lost the points series 16-0, after Alex Hartley, the former England spinner turned broadcaster, said Ecclestone had refused to be interviewed by her on TV. Hartley also said she had been “given the cold shoulder” by England players since criticising their fitness following their group-stage exit from the T20 World Cup last October.”It was a tough time for me personally,” Ecclestone told Sky Sports in a pitch-side interview before play on Tuesday. “I tore my meniscus and I had a very sore knee, but I feel like personally I was so tired and so drained from the last few months.Related

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“As a cricketer, we don’t stop, we don’t get much time off and we go from franchise tournaments to England tournaments and it takes it out of you. I feel like during the West Indies series I wasn’t actually sure if I was going to come back and play cricket.”I was away from cricket and I cried to a few people, I cried to my dad, I get emotional now, but it was it was a tough time. But I feel like I’ve come out the other side now and I’m back playing cricket.”Ecclestone credited team-mates Lauren Bell and Alice Capsey, along with her family and friends for helping her return to the cricket field with “a smile on my face again”. That culminated in a Player-of-the-Match award for her 3 for 37 at Lord’s on Saturday, which helped England to an ODI series-levelling victory.Ecclestone disputed the use of the word “refusal” when it came to the infamous interview with Hartley, and appeared to take issue with the timing of the request to talk, suggesting that she wanted to concentrate on her warm-up.”It was a weird time,” Ecclestone said. “I feel like obviously that went down the wrong way, and a few things were said, and I was just concentrating on cricket at that moment.”A lot of things were being said which wasn’t ideal for me and it affected me quite a lot to be honest. It took a lot out of me. There were a lot of words being thrown around about me that I thought were untrue and it wasn’t very nice to hear.”I kind of had to put that to one side, and I did go off social media for a couple of weeks actually during the Ashes, just because it was affecting me quite a lot, what was being said. It wasn’t very nice but we’ve all learnt from that now and there’s a lot of feelings involved but we’re all over that now, and ready to move on.”Ecclestone went on to say that she believed misconceptions had emerged about her in the fallout from the incident.”I feel like a lot of words were being thrown around about me that weren’t true,” she said. “Just that I was really arrogant maybe, and that’s just not me as a person.”The word refusal was getting thrown around and that just wasn’t really true and some of the things people were saying about the team I didn’t really agree with, so it was hard to take for me and hard to take for the team.”Immediately after the Ashes, Clare Connor, managing director of England women’s cricket, described the interview situation as “an unfortunate incident that won’t happen again”.”Our players in general… embrace their media obligations,” Connor said. “It matters to them to be good role models for women’s cricket and the England women’s cricket team. As professional women’s cricket has developed at the rate that it has over recent years, that scrutiny is something that we will all have to embrace and accept.”Ecclestone acknowledged that women’s cricket being in the spotlight more than when she made her debut as a 17-year-old in 2016 was a positive thing and said she had learned from the experience, including the public’s reaction.”I was so surprised,” she said. “I feel like it got slightly blown out of proportion but it was no-one’s fault. It was hard at the time because I feel like I came out to my phone and had about 25,000 messages about something that had happened in the media and I was like, ‘well what’s happened?’ Then I came out and I saw it all, and I was just like, ‘wow like that’s mega.'”

India batter keen to score “heaps of runs” and help an upcoming team flourish

Shashank Kishore26-Aug-2025India batter Hanuma Vihari has signed with Tripura as one of their three professionals ahead of the 2025-26 domestic season. Vihari, who finished as Player of the Tournament at the recently concluded Andhra Premier League, has been granted a no-objection certificate (NOC) by the Andhra Cricket Association (ACA).ESPNcricinfo understands Vihari’s contract is for a season to begin with, and is extendable by mutual consent. It’s a decision, he says, that stemmed from a desire to play all formats, something Andhra couldn’t promise him.”I was keen on other opportunities since I believe I’m good enough to play all three formats,” Vihari told ESPNcricinfo. “Andhra made it clear they were looking at youngsters for the T20 format. That was why I decided it didn’t make sense playing even the 50-over format, so I sat out of the Vijay Hazare Trophy as well. I also wanted to play in a new environment.”Related

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Vihari’s signing marks closure to a slightly tumultuous past few years with Andhra. A full-blown public spat after their 2023-24 Ranji campaign had left him “humiliated and embarrassed” at the treatment meted out to him by certain factions within the ACA. At the time, Vihari alleged “political interference” as one of the reasons for him stepping down as captain at the start of that season.Ahead of the 2024-25 season, Vihari was in talks to move to Madhya Pradesh (for a second year in a row) but was talked out of it by Nara Lokesh, general secretary of Andhra’s ruling party, TDP. Vihari’s u-turn had left the MPCA upset.”For the last two seasons, I’d been talking of going out [he’d been in talks with Madhya Pradesh], but I stayed back,” Vihari said of the previous season. “I felt given the circumstances around me, and also where my own cricket is at, this was the best time to sign with an upcoming team. This year they approached me first, and I felt it’ll be a challenge worth taking up.”