IPL 2022 | Lucknow franchise ropes in Andy Flower as head coach

The Ashes | Michael Nesser's dream run on debut continues as he scalps first Test wicket

Australia seamer Michael Nesser who made his debut in the second Ashes Test in Adelaide scalped his first wicket in the format as he sent England opener Haseeb Hameed packing for 6 off 21 in the first innings. Hameed was caught by Mitchell Starc stationed at mid-on. The visitors had already lost both the openers, Hameed and Rory Burns and were struggling at 12/2 at the time of writing. Earlier, the hosts rode on an emphatic batting from David Warner, stand-in captain Steve Smith, Marnus Labuschagne, Alex Carey and a late surge from the tailenders to post 473/9 (D) in the first innings. While Warner and Smith missed out on individual tons by small margins, Labuschagne went on to notch up 103. Warner struck 95 while Smith was out for 93. The wicket-keeper batsman Carey who replaced Tim Paine in the squad also scored a fifty during the course. While Nesser picked his first Test wicket after getting the Baggy green cap, he also chipped in with some valuable runs earlier in the day. Australia were 390/7 when Starc was joined by Nesser in the middle and the two batters put on a partnership of 58 for the 8th wicket. Starc remained unbeaten at run-a-ball 39 but Nesser eventually departed for a 24-ball 35.

The Ashes | Day-Night Test, Day 2: Not with ball but bat, Starc, Neser, Richardson demoralise England

Australia declared their first innings at 473/8but not before their pacers tried their hands with the bat and demoralised England bowling attack by hitting them to all parts of the Adelaide Oval. They would have expected some relief after getting Steve Smith and Alex Carey in quick succession after their 95 runs stand between the duo but the trio of Michael Neser, Mitchell Starc and Jhye Richardson pummelled them for boundaries at will and carried Australia to a mammoth total. Neser, batting for the first time at the Test level, hit a swashbuckling 24-ball 35 alongside Starc, who was more subdued of the two initially and hit a run a ball 39. Richardson, who was returning to Test cricket after a long gap of three years, tried to hit a big six on the very first ball he faced of Chris Woakes. He failed to do so but did not fail in the second attempt and deposited the pacer over midwicket on the second ball he faced. He could not elongate the fun and edged to keeper Jos Buttler compelling the stand-in captain Steve Smith to declare the first innings. England have more than one and half hour to deal with against the trio of Starc, Richardson and Neser and it won’t be an easy task especially for the opening pair of Rory Burns and Haseeb Hameed.

BBL 11 | Sixers in trouble as Curran, Manenti ruled out; O’Keefe sidelined with injury

The Sydney Sixers have lost three of its key team members in the ongoing Big Bash League 2021-22. While the two pacers in Tom Curran and Ben Manenti have been ruled out for the entire season with deep injuries, experienced spinner Steve O'Keefe has also been sidelined for at least a week with a calf strain. Curran, who complained of a back spasm in the Sixers’ last game against Melbourne Stars at the MCG is found to have a troublesome hotspot in the back has forced the fast bowler to leave the tournament and return to the United Kingdom for rehabilitation. The 24-year-old right-arm off-break bowler Manenti suffered a neck stress fracture and has been ruled out due to it. With Manenti out and O'Keefe on a short term break, the Sixers are left with only Llyod Pope as their pure spin-bowling option going forward. Even after all these injury concerns, the pink team’s skipper Moises Henriques is not at all worried as he believes that his team always comes prepared with 18 guys who can be match ready. Hence even if three guys have suffered injuries, the all-rounder believes that rather than being a setback, it can be an opportunity for the remaining guys to step up. "We pride ourselves on being a club and a team that embraces challenges but to lose players of the calibre of Tom and Ben, and to have SOK on the sidelines, would be a challenge for any team and those guys aren't simply replaced," the captain said. "On and off the field, all three of those guys play a massive role for us and their presence around the team and skills on the field will be missed by everybody in the group. But for us, we always look to have 18-match ready players in our squad and we see it as an opportunity for others within our group. We saw Ben Dwarshuis return from injury this week, Jackson Bird isn't too far away and Sean Abbott is back after the birth of his daughter, so there is no need to panic," he added. Sixers are currently sitting at the top of the table with 11 points in their kitty having registered three wins out of four games that they have played so far.

Rohit Sharma, Ravindra Jadeja begin rehab at NCA

India’s limited-overs captain Rohit Sharma and all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja have begun their rehabilitation at the National Cricket Academy in Bangalore. The two were ruled out of the Test fixtures against South Africa due to injuries. Sharma who was also handed over the vice captaincy in Tests will be missing the series against the Proteas due to a hamstring injury while Jadeja was ruled out of the South Africa tour due to a knee injury. The two players were seen with the U19 captain Yash Dhull who posted pictures with them on social media. Dhull will be leading India U19 side in the Asia Cup beginning in the UAE from December 23. Rohit had first replaced Virat Kohli in the T20Is as the skipper after Kohli had stepped down from the post. The new captain had a brilliant start to his full time captaincy career as The Men in Blue completed a clean sweep win against the Kiwis in the T20I series. Sharma was then given the ODI captaincy as well. According to BCCI President Sourav Ganguly, the selectors was not in favour of keeping two limited-overs captains. India will begin the Test series against South Africa onD December 26 in Centurion while the ODIs are slated to commence on January 19, 2022 in Paarl.