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

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.

The Ashes | Day-Night Test, Day 2: Steve Smith misses ton, but puts hosts ahead on captaincy return

Steve Smith celebrated his return to the leadership of the Australian side with a resilient 93 in the Day-Night Ashes Test against England in Adelaide. He batted with absolute control and authority over England bowling attack until his dismissal when a delivery from James Anderon kept low and found him in front of the stumps. He looked set and determined for a century in the Ashes series after missing out on a big score in the first Test at the Gabba. He did not have to do a repair job as the partnership between Marnus Labuschagne and David Warner had laid a perfect foundation for him and the middle order to flourish, but he never gave any chance to England bowling attack. He stitched valuable partnerships of 65, 50 and 91 with Labuschagne, Travis Head and Alex Carey respectively to ensure Australia didn’t lose their way after a solid start at the top. Carey scored his maiden half-century in the longest format to lead hosts’ counter-attack from the other end while Smith was wearing the England pace attack down by each passing over. He was handed over the vice-captaincy alongside Pat Cummins in a contentious decision by the selectors and got the opportunity to lead the side very quickly as Cummins suffered a covid scare in Adelaide. His efforts ensured Australia reached closer to the 400-run mark at the Tea interval on the second day of the Day-Night Test and England will be under pressure to bat under lights in the final session.