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Lalit Modi, the chairman and commissioner of the Indian Premier League (IPL), has said that there might be some Australian “casualties” when IPL franchise owners start recruiting players. Modi hinted the popularity of Australian cricketers had fallen “dramatically” in India after the controversial Sydney Test, which might deter team owners from signing them.”We sincerely hope there is no impact [on their involvement in the IPL]. It will be for the team owners to decide,” Modi told the . “But there definitely will be some casualties from the feedback we are getting.”Mike Hussey, Michael Clarke, Ricky Ponting, Adam Gilchrist and Andrew Symonds have all signed expressions of interest for the lucrative ICC-sanctioned league, where the players are expected to rake in big bucks.Modi also said that India may revise its Test itinerary with Australia in its effort to accommodate more teams in its playing schedule. “Other nations who we play less with currently want to increase the number of matches we play with them,” he said. “We will need to balance this in the Future Tours Programme. We cannot increase the number of games India plays in total. So we will have to play less with some and more with others.”The demand to remove umpire Steve Bucknor from the Perth Test and the threat to abandon the tour if the racism charge against Harbhajan Singh was not overturned led to suggestions that the BCCI was flexing its financial muscle to get things done, but Modi said the BCCI respected the authority of the ICC.”No one country can run the game. We have to all collectively run the game. Unlike in the past, the future for cricket will be best served if all have a voice,” he said. “[The BCCI] definitely respects the ICC. It has a big role to play and will continue to be good for the game.

Graeme Smith has confirmed that his role with the South Africa squad is on an ad-hoc basis although added that he was pondering further involvement having been asked to helpSmith spent New Year’s Day at South Africa’s net session ahead of the second Test against England where he worked with the batsmen and Hashim Amla, South Africa’s captain, said although he wasn’t aware of the details of the agreement, he understood Smith would be with them, “for the rest of the series.” But with commentary commitments to and host broadcaster , Smith clarified that there was no official agreements as yet.”There has been a request to join up with the guys and help a little bit. I am considering it, but I had made commitments before the start of this series that it’s important to stick to,” he said during commentary on the first morning. “Obviously my heart will always be with the Proteas and I want to see them as successful as possible, if I can add value. But it’s got to work itself out, it’s not a role that’s been committed to yet.”But Smith and Amla are on the same page about what’s ailing the South African line-up and they agree that it’s lack of confidence. Both the former captain and the current one have spoken about the need for an injection of self-belief to break the streak of seven Tests without a win.”Naturally they’re a bit uncertain I would guess,” Smith said. “The challenge when you’re short of runs and confidence is that you become a very internal person. You almost go into self-preservation mode, you can spend hours in your hotel room thinking about it.”Sometimes you can get out of it by helping your teammates and share the load. I had a few chats with the guys and you can feel there’s a real hunger to be successful.”Smith also spent time with Amla discussing the challenges of leading, both with the bat and on the field. “I had quite a nice chat with Hash about his gameplans with the captaincy, and how he is managing all the new information that’s coming into his head,” he said. “We spoke a lot in Durban of just managing that space, when you’re under pressure with things coming at you from all over the park. As a batter you have to clear your head out. He’s got to find his way, his routine to get that all out of his head so he can focus on scoring runs.”

West Indies 228 for 9 (Brathwaite 82, Senior 50) beat Pakistan 139 (Azam 51, Senior 4-24) by 89 runs
Scorecard

Eight years after the West Indies first lifted the International Under-15 trophy, a new batch of youngsters proved that they have what it takes as they defeated Pakistan by 89 runs in the 2008 CLICO International Under-15 Championship final at Queen’s Park Oval, Port of Spain.Pakistan, who defeated the West Indies by two runs in the Knockout final of the competition in St Kitts last month, were dismissed for 139 after the home team, led by a patient 82 from prolific Kraigg Brathwaite and a dominating 50 from Man of the Match Raman Senior, reached 228 for 9 after winning the toss and electing to take first strike.Openers Brathwaite and John Campbell again laid a solid foundation for the Windies, posting a stroke filled 61-run partnership at more than a run-a-ball for the first wicket. Campbell was the aggressor in the stand which at times was frustrated by spinners Hafiz Usman Qadir and Mirza Ahsan Jamil when they were introduced from the 11th over.Qadir went for one run in his opening over and Jamil followed that with a maiden which forced Campbell to hit out. Qadir eventually had him caught inside the long-on boundary by Zafar Gohar for 37 which included five boundaries.After Campbell departed, the runs quickly dried up, with Qadir bowling two consecutive maidens and Jamil containing the runs on the other end. But that was all the time that new batsman Roman Senior needed to get into his groove.Senior played the spinners well in compiling his runs and started to grow in confidence as he approached his 50. Gohar was then brought back into the attack with Senior having plundered a four and then a six, which was pushed over the ropes by the fielder on the boundary, to bring up his half century in 79 minutes from 84 balls. Gohar got his revenge with his next ball when Senior was stumped. But his 85-run stand for the second wicket with Brathwaite pushed the Windies to 151 for 2.At that stage, the Windies’ batting began to wobble. Sunil Ambris was run out by a direct throw from midwicket for two and Kyle Mayers sent an easy catch to Gohar off Qadir for 5. Akeem Saunders then struck two fours to take the home team past the 200-run mark but he was run-out shortly after.Brathwaite played a key role in holding the innings together during his stay of 128 balls. But as the overs began running out, he decided to take some risks and was run out with three overs left in the innings. Offspinner Qadir finished with figures of 3 for 25. Donovan Nelson and Kaveem Hodge then exploited the last over bowled by Jamil, collecting 18 runs, with Hodge getting off the mark with a six and Nelson hitting the last two balls for a six and a four respectively.The West Indies put themselves in further control when Kyle Mayers struck with the first ball of Pakistan’s innings to remove Muhammad Naeem via the lbw route.Pakistan were in more trouble after Ahsan Ali was run out for 8 after putting on 32 runs with the skipper Muhammad Babar. The visitors went further adrift when off-spinner Senior took two wickets in three balls when he trapped Ahsan Ali Abbasi lbw for two and bowled Muhammad Nawaz (0) in the seventh over of the innings. But he could not pull Pakistan out of trouble and after bringing up his half century, he played a lofted drive to Senior at long-on off the bowling of Derone Davis for 51.Qadir made a menacing 21, while Jamil contributed a stubborn 17 as Pakistan crossed the hundred mark. However, that was their only consolation as they were all out in 42.4 overs thanks to Senior’s four for 24.Young West Indies had evened the score in a most convincing way.

Mithali Raj, who led India to their fourth successive Asia Cup title, has said the squad, which includes four Under-21 players, was picked keeping in mind the World Cup in Australia next year.”I am happy to say that we have a good pool of players with whom we will work over the next nine months not only to give them the required experience but also to find the combination which will help us in Australia,” Raj said. “We wanted to provide the right platform for the youngsters to show their talent and Sri Lanka was the best place because of the similarities in the Asian subcontinent conditions which made it relatively easy for the new players to show their skills.”Among the new players who did well in the tournament are offspinner Pujare Seema, left-arm spinner Gouher Sultana and batsman Priyanka Roy. While Seema led the wicket-taking list with 14 from five matches, Sultana picked up six, and Roy scored 116 runs in six games. But keeping in mind the hard and fast tracks of Australia, India also gave chances to medium-pacers Snehal Pradhan and Devika Palshikar.Their next assignment is a tour of England in August-September and according to Raj, India had to be careful with their preparations as each tour is played in different conditions.”Our next assignment is in England and the conditions in England are different as compared to Sri Lanka or Australia. But the basics remain unchanged and the bottom line is that we have to train and work hard in every single match we play in the lead-up to the World Cup. We have a talented pool of players and over the next nine months I would like to see improvement in fielding and match planning.”Raj reached 3000 ODI runs during the tournament and became the first Indian woman to reach the landmark. “I didn’t give it a thought while I was batting in the final as my focus was on collecting as many runs as possible in the final overs until I got a message from the dressing room that I was close to the 3000-mark. To be in the top five leading run-getters’ list is a big honour and I hope to score many more runs for India.”

Shoaib Malik refuses to underestimate Bangladesh, despite marshalling a152-run thumping win in the opening game of the five-match ODI series againstthe visitors in Lahore. A century from Mohammad Yousuf and 85 from thecaptain himself set Pakistan up before Sohail Tanvir, Rao Iftikhar Anjum andShahid Afridi wrapped up a comfortable win over a strangely insipidBangladesh.Malik, however, insisted that it was dangerous to draw too manyconclusions from the game. “You can’t judge a team on one match alone.This is cricket where you can’t take any team lightly,” he said. “We setthem a big target and sometimes if you get a good start, you can push thechase close. But our bowlers did really well to take early wickets to putthe pressure on.”Pakistan also plans to give opportunities to players who have impressed inthe domestic ABN AMRO cup, though the first target, Malik insisted, was towrap up the series. “This is not a time-pass series for us. We are takingit seriously and we want to improve our fielding and fitness during it.”Our first priority is to win the series. After that we will look at someof the guys who have done well in the domestic tournaments and give them achance.”As has been the recent trend, Pakistan used a combination of Malik andAfridi for the fifth bowler duties and though both have done well againstadmittedly limited opposition, the ploy will need reworking in tougherenvironments.”We should have a sixth bowling option,” Malik admitted. “We tried thissame line-up in Jaipur against India last year, except we had Fawad Alamin place of Afridi. But we need options for example if one of the bowlersbecomes unfit during a match. This is still an experimental combinationthat we are playing.”The series moves on to Faisalabad for the second game, on April 11.

Owais Shah has insisted England can replicate their series win in Sri Lanka last year and overcome New Zealand, in spite of a six-wicket hammering in the first of five one-dayers on Saturday.England were dismissed for a paltry 130 on a slow and low surface in Wellington, a total New Zealand took just 30 overs to knock off. But Shah maintains that like in Sri Lanka, last December, when England were comprehensively beaten in the first one-dayer, they can bounce back to win the series.”We haven’t quite adapted to the conditions out here – the outfield and the pitches,” he said. “But we’ve been working hard in the nets and getting used to the conditions [more] as every day goes on. [It’s] similar to what we did in Sri Lanka a few months ago when we adapted to the conditions after the first game when we got a hammering. We came back strong, adapted and went on to win the series.”And in spite of England’s two comfortable wins in the preceding Twenty20s, Shah wasn’t surprised by how strongly New Zealand fought back.”They’re third in the world and there is a reason why they are up there and we expected them to come out and fight,” he said. “They’ve had a bit of criticism after the Twenty20 matches so we knew they would be working hard and trying to get back, which is what they did, and it’s now up to us to do the same.”The second one-dayer gets underway on Tuesday in Hamilton.

Anrich Nortje was just about finishing his pre-match media press conference ahead of South Africa’s fourth T20I against India in Lucknow when he received word that the city is also his new IPL home.Nortje was picked up by Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) in the IPL mini-auction for his base price of 2 crore (US$220,000 approx) and moves from Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), where he played two games last season. “This is news to me,” Nortje said, on being told he would be seeing a lot more of the Ekana Stadium. “I’ll see you guys soon then. I’m very happy.”The new IPL deal comes on the back of a challenging year for Nortje, who has only played 13 matches in 2025 and had not played international cricket for 17 months before this series. He played no cricket from October 2024 to May 2025 after suffering a back injury and missed both the SA20 and the Champions Trophy. He then appeared in two IPL 2025 matches before another stress reaction ruled out him of action for almost six months with a recurrent stress reaction. It was only last month, when he made his domestic comeback for the Dolphins, that Nortje was able to get consistent game time. He has since earned an international recall albeit without a wicket yet.Nortje’s four overs in the opening match of the T20I series in Cuttack cost 41 runs as he struggled to find rhythm but maintained speeds close to 150kph. He was rested in new Chandigarh and had a much better return of 0 for 14 in three overs in Dharamsala where the only boundary he conceded was an edge off Shubman Gill. Again, Nortje reached top speeds and appeared more comfortable with his disciplines as he found his way back at highest level.Related

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“It’s nice to be back, I really missed it and really enjoying my time here,” Nortje said. “I’m sort of happy with the progress. There’s still a lot of cricket to play. For me, it’s just to try and focus game by game, day by day, and just try and get better every day but I’ve really been enjoying the time back and it’s been great to be with the team.”This is Nortje’s first South Africa assignment under all-format coach Shukri Conrad, who was originally considering Nortje for a Test comeback last summer when Gerald Coetzee was injured against Sri Lanka. Nortje, who is no longer nationally contracted by his own choice, was then also sidelined with a niggle. Now that he has the opportunity to work with Conrad, much like another player who has returned – Quinton de Kock – he finds the environment welcoming and fun with a focus on playing with freedom.”With a new coach and how he’s been going about things, it seems to be going really well,” Nortje said. “I’m happy to be here. The team’s been doing unbelievably well the last year or two. There’s some fresh faces, there’s some old faces and guys have been sort of on the fringes for a while, are getting to play more cricket more consistently. Coming in and seeing how basic they keep things, trying to be as basic as possible, let the moment play out, assess on the park what to do. Guys are jamming really well, getting along very well, and everyone knows their role in the team. And I think that’s very important.”Under Conrad, South Africa have worked on creating depth around the national squad and adopted a horses-for-courses selection approach which has widened the pool of players that appear for the national side. That’s why Nortje came into consideration when express quick Coetzee was injured. It’s also why Nortje won’t play every match in the ongoing series as South Africa look for their best T20I bowling combination.”There’s a lot of competition as well, which creates opportunity and also creates a little bit of pressure for guys in the team, which is good. It’s what you want,” Nortje said. “That’s something that’s built up over the last year or two and it just puts guys under pressure, and a lot of guys have to fight for a spot, which is great. All in all, it’s just a lot of things coming together.”In the current T20 squad, Nortje is one of six seamers alongside Lungi Ngidi, Ottneil Baartman, Lutho Sipamla and allrounders Marco Jansen and Corbin Bosch. Add the injured Kagiso Rabada, Kwena Maphaka and Nandre Burger into the mix – along with the likes of Coetzee and Lizaad Williams – and South Africa have an impressive pace battery that will leave them spoilt for choice when they select the T20 World Cup squad. Given that Nortje was their standout performer in the last edition of the tournament, in 2024, it would seem likely that, if fit, he’d be a shoe-in but the man himself is not so sure.”We go back into SA20 as well, which is quite a few games back-to-back, so I’m just trying to focus on every game and improve as much as I can, but obviously be realistic as well. So far I’ve been really happy with the progress,” he said. “Hopefully I can be in the squad but if not, for me it’s just to try and focus game by game, day by day, and just try and get better.”Nortje will play for Sunrisers Eastern Cape (SEC) in this year’s SA20, after being part of Pretoria Capitals (PC) for the first three seasons.

England’s hopes of victory in the second Test against New Zealand in Wellington have taken a serious blow after their hero of the first innings, James Anderson, twisted his left ankle while playing football on the outfield after the close of the third day’s play.Anderson was a surprising selection for this match ahead of Matthew Hoggard, but he excelled in the first innings taking 5 for 73 in 20 overs of pacy swing bowling. According to an England spokesman, he received immediate ice treatment after going over his ankle during England’s warm-down session.There are no plans to send him for a scan as yet, and he was able to put weight on his foot soon afterwards. But he was seen leaving the ground on crutches, and it remains to be seen whether he will be fit to bat when England resume tomorrow on 277 for 9, let alone bowl.If Anderson is unable to lead the attack, England’s chances of drawing level in the series will rest on their remaining frontline seamers, Ryan Sidebottom and Stuart Broad, as well as the spin of Monty Panesar. With an overnight advantage of 421, they would still remain huge favourites against a side that has only ever passed 400 twice in the fourth innings and lost both matches, but even before the news broke, New Zealand were confident of putting up a fight when their turn comes to bat.”We’re pretty jovial, there’s a lot of time left in the match,” said Kyle Mills, who felt that the pitch conditions had eased significantly on the warmest day of the match so far. “If we get a day like today tomorrow and our batsmen can get in and cement themselves, I think it’s game on because we bat a long way down.”We feel a tick over 400 is definitely gettable,” he added. “Hopefully we can get the final wicket fairly early tomorrow and hopefully there won’t be many too clouds around. If we can get that sun on the wicket it can turn onto a flat one. There’s so much time left in the match.”Paul Collingwood, who carried England into the ascendancy with his second half-century of the match, also agreed that the conditions for batting had improved overnight. “With the sun being out all day today, it has dried it out a touch,” he said. “So we’ll have to wait and see what it plays like tomorrow. There is still a little bit in there though.”England may have one eye on past contests if the track does turn out to be flat when their turn comes to bowl. On their last tour in 2001-02, Nathan Astle gave them an almighty scare with an incredible 222 from 178 balls, and carried New Zealand within 100 runs of chasing down a total in excess of 500.Astle has moved on, but with aggressive strokeplayers such as Ross Taylor and Brendon McCullum in their middle order, Collingwood predicted that New Zealand would come out fighting once again. “I think they will play the same way they are always playing and that’s pretty positive,” he said. “That is a good thing for us because it gives us chances. They’re an aggressive side and if they get to four or five-down it’ll be interesting to see how the McCullums and Orams come out to play it. It’s a big total but the wicket has played really well and we have to bowl well to stop them from getting the target.”Another man who could be expected to rise to the occasion is the former captain, Stephen Fleming. He has never scored a century on his home ground at Wellington, and in his final appearance before his retirement, tomorrow would be the perfect day to break that duck. “He’s a class batsman and I’m sure he’ll want to cement his mark on this Test match,” said Mills. “He always talks about doing well against England, but I’m sure he’s looking forward to making a big contribution tomorrow.”New Zealand’s record in Test run-chases is not too great, but the same players have enjoyed some notable success in one-day cricket, including against Australia last year when they twice chased down totals in excess of 330. “Australia posted those big scores and I guess at half-time people were writing us off and never thought we’ll reach them.”But this is just another target for us. There’s a lot of belief in this team and if we play to our potential, play well and get the conditions to suit us, all I can say is game on, we’ll definitely be fighting right to the end that’s for sure.”

The Wankhede Stadium has an expectant air about it. Enter through the Polly Umrigar gate and it resembles a construction site, while on the other side the Vinoo Mankad gate leads one to the swank BCCI office, a sign of a huge shift in progress. The ground itself is expecting a complete overhaul, which will put it out of action for some time. But before that happens, Wankhede has some cricketing business to take care of: the Duleep Trophy final, and North Zone and West Zone – the finalists – owe it a good contest over the next five days.It helps that both teams are battle-ready, after having fought their way into the final from a difficult corner in their respective final league matches.North were 28 for 3 on the first morning against East Zone, but their captain Mithun Manhas led a middle- and lower-order resistance to take them to 183 for 6. The last four added 177 more as they wore the East bowlers down. In the second innings, Manhas and Aakash Chopra completely dominate the bowlers in their 368-run unbeaten partnership and sealed North’s participation in the final at Wankhede.West Zone had more trouble entering their match against the England Lions. They needed an outright win to enter the final. A draw was not an option even if they ended on the favourable side. Things looked bleak when the England Lions ended the first day at 273 for 4, but West stuck to it to bowl the Lions out for 355 and then gained a 139-run first-innings lead to get to a position from where their bowlers could at least work towards an improbable Lions collapse. Yusuf Pathan and Siddharth Trivedi did just that to set up an easy win in the end.What’s more North and West are evenly-matched sides with similar line-ups. They both have at least two batsmen in the top order who have been prolific in the domestic season so far; they both have an allrounder each who has stepped up every time his team has needed him; and they both have uncertain bowling attacks.To add to Parthiv Patel and Cheteshwar Pujara in the middle order, West now have the services of Wasim Jaffer who scored 151 to set up the win against the Lions. North have Chopra and Manhas, who when teamed up with Yashpal Singh and Shikhar Dhawan on their good days, make a potentially dangerous batting line-up.Chopra and Jaffer provide an interesting individual contest within the final. India are still without stable Test openers, and they will be looking for one before South Africa come for three Tests in late March. Jaffer, who was dropped for the last two Tests in Australia, has come back and scored big. Chopra, on the other hand, has done enough throughout the season to remain in the selectors’ minds. He scored three centuries to aggregate 783 in the Ranji Trophy, the most important innings being his century in the final to resist the Praveen Kumar onslaught. His double-century against East was his third this first-class season.But perhaps the Most Valuable Players might just be Rajat Bhatia and Pathan – their zonal and state teams will have realised that by now. Bhatia has good memories of Wankhede, as it was him and Chopra who scripted an amazing turnaround to help Delhi win the Ranji Trophy.Pathan scored his third whirlwind century of the season in the Duleep Trophy opener, and then took the crucial five-for against the Lions. If one were to pick an XI from the current domestic season, Bhatia, for his consistency, and Pathan, for his audacity, would fight for the allrounder’s slot. The next five days might be a good stage to settle the imaginary contest. Moreover, the two will want to end what has been perhaps their best first-class season on a high note.But the two sides haven’t fared well in their bowling. An obvious reason is they haven’t had the time to figure out the best combination; they have played only two matches together. Munaf Patel and VRV Singh’s availability and non-availability hasn’t helped either. In the one match he played for North, VRV Singh has shown the ability to bowl in devastating bursts. North will look at VRV to be the main strike bowler, with Vikramjeet Malik and Bhatia doing their steady medium-pace bits.The big decision for Manhas is whether to go with two spinners or an extra seamer. If he picks an extra seamer, he has to choose between Ashok Thakur and Samiullah Beigh, and drop either Amit Mishra or Chetanya Nanda. Manhas will have to discuss his match strategies with senior players since North don’t have a coach any more. They had Vijay Dahiya for the first match but he was called back by Delhi to be with the Ranji one-day team.Munaf’s absence, having played the first match and then leaving to join the Indian team in Australia, leaves West without any fire power in the bowling department. Trivedi and Sandeep Jobanputra haven’t really carried their Ranji form over to Duleep and they are left with the difficult task of leading the attack in the final. Rajesh Pawar, who hasn’t made any impression, and Ramesh Powar, who hasn’t even been picked in final XI, have given West further headaches. Parthiv might look towards his state team to strengthen the attack by picking Ashraf Makda and Mohnish Parmar, the latter having made his way into the squad after Powar was dropped.The bowling gives North a slight edge, but this one promises to be a contest between the batsmen. The Wankhede wicket hasn’t troubled the batsmen much this season, and the one for the final looks like another good wicket for them. Both captains said they expected some early movement with good bounce and little lateral movement. That should make stroke-playing easier and productive.Teams:
North Zone: Aakash Chopra, Shikhar Dhawan, Karan Goel, Mithun Manhas (capt), Yashpal Singh, Rajat Bhatia, Uday Kaul (wk), Amit Mishra, Chetanya Nanda, Vikramjeet Malik, VRV Singh, Ashok Thakur, Joginder Sharma, Samiullah Beigh, Sachin Rana.West Zone: Sahil Kukreja, Wasim Jaffer, Ajinkya Rahane, Parthiv Patel (capt/wk), Cheteshwar Pujara, Rakesh Solanki, Yusuf Pathan, Rakesh Dhurv, Sandeep Jobanputra, Siddharth Trivedi, Ashraf Makda, Mohnish Parmar, Samad Fallah, Pinal Shah.

Former Pakistan allrounder Israr Ali died in his hometown of Okara on February 1 at the age of 88. He was Pakistan’s oldest living Test cricketer and had played four Tests for the country between 1952 and 1959. He died of a pneumonia attack.Ali played 40 first-class games, taking 114 wickets at 22.63 and scoring 1130 runs at 20.54. He had begun his career playing for Punjab in 1946-47 before Pakistan and India were partitioned, and then toured India as part of the Pakistan Test side in 1952-53. He played only two Tests on that tour, and was then was recalled to the side for two Tests against Australia in 1959-60. While interacting with ESPNcricinfo in 2012, Ali recalled how he had dismissed Australia opener Les Favell in all four innings without the assistance of fielders.He had said that one of his biggest regrets was a fallout with Pakistan captain Abdul Hafeez Kardar, which Ali believes shortened his international career.After his playing career, Ali stayed involved in cricket administration and was president of the Multan region from 1981 to 1982, and a member of Pakistan’s selection committee in 1983 and 1984, before he decided to move away from the game. “I parted from cricket after 1987, maybe because I was losing the passion, and decided to stay back in Okara,” Ali had said when he was 85 years old.Israr had been living a humble life in Okara, nearly 85 miles away from Lahore. The agricultural town has fertile land with fields of potato, tomato, sugarcane, wheat, rice and corn and in sports it is a significant nursery for hockey. Ali had been living a quiet life up until the time of his death.