cricket
SportAustralian Associated PressThunder bowl first against Heat at Manuka
Sydney Thunder will bowl first their Big Bash League clash with the Brisbane Heat in Canberra after stand-in skipper Chris Green won the toss.Filling in for regular captain Usman Khawaja, who is on national team duty with Australia ahead of the Ashes, Green elected to bowl and not delay the battle with the Heat's power-hitting openers Chris Lynn and Max Bryant.
SportAustralian Associated PressIndia beat New Zealand to take Test series
Jayant Yadav took three wickets in six deliveries as India beat New Zealand by 372 runs in the second Test at Mumbai to win the two-match series 1-0.India mopped up the New Zealand lower order within 40 minutes of play on day four at the Wankhede Stadium.
SportAustralian Associated PressNo 'mind games' from Root ahead of Ashes
England captain Joe Root insists there's no mind games behind his hesitancy to reveal his team ahead of the first Ashes Test in Brisbane.Newly appointed Australian captain Pat Cummins took a bold step on Sunday by confirming who will be in the hosts' XI at the Gabba with Travis Head returning to the team and Alex Carey on debut.
SportAustralian Associated PressBehrendorff to shake off red-ball allergy
Perth Scorchers paceman Jason Behrendorff wants to prove to his teammates that he's not allergic to the red ball.But first he's keen to lift the BBL trophy.
SportAustralian Associated PressTravis Head thriving in return to Test XI
Familiar faces and a well-known opponent are making Travis Head's return to Australia's Test team a comfortable, relaxed experience.Rather than feeling the pressure to perform after his axing midway through last summer's series against India, Head feels he's in a good mindset going into the Ashes opener in Brisbane.
SportAustralian Associated PressPerth loses Ashes Test, Hobart leads race
Cricket Australia will ramp up the search for a venue for the fifth Test after pulling the plug on Perth's hopes of Optus Stadium's first Ashes match.More than four months after clouds first hovered over the fixture, the match's venue was finally listed as TBC on Monday with Hobart the favourite to take over.
SportAustralian Associated PressAustralia vow a ruthless Ashes approach
Australia have vowed to take a more ruthless approach into the first Ashes Test starting on Wednesday, after taking their lessons from last summer's capitulation to India.The 2-1 series defeat to India marked the first time Australia had lost a home series after leading 1-0 since 1992-93.
SportAustralian Associated PressRain interrupts Bangladesh-Pakistan Test
The majority of play on day two of the second cricket Test between Bangladesh and Pakistan has been washed out due to persistent rain.2 overs from a possible 98 were completed as Pakistan resumed the day on 2-161 and reached 2-188 before the umpires called it a day.
SportAustralian Associated PressSixers' record-breaking BBL win over Stars
Josh Philippe has made a statement to start the BBL season after he blasted the Sydney Sixers to the biggest win in the competition's history with a 152-run flogging over the Melbourne Stars.In a demolition job to start the Twenty20 summer on Sunday, Philippe crunched 83 from 47 balls to help the Sixers to their highest-ever total history with 4-213.
SportAustralian Associated PressDefining Ashes series awaits captain Root
Captain Joe Root says England's squad can win the big moments to secure an Ashes win in Australia and that he'd be foolish not to understand this series will define him.Set for a third tour and second as captain - his first was his first overseas tour as skipper - Root will walk onto the Gabba on Wednesday as the world's top-ranked Test batsmen in rare form.
SportAustralian Associated PressHead, Starc confirmed for Gabba Ashes Test
Australia captain Pat Cummins has confirmed Travis Head will play ahead of Usman Khawaja in this week's first Ashes Test, while he's unlikely to promote himself to the new-ball duties.The early call on Head and left-arm quick Mitchell Starc has the hosts settled on a line-up well ahead of Wednesday's toss, with England captain Joe Root admitting on Sunday he's still weighing up up his options.
SportAustralian Associated PressAshwin spins India towards win over NZ
India offspinner Ravichandran Ashwin has struck three early blows to put the hosts on course for a convincing series-clinching victory against New Zealand in the second and final Test at the Wankhede Stadium.The hosts were five wickets away from a 1-0 series victory with New Zealand reaching 5-140 at close of play on Sunday's day three, chasing an improbable target of 540 and with two days still remaining.
SportAustralian Associated PressIndia on top after Patel's historic 10-for
New Zealand spinner Ajaz Patel has achieved the magnificent and rare feat of bagging all 10 wickets in an innings before India demonstrated their own bowling might to take control of the second and final Test at the Wankhede Stadium.The Mumbai-born Ajaz became only the third player in international cricket to take all wickets in an innings after England off-spinner Jim Laker and India leg-spinner Anil Kumble, but the tourists could not stop India from getting to 325 on a remarkable Saturday.
SportAustralian Associated PressGreen gets Thunder captaincy to start BBL
Chris Green will start the Big Bash season as Sydney Thunder's captain with Usman Khawaja away on Australian duties.Green was told this week he would skipper the club, which gave him his first Twenty20 opportunity before taking his career overseas.
SportAustralian Associated PressAustralia search for right Cummins balance
Cameron Green and Marnus Labuschagne could become the unlikely linchpins of Pat Cummins' captaincy as Australia fight to keep their skipper fresh.Cummins will lead a red-ball team for the first time in Wednesday's Ashes series opener at the Gabba, after having never captained NSW in the Sheffield Shield.
SportAustralian Associated PressPaine could return to Test team: Langer
Justin Langer has kept the door open on Tim Paine's Test career, insistent he could still play for Australia again while also leading a staunch defence of the former captain's character.Speaking for the first time since Paine stood down as skipper, Langer labelled the Tasmanian "one of the best people" he has met in cricket.
SportAustralian Associated PressPakistan recover to 2-161 vs Bangladesh
Skipper Babar Azam hit a half-century to help Pakistan recover from early trouble and reach 2-161 against Bangladesh on the opening day of the second Test, which was halted several times for bad light and rain.Bad light finally ended play with Babar batting on 60 and Azhar Ali on 36.
SportYahoo Sport AustraliaCricket great Chris Cairns 'at peace' with never walking again
Chris Cairns admits he's made peace with the fact that he might never walk again. Read what he had to say here.
SportAustralian Associated PressEngland aim to take pressure off Stokes
England have vowed to do the best they can to take as much pressure as possible off Ben Stokes as hype swells around the superstar allrounder's Ashes return.Stokes made a successful comeback to cricket last week, taking 2-31 and hitting an unbeaten 42 from 56 in a warm-up game against the England Lions.
SportAustralian Associated PressRebuked in '17 Ashes, Duckett relishes BBL
Ben Duckett isn't alone as an Englishman hoping to create happier memories of Australia, compared to 2017-18.But, unlike those preparing for the Ashes opener, Duckett's ambition is a BBL title and reboot of an international career derailed by being the man in the middle of England's nadir four years ago.
SportAustralian Associated PressAustralia's Stars search for BBL success
First they conquered the globe, now the Stars of Australia's Twenty20 World Cup winning side must climb their other Everest.Three weeks after their heroics in Dubai, the first batch of Australia's World Champions will return in the Melbourne Stars' BBL season-opener against the Sydney Sixers at the SCG.
SportAustralian Associated PressMoxon, Gale depart after racism fall out
Yorkshire's long-serving director of cricket Martyn Moxon and head coach Andrew Gale have become the latest high-profile departures following the Azeem Rafiq racism investigation.The county announced a clear-out on Friday which includes the entire coaching team and made a pledge to appoint successors "imminently".
SportYahoo Sport AustraliaShane Warne's pursuit of Mitchell Starc is bordering on obsession
Adam Lucius lifts the lid on Shane Warne's relentless attack on Mitchell Starc. Read all the details here.
SportYahoo Sport Australia'Absolute joke': Cricket world rages over Virat Kohli 'disgrace'
The cricket world is up in arms over Virat Kohli's dismissal in the second Test against New Zealand. Watch it here.
