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Suresh Raina and Bhuvneshwar Kumar have been dropped from India’s ODI squad for the upcoming tour of Australia, following a poor home series against South Africa.

Ins and Outs in the ODI squad

In: Barinder Sran, Rishi Dhawan, Ishant Sharma, Mohammed Shami, Ravindra Jadeja, Manish Pandey
Out: S Aravind, Stuart Binny, Suresh Raina, Harbhajan Singh, Mohit Sharma (injured), Ambati Rayudu, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Amit Mishra

A rejigged ODI squad included a maiden call-up for Punjab’s 23-year-old left-arm pacer Barinder Sran, as well as a recall for Manish Pandey, who made his international debut against Zimbabwe in July. Sran has played only seven List-A matches and taken 15 wickets at 26.73.Himachal Pradesh allrounder Rishi Dhawan also found a place in the squad, but there was no room in the ODI team for Harbhajan Singh, Amit Mishra, Ambati Rayudu and Stuart Binny.Patil also said the changes to the team were necessitated by the predictability of the team composition in India’s recent series. “We felt Indian team in batting and bowling was looking very much predictable,” he said. “So we wanted to have some variations, and that is why we have picked a player in our batting order [Pandey] and a player in the bowling department [Sran] also.”Raina has managed just one century in his last 26 ODI innings, and scored just 180 runs in eight matches since the 2015 World Cup. He was unable to shake off this poor run even against South Africa last month, as he managed just 68 runs from five matches at an average of 13.60. Bhuvneshwar’s series was just as forgettable; he claimed his seven wickets from five matches at an average of 49.57 and an economy rate of 7.13.To a question on whether selectors had lost faith in Raina’s abilities, Patil reiterated that no player was written off. “If he had lost confidence he wouldn’t have been in T20 team also,” he said. “Selectors have no right to write any player off. We look at the performance, the fitness of the player and we look at the combination. If a player fits in the combination we pick him.”With just five specialist batsmen in the squad, Raina’s exclusion could open the door for Rishi Dhawan, Pandey or Gurkeerat Singh. Rishi Dhawan, who has played 53 List-A matches, recently struck a match-winning 117 in the Vijay Hazare Trophy against Madhya Pradesh to fire his team into the quarter-finals, to go with 28 wickets from eight Ranji Trophy matches.A source privy to the developments in the meeting said the names of Shreyas Iyer and Shardul Thakur were also discussed for selection. “The emphasis was on identifying a larger pool of talent ahead of the Asia Cup T20 and the World T20,” the source said. “The idea is to promote youngsters and also reward consistency over the years. Rishi Dhawan, for instance, has been doing very well over the last few years.”The source said there were other players in the selectors’ radar as well and that they were keen on watching as many talented cricketers as they could in the lead up to the World T20.According to him, one of the reasons behind the inclusion of Rishi Dhawan and Sran was the nature of pitches in Australia. “There will obviously be good bounce there and it will suit the faster bowlers,” the source said. “The batting ability of someone like Rishi Dhawan will also come in handy. With [Ravichandran] Ashwin and Bhaji [Harbhajan Singh] there already, it becomes a strong No.7, 8 and 9.”ODI squad: MS Dhoni (capt), R Ashwin, Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane, Manish Pandey, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammed Shami, Axar Patel, Ishant Sharma, Umesh Yadav, Gurkeerat Singh, Rishi Dhawan, Barinder Sran

Johmari Logtenberg, who it’s no exaggeration to call a batting sensation, has surprised the world of women’s cricket by suddenly giving up the sport for golf. More unexpected still is the fact that the cricket star, who averaged 422.50 in a domestic season and has been instrumental in the international set-up since the age of 14, has only just taken up golf on a whim and she doesn’t know if she will be any good at it.”I didn’t plan to play golf,” she told the Times of South Africa. “It was just a spur-of-the-moment decision”It seems an extraordinary move for the girl, still only 18, who had the cricketing world at her feet with two one-day international centuries and five fifties under her belt. Then again she didn’t earn any money from it – English counties offered to pay her travel expenses “I would have ended up playing for charity” – while a successful women’s golfer can earn a lucrative sum.With great hand-eye co-ordination, the one thing that perhaps will not raise eyebrows is that she’s already got a handicap of 12 despite these being early days where golf is concerned.She has enrolled at Gavan Levenson’s golf academy to improve her game further but if it doesn’t work out she hinted there would be a chance she could go back to cricket. “We’ll only see after this year whether golf is for me.”

England 229 for 4 (Bell 73, Collingwood 70*) beat New Zealand 234 for 9 (Oram 88, Broad 3-32) by six wickets (D/L method)
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
How they were out

England’s chastised cricketers demonstrated a new-found resolve in the third ODI against New Zealand in Auckland, and hauled themselves back into contention in the series with a hard-earned but ultimately comfortable six-wicket victory. After winning the toss and bowling first, England might have imagined an easier day’s work when New Zealand slumped to 95 for 6 midway through their innings, but a flamboyant 88 from Jacob Oram ensured a stiff rain-adjusted target of 229. Fittingly, after one or two alarms, it was left to England’s captain, Paul Collingwood, to seal the match with a fusillade of boundaries. He finished on 70 not out from 50 balls.For Collingwood personally, it was a triumphant day – he also picked up 3 for 43 with his medium-pacers. But the collective morale boost was of far greater consequence to his side. England’s one-day fortunes have known some dog-days in recent years, but their ten-wicket defeat at Hamilton on Tuesday was about as bad as it has ever been. At 2-0 down in the series, anything less than victory in this game would have been curtains for the series.That prospect, however, didn’t look remotely likely during the opening exchanges of today’s contest. At Hamilton, New Zealand’s openers, Brendon McCullum and Jesse Ryder, added 165 unbeaten runs in just 18.1 overs. This time they were parted before the end of the second over, and New Zealand went on to lose three more wickets inside the first 15. It was James Anderson who removed both men – McCullum to a fifth-ball bouncer and Ryder to a mistimed pull to deep midwicket – having located that extra yard of pace and aggression that he had mysteriously mislaid in his previous outing.Stuart Broad also struck twice in his first spell. Jamie How steered a low catch to Collingwood in the gully before the off-colour Scott Styris top-edged a bouncer to midwicket, and at 53 for 4, New Zealand’s ropey middle-order had been exposed. Collingwood picked up his first wicket when Peter Fulton, with his feet stuck in treacle, was bowled through the gate for a tortuous 4 from 25 balls, and he struck again soon afterwards when Ross Taylor was adjudged lbw by a flustered Asaf Rauf. Rauf had just been forced to call a dead-ball for a slogged six over midwicket, because he had not been watching the action when the delivery was bowled.At 95 for 6, all New Zealand’s hopes were invested in Oram, and he didn’t disappoint. On 5, he was very lucky to survive a confident lbw appeal from Ryan Sidebottom, but he made his life count with another innings of intense power and perfect timing. He combined with Daniel Vettori in a seventh-wicket stand of 74 to take the sting out of the scoreline and then, when Vettori picked out Owais Shah with a flat pull to wide long-on, he took up the cudgels with a stunning square drive for six off Mascarenhas, and consecutive sixes in Broad’s final over, to dent his otherwise excellent figures of 3 for 32.Ian Bell produced a superb catch running back at midwicket to deny Oram a shot at a century, but New Zealand’s total of 234 for 9 was considerably more than England had bargained for. It was soon put into some sort of context when England lost both their openers inside the first eight overs. Phil Mustard slogged two fours and a top-edged six in another frenetic innings, but then became England’s seventh run-out victim in 21 dismissals when he unwisely took on Vettori’s arm at mid-off. Then, following a brief rain break, Alastair Cook lost patience after batting out consecutive maidens, and pulled loosely to mid-on.The sting of England’s chase, however, was absorbed by Bell and Kevin Pietersen, who added 107 for the third wicket in unexpectedly contrasting styles. Bell was the aggressor, using his feet well to force the ball through the covers and over long-on; Pietersen was strangely subdued, trying but failing to find his timing as New Zealand’s medium-pacers cramped his style. Nevertheless, while the pair were in harness, England were in full control of their destiny. The threat of rain spurred Pietersen into action with three fours in a row off Paul Hitchcock, but Vettori tipped the scales once again when both men fell lbw in consecutive overs. Bell was decidedly unfortunate – the ball clearly deflected off an inside edge – but Pietersen could have no complaints as he once again stepped across his stumps to be rapped on the shin.At 149 for 4, England still required 80 to win from 14 overs, but Collingwood was in no mood to succumb to another embarrassment. With Shah alongside him, England ticked off the singles until they were within striking distance, and then Collingwood cut loose. A volley of four sixes and two fours in nine balls – including a cheeky reverse dab and an effortless pick-up over the ropes – allowed England to coast home with a full three overs to spare. It might not be enough to expunge the memories of Hamilton, but it was just the tonic the team needed. And more importantly, it kept the series alive.

Bangladesh Cricket Board Academy players, Nasiruddin Faruque, Dolar Mahmud and Mehrab Hossain jnr, were given warnings for using abusive language towards umpires during a match against South Africa Academy in Jessore on Sunday.Match referee Raqibul Hasan found the three guilty of breaching the code of conduct by excessive appealing and using offensive language against umpires Jahangir Alam and Tanvir Ahmed.Faruque, the Academy captain, was given a suspended sentence of two matches, Mahmud and Mehrab got a match each. The suspension will come in to effect if the players repeat the same offence in the Academy Cup.

An unbeaten 206-run partnership between opener Anurag Sarangi (104*) and Govinda Poddar (100*) took Odisha to a nine-wicket win against Assam at Delhi’s Feroz Shah Kotla. The win – Odisha’s first of the tournament – was orchestrated by fast bowler Basant Mohanty, whose five wickets in the first innings helped bowl Assam out for 207, before their batsmen chased down the target with ease.Mohanty, who returned career-best List A figures of 5 for 26, was assisted by Deepak Behera’s three wickets to trouble Assam’s batsmen from the start. While captain Arun Karthik’s 73-ball 56 and Jamaluddin Syed Mohammad’s 78-ball 53 took Assam near the 200-run mark, regular wickets at the start, and towards the end meant Assam managed to set Odisha a target of 208. Six Assam batsmen finished with single-digit scores.After Sandeep Pattnaik fell early in Odisha’s innings, Sarangi and Poddar struck 206 runs in 188 balls in an unbeaten stand to remove any hope of an Assam victory. The duo hit 24 fours and four sixes to take Odisha to a with more than 14 overs to spare.Baroda’s bowlers, led by Hardik Pandya (3-26) and Soaeb Tai (3-36), skittled Punjab out for 174 runs to complete a 75-run victory at Delhi’s Karnail Stadium. Punjab crumbled from a position of strength at 125 for 2 – courtesy Gurkeerat Singh’s 62 and Mandeep Singh’s 43 – to being all out 49 runs later, thereby taking Baroda to the top of the group.After fifties from Krunal Pandya (78) and Aditya Waghmode (54) at the top of Baroda’s innings gave them a strong start, four wickets from Baltej Singh and another three from Siddarth Kaul meant Baroda folded for 249 runs. From 193 for 4 in the 43rd over, Baroda managed to add only 56 runs for their last six wickets.Gurkeerat and Singh gave Punjab’s chase the stability it needed at the top, but regular wickets from Hardik, Tai and Atit Sheth (2-24) meant Baroda managed to skittle their opponents out thereafter without much trouble.Half centuries from openers Faiz Fazal (53) and Jitesh Sharma (84) helped Vidarbha easily chase down the 200 target set by Railways to win by eight wickets at Delhi’s Palam A Ground. The duo’s first-wicket stand yielded 117 runs before Ganesh Satish (36*) and Ambati Rayudu (19*) took Vidarbha home with 28 deliveries to spare. This after Railways managed to post 199 courtesy Manjeet Singh’s innings of 54 off 30 deliveries after he came in to bat at No. 10.Akshay Karnewar (3-32) and Ravikumar Thakur (2-47) ran through Railways’ top order while run outs inflicted by YS Thakur and Rajneesh Gurbani meant Railways were struggling at 134 for 9. Manjeet came to the rescue striking three fours and five sixes to help his team post a competitive total their bowlers could look to defend.But the target of 200 was never enough as Fazal’s patient 95-ball 53 and Jitesh’s 114-ball 84 gave Vidarbha the start their other batsmen could carry on from. And carry on they did as Satish and Rayudu saw their team through without any other casualties. The win saw Vidarbha move to second spot, tied on eight points with group leaders Baroda.

Cricket Australia and the ECB are in talks over a reciprocal arrangement which would see touring teams provided with better preparation ahead of Ashes series.England played a single warm-up match before the first Ashes Test in Perth last month against England Lions at Lilac Hill, a club ground with slow and low surfaces. They had been offered a warm-up match against Australian opposition – most likely an Australia A team – by CA in Adelaide or Melbourne, but instead chose to travel straight to Western Australia.ESPNcricinfo understands that the ECB made a request earlier this year to use the WACA as their training base in Perth – as India did at the start of their tour in 2024-25 – but were told it was unavailable due to WBBL and Sheffield Shield fixtures.One official said that India’s convincing win in Perth last year ensured there was “no chance” that CA would let England use the WACA and risk a repeat. CA have denied that this was done deliberately and cited the fact that the Barmy Army played a charity match at the WACA immediately before the first Test as evidence that the venue was not completely off-limits.England then turned down the opportunity to send first-team players to a two-day, pink-ball fixture against the Prime Minister’s XI in Canberra before the day-night Test in Brisbane, preferring extra training sessions at the Gabba. Brendon McCullum, their head coach, later suggested that England might have “over-prepared” ahead of their eight-wicket defeat.The ECB had initially hoped that their three-match ODI series against New Zealand in October would provide them with relevant match practice. But England lost the toss and were asked to bat first in bowler-friendly, early-season conditions in all three ODIs, and only one batter in their Ashes squad – Harry Brook – made a score of even 30 in the series.Related

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The last two years have seen significant turnover at the ECB in the director of cricket operations role, which has oversight on pre-series preparation. Since John Carr’s retirement in 2023, the position was briefly filled by two former rugby players – David Humphreys, then Stuart Hooper – before Rob Hillman’s appointment in July.Richard Gould, the ECB’s chief executive, was in Australia for the first two Ashes Tests and held talks with Todd Greenberg, his CA counterpart, to work on a memorandum of understanding that would come into place ahead of the 2027 Ashes series in England.”We’ve been talking, not about what’s gone before, but what we do next,” Greenberg said on the first day of the third Test in Adelaide. “We had an open conversation about when we come across in ’27. He’ll share some of their prep, we’ll share some of our wants and vice versa.”I think it’s just a mature dialogue between us to figure out how we can help each other. I’m happy, very happy to do the same for him here and he’s happy to do the same for me there.”England’s preparation had been arranged by the time Greenberg assumed the role from Nick Hockley earlier this year, and he said that it made “perfect sense” for the two boards to work together to ensure series are competitive.”I don’t know the history of it, but for me it seems relatively simple,” he said. “We want these series to be competitive. We want these series to be hard fought, but we also want to give ourselves both opportunities to be the best prepared we can be in a schedule that’s so hard and so tight. Helping each other makes perfect sense and that’s how Richard and I left it.”Australia’s training at the start of the 2023 Ashes tour was complicated by their involvement in the World Test Championship final at The Oval, and the same could be true for the 2027 series. But Australia A have already been locked in to tour England that summer, and Greenberg will consult with CA’s high-performance department before following up with Gould.Greenberg said that he has “an open mind” to the notion that English players could feature in the Sheffield Shield in future seasons to gain experience of Australian conditions, though with only six state teams, no culture of overseas signings, and the wages on offer in T20 franchise leagues at the same time, the idea is unlikely to come to fruition.McCullum addressed England’s situation before the third Test, saying: “There is no perfect preparation. If there was, if it was hitting 4,000 balls and it guarantees you average 90, everybody would be hitting 4,000 balls; if you bowled 120 balls and it guaranteed you’d take 10-for, everybody would be doing that. It’s not how it works.”Meanwhile, England’s own preparation for future home series may be compromised by tight turnarounds at the end of the Hundred, including next summer against Pakistan. There is a three-day turnaround between the Hundred final and the first Test against Pakistan, prompting concerns that players will go into the series undercooked.The lucrative investment and huge salaries on offer in the Hundred mean that the ECB will effectively cede control of its players for a month. But the board plans to use the national performance centre at Loughborough as a red-ball training base for some Test players – particularly fast bowlers – during the 2026 edition of the tournament.

A low scoring affair between Pentasoft and Combined Districts XI sawthe Chennai software company notch up an easy victory in the Moin udDowlah Cup at Hyderabad. Combined Districts’ skipper Vishnuvardhan wonthe toss and decided to have a bat. Although he won the toss there waslittle joy for Vishnuvardhan. His openers got off to a dreadful start,with Venu losing his wicket to Tamil Nadu all rounder Sadagopan Maheshin just the 4th over of the day.One drop batsman Mohamood Ali got to 5 before he was cleaned up byPavan Kumar. Another Kumar, this time Sathish, got rid of openerNaveen Reddy and Combined Districts XI were in a spot of bother at30/3. The spot of bother got progressively worse as 30/3 became 39/5.Wickets were shared around as Combined Districts slumped to 110 allout.Chasing 111 from 50 overs was never going to pose any problem for abatting line up that boasted the likes of Sadagopan Ramesh, ShivSunder Das and Hrishikesh Kanitkar. With just one wicket down,Pentasoft cruised to a nine wicket victory. Ramesh (67) and Das (25)were unbeaten at the crease as the target was overhauled with 29 oversto spare. Ramesh’s knock of 67 came off just 71 balls and included 10sweetly timed hits to the fence.Not one to be left behind, Das helped himself to an easy 25 (33b,2×4). Pentasoft have a number of stars in their side, and are bound tobe stretched further by opposition stronger than Combined DistrictsXI.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
How they were out