Latest news with #Australia-SouthAfrica
News18
22-07-2025
- Sport
- News18
Rishabh Pant Aims To Break Multiple Batting Records During 4th IND-ENG Test
2/10 Pant suffered a finger injury on Day 1 of the third Test played at Lord's, after which he didn't keep wickets as well, but on July 22, India Test captain Shubman Gill confirmed that Pant is fit to play as a stumper in Manchester. (Picture Credit: PTI) The 27-year-old left-handed wicketkeeper-batter would like to maintain his good show with the bat in the fourth match as well and help India win. In the fourth Test, Pant will have a chance to break multiple batting records. (Picture Credit: AP) The overall record of scoring the most runs in a Test series by a wicketkeeper-batter is held by South Africa's Denis Lindsay. During the 1966-67 Australia-South Africa Test series, he scored 606 runs in seven innings of five matches. Pant needs to score at least 182 runs to break that record. (Picture Credit: AP) Pant has scored 2677 runs in 36 WTC matches for India. He needs 40 runs to break Rohit Sharma's record of 2716 runs and become India's leading run getter in the WTC. (Picture Credit: AP) Pant has hammered 88 sixes in 46 Tests played so far. He needs three more maximums to break Virender Sehwag's record (90) of hitting the most sixes for India in Tests. (Picture Credit: AP) Rishabh Pant has scored 981 runs in 12 Tests played so far in England. He needs 19 more runs to become the first non-English wicketkeeper to score 1000 Test runs in England. (Picture Credit: AP) 10/10 Pant has four Test centuries to his name in England, and if he manages to score a century in the Manchester Test, then he will become the first wicketkeeper-batter to cross the 100-run mark five times in England. (Picture Credit: AP)
Sydney Morning Herald
13-06-2025
- Sport
- Sydney Morning Herald
WTC? Waste of Time Championship
Those who have blamed the Lord's pitch for the helter-skelter World Test Championship final might have picked the wrong target. The Australia-South Africa Test match has been played by 22 cricketers re-acquainting themselves with red balls and the concept of a game going for five days. It's not their fault that they're not ready: a lack of readiness has been built into its design, as if the powers of international cricket want to look like they're saving the Test format while doing everything they can to undermine it. Imagine if a football World Cup final were played as a one-off, out-of-season friendly for the benefit of Jeff Bezos. Not even FIFA could screw up that badly. None of South Africa's players had taken part in a first-class game of cricket in the past five months. One, Lungi Ngidi, last bowled a red ball in a match in August 2024. (He looked a tad rusty.) Three of the Australians had played some county cricket in England last month, but for the rest, their last first-class cricket was three to six months ago. Rusty? Just a bit. Australian viewers might be a bit rusty too. Those who wanted to watch the game had to pinch their noses, hold their breath and submerge themselves in the swamp that is Amazon. For the Test match not to be protected by anti-siphoning laws gives a pretty good idea of how Australian regulatory and broadcasting interests rate it. For the rights to be sold to a company with a rap sheet including (but far from limited to) tax avoidance, industrial-scale fraud, forced labour and abuses of workers on five continents, monopolistic market manipulation, invasion of privacy – okay, we got the point when Jeff Bezos lined up to kiss Donald Trump's ring – well, for a cricket fan it's like being blackmailed into buying a Tesla. Test cricket is just another Amazon product, along with rape and paedophilia guides, 'I Love Hitler' T-shirts and web services for war criminals. Millions, presumably, are trying to swing a free trial so as not to further enrich Bezos. Good luck trying to cancel it. All of this asks the question: What is the WTC final anyway? Is it really a thing, or just a nice boondoggle to give Test cricket some 'context'? If its purpose is to convince the world that Test cricket matters, it's done as good a job as most of the batsmen on the opening two days. The WTC was devised to give meaning to matches throughout a two-year cycle, although the nature of that meaning, expressed in a points table as hard to read as a Shane Warne zooter, remains all the more unclear for South Africa's presence. Nobody believes the Proteas are one of the top two, three or even four Test teams (although at the time of writing, cricket being cricket and two-horse races being what they are, South Africa still have a chance of being world champions, at some form of cricket, at last. Maybe, maybe not. In this kind of 'Test', the whole thing could flip over in an hour.)
The Age
13-06-2025
- Sport
- The Age
WTC? Waste of Time Championship
Those who have blamed the Lord's pitch for the helter-skelter World Test Championship final might have picked the wrong target. The Australia-South Africa Test match has been played by 22 cricketers re-acquainting themselves with red balls and the concept of a game going for five days. It's not their fault that they're not ready: a lack of readiness has been built into its design, as if the powers of international cricket want to look like they're saving the Test format while doing everything they can to undermine it. Imagine if a football World Cup final were played as a one-off, out-of-season friendly for the benefit of Jeff Bezos. Not even FIFA could screw up that badly. None of South Africa's players had taken part in a first-class game of cricket in the past five months. One, Lungi Ngidi, last bowled a red ball in a match in August 2024. (He looked a tad rusty.) Three of the Australians had played some county cricket in England last month, but for the rest, their last first-class cricket was three to six months ago. Rusty? Just a bit. Australian viewers might be a bit rusty too. Those who wanted to watch the game had to pinch their noses, hold their breath and submerge themselves in the swamp that is Amazon. For the Test match not to be protected by anti-siphoning laws gives a pretty good idea of how Australian regulatory and broadcasting interests rate it. For the rights to be sold to a company with a rap sheet including (but far from limited to) tax avoidance, industrial-scale fraud, forced labour and abuses of workers on five continents, monopolistic market manipulation, invasion of privacy – okay, we got the point when Jeff Bezos lined up to kiss Donald Trump's ring – well, for a cricket fan it's like being blackmailed into buying a Tesla. Test cricket is just another Amazon product, along with rape and paedophilia guides, 'I Love Hitler' T-shirts and web services for war criminals. Millions, presumably, are trying to swing a free trial so as not to further enrich Bezos. Good luck trying to cancel it. All of this asks the question: What is the WTC final anyway? Is it really a thing, or just a nice boondoggle to give Test cricket some 'context'? If its purpose is to convince the world that Test cricket matters, it's done as good a job as most of the batsmen on the opening two days. The WTC was devised to give meaning to matches throughout a two-year cycle, although the nature of that meaning, expressed in a points table as hard to read as a Shane Warne zooter, remains all the more unclear for South Africa's presence. Nobody believes the Proteas are one of the top two, three or even four Test teams (although at the time of writing, cricket being cricket and two-horse races being what they are, South Africa still have a chance of being world champions, at some form of cricket, at last. Maybe, maybe not. In this kind of 'Test', the whole thing could flip over in an hour.)
Arab News
06-03-2025
- Sport
- Arab News
Players more hurt than fans, coach says as Pakistan crash out of Champions Trophy
RAWALPINDI: Pakistan's hurting players will be motivated by pride in their dead rubber against Bangladesh on Thursday, head coach Aaqib Javed said, after the hosts were dumped out of the Champions Trophy in the group stage. The defending champions' hopes of reaching the semifinals were ended after defeats to New Zealand and India, leaving their final Group A game in Rawalpindi inconsequential. Rain washed out the Australia-South Africa Group B match on Tuesday and more is predicted on Thursday, leaving Pakistan in danger of finishing fourth and last on net run-rate. Whatever happens it will be a disappointing conclusion to Pakistan's first hosting of a major international cricket competition in three decades. 'There are no excuses, there shouldn't be any in life, but I can assure you that the players are more hurt than the fans and want to leave a mark in the last game,' said Aaqib on Wednesday. 'The players are not satisfied, no one is satisfied after losing, but everyone tries hard to win and by doing so we have recently won a series in Australia and South Africa.' Pakistan beat Australia 2-1 in November — their first ODI series win there for 22 years — before whitewashing South Africa 3-0 in the build-up to the Champions Trophy. 'This is the Champions Trophy, where the eight best teams are playing, so after two defeats we have to start from zero,' said Aaqib. 'Every game is played for pride so we want to leave a mark on Thursday,' said Aaqib. Their Champions Trophy flop left former Pakistan players and fans angry over the continuous failure of the team, having also crashed out of the 2023 World Cup and Twenty20 World Cup last year both in the first round. Aaqib admitted losing to arch-rivals India left fans emotional. 'People are more involved in an India-Pakistan match and they do not accept a defeat against India and that defeat in Dubai has left them more dejected,' said Aaqib. Pakistan were below par against a formidable India in Dubai on Sunday, losing by six wickets. 'We managed just 241 in batting and when facing a strong batting line-up you attack in order to get wickets and in the process you bowl on both sides,' said Aaqib. A fast bowler himself, who played 22 Tests and 163 ODIs for Pakistan, Aaqib backed his struggling pace trio. 'People blamed two, three players, which is not correct,' said Aaqib. 'If you assess Shaheen (Afridi), Naseem (Shah) and Haris (Rauf), they are still the best bowlers in the world.'
Al Jazeera
27-02-2025
- Sport
- Al Jazeera
Pakistan vs Bangladesh – Champions Trophy: Match start time, teams, stream
Who: Pakistan vs Bangladesh What: ICC Champions Trophy Group A match When: Thursday, February 27 at 2pm (09:00 GMT) Where: Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium, Rawalpindi, Pakistan Follow Al Jazeera's live text and photo commentary stream from 05:00 GMT. Pakistan's hurting players will be motivated by pride in their dead rubber against Bangladesh, head coach Aaqib Javed said, after the hosts were dumped out of the Champions Trophy in the group stage. The defending champions' hopes of reaching the semifinals were ended after defeats to New Zealand and India, leaving their final Group A game in Rawalpindi inconsequential. Rain washed out the Australia-South Africa Group B match on Tuesday and more is predicted on Thursday, leaving Pakistan in danger of finishing fourth and last on net run-rate. Whatever happens, it will be a disappointing conclusion to Pakistan's first hosting of a major international cricket competition in three decades. 'There are no excuses, there shouldn't be any in life, but I can assure you that the players are more hurt than the fans and want to leave a mark in the last game,' said Aaqib on Wednesday. 'The players are not satisfied, no one is satisfied after losing, but everyone tries hard to win, and by doing so, we have recently won a series in Australia and South Africa.' Pakistan beat Australia 2-1 in November – their first ODI series win there for 22 years – before whitewashing South Africa 3-0 in the build-up to the Champions Trophy. 'This is the Champions Trophy, where the eight best teams are playing, so after two defeats we have to start from zero,' said Aaqib. 'Every game is played for pride, so we want to leave a mark on Thursday,' said Aaqib. Their Champions Trophy flop left former Pakistan players and fans angry over the continuous failure of the team, having also crashed out of the 2023 World Cup and Twenty20 World Cup last year, both in the first round. Aaqib admitted losing to archrivals India left fans emotional. 'People are more involved in an India-Pakistan match and they do not accept a defeat against India and that defeat in Dubai has left them more dejected,' said Aaqib. Pakistan were below par against a formidable India in Dubai on Sunday, losing by six wickets. 'We managed just 241 in batting and when facing a strong batting line-up, you attack in order to get wickets, and in the process, you bowl on both sides,' said Aaqib. A fast bowler himself, who played 22 Tests and 163 ODIs for Pakistan, Aaqib backed his struggling pace trio. 'People blamed two, three players, which is not correct,' said Aaqib. 'If you assess Shaheen [Afridi], Naseem [Shah] and Haris [Rauf], they are still the best bowlers in the world.' Pakistan vs Bangladesh: Head-to-head record In terms of match results, Pakistan hold an upper hand over their South Asian opponents in all formats of the game. In ODIs, the hosts have beaten Bangladesh in 34 of their 39 encounters with the last one coming at the World Cup 2023 in India. Bangladesh's first of five wins came at the World Cup 1999 in England, where they famously beat the mighty Pakistan side of the 1990s in the group stage. The teams have never faced each other in the Champions Trophy's eight previous editions. Form guide: Pakistan The hosts came into the tournament on the back of three ODI series wins but swiftly left the form behind to lose their first two group matches. From their misfiring batting lineup to poor fielding and below-par bowling, not much has gone Pakistan's way in the tournament. Last five ODIs: L W L L L Forum guide: Bangladesh Bangladesh's form in ODI cricket has been abysmal of late, with the Tigers losing all three matches away to West Indies in December on the back of a 2-1 series loss against Afghanistan in November. Last five ODIs: L L L L L Team news: Pakistan Pakistan could opt to make a couple of changes in their lineup for their last group match as it is inconsequential to their fate in the tournament. Middle-order batter Tayyab Tahir could lose his spot to Kamran Ghulam, while the hosts may also be tempted to slot in Usman Khan for Imam-ul-Haq. Team news: Bangladesh Bangladesh are expected to field the same XI that faced New Zealand on Monday.
