Pat Cummins trained ahead of the second ODI against South Africa and could return to the format for the first time in two years.
Pat Cummins trained at the Wanderers on Saturday and is in contention to play his first ODI in two years when Australia face South Africa on Sunday. The Test captain underwent an extensive running session and batted in the nets at altitude ahead of the second match.
Australia's middle order remains a concern after Josh Inglis suffered a broken finger in the first ODI. Matthew Renshaw scored a century against Zimbabwe last week, but the Nos. 3-7 positions have managed only two centuries combined since the 2023 World Cup.
Cummins is expected to play either in Johannesburg or the series finale in Potchefstroom on Wednesday. Xavier Bartlett is also in line for a recall if selectors manage both Starc and Josh Hazlewood's workloads.
Mayank Yadav has been bowling 10 overs a day in three spells at his Chandigarh base, hitting 150kph regularly and sitting in the high 140s most of the time. He moved there after IPL 2026 to work with physio Gaurav Sharma, spending three weeks before the Zimbabwe tour.
Injuries have kept cutting into his progress since that IPL 2024 breakthrough — lumbar stress fracture, toe infection, side strain. His last proper cricket came in the Delhi Premier League, where he picked up eight wickets in seven matches. Devender Sharma, who coached him early on, says Yadav has been told to aim at the 2027 ODI World Cup and longer formats.
Sharma's plan is simple: build the workload slowly, keep him fit, and cap the load once it peaks. Yadav is injury-free right now.
Stokes faces another potential clash with ECB over franchise participation next summer.
Ben Stokes won't get an England and Wales Cricket Board No-Objection Certificate to play in overseas franchise leagues next summer while he's still registered with Durham. The former England captain has already spoken with Major League Cricket and Pakistan Super League franchises.
His central contract runs out this month after retiring from internationals in June, but the ECB still controls NOCs for any player tied to a county. November 2024 rules let the board turn down requests if a tournament clashes with domestic fixtures.
Stokes wants to help Durham push for the County Championship. The club has floated short-term deals that would free him during the MLC window. A new IPL rule also blocks him from the 2026 season because he missed the 2025 mega-auction registration.
Josh Inglis fractured his right index finger in the first ODI and will miss the remaining two matches against South Africa. His Test series availability is under review.
Josh Inglis fractured his right index finger while keeping wicket during the first ODI against South Africa in Durban on September 24 and has been ruled out of the remaining two matches. He sustained the injury during South Africa's batting innings but continued behind the stumps before batting at number four and scoring three runs. Cricket Australia said Inglis will return to Perth for medical scans.
His availability for the three-Test series against South Africa starting on October 9 remains subject to further assessment and progress. Alex Carey will take the gloves for the remaining ODIs after losing his specialist batter spot when Cameron Green returned for the first match. Australia trail the series 0-1 after losing by 67 runs at Kingsmead.
No replacement has been named for the remaining two ODIs in Johannesburg on Sunday and Potchefstroom on Wednesday. Inglis scored a match-winning 102 against Zimbabwe last week before suffering the injury that now threatens his Test participation.
Dhruv Jurel rejected comparisons with the 15-year-old, calling his talent beyond comprehension.
Dhruv Jurel said comparisons with Vaibhav Sooryavanshi are pointless because the 15-year-old's talent sits at a level others cannot match. He told Aakash Chopra's podcast that the Rajasthan Royals opener deserves all the praise he receives and that his powerplay striking makes batting easier for the rest of the order.
Jurel dismissed any suggestion of jealousy and added that watching Sooryavanshi forces senior batters to raise their own approach. The India wicketkeeper-batter finished as the second-highest run-scorer in India's recent Test series behind Devdutt Padikkal with 173 runs.
Sooryavanshi has been left out of India's T20I side for the Afghanistan series but remains in the squad for the Asian Games.
Jurel said no other team bid in the first round and relatives asked more about his IPL prospects than his India career.
Dhruv Jurel said he was in tears when Rajasthan Royals raised their paddle at his base price of 20 lakh rupees during the 2022 IPL mega auction. No other team had bid in the first round, and calls came in from home as relatives asked more about his IPL prospects than his India career.
Jurel warmed the bench through the entire 2022 season and called it a blessing because he felt unready. What stayed with him was watching Jos Buttler, Sanju Samson, R Ashwin and Yuzvendra Chahal share the same dressing room.
Retained for 14 crore ahead of the 2025 auction, Jurel scored 515 runs in 16 innings at a strike rate of 154.65 in IPL 2026. He also spoke about 15-year-old teammate Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, who finished with the Orange Cap after scoring 776 runs at 237.31.
Dhruv Jurel hid his cricket involvement from his father until newspaper reports revealed his secret.
Dhruv Jurel joined a swimming camp at Eklavya Stadium in Agra but slipped away to play cricket without telling anyone at home. He borrowed kit, played matches and watched his runs appear in the local newspaper. That was how his father found out.
His father, a retired Havaldar who fought in Kargil, had expected his son to chase a government job. Once the secret was out, the older man backed the cricket instead. Jurel has since played 12 Tests and four T20Is for India.
Jurel is the reserve keeper for India's upcoming ODI series against the West Indies, which begins on Sunday at Thiruvananthapuram. He also recalled that the first major purchase after the 2020 Under-19 World Cup went towards his sister's wedding and the down payment on a Hyundai Verna.
Former Namibia captain Yasmeen Khan has been included in South Africa's 28-player women's red-ball training camp running from September 27 to 30. Khan, born in George, made herself available for the country of her birth and is eligible to represent South Africa.
Khan played 117 T20Is for Namibia and captained the side 27 times. She plays domestic cricket for the Dolphins in Durban and recently featured for South Africa's women's emerging team against Bangladesh. She joins five other uncapped players in the expanded group.
South Africa are preparing for Tests against India in December and Australia in April 2027. The expanded squad aims to expose more players to red-ball cricket, which is absent from their domestic structure.
Hardik Pandya will miss India's New Zealand tour after scans revealed a fresh right shin injury that requires two weeks of complete rest.
Hardik Pandya has been ruled out of India's upcoming white-ball tour of New Zealand after scans revealed a fresh injury to his right shin. The all-rounder has been advised two weeks of complete rest and will also miss the India A one-day series against Australia A starting October 6.
Pandya has not played competitive cricket since the final week of IPL 2026. He reported shooting pain around his knee during fielding drills before the Afghanistan T20 series and had taken a short break, but the discomfort returned just as he was preparing to receive fitness clearance.
BCCI medical panel head Dr Dinshaw Pardiwala will assess Pandya on his return from Japan before deciding on rehabilitation. With the New Zealand series now out of reach, Pandya's next possible return window is the Zimbabwe ODIs if he recovers, or the Vijay Hazare and Syed Mushtaq Ali tournaments.
Sammy said the series offers a test of West Indies' ability to compete on the world stage.
West Indies head coach Daren Sammy says the team needs to beat India if it hopes to win a major ICC event. The three-match ODI series starts on Sunday in Thiruvananthapuram. West Indies haven't won a bilateral ODI series in India for 24 years. Sammy called the tour a chance to test where the side stands ahead of ODI World Cup qualifiers in February. He pointed to Shai Hope, Amir Jangoo and Sherfane Rutherford stepping up with the bat, while Alzarri Joseph has found form again. The side has climbed the ranking points table but fell six points short of automatic qualification.
Sam Hain's 142 helped Warwickshire take a 247-run lead over Leicestershire on day two, moving them closer to the County Championship title.
Sam Hain made 142 at Edgbaston as Warwickshire replied with 372 all out to Leicestershire's 125, taking a 247-run lead. By stumps the visitors were 55 for three. Warwickshire need at least 14 points from their last match and already have six bonus points in the bank.
Leicestershire, all but relegated pending an appeal over a 27-point deduction, are staring at an innings defeat. Somerset's title hopes are gone after they reached 222 for three against Surrey and still trail by 200. Nottinghamshire's defence is also slipping away after they posted 55 for three versus Yorkshire and lead by 127.
Kent sit 63 ahead of Gloucestershire after 353 all out and look headed for promotion, while Durham have already wrapped up Division Two.
England captain Joe Root recalled watching Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid and Sourav Ganguly score centuries at Headingley as his first memory of attending a Test match. India piled on more than 600 runs and won by an innings during that 2002 encounter.
Root, who is 1,643 runs short of Tendulkar's record of 15,921 Test runs, said he attended the match with his local cricket club Rotherham Town. He described it as a wonderful experience watching the Indian batters dominate the England attack.
Root recently became the eighth batter to cross 23,000 international runs across formats. He is also the third-most capped player in Test cricket behind Tendulkar and James Anderson.
Edwards made his ODI debut for Australia after travelling from India where he was preparing for an Australia A match.
Jack Edwards received his first ODI cap from Australia captain Pat Cummins on the Kingsmead outfield after a 40-hour trip from east coast India. The 26-year-old had been preparing for an Australia A match against India A in Puducherry when selectors called him into the ODI squad.
Edwards broke his foot in February and spent three months in a moon boot, missing his planned IPL debut with Sunrisers Hyderabad. He said Cummins joked about the yellow cap replacing the orange one he would have worn in the IPL.
The all-rounder conceded 21 runs in his first three overs but returned to bowl four of the final 11 overs, conceding 23 runs and restricting South Africa's middle order to a collective strike rate of 76.
Kevin Pietersen confirms talks with Stephen Fleming about assisting England's Test batters before the next Ashes series.
Kevin Pietersen said he has discussed with Test coach Stephen Fleming the possibility of helping England's red-ball batters ahead of the next Ashes series. The 46-year-old was appointed as a white-ball mentor earlier this month but indicated his schedule may limit a broader role.
Pietersen scored nearly 14,000 runs across formats for England before his international career ended in 2014. He said he has already spoken with Fleming about language and approach for the Test batters ahead of the tour of South Africa and the 2027 Ashes.
England completed a 3-0 T20I series win over Sri Lanka in Pietersen's first assignment with the white-ball teams. He replaced India at the top of the T20I rankings.
Perth Scorchers open the BBL season in Chennai, the home of five-time IPL champions Chennai Super Kings.
Perth Scorchers will play the opening match of the KFC BBL|16 season against an Indian team at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai. The venue hosts the IPL's equal most successful franchise in Chennai Super Kings.
Scorchers head coach Adam Voges noted the parallels between the two teams, both of which have strong home records. Perth Stadium has seen the Scorchers win 66 per cent of their matches, while Chennai Super Kings hold a 64 per cent win rate at their home ground.
The Scorchers enter the tournament as defending champions with six BBL titles. They will face spin-heavy conditions at Chennai, where spinners have taken 35 per cent of wickets in IPL matches, compared to just 22 per cent at Perth Stadium.
Vaishnavi Sharma took four wickets for India A while Knott finished with two for 57.
Minnu Mani remained not out on 88 as India A chased down 363 to beat Australia A by four wickets in the third one-day match in Mohali on Friday. Nikki Prasad made 76 in the 364-run total that India A reached in 48.2 overs. Charli Knott had earlier scored 109 for Australia A in a total of 362 for nine.
Vinod Kambli shares a video from an elderly care centre in Thane thanking staff for the facilities while fans express concern over his health.
Former India batter Vinod Kambli posted a video from Nidaan Centre for Elderly Care in Thane on Friday, thanking staff for the facilities and care. The 54-year-old said the centre felt like home and praised the hygiene and attention he receives while undergoing treatment.
Kambli has dealt with health issues since late 2024, including a urinary infection and a blood clot in his brain that affects his memory. Neurosurgeon Aadil Chagla has advised him to stop smoking to reduce stroke risk. His wife Andrea Hewitt dismissed recent reports about his condition as false.
Kambli played 17 Tests and 104 ODIs for India between 1991 and 2000, scoring 1,084 Test runs at 54.20 and 2,477 ODI runs at 32.59. He scored nine centuries across both formats.
Buttler is out of Sunday's ODI decider; Dan Lawrence joins England squad after hamstring injury at Headingley.
Jos Buttler has been ruled out of England's third ODI against Sri Lanka on Sunday after suffering a hamstring injury at Headingley. Surrey batter Dan Lawrence has been called into the squad as cover. Lawrence scored his sixth County Championship hundred of the season on Thursday before being withdrawn from Surrey's match against Somerset.
England lost the second ODI by 16 runs after Sri Lanka defended 322. Captain Kusal Mendis scored 121 and Dunith Wellalage took 3 for 49. Buttler made 69 off 49 balls despite the injury before England finished at 305 for nine.
Lawrence will train with England at The Oval on Saturday morning. The decider starts at 10:30am UK time and the winner will take the series 2-1.
India bowling coach Morne Morkel sees the three-match ODI series against the West Indies as the first step toward 2027. He told reporters in Thiruvananthapuram that the side sat down to set the standards it wants and plans to start laying those foundations this week.
Workload management still comes first. Auqib Nabi and Harshit Rana are being eased back, while Nitish Kumar Reddy needs regular games to turn into a proper all-rounder.
The opening ODI is on Sunday at the Greenfield International Stadium. India have lost two of their last three ODI series and will be missing several senior players.
India are developing all-round depth through Nitish Reddy and workload planning rather than depending solely on Hardik Pandya's return timeline for the 2027 World Cup.
India's approach to the 2027 ODI World Cup is shifting toward building proven all-round options rather than waiting for Hardik Pandya to regain full fitness. Pandya hasn't played since the IPL, hampered by recurring shin and quadriceps injuries, and he's not in the West Indies ODI squad because he can't yet bowl ten overs. Gautam Gambhir said both Pandya and Jasprit Bumrah remain central to plans for South Africa but stressed that game time before the tournament matters.
Nitish Reddy has emerged as the potential back-up. Morne Morkel believes Reddy has the attributes to compete for the role if given clear responsibilities and consistent opportunities. Reddy has already taken six wickets across two T20Is against Afghanistan after recovering from his own quadriceps injury and will feature in the ODI series against West Indies. Morkel added that workload management across the squad is being coordinated with medical staff to keep multiple players available.
The crowded calendar makes three-format players harder to maintain. Gambhir indicated senior batters may be rested from portions of the New Zealand tour to prepare for the Test series that begins three days after the final ODI. India face nine ODIs against Australia, Bangladesh and England before the cycle intensifies.
