Royal Challengers Bengaluru released Grace Harris, D Hemalatha, Gautami Naik and Linsey Smith on Monday. Ellyse Perry confirmed she will return for the 2027 season after missing last year’s campaign.

UP Warriorz cut nine players, including Deandra Dottin and Chloe Tryon. They head to the Kochi auction with seven vacancies and the largest purse at Rs 3.65 crore. Delhi Capitals let Alana King and five others go, while Gujarat Giants moved on from Danielle Wyatt-Hodge.

Mumbai Indians released G Kamalini, Saika Ishaque and four more players but retained Harmanpreet Kaur, Hayley Matthews, Amelia Kerr and Natalie Sciver-Brunt. Twenty-seven slots, seven of them overseas, remain open across the five teams.

Gujarat Giants have finalised a 14-player retained squad for the WPL 2027 mini-auction scheduled for October 28 in Kochi. The franchise retained Ashleigh Gardner as captain along with Beth Mooney, Sophie Devine, Renuka Singh Thakur, Bharti Fulmali, Kashvee Gautam, Kanika Ahuja, Tanuja Kanwer, Georgia Wareham, Anushka Sharma, Happy Kumari, Kim Garth, Yastika Bhatia and Rajeshwari Gayakwad.

The team released four players from its 2026 squad, including Danni Wyatt-Hodge, Ayushi Soni, Titas Sadhu and Shivani Singh. Gujarat Giants enters the auction with three slots to fill and one overseas slot available, having spent 13.75 crore rupees on its retained players and retaining 1.25 crore rupees in salary cap.

The WPL 2027 season is scheduled to run from January 14 to February 7. The mini-auction will allow franchises to complete squads of up to 18 players for the fifth edition of the tournament.

Five WPL teams retained 63 players including 23 overseas recruits ahead of the October 28 mini-auction in Kochi. Royal Challengers Bengaluru released Grace Harris, Linsey Smith, D Hemalatha and Gautami Naik while keeping Ellyse Perry. Mumbai Indians let go of G Kamalini, Saika Ishaque and Milly Illingworth. Delhi Capitals released Alana King, Sneh Rana and Lizelle Lee. UP Warriorz released nine players including Deandra Dottin and Amy Jones.

RCB retained 13 players including Smriti Mandhana, Ellyse Perry, Richa Ghosh and Shreyanka Patil. Mumbai Indians kept Harmanpreet Kaur, Nat Sciver-Brunt, Hayley Matthews and Amelia Kerr among 11 players. Delhi Capitals retained Jemimah Rodrigues, Shafali Verma and Marizanne Kapp. UP Warriorz kept Meg Lanning, Deepti Sharma and Sophie Ecclestone. Gujarat Giants retained the largest group with 15 players.

UP Warriorz enter the auction with the largest remaining purse of 3.65 crore rupees and two overseas slots. RCB and UP Warriorz have two overseas slots to fill, while Mumbai and UP Warriorz have seven total slots available. The fifth WPL season runs from January 14 to February 7, 2027.

Joe Root has retained the ODI Men's Player of the Summer award for 2026. The Professional Cricketers' Association confirmed the honour on September 27, the same day Root played his final ODI of the campaign against Sri Lanka at The Oval.

Root finished the summer with 326 ODI runs at an average of 54.33. The PCA cited three unbeaten half-centuries against India as central to England's successful white-ball campaign. England won four of their six ODI matches during the summer, defeating Sri Lanka and India in consecutive series while dropping only two games overall.

Root reflected on the collective effort after the award announcement. He said the group has lost only two white-ball games all summer and is moving in the right direction with the World Cup around the corner. The squad showed depth beyond Root's individual output despite injuries affecting selection at various points.

Tom Westley has stepped down as Essex captain after seven seasons in charge. Essex finished eighth in Division One of the County Championship, one spot above the relegation places pending Leicestershire's appeal against a 27-point deduction. Westley, Essex's longest-serving player, said his biggest value is scoring runs and contributing to victories, something he felt he had not achieved in 2026.

Westley succeeded Ryan ten Doeschate as captain in January 2020 when Essex were reigning champions. Under his leadership, Essex won the Bob Willis Trophy in 2020 and posted three consecutive top-four finishes from 2022 to 2024. No successor has been named and Essex will begin the process of identifying their next captain.

Essex's top-flight status rests on the outcome of Leicestershire's appeal. If the appeal succeeds and Leicestershire regain their 27 points, they would leapfrog Essex in the table and send them down to Division Two.

Ryan Campbell will step down as Durham's men's head coach at the end of the season to become the county's director of cricket and high-performance coaching. The 54-year-old Australian replaces Marcus North, who departed in May 2026 to become England men's national selector. Campbell joined Durham in 2023 and led the side to promotion in his first season before winning Division Two in 2026.

Under Campbell's tenure, Durham reached the Vitality Blast quarter-finals for the first time since 2018 and the Metro Bank One Day Cup semi-finals this season. Several young players progressed to professional debuts under his guidance, including Ben McKinney, Haydon Mustard and James Minto. Campbell's first task will be to appoint his successor as men's head coach alongside chief executive Tim Bostock.

Campbell said the move allows him to continue shaping the club's direction. He added that seeing players from Durham represent England has been one of the most rewarding aspects of his role. The club will begin the process of identifying the next men's head coach immediately.

Anrich Nortje has been named in South Africa's preliminary 18-player squad for the first Test against Australia, marking his return to red-ball cricket after 18 months away. The fast bowler last played Test cricket in February 2023 and has since focused exclusively on T20 cricket.

Nortje took 70 wickets in 19 Tests during his career before stepping away from the longer format. His inclusion alongside Kagiso Rabada gives South Africa two proven Test pacemen despite ongoing injury concerns affecting Lungi Ngidi and others.

Coach Shukri Conrad said the two-day intra-squad match will help assess player combinations and match readiness. The squad will be reduced to 15 players before the series opener at Kingsmead on October 9.

Prasidh Krishna has credited clarity within the team and communication with teammates for his consistent ODI performances. The fast bowler has taken 15 wickets in eight ODIs in 2026, making him India's leading wicket-taker in the format this year. Prasidh said every session is focused on improvement and every game presents different challenges. He highlighted his rapport with Gurnoor Brar, developed over two years at Gujarat Titans in the IPL. Prasidh welcomed the competition for fast bowling spots ahead of the 2027 World Cup. He said the depth of fast bowling options is good for Indian cricket.

Former India batter Abhinav Mukund believes Kuldeep Yadav can secure his place as India's frontline spinner for the 2027 ODI World Cup with consistent performances over the next year. Mukund highlighted Kuldeep's match-winning four-wicket haul in the first ODI against West Indies as evidence of his return to form.

Kuldeep took 4 for 40 to restrict West Indies after they reached 135 for 0 in the 20th over. His performance earned him the Player of the Match award despite centuries from Shubman Gill and Virat Kohli. Mukund noted that India will need a specialist spinner for the World Cup in South Africa and believes Kuldeep is best positioned to fill that role.

Mukund also observed that India are still determining their optimal combination for the tournament, which explains Naman Dhir's inclusion and his five overs of part-time off-spin in the first match.

Kushagra Ojha was eight when a pick-up vehicle struck him stepping off his school van in Jaipur. The impact fractured his left hand and left leg. He spent six or seven months in bed. Doctors and family wondered if cricket should continue.

He returned to training and earned a place in India's U-19 multi-day squad against Australia. On debut against Sri Lanka he made 92 and was named Player of the Match.

The 17-year-old says he handles setbacks by visiting a temple and thinking about the next phase of the game, not the scoreline.

England coach Brendon McCullum wants warm-up games built into the winter schedule. The comment came after the side wrapped up their series win over Sri Lanka at The Oval.

McCullum pointed out that many of his players have barely touched white-ball cricket lately. England have won every 50-over series they've played this year, a sharp reversal from the six defeats in seven ODIs that followed the 2023 World Cup.

They crashed out of the Champions Trophy without a win. The next World Cup is still twelve months away, and McCullum's message is simple: England might not be the best side in the format, but they're finished with being its biggest underachievers.

Cricket Australia chair Mike Baird resigned on Monday after Cricket NSW withdrew support over the partial privatisation of the Big Bash League. Baird said he stood down after the board pushed ahead with the sale of the Melbourne Renegades franchise despite domestic opposition. Former Test opener David Boon was named interim chair until the annual general meeting in late October.

Baird had faced months of scrutiny over plans to sell stakes in the eight BBL teams. Victoria, Western Australia and Tasmania backed the move, but New South Wales and Queensland rejected it. Cricket Australia has sought private investment to secure the competition's finances.

Boon, who will serve in the interim role, said the position was an honour during an exciting and challenging time for Australian cricket. He previously served as a national selector and state administrator.

Australia all-rounder Sophie Molineux is a doubt for the upcoming ODI series against Bangladesh due to a hip injury. A Cricket Australia spokesperson said her involvement in the series will continue to be assessed. Molineux picked up the injury during Australia's recent T20I series against New Zealand.

The left-arm spinner has been a key part of Australia's white-ball setup and her absence would be a significant blow. Australia have named a 15-player squad for the three-match ODI series, which begins on October 5 in Darwin.

Molineux's injury adds to Australia's concerns ahead of the series. The team has already been without several key players due to injury and rest rotations.