Sports
Tim David, Josh Hazlewood star as Australia make it record nine T20Is wins in a row
Australia extended their T20I match-winning streak to a record nine games and pulled off their lowest successful defence against South Africa despite losing six wickets inside the first eight overs. Amid an explosive start, Australia stumbled to 75 for 6 before Tim David’s superbly-constructed 52-ball 83 and seventh-wicket stand of 59 with Ben Dwarshuis took them to a match-winning total. Michell Marsh has now won 22 out of 25 matches as T20I captain.
As much as South Africa were blown away by Australia’s ultra-aggressive batting approach they also have themselves to blame for letting their hosts get away. South Africa dropped four catches – including David on 56 – though they bowled Australia out for the first time in 26 T20I meetings. The biggest positive was the performance of left-armer Kwena Maphaka who, at 19 years and 124 days old, became the youngest bowler from a Full Member country to take a T20I four wicket haul. It was not enough to limit Australia to a chaseable score.
South Africa’s downfall was their lack of power hitting. They struck only two sixes compared to Australia’s 13 (and David was responsible for eight on his own) and appeared to be specialist batter short. By the time George Linde arrived at the crease at No. 6, South Africa needed 59 runs off 33 balls and Josh Hazelwood had broken the game’s best partnership of 72 between Ryan Rickelton and Tristan Stubbs. He would also end Linde’s stay to finish with 3 for 26.
Adam Zampa took two wickets in two balls and South Africa lost four wickets for three runs in the space of 10 balls to all but end their chase. Rickelton batted until the last over, when South Africa needed 21 runs to win, and was stunningly caught by Glenn Maxwell on the boundary. Dwarshuis also picked up three wickets as South Africa finished 17 runs short.
Australia batted first for the first time in seven T20Is and wasted no time showing their intent. Marsh slammed Lungi Ngidi over long-off to mark only the second time Australia have started a match with a six. Ngidi’s opening over cost 14. Their big test was always going to come against Kagiso Rabada, who only conceded one run off his first four balls, then had Head dropped at point and caught at short third to win the opening exchange. Josh Inglis was out for a duck as he tried to slice a square drive over point off Linde, who was then taken for 14 runs off three balls. The best was yet to come.
When Marsh skied Rabada to deep backward square, David hit him for six down the ground. Corbin Bosch’s first over was the most expensive of his short T20I career so far and Ngidi was taken for 10 in two balls before he took pace off and removed the in-form Cameron Green off the penultimate ball of the powerplay. Australia had accumulated 71 by then: their secon highest in a powerplay against South Africa and the highest in their last six matches, which includes the five in West Indies.
Maphaka quietened things down after the powerplay with an over that went for four and brought the wicket of Mitchell Owen and had excellent support from left-arm spinner Senuran Muthusamy. Maxwell, batting at No. 7, tried the reverse sweep, the flick and drive before he sliced Muthusamy to deep cover where Linde took an excellent running catch. Muthusamy’s second over was just as good as he maintained a tight line to Dwarshuis and David and conceded only one. After two overs, his analysis read: 2-0-2-1 and he finished with 1 for 24 off four overs.
At 75 for 6 in the eighth over, Australia were in danger of not batting out the innings but David not only ensured they did but that they got to a defendable score. David’s six-hitting against the short ball was particularly impressive, from his flat-batted pull off Maphaka in the ninth over to the swivel-pull off Bosch in the 13th, which came two balls before he smoked Bosch through the covers to bring up 50.
But it was the way he made South Africa pay for dropping him that stung most. David was on 56 when Stubbs put down a skier at long-on and went on to hit Muthusamy for massive back-to-back sixes followed by another against Ngidi’s slower ball. Seven of his eight sixes were scored in front of square and four in the ‘V’. David added 27 runs after he was put down. He was in sight for a second hundred before he was caught at long-on with 10 balls left in the innings.
From opening in West Indies, Maxwell found himself at No. 7 but played a vital role in the field. He shared the new ball as a match-up against the left-handed Rickelton and caused problems. He convinced Marsh to review an lbw call against Rickelton off his fourth ball when he beat the outside edge but the batter survived on umpire’s call.
When Maxwell changed ends, Rickelton still could not get him away (two runs off six balls against him) and he also had a plan against another left-hander, Lhuan-dre Pretorius. Maxwell had a long-off in place and dished it up full, Pretorius went inside-out and picked out the fielder. Maxwell bowled his full quota of four overs, finishing with 1 for 29, and took two decisive catches to cap off a good performance.
Hazlewood, back in the side after missing the West Indies series, took the first wicket when Aiden Markram, who hit three boundaries off his first five balls, drove him to cover and then made the breakthrough that all but won the game. He was brought in the 15th over when South Africa needed 60 runs to win and with a partnership that was threatening.
Rickelton and Stubbs had put on 72 off 52 balls when Hazlewood bowled a cross seam delivery to Stubbs, who tried to pull but bottom-edged through to Inglis. Australia inserted a slip and three balls later, Hazlewood ended a game-changing over when he bowled it back of a length, Linde played across the line and got a thick edge. Maxwell completed the catch at slip but something far more spectacular would follow in the final over.
Maxwell was on the long-on boundary when Rickelton, who had given South Africa a glimmer despite battling for fluency, tried to hit Dwarshuis for six but jumped over the rope, parried the ball back in and completed the catch without touching the boundary or breaking a sweat.
Brief scores:
Australia 178 in 20 overs (Cameron Green 35, Tim David 83; Lungi Ngidi 1-34, Kagiso Rabada 2-29, George Linde 1-26, Kwena Maphaka 4-20, Senuran Muthusamy 1-24) beat South Africa 161 for 9 in 20 overs (Ryan Rickelton 71, Tristan Stubbs 37; Ben Dwarshuis 3-26, Josh Hazlewood 3-27, Glenn Maxwell 1-29, Adam Zampa 2-33) by 17 runs
[Cricinfo]
Sri Lanka women will tour the West Indiesfor a multi-format white-ball series in February-March. The tour will consist of three ODIs and three T20Is between February 20 to March 3.
All six games of the tour will be played at Grenada National Stadium. The first ODI will be on February 20, followed by games on February 22 and 25. The T20I series then starts on February 28, followed by games on March 1 and 3.
The T20I series, in particular, will be crucial as both teams look to build their prep towards the 2026 Women’s T20 World Cup in the UK this summer. Both West Indies and Sri Lanka are in Group 2 of the competition alongside hosts England, New Zealand and two qualifiers not yet determined.
Sri Lanka will be looking to win their first T20I series since their Asia Cup triumph of 2024. West Indies have won their last two T20I series at home against Bangladesh and South Africa.
Sri Lanka last toured the Caribbean for an ODI and T20I series in 2024. That tour saw the visitors win the ODIs 3-0 and the hosts claim the T20Is 2-1.
[Cricinfo]
Cricket Scotland has received assurances that the ICC is working “very, very hard” to ensure Scotland’s players will be granted Indian visas in time for their opening T20 World Cup fixture on February 7 – including fast bowler Safyaan Shariff, who has Pakistani heritage.
Scotland were the beneficiaries of Bangladesh’s last-minute withdrawal from the World Cup as the highest-ranked team who had not already qualified, and named a 15-man squad on Monday afternoon which is due to fly to India later this week.
The state of political and diplomatic relations between India and Pakistan has resulted in regular delays for Pakistani nationals or those with Pakistani heritage when applying for Indian visas in recent years, including several cricketers.
But Cricket Scotland is confident that Sharif – who was born in Huddersfield to a Pakistani father and a British-Pakistani mother before moving to Scotland aged seven – will be granted a visa in time for the team’s opening match against West Indies in Kolkata.
“We are all committed [to] working with the ICC to make that happen,” Trudy Lindblade, Cricket Scotland’s chief executive, said on Monday. “The visa piece is always slightly an unknown, and it doesn’t matter whether you’ve got three days or whether you’ve got 45 days.
“Certainly that’s been our focus in the last 48 hours: just getting those visas done so our players are all ready to go. They’re all in the middle of submitting their visas and we will be there on the ground in India as quickly as we can, so it’s just a matter of time now.
“[The ICC] can only give us the assurances of the bits that they can control and, absolutely, of the bits that they control, we are working with them and obviously they’re working with the BCCI and local people on the ground there to make sure that we are getting all of that support that we need.
“So, absolutely, [they have given] the assurance that they can provide of things that were in their control. There is a team working very, very hard to not just help us, but to help 19 other teams as well that are also going to a World Cup. But we are their intense focus right now.”
Scotland will also apply for visas for two travelling reserves and three non-travelling reserves so that they will be able to field a team even in the event of delays and their head of performance, Steve Snell, said that the ICC had been “fantastic” in supporting their hurried preparations.
“We also anticipate some support whenever we can [get it] from the BCCI,” Snell said. “I don’t think we need to escalate that any further to get into the country, because you’d suggest that Scotland being invited to attend the World Cup and then not being able to get there wouldn’t be a great look for anybody.”
There are three changes to Scotland’s squad since the 2024 T20 World Cup, when they narrowly missed out on qualification for the Super 8s, with 19-year-old Afghanistan-born fast bowler Zainullah Ihsan in line for an international debut after winning his maiden call-up.
Tom Bruce, who played 17 T20Is for New Zealand as a middle-order batter from 2017 to 2020, is another significant inclusion, having switched allegiance to Scotland last year and made his ODI debut for them in August.
Chris Sole, the express fast bowler, is a notable absentee. Sole, who has regularly registered speeds in excess of 90mph/145kph, has played franchise cricket in the ILT20 and the CPL and featured for Scotland at their last World Cup appearance, but has not played a professional match since late 2024 as he focuses on a non-playing career in recruitment.
Ihsan, Bruce and batter Finlay McCreath are the three players involved who did not feature in the 2024 T20 World Cup squad, replacing Sole, Oli Haris and Jack Jarvis (who is one of the travelling reserves).
Hampshire seamer Scott Currie, who played three ODIs in early 2024, was not considered as he is no longer eligible for selection.
Currie, whose older brother Brad is part of the squad, was picked by England for their T20I series against Ireland in September and while he did not win a cap, the fact that he was named as an official substitute on their teamsheet renders him unavailable for Scotland until September 2028 under ICC regulations.
Scotland are due to play warm-up matches against Afghanistan and Namibia in Bengaluru on February 2 and 4 before their opening fixture against West Indies in Kolkata. Their other first-round matches are against Italy, England and Nepal, with the top two teams in Group B then qualifying for the Super 8s stage.
“The squad selection is subject to all player and staff visa applications being approved,” Cricket Scotland said in a statement. “Given the limited notice for Scotland’s participation at the tournament and timescale for selecting players, two travelling reserves have been selected while three others will be non-travelling reserves.”
Scotland squad for T20 World Cup:
Richie Berrington (capt), Tom Bruce, Matthew Cross, Brad Currie, Oli Davidson, Chris Greaves, Zainullah Ihsan, Michael Jones, Michael Leask, Finlay McCreath, Brandon McMullen, George Munsey, Safyaan Sharif, Mark Watt, Brad Wheal
Travelling reserves: Jasper Davidson, Jack Jarvis
Non-travelling reserves: Mackenzie Jones, Chris McBride, Charlie Tear
[Cricinfo]
England won the toss and chose to bat first in the deciding ODI in Colombo. Although England won the previous game chasing, the Khettarama surface tends to slow under lights, leading to its reputation as a notoriously difficult venue on which to bat second. Sri Lanka captain Charith Asalanka also chose to bat first when he won the toss in the first two ODIs.
Sri Lanka made one change to the XI that lost on Saturday, jettisoning seam bowler Pramod Madushan to include spin-bowling allrounder Wanidu Hasaranga, who had been rested for the first two games. This means Sri Lanka have only one frontline seamer – Asitha Fernando – in their XI, though part-time seam bowler Janith Liyanage is also in the side. The hosts also bat deep, with Hasaranga and Dunith Wellalage likely to be No. 8 and 9.
England are unchanged from Saturday, which means legspinning allrounder Rehan Ahmed again opens in place of Zak Crawley.
Blue skies prevailed over the toss at Khettarama. Though evening showers are always possible in Colombo, January tends to be among the drier months.
England: Rehan Ahmed, Ben Duckett, Joe Root, Jacob Bethell, Harry Brook (capt.), Jos Buttler (wk), Will Jacks, Sam Curran, Jamie Overton, Liam Dawson, Adil Rashid
Sri Lanka: Kamil Mishara, Pathum Nissanka, Kusal Mendis (wk), Dhananjaya de Silva, Charith Asalanka (capt.), Janith Liyanage, Pavan Rathnayake, Wanindu Hasaranga, Dunith Wellalage, Jeffrey Vandersay, Asitha Fernando
[Cricinfo]
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