Usman Khawaja to retire after fifth Ashes Test

Published

1 month ago

2026/01/2

Priyan

Usman Khawaja has played 22 Ashes Tests [BBC]

Australia batter Usman Khawaja will retire from international cricket following the fifth Ashes Test against England in Sydney this week.

The 39-year-old will play his 88th and final Test on the ground where he made his debut against the same opponents in January 2011.

Khawaja was born in Pakistan and became the first Muslim to play for Australia when he took the place of Ricky Ponting at the end of England’s 3-1 series win 15 years ago.

The left-hander has made 6,206 Test runs at an average of 43.39, with 16 hundreds.

He has played in six Ashes series – winning two, losing two and drawing two.

He was also part of the Australia team that won the World Test Championship in 2023.

The final Test at the SCG starts on Sunday (23:30 GMT, Saturday).

Alongside Steve Smith, Khawaja is one of two remaining members of the Australia team beaten by England in their most recent series win in this country in 2010-11.

He needs 30 runs in his final Test to go above Mike Hussey and into 14th on Australia’s all-time run-scorers list, behind the great Donald Bradman in 13th.

Khawaja played the last of his 40 one-day internationals in 2019, having scored 1,554 runs at 42. He played in nine T20 internationals, scoring 241 runs at 26.77.

Now playing domestically for Queensland, Khawaja will end his career on the ground that was his home when he first played professional cricket for New South Wales in 2008.

Often in and out of the Australia team during his Test career, he found a home at the top of the order during the previous home Ashes in 2021-22.

However, his place has come under scrutiny during this series after he suffered back spasms in the first Test that prevented him from opening.

Travis Head took Khawaja’s place in the second innings and made a swashbuckling century to lead Australia to an eight-wicket win.

Khawaja subsequently missed the second Test with the back problem and was due to be left out of the third, only to receive a late call-up when Steve Smith fell ill.

He made 82 and 40 in Adelaide to retain his place for the fourth Test. Australia lead the series 3-1.

After the Ashes Australia will not play another Test until August, by which time Khawaja will be almost 40.

[BBC]

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Afghanistan to bat first against New Zealand

Published

47 mins ago

2026/02/8

Priyan

Rashid Khan and Mitchell Santner greet each other at the toss [Cricinfo]

Afghanistan won the toss and elected to bat first in the 2026 T20 World Cup Group D encounter against New Zealand..

New Zealand XI Finn Allen, Tim Seifert (wk), Rachin Ravindra, Glenn Phillips, Mark Chapman, Daryl Mitchell, Mitchell Santner (capt), James Neesham, Matt Henry, Lockie Ferguson, Jacob Duffy

Afghanistan XI Rahmanullah Gurbaz (wk), Ibrahim Zadran, Sediqullah Atal, Darwish Rasooli, Azmatullah Omarzai, Gulbadin Naib, Mohammad Nabi, Rashid Khan (capt), Fazalhaq Farooqi, Ziaur Rahman, Mujeeb Ur Rahman

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‘I’d like to play on flat tracks’ – Shanaka links Sri Lanka’s batting woes to spin-friendly pitches at home

Published

1 hour ago

2026/02/8

Priyan

Dasun Shanaka fell for low scores in the England series [Cricinfo]

Dasun Shanaka’s got 99 problems, and the pitch is also one. If cricket writers misappropriating Jay Z lyrics from 22 years ago is getting kind of old, so is the complaint, sadly. For years now, Sri Lanka’s captains have been campaigning to get more batting-friendly tracks on the island. For years now, surfaces have been given to substantial spin, depressing totals while envenoming spinners through the middle overs, especially.

At the World Cup, though, a struggling Sri Lankan captain hopes his batters can perform on what he thinks will be better tracks. Sri Lanka arrive at this tournament fresh from a 3-0 bruising at home at the hands of England. Shanaka’s own returns in that recent series were modest. His scores were 20 off 16, 1 and 4.

“I think in this World Cup the ICC has told the groundstaff that they have to leave a certain amount of grass on the pitch,” Shanaka said. “Because of that, I think the number of dismissals will fall. Eventually, I’d like to get a good track on which to show how I can bat, because it’s harder to showcase my striking ability on turning wickets. Lots of people see me negatively because of this.”

In fact, there is no actual official requirement from the ICC regarding length of grass – it is only that there is greater pressure to produce surfaces conducive to good cricket (read: batting tracks) in global events.

In any case, Sri Lanka’s problems at home go back far further than the series against England, however. Since the start of 2024, Sri Lanka have lost 13 and won only nine T20Is at home. Previous captains – Charith Asalanka and Wanindu Hasaranga among them – had asked for flatter decks. But then Sri Lanka were having success on big turners in the ODI format.

“Recently, we’ve had a lot of issues with the pitches,” Shanaka said. “I know the middle order hasn’t performed well. If you want to know why that happened, you should look at the kind of pitches we played on. You’ll be able to figure out why the strike rates are low and we’re losing wickets.

“I was only recently reappointed as the captain. I didn’t know what the plan was before that. In my opinion I’d like to play on flat tracks. Yes, we have some good spinners in our side, but at the same time other teams also have quality spinners. I think giving 50-50 wickets will help in future. I’d like to bat on flat tracks.”

Although Shanaka expects Sri Lankan surfaces to be better for batting, there may still be a gap between Indian tracks and Sri Lankan ones in this World Cup. Since the start of 2020, the T20I strike rate in India is 143 (the highest in the world), compared with 123 in Sri Lanka.

“If you look at India you will see how good the pitches they play on are,” Shanaka said. “Some people have a problem with India scoring so many runs and ask why Sri Lanka can’t do the same. It totally depends on conditions. You’ll be able to assess what the numbers in the World Cup are and what the previous numbers were. I think this will be a good tournament for our batters.”

[Cricinfo]

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Australia’s opposition coalition reunites after row over hate-speech laws

Published

2 hours ago

2026/02/8

Priyan

Sussan Ley said it was time to look to the future [BBC]

Australia’s Liberal-National Coalition, the country’s main opposition, reunited on Sunday, more than two weeks after the centre-right partners split in a row over hate speech laws.

“The Coalition is back together and looking to the future, not to the past,” Liberal Party leader Sussan Ley said, appearing alongside National Party leader David Littleproud in Canberra.

The Coalition split on 22 January after the Nationals, citing free speech concerns, refused to back reforms moved by the government after two gunmen targeted a Jewish festival at Bondi Beach in December, killing 15 people.

“It’s been disappointing, we’ve got to where we are but it was over a substantive issue,” Littleproud said.

The Coalition suffered a heavy election loss last year and the split last month was the second in less than 12 months.

Last year’s separation in May – largely over climate and energy policy – was resolved within a week.

This time the divisions were sown by hate speech reforms introduced by the centre-left Labor government after the Bondi Beach attack.

While the Liberals sided with the government, their National colleagues abstained from the vote in the lower house and voted against the measure in the senate, saying the measures had been rushed and posed a threat to free speech.

The legislation includes provisions that will ban groups deemed to spread hate and introduce tougher penalties for preachers who advocate violence.

Ley said the coalition had a responsibility to find a way back to government.

“I acknowledge this has been a difficult time. It has been a difficult time for millions of our Coalition supporters, and many other Australians who rely on our two great parties to provide scrutiny and leadership,” she said.

The Liberal Party leader said both parties had struck an agreement that neither party could overturn decisions taken by the Coalition’s joint “shadow cabinet”.

Dating back to the 1940s, the Coalition had not split since 1987 before the brief separation last year.

The National Party mainly represents regional communities and often leans more conservative than the Liberals.

The Coalition is facing pressure from populist Senator Pauline Hanson’s anti-immigration One Nation party, which has surged in polling, while the Liberal Party lost a swath of seats at last year’s federal election.

[BBC]