Players.bio is a large online platform sharing the best live coverage of your favourite sports: Football, Golf, Rugby, Cricket, F1, Boxing, NFL, NBA, plus the latest sports news, transfers & scores. Exclusive interviews, fresh photos and videos, breaking news. Stay tuned to know everything you wish about your favorite stars 24/7. Check our daily updates and make sure you don't miss anything about celebrities' lives.
LONDON: Steve Smith’s 71 helped Australia recover from a batting collapse as the tourists frustrated England by battling to a first-innings lead in the fifth and final Ashes Test at The Oval on Friday.
The England cricket team has received a major boost ahead of this year's ODI World Cup in India. According to an ICC report, former England assistant coach Paul Farbrace has said that the star pacer Jofra Archer is on track to return from a long injury hiatus and is likely to play in the World Cup. Archer was a crucial factor in England winning the 2029 World Cup, when they beat New Zealand in the title clash. Archer claimed 20 wickets and was among the leading wicket-takers.
Indian bowler Ishant Sharma revealed that the Indian batter Virat Kohli's dropped catch was the reason why India's former pacer Zaheer Khan could not play 100 Test matches for India. On JioCinema's expert panel discussion, Ishant Sharma shared an interesting story about how a dropped catch from Virat Kohli against New Zealand in the second Test match in February 2014 led to Khan jokingly declaring his career was over. Notably, Zaheer announced his retirement from international cricket after this match where Virat dropped the catch of Brendon McCullum who went on to score 300 runs. New Zealand declared the second innings after scoring 680/8d in Wellington.
The word “Bazball” has become a massive part of cricket vocabulary in the recent past with the aggressive brand of Test batting finding fans all around the world. The brand of cricket, which is named after England cricket team head coach Brendon McCullum, has been dominating headlines due to the ongoing Ashes series but it looks like there is a new batting style which can be making his debut slowly on the international stage. India's aggressive show against West Indies also saw gave birth to the name 'DravBall', in reference to Rahul Dravid's team. Pakistan have been playing their own aggressive brand of cricket against Sri Lanka and former pacer Shoaib Akhtar has now dubbed it “PakBall”. During the second Test match, Pakistan scored 145 runs in just 28.3 overs with the run rate going up to above 5 per over.
England batsman Zak Crawley has insisted the hosts will have no trouble motivating themselves for this week's fifth Test against Australia even though they can no longer regain the Ashes. What had looked like being a thrilling series-decider at The Oval has had some of the edge removed after England's quest to draw level in the fourth Test at Old Trafford was thwarted by rain, with only 30 overs possible across the final two days.
The Indian cricket team re-wrote the Test record books following a rare display of ultra-attacking long-format cricket on day four of the second Test against West Indies at Port of Spain on Monday, becoming the team with the highest team run-rate in a Test inning lasting a minimum of 20 overs. While England drawing polarising reactions from Test cricket lovers, and purists with their 'Bazball' school of cricket, which focuses on positive and attacking gameplay and the need to achieve clear results, Indian skipper Rohit Sharma and coach Rahul Dravid seemed to have taken a leaf from England's book to present to fans what could be the first exhibition of 'Dravball'.
England's hopes of setting up a winner-takes-all Ashes decider were wiped out by the Manchester weather, with a fifth day washout in the fourth Test handing the urn to Australia.
England wicketkeeper-batter Jonny Bairstow on Friday responded back to criticism received this summer for his performances following a return from injury, labelling it as "tiresome", highlighting how his injury could have ended his career and he is grateful to be where he is physically and as a player. Ever since his return to cricket this summer after a long injury gap, Bairstow has received criticism for his wicketkeeping, which many fans have described as sloppy due to numerous missed opportunities at catches and stumpings. Also, he has not also really continued the purple patch that made him the face of skipper Ben Stokes and coach Brendon McCullum's much-hyped 'Bazball' era that started just last year.