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Uncapped fast-bowling allrounder Chamindu Wickramasinghe is in line for his ODI debut after being included in place of Chamika Karunaratne in Sri Lanka’s 16-man squad to face West Indies, while legspinner Jeffrey Vandersay has been brought in for offspinner Akila Dananjaya.Karunaratne’s exclusion confirms the notion that he has simply fallen out of favour with the new selection and coaching regime. He last turned out for a game for Sri Lanka in the 2023 ODI World Cup despite being part of several squads since.But his downward trajectory has coincided with Wickramasinghe’s rise following impressive showings with the bat in July’s Lanka Premier League. He played in the first game of the T20I series against West Indies before increasingly spin-friendly surfaces meant Dunith Wellalage was preferred over him.

SL vs WI, men’s ODI series

Oct 20 – 1st ODI
Oct 23 – 2nd ODI
Oct 26 – 3rd ODI

Mohamed Shiraz, who was a late inclusion in the squad to face India – as one of the replacements for the injured pair of Matheesha Pathirana and Dilshan Madushanka – retains his place, though Madushanka is also back after having missed the T20I series against West Indies. However, Pathirana, who had played all three T20Is against West Indies, misses out. Asitha Fernando rounds out the pace options.On the spin-bowling front, a strong attack will be led by Maheesh Theekshana and Wanindu Hasaranga, with Vandersay and Wellalage providing options.Sri Lanka’s batting remains unchanged. Skipper Charith Asalanka heads a formidable unit containing the likes of Avishka Fernando, Pathum Nissanka, Kusal Mendis, Kamindu Mendis, Janith Liyanage, Sadeera Samarawickrama and Nishan Madushka.The three-match series will start on October 20. All three games will be played in Pallekele.

Sri Lanka ODI squad for the series against West Indies

Charith Asalanka (capt), Avishka Fernando, Pathum Nissanka, Kusal Mendis, Kamindu Mendis, Janith Liyanage, Sadeera Samarawickrama, Nishan Madushka, Dunith Wellalage, Wanindu Hasaranga, Maheesh Theekshana, Jeffrey Vandersay, Chamindu Wickramasinghe, Asitha Fernando, Dilshan Madushanka, Mohamed Shiraz

Sam Konstas’ mentor Shane Watson believes circumstances have thrown up a “perfect storm” for the teen prodigy to make his Test debut in the home series against India.Konstas announced himself as a Test bolter with twin Sheffield Shield centuries for NSW earlier this month and will feature for Australia A next week alongside the out-of-form Cameron Bancroft and another previous Test opener in Marcus Harris as the selectors narrow down their options.Related

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Matthew Renshaw is another with past Test experience while momentum is building behind the uncapped Nathan McSweeney and Josh Inglis is an out-of-the-box option, but with only six first-class games to his name, 19-year-old Konstas has also been considered as a bold option to partner Usman Khawaja at the top.Watson said selectors need only look to the player Konstas would replace for proof rare talents must be given early chances at Test cricket. Injured allrounder Cameron Green made his Test debut at 21 on India’s last tour of Australia, having been earmarked as a prodigy playing Sheffield Shield for Western Australia.Watson felt the age of the current playing group was further evidence of the need to inject young blood; there is no player younger than 30 who both played in Australia’s last Test match in March and is fit for the summer.”The whole situation is, in my mind, a perfect storm to be able to give him an opportunity to be able to play Test cricket,” Watson told AAP. “For me, this is an opportune time, knowing that the bowlers are aging, there’s Steve Smith and Usman Khawaja as a starting point who are aging.”They’ve still obviously got a lot of great cricket in front of them. But the one thing Australian cricket always did incredibly well was see someone who is different from all the younger stars coming through and get them into the Australian set-up, as early as they can within reason, to be able to help them learn.”Sam Konstas was presented his NSW cap by Shane Watson last season•Getty Images

Current captain Pat Cummins memorably became the second-youngest Australian debutant in Test history when the then-18-year-old earned a first baggy green on the 2011 tour of South Africa, while Konstas’ batting predecessors Ricky Ponting and Steve Waugh were both given the nod at 20.Watson himself can vouch for the benefits of earning international experience early, having first played ODI cricket as a 20-year-old.”There’s no doubt that my one-day cricket would never have evolved to the heights that it did without me being around the Aussie team [at a younger age],” said Watson, who went on to play in Australia’s 2007 and 2015 World Cup triumphs.Watson has been working with Konstas for the best part of four years, having first come across him as a student at Cranbrook – the Sydney school attended by Watson’s son.He named Konstas’ single-minded dedication to his craft as his most striking attribute.”From the first moment that I met Sam, the thing that jumped out at me the most was his desperate desire to be the best that he possibly could be,” Watson said. “The first time I had a net session with him as a 16-year-old, he hits the ball differently; the shot options that he has available to him and his defence.”But then knowing how diligently he has been working on his mental game as well, it absolutely does not surprise me to see what he’s able to do.”The mental side of cricket has been of particular interest to Watson towards the end of his career and into retirement, with his book recently adapted into an online skills course through SafetyCulture.

Khaleel Ahmed’s India career hasn’t quite taken off, but a decent IPL opened the doors for a white-ball return in Zimbabwe in July for the first time since 2019. Now, Khaleel is working his way back up to a steady diet of first-class cricket.The ongoing Duleep Trophy fixture is only his 14th since his debut in 2017, and with Yash Dayal having leapfrogged him to the Indian Test squad for Bangladesh, Khaleel had another opportunity to impress. On Friday, he built on his five wickets from the opening round to pick up another three first-innings wickets to give India A control.Having added just two runs to their overnight 288 for 8, India A bowled out India C for just 183, with Khaleel turning in a superb spell of swing and seam bowling to finish with 3 for 39.While he just bowled eight overs, he managed to create opportunities and kept batters guessing with his late movement and lift. He dismissed Atharva Taide with a wicked inswinger that he shouldered arms to off the third ball of the innings and then had Shreyas Iyer for a seven-ball duck in his second over.Iyer, seemingly troubled by the away-movement and a short ball that he somehow managed to sway out of, fell as he lobbed a full delivery to mid-on, unable to fully commit to the shot because he had been hanging back in the crease.Khaleel’s third was Zaheer Khan-esque for the angle he managed to create from around the stumps as he bent one back in late to strike Ricky Bhui on the pads. Bhui was overbalanced and was trapped plumb in front.File photo: Devdutt Padikkal scored 92 of India D’s total of 183 all out•PTI

Khaleel’s fire from one end was matched by the intensity of young Uttar Pradesh quick Aaqib Khan. Just 12 first-class games old, Aaqib isn’t express pace but makes up for that with his control and minute deviations off the pitch. In what is possibly his most high-profile first-class appearance so far, Aaqib remained unfazed by the quality of batters up against him.One of his three wickets early in his spell was that of the returning Sanju Samson, whose stay lasted just six deliveries as he miscued a pull to mid-on. Aaqib finished with 3 for 41.For India D, only Devdutt Padikkal was among the runs, a punchy 92 filled with sumptuous cover drives and a solid back foot game, especially off his statemate Prasidh Krishna, who bowled a lot better than his figures of 11-4-30-1 suggest.Prasidh had the last laugh, however, when he had Padikkal with one that decked away sharply to take the edge through to the wicketkeeper. Padikkal’s 92 came off just 124 balls with wickets falling around him. He hit 15 boundaries in his knock.Having taken a 107-run lead, Mayank Agarwal and Pratham Singh tucked into a tired attack to hit half-centuries late in the day, before an innocuous delivery from Iyer had Agarwal tamely lobbing a return catch in the dying moments of play.

ADD MAIN PICBen McKinney struck his maiden professional century•MI News/NurPhoto via Getty Images

Durham pulled off a sensational win in the Metro Bank Cup on Sunday, beating the Kent Spitfires by seven runs in a thriller at CanterburyKent seemed to be cruising to victory after a regal 104 from Harry Finch, but the Spitfires collapsed from 223 for 3 and finished on 300 for 9, with George Drissell taking 4 for 38.Finch’s 91-ball knock included a six and 13 four and he put on 183 for the third wicket with Jack Leaning, who made 81, but Kent then lost six wickets for 71, leaving Colin Ackermann to successfully defend 17 off the final over.Earlier Ben McKinney hit a superb century as Durham were all out for 307 from exactly 50 overs. McKinney’s 115 came from 116 balls and included three sixes and 13 fours. Bas de Leede was the next highest scorer with 47.Jaydn Denly had the best figures of Kent’s nine bowlers with 3 for 15 and Marcus O’Riordan took three for 36. The result keeps Durham in contention for the knock-out stages, but Kent have been eliminated.Durham won the toss and chose to bowl on a sub-tropical day at The Spitfire Ground, watched by a crowd of 2,487. Beyers Swanepoel bowled Michael Jones middle stump for 12 but McKinney and Alex Lees responded with a stand of 87 that ended when the latter was lbw to Charlie Stobo for 35.Matt Parkinson removed Ackermann with his second ball, caught by Jack Leaning for seven but McKinney played with elegance and brutality, offering only the occasional half-chance. He nudged Marcus O’Riordan through midwicket to reach three figures then dumped Parkinson for a six that landed in the Old Dover Road gardens.He finally went when he was caught by Stobo trying to reverse sweep O’Riordan, who then took two wickets in four balls in the 40th over. He trapped Scott Borthwick lbw for 35 before getting Neil Wagner caught by Joey Evison for one at mid-off.De Leede and Haydon Mustard quickly wrestled back control. Mustard was on eight when he skied O’Riordan, but a dazzled Grant Stewart couldn’t pick out a ball that landed a foot in front of him and Parkinson’s next over, the 45th, went for 19.Mustard had made 35 when he was lbw to Jaydn Denly and Stewart then put down a caught and bowled chance when De Leede was on 45, before getting him caught on the boundary by Joey Evison. Denly then bowled George Drissell for six and had Johnny Bushnell caught by Swanepoel off the final ball of the innings.Wagner struck early to get O’Riordan caught behind for 11 and although Evison then hit Wagner for three successive fours, he went for 28, caught behind off de Leede, before Finch and Leaning responded with what looked like a match-turning partnership. Finch reached his hundred by hitting Borthwick back over his head for his first six but he fell four short of his best List A score when he cut Wagner to Ackermann.When Drissell bowled Leaning and then had Grant Stewart lbw for three nerves began to set in and Swanepoel was lbw to Ackermann. Denly skied Ackermann next ball and although Jones dropped a simple catch, Denly was lbw to Ackermann’s next delivery.Parkinson drove Drissell to Jones and the run rate soared, leaving Kent needing 17 from Ackermann’s final over. The first was a dot, Stobo scrambled two off the second and was run out by Bushnell off the third, chasing a second. When Garrett could only mange two off the next two balls, Kent’s fate was sealed.

On the morning of the second day of the Lord’s Ashes Test in 2015, James Anderson was late getting to the ground. He was not alone: Joe Root, Mark Wood and the designated driver Stuart Broad were also behind schedule.Australia were 337 for 1 overnight, with Steve Smith and Chris Rogers already boasting hundreds. The motivation to get to the ground on time to warm those aching joints after 90 overs in the dirt was hardly through the roof. So, the quartet did a few laps of Regent’s Park while Anderson queued up James Bay’s “Hold Back The River” on repeat, belted out louder with each rendition to the bemusement of fellow Friday commuters. Australia went on to win by 405 runs.Nine years on, that sense of delaying the inevitable hangs heavier in NW8 for Anderson. Wednesday will be the beginning of an end to his career, a progress that could never really be fathomed until it was talked into existence during meeting at a Manchester hotel in April.Time has made the enforced decision a little easier to swallow. But speaking on Monday, Anderson articulated the caveats to his acceptance that planning for the next Ashes – by which point he will be 43 – is the right thing to do.”I still feel as fit as I ever have, like I’m bowling as well as I ever have,” he said. “My record has got much better since turning 35. I still think I could do a job. But at the same time, I understand that it has to end at some point, and I completely accept – completely understand – their reasoning behind it.”Related

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It would be pig-headed to ignore the romanticism of Anderson’s journey coming to an end at Lord’s, no matter how reluctant. This was where it all began in 2003 against Zimbabwe. And while the “Home of Cricket” has not always been kind to its legends – neither Sachin Tendulkar nor Brian Lara have centuries here – it has rewarded Anderson handsomely.Of his 700 career dismissals, 119 have come at this venue alone, with the majority from the Pavilion End. His name appears on the honours board seven times, including what remain career-best figures of 7 for 42 against West Indies in 2017. The first of those – incumbent captain Kraigg Brathwaite – took him to 500 career dismissals. Such forewarning at least means friends and family will be able to travel down to share this final chapter. Those lucky enough to have tickets will be able to pay their respects. They may also witness an extra bit of history if he manages to overtake Shane Warne’s tally of 708 Test wickets which, while unlikely, cannot be ruled out given the setting, the anticipated overcast conditions, and considering what he did to Nottinghamshire just last week.And yet, at the same time, the oddity of this week is inescapable. The groundswell of public opinion seems to be that this is both premature and callous. If anyone deserves to go out on their own terms, surely it’s the pace bowler with the most wickets in Test history?James Anderson reacts to a question at his final pre-match press conference•PA Photos/Getty Images

“I don’t particularly like fuss,” Anderson said, knowing that is exactly what he is going to get. Had he got his way, he would not have done any media at all.The team, by and large, have approached this Test no differently. The fallout from the 4-1 defeat in India off the back of Australia’s retention of the Ashes puts the onus on this team to refine their ways and, well, win some games. But the sight of the uncapped Dillon Pennington charging in for the best part of an hour on the Nursery Ground, after Gus Atkinson secured the last fast-bowler slot, spoke of the looming change on the horizon.That, ultimately, is the bigger picture here, one which Anderson is keen to embrace. He was put at ease by a speech from Brendon McCullum on Sunday in the home dressing-room after the squad trained together as a group for the first time. Focussing on what happens “in these four walls” and not being distracted by any outside noise were the key takeaways.Those are tenets that have been ever-present during McCullum’s tenure, which the head coach was keen to reinforce. But they are particularly prescient for what’s to come, and it would not be a surprise if the Kiwi made a point of reiterating them to reassure the man unwittingly front and centre this week.”There might be a point where I start milking it,” Anderson said with a hint of sarcasm.”I don’t know. I feel so lucky to have played for as long as I have. It feels really special that I get to play for England one more time.”The choice of words feels particularly important. One “more” time rather than one “last” time reflects a cheerier disposition.Growing up, Anderson yearned for “just” one chance to play Test cricket for England. And there is a beautiful tragedy to the fact his era is being brought to an end at Lord’s, where that dream first became a reality. No number of laps around Regent’s Park will put that off.

Justin Sammons, who has worked extensively in South African cricket over the years, has been appointed the new head coach of the Zimbabwe men’s national team. Former Zimbabwe international Dion Ebrahim has been brought in as the assistant coach.”We are delighted to confirm Justin as head coach of the Zimbabwe senior men’s national team. He brings a wealth of coaching experience and a reputation of identifying, nurturing and developing some of the best young talent in South Africa,” Zimbabwe Cricket chairman Tavengwa Mukuhlani said in a statement. “His hard-working and passionate approach as well as sense of values on and off the pitch make him the ideal person to take us forward.”The update came during the course of the T20 World Cup 2024, which Zimbabwe are not a part of, having failed to make the grade from the qualifying tournament. Zimbabwe have now missed three out of the last four World Cups – ODIs and T20Is – and will have to go through a qualifying tournament for the T20 World Cup 2026. They will, however, qualify automatically for the ODI World Cup 2027, being co-hosts.Related

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Sammons, who was earlier with CSA’s high-performance unit and has worked with several domestic sides in South Africa, was part of the South Africa men’s technical team as batting consultant between 2021 and 2023.”I look forward to the road ahead and I am excited to start working with this talented group of players,” Sammons, who called the appointment a “privilege”, said.Dave Houghton, the former Zimbabwe captain, had served as the national team’s head coach for 18 months before resigning after Zimbabwe’s failure to qualify for the T20 World Cup 2024. Walter Chawaguta, who coached Zimbabwe in 2008, took over as interim coach after that.Ebrahim, meanwhile, has represented Zimbabwe in 29 Tests and 82 ODIs between 2001 and 2005, and has been a part of the backroom staff with the New Zealand senior men’s team more recently.The rest of the support staff for the Zimbabwe team will be appointed in consultation with Sammons, ZC said in a statement, while adding that Elton Chigumbura, the former captain of Zimbabwe, had been appointed head coach of the nation’s Under-19 team. Norbert Manyande, who played first-class cricket in Zimbabwe before going on to feature for Namibia, was named as his assistant and batting coach, while former South Africa bowler Paul Adams will be the bowling coach.

England’s first training session at the Gabba on Sunday, ahead of the second Ashes Test, featured a couple of unfamiliar “dog-throwers”.With the Lions taking part in the Prime Ministers’ XI match in Canberra, Matthew Potts and Josh Tongue with them, and the bowlers resting up after Saturday’s session at Allan Border Field – only Ben Stokes sent deliveries down – net bowlers and coaches were working overtime. As were two new faces in England stash.They were drafted in from the Sunshine Coast by bowling coach David Saker as reinforcements. And it was no coincidence there was a left-hander in there.After Mitchell Starc blasted through England in the first Test at Perth to put Australia 1-0 up, the extra focus was a no-brainer. The tourists had no answers for Starc’s brilliance as he finished with 10 in the match. They will need to find some ahead of the day-night Test, because no one does it better than the 35-year-old in this novelty off-shoot of the longest format.Related

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No bowler has anywhere near as many as Starc’s 81 pink-ball wickets at 17.08, nor his experience of 14 Tests with various iterations of the lighter Kookaburra. Like cocktails on a beach, he is a class apart when the sun sets. And with half of each day’s play expected to take place under lights, there is unlikely to be a period not suited to his game.As is England’s way, the onus is on individuals to work out their own ways of combating Starc. And it was noteworthy that one of England’s greatest problem-solvers, Joe Root, hogged a left-handed thrower during the afternoon session, trying to workshop a method against a familiar foe.The pair have played each other 23 times – red and pink – and Starc has the slight upper hand in their ongoing battle.Test cricket’s second-most productive run-scorer averages 34.9 against Starc, who has removed Root 10 times in Tests, including twice last week.”I think the first innings, to be honest, it was a pretty good ball,” Root said of his dismissal for a duck on day one, twisted around and edging to third slip. “Nipped across you from straight in. I wasn’t looking to whip it through square leg or anything like that. It was just one of those things you can get on a lively wicket. In England that probably doesn’t carry, it drops short with soft hands. It’s just one of the things you have to wear.”In the second innings, Root felt he started well “being quite busy and proactive” before edging a drive onto his stumps for 8 from 11 deliveries. The third batter dismissed in a run-less six balls that turned the Test on its head. “I just made a slight error of judgement and it costs you. You could play and miss at that, or it goes between stumps and keeper and goes for four, and you never think about it again.”Joe Root trains at the Gabba•Getty Images

Fine margins? Or, whisper it – does Root have a Starc problem? Both can be true, of course. Likewise, the fact that since adding the wobble seam delivery to his repertoire, Starc has been able to challenge both edges of the bat, regardless of whether he is faced with a right- or left-hander. Supplemented by his pace, angle and swing, he was able to cover for the loss of Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood in the first Test, and may do again in the second.”Clearly the more he’s played, the more experience he’s getting, and the more skills he’s developed,” Root said. “He’s a fine bowler and has been for a long time – and that’s never changed. They’ve had a couple of injuries, and he’s had to step up and he did that very well in the last game. Our challenge will be, can we counter that this week?”Root is optimistic solutions can be found, even in Starc’s day-night domain, and sees no reason why the bowler’s strengths cannot be managed to a degree. It is worth noting, Starc’s average with the pink ball at the Gabba is a solid yet unspectacular 29.00, with 14 dismissals across six innings.”It’s understanding all of the different tools he might have and then how are you going to counter that both in a positive manner and in allowing yourself to do it for a long period of time. Just being clear individually in how you want to go about scoring your runs and readying yourself as best you can is going to be the key.”With two days of practice, and information due to come their way from Canberra, England are fairly happy with the current batch of pink balls, even if Root thinks day-night matches are unnecessary for an Ashes series. Having played in all seven of England’s previous ones, he will need to draw on that experience, and share it with team-mates, if the tourists are to dent Australia’s impressive record in the side-format, which currently reads 13 wins out of 14. That one loss came here at the Gabba, against West Indies in 2024.”It felt pretty good when facing it. I think it’s [the black seam] actually a nice way of really focusing on the ball. Look hard at that seam and give you as many cues as you can from that point of release.”Of course, it’s going to have its different challenges and nuances from the red ball, but that’s all part and parcel of it. Can we be better at it than Australia? That’s the question and the challenge ahead of us.”

Ben Stokes, England’s captain, admitted he and his team had been left “shellshocked” by Travis Head’s stunning 69-ball century, as Australia transcended the chaos of the first three innings of the first Ashes Test at Perth to romp to victory by eight wickets and with three whole days to spare.Head left the field to a standing ovation after his stunning knock of 123 from 83 balls had ripped the momentum away from an England team that seemed to have the contest in their grasp when they went to the second-day lunch break on 65 for 1, with a lead of 99 and nine wickets in hand.But a calamitous collapse of 4 for 11 in 19 balls, initiated by a fine spell from Scott Boland, turned the contest back in Australia’s favour. Though England’s lower-order rallied to set the hosts 205 for victory – the highest innings total of the game – Head’s promotion to the top of the order, in the absence of the injured Usman Khawaja, proved a blessing in disguise as he came out swinging, to blaze Australia to their target in a mere 28.2 overs.It was an example of England being comprehensively beaten at their own hard-hitting game, and Stokes was in awe of Australia’s matchwinner at the post-match presentations.”We’re a little bit shellshocked there,” Stokes told the host broadcaster. “That innings from Travis Head was pretty phenomenal. It’s quite raw, quite fresh at the moment but, geez, that was some knock. It’s knocked the wind out of us.”Asked if he regretted England’s approach to their own second innings – in particular a trio of big shots from Ollie Pope, Harry Brook and Joe Root in the midst of that post-lunch collapse – Stokes insisted that England’s approach had not been the wrong one, as Head’s own success demonstrated, but their execution had been lacking.”If you look at the way the game eked out, the guys who seemed to have success out there with bat in hand were the guys who were really brave and took the game on,” Stokes said. “Anyone who tried to stay around there and try and occupy the crease didn’t really seem to have too much success.Related

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“On wickets like this, you never think you’ve got enough, so if you find yourself in a position where you’re the guy who’s managed to get in, try and give yourself the best chance of going on. There was a lot of assistance there when the bowlers put the ball in the right areas. The guys who were brave enough to knock the bowlers off their lengths seem to find success on that.”Ultimately, however, England were blown away by Head’s extraordinary onslaught. Asked what more he could have done to contain such an aggressive innings, Stokes said: “We tried three or four different plans at him. When he was going like a train, those plans can change quite quickly, because those runs were coming down quickly.”I’ve seen Travis play a lot of knocks like that, whether it be in Test cricket or white-ball cricket. He’s very hard to stop.”Because of the two-day finish, England now have close to a fortnight to prepare for the day-night Test in Brisbane, beginning on December 4. Stokes admitted that his team would have to lick their wounds after such a bruising defeat, but said that the performance of his five-man pace attack in the first innings was proof that there will be some positives to take into the rest of the series.”The way in which we bowled yesterday was simply phenomenal,” Stokes said. “A lot happened on day one, 19 wickets fell, so it was a good day for the bowlers.”This is a very tough one to get the series going when we felt we were in control of the game, and we were coming out there to bowl in that fourth innings. We’ve got four more games here.”We’ll obviously let this sink in. Obviously it hurts extremely, but we got to get our heads round and move on to Brisbane, and then hit the ground running there.”

New South Wales seamer Sean Abbott became the first player to be subbed out of a Sheffield Shield match for an injury other than concussion under Cricket Australia’s new trial rule after he split the webbing in his right hand while fielding a ball off his own bowling on the opening day against Victoria at the Junction Oval in Melbourne.Charlie Stobo was subbed in as the first-ever injury replacement player under the new rule that is being trialed across the first five rounds of the 2025-26 Sheffield Shield competition.Abbott, who is among the contenders to be part of Australia’s extended Ashes squad if Pat Cummins is ruled out of the early part of the series, split the webbing in his right hand while stopping a firmly struck straight drive from Victoria batter Peter Handscomb in the 43rd over of the opening day.Related

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• Labuschagne dropped from Australia ODI squad, Renshaw earns call-up

Abbott left the ground immediately, and team-mate Ryan Hadley completed the over. After being assessed in the rooms, New South Wales made an application to the match referee to have Abbott replaced by another bowler and that request was immediately granted.Stobo bowled his first over of the match immediately after tea having warmed up during the interval.Handscomb is not a fan of the new rule which CA hope will provide insights for the ICC who are considering subs for international cricket.”Not really,” he said after play on Wednesday. “I think first-class cricket and Test cricket is a game of attrition. And if you pick a team and then you can just sub a bloke out halfway through, it takes that factor away.”This is a bloody hard game for four days, and you’ve got to keep backing up and fronting up and doing everything. So I’m all aboard the concussion sub. I think that’s a really good rule. But injuries are part of the game. I think unfortunately, you just kind of have to deal with them and they haven’t.”New South Wales fast bowler Liam Hatcher didn’t mind the new rule. “I’d much rather have Stobes in than be a man down, especially when you get a flat wicket and stuff that’s out of your control like that,” he said. “Yeah, I don’t mind it.”As part of the new rule, Victoria also now have the opportunity to make a tactical substitution of one like-for-like bowler if they feel they need to but can only do so before stumps on day two of the match.”That’s an interesting one, because we’ve got one free hit basically,” Handscomb said. “A bowler gets to bowl his heart out and then we can sub them out if we want to. But we’ve obviously gone into this game under the assumption that we’re going to use just the 11 players and everyone’s ready to go. We know how we can rotate our bowlers through.”We’ve got four seamers and a spinner. Unless something really drastic happens, I’m not sure we’ll be using it and we’ll just be backing in the guys that we picked first up.”The injury to Abbott is untimely. He had missed out on Australia’s ODI squad to face India in part to give him the chance to play a rare first-class game to press his Ashes case before being part of Australia’s T20I squad.As part of the injury substitution rule, Abbott has to undergo a mandatory 12-day non-playing period from the start of day three of the match he was subbed out of, which is October 17, before being allowed to play again. It means he would still be available for Australia’s first T20I against India in Canberra on October 29 provided his hand has recovered in time. But if he was not in the T20I squad he would not have been eligible to play in New South Wales’ next Shield game against Queensland which starts at the Gabba on October 28.”He’s got a few stitches in it, but I think he’s fine,” Hatcher said.Abbott had bowled very impressively in the first session on day one at the Junction Oval in seam-friendly conditions. He picked up the wicket of Victoria opener Harry Dixon caught behind. He also ruffled Handscomb with some hostile short balls with one gloved over the keeper and another glancing off his shoulder and helmet.

Cheteshwar Pujara has retired from “all forms of Indian cricket” effective immediately. Pujara, 37, last played for India in June 2023 in the WTC final against Australia, and made the announcement on Sunday on his social media handles.”Wearing the Indian jersey, singing the anthem, and trying my best each time I stepped on the field – it’s impossible to put into words what it truly meant,” Pujara wrote. “But as they say, all good things must come to an end, and with immense gratitude I have decided to retire from all forms of Indian cricket.”Thank you for all the love and support!”Even though Pujara hasn’t played Tests in over two years, he joins the list of top India players who have retired from the format in the last year, starting with R Ashwin in December 2024, and Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma earlier this year before the tour of England.