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India allrounder Sneh Rana was taken for scans after “complaining of headache” post her collision with Pooja Vastrakar in the field during the second ODI against Australia at the Wankhede Stadium, the BCCI said. Former India captain Anjum Chopra, a commentator at the match, said Rana also complained of nausea.Rana will take no further part in the match. Harleen Deol has been named as her concussion replacement.”She [Rana] had a little bit of headache post the first innings,” India’s head coach Amol Muzumdar said after the match*. “We felt it was appropriate for her to do the scan. The reports have been fine and she is back in the dressing room. She is still having a little bit of a headache, but that’s normal. She is available for the third match.”Related

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The incident happened in the 25th over of the first innings. Trying to stop a cut by left-hand batter Beth Mooney, Rana moved to her left from short third and Vastrakar to her right from backward point. In the process, Rana’s head banged into Vastrakar and both players fell onto the ground. Rana was taken off the field immediately, with the physio applying ice on her head, but returned after a couple of overs.Rana, who had bowled four overs at the time of the collision, went on to complete her quota of ten overs. She dismissed Ashleigh Gardner in the 37th over and finished with figures of 1 for 59.Rana was the Player of the Match for her seven wickets in the one-off Test played between the two teams last week. In the first ODI that India lost, she dismissed Australia opener Phoebe Litchfield.Deol, who bowls spin but is primarily a batter, was considered a like-for-like replacement for Rana, who is an offspinner primarily and a lower-order batter. Deol’s last ODI outing was against Bangladesh in Mirpur in July, when she scored 77 in a tied game and was named Player of the Match.

Uncapped opening batter Neil Brand has been named South Africa’s captain for their two-Test tour to New Zealand, which starts on February 4 and clashes with the SA20. South Africa will travel with a makeshift squad, which features only three players that are part of the ongoing series against India: Keegan Petersen, David Bedingham and Zubayr Hamza, who was added as a replacement following Temba Bavuma’s hamstring injury. None of the first-choice bowling attack are available for the series, which is part of the World Test Championship (WTC).The bulk of the squad currently playing the India series will be unavailable because they will be engaged in the SA20 which begins on January 10. That ruled out Aiden Markram, Temba Bavuma, Tristan Stubbs, Kyle Verreynne, Marco Jansen, Nandre Burger, Wiaan Mulder, Gerald Coetzee, Kagiso Rabada, Lungi Ngidi and Keshav Maharaj. Dean Elgar will not be involved in the T20 tournament but he is retiring from Test cricket in the New Year.Red-ball coach Shukri Conrad’s plans were dealt a last-minute blow as well when Durban’s Super Giants signed Tony de Zorzi, who was slated to open the batting for South Africa in New Zealand, on Thursday morning. In all South Africa have seven uncapped players to go with seven capped players. Seamer Duanne Olivier, who played 15 Tests between 2017 and 2022 is the most experienced, followed by Petersen (12).Related

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South Africa’s 2023-25 WTC campaign began on Boxing Day, where they beat India by an innings and 32 runs to get their first points on the board. They will only play two-Test series for the entirety of this campaign including away trips to New Zealand, the West Indies and Bangladesh, and home series against India, Sri Lanka and Pakistan. CSA attempted to get the New Zealand series moved in order to choose a stronger squad but was unable to and has left Conrad with the task of trying to get away points without his best players. But, South Africa have never lost a Test series to New Zealand and Conrad had earlier said he “backs himself to come back with something” from a trip where he could hand on as many as seven debuts.”The players picked for this tour have every chance of challenging New Zealand and we have full confidence they will do exactly that when we arrive for the first Test match at Mount Maunganui,” he said in a statement put out by CSA. “Most of these guys participated in the recent A series against West Indies where they showed that they have what it takes against players of international calibre. That experience will no doubt leave them in a better position for what we expect to be a testing series in New Zealand.”South Africa will travel with their usual support staff, none of whom are involved in the SA20, apart from batting consultant Ashwell Prince, who joined them for the India Tests. Prince is commentating on the SA20 and Imraan Khan, former Test batter and current Dolphins coach, will go to New Zealand in that role for this series.South Africa Test squad: Neil Brand (capt), David Bedingham, Ruan de Swardt, Clyde Fortuin (wk), Zubayr Hamza, Tshepo Moreki, Mihlali Mpongwana, Duanne Olivier, Dane Paterson, Keegan Petersen, Dane Piedt, Raynard van Tonder, Shaun von Berg, Khaya Zondo

England are awaiting confirmation that Rehan Ahmed will be available to play in the third Test of their series in India this week, after the ECB conceded that a “paperwork discrepancy” prompted a hold-up at Hirasar Airport in Rajkot that was only resolved by the issuance of a temporary visa.Rehan was initially prohibited from re-entering India on Monday evening after England’s mid-series break in Abu Dhabi because he only held a single-entry visa. After a delay, local authorities arrived at a short-term solution which allowed him to travel to the team’s hotel with the rest of the touring party.”We were advised, on returning to India, that there was paperwork discrepancy with Rehan Ahmed’s visa,” an ECB spokesperson said on Tuesday. “The local authorities at Rajkot Airport were supportive, enabling Rehan entry on a temporary visa. The correct visa should be processed and issued in the coming days.”Rehan, the legspinning allrounder, trained with his team-mates at the Saurashtra Cricket Association Stadium on Tuesday and is expected to receive clearance to remain in India shortly. He appears set to retain his place in England’s team for the third Test, which starts on Thursday, after taking six wickets in the second.The issue comes weeks after Shoaib Bashir’s arrival in India was delayed by a week because of the late issuing of his visa, which resulted in him missing the first Test in Hyderabad.Bashir, who has Pakistani heritage, eventually arrived on January 28 – the fourth day of the first Test – having initially remained in Abu Dhabi, where England had their pre-tour training camp, before returning to the UK to get his visa stamped. He went on to make his debut in the second Test at Visakhapatnam.Like Bashir, Rehan was born in England and has Pakistani heritage, but he had no initial trouble entering the country because of a visa he had secured in October as a standby player for England’s World Cup squad. His delay, seemingly the result of a clerical oversight by the ECB, is a problem that should not have arisen.Ollie Robinson, who is yet to feature in the series, revealed earlier on Monday that he only received his visa on the morning that England initially flew to Hyderabad from Abu Dhabi last month, having heard the previous night from team manager Wayne Bentley that another paperwork error had caused a delay.”He [Bentley] said, ‘your visa has been denied’ or something,” Robinson said on his podcast, . “There was an error at the ECB – I think they must have just put an initial wrong, or one letter must have been wrong. It didn’t pass. He was like, ‘you’re not coming to India – you have to stay here for another night… it could be two nights, could be three nights, don’t know how long it’s going to take.’ Luckily, I woke up in the morning to a nice message from Wayne saying ‘visa’s here’.”Ollie Pope, England’s vice-captain, described Rehan’s situation as “very frustrating” on Tuesday. “I’m not sure whose mistake it was. I don’t want to name any names,” Pope said. “It’s very frustrating, but hopefully [it] will all be sorted by the end of the day, he’s cleared for the next game and the rest of the trip. It’s a bit of bad luck, but hopefully all sorted.”It sounds pretty positive. I think we’re getting around Rehan. He’s in good spirits. He was training today. I think it was sorted fairly quickly yesterday, but obviously it’s all going on behind the scenes and hopefully it’ll all be sorted within the next day or so. He’s in good spirits, the boys are getting around him and he’s just happy to be out here training.”1230 GMT, Tuesday – This story was updated to include the ECB’s statement and Pope’s comments.

Scoring rates have gone up as the IPL has aged. But never before has the scoring rate for a season hit nine an over. This year, after 31 games, we are going at 9.48. The highest before this was in IPL 2023, 8.99.That 9.48 was nudged along by Rajasthan Royals matching their own record for highest successful chase in IPL history, crossing Kolkata Knight Riders’ 223 for 6 off the last ball.The three highest team totals in the history of the IPL, and four of the five highest, have come this year. The record, held from April 23, 2013, to March 27, 2024, by Royal Challengers Bengaluru (then Bangalore) when Chris Gayle hit 175 not out in 66 balls to take them to 263 for 5, has been surpassed three times this year.Related

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Delhi Capitals have not been at the forefront of this run glut, and are down at No. 9 on the table ahead of their seventh match, against Gujarat Titans on Wednesday, and their head coach Ricky Ponting feels that “the team that’s most willing to take on the bowling”, rather than the best defensive side with the ball, will likely win the title. And the IPL rule of teams having an impact player to turn to has made things the way they are.”Looks like that’s where the game is going to go,” Ponting said at his pre-match press conference. “Sunrisers [Hyderabad, SRH] are obviously responsible for a couple of those [big scores]. KKR got 260-odd [272 for 7] against us. I think the impact player is having a big effect on the way teams are batting. You watched the way Travis [Head] batted last night. You can’t bat that way unless you’ve got confidence in the players underneath you and you bat deep in your batting order as well.”Quite often, big tournaments like the IPL and the Big Bash back in Australia have been won by the best defensive bowling teams. But the way this IPL is going – and [with] the different rules in the IPL – it looks like it will be won by the team that’s most willing to take on the bowling, and try and post some really big scores. I think it’s potentially more attacking batting that’s going to win this IPL than defensive bowling.”Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) have made a name for defending smallish totals in Lucknow, but look around and there are massive totals everywhere. The 200 mark was breached for the first time in the third game of the season, when KKR scored 208 for 7 and SRH responded with 204 for 7 at Eden Gardens. It has been breached 11 times since, with SRH’s 287 for 3 against RCB the biggest total at this stage. And, if Ponting is right, SRH, or one of the other teams maximising the powerplay and sailing past 200, could well take the trophy come May 26.

Just like the 2015 World Cup final, Mitchell Starc led the rout of the second-best team of the tournament as Kolkata Knight Riders fashioned the most one-sided IPL final to secure their third title. Starc started with arguably the ball of the tournament, and the most complete attack of the tournament was too good for Sunrisers Hyderabad on a pitch that offered seam movement for at least seven overs followed by grip off the surface too. SRH were bowled out for the lowest total in an IPL final, 113, which KKR chased down with 57 balls to spare thanks to Venkatesh Iyer’s blitz of 52 off 26.Five of the six bowlers used by KKR took a wicket in their first over, including a golden duck for SRH’s talisman Travis Head to Vaibhav Arora in the second over. It is hard to find fault with SRH who had to take risks while KKR’s strategy was straightforward: with the ball moving, just minimise the bad balls and experiment less. Whenever SRH looked to force the pace, they ended up losing wickets.

Scintillating Starc

Starc didn’t quite start the tournament the way he would have wanted after becoming the costliest player in IPL history, but he turned up for the playoffs all right. The first ball of the match swung away to beat Abhishek Sharma, who was taking first strike after Starc bowled Head second ball in the Qualifier 1. By the end of the over, Starc had worked himself into enough of a rhythm to pitch the ball on leg and hit the top of off. It was an unplayable delivery at Starc’s pace. You could forgive Abhishek for not lunging forward because it was pitched on a good length and the movement was late.Abhishek Sharma could not keep out Mitchell Starc•BCCI

Head got on strike only last ball of the second over, which is when Arora started on a good length outside leg, and swung and seamed it to finish just outside the top of off. Head pushed at it, edged, and was caught behind.While Arora mixed up his inswing with various-paced short balls, Starc kept using the scrambled-seam ball to threaten both the edges. One outside edge flew wide of slip, before Rahul Tripathi fell off a top edge as he tried to push back.

Rana starts the second slide

Seeing how the ball was moving, KKR used just the two bowlers in the powerplay, but Arora went for 17 in the final powerplay over, taking SRH up to 40 for 3. That seemed like a situation from which SRH could salvage the game, especially with an Impact Player up their sleeve.It wasn’t to be. In his first over, Harshit Rana bowled three straight slower balls before bowling the hard length at 146kmph and managing seam movement against the angle. Nitish Reddy had no choice but to go after it, and all he managed was an edge through to the keeper.Harshit Rana was flying high in the final•Associated Press

Aiden Markram and Heinrich Klaasen were now SRH’s last hope really. They batted cautiously together for three overs but when Markram tried to take Andre Russell on, he found long-on. Soon after Varun Chakravarthy produced the wicket of Shahbaz Ahmed with a top edge on the sweep from well outside off.In the next over, the Impact Player Abdul Samad gave Russell his 18th wicket of this IPL, the most he has taken in one edition. Rana came back to get Klaasen playing on to a slower ball. Russell would go on to add a 19th to his tally when ending the innings with Pat Cummins’ wicket in the 19th over.Not before Cummins managed the top score to take SRH past 100.

The chase as one long celebration

KKR continued their domination of Bhuvneshwar Kumar by charging at him even though they lost Sunil Narine for 6 off 2 at the other end. Venkatesh hit Bhuvneshwar for two straight sixes in a 20-run third over, and when he and Rahmanullah Gurbaz took another 20 off T Natarajan in the sixth over, KKR had put together the most in a powerplay in an IPL final (72).Gurbaz hit boundaries post the powerplay, but didn’t have the benefit of a review because of a technology breakdown when given out lbw for 39. That only allowed captain Shreyas Iyer to be in the middle for the winning moment after a tough year for him in which he has lost his place in and retainer with the Indian national team.

Joe Root believes that Harry Brook’s triple-century in Multan is the first of many “monster scores” in his Test career – and hopes that Brook will one day surpass him to become England’s all-time leading run-scorer.Root and Brook spent 86.3 overs batting together in a partnership worth 454, breaking the world record for the fourth wicket and England’s record for any wicket. Their stand set up England’s declaration with a lead of 267, enabling them to push towards an innings victory despite conceding 556 in their first innings on a lifeless pitch.Having surpassed Alastair Cook to become England’s highest run-scorer in Test history when he reached 71 on the third day, Root went on to reach a career-best score of 262. And while he has the opportunity to put the record out of reach in the coming years, Root believes that Brook’s “complete game” could eventually enable him to catch up.”I hope so,” Root said. “You want to create an environment and a team where things are always improving and always getting better. You want the guys that come in to play with that belief that they can go and do really special things… If guys in the future are breaking records then England are in a good place and they’re scoring a lot of runs, so hopefully that is the case.”I love playing with Brooky. I’ve batted a lot together with him at Yorkshire and seeing him come into this team and fit so seamlessly into Test cricket has been awesome. To get the opportunity to stand there at the other end and watch him go and smack 300 is pretty surreal, really, and to be able to get a big chunk of this score and that partnership myself is pretty cool too.Related

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“He’s got such a complete game. He can score all around the wicket, he plays seam well, spin well and high pace well, and that’s a pretty good recipe for scoring runs. I’m not surprised at all in him going on and doing something special like that, but I don’t think it’ll be the last time we see him with a monster score by his name.”Brook was 18 years old when he first played alongside Root for Yorkshire, and described him as “mega” to bat with. “It makes you feel so comfortable when you’re watching him at the other end,” Brook said. “He makes the game look so easy when he’s playing the ball so late, and making the bowlers look so slow… We just tried to cash in on what was a good pitch.”Root described Brook’s innings as a “masterclass” which reflected the strides he has made in his young career – not least the fitness drive that enabled him to spend seven hours in the middle. “One of the best things with Harry is he’s such a quick learner,” Root said. “He always has been, really.”His natural game, with how freely he scores and plays, especially in the corridor outside off stump, is exactly what you want from someone in the middle order: to be able to apply pressure to bowlers’ best balls… He wasn’t really taking many risks and then he just puts the foot down and can hit 360 [degrees] and make it very difficult for both seamers and spinners to tie him down.”Brook joked after his innings that there was a time, not so long ago, that he might have “made 150 and had a slog”, instead of pushing on towards one of the highest scores in England’s history. But, after missing the tour of India and the subsequent IPL following the death of his grandmother earlier this year, Brook used the downtime to work on his stamina in training, and Root acknowledged that the benefits were plain to see.Highest individual men’s Test scores for England•ESPNcricinfo Ltd

“He’s gone away and worked extremely hard on his fitness,” he said. “That’s why you put the training in: not just from a physical point of view, being able to stand up to it, but mentally. When you do that training that you don’t really want to do and you put yourself in a dark place in practice, then when you get there in the game, it becomes that much easier because you’ve done it before.”Brook has now scored more Test runs in six innings in Pakistan than in 21 innings at home, with three hundreds on England’s most recent tour here in 2022. He simply ascribed it to “chance” but his feats have not gone unnoticed among his team-mates: “I’m very glad that he was born in England and not in Pakistan because his record here is just a joke,” Root said.Root has played down the significance of his own status as England’s leading run-scorer, explaining that his ambitions extend beyond that. “When I say that, I don’t mean it in an arrogant way or anything,” he said. “I’ve just never really been driven by it. I’ve never really been one to have goals, because I just feel like if you miss them, then you’ve failed.”The biggest driver for me is how many games can we go on to win now for the rest of my career. How many games can you affect with the bat and contribute towards? There’s no better feeling than – especially in these conditions when it’s so heavily favoured one way and so flat – to be able to potentially go and win a Test match tomorrow. It’s so exciting.”After that first Pakistan innings, not many people would have given us a shout at going and doing that. I guess the exciting thing, and the thing that keeps bringing you back and makes you want to turn up to training and enjoy trying to find ways of getting better, is opportunities like tomorrow. I can’t wait to turn up again and hopefully do something really special as a group.”

Skipper Hayley Matthews led from the front as West Indies kept their slim semi-final hopes alive after a tense three-run victory over Pakistan in Paarl.Defending a modest 116 to avoid elimination, West Indies were in control through a disciplined bowling effort led by Matthews before weathering a late Pakistan onslaught.Pakistan needed an unlikely 18 runs off the final over, but three boundaries from Aliya Riaz and Fatima Sana reduced their equation to five runs off the last two balls. But quick Shamilia Connell held her nerve as West Indies remained in the competition for now.Pakistan’s chances of qualifying out of Group 2 took a major hit ahead of playing unbeaten England, who have qualified for the semi-finals after this result.

Dramatic final over

Even though Pakistan’s task of hitting 18 runs in the last over seemed forlorn, their chances improved with West Indies only allowed three fielders out of the circle owing to an over-rate penalty.Sana revived Pakistan’s hope with a four off an outside edge from the first ball before Riaz hit consecutive boundaries off the third and fourth deliveries as the pressure intensified on Connell. But she responded by bowling Riaz, who chopped onto the stumps, and then calmly delivered a full delivery on leg stump to Omaima Sohail that went for a leg bye as West Indies survived.

Matthews inspires West Indies again

West Indies needed early wickets, particularly that of opener Muneeba Ali, who was fresh from her stunning century against Ireland.But Matthews has a liking for bowling to Muneeba and almost snared her first delivery of the fourth over only for two fielders to drop a chance at backward point. However, she wasn’t to be denied and claimed Muneeba later in the over before taking an athletic catch at short midwicket to dismiss opener Sidra Ameen as West Indies gained a stranglehold.Nida Dar had the West Indies batters in trouble with her drift•ICC/Getty Images

A disciplined West Indies didn’t leak a boundary until the eighth over as they summoned energy in the field that had been absent during their lacklustre start to the tournament. Their sustained pressure ensured Pakistan’s required run rate climbed out of control, but West Indies had to fend off a late challenge led initially by skipper Bismah Maroof.Matthews took matters into her own hands and returned to the attack in the 18th over. Her loud lbw shout to Maroof was initially turned down but she successfully reviewed to star for West Indies in a second straight game.

West Indies left frustrated by Dar’s relentless accuracy

For West Indies to keep their slim semi-final chances alive, they needed a big victory. Matthews eyed a big target in sunny and warm conditions after winning the toss. Having led West Indies to a drought-breaking win against Ireland with a brilliant half-century under pressure chasing, Matthews laid a platform with fellow opener Rashada Williams.Williams successfully reviewed an lbw decision in the second over off the bowling of Aiman Anwer and then countered the quick’s attempts at in-swing by standing out of her crease. But both openers were unable to convert starts and West Indies struggled to accelerate on a sluggish pitch.The conditions suited Pakistan’s spin-heavy attack with offspinner Nida Dar the standout as she mustered her experience to frustrate West Indies, who were unable to put the foot down late.Dar bowled full and straight relentlessly while claiming the wickets of Chinelle Henry and Aaliya Alleyne in the back end to finish with 2 for 13 from four overs. The wicket of Alleyne, clean bowled in the penultimate over of the innings, was Dar’s 125th in T20Is to equal the record of West Indies offspinner Anisa Mohammed.

Majority of South African players including Kagiso Rabada, Anrich Nortje, David Miller and Aiden Markram will join their respective IPL teams in India only on April 3, four days after the tournament begins on March 31. ESPNcricinfo has learnt that Cricket South Africa (CSA) informed the BCCI that it wants all its top players available for the two-match home ODI series against the Netherlands starting late March.CSA has taken the step because South Africa need to beat Netherlands in the series to directly qualify for the 2023 World Cup later this year in India. Netherlands this week announced a strong squad for the series in Zimbabwe followed by the ODIs in South Africa. Both those series are part of the ODI Super League with the South Africa games scheduled on March 31 and April 2 in Benoni and Johannesburg respectively.Related

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As many as six of the 10 IPL franchises will be affected by the development. Sunrisers Hyderabad (Markram, Heinrich Klaasen, Marco Jansen), Delhi Capitals (Nortje, Lungi Ngidi), Mumbai Indians (Tristan Stubbs, possibly Dewald Brevis), defending champions Gujarat Titans (Miller), Lucknow Super Giants (Quinton de Kock), Punjab Kings (Rabada) have South Africa players in the side.Last December, a day before the IPL auction, the BCCI, in a note to the franchises on overseas players’ availability, had informed that contracted South African players would be available from March 29, two days prior to the IPL opener. However, CSA’s chief executive officer Pholetsi Moseki told ESPNcricinfo that BCCI has been given an explanation as to why it was mandatory for South African contracted players to feature in the Netherlands series.The top eight teams in the ODI Super League automatically qualify for the 2023 World Cup while the bottom five will have to play the World Cup Qualifiers along with five Associate teams. South Africa, currently at No. 9, are in a race along with West Indies, Sri Lanka and Ireland to book a direct World Cup entry. “The BCCI understands the importance of the Netherlands series to us automatically qualifying for the 2023 World Cup,” Moseki said.This is not the first time CSA has had to deal with the IPL clashing with a home bilateral series. Last March, South Africa’s Test series against Bangladesh clashed with the start of the tournament, but CSA had then asked the players to take the call on whether to stay back or head to India. The players chose to be fully available for the IPL, but this time CSA was left with no choice but to field the best team as the World Cup berth is at stake.

Test cricket will return to the WACA in Perth, with the Australia women’s team set to face South Africa for the first time in the format as part of their multi-format series early in 2024.It will be one of three Tests Australia will play in nine months following the Ashes encounter in June and one on the multi-format tour of India set for December and January. However, unlike the five-day Ashes Test, the match against South Africa will be over four days.Cricket Australia (CA) announced the home fixtures for the 2023-24 season on Sunday, which sees Pakistan men visit for three Tests, including the traditional Melbourne and Sydney fixtures, while both West Indies men’s and women’s sides will feature.West Indies men are touring in consecutive seasons due to a quirk in the next FTP, with their Tests taking place in Adelaide, which will revert to a day game for one season, and then Brisbane which will host a day-night encounter.Australia men’s home summer schedule•ESPNcricinfo Ltd

The men’s Test summer stretches deep into January next season due to the 2023 ODI World Cup then a five-match T20I series tacked on afterwards, meaning Australia won’t return home until early December. However, the T20 and Test teams are likely to look very different.Their summer begins with the first Test against Pakistan in Perth from December 14, before the teams meet in the Boxing Day Test in Melbourne and the New Year’s Test at the SCG.Adelaide will host a red-ball Test against West Indies from January 17, before a day-night Test at the Gabba from January 25. It means all Tests will fall in the holiday period.White-ball players will be available for the entire men’s BBL, before they enter camp for three ODIs and three T20s against West Indies between February 2 and 13.But the opening of the international season risks being completely overshadowed by the National Rugby League (NRL), with the first match scheduled for Sydney on grand final day with Australia’s women playing West Indies in a T20I at North Sydney Oval on October 1.That game will finish only hours before the NRL grand final, asking fans to choose which event to attend and viewers to switch off rugby league’s grand final lead-up games.CA takes the view that in a cluttered schedule, a Sunday start in Sydney is the right way to go, hopeful they can benefit from Channel Seven promoting the match during the AFL grand final the previous day.They are also adamant October 1 should be the start of the cricket season, that scheduling clashes with other sports are inevitable and that their world champion women’s team can win out.But privately there are concerns from some over the significant challenges the sport will face promoting the T20 match in Sydney, with a second game to be played the day after the grand final.Australia women’s summer schedule•ESPNcricinfo Ltd

Australia vice-captain Alyssa Healy was hopeful the situation would not impact crowds while acknowledging there could be some hurdles to overcome in drawing fans.”It could be [a problem], maybe we might get washed out a little bit in that,” Healy told AAP. “But in saying that, it’s the start of the cricket summer. So hopefully that is spoken about that week.”Yes, the headlines will be dominated by AFL and NRL, but they are anyway. Come and watch some world-class athletes do their thing at North Sydney if the NRL is not your thing. I don’t think we need to compete against the NRL grand final, we can work around it.”It is not the first time concerns have been raised around the scheduling of women’s fixtures.Players were unhappy when they were switched to play on January 26 last summer, with Indigenous woman Ashleigh Gardner vocalising her opposition to the decision.Another match in the same series, against Pakistan at North Sydney Oval, clashed with the Sydney Smash in the BBL.There is some good news for the women in the upcoming fixtures, however. After three T20Is and three ODIs against West Indies early in the summer, they host a multi-format series against South Africa in January and February.Included is a day-night ODI at a major venue, Adelaide Oval, on February 3, followed by the Test on the pacy WACA wicket from February 15.

Retain Shreyas Iyer or drop him? That is set to be one of the first questions for the selection panel when it meets on Friday evening to pick India’s squad for the three remaining Tests of the England series.ESPNcricinfo has learned that Iyer had informed the team management that he had experienced back spasms a day or two after the end of the second Test in Visakhapatnam, which India won to level the series 1-1. The BCCI medical staff, though, are understood to have cleared Iyer for selection.Apart from Rohit Sharma, Iyer is the only senior India batter to not register a significant score in the first two Tests – he made 35 and 13 in Hyderabad and 27 and 29 in Visakhapatnam. Considered one of India’s best batters against spin, Iyer has, however, struggled to find fluency, struggling both in his defence and in his strokeplay.Related

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Insiders believe Iyer’s struggles could be a result of him feeling stiffness in his back as he bats for long periods. A pinched nerve in his lower back flared up originally during the fourth and final Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in 2023. Last April, he had undergone back surgery to deal with a slipped disc, which had caused him “excruciating pain” and made him doubtful about his future.Iyer then missed the IPL, where he leads Kolkata Knight Riders, but returned to play for India in the Asia Cup. However, recurring back spasms restricted his involvement to just two matches. But a successful ODI World Cup, where Iyer played impact innings in the middle order – including in the semi-final against New Zealand – suggested he had completely recovered.Dropped from India’s T20I squad in the home series against Afghanistan in January, Iyer tested his match fitness for the England Test series by playing a Ranji Trophy match for Mumbai against Andhra, where he batted once and scored 48.2:58

Are captaincy duties affecting Rohit’s batting?

While he was in the squad for the first two Tests, there was no assurance that he would be in the XI – he was competing with KL Rahul for one middle-order slot. But once Virat Kohli ruled himself out for the first two Tests for personal reasons, and could be out for longer, Rahul and Iyer got into the XI for the first Test.Rahul, who was ruled out of second Test because of a quad niggle, is expected to be fit for the second part of the England series. Now the selectors have to decide whether they want to retain Iyer or place their faith in Rajat Patidar, who made his debut in the second Test and impressed with his technique and composure. Not to forget, Sarfaraz Khan was also in the squad for the second Test, but didn’t get into the XI.

Bumrah to be rested for fourth or fifth Test?

One other significant talking point for the selectors will be Jasprit Bumrah, who is the leading bowler so far in the series with 15 wickets. While Bumrah has shown no fitness concerns since resuming to play at the World Cup after undergoing back surgery last March, the selectors are understood to have acknowledged the point made by the BCCI medical staff about manging the workload of Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj, both all-format players.Siraj was rested for the second Test, but is expected to return for the third in Rajkot starting February 15. Bumrah, too, is set to play the match, but is likely to get a break for one of the two final Tests – in Ranchi and Dharamsala.