South Africa have called-up uncapped batsman Rilee Rossouw to replace injured Quinton de Kock for the second Test against the West Indies.
The 25-year-old has yet to play a Test, with his international experience limited to nine one-day games and three Twenty20 matches.
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Batsman Joe Burns is a surprise addition to Australia’s squad for next week’s Third Test which starts on Boxing Day in Melbourne.
The 25-year-old Queensland right-hander was named as a replacement for injured Mitchell Marsh with in-form Australia already holding a 2-0 lead in the series.
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The West Indies have followed England in replacing their one-day captain less than two months before the World Cup after replacing Dwayne Bravo with Jason Holder.
Holder, who turned 23 last month, has been named to lead the squad in the five ODIs in South Africa next month.
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Alex Hales must replace Alastair Cook at the top of England’s ODI batting order for the World Cup, says Sir Ian Botham.
Cook has been removed as captain and left out of England’s 15-man squad for next year’s tournament following a barren run of form with the bat that has seen him pass fifty just once in 20 ODI innings in 2014.
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Mitchell Johnson was delighted to carry out his “job” and fire Australia to victory over India in the second Test in Brisbane.
The left-arm quick bulldozed India’s middle-order on Saturday morning – taking 3-10 in 11 balls – before finishing with figures of 4-61 as Australia dismissed the tourists for 224.
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Alastair Cook will not captain England at the World Cup, according to Sky sources.
Eoin Morgan, the Middlesex batsman, will captain England in the forthcoming tri-series with Australia and India, and then at the World Cup, which takes place in Australia and New Zealand.
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Nottinghamshire have signed South Africa Test star Vernon Philander and Australia’s Ben Hilfenhaus as their overseas players for the 2015 season.
Philander, 29, a key component of South Africa’s feared pace attack, has previous county experience with Kent, Middlesex and Somerset.
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Steven Smith heaped praise on Mitchell Johnson after the left-hander’s brutal 88 helped Australia secure a first-innings lead over India in the second Test.
“I said before the Test match that I wanted to lead from the front with my performances, so hopefully I’ve done that.”
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England’s selectors will meet on Friday to decide whether Alastair Cook leads the one-day side at next year’s World Cup.
Defeat over seven games in Sri Lanka took Cook’s record as captain to five defeats in seven series, and it was a lean tour with the bat as the opener scored 119 runs in six innings.
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Leicestershire’s former director of cricket Phil Whitticase has left the club, ending a 31-year association with the county.
The 49-year-old started out at Grace Road as a teenage wicketkeeper and made his debut in 1984, the start of a 12-year playing career, spanning 132 first-class matches.
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Tim Ludeman scored the quickest fifty in the Big Bash as the tournament got underway with Adelaide Strikers beating Melbourne Stars by eight wickets.
Ludeman (92no) brought up his fifty from just 18 balls in style, with a massive six over midwicket off James Faulkner in the fifth over – one of five sixes in his innings as he stole the limelight from Kevin Pietersen, who made a fifty of his own in Melbourne’s score of 148-7 from their 20 overs.
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Former England and Lancashire all-rounder Andrew Flintoff will be available to play whole of the upcoming Big Bash for Brisbane Heat.
The 37-year-old was scheduled to play in the back half of the competition as a replacement for fellow overseas player Daniel Vettori, who is set to link up with New Zealand for their World Cup preparations.
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New Zealand drew level in their five-match ODI series with Pakistan after Kane Williamson’s century helped them to a thrilling seven-run victory in the fourth match in Abu Dhabi.
Skipper Williamson (123) crunched 12 fours in a brutal 105-ball knock as The Black Caps reached 299-5 from their 50 overs, with openers Martin Guptill (58) and Dean Brownlie (42) also chipping in.
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Lord’s has been proposed as the venue for the ICC Cricket World Cup final when the tournament is staged in England and Wales in 2019 – and the ‘home of cricket’ will also host the ICC Women’s World Cup final in 2017.
The England and Wales Cricket Board will also recommend to ICC that the semi-finals in the 2019 World Cup should be allocated to Old Trafford, Manchester and Warwickshire’s home of Edgbaston, with the opening game being staged at The Oval.
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The England and Wales Cricket Board has chosen Headingley and Old Trafford as hosts for the 2019 Ashes Test Series ahead of Trent Bridge and Cardiff.
Lord’s, The Oval and Edgbaston will host the other three Ashes contests with Nottingham and the Welsh capital both missing out after being named as venues for the visit of Australia in 2015.
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Michael Carberry was ready to board a plane to Perth this time 12 months ago. Not with England, but to join Scorchers for a season in the Big Bash League.
An agreement had been reached and a contract signed which Carberry ultimately couldn’t fulfil due to a dream call-up to the England Test side for the Ashes series against Australia.
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Matt Prior thinks the “negativity” over Alastair Cook’s place in England’s one-day side could inhibit the team’s young players.
Cook’s limp run with the bat in 50-over cricket – he has not scored a century since 2012 – coupled with England’s poor results in ODIs has seen the skipper’s position come into question ahead of the World Cup.
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Murali Vijay said it was great feeling to score 144 – his fifth Test century and fourth against Australia – as India reached 311-4 on day one of the second Test.
Vijay – who hit two fifties in India’s defeat in Adelaide last week – made the Australian bowlers toil in the Brisbane heat, with humidity high and temperatures in the late 30s.
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England legend Sir Ian Botham says the time has come for under-fire captain Alastair Cook to stand down from the one-day side.
Cook has come under increasing pressure over his role in England’s 50-over team, with the 5-2 series defeat by Sri Lanka representing their fifth in a row under his leadership.
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Australia captain Michael Clarke could yet play in the World Cup next year after an operation on his hamstring was judged a huge success.
Clarke has been ruled out of the ongoing series with India after tearing his hamstring in the first Test in Adelaide, a match he went into under an injury cloud given his long history of back complaints.
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