Matthews’ Melbourne win big

Melbourne win the WBBL, how cricket forged AUS nationalism, & the SA20 wants to hit 200M Indian viewers.

Matthews scored 69 and took two wickets to lead the Melbourne Renegades to their first ever WBBL title.

The Sriram Veera special

Konstas leads a new batch of AUS talent, how cricket forged AUS nationalism, & how Siraj rediscovered his form.

• India won their shortened warm up against the Prime Minister’s XI by 6 wickets [highlights]. Indian Express’ Sriram Veera says that Sam Konstas made a name for himself with a quick century, while Fox Sports’ Will Faulkner looks at the 25 best Aussies under 25 ready to step up to the national team.

• Josh Hazlewood has been ruled out of the next Test due to injury, while the Adelaide pitch curator does his job in secrecy with the media allegedly barred.

• ESPNcricinfo’s Ian Chappell thinks Australia need to figure out their mental approach to batting, while Indian Express’ Sriram Veera reports on how Australia built their national identity through cricket in the early 1900s.

• To cap off a trio of great stories, Veera also talked to former India bowling coach Bharat Arun about how he helped Mohammad Siraj rediscover his form.

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Matthews’ Melbourne win big

Melbourne win the WBBL, Carse breaks out for ENG, & the SA20 wants to hit 200M Indian viewers.

• The Melbourne Renegades beat the Brisbane Heat by 7 runs to win the WBBL [highlights]. ESPNcricinfo’s Alex Malcolm traces their unlikely journey, & Cricket Australia’s Laura Jolly writes about Hayley Matthews’ dream season.

• England beat New Zealand by 8 wickets in their first Test. ESPNcricinfo’s Vithushan Ehantharajah writes about Ben Stokes’ nurturing of 10-wicket hero Brydon Carse, & Joe Root surpassed Sachin Tendulkar to become the highest 4th innings Test scorer of all time.

• Jay Shah took charge of the ICC chairman position this weekend, while the Champions Trophy debate rages on. However, Dawn’s Mohammad Yaqoob claims that the PCB and BCCI have come to a backdoor agreement to not send teams to each other’s countries for the next cycle.

• Ian Redpath died over the weekend. Cricket Et Al’s Gideon Haigh has the best obituary of Australia’s last ever amateur Test cricketer.

• Economic Times’ Javed Farooqui reports on the SA20’s aim to reach 200 million Indian viewers, while the ECB could face a legal challenge for barring players from participating in the Pakistan Super League.

Thomson slings out England

When ENG got battered in 74/75 Ashes, & speaking to three local boys who made it to the IPL.

• Luke Alfred has a detailed story about England’s bruising tour down under for the 1974/75 Ashes, including the emergence of the Malinga-like Jeff Thomson.

• Cricbuzz’s Gokul Gopal talks to a trio of Karnataka cricketers who made it to the IPL for the first time about what it means to them, professionally, personally and financially.

India’s last pre-BGT tour

Remembering IND’s 91/92 tour of AUS, & the best Asian Test XI.

• The Cricket with an Accent Podcast reminisces about India’s 1991/92 tour of Australia, after the visitors won in Perth. [Apple Podcasts]

• Good Areas’ Jarrod Kimber, Behram Qazi & Estelle Vasudevan draft the best XI Asian Test team, plus a 12th man.

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