Smith’s form is reaching a Head

Head and Smith dominate, Dipak Patel’s half century in cricket, & the busiest weekend of the cricketing year

Steve Smith’s back baby. Meanwhile, India are still misfiring.

Smith’s form is reaching a Head

Head and Smith dominate, IND’s poor selections, & IND’s 2021 Gabba win.

• Australia reached 445 in their first innings, while India are struggling at 39/3 at the time of publishing. Meanwhile, Cricket Australia will lose AUD$1 million because day one washed out.

• ESPNcricinfo’s Alagappan Muthu writes about Travis Head’s continued brilliance, Cricket Australia’s Louis Cameron on the return of the Steve Smith shuffle, & ESPNcricinfo’s Sampath Bandarupalli on the stats from the second day.

• A Cricketing Views’ Kartikeya Date writes about India’s flawed selection choices that are affecting their bowling and fielding.

• The Cricket Monthly’s Nagraj Gollapudi has an oral history of India’s famous Gabba win in 2021.

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So. Much. News.

The PCB get a CT compromise, the WPL auction surprises, the stories from the SMAT final, & so much more from the busiest weekend of the year!

• The Telegraph’s Elizabeth Ammon reports on the deal the PCB has struck; India’s Champions Trophy matches will be played abroad, but Pakistan will get the rights to a future ICC Women’s tournament.

• ESPNcricinfo’s Ashish Pant on the highlights from the WPL auction, Indian Express’ Devendra Pandey on the surprise big money signing of the uncapped Simran Shaikh, the 16-year old G Kamalini gets picked, & Cricket.com’s Gaurav Nandan Tripathi evaluates the teams’ strategies.

• Mumbai beat Madhya Pradesh to win their second SMAT. Indian Express’ Venkata Krishna B on the rise of 21-year old Suryansh Shedge, Economic Times has a piece on the T20 renaissance of 36-year old Ajinkya Rahane, & Cricbuzz’s Gokul Gopal reports on how Bangalore embraced the occasion.

• New Zealand have a dominating 478-run lead over England in their third Test. Wisden’s Yas Rana analyses how the visitors were dismantled on day two.

• England Women lead South Africa by 378 runs after day one of their Test. ESPNcricinfo’s Firdose Moonda writes about Maia Bouchier’s perfect day on and off the pitch for England. Meanwhile, India Women beat West Indies by 49 runs in their first T20.

• The ECB’s Richard Gould is unapologetic about The Hundred’s new salary pay issues, while The Telegraph’s Sonia Twigg doesn’t understand why the better performing Women’s Hundred is being punished. Meanwhile, the ECB announced the Women’s team central contracts including one for 17-year old prodigy Mahika Gaur.

• After Shakib Al Hasan was suspended from English domestic cricket for his bowling action, the ICC has barred him from international play pending investigation.

The immigrant dream

Dipak Patel’s half century in cricket, how NZ packed Test stands, & the U19 PAK-W’s team.

• RNZ’s Bridget Tunnicliffe talks to former Kiwi Dipak Patel about fleeing Kenya in the 1960s, discrimination and 50 years in cricket.

• Cricbuzz’ Nathan Johns writes about how New Zealand have managed to pack stands for their Test series against England.

• Muhammad Saim Ali has an in-depth review of the Pakistan team that is participating in the U19 Women’s Asia Cup this week.

• New Indian Express’ Gomesh S writes about the Australian connection fuelling Italy’s cricket dreams.

• Sydney Morning Herald’s Nick Wright looks at the potential stars playing in this year’s Big Bash League.

Can you have too many cooks?

The best captains Text XI.

• Good Areas’ Jarrod Kimber, Behram Qazi & Estelle Vasudevan debate the best captains that could fit together in an all-time Test XI.

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