News Virat Kohli, meanwhile, moves up one spot to fourth on the batting charts, while Matt Henry enters the top three on the bowling list Azmatullah Omarzai had a stellar Champions Trophy campaign • AFP/Getty Images Azmatullah Omarzai has dethroned fellow Aghhanistan team-mate Mohammad Nabi to be ranked the top allrounder in ODIs following a stellar Champions Trophy 2025 campaign. While Afghanistan could not make it to the semi-final of the tournament, Omarzai had an excellent time of it. He picked up seven wickets in three games, which included a match-winning 5 for 58 against England. He also scored 126 runs at an average of 42.00 and a strike rate of 104.13, often shepherding the Afghanistan lower-middle order through tricky times. Omarzai rose two spots on the rankings charts and is now
Tag Archives: ODI
Mar
Virat Kohli was grit personified in the India vs Australia Champions Trophy semi-final in Dubai on Tuesday. With India chasing 265 on a tricky wicket, Virat Kohli curbed his attacking instinct as he scored 84 off 98 balls. HIs innings included only five fours and no sixes. Virat Kohli’s strike-rate of 85.71 may not tell […]
Mar
Big picture: Australia have denied India before “[T]here’s nothing more satisfying than hearing a big crowd go silent.” Pat Cummins won’t be in Dubai on Tuesday, but the words he spoke on November 18, 2023, will be. The players may not themselves be thinking about them, but viewers around the world quite likely will – if not about the words themselves, certainly about the broader theme they represent. Since winning their quarter-final game at the 2011 World Cup, India have met Australia four times in ICC ODI tournaments, winning twice and losing twice. The two wins came in round-robin matches at the 2019 and 2023 World Cups, and the defeats in the 2015 semi-finals and the 2023 final. Many months have passed since November 19, 2023, and Tuesday’s Champions Trophy
Feb
(45.2/50 ov, T:243) 243/5 New Zealand won by 5 wickets (with 28 balls remaining) Player Of The Series 219 runs • 1 wkt Report O’Rourke took four wickets, while Santner and Bracewell got two each, just days before teams meet in Champions Trophy opener Daryl Mitchell continued his fine form against Pakistan • AFP/Getty Images New Zealand 243 for 5 (Mitchell 57, Latham 56, Naseem 2-43) beat Pakistan 242 (Rizwan 46, Agha 45, O’Rourke 4-43, Santner 2-20) by five wickets Despite injuries to Lockie Ferguson, Ben Sears, Matt Henry and Rachin Ravindra, New Zealand clinched the tri-series title in Karachi and sounded out a warning to the hosts, five days before they meet again in the Champions Trophy opener at the same venue. In the absence of the senior quicks, Will O’Rourke
Feb
Player Of The Match 169 (163) Report Ireland went toe-to-toe for most of the chase but lost the last four wickets in their last ten deliveries Brian Bennett’s 169 took Zimbabwe to 299 • Zimbabwe Cricket Zimbabwe 299 for 5 (Bennett 169, Ervine 66, Adair 2-55) beat Ireland 250 (Campher 44, Muzarabani 4-51, Ngarava 3-56) by 49 runs Brian Bennett delivered a Valentine Day’s gift to all the cricket lovers at Harare Sports Club with a sublime 169 to set up Zimbabwe’s 49-run win in the first ODI against Ireland on Friday. Promoted to opener for the first time in ODI cricket, Bennett struck 56.52% of Zimbabwe’s total to give Ireland a target of 300 to chase. Along the way, he also became the fourth-youngest to score 150-plus in a men’s ODI
Proteas opening batter Matthew Breetzke rattled up a record century before Kane Williamson and Devon Conway counterpunched with a remarkable partnership to lead New Zealand to an impressive six-wicket victory in a Tri-Nations fixture at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore on Monday. Former Grey High schoolboy star Breetzke broke a 47-year-old international record when he made the highest score on a one-day international debut with 150. Breetzke, 26, struck 11 fours and five sixes in his 148-ball innings as South Africa, batting first, amassed 304 for six in their 50 overs. But his heroics were not enough as Williamson and Conway, who were both in action in the recently completed SA20, combined for a stunning second-wicket partnership of 187 off 155 balls to help the Black Caps reach their target