Australia announced their T20I squad for their upcoming series against Scotland and England, with Perth Scorchers all-rounder Cooper Connolly earning his maiden T20I call-up. The post-David Warner era has begun for Australia, and a new opening pair will take the field for their white-ball series against Scotland and England. The Baggy Greens will play a three-match T20I series against Scotland in September. Australia will also play three T20Is and five ODIs against England later in the month.

The three T20Is against Scotland will be played on September 4, 6, and 7, and the England T20I series will begin on September 11.

In Warner’s place, Jake Fraser-McGurk has been included in the T20I squads for both series and in the ODI squad against England. Fraser-McGurk will look to establish himself as a long-term opening alternative for Australia.

Connolly has featured in 15 domestic T20s. He starred for Perth Scorchers in the Big Bash League 2022-23 final with his quick-fire 25* off 11 deliveries. In his Sheffield Shield debut, he scored 90 against Tasmania earlier this year.

Mitchell Marsh will lead the side in the absence of Pat Cummins, who has been rested. Cummins is currently involved in the ongoing Major League Cricket with the San Francisco Unicorns.

The experienced duo of Mitchell Starc and Glenn Maxwell will also miss the T20I series but will link up with the squad for the ODI series against England.

Matthew Short, who travelled with Australia’s T20 World Cup squad as a reserve player, will miss out on the T20I tour due to the birth of his first child.

“This tour gives us a great opportunity to bring in some new players in the absence of David Warner and Matthew Wade, as well as giving some senior players time to prepare for the home summer and a busy first half of next year. We are particularly pleased to offer Cooper his first opportunity in the T20 squad, having introduced the likes of Jake, Spencer, Xavier and Aaron in the past 12 months. They are exciting prospects to join the likes of Cameron Green, Nathan Ellis and Josh Inglis in the white-ball set-up,” national selector George Bailey said in a statement by Cricket Australia.

With the ICC Champions Trophy almost seven months away, Australia will try to find the right balance within the ODI team.

“With the Champions Trophy on our doorstep early next year, the white-ball series against Pakistan leading into the summer and a huge home Test series against India, there has been a lot of planning invested into these next six months. That has included gradual integration of new players into our white-ball squads who have earned international opportunities via excellent form in Big Bash or state cricket,” he added.

Australia T20I squad for Scotland and England: Mitchell Marsh (capt), Xavier Bartlett, Cooper Connolly, Tim David, Nathan Ellis, Jake Fraser-McGurk, Cameron Green, Aaron Hardie, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Josh Inglis (wk), Spencer Johnson, Marcus Stoinis, Adam Zampa

Australia ODI squad for England: Mitchell Marsh (capt), Sean Abbott, Alex Carey (wk), Cameron Green, Nathan Ellis, Jake Fraser-McGurk, Aaron Hardie, Josh Hazlewood, Josh Inglis (wk), Travis Head, Marnus Labuschagne, Glenn Maxwell, Matthew Short, Steven Smith, Mitchell Starc, Adam Zampa.

Legendary all-rounder Yuvraj Singh was at his fluent best as India Champions blew away Australia Champions in the semi-finals of the World Championship of Legends (WCL). Yuvraj hammered 59 runs off just 28 balls, smashing four 4s and five 6s, to help India post a mammoth 254/6 in Northampton. During his playing days, Yuvraj had developed a knack of performing in big games, especially against Australia. It was deja-vu all over again for Australia as Yuvraj came back to haunt them, with fans suggesting that the former India all-rounder still owns the Aussies.

Here’s how Internet reacted:

Yuvraj Singh is a Beast vs Australia

84 (80) vs AUS (CT 2000 SF)

70 (30) vs AUS (T20 WC 2007 SF)

57* (65) vs AUS (WC 2011 QF)

60 (43) vs AUS (T20 WC 2014)

59 (28) vs AUS (WCL 2024)

India Vs Australia WCL #YuvrajSingh #INDvsAUS pic.twitter.com/qsWVwnUh5M

— Richard Kettleborough (@RichKettle07) July 13, 2024

Yuvraj Singh turned back the clock in Semifinal vs Australia

My Childhood. My Present. pic.twitter.com/qR9j0zrqaR

— KKR (@KKRWeRule) July 12, 2024

Yuvraj Singh still owning Australia in knockout matches. pic.twitter.com/7wQUniDTUv

— Vipul Ghatol (@Vipul_Espeaks) July 12, 2024

Yuvraj Singh against Australia in a semi-final >>> pic.twitter.com/ZZOiavd5TN

— Rajasthan Royals (@rajasthanroyals) July 12, 2024

Yuvraj Singh and Australia in knock out games.

Made for Each Other.pic.twitter.com/F2r23AGIxq

— Cricketopia (@CricketopiaCom) July 13, 2024

Coming back to the match, Robin Uthappa (65), Yuvraj, Yusuf Pathan (51) and Irfan Pathan (50) all smashed quickfire half-centuries to steer India Champions to a big total of 254/6.

In reply, Australia were restricted to 168/7 as Dhawal Kulkarni and Pawan Negi took two wicket each. India will now take on Pakistan in final.

After losing to the Pakistani champions by 68 runs in the group stage, the Suresh Raina-led India Champions will have to get revenge over their arch-rivals in Saturday’s final.

Afridi affirmed that the players are determined to play in the final, and if they face their bitter rivals, India, in the final, it would provide great entertainment to the fans.

“All the teams’ players are determined to win the semi-final and make it to the final […] fans will get great entertainment if Pakistan vs India takes place,” Former Pakistan captain, Afridi said, as quoted from Geo News.

Pakistan Champions batters have displayed great intent throughout the tournament. Sharjeel Khan (209 runs) and Shoaib Malik (204 runs) are two of the top five scorers in the tournament. Sohaib Maqsood, with 182 runs, is another Pakistan batter to feature in the list of top-ten run-scorers.

Pakistan lost only a single game in the five matches during the group stage. They got the better of Australia, India, the West Indies, and England. South Africa was the only team to make Pakistan taste defeat in the group stage.

(With ANI Inputs)

After SRH paid Rs 20.5 crore for Pat Cummins, KKR splashed Rs 24.75 crore on Mitchell Starc.© BCCI

Rohit Sharma (left) and Mitchell Starc during India’s 2024 T20 World Cup game vs Australia.© AFP

The Indian cricket team scripted history by becoming the first T20I side to register 150 wins in the shortest format of the sport following the 23-run triumph over Zimbabwe on Wednesday. Skipper Shubman Gill slammed a brilliant half-century while Washington Sundar excelled with the ball as India beat Zimbabwe in the third T20I encounter to take a 2-1 lead in the five-match series. It was the 150th T20I win for India – the most by any team in the format. Pakistan are second in the list with 142 victories while New Zealand are third with 111 followed by Australia (105) and South Africa (104).

Meanwhile, India captain Shubman Gill hailed their “remarkable” team effort on a two-paced wicket as they defeated Zimbabwe by 23 runs in third T20I to take a 2-1 lead the five-match series.

The elegant Indian opener returned to form with a 49-ball 66 to power them to 182 for four before the bowlers restricted the hosts to 159 for six.

This was India’s second successive win as they bounced back from the first match reversal to snatch the lead. “It was a crucial match for us and the way we started with batting and bowling, it was remarkable,” Gill said during the post-match presentation.

India made a resounding comeback in the second T20I where they posted a mammoth 234 for 2.

Asked if he was a little disappointed that the team couldn’t reach 200 in the third T20, Gill said: “…the wicket was a bit double paced, the odd ball was gripping and it was not easy to hit the length ball.

“We just wanted to keep hitting the length with the ball as well. We know if there is something in the wicket, it will be there for the bowlers. Everyone has contributed, right from openers, to bowlers.” Washington Sundar, who was adjudged the Player of the Match, was happy with his execution of plan as he returned with a figures of three for 15 in four overs.

“Feels amazing, honestly. Every time I play for the country, it seems amazing. It was a better wicket. There was something more for the bowlers in the first two games.

“The way Zimbabwe batters played, did put pressure on us. They (Myers and Madande) did put a lot of pressure on us. We wanted to execute everything in our plans. We want to finish the series on Saturday.” Zimbabwe captain Sikandar Raza rued the fielding lapses.

“I think it’s the fielding again, we are proud of our fielding but the wheels came off today, we gave away 20 extra runs and we lost by 23 runs,” he said.

(With PTI inputs)

Sydney:

Cybersecurity firms backed by the Chinese authorities have been accused of stealing passwords and usernames from unnamed Australian networks in 2022, the Australian Cyber Security Centre (ACSC) reported on Tuesday.

The investigation against the CCP-backed hacker group titled APT40 involved Australian Cyber Security Centre, the United States Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), the United States National Security Agency (NSA), the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the United Kingdom National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC-UK), the Canadian Centre for Cyber Security (CCCS), the New Zealand National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC-NZ), the German Federal Intelligence Service (BND) and Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV), the Republic of Korea’s National Intelligence Service (NIIS) and NIS’ National Cyber Security Center, and Japan’s National Center of Incident Readiness and Strategy for Cybersecurity (NISC) and National Police Agency (NPA), calling them authoring agencies.

The ACSA claimed that APT40 had conducted several cyber security operations for the PRC Ministry of State Security (MSS).

ACSA also claimed that “The activity and techniques overlap with the groups tracked as Advanced Persistent Threat (APT) 40” quoting the inputs from leading cyber security agencies from the US, Britain, Canada, New Zealand, Japan, South Korea and Germany.

According to the Activity summary section of the report by ACSA APT40 has repeatedly targeted Australian networks as well as government and private sector networks in the region, and the threat they pose to our networks is ongoing.

The tradecraft described in this advisory is regularly observed against Australian networks. Additionally, APT40 possesses the capability to rapidly transform and adapt exploit proof-of-concept(s) (POCs) of new vulnerabilities and immediately utilise them against target networks possessing the infrastructure of the associated vulnerability.

APT40 regularly conducts reconnaissance against networks of interest, including networks in the authoring agencies’ countries, looking for opportunities to compromise its targets.
The same report also claimed that the Hacker group also prefers to exploit vulnerable, public-facing infrastructure, using techniques that require user interaction, it puts high priority on obtaining valid credentials to enable a range of follow-on activities using web shells.

The investigative report of the ACSC claimed that in August 2022, a confirmed malicious IP address believed to be connected with the cyber group had interacted with the organisation’s computer networks between at least July and August. The compromised device probably belonged to a small business or home user.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

David Warner has declared his international career a “closed chapter” but at the same time, the Australian batting great won’t mind padding up in the Champions Trophy next year should he be selected, something that has been described as an “emergency option” by his ODI captain Pat Cummins. Warner retired from ODIs after Australia’s World Cup-winning run in November last year, while his last Test was against Pakistan in January. His final T20I came against India on June 24 at the shortest format’s recently-concluded global showpiece .

“Chapter closed!! It’s been an unbelievable experience to play at the highest level for such a long period. Australia was my team. The majority of my career was at the international level. It’s been an honour to be able to do this. 100 games in all formats is my highlight,” Warner wrote in an Instagram post on Monday.

“I will continue to play franchise cricket for a while, and I am also open to playing for Australia in the Champions trophy if selected,” he added.

This is not the first time that Warner has shown interest in playing the 50-over tournament. Even while announcing his ODI and Test retirement in January, he had said he’d be open to playing the Champions Trophy, which is set to return after an eight-year hiatus in Pakistan next year.

Back in January when Pat Cummins was asked about Warner’s return for the Champions Trophy, Cummins had said “I think it’s probably time to give some others a crack [in ODIs], but knowing that he’s going to still be playing cricket.” “So it might be more of a kind of break glass in an emergency option. But, you know, David is going to be scoring runs somewhere in the world. So you never quite know that this is (the end).” Reflecting on his illustrious career, Warner, who retired as Australia’s highest scorer and seventh-most prolific batter in the world in T20 format with 3,277 runs from 110 matches at an average of 33.43 and strike rate of 142.47, thanked his family, fans and teammates.

“For all the cricket fans out there, I truly hope I have entertained you and changed cricket, especially tests, in a way where we scored a bit faster than others. We cannot do what we love without the fans, so thanks.

“I want to say thanks to everyone out there who has made this possible. My wife and my girls, who sacrificed so much, thank you for all your support. No person will ever know what we’ve been through.

From 112 Tests, he has scored 8,786 runs at an average of 44.59 with 26 hundreds and 37 fifties between 2011 and 2024.

He also scored 6,932 runs from 161 ODI matches at an average of 45.30 with the help of 22 centuries and 33 half centuries.

“To the players and staff, thanks for putting up with me. No more what’s app junk, your ears are now going to be free of my voice. This team has had unbelievable success the Last few years and long may this continue. Pat Cummins, Andrew old Mac and staff have got this,” he added. 

Suryakumar Yadav in action for India against South Africa in T20 World Cup 2024 final© AFP

England Test captain Ben Stokes made a sensational declaration that his side “will live forever in the memory of people who were lucky enough to witness us play cricket”. Stokes made the claim during a post-match dressing room speech, which was shown by the ECB during a documentary about the 2023 Ashes series. The all-rounder’s remarks came after the 4th Test in last year’s was washed out due to rain in Manchester. The washout allowed Australia to retain the Ashes ‘Urn’, leaving the England players devastated.

After losing the first two Tests, England managed to make a comeback in the Ashes 2023, which ended 2-2. However, Australia were able to retain the Ashes despite that result.

“Everything we’ve done up until now isn’t going to stop because we haven’t managed to win the urn back. The reward for our work isn’t what we get but what we become. And what we have managed to do is we’ve managed to become a sports team that will live forever in the memory of people who were lucky enough to witness us play cricket. I know it’s going to be a bit flat, I know it’s going to hurt that we go into the next game (at The Oval) not being able to get the urn back. But what we have done is something a lot bigger than any Ashes trophy could ever signify for this team – be the team that everybody will always remember,” Stokes had said after the fourth Test was washed out, as shown by the ECB in the documentary titled ‘The Ashes 2023 | Our Take’.

Reacting to Stokes’ remarks, Fox Sports Australia shared the exact quotes to take a jibe at him, saying: “right, yeah, sure”.

However, Stokes was quick to retort as he claimed that his only intention was to motivate his teammates, and hinted that Australians are obsessed with England.

“Said this to the team who had watched it rain for 2 days when we had our foot on your throats, just tried to cheer up the disappointment tbh,but anyways rent free and all that,” Stokes responded on the post.

Said this to the team who had watched it rain for 2 days when we had our foot on your throats, just tried to cheer up the disappointment tbh,but anyways rent free and all that https://t.co/ULRZ4WITOq

— Ben Stokes (@benstokes38) July 3, 2024

For the record, England have not won an Ashes series since 2015, while there last Ashes Test win on Australian soil came back in 2009.

Legendary Australian spinner Nathan Lyon said that it is surprising that England pace veteran James Anderson is retiring from the game, calling him the “best ever” fast bowler to have played the sport. Ahead of his final international match on July 10 against West Indies, England and Lancashire pacer James Anderson sent out warning signs as he was at his lethal best taking a seven-wicket-haul against Nottinghamshire on Tuesday, forcing a follow on.

Speaking on the Lancashire Cricket Website after Anderson’s spell, Lyon said, “He (Anderson) showed his class. No disrespect to the other bowlers in this game but you can see the class of Jimmy and the extra zip he gets off the wicket. I have said this before, I am very much surprised that England have tapped him on the shoulder. He is class, he is world-class. He’s probably the best to ever play the game as a fast bowler and his skillset, especially in England, is remarkable.”

He also said that during the game, it was weird to encourage Anderson, his arch-rival in international cricket during the County Championship as a teammate.

“I have obviously seen it on the other side. We had a little moment when we said it feels a bit sick for me to say “Come on Jimmy” and him saying “nice Garry”. That was a bit different but it is the beauty of county cricket I guess and it is pretty special to play with arguably the greatest bowler to ever play the game,” he said.

During the County Championship Division One game, Nottinghamshire was aiming to overcome a massive 353 scored by Lancashire in the first innings thanks to a fine knock of 187 by skipper Keaton Jennings in 259 balls, with 27 fours and four sixes.

But Anderson ran riot through the Nottinghamshire batting line-up, dismissing six of the team’s top seven batters for single-digit scores, sinking them to 40/6. Ben Slater did score a fighting 64 in 126 balls, with nine fours, but a showcase of pure class and authority by the 41-year-old legend bundled out Nottinghamshire for just 126 runs in 44.4 overs, giving Lancashire a 227-run lead.

Anderson ended with figures of 7/35 in 16 overs, with three of them maiden. His economy rate was 2.18.

In their second innings at the day three end, Nottinghamshire was 84/2, with Will Young and Joe Clarke (11* each) unbeaten. They trailed by 143 runs.

Notably, this was Anderson’s first first-class game since the fifth Test against India in the subcontinent conditions in March this year.

In 187 Tests, Anderson has taken 700 wickets at an average of 26.52, with the best bowling figures of 7/42. He is the third-most successful Test bowler of all time and statistically, longevity-wise, the best fast bowler to have played the sport. He has also taken 269 wickets in 194 ODIs for England and 18 wickets in 19 T20Is.

England men’s managing director, Rob Key, confirmed that the ageless pacer James Anderson will continue to be a part of their set-up by taking up the mentor’s role following his retirement from international cricket.

After his announcement, all eyes are on The Lord’s Test, which will be played on July 10. It will mark the one final time that he would don the Test colours and appear on the field.

But Key confirmed that it won’t be the last that fans would see of Anderson as he will stay with the squad for the rest of the summer as a mentor.

“Jimmy will continue in our set-up, and he will help as a bit more of a mentor. We’re trying to set up an elite coach development programme, which Jimmy wants to do, but we will have a look at the end of the summer,” Key said, as quoted from ESPNcricinfo.

“It might be something that he does not enjoy, or it might be something that he absolutely loves. But he has got so much to offer English cricket, so we do not want to see that go. But it is going to be quite an occasion with him bowing out at Lord’s,” he added.

The seasoned pacer has dominated red-ball cricket with his mastery in swing as well as reverse swing. He made his debut in the Test format against Zimbabwe at The Lord’s, and he will bid farewell to fans as a player at the same venue.