England batter Jacob Bethell declared that playing in the Indian Premier League, as part of the Royal Challengers Bengaluru setup, has helped him upgrade his all-format batting.

The 22-year-old has played just six matches in his ongoing two-year stint with the 2025 champion and has found a place in the playing eleven this time only due to the injury suffered by compatriot Phil Salt.

Former England captain Alastair Cook had remarked in April that Bethell was better off playing County cricket for Warwickshire rather than warming the benches in the IPL. Kevin Pietersen, who played five seasons in India’s premier T20 tournament, dismissed the claim, adding that rubbing shoulders with the best players would be beneficial to Bethell.

“Everyone thinks differently, but from a personal point of view, I think I’ve made the right decision. This is the marquee tournament of the year, with pretty much all of the best cricketers in the world playing in it,” Bethell told reporters ahead of the IPL 2026 clash against the Mumbai Indians here.

“I definitely don’t think it’s going to hurt my career or stop me from getting better. I think it’s going to do the opposite. Everyone is allowed to think what they want, but at the end of the day, I’m pretty happy with where I am,” he added.

MI batter Sherfane Rutherford stressed the importance of assessing conditions early at the venue, which is hosting an IPL game for the first time since 2016.

“We [the IPL] haven’t played a game here in 10 years. It will be important for batters to see what will be the best area and try to pick it up early. We need to give ourselves the best chance to see what the wicket is doing. We can always make up at the end,” the West Indian middle-order batter said.

Twenty-four days after launching its Men’s T20 World Cup title defence with a scratchy win over the United States, Suryakumar Yadav’s men returned to the Wankhede Stadium on Tuesday night — this time with a semifinal against England looming large.

As the Indian squad went through its fielding drills under lights, the curators quietly covered the 22-yard strip that will dictate fortunes on Thursday. Two days out, the surface wore a greener look than is customary at the Wankhede — even by First-Class standards, let alone a T20 International.

With temperatures climbing steadily over the past fortnight, the decision to retain a healthy grass cover was understandable, a protective measure to prevent the pitch from drying out and breaking up. The pertinent question now is how much of that grass will be shaved off before match time.

Interestingly, while head coach Gautam Gambhir took a close look at the strip before it was covered, none of the Indian players ambled across to inspect it. Perhaps they are content to wait until match day, drawing cues from the two fixtures already played on this surface earlier in the tournament.

The red-soiled surface slated for Thursday’s semifinal was used for England’s clash against West Indies on February 11 and the Italy-Nepal game the following day. On both occasions, it offered assistance to spinners, particularly as the games progressed. Yet, much has changed since then — not least the weather and the stakes.

India’s preference for truer, flatter decks has been indulged through the Super Eights. Whether that pattern continues at the semifinal stage remains to be seen. For now, beneath the covers and the coastal humidity, the Wankhede strip holds its secrets close — waiting to reveal them on the biggest night of India’s campaign.

Sri Lanka named a 17-member squad led by Charith Asalanka on Wednesday (January 21, 2026) for a three-match ODI tournament against England, the first home series in just over seven years.

The opening game will be on Thursday (January 22) with the second on Saturday (January 24).

The final is on Tuesday (January 27), with all three to be played at the Premadasa International Stadium in Colombo.

England’s last ODI tour of Sri Lanka was in 2018 when they won the series 3-1.

Sri Lanka squad: Charith Asalanka (capt), Pathum Nissanka, Kamil Mishara, Kusal Mendis, Sadeera Samarawickrama, Pavan Rathnayake, Dhananjaya de Silva, Janith Liyanage, Kamindu Mendis, Dunith Wellalage, Wanindu Hasaranga, Jeffrey Vandersay, Maheesh Theekshana, Milan Rathnayake, Asitha Fernando, Pramod Madushan and Eshan Malinga.

How many agencies does it take to destroy Test cricket? If the current Ashes series is indication, it would involve the local administrators, the International Cricket Council, and the players themselves. Not since the 19th century have two Tests in a series ended within two days. The track for the first Test in Perth was adjudged “very good” by the ICC while Melbourne’s was declared “unsatisfactory.”

Home wins have, in the points system of the World Test Championship — points as a percentage of the total available — become so important that wickets are prepared unabashedly for home bowlers. Still, Australia took a 3-0 lead within 11 days without their best attack of Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood, Mitchell Starc and Nathan Lyon all playing together.

England won in Melbourne, but something important was missed. The wicket improved as the match progressed; however, neither team had the batters with the defence to take the match into the fourth or fifth day. The exception, England’s Joe Root, slightly off balance followed the ball and edged in the first innings, while in the second the DRS left it to the ‘umpire’s call’ for leg before.

That England made the highest total of the match to win suggested it wasn’t the 10mm grass on the wicket that was solely responsible for the result. Melbourne had more grass on it for the 2021-22 Ashes Test (11mm), as well as the New Zealand Test of 2019-20 (12mm). Those matches took three and four days respectively.

The 90,000-plus fans in the stadium seemed less inclined to blame the pitch, cheering wildly when opener Ben Duckett played forward defence in the midst of a sword-fight of an innings as England approached a win. At least some of them might have craved a defensive shot with the same keenness with which others screamed for a six.

Not an easy task

The pitch could not have been easy; but Test cricket was never meant to be easy. It is a test as much of technique and temperament as of spirit and the passion to stick it out. In a sense, the batters were playing for Test cricket itself besides their respective teams. Two-day Tests are nearly as ridiculous as two-Test series, although teams often prefer the latter thanks to the points system.

Flaws in the WTC system — and the Ashes has highlighted them — have been pointed out before. ‘Context’, that magic word, cannot be the excuse for teams not playing every other or indeed the same number of matches. Two fundamental changes suggest themselves.

One, split the 12 Test-playing teams into two divisions with the odd-ranked teams in one and the even-ranked in the other. This will eliminate the need for promotions and demotions or one strong group carrying the weak group. The god of telecasts will be propitiated too. If the two-Test series goes, it might be worth considering a three-year cycle rather than the current two.

Compromises with franchise cricket will have to be made. Recently South Africa’s Tabraiz Shamsi took his cricket board to court for denying a No Objection Certificate to play a T20 league abroad. He won the case, to give other boards something to think about.

The CEO of Cricket Australia who was suggesting recently that only Australia, India and England should play Test cricket is now talking about balancing “commercial imperatives and performance” after the Melbourne Test. Losing ten million dollars over a two-day Test can do that to an administrator.

More pertinently, Aussie great Greg Chappell wrote in ESPNcricinfo, “Two Tests failed to reach day three not due to superior skill but a glaring absence of desire. Batters slashed wildly, abandoning technique for bravado, as if playing their ‘natural game’ excused capitulation. They let down predecessors who bled for this rivalry; they shortchanged fans who braved the holiday heat; they betrayed their own generation by forsaking cricket’s core tenets – playing each ball on merit, scrapping for every run, enduring bruises for the greater good. I cannot believe any player left the field thinking they had given their all over those paltry sessions.”

In a match where the highest score was 46, nearly every dismissal diminished the game. Send not to know for whom the bell tolls. It tolls for Test cricket.

Coach Brendon McCullum urged England fans to “keep the faith” and said there would be no change in approach after their humiliating capitulation in the first Ashes Test in Perth.

England suffered an eight-wicket defeat inside two days after their cavalier attacking game, dubbed “Bazball” after the coach’s nickname, backfired.

Batting collapses coupled with Travis Head’s sensational 69-ball century condemned England to yet another defeat in Australia.

It left the visitors facing an uphill task to regain the Ashes with four Tests still to go, the second a day-night match in Brisbane on December 4.

England were savaged back home following the defeat on Saturday (November 22, 2025).

“Keep the faith,” the New Zealander McCullum said, asked by reporters what his message would be to England fans.

“Sometimes we get beaten and it looks pretty ugly, but there are times when having that type of mentality allows us to still believe in our abilities when we step out to play.

“There are times we don’t get it right, but we have to believe in what we believe in because it gives us the best chance.

“Just because we are one down in the series doesn’t change what we believe in.

“We have to stay calm, stay together, and plot our way back into this series, as we have done before.”

Since last claiming an Ashes series in Australia 15 years ago, England have now lost 14 Tests, drawn two and won none in Australia.

They had a perfect opportunity in Perth to snap the dire streak and earn a psychological advantage heading into the pink-ball encounter in Brisbane.

But after reaching 160-5 the tourists lost five wickets for 12 runs to be bowled out for 172 on day one before regaining the advantage after dismissing Australia for 132.

They were on track for a big lead after reaching 65-1 in their second innings, but again threw away five wickets in quick succession to leave Australia chasing 205, which they achieved with ease.

Only Australia has won more women’s cricket World Cups than England. In 2017, England had emerged as the champion, at home. In the last World Cup, it had contested the final (no prize for guessing against whom).

Also Read | Women’s World Cup: No Handshake Policy for Women in Blue

Yet, the Englishwomen aren’t the second favourite to win this World Cup. The Indians are.

While India has been making steady progress, England has had a largely forgettable year so far, including a whitewash in Australia. But, if the warm-up matches are anything to go by, England is in form, having won all four of them, against Australia, India and New Zealand.

This England side contains some of the game’s biggest names and is coached by one of the most respected coaches around: Charlotte Edwards had guided Mumbai Indians to the title in two out of the three editions of the WPL.

She will be keen to ensure England opens its campaign on the right note against South Africa at the Barsapara Cricket Stadium on Friday. She must be hoping the likes of Nat Sciver-Brunt, the captain who scored 120 before retiring out against India in the warm-up match at Bengaluru, Heather Knight, Tammy Beaumont, Emma Lamb, Sophie Ecclestone and Lauren Bell find their touch from the earliest of days.

Edwards could lean on her experience in India as a player and MI coach. So could some of the English players who have taken part in the WPL.

South Africa’s two main players have also had the WPL experience. Skipper Laura Wolvaardt – whose cover drives should be one of the highlights of this World Cup – and all-rounder Marizanne Kapp are two stalwarts the Proteas could be banking on. There is more experience in the form of Tazmin Brits, Sune Luus, Chloe Tryon and Ayabonga Khaka.

And remember, South Africa was in the semifinals of the last two ODI and the T20I World Cups.

The teams:

England: Nat Sciver-Brunt (Capt.), Em Arlott, Tammy Beaumont, Lauren Bell, Alice Capsey, Charlie Dean, Sophia Dunkley, Sophie Ecclestone, Lauren Filer, Sarah Glenn, Amy Jones, Heather Knight, Emma Lamb, Linsey Smith and Danni Wyatt-Hodge.

South Africa: Laura Wolvaardt (Capt.), Ayabonga Khaka, Chloe Tryon, Nadine de Klerk, Marizanne Kapp, Tazmin Brits, Sinalo Jafta, Nonkululeko Mlaba, Annerie Dercksen, Anneke Bosch, Masabata Klaas, Sune Luus, Karabo Meso, Tumi Sekhukhune and Nondumiso Shangase.