Cummins is the fifth-fastest to 300 Test wickets in terms of balls bowled, reaching the milestone in 13,725 balls

Shubh Agarwal12-Jun-20251:53

‘Once the ball gets older, Cummins puts his hand up’

Pat Cummins has reached the milestone of 300 Test wickets, claiming his 14th five-wicket haul during the World Test Championship final against South Africa at Lord’s. Picking five of the six South African wickets to fall on day two, Cummins finished with figures of 6 for 28 in 18.1 overs.Six wickets short at the start of the Test, he has now become the 40th bowler to reach the landmark and the eighth for Australia. Among pacers, he is the 30th to enter this club and the sixth for Australia.Cummins is the fifth-fastest to reach there in terms of balls bowled, completing 300 wickets in 13,725 balls, beating Malcolm Marshall by three deliveries. His bowling strike rate of 45.75 is the best for an Australian seamer.He also levelled with Imran Khan to become the joint-tenth-fastest to complete 300 wickets, reaching there in 68 Test matches.Cummins has picked up 136 wickets as the captain of his side. Among pace-bowling captains, only Imran has picked up more wickets (187). Among Australian captains, only Richie Benaud is ahead by a slender margin of two wickets. Overall, only ten bowlers have picked up over 100 Test wickets while being the captain of their side.Cummins has been among Australia’s greatest match-winners with the ball in this format. Overall, 184 of his Test wickets before this WTC final came in wins. The likes of Jason Gillespie, Mitchell Johnson, Dennis Lillee, Brett Lee, Mitchell Starc and Glenn McGrath are ahead but no one has a better average than Cummins’ 18.09, which is bound to improve further if Australia win the WTC final to claim their second successive title.Also, he is only the second Australian to claim over 200 wickets in the WTC, and the only quick bowler in the list with 206 wickets at 22.11 runs apiece.Cummins has mostly been a first-change bowler for Australia, coming in after the new ball bowlers in 48 of the 126 innings in which he has bowled in Test cricket. He is the only Australia quick with more than 100 wickets as a first-change bowler, with Peter Siddle behind him with 87 wickets on this metric. Among those who have over 50 wickets as the first-change bowler, only Scott Boland (52 wickets) has a better average than that of Cummins (Boland 15.75, Cummins 24.50).Overall, only four quick bowler have more than 100 Test wickets as first-change bowler – Courtney Walsh (106), Cummins (107), Morne Morkel (129) and Ian Botham (129).Cummins made his Test debut in 2011. However, after one Test – where he was the Player of the Match against South Africa – he was sidelined for six years owing to recurring injuries, and made a return in 2017 when he played his second Test. England’s Joe Root has been the highest run-scorer during Cummins’ career since November 2011, scoring 13,006 runs in this period.Cummins has dismissed Root 11 times, the most time he has dismissed a single batter in Test cricket, followed by Cheteshwar Pujara and Rohit Sharma (eight times each).He also holds the record for the best bowling average for an Australia fast bowler in a calendar year with more than 50 wickets. He averaged 20.13 for his 59 wickets in 2019, bettering Lillee’s feat in 1981 – 85 wickets at 20.95.

In a year unlike any other for RCB, Jitesh has now played perhaps their most sparkling innings of the year, smashing an unbeaten 85 off just 33 balls

Sidharth Monga28-May-20252:04

Moody: Jitesh’s 85* the innings of this season

Once the euphoria settles, Jitesh Sharma will perhaps tell himself good things happen if you keep putting in the good work. Something he might have doubted before this game.Jitesh is not your typical Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) player. He is not a superstar, he doesn’t speak English, he didn’t even have a single IPL fifty when brought to RCB. Then again, this is not your typical RCB season. They named a non-superstar captain, Rajat Patidar, and threw their weight behind him. At the auction, they took Jitesh’s price to INR 11 crore from the base price of just a crore. Then they made Jitesh the vice-captain.After the break in the IPL, it has been a bit of a dogfight. Teams have scrambled for player availability, and RCB have had the added headache of injuries to their available players, including Tim David, upon resumption. In a way, the break only helped RCB, letting Patidar heal enough to play even if as just a batter. Josh Hazlewood could be available again. Only because we are still playing the IPL.Related

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Still it just seemed things were happening too quickly. Against Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH), RCB had a chance to seal a top-two spot. Their chase got off to a great start, but Patidar and Jitesh were part of a demoralising collapse.Then Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) handed them a lifeline by beating Gujarat Titans (GT). Another shot at the top two. Then came another big chase. Another excellent start. Another collapse. Here we go again. Jitesh in the spotlight again. Headlines about “top-heavy RCB” getting ready again.In the last match, Jitesh was involved in the run-out of Patidar that started their collapse of 7 for 16. Jitesh himself mis-hit a slot ball from Jaydev Unadkat. In Lucknow on Tuesday, though, luck turned for Jitesh. He hit the ball sweetly, but when he was about to be run-out because he was ball-watching and not looking at the non-striker, Will O’Rourke fumbled the take.Mayank Agarwal (R) congratulates Jitesh Sharma•BCCIThat was the one moment when he forgot his own survival kit. “I was only trying to stay in the moment, keep breathing and focusing on the ball,” Jitesh said later. Or perhaps he was focusing too hard. Looking too intently at the ball.The hitting was clean. In no time, he was on 49, and the two-run-a-ball chase had turned into 39 off 24. Had he got out there, RCB would likely have still won with two recognised batters still to follow, but Jitesh wouldn’t have got rid of this enormous weight on his shoulders. This night, though, was meant to be. Caught on 49, he was reprieved by the no-ball. Distraught one moment, he was swinging himself off his feet to slog the free hit into the stands and bring up his maiden IPL fifty. You could almost see the weight being lifted.”I was getting cramps because the whole load was on me because this is such a big franchise,” Jitesh said. “But I am enjoying the pressure. I have Virat [Kohli] with me, Krunal [Pandya] with me, Bhuvi [Bhuvneshwar Kumar] with me. When I look at them, I feel pressure. And also excitement that I am playing with these people. Then I enjoy that pressure.”2:31

An 18-year wait to end this season?

In a year unlike any other for RCB, Jitesh has now played perhaps their most sparkling innings of the year. This is sweet payoff for putting their faith in unheralded but promising players. And backing them knowing they haven’t necessarily got time in the middle because their top order has been scoring a majority of the runs.Jitesh himself now sits with elite lower-middle order players. His 85 not out off just 33 balls is the third-highest IPL score from No. 6 or lower. Above him are Hardik Pandya and Andre Russell. Below him are MS Dhoni and his “guru, mentor, Dinesh Karthik “. This is the highest score from No. 6 or below in a successful chase. That’s T20. You do all the range hitting, all the fitness work, get limited chances to bat, and then one day, in 33 balls, you are among the legends of the game.”I won’t be able to express my thoughts,” Jitesh said. “Really, I can’t believe such an innings has come.”The choice of words there is instructive. He didn’t say he couldn’t believe he had played such an innings. He said he couldn’t believe such an innings “has come”. That you always keep trying, but it “comes” only rarely. Especially if you bat where Jitesh does. Then again they do come if you keep putting in the work.

Now a senior voice in a new dressing room, de Kock comes into the Proteas set-up with fresh perspectives

Firdose Moonda30-Oct-2025Quinton de Kock had to walk away from his childhood dream of becoming an international cricketer to realise he hadn’t quite fulfilled as much of it as he wanted. And he did it quietly.After South Africa lost last year’s T20 World Cup final in heart-wrenching fashion by seven runs to India, de Kock, in his words, “disappeared”.He hadn’t retired from T20Is, hadn’t said any goodbyes, and simply wasn’t named in any of South Africa’s squads. Rob Walter, now the former white-ball coach, spent press conference after press conference saying he hadn’t spoken to de Kock and had no idea of his future plans until, eventually we stopped asking.Everyone – with good reason – assumed, de Kock was done. He popped up in T20 leagues as one spring came and went, but by the time another arrived, de Kock had spent enough time in the cold.Related

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“I missed the camaraderie and the whole thing of representing the Proteas,” de Kock said in his first media interaction post-comeback. “I’d played so much for the Proteas over the years that I kind of forgot about that feeling, as a kid that’s grown up to be a Proteas cricketer.”After having a bit of a break from the team, that childhood dream came back.”Many players say this kind of thing when they walk away: the achievements will blur into the background and it’s the friendships they’ll miss. Some keep them going at league level, and de Kock has, but not many return to make new connections. De Kock has decided that’s what he wants.”What I’ve really enjoyed is all the new faces,” he said. “There’s only a handful of the guys who are still here from when I left. Now I’m playing with a whole bunch of youngsters, new guys, new coaching staff, so it’s quite refreshing. I’m making some new friends now and there’s a new style within the team.”

“I’ve always been used to being one of the young guys in the team. So it’s a bit of a shell shock”Quinton de Kock

Those words may sound strange to those, like many of us, for whom de Kock is still the uber-talented 20-year-old who burst into South Africa’s squad in late 2012. But 13 years have passed, de Kock is 32 and is South Africa’s 10th most-capped international across all formats. Not much has changed about his public persona – he still “just doesn’t watch cricket,” – and didn’t say much about the women’s team making their first ODI World Cup final, but he’s no newbie. He is a senior and he intends to behave like one.De Kock’s second innings could see him play the 2026 T20 World Cup and the home ODI World Cup in 2027•Associated Press”Apart from trying to win games, I’m going to try to help youngsters grow in their careers. Obviously, I play a lot more international cricket than a couple of the guys on the team, so I’m just here to help them out where I can,” he said. “When I started, one of the big guys that I stuck close to, and is now one of my very good friends is Dale Steyn.”He taught me a couple of lessons along the way that really helped my career. A couple of the youngsters have been asking me questions and how to improve their game, so I’m happy to be here and help where I can, kind of like what Dale did for me. If I make an impact in their careers, it will be great. It’s very different, me coming back as one of the older guys. I’ve always been used to being one of the young guys in the team. So it’s a bit of a shell shock.”Equally, it will take some getting used to that de Kock, a former captain, is not guaranteed a place on reputation alone and he knows it. “I don’t think the door is completely open for me,” he said. “I still need to come here and score runs.”After only two matches, the comeback’s sample size is small but de Kock hasn’t had it all his way. He was out for 1 against Namibia earlier this month and made a good-looking 23 off 13 balls against Pakistan in the first T20I. Both times, he sliced the ball to fielders, which may indicate a little patience is required. De Kock’s time away, mostly spent as father to a young daughter, is likely to have taught him some. With the calendar head, he has more than enough matches to show it.De Kock has scored 24 runs in two T20I innings since his return•Getty ImagesSouth Africa play two more T20Is against Pakistan followed by three ODIs. Then, after two Tests in India (which won’t feature de Kock), they will play three ODIs and five T20Is in India in preparation for next year’s T20 World Cup. If de Kock is included in the India series, it would be a strong sign that he is being considered for the World Cup, but he isn’t thinking that way yet.South Africa are also co-hosts with Zimbabwe and Namibia for the 2027 ODI World Cup. Now that de Kock has reversed the ODI retirement he announced in 2023, he will also be eligible to play in that event.”When I spoke to Shukri [Conrad, head coach], I said I’d like to play for as long as I can, however long that’s going to be. Obviously, I’d like to play in a couple of World Cups in that timeline,” he said. “I said to him ‘Look, I’ve disappeared for a year or two but now I’m back to play for as long as I can. I’m still pretty fit. I feel fitter than ever at the moment. My body feels great, so I’m going to push it for as long as I can. I haven’t set a deadline or timeline.”

Australia have lost just a handful of matches since winning the 2022 title while Sri Lanka, Pakistan and New Zealand give chase

ESPNcricinfo staff26-Sep-2025AustraliaAustralia, the defending champions, start overwhelming favourites again having lost only a handful of matches since dominating the last World Cup in 2022.There has been a little bit of transition within the team over the four years since with the retirements of Meg Lanning and Rachael Haynes, while Jess Jonassen has lost her place as a first-choice member of the squad.Australia’s major issue at the 2025 World Cup, if there really is one, has been balancing the side with their abundance of talent. They have four allrounders in their top seven, who can all bat in the top five, and their six specialist bowlers have a legitimate claim to play every match. The fitness of Sophie Molineux is a watching brief but her return from injury creates a good headache, as adding a left-arm orthodox spinner into the attack looks more balanced than playing two legspinners – Georgia Wareham and Alana King.Meanwhile, back-up opener Georgia Voll already has an ODI century against India, while one of their most powerful middle-order players, Grace Harris, has been ruled out of the World Cup.Skipper Alyssa Healy again will be a key figure, as she was in 2022, but has a heavy workload coming off a stress fracture in her foot. Her injury in the 2024 T20 World Cup proved extremely costly when Australia suffered a rare semi-final defeat.Ellyse Perry and Phoebe Litchfield, just two of the many allrounders in the Australia side•Getty ImagesSquadAlyssa Healy (capt, wk), Darcie Brown, Ashleigh Gardner, Kim Garth, Heather Graham, Alana King, Phoebe Litchfield, Tahlia McGrath, Sophie Molineux, Beth Mooney, Ellyse Perry, Megan Schutt, Annabel Sutherland, Georgia Voll, Georgia WarehamKey playerIn a line-up of match-winners, Ashleigh Gardner looms as one of Australia’s most important figures. As the only offspinner in Australia’s spin quartet, she provides crucial balance to the attack and can play a holding or attacking role bowling both in and outside the powerplay. She has dismissed the world’s No. 1 ODI batter Smriti Mandhana five times in ODI cricket and will be a crucial match-up when the two teams meet in Visakhapatnam on October 12. Gardner also won Australia three ODIs with the bat last summer after the top-order stumbled, including smashing a maiden international century against England.Predicted finishChampions. For the eighth time. Unless something dramatic happens, either in the lead-up to the tournament or during it, it’s difficult to see Australia not winning the trophy. Sri LankaChamari Athapaththu holds the key for co-hosts Sri Lanka•SLCFor much of this decade, one of Sri Lanka’s major problems has been sustaining a healthy cricket schedule. Once again, in 2025, Sri Lanka Cricket has put only a bare-bones schedule in place for the top women’s team. Since the start of this year, they’ve had just eight ODIs on the books, with one of those games having been rained out. Their record even in those matches has not been especially heartening – Sri Lanka have lost five of the seven matches that yielded a result.Still, on familiar surfaces, Sri Lanka feel they have a fighting chance. More than that, they believe they have something to fight for. This will likely by Chamari Athapaththu’s last World Cup in ODIs – the format she has most excelled in. Inoka Ranaweera, the 39-year-old spin-bowling mainstay in the Sri Lanka attack for more than a decade, is also unlikely to play another World Cup in this format.There is a rebuild on the horizon, but before that, the team is desperate to send off this generation with a strong performance. With the likes of Harshitha Samarawickrama, Vishmi Gunaratne, and Kavisha Dilhari having developed significantly as batters over the past three years, there is more support for Athapaththu than she has had in the last two World Cups.SquadChamari Athapaththu (capt.), Hasini Perera, Vishmi Gunarathne, Harshitha Samarawickrama, Kaveesha Dilhari, Nilakshika Silva, Anushka Sanjeewani (wk), Imesha Dulani, Dewmi Vihanga, Piumi Wathsala, Inoka Ranaweera, Sugandika Dasanayaka, Udeshika Prabodani, Malki Madara, Achini KulasooriyaKey playerThere may be new stars forming in this XI, but as has been the case for much of the last decade, plenty will depend on how good a tournament Athapaththu has. Where it used to be the case that even her best innings were not enough to get Sri Lanka over the line, Athapaththu’s good performances have translated more consistently into wins, more recently. She is also coming off a decent run at the Caribbean Premier League.Predicted finishPakistanThis will be Fatima Sana’s first ODI World Cup as Pakistan captain•ICC/Getty ImagesPakistan have long struggled for consistency on the World Cup stage. In the last edition, their only win came against West Indies, a side that hasn’t qualified this time. Their performances in 2013 and 2017 were equally disappointing, finishing at the bottom of their group without a win in either tournament.In the 2022-25 Championship cycle, Pakistan managed only eight wins from 24 matches, ultimately needing to qualify through the home Qualifiers where they remained unbeaten. While their overall form has been patchy, there have been moments of promise – notably the near chase of 313 against South Africa a few weeks before the global event, where a late collapse overshadowed what could have been a record win in Lahore.This will be Fatima Sana’s first ODI World Cup as captain, having led the side at last year’s T20 event. Still only 23, Sana heads a side in transition – but with experience and emerging talent on her side. She, along with left-arm spinners Nashra Sandhu and Sadia Iqbal, will be key to Pakistan’s bowling attack.Batting responsibilities will revolve around in-form batter Sidra Amin, who has scored over 500 runs since the start of 2024. Muneeba Ali and Aliya Riaz are capable of providing key contributions, while Natalia Pervaiz’s maiden ODI fifty against South Africa was a refreshing middle-order boost.To challenge for a semi-final spot, Pakistan will need to turn isolated flashes into consistent, collective performances.SquadFatima Sana (capt), Muneeba Ali (vice-capt), Aliya Riaz, Diana Baig, Eyman Fatima, Nashra Sandhu, Natalia Pervaiz, Omaima Sohail, Rameen Shamim, Sadaf Shamas, Sadia Iqbal, Shawaal Zulfiqar, Sidra Amin, Sidra Nawaz (wk), Syeda Aroob ShahKey playerSidra Amin, a mainstay of Pakistan’s batting lineup for over a decade, brings experience and form into the World Cup. A technically sound, conventional right-handed batter, she was Pakistan’s highest run-scorer in the World Cup Qualifiers in Lahore and arrives at the tournament on the back of consecutive ODI centuries against South Africa. Since 2024, she has notched up two centuries and three half-centuries. Her ability to anchor innings and deliver under pressure will be central to Pakistan’s plans.Predicted finishBottom half of the table. New ZealandNew Zealand are eyeing the World Cup double•Associated PressNew Zealand will be eyeing the double, having won the T20 World Cup last year. Led by 36-year-old Sophie Devine, who will be retiring from ODIs after the World Cup, they have a mix of youth and experience. Aside from Devine, playing her fifth ODI World Cup, they have experience in Suzie Bates, Lea Tahuhu, Amelia Kerr and Maddy Green, while several others including Georgia Plimmer, Polly Inglis, Eden Carson and Izzy Gaze will be playing their first ODI World Cup.New Zealand will be coming into the tournament with no ODI action in the last six months, having last played against Sri Lanka at home in March. That’s also the only ODI series they’ve won since the start of 2024, having lost to England (both home and away), India and Australia. However, the other teams won’t take them lightly; they were on a 10-match losing streak heading into the T20 World Cup last year and went on to win the tournament.Winter camps in New Zealand aside, a few of their World Cup-bound players – Plimmer, Jess Kerr, Brooke Halliday and Flora Devonshire – were part of a two-week camp at the CSK academy in Chennai in August. Bates played 10 games in the ECB Women’s One-Day competition in the summer where she hit 163 for Durham against Somerset, while a few others, including Amelia Kerr, played in the Hundred through August.New Zealand will begin their campaign against defending champions Australia in Indore after warm-up games against South Africa and India. They lost two warm-ups against England in Abu Dhabi, where Green raised a century in one while Bates and Plimmer scored fifties in the other.SquadSophie Devine (capt), Suzie Bates, Eden Carson, Flora Devonshire, Izzy Gaze, Maddy Green, Brooke Halliday, Bree Illing, Polly Inglis, Bella James, Jess Kerr, Amelia Kerr, Rosemary Mair, Georgia Plimmer, Lea TahuhuKey playerNew Zealand’s highest run-scorer (1670) and wicket-taker (51) in ODIs in the last five years, legspinning allrounder Amelia Kerr is only 24, but has the experience of 77 ODIs, and will be playing her third 50-over World Cup. Since her first World Cup in 2017, where she finished as New Zealand’s joint-highest wicket-taker, Kerr has gone on to become one of the most important players in the team. Her all-round effort at the T20 World Cup final against South Africa, where she scored 43 runs and picked up 3 for 24, took New Zealand to their first T20 title, and she finished as Player of the Tournament. She is expected to play a key role with the bat at No. 3 as well as with the ball in the middle overs.Predicted finishSemi-finals.

South Africa wicketkeeper talks rehab, social media and why her team can go one better with a change of format at the World Cup

ESPNcricinfo staff24-Sep-2025South Africa wicketkeeper Sinalo Jafta talks to Firdose Moonda and Valkerie Baynes about rehab, social media and why the Proteas can go one better with a change of format at the 50-over Women’s World Cup after finishing as runners-up at the past two T20 tournaments.