Welcome to Wednesday’s live cricket blog!
The Sport360 team is in place bringing you the latest news from around the world as we build up to some big matches.
We will be keeping track of the second Test between Sri Lanka and England, as well as looking ahead to the forthcoming Pakistan v New Zealand five-dayers.
23:00 – Chennai Super Kings release England pacer Mark Wood
Defending Indian Premier League (IPL) champions Chennai Super Kings (CSK) have retained as many as 22 players for the 2019 edition, with three players released.
England pacer Mark Wood was among the three players who were not retained by the franchise ahead of Thursday’s deadline for submitting the list of retained players.
Read more on this breaking story here.
22:00 – Glenn Maxwell frustrated with ‘broken start’ to season
Australia batsman Glenn Maxwell has spoken of his frustrations over what he put down as a ‘broken start’ to his home season.
The maverick batsman has been named in Australia’s squad for the upcoming three T20s against India but will barely have time to push his case for selection in the Test squad for the series opener at the Adelaide Oval.
Read Maxwell’s quotes in full here.
21:00 – Wasim Akram appointed Karachi Kings president
Legendary fast bowler Wasim Akram has been appointed as the president of Pakistan Super League (PSL) franchise Karachi Kings.
Akram’s appointment to the role was confirmed by Kings owner Salman Iqbal Ary on Wednesday through a tweet.
Read more on this story here.
19:00 – Pressure on Yasir Shah to step up in New Zealand series
As red-ball cricket returns to the agenda once again, the spotlight will firmly be on leg-spinner Yasir Shah when Pakistan takes to the field against New Zealand in Abu Dhabi for the first Test of the three-match series on Friday.
Having just made his return from an injury setback, the senior slow bowler was uncharacteristically subdued in Pakistan’s hard-fought 1-0 Test series win over Australia last month.
Read why the three Tests against the Kiwis will be pivotal for Yasir here.
18:00 – Shahid Afridi released by Karachi Kings ahead of 2019 PSL
Star all-rounder Shahid Afridi was among several players released by their respective Pakistan Super League (PSL) teams ahead of the player draft next week.
The teams were given a Tuesday deadline to announce their set of retained players and Afridi was among the several big names, including Kumar Sangakkara, Kieron Pollard, Mohammad Hafeez and Shakib Al Hasan, who were released.
Read who else made the cut and who was released by the six franchises here.
17:00 – John Hastings retires from all forms of cricket
Australia pacer John Hastings has announced his retirement from all forms of cricket after being warned by doctors that he could bleed to death if he continued to bowl.
Only last month, the veteran had revealed that he was suffering from a mystery ailment that caused blood vessels in his lungs to collapse while bowling.
Read more on this breaking story here.
16:00 – England all out for 285
Sam Curran played a tone-altering, morale-raising innings from number eight as England were dismissed for 285 on day one of the first Test against Sri Lanka.
England opted to bat first with the rejigged order in Kandy, promoting Ben Stokes to number three, bumping Jos Buttler to five and shunting Moeen Ali back to six but all had come and gone, with varying success, when Curran thrashed a top-scoring 64.
Read more here. To read about the day’s proceedings in detail, check out our talking points here.
13:10 – Starc to miss IPL
Mitchell Starc may not take part in the 2019 edition of the Indian Premier League.
The Australian will instead focus on preparing for the World Cup after Kolkata Knight Riders dismissed him this week via text message.
09:25 – Rohit rested for India A opener
Rohit Sharma was on Tuesday rested for India A’s first unofficial Test in New Zealand.
The star batsman was originally named in the squad but given his recent workload, will now leave for Australia with India’s T20 squad on Friday.
The Men in Blue play the first of three T20 games against Australia on November 21.