Cricket News

South Africa have a new captain and a young and inexperienced side as their regulars take a break during the T20 series against Australia

Shane Watson expressed his desire to return to the Test team in any role the coach Darren Lehmann and captain Michael Clarke saw fit.

The South Africans were beaten by 22 runs by a young Cricket Australia XI containing only one player over the age of 23 at North Sydney Oval

A fresh Australian Twenty20 combination will seek to reassure the nation - and themselves - that the Test team's UAE travails are more a matter of unfriendly conditions than a lack of quality in the playing personnel

JP Duminy, who will lead South Africa for the first time in the T20 internationals against Australia, has said that the three-match series is a chance for players to stake claims for World Cup spots

Matthew Wade has admitted that he needs to control his rage, after he was hit with a one-match suspension for breaking a window during the domestic limited-overs tournament

Spin duo Nathan Lyon and Xavier Doherty have been left out while Josh Hazlewood's sizzling form in the Matador Cup has earned him a recall into Australia's 13-man squad for the first two ODIs of a five-match series against South Africa

Morne Morkel believes he has a good chance of making South Africa's World Cup squad and that he's happy with his progress, after suffering a shoulder injury in August that almost ruled him out of the tri-series final in Zimbabwe

Robin Peterson has been given an international lifeline after being called up as a replacement for Aaron Phangiso for the rest of South Africa's limited-overs trip in New Zealand and Australia.

Ben Dunk is the unexpected choice as Australia's Twenty20 wicketkeeper batsman while Nathan Reardon and Cameron White have also earned places in the squad to face South Africa

While other teams are still working on combinations and game plans ahead of the World Cup, AB de Villiers stressed the importance of "out-of-this-world fielding," as South Africa put the finishing touches on their World Cup preparation

Vernon Philander was the only change to the South Africa ODI squad that was victorious in the recent triangular series in Zimbabwe ahead of trips to New Zealand and Australia

South Africa are expected to name a full strength ODI squad for the tours to New Zealand and Australia in preparation of next year's World Cup

Cricket Australia has finalised an international season heavy on limited-overs cricket, with Adelaide losing its semi-traditional Australia Day match to Sydney