Australia was already dealing with significant setbacks following the injuries to Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood, and Mitchell Marsh. Starc's withdrawal further depletes their frontline pace attack for the tournament, which begins on February 19 in Pakistan and the UAE.
The second Test between Sri Lanka and Australia will take place at Galle from February 6 onwards. With Australia, already having booked a spot in the ICC World Test Championship (WTC), leading 1-0, Sri Lanka would like to bow out of their most successful WTC campaign on a high.
Steve Smith and Usman Khawaja's blistering tons on Galle's turning strip put Australia in a commanding position against Sri Lanka before rain came in to interrupt the final moments of the opening day in the first Test.
Pat Cummins headlines Australia's preliminary 15-player squad for the ICC Men's Champions Trophy 2025, marking his return as captain. Cummins will lead the team in Pakistan but will miss the upcoming Test tour to Sri Lanka later this month due to an ankle injury.
Ahead of the fifth and final Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25 between Australia and India, wicketkeeper-batter Alex Carey heaped praise on his teammates and batters Travis Head, Steven Smith, and Marnus Labuschagne following their contribution in the ongoing series.
In the first inning, Smith displayed a stunning knock and scored 140 runs from 197 balls at a strike rate of 71.07. He smashed 13 fours and 3 sixes during his time on the crease in the first inning. Meanwhile, Smith scored 13 runs from 41 balls in the second inning. The veteran Aussie batter
After shaving off the first innings lead to just 105 runs in reply to Australia's 474 with their score of 369/10, India restricted Australia to 228/9 at the end of day four, though they were heavily frustrated by a half-century stand between Nathan Lyon and Scott Boland for the final wicket.
After the day's play, Australian cricketer Marnus Labuschagne praised the Indian fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah on Sunday for his outstanding performance throughout the Test series.
Nitish's dream run in the series continued as he scored 114 in 189 balls, with 11 fours and a six, taking India to 369 in reply to Australia's first innings total of 474 runs. Later, top-notch spells from Jasprit Bumrah (4/56) and Mohammed Siraj (3/66) led to some quick wickets for India, bu
After day three of the ongoing Boxing Day Test, pacer Scott Boland had revealed that Starc had suffered a niggle while bowling. Starc delivered 25 wicketless overs, conceeding 86 runs at an economy rate of 3.40.