Australia

Warner looked in great touch after surviving a probing first hour, particularly from Mohammed Shami operating from around the wicket angle, though he lost Usman Khawaja to Mohammed Siraj for a ten-ball duck. He hammered Umesh Yadav for a drive through for four, before carving the pacer for four offside boundaries in the 15th over.

As per the International Cricket Council (ICC), Hazlewood has been ruled out of the marquee match due to his ongoing left Achilles and left side issue. Neser, who has played two Tests and as many ODIs for Australia, has been brought in for the WTC Final squad after his inclusion was approved by the Event Technical Committee.

Mitchell Starc has majorly opened the bowling for Australia in Tests in the last couple of years, including picking 30 wickets at an average of 30.86 while donning the same role in England. But he was out of playing eleven in four out of Australia's five Tests during the 2019 Ashes in England, as the tourists resorted to rotating bowlers throughout the series.

Josh Inglis, the squad's backup gloveman behind first-choice keeper Alex Carey, will travel over for the beginning of the Aussies' UK tour before returning home to Perth for the birth of his first child with partner Megan.

Amidst criticism over the BBL schedule being too long, the reduction of BBL matches (40 regular season matches plus 4 finals) is a key feature in Cricket Australia's extended seven-year broadcast deal with the Foxtel Group and Seven West Media. A new four-match finals series will feature the top four Clubs, with the finals structure to be confirmed.

Pakistan are in the second spot with India just a point away as the three teams look set to go into the year-end's ODI World Cup in India with a lot to play for. Australia are two rating points clear of Pakistan at 118 points after the update, which weighs matches completed before May 2022 at 50 per cent and subsequent matches at 100 per cent.

The 24-year-old was handed the captain's responsibility in the absence of their regular skipper Shikar Dhawan in the last three games and has led the Kings to two wins out of the three games he captained. "Sam Curran is showing some really good leadership skills, particularly for someone who has not experienced leadership before. He's captaining a team in the IPL - the biggest T20 tournament on the planet - and is doing it very very well," Moody told ESPNcricinfo.

Taylor feels Australia will put their faith in the fellow left-hander Warner, who found his mojo with a double century against South Africa at the Boxing Day Test, though could manage scores of 1 & 10, 15 & DNB in the first two Tests before returning home with an injury in Australia's away series defeat to India.

CSK's tried-and-tested strategy of leaving it late did not yield the desired results as they lost to Royals by three runs in the 17th match of the IPL 2023 at the MA Chidambaram Stadium on Wednesday night. This was CSK's only second loss to RR at home in eight games.

After their Friday semi-final victory at the Grand Prix Hassan II, they will bid to extend their streak in the Marrakech final, reports ATP The third seeds defeated fifth seeds Maxime Cressy and Albano Olivetti 6-2, 7-6(1) to advance to the title match at the ATP 250, surviving 11 aces from their opponents and earning the victory without facing a break point.