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It’s not just about the cricket or the money, Cummins explains, but the opportunity to think about his career after cricket

Matt Roller22-Jul-20241:50

Cummins: MLC is giving cricketers a platform in the US

Pat Cummins does not make Major League Cricket sound like a tough sell. “It was like, ‘do you want to come to the US for a few weeks in summer, be around a team where I’m good mates with a few of the guys, play a bit of golf and play a bit of cricket in a new country’,” he tells ESPNcricinfo from Dallas. “I jumped at it.”Yet his lucrative four-year contract with San Francisco Unicorns was a paradigm of change in the cricket world. Cummins had only previously played in one overseas T20 league – the IPL – but his interest was piqued by the identity of the franchise’s owners: Anand Rajaraman and Venky Harinarayan, a pair of India-born venture capitalists based in California.Five injury-ruined years early in his career made Cummins acutely aware that professional sport is transitory. He studied business at Sydney’s University of Technology during his prolonged rehabilitation, sits on the Australian Cricketers’ Association’s board of directors, and has used his platform to advocate for action on climate change.It is why the owners’ Silicon Valley background was the clincher for him. “It’s a space that I find super interesting, particularly the venture-capital world,” Cummins says. “I potentially see that as something I’d like to do more of post-cricket, so [this is] a way to align with a few of those guys, learn off them over the next few years, be around some of those conversations.”The tournament effectively provides him with a chance to network: since arriving in the US, Cummins has already “informally” discussed potential opportunities over coffee. “If it’s something I do enjoy, hopefully I could dive a little bit deeper for the back-end of my career, and then maybe move into that space a bit more professionally after cricket.”

“For the guys that play all three formats, you’re always trying to make sure you’re peaking for those major events – and it feels like there’s been about ten major events in the last 18 months, so I haven’t really taken much time to reinvest back in my body”Pat Cummins

Cummins’ contract with Unicorns runs until 2027. By then, he will be 34 and closer to the end of his international career. “The intention is definitely to make this a long-term partnership,” he says. “Obviously playing for Australia, it’s going to clash at certain times. But outside of that, I want to make sure MLC is a real focus.”MLC remains at a nascent stage, with just 25 matches shared across two venues. But its combination of high salaries, a short window, and the novelty of playing in the US have proved attractive. Its pool of overseas players comfortably outstrips that of rival leagues, including the Hundred in England. “I hadn’t thought of the Hundred,” Cummins admits.Cummins makes it clear that, as Test and ODI captain, “playing for Australia will come first”. Cricket Australia only made him available for five out of seven MLC group games this year to manage his workload after the T20 World Cup, and his availability for the 2025 edition will depend on a potential clash with a two-match Test series in the Caribbean.He has also been rested for Australia’s white-ball tour to Scotland and England in September, giving him a prolonged break ahead of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. Tellingly, that decision received minimal pushback.”Everyone’s a little bit more realistic about the schedules nowadays,” Cummins says. “We spend ten-plus months of the year away on the road, so some tours probably carry a little bit more importance than others. For the guys that play all three formats, you’re always trying to make sure you’re peaking for those major events – and it feels like there’s been about ten major events in the last 18 months, so I haven’t really taken much time to reinvest back in my body.”1:38

Cummins explains why he will miss the September tour to England

Josh Hazlewood and Mitchell Starc are part of September’s tour, but Cummins had long planned to miss it. “That window has always been earmarked as a time to really give my body a rest and do close to a full pre-season,” he explains. “I should get six or eight weeks off bowling and then build up again. Once this MLC opportunity came up and we mapped out the plan, it didn’t really change much.”I still get that same amount of break and then just probably start one or two weeks later heading into the summer… I’ll get home, I’ll have a good six or eight weeks off bowling where I’ll get in the gym every day, do some running, and get some strength back into my body. And then we’ve got a big Test match series [against India] for our home summer, so that’ll be the focus.”Cummins has only taken one wicket in three MLC appearances, but has helped Unicorns seal a top-two finish, closing out a win over MI New York on Friday night. “It’s a really high standard,” he says. “The calibre of players is ridiculous and for a competition in its second season, it’s super organised and super competitive… I couldn’t speak highly enough of it.”Australia played exclusively in the Caribbean during the T20 World Cup, but Cummins watched the US leg with interest: “That Pakistan-India game looked insane… everyone talks about baseball, basketball and NFL, but there’s hundreds of thousands of cricketers here going about their work quietly who are now starting to get a platform.”Unicorns’ long-term ambition is to bring MLC to California, with plans to build a stadium in San Jose. “Hopefully that will be ready to go in the next couple of years, and I’ll be coming back to San Fran a lot,” Cummins says. That sentence alone from Australia’s captain is proof that cricket has changed for good.

In a tournament where fast-scoring has been difficult, West Indies’ opening duo put England to the sword

Valkerie Baynes16-Oct-20243:35

Takeaways: West Indies’ powerplay stuns England to land semi-final spot

Hayley Matthews looked at Qiana Joseph in the changeroom at the innings break and thought something was wrong.West Indies needed to chase down 142 to qualify for the T20 World Cup semi-finals for the first time since 2018 – a target Matthew later said she’d have “bitten your hand off” for at the start of the game.It turns out Joseph was simply in the mood.Related

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“When we went into the changing room at halftime, I looked at her and I said: ‘What’s wrong? You look like you’re upset.’ She said: ‘I’m just ready.'”She’s always up for it, man. And it’s great to have characters like that within the dressing room, especially as a West Indies team who are probably always underdogs. We need fighters within the team and she’s a great example of that.”Joseph didn’t just fight. She pummelled England into submission.England, who had beaten West Indies in their 13 previous games dating back to 2018, had come into the tournament tipped as finalists with their vast resources and unbeaten record in the group stages.In her 15th T20I, Joseph had a big role to fill at the top of the order with Stafanie Taylor – West Indies’ leading run-scorer before the start of the game – succumbing to a knee injury she has been carrying through the tournament.Already the 23-year-old Joseph had shown her versatility, opening the batting in the first game – a 10-wicket loss to South Africa – before dropping below Taylor to No. 3 as West Indies sailed past Scotland. She dropped into a floating role next, listed at No. 6 against Bangladesh but not required as West Indies won by eight wickets.

When we look at individuals within this team, so many times we would hear only ‘Deandra or Hayley or Staf will put in performances’, but one thing we can say we’ve started to see this year is others really stepping upHayley Matthews

Against England, Joseph blasted her way to a career-best 52 off just 38 balls with six fours and two sixes as she and Matthews took West Indies to the highest powerplay of the tournament so far at 67 without loss.It wasn’t until midway through the innings that the duo learned they needed to reach the target in 19 overs to finish ahead of South Africa at the top of Group B on net run rate. West Indies got the job done on the last ball of the 18th, Aaliyah Alleyne piercing the covers to find the boundary off Sophie Ecclestone and close an innings built by Joseph and Matthews.The duo shared a 102-run stand off just 74 balls with Matthews, who played her best innings so far with 50 off 38 – her first half-century against England – after scores of 10, 8 and 34.It was only the second time both openers had scored 50 or more in a women’s T20I for West Indies, the first time being when they beat Australia in the 2016 T20 World Cup final.It was Matthews who took control to begin with, smashing 14 runs off Lauren Bell, the most runs conceded in the first over of a match at this World Cup.Like her captain, Joseph was off the mark with a boundary, two in three balls from Nat Sciver-Brunt, no less. She then ripped into England’s spinners, powering Charlie Dean over midwicket for six then striking back-to-back fours off Ecclestone behind and over square leg.Joseph rode her luck as well, barely clearing fielders a couple of times then put down by Sophia Dunkley on 6, Alice Capsey on 31 the three times by Maia Bouchier. She reached her maiden fifty off just 34 balls, the fastest against England at the T20 World Cup.Hayley Matthews produced best innings of the tournament at a vital time•ICC/Getty ImagesJoseph was part of West Indies’ T20 World Cup squad in 2018 as a 17-year-old, largely as a left-arm spinner, but her ball-striking has improved markedly in recent times, prompting her move up the order.Earlier this year, she played largely as an opener in an away series against Pakistan, which West Indies won 4-1, and was used as a pinch-hitter in a 2-1 series win in Sri Lanka.Despite those results, West Indies hadn’t been expected to do so well here, possibly because of a well-documented lack of resources compared to the likes of India and England, both of whom are now out of the reckoning.”I think a lot of people wrote us off coming into this tournament,” Matthews said. “The way we’ve been able to go about our cricket, especially after the start we had against South Africa, we’ve just bounced back against Scotland, against Bangladesh.”We haven’t beat England in about six years. As far as I can remember, the last time we beat them was back in 2018, but everyone still came here with a belief and a fight and it just shows what we can do as a West Indian team. A lot of people coming up against us know that if it’s one thing we’ve got, it’s a lot of heart and a lot of fight and we showed that today.”Particularly pleasing for West Indies was the fact Joseph was able to step up in Taylor’s absence so that by the time Deandra Dottin came in to score 27 off 19 striking at 142.10, the bulk of the work was done.That said, Dottin was instrumental in setting the tone for the match with some brilliant fielding at the start of England’s innings and she also bowled for the first time in the campaign, taking 1 for 16 in three overs.’To be given this opportunity to come out, represent your nation and making a living out of it, every single person, it changes their lives’•ICC/Getty Images”When we look at individuals within this team, so many times we would hear only ‘Deandra or Hayley or Staf will put in performances’, but one thing we can say we’ve started to see this year is others really stepping up,” Matthew said. “Karishma [Ramharack] with 4 for 17 against Bangladesh] last game, Qiana Joseph this game, and it’s just going to make us more and more dangerous.”By topping their group, West Indies avoid favourites Australia in the semi-finals and will face New Zealand on Friday in Sharjah. Australia play South Africa in Dubai on Thursday. And Matthews was confident the entire Caribbean would be behind her team.”Honestly speaking, we probably just don’t have it like the rest a lot of the time,” she said. “Back home in the Caribbean, sometimes we don’t have facilities and a lot of our girls come from very humble beginnings. To be given this opportunity to come out, represent your nation and making a living out of it, every single person, it changes their lives.”Within the West Indies, I think a lot of the islands can always be against each other, but the one thing that does bring the entire West Indies together is cricket and the passion that the people have for the game is massive. It just brings our whole region together as one for the only time probably.”

Pakistan had gone to great lengths to take pace and seam movement out of the picture but Seales still found a way

Danyal Rasool17-Jan-2025Jayden Seales knew the deck, quite literally, was stacked against him. Pakistan had spent the last few days working on that deck to make it so, erecting a protective greenhouse and attempting to warm up the Multan surface in frigid conditions using wedding-style heaters. The idea was to dry the pitch out and help the spinners get turn early on. With the 23-year-old the only opposition fast bowler, it would have felt, to him, as if the whole move was simply Operation Stop Jayden Seales.Well, it failed. There’s only so much that can be done when the temperature drops into single digits, and fog encircled the stadium, forcing the game to start four hours late. Seales knew his window to strike was narrow, and he had little time to waste.”We saw from the training sessions that the ball did a little bit when it was new,” he told a press conference after the end of day’s play. “For me, I needed to try and get the best out of the new ball and put the ball in the right areas. And with the cooler conditions this afternoon, it did a bit and it worked out for us.”Related

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Seales had more of an active role in making sure it worked out than he takes credit for. With spin operating right from the outset at the other end, he landed the ball on hard lengths, his height and pace making sure to extract enough bounce. But it was also his guile with the wrists that guaranteed seam movement, particularly in the dismissals of Kamran Ghulam and Babar Azam.Having already dispatched the debutant Mohammad Hurraira, he was shaping it away from Ghulam when he was driven through the off side for four, and when the next one landed around a similar line, Ghulam felt secure enough to shoulder arms. But this one seamed back in and smashed into Ghulam’s thigh, with HawkEye confirming it would have clipped the bails.”I just wanted to build pressure,” he said. “As a fast bowler in Asian countries, you tend to want to make a big impact and you want to do well for the team. Spin obviously dominates in these conditions. So as a fast bowler, I always wanted to get a wicket or be in the game and it so happened that I got the wickets for the team today.”But the dismissal to remove Babar required a delivery to match the quality of the batter, and Seales rose to the challenge. Babar came into this innings, with three successive Test half-centuries amid murmurs he may be returning to form. But before his spell ended, Seales ensured he bowled the delivery to give Pakistan one more bloody punch and leave them staggering.

“As a fast bowler, I always wanted to get a wicket or be in the game and it so happened that I got the wickets for the team today.”Seales after the opening day

He landed it on a length as Babar prepared to get in line and defend. Ball-tracking showed the trajectory was sending it right to the middle of his bat, but he got it to land perfectly on the seam to nip away ever so slightly, and take the outside edge.”I figured that he was watching my hand a bit, so I just tried to deceive him and it so happened that paid off. I think as a bowling unit, we did really well and we’ve just got to back it up again tomorrow. I think going forward in the game the spinners will come into the game a lot more. It may reverse-swing at some point, but I still think that the spinners may dominate in this game moving forward.”But Seales has happy memories against Pakistan, and having long odds against him doesn’t faze him much. It was against this opposition four years ago as a teenager playing his third Test that he secured his breakout performance in Jamaica, taking eight wickets before holding his nerve in a thrilling tenth-wicket stand to secure his side a one-wicket win. He was named the Player of the Match.While he knows his tactics may need to change here, his mentality evidently has not. “I don’t really think of it as pressure or anything like that [being the sole seamer]. For me as a player, [it’s] coming into the game a lot more and lifting my hand up for the team and just trying to do our job every time I’m called upon.”In international cricket, you expect the players to be good and you have to back yourself and match up with players skill for skill and who is the better man on the day will win. And it so happened that today I was the man for the team.”Seales may undersell himself, but, more importantly for West Indies, he finds a way to over-deliver. And in conditions tailor-made to shut him out, few could argue he has not done exactly that.

Stats highlights from the Champions Trophy semi-final between New Zealand and South Africa in Lahore

ESPNcricinfo stats team05-Mar-20251:51

What makes Ravindra such a standout player?

5 Hundreds for Rachin Ravindra in ODIs, all in ICC tournaments: three in the 2023 World Cup and two in this Champions Trophy.No one else has scored their first five ODI hundreds in ICC tournaments. Bangladesh’s Mahmudullah made all his four ODI hundreds at ICC tournaments.67.00 Ravindra’s batting average in ICC ODI tournaments (World Cup and Champions Trophy) – 804 runs in 13 innings with two fifties and five hundreds. It is the highest average among 80 batters with a minimum of 750 runs in these tournaments.362 for 6 New Zealand’s total against South Africa is the highest by any team at the Champions Trophy, surpassing Australia’s 356 for 5 against England, also in Lahore in this tournament. It is also New Zealand’s highest against South Africa in ODIs. And only once have South Africa conceded a higher total in ICC ODI tournaments – 377 for 6 against Australia in the 2007 World Cup.3 Number of totals in ODI knockouts, higher than New Zealand’s 362 for 6. The highest is 397 for 4 by India against New Zealand in the 2023 ODI World Cup semi-final.3 Hundreds for Kane Williamson in his last three ODI innings against South Africa. He is the first player to score a hat-trick of hundreds against South Africa in this format. Williamson had unbeaten hundreds in his previous two innings against them – 106 not out in the 2019 World Cup and 133* in the 2025 tri-series in Pakistan.167.57 Williamson’s strike rate in his last 37 balls in the Champions Trophy semi-final against South Africa. He scored 62 runs with seven fours and two sixes after striking at only 70.18 in his first 57 balls (40 runs with three fours).65 Runs conceded by Keshav Maharaj in his ten overs, the most he has conceded in an ODI since his debut against England in 2017, when he gave away 72 runs.The fast bowlers from both sides took a beating in Lahore•AFP/Getty Images65 Innings since New Zealand last had a century partnership for the opening wicket in ODIs – 106 between Martin Guptill and Henry Nicholls against India in February 2020.New Zealand is one of three teams in men’s ODIs without a century opening stand in this period – Canada (20 matches) and Jersey (5) being the others.31.55 New Zealand’s average opening partnership since their last century stand in ODIs, the lowest among the teams in the ongoing Champions Trophy, and the third-lowest among Full-Member teams.7 Wickets for New Zealand’s spinners on Wednesday, the joint-most they have picked up in a men’s ODI, alongside the seven against Bangladesh in 2023. New Zealand bowled 28 overs of spin, while South Africa bowled only 14 overs of spin for zero wickets and an economy rate of 6.28.The South Africa pacers collectively conceded 269 runs in the 36 overs they bowled, with all three specialist pacers going for 70-plus runs. New Zealand’s pacers were also on the receiving end, conceding 7.68 runs an over in the 22 overs they bowled.7 Number of wickets lost by South Africa between the 21st and 40th overs of their innings, during which they scored 116 runs. On the other hand, New Zealand lost only two in that period and scored 139 runs to set themselves up for a strong finish in the death overs.Losing wickets regularly left South Africa with only two wickets in hand for the last ten overs, putting them well behind in the game, despite nearly matching New Zealand’s total in the first 20 overs (113 for 1) by getting to 107 for 1.67 Balls that David Miller needed for his hundred, the fastest by any batter at the Champions Trophy. The previous quickest was off 77 balls by Virender Sehwag in 2002 and Josh Inglis earlier this tournament, both against England.With Miller being the third batter to smash a hundred on Wednesday, the New Zealand-South Africa match became the first at the Champions Trophy to feature three centurions.96.43 Percentage of runs scored by Miller during the 56-run stand with Lungi Ngidi for the tenth wicket. Miller scored 54 runs of those, while Ngidi scored a single, and one more run came off a wide. Miller scored each of the last 54 runs in South Africa’s innings, having faced 25 of their last 26 balls.

Kagiso Rabada’s performance at Lord’s was exactly what is expected of a big player in a big match

Firdose Moonda11-Jun-20251:11

Steyn: Why Rabada proved key to Australia’s collapse

Kagiso Rabada insisted he would not be “Mr I Apologise too much” after his recreational drug ban and showed he has nothing to be sorry about when it comes to his bowling. His performance at Lord’s was exactly what is expected of a big player in a big match: intimidating, incisive, and laced with unplayable deliveries that cut through the opposition.In the immediate aftermath of day one of the WTC final, you may read that line and think it’s more suited to the Australia attack given the way things ended, but save some headspace for a nod on how it started.Rabada set the tone with the very first ball. It jagged away from Usman Khawaja and beat his outside edge. For the next three overs, Khawaja did not even attempt to score a run as Rabada tested him with “pace, bounce and movement”, the three things the man himself says are his best attributes. The trick is not simply having them, it’s “doing those things consistently”, as Rabada put it in the post-match press conference.Related

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He didn’t concede a run until his 20th ball when Marnus Labuschagne managed to tuck him away to square leg. Next ball, Rabada squared Khawaja up, drew his edge, and David Bedingham took a fine catch at first slip. Rabada was away. Three balls later, Cameron Green went the same way and South Africa, through Rabada, were bossing the early exchanges.The wickets are what will get him on the honours board but it was some of the deliveries in between that really wowed. In the second over of his second spell, Rabada bisected Beau Webster with a ball that hit the seam, snuck through his bat-pad gap, and passed just over the top of the middle stump. Then there was the wicket which should have been. Full and fast, Rabada hit Webster, on 4, on the back pad and half-appealed with no support.South Africa must have heard a hard sound, as Webster hit his own pad, and thought it was an inside edge. They didn’t push the issue but replays showed it was plumb.Rabada found out moments later. “Corbin Bosch came down to fine leg and he said it was out and I was like, ‘oh man’. It is a bit annoying,” Rabada said. “He didn’t start off too well there. It looked like he was going to get out any ball, but his positive intent got him through. Cricket’s a funny game.”1:45

‘Pretty cool to have it in the home changeroom’ – Rabada on his 5-fer

In the next over, Rabada beat Webster’s inside and outside edges and he’s right in saying it looked as though a nick-off was imminent. It came, but only much later. That Webster survived that spell from Rabada makes his 72 even more deserving and asks questions of whether the change bowlers in South Africa’s attack, especially Lungi Ngidi, backed up their new-ball pair well enough.Ngidi’s eight overs cost 45 runs and he looked rusty. That South Africa picked him over Dane Paterson, who came off an excellent home summer and has 180 wickets at an average of 23 for Nottinghamshire, remains questionable but Rabada was never going to be the one to answer for that. Asked if he’d have any advice for Ngidi, he said he would, “just tell him to have a good night’s sleep, have a nice steak and a nice milkshake, watch a movie and come back tomorrow”.Rabada didn’t say it, but he and Ngidi will hope they don’t have too much to do on the second day. If they do, they will want to do it more like Rabada did.ESPNcricinfo LtdHis final riposte was to run through the Australia tail with precision. He got one to straighten on Pat Cummins, who exposed his off stump and was bowled, removed Webster, and bowled Mitchell Starc to complete his second successive five-for at Lord’s.Rabada was received by former captain Graeme Smith, who is working as a commentator, on the boundary edge and was hugged before he was interviewed. The emotion was obvious. Rabada described his achievement as “really special” and quickly deflected the attention off himself and on to the bigger picture. “It means a lot for me to play for South Africa, I give my all each and every time.”Does it mean more than equalling Allan Donald on South Africa’s Test wicket-takers’ list? Though Rabada called Donald “a legend” when speaking to Smith and said afterwards that he was “inspired by those who’ve come before”, there is a distinct sense that this will mean a lot less if South Africa don’t walk away with something from this game. Especially as they got themselves off to an excellent start and sent hope soaring in what felt like a home crowd.Kagiso Rabada acknowledges the crowd’s support after his five-for•ICC via Getty ImagesWith South Africans filling the stands, Rabada received applause and his own version of the Seven Nation Army chant. Ninety minutes later, there was silence as Wiaan Mulder and Temba Bavuma barely scored a run. That swing in South Africa’s fortunes has already made this Test gripping.”In Test cricket there’s always nerves,” Rabada said. “Dealing with it is about understanding what the bottom line is, and the bottom line is if you’re a bowler, try to bowl a good line and length; as a batter, it’s about keeping the good ball out and scoring off it or scoring off balls that are not quite there and missed executions from the bowler. That’s the bottom line. So everything else is just noise.”South Africa’s bottom line at the end of day one is that even after Rabada did Rabada things, they were 169 runs behind and four of their top five have been dismissed. The captain and the lower-middle order have a massive task on their hands on a surface that is doing a lot, and seemed to do more once the clouds had cleared. All Rabada can do now is look for reasons that might change, for his batters’ sake.”The ball was nipping quite a bit and at times moving off the slope quite a lot, but I still felt like batters could get in,” he said. “If you just bowled well and got more balls in the right area for a long period of time, then that’s when you could create chances. But with this ball getting older, hopefully we can score some runs.”

What are the major trends to emerge at the halfway point of the league stage of the women’s ODI World Cup?

Namooh Shah14-Oct-2025

Top-order turbulence

The most notable pattern at this World Cup has been the diminishing influence of top-order batters and their lack of partnerships. Across the first five wickets, batting pairs have averaged only 27.3 per stand, a steep decline from the 46.3 in the lead-up to the big event across India and Sri Lanka. After 15 century stands before the tournament, there have been just three in the World Cup, reflecting how teams have struggled to build a foundation up front.Through overs 1-10, across 26 innings, teams have scored at a strike rate of just 65 and averaged 27.9, compared to a strike rate of 83 and an average of 57.1 in similar pre-tournament conditions.ESPNcricinfo Ltd

Rescue acts from the lower order

While the top has wobbled, the middle and lower orders have often come to the rescue. Partnerships for wickets six to nine have averaged 25.3, the highest in any women’s World Cup , surpassing the previous best of 19.0 from 2017.Teams have rebuilt and counterpunched late, leading to a clear pattern in scoring progression: strike rates rise from 65 in overs 11-30 to 80 in overs 31-40 and 112 in the final ten. The big rescue acts have been from Richa Ghosh and Nadine de Klerk, both from No. 8, in the India vs South Africa fixture.