Franchise Cricket

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St Kitts & Nevis Patriots will face Antigua & Barbuda Falcons in the opening match of the 2025 Caribbean Premier League.

The Patriots, who won their sole CPL title in 2021, finished bottom of last year's standings while the Falcons finished a place better off in fifth.

The two sides will meet at the Warner Park Sporting Complex in St Kitts on 14 August with the tournament set to run until 21 September.

Defending champions St Lucia Kings, who won their maiden title last year, will face Antigua & Barbuda Falcons in their CPL opener at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium three days later.

The CPL group stage will run until 6 September before four knockouts, all of which will be played at the Guyana National Stadium in Providence.

Matches will also be held in Saint Lucia, Trinidad, Barbados in addition to St Kitts and Guyana.

Former England players Moeen Ali and Jason Roy were among those to play in the 2024 edition of the tournament.

The CPL will overlap with The Hundred which also takes place from 5 to 31 August.

• Full Caribbean Premier League schedule, external

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Rachin Ravindra's patient half-century led Chennai Super Kings to a four-wicket win over Mumbai Indians in their opening match of the Indian Premier League (IPL).

Chasing 156 to win on a spin-friendly surface, Ravindra finished unbeaten on 65 from 45 balls as Chennai reached their target with five balls to spare.

Chennai captain Ruturaj Gaikwad's more destructive 53 from 26 balls broke the back of the chase early on before a slight wobble to 116-5.

But Ravindra held the innings together comfortably, hitting the winning runs with a six off his New Zealand team-mate Mitchell Santner.

Wrist-spinner Vignesh Puthur was the pick of Mumbai's bowlers with 3-32, while England's Will Jacks bowled his international and Surrey team-mate Sam Curran for four.

Mumbai posted a stuttering innings of 155-9 as they struggled to recover from an early slip to 36-3, with captain Suryakumar Yadav making 29 and Tilak Varma adding 31 but none of their batters were able to accelerate.

Afghanistan leg-spinner Noor Ahmad starred with 4-18, while seamer Khaleel Ahmed took 3-29 including the wicket of India's Rohit Sharma for a duck in the first over.

• Scorecard

• Table

Most ducks in IPL career

• 18 - Glenn Maxwell

• 18 - Dinesh Karthik

• 18 - Rohit Sharma

• 16 - Piyush Chawla

• 16 - Sunil Narine

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India all-rounder Shardul Thakur has replaced the injured Mohsin Khan at Lucknow Super Giants in the Indian Premier League (IPL).

Left-arm seamer Mohsin, 26, has been ruled out of the tournament with a left calf injury.

Thakur, 33, has taken 67 wickets and scored 307 runs in 95 IPL matches for Punjab Kings, Rising Pune Supergiant, Chennai Super Kings, Delhi Capitals and Kolkata Knight Riders.

He last played a T20 international for India in February 2022 and has taken 33 in 25 matches.

The right-arm seamer had signed a deal with Essex to play in the first seven red-ball matches of the season, but the county say, external Thakur will no longer join for the start of the season.

The Super Giants play Delhi Capitals in their opening game on Monday.

Image source, BCCI/IPL

The Indian Premier League returns on Saturday, 22 March and BBC Radio 5 Live will be bringing you commentary from more than 35 matches.

Commentaries will be available on BBC Sounds, BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra and the BBC Sport website and app (available to UK users only).

Here is the schedule for the opening week of fixtures:

Saturday, 22 March: Kolkata Knight Riders v Royal Challengers Bengaluru (14:00 GMT)

Sunday, 23 March: Sunrisers Hyderabad v Rajasthan Royals (10:00 GMT) & Chennai Super Kings v Mumbai Indians (14:00 GMT - website and app only)

Monday, 24 March: Delhi Capitals v Lucknow Super Giants (14:00 GMT)

Tuesday, 25 March: Gujarat Titans v Punjab Kings (14:00 GMT)

Wednesday, 26 March: Rajasthan Royals v Kolkata Knight Riders (14:00 GMT)

Thursday, 27 March: Sunrisers Hyderabad v Lucknow Super Giants (14:00 GMT)

Friday, 28 March: Chennai Super Kings v Royal Challengers Bengaluru (14:00 GMT)

All times are match start times and are subject to change.

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Royal Challengers Bengaluru head coach Andy Flower says that "inspirational" Virat Kohli is still "extremely hungry" for success with the franchise.

India superstar Kohli has been with RCB for the entirety of the Indian Premier League (IPL) and led the side between 2013-2021.

He was integral to his side's run to the play-offs last year, winning the purple cap for the tournament's leading run-scorer with 741 runs in 15 innings.

"He's been brilliant to work with," former England Test coach Flower told the BBC Stumped podcast.

"It was great seeing him up close, in the dressing room, in meetings, in training, in competition. He's a really impressive guy, and last season was testing for all of us, particularly for the leadership group because we had such a bad start to the season.

"In our first eight games we'd lost seven of them - luckily we turned it round and part of the reason for that was the leadership from within the playing group and Virat was a huge part of that.

"He was brilliant under pressure. He also evolved his own game as the season wore on which I thought from a 35, 36-year-old player that had done everything in the game, was amazing to witness."

India batter Rajat Patidar has been named as RCB captain for 2025 and Flower also credited Kohli's influence on the younger players as a big motivation for the side.

"When he leads, other people follow. He's a great role model for the way people train, he's still extremely hungry, he's brilliant in the field, and listening to him talk in a team huddle and in meetings, he knows the game inside out and he's an inspirational guy."

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Royal Challengers Bengaluru are still waiting for their first Indian Premier League (IPL) title after 18 years, but head coach Andy Flower says the expectation presents an opportunity rather than added pressure.

They reached the play-offs in 2024 after a remarkable turnaround from losing seven of their first eight matches, but eventually lost to the Rajasthan Royals.

Flower described RCB as "one of the biggest franchises in world sport" which has been aided by Virat Kohli's presence in the side since the beginning of the tournament.

"RCB and its fans should expect success," Flower, who was appointed head coach in 2023, told the BBC Stumped podcast.

"I would not necessarily see the fact that RCB has not won it, as a desperate situation or added pressure. It's a great opportunity, it's never been done before.

"It's a very exciting opportunity for us. If we can bring some of that success and build an organisation or a dressing room that will give us that sort of success, that will be incredibly rewarding for us and our fans."

RCB women won the Women's Premier League in 2024.

Listen to the full interview with Andy Flower on the Stumped podcast on BBC Sounds.

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England all-rounder Liam Livingstone has been named as Birmingham Phoenix captain in The Hundred.

Livingstone has played for the Phoenix since the beginning of the competition in 2021 and replaces Moeen Ali as skipper, who announced that he will be retiring from domestic cricket after the T20 Blast.

The Phoenix reached the Eliminator in last year's Hundred, where they were beaten by Southern Brave.

"I am absolutely delighted to be named as captain this year. Moeen has done a brilliant job and I hope to carry on where he left off to take this team forward," said Livingstone.

"The squad is looking in great shape with local lads in Jacob Bethell and Dan Mousley as well as international quality with Ben Duckett and the New Zealand pace attack."

Australia all-rounder Ellyse Perry retains her position as women's captain.

The Hundred starts on 5 August and the Phoenix start their campaigns against Trent Rockets on Friday 8 August.

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Royal Challengers Bengaluru head coach Andy Flower says his squad is "more balanced" than previous editions of the Indian Premier League (IPL), which he hopes will deliver the franchise's first men's title.

Flower took charge of RCB in 2023 and they reached the play-offs in 2024 before defeat by Rajasthan Royals in the Eliminator.

The former England coach told the BBC Stumped podcast that their recruitment for 2025 shifted from RCB's usual batting-heavy strategy.

"We retained three players from last year. Instead of going for pace [bowlers], we're going for experience and skill, and if we put together a good tactical game I think we can not only defend but attack wisely at the Chinnaswamy and other grounds," Flower said.

"We've got some really good balance in our squad, good power in the batting line-up and real skill and experience in the bowling line-up, which is a little bit of a change for RCB.

"Usually they prioritise their batting line-up with some big batting stars and we've shifted that to what we think is a more balanced team this year."

RCB's bowling attack includes Australia seamer Josh Hazlewood and India fast bowler Bhuvneshwar Kumar, while England batter Phil Salt and all-rounders Liam Livingstone and Jacob Bethell are also in the squad.

India batter Rajat Patidar has been named as captain in another significant change for the side, and Flower added that Virat Kohli - who led the side between 2013-2021 - remains a key part of the leadership set-up.

"Rajat has got all that experience to call on from Virat, and Virat's a big supporter of him, so rather than describing it as a shadow, I feel it's a ballast that can support us.

"Rajat has been an outstanding batsman for us, particularly last year, but he's done some special things for RCB prior to that. He's very calm, he's very decisive as a leader."

Listen to the full interview with Andy Flower on the Stumped podcast on BBC Sounds.

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Australia all-rounder Mitchell Owen has been signed by Pakistan Super League (PSL) side Peshawar Zalmi as a replacement for South Africa's Corbin Bosch.

Owen, 23, hit the joint-fastest Big Bash century off 39 balls in January as Hobart Hurricanes won their inaugural title.

The opener made 452 runs to finish as the tournament's top scorer.

Bosch has pulled out of the tournament and signed as an injury replacement for Mumbai Indians in the Indian Premier League and reports, external say the Pakistan Cricket Board have served the 30-year-old with a legal notice to explain the switch.

The two competitions are overlapping for the first time after the PSL was pushed back due to Pakistan hosting the ICC Champions Trophy.

The PSL starts on 11 April and runs until 18 May.

Image source, BCCI/WPL

The 2025 Women's Premier League is over with Mumbai Indians lifting the trophy for a second time after their victory over Delhi Capitals.

Nat Sciver-Brunt won the orange cap for the most runs in the tournament, while MI team-mate Amelia Kerr clinched the purple cap for the most wickets in a double for the franchise.

Here are the top five performers with bat and ball in the third edition of the WPL.

Top run-scorers in 2025 WPL

1. Nat Sciver-Brunt (Mumbai Indians) - 523 runs

2. Ellyse Perry (Royal Challengers Bengaluru) - 372

3. Hayley Matthews (Mumbai Indians) - 307

4. Shafali Verma (Delhi Capitals) - 304

5. Harmanpreet Kaur (Mumabi Indians) - 302

Top wicket-takers in 2025 WPL

1. Amelia Kerr (Mumbai Indians) - 18 wickets

2. Hayley Matthews (Mumbai Indians) - 18

3. Jess Jonasssen (Delhi Capitals) - 13

4. Georgia Wareham (Royal Challengers Bengaluru) - 12

5. Nat Sciver-Brunt (Mumbai Indians) - 12

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Former Australia batter David Warner says England all-time leading Test wicket taker James Anderson would be a real asset to any team in The Hundred.

Warner, 38, was signed by London Spirit in this week's draft but 42-year-old Anderson was left unsold.

However, Anderson could yet feature in the competition if he was chosen by a franchise as a wildcard player in May.

Warner said it would be "good for the game" if legendary ex-England bowler Anderson was part of 2025 edition of The Hundred.

"Would I like to see him picked up by a franchise? Yes, definitely, given Jimmy with his skills. He's still fit and he wants to play," Warner said.

"I always talk here in Australia about the older guys staying back and handing down the knowledge, being around the group and having that experience.

"Why not pick someone's brains like James Anderson if he gets picked up in The Hundred. As a young bowler, I would be hanging around him like anything being a sponge."

Anderson said he intends to play for Lancashire in the T20 Blast this summer.

He has not played white-ball cricket of any kind since a One-Day Cup semi-final for Lancashire in 2019.

Anderson's last T20 match was in a losing effort for the Red Rose in the 2014 final of the Blast against Warwickshire.