The big story: Peter Handscomb impresses with 2nd Test century

Peter Handscomb brought up his second Test century to help Australia declare their first innings at 538/8 on the second day of the third Test in Sydney on Wednesday.

Resuming on 365/3, Australia lost Matt Renshaw, who could add just 17 runs to his overnight score of 167.

Handscomb stepped up for the home side and led them past the 500-run mark. He was dismissed for 110 after dislodging the bails while trying to play a shot towards deep point.

Other top stories:

  • Former Indian captain Sourav Ganguly tempered talks about him taking over the Board of Control for Cricket in India by stating that “it’s too early” to speculate on his next move. Ganguly has been talked about as one of the frontrunners to succeed Anurag Thakur as BCCI chief.  
  • Sri Lanka were bowled out for 110 as Kagiso Rabada and Vernon Philander took four wickets apiece as South Africa dominated proceedings on day two of the second Test at Cape Town.
  • Kane Williamson’s unbeaten 73 steered New Zealand to a six-wicket win over Bangladesh in the first T20 in Napier. Along with Colin de Grandhomme he took his side past 141 with a loss of four wickets.    
  • Mumbai captain Aditya Tare and Abhishek Nayar’s solid stand along with the lower-middle order chipping in with crucial knocks powered their team past Tamil Nadu’s first-innings total. Once the primary target of 306 was achieved, Mumbai’s lower order took the lead past 100, and left Tamil Nadu in despair.   
  • Kolkata Knight Riders have named former Indian seamer Laxmipathy Balaji as their new bowling coach for the 2017 IPL. He replaces Wasim Akram, who said “professional commitments and time constraints” had prevented him from being with the team this year.
  • All-rounder Mona Meshram lost her spot in India’s 14-member squad for the upcoming Women’s World Cup Qualifier matches, which will be played in Colombo from February 3. She was the only player who was dropped from the squad that played West Indies in November last year.