Defending champions Australia claimed their fifth Women's Twenty20 Cricket World Cup title after thrashing India by 85 runs in Sunday's final at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.

PAUL NEWMAN IN KATUNAYAKE, SRI LANKA: England were only facing an inexperienced Sri Lanka Cricket XI but Parkinson bowled with accuracy and varied his pace intelligently.

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW BY RICHARD EDWARDS: England may be on an upward Test curve after victory in South Africa, but in Sri Lanka they will be up against a coach who has their number.

The participation of England players at this year's IPL has been thrown into doubt due to fresh visa restrictions on foreigners entering the country due to coronavirus.

Ben Stokes has been withdrawn from England's tour match in Sri Lanka due to an abdominal issue which team management insist is unrelated to Coronavirus concerns.

EXCLUSIVE BY MATT HUGHES: The ECB could face a legal battle with Sri Lankan officials to determine how the World Test Championship points for their postponed series are allocated

DAVID LLOYD IN HIS GARDEN: I thought I would be spending my 73rd birthday in Galle preparing for England's first Test against Sri Lanka but, instead, I find myself self-isolating at home.

Nottinghamshire continued pre-season preparations unabated, as Alex Hales self-isolates since returning from the Pakistan Super League.

England's cricketers would not play any rescheduled Test series against West Indies in the Caribbean until December at the earliest, it has emerged.

Jos Buttler and Ian Bell have been keeping themselves entertained at home whilst being quarantined due to the coronavirus. The England wicket-keeper was seen doing pilates.

EXCLUSIVE BY MATT HUGHES: ECB chairman Colin Graves will face calls from counties to stand down early and be replaced by Ian Watmore if the launch of the Hundred is postponed.

The Test side could face West Indies or Pakistan, this season's proposed red-ball opponents, while Eoin Morgan's white-ball World Cup winners face Australia, who are currently due here in July

EOIN MORGAN: As we took the field to defend 15 in the super over in the World Cup final last summer, Jos Buttler told me he hoped I had a couple of shamrocks in my pocket.

Pat Cummins expects the IPL to be merely delayed by the coronavirus pandemic and is optimistic the home Twenty20 World Cup will go ahead as scheduled later this year.

Late last year, and with a heavy heart, I was rereading Bob Willis's Diary of a Cricket Season, written in 1978. After only three paragraphs, Bob was in off the long run.

PAUL ALLOTT: Bob would have been the last person to think of himself as an all-action hero, but it described my old friend better than he ever knew.

RICHARD GIBSON: The 31-year-old represents another arrival straight from his country's Test team, having featured in their most recent match, England's series-clinching victory in Johannesburg.

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW: England batsman Joe Denly admits his nerves almost got the better of him during this winter's tour to South Africa when he presented Zak Crawley with his first cap.

Ben Stokes, the hero of England's dramatic World Cup triumph and the miracle of Headingley last summer, has been named the leading cricketer in the world.

Wisden is published on Thursday for the 157th time. It is full of joy, and staring into the abyss. The Almanack's arrival usually coincides with a spring in cricket's step. But this year, not so much.

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW BY TIM RICH: Ian Gould has just been walking on the seafront at Hove. It is eerie; empty. He retired as an international umpire after 13 years following last summer's World Cup.

Joe Root believes David Warner was better behaved in the last Ashes series than the previous one. The Australian batsman is known to be a lively character and Root thought he was calmer.

Coco Cuhna made the mistake of suggesting to her cricket coach boyfriend that it might be fun to see if he could show her how to bat when she saw him whacking a few tennis balls into a net.

Phil Neville played alongside former all-rounder Andrew Flintoff for Lancashire's age-group sides, and also went on to make an appearance for their second XI before turning to football.

Fears over international teams getting stuck at this year's Twenty20 World Cup will feature prominently in the ICC's teleconference talks between chief executives next Thursday.

Sportsmail columnists Nasser Hussain and David Lloyd answer your questions including who were the hardest batsmen to plan for and will England lift the T20 World Cup?

If cricket returns while Covid-19 is still a threat, bowlers will be asked to throw clothing and other things such as sunglasses beyond the boundary rope instead of handing to officials.

EXCLUSIVE: Ian Watmore quit his leading Football League role in November 2018 citing poor health. But it can be revealed a week earlier the EFL had commissioned an independent inquiry.

England cricket legend Andrew Flintoff has recalled how Newcastle boss Steve Bruce once bailed him out of a sticky situation at a restaurant after his credit card had maxed out.

There are fears that the current restrictions put in place by their federal government preventing Australians flying abroad in all but essential circumstances will last into final quarter of this year.

Sportsmail revealed in November that assistant coach Paul Collingwood had already been earmarked to take charge of the one-day home series against Ireland, scheduled for September.

English cricket supremo Tom Harrison has warned of dire financial consequences for the sport amid fears that the new season will not take place at all because of the coronavirus.

MIKE KEEGAN - SPORTS AGENDA: It would appear that the England and Wales Cricket Board can do no wrong at the moment when it comes to dealing with the Press.

In a report seen by Sportsmail, consultants Oakwell Sports Advisory recommend selling a stake in each of the eight franchises to private equity as a potential solution to the financial issues.

The Hundred's inaugural season is set to be formally delayed at a board meeting of the England and Wales Board Cricket Board.

EXCLUSIVE BY MATT HUGHES: The ECB instigated a review into Watmore's appointment last week after revelations that he had been subject of an independent whistleblowing report.

Eoin Morgan's world champions are now eight points clear of India following their dominance in the format over recent years with New Zealand, the defeated finalists at Lord's last July, in third.

England were scheduled to play Tests in Galle and Colombo in March before the coronavirus outbreak shut down sport worldwide as countries introduced lockdown measures to prevent the spread.

We still don't know for sure when we will start playing again but I'm going to assume that it will be July 1. That's my target date, and that means I am aiming to be in the best shape possible to bowl.

EXCLUSIVE: England hope to play six Tests this summer at only two venues, in a new proposed schedule for the season that could exclude all county and women's cricket. 

EXCLUSIVE By MATT HUGHES: The ECB will face opposition from MCC and counties who play at major Test venues if they seek to sell stakes in Hundred franchises to private equity,

Cricket manufacturer Kookaburra have developed a wax applicator that would allow balls to be shined without using sweat or saliva during the coronavirus crisis.

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW BY PAUL NEWMAN: Key winces at the revelation that his close friend Andrew Flintoff believes he was one of the great English batsmen against fast bowling.

Dukes, the manufacturers of balls used in English home Tests, have dismissed the need for artificial substances to aid shining if international cricket is played this summer.

England's Test stars reportedly face strict bio-secure measures as part of ambitious plans to ensure their summer series' against West Indies and Pakistan are staged.

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW BY RICHARD GIBSON: Sam Billings refuses to be haunted by the prospect of missing a second World Cup in as many years due to circumstances beyond his control.

Bolus won all seven of his caps in the space of eight months in 1963 and 1964, hitting the first ball he faced in Test cricket - from legendary West Indies fast bowler Wes Hall - for four.

Mark Wood, the England fast bowler who has produced the best form of his career over the last year or so, says the players have 'asked good questions' and have been given 'good answers'.

Sportsmail's experts give their views on what the 61-year-old former FA chief executive must do to ensure English cricket survives, recovers and improves.

EXCLUSIVE BY LAWRENCE BOOTH: Chief executive Johnny Grave revealed there are still several hoops to jump through before Jason Holder's team would agree to take part..