England captain Heather Knight has heralded her side's upcoming series in Malaysia against Pakistan as the start of "a new era", and an opportunity to move on from this summer's Ashes thrashing.

After being roundly beaten by a 12-4 margin against Australia, England parted company with head coach Mark Robinson, who had taken charge back in 2015.

Lisa Keightley, the former Perth Scorchers coach, has taken over, but will not start her new role officially until January, leaving only a matter of weeks to stamp her mark on the side before the T20 World Cup in Australia in February.

ALSO READ: Five things on Keightley's to-do list as England coach

Ali Maiden, who served as Robinson's assistant and will continue in the same job under Keightley, will coach the team in Malaysia, though Keightley is set to join up with the tour for the T20I leg.

"We've made a few changes with Robbo [Robinson] not being head coach [any] more," Knight told the BBC's Test Match Special, "and we've put a lot of hard work in as a group, and made a few changes from a team point of view as well.

"We're really excited to get out and see if those changes have come to fruition.

"Lisa's going to come towards the end of the tour and doesn't take over officially until January. We're all really excited to start a new era as a team and move on from what was a tough period for us in the Ashes."

England have made several personnel changes since the summer, signalling a changing of the guard. Experienced allrounders Georgia Elwiss and Laura Marsh have dropped out of the squad, while uncapped legspinner Sarah Glenn, 24-year-old seamer Freya Davies, and 22-year-old spinner Kirstie Gordon come into the squad.

Mady Villiers, the 21-year-old offspinner who took 2-20 on T20I debut against Australia, is also expected to play a bigger role in the series, while Jenny Gunn and Sarah Taylor have both retired.

"We've picked quite a young squad actually," said Knight. "We picked the squad with half an eye on the World Cup, which comes around in Februrary, and it's a massive chance for these girls to impress.

"Some of them have had a little taste of international cricket, some of them have had no taste of international cricket [at all]. So it's a chance for them to show what they've done in tournaments like the KSL and see if they can transfer it into international cricket.

"It is an exciting period - it's also a time of a little bit of uncertainty with Lisa not starting yet, so it's up to us as players to make sure we're leading ourselves and being really clear on how we go about things and how we do things as individuals and as a team for the new coach to come in. It's a really exciting time for people to reinvent themselves if they want to as well."

England are clear favourites for both the ODI and T20I series, not least with Pakistan's talismanic Sana Mir missing the series to "plan and reset my future objectives and targets". The first ODI is on Monday, December 9 at Kinrara Oval in Kuala Lumpar.

Paarl Rocks 168 for 5 (Delport 39) beat Nelson Mandela Bay Giants 156 for 6 (Kuhn 58, Adams 3-36) by 12 runs

The Paarl Rocks secured a home final in this year's edition of the Mzansi Super League by defending 168 against the Nelson Mandela Bay Giants at Boland Park. The win puts the Rocks on 27 points, the same number as the Giants, but they qualify automatically for the final by virtue of their head-to-head record against the Giants. The Rocks beat the Giants in both pool matches defending similar totals.

The Rocks scored 166 for 7 and beat the Giants by 31 runs in Port Elizabeth 10 days ago. It was tighter today, as the Rocks scored 168 for 5 and won by 12 runs today.

Team news and a good change

Ferisco Adams was brought into the Rocks XI because Hardus Viljoen was unavailable for this match and had early success when he bowled Matthew Breetzke with his first ball. But Adams' immediate impact paled in comparison to Viljoen's reason for not playing which his captain Faf du Plessis revealed a little too much about.

Adams also defended 23 runs off the final over, after his first three balls went for nine runs including a massive six from Marco Marais. The Giants' middle-order man has impressed with his death hitting in this competition and almost took the game away from the Rocks despite being struck on the arm twice by his batting partner Heino Kuhn, who was trying to get the ball past the non-striker in a bid to push for victory. Adams had a memorable finish to the game, taking two wickets in two balls to dismiss Marais and Kuhn in successive balls and seal the Rocks' spot in the final.

Bjorn's Fortune

Bjorn Fortuin lived up to his last name with a run-out that may be called fortunate to dismiss Giants' captain Jon-Jon Smuts, who is also their second-highest run-scorer in the tournament. Smuts was at the non-strikers' end when Kuhn his the ball back to Fortuin. Smuts had ventured a few feet out of his crease, anticipating a run, but Fortuin reacted quickly to get down, and deflect the ball onto the stumps. Smuts saw him and tried to get back but Fortuin was a fraction quicker and Smuts was short of his ground. The Giants were 62 for 3 at that stage and needed to score at 9.6 runs an over to win, something Fortuin played his part in preventing. He finished with 0 for 19 in his four overs, and conceded no boundaries in a stellar effort to strangle the Giants.

Shamsi's stoke of luck

Fortuin's built pressure and Tabraiz Shamsi cashed in with a crucial, and lucky breakthrough, the over after Fortuin's spell ended. Ryan ten Doeschate played across the line to a Shamsi delivery that struck him on the back pad and was given out. Shamsi took off in celebration sans any shoe-phone or magic tricks while ten Doeschate looked on in disbelief. Replays showed the ball was missing leg stump by some distance but with no DRS in operation, ten Doeschate had no recourse and the Rocks had a key wicket.

Delport digs in

With a home final on the cards, Cameron Delport and Henry Davids got their team off to a strong start with 51 runs in the first five overs. Delport led the charge scoring 35 runs off the 20 balls he faced, including eight fours. Three of them came in successive balls off Chris Morris, all in the 'V' down the ground. Delport hit one more boundary before he was caught off a top edge but his innings put him into the top five run-scorers in the competition. He has 246 runs at 27.33 so far, behind AB de Villiers, Reeza Hendricks, Ben Dunk and Janneman Malan.

Better than Steyn

After a match-winning 2 for 22 against the Cape Town Blitz on Friday night, Imran Tahir put on another authoritative performance which took to the top of the wicket-charts for the tournament. His two wickets came in two balls. First, he uprooted James Vince's off stump and then deceived Sibonelo Makhanya with a googly that Makhanya chipped straight back to a short mid-on, put in place specifically for that dismissal. Tahir now has 16 wickets, one more than Dale Steyn, and also the best economy rate of any bowler who has bowled more than six overs at this competition. Tahir has conceded at less than six runs an over - 5.68 - in the 38 overs he has bowled in his 10 group games.

New South Wales 5 for 262 (Henriques 116) lead Queensland 240 by 22 runs

Moises Henriques struck a dominant century as New South Wales built a first innings lead against Queensland at the SCG.

Henriques' 116 off 158 balls, his second Sheffield Shield hundred of the season during which he passed 5000 first-class runs, belied conditions where most other batsmen have struggled to score at much of a tempo. He dominated a third-wicket stand of 133, contributing 97 of the runs, with Daniel Solway who was run out in a mix-up over a second.

When Matthew Gilkes and Henriques both fell with the score on 194, Queensland had a chance to get back into the match but captain Peter Nevill and Sean Abbott put on an unbroken 68 to take New South Wales ahead by stumps.

Queensland had made the early running on the second day when tight new-ball bowl kept New South Wales scoring at one run an over during the first hour. Daniel Hughes was given caught behind when Jimmy Peirson claimed a very sharp, low catch and Nick Larkin flashed an edge to the keeper to leave the home side 2 for 15 before Henriques took charge.

Tasmania 254 and 1 for 6 trail South Australia 346 (Weatherald 126, Carey 73, Bird 4-70) by 86 runs

Jake Weatherald's second century of the season against Tasmania, a commanding innings from Alex Carey and useful lower-order runs put South Australia in control as they hunt that elusive Sheffield Shield victory.

Weatherald, who scored a career-best 198 when the sides last met, and Carey added 128 for the fourth wicket after South Australia had lost 3 for 8 to slip to 3 for 57 in the morning session.

Carey, who struck 11 boundaries, looked set for a century before being well held at second slip when he drove at Riley Meredith.

When Weatherald's fine innings was ended, lbw to Jackson Bird, and Chadd Sayers followed to the same bowler, South Australia were 8 for 263 - a lead of just nine - before Nick Winter and Joe Mennie added 73 for the ninth wicket. Mennie was last-man out for 49.

With four overs to bowl, South Australia's day ended on a high when Winter trapped Alex Doolan lbw with the last ball of the day. However, although the opener wasn't playing a shot the decision looked dubious.

Julia Price, the USA women's coach and former Australia wicketkeeper, will work with the Brisbane Heat in the upcoming men's Big Bash League, becoming the first female coach in the competition.

Price, who previously spent three seasons coaching Hobart Hurricanes in the WBBL, will work as an assistant to Darren Lehmann once Ryan Harris departs at the start of next year while on Under-19 World Cup duties with Australia.

ALSO READ: Mooney, Johnson secure back-to-back titles

Price was understood to have been a contender for the England women's role after Mark Robinson's departure, but that position has since been filled by Lisa Keightley.

"I'm pretty excited about [the role], I have to admit," Price said while on commentary during the WBBL final on Sunday.

"I'm really looking forward to the opportunity to be around the guys and seeing how they do it differently to what the girls do.

"Having been in the Hurricanes set up for the WBBL, it will be interesting to see how the BBL does it. I had a bit to do with the Hurricanes boys but this will be a completely different level now … I can learn off both the players and the coaching staff."

Lehmann said that Price has an "excellent cricket brain", and suggested she would have no trouble fitting into the new environment.

"We'd been chatting about whether there were some professional development opportunities for her through her USA role and we just went from there," he said.

"She has an excellent cricket brain and plenty of experience as a head coach, so I can see her fitting quite neatly into our set-up.

"We knew we had Ryan Harris with us for the start of the BBL before he goes to the U19 World Cup, but there was still a position available for us to fill on the coaching staff and we thought this was a great chance to innovate and think outside the box.

"I'm pleased the Heat have been able to go in a direction that we haven't seen yet in the BBL in having a woman on the coaching staff, but I don't believe it will be the last time it happens either."

BULLS GAP, Tenn. – Chris Madden is now two-for-two in the new Drydene Xtreme DIRTcar Series.

Madden, who won the inaugural series event at South Carolina’s Cherokee Speedway in November, pocketed $5,000 after winning Saturday’s Grinch at the Gap at Volunteer Speedway.

Kyle Strickler paced the first 22 laps, but Madden was able to get around him on lap 23 before pulling away to the victory by more than two seconds aboard his No. 0M Scott Bloomquist Racing entry.

Strickler settled for second, followed by Brandon Overton, Shanon Buckingham and Chris Ferguson.

The finish:

Chris Madden, Kyle Strickler, Brandon Overton, Shanon Buckingham, Chris Ferguson, Donald McIntosh, Logan Roberson, Robby Moses, Cory Hedgecock, Pearson Lee Williams, David Webb, Jeff Smith, Steve Smith, Tim Vance, Aaron Guinn, Tommy Bailey, Michael Chilton, Jordan Rodabaugh, Will Harris, Trent Ivey, Ryan King, Daniel Dial, Zack Mitchell.

PENSACOLA, Fla. – Justin Bonnett, the grandson of late NASCAR Cup Series driver Neil Bonnett, suffered a broken leg and burns during a fiery crash in Saturday night’s Snowflake 100 at Five Flags Speedway.

Bonnett was running 26th when, on lap 54, his car struck the spinning machine of Jarrett Parker in turn three.

The contact was enough to both heavily damage the left side of Bonnett’s entry and dislodge the fuel cell from the rear of Parker’s car, sending it careening some 75 yards down the track into the center of the third turn.

As the fuel cell skidded along the pavement, it left a trail of fuel that ignited into sweeping flames, which swept around Bonnett’s car as it came to a stop on the apron in the middle of turns three and four.

Bonnett, who was awake and alert, was quickly helped from his car as the fire was extinguished by safety crews, before being taken to a waiting ambulance and transported to a local hospital.

An update posted on Bonnett’s official Facebook page just before 10:30 p.m. CT confirmed that the third-generation driver “sustained a broken leg and burns” as a result of the lap-54 incident.

Hailing from Hueytown, Ala., Bonnett began racing karts in his home state at eight years old and transitioned through street stocks, mini modifieds and the touring Modifieds of Mayhem series over the course of his racing career.

His grandfather was an 18-time NASCAR Cup Series race winner and 20-time pole winner in 362 starts. Neil Bonnett also earned a pair of Busch Clash victories and triumphs in the NASCAR Xfinity Series and ARCA Menards Series West during his two-decade tenure.

PENSACOLA, Fla. – Derek Thorn outdueled Augie Grill to take the victory in a rough-and-tumble 21st annual Allen Turner Hyundai Snowflake 100 Saturday night at Five Flags Speedway.

Thorn battled past Grill on a lap-65 restart, following a caution for the spinning car of Mason Keller, and never looked back after that.

The California native opened up a 1.173-second margin over Grill en route to his first win of any kind during Snowball Derby weekend, leading the final 36 laps uncontested in the Campbell Motorsports No. 43.

After earning the pole on Friday night for Sunday’s Snowball Derby, Thorn gave himself a shot to sweep the weekend by virtue of his Saturday performance. His mind wasn’t on that just yet as he climbed from the car, however.

Thorn’s focus was on soaking in a long-awaited victory at Five Flags Speedway.

“Man oh man, if you’d told me that we’d win the pole this weekend for the Snowball Derby and then go out and win our first Snowflake 100, I would never have believed you,” Thorn said in victory lane. “We were OK until the middle portion of the race, but we weren’t that great. I knew Bubba (Pollard) was saving behind me, and Augie was good for a while there out front of everyone.

“I was just kind of winging it, to be honest,” Thorn continued. “Augie and Pollard are both phenomenal here so I was just trying to go to school and learn what I could from those guys while we were all riding. Obviously, they know more than I do, so I was trying to stay patient … until the end. Augie kind of left me a hole getting into three; I got a run on the backstretch after he’d kind of closed the door on the other restarts, and we made a little bit of contact there, but he was just trying to shut the door on me.

“I was worried we wouldn’t be good enough at the end, but the car was good. I’m really happy tonight.”

While Thorn was the class of the field down the home stretch, Grill was the star of the Snowflake 100 for its first two-thirds, leading the opening 64 circuits and pulling away from the pack on numerous restarts.

However, Grill “got caught sleeping” when the race went back green on the 65th round, shuffling him back to third as both Thorn and two-time Snowflake 100 winner Bubba Pollard got past him.

From there it was a game of catch up for the Alabama veteran, and while he re-passed Pollard for the runner-up spot coming to 20 to go, Grill was too late to make a charge back at Thorn by that point.

“I don’t know what more I could have done. I’d gotten a little bit tight, but not enough to really be bad,” Grill told SPEED SPORT. “I mean, I was matching his times there at the end, and every third lap I’d be faster, but I couldn’t do that every lap. Hats off to Derek, though. He had a great car. He caught me sleeping on that restart and was able to get a nose under me down the back straightaway. It kind of caught me by surprise, to be honest, and Bubba was able to follow him by.

“After that, we had a caution and went back green, and it just took me too long to get back by Bubba before he was gone. I think I closed back on him a little bit, but it wasn’t enough to do anything.”

Teenager Sammy Smith completed the podium in the Anthony Campi Racing No. 81, followed by Justin South and Stephen Nasse, who came from 20th to fifth with a strong run through traffic.

Pollard faded to sixth inside the final 10 laps, ahead of Jackson Boone, Brandon Oakley, Jake Johnson and Kyle Plott.

The first 25 laps ran uninterrupted, but after that, cautions were the proverbial order of the night. In all, seven yellow flags slowed the pace over the 100-lap distance.

Saturday’s most-serious incident occurred on lap 54, when Jarrett Parker lost brakes and spun before his car was hit by the oncoming machine of Justin Bonnett. The contact dislodged the fuel cell from Parker’s vehicle and sent it careening across the pavement in turn three, with flames erupting in its wake.

In all, four cars were involved in the fiery crash.

Bonnett, the grandson of the late Neil Bonnett, was awake and alert after being aided from his machine, but was transported to a local hospital for further evaluation and treatment.

The finish:

Derek Thorn, Augie Grill, Sammy Smith, Justin South, Stephen Nasse, Bubba Pollard, Jackson Boone, Brandon Oakley, Jake Johnson, Kyle Plott, Jett Noland, Dan Leeck, Daniel Dye, Mason Diaz, Dustin Smith, Rodrigo Rejon, Trever McCoy, Jake Griffin, Kyle McCallum, Chris Hacker, Ryan Paul, Mason Keller, Dylan Fetcho, Carson Hocevar, Mike Garvey, Wayne Anderson, Jo Jo Wilkinson, Stacey Crain, Jarrett Parker, Justin Bonnett, Perry Patino, Brandon Curren, Connor Okrzesik, Bill Melvin, Elliott Massey, Cody Brake, Jacob Beasock.

Brisbane Heat 4 for 162 (Mooney 56*) beat Adelaide Strikers 7 for 161 (Wellington 55) by six wickets

The Brisbane Heat became the first back-to-back champions in the WBBL with a display of their batting prowess to overcome the Adelaide Strikers by six wickets with 11 balls to spare in the final, at a sold out Allan Border Field.

Beth Mooney capped a prolific season by anchoring the chase with 56 off 45 balls after Sammy Jo-Johnson had given the Heat's chase almost unstoppable momentum with 27 off 11 balls in the powerplay.

The Strikers had managed to respond well to the early shock of losing Sophie Devine in the second over, but fell away after the fielding restrictions were lifted as Amelia Kerr won the battle with fellow New Zealander Suzie Bates. A fantastic half-century from Amanda-Jade Wellington resurrected the Strikers' hopes, but the Heat had such confidence in their batting that a victory for them rarely felt in doubt.

No record for Devine

Devine has produced the greatest all-round season in the WBBL but did not have one more big innings in her for the final. The Heat made a tactical switch, giving the new ball to Georgia Prestwidge who had been sparsely used in the powerplay this season but had the ability to bowl a good short ball. Prestwidge started with a short delivery that Devine cut to the off side, and then her second delivery was even shorter outside off; Devine tried to go up and over backward point but it took more edge than middle and flew straight to third man. The Heat's celebrations were of a plan that had come together perfectly and it meant Ellyse Perry's record of 777 runs, set last season, remained safe. However, Devine's loss did not dent the Strikers' powerplay output as they ended the six overs on 1 for 54 thanks to a strong counterpunch from Tahlia McGrath.

Wellington saves the innings

The Strikers' innings fell away in the middle overs as they slipped from 1 for 62 in the eighth to 5 for 93 in the 14th. That included a brilliantly alert leg-side stumping by Mooney to remove Sophie Mack who was unsure where the ball had gone as it rebounded off her pad. The success of the Strikers' top order this season has left the middle order with little batting but this was their chance to shine. Wellington stood up with her first WBBL half-century in a superb display of strokeplay in the closing overs with strong drives and deft reverse sweeps. She took on Jess Jonassen in the penultimate over with three consecutive boundaries and found two more in the last as the Strikes made 37 off the last three overs.

Sammy-Jo's powerplay blitz

Johnson has a floating role in the Heat's batting order, given the license to come out in the powerplay when the situation dictates and just swing hard. It worked a charm today. It took her three balls to get off the mark, but then facing Devine in the fifth over unfurled a game-changing display as she launched four sixes in five balls - at least two of them landing on the roof of the building at deep square leg. Devine kept feeding her length in the slot before, with the final ball of the over, coming back over the wicket and producing a slower ball that Johnson tamely chipped back to the bowler. But the damage had been done.

Prolific Mooney seals the cup

At the halfway mark of the chase the Heat needed 71 off 60 balls but, in the pressure of a final, the Strikers could have caused some flutters if they had managed to find a breakthrough. The golden chance slipped from their grasp, literally, when Wellington - who an hour earlier was giving the Strikers hope - shelled a simple opportunity at extra cover when Jonassen was on 18. That knocked the stuffing out of the Strikers and by the time Mooney brought up a 36-ball fifty the Heat could sense victory. After a wild hack from Grace Harris, sister Laura launched three boundaries from her first five balls. For a team with such dynamic batting, it was fitting the target surged into view with a flurry of fours.

Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has offered the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) at least one day-night Test for their tour of Pakistan next month, with Karachi being selected as the venue. The tour includes two Tests and three T20Is, although the BCB has so far stated that it is awaiting a security report and government directive before confirming Bangladesh's participation.

Bangladesh played their first day-night Test on the tour to India in November, which also happened to be the first day-night match in the subcontinent. Pakistan have already played four Tests under lights, and are on the verge of hosting their first Test at home in over a decade against Sri Lanka later this week.

More to follow...