A cricket team succeeded in alliance (4)
I believe the answer is:
axis
'alliance' is the definition.
(alliance between two countries)
'a cricket team succeeded' is the wordplay.
'cricket team' becomes 'xi' (I am not sure about this - if you are sure you should believe this answer much more).
'succeeded' becomes 's' (genealogical abbreviation).
'a'+'xi'+'s'='AXIS'
'in' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for axis that I've seen before include "Feasible" , "Bloc" , "Imaginary centre of rotation" , "(Rotational?) alliance of powers" , "Imaginary dividing line" .)