Dominic Drakes’ Colombo Stars have advanced to Friday’s final of the 2022 Lankan Premier League after storming to a six wicket win over the Kandy Falcons in Qualifier 2 at the R. Premadasa Stadium in Colombo on Thursday.
Despite a pair of golden ducks from Andre Fletcher and Fabian Allen, the Falcons posted a competitive 168-6 from their 20 overs after the Stars won the toss and chose to field first.
Falcons captain Wanindu Hasaranga was excellent, producing an unbeaten 34-ball 77 including eight fours and three sixes. Ashen Bandara provided good support for the skipper with 40 against Kasun Rajitha’s 4-20 from four overs. Drakes chipped in with 1-32 from his four.
The Stars then needed just 18.5 overs to successfully reach their target for the loss of just four wickets. Charith Asalanka led the way with 64 off 40 balls including seven fours and three sixes and was supported well by Dinesh Chandimal (38), Ravi Bopara (29 not out) and captain Angelo Matthews (21).
The Stars will take on the Jaffna Kings in tomorrow’s final.
Ben Stokes and Sam Curran are among the England T20 World Cup winners who could go for big money in the Indian Premier League auction on Friday.
The 10 franchises have varying amounts of cash to splash in Kochi, where some big names will be up for grabs.
Stokes opted out of the IPL this year, but England's Test captain and Curran, the player of the tournament in their recent World Cup triumph, are two of the 19 overseas players with the highest base price of 2.0 crore – worth just over £200,000.
Chris Morris was sold for a record 16,25 crore in February 2021 and it would be no surprise if that is broken as ambitious franchises shape their squads for the 2023 edition of the tournament.
There are a total of 87 slots to be filled, with up to 30 of those available for overseas players.
Stats Perform highlight what to look out for in the latest auction for a competition that was won by debutants the Gujarat Titans this year.
Sunrisers have money to burn
Sunrisers Hyderabad wielded the axe following a poor 2022 IPL season, having finished down in eighth place.
They suffered eight defeats and reacted by releasing 12 players, including captain and most expensive player Kane Williamson.
Sunrisers have the most money to spend in the auction, with 42,25 crore burning a hole in their pockets. On the other end of the scale, Kolkata Knight Riders only have 7,05 crore to play with.
Hyderabad could opt to re-sign Williamson on a less lucrative deal for the New Zealand skipper.
Curran to break the record?
England all-rounder Curran was outstanding in the T20 World Cup, taking 13 wickets – including 3-12 against Pakistan in the final last month.
Possessing great variation and giving little away, the left-arm seamer is sure to be in demand and could be in for a huge early Christmas present.
Stokes, Williamson, Cameron Green, Rilee Rossouw, Jimmy Neesham and Jason Holder are among the other overseas players with a base price of 2,0 crore.
With a base price of 1,5 crore, Harry Brook could also earn a big pay day for what would be a first IPL after a dream start to his England career.
Pandey and Agarwal under the hammer
Manish Pandey and Mayank Agarwal are the two Indian players with the highest base price in the auction.
The first Indian player to score an IPL century, Pandey has a base price of 1,0 crore and the same goes for fellow batter Agarwal.
Pandey was released by Lucknow Super Giants, while Agarwal was allowed to leave by Punjab Kings.
Record-breaking teenager Ahmed to cap a dream week
What a story it would be if Rehan Ahmed is picked up in the auction after making history in England's Test win over Pakistan in Karachi.
The 18-year-old leg-spinning all-rounder became the youngest man to make his England Test debut as they secured a 3-0 whitewash and the teenager made a big impact.
Ahmed became the youngest man to take a five-wicket haul on his Test debut in the second innings and would cost at least 0.5 crore – although there are due to be discussions over what his schedule will be after his incredible start on the international stage.
West Indies legend Shivnarine Chanderpaul is reportedly not expected to renew his contract as Head Coach of the USA Women’s Senior and U-19 Cricket Teams after the 2023 U-19 Women’s World Cup in South Africa.
Chanderpaul was appointed in July of this year.
Last week, USA Cricket announced its U19 Women’s team for the World Cup, and the new development has come in as a massive surprise for the board.
“We already have half a dozen renowned head coaches disconnected from the National team(s) since the new board is in place and I doubt if Shivnarine will renew his contract after the U19 world cup in South Africa. I had a word with Shivnarine Chanderpaul’s manager and he has confirmed that he will not consider extending or renewing Chanderpaul’ s contract after the Women’s U19 World Cup in SA,” said USA Cricket Hall of Famer Jatin Patel at the Atlanta Cricket League Banquet in Mumbai last week.
Chanderpaul started his role as head coach with immense success for the national team and in franchise cricket.
In July, he led the USA U-19 Women’s team to a title in the CWI Women’s U-19 Championship where they defeated hosts and defending champions, Trinidad and Tobago, in the final.
The ICC Hall of Famer then led the Jamaica Tallawahs to their third Caribbean Premier League (CPL) title in September.
Kuldeep Yadav's exclusion from India's squad to face Bangladesh was a "management call", with team-mate Umesh Yadav describing the decisions as something people had to accept.
The fast bowler took eight wickets as the tourists sealed the first Test in Chittagong in style and was expected to keep his place for the second and final game in Mirpur.
But Kuldeep was excluded to make way for an additional pace option in Jaydev Unadkat, who played his first red-ball match for India in over a decade in his place.
The call from coach Rahul Dravid caught many by surprise, but Umesh was unmoved in his post-stumps assessment, simply indicating his omission was nothing out of the ordinary.
"It's part of your journey," he said. "It happened to me. Sometimes you are out of the team because of performance.
"Sometimes it's a management call. You have to go with the team's requirements. It's good for him."
Unadkat, playing in his second Test match a dozen years after he debuted as a teenager at Centurion against South Africa, repaid the faith with two wickets, including that of first-Test centurion Zakir Hasan.
Umesh was delighted to see him earn a second chance, adding: "When he made his debut, I was with him in South Africa. I'm very happy that he finally got his chance.
"When he came in to bowl with the new ball, [it] was doing a bit. We know [he] can swing it both ways, so he just had to keep bowling in the right areas."
India will resume on day two in Mirpur trailing by 208 runs.
Jaydev Unadkat took two wickets in his first Test for over a decade as India made a strong start to restrict Bangladesh to 227 all out on day one in Mirpur.
In the final game of the two-match red-ball series, the tourists put themselves on course for a clean sweep with an emphatic performance with the ball, closing on 19 without loss in reply.
Four-wicket hauls for Umesh Yadav (4-25) and Ravichandran Ashwin (4-71) headlined a dominant bowling display from India at Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium.
But the warmest reception was saved for Unadkat, in just his second Test appearance, and first since his debut in 2010 as a teenager.
The 31-year-old struck either side of lunch to dismiss Zakir Hasan (15) and Mushfiqur Rahim (26) to take his first Test wickets and was embraced by his team-mates.
Bangladesh's resistance came almost single-handedly through Mominul Haque, who carved out a patient 84 from 157 deliveries to keep the hosts ticking over.
But his dismissal by Ashwin as the penultimate wicket of the first innings effectively signalled the end of his side's modest resistance and put India in the driving seat.
KL Rahul escaped an LBW call to finish on three not out, with opening partner Shubman Gill still alongside him on 14.
Unadkat joins record books
It was at Centurion in December 2010 that the bowler made his debut against South Africa, suffering a bruising outing as the Proteas won by an innings and 25 runs.
In finally returning to the fold, he sits 11th on the list of players with the longest gap between Test appearances – well off the record of 22 years and 222 days held by John Traicos.
Mominul spares Bangladesh blushes
After a highly successful white-ball series, these two Tests have so far been a bumpy return to earth for the hosts, and it could have been worse were it not for their top-order saviour.
Arriving at the crease with his team 39-1, Mominul survived all but final two batsmen Taijul Islam and Khaled Ahmed, to ensure Bangladesh scraped past the 200 mark.
Jaydev Unadkat took two wickets in his first Test for over a decade as India made a strong start to restrict Bangladesh to 227 all out on day one in Mirpur.
In the final game of the two-match red-ball series, the tourists put themselves on course for a clean sweep with an emphatic performance with the ball, closing on 19 without loss in reply.
Four-wicket hauls for Umesh Yadav (4-25) and Ravichandran Ashwin (4-71) headlined a dominant bowling display from India at Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium.
But the warmest reception was saved for Unadkat, in just his second Test appearance, and first since his debut in 2010 as a teenager.
The 31-year-old struck either side of lunch to dismiss Zakir Hasan (15) and Mushfiqur Rahim (26) to take his first Test wickets and was embraced by his team-mates.
Bangladesh's resistance came almost single-handedly through Mominul Haque, who carved out a patient 84 from 157 deliveries to keep the hosts ticking over.
But his dismissal by Ashwin as the penultimate wicket of the first innings effectively signalled the end of his side's modest resistance and put India in the driving seat.
KL Rahul escaped an LBW call to finish on three not out, with opening partner Shubman Gill still alongside him on 14.
Unadkat joins record books
It was at Centurion in December 2010 that the bowler made his debut against South Africa, suffering a bruising outing as the Proteas won by an innings and 25 runs.
In finally returning to the fold, he sits 11th on the list of players with the longest gap between Test appearances – well off the record of 22 years and 222 days held by John Traicos.
Mominul spares Bangladesh blushes
After a highly successful white-ball series, these two Tests have so far been a bumpy return to earth for the hosts, and it could have been worse were it not for their top-order saviour.
Arriving at the crease with his team 39-1, Mominul survived all but final two batsmen Taijul Islam and Khaled Ahmed, to ensure Bangladesh scraped past the 200 mark.
Jofra Archer is in line to make his long-awaited England return in January after he was named in a 14-man squad for the three-match ODI series against South Africa.
The Sussex bowler has not played at senior level since a white-ball tour to India in March 2021, having been sidelined with a succession of injuries since then.
After missing out on T20 World Cup success in November, Archer's return to the fold will be a timely boost in the year England look to defend their 50-over crown and take on Australia in the Ashes.
Mark Wood and Joe Root, as anticipated, are both rested, but there is room for Ben Duckett, who could play his first ODI match since 2016 after impressing upon his Test comeback.
Liam Livingstone, who was injured during England's red-ball series with Pakistan, misses out while Harry Brook will look to win his first ODI cap after a superb multi-format season.
Reece Topley, who is continuing to recovery from injury himself, will hope to join Archer in marking his return to action during the three-game tour, which starts in Bloemfontein on January 27.
A second match at Mangaung Oval follows on January 29, before the final encounter takes place at Kimberley on February 1.
A subsequent Test tour to New Zealand follows.
England ODI squad: Jos Buttler (Lancashire); Moeen Ali (Worcestershire), Jofra Archer (Sussex), Harry Brook (Yorkshire), Sam Curran (Surrey), Ben Duckett (Nottinghamshire), Dawid Malan (Yorkshire), Adil Rashid (Yorkshire), Jason Roy (Surrey), Phil Salt (Lancashire), Olly Stone (Nottinghamshire), Reece Topley (Surrey), David Willey (Yorkshire), Chris Woakes (Warwickshire).
Andre Coley has been named as the Interim Head Coach of the West Indies Men’s team for the upcoming tour of South Africa, Cricket West Indies announced Wednesday.
The West Indies Men’s team will start their 2023 international year with two Test matches against Zimbabwe. The visitors will play both matches at the Queens Sports Club in Bulawayo.
Zimbabwe Cricket (ZC) confirmed the schedule on Wednesday, with the first Test slated for 4-8 February, and the second Test match for 12-16 February. Ahead of the two-Test rubber West Indies will have a four-day warm-up match against a local side set for 28-31 January at Bulawayo Athletic Club.
All matches start at 10am local time (4am Eastern Caribbean/3am Jamaica).
“The tour to Zimbabwe early in 2023 will be an important part of our 2023 Test programme, which also includes series against South Africa and India," said CWI's Director of Cricket Jimmy Adams. "Having produced some good results early in 2022, the team will be eager to begin the year with strong performances in Zimbabwe.”
Zimbabwe’s last Test match was way back in July 2021 against Bangladesh in Harare and, according ZC Director of Cricket Hamilton Masakadza, they will be eager to make the most of the upcoming series.
“We are pleased to confirm the West Indies will be visiting us for two Test matches that will be played in Bulawayo,” Masakadza said.
“Although it’s been a while since we last played Test cricket, our boys will be hungry and ready for some red-ball action and I believe an exciting series against one of the game’s top sides is on the cards.”
The last Test Series between Zimbabwe and the West Indies was also played at Queens Sports Club in October 2017. West Indies clinched the two-match series having won the first game by 117 runs while the second match ended in a draw.
MATCH SCHEDULE
28-31 January: four-day warm-up match at Bulawayo Athletic Club
4-8 February: 1st Test at Queens Sports Club, Bulawayo
12-16 February: 2nd Test at Queens Sports Club, Bulawayo
Player of the Match Andre Russell’s six-laden half century and an MVP-like performance from Akeal Hosein helped steer Melbourne Renegades to a four-wicket victory over Brisbane Heat with four balls to spare in their Big Bash clash at Geelong on Wednesday.
Hosein took three wickets and scored a quick-fire 30 for Melbourne after Russell had bludgeoned them back into contention after a Michael Neser’s hat-trick had threatened to deny them victory.
Brisbane won the toss and chose to bat first but were two wickets down for 14 in the third over thanks to Mujeeb ur Rahman and Hosein who claimed the wickets of Max Bryant for five and Colin Munro for eight, respectively.
However, knocks of 25 from Sam Billings, 29 from Matt Renshaw and an unbeaten Jimmy Peirson helped stage a recovery. However, after a partnership of 61 between Billings and Renshaw both were dismissed by Tom Rogers in the 11th over as Brisbane slipped to 78-4.
It was soon 96-5 as Rogers dismissed Ross Whitely for 8 in the 15 over.
Hosein took the wickets of Neser (3) and James Bazley (0) in three balls in the 15th over. Peirson smashed 45 from 30 balls with six fours to get Brisbane to a competitive 138-7.
Rogers ended with 4-23 while Hosein took 3-26 in another solid performance with the ball.
Melbourne’s relatively simple chase of just under seven runs an over, became extremely difficult when Neser ripped through the top order with just nine runs on the board.
He dismissed Sam Harper first ball and then Jake Fraser-McGurk from the final ball of the first over and then in his second dismissed Nic Maddinson for two and Johnathan Wells for a duck in consecutive balls of his second over to leave Melbourne facing defeat.
However, Russell and Aaron Finch staged a recovery would set the team firmly on the path to victory.
Russell hit two fours and six sixes and he and Finch put on 81 for the fifth wicket before he got out caught behind off Mark Steketee for 57 from 42 balls.
Hosein picked up from where Russell left off hitting two fours and two sixes in a 39-run partnership with Finch. He eventually holed out to deep midwicket for 30 from 19 balls off the fifth ball of Steketee’s final over with Melbourne needing just nine from seven balls.
Will Sutherland smashed Steketee’s last ball for a massive six over the midwicket boundary leaving Finch to hit the winning runs, a four over extra cover to seal with victory from Bazley’s second ball of the final over.
Melbourne’s third straight win means they have six points and only trail leaders Adelaide Strikers on net run rate.
India are hoping KL Rahul will be fit for their second and final Test with Bangladesh after he hurt a hand in the nets.
The batter has been skippering the side in the absence of regular captain Rohit Sharma, but he suffered an injury on Wednesday, the eve of the match.
Speaking ahead of Thursday's first day, batting coach Vikram Rathour indicated the blow was not a major one, but did not confirm whether Rahul would be fit to start.
"It doesn't [look serious]," he said. "He seems to be fine. Hopefully he'll be okay. The doctors are looking at it, but hopefully he'll be okay."
Rahul's potential absence would be a major blow to India, who are looking to seal a Test sweep after a 2-1 defeat to their hosts in their ODI series earlier this month.
Aside from Rohit, who is out with a thumb injury, Jasprit Bumrah remains a long-term absentee with back trouble, while Navdeep Saini is also missing for the second game due to a muscular problem.
Interim vice-captain Cheteshwar Pujara is the likely candidate to take over the leadership if Rahul is unable to recover in time, while Abhimanyu Easwaran could make his debut at the top of the order.
The Bengal batsman posted consecutive hundreds for India's A side, and was originally called up to the senior squad as Rohit's replacement.
Steve Smith has thrown his support behind embattled Australia opening batsman David Warner and predicted a steely reaction following poor form.
Warner has not scored a Test century in his past 27 innings, dating back to January 2020 against New Zealand and is running out of chances ahead of the second Test against South Africa starting on Monday at the MCG.
The 36-year-old left-hander was dismissed for a golden duck in the first innings of the first Test against the Proteas, scoring three in the second innings.
Warner failed to reach a half-century in the recent 2-0 Test series victory over the West Indies too, leading to calls for him to be dropped.
But Australia vice-captain Smith pointed to Warner's 106 from 102 balls against England at the MCG in a one-day international in November as reason for hope.
"You only have to look back a [few] weeks ago, a one-day game out here against England, he scored 100 on what was a pretty tough wicket," Smith told reporters.
"We've seen David when his back's up against the wall, he's done pretty well."
Smith added: "It doesn't matter what format of the game, Davey always plays in a pretty similar way, which has been the beauty of him in Test cricket, being able to take the game on from ball one.
"Sometimes it doesn't work, and he hasn't had a great deal of luck lately."
Australia selection chair George Bailey remained confident in Warner earlier this week, stating it was difficult to glean much from the Gabba Test which was dominated by the bowlers and over inside two days.
"No doubt David would be the first to say he'd like a few more runs and to be contributing a bit more knowing the importance of that role at the top of the order," Bailey said. "But full confidence that will come."
West Indies captain Hayley Matthews has jumped to second place among T20I allrounders and is ranked fourth among bowlers after the latest ICC update.
Matthews went up by three places among the bowlers, to slot in behind Sophie Ecclestone, Sarah Glenn and Deepti Sharma, and rose one spot among allrounders to be just four rating points away from No. 1 Sophie Devine.
In four T20Is at home against England, who are leading 4-0 in the five-match series, Matthews has picked up five wickets and scored 66 runs with knocks of 23 and 25 in the last two games.
Barbadian all-rounder Matthew Forde produced an excellent display to help the Dambulla Aura defeat the Galle Gladiators by four wickets in the Lankan Premier League on Monday.
Despite a top score of 63 not out from Nuwanidu Fernando, the Gladiators were restricted to 129-8 from their 20 overs after winning the toss and choosing to bat.
Forde, who represented the West Indies at the 2020 ICC Under-19 World Cup in South Africa and the St. Lucia Kings in the most recent edition of the Caribbean Premier League (CPL), was spectacular with the ball, producing figures of 4-11 from his four overs, conceding just one boundary in the process.
The Barbadian also led the way with the bat, scoring a 30-ball 52 including six fours and two sixes to spearhead an easy chase. Englishman Jordan Cox also contributed well with 34 as the Aura needed just 14.2 overs to reach 134-6.
The win was just the second for the Aura this season meaning they failed to advance to the playoffs.
The Playoffs begin on Wednesday with the Kandy Falcons taking on the Jaffna Kings in Qualifier one before the Colombo Stars and the Galle Gladiators face off in the eliminator.
The Sydney Thunder hit 10 times as many runs against the Adelaide Strikers as they managed the last time the two met, but still came up short on Tuesday.
Unwanted history was made by the Thunder when they were all out for just 15 in the Big Bash League on Friday, the lowest total ever recorded in men's professional T20 cricket.
Unsurprisingly, they lost that game at the Sydney Showground Stadium to the Strikers, who had set a target of 140.
All eyes were on the Thunder to see if they could respond when the two teams met again in Adelaide, and an ironic cheer went up from the home fans as openers Alex Hales and Matthew Gilkes went past 15 after just two-and-a-half overs.
T20 World Cup winner Hales went on to hit 68 from 50 balls, including six fours and three sixes, while Ollie Davies added 42 from 30 as the Thunder posted a far more respectable total of 150-5 from their 20 overs, exactly 10 times as many as last week.
It was not enough, though. Jake Weatherald fell early for Adelaide in their chase, but they were rarely troubled after that as Matt Short (65) was ably supported by 28 each from Chris Lynn and Adam Hose (not out).
Despite a late run out of Colin de Grandhomme, the Strikers eased to the target with six wickets and eight balls to spare to maintain their winning start to the season, while the Thunder have won just one of their four matches.
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