Another Pakistan squad member tests COVID-19 positive in New Zealand; total tally at 7

England in SA: The whims and fancies of Jonny Bairstow

South Africa were on course to pocket a victory on their return to the cricketing calendar but met an unshakeable force of nature in Jonny Bairstow.

England vs South Africa 1st T20I: What Experts said after Bairstow' heroics

The highly action-packed day for cricket that November 27 was ended with visitors England registering an impressive five-wicket win over South Africa at Cape Town in the first of a three-match T20I series. In a high-scoring affair, Jonny Bairstow's dashing knock of 86* from 48 balls proved too good for the Proteas as they failed to defend a target of 180. England had chosen to field first after winning the toss. Thanks to a quick 30 from their captain Quinton de Kock and a half-century (58) from Faf du Plessis, the hosts reached a score of 179/6 in their 20 overs. Rassie van der Dussen's 37 off 28 and Heinrich Klaasen's 20 off 12 gave an extra boost to SA's score. In reply, England recovered from 34/3 thanks to an 85-run partnership between Ben Stokes and Bairstow. After Stokes' dismissal - he scored 37 from 27 - Bairstow kept going and saw his team through to a 1-0 lead in the series. Captain's Take Ending up on the losing side, South Africa captain de Kock didn't sound too disappointed with his team. Instead, he gave credit to the England team for batting well. "We thought it was a good total, didn't come off tonight. I don't think it was that one over, Jonny and Ben built a partnership, Jonny batted really well, changed his gameplan to the pitch," the SA skipper explained. The one over he referred to was the one where England scored 28 off Beuran Hendricks. De Kock also thought that there wasn't much different that he could have done. "Small things in the field we could have done differently, match awareness. We didn't play badly, they played really well." Eoin Morgan, who must have enjoyed this victory after England's home ODI series loss to Australia some months ago, did not overlook the fact that his team's win came mainly thanks to a few great individual efforts. "(This win is) pleasing because we were average apart from two or three guys. Chasing was difficult, especially three-down, but Jonny and Ben set it up nicely, to win when you don't play your best is nice," Morgan said after the match. He further added that improvements are necessary in England's performance. "Collectively, regardless of the team and the time around each other, the more we play the more we will gel. Not doom and gloom, nice to start with a win, but we need to be doing the right things," the England captain asserted. Expert's Take Watching as a viewer, England pacer Tymal Mills expressed joy over his team's win. "An excellent win and a really good game of cricket to start the series. Bairstow was brilliant with the bat and Sam Curran brilliant with the ball. There's plenty to build on but an exciting start." Former South African spinner Robin Peterson expressed his admiration for Bairstow. "Jonny Bairstow is such a adaptable cricketer. Exceptional skill set at the top of the order and now showing middle order prowess too." Former England captain and cricket commentator Michael Atherton pointed out the value of this innings for Bairstow. "He would look back fondly on this innings because there was a lot of discussion...about his role in the side... There were some question marks as to whether he should be playing. He has answered them emphatically," Atherton said in a television interview.

CWC Super League would become significant when powerhouses are knocked over

Former Indian pacer Zaheer Khan, pointing out the significance of the newly formed Cricket World Cup Super League by the International Cricket Council, said that its significance would be realized in a few year's time when an associate nation would knock over a cricket powerhouse. Speaking on Cricbuzz Live, Khan, 41, said, “Well the real significance of it will come about when one of the powerhouses gets derailed. Right now it’s just the beginning, so powerhouses will surely qualify easily.” Zaheer then went on to predict a time when some associate or the other would break the chain of some powerhouse of cricket and, to make his point, he gave the example of Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Afghanistan have come through the ranks. “….But there will be a time when one of the associates will really push the powerhouses. We have seen it [happening] with Afghanistan; we have seen it with Bangladesh. If you go two decades back then in the 90s, how Sri Lanka won that ’96 (1996) World Cup was also through the same process,” Zaheer said. Speaking on the same show, Michael Vaughan, the former England captain also felt that the Super League has indeed given some context to the ODI series. Saying that although India would qualify directly as hosts for the 2023 World Cup, Vaughan feels that this Australia tour would now be a real Test Kohli and his men as every game would now have context, be it ODIs or the Tests. According to the rules of the Super League, 12 Test-playing nations plus Netherlands are a part of this league. Each side plays eight teams once in a three-match ODI series. Ten points would be granted for a win and five for a tie. The first league begins on 1st May 2020 and would go on till 31st March 2022. In between that period, the seven teams (apart from India, since it qualifies directly as hosts) which would be on the top of the table, would qualify directly for the 2023 World Cup, while the other six teams would go through a qualifier. The Super League started with England playing Ireland in a three match ODI series in the first-ever ODI series post the covid restrictions. As of now, England occupies the top position with 30 points from 6 games, while India is still to open its account, having lost its first match by 66 runs to Australia in Sydney, today.

LPL 2020: Afridi hits 23-ball 58, but how did he play without quarantining?

Former Pakistan all-rounder and world-famous big hitter Shahid Afridi announced his arrival in Lanka Premier League (LPL) in style as he hit a 23-ball 58 which included six colossal sixes and three fours to set the Galle Gladiators inning on fire at Hambantota. But the bigger question that shocked people across the cricket fraternity are asking is: how was he able to play in the first place without completing his mandatory quarantine period. Afridi arrived in the island nation only on Tuesday, after missing his flight on Monday. He was said to miss the first two matches of the league due to quarantine. The 40-year-old, having already contracted COVID-19 once in June this year, just went through an antibody check post his normal COVID-19 check-up and was allowed to take part in the league by entering the bio-bubble, without spending much time in the isolation period. On Friday, the results from this test confirmed that Afridi had antibodies to the virus, and as such, is not at risk of spreading COVID-19. Ravin Wickramaratne, the LPL 2020 director also confirmed that LPL's medical staff had cleared Afridi following receipt of the results of the antibody test. The T20 World Cup winner, though, did complete his three-day isolated quarantine, awaiting the results of the tests. In the match, the Karachi-born player, who has more than 10,000 international runs and nearly 600 international wickets in his kitty, played a captain’s knock as he formed a crucial 62-run partnership off just 27 balls with all-rounder Shehan Jayasuriya. The partnership came at a time when, in the 14th over, half the team was back in the pavilion. The entire top-order was gone at the score of just 93. It was Afridi’s innings which took the team to a respectable total of 178. At the time of writing this news, the chasing side, Jaffna Stallions, were at 66/2 in the 8th over of their innings.