AUS vs IND: Joe Burns cleared to play Boxing day Test, Will pucovski ruled out

BBL | Sixers vs Strikers: Sixers way too superior for the Strikers

It turned out to be an utterly dominating performance from the Sydney Sixers as they eased past the Adelaide Strikers by 38 runs in the 11th match of BBL 10 and registered their 2nd victory of the tournament in 3 games. After a pretty poor start in the batting department, it was Dan Christian who turned the match on its head as the Sixers scored 116 from the last 8 overs. The Strikers started off in a scintillating fashion in the powerplay as they raced off to 51 in the first 4. However, the Strikers lost their way after losing the 1st wicket and there was no way back from there. Wickets kept tumbling and in the end, the Strikers fell well short of the victory target. Earlier in the day, it was the Adelaide Strikers who won the toss and opted to field. The pitch at the Bellerive Oval in Hobart yet again had some life for the fast bowlers and the Strikers used it to good effect. The pace bowling trio of Peter Siddle, Wes Agar and Daniel Worral was quite exceptional with the new ball and the Sydney Sixers were under the pump from the outset. All the top 3 batters including Josh Philippe, Jack Edwards and James Vince never really managed to get going as they were consistently beaten by some exceptional swing bowling by Daniel Worral in particular. It was a sight to behold as the fast bowlers came running in and the lateral movement which was on offer never really allowed the Sixers to get settled in the crease. Philippe was the first to go as an attempted ramp shot ended up in the hands of the keeper. Two more wickets fell in quick succession and the Sixers were falling behind the game. It was in the 13th over when Daniel Christian turned the complexion of the game with some lusty power hitting. He struck 22 runs in 13th over which was studded with a couple of fours and sixes each and it looked he was batting in a totally different pitch. There was no respite for the great Rashid Khan as well as he was also plundered for a couple of sixes as Christian completed his half-century in just 15 deliveries, the 2nd fastest half-century in BBL history. Just after completing his fifty, he was held out in the deep of the bowling of Wes Agar. However, that innings was enough to help them claw their way back into the match and was supported quite brilliantly by Daniel Hughes. He held the innings together and smashed a few lusty blows in the final few overs. Jason Holder and Jordan Silk chipped in with crucial knocks in the final two overs as the Sydney Sixers posted a more than competitive 177 on the board in their allotted 20 overs. The target of 178 was always going to be a challenging one for the Strikers. They needed a great start and that was provided by the opening duo Philip Salt and Jack Weatherald. Right from the outset, Salt and Weatherald kept whacking the bowlers all around the park and raced off to a 50 runs partnership in just 4 overs. The Adelaide Strikers’ bowlers were well and truly under pressure but the wicket of Philip Salt opened the floodgates and there was a procession from thereon. Yet again it was Dan Christian who started the procession, this time with the ball in hand. Soon wickets kept tumbling one after the other as Ben Manenti joined the fun and took two quick wickets in the form of Jack Weatherald and Matt Renshaw. Captain Alex Carey couldn’t get going either and was castled by a beautiful inswinger from Carlos Brathwaite. Steve O'Keeffe also joined in the act and got himself into the wickets column with the scalp of Matthew Short. The equation from there on was way too much for the Strikers. Jonathan Wells and Liam Scott occupied the crease for a while but the big shots weren’t coming and the pressure kept mounting. Eventually, Scott was dismissed by Keefee in the 16th over as the Strikers needed 69 to win from the last 4 and it was always going to be an uphill task from there. Wells and Rashid Khan tried valiantly but the target was way too much in the end and they were unable to execute the big shots. Rashid was dismissed in the final over when the match was already done and dusted. Some exceptional bowling by the Sixers in the middle and the late overs eventually propelled them to an utterly comprehensive victory in the end.

NZ vs PAK 2nd T20: Williamson, Seifert lead Blackcaps to series win after Hafeez's heroics

A valiant effort with the bat from Mhammed Hafiz was enough for the touring Pakistan side as an unbeaten partnership for the second wicket between Kane Williamson and Tim Seifert guided Blackcaps to an unassailable 2-0 lead in Hamilton. Chasing a modest target of 164 at the Seddon Park, the Blackcaps were off to a rapid start as Martin Guptill looked like turning back the clock to the time when he was batting and big shots were coming off sweetly off his bat over long-off. He started to time the ball brilliantly from the second over and took 12 runs off Haris Rauf through a big six and a boundary. He hit another big one off Faheem Ashraf in his first over but the all-rounder was smart enough to change the pace of the ball and flummoxed Guptill in to play pull shot too early. The next man in was the returning skipper Kane Williamson who had come back after becoming a father and he brought his biggest skill-calmness on the field for the home side. On the other hand, Tim Seifert was going all guns blazing as the Kiwis reached a middling total of 45/1 at the end of the powerplay. The tourists would have hoped for a controlled phase of play after the field restriction was lifted but Seifert had other plans in his mind. He took Wahab Riaz for three sixes and whatever the control Shadab Khan-led side had till that moment was gone in a jiffy. With 19 runs off the seventh over, Kiwis were up and running and the run rate came back under control. They needed both Williamson and Siefert to not throw their wickets away and they were not in any mood to do so. Williamson was batting in his usual touch and all the balls he could afford to guide towards the third man boundary were guided for four from the position just under his eyes in his signatory ways. Williamson reached his fifty in 37 balls, although he was slowed down after a brief period of time after reaching 49 runs with the bat. While Seifert had no mercy on the Pakistani bowlers and kept on plundering them on loose balls as he reached his second consecutive fifty in just 32 balls. His onslaught only got better as he kept on finding boundaries and in the end, the hosts were proven too good for the touring Pakistan team and the target was achieved in the last over with unbelievable ease. Earlier, Pakistan captain Shadab Khan won the toss and elected to bat first and utilise the good pitch at the Seddon Park. Pakistan openers Mohammed Rizwan and Haider Ali started with a bang and the much famous pair of Tim Southee and Trent Boult were attacked in the first two overs. But soon enough, they were given a reality check by the Kiwi new ball pair and they found movement in the air to check the touring batsmen. Haider Ali was the first man to go after he tried to take on Southee and the pacer held on to his nerve and backed his skills to hit the length that troubled Ali while attempting to go over the top. The next man in, Abdullah Shafique, could not match the skills to ride on the bounce Southee was generating and ended up getting out in a much embarrassing fashion. Southee was top through the top of his rhythm and he started to swing the ball and took a Test match like field placings with slips and gully. Williamson persisted with Southee with the amount of swing he was able to extract and the move paid dividend when Rizwan edged one through to the keeper Seifert while attempting to drive an away going delivery of Southee that was reminiscent of Kiwis’ bowling in Test cricket. Mohammed Hafiz, who has been growing like an old wine (in T20s), came to bat at the number four position and got off to a decent start with two back to back boundaries of Kyle Jamieson. He continued his boundary hitting streak against Scott Kuggeleijn and was keeping Pakistan in the game albeit wickets had fallen at the other end. The old nemesis of Pakistan’s batsmen on the tour so far was evident today as well as James Neesham got the better of Shadab Khan with a ball that bounced more than Pakistan’s skipper may have expected. Wickets kept tumbling at the other end, but an unfazed Hafeez was on the money and was keeping Pakistan in pursuit of a big score in Hamilton. Khushdil Shah who came to bat at the number six position found it extremely tough to get going and it was putting a lot of pressure on Hafeez to go for big shots as well keeping his wickets intact with no better batsmen remaining in the pavilion to rescue the side. In the process of a masterful T20 inning, Hafeez surpassed Shoaib Malik to become the best Pakistan batsman in the shortest format. He stamped his authority by depositing Kuggleijn for two back-to-back sixes to reach a much-deserved fifty that Pakistan badly needed to stay in the contest. There was no stopping Hafeez as every form of bowling, from the leg-spin of Ish Sodhi to left-arm pace of Trent Boult were taken to the cleaners. He needed 18 runs in the last over of the innings to be bowled by Jamieson, and he got stuck into the young man, but could not quite complete a century he richly deserved for single-handedly taking Pakistan to a total which the bowlers could have hoped of defending from a situation of doom and gloom for the tourists. Pakistan were without Babar Azam for the T20 series and the effect was telling on the level of performance of the Pakistan team as New Zealand took full toll of their problems and shortcoming and handed out a massive drubbing in the format Pakistan were expected to put up a great fight.

Pakistan's A team registers strong win against New Zealand A

Pakistan Shaheens, or as they would more informally be called, Pakistan A, registered a morale-boosting win over New Zealand A in the one-off unofficial Test at Whangerei on Sunday. Chasing a target of 298, the home side was bowled out for 226, losing by a margin of 89 runs. For the Shaheens, three wickets each were picked up by pacers Naseem Shah and Amad Butt while Yasir Shah, the leading leg-spinner in Test cricket today, took a couple. One wicket each went into the account of seamers Mohammad Abbas and Sohail Khan. The day started with Pakistan's second-string side, at least nominally, at 318/9 and leading by 286 runs. The pair of Naseem Shah and Mohammad Abbas added 11 runs more to the total before Matt Henry wrapped up the innings at 329, picking up his sixth wicket of the innings. The Kiwi seamer ended up with figures of 6/53. In response, no New Zealand A batsman could score even a half century. The highest scorer in the innings was Nathan Smith with 45. Captain Michael Bracewell and Joe Carter scored 30 each in the middle order. This loss for New Zealand A came after their emphatic 2-0 triump over West Indies A in the previous unofficial Test series. But this loss won't hurt that much because the Pakistan team was stacked with regular members of the main Test squad of the country. The batting line-up consisted of batsmen such as Shan Masood, Azhar Ali, Abid Ali, Fawad Alam - all part of the Test set up. The bowling line-up also included Test bowlers like Mohammad Abbas, Yasir Shah, and Naseem Shah. The biggest takeaway from this match would be the century by Fawad Alam. An enigmatic player who has been in and out of the Pakistan team's set up and treated unfairly by selectors very often, he laid another strong claim to a spot in the Test team. Since he played in the team's last series, in England, he should get reselected. For the hosts, the form of Matt Henry is encouraging. New Zealand have a top class bowling line-up with Tim Southee and Trent Boult forming, one of the best bowling duos in the world. They are backed up by the indefatigable Neil Wagner and prodigious young talent Kyle Jamieson. But Henry, who has been a regular member of the ODI team, has made the selectors take note of him and may be the back-up for either Southee or Boult, if they miss any of the matches.

Sunil Gavaskar urges BCCI to send Ishant Sharma on next flight to Australia

There were more troubles for the touring Indian team on the third day of the Adelaide Test when they were bowled out to their lowest total in their history of Test cricket. Other than the carnage they had to swallow at the hands of Australian bowlers, Indians were struck dearly when one of their premiere pacer, Mohammed Shami was hit on his right wrist while batting. Shami looked in severe pain and at the end of the match, captain Virat Kohli had said that Shami could not even lift his hand due to pain. The right-arm pacer was taken to hospital for a scan and as per a report by news agency ANI, Shami has suffered a fracture of his wrist, and subsequently has been ruled out of the remainder of the series. The injury to Shami will be a huge blow to Indian team which is already without the first choice players in Rohit Sharma and Ishant Sharma while Kohli will be returning home and won't take part further in the series. Former Indian opener Sunil Gavaskar, who is in Australia to call on the game for the host broadcaster Channel 7, said that in absence of Shami and Ishant, Indian bowling department looks toothless and they won’t be able to challenge the Australian batting line up over the next three tests. Fearing the worst for the Indian team, Gavaskar has suggested that Ishant should be sent to Australia on the next flight if he is fit enough to bowl 20 overs in a day. “If Ishant Sharma is fit, I am suggesting to send him to Australia now. If he is capable of bowling 20 overs in a day, the management should send him to Australia on tomorrow’s flight so that he can be ready for the Sydney Test,” Gavaskar said. He urged the Indian selectors and the BCCI to address the issue as quickly as possible in order to make Ishant available to play in the Sydney Test, scheduled to start on January 07, as there no quality pacers in Australia to back up with performances on the level of Ishant Sharma and Mohammed Shami. He pointed out that although one of the backup steamer-- Navdeep Saini has the potential to succeed at the international level, he is not in rhythm to leave impact against Australia based on his bowling in the tour game against Australia A. “I am saying India should look at taking a chance because there is no proper back-up now. Navdeep Saini has the potential to pick wickets but the way he bowled in the warm-up matches, it doesn’t look like he will be able to trouble the Australia batsmen,” he further said.