BBL 2021-22 | Gurinder Sandhu takes maiden BBL hat-trick to halt Perth Scorchers

Ben Stokes' injury in the fourth Ashes Test adds to England's misery

Ben Stokes could not provide a breakthrough to his side but instead he damaged the left side of his body.

Amid Covid-19 outbreaks, Cricket Australia shifts entire Big Bash League to Melbourne

In a desperate attempt to salvage the ongoing edition of the Big Bash League at any cost despite the continuous outbreak of Covid-19 in multiple sides, Cricket Australia has made a move to shift the whole tournament to Melbourne. The move, in views of Cricket Australia, CEO Nick Hockley, will give the organisers flexibility while dealing with last-minute complications arising out of Covid-19 cases and subsequent mitigation processes. “What we’re dealing with is unprecedented. We’ll be gradually centralising (the teams) into Melbourne. “What that enables us (Cricket Australia) to do is if a team is significantly impacted, it gives us much more flexibility to be able to swap teams in and complete the fixture,” Hockley told Australia’s SEN Radio. Hockley, who himself has contracted Covid-19 and is under isolation, also took cognisance of the state of Brisbane Heat and Melbourne Stars, who have been the worst affected sides from Covid-19. He expressed regrets over those sides not having their “full-strength” team to pick from but expressed hope that things will start falling in place and teams will have their best players to choose from in the business end of the tournament. “Those two particular clubs (Stars and Heat) have been heavily impacted,” Hockley said. “We’ve faced some different timing challenges with test results coming back. It’s not ideal. Obviously, we want everyone to have their full-strength team available. “We’ve got a really clear plan now for the final run-in of the competition. We are very confident that we’ll be able to complete the competition,” he added.

BBL 2021-22: Melbourne Renegades thump Brisbane Heat, courtesy all-round show

Melbourne Renegades produced a dominating performance against Brisbane Heat in Geelong on Thursday to win the match by 5 wickets. Chasing a target of 129 runs, the Renegades lost opener Sam Harper without troubling the scorers but Aaron Finch and Shaun Marsh got into the act and stitched a partnership of 96 runs for the second wicket. While Marsh went on to notch up a fifty, Finch scored 37 off 28 during the course. After Marsh’s departure, the Melbourne Renegades lost some wickets at quick intervals but captain Nic Maddinson held the fort at the one end to anchor the side to a win. He scored an unbeaten 22 off 14. David Grant scalped three wickets for 20 runs in 4 overs. Apart from him Mujeeb also returned with impressive figures as he picked up one wicket for 16 runs in 4 overs. Earlier, Brisbane Heat started off well as openers Jake Lehmann and Jack Clayton put up 36 runs for the first wicket on the board but Clayton’s dismissal certainly broke the shackles and the side lost wickets at regular succession and were reduced to 98/5 to eventually get restricted to 128/6 in 20 overs. Lehmann scored 65 off 52. For the Renegades, Kane Richardson, Zahir Khan and Nabi picked up two wickets apiece. “Great to get a few wins under the belt. Always a pleasure to contribute to the team's win,” Marsh said after the match.

BCCI will do everything to restart the domestic season: Ganguly to to state units

The BCCI had to postpone the domestic fixtures which included the Ranji Trophy, Col CK Nayudu Trophy and Women’s T20 league due to the rise in Covid-19 cases in the country. But the BCCI President Sourav Ganguly has assured the state associations that the board “will do everything to restart the domestic season once the COVID-19 situation is under control”. “As you are aware, we had to put on hold the currently on-going domestic season due to the worsening COVID-19 situation,” Ganguly said in a letter to state associations. While the Ranji Trophy and CK Nayudu Trophy were slated to begin this month, the Women’s T20 League was slated to commence in February. “The COVID cases are rapidly increasing and there were multiple positive cases in many teams. It posed an imminent threat to the health and safety of players, officials and all others related to the running of the tournaments,” Ganguly wrote in the mail to Presidents and Secretaries of all the units. The former India skipper told the state boards that the BCCI would come up with a revised plan and it is committed to holding the remaining tournaments. “The BCCI would like to reassure that it will do everything to restart the domestic season once the COVID situation is under control.” “We are committed to holding the remaining tournaments for this season. The Board will shortly come back to you with a revised plan,” said Ganguly. Earlier, several Bengal players, India all-rounder Shivam Dube and Mumbai team’s video analyst had tested positive for Covid-19.