BBL 2021-22: Hughes, Christian power Sydney Sixers to easy win over Thunder in rain-curtailed contest

Daniel Hughes and Daniel Christian produced match-winning performances to help the Sydney Sixers prevail over the Sydney Thunder in a rain-curtailed Sydney Derby. The game was reduced to 16 overs per side after rain played spoilsport and the Sixers posted a good total of 168/4 in 16 overs on the board batting first.

Hughes hammered the opponents all around the park and notched up a 26-ball 50 which included five maximums and a four. Later, Christian chipped in with a brisk and unbeaten knock of 41 runs off 17 deliveries.

Chris Green was the pick of the bowlers for his side after he returned with figures of 1/19 in 6 overs while Daniel Sams scalped a couple at the cost of 29 runs in 3 overs.

In reply, the Thunder team lost wickets at regular intervals but Jason Sangha held the fort strong at one end before he departed for a 30-ball 47. The Sydney Thunder team couldn’t really get back into the groove despite a 28 off 11 from Sams. His innings consisted of four sixes during the course.

Sydney Thunder were eventually bundled out for 142 in 15.1 overs to lose the match by 30 runs (D/L Method). Hayden Karr bagged a three-wicket haul for his team while Ben Dwarshuis, Sean Abbott and Lloyd Pope had two wickets each.

Christian later talked about the bowling attack and how the rain helped the wicket to skid.

“I was lukcy it came off tonight, the boys set a really good platform and the rain helped the wicket to skid on particularly towards the end. We bowled really well and everyone chipped in. It was a fantastic team effort. We got good depth and confidence in each other,” he said after the match.

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SA vs IND | 1st Test, Day 1: Mayank, Rahul provide India perfect start with 100-run opening stand

The opening duo of Mayank Agarwal and KL Rahul did not let the men in blue miss Rohit Sharma and provided a perfect start to the Test series against South Africa in Centurion. The duo remained unbeaten till the end of the first session and stitched a valuable opening partnership of 82 runs in the first session of the game and series on the first Test of the series at SuperSport Park. Both the batsmen were very watchful around the off stump and did not play a lot of deliveries they could afford to leave. However, Mayank, in particular, was not defensive by any sort and punished the Proteas bowling attack whenever they erred in their line and lengths. The bowling attack comprising of Kagiso Rabada, Lungi Ngidi provided a containing start to the Proteas but they bowled a bit too short and wide to the batsmen and allowed them the opportunity to leave balls outside their off stump. They were also guilty of not being able to adapt to the high bounce on the surface and allowed back of a length delivery which the batsmen left even on the line of stumps as they could trust the bounce. Mayank was more severe against the debutant Marco Jansen and welcomed him to Test cricket with three fours in his first over to seek command over the youngster. The left-armer bounced back quickly and created an opportunity by grabbing the outside edge of his bat but Quinton de Kock spilt the chance to give him a reprieve. The 82-run partnership is the first opening partnership of more than 50 runs since the opening partnership of 137 runs between Gautam Gambhir and Virender Sehwag in the first Test of the 2010-11 Test series in the rainbow nation. India have had a long history of struggles at the top of the order in overseas conditions but the story has been remarkably different this year. They could not find an opening pair to stitch long partnerships in the entire decade starting the tour of England in 2011 but they have been able to deliver as many as seven fifty-plus opening partnerships in the longest format this year. They have had various personnel for the role considering the spells of injuries and indifferent form but almost all individuals have put their hands up. At first, it was the opening pair of Rohit and Shubman Gill in Australia and in the World Test Championship final and then it was the pair of Rohit and Rahul in England, followed by this pair of Rahul and Mayank in the ongoing Centurion Test.

The Ashes | 3rd Test | Day 1: Australia in commanding position after bowlers rattle England batting unit

Australia began the proceedings in a dominating manner in the third Ashes Test in Melbourne after ending Day 1 at 61/1, trailing by 124 in reply to England’s 185. The home side started off well as Marcus Harris and David Warner stitched a 57-run stand for the first wicket before Warner was sent back in the hut for 38 by James Anderson. Harris remained unbeaten at 20 while Nathan Lyon who had walked in as the night watchman was on zero off five when the stumps were called on. Earlier, in the day, England had continued to struggle with their batting as the visitors once again saw a collapse in the first innings. England were 13/2 when Dawid Malan and captain Joe Root tried to steady the ship for the side with a partnership of 48 runs for the third wicket. But Malan was eventually undone for 14 while Root continued with his good batting form and notched up a fifty. The visiting team kept losing wickets at one end but it was Jonny Bairstow who resisted well from the other side and scored 35 off 75. Later, Ollie Robinson and Jack Leach chipped in with some runs. While Robinson scored 22 off 26, Leach struck 13 off 18. For Australia, it was Pat Cummins and Lyon who scalped three wickets each while Starc had a couple of scalps to his name. Australia presently lead the five-match series 2-0.

SA vs IND | 1st Test, Day 1: Teams make bold selection calls; Rahane retained, Marco Jansen makes debut

Indis skipper Virat Kohli has won the first toss of the series against South Africa and decided to bat first on what appeared to be a green surface at SuperSport Park in Centurion. While he conceded that there are “lots of grass” on the surface, he said that India’s strength has been putting runs on the board away from home and also the history of the venue which suggest that the surface gets quicker from the second day played a role in choosing to bat first. Kohli went on to divulge the team combination for the first Test and announced that Shardul Thakur will play as an all-rounder while the likes of Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammad Siraj and Mohammad Shami form the trio of frontline pacers. The hosts chose to stick with Ajinkya Rahane despite the tremendous form of Hanuma Vihari and Shreyas Iyer leading up to the series. South Africa too went with an aggressive team combination and selected a five-man bowling attack comprising of the all-rounder Wian Mulder and left-arm spinner Keshav Maharaj. They also handed Test debut to left-arm pacer Marco Jansen in the first Test and the right arm pacer Duan Olivier, who was expected to come back to the South Africa side immediately after returning to their scheme of things will have to wait a little more for his opportunity.

Dinesh Karthik shoulders batting line-up, scores ton to rescue Tamil Nadu

A hundred in a tournament final is special and Dinesh Karthik’s smile said it all when he ran that 100th run against Himachal Pradesh in the Vijay Hazare Trophy 2021 final while playing for Tamil Nadu in Jaipur on Sunday. The right-hander had almost played the ball onto his stumps but it somehow didn’t hit the woodwork behind him. Karthik completed his century. Tamil Nadu didn’t really have a great start to the proceedings as the Himachal Pradesh bowlers did take early advantage of the conditions at Sawai Mansingh Stadium and scalped four early wickets to leave Tamil Nadu struggling at 40/4. Karthik and Baba Indrajith shouldered the innings seeing out the tough spells of Himachal pace bowlers. They were earlier shielded for a brief period by R Sai Kishore and Murugan Ashwin, two lower order batsmen who were promoted up the order. At the time of writing TN were 283/6 after 46 overs with Shahrukh Khan and Vijay Shankar in middle. The two batsmen took up the onus on themselves and stitched a stand of 202 runs for the fifth wicket before Indrajith departed for a well-compiled 80 off 71 balls. Karthik followed him in a span of four runs to get dismissed for a 103-ball 116, a knock that included seven maximums and 8 fours during the course. Both Karthik and Indrajith did a brilliant job in rebuilding the innings as they started off in a cautious manner and then took on the bowlers once they got their eye in. Karthik, though also got some help from the Himachal Pradesh fielders as he was dropped twice, first by the wicket-keeper in 33rd over and then by the fielder stationed at the short third man area while he was in 90s in the 39th over.