BBL10 | Preview: Last chance for Hurricanes; Wade’s men must do or die against Sixers

The Hobart Hurricanes under their original captain Matthew Wade lost the very first game against the Perth Scorchers in a situation where they could have won, had their batsmen applied themselves more on the crease. This time around they have another shot at the target thanks to the loss of Melbourne Stars against the Perth Scorchers.

On the other hand, the Sixers after the humiliating loss to Thunder would be egged to showcase to the fans and the entire BBL teams that they are still the best in the league, especially after the rise of the Scorchers in the recent past.

Malan and McDermott cannot fail at the same time

For Hurricanes to succeed they cannot afford both of their best batsmen in Ben McDermott and Dawid Malan to fail at the same time in the same game. Be it two games against the Perth Scorchers or a game against the Sixers, whenever the two have failed together, Hurricanes have been in deep trouble.

On the contrary, when the two have succeeded, the Men in Purple too have seen success. It is therefore important for Hurricanes that the two men apply themselves and see the Hurricanes team through.

Sixers would be anxious to show their best

The Sixers on the other hand would try and lessen their mistakes which they committed against the Thunder, which were not bowling the right length. Another problem with the Sixers was that they could not deal with the pressure when the Thunder were hitting them all over the park and all these things are not associated with Sixers of this season. Daniel Hughes’ men would therefore try and put their best foot forward in this game.

With Moises Henriques back and Sean Abbott surely playing in the next game, these stars would also have it in their mind to perform as per their ability and hence would be anxious to prove that their team is still the toughest to beat in the league.

Sixers vs Hurricanes

Match Number- 52

Date and Time- Jan 24, 2021, 01:45:00 pm IST, 07:15pm Local, 08.15 am GMT

Venue- Melbourne Cricket Ground, Melbourne

Broadcast- Sony LIV, Sony Sports Network

Pitch Report

The MCG pitches in all the last three games have been similar to high scoring games in offer. In such a case this pitch is supposed to show similar traits and thus a high scoring affair is in the offing for the audiences at the Big G.

Weather and Bat Flip

The weather in Melbourne is going to be a bit hotter than usual and in the evening time, there would be 60% cloud coverage. The team winning the toss in such a situation would like to bat first and utilize the fresh pitch to score as much as they can.

Hurricanes Strongest XI

D’Arcy Short, Matthew Wade (c), Ben McDermott (wk), Dawid Malan, Tim David, Tim Paine, Will Jacks, Nathan Ellis, Scott Boland, Riley Meredith, Sandeep Lamichhane

Sixers Strongest XI

Josh Philippe (wk), James Vince, Daniel Hughes (c), Moises Henriques, Jordan Silk, Daniel Christian, Carlos Brathwaite, Sean Abbott, Steve OKeefe, Jackson Bird, Lloyd Pope

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BBL 10 | Perth Scorchers storm into qualifiers winning three on a trot

In a remarkable story of revival in the history of the Big Bash League, Perth Scorchers have hounded out the other franchises to storm into the top the table. After bagging just one point from their first four encounters, Perth turned the tables around winning eight matches from their last nine games. After defeating Melbourne Stars in a thrilling encounter on Saturday, 23 January, Perth qualified for the playoff stages of the current Big Bash season. In a nervy match that went till the final over, Perth successfully defended 183 runs put on board by their international recruits Jason Roy (54 off 32) and Colin Munro (46 off 30). Speaking after the game, man of the match Roy lauded the ability of the team’s ability to come back in the press conference and spoke about how strong Perth is as a group. “Massive turnaround. Lovely feeling having got this fifty. After the start we had. we were down in the dumps. Takes a strong group to come back. We have shown great character in the change room. We've adapted really well,” said Roy. Andrew Tye was the pick among the bowlers for Perth Scorchers picking up two crucial wickets of Nathan Coulter-Nile, (7 off 4) and Nick Larkin (70 off 44) who was looking in ominous touch. He was ably supported by Jason Behrendorff who picked up a wicket maiden, a rarity in T20 cricket. Barring Larkin, no other Stars’ batsmen looked in good touch and failed to provide the support Larkin needed. Glenn Maxwell’s poor patch continued with him getting dismissed for a duck after surviving three balls. Earlier in the day, Stars inability to pick wickets at the MCG meant that they were unable to keep the run rate in check. Scoring at a steady rate of over eight, eight and a half per over, the Jason Roy-led assault took Scorchers to a comfortable 182. This game turned out to be a big jolt to Stars’ top four push, who now struggle at the fifth place with 24 points, eight points behind the top two teams. The Big Bash is nearing its business end and with just six group-stage matches left, Sydney Thunder and Adelaide Strikers find themselves at a good spot to seal the last two positions.

BBL10 | Preview: Thunder face strikers in a potential quarterfinal for the Playoffs

Sydney Thunder, after their last game victory against the Sixers, would be in high spirits and would like to cash on to it when they face Adelaide Strikers, another team that would be coming on the back of a great over the Heat. Playing at home, the Strikers would not be an easy pushover and hence the game is tantalizing an exciting watch not only for the fans of these two teams but that too of the Stars and Hurricanes as well, as their convention for a place in the Playoffs would depend on the results of most other games from now onwards. Hales is key for Thunder Although it will be a home game for Thunder which is happening at the home of the opposition due to covid-19 protocols, the way Alex Hales performed in the last game, surely doesn’t feel like away from home for him. In the entire tournament, Thunder have won those games where Hales has performed well. Banking on that, the Thunder would like him to keep on going for the next two games as they would be missing the services of another of their best performers, Daniel Sams in the next two games. Apart from Hales, skipper Callum Ferguson and Sam Billings too have been good touch, and their contribution with the bat, especially against a side that has got brilliant bowlers like Wes Agar and Peter Siddle is going to be crucial. Carey and Agar: The two driving horses of Strikers' chariot If Adelaide Strikers want is to have their one foot into the Playoffs, it is going to be through the bat of Alex Carey and the ball of Wes Agar. They have been brilliant throughout the series and Agar is one of the leading wicket-takers in the tournament with 21 wickets in 12 innings. Similarly, Carey is one of the leading run-scorers and one of the biggest match-winners as well. Strikers then would bank on these two players even as they have other match-winners in skipper Travis Head, Siddle, and even Danny Briggs the left-arm spinner who could dart in yorkers as well. Thunder vs Strikers: Match Details Match Number- 51 Date and Time- Jan 23, 2021, 10:35:00 am IST, 04:05pm Local, 05.05 am GMT Venue- Adelaide Oval Broadcast- Sony LIV, Sony Sports Network Pitch Report The pitch at the oval in Adelaide as evident from the last match is a totally T20 wicket with the ball coming on to the bat very nicely and it seemed like a graveyard for the bowlers, especially when Hales was murdering their balls. On that basis, the pitch would provide a good contest as both the teams have amazing batters in their ranks. Weather and Bat Flip The skies are going to be laden with clouds and overcast conditions might help fast bowlers early on. Thankfully there is no chance of rain and thus a full game is in sight for us. The skipper winning the flip would however like to field first as it would help him utilize the overcast conditions. Thunder Strongest XI Usman Khawaja, Alex Hales, Callum Ferguson (c), Sam Billings (wk), Oliver Davies, Ben Cutting, Nathan McAndrew, Chris Green, Adam Milne, Brendan Doggett, Tanveer Sangha Strikers Strongest XI Alex Carey (wk), Jake Weatherald, Philip Salt, Travis Head (c), Matt Renshaw, Ryan Gibson, Michael Neser, Danny Briggs, Wes Agar, Liam O Connor, Peter Siddle

Virtual eye accepts goof up during Sydney Test

The recently concluded Border Gavaskar Trophy will be forever etched in the annals of cricketing folklore. A depleted Indian side made a historic comeback after losing the opening Test and eventually won the series after completing a famous win at Australia’s fortress Gabba. Despite some high intense cricket throughout the series, there were few decisions on the field which questioned the use of technology yet again. During the 3rd Test in Sydney, an LBW appeal against Steve Smith was reviewed by India in the 2nd innings after the onfield umpire had given that not out. It looked quite close and in the replays, a fourth stump surfaced on the screen which made for a really bad viewing. There was an uproar in the social media due to that blip up but now the Operators of the Decision Review System have now admitted to the good up. "We reported that immediately to the people we work with at the ICC because it was a mistake on our part -- fortunately it did not affect the decision, the umpire was correct, but it should not have happened. We take full responsibility for that but the important thing was that the decision to stay with the umpires call was the correct one -- the real ball track did show the ball missed," Ian Taylor, the MD of Virtual Eye that operates DRS in Australia and New Zealand, was quoted as saying by Cricbuzz. It was the 12th over of Australia’s second innings in Sydney when a fourth stump mysteriously appeared on the screen. Former India batsman Aakash Chopra was not impressed with the gaffe and stated, "Have we heard any clarification from the authorities responsible for this? The mysterious fourth stump making an appearance on replays (sic)," Meanwhile, Taylor clarified that why and what happened their actually. "We tracked the ball normally in our tracking system and it showed it missing the stumps. For the DRS the next step is to play the ball trackback, superimposed over the 'end on' broadcast TV camera when the 3rd umpire calls for it. At the start of play, we calibrate the two TV cameras at each end of the pitch to ensure they are perfectly aligned when we play our ball track over the live camera. When we did that, before going to air, it was fine and the ball was clearly missing. "Just before we were going to replay, the end-on camera lost focus for an instant and when that happens it loses its calibration and we have to recalibrate. It happens a few times during the day but this was the first time it had ever happened between the time we tracked the ball and the time we had to replay it. "Our operator went through the recalibration programme to realign the camera -- he thought he had successfully done that but as soon as he replayed the video with the track on it, he realised that it hadn't recalibrated correctly because the ball was now clipping the stump rather than missing it. "It was a human error on our part. Fortunately, the error was within the 'umpires call' margin so the result stood -- as it should have because the ball in our track was missing the stumps. It is perhaps a good example of why there is an umpires call margin -- it is for occasions when the technology might make a mistake. This time it wasn't technology -- it was a human error which we take responsibility for. To put that in context -- on any given Test we track over 2,000 balls without an issue." "There is a virtual 3D pitch that is usually perfectly aligned with the real pitch. Then the calibration went out, that meant the two worlds were no longer aligned properly, so you could see that the virtual stumps were no longer matching the real stumps. So, to summarise, there are three virtual stumps in our tracking model that you never see because they are aligned perfectly with the real ones. On this occasion, because we lost the calibration, you could see them separately,” Taylor concluded.

Daily Round up | Jan 23: Anderson scalps six, De Villiers achieves rare feat

England fast bowler James Anderson scalped six wickets in the first innings of the second Test against Sri Lanka in Galle while AB de Villiers has become the first overseas player to join the Rs. 100 Cr club. Here are the daily updates from the cricketing world. James Anderson shines England pacer James Anderson returned with figures of 6/40 in the first innings of the second Test against Sri Lanka in Galle. Batting first, Sri Lanka posted 381, courtesy a hundred from Angelo Mathews and half-centuries from Niroshan Dickwella, Dinesh Chandimal and Dilruwan Perera. Anderson’s scalps included the dismissals of Thirimane, Kusal Perera, Oshada Fernando, Angelo Mathews, Niroshan Dickwella and Suranga Lakmal. England ended day’s play at 98/2. The visiting team already leads the series by 1-0. AB de Villiers achieves rare feat RCB batsman AB de Villiers became the first overseas player to top INR 100 crore in earnings in the IPL according to a report in InsideSport. MS Dhoni, Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma and recently Suresh Raina are the Indian players in this list. The South African has an earning of Rs 11 crore for a season taking him to a total amount of INR 102.5 crore from his contracts. Perth Scorchers, Sydney Sixers qualify Perth Scorchers and Sydney Sixers have qualified for the play-offs for this year’s BBL. Scorchers defeated Melbourne Stars by 11 runs to go at the helm of the points table. Umesh Yadav unfollows RCB on Instagram Fast bowler Umesh Yadav has unfollowed RCB on his Instagram account after the franchise released him ahead of the IPL 2021 mini auctions. He has started to follow Chennai Super Kings (CSK).The seamer has played 121 matches picking up 119 wickets at an economy of 8.51, but played just two matches in the last edition and did not manage to pick any wickets. Shubman Gill credits Yuvraj Singh India batsman Shubman Gill has credited Yuvraj Singh for his successful Australian tour. "The camp with Yuvi paaji before the IPL was very useful. During that camp, he prepared me to face the chin music. He used to throw hundreds of short-pitch balls to me from different angles, and I think it helped me a lot," Gill was quoted as saying by the Times of India. "I am relaxed now. Making my debut for India is a big relief. I was a bit nervous,” Gill added.