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Daryl Mitchell Roped In By Middlesex For Last Nine Match Of Vitality T20 Blast

Daryl Mitchell roped in by Middlesex for last nine match of Vitality T20 Blast

New Zealand all-rounder Daryl Mitchell has been roped in by Middlesex and he will ply his trade for the county team in the last nine group matches of the Vitality T20 Blast. Meanwhile, Irish opener Paul Stirling has been signed by Middlesex for only the first five matches.

Middlesex have acquired the services of both these players as a replacement for Aussie all-rounder Mitchell Marsh who has been named in the national squad for their tour to the Caribbean shores.

Mitchell expressed his delight after signing with Middlesex and will cherish the fact that he will be able to call Lord’s his home ground.

"I am really honoured to have signed with Middlesex and to be able to call Lord's my home for the Vitality Blast," Mitchell was quoted as saying by Cricbuzz on Friday.

"I'm looking forward to meeting up with the group after our Test Championship final versus India and getting stuck into winning some T20 cricket,” he further added.

Having made his T20 debut way back in 2005, the 30-year-old batting all-rounder has amassed 210 runs besides bagging 48 wickets in 108 games. He had started off his career with Northern Districts before moving to Canterbury. It was only in 2019 that his hard work paid off after he went onto make his international debut. Mitchell has so far played 15 T20Is and 3 ODIs for New Zealand.

"It's great that Daryl has agreed to play for us in the T20 Blast this season," Middlesex head coach. He comes highly recommended by his New Zealand contemporaries and we have watched him force his way into that strong New Zealand team over the last few years,” Middlesex coach Stuart Law said.

"He brings an all-round game, with a focus on power hitting, and good cricket intellect. We look forward to welcoming him into the Middlesex family and can't wait to start working with him during the Blast,” Law further added.

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St Kitts and Nevis Patriots name the players retained for the upcoming season

St Kitts and Nevis Patriots (SKNP) have announced their final list of players who have been retained for the upcoming edition of the Caribbean Premier League (CPL). They have roped in all-rounder Dwayne Bravo who has been traded from the Trinbago Knight Riders (TKR) in favour of Denesh Ramdin. Meanwhile, they have also signed a contract with Sherfane Rutherford who they have acquired from the Guyana Amazon Warriors. As far as star players are concerned, SKNP have also retained the likes of swashbuckling opener Evin Lewis. The left-handed opening batsman on his day can be a destructive batsman. Meanwhile, left-arm pacer Sheldon Cottrell, spin all-rounder Fabian Allen, Jon Russ Jaggesar and Rayad Emrit have also been retained. Joshua de Silva who made a name for himself in the previous edition of the CPL has also been retained. The Patriots will still require to fill in 8 spots which they will do in the coming few weeks. The 9th edition of the CPL will kick off on 18th August with the final slated to be played on 19th September. Keeping in mind the prevailing COVID situation across the world, all the 33 matches will be hosted by the Warner Parker in St Kitts and Nevis. Patriots' owner Mahesh Ramani said, “St Kitts and Nevis Franchise extends a warm welcome to the new players joining us this year as well as to our retained core team for yet another exciting season of the Hero CPL. This year makes it extra special with us playing at our home – Warner Park. I would like to thank all our team players, support staff and management as well as our global fan base for their continued love and support. I look forward to an amazing season in 2021,” SKNP owner Mahesh Ramani said. Retained players: Dwayne Bravo (FROM TKR), Evin Lewis, Fabian Allen, Sherfane Rutherford (FROM GAW), Sheldon Cottrell, Rayad Emrit, Jon Russ Jaggesar, Dominic Drakes, Joshua Da Silva

Marcus Harris concedes Pant, Pujara were 'too good' for Australia in Border Gavaskar series

Australian opener Marcus Harris, who was part of the playing XI that faced a defeat by India at the Gabba in January this year, said that Rishabh Pant emerged as the standout batsman on the historic day for India. He also commended Cheteshwar Pujara’s resistance in the face of brutal and fearsome bowling spells from the Australian pace trio of Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood and Patt Cummins and likened his resilience to an ‘Australian.’ “The final day was amazing to watch. We were thinking the whole day if they would go for the runs or not. I think Rishabh played the best innings that day, but for Pujara to be copping an absolute barrage from everyone, it felt like he batted like an Australian, taking everything on the chest and getting on with it. The rest of the team just batted around him,” Harris told on the ‘Cricket Life Stories’ YouTube channel. Going further in his admiration for Pant, Harris said that the wicketkeeper-batsman showed and stamped his quality on the game and proved why he was rated so highly. He said that the Australians were disappointed losing a series to India, but also conceded that the Indian team under the leadership of Ajinkya Rahane were too good for them at the end of the series. “Rishabh Pant’s innings was unbelievable. Everyone says he has magic in him, and he has showed that a few times now. It was disappointing to lose the series but sometimes in cricket you just have tip your hat and say they were too good for us,” added. Rishabh Pant had played a splendid innings and did hit the winning runs at the Gabba to win India the game and series. Pujara too had played a gutsy knock although he was attacked with a barrage of short-pitched bowling by the Aussies.

Skipper Tamim Iqbal backs Mushfiqur Rahim's wicketkeeping, urges Liton Das, Soumya Sarkar to deliver

Bangladesh skipper Tamim Iqbal had come hard at his teammates after a disastrous tour of New Zealand where they could not muster even a single win across ODI and T20I series. But now as Tamim Iqbal is gearing up for the upcoming home series against Sri Lanka, the left-hander has come in support of experienced Mushfiqur Rahim and the dashing duo of Litton Das and Somya Sarkar. Tamim has said that dropped catches and missed chnaces are part of the game and that he and the coach Russell Domingo fully trust Mushfiqur Rahim behind the wickets for Bangladesh. He commended Rahim for serving the team well for the last 13-14 years with the gloves and valued his experience more than the recent failings. “I am very happy with his wicketkeeping. Chances and dropped catches are part of the game. I know how hard he works, so I have no complaints. The team management, coach and I definitely want him to keep wickets in the three ODIs,” Tamim Iqbal said in a press conference. “You are talking about some dropped catches but he has done a wonderful job as a wicketkeeper over the last 13-14 years. I have complete trust in him and give him my full support. I think he should continue to keep wickets for Bangladesh." He also referred to Rahim as a role model for a consistent batsmen and suggested the batsmen with ‘tremendous potential’ such as Liton Das and Somya Sarkar to deliver match-winning performances. Iqbal said that the duo has shown sparks of their potential and now is the time for them to replicate those potential into performances. "I hope they take the lead. They have tremendous amount of potential, but they have to deliver big time. We have seen glimpses from Liton and Soumya but if they do well now, it will help the team. They understand they should be more consistent - like Mushfiqur Rahim, for example. If they become consistent, we will be a better ODI team at home and away,” Iqbal said in the post-match conference. The three-match ODI series between Bangladesh and Sri Lanka is scheduled to commence from May 23 in Dhaka.

WTC Final: Wriddhiman Saha endorses Rishabh Pant to be India’s first-choice wicketkeeper

India wicket-keeper batsman Wriddhiman Shaha believes that he is no longer the first choice as a wicket-keeper batsman for the national side and that young Rishabh Pant with his stellar performances in the recent past has now taken that place. “Rishabh Pant played the last few matches of the World Test Championship and he has done well,” Saha was quoted as saying to Sportskeeda. “He should be the first choice keeper of the team going in England,” added the veteran. Saha who remained the first choice keeper for India because of his stealthy footwork and seamless catching behind the wickets ever since MS Dhoni’s retirement in 2014, suddenly fell back due to a poor run of form with the bat outside India. Pant knocked on the doors and then got the door crashing with his match-winning knock at Gabba, following it with several exciting knocks against England at home. Talking about his role in the team on England tour, recently recovered from Covid-19, Saha said that he would keep on working hard and wait for his opportunity. “I will just wait and if any opportunity arises, would like to give my best shot at it. And not to mention, but I will keep practising hard to get that one chance,” he said. Having scored just a single fifty in his last 14 Test innings since 2017, Saha believes that it is not always possible to click and perform well, sometimes you get unlucky too. “We can only give our best sometimes it clicks, sometimes it doesn’t. I keep practising and I know there is a huge gulf between practice and real match situation. Ultimately it boils down to who delivers on the big stage and management takes a call based on that,” said the 36-year-old who has represented India in 38 Tests, hitting three centuries in his 11-year long career so far. The Indian team would play the World test Championship against New Zealand from June 18 in Southampton. After that, it would have an ample amount of time to practice before the start of the five-match Test series against hosts England.