ECB announces schedule of the much awaited County Championships


The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) has finally confirmed the schedule of the much-awaited County Championships, albeit in a reshaped model, different from the one played in 2019 and also from the one-off Bob Willis Trophy played in 2020. 

The Championship begins with Essex, the defending champions, beginning their title defence against Worcestershire at home on Thursday, April 8. On the same day, Somerset, last year’s runner-up, will be at Lord’s once again as they face Middlesex in their season opener. 

All the 18 First-Class counties have been divided into three groups of six each with each team playing five home and five away games. The top two teams from each group will then move to Division 1 and the others to division 2 and 3 respectively, based on their rankings in the group. 


The divisional matches will then begin on August 30 and the final of the Championship would be played between the top two teams of Division 1 on Monday, September 27.

“We're all looking forward to the return of the County Championship in 2021 after a very challenging year in 2020,” ECB Managing Director of County Cricket, Neil Snowball said on the occasion of the announcement of the Championship. 

"We are also working hard with all 18 First-Class Counties to ensure that we are able to welcome the return of crowds safely next year and will continue to work closely with the government and all relevant authorities," he added.

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Ahmedabad to host the Knockout games of Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy

The Indian domestic cricket is all set to begin as the schedule and venues of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy have been confirmed by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). According to the cricket governing body, Ahmedabad in Gujarat will host the Knockout games of the tournament while the group stages will be held In Bengaluru, Kolkata, Vadodara, Indore, Mumbai, and Chennai. The Board has ordered all teams to assemble at their designated hubs on or before 2nd January as the players and staff will undergo three rounds of covid-19 testing on January 2, 4 and 6, before being allowed to begin training. But the setting will not just be limited to pre-tournament ones as before moving to the next round, all the qualified teams with their players and support staff will undergo two more rounds of testing - on January 20 and 22 - before the start of the knockouts. While the tournament kicks off on January 10, the quarter-finals will be played on January 26 and 27, the semi-finals on January 29, and the final on January 31. While Elite group teams would play in Bengaluru, Mumbai, Indore, Vadodara, and Kolkata, the Plate group team would be playing their matches in Chennai. Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy 2021 Groups Elite Group A (Bengaluru): J&K, Karnataka, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Railways, Tripura Elite Group B (Kolkata): Odisha, Bengal, Jharkhand, Tamil Nadu, Assam, Hyderabad Elite Group C (Vadodara): Gujarat, Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, Himachal Pradesh, Baroda, Uttarakhand Elite Group D (Indore): Services, Saurashtra, Vidarbha, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Goa Elite Group E (Mumbai): Haryana, Andhra Pradesh, Delhi, Mumbai, Kerala, Puducherry Plate Group (Chennai): Chandigarh, Meghalaya, Bihar, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram, Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh

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Mohammad Amir takes indefinite break from international cricket citing 'mental torture'

Pakistan speedster Mohammad Amir has said that he could not play cricket for Pakistan so long as the current Pakistan Cricket Board dispensation is at the helm of affairs. Saying that he is being tortured mentally both by the board and by the people for choosing white-ball cricket, the 28-year-old feels he can’t take that torture anymore. Answering a journalist’s question on why he looks sad and does he want to leave cricket, Amir said, “No, I am not going away from cricket, actually certain people are trying to pull me away from the game.” “If you would have noticed, I had got the wake-up call at the time when my name was not among the 35 selected to tour New Zealand. If I am not good enough to be among the 35, it was a sign that I must look for myself and plan my game going ahead,” he continued. Recently in Sri Lanka for the Lanka Premier League (LPL), Amir took 12 wickets in 10 games for Galle Gladiators and also played the finals that took place on 16th December in Hambantota. He was brilliant in the death overs. However, even after such a form, he believes he could not play any longer for Pakistan. “To be honest, I don’t think I could play cricket under this management anymore. I am leaving cricket for now. I am being mentally tortured and I don’t think I could take it anymore. I have had enough from 2010-15, can’t take it no more,” he said. Saying that he is always thrown at the same taunt that PCB invested in him and he ditched them (by not playing Test cricket), Amir clarified how not all that is being said is true and thanked former skipper Shahid Afridi. “I have always heard PCB invested a lot in me. It wasn’t like I had come after a year and started playing cricket. I had gone through that hell for five years. Still, I would credit two people the most, one is Sethi Saab (Najam Sethi, former PCB chairman) and the other Shahid Afridi. Rest, the entire team was of the view that we would not play with Amir. I will always be grateful to them,” said Amir who was banned for five years safer being proven guilty for spot-fixing in 2010. Amir, who has taken 259 wickets in 147 international games for Pakistan across the three formats, further said that he is being branded by the board and some of the players, even the bowling coach as someone to have committed some sin by opting to play white-ball cricket for the nation and quitting the red-ball format. “Now what has happened is, they want to taunt me for everything. Like when I made a personnel decision that I wanted to focus on white-ball cricket and leave the red ball, they branded it as if I never wanted to play for the country,” he said. “This is so irrational and illogical, Man, I started from leagues (the comeback) in Bangladesh Premier League (BPL), so if I just wanted to play leagues, I could have carried on doing that. But all I wanted to do was play for the country, give back to it as much as I could in White ball cricket,” Amir added saying that he would release a final statement once reaching Pakistan and discussing with the family.