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England Announce Revamped Central Contracts Ollie Robinson Jack Leach Malan Get Their First

England announce revamped central contracts; Ollie Robinson, Jack Leach, Malan get their first

The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) has revamped and released its central contract for the 2021-12 season. The board has junked the format-specific contracts for players and has made a list of players who are expected to play for England across formats in the next 12-month period.

There are a total of 20 players who have been awarded central contracts and this includes the newcomer such as Ollie Robinson, who made his Test debut in the just-finished summer.

Dawid Malan, who returned to the longest format this summer has also earned the contract and so has Zak Crawley, who was dropped from the side after a string of low scores against New Zealand and India. However, there was no place for Dom Sibley and Haseeb Hameed, who made an encouraging comeback against Indian after a gap of five years in the contract list.

There were serious doubts on Jonny Bairstow’s future in the longest format but he has got the contract as well.

Moeen Ali, who recently announced retirement from the Test format and his spin bowling pattern in the format, Jack Leach, and Adil Rashid, who has been an instrumental part of the England white-ball formats, have also been awarded with the contract.

The injured duo of Ben Stokes and Jofra Archer, who are all set to miss a significant part of the next 12 months due to complicated injuries, have also been retained on the list of players to get contracts.

The ECB also issued incremental and pace bowling contracts to seven players in total. The incremental has been given to three players such as Tom Curran, Dom Bess, Liam Livingstone and Chris Jordan while the pace bowling contracts have been awarded to Saqib Mahmood, Craig Overton and Olly Stone.

The Managing Director of England’s Men Cricket, Ashley Giles rated the revamped central contract as "the fairest and most transparent way of rewarding players across all formats".

He congratulated all the players who earned the contract while specifically mentioning the trio of Jack Leach, Dawid Malan, and Ollie Robinson, who got the contract for the first time.

England Men's Central Contracts

Moeen Ali, James Anderson, Jofra Archer, Jonathan Bairstow, Stuart Broad, Rory Burns, Jos Buttler, Zak Crawley, Sam Curran, Jack Leach, Dawid Malan, Eoin Morgan, Ollie Pope, Adil Rashid, Ollie Robinson, Joe Root Jason Roy, Ben Stokes, Chris Woakes, Mark Wood

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Jemimah Rodrigues credits 'The Hundred' for regaining confidence

India batter Jemimah Rodrigues who impressed everyone with her unbeaten 49 against Australia in the first T20I match that was eventually washed away due to rain in Queensland has credited ‘The Hundred’ tournament for regaining her confidence. Jemimah has had a rough patch with the bat before she was roped in by the Northern SuperChargers for the competition. "There's so much to learn, but it wasn't an easy time for me. There are lots of things going on sitting out, there were a lot of doubts in my head sitting out, but I'm grateful to be a part of this team. If not for the Hundred, I don't think I would've even been selected to play for India," Jemimah said in the press conference. The right-handed batter played her first match on the trip and wasn’t picked for the ODI series and the one-off day-night Test earlier against the Australian side. Rodrigues expressed her disappointment on the same but admitted that it was about creating the right balance. "Honestly, any player would be frustrated not getting picked for ODIs especially when I knew I was batting well and in good form. But at the end, I'm ready for what the team wants, and if the team was finding the right balance, I'm happy sitting out," she added. The Indian team suffered a 1-2 defeat in the three-match ODI series while the pink-ball Test ended in a draw. The second encounter of the three-match T20I series will be held on Saturday in Queensland.

Martin Guptill laments pull out from Pakistan, assures New Zealand's readiness for World T20

Opener Martin Guptill has said that New Zealand were looking forward to getting on to the field and prepare for the T20 World Cup before the tour was cancelled minutes before the start of the first ODI between the sides. Calling the pull out a “disappoint” event for all stakeholders, Guptill expressed hope that Cricket will make a comeback soon into the country. "I guess it was disappointing for everyone involved. We were all looking forward to playing some cricket and getting a bit of game-time before the World Cup and that wasn't to be. I know Pakistan are really looking forward to having some cricket back in their home country. We're all hoping that there's going to be cricket there again soon,” Guptill said during a virtual press conference. Notably, days after New Zealand returned from the tour, Pakistan Pakistan's federal minister for information and broadcasting, Fawad Chaudhry had said in a press conference that Guptill’s wife, Laura McGoldrick had received an email threatening to his life in Pakistan. Discussing the threat, Guptill said that he and his wife followed the right process and consulted the “right people” to deal with the issues. "It never is," Guptill said while discussing the threat. "We sent it to the right people to sort of deal with it. Obviously, nothing came of it. It is what it is, and we just had to go through the right channels to get it dealt with properly. Laura [McGoldrick] never actually told me what the email said, so I had no idea what was going on. As I said, we sent it to the proper authorities to get it sorted.” Guptill was rested from the T20I series against Bangladesh that preceded the tour of Pakistan and hence it was imperative for him to get going with the bat against “tough opponent” in Pakistan before the global T20 event in UAE and Oman. Also, New Zealand are set to open their World T20 campaign with the clash against Pakistan and hence Guptill said that the recent experience would have been handy for the Blackcaps. However, he said that the lack of match practice will not deter them from bringing their A-game from the word go and they will fight hard to win the contest "I think like any game against Pakistan, they're a tough opponent and in these conditions, it's going to be pretty tough again. We're going to have to be on our A-game and bring it to them and not take a backward step, just like every other game that we play. It's going to be a tough game, I'm not going to lie, but we're going to prepare well and look forward to that game,” Guptill added. New Zealand’s hopes of breaking their string of bad luck in the T20 World Cup will rest heavily on the experienced shoulders of Guptill and if he will be able to give them a brisk start with the bat, the Blackcaps middle-order filed with young and explosive batsmen will be confident of doing their job in a perfect fashion.

AUSW vs INDW | 2nd T20I Preview: With form on their side, India look to begin from where they left

The Indian women’s team will be up against their Australian counterparts in the second T20I of the three-match series in Queensland on Saturday. The first encounter between the two sides was washed away due to rain after just over 15 overs were bowled. The Indian team who was batting first when the rain played spoilsport was off to a good and brisk start, courtesy some aggressive batting from openers Smriti Mandhana and Shafali Verma. But it was Jemimah Rodrigues who took away the limelight after she remained unbeaten at 49 off 36 as India had managed to put 131/4 in 15.2 overs before the play was halted and eventually got abandoned. The visitors would be looking to continue from where they left in the previous clash. For the hosts, Ellyse Perry and Georgia Wareham had a good time while bowling. Wareham picked up one wicket at the cost of three runs in 1.2 overs. The Australian team won the three-match ODI series 2-1 while the one-off Day-night Test ended in a draw. Match Details Australia Women vs India Women, 2nd T20I Venue: Carrara Oval Date and Time: October 9 at 1:40 PM IST Live Streaming: Sony Sports Network Pitch Report The track is likely to favour the batters as we also saw in the first match. The Indian batters scored runs at a quick rate and the surface is expected to behave in the same manner. So, if you win the toss, elect to field first. Team News India: There was a huge positive that India could take from the previous game was Jemimah’s form with the bat. The right-hander played her first match on the tour and was among the runs straight away. While India would need a batter to hold one end, the others can chip in with some quick runs to help the side post a good total. Australia: The Australian side faced a bit of a struggle with their bowling effort as majority of the bowlers went for runs in the last match. Barring Ellyse Perry and Georgia Wareham, none of the bowlers really got into the groove and this would be one major issue that the Australian team management will have to focus on. Probable XI India: Smriti Mandhana, Shafali Verma, Jemimah Rodrigues, Harmanpreet Kaur (c), Yastika Bhatia, Richa Ghosh, Pooja Vastrakar, Deepti Sharma, Shikha Pandey, Rajeshwari Gayakwad, Renuka Singh Australia: Alyssa Healy, Beth Mooney, Meg Lanning (c), Ashleigh Gardner, Ellyse Perry, Tahlia McGrath, Nicola Carey, Sophie Molineux, Georgia Wareham, Hannah Darlington, Tayla Vlaeminck Fantasy XI Alyssa Healy, Richa Ghosh, Jemimah Rodrigues (c), Smriti Mandhana (vc), Beth Mooney, Ellyse Perry, Deepti Sharma, Ashleigh Gardner, Sophie Molineux, Georgia Wareham, Shikha Pandey

Abhimanyu Mithun announces retirement from First-Class cricket

Pacer Abhimanyu Mithun has announced retirement from first-class cricketon October 8. He played 103 first-class matches for Karnataka and picked up 338 wickets at an average of 26.63. He also played featured 96 List A matches and picked up 136 wickets while 74 match-long T20 games yielded 69 wickets for him. Mithun also went on to play Test and ODI cricket matches for the Indian team in the year 2010 but his career could not go beyond four Test matches and five ODIs. In the four Tests, he picked up nine wickets while five ODIs produced just three wickets. Looking back at his 12-year career, Mithun called the time while playing for India as his “highest achievement”, which he said would cherish for the rest of his life. He also expressed confidence in the depth of the Karnataka pace bowling attack and said his decision to call it a day is a timely one as prolonging it would curtail chances for promising youngsters. "I have represented my country at the highest level and will always be my highest achievement. The joy and the pride from it is something I'll cherish throughout my career," he said in a statement. "Cricket is a universal game and I believe in finishing at the highest level. So I had to take this decision and seek better opportunities for myself and my family around the world. I am also clear that Karnataka has abundant fast bowling of talent and they would miss out opportunities at the right time if I prolong my career." Both his last Test and ODIcame against West Indies in the year 2011 while his last appearance for Karnataka came against Bengal earlier last year.