England to compensate for postponed tour, Men’s team to play extra T20Is during Pakistan vist in 2022

In an effort to win back the support of the Pakistan Cricket Board, the England and Wales Cricket Board CEO Tom Harrison has confirmed an extended tour to Pakistan in the months of November-December in 2022. On his two-day visit to Pakistan, Harrison confirmed that not only will England fulfil its commitment to touring Pakistan for a full-fledged series, but it will also play two extra T20Is as a show of goodwill to Pakistan Cricket Board.

The extra matches would be played as a gesture to thank Pakistan for their support shown to English cricket when they toured the English nation during a raging pandemic in 2020.

"Myself and ECB's Senior Director Martin Darlow visited Lahore to talk face-to-face with the PCB around some of the things that have happened over the past few weeks, leading to the cancellation of our tour in October," Harrison said in a statement to the media.

"We’re happy to announce that we’ll play two extra white-ball T20Is on our men’s tour of Pakistan in September/October 2022. We will then return after the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup in Australia to complete the Test match element of that tour.

This is just to reaffirm our commitment to Pakistan cricket to getting England teams, men's and women's teams, eventually playing in Pakistan at home. I don't think there's a cricketer in England who doesn't want to test their abilities against the huge talent this country has and in the conditions they know best,” he added that his side will now be playing seven T20Is along with the three Tests as part of the World Test Championship.

On his part, Ramiz Raja, the PCB chief thanked Harrison and ECB for showing their large-heartedness and making a trip to Pakistan and discussing issues at length.

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T20 World Cup | PAK vs AUS: Negotiating Shaheen Afridi in powerplay will be crucial, says Aaron Finch

Pakistan bowler Shaheen Afridi has been in some good form and has picked up wickets consistently at a decent economy rate as well for the side. The only unbeaten side in the tournament, Pakistan will now lock horns with Australia in the semi-final in Dubai on Thursday, 10 November. Acknowledging Shaheen’s ability to bowl in the power play overs, Australia skipper Aaron Finch said that it would be vital to negotiate him well in the first six overs. “I think what we have seen through the course of the tournament is how important the powerplay is both batting and bowling. I think the stats around the middle and death overs are pretty similar throughout. The powerplay definitely holds the key, Shaheen Shah Afridi has been in good form for Pakistan, that will be a crucial battle in the game," Finch said during the virtual pre-match press conference on Wednesday. Toss has played an important role in this edition of the T20 World Cup but Finch has a bit of a different opinion about the same. The right-hander has suggested that putting up runs on the board is crucial during the knockout stages. “I think when it comes to the finals, it does not make a huge difference. I believe getting runs on the board especially in knockouts can be really beneficial. We have talked about it, we are confident that we can win if we happen to bat first," the Australia captain said. Pakistan lifted the T20 World Cup once back in 2009 while the Aussies are still searching for their winning triumph in the shorter format. The Babar Azam-led side has been in good touch and has won all of their matches comprehensively to get into the semi-finals stages.

Watch: James Pattinson dangerously hurls ball at Daniel Hughes in follow-through, gets suspended

Former Australia Test bowler James Pattinson, who is playing for Victoria in the ongoing Sheffield-Shield threw a very dangerous ball that hit New South Wales batter, Daniel Hughes. Pattinson picked up the ball on follow-through and hurled it straight back at Hughes after a frustrating phase of play. The red cherry went on to hit the batter on his feet and left him limping on one foot. Though Pattinson immediately apologised by raising his hands, it was termed dangerous by the match referee and therefore the bowler has been suspended for one match. Hughes, who was the only NSW batter standing in between Victoria and a win on the final day of the four-day game with his solid 89, had frustrated the Victorian attack with his staunch resistance. However, NSW lost the match by a huge margin of 174 runs. In a statement released on Wednesday morning, Cricket Australia said, "Pattinson was charged and found guilty under Article 2.7 of the Code for throwing a ball at or near a player in an inappropriate and/or dangerous manner during a match.” "Pattinson was fined 100 per cent of his match fee for the Marsh Sheffield Shield match between Victoria and NSW held on November 5-8, 2021,” it added. Along with the match fee penalty, the 31-year-old who recently retired from international cricket was also suspended for the day-night Marsh One-Day Cup match against NSW at the MCG on Friday.

Historic feat by ambidextrous Akshay Karnewar, completes four overs spell without conceding a run

A unique feat was achieved in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy game when Vidarbha’s ambidextrous (who can bowl with both hands) spinner Akshay Karnewar completed a four overs spell in a T20 game against Manipur without conceding even a single run. This is now the most economical spell in the history of T20 cricket. The 29-year old who bowls left-arm orthodox and right arm off-spin with similar actions, registered figures of 4-4-0-2 at the end of the match which Vidarbha won by 167 runs. This is now the second-biggest margin of victory in Indian cricket and ninth in the entire history of T20 cricket. Before this, Andhara had beaten Nagaland by 179 runs in 2019. With this spell of his Karnewar broke the record held by Pakistan’s Mohammad Irfan who had figures of 4-3-1-2 in a Caribbean Premier League game playing for Barbados Tridents against St Kitts and Nevis Patriots in 2018. Karnewar, an experienced domestic player with 15 First Class, 37 List-A and 44 T20 games under his belt has a total of 129 wickets and 1613 runs in his tally across formats, since making his debut in 2015 in a Vijay Hazare Trophy game against Odisha. Born in Wagholi subdivision of Pune district in Maharashtra, Karnewar’s primary skill was off-spin bowling and batting right-handed. Since his left-hand throws were quite accurate and had a lot of power in them, his junior coach Balu Navghare told him to take up left-arm spin seriously. "It's unbelievable. Not conceding even a single run in the entire match is something extraordinary and I am really feeling good," Karnewar said after the game. Vidarbha, by topping the Plate Group have made it to the pre-quarterfinals of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy 2021-22 and now it would be a real test for Karnewar to perform against Maharashtra on November 16, the association where he was born and played his junior cricket from.

We would be the first to launch women’s T20 league in Asia: PCB Chairman Ramiz Raja

Pakistan Cricket Board chairman Ramiz Raja said that the board is planning to launch a women’s edition of the Pakistan Super League. If the PCB are able to pull it off then it will be the first nation in Asia to have an exclusive professional contract-based women’s cricket league where players from various other nations can participate. Announcing it in a video released by the PCB on their official Twitter handles, Raja said, “We have lots of programs in the pipeline and with this visit by Tom Harrison (ECB CEO), a lot of things have cleared up. We will be the first and only of its kind nation to launch an Under-19 version of our main T20 league the PSL.” “We are also planning to launch the Women’s PSL as soon as possible and Inshallah we will be the first nation in Asia to have a women’s league functioning,” he further added. Through his first in Asia comments, Ramiz intentionally or unintentionally highlighted the plight of the Indian women cricketers who have been demanding a women’s IPL for quite some time now. With the success of The Hundred Women in England and the smooth running of the WBBL and Super Smash (Women’s) in Australia and New Zealand respectively, it was only fair that the richest cricket board announced a women’s IPL. Hopefully, after this big announcement by Pakistan, the BCCI might take note of the voices echoing from eternity for a women’s IPL. Pakistan was also the first board under the leadership of Ehsan Mani to announce the 1-year maternity league for its female cricketers with all contracts automatically renewing next year.