ICC U-19 Qualifiers: 33 teams compete for five places in the 2022 World Cup

New Zealand vs West Indies Test Series: 5 biggest takeaways

Despite all of the hopes of West Indian fans, the two-match Test series between them and hosts New Zealand turned out to be an excruciatinlgiy one-sided affair. The Kiwis won both their matches by a margin of an innings and more. What was an even bigger let down was the lack of runs from West Indian batsmen, after their good showing in practice matches. With the Caribbean team, it seems they take one step forward and two backwards in their journey over the last few years. After registering a wonderful win against England in the first Test of their tour of that country, they ended up crumbling in the next two. Now, this annihilation has added to their worries. On the other hand, things couldn't seem rosier for the hosts. Not only did they win both the matches, but their captain again showed his class with a 250 and their bowling attack fired on all cylinders. In the absence of Williamson, Tom Latham got the opportunity to lead the team and seems to have done it well. So, with the series over, it's time to understand what were the biggest takeaways from it. We have selected five key developments that merit attention. Jamieson Solidifies His Position Kyle Jamieson had a dream start to his career earlier this year when he caused a lot of problems to visiting Indian batsmen. Now, he has gone further and firmed up his place in the team. While his ability outside New Zealand, in unhelpful conditions isn't known, at least, at home, he will be a force to reckon with in coming tours. Tall, with a bit of pace, and able to swing the ball, he adds another string to the capable bow of New Zealand bowling attack. Campbell Gets a Lifeline Despite disappointing returns so far in his career, West Indies have persisted with their opener John Campbell in the team. This may have to do with genuine belief in his ability or maybe, a result of a lack of viable options in the domestic circuit. By scoring a half-century in the final innings of the series, Campbell may have just managed to hold onto his spot in the team. There are clearly areas in his game that need to be mended. Footwork has been bad and the left-hander has played too many unwarranted strokes. But his half-century in the second innings of the last Test showed there is something in his batting to work with. He is likely to feature again when West Indies next take the field in a Test match. Blackwood Shows His Mettle Jermaine Blackwood is a batsman who likes going for his shots whenever the ball seems to be in his hitting zone. This extravagant style of batting didn't go down well with Michael Holding during the team's tour of England in 2017. The West Indian legend insisted that batting with too much free will would make him a hit-and-miss sort of batsman. Getting dropped from the team seemed to prove Holding's words true. But then, during the West Indies team's tour of England this year, Blackwood surprised the former Windies pacer and others by showing a more measured approach to risk taking. He took his team to victory in the first Test with a brilliant 95. Blackwood has again shown what a capable batsman he is by shining in this otherwise gloomy series for West Indies. He is still taking risks, hitting the ball in the air, and playing shots which appear too risky. But it seems that this only happens at the start of his innings. Once he settles down, he becomes more stable. Perhaps, there is yet a need for cutting out gratuitous risks from his batting. But he certainly has shown tremendous improvement. Opening Issue Remains for New Zealand New Zealand's batting looks very solid at the moment. But there is one spot in the line-up which remains troubling - the opening slot. New Zealand have been trying to find a long-term partner for Tom Latham but the search continues. After Jeet Raval, the Kiwis have been trying Tom Blundell but his failures in this series keep his place in the team uncertain. To be fair, he had just two innings in this series. Hence, New Zealand would stick to him for the time being. But Blundell will be under pressure when he next opens the innings for his team. Middle Order Problems for Windies The failure of West Indies' batting order was most pronounced in their experienced middle-order. Both Darren Bravo and Roston Chase struggled badly. Chase, in fact, has been failing for quite some time and mainly due to his poor defence. Bravo has the best footwork in the Windies team and Chase has been one of the most reliable batsmen in their side. If these two don't fire, the spine of the batting line-up collapses. With Shimron Hetmyer waiting in the wings, both would be under pressure. Bravo's position is a bit more vulnerable because he has been in and out of the team while Chase has been a regular, also the latter has his bowling to back his claim to a spot.

BBL10: Daniel Sams steals the show in Sydney's towering victory over Brisbane

The grudge match between Brisbane Heat and Sydney Thunder was stolen by a riveting Daniel Sams knock turning the game on its head to give Thunder their first win in the Big Bash League this season. Chasing 179, Thunder were in no shape to win the game till halfway point in the chase losing out 5 wickets for just 80 runs. With 77 required from the final seven, Sams and former Brisbane mainstay, Ben Cutting stepped on the accelerator to bring the equation down to 32 in the final three overs. Redemption seeker Ben Cutting, who had a massive fallout with the Brisbane management ahead of the season, failed to seal the game and was undone by a slower ball in the 18th over by Mark Steketee. With Cutting gone, on song Sams took it upon himself and cleared the rope with four huge sixes in the penultimate over to close off the game singlehandedly with 7 balls remaining. He was adjudged the man of the match for his all-round effort with the ball and the bat. It could so easily have been Jack Wildermuth’s night Before Daniel Sams stole the show with his stellar innings, this match was all about Jack Wildermuth, and it could have been that way if Heat would have been able to get their yorkers right. When Jack Wildermuth came out to bat in the first innings, Heat were suffering from a momentum issue. Barring the over young Tanveer Sangha where Chris Lynn scored 16 runs, Heat had barely anything to show for. When Wildermuth walked into bat in the 18th over, Heat were reeling at 140/4. Coming off Ind vs Aus A with a century, he took a couple of balls to adjust and then battered each bowler of the Thunder line-up to score 31 off just 11 balls. This propelled Heat’s to 177 in a space of 12 balls before he was caught out at short third man off a miscued slog. If that wasn’t enough, Wildermuth picked up three wickets in his first spell. Opening the bowling for the first time, he moved the ball in with the angle and made it immensely difficult for the batsmen to target him in the powerplay. Wildermuth bowled Alex Hales through the gates, drew Callum Ferguson in a false shot and edged Usman Khawaja to the keeper to put his team in a fine position in the early part of the chase. Thunder’s middle-order get their act together There is no doubt about who won Thunder’s the game. But the patient rebuild was started by the middle order, who picked the correct balls to go after and kept the scoreboard busy without taking unnecessary risks. Alex Ross was impressive in particular mixing his incredible touch on the ball and effective power hitting. Unfortunately, he had to depart looking for the big shots due to his groin niggle but was ably backed up by the efforts of Baxter Holt and Ben Cutting who scored 23 and 29 respectively. They desperately tried to build a foundation and got out trying to accelerate. I am Daniel Sams…and I didn’t wanna get a duck In the post-match presentation, Daniel Sams said that he had been working hard with Ponting to clear the boundary. It showed as Sams cleared the ropes for the 7th time in the innings to seal the game with ease chasing down 179 with seven balls to spare. He had gone through a lean patch in the last tournament and stated that he did not want to get a duck and was not flustered by the early losses in the Thunders innings. The hitting part was aided by the Heat’s bowler missing their yorkers time and again throughout the final overs as Sams kept dispatching the full tosses over cow corner. It can be very easy to forget after that stellar batting display that Sams is a proper asset in the bowling department for any T20 franchise, one who can bowl and deliver at any time of the innings. He bowled the final over today as well in the first innings picking up the prized wicket of a magnificent Wildermuth and kept it to just seven runs in that over. In conclusion Sydney Thunder registered their first win in this competition picking up three points against Heat. On the other hand, while Heat looked on course to win the game for the majority of the match, they would be going back to the nets to work on their execution in the final overs. Having said that all is not lost considering Heat did very well to change their approach from the last game to put on runs aggressively in the opening overs. Heat have ample time before they play their next game against the Strikers on 23rd December and if today was any indication they will look to bounce back in the most aggressive of manners.

Waqar Younis laments Babar Azam missing T20I series against New Zealand

Former Pakistan legend and the current bowling coach of the Pakistan national team, Waqar Younis lamented the fact that Babar Azam will be missing the T20I series against New Zealand which is slated to commence from 18th December. Babar was slated to lead Pakistan in the T20I series against the Kiwis but a thumb injury during a practice session all but ruled out his chances of taking part in the upcoming series. There is no doubt about the fact that Babar Azam is currently one of the finest young batsmen going around. When on song, Babar makes batting look ridiculously easy and there is certainly no doubt about the fact that the Men in Green will be missing his services. Babar who was appointed as the skipper across formats very recently has been ruled out of the series owing to a fractured thumb. The PCB has revealed that Babar will take atleast 12 days to recuperate from the injury. Speaking on the same, Waqar Younis said that Babar is one of the best players in the world across formats and it is a major setback for the visitors. "There is no doubt that Babar is one of the best players in the world now in any format. So it is a major setback for us. Other teams are scared of him," Waqar said during a media interaction ahead of the New Zealand T20Is. "It is unfortunate that it (injury) happened at the wrong time, just at the stroke of the series starting," the Pakistani bowling coach added. A major reshuffling of Pakistan's batting order is on the cards as the visitors will consider alternate combinations in the absence of Azam during the entire T20I series against the Kiwis. Pakistan commences their tour of New Zealand with a three-match T20I series with the opening clash slated to be played at the Eden Park in Auckland on 18th December.

Kuldeep Yadav reckons spinners might be difficult to pick under lights

Indian left arm-chinaman bowler Kuldeep Yadav has backed himself to be part of the Indian XI for the opening Test against Australia slated to start from 17th December. It will be India’s first pink-ball Test in overseas conditions and Kuldeep is of the opinion that the spinners might be difficult to read under lights. It will be a huge challenge for the Indian team especially given the fact that the Aussies have won all their home day-night Tests so far. Kuldeep might not have made a mark in the last year or so but he was tipped to be India’s go-to bowler in the longest format for overseas conditions by Ravi Shastri not long ago. He might have fallen off the radar quite a bit but given his skills as a wrist spinner, Kuldeep still stands a chance to play the first Test at the Adelaide Oval from Thursday. “I feel it’s difficult to read spinners at night because if a spinner uses variations it’s not always easy to spot the seam position of the ball. That can be an advantage for us,” Kuldeep was quoted as saying to KKR.in. India played their only pink-ball Test against Bangladesh in Kolkata last year and they don’t have much of an experience of bowling with a pink ball in overseas conditions. However, the pace brigade of India showed quite a lot of promise in the 2nd practice game skittling out Australia A for a meagre 108 runs in the 1st essay. “I have never experienced a pink ball match outside India. So, it will be exciting to see how it goes. It’ll be unfair to say spinners haven’t dominated in Australian conditions, there have been many instances when spinners have done well Down Under. It completely depends on how quickly you adapt to, and read the conditions. “A lot of us, having played so much T20 cricket of late, will have to be patient when playing Test cricket. Mental toughness is very important. “When switching to the longer format, you sometimes tend to try too many things too quickly. Wickets don’t come easy in Test cricket, so patience is the key.” India won their maiden Test series in Australia when they toured last time around in 2019. They won the series 2-1 in the absence of two top-class players from Australia Steve Smith and David Warner. However, Kuldeep didn’t really accept the fact that the series win was largely possible due to the omission of those two stalwarts. “You need to win Test matches to win a series. We won two of them, and could have won the fourth one too had there been no rain. The criticism holds no merit. Whenever you are playing against a team, your own team’s performance matters the most. “So instead of looking at the other team – who they have in their squad, and who they don’t – it makes more sense to talk about your own team.” Kuldeep has been part of the Test squad for a long time but he hasn’t been given a long break due to indifferent performances especially in overseas Tests. He has played a couple of Tests against Australia. While he did make a mark in the Dharmshala Test, he looked off-colour in the next one. However, he feels that if the fast bowler can rise to the occasion, India can beat Australia again in the Test series. “We did well, and hence we won the Test series. If our fast bowling works well and we perform as prolifically with the bat as we did the last time, we will win this time too. “Yes, their team has now improved with the return of the experienced David Warner, Steve Smith and the likes of Marnus (Labuschagne), who has really done well for them in recent times. “But last time too, their team was good but we played some really, really good cricket to win. Looking forward to the challenge once again, it’s going to be a great contest.” Kuldeep has grown up idolizing Shane Warne just like several wrist spinners from that generation. When asked whether he had taken any piece of advice from his idol, Kuldeep said that Warne has always suggested him to wear a smile on his face to hide the stress. “He has shared a lot of valuable inputs about bowling over the years, but mainly, he talks about mental preparation. “One thing he always insists on is to always wear a smile on my face. He has told me that’s a very important virtue for a spinner. If your face shows any sense of stress, your body language goes for a toss. “I’ve worked on this specifically and I consider it as one of the best advice I’ve got,” Kuldeep added.