IPL 2021: Adam Zampa clarifies 'most vulnerable' comment on biosecure bubble

Not being part of IPL is a blessing in disguise: Labuschagne ahead of Glamorgan signing

Australian batting sensation Marnus Labuschagne feels that not being picked for the Indian Premier League has turned out to be a blessing in disguise for him. The reason for Labushacgne’s judgement is not only the fact that India is suffering from the strongest wave of Covid-19 but also the fact that he was able to win the Sheffield Shield with his home team Queensland and also bag a county contract with Glamorgan. "It certainly looks like it was a blessing in disguise," Labuschagne PA Media. "I would love to have played in the IPL, it's a great tournament. But there are always two sides to the coin. If I was in the IPL, I would have been away and to win a Shield is something that doesn't come around often," added the 26-year-old. Talking about the Covid conditions and how the Australian players and umpires are feeling, STS (stranger than Smudge, as he is called by his teammates) feels for his fellow nationals. "Secondly, you look at the conditions in India now and it's not looking great. You obviously feel for them. But I haven't spoken to too many guys that are feeling unsafe,” he said. Saying that on the players’ mind it is more about ‘getting back into Australia’ than the IPL matches, Labuschagne hopes that all the players stay safe. “I just hope that they stay safe and get back to Australia safely whenever they do.” The Australian players and umpires have been locked out of the country as after more than 3 lakh Covid-19 cases started being reported on a daily basis from India, the Australian government banned all forms of travel from India till May 15. Kane Richardson, Adam Zampa and Andrew Tye moved out of the country just in time to reach Australia, but umpire Paul Rieffel couldn't. Labuschagne, who hit consecutive centuries in the Shield including a 192 in the final to get Queensland to victory, has now signed up with county side Glamorgan for the current season of the Championship. The South Africa born had thrown in his hat for the IPL auction at a base price of Rs. 1 crore, bit was not bought by any team.

Heath Streak says he is not a fixer but accepts ICC’s eight-year ban

Former Zimbabwe captain and coach Heath Streak has accepted the charges levied at him by the International Cricket Council (ICC) for breaching the code of ethics and corruption and sharing, compromising information, that may be used for spot-fixing and /or match-fixing. But the 47-year-old also attested that he was never involved in any kind of fixing knowingly and that he is not a ‘fixer’. "I want to place on record to the public and fans that I was not involved in any match-fixing, spot-fixing or attempts to influence a game or share information from a changeroom during a match at any given time in our relationship. This position has been confirmed by the ICC itself in its own statement," Streak said in a personal press statement, as reported by ESPNCricinfo. Divulging the details of his association with Deepak Agarwal, an Indian bookmaker, Streak said, "In 2017, I met an individual keen to invest in cricket in Africa and in particular they wanted to sponsor a T20 Tournament in Zimbabwe, which would be called the Safari Blast. The individual was subsequently vetted and cleared through the usual protocols and to be honest, I let my guard down as the friendship and potential business partnership blossomed.” Saying that he pursued that relationship with Deepak in the hope of encouraging cricket in Zimbabwe, Streak revealed that he was only paid in bitcoin for investment in various regional leagues and not for anything else. "At the onset I was engaged, and paid the Bitcoin, to assist in buying and building teams in different regional T20 competitions, which was successful, resulting in the purchase of a team in Dubai for this individual. Much later on in our friendship, the only other thing I received was a bottle of whisky and my wife has gifted a phone,” he said. Streak, who represented Zimbabwe in 65 Tests, 189 ODIs, further pointed out that it was only through ICC that he realised that the friendship was nothing but a tool to extract information from his end. “Several months down the line the ICC then brought to my attention the fact that the individual with whom I had been dealing, and some of the information that I had shared during our friendship/interaction may have been used for online betting," said Streak who coaxed several teams including Gujarat Lions and KKR in the IPL. The owner of an academy and huge farms in Zimbabwe, Streak asked the media to consider solely him responsible for his actions and not punish his friends family and Zimbabwe cricket. "I also hope that cricket in Zimbabwe should not be punished or suffer for my actions directly or indirectly. I commit to serving out my sanction as guided by the ICC and am committed to helping them and cricket in Zimbabwe in whatever manner I can," wrote the man with 4933 international runs and 445 wickets to his kitty. Although he might have only been punished with eight years of ban from involvement in any sort of cricket by the ICC, Zimbabwe's sports and recreation commission is looking at different angles of his involvement with the scope of corruption. If found guilty Streak might have much more problems up his sleeves.

SL vs BAN | 2nd Test - Sri Lanka take Day 1 honours, Karunaratne and Thirimanne score centuries

Yet again it proved to be a batting paradise at the Pallekele International Stadium as Sri Lanka took the Day 1 honour against Bangladesh on the opening day of the second Test. There was no hesitation in Dimuth Karunaratne’s mind after winning the toss. Batting first was a no-brainer and they justified the call by posting 291 on the board at the end of 90 overs losing just the wicket. The pitch seemed to be a belter as the bowlers got no help what so ever. Taskin Ahmed and Abu Jayed got some help early on but once Karunaratne and Thirimanne were set, the Bangladesh bowlers were all over the place and didn’t quite manage to break their partnership. Both Thirimanne and Karunaratne were hardly bothered by any of the bowlers. Karunaratne who has been one of the most consistent run-scorers for Sri Lanka in the longest format did his reputation no harm carving his way to yet another well-deserved Test century. It was his 12th Test century and he laid the foundation well for the rest of the batters. He was eventually dismissed after a partnership of 209 runs with Thirimanne. It was Shoriful Islam who bagged the wicket of the captain. Thirimanne played the field to perfection and never really allowed the bowlers to settle in. The stylish left-hander played some delightful shots as the bowlers found it difficult to bowl to a particular line to him. Mehidy Hasan did beat his outside edge on a few occasions but those were few are far between. Thirimanne reached a well-deserved century with a dab down the deep third man region. It was his 3rd Test hundred. Following Karunaratne’s dismissal, he did nothing silly and again build another partnership with Oshada Fernando who remained unbeaten on 40. They took their time but made sure that they don’t play any loose shots and end the day’s play without losing any more wickets. Brief Scores Sri Lanka 291/1 (Karunaratne 118, Thirimanne 131*, Oshada Fernando 40*, Shoriful Islam 1/52)

IPL 2021: Kyle Jamieson denies Virat Kohli opportunity to practice batting against Duke ball

There have been arguments about the increasing familiarity with the strengths and weakness of players from different countries after the advent of the Indian Premier League as they share the same dressing rooms for a long period of time. However, that is not coming to be true for India’s and Royal Challengers Bangalore’s skipper Virat Kohli, who has not got the advantage of playing Kyle Jamieson with the duke ball. Another member of the RCB dressing room, Daniel Christian has shed some lights on Jamieson depriving his RCB skipper of the opportunities of getting used to his bowling with the duke ball. “Pretty cagey from Virat actually, right in the first week we were here. The three of us were sitting down after the nets and these two were talking about Test cricket," began Christian speaking on the Youtube podcast. “Virat said, ‘So Jamie (Kyle Jamieson) have you bowled much with the Dukes ball?’ and they are talking about that stuff. Jamie says, ‘Yeah, I have a couple of them here, I will have a bowl leading in before I go over there’ and Virat says ‘Oh, if you want to have a bowl against me in the nets, I am more than happy to face’." He revealed that Jamieson had no interest in helping his RCB captain, “Jamie was like, ‘No chance I am going to ball at you!’ He would have looked at his release point and everything that he does with the Dukes ball!,” Christian said on The Grade Cricketer’s YouTube channel. India and New Zealand are slated to play the World Test Championship final in England almost a fortnight after the completion of the ongoing IPL 2021. There, Jamieson will make a fearsome quarter of seam bowling along with Trent Boult, Tim Southee and Neil Wagner.