IPL mega auction pushed to 2022 due to uncertainty over CVC Sports: Report

CSA postpones domestic fixtures due to Covid-19 fear ahead of India series

Cricket South Africa on Sunday said that it has postponed the remaining round of CSA four-day franchise series as a precautionary measure over Covid-19 fears. "The decision to defer the fifth round of matches, which were scheduled to take place between December 16-19 (Division Two) and December 19-22 (Division One), was taken as a safeguarding measure in light of the competition being held outside of a bio-secure environment and amid the latest wave of the COVID-19 pandemic," CSA said in a statement. The fixtures which have been postponed will be rescheduled. The announcement has come a week before the commencement of the Test series between India and South Africa. The Indian team is touring South Africa for three Tests and as many ODIs. The first Test is slated to begin on December 26 in Centurion while the ODI series is scheduled to start on January 19, 2022 in Paarl. The selectors had announced some changes in the leadership group with Rohit Sharma also taking up the ODI captaincy and was named the vice captain of the Test side. But unfortunately, the right-handed batsman will be missing the Test series with a hamstring injury and KL Rahul will be Virat Kohli’s deputy.

Auckland Aces vs Northern Knights | Match Preview, Predictions, Fantasy XI

We are going to Eden Park for the first time in this edition of the Super Smash as Auckland Aces take on Northern Knights in the 10th match of this season's Super Smash.

LPL 2021 Eliminator | Janith Liyanage leads Dambulla Giants past Colombo Stars

It was shrewd batting by Janith Liyanage as he slowly and steadily helped his team Dambulla Giants chase down a relatively low but tricky target of 146 to get past Colombo Stars in the Eliminator of the Lanka Premier League 2021. Liyanage, not a famous name even in Lankan cricketing circuit wore down the bowlers in his innings of unbeaten 56 off just 47 balls as it included only five fours and no sixes, but he hardly played a few dot balls, making sure that no bowler was able to bowl to him constantly and get to his shortcomings. The partnership that the 26-year-old developed with Afghan import Najibullah Zadran also played an instrumental role in achieving the target. When Zadran paired up with Liyanage, the Giants were 68-3 in the 9th over and Phil Salt, their best batter in the tournament so far had just departed. Thus at that stage, the game was wide open and could have gone either way if not for the 61 runs partnership between the Liyanage and Zadran duo. While Zadran was eventually removed for 34, the right-handed Liyanage stayed at the crease and went back only after carrying his team over the line in the 19th over. Prior to his stand with Zadran, Liyanage had also shared a 48 run stand for the third wicket with Salt after Stars were reduced to 20-2 with Niroshan Dickwella and Sandun Weerakkody departing early. Earlier in the afternoon, after winning the toss and deciding to bat first at the Mahinda Rajapaksa International Stadium in Hambantota, the Colombo team lacked any sort of planning. Dinesh Chandimal, who was the leading run-scorer of the tournament until the start of this game was sent in at number seven in a logic-defying move. He was sent even after a bowling all-rounder Seekkuge Prasanna. Naturally, Chandimal, who was the leading contributor in all the four wins for the Stars in the league, could only face two balls even by the time the 20th over began and got out on the third ball, trying to up the ante right from the word go. Angelo Mathews top-scored for the Stars with an unbeaten 50 off 34 balls while Pathum Nisannka made 42 off 39 balls. Giants, who won this game, would now face the loser of the first Qualifier match between the Galle Gladiators and Jaffna Kings to get a birth in the final of the league.

BBL 11 | Saqib Mahmood demolishes Heat on Big Bash debut

It was a dream Big Bash League debut for Englishman Saqib Mahmood as he destroyed the Brisbane Heat top order with his opening spell to hand his team Sydney Thunder an easy win in the 11th edition of the Australian premier T20 competition. Bowing his first over in his opening spell, Mahmood dismissed Chris Lynn and Ben Duckett in a span of just four balls to rock the Heat even before its chase of 197 really got underway. If that was to be seen as an anomaly and one-off experiences that a bowler on league debut picked two wickets in his first over, the Lancashire pacer made sure that it wasn’t anymore in his second over. In his second over and the innings’ third, the right arm pacer dismissed Sam Heazlett on the very first ball and, Max Bryant got run out on the second ball and then Mahmood removed skipper Jimmy Peirson on the fifth ball to sink Heat to the rock bottom. At the end of the third over, the team in ocean blue was under all sorts of trouble at 15-5 all thanks to the brilliant bowling from Mahmood. Thankfully a partnership developed between Tom Cooper and James Bazley and the duo steered Heat past the 50 run mark. However, spinners Chris Green and Tanveer Sangha removed both Cooper and Bazley in two consecutive overs to throw Heat under the rails at 60-7 where they were looking down at scoring their lowest ever BBL total in history. However, 79 runs stand for the eighth wicket, the highest ever in BBL history by Xavier Bartlett and Mark Steketee got the Brisbane side past 130. When the partnership was eventually broken at 139, Steketee was removed on 33 by Daniel Sams. The last two wickets fell in the next three balls as the team was all out on 143, losing the game by a huge margin of 53 runs. Bartlett who remained unbeaten on 42 was the top scorer for the Heat. Earlier in the evening, after winning the toss and asking thunder to bat first, Heat wasn’t really able to justify the call as Thunder openers Alex Hales and Matthew Gilkes got off to a decent start, putting on 55 for the first wicket within the powerplay. The batters to follow, Jason Sangha and Sam Billings too batted well with Billing going on to score a brilliant 64 off just 27 balls at a strike rate of more than 200. Thanks to those runs from the top four, Thunder scored 196-7 in their 20 overs. For Heat, Bartlett, Steketee and Mitchell Swepson picked two wickets each.