Irish wicket-keeper Neil Rock tests positive for COVID-19, two other members put into isolation

Harleen Deol's mother reflects on her commitment, bravery after world-class catch in England

Harleen Deol’s leap in the air to pluck a blinder of catch in the first T20i against England was a monumental occasion for the Punjab-born girl as the world recognised his feat calling it one of the best catches to have ever taken in the game of cricket. However, for her mother Charanjeet Kaur, it was a moment of reckoning and an opportunity to reflect back on the struggles and injuries Harleen had to deal with in the initial phase of her career. In an interview with The Indian Express, her mother explained that Harleen has had shown a big heart to pull out miraculous things from her early days only and she has had gone as far as playing with injured fingers in her domestic career. She said that the fact that great players and voices of the game such as Sachin Tendulkar, VVS Laxman and Nasser Hussain commenced Harleen is nothing but rewards for her hunger and immense hard work. “Harleen started playing cricket at the age of seven and I still remember her coming home from the Yadvindra Public School ground after bowling with a broken finger within months of her starting her career. Once while playing for Himachal Pradesh in Gujarat, she bowled despite an injured finger. To see her take such a sensational catch without worrying about the fall and getting praise from players like Sachin Tendulkar, V V S Laxman and Nasser Hussain apart from leaders and fans is the biggest reward for Harleen’s hard work,” said Deol’s mother Charanjeet Kaur to The Indian Express. Her coach at the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association Academy, Pawan Sen too has fresh memories of Harleen’s fearless approach while doing fielding practices and recalled the unusual fielding drills the all-rounder did in her early career that is coming to help her at the international level. “Like any young cricketer, Harleen had her fears of diving and sliding to stop the ball. We trained the HPCA Academy trainees to slide on wet pitch covers to end the fear of sliding and diving on the ground. It helped her. Along with her bowling and batting. She has evolved to be a very good fielder and to earn praise from the cricketing world shows her hard work,” said 51-year-old Sen. Harleen Deol plays for India Women for her batting and bowling and with that catch, she has established herself as one of the potent fielders for the women in blue.

Laxmi Ratan Shukla returns as the Bengal U-23 coach

Former Bengal all-rounder Laxmi Ratan Shukla returned to cricketing venture when he was appointed as the Bengal U-23 coach ahead of the new season. Shukla had called it quits from all forms of cricket in order to join politics back in 2016. He became an MLA from Howrah and then served as the minister of State Sports and Youth Services under Aroop Biswas. The former all-rounder was made the Howrah district president of TMC but stepped down from his post before the last assembly polls in order to return to cricket and give his time to the game. “Let’s work together. Looking forward” is what Shukla had to say after his appointment as the Bengal U-23 coach. Meanwhile former India legend VVS Laxman has been retained as the batting consultant for the senior team while Shib Shankar Paul, a former Bengal fast bowler was appointed as the bowling coach of all the Bengal squads. "On behalf of the Association, I wish the Former Cricketers who have been given newer responsibilities all the best and am confident that they would be able to use their wealth of experience to help Bengal Cricket earn laurels in the forthcoming domestic season," CAB president Avishek Dalmiya was quoted as saying in a statement. There have been some changes made to the personnel in the women’s team. Rituparna Roy has been appointed as the head coach while Charanjit Singh would serve as the assistant coach of the senior women’s team. "We have made some new appointments keeping in mind their merit and talents. We want Bengal cricket to shine and we have made changes that we deemed fit to that end," CAB Secretary Snehashis Ganguly was quoted as saying by PTI. "We wish the new appointees all the best and hope they can get the best out of the various Bengal teams,” he further added.

Mohammad Azharuddin part of the new working committee to take care of domestic cricket

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has formed a ‘working group’ in order to ensure smooth conduct of the domestic matches. The group includes former Indian skipper and Hyderabad Cricket Association (HCA) president Mohammad Azharuddin, Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) president Avishek Dalmiya, Saurashtra Cricket Association (SCA) chief Jaydev Shah and Rohan Jaitley who is the head of the Delhi and District Cricket Association (DDCA). Meanwhile, Yudhvir Singh from the central zone, Devajit Saikia from the Northeast zone and Santosh Menon from the south zone will form the rest of the group. This seven-member working group will be directly working with BCCI president Sourav Ganguly, vice-president Rajiv Shukla, secretary Jay Shah and treasurer Arun Dhumal. It must be noted that the BCCI apex council body had decided to form a 10-member committee on 20th June to scrutinise on the compensation package and other aspects of domestic cricket. The premier domestic competition for red-ball cricket, Ranji Trophy had to be cancelled last year. The COVID-19 pandemic forced the BCCI to conduct a curtailed domestic season. However, they are planning to host a full-fledged season this time around with more than 2,000 matches slated to take place. Here are the working group members from different zones Mohammed Azharuddin, Santosh Menon (South zone), Rohan Jaitley (North zone), Avishek Dalmiya (East zone), Jaydev Shah (West zone), Yudhvir Singh (central zone), Devajit Saikia (Northeast zone).

WI vs Aus | 2nd T20I: Ruthless Windies blank Aaron Finch's men to take 2-0 lead

It was another thoroughly professional all-round performance by West Indies as they stormed past the visiting Australian team by 56 runs to go 2-0 up in the 5 match series. Unlike the opening encounter where West Indies made a dramatic turnaround to clinch the match, they were far more professional this time around and was by far the more superior team on the day. After scoring a more than competitive 196 in their allotted 20 overs on a belter of a wicket, West Indies bowlers raised their hands yet again and delivered the goods as the second string Australian side was bowled out inside 20 overs for the second time in succession. A brisk yet steady start was the order of the day for the Aussies chasing a big total but they were pegged back early as Matthew Wade was removed by Sheldon Cottrell in just the 2nd delivery of the innings. Finch also fell early and Australia had to play catch up for the rest of the innings. Yet again Mitchell Marsh proved his worth at No 3 scoring back to back half-centuries to steady the ship for the home team. He flayed his way around and played some delightful shots during his knock of 54 of 42 deliveries which kept Australia in the game. However he never got any support from the other end and barring starts from Moises Henriques Josh Philippe, none of the other batsmen could get going. They lost their last 6 wickets for 29 runs eventually folding out for 140 in 19.2 overs. Yet again Hayden Walsh Jr proved to be a huge difference bagging three wickets to derail the Aussies in the middle overs. Sheldon Cottrell bagged a couple while Dwayne Bravo, Andre Russell and Fidel Edwards chipped in with a wicket each. Despite the defeat in the opening encounter, Aussie skipper Aaron Finch trusted the process and methods and opted to chase once more. Evin Lewis was replaced by Andre Fletcher at the top of the order and the swashbuckling batsman got into the act straightaway smashing Mitchell Starc for his trademark no-look six of just the 5th delivery of the match. However, he fell cheaply while giving room to a faster one from Ashton Agar which breached his defence and disturbed the timbers. Simmons clubbed three massive sixes during his 21 balls 30 and helped Windies race off to 46 in the powerplay. Just when Simmons and Gayle were looking set, both were dismissed in quick succession as the Aussie bowlers tightened the screws on the middle order. Shimron Hetmyer took the onus on hismelf to push West Indies towards a big score. The powerful left-hander clubbed his way to a breathtaking 36 balls 61 which included a couple of fours and four sixes. Dwayne Bravo who was sent up the order proved his worth with the bat. A 34 balls 47 set the tone for the final fireworks from Andre Russell. The muscle man blazed his way to an unbeaten 9 balls 24 which took West Indies to 196. In the end, the score proved to be a match-winning one by quite a fair margin. Brief Scores West Indies 196/4 in 20 overs (Shimron Hetmyer 61, Dwayne Bravo 47*, Mitchell Marsh 1/18) Australia 140 all-out in 19.2 overs (Mitchell Marsh 54, Hayden Walsh Jr 3/29) West Indies won by 56 runs