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Netherlands Ready For Historic Cwc Super League Debut Against Ireland Announce Squad

Netherlands ready for historic CWC Super League debut against Ireland; announce squad

The Cricket Netherlands welcomed back their county superstars in Timm van der Gugten, Fred Klaassen and Brandon Glover to the national side for the first time post the pandemic ridden year as they get ready to play their first-ever Cricket World Cup Super League series against arch-rivals Ireland. Announcing a 15 man squad, head coach Ryan Campbell said that he believes his team would do great in this historic series.

“Our first appearance in the much talked about Super League is no doubt the most important page in the Dutch Cricket History book,” said Campbell. “We hope to open this chapter with a really competitive series against our great friends and adversaries Ireland,” added the former Hongkong international.

While Gugten is coming off a successful season with Glamorgan having picked 13 wickets and scored 131 runs with a batting average of 26.2 in six county games, Klassen too featured in two games for Kent’s first XI. Brandon Glover also toiled hard in Northamptonshire’s 2nd XI this county season and Cambell believes that the experiences of these players will come in handy for the Dutch side.

“We welcome back Timm van der Gugten, Fred Klaassen and Brandon Glover from county duties and I expect them to form a potent fast bowling combination with Logan van Beek and Vivian Kingma, whose form has been outstanding so far this season,” said the 49-year-old.

Musa Nadeem Ahmed, who has been one of the top performers in the Dutch domestic circuit with six wickets and 232 runs in the Topklasse’ seven games so far, has also found a place in the 15.

“I’m extremely pleased to add Musa Nadeem to our long list of recent debutants. His form in the Topklasse has been outstanding as well as his hard work throughout our long hiatus from International Cricket due to Covid,” Campbell said about the 23-year-old Pakistan born leggie.

For the first time ever the matches of the Dutch cricket team would be broadcast live and in Dutch commentary on a commercial television channel. The three ODI’s will be broadcasted live by Ziggo Sport. The tour begins first of the three ODIs on June 2 at Sportpark Maarschalkerweerd in Utrecht.

Squad: Pieter Seelaar (captain), Scott Edward, Max O’Dowd, Stephan Myburgh, Ben Cooper, Bas de Leede, Timm van der Gugten, Logan van Beek, Fred Klaassen, Philippe Boissevain, Vivian Kingma, Brandon Glover, Tobias Visée, Musa Nadeem Ahmad, Saqib Zulfiqar

Staff: Ryan Campbell (head coach), James Hilditch (Assistant coach & analyst), Gary Kirsten (Assistant coach), George Dunlop (Physio).

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Devon Conway pushes his case for Lord's Test in face of 'intimidation' from Williamson in opposition

Having broken through in the New Zealand Test squad for the tour of England, left-handed Devon Conway capitalised the only opportunity of impressing the Blackcaps management before the selection of the playing XI for the first Test starting June 02 at Lord’s. In the intra-squad game being played in Southampton before the Blackcaps will move to London, Conway was at his best opening the batting along with first-choice opener Tom Latham and put on a solid 100-run partnership to thwart the Kane Williamson-led side that had Tim Southe, Neil Wagner, Jacob Tuffy and Micthell Santner in it. Conway was ecstatic at living through the opportunity to bat along with Latham who he keeps in high regard for his discipline and shot selection as a Test opener. He did not waste the opportunity though only by learning but scored a good unbeaten 55 to stake claim on becoming Latham partner’s in the first Test as well. "Good opportunity to bat with him [Latham] out in the middle. Fortunately, we are both left-handers, so I could just feed off a couple of things that he was doing. He is very experienced, knows his game inside out. Just watching how he goes about things, not only in today's game but in training and his discipline around, his shot selection, the way he plays his game, it's pretty awesome to learn from. Just to be there at the other end was pretty exciting and good learnings throughout the day. Although he was excited to learn and bat along with Latham he got a fair bit of idea of the challenges as well by the sight of having Kane Williamson, Tim Southee in the opposition camp. Conway said that the sight of Williamson having a close eye from the gully region turned out to be an intimidating experience of a sort in the intra-squad game. "You've got Kane Williamson there at gully watching you bat. That's pretty intimidating, one of the best guys watching you go about your business. Then also fronting up and facing guys like Tim Southee, who have been there for a long time. I didn't get the opportunity to bat with Ross Taylor today, which was a bit unfortunate, but hopefully one day I'll get that chance,” Conway added. Conway has batted at the number three position for his domestic side Wellington Firebirds and in the middle order for New Zealand white-ball sides, but for the Test match, he is competing with Tom Blundell for an opener’s position. He, however, does not see this as much of a challenge and instead has opted to focus on getting the basic right and backing his own game. He said that there is no hesitancy from his side on the batting position and he is ready to bat anywhere as the team asks him to bat. "There's probably not too much difference to be fair. Sometimes if you're batting three, you could be in in the first over. So it's just about backing your game plan, backing the way you play, and just staying true to that as much as you can, regardless of the situation. It's just about adjusting to the surface and being positive throughout.” "I like to see myself as a guy who bats anywhere really. If the opportunity presents itself to bat up the order in Test cricket or ODIs or Twenty20, I would be happy to take that with both hands. It's just a number. At the end of the day, it's about adjusting to different scenarios and situations of the game and just batting accordingly." Conway’s emergence as a fluent batsman has given the Blackcaps management a good selection headache going into the Test series against England. They have to make a choice between Tom Blundell who can also keep and Conway who will bring firepower and momentum-shifting batting at the top of the order to complement an ever so reliable Tom Latham.

BAN vs SL: Recovered from concussion, Saifuddin to still miss third ODI

Bangladesh bowling all-rounder Mohammad Saifuddin would miss the third and final ODI even as he has fully recovered from the concussion he suffered during the second ODI played on May 25. His concussion substitute Taskin Ahmed is likely to get a game in his place. Or the coach could experiment with medium pace and better batting abilities of Soumya Sarkar, who is also fully fit now. Bangladesh’s medical unit advised Saifuddin to take a rest as he is the team has already got an unassailable 2-0 lead in the three-match series. The 24-year-old bowler was hit on the head by a Dushmantha Chameera bouncer in the 48th over of the Bangladesh innings in the second ODI at the Shere Bangla National Cricket Stadium in Dhaka. He subsequently got run out trying to run a single on that very ball. The third and final ODI between the two teams would be played today, May 28 at the same venue. The match has a high chance of being abandoned or significantly reduced due to the ongoing Yass cyclone in the Bay of Bengal which has for the last three days wreaked havoc in parts of Bangladesh and adjoining Indian states of Bengal and Orissa.

WTC Final: India, New Zealand to be crowned joint winners in case of tie or draw

The International Cricket Council (ICC) on May 28 announced the provision of a joint winner in case of the World Test Championship resulting in a tie or a draw. The cricket governing body also declared June 23 as a reserve day if the possible five days of play (six hours each day) is not achieved in the scheduled time due to weather conditions. India and New Zealand will be fighting it out in the inaugural WTC Final to be hosted at the Rose Bowl in Southampton from June 18 to 22. The council also confirmed that the decision on the requirement of reserve day would rest with the match referee. “In the event of time being lost during the match, the ICC Match Referee will regularly update the teams and media about the way in which the Reserve Day may be used,” the media release by ICC read. “The final decision on whether the Reserve Day needs to be used will be announced at the scheduled start of the last hour on the fifth day,” it added. Other prominent playing conditions include the following: Short Runs – The Third Umpire will automatically review any call of a ‘short run’ by the On-field Umpire and communicate the decision to the On-field Umpire prior to the next ball being bowled. Player Reviews – The fielding captain or the dismissed batsman may confirm with the Umpire whether a genuine attempt has been made to play the ball prior to deciding whether to initiate a player review for LBW. DRS Reviews – For LBW reviews, the height margin of the Wicket Zone has been lifted to the top of the stumps to ensure the same Umpire’s Call margin around the stumps for both height and width.

PSL 6: Sarafraz Ahmed along with 25 other players and staff denied UAE visa

Former Pakistan skipper Sarfaraz Ahmed is among the list of 25 players and staff who have been denied visa by the United Arba Emirates where the rest of the 20 games of the Pakistan Super League are going to be hosted. A report in Geo news claimed that along with Sarfaraz his Quetta gladiators compatriot fast bowler Mohammad Hasnain, Multan Sultans’ Imran Khan, PCB Media Department Officer Emad Hameed are among the 25 members halted after the first batch of players departed Karachi late evening on May 27. Other players in the list include the newly signed Multan Sultan’s player and Shahid Afridi’s replacement in the side Asif Afridi, Umar Amin, Muhammad Musa, Zaid Alam, Zeeshan Ashraf, Abrar Ahmed, Imran Randhawa, Mohammad Haris, and Aamir Khan. The league is already under a lot of threat with the scheduled departure on May 26 being delayed twice and the media and broadcast crew from India and South Africa facing a lot of travel-related hurdles for the tournament. Originally scheduled to be played in February-March this year, the tournament was postponed on March 4 after several players were infected with Covid-19 in the bio-bubble. The rescheduled tournament was to take place from June 1 in Karachi, but it was again postponed and would now be held in UAE’s Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi from June 5, although the fixtures haven’t been drawn up yet.