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New Zealand Announce Squad For World T20 Finn Allen Ignored

New Zealand announce squad for World T20, Finn Allen ignored

New Zealand cricket has become the first team to announce its squad for the T20 World Cup 2021 which would be played in UAE and Oman starting from October 17. The team would be lead by Kane Williamson while no player has been named as his deputy. From the past experiences, it is suggested that fast bowler Tim Southee will work as Williamson’s deputy if need be.

Finn Allen, the young batting sensation who debuted for New Zealand earlier this year after a great showing in the Super Smash has been ignored for the T20 World Cup, although he along with Colin de Grnadhomme, another probable for the T20 World Cup have been named in the T20I and ODI squads that will tour Bangladesh and Pakistan ahead of the T20 World Cup.

New Zealand Cricket in a Press Release said, “Tom Latham will captain the side in Bangladesh and Pakistan, and the usual combination of skipper Kane Williamson and coach Gary Stead will resume duties for the T20 World Cup and the Test tour to India.”

NZC chief executive David White was also confident that the squads selected for various tours including the T20 World Cup are good enough to acquit themselves in all situations.

“As the BLACKCAPS proved in England earlier this year, we have good depth in the New Zealand game and I’m confident all the squads chosen will acquit themselves well,” White said.

White also confirmed that the players part of the Indian Premier League will be available for the tournament when it resumes in September this year. “We’ve always tried to be realistic about the IPL and this particular issue is very much a one-off, caused by a unique set of circumstances,” he said.

BLACKCAPS squad for ICC T20 World Cup and India T20s

Kane Williamson (c), Todd Astle, Trent Boult, Mark Chapman, Devon Conway, Lockie Ferguson, Martin Guptill, Kyle Jamieson, Daryl Mitchell, Jimmy Neesham, Glenn Phillips, Mitchell Santner, Tim Seifert (wk), Ish Sodhi, Tim Southee, *Adam Milne (injury cover)

*Adam Milne has been selected as the 16th man and will join the team for the tournament but can only be called upon to replace a player in the squad in the event of an injury.

Coaching Staff: Gary Stead, Shane Jurgensen, Luke Ronchi, (fourth coach TBA)

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From death bed to The Hundred: Nicole Harvey’s awe-inspiring fighting spirit

Nicole Harvey is now playing in The Hundred for Welsh Women and having played in all the five matches of the team till August 06, she has taken three wickets with her leg break. She did brilliant in the domestic T20 competition, the Charlotte Edwards cup for Western Storm to bag a Hundred contract with Fire. But it wasn’t always like that for Harvey. At one time in her life, she actually believed that she could not live anymore. “I honestly thought I was going to die. I’d even written a will because that’s how real it was. I certainly didn’t think that I’d ever play sport again,” Harvey told Storm website in July this year. But this statement was just the tip of the iceberg of what the 28-year-old went through during the second wave of the Covid-19 in the United Kingdom. Recounting her experiences, Harvey said, “On the 30th of August last year I became really ill. I was 32 weeks pregnant, and I hadn’t been feeling well for about a week. It got to the point where I couldn’t even lift my legs to get my trousers on.” “Within 40 hours of that, I was diagnosed with sepsis. I had a nephrostomy bag fitted to my right kidney. I was seriously ill in the ICU and they thought that I could die. It was pretty scary,” added the Storm player, who had not represented the team before this season. Harvey further explains that it got so worse that even the doctors lost hope and asked her husband to see her even when she was suffering from Covid-19. “It got so bad that they eventually let my husband in to see me despite the Covid restrictions. I had to have a C-section at 37 weeks due to complications and because I was so weak,” she said. But as the saying goes, it ain’t over till it actually is. So Nicole too refused to give and fought literally till her last breath. “I couldn’t even sit up, let alone walk for a while. Even in January this year, I couldn’t run. It’s been quite a whirlwind, but Jonty and I are here to tell the tale,” said the Cornwall born. But in her fight, she was not alone, there were many that fought alongside her and Nicole doesn’t forget to thank them enough. “My mum lived in my house for three months and slept on the floor because of Covid. She bed bathed me and got me in and out of bed so that my husband could carry on working,’ she said. Now part of the Fire and earlier having represented Somerset Women, Nicole also thanked her teams and support staff who have allowed her to carry her son along in every tournament. “They’ve allowed Jonty to be on the road with us and things like that. Everyone has just gone above and beyond to be supportive,” she said. It wasn’t easy for Nicole to fight back as she said, “When I first tried to run at the end of January, I couldn’t really do it and I just cried.” But instead of giving up, her near-death experience has made her more resilient and she did fight back. Ever since her comeback to cricket in June this year, she has taken 9 wickets in 10 games and wants to keep on contributing to all her teams as much as she can. “I just want to make good contributions to Somerset, Western Storm and Welsh Fire. I want to be someone who is a key part of the team. I want to keep getting fitter and stronger and improving my game. I want to learn from those around me and I’m looking forward to picking the brains of people like Sarah Taylor,” said Nicole. After all that she has been through, if there is anyone that could touch the heights that she/he wants to, it is Nicole Harvey.

Shakib Al Hasan becomes first cricketer in history to score 1000 runs and take 100 wickets in T20Is

Bangladesh’s ace all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan has become the first player in cricket history to complete the double of 1000 runs and 100 wickets in T20Is. He completed the feat after taking the wicket of Australian batsman Ahston Turner during the fifth and last T20I of the five-match series at the Sher-E-Bangla Stadium in Dhaka. The all-rounder who has scored 1718 runs in 84 matches, then went on to pick two more wickets of Nathan Eliss and Adam Zampa to win the game for his team, getting Australia bowled out for 62 and winning the match for his team by 60 runs after they have scored 122 in the first innings. With the four-wicket match haul, the 33-year-old all-rounder has now 102 wickets and is only the second bowler after Sri Lanka’s Lasith Malinga to get more than 100 wickets in T20I cricket. He is now only five wickets behind Malinga’s 107 wickets to become the highest wicket-taker in the format. His figures of 4-9 in 3.4 overs are being touted as a comeback after he was demolished for five sixes in an over Dan Christian in the last match and he ended with the figures of 0-50 in his four overs.

Shaun Tait appointed Afghanistan bowling coach for T20 World Cup

World Cup-winning member of the 2007 Australian cricket team and one of the quickest bowlers ever to play the game of cricket, Shaun Tait has been appointed as the bowling coach of the Afghanistan cricket team for the upcoming T20 World Cup, which would be hosted in UAE and Oman in October-November this year. Tait, often called "The Wild Thing" for his chilling bowling spells has had prior experiences of coaching Big Bash side Melbourne Renegades and T10 side Bangla Tigers while he is still in England as part of the Durham coaching staff of the Royal London Cup. The 38-year-old who debuted for Australi at the age of 22 in 2005, could only play three Tests, 35 One-Day Internationals and 21 T20Is, with the last of his international games coming way back in 2016 against India in Sydney. He was mostly marred by injuries in his playing career and retired in 2017 at 34 years of age. Afghanistan, who are scheduled to play three ODIs against Pakistan in their adopted home Sri Lanka, would be part of Group 2 alongside India, New Zealand and Pakistan in the ICC T20 World Cup 2021.

No contact tracing bands in this IPL, Bubble Integrity officers to keep track of teams

The Board of Control for Cricket in India has decided to do away with the contract tracing bands, haired as a pioneering technology during the 2020 edition of the IPL. They would now be replaced with Bubble Integrity Officers, who were also present during the last edition, but whose roles were confined to checking bubble breaches only. This time around they would be travelling with each team and tracking all their movements. The reason for doing away with contact tracing bands was their inefficiency in catching the movement. “BCCI has decided to do away with the idea of wearing contact tracing bands as not only is it sometimes difficult to feed information for sportspersons during the course of a tournament but also, we had a few instances earlier this year when the devices couldn't catch the movement of the players and the fact that they had left a certain location wasn't updated and players and support staff realised this much later,” a source told ANI. The reason behind employing the Bubble Integrity Officers is the fact that they can accordingly at any instance of breach instead of a separate team assessing the case and taking action. "As a result, it has been decided that the Bubble Integrity Officers present with the teams will keep a track of the movements and act accordingly if there is a case that comes up during the course of the tournament. There will be 4 integrity officers with each team and will work in shifts to help with this," the source explained. Within the Bio-Secure Environment, 14 bubbles will be created as mentioned below: Franchise teams and support staff - 8 Bubble, Match Officials Match Management Team - 3 Bubbles Broadcast Commentators and crew - 3 Bubbles. The source further explained the regulation for the tournament which will be beginning on September 19 in UAE. "All franchise team members must quarantine in their hotel room for 6 full days before entering the bubble,” he said. “Upon arrival and before commencing any group training activities, all team members who will be included in the bubble will follow the below-mentioned RT-PCR testing plan. A nasopharyngeal swab will be taken for testing. Test reports are available within 8-12 hours after sample collection,” added the guidelines as accessed by ANI.