Shane Bond to spend time with family, not to renew coaching contract with Sydney Thunder

Former New Zealand speedster and currently the head coach of the Sydney Thunder in the BBL, Shane Bond has made it clear that he won’t be renewing his contract with the Thunder as he want to spend more time with his family. A feared fast bowled during his prime, Bond has been in charge of the Sydney Thunder in the last three season and it was under his coaching that they finished third last season.

"I loved my time with the Thunder but with so much uncertainty around travel restrictions these days and not knowing what that might look like I just didn't want to miss another summer at home," Bond was quoted as saying by cricket.com.au.

"I haven't had one there for six years and my wife Tracey has had to carry the load. I want to be there again before I get to the point where my girls get to the end of high school. My son has some important cricket coming up too and I want to be there for that,” he further added.

Having spent considerable amount of time with the Sydney Thunder in the last three years, Bond lamented the fact that he will be missing the boys at Thunder. He said that it will be one of the hardest thing for him to be away from the boys especially given the fact that it is such a great club to be part of.

"I'll miss the boys at the Thunder, all the people from players to management. It's a great club to be a part of. I'll miss everybody. That will be the hardest thing,” Bond said.

The former fast bowler was the former assistant coach of the Brisbane Heat before joining Sydney Thunder in the role of a head coach. He was also worked with his home team before apart from being also having coaching capacities with England and the Mumbai Indians in the Premier League. He is currently in India with the five-time IPL champions who are hoping to make a hat-trick of titles.

While Bond has announced his decision to step down from the post and not renew his contract, the Sydney Thunder will also need a new captain after Callum Ferguson was removed as the leader after Thunder bowed out of the BBL earlier this year after losing in the knockout.

"Shane has done a fantastic job over the last three years, ensuring the Thunder are in a good place for whoever takes on the role," Greg Mail, Cricket New South Wales' head of cricket, quipped.

"He has been critical to the emergence of some brilliant young NSW based talent over the last two years whilst also bringing the best out of some of our established local and international players. We are a values-based organisation and although we would have loved to have seen Shane at the helm next summer, choosing to spend time with his family is a decision we respect,” he further added.

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IPL 2021 | DC vs KKR: What Experts said as Prithvi became the Shaw-stopper in Motera

It was a Prithvi Shaw show at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Motera, Ahmedabad as he destroyed the Kolkata Knight riders bowling attack in a splash. He was all over the purple brigade right from the first over, setting the tone by hitting youngster Shivam Mavi for six fours straightaway. If that wasn’t the sign of things to come, Shaw, 21, made sure that every bowler that came to face him, was punished to the core. In just a matter of 20 balls, he reached his fifty with an array of fours and sixes. Shikhar Dhawan, his senior partners and second on the list of most runs scored in this year’s IPL, could do nothing but admire the show that Shaw was putting up. With an opening partnership of 132 runs in just 14 overs, there were mere formalities left as Delhi Capitals bamboozled KKR to reach the second position on the Points table. However, there were a few negative points on their way to the win, including Shaw losing his wicket and not being able to get to the hundred (scored 82 off 41) and then Pant losing his wicket too, to win just by seven wickets. Earlier in the day, KKR after being put to bat first, struggled to get to even 154 as all their batsmen failed, by either not scoring, or scoring too slowly. And hadn’t it been for Andre Russell’s 27 balls 55, getting to even a respectable total would have been impossible. Captain's Viewpoints Speaking post the victory, Rishabh Pant, the Capitals’ skipper was in awe of the pocket size dynamite that Shaw is. “I think Prithvi Shaw is a very talented player and if you give him the chance he will deliver,” he said. “In the break, I told Prithvi you just play your game and finish the game for us,” Pant added. Talking about the hurry to finish the game, the wicket-keeper batsman reasoned, “In this kind of matches, we can afford to think of the run-rate as the match was almost done by the 12th or 13th.” Avesh Khan and Lalit Yadav, the uncapped Capitals’ men were once again the stars with the ball and the skipper was hugely impressed. While Lait picked two wickets for 13 runs in three overs, Avesh Khan was sturdy in his approach while bowling at the death and picking one wicket. “All I tell Avesh Khan is to enjoy his game and concentrate and the rest will be taken care of,” Pant said about Avesh before praising Lalit and claiming that he can turn out to be phenomenal with the bat as well. “Lalit Yadav hasn't got chances with the bat much but whenever he gets a chance he will perform,” said the 23-year-old. The Uttarakhand born concluded by saying that he is loving the captaincy and clearly the results suggest the same. “I am loving the captaincy and if the result keeps going your way it's just the icing on the cake.” Eoin Morgan, on the other hand, was visibly upset with the loss, the fifth of the season in just the seventh game, making their next seven affairs almost a must-win one. “Very disappointed, very slow off the blocks and then lost wickets in crucial periods and it was Russell who got us over the 150 mark,” Morgan said at the post-match presentation ceremony. The English captain also admired the batting display from Shaw. “When Prithvi Shaw plays like that you don't have any options but to sit and admire,” he said. Saying that KKR were off in ‘both facets of the game’, Morgan deduced, “If we give so many opportunities to Delhi Capitals they will lash on.” Explaining why the Knight Riders wen with a young bloke like Mavi instead of an experienced Pat Cummins, the 34-year old said, “Mavi bowled brilliantly the previous day and finished off his quota at a stretch so we thought of going with him. Cummins was definitely in the plan but someday it doesn't go your way.” Ireland born complained that the team has talent but is just unable to execute the plans and convert the talent into performance. “It has been a learning curve for the guys in the changing room and we need to start to execute our plans now. We have talent but we need to turn talent into performance, which is not happening at this moment,” he said. Expert Opinion The experts were all singing praises of Shaw who was on fire today. While some criticise the slow batting of the Knight riders, others also targeted Morgan the skipper for KKR’s continued failure. Veteran journalist Ayaz Memon applauded Delhi Capitals' batting, at the same time criticising the KKR batters for being too slow and clueless. Ace commentator Harsha Bhogle compared the all-around display of Delhi to the miserable day in the office for KKR with boxing. Veteran sports journalist and one of Kolkata’s favourite, Gautam Bhattacharya compared the long leash that Morgan is getting to the snappy captaincy decision of the pat that the KKR management had taken, suggesting that Morgan is getting more cushion than he deserves. Boria Majumdar, historian and cricket expert is of the opinion that KKR captain Eoin Morgan is not at his level best and the team struggling to find its feet. Vikrant Gupta, a TV journalist pointed out how the Delhi Capitals opening pair is a lesson for other teams to follow. Former cricketer cum commentator cum cricket pundit, Aakash Chopra was on with his wordplay as well, praising Shaw for the ‘show’. While the road becomes tougher for KKR from here as they face RCB on May 3rd. For the Capitals, though it would be a comparatively easy task, although no game is easy, they will face another struggle in the form of Punjab Kings on May 2nd at the same venue of the Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad.

Covid-19 second wave: Sachin Tendulkar donates Rs 1 crore to Mission Oxygen

Indian cricket legend came to the rescue of the people suffering from lack of oxygen all around the country as he donated Rs one crore to Mission Oxygen India for providing oxygen cylinders and concentrators to various hospitals in India. Making the announcement on his official Twitter account, Tendulkar, who himself recovered from Covid-19 a few weeks ago, raised the importance of how people helping each other at the time of this deadly pandemic is a source of inspiration. The Little Master also thanked people for praying for him when he was playing and said that it was just a small gesture to repay it back to the people in the form of help when it is needed the most. Mission Oxygen is an initiative by Delhi NCR based entrepreneurs to help raise funds for importing Oxygen Concentrator machines and donating them to hospitals in need during this second wave of Covid-19 in India. The Indian cricketers were under fire for not helping the people in need even as Australian cricketers Pat Cummins and Brett Lee came forward with their donations of $50,000 and Rs 40 lakhs respectively. India is going through probably the most destructive phase of a medical emergency in its history with people dying from Covid-19 in large numbers and as many as 3, 50, 000 cases of Covid-19 being reported on a daily basis.

IPL 2021: Pollard heads a cricket ball, directs it to boundary by hands as Morris watches in disbelief

In what could be counted as one of the funniest incidents on a cricket field in this year’s Indian Premier League, Mumbai Indians Kieron Pollard got hit by a bouncer on the head while ducking, the ball went to the fine leg boundary for four. Instead of getting irritated or angry with the bowler Chris Morris, Pollard was seen directing the ball to go to the boundary by pointing towards it. The incident took place in the 18th over when the situation was tense and the blue and gold brigade needed 26 to win from 18 balls with set Krunal Pandya removed and a new man in Kieron Pollard on the crease. While the West Indies’ limited-overs skipper hit the first two balls for a four and six to kill the game, a frustrated Morris, who, before that over was Rajasthan’s best bowler with two wickets and just 17 runs in his previous three overs, threw in the kitchen sink with a well-directed bouncer that hit a ducking pollard on the back of his helmet and rolled down to fine leg for four. With 16 runs from that over, finishing the game was a mere formality which was done in the next over. With the win at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi, MI ended their two-game losing streak to get to six points from the same number of games to enter the top four of the Points Table.

IPL 2021 | Prithvi Shaw hits Shivam Mavi for six fours in one over to rattle Knight Riders

Delhi Capitals opener Prithvi Shaw hit his India U-19 teammate Shivam Mavi for six fours off the first over of the chase aabsg the Kolkata Knight Riders in Ahmedabad. The Capitals were chasing a mediocre target of 156 runs and Shaw’s onslaught set the tone for the men in blue as Mavi went searching for an elusive cover. The right armer pacer was guilty of spraying the ball on inconsistent line and lengths and his skipper in the U-19 level took full toll of his misery. Mavi started off the the bowling effort from the Knight Riders side and bowled a wide to open the account for the Capitals. Then, his inability to find a proper length allowed Shaw to bring out drives, one after another, to put the Knight Riders on the brink. Shaw has been phenomenal with the bat and has batted with supreme authority at the top of the order for the Delhi Capitals. He was suffering from poor run of form last year and looks like, he is making up for the failures last year. Earlier, the Knight Riders suffered another batting failure except for the blitz from Andre Russell in the end phase of the first innings.