Smash 2021-22: Finn Allen scores fifty as Wellington clinch easy win against Canterbury

Wellington’s Finn Allen began the Super Smash 2021-22 competition with a fine half-century against Canterbury on Friday in Christchurch. Batting first, Wellington began the proceedings well with Allen and Luke Georgeson putting up 89 runs for the first wicket before the latter departed for a 22-ball 30.

Allen then followed his opening partner within a span of two balls for 57 off 30 deliveries, a knock that involved four maximums and as many fours during the course of the innings.

While the openers had laid the foundation for a good total, Bracewell, Jamie Gibson and van Beek chipped in with individual contributions to help the side put 177/7 in 20 overs. Bracewell struck 27 off 17 while Gibson remained unbeaten at 22 off 19. Van Beek chipped in with an 11-ball 17.

Ed Nuttall was the pick of the bowlers for Canterbury as he scalped a three-for at the cost of 31 runs in 4 overs.

Later, Canterbury didn’t really have a great start to the chase and kept losing wickets at regular intervals to get reduced to 94/6 and eventually get restricted to 150/9 in 20 overs and suffer a defeat by 27 runs. Bracewell returned with figures of 3/22 in 4 overs while Peter Younghusband had one wicket to his name for 8 runs in two overs.

Wellington will now play Central Districts on Sunday (December 5, 2021) while Canterbury will be up against the same opposition on December 10, 2021.

Discover more

IND vs NZ | 1st Test, Day 3 lunch: Umesh removes Williamson to lift India, but Latham holding fort

The big wicket of Kane Williamson at the stroke of lunch interval lifted India on the third day of the first Test against New Zealand in Kanpur. The visitors are still ahead in the game having lost just two wickets and being around the 200-run mark but a quick collapse can never be ruled out on an Indian pitch against the bowling combination of India. The Blackcaps resumed their innings at 129/0 with Will Young and Tom Latham starting the proceedings. Young was more unsettled of the two and after numerous false shots, he fell to a delivery from Ravichandran Ashwin that kept low and Srikar Bharat was eager to affect his first dismissal in Test cricket after coming in for Wriddhiman Saha. Then, Williamson joined hands with Latham to deny India any more opportunities to get amongst the New Zealand top order. However, he played some uncharacteristic shots at the start of the innings as well, but he was lucky enough to survive a top bowling spell from Ashwin. Indian bowlers kept pressure from both ends and did not allow the Blackcaps batsmen to go on a roll with easy boundary balls. Skipper Rahane delayed the second new ball for four overs before unleashing Umesh Yadav against the batsmen right towards the end of the session. Umesh got the ball to jag back sharply towards Williamson and the Blackcaps skipper was found rooted to the crease and a low bounce on the surface trapped him right in front of the stumps to give India the much-needed wicket.

ECB releases 12-point action plan to deal with issue of racism

The revelations made by Azeem Rafiq regarding racism in County cricket made headlines in the recent past and the England and Wales Cricket Club (ECB) has now prepared a 12-point action plan to deal with the issue. The action plan has been developed jointly by the ECB, MCC, PCA and counties among other organisations and will aim at adopting a more "standardised approach to reporting, investigating, and responding to complaints, allegations, and whistleblowing across the game”. "For cricket truly to 'connect communities and improve lives' - our stated aim at the ECB - we must start by accepting that not enough has happened to make our game better, both inside our own walls and across the wider game. That is the only possible reaction to the powerful testimony of Azeem Rafiq and others in recent weeks,” ECB CEO Tom Harrison said. ''This is a critical moment for cricket. At the all-game meeting last week, we agreed with one voice on the need to act decisively,” said the ECB interim Chair Barry O'Brien. Rafiq had appeared before the United Kingdom Parliamentary Committee and testified the issue of racism within the Counties.

IND vs NZ | 1st Test, Day 3: Umpire Nitin Menon, Ravichandran Aswhin involved in animated discussion

There were moments of animated discussions between Ravichandran Ashwin and one of the on-field umpires in the 1st Test match between India and New Zealand, being hosted in Kanpur. The point of contention seemed to be Nitin Menon's issue with the off-spinner’s followthrough while bowling to Kane Williamson. Ashwin was bowling from round the wicket angle and he was ending his bowling action after running across toe the other side of the pitch. Umpire Menon asked Ashwin to not run across the pitch despite him not running on the danger areas and the spinner was not impressed one bit by that piece of advice. Later, as their discussion developed into an argument, and skipper Ajinkya Rahane was forced to join the duo and appeared to be asking the umpire what was the issue. Commentators on air—Simon Doull and Sunil Gavaskar opined that umpires should have no business in asking the bowlers where they should end their bowling action and that they should intervene only when the danger zone of the surface is impacted. New Zealand are going strength to strength with the bat in the first innings as they have come closer to the 200-run mark with nine wickets in their hands and one of the openers Tom Latham looking solid as ever for a big one.

India 'A' tour of South Africa to continue

The detection of a new Covid-19 variant in South Africa put the cricketing and sporting activities under dark clouds. However, the India ‘A’ tour of South Africa which is underway is going to continue. The visitors are presently in Bloemfontein and had a discussion with Cricket South Africa (CSA) officials and subsequently decided to complete the fixtures. "We are in contact with the BCCI and there is no prejudice to the Indian tour to South Africa at this stage. We will, of course, continue to monitor developments regarding the spread of the virus and keep the BCCI informed. As CSA we remain committed to ensuring that all visiting teams and Proteas players are afforded a safe environment to play cricket," Lawson Naidoo, the head of CSA, told Cricbuzz on Friday (November 26) evening. "The distance between the two places is over 1000 miles and we have been told that there is no immediate health hazard. We have had discussions with the CSA officials and the medical team. The team hotel and the ground area have been sanitised and we're in a bio-bubble," team manager Anil Patel told Cricbuzz on Friday. "At this stage, we have decided to stay on." The sides are slated to play a three-match series with the first unofficial Test ending in a draw.