Sri Lanka lifts ban from three players as Gunathilaka announces retirement from Tests

PCB Awards 2021 | Mohammad Rizwan bags MVP of 2021, check out the full list here

The Pakistan Cricket Board announced its Annual Cricket Awards for the 2020-21 season and rewarded nine individuals as well as one spirit of cricket moment to make it a perfect 10. The most important award of the night- Most Valuable Cricketer of the Year was bagged by Test Vice-Captain and wicket-keeper batter Mohammad Rizwan whose achievements overshadowed those of any other compatriot of his. He scored 455 runs in nine Tests, 134 runs in six ODIs and 1326 runs in 29 T20Is. Added to that was his 56 dismissals as wicketkeeper behind the stumps across all formats. The award for Impactful Performance of the Year was given to fast bowler Shaheen Shah Afridi for his match-winning performance of 3-31 against arch-rivals India in the T20 World Cup 2021. It was courtesy of this performance and later on a brilliant chase by Babar and Rizwan that Pakistan broke the hoodoo of not beating India in World Cups ever since the emergence of the tournament. The award for the Emerging Cricketer of the Year went to PSL side Islamabad United’s fast bowler Mohammad Wasim Jr who also made his international debut in the year 2021. In total, the 20-year old took 38 wickets in the calendar year throughout all competitions including domestic and international. The ODI Cricketer of the Year went to Pakistan skipper Babar Azam, who has also been nominated in the category of ODI Cricketer of the Year at the ICC Awards for 2021. 406 runs in six ODIs In the category of Women’s Cricketer of the Year- 2021, the PCB jury awarded experienced all-rounder Nida Dar with the award. In 10 ODIs, she scored 363 runs and took six wickets while in two T20Is she scored 95 runs and took seven wickets in the limited international matches that Pakistan Women were able to play this year. There was no doubt as to who was going to be named T20I Cricketer of the Year as bypassing Mohammad Rizwan, who scored 1326 runs in 29 matches at a strike rate of more than 130 and bagged five Player of the Match awards and four Player of the Series awards in the shortest format this season, was anything but possible. And therefore he was rightly given the honours and became the only person to walk away with two awards in the ceremony. The second biggest honour after the MVP had to be Test Cricketer of the Year-2021 and the PCB jury awarded this to Hasan Ali who won in a tough battle against Shaheen Afridi, Fawad Alam and Abid Ali, all of whom performed exceptionally well as well. Hasan claimed 41 wickets in 2021 which included a 10-for against South Africa in his comeback game after two years and it was on his home ground of Rawalpindi as well. There were five five-fors as well for him and he won two Player of the Match awards as well as one Player of the Series award this year. The Spirit of Cricket Award 2021 went to the moment when Pakistan team members went to meet members of the Namibian cricket team in their dressing room after the match between the two sides in the T20 World Cup in 2021. Asif Yaqoob went on to win the Umpire of the Year award for the second year in a row and he thanked his colleagues for picking him once again as the Umpire of the Year is awarded based on the votes by umpires and match referees. Sahibzada Farhan of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa was awarded the Domestic Cricketer of the Year 2021 award. In this year, the right-hander scored freely and accumulated 1869 runs in all formats combined. Out of which the 25-year-old scored 487 runs in Pakistan Cup the 50-over tournament, 447 in National T20 and 935 in Quaid-E-Azam Trophy, the First Class tournament. PCB Chairman Rameez Raja, while speaking on this occasion, said, “I congratulate all the winners. All of them richly deserve the awards and accolades they are getting based on their performance this season.”

The Ashes | Facing multiple injury concerns, England call up Sam Billings in squad for fifth Test

Battling with multiple injury concerns over their first-choice players and also their lack of form in the ongoing Ashes series, England have added Sam Billings into their squad for the fifth and final Test of the series in Australia. Billings is already in Australia and playing in the Big Bash League and it was being reported before the Boxing Day Test that England could well rope in a few players from the tournament to bolster their squad. England faced as many as two major injury concerns in the ongoing Test match in Sydney with side strain to Ben Stokes and ball hitting the thumb of Jonny Bairstow. To add to their woes, Jos Buttler has been woefully out of form both with the bat and also with wicketkeeping gloves behind the wicket. England are 0-3 down in the series and are not in a dominant position in the ongoing Sydney Test either and hence Billings’ addition could also be seen as just a makeshift decision to cover for the injury concerns. There have been reports suggesting Ollie Pope has been seen practising wicketkeeping in the nets and hence Billings’ addition into the squad could also suggest the end of the road for Jos Buttler in the longest format for now.

The Ashes | Bairstow, Stokes fume after Sydney crowd abuse English players

A bloke sitting the Noble Stand of Sydney Cricket Ground, Sydney fired abuse at the English duo. The person in question at first mocked Ben Stokes and then taunted Jonny Bairstow, pointing towards their body weights

The Ashes | 4th Test, Day 3: Big challenge remains but Jonny Bairstow's heroics keep England in game

After a session of incisive fast bowling from Australia left them on the brink of another humiliation in the ongoing Ashes series, England made a fighting comeback into the fourth Test match on the back of a swashbuckling century by Jonny Bairstow and gutsy knocks from Mark Wood and Ben Stokes. A lot of work is still left to be done, but the trio ensured England were not handed a real thrashing and that one session was not enough for them to be obliterated entirely out of the game. The day began on an entirely predictable note with Mitchell Starc getting through the defence of Haseeb Hameed. The only difference was that the Australian pacer attack had to wait for some time to get their first wicket but as they broke through for the first time, the wonder boy from Melbourne, Scott Boland, ripped the heart out of England batting by the big wickets of Joe Root and Zak Crawley. England were staring at another “embarrassing” batting performance after Dawid Malan was outsmarted by Cameron Green, but an injured Ben Stokes and a resilient Jonny Bairstow had made up their mind to not go down without fighting. Stokes had hurt his side and could not bat freely with a side strain and hence he tried to up the ante whenever Australian pacers offered him deliveries at fuller or shorter lengths. He was severe against the off-spin of Nathan Lyon as well and it appeared he wanted to maximise his presence at the crease. However, a misjudgement in length cut short his ambitions of making match-turning contributions. Jos Buttler could not help himself and carried on with his batting woes that could spell the end of his association with the England Test side for a significant point of time either after this Test or the series. Meanwhile, Bairstow was smashed on his thumb by a rising delivery from Pat Cummins and it changed the dynamics and intent of the right-hander and he copied Stokes’ model of batting from that point. He switched on his One Day mode and dismissed Australia’s pacers from his presence with disdainful pull shots off the front foot. Both he and Mark Wood matched fire with fire against Australia’s barrage of short balls and carried England beyond the point of follow on. England are still 158 runs behind and they might still go on to lose the Test but the fighting spirit and bullishness with which Bairstow and Stokes batted exemplified what could have been England’s fate in the series if they wouldn’t have committed the cardinal sin of not playing at the field and staying in the moment while deciding their playing XI.