Tightest Australian team I’ve been part of: Lyon rings the warning bell

Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy will start the much awaited Indian domestic season

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has confirmed that the Indian domestic season will begin on January 10 with the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, the premier domestic T20 tournament which includes all domestic sides. "After having gone through your responses and in accordance with the feedback received, I am pleased to inform you that BCCI is planning to start the domestic season 2020-21 with the scheduling of the T20 tournament for the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy," Jay Shah, the BCCI Secretary wrote to all the state units. The tournament will be hosted in six different states where six different hubs will be created. Starting from 10th January, the final of the tournament will be held on 31st of the same month. All the teams are expected to reach their respective hubs by 2nd January. "By Saturday, January 2, 2021, teams will have to assemble in their respective hubs. From Sunday, January 10, 2021, the tournament will start and the final will be played on January 31, 2021," the mail read further. Whether any other tournament will be held or not would be decided only after the group stage of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy. "BCCI will subsequently seek feedback from the members on organizing any other domestic tournament after the group stage of Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy," Shah’s letter informed. It is being speculated that Ranji Trophy might be scrapped altogether or might take place after the IPL, which is scheduled to be held in April-May this year. The reason behind the assumption is that IPL teams, which might be 10 this time around, would like to look at all the domestic players in the shorter formats. That would be possible if Syed Mushtaq Ali and Vijay Hazare (50 overs) trophies are held before the February mega auction.

Rachin Ravindra shines with all-round show as New Zealand A beat West Indies A

While the New Zealand Test team inflicted another crushing innings defeat on the West Indian side, the A team of the Kiwis meted out similar treatment to their West Indian counterparts also. In the second unofficial Test between New Zealand A and West Indies A, the hosts recorded a 101-run win to clinch the two-match series 2-0. But, to be fair to the visitors, they managed a much better fight than the first match and cetainly, a better contest than the main West Indian team at Wellington. The star of the match was Rachin Ravindra. In a glorious all-round show, the 21-year old scored a century, 144, in the first innings of New Zealand A, and then picked up a five-for, 6/89, in the final innings of the match with his left-arm spin bowling. Considering New Zealand's ongoing search for a decent spinner in the Test format, Ravindra's efforts may well earn him a spot in the New Zealand Test squad in the future. But the left-hander wasn't the only star of New Zealand A's performance. The home team won the toss and elected to bat first. Apart from Rachin, who batted at no. 6, Michael Bracewell also scored a hundred, 135, helping the team declare at a score of 481/7. The West Indian A response was led by opener Shayne Mosley who scored 110. But the rest of the order hardly contributed, except for Romario Shephard with 77. Their team was bowled out for 298. After Michael Bracewell's century, it was the turn of his cousin Doug Bracewell to star as he picked up 6/42 in the innings. New Zealand were looking for quick runs in their second innings and declared on a score of 174/7. With a target of 358 in front of them, West Indies managed 256. Half-centuries were scored by Nicholas Pooran as well as centurion from the first innings, Mosley. Many others got a start but failed to capitalise. The first match of the series was won by New Zealand A in an emphatic manner - by a margin of an innings and 143 runs. West Indies A had scored 322 in the first innings, thanks to a hundred by Romario Shepherd. In response, hundreds from openers Tim Seifert and Glenn Phillips powered New Zealand A to 574. The visitors then collapsed for 109 all out to hand over the match to the Kiwis.

ICC U-19 Qualifiers: 33 teams compete for five places in the 2022 World Cup

The International Cricket Council announced the Qualification process details for the 2022 U-19 World Cup to be held in the West Indies. According to the announcement, a total of 33 teams will be competing throughout 2021 for five places in the tournament. For the 16 team tournament, India, Afghanistan, Australia, Bangladesh, England, New Zealand, Pakistan, South Africa, Sri Lanka, West Indies, and Zimbabwe have already qualified for the event, to be held in the West Indies in early 2022, by virtue of their top 11 finish in the 2020 edition. The other five teams would come from five qualifiers to be held for five different cricket-playing regions. The Qualifiers have been divided into two divisions for Africa and Asia and one division each for the Americas, Asia Pacific, and Europe. It begins with Africa Division 2 qualifiers starting in June 2021 in Tanzania. This tournament will see teams from Botswana, Kenya, Mozambique, Rwanda, and Sierra Leone compete with the hosts with the top two teams moving to Division 1 of the Qualifying stage. These two teams would join Namibia, Nigeria, and Uganda in the Africa Qualifier which will be held in September 2021. The winners of this tournament will qualify for the World Cup. Similarly in Asia, Bhutan, Hong Kong, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, and Thailand will compete for two spots in Division 2, and then these two teams will join the likes of Malaysia, Nepal, and UAE in the Asia Qualifier (Division1) to be hosted in the United Arab Emirates. The winner of this would then go to the West Indies. For the East Asia Pacific region, Japan will host Indonesia, PNG, and Vanuatu between September 28 and October 4 with the winner qualifying for the ultimate destination in 2022. Scotland will have a chance to make use of the home conditions as it will host the Europe qualifiers from July 30 to August 5, competing alongside Denmark, Guernsey, Ireland, Jersey, and the Netherlands for a single spot in the World Cup. The last qualifiers will be hosted by the USA. In the Americas qualifiers, only four teams including the USA will fight for a spot in the World Cup. These teams include Argentina, Bermuda, and Canada. The matches will take place between August 18 and 25 next year. Chris Tetley, the ICC Head of Events was excited while making the announcements saying that the event has given superstars of today on many occasions. “It provides teams with an opportunity to display their progression at this level. With 33 teams in the running for five World Cup spots I am sure we will see a highly competitive series of events and the emergence of players that will become household names in the future," he added. While last World Cup-winning captain Akbar Ali of Bangladesh said, “I wish the very best of luck to all teams competing for a spot in the U19 Cricket World Cup in 2022.”.

New Zealand vs West Indies Test Series: 5 biggest takeaways

Despite all of the hopes of West Indian fans, the two-match Test series between them and hosts New Zealand turned out to be an excruciatinlgiy one-sided affair. The Kiwis won both their matches by a margin of an innings and more. What was an even bigger let down was the lack of runs from West Indian batsmen, after their good showing in practice matches. With the Caribbean team, it seems they take one step forward and two backwards in their journey over the last few years. After registering a wonderful win against England in the first Test of their tour of that country, they ended up crumbling in the next two. Now, this annihilation has added to their worries. On the other hand, things couldn't seem rosier for the hosts. Not only did they win both the matches, but their captain again showed his class with a 250 and their bowling attack fired on all cylinders. In the absence of Williamson, Tom Latham got the opportunity to lead the team and seems to have done it well. So, with the series over, it's time to understand what were the biggest takeaways from it. We have selected five key developments that merit attention. Jamieson Solidifies His Position Kyle Jamieson had a dream start to his career earlier this year when he caused a lot of problems to visiting Indian batsmen. Now, he has gone further and firmed up his place in the team. While his ability outside New Zealand, in unhelpful conditions isn't known, at least, at home, he will be a force to reckon with in coming tours. Tall, with a bit of pace, and able to swing the ball, he adds another string to the capable bow of New Zealand bowling attack. Campbell Gets a Lifeline Despite disappointing returns so far in his career, West Indies have persisted with their opener John Campbell in the team. This may have to do with genuine belief in his ability or maybe, a result of a lack of viable options in the domestic circuit. By scoring a half-century in the final innings of the series, Campbell may have just managed to hold onto his spot in the team. There are clearly areas in his game that need to be mended. Footwork has been bad and the left-hander has played too many unwarranted strokes. But his half-century in the second innings of the last Test showed there is something in his batting to work with. He is likely to feature again when West Indies next take the field in a Test match. Blackwood Shows His Mettle Jermaine Blackwood is a batsman who likes going for his shots whenever the ball seems to be in his hitting zone. This extravagant style of batting didn't go down well with Michael Holding during the team's tour of England in 2017. The West Indian legend insisted that batting with too much free will would make him a hit-and-miss sort of batsman. Getting dropped from the team seemed to prove Holding's words true. But then, during the West Indies team's tour of England this year, Blackwood surprised the former Windies pacer and others by showing a more measured approach to risk taking. He took his team to victory in the first Test with a brilliant 95. Blackwood has again shown what a capable batsman he is by shining in this otherwise gloomy series for West Indies. He is still taking risks, hitting the ball in the air, and playing shots which appear too risky. But it seems that this only happens at the start of his innings. Once he settles down, he becomes more stable. Perhaps, there is yet a need for cutting out gratuitous risks from his batting. But he certainly has shown tremendous improvement. Opening Issue Remains for New Zealand New Zealand's batting looks very solid at the moment. But there is one spot in the line-up which remains troubling - the opening slot. New Zealand have been trying to find a long-term partner for Tom Latham but the search continues. After Jeet Raval, the Kiwis have been trying Tom Blundell but his failures in this series keep his place in the team uncertain. To be fair, he had just two innings in this series. Hence, New Zealand would stick to him for the time being. But Blundell will be under pressure when he next opens the innings for his team. Middle Order Problems for Windies The failure of West Indies' batting order was most pronounced in their experienced middle-order. Both Darren Bravo and Roston Chase struggled badly. Chase, in fact, has been failing for quite some time and mainly due to his poor defence. Bravo has the best footwork in the Windies team and Chase has been one of the most reliable batsmen in their side. If these two don't fire, the spine of the batting line-up collapses. With Shimron Hetmyer waiting in the wings, both would be under pressure. Bravo's position is a bit more vulnerable because he has been in and out of the team while Chase has been a regular, also the latter has his bowling to back his claim to a spot.