Twitter reacts to Renegades’ 145 run defeat, the biggest in BBL history

AUS A vs IND: Pacers start big but Wildermuth, McDermott mount resistance to Indian dominance

The second and last three-day tour match between Australia A and the touring Indian team ended in a draw as the pair of Jack Wildermuth and Ben McDermott put on an unbeaten 165 runs partnership to defy Indian from taking a mental advantage of a win going into the first Test match. The Indians declared their second innings overnight as it was evident from the approach of batsmen last night and set an improbable target of 473 runs to chase on the final day of the game. The move was clear as the tourists wanted their bowlers to get back into the rhythm required for the Test format after a fairly long time away from it. In the end, it could be said that they were able to extract the best outcomes out of the three-day game at the SCG. Mohammed Shami and Jasprit Bumrah got into the groove immediately as the top order of the Australia A faltered yet again against their immaculate lines and lengths. Shnmi bowled with a plan and the wicket of Marcus Harris who was caught at the leg slip off a ball sliding down the leg side was not born out of luck but on the back of specific tactical moves and perfect execution. Time was running out for Joe Burns who had been selected for the first Test but his continuous struggle with the bat had him under all sorts of pressure while facing Shami and Bumrah. In a bid to counter Bumrah’s away going delivery after coming in with the angle and with his insecurity about the off stump, Burns looked resolved to change hsi guard and took a forward press across the line of the off stumps. But, Shami was too sharp for him and the chink that Bumrah had exposed in his armour in the first innings, was capitalised by another pacer in the group who caught him rooted to the crease in front of the stumps to deepen his misery. Mohammed Siraj turned out to be an effective third seamer in the game and bowled tight lengths to back up the level set by the pair of Shami and Bumrah. On the other hand, Saini looked rusty and has not looked like the possessing qualities at least now for which he was picked for this tour. Saini was a competitor for the third seamer role after the exclusion of Ishant Sharma but may well have fallen behind Siraj and Umesh Yadav in order of preference for the team management going into the first Test. After the dinner break, once again Bumrah and Shami started testing the Australian young batsmen but the pair of Wildermuth and McDermott weathered the storm and served India a valuable lesson about playing with the pink ball. After Rahane got enough of what he wanted out of the pacers, he called upon the part-time spin of Mayank Agarwal and Prithvi Shaw while Hanuma Vihari was called into chip in as a specialist off-spinner. Vihari has grabbed the opportunities with both hands throughout his career and the match was a no different case as he most certainly has locked in a slot for him with a century with the bat and added that with a wicket of Alex Carey who was looking ominous. Vihari can be the key for the Indians being an off-spinner who can be relied upon to bowl 10-12 overs in a day, especially if they decided to go in with four seamers in Adelaide. The batting unit barring few such as Prithvi Shaw and the captain Rahane clicked well in the game while the bowling unit looked sharp and ready for the gruelling Test series.

BBL 10 | Match Preview: Heat look to bounce back against Thunder

Two teams with slightly similar losses in their first game at the hands of the same opponent would look to bounce back from that in the second match where they are up against each other. While Brisbane Heat lost its plot in the middle of the first innings and couldn’t really get going, Thunder lost too many wickets early on in their chase and couldn’t catch up with the asking rate later on. Heat searching for stability in the middle Brisbane were not at all stable in their innings against the Stars with wickets falling at regular intervals and not even a single batsman going on to finish the innings. The likes of skipper Chris Lynn, foreign import Dan Lawrence and senior pros Tom Cooper and Jimmy Pierson need to take responsibility and provide stability to the batting lineup in the middle. The Heat bowlers more or less tried their best and accurate to an extent. Thus it is the batting that has to stand up and punch at least to its weight if not above it, making sure that the bowlers are well backed up. Thunder lower order must fire In their previous encounter against the stars, the Sydney team had done well to restrict a fiery brigade like the one led by Glenn Maxwell to under 170. Their top-order also rose to the occasion and even after Usman Khawaja failing as an opener, the foreign recruit Alex Hales and skipper Callum Ferguson were able to resurrect the innings and were knocking on the doors of victory at one point in time with 56 runs required from 32 balls and eight wickets in hands. However, just as both Ferguson and Hales were removed, the lower middle order couldn’t just rally behind to close in on the win, losing the plot from there on and eventually falling behind by 22 runs. It is here that the likes of Alex Ross, Ben Cutting, and Daniel Sams have to pull-up their socks and put in the efforts required from their side and take the team to victory. Sydney Thunder vs Brisbane Heat: Match Details Venue: Manuka Oval, Canberra Date and Time: December 14, 1:45 PM IST, 7:15 PM Local, 8:15 AM GMT Broadcaster: Sony Sports Network, Sony LIV Pitch Report These two teams would have the best knowledge of the pitch in the capital as they have both been part of the two matches that have taken place there so far. The pitch has looked like a wicket with something for everyone if the people applied their skills well. It is not a flat deck as has been the case in T20s, but it’s not even a burial ground for batters. This is actually the kind of wicket that teams look forward to. Weather and Toss Throughout the summer, Canberra has really been an ideal place for cricket and it would be similar tomorrow as well. The cloud cover in the evening is supposed to be around 60% helping the faster bowlers with the swing early on. There are no chances of rain, however, it would be chilly in the evening as the forecasted temperature is to be around 13 degrees celsius. The toss, therefore, becomes as the team winning the toss would look to bowl first and chase the target. Team News Brisbane Heat The Heat for sure are missing their foreign recruits in the form of Tom Banton and Mujeeb-Ur- Rahman along with the locals in Mitchell Swepson and Marnus Labuschagne. But it’s not them alone, therefore they would have to make do with the resources that they have. In such a scenario, it is likely that they would go in with the same xi as the last time. Predicted XI Chris Lynn (c), Max Bryant, Sam Heazlett, Daniel Lawrence, Tom Cooper, Jimmy Peirson (wk), Simon Milenko, Jack Wood, Xavier Bartlett, Ben Laughlin, Matthew Kuhnemann Sydney Thunder Thunder looked good with both the bat and the ball and hence changing the tried and tested XI would have no logical explanation, in that case, until all the players are available, we can see them going in with the same XI as in the last game. Predicted XI Usman Khawaja, Alex Hales, Callum Ferguson (c), Baxter Holt (wk), Alex Ross, Ben Cutting, Daniel Sams, Chris Green, Nathan McAndrew, Jonathan Cook, Tanveer Sangha SYT vs BRH: Dream11 Predictions Alex Hales (c), Chris Lynn (vc), Callum Ferguson, Daniel Lawrence, Jimmy Peirson, Daniel Sams, Simon Milenko, Chris Green, Jack Wood, Tanveer Sangha, Ben Laughlin

BCCI ethics officer serves conflict of interest notice to N Srinivasan's daughter Rupa Gurunath

An ethics officer of the Board for Cricket Control in India, Justice DK Jain has issued a conflict of interest notice to the President of the Tamil Nadu Cricket Association (TNCA), Rupa Gurunath for violating the norms set by the BCCI’s constitution. The notice was issued on December 08 and Justice Jain had said in that notice that he was responding to the complaints filed against Ms Gurunath. "Since a prima facie case is made out in the complaint, Gurunath should file her response by December 24. On your failure to respond to the present notice, the Ethics Officer shall be constrained to proceed in your absence, without giving any further opportunity of filing a response to the Complaint, to you," Justice Jain said in the notice. The notice was issued to Ms Gurunath, who is a daughter of former BCCI president N Srinivasan, after a complaint filed by a former life member of the Madhya Pradesh Cricket Association, Sanjeev Gupta, who alleged that she is overseeing two roles simultaneously--one as the president of TNCA while the other being the whole-time director of the India Cements Ltd., the parent company that owns the Chennai Super Kings franchise in the Indian Premier League(IPL). Additionally, Gupta claims that all directors of the CSK franchise are invariably directors of the subsidiaries of India Cements Ltd. and give rise to an inevitable conflict of interest. The ethics officer Jain has asked Ms Gurunath to submit her response to these claims made by the complainant by December 24, 2020. Notably, the top brass of the board is set to meet for the Annual General Meeting where some of the key discussions on issues such as the addition of two more franchises in the IPL have to take place.

BBL: Hurricanes clinch tight win despite Strikers' record 10th wicket partnership

Hobart Hurricanes continued their winning momentum completing a yet another professional defence against the Adelaide Strikers by 11 runs on Sunday, 13 December. While the last game saw them pick up wickets throughout the middle overs to choke the defending champions of momentum, Hobart picked early wickets today to kill the chase before it began. Defending 175, that look below par in an amazing batting track at the Bellerive Oval, Hobart bowled as a unit to remove the entire batting strength of Adelaide Strikers, picking up 6 wickets within 9 overs. James Faulkner was the pick among the bowlers notching up 3 wickets for just 21 runs in his four overs. Faulkner with his slightly adjusted seam position moved the ball early in the innings to dismiss Phil Salt through the gates and later returned to remove Matt Renshaw and Peter Siddle in the 12th and 14th over respectively. Back to usual for D’Arcy Short When the moment arrives, D’Arcy Short will retire as a bonafide legend of the Big Bash League. The fifth highest run-getter in tournament history returned to his usual after scoring a golden duck in the first game. Starting cautiously against Strikers, Short along with Will Jacks (34 off 25) compiled 63 runs in the first 9 overs. Once the aggressor departed, Short effortlessly switched roles to pile on the misery on the bowling team who had just managed to break a big partnership. Scoring his first 50 runs in 42 balls, Short unleashed his arsenal in the 14th over and destroyed Rashid Khan’s hard-earned reputation by scoring 25 runs off the Afghan’s over, the highest he has conceded so far in BBL. Short was dismissed by Wes Agar trying to cut a slower bouncer in the 15th over (final Power Surge over), but he was done with the Strikers by then, scoring 72 off 58 balls. Hobart strike back after losing momentum When Short was dismissed in the 15th, Hurricanes looked well on their way to pile on close to 200 runs in the first innings. Some good work at the end by Peter Siddle and Wes Agar halted hurricanes momentum and kept them at 174 runs for 5 wickets, similar to what they had defended last time against Sydney Sixers. Coming into defend, Hurricanes struck early and removed the first six of the seven batters for single digits. Barring Matt Renshaw’s 33 off 27 balls, none of the other batters survived more than eight balls. Riley Meredith proved his credentials two games in a row making it uncomfortable for the batsmen with fierce pace and accuracy. Apart from picking up two wickets, he demonstrated fantastic footwork to run Ryan Gibson out of his own bowling. Cricket’s romance with comeback continues…well, almost Down and out at 109-9 in the 15th over, number 8 Daniel Worrall and number 11 Danny Briggs scripted one of BBL’s best fightbacks. Requiring 69 off 30 balls with one wicket in hand, Worrall and Briggs went berserk. Not one of them were proper cricketing shots, but were they? Considering T20 cricket. Switch-hit hating Ian Chappel might have cringed on most balls in the last five overs with Briggs forcing out boundaries at will facilitated by his reverse and slog sweeps. The shots were effective and Strikers managed to creep into the game till the point where 26 remained from the last two overs. Both batsmen did exceedingly well to narrow down the margin and deliver a note of caution that nobody should relax even if they are just a wicket away from clinching the game. Strikers fell short by 11 runs at the end but Worrall’s 62 off 39 and Briggs 35 off 18 will have provided them with immense confidence in a losing encounter. The unbroken 61-run stand for the tenth wicket was highest in BBL's history and the second-highest in the history of the T20 format. Barring the death bowling, Hobart will be happy with what they did on the pitch and find themselves sitting on the second spot in the league table.