WBBL 2021 | Smriti Mandhana, Deepti Sharma fail as Thunder record sixth loss in nine games

Sydney Thunder Women’s marquee overseas players, the Indian duo of Smriti Mandhana and Deepti Sharma failed big time as the defending champions recorded their sixth loss in nine games in the Women’s Big bash League 2021, making their chances of defending their title slimmer by the day.

Playing against Adelaide Strikers Women in an away game, the Thunder Women could only get up to 158-6 in their 20 overs chasing a total of 177. Smriti failed to get into the double figures and was removed for seven runs by Jemma Barsby.

Phoebe Litchfield and Isabelle Wong tried their best to rescue the sinking ship with their quickfire 40 (28) and 43 (17) respectively, but it wasn’t enough. Deepti Sharma remained unbeaten on 17 off 14 balls.

Earlier in the evening, after winning the toss Strikers Women chose to bat first and rode on brilliant counter-attacking innings of 54 off just 32 balls from South Africa’s Laura Wolvaardt. A patient innings from her compatriot Dane van Niekerk of 58 off 46 balls helped Adelaide’s cause to post a daunting total of 176 in their 20 overs.

India’s Deepti Sharma was the most expensive bowler as she conceded 35 runs in only her two overs.

In another match, veteran Grace Harris was once again at the top of her game as she scored a measured 54 off 39 balls to carry the Brisbane Heat Women over the Sydney Sixers Women. She was well supported by the other three batters and especially Georgia Voll, who remained unbeaten on 48 off 41 balls to chase down the target of 160 with eight wickets and nine balls remaining.

Earlier in the afternoon at the Karen Rolton Oval in Adelaide, Sixers Women won the toss and decided to bat first. With the help of Ashleigh Gardner’s unbeaten 88 off 52 balls, the women in pink managed to reach 159-2 in their 20 overs.

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Covid-19 forces PNG Women to pull out from ICC Women’s World Cup Qualifiers

Papua New Guinea women’s cricket team are suffering from Covid-19 at such a large level that they had to pull out from their biggest possible opportunity to date, a place in the global World Cup Qualifiers to be held in Zimbabwe from November 21. Cricket PNG said that its women’s team had to pull out because of "not having enough players for the tour who can pass the covid tests required for flying." "We have also over the weekend worked with the ICC on later flight options to give the team more time to still be able to tour. Unfortunately, all the extra efforts to get the team to travel have been unsuccessful," the media release from the board added. PNG, who had topped the Asia Pacific qualifiers two years ago, were set to compete with West Indies, Netherlands, Ireland, and Sri Lanka in the group phase in the tournament. The team was to leave early for Zimbabwe to acclimate to the conditions after being unable to play cricket due to the pandemic in the last two years. However, this devastating turn of events has made the tiny cricket enthusiastic nation sad. "Unfortunately, despite everyone in Cricket PNG being fully vaccinated, Covid has robbed us of the opportunity to play international cricket once again. The board, management, staff and players are all devastated at this turn of events,” the release added. The ICC has yet not announced any replacement and with the tournament just a few weeks away, it looks like there would be no replacements either. Out of the nine teams competing now, only three would make it to the World Cup in February 2022 in New Zealand where they would compete with hosts and four other top nations in Australia, England, India and South Africa.

On the heels of Australia’s full tour announcement, ECB CEO Tom Harrison flies to Pakistan

The English and Wales Cricket Board’s chief executive, Tom Harrison, has flown to Pakistan to mend relations between the ECB and the Pakistan Cricket Board. The relationship went sour after England’s cancellation of the promised tour of Pakistan, which was scheduled to take place in October 2021. This has come on the heels of the announcement made by Cricket Australia to visit the subcontinental nation for a full tour which would include three Tests, three ODIs and a T20I to be played in March 2022. Harrison is scheduled to meet with Pakistan PM and patron in Chief of the PCB Imran Khan and Ramiz Raza. His job will be to assure that the promised Test tour of Pakistan for 2022 would go as planned. The PCB chief was irked after England’s cancellation of the October tour. "I am severely disappointed in England's withdrawal but it was expected because this western bloc gets united unfortunately and tries to back each other. This is a lesson for us because we go out of our way to accommodate and pamper these sides when they visit. From now on we will only go as far as is in our interest,” Ramiz had said back then. It would be a two-day visit by Harrison as he is supposed to be in UAE for ICC’s first in-person Chief Executives’ meeting later this week.

IPL 2022 | Sanjay Bangar appointed as new head coach of RCB

After Simon Katich quit before the second leg of the Indian Premier League last year, Mike Hesson, the former New Zealand coach had overtaken the responsibility of the head coach. But the franchise has decided to upgrade their batting consultant Sanjay Bangar to the position of the head coach right before the mega auction of the cash-rich league. Hesson will continue in his original role as director of cricket operations. Bangar, who has been previously associated with Team India as batting coach between the years 2014-2019, also has under his belt the experience of coaching IPL sides. The 49-year-old was the head coach of the Kings XI Punjab from 2014 till December 2016. A domestic cricket legend and one of the few players to open both batting and bowling for their sides, the Railways man could play only 12 Tests and 15 ODIs between 2001 and 2004 for India. He was also part of the Deccan Chargers and Kolkata Knight Riders franchises in the 2008 and 2009 editions of the IPL. Speaking on his appointment, Bangar said, "I have worked with some exceptional and talented members in the squad and can't wait to take this team to the next level. There's a lot of work that needs to be done with the IPL mega auctions and the season following it, but I'm sure that together with the continued support of the management and the support staff, we can deliver the goods and bring cheer to our fans across the globe.” Come the 2022 IPL mega auctions RCB have a lot of important calls to make, starting from choosing their captain after Virat Kohli’s resignation from the role and figuring their new core with players like AB de Villiers set to retire in the next couple of years.

Watch | Emotional Ravi Shastri gives farewell speech to Team India

The Indian cricket team bowed out of the T20 World Cup on a winning note against Namibia on Tuesday, 9 November, at the Dubai International Stadium. It also marked the last game of head coach Ravi Shastri with the team as his contract with the national team ends with the commencement of the World Cup. The former India cricketer was emotional in his final speech as a coach and termed the current Indian side as one of the greatest teams to have played the game of cricket. “You guys as a team have over exceeded my expectations. Over the last few years, you go across the globe and beat everyone across all formats. It makes you one of the great teams that have played the game. Not [just] a great Indian team, hear me out, this will go down as one of the great teams to have played the game ever,” Shastri said in a video uploaded by the BCCI on their official website. The 59-year-old was not shy to admit that this T20 World Cup was not the best of the efforts that Team India have put in. And he also repented having missed out on winning a few ICC trophies but was happy to proclaim that the team members will get another chance to do that. “You will be wiser, more experienced when the next opportunity comes. But for me the most important thing is, you know in life, it’s not all about what you accomplish, it is about what you overcome, overwrites everything else,” he said. “What you have gone through in the last two years, the Covid, the hurdles that have come on the way, write-offs that happened and everything. You become stronger in mind, tougher and ready to compete at the highest level and that’s the best thing I like about this Indian team,” the coach added. With Shastri gone, Rahul Dravid would now be taking over as the coach of the Indian team starting with the New Zealand series from November 18. Watch Video Here