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Wbbl 2021 Smriti Mandhana Deepti Sharma Fail As Thunder Record Sixth Loss In Nine Games

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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T20 World Cup | Gary Stead wary of England challenge; hopes to put up good fight in semi-finals

Speaking ahead of their much-awaited semi-final clash in the T20 World Cup, Gary Stead has said that New Zealand are very much looking forward to the England challenge once again in an ICC tournament. “We're looking forward to playing England again and being I guess a one-off game, where anything can happen," ESPNcricinfo quoted Stead speaking ahead of the game. New Zealand were on the wrong side of a heartbreaking game in the 2019 ODI World Cup final where they lost an exceptional match. “I think the guys are looking forward to the prospect of facing England again. As I said, they're a quality side and yes, we just look forward to the challenge of playing the best side as well. So, I'm not sure there will be anything from the 2019 game that will come into it...maybe a Super Over it might,” joked Stead. New Zealand have won 4 out of their 5 matches going into the semi final clash and have beaten heavyweights like India in convincing fashion. However, many have doubts on the quality the Kiwis possess as a T20I side and have shared their reservations for the same. Gary Stead, on the other hand, is confident of the group that the Blackcaps have at their disposal and stated that they are going to give it a good - a key feature of their game. “It's a pretty experienced group of guys now who know each other's games very, very well and know the skills of each other. As a collective group, we do fight and fight hard. That's all I keep asking for. The results, at the end of the day, will look after themselves if we do those little things well.” New Zealand face England in the first of the two semi-finals of the 2021 T20 World Cup at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium, Abu Dhabi on 10 November, Wednesday.

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.