We’ve got nothing to lose: Watch KKR replug McCullum’s season-defining speech ahead of final

The Kolkata Knight Riders are living a life in the second leg of the Indian Premier League, which could only be termed as a fairytale, given the kind of comeback they made in the tournament.

From tottering at the bottom of the table with two wins from the first seven games to playing the final is no mean achievement at all. This turnaround would not have been possible without a fiery personality in the dressing room and it not be wrong to say that it is the coach, Brendon McCullum, who is behind it all. The franchise has shared a glimpse of a motivational video on its social media handles ahead of the final clash against Chennai Super Kings, who have a comeback story of their own.

The 48-second clip is taken from the speech that coach Brendon McCullum made ahead of the start of the second leg in UAE. It was only then that McCullum said, “Imagine things work out and then five weeks from now and we are standing with the trophy after being two wins from seven games. Imagine that journey and the stories that you would get to tell.”

“The experiences that you get to share, that’s what in front of us, that should enthuse us, excite us. We have got nothing to lose lads and that makes us dangerous,” he adds.

The story has almost reached its climax, with the KKR team, led by Eoin Morgan and boosted by performances from Sunil Narine, young Venkatesh Iyer, Shubman Gill, Varun Chakravarthy, Lockie Ferguson and Shakib Al Hasan, making it to the final. But will the needing be the same as imagined by coach McCullum and his team? Only time will tell.

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Captaincy is a tough job but I'm excited to lead the team in World T20: Mohammad Nabi

Afghanistan skipper Mohammad Nabi has expressed excitement on leading the team in the World T20 but has also admitted that it is a 'tough job'. “Yeah, it’s (captaincy) a tough job at the end, I will try my best to lead the team in the World Cup and perform well in the tournament. (I am) really excited to play as a captain in this event,” Nabi said in a conference call with the media. The Afghanistan cricketing board has gone through a turbulent time since the Taliban takeover of the country. In the last month, the recently appointed captain Rashid Khan stepped down from captaincy citing that he did not play a single part in the selection of the members of the team. The board replaced him with veteran Nabi, also known as the 'The President' in cricketing circles. The Afghan side included former Zimbabwe player Andy Flower as their batting consultant for the competition. Hailing Flower, Nabi said that he has knowledge about the pitches in UAE and is brilliant when it comes to coaching. “I played under his coaching in CPL (Caribbean Premier League) and also in T10,” Nabi said. “He is a great coach and also a great mentor for every player as well and, also he is working with the batsmen. “…he practised with five-six players in one or two sessions in Abu Dhabi, but he is brilliant, he knows everything about UAE pitches and all these conditions, yeah,” added Nabi. Afghanistan will begin the campaign against the qualifying team from Group B on October 25 in Sharjah.

WBBL fixtures in Hobart under dark clouds

The Women’s Big Bash League fixtures that were scheduled to take place in Tasmania coming weekend are under dark clouds after the state is set to go under a three-day lockdown citing a Covid-19 situation. While the seven teams are already in the city, Perth Scorchers have delayed their travel by 24 hours. "The Weber Women's Big Bash League acknowledges the decision of the Tasmanian Government to call a three-day lockdown in the interests of public health," WBBL stated. "The health and safety of our players, staff, match officials and partners, along with that of the wider community, remains our top priority. We are currently working with the Tasmanian Government on options for the upcoming Weber WBBL|07 matches at Blundstone Arena, Hobart this weekend,” it added. The competition began on Thursday (October 14, 2021) when Sydney Sixers played Melbourne Stars in a rain-curtailed match in Hobart. The Sydney side eventually etched a win by 6 wickets after chasing down a target of 100 runs in the final over. Alyssa Healy struck a 27-ball 57 to anchor the side to a victory.

County Championship to return back to two-division structure in 2022

The County Championship will be back to the two-division structure in 2022 which means that Nottinghamshire who finished at three overall in 2021 will go into Division two while the promotion of Lancashire, Gloucestershire and Northamptonshire will stay as it is. Division one will have ten teams and division two will comprise eight sides, with all the county featuring in 14 games. Nottinghamshire's director of cricket, Mick Newell expressed disappointment after the decision came in. “We had hoped that the proposal put forward to play another year of first-class cricket in conferences, with the finishing positions to determine the divisional structure for 2023, would gain sufficient support," Newell said. "However, following the vote, that was not the outcome and consequently we will play our cricket in Division Two next year,” he added. "This is, of course, disappointing, but it in no way takes away from the achievements of our squad in the first-class game over the past two years, which culminated in a top three finish in Division One in 2021,” he further added. The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) is not planning to announce the fixtures for the county before the end of November. Division One: Essex, Gloucestershire, Hampshire, Kent, Lancashire, Northamptonshire, Somerset, Surrey, Warwickshire, Yorkshire Division Two: Durham, Derbyshire, Glamorgan, Leicestershire, Middlesex, Nottinghamshire, Sussex, Worcestershire

Dom Sibley included in Lions squad for Australia tour

Dom Sibley, Matt Parkinson and Saqib Mahmood have been named in the 14-man England Lions squad that will travel to Australia next month. The Lions will provide the Joe Root-led side with opposition for the warm-up matches ahead of the first Ashes Test at Gabba and will also play a four-day tour match against Australia ‘A’. The Lions would be travelling overseas for the first time in almost two years as they last visited Australia back at the start of 2020. Sibley was dropped from the England squad after the second Test match against India at home and was replaced by Haseeb Hameed. There has been an uproar in the English media about the unconventional techniques of their batsmen, something that led to Sibely's departure from the India series. He was further dropped from the Ashes line-up as well. Parkinson and Mahmood on the other hand, have been picked after the two players were among wickets recently. Leg-spinner Parkinson picked up a total of 36 wickets in the Championship for Lancashire while Mahmood had impressed everyone during the ODI series against Pakistan and had also returned with 28 Championship scalps for Red Rose county in the eight matches that he featured in. The selectors didn’t include Liam Livingstone as he has had a hectic year and would want to spend some time at home. The squad will leave for Australia on November 4 along with the English team that will play the Ashes series. The Lion’s coaching staff and the captain are yet to be announced. Lions Squad: Tom Abell (Somerset), Josh Bohannon (Lancashire), James Bracey (Gloucestershire), Brydon Carse (Durham), Mason Crane (Hampshire), Matthew Fisher (Yorkshire), Ben Foakes (Surrey), Alex Lees (Durham), Saqib Mahmood (Lancashire), Liam Norwell (Warwickshire), Matt Parkinson (Lancashire), Dom Sibley (Warwickshire), Jamie Smith (Surrey), Rob Yates (Warwickshire)