World T20 2021 | SL vs NED: Will Sri Lanka test bench strength as Netherlands search for consolation win?

The clash between Sri Lanka and the Netherlands have a very limited scope of things to do or achieve for both sides as they lie on opposite sides of the spectrum. While Sri Lanka are already through to the Super 12, the Netherlands are out of that race courtesy of two consecutive losses.

Hence both the teams would be seeking different things from this game.

The Golden generation of Dutch cricket wasn’t able to deliver as certain decisions off and on the field cost them dearly. Thus now the aim of Pieter Seelaar led side would be to win at least one game and it would be better if it comes against the best team of the group.

To achieve this goal of theirs the Dutch would have to give a chance to those who haven’t got a real chance, players like Ben Cooper, Paul van Meekeren and Philippe Boissevain as well as giving Ryan ten Doeschate a proper chance to either bowl or bat if he is being kept in the XI.

Sri Lanka, on the other hand, can test their bench strength especially at the top of the order by playing Dhananjaya de Silva in place of either Kusla Perera or Dinesh Chandimal, both of whom are senior statesmen but haven’t hit form in the tournament in the first two games.

Similarly, Maheesh Theekshana and Dushmantha Chameera, two of the best bowlers on the island nation’s side could be rested as well so that they are fresh for the Super 12 clashes. But will Micky Arthur take the risk of disturbing a winning XI is a million-dollar question?

Sri Lanka vs Netherlands: Match Details

Match Number - 12

Date and Time - October 22, 2021, 07:30 pm IST, 06:00 pm Local, 14:00 pm GMT

Venue -Sharjah Cricket Stadium, Sharjah

Broadcast and Livestream - Star Sports Network and Hotstar

Pitch Report

For the first time ever Sharjah would be used as a venue for the T20 World Cup and as far s it has been observed during the Indian Premier League, the wickets over there have been low and slow. So a similar wicket might be on display for this game as well.

Weather Forecast

With plenty of sunshine and no chances of rain or any other disturbance in the offing, the game wouldn’t have anything depending on the weather. However, there are heavy chances of dew and hence a captain winning the toss would look to field first.

Probable XI

Sri Lanka

Pathum Nissanka, Kusal Perera (wk), Dinesh Chandimal/ Dhananjaya de Silva, Avishka Fernando, Bhanuka Rajapaksa, Wanindu Hasaranga, Dasun Shanaka (c), Chamika Karunaratne, Akila Dhananjaya, Binura Fernando, Lahiru Kumara

Netherlands

Max O’Dowd, Ben Cooper, Stephan Myburgh, Ryan ten Doeschate, Scott Edwards (wk), Philippe Boissevain, Pieter Seelaar (c), Timm van der Gugten, Logan van Beek, Fred Klaassen, Paul van Meekeren

CE XI Fantasy team

Wicketkeeper Kusal Perera

Batters Max O’Dowd, Stephan Myburgh, Avishka Fernando, Pathum Nissanka

All-rounders Pieter Seelaar, Wanindu Hasaranga, Dasun Shanaka

Bowlers Fred Klaassen, Lahiru Kumara, Chamika Karunaratne

Vice-Captain Max O’Dowd

Captain Wanindu Hasaranga

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T20 World Cup | Spin and slow pitches stand between England and another World Cup triumph

When Karlos Brathwaite hit four consecutive sixes to win West Indies the last edition of the T20 World Cup in 2016, it left Ben Stokes on his haunches and England’s dream of winning the title that would have established their arrival on the world stage in the white-ball format, crestfallen. That world cup was the first grand test of their revamped model of playing white-ball cricket in the leadership of Eoin Morgana and Andrew Strauss and hence a triumph would have sealed their rise and prominence in limited-overs cricket. But their defeat too could not hide the massive progress they made with the white ball in the leadership since the disastrous ODI World Cup in 2015 in Australia. However, the success and failure of a team in the white-ball formats can’t be measured by any other metric but the number of world cups they win and hence the 2016 world cup was a massive opportunity missed. A little over five years from then, England are once again back in the T20 World Cup 2021 and are set to open their campaign with the clash against West Indies to resume the prospective rivalry that brewed on the night of the 2016 final. Once again, they are one of the firm favourites to lift the trophy. The time period between 2016 final and the first day of the Super 12 round of the tournament was the years of England’s redemption and unprecedented rise on the world stage. They went on to win the ICC ODI World Cup in 2019 at home and the metric of a global title was also achieved in the period to establish their supremacy and rise in the format. Here, we’ll analyse the biggest strengths, weaknesses, challenges and prospects of the England side in the T20 World Cup. England squad for World T20 2021 Eoin Morgan (C), Moeen Ali, Jonathan Bairstow, Sam Billings, Jos Buttler, Tom Curran, Chris Jordan, Liam Livingstone, Dawid Malan, Tymal Mills, Adil Rashid, Jason Roy, David Willey, Chris Woakes, Mark Wood Reserves: Liam Dawson, James Vince, Reece Topley Relentless six-hitting batting lineup All the probable batsmen of a first-choice England playing XI, except Dawid Malan, are prolific six hitters who have earned the reputation of being batsmen with the ability to hit big shots at will. The most likely opening pair of Jos Buttler and Jason Roy has been in ominous six-hitting touch in the last few years and England will have a lot of reliance on them if they want to succeed in the tournament. The middle-order has been boosted by the emergence of Liam Livingstone, who has made a habit of making grounds look smaller when he wants to go big over the fence and a perpetual improvement of Jonny Bairstow, the swashbuckling batsman. They have provided England with a lot of firepower in the middle phase of the game and a lot of their fortunes in the end over and chances of piling on big runs in the end phase of the game will rest on their shoulders. Spin- a perpetual challenge A lot of England’s success in the recent past in the short formats of the game can easily be attributed to Adil Rashid’s leg-spin, but a lot of that success has come on flatter pitches at home or even away were producing a couple of wicket-taking deliveries make a hell lot of a difference. The T20 World Cup will be a different sort of challenge for Rashid as pitches in the UAE and Oman are expected to assist a lot to the spinners and there will be pressure on him to pick wickets while controlling the flow of the game, a part of the game he struggles with. There are no other frontline spin bowling options other than him albeit England have Moeen Ali who produced good numbers playing for the Chennai Super Kings in the IPL 2021 playing on similar surfaces. However, his inclusion in the side will be more dependent on how Morgan wants to keep the composition of the batting order and hence it leaves Rashid as the only first-choice spinner in the side for a tournament that is scheduled to be played on slower and lower surfaces. While there is a lack of depth in spin bowling, England also have a huge task on their hands in terms of batting well on such surfaces and enabling the bowling attack to mount a sustainable defence. The likes of Jos Buttler and Jonny Bairstow have proven their credentials on slower surfaces in IPL but the batsmen such as Dawid Malan and Livingstone have to bat out of their skin to provide England with a substantial advantage with the bat. Both bowling spin and batting against spin bowling will be England’s Achilles heels in the tournament and if they can improve their game with both aspects of the game. Absence of X-factor players England would be sorely missing the duo of Ben Stokes and Jofra Archer in the world cup as their presence would have added much-needed balance and experience into the squad. Of the two, England would be miss Archer the most as his absence has left a big hole to be filled in the bowling department. In his absence, England have brought Tymal Mills to bring both pace and variety to the bowling department, but Archer’s absence is a huge boot to fill for mills. Archer was a dominant force with the ball both at the start and at the end overs of the innings and it’s unlikely Mills will be able to do the dual role so perfectly. Morgan’s poor form, Malan’s sluggish approach Eoin Morgan has earned an indisputable reputation in England cricket as the only world cup winning captain in the ODI format and his place and authority over the England white-ball setup was getting stronger with each passing series. However, at the end of the day, Morgan walked into the playing XI based on the fearless batting approach accompanied by monumental results, and now as his bat has gone silent for some time, he will face tough questions from himself, if not the team management. He looked horribly out of touch in the UAE leg of the IPL with the Kolkata Knight Riders and England will hope his misery had ended with that stint. He would be the first one to admit his diminishing returns with the bat and hence it was brave of him to address the question of his form by saying that he won’t come in between England and the cup and would drop himself if he doesn’t recover his form. England need him badly to score runs not only to boost the morale of the whole squad but also for a fully functional middle order which has been depleted by the absence of Ben Stokes. Morgan’s success with the bat will solve one of the two jigsaw puzzles of England’s batting unit in the world cup. Apart from Morgan’s slump, England have also a big call to take on the approach and numbers of Dawid Malan. He produced an outstanding set of numbers in the past few years to rise to the top of the ranking, but his approach of taking some time at the crease before going for glory shots has been exposed in the past few series. England will have to take a call on maximizing the first six overs on slower surfaces in UAE and Oman and hence they need a rethink of Malan’s batting mindset in the tournament. Recent form England have won nine of their last 11 bilateral T20I series since 2018 and they had won five out of the six games at home against Pakistan and Sri Lanka earlier this year. However, the only series loss they suffred was at the hands of India which puts the spin being their biggest challenge in the tournament into perspective. Probable first XI Jason Roy, Jos Buttler (WK), Dawid Malan, Jonny Bairstow, Liam Livingstone, Eoin Morgan (C), Moeen Ali, Chris Jordan, Mark Wood, Adil Rashid, Tymal Mills

World T20 2021 | Scotland thrash Oman, remain unbeaten to qualify for Super 12 as group topper

Scottish skipper Kyle Coetzer found form as his team thrashed home team Oman by eight wickets to remain unbeaten throughout Round 1 and qualify for Super 12 as group toppers. This is also the first time ever that a Scottish team has moved further than Round 1 in a World Cup. Courtesy of this win, Scotland moved to Group 2 of the Super 12 and will be placed alongside India, Pakistan, New Zealand, Afghanistan and a team that would qualify from Group A of Round 1, which would be decided on Friday. Chasing a modest total of 123, Coetzer, who had been searching form for the last two games finally found it and hit a 28 ball 41. His opening partnership of 33 with George Munsey was a relatively better start for the men in purple. Matthew Cross, who came after the fall of the first wicket, remained at the crease till the very end and built a partnership of unbeaten 48 with Richie Berrington who scored a quickfire 31 off 21 balls to get the chase done with as soon as possible. For Oman, Khawar Ali and Fayyaz Butt picked one wicket each. Earlier in the evening, after winning the toss Oman skipper Zeeshan Maqsood decided to bat first. However, the team had a horrendous start and courtesy of a mixup between the two openers Jatinder Singh, the most dynamic Omani batter got run out for nought. The men in red couldn’t really recover from that and even after Aqib Ilyas’ 37 and Maqsood’ 34, could only manage to get to 122 losing all 10 wickets on the way. In fact, only three Omani players were able to cross the single digit. For Scots, Josh Davey was once again the pick of the bowlers with figures of 3-25 from four overs.

It’s about resetting the clock and the mind: David Miller dwells upon advice of great friend Amla

David Miller, the senior-most player in the current South African T20 World Cup squad has dwelled upon the advice of a good friend and former Proteas skipper Hashim Amla to find inspiration ahead of the start of their World Cup campaign. "I had the privilege to play with him [Amla] for many, many years and I suppose what I have learnt from him is to not let failure get you down. We are striving for consistency in performance and, off the field, trying to be a consistent person as well,” Miller was quoted as saying to ESPNCricinfo. But how being a nice person according to Amla’s advice helps? To answer this, the 32-year-old Miller said, "The famous old saying is that you are only as good as your last game, but Hashim always said to me (you're only as good as) your next game. It's about resetting the clock and the mind, and trying to control and really be in the present.” "That's what I have really enjoyed about Hashim and his influence, being nice and calm, being a pillar of strength; the silent assassin. He was about getting the job done but more so, being nice and consistent as a person. It has been a good journey with him and I still keep in touch with him and will continue to do that during this World Cup for any advice,” added the Proteas who has played 90 T20Is so far. South Africa hasn’t been able to win a World title ever and now with New Zealand winning the World Test championship and England having won the ODI and T20I World Cups, the Proteas remain the only major team without the silverware. Can they do something different this time? Only time will tell.

West Indies women to tour Pakistan ahead of World Cup qualifier

It has come as a breath of fresh air for Pakistan Cricket as after New Zealand and England cancelling their tours of the country citing security reasons, Cricket West Indies confirmed that their Senior Women’s team would tour Pakistan for a three-match ODI series to be played from November 8 to 14. The tour comes ahead of an important World Cup qualifying tournament to be hosted by Zimbabwe from November 21 to December 5 where both West Indies and Pakistan would be fighting it out against eight other teams for three spots in the 2022 World Cup to be hosted by New Zealand. "This reciprocal tour to Pakistan is an important part of our preparation plans ahead of the World Cup qualifying tournament that is scheduled to take place in Zimbabwe in mid-November," Jonny Graves, CEO of Cricket West Indies said in an official press release. "This tour to Pakistan will give the team the chance to play in different conditions compared to the Caribbean and have more high-level competitive cricket ahead of aiming to secure one of the three qualifying spots available for the Women's Cricket World Cup next year,” he added. All the matches will be played at National Stadium in Karachi and security was definitely a question that was raised after this announcement. Addressing that Graves said, "The security plan arranged by the PCB is the same high level that the West Indies men's and women's teams received when they last toured Pakistan in 2018 and 2019, respectively.”