Wriddhiman Saha feels UAE would have been a safer option for IPL 14

Andre Russell retained by Jamaica Tallawahs despite his stern words last season

Flamboyant Caribbean all-rounder Andre Russell has been retained by Jamaica Tallawahs for tbe upcoming edition of the Caribbean Premier League. Along with Carlos Brathwaite, another hard-hitting all-rounder, Russell is among the seven players who were retained by the franchise ahead of the 9th edition of the tournament. Barring the big retentions, Tallawahs have also retained the likes of Rovman Powell, Chadwick Walton and veteran fast bowler Fidel Edwards who made a return to CPL only last year. Meanwhile coming back to Russell, he had called the Tallawahs the weirdest franchise in the CPL he has been part of and conceded that 2020 was the last time he was plying his trade for the franchise. However now he has to be part of the franchise now despite some strong words last season. Left-arm spinner Verasammy Permaul and Ryan Persaud was brought back into the team. "The Tallawahs have 10 spots to fill to complete their squad and these will be announced in the coming weeks," the official CPL twitter handle wrote. Meanwhile St Kitts and Nevis Patriots will be bolstered by the inclusion of Dwayne Bravo who has been traded from the Trinbago Knight Riders. The 9th edition of the CPL is slated to kick off on 28th August with the final slated to be played on 19th September. All the 33 matches will take place at the Warner Park in St Kitts and Nevis.

Two additional players allowed for the PSL franchises for remaining season

All the Pakistan Super League (PSL ) teams have been given a new option to pick two more players in their respective squads. Earlier the franchises were expected to only carry 18 players in their final squad list. However, the new option allows the team to pick two more players and take the squad up to 20 players which include one local player and one foreign player. Earlier the squad combination only allowed 3 platinum players, 3 diamond players, 3 gold players, 5 silver players, 2 emerging players and 2 supplementary players. Following the conclusion of the player's replacement meeting, several new faces were picked by respective franchises. “All PSL teams now have the option to pick two additional players and take their squad up to 20 players for the remaining matches. Teams can pick one additional foreign player in these two picks #PSL6 #cricket,” reputed Pakistan journalist Saj Sadiq tweeted. The participation of the players depends on how they meet the travel and quarantine protocols required in the Abu Dhabi leg of the tournament. Midway through March, the 6th edition of the Pakistan Super League (PSL) was suspended indefinitely after several cases of COVID-19 was reported among players and officials from respective bio-bubbles. As per the new schedule, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) is hoping to hold the remaining 20 matches in Abu Dhabi from 5th June. The new buys are as follows- Quetta Gladiators: Zahir Khan, Jack Wildermuth, Khurram Shehzad Karachi Kings: Mohammad Haris Lahore Qalandars: Tim David, Sultan Ahmed Peshawar Zalmi: Bismillah Khan Islamabad United: Mohammad Akhlaq

Mel Jones suggests naming India - Australia Women's Test series in line with Border-Gavaskar Trophy

A former Australian Women’s player and now a renowned face in the commentary box across the world, Mel Jones has suggested that a series between India Women and Australia Women should be given a permanent name just as it has been named Border-Gavaskar Trophy for the series between India Men and Australia Men. She said that the Border-Gavaskar Trophy represents the past landscape of the game between two countries just like The Ashes series but only of the men’s game and hence the women’s game need ‘something a little bit different' which the world will remember about in 100 years’ time. “It’s great to have something like Border-Gavaskar, but that’s the men’s lens of what’s happened in the past. So we should do it our way for the women’s game, and maybe can come up with something a little bit different,” Jones was quoted as saying by cricket.com.au. “Both the men’s and women’s games have got these magnificent storylines behind their Ashes trophies, and maybe we can create one just as special that is being talked about in 100 years’ time with the same sort of reverence as the Ashes.” She also suggested that the trophy can be named after the captains of both sides in the first-ever Test between the sides in 1977. India Women were led by Shantha Rangaswamy while Australia Women were led by Marg Jennings in a one-off Test played in Perth. “To talk about Shantha Ragaswamy and Marg Jennings and all those players from that first Test in Perth, to get those to the forefront again would be wonderful,” she said. India Women are set to tour Australia later this year and will play their first Day-Night Test.

Fresh series in sight, Neil Wagner recalls 'heartbreaking' memories against England at Lord's

New Zealand will start their campaign on the tour of England with a Test match against the hosts at Lord’s, and pacer Neil Wagner has all the ‘heartbreaking’ memories of losing a World Cup final in 2019 fresh in his mind. While he accepted that the Blackcaps should move on from that episode, he conceded the defeat was a ‘tough pill to swallow’ for his teammates. “I do feel some of the boys will be a bit raw. Some memories will come back which will hurt because it was a tough pill to swallow. It could have been a monumental day in their lives and it ended up being heartbreaking. At the same time, you’ve got to move forward. Opportunities to play England at Lord’s are very rare. I think they’ll shake it off,” Wagner said in a virtual press conference from his hotel room in Southampton. He also has some memories of a historic low of 68 all out in the Test series of 2013. Wagner said that he was reminded by their routing by the pair of James Anderson and Staurt Broad on a cloudy day at Lord’s through a Facebook video. “It’s funny. ‘I’ve been on Facebook this morning and there was a video of Broad running through us with seven wickets. It was a typical Lord’s day with cloud cover and it fell nicely into their hands. But England are quality opposition in their own conditions and Anderson and Broad are even better now,” Wagner said. It was a bad game personally for Wagner himself, who was very young in his Test career who was not quite sure about his role and skills in the longest format. “Back then, I wasn’t really established in the team. I was still vying for my spot and trying to prove my worth,” Wagner added. Wagner said that with time he realised that there was no point competing with the pair of Trent Boult and Tim Southee who were superb with the new ball with the amount of swing they had in their arsenal. Hence, he decided to work on offering another dimension to the New Zealand pace attack and therefore adopted the role of an ‘enforcer’ who would test the height and patience of batsmen with short and skidding deliveries onto their bodies. “We’ve got two guys in the team in Trent and Tim who are extremely good with the swinging ball,’ he says. ‘Rather than try to compete with that, I wanted to offer something different, to complement them. The left-arm angle does help. There aren’t many lefties in the world who do it like me. I’m also a bit shorter, so the ball comes through quite skiddy,” Wagner assessed his journey. The change in mindset and gaining clarity over his role and advantage had worked wonders for both the Blackcaps and Wagner as he has broken into the top three of the ICC Test rankings for bowlers. He has been an instrumental figure beind New Zealand’s journey into the final of the World Test Championship awith 32 wickets from seven Test matches at a staggering average fo 22.50 runs per wicket. Earlier this year, in a Test match against Pakistan, Wagner bowled his heart out albeit his both toes were fractured. When asked, the left armer said that the Blackcaps needed to win both the Tests against Pakistan to reach the WTC final and henece he decied to put his body on the line. “It was awful. I kept thinking, why am I doing it? But I wanted to be part of it all. We needed to win both Tests to get to the final, and it was about playing for the team. I’m glad I did it,” Wagner said. He said that playing for New Zealand is matter of pride for him and hence he never lacks passion even when he is asked to bowl tough and long spells of bowling. “I like to play with passion. I love playing for New Zealand. It’s not always easy to bowl long spells of short-pitched stuff but it’s something I take a lot of pride in.” Wagner’s role in the team will be ever so important as Trent Boult has not flown to the UK to join the squad for the two-match long series against hosts. Kane Williamson will back Wagner to continue producing match-winning spells as he has been doing in the last few years, especially back home.