WWBL 2021 | Georgia Wareham ruled out after suffering devastating thigh injury

World T20 2021 | Jason Roy underlines impact of Stokes, Archer's absence

England opener Jason Roy has called the absence of Ben Stokes and Jofra Archer—key architects of England’s triumph in the last ICC ODI World Cup in 2019 a matter of “shame”. He lamented that their absence would leave England without two of their best match-winners but expressed hope on their return to full fitness and well being. "I wouldn't say it's a problem -- it's a shame. It's definitely a shame, not having those two here but you know they're on the same path of getting fit and healthy again," Roy said during a virtual interaction. However, he did not downplay England’s chance in the ongoing world cup and said that the players who are in the squad are more than capable of putting strong performances to lift the side. "You look at our depth of the squad now, the players we have, and it's still extremely impressive. The boys showed that they have done well in the warm up game, and they've been training extremely hard, so I don't think it's a worry at all. We've got players that will definitely 100 per cent step up, rise to the occasion. They have more than enough skill. I can tell you that from training, There's more than enough skill that can take us all the way,” Roy added. England will start their campaign against West Indies on October 23.

Covering all bases, Steve Smith rates India a 'terrific' side with 'serious' match-winners

India decimated Australia in their second warm-up game before the main phase of the T20 World Cup and Australia’s experienced batsman Steve Smith was full of praise for the men in blue. He rated the Indian side very highly and said that they back a punch having all the bases covered in the squad. Also, he pointed out that their players are familiar with the conditions in the UAE and Oman having played almost two seasons of the Indian Premier League at the same venues where the world cup will be played. “They’re a terrific side, they’ve got all bases covered and some serious match-winners in there,” Smith said of India. They’ve obviously been playing in these conditions during the last couple of months with the IPL so they’ll be used to that.” Smith was the top-scorer from the Australian side while rebuilding the innings after they struggled at the top with David Warner, captain Aaron Finch and Mitchell Marsh leaving a lot to be done by the middle order. He led Australia’s revival by forging partnerships with Glenn Maxwell and Marcus Stoinis and now feels “good and ready to go” in the tournament. He is counting on the time spent in the nets during the IPL 2021 as one of the factors that helped him get used to the conditions before the world cup. “It was nice to spend a bit of time in the middle again. It’s never easy when you’re three down. You have to rebuild for a period there and I thought we did that pretty well. The partnerships with Stoin and Maxi were obviously important,” Smith said. “I feel good and ready to go now. I haven’t obviously played too many games with the IPL but I’ve spent a lot of time in the nets and getting used to the conditions, which has been nice.” Australia will start their campaign with the clash against South Africa in the first game of the Super 12 round of the tournament.

Manchester United owners show keen interest in owning an Indian Premier League franchise: Report

The Glazer family of six siblings — Avram, Joel, Kevin, Bryan, Darcie and Edward, that owns the famous football club Manchester United has shown their interest in owning one of the franchises in the Indian Premier League, TOI reported. The US-based family who has a rich history of owning sports franchises has picked up the invitation to tender issued by the BCCI and they are tracking the developments in the process of induction of two extra teams in the IPL very closely, the report added. As per the ITT released by the BCCI, foreign entities can own an IPL franchise if they agree to the terms and conditions that include setting up a company in the country. The BCCI has mandated all potential bidders must have an annual turnover of Rs 3,000 crore or have a net worth of Rs 2,500 at the personal level. However, the board relaxed its norms a bit and lowered the amount to accommodate more and more bidders. The board has asked all potential bidders to submit their ITT by the end of this month. Apart from the Glaze family, other enterprises to have picked up the ITT are Adani Group, Torrent Pharma, Aurobinda Pharma, RP-Sanjiv Goenka Group, Hindustan Times media and Jindal Steel along with entrepreneurs such as Ronnie Screwvala.

CSA Provincial T20 | Dolphins thrash Warriors, North West get better of Boland to enter semi-finals

The Dolphins defeated the Warriors in the third quarter-final and the North West defeated the Boland in the fourth quarter-final to reach the semi-final of the CSA Provincial T20 cup. Now, Dolphins will come up against Titans in the first semi-final while North West will challenge the Knights in the second semi-final of the tournament both of which are scheduled for today. In the third quarter-final of the competition, the Warriors won the toss and elected to bat first. They were not up to the mark with the bat and were rocked early by Daryn Dupavillon, who picked the top three in his first spell. Diego Rosier provided some stability with a 41-ball 51 but he was the lone man standing for Warriors and they could muster only 127 runs in their quota of 20 overs. In pursuit of a modest total of 128 runs, Dolphins too suffered an early setback in the form of Sarel Erwee, who got back to the pavilion on the very first ball of the innings. However, the Warriors’ dreams were crushed by Keegan Petersen and Dolphins skipper Marques Ackerman, who batted without aggression but made sure they did not suffer a collapse like the Warriors. Jason Smith unleashed a 41-ball 60 including three sixes on the Warriors and sealed the game and a semi-final birth for the Dolphins. Meanwhile, in the fourth quarter-final of the tournament, North West won the toss and elected to bat first. Their batsmen did not find it easy to get going but found ample support from the trio of Eben Botha, Lesego Senokwane, Duan Jansen to reach a respectable total beyond the 150-run mark. From the Boland’s side, the duo of Siyabonga Mahima and Imran Manack was the pick of the bowlers as they never let the North West batsmen get off the hook. The duo of Hardus Viljoen and Ferisco Adams were amongst the wickets but they could not stop the flow of runs and hence North West were able to get over to a defendable total of 156 runs. Chasing 157 runs, Boland started on a dominating note with the opening pair of Janneman Malan and the skipper Pieter Malan forging a 108-run partnership in 13 overs. Janneman Malan was the more aggressive of the two and he hit three sixes in his 56-ball 74. However, as soon as Peter fell in the 13th over, there was a flurry of wickets in the middle phase of the game and middle-order squandered the brisk start by the openers. Janneman Malan was left stranded at the crease while North West kept chipping away with the wickets and knocked Boland out of the competition with a narrow win of three runs.