Author: Sandip Pawar

Heading into the second week of the Big Bash League 2021-22, the teams will be looking to get a move on after an early period of finding the right balance. In the 12th match of the BBL 11, we will have two struggling teams – Melbourne Renegades and Brisbane Heat battle it out in the Metricon Stadium on December 13. Brisbane Heat are at the bottom of the table, having lost their first two matches of the season. They lost to Sydney Thunder in the first game in 17.1 overs after giving a target of 141. The second was a lot closer as they lost by…

The 10th match of the eleventh edition of the Big Bash League will witness Sydney Thunder go head to head against Melbourne Stars in Sydney on Sunday evening. After receiving a colossal hammering by 152 runs at the hands of Sydney Sixers in the first game, Melbourne Stars bounced back to open their account in the BBL 11. Batting first, the Stars posted 165/4 on the back of Nick Larkin’s 52, Hilton Cartwright’s 42 and a quickfire 17 by Andre Russell. They were behind the game for the most part while defending the target but pulled the plug in the death overs. Credit: Melbourne Stars The Thunder needed 48 off the last six overs with…

Travis Head hammered a 85-ball century while David Warner and Marnus Labuschagne missed out on hundreds as Australia reached 343/7 on the second day of the Gabba Test. After dismantling England for 147 on the first day of the Gabba Test, Australia dominated the second day to lead by 196 runs. The hosts scored 343/7 in a single day on the back of a sublime 112* from Travis Head, 94 from Warner and Labuschagne’s 74. The Aussie opening pair Warner and Marcus Harris started carefully, batting five overs for 10 runs. Ollie Robinson provided the visitors an early breakthrough in the sixth over. Harris (3) pushed hard at a fuller…

Australia’s Pat Cummins claimed a five-wicket haul on his captaincy debut while Starc and Hazlewood picked two each to bowl out England for 147 on day one of the Gabba Test. The most storied rivalry in the history of cricket returned on Wednesday, where England and Australia went toe to toe in the first Test of the Ashes 2021-22 at the Gabba. England received a hard reality check on the first day of the tour as the Australian pacers ran riot on a spicy Gabba deck before rain halted the play. Australia skittled the visitors for just 147 before the…

Cricket West Indies announced a limited-overs series against Ireland, comprising three fifty-over matches and one T20 international. The series will take place at Jamaica from January 8 to 16, with the T20I serving up as a potential farewell for Chris Gayle. After WI crashed out of the T20 World Cup, Gayle had confirmed that he had played his last major tournament but hoped that CWI would give him one game in front of his home crowd in Jamaica to thank the fans. While the Jamaican superstar won’t be a part of the ODIs with the series weighing towards the ODI Super League for…

The oldest and biggest rivalry in world cricket is just a few hours away from reigniting down under. England’s tour of Australia for the five-match Ashes 2021-22 will kick off on December 8, when they take on the Aussies at the Gabba. Australia currently hold the Urn after drawing a historic Test series by 2-2 in England in the Ashes 2019. The Aussies have only played three series since the last Ashes. They blanked Pakistan 2-0 at home in November 2019, followed by a 3-0 clean sweep of New Zealand in December-January. Their next series came after a gap of one year, against India. They…

Australia announced their starting XI for the much anticipated Ashes opener that kicks off on Wednesday, December 8. The most notable selection was that of Travis Head, with Usman Khawaja not finding a place in the XI. Head won the spot ahead of experienced Khawaja to regain his place, which he had lost during the home series against India earlier this year. Head averaged 49.25 in this Sheffield Shield season, having scored 394 runs with two hundreds to his name. In the same competition, Khawaja has amassed 460 runs at an average of 65.71, including two centuries. Credit: Sky Sports The newly appointed Australia Test captain Pat Cummins revealed the playing XI and…

The 11th edition of Big Bash League is here, with eight teams fighting it out for the coveted T20 title in Australia. The second match of the season will witness a rematch of last year’s knockout, with Sydney Thunder taking on Brisbane Heat at Manuka Oval on Monday. Sydney Thunder, who won the competition back in the 2015-16 season, have a strong side for this season. They had secured third place in the regular group stage, winning eight out of 14 games and claiming 31 points. However, they could not get past the knockout in the playoffs, losing to Brisbane Heat by seven wickets. Heat are…

After a week of uncertainty, India’s South Africa tour has finally received a green signal from both boards. However, the tour will feature three Tests and as many ODIs as a part of a rejigged tour. The four T20 internationals that were part of the original schedule have been postponed. On Saturday, an official statement from Cricket South Africa informed that the dates and venues will be changed as the Indian contingent’s arrival in the country has been delayed. The Indian team was originally expected to reach South Africa by December 9. As per the original schedule, the Test series was set to…

Yorkshire dumped 16 members of staff including Martyn Moxon and Andrew Gale, in wake of public backlash over mishandling of Azeem Rafiq racism investigation. Weeks after Azeem Rafiq delivered a powerful testimony to a parliamentary committee on institutional racism within the Yorkshire County Cricket, the club has taken some action. They have announced the sacking of the director of cricket Martyn Moxon and head coach Andrew Gale. Credit: Sky Sports Yorkshire have been facing immense public backlash over Rafiq’s institutional racism allegations and the mishandling of the inquiry. The club has changed its entire coaching set-up with 16 members getting binned, including backroom medical team and…