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The two Midlands counties have punched above their weight in the Vitality Blast this season and will be keen to carry the form into warm-ups

Matt Roller30-Jun-2022While one Indian men’s team is playing England at Edgbaston in the rescheduled fifth Test, another will be involved in two warm-up matches ahead of July’s T20I series against the same opponents, on the back of their 2-0 series win against Ireland in Malahide.For the England series, Rohit Sharma is back as India captain, with the first match starting at the Ageas Bowl on July 7.Related

• Rohit returns to lead white-ball squads for England series; Hardik back for ODIs

• Balbirnie 'bitterly disappointed' as Ireland fall agonisingly short in 226 chase

• Deepak Hooda shows his range in India top-order audition

• Derbyshire bring in Hilton Cartwright as Shan Masood cover

Fourteen of the 17-man squad that travelled to Ireland made an appearance in one of the two T20Is, with Rahul Tripathi, Venkatesh Iyer and Arshdeep Singh the three men to miss out. Hardik Pandya captained the side, with Deepak Hooda and Sanju Samson putting in stand-out performances in the second T20I.Their opponents this week will be Derbyshire and Northamptonshire, two Midlands counties who have punched above their weight in the Vitality Blast this season. Heading into the final rounds of games, they sit third and fifth respectively in the nine-team North Group, with the top four qualifying for the quarter-finals.Derbyshire’s historic T20 record is poor: they have reached the knockout stages three times in 19 previous seasons and have only once reached Finals Day, back in 2019 when they lost to eventual champions Essex in the semi-finals. But they have been transformed this season since Mickey Arthur’s arrival as a coach, and a win against Durham on Sunday would guarantee a quarter-final place.They have used a core of 13 players in the Blast this season, with Shan Masood, one of their overseas players, leading from the front with 516 runs as captain, averaging 46.90 with a strike rate of 142.14. Wayne Madsen and Leus du Plooy, both local players despite their South African heritage, have contributed heavily in the middle order.With the ball, Scotland’s Mark Watt and the legspinner Mattie McKiernan have been the keys in the middle overs, while Hayden Kerr – the Australian allrounder who was a net bowler for Lucknow Super Giants at IPL 2022 – and the tall seamer George Scrimshaw have been prolific, if occasionally expensive.Derbyshire have named three overseas players in their 16-man squad for Friday night’s fixture, with Hilton Cartwright, the Australian batter, arriving as cover for Masood, but they are only expected to field three in their playing XI. Ticket sales have been strong, with fewer than 1000 remaining on Thursday evening.”They’re the benchmark of international cricket in pretty much all formats,” Cartwright told Derbyshire’s YouTube channel. “If you can perform well against them, your game is in a good place. It’s a real challenge to see how far you can test them.”For Northants, the atmosphere around Sunday’s game will depend heavily on their result against Leicestershire on Friday night. A defeat will see them eliminated but if they win, they will be relying on results elsewhere on Sunday to help them into the quarter-finals. They have a proud T20 history, lifting the trophy in 2013 and 2016, but have struggled in the last five seasons.Chris Lynn and James Neesham, their overseas players, have been their main stars this year but are not expected to take part in Sunday’s fixture, which has been sold out for the last week. Josh Cobb, their captain, has had an excellent Blast season with bat and ball while young players Saif Zaib, Ben Curran – the middle brother, between Tom and Sam – and left-arm wristspinner Freddie Heldreich have all shown glimpses of their talent.Fixtures: July 1 – Derbyshire vs India, The Incora County Ground (7pm), July 3 – Northamptonshire vs India, Wantage Road (2.30pm)

“As a bowler, what I think is that it keeps me in play. And if they’re going for it, playing so fast, they won’t tire me out”

ESPNcricinfo staff22-Jan-2024Jasprit Bumrah’s barometer for success will always remain his performances with the red ball because “Test cricket is king.” The 32-Test veteran is the most experienced member of India’s pace pack that will line-up for the first of five Tests against England in Hyderabad starting January 25. If he takes the field, which he should, it’ll be only his fifth home Test.”I am of that generation where Test cricket is king,” Bumrah told . “I will always judge myself on it. Yes, I started with IPL, but I learned to bowl through first-class cricket; that’s where I developed my skill, the art of taking wickets. In Test cricket you have to get the batsman out and that challenges you as a bowler.”The upcoming series will be Bumrah’s second full series since returning from a stress fracture that had him sidelined for over a year. He picked up 12 wickets in the two Tests in South Africa, including a match-winning 6 for 61 in Cape Town that helped India level the series at 1-1.Related

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On surfaces lately expected to favour spin, Bumrah may not have too much assistance from the surface. The last time England toured (in February-March 2021), he played in just two of the four Tests and bowled just 48 overs. Only time will tell how much of a workload he’ll have this time around, but it’s a challenge he’s ready to embrace again.”T20s, ODIs, some days you might send down five slower balls and get five guys out, when in a Test match they wouldn’t have taken one,” he explained. “There is no luck in Test cricket, the better team wins, you cannot take 20 wickets through luck. I was never happy with just white-ball cricket and Test cricket is still the utmost format for me.”Bumrah was at the receiving end of England’s new ultra-aggressive approach to Test match batting the last time he played them, in Birmingham in July 2022, a game where he also captained India. The Test is remembered for several reasons, not least because Bumrah carved a small batting record, when he hit Stuart Broad for 29 in a 35-run over.With the ball, however, India stuttered as they failed to defend 378 with Jonny Bairstow and Joe Root ‘bazballing’ their way to hundreds in an unbroken 269-run stand to seal victory that crushed India’s hopes of a first Test series win in England since 2007.Asked for his thoughts on the approach, Bumrah said ‘Bazball’ is something he “doesn’t really relate to” but it is something he’s excited about because it keeps bowlers like him in the game and in with a chance at all times.”I don’t really relate to the term Bazball,” he said. “But they are playing successful cricket and the aggressive route of taking the opposition on, showing the world there’s another way to play Test cricket.”As a bowler, what I think is that it keeps me in play. And if they’re going for it, playing so fast, they won’t tire me out, I could get heaps [of wickets]. I always think about how I can use things to my advantage. Kudos to them but, as a bowler, you’re in the game.”

Kane Williamson has left the team to be with his family for the birth of his child

Alagappan Muthu10-Dec-2020

Big picture

These must be giddy times in the Williamson family. It won’t be long before they have a brand new member, the only one capable of distracting their father from picking up a bat and beating the world.New Zealand were expecting to lose Kane Williamson at some point as he prepares for the birth of his child. And though it seemed little baby W would let Dad out to play one more match, things have changed.

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There are potential festivities on field as well. A 2-0 sweep over West Indies will put New Zealand in contention for the World Test Championship final.* This team wants to be at Lord’s in 2021. They’ve already said it will be “great” if that happens, which is Kiwi code for we want it real bad and we’re going to do all we can to get it.So don’t be surprised if the pitch is scary green again. Wellington is normally one of the higher scoring grounds in the country but it won’t start out like that, especially after West Indies advertised their vulnerabilities in the most garish ways. Scores like 138 all out, then 27 for 4 following on practically invite do-overs.Tom Latham plays a flick•Associated Press

Jason Holder pointed the finger squarely at his top order batsmen for their woes. His words made it plain that he was sick of having to deal with this problem again. Perhaps he already knew – or had a sense – that West Indies have one of the worst-performing top fours in Test cricket. Over the last five years, only Ireland, who are pretty much brand new to the format, are below them in terms of batting average. How do you win with a handicap like that?

Form guide

New Zealand: WWWLL
West Indies: LLLWW

In the spotlight

In places where fast bowlers get lateral movement at virtually any time of day, a batsman with the skill to attack them becomes invaluable. Darren Bravo has that. But he’s also been prone to soft dismissals. One of them precipitated the second-innings collapse in Hamilton at a time when the pitch was easing out and runs were on offer. An experienced player like that shouldn’t make such mistakes, but since he has, he’ll be hungry to set things right as soon as possible.”Do you play for the Black Caps?” the kid asked. Probably. We didn’t have audio of this lovely conversation that took place on the boundary line in Hamilton. Luke Ronchi would’ve replied no, and pointed to BJ Watling who only then was ambushed for autographs. It’s typical of the man that, even though he was decked from head to toe in cricket gear, needed both help being recognised and a push to embrace his stardom. The wicketkeeper-batsman missed the first Test with a hamstring injury but now that he’s fit again he simply walks back into the XI. He is that good.Joshua Da Silva in action•Getty Images

Team news

Tom Latham will be captain in Williamson’s absence and Will Young will take his spot at No. 3. Meanwhile, the Wellington Test will also mark Neil Wagner 50th appearance in whites for New Zealand.New Zealand (possible): 1 Tom Latham (capt), 2 Tom Blundell, 3 Will Young, 4 Ross Taylor, 5 Henry Nicholls, 6 BJ Watling (wk), 7 Daryl Mitchell, 8 Kyle Jamieson, 9 Tim Southee, 10 Neil Wagner, 11 Trent BoultWest Indies will also be felicitating one of their key fast bowlers. Shannon Gabriel will be 50 Tests old tomorrow. He’ll be taking over as leader of the attack with Kemar Roach having gone home to deal with the death of his father. Wicketkeeper Shane Dowrich is unavailable as well, which gives an opportunity for Joshua da Silva to make his debut.West Indies (possible): 1 John Campbell, 2 Kraigg Brathwaite, 3 Darren Bravo, 4 Shamarh Brooks, 5 Roston Chase, 6 Jermaine Blackwood, 7 Joshua da Silva (wk), 8 Jason Holder (capt), 9 Alzarri Joseph, 10 Chemar Holder, 11 Shannon Gabriel

Pitch and Conditions

It’s going to be green. New Zealand believe that’s when they play their best cricket although the preference may have more to do with how virtually every opposition that arrives on these shores finds it so hard to score big runs here. In the last five years, away teams, batting first, have been bundled out for 200 or less 13 times. New Zealand have only ever given up the advantage like that thrice.Rain isn’t likely to play much of a role on any of the five days of this Test match.

Stats and trivia

• Latham has been the top-scoring opener of the last three years, averaging 52 at a time when the rest of the field put together has just about managed 30-plus. New Zealand have a gem at the top of their line-up.
• Whatever impressions the West Indies fast bowlers made in Hamilton, they have been this team’s biggest strength in recent times. An average of 24, a strike-rate of 49 and 12 five-fors in three years puts them in the top half of the Test teams and they’ll be backing themselves to rediscover that form in Wellington.

Quotes

“I think it’s a little bit of a reflection of having some good form in recent times. Contributing and getting some performances in. At the same time, it feels a bit unreal because, jeez, the whole world has a lot of quality bowlers better than me that’s down the ranks.”
“If 10 years ago, somebody told me I’d play 50 Test matches for West Indies, I’d wanna know what they were smoking.”
*

Kohli tried to pacify Gambhir when the two got in each other’s faces but the chat soon turned hostile and other players had to step in

Sidharth Monga01-May-20231:59

Should KL Rahul have come out earlier?

Virat Kohli and Gautam Gambhir are not IPL captains anymore, but they were still involved in a heated exchange after Royal Challengers Bangalore beat Lucknow Super Giants by 18 runs. It was over 10 years after their altercation in the IPL during RCB’s match against Kolkata Knight Riders in Bengaluru. Kohli now plays for RCB as a specialist batter, and Gambhir is retired and works as the global mentor at LSG.While the players were shaking hands after the game, there seemed to be words exchanged between LSG bowler Naveen-ul-Haq and Kohli. This was followed by Gambhir pulling away his side’s opening batter Kyle Mayers from a chat with Kohli.Seconds later, Gambhir was seen approaching Kohli aggressively with his players, including the injured captain KL Rahul, restraining him. Once the two got in each other’s faces, Kohli seemed to be trying to pacify Gambhir with his hand on Gambhir’s shoulder, but the chat soon turned hostile and veteran spinner Amit Mishra stepped in between the two to separate them from each other.Related

• Kohli vs Gambhir: 'If you can give it, you got to take it'

• LSG receive injury blows to Rahul and Unadkat

• Bowlers do the job as RCB defend 126 to go fifth

Kohli had seemed extra animated throughout the fielding innings as RCB successfully defended 126 in an away match that had more crowd support for the visitors than the hosts. He shushed the crowd after taking a catch to dismiss Krunal Pandya, which might possibly have been a response to Gambhir shushing the Bengaluru crowd after a last-ball win in the earlier fixture between the two sides. He even had a heated exchange with Naveen during the 17th over of the chase when the game was all but over. Mishra and an umpire had to intervene then.The match certainly seemed to have the air of a grudge match, which spilled onto the social media of both the sides. An RCB team insider immediately retweeted LSG’s tweet from after the last match that said, “Ladies and gentlemen, this how you… PLAY BOLD.” It seemed to be a mockery of RCB’s catchphrase. After this win, RCB’s official handle tweeted Kohli’s photo shushing the crowd with the caption: “What goes around comes around.”After this altercation, Kohli was seen having a long chat with Rahul, who had earlier injured his hip flexor badly. He also had amicable chats with LSG allrounder Marcus Stoinis.

The match at Junction Oval in Melbourne is effectively a play-off to decide who will face Tasmania in the final

ESPNcricinfo staff08-Mar-2024Allrounder Aaron Hardie has been passed fit for Western Australia’s vital Sheffield Shield clash against Victoria in Melbourne from Monday where the winner will face Tasmania in the final.Hardie has been sidelined since facing Tasmania in Hobart in mid-February where he suffered a minor calf injury. He had been due to join Australia’s T20I squad in New Zealand.Related

• Tasmania secure victory to be on brink of home Shield final

• Western Australia trounce Queensland to close in on final berth

• Wade to miss start of IPL in order to play Sheffield Shield final

Ashton Agar has also been included in WA’s squad as they cover all bases for the conditions they could face at Junction Oval. If Agar plays it would be his first first-class match since the SCG Test against South Africa early last year.He has been overtaken in WA’s red-ball pecking order by offspinner Corey Rocchiccioli who has been one of their standout bowlers this season with 37 wickets at 30.21.Agar has also slipped down Australia’s white-ball hierarchy having been ruled out of the ODI World Cup through injury. He has not played an international since the tour of South Africa in early September where he suffered a recurrence of a calf problem. He may yet come back into contention for the T20 World Cup.Victoria have been boosted by the availability of Scott Boland with the fast bowler released from Australia’s Test squad in New Zealand. Boland has made five appearances for Victoria this season between reserve duty with the national side and having his workload managed, taking 26 wickets at 16.50.There remains a slim chance that WA could still host the Shield final in Perth if Tasmania lose to South Australia and don’t gain 0.14 more first-innings bonus points than them.In the Sheffield Shield teams get six points for an outright win, one point for a draw, plus 0.01 of a bonus point for every run over 200 they score during the first 100 overs of their first innings (ie: 350 after 100 overs nets you 1.5 bonus points) and 0.1 of a bonus point for every wicket a team takes during the first 100 overs of their opponent’s first innings (ie: 10 wickets before 100 first-innings overs elapses nets you 1 point).If Victoria-Western Australia finished in a draw there is an outside possibility of New South Wales sneaking into the final although they would need a huge amount of bonus points against Queensland.

Nine of the World Cup-bound squad members have been at IPL while others were involved in the five-match T20I tour of Pakistan

Andrew McGlashan16-May-2024New Zealand are banking on mixed fortunes from the IPL, their recent tour of Pakistan and experience of the Caribbean Premier League (CPL) to ensure they are prepared for their T20 World Cup campaign in the absence of official warm-up matches.Warm-up matches were offered by ICC, but amid the logistical challenges of getting the entire squad together in the Caribbean – they will arrive in three batches between May 23 and June 1, the latter being any players involved in the IPL finals – and the proposed location of warm-up fixtures, New Zealand opted not to have them and instead use extra training sessions ahead of their opening group match against Afghanistan on June 7.”West Indies is a tough place to get to for a start, so it’s not easy to get everyone to Trinidad and Tobago at the same time,” head coach Gary Stead said. “For us, we don’t have warm-up games. There’s a number of guys who have been in the IPL for the last two months and we’ve also recently come off the tour to Pakistan.Related

• Santner on T20 World Cup prep: It's been a chaotic kind of start

• Jake Fraser-McGurk, Matt Short set to be Australia's T20 World Cup travelling reserves

• Conway named in Williamson-led New Zealand T20 World Cup squad

“There’s a lot of experience in the group who have played in the CPL before, so we’ll be leaning on those guys and making sure the trainings we get prior to the first game puts us in a position of where we want to be.”Nine of the squad have been at the IPL (Devon Conway was ruled out of his Chennai Super Kings stint due to injury but has been training with the franchise) while others were involved in the five-match T20I tour of Pakistan.However, in India the amount of match time has varied considerably for key players: Glenn Phillips hasn’t featured at all for Sunrisers Hyderabad, Mitchell Santner has played just twice for CSK, Matt Henry three times for Lucknow Super Giants, Lockie Ferguson five times for Royal Challengers Bengaluru and captain Kane Williamson just twice for Gujarat Titans.At the other end of the scale, Daryl Mitchell has made 12 appearances for CSK and Rachin Ravindra nine for the same team while Trent Boult has been a regular fixture for Rajasthan Royals. With the bat, only Mitchell has had a tournament that could be considered something of a success with 314 runs at a strike rate of 144.70. Ravindra has made 161 runs at 17.88 and a strike rate of 176.08, having faded following a promising start. With the ball, Boult has taken 12 wickets with an economy of 8.42.*Daryl Mitchell has scored 314 runs at a strike rate of 144.70 for CSK in this IPL•BCCI

Devon Conway and Finn Allen fitness

Conway and Finn Allen, who are the first-choice opening pair for New Zealand, have not played since February due to thumb and back injuries respectively. Stead said that Allen was still experiencing a little bit of pain and the intensity of his training would be increased during the team camp in Mount Maunganui. Conway, meanwhile, will be assessed by the medical team when he returns from India next week. “[He] is tracking nicely,” Stead said. “He’s been wicketkeeping and batting in the nets on a regular basis.”Tim Southee is another who won’t have played a game since the New Zealand season finished having been left out of the Pakistan tour to focus on strength and conditioning.Stead, however, remained confident in preparations ahead of facing Afghanistan. “We’ve only got two players who haven’t been to a T20 World Cup that are in this squad,” he said. “That shows our group is experienced and they can lean back on those past experiences.”The players who are training in New Zealand have been utilising a variety of surfaces to try and replicate what could be on offer in Guyana and Trinidad where they play their group matches. Stead believed surfaces could start out conducive to higher scores before tiring depending on how many times they are used.

New Zealand’s tough group

On paper, New Zealand appear to have one of the tougher routes to the Super Eights having been grouped with Afghanistan, whose spinners could enjoy conditions, and hosts West Indies meaning at least one of those three nations won’t progress. They also face Uganda and Papua New Guinea in the first round.”Certainly looking forward to the challenge ahead and also the unknown of some of these new teams as well, the difference they might bring that we have to be really complete with our planning,” Stead said.*IPL stats as of May 15

India and Pakistan have identical numbers and performances in the tournament so far as they prepare for a second consecutive U-19 World Cup semi-final meeting

Sreshth Shah in Potchefstroom03-Feb-2020

Big picture

India’s highest score this World Cup is 297. Pakistan’s is 294. India have taken 40 wickets in four games. Pakistan have taken 39. And that might’ve been 40 too, had their group stage game not been abandoned with Bangladesh at 106 for 9.Pakistan captain Rohail Nazir has beaten an Indian team before. He did it as a teenager while captaining the U-23 side at the ACC Emerging Cup last year, where Pakistan knocked India out in the semi-final.Among the 11 Pakistan players who will take the field on Tuesday, Nazir is the only player to have featured in the 2018 World Cup semi-final defeat against India. Nazir said he dropped a catch early on in Shubman Gill’s innings that allowed him to score a hundred and take the game away from Pakistan. This time, he vows to not make that same mistake.As for India, “process” is the one word that rings through the camp. Despite being pushed into a corner against Australia’s bowlers, their allrounders dragged them out of a difficult situation by looking to bat through till the 50th over. The last time both sides faced, once again at an ACC Emerging Cup competition – although this was for U-19s – it was India who won by 60 runs last year. Barring that batting wobble, there’s nothing else that’s gone wrong for the side in the World Cup.There’s not much to separate both sides, so the flimsy ground on which India have an edge is evidence from past World Cups. Pakistan’s U-19s haven’t beaten India at a World Cup since 2010 and as a unit have come together far later than the current India U-19s.And then there’s the bowling departments. Like India, Pakistan have a left-arm seamer, a right-arm quick and a handy left-arm orthodox bowler within their ranks. But what they lack is a frontline wristspinner, which India’s Ravi Bishnoi is. On a used and tired Potchefstroom pitch, that may be the difference between the two sides.It’s expected to be the most-watched World Cup game so far. It will probably have higher a viewership than the final. In recent history, India-Pakistan games have not lived up to their hype. Here’s hoping 2020 is different.

Form guide

India WWWWW (last five completed matches, most recent first)
Pakistan WWWWL

In the spotlight

India opener Yashasvi Jaiswal, is by far, their most successful batsman in this tournament, scoring three fifties at an average of 103.50. His wicket will be key for Pakistan, since India’s second-highest run-scorer in the tournament – Diyaansh Saxena – has made only 89 runs. If Jaiswal can anchor through, then the remainder of India’s batting order can play around him. If he fails, the pressure shifts to a relatively untested Indian batting order.Pakistan’s left-arm quick Tahir Hussain is an unknown quantity for India. He was a late replacement for Naseem Shah in the squad and was discovered just months before the tournament, after being spotted by coach Ijaz Ahmed while he was a net bowler to the U-19 national team. The left-arm seamer can move the ball to move both ways – both in the air and off the deck – and poses a danger both with the new and old ball.

Team news

Both sides are injury-free and are likely to go unchanged from their quarterfinal wins.India (likely): 1 Yashasvi Jaiswal, 2 Divyaansh Saxena, 3 Tilak Verma, 4 Priyam Garg (capt), 5 Dhruv Jurel (wk), 6 Siddhesh Veer, 7 Atharva Ankolekar, 8 Ravi Bishnoi, 9 Sushant Mishra, 10 Kartik Tyagi, 11 Akash SinghPakistan (likely) : 1 Haider Ali, 2 Mohammad Huraira, 3 Rohail Nazir (capt, wk), 4 Fahad Munir, 5 Qasim Akram, 6 Mohammad Haris 7 Irfan Khan, 8 Abbas Afridi, 9 Tahir Hussain, 10 Amir Ali, 11 Mohammad Amir Khan

Pitch and conditions

Potchefstroom receives showers nearly everyday, and tournament rules say India will go through – because of more group stage wins – in case the game is washed out, but the chances of rain are only 20%. The pitch is a tired one, and team totals have fallen as the tournament has progressed. Batting conditions are tricky with the new ball and spinners get considerable purchase with the older ball.

Stats and trivia

• Pakistan last beat India at the U-19 World Cup in 2010
• Among games between nations that have senior Test teams at the 2020 U-19 World Cup, the highest score at Senwes Park is 261. The average first-innings score in games between such at this ground during the tournament has been 193.5 (completed matches only)
• Jaiswal needs 52 more runs to become the tournament’s leading run-scorer

James Vince also joined Gladiators, who in turn received Iftikhar Ahmed on trading Azam to United

Umar Farooq09-Dec-2021Shahid Afridi and James Vince have been traded by Multan Sultans to Quetta Gladiators in exchange for a Diamond and Silver pick in the upcoming PSL draft. In another deal, Gladiators traded wicketkeeper-batter Azam Khan to Islamabad United and have received Iftikhar Ahmed’s services instead.After moving to his fourth PSL franchise, Afridi said: “I am excited to join Quetta Gladiators, a side that has had a roller-coaster ride in the past few events despite winning the title in 2019. In my final PSL event, it will be my dream and wish to sign off with another PSL trophy after tasting success with Peshawar Zalmi in 2017. PSL is an event that encourages and inspires a player to give his very best. I will use the same motivation to help my team and put up performances that can help us achieve our event objectives.”For the upcoming edition, the PSL management has also rejigged categories for some players ahead of the draft, notably moving Mohammad Rizwan – who captained Sultans to the title last year – up from Silver, the third-most valuable category, to Platinum, the most valuable. United batter Asif Ali and Lahore Qalandars bowler Haris Rauf also take their places in the Platinum category. This year, the categories were decided by the PCB. In previous editions, the six franchises would classify players into categories.Leaving Iftikhar was a tricky decision for United as they were allowed to have up to two local players in each of the Platinum and Diamond categories. Since they now have Shadab Khan and Asif in platinum, they had to leave one of Hasan Ali, Faheem Ashraf and Iftikhar out. They added Azam in the Gold category instead.”It has been a difficult decision to move from Islamabad United, but looking ahead at my future in T20 cricket that is linked to the Pakistan team, I thought this was the best move,” Iftikhar said.”I am grateful to the Islamabad United management for their support and understanding, as they have continued to stand behind me in all my decisions. I am thrilled to be rejoining Shahid Afridi at Quetta Gladiators after 2017, when we last played together in HBL PSL. Quetta Gladiators include a number of my contemporaries with whom I have played lot of cricket.”The seventh PSL season will be beginning on January 27 next year, with a pre-tournament draft on December 12. The league, which begins about a month earlier than usual to make room for Australia’s upcoming tour of Pakistan in March-April, will be ending on February 27.Every franchise is allowed to retain up to eight players from their previous roster and pick another eight in the draft. Players who were picked up as replacements for the Abu Dhabi leg in PSL 6 have not been considered in the original roster. Each team is also allowed to pick two additional players in the supplementary round.Only two venues will be hosting the PSL: Karachi’s National Stadium will be staging the first 15 matches, while all other games – including the final – will be played at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore.The deadline for PSL trades closed on Thursday with only United, Gladiators and Sultans utilising the option to trade. Teams now must decide their retentions – maximum of eight – by 4pm Pakistan time on Friday.

The two-match series is due to take place next August with venues in northern Queensland also in the running to host

AAP and ESPNcricinfo staff29-Aug-2025Darwin is in the box seat to host its first Test in 22 years with Cricket Australia keen to split next year’s Bangladesh tour between the Territory and North Queensland.Players are understood to have been impressed with international cricket’s return to Darwin this month, as part of the white-ball series against South Africa.More winter internationals are scheduled for next year with Australia set to host a two-Test series against Bangladesh which is part of the World Test Championship (WTC) in the Top End. Mackay, Cairns, Townsville and Darwin all loom as options to host, which would double as the first winter Tests in Australia since 2004.But Darwin is the most likely to secure one of those Tests with Cricket Australia CEO Todd Greenberg keen to spread the series across more than one state.”Ideally [we will],” Cricket Australia CEO Todd Greenberg said. “We want to make sure we continue to play cricket in lots of different locations, so the next generation of kids can see their stars.”I spent some time with the Chief Minister there and they’ve got a strong appetite for more cricket, as have we, to play more cricket there. The conditions up there are amazing when you take out the biggest variable we have in cricket, which is weather, and you have nothing to worry about.”The Bangladesh Tests had originally been scheduled for March 2027 but the 150th anniversary contest between Australia and England at the MCG has meant the series needed to be moved. Afghanistan had been due to tour Australia next July and August for a one-off Test and three T20Is, but CA has suspended bilateral cricket with them.Darwin last hosted Tests against Bangladesh and Sri Lanka in 2003 and 2004 respectively, before largely falling off the cricket calendar for the past two decades.Australia A played out two draws in unofficial Tests against Sri Lanka A in the city in July, before this month’s T20Is against South Africa at TIO Stadium.Mackay looms as the more modern regional venue in Queensland with the Great Barrier Reef Arena upgraded in 2023 and having hosted regular WBBL matches.Players were also buoyed by the wickets in the T20I and ODI against South Africa there this month, which doubled as Australia’s first men’s internationals there.A Test would be the first in Mackay’s history with Cairns having previously hosted two in the early 2000s before last week’s ODIs in the northernmost city. Townsville is the other option after hosting ODIs in 2022, but issues such as lighting have seen it drop behind Cairns and Mackay as an option in recent years.A match at any Queensland venue would also count as the state’s Test for the 2026-27 summer, given the Gabba has missed out on a red-ball match with the touring New Zealand.CA is open to the idea of more winter internationals in the Top End, as a way of extending the season and easing the load on the main part of the summer.”We had such good support [in the white-ball games], we were sold out in almost every stadium we played in,” Greenberg said. “Playing on each of the shoulder parts of the season [works].  Our Australian women’s team will play a Test match in mid-March in Perth this year. International cricket is played 12 months of the year.”

The last 18 months have provided a challenging time for the men’s team

Alex Malcolm20-Aug-2021In May 2020 Australia were ranked No.1 in Tests and T20Is. The Test team had retained the Ashes away and won seven consecutive Tests at home. They had also won four consecutive T20I series including away victories in India and South Africa. Since the Covid-19 pandemic hit they have lost five consecutive T20I series and a home Test series to India with reports of tensions between coach Justin Langer and the players running rampant in the media. Here’s how it unfolded.September 2020Australia toured England for three T20Is and three ODIs with a full-strength squad, their first assignment since Covid-19 halted world cricket. In the first T20I they needed 39 runs from 39 balls with nine wickets in hand and lost. Australia also dropped the second game to lose the series but won the dead rubber. They then won the opening ODI before succumbing to another batting collapse from a winning position in game two. Langer gave the group a verbal lashing post-match for not learning from their mistakes in the opening T20I. It secured the desired response in the decider with Australia pulling off a stunning chase off the back of twin centuries from Glenn Maxwell and Alex Carey to win the series, which the coach described as one of the best series wins he’s been involved in.November 2020 Australia thumped India in the first two ODIs of the home summer thanks to two masterclasses from Steve Smith to win the ODI series with a game to spare.Steven Smith made back-to-back centuries against India•Getty Images

December 2020-January 2021 Injuries and the need to rest players from the biosecure bubbles saw Australia lose the T20I series with Aaron Finch, David Warner, Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, Kane Richardson, and Marcus Stoinis missing matches. Australia were back to full strength for the Test series and won the first match in Adelaide when they bowled India out for 36. But they lost the series from there against a second-string India side with Virat Kohli, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami, Ravindra Jadeja, and R Ashwin all missing the decider at the Gabba. Australia’s batters failed twice in Melbourne, they dropped critical catches on the final day in Sydney to snatch a draw from the jaws of victory, before the bowlers ran out of gas at the Gabba with Shubman Gill and Rishabh Pant engineering a famous chase to claim the series.Related

• After week of stress, Australia might only have papered over the cracks

• Cricket Australia give backing to under pressure coach Justin Langer

• Finch: Dressing room leaks about Langer 'disappointing' and 'not ideal'

• Langer addressed 'confronting' team review with squad ahead of tour

• Team rumblings are a 'wake-up call' which Langer won't ignore

February 2021 Reports emerged in the papers in Australia of tensions boiling over between the players and the coach during the Gabba Test match suggesting players were concerned about the team environment. Langer was shocked by the media reports but said it was “a wake-up call”.Australia then had to select two squads for simultaneous Test and T20I tours in South Africa and New Zealand respectively. Langer was to take charge of the Test squad while senior assistant Andrew McDonald was tasked with leading the T20I squad. A first-choice Test squad was chosen but the tour of South Africa was abandoned due to Cricket Australia’s concerns over South Africa’s biosecurity protocols. Australia lost the opening two games in New Zealand before Finch and Maxwell stood tall to level the series at 2-2. But the batting failed to fire in the decider and they lost the series 3-2.There wasn’t always much to cheer for Australia’s T20 side•Getty Images

June 2021 Langer joined the contracted players at a pre-tour camp on the Gold Coast ahead of back-to-back limited-overs tours of the Caribbean and Bangladesh. The findings of an internal review into Australia’s performance against India, conducted by leadership consultant Tim Ford, were presented to the group. Langer addressed the findings with the players, something Finch described as “confronting” for the coach but Finch the meeting was successful and the group was “behind him 100 percent”.July 2021 Australia toured the West Indies for five T20Is and three ODIs minus, Warner, Cummins, Smith, Maxwell, Stoinis, Kane Richardson, Jhye Richardson, and Daniel Sams who all withdraw due to bio-bubble fatigue or injury following the postponement of the IPL. Australia’s selectors opted to leave Marnus Labuschagne in England and Cameron Green at home and a host of others with international experience weren’t selected. The T20I team again disintegrated from a winning position in the first game of the tour and loses the series 4-1. Finch suffered a knee injury and was forced to withdraw from the ODI series. Carey was promoted to captain one of the most inexperienced ODI teams Australia has ever fielded and they claim a series win 2-1 despite the series being interrupted due to a Covid-19 scare.Australia’s last five T20I series•ESPNcricinfo Ltd

August 2021 Australia traveled to Bangladesh without Finch who headed home to have knee surgery. Matthew Wade took over as captain but the side capitulated on difficult batting surfaces to lose the series 4-1. They would have lost 5-0 save for an onslaught from Dan Christian in the third game and were bowled out for 62 in the last match.Two days after Australia arrived home, with the players and staff in hotel quarantine, the published a report of an incident that took place in Australia’s team hotel during the Bangladesh tour. Australia team manager Gavin Dovey was involved in a heated exchange with Cricket Australia’s digital journalist who was inside the Australian team’s bio-bubble as part of the touring party. Dovey was upset that a video had been posted on Cricket Australia’s website of Bangladesh celebrating their first-ever series win over Australia. Langer, a close confidant of Dovey’s, spoke briefly but firmly to the journalist in the immediate aftermath before the pair cleared the air the following day.The report sparked a flurry of media speculation about Langer’s coaching style and of tensions between the coach and the players resurfaced. Finch said the leaks from the dressing room were “disappointing” and “not a good look.” It led Cricket Australia CEO Nick Hockley to issue a statement supporting Langer and confirming he would continue on through the T20 World Cup and the Ashes. Hockley and CA chairman Earl Eddings held an emergency zoom call with Australia’s three playing leaders Tim Paine, Finch, and Cummins to discuss the tensions with the coach.Paine spoke on his SEN podcast two days later vowing that the players would work with Langer for the summer ahead.