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“It’s just trying to find a window as to when you actually play that,” says Cricket Victoria CEO Nick Cummins

ESPNcricinfo staff and PTI02-Apr-2024Ten years after its previous edition, “active conversations” are on between the cricket boards of Australia, England and India to revive the Champions League T20 (CLT20) tournament. This comes from Cricket Victoria CEO Nick Cummins, who also said the biggest challenge would be to find a window in the jampacked cricket calendar for the tournament.”I think the Champions League was ahead of its time. The T20 landscape wasn’t mature enough at that point. I think it is now,” Cummins said on the sidelines of an event in Mumbai on Tuesday. “I know that there’s active conversations between Cricket Australia, the ECB, and the BCCI about the Champions League.”It’s just trying to find a window as to when you actually play that, because you’ve also got all the ICC tournaments as well. It may be that the first iteration of the Champions League will be of the women… [it may involve cricketers playing in] the WPL, the Hundred and the WBBL.”Related

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The last edition of the CLT20 was held in India in 2014, with Chennai Super Kings (CSK) winning the title after defeating Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in the final in Bengaluru. That edition of the tournament, then in its sixth year, involved three teams from India, two each from Australia and South Africa, and one each from Pakistan, the West Indies and New Zealand.The tournament was played annually from 2009 to 2014, four times in India and twice in South Africa. The tournament was won twice each by CSK and Mumbai Indians (MI), and once each by New South Wales and Sydney Sixers.Cummins said he had been in talks with Cricket Australia CEO Nick Hockley for the revival of the CLT20, and that BCCI secretary Jay Shah might be in a position to shed more light on the topic.”I’m constantly talking to Nick Hockley, Cricket Australia CEO, for a Champions League, because I think it’s pretty important to bring that back,” Cummins said. “There are talks about it. It’s probably a question to ask Jay Shah. But certainly, from an Australia cricket perspective, we are very open to the idea of the Champions League. It’s just about finding a window in the FTP, but I think that’s the next step in the evolution of cricket.”Cummins drew comparisons with the club-based Champions League in football, saying that cricket needed to find a similar balance between international- and club-based competitions.”We still haven’t made out which league is the best. IPL, PSL or the Big Bash? The only way we can show that is by having Melbourne Stars play Karachi Kings or Mumbai Indians,” Cummins said. “Champions League is well overdue. Look at what Champions League does for football, the World Cup is fantastic and the Champions League is there [too] every time.”The idea of Mumbai Indians playing Melbourne Stars at the MCG would be just as exciting as India playing Australia at the MCG.”Football had a really big club vs country tension in the 90s. And they found a way for international football to exist side by side with leagues. Cricket is going through it at the moment. Every country has the right to have a T20 league, whether it is Nepal or Ireland. We shouldn’t place controls on how members want to play cricket.”The reality is there is no T20 competition in the world which has the best players in the world playing in it. Champions League would actually provide that. No other competition has Indian players. The IPL doesn’t have Pakistan players. So there is no competition in the world with the best players. The Champions League would be a way for the best to be playing against each other.”

A win will take Afghanistan to the top of the Group B points table

ESPNcricinfo staff16-Sep-20252:26

Abhinav Mukund impressed by Afghanistan’s on-field trial

Bangladesh won the toss and elected to bat against Afghanistan in their Asia Cup clash in Abu Dhabi.Bangladesh captain Litton Das said the pitch looked a bit on the slow side, despite the Abu Dhabi surface having been better for batting recently. Rashid Khan said Afghanistan would have liked to bat first as well.Bangladesh made four changes with Saif Hassan, Nurul Hasan, Taskin Ahmed and Nasum Ahmed coming in. Mahedi Hasan, Pervez Hossain Emon, Shoriful Islam and Mahedi Hasan missed out. Afghanistan, meanwhile, named an unchanged XI.Related

• Why are Sri Lanka and Bangladesh so poor at T20I batting?

• For AM Ghazanfar, the future is now

• 'Belief is key' – Mushtaq rallies Bangladesh

A win for Afghanistan On Tuesday will take them to the top of the Group B points table.Bangladesh: 1 Tanzid Hasan Tamim, 2 Saif Hassan, 3 Litton Das (capt & wk), 4 Towhid Hridoy, 5 Nurul Hasan, 6 Jaker Ali, 7 Shamim Hossain, 8 Nasum Ahmed, 9 Rishad Hossain, 10 Mustafizur Rahman, 11 Taskin AhmedAfghanistan: 1 Rahmanullah Gurbaz (wk), 2 Sediqullah Atal, 3 Ibrahim Zadran, 4 Gulbadin Naib, 5 Karim Janat, 6 Azmatullah Omarzai, 7 Mohammad Nabi, 8 Rashid Khan (capt), 9 Noor Ahmad, 10 AM Ghazanfar, 11 Fazalhaq Farooqi

Southern Vipers slip to rare home defeat but qualify for knockouts regardless

ECB Reporters Network07-Sep-2024Sunrisers reached the knockout stages of the Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy for the first time after beating holders Southern Vipers in a rain-affected thriller. Grace Scrivens’ side failed to win a match in the first three editions of the competition, before narrowly missing out on qualification last year.But after fifties for Cordelia Griffith and Lissy MacLeod set them up for 281 in the face of former Sunriser Naomi Dattani’s maiden five-wicket haul, they restricted Vipers to 88 in their 10-over chase of 94 for their seventh win of the tournament.Despite a winless return from the Hundred, holders Vipers had already qualified for next Saturday’s semi-final and had hopes of a home tie ended by South East Stars victory over Northern Diamonds. Vipers will face Stars in their semi-final, while Sunrisers will travel to Diamonds. The winners of those matches will face off at Leicester on September 21.Dattani bowled in two spells, plus a one-off over at the death, which each changed the flow of Sunrisers’ innings. Scrivens and Jo Gardner had serenely pocketed 70 runs in the first 13 overs, after Vipers had put them in, before Dattani schemed to work a way to dismiss the former.She began with four deliveries tight to the stumps before offering width, with Scrivens trying to fashion her own, and found an uncomfortable jab to point, before Gardner was bowled two overs later to one that nipped away.Dattani exited the attack and Sunrisers sprouted again through Griffith and Jodi Grewcock’s 75-run partnership, although both were tested by Rebecca Tyson and Ava Lee’s tight spin.But Dattani’s return immediately saw Grewcock pinned lbw and Eva Grey comprehensively bowled either side of Lee getting her reward by having Griffith stumped – after a 10th half-century for Sunrisers.At 174 for 5, the visitors needed a counter, and found one through the enterprising hitting of MacLeod and Flo Miller. MacLeod biffed a 37-ball fifty – her first in the RHFT since 2021, but third in all competitions this season – while Miller struck 41 off 31 balls in the rapid 90-run stand.But the final three overs saw wickets fall, as MacLeod skewed to short third and Amara Carr was leg before first ball to Georgia Adams. Dattani’s crowning moment – just the third five-for in Vipers history – came when Miller swung straight to deep backward point, before a pair of run outs in the final over saw Sunrisers end on 281.Rain came in the interval, and stayed until it had restricted the Vipers’ innings to just 10 overs – with 94 now their unlikely target, even with minuscule boundaries.Rhianna Southby sliced to backward point in the second over, Ella McCaughan struck a trio of boundaries but took on one ball too many to sky straight up and Dattani swept to short fine leg. Even after Adams was run out, they had stayed ahead of the dizzying rate, helped by Emily Windsor and Nancy Harman’s smart running in a stand worth 26But Harman and Windsor holed out and Abi Norgrove was run out to leave 13 needed off the last over, of which Vipers could only muster seven.After five seasons of regional cricket, Sunrisers are the only team to win a Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy match at the Utilita Bowl, having also tasted victory on the ground last season.

Former Test opener believes Smith should stay at the top against India after requesting the role last summer

Yash Jha08-Oct-2024Who will open for Australia? Who should open for Australia? Should Steven Smith continue at the top of the order or shift back to number four? These questions have surrounded the Australian Test set-up for a while, and are only gaining traction ahead of India’s visit to Australia next month.”Steve Smith made the call to be able to go and open, and I think he should stay there”. That’s the verdict from Shane Watson as the clock ticks down to the year-end Border-Gavaskar Trophy.”Obviously the safety blanket for him would be moving back to No. 4, but I would love to see him continue to take on the opening spot because he’s got the skill to be able to do it,” Watson said at the sidelines of the launch of the International Masters League in Mumbai on Tuesday.Related

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Smith’s move up the order following David Warner’s retirement after the New Year’s Test against Sydney has been a subject of widespread debate, with no clear winner. Watson himself had backed Cameron Green to succeed as Test opener before Smith’s promotion, but has been convinced otherwise by Green’s performances – headlined by a career-best match-winning 174 not out against New Zealand in Wellington.”Cameron Green came in and batted at No. 4 and did a brilliant job,” Watson said. “His hundred that he got in New Zealand was something very special and he’s the perfect No. 4 candidate now with the future, moving forward.”As if not tricky enough already, Australia’s situation has been further complicated as they sweat on Green’s availability for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, which starts in Perth on November 22. The 25-year-old allrounder was flown home from the UK following the third ODI against England after complaining of soreness in his lower back. He has had four previous stress fractures prior to his Test debut in 2020 but the exact nature of his current injury has yet to be confirmed. Cricket Australia’s medical team have been carefully assessing scans over the past two weeks to map out a plan for his recovery with an announcement on his availability for the India series expected to come this week.Smith’s four-Test stint as opener so far has yielded 171 runs – over half of which came in one innings against West Indies – at an average of 28.50, but Watson thinks it’s not a problem caused by his batting position.”I believe the reason why he didn’t do so well over the previous couple of Test matches is just [that] he was a little bit off with his technique,” Watson said. “You see [saw] him getting out a couple of ways which I’ve never really seen him get out before.”I know he would’ve had time just to go away, make some little technical adjustments, and if he opens and he makes those little adjustments, he can be incredibly successful as an opening batter knowing the incredible skill that he’s got.”

<Should Brisbane have been the venue for the first Test instead of Perth?

The Gabba will not host the first Test this summer•Getty Images

Watson also voiced his dissatisfaction with the decision to keep Perth as the venue for the opening game of the five-Test series and not Brisbane, traditionally the starting point of Australian Test summers.”I’m a traditionalist at heart. Growing up, the Gabba was always the first Test match and that’s the Test match I used to go to,” the former Australia allrounder said before highlighting the challenge Gabba poses to visiting sides.”The Gabba is a more challenging place to play for the foreign teams because there’s bounce, there’s seam, there’s swing, and it’s hot and humid. So it just provides a few more challenges, whereas Perth, for example, it’s not humid, the ball doesn’t swing as much, doesn’t necessarily seam as much as well.”I always just love the Gabba as being the place for the touring team to be able to come in and have to try and just take on the Australian conditions at their most challenging.”The ‘Gabbatoir’ had been an Australian stronghold for decades, with Australia boasting a 16-2 win-loss record in Tests in Brisbane in the last 20 years. But the fortress has been breached of late. West Indies claimed an upset 8-run win in January, while India famously clinched the 2020-21 series by handing Australia their first Test defeat at the Gabba in 32 years. The ground is also coming towards the end of its use for life with CA only signing a two-year agreement to play Test matches there with doubts over the Gabba’s viability beyond that as Brisbane requires upgraded infrastructure to host the 2032 Olympic games.

CSK captain issues mock warning to quicks: “They will have to be ready to play under a new captain – it will be my second warning and I’ll be off”

ESPNcricinfo staff04-Apr-2023MS Dhoni isn’t happy about the number of no-balls and wides his fast bowlers have bowled in Chennai Super Kings’ two IPL 2023 matches so far. In their second game itself, against Lucknow Super Giants on Monday night, Super Kings’ quicks sent down 13 wides and three no-balls.”We are bowling too many extra deliveries,” he said after the 12-run win on Monday night at Chepauk, and even mock-threatened his bowlers that “they will have to be ready to play under a new captain”.Deepak Chahar, the experienced name in the pace attack, bowled five wides (including three in a row in the 17th over) in the game against Super Giants, but didn’t concede any extras in the first game, which Super Kings lost to Gujarat Titans. The two less-experienced quicks, Tushar Deshpande and Rajvardhan Hangargekar, have been consistent in giving away extra deliveries: Deshpande has a tally of five wides and four no-balls over two games, and Hangargekar six wides and one no-ball. No-balls, of course, come with free hits, and oppositions have slammed two fours and a six off those so far.Related

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“It’s the fast bowling that needs to slightly improve, and they need to bowl according to the conditions. Maybe, even if it’s on the flatter side, have fielders and try to bowl in the areas where you are pushing the batsmen to hit over the fielders,” Dhoni said in the post-match presentation on Monday. “Especially what is important is: keep an eye when we’re batting, keep an eye what the opposition bowlers were doing, so it gives you an idea of what can be done, ‘what can be my plan according to the strength I have or the pace I have’.”One more thing is they will have to bowl maybe no no-balls and less wides. Because we are bowling too many extra deliveries. Or they will have to be ready to play under a new captain at some point of time. It will be my second warning and I’ll be off,” he said with a grin.The message seems to have gone across loud and clear. When Deshpande spoke at the post-match press conference, he said, “Bowling a no-ball is a crime in T20 cricket.”On Monday, Dhoni used a total of seven bowlers, including one over each from Ben Stokes and Ravindra Jadeja, and Super Kings gave away 205 after putting up 217. In the first game, though, he had used only five bowlers, not trying Moeen Ali, Shivam Dube (who didn’t bowl in the second game either) or Stokes, who is still not 100% bowling fit. Hangargekar has played in both games ahead of swing bowler Simarjeet Singh, who had impressed in the six games he played last year.”I feel he [Hangargekar] is very good potential, he has a bit of pace and the more exposure he gets the better he will get. So overall not disappointed,” Dhoni had said after the first game. “I feel the bowlers did quite well looking at the conditions overall. No-ball is something, you know, they should try not to bowl. Because in modern cricket, no-ball is something that’s in your control. And at the end of the day, it hurts you really bad. So it’s important to control the no-balls.”

New Zealand beat Sri Lanka to all but lock up another semi-final with India while Allan Donald is issued a please explain from the BCB

ESPNcricinfo staff09-Nov-20231:19

Harmison: All the pressure now on India for the semi against New Zealand

—Fixtures | Squads | Points table | Tournament Index

Top Story: Boult all but leads New Zealand into semi-finals; SL’s Champions Trophy hopes fade

New Zealand all but booked their place in the World Cup semi-final against India with a dominant five-wicket win – with 160 balls to spare – against Sri Lanka in Bengaluru. The result took them to ten points, and a net run rate (NRR) of 0.743, leaving Pakistan needing to beat England by 287 runs, while Afghanistan need an even more fantastical 438-run win over South Africa, if they are to surpass New Zealand’s NRR.If Pakistan were to chase, they would have no chance of qualifying.As for Sri Lanka, the margin of defeat against New Zealand left them languishing in ninth place, thus out of qualification for the 2025 Champions Trophy. They now need one of England or Bangladesh to suffer defeats – while Netherlands also need to lose to India – to the extent that their respective NRRs drop below Sri Lanka’s.Click here for the full report

Match analysis: How Santner slows it up to get the drop on batters

Mitchell Santner is pumped up after snagging Angelo Mathews•Associated Press

It won’t go down as the ball of this World Cup. Or even the best ball bowled by a left-arm orthodox spinner at this World Cup. Or even the best ball bowled by Mitchell Santner at this World Cup – that honour, surely, will go to the pitch-leg, hit-off ripper he bowled to Mohammad Nabi in Chennai.This ball wasn’t that kind of ball, the kind that becomes instant social-media fodder. This was different, a ball less about its own magnificence than what it revealed about the bowler’s craft in totality. This was the kind of ball that made you wish you had paid more attention to every preceding ball this bowler had sent down, and resolve to pay extra attention to every subsequent ball.Read the full piece from Karthik Krishnaswamy

Must Watch: Sri Lanka’s batting has been a massive letdown

2:35

Maharoof: Sri Lanka’s batting has been a massive letdown

News headlines

• The BCB has sought an explanation from Allan Donald, the Bangladesh team’s fast bowling coach, for his comments on Angelo Mathews’ timed out dismissal following the World Cup match in Delhi on November 6. In an interview with CricBlog.net, conducted soon after the team returned to their hotel in Delhi, Donald had said “it was disappointing to see” that kind of a dismissal and he found it “really difficult to watch that unfold”.
• Ben Stokes never countenanced the possibility of leaving the World Cup early to bring his impending knee surgery forwards, despite England’s Test tour to India looming in two-and-a-half months’ time. Going home, he said, would have been “the easy way out”.

Match preview

Afghanistan vs South Africa, Ahmedabad (2pm IST; 8.30am GMT; 7.30pm AEDT)5:31

Harmison: Chance for SA to go into semi-finals with momentum

Afghanistan were so close to achieving their most important ODI win. Against Australia. For a shot at the World Cup semi-finals. Almost there. Before a Glenn Maxwell-sized meteorflattened them.They are now in Ahmedabad to play their final league game and will bow out of the World Cup at the largest cricket stadium in the world. Having only ever beaten Scotland once in 2015 and 2019, Afghanistan have beaten three former champions – England, Sri Lanka and Pakistan – this time, as well as Netherlands, but the 438-run victory they need against South Africa to push New Zealand out of fourth place on net run rate is impossible. An exit with ten points, as many as the team that qualifies fourth, however, will be a massive win in itself.
In all seriousness, England would be all too happy to walk away from this miserable campaign right now.Full preview

Feature: Clinical, risk-assessed, productive – Afghanistan’s batting evolution unlocks new highs

Ibrahim Zadran’s ramp against Australia would have been remembered as one of the shots of the World Cup on any other night•ICC/Getty Images

Do you still remember that shot? The shot before the shots that you’re not going to ever forget. The shot before Glenn Maxwell pulled off shots that even Glenn Maxwell might think were a little bit too much.That shot came off the bat of Ibrahim Zadran earlier in the game and on any other night, it would have been recognised and remembered as one of the shots of the tournament. A ramped dab – or was it a dabbed ramp? – dead straight over the wicketkeeper, off Pat Cummins, to the boundary on the bounce: written out like this, it sounds a little prosaic.Read the full piece from Osman Samiuddin

“We batted slowly from overs 11 to 15. It would have been easier if we could pick up the singles regularly”

Mohammad Isam11-Jul-2023Bangladesh missed a golden opportunity to beat India for the first time in five years after their batters failed to reach the 96-run target in the second T20I in Dhaka. They lost five wickets for one run in the last eight balls to collapse spectacularly to fall short by eight runs and spinner Nahida Akter felt batters have to take responsibility for the defeat.Nahida, who was part of the strong bowling performance from Bangladesh in the first half, was among those to fall in the four-wicket last over bowled by Shafali Verma. Bangladesh’s chase was on course till captain Nigar Sultana was at the crease. But as soon as she fell in the penultimate over, things fell apart. Nahida said that the batters should have pushed the scoring in the middle overs as the pressure came down on the lower order.”We practiced hard enough,” Nahida said. “Our coach worked with the batters, especially our senior players. Those who bat in the top five should have used their experience. It is the batters’ responsibility as Joty [Nigar] said in the last press meet. They have to show more sincerity. They have to think about what happened, but I am sure they will come back in the next game.Related

• India pip Bangladesh in spin battle to take series

“We batted slowly from overs 11 to 15. It would have been easier if we could pick up the singles regularly. It put the batters down the order under pressure. Our coach told us to bat in the mould of chasing 140 runs. We cannot slow down. It was a wicket where you had to sweep the ball. It was unfortunately a batting collapse.”Sultana Khatun’s three-wicket haul led the bowling performance. Fahima Khatun returned two wickets while Marufa Akter, Nahida and Rabeya Khan picked up a wicket each. The highlight of Bangladesh’s fielding performance was Shorna Akter’s catch at long-on to dismiss Yastika Bhatia in the ninth over. Shorna ran in hard and dived forward full length to complete the catch. Nahida admired Shorna’s catch but said that they have to be a fitter side.”A great catch like that always encourages the bowlers,” she said. “Shorna took a superb catch. We spoke about saving 10-20 runs in the field. We wanted to take all the catches that came our way. We should have achieved that target today.”We are honestly not as fit as India. We are trying hard to develop our fitness. We have a foreign trainer now. We will focus hard on fitness in our next camp. The board is giving their best facilities. We have to play better. We are behind now. We are trying to bounce back.”

Maphaka takes five as South Africa crush Zimbabwe, while Borson and Jibon set up Bangladesh’s win over Nepal

ESPNcricinfo staff31-Jan-2024Australia captain Hugh Weibgen led his side from the front to dismantle England in a rain-hit game in Kimberley. England, who came into the game with just two points and an NRR of -0.08, are now on the brink of elimination.Weibgen made 120 after being sent in and lifted Australia to a competitive 266 for 6 on a tough pitch. He started watchfully along with Harry Dixon after Sebastian Morgan breached Sam Konstas’ defence in the first over.Both Weibgen and Dixon defended firmly and ran quick singles in the powerplay. England had a chance to break the promising stand in the 12th over but Luc Benkenstein dropped Weibgen – on 20 at the time – at backward point off seamer Eddie Jack.Dixon cruised along with Weibgen and reached his fifty in the 20th over. But Theo Wylie, the pick of the England bowlers, had him holed out at deep midwicket right after. Ryan Hicks and Tom Campbell were not quick to get off the blocks but stuck around with Weibgen as Australia moved to 176 for 5 in 38 overs.Weibgen hit a pair of boundaries in the 39th and did the same in the 42nd and brought up his hundred in the 44th. Wylie knocked over Weibgen on return but Raf MacMillan smacked two fours and a six in a 20-run final over that carried Australia to 266.England started positively, hitting ten fours and a six in the first 57 balls but also lost four wickets to a red-hot Callum Vidler. They were reeling at 60 for 4 in the tenth over when lightning and rain forced the players off the field.The revised target, after a 140-minute break, was a daunting 215 off 24 overs. So England needed another 155 from 87 balls. But Tom Straker and MacMillan took five wickets in the next six overs to flatten them. Campbell finished off the game by dismissing Tazeem Ali in the 17th over.

Borson, Jibon help Bangladesh take down Nepal

Ariful Islam and Rohanat Doullah Borson celebrate Akash Chand’s wicket•ICC/Getty Images

Medium-pacer Rohanat Doullah Borson and offspinner Sheikh Paevez Jibon shared seven wickets to set up Bangladesh’s five-wicket win over Nepal in Bloemfontein.After opting to bat, Nepal did not have a great start and lost three wickets for just 29 runs. Captain Dev Khanal and Bishal Bikram KC stabilised the innings by adding 62 off 115 balls for the fourth wicket. The stand was broken when Jishan Alam dismissed Khanal for 35.Bikram and Gulsan Jha had steered the side to 121 for 4 when Jibon triggered a collapse that had Nepal losing five wickets in 21 runs. He dismissed Jha and Dipak Bohara in his successive overs before Borson cleaned up Bikram, for 48, and the tail. Despite the last wicket adding 27, Nepal were all out for 169 on the penultimate ball of their innings.Nepal’s hopes of a comeback were dashed by Alam, who raced to 55 off just 43 balls at the top of the order. After he got out, Ariful Islam took over and smashed an unbeaten 59 off 38 to take Bangladesh over the line in the 26th over.For Nepal, offspinner Subash Bhandari made regular strikes and took all five wickets that Bangladesh lost but there were not enough runs on the board.

Maphaka takes five as South Africa crush Zimbabwe

Kwena Maphaka took 5 for 34•ICC/Getty Images

Left-arm quick Kwena Maphaka picked up 5 for 34, including three of the top four batters, as South Africa crushed Zimbabwe in the Super Sixes of the Under-19 World Cup. Maphaka’s spell helped bundle Zimbabwe out for 102, with the hosts’ top order hunting down the target in less than 14 overs.Zimbabwe were reduced to 16 for 4 at the start of the fifth over, and three of those wickets had gone to Maphaka. He had struck first in the third over of the innings, removing both Brandon Sunguro and Campbell Macmillan without scoring. That is when Ronak Patel and Ryan Kamwemba got down for a repair job with a half-century stand.But right-arm quick Tristan Luus ensured that partnership didn’t last too long, as he started the 16th over by dismissing Ronak for a better-than-a-run-a-ball 32, which included five boundaries. Four balls later, Luus struck again to get the opposition captain Matthew Schonken for a duck. That started another slide for Zimbabwe, who lost 6 for 33 in a middle and lower-order collapse.Maphaka returned to nab two lower-order wickets, as he and Luus wrapped the tail up.South Africa’s chase got off to a flyer, with openers Lhuan-dre Pretorius and Steve Stolk pumping boundaries regularly. The first four overs fetched 42, while the powerplay ended with 86 runs already getting knocked off. Next ball, Anesu Kamuriwo got Stolk for 37, but Pretorius continued in a hurry, getting to his fifty off 38 balls to end the 12th over.Come the 14th over, David Teeger hit the winning runs, as South Africa won with plenty to spare. The victory put South Africa at second place in Group 2, with the margin of victory giving their net run rate a massive boost.

He joins the team as a replacement player for Afghanistan’s Fazalhaq Farooqi

Danyal Rasool20-Aug-2025Mohammad Rizwan has agreed a deal to join St Kitts and Nevis Patriots for the remainder of the Caribbean Premier League 2025 (CPL). ESPNcricinfo understands the signing will be officially confirmed by the league in the next 24 hours.The former Pakistan T20I captain has been signed as a replacement for fast bowler Fazalhaq Farooqi, who is set to link up with Afghanistan ahead of the tri-series in the UAE involving Pakistan and the UAE.It is not yet clear whether Rizwan will be available for the Patriots’ match on Thursday against the Barbados Royals. But with Pakistan leaving him out of their T20 squad for that tri-series as well as the Asia Cup, the path to Rizwan’s involvement elsewhere has been fully cleared. It is understood an NOC (no objection certificate) from the PCB, which enables players to take part in overseas leagues, is a formality.Related

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It is the first time the wicketkeeper-batter will play in the CPL, and adds to a growing Pakistani roster in the tournament. It was announced earlier on Thursday that legspinner Usama Mir had signed for Antigua and Barbuda Falcons, while the Patriots already have two Pakistanis in their squad: fast bowlers Naseem Shah and Abbas Afridi. Imad Wasim, Mohammad Amir and Salman Irshad are also part of this year’s competition.The signing also means that Rizwan will use up his quota of two overseas T20 leagues the PCB has stipulated as the maximum number centrally contracted players can take part in over a 12-month period starting in July. Earlier this year, he was confirmed as a signing by Melbourne Renegades for the Big Bash League.The Patriots got off to a rocky start, following a win in their first match with three successive defeats, and sit second from bottom on the points table. They won the CPL in 2017 and 2021.

The same group will play the T20 tri-series against Pakistan and Bangladesh in Christchurch

ESPNcricinfo staff20-Sep-2022Fast bowler Adam Milne has been included in New Zealand’s squad for the T20 World Cup after missing recent tours due to an Achilles problem.Milne was part of last year’s tournament in the UAE after being called up as a replacement for Lockie Ferguson. During a career interrupted by injuries, he has taken 32 wickets at 26.68 in 31 T20Is. He forms the frontline pace options alongside Ferguson, Tim Southee and Trent Boult.New Zealand coach Gary Stead said they will want to see how Milne went in the tri-series against Pakistan and Bangladesh early next month, but was confident he would be ready for the World Cup.ESPNcricinfo Ltd

“We’ve had a lot of conversations with Adam and the medical crew around him and we are confident that if everything goes well for him that he’ll be available for the tri-series games beforehand,” Stead said. “I guess that’s ultimately a final test for him to make sure he’s where we want to be. We believe he’ll be ready and that’s why he was selected.”Also included in the 15-player squad are Finn Allen and Michael Bracewell who will appear at their first World Cup. Devon Conway will be the frontline wicketkeeper while Mark Chapman and Ish Sodhi retain their places.There is no specialist back-up for Conway with the gloves, but Stead indicated that Allen or Glenn Phillips could step in if needed at short notice.”We felt that in the last World Cup that Devon did a really admirable job and you expect in Australia that probably even less balls will go through to the keeper,” he said.Allen, the hard-hitting opening batter, has made a promising start to his international career and already has a T20I hundred – 101 off 56 balls against Scotland – while striking at 169.54 from his 13 matches.Stead said that he had a first-choice 12 in mind for the World Cup, but the tri-series will be used to fine-tune plans including the combination they go with at the top of the order with Allen, Conway, Kane Williamson and Martin Guptill all options to open. Daryl Mitchell will be used in a middle-order role.”I’ll hold those cards close to my chest on what we will do [with opening], but think we’ll see during the tri-series we’ll be trying a few different people there,” he said.Kyle Jamieson was not considered for selection as he continues his recovery from the back injury he picked up in England.Guptill will become the first New Zealander to appear at seven men’s T20 World Cups.The same squad will play the T20 tri-series involving Pakistan and Bangladesh which will be staged early next month in Christchurch although extra players may be called in to manage workloads of those heading to Australia.”Along with the all-important game time, those matches will be a great chance to refine our combinations and game-plans ahead of our departure to Australia,” Stead said.New Zealand open their T20 World Cup campaign against hosts Australia, at the SCG, on October 22.