The BBL overseas draft is here: how will it work?

The pressure is on the BBL to get big-name players to revive the competition

Alex Malcolm22-Jun-2022After two years of planning and delays caused by Covid-19 the BBL has finally unveiled an overseas player draft for the upcoming season. Here is everything you need to know.What is the overseas draft?
BBL teams will no longer go out and search for their three overseas players privately. They will select a minimum of two or a maximum of three from a draft that will likely be held on a single day in August. The draft will only be for the overseas players. Domestic players will be contracted in the same way they always are.How do overseas players nominate?
Players get to nominate their price category and their availability in terms of the number of games they can play. The BBL will once again be a 14-game season plus finals and CA are realistic that not all overseas will be available for the whole competition. There will be a nomination window between June and August. Players will be put into four categories: Platinum, Gold, Silver, and Bronze. The players themselves can choose to enter the Gold, Silver, or Bronze band. Platinum players will be decided by the BBL based off the nominations and will be paid an estimated $AUD340,000. A significant portion of that will sit outside the $AUD1.9 million salary cap, with Cricket Australia topping up the deal via a marquee payment. That money is a flat rate and will be paid regardless of whether the player makes themselves available for six games or for 14. There are no match payments in the BBL, as players are contracted with set retainers.Gold players will earn approximately $AUD260,000, Silver $AUD175,000 and Bronze $AUD100,000. Like the Platinum category, a portion will be paid by the club inside the cap and CA will contribute a bonus outside the cap, but the proportion of marquee payments from CA are not consistent across the categories, with Platinum receiving a greater bonus than Bronze. The categories only relate to price, not to availability. So players can nominate to be available for the whole tournament in the Bronze category, or for half the tournament in the Platinum category. Their availability is their currency and teams will have to decide whether a Platinum player with limited availability is worth selecting.What is the draft order?
There will be a weighted lottery to decide the order. The three teams who missed the finals last season – Melbourne Renegades, Brisbane Heat and Melbourne Stars – will enter a lottery for the first three draft picks. Renegades, who finished last, will get three chances to get the first draft pick, Heat two and Stars one. Here’s another way to think of it: there are six balls in the first lottery and three of them are Renegades’ giving them a 50% chance of first pick, whereas Stars, with one ball, only have 16.66% chance.The order of the next five picks will be selected from a second pot featuring the finalists from last season. Again, the lottery will be weighted. Fifth-placed Hobart Hurricanes will get five chances to get the fourth pick, Sydney Thunder four, Adelaide Strikers three, Sydney Sixers two, and defending champions Perth Scorchers will get one. Picks five to eight will be drawn the same way. Once the order is established via the two weighted lotteries, the first two rounds of the draft will run in order from one to eight. Round three will run in reverse order, so team eight will get two selections in a row (notionally pick 16 and 17). Round four will run in normal order again. So team one will get two selections in a row (picks 24 and 25).Cricket Australia

How does the draft work?
There will be four rounds of the draft with each team getting one pick per round. Clubs can pass if they don’t want to pick in certain rounds but must pick a minimum of two or a maximum of three players by the completion of round four. Round one is for Platinum players only. In round two, teams can pick Platinum or Gold players. In round three, teams can select Gold or Silver players. In round four, teams can pick Silver or Bronze players. Teams do not have to select a Platinum player.Can overseas players who are currently connected with BBL clubs be retained?
Yes, they can. But only one. This could be coined the “Rashid Khan rule”. For example, Rashid has played his entire BBL career with Strikers but is almost certainly going to be a Platinum player and available to everyone in the first round. If Renegades get the first pick in the lottery and select Rashid, Strikers have the option to use their retention pick to keep him. Strikers would have to pay the same amount of money and they have to use their pick in the first round to retain him. Renegades would then get the opportunity to pick again. Players such as Mujeeb-Ur-Rahman at Heat, Alex Hales at Thunder and Haris Rauf at Stars could be retention picks given their strong links to the teams if they nominate in the draft.Cricket Australia

Are there swapping of picks?
No, once the draft order is set, it will remain that way.What about replacement players?
Each team can contract up to four replacement overseas players (or five if they have only taken two players at the draft) if their picks in the draft become unavailable due to injury or international duty. There will be an additional $AUD50,000 replacement bonus available for clubs use outside of the salary cap to help recruit replacement players. However, replacement overseas players must have nominated for the draft and to be eligible for the $50,000 teams have to have selected a Platinum player. If a team picks two Platinum players they are eligible for $100,000 salary cap relief. Teams can’t tell overseas players privately not to nominate for the draft and then contract them as replacements. They must have been available to all teams initially in the draft before being available as a replacement.Are the list sizes the same?
Yes. Clubs will have contract lists of 18 players comprising of 15 domestic Australian players and three overseas, although teams can have 16 locals and a minimum of two overseas. Any replacement overseas players are on top of that.What about uncontracted Australian players?
There is a possibility that Australian international players will be available for large portions of the upcoming BBL. Australia’s limited-overs specialists will be available for the first half of the tournament and could be there throughout if the three-match ODI series against South Africa scheduled for January 12-17 does not go ahead. Australia’s Test players will miss the first part of the tournament but will be available from January 9 at the conclusion of the Sydney Test against South Africa.Multi-format internationals like David Warner, Pat Cummins, Steven Smith, Mitchell Starc and Cameron Green are players who currently do not have BBL contracts with clubs. If they are available, and a club does not have a full list or needs an overseas replacement player, clubs can use the $50,000 replacement bonus, plus any space left in their salary cap, on Australian players to contract them for the back end of the tournament. This ensures that the farcical situation with Smith and Sixers last season will likely be avoided.Will the overseas draft be televised?
The BBL is in discussion with rights holders Channel Seven and Foxtel about televising the draft. Should neither of those networks opt to show it, the draft will likely be streamed online.

Eoin Morgan: 'I can still contribute to a World Cup win'

England captain will manage workload to ensure he’s ready for T20 World Cup in Australia

Matt Roller16-Jun-2022Eoin Morgan will rest himself for some of England’s limited-overs international fixtures this summer amid concerns over his fitness, but has insisted that he still feels as though he can “contribute to a World Cup win” in Australia this winter.Morgan injured his right quad in January after playing back-to-back games in Barbados during England’s T20I series against West Indies and suffered a “mild groin strain” playing for Middlesex in the Blast despite managing his workload by missing games, but hopes to play all three ODIs against Netherlands in Amstelveen this week.His position as limited-overs captain has come under scrutiny – he has made a single half-century in international cricket over the last 18 months, and none in domestic T20 cricket – but he intends to stay on at least until the T20 World Cup in October-November.Asked if he would continue into England’s defence of their 50-over crown in India next winter, Morgan said: “That’s a long way away. I need to get to the T20 one first. I’m going to take it as it comes, managing my contribution, my body.”Am I still contributing on and off the field, within the team? I will be as honest as I [have been] with everybody since I started the captaincy. At the moment, I still feel like I contribute and still feel like I can contribute to a World Cup win. That’s an important drive for me.”Matthew Mott, England’s new white-ball coach, threw his support behind Morgan in his first press conference in the role on Wednesday. “He always says he wants to be picked as a batter in that team on form and merit all the way through and when he feels that’s not the case then he would step aside,” Mott said. “I think that’s a long way off being at that point.”Great players go through runs at different times and sometimes you flick a switch and it turns and you wonder what all the fuss has been about. You can tell when he speaks, everybody is listening. That leadership is something that’s probably not as recognised as much from the outside as it is inside. He’s got a lot of great cricket ahead of him.”Morgan said he was “reluctant” to “100% commit” to playing all three ODIs but intends to do so. However, he is likely to miss at least two of England’s six T20Is this summer, with England due to play on successive days during both the India and South Africa series.”It’s unlikely I will be playing every game this summer,” he said, “but that’s purely dependent on how I get from here to that match. If I’m flying and everything is going well, absolutely, but if not, there is no need to try and replicate that for a World Cup because it just doesn’t happen [in ICC events].”In terms of the focus on his position, Morgan said that it was “part and parcel” of the role. “It happens all the time as a player, never mind as a captain,” he said. “I genuinely have the best interests of the team at heart. It’s always been that way: I have trusted that method since I took over. To be in the position I am in at the moment is a privilege.”England have not played an ODI series since their second-string side whitewashed Pakistan in July 2021 after a Covid outbreak and have only played one white-ball series – the 3-2 defeat to West Indies in January – since last year’s T20 World Cup. As a result, Morgan said that he sees this series as the start of their run-in ahead of this year’s tournament, which he expects to “fly around”.Related

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“It revolves around trying to get the right players in the right roles given the squad we’ve brought,” he said. “July’s a huge month for us in preparation for the [T20] World Cup, playing against two very strong sides [India and South Africa] over the course of a month which will test us.”That’s where we want to be in order to try and prepare ourselves best for that World Cup. Then there’s the Hundred obviously, but then we have no more international cricket before we go to Pakistan and then we have three games [in Australia] before the World Cup.”Jos Buttler is likely to shuffle up the order to No. 4, having mainly batted at No. 6 in the build-up to the 2019 World Cup and in the tournament, while Phil Salt is expected to open with Jason Roy and Dawid Malan will be given a chance at No. 3. England’s bowling cartel features five left-arm seamers – though Sam Curran is unlikely to bowl a full 10 overs as the ECB manage his comeback from a back stress fracture.”The fact they are left-armers gives them a different angle, a different strategy,” Morgan said. “Certainly in my experience, left-armers are open to doing more and doing different things, which is great. But the guys who are selected are purely here on merit. Ideally in our best squad, you would like a point of difference: if that’s left-arm or if it’s a guy who bowls 90mph [145kph] plus, then that’s great.”

Leicestershire post highest Grace Road total since 2004

Batters cash in again as Glamorgan face uphill battle to salvage draw

ECB Reporters Network21-Jul-2022Glamorgan face an uphill battle to emerge with even a draw after Leicestershire built their highest total on this ground since 2004 on day two of their LV= Insurance County Championship match.No Foxes side has prospered to the same degree since a Brad Hodge double century helped them pile on 634 against Durham 18 years ago. Wiaan Mulder added only nine to his overnight 147 but Ben Mike’s 91 and a debut half-century from former Glamorgan bowler Roman Walker turned the screw before Callum Parkinson’s side were dismissed for 584, just a week after their record-breaking 756 for four against Sussex in Hove.A good pitch and a fast outfield meant Glamorgan’s bowlers had little margin for error, their mood not helped by some poor fielding that saw as many as seven catching chances go begging. Offspinner Andrew Salter’s four wickets cost 158 runs, albeit from 42 overs.After losing both openers before they had reached double figures in their reply, Glamorgan had recovered to 111 for 2 when bad light brought an early close, with Sam Northeast on 50, but needed to reach 435 just to avoid the follow-on.The day had begun with Leicestershire adding only a single to their overnight score before Harry Swindells was caught at second slip from a ball that climbed on him more than he expected, giving Michael Hogan a third wicket.Related

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The Mulder-Swindells partnership had added 138. Leicestershire notched a fifth batting bonus point for only the second time this season as Mike arrived full of intent, the allrounder hammering three fours in an over to end Hogan’s first spell of the day.Michael Neser ended Mulder’s fine if not faultless innings moments after he had gone past 150 as the South African, perhaps weary from his exertions of the day before, was bowled between bat and pad. The breakthrough gave Glamorgan an opportunity to stem the damage. In the event, Mike inflicted more, albeit with a few slices of luck before he was out for 91.Spared on 43 after Hogan and Eddie Byrom left it to one another to take the catch when he top-edged James Harris, he survived a half-chance back to the bowler against Kiran Carlson’s offspin on 56 and was carelessly spilled by Harris himself at mid-on off Hogan on 70.Mike regained his momentum after a period of circumspection, yet missed out on a maiden first-class century for the second time this season. Left stranded on 99 not out when he ran out of partners against Middlesex at Lord’s in April, he moved into the 90s with four boundaries in as many overs here only to take one liberty too many with Salter, falling to a catch at long-on with the prize there for the taking.The eighth wicket added 115, and though Parkinson was soon back in the pavilion as ninth man out after David Lloyd took a stunning catch at slip off Salter, there was time for Walker – making his first-class debut a year after moving to Grace Road from Glamorgan – to complete a 79-ball maiden fifty and benefit from another error in the field as Billy Root dropped him on 52 at deep midwicket, and for Chris Wright to survive a simple caught-and-bowled chance to Colin Ingram on 14 as the last wicket added another 45.Lloyd, who survived beyond the first ball of Glamorgan’s reply only because Wright’s overstepping invalidated Louis Kimber’s brilliant catch at third slip, departed 18 balls later when Kimber reprised the moment to give Walker his maiden first-class wicket. Byrom was taken low down at second slip off Wright but Ingram and Northeast played positively, adding 102 before play was called off with 12 overs left of the day’s schedule.

Mosaddek Hossain to lead Bangladesh in third T20I against Zimbabwe

Mahmudullah, who was initially rested for the T20I series, has been brought into the squad as Nurul’s replacement

Mohammad Isam01-Aug-2022Allrounder Mosaddek Hossain will lead Bangladesh in the third T20I against Zimbabwe after Nurul Hasan was ruled out of the series with an injured index finger he sustained during the second game on Sunday. Mahmudullah, who is already in Zimbabwe for the ODI series, has been named Nurul’s replacement in the T20I squad.Mahmudullah, who was replaced as T20I captain for the series, was part of the senior group of players who were rested for this tour. Bangladesh are without a number of experienced players in the series including Shakib Al Hasan and Mushfiqur Rahim, while Tamim Iqbal retired from the format in July.Mosaddek, who took career-best figures of 5 for 20 in the second T20I against Zimbabwe, has captaincy experience in domestic cricket. He has led Abahani in white-ball formats 36 times since 2019 and has also captained the Sylhet Thunder franchise during the 2019-20 Bangladesh Premier League. Mosaddek has also led Bangladesh A in two matches and has been captain for six first-class matches for Barishal Division and Central Zone in domestic cricket.Nurul had fractured his left index finger while keeping against fast bowler Hasan Mahmud towards the end of the Zimbabwe innings in the second T20I.Bangladesh bounced back from a 17-run defeat in the first T20I to win the second game convincingly and level the series 1-1. They will play the third and the final T20I on Tuesday, which will be followed by three ODIs in Harare.

Abu Dhabi to host Women's T20 World Cup Qualifier from September 18 to 25

The top two teams in the eight-team event will qualify for the 2023 T20 World Cup in South Africa

ESPNcricinfo staff31-Aug-2022Abu Dhabi will host the Women’s T20 World Cup Qualifier from September 18 to 25. The top two teams taking part in the eight-team event will qualify for the 2023 Women’s T20 World Cup, which is set to be held in South Africa.The eight teams taking part in the Qualifier have reached the tournament via different routes. Bangladesh and Thailand, who took the two spots reserved for the bottom two teams from the previous edition of the Women’s T20 World Cup in 2020, are also the highest-placed teams on the ICC Women’s T20I rankings behind the eight automatic qualifiers for the World Cup.Scotland (Europe), Zimbabwe (Africa), United Arab Emirates (Asia) and United States of America (Americas) won their respective regional qualifiers, while Papua New Guinea qualified as the highest-ranked team from the East Asia Pacific region, since that regional qualifier had to be scrapped due to the Covid-19 pandemic.Ireland, meanwhile, were the highest-ranked team from the regional qualifiers to not win their respective tournament.ESPNcricinfo Ltd

The teams have been divided into two groups, with Bangladesh, Ireland, Scotland and USA in Group A and Thailand, Zimbabwe, PNG and UAE in Group B. The top two teams in each group will go through to the semi-finals, with the winners of each semi-final progressing to the final and next year’s World Cup.All matches in the Qualifier will be played at the Abu Dhabi Cricket & Sports Hub, which houses both the Sheikh Zayed Stadium and the adjoining Tolerance Oval.Hosts South Africa, as well as Australia, England, India, New Zealand, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and West Indies, have all qualified automatically for the World Cup on the basis of their T20I rankings.

PCB announces increment in retainers and match fee of domestic players

A player featuring in Quaid-e-Azam Trophy will now get a match fee of PKR 100,000. For white-ball games, the figure is PKR 60,000

Umar Farooq24-Sep-2022The PCB has announced an increment in its domestic players’ monthly retainers and match fee, across all formats and levels, for the 2022-23 season.As per the new financial model, a player featuring in the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy will now get a match fee of PKR 100,000 as opposed to the previous PKR 60,000. Those playing the white-ball tournaments – the Pakistan Cup and the National T20 – will now earn PKR 60,000 per game instead of PKR 40,000.The non-playing members of a squad will get PKR 40,000 and PKR 20,000 per match in red and white-ball cricket respectively.Pakistan’s domestic season started on August 30 with the National T20; those who participated in it did so without a contract. ESPNcricinfo understands that the PCB’s domestic and high-performance centre was waiting for the Board of Governors (BoG) to approve the new model. Those who have played in the National T20 will get their match fee as per the new structure.In all, the PCB will offer contracts to 192 players across five categories. Fifteen players will be in category A+, 35 in category A, 48 in category B, 70 in category C and 24 in category D. The board is yet to announce the names of the contracted players.ESPNcricinfo Ltd

“Domestic cricket is the backbone of Pakistan cricket and we need to continue to invest in it to make it a stronger and more attractive brand,” Nadeem Khan, the High Performance director, said in a press release. “In this relation, I am grateful to the BoG for supporting and approving the management’s recommendations. I am sure these new financial incentives will take our domestic cricket forward and assist the PCB in further reducing the gap with international cricket.”The retainers and match fees have been increased to motivate and inspire cricketers to work harder round the year to maintain the required and expected levels of fitness and form, which forms the basis of retaining places in the contract list. Besides, the new incentives will also encourage them to give preference to our tournament over foreign leagues. Needless to remind everyone, PCB domestic events are a pathway to selection in the national side.”In 2019, the PCB did away with its traditional regional and department team model and narrowed down the national pipeline into six associational teams representing all six provinces in the country. That resulted in over 120 players missing out on playing domestic cricket.ESPNcricinfo Ltd

Currently, with six elite and six second XI teams, with each having 16 players, the number of active domestic players is 192. Earlier, it was over 300.The PCB insisted that with its new financial model, a domestic player can earn way more than what he was earning previously. After the latest increment, if an A+ category player plays all matches in the season, including the finals, he could earn PKR 6.1 million. The corresponding figure for a D category player will be PKR 4.3 million.Earlier this year, the PCB brought in several changes to the domestic structure for the 2022-23 season, where 187 matches will be played across formats over five months. The season will end in the first week of January, unlike previous ones when it stretched till March.

Suryakumar hits fifty in India's first T20 World Cup practice game

They beat a Western Australia Cricket Association XI by 13 runs with Arshdeep Singh also making a mark

PTI and ESPNcricinfo staff10-Oct-2022Suryakumar Yadav continued his good form as the Indian team beat the Western Australia Cricket Association XI by 13 runs in its first practice game ahead of the T20 World Cup, in Perth on Monday.The Indian team, which has been training at the WACA for the past three days, wanted to get used to the pace and bounce of the track. They made 158 for 6 in their stipulated 20 overs and in reply, the WACA XI managed only 145 for 8 in their 20 overs.Instead of captain Rohit Sharma’s regular partner KL Rahul, it was Rishabh Pant, who opened the innings for the visitors. But it was Suryakumar, whose 35-ball 52 was the highlight of the innings as a few hundred fans enjoyed his free-flowing strokeplay. He hit three fours and as many sixes during his knock and not for once did the pace and bounce of the track looked like troubling the world No. 2 ranked T20I batter.The other man, who made a significant contribution, was allrounder Hardik Pandya who scored 27 off 20 balls. Deepak Hooda, having recently recovered from injury, also chipped in with 22 off 14 balls at No. 3.India were 28 for 2 in the powerplay before Suryakumar’s intervention. His wicket, in the 18th over, left India at 129 for 5 but the last 16 balls yielded 29 runs and got them closer to the 160-run mark.Defending the total against a WACA XI wasn’t a big ask as Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Arshdeep Singh basically blew away the home team’s top-order inside the powerplay. WACA XI were reduced to 12 for 4 in the third over and they could never recover from the setback.Arshdeep was the best Indian bowler on view with impressive figures of 3 for 6 from three overs, while Bhuvneshwar (2 for 26) and Yuzvendra Chahal (2 for 15) also chipped in.India’s next practice game against the same opposition is on October 13 before the team travels to Brisbane for two official T20 World Cup warm-up games against Australia and New Zealand.

India survive Litton Das scare in wet Adelaide

Opener’s run-out for 60 turns rain-hit game as India win thriller to go to the top of Group 2

Andrew Fidel Fernando02-Nov-20223:19

Tom Moody: ‘Virat Kohli looks at the game differently from 99.9% of batters’

Litton Das run out. How many people will be talking about it tomorrow? In Dhaka, in Chattogram, and in Sylhet. India had made a commanding total of 184 for 6, thanks mainly to a superlative return to the runs for KL Rahul (50 off 32), and another chapter in Virat Kohli’s spectacular form, as he made 66 not out off 44. Suryakumar Yadav’s 30 off 16 helped too.But when Litton blasted seven fours and three sixes inside the first seven overs, Bangladesh had an excellent foundation. They were 66 for no loss when rains interrupted and curtailed the match. At that time, Najmul Hossain Shanto, Litton’s opening partner, was seven off 16.They should have been confident of scoring the 85 needed off the last nine overs (54 balls) upon resumption, particularly as the field was likely to be greasy following the downpour. But when Shanto called for a tight second, two balls into resumption, Litton’s spikes failed to adequately grip the damp surface he was running on, and he was out by a about a metre to an outstanding Rahul direct hit, from just beyond midwicket.Bangladesh lost their way after that, even if they rallied slightly towards the end to keep the last over interesting. They lost six wickets for 40 runs, in 33 deliveries. Nurul Hasan did his best to perform a miracle, but his 25 off 14 was not enough. Arshdeep Singh delivered excellent yorkers at the death, and India secured a hard-fought five-run victory, which took them to the top of Group 2.Related

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Litton’s hope-giving barrage
Man really set Bangladesh up. Then got out in an incredibly frustrating manner, which he bore little blame for.The game was on when he hit Arshdeep for three fours in the second over – the first past backward point, the second down the ground, the third crashed through extra-cover.He kept nailing them. Bhuvneshwar Kumar got swivel-pulled into the stand beyond deep square-leg. Then, the best shot of the game, perhaps, came: Litton got low and scooped Bhuvneshwar over the shoulder for six in the bowler’s next over.By the time the Powerplay ended, he had completed a 21-ball fifty, and Bangladesh were flying. After seven overs, they were 66 for 0 – 17 runs ahead of the Duckworth-Lewis-Stern par score, when the rains came down and forced a long break. Litton had 59 off 26 then.But then, second ball after resumption, he ran a second upon his partner Shanto’s insistence, and he slipped on the now-damp surface, causing him to lose valuable metres. The direct hit from Rahul caught him a metre short. This was when the chase turned.1:36

Moody: Litton aside, Bangladesh went about their power-hitting the wrong way

Rahul’s resurgence
He’d made three single-figure scores in a row, but given his half-centuries in the warm-ups, could you really call this a dip? Either way, Rahul smote two spectacular sixes in the powerplay to suggest he was never out of touch. The first was a languid pick-up shot over deep square leg off Shoriful Islam. The second – the best of them all – was a supremely timed square-cut off Hasan Mahmud that flew into the stands. He hit two more sixes later, and was out in the 10th over, having proven his worth.Kohli’s anchor
If you’re going to drop anchor, this is the way to do it. You bat in your more-aggressive team-mates’ slipstream. And then you make sure you catch up. Even at the end of the 14th over, Kohli was 32 off 28 – not a particularly impressive score. But then where other anchor-role players frequently fail to kick on from here, Kohli excels at surging through the late overs. This time, he struck four fours and a six through the last six overs, to end up a strike rate of 145.45. This tournament, he has 220 runs at a strike rate of 144.73 and has been dismissed just once in four innings.Bangladesh’s post-Litton fade
Before Litton was run-out, Bangladesh struck 67 from 43 deliveries, and they’d lost no wickets. In the 34 balls after he got out (not including the dismissal delivery), Bangladesh lost five wickets and made only 40 runs. This essentially, was where Bangladesh truly lost it – Arshdeep and Hardik Pandya bowling double-wicket overs.Shanto tried to revive Bangladesh’s hopes, but India always seemed the likelier winner.

Short and Lynn power Strikers to highest successful BBL chase

The duo added 124 to go past Hurricanes’ highest T20 total

AAP05-Jan-2023Matthew Short celebrated his captaincy debut with a heroic, maiden T20 ton to help Adelaide Strikers pull off the greatest run chase in BBL history.After Hurricanes posted an imposing 229 for 4, Short crunched Pakistan allrounder Faheem Ashraf for back-to-back boundaries in the 20th over to raise his century and victory by seven wickets with three balls to spare.With regular skipper Peter Siddle sidelined, Short celebrated his temporary elevation to the captaincy role by crunching 100 not out off 59 balls.Scratchy early, Short received two lives off Riley Meredith’s bowling – dropped by Mitchell Owen first ball and a sitter by Nathan Ellis on 22 – and he made Hurricanes pay.After the early departure of Ryan Gibson, Short and Chris Lynn, who made 64, added 124 off 58 balls for the second wicket to turn Strikers’ dream into a reality.Lynn smashed four sixes in his whirlwind 29-ball knock before falling to the impressive spinner Patrick Dooley during the power surge.On 20, English import Adam Hose holed out to Tim David at mid-on but was reprieved when third umpire Eloise Sheridan deemed Faheem’s full toss to be above waist height.Hose duly belted the free hit for six, one of three he struck in Faheem’s over, which reaped 22. Hose eventually fell for 38 before an even higher high full toss from the struggling Faheem in the 20th over conceded another free hit, allowing Short to pounce.Dooley suffered a nasty injury to his left shoulder while diving to save a boundary in the 19th over, compounding the pain for Hurricanes who looked in an impregnable position at the halfway mark.Half-centuries to Ben McDermott (57), Caleb Jewell (54) and Zak Crawley (54*) underpinned Hurricanes’ record score.They smoked 14 sixes in their innings and appeared on track to make it two wins over Strikers in five days, while consigning the home side to a fourth successive defeat before Short stole the show.

Dan Christian, the T20 title-winning machine, announces retirement

The allrounder will bring his superb career to an end at the conclusion of the current BBL

ESPNcricinfo staff21-Jan-2023Dan Christian, one of the most decorated T20 cricketers in history, has announced he will retire at the conclusion of the ongoing BBL with Sydney Sixers.Currently Christian, 39, has played 405 T20s amassing 5809 runs and taking 280 wickets. Selection permitting, he will have at least four more matches with Sixers guaranteed two shots at reaching the BBL final having finished in the top two of the regular season.”Yesterday at training I told my Sydney Sixers team-mates that I’ll be retiring from playing at the end of the BBL season,” Christian posted on Twitter on Saturday morning. “Sydney Smash tonight, followed by our last round game against the Hurricanes, and then the finals.”Hopefully we can go all the way again this season, but regardless, it’s been a great run. I’ve achieved things and made some memories that I could only have dreamt of as a kid.”
Christian has enjoyed success all around the world over the last decade as his career became increasingly focused on T20. Since 2010, he has won nine domestic T20 titles, most recently the 2020-21 BBL with Sixers, two years after he helped Melbourne Renegades to the prize.Those two BBL campaigns showed the impact Christian can have: in 2018-19 for Renegades he made 254 runs and claimed 15 wickets (including being player of the match in the low-scoring final) then in 2020-21 hit 272 runs with a strike-rate of 182.55 and claimed 15 wickets.His last first-class match came in 2018 although there was a surprise return to Australia’s ODI side in 2021 when he played against West Indies in the Caribbean with the side missing several first-choice players due to Covid restrictions.Dan Christian’s T20 titles•ESPNcricinfo Ltd

He returned to T20I cricket at the same time, after a gap of four years, featuring against West Indies and Bangladesh before being named as a reserve for Australia’s 2021 T20 World Cup campaign.”What I didn’t expect to learn as a kid though, is how many people I was going to come in contract with that have had an influence on my career and ended up becoming lifelong friends,” he added. “I’m looking forward to now having the time to catch up with you all and not having to use the excuse: “Sorry, I’ve got cricket.”Christian is a chance to head into coaching. He worked as a coaching consultant for the Netherlands at the recent T20 World Cup in Australia.

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