Cameron Green Concussion: Siraj receives accolades for sportsmanship spirit

Time is gold: Rogers feels Pucovski can fight his short ball demons

Australia A Assistant coach Chris Rogers believes that rising Aussie star with the bat, Will Pucovski can fight his demons with the short ball as he has shown in the past. "Time is gold. From my own experience, you just need a bit of time to get over it [short ball fear], and then get back in the nets, almost go through your process again, face your fears down a little bit, and almost get back on the horse," Rogers told Sydney Morning Herald. Rogers, who played 25 Tests for Australia was also tested by short balls during his time and that’s why he believes that Pucovski with the time at his side could become the next big thing for Aussies. But for that to happen, the Victorian coach [Victoria is Pucovski’s home team] believes that the prodigy needs to utilize his time off the first game. "Every day is going to count for him. And now he has a bit more time to prepare for (the second Test in) Melbourne, that's going to help. He's been through it before and keeps coming out the other side, so he's definitely shown resilience around it," said the 43-year-old. Pucovski, 22, selected in Australia's squad for Tests against India got concussed while playing a game for Australia A against the visiting team in Sydney. He has thus been ruled out of the first Test. Saying that Pucovski has been playing short ball all through the Sheffield Shield this year, Rogers, who scored 2015 runs for Australia at an average of 42.87 said, "But what people might not know is he played a couple of Shield games and they tried to bounce him from almost the 10th over, for his whole innings, and he got two double hundreds.” While India play their first game against Australia in Adelaide, Pucovskvi might get to play at his home turf in the Boxing Day Test in Melbourne, which starts from 26th December.

England name Test squad for Sri Lanka series, Stokes and Archer rested

The England Cricket Team selectors have announced a 16 man strong squad for their tour of Sri Lanka which starts in January. Along with 16 main players, seven others have been named in the reserve list considering that the covid-19 is still a major issue for players' availability. Considering it as an acclimatizing tour before the India series begins in February, the selectors have thought of resting Ben Stokes and Jofra Archer. Jos Buttler, the main wicketkeeper part of this series, might be rested for some part of the India tour as well. "The way to think about this winter is in three blocks of two Tests: Sri Lanka, India 1 and 2, India 3 and 4," Ed Smith, the chief selector said. "We think that's the only way to make sure we balance having the right number of resources in each position, and also getting rest into those multi-format players like Jos Buttler, Jofra Archer, Ben Stokes, and also Sam Curran, Mark Wood, Chris Woakes, etc," he added. Talking about Ben Stokes’ absence from the series due to his father’s death, Ed said, “It is a very difficult time for Ben and all our thoughts are with him and his family," Smith said. "[In the circumstances], it made sense for Ben to take his rest for the Sri Lankan tour, and to get ready for India." Jonny Bairstow has found a place for the first time in the Test squad after last year’s South Africa series and he would like to make it count. "Jonny has a really great opportunity here to get back into the Test mix as a batter, and that's a really exciting possibility for him," Smith said. Dan Lawrence, an England Lions’ success story has also found a place in the senior side for the first time and in the absence of Ollie Pope from the main squad might get a chance as well. "This is a great opportunity for Dan Lawrence," Smith said. "He's a really talented cricketer, a confident player in good form, and he is absolutely delighted about being selected in the full squad,” added the English selector about Lawrence. The bowling unit has the likes of James Anderson and Stuart Broad along with three spinners in Jack Leach, Dom Bess, and Moeen Ali. Two express quicks in the form of Mark Wood and Ollie Stone have also found a place. The team is scheduled to play two Tests starting 14th January in Galle. England men's Test squad: Joe Root (capt), Moeen Ali, James Anderson, Jonathan Bairstow, Dom Bess, Stuart Broad, Jos Buttler, Zak Crawley, Sam Curran, Ben Foakes, Dan Lawrence, Jack Leach, Dom Sibley, Olly Stone, Chris Woakes, Mark Wood. Reserves: James Bracey, Mason Crane, Saqib Mahmood, Craig Overton, Matt Parkinson, Ollie Robinson, Amar Virdi.

BBL | SYS vs MLR: Josh Philippe stars in record victory over Finch's Melbourne

Defending champions Sydney Sixers turned their fortunes around with one of the most commanding performance in the history of the Big Bash League. After scoring 205 runs in the first innings Sixers wrapped Melbourne Renegades for 60 runs in just 10.4 overs defeating them by 145 runs, the biggest margin in BBL history. Coming into a steep chase, the Aaron Finch led team kept making things hard for themselves losing wickets in quick successions. Ben Dwarshuis and Steve O’Keefe were the pick of the bowlers picking seven wickets between them. Welcome to the Josh Philippe & Jordan Silk show Starting at a snail’s pace and losing a couple of wickets early in the game, the story of Sixers batting in the powerplay was of eternal struggle. And then Josh Philippe got dropped in the 7th over. Brought into the attack right after the powerplay, Beau Webster was beaten in the flight trying to play a straight drive. He clipped the ball and startled Webster trying to grab a head-high chance made a complete meal of it. Sixers were 42/2 at that point. Philippe, struggling at 27 off 24 going into the 9th over had had enough. Starting to accelerate, Phillipe reached his half-century in the 12th over off 36 balls and then coupled with some astonishing hitting by Jordan Silk (45 off 19) in the Power Surge, Sixers stormed to 150/3 in the end of 15, yielding 98 runs in the last six overs. Philippe came agonisingly close to score the first century by a Sixer but was caught trying to clear the cover fielder at 95. A quick cameo by Dan Christian (11 off 13) saw Sixers go past 200 runs, the first in this year’s competition. Renegades shoot themselves in the foot Everything that could go wrong, went wrong for Melbourne Renegades. They found the outfield players to perfection, probably chose poor shots but these at the end of the day are anything but ‘get out of jail’ card for a team that brought up just 60 runs for the loss of 10 wickets in just 10.4 overs surrendering all four points to a far superior team on the day. The batting display by Renegades was in stark contrast to what they did in their last game where they comfortably chased down 131 runs in 16.3 overs. Stars of that game, Aaron Finch and Shaun Marsh departed cheaply for 12 and 13 respectively inside 7 overs and with a steep target of 206, no one was able to fight back. Ben Dwarshuis picked his career-best 4/13 bowling 2.4 overs while the veteran O’Keefe picked up three prized wickets for just 16 runs in his three. The Renegades fans can choose not to make much out of their mockery of a run chase. There is sizeable evidence where Aaron Finch has bounced from a horrible game to demolish elite attacks in the world. These are early phases of the tournament but Sixers for sure will be over the moon with their performance considering the tight game they lost against Hobart Hurricanes in the season opener. The brilliance of Jordan Silk in the crease and out in the field will be a major talking point this season and Sixers fan would hope that he continues his patch for the next two months.

Twitter reacts to Renegades’ 145 run defeat, the biggest in BBL history

It was a day of historic happenings in the Big Bash League’s 10th edition. Firstly, the Adelaide Strikers put on the highest 10th wicket partnership against Hurricanes to avoid a humiliating defeat, then Melbourne Renegades decided to throw in the towel as early as possible succumbing to the biggest defeat in the BBL history after getting bowled out for just 60 runs in 10 overs. The Renegades’ chase was so much all over the place that only four of their batters crossed the double-digit and two of them were the number-6 and number-8. Chasing a total of 205, set up by the Sixers, the Red brigade was given early jolts in the form of skipper Aaron Finch, Sam Harper, and Rilee Rossouw getting out at just 16 runs. They could never recover from that early blow and wickets kept falling leaves from deciduous trees in autumn. Twitter was quick to pounce on the shambolic batting display from the Finch led side, and one man went on to call it a defeat to Josh Philippe instead of the entire Sixers team. Earlier, asked to bat after losing the toss, Sydney Sixers put aside their opening match defeat to present a resounding display of their batting scoring the highest total of the season so far. The inning was anchored by Josh Philippe who made 95 before being caught by Finch off Josh Lalor. Other major contributions came in from Daniel Hughes and Jordan Silk. Ben Dwarshuis and Steve Okeefe were the wreckers in chief for the Sixers with the ball. The left-arm spinner, Okeefe, who picked up three wickets was praised by none other than the former Aussie captain Ricky Ponting. Dwarshuis, 26, took four wickets in the game.