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Cricket Australia Postpones Start Of Domestic Season Due To Covid 19 Challenges

Cricket Australia postpones start of domestic season due to Covid-19 challenges

The start of Australia’s domestic fixtures has been postponed due to Covid-19 lockdowns in New South Wales and Victoria, confirmed Cricket Australia.

The domestic season had to start with the opening round of the 50-over Marsh Cup tournament which was to start this weekend. Victoria and South Australia were slated to lock horns with each other in Melbourne.

The men’s domestic season will now commence on September 22 where South Australia will now host Western Australia in the Marsh Cup encounter at Karen Rolton Oval in Adelaide.The two teams were also scheduled to begin the Sheffield Shield season on September 28 but they will now start the tournament on September 24.

The Victoria and New South Wales are still in talks with CA as to how to go ahead. "Like all sports, we cannot rule out challenges created by the global pandemic at some stage in the season," said Cricket Australia's Head of Cricket Operations and Scheduling, Peter Roach.

"However, the lessons of the 2020-21 summer have prepared us well to be agile and adapt as required to deliver the best possible season for the players and fans.”

"We thank the States and Territories for their support and understanding through this process and are delighted to be making a start to the season. We will build out further fixtures in the coming weeks and announce them once finalised.”

The women’s domestic scheduled has also been tweaked and WNCL 50-over competition will be held after the WBBL.

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India to visit England for limited-overs fixtures next year

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IPL 2021: We want to win six out of seven matches to qualify for playoffs, says Karthik

Kolkata Knight Rider wicket-keeper batsman Dinesh Karthik is confident that the side will make it to playoffs in this edition of the IPL. The second leg of the cash-rich league will be played in the UAE and is scheduled to commence on September 19 with Mumbai Indians taking on Chennai Super Kings. "We want to win six out of seven matches (to qualify). It's as simple as that. As a team that's what we'll be looking to do. Take one game at a time but try and win six out of seven matches," Karthik told KKR website. The right-handed batsman pointed out that the team missed out on making it to the playoffs by a whisker in the last edition. "Last year when we were in UAE, we missed it (qualifying for playoffs) by a whisker. We won as many matches as the last team had won but still just missed it by a whisker,” he said. The IPL was earlier suspended on May 4 after there was a rise in Covid-19 cases within the franchises. The Kolkata-based franchise is presently place at number seven with only two wins and four points under their belt from the seven matches that they have played. KKR will now resume the campaign against RCB on September 20 in Abu Dhabi.

CPL 2021 | Pollard, Seifert onslaught & Ali Khan secure sweep over Tallawahs

It was a tremendous bowling effort by Ali Khan, the US import of the Trinbago Knight Riders who registered career-best figures of 4-6 to bowl out Jamaica Tallawahs for a mere 92 and his team a sensational 75 run victory. With this win, the Knight Riders have now won both their league games against the Jamaica-based team in Caribbean Premier League 2021. The Jamaican chase never looked like going anywhere as they were tormented right from the start. They lost four of their top order batters with the team score reaching only 21 in the sixth over. What was even worse was that just as a partnership started developing between Tallawahs skipper Rivman Powell and Jason Mohammed, the spinners in Khary Pierre and Sunil Narine struck once each and got rid of the two batters. With Andre Russell and Carlos Brathwaite still batting and having seen the carnage by Kieron Pollard and Tim Seifert in the first innings, there was still hope that Tallawahs might just give it a go. But all those hopes were dashed when Narine struck for the second time in the day and brought an end to Russell’s misery who made only 1 run off the 11 balls that he faced. Before the fall of Russell, Brathwaite had been removed by Akeal Hosein. Only formalities remained and hence Ravi Rampaul, the leading wicket-taker in the tournament and Ali Khan, the Man of the Match came back to pick a wicket each and end the Tallawahs innings at 92, one of the lowest totals in CPL history. Earlier in the day, after winning the toss and sending Knight Riders to bat first, Tallawahs controlled most of the game up until the 17th over when calamity struck in the form of Pollard and Seifert. At 105-4 with only 16 balls to go, the Tallwahs were expecting nothing more than 34 at the max, that too with two new guys at the crease. However, what happened after that was pure joy for spectators, but devastation for Tallawahs. The duo of Pollard and Seifert hit Migael Pretorious for 12 runs of the remaining four balls of the 18th over, Russell for 21 runs in the 19th over and then again Pretorious for 29 runs in the 20th over. In total they scored 62 runs in the last 16 balls, taking the total to 167 in 20 overs.

SL vs SA | 3rd ODI: Maheesh Theekshana became a big advantage for us, says Dasun Shanaka

Spinner Maheesh Theekshana played a vital role in Sri Lanka’s 78-run win in the third and deciding ODI against South Africa in Colombo on Tuesday. Chasing 204 in 50 overs, the Proteas were bundled out for 125 in 30 overs after Theekshana scalped a four-wicket haul while Wanindu Hasaranga and Dushmantha Chameera picked up a couple of wickets apiece during the course. Captain Dasun Shanaka has put his weight behind Theekshana and said that he brought him into the XI for this game as the track would have something on offer for the spinners and it would be difficult for the South African batsmen to read Theekshana. "I actually brought Maheesh Theekshana into the team to play T20s," Shanaka said. "But I knew that on a track like this where it turns a lot, it's going to be hard for South Africa to read someone like Theekshana out of the hand. I took that risk as a captain and the selectors and coaches supported me. And that became a big advantage for us,” he added. Batting first, the home side managed to put 203/9 in 50 overs with Asalanka top-scoring with a 71-ball 47. For South Africa, it was stand-in captain Keshav Maharaj who scalped a three-for. The hosts clinched the ODI series 2-1 and the two teams will now lock horns with each other in a three-match T20I series beginning on September 10.