Domestic giants Mumbai invited by Oman to play practice matches for T20 World Cup preparations

Sam Billings slams journalist for selectively quoting him on The Hundred and County cricket

The skipper of Oval invincibles in The Hundred and Kent in County and domestic set up, Sam Billings was being painted as someone who prefers the hundred more than County and as being in favour of young guys playing The Hundred at expense of their usual County Clubs. A journalist tried to suggest this through his tweet and a link to his write-up in it. To his and people’s surprise, Sam billings himself wrote a whole thread in the reply to that tweet as to how his words were selectively sued to fulfil an agenda. Replying to the tweet, Billings wrote, “I think these comments have been taken out of context Dan (journalist Dan Whitting)”. “Essentially I think it’s a brilliant barometer of the progress made as a county producing so many players that have been recognised as top tier in this country” and serves as evidence as to why Kent are competing in the later stages of the Vitality Blast,” he continued, supporting his argument as to why he said that Kent’s main aim has been to produce quality England and franchise cricketers for across the world as well as The Hundred. “Whether people like it or not (the 100), one thing that can’t be argued is that it’s as close to international cricket as we’ve got in our domestics structure in terms of pressure, atmosphere etc. In turn, players will be better off for those experiences. The structure needs a lot of work and counties need to be supported hugely moving forward,” added Billings, whose side Invincibles is currently among the top teams in the competition and in line to make the Playoffs. The 30-year-old who has represented England in 25 ODIs and 32 T20Is also lashed out at critics for bashing players, “for literally being signed in a draft live on TV” to play in a tournament that they hadn’t come up with. “What would these people do in our positions?” he asked. Earlier during a Hundred game, Billings had praised Kent speedster Matt Milnes, who was drafted in as a replacement player by Welsh Fire and did well to pick of Billings’ teammate Jason Roy’s wicket with his first ball in the competition. “What a great experience for a young bloke, getting a wicket with his first ball and riding the emotions of that game. That is what’s going to produce international cricketers. For us as a club – and as Kent fans in general – that’s what we want to do: produce England cricketers and franchise cricketers,” Billings had said.

Black Proteas player Khaya Zondo reveals how AB de Villiers sidelined him to play Dean Elgar

Part of South Africa’s squad on India tour in 2015, Khaya Zondo was primed to get his chance having performed well in the previous domestic season at home. However, when JP Duminy eventually got injured and there was to be a replacement, the Black player was ignored and sidelined by the management and then skipper AB de Villiers in favour of playing a Test specialist like Dean Elgar in an ODI game ahead of him. "I switched off mentally for the rest of the day and I detached myself from the team because it was clear I was not wanted," Zondo said, recalling his feelings on the day of the fifth ODI. “The hardest part was watching the players who were selected ahead of me playing and having the opportunity to shine for South Africa on a world stage, in India and having a chance to play and potentially impress and get future IPL opportunities,” added the 31-year-old Dolphins player. In a hearing in a special court in South Africa, it was revealed that what the team did was wrong and discriminatory towards Zondo. The enquiry on the issue began way back in 2015 after Zondo and other Black players submitted a letter to Cricket South Africa after returning from the India tour. However, instead of getting some respite for showcasing the courage of speaking out that he did, the then 25-year-old was mocked by the domestic players and teased as ‘Postman’ for writing the letter. Recalling an incident from a domestic game, Zondo said, "We were playing a game in Potchefstroom against the Lions and I was batting. I remember walking up to the guy who was bowling and I lost it. I was pointing my bat in his face. I had just been through the hardest thing any player can go through and they had no understanding of what it was like to be in that position and were making fun of it. Instead of these guys not having something to say, they saw fit to comment and belittle and ridicule. They saw it as a joke." Zondo also praised two of his fellow Black players for standing by him during tough times and also expected that other players would speak up as well. "They were the only two willing to stand by me. I hope other black players stand up for each other as they stood up for me. We would be a lot further along as black people in cricket if we stood up for each other and we didn't waver in our beliefs," said the right-handed batter who has represented South Africa in five ODIs. Zondo, who has been representing his domestic side Dolphins as a teenager since 2007 in all competitions also thanked his coach at that time and former South Africa player Lance Klusener for his support. "If I had a weaker coach who had not experienced the harsh things that happen to players, the outcome might have been different. Lance said to me (in isiZulu): 'Khaya, you need to be tough, you need to be strong, you need to toughen up. When this is over, you will be a better man for it,’,” Zondo said. Lastly, the man with more than 10,000 domestic runs across all formats in more than 14 years of career asked cricketers of all races to speak against indiscrimination in the game. "I would like all players to come out and speak and give their opinion or if they have had any experience, to talk about it,” he said. “Privilege often makes equality seem like oppression. For equality to come into place, people need to strip themselves of privilege so they can see other people's experiences,” added Zondo.

The Hundred | Birmingham vs Welsh: When & where to watch match Live, Probable XI, Fantasy XI

The two teams competing in this game have had totally different trajectories coming into this crucial scenario. Since the departure of Jonny Bairstow, the regular skipper of Welsh Fire to national duties, the team has lost all its four games. On the other hand, Birmingham Phoenix are coming in the back of two back to back wins at home and in their last match at home, they would want to increase that number. Till now, Moeen Ali’s side has won all its three games at home and they would aim at a 4-0 sweep when they face Ben Duckket’s Fire. For Fire though, it is a do or die situation as if they don’t win this game, they might be staring down at a ‘No Playoffs’ berth because the teams above them have already secured more points than them and would have played fewer games too after Fire play their sixth match in this game. Birmingham Phoenix vs Welsh Fire: Match Details Match Number- 23 Date and Time: 09 August 2021, 11:30 pm IST, 07:00 pm Local, 06:00pm GMT Venue: Edgbaston Live Stream: FanCode Pitch Report Edgbaston has been one of the high-scoring grounds in this edition of The Hundred. It has provided true entertainment to the fans with balls flying all over the park. In its last game of the season, the curators wouldn’t want to disturb the combination as the Phoenix, who have won all three previous games here would look to end in a 4-0 scenario at home. Weather Forecast According to BBC Weather, there are more than 30% chances of rain at the time of the start of the game at 06:30 pm Local time. It will remain the same till 09:00 pm, the entire duration of the game. So much like the last game between Oval invincibles and Trent Rockets, there might be some changes in playing conditions but audiences will definitely get a game. Birmingham Phoenix Probable XI Finn Allen, Will Smeed, Moeen Ali (c), Liam Livingstone, Miles Hammond, Chris Benjamin (wk), Benny Howell, Adam Milne, Tom Helm, Patrick Brown, Imran Tahir Welsh Fire Probable XI Tom Banton (wk), Ian Cockbain, Ben Duckett (c), Glenn Phillips, Leus du Plooy, James Neesham, Graeme White, Luke Fletcher, Qais Ahmad, Matt Milnes, David Payne Fantasy XI Tom Banton (wk), Will Smeed, Ben Duckett, Finn Allen, Moeen Ali, Liam Livingstone, Glenn Phillips, James Neesham, Adam Milne, Qais Ahmad, Imran Tahir Captain Moeen Ali Vice-Captain Jimmy Neesham

Root regains 'belief' against 'very good' Indian attack, admits top order batting as concern

England were having 157 runs to defend on the final day of the Nottingham Test and skipper Joe Root sounded confident of his side’s chances, similar to his counterpart Virat Kohli’s bullishness about his team’s chances. They have taken away India’s leading run-scorer from the first innings in KL Rahul late on the fourth day, but India’s batting order accompanied by the quality of England place attack had set up for a cracking finish of the game. The weather god however had other ideas, and once again, like Kohli, Root rued a “robbed” opportunity for both sides of what could have been an “entertaining” final day. Root was asked by Michael Atherton with the reference of Kohli’s statement about his team’s chances of winning the game, and the Man of the Match Root said that England believed they could “nine opportunities” if weather permitted. It was a great Test match, the weather's robbed us of what would have been an entertaining final day. Even 40 overs could have given us something exciting. Hopefully, we can take some of the good stuff we've done this week into the rest of the series,” Root said in the post-match presentation ceremony. “Felt like there were going to be nine opportunities, it was just about making the game go long enough and make sure we had our catchers in. It's a shame the weather sort of won today.” However confident Root sounded after the game ended in a draw, he would be the first one to accept to himself that India had England under the pump and it took a masterful innings from him to put them in a position of strength on the fourth day. He has been shouldering the burden of his teammates’ failure and invariably England have struggled to put up string fight without his contribution in the recent past. England top order has become Achilles heel for them over the last few Test series and Root openly admitted the issues at the top of the order. However, he ruled out any fresh infusion to the side and lamented the scheduling issues due to Covid-19 behind the inability to bring more experienced players in the mix. He defended the young players for not being able to put up strong performance but asserted that his teammates have not been using lack of experience as any sort of “excuse.” “There's certain areas we want to keep working on, we obviously want to score more runs at the top of the order, and taking the chances we create, but Test cricket is challenging. We need to keep working on our game, and also keep the fun element in there,” he added. “We're going to have to deal with as long as we have this schedule. It helps to have experience. It's a little harder for the younger guys, but none of us in the dressing room are using it as an excuse.” It was Joe Root who brought England back in the game after they had conceded a lead of 95 runs in the first innings which could well have been a match-deciding one. He batted with superb fluency and played shots with great flair and freedom to put India on the backfoot in the afternoon session on a penultimate day. Looking back to the century, he outlined the “enjoyment” and “belief” he gathered after combatting a “very good” Indian seam attack that kept on asking questions of him and his teammates. He said that the aggressive approach he had adopted against the pacers was a thoughtful plan to shift the pressure back on the tourists. “There was a lot of enjoyment in how I batted, and a little bit of belief there too. India have a very good seam attack, and they tested our defences for long periods of time, and from my point of view it was about putting the pressure back on them,” Root signed off. The hosts have some decisions to take regarding their brittle top order come the second Test match at Lord’s starting on August 12, and all the top three batsmen such as Rory Burns, Dom Sibley and Zak Crawley will be walking on thin ice if they survive to bat the Home of Cricket.