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Ireland coach Graham Ford steps down after poor World Cup outing

Ireland head coach Graham Ford has decided to tender his resignation from the position after spending four years in the role. It is being seen as one o the outcomes of a very poor World Cup campaign for the men in green. Cricket Ireland announced on Wednesday, November 17 that Ford’s three-year contract which was extended by a year will end hereafter. Ford on his part also released a statement in which he said, "The last four years have been very special for me. I have enjoyed many happy days with a cricket squad made up of very special people. I have also enjoyed watching club cricket and experiencing the passion and club loyalty of many fine cricketing people.” "When compared with the other ICC Full Member nations, Cricket Ireland has faced many handicaps and challenges. Despite this, on several occasions, the team has competed impressively with some of the top teams in world cricket and it has been a privilege for me to experience first-hand the character and togetherness of the Irish players,” added the well-travelled coach who has in past coached international sides like Sri Lanka and South Afric and successful clubs like Kent in County arena and Dolphins in South Africa back home. Reasoning that his decision came after much consideration the 61-year-old, who was appointed as head coach in 2017 thanked all those involved in building the Irish team which got its permanent member status under his tutelage. "I realise that this is the right time for me to step away from Cricket Ireland. I'd like to end by thanking all the players and the support staff for their impressive attitudes and loyal support during the four years and I look forward to watching them achieve big things in the future,” he said. Ireland had one of its World Cups this year as it was unable to qualify for the Super 12 and would now have to undergo a qualifying tournament to make it to the first round of the 2022 T20 World Cup.

The Ashes | Pat Cummins certain of rotation, but won't seek rest unless 'something going wrong'

The rotation of fast bowlers is an old phenomenon in Australian cricket and they employed the move quite strategically in the past few years to keep their frontline pacers “fresh and ready to go” along with grooming other pacers on their radar. However, the move was ditched last season when Tim Paine and Justin Langer played the trio of Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood all the four Tests against India. By the end of the third Test in Sydney and the final Test in Brisbane, the signs of the move backfiring were becoming evident and the debate about how much a pacer should play and bowl reignited in the Australian media by former players. Starc appeared to be the most tired bowler in the final Test and his lack of control allowed India to get away with some easy runs on the eventful final day at the Gabba. As another long series against England looms over the hosts in the form of an iconic Ashes series, the leader of the Australian pace attack Cummins has no doubts that the pacers will be rotated and not all will the entire five-match series. He said that Australia have a great bunch of pace bowlers and that it won’t be “huge issues” if one of the first-choice picks doesn’t recover from niggle. He added that the others can slot in right away into the playing XI and will put their hands up with the ball. However, he ruled himself out of resting for the sake of it and said that he won’t be seeking time off the field until he has to deal with “something going wrong”. Notably, Australia employed the rotation of pacers very successfully in the last Ashes series in England by using James Pattinson and Peter Siddle in odd matches but Pat Cummins was the only pacer who played all the five Tests of the series. "When someone's I guess rested it is normally more to it than just purely workload," Cummins said. "There's always niggles and small little injuries that we're dealing with, basically after every single Test match. The great thing is we've got a huge stable of fast bowlers. So yeah, I don't think it'll be a huge issue if someone's not able to get up for a Test or someone's just red-lining a little bit. Someone else can slot in." "I'd be surprised if the same four bowlers were used for all five Tests. That's pretty rare, especially the five-Test match summer. But I certainly won't be putting my hand up to be rested unless I've got something going wrong.” The first Ashes Test is scheduled to take place at Gabba from December 8.

Will Pucovski won’t play any part in Test cricket this summer, says Victoria coach Chris Rogers

Talented, but equally unlucky with injuries, Will Pucovski’s yet another cricketing summer is going down the drain as his dreams of playing consistently at the highest level are not going to be fulfilled because of his concussion issues. Commenting after the announcement of the Australian squad for the first two Tests of the Ashes 2021-22, Chris Rogers, Pucovski’s state team Victoria’s head coach said, “I can’t say that (he won’t play in the Ashes series) but equally, I can’t see how he can now get the opportunity to show that he’s ready to go to play in the Test matches.” Reasoning as to why he feels that the 23-year-old Victoria player won’t be able to play this summer, the former Austral opener said, “To be playing club cricket and to be picked out of club cricket, I’d probably be pretty surprised, as a lot of people would. I think even Will understands that as well.” “I don’t have a crystal ball with that but I think it’s probably going to be challenging for him to play Test cricket this summer,” he added. Pucovski who suffered from yet another concussion in September this year is said to have been recovering well, but Rogers said that that it will still take some time for him to be in proper playing conditions and represent Victoria in Sheffield Shield once again. “We’ll give him some time now - there’s a bit of a break after this (Shield) game - and we can look into how we perhaps support him through and almost get him ready for the block after the BBL. (Our medical team) keep saying his history is actually that it takes him quite a long time to recover from a few of these blows,” Rogers said. Now it would be interesting to see by what time Pucovski, who has six hundred which include two double hundred to his name and an average of more than 50 in just 24 First-Class games, recovers from his nth concussion now. He last played competitive cricket in early January this year against India in Sydney Test.

Smriti Mandhana record WBBL century in vain as Harmanpreet Kaur’s all-round show overpowers

Indian women’s cricket superstar Smriti Mandhana became the first Indian woman to hits a century in the history of the Women’s Big Bash League, after she cover drove Holly Ferling for a double on the last ball of the 18th over of the Sydney Thunder Women’s innings, chasing 176 for victory in the Women’s Big Bash League. The left-hander scored unbeaten 114 off just 64 deliveries but fail to win the much-required game for her team as the Thunder fell four runs short of the table-toppers Melbourne Renegades Women’s total of 175. India Women’s T20I captain Harmanpreet Kaur was given the responsibility of defending 13 runs off the last over and she did that in style as neither Mandhana nor her partner Tahlia Wilson was able to clear the ropes even once in the last over. Mandhana’s 114 is now the highest individual score by any player in the history of the WBBL, she overtook Australian wicketkeeper batter Alyssa Healy who had scored 112* playing for Sydney Sixers Women against Adelaide Strikers Women in 2018. Earlier in the day, Renegades, riding on Harmanpreet Kaur’s unbeaten 81 off just 55 balls, a knock in which she hit 11 fours and two sixes, got up to 175 in their 20 overs. Kaur then came back to pick the first wicket in the Thunder innings as well and bowled a superb spell, giving away just 27 runs in her quota of four overs even as she bowled the last over. It was courtesy of this brilliant all-around showing from Kaur that Renegades have now occupied the top of the table place in the WBBL 2021 Points Table. They now have eight wins from 12 games and java moved above Perth Scorchers Women who have seven wins from the same number of games.