The Ashes | 2nd Test: Josh Hazlewood ruled out with side injury

PSL players decide on final squads; tournament to begin on January 27

The Pakistan Super League teams have finalised their squads for the 2022 season. After retaining up to eight players earlier this week, the teams were allowed to complete their 18-member squad on December 12, Sunday. The next edition of the tournament begins on January 27 and will be played in two legs across one month. The matches will be held in Karachi and Lahore. As reported earlier, Fakhar Zaman was bought back by his team Lahore Qalandars despite not retaining him. Tim David on the other hand made big gains after playing in the Indian Premier League and has joined Multan Sultans as their platinum player. Barring Fakhar, all other platinum picks were foreigners, with Jason Roy, Colin Munro, Hazratullah Zazai and Chris Jordan being the rest of them. Here are the final squads for the upcoming PSL season. Draft picks for Islamabad United Colin Munro (New Zealand, Platinum), Marchant de Lange (South Africa) (Diamond), Danish Aziz, Muhammad Akhlaq (both Pakistan), Reece Topley (England), , Zafar Gohar (Pakistan) (all Silver), Mubasir Khan, Zeeshan Zameer (Emerging), Athar Mehmood (Pakistan) and Rehmanullah Gurbaz (Afghanistan) (both Supplementary) Final squad Asif Ali, Colin Munro, Hasan Ali (both Platinum) Faheem Ashraf, Marchant De Lange, Shadab Khan (Brand Ambassador), Alex Hales (Mentor), Azam Khan, Mohammad Wasim Jnr (all Gold) Danish Aziz, Mohammad Akhlaq, Paul Stirling, Reece Topley, Zafar Gohar (all Silver) Mubasir Khan, Zeeshan Zameer (both Emerging) Rehmanullah Gurbaz and Ather Mehmood (both Supplementary) Draft picks for Karachi Kings Chris Jordan (England, Platinum), Lewis Gregory (England, Diamond), Mohammad Imran, Rohail Nazir (both Pakistan), Tom Abell (England), Umaid Asif (Pakistan) (all Silver), Faisal Akram, Qasim Akram (both Emerging), Romario Shepherd (West Indies) and Talha Ahsan (both Supplementary) Final squad Babar Azam, Chris Jordan, Imad Wasim (all Platinum) Mohammad Amir, Lewis Gregory, Mohammad Nabi (all Diamond) Joe Clarke (Brand Ambassador), Aamir Yamin, Sharjeel Khan ( both Gold) Mohammad Ilyas, Mohammad Imran, Rohail Nazir, Tom Abell, Umaid Asif (all Silver) Faisal Akram, Qasim Akram (Emerging) Romario Shepherd and Talha Ahsan (both Supplementary) Draft picks for Lahore Qalandars Fakhar Zaman (Pakistan, Platinum), Abdullah Shafique (Pakistan), Harry Brook, Phil Salt (both England) (all Gold), Dean Foxcroft (South Africa), Kamran Ghulam (Pakistan) (both silver), Maaz Khan, Zaman Khan (both Emerging) , Samit Patel (England) and Syed Faridoum Mehmood (Pakistan) (Supplementary) Final squad Fakhar Zaman, Rashid Khan, Shaheen Shah Afridi, (all Platinum) Haris Rauf (Diamond, Brand Ambassador), David Wiese, Mohammad Hafeez (both Diamond), Abdullah Shafique, Harry Brook, Phil Salt (all Gold) Ahmed Daniyal, Dean Foxcroft, Sohail Akhtar, Kamran Ghulam, Zeeshan Ashraf (all Silver) Maaz Khan, Zaman Khan (both Emerging) Samit Patel and Syed Faridoum Mehmood (Supplementary) Draft picks for Multan Sultans Tim David (Australia, Platinum), Odean Smith (West Indies, Diamond), Asif Afridi, Anwar Ali, Imran Khan Snr, Rumman Raees (all Pakistan), Rovman Powell (West Indies) (all Silver), Aamer Azmat, Abbas Afridi (both Emerging), Blessing Muzarabani (Zimbabwe) and Ihsanullah (Pakistan) (Supplementary) Final squad Tim David, Mohammad Rizwan, Rilee Rossouw (all Platinum) Imran Tahir (Mentor), Odean Smith (both Diamond) Sohaib Maqsood (Diamond), Khushdil Shah (Brand Ambassador), Shahnawaz Dahani, Shan Masood (all Gold) Anwar Ali, Asif Afridi, Imran Khan Snr, Rumman Raees Rovman Powell (all Silver) Aamer Azmat, Abbas Afridi (both Emerging) Blessing Muzarabani and Ihsanullah (Supplementary) Draft picks for Peshawar Zalmi Hazratullah Zazai (Afghanistan, Platinum), Usman Qadir (Pakistan, Gold), Arshad Iqbal, Kamran Akmal, Salman Irshad, Sameen Gul (all Pakistan) (all Silver), Sirajuddin, Mohammad Aamer (Emerging), Ben Cutting (Australia) and Mohammad Haris (Pakistan) (both Supplementary) Final squad Hazratulah Zazai, Liam Livingstone, Wahab Riaz (all Platinum) Haider Ali, Sherfane Rutherford, Shoaib Malik (all Diamond) Hussain Talat (Gold), Saqib Mahmood (Gold, Brand Ambassador),Usman Qadir (Gold) Arshad Iqbal, Kamran Akmal (Mentor), Salman Irshad, Sameen Gul, Tom Kohler-Cadmore (all Silver) Mohammad Aamer, Sirajuddin (Emerging) Ben Cutting and Mohammad Haris (both Supplementary) Draft picks for Quetta Gladiators Jason Roy (England, Platinum), James Faulkner (Australia, Diamond), Ben Duckett (England), Khurram Shehzad (Pakistan), Naveen-ul-Haq (Afghanistan), Sohail Tanvir, Umar Akmal (both Pakistan) (Silver), Abdul Wahid Bangalzai, Ashar Qureshi, (Emerging), Ahsan Ali (Pakistan) and Noor Ahmed (Pakistan) (Supplementary) Final squad James Vince, Jason Roy, Sarfaraz Ahmed (all Platinum) Iftikhar Ahmed, James Faulkner, Mohammad Nawaz (all Diamond) Shahid Afridi (Mentor), Mohammad Hasnain (Brand Ambassador), Naseem Shah (all Gold) Ben Duckett, Khurram Shehzad, Naveen-Ul-Haq, Sohail Tanvir, Umar Akmal (all Silver) Abdul Wahid Bangalzai, Ashar Qureshi (Emerging) Ahsan Ali and Noor Ahmed (Supplementary)

LPL 2021 | Shoaib Malik’s all-round show leads Jaffna Kings to easy win over Kandy Warriors

Kandy Warriors, having tested their first win in their last match suffered yet another defeat, their fourth in five matches, as Jaffna Kings downed them by seven wickets to consolidate their own position at the top of the Lanka Premier League 2021 points table. Shoaib Malik was the hero for the Kings with his all-round showing in the rain-curtailed game at the R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo. The Kings were set a modest target of only 97 runs to chase in 12 overs and they did it in only 8.4 overs to boost their net run rate as well. The chase started in a brisk fashion as the openers Upul Tharanga and Avishka Fernando got off to a flyer, hitting 13 off 8 and 23 off 12 deliveries respectively before being dismissed. At 47-2 in just the fifth over, the game was almost going only one way and it went that way only even as Tom Kohler-Cadmore fell as the third wicket in the innings. Malik was joined by Thisara Perera, the skipper of the Kings and the two build up an unbeaten 43 runs stand. Malik remained not out on 14 off nine balls and the left-hander Perera hit four fours and one six to get to 29 off just 13 balls and finish the game. Earlier in the day, Kings after winning the toss decided to field first as the decision was guided by the turbulent weather which threatened for heaven to open up and rain anytime. In the curtailed 12 over a side game, Malik bowled with control and precision as the 39 year old Pakistani gave way only 19 runs in his three overs and also picked up an important wicket of compatriot Ahmed Shehzad to break the 35 run opening stand. Charith Asalanka top-scored for Warriors with an unbeaten 44 from 34 balls.

BBL 11 | Russell muscles Stars past Thunder as Alex Ross’ brilliant innings gets overshadowed

It was an Andre Russell show at the Sydney Showground Stadium, the home of the Sydney Thunder as he muscled his way to a brilliant unbeaten 42 off just 21 balls, smashing six gigantic sixes to lead his team Melbourne Stars to a comfortable six-wicket win with 17 balls remaining in the chase. However, when Russell had come to the crease, it wasn’t really comfortable as the Stars had lost to back to back wickets in the same over with Tanveer Sangha accounting for both settled men in Melbourne skipper Glenn Maxwell and opener Marcus Stoinis. From 83-2, the team in green were suddenly 83-4 and Russell had to play three dot balls to negotiate what was a double-wicket maiden over from the young leggie. But that was just the silence before the storm that was brought by Russell on the ground. In the very next over, Russell opened his account with a gigantic six to Nathan McAndrew. That was just the warm-up as the Jamaican hit 20 runs off the next over which was bowled by Daniel Sams. And suddenly the required rate which was climbing to almost nine when he joined at the crease, was down to less than run a ball within two overs. From there on, it was just formalities that were completed by Russell and his partner at the other end, Hilton Cartwright who remained unbeaten at 19 off 12 balls to get his team past the winning line with a comprehensive six-wicket win. Earlier in the evening, after winning the toss, the Stars invited the Thunder to bat. Their decision was vindicated as they got three key wickets including that of Alex Hales just at the break of the first six overs. From 40-3 in 6.1 overs, Sam Billings tried to build resistance with Alex Ross but got out soon to leave the Thunder fending for themselves at 65-4 with all-rounder Daniel Sams at the crease to accompany Ross. As the going was already slow with 11.5 overs having gone past, the dup slowed it down even more in trying to build a platform. At one point, the Thunder were 88/5 in 15 overs, not being able to strike even at six runs per over. But things started to change from there onwards. Ross, who was batting at 28 off 27 balls at the end of the 15th over peaked at the right time and hit 49 runs off the next 22 balls that he faced. Sams, who was batting at 8 off 10 balls also hit 14 off the eight balls that he faced to guide Thunder to 151-5 at the end of 20 overs. The men in florescent green scored 73 runs in the last five overs.

Ashes | Nasser Hussain picks Jimmy Anderson over Stuart Broad for Adelaide Test

Former England captain Nasser Hussain has argued that England should select James Anderson ahead of Stuart Broad because of the swing that he can extract with the pink ball. In his column with Sky Sports Hussain stated that both of them have overs under their legs and it would make sense to get at least one of them in for the next game. "Broad and Anderson haven't bowled in anger in a match for months now and with their ageing bodies, can you get them both in? I'd definitely go with Anderson for the swing," he added. England were beaten comprehensively beaten in the first Test match with the English bowling attack spraying a huge amount of runs against the likes of David Warner and Travis Head. The likes of Jack Leach and Ben Stokes were taken apart by the batting unit as they made merry in the ‘Fortress Gabba’. While Andreson has been backed by the former captain, Broad has gone on record saying he will be 100 per cent ready if he gets a call up. The second Test is scheduled to be played in Adelaide between 16 to 20 December and it will be the first Day-Night Test of the series.