The Hundred | Paul Stirling replaces injured Devon Conway

After getting the No Objection Certificate (NOC) from Cricket Ireland, their star opener Paul Stirling would now be participating in The Hundred, the newest format of cricket. Stirling will join Southern Brave to replace injured New Zealand batsman Devon Conway.

The NOC was given to Stirling after Zimbabwe’s tour of Ireland was postponed due to Covid travel restrictions posed on the incoming guests by the United Kingdom government.

Speaking on this occasion, Stirling said, "I've watched the first few rounds of The Hundred with great interest and am delighted to have been given this chance to be involved.”

Brave, who have won their last two games might avail the services of the Irishman in their very next game on August 05 against the Manchester Originals away from home. Stirling is pumped up to join the Brave as well. "The Southern Brave team has been outstanding so far under James Vince, and I hope I can contribute to the ongoing success of the team," said the 30-year-old. 

Richard Holdsworth, High-Performance Director for Cricket Ireland was also excited about this opportunity for Stirling. "With the T20 World Cup approaching, the opportunity for one of our leading players to have an experience like this can only be beneficial," he said.

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Manchester Originals vs Southern Brave: Where to watch Live, Probable XI, Fantasy XI details

Two high flyers of The Hundred will finally meet at Old Trafford when James Vince’s side Southern Brave will travel away from home to take on Carlos Brathwaite’s Manchester Originals. Both the sides have notched up victories in their last two games and hence have made this fight interesting considering that one of them will lose their winning run. With Buttler performing national duties, West Indian Brathwaite has taken over the reins at Originals while Devon Conway’s injury has forced him to be replaced by Irishman Paul Stirling. So in this battle of the heavyweights, the team that winning it would also go on top of the Points Table. Manchester Originals vs Southern Brave: Match Details Match Number- 19 Date and Time: 05 August, 2021, 11:00 pm IST, 06:30 pm Local, 05:30pm GMT Venue: Emirates Old Trafford Manchester, United Kingdom Live Stream: Fancode Pitch Report The pitch at Old Trafford has surprisingly been spin-friendly as the English summer has progressed. Therefore, another pitch where Matt Parkinson could utilise all his abilities might be waiting for the travelling Southern Brave. Weather Forecast According to BBC Weather, there are more than 50% chances of precipitation at the time of play at Old Trafford. However, the showers would remain light, so hopefully, audiences would be able to have a match at their hands. Manchester Originals Probable XI Philip Salt, Joe Clarke (wk), Colin Munro, Colin Ackermann, Tom Lammonby, Carlos Brathwaite (c), Calvin Harrison, Tom Hartley, Lockie Ferguson, Steven Finn, Matthew Parkinson Southern Brave Probable XI Quinton de Kock (wk), James Vince (c), Paul Stirling, Alex Davies, Ross Whiteley, Colin de Grandhomme, Chris Jordan, Liam Dawson, George Garton, Tymal Mills, Jake Lintott Fantasy XI Quinton de Kock, James Vince (c), Paul Stirling, Joe Clarke (wk), Colin Munro, Colin de Grandhomme, Carlos Brathwaite, Chris Jordan, Lockie Ferguson, Steven Finn, Matthew Parkinson Captain James Vince Vice-Captain Carlos Brathwaite

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BAN vs AUS | Composed Afif and Nur-Ul-Hasan guide Tigers to victory over struggling Aussies

Yet another game, yet another composed innings from Afif Hossain, who is slowly turning into the much-desired finisher that Bangladesh has been looking for. Courtesy of his knock of unbeaten 37 off 31 balls, Bangladesh were able to chase down a tricky total of 122 to register victory over Aussies in the second match of the five-match series going on between the two sides at the Sher-E-Bangla Stadium in Dhaka. This was the second win for the Men in Green and Red after they defeated the Green and Gold in the first match of the series as well on Tuesday, August 03. With this victory, Bangladesh now leads the five-match series 2-0 and require just one win to clinch their first-ever series win against Australia in their cricketing history. Chasing a small but dodgy total on a low and double paced Dhaka wicket, the Tigers didn’t get off to a stellar start and lost their two openers at the score of 21 in the fourth over. Mahedi Hasan, who was promoted as a pinch hitter to bat at number four lived a lot many lives before finally getting stumped. Before his wicket, Shakib Al Hasan and Mahmudullah Riyad had gotten out as well and with Mahedi’s dismissal, Bangladesh were staring at defeat at 67-5 before Afif Hossain partnered with wicket-keeper batsman Nur-Ul-Hasan. The duo added an unbeaten 56 off just 44 balls to take Bangladesh home, which looked really tough initially. 21-year-old Afif was adjudged Man of the Match for his efforts. Earlier in the evening, after winning the toss, the Australian skipper changed his decision from the previous game and decided to bat first seeing the condition of the wicket. However, the change in the decision did not translate into a change in fortunes for Wade’s team as they managed to score only 121 runs in trier 20 overs. Mitchell Marsh top-scored for Aussies with 45 off 42 balls while Moises Henriques scored 30 off 25 balls. Mustafizur Rahman was the pick of the bowlers for Bangladesh and finished with figures of 3-23 from his four overs. The two teams will now meet in the third match after a day’s break on Friday, August 06 at the same venue.

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1st Test, Day 1 report: India on top as relentless Bumrah - Shami run through England batting lineup

India could not have asked for a better start to the big series and finished the first day of the Test against England in a commanding position in Trent Bridge, Nottingham. The opening pair of Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul negotiated the new ball spell from James Anderson, Stuart Broad, Ollie Robinson and Sam Curran to help India push England into shambles. Earlier, India captain Virat Kohli lost yet another toss, and while he wanted to bat first, the bowling attack did not really mind making the first use of the pitch and overhead conditions. Course correction by Shami-Bumrah India’s bowling attack had come under stern criticism after they failed to extract swing in the air in the World Test Championship final against New Zealand. The difference between their bowling with that of Kiwi’s bowling attack was that they kept on bowling back of length where they should have been pushing the ball fuller towards the batsmen. Apart from swing, Jasprit Bumrah had looked completely out of colour in that game and India could not replicate New Zealand’s success with the ball. Bumrah was richer in experience from that game and used all the angles of his bowling and overhead conditions to challenge England top order. He started by finding Rory Burns in front of the stumps with a whooping inswinger after setting him up with away going deliveries. His new-ball partner Mohammed Shami too had learnt his lessons from the WCT final and he adjusted his lengths admirably with the new ball. He tested the outside and inside edges of both Dom Sibley and Zak Crawley as England struggled to find easy runs. Crawley was at his usual best with driving fuller length deliveries towards the off-side boundaries, but Indian bowlers were accurate enough to make him look like a desperate and undisciplined batsman. India preferred Mohammed Siraj over Ishant Sharma and although he could not start things on a pretty note, he found his way back soon enough to send Craley back to the pavilion. Root-Bairstow's rearguard action With two wickets down before the lunch interval, Joe Root had the task of resurrecting England abetting lineup in the face of a disciplined and relentless Indian bowling attack. Sibley once again found a bizarre way to get out when he spooned an easy catch to KL Rahul at short midwicket right after lunch and allowed India an upper hand. The next man in, Jonny Bairstow has had six ducks in the last 10 innings against India and the onus was on him to get England back on track. He started finding his rhythm quickly as Indian bowler searched swing outside his off stump and with Joe Root stitched a valuable 50 run partnership. An England collapse, nothing unusual though England were in a safe position with both Root and Bairstow batting with confidence and ease against Indian bowlers. However, right at the stroke of tea, Kohli brought back Shami for a closing spell in the afternoon session. He trapped Bairstow with a nip backer to end the session. From 138/3 before the tea break, England went down to 155/7 with Dan Lawrence, Jos Buttler and Joe Root going back to the pavilion in quick succession. Lawrence was caught down the leg side, while Buttler was ran all over by Bumrah with his variations. England’s hopes were reliant on Root, who was holding one end strongly amid tumbling wickets at the other end. However, India’s fourth seamer—Shardul Thakur, who played in place of Ravichandran Ashwin got the big fish in the form of the England skipper. He picked one more in the same over to wreak England’s chance of a turnaround. All-rounder Sam Curran tried to repeat his heroics of the 2018 series where his dashing cameos changed the outcomes of the games and in the end, the series, but could not quite inflict a lot of damage. Jasprit Bumrah found two searing yorkers to find Broad and Anderson’s stumps and India ended another shambolic England performance. Looking ahead to Day 2 India have a massive opportunity to bat England out of the game. Both Rohit and Rahul looked assured at the crease and left the ball well against the new ball. Rahul has got this game at the top of the order only because Mayank Agarwal hurt his head in the nets, and he would be desperate to prove his mettle all over again after going out of favour, especially as an opener. India have a lot of time in their hands to enforce domination of England but they will have to do it against the quarter of Anderson, Broad, Robinson and Curran. If they would be able to manage to take a handful lead and will remain batting at the end of the second day’s play, it will be a long long journey for England in this Test match. For England, Root will be ruing another shambolic performance at the end of the first day but would be hoping for a spirited performance from the high-quality bowling attack. They would be banking on Anderson and Broad to compensate for the mediocrity of England’s batting on the first day of the game.