Women's Ashes 2022: Second T20I abandoned after rain plays spoilsport

Our batting has been a problem, need to improve the way we play: Kieron Pollard

West Indies captain Kieron Pollard has said that the side needs to focus on the batting at the moment as that is the weak link. "We need to improve the way we play, because our batting has definitely been a problem for us," Pollard said. "The good thing is that we have some new faces in the group, guys looking to make a name for themselves in our international scene," he said. The right-handed cricketer further talked about the captaincy and how West Indies cricket is more about getting better and grooming the young talents. "Before the World Cup, there was no noise about the captaincy, but because of the campaign that transpired, it is necessary," he said. "In each and every tournament that you have, whether it's the World Cup or the Ashes, you expect casualties." "If I'm not the right person to lead, then so it, but cricket in the West Indies is not about Kieron Pollard. It's about the holistic approach of getting better, and grooming the youngsters, to put them in positions where they can feel comfortable in international cricket," he said. England and West Indies will be up against each other in the first T20I in Barbados on Sunday (January 23, 2022).

U19 World Cup | Sadisha Rajapaksa help Sri Lanka win a thriller to qualify for last 8

In what was one of the most important games for both Sri Lanka and the West Indies, the islanders emerged victorious by a narrow margin to qualify for the quarterfinals of the ICC Under 19 World Cup 2022. The Lankan colts beat the hosts by three wickets as they chased down 251 with 10 balls remaining. Sadisha Rajapaksa, the opening batter for the Lankan team was the main hero of the chase as he played the anchor role, hitting 76 off 115 balls to propel his team towards the chase. On the other end though he found little support, first from Shevon Daniel (34), then from Anjala Bandara (40) to get as close to the target as possible. At the time when he got out, the team in blue needed only 52 off 62 balls with five wickets in hand. Ranuda Somarathne, who came to bat at number seven, added 33 runs with number eight Raveen de Silva and then an unbeaten 17 off 13 balls with number nine batter Yasiru Rodrigo to win the game with his 28 run knock. Earlier in the day, hosts West Indies, who were in a do or die condition, were asked to bat first by Sri Lanka who won the toss. For the hosts to qualify, they needed to beat Sri Lanka to get on equal points with Australia and then move to the next round on the virtue of a better net run rate. The Windies batters were up for a challenge and gave it their all to push themselves towards an above-par total of 250. Kevin Wickham top-scored with 56 off 91 balls while others like Jordan Johnson, Teddy Bishop and Rivaldo Clarke also played important innings. For Sri Lanka, skipper Dunith Wellalage continued his brilliant run with the ball and picked up three wickets to add to his tally of 10 wickets from the previous two games. South Africa into quarterfinals South Africa finally showed its worth with the bat as it crossed the 300 run mark with the bat for the first time in the tournament. In its game against Ireland, the junior Proteas rode on the century from George Van Heerden and a brilliant 94 from the leading run-scorer of the tournament so far, Dewald Brevis, to get to 315-7. The bowlers from the rainbow nation have been brilliant throughout the tournament and they continued their good form, dismissing Ireland for 158 in the 33rd over to win the game by 153 runs according to the Duckworth-Lewis-Stern method.

PSL 2022 | Covid cases emerge, 8 players and support staff test positive

Covid-19 has started casting a doubtful shadow once again ahead of the start of the Pakistan Super League as three players and five support staff members have tested positive for the coronavirus, tournament director Salman Naseer confirmed. According to the SoPs decided ahead of the start of the league, the players will be allowed to join their teams for training sessions from January 24, at the end of their isolation periods, if they produce two negative test results. "PCB remains committed to creating a safe and secure environment for all participants so that they can play and perform to the best of their abilities," Naseer was quoted as saying by ESPNCricinfo. "In the environment that we presently live in, there will be positive cases, but we have robust health and safety plans to ensure the event is played and concluded in the 27 January to 27 February window,” he added. To make sure that the tournament is completed in the designated window and it functions smoothly, a total of 17 rounds of Covid-19 tests would be conducted during the competition. Also, before the start of the tournament on January 27, there is going to be a mandatory three-day quarantine, followed by four days of training in Karachi. Also, during the quarantine there would be regular testing and those with two negative RT-PCR results will only be allowed to enter the bubble. And from the start of the tournament to the end, there would be mandatorily an RT-PCR test every second day for each player. To make sure that the tournament is not halted even as a large number of players from the team test positive, the PCB has allowed each franchise 20 players on their rosters and also given them an additional pool of reserve players to pick from.

IPL 2022 Auctions | 49 players including Warner list themselves at base price of INR 2 crore

The Indian Premier League attracted a total of 1214 cricketers, including 270 capped players, 312 uncapped players and 41 from Associate teams for the Mega Auctions 2022. Among the cricketers registered for the bids, 49, including T20 World Cup 2021 Player of the Series David Warner and Player of the Match in the Final his compatriot Mitchell Marsh have kept their base price at INR 2 crores. There was also a shock at seeing the names like Mitchell Starc, Sam Curran, Ben Stokes, Chris Gayle, Jofra Archer and Chris Woakes not being listed in the players attracting bids this year. In total, among the players in the INR 2 crore bracket, there are 17 Indians and 32 overseas players. So far, the 10 franchises have already spent nearly INR 338 crore (US$ 45 million approx.) to retain and acquire 33 players. Now with the list being sent to them on Friday, they would try their best to trim it down and then build their squad for the upcoming seasons accordingly. INR 2 crore bracket R Ashwin, Shreyas Iyer, Shikhar Dhawan, Ishan Kishan, Suresh Raina, Pat Cummins, Adam Zampa, Steven Smith, Shakib Al Hasan, Mark Wood, Trent Boult, Faf du Plessis, Quinton de Kock, Kagiso Rabada and Dwayne Bravo. INR 1.5 crore bracket Amit Mishra, Ishant Sharma, Washington Sundar, Aaron Finch, Chris Lynn, Nathan Lyon, Kane Richardson, Jonny Bairstow, Alex Hales, Eoin Morgan, Dawid Malan, Adam Milne, Colin Munro, Jimmy Neesham, Glenn Phillips, Tim Southee, Colin Ingram, Shimron Hetmyer, Jason Holder, Nicholas Pooran. INR 1 crore bracket Piyush Chawla, Kedar Jadhav, Prasidh Krishna, T Natarajan, Manish Pandey, Ajinkya Rahane, Nitish Rana, Wriddhiman Saha, Kuldeep Yadav, Jayant Yadav, Mohammad Nabi, James Faulkner, Moises Henriques, Marnus Labuschagne, Riley Meredith, Josh Philippe, D'Arcy Short, Andrew Tye, Dan Lawrence, Liam Livingstone, Tymal Mills, Ollie Pope, Devon Conway, Colin de Grandhomme, Mitchell Santner, Aiden Markram, Rilee Rossouw, Tabraiz Shamsi, Rassie van der Dussen, Wanindu Hasaranga, Roston Chase, Sherfane Rutherford.