The Cricket.com Weekly - September 4th

A very good morning to Arsenal fans, it’s the best Monday ever indeed. A very good morning to everyone else, too, except Manchester United fans, of course. Here’s hoping you guys are far less whiny and far more sportive than your boss, Mr Erik ten Hag. And here’s to more Mondays like these for you lot (jk jk jk).

Now that I’ve poured my heart out let’s get into the Newsletter without wasting much time! 

The week gone by — what’s been happening in world cricket?

Former Zimbabwe captain Heath Streak has passed away

In what truly comes as devastating news, Heath Streak, arguably Zimbabwe’s greatest-ever cricketer, has passed away at the age of 49. On Sunday (September 3), Streak lost his long-standing battle with cancer.

Incorrect rumors did the rounds last week, but on Sunday, the news of Streak’s demise was officially confirmed by his family.

Streak took a total of 475 international wickets for his country. He is, as things stand, the runaway highest wicket-taker for Zimbabwe in both ODIs and Tests. 

An out-and-out all-rounder, Streak also scored a total of 4,933 international runs in Zimbabwe colours, posting 25 fifty-plus scores across formats. He scored a century too, his sole international ton coming in Harare against West Indies in 2003.

Streak also captained Zimbabwe across 89 international matches post-2000. He led his country in the home World Cup in 2003, where Zimbabwe famously reached the Super Six stage of the competition. 

Star Sports' era in Indian cricket is officially over! 

Star Sports’ decade-long monopoly in Indian cricket broadcast has ended as it’s Viacom 18, who have bagged BCCI rights for both digital and TV for the upcoming cycle. Viacom 18, it is believed, will shell out INR 67.8 crore per game.

In other words, going forward, we’ll be seeing India matches on Sports18 instead of Star Sports and on Jio Cinema instead of Hotstar. 

It is believed that Disney Star, in fact, did not even enter the auction table. 

The Viacom18 monopoly is nearly here as, mind you, they also have digital rights for the IPL.

What’s been happening in the Asia Cup?

The Asia Cup is underway but……we’ve had a very meh first week. Partly due to the one-sided nature of the games and partly due to weather.

After two one-sided games (PAK vs NEP and SL vs BAN), every single soul was excited for the IND vs PAK clash. But only one innings was played as rain ensured that the match was abandoned.

But plenty happened in that one innings itself: there was an Indian top-order collapse thanks to a rampant Shaheen Afridi spell, there was Ishan Kishan’s potential watershed moment, a classy knock from Hardik Pandya and then another collapse, this time the lower-order.

You can relive those 49 overs in this piece written by Gaurav.

Either way, Pakistan and Bangladesh are, as things stand, the only sides to have qualified for the Super 4s. Bangladesh lost against Sri Lanka but responded by comprehensively thumping Afghanistan. There was a promotion for Mehidy Hasan, which resulted in a ton, but once again, it was Najmul Shanto that showed up when his team needed him the most.

Shanto is having some year, and Aakash rightly showered praise on him in this piece.

And oh, there are also suggestions that the Super 4 stages could be shifted out of Colombo due to incessant rains in the city. Let's see what happens...

So far, we can say that the Asia Cup has under-delivered. Big Time. 

Australia have whacked South Africa 3-0 in the T20Is

It’s hard to think of a more one-sided series between two ‘big teams’ than this recently-concluded three-match series between Australia and South Africa. 

Both teams missed several big names and thus fielded a host of new faces. The new faces included Dewald Brevis, Matthew Short, Spencer Johnson and others. 

But South Africa’s ‘B’ team was no match to Australia’s ‘B’ team as the Aussies hammered the Proteas 3-0. At times, it really did look like an international team was playing a semi-professional side. South Africa were *that* bad in phases, especially with the ball.

Consider this: Australia, in the series, batted 52.4 overs and hammered 585 runs at a RR of 11.1 Barring skipper Aiden Markram, every single bowler that sent down six overs or more conceded runs at an economy over 10.0. And that was largely thanks to Mitchell Marsh, who had an unbelievable series: 186 runs at a SR of 186.0.

Let’s hope that the ODIs will be more competitive. 

Speaking of the ODIs, Tim David has been called-up to Australia’s squad on the back of his impressive showing in the T20I series.

Glenn Maxwell could miss the India ODIs

Sticking to Australia, their WC preparation has taken a further hit as Glenn Maxwell is unlikely to feature in the India ODIs. Maxwell was earlier ruled out of the South Africa T20Is and on Sunday, he confirmed that he had had a cortisone injection in the ankle, revealing that his tendon flared up a bit after training. 

He was initially expected to recover in time for the India series, but that might no longer be the case. Australia are treading with caution, and understandably so. They, mind you, are already sweating on the fitness of Mitch Starc, Steve Smith and skipper Pat Cummins! 

The New Zealand vs England T20I series is still alive! 

The England vs New Zealand series threatened to go the AUS-SA way, but the Kiwis stormed back in the third T20I on Sunday to keep the four-match series alive (2-1).

While Finn Allen and Glenn Phillips impressed with the bat, Ish Sodhi and the returning Kyle Jamieson wreaked havoc with the ball.

You can check out the full scorecard of the third T20I here

There have been a couple of talking points in the England front too, notably the continued dominance of Harry Brook and the emergence of Gus Atkinson. Following a breakthrough Hundred campaign, Atkinson, known for his ability to bowl rockets, enjoyed a dream debut, taking 4/20, the best-ever figures for an England debutant. He followed it up with a strong 2/31 on Sunday, going at under 8.00 RPO when New Zealand scored at over 10 RPO.

Brook, in his last 4 T20s, has now scored 223 runs off 113 balls at a SR of 197.3. 

Late World Cup call-up incoming? 👀

England Women will be playing a decider too!

Not just the England Men, but the Women are also in the midst of a competitive T20I series. After a convincing win in the first T20I in Hove, they were hammered by Sri Lanka in the second game in Chelmsford. 

You can check out the scorecard of the first T20I here and the second T20I here

The biggest positive for England has been the emergence of 17-year-old Mahika Gaur, who, in the first T20I, took her first International England wicket. Nope, it’s not her first international wicket (ahem ahem, ECB). She’d already picked up 9 T20I wickets for the UAE.

Harmanpreet Kaur the only Indian picked up in the WBBL draft

A total of 18 Indians put up their name in the first-ever WBBL draft, but rather shockingly, Harmanpreet Kaur ended up being the only one to get picked up. She was signed by Melbourne Renegades as their Platinum Pick. 

Jemimah Rodrigues, Deepti Sharma, Yastika Bhatia and Richa Ghosh were among those who failed to secure a move. 

Marizanne Kapp (Thunder), Sophie Devine (Scorchers), Hayley Matthews (Renegades) and Shabnim Ismail (Hurricanes) were some of the other Platinum picks.

Quinton de Kock and Harry Brook among top BBL draft picks

Quinton de Kock will be making his Big Bash League (BBL) debut after getting picked up by Melbourne Renegades as Platinum pick.  The Platinum picks were dominated by English players as Harry Brook (Stars), Alex Hales (Thunder), Tom Curran (Sixers), Chris Jordan (Hurricanes) all got drafted. Rashid Khan will once again turn out for Adelaide Strikers after being retained (Platinum).

Interestingly, only three Pakistani players were drafted: Zaman Khan (Thunder), Haris Rauf and Usama Mir (both Stars). 

Both Naseem Shah and Shadab Khan were not drafted despite putting their respective names in the hat. Perhaps a scheduling clash?

County stints for Sai Sudharsan and Jayant Yadav! 

Having played just eight first-class matches to date, 21-year-old Sai Sudharsan has already landed a County deal, as he’ll be turning up for Surrey in Division 1 for the rest of the season. 

Jayant Yadav, meanwhile, has also landed a deal, and he’ll be turning up for Middlesex.

The pair will join Umesh Yadav, Jaydev Unadkat, Cheteshwar Pujara and Navdeep Saini as Indians who will be participating in the County Championship this season.

Lockie Ferguson has been named New Zealand skipper

Hah, gotcha with that clickbait. But in a very curious move, New Zealand have opted to name a second-string squad for the ODIs in Bangladesh later this month, with Ferguson captaining the group. A host of big names, including the likes of Tom Latham and Daryl Mitchell, have been rested, but Trent Boult has been named in the squad. 

The three-match series, starting September 21, will be played entirely in Dhaka! 

World Cup news: Ebadot Hossain ruled out; SA rope in Eric Simons

In what’s a significant blow for Bangladesh, pacer Ebadot Hossain has been ruled out of the showpiece event due to a knee injury. The speedster will undergo knee surgery and as a result, will be out for a significant period of time. 

"Ebadot is one of our impact bowlers, the fastest bowler out of the five fast bowlers we played in the last few series. So, it's a big loss, and to replace him straight away it's a hard task," head coach Hathurusingha said.

Elsewhere, South Africa have roped in CSK’s bowling consultant, Eric Simons, as their bowling coach for the World Cup. It is a return to the national coaching set-up for Simons, who 21 years ago (2002), served as the head coach of South Africa. However, Simons stepped down two years later in 2004 following a poor string of results, most notably the failure to go deep at the home World Cup in 2003.

What’s happening in the Men’s CPL?

Two weeks ago, Rahkeem Cornwall was in the news for the wrong reasons — a comical, careless run-out —  but at the Kensington Oval today, he played the knock of CPL 2023 as he smashed 102 off just 48 balls against an attack that featured the likes of George Linde, Oshane Thomas, Yannic Cariah and Dominic Drakes. Cornwall, in his knock, smashed a remarkable 12 sixes.

But batting-wise, it’s been Brandon King who has ruled CPL 2023, having smashed 186 runs at an average of 37.20 and SR of 151.21.

Many were looking forward to seeing Ambati Rayudu in the competition but in the three games he played, he could only manage 47 runs at an average of 15.66. Rayudu left the competition prematurely but he later clarified that he’d only signed a mini-deal with St Kitts.

On the bowling front, Mohammed Amir has been having some tournament, having picked up 9 wickets at an average of 15.88 and economy of 7.15. The Tallawahs pacer has, in fact, picked up three 3-wicket hauls in his last four matches. Trinbago’s Waqar Salamkheil has also been a standout, having picked up 6 wickets in 2 games at an E.R of 4.88. Against Barbados Royals on August 30th, he picked up the most economical four-fer of CPL 2023 (4/14).

As far as the standings are concerned, every team is still in contention except St Kitts, who have lost six of the eight matches they’ve played (two no-results). Saint Lucia Kings top the table currently, but Guyana Amazon Warriors, unbeaten till now, have been the best side in the competition. 

Shreyanka Patil shines in WCPL

The WCPL is underway too and rising star Shreyanka Patil has already left her mark, picking up a four-fer representing Guyana Amazon Warriors, against Barbados Royals. Among Shreyanka’s victims were Barbados captain Hayley Matthews. However, despite Shreyanka’s stunning efforts, it was the Royals that won.

Meanwhile, the competition was lit up on its first day by Sophie Devine, who smashed a stunning unbeaten ton (103* off 64 balls).

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