Sports Bulletin

H Shah MANCHESTER:-The England and Wales Cricket Board has confirmed the 2022 fixtures for men’s county and women’s regional domestic competitions. The men’s domestic summer will begin on 7 April with the opening round of the LV= Insurance County Championship. The Vitality Blast, this year marking the 20th edition of the T20 competition, will run over a seven-week period (25 May – 16 July) before the Royal London Cup (2 August – 17 September). The 20-over Charlotte Edwards Cup will open the women’s regional summer from 14 May and will offer the first piece of domestic silverware, with Finals Day at The County Ground, Northampton on 11 June. The 50-over Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy starts on 2 July and will conclude with a showpiece final at Lord’s on Sunday, 25 September. With domestic fixtures released, supporters looking to plan their summer of cricket are encouraged to consider the following opportunities: Vitality Blast season tickets – secure your seats at the 20th edition of T20 cricket in England & Wales by purchasing a season ticket for every home group-stage match in the Vitality Blast. Visit ecb.co.uk/blast-tickets for links to every team’s season ticket pass and take advantage of multi-match savings Royal London Cup Final tickets – get access to a priority window to buy tickets before they go on general sale by registering your interest here Membership – visit county websites for details of the different membership packages available and benefits on offer E-calendar – synchronise your team’s fixtures to you r desktop or mobile calendar and don’t miss a match with reminders ahead of every matchday. Download your team’s schedule here LV= Insurance County Championship The LV= Insurance County Championship returns to a two-division structure – for the first time since 2019 – with defending champions Warwickshire to host Surrey in the opening round. The opening seven rounds of the LV= County Championship will be played from Thursday to Sunday on successive weeks. There will be five rounds played during June and July – an increase from the three rounds during the same period last summer. The Division One and Division Two titles are set to be decided in September, with the final round of fixtures to be staged from 26-29 September. Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy Lord’s is set to stage the Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy on Sunday 25 September to close what promises to be a memorable summer of women’s cricket. Heyhoe Flint was a pioneer of the game leading England to the first-ever Women’s World Cup title in 1973 and challenging convention and fighting for progress as a player, administrator and campaigner throughout her life. MCC announced last year that the North Gate at Lord’s would be named in Heyhoe Flint’s honour and the final bearing her name will conclude a bumper summer for women’s cricket that will also include the Charlotte Edwards Cup, Commonwealth Games, The Hundred in addition to the England Women’s schedule. Southern Vipers will bid to claim a hat-trick of Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy titles when the 50-over competition begins on 2 July. The play-off is to be played four days before the Lord’s final. Royal London Cup The Royal London Cup final will return to a Saturday with Trent Bridge to host the decider on 17 September. The 18 First-Class Counties will each play one warm-up match against a National County – with Somerset and Middlesex to play two games – ahead of the competition, which begins on 2 August. Defending champions Glamorgan are away to Derbyshire on the opening day and the group stage will conclude on 23 August. The competition will visit at least nine outgrounds, from Scarborough to Neath, before the knockout stages will be held on 26 August and 30 August. Charlotte Edwards Cup South East Stars won the first-ever Charlotte Edwards Cup title last summer and open their defence away to Sunrisers at the Cloud County Ground in Chelmsford on Saturday 14 May. The month-long Twenty20 competition will see the eight women’s regional teams split into two groups, and play six group-stage matches, before Finals Day on Saturday, 11 June. There will be 10 double-headers when Charlotte Edwards Cup and Vitality Blast T20 matches are played back-to-back at the same venue. Vitality Blast The 20th edition of domestic T20 cricket will begin on 25 May with champions Kent Spitfires to host Somerset in a re-match of last season’s final. The Vitality Blast group stage will take place over a 40-day period with 99 of the 126 matches to be played on a Thursday, Friday and at the weekend. The quarter-finals will be staged from 6-9 July before the sold-out Finals Day will be staged at Edgbaston a week later.

Sports Bulletin Report DUBAI:-Australia’s Travis Head has reached a career-best fifth position among batters in the MRF Tyres ICC Men’s Test Player Rankings after his Player of the Match performance in the fifth match of their ICC World Test Championship series against England. Head, who scored 101 in the first innings in Hobart to finish with a series topping 357 runs that also got him clinch the Player of the Series award, has advanced seven spots to joint-fifth with Rohit Sharma. Head’s previous best ranking was the 10th position that he occupied last month. All-rounder Cameron Green is another Australia player to gain after the 146-run victory that helped Australia win the series 4-0 and climb to second in the WTC Points Table powered by MRF Tyres. Green is up 23 places to joint-66th after his scores of 74 and 23 and has also moved up 13 places to 62nd in the bowlers’ list. Scott Boland has moved from 49th to 43rd with four wickets in the match. England opener Zak Crawley has progressed nine places to 68th after scores of 18 and 36. Among their bowlers, Stuart Broad has moved up two places to 12th position after finishing with six wickets in the match while Ollie Robinson (up one place to 24th) and Mark Wood (up seven places to 31st) have also advanced. In the latest weekly update that also takes into account the third match of the South Africa-India series in Cape Town that the host side won by seven wickets to clinch the WTC series 2-1, Keegan Petersen has shot up 68 places to 33rd after match-winning scores of 72 and 82. He scored the maximum runs to claim the Player of the Series award, his 276-run aggregate helping him surge up after starting the series in 158th position. Temba Bavuma (up seven places to 28th) and Rassie van der Dussen (up12 places to 43rd) are the other South Africa batters to move up while fast bowlers Kagiso Rabada (up two places to third) and Lungi Ngidi (up six places to 21st) have also made notable progress. Virat Kohli has moved up two places to seventh after scores of 79 and 29 in his last match as Test captain. Rishabh Pant’s unbeaten century in the second innings has lifted him 10 places to14th. Fast bowlers Jasprit Bumrah’s six wickets have lifted him back to the top 10. In the MRF Tyres ICC Men’s ODI Player Rankings that considers performances from the last two matches of the West Indies-Ireland series and the first two of the Sri Lanka-Zimbabwe series, Ireland off-spinner Andy McBrine has gained 17 slots to move into the top 10 with two four-wicket hauls. West Indies spinner Akeal Hosein has moved up two places to joint-59th. In other major movements, Zimbabwe’s Sean Williams has advanced eight places to 40th after scores of 100 and 40 and Sri Lanka batter Kariyawasa Asalanka’s knocks of 71 and 23 have helped him move up 16 places to 52nd.

Bipin Dani The father of Zimbabwe's captain Craig Ervine has been following the ongoing ODI series against Sri Lanka on the internet as there is no live telecast of these matches in his country.  Rory Ervine was disappointed when Craig could not complete the century in the second ODI. "Missing a century is always disappointing but winning the game is rather more important", he said over the telephone from Harare.   He was bowled in Nervous Nineties. "Out is out, whether bowled or caught. It is the same. It was unfortunate. I think the batter has to keep playing the best he can for the sake of the team", he added. Incidentally, Craig is born in a sports loving family. Father played First Class matches, two brothers-Sean and Ryan and uncle Neil also played cricket. "Having family members to play cricket helped Craig to hone his skills", the dad added.         Craig almost had a hand amputated in his early teens following a freak accident where he slipped and fell on broken glass in his family's living room. His mum Judy, who is still a nurse, immediately helped his son from excessive bleeding. The injury required a three-hour reconstructive operation to his right hand.

Bipin Dani Sri Lanka's fast bowler Chamika Gunasekara is out of the ongoing series against Zimbabwe, it is learnt. The 22-year-old right-arm pacer must be considering himself to be the "unlucky" player as he could bowl only one over on his debut match against Zimbabwe on Sunday but had to leave the field following the hamstring injury.  "He has left the team hotel and headed for home", the SLC source said exclusively.     "He has been advised to rest and may be out for about 4-6 weeks". Good news for the visiting Zimbabwe team was that their Indian head coach Lalchand Rajput was given a green signal to join the squad. "Yes, in his last PCR test done on Monday, he was tested negative and headed to Kandy Tuesday morning", one of the sources said from Colombo. The second ODI between the two teams was played on a different pitch and not on the first wicket, where the Sri Lankan team had won.  

Aamir Ali Janjua Dubai (January 18, 2022):-The International Cricket Council (ICC) announced that the 2021 edition of the ICC Awards, celebrating and rewarding the top performances across men’s and women’s international cricket throughout the year will be unveiled on all of ICC’s channels and platforms this week. Beginning with the ICC Teams of the Year in the T20I category for both men’s and women’s on Wednesday, 19 January followed by the ICC Teams of the Year in ODI for both men’s and women’s revealed on Thursday, 20 January. The ICC Men’s Test Team of the Year will also be revealed on 20 January. The individual awards for excellence in women’s and men’s international cricket will be revealed on the ICC channels on 23 and 24 January. This year’s awards will comprise a total of 13 individual awards in all as listed below: Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy for ICC Men’s Cricketer of the Year Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy for ICC Women’s Cricketer of the Year ICC Men’s Test Cricketer of the Year ICC Men’s ODI Cricketer of the Year ICC Women’s ODI Cricketer of the Year ICC Men’s T20I Cricketer of the Year ICC Women’s T20I Cricketer of the Year ICC Emerging Men’s Cricketer of the Year ICC Emerging Women’s Cricketer of the Year ICC Men’s Associate Cricketer of the Year ICC Women’s Associate Cricketer of the Year ICC Spirit of Cricket Award ICC Umpire of the Year Players that have had the most impactful performances in the period under consideration – 1 January 2021 to 31 December 2021 were nominated for these awards. The ICC Voting Academy, comprising a wider selection of global cricket journalists and broadcasters, have voted for their first, second and third choices, while an overwhelming 1.2 million global cricket fans also submitted their votes to choose their favourite cricketers of the year. The result of the ICC Voting Academy selections and the fans’ vote will be combined to determine the winner in each of these categories. The Emerging and Associate categories listed above did not feature shortlists and were determined solely by the ICC Voting Academy.

LAHORE (January 18, 2022):-Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) today confirmed that it has received the final awards of the arbitration proceedings initiated by it against Techfront International FZE (Techfront) as well as the two separate arbitrations filed against it by Blitz Advertising (Pvt) Limited, before the London Court of International Arbitration (LCIA), and the outcome of all arbitrations has been favourable towards the PCB. The dispute relating to Techfront International FZE (Techfront) was on default of rights fee payments due in respect of the Television Broadcast and Live Streaming Media Rights Agreements of the HBL Pakistan Super League (PSL), while the disagreement with Blitz Advertising was, inter alia, on the delayed television broadcast and live streaming media rights fee payments for HBL PSL 2020 matches. In the arbitrations, the sole arbitrator appointed by the LCIA dismissed Techfront and Blitz Advertising’s claims and directed both entities to pay to the PCB rights fees rightfully due to be paid to PCB as claimed as well as the costs claimed by the PCB in lieu of counter-claims, damages, arbitration and legal costs and other miscellaneous expenses incurred. All awards have been issued in accordance with the laws of Pakistan as well as LCIA Rules under which every award shall be final and binding on the parties and by virtue of the arbitration agreement, the parties undertake to carry out any award immediately and without any delay. PCB Chief Operating Officer Barrister Salman Naseer: “These are major triumphs for the PCB as we have been able to successfully claim substantial revenues of the HBL Pakistan Super League. This also indicates we have air-tight contracts and that we will go full distance in protecting the HBL PSL brand as well as the interests of our franchises.” (Press Release)

Bipin Dani Sean Williams was the only centurion of the 1st ODI against Sri Lanka on Sunday, though his Zimbabwe team could not win the match. Back home, his father, Collin Williams, who also played First Class cricket, did watch the match on TV.   "I have always said this and I will say it again, for any Zim player to make 100 in these types of games is a huge achievement. These young men have to work twice as hard when they bat on the international stage", speaking exclusively, he said. "I am a very proud dad, to sit and watch our son make a 100 on tv is just fantastic and uplifting. When they left for tour, I wasn’t sure on how much match practice and preparation the team had managed to get in, but clearly they had done fairly well as I thought a good few of the players were nice and positive". "As for Sean his attitude was indeed positive from ball one and went at a run a ball for his innings, I thought the openers did a nice job, they got off to a nice start". Sean Williams has dedicated this innings to his father. "For this reason, it was very emotional. Sean and I are very close and I had been talking to him and saying he still has plenty of cricket left in him, not only with the bat and ball but as a senior player, he has the right mentality to bring young players on", he added. Sean had announced his Test retirement in August last year. "No, I wasn’t disappointed at all as it was his choice really. Sometimes the cricket gets overshadowed by side shows, like I also said I feel he has still a lot more to offer. Sean is a natural player and he does things that always bring positive input, I think he is happy with that". "Our chats are simply about playing and doing the best he can for as long as he can. I could go on but for now I am simply a very proud dad and look forward to watching him again as I always do", he signed off.

Bipin Dani Former West Indies captain and the ICC match-referee received his knighthood award for his services to the game of cricket Wednesday. The Clive Llyod knighthood investiture was performed on Wednesday by the Duke of Cambridge at Windsor Castle. Also felicitated was Eoin Morgan, who received his CBE (Commander of the Order of the British Empire).  Windies great Llyod has dedicated his knighthood award to his countrymen. Speaking exclusively over telephone from London on Thursday morning, he said, "I feel honoured and blessed. This honour is for my country, my fans and most of all for my family. It was a memorable day and one which I will not forget".

Bipin Dani Sri Lanka's top order batsman Bhanuka Rajapaksha has promised "to reconsider" his retirement plan. The promise has been conveyed to the Hon.sports minister Namal Rajapaksa, who again on Wednesday made the request, this time in person. The meeting was arranged by Kris Balthazaar , who is a Professional at Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna, Senior member of Municipal Council, Dehiwala-Mount Lavinia. "I, as a childhood friend of Hon. sports minister and also friend of Bhanuka, arranged a meeting at Temple Trees Colombo, which is the official residence of the Hon. Prime Minister'', Kris Balthazaar, said exclusively over the telephone from Colombo. Earlier the minister had also officially requested the batter to reconsider his decision. "In the meeting, which lasted for about 45 minutes, Bhanuka did raise the fitness issues. But his primary concern was also the family. He wants to devote more time with his family". "Bhanuka being a key member of the team, the minister does not want him to retire, especially considering the World Cup next year". "Even if Bhanuka reverses his decision, there will be no exception (for him or for any players) on fitness issues". "Bhanuka has asked for a day's time to discuss it with the family and is expected to convey his decision in the next 24-hours", the common friend added. "If Bhanuka decides to revoke his decision, he may be given a fresh contract. But yes, the ultimate decision will lie with the selectors. The minister never interferes in team selection",   emphasized Kris Balthazaar.

Bipin Dani New Zealand's middle order batter Ross Taylor, who retired from international Test cricket on Tuesday has joined the bowlers' club grabbing the wicket with his last delivery in a Test match.   Taylor's victim in just three balls he bowled in the second Test against Bangladesh was the first Test hero Ebadot Hossain. Taylor joins Australia's Glenn McGrath and Sri Lanka's Muthiah Muralitharan in taking a wicket off his last ball in Test cricket. "We welcome batter in our club. Taylor is a batter and it was fun for him to take the wicket ", Murali, speaking exclusively over telephone from Colombo said on Tuesday morning. With Bangladesh trailing by 395 runs, Kiwi skipper Tom Latham enforced follow-on and his team's inning victory ensured Taylor (who scored 28 runs in the first innings) had no chance to bat for the last time in the second innings. Latham, however, obliged fans' demand and brought Taylor to bowl in his last innings. It was obvious for Tayor to retain the ball with which he took the last ball wicket in his farewell Test. Murali, however, is not in the possession of his last 800th Test wicket ball. "The said ball is with Mahela Jayawardene. It is with him because before the Test match I had promised him to give", Murali said. Both Murali and Ross Taylor had announced their retirement days before they played their respective Tests.