Sports
Sri Lanka to begin campaign against Namibia
ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2021 schedule announced
Sri Lanka will open their campaign in the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2021 against Namibia at the Abu Dhabi Stadium on October 18, it was confirmed yesterday as the ICC unveiled the schedule of the 16-team event. Sri Lanka are grouped with Ireland, Namibia and Netherlands in Round 1 and will take on Ireland and Netherlands on October 20 and 22.
Round 1 of the tournament, will begin with Oman playing Papua New Guinea followed by Bangladesh playing Scotland on October 17. Two teams from each group of Round 1 make it to the Super 12s, with Bangladesh, Oman, Papua New Guinea, and Scotland forming Group B.
The Super 12s will begin their contest on October 23 with Australia playing South Africa and England playing West Indies followed by archrivals India and Pakistan who will play against each other on 24 October.
Abu Dhabi will be the venue of the first semi-final on November 10 while the other semi-final (November 11) and the final (November 14) will be played in Dubai. All day matches are scheduled for 14h00 local time and the day-night matches are slated for 18h00 local time (+4 GMT).
Speaking on the tournament and fixtures, Sri Lankan Captain Dasun Shanaka said: “A T20 World Cup is always exciting for the players, fans, and all stakeholders who adore and love the game, and I am sure everybody is waiting for this tournament to take place, as do we as a team. A tournament of this nature helps popularize the game globally, as the short time span and the look and feel of the contest attracts the attention of the fans.”
Speaking on the players to watch out for Shanaka added: “Sri Lanka has players who can easily fit into a T20I team and deliver results. Our bowling is becoming potent, our batting has players who can build an innings and accelerate at key moments, whilst we are focusing big on our fielding as well. We do have several players in our present squad who can make an impact at any given time of the game, be it batting, bowling, or fielding. If I may name a few, Wanindu Hasaranga, who is among the top-ranked T20I bowlers, Kusal Janith Perera, who is an experienced wicket-keeper batsman, and Dushmantha Chameera, who looks extremely good with his bowling.”
Australian wicketkeeper and batter Alex Carey said: “I think the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup is really exciting! We have waited an extra twelve months for this one and to have it now in the schedule and see the draw that Australia has got is truly exciting.
“Anytime we get to play against England is exciting, we know how dominant they have been in the white ball format over the last few years. Coming up against the West Indies recently, we know how tough that can also be. So, we are really looking forward to this tournament.”
Defending champions West Indies captain Kieron Pollard said: “We are excited to begin defence of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup title later this year.
“T20 cricket is dynamic and the international scene is highly competitive, with players constantly pushing the boundaries of innovation and we are expecting a spectacular event in the UAE and Oman.
“We have particularly interesting Super 12 group, which sees us come up against Australia, England and South Africa. We can’t wait to get started!
“West Indian cricketers have always played an exciting brand of cricket and I am sure our fans in the Caribbean and all over the world are highly anticipating seeing us in action”.
South Africa Captain Temba Bavuma said: “The 2021 ICC T20 World Cup is of vital importance to the Proteas and South Africa as a nation. Not only is the T20 format a key part of Cricket South Africa’s strategy to introduce new fans to the game of cricket, but this tournament will also be the first of three opportunities for us to claim our first-ever ICC World Cup trophy.
“The group that we are in is an exciting one and we’re looking forward to facing off with everyone in it as we go about our mission to reach the final and the ultimate championship. We have an exciting team that we are building with a lot of raw talent, coupled with the experienced hands that will guide and lead the youngsters.
“We have spent the greater part of the year preparing for this contest and I look forward to leading our country in my first world showpiece as captain.”
England Captain, Eoin Morgan said: “The ICC Men’s T20 World Cup is going to be brilliant. The standard of T20 cricket around the world is improving exponentially and every nation has a chance of becoming World Champions. It should be one of the closest and most competitive world tournaments to date and we can’t wait to get started.”
About the ICC Men’s T20
World Cup 2021
The seventh edition of the tournament comprises 16 teams and is being hosted by India in the United Arab Emirates and Oman
The tournament is being played at four venues – Dubai International Stadium, Oman Cricket Academy (Muscat), Sharjah Cricket Stadium and Zayed Cricket Stadium (Abu Dhabi)
Hosts India and nine other top teams in the MRF Tyres ICC Men’s T20I Player Rankings as of 31 December 2018 got direct entries
The top eight were placed directly in the Super 12s and the next two – Sri Lanka and Bangladesh – joined six other teams coming through a Qualifier event in the group stage
Two teams each from the group stage, consisting of four teams each, will join the eight direct entrants to complete the Super 12s line-up.
If Sri Lanka and Bangladesh qualify from the first round, they will retain the seedings of A1 and B1 respectively for the Super 12s
The top two teams from each group of the Super 12s will make the knockouts, the matchups being – A1 v B2 and B2 v A1.
The groupings:
Round 1
Group A:
Sri Lanka, Ireland, the Netherlands, and Namibia
Group B:
Bangladesh, Scotland, Papua New Guinea, and Oman
(Top two teams from each group advance to Super 12s)
Super 12s
Group 1:
England, Australia, South Africa, West Indies, A1 and B2.
Group 2:
India, Pakistan, New Zealand, Afghanistan, A2 and B1.
(Top two teams from each group advance to the semi-finals)
Complete fixtures of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup hosted by India in UAE and Oman:
Round 1
17 Oct:
Oman v Papua New Guinea, Muscat (14h00); Bangladesh v Scotland, Muscat (18h00)
18 Oct:
Ireland v Netherlands, Abu Dhabi (14h00); Sri Lanka v Namibia, Abu Dhabi (18h00)
19 Oct:
Scotland v Papua New Guinea, Muscat (14h00); Oman v Bangladesh, Muscat (18h00)
20 Oct:
Namibia v Netherlands, Abu Dhabi (14h00); Sri Lanka v Ireland, Abu Dhabi (18h00)
21 Oct:
Bangladesh v Papua New Guinea, Muscat (14h00); Oman v Scotland, Muscat (18h00)
22 Oct:
Namibia v Ireland, Sharjah (14h00); Sri Lanka v Netherlands, Sharjah (18h00)
Super 12
23 Oct:
Australia v South Africa, Abu Dhabi (14h00); England v West Indies, Dubai (18h00)
24 Oct:
A1 v B2, Sharjah (14h00); India v Pakistan, Dubai (18h00)
25 Oct:
Afghanistan v B1, Sharjah (18h00)
26 Oct:
South Africa v West Indies, Dubai (14h00); Pakistan v New Zealand, Sharjah (18h00)
27 Oct:
England v B2, Abu Dhabi (14h00); B1 v A2, Abu Dhabi (18h00)
28 Oct:
Australia v A1, Dubai (14h00)
29 Oct:
West Indies v B2, Sharjah (14h00); Pakistan v Afghanistan, Dubai (18h00)
30 Oct:
South Africa v A1, Sharjah (14h00); Australia v England, Dubai (18h00)
31 Oct:
Afghanistan v A2, Abu Dhabi (14h00); India v New Zealand, Dubai (18h00)
1 Nov:
England v A1, Sharjah (18h00)
2 Nov:
South Africa v B2, Abu Dhabi (14h00); Pakistan v A2, Abu Dhabi (18h00)
3 Nov:
New Zealand v B1, Dubai (14h00); India v Afghanistan, Abu Dhabi (18h00)
4 Nov:
Australia v B2, Dubai (14h00); West indies v A1, Abu Dhabi (18h00)
5 Nov:
New Zealand v A2, Sharjah (14h00); India v B1, Dubai (18h00)
6 Nov:
Australia v West Indies, Abu Dhabi (14h00); England v South Africa, Sharjah (18h00)
7 Nov:
New Zealand v Afghanistan, Abu Dhabi (14h00): Pakistan v B1, Sharjah (18h00)
8 Nov:
India v A2, Dubai (18h00)
10 Nov:
Semi-final 1 (A1 v B2), Abu Dhabi (18h00)
11 Nov:
Semi-final 2 (B1 v A2), Dubai (18h00)
14 Nov:
Final, Dubai (18h00)
Three more members of the Iranian women’s football delegation – who were given humanitarian visas to stay in Australia – have changed their mind and will return home.
The trio have been named by human rights activists in the Iranian diaspora as Zahra Soltan Meshkehkar, Mona Hamoudi, and Zahra Sarbali.
Concerns grew for the Iranian team after they were silent for the country’s anthem in their opening Asian Cup match against South Korea on 2 March – which led to them being branded “war traitors” in Iran.
Confirming the decisions, Australia’s home affairs minister said his government had done everything it could to ensure the women were given the chance to have a safe future in the country.
“Australians should be proud that it was in our country that these women experienced a nation presenting them with genuine choices and interacted with authorities seeking to help them,” Tony Burke said in a statement.
“While the Australian government can ensure that opportunities are provided and communicated, we cannot remove the context in which the players are making these incredibly difficult decisions.”
Iran’s sports ministry also earlier confirmed the news, first reported by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-linked Tasnim News Agency, in a statement.
“The national spirit and patriotism of the Iranian women’s national football team defeated the enemy’s plans against this team,” the statement says, also accusing Australia’s government of “playing in Trump’s field”.
Tasnim said the three were on their way to Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia to join the rest of the squad and were “returning to the warm embrace of their families and homeland after withdrawing their asylum application in Australia”.
It said they had resisted “psychological warfare, extensive propaganda and seductive offers”.
It means that, of the seven who initially said they wanted to stay in Australia, only three now remain as defectors. One of the players made the same decision to return to Iran on Wednesday.
Hamoudi and Sarbali were among the original five who refused, after giving minders the slip at the team’s hotel on the Gold Coast, south of Brisbane, last Monday and being taken to a safe house by Australian Federal Police.
Zahra Soltan Meshkehkar, a member of the team’s technical staff, was one of two more women from the group to seek asylum the next day. The other – Mohaddeseh Zolfi – changed her mind hours after being given the right to stay. She is understood to have already rejoined the team.
There was concern in Australia that members of the team and their families might face repercussions in Iran after the players refused to sing the national anthem.
One conservative commentator on Iranian state media accused them of being “wartime traitors” and called for a harsh punishment.
The team did sing the anthem in their last two games before they were eliminated on Sunday, leading critics to believe they had been told to sing by government officials accompanying them during the tournament.
The remaining Iranian players left Australia on Tuesday night local time – two days after they were knocked out of the Asian Cup.
[BBC]
Our cricket bosses didn’t earn many admirers for their choice of chairman of selectors, but they have certainly struck a chord with students of the game like us, and more importantly with the fans, in their appointment of the national team’s head coach. In Gary Kirsten, Sri Lanka have brought in a man with a proven pedigree and it looks like a step in the right direction.
As an opening batsman for South Africa, Kirsten never quite possessed the charm, elegance or textbook technique of his older brother Peter Kirsten. Gary’s success was forged the hard way. He thrived on grit, discipline and a stubborn refusal to give in, the sort of qualities that don’t always make headlines but win you matches. Once asked to follow on by England, he dug in for more than 14 hours at the crease and churned out 275, the highest score of his career. That innings summed up the man perfectly. When the going got tough, Gary simply rolled up his sleeves and got going.
Those very traits travelled with him into coaching, where he carved out an enviable reputation. Managing a star-studded Indian dressing room featuring Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, VVS Laxman and MS Dhoni is no walk in the park. Handling so many big personalities requires more than tactical nous; it demands man management. Kirsten passed that test with flying colours. Under his watch India climbed to the No.1 ranking in Test cricket and, of course, lifted the 2011 World Cup, breaking 21 million Sri Lankan hearts in the final in Bombay.
Kirsten was hugely popular with Indian supporters. Many wanted him to stay on, but he knew better than to overstay his welcome and bowed out gracefully.
Soon after, South Africa came calling and true to form he went about the job methodically, guiding the Proteas to the top of the world rankings. Wherever he has gone, results have tended to follow.
That said, simply because Kirsten has joined our ranks does not mean Sri Lanka will suddenly start knocking over the top sides week in, week out. Kirsten carries no magic wand. A coach, after all, can only take the horse to water; it is the players who must drink.
For a cricket team to flourish, the entire system needs to be rock solid. It starts with the players themselves, their hunger to improve, their willingness to leave their comfort zones and put in the hard yards. The next crucial cog in the wheel is selection. In years gone by, men like Michael Tissera and Sidath Wettimuny had the foresight to look beyond the obvious and the courage to make unpopular calls when necessary. A selection panel that continues to back Dasun Shanaka as captain, however, is asking for trouble. It’s a bit like appointing Sagala Ratnayake as National Security Adviser.
Sri Lanka Cricket deserves credit for trimming down the number of teams competing in the First Class tournament, but the worrying reality is that the number of international games Sri Lanka play each year has shrunk alarmingly. Last year the country played a grand total of four Test matches, hardly enough cricket for a side hoping to stay relevant in the longest format. The Test calendar needs beefing up and the Lanka Premier League must return to the fold if Sri Lanka are to stay competitive in white-ball cricket.
For a team to succeed consistently, cricket has to run like a well-oiled machine. In Sri Lanka’s case, however, the wheels tend to wobble. Ahead of almost every major tournament our leading bowler seems to be nursing an injury. That is hardly the hallmark of a smooth operation.
Kirsten, to his credit, has struck all the right notes since being appointed. He has spoken about improving Sri Lanka’s rankings, winning overseas and developing a strong bench, the sort of forward thinking the game desperately needs here.
Just look at India for an example of depth. Sanju Samson walks in as their back-up wicketkeeper and ends up as Player of the Tournament in a World Cup. They can hand the gloves to Ishan Kishan, while players of the calibre of Rishabh Pant and KL Rahul struggle to find a place in the squad. Any one of those four would walk into most international sides as the first-choice keeper. Such is the luxury of India’s bench strength.
There’s no point envying them. The smarter move is to learn from them.
Kirsten, therefore, has plenty on his plate. And if he is looking for a place to begin, he might start with a rather pressing issue, figuring out how Sri Lanka’s batters plan to play spin, a challenge that has been turning our innings into a procession far too often in recent times.
by Rex Clementine ✍️
Salman Ali Agha said that he would have done things ‘differently”, after Mehidy Hasan Miraz ran him out in controversial circumstances in the second ODI in Dhaka.
Agha, who made 64 from 62 balls, had been backing up at the non-striker’s end when Mohammad Rizwan drove the ball back towards him. He was still out of his ground as Mehidy swooped round behind him in an attempt to gather, and Agha had appeared ready to pass the ball back to the bowler before Mehidy reached down to grab it first and throw down the stumps.
Agha reacted furiously to the dismissal, throwing his gloves and helmet down in disgust at the decision. However, he later came to the post-match press conference, ahead of captain Shaheen Shah Afridi and player of the match Maaz Sadaqat, to clear the air.
“I think sportsman spirit has to be there,” Agha said. “What he [Mehidy] has done is in the law. I think if he thinks it’s right, it’s right, but if you ask me my perspective, I would have done differently. I would have gone for sportsman spirit. We haven’t done this [type of thing] previously, we would never do that in the future as well.”
Agha explained that he had been trying to pick up the ball to give to Miraz, thinking it was likely to have been called dead. “Actually, the ball hit on my pad and then my bat,” he said. “So I thought he can’t get me run-out now, because the ball already hit on my pad and my bat.
“I was just trying to give him the ball back. I was not looking for the run or anything like that, but he already decided [to make the run-out].”
Agha however regretted his angry reaction. “It was just heat-of-the-moment kind of stuff,” he said. “If you ask me what would I have done, I would have done things differently. But it was everything, whatever happened after that, it was in the moment.”
He was also involved in a robust exchange with Bangladesh wicketkeeper Litton Das, though he didn’t divulge many of the details.
“I can’t remember what I was saying and I can’t remember what he was saying,” he said. “I’m sure I wasn’t saying nice things, and I’m sure he wasn’t saying nice stuff as well. But it was just heat of the moment, so we are fine.
Asked if he had patched things up with Mehidy, Agha said: “I haven’t yet, but don’t worry, I’ll find him.”
Pakistan won the match by 128 runs via the DLS method.
[Cricinfo]
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