Nadine de Klerk took a three-for as Mithali Raj’s 9 and Rajeshwari Gayakwad’s 3 for 13 in vain

Shashank Kishore17-Mar-2021It wasn’t straightforward, it wasn’t pretty, but it is one of those wins that would give South Africa immense satisfaction. On a turning track, where a modest 188, made largely thanks to Mithali Raj’s battling 79 and Rajeshwari Gayakwad’s magnificent 3 for 13, the visitors dug deep to carve out a five-wicket win to take the series 4-1.The victory was set up by Mignon du Preez and Anneke Bosch, who hit half-centuries in a 96-run fourth-wicket stand. It was crucial coming at the time it did, because the visitors had been reduced to 27 for 3 in the 11th over, with the ball jumping off the rough created at one end by left-arm seamer Monica Patel. South Africa have now won 10 of their last 11 ODIs, winning back-to-back series against New Zealand, Pakistan and now India.But they would’ve been nervy at the start. Opening the bowling, Gayakwad defeated Laura Woolvaardt with sharp turn as substitute fielder Jemimah Rodrigues took a sharp catch at slip in the second over. In the fourth, Gayakwad beat Lara Goodall with sharp turn to trap her lbw. But after a three-over spell, Gayakwad was taken off the attack to give inexperienced Patel, playing in just her second game, a spell.Although India struck soon enough, in the 12th over, when D Hemalatha beat Sune Luus in the air and off the deck, they couldn’t sustain the pressure. In looking to attack, the inexperienced spinners conceded more runs than they would have ideally liked.In the absence of Poonam Yadav, the frontline spinner, Deepti Sharma and Harmanpreet Kaur, who earlier in the day injured her hip flexor to be ruled out of the game, the responsibility was on debutant C Prathyusha and Hemalatha to offer maximum support to strike bowler Gayakwad. It proved a task too steep as their inexperience showed.Wristspinner Pratyusha, who has a quick-arm action, struggled to land the ball at drivable lengths, which made it easy for du Preez and Bosch to pick her away both off the front and back foot. Bosch was particularly aggressive, looking to clear the infield by getting to the pitch time and again. du Preez, meanwhile, showed all her experience by using the pace to play cheeky paddles.Their industrious partnership meant the score kept ticking along, forcing Raj to keep going back to her two trump cards Goswami and Gayakwad from time-to-time Gayakwad had bowled out going into the last 10, with South Africa still needing 36. This helped Marizanne Kapp guide Nadine de Klerk through the tricky phase with the target within touching distance.Things may have yet been interesting had Goswami taken a catch to remove Kapp at long-off with South Africa still needing 32. South Africa would’ve been six down. It would’ve also come quickly on the back of the wickets of Bosch and du Preez, who fell in the space of 15 deliveries, to Gayakwad and Prathyusha respectively.The missed opportunity had a deflating effect; Pratyusha who should’ve had her second wicket finished with 1 for 60 off nine overs instead. With Patel unable to have any kind of stranglehold over the batters, Kapp calmly wiped off the remainder of the runs with 12 balls to spare, with India forced to rue their batting lapses.That they took the fight till the end was thanks to Mithali Raj’s rescue act after the rest of the batting stuttered yet again. The lone ranger who has carried the India middle order for much of her career, Raj hit her 55th ODI half-century after being put into bat by South Africa.The loss apart, India may also be staring at another major worry ahead of the T20Is, with Kaur, the designated captain for the shortest format, having to retire hurt after a hip-flexor injury. Pushed ahead of Raj to No. 4 on the day, Kaur had settled in to put together a half-century stand with her captain, before retiring out in the 31st over just as India looked to launch.It proved to be a huge setback, after they appeared to have overcome the early losses of Smriti Mandhana, Priya Punia and Punam Raut, India’s highest run-getter, with the scoreboard reading 53 for 3 in the 13th over.Hemalatha, in her first game after replacing Deepti struggled to wriggle out of a hole she dug herself into. Taking 12 balls to get off the mark, she survived an ugly hoick before nicking one to the wicketkeeper two balls later. Then the returning Sushma Verma, picked ahead of Taniya Bhatia, did little to prove her batting credentials, given out lbw to de Klerk.India’s slow middle order consolidation also allowed Sune Luus to get her fifth bowling options – de Klerk and Bosch – to dictate terms; their 16 overs went for just 61 runs for three wickets, all reward for de Klerk’s accurate medium pace.In the face of this meltdown, Raj, who took her time, like she does, focused on holding one end up even if strike-rotation proved difficult initially. And while debates continue over whether she should be accelerating a lot more upfront, India’s middle and lower order did her no favours by collapsing the way they did to give the team management plenty to think of in terms of their approach In the face of a changing game leading into next year’s 50-over World Cup.

Queensland will face South Australia at the recently redeveloped ground as they bid to host the Shield final

ESPNcricinfo staff22-Mar-2021Australia will get a new first-class venue on Tuesday when Ian Healy Oval in Brisbane hosts the Sheffield Shield match between Queensland and South Australia.There had been various changes made to the schedule in recent days with the match initially relocated to Allan Border Field, but it has been returned to Ian Healy Oval due to the impact of recent rain with the new venue having better drainage than AB Field – that drainage is likely to be tested with considerable rain forecast for the opening day.Queensland’s previous Shield match against Victoria managed just 76 overs on the first two days before the second half of the game was abandoned.Queensland are currently top of the table in a tight race with New South Wales in what appears the likely pairing for the final next month. The side that finishes top of the regular season earns hosting rights. The two teams face each other at North Dalton Park in Wollongong in the final round of matches over Easter weekend.Last season’s final did not get played due to Covid-19 ending the competition early and New South Wales were awarded the title.Ian Healy Oval in Brisbane•Queensland Cricket

Queensland have brought fast bowler Billy Stanlake into their squad in place of Mark Steketee who has a side injury. Jack Wildermuth, who was ruled out of the abandoned Marsh Cup game against Victoria with a quad strain, has recovered to be included.South Australia, who are bottom of the table and have not won a game in any format this season, have included the uncapped Sam Kerber who has been prolific in Premier Cricket. Wes Agar could also be in line for a recall after a 10-wicket haul for his club last week.Ian Healy Oval is part of the A$18.6 million National Cricket Campus project with the next and final stage to redevelop Allan Border Field which will include increasing the boundary size to reach international standards and improved drainage. Work is due to start in June and last into early next year.Queensland squad Usman Khawaja (capt), Xavier Bartlett, Joe Burns, Brendan Doggett, Matthew Kuhnemann, Marnus Labuschagne, Michael Neser, Jimmy Peirson, Matthew Renshaw, Billy Stanlake, Bryce Street, Jack WildermuthSouth Australia squad Travis Head (capt), Alex Carey, Wes Agar, David Grant, Henry Hunt, Sam Kerber, Jake Lehmann, Joe Medew-Ewen, Harry Nielsen, Liam Scott, Jake Weatherald, Nick Winter, Daniel Worrall

Durham seamer draws level with Graham Onions after five-wicket haul

ECB Reporters Network14-May-2021Durham 246 (Lees 99, Tongue 5-39) and 79 for 1 lead Worcestershire 213 (Fell 44, Leach 42*, Rushworth 5-56) by 112 runs Chris Rushworth joined Graham Onions as Durham’s highest first-class wicket-taker after notching a five-wicket haul to dismiss Worcestershire for 213 in their LV= Insurance County Championship clash at Emirates Riverside.Rushworth was at his imperious best to claim figures of 5 for 56 to put the hosts in a strong position and move level with his former team-mate with 527 first-class strikes for Durham. Brydon Carse and Ben Raine were also on point, although late resistance from Joe Leach kept Worcestershire in the game.Although the home side lost Alex Lees early in their second innings, Scott Borthwick and Will Young held firm to leave the north-east outfit in control of the contest with a lead of 112 runs.Durham made a strong start to day two through Rushworth, who began the day by dismissing Daryl Mitchell for the ninth time in his first-class career, pinning the opener lbw with an inswinger. Jake Libby performed well in tough conditions, mustering 24 before he was undone by a brilliant delivery from Raine.The seamers were on the mark and did not allow Jack Haynes to settle. In his second spell, Rushworth removed Haynes lbw for 8 to reduce the visitors at 60 for 3. Brett D’Oliveira battled with Tom Fell to take Worcestershire into the lunch break, but the pressure resumed immediately after the restart.Related

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Fell survived a close lbw shout against Raine, but the right-armer plugged away and removed D’Oliveira for 10 in his next over. Fell offered solid resistance, grinding his way into the forties amid excellent bowling from the hosts. He was given a life by Borthwick, who put down a routine chance at second slip off Raine. The Durham captain’s blushes were spared by Carse as he skittled Fell, taking his off and middle stump out of the ground.Rushworth whittled through the lower order from the Lumley End, breaking through Riki Wessels’ defences tbefore pinning Ed Barnard on the crease. Mark Wood and Carse reduced the visitors to nine down by using their pace to prise out Ben Cox and Josh Tongue.However, Leach frustrated the hosts with a vital knock of 42. The Worcestershire captain produced a fifty partnership with Morris to bring his team within 33 of Durham’s first-innings total. Rushworth wrapped up the innings with his record-equalling scalp to bowl Morris, earning his 28th five-wicket haul in the process.Worcestershire claimed the vital wicket of Lees before the end of the day, but Young and Borthwick put together an unbeaten stand of 51 to leave Durham in a formidable position at 79 for one in their second innings.

Charged with two counts of possessing child abuse material and one count of grooming a child

George Dobell17-May-2021Aaron Summers, the Australian fast bowler, has appeared in Darwin Local Court after being charged with child sexual offences.ESPNcricinfo has learnt that Summers, who has most recently represented the Deccan Gladiators in the Abu Dhabi T10 league, was arrested in Fannie Bay on Friday afternoon. Police executed a search warrant and seized a mobile phone. The phone allegedly contained what the Northern Territories Police Service described as “a number of videos containing child abuse material” and evidence of contact with up to ten children in an “attempt to procure further illicit photographs”.Related

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Summers was subsequently charged with two counts of possessing child abuse material and one count of grooming a child. He has been remanded in custody.”The behaviour is despicable,” detective acting senior sergeant Paul Lawson said. “Young people should be able to enjoy their childhood without the fear of predators approaching them for their own appalling intentions. The Northern Territory Joint Anti-Child Exploitation Team will continue to work with national and international partners to keep the most vulnerable in our community safe.”While Summers has enjoyed a brief career in the Big Bash League (for the Hobart Hurricanes) and the One-day Cup (for Tasmania), he is perhaps best known for becoming the first Australian cricketer to play in a domestic cricket competition in Pakistan when he signed for Southern Punjab.

Notts consolidate top spot despite Moores, Clarke and Budinger’s absences

ECB Reporters' Network01-Jul-2021A half-century from Samit Patel saw North Group leaders Nottinghamshire Outlaws home by six wickets with 13 balls to spare as the Foxes slumped to an eighth defeat of the Vitality Blast season.Patel hit six fours and three sixes in his unbeaten 63 and shared a 99-run fourth-wicket stand with Ben Slater, who made 48 from 31 balls in his first Twenty20 match for three years, as the Outlaws chased down a target of 155, the Foxes dropping three catches on a poor night in the field.Legspinner Calvin Harrison took 3 for 20 and Luke Fletcher 3 for 31 as Leicestershire were bowled out for 154 in precisely 20 overs, Harry Swindells top-scoring with 36, Arron Lilley and Ben Mike each hitting 27.The Outlaws were forced to make three changes with Tom Moores unwell and both Joe Clarke and Sol Budinger obliged to wait for Covid tests after being alerted by the NHS app.An eventful Powerplay saw the Foxes post 47 for 2. They lost Scott Steel for a duck in the first over as Ben Duckett – keeping wicket for the absent Moores – showed neat glovework. Lilley survived on one as Fletcher and Lyndon James collided under a top-edged reverse-sweep and made them pay with 27 off 20 balls before he was yorked.They lost momentum after wickets fell in consecutive balls to Harrison, Josh Inglis finding long-off before Colin Ackermann chipped back to the bowler.Calvin Harrison was in the wickets•PA Images/Getty

Lewis Hill lofted sixes off Steven Mullaney and offspinner Matt Carter but was caught at midwicket off Fletcher, Rishi Patel was lbw sweeping as Harrison picked up his third wicket and Swindells misjudged a slower ball to be caught at mid-off. Naveen was run out and Fletcher was rewarded with wickets in his last two overs and though Mike clubbed two sixes off Ball, the Foxes’ total looked below par.Duckett, who hit Callum Parkinson to deep backward square, and Alex Hales, caught at point off Naveen-ul-Haq’s first ball, having just survived a run-out chance that saw Lilley ticked off for dissent. Peter Trego perished to a beauty from Naveen but 58 for 3 saw them ahead in the Powerplay.Patel was dropped at backward point on 10 off Naveen and at short midwicket on 26 off Steel, albeit both difficult chances, but he and Slater brought the target down to 71 at halfway. Slater had an escape when he was spilled at extra cover off Mike on 37.Slater missed out on a half-century, trapped in front by Parkinson, before Patel drove Naveen through the covers to finish the job.

A recap of the significant milestones in the competition’s five-year gestation

ESPNcricinfo staff20-Jul-2021September 2016
It was almost five years ago that the seeds for the Hundred were sown – little did we know it at the time. Late in the 2016 summer, the first-class counties finally voted in favour of the ECB’s idea for a new city-based competition, initially conceived as a T20 vehicle. Colin Graves, the ECB chairman, said: “We’ve all been looking at how we can use domestic T20 for an even bigger purpose, especially getting more young people to play. This format was invented here and is successful worldwide. It can excite new fans, attract the best players and fuel the future of the game, on and off the pitch.”Related

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October 2017
On a winter scouting trip to the Desert Springs resort in Spain, the ECB’s chief commercial director, Sanjay Patel, first put forward the idea of 100-ball cricket. Patel gave a presentation to Graves, ECB chief executive, Tom Harrison, and England director of cricket, Andrew Strauss, which pitched a shorter, simpler game than T20. “Don’t prejudge it,” he said, “just go away and have a think.” With a new broadcast deal banked, ensuring cricket’s return to BBC TV, the board was considering a radical move.April 2018
The 2018 season had barely begun when the ECB went public with its new plan. Instead of a T20 tournament, eight city-based sides would compete in a completely untested format – innings of 100 balls, broken down into 15 six-ball overs and a 10-ball finale. No, it was not an April fool. “This is a fresh and exciting idea which will appeal to a younger audience and attract new fans to the game,” Harrison said. Strauss later came in for criticism after suggesting a simplified game would be aimed at “mums and kids”.July 2018
With the ECB establishing a working group to fine tune the concept, now known as “The Hundred”, various ideas were put forward – including the abolition of the lbw law. Opposition from the Professional Cricketers’ Association (PCA) led to the abandonment of the 10-ball final over; instead, a switch to five-ball overs bowled in blocks of ten won favour, the reduction in end changes helping to save time. The option to retain a bowler for 10 consecutive deliveries, if a captain chose to, was also mooted.September 2018
Pilots of the new format were held at Trent Bridge and Loughborough, allowing players to finally see what they were getting into. Various different tweaks to the rules were introduced across the trial days – ranging from substitute fielders, tactical timeouts, and Powerplays of differing lengths. The reception from those involved was broadly positive. “I think the emphasis on the ball is really interesting and really important,” Kevin Shine, the ECB’s lead bowling coach, said. “We’re not thinking of overs, we’re not thinking of an innings. It’s that old cliché: every ball is an event.”View inside the studio ahead of the Hundred draft•Getty Images

October 2019
Work continued behind the scenes during an Ashes and World Cup summer, with a planned launch in 2020. The eight team names – Birmingham Phoenix, London Spirit, Manchester Originals, Northern Superchargers, Oval Invincibles, Southern Brave, Trent Rockets and Welsh Fire – were confirmed, and Test players allocated. Later the same month, the first sporting draft held in the UK took place at Sky’s studios in west London; Rashid Khan was the first player picked, followed by Andre Russell and Aaron Finch, as the teams set about selecting 96 players from a starting list of 571.December 2019
Playing conditions were announced for the Hundred, including confirmation of a 25-ball Powerplay, one strategic timeout per innings, and the provision for a new batter to always be on strike, even if the two in the middle crossed before the dismissal was completed.April 2020
The Covid-19 pandemic threw the entire 2020 season into disarray. With the prospect of any cricket being pushed back, and the likelihood of it having to be played behind closed doors, the ECB quickly took the decision to postpone the Hundred entirely. Commitment to the idea had not wavered, however, with Harrison describing the case for the tournament as being “much greater than it was”.October 2020
With the player draft having taken place a year earlier, the ECB had to rethink how teams for the 2021 tournament would be put together. Initial plans had been to allow 10 players to be retained from year to year – but in the event, men’s teams were allowed to retain as many as they wanted, with a period for negotiating new deals ahead of a mini-draft in early 2021. Players in the women’s teams were all given the option to roll-over their contracts.February 2021
Fixtures for the competition are announced, headlined by the decision to begin with a standalone women’s fixture at The Oval. The second draft was held behind closed doors this time, with Kieron Pollard and Nicholas Pooran among the overseas players picked up; while the advent of Brexit meant several of those expecting to be involved using their Kolpak status in 2020 missed out.England men’s Test captain Joe Root will play for Trent Rockets•Getty Images

April 2021
There was still time for new innovations to be floated, with a controversial suggestion that wickets could become ‘outs’, in order to make the game’s language more accessible. The idea was shelved soon after.June/July 2021
Amid uncertainty about travel restrictions due to Covid-19, and the requirements for players to quarantine, a number of overseas players started to withdraw from their deals. The women’s competition was particularly affected, with all 11 Australia internationals who had originally signed up eventually pulling out – including major drawcard Ellyse Perry. Wildcard selections, based on form in the T20 Blast, were also announced.July 2021
Despite concerns around rising Covid-19 infection rates, with requirements for self-isolating causing cancellations in the Blast and County Championship, Harrison says there will be no return to biosecure bubbles for the Hundred. Availability of England men’s Test players, initially planned for the first three matches, is reduced to two on the eve of the tournament. Playing conditions are finalised, with umpires to hold up a white card between sets of “five” (the term “over” will largely be dropped) from the same end; an amended version of Duckworth-Lewis-Stern will be used for rain-affected matches.After the longest of waits, the stage is set for the women of Oval Invincibles and Manchester Originals to take the field on Wednesday evening at The Oval.

Surrey face Durham in semi-finals on Tuesday, a day after Glamorgan play Essex

David Hopps15-Aug-2021It would be tempting to call Tim David’s match-winning hundred against Gloucestershire contemptuous, such was its mastery, but that would only cast more aspersions on standards in a 50-over tournament which is racing stout-heartedly towards its climax like a diminished Speed Dating event with the nation’s sexiest stars commandeered for the inaugural season of the Hundred.Surrey’s five-wicket win in this play-off against Gloucestershire gives them a semi-final against Durham at Chester-le-Street on Tuesday, 24 hours after Glamorgan face Essex. The final, at Trent Bridge, is a floodlit affair on Thursday and tickets for what was once the pinnacle of the season are only a tenner. Some Hundred players might theoretically be available, but whether they play in place of the young thrusters (some, not all, of them quite exciting prospects) who have kept the tournament alive is a different matter.David’s 102 encompassed 72 balls, with 11 fours and five sixes. He keeps things extremely simple: he sees things and deals with them. Vigorously. Maybe he should be in charge of the fixture list. He also figured in two run-outs, one of them his own, which fleetingly brought back memories of Surrey’s capitulation against Gloucestershire in the 2015 RL final, but in between he smote the ball to all parts to enable Surrey to surpass Gloucestershire’s modest 242 for 7 with five wickets and 44 balls to spare.He might also be the overseas player who the Hundred missed, a bear of a man shrewdly snapped up by Surrey for the Royal London Cup and the latter stages of the Blast. The Hundred deal never came for this Australian by way of Singapore, despite a big season for Hobart Hurricanes. He took a while to come to life, as if coming out of hibernation, but back-to-back hundreds at Kia Oval have left him with an average of 84.25 (outdone only by Durham’s Graham Clark among recognised batsmen) and a strike rate of 152.48 which is second to Dane Vilas among top run-getters. Anyway, it is as good as it gets although doubtless there may be a Batting Impact algorithm somewhere that suggests otherwise.David’s follow-up hundred was not quite as destructive as his remarkable 140 from 70 balls, with 11 sixes, against Warwickshire on Tuesday, but arguably it was no worse for that. His first wild shot probably came on 101 when he tried to put Matt Taylor onto the surface of Mars, but otherwise he just flayed balls that needed hitting. Gloucestershire’s bowlers have carried a weak top order all season, and that should be respected, but they asked him few questions.Jamie Smith was captaining Surrey at 21 in the continued injury absence of Hashim Amla, who fulfilled 12th man duties. Smith also made a controlled unbeaten 69 in a match-winning stand of 102 in 19 overs for the fourth wicket. The stand began after the run out of Ryan Patel, who pushed the ball straight to Chris Dent at short midwicket and was run out at the bowler’s end. It ended when Dent collected David’s push to short extra cover and attempted a lumbering return to his ground. Neither throw hit direct, but neither needed to.Gloucestershire’s total had owed almost everything an unbroken 105-run partnership in 111 balls from the pit of 137 for 7 between George Scott and Tom Smith. Scott, a former Middlesex all-rounder, produced a List A best while Smith’s unbeaten 51 not out was his second List A fifty.Smith swept particularly strongly against the spinners while Scott produced the stroke of the innings, a pick up six off Matt Dunn that sailed far over the mid wicket boundary, before also top-edging a high full toss from the same bowler over the fine leg ropes. With umpire Ian Blackwell rightly signalling for the no ball, that shot earned Gloucestershire eight runs.A slowly turning pitch disguised Surrey’s mediocre seam resources which could cost them dear in the climax to the competition. Dan Moriarty’s left-arm slows curbed the rate and Cameron Steel’s leg spin, although expensive, deserved better than his 1 for 55: he turned his googly substantially and his 33 county wickets in 61 matches smacks of under-utilised potential, even allowing for the standard of the competition.It was hard to find a wicket in Gloucestershire’s first seven that did not fall to batsman error. James Bracey, whose season began with England recognition, chipped back one of two wickets for David’s offspin off a horrible leading edge; Graeme van Buuren, playing as an overseas player while he waits to see if he can stay in England post-Brexit, was the only other batsman to threaten until his checked drive against Moriarty saw him fall at short extra on 37.Surrey’s reply also involved a brief and somewhat sad appearance from Ollie Pope who recovered from a thigh injury while in the England fold but who was released from the Test squad to play for Surrey in a competition that it can safely be assumed did not exactly smack, in its current guise, of career development. One does not have to look hard this summer to find a young England batsman looking glum in anything other than T20 (or its inferior substitutes) and here was another example.Pope made a single from three balls, the third seeing him leg before to a straight one from Taylor, a left-arm quick coming around the wicket. There was a time when it would just be recorded that Pope played across a straight one, but now off stump guard is all the rage so to avoid being drawn into another tiresome generational clash it is safest to observe that he missed it and whatever his mildly disapproving look at the umpire, Ian Blackwell, replays suggested that it would probably have shaved leg stump. Disapproval should best be aimed elsewhere.

Series will coincide with Australia’s three-Test tour of Pakistan; New Zealand will also host Bangladesh and South Africa for two Tests each

ESPNcricinfo staff12-Nov-2021T20 World Cup finalists Australia and New Zealand have added a three-match T20I series in New Zealand next March in the lead-up to the 2022 World Cup which will run concurrently with Australia’s tour to Pakistan.Cricket Australia and New Zealand Cricket confirmed on Friday that the two teams will meet in three T20Is in New Zealand on March 17, 18 and 20 in Wellington and Napier. Australia will need to send a separate T20I squad to New Zealand as they did earlier in 2021 when the two teams played a five-match series while Australia’s Test team was scheduled to play in South Africa, although the Test tour was subsequently cancelled due to CA’s covid concerns.Justin Langer missed the New Zealand tour with senior assistant Andrew McDonald taking charge of the team. David Warner, Steven Smith, Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood also missed the five-match series in New Zealand. All would likely miss next year’s series as well given they will be required in Pakistan with the three Tests being played between March 3 and March 25. A three-match ODI series and one-off T20I will follow in Pakistan starting on March 29.CA confirmed that once again another T20I squad would be selected without the first-choice Test players, with the Pakistan Tests taking priority. CA chief executive Nick Hockley said the series was important for both nations despite it being shoehorned into the calendar alongside the Pakistan tour.”New Zealand’s home summer schedule has been heavily impacted by the pandemic, and we are pleased to be able to support our closest neighbour with this T20I tour,” Hockley said. “As well as supporting New Zealand Cricket to host a full summer of international cricket, it will also be a great opportunity for our men’s T20 team to ramp up their preparations ahead of our home ICC Men’s T20 World Cup in October and November next year.”ESPNcricinfo Ltd

NZC chief executive David White was grateful for CA’s support with New Zealand’s closed border causing issues in terms of getting teams to travel there.”The impact of Covid-19 has meant a number of changes to our schedule – and we want to place on record our thanks to Cricket Australia for agreeing to send a team across the Tasman at such short notice,” White said. “NZC and CA have always enjoyed a close relationship and we really appreciate the lengths they’ve gone to in order to help us.”New Zealand’s 2021-22 schedule
New Zealand will kick off their 2021-22 home season with the New Year’s Test against Bangladesh in Tauranga. Christchurch will host the second and final Test of the series.After that, New Zealand will travel to Australia for three ODIs and a T20I although travel restrictions could still cause complications for that tour with the opening match set for Perth on January 30. Western Australia’s border could still be closed at the point depending on vaccination rates.In February, South Africa will visit New Zealand for a two-match Test series. The games will be played in Christchurch and Wellington.That will be followed by Australia’s above-mentioned visit for three T20Is. New Zealand will end their home summer with a T20I and three ODIs against Netherlands. This will be the first time New Zealand and Netherlands will be involved in a bilateral series in any format.All four Tests will be part of New Zealand’s World Test Championship title defence, and all the ODIs through the summer will count towards World Cup Super League for automatic qualification for the 2023 edition.

The rest of the Zimbabwe squad returned negative results

ESPNcricinfo staff10-Jan-2022Zimbabwe coach Lalchand Rajput will miss at least the first two games of Zimbabwe’s series against Sri Lanka after testing positive for Covid-19. Rajput, 60, is understood to be asymptomatic, though he was placed under observation at a hospital briefly, before being taken to a hotel for isolation.Rajput, who has been Zimbabwe head coach since 2018, did not travel with the squad, instead linking up with the team in Sri Lanka. The rest of the squad, which arrived from Zimbabwe, all tested negative.Zimbabwe’s squad left for Sri Lanka on Saturday to play three ODIs and were tested upon arrival. Rajput’s positive test will see him isolated for a minimum of ten days.”We are doing some routine tests and he will be able to go back to a hotel,” Arjuna de Silva, a Sri Lankan sports doctor, told . “There will be a 10-day quarantine period which means he will miss the first two matches.” The ODIs are scheduled for January 16, 18 and 21.Rajput’s isn’t the only Covid-related absence on this tour. Sri Lankan batter Avishka Fernando did not join the home side’s team bubble after testing positive for Covid-19 earlier this week. However, with three previously banned Sri Lankan players – Kusal Mendis, Niroshan Dickwellaand Danushka Gunathilaka – seeing their bans overturned, Sri Lanka have the personnel to make up for that absence. They are yet to announce their squad for the series.All three games are day-night contests and will be played at the Pallekelle Stadium in Kandy.

He is currently placed in isolation, and the match is expected to go ahead as scheduled

ESPNcricinfo staff15-Feb-2022Sri Lanka allrounder Wanindu Hasaranga has returned a Covid-19 positive Rapid Antigen Test (RAT) on the morning of the third T20I against Australia in Canberra. He is currently placed in isolation, and the match is expected to go ahead as scheduled.Hasaranga is the third member of the touring party to test positive for the virus after Kusal Mendis and Binura Fernando. Mendis, who returned a positive test on February 7, is expected to be available for selection for the third T20I after serving a seven-day isolation. Fernando, meanwhile, has been ruled out of the T20I series after testing positive on Saturday, the day after the series opener in Sydney.According to Arjuna de Silva, head of SLC’s medical department, Hasaranga will certainly miss the rest of the tour with Australian government protocols requiring a minimum seven-day isolation period upon contracting the virus. The series ends with the fifth T20I on February 20 in Melbourne.Hasaranga is also understood to be showing mild symptoms, but SLC are hopeful of having him back for next month’s tour of India.”He has some mild symptoms, some body aches,” de Silva said. “We think he probably contracted it from Binura. Unfortunately there’s no way that he’ll be able to play again on the tour, as he can only start training after three negative PCRs. After this tour, we’re going straight to India, so the aim now is to get him fit for that.”Hasaranga played in the first and the second T20Is, picking up a total of five wickets.Over the weekend, Hasaranga also bagged a big IPL deal when he was bought back by Royal Challengers Bangalore for INR 10.75 crore (USD 1.43 million). Hasaranga’s first team was also Royal Challengers and he had played two matches for them in IPL 2021.