CLT20: Sydney Sixers beat Titans by 2 wickets to enter final

October 27, 2012

Sydney

Sydney Sixers kept kept their cool to beat Nashua Titans by two wickets in a nerve-wracking second semi-final of the Champions League Twenty20 here today.

Needing eight runs from the final over to reach the target of 164, Sydney Sixers' Pat Cummins held his nerves to scamper home for a bye off the last delivery as the Big Bash Champions won the most thrilling match of an otherwise drab Twenty20 competition. Sydney will now take on Highveld Lions in the final to be played on Sunday. The match went onto the wire and all three results were possible but Sydney ultimately reaped dividends due to a good opening stand.

The winners started the chase in right earnest as opener Steve O'Keefe hit offspinner Eden Links for couple of boundaries. His partner Michael Lumb got two more in the second over from Ethy Mbhalati. A flurry of boundaries from the duo saw Sydney reach 50 in the fifth over but Lumb was dismissed by Alfonso Thomas after scoring 33 off 19 balls. He offered a skier to rival captain Martin van Jaarsveld. Lumb hit six fours and a big six off Thomas.

O'Keefe however didn't let the momentum drop as Sydney maintained 10 per over run-rate. O'Keefe was finally bowled for 32 off 21 balls when he tried a wild slog of Links' delivery. He hit six fours. However O'Keefe dismissal brought about a collapse as skipper Brad Haddin and glovesman Nic Maddinson who scored a quick 20 were back in the dug-out. From 85 for 1, Sydney team were reduced to 92 for 4 having lost three wickets in a space of 11 deliveries.

Moises Henriques then again steadied the ship with a brisk 27 that had couple of huge sixes but once he was gone, Sydney were 132 for 7. But Cummins and Ben Rohrer ensured that the Australian team cross the finishing line. Earlier, David Wiese's brilliant counter-attacking innings helped Nashua Titans reach a commendable 163 for 5 against Sydney Sixers .

The big-bodied Wiese came in when Titans were tottering at 82 for 5 and then carried out a swift yet brutal assault smashing an unbeaten 61 off only 28 balls. The pace trio of Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins and Moises Henriques were left stunned by the Wiese carnage as he completed his 50 off 25 balls and hit five fours and four huge sixes. He changed his gears suddenly after playing 10 balls without a boundary he hit the pull shots and straight over the long-on region with equal ease.

Along with opener Henry Davids who carried his bat through with an impressive 59 not out in 44 balls (3x4, 3x6), they added 81 runs in only 6.3 overs. The last six overs produced a whopping 79 runs after the first 14 fetched them only 84 runs at the expense of five wickets. Aussie pace sensation Cummins bowling figures went for a toss as he gave away 51 runs in his four overs. Henriques and Starc gave away 36 and 33 runs respectively and this happened solely due to Wiese. Opting to bat, veteran batsman Jacques Rudolph slashed one hard from Josh Hazlewood but Michael Lumb stationed in the deep third man took a nice catch running to his left.

Left-arm paceman Starc bowled a short one to Heino Kuhn who misread the length as he tried a pull shot but the ball clipped the off-bail. Skipper Martin van Jaarsveld couldn't check his drive as he lobbed a simple catch to Cummins at cover to give Starc his second wicket.

At 36 for 3, the home team was certainly in trouble but Davids took some calculated risks as he hit a few big hits during his 46-run fourth wicket partenrship with Farhan Behardien to stage a recovery. Once Behardien and Roloef van der Merwe were out in quick succession, Sixers thought of wrapping it up quickly but Wiese had other ideas.



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News Network
June 3,2020

Colorado, Jun 3: Formula One boss Chase Carey has said that races will go ahead even if a driver tests positive for coronavirus.

His remarks come as organisers revealed a revised 2020 calendar and the schedule for the first eight races was put in the public domain.

"An individual having been found with a positive infection will not lead to a cancellation of a race. We encourage teams to have procedures in place so if an individual has to be put in quarantine, we have the ability to quarantine them at a hotel and to replace that individual," the official website of Formula One quoted Carey as saying.

"Some things we'd have to talk through and work through. The array of 'what ifs' are too wide to play out every one of them, but a team not being able to race would not cancel the race. I do not think I could sit here and lay out the consequences," he said.

Carey added the organisers will be having the necessary procedures in place so that the race does not get cancelled if a driver ends up testing positive for coronavirus.

"But we will have a procedure in place that finding infection will not lead to a cancellation. If a driver has an infection, teams have reserve drivers available," Carey said.

"We would not be going forward if we were not highly confident we have necessary procedures and expertise and capabilities to provide a safe environment and manage whatever issues arrive," he added.

The Formula One 2020 season will be beginning with the Austrian Grand Prix in July.

F1 currently expects the opening races to be closed events but hopes that fans will be able to attend again when it is safe to do so.

The season will kick off with the Austrian Grand Prix at the Red Bull Ring on July 5, followed a week later by a second race on the same track.

The Hungarian Grand Prix will follow a week after that, before a break. There will be then two back to back races at Silverstone, followed by the Spanish Grand Prix in Barcelona.

The Belgian Grand Prix will follow that, with the Italian Grand Prix at Monza a week later on September 6.

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News Network
January 23,2020

Dhaka, Jan 23: Left-arm pacer Mustafizur Rahman, who is part of the Bangladesh squad traveling to Pakistan, posted a cryptic tweet before team's departure which raised a few eyebrows.

On Wednesday evening, Rahman took to Twitter to post a selfie along with his teammates before the team's departure and asked his followers to pray for them, writing: "Heading to Pakistan. Remember us in your prayers."

Bangladesh were earlier reluctant to travel to Pakistan. However, the officials of both the teams met in Dubai and it was after many deliberations, the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) agreed to send their team for a cricket series.

Bangladesh will be playing three T20Is, two Tests and an ODI in Pakistan between January and April. The T20I series will be played from January 24-27 in Lahore, followed by the first Test from February 7 to 11.

Bangladesh will then return to Pakistan in April for the one-off ODI which will be played on April 3 and the second Test from April 5-9.

Senior players like Mushfiqur Rahim decided against traveling to Pakistan citing personal reasons. After that, five members of the Bangladesh coaching staff also pulled out of the tour.

Pakistan have also recalled the experienced duo of Mohammad Hafeez and Shoaib Malik, along with pacer Shaheen Afridi for the T20I series.

Squads:

Bangladesh: Mahmudullah (Captain), Tamim Iqbal, Soumya Sarkar, Naim Sheikh, Najmul Hossain Shanto, Liton Kumer Das, MD Mithun, Afif Hossain Dhrubo, Mahedi Hasan, Aminul Islam Biplob, Mustafizur Rahman, Shafiul Islam, Al-Amin Hossain, Rubel Hossain, Hasan Mahmud.

Pakistan: Babar Azam (captain), Ahsan Ali, Amad Butt, Haris Rauf, Iftikhar Ahmed, Imad Wasim, Khushdil Shah, Mohammad Hafeez, Mohammad Hasnain, Mohammad Rizwan (wicketkeeper), Musa Khan, Shadab Khan, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Shoaib Malik, Usman Qadir.

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News Network
February 10,2020

Potchefstroom, Feb 10: India's under-19 cricket team manager Anil Patel says the ICC has taken a serious view of the aggressive celebrations by Bangladesh players after their World Cup triumph and will be reviewing the footage of the final game's "last few minutes".

Some Bangladeshi players got carried away while celebrating their historic three-wicket win over India in the final on Sunday. While their captain Akbar Ali apologised for the "unfortunate incident", his Indian counterpart Priyam Garg said their reaction was "dirty".

"We don't know what actually happened," Patel told 'ESPNCricinfo' on Sunday.

"Everybody was in a shock, absolutely, but we don't know what happened exactly. The ICC officials are going to watch the footage of the last few minutes and they are going to let us know," he said.

Even when the match was on, the Bangladesh players were overly aggressive while fielding and their lead pacer Shoriful Islam sledged the Indian batsmen after every delivery.

As soon as the match ended, it became tense with Bangladeshi players rushing to the ground and displaying aggressive body language. The two teams nearly came to blows before the situation was defused by the coaching staff and on-field officials.

Patel claimed that match referee Graeme Labrooy met him and expressed regret at what transpired on the field.

"The referee came to me. He was sorry about the incident. He clarified the ICC is going to take very seriously what has happened during the match and the last session. They are going to witness the footage and they will tell us in the morning (Monday)."

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