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In the aftermath of two derbies, two different moods. Zimbabwe upset with having had to carry on in the conditions they did against South Africa, but no doubt relieved to have come away with a point. Pakistan, meanwhile, anguished at seeing two points slip away in that wild last over at the MCG against India.In other times, that kind of loss might have felled other Pakistan sides, but there’s something more settled about this one. They may rue not picking a fourth pacer at the MCG, but Mohammad Nawaz was not far from winning it: a little luck with the deflection off the stumps on the free-hit, a little fortune with that no-ball call, and they’re sitting pretty now. In the dressing room after the game, Babar Azam was not letting heads fall, telling Nawaz he was still his match-winner. Imperfect they may be, but they’re more together than most Pakistan sides of modern vintage.Related

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And at the risk of stating the obvious, they are also still a pretty good T20I side. They have the second highest number of wins and the third best win-loss ratio among Full Members since the last T20 World Cup. They will also take some heart from their middle order managing a competitive total after a rare joint failure of Babar and Mohammad Rizwan. They are also unlikely to come across conditions as tough for batting as they were at the MCG.Zimbabwe will look at all this, however, and recognise a side that they have had the better of twice in white-ball cricket in the last two years. As many as nine who may play in Perth will have beaten Pakistan in the Super Over of a tied ODI in Rawalpindi or a T20I in Harare.A little luck in that last over against India and Pakistan would have been sitting pretty now•Getty Images

Now, under coach Dave Houghton, Zimbabwe have also started taking a more attacking approach. That has crystallised most vividly in the form of Sikandar Raza, arguably the player of the tournament so far. But high-quality pace bowling has tested their batting resources beyond Raza twice now: Alzarri Joseph in the first round and South Africa’s attack in the wash-out.Pakistan have plenty of that.

Form guide

Pakistan LWWLW (last five completed T20Is, most recent first)
Zimbabwe WLWWL

In the spotlight

Shaheen Shah Afridi’s long-awaited, much-anticipated return to international cricket was an underwhelming one. Perhaps that was to be expected, given the nature of the injury and ensuing rehab and the length of time he was out. This was, remember, his first international game in three months. It led to both the Ws, Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis, asking on a TV show whether Afridi had been rushed back before he was fully fit. He didn’t get the kind of sustained swing that might have been expected after India’s opening bowlers did what they did. He wasn’t awful, just a little ordinary, and it was only in his last over when Virat Kohli went at him did his figures take a beating. He narrowly missed his lengths a couple of times in that over, a sure indicator of rustiness rather than anything more terminal. Away from the glare of a big game, against a lesser opponent, might be a good time for him to settle back into his groove.Zimbabwe’s pace attack has served them well in the tournament so far, though none more than Blessing Muzarabani. His height and the extra bounce on most Australian surfaces was always going to be a trump card for Zimbabwe to pull out at the tournament and it hasn’t been disappointing. He has sometimes struggled to hit the right lengths for each situation, but when he has, he has been difficult to keep out. It has come with decent pace as well. And he doesn’t mind Pakistan as opponents – it was his five-for in that Rawalpindi ODI (and two wickets in the Super Over) that secured a memorable triumph. Pakistan often struggle against bounce, and if Muzarabani gets it right, then, well, it could be a battle.Blessing Muzarabani will be Zimbabwe’s trump card•ICC via Getty Images

Team news

There was plenty of talk around Pakistan not playing a fourth seamer at the MCG, though with the definite benefit of hindsight on a surface that did plenty for fast bowlers. They could bring somebody like Mohammad Wasim in and drop one of the perennially under-fire Haider Ali or Asif Ali (especially as Wasim has six-hitting skills) from a deep batting order. But they don’t like changing unless they really have to, and it may not be that stage yet.Pakistan (probable): 1 Babar Azam (capt), 2 Mohammad Rizwan (wk), 3 Shan Masood, 4 Iftikhar Ahmed, 5 Haider Ali, 6 Shadab Khan, 7 Asif Ali, 8 Mohammad Nawaz, 9 Haris Rauf, 10 Shaheen Shah Afridi, 11 Naseem ShahRichard Ngarava’s slip in the rain against South Africa and subsequent ankle injury means Zimbabwe may be forced to disrupt their pace attack. Brad Evans – whom captain Ervine said would likely play if Ngarava is not fit – is not a like-for-like replacement, but he does bring genuine pace.Zimbabwe (probable): 1 Craig Ervine (capt), 2 Regis Chakabva (wk), 3 Sean Williams, 4 Sikandar Raza, 5 Wessly Madhevere, 6 Milton Shumba, 7 Ryan Burl, 8 Luke Jongwe, 9 Richard Ngarva/Brad Evans, 10 Tendai Chatara, 11 Blessing Muzarabani

Pitch and conditions

The forecast in Perth is for partly cloudy conditions but no rain. The pitch has a green tinge and the new ball has swung. While there’s pace and bounce for the fast bowlers, runs can also be scored quickly, especially straight. Spinners often suffer if they bowl too full, but can tie it up in the middle overs by bowling a back of a length and forcing batters to hit to the vast square boundaries with the ground similar to the dimensions of the MCG.

Stats and trivia

• Rizwan, who fell for 4 against India at the MCG, has not been dismissed for successive single-digit scores in T20Is since February 2019.
• Raza is the third highest run-scorer in T20Is this year and has the second-best strike rate – 155.23 – among the top 20 run-scorers this year. Only Suryakumar Yadav has more runs at a higher strike rate.
• Zimbabwe have never beaten Pakistan in an ICC tournament.

Quotes

“The morale of the boys is high. We are trying to prepare for the next game and come back strong and remain in contention for this World Cup.”
“I’m pretty sure Pakistan will be coming hard for us. The first five-six overs with the new ball has been challenging for every team. It’s a key area to get through.”

Gurinder Sandhu held his nerve as Sydney Thunder produced a frantic one-wicket victory over Melbourne Stars on the last ball in a low-scoring thriller to launch the BBL season. Chasing a modest 123, Thunder’s chase imploded due to reckless batting, and they appeared down and out several times against a pumped-up Stars attack on a tricky Manuka Oval surface.But they clawed back through the late heroics of Sandhu, who hit a six when Thunder needed seven off the last three balls. They achieved the tense victory off the final delivery through a bye in a major relief for Thunder.Stars were left heartbroken, especially new captain Adam Zampa, who had claimed his 100th BBL wicket as he appeared on course to celebrate his first match in charge in style until the dramatic late turn of events.Related

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• Zampa, Stoinis, Boult key for Stars in Maxwell's absence

Amazing last over kick-starts new season
There is a lot riding on this new BBL season after a couple of tough Covid-19 affected years. But tournament organisers couldn’t have scripted a better opening first night, with this nerve-jangling match capped by an incredible last over.Needing eight runs for victory, Stars appeared in the box seat after substitute fielder Brody Couch took a spectacular high-flying catch at long-off in what might just be the catch of the summer across formats. It was the second gem from Couch, who had earlier juggled a catch low to the ground, reviving memories of Mark Taylor’s classic snare against West Indies at the SCG.But the twists kept coming, with a calm Sandhu nailing a six before it came down to the last ball delivered by Beau Webster, who beat the batter only for wicketkeeper Joe Clarke to completely miss the ball after he had taken his glove off in anticipation of a run-out.Trent Boult struck twice in his first over•CA/Cricket Australia/Getty Images

Boult makes immediate impact
Stars’ pace attack had been pinpointed as their weak point during a couple of indifferent seasons, and Trent Boult’s signing – albeit for half a season – was hoped to make a major difference.He started the fightback in Thunder’s opening over with consecutive wickets of Matthew Gilkes and Rilee Rossouw. Boult was supported by paceman Nathan Coulter-Nile, who snared three wickets, and looked fit and firing after a strong pre-season.The injury-prone Coulter-Nile had only played 13 BBL games over the past two seasons, but if he can stay fit, Stars’ chances of ending their title drought improve immensely.Stars rue Burns continuing after hamstring injury
Heading into the match, there was uncertainty over the availability of Stars’ batters Joe Burns and Marcus Stoinis after they contracted Covid-19. Both felt well enough to play, although they travelled to the ground separately from their team-mates and sat in a different dressing room.Burns came to the crease after the early wicket of Clarke, but in the sixth over, suffered a hamstring injury while running between the wickets. Even though clearly hampered and looking disconsolate, a hobbling Burns decided to stay at the crease, and tried to stand and deliver.But it didn’t work, with Burns struggling to connect. He laboured between the wickets with anything other than singles out of the question. After three fruitless overs, Burns finally decided to retire hurt, with Stars desperately needing to lift the tempo through incoming batter Stoinis. But Stoinis, held back from his customary opener’s role, fell first ball, and Stars never recovered.Burns is expected to miss a month, according to coach David Hussey, while Stoinis was unable to take the field in Thunder’s innings after feeling unwell.Farooqi’s fast and furious debut
In a bid for a much-needed spark, Stars took the two-over Power Surge – an innovation the tournament has stuck with this season – in the 13th over.But Thunder countered by bringing back left-arm paceman Fazalhaq Farooqi, who was up to the challenge by bowling Hilton Cartwright around the wicket, and then dismissing top-scorer Nick Larkin two balls later.The double strike highlighted an impressive BBL debut for Farooqi, who bowled consistently around 140kph, laced with several menacing full-pitched deliveries.After eye-catching performances for Afghanistan at the recent T20 World Cup, Farooqi joined Thunder as a replacement for David Willey, who withdrew from the tournament. It looms as an inspired selection after Farooqi finished with 2 for 20 from four overs.

Left-arm spinner Aditya Sarwate picked up 6 for 17 to help Vidarbha bowl out Gujarat for 54 and defend 73 on a dramatic third morning of their Ranji Trophy game in Jamtha. It was the lowest target defended successfully in first-class cricket in India; the previous lowest was 78, defended by Bihar against Delhi in Jamshedpur in 1948-49.Jamtha is also the venue for the first India-Australia Test, starting February 9. That game, though, will be played on one of the centre pitches, while this match was played on a side pitch.On Wednesday, Siddharth Desai, another left-arm spinner, had taken 6 for 74 to limit Vidarbha to 254. At that time, a Gujarat win looked like a mere formality, even though they went to stumps at 6 for 1.Sarwate, however, had other ideas. Having taken a five-for in the first innings, he ran through Gujarat’s line-up once again on Thursday. He was supported by Harsh Dubey, also a left-arm spinner, who took 3 for 11. Siddharth, run out for 18, was the only Gujarat batter to reach the double digits.Sarwate was named Player of the Match for his career-best haul of 11 for 81.Vidarbha are now third in Group D. Vidarbha’s final game of the round is against second-placed Punjab, which could decide who make it to the knockouts.

Big Picture

As redemption stories go, India Women overturning the disappointment of 2020 to secure another chance at T20 World Cup glory would do nicely. The only problem is, they have to make it past Australia – again.After winning their opening match in Sydney during the last T20 World Cup, being outplayed when it counted most in an 85-run thrashing at a packed MCG for the final stung India. They can cling to key successes against the title favourites – the 2017 ODI World Cup semi-final, clinching one of the five T20Is in a Super Over during their recent home bi-lateral series, or their only other win over Australia at this event, in the group stages of the 2018 edition – or they can take the fight to their opponents now. With Australia having won 22 of their 30 T20I meetings overall and India only six, not to mention the Australians winning 54 of the 63 T20Is they’ve played against all opposition since the start of 2018, looking ahead may well be the way to go for an Indian side seeking an upset.Related

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Both teams are probably yet to strike the perfect performance in this tournament. While each have gone largely unchallenged they have made some of their matches look slightly harder than they were or needed to be, but both boast enough depth to have gotten the job done. Richa Ghosh has performed well with three unbeaten knocks in the middle order, although Australia bat deeper, and India need more than one of their top four to fire on this occasion. Renuka Singh has been potent with her lethal inswingers while Australia have balanced their strong seam and spin options nicely. India know they need everything to click if they are to topple the title favourites.

2023 Tournament form guide

India WLWW (most recent first)
Australia WWWW

In the spotlight

Shafali Verma heads into the match with scores of 33, 28, 8 and 24 so far at this event and with India needing a flawless batting performance from their top order. India could do with their Under-19 World Cup-winning captain, who scored a half-century against Australia in a losing cause during their third T20I in December, reprising or improving on that performance. Harmanpreet Kaur pushed herself up the order against Ireland seeking some touch after a similarly lacklustre tournament with the bat so far, putting even greater importance on India getting a good start through their young opener. Smriti Mandhana and Jemimah Rodrigues have both put in match-winning performances during this competition. Imagine what India can do with an on-song Shafali and Harmanpreet too.Alana King hasn’t had her chance to shine in the tournament•Getty Images

Legspinner Alana King is a proven match-turner but has gone wicketless at this World Cup. Used sparingly in the last group match against South Africa and the opening clash with New Zealand, where offspinner Ashleigh Gardner bagged five, it is a testament to Australia’s spin-bowling depth – they’ve also had the world-class left-arm spinner Jess Jonassen sitting on the bench since after their first game – that she hasn’t yet had her chance to shine. With India’s batters performing far better against pace than they have against spin compared to all other opposition at this event, King has the potential to cause them some problems if she takes her chance.

Team news

India may be tempted to swap out Devika Vaidya for an additional bowler or allrounder as they look to contain Australia. Radha Yadav is a gun fielder and a safe choice with India likely to opt for another spin option over seam. She made way for Vaidya against Ireland since she was unwell but could force her way back in if fit.India (possible): Shafali Verma, Smriti Mandhana, Jemimah Rodrigues, Harmanpreet Kaur (capt), Richa Ghosh (wk), Deepti Sharma, Pooja Vastrakar, Shikha Pandey, Radha Yadav, Rajeshwari Gayakwad, Renuka Singh.Alyssa Healy is fit and available for selection after missing Australia’s final group game against South Africa when she felt some discomfort in her left quad and all precautions were taken given that she has only recently returned from a calf injury to the same leg. Australia coped ably without her, moving Ellyse Perry to the top of the order and bringing in allrounder Annabel Sutherland, but everyone knows what an asset a fit Healy is to her side.Australia (possible): Alyssa Healy (wk), Beth Mooney, Meg Lanning (capt), Ellyse Perry, Ashleigh Gardner, Tahlia McGrath, Grace Harris, Georgia Wareham, Alana King, Megan Schutt, Darcie Brown

Pitch and conditions

Newlands has been playing slow this summer but there was considerably more pace on the surface during the last of the group games on Tuesday. Cape Town had some rain in the lead-up to those matches which would have helped with that given that the square has been baking for a good couple of months now. Thursday’s semi-final is likely to be played on a fresh pitch with the fine, sunny but not-too-hot conditions of match eve forecast to continue into game day.

Stats and trivia

• India are the best team in terms of scoring rate against pace bowling in this tournament, with Australia ranked second, but against spin, India’s strike rate drops by 31 runs and they are ranked sixth among the ten teams.
• Over the past five years, Australia have conceded 160-plus totals only eight times and five of those were to India.
• Australia have beaten India in 22 of their 30 T20I meetings and won three of their five T20 World Cup clashes.

Quotes

“As a group, we are very calm and we know that teams are going to come pretty hard at us and they have done over the last few years, and just to be able to absorb some pressure, I think is really important. You’re not going to have it all your own way… big games, there’re key moments that come up and tomorrow will be no different. I feel like we’re in a really good spot to be able to stay nice and calm and composed in those moments and hopefully get the job done.”
“They attack a lot so, whatever happens to them, even if the batter is out, they don’t stop attacking because they have batters from top to bottom. We also have batters from top to bottom so we will play an attacking game.”

Chris Gayle will represent St Lucia Zouks in the 2020 Caribbean Premier League (CPL) season, after Jamaica Tallawahs chose not to retain him.In February, the St Lucia franchise was purchased by KPH Dream Cricket Private Limited, Kings XI Punjab’s parent company, and appointed Andy Flower as head coach. Gayle currently plays for Kings XI in the IPL.Gayle played for the Tallawahs in the first four CPL seasons, before spending the next two years with St Kitts and Nevis Patriots. He re-joined the Tallawahs last season and made 116 in his second game, but ended the season with 243 runs in ten innings as the franchise finished bottom of the table.ALSO READ: CPL eyeing on-schedule start, but wary of potential IPL clashSt Lucia were the other team to be knocked out at the group stage last season. Daren Sammy has also been retained, and was confirmed as the franchise’s captain yesterday.Gayle, 40, is the leading run-scorer in T20 history. He has denied retiring from ODIs, but has not been selected for West Indies since last year’s World Cup. Earlier this year, he suggested he could play on until the age of 45.”This is great news for St Lucia Zouks and for me as a captain to have the ‘Universe Boss’ on my side,” Sammy said. “Chris is one of the most successful T20 batsmen in the world and with his experience with our young openers, a lot can be learnt from Chris.”I welcome him to the Zouks franchise. Chris will be in St Lucia and the fans will be happy that Jamaica has released him. I will have a motivated Chris Gayle looking to prove a point that he is one of the leading T20 batsmen in the world. I can’t wait for CPL 2020 and hopefully the coronavirus will be under control and we can have an exciting T20 tournament.” “It’s brilliant news that we have been able to get Chris Gayle with us at this year’s CPL 2020,” Flower said. “I have got a long association with Chris running all the way back to his debut Test match in Trinidad back in 2000. I’ve seen his exploits in all three forms of the game and I am really looking forward to working with him and Daren Sammy toward a special year for St Lucia cricket.”The CPL is currently scheduled to take place between August 19 and September 26, but organisers are currently making contingency plans due to the Covid-19 pandemic. It is possible that the tournament will be played behind closed doors or without overseas players, or delayed until December.

Joe Root has echoed England head coach Chris Silverwood’s openness to a possible tour of Pakistan. While conceding that it wasn’t his decision to make, Root said he personally looked forward to such an opportunity, especially after seeing the reaction of fans to the return of Test cricket to the country late last year.”I’d love to go and visit Pakistan,” Root said at the end of the drawn second Test against Pakistan in Southampton. “It would be a great opportunity to go and play there personally. Unfortunately, it’s not my decision to make, but it looks a wonderful country to go and play cricket in. The wickets look nice and flat, which will be a nice change to what we have just played on here.”You could see the emotion of everyone back in Pakistan when Test cricket was there back-end of last year. Also, speaking to a few of the players, how much it meant to them as well and they really appreciated being able to play back in Pakistan too. We’ve such a busy schedule already with backlogging due to Covid, it will be interesting to see how that would work.”As such, according to the FTP, England are scheduled to tour Pakistan next in 2022, but it became a topic of discussion during the first Test at Old Trafford earlier this month when, speaking on Sky Sports during the first day’s play, PCB chief executive Wasim Khan expressed hope that England could visit Pakistan for a reciprocal tour. Speaking to ESPNcricinfo, Khan hoped England could send over their T20 side, or at least that the ECB could send over its developmental Lions side – which he had pushed for even before the Covid-19 pandemic struck world cricket.Silverwood had responded positively to the suggestion, saying he would personally “have no problem going”.On Monday, Pakistan great Wasim Akram had expressed similar sentiments to Khan, while speaking on Sky Sports. Given that Pakistan had toured England in the time of the Covid-19 pandemic, Akram felt a reciprocal visit was only fair. “You boys owe Pakistan cricket, and the country, a lot, with the boys coming over here. They’ve been here almost two-and-a-half months in the biosecure environment,” Akram said. “So if everything goes well, England should tour Pakistan. I promise you they’ll get looked after on and off the field there and every game will be a packed house.”England haven’t toured Pakistan since 2005-06, largely due to security reasons. The 2009 attacks on the Sri Lanka team bus in Lahore led to a cessation of regular international cricket in Pakistan, with the national team playing most of its “home” games in the UAE since then. Big cricket has slowly returned to Pakistan in the last few years, with a steady increase in visits from international sides, culminating in Sri Lanka’s December 2019 tour to play the first Test matches in the country in over a decade.

OverviewSri Lanka have lost their 10 most-recent T20Is – a sequence that goes back to November 2018. Of their previous nine completed matches, Sri Lanka only won one, which means they have lost 18 of their last 19 games. Although there is a small measure of professionalism about women’s cricket on the island – the board having announced better contracts, and organised longer tournaments, over the course of the past year – the senior side has not quite delivered on the promise of their excellent run in the 2014 World Cup.They are led, however, by Chamari Atapattu, who on her day is as devastating a hitter as can be found in the women’s game, and is in general a fearless and inspirational figure, both on and off the field. But even her very best innings have sometimes failed to haul Sri Lanka to victory. The team’s fortunes at this tournament may largely depend on how much support Atapattu gains from team-mates.SquadChamari Atapattu (capt), Harshitha Madavi, Anushka Sanjeewani, Hansima Karunaratne, Shashikala Siriwardene, Nilakshi De Silva, Ama Kanchana, Kavisha Dilhari, Udeshika Prabodhani, Achini Kulasuriya, Hasini Perera, Sathya Sandeepani, Umesha Thimashini, Sugandika Kumari, Dilani ManodaraGroup fixturesFebruary 22: New Zealand, Perth
February 24: Australia, Perth
February 29: India, Melbourne
March 2: Bangladesh, MelbourneT20 World Cup historySri Lanka have never made it out of the first round, in six attempts. They have only won seven of the 23 matches they have ever played at the T20 World Cup. Of the opponents they will play in the group stages, they have never beaten New Zealand or Australia, and have beaten India and Bangladesh once apiece in this tournament.Form guideOf their 10 consecutive defeats, only one can be considered to be close. Late last year, they received a 3-0 wallopping at the hands of Australia, in Australia. In one of those games, Atapattu hit 113 off 66 balls, but Sri Lanka had been so modest with the ball, they still lost by 41 runs.Key playersAside from Chamari Atapattu, who is clearly the talisman, plenty will be expected of allrounder Shashikala Siriwardene who is a former captain and among their most experienced players in the squad. Siriwardene got starts in the recent tour of Australia, but wasn’t quite able to convert those into substantial scores. Since 2018, though, no Sri Lanka bowler has taken more than her 23 wickets. Anushka Sanjeewani, the only batsman apart from Atapattu to make a T20I fifty since 2018, will also be expected to chip in with the bat.What would be a success at the tournamentTwo victories. That would probably be about as much fans can hope for, given the 24 months this team has had. They will hope to beat Bangladesh in the final group game, but will hope to do so having already upset one of New Zealand, Australia or India.

All members of West Indies’ touring party in New Zealand have cleared the first of their three Covid-19 tests. Following this test, which was conducted three days after their arrival on October 30, the West Indies contingent will undergo two more – on days 6 and 12 of their two-week quarantine at the New Zealand high-performance centre at Lincoln University in Christchurch.Having returned negative results in their first test, the players and staff will no longer be required to stay in isolation in their respective rooms. They will be allowed to train, gym and socialise within three bubbles comprising a maximum of 15 members each from days 4 to 7. From days 8 to 14 of their quarantine, the West Indies camp can split into two bubbles comprising a maximum of 20 members each.Seven members of West Indies’ 35-strong playing contingent – T20I captain Kieron Pollard, Test captain Jason Holder, Fabian Allen, Shimron Hetmyer, Keemo Paul, Nicholas Pooran and Oshane Thomas – will only arrive in New Zealand after the conclusion of the IPL, which ends on November 10 in the UAE.These seven players – of whom six are part of the T20I squad – will only end their quarantine on the eve of the first T20I in Auckland, which is to take place on November 27. West Indies will play three T20Is in all, followed by two Test matches in Hamilton (December 3-7) and Wellington (December 11-15).West Indies are the only international team to have embarked on two overseas tours since the worldwide pause in global cricket brought on by the Covid-19 pandemic. Before this tour of New Zealand, they played three Tests in England in July.

Darwin is set to see the resumption of cricket in Australia for the first time since the sport was shut down by the Covid-19 pandemic and Northern Territory Cricket (NTC) is open to being a testing ground for how the game needs to adapt.The Darwin and District Cricket Competition, which would have normally begun in April, will now start with a T20 tournament over the Queen’s Birthday weekend from June 6 before a one-day competition begins and runs until a final on September 19.Darwin is currently one of the most open places in Australia, having significantly loosened Covid-19 restrictions in recent weeks. NT Cricket has worked closely with Cricket Australia on the guidelines that will be in place including areas such as not sharing kit and how to maintain the cricket ball which is an issue that reaches the top level of the game.ESPNcricinfo revealed earlier this month that the ICC is debating allowing forms of legalised ball-tampering at international level to avoid the need to use sweat and saliva on the ball. Ball manufacturer Kookaburra has since come out with plans for a wax-applicator – although rival Dukes have said their ball does not need artificial aids to shine – and NT Cricket are open to trailing any solutions if they are available.”We are very open-minded and we’d be quite happy to work with someone like Kookaburra to trial a new wax applicator to shine the ball,” NT Cricket CEO Joel Morrison told ESPNcricinfo. “We’ve played a similar role in the past with a new T20 cricket ball they wanted to introduce. Whether it’s Kookaburra or anyone else who would like trial something and we can play a role in testing that for the rest of Australian cricket – or even global cricket – we are more than happy to do so.””Hopefully [playing cricket] is a ray of hope, not only for the cricket community in Australia but around the world to show that things are starting to get better albeit the risks always remain with Covid-19. If we do the right thing and follow the advice, then there is the ability to get back playing sooner rather than later. Hopefully to see a cricket ball bowled here in Darwin in a couple of weeks’ time gives hope to those playing across Australia.”The other key part of the Top End summer – the NT Strike League – remains uncertain to take place due to border restrictions. Two seasons ago the Strike League saw David Warner and Cameron Bancroft take part during their ball-tampering bans.Darwin was in line to host international cricket for the first since 2008 in August, for the visit of Zimbabwe for a limited-overs series, but that is now a major doubt with the borders still shut to international and domestic travel meaning anyone arriving (barring a few exceptions) needs to quarantine for 14 days. However, Morrison said the Northern Territory government was open about working with elite sport around major events if suitable plans are in place.”Darwin in particular is still very much open for business in that sense of hosting major events,” Morrison said. “We’ve spoken to CA and offered our support in whatever way they require to bring that series to life if they are in a position to do so. Obviously that series is one of a number of considerations for CA moving forward, if there’s a way we can help support that series they know we are open to working with CA and the NT government to explore all options.”

Timing appears to be in the Sydney Sixers’ favour as the Big Bash reaches the closing stages. After having hit form to secure second spot – and two chances to make the final – along with the return of their Australia players, there is now positive news over the fitness of Sean Abbott, who is set to be available for the Qualifier against the Melbourne Stars on Friday.It is a opportune comeback for Abbott, which should help the Sixers cover for the loss of Tom Curran, their leading wicket-taker in the league stage. Curran has now left for England duty in South Africa having claimed 22 wickets and scored 133 runs to further enhance his standing at the club.Curran signed off with 3 for 27 against the Melbourne Renegades to highlight the hole that will need to be filled in the attack as the Sixers aim to secure their first BBL title since the inaugural competition in 2011-12.

Abbott’s memories of Rauf

Haris Rauf will be a key part of the opposition on Friday, but that did not stop Abbott acknowledging the “inspiring journey” the fast bowler has been on after being hastily signed by the Stars at the start of the BBL.

Rauf has jetted back from Pakistan after making his T20I debut against Bangladesh to bolster the Stars’ attack ahead of the Qualifier final at MCG and Abbott recalled when he faced him in the SCG nets.

“I remember he came and bowled in the nets a couple of years ago and it wasn’t very nice,” Abbott said. “I was one of the batters that day and he was bowling quite fast with a brand new cherry. He’s got to be pretty proud of himself. It’s quite an inspiring journey that he’s been on, to get picked in the Big Bash when there’s heaps of other well-known national bowlers around the world that do quite well.

“The Stars have taken a bit of a punt on a guy who obviously bowls quite fast, but not only has he bowled fast he’s got a lot of wickets bowling slower balls because guys are worried about the height and 150kph stuff.”

Abbott has been sidelined since the end of December, when he suffered a side strain against the Sydney Thunder which also ruled him out of Australia’s one-day tour of India. Having increased his workload in training over the last few days, he is now ready to return providing he comes through a final workout when the squad arrives in Melbourne on Thursday.He had taken 11 wickets in five games prior to his injury and his all-round game means he will also help fill the batting part of Curran’s role, which proved vital at times during the season – not least the game against the Thunder where he earned the Super Over which he then went on to bowl.”Obviously Tommy took my Super Over that I really wanted to bowl against the Thunder,” Abbott joked. “We both bowl at pretty similar times in the game. One or two in the Powerplay, not as many through the middle, then at the death. I can get one spot up the order with the bat, now that he’s left. [We are] pretty similar players with the ball but we each have our own strengths that separate us form each other.”Abbott’s T20 batting is a level below where Curran has been able to take his game over the last two years – scoring 318 runs at a strike rate of 146.54 in the last two BBL campaigns – but he has been eager to learn off the England allrounder.”I’ve been working on that. Been trying to keep it pretty simple, but spending quite a lot of time with Tommy over the last two seasons has been great,” he said. “It’s sort of been pushing me along to strive for better performances with the bat, and really wanting that contest and chance with the bat. Pretty fortunate I’ve been able to spend the last two seasons with a player like Tommy.”Side strains can be particularly troublesome for a pace bowler and Abbott conceded he may not be quite back to bowling at full tilt against the Stars but is confident he will be able to deliver in a high-pressure game, albeit one that comes with a second chance for whoever loses in the Challenger final next Thursday.”I feel like I’ve got enough games under my belt now and enough self-awareness to cope with whatever comes my way on Friday night in terms of getting back from a side strain injury and dealing with that,” he said. “My body might hold me back from bowling 100%, like I might not be able to get the ball down there as quick but today went really well in the nets. I’m assuming tomorrow will go really well in the nets as well. I don’t see why Friday will be any different from when I started the tournament.”