Page 27 - Pakistan Link - July 30, 2021

SPORTS JULY 30, 2021 – PAKISTAN LINK – P27
SPORTS JULY 30, 2021 - PAKISTAN LINK
West Indies ready for Pakistan T20 Mike Hendrick dead at 72

test in Barbados LONDON: Former England bowler
Mike Hendrick has died aged 72, his
old county Derbyshire announced
Geroge Linde, losing the series in on Tuesday. “Derbyshire County
Cricket Club is deeply saddened by
Grenada in June 3-2. the news of the death of Mike Hen-
West Indies rebounded from that drick, one of the county’s finest post-
series loss to South Africa to breeze war cricketers,” said a statement on
past Australia 4-1 in St Lucia, al- the club’s website. Hendrick had
though their struggles against spin been suffering from bowel and liver
were emphasised in the subsequent cancer for some time.
three-match ODI series with Austra- In an article published in The
lia prevailing 2-1 and West Indies Times earlier this month to coin-
captain Pollard in the immediate af- cide with the 40th anniversary of
termath on Monday condemning the England’s 1981 Ashes series win,
pitches prepared for those matches in Hendrick said he was “in the de-
Bridgetown as an embarrassment and parture lounge but the flight has not
unfit for international cricket. quite left yet”. Hendrick only played
One of most consistent criti- two Tests in that series but was more
cisms of this West Indies T20 squad heavily involved in England’s 1977 He several times took four wick-
is that they are too reliant on bound- and 1978-9 Ashes successes against ets in a Test innings, with a best of
ary-hitting and soak up far too many arch-rivals Australia. 4-28 against India at Edgbaston in
scoreless deliveries for them to be Renowned for his accuracy, Hen- 1974. His England career was effec-
consistently competitive when the drick took 87 wickets in 30 Tests at tively ended in 1982 when Hendrick
BRIDGETOWN: West Indies and just come out of a very competitive big events come around. That was an average of 25.83 from 1974 to received a three-year ban for taking
Pakistan, the two supremely-talented series in England, will maintain their apparent against both the South Af- 1981 at a time when he faced com- part in a ‘rebel’ tour of South Africa.
Twenty20 teams, collide in a four- impressive run against these oppo- ricans and Australians. This is some- petition for an England place from He also played in 22 ODIs
match series starting on Wednesday nents, they would certainly have no- thing Pakistan will no doubt want to the likes of John Snow, Bob Willis, and was the leading bowler at the
at Kensington Oval in Barbados be- ticed the transformation — on and off exploit, especially if the surfaces are Chris Old, John Lever and Graham 1979 World Cup, with 10 wickets
fore the contest shifts to Providence the field — which suggests that West helpful enough and the likes of Shad- Dilley in attacks boasting all-round- from five matches. For his native
Stadium in Guyana for the remaining Indies are a very different outfit now. ab Khan, Imad Wasim, Usman Qadir ers of the calibre of Tony Greig and Derbyshire, he took 497 first-class
three matches. While the team which last faced and even the evergreen Mohammad Ian Botham. wickets at 20.05.
This was originally scheduled as Pakistan in Karachi missed a host Hafeez are confident enough to chal-
a five-match series but last week’s of key players, the West Indies lenge the vaunted West Indies pow- Pollard blasts pitch after Australia
Covid 19 scare during the ODI series can now truly to be said to be at er-hitters in the manner of Shamsi
between the West Indies and Aus- full strength, with the exception of and Linde just a few weeks ago. cruise to ODI series win
tralia forced a two-day delay which spinner Sunil Narine who continues Teams (probable):
has resulted in the loss of one of the to be unavailable due to a reported WEST INDIES: Kieron Pollard
scheduled encounters in Barbados. lack of confidence at this time in his (captain), Evin Lewis, Lendl Sim-
History suggests that the tourists bowling action. mons, Chris Gayle, Nicholas Pooran
will start as favourites. However having Chris Gayle, (wicketkeeper), Andre Russell, Jason
Since being well beaten by 84 Andre Russell, Dwayne Bravo and Holder, Dwayne Bravo, Fabian Al-
runs in Dhaka at the 2014 World T20, captain Kieron Pollard, together len, Hayden Walsh, Fidel Edwards
the Pakistanis have gotten the better with a host of other headline names, PAKISTAN: Babar Azam (cap-
of the reigning world champions in is no guarantee of success. West In- tain), Mohammad Rizwan (wick-
nine of the subsequent ten meetings. dies struggled consistently to chase et-keeper), Sohaib Maqsood, Mo-
But a lot has happened in the modest totals in a series with South hammad Hafeez, Fakhar Zaman,
three years since they last met in Africa and were found wanting Shadab Khan, Imad Wasim, Hasan
April, 2018, and while it is quite pos- against the spin of top-ranked Ta- Ali, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Usman
sible that Babar Azam’s side, having braiz Shamsi and to a lesser extent, Qadir, Mohammad Hasnain.
Shahid Afridi all set to play in SL-India T20

Everest Premier League postponed BRIDGETOWN: Australia handed left-armer Ashton Agar, who relished
the West Indies a six-wicket defeat
the conditions. Having been selected
ISLAMABAD: Former Pakistan nowned cricketer Shahid Afridi will on Monday to clinch a 2-1 One-day to replace younger brother and pac-
International series victory and leave
er Wes on a surface expected to fa-
captain and flamboyant all-rounder be playing for Kathmandu King XI,” over Covid-19 home captain Kieron Pollard criti- vour the slow bowlers, he responded
Shahid Afridi is set to play for Kath- cricnepal.com quoted Rohit Gupta, cising the quality of the Kensington with figures of 2-31 off his allotted
mandu Kings XI (KKXI) in the Ever- team owner of KKXI as saying. Oval pitch in Bridgetown. 10 overs and then contributed an
est Premier League (EPL) scheduled Afridi also brings experience of case The Australians cruised past their important 19 not out in an unbroken
to be held from Sept 25 to Oct 9 this playing across the globe including In- modest target of 153 with just over fifth-wicket partnership of 54 with
year, at the Tribhuvan University dian Premier League, Pakistan Super COLOMBO: Sri Lanka on Tuesday 19 overs remaining as Matthew Wade Wade to take his side through what
Cricket Ground, Kathmandu. League, Big Bash, Caribbean Pre- postponed the second Twenty20 In- top scored for the tourists with an un- could have been tricky chase. He was
Afridi, 44, who was an aggressive mier League and Bangladesh Premier ternational against India just hours defeated 51 (52 balls, two sixes, five named player-of-the-match.
batsman and skillful leg-spinner with League to name a few. before its start, after an Indian player fours), ensuring stand-in captain Alex The West Indies struggled with
plenty of international experience, “KKXI, one of the six franchises tested positive for coronavirus. Carey led the team to a series victory. the bat, with only opener Evin Lew-
played for Pakistan and international participating in the tournament, un- All-rounder Krunal Pandya was “I think both teams struggled on is making a significant contribution
franchises in different T20 leagues. veiled Afridi on Monday as their big found positive during a routine check, the pitch and I think that’s unaccept- against the tourists with a knock of
He played 27 Tests, 398 ODIs and 99 signing for the season. Many congrat- Sri Lanka Cricket said in a statement. able for international cricket,” said 55. His innings came after he had
Twenty20 Internationals. ulations to Kathmandu Kings XI for “The medical teams have iden- Pollard, whose team was bowled out been temporarily forced from the
“Afridi is an iconic superstar in securing a renowned player like Afri- tified eight members as close con- with more than four overs remaining. field having played a ball from Ha-
the world of sport, a lot of current di to play for Kings XI,” said Aamir tacts,” the SLC said. “The entire “We’re not going to make excuses. We zlewood onto his own helmet with
cricket stars idolise him to play crick- Akhtar, CEO of the Everest Premier contingent is undergoing RT-PCR accept that we batted badly but I don’t the West Indies at 14-0.
et. Nepalese fans also adore him as a League. Earlier, Kathmandu Kings tests today to ascertain any further think the scores that we have gotten By the time he returned following
legendary cricketer, we understand XI also roped in Nepali leg-spinner outbreak in the squad.” in this three-match series, with two Pollard’s dismissal, the hosts were
this sentiment and we are proud and Sandeep Lamichhane to play for this It is the second time in less than top international teams, I think that’s 71-5 and although Lewis contin-
honoured to announce world-re- year’s EPL. a week that an international has been very embarrassing for us as a people. ued to offer resistance, he was soon
called off at the last minute because “I think it is unacceptable for interna- left unaccompanied at the crease
of Covid-19. tional cricket. Coming from St Lucia with the West Indies all out for 152
A One-day International last [where West Indies won the Twenty20 in 45.1 overs. That total caused the
Thursday between West Indies and International series 4-1] to this, I think Australians few problems, with Car-
Australia was called off after the two it is absolutely ridiculous.” ey steadying his team after the early
captains had carried out the toss be- All five Australian bowlers loss of Moises Henriques and Josh
cause a ground staff member tested claimed wickets with Mitchell Starc Philippe before Wade and Agar com-
positive. No details were given on taking 3-43 while his new-ball part- bined to lead the tourists to victory.
how Pandya, 30, could have contract- ner Josh Hazlewood took 2-18 from “Personally and collectively it’s
ed the virus. eight economical overs. really exciting,” said Carey, who re-
India arrived in Sri Lanka on June Starc’s effort lifted his series placed the regular Australia white-
28 and have been in a strict bio-bub- wicket haul to 11 and confirmed the ball Aaron Finch leader as captain
ble in a luxury Colombo hotel since left-arm pacer as player-of-the-series. after he returned home with a knee
then. No other guests have been al- “It’s my role in the team to use injury. “It’s tough to leave home
lowed in the hotel. whatever pace and swing I have con- during a pandemic and the commit-
India confirmed that Pandya had sistently through my spells,” said ment that this group has shown, it’s
tested positive and that the entire Starc in putting his performances in fantastic to see a result go our way.
squad was undergoing more tests. the match and the series in context. “I thought the bowlers did a great
Both teams said they hoped the “It helps when I’ve got Josh at the job. I think there were some good
game would be played Wednesday other end and the spinning quality we innings throughout the series.” RE-
in Colombo, with the final match still have as well in support.” SULT: Australia won by six wickets
scheduled for Thursday. There was joy, too, for slow to win three-match series 2-1.

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