Maxwell smashed eight sixes against a full-strength West Indies in ideal batting conditions, and his unbeaten 120 runs off 55 balls was the second greatest T20I score for a player at No.4 or below.

Australia’s 241 for 4 was their biggest score on home soil and proved much too much for the West Indies, despite skipper Rovman Powell’s impressive 63 off 36 balls.

Marcus Stoinis picked up three wickets, while left-arm fast Spencer Johnson, in his first home international, grabbed 2 for 39 as Australia claimed the series with an 11-run game one victory at Bellerive Oval.

There was some late dispute when Alzarri Joseph fell short of his ground while trying a tight single, but he stayed at the crease as umpire Gerard Abood ruled there was no appeal. Tim David maintained he had appealed as Australia argued in heated circumstances, but the incident had no effect on the outcome of the match.

The series has essentially started both sides’ T20 World Cup preparations, with the third and final game scheduled on Tuesday in Perth.

Also watch:

Marsh dominates the powerplay before Maxi Magic

Josh Inglis started brilliantly in Hobart, kicking off the competition to join opener David Warner in the T20 World Cup. He smashed 39 off 25 balls in the series opener but couldn’t recover, falling for 4 in the second over.

The ejection sent captain Mitchell Marsh to the crease, who did not bat on the powerplay in game one and played despite testing positive for Covid-19. He was feeling better and enjoyed batting in the powerplay, scoring 29 off 12 balls.

He blasted the opening ball boundary before unleashing his power with a six over backward point and another over the legside boundary. Marsh, attempting to exploit the powerplay, holed out in the sixth over, and Australia was quickly reduced to 64 for 3 when Warner was bowled in the following over.

Maxwell got off to a poor start and should have been run out on 10 when wicketkeeper Nicholas Pooran missed a short ball at the stumps. He took advantage of the following ball from Romario Shepherd, hitting an amazing sliced six over cover point to start his innings.

Joseph bowls quickly, but West Indies fall behind

Despite his attack surrendering 213 for 7 at Bellerive Oval, Powell elected to bowl again, but he bizarrely went first with Hosein, who was hammered for six on the second delivery by a reverse swat from Warner.

However, their seamers fared considerably better against Warner, who had hammered 70 off 36 balls in Hobart, as they bowled a straighter line, with Joseph creating swing and reaching speeds approaching 150 km/h. A disgruntled Warner grumbled loudly as he dropped to a slower Shepherd delivery, but the West Indies were subsequently destroyed by Maxwell.

With Maxwell in his temper, the West Indies were made to appear helpless, and there was probably nothing they could do. However, several of their tactics were perplexing, such as frequently bowling wide yorkers without a third man.

The post AUS vs WI 2nd T20: Glen Maxwell 6th century takes Australia to series win appeared first on Cricket Country.

Maxwell and Vini had decided to conduct two wedding ceremonies as Vini is of Indian origin watch video:

Big congratulations to @Gmaxi_32 on his wedding, he’s enjoying malai maathinal so much. Looks Amazing #Maxwell #IPL2022 pic.twitter.com/PyOET4Y6Pj

Sunil (@suniiilll) March 28, 2022

The couple completed their Indian-style wedding this week and the video of the ceremony has gone viral. In the video, both Maxwell and Vini are seen exchanging garlands and participating in the ‘Varmala’ ceremony which is a popular ritual in Tamil marriages.

The wedding card of Maxwell and Vini that was printed in Tamil also went viral on the Internet. The couple got engaged in 2020 just before the Covid-19 pandemic.

Maxwell who is playing for the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) was retained by the side with a fee of Rs 11 crore and he will be joining the team in a few days, according to RCB sources.

(With Agency Inputs)

The post IPL 2022: Glenn Maxwell’s Wedding Video in Chennai Goes Viral | Watch Visuals appeared first on Cricket Country.

RCB is third in the eight-team standings with 10 points from seven games, 2012 and 2014 champions KKR are languishing at the seventh spot with just two wins out of seven ties.

KKR would be hoping to make a turnaround, just like 2014 edition when they won nine games in a row to claim the title.

Knight Riders chief mentor David Hussey also exuded optimism about scripting a turnaround, despite a nightmarish first half.

“All we have to do is win this … We have done it before and so we can do it again… I feel we have the squad to do it also. You qualify for the finals and whole competition starts again,” the Australian said.

But it would be easier said than done for KKR as they face RCB, a formidable outfit, whose captain Kohli would be gunning for success with the bat after announcing his decision to quit as India’s T20 skipper following the T20 World Cup which will be held after the IPL in UAE.

KKR leads in head-to-head record against RCB, winning 18 and losing 13 out of 28 fixtures played between the two sides.

KKR’s two wins earlier this year came against two under-performing sides — Punjab Kings, who are placed just a rung above them, and bottom-placed Sunrisers Hyderabad.

KKR would be relying heavily on the pair of Subhman Gill and Nitin Rana to deliver the goods in their batting department, even though the duo did not have the best of outings in the first leg.

While Gill scored just 132 runs, Rana managed 201 runs in the first seven games for KKR in this year’s IPL, which was postponed in April following multiple COVID-19 cases inside the bio-bubble in India.

Besides, Morgan will need to let his bat do the talking and lead from the front.

Dinesh Karthik, Andre Russell, Rahul Tripathy and Shakib Al Hasan too need to come good for KKR if the team harbours any hopes of making it to the play-offs.

KKR’s bowling department will be on the shoulders of Kiwi Tim Southee, who came in as a replacement for Pat Cummins for the second half.

RCB, on the other hand, are currently placed in a comfortable position and would be hoping for Kohli to play freely and score big runs, especially after taking the big call of relinquishing T20 captaincy.

With Glenn Maxwell (223 runs from 7 games) and AB de Villiers (207 runs from 7) leading the run scorers chart till now for the team, RCB’s batting unit looks ominous.

Kohli (198), by his own standards, has been a little disappointing and Devdutt Padikkal (195) too would be looking for a consistent show.

On the bowling front, Mohammed Siraj and Kiwi Kyle Jamieson would lead the attack which also has Harshal Patel, Navdeep Saini and Yuzvendra Chahal, who would be desperate to answer the selectors after being ignored from India’s T20 World Cup squad.

The additions of Sri Lanka duo of Wanindu Hasaranga and Dushmantha Chameera, who replaced Adam Zampa and Kane Richardson, will also hold the team in good stead as they have a good understanding of the UAE conditions.

The VIVO IPL Match between RCB and KKR starts at 7:30PM IST.

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Australia opener Aaron Finch became the first player in the history of T20Is to break the 900-point mark as he moved up three places to finish the tri-series in Harare against Pakistan and Zimbabwe as the top-ranked batsman in the shortest format of the game. Finch, who captained Australia to the final, had touched the 900-point mark following his record-breaking knock of 172 (76b, 10×6, 16×4) against Zimbabwe in Harare on July 3. The 31-year-old from Victoria eventually finished the T20Is (also comprising a one-off against England at Edgbaston) in number-one position on 891 points. Finch had started the T20Is in fourth position on 763 points and a tour aggregate of 391 runs not only helped him leapfrog Babar Azam, Colin Munro and Glen Maxwell, but also earned him 128 points.

In the latest player rankings, which also takes into account India‘s 2-0 and 2-1 series win against Ireland and England, respectively, Finch leads Pakistan’s left-handed opener Fakhar Zaman by 45 points. Like Finch, Fakhar was in stellar form in Harare, when he totaled 278 runs in the series, including a match-winning 91 against Australia after Pakistan had slumped to two for two after being set a victory target of 184. Fakhar’s string of good scores, that also included knocks of 61, six, 47 and 73, have helped him vault 44 places to claim second position. He has now become Pakistan’s highest-ranked batsman after Babar Azam slipped from first to fifth due to his absence because of an injury.

Australia’s D’Arcy Short, Jason Roy of England and Solomon Mire have also achieved career-best rankings following the latest update. Short has broken into the top-10 for the first time in his career in 10th position, moving up 18 places. Roy has gained 19 places and is now in 15th spot, while Mire has rocketed 202 places to claim 25th position – seven places behind Hamilton Masakadza.

Indian top-order batsman KL Rahul‘s scores of 70, 101 not out, six and 19 in his last four outings have made him India’s highest-ranked batsman in Twenty20 Internationals (T20Is) as he moved up nine places to a career-high third position in the ICC rankings. Opener Rohit Sharma in 11th rank (up by two places) and captain Virat Kohli in 12th rank (down by four places) are the next highest-ranked India batsmen.

In the bowling table, Rashid Khan of Afghanistan and Shadab Khan of Pakistan have retained the top two positions, but there have been a number of movements down the order with Australia’s Andrew Tye and Billy Stanlake, and England’s trio of Adil Rashid, Liam Plunkett and David Willey achieving career-high rankings. Tye has risen 41 places to seventh in the latest rankings after taking 12 wickets in Harare, Rashid has claimed ninth position after moving up four places, Plunkett has gained 14 places and is now in 11th spot, Willey has risen 12 places to 15th and Stanlake’s seven wickets have given him a leap of 60 places that has put him in 19th position.

Other bowlers to head in the right direction include Mohammad Amir (12th, up by six places), Hardik Pandya (29th, up by five places), Mohammad Nawaz (32nd, up by nine places), Faheem Ashraf (33rd, up by 21 places), Kuldeep Yadav (34th, up by 41 places) and Ashton Agar (45th, up by 39 places).

There is no change in the top three all-rounders, with Maxwell leading the field. Afghanistan’s Mohammad Nabi is second, while Shakib Al Hasan of Bangladesh is third.

Meanwhile, in the ICC T20I Team Rankings, Pakistan have retained the top position with their tri-series victory while India have overtaken Australia to take second place after clinching their three-match series against England 2-1. The top three sides are now separated by 10 points, while three points separate fourth-ranked England and seventh-ranked West Indies.

Team rankings remain crucial as Australia plus the next nine highest-ranked sides will qualify directly for the 16-team ICC Men’s World T20 2020 in Australia. The remaining six sides will qualify from the 14-team ICC Men’s World T20 Qualifier 2019, which will be participated in by the six sides from the ICC World T20 2016, which are not in the Top 10 of the MRF Tyres ICC T20I Team Rankings as on 31 December 2018, alongside the eight qualifiers from the regional finals.

The post Aaron Finch becomes first to break 900-point mark in ICC T20I Batting Rankings appeared first on Cricket Country.

Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) have had a terrible campaign in Indian Premier League (IPL) 2016, as they have tasted victory only once in the six games they have played so far. With George Bailey not featuring in this season, KXIP had appointed South African young gun David Miller as the captain. Given the mediocre performance his brigade has put up, KXIP is likely to replace him with Murali Vijay as the captain. To make matters worse for Miller, he has scored only 76 runs, with a best of unbeaten 30. Not only did he struggle to find his feet with the bat, he failed to provide impetus as a leader as well. Also read: Murali Vijay sets IPL record of getting run-out for 12 times

However, a formal announcement has not been made by the KXIP yet, but it will not come as a surprise if the role is being dethroned from Miller. Nonetheless, other than Vijay, there are other players who can be considered for this role as well. Glenn Maxwell has been KXIP’s match-winner for the past two seasons. In fact, Maxwell played a crucial role in IPL 2014 (the only time the team managed to reach the finals) and is in top contention to martial KXIP troops. The other candidate is Shaun Marsh. Marsh took the cricketing world by storm by his blistering show in the first season of IPL. To add to the fire, he was also the winner of Orange Cup for plundering most runs, that is, 616. Given he has been with the franchise since its inception, it would interesting to see if KXIP assign him the leadership role. Also read: Virat Kohli, Ravichandran Ashwin, Murali Vijay in favour of Ravi Shastri continuing as India Team Director

Vijay has been the only player who has been consistently performing this season for KXIP. With 143 runs under his belt, he is brimming with confidence and can change KXIP’s fortunes with his captaincy.

The post Is Murali Vijay the right candidate to replace David Miller as KXIP captain in IPL 2016? appeared first on Cricket Country.

Sydney: Dashing Australian batsman Glenn Maxwell Saturday said the Indian team should remember that it hasn’t won a single game against his side this summer and the hosts intend to keep it that way in Thursday’s ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 semi-final against the defending champions. READ: Michael Clarke looking forward for India-clash

Asked how difficult will it be for Australia to stop the unbeaten Indian juggernaut, Maxwell replied, “I think we targetted them pretty well this summer. They haven’t won a game against us all through the summer. Hopefully that is pretty clear in their memories.” READ: Misbah backing India to beat Australia

“We can make the most of that (all win record). We’ve been dominant all summer in the ODI format. We want to continue that.” But Maxwell did praise the Indian side for its consistency that helped it reach the last four stage.

“India are a very good side. They wouldn’t be here in the semi-finals if they weren’t a good side. We have to bring our A game when we play them this week,” the IPL star said with a note of caution.

Although the media interaction at the Sydney airport “felt like IPL” to Maxwell with only three Aussie reporters in the mix, he didn’t feel that playing against Ashwin or Jadeja in the IPL would matter much as his role in this national team set-up is different.

“The IPL is a lot different to the World Cup. It is different pressure and different situation. I bat at No 6 (for Australia) and there are still five guys ahead of me, who are going to be batting first. Hopefully, they can make the most of the conditions. My job is to finish it off.”

When someone asked if he reckons the contest to be 50-50, Maxwell had a tongue-in-cheek counter query, “What are the bookmakers saying?”

Many past Aussie greats term the India versus Australia rivalry as the greatest in international cricket currently but for the maverick Maxwell, Ashes is still sacrosanct.

“There are a lot of big rivalries in international cricket. Every team that we play against, there is like some sort of rivalry or history attached. For Australia, the Ashes, is still probably our biggest and oldest rivalry.”

Virat Kohli has tormented Australia but Maxwell believes that there won’t be separate but a general gameplan for India which has been the case all summer.

“We haven’t had a team meet yet, but it will be pretty similar to the summer. We did pretty well during the summer against them. I am sure we will go ahead with similar plans and we will have a few tricks up our sleeve,” he answered with a smile.

The post Glenn Maxwell hopes India remember winless streak against Australia ahead of ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 semi-final clash appeared first on Cricket Country.

Mitchell Marsh made his Test debut for Australia against Pakistan in the first Test on Wednesday. He became the third member of the Marsh family to represent Australia in Test and One-Day cricket. His father Geoff and elder brother Shaun have turned out for Australia before.

Steve O’ Keefe, the left-arm off-spinner, made his Test debut for Australia on Wednesday in the first match of the two-Test series against Pakistan. O’ Keefe is the first Australian player born in Malaysia to turn out for Australia.

O’ Keefe plays for New South Wales in the Australia domestic competition.  The 29-year old has 128 wickets in First class cricket. In the past few years after Shane Warne’s retirement Australia have handed out caps to many spinners in the hope that they find a replacement for the spin legend. They, however, are to yet to find a replacement for him.

Complete coverage of Pakistan and Australia in UAE here

The post Australia vs Pakistan 2014: Mitchell Marsh and Steve O’ Keefe shed light on being selected for Australia appeared first on Cricket Country.

Cuttack: May 7, 2014

Glenn Maxwell‘s stupendous 38-ball 90 in Kings XI Punjab’s win over Chennai Super Kings in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2014 prompted the losing captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni to compare the Australian with the likes of Sachin Tendulkar and Virender Sehwag in talent. Maxwell, the highest run scorer this IPL season with 435 from seven matches, butchered the Chennai bowlers to help Punjab score a comprehensive 44-run victory over Chennai and Dhoni heaped praised on him.

“Maxwell batted exceptionally well and he was supported by the other batsmen as well. You need some serious talent to hit those sixes one after the other. He is someone who is very different, like Sehwag or Tendulkar and he is batting at his best,” Dhoni said when asked about the huge eight sixes hit by Maxwell, including three reverse hit sixes.

He said his spinners gave away too many runs in the second half of the Punjab innings and that had made the difference in the match. “Where we lost the game was when our spinners came on and they got plenty out of them. The first 10 overs they were only 70 but the next 10, Maxwell got them to 40 over par,” Dhoni said.

“If we had got off to a great start, we could have gone for it. But we lost Dwayne Smith and Ravindra Jadeja was our final throw of the dice but when he fell, we decided to just play it out. It’s very important in a tournament like this, looking to score 230 and getting out for 130, then in the coming games we wouldn’t be able to make it up,” he said.

Asked about the Barabati Stadium wicket, Dhoni said, “Very good wicket, bit of bounce for the quicks but in the second innings it became two-paced.”

Punjab captain George Bailey said it was satisfying to beat a formidable side like Chennai twice in the tournament. “Chennai are the benchmark and for us to beat them a couple of times, it gives us confidence,” he said. Asked about the incredible innings played by Maxwell, Bailey said, “Don’t really know what to say about it. It was something brilliant. “It was almost the future what we saw there. Maxi and Davey, the shots they played and even the other young players and their shots. They gave themselves a little time and that was crucial. I had a bit of luck tonight as well.”

Man-of-the-Match Maxwell said he just hoped to continue with his good form. “Pitch was lovely, coming on quite well. The spinners held up a little and we got away quickly. We (him and Miller) love batting together, we talking about it a lot and it was fun to have a big partnership together and hit a few out of the park,” he said. “Practice it and keep trying to expand my game and try and hit the ball to different parts of the ground. Keep trying to do what I’m doing and we’re winning as well. We didn’t have an idea in mind, thought the pitch would get better in the second innings but once we went there we saw how good it was and we just kept going.”

Click here for IPL 2014 Points Table and Team Standings

Click here for IPL 2014 Schedule: Match time table for IPL 7

Click here for IPL 2014 Schedule & Results

Click here for IPL 2014 complete coverage

The post MS Dhoni compares Glenn Maxwell’s talent with Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag appeared first on Cricket Country.

Apr 1, 2014

With nothing to play for but salvaging pride and some honour, Australia and bangladesh face-off in this inconsequential Group 1 encounter of the ICC World T20 2014. It is also the second last match of the group stages.

Though both Australia and Bangladesh are out of the reckoning for a spot in the semi-finals, still this dead rubber may give them both one last opportunity to bow out of the tournament with a high. Australia had suffered a thumping 73 run defeat to India in their last group match whereas the home side themselves had collapsed to a 50-run defeat to Pakistan thus bringing to an end a sorry tournament for Mushfiqur Rahim’s side.

Australia had come on the back two great series wins against England and South Africa into the ICC World T20 2014, but have failed to live up to the expectations.

Catch free live streaming of the Australia (AUS) vs Bangladesh (BAN) ICC World T20 2014 match here

Australia who have looked in woeful form throughout the tournament have the sole positive of Glen Maxwell who looked in pristine touch against India and will be banking on each and every member to contribute against the home side.

Bangladesh on the other hand have the good form of Shakib-al-Hasan to cheer something about and will hope that the all-rounder will deliver the goods against George Bailey’s side.

ICC World T20 2014 schedule: Match time table with venue details

ICC World T20 2014 Points Table and Team Standings

The post Australia vs Bangladesh Free Live Streaming Online ICC World T20 2014 Group 2 Match 31 appeared first on Cricket Country.

Apr 1, 2014

With only pride to play for Australia will clash against Bangladesh in an inconsequential match of Group 2 of the ICC World T20 2014 in Dhaka on Tuesday.

Australia has lost all three of their matches in the ongoing tournament and had to endure the humiliation of getting thrashed by 73 runs in the previous match against India which all but eliminated them from getting an entry to the semi-finals.

Even Bangladesh have had horrible luck so far in the tournament as akin to Australia even they were outclassed in all three of their group matches and will be looking to play purely for pride against George Bailey’s men.

Shakib-al-Hasan has been the stand-out performer for Bangladesh so far thanks to his collection of 120 runs and 8 wickets throughout the tournament whereas Australia have Glen Maxwell and Mitchell Starc to thank for as they have lend some respectability to their batting and bowling averages.

Maxwell looked good against India but was unlucky to have been out very early and will definitely be the trump card for Bailey’s side in the battle of the two bottom placed teams.

Bangladesh on the other hand will look up to the services of Shakib, who though looked good in the early matches will definitely have a point to prove against Bailey’s men.

Squads:

Bangladesh: Mushfiqur Rahim(c), Abdur Razzak, Al-Amin Hossain, Anamul Haque, Farhad Reza, Mahmudullah, Mominul Haque, Nasir Hossain, Sabbir Rahman, Shamsur Rahman, Shakib Al Hasan, Sohag Gazi, Tamim Iqbal, Taskin Ahmed, Ziaur Rahman

Australia:  GJ Bailey(c), DE Bollinger, DT Christian, NM Coulter-Nile, JP Faulkner, AJ Finch, BJ Haddin†, BJ Hodge, GB Hogg, GJ Maxwell, JM Muirhead, MA Starc, DA Warner, SR Watson, CL White

Catch Live score and ball-by-ball commentary of Australia vs Bangladesh match here

ICC World T20 2014 schedule: Match time table with venue details

ICC World T20 2014 Points Table and Team Standings

The post Live Cricket Score: Australia vs Bangladesh ICC World T20 2014 Group 2 Match 31 at Dhaka appeared first on Cricket Country.