Hamilton Masakadza to retire after T20I tri-series in Bangladesh

Masakadza, 36, was appointed Zimbabwe’s captain across formats in February but with the ICC suspending Zimbabwe in July, things have become uncertain

ESPNcricinfo staff03-Sep-2019Zimbabwe captain Hamilton Masakadza has announced his decision to retire from international cricket after the upcoming T20I tri-series in Bangladesh.”After a great deal of consideration, I have decided to announce my retirement from all formats of international cricket at the end of the upcoming triangular series in Bangladesh,” Masakadza said at a press conference at Harare Sports Club on Tuesday. “It has been an enormous privilege to have played for and captained my country, and this is one of the hardest decisions I’ve had to make.”Masakadza, 36, had been Zimbabwe’s captain across formats since taking over from Graeme Cremer in the fallout of Zimbabwe’s failed World Cup qualifying campaign last year – his second stint in charge, having also lead the country in 2016. The ICC’s suspension of Zimbabwe in July meant that his future as well as that of other cricketers in the country became much more uncertain, and Masakadza said that without the lure of a potential place at the T20 World Cup next year to look forward to, he felt the time was right to end his international career.He becomes the second Zimbabwe player – after Solomon Mire – to announce his retirement after the ICC suspension.”I was looking forward to the ICC T20 World Cup Qualifier in Dubai next month, but with Zimbabwe barred from the event, I feel the time is right to shift the focus to the next generation,” Masakadza explained. “There is some fantastic talent coming through, and with Zimbabwe’s focus now on the 2023 edition of the ICC Cricket World Cup, I believe now is the time for the younger players to rise to the challenge of taking us to the global showpiece.”I was sort of feeling it was coming towards the end of my career. The one thing that was keeping me going was trying to play one more World Cup for the country, in T20, but now that we’re not involved with that, I just thought I might as well call time now. Make way for the next guy coming through. I’d be standing in the way of someone else if I stayed on.”Masakadza’s decision brings to an end one of the most storied careers in Zimbabwean cricket. In February 2000 he was the first black Zimbabwean player to score a first-class hundred, doing so while aged just 16. He made his Test debut in 2001 against West Indies and became the youngest player to score a Test hundred on debut, a record that has since been broken by Bangladesh’s Mohammad Ashraful. In all, he played 38 Tests and scored 2223 runs at 30.04.A veteran of 209 ODIs – only the Flower brothers Andy and Grant and Elton Chigumbura have played more for Zimbabwe – Masakadza scored 5658 runs at 27.73. His best came during the five-match ODI series against Kenya in 2009 when he scored 467 runs, including two scores over 150, a record at that time for the most runs in a bilateral series.He has so far appeared in 62 T20Is, tallying 1529 runs at 25.48 with a strike rate of 115.92. His best in the format, an unbeaten 93, came against Bangladesh in 2016. While it was in the Test arena that he initially made his greatest strides, Masakadza developed into one of Zimbabwe’s most devastating batsmen in the shorter formats and in 2009 entered the top five of the T20I batting rankings, the highest ever by a Zimbabwean in the format.”Throughout my international career, it has always been about giving everything to the team, playing with dignity, and upholding the spirit of the game,” he said. “It has not been an easy road. I failed it at times, but I’ve never stopped trying. That’s what makes it sad for me to leave. But I can do so with pride, and a big smile on my face, knowing I have given everything to the game, and my nation.”Masakadza thanked Zimbabwe Cricket, his coaches and the support staff that helped to prolong his career from his teens into his mid-30s. He mentioned Andy Flower, with whom he played at Takashinga cricket club, as a past mentor and paid tribute to his wife Vimbai as “a remarkable pillar of strength”.”But most of all, I have to thank the teams I played with,” he said. “I know what I’m going to miss the most is being part of a change room. The joy of bonding together and striving to achieve a goal is what made cricket special for me. I learnt a lot from my team-mates, and I leave the game with wonderful memories, and strong friendships.”Finally I would like to thank the Zimbabwe cricket fans. The game is lucky to have you, and I’ve been lucky to play before you. To represent Zimbabwe and thus to represent you has been a privilege, and one which I will always cherish.”Masakadza will continue to play domestic cricket for at least one more season. “It was very big for me, when I started playing, playing with guys like Andy and Grant Flower, guys who had played such a long time at this level. I learned a lot from them. It would only be fair to give another youngster the same opportunity to learn a bit from me, and feed off me as well.””As a bit of advice to the next guy [to captain Zimbabwe], the biggest thing is to put the work in and get the boys working together as a unit, pulling together in one direction. Once you do that, with the amount of talent we have in Zimbabwe, we’re really hard to stop.”

Sri Lanka seek best combination and 'continuity' in ODIs

While Angelo Mathews said they were open to shuffling batsmen around, he emphasised that it was important to retain players too

Andrew Fidel Fernando07-Aug-2018Sri Lanka are in a little bit of a muddle. So woeful have they been in ODIs lately, that it is difficult to say who exactly forms the core of their team, let alone what those individual players’ roles are. So right now, they are trying to experiment, and yet are trying to strike a balance – they also want to give prospective players a good run in the team before they are cast off and new aspirants take their place.The background to this, of course, is that Sri Lanka are coming out of a period of incredible flux. In the 20 months between the start of 2016 and August 2017, Sri Lanka had fielded no fewer than 39 players in ODIs, as the previous selection committee shuffled cricketers furiously while the team’s performance nosedived. Sri Lanka know now that changing players that often does not yield good results – in fact, it led them to their biggest ODI slump in 20 years. But that time is now running out to nail down their World Cup combinations, and the team is still performing woefully.”We have an opportunity to try a few combinations, but at the same time we need continuity,” Angelo Mathews said, reflecting on the balance Sri Lanka must now find. With the series against South Africa now dead, this would ordinarily be a good time to trial new players, but Sri Lanka cannot afford to experiment anywhere near the extent South Africa can, because even the hosts’ core players have not begun to perform consistently in this format.”We will try to give opportunities to whoever who has not played so far, but unfortunately I don’t think we will be able to give everyone the opportunity. This is a learning process and we need to keep the same player as much as we can.”One of the players Sri Lanka are praying will come good is Kusal Mendis. Although Mendis had an excellent start to the year, playing match-winning knocks in Bangladesh before hitting a Test hundred in Trinidad in June, his form appears to have fallen off since. He has not crossed 40 in his nine most recent innings – across formats. After he had begun this one-day series with scores of 3 and 0, Mendis was moved down the order to No. 4, where he made 31 off 34 balls on Sunday. This shuffling around of batsmen could be a feature of Sri Lanka’s short-term ODI future, while they work out their best combination, Mathews said.”If you look at the last game or two, Kusal Mendis hasn’t been scoring runs at No. 3. In the last couple of games that he has played, going to the wicket in the first couple of overs when you don’t have runs behind you, can also worry you a little bit. We know the talent that he has got – he is an unbelievably good player. Flexibility has been spoken about in the dressing room – we want everyone to be flexible.”Sri Lanka have made a conscious decision to request batting-friendly ODI pitches at home, in order to replicate the kind of conditions they are likely to encounter in England next year. Despite the 0-3 scoreline in the series so far, this is a strategy worth persevering with, Mathews said.”We’ve got to play for our pride now. We started something in the last match – when we play on good wickets, the bowlers and the batters will get exposed. That is something that we have to deal with – it’s something that we have to get better at. We will continue to do what we have planned, without shoving it away after one or two games. This is a process.”

'Twenty more minutes and we would have gone through' – Muralitharan

Despite the eliminator ending at 1.27am, Muttiah Muralitharan’s wits were intact as he broke down Sunrisers Hyderabad’s season and the loss against Kolkata Knight Riders in Bengaluru

Shashank Kishore in Bengaluru18-May-2017The city where they were crowned IPL champions last year was the same city which wrecked their hopes this year. Sunrisers Hyderabad arrived in Bangalore late last month and saw a potential win against a struggling host slip away because of rain. Now, in the Eliminator, they were 20 minutes away from having a shot at Qualifier 2 and perhaps even defending their crown as it rained for a better part of three hours immediately after they posted 128, numbers-wise a sub-par score at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium. But then it stopped, making way for a six-over chase in which Kolkata Knight Riders had to get 48.To not get there, Knight Riders needed a serious meltdown, and they almost had one when they lost three wickets in the first seven deliveries, but the advantage of a truncated game always favours the chasing team. Gautam Gambhir demonstrated as much with his unbeaten 19-ball 32, which helped Knight Riders home with four balls to spare. Muttiah Muralitharan, Sunrisers’ bowling coach, said it was his team’s “destiny” to not progress.Asked if prior playing experience on this surface, which they were denied because of rain during the league phase, might have helped approach their batting better this time around, Muralitharan said with a laugh: “Had we played and won [against RCB], we would have been in Mumbai [for Qualifier 1]. It’s destiny. Twenty more minutes and we would have gone through. It’s all about destiny. It’s part and parcel of the game.”Muralitharan isn’t a stranger at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium, having spent two seasons with Royal Challengers Bangalore. But he may have well been mistaken into believing it was his first time here, upon looking at the 22 yards for this game. The ground where Royal Challengers nearly chased down 209 to beat Sunrisers in the final last year was now throwing up vastly different conditions. The reasons attributed to the sudden change in the nature of the square are many.A change in composition of the soil and a reduction in thickness of clay to aid bounce hasn’t worked because of the dry heat, according to the ground’s curator. This has also caused the tracks to break down faster because of cracks opening up. Unlike last year, where five totals of 200 or more were scored, the average first-innings score here this season was 148, something Sunrisers were targeting upon being put in to bat.Muttiah Muralitharan: ‘The batsmen played well, the bowlers who we picked at the auction did well. Overall we are satisfied with the performance’•AFP

Knight Riders’ Nathan Coulter-Nile kept bowling cross-seam and got the ball to stop on the batsmen. Manufacturing strokes was hard as David Warner and Kane Williamson found out. It was only when the bowlers pitched short did they have any leeway. Despite having seven wickets in hand, Sunrisers could only manage 30 off their last five.”The wicket was not great to play shots, we would’ve been bowled out for 70-80 if we tried to play shots,” Muralitharan said. “We were thinking of 140 and finished 10 short because they bowled well. We had the bowling to defend it across 20 overs. Had we taken two or three wickets early, they would have struggled. We’ve seen how teams have defended 130-135 here. It’s unfortunate. They won the toss and so they deserved to win.”Muralitharan chose not to focus on the playing conditions. A regulation cut-off time for this match – the cut-off time for play to begin in the playoffs is one hour more than the cut-off time for the league-phase games – would have meant Sunrisers would have qualified. Asked whether a reserve day, instead, would have been the way to go, he laughed it off.”We all prefer 20 overs. We didn’t expect it to rain. Anyone can win or lose, but we had a great season,” he said. “The batsmen played well, the bowlers who we picked at the auction did well. Overall we are satisfied with the performance – eight wins and five losses before this. It doesn’t always go your way.”We are all disappointed not getting through, but we had some great performances. Unfortunately you can’t win every time. We made sure we gave our best and our best was not good enough. We have to take it on the chin. Let’s see, hopefully if we can get the same team next year – I don’t know what the rules are going to be – we can once again try and win.”

Symes suspended from bowling for illegal action

Lions’ left-arm spinner Jean Symes has been suspended from bowling in domestic cricket with immediate effect, after a test found his bowling action to be illegal

ESPNcricinfo staff09-Feb-2016Lions’ left-arm spinning allrounder Jean Symes has been suspended from bowling in domestic cricket with immediate effect due to an illegal action. He will not be allowed to bowl until remedial work is undergone and he passes a re-assessment of his bowling action.The suspension comes after an independent assessment of his action revealed it to be illegal. Symes, who has 68 first-class wickets at 37.66 and 60 List A wickets 31.00, is currently representing his provincial side, Gauteng.

World T20 should get top priority – Hassan

In a further blow to the already delayed Dhaka Premier League, BCB president Nazmul Hassan has said he wouldn’t perturbed if it didn’t take place.

Mohammad Isam25-Jul-2013In a further blow to the already delayed Dhaka Premier Division Cricket League, BCB president Nazmul Hassan has said he wouldn’t be perturbed if it didn’t take place as the preparation of the grounds in Sylhet, Cox’s Bazar, Dhaka and Chittagong for the World Twenty20 in March 2014 was his priority.”We are trying our best to hold the Dhaka Premier League in the first week of September instead of August 29. If it happens, it happens; if it doesn’t happen, it doesn’t happen,” Hassan said. “The World Twenty20 should get top-most priority, ahead of all domestic tournaments. The month of August is a very important one for me because the ground inspection team is coming, and all the grounds are undergoing work at the moment.”The comment comes a day after the tournament, which will primarily require the Shere Bangla National Stadium in Dhaka where the groundstaff have only just started to repair damaged parts of the outfield, was postponed for the fourth time in five months.Earlier in June, Hassan expressed anxiety over the mentions of more Bangladesh players in the ICC Anti-Corruption and Security Unit’s report on corruption in the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL). He said at the time he was not confident of holding the Dhaka Premier League, because he might have to pull up players from clubs after the transfer/recruiting programme is completed. The league was subsequently delayed from July to the end of August, and now it has been shifted to September.Hassan said that the league’s delay was because of the space the BCB needed to create in the calendar to hold the BPL this year. But the fact remains that the Dhaka Premier League clubs were reluctant to compete when the national cricketers were away in Sri Lanka in March, when it was first scheduled to be held. It was two weeks after the BPL ended on February 19.”We needed to correct the slot because of the BPL,” he said. “I personally feel that the Dhaka Premier League is a very important league, and it has the biggest contribution to our cricket. It should get top priority.”We have asked for the full calendar on July 29. I am not too worried if for some reason the games don’t take place. The old thing could be interrupted to make room for the new tournament,” he said.In this case, the schedule of the National Cricket League (NCL), the first-class tournament, has become vulnerable as the Dhaka Premier League could spill over to after the New Zealand tour in October, when the NCL was supposed to be held. BCB are also planning to host the Bangladesh Cricket League, a zonal first-class tournament, and the BPL, after the New Zealand’s tour to Bangladesh.If the BCB president’s comment is anything to go by, Bangladesh’s domestic season could be compromised to prepare and host the World T20. The last time the Dhaka Premier League was not held in a season was when the Under-19 World Cup was held in Bangladesh in 2004.

Katich earns Hampshire victory

Simon Katich guided Hampshire to a comfortable four-wicket CB40 win over Durham with a perfectly judged half-century

15-Jul-2012
ScorecardSimon Katich guided Hampshire to a comfortable four-wicket CB40 win over Durham with a perfectly judged half-century. Australian veteran Katich struck three sixes and a four in his 59 not out as Hampshire got home with 10 balls to spare.Durham, put in on a slow wicket, mustered 200 for 7 from their 40 overs. Gordon Muchall underpinned Durham’s total with a brave and defiant 96 not out, coming in at 41 for 3 with his side finding it hard to get the better of a wet outfield.Muchall struck five fours and two sixes off 99 balls, sharing in an important stand of 83 for the fifth wicket with Dale Benkenstein, who made 31. Paul Collingwood contributed 28 and it might have been more had he not been beaten by a throw from Jimmy Adams at extra cover when the Durham total was 59.Kabir Ali was the most successful of the Hampshire bowlers, taking 3 for 39, removing opener Phil Mustard in his first spell and then returning to get rid of former Hampshire batsman Johann Myburgh and Gareth Breese.When Hampshire responded they were given a solid base by Adams and fellow opener James Vince who put on 73 for the first wicket.Legspinner Scott Borthwick ended the stand when he removed Adams for 33 and later caused concern in the Hampshire camp by coming back to dismiss Sean Ervine and Liam Dawson. But all the while former Durham batsman Katich was in command, so were Hampshire.Katich twice hit Borthwick for six and did the same to Ben Stokes before finding the perfect ally in Dimitri Mascarenhas. With 30 required off 29 balls at the fall of Dawson’s wicket at the start of the 36th over, Katich and Mascarenhas went on the offensive.Mascarenhas lifted Borthwick for another six to take Hampshire in sight of victory before Borthwick got some measure of revenge by him lbw for 22.The sixth wicket pair had put on 28 in 15 balls and with Hampshire now needing two runs, the rest was a formality. Katich faced 62 balls and, for all his late punishment, Borthwick was the pick of the Durham bowlers in terms of wickets, finishing with 4 for 51 from his eight-over stint.

Middlesex wrap up victory over Kent

It took Middlesex only 21 minutes on the third morning to complete a nine-wicket victory against Kent in an County Championship Division Two encounter which attracted an ECB pitch panel to Lord’s

21-Jun-2011
Scorecard
It took Middlesex only 21 minutes on the third morning to complete a nine-wicket victory against Kent in an County Championship Division Two encounter which attracted an ECB pitch panel to Lord’s.Twenty-three wickets fell on the first day of the match, prompting ECB pitch liaison officer Tony Pigott to convene a three-man panel at the end of the second day’s play. Pigott, fellow pitch officer Jack Birkenshaw and ECB pitches consultant Chris Wood interviewed both captains and coaches, both umpires and the Lord’s groundstaff before deciding that the surface did not warrant a points penalty. But the panel did mark the well-grassed pitch “below average” for producing excessive seam movement.Kent employed occasional bowlers Joe Denly and James Goodman when Middlesex resumed on 120 for 1 as they chased 167 for a fourth championship victory of the season. Opener Sam Robson, unbeaten on 59 overnight, pulled Denly for six into the Tavern Stand and also hit him through extra cover off the back foot as he finished on 94 not out.Dan Housego late cut Denly for four and Kent continued to go through the motions as Robson extra-cover drove Goodman to the boundary and then deposited a long hop from Denly for another four.The end came even more quickly when Rob Key, the Kent captain, brought himself on to attempt some leg spin from the Nursery End. Robson first straight drove Key for four and then punched a full toss wide of mid on for the winning boundary.Robson faced 121 balls overall, hitting 12 fours and a six, while Housego finished on 13 not out.
Middlesex took 19 points for the win, which maintained their bid for promotion from the second division, while Kent picked up just three points.

Perera and Jeevan Mendis set up Sri Lankan win

Jeevan Mendis and Thissara Perera combined to hand Sri Lanka A their first win on the tour of Australia

Cricinfo staff04-Jul-2010
Scorecard
Thissara Perera captured his first five-wicket haul in List A matches•Getty Images

Jeevan Mendis and Thissara Perera combined to hand Sri Lanka A their first win on the tour of Australia. Perera bagged five wickets to help limit Australia to 197, and Mendis’ unbeaten 81 overcame an early Sri Lankan wobble to steer them home with 14 balls to spare.Australia opted to bat, and began soundly before they were pegged back. Perera and offspinner Sachithra Senanayake did the early damage to leave Australia tottering at 66 for 5. But Travis Birt, who fought hard with 54, batted well with the lower order to take his team past three figures. Moises Henriques and Xavier Doherty chipped in with cameos to leave themselves with a score that was competitive.And competitive it proved, as the Sri Lankan top three were inside the dressing-room within the first ten overs. But Mendis then stepped in, forging a recovery with captain Chamara Kapugedera in a stand of 63, and added an unbeaten 96 with Kosala Kulasekara who supported him in a match-winning partnership. Mendis’ 81, which comprised five fours, gave Sri Lanka a 1-0 lead in the three-match 50-over series after a spate of losses on the tour.”We expected that Sri Lanka would be stronger in the one-day format, it suits their game a little better but I know we were close, just a little bit short with the bat today,” Australia A captain Bailey said. “The wicket didn’t play as we expected it would, but Travis Birt and Xavier Doherty batted pretty well towards the end and we had some nice little partnerships. We were probably 30 or 40 short because I think 230 or 240 would have been pretty defendable.”Bailey was happy with the way his bowlers went about defending a smallish target. “The way our bowlers bowled was good, they stuck at it all day and kept trying different things and that was really pleasing the way we fought it out,” Bailey said. “For it to take them 48 overs to get the runs was a good effort by us.”

England remain cautious over Jofra Archer's workload for Australia ODIs

“We know what we’re doing with him, and where we’re going. He’s comfortable,” says interim coach Trescothick

Matt Roller15-Sep-2024England will continue to take a cautious approach to Jofra Archer’s workloads during their five upcoming ODIs against Australia, after he bowled just 3.3 overs across the drawn, rain-affected T20I series.Archer has been steadily eased back into international cricket this year, playing two T20Is against Pakistan in May before featuring in all eight of England’s matches at June’s T20 World Cup. He did not play at all for Sussex in the second half of the Blast group stages and was managed carefully through the Hundred, twice being rested to the frustration of Southern Brave captain James Vince.Since the end of the Hundred, he has played two matches: one for Sussex in the quarter-final of the T20 Blast, and the other for England in their defeat at the Utilita Bowl on Wednesday night. He was rested for Friday night’s game in Cardiff and would have played in Sunday’s series decider had it not been washed out by the Manchester rain.He has proved why England have invested so heavily in him, since his comeback from the back and elbow issues that have kept him on the sidelines for so long. He was their joint-highest wicket-taker at June’s World Cup, and on Wednesday night provided a reminder of his skills at the death, clean-bowling Sean Abbott and Xavier Bartlett in successive balls.Related

  • Mahli Beardman added to Australia ODI squad as cover

  • Australia's fast-bowling injuries a reminder of the juggling act to come

  • Rain forces England-Australia T20I decider to be abandoned

  • Harry Brook to captain England for Australia ODIs with Jos Buttler ruled out

Archer is in England’s 15-man squad for the five-match ODI series which starts in Nottingham on Thursday, though may be rested for one or two of them. He has not played a 50-over game in the last 18 months and while he retains long-term ambitions to play red-ball cricket, he has not played a first-class match since May 2021.”Jofra will have to be managed throughout the series,” Jos Buttler told Sky Sports on Sunday. “He’s played a really good stint now of T20 cricket, but obviously you can only bowl four overs in there. There’s a jump in intensity getting loads up to taking full part in an ODI – and of course, as an England fan, to push those loads up hopefully to get back into the Test arena as well.”Marcus Trescothick, England’s interim coach, said that Archer was “comfortable” with the ECB’s long-term plan to manage his workload. “He knows the plan,” Trescothick said. “It’s discussed long in advance of picking the team on each day. We know what we’re doing with him, and where we’re going. He’s comfortable: he knows what he’s doing.”That’s a bigger structure, in terms of what we’re trying to do with Jofra. You come into the series knowing what we’ve got and what we can do with him. That’s an agreed plan between the coaches, directors, physios and all the different people. We’ll still be managing him [in the ODIs] – exactly the same thing.”Trescothick will be part of all three of England’s tours pre-Christmas, as an assistant coach for the Test series in Pakistan and New Zealand, and continuing to deputise for Brendon McCullum during the white-ball tour of the Caribbean in November. “It’s going to be slightly abbreviated, but I’ll be popping into all of them,” he said.He said that his manner as a coach has been informed by his experience working with McCullum, which he hopes will allow for a smooth transition when McCullum takes charge across formats from January. “I’m directing it in a way that I know will be very similar to when he comes in,” Trescothick said. “He’ll talk the same way, manage in the same fashion, and debrief in the same way.”We’ve spent two-and-a-half years together coaching… It’s not copying it, because I’m putting my own stamp on it, but it’s done in a very similar sort of fashion involving the very similar people in terms of the coaches we have around it. It’s the start of what’s going to go on, and it’ll carry on pretty seamlessly when he takes over in January.”

Harmanpreet, Devine among the first nominations for the WBBL overseas draft

Sune Luus, Hayley Matthews and Chamari Athapaththu also named as the first nominees for the inaugural WBBL overseas draft

Alex Malcolm02-Aug-2023Five international captains in Harmanpreet Kaur, Sophie Devine, Sune Luus, Hayley Matthews and Chamari Athapaththu are the first players unveiled as nominees for the inaugural WBBL overseas draft to be held on September 3 ahead of the upcoming season.Four of the five players have been regulars in the WBBL with Devine and Harmanpreet both winning Player of the Tournament awards. Devine is the only player in WBBL history to have been named Player of the Tournament twice doing it in back-to-back seasons in 2019-20 and 2020-21 for two different clubs in Adelaide Strikers and Perth Scorchers, where she is currently the captain.Previously, WBBL clubs have been free to recruit overseas players privately but for the first time this season the WBBL will have an overseas player draft after it was introduced in the men’s BBL last season. Both drafts will be held on the same day on September 3 and will have the same format. Sydney Thunder have the first pick in the draft following the draft lottery on July 13.ESPNcricinfo Ltd

International players will nominate for various salary bands with WBBL Platinum players to earn AUD$110,000 to be paid by the clubs from the AUD$732,000 salary cap. Gold players will earn AUD$90,000, Silver AUD$65,000 and Bronze will earn AUD$40,000.Harmanpreet and Devine will almost certainly be Platinum players available to be selected in the first round. Four of the five will be eligible to be retention picks. Harmanpreet will be available to be retained by Melbourne Renegades as will Matthews and Athapaththu. Matthews only spent one edition there last year, having played five seasons previously with Hobart Hurricanes, but captained Renegades in two matches last season. Athapaththu played two seasons at Renegades in 2017-18 and 2018-19 but played in 2021-22 for Scorchers before returning to Renegades last year.Sophie Devine latches on to a cut•Getty Images

Devine can be retained by Scorchers but not Adelaide Strikers having been captain of the Scorchers for the past three seasons. Luus did play nine games with Brisbane Heat in 2018-19 but WBBL rules state that a player who was not on a team in the previous season can only be retained by a club if they have played at the club for a minimum of two seasons and haven’t been contracted to another team. Luus has only played for one season at Heat.Each club is only allowed one retention pick, meaning Renegades will need to choose between Harmanpreet, Matthews and Athapaththu as to which player they would like to retain. They can opt not to retain any of them. They could also re-draft all three if no other club chooses to take them when they are available.The WBBL will announce further draft nominations in the coming weeks.

Game
Register
Service
Bonus