Untitled

The Perth Scorchers secured their third BBL crown with a fantastic nine wicket victory over Sydney Sixer’s. Chasing the target of 142 the Scorchers reached it easily with 25 balls to spare. Openers Michael Klinger and Sam Whiteman destroyed the Sixer’s attack. Klinger hammered five sixes and five fours in his 71 off 49 balls. Sam Whiteman also contributed well he scored 41 off 21 with five fours & three sixes but he couldn’t carry on as he was stumped by Brad Haddin. It was Scorchers third title in six BBL season. English man Ian Bell who came after the fall of first wicket remained unbeaten at 31 off 25 along with the destructive opener Michael Klinger. While at bowling first in the finals Scorchers Jhye Richardson and English player Tim Bresnan setup the victory by taking 3 wickets each and broken the spine of Sixer’s batting. Richardson finished with 3 for 30 while Bresnan took 3/40 Mitchell Johnson who was the star bowler for Scorchers didn’t disappoint fans as he continued his lethal bowling and finished his four overs spell with one wicket and just 13 runs. Although for Sixer’s Brad Haddin with 38 off 25 and South Africa’s Johan Botha with 32 off 25 showed some spirit and took the team’s score to fine score. This was Perth Scorchers third title, they won it two times before in 2013-14 and 2014-15.

David Warner, who scored an aggressive 179 in the fifth ODI against pakistan has seized the top spot for the first time in ODI rankings for batsmen. The Aussie opener leapfrogged AB de Villiers and Virat Kohli to secure the no 1 position. The left-hander had a stupendous run in recent matches, he scored 367 runs in the 5 match ODI series against pakistan. Warner who struck a destructive 179 off 128 balls to help win the final ODI at Adelaide by 57 runs is aiming to continue with his tremendous form. The belligerent opener has amassed 1755 runs in 28 matches since January 2016 stroking nine centuries in which the six centuries came in last 11 matches. With the Champions Trophy coming up he hopes to continue his outstanding form. “It’s a huge year for ODI cricket with the ICC Champions Trophy later this year and I’m hoping I can take my good form into that tournament and help Australia to lift the Trophy for the third time,” Warner said. “It’s always a great honour and very nice to receive these accolades but from my perspective my job is to put our team into winning positions and I’ve been fortunate that I’ve been able to do that lately,” he added. Travis Head who scored his maiden ton in the same match rose 42 places in the rankings and settled on 38th place. Pakistan’s Babar Azam who scored a century in the last ODI against Australia has reached the 10th position while his team-mate Shareek Khan who had a decent series with 250 runs including three fifties also reached his career high 53rd rank. Among the bowlers Mitchell Starc who took nine wickets in the series against pakistan has gained two positions and reached at the 2nd spot right behind New Zealander Trent Boult. India’s middle order sensation Kedar Jadhav who scored 232 runs and won the man of the series award against England was the biggest gainer of the week as he jumped 57 spots to sit on 47th position. Hardik Pandya the lower order batsman has climbed 111 places to reach the 132th spot. English opener Jason Roy also gained strong positions as he jumped into top 20 for the first time. In the team rankings India leapfrogged New Zealand to No 3 while England remained at No 5.