Masters Champions League 2016 schedule announced

Masters Champions League will consist of six teams at the start where a total 90 players will be taking part with 15 members per squad. Only former international cricketers who have now retired from all forms of the sport can participate in the tournament. The Emirates Cricket Board has given approval of MCL for a period of ten years. Tournament’s inaugural matches will be held in Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Sharjah over two weeks. The Masters Champions League will provide its fans an opportunity to enjoy the game of their favorite cricket stars that do not play now, once again in the shortest form of cricket. The tournament will be played from January 28 to February 13, 2016. The cricket legends like Adam Gilchrist, Brian Lara and Jacques Kallis are to feature in the league. The inaugural season will be played on round robin basis. The semi-finals will be played between four squads with top points and the final will be contested between the two winners.

Masters Champions League 2016 Teams and their key players

Team                                                            Main Players

Leo Lions                              Brian Lara, Herschelle Gibbs, Robin Peterson

Gemini Arabians                   Muttiah Muralitharan, Virender Sehwag, KumarSangakkara 

Libra Legends                       Jacques Kallis, Brad Hogg, Sourav Ganguly

Sagittarius Strikers                Adam Gilchrist, Shane Bond, Mahela Jayawardene

Virgo Super Kings                 Jonty Rhodes, Azhar Mahmood, Brett Lee

Capricorn Commanders         Andrew Symonds, Abdul Razzaq, Michael Vaughan

Schedule of Masters Champions League

Jan 28-Libra Legends v Gemini Arabians-7:30 PM Local Time-Dubai

Jan 29-3:00 PM–Dubai-Capricorn Commanders v Leo Lions; 7:30 PM–Dubai-Virgo Super Kings v Sagitttarius Strikers

Jan 30-3:00 PM–Dubai-Gemini Arabians v Leo Lions; 7:30 PM–Dubai-Sagitttarius Strikers v Capricorn Commanders

Feb 3-3:00 PM–Sharjah-Libra Legends v Virgo Super Kings; 7:30 PM–Sharjah-Gemini Arabians v Capricorn Commanders

Feb 4-3:00 PM–Sharjah-Libra Legends v Sagitttarius Strikers; 7:30 PM–Sharjah-Leo Lions v Virgo Super Kings

Feb 5-3:00 PM–Sharjah-Sagitttarius Strikers v Gemini Arabians ; 7:30 PM–Sharjah-Capricorn Commanders v Libra Legends

Feb 6-3:00 PM–Sharjah-Gemini Arabians v Virgo Super Kings; 7:30 PM–Sharjah-Leo Lions v Sagitttarius Strikers

Feb 7-3:00 PM–Sharjah-Virgo Super Kings v Capricorn Commanders; 7:30 PM–Sharjah-Libra Legends v Leo Lions

Feb 11 - Semi Final Team 1 v Team 4 - 7:30 PM - Dubai

Feb 12 - Semi Final Team 2 v Team 3 - 7:30 PM - Dubai

Feb 13 - Final - 7:30 PM - Dubai

 

Seven companies offer bid for Pakistan Super League franchises

Technical bids for Pakistan Super League franchises of interested parties were opened at the Pakistan Cricket Board headquarters on Wednesday in Lahore where seven companies participated in the bidding process. The franchises rights of Karachi, Lahore, Peshawar, Islamabad and Quetta are being offered for a period of ten years. Only seven parties presented formal proposals after a number of companies bought the bidding documents which include companies from the Middle East as well.

  

The companies Mobilink, Haier, ARY Media Group, Omar Associates, Arif Habib Group as well as two overseas companies including UAE’s Venture Capital and Qatar’s Premier Oil Company QALCO are in the race officially according to the news. A PSL official said that we are happy that bidding fight of PSL franchises has been participated by seven credible companies who has strong and clean backgrounds. PSL Governing Council has accepted all seven technical bids and financial bids will be opened on Thursday.

The official added that it is pleasing for us that six out of seven parties have submitted bids for all franchises while only Arif Habib Group is interested for Karachi which shows that people are interested in what PSL has to offer. It is still to see that whether the reserved price has been met by any of the bidders when the financial bids open.

 

The official explained that we will hold an auction between all seven parties if none of them meet the price and if the reserved price for a certain franchise is offered by more than one party then there will be rebidding between them and the highest bidder will be given the right. The PSL will be held from February 4-24 in Dubai and Sharjah with likes of Chris Gayle, Kevin Pietersen, Kieron Pollard, Shane Watson, Lasith Malinga, Dawyne Bravo, Angelo Mathews and others participating in the event.    

Australia hits close win over New Zealand in historic day-night Test

Australia earned a stunning three-wicket win against New Zealand at the Adelaide Oval on Sunday within three days in the historic first ever day-night Test match. Shaun Marsh had steered Australia close to win before losing his wicket on 49 and the fighting Kiwis stretched the match to a tense finish under the lights by also removing Peter Nevill leaving Australia seven wickets down.

The crowd took a sigh of relief when Peter Siddle smashed winning runs with Mitchell Starc as his batting partner to take a 2-0 series win over the fearless Black Caps. The first Brisbane Test was won by Australia by 208 runs and the second Perth Test was ended in a draw. The match was an opportunity for Marsh whose inconsistent batting performances over his four years at Test level were hindering him to secure a place in the Australian team.

The pink ball especially made for day-night Tests left the bat behind in a three-day Test which attracted total viewers of 123,736. The objective of day-night Test is to attract the crowds back to the long form of the game. It was the first Test at the Adelaide Oval in 64 years that ended in three-days since the West Indies defeated Australia by six wickets. The hosts lost their key batsmen Smith and David Warner within seven balls after they were set a target of 187 to win.

Smith played a pull shot off Doug Bracewell towards Santner on the leg-side but he missed the skied chance when Australian skipper was on two. However Southee caught Warner off Bracewell 12 balls later. Kiwis got another breakthrough when Boult trapped Smith leg before seven balls later. Australia still needed 121 for victory when Smith was dismissed after scoring just 14 with his team on shaky 66 for three. New Zealand was earlier bowled out for 208 taking a lead of 186 in the day’s first session.

Pakistan set to combat England to maintain second T20 spot in rankings

Pakistan side will be looking to defend its second Twenty20 rankings of International Cricket Council under captaincy of Shahid Afridi when they face England in the three-match series commencing from Thursday in the UAE. The Misbahul Haq-led Pakistan side bagged the Test series 2-0 while England defeated Pakistan 3-1 in the ODI series. The ultimate winner of the series will be decided how T20 series comes out. Pakistan is leading 8^th place England by 14 points which means Pakistan must win the series to stay on the second position.

The top position is in possession of Sri Lanka as the current world champions. If Pakistan defeats England 2-1 then status of rankings of both the teams will remain the same. However if England defeats Pakistan 2-1 then they will climb to the 6^th position and Pakistan will fall to fourth place. If Pakistan win the series 3-0 they will sit on the top with Sri Lanka with 125 points but still will occupy the second position by a fraction of a point. However if England defeats Pakistan 3-0 then England will rise to the 4^th position and Pakistan will drop down to 6^th position.