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India are set to host Australia for a five-match T20I series starting December 9. All five games in the 11-day tour will be played in Mumbai, with the DY Patil Stadium hosting the first two games before the action shifts to the Brabourne Stadium for the next three. The series recommences both teams’ lead-ups to the Women’s T20 World Cup next February.

Schedule

Dec 9: 1st T20I, DY Patil Stadium
Dec 11: 2nd T20I, DY Patil Stadium
Dec 14: 3rd T20I, Brabourne Stadium
Dec 17: 4th T20I, Brabourne Stadium
Dec 20: 5th T20I, Brabourne Stadium

For Australia, this could be the first series where they will miss regular captain Meg Lanning – who opted to take an indefinite mental-health break – following their Commonwealth Games title win, which was where these two teams last met. With Rachael Haynes announcing her retirement, Australia don’t currently have a captain. Alyssa Healy was named vice-captain and with Lanning’s return still not confirmed, Healy could take over the reins for this tour.The Australian players will come into the series on the back of the Women’s Big Bash League, which will conclude on November 26. While some of the Indian players including Pooja Vastrakar and Jemimah Rodrigues decided to play in the WBBL, the likes of Harmanpreet Kaur and Smriti Mandhana pulled out to manage their increasing workload.The series will mark India’s return to the international circuit after their win against Sri Lanka to complete a successful Asia Cup campaign in October. They are scheduled to tour South Africa in the second half of January for a tri-series featuring West Indies, in the build-up to the Women’s T20 World Cup 2023.Australia last toured India for a limited-overs series in 2018 where they whitewashed the hosts 3-0 in ODIs before overcoming India twice in the tri-nation women’s T20 series.

So yet another franchise T20 league…
Yes, the BPL returns for its ninth edition from January 6. It has seven franchise teams that will play 46 games across three cities – Dhaka, Chattogram and Sylhet. The final will be played on February 16 in Dhaka. Yes, it is franchise league, but one of the older ones.Really?
Indeed, the BPL’s inaugural season was in 2012, predating the SPL and the PSL. Barring the Indian players, almost every major T20 superstar has played in this tournament at one time or the other.Like who?
Chris Gayle, Andre Russell, Rashid Khan, Dwayne Bravo, Alex Hales and David Warner have all played the BPL. The likes of Jofra Archer, Nicholas Pooran and Mohammad Nabi too played the BPL early in their careers.So who are the big stars coming to BPL this year?
That’s the thing. The BPL moved quite late in acquiring players for this season. It’s quite packed with the UAE’s ILT20 and South Africa’s SA20 the new tournaments on the calendar, both clashing with the BPL, and Australia’s BBL running concurrently too. Many of the biggest stars were already snapped up elsewhere by the time the BPL draft came around on November 23.So nobody’s coming?
BPL 2023 will have a smattering of Pakistan stars like Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan. Shaheen Shah Afridi is also expected to turn up if and when he regains match fitness, while Dawid Malan and Sikandar Raza, who are both expected to be in the ILT20 too, are understood to have committed to a few games at least for their BPL teams.Need to win a BPL title? Call Mashrafe Mortaza – he’s captained three different teams to victory•Asif Hassan

If the biggest T20 stars are playing elsewhere at the same time, then why should I watch the BPL?
Bangladesh’s biggest T20 stars are all available for the BPL, including Shakib Al Hasan and Mustafizur Rahman. Tamim Iqbal, Mashrafe Mortaza and Mushfiqur Rahim, who have all retired from T20Is, will also be on show this tournament.This tournament will offer players looking to become household names in cricket a stage to strut their stuff – the likes of Curtis Campher, Max O’Dowd, Brandon King, Chamika Karunaratne and Paul van Meekeren.This tournament is also important to Bangladesh’s T20 development, right?
Bangladesh struggle more often than not in T20I cricket, so it feels contradictory that they host a big-money T20 franchise league where so many local players appear every year. But then the BPL franchises rely heavily on overseas players. Domestic cricketers hardly face up to the crunch moments, being mostly kept to bit-part roles. Still, the rare T20 talent is unearthed, like last season when Munim Shahriar showed a glimpse of his big-hitting talent. He was quickly drafted into the T20I side, but is yet to make the step up.The BPL also often has off-the-field problems?
So many of them. From the huge match-fixing scandal of 2013 to teams being unable to pay players on time, to a mix-up on the points table resulting in confusion over who’d made the semis, to teams trying to field players without the required paperwork, it has all happened at the BPL.Last season, Mehidy Hasan Miraz nearly left the competition mid-way after a row with a team official – a saga that involved him being removed as captain and allegations of interference in naming XIs. There was also a last-minute change of team ownership last season, but this especially is par for the course.In total, there have been 27 BPL team owners in nine seasons. Sylhet has had six different owners, while Dhaka has had five, and both will have new ownership this year. Comilla has been around since 2015 although they dropped out for one season in between. The Rajshahi franchise stopped existing since the 2019 season. The constant churn adds to a general feeling of chaos surrounding the tournament.Trying to recall memorable BPL moments… Can you jog my memory?
Gayle and Tamim have hit superb centuries in BPL finals, in 2019 and 2017 respectively.Mortaza won the BPL with an underdog Comilla Victorians in their debut season in 2015, one of different teams he’s led to the title, Dhaka Gladiators and Rangpur Riders being the others.

The party is over. After two months of high-octane cricket thanks to the SA20 and the Women’s T20 World Cup, South African cricket now has to get on with the serious business of a Test series and you can expect it to be heavy going.Although the series takes place following sell-out crowds around the country, the Tests start on Tuesday this week and Wednesday next week, leaving little room for big weekend crowds and there’s no buzz to speak of.That’s understandable for a contest whose context was ripped away when South Africa were confirmed to be out of contention for the World Test Championship final and against an opposition that have not properly competed here since their Test win at St George’s Park in 2007. Since then, West Indies have only toured South Africa once in 2014 and have not won a Test.Temba Bavuma made his debut in that series and though it was unremarkable, it marked a full circle moment for someone who saw cricketers from the Caribbean as role-models. “Growing up, West Indies was the team that I supported,” Bavuma said ahead of the first Test. “They were always on the TV at home and my uncles supported them. I guess there’s always been that [special] sentiment when it comes to West Indies. When I made my debut, I got 10 runs, so that wasn’t a thing to make a big noise about. Hopefully this can go better.”As far as leadership debuts go, Bavuma probably could not have wished for a lower-profile assignment. At the same time as his Test captaincy reign begins, Australia play India, England are in New Zealand and the Women’s Premier League is beginning. It’s safe to say the majority of cricket fans’ eyeballs will be occupied, especially as the outcome of this series has no bearing on the current WTC cycle.Related

• Joseph leads West Indies fightback after Markram century

• Bavuma replaces Elgar as SA's Test captain, but relinquishes T20I job

• 'Temba and I are a good fit' – Conrad explains why Bavuma replaced Elgar as Test captain

• Brathwaite: 'Important that we take control of every hour'

• New-look South Africa gear up for old Test grind

For South Africa it is simply an opportunity to begin again, though their next Test will be in December. By then, it’s likely that former captain Dean Elgar will have retired. He was planning this series as a swansong in both captaincy and playing terms and after he had no choice in the former, he will want to make sure he controls the latter. Elgar’s tenure lasted less than two years and began a brief revival for the Test side, but he was replaced with Bavuma by new coach Shukri Conrad, who has been tasked with turning around a team that was completely outplayed in their last five Tests.South Africa lost series in both England and Australia and were bowled out for under 200 runs in seven out of 11 Test innings. That has necessitated a shake-up of the top six which has seen Sarel Erwee, Rassie van der Dussen, Khaya Zondo and Kyle Verreynne dropped and Aiden Markram and Ryan Rickelton recalled. Also included are Keegan Petersen, who is back from a torn hamstring, and Heinrich Klaasen, who has been picked as first-choice wicketkeeper-batter. The overall make-up of the line-up suggests that South Africa are looking for a more proactive, Bazball-style approach, but with their usual amount of caution. Bavball maybe?”In my experience, the last two series, we know are always tough tours,” Bavuma said. “They separate the good guys from the really good guys and [it] comes with challenges. We didn’t meet up to those challenges. We know we need to score runs to give the bowlers to do what they need to do. We shouldn’t forget the fact we have guys here who played against India last summer when people didn’t back us to do it and we won. And there was no guy who scored 150 or something like that. Hopefully [the series against] West Indies will be another showing of guys going out and doing what they need to do from a team point of view.”To that end, South Africa are also hoping for slightly less hostile pitches than usual, even though the series will be played entirely on the Highveld and there has been heavy rain for several weeks in that area. While Bavuma and Conrad have not specifically requested a particular kind of surface, pitches have been more batter-friendly across the country on the domestic four-day circuit and that is set to continue into the internationals. Whether that will make for more exciting cricket remains to be seen but Bavuma certainly wasn’t selling it that way.Bavuma on South Africa’s Women’s T20 World Cup campaign: ‘We always look for areas everywhere to draw inspiration and energy from and we will be using that in our game’•ICC via Getty Images

Asked what he thought of West Indies, he said, “They play old-fashioned cricket. Batters grind it out. Bowlers are looking to hit their areas outside offstump.” And he’s not wrong. Over the last year, West Indies have the lowest run-rate in Tests among all teams – 2.71. South Africa have the second-lowest – 2.95. Both of them are well behind the format leaders, England, who score at 4.36 to the over and have the best win-loss record in Tests over the last 12 months. For teams like South Africa and West Indies, who are playing catch up, England’s high-risk, high-reward strategy could be an inspiration but its seems Bavuma and co are getting their motivation elsewhere.”All the guys were watching the T20 World Cup final and supporting the ladies. We always look for areas everywhere to draw inspiration and energy from and we will be using that in our game,” Bavuma said, referring to the the South African Women’s team who made history by becoming the country’s first senior side to qualify for a World Cup final.Given that the men were booted out of the last two T20 World Cups in the group stage and are yet to qualify for this year’s 50-over World Cup, it’s fitting that they were taking notes on how their counterparts have exceeded expectation and even echoed the call for more money to be spent on the women’s game.”It’s been big – what the women’s team has been able to achieve over the last while, with the limited resources they have,” Bavuma said. “With performances like this, I hope there will be a lot more support, a lot more care and a lot more invested into the women’s team.”

Babar Azam, Mohammad Rizwan, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Fakhar Zaman and Haris Rauf have all been rested from Pakistan’s squad for their upcoming series of three T20Is against Afghanistan in Sharjah. Imad Wasim has been recalled, while Shadab Khan has been named captain, and star PSL 2023 performers Saim Ayub and Ihsanullah have all received call-ups to the national team for the first time.The new PCB selection committee for the national senior men’s team, headed by Haroon Rasheed, has formed a new policy on managing workloads and player rotation. With the series against Afghanistan not a part of the ICC’s Future Tours Programme, it gave the selectors a chance to try out their new plan.”Afghanistan series is the training ground to test our youngsters,” Najam Sethi, the PCB chief, said in a press interaction on Monday. “I am not worried about winning or losing to Afghanistan – if we find few talented youngsters, it will serve the purpose. The series is largely about blooding our new talent and developing them.”Babar will remain our captain in all the three formats. I have taken all the senior players into confidence and they all will be part of the team in future, there’s no question about this. Shadab Khan has been the vice-captain and an automatic choice to take captaincy in Babar’s absence, so he will lead the side. He is a wonderful allrounder, scoring runs, taking wickets and showing great temperament leading Islamabad United [in the PSL]. So he is the right man to lead the young side.”ESPNcricinfo Ltd

ESPNcricinfo had earlier reported that the workload management of top players was a major point of discussion at a recent selection committee meeting, as they looked ahead to a year that has both an ODI Asia Cup and an ODI World Cup. Each player’s workload was assessed in terms of matches played over the last two years, and Babar, Rizwan and Haris were highlighted as three players who had played a lot of cricket.Since January 2021, Rizwan has played 150 matches across formats (international and domestic cricket) – the most after Rashid Khan’s 157 – while Babar has played 127 and Rauf 125.”The selection committee has followed the standard rotation policy by resting the leading performers and providing high-performing domestic performers with opportunities to demonstrate their talent and potential at the international level,” Rasheed said after announcing the squad. “This will also allow us to test the temperament and abilities of these players and helping us to strengthen our pool of players as we look forward to building and preparing a formidable side for next year’s T20 World Cup in the West Indies and United States.”But we also have ensured that we select a side that is equally strong and capable of winning the series against a strong Afghanistan side for whom Sharjah is like a second home. And to achieve that, we have retained seven players from the last series, recalled four experienced cricketers and clubbed them with four uncapped players to make the 15-member side truly a mixture of youth and experience.”

Star PSL performers Saim Ayub and Ihsanullah rewarded

Among the new faces, Ayub has been the most impressive this PSL, scoring 309 runs in ten matches for Peshawar Zalmi at a strike rate of 167.02.Tayyab Tahir has shown glimpses of becoming an explosive T20 batter, hitting 137 runs at strike rate of 144.21 for Karachi Kings. This after scoring 413 runs at a strike rate of 138 at the National T20 Cup.Multan Sultans have brought out a fast-bowling sensation in Ihsanullah, who has 20 wickets in the ongoing PSL season, while Lahore Qalandars’ Zaman Khan has taken 12 wickets so far and has made a name as a specialist death bowler.Of the more familiar names, Abdullah Shafique has made an impression in the PSL too, with 193 runs at a strike rate of 144.02; Faheem Ashraf has returned after playing match-winning knocks for United this season, and has 210 runs at a strike rate of 147.88; Imad’s return follows his 404 runs in ten innings at a strike rate of 170.46 (plus nine wickets) for Kings.Pakistan squad for T20I series against Afghanistan: Shadab Khan (capt), Abdullah Shafique, Azam Khan (wk), Faheem Ashraf, Iftikhar Ahmed, Ihsanullah, Imad Wasim, Mohammad Haris (wk), Mohammad Nawaz, Mohammad Wasim, Naseem Shah, Saim Ayub, Shan Masood, Tayyab Tahir, Zaman Khan

Mahmudullah and Rubel Hossain have been included in the 27-member preliminary squad for the upcoming Test series against Sri Lanka. Both were dropped from the squad that was picked for the one-off Test against Zimbabwe in February, which was Bangladesh’s last Test before the Covid-19 pandemic brought the sport to a halt.Opener Saif Hassan, who tested positive for Covid-19 twice in the last two weeks, has been kept in the squad with another test pending later this week. All the selected players will be subjected to several Covid-19 tests during the coming week while residing at the Pan Pacific Sonargaon Hotel in central Dhaka, from where they will commute daily to the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium for training. This comprises the BCB’s biosecure bubble.Mahmudullah hasn’t made a fifty in his last four Tests, while Hossain was picked for the Rawalpindi Test against Pakistan earlier this year – his first Test in one-and-a-half years – before being dropped for the next Test at home. Hossain has the worst bowling average among those who have bowled at least 4000 deliveries in Test cricket.Al-Amin Hossain and Soumya Sarkar have also been brought back. They were also dropped for the one-off Test against Zimbabwe.Nine more players have been called up from outside the last squad. Among the first-time picks in a preliminary squad for the Test side are allrounders Mohammad Saifuddin and Mahedi Hasan. Saifuddin has been impressive in ODIs and T20Is in the last couple of years but the jury is still out on Hasan at the highest level, despite his superb numbers in domestic first-class competitions.The selectors have also called up middle-order batsman Mosaddek Hossain, openers Imrul Kayes and Shadman Islam, left-arm spinner Sunzamul Islam, pacer Shafiul Islam and wicketkeeper Nurul Hasan.Bangladesh’s preliminary squad: Mominul Haque, Tamim Iqbal, Mushfiqur Rahim, Mahmudullah, Shadman Islam, Liton Das, Mehidy Hasan Miraz, Mohammad Mithun, Soumya Sarkar, Taijul Islam, Al-Amin Hossain, Rubel Hossain, Mustafizur Rahman, Imrul Kayes, Taskin Ahmed, Nurul Hossain, Shafiul Islam, Yasir Ali, Nayeem Hasan, Abu Jayed, Ebadot Hossain, Khaled Ahmed, Najmul Hossain Shanto, Mosaddek Hossain, Hasan Mahmud, Mohammad Saifuddin, Saif Hassan

South African cricket resumed after almost seven months of inaction due to the coronavirus pandemic but Covid-19 has made its effects felt immediately. The Eastern-Cape based Warriors had to withdraw six members of their squad from their opening fixture against the Knights at the Mangaung Oval, after two players tested positive and four others were in direct contact with them.The players were tested last Thursday, before the Warriors squad traveled to Bloemfontein, and no other players came into contact with the six.As a result, the Warriors have had to apply to CSA for an exemption because they have missed the transformation target for this round. The Warriors had to take the field against the Knights with only five players of colour, including two black Africans, instead of the stipulated six players of colour, including three black Africans. They have asked the body to be lenient in exceptional circumstances.However, they were shown none of the same by the Knights’ opening batsmen, who put the Warriors attack to the sword. Jacques Snyman became the first batsman in decade to score a century before lunch in a franchise four-day game – a feat last achieved by Rilee Rossouw in 2010 – and was eventually run out for 109. Snyman shared a 164-run opening stand with Matthew Kleinveldt, who was dismissed for 73.

Lachlan Stevens has been named head coach of the Melbourne Renegades WBBL team and the Victoria Women’s team amid the restructuring at Cricket Victoria.The Renegades role is a comeback for Stevens who was previously their head coach in the first two seasons of the WBBL.Most recently he had been interim head coach of the Victoria men’s team following Andrew McDonald’s appointment as Justin Langer’s assistant with the national side.Stevens replaces Tim Coyle in the Renegades position after he was let go earlier this month while with Victoria he fills the role vacated by David Hemp.”It’s a great time to be returning to the women’s game given the growth female cricket has enjoyed in recent seasons,” Stevens said. “It’s always enjoyable to watch and work with players at all stages of their careers and I’m honoured to be able to work with another Victorian cricket side. I look forward to watching all of them going about their training and playing.””I was lucky enough to be a part of the Renegades in the first two seasons of the WBBL and I’m looking forward to catching up with several of those players again in the not too distant future. I can’t wait to watch the WBBL up close again with all the progress that’s been made in the game over the last three years.”Renegades, Victoria and Australia allrounder Sophie Molineux admitted it had been a shock to see Coyle leave his job.”There’s a lot going in, not just in sport, but it definitely hit home when we saw Coyley go,” she said. “The last couple of years at the Renegades he’s done a massive amount of work to get us into position to play in semi-finals and be really close to the grand finals.”We’ll always be thankful for what he’s done. The group has definitely got some really sad emotions about him not being able to come back.”The Victoria team includes Meg Lanning and Ellyse Perry when they aren’t on international duty.

Cricket Ireland chief executive Warren Deutrom has conceded that there is a “high risk” that home series against New Zealand and Pakistan this summer will fall victim to the coronavirus pandemic.The start of the Irish season has already been pushed back to the end of May, meaning that Bangladesh’s scheduled tour for three ODIs and four T20Is has been postponed, and with international travel severely limited as things stand, it is possible that Ireland will not play a single home fixture this summer.New Zealand are due to play three ODIs and three T20Is from June 19, while Pakistan are scheduled to play two T20Is in July in between series in the Netherlands and England.”We’re all going to have to take a pragmatic approach – we just don’t know what’s going to happen even if sport does get back up and running in June,” Deutrom said. “With regards to international cricket, we remain in a wait-and-see holding pattern. Clearly, there is a high risk that our men’s home series against New Zealand and Pakistan… may be postponed if government restrictions remain in place.”Of course, some of the challenge we face in trying to bring some degree of certainty are no different to any other sport with international opposition – for example attaining visas for visiting teams and their support staff may not be possible as the Department of Foreign Affairs and the UK Foreign Office are currently not processing visa applications.”In addition, each country will take the advice of their home government, so teams may not even be in a position to travel to Europe. More specific to our situation, both New Zealand and Pakistan are visiting multiple countries on their tours, so that adds an extra layer of complexity. Then there are more logistical issues such as hotel and international flight bookings, the movement and staffing of broadcast facilities, and complying with the restrictions that may still exist around large group gatherings.”Two weeks ago, NZC chief executive David White indicated that the tour to Ireland, Scotland, the Netherlands and the Caribbean was “most unlikely”, while PCB chairman Ehsan Mani told the board’s podcast this week that “preparation for the tour might become an issue if this keeps going the way it is.””It will also depend to a large degree on what the situation is like in England and Ireland,” Mani said. “If those series are disrupted, it will have a lot of impact. [The national boards] will also obviously have a huge financial impact. To reschedule those [tours] to fit into a future FTP will become a big challenge.”Irish cricket faces a further obstacle in that it has no permanent stadium, and relies heavily on temporary infrastructure at home fixtures. “Not only does this extend our lead-times for series preparation,” Deutrom said, “but also – at this time of crisis – we are aware that there is a shortage of temporary or portable infrastructure on the market as most is understandably in use by [Irish and Northern Irish health services].”The groundsman at Malahide – the ground near Dublin due to host both fixtures against Pakistan – has been temporarily repatriated to England by the local club, and Deutrom has previously indicated Cricket Ireland would monitor its readiness to host international cricket once restrictions are lifted.Deutrom also confirmed that the board has taken measures to preserve jobs and “to buffer the organisation through at least the next two months” with revenue shortfalls expected through loss of broadcast and sponsorship revenue. All non-playing staff have taken a 20% wage cut for April and May, while Deutrom himself will take a 25% cut for the rest of the calendar year.Centrally-contracted players have not been asked to take a cut on their retainer, on account of the losses already incurred due to the absence of match fees. “To ask them to take a further cut to their base remuneration… would be unreasonable,” Deutrom said.It remains to be seen how well-equipped Cricket Ireland is to deal with the crisis financially, with the annual report for 2019 due to be published within the next few weeks. The board’s 2018 accounts showed that cash reserves had been depleted to just €13,470 (14,700 USD approx), with the achievement of Test status leading to vastly increased costs, while Mani has warned that many boards will “feel the pinch” of the crisis, not least if the T20 World Cup is postponed.

Adelaide Strikers

Last season KnockoutCoach Jason GillespieSquad Danny Briggs (Eng), Wes Agar, Alex Carey, Harry Conway, Travis Head, Spencer Johnson, Rashid Khan (Afg), Michael Neser, Harry Nielsen, Liam O’Connor, Matt Renshaw, Phil Salt (Eng), Liam Scott, Matt Short, Peter Siddle, Cameron Valente, Jake Weatherald, Daniel Worrall, Jon WellsIn Danny Briggs, Spencer Johnson, Matt Renshaw (Heat), Liam Scott, Daniel Worrall (Stars)
Out Jake Lehmann, Billy Stanlake (Stars), Cameron White, Nick Winter (Hurricanes)

Brisbane Heat

Last season 7thCoach Darren LehmannSquad Xavier Bartlett, James Bazley, Max Bryant, Joe Burns, Tom Cooper, Lewis Gregory (Eng), Sam Heazlett, Matthew Kuhnemann, Marnus Labuschagne, Ben Laughlin, Dan Lawrence (Eng), Chris Lynn, Simon Milenko, Morne Morkel, Jimmy Peirson, Lachlan Pfeffer, Mujeeb Ur Rahman (Afg), Mark Steketee, Connor Sully, Mitch Swepson, Jack Wildermuth, Matthew Willans, Jack WoodIn Xavier Bartlett, James Bazley, Tom Cooper (Renegades), Lewis Gregory, Dan Lawrence, Simon Milenko (Hurricanes), Morne Morkel (Scorchers), Lachlan Pfeffer, Connor Sully, Jack Wildermuth (Renegades), Matthew Willans, Jack Wood
Out Ben Cutting (Thunder), Josh Lalor (Renegades), Zahir Khan (Stars), Matt Renshaw (Strikers), James Pattinson (Renegades), Jack Prestwidge (Renegades), AB de Villiers, Tom Banton, Cameron Gannon (Scorchers)

Hobart Hurricanes

Last season EliminatorCoach Adam GriffithSquad Scott Boland, Johan Botha, Tim David, Jake Doran, Nathan Ellis, James Faulkner, Peter Handscomb, Colin Ingram (SA), Will Jacks (Eng), Caleb Jewell, Sandeep Lamichhane (Nep), Dawid Malan (Eng), Ben McDermott, Riley Meredith, David Moody, Mitch Owen, Tim Paine, Wil Parker, Keemo Paul (WI), D’Arcy Short, Matthew Wade, Charlie Wakim, Nick Winter, Mac WrightIn Johan Botha, Tim David (Scorchers), Peter Handscomb (Stars), Sandeep Lamichhane (Stars), Colin Ingram, Will Jacks, Dawid Malan, Mitch Owen, Tim Paine, Wil Parker, Keemo Paul, Nick Winter (Strikers)
Out George Bailey, Jarod Freeman, Simon Milenko (Heat), David Miller, Qais Ahmad, Tom Rogers (Sixers), Clive Rose, Aaron Summers

Melbourne Renegades

Last season 8thCoach Michael KlingerSquad Noor Ahmad (Afg), Cameron Boyce, Brody Couch, Zak Evans, Aaron Finch, Jake Fraser-McGurk, Sam Harper, Marcus Harris, Mackenzie Harvey, Peter Hatzoglou, Jon Holland, Benny Howell (Eng), Josh Lalor, Shaun Marsh, Mohammad Nabi (Afg), James Pattinson, Mitch Perry, Jack Prestwidge, Kane Richardson, Rilee Rossouw (SA), Will Sutherland, Imran Tahir (SA), Imad Wasim (Pak), Beau WebsterIn Noor Ahmad, Brody Couch, Benny Howell, Peter Hatzoglou, Josh Lalor (Heat), James Pattinson (Heat), Mitch Perry, Jack Prestwidge (Heat), Rilee Rossouw, Imran Tahir, Imad Wasim
Out Dan Christian (Sixers), Tom Cooper (Strikers), Jack Wildermuth (Heat), Harry Gurney, Richard Gleeson, Joe Mennie, Samit Patel, Andrew Fekete, Tom Andrews, Brayden Stepien, Nathan McSweeney

Melbourne Stars

Last season Runners upCoach David HusseySquad Hilton Cartwright, Jackson Coleman, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Ben Dunk, Andre Fletcher (WI), Seb Gotch, Liam Hatcher, Clint Hinchliffe, Dilbar Hussain (Pak), Zahir Khan (Afg), Nick Larkin, Nic Maddinson, Glenn Maxwell, Jono Merlo, Lance Morris, Tom O’Connell, Nicholas Pooran (WI), Will Pucovski, Billy Stanlake, Marcus Stoinis, Adam ZampaIn Andre Fletcher, Liam Hatcher (Thunder), Nicholas Pooran, Billy Stanlake (Strikers), Will Pucovski, Zahir Khan (Heat)
Out Peter Handscomb (Hurricanes), Daniel Worrall (Strikers), Haris Rauf, Sandeep Lamichhane (Hurricanes)

Perth Scorchers

Last season 6thCoach Adam VogesSquad Ashton Agar, Fawad Ahmed, Cameron Bancroft, Jason Behrendorff, Joe Clarke (Eng), Cameron Gannon, Cameron Green, Aaron Hardie, Josh Inglis, Matthew Kelly, Liam Livingstone (Eng), Mitchell Marsh, Colin Munro (NZ), Joel Paris, Kurtis Patterson, Jhye Richardson, Jason Roy (Eng), Ashton Turner, Andrew Tye, Sam WhitemanIn Joe Clarke, Cameron Gannon (Heat), Colin Munro, Jason Roy
Out Tim David (Hurricanes), Liam Guthrie, Nick Hobson, Chris Jordan, Jaron Morgan, Morne Morkel (Heat)

Sydney Sixers

Last season ChampionsCoach Greg ShippardSquad Sean Abbott, Jake Ball (Eng), Nick Bertus, Carlos Brathwaite (WI), Jackson Bird, Dan Christian, Ben Dwarshuis, Jack Edwards, Mickey Edwards, Moises Henriques, Jason Holder (WI), Daniel Hughes, Hayden Kerr, Nathan Lyon, Ben Manenti, Lawrence Neil-Smith, Steve O’Keefe, Josh Philippe, Lloyd Pope, Tom Rogers, Gurinder Sandhu, Jordan Silk, Mitchell Starc, James Vince (Eng)In Jake Ball, Nick Bertus, Carlos Brathwaite, Dan Christian (Renegades), Jason Holder, Lawrence Neil-Smith, Tom Rogers (Hurricanes), Gurinder Sandhu (Thunder) Mitchell Starc
Out Tom Curran, Daniel Fallins, Josh Hazlewood, Steven Smith

Sydney Thunder

Last season ChallengerCoach Shane BondSquad Sam Billings (Eng), Jonathan Cook, Ben Cutting, Oliver Davies, Brendan Doggett, Callum Ferguson, Matt Gilkes, Chris Green, Alex Hales (Eng), Baxter Holt, Usman Khawaja, Nathan McAndrew, Adam Milne (NZ), Arjun Nair, Alex Ross, Daniel Sams, Jason Sangha, Tanveer Sangha, Chris TremainIn Sam Billings, Ben Cutting (Heat), Baxter Holt, Adam Milne
Out Liam Bowe, Jay Lenton, Chris Morris, Gurinder Sandhu (Sixers)

In its most high-profile move against age fraud, the BCCI has proposed an amnesty scheme accompanied by a system of punishments for offenders. Under this, registered players will get an opportunity to voluntarily declare any age fraud and avoid suspension if they provide their actual date of birth, but face bans if they are found to have breached this.A press statement from the board on Monday said that if the BCCI discovered such a fraud after the deadline of declaration – September 15, 2020 – the players could be banned for two years and barred from any age-group tournaments even after the ban ended. That rule would be both applicable both at the India and the state levels.ALSO READ: Indian cricket’s age-fraud problemAge fraud, as the BCCI said, has been a “menace: in Indian cricket for long specifically at age-group level: Under-16, Under 19 and Under 23 (both men women categories).” ESPNcricinfo understands that in the last two years itself, the BCCI has suspended 236 players – 210 men and 26 women. A total of 159 players were detected to have committed age fraud in 2019-20 season.Rahul Dravid, the former India captain who is now director of cricket at the National Cricket Academy, has long considered age fraud as “seriously detrimental” to the culture of Indian cricket. Dravid reiterated that stance in the media release on Monday.”Age fraud is a serious matter and is detrimental to the health of the sport,” Dravid said. “Many youngsters who are supposed to be playing in a particular age group fail to make it owing to age fraud. With the BCCI taking stern actions to curb this, it is only advisable for the players to come forward and abide by the directives issued by the board.”Sourav Ganguly, the BCCI president, has underlined his commitment to “providing a level-playing field across all age groups”. “The BCCI has been taking steps to counter age fraud and are now introducing even stricter measures from the upcoming domestic season. Those who do not voluntarily disclose their misdemeanour will be punished heavily and will be banned for two years,” he said.How does the age verification process work?As part of the age verification process, at Under-19 level, the player has to submit his birth certificate along with as many documents concerning his school/college educational reports. For the Under-16 category, the BCCI conducts a one-time TW3 (Tanner-Whitehouse3) bone maturation test at the Under-16 level only. The TW3 test, adopted by the BCCI in 2012, allows accurate estimation of a player’s age by the analysis of x-rays of the lower end of the player’s forearm.Going forward, from the 2020-21 season, the BCCI said only players aged between 14 and 16 will be permitted to register for the Under-16 level. For the Under-19 category, if a player’s birth certificate has a date two years after his actual date of birth, there will a cap imposed on the number of years the player can feature at that level.Nonetheless, players have managed to bypass these rules. Last year, the BCCI banned Rasikh Salam, the Jammu & Kashmir pace bowler who represented Mumbai Indians in one IPL game, for two years for submitting a faulty birth certificate when registering with the board. At the time, he was part of the India Under-19 side to play a triangular one-day series in Bangladesh.ALSO READ: Age-fudging no different from fixing – Rahul DravidThe BCCI introduced a 24-hour helpline last year (see footnote) to report age and domicile fraud. Upon receiving complaints, the BCCI has launched investigations that reach out to the players’ schools, hospitals of birth, local municipalities and panchayats etc. to verify the documentation provided.Domicile fraudThe voluntary disclosure scheme will not apply to domicile fraud, which also carries a two-year ban. The number of such cases might have gone up with newer states qualifying to play Ranji Trophy in accordance with Lodha reforms. So, a player qualified to play for a more established state might find it easier to get selected for newer states.The BCCI also said players under the age of 14 would not be allowed to play in Under-16 tournaments. And those whose birth was registered more than two years after the date of birth would be allowed to play only a certain number of years in the Under-19 events. It didn’t spell out the restriction.