Round-up for the week ending 3rd December

The Big Bash League doesn’t get underway for another fortnight, but Australian grade cricket has already well and truly entered T20 mode. Michael Burgess was in action in South Australia’s West End Twenty20 Cup on Saturday, whilst Delray Rawlins and Ollie Robinson were involved in New South Wales’ Kingsgrove Sports Twenty20 Cup on Sunday.

After a hundred in the previous weekend’s two-day fixture, Michael continued his good form with the bat on Saturday. His 23 off 16 balls at the top of the order set up Adelaide University  for a match-winning total of 137-8. Two stumpings for Michael during the East Torrens innings helped dismiss the visitors for just 75.

On the east coast, Delray’s Sydney side had two matches on Sunday. In the first against Manly-Warringah, he made one with the bat but then took 1-25 with the ball as Sydney recorded a 20 runs victory.

Delray’s second match of the day was against St. George and saw him come up against Sussex teammate Ollie Robinson for the second time this winter. Sydney batted first and made 157-6 from their 20 overs. Delray again scored one, whilst Ollie’s three overs went for 44 runs. Ollie fared better with the bat, making 43 from 24 balls at number four as St George cruised to a seven wicket victory. Delray recorded figures of 0-35 from his four overs.

Earlier in the week, George Garton formed part of the England Lions team that played a three-day match against Queensland in Brisbane. The 20-year-old didn’t have much luck with the ball during Queensland’s first innings, going wicketless as the home side racked up 396-8 in 81 overs. George did pick up a wicket in Queensland’s second innings, however, as the match ended in a draw.

In South Africa, David Wiese turned out for the Titans in Friday’s Ram Slam T20 Challenge fixture against the Warriors in Benoni. In a match reduced to 13 overs-a-side, David wasn’t required to bat as the Titans racked up a monstrous 172-3. He picked up a wicket in his only over of the reply, as the Warriors fell 56 runs short of their target.

The Bangladesh Premier League entered its final full week of group matches last week. The much-anticipated clash between Jofra Archer and Luke Wright finally took place on Monday as Khulna Titans met Rajshahi Kings in Chittagong. Jofra did not bat as the Titans made 213-5 batting first, but he did take a stunning catch on the boundary to dismiss Luke for one and took 1-15 off three overs as the Kings were dismissed for 145.

Jofra played again the next day as the Titans met Comilla Victorians, but was on the losing side this time. He made five as the Titans were skittled for 111 and then bowled three tight overs, conceding just 16 runs as the Victorians romped to a nine-wicket win.

Luke was in action twice more. He made a breezy 21-ball 25 during the Kings’ 33 run victory over the Chittagong Vikings on Wednesday but wasn’t able to trouble the scorers as the Kings’ slid to a 99-run defeat against the Dhaka Dynamites on Friday.

Luke came up against Stiaan van Zyl in Wednesday’s game, with the South African making 27 off 29 deliveries in his second of three appearances last week. In the first, on Monday, Stiaan made two from number four as the Vikings lost by seven wickets to Dhaka Dynamites. In the third on Sunday, he made 11 as the Vikings suffered a ten-wicket defeat to Sylhet Sixers.

With four group matches left to play in this year’s BPL, Jofra’s Titans are guaranteed a place in this week’s semi-finals but Luke’s Kings and Stiaan’s Vikings sides are out of the reckoning.

Finally, we head to Dubai where Stuart Whittingham was on international duty for Scotland having been reinstated to the side after clarification on new ICC eligibility regulations. The Scots took on Ireland in a three-day ICC Intercontinental match and Stuart highlighted his worth by taking eight wickets in the match, including 5-70 in Ireland’s second innings. Despite Stuart’s performance, Scotland lost by 203 runs.