Winter Watch (w/e 9 Dec): Briggs ends Lions tour on a high, Wyatt stars for Renegades & Wiese's wonder catch

Danny Briggs’ tour of the UAE with the England Lions reached its conclusion with two T20s against Pakistan A last week. Danny was exceptional in the first match on Friday, bowling four overs for a meagre 13 runs and taking the wicket of Mohammad Hasan as Pakistan A were restricted to 131-8 from their 20 overs. The Lions reached their target with four balls and four wickets to spare. Danny’s economy rate of 3.25 was well over a run less than the next most miserly bowler on either side.

The left-arm spinner bagged the wicket of Pakistan A’s captain and highest scorer, Shan Masood, in Saturday’s second match. Danny finished with 1-33 from his allocation as Pakistan A set the Lions 140 to win. The tourists knocked that off with seven balls and four wickets remaining to take the T20 leg two-nil and finish the tour with four wins and four losses. Danny played in seven of the eight matches.

Danni Wyatt put in a ‘Player of the Match’ performance in her first appearance in this year’s Women’s Big Bash League on Saturday. The opener’s 62 from 47 balls set up Melbourne Renegades for a thrilling victory against Adelaide Strikers as they reached their target off the final ball of the match to record a six-wicket victory.

The Renegades match against the same opposition on Sunday eventually fell victim to the weather. Danni made nine from eleven balls during the Renegades’ innings of 83-4 off 14.3 overs. The players made it back on to the pitch, with the Strikers reaching 27-2 in their pursuit of 78 from eleven overs, only for the rain to return and washout any hopes of a result.

Georgia Elwiss was in action for Melbourne’s other team, the Stars as they played two matches against Hobart Hurricanes over the weekend. The allrounder bowled three overs for 29 runs as the Hurricanes’ made 158-6 thanks largely to a 55-ball 82 from Georgia’s England teammate Heather Knight. That wasn’t enough, however, as the Stars made it home with five wickets in hand. Georgia was at the wicket when the winning runs were scored, ending on three not out.

Hobart came out on top in Sunday’s rematch, their 196-6 well beyond the Stars who were bowled out for 124 in reply. Georgia was not the only Stars bowler to come in for some punishment, conceding 43 runs from her 4 overs. She made seven from eleven balls in the Stars’ innings.

Over in South Africa’s Msanzi Super League, David Wiese pulled off a catch that was instantly hailed as one for the ages during his Paarl Rocks side’s victory over Jozi Stars on Sunday. The leaping grab in the covers dismissed Chris Gayle for just nine. With the ball, David was a victim of a brutal Rassie van der Dussen innings. Both David and Dwayne Bravo went for 48 runs from their four overs as the Stars made 170-6 from their 20 overs. That wasn’t enough, however, as the Rocks made it to a six-wicket win.

Catch of the tournament contender! 🤩
Take a bow, David Wiese. 👏👏#MSLT20 pic.twitter.com/nUIka0IB4i

— Mzansi Super League 🔥 🇿🇦 🏏 (@MSL_T20) December 9, 2018

There were two defeats for Paarl earlier in the week. On Wednesday, David made 16 off 15 balls and bowled four economical overs for 18 runs, including the wicket of fellow county player, Andrea Agathangelou as Tshwane Spartans won by 4 wickets. On Friday, David was run out for three and bowled two overs for 26 runs as the Rocks lost to Cape Town Blitz by six wickets.

The Rocks are still in with an outside chance of making Friday’s eliminator and Sunday’s final, but they must beat Nelson Mandela Bay Giants in their final group game on Wednesday.

Rashid Khan’s Durban Heat are already out of the reckoning and sit at the bottom of the league. Rashid made his debut for the Heat during their abandoned match against the Giants on Wednesday. The leg-spinner was Durban’s most economical bowler, taking 1-19 from three overs, before the game was called off with the Giants on 121-2 from 13.3 overs.

The Durban Heat will welcome the arrival of Afghanistan spin magician @rashidkhan_19 for our final four games of the @MSL_T20 starting with a clash with the @NMB_Giants tonight at Kingsmead.

Read more- https://t.co/6MWRbxSxRJ#MSLT20 #HeatUp 🔥

— Durban Heat (@durban_heat) December 5, 2018

Despite an excellent performance with the ball which saw Sussex’s Vitality Blast overseas star finish with 3-19 from his 4 overs, Rashid was on the losing side again on Friday as the Heat were edged out by one-wicket by the Jozi Stars. Rashid made three from number eight as Durban were bowled out for 128 batting first.

It was third time lucky on Sunday as the Heat recorded just their second win of the tournament by beating Cape Town Blitz by six wickets. Opening the bowling, Rashid took 1-34 from his four overs as the Blitz made 161-6. The Heat chased that down with three balls to spare.

Saturday saw the first day of the latest round of two-day matches in the Victoria Premier Cricket competition in Australia. George Garton chipped in with 13 runs from number nine as Northcote were dismissed for 320 away at Prahran.

Luke Wells made six at the top of the order as his Casey-South Melbourne were bowled out for 171 against Kingston Hawthorn, before bowling eight tidy overs and taking a catch as the home side reached 74-2 at the close.

Earlier in the week, Luke also took part in the latest round of the midweek T20 competition, the Victoria Super Slam (Stars Conference). He continued his good form with the bat making 30 off 14 balls at the top of the order as the Swans reached 161-8 from their 20 overs. Luke’s four overs cost 31 runs as the Frankston Peninsula Heat reached their target with two balls and six wickets in hand.