Shan Masood and Dawid Malan have begun their Pakistan Super League campaigns over the last week, the pair playing for Karachi Kings and Multan Sultans respectively.
Yorkshire captain Masood is skippering the Karachi Kings, having moved from the Sultans, whom Malan is representing.
Malan has posted two scores of 52 in four matches, one opening the batting and the other batting at four. He has helped his team win four of their five matches so far, though he didn’t play in their latest win against Quetta Gladiators yesterday.
Masood has a best of 30 in three matches, which has seen the Kings win two of their three matches so far. The left-hander is now just four runs shy of 20,000 career runs across all senior formats.
Picture by Farooq Naeem – AFP via Getty Images. Shan Masood in action for the Karachi Kings.
The pair will be hoping to follow Jordan Thompson’s lead after last weekend helping the Mumbai Indians Emirates team win the ILT20 title in the United Arab Emirates, the Yorkshire all-rounder‘s side beating off competition from Ottis Gibson along the way.
Gibson was the assistant coach of the Gulf Giants side who were beaten semi-finalists.
Thompson didn’t play in the final as the MI Emirates beat Dubai Capitals in the final on Saturday having comfortably defended their 208-3.
In all, Thompson played two matches through the competition with a top score of 26 and one wicket with the ball.
The 27-year-old now sits on 99 career T20 appearances, with his landmark 100th likely to come in Yorkshire’s opening Vitality Blast match against Worcestershire Rapids at Headingley on Thursday May 30.
Picture: Jordan Thompson/Instagram. Jordan Thompson celebrates with the ILT20 trophy.
Lauren Winfield-Hill’s Queensland side finished as the runners-up in Australia’s Women’s National Cricket League 50-over competition on Saturday, beaten in the final by Tasmania in Hobart.
Northern Diamonds star Winfield-Hill has spent pretty much her entire winter Down Under, first playing in the Big Bash for Perth Scorchers and then playing for her wife Courtney’s home state.
Unfortunately, the Maroons were beaten by six wickets in the final, the hosts chasing down a target of 249 with 2.2 overs remaining. Batting at three, Winfield-Hill scored 28 in her side’s 248-7.
Overall, Winfield-Hill scored 194 runs in nine matches for Queensland, including a best of 57.
Picture by Albert Perez – Getty Images. Lauren Winfield-Hill acknowledges the applause following a half-century for Queensland women.
Hollie Armitage and Bess Heath will this week link up with England’s squad to step up preparations for their limited overs series in New Zealand.
The Northern Diamonds duo are part of England’s extended squads for five T20 matches and three ODIs between March 19 and April 6.
England have named three squads to cover those matches; two for the T20 series and one for the one-day internationals.
Heath is in all three, while Armitage is only in the party which will cover the first three T20s between March 19-24 in Dunedin and Napier.
The two separate squads named for the T20s is owing to the fact the series clashes with the Women’s Premier League T20 competition in India, which started this weekend and includes the likes of Alice Capsey, Sophie Ecclestone and Nat Sciver-Brunt.
But Armitage and Heath will link up with the first squad in New Zealand on Friday to begin preparations for the tour.
There is likely to be some crossover in training over the next couple of weeks with the England A squad, who are touring the same part of the world. Kyle Coetzer is with them as an assistant coach.
Picture by Matt Lewis – ECB via Getty Images. Bess Heath in action during her England debut last September – an ODI win over Sri Lanka at Leicester.
The likes of Matthew Revis, James Wharton and George Hill are currently completing their overseas commitments in Australian and New Zealand club cricket.
Revis is currently playing for Gold Coast Dolphins in Queensland Premier Cricket, them midway through a two-day fixture which concludes next Saturday.
He took the new ball and claimed 3-47 from 18 overs as Western Suburbs were limited to 138-8 on Saturday’s first day.
Also on Saturday, Wharton and his Wanneroo side were beaten by South Perth in a two-day Western Australia Premier fixture, the Yorkshire batter posting scores of 13 and nought.
Dom Leech has been playing for Woodville in Adelaide’s Premier competition, though he last played last weekend when they were beaten by Kensington. He hit 22 and claimed a first-innings wicket.
Hill is due to play for Weedons in a T20 match later this week before returning home to Headingley next week ahead of the county’s pre-season tour to Abu Dhabi.
Dom Bess, meanwhile, is back home after his seven-game spell in Zimbabwean domestic cricket; five first-class and two List A appearances.
In his five four-day games, he took 13 wickets and hit notable scores of 46, 63, 56, 38, 70 and 80.
Northern Diamonds batter Leah Dobson last played for Gold Coast Dolphins women on January 28, her scoring 72 at the top of the order in a 50-over defeat against Wynnum-Manly.
Picture by Allan McKenzie/SWpix.com. Dom Leech, in action during last year’s Metro Bank One-Day Cup, has been wintering in Adelaide.
Northern Diamonds all-rounder Katherine Fraser is heading out to Desert Springs in Spain today for a week-long training camp with the Scotland women as they prepare for the ICC’s T20 World Cup Global Qualifier event in April and May.
Teenager Fraser is in line to feature for her country in the United Arab Emirates, a competition slated for April 23 to May 7.
Scotland are aiming to reach the T20 World Cup proper in Bangladesh in September and October. Rachel Slater could also feature, though injury has ruled her out of this week’s Spanish training camp.
The Netherlands will also take part in the Global Qualifier event in the Gulf, meaning Sterre Kalis’s availability for the early stages of the regional summer could also be limited like Fraser’s.
Picture by Alex Davidson – ICC via Getty Images. Katherine Fraser on Scotland duty.
