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Mumbai are playing their third game in four days, and that workload could have an impact in the eliminator

Vishal Dikshit12-Mar-20256:16

Mithali Raj: Harmanpreet finds a way to score against Giants

Who’s playing

Mumbai Indians (MI) vs Gujarat Giants (GG)
Brabourne Stadium, Mumbai, 7.30pm IST

What to expect: two wounded teams eyeing a final spot

Even though both Gujarat Giants and Mumbai Indians come into the eliminator after losing their last league games, Mumbai look a little more wounded. They lost their first home game at Brabourne Stadium in the WPL on Tuesday, they dropped four catches in the game, leaked a lot of runs in the field, and they are playing non-stop cricket at the end of the tournament. The eliminator on Thursday will be their third game in four days after back-to-back matches to start the week and should they make the final, it will be four games in the span of six days for Mumbai.Giants have no such issues. The margin of their loss to Mumbai on Monday was just nine runs after Bharti Fulmali’s blazing finish, their Indian players are stepping up at the right time to take some of the load off the overseas stars, and their run of three straight wins before heading to Mumbai would have given them bundles of confidence.Except they have never beaten Mumbai. In these three seasons of WPL, Mumbai boast of a 6-0 record against Giants but going by their last clash, the next contest may not be as lopsided as this stat suggests. One of the factors behind Giants’ rise in the points table was their middle-order batting led by captain Ashleigh Gardner and Deandra Dottin, even if they struggled to find the perfect opening partner for Beth Mooney. Giants have been the slowest starters in the powerplay this WPL (run rate 5.97), but then they pick up fabulously in the middle overs with a scoring rate of 8.81 (better than anyone else), and have been the second-best finishers at the death (10 per over) behind only Royal Challengers Bengaluru.Related

• Best of WPL 2025 so far: Ghosh's hitting, Henry's sixes, Gautam's promise

• Priya Mishra spins her way into the spotlight

• The rise and roar of Kashvee Gautam

• Harmanpreet adds more aggression to her game

Going by this WPL’s trends, what could possibly decide the match will be Giants’ middle overs, when they will be looking to press the pedal but will be up against the mighty bowling of Mumbai – the best bowling side in that phase. Amelia Kerr, their star bowler in the middle overs, might have leaked plenty of runs on Tuesday, but had all the catches been taken off her bowling her figures might have been different. Her ability to excel under pressure – as was seen in the T20 World Cup last year – could be on display again on Thursday.Going into the toss, both captains would be relieved to know which way the coin falls might not matter too much: while teams have still been opting to chase, the tide has turned at the end of the league stage with teams batting first winning the last three games. Before that, only two games had been won batting first out of 17.While Mumbai will be eyeing their second final in three years after losing to RCB in the eliminator last year, the onus is on Giants to not make this year’s final match-up a repeat of what we saw in 2023.

Form guide

Mumbai Indians LWWLW (last five matches, most recent first)
Gujarat Giants LWWWL

Team news

Both teams went unchanged into their last league games but will be concerned about their opening combinations. If Giants haven’t found anyone to partner Mooney, Mumbai’s strategy to promote Kerr to the top hasn’t worked in three attempts.Gujarat Giants (probable): 1 Beth Mooney (wk), 2 Kashvee Gautam, 3 Harleen Deol, 4 Ashleigh Gardner (capt), 5 Phoebe Lichfield, 6 Deandra Dottin, 7 Bharti Fulmali, 8 Simran Shaikh, 9 Tanuja Kanwar, 10 Meghna Singh, 11 Priya MishraMumbai Indians (probable): 1 Hayley Matthews, 2 Amelia Kerr, 3 Nat Sciver-Brunt, 4 Harmanpreet Kaur (capt), 5 Amanjot Kaur, 6 Yastika Bhatia (wk), 7 G Kamalini, 8 S Sajana, 9 Sanskriti Gupta, 9 10 Shabnim Ismail, 11 Parunika Sisodia

Players to watch: Harmanpreet Kaur and Beth Mooney

Harmanpreet Kaur loves playing Giants. She averages nearly 79 against them, scores at a rate of 171 and has four half-centuries against them. Harmanpreet’s tally of 315 runs is the most a batter has accrued against Giants. She has not been at her consistent best this season and, in the absence of solid batting options after her, another big score against Giants would give her a lot of confidence potentially going into a final.A big-match player like Beth Mooney will be crucial for Giants•BCCI

Beth Mooney has been Giants’ only hope at the top of the order for large parts of the season. Fortunately for them Harleen Deol has come good at No. 3 lately, but Mooney has done the heavy lifting to give them steady if sedate starts. RCB’s openers showed on Tuesday that you could go after Mumbai’s top bowlers too, and Mooney could take a leaf out of Smriti Mandhana’s book. She has two half-centuries this season, not even close to her best, and she’ll be itching to get a big one against Giants’ nemesis in the eliminator.

Key stats

• An average of nearly 70 combined with a strike rate that’s touching 153 is largely unheard of in WT20s, but such is Nat Sciver-Brunt’s purple patch this time. She currently has the Orange Cup and became the first batter to cross 400 runs in a WPL season. If she scores another 80 on Thursday – her highest score in the WPL – she will become the first player to reach 1000 WPL runs
• Ash Gardner is the top run-scorer (559) and the top wicket-taker (25) for Giants in WPL history
• There are three allrounders this season who have over 200 runs and more than five wickets so far, all from Mumbai and Giants: Sciver-Brunt, Hayley Matthews and Gardner
• Kerr and Matthews lead the wicket-taking charts so far this WPL with 14 scalps each. Giants’ top wicket-taker is Kashvee Gautam with ten

Kent manage only 204 as Middlesex bowlers chip away with regular wickets

ECB Reporters Network04-Aug-2024Joe Cracknell hit 88 as Middlesex coasted to a five-wicket win over the Kent Spitfires in the Metro Bank Cup at Beckenham.Cracknell blitzed the Spitfires with an 82-ball innings included two sixes and ten fours and Robbie White chipped in with 50 as the visitors eased home with 8.4 overs to spare, finishing on 206 for 5.Earlier Kent were bowled out for 204 in 44.4 overs, with Josh de Caires, Henry Brookes and Nathan Fernandes all taking two wickets.Marcus O’Riordan was Kent’s top-scorer with 58, but when he was gone they struggled to put any meaningful partnerships together until Hamid Qadri and Matt Parkinson nudged them over the 200 mark.Kent chose to bat but lost Beyers Swanepoel in the second over, caught behind off Ishaan Kaushal for just 2. Although O’Riordan clouted 20 off the fourth over from Kaushal he was the only Kent batter to score freely.De Caires had Joey Evison lbw for 14 with his second delivery and O’Riordan went in the next over, trapped in front by Luke Hollman trying to reverse sweep. Jaydn Denly tried to slog sweep De Caires and was caught by Cracknell for 10 and Ethan Bamber had Harry Finch lbw for 23.Charlie Stobo had made just 2 when he tried to charge Fernandes and was stumped by Jack Davies and Fernandes then got Jack Leaning for 28 after a sharp diving catch by Sam Robson. Kent’s last realistic hope of a par score went when Grant Stewart edged Henry Brookes behind for 11.Brookes’ next delivery hit Parkinson on the helmet, but after a six-minute delay he was ruled fit to continue. His stand of 40 with Qadri at least gave Kent something to defend, but when the latter went for 25, caught by Fernandes off Brookes, there were still 5.5 overs remaining and as Nathan Gilchrist was run out by a direct hit from de Caires three balls later, Parkinson was stranded on 17 not out.Aside from an early blip when Stewart took two quick wickets, the chase was devoid of any serious drama. Middlesex’s openers had raced to 25 without loss in the third over when Stewart had Fernandes caught by Stobo at first slip for 8.In Stewart’s next over Stobo took another slip catch to remove Sam Robson for 3 but Cracknell responded with an innings of control and aggression that took the game away from the home side. He looked set for a century, only to fall 12 short when he lofted Parkinson to Swanepoel at long-off, but by then Middlesex only needed another 71 for victory.Jack Davies didn’t hang around, cracking 35 before he cut Jaydn Denly to O’Riordan and although Parkinson had White caught behind, a convincing win was sealed when Mark Stoneman drove Parkinson for four in the 32nd over.

Seventeen-year-old local batter Jewel Andrew also on Falcons’ books as initial squad of 12 named ahead of player draft in July

ESPNcricinfo staff10-Jun-2024The Pakistan trio of Mohammad Amir, Imad Wasim and Fakhar Zaman will turn out for new franchise Antigua & Barbuda Falcons at CPL 2024. Falcons have also signed Australia offspinner Chris Green and Afghanistan allrounder Azmatullah Omarzai for their debut season.West Indies’ Brandon King and Fabian Allen were also signed, along with 17-year-old batter Jewel Andrew, who played the Under-19 World Cup for West Indies earlier this year.In all, Falcons have signed 12 players so far, which means they will need to sign five more players at the draft in July to round-out their squad.Related

• CPL 2024 FAQs: New team, new players, new intrigues

• CPL 2024 draft: St Lucia Kings sign USA star Aaron Jones as teams finalise squads

• Antigua & Barbuda Falcons unveiled as new CPL franchise

• Trinbago Knight Riders sign Tim David and Jason Roy for CPL 2024

• Royals bring back Theekshana, Patriots sign Hasaranga and Stubbs for CPL 2024

Other big signings for CPL 2024 so far have included Tim David and Jason Roy (Trinbago Knight Riders), Heinrich Klaasen (St Lucia Kings), and Wanindu Hasaranga and Tristan Stubbs (St Kitts and Nevis Patriots).Antigua & Barbuda Falcons, the new franchise, replaces Jamaica Tallawahs at the CPL. Antigua had previously hosted a CPL franchise named Antigua Hawksbills in the first two CPL seasons, but that was replaced by St Kitts and Nevis Patriots in 2015.The 2024 edition of the CPL will take place from August 28 to October 6 with games taking place in Antigua for the first time in ten years. Barbados, Guyana, St Kitts & Nevis, Saint Lucia and Trinidad & Tobago are the other venues. The National Stadium in Providence, Guyana, will host the final.

Antigua & Barbuda Falcons squad list

Imad Wasim, Fakhar Zaman, Brandon King, Fabian Allen, Azmatullah Omarzai, Mohammad Amir, Chris Green, Hayden Walsh Jr, Shamar Springer, Kelvin Pitman, Jewel Andrew, Joshua James

Women’s retainers are currently at 70 per cent of their male counterparts

AAP04-Apr-2023Cricket is in the box seat to become the first major Australian sport to achieve pay parity at a domestic level, after a landmark deal to significantly increase the earnings of female players.Women emerged as the biggest winners in cricket’s pay deal on Monday, with an extra AU$53 million in the player pool over the next five years and a pay rise of 66 percent.Those winnings will be felt most significantly at domestic level, where the average pay packet will sit at AU$151,000 for players with state and WBBL deals.The majority of dual-format female players will also earn six figures for the first time, with minimum state contracts set at around AU$60,000 and the lowest-paid WBBL player on close to AU$20,000.

How Australian women’s cricket is winning

• Top women’s CA contract holder with a WBBL deal now able to earn AU$800,000

• Next six contracts potential to earn on average AU$500,000

• Minimum and average CA women’s contract increases 25%

• Number of contracts rises from 15 to 18

• Average domestic earnings for a player with WNCL and WBBL contract now AU$151,019

• WBBL salary cap doubles to AU$732,000

• Top WBBL player can earn AU$133,000; average retainer doubles to $54,200

• Two additional state (and ACT) contracts per team

Match payments have also been brought in line with men’s, with a touch over AU$2000 paid per day played, topping up the salaries to the biggest in women’s sport.The figures leave women’s retainers in state contracts at 70 per cent of their male counterparts, with genuine belief parity can be reached in future deals.”We’re on a journey,” Cricket Australia CEO Nick Hockley said. “We have seen an overall 26 percent increase in player pay, but a 66 percent increase in payments to our female players.”We are on a path, we are not there yet. But we have taken a major step forward in closing the gap.”Both CA and the players’ union will put a focus on trying to further commercialise the game, with a doubling of the WBBL salary cap to AU$732,000 aimed at keeping the best overseas talent.”If we unlock commercialisation, that’s the key,” former Australian star Rachael Haynes said. “If we do that, I think we will get parity.”Enabling players more time to invest in themselves and their game, naturally that will help them get better.”Officials are also predicting multiple female players could crack the AU$1 million mark, when combining their national salaries, WBBL deals and overseas contracts.While national contracts are well below their male counterparts, the top-earning female will now earn AU$800,000 combined from their Australian and WBBL deals, while the next six will average AU$500,000.”I think we’ll have a few of millionaires in the next few years,” Australian Cricketers Association CEO Todd Greenberg said. “And so they should because they’re the best in the world at what they do.”

The deal is for five years – 2023 to 2027 – with the company committing INR 951 crore overall

ESPNcricinfo staff16-Jan-20230:28

Perry: ‘Everyone in world cricket is excited for the WIPL’

Viacom 18 has won the media rights for the inaugural women’s IPL for a period of five years following the auction in Mumbai. The company will pay INR 951 crore (USD 116.7 million approx.) for the period – 2023 to 2027 – which BCCI secretary Jay Shah called “massive” while making the announcement on Twitter.ESPNcricinfo has learned that only two of the eight parties that had bought the tender had turned up for the auction: Viacom 18 and Disney Star*. The winning bid was for both linear TV and digital and were sold globally, including India.Shah said the winning bid amount meant a per-match value of INR 7.09 crore (USD 866,000 approx.) over five years. The men’s IPL, in comparison, fetched a five-year deal of INR 48,390.5 crore (USD 6.2 billion approx. at the time) in June last year with a per-match value of INR 58 crore (USD 7.43 million approx.).”After pay equity, today’s bidding for media rights for Women’s IPL marks another historic mandate,” Shah said on Twitter. “It’s a big and decisive step for empowerment of women’s cricket in India, which will ensure participation of women from all ages. A new dawn indeed!”