T20 Franchise Cricket

[Etienne]

As I don't think it belongs on the international cricket thread, and I get told off for using the Hundred thread...

A thread for all the T20 leagues, whether it be the Mumbai Indians in the IPL, the Mumbai Indians in the WIPL, MI Emirates or MI Cape Town.

The WIPL is just about to have an auction, and the 29 players who have marketed themselves at the top rate are:

• India - Harmanpreet Kaur, Smriti Mandhana, Deepti Sharma, Renuka Singh, Jemimah Rodrigues, Shafali Verma, Pooja Vastrakar, Richa Ghosh, Sneh Rana, Meghna Singh
• Australia - Ashleigh Gardner, Ellyse Perry, Meg Lanning, Alyssa Healy, Jess Jonassen, Darcie Brown
• England - Sophie Ecclestone, Nat Sciver-Brunt, Danni Wyatt, Katherine Sciver-Brunt
• New Zealand - Sophie Devine
• South Africa - Sinalo Jafta
• West Indies - Deandra Dottin
• Zimbabwe - Loryn Phiri

I have to admire Phiri's confidence, as she's yet to take a wicket against a full international side, though she's got a very good record against African associates.

[ursus arctos]

Thank you for doing this.

I have been intending to, but lost momentum during the SA20 break (I bought an ICC.TV pass for that, which is excellent value).

I'm surprised that Van Niekerk and Kapp are not on that list. Are they thinking that they have a better chance of playing together if they don't demand top rupee?

[Etienne]

I think 40 for Kapp as a T20 player is reasonable, and 30 for Van Niekerk is probably about where she is too, though obviously that may have played a part in their thinking.

[ursus arctos]

On a much less significant note, ursus minor and I were gobsmacked to see that Fortune Barishal of the Bangladesh Premier League has ripped off Trenitalia's logo

[ursus arctos]

https://twitter.com/espncricinfo/status/1623037346986729472?s=61&t=onIJRyPAJ7LjGoS-UsYyTg

Capitals host Royals in one semifinal, Super Kings host Sunrisers in the other

[Etienne]

Capitals have been the best team in the tournament, but the injury to Parnell hurts them. With him and Nortje (who is possibly the best T20 bowler in the world) they were strong with the ball and they've got plenty of fast scorers.

[ursus arctos]

The final should be Pretoria and Joburg, given that the Super Kings have four wins and a no result in their last five

Capitals had four batters strike at or near 200 today. It was brutal.

[ursus arctos]

Royals doing much better in today's rematch.

Capitals 53-3 in the 10th over

[Etienne]

Roussouw dragged them to a competitive total, then, more surprisingly bowled a crucial over as Capitals won again.

[ursus arctos]

Markram with a century for Sunrisers in the other semifinal, which has been plagued with hordes of large moths attracted by the lights

Super Kings will need 214

[ursus arctos]

Faf falling for a first ball duck isn't going to help.

And now Du Plooy is gone.

[Etienne]

They finished like a train, but left it too late. Sunrisers vs Capitals in the final.

[Etienne]

In one of the examples of women's cricket being an afterthought, the NZ Smash is coming to a close today. The last two or three matches have been played after all the best women in the country (apart from Leigh Kasperek who hasn't been picked for some reason) are in South Africa for the World Cup. So Wellington, who have been the absolute dominant team for the last two years, including winning 20 straight matches which is astonishing in T20, ended their streak in the first group game that happened after the national squad left, and have now lost the final to Canterbury. I don't think any other sport would schedule like this.

[ursus arctos]

Sunrisers win the SA 20 Final relatively easily after bowling Capitals out for 135

Roelof van der Merwe took four wickets and was his usual ebullient self throughout

[diggedy derek]

I'm sure y'all might well have seen it already, but this stupendous catch from the lower leagues deserves a mention somewhere.

https://twitter.com/cricketdistrict/status/1624677463035985920?s=20&t=Vf20t5N0xveoiseg67s1-g

[Etienne]

WPL auction today. Some big names have already been missed out with no interest in any of these:

Hayley Matthews
Suzie Bates
Laura Wolvaardt
Tammy Beaumont
Heather Knight
Sune Luus
Danni Wyatt
Chamari Athapaththu
Taniya Bhatia
Amy Jones
Megan Schutt
Alana King
Jess Jonassen

I don't know if teams have a second opportunity to pick players up after the auction. I'd hope so, because I can't believe some of those are not among the best 30 overseas players T20 players.

It must be a bit weird for England to be doing their warm ups while Nat Sciver-Brunt, Ecclestone and Dunkley have got big deals, and Knight, Wyatt, Jones and Glenn have got nowt.

[Etienne]

There is a second round of bidding, so there will be another chance for unsold players. It does make sense.

[Etienne]

Bell, Wong and Capsey all get deals, which is brilliant as they should all benefit loads from it.

Nothing for K Sciver-Brunt.

[ursus arctos]

Unsurprising that Indian players are again commanding a significant premium, given that those building teams are essentially the sane as those who made that a thing with the men.

Base prices have been completely irrelevant at the top of the market.

[Etienne]

Yeah, base prices really are basically just of use for overseas players to say that it's not worth my while if I'm not going to be earning a sufficient amount.

I think given the limitations on the overseas players, and the bigger pool of high quality players to fill those slots, it's sensible that teams are putting a premium on the best Indian players. Basically there's no reasonable substitute for Deepti, or Mandhana or Kaur or Ghosh whereas there is for even the best overseas players - can't get Perry? Then Nat Sciver-Brunt will do. Can't get her? Then Marizanne Kapp is very similar skillset etc.

[Etienne]

That said, I'm surprised no-one picked up Amy Jones, as there's not that many decent keepers around, even if Jones batting isn't the quickest.

[ursus arctos]

Summary of "big names"

• RCB: Mandhana, Devine, Perry, Renuka, Ghosh
• MI: Harmanpreet, Nat Sciver-Brunt, Amelia Kerr, Vastrakar, Yastika
• Giants: Gardner, Mooney, Dunkley, Sutherland, Harleen, Dottin, Rana
• Warriorz: Ecclestone, Deepti, McGrath, Ismail, Healy, Sarvani, Gayakwad, Chopra, Sehrawat, Yashasri
• DC: Rodrigues, Lanning, Shafali, Radha, Pandey, Kapp, Sadhu

Should be an interesting competition

[Etienne]

Matthews, Knight, Schutt and Jonassen got picked up second time round, along with Tryon and Van Niekerk (who won't be playing with Kapp). Bates, King and Woolvardt the most high profile players to miss out I think.

[Etienne]

Quick pop quiz. How many of these players can you recognise (they are the Hundred's retained list).

There were only 13 out of 31 that I was certain of, though I'm sure I'd have guessed some right too. Their names are on the bottom of the photos if you click into the tweets.

https://twitter.com/WomensCricZone/status/1626248028352040960?s=20

[longeared]

Penny for Dunkley's thoughts given that she got picked for the IPL but cut by whichever team she played for in the Hundred. Good to see the ECB have finally decided to have a draft for the women's tournament though which should spread the talent pool and balance the teams up a bit.