The New South Wales Blues also known as the Speed Blitz Blues for sponsorship purposes are an Australian first class cricket team based in Sydney, New South Wales. The team competes in the Australian first class cricket competition known as the Sheffield Shield, the limited overs Ford Ranger Cup, and the Twenty20 competition known as the KFC Twenty20 Big Bash. They are by far the most successful domestic cricket side in Australia having won the First-class competition 45 times. In addition, they have also won the One-Day Domestic cup 9 times. They occasionally play first-class matches against touring International sides. New South Wales have played teams representing every test playing nation bar Bangladesh. They have provided the Australian Test and One Day International teams with some of the finest players ever to have graced the game of cricket. Cricket NSW chief executive David Gilbert and Dodemaide said the tournament is important for state players seeking Indian Premier League T20 contracts and also pushing their claims for next year’s T20 World Cup in the Caribbean. “Our boys are very motivated to be the first club champion of Twenty20 cricket. The players are very very focused on this tournament for the financial rewards and also for the opportunity to put themselves in the shop window for a possible IPL contract,” Gilbert said. Team Composition: Simon Katich’s Blues boast Brett Lee and Nathan Bracken but will be without recruit Shane Watson, while wicketkeeper Brad Haddin is out with a broken finger. All-rounder Watson, a former IPL player of the tournament, only crossed to NSW from Queensland in the off-season. Brendon McCullum, who represented NSW in the BigBash final last summer, has opted to play with his Kiwi provincial side Otago in the Champions League. NSW has won 8 matches out of 18 matched they had played so far. New South Wales Squad: Simon Katich (capt), Phillip Hughes, Brett Lee, Nathan Bracken, Stuart Clark, Moises Henriques, Nathan Hauritz, Doug Bollinger, Aaron Bird, Stephen O'Keefe, Ben Rohrer, Steve Smith, Daniel Smith, Dominic … [Read more...]
Champions League teams: Otago
The name "Otago" is an old southern Maori word whose North Island dialect equivalent is "Otakou"; Otago Volts are the champions of New Zealand's twenty20 tournament. Otago is not a very big city it roughly has a population of 203,500. It goes without saying that this is the biggest stage any cricket team from Otago has ever been. Otago cricket and many teams around the world need this spark to ignite the passion back into domestic cricket. The postives of having a chance to participate in CLT20 and then go on to win could mean growth of domestic crikcet around the country. Team Composition: Opening batsman Craig cumming has been the captain of the squad since 2002 and is right hand batsmen who can bowl a bit. He might be the mover in the batting order as he has played as a opener as well as a middle order batsemen. The side features few other New Zealand internationals - Brendon McCullum, his brother Nathan, fast bowler Ian Butler, middle-order batsman Neil Broom and Test batsman Aaron Redmond. Brendon Mccullum with his experience at KKR, and their poor run in IPL would have learned a great delas and would be better prepared and would be eager to prove a point. Everyone remembers the opening match of IPL season 1 and everyone wants an encore. Dimitri Mascarenhas, the England allrounder, is their overseas player while Neil Wagner, who has played for Northerns in South Africa, has also been included. With 7 players who have played International cricket the team looks very much a CLT20 Team to drive home the point no team in CLT20 is a push over. You got to win the match; no one is going to lose one. The team is currently training in Dunedin and will go to Australia later in the month for some practice games ahead of the tournament. Otago Squad for the Champions League: Craig Cumming (captain), Neil Broom, Nick Beard, Derek de Boorder, Ian Butler, Mathew Harvie, Dimitri Mascarenhas, Brendon McCullum (wk), Nathan McCullum, James McMillan, Warren McSkimming, Aaron Redmond, Hamish Rutherford, Greg Todd, Neil Wagner. Craig Cumming: Major teams: New … [Read more...]
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