Derbyshire signs Mcdermott
Derbyshire: England county Derbyshire on Thursday confirmed the signing of Australian wicket-keeper batsman Ben McDermott for the Vitality Blast 2020 and Royal London One-Day Cup.The wicket-keeper batsman will be available for the entire T20 competition as well as the 50-over tournament subject to final approvals. The 24-year-old has played nine T20Is for Australia and he has a career average of 31.35 in the shortest format of the game.McDermott had an exceptional 2018-19 Big Bash competition in Australia as he finished as the eighth-highest run-scorer in the competition with 376 runs for Hobart Hurricanes.”Ben comes to us with a good reputation and he is exactly what we are looking for in T20, a dynamic wicketkeeper-batsman who can bat throughout the order. In the 50-over competition, his batting will be of great benefit and he gives us another option with the gloves. (ANI)
India U-19 face Saudi Arabia
Al Khobar: India will take on hosts Saudi Arabia in their second match of the AFC U-19 Championship 2020 Qualifiers here on Friday.India went down to a strong Uzbekistan 0-2 in their opening match on Wednesday. “It was not the result that we wanted. But there’s no time to sulk on the first loss,” head coach Floyd Pinto said. “We have to pick-up and dust ourselves. The recovery process has started and all the players are determined to do everything it takes to win the next match.” Saudi Arabia, who clinched the AFC U-19 Championship in 2018, picked up three points in their opening qualifier against Afghanistan and talking about the challenge they pose, Floyd stated that it will be a “difficult” game. “Even though they won (against Afghanistan) 1-0 through a penalty kick, they dominated the game from start to finish and should have scored many more goals. “As expected, it will be a difficult game against them. I am confident that the players will recover from the previous result — both physically and mentally — and continue to put their best efforts in,” he stated. The head coach also stressed on the importance of keeping composure and focus throughout the 90 minutes as the two goals against Uzbekistan were scored in the second half. “I cannot blame the players for the effort put in. We played a good first-half but in the second.” Floyd explained. (PTI