Jeff Thomson to be inducted into Australian Cricket Hall of Fame
Melbourne: Former tearaway fast bowler Jeff Thomson will be inducted into the Australian Cricket Hall of Fame at the Allan Border Medal dinner here on Wednesday. Thomson, 65, will be handed the honour 20 years after his one-time fearsome bowling partner Dennis Lillee was part of the original intake of 10. Wicketkeeper Wally Grout, who died at 41 in 1968, will be inducted alongside Thomson, bringing the membership to 41. Thomson played 50 Tests between 1972 and 1985, taking 200 wickets, the sixth most at the time. He is now 15th on the Australian list, with Lillee — with whom he opened the bowling for most of his career — in third place with 355. Thomson also played 50 one-dayers for another 55 scalps. (PTI)
Hussey gets perfect send-off as Thunder win BBL
Melbourne: The Sydney Thunder gave captain Michael Hussey the perfect send-off from Australian cricket when they beat the Melbourne Stars by three wickets to win the Big Bash League on Sunday. After Hussey won the toss and sent the Stars in to bat at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, the home side reached 176 for nine thanks largely to a scintillating 74 from English star Kevin Pietersen. But Thunder’s Usman Khawaja (70) played an innings of similar quality to get Sydney’s run chase off to a perfect start. He and fellow opener Jacques Kallis (28) put on 86 before the South African holed out in the deep to Pietersen off Adam Zampa. Shane Watson came and went quickly before Khawaja holed out to backward point to leave the Thunder 54 runs short with six-and-a-half overs remaining. But Hussey, playing his final match in Australia, hit a quickfire 18 to get the Thunder back on track, and useful contributions from Aiden Blizzard (16) and Ben Rohrer (13 not out) got them home. (AFP)
Yuvraj, Pietersen list highest base price ahead of IPL auction
New Delhi: The most expensive buy in the previous IPL auction, Indian batsman Yuvraj Singh, along with 11 others, have quoted the highest base price for this year’s auction to be held on February 6 in Bangalore. According to a report in ‘ESPN Cricinfo’, apart from Yuvraj, England swashbuckler Kevin Pietersen and in-form Australian all-rounder Mitchell marsh are among the 12 players who have listed the highest base price in a list of 714. The final pool of players from these 714 would be selected on Monday. Others in the Rs 2 crore bracket are Shane Watson, Ishant Sharma, Ashish Nehra, Dinesh Karthik, Stuart Binny, Sanju Samson, Dhawal Kulkarni, Kane Richardson and 40-year-old Australian all-rounder Mike Hussey. (PTI)
