Belgium wins Hockey World Cup 2018

A gritty Belgium defeated former Champions the Netherlands in sudden death in a thrilling summit clash to win their maiden men’s Hockey World Cup title at the Kalinga Stadium. Olympic silver medalist Belgium created history by eking out a 3-2 win in the penalty shoot-out after the final match of the game’s showpiece event ended in a goalless draw.

It was a great day for Belgium hockey as the country registered its second biggest international title after the Olympics silver in Rio in 2016. In the last edition of the World Cup at The Hague in Netherlands, Belgium had finished fifth. The Netherlands, on the other hand, failed to match Pakistan’s record of a fourth world title for the second consecutive edition. The Dutch had finished runners-up to Australia four years ago in front of their home crowd. They last won a World Cup title way back in 1998 in Utrecht.

Incidentally, it was the Netherlands’ second consecutive match that went to shoot-out in the tournament after their victory over Australia in the semi-finals on Saturday. In shoot-out, Belgium goalkeeper Vincent Vanasch outmatched his Dutch counterpart Pirmin Blaak by making four saves to hand his side their maiden World Cup title.

Earlier in the day, Australia thrashed England 8-1 to claim the bronze medal. The title clash, which was witnessed by none other than cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar and Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, turned out to be a fierce contest between the two European sides. While the Netherlands took the early initiative and attacked continuously in the first two quarters, Belgium made a strong comeback after the change of ends.

Women’s World T20: Australia claim title

Two years ago, in the World Twenty20 semi-final, England suffered a humiliation at the hands of Australia, a six-run loss, courtesy of a collapse that saw them lose seven wickets for 60 runs. In the interim they have changed their captain, blooded new players and won a World Cup.

Even so there was a sense of deja vu today as they subsided from 30-1 to 105 all out, the equation this time nine wickets lost for 75 runs. Once again, it was the old enemy Australia who were their nemesis, storming to their fourth World T20 title by eight wickets.

For Australia it was their young leg-spinner Georgia Wareham who unexpectedly stole the show in her first ever outing against England, finishing with 2-11, a catch and a direct hit run-out to her name. Ashleigh Gardner (33*) and Meg Lanning (28*) then shared a 62-run partnership, Lanning stroking the winning single through the off-side after Gardner punished two huge sixes over Kirstie Gordon’s head to ensure the victory came in style, with 29 balls to spare.

Their under-par showing in the final completes what has been a difficult World Twenty20 with the bat for England, only Amy Jones finishing in the top ten tournament run-scorers. For Australia, meanwhile, the challenge was always to live up to pre-tournament expectations which put them as clear favourite: today’s clinical victory shows they have done just that.

Women’s Basketball World Cup: USA secures 10th Title

A World Championship three-peat has landed the US women’s basketball team a spot at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020. Team USA defeated Australia 73-56 in the Championship game of the FIBA Women’s Basketball World Cup in Spain. In doing so, six-time defending Olympic champ Americans also became the first to qualify for Tokyo Olympic Games.

Brittney Griner, a 2016 Olympic gold medalist, scored a game-high 15 points for the U.S. Four-time Olympic gold medalist Diana Taurasi added 13 points and 2016 Olympic gold medalist Breanna Stewart had 10 points and a team-high 8 rebounds. Should the U.S. win Olympic gold in Tokyo it would tie the U.S. men’s record of seven straight from 1936-1968.

The win over Australia finished a six-game unbeaten run through the tournament for Team USA, which now has 10 World Cup titles and three in a row. Since 1996, Team USA has won 100 of 101 games and is now 18-0 against Australia in World Cup and Olympic matches. This was the first time these two teams had met since the 2014 World Cup semifinals where the U.S. 82-70. The U.S. has also won six of the last seven World Cup tournaments (the event was previously called the FIBA World Championship for Women).

Team USA featured a balanced squad, led by veterans and four-time Olympic gold medalists Sue Bird and Taurasi. Bird is the first U.S. player to appear in five World Cups and is now the only person in history with five FIBA World Cup medals. Bird, who had a game-high five assists, celebrated with her teammates on the bench in the closing minutes of Sunday’s game. The team huddled on the court after the game and applauded in the direction of the U.S. fans who were in Santiago Martin Arena.

MotoGP 2017: Grand Prix of Australia

Repsol Honda’s Marc Marquez secured his sixth win of the year in a stunning fight in the Australian GP. The latter stages of the MotoGP race saw an eight-rider fight for the win in the latter stages with Marquez taking a close win ahead of Valentino Rossi and Maverick Vinales of Yamaha.

Championship contender Andrea Dovizioso of Ducati was lucky to finish within points after running wide on Lap 2 and was pushed to down to 20th before eventually finishing 13th. Marquez now leads the championship with a 33 point lead over Dovizioso, while Vinales is out of contention, 50 points back with two rounds to go.

Marquez started the Australian GP on pole but couldn't hold for long as Jack Miller of Marc VDS Honda pulled through to take the lead and started pulling away. Marquez was in second while Vinales followed close in third place on the opening lap. Dovizioso, who looked sharp on Lap 1 and was expected to put up a tough fight had the ran wide and dropped to P20. Miller continued to lead for the first five laps pulling eight-tenths clear of the field, only to be passed by the two Yamahas.

However, Marquez was quick to pass the two Yamaha's by mid-race and soon closed in on the Tech 3 rider. Incredibly, with 10 laps remaining, the race turned into an eight-rider fight with Marquez Miller, Rossi, Vinales, Andrea Iannone of Suzuki, Cal Crutchlow of LCR Honda; and Alex Rins of Suzuki following the leader. MotoGP will now be moving into its penultimate round at Sepang in Malaysia, and Dovizioso will be looking to cut the points gap. It's going to be one exciting round in Malaysia.

MotoGP 2016: Grand Prix of Australia

Cal Crutchlow secured a second MotoGP win for LCR Honda, after early leader Marc Marquez crashed out of a comfortable lead, 10 laps in. Crutchlow was untouchable once Marquez crashed out. The Brit cruised to a second career Grand Prix win by more than four seconds ahead of Valentino Rossi and Maverick Vinales.

On Lap 10, Marquez handed a gift-wrapped lead to the LCR Honda rider. The Spaniard dropped the front of his Honda at Turn 4, the bike digging into the gravel and flying through the air. Just like that, Marquez was resigned to his first DNF of the season, and Crutchlow was suddenly leading the race by just under two seconds.

Rossi, meanwhile, had carved his way through the field, leaving the likes of teammate Jorge Lorenzo, Pol Espargaro, and Andrea Dovizioso behind as he charged into the podium spots. He timed his run past Aleix Espargaro just as Marquez went down, which meant the Italian had come from his worst qualifying spot in half a decade to second place in just 10 laps.

Dovizioso came home fourth, while Pol Espargaro finished fifth, and Jorge Lorenzo a lonely sixth after never looking in the game and certainly never having the pace of his flying teammate with whom he remains locked in battle for second in the championship. Scott Redding and Bradley Smith finished seventh and eighth respectively, after Hector Barbera crashed out of the same battle pack with three laps to go. That moved Danilo Petrucci into ninth, with local hero Jack Miller rounding out the Top 10 after predictably dropping back through the field in the dry conditions.

West Indies Women won Maiden WT20 title

Two sides that are known to play aggressive faced off in what promised to be a thrilling finale. Australia threw the early punches, West Indies then counter punched in the chase as the might of their explosive batting line-up resurfaced their maiden entry into the Women World T20 final ending in a blaze of glory at the iconic Eden Gardens in Kolkata.

West Indies were run ragged in the first half as half-centuries from Elyse Villani and Meg Lanning helped Australia post an imposing 148 for 5. Enter Hayley Mathews and Stafanie Taylor and a daunting chase was clinically brought into the realms of possibility courtesy an opening stand of 120 in 15.4 overs. Once within striking distance, Taylor and Dottin brought all their experience to the fore by seeing off the highest successful chase in Women T20 history with three balls to spare.

Something about the last overs of their bowling stint, off which they conceded just one run, fired West Indies. Despite having the momentum with them, it was going to be a mountain to climb. For the first three overs of their chase, Australia had a lid on the runs, having conceded just eight. Then they relaxed, only to see Mathews unfurl boundary after boundary to leave Australia ducking for cover.

Halfway through the chase, Lanning called her team into a huddle in a bid to regroup. But that was to no avail. The wicket of Mathews, who miscued a pull off Kristen Beams to midwicket with West Indies 29 off 26 balls, came as relief, more than joy. That allowed Dottin, who had an off day with ball, a shot at redemption, which she gleefully accepted as West Indies celebrated a historic triumph in style.

Cricket Weekly

In the first week of Cricket around the world, matches were played with different teams in different countries. Sri Lanka toured New Zealand, West Indies toured Australia, England touring South Africa, Zimbabwe and Afghanistan are playing in UAE, and Big Bash league in Australia.

Sri Lanka lost Test Cricket & ODI cricket series in New Zealand. Both series were dominated by New Zealand in form batsman Martin Guptill and Kane Williamson. Sri Lanka tried best to give good challenge but team without retired legends is still looking for good combination of players. In another Australia remain unbeaten this year in test cricket and their complete team work won test cricket series against West Indies.

Australian Openers, captain and their bowlers are in tremendous form and players in all three cricket formats are in good form. England cricket team is showing a winning determination in South Africa to win Test cricket series. Ben stokes created records in second test match. England won the first test match and now lead the series. South African Skipper has stepped down as Captain.

Afghanistan won ODI cricket series against Zimbabwe in UAE in a thrilling finish in last match. They now are close to win T20 Series too if they win last match. In Big bash League; Adelaide Strikers is on top now followed by Perth scorchers, Melbourne Stars, and Sydney Thunder. In coming week, Pakistan will tour New Zealand for T20 and ODI series. India will tour Australia for T20 and ODI series. 

FIH Hockey World League

A Spirited India broke their 33 year old medal jinx in a major International tournament as they came back from two goals down to stun defending champions Netherlands in the shootout after both the teams were tied at 5-5 at regulation time in a thrilling bronze medal play-off match of the Hockey World League Final in Raipur.

India last won a medal in an International tournament way back in 1982 when they beat Pakistan 5-4 in the Champions trophy in Amsterdam. In the shootout, the Indians prevailed over the Dutch 3-2 at the Sardar Vallabh Bhai Patel Stadium and win avenged India’s 1-3 defeat against the Netherland in the pool stages in the tournament here. After starting the match on a slow note, India produced a fine show in the last two quarters to beat the world number two side with their relentless attacks in the second half.

Netherlands were quick to take a 2-0 lead in the first half. It was high intensity match which produced as many as six goals in the last 10 minutes, three each to India and Netherlands. The Indians got their acts together after the change of ends and Ramandeep Singh scored from a field strike before Rupinder Pal Singh converted a penalty corner in the 47^th minute to level the scores.

It was raining goals as India took the lead in the next minute when Akshdeep Singh found the back of the Dutch net to give India 5-3 lead. But the Dutchmen did not sit back and fought back valiantly to score two goals in the last two minutes to take the match into shoot-out. Final match was won by Australia beating Belgium by 2-1 in Raipur.

New Zealand won Rugby World Cup 2015

The 2015 Rugby World Cup was the eighth Rugby World Cup, the quadrennial rugby union world championship. The tournament was hosted by England from 18 September to 31 October 2015. New Zealand won the cup for the third time and two consecutive years. Australia took second place as runner up and South Africa took third place.

England was chosen to host the competition in July 2009, beating rival bids from Italy, Japan and South Africa. Of the 20 teams competing the 2015 World Cup, 12 of them qualified by finishing in the top three place in their pools in the 2011 World Cup. The other eight teams qualified through regional competition. Next and ninth Rugby World Cup will held in Japan from 20 September to 2 November 2019.

New Zealand won the game by 34-17. Wonderful tries from Milner-Skudder and Nonu had given the all blacks a 21-3 lead early in the second half before David Pocock and Tevita struck back. With 15 Minutes to go there was just four points in it, but a nerveless long distance drop goal and penalty from Dan Carter snatched back control. In the end, Barrett sprinted away on to Ben Smith clearing kick at the death history was made.

After Missing the 2011 World Cup final through Injury, this was the perfect ending for world Rugby most perfect 10 Dan Carter, who also won Man of the Match award. No team has ever scored so many in the first period of a World Cup Final, and the brilliance resumed a minute into the second half. In this World Cup, most tries are scored Julian Savea, most penalties are scored by Handre Pollard, most conversions are scored by Daniel Carter and most points are scored by Nicolas Sanchez.

International Champions Cup

International Champions Cup is an annual club association football friendly exhibition competition. It is the first to be played separately in Australia, China and United States. The Australian edition of the tournament featured three teams played across three matches at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. Real Madrid was the first club to announce their involvement.

Manchester city and Roma were later confirmed to take part in the Australian Tournament. The Chinese edition of the tournament had featured Real Madrid, Milan and Inter Milan playing a total of three matches in different cities. The North American edition of the tournament had featured 10 teams but some games will be played in Mexico, Canada, Italy and England.

Each team involved in the US edition will play four games, except the three United States based teams that will only play two games. 2014 International Champions Cup winners Manchester United were the first team to confirm their involvement in US Edition. The Australian Edition of 2015 is won by Real Madrid which is their second title.

The China Edition of ICC is won by Real Madrid which is their third title. Paris Saint Germain won the US Edition of ICC which is their first title. One match during the 2014 tournament set all time record for attendance at a soccer game in the United States. The new record of 109,318 spectators was set at the match between Manchester United and Real Madrid in University of Michigan Stadium. 

The Ashes

The Ashes is a test cricket series played between England and Australia. The term was originated in a British Newspaper immediately after Australia 1882 victory at the Oval, their first Test win on English soil. The obituary stated that English Cricket had died and the body will be cremated and the Ashes taken to Australia. The mythical ashes immediately became associated with 1882-83 series played in Australia, before which the English Captain Ivo Bligh had vowed to regain those Ashes.

After England had won two of the three tests on the tour, a small urn was presented to Bligh. The contents of the urn are reputed to be the Ashes of a wooden bail and were humorously described as Ashes of Australian Cricket. An Ashes series is traditionally of five tests, hosted in turn by Australia and England. Australia is the current holder, having won all of five tests. Out of 68 Ashes Series played, 32 are won by Australia & 31 by England and 5 remain as draw.

The 2015 Ashes series is hosted by England. In Last five Ashes encounters, three series are won by England. In overall, 320 Tests matches had been played out of which 128 are won by England and 103 by England. Rest of the test matches resulted in a draw. Don Bradman is the highest run maker in Ashes. Out of 37 matches he hit 19 centuries and scored more than 5000 runs at an average of 89 which is a record. Shane Warne had played Ashes for 14 years and taken 195 wickets which is a record.

In the current series, key players from Australia are Steven Smith, Michael Clarke, Mitchell Starc, Chris Rogers, and Mitchell Johnson. From England key players are Stuart Broad, James Anderson, Moen Ali, Alastair Cook, Joe Root, and Ben Stokes. The last time Australia had won Ashes in England was in back 2001, when they won Ashes by 4-1. Since then Australia had never won Ashes in England. They will try to break this streak in this year while England will play to regain their lost momentum and revenge last Ashes Clean Sweep. Stay tuned for the result.

Australia Clinch Fifth World Cup Title

After 45 days of fight between 14 teams, finally Australia Clinch their fifth World Cup title beating New Zealand in the final in MCG. Australian Captain Michael Clarke retired from ODI cricket. Match was completely in favor of Australia from beginning. New Zealand lost their captain in the first over and lost top three in first 15 overs. Whole team got out for 183 runs in 45 overs.

Australian Bowlers Mitchell Johnson and James Faulkner took three wickets each and Starc took two important wickets. Grant Elliott top scored for the black caps with 83 but New Zealand hopes of winning the World Cup for the first time were dealt a savage blow when they lost last seven wickets in just 33 runs. Australia reached their victory target in 34^th over for the loss of just three wickets. Clarke, playing his last match made important 74 runs in just 72 balls.

Steven Smith is likely to be the new Australian Captain. Martin Guptill from New Zealand remained as the top scorer in the World Cup with 547 runs. Trent Boult and Starc shared most wicket dismissal figures of 22 wickets. Brad Haddin was the most successful wicket keepers in the World Cup with 16 dismissals. Chris Gayle hit 26 numbers of sixes which are most by any player. Guptill hit 59 fours which are most in the tournament by a single player.

James Faulkner won the man of the match award for his brilliant bowling spell and Mitchell Starc won the man of the Tournament Award for his 22 wickets. This was 400^th world cup game out of 3646 total ODI games played till now. Brad Haddin was the oldest Australian batsman to play in the final at MCG in 2015. Seven number of New Zealand players got out on ducks in two matches against Australia in 2015 World Cup.

In 2011, both hosting nations played final and the one hosting final won the cup. This same incident happened this time too. Both hosting nation played final and one hosting final match won the Tournament. Next world cup will held in England in 2019 from 30 May to 15 July and final will be played in Lords.

Cricket World Cup 2015: Semi-Final Clashes

Last week of Cricket World Cup 2015 has started and finally out of 14 teams in the tournament, four teams are left to compete against each other. Only one team from Asia is able to make it to the semi-finals this year. In Quarter Finals, all Asians teams played their matches and three of them went back. Sri Lanka ended their long streak of reaching semi-finals this year. Pakistan was knocked out again by Australia this year. Bangladesh was knocked out by India and West Indies by New Zealand.

India, South Africa, Australia, and New Zealand made into the finals. India will face Australia in Semi-final number two on 26^th March in Sydney. New Zealand will face South Africa in Semi-Final number one on 24^th March in Auckland. This year there will be space for only one team out of South Africa and New Zealand to reach finals. None of the team has ever won the cup. Australia will be playing their seventh consecutive semi-final on Thursday. However, they lose one game in this tournament against New Zealand by one wicket.

Australia also has advantage over India having won seven matches out of ten world Cup clash. Australia also came out on top in a tri-series against India and England, a month before world cup. However, India turnaround has been an impressive one. Bowlers have performed well and bowled out opposition team within 50 overs in every game. Batsman played well and top four making centuries in any of the game. Shikhar Dhawan did it twice and Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, and Suresh Raina made it once. Captain Cool Dhoni also did well in middle against West Indies and Zimbabwe.

In first clash between New Zealand and South Africa, New Zealand has advantage over Caribbean’s. New Zealand will be playing in their home and batting efforts from Top five batsmen is quite impressive in this tournament. Bowlers are also doing well with Boult as the leading wicket taker and Southee and Vettori giving valuable contributions. South Africa will have to fight hard to win the game. However, they did against Sri Lanka. AB and Amla are top performers and Quinton and Du Plessis giving valuable support. Morkel, Tahir, and Steyn bowled well in the tournament but their losses against India and Pakistan make them less favorite.

My predictions are India and New Zealand will play Finals or it may happen both home teams will knocked out and India and South Africa will face each other again in Finals. Australia can beat India because of their home advantage.

2015 Formula One Calendar

The 2015 Formula One season will be the 66^th season of the Formula One world Championship, a motor racing championship for Formula One cars which is recognized by the sport governing body, the Federation International of Automobile. Twenty drivers representing ten teams will contest twenty Grand Prix, starting in Australia on 15 March and ending in Abu Dhabi on 29 November. Lewis Hamilton is the defending champion after securing his second title at the 2014 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. Mercedes will begin the season as the defending constructor champion, having securing its first championship title at the 2014 Russian Grand Prix.

The pre-season test drive had already taken place in Spain in February. Car launches is also done in month of January and February. The Ten teams participating in the tournament are Williams, Lotus, McLaren-Honda, Ferrari, Sauber, Toro Rosso, Red Bull, Mercedes, and Force India. Season will kick from Australia and end in Abu Dhabi. The 2015 Calendar is as follow:-

March 15: Australian GP, March 29: Malaysia GP, April 12: Chinese GP, April 19: Bahrain GP, May 10: Spanish GP, May 24: Monaco GP, June 7: Canadian GP, June 21: Austrian GP, July 5: British GP, July 19: German GP, July 26: Hungarian GP, August 23: Belgian GP, September 6: Italian GP, September 20: Singapore GP, September 27: Japanese GP, October 11: Russian GP, October 25: U.S. GP, November 1: Mexican GP, November 15: Brazilian GP, November 29: Abu Dhabi GP.

This season Honda will return to Formula One as an Engine Supplier to McLaren. Lotus will change engine suppliers, ending their association with Renault in favor of a deal with Mercedes. Fernando Alonso will replace Kevin Magnussen at McLaren. Sebastian Vettel left at Red Bull Racing at the end of 2014 season after fifteen years and join Ferrari in the place of Alonso. Daniil Kvyat was promoted to Red Bull form Toro Russo to fill the seat vacated by Vettel. Mexican Grand Prix is returned in this season for the first time since 1992. Grand prix of America, Indian Grand Prix, and Korean Grand Prix failed to race bids and will not take part in this season.

The driver line-ups of all teams with one reserved driver are here. Mercedes Drivers are Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg with Pascal Wehriein as Reserved Driver. Red Bull drivers are Daniel Ricciardo and Daniil Kvyat with Sebastien Buemi as reserved driver. Williams drivers are Valtteri Bottas and Felipe Massa with Susie Wolff as reserved driver. Ferrari drivers are Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen with Esteban Gutierrez as reserved driver. McLaren drivers are Fernando Alonso and Jenson Button with Kevin Magnussen as reserved driver.

Force India drivers are Nico Hulkenberg and Sergio Perez. Toro Rosso drivers are Max Verstappen and Carlos Sainz. Lotus drivers are Romain Grosjean and Pastor Maldonado with Jolyon Palmer as reserved driver. Sauber drivers are Marcus Ericsson and Felipe Nasr with Raffaele Marciello as reserved driver. Manor drivers are Will Stevens and one place is still vacant for one a driver. Fernando Alonso was involved in a pre-season testing accident that saw the two-time world champion hospitalized. Alonso withdrew from the season opening Australian Grand Prix prompting the team to replace him with Kevin Magnussen for the race. 

Cricket World Cup 2015

The 2015 Cricket World Cup is the 11^th Cricket World Cup, currently being hosted by Australia and New Zealand from 14 February 2015 to 29 March 2015. Fourteen teams will play 49 matches in 14 venues, with Australia staging 26 games and New Zealand hosting 23 games. The final match of the tournament will take place at Melbourne Cricket Ground. The ICC has named Sachin Tendulkar as the 2015 Cricket World Cup Ambassador for the second time, after 2011 Cricket World Cup where he was the Ambassador. India is the defending champions, having won the tournament in 2011 defeating Sri Lanka in the finals. Now, let us have a look on all teams and key players from each team.

Afghanistan- This debutant team of this year got good experience in T20 Cricket and beaten both Ireland and Scotland in 2015. Key Players are Nawroz Mangal and Captain Mohammad Nabil.

Australia- The hosts, the favorites, and the team to beat. They have won 11 of their last 13 ODI. Key Players are David Warner, Mitchell Johnson, Steve Smith, and Glenn Maxwell. Captain Michael Clarke is also in good form and Coach Darren Lehmann guidance can make this team fifth time champion.

Bangladesh- Always a threat but not quite the dangerous underdogs they were in 2007 and 2011. Whitewashed Zimbabwe in recently but have not beaten any of the top eight team since 2013. Key Players are Mushfiqur Rahim, Shakib Al Hasan, and Tamim Iqbal. Captain is Mashrafe Mortaza.

England- Founder country of Cricket but have never won the World Cup. This time they got some all-rounders and a captain in form. Key Players are Ian Bell, Ravi Bopara, Joe Root, Stuart Broad, and James Anderson. Their Captain is Eoin Morgan.

India- Defending champions and good performer team in last four years in major tournaments. Played three major finals and won two. Current conditions are little shaky but captain cool is always good to watch. Key players are Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane, and Bhuvneshwar Kumar. Captain is Mahendra Singh Dhoni.

Ireland- Famous win over Pakistan in 2007 and England in 2011 are still remembered. This team can beat any top performing team. Key Player is Ed Joyce and captain is William Porterfield.

New Zealand- Currently the best team in form and favorite to win the tournament. Played six semi-finals until now. Key Players are Kane Williamson, Ross Taylor, Boult, Vettori, and Southee. Captain is Brendon McCullum.

Pakistan- Line up looks shaky after absence of Hafeez. Star batsman Afridi is in good form. Key players are Umar Akmal, Afridi, Irfan, and Ahmed Shahzad. Captain is Misbah-Ul-Haq.

Scotland- Goal is to register first win at World Cup. Good performing team with key player and captain Preston Mommsen.

South Africa- Top most team in ODI with a star line up. This is the team to watch out for in this season. This team have never won any major tournament. Key Players are Hashim Amla, Dale Steyn, Philander, Morkel, Faf du Plessis, David Miller, and Duminy. Captain is AB de Villiers.

Sri Lanka- Runner up of last two world cup tournaments and winner of 2014 T20 World Cup. Most consistent performing team always. Key Players are Lasith Malinga, Jayawardene, Sangakkara, and Dilshan. Captain is Angelo Mattews.

UAE- Another opportunity to play in World Cup. Key Player is Khurram Khan, 43 year old all rounder and oldest player in the tournament. Captain is Mohammad Tauqir.

West Indies- Never Underestimated team with huge and power hitters. Key Players are Chris Gayle, Smith, Sammy, Russell, and Samuels. Captain is Jason Holder.

Zimbabwe- One of the underdog’s team from the past. They have experienced and consistent players in the team. Key Players is Brendan Taylor. Captain is Elton Chigumbura.

These are the 14 teams of the tournament this year. Event will start on 14 February 2015. Opening match will be played between Sri Lanka and New Zealand in Auckland.

Big Bash League 2014-15

The KFC T20 Big Bash League is the Australian domestic Twenty20 cricket tournament, which was established in 2011. The Big Bash League replaced the previous competition, the KFC Twenty20 Big Bash, and featured city based franchises instead of state teams, which had participated previously. The top two teams in the tournament qualify for the Champions League Twenty20 tournament.

The 2014-15 Big Bash League season was the fourth season of the BBL. The tournament started on 18 December 2014 and final was played on 28 January 2015. The Perth Scorchers won back-to-back titles by defeating Sydney Sixers by 4 wickets on the last ball of the match. The final was also the final match of Brett Lee’s career. Jacque Kallis of the Sydney Thunder was named ‘Player of the tournament for his 235 runs and 6 wickets in the tournament. Jason Behrendroff of the Scorchers was named ‘Young Gun of the Tournament’ for his 15 wickets in the season.

Sydney Sixers batted first and scored 147 in 20 overs and their captain Henriques made 77 runs with Strike rate of 135.08. In response, Perth Scorchers made 148 runs in 20 overs. Shaun Marsh made the maximum runs in second innings. He scored 73 runs with strike rate of 123.72. Perth Scorchers needed 8 in the last over and two back-to-back wickets from Brett Lee kept the match in excited mode. On the last ball, Yasir Arafat took a risky single when Henriques was not able to hit the stumps for run-out, which made Scorchers second time winner of the tournament.

Klinger from Scorchers scored the most runs in the tournament and the only one to hit a century. Kevin Peterson followed him from Melbourne Stars and was second highest run scorer. Hastings from Melbourne Stars took the maximum wickets and Behrendroff from Scorchers was second highest wicket taker. A total 789 four were smashed in the tournament. Count tally of Sixes was 312. Perth Scorchers is the most successful team in the Big Bash League in all seasons. In four seasons, this was their fourth Final. This year again they will compete in the Champions League, which is played between Top Domestic teams from New Zealand, India, South Africa, Australia, Sri Lanka, West Indies, and other Test playing nations.