Calendar clashes, English representatives and Chris Gayle’s advancing years – the talking points ahead of the start of the Abu Dhabi T10 League on January 28
Abu Dhabi T10 League squads 2021
Producing a global cricket calendar during a pandemic is no easy task. Over the past 12 months we’ve seen the County Championship adopt a shortened format, the PSL start in February and finish in November and the T20 World Cup move from Australia in 2020 to India in 2021.
However, you have to question the wisdom of scheduling the fourth edition of the Abu Dhabi T10 League for the same 10-day period as the knockout stages of the Big Bash.
Following Sydney Thunder’s qualification for the Big Bash playoffs on January 25, the T10 League is likely to lose marquee white-ball players Alex Hales (Team Abu Dhabi) and Sam Billings (Pune Devils). Hales has been the standout player for Thunder in BBL 10, scoring one century and three half centuries to lead the Golden Bat competition, while Billings has played a key role with both bat and gloves.
Thunder’s earliest possible exit from BBL 10 is January 31 – the last day of the T10 group stage – while they could keep playing until February 4 or February 6. With neither Hales or Billings indicating a desire to swap Australia for the UAE, the chances of them playing anything more than a cameo role in this season’s T10 League are slim.
Losing two star internationals isn’t a critical blow to the tournament but the absence of Hales and Billings will certainly be felt by their respective teams. For the sake of the competition, it’s only reasonable to wonder why the T Ten Sports Management group and Emirates Cricket Board didn’t push the start date back a week or two given the profile and known timeline of the Big Bash.
Alex Hales (L) and Sam Billings (R) have starred for Sydney Thunder in BBL 10
For cricket fans on the south coast, the Abu Dhabi T10 is a fantastic opportunity to see some of your favourites in action. There are six Sussex players involved in this year’s edition, spread across four franchises.
Chris Jordan and Phil Salt are reunited at Qalandars, veteran England international Ravi Bopara joins Dehli Bulls, while Luke Wright and South African David Wiese line up for their second seasons with Team Abu Dhabi and Bangla Tigers, respectively.
However, Sussex’s best hope is seamer George Garton. The 23-year old lit up the 2019 Abu Dhabi T10, taking a competition-leading 12 wickets for Qalandars. This season, Garton joins Wiese at Bangla Tigers, who will hoping the young bowler can help them better their third place finish last time out.
Aside from Sussex’s five home representatives, there are another 14 English players contracted to take part in the tournament. As mentioned, the participation of Hales and Billings is now in doubt due to their BBL commitments, but that still leaves a huge 17 home players in the mix.
Ben Cox (Worcestershire), Joe Clarke and Ben Duckett (both Nottinghamshire) join Wright at Team Abu Dhabi while Samit Patel (Nottinghamshire) and Somerset’s Tom Banton are representing Qalandars.
Laurie Evans (Surrey) is the lone Englishman at Maratha Arabians, Tom Abell (Somerset) and Yorkshire’s Adam Lyth join Bopara at Dehli Bulls, and Tom Moores (Nottinghamshire) and Adam Hose (Warwickshire) complete the home trio at Bangla Tigers.
Finally, Tom Kohler-Cadmore is joined by Yorkshire teammate, and exciting young talent, Sam Wisniewski at Pune Devils. 19-year old Wisniewski has played just two T20 matches in his fledging career but is set to take to the field with a host of international stars in his maiden franchise tournament.
Meet Sam Wisniewski, the Yorkshire teenager off on a T10 adventure
In 2019, Chris Lynn bossed the T10 League. The Australian hit the most runs (371), most fours (29) and most sixes (31) in the tournament, as well as recording the highest score in the league's history (91 off 30 deliveries), to capture the title for Maratha Arabians.
However, Lynn – the reigning player of the tournament – is absent from this year’s competition, leaving the battle for best batsman wide open. The question is, who can fill the 30-year old’s shoes?
The obvious favourite is Northern Warriors captain, Nicholas Pooran. The West Indian topped the batting charts in 2018, scoring 324 runs with a strike rate of 245.45 to help Northern Warriors lift their maiden title. Pooran scored just 77 runs as Warriors missed the knockout stage in 2019 but comes into this year’s tournament off the back of an impressive cameo in the Big Bash for Melbourne Stars.
Speaking of Melbourne Stars, Andre Fletcher is also a good bet to lead the batting charts. This might come as a surprise given the Spiceman averaged just 20.6 with the bat from his 12 BBL appearances. However, the West Indian was the T10 League’s second highest run scorer in 2018 (304) and in the top five in 2019. If he can rediscover some form, Bangla Tigers have a huge hitter on their books.
Finally, the outside shout is Tom Banton. The 22-year old scored 162 runs in five appearances for Qalandars in his T10 debut in 2019 and followed it up with 223 runs in seven matches (including three half centuries) for Brisbane Heat in BBL 09. Banton opted out of this season’s Big Bash so is well rested heading into his second season with Qalandars.
Nicholas Pooran (L), Tom Banton (C) and Andre Fletcher (R) will be looking to replace Chris Lynn as the tournament's top batsman
Pune Devils (formerly Karnataka Tuskers) struggled in their first T10 season, finishing bottom of the table after winning just one of their six matches.
Changing their name for the 2021 season, Pune have also opted for a new head coach, swapping Australian Tom Moody for Jonty Rhodes. Rhodes enjoyed a prolific white-ball career, scoring just under 6000 runs at an average of 35.11 in 245 ODIs for South Africa.
However, the South African is best remembered for his formidable fielding, acrobatic run-outs and completing 425 catches in all formats.
Whatever impact Rhodes has with Pune Devils, we can only hope that he will impart some of his fielding nous to light up the competition.
Chris Gayle is one of the best white-ball players ever to grace cricket. The West Indian has dominated franchise tournaments around the world and joins up with Team Abu Dhabi in the hope of delivering their maiden T10 title. But, at the ripe old age of 41, does the Universe Boss still have it?
The answer is yes. Six weeks after his 41st birthday, Gayle smashed 99 off 63 deliveries for King’s XI Punjab in IPL 13, becoming the first player to hit 1000 T20 sixes in the process. This wasn’t a one-off either. Gayle hit 288 runs (15 fours and 23 sixes) at a strike rate of 137.14 in seven appearances last season to record his highest IPL average (41.14) since 2013.
Gayle might be in his fifth decade, but he still has the potential to be the star.
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