WITH the 2020-21 Australian season almost at an end, some of the country’s leading players have their sights set on more cricket abroad this winter.
While plenty of players will take a break following a summer like no other, 16 Aussie men’s players are set to be back in action soon for the 2021 Indian Premier League (IPL).
There will also be a total 20 Australians – nine men and 11 women – involved in the inaugural season of The Hundred in the UK in July and August, while 16 men will take part in English county cricket during the Australian off-season. And there could be more Aussies abroad later in the year for the rescheduled Pakistan Super League (PSL) in June and the 2021 Caribbean Premier League (CPL), which is expected to be played in September. The Aussie women’s team are not scheduled to play any international cricket until their home series against India in September, but some of the Australian men’s players may have to miss part of their overseas domestic deals if they’re picked for the proposed white-ball campaigns in the Caribbean and Bangladesh ahead of the T20 World Cup in October.

2021 Indian Premier League
The 14th season of the world’s biggest domestic tournament begins on April 9 and runs until May 30. A total of 60 matches will be played at six neutral venues across India – in Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai, Bengaluru and Ahmedabad – with the number of grounds in use reduced due to the pandemic.
Delhi Capitals – Steve Smith, Marcus Stoinis, Ricky Ponting (head coach)
Kings XI Punjab – Moises Henriques, Riley Meredith, Jhye Richardson
Kolkata Knight Riders – Pat Cummins, Ben Cutting
Mumbai Indians – Chris Lynn, Nathan Coulter-Nile
Rajasthan Royals – Andrew Tye
Royal Challengers – Dan Christian, Glenn Maxwell, Kane Richardson, Daniel Sams, Adam Zampa, Simon Katich (head coach)
Sunrisers Hyderabad – David Warner, Trevor Bayliss (head coach)

(Note: Josh Hazlewood (Chennai Super Kings), Mitch Marsh (Sunrisers Hyderabad), Josh Philippe (Royal Challengers Bangalore) all recently withdrew from the IPL deals for personal reasons)

2021 The Hundred
After a long wait, and a 12-month delay due to the pandemic, England’s new 100-ball competition will be officially launched on July 21 this year and run until August 21. Eight new franchises have been created and the men’s and women’s competitions will run side by side, with some of the best players in the world set to take part.
Birmingham Phoenix – Ash Gardner, Ellyse Perry, Adam Zampa, Andrew McDonald (men’s head coach), Ben Sawyer (women’s head coach)
London Spirit – Glenn Maxwell, Shane Warne (men’s head coach)
Manchester Originals – Simon Katich (men’s head coach)
Northern Superchargers – Nicola Carey, Aaron Finch, Alyssa Healy, Chris Lynn, Darren Lehmann (men’s head coach)
Oval Invincibles – Rachael Haynes, Tom Moody (men’s head coach)
Southern Brave – Marcus Stoinis, David Warner
Trent Rockets – Nathan Coulter-Nile, Sophie Molineux, D’Arcy Short, Annabel Sutherland, Elyse Villani
Welsh Fire – Meg Lanning, Beth Mooney, Jhye Richardson, Georgia Wareham, Matthew Mott (women’s head coach)
2021 UK county cricket
After a shortened competition last English summer that didn’t get underway until August due to the pandemic, the 2021 first-class season in the UK will begin on April 8 and conclude with the Bob Willis Trophy final in late September. The 18 counties have been split into three divisions for the County Championship, while there are two groups for the One-Day Cup, which will run from July 22 until August 19. The T20 Blast competition, which will be played at the same time as the new Hundred tournament, will run from June 9 to September 18.
Derbyshire – Ben McDermott (one-day & T20), Billy Stanlake (all formats)
Durham – Cameron Bancroft (first-class)
Essex – Peter Siddle (first class & one-day)
Glamorgan – Marnus Labuschagne (all formats), Michael Neser (first-class & one-day)
Gloucestershire – Dan Worrall (all formats)
Lancashire – Jackson Bird (first-class)
Leicestershire – Marcus Harris (first-class & one-day), Josh Inglis (T20)
Middlesex – Peter Handscomb (first-class & one-day), Mitch Marsh (T20)
Nottinghamshire – Dan Christian (T20)
Surrey – Sean Abbott (first-class and T20)
Sussex – Travis Head (all formats)
Worcestershire – Ben Dwarshuis (T20)