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CA will meet with ICC CEO just before Christmas to discuss number of global tournaments over the next events’ cycle

Daniel Brettig04-Dec-2019Australia’s first Boxing Day Test with New Zealand in 32 years will take place in the wake of critical talks between Cricket Australia and the ICC, aimed at resolving an impasse over global events for the next international cycle.Financial woes among the majority of Full Member countries have caused them to be increasingly reliant upon cash distributions from ICC events, pushing the global body’s new chief executive Manu Sawhney to lobby for the return of an extra event in the next cycle so that there is a men’s tournament – either a Twenty20 World Cup, 50-over World Cup or shorter, Champions Trophy style 50-over competition – every year.New Zealand’s presence on Boxing Day will be poignant to the moment, for their finances stand as a signal example. Shifting ICC distributions have caused one of cricket’s smaller boards to return financial losses of NZD 1.3 million (USD 846,000 approx) for 2018-19 (as against a projected profit of NZD 1 million) after deficits of $3.5 million in 2018 and $9.3 million in 2017. The most recent loss was all the more troubling for the fact that the 2018-19 season featured an inbound India tour.However CA, the BCCI and the ECB, cricket’s three richest boards, have indicated their hesitance about placing the extra event in the next cycle, already crushed as it is by domestic Twenty20 tournaments and the advent of Test and ODI leagues. These reservations have been expressed by the BCCI’s leadership, the ECB’s chairman Colin Graves, and CA’s chairman Earl Eddings and chief executive Kevin Roberts.”We’ve got Manu Sawhney, the ICC CEO, coming out in a couple of weeks to work through it,” Eddings told ESPNcricinfo. “We’ve got a responsibility as one of the leading countries to make the ICC strong and the countries who are part of the ICC. But we’ve also got to balance that with our own requirements around bilateral cricket. One of the challenges we have is Australia relies more on bilateral cricket than the ICC, where for a lot of countries it is the other way round. So just trying to find the balance.”You’ve got more T20 competitions spreading around the world, you’ve got the burgeoning IPL and you’ve got our bilateral cricket. More importantly, what does that mean to the players and from a player welfare perspective. So you’ve got all these challenges to try to work through. I think there’s a solution there, I don’t know what it is yet, but we’ll keep talking to the ICC and other countries to find a way to one, maximise the opportunities for the ICC and its members but also look after the needs of bilateral cricket and most importantly protect the sanctity of Test cricket.”We’re working through it with the ICC at the moment, that’s why Manu’s coming down, let’s sit down and work out what the options are, put some of the minutiae around it, so people can make a more informed decision. The ICC in concept approved it, subject to making sure it doesn’t impact on bilateral cricket, where you play, how you play it, how you bid for it.”Eddings, who has operated on a relational and trust-building platform since becoming CA chairman in 2018, is conscious of the problems affecting other boards and has proposed, among other things, that the ICC and member countries adopt a four-year financial cycle to smooth out year-on-year financial distributions to reduce cashflow issues.”During the last cycle of ICC events, there was last year (2018) when they didn’t have an event, and that had massive implications for distributions back to all of the countries,” he said. “Where that isn’t a problem for Australia, it is for others. So we’re trying to make sure you’ve got that cycle with an event every year so there’s consistency of revenue. But the challenge we have is the number of days – compared to the previous cycle when they did have an event every year, the events themselves didn’t run that long, but now the events have got bigger.”So you’ve got a lot more ICC content to fit into a smaller calendar, with all the T20 leagues around the world. So that’s the challenge now, trying to squeeze too much content into too little time.”We’ve certainly made that recommendation [for a four-year cycle] to the ICC. We’ve got the same problem [as other Full Members] only on a smaller scale, some years we make a lot of money, other years we lose a lot of money, depending on who’s travelling and your media rights. You don’t want to be up and down with your cash flows, particularly back to [CA’s member] states who rely on your funding. So we smooth it out, we look at how much money we’ve made over the four-year cycle as opposed to an up and down cycle of year by year.”The talks with Sawhney are aimed at working towards a solution before there is any danger of the game again being split along financial lines, as occurred during the infamous “big three” takeover of the ICC by the boards of India, England and Australia in 2014-15.”Not yet, it’s still early days,” Eddings said when asked about any additional details around the proposed extra tournament. “Still got to work out its context, player welfare is really important – you can’t just keep putting in more games to play, I think it’s unfair – and still need to work out where it fits in the calendar. So as a concept it’s up there, but a lot of work has got to be done on what type of event it is, how it plays out. That’s all still a work in progress.”Most of the Test playing countries play in the same season, which makes it more challenging. You’ve got a lot more time in the northern summer, so a whole range of factors need to be considered. A lot of water’s going to go under the bridge before we get that far.”We’re a long way off – this [extra event] is post 2023, so we’ve got a number of years to work through it, but you can’t do one thing without the other. To be able to work on your future tours programme, you need to know where that fits in with an ICC schedule, so you can’t just look at an ICC schedule in isolation, just as you can’t look at a bilateral or future tours programme in isolation.”

The Afghanistan legspinner and the Pakistan fast bowler were in unbelievable form

ESPNcricinfo staff08-Jan-2020 10.5 Rashid Khan to Vince, OUT, that’s what Strikers needed! Length ball outside off, and a bit of turn away from Vince. He looks to defend, but it takes a big nick into the keeper’s glovesJM Vince c †Carey b Rashid Khan 27 (20b 4×4 0x6) SR: 135.0010.6 Rashid Khan to Edwards, OUT, two in two! First-ball duck. Good length on off, but the googly spins inwards. Edwards is caught on the wrong line, and the ball hits him in front of leg stump. Rashid’s massive appeal may have convinced the umpire, because that was sliding down leg for certainJ Edwards lbw b Rashid Khan 0 (1b 0x4 0x6) SR: 0.0012.1 Rashid Khan to Silk, OUT, he’s got a hat-trick! Full on off, and the googly turns through Silk’s defense, and clips middle stump. The Strikers are now roaring! The BBL’s fifth hat-trickJC Silk b Rashid Khan 16 (17b 2×4 0x6) SR: 94.11 19.2 Haris Rauf to Gilkes, OUT, another slower ball on the legs, skies this flick aiming for midwicket but it sails toward Lamichhane at deep fine leg. He comes in off the rope 15 yards and judges it fairly well, lunging forward at the end to claim this. Give an assist to Zampa for cutting the previous ball to a single to put Gilkes on strike.M Gilkes c Lamichhane b Haris Rauf 41 (35b 1×4 2×6) SR: 117.1419.3 Haris Rauf to Ferguson, OUT, on a hat-trick! Another cutter at 125 kph on a fullish length. Ferguson hasn’t looked comfortable since being struck on the toe in Rauf’s previous over. Ferguson shuffles well across his stumps mistimes this off his thigh and ricochets into the stumps.CJ Ferguson b Haris Rauf 35 (27b 3×4 1×6) SR: 129.6219.4 Haris Rauf to Sams, OUT, a doubleheader double hat-trick! Good length ball skids on to beat Sams’ flick across and pinned lbw in front of middle. Replays indicate Sams was struck high on the back leg in front of middle and leg with the ball tailing in. Very favorable decision on height and line but he’s bowled very well today.DR Sams lbw b Haris Rauf 0 (1b 0x4 0x6) SR: 0.00

Hosts post record chase at Newlands to take 1-0 series lead after Joe Denly’s half-century guides England to respectable total

The Report by Valkerie Baynes04-Feb-2020Is this a new South Africa? Regardless of how this series ends or the eventual outcome of the hosts’ substantial rebuilding project, the answer, today, was yes.Led by newly appointed captain Quinton de Kock and a resurgent Temba Bavuma, South Africa recorded the highest successful ODI chase at Newlands to claim a memorable victory.De Kock and Bavuma put on a 173-run stand which blew South Africa’s previous best second-wicket partnership against England away and delivered a huge confidence boost after a disappointing World Cup and, more recently, a 3-1 Test series defeat to England.South Africa lost opener Reeza Hendricks cheaply, but not until the seventh over as he and de Kock made a controlled start.Bavuma joined de Kock with their side 25 for 1 and the pair played with poise and sense, never letting the required run rate out of site, running well between the wickets and not succumbing to any rash shot-making of the kind that drew criticism towards de Kock during the Test series.Bavuma, who forced his way back into the Test side for the fourth and final match at Johannesburg with some scintillating form on the domestic circuit, fell two runs shy of a second ODI century in just his third appearance.De Kock’s 107 off 113 balls oozed composure but was not without excitement, such as the massive six off Tom Curran that landed on top of the sightscreen and stayed there, or the four thumped off the back foot through midwicket to bring up his 5000th ODI run. Then there were consecutive fours through the covers to bring up his 15th one-day century.It was only when Joe Root re-entered the attack in the 36th over that de Kock fell, bowled as he missed an attempted slog-sweep.Rassie van der Dussen, who made his Test debut against England in December and finished as the fifth-highest run-scorer of the series – and South Africa’s second-highest behind de Kock – entered with his side needing 61 off 89 balls.Even when Bavuma was trapped lbw by Chris Jordan, ending a wonderful knock on 98 off 103 balls, there was no sense of panic and van der Dussen and Jon-Jon Smuts guided South Africa to the target with 14 balls to spare.World Champions England doled out caps at opposite ends of the spectrum, handing debuts to Tom Banton and Matt Parkinson and marking Chris Woakes’ 100th ODI. But it was their team-mate with a curious mix of age and ODI inexperience, Joe Denly, who played the innings England needed after falling to 83 for 4 and then 131 for 6 as they battled the spin of Tabraiz Shamsi.Denly scored his third ODI half-century and his first in the eight innings he has played since his previous fifty, against Australia in September 2009.After being overlooked for the World Cup, Denly was given the chance to establish himself as a limited-overs player when he was awarded his first white-ball contract at the end of last summer. If his first innings since is any gauge, Denly has set himself on course to do so, with a fine 87 off 103 balls to help England to 258 for 8 from their 50 overs when a much smaller total had looked likely earlier.South Africa also had two debutants, batting allrounder Smuts and quick Lutho Sipamla, and it was in fact the spin of Smuts that made the breakthrough they needed.Jason Roy and Jonny Bairstow brought up England’s 50 off 54 balls to set a strong foundation.Roy hit his stride by punishing Beuran Hendricks with three consecutive fours through long-on, long-off and extra cover but he also rode his luck, dropped on 24 by Andile Phehlukwayo off the bowling of Lungi Ngidi and barely evading the reach of van der Dussen as he cleared midwicket.As their stand reached 51, Roy lofted Smuts down the ground and found Reeza Hendricks at long-on to fall for 32 from as many balls. Bairstow followed his opening partner back to the pavilion a short time later, crashing a drive off Phehlukwayo straight to Sipamla at mid-off.A brilliant piece of fielding from van der Dussen broke a third-wicket stand worth 30 runs between Eoin Morgan and Root. Morgan swept Shamsi but van der Dussen was so sharp with his diving intercept at backward square he had all the time in the world to rise to his knees and take middle stump out of the ground with a throw fired in from nearly 30 metres away, as a sprawling Root was found well short of his ground.Shamsi removed Morgan just three balls later, edging to Bavuma who took a strong slips catch diving low to his left.Banton reached 18 off 23 balls but he was found wanting when he dropped to his knee looking to slog-sweep Shamsi and was struck high on his back thigh and given out lbw, failing to have the decision overturned on review when ball-tracking showed the delivery was headed for the top of off stump.Shamsi claimed his third wicket when he bowled Sam Curran round his legs.That brought Woakes to the crease and he joined Denly in settling the England innings, contributing 40 as the pair put on 91 runs for the seventh wicket.Denly accelerated through the closing overs, clubbing Ngidi some 87 metres over cow corner for six – the first maximum of England’s innings. He dealt out more of the same in Ngidi’s next over with a scornful smash over the fence at long-off.Denly was finally brought undone when he sent Beuran Hendricks to Reeza Hendricks in the deep with four balls remaining, his efforts at least giving England a fighting total – until de Kock and Bavuma played their part.

Car park to be used as drive-through test site by NHS

George Dobell02-Apr-2020Warwickshire have donated their Edgbaston stadium for the use of the NHS in a bid to help in the battle against COVID-19.The ground – more specifically, the car park – will be used as a drive-through testing centre for NHS staff. Those requiring tests will drive in through the Edgbaston Road entrance and undergo the procedure while remaining in their vehicle. They will then leave via the Pershore Road exit.Warwickshire also plan to offer NHS staff free entry to a Vitality Blast fixture later in the summer. Details of this offer will be released as and when the schedule for the 2020 season is announced.The UK has witnessed something of an outpouring of gratitude towards NHS staff in recent weeks. As details of the severity of the crisis have become clear, it has also become apparent that many staff – some of whom are not especially well paid – are working in desperately demanding conditions without adequate protective equipment or access to testing. Sam Curran and Jos Buttler are among the England players who have begun their own fund-raising efforts for NHS related charities.With little immediate prospect of cricket or any of the events that usually occupy Edgbaston, staff at Warwickshire have been looking for ways in which they could help the community through the pandemic. The offer to host a testing centre was gratefully accepted by the Department of Health and Social Care and will be utilised by staff throughout the West Midlands region.”With our county cricket programme and conference and events business closed until 29 May, our staff have been exploring various options which enable the club to keep supporting our local community during these difficult times, whether that be through making calls to our elderly members and ex-players, volunteering and by offering Edgbaston Stadium for use in the wider civil contingency effort,” Neil Snowball, the Warwickshire chief executive, said.”Whilst it is a small part to play in grand scheme of things, we are pleased that our stadium can be utilised to support the fantastic efforts being made by all of our NHS staff in response to the coronavirus crisis.”We are also very grateful for the support that we have received in delivering this project from Patrizia and Homes England, our development partners.”The NHS staff COVID-19 testing station will start operating within a few days and will remain at Edgbaston until further notice. While these are not the type of tests anyone expected to see at the ground, they will, at least, ensure Edgbaston continues to play some part in helping the local community.

Adelaide and Perth may be able to host larger crowds than Melbourne

ESPNcricinfo staff29-Jun-2020Former Australia captain Mark Taylor has raised the prospect of the Australia-India Boxing Day Test being moved away from the MCG if other venues are able to host larger crowds.Although still six months away, the recent spike in Covid-19 cases in Victoria – 75 were recorded on Monday – has brought into doubt when crowds will be able to return in the state.Adelaide and Perth have been talked of as alternatives for the Boxing Day encounter with both South Australia and Western Australia continuing to ease restrictions. Perth Stadium is set to be able to fill its 60,000 capacity for football matches from the middle of July while Adelaide Oval is able to host crowds of up to 25,000 – 50% of its capacity.”If you look at what’s happening around Australia, by Christmas time the MCG may only be able to host 10,000-20,000 people, which is not going to look great when you’ve got a real iconic Test match,” Taylor told Nine’s Sports on Sunday.”You move that match to Optus Stadium or even the Adelaide Oval, you’re going to get full venues. The Adelaide Oval and Optus Stadium will be working hard to try and get that game because they would look better with full crowds.”While the prospects of the Australia-India series taking place have been promising for some time, there had been a talk of the possibility that it would have to be played behind closed doors – as will be the case when international cricket returns with the England-West Indies series next month – with India potentially using a single venue as a hub.However, as the Covid-19 situation improved in the country so too did the hopes of a traditional schedule although the situation in Victoria is a reminder of how quickly things can change. The current schedule has the series being played in Brisbane, Adelaide, Melbourne and Sydney with Perth hosting Afghanistan in late November but Cricket Australia had said all fixtures were subject to change. Western Australia though voiced their anger at not being given a lucrative India Test.Speaking last week, Australia captain Tim Paine said he hoped to be playing in front of crowds this season.”Given the current circumstances, I dare say everything is well and truly on the table. We are hopeful that everywhere we play come summer time, we would be able to have crowds,” he said. “How big they are, we don’t know, obviously. But it’s a difficult one for anyone to answer because there is so much changing week to week, day to day. Give it is three or four months, we just don’t know what it is going to look like.”Certainly, from a player’s point of view, we want to be playing in front of big crowds at the best venues and a big day like Boxing Day is something that everyone looks forward to and a big part of that is playing at the MCG.”Fingers crossed things are going well enough that we can do that but, as I said, we are spoilt for choice here in Australia with some world-class stadiums. If something had to change, then, again, we have plenty of options.”

Richard Gould believes many IPL franchises are “striving” to create such a healthy structure

George Dobell27-May-2020The much-derided ownership model of most county cricket clubs has given them the best chance of surviving the Covid-19 pandemic, according to Surrey’s chief executive.With some now advocating English cricket adopts a similar finance model to that seen in the IPL, Richard Gould believes that it is the continuing predominance of members’ clubs – where no shareholder claims dividends and all profits are invested back into the club – which has afforded them a chance to “weather the storm” of recent months.And he believes many IPL clubs are “striving” to create such a healthy structure.ALSO READ: County Championship could include Lord’s finalGould made his comments while unveiling record financial returns for Surrey. Against a turnover of more than £45m, Surrey declared a pre-tax profit of £6.3m. The profit is a 112% increase on the £2.75m made in 2018 and a 42% boost in year on year turnover. The club also has 13,500 members and a squad containing 13 England internationals, eight of whom developed through the club’s academy. The news comes days after Lancashire declared almost as impressive returns.While both clubs are benefiting from a 2019 season which included hosting an Ashes Test and numerous World Cup games, they are now heading into a season in which incomes are going to be hit severely. But Gould believes that Surrey’s survival through 175 years underlines the benefits of its ownership model.”I find it interesting to look at the ownership models of other sports,” Gould said. “With county cricket largely featuring members’ clubs, you know that in years when money is made, it’s not being taken out of the sport by shareholders or used to re-finance the purchase of the club, which seems to be the American way of doing things.”When cricket makes money, you know it goes right back into the sport. We build bigger capacities to get bigger revenues or we invest in developing players. So the money we’ve been making at Surrey has gone into cricket – men’s and women’s cricket – and we take a lot of pride in young Surrey players going on to play for England.”I’ve worked in football and I’ve seen the different models of team ownership. The issue for me is team versus club. Pop-up teams are all well and good, but clubs do so much more for their community and their environment.”Teams in the IPL are actually striving to get what we have now. Look at Rajasthan Royals trying to create its own academy set-up. We take it for granted we’ve got an academy we invest in heavily. That’s what you get with clubs.”There is a role for teams, even pop-up teams, but when it comes to it, celebrating our 175th anniversary this year, the long-term value both for the sport and the community rests with clubs.”Although the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic will clearly be damaging to the club, the successes of last year have enabled us to approach the situation with confidence and resiliency. Our finances do give us a little bit of a cushion which should help us weather the storm.”Richard Gould, Surrey chief executive•Getty Images

Gould also cautioned against simplistic valuations of the game. Michael Vaughan, the former England captain, recently used his Telegraph column to claim that County Championship cricket ran at a financial loss but, as Gould sees it, those games help create the Test team which contributes heavily to the broadcast deals.”People say the championship loses money but I don’t think it does,” Gould said. “Most of the value from the Sky broadcast deal is from Test matches which is fed by the county system delivering quality players. I can do you a P & L on a Championship match day and say it loses money but it doesn’t if you look at all of the money coming into the game.”Despite Gould’s long-term optimism, he has warned that county cricket has a “specific issue” which makes it even more important that play resumes this summer. For if there is no county cricket this summer, clubs would go into the 2021 season having not welcomed spectators for 18-months.”Cricket has a specific issue,” he said. “We’ve been talking about whether we can get crowds in towards the end of this year. We’re not going to be suggesting anything other than following very strictly the government guidelines. But we hope at some stage they will allow some crowds in.”If that doesn’t happen, we’re in a unique position. There’s no other sport, industry or leisure sector that has the risk of going a year-and-a-half without anybody in the ground.”Around 10 percent of our revenue comes from the Sky broadcast deal, 90 percent comes from people coming into the ground. It makes sense we’re protecting the Sky contract first. But our greater risk is going a very long time without people coming into the ground. There have to be baby steps at some stage to get back to some sort of normality.”Gould also suggested there would have to be a review into the spending involved in launching The Hundred. In particular, he cautioned against excessive spending in case it resulted in cuts to county staffs. Some 134 male county players are out of contract in October.”We’ve been told there are no sacred cows and all elements of the game are going to be evaluated in terms of costs,” he said. “Can we afford it? I don’t know what we can afford next year. Whether it’s The Hundred, county cricket or international cricket. I know the ECB are doing a lot of work on the finances to understand the options.”There are nearly 150 players out of contract at the end of the season. We have to make sure that there is enough money to keep every player in the game who is worthy of another year. We need to make sure money is used appropriately.”It would seem incorrect for clubs to have such money difficulties that they have to let more players go than they otherwise would when we’re creating another tournament where even more money is going in. But I’m sure that balancing act will be done over the next three or four months.”

Jamaica Tallawahs lose Andre McCarthy and Jeavor Royal, who had come into contact with a player who had tested positive for Covid-19

Shashank Kishore03-Aug-2020St Kitts & Nevis Patriots have had to rejig their backroom staffers’ line-up just two weeks before CPL 2020 after Simon Helmot, their head coach, and Malolan Rangarajan, the assistant coach, were forced to miss the tournament for different reasons. The franchise has brought in former West Indies captain Courtney Walsh and Mark O’Donnell from New Zealand, who had worked together with Jamaica Tallawahs in 2015, to fill the gaps.Helmot tested positive for Covid-19 on July 27, the day he was to fly out of Melbourne to the Caribbean, while Rangarajan is a talent scout at Royal Challengers Bangalore, and is expected to be involved in the team’s pre-season camp in the UAE from the end of August. Rangarajan will, however, continue to assist the Patriots remotely as a strategic consultant.Current CPL guidelines require all players and support staff to clear Covid-19 tests before they fly out to the Caribbean and fulfil a two-week quarantine period in Trinidad & Tobago, where the entire season will be played.”I tested positive five hours before I was to fly out, and I’m shattered that I won’t be able to be part of Patriots this season,” Helmot told ESPNcricinfo. “I was asymptomatic, and my second test has come back negative, but I’m still in home isolation until the department of health and human services give me a green signal.”Victoria is currently in stage four of lockdown, after a recent spike in cases. Because of my quarantine restrictions, I wouldn’t have been able to make it in time for the season owing to the quarantine protocols. I’m incredibly thankful to Mahesh Ramani, the franchise owner, and the CPL team of Pete Russell, Tom Moody and the others for working incredibly hard behind the scenes to put it together.”Helmot, who was coach when Trinbago Knight Riders won the title in 2015, has a multi-year contract with the Patriots, and is hoping to return to the Caribbean next year. He has also previously been involved with Melbourne Renegades in the Big Bash league, and Sunrisers Hyderabad in the IPL, apart from stints in Bangladesh as head of their high-performance centre.Patriots were also hit by the news, reported by , that 33-year-old left-arm spinner Dennis Bulli has also tested positive for Covid-19, and has been replaced in the squad by 36-year-old Trinidad & Tobago legspinner Imran Khan.Meanwhile, Tallawahs have been hit by the withdrawal of two squad members, Andre McCarthy and Jeavor Royal, who had come into close contact with another player who had tested positive for Covid-19. “To lose both players… it is a big blow,” Tallawahs CEO Jeff Miller told . “But at the end of the day, the safety of the players comes first.”Jermaine Blackwood, West Indies’ leading run-scorer on their Test tour to England, will come in as a replacement player, while young Australian allrounder Antum Naqvi replaces Tabraiz Shamsi, who has had to opt out because South Africa’s borders remain closed.

The Tridents’ batting woes continued as they slumped to 89 for 9 followed by curious tactics in the field

Peter Della Penna04-Sep-2020A year ago when their season was on the line in danger of missing the playoffs, the Barbados Tridents rallied with a string of stirring performances spearheaded by a canny bowling attack to propel them not only into the playoffs but to the tournament title. But in 2020, the Tridents arsenal of big name bowlers could not cover up a patchwork batting order in another must-win situation at Brian Lara Academy as they completed a hat-trick of sub-100 batting totals, including back-to-back displays against the Guyana Amazon Warriors who knocked out the defending champions by six wickets with 34 balls to spare.The Amazon Warriors were playing their third match in three days, two of them against the Tridents. But the defending champions could not find a solution to improve upon their 92 all out performance from 48 hours earlier, somehow faring worse off by three runs. The lack of spirit with the bat spread to the field as an absence of slip fielders meant two possible catches went unclaimed.After an expensive first over in the third, marquee spinner Rashid Khan was not brought back until the target was down to 23. Fellow legspinner Hayden Walsh Jr, the 2019 CPL Player of the Tournament, grazed the boundary for the entirety of the chase despite having figures of 4 for 28 in six overs bowled across the Tridents’ previous two matches.Shepherding the wickets columnTraditionally held back until the death by captain Chris Green, Romario Shepherd was given a chance in the Powerplay and the move paid off almost immediately to spark another top-order slide. Shepherd conceded a first-ball boundary cracked through point, but when Johnson Charles tried to repeat the shot next ball, the delivery didn’t come onto the bat as cleanly and wound up fluttering to Ross Taylor at point. Khan was promoted to No. 3 as a pinch-hitter in an effort to shake up a slumbering line-up, but it had no impact. A top-edged pull first ball found the hands of Brandon King diving spectacularly on the square-leg rope to put Shepherd on a hat trick.Green and Imran Tahir continued to chip away at the middle order before Shepherd came back and struck two balls after the drinks break for his third wicket as Jason Holder’s ill-advised heave down the ground found Green at long-on to make it 39 for 6. Though not as dire as their position of 27 for 8 from two nights earlier, it was still too steep to climb out of.Just like Tuesday night, it was left to Mitchell Santner to perform CPR on the innings, teaming with Nyeem Young for a 30-run stand as both men jointly top-scored with 18. But after Santner fell the Tridents tail could manage just 20 runs off the last 25 deliveries in the innings as Shepherd and Naveen-ul-Haq kept them off balance with regular changes of pace.Where’s the desperation?Based on some of the field settings and bowling choices, a viewer would have a hard time believing that the Tridents were fighting to keep their season alive. After a first ball wide, Santner claimed Brandon King for a golden duck by slipping an arm ball through the gate. Three balls later, Santner appeared to have Chandrapaul Hemraj trapped for another duck with one that straightened to beat the bat, but his lbw shout was denied.Luck deserted Santner and the Tridents again when Hemraj was dropped on 14 at deep midwicket by Walsh Jr on a difficult lunging chance along the rope after having covered 25 yards running left. Hemraj finally fell for 29 in the fifth, as another heave for midwicket off Holder’s medium pace resulted in an edge that flew to Young at deep third man. Holder then induced an edge behind to start the seventh to claim Sherfane Rutherford.But with the Tridents needing to push as hard as possible for wickets, Holder curiously opted to not give Raymon Reifer a slip when bowling to Shimron Hetmyer at the start of the eighth over and an edge flew past wicketkeeper Charles’ diving effort for four. After Reifer dismissed Pooran with a skied chance in the ring, Young similarly induced an edge off Hetmyer in the ninth which would have carried comfortably to slip, had there been one in place.Their most expensive overseas player and the No. 1 bowler on the T20I rankings, Khan was kept out of the attack after some early punishment from Hemraj and wasn’t given a chance to attack any incoming batsmen until the match was nearly finished. Walsh Jr had it even worse. After dropping the early chance on the rope, he was never brought into the attack. It was a stark reversal of fortunes for the leading wicket-taker from the 2019 tournament and symbolised the wayward 2020 campaign for the Tridents as a whole.

ECB redundancies overshadow final ODI as central contracts loom for England players

Andrew Miller15-Sep-2020Chris Woakes has admitted that the England team cannot be “exempt” from the cost-cutting measures that the ECB have been forced to implement, after extending his sympathies to the 62 board employees who have lost their jobs due to the financial impact of the the Covid-19 pandemic.However, speaking on the eve of the final international fixture of the summer, Woakes added it was too soon to speculate on how the pandemic would impact on the next round of ECB central contracts, which are up for renewal at the start of October.Instead, he reiterated just how important it had been that West Indies, Ireland, Pakistan and Australia all agreed to tour to prevent the board’s financial losses from being even worse.ALSO READ: ECB announce 62 job cuts as Covid realities hit home“It’s incredibly sad news, really,” Woakes said, after it was confirmed that the ECB would be reducing its workforce by 20 percent, in a bid to mitigate projected losses of £200 million if Covid continues to disrupt the sport in 2021.”There’s a lot of people behind the scenes at the ECB who work incredibly hard, important cogs in the wheel,” Woakes added. “In the current climate, these sort of things are bound to happen in cricket, and in all sports around the world.”Of course it’s a sad time, and it does resonate with the players, but we’re also very fortunate that cricket has gone ahead this summer, [because] that figure of £200 million could have been a lot worse. I suppose that is the only positive outcome, really.Victory over Australia in the third and final ODI would complete England’s unbeaten record in international series across formats this summer, and defend a perfect record in bilateral ODI series at home that dates back to 2015 and the start of their emergence as a force in white-ball cricket.But more importantly, the mere fact that the fixture is taking place means that England’s men will have completed their full roster of 18 international fixtures for 2020, an achievement that seemed unthinkable back in April, when the ECB projected worst-case losses of £380 million if the full season had been wiped out.”The fact that we actually got some cricket on this summer is just a bonus,” Woakes said. “At one point it didn’t look like there’d be a ball bowled, so credit to everyone who made that happen.”West Indies and Pakistan, in particular, went to extreme lengths to make the Test leg of the summer, happen, with each team spending two months in lockdown to complete series that were worth in excess of £120 million to the ECB’s coffers. Ireland and Australia’s visits have been less extreme, but undeniably valuable in the current climate.”We thank them greatly, really,” Woakes said. “They took the effort to come across when no-one really knew what cricket was going to look like in a bubble. We’re really thankful because getting cricket on our shores has been really important.”But the England players themselves have had to play their part in arduous circumstances. Speaking on Monday, Jofra Archer told of the mental toll that life in the England bubble had taken on him, after 87 days in the bio-secure environment, the longest of any of the players. And Woakes agreed that it had been a challenge over and above the usual touring lifestyle.Woakes’s comeback spell sparked England’s win in the 2nd ODI•Pool/AFP via Getty Images

“There’s been times when it’s been brilliant, particularly when you are performing well and we’re winning. And there’s times when it’s not gone quite so well, and when you have a bad day, it’s hard to get away from. You’re constantly looking at the pitch, which can be tough at times, and you’re obviously away from friends and family, which also makes it hard.”So there’s definitely periods where you wish you could get away from the game and get back home and see friends and family, but I think we’ve all stuck to the task really well. It’d be nice for us to finish on a high, but I think everyone has done a great job.”In ordinary circumstances, such over-and-above efforts might qualify England’s players for hardship bonuses, rather than the prospect of pay cuts. But, with the Team England Player Partnership group beginning their negotiations for 2020-21, and with the top multi-format men’s players earning close to £1 million before bonuses, Woakes was realistic about the prospect of further financial sacrifice.ALSO READ: Covid resurgence could leave global game ‘in crisis’, says new ECB chairman“It is a situation where we have to sit down as players and see what happens with regards to these contracts coming up,” he said. “We’ll know more in the next few weeks. We’ll reassess at that point.”At this moment of time, it is hard for me to say ‘we’re going to take X cuts, and there are going to be donations here, left right and centre’. Until we’ve seen what happens from above we’ll then get more of a feel for it. I certainly wouldn’t rule that out.”As Woakes pointed out, the England players have already made a voluntary contribution to the cause, donating a combined sum of £500,000 back in April when the pandemic’s impact was first felt.”That hasn’t really been discussed since and we haven’t been spoken to by the hierarchy of the ECB,” he added. “In the current climate, with contracts around the corner, you have to expect anything. We have to wait and see. as players, you can’t say we’re exempt from it.”In the meantime, however, there’s a series to be won on the field against Australia.”The environment that we’re in certainly has had its tough times,” Woakes said. “But the team has pulled together and played some really good cricket, and that’s obviously the most important thing for us when we’re out there, performing as well as we can. And we’ve certainly done that, which has been brilliant.”

Draft conducted online – and with the odd hiccup – ahead of November tournament

Andrew Fidel Fernando19-Oct-2020Chris Gayle, Andre Russell, Shahid Afridi, Faf du Plessis and Carlos Brathwaite are among the high-profile foreign players that have been drafted into Lankan Premier League teams for the tournament that is set to begin on November 21.Although the draft, held on Monday, was carried out in incredibly haphazard fashion over the internet, with team owners unclear on the draft rules and protocols, SLC has nevertheless taken another step – however unsteady – towards hosting its own T20 franchise tournament.Wasim Akram was among those present at the draft, in his role as Galle Gladiators’ mentor. The Galle side shares the same owner as PSL franchise Quetta Gladiators. Also in attendance were former Sri Lanka players Hashan Tillakaratne (who will coach Kandy Tuskers), Thilina Kandamby (who will coach Jaffna Stallions), and English coach John Lewis (who is involved with Dambulla Hawks). Dav Whatmore, the former Sri Lanka coach who led them to the 1996 World Cup victory, was not seen at the draft, but is linked to the Colombo Kings franchise.Each team had two foreign marquee picks – players whom each franchise approaches individually and signs up. There was one local marquee pick as well. The remaining players will be paid according to the value determined by the category they were chosen in in the draft. Players drafted earlier are generally paid more.Given the disorganised nature of the draft, there was frequent backtracking and repeated misunderstandings, with selectors dropping in and out of the video call, and constant back-and-forth between owners and SLC, which was ostensibly running the draft process. The biggest hiccup came when Lewis had seemingly picked New Zealand legspinner Todd Astle for the Dambulla side, but then received a message several minutes later to suggest that Astle had in fact withdrawn two weeks ago.Nevertheless, the draft juddered to a conclusion, with the teams having picked between 16 and 20 players. Some slots were deliberately left open, with teams essentially backing themselves to persuade overseas players to play in the tournament and fill that position.The LPL is set to run from November 21 to December 13, and will be played initially in Sooriyawewa stadium, before moving to Pallekele for the latter stages of the tournament and the knockouts. The Sri Lankan government has not approved lenient quarantine measure for those coming into the country for the tournament, but SLC insists that the foreign players and officials taking part have all agreed to the strict 14-day quarantine, in which arrivals are not allowed to leave their rooms.The final squads are as follows:Jaffna Stallions Thisara Perera, Dawid Malan, Wanindu Hasaranga, Shoaib Malik, Usman Shinwari, Avishka Fernando, Dhananjaya de Silva, Suranga Lakmal, Binura Fernando, Asif Ali, Minod Bhanuka, Chaturanga de Silva, Mahesh Theekshana, Charith Asalanka, Nuvinidu Fernando, Kanagaratnam Kapilraj, Theivendiram Dinoshan, Yiyakanth YiyaskanthDambulla Hawks Dasun Shanaka, David Miller, Carlos Brathwaite, Samit Patel, Niroshan Dickwella (wk), Lahiru Kumara, Oshada Fernando, Kasun Rajitha, Paul Stirling, Lahiru Madushanka, Upul Tharanga, Angelo Perera, Ramesh Mendis, Pulina Tharanga, Ashen Bandara, Dilshan Madushanka, Sachindu ColombageKandy Tuskers Chris Gayle, Kusal Perera, Liam Plunkett, Wahab Riaz, Kusal Mendis, Nuwan Pradeep, Seekkuge Prasanna, Asela Gunaratne, Naveen-Ul-Haq, Kamindu Mendis, Dilruwan Perera, Priyamal Perera, Kavishka Anjula, Lasith Embuldeniya, Lahiru Samarakoon, Nishan Fernando, Chamika Edirisinghe, Ishan JayaratneColombo Kings Andre Russell, Faf du Plessis, Angelo Mathews, Manpreet Singh Gony, Manvinder Bisla, Isuru Udana, Dinesh Chandimal, Amila Aponso, Ravinderpal Singh, Ashan Priyanjan, Dushmantha Chameera, Jeffrey Vandersay, Thikshila de Silva, Tharindu Kaushal, Lahiru Udara, Himesh Ramanayake, Kalana Perera, Tharindu Rathnayaka, Navod ParanawithanaGalle Gladiators Lasith Malinga, Shahid Afridi, Colin Ingram, Mohammad Amir, Hazratullah Zazai, Danushka Gunathilaka, Bhanuka Rajapaksa, Akila Dananjaya, Milinda Siriwardana, Sarfaraz Ahmed (wk), Azam Khan, Lakshan Sandakan, Shehan Jayasuriya, Asitha Fernando, Nuwan Thushara, Mohomed Shiraz, Dhananjaya Lakshan, Chanaka Ruwansiri, Sahan Arachchi