SLC held a meeting on Monday with the players who were part of the preliminary squad for the tour, to inform them about the security arrangements

Andrew Fidel Fernando09-Sep-2019Pakistan’s hopes for Test cricket to return to the country have suffered a substantial blow, as ten prominent Sri Lanka cricketers have refused to travel to the country for the forthcoming limited-overs tour.By hosting the limited-overs series first, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) had intended to prove to Sri Lanka players and officials that the nation was secure enough to host Test cricket, starting with the teams’ World Test Championship matches, presently scheduled for December. But with Niroshan Dickwella, Kusal Perera, Dhananjaya de Silva, Thisara Perera, Akila Dananjaya, Lasith Malinga, Angelo Mathews, Suranga Lakmal, Dinesh Chandimal and Dimuth Karunaratne all pulling out of the limited-overs tour PCB’s plans have been significantly dented.Even if this tour goes off without a hitch, Sri Lanka’s frontline Test players may remain unconvinced about the December tour. And, if that is the case, Sri Lanka Cricket is almost certain to refuse to play those Tests in Pakistan. While in this case the board is prepared to send a weakened limited-overs side to the country, it is unlikely to do so for Tests that have championship points at stake.SLC had held a meeting on Monday with the players who were part of the preliminary squad for the tour, to inform them about the security arrangements in Pakistan, which the board itself is largely happy with. In fact, a former Sri Lankan Air Force Commander had conveyed his confidence in those arrangements to the players. But the board has ultimately respected the players’ wishes. According to an SLC release, chief selector Ashantha de Mel had told players that refusal to tour Pakistan on this occasion would not affect their selection for future series.Both the present ODI captain, Karunaratne, and the T20 captain, Malinga, have refused to tour.For its part, the PCB has had to accept the decision of the Sri Lankan cricketers, while confirming that the tour will go on as planned. “The PCB understands and respects it is the prerogative of Sri Lanka Cricket to select the best available players for the upcoming tour for white-ball cricket. As far as the PCB is concerned, the tour is on and we look forward to welcoming the Sri Lanka team in Karachi later this month,” a spokesperson said.This is not Sri Lanka’s first trip to Pakistan since the Lahore attack on the Sri Lanka team. In fact, they had played a solitary T20 there in 2017, also with a weakened squad. But Thisara, who captained the Sri Lanka side in that match in Lahore, is this time among the players who have refused to travel. This, however, is understood to largely be because of his commitments at the Caribbean Premier League with the St Lucia Zouks. He did not make the XI for Sri Lanka’s two most recent ODIs, nor their most recent T20 squad, in any case.Of the players currently in the frame for selection, only Suranga Lakmal had been on the team bus that was attacked by gunmen in 2009. Nevertheless, many younger players will have heard of the ordeal from former players, some of whom remain scarred by the experience. Among the arguments this current group of players mounted their refusal on, is that some other team should be the first to resume Tests in Pakistan, rather than another Sri Lanka side.The PCB will be especially disheartened at the development, because they had been the first to send a team to Sri Lanka following this year’s Easter Sunday attacks. There was a time, in the weeks immediately following the bombings, when cricket tours on the island faced an uncertain future. But the PCB had sent its Under-19 team to Sri Lanka for five ODIs only a month after the attacks, which helped demonstrate the improved security situation. Since then, Sri Lanka has hosted Bangladesh and New Zealand at venues around the country.But although SLC had at one stage said it had received “very positive” feedback from the security team it had sent to assess the situation in Pakistan, their players have ultimately made their own decisions. The PCB will hope there is still a chance the limited-overs tour can still be a springboard to hosting Tests at some point in the near future. But the chances of Sri Lanka being that touring Test team have diminished significantly.The limited-overs series, which features three ODIs and three T20Is, is set to run from September 27 to October 9. The ODIs will all be played in Karachi, before Lahore hosts the T20s.

The pair will link up with their respective teams in Bengaluru Tuesday night

Shashank Kishore22-Oct-2019Less than 24 hours after playing key hands in India’s 3-0 series whitewash of South Africa, Mayank Agarwal and R Ashwin will be back on the field, playing for their respective states in the Vijay Hazare Trophy semi-finals in Bengaluru.They won’t be on opposite sides on Wednesday though, with Ashwin’s Tamil Nadu taking on the Parthiv Patel-led Gujarat at the Just Cricket Academy grounds. Agarwal, meanwhile, will link up with Karnataka for the semi-final against Chhattisgarh at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru.Rains have lashed the city for the past fortnight, and forecast for Wednesday looks grim. With the drainage facility far from being top notch at the Just Cricket Academy, on the outskirts of Bengaluru, there is a real threat of a truncated contest or a no result, as was the case on Monday, with Tamil Nadu pipping Punjab because of more wins in the group stage.If there is a washout, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka will progress to the final owing to more wins in the group stage. Tamil Nadu were unbeaten in nine games, while Karnataka won seven out of their eight fixtures to top Groups A and B combined, before seeing off Puducherry’s threat in their final-eight fixture on Monday.ALSO READ: Pandey, Jaiswal lead list of top performers in Vijay Hazare TrophyAgarwal’s inclusion could give the Karnataka team management some healthy selection headaches. While he’ll replace Abhishek Reddy in the squad, it remains to be seen if the team management would want to disturb a successful opening combination of KL Rahul and 19-year old Devdutt Padikkal, who has been among the most impressive batsmen in the tournament.Rahul has made 458 runs in nine innings, with a century and three fifties while Padikkal is the sixth-highest run scorer overall, with 506 runs in nine innings, with two centuries and four half-centuries.Meanwhile, Ashwin, whose inclusion could force Tamil Nadu to play two specialist spinners – legspinner M Ashwin being the other – recently became the joint-fastest to 350 test wickets along with Muttiah Muralitharan. He achieved the feat in his 66th Test.Ashwin (357) is India’s 4th highest wicket-taker in tests, with only Harbhajan Singh (417), Kapil Dev (434) and Anil Kumble (619) ahead of him in the list.

Western Australia were three wickets down in their second innings and staring at a heavy defeat at the SCG

The Report by Andrew McGlashan at the SCG13-Nov-2019Pat Cummins produced a display that showed he was in prime shape for the Test season. in the process putting New South Wales on track to make it four Sheffield Shield wins in a row with Western Australia facing a final-day battle to save the game at the SCG with just seven wickets in hand.Cummins, in his first first-class outing since the Ashes, produced an eye-catching spell of reverse swing during the morning session to take out the WA middle order – which was followed by another super spell from Mitchell Starc before stumps – while Nathan Lyon and Steve O’Keefe combined for five wickets as New South Wales showed tremendous skill on a slow surface.”The wicket is just so dry and hard, super abrasive, after about 30 overs the ball looked like it was 100 overs old, so it’s reversing pretty early,” Cummins said. “It’s the first time I’ve bowled with a reversing ball for probably 12 months so was just trying to attack the pegs, get it swinging a bit each way, and fortunately today there were a few nicks and they carried which doesn’t always happen when the ball is reversing.”WA slumped from 1 for 116 to 191 all out in their first innings but Peter Nevill opted to extend the lead rather than bowl again. Moises Henriques was promoted to open and biffed an unbroken opening stand of 98 with Daniel Hughes, who helped himself to a half-century.Armed with the new ball, Cummins then struck early when Josh Philippe was bowled round his legs for the second time in the match – this time by the right-armer from over the wicket, compared to Starc in the first. With three overs left in the day, Starc then pinned Shaun Marsh lbw with a delivery that tailed back, meaning Marsh had been dismissed twice in the day, and then speared one through nightwatchman Matt Kelly as Western Australia stumbled to the close.After the dramatic collapse of Australia A the previous day in Perth, Marsh had the chance to make things more awkward for the selectors with a big score when play resumed against the possible Test attack, but he chipped limply to mid-on for 43. From there, the innings unraveled. D’Arcy Short had played against his natural instincts to register a 154-ball fifty before falling two overs after Marsh when he missed a very full delivery from O’Keefe.Cummins then set to work as he found just enough movement to challenge both edges of the bat. Ashton Turner nicked behind, Cameron Green shouldered arms to one which came back to take off stump, and Josh Inglis edged to slip in the final over before lunch.There was some resistance after the break as Marcus Stoinis and Ashton Agar stayed together for 20 overs, but scoring was mighty difficult. Stoinis appeared to get a rough decision when he was given caught at slip when replays suggested he played over the top of the delivery from Lyon, the offspinner then bowling Kelly for a duck three balls later.

Captain impressed with debutants, who have ‘raised the bar’ for returning regulars

ESPNcricinfo staff10-Nov-2019England’s fringe players have “raised the benchmark” for those rested from the T20I series in New Zealand, according to captain Eoin Morgan.At least five first-choice players were rested from the T20 leg of the tour, with Jason Roy, Jos Buttler, Moeen Ali, Ben Stokes and Jofra Archer all likely to be in England’s first-choice XI come the T20 World Cup in Australia next year.With Mark Wood, David Willey and Joe Root also missing out, there were opportunities for six debutants in the T20 series, as well as those who have been in and out of the national team over the past four years, like James Vince, Sam Billings and Dawid Malan.And Morgan said that the new faces in the side had created a selection headache ahead of the three-match series in South Africa in February.”It creates a really good headache for us when it comes to selection,” Morgan said.”We are further ahead than we thought and the guys on this tour who will probably miss out on South Africa have raised that benchmark for guys who come back in.”They are now almost expected to score runs and expected to do well because of opportunities given and taken by these guys.”Morgan had the opportunity to see one of those fringe players up close in the fourth T20I, when he shared a 182-run partnership with former Middlesex team-mate Dawid Malan.ALSO READ: Will England dare to leave Malan out again?Malan struck an unbeaten 103 off 51 balls, meaning he has passed fifty in six of his nine T20I innings. That knock took his average in the format to 57.25, but he came in for thinly-veiled criticism in Morgan’s post-match press conference for failing to attempt to steal a bye off the final ball of the innings.Malan had been at the non-striker’s end for the last ball of the 20th over in Napier – a bouncer which Sam Billings missed – but decided against scrambling through for a run with wicketkeeper Tim Seifert stood back.”I think giving guys that common goal and watching them strive towards it is the biggest indicator,” Morgan said. “If we get guys that are not running off the last ball of the game because they want to get a not out, there’s something to address.”The debutant who pressed his case best in the series was Sam Curran, who took six wickets and bowled with control across all three phases of the game, while chipping in with the bat in the rain-reduced game in Auckland.The three new faces with the ball – Pat Brown, Matt Parkinson and Saqib Mahmood – had a mixed time. Brown’s slower balls was punished in Wellington, where he conceded 32 in his two overs, but his economy rate overall (9.84) was only just over the average runs-per-over for the series (9.49).Parkinson took five wickets in his six overs, though conceded 61 runs, and would have hoped for more of an opportunity to prove himself. Mahmood had a chastening time, leaking 115 runs in 10 overs, though was England’s tightest bowler at Eden Park.And with the bat, Tom Banton showed flashes of brilliance in his top-order cameos, while Lewis Gregory faced 19 balls and bowled four overs across his five games.

Haryana no match for Karnataka after collapsing in the last over of their innings

The Report by Shamya Dasgupta29-Nov-2019It was a six fest at Surat’s Lalabhai Contractor Stadium as a sizeable crowd was treated to some outstanding short-format hitting from KL Rahul and Devdutt Padikkal to start with, and then by Mayank Agarwal. But that Karnataka were chasing 195 on a belter of a pitch and not something in the region of 210 was down to a very special performance from Abhimanyu Mithun, who made history by picking up five wickets, including four off the first four deliveries, in the final over of the Haryana innings.When Mithun was handed the ball for the final over, Himanshu Rana was on 61 from 33 balls, Rahul Tewatia was on 32 from 19, and Haryana 192 for 3. Ball one: Rana holes out to Agarwal at cow corner. Second ball: Tewatia slogs one to Karun Nair at long-on. Third ball: Sumit Kumar scoop-pulls a slower one to Rohan Kadam at short fine-leg. Hat-trick! Fourth ball: Amit Mishra hits to K Gowtham in the covers. Double hat-trick! This is followed by a wide and a single, taking Haryana to 194. Then, sixth ball: Jayant Yadav moves outside the off stump and guides it straight to Rahul behind the stumps. Five in an over!Smiles, whoops of joy, high-fives – the momentum was certainly with Karnataka at the break.”I kept wickets, so I knew they were 10-15 runs short,” Rahul told after the game. “That was the chat at the halfway mark. To chase this down in 15 overs tells you everything about the pitch. We knew if we got a good start, we had the batting to chase this down.”That’s what happened. Once they came out to bat, Rahul and Padikkal pressed home the advantage ruthlessly.ALSO READ: Fitness revolution helps Rohan Kadam chart a new courseTo be fair, Harshal Patel started well, conceding just one run in the first over of the chase. But Padikkal hit an inside-out drive over the off side and then a delicate flick for fours in the second over, bowled by Ashish Hooda, and Karnataka were on their way. Patel was taken for 16 runs in the third, Hooda then gave away 23 in the next, and the Haryana fielders were mostly spotted retrieving the ball as the Powerplay yielded 82 runs.With that sort of platform, there was no real threat of Karnataka losing, not with Agarwal, Nair, Manish Pandey and Kadam to follow, and the question really was about how soon they would cross the line. It took them 15 overs.Rahul got to his half-century in the seventh over, reaching the milestone off 21 balls. He was dismissed not long after, though, mistiming a hoick off a Yadav slower delivery to long-on a ball after slamming yet another maximum, but his 31-ball 66 was an outstanding innings, the four fours and six sixes keeping the crowd entertained.Not that Padikkal wasn’t turning it on at the other end. He was on 56 off 26 balls when Rahul fell, and ensured the big hits kept coming even as Agarwal walked in and hit Mishra for back-to-back sixes down the ground in the 11th over. With Padikkal in sight of a century, Agarwal did look like he was putting the big hits away, and the youngster obliged with a flurry of fours and sixes, taking his tally up to 11 fours and four sixes. But, with both his century and the target just 13 runs away, a flick off Patel refused to go high enough or long enough, and landed in Chaitanya Bishnoi’s hands at deep midwicket.KL Rahul combined with Devdutt Padikkal to give Karnataka the perfect start•PTI

Padikkal’s 87 came from 42 balls, and took his tally for the tournament up to 548, comfortably ahead of second-placed Ruturaj Gaikwad’s 419. With this coming close on the heels of the 19-year-old opener’s chart-topping 609 runs from the 50-over Vijay Hazare Trophy, it’s been quite the season for Padikkal.It’s also been quite the season for Mithun, the seasoned pro, who recorded the second instance of a bowler picking up five wickets in an over in a T20 game. Not to forget, the double hat-trick came just over a month after he picked up a hat-trick in the final of the Hazare trophy, as Karnataka beat Tamil Nadu.Before Mithun’s heroics, however, it did look like Haryana meant business. In the first ten overs, they had 92 for 2 on the board. The start was frenetic, with Bishnoi and Patel putting on 67 for the first wicket by the seventh over before Patel, the medium-pacer who has enjoyed a good time as an opener this season, fell for a 20-ball 34. Shivam Chauhan didn’t last long either, Shreyas Gopal accounting for both of them, but Rana and Bishnoi kept the tempo up with some lusty hitting.After Bishnoi fell, run out for a 35-ball 55, having been sent back by Rana when trying to steal a quick single to Pandey, Tewatia performed his role well and it was all going swimmingly for Haryana till the last over. But Rana first, for a 34-ball 61, and Tewatia next, for 32 off 20 balls, were sent back going for big hits by Mithun in that remarkable final over, and the game slipped away from Haryana rather quickly.

In an 18-overs-a-side contest, the Scorchers looked on track to chase down 199 after a 124-run stand between Liam Livingstone and Josh Inglis, but fell 15 runs short

The Report by Alex Malcolm23-Dec-2019Jake Weatherald’s match-winning 83 and a momentum-changing spell from Rashid Khan has helped the Adelaide Strikers hold off the Perth Scorchers in a high-scoring classic at Adelaide Oval.In a rain-affected game that was reduced to 18 overs a side, the Scorchers looked on track to chase down the Strikers’ monstrous target of 199 after a stunning 124-run stand between Liam Livingstone and Josh Inglis in just 8.4 overs. But Rashid, after being hammered for three sixes by Livingstone in his first nine balls, removed both openers off consecutive deliveries before befuddling Ashton Turner to swing the momentum back the Strikers’ way. The Scorchers failed to wrestle in back, falling 15 runs short.Earlier, Weatherald and Alex Carey made sublime half-centuries to set up the winning total. Weatherald smashed 83 from 47 balls before Carey outdid him with a sensational 55 from 24 balls.Weatherald’s trip to Paris
The Strikers started slowly after the early loss of Phil Salt. The Englishman’s BBL journey started poorly after he miscued trying to loft Jhye Richardson over mid-off in the first over, adding just 2 to his duck against Sydney Thunder. The Strikers were 1 for 16 after three overs before Weatherald lined up Joel Paris’ second over, having faced three dots from him in his first. His first boundary was streaky, a French cut past leg stump. But he launched the next ball over the midwicket fence. Paris then dropped a tough caught-and-bowled chance before Weatherald pounded the next two to the rope to take 20 from the over. Matthew Short followed up, striking three fours in Mitchell Marsh’s first over to push the run rate above 10 an over.Raining boundaries
An untimely rain delay at the end of the fifth over appeared to give the Scorchers a reprieve by both halting the Strikers’ momentum and giving them a big advantage chasing as the game was reduced to an 18-overs-a-side contest. But it had the opposite effect. The rain greased up the surface and the outfield. It nullified the Scorchers’ spin threats in Ashton Agar and Fawad Ahmed and the Strikers took full toll. Alex Carey played a sublime knock after the loss of Short. He started with two incredible inside-out sixes off Agar against the angle over cover. Agar, Australia’s T20 spinning allrounder, only bowled one over in the innings after conceding 16.Carey’s timing was freakish and he was impossible to bowl to. In the 17th over, he paddled Chris Jordan to fine leg before hitting the same line and length over cover. Weatherald ran himself out, bizarrely failing to beat Richardson firing the ball in from the rope due to his injured shoulder. The Strikers were set to score 200 in 18 overs but fell just short, mainly due to a stunning jumping catch from Agar by the rope to remove Carey. Richardson was the only Scorchers bowler to get through unscathed, taking 2 for 29 from his four overs, including two excellent ones at the death.Living large
Livingstone and Inglis started the run chase with a required run rate of 10.78. By the end of the eighth over, the Scorchers were 0 for 111 needing a very manageable 88 from 60 balls with 10 wickets in hand. Inglis set the tone with a pull shot that went like a bullet to the midwicket rope off the first ball of the innings. Inglis matched Carey’s 360-degree play with boundaries all around the park. Livingstone just stood still and swung hard, clubbing seven massive sixes over the leg side. Livingstone matched the fastest fifty in Scorchers’ history taking just 21 balls to raise his bat. He brought it up with a 98-metre six that landed in the first tier of the Members’ stand. No bowler was safe from the staggering assault. He hit the first three balls he faced from Rashid Khan for sixes over the leg side.Rashid’s revenge
The star legspinner was having a dirty night having earlier dropped Livingstone at long-on. He rarely gets hit for four consecutive sixes by one batsman. Chris Gayle once did it in the IPL; Livingstone tried and perished, holing out to deep midwicket. Inglis was bowled sweeping next ball to change the game in a heartbeat. Rashid bamboozled Turner in his next over to have him caught behind. Rashid’s figures went from 0 for 28 after 1.3 overs to 3 for 40 after four and the Scorchers needed 50 runs from 30 balls. They saw off Rashid’s final over and tried to target the Strikers’ inexperienced quicks, but failed. Mitchell Marsh, Cameron Bancroft, and Cameron Green all holed out while Agar fell to his younger brother, Wes, for the second time this season, strangled down the leg side.

Will Pant get a game? Will India swap Jadhav for Pandey? They have questions to answer

The Preview by Deivarayan Muthu10-Feb-20206:09

Can India find an answer to Ross Taylor?

Big picture

As if injuries to Kane Williamson, Trent Boult, Lockie Ferguson and Matt Henry weren’t enough, New Zealand were hampered by absence of Scott Kuggleijn and Mitchell Santner for the second ODI. Tim Southee, too, battled an illness while Ish Sodhi had been released to play a four-dayer against India A in Lincoln.Southee soldiered on and meticulously took down India captain Virat Kohli, but had to leave the field after finishing his ten overs. So depleted were New Zealand that they had to call their assistant coach Luke Ronchi as a substitute fielder. Yet, they dug deep enough to overcome a batting collapse and a late scare from Ravindra Jadeja to sew up the series.But problems – even outside fitness reasons – persist. Ross Taylor has fired in both the ODIs, but the rest of the middle-order has faltered. Williamson’s return at Bay Oval, his home ground, could remedy some of those issues. He had a proper workout on the eve of the game, and is set to resume his mouth-watering tussle against Jasprit Bumrah. Santner and Kuggleijn are also coming along well, according to bowling coach Shane Jurgensen, while Sodhi has flown back to Mount Maunganui and rejoined the squad along with fast bowler Blair Tickner.After India had conceded the series in Auckland, Kohli reckoned that the team management might use this dead rubber to test out their bench. Wicketkeeper-batsman Rishabh Pant, who hasn’t played a single match so far on tour, might get a look-in on Tuesday. Will there be some room in the middle order for Manish Pandey too? Allrounder Shivam Dube is also among India’s reserves and hasn’t played in the team’s last nine ODIs.

Form guide

New Zealand WWTWL (last five completed matches, most recent first)
India LLWWLKedar Jadhav works one off his hip•BCCI

In the spotlight

Colin de Grandhomme din’t bowl in two of the three T20Is he played, but has been pretty tidy with the ball in the two ODIs. After removing Prithvi Shaw with an outswinger in the first game, he tricked KL Rahul into cutting a ball that was neither short or wide enough for the shot. His batting form, though, has cooled off and he has floated down the order as the hosts have looked to maintain a left-right combination. Can he land the mighty blows with the bat on Tuesday?There has been plenty of scrutiny over Kedar Jadhav‘s role in the current set-up. The 34-year old has played some charming cameos while coming in with just a few deliveries left, but has bowled all of one over with the ball since the World Cup. Jadhav has one more opportunity in Mount Maunganui before the new selection panel picks the squad for the three-match ODI series at home against South Africa in March.

Team news

Having been severely depleted by injuries and illness, New Zealand have called in reinforcements in the form of Sodhi and Tickner.New Zealand (probable): 1 Martin Guptill, 2 Henry Nicholls, 3 Kane Williamson (capt.), 4 Ross Taylor, 5 Tom Latham (wk), 6 Jimmy Neesham, 7 Colin de Grandhomme, 8 Tim Southee, 9 Kyle Jamieson, 10 Ish Sodhi/Mitchell Santner, 11 Hamish Bennett/Scott KuggleijnHaving given Mohammed Shami a break at Eden Park, India might look to rest Bumrah ahead of the Test series and bring back Shami. And it remains to be seen whether Pant will take over the gloves from Rahul.India (probable): 1 Mayank Agarwal, 2 Prithvi Shaw, 3 Virat Kohli (capt.), 4 Shreyas Iyer, 5 KL Rahul/Rishabh Pant, 6 Ravindra Jadeja, 7 Kedar Jadhav/Manish Pandey/Shivam Dube, 8 Shardul Thakur, 9 Yuzvendra Chahal/Kuldeep Yadav, 10 Navdeep Saini, 11 Mohammed Shami/Jasprit Bumrah

Pitch and conditions

The Bay Oval rolled out a fairly slow track the last time these two sides met in an ODI at this venue in 2019. The T20I game that the Bay Oval had hosted last week was also similarly slow and provided some assistance to the bowlers. The weather is likely to be nice and pleasant for the duration of the match.

Stats and trivia

• The last time India were whitewashed in a bilateral ODI series of three or more matches was in 1997 when they lost 3-0 in Sri Lanka.*
• India have played two ODIs at this venue and have won both.
• Henry Nicholls has made 315 runs in 10 ODI innings as an opener at an average of 35 and strike rate of 70. His last three scores at the top read: 41, 78 and 55.

Quotes

“The T20 series didn’t go according to plan, but we knew we weren’t too far off. We’ve played some good cricket in the one-dayers…although we’re missing a couple of guys, as a whole, the one-day side has been tracking pretty good.”
“I think Taylor’s batting really well. Once he’s set he can play on the leg side like he’s a God. We have to be precise bowling to him.”

No decision reached on Adam Zampa and Moises Henriques’ deals for T20 Blast

ESPNcricinfo staff23-Apr-2020Essex have announced that Peter Siddle’s contract has been deferred to 2021 on account of the coronavirus pandemic.Siddle, 35, had been due to spend a third season as the club’s overseas player in the County Championship and the Royal London Cup, but following the postponement of the campaign and with uncertainty over international travel, it was mutually agreed that his contract should be pushed back a year. He is the latest in a series of player to have had a planned county stint cancelled or deferred as clubs look to cut costs.ALSO READ: Handscomb left frustrated with Middlesex contract ‘on hold’“It’s a shame I won’t be returning to Chelmsford this year as I was really looking forward to the season with the Eagles, but there are plenty of things more important than cricket going on in the world at the moment,” Siddle said.”In light of the current situation, it makes sense for me to come back over for the 2021 season when hopefully we’re back to normal and playing cricket again. It feels like a long way off at the moment, but I’m really excited to see all the boys and play at the County Ground again.”Siddle owed his Test recall to an impressive 2018 season with Essex, when he took 37 Championship wickets at 16.40 across seven games, and starred again in 2019 when his 34 wickets in eight matches earned him a spot in Australia’s Ashes squad.Siddle’s compatriots Adam Zampa and Moises Henriques were due to be Essex’s overseas players for this season’s T20 Blast, but no decision has yet been reached on their contracts. As things stand, the competition is due to be played as scheduled, though it is likely to be postponed. The ECB will discuss contingency plans at Thursday’s board meeting.”The postponed start to the season is going to have an impact on overseas players in the squad,” said Derek Bowden, the club’s chief executive. “We are constantly reviewing the situation with our other overseas players in light of when various competitions will commence, together with their own personal safety and ability to travel.”

World War 2 veteran to be invited into dressing room when England next play a Test

George Dobell30-Apr-2020Colonel Tom Moore, a World War 2 veteran whose fundraising efforts during the coronavirus crisis have been lauded throughout the UK, has been presented with an England cap and invited to address the Test side to mark his 100th birthday.Colonel Moore captured the imagination of much of the nation when, weeks ahead of his birthday, he embarked on a sponsored walk around his garden to raise funds for NHS charities. Inspired by the work of NHS workers during the Covid-19 pandemic, Colonel Moore aimed to raise £1000 by completing 100 laps of his garden – 25m a time – before the end of April. He walks with the help of a frame.But that funding target was soon left far behind and, on April 30, the day of his 100th birthday, the total passed £30m. It is believed to be the greatest amount of money raised in an individual charity walk. Also in April, he became the oldest person to have a number-one single in the UK.ALSO READ: Covid crisis needs to get ‘drastically better’ before England play again – AliKnown as Captain Moore, he was promoted to the rank of honorary colonel as part of his birthday celebrations. His birthday was also marked by a flypast by Spitfire and Hurricane from the RAF Battle of Britain Memorial Flight which made three passes of his house.Former England captain, Michael Vaughan, virtually presented Colonel Moore with an England Test cap on BBC Breakfast. Calling him “the nation’s heartbeat”, Vaughan thanked Colonel Moore for his fundraising efforts and dubbed him “an honorary member of the England cricket team”. The cap was passed on in person by Colonel Moore’s grandson, Benji, who is in isolation with his grandfather and other family members.”That’s marvellous, isn’t it?” Colonel Moore replied.Current England Test captain, Joe Root, has also been in touch to invite Colonel Moore to address his team in the dressing room ahead of a Test.”The ECB would like to wish Captain Tom Moore the warmest of congratulations on his 100th birthday,” an ECB spokesperson said. “The Captain is a great supporter of Yorkshire and England cricket and it is an honour that he holds the team up in such high regard. The England cricket teams are in awe of him, his humility and the unprecedented fundraising he has achieved over the past few weeks.”The England Test captain Joe Root has confirmed directly with Captain Moore and his family that he can address the team personally in the dressing room before a Test match. It would be one of greatest honours bestowed on the team to hear directly from him once we can return to some normality. We cannot wait for that day.”

Fast bowler proves fitness after taking 8 for 122 across two warm-up games

ESPNcricinfo staff02-Jul-2020West Indies have officially added fast bowler Shannon Gabriel to their squad for the Test series against England. Gabriel had been part of the reserve personnel on tour but has proved his fitness and comes into the 15 vying for contention at the Ageas Bowl next week.Gabriel underwent ankle surgery last year and has not played a first-class game since September, but he claimed figures of 8 for 122 across West Indies’ two warm-up games in Manchester.”I am delighted that we are able to add Shannon to the Test squad,” CWI lead selector Roger Harper said. “He has shown that he is fit and ready, he will add experience, firepower and potency to the bowling unit.”The addition of Gabriel to the full squad means West Indies will be able to call upon the same attack that helped them to a 2-1 series win over England in the Caribbean last year – although there have been concerns over the fitness of captain Jason Holder, who has been suffering from an ankle niggle and only bowled five overs so far on tour.