Month: April 2020

7:56 AM GMT ESPNcricinfo staff Moeen Ali has indicated that he is ready to return from his self-imposed Test exile as soon as the coronavirus outbreak allows. Moeen has not played a Test since being dropped during last summer’s Ashes. He subsequently lost his Test central contract (receiving a white-ball only deal) and opted out of the tours to New Zealand and South Africa, saying he needed a break from…

2:35 PM GMT For our next #RetroLive match, we rewind to April 18, 2008, when Kolkata Knight Riders and Royal Challengers Bangalore kicked off the IPL Big Picture After months of hype, excitement, controversy and speculation the high-profile Indian Premier League kicks off in Bangalore with the Royal Challengers hosting the Kolkata Knight Riders. “Eight teams, without any players, only warriors” is the maxim for the inaugural tournament and there’s…

2:10 PM GMT Danyal Rasool PCB chairman Ehsan Mani expressed Pakistan’s disappointment with the ICC’s decision to split points for an ICC Women’s Championship series between India and Pakistan that went unplayed after the BCCI were unable to obtain permission from the Indian government to go ahead with the series. The decision meant India qualified for the 2021 Women’s World Cup, while Pakistan were consigned to playing the qualifiers, finishing…

12:07 PM GMT Matt Roller Close Matt Roller is an assistant editor at ESPNcricinfo. He tweets at @mroller98 Caribbean Premier League (CPL) organisers hope that the tournament can still take place as scheduled in September, but plans are being developed to stage it behind closed doors, without overseas players, or in a “social-distancing stadium” in Barbados if required. With the Caribbean in lockdown and attempts to stop the spread of…

11:01 AM GMT ESPNcricinfo staff Lancashire have become the latest county to cancel their overseas signings for the summer, pulling out of deals for BJ Watling, Glenn Maxwell and James Faulkner after discussions with the players’ agents. New Zealand wicketkeeper Watling had been due to feature in Lancashire’s first nine Championship games, on their return to Division One, while the Australia pair of Maxwell and Faulkner were signed for the…

10:49 AM GMT Quinton de Kock will not be named South Africa’s Test captain even though there is no clear candidate for the position yet. That was confirmed by Graeme Smith, South Africa’s director of cricket, on Friday, who said the risk of overburdening de Kock has resulted in ruling him out of leadership role in all three formats. De Kock was appointed as the country’s white-ball captain in January…

9:07 AM GMT Savage 80% salary cuts and stand-down orders for all but a handful of Cricket Australia staff until the end of the financial year were forced partly by demands from banks, for the governing body to drastically scale back its costs in order to be considered for an A$200 million [US$126.5 million approx.] line of credit. Last October, at its AGM, CA reported cash reserves of A$26 million…