Month: April 2020

It could be that players will be allowed to manage the ball under the watchful eye of the umpires  7:15 AM GMT Coronavirus may force the busting of one of cricket’s greatest taboos, as authorities consider the possibility of allowing the use of artificial substances to help polish the red ball under the supervision of umpires in long-form matches, in order to end the need for player to do so…

5:26 PM GMT Osman Samiuddin Close Senior editor, ESPNcricinfo Osman spent the first half of his life pretending he discovered reverse swing with a tennis ball half-covered with electrical tape. The second half of his life was spent trying, and failing, to find spiritual fulfillment in the world of Pakistani advertising and marketing. The third half of his life will be devoted to convincing people that he did discover reverse…

2:44 PM GMT Danyal Rasool Pakistan opener Imam-ul-Haq is sceptical of playing international cricket without fans at venues, terming it “strange”. He believed it would see much of cricket’s charm lost, particularly if the T20 World Cup, scheduled to begin in October in Australia, was played in empty stadiums. Imam is the first Pakistan player to express cautious opposition to the idea of playing without fans present, after Test captain…

2:06 PM GMT ESPNcricinfo staff Essex 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…

12:39 PM GMT It’s difficult enough having to decide if you will risk fielding your team’s premier allrounder in a World Cup semi-final after they the player has taken ill, but that decision was made even tougher for South Africa captain Dané van Niekerk because that player is also her wife. Marizanne Kapp, the fast-bowling allrounder who married van Niekerk in 2018, suffered a viral infection during the recent T20…

We’ll do everything we can to help the game – Peter Handscomb (1:25) The Australia and Victoria batsman weighed in on CA’s financial crisis and what the players think about it (1:25) 10:42 AM GMT New Zealand Cricket, run on an annual revenue of about NZ$60 million a year (approx. US$35 million), confirmed it has not stood down a single employee during the coronavirus pandemic, as Australian cricket’s state association…

9:09 AM GMT Big picture It is said often that cricket is an individual pursuit masquerading as a team sport. On April 22, Sachin Tendulkar proved and disproved it at the same time. Having fielded and bowled in the crazy heat of a Sharjah April afternoon, Tendulkar dipped his feet in ice to manage the blisters, laced up, went out, scored 143 of the 242 that came while he was…

8:52 AM GMT Under normal circumstances, Peter Handscomb would have just finished leading Middlesex in their second County Championship fixture of the season against Glamorgan. Instead, the closest he has come to his new team is phone calls from the other side of the world with the sport in lockdown due to the coronavirus. Unlike some of his Australian team-mates whose one-year county deals have been scuppered by pandemic, Handscomb…

CA could face issue of ‘hundreds of millions of dollars’ (0:50) Cricket Australia CEO Kevin Roberts discusses the current financial situation as staff are stood down (0:50) 2:04 AM GMT What’s the latest situation at Cricket Australia? The majority of staff, approximately 200, will be stood down next week on 20% of their salary or the equivalent of the Australian government’s JobKeeper payment of A$1500 per fortnight, which was introduced…