Month: June 2020

12:08 AM IST ECB Reporters Network Holder XI 120 for 5 (Da Silva 60*) v Brathwaite XI West Indies captain Jason Holder had another short stay at the crease as the tourists’ second and final intra-squad match before next week’s first Test against England finally got under way at Emirates Old Trafford. Holder has been recently troubled by an ankle niggle and while the Windies have played down concerns about…

10:29 PM IST Jos Buttler is set to retain his place in England’s Test team for the start of the series against West Indies. While Buttler has endured a lean run of form with the bat in recent Tests – he has averaged 23.32 in 13 Tests since the start of 2019 and 17.55 in five Tests since the end of the last English season – he retains the faith…

8:42 PM IST Matt Roller Close Matt Roller is an assistant editor at ESPNcricinfo. He tweets at @mroller98 After confirming the arrival of Tim Bresnan on Tuesday, Warwickshire look set to turn their attention to Dom Bess, the England offspinner. Bess’s contract at Somerset expires at the end of the 2020 season, and ESPNcricinfo understands that Warwickshire see him as a potential long-term replacement for the retiring Jeetan Patel. The…

7:32 PM IST Matt Roller Close Matt Roller is an assistant editor at ESPNcricinfo. He tweets at @mroller98 Ben Stokes will captain England for the first time in the first Test against West Indies starting next week. Joe Root, England’s permanent red-ball captain, will miss the first Test and Wednesday’s warm-up match to attend the birth of his second child. Root’s wife, Carrie, is due to give birth later this…

5:49 PM IST Leicestershire’s players are to resume training on Wednesday despite a second lockdown in the city of Leicester. While most of the UK is slowly beginning to enjoy greater freedom, Leicester’s period in lockdown has been extended by at least two-weeks after a surge of Covid-19 cases in the area. Health Secretary Matt Hancock told the BBC the city had seen “10 percent of all positive cases in…

3:43 PM IST Alex Hepburn, the former Worcestershire allrounder, has lost his appeal against his conviction for rape. Hepburn was sentenced to five years in prison in April 2019 after he was convicted on one count of oral rape following a retrial at Worcestershire Crown Court. The jury heard that the victim, who was left with a post-traumatic stress disorder that included facial paralysis, had thought she was having consensual…

2:54 PM IST ESPNcricinfo staff Khalid Wazir, who played two Tests for Pakistan in 1954, died at age 84 in Chester on Saturday. He was ill for a long time. A right-hand batsman and medium-pace bowler, Wazir was the 16th Test cricketer for Pakistan and the second-youngest for his country at the time of his debut against England at Lord’s. He was the son of Wazir Ali, who – and…

“It just comes down to being really flexible and doing whatever’s needed for world cricket to be back up and running” – Finch  1:34 PM IST Australia men’s white-ball captain Aaron Finch believes that cricket’s recovery from the coronavirus pandemic must take priority over the fulfilling of ODI and Test league commitments. He said that recent cancellations of series against Bangladesh and Zimbabwe will hopefully “even out” over the next…