Kevin Roberts has lost the confidence of a wide range of figures in Australian cricket 2:57 PM IST A week ago, Australia’s prime minister Scott Morrison announced that the 28-year-old system of state and territory leaders meeting twice every year with the federal government was going to be scrapped. It has been replaced by more regular contact that emerged out of the Covid-19 pandemic: fortnightly or monthly “national cabinet” video…
12:45 AM IST ESPNcricinfo staff The lawyer for Alex Hepburn, the former Worcestershire cricketer who was last year convicted of rape, has argued that WhatsApp messages boasting of a sexual conquest “game” should not have been submitted as evidence in his trial. Hepburn, 24, was jailed for five years in April 2019, after being found guilty of oral rape following a retrial. The court heard how he had attacked a…
Rory Burns acknowledges his fifty © AFP Rory Burns returned to the nets for the first time in six months on Monday, confident that the ankle that he injured during football practice in South Africa has fully recovered, but admitting that his time out of the Test team had come at a frustrating moment in his career. Burns, who turns 30 in August, seemed to have established himself as Alastair…
Simon Harmer’s Essex contract will see him become an overseas player if Kolpak status is scrapped 10:38 PM IST Matt Roller Close Matt Roller is an assistant editor at ESPNcricinfo. He tweets at @mroller98 Counties are likely to be able to field two overseas players in the County Championship next season, despite the impact of Covid-19 on the finances of English domestic cricket. The Kolpak loophole is due to close…
Shimron Hetmyer, Darren Bravo and Keemo Paul opted not to travel to England © Gareth Copley/Getty Images Concerns about their families are understood to be the primary reason behind Darren Bravo, Shimron Hetmyer and Keemo Paul declining to be part of the West Indies Test squad for the England tour. Both the prospect of leaving their families for seven weeks and concerns about how quickly they would be able to…
8:54 PM IST ESPNcricinfo staff Steve Elworthy, the ECB’s director of events, believes that the plans for July’s Test series against West Indies are robust enough to withstand a second wave of Covid-19 outbreaks, following this week’s announcement that the Ageas Bowl and Emirates Old Trafford have been chosen to host the three games. Speaking on Sky Sports’ Cricket Show, Elworthy went into greater depth on the rationale behind the…
6:59 PM IST Matt Roller Close Matt Roller is an assistant editor at ESPNcricinfo. He tweets at @mroller98 At the age of 27, Richard Gleeson had all but given up on his dream of playing cricket for a living. After a series of odd jobs for a boiler firm, at a fish-and-tackle shop and as a landscape gardener, he landed a coaching job at the Lancashire Cricket Board, which he…
3:40 PM IST ESPNcricinfo staff Eighty-five percent of ticket-holders for this summer’s rescheduled Test against West Indies at The Kia Oval have opted to roll their tickets over to next year’s visit of India, rather than accept a full refund, according to figures released by Surrey on the day that the original fixture had been due to get underway. The news is a vote of confidence for the enduring popularity…
President of the ACA Greg Dyer (left) and CEO Alistair Nicholson address the media 2:26 PM IST Almost three years after a pay dispute that ended in an exhausted compromise, Cricket Australia and the Australian Cricketers Association are back in conflict. The players’ union has advised its intent to formally challenge the governing body’s pessimistic revenue forecasts for the next two summers in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. As…
11:28 AM IST Australia will take a cautious approach over the fitness of Ellyse Perry and Tayla Vlaeminck as they start to plan for next year’s 50-over World Cup amid the uncertain landscape of the fallout to the Covid-19 pandemic. The tournament remains scheduled for New Zealand in February and March next year although the qualifying event that was set to take place in Sri Lanka next month has been…