7:09 PM IST ESPNcricinfo staff UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson has seemingly put paid to the hopes of recreational cricketers across the country that a return to action is imminent. Responding to a question from Greg Clark MP in the House of Commons, Mr Johnson said that it was too soon to lift current restrictions preventing the return of recreational cricket, describing the ball as “a natural vector of disease”….
6:51 PM IST ESPNcricinfo staff Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has confirmed that seven more cricketers have returned positive tests for Covid-19, taking the total count to ten ahead of their England tour. On Monday, Shadab Khan, Haider Ali, and Haris Rauf had tested positive. The new names on the list are Kashif Bhatti, Mohammad Hasnain, Fakhar Zaman, Mohammad Rizwan, Mohammad Hafeez, Wahab Riaz, and Imran Khan. More to follow… Source:…
Chris Gayle spent the 2019 CPL with Jamaica Tallawahs © Ashley Allen – CPL T20 / Getty Chris Gayle has opted out of the 2020 CPL a day before the players’ draft is scheduled to take place on June 24. The tournament this year is scheduled to take place in Trinidad & Tobago from August 18 until September 10 subject to permission from the local government. ESPNcricinfo understands Gayle communicated…
Mark Boucher was, along with Graeme Smith, involved in the development of the 3TC format 4:48 PM IST CSA is considering legal action after the circulation of a document that listed Mark Boucher, head coach of the South Africa men’s team, as holding a stake in the ownership structure of 3TC, a new format of cricket featuring three different teams in the same game. The document has Boucher down as…
Play 01:28 The Pakistan series is not in doubt – Giles Ashley Giles has admitted he is “concerned” by the news of Pakistan players testing positive for Covid-19 but insists at this stage he does not think the series against England is in doubt. The Pakistan squad was planning on leaving for England on Sunday with a Test series scheduled to start on August 5. But it was announced on…
3:58 PM IST Matt Roller Close Matt Roller is an assistant editor at ESPNcricinfo. He tweets at @mroller98 Counties will face no sanctions if they fall under the salary collar – the minimum sum they are permitted to spend on player wages – in 2020, as the English game looks to protect jobs during the Covid-19 crisis. Sixteen out of 18 counties have used the government’s job-retention scheme to furlough…
1:57 PM IST New Zealand’s two-Test tour of Bangladesh, which was scheduled in August-September as part of the ICC World Test Championship, has been postponed for a later date amid the Covid-19 pandemic. Cricket has remained suspended since mid-March in Bangladesh, with the Shere Bangla National Stadium, cricket’s headquarters in the country, well within a virus “red zone”. Bangladesh crossed the 100,000 mark for total number of coronavirus cases in…
Cameron Green driving down the ground © Getty Images Tim Paine believes Australian cricket “can get very excited” at the potential of Western Australia allrounder Cameron Green, after having witnessed first-hand what the 21-year-old is capable of. Green was prevented from bowling for the majority of the 2019-2020 season due to back problems but is expected to be able to resume his full all-round role in time for this coming…
11:30 AM IST For more than a century, Australia’s cricket captains have been formally appointed by the directors who have sat on the Cricket Australia board over that time. Not too often, though, has the national captain been asked whether or not he is willing to give his full support to the board, as Tim Paine was on Tuesday. Such are the extraordinary times that cricket has been thrown into…
Shane Watson hoped that talk of cutting domestic competitions was “gone for good” 10:22 AM IST ESPNcricinfo staff Shane Watson, the president of the Australian Cricketer’s Association, has labelled suggestions that the position of the union’s chairman, Greg Dyer, is under threat as “absurd reactionary whispers”. In the wake of Kevin Roberts’ sacking as Cricket Australia’s CEO there had been reports that Dyer was under pressure to move aside as…