Month: July 2020

Andile Phehlukwayo and Lungi Ngidi take a knee before the start of the 3TC match  4:15 PM IST ESPNcricinfo staff CSA has made public its plans to tackle alleged racism in cricket in the country, its Transformation Committee announcing a sustainable response strategy project called Cricket for Social Justice and Nation Building (SJN). “The national outcry by cricket fans, the greater South African public and broad stakeholder groups could not…

Kane Williamson and Gary Stead have a very good relationship, they have stressed  12:35 PM IST ESPNcricinfo staff Kane Williamson and Gary Stead, the New Zealand captain and coach respectively, have had to answer questions about their supposedly frayed relationship ever since they got to Bay Oval in Mount Maunganui for a training session. After Williamson called the relationship “very good”, Stead has called it “really strong”, adding that they…

11:15 AM IST Press Trust of India West Indies are hoping to host South Africa for either five T20Is or two Tests in September, but are waiting for the dates of the rescheduled IPL before starting discussions, according to Johnny Grave, the Cricket West Indies chief executive. South Africa were scheduled to tour the Caribbean to play two Tests and five T20Is from July 23 to August 16 but the…

10:33 AM IST ESPNcricinfo staff The BCCI has invited applications for the post of general manager – game development following Saba Karim’s resignation last week. Karim’s resignation was the fourth of a senior BCCI official from the managerial side since the new administration, led by president Sourav Ganguly, took charge last October. The three to quit before Karim were Rahul Johri (CEO), Santosh Rangnekar (CFO) and Tufan Ghosh (NCA COO)….

1:41 AM IST Valkerie Baynes Close Valkerie Baynes is a general editor at ESPNcricinfo Ollie Pope has admitted to feeling a weight lift from his shoulders as he neared a possible second Test century at the end of the opening day of the deciding match against West Indies. Pope entered the match with a high score of 12* from four innings in the series, but when bad light stopped play…

1:33 AM IST ECB Reporters Network Team White 88 for 3 trail Team Green 113 (Khan 5-37) by 25 runs Pakistan’s leading batsmen fluffed their lines on the opening day of their final intra-squad warm-up game before the first Test against England at Emirates Old Trafford next month. Experienced pace bowler Sohail Khan took 5 for 37, dismissing Abid Ali, Shan Masood and skipper Azhar Ali cheaply as Team Green…

12:07 AM IST Matt Roller Close Matt Roller is an assistant editor at ESPNcricinfo. He tweets at @mroller98 Kraigg Brathwaite has defended his captain Jason Holder’s decision to bowl first for the second match in a row, despite England putting themselves into a commanding position in the deciding Test in Manchester. No team has ever won at Emirates Old Trafford after choosing to bowl first, and the team that batted…

12:03 AM IST ECB Reporters Network Team Vince 109 for 4 (Banton 57*) beat Team Moeen 108 (Dawson 4-21, Gregory 3-29) by six wickets Tom Banton showed his class in the field and with the bat after Lewis Gregory and Liam Dawson shone with the ball in England’s second intra-squad match ahead of the start of their one-day series against Ireland. Gregory snared Jonny Bairstow – following a sublime catch…

11:13 PM IST England 258 for 4 (Pope 91*, Buttler 56*, Burns 57, ) v West Indies A steadying innings from Ollie Pope rescued England in the face of some threatening West Indies bowling on the opening day of the series-deciding Test at Emirates Old Trafford. At the close of play, and with rain expected to feature heavily on Saturday, Pope was unbeaten just nine runs shy of his century…

8:50 PM IST Matt Roller Close Matt Roller is an assistant editor at ESPNcricinfo. He tweets at @mroller98 Ireland have flagged an unusual problem with playing behind closed doors ahead of their three-match ODI series against England next week, after their fielders struggled to pick up the white ball against the backdrop of empty cream-coloured seats in an intra-squad practice match. All three games in the series will be played…