Month: December 2020

News “Joe’s returns haven’t been what he or the selectors would like or what we consider he is capable of” Joe Burns has been dropped from Australia’s squad for the last two Tests against India, with David Warner and Will Pucovski both included. Burns made scores of 8, 51*, 0 and 4 in the opening two matches of the series to extend his lean first-class season to 125 runs at…

Kagiso Rabada is not an automatic pick for the Wanderers Test despite his status as leader of the attack and the match being on his home ground. Rabada was added to South Africa’s squad after four weeks on the sidelines with a groin strain, sustained during the T20 series against England. He was due to sit out the three ODIs, which were postponed, and missed the Boxing Day Test but…

News The incident occurred during Pakistan’s first innings at Mount Maunganui Kyle Jamieson will part with 25% of his match fee and has been docked one demerit point after he threw the ball towards Faheem Ashraf on the third day of New Zealand’s first Test against Pakistan. The act fell foul of Article 2.9 of the ICC’s code of conduct, which deals with the inappropriate or dangerous throwing of the…

News ECB to appoint permanent staff member with player welfare brief Tom Harrison said the ECB was looking to appoint someone to oversee players’ mental health and wellbeing   England are set to recruit a dedicated staff member to look after their players’ mental wellbeing, in response to concerns about the consequences of having to spend extended periods in biosecure environments. England’s limited-overs tour of South Africa was cut short…

News Fabian Allen and Shane Dowrich were unavailable because of personal reasons West Indies Test captain Jason Holder, limited-overs captain Kieron Pollard, and Test vice-captain Roston Chase are among ten players who have pulled out of the upcoming tour of Bangladesh amid Covid-19 concerns. Darren Bravo, Shamarh Brooks, Sheldon Cottrell, Evin Lewis, Shai Hope, Shimron Hetmyer and Nicholas Pooran are the other players who “declined the opportunity to tour due…

News “Never faced a situation like this,” says Sri Lanka captain after losing three members of six-man attack Dhananjaya de Silva’s injury on the first day hurt Sri Lanka’s chances in Centurion   Sri Lanka were in such a good situation in the early stages of the first Test they could even have dominated had multiple injuries not hit. This, at least, was the view of Sri Lanka captain Dimuth…

News Hosts have won more competitive Test matches against more competitive teams South Africa have won more competitive Test matches against more competitive teams than this Sri Lankan one – albeit that their fight was dimmed through injury and not fault of their own – but they will still savour this victory like it was one of the best ones. “A Test win never comes easy. You’ve still got to…