Artist’s impression of the new Compton and Edrich Stands at Lord’s, after planning permission was secured  1:46 PM GMT ESPNcricinfo staff Construction work on the new Compton and Edrich stands at Lord’s is to continue, despite the UK’s ongoing lockdown in response to the COVID-19 (novel coronavirus) outbreak. The MCC has extended its closure of the ground until the end of May, as well as cancelling a planned AGM. Chief…

8:25 AM GMT The ECB has urged county boards to waive affiliation fees for clubs up and down the land. Despite the ECB announcing that no cricket – recreational or professional – will be played until the end of May at the earliest, several clubs reported attempts to chase up payments of the fees in recent days. The fees are required from all clubs affiliated to the ECB and historically…

6:27 AM GMT ESPNcricinfo staff Daniel Flynn, the former New Zealand and Northern Districts left-hand batsman, has called time on his 16-year-long career, at age 34. In an international career spanning a little over five years, Flynn played 24 Tests, 20 ODIs, and five T20Is, making a combined 1325 runs, including six half-centuries. He batted almost three hours in the second innings of his debut Test at Lord’s, his 118-ball…

Frank Duckworth (left) and Tony Lewis, the inventors of the Duckworth-Lewis method  10:54 PM GMT Tony Lewis, the former university lecturer whose name will forever be synonymous with cricket’s convoluted Duckworth-Lewis rain rules, has died at the age of 78. An unlikely star of world cricket, Lewis was propelled to fame in 1999 when his complex formula, devised in conjunction with his fellow mathematician Frank Duckworth, was officially adopted by…

Dobell expects England pay cut despite PCA hesitance (1:51) George Dobell explains why the ECB-PCA stand-off isn’t as simple as England players refusing a pay cut (1:51) 4:59 PM GMT Eoin Morgan has insisted England players are “open to helping in whatever way possible” as the game struggles to come to terms with the challenge posed by the COVID-19 pandemic. Morgan, the captain of England’s limited-overs teams, said he was…

12:20 PM GMT Danyal Rasool Pakistan head coach Misbah-ul-Haq has called for a “fair and equal” resolution to the World Test Championship when cricket finally resumes even if it means extending the tournament, warning a shortened competition would fail to give a “true picture” of the standings. With cricket, like nearly all major sports and activities, forced to a grinding halt because of the coronavirus pandemic, one of the key…

11:19 AM GMT ESPNcricinfo staff Tom Harrison, the ECB’s chief executive, has estimated that an entire season without cricket will cost the game in England and Wales “well in excess of £300 million”. In a letter to PCA chief executive Tony Irish, seen by ESPNcricinfo, Harrison admitted that the ECB is “having to reset our future plans across the whole game in order to ensure its long-term survival” in the…

11:00 AM GMT ESPNcricinfo staff New father Eoin Morgan wants to do all he can to ensure cricket is played during the English summer, but concedes the scope of the coronavirus outbreak means the sport falls within a much bigger picture. Morgan, England’s limited-overs captain, said that given the gravity of the situation and ongoing uncertainty surrounding the impact of the pandemic, he saw “every option being viable during this…

8:40 AM GMT England’s centrally contracted players appear – at this stage – to have declined the offer to accept a temporary pay cut as part of the sport’s efforts to combat the challenges set by the COVID-19 pandemic. Tom Harrison, the ECB chief executive, wrote to Tony Irish, his counterpart at the Professional Cricketers’ Association (the PCA; the players’ union who negotiate pay on behalf of centrally contracted players),…

3:18 AM GMT Australia Test captain Tim Paine believes the behavioural changes forced upon the national team by the Newlands scandal have flowed down into the rest of the system over the course of the past two years, with incidents involving James Pattinson and Marcus Stoinis last summer the exceptions that prove the new rule. Pattinson in the Sheffield Shield and Stoinis in the Big Bash League were both sanctioned…