10:59 PM IST Ian Watmore has pledged the ECB will go ahead with the launch of The Hundred but warned that “nothing is ring-fenced” and redundancies were “inevitable” as the organisation looks to cut costs in light of the Covid-19 pandemic. The launch of the competition was postponed this year due to the virus. But while there is currently no guarantee crowds will be allowed to return in 2021, Watmore,…

Aug 31, 2020 Big picture For England in particular, this series has been all about building for the future, broadening their selection base ahead of next year’s postponed T20 World Cup, and ramping up the competition for places that was such an integral aspect of their rise to become last summer’s 50-over champions. But if it has been hard to give the rookies in the current set-up the full bells-and-whistles…

South Africa’s players, both men and women, have no indication of when they will return to play  9:56 PM IST ESPNcricinfo staff South Africa’s players, including captains Quinton de Kock and Dane van Niekerk, have demanded the board to focus on how to keep cricket in the country strong, fearing that anything less would lead to “the game we love may be irreparably damaged in this country.” A total of…

9:54 PM IST ECB Reporters Network Kent 162 for 5 (Kuhn 42*, Moriarty 3-25) beat Surrey 161 for 4 (Amla 75, Burns 56) by five wickets Former South Africa Test batsman Heino Kuhn marked his first innings as a father with a match-winning 42 not out from 31 balls to see Kent a six-wicket victory and their opening win of this season’s Vitality Blast south group qualifiers. On a slightly…

9:41 PM IST ECB Reporters Network Hampshire 140 for 5 beat Essex 139 for 6 (Crane 3-18) by five wickets Ian Holland held his nerve as Hampshire ended Essex’s 13-month unbeaten run in all competitions. All-rounder Holland snuck Hampshire over the line with a ball to spare to eke out a nervy five-wicket victory, having needed six off the final over. Essex – who had been stunted by Mason Crane‘s…

Jacques Kallis and Paul Harris’ involvement with the South African team in the future may be subject to CSA’s transformation policies  9:03 PM IST Cricket South Africa will apply an affirmative action policy when hiring consultants in future, which could affect the likes of Jacques Kallis and Paul Harris. While the directive is not set in stone, it will be used a means to test whether people of colour are…

8:16 PM IST Ian Watmore, the ECB’s new chair, has admitted the current make-up of the board is “not acceptable” and insisted there must be more diversity within the administration of cricket. Watmore, who officially replaced Colin Graves as ECB on September 1, believes the ECB can’t lead the sport effectively unless its leadership is “representative of the society it’s trying to serve”. With Lord Kamlesh Patel, who has been…

Andy Flower: Batsmen at CPL haven’t dealt with spinners skillfully (1:22) St. Lucia Zouks’ head coach Andy Flower gives his take on the state of the pitches and struggling batsmen this tournament (1:22) 8:15 PM IST Deivarayan Muthu Many had written St Lucia Zouks off after Chris Gayle had pulled out of CPL 2020 owing to personal reasons. Visa and travel restrictions meant that South Africans Colin Ingram, Anrich Nortje…

7:00 PM IST Less than three weeks to go for the scheduled start of IPL 2020, and there’s still no sign of the final schedule for the tournament. Whatever the reasons for that delay may be, it has “nothing to do with the Abu Dhabi border or the quarantine restrictions”, according to a local cricket official. As it happens, training is in full swing for the two teams based in…

Brendon McCullum: Have to find a way to overcome challenge of the pitches (2:11) Trinbago coach Brendon McCullum talks about the difficulties of coaching during the pandemic. (2:11) 4:30 PM IST Deivarayan Muthu Trinbago Knight Riders have surged to six wins in six games – with or without some of their key players – in CPL 2020. Opening batsman and spinner Sunil Narine missed Knight Riders’ last three games because…