It was a day of incredible feats in Visakhapatnam, but as well as the visitors did, they still ended it trailing by 117 runs

The Report by Sidharth Monga04-Oct-20197:52

Agarkar: SA left India’s spinners short of ideas at times

Stumps South Africa exorcised some of the demons from their last tour of India on a day of glorious batting in which two of their players scored hundreds. So tough is it to play in India that despite doing much better than expected, South Africa were looking at the prospects of having to bat out three-and-a-half sessions to save the Test, which is roughly what they had batted in this innings.

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Thanks to R Ashwin’s 27th five-for, Dean Elgar and Quinton de Kock will have to put off full-fledged celebrations of their incredible hundreds by two days. India still led by 117 runs with two South African wickets standing. Should the last two wickets fall early, India have enough cushion to be able to time their declaration in the third innings.Yet the magnitude of South Africa’s achievement cannot be understated. They were 15 short of becoming the first visiting team since 2013 to score 400 when not batting first in India. That year was the start of India’s dominant run at home since when they have lost just one home Test and only weather has been able to deny them a win at home when they have won the toss.Dean Elgar braces for a long vigil ahead of a session•BCCI

Bringing the biggest fight to the Indian juggernaut were Elgar of the “this is not Jo’burg” fame from the last tour and de Kock, who was not considered good enough by the South Africa selectors the last time around. The originator of that Jo’burg jibe, Ashwin, had to work much harder for his wickets here, but he showed he had just enough in his repertoire to come out with his head held high on a tough day.Elgar’s 160 was 18 short of the highest score by a visiting batsman in India’s latest dominant run at home, de Kock’s 111 was a wonderful display of natural talent backed by a clear head. It was hard work for India’s spinners on a pitch that might not have been as flat as Rajkot against England or Delhi against Sri Lanka but didn’t quite break up like Indian pitches do of late. That shouldn’t take credit away from South Africa who were ruthless against any marginal error in length, especially on the fuller side.For long periods of the innings, South Africa’s was the second-fastest innings of 80 overs or longer by an away team in India in this dominant post 2013 era. Elgar, de Kock and Faf du Plessis, who nearly matched his 2015 series tally of 60 runs in one innings, hit 42 fours and seven sixes between them. That’s 64.4% of their runs in boundaries.R Ashwin leaps in joy•BCCI

The most striking method, though, was Elgar’s, who had to fight through a top-order collapse on the first evening and saw Temba Bavuma go early on the third morning. During the last South Africa tour of India, Ashwin had mocked Elgar by saying in a press conference that this is not Johannesburg with regards to his dismissal trying to hit offspin against the turn. In this innings, though, Elgar, who called the pitches on the last tour a farce, kept playing Ashwin against the turn. Thirty-six of Elgar’s runs against Ashwin came through the leg side, including the slog sweep to bring up the century. Ashwin showed he was a good sport by applauding the innings even before the ball had landed beyond the midwicket boundary.In the four years since that last tour, South African cricket has seen a lot of turmoil, but Elgar has been a picture of stability. He has been their best batsman these four years, and that has not happened without a method. His method against spin here was to defend solidly, but every once in a while – like a swimmer coming up for a breath – he hit a boundary to earn himself the breathing space that India’s cauldron-like conditions deny you. Sixty-three of his 160 runs came through lofted shots, the highest rate for any batsman in this Test. Rohit Sharma, known for his lofted hits, was just behind.Elgar’s stability allowed du Plessis to get into an attacking mindset, employing the sweep shot to good effect. India’s bowling seemed unremarkable in this period, but they were not allowed to bowl well. Calculated risks were taken to put them off their rhythms. One of the biggest changes from the second evening was that Ashwin was now bowling a more defensive, straighter line. However, for Ashwin it has always been about getting the drift to bowl it wide outside off and not just spearing it in there. When he got one to drift away from du Plessis, the South Africa captain was now playing at a ball outside the line of his head, and it turned back to take an inside catch for backward short leg to hold.Jadeja races to 200 Test wickets•ESPNcricinfo Ltd

At 178 for 5, South Africa still needed to do a lot of work. The ball had gone soft, the pitch was not turning from the straight, and India strived to save their spinners for the second new ball. De Kock, who had started attacking at any rate, was not going to let part-timers and a seemingly less-than-100% Mohammed Shami get away with quiet overs. Some clean hitting followed in a second successive stand of 100 or more. De Kock, too, brought up his hundred with a six off Ashwin.Just before that, Elgar made a fatal misjudgement of length, top-edging a sweep for Jadeja to become the fastest left-arm bowler to 200 wickets. The new ball had more bite than the old one, and Virat Kohli was now asking his star spinners to do something for him. Ashwin did just that with two ripping offbreaks followed by one that didn’t turn and consumed de Kock. He completed his five-for with a loopy wide offbreak to draw an expansive drive from Vernon Philander and bowl him through the gate. With just four overs left in the day, South Africa would have expected better from a veteran who played this Test partly because of his batting.Those wickets in the extra half hour to make up for the rain on the first day had set up a thrilling finale to this Test. Provided there was no more rain.

New Zealand batsman twice filled in during 2019 season

ESPNcricinfo staff28-Oct-2019Hamish Rutherford, the New Zealand batsman, will return to Worcestershire as their overseas player for the whole of their 2020 campaign.Rutherford twice filled in as a replacement for Callum Ferguson in 2019, making a pair of 50-over hundreds – against Lancashire and Northants – and another on his Championship debut.He was flown into Sri Lanka by New Zealand in September for his first international game in four years – though was out first ball as he missed the T20 Blast quarter-finals – but is unlikely to be absent due to international duty much next season.”I am really excited to be returning to New Road for the 2020 season,” Rutherford said.”I really enjoyed my two stints with the club last season and hopefully I can contribute to some success for the club next year. I look forward to catching up with my team-mates and support staff in April.”Paul Pridgeon, the club’s cricket steering group chairman, said that signing Rutherford for the full season would be “really good for continuity”.”He did well for us and we thought trying to sign him for the entire summer was worth persevering with,” Pridgeon said. “He is available for all cricket.”Hamish was very keen to come back, he is enthusiastic and has gelled with the rest of the lads in the dressing room.”

Stuart Broad has positive advice for England’s “disappointed” pace-bowling tyro

George Dobell in Hamilton30-Nov-2019Jofra Archer has been encouraged to keep a sense of perspective after a dispiriting tour of New Zealand. Archer finished with 1 for 75 in the first innings at Hamilton, taking his series tally to two wickets at 91.00 apiece.Archer arrived in the country with a big reputation having enjoyed an outstanding start to his international career, but he has found the combination of the docile pitches and unresponsive ball hard to overcome.But Stuart Broad, his vastly experienced colleague, urged him to reflect on what he has already achieved in his international career and look forward to the prospect of more helpful surfaces in South Africa, where England play their next Test series.”Jofra has been a bit disappointed because he’s used to making things happen in cricket,” Broad said. “Sometimes, away from home, the game isn’t played at the speed we’re used to in England. The excitement’s not there, the pace isn’t there and the nip’s not there. These pitches are tough work to get wickets on. You can’t expect to come and get five for 30 on pitches like this. I don’t think the Kookaburra ball is his best friend at the minute.”But it will be when he realises that not every away pitch is like this. I’m just encouraging him to look forward to South Africa. That’s a better place to bowl.”Archer’s impact at international level has been so dramatic that it is possible people forget how inexperienced he is. Before this tour, for example, he had played only 32 first-class games and he had never bowled with a Kookaburra ball. His first four Tests came in England, on relatively helpful surfaces and with a Dukes ball, and saw him claim 22 wickets at a cost of 20.27 apiece.Now Broad hopes to remind him of everything he has achieved in such a short space of time and persuade him to accept that such barren patches are inevitable.”He’s never experienced anything like it,” Broad said. “He’s played a lot of first-class Division Two cricket with the games in fast-forward. He said at Mount Maunganui that he’d never gone through a day without taking a wicket, but he’s still so new to this level of cricket.”He still judges himself on the wickets he takes but once he gets past 50 Tests he won’t do that, he’ll play on too many flat ones. His economy rate has been really good. His areas have been great.”I said to him today when he had a none-for, you’d take your World Cup and Ashes for a couple of games without wickets. You can’t get a six-for every time you step on the field. Just lower your expectations, enjoy being here and speak to someone in England who is cold in November. You’re playing cricket in New Zealand – it’s good.”

England compile solid second innings to be well in front despite late South Africa breakthroughs

The Report by Matt Roller05-Jan-2020Joe Root said in the days before England arrived in New Zealand at the end of last year that he wanted his batsmen to “be prepared to play some attritional cricket” after batting “in fast-forward” under Trevor Bayliss. On the third day of the Newlands Test, it appeared his top order had taken that message to heart, as they ground out a substantial lead thanks primarily to Dom Sibley’s unbeaten 85.England had seized the Test by the scruff of the neck during the dramatic end to the second day, when South Africa lost five wickets for 58 runs to turn 157 for 4 into 215 for 8, and James Anderson took the two remaining wickets in just 14 deliveries to finish with a five-wicket haul.And after Zak Crawley’s frenetic 25, Sibley went about blunting a lacklustre South African attack, putting on partnerships of 73 with Joe Denly and 116 alongside Root to give England an imposing 264-run lead by the close with six second-innings wickets remaining.Anderson made short work of the tail in the morning, removing Kagiso Rabada with a textbook outswinger with the first ball of the day and enticing Anrich Nortje into prodding at a ball outside his off stump to give England a 46-run lead.That dismissal was statistically significant, too: it gave Stokes his fifth catch of the innings, making him the first England outfielder to complete that feat, and put Anderson out in front of Ian Botham as the man with the most five-wicket hauls for England, with 28. Anderson’s now has 102 wickets at 20.67 since his 35th birthday, and was the first 37-year-old to take a five-for for England bowling seam-up since Freddie Brown in 1951.The early stages of England’s second innings were dominated by a fiery duel between Zak Crawley and Rabada. After overpitching twice in his first over and being punished by England’s rookie opener, Rabada began to steam in, as though he had taken the boundaries personally, and smacked Crawley on the helmet via the bicep in his third over having struck him in the ribs in his second.Two balls after that blow, Rabada appeared to offer some choice words on Crawley’s technique after a 91mph back-of-a-length ball which thudded into the splice, and did so again following his next delivery, a sharp bouncer which struck the batsman on the shoulder.And while Crawley clipped another full toss to the boundary, it was Rabada who had the last laugh, pushing an outswinger slightly wide of the off-stump channel and drawing an edge as the batsman looked to unfurl his cover drive.Joe Root steps out to reverse-sweep•Getty Images

But that battle aside, South Africa looked a shadow of the fit, fierce attack that got the better of England at Centurion, with Maharaj resorting to leg-theory early on in his spell and the seamers failing to extract much life from the pitch. It was suggested that the cooler, cloudier conditions meant the crack that had opened up outside the right-hander’s off stump from the Wynberg End had less effect, but Faf du Plessis’ uninspired captaincy contributed to the tameness of the effort.Sibley started slowly, playing primarily through the leg side and digging in to reach 29 off 93 balls before first bringing out his cover drive off Rabada in the 34th over. He found support in Joe Denly, whose innings of 31 was characteristically stubborn, albeit lacking in any real fluency.Denly again faced 100 balls – only Marnus Labuschagne (10 times) has done so more often than Denly (eight) since the start of 2019 – and set up the innings for England’s middle order. A lofted four down the ground off Maharaj aside, he was largely subdued as his partnership with Sibley sucked the life out of the hosts’ attack, and it came as something of a surprise when he swatted a Nortje bouncer down the throat of Dwaine Pretorius at long leg.Sibley batted with growing confidence alongside Root, as the pair started to score more positively after tea. Particularly strong off his pads and against anything short, Sibley crunched Maharaj for four through point to push the lead past 200 – given his struggles against left-arm spin in his career to date, it was the sign of a man starting to feel at home in an England shirt.Root was delicate, sweeping, paddling and nudging his way past fifty while looking in fine touch, and it took a ball that bounced sharply out of the crack and found his outside edge from Pretorius in the final half-hour to dislodge him; it was the third time in this match that the allrounder had struck with the new ball imminent.One wicket soon brought another, as Nortje removed Dom Bess for a pair. Nortje’s bouncer from round the wicket brushed the nightwatchman’s glove on its way through to Quinton de Kock, confirmed on review, to offer South Africa a flicker of hope, but seemed only to further expose the underuse of the fastest bowler in the match by du Plessis.

Sunil Gavaskar, Milind Rege and Chandu Borde pay tribute to Bapu Nadkarni

Nagraj Gollapudi and Vishal Dikshit17-Jan-2020In a heartfelt tribute to Bapu Nadkarni, who died on Friday aged 86, Sunil Gavaskar has hailed the former India allrounder’s attitude and cricketing acumen. Gavaskar was in Rajkot, as part of the commentators’ panel for the India-Australia ODI, when he heard the news of Nadkarni’s death.”He came as assistant manager for quite a number of our tours,” Gavaskar said. “He was very encouraging. His favourite term from where we all learnt from was ‘ (hang in there)’. He was gritty despite playing in the days when gloves and thigh pads were not very good, not much protective equipment as you would get hit, but still hang in there as he believed in . You are playing for India. That thing we learnt from him. “Every time he was on a tour he was very very helpful in terms of strategy. At lunch time or tea time, he would say ‘try this’, if you were a fielding captain. He would tell, ‘bring this bowler, or ask this bowler to bowl around the wicket.’ He was fantastic. Indian cricket has lost a real champion.”Gavaskar also recalled Nadkarni’s role in getting Sandeep Patil to bat in India’s second innings in Sydney in 1981, after he had retired hurt following a blow to the head from a Len Pascoe bouncer in the first innings. Patil went on to score 174 in the next Test match in Adelaide.”He [Nadkarni] was the one who kept urging Sandeep that ‘it doesn’t matter, you are here and you should go out and bat again.’ Bapuji was the assistant manager on the tour. It was only because of him that Sandeep went on to score that 174 in the next Test match because Bapuji was constantly there with him.”Bapu Nadkarni with fellow Mumbai and India stalwarts Dilip Vengsarkar and Ajit Wadekar•Getty Images & Hindustan Times

Milind Rege, the former Mumbai captain, said Nadkarni was a true allrounder.”Bapu Nadkarni was a great allrounder of Indian cricket and definitely a pillar of Mumbai cricket,” Rege said. “He didn’t get the accolades he deserved. He was one of the lead spinners and then would bat at No. 5 for Mumbai.”Rege reckoned that Nadkarni’s figures of 32-27-5-0 in his famous spell against England in Chennai would never be eclipsed. “Records are meant to be broken, but 21 overs and 5 balls without giving a run will never ever beaten by anybody.”Rege would call Nadkarni ‘Bapu ‘, as a mark of respect. Rege, along with his friend and teammate Gavaskar, learned a valuable lesson from Nadkarni, a characteristic Mumbai cricket is often associated with. “The thing that applies to Mumbai cricket, he would be right at the top. He was not a stylish player at all. With that stance he had, he managed to score important runs including the 283 not out against Delhi in the 1960-61 Ranji Trophy semifinals. He just would not give anything away, he was that .”Off the field, Nadkarni was a soft-spoken man, known to be particular about details. “Bapu was a lovely person,” Rege said. “The gentleman cricketer. Sunil and I played with Bapu when we were 17. He was among the Mumbai greats who nurtured us. He had a great sense of humour. And he could take a joke on himself and laugh it away.”Bapu Nadkarni (fifth from left) during a corporate tour of Pakistan in 1961•SD Rege/ACC Ltd

Chandu Borde, one of India’s leading lights in the 1960s, presented an example of Nadkarni supporting him at what he called a “crucial” time in his career. “It was one of the early Tests of my career,” Borde said. “I do not recollect exactly which one, but it was in Calcutta. I got a telegram from Pune (Borde’s home). It was to inform me that my relative Dayanand, who had played a big role in my cricket during my young days, had passed away in an accident.”Bapu hid the telegram under the pillow while I was batting. Later when I read the telegram I confronted Bapu: “What is this Bapu? Why did you this?” Bapu calmly told me he did not want me to be distracted. It was a crucial match for me. Till then my performances were not exciting or big. This was a crucial innings for me and Bapu did not want me to be disturbed.”Nadkarni, Borde said, always put the team first. “He was, what we in Marathi say an , one who had only friends and no enemies. Bapu was a very good team man, always appreciating his teammates’ performances.”According to Borde, Nadkarni’s upbringing and his family’s interest in sports was a major factor in his open personality. Borde recounted that Nadkarni was good at more than one sport, having played badminton at a high level. As for his cricket: “He was a very useful man to the team, a great contributor, stayed long at the wicket, was a good close-in fielder, and was a very accurate left-arm spinner.”

Bangladesh batsman says the team got fewer runs than they wanted, but they can still fight back with quick wickets

Umar Farooq in Rawalpindi07-Feb-2020Bangladesh’s fight in the middle order was bookended by wickets falling cheaply in the first Test against Pakistan, as they were bowled out for 233 on the opening day in Rawalpindi. Bowling first after winning the toss, Pakistan dismantled Bangladesh’s top order to leave them 2 for 3, before the middle order rallied somewhat. But although there were three stands that crossed fifty, none went beyond 59. Najmul Hossain Shanto, playing in just his third Test, rued that the Bangladesh batsmen didn’t capitalise on their partnerships.Shanto (44 off 110) had put on 59 for the third wicket with captain Mominul Haque, while the highest scorer of the innings, Mohammad Mithun, took part in stands of 54 and 53 for the sixth and seventh wickets. Shanto and Mominul were helped by Pakistan’s bowlers spraying the ball a little, perhaps becoming over-eager after the early strikes on a green top. However, the bowlers settled down and found a nagging length, and continued to strike regularly.Six of Bangladesh’s batsmen – from No.3 to No.8 – got starts, going past 20 but Mithun’s 63 was the only fifty-plus score, a fact that Shanto described as disappointing.”There was little bit of movement in the early few overs, but then later it turned into a good batting wicket,” Shanto said. “But I think we needed to be more patient. With early wickets there, we were under pressure but then the way Mominul batted it was good for us to go on. We needed to build on the partnership, have a stand of over 100 or something. Had we had a good partnership, it could have been different. I am disappointing that we didn’t capitalise.”The day belonged to Pakistan, but Bangladesh can take some positives, having batted the whole day against hostile fast bowling. Shanto was optimistic that Bangladesh were still in the match and could learn from their first-innings experience.”To me, the wicket was good for batting with not much seam movement after the first five to six overs,” Shanto said. “But Pakistan’s bowlers were patient kept on hitting the right line and maintained it. We, however, managed to get some runs on the board. We are still short of runs but if we get a few quick wickets then it will give us a chance. Whatever we have done is done, and we have to look ahead now and think about how well we can bowl. It’s challenging, but we obviously have to bowl well. I believe we can still get back in the game.”

The team thumped 115 in the last seven overs to score 209, and Quetta Gladiators fell 37 runs short in reply

The Report by Danyal Rasool03-Mar-2020Well, don’t adjust your device or reach for thicker reading glasses, because what you’re about to read actually did happen.Lahore Qalandars beat – no, walloped – defending champions Quetta Gladiators by 37 runs to storm to their first win of the tournament. It came thanks to a blitzkrieg of big hitting from Ben Dunk and Samit Patel, whose 155-run partnership saw Lahore surge to 209 after what appeared another disastrous start from the bottom-placed team.A stunning 115 runs were added in the final seven overs, including 80 off four overs from the start of the 14th over as the wheels came off the Quetta bowling completely. Powerless in the face of the onslaught, they could only watch as Dunk broke the record for most sixes in a PSL innings, with 10 in his 43-ball 93, while Patel’s 41-ball 70 gave him stellar support from the other end.Lahore bank heavily on Chris Lynn and Fakhar Zaman to get them off to a powerful start, but when that didn’t happen in a subdued Powerplay for the openers, things looked bleak for them. They became gloomier still when the two fell in quick succession, the worries compounded when Mohammad Hafeez was felled first ball by a reflex catch at first lip from Shane Watson. Going at barely above a run a ball in the first ten and little batting to follow Patel and Dunk, the English-Aussie duo took responsibility, and carried the innings through to the final over, the 155 they amassed the second highest partnership in the league’s history.It stunned Quetta, who needed equally incongruous contributions from their key men, but when Jason Roy and Shane Watson fell relatively early, there was no coming back. Wickets fell in regular succession as Lahore simply let Quetta give away their wickets in the face of mounting pressure from the asking rate.Sarfaraz Ahmed, Azam Khan, Mohammad Nawaz and Anwar Ali all fell that way as the bowlers cashed in, with Salman Irshad bagging career-best T20 figures of 4 for 29. He found more swing than usual with a remodelled action, and was responsible for putting paid for Azam Khan’s innings before it had really begun, as well as Ben Cutting’s resistance which threatened to bring the flickering game back to life briefly.Cutting had been fighting what looked like an insurmountable battle all on his own. All he could do, however, was bring the margin of defeat down. No matter what damage he inflicted, it simply couldn’t compensate for the carnage that Lahore had wreaked in their final overs, and there was simply no recovering from it for Sarfaraz’s men.Those seven oversThe final seven overs in the first innings cost 19, 27, 14, 17, 10, 11 and 17. That, really, is the story of the match. Quetta had a firm grasp of the game at the 13-over mark, having inserted Lahore in to bat. Lynn, Fakhar and Hafeez were gone, and Lahore were 94 for 3, needing a big finish to remain competitive in the second innings. But the floodgates opened when Dunk smashed Anwar Ali for six off the second ball of the 14th, and were blown right off in the madness that followed.Mohammad Nawaz was launched for four sixes off as many deliveries in the following over, and from thereon, it appeared the bowling side had run out of ideas. Mohammad Hasnain and Naseem Shah were put under pressure, conceding 10 and 12 respectively off the first two balls of their overs, and an unstoppable Dunk appeared able to hit sixes at will. Two more would come in the final over, and by the time Patel and Dunk holed out in the final over, Lahore had coasted past 200, and well past what Quetta would be able to hunt down.The lone handIn any normal game, Cutting lower down the order would have done enough to ensure he had taken his side over the line. But chasing 210 with all the usual suspects back in the pavilion, it was left to the Australian allrounder to help his side get over the line. He had managed it against Islamabad United last week, but an asking rate of 55 off five – the requirement that day – was a piece of pie when compared to the Herculean task that faced him today.Soon after he walked out, Quetta required 94 off 36, and while Dunk had Patel for company, number nine Fawad Ahmed doesn’t quite have the Englishman’s batting prowess. This was an impossible task with two batsmen of your choice, but with Cutting forced to farm the strike and score nearly three a ball, it would inevitably be found wanting. That didn’t mean he didn’t provide entertainment along the way, smashing Shaheen Afridi and Mohammad Faizan for 27 in two overs as he brought up a half-century in 25 balls. Given it was Lahore at the other end, the feeling the game might not yet be done lingered for longer than it otherwise would have, but when the Australian holed out to cow corner in the 18th over, it was evident even Lahore couldn’t fluff this up.Where the teams standLahore post their first points on the board, though they’re still bottom of the table with two points in four games. Quetta slip one position to third behind Karachi Kings on net run rate, with three wins from six matches.

Health, family, security behind Paul, Bravo, Hetmyer’s decisions

Nagraj Gollapudi04-Jun-2020Concerns about their families are understood to be the primary reason behind Darren Bravo, Shimron Hetmyer and Keemo Paul declining to be part of the West Indies Test squad for the England tour. Both the prospect of leaving their families for seven weeks and concerns about how quickly they would be able to see them on their return to the Caribbean at the end of July are understood to be key factors in the players’ decisions, with uncertainty around the quarantine requirements that may be imposed by their respective governments.On Wednesday, Cricket West Indies (CWI) announced a 25-man squad including 11 reserves for the three-Test series in England which is scheduled to start in Southampton on July 8 subject to the UK government’s approval. CWI said it “fully accepts and respects” the decision taken by Bravo, Hetmyer and Paul to opt out of the tour and would “certainly not hold it against” them in future selections.Talking to ESPNcricinfo, Johnny Grave, CWI chief executive, said that the board wanted players who were “comfortable” travelling without any “nagging doubts” as otherwise it might impact their performances. Grave said he totally understood the doubts and fears expressed by the three players after speaking with Bravo last Friday and receiving emails from the other two players over the weekend.Grave said Paul, the 22-year-old allrounder, wrote an email to CWI explaining how difficult a decision it was for him to not travel to England. “Keemo Paul is the sole breadwinner in his entire household and wider family,” Grave said. “He was really concerned if something happened to him how his family would cope.WATCH: CPL Life Stories: Keemo Paul on growing up in Saxacalli“He wrote a personal note to us to explain it was with a heavy heart that he had decided not to tour but that he just didn’t feel comfortable going to England. He wrote passionately about how hard a decision it was for him and how much he loves playing for West Indies, but with consultation with his family he doesn’t feel he can leave them and doesn’t want to go on the tour.”According Grave, Hetmyer said that he “didn’t feel comfortable from a safety point of view, leaving his home, leaving his family and heading over to England”. Paul and Hetmyer both come from Guyana, where the number of Covid-19 cases is under 200.As for Bravo, who lives in Trinidad, Grave said he was concerned about the situation in the UK. “Darren Bravo had concerns about his health and any consequences that it may have on his young family. He also mentioned he made his decision with great remorse as it was always a huge honour for him to play for West Indies. So, yes, perfectly valid reasons and the ones that we fully respect. We were never going to force or try to coerce and we didn’t ask them to reconsider.”Bravo, Hetmyer and Paul are centrally-contracted, all-format players. Among the three, only Hetmyer has consistently featured in the Test team since his debut in 2017, but all three have struggled with form in the last year. Last year, Bravo managed just 106 runs at an average of 13.25 which included the two-Test series against India. The selectors dropped him for the one-off Test against Afghanistan with chief selector Roger Harper saying Bravo needed to be “away” from international cricket to find his form back. Hetmyer, too, had a forgettable 2019 in Test cricket, scoring 244 runs at 24.40, while Paul has played three Tests in his career with six wickets to his name.Keemo Paul “wrote passionately” to explain his decision•AFP / Getty Images

In May, Grave had pointed out that he understood why players who come from smaller Caribbean islands would be nervous about going to England, which was seen as “one of the eyes of the storm” with the official death count due to the virus nearing 40,000. Subsequently, the players grew more confident once they heard of the “robust and safe plan” the ECB had put in place to conduct the tour within a bio-secure environment behind closed doors.ALSO READ: Bio-secure venues can withstand second wave – ElworthyOn June 1, both ECB and CWI medical experts had another call before the tour schedule was made public. On the same day, CWI had a call with the wider pool of players from which the final squad would be picked to update them on the final arrangements. “We gave them all the most up-to-date information on the tour,” Grave said. “All I clarified to them on Monday on the call with Professor Nick Pierce (ECB chief medical officer) and our medical practitioners was: were they happy that they had all the information and did they have any further questions.”I then explained that Roger Harper, CWI lead selector, would contact them regarding whether they were selected or not and that they had until the following day, having slept on it, to confirm their position.”Ultimately, we want a group of players that are comfortable to be there so that they are not worried about these things and therefore they have got a chance to perform at their best. If they have got nagging doubts or worries about their families they are not going to be performing at their best.”It is in everyone’s interest if you are not comfortable to say so and not tour and be certain that it is not going to be held against you. Rather than go, be worried, and ultimately don’t perform or want to come home. So it is a good decision all round. We are still taking a strong Test side to England.”CWI is now waiting for the test results for the squad to come back from Miami, which are expected within the next 48 hours. Anyone who tests positive for the virus will almost certainly not take the charter flight that is set to leave on June 8 from Antigua.

In another significant development, women’s ODI World Cup deferred by a year, to 2022

Nagraj Gollapudi07-Aug-2020India has retained the rights to host the 2021 men’s T20 World Cup while Australia have been asked to host the 2022 edition. In another significant decision, the ICC also postponed the 2021 women’s ODI World Cup which was scheduled in New Zealand between February and March, to 2022. All these decisions were taken by the ICC Business Corporation, the business development wing of the ICC, which met virtually on Friday.The 2021 event will be hosted in India between October-November next year, with the final scheduled on November 14. Australia, which was originally meant to host the 2020 edition, will now host the tournament in 2022 between October-November with the final scheduled for November 13.This women’s World Cup is the second global event the ICC has been forced to postpone in the last two months due to the disruption caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. In July, the ICC Board had deferred the 2020 men’s T20 World Cup, scheduled in October-November in Australia this year to next year.The board had given the nod to the ICC management to create fresh windows for the three marquee global events: the T20 World Cups in October-November 2021 and October-November 2022, and the ODI World Cup in October-November 2023, pushed back from its original March-April window.How did India retain the rights?Although it confirmed the development, the ICC did not give any precise reason as to why India had retained the right to host the event “as planned”. However, ESPNcricinfo understands the decision for the IBC, which comprises all the members of the ICC Board, became easier once Cricket Australia chairman Earl Eddings said his board would not be able to commit the support of the Australian government to host the tournament in 2021.It is understood that Eddings said that although CA would prefer hosting the event next year, it could not guarantee the government’s support at this point. Government backing is key to hosting global events, and the ICC needed a guaranteed undertaking from the host board.It is understood that Sourav Ganguly, the BCCI president, said his board was confident it would get the Indian government’s support, which helped the IBC make its decision to retain India as the hosts as per the original schedule of global events.Another thing that went in India’s favour is that ICC would not need to change its contractual agreements with its commercial partners for the 2021 edition, since it was staying in India. As for the contractual agreements for the 2020 event which was postponed, the ICC will need to rework them for 2022 – but the ICC felt that was more helpful commercially.This means there will be no global event for nearly 18 months since the ICC hosted the women’s T20 World Cup in February-March this year, which was played in Australia. What it also means is that in 2022, which was meant to be a gap year without any global event, there will now be four ICC events.The year will start with the Under-19 World Cup in January in the Caribbean, followed by the women’s ODI World Cup in New Zealand in February-March, then the men’s T20 World Cup in October-November in Australia, and be bookended by the women’s T20 World Cup in South Africa.On its part, the BCCI had always favoured hosting the 2021 edition instead of in 2022 as that would mean, potentially, India could host three marquee tournaments within a year: the T20 World Cup in 2022, the IPL in 2023 and the 50-over World Cup in 2023. The BCCI feared such a scenario could hurt its content commercially.Another unresolved issue, a thorny one, was the ICC insisting the BCCI find a solution to the longstanding tax exemption issue concerning global events in India. Recently the ICC wrote the BCCI saying it reserved the right to take away the 2021 men’s T20 World Cup from India, after the BCCI failed to secure a tax exemption for the tournament from the Indian government. The ICC has given the BCCI until the end of the year to resolve that issue.Setback for Cricket AustraliaThe IBC decision today will hurt CA in various ways. With the pandemic causing havoc across the world, CA had accepted that it would be impossible to host a global event comprising 16 countries this year.As early as May, Eddings had sent an e-mail to the Finance & Commercial Committee, a powerful wing in the ICC on which he sits, to say it would be “detrimental to cricket” in case the “cancellation” of the T20 World Cup in Australia this year was “replaced by award of” the tournament in October-November 2022. Contents of Eddings’ correspondence with the ICC were reported by the originally.In that email, Eddings also said that it was important for the ICC to have certainty about who would host the marquee tournament to ensure member countries benefited financially from the revenue distribution model which is dependent on the broadcasting rights income.At the time, Eddings suggested that since Australia had “thankfully managed to flatten the (Covid-19) curve” it meant “there is greater certainty of being able to play in Australia in 2021 (which is key to maintaining member distribution).”Currently Australia has reported over 20,000 Covid-19 cases with less than 300 deaths. India, meanwhile, has the third highest count globally behind the USA and Brazil, with over 2 million cases and over 40,000 deaths. Eddings had said allowing India to host the tournament in 2022 would allow the country to “resolve any Covid-related problems.”The IBC decision means CA will need to dismantle the local organising committee it had originally created for the event and create a fresh structure to host the tournament in 2022. That would also include signing fresh venue hosting agreements with state associations in Australia.In a media release on Friday, the ICC said that all 16 teams that qualified to participate in the 2020 edition would feature in India next year. For the 2022 tournament, the ICC will conduct a new qualification process which will determine which teams compete in Australia.While Imran Khwaja, the ICC’s interim chairman, said today’s decisions “are in the best interests of the sport”, Manu Sawhney, chief executive of the global cricket body, said the developments would provide “absolute clarity on the future of ICC events enabling all of our Members to focus on the rescheduling of lost international and domestic cricket.”

Young batsman says isolation from family within bio-secure bubble has been challenging

Valkerie Baynes24-Jul-2020Ollie 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 late on Friday, he was 91 not out, having shared an unbroken 136-run partnership with Jos Buttler and guided England out of trouble at 122 for 4.”It does feel like a little bit of a weight off the shoulders,” Pope told Sky Sports. “With the pandemic, we haven’t played cricket in a long time and to miss out in the first three innings and, to be to be honest, to be in such an intense environment – we’re not able to get out and see any family so you just sort of go back to your room and then you’re back looking over the cricket pitch – so it is nice to get a few.”ALSO READ: Brathwaite defends Holder’s decision to bowl first againPope came in with his side 92 for 3 and effectively a specialist batsman down after Zak Crawley was left out to make way for another seam bowler given that Ben Stokes is unlikely to bowl much, if at all, because of a quad muscle injury.He admitted to feeling as though he had taken time to settle into his latest innings, especially against West Indies quick Kemar Roach. But perhaps just as challenging had been the month-long isolation from family after entering the players’ bio-secure ‘bubble’.”To be honest, I have found a little bit challenging,” Pope said. “Second innings at Hampshire, I got out very late in the day for 12, chopped on, and I think 20 minutes after getting out I was back in my room and I wasn’t able to go for coffee or go back and see the family.”Then it just sort of ends up playing on your mind over and over again, so it has got its challenges. But I think you get around the lads, the lads get around you and everyone’s sort of very tightly knit so if anyone is sort of mentally struggling a little bit, then we’ve got each other’s backs.”Pope particularly felt for his team-mates who had been able to spend a lot of time with their young children during the Covid-19 enforced lockdown, only to then go into the squad environment where they could have no physical contact with them.”It’s good just to try and sort of check in and see, try to read people and check how everyone’s doing,” he added. “Some of them might find it a bit challenging, but I think everyone in general has been pretty good and we do really enjoy each other’s company so we’ve sort of enjoyed what we can.”Ollie Pope is forward to drive•Getty Images

Pope believed that, as was the case in the previous Test at the same ground, the Emirates Old Trafford pitch seemed to be favouring the new ball. It was a sentiment echoed by West Indies batsman Kraigg Brathwaite, who defended his captain, Jason Holder’s decision to bowl first.West Indies took the second new ball late on Friday but only managed 3.4 overs with it before bad light intervened, with Pope nearing his hundred and Buttler on 56 not out. Pope said he felt comfortable given that both had faced more than 100 balls each.”If you’re in is probably the best time to bat, because it just comes off that little bit quicker, the bowlers are looking to challenge the stumps and the pads so it gives you scoring opportunities,” Pope said. “The older ball did slightly offer not as much, but it did spin a little bit as well, so that’s encouraging for us.”Hopefully the rain’s not about tomorrow, it could be a long time in the 90s.”Given an unpromising forecast, it could indeed be a long time.