Robinson takes seven wickets for the match, Overton six after Lions batsmen set course with strong first innings

ESPNcricinfo staff25-Feb-2020Ollie Robinson and Craig Overton bowled England Lions to their maiden victory over Australia A, a nine-wicket win in their four-day match at the MCG.Early rain threatened to derail the Lions’ march to victory, with the hosts trailing England’s first-innings total by 72 overnight with five wickets in hand. Kurtis Patterson and Jack Wildermuth resumed, moving their partnership to 67 before Wildermuth fell to Overton for 37.Patterson batted through with the tail, adding 44 more to the total to ensure the Lions needed to bat again and finishing unbeaten on 94 when the final wicket fell – that of Mitchell Swepson for three – with the Lions needing 20 runs to win.Robinson and Overton finished with four wickets apiece for the innings, giving Robinson seven for the match and Overton six.The English side’s chase wasn’t straightforward. They lost first-innings centurion Dom Sibley to Jackson Bird in the third over for three, but Zak Crawley and Keaton Jennings sealed victory five overs later.Lions Head Coach Richard Dawson was impressed by his side’s competitiveness throughout every session. “Once we got ahead of the game and posted that first-innings total, we held the ascendancy,” Dawson said. “We kept it really basic, breaking things down to keep it simple and the effort within the squad was high class.”The fast bowlers were made to work really hard, having asked the Aussies to follow on, but they’ve put in the work on their fitness to be able to achieve that.”It is the first time an England Lions or England ‘A’ team has beaten Australia A either home or away, with four losses, two draws and an abandonment in the seven previous encounters between the two sides.The Lions will look to finish their tour of Australia unbeaten, with their final four-day match against a New South Wales XI starting on March 2. With Sibley, Crawley, Jennings and Dom Bess departing to join the England team for a two-Test tour of Sri Lanka, the match in Wollongong will give several players in the squad the chance to gain match experience.

If the tournament is impacted, it could affect the ICC’s revenue distributions to its member boards

ESPNcricinfo staff14-Apr-2020Ehsan Mani, the PCB chairman, has warned of the financial fallout to world cricket if the T20 World Cup, scheduled to be held later this year, is impacted by the Coronavirus pandemic.The tournament is due to take place in Australia in October-November but with much of the world in lockdown currently, and for some time yet, it is difficult to say with certainty whether the tournament will go ahead as planned.”If the World T20 in Australia, if that gets disrupted then the financial fallout from that will be very big,” Mani said on a PCB podcast. “The distributions they [the ICC] give to members, many boards – including us – will feel the pinch of it.”Mani, who is also chairman of the ICC’s Finance and Commercial Affairs committee and a former ICC president, was referring to the revenue the ICC distributes to its members, payments coming in twice a year annually in January and July. Those payments are made regardless of whether there is an ICC tournament in the calendar year and are calculated on the financial model that was agreed upon in June 2017.The PCB, along with six other Full Members, was slated to receive USD 128 million for the eight-year cycle between 2015 and 2023. Though that figure has been projected downwards to USD 115 million, a payout of approximately USD 7-8 million twice a year is a critical part of the financial health of all boards outside the big three comprising the BCCI, the ECB and CA.There is still some time to go before October, but the cricket calendar, if it is up and running by then, will also have to figure out a way of rescheduling a number of postponed bilateral commitments, as well as, potentially, the IPL.The PCB has not been hit as hard as other boards by the pandemic; the ECB looks likely to be hardest hit at this stage, but even SLC and the BCB have lost out on hosting bilateral tours from England and Australia respectively, which usually are lucrative tours for the home board.Nevertheless, the PCB is planning for the worst-case scenario in which ICC distributions could be affected should the T20 World Cup be postponed .”Financial controls are tight, we are not spending over what we earn so in that sense, we will probably be all right in the short term,” Mani said. “But if it goes into next year and ICC distributions don’t come in… I can say the PCB is expecting USD 7-8 million in July from the ICC, that might not come. So obviously we have to plan as if that doesn’t come.”Going forward to [next] January, the ICC will again distribute a similar amount. So there’s a lot of money on the line for us. How we can make that up when short of playing cricket, there’s no other way? You only make money by playing cricket.”Mani was talking only about the PCB’s planning for a worst-case scenario if the distributions don’t arrive; concrete discussions about the impact, of the cricket calendar shutting down, on revenue distributions have not yet taken place.But contingency planning is dominating the thinking of those in the sport’s corridors of power. Depending on how severely hit some boards already are, some scenarios regarding the revenue distributions are not implausible; July’s distributions could be held back to be paid out further down the line (when some boards might need them more) or redistributed in a way that lesser-hit boards give up a cut of their share to harder-hit ones.And although the distributions are no longer linked to ICC events as such, if the T20 World Cup doesn’t go ahead, or is fitted into 2021, January’s distributions could also potentially be impacted.

Spinner admits to “overthinking” and says best is yet to come

Andrew Miller27-Jun-2020Given his health ordeals in New Zealand and South Africa this winter, the inclusion of Jack Leach in England’s plans for their return to Test cricket against West Indies next month might initially have come across as something of a risk.This is, after all, a player who admitted fearing for his life when he contracted sepsis in Hamilton in November, and then fell so ill during England’s early weeks in South Africa that he still wonders whether he and his team-mates were early victims of the Covid-19 pandemic, before the global severity was known.”I guess we’ll never know,” Leach told reporters via videolink from England’s camp at the Ageas Bowl. “If you had those symptoms I had in South Africa now, you’d say this is definitely coronavirus. But I feel healthy and fit, and I want to stay that way as much as possible.”But in the current circumstances, with the UK bracing for a second wave of Covid-19 cases following the government’s lifting of lockdown restrictions, the logic of Leach’s inclusion suddenly makes more sense.After all, there can be few places in the country safer than England’s bio-secure training camp at the Ageas Bowl, especially for a man who has suffered since the age of 14 from Crohn’s disease, an inflammatory bowel condition that can require immunosuppressant medication to keep it under control.”It’s definitely more strict here than Bournemouth beach,” said Leach, after a week of soaring temperatures resulted in more than half a million sun-seekers descending on the Dorset coast. “It’s exactly that, a bubble, with social distancing and masks. We’ve been spending lots of time in our rooms but we started training [on Thursday] which was great, getting back out there and keeping our distance.”There’s nothing I can do about what happened in the winter,” he added. “It’s just the way it is, but I’m quite lucky my Crohn’s is under control. There are people who suffer a lot worse than me. I don’t feel sorry for myself, I want to play as much cricket as possible and stay fit and healthy.”The government’s initial advice had been for “extremely clinically vulnerable” people to shield at least until the end of June, a categorisation that had raised some doubts about Leach’s involvement in the series. However, rather than dwell on the nature of his illnesses in New Zealand and South Africa, Leach said that he and his consultants actually took comfort in the full extent of his recovery.”The medication that I’m on puts me a little bit of a higher risk, but actually what I came through in the winter suggests that I can fight things off quite well,” Leach said. “The fact that I am fit, and reasonably healthy apart from that, gives me a good chance as well.ALSO READ: Amar Virdi hoping to jump to front of England spin queue“I’ve been doing everything I need to do to stick by the rules, as has everyone else around me, but I’m not too nervous. I feel safe here in a bio-secure environment.”The ECB last week announced a clean bill of health for both England’s camp at the Ageas Bowl and West Indies’ at Emirates Old Trafford, with a total of 703 Covid tests among players, management, hotel staff and other key workers coming back as negative. And though the squad will continue to train in two groups of 15 for the time being, with little interaction even at mealtimes, those results mark another crucial step towards the return to competitive action.And for Leach, the first step will be to reclaim his role as England’s first-choice spinner. Dom Bess stepped up impressively in South Africa, while the return of Moeen Ali for the first time since last summer’s first Ashes Test at Edgbaston provides another big rival for what tends in England to be a solitary position.”We’ve got five really good spinners,” Leach said, with Matt Parkinson and Amar Virdi also involved in the 30-man squad. “It feels like there’s everything to play for. There’s lots of competition throughout the squad and spin is no different. It’s about us all working together to be at our best. It’s up to the selectors and not up to us who takes that spot, but I’m so glad to see Mo back as well. When he’s at his best, he’s an unbelievable player.”Jack Leach is one of five spinners in England’s 30-man training group•Getty Images

With 34 wickets at 29.02 in his ten Tests to date, Leach has proven to be a steady performer with the ball for England. However, he knows full well which of his feats have truly captured the public’s imagination to date – his twin innings of 92 against Ireland, scored as a nightwatchman opener after England had crumbled to 85 all out in their first innings at Lord’s last year, and of course, his crucial 1 not out in partnership with Ben Stokes in the Headingley thriller last summer.”I’m going to tell people in the pub when I’m older that I opened the batting for England, so I don’t care how I’m remembered,” he said. “I pride myself on my bowling, because that’s why I’ve been picked in the team – I want to be bowling teams out on the last day, and remembered for that – but obviously everyone wants to talk about Headingley, and it’ll be hard for people not to remember that.”I probably overthink at times, and that’s a mental thing that I’ve been working hard on. In my best moments, there hasn’t been a lot going through my mind. I think back to when I was out there with Stokes, and how focused I felt. It was a simple focus on what I was trying to do, and I want to apply that to my bowling as well – find that headspace where I can give my absolute best.””It is a little bit strange, but I guess those moments make you want to stay in the team,” he added. “I’ll be in the team longer if I bowl well, but if I keep getting remembered for batting innings, I’ll take that because I’ll be doing something right if I’m playing a lot.”

He is an active cricketer who was playing in SL’s domestic competitions recently

Andrew Fidel Fernando25-May-2020A Sri Lanka cricketer has been arrested for the possession of heroin and remanded by a local magistrate in Pannala, northeast of the city of Negombo.The cricketer has not appeared for Sri Lanka in the last two years and has not been in the frame for selection recently. He is, however, an active cricketer and was playing in Sri Lanka’s domestic competitions before the Covid-19 curfews came into effect.The player had been in possession of a little over two grams of heroin when arrested on Saturday, Sri Lanka Police’s media division confirmed to ESPNcricinfo. He was then produced before a magistrate on Sunday, and is currently in remand, awaiting a High Court appearance. He is not understood to be among the players required to begin training in June with the national squad.Sri Lanka Cricket CEO Ashley de Silva said the board had been made aware of the arrest on Monday morning, but had not made any decisions on the player’s future. The board is expected to discuss the issue at their next meeting, on Wednesday.

Asian Cricket Council says holding the tournament now poses too high a health risk

ESPNcricinfo staff09-Jul-2020The 2020 edition of the Asia Cup stands cancelled, the tournament’s governing body confirmed on Thursday, ending weeks of speculation. The Asian Cricket Council (ACC) is looking at a window in June 2021 to host the tournament.The T20 tournament was to be played in Sri Lanka in September after the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) offered to swap hosting rights in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic. It was to feature the four subcontinent sides along with Afghanistan and an Asian qualifier.”Travel restrictions, country-specific quarantine requirements, fundamental health risks and social distancing mandates have posed as substantial challenges to holding the Asia Cup,” read a statement from the ACC. “Above all, the risks related to health and safety of participating players, support staff and commercial partners, fans and the cricketing community were deemed to be significant.”On Wednesday, BCCI president Sourav Ganguly had unofficially confirmed the tournament’s cancellation during an Instagram Live with the Indian news channel .As per the original ICC calendar, the Asia Cup T20 was to be a precursor to the men’s T20 World Cup that was to be staged in Australia in October-November. However, the ICC continues to remain tight-lipped about the possibility of staging the event this year. An announcement is expected soon.With Sri Lanka set to host the Asia Cup in 2021, Pakistan have been awarded the hosting rights in 2022. The previous edition was hosted by the BCCI in UAE in September 2018, with India emerging winners.

The India batsman is set to play for Kings XI Punjab in the upcoming IPL season

Nagraj Gollapudi12-Aug-2020India batsman Karun Nair has successfully recovered from Covid-19 and is set to travel with the Kings XI Punjab team to the UAE next week to take part in the IPL. ESPNcricinfo understands Nair tested positive for the coronavirus recently, but tested negative on August 8.It is understood Nair went into self-isolation for more than two weeks before clearing the test. Nair will now undergo three further tests as part of the protocol the Kings XI management has laid out for the contingent travelling to the UAE. Only those who clear the testing process will board the flight on August 20. Nair will be part of a small group in Bengaluru that will board a charter flight that will pick up a wider set of players and staff from Delhi.Nair has played 14 games for Kings XI across the 2018 and 2019 IPL seasons, scoring 306 runs, including two fifties, at a strike rate of 134.80.Nair is the first high-profile Indian cricketer to have had Covid-19. The pandemic has severely affected India, which has had more than 2 million cases so far, the third-highest total globally behind the USA and Brazil. The pandemic has led the BCCI to shift the 2020 IPL season to the UAE.Nair is the second person associated with the IPL to have been affected by Covid-19 after Rajasthan Royals announced on Wednesday that their fielding coach Dishant Yagnik had tested positive for the coronavirus.The IPL has laid out rigorous, mandatory testing processes including multiple tests and a week-long quarantine period upon reaching the UAE before teams can start to train. Also, as per the local government norms, any person entering the UAE would need to carry a negative test result taken in the previous 96 hours.

New Zealand last got their hands on the trophy in 1999

ESPNcricinfo staff09-Sep-2020New Zealand captain Sophie Devine is putting a positive spin on the two-week quarantine period that her team will have to undergo on their tour of Australia. Devine said the isolation will allow the players to spend time together ahead of the limited-overs series starting September 26, and said they were “in a really fortunate position” to be able to get back on the park so soon.”It’s one of the silver linings of this trip,” Devine told NZC just before New Zealand departed for Australia. “It’s not very often that we get to go on an overseas tour and have two weeks preparation leading into the first game. It’s normally a week.”This will be the first time that both teams will play any competitive cricket since the T20 World Cup in March. While men’s international cricket resumed two months ago with West Indies touring England, this marks the first occasion of a top women’s series taking place since the coronavirus-induced pause in world cricket.”We’re really excited to be spending time as a wider group of 17 players… as we’ve been stuck indoors for the last couple of months,” Devine said. “We now have to be at our best to beat the Australian side in Australia.”Australia are the current holders of the T20 World Cup, but Devine put the sides on the same page, with neither having played competitive cricket in the recent past.”Though the lockdown has been different on either side of the Tasman [Sea], none of us have played cricket for quite a while,” Devine said. “So I think it’s a really nice opportunity for us to go out there and hit the Aussies hard.”Australia have dominated bilateral ODI contests against New Zealand over the last two decades, with New Zealand having last won the Rose Bowl (the trophy for ODI series between the two teams) in 1999.”The aim is to certainly to bring back the Rose Bowl,” Devine said. “It’s been close to 20 years now [since] we’ve had it on our side of the Tasman, so that’s going to be a massive motivation for us to go out there and pinch the Rose Bowl back.”

Former Middlesex COO takes on full-time role with players’ organisation

ESPNcricinfo staff05-Oct-2020Rob Lynch, the interim chief executive of the Professional Cricketers’ Association, has been appointed to the role on a permanent basis, following the abrupt departure of his predecessor, Tony Irish, earlier in the year.Lynch, 38, has previously served as chief operating officer at Middlesex, and represented New Zealand at the Under-19 World Cup in 2000 during a brief playing career with Auckland, before retiring to become a coach, administrator and a registered agent.”It is a great honour to have been chosen as the next Chief Executive of the PCA,” said Lynch. “Cricket may face significant challenges ahead with the Covid-19 crisis but this provides us with a wonderful opportunity to take a creative approach with key stakeholders, re-purposing the organisation and ensuring the health of our sport and members.”I inherit a very strong team and I would like to pay tribute to their consistent commitment since I joined. I would also like to thank the PCA Board, player reps and staff for their continued support as we drive the organisation forward together.”Daryl Mitchell, the PCA chairman, added: “It is great credit to Rob that he has made such a compelling case for his appointment as our CEO. In the most trying circumstances one could imagine, Rob has shown great leadership and provided much needed stability within the organisation.”His energetic, innovative approach and the respect he has built up with our members and key stakeholders make him the ideal candidate to steer the PCA through the uncertain times ahead.”Non-executive chairman of the PCA, Julian Metherell added: “Rob has provided outstanding leadership to all aspects of the PCA’s work over the last six months in his role as interim CEO. He brings an in-depth knowledge of the game and strong commercial skills to the role. The PCA Board looks forward to working with him.”

The two wristspinners sit at opposite ends of the age spectrum at 41 and 15 respectively

ESPNcricinfo staff29-Oct-2020The Melbourne Renegades have boosted their overseas contingent for the upcoming BBL season with the signings of two wristspinners in Imran Tahir and the Afghanistan left-armer Noor Ahmad. Tahir will only be available post-Christmas, and Ahmad is expected to fill in for him until then.The signings fall on extreme ends of the age spectrum. The South African Tahir, who retired from international cricket following the 2019 World Cup, is 41, while Ahmad is just 15.”Imran Tahir has excelled in the T20 format right across the world and he’ll provide another genuine wicket-taking threat,” Renegades coach Michael Klinger said. “We’ve [also] been tracking Noor Ahmad closely for more than a year now and although he’s in the early stages of his career, he’s an exciting prospect and he has a few tricks that’ll make life difficult for batsmen.”The Renegades still have another overseas spot vacant despite the return of Mohammad Nabi to their ranks, following the recent ruling that allows BBL clubs to field three foreign players in their XI.Tahir, who is currently in the UAE playing for the Chennai Super Kings in the IPL, is yet to appear in the BBL despite having played more than 300 T20 games and having become a much-sought-after property in T20 leagues over the years.ALSO READ: AB de Villiers opts out of BBL, Mujeeb Ur Rahman returns to Brisbane Heat“I’ve watched the Big Bash from afar [and] have admired how competitive it is,” he said. “I’m looking forward to joining my new Renegades team-mates and working hard with them to produce a successful season.”Ahmad, meanwhile, made his T20 debut for the Mis Ainak Knights in the Shpageeza League last year, when his side won the title under Nabi. That season, Ahmad was the third-highest wicket-taker for the Knights with eight wickets, and returned an impressive economy rate of 6.48. This season, he took 11 wickets as the Knights ended as runners-up. In 15 T20 games so far, Ahmad has 19 wickets at an average of 21.42 and an economy rate of 7.11.Ahmad was set to play in this year’s Caribbean Premier League after being drafted by the St Lucia Zouks, but was forced to miss the tournament after failing to secure a transit visa through the UK.”The Renegades fans and followers of the Big Bash may not know much about Noor at this stage, but I can tell you [that] he is a very exciting talent who I feel has a big future in the game,” Nabi said of Ahmad.The BBL begins on December 3, with the Renegades playing the Adelaide Strikers in the opening game of the season.

“It’s about going out there as a team and trying to control our emotions and play them on skill”

ESPNcricinfo staff23-Nov-20201:05

Kohli and Rahane are like chalk and cheese – Warner

Last time when India toured Australia, there was a lot of on-field chatter between the players but David Warner says this time Australia may adopt a different approach. Instead of engaging Indian players in verbal volleys, they will try to keep their emotions in check and fight it out on skills.However, he also hinted that once Virat Kohli leaves after the first Test, to be with his wife for the birth of their first child, and Ajinkya Rahane takes over the captaincy, Australia may re-consider their strategy.”For me, personally it’s about getting in the contest, so that’s basically when you’re out there, you’re trying to feel for something,” Warner said. “Last summer, I was coming off the back of the England tour, so I really had to knuckle down and try and concentrate as much as I could, and try and get into a battle out there and contest with the opposition. I managed to find that in a different way and it worked, and for me, it’s about trying to find that balance again when I’m out in the middle.”[It’s] different this year. We start with a white-ball series against India, generally the other way around, which is going to be exciting, and Virat is only playing seven of the ten games, so for us, it’s about going out there as a team and trying to control our emotions and play them on skill.”But how will he react if Indian players have some words to say to him?”I’ll always draw from that, mate. To try and get engaged, that’s the way they like to play as well. We saw that last time when we toured India. They really engaged us like that. We’re learning over time and trying not to engage in that. Probably try and reverse the effect by trying and ignoring it, trying to take it on board and using it against them by using your bat. It’s probably something I’ve learnt over time. And you don’t know the effect it can have on your team-mates as well. You’ve got to be a bit more humble in that respect.”Obviously with Virat missing, and well done to him to go home and be by his partner’s side for the birth of his first child… he’s a great guy, Jinks [Rahane]. He’s calm and very measured in his approach. He’s got a very good cricket brain. When you take Virat out of there, I don’t want to say this the wrong way, but he’s obviously passionate, aggressive, he plays with that fight when you’re out there.Virat Kohli and David Warner exchange words•Getty Images

“Jinks is calm, collected, measured. It’s like chalk and cheese with two of them two and as a player to try and engage him on the field, as we’re talking about engaging, and getting into that contest as players, we obviously got to think about how to do that especially with Ajinkya as captain. The great thing from India’s perspective is that you’ve got three if not four very good players who could captain the team at any time. With him, he’ll bring a calm and measured approach with his nature.”While Kohli will not be available for the last three Tests, India will be without Rohit Sharma for the white-ball leg. Sharma is currently recovering from a hamstring injury he suffered during IPL 2020 and has been included only in the Test squad.Warner believes Sharma’s absence is a big loss for the visitors, but at the same time, he also thinks the visitors have got enough in-form replacements.”He’s a big piece of their team they’re going to be missing, but they’ve got great in-form guys, KL Rahul, Shikhar Dhawan and Mayank [Agarwal],” Warner said. “These guys played in the IPL, so you’ve got guys in good touch and great talent and depth in Indian cricket to take that position of Rohit. He’s a big hole in their team up the top, but you’ve got guys who can replace him who are in form that will do a good enough job, if not better, as we saw in India.”Warner himself had a successful outing in the IPL despite a slow start to the season. In the first ten games, he scored 335 runs at a strike rate of 124.07. It was then he decided to open up his front leg and give it a whack. The next six matches brought him 213 runs at 155.47.”Yeah, definitely,” he said when asked if he would continue in the same aggressive manner in T20Is. “What do you want to see? 100 off ten overs or something? . In the one-day stuff, I’ll still come out and play the way I normally do. There’s probably going to be no change to that. And the T20 stuff is what people saw there.”To answer the question, of how I played at the backend of that tournament, we had to play that way on those wickets. You couldn’t just play yourself in. You had to take on that first six overs against the new ball. Here in Australia, it’s a bit different in 50-over cricket, you can still play the normal way you do and I think I showed that last year, the way I played against Pakistan and Sri Lanka. I played pretty much the same way as I did during the backend of that IPL. I won’t be changing my game and will go out and tackle it the way I always do.”There’s obviously a risk element but there’s a cricket smarts element to it as well. For myself, it’s about getting off to a good start and taking calculated risks in that middle-overs period if we’re talking about 50-over games. For me, it’s about making sure that I’m batting as much as I can and at a good strike rate as well.”