There are still ten months until the tournament in New Zealand, but it may yet be impacted by the fallout from the current pandemic

Andrew McGlashan15-Apr-2020Following the heady heights of the T20 World Cup triumph last month, Australia Women’s thoughts were set to shift to how to reclaim the 50-over title which escaped them in 2017 when they exited in the semi-final against India. But while the tournament in New Zealand is still ten months away, like the rest of the sporting world there are now a host of unknowns to deal with.With the global response to the coronavirus still in relatively early days, the timescale for a return to substantial international travel remains uncertain with the potential for borders to remain shut – or heavily restricted – for a considerable amount of time while there is also the question of when crowds could return to sports events.From Australia’s perspective, their end-of-season tour to South Africa was scrubbed last month and for the players, it is uncertain what their pre-season will look like once their current period of leave is over. While there remains some optimism within Cricket Australia that next season may be able to start largely as scheduled, significant doubts remain over the viability of international tours. The qualifying event for the women’s World Cup also looks highly likely to be affected with it currently scheduled for July in Sri Lanka.Next season in Australia would include the Women’s National Cricket League (WNCL) and WBBL on a domestic level while there are scheduled visits by New Zealand and India ahead of the World Cup.”It’s quite a way away, beginning of next year, so hopefully we can get some sort of season domestically and internationally as well,” Australia allrounder Nicola Carey said. “I’d imagine if we can’t get international teams out here at the back end of the season, the World Cup may be difficult to have but I’m not really sure what’s happening with all the travel restrictions. But it’s a fair way away, so hopefully things improve and we can get some games in before then.”We’d like to be playing as many games as we can leading into a tournament like a World Cup and this is no different but it’s a bit of the unknown, not really sure what will happen even when we go back for pre-season… but we also understand there are bigger things at play here and we’ll just have to wait and see.”The 2017 World Cup in England – which was won by the hosts – was a rare occasion of Australia not making a global final when they were turned over by Harmanpreet Kaur’s magnificent 171 at Derby. However, since that match Australia have lost just one ODI and over the last two years have strung together a world record 18 wins in a row. With the focus of the recent season very much on the T20 World Cup, the last ODIs were in early October, but the emphasis was due to change with an eye on next year.”Being a T20 World Cup year there was a lot of emphasis on the T20 stuff,” Carey said. “We still played 50-over cricket so when we were in 50-over mode we were really focused on that. Naturally, if we are going into a 50-over World Cup that becomes quite important and there will be a massive focus, especially in training camps when you do the scenario-based things, [but] what that looks like I’m not sure.”Carey played five of Australia’s six matches at the T20 World Cup and is signed up for the new Hundred tournament in England which now faces the prospect of being pushed back a year. But the last few weeks for her have been more about getting the new house in Tasmania sorted alongside housemates and Hobart Hurricanes team-mates Maisy Gibson and Belinda Vakarewa. The next few months, at least, look likely to consist of a much more independent pre-season that usual.”It’s really nice to have the leave period but by the end of it you are chomping at the bit to get back into training and playing games,” she said. “You missing being around the girls, you get sick of them on tour but when you are apart you miss them. No doubt everyone will be hoping the season can go ahead.”

History is on England’s side, but recent form and the weather favour India

The Preview by Saurabh Somani04-Mar-2020

Big picture

It’s going to be the world’s No. 1 batter against the world’s No. 1 bowler. That wasn’t true just a couple of weeks earlier, before the Women’s T20 World Cup started. But with the league stage done, Shafali Verma has zoomed to the top of the batting rankings, while Sophie Ecclestone has ascended to the top of the bowlers’ table.Both players have been crucial to their teams progress to the last four stage, though whether they get to square off against each other will not entirely be in their hands. The forecast for semi-final day in Sydney, where the matches will be played on Thursday, isn’t promising. There isn’t much wriggle-room in case of lengthy rain interruptions. Then too, given the minimum requirement of at least ten overs a side for ICC knockout matches, a spell of rain could mean an incomplete match. If that happens, India will go through to the final. That’s because they won all their group stage matches while England lost one, India thus finishing as the higher-ranked team. Both sides would rather play and beat the other to go through, of course, but if that doesn’t happen, India’s early consistency will have served them well.ALSO READ: Shafali Verma, Sophie Ecclestone top T20I rankingsIndia have the added motivation of avenging losses to England in the last two World Cups: they were handily beaten at the same stage at the T20 World Cup in 2018, and lost in heart-breaking fashion in the final of the 50-over event in 2017.

Form guide

India: WWWWL
England: WWWLL

In the spotlight

If you were told an Indian batter has aggregated 26 runs in four matches so far and is the only one with a sub-10 average, Harmanpreet Kaur might be the last name you would think of to fit those stats. Yet, incredibly enough, the woman who has played some of India’s most defining limited-overs innings and is still among the best white-ball players in the world has had a subdued T20 World Cup. Kaur has shown, though, that she is the archetypal big-match player, and there aren’t too many bigger matches than a World Cup semi-final.Four matches, three fifties, and the top spot among the run-getters’ list. Nat Sciver has been turning it on in some style at the T20 World Cup. England’s loss to South Africa in their opening match only served to galvanise the team, and Sciver was at the heart of much of the subsequent run of three straight wins that have put them in the semi-final. She has hit half of her eight T20I fifties in her last six innings, and is in the form of her life.Sophie Ecclestone celebrates another wicket for England•Getty Images

Team news

India will not want to tinker too much with a winning combination, and barring injury concerns, it’s tough to see them replacing anyone from the side that beat Sri Lanka to seal their top spot in Group A. Captain Harmanpreet Kaur said the team was well prepared for any shortened contest too.India (probable): 1 Shafali Verma 2 Smriti Mandhana 3 Jemimah Rodrigues 4 Harmanpreet Kaur (capt) 5 Deepti Sharma 6 Veda Krishnamurthy 7 Taniya Bhatiya (wk) 8 Shikha Pandey 9 Radha Yadav 10 Poonam Yadav 11 Rajeshwari GayakwadEngland came back well after a first-match loss to South Africa, and were particularly impressive in brushing West Indies aside in their last league match. They are also likely to stick to the same XI.England (probable): 1 Danni Wyatt 2 Tammy Beaumont 3 Natalie Sciver 4 Heather Knight (capt) 5 Fran Wilson 6 Amy Jones (wk) 7 Katherine Brunt 8 Anya Shrubsole 9 Maddy Villiers 10 Sophie Ecclestone 11 Sarah Glenn

Pitch and conditions

This is the first semi-final, and with another game scheduled after this, it is likely that a prolonged patch of clear weather will be needed to get in a complete game. The SCG has traditionally been more friendly for spinners than most other Australian surfaces, but the rain around might alter that. The rain subsided around noon on match eve, but the covers remained on.

Stats and trivia

• 5-0 – that’s England’s record against India in T20I World Cups. They have won in 2009, 2012, 2014, 2016 and 2018.
• Shafali Verma’s strike rate of 161.00 is the highest in the competition for any player with a minimum of 10 runs.
• Sophie Ecclestone’s economy rate of 3.23 is the best in the competition

He has admitted to charges relating to fixing matches in the Afghanistan Premier League

ESPNcricinfo staff10-May-2020After admitting to the charges of corruption issued against him by the Afghanistan Cricket Board, including one that said he was trying to fix a match in the 2019-20 Bangladesh Premier League, wicketkeeper-batsman Shafiqullah has been banned from all cricket-related activities for six years. An ACB release on Sunday mentioned that the charges against the 30-year-old also relate to his conduct during the Afghanistan Premier League in 2018.In total, Shafiqullah had allegedly broken four articles of the ACB’s anti-corruption code: trying to fix the outcome of a domestic match, seeking or offering bribes to fix the outcome of a domestic match, inducing a team-mate to fix a domestic match, and failing to report a corrupt approach.Shafiqullah was part of the team that led Afghanistan to ODI status and a member of two World T20 campaigns. But he has not played an international game since September last year. A wicketkeeper-batsman by trade, he represented his country in 24 ODIs and 46 T20Is between 2009 and 2019.”This is a very serious offence where a senior national player is involved in the corruption of a high-profile domestic game in APL T20 2018,” said the ACB’s senior anti-corruption manager, Sayed Anwar Shah Quraishi. “The player had also attempted but failed to get one of his team-mates to engage in corruption in another high-profile game during the BPL 2019.”Quraishi pointed out that without his admission of guilt and full cooperation during the ACB’s investigation, Shafiqullah’s ban could have been significantly longer. He also said the player was willing to contribute to the ACB’s education programs to help younger players learn from his mistakes.

The captain insists it would be “very silly to write someone like Jimmy off”

Matt Roller12-Aug-2020Joe Root has backed James Anderson to recover from a disappointing performance in Manchester and confirmed that he will play in the second Test against Pakistan at the Ageas Bowl on Thursday.Anderson returned match figures of 1 for 97 at Emirates Old Trafford, saying on Monday that he had “not bowled very well” and “felt out of rhythm” during the first Test. Over the course of the summer, he has taken six wickets in three Tests at an average of 41.16.And while Anderson dismissed speculation that his retirement is imminent, he admitted: “If I keep bowling the way I did this week, the opportunity to retire will be taken out of my hands – it will be a selection issue.”But in his pre-match press conference, Root said that it would be “very silly for us to write someone like Jimmy off,” and said that he expected “to see the best of him again very soon”.”To question Jimmy’s ability and his record – do that at your own peril,” Root said. “There’s a reason he’s got so many wickets over such a long period of time: it’s because he’s a consistent performer. I don’t think it’ll be long until he’s back in the wickets big time.”I think it would be very silly for us to write someone like Jimmy off. He’s still as dedicated as ever, he’s working very hard at his game, and looking very good in practice. I don’t think it’ll be long before he’s got another five-for to his name.”Root said that he had sat down with Anderson during the first Test, and that getting his concerns about his form with the ball off his chest had been helpful.James Anderson struggled for rhythm in the first Test•Pool/AFP via Getty Images

“It just shows that even the greats of the game have those days where it doesn’t always come naturally, where it doesn’t always feel like the easiest game in the world and you know it can be a real struggle sometimes,” Root said. “That’s the way it goes and I feel with Jimmy we know it won’t be long before he’s back at the top and at the peak of his powers and I’m very much looking forward to seeing him perform this week.”Sometimes it’s very easy just to look at the statistics and not have a more broad view on how things are actually going for you. Sometimes you create pressure and wickets come at the other end and you build a partnership that way.”There have been occasions this summer when that’s been the case for Jimmy. Wouldn’t you give him the opportunity [to put things right] with almost 600 Test wickets under his belt?”England named a 14-man squad for the second Test, and will make at least one change to the side that won in Manchester. Ben Stokes will be missing the final two Tests due to family reasons, with Zak Crawley set to slot back in at No. 3 and Root shifting down to his preferred No. 4 role.Sussex seamer Ollie Robinson has been included in the squad for the second time this summer, but appears unlikely to play. Root confirmed that Mark Wood has been suffering from “a knock” in recent weeks, and that England needed to make sure he was “absolutely 100%” before picking him, but said that he had bowled with “high pace” in training on Wednesday.Joe Root has some difficult decisions to make•Getty Images

Root also admitted that he would like to see Jofra Archer bowling at 90mph “for slightly longer periods of time”, but said that he and the England management accepted that “it’s not going to happen all the time”.”He’s going to go through phases where he’s not always operating up at 90mph,” Root said. “All we can ask of Jofra is he keeps putting it in – keeps showing the desire, the want, the hunger to keep getting better, day in, day out.”We know there’s more to him than just bowling fast. But obviously it’s a great point of difference to have when you’ve got someone that can bowl at those speeds. If he gets the opportunity to get out there and show everyone what he can do, [bowling fast] is one of his great assets, so it would obviously be good to see him operating there for slightly longer periods of time.”England squad for second Test: Joe Root (captain), Dom Sibley, Rory Burns, Zak Crawley, Ollie Pope, Jos Buttler (wk), Chris Woakes, Sam Curran, Dom Bess, Jofra Archer, Stuart Broad, James Anderson, Mark Wood, Ollie Robinson

Fell’s first red-ball ton since recovering from testicular cancer paves way for 78-run win

ECB Reporters Network18-Aug-2020Tom Fell surely possesses a unique perspective on playing cricket and it was a day for him to cherish deeply as his first red-ball hundred since beginning treatment for testicular cancer in 2015 helped his side to a second Bob Willis Trophy victory as Worcestershire beat Northamptonshire by 78 runs at Wantage Road.His unbeaten 110 allowed Worcestershire to declare on the final morning and set Northamptonshire 263 in 68 overs. It was easily defended as the hosts were bowled out for 184.Fell was a rising star at New Road and as 21-year-old in 2015 made 1127 first-class runs at 42. But the hundred he made against Middlesex that September was his last until now. Cancer cruelly halted his career progress but here was evidence that he still has much to give the game.It was a touching moment when he took his overnight 81 to a sixth first-class century, nudging his 205th delivery to long leg off Gareth Berg. There was visible emotion on the visitors’ balcony.And no doubt scenes of joy inside the dressing room after Worcestershire completed victory to keep up their challenge for a place in the Bob Willis Trophy final. After a poor 2019 in the County Championship, the Worcester boys are again happy in red-ball cricket.After Fell reached his hundred, the flare immediately went up and he and Ed Barnard launched 29 in two overs before the declaration came, Worcestershire no doubt mindful after running out of time against Glamorgan last week.The target offered hope for Northamptonshire and they began brightly. Ricardo Vasconcelos cut two boundaries, flicked another and beautifully drove Brett D’Oliveira for another four to leave an exciting finish in prospect.Tom Fell raises his bat for his hundred•Getty Images

The hosts were going very well at 48 without loss but it was quickly ruined by their latest collapse at they lost 3 for 7 in 10 balls.Both openers fell in identical fashion. But both decisions against Ben Curran, to Joe Leach for 17, and Vasconcelos, to Josh Tongue for 31, appeared to have some doubt with balls from right-arm over to left-handers that didn’t significantly straighten. There was only bemusement, though, as Alex Wakely played a back-foot block and somehow lobbed Tongue to mid-on.Charlie Thurston nicked behind a brisk Barnard away-swinger soon after. Richard Levi then tried to turn Dillon Pennington to leg and got a leading edge to point where Barnard to a good catch diving forward. Pennington struck again before tea as Saif Zaib wafted outside off and edged behind.With their top order having failed for a sixth consecutive innings, Northamptonshire went down swinging in the final session. Berg cut Leach for four but was bowled driving at Tongue. Adam Rossington pulled two boundaries and advanced at Leach to lift him over mid-on. He skewed another four over the slips cordon but eventually skied a catch to Cox off Leach.The fun continued as Nathan Buck struck three sixes – Leach over midwicket, Pennington and Barnard over long-on, the latter after a sashay down the wicket.Buck’s unbeaten 24 was the innings’ third-highest score and Northamptonshire took only four points from the game and have very little to show for their three matches so far. Good job they declared their intention to use the Bob Willis Trophy as a development competition before the season began.The late hitting did save them from consecutive defeats by a three-figure margin but as Barnard took out Jack White’s off stump to finish the game, it completed another disappointing week for a county who made much progress in 2019.

Suffered a heart attack in Mumbai, where he was on IPL commentary duty

ESPNcricinfo staff24-Sep-20202:17

Ian Bishop – ‘Dean, an innovator in ODIs, a human being of great depth’

Dean Jones, who pioneered an energetic style of ODI batting, and the hero of Australia’s tied Test against India in Chennai, died on Thursday after a heart attack in Mumbai. He was 59.Jones, who was in India as a commentator for the IPL, is understood to have suffered a heart attack around noon IST. It is understood that Jones, who was part of the commentary panel for Wednesday’s match, had breakfast this morning and attended a pre-match briefing with his colleagues. He is believed to have returned to his room and taken ill there. Brett Lee administered CPR until the medics arrived but was unable to revive Jones.Remembered for his double-century in the famous tied Test between India and Australia in Chennai, Jones played 52 Tests and 164 ODIs. He was also part of Australia’s 1987 World Cup-winning team. He carved a career in coaching and cricket commentary after his retirement from all forms of cricket in 1997-98.A precocious talent for Victoria, gruffly mentored by his father and Carlton Cricket Club legend Barney, Jones was introduced to the Australian side in the aftermath of Greg Chappell and Dennis Lillee’s retirements at the tail end of the 1983-84 summer, and made a meritorious 48 opposite Allan Border on debut against the fiery West Indies in Trinidad.The selectors were careful with him thereafter, not wanting him to suffer too much at the hands of the same West Indian juggernaut, and it was not until the 1986 tour of India that he gained a solid opportunity to grasp.Dean Jones on his way to making 90 in a one-run win over India in the 1992 World Cup•Getty Images

Informed by Border that he would be thrust into the No. 3 spot in Chennai, Jones responded with the innings of his life – 210 in enervating heat that brought him to the brink of total physical collapse, setting Australia up for a memorable tie.He was more or less a fixture in the Test team from then until 1992, an integral part of its evolution from frequent humiliation to the cusp of global domination, peeling off another double century against Viv Richards’ tourists in Adelaide in 1989, then coshing twin tons against Pakistan at the same venue a year later.At the same time, Jones was a pioneer in limited-overs cricket, as both a batting technician and an entertainer for vast crowds, never more so than at his beloved MCG. Somewhere along the way his Test match returns began to lose consistency, leading the selectors to make a still contentious call to leave him out of the team for the first Test against the West Indies at the Gabba in November 1992, a place he was never to regain.Jones continued to be a vital part of the ODI set-up for another two years, but his enthusiasm for the task waned in direct correlation to the realisation that under no circumstances, not even as a reserve on the 1994 tour of South Africa, would he return to Test cricket. Jones retired, unhappily, from international cricket at the end of the tour, but in his typical jack-in-the-box style had rescinded the call by the time his memoir, , was on shelves the following summer.He continued to dominate domestic ranks for Victoria, pummeling his highest score of 324 against South Australia at the MCG in a day/night Sheffield Shield match, and was in the initial squad for the 1996 World Cup before missing the cut-back to the final group that would lose to Sri Lanka in the final.On their return, Mark Taylor’s side faced a World XI to celebrate 150 years of the Victoria Cricket Association, and Jones was on hand to compile one of his best knocks, a defiant century on a day far more suited to bowlers than batsmen.Before finishing up, Jones also played for Derbyshire, with one of his final acts being to miss a slips catch in an 1997 Ashes tour match that may well have caused Taylor to quit the captaincy amid his extended run of outs.Dean Jones strikes a pose at Durham’s Racecourse ground•Allsport/Getty Images/Hulton Archive

He was head coach of Pakistan Super League franchise Islamabad United from 2015 to 2019. He also served as interim head coach of the Afghanistan national team briefly in 2017.Though much-loved and highly regarded across the commentary world, his broadcast career was not without controversy. In 2006, he referred to Hashim Amla as “the terrorist” on live television – though he was not commentating at the time, his remark was picked up by the microphone. He was immediately sacked from the commentary team and, while waiting for his flight out of Colombo, issued a statement of regret.In a statement Earl Eddings, the Cricket Australia chairman, said: “Dean Jones was a hero to a generation of cricketers and will forever be remembered as a legend of this great game. Anyone who watched cricket in the 1980s and 1990s will fondly recall his cavalier approach at the crease and the incredible energy and passion he brought to every game he played.”Although many remember him for his brilliance in the 50-over game, arguably Jones’ finest moment in the national team came in scorching conditions in Chennai in 1986, where his selfless and courageous innings of 210 helped Australia to a famous tie against India.”Jones remained an immensely popular figure in Australian and Victorian cricket throughout his life and was a much-loved columnist and commentator in every corner of the cricketing world.”This is a truly sad day. Deano’s loss will be felt not just at home in Australia, but across the globe. Our thoughts and best wishes are with his wife Jane and daughters Isabella and Phoebe.”Australia’s current men’s head coach, Justin Langer, said: “What a great player and a great bloke. We are shocked and very sad to hear of his passing.”Deano was a true legend of Australian sport and world cricket, one of the great players and personalities in a golden time for the game. His role in the team’s World Cup win in 1987 and the 1989 Ashes under AB were a huge turning point for Australian cricket. His double century in Madras was one of the greatest and most courageous innings of all time.We can only hope to make Australians as proud of our team as they were of Deano. He will be missed by the game and millions of people around the world. Our love to Jane and the girls.”

Seamer targets fourth first-class trophy in five seasons in Bob Willis Final at Lord’s

Alan Gardner21-Sep-2020At some point over the next few days, Jamie Porter will take the new ball in a five-day match at Lord’s. It won’t quite be the Test debut that he has spent his career working towards, but it will nevertheless be a memorable way to sign off a season that almost wasn’t, as Essex and Somerset contest the first – perhaps only – Bob Willis Trophy final.”I’ve been saying, ‘lads, we’ll be one of only two teams playing a red-ball game at Lord’s this year’. That makes it kind of special,” Porter says, before adding: “It’s a weird one because I haven’t really looked at the occasion, I’ve just been looking at the opposition. Somerset’s going to be a tough game and I’ve just been looking at how am I going to get through their batting line-up and how are we going to win the game.”That pretty much sums up the approach of Essex’s senior seamer, a genial destroyer with a Stakhanovite work-rate, who has been “getting through” opposition line-ups with alacrity over the last six seasons. Winning games has been the natural by-product, with Essex looking to secure a fourth first-class trophy in five seasons.You’ve probably heard a version of the numbers by now. Since Porter’s debut in September 2014, his tally of 341 first-class wickets at 23.63 is second only to Durham’s Chris Rushworth in England and Wales. Over the last four years, in Division One of the Championship and this summer’s Willis Trophy, that record improves to 202 at 21.38, with only his Essex team-mate, offspinner Simon Harmer, more prolific.ALSO READ: ‘I’m trying to be the best Jack Leach I can be’And yet, despite being called up to England’s Test squad as recently as the 2018 home series with India, when an expanded training squad was named following the Covid-19 lockdown earlier this year, Porter had seemingly fallen off the selectors’ radar.”It was a bit of a shock. I feel if you were picking a 55-man squad, and with my numbers over the last few years – to not be in there, I was gutted, I was really disappointed,” he says. “I had a week when I was pretty down about it all. But it did help motivate me for when we got back – there’s only one way I can really answer back and that’s by taking wickets. That’s what I’ve done and hopefully I’ll keep doing.”I had a conversation with Ed Smith at the time. It’s a tough one, because the obvious answer is you’ve got to take wickets and bowl well. I probably knew that anyway. Sometimes things just come down to a matter of opinion and you’ve got to accept that. Unfortunately the decision-makers’ opinion is they wanted to give that opportunity to other people. All I can do is bounce back, get better and hopefully keep knocking on the door.”As the six behind-closed-doors Test against West Indies and Pakistan demonstrated, England’s seam stocks have rarely been higher – but rather than worry about whether he has slipped behind the likes of Ollie Robinson or Craig Overton, Porter has set himself the highest standard to try and emulate.”The way I look at it is how can I be better than Jimmy Anderson? Because he’s been the best in the world for God knows how long. So if I can look to be better than him… and if I fall short, I still reckon I’ll be a half-decent bowler.”Anderson, of course, recently became the first fast bowler to take 600 Test wickets; 103 of them have come at Lord’s, though he did not bowl a ball there this summer. Lord’s missed out on hosting bio-secure Tests and the five-day domestic final will be the only first-class match held at the ground in 2020, as Essex and Somerset play out a rematch of their Championship decider at Taunton last year.Jamie Porter bowls for Essex•Getty Images

“I’d definitely say there’s a little bit of a rivalry there – a healthy rivalry, we appreciate how good a side they are and we know they’re capable of winning titles themselves,” Porter says of the opposition. “But we don’t want that because we want to be winning the titles. They’re always a team we want to beat.”While Somerset’s wait for a maiden Championship will go on even if they claim the inaugural Willis Trophy, Essex have established themselves as the format’s dominant force. Having been promoted and then relegated three times previously, the club made it a priority to get back into Division One at around the time Porter was breaking into the first team, and have since enjoyed a period of success to rival the Fletcher and Gooch dynasties of the 1980s and ’90s.”We take a lot of pride in our red-ball cricket,” Porter says, pointing to Essex’s focus on bringing through local talent.”Every time a young guy has been given an opportunity in the red-ball side they’ve come in and taken it. Not only shown us what they can do but at the level to compete for trophies. Look at the last game against Middlesex, Aaron Beard bowled that spell second innings and should definitely have had five-for – on another day he’d have had six or seven. That was probably the best spell of seam-bowling I’ve seen this season.”Sam Cook at the other end was unbelievable, he could have had four or five. Those are the two least-experienced guys in our bowling attack, and they’re the ones in the last innings of a big game putting their hands up and taking the wickets, which is credit to them and credit to the club for bringing through young players who can step up when we need it.””All the young lads that have had a go have stepped up and done well. Paul Walter’s opened the batting and looked brilliant, Feroze Khushi has done brilliantly, Aaron and Sam have done brilliantly. It’s great for us that not only have we got into the final but we’ve got there with academy guys leading the way.”Porter was a beneficiary of that faith himself, quitting his job in recruitment to pursue a county career at the age of 21. Three years later, Essex were county champions for the first time since 1992, with Porter named one of ‘s Five Cricketers of the Year; last summer, they became the first county to win a Championship and T20 double. If a Test cap remains elusive, success has not.”If it happens it happens, if not I’m fortunate enough that I’m playing in a very successful side in Essex and I’ve achieved quite a lot already. If I don’t play for England, I still think there’s quite a lot to look forward to.”

The Australia coach is pleased by the competition for places at the start of the season

Daniel Brettig30-Oct-2020About the time Cameron Green was getting into the 190s for Western Australia in Adelaide, a fourth century in his most recent nine Sheffield Sheld matches, a mea culpa message buzzed through to the phone of the former selector Greg Chappell. It was from Australia’s coach, Justin Langer, who was finally ready to concede his first impressions of Green had been overtaken.In fairness to Langer, that first impression had taken the shape of a zingy, swinging spell of pace bowling from Green at Bellerive in early 2017, when he snapped up 5 for 24 on his Shield debut for the state while batting at No. 8. Chappell, though, had remained steadfast in his belief that Green would ultimately be more valuable to Australian cricket as a batsman than a bowler, with the risk of losing that opportunity through the injuries so often suffered by young speedsters.ALSO READ: Warner, Smith, Cummins and Hazlewood likely to be rested before India TestsSo Langer, a few days before selecting Green in Australia’s limited-overs squad to face India without seeing him even bowl a single competitive ball this season, reached out magnanimously to Chappell. “I texted Greg Chappell a couple days ago,” Langer said, “and I said ‘GC, wasn’t it me that was telling you what a great batsman Cameron Green was’ and I had a whole lot of smiley emojis, because Greg Chappell’s been telling me for two years ‘Cameron Green is brilliant, he is the best young batting talent’.”[Back then] I said ‘mate he’s six foot seven, I saw him bowl to George Bailey in his first over and he’ll never bowl a better over in his whole career than he did’. When I first saw him bowl I thought his action was like a young Shaun Pollock, because it was just so simple, but then he grew a lot.”I know he’s working hard on his action to ensure he stays healthy, but if Greg Chappell’s telling me he’s the best young talent he’s seen for a long time, and I’ve seen how he bowls, he’s potentially in the future a great all-round package. At the moment his batting speaks for itself and he’s bowling a few overs. But it’ll be a pretty good package won’t it, if he stays fit and healthy.”Leaving aside a low score on a grassy pitch in the Shield game against Tasmania that began on Friday, Green has won plaudits from opposing captains, bowlers and team-mates for offering a maturity of approach that does not always seem the way of a 21-year-old. No less a judge than the Test captain Tim Paine has spoken warmly of Green’s awareness of what bowlers and captains are trying to do, and of the unruffled countenance that has allowed him to put together many hours at the crease.Cameron Green acknowledges his 150•Getty Images

“He bats long periods,” Langer said. “I know George Bailey’s really big on this as one of our new selectors, he bats time. Allan Border used to say ‘there’s a lot more time than you think young fella’, so there’s a lot of time in Test cricket, there’s a bit more time in one-day cricket. Obviously there’s less time in T20 and he was batting down the order for the Scorchers last year, which is a tough spot for anyone let alone a kid, but he’s ticking a lot of boxes at the moment.”I go back to the point, competition’s healthy, he is banging really hard on the door, like Moises [Henriques] has been doing, and he deserves an opportunity as a specific replacement for Mitch [Marsh]. So they’re banging on the door hard, which is a positive thing.”When I used to go play county cricket all those years ago, all the English guys used to say ‘in Australia you’ve got this great youth policy, you always pick these young players’ and they talk about Damien Martyn or Ricky Ponting, Michael Clarke. But what I kept saying was ‘it’s not a youth policy, you just pick the guys who are playing the best cricket’. Cameron Green’s got, albeit in Sheffield Shield cricket, four hundreds in his last six or seven Shield games, so he’s a terrific young player.”Expectations of course are now sky high, not least after Chappell himself labelled Green the best young talent he had seen come through since Ricky Ponting. But Langer is hopeful that the same temperament Green has displayed in the middle will be applied to dead-bat the dangers of thinking too far ahead, or letting the ego chase deliveries that the mind and hands would prefer to leave well alone.”It tends to happen doesn’t it, the new kid on the block comes in and there’s high praise and people get carried away,” Langer said. “How does he handle it? He watches the ball as closely as he is now, he stays fit and healthy and he gets on with his job.”That’s the hardest part actually of playing international cricket, eliminating the distractions, but that’s what mental toughness is about, he’s not going to have it all at the moment, it’s going to be a journey for a long time for him as it is with any young player. But this is all part of it, people will say ‘he’s the next future captain, he’s the next Ben Stokes, he’s the next this and this’, that’s why I tell all of them not to listen to any of it. If he wants to keep watching the ball, that’s all he needs to do.”

There have now been eight positive cases in the touring party with two deemed “historic”

ESPNcricinfo staff02-Dec-2020One further positive Covid-19 case has been confirmed among the Pakistan touring squad in New Zealand bringing the total to eight.The latest case confirmed on Wednesday was one of three that were under investigation from Tuesday with the other two still to be determined.”This person is a member of the Pakistan cricket squad and was one of the three cases reported as under investigation yesterday,” a statement from the New Zealand Ministry of Health said. “They have now been confirmed to have an active COVID-19 infection. The two other cases remain under investigation.”The team is not allowed to train until the Canterbury DHB medical officer of health determines they are satisfied that any training activities are unlikely to transmit Covid-19.”Two of the eight positive tests have been deemed “historic” and not infectious with the PCB saying in a statement that those players are now isolating on the same floor as other members of the squad who have tested negative.The PCB added that following day nine tests on Thursday, those who continue to return negative test results are expected to be able to train for the rest of their time in managed isolation and after day 12 tests those who clear the 14-day health check will be able to leave managed isolation.”The PCB has been maintaining a close contact with the Pakistan team management in New Zealand and have kept them updated on the return to training process,” the statement said. “The management and the players are fully supportive of the process and keen to get back on to the field as soon as they are compliant with the New Zealand Government rules.”

The postponement is the third major incident to affect domestic cricket this summer

Firdose Moonda17-Dec-2020South Africa’s final round of four-day domestic franchise fixtures in 2020 have been postponed after a spate of Covid-19 cases in the midst of the country’s second wave of the pandemic. The matches will be replayed in 2021, with domestic cricket on pause until the start of the One Day cup, on January 8.ESPNcricinfo had earlier reported that 10 of South Africa’s 16-man squad participated in matches where positive cases of coronavirus were detected, putting their participation for the first Test against Sri Lanka in doubt. As a result, with several players infected across at least two of the six franchises, CSA could not take the risk of having the round that was scheduled to start on Sunday go ahead.That means matches between the Knights and the Cobras at Newlands, between the Warriors and Dolphins in Port Elizabeth, and between the Lions and Titans in Johannesburg will be played at a later stage. All three venues are in provinces where infections are climbing at a higher rate than anywhere else in the country, which is how CSA explained their decision for the games not to go ahead.”The decision to postpone the upcoming round of four-day matches, which were scheduled from 20-23 December, comes in light of the second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic which is currently affecting South Africa. In addition, some of the host stadiums are in Covid-19 hotspots,” a CSA statement read.Further, CSA has one eye on the upcoming Test series against Sri Lanka and would not want to incur further infections before that begins, which resulted in putting the breaks on the domestic game. Those in the national squad, including the 10 who were involved in the Covid-19 affected matches, have been tested today and will be tested two more times before being given the all-clear to play.South Africa are due to go into camp on Saturday, when they will be tested and isolated in their rooms, with training to take place on a one-on-one basis for the first 72 hours.They will then be tested again on Tuesday ahead of the first day of the series next Thursday.”CSA is committed to mitigating the impact of COVID-19 on the 2020-21 season, with the upcoming two-match Test Series between South Africa and Sri Lanka being played in a bio-secure environment, which is a more controlled space than the domestic competition,” Graeme Smith, director of cricket said.The postponement of this round of fixtures is the third major incident to affect domestic cricket this summer. Six players from the Warriors were forced out of the first two rounds of competition after two tested positive and four were deemed close contacts. The Warriors lost both matches.Then, earlier this week, the match between the Titans and Dolphins was called off after the first day’s play when a Dolphins player tested positive for coronavirus. At least five others from the franchise are also infected, as well as two who returned positive tests before the team traveled to play the Titans, and three others who were close contacts of the player who tested positive on day one.No decision has been made on when or whether the match will be replayed or if it will be declared a draw, with points shared. The other match affected was between the Lions and the Knights, in which a Lions player tested positive on the third day but the fixture ran to completion.