Beuran Hendricks earns CSA national contract, Dale Steyn left out
Beuran Hendricks, the left-arm seamer who made his Test and ODI debuts for South Africa in the past season, is the only new name on the national men’s contracted player list for the 2020-21 season. Meanwhile, pacer Nadine de Klerk, who was part of South Africa’s squad at the T20 World Cup earlier this month and wicket-keeper Sinalo Jafta have been added to the women’s national contracted squad. Both lists include the same number of players as least season – 16 men and 14 women – with the option of a 17th men’s player being contracted through the season.
Anrich Nortje, Rassie van der Dussen and Dwaine Pretorius are all examples of players who did exactly that. The trio were not originally named on the 2019-20 contract list but were upgraded over the course of the previous summer by virtue of the number of matches they played for the national side.
All three have been contracted for the 2020-21 season. Top-order batsman Theunis de Bruyn has been dropped from the men’s contract list, while Dale Steyn, who remains available in white-ball formats, has been excluded and Hashim Amla and Vernon Philander have retired. Offspinner Raisibe Ntozakhe and allrounder Zintle Mali are the two women’s players who no longer have contracts. Faf du Plessis, who stood down as Test and T20 captain last month, has been re-contracted and remains available to play for South Africa in all formats suggesting his retirement is at least a year away. Du Plessis was part of the ODI squad that traveled to India earlier this month and has committed himself to his role as a senior player and in assisting his successor. While Quinton de Kock has taken over as white-ball captain, South Africa have yet to name a Test captain.
Contenders are believed to include de Kock, Temba Bavuma and Aiden Markram who remains on the contracted player list despite missing most of last season on the sidelines. Markram broke his wrist during the October Test series in India, a self-inflicted injury caused by “lashing out a solid object,” after bagging a pair in India. He recovered in time to play the 2019 Boxing Day Test against England but fractured a finger in the match, ruling him out of the rest of the summer’s internationals. Markram returned for his franchise, the Titans, in late February and scored two hundred in six one-day cup matches before the competition was suspended.
Markram’s replacement at the top of the order in the Test XI, Pieter Malan, has not been contracted. Neither has his brother Janneman Malan, who scored a century while opening the batting in his second ODI. Also missing from the list are Heinrich Klaasen and JJ Smuts, who have both been part of South Africa’s white-ball squads this summer and have both had decent returns, and Zubayr Hamza, who played in the Test team. However, all of them have the opportunity to earn a contract in the coming season.
South Africa’s men’s team has a busy schedule and are due to play away tours in Sri Lanka (white-ball) and West Indies (two Tests, five T20s) between May and August, although the future of those trips will hinge on the impact of COVID-19, which has already seen two men’s ODIs in India postponed. That will be followed by the men’s T20 World Cup in Australia and the home season, which sees visits from Sri Lanka (Tests), Australia (Tests), Pakistan (T20) and India (T20). The women’s team is due to travel to West Indies and England over the winter – tours that may prove unlikely – and will then turn their attention to the 2021 ODI World Cup.
They automatically qualified for the event before their home series against Australia, due to take place this month, was forced to be rescheduled because of the ongoing pandemic. Last Monday, all activity in South African cricket was put on hold for 60 days, after South Africa’s president Cyril Ramaphosa declared a state of disaster as a result of the coronavirus. Although the impact on the season has been minimal – with the semi-finals and finals of the one-day cup and two rounds of first-class cricket unable to be completed – it does mean that off-season camps, aimed to upskill South Africa’s cricketers, will have to wait.
Behind-the-scenes, CSA are continuing to plan for next summer and now that the central contracts have been announced, the six domestic franchises are expected to finalise their player pools in the coming week.
Nationally contracted men’s players:Temba Bavuma, Quinton de Kock, Faf du Plessis, Dean Elgar, Beuran Hendricks, Reeza Hendricks, Keshav Maharaj, Aiden Markram, David Miller, Lungi Ngidi, Anrich Nortje, Andile Phehlukwayo, Dwaine Pretorius, Kagiso Rabada, Tabraiz Shamsi, Rassie van der Dussen—–
How Ellyse Perry’s words turned around Australia Women’s T20 World Cup campaign
“We just need to make sure we’ve got soul in this group.” It was Ellyse Perry who delivered this critical message to the Australia Women’s team when they stood on the brink of elimination from the T20 World Cup they would go on gloriously to win, the national team coach, Matthew Mott, has revealed.
Australia’s campaign culminated in a wondrous night at the MCG where Meg Lanning‘s team defeated India to raise the trophy in front of more than 86,000 spectators. Mott described how, as well prepared as they were beforehand, the Australians struggled mightily with the weight of expectation.
It had them“Traditionally what happens in cricket, and this is only in my experiences, but because you share so much information about bowling and batting is more of an individual pursuit, we rarely have actual batting meetings, they’re normally part of the full meeting,” Mott said. “But we actually called a batting meeting, we just opened it up and said ‘how do you think we’re going, what do we need to do to actually be the best we can be, and be true to ourselves’ and the honesty around that was incredible.
“Players admitted ‘I’m nervous, I haven’t been playing like I normally play, I should be doing this, I should be doing that’. Ellyse Perry was at that meeting because she goes in both meetings as an allrounder. She says ‘to be honest, we just need to make sure we’ve got soul in this group, and we look out for each other, be a little bit more overt with our body language and maybe the odd fist-bump and something like that when someone has hit a good boundary’. I think if you look back to us in the first two games compared to the last few, you definitely saw a greater appreciation of a partnership, and I reckon that was pivotal.”
nervous and getting away from their natural, aggressive instincts in the tournament opener against India at the Sydney Showgrounds, and took them near to elimination in the following game against Sri Lanka in Perth. After Lanning and vice-captain Rachael Haynes had fashioned a partnership to get them home, team leaders called a batting meeting at their hotel to discuss how to change things – at this point, they needed to win four matches in a row to claim the title.
Perry’s message, combined with the batting of Lanning and Haynes, gave the Australians the reset they desperately needed to play more freely, as demonstrated by subsequent wins over Bangladesh, New Zealand, South Africa amid Sydney’s showers, and finally India in the tournament decider. Perry, of course, was to miss the last two games with a hamstring injury, but her experience and wisdom were tellingly kept on board right up to the finish line.”We talked about it a lot before the tournament,” Mott said. “The beauty of this team was we actually realised that we didn’t react well in the first game and we were nervous, I was nervous, so I can imagine what the players were like. There was so much expectation and build-up, and we knew there was a lot at stake. For us to turn out at the MCG was potentially a game-changing moment for not just cricket but women’s sport. So there was absolutely a burden there.
“How we internalised that and actually helped each other out sort of happened after Perth and that partnership between Rach [Haynes] and Meg [Lanning]. I think you always look back and say what a great final, but we had no right to be there unless that partnership happened, and that just changed our whole philosophy for the tournament. It was almost like a lightbulb moment of ‘if we keep playing scared and timid we’re going to get these results’. So I was really pleased with the batting group in particular that they galvanised and formed a unit and said ‘we’re going to commit to this. If it doesn’t come off, it doesn’t come off, but we’re going to make sure we go down swinging at least’.”
Cricket South Africa (CSA) today announced the Standard Bank Proteas Men’s squad and the Momentum Proteas National Women’s squad players to be awarded national contracts for the 2020/21 season.
The major men’s engagement over the next 12 months is the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup in Australia in October while other scheduled tours include home series against Sri Lanka (Tests), Australia (Tests only), Pakistan (T20 only) and India (T20 only) and away tours to West Indies and Sri Lanka.
The women’s major upcoming commitment is the ICC Women’s World Cup to be played in New Zealand in early 2021. They also have scheduled away tours to the West Indies and England plus the postponed home series against Australia.
Warriors fast bowler Anrich Nortje and the Imperial Lions duo of all-rounder Dwaine Pretorius and batsman Rassie van der Dussen all earned contract upgrades during the course of the past season.
The upgrade system will again be in place this year. Those players performing and selected for the Proteas during the 2020/21 season and who are not contracted can qualify for a National Contract upgrade.
Nadine de Klerk and Sinalo Jafta who earned contract upgrades during the course of the past season have been retained on the list of women’s contract players.
“We have contracted 16 men’s players and 14 women’s players which we feel is the appropriate number to maintain our national squads across the various formats,” commented CSA Acting Chief Executive, Dr. Jacques Faul. “This enables us to contract both our Test players as well as those who are limited overs specialists.
“We have decided to keep the 17th men’s contract open for the moment and players can qualify for it through performance.”
CSA contracted Standard Bank Proteas men’s players: Temba Bavuma (Imperial Lions), Quinton de Kock (Momentum Multiply Titans), Faf du Plessis (Momentum Multiply Titans), Dean Elgar (Momentum Multiply Titans), Beuran Hendricks (Imperial Lions), Reeza Hendricks (Imperial Lions), Keshav Maharaj (Hollywoodbets Dolphins), Aiden Markram (Momentum Multiply Titans), David Miller (Hollywoodbets Dolphins), Lungi Ngidi (Momentum Multiply Titans), Anrich Nortje (Warriors), Andile Phehlukwayo (Hollywoodbets Dolphins), Dwaine Pretorius (Imperial Lions), Kagiso Rabada (Imperial Lions), Tabraiz Shamsi (Momentum Multiply Titans), Rassie van der Dussen (Imperial Lions).
CSA contracted Momentum Proteas women’s players: Trisha Chetty (KZN Coastal), Nadine de Klerk (WP), Mignon du Preez (Northerns), Shabnim Ismail (KZN Coastal), Sinalo Jafta (WP), Marizanne Kapp (EP), Ayabonga Khaka (Gauteng), Masabata Klaas (North West), Lizelle Lee (North West), Sune Luus (Northerns), Tumi Sekhukhune (North West), Chloe Tryon (KZN Coastal), Dane van Niekerk (EP), Laura Wolvaardt (WP).
Five Australians named in ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2020 Team of the Tournament
Five players from Australia’s victorious ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2020 squad have been named in the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2020 Team of the Tournament.
- Alyssa Healy, Beth Mooney, Meg Lanning, Jess Jonassen and Megan Schutt make the cut
- Four England players are selected after record-breaking tournaments
- Players from India and South Africa make up the final sideAlyssa Healy and Beth Mooney did damage aplenty with the bat and the two reprise their roles as openers in t fheinal XI.
They’re joined by fast bowler Megan Schutt, who took four wickets in the Final against India to finish as leading wicket-taker with 13, and left-arm spinner Jess Jonassen.There is also a spot for captain Meg Lanning, who led Australia from the front both with the bat and in the field to guide her country to a fifth Women’s T20 World Cup title.The side was pulled together by a selection panel featuring commentators and former international players Ian Bishop, Anjum Chopra and Lisa Sthalekar, journalist Raf Nicholson and ICC representative Holly Colvin.
The team of the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2020 (in batting order) is:
Alyssa Healy (wk) (Australia) – 236 runs at 39.33, seven dismissals
Beth Mooney (Australia) – 259 runs at 64.75
Nat Sciver (England) – 202 runs at 67.33
Heather Knight (England) – 193 runs at 64.33
Meg Lanning (c) (Australia) – 132 runs at 44
Laura Wolvaardt (South Africa) – 94 runs at strike rate of 149
Jess Jonassen (Australia) – 10 wickets at 14.00
Sophie Ecclestone (England) – eight wickets at 6.12
Anya Shrubsole (England) – eight wickets at 10.62
Megan Schutt (Australia) – 13 wickets at 10.30
Poonam Yadav (India) – 10 wickets at 11.90
12th: Shafali Verma (India) – 163 runs at strike rate of 158.25
Beth Mooney (Australia) – 259 runs at 64.75
Nat Sciver (England) – 202 runs at 67.33
Heather Knight (England) – 193 runs at 64.33
Meg Lanning (c) (Australia) – 132 runs at 44
Laura Wolvaardt (South Africa) – 94 runs at strike rate of 149
Jess Jonassen (Australia) – 10 wickets at 14.00
Sophie Ecclestone (England) – eight wickets at 6.12
Anya Shrubsole (England) – eight wickets at 10.62
Megan Schutt (Australia) – 13 wickets at 10.30
Poonam Yadav (India) – 10 wickets at 11.90
12th: Shafali Verma (India) – 163 runs at strike rate of 158.25
Healy and Mooney broke their own record set in 2018 with the most runs as a partnership in a Women’s T20 World Cup, with 352 at an average close to 60.
They also made their second century partnership in four innings while Healy lit up Melbourne to record the quickest 50 in a Final and the highest score in the showcase.
The latter was beaten by her partner a few overs later, with Mooney’s unbeaten 78 seeing her reach 259 runs – the most for one player at any edition of the tournament.
The Australian pair are followed in the team by another stellar duo, with nobody bettering the 169-run partnership made by Nat Sciver and Heather Knight against Thailand.
The middle-order batters were in inspired form throughout, Knight becoming the first England cricketer to register centuries in all three formats with her ton against the debutants.
Sciver’s consistency was remorseless in Australia, scoring half-centuries in three of England’s four completed matches to end her tournament with 202 runs and two wickets.
Ensconcing herself in the middle order is Lanning, who steered her country to an historic fifth Women’s T20 World Cup title and the first on home soil.
Her 49 in the semi-final against South Africa will be remembered as one of the most vital innings of the competition, while her tournament-defining captaincy sees her named skipper for this team.
Laura Wolvaardt only batted in two innings but certainly made her mark on the action.
The 20-year-old struck 53 not out to take South Africa beyond Pakistan, with a glorious array of straight and cover drives lighting up the Sydney Showground.
And she almost went one better in the semi-final against Australia, another eye-catching knock of 41 not out seeing her team finish just short of the Final.
As for the bowlers, few could match the feats of left-arm spinner Jonassen, who finished with ten scalps in her six matches.
The Australian took at least one wicket in each, with no better haul than the three for 20 against India in the Final which clinched a fifth title.
She’s joined in the XI by two record-breaking England bowlers in spinner Sophie Ecclestone and pacer Anya Shrubsole.
No bowler has taken more than Shrubsole’s 41 Women’s T20 World Cup wickets, with eight coming in her four matches Down Under.
For Ecclestone, meanwhile, the sky is the limit for a 20-year-old who has taken a wicket in her last 18 T20I matches.
A tournament tally of eight for 49 combines both wicket-taking ability and a stunning economy rate for Ecclestone, who now sits top of the MRF Tyres ICC T20I Bowling Rankings.
Coming in at ten is Schutt, with no player bettering the 13 wickets she took at a single tournament.
That all came to the perfect conclusion at the MCG for Schutt, finishing with four for 18 against an India line-up she had feared to win the Final for Australia.
Rounding off the XI is leg-spinner Poonam Yadav, who had Australia in knots in a dramatic opening game of the tournament.
India’s leading T20I wicket-taker took four for 19 in the opener and didn’t look back, bagging three against Bangladesh before rounding off with wickets in each match.
Taking her place as 12th is teenage sensation Shafali Verma – who broke record after record at the top of India’s order.
Fearless cricket had the opposition running scared of the 16-year-old, with her devastating 163 runs coming at a jaw-dropping strike rate of 158.25.
Lions and Dolphins crowned domestic champions on Graeme Smith’s recommendation
The Lions and Dolphins have been crowned champions of South Africa’s first-class and the one-day competition respectively after both events were suspended as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. The two franchises each finished at the top of the points’ tables of the respective competition and acting director of cricket, Graeme Smith, recommended the titles be awarded based on log-standings.
His suggestion was endorsed by CSA’s board and member’s council, a body made of the 13 provincial presidents. That means the only franchise competition which ran to conclusion in the 2019/20 summer was the Mzansi Super League (MSL), a twenty-over tournament which was won by the Paarl Rocks.
But, the fate of the MSL remains unclear, after CSA were unable to sell television rights for the first two editions of the tournament and footed the full bill, amounting to approximately R120 million (US$6.8 million) per year. ESPNcricinfo understands that the MSL is unlikely to take place if it continues to be a drain on CSA finances and that talks are ongoing in the current off-season to decide on the next steps.
So too is the search for sponsors after the country’s flagship four-day competition took place without a corporate backer for the second season in succession. Eight out of the 10 rounds of matches were played this season and the Johannesburg-based Lions remain champions of the format, despite losing their head coach Enoch Nkwe to the national side in September 2019.Nkwe, who now works as South Africa’s assistant coach, was succeeded by Wandile Gwazu at the Lions, who has enjoyed a successful first season. His team won four of their eight matches, double the number of victories of any other franchise, and finished 8.46 points above their neighbours, the Titans.
The one-day cup, which was scheduled to have playoffs last week and the final at the weekend, finished before it reached the crunch stage. The Dolphins were on top with seven out of 10 victories. Their successful campaign also came under a new coach with one-time Test opener Imraan Khan in charge for the first time. They will be awarded 40% of the prize money, sponsored by financial services company Momentum, with the rest split 30-15-15 between the other three teams who would have played in the semi-finals, the Lions, Warriors and Knights.At provincial level, the first-class three-day competition and provincial one-day cup titles have been awarded jointly to the two teams that finished on top of the respective pools. Easterns (Pool A) and Kwa-Zulu Natal (Pool B) share the three-day cup and Free State (Pool A) and Northern Cape are joint one-day cup winners. Easterns, however, did not actually end the season on top of the table but played one fewer match than their rivals and earned the victory through an average points calculation.
“This is undoubtedly the fairest way to decide the various winners, Smith said. “In the provincial competitions where some teams have played more games than others, we have taken the average number of points per game to decide on final log positions.”
The women’s provincial T20 league was won by Western Province, who finished on top of the “Top 6,” group with seven victories from eight matches. They missed out on the fifty-over competition title by one point, after finishing behind North West, who claimed the cup.
Will England be third-time lucky against ‘cornered tigers’ Pakistan?
Welcome to #RetroLive, ESPNcricinfo’s answer to the ongoing global sporting outage. Over the coming weeks and months, we will be dredging through the archives to relive classic matches via our unrivalled ball-by-ball commentary. And when better to start than this coming Wednesday, March 25, the anniversary of the England v Pakistan 1992 World Cup final? If you don’t want to know the scoreAfter 38 matches and 32 days, it all comes down to this, at the ‘G. England v Pakistan in the World Cup final, in front of a crowd that is expected to push 90,000. At some stage on Wednesday evening, Graham Gooch or Imran Khan – two of the most senior statesmen in the world game – will hoist the Benson & Hedges crystal-globe trophy to confirm the new first-time world champions. What a tantalising prospect we have in store.
If, after the spectacle we’ve been witnessing for the past month, pyjama cricket still isn’t quite your thing, then fear not, the two teams will be back in whites soon enough, locked in a five-match Test series during the English summer – one that is sure to have an extra piquancy given how much will have been won and lost in the coming hoursBut, even for die-hard traditionalists, it would be hard to dispute that cricket’s World Cup has come of age during its maiden staging in Australia and New Zealand. A festival of the sport that began, almost as an afterthought, in England in 1975 and was rattled off in a fortnight, has now grown to become a powerhouse competition in its own right.
And in the country where floodlit cricket was pioneered, 15 long years ago, by Kerry Packer and World Series Cricket, the concept has stepped up another level this month – the coloured clothing, white balls and black sightscreens providing a sneak peek into the sport’s future as a 21st century spectacle. And thankfully, the cricket, by and large (and give or take the odd rain rule), has lived up to its heightened billing.
Even in what proved to be a subdued and ultimately futile campaign, the hosts and holders, Australia, played a massive part in ramping up the excitement. After crashing to chastening losses to their Southern Hemisphere rivals – New Zealand in the opening match and South Africa in their thrilling return to the sporting big-time – the Australians’ tooth-and-nail battle to save their skins was compelling. But an agonising one-run win over India gave way to one final Botham-ing against England, and after that, they were always playing catch-up.
And so we are down to two. And while it’s customary to quibble about the exact identity of a tournament’s finalists, no two teams epitomise the spectacle of the 1992 World Cup better than England, the early tournament pace-setters, and Pakistan, the late-charging thoroughbreds, whose respective campaigns have utilised all the permutations that the tournament’s excellent round-robin format was designed to make possible.
Gooch’s men hit the ground running with five wins and a hugely significant no-result (more of that in a moment) in their first six matches, but they’ll need to blank out the slight nagging suspicion that they have peaked a week or two early. With qualification to the last four already secure, a distracted pair of defeats against Zimbabwe and New Zealand dented their aura a touch, and while they still have enviable depth in their batting and bowling stocks, injuries and fatigue after a long winter are encroaching.
Mind you, if ever there was an occasion to dredge one’s last ounces of energy, this is it. And while some of the squad, notably Robin Smith and Chris Lewis, are young and talented enough to lead the line in Asia in four years’ time, for several old warhorses – Gooch, Ian Botham, Allan Lamb, Derek Pringle – there can be no more tomorrows. Each of them has been in a losing World Cup final dressing room before – in Gooch’s case, twice – and each knows how long the regret can linger.Pakistan, by contrast, have had to grift and graft their way back into contention after looking for all the world as though their tournament was over following three losses in their first five. But, led imperiously by Imran, who would probably back himself to unite the subcontinent given half a chance, Pakistan then thumped Australia in a massively significant showdown in Perth, and have scarcely looked back. Breezy victories followed over Sri Lanka, again at the WACA, and the table-topping New Zealand in Christchurch, and few could argue that they have hit their stride at precisely the right time.
Unlike England, who boast an extraordinarily balanced XI in which every player has a first-class century to his name, Pakistan have got where they need to be with bursts of timely inspiration rather than any sort of coherent plan. And let’s not forget either their burst of divine intervention in Adelaide, when against these same opponents, Pakistan were routed for 74, only for rain to sweep to their rescue with elimination staring them in the face. The point they salvaged there proved just enough to vault them into the last four, and now here we are. Maybe Allah will be smiling on them after all …
Back on the field, Wasim Akram‘s travails with the new ball have epitomised Pakistan’s yin-and-yang campaign – in a tournament for swing bowlers, he’s got the ball to talk too much on occasion up front. But hand him an ageing Kookaburra and watch the mastery take root. With his fellow king of reverse swing Waqar Younis missing the tournament with a stress fracture of the back, he’s got the stage and the talent to bid for immortality.
Whatever transpires at a packed MCG, it’s been a month to remember. The emotional return of South Africa, and their every-bit-as-emotional departure; the home-spun endeavour of New Zealand, raised to the brink of glory by Martin Crowe’s class with the bat but foiled in the final analysis by his cruel hamstring tear, allied to Pakistan’s soaring faith in youth. And the galvanisation of Gooch’s one-day wonders – a team whose sky-blue shirts will surely retain a special place in their fan’s affections, whatever transpires on the day. But, for God’s sake, let’s hope it doesn’t rain
In the spotlight
With his high-born lineage, Imran was bound to evoke the majesty of the tiger in rallying his cornered team, but Javed Miandad, Karachi’s natural-born streetfighter, has probably had something more down and dirty in mind while leading the charge in his inimitably pugnacious fashion. While Pakistan as a whole have had a rollercoaster ride to the final, Miandad himself has been a pillar of indomitability at No. 4, with four half-centuries to date and only one score below 30 (albeit that came against England in that infamous escape in Adelaide). And whether he’s been aping Kiran More’s incessant appealing behind the stumps or anchoring the semi-final chase to allow Inzamam-ul-Haq to cut loose at the other end, his ubiquitous presence has been tournament-long proof that you can never write Pakistan off.
For a man who is indisputably England’s greatest all-round cricketer, Ian Botham has long had a curiously underwhelming one-day record – at least until this, his farewell to the true glory days. Prior to his belated arrival in New Zealand (after completing his stint as the king in Jack and the Beanstalk), Beefy had amassed 1738 runs at 22.35 and 122 wickets at 29.14 in 99 ODIs – steady but far from swashbuckling. Since then, however, he’s turned on the bravado, compiling a career-best 79 in Christchurch before mocking the Australians on their home patch in Sydney with his best ODI figures of 4 for 31, not to mention another buccaneering fifty. He goes into the final as England’s leading wicket-taker for the tournament with 15 wickets at 17.60, and with a licence to have a go in his pinch-hitting role alongside Gooch at the top of the order. And if Botham’s sense of occasion is anything to go by, we can expect another concerted bid to steal the show.
آئی پی ایل کا رواں سال انعقاد ناممکن کے قریب ایونٹ کی منسوخی پر بی سی سی آئی کو 2ہزار کروڑ یا تقریبا 2.63 ارب امریکی ڈالرز اور ہر فرنچائز کو100 کروڑ روپے کا نقصان ہوگا
کورونا وائرس کی وجہ سے پیدا ہونے والی صورتحال میں آئی پی ایل کا رواں سال نعقاد ناممکن نظر آنے لگا،بی سی سی آئی کو 2ہزار کروڑ، ہر فرنچائز کو100 کروڑ روپے کا نقصان ہوگا۔بھارتی بورڈ کے ایک عہدیدارنے کہاکہ غیر یقینی حالات میں ایونٹ کے بارے میں فی الحال سوچ نہیں رہے۔تفصیلات کے مطابق کورونا وائرس سے پیدا ہونے والی صورتحال مسلسل ابتر ہوتی جارہی ہے،بھارت میں بھی کیسز کی تعداد میں اضافہ ہونے لگا،29 مارچ کو شروع ہونے والی لیگ کو15 اپریل تک ملتوی کردیا گیا تھا تاہم اب رواں سال انعقاد کا امکان نظر نہیں آ رہا، ایونٹ منسوخ ہونے کی صورت میں بی سی سی آئی کو 2ہزار کروڑ یا تقریبا 2 ارب 63 کروڑ امریکی ڈالرزجب کہ ہر فرنچائز کو 100 کروڑ یا تقریبا 13 کروڑ15 لاکھ ڈالرز کا نقصان برداشت کرنا پڑے گا۔بی سی سی آئی کے ایک عہدیدار کا کہنا ہے کہ انتہائی غیر یقینی صورتحال ہے، کوئی نہیں کہہ سکتا کہ حالات کب صحیح ہوں گے، بھارت آنے والی پروازوں کی کیا صورتحال ہوگی۔کھلاڑیوں کے لیے ویزے جاری کرنے کے کیا معاملات ہوں گے،ابھی تو کوئی آئی پی ایل کے بارے میں سوچ بھی نہیں رہا بلکہ سب کی نگاہیں اس بات پر مرکوز ہیں کہ کب اس وبا کا خاتمہ ہو،کورونا وائرس اس وقت کسی بھی کھیل کے مستقبل سے زیادہ بڑا اور اہم مسئلہ ہے۔ایک فربچائز کے نمائندے نے کہاکہ یہ دنیا کیلیے ایک بڑی مشکل صورتحال ہے، رواں سال آئی پی ایل کا انعقاد ممکن نظر نہیں آ رہا،اگر حالات میں بہتری آ بھی گئی تو اتنے بڑے ایونٹ کے لاجسٹک سمیت تمام تر مسائل کا حل تلاش کرنا کوئی آسان کام نہیں ہوگا۔
ہربھجن سنگھ بھی شاہد آفریدی کی انسان دوستی جذبے کے معترف ہوگئے کورونا وائرس کے خلاف جنگ میں پوری دنیا کومتحد ہونا پڑے گا: سابق پاکستانی کپتان
بھارتی کرکٹر ہربھجن سنگھ بھی شاہد آفریدی کی انسان دوستی جذبے کے معترف ہوگئے۔39 سالہ سابق بھارتی ٹیسٹ کرکٹر نے سماجی رابطے کی ویب سائٹ پر قومی کرکٹ ٹیم کے سابق کپتان شاہد آفریدی کی جانب سے انسانیت کے لیے کیے جارہے فلاحی کاموں کو سراہا ہے۔ اپنے پیغام میں بھارتی آف سپنرنے کہا کہ’’ شاہد آفریدی عوام کے لیے بہترین کام کررہے ہیں، اس سے بڑھ کر کچھ نہیں ہےشاہد آفریدی نے بھی اپنے پیغام مین ہربھجن سنگھ کا شکریہ ادا کرتے ہوئے کہا کہ ’’انسانیت سے بڑھ کر کچھ نہیں ہے اور کورونا وائرس کیخلاف جنگ میں پوری دنیا کومتحد ہونا پڑے گا، اس عالمی وباکا سب کو مل کر مقابلہ کرنے کی ضرورت ہے۔ ہمیں غریبوں کی مدد کرنا ہوگی‘‘۔یاد رہے کہ کورونا وائرس سے دنیا بھر میں ہلاکتوں اور متاثرہ افراد کی تعداد تیز ی سے بڑھنے کا سلسلہ جاری ہے جہاں اب تک وائرس سے تقریباً 19ہزار افراد ہلاک اور سوا 4لاکھ متاثر ہو چکے ہیں۔
اٹلی سمیت دنیا بھر میں ہلاکتوں اور متاثرین کی تعداد تیزی سے بڑھنے کے سبب دنیا بھر کورونا وائرس کا خطرہ ہر گزرتے دن کیساتھ شدت اختیار کرتا جا رہا ہے۔اٹلی میں ایک مرتبہ پھر ایک ہی دن میں 743افراد کی ہلاکت کے بعد وائرس سے ہلاک افراد کی 6ہزار 820ہوگئی ہے جبکہ 69ہزار 176افراد وائرس کی زد میں ہیں۔سپین میں بھی ایک دن میں 514افراد کی ہلاکت کے نتیجے میں 2ہزار 696 افراد لقمہ اجل بن چکے ہیں جبکہ 42ہزار افراد اس وائرس کے سبب اب بھی اس سے متاثر ہیں۔تھائی لینڈ میں مزید 107کے وائرس کا شکار ہونے کے بعد ملک میں مجموعی کیسز کی تعداد 934ہو گئی ہے جس کے بعد حکومت نے ایمرجنسی کے نفاذ کا فیصلہ کیا ہے جسکے جمعرات سے اطلاق کا امکان ہ
شاہد آفریدی نے کرونا وائرس سے متاثر ہونیوالوں میں راشن کی تقسیم شروع کر دی
پاکستان کرکٹ ٹیم کے سابق کپتان شاہد خان آفریدی نے مختلف علاقوں میں راشن کی تقسیم شروع کر دی۔ اپنے ویڈیو پیغام میں شاہد آفریدی کا کہنا تھا کہ اب وقت ہے کہ ہم ايک اچھی قوم بن کر دکھائيں، لوگوں کی مدد کريں اور اسلام کے اصولوں پر عمل کريں۔ ملک میں اس وقت مشکل حالات ہیں اور 20 فیصد طبقے نے اپنے گھروں میں راشن جمع کرنا شروع کر دیا ہے جب کہ اشیاء مہنگی ہونے کی وجہ سے غریب طبقے کےلیے سامان کا حصول مشکل ہوگیا ہے۔ سابق کپتان نے کہا کہ کورونا وائرس کے باعث مزدور طبقے کا روزگار متاثر ہوگیا ہے جن کےلیے راشن کا انتظام کیا گیا ہےیاد رہے کہ ملک بھر میں کورونا وائرس کے تصدیق شدہ مریضوں کی تعداد بڑھ کر ایک ہزار ہوگئی ہے جب کہ درجنوں مشتبہ مریض بھی سامنے آئے ہیں۔وفاقی حکومت کی جانب سے جاری کردہ اعداد و شمار کے مطابق ملک بھر میں کورونا وائرس کے تصدیق شدہ مریضوں کی تعداد ایک ہزار ہوگئی ہے۔ سندھ میں 413، پنجاب میں 296، بلوچستان میں 115، گلگت بلتستان میں 81، خیبر پختونخوا میں 78 جب کہ اسلام آباد میں 15 اور آزاد کشمیر میں ایک مریض ہے۔گزشتہ 24 گھنٹوں کے دوران 28 افراد میں کورونا کی تشخیص ہوئی ہے تاہم اس سے ایک بھی جانی نقصان نہیں ہوا۔ وائرس سے اب تک 7 افراد جاں بحق ہوچکے ہیں، 5 کی حالت تشویشناک ہے جب کہ 19 افراد مکمل صحت یاب ہوچکے ہیں۔
Coronavirus newsfile: Bangladesh cricketers pool money to help combat crisis
Bangladesh’s premier cricketers have contributed 50% of their monthly salaries to a fund that has been put in place to deal with the COVID-19 situation in the country. All the centrally contracted players and others who played against Zimbabwe this month have pooled in BDT 26 lakh (US$ 32,500 approx.) for the cause.
The country is in lockdown following the death of four people and reports of 44 other being infected. The government has directed around 15,000 people around to country to go into self-isolation, and to ensure that happens, the army has been deployed.
Cricketers have also gone into self-isolation, and the likes of Mashrafe Mortaza, Tamim Iqbal and Shakib Al Hasan have delivered messages on social media for people to stay at home.
Space at Eden Gardens made available as a medical facility
The indoor training facility and the players’ dormitory at Eden Gardens have been made available to the West Bengal state government as a temporary medical facility to deal with the COVID-19 situation, Sourav Ganguly has said.
“If government asks us, we will certainly hand over the facility. Anything that is need of the hour, we will do it. There is absolutely no problem,” BCCI president Ganguly, who was the president of the Cricket Association of Bengal earlier, was quoted as saying by PTI.
Similarly, the Cricket Association of Pondicherry has offered the dormitory at its Tutipet campus as an isolation facility for COVID-19 patients.
“We stopped cricketing activities due to outbreak of coronavirus. We can offer these facilities to house up to 30 infected patients if need be with necessary medical tie-up through Laxmi Medical College,” a letter from the association to the governor of the union territory of Puducherry said.
ECB offers customised home-training packages to premier cricketers
With no cricket likely in the immediate future, the ECB has offered customised home-training packages to Joe Root and Heather Knight’s teams to help them stay in shape. The packages include equipment such as ropes, resistance bands, a medicine ball and a kettle ball.
“I’m an active person anyway, with my young son keeping me busy, but having a structured plan will help me improve in certain areas,” Root was quoted as saying by AFP. “While it has been good to get some downtime after our return from Sri Lanka, keeping my fitness up is really important so I can be at the top of my game when we get back on the field.”
Knight said it was not ideal but one had to find ways to stay in shape.
“We’ll all just be doing what we can to maintain our levels and, hopefully, be as ready as we can when we get back playing, whenever that comes,” Knight said. “It’s obviously not ideal, but it’s a great way of trying to stay in shape and keep ticking over.”
CWI extends suspension of all domestic cricket
Cricket West Indies (CWI) has called off all its domestic tournaments this season because of the COVID-19 pandemic, after earlier suspending all cricket until mid-April. The board, following a teleconference of the board of directors on Tuesday afternoon, cancelled the last two rounds of matches of its first-class competition and announced Barbados as the winners.
Barbados were leading the points table of the four-day competition with a tally of 134.8, followed by Trinidad and Tobago (94.6), Guyana (91.8), Jamaica (91.8), Windward Islands (78) and Leeward Islands (52.8).
In a statement, the board said it was acting on the guidelines of its medical advisory committee. The other tournaments and camps to be immediately affected were the Women’s Super50 Cup (postponed to later this year), Regional Under-19s Women’s T20 Championship (postponed to later this year), Regional Under-15s Boys Championship (cancelled for 2020), West Indies Under-15s Tour to England in the summer (cancelled for 2020), high performance and international preparation training camps (cancelled until at least May 31, 2020).
“All around the sporting world we are faced with the challenges presented by the COVID-19 pandemic,” Johnny Grave, CEO of CWI said. “Cricket, cricketers and all our stakeholders involved in the game have been affected at various levels and we must continue to work to together and act responsibly in containing the spread of the virus.
“Ten days ago, we suspended our tournaments and camps for 30 days and now we have extended that suspension until the end of May as well as reluctantly cancelled some tournaments and tours in their entirety. We will continue to monitor and assess the situation and make further decisions and announcements in due course.”
Grave also said that CWI has put systems in place to make sure its staff follow the necessary protocols as outlined by its medical advisory committee and the World Health Organisation. The board also reinforced the importance for all territorial boards and local cricket associations to follow the advice of their respective ministries of health.
Kent have become the first county to take steps to offset the financial implications of the delayed English season by announcing that their executive directors have voluntarily accepted a short-term pay cut of 20%.
With the UK entering a phase of enforced lockdown in an attempt to contain the coronavirus outbreak, and little prospect of any cricket taking place before June at the earliest, counties have begun to assess their day-to-day running. Kent have assembled a COVID-19 taskforce and are in talks with the local council to discuss terms of a loan repayment, among other measures.
The club’s executive directors – including chief executive Simon Storey and director of cricket Paul Downton – offered to take a pay cut in order to send a positive message. “We feel these are exceptional circumstances,” Storey told ESPNcricinfo. “We will find a way through this for Kent.”
With many counties leading a precarious financial existence, there have been warnings that a drastically reduced 2020 season could threaten the viability of some. However, the question of players also taking a cut in pay is a step that would likely need to be agreed with the Professional Cricketers’ Association and the ECB.
PCB turns Karachi training facility into lodging area for paramedics
The Pakistan Cricket Board has offered the use of their high performance centre in Karachi to paramedics working at the Expo Centre which has become a makeshift hospital.
PCB Chief Operating Officer Salman Naseer said: “All the paramedic staff are our heroes as in these challenging and difficult times, they are risking their lives to save the lives and well-being of many affected by COVID-19.
“As a small token of our appreciation and acknowledgement to these unsung heroes and as part of our duty of care, the PCB is pleased to offer its state-of-the-art Hanif Mohammad High Performance Centre as a temporary lodging and boarding for the paramedic staff working at Expo Centre hospital so that they can serve those suffering from COVID-19 more effectively and efficiently.”
No discussion about moving CPL 2020
The global cricket schedule – as with most other things around the world – has been thrown out of gear by the COVID-19 pandemic, but the Caribbean Premier League (CPL) organisers are hoping to get the competition going on schedule in August-September this year.
“CPL has been in constant communication with our medical advisors in recent weeks, as well as speaking with Cricket West Indies about the current situation with regard to cricket around the world, and at present there has been no discussion about moving the event,” a CPL statement said. “CPL believes it is too early to make such a decision, but this is an evolving situation and we are carefully watching how events unfold in the Caribbean and around the world.”
That said, they are also discussing contingency plans for the event, slotted for August 19 to September 26: “At present the CPL team are planning for the tournament to take place as scheduled whilst also looking at alternative plans should they be needed.”
ICC shuts headquarters, to ‘convene remotely’ to discuss urgent matters
The International Cricket Council has shut down its headquarters in Dubai and moved to a work-from-home policy from this week in response to growing concerns around the COVID-19 (novel coronavirus) pandemic.
The governing body of the game, led by chairman Shashank Manohar and chief executive Manu Sawhney, is preparing for a video conference on Friday to address urgent board matters around the way the cricket calendar is being impacted by the pandemic, which has already delayed the start of the IPL and also severely affected the outlook for the coming English season in particular. The men’s edition of the T20 World Cup is scheduled to be played in Australia in October and November, placing it hard up against a raft of measures the Australian government has indicated will need to be in place for at least six months.
“In light of the continued global spread of COVID-19, concerns expressed by Members and mindful of the importance of taking mitigating measures against the virus, the ICC Board, has decided to hold its meetings scheduled for Dubai at the end of March via conference call only,” the ICC said in a statement on March 12. “The Board and a number of committees will convene remotely to consider matters for urgent decision only, with the full meetings rescheduled for early May.
“This will be kept under constant review in line with advice from relevant authorities as the health and well-being of staff and those attending the meetings remains our priority.”
We need to think about others, not just ourselves – Usman Khawaja
Australian batsman Usman Khawaja on Saturday spoke bluntly on social media about the need for society as a whole to put others first in their consideration of how to handle COVID-19, which has spread virulently across the globe.
“Just because the mortality rates for Covid-19 for many isn’t high, doesn’t mean you should have a blasé attitude. It’s our responsibility as a society to think about the elderly and the social and economical cost this will have on so many lives. We all need to do our part,” he wrote on Twitter. “The more seriously we take it, then hopefully, the quicker we can get through it and the less amount of lives that are affected both medically and financially. We need to think about others, not just ourselves.”
Similarly, Test captain Tim Paine had spoken about Cricket Australia’s decision to bring an early end to the home season, awarding the Sheffield Shield to New South Wales and advising against the conclusion of community competitions – though stopping short of an outright ban.
“There’s no doubt this has been a big week for our cricket community, a really big time for Australians,” Paine said. “Some decisions have been made in the best interest of our country, and its most vulnerable people. Those decisions were certainly not made lightly and have been made on the best possible advice from our government and from health experts.
“I hope we are all back playing the game we love and going about our lives the way we want to as soon as possible, but in the meantime, please take of yourselves, take care of others and ride this out together.”
Cricket Association of Bengal insures players, officials
The Cricket Association of Bengal has made changes to its insurance policy to cover Bengal players and match officials against the threat of COVID-19 (novel coronavirus).
“A couple of days ago, our president Mr Avishek Dalmiya initiated this,” CAB vice-president Naresh Ojha told ESPNcricinfo. “The policy covers all our players and umpires.”
SLC to grant LKR 25 million to government
Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) has decided to grant LKR 25 million to the government to help combat the COVID-19 pandemic. As of Monday noon, Sri Lanka had approximately 85 active COVID-19 cases in the country. All domestic cricket in Sri Lanka has been suspended to prevent the further spread of the novel coronavirus.
Kumar Sangakkara in self-isolation after Colombo return
Kumar Sangakkara has confirmed he is currently in self-quarantine in Colombo, as per the Sri Lanka government’s guidelines for those who have recently returned from Europe.
He made the revelation amids substantial concerns that those who have recently returned to the island have not been checking in with the police and maintaining proper isolation. In fact, the government even confirmed there have been at least three cases of recent returnees attempting to hide COVID-19 (novel coronavirus) symptoms from authorities, with one of those returnees going as far as to expose medical staff – among others – in a local hospital.
“I have no symptoms or anything like that, but I’m following government guidelines,” Sangakkara told News First on Sunday. “I arrived from London over a week ago and the first thing was there was a news bulletin saying that anyone who had traveled from within March 1 to 15 should register themselves with the police and undergo self quarantine. I registered myself with the police.”
Both Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene have been active on Twitter and Instagram, urging Sri Lankans to avoid panic and to exercise proper social distancing, as the country went into curfew on Friday evening. Several present cricketers have also emphasised the need for social distancing on their own social-media accounts.
As of Sunday afternoon, Sri Lanka had 78 active COVID-19 cases in the country. There are fears, however, that that number could shoot up rapidly, as there had been potential mass-infection events over the past 10 days. This includes the “Big Match” cricket encounter between St. Thomas’ College and Royal College last weekend, which attracted tens of thousands of spectators over three days, one of whom has since been confirmed to have contracted COVID-19.
Jason Gillespie goes into two-week isolation
Jason Gillespie, the former Australia fast bowler who’s now the head coach at Sussex, has returned home and gone into two weeks of self-isolation. Gillespie had been in Cape Town with the Sussex team for a pre-season tour, which was cut short as a result of the coronavirus pandemic