Cricket

3:25 AM GMT Contingency planning to prepare for the possibility of a severely affected home summer has forced a delay in the release of Cricket Australia’s annual contracts for men and women, with state and Big Bash League contracts also uncertain. Contracted players were informed on Friday that the annual contract rankings for the national

3:49 AM GMT Two weeks ago, the fifth edition of the PSL was suspended due to the COVID-19 (novel coronavirus) pandemic, with two semi-finals and the final still to be played. The fate of the tournament is still uncertain, with viewpoints divided over whether it is to be rescheduled or aborted, with the winner decided

10:21 AM GMT ESPNcricinfo staff Former England captain Alastair Cook has said that he would prefer a season without the County Championship to playing a greatly reduced version of the competition. The first seven rounds of Championship cricket have already fallen victim to the COVID-19 (novel coronavirus) pandemic, with the ECB announcing last week that

1:28 PM GMT ESPNcricinfo staff England captain Heather Knight has signed up to be a National Health Service (NHS) volunteer during the coronavirus outbreak. Knight only returned from Australia, where she led England to the semi-finals of the Women’s T20 World Cup, 10 days ago and is now living under the UK’s lockdown rules with

11:19 AM GMT Andre Russell is one of the most valuable players in T20 cricket, and now his West Indies team-mate Dwayne Bravo has likened the Jamaican to “our Chris Gayle, our Brian Lara” in T20Is. Bravo’s praise came in the wake of Russell’s impactful return during the two-match T20I series in Sri Lanka, which

Mar 27, 2020 The COVID-19 lockdown could provide a new generation of cricketers the time and space required to hone the mental side of their game, according to John Gloster, the Rajasthan Royals’ physiotherapist. He believes that some lasting benefits could yet arise from cricket’s globally enforced break, in spite of the cramped conditions that

7:00 PM GMT ESPNcricinfo staff The cricket world has come to a standstill with all international and domestic fixtures being called off due to the outbreak of COVID-19 (novel coronavirus) across the globe, but according to India coach Ravi Shastri this break is a “welcome rest” as far as India players are concerned. Talking to

Babar Azam taps one on the off side © PCB The PCB has confirmed a massive change to their policy, allowing both international and domestically contracted players to take part in a maximum of four T20 leagues around the world, including the PSL. The earlier policy, which was introduced in 2018, had restricted player participation

4:52 PM GMT ESPNcricinfo staff Leicestershire have announced that board director Sean Jarvis will become their new chief executive in June following the departure of Karen Rothery after only 12 months in the role. Jarvis will take up his new position on June 24 after completing a 14-year stint at Huddersfield Town FC, where he

10:36 AM GMT ESPNcricinfo staff New South Wales allrounder Moises Henriques and Victoria batsman Nic Maddinson have been jointly awarded the Sheffield Shield players of the 2019-20 season. The duo pipped Shaun Marsh and Peter Siddle, who were also in the running. This is the first time that either of the two has been chosen

6:01 PM GMT ESPNcricinfo staff Ollie Rayner, the offspinner who won the County Championship with Middlesex in 2016, has confirmed his retirement from cricket at the age of 34 after his release at the end of last season. Rayner, a tall spinner with an orthodox action, took 51 wickets at 23.56 in Middlesex’s title-winning team

5:04 PM GMT Iain O’Brien, the former New Zealand fast bowler, has launched a funding page in a bid to return to his family. O’Brien, who now lives with his wife and two daughters near Matlock in England, was visiting his parents in New Zealand when the COVID-19 (novel coronavirus) pandemic struck. While he has

7:08 AM GMT Players and staff living alone during long periods of isolation forced by the coronavirus pandemic will have their mental health closely watched by Cricket Australia. This comes in the wake of the national team coach Justin Langer balancing the personal benefits of extended time at home with the maelstrom engulfing global sport

8:59 PM GMT Pakistan 249 for 6 (Imran 72, Miandad 58, Pringle 3-22) beat England 227 (Fairbrother 62, Akram 3-49, Mushtaq 3-41) by 22 runs In the end, it had to be Imran. Pakistan’s captain, leader, talisman and icon is into his 40th year and will surely never be seen again on a cricket field

Vidarbha players hoist their head coach Chandrakant Pandit on their shoulders © PTI Chandrakant Pandit, the former India player and one of the most successful coaches in Indian domestic cricket, has decided to move from Vidarbha to Madhya Pradesh for the 2020-21 season. Pandit had coached Vidarbha to back-to-back triumphs in the Ranji Trophy and

10:07 AM GMT South African domestic cricket will face a slightly shorter 2020-21 season with a reduction of fixtures for the franchise competition as Cricket South Africa seeks to cut costs following a tough 12 months. The organisation is forecasting losses of millions of Rands after sponsor withdrawal, an inability to sell two editions’ worth

8:50 AM GMT 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

2:57 PM GMT 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,