4:52 PM GMT Director of domestic cricket Haroon Rasheed and chief curator Agha Zahid will leave the PCB at the end of their contracts. Rasheed’s contract concludes at the end of this month, while Zahid’s ends on May 31. The duo had been working on a rolling contract and held prominent positions within the setup
Cricket
3:37 PM GMT Jason Holder has admitted that it was “tough” for him to “transition” back to being a player in the ODI side after Cricket West Indies replaced him with Kieron Pollard as the white-ball captain last September. Although Holder remains the Test captain, his performances in ODI cricket post the 2019 World Cup
4:46 AM GMT ESPNcricinfo staff Australia were “out of control” well before the ball-tampering scandal two years ago according to former international umpire Ian Gould who has recalled his role in the infamous Newlands Test. Gould, who retired from the international game after last year’s World Cup, was the TV official during the Cape Town
6:07 PM GMT Nicholas Pooran, Shimron Hetmyer and Shai Hope. These three men from three different islands in the Caribbean are the reason Michael Holding can see “light at the end of the tunnel” for West Indies cricket, which he feels can once again become a global force if the young talent is nurtured properly.
5:11 PM GMT Ashley Giles, England’s director of men’s cricket, has said that “everything is on the table” when it comes to staging international cricket in the UK this summer, even as it looks increasingly unlikely that the Test series against West Indies will be able to go ahead as planned in June. With the
8:28 AM GMT Big picture It’s taken England longer than most countries to wake up to the fact that Sri Lanka aren’t just here to make up the numbers any more – but you get the impression that the penny might finally be dropping. For twice in the space of the last three years, Arjuna
3:27 PM GMT ESPNcricinfo staff The Professional Cricketers’ Association (PCA) has agreed to reallocate £1 million of domestic prize money towards player contracts for 2020, after reaching an agreement with the ECB and the 18 first-class counties in response to the COVID-19 outbreak that has already delayed the start of the county season. Following discussions
1:22 PM GMT There’s no cricket on the horizon, yet, for Pakistan’s players, but lockdown or no lockdown, they’ll have to keep their fitness levels up. That’s the message from the PCB, which will conduct fitness tests for over 200 of its contracted domestic and international players, via video link, on April 20 and 21.
7:59 AM GMT International cricket of some kind in the next Australian summer is probable, the domestic Big Bash League and WBBL are highly likely and even the men’s T20 World Cup remains a chance of happening. These are among the views that may be drawn from a report issued to Cricket Australia and the
1:27 PM GMT ESPNcricinfo staff Surrey have cancelled Australian seamer Michael Neser‘s contract, making him the first player to miss out on his overseas deal due to the coronavirus pandemic. Neser had been due to play the first half of Surrey’s County Championship campaign, but with the English season suspended at least until May 28
11:02 AM GMT ESPNcricinfo staff Did Australia go “a lot softer” on India during the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in 2018-19 at home? Michael Clarke believes so, and feels the IPL, where players from around the world earn big bucks, made Tim Paine’s men “too scared” to sledge Virat Kohli and Co in the series the visitors
5:52 AM GMT ESPNcricinfo staff Robin Uthappa, who last played for India in July 2015 on a tour of Zimbabwe, believes he “still has a World Cup” left in him, and is targeting a comeback to the Indian team in the T20 format. Uthappa, 34, has played 46 ODIs and 13 T20Is, and was part
4:01 PM GMT Big picture It has become a bit of a trend to have one of the showpieces matches of the World Cup around one month into the tournament. From a logistics and broadcasting point of view it makes sense: either India v Pakistan injects new life into a tournament that might be flagging
2:44 PM GMT Dane Paterson, the seamer who made his Test debut for South Africa in the 2019-20 summer, has ended his career in his home country and intends to play professionally in England from this season. Paterson could be left in limbo, however, after an interview to confirm his Kolpak deal with Nottinghamshire, scheduled
7:35 AM GMT After announcing his retirement from first-class cricket, Steve O’Keefe has implored for spinners in the Australian domestic game to be given more of a chance to shine as a “matter of urgency” if the national team is serious about becoming a force in the subcontinent. O’Keefe, the New South Wales left-arm spinner
1:09 PM GMT India 287 for 8 (Sidhu 93, Jadeja 45, Mushtaq 2-56) beat Pakistan 248 for 9 (Sohail 55, Prasad 3-45, Kumble 3-48) by 39 runs Pakistan’s reign as World Champions has come to an end at the hands of their bitterest rivals, after the most richly anticipated clash of the 1996 World Cup
3:21 AM GMT Steve O’Keefe, statistically the best fingerspinner in Australian domestic cricket since Ashley Mallett, has ended his Sheffield Shield career following New South Wales’ decision not to offer him a contract for next summer. Not since Mallett’s 344 wickets at 23.75 for South Australia and Western Australia in the 1960s, 70s and early
Apr 4, 2020 With the English domestic season in great danger of being completely lost, the impact will be felt well beyond the UK’s borders. Several Pakistani cricketers rely on the English season for their livelihood, playing league cricket there and coaching for various clubs in England. A cancellation will hurt them financially. More than