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
Cricket
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.
3:41 PM GMT ESPNcricinfo staff Umar Akmal has foregone the right to defend himself against the PCB’s corruptions charges and will instead wait for a sanction to be confirmed. His case will go directly to the Chairman of the Disciplinary Panel after Akmal decided against requesting a hearing before the Anti-Corruption Tribunal. All that remains,
8:02 AM GMT Australia’s Test captain Tim Paine has rejected his predecessor Michael Clarke‘s contention that some members of the national team had been “too scared” to take on Virat Kohli too aggressively in their 2018-19 encounters for fear of what it would do to potentially lucrative IPL deals. With India scheduled to tour Australia
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