Six of the 10 Pakistan cricketers bound for England who tested positive for COVID-19 have now registered negative results on re-testing, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) said on Saturday. Mohammad Hasnain, Shadab Khan, Fakhar Zaman, Mohammad Rizwan, Mohammad Hafeez and Wahab Riaz, however, must return a second negative result before they can join the main squad of 20 players who will leave for England on Sunday.
England men will begin their 2022 home summer with a three-match Test series against world champions New Zealand.
Spinner Dom Bess was named in England's 13-man squad for the first Test against West Indies and there was no place for Moeen Ali among nine reserves, the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) said on Saturday.All-rounder Ben Stokes will lead England in the match, which will begin at the Ageas Bowl in Southampton on Wednesday in a bio-secure environment amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Black Caps were also scheduled to travel to Australia for an ODI series but the fixture was on Friday postponed to next summer (2021-22) due to the pandemic.
The ICC said it is investigating but also stated that the channel has not cooperated in the matter.
The Australian government on Wednesday granted travel exemptions for Aaron Finch and his men, Cricket Australia (CA) said while announcing a 21-member squad for the team's first international tour since the coronavirus outbreak began.
According to ESPNCricinfo, Stokes, who has played for Rajasthan Royals and Rising Pune Supergiant in the past, will likely play as a specialist batter initially to manage his knee injury, for which he has been administered cortisone shots -- an anti-inflammation injection.
'Until we get more information about what it (the Australia tour) might look like, it's impossible to know what decision you're making.'
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The new director of England and Wales Cricket Board( ECB), Andrew Strauss, has said that the new coach may not be appointed before the start of the Ashes in July.
All teams now have one wild card pick each to fill their final slots in June.
ECB will review his progress next month
Pakistan will host England for a full series of tests and limited-overs matches in the United Arab Emirates from next October, the country's cricket board confirmed on Wednesday.
The West Indies had originally been scheduled to play the three Tests in June but the series has been pushed back due to the novel coronavirus outbreak.
England have major concerns about the planned tour to Bangladesh later this year, the team's limited-overs captain Eoin Morgan has said in the wake of Friday's attack by gunmen at an upmarket Dhaka restaurant that left 20 dead.
England on Sunday named their strongest available squad for the Ashes tour to Australia as all-rounders Ben Stokes and Sam Curran missed out but seamer Stuart Broad was included despite the calf injury he picked up in the Test series against India.
'We're going to have to work with the Health Department and Government authorities to find out a way in which even if a player tests positive, the whole tournament isn't cancelled'
England fast bowler Jofra Archer was on Thursday ruled out of this year's Indian Premier League due to a stress fracture. The England and Wales Cricket Board confirmed that Archer, who plays for the Rajasthan Royals in the IPL, will also miss England's Test tour of Sri Lanka.
An extended 21-man Australian squad is in England for the three Twenty20 matches, which start on Sept. 4 in Southampton, before three one-day internationals in Manchester from Sept. 11.
Limited-overs supremo Ashley Giles is a strong candidate to succeed Andy Flower as England's coach in all formats, cricket board chief Giles Clarke said on Saturday.
Kolkata Knight Riders CEO Venky Mysore did not entirely rule out the possibility of the popular IPL franchise "evaluating" investment opportunities in England and Wales Cricket Board's ambitious franchise league 'The Hundred', which had to be shelved this year due to the coronavirus pandemic. British newspaper The Telegraph on Tuesday quoted Mysore saying that they would surely be keen to "explore" investment opportunities in The Hundred.
The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) announced a provisional home schedule for 2021, on Wednesday, with a five-match Test series against India set to headline the English summer.
After a successful but controversial career, off-spinner Ajmal finished with 178 wickets in 35 Tests, the last of which was at Galle in Sri Lanka in 2014, where his bowling action was reported for a second time.
The ECB said that after the conclusion of play on the first day, the match referee, groundstaff and ECB Match Manager would discuss the start times for the next day and if the forecast looked good, play could begin at 1030.
Jos Buttler will captain England in Morgan's absence.
The decision needs to be ratified by Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF) members and follows a bidding process which included a joint presentation by the International Cricket Council (ICC) and the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB).
England's limited-overs captain Eoin Morgan says giving fans the chance to watch live cricket on television, even if the matches took place without spectators, would help boost morale during the coronavirus pandemic. The England and Wales Cricket Board has suspended all professional cricket until May 28 but is looking at the possibility of playing internationals behind closed doors.
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Pace legend Michael Holding questioned the England and Wales Cricket Board's bio-secure protocol to tackle the COVID-19 threat after England pacer Jofra Archer breached it ahead of the ongoing second Test against the West Indies in Manchester.
Pakistan plan to send a 25-man squad to England in July to meet the demands of playing an entire tour in a 'bio-secure' bubble, Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chief executive Wasim Khan said. Pakistan are scheduled to play three Tests in August followed by an equal number of Twenty20 Internationals, with the matches taking place behind closed doors as part of measures to combat coronavirus.
Pakistan's banned leg spinner Danish Kaneria has slammed the Pakistani and English cricket authorities after it was announced on Thursday that fast bowler Mervyn Westfield has been allowed to play lower-level cricket with one year of his spot-fixing ban remaining. "If anything, the permission by the England and Wales Cricket Board to allow special treatment to Westfield, confirms their bias and discrimination towards me throughout this case," Kaneria told PTI in Karachi. The ECB anti-corruption tribunal had banned Kaneria for life in 2012 and Westfield was jailed the same year and banned from professional cricket for five years and club cricket for three years on spot fixing charges. Both were banned after they played together for Essex in the English county championship. Westfield claimed in his testimony that he accepted a 6000 pounds to under-perform in a 40-over pro match between Essex and Durham in September 2009. The paceman claimed Kaneria had groomed him to indulge in spot fixing.
Australia's Fox Sports reported that Bairstow was involved in a clash, in a hotel bar, with Australian player Cameron Bancroft in Perth during England's warm-up for the series.
Was called 'Steve', a racist reference to people of colour, reveals former staff
The new Twenty20 tournament being planned by the England and Wales Cricket Board will not hurt the existing 18 counties, England's limited overs captain Eoin Morgan has said.
England must tour Pakistan in 2022 reciprocating the visit of Azhar Ali and his men despite the coronavirus pandemic, Pakistan pace great Wasim Akram said.
Batsman Harry Brook and seamer Matthew Potts received maiden call-ups as part of the 13-man squad announced on Wednesday.
Cricket West Indies (CWI) showed it was willing to welcome back top players on Thursday when it cleared Darren Bravo to play in all forms of cricket after the batsman apologised to the board and its president, Dave Cameron, for a Twitter outburst.
Alastair Cook stepped down from his role after 59 Tests as England Test captain followed his team's disappointing showing in India recently.
