Good bowling, not game plan, is slowing Warner: Finch

Agencies
June 10, 2019

Jun 10: Australia fans used to watching David Warner give his side a blistering start in limited-overs cricket may be scratching their heads at the pedestrian rate the left-hander is scoring at in the Cricket World Cup.

Needing to give Australia a flying start in pursuit of India's 352-5 on Sunday, the 32-year-old scored a painfully slow 56 from 84 balls and did not score a run for 14 deliveries at one point.

His 66.66 strike rate in the 36-run loss at the Oval was almost 30 points below his career average of 95.47 in the 50-overs format.

In Australia's first game in Bristol against Afghanistan, arguably the weakest bowling unit at the tournament, Warner scored an unbeaten 89 to guide his side to an easy seven-wicket win.

However, he took 114 balls to accumulate the runs and only hit eight fours on a ground that has short straight and square boundaries.

Warner entered the World Cup having blazed his way to a competition-leading 692 runs in the Indian Premier League, but Australia captain Aaron Finch said he had not consciously decided to be more circumspect in the longer format.

"No, it hasn't been a plan, a team plan or an individual plan for David," Finch told reporters of Warner's relatively slow scoring rate.

"I think they bowled really well early. They bowled nice and straight, back of the length, where the ball was just skidding quite low to start with.

"They just didn't give us any width to get away or any length to really work with, either over the top or get a drive away.

"Their bowling plans were pretty simple but really effective on a wicket like that."

India's bowling coach Bharat Arun said they had developed a short-pitched bowling plan to Warner that would make him uncomfortable and not allow him to free his arms, something opening bowler Bhuvneshwar Kumar adhered to strictly on Sunday.

Warner scored only 22 from 44 balls in his opening 61-run stand with Finch.

While Kumar and Jasprit Bumrah restricted Warner at the top of the innings, Finch had special praise for India's spinners Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal, who dried up the runs in the middle of the innings.

"Their spinners probably had a bigger impact than what ours did," Finch said.

"Well, they did have a bigger impact than what our spinners did, through the middle overs in particular where the ball was just starting to hold up."

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News Network
July 21,2020

Jul 21: The tickets sold for the now-postponed ICC T20 World Cup will remain valid if Australia hosts the edition in 2021 instead of India.

In case the event is shifted to 2022, all ticket-holders will be entitled to a full refund, the ICC stated on its website on Monday night after postponing the mega-event this year due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The tournament was to be held in October-November but will now be conducted later because of the pandemic.

The ICC has not yet announced which country will host which edition as there are operational issues that both the Indian and Australian cricket Boards need to sort out.

The world body had opened ticket booking through its ticketing partners and a significant number was already sold.

"Ticket holders are welcome to retain their tickets, noting, if Australia hosts in 2021, tickets will remain valid for fans who have already bought and will be automatically updated to reflect the new dates.

"If Australia hosts in 2022, for tickets already bought a full refund will be processed automatically," ICC stated in a series of FAQs.

Fans can retain their tickets until a date is confirmed for the event.

Refund requests can be made until December 15 and they will be processed within 30 days after an online submission.

The hospitality package will also remain valid for the 2021 fixtures.

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Agencies
June 2,2020

New Delhi, Jun 2: Expressing solidarity with the 'Black Lives Matter' campaign, star West Indies batsman Chris Gayle has alleged that he faced racist remarks during his career and cricket is not free of the menace.

Gayle did not elaborate when he faced racial remarks but hinted it might have been during his stints at global T20 leagues.

"I have travelled the globe and experienced racial remarks towards me because I am black, believe me, the list goes on," he posted on instagram on Monday night.

"Racism is not only in football, it's in cricket too. Even within teams as a black man, I get the end of the stick. Black and powerful. Black and proud," he said.

The big-hitting batsman's comments came in the backdrop of African-American George Floyd's death in the USA after a white police officer, Derek Chauvin, pressed his knee on the handcuffed man's neck as he gasped for breath.

The incident has sparked violent protests across the USA.

"Black lives matter just like any other life. Black people matter, p***k all racist people, stop taking black people for fools, even our own black people wise the p***k up and stop bringing down your own!," Gayle wrote.

Racism in cricket was drew attention most recently last year when England pacer Jofra Archer was abused by a spectator in New Zealand.

New Zealand's top players and the cricket board had offered apologies for the incident to the Englishman.

Also on Monday night, the England cricket team's official twitter handle posted a message denouncing racism.

"We stand for diversity, We stand against racism," the message read.

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News Network
May 24,2020

Melbourne, May 24: Former Australia captain Mark Taylor does not foresee the T20 World Cup scheduled in October-November going ahead and wants the ICC to take a decision during its Board meeting this week.

Taylor also feels that if IPL takes place during the window the T20 World Cup was to be held, the Australian players are likely to be cleared by their Board to take part in the cash-rich league in India.

The ICC Board meets on May 28 to discuss a host of issues related to COVID-19 pandemic, including a revamped schedule and the fate of the men's T20 World Cup in Australia.

For latest updates and live news on coronavirus, click here

"My feeling is the World T20 won't go ahead in Australia in October as planned. Is it going to be viable to have a world tournament in October or November? The answer to that is probably no," Taylor, also a former Cricket Australia (CA) director, was quoted as saying by 'Nine Network'.

"It would probably be good (if a decision is made this week). Because then everyone can start planning and we can stop sitting here and saying 'well ifs, buts or maybes'."

CA chief executive Kevin Roberts has said that a call on the fate of the T20 World Cup, scheduled to be held from October 18 to November 15, may potentially not come until August.

Read: Coronavirus India update: State-wise total number of confirmed cases, deaths

But players and administrators around the world are keen for some certainty and many have predicted that the 16-team event will soon be postponed.

There are reports that the BCCI is eyeing the October window for the IPL though officially it maintained, that it will not consider new dates of the cash-rich league until the T20 World Cup's fate is decided.

Taylor said the CA wants to keep BCCI happy so the Australia players are likely to be cleared for the IPL if it happens in October.

Pat Cummins, who was bought for a record amount of Rs 15.50 crore in last year's IPL auction, is among the Australians keen to take part in this year's competition.

"The Cricket Australia board will want to keep India happy. So they may want to let the players go to India if the IPL goes ahead," Taylor said.

"Because they want India to come here this summer and play, which will be our biggest summer in terms of dollars. That's the sort of discussion going on. No doubt."

Virat Kohli's team is scheduled to arrive in Australia for a Test tour starting November, which will go along way in addressing CA's financial woes triggered by teh COVID-19 pandemic.

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