Maxwell, Warner crush India

February 9, 2015

Adelaide, Feb 9: India’s preparations for the cricket World Cup suffered a jolt as Australia thrashed the defending champions by 106 runs with Glenn Maxwell and David Warner striking blistering centuries in their first warm-up game here on Sunday.

Maxwell Warner

Electing to bat at the Adelaide Oval in a match where the two teams used their full 15-member squads, the hosts rode on Warner’s 104 and Maxwell’s 57-ball 122 to put up a mammoth 371 all out in 50 overs. Warner made his runs off 83 balls.

The hard-hitting Maxwell smashed 11 boundaries and eight towering sixes. Warner found the fence 14 times and cleared it twice. India were then bowled out for 265 in 45.1 overs to give the hosts another morale-boosting win ahead of the quadrennial event.

Ajinkya Rahane top-scored for the visiting side with a 52-ball 66, while Shikhar Dhawan (59) and Ambati Rayudu (53) too made half-centuries. But their efforts proved too less as the rest of the batsmen crumbled in the face of some aggressive bowling by the Aussies on a surface that looked pretty good for batting.

Pacer Pat Cummins was the most successful bowler for Australia as he returned figures of three for 30, while there were two wickets apiece for Mitchell Starc, Mitchell Johnson and Josh Hazlewood.

Still in his comeback trail in international cricket following a month-long sabbatical due to a hamstring injury, 33-year-old pace spearhead Johnson had impressive figures of two for 26.

The star-studded Indian batting line-up that includes the likes of Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Suresh Raina and skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni failed to impress.

So was the case with all-rounder Stuart Binny and Ravindra Jadeja who were also smashed by the Australian batsmen.

‘It’s been tough to pick final XI’

Indian skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni admitted that he is having a difficult time?in identifying his playing eleven for the high-voltage World Cup clash against arch-rivals Pakistan.

“It has been difficult for us. When the batsmen click, the bowlers don’t and when the bowlers do, the batsmen fail. We need to sort that out.

What’s important is that we have one more game in our hand and before playing Pakistan it would be good to have the first XI in our hand,” Dhoni said at the post-match presentation. The Indian captain though said “there are plenty of positives in the game” for them.

Asked what he was looking at for identifying the final team, Dhoni said there were quite a few things to watch.

“It will depend on our utility cricketers. If the pitches remain as it is, we need our spinners to use the bounce more. It’s a very long tournament and what we have seen is the team that does well is the one that comes from the bottom and moves rapidly up,” he said.

?Speaking about his first ball dismissal against Australia in the warm-up match, he said,”I just played my shot with so many runs needed and the fielder up, but I never really thought it would go right to Starc.”

Australian captain George Bailey was naturally happy with his side’s performance.

“It was a great performance for us. I think you?can always improve. Early wickets?would be nice to blow the game out of the water. We’d like to have lost a few less wickets and I’d like?Starc to catch with both hands,” he said.

Score board

Australia

Warner b Axar 104

Finch c Kohli b Binny 20

Watson c Axar b Mohit 22

Smith b Yadav 1

Bailey c Jadeja b Shami 44

Maxwell (retired) 122

Marsh c Rahane b Yadav 21

Johnson c Mohit b Shami 19

Starc c Dhoni b Mohit 0

Cummins b Shami 5

Doherty (not out) 0

Extras: (B-2, LB-5, W-3, NB-3) 13

Total: (all out; 48.2 overs) 371

Fall of wickets: 1-62, 2-115, 3-120, 4-185, 5-227, 6-318, 7-345, 8-346, 9-371.

Bowling: Binny 6-0-41-1, Kumar 5-0-31-0, Shami 9.2-0-83-3, Yadav 9-1-52-2, Mohit 6-0-62-2, Ashwin 6-1-29-0, Axar 5-0-47-1, Jadeja 2-0-19-0.

INDIA

Rohit c Finch b Hazlewood 8

Dhawan c Starc b Johnson 59

Kohli b Starc 18

Rahane c Marsh b Cummins 66

Raina (run out) 9

Rayudu c Haddin b Hazlewood 53

Dhoni c Starc b Cummins 0

Binny b Johnson 5

Jadeja c Warner b Cummins 20

Axar (not out) 5

Ashwin c Cummins b Starc 1

Extras (LB-3, W-17, NB-1) 21

Total (all out, 45.1 overs) 265

Fall of wickets: 1-20, 2-53, 3-157, 4-172, 5-173, 6-173, 7-185, 8-254, 9-258.

Bowling: Starc 4.1-0-16-2, Johnson 6-0-26-2, Hazlewood 6-1-25-2, Marsh 6-0-38-0, Doherty 7-0-51-0, Maxwell 4-0-29-0, Watson 3-0-21-0, Cummins 6-1-30-3, Smith 3-0-26-0.

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News Network
March 19,2020

London, Mar 19: Talking about the break in cricketing activities due to the COVID-19 pandemic, South Africa pacer Dale Steyn said that the disease seems to be to the only topic of conversation these days.

"I don't know how to describe it. Doesn't matter where you go, everyone is talking about it - whether it is on an airplane or you are just popping into a grocery store. It just seems like it is the only topic of conversation," ESPN Cricinfo quoted Steyn as saying.

"Yeah, it's so strange. Normally if I am on holiday I'll be planning a fishing trip or a surfing trip. At the moment I am just chilling at home," he added.

Steyn was last seen in action in the Pakistan Super League where he took two wickets in two matches.

When asked whether he has enough hand sanitizers, he replied: "We just decided that stockpiling is definitely not the way to go. It is not fair on everybody who needs that stuff. I went to the grocery store the other day and everyone had bought all the toilet paper. We have what we need, and when that runs out, that runs out, and we need to go and get some more".

"We didn't feel it was necessary to go and absolutely just, like, zombie our lives up. There's other people that live on a day-to-day basis. They are not going to get all of that stuff, so we thought it was best not to do that".

Steyn also had a message for the fans, "Stay healthy, wash your hands, look after yourself, don't be greedy. Right now they are saying old people are really struggling, so if in a position to help, rather help them than help yourself. Pretty simple, really."

Due to the COVID-19 outbreak, the ODI series between India-South Africa and Australia-New Zealand have been postponed.

The start of the Indian Premier League (IPL) has also been postponed until April 15.

Cricket South Africa has suspended all forms of cricket for 60 days while Cricket Australia has advised all its employees to work from home.

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Agencies
May 23,2020

New Delhi, May 23: Sports Minister Kiren Rijiju on Saturday said India will not host any international event in immediate future and fans will have to learn to live with the new normal of sporting activities happening behind closed doors in the post-COVID-19 world.

Rijiju's statement gain greater significance in the context of the suspended IPL, which the BCCI wants to host in October-November in case of the ICC T20 World Cup in Australia is postponed.

"We have been working for quite some time now to resume sporting activities but before that, we have to think about practice and training. We are not going to have a tournament kind of situation immediately," Rijiju was quoted as saying by India Today.

For latest updates on coronavirus outbreak, click here

"We have to learn to live with the situation where sporting events will have to be carried forward without spectators in stadiums and sports venues," he added.

Talking specifically about the 13th edition of IPL, which has been put on hold for an indefinite period due to the pandemic, Rijiju said it is the government's prerogative to take a call on conducting any tournament in the country.

"In India, the government has to take a call and it will take a call depending on the situation. We cannot put health at risk just because we want to have a sporting event.

"Our focus is fighting Covid-19 and at the same time, we will have to work a mechanism to get back to normalcy. It is difficult to confirm dates but I am sure we will have some kind of sporting events this year," he said.

Rijiju's statement came close on the heels of Sports Authority of India (SAI) laying out a detailed Standard Operating Procedure for the resumption of sporting activities across the country in a phased manner.

"In the background, their (athletes) fitness and everything has been tracked. They are in touch with the coaches, the fitness experts, the high-performance directors. We are monitoring each and every athlete who are of the higher stature, who played for India and higher clubs," he said.

"Now it has been laid out. SAI has prepared a detailed SOP. These are prepared by experts from different fields. This SOP has already been issued to all sports federations and other sports bodies including govt stakeholders. So, based on this SOP training will start."

Coronavirus India update: State-wise total number of confirmed cases, deaths on May 23

The Sports Minister, however, reiterated that resumption of sporting activities will entirely depend on guidelines of respective states and local administrations.

"We have been clearly advising that health and safety are top priorities. Besides that we have to keep in mind two other things, one is the guidelines issued by the Home Ministry, second, is the guidelines issued by the administrations of the respective localities or states. So, these are to be taken into account," he said.

"But we have clearly stated that sports complexes and stadiums are open, other than that there should not be any activities till the lockdown is there or we come up with a renewed kind of advice."

Asked about the prospect of the Tokyo Games that were scheduled for this year but were postponed to 2021 due to the pandemic, the Sports Minister said he is hopeful of the quadrennial event taking place on the revised dates.

"Olympics is still far away and we have full confidence in the Japanese government and IOC and every country will support that the conduct of Tokyo 2021 will not be postponed. There are too many stakes in Olympics, so it is difficult to even foresee that the Olympics can be postponed," he said.

"As far as India's preparation goes, we are at the best stage of our preparation of any Olympics so far in history. This is going to be India's biggest contingent so far and have medal-winning prospects. But I am not saying we are so prepared to finish in the top 10 or 5 but our long term target is that India will be in the top 10 in 2028.

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News Network
March 21,2020

London, Mar 21: The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) has suspended all professional cricket till May 28, delaying the start of the new season, due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The ECB took the decision following discussions with the First-Class Counties, the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) and the Professional Cricketers' Association (PCA).

"It was agreed that, given the current information available, a seven-week delay to the start of the season is the most appropriate approach," an ECB media statement said.

The Board also announced that it is working on three new options, including the three-Test series against West Indies, the T20 Cup and the women's schedule against India, for a possible start in June, July or August.

"Close liaison with the Government will continue, with discussions on the potential of starting the season behind closed doors and giving sports fans the opportunity to live broadcast action," the statement said on Friday.

"The potential for reduced versions of competitions, should the season become further truncated, will also be discussed."

The ECB said it will meet as needed to review the position and make further decisions as the UK situation unfolds.

"During this period of deep uncertainty it is the ECB’s first priority to protect the wellbeing of everyone within the cricket family, from players, to fans and colleagues across the game,’’ ECB Chief Executive Officer Tom Harrison said.

"The decision to delay the start of the season has been essential, given the circumstances the nation faces. I am reassured by the collaborative effort from across the game that together, we will make the very best of whatever length of season we are able to safely schedule in the coming months," he added.

He said this would give the ECB time to keep pace with a fast-moving situation and continue to plan for how a revised season might look.

"Critically, we can also remain as flexible and adaptable as possible, within the obvious restrictions we face."

Last week, England's tour of Sri Lanka was called off mid tournament in view of the rising threat of the pandemic.

"Securing the future of the game will be a primary focus as we plot a revised schedule with an emphasis on the most financially important forms of the game for the counties across international and domestic cricket," Harrison said.

The COVID-19 global death toll has climbed past 11,000 with more than 250,000 infected. In UK, close to 4000 have tested positive so far and 177 died.

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