Category: Sport

PTI | AP

St John’s (Antigua): The West Indies cricket team departed from Antigua for a three-test tour of England with the entire touring party based in the Caribbean having returned negative tests to COVID-19.

Earlier on Monday, two planes collected players from various islands in the West Indies and they joined a private charter which is due to arrive in Manchester on Tuesday morning.

West Indies Cricket said in a statement Monday that on arrival at Old Trafford in Manchester, the entire touring party will be quarantined and tested again for COVID-19 as they begin the seven-week tour where they will live, train and play in a “bio-secure” environment.

Those protocols will restrict movement in and out of the venues, so a group of reserve players will travel to train and help prepare the test squad and ensure replacements are available in case of injury.

There will be no spectators allowed at the three tests which are being played over just 21 days starting July 8 in Southampton and at Old Trafford from July 16-20 and again from July 24-28.

The venues were chosen because they had hotels attached or nearby and could be turned into bio-secure environments.

The original tour was scheduled for May and June but was postponed due to coronavirus restrictions.

“This is a huge step forward in cricket and in sports in general as we travel over to England for this series,” captain Jason Holder said.

“A lot has gone into the preparations for what will be a new phase in the game.”

West Indies test squad: Jason Holder (captain), Jermaine Blackwood, Nkrumah Bonner, Kraigg Brathwaite, Shamarh Brooks, John Campbell, Roston Chase, Rahkeem Cornwall, Shane Dowrich, Chemar Holder, Shai Hope, Alzarri Joseph, Raymon Reifer and Kemar Roach.

Reserve Players: Sunil Ambris, Joshua DaSilva, Shannon Gabriel, Keon Harding, Kyle Mayers, Preston McSween, Marquino Mindley, Shayne Moseley, Anderson Phillip, Oshane Thomas and Jomel Warrican.

Islamabad: Former Pakistan opener Taufeeq Umar has safely recovered from COVID-19 and has advised people to take the virus seriously and build up their immune systems.

Umar, who is also a member of the national junior selection committee, contracted the virus two weeks ago and isolated himself at his home.

On Friday, Umar said he had made a full recovery from the virus and his test has come negative.

“I would urge everyone to take care of themselves and take this Covid-19 seriously. Social distancing and safety measures are a must for everyone,” he said.

Umar, 38, who appeared in 44 Tests and 22 ODIs, said people should panic if they contract the virus.

“I isolated myself in a room for two weeks away from the children and elderly people in my family. I would say people should not be alarmed if they test positive. I would advise them to work on building up their immune system, he said.

At least two Pakistani first-class players have died from the coronavirus with leg-spinner Riaz Sheikh passing away in Karachi earlier this week.

Riaz Sheikh, a leg-spinner who took 116 wickets in 43 matches, died at his home and was buried in haste by his family.

Another Pakistani first-class player, Zafar Sarfaraz, 50, had died due to the virus in April in Peshawar. (PTI)

Did you know the Pakistani great cricketer Inzamam-ul-Haq has 03 ODI wickets to his name!

He picked up his first wicket off his very first ball in international cricket

Inzamam-ul-haq first international wicket was Brian Lara (West Indies)

Eds: Recasting overnight story

PTI

New Delhi: 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, pk all racist people, stop taking black people for fools, even our own black people wise the pk 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.

New Delhi: Premier India pacer Jasprit Bumrah won’t miss the hugs and high-fives as part of a wicket celebration but he will certainly miss applying saliva on the ball and feels an alternative should be provided to maintain the red cherry.

The ICC Cricket Committee, led by former India captain Anil Kumble, recommended a ban on using saliva on the ball as an interim measure to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the Committee did not allow the use of artificial substances as a substitute move.

The new rule makes life tougher for the bowlers and Bumrah, like many former and current fast bowlers, feels there ought to be an alternative.

“I was not much of a hugger anyway and not a high-five person as well, so that doesn’t trouble me a lot. The only thing that interests me is the saliva bit,” said Bumrah in a chat with Ian Bishop and Shaun Pollock on ICC’s video series ‘Inside Out’.

“I don’t know what guidelines we’ll have to follow when we come back, but I feel there should be an alternative,” he added.

Bumrah said not being able to use saliva makes the game more batsman-friendly.

“If the ball is not well maintained, it’s difficult for the bowlers. The grounds are getting shorter and shorter, the wickets are becoming flatter and flatter.

“So we need something, some alternative for the bowlers to maintain the ball so that it can do something – maybe reverse in the end or conventional swing.”

When former West Indian pacer Bishop pointed out that the conditions have been favourable to the fast bowlers over the last couple of years, Bumrah nodded in agreement.

“In Test match cricket, yes. That is why it’s my favourite format, because we have something over there. But in one-day cricket and T20 cricket one-day cricket there are two new balls, so it hardly reverses at the end.

“We played in New Zealand, the ground (boundary) was 50 metres. So even if you are not looking to hit a six, it will go for six. In Test matches I have no problem, I’m very happy with the way things are going.”

He finds it amusing that the batsmen keep complaining about the swinging ball.

“Whenever you play, I’ve heard the batsmen – not in our team, everywhere – complaining the ball is swinging. But the ball is supposed to swing! The ball is supposed to do something! We are not here just to give throwdowns, isn’t it? (laughter)

“This is what I tell batsmen all the time. In one-day cricket, when did the ball reverse last, I don’t know. Nowadays the new ball doesn’t swing a lot as well. So whenever I see batsmen say the ball is swinging or seaming and that is why I got out – the ball is supposed to do that.

“Because it doesn’t happen so much in the other formats, it’s a new thing for the batsmen when the ball is swinging or seaming,” said the 26-year-old.

The Ahmedabad-born pacer finds himself in an unusual position as he has not bowled for over two months due to the lockdown imposed in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak.

When India will play next is not clear yet and Bumrah said he is not sure about how his body will hold up when he returns to action.

“I really don’t know how your body reacts when you don’t bowl for two months, three months. I’m trying to keep up with training so that as soon as the grounds open up, the body is in decent shape.

“I’ve been training almost six days a week but I’ve not bowled for a long period of time so I don’t know how the body will react when I bowl the first ball.

“I’m looking at it as a way to renew your own body. We’ll never get such a break again, so even if you have a small niggle here and there, you can be a refreshed person when you come back. You can prolong your career,” he said.

Bumrah has risen rapidly in international cricket despite experts having reservations about his longevity due to his unorthodox action.

The gritty fast bowler sees similarities in his career graph to Swedish football star Zlatan Ibrahimovic.

“Our personalities are a different. But the story I could relate to is that not many people thought he would make it big. There was a similar case with me growing up as well.

“Wherever I went, it was the general feedback from people that ‘this guy would not do anything, he would not be a top-rated bowler, he won’t be able to play for a long period of time with this kind of action’.

“So, having the self-belief is important and the only validation that is required is your own validation. I saw that in his (Ibrahimovic’s) story, so that’s the thing I could relate to,” added Bumrah.

Srinagar: The ICC T20 World Cup, to be held this year in October-November, is likely to be postponed by two years.

According to news agency KINS, the official announcement on the matter will be made after the ICC meeting on May 28, though the current situation amid the Coronavirus pandemic has left the apex board with little options but to reschedule the league to 2022.

The postponement of the T20 World Cup would pave way for the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) to host the Indian Premier League (IPL) Season 13 in the September-October or October-November window.

IPL was earlier scheduled to start on March 29 but was suspended in the wake of the COVID-19 outbreak.(KINS)

PTI

Karachi: Pakistan head coach and chief selector Misbah-ul-Haq believes Babar Azam is destined to be a world class player and is very close to being in the same league as India skipper Virat Kohli and Australia’s Steve Smith.

“I don’t like comparisons but Babar is currently very close to being in the same class as Virat Kohli, Steve Smith or Joe Root,” Misbah said in an interview to Youtube channel, Cricket Baaz.

“He believes in the work ethic that if you want to better Kohli you have to work harder than him at your skills, fitness and game awareness.”

The 25-year-old, who was named captain of the Pakistan T20 team ahead of the Australia series in October last year, was recently handed the reins of ODI team as well.

“Making him the T20 captain was a tester. We wanted to see how he will respond to this challenge. All of us agree that he has done a very good job and his biggest plus is that being among the worlds top players he leads by example,” Misbah said.

“If you are a performer like Babar then it becomes easier for you to motivate the rest of the team and get things done.

“Even when I was made captain in 2010 my performances were here and there and I was in and out. But captaincy changed my game and mindset and I became a more hard working and motivated cricketer.”

Misbah said Babar always challenges himself and would get better as a captain with experience.

“He is in a zone of his own. He just doesn’t want to be in the team. He just doesn’t want to play for money. He wants to be the top performer for Pakistan. He is always pitting himself against other top batsmen like Kohli or Smith,” he said.

“He loves challenges in the nets and on the field. He has really matured as a player and in time he will get better as a captain with experience.”

Babar was the leading run-scorer of the T20I series against Australia last year. He also scored 210 runs, which included a hundred, at 52.50 in the Test series against the same opponents.

In the two-Test home series against Sri Lanka, Babar ended the series with 262 runs with an average of exactly 262.

Misbah feels Babar had changed as a batsman when he got runs in the Tests in Australia.

“Before that he was getting runs in tests but not consistently. In Australia and in the following tests against Sri Lanka and Bangladesh he changed,” he said.

Talking about his experience as a head coach, Misbah said: “Having captained, it has helped me a lot. As captain I had to manage everything and also having played under top coaches … I have seen closely their work ethics and how they managed things.

“It is a learning process. Having remained captain it is a big advantage for coaching because you know the players and their mood swings. You know which player will respond in a given situation,which player is feeling pressure in a scenario.

Misbah said it is not easy juggling between different roles.

“Most important thing as a coach is mentally and psychologically how you handle a group of players,” the former skipper said.

“Sometimes captain and coach is different as you have to take tough decisions. Being chief selector makes it it a bit difficult but I had experience of creating and managing teams, I have been building teams since 2003. Till now it is going well.”

Misbah feels in Pakistan cricket there were different parameters for judging foreign and local coaches.

“I don’t know why it is like this why do we have different eye for locals and foreigners. Maybe we feel they have something special. It looks like every decision by a foreign coach is right. In contrast we tend to be very critical of local coaches no matter what decision they take,” he said.

Wellington: With cricket’s finances taking a hit due to the COVID-19 pandemic, New Zealand all-rounder Jimmy Neesham says they will have to “adapt” to playing before empty stadiums to save the sport from financial ruin.

Cricket boards of England and Australia, which drive the sport’s economy along with India, are fearing they could face a severe financial crisis due to postponement of events leading to slashing of revenues.

Elite-level cricketing action looks unlikely to resume anytime soon and the T20 World Cup, scheduled for October and November, is under a cloud of uncertainty.

“If the situation is that the only way to play cricket is behind closed doors then I think it is something that we have to adapt to as players,” Neesham told ESPNcricinfo.

Both Cricket Australia and England & Wales Cricket Board have felt the strain after the pandemic brought all cricket activities to a grinding halt.

In April, CA had announced retrenchment of 80 per cent of its staff, even as players from both countries braced up for pay cuts.

Considering the extraordinary situation, the 29-year-old Neesahm said, “The reality is that it is a huge financial challenge for a lot of cricket boards to still run without any revenue coming in from games.

“So obviously we want to try and keep the sport in as good a state as it can be in. If that means playing games behind closed doors, the guys just need to suck it up and get it done.”

The New Zealander, however, added nothing can beat playing in front of fans.

“Certainly all things considered you would rather have fans in the ground. It adds a lot to the game and to the spectacle. But you want to adapt to the situation that is given to you,” he said.

The pandemic, which originated in the Chinese city of Wuhan in Hubei province, has led to either cancellation or postponement of all sporting events worldwide, including the Tokyo Olympics

Kaneria was found guilty of spot-fixing alongside Mervyn Westfield while playing for English county

PTI

The 39-year-old said, beyond his religion, it was difficult for him to think about the reason behind Afridi’s discriminatory behaviour.

Former Pakistan spinner Danish Kaneria on Saturday accused Shahid Afridi of treating him unfairly all through his career and blamed him for a rather short limited overs outing.

Kaneria, only the second Hindu to play for Pakistan after his maternal uncle Anil Dalpat, took 261 wickets in 61 Tests at an average of 34.79. However, he only played 18 ODIs between 2000 and 2010.

Speaking to PTI from Karachi, the 39-year-old said, beyond his religion, it was difficult for him to think about the reason behind Afridi’s discriminatory behaviour.

“He was always against me, when we were playing for the same department in domestic cricket or playing me in ODIs. If one person is always against you and you are in that situation, what other reason would think other than that (religion),” said Kaneria when asked if he was a victim of religious discrimination.

Kaneria, who last year supported Shoaib Akhtar’s claim that he was treated unfairly in the team because of his religion, said he could have played a lot more than 18 ODIs if it was not for Afridi.

“I could not play more ODIs because of him and he also treated me unfairly when we used to play for the same department (in domestic cricket), he was the captain. He used to keep me out of the side and often he would do the same in ODIs without any reason.

“He used to support others but not me. Thanks to almighty, I still went on to play a lot for Pakistan and I could not be more proud of that.”

Kaneria said he used to be a regular member of ODI squads but hardly got to play, blaming Afridi again for that.

“I was a leg spinner and so was he. That was another reason. He was a big star and playing for Pakistan anyway and to treat me like that, I could not understand why.

“They used to say two spinners can’t play in the eleven. They used to say my fielding was an issue in limited overs cricket. You tell me who were the supremely fit leaders at that time? There were only one or two good fielders. Pakistan was never known for fielding anyway.

“When not playing international cricket, he used to come back and drop me from the departmental team.”

Kaneria, who was found guilty of spot-fixing alongside Mervyn Westfield while playing for English county Essex against Durham in 2009, has been pleading for PCB’s help for a long time. He wants to come back into the PCB fold and serve the game again.

“I dont want to play the religion card. All I want is PCB’s support. If they can allow Mohammad Aamir, Salman Butt back into the system, why not me?

“Yes, I made a mistake but so did others. They can’t use and throw me like a toilet paper. I have served Pakistan for a long time and they should support me after all these years”

Kaneria played most under the captaincy of Inzamam-ul-Haq. He said Inzaman and Younis Khan supported him the most.

“I played under Moin Khan, Rashd Latif, Inzy bhai, Younish bhai. I played very little under Afridi. Inzy bhai and Younis bhai supported me a lot and it is a fact.

“However, Inzy bhai doesn’t talk about me positively in public but I will always be thankful to him for his support. I flourished under him,” Kaneria added.

Despite international concerns that Turkmen authorities are underplaying the threat of the COVID-19.

AFP

Turkmenistan is rebooting its football season on Sunday, with fans flocking back to stadiums in one of the few countries yet to declare a case of coronavirus.

The reclusive Central Asian state followed other countries around the world when it suspended its eight-team league in March just three games into the season.

The national football federation cited recommendations by the health ministry and the World Health Organisation for preventing the spread of the illness.

A month later, and despite international concerns that Turkmen authorities are underplaying the threat of the virus, football is returning, with supporters only too happy to follow the action from the stands.

“Joy boosts our immunity,” joked Ashir Yusupov, a 34-year-old entrepreneur.

He said he would be watching reigning champions Altyn Asyr take on early table-toppers Kopetdag in the capital Ashgabat on Sunday.

Yusupov said he had no fear of crowded places, despite being aware of bans on sports events in other countries.

“We have no coronavirus, so why not restart our league?” he asked.

Resisting suspension professional leagues

Three ex-Soviet states have bucked the global trend for suspending professional leagues: Turkmenistan, Tajikistan and Belarus.

Global interest in the Belarusian league has surged on the back of its decision, while the Tajikistan’s Super Cup final earlier this month attracted a curious multi-lingual online following.

But Belarus, which has confirmed 4,779 coronavirus cases, has been strongly criticised for allowing fans to attend games.

Tajikistan has begun its season with matches held behind closed doors, even as its authoritarian government, like that of Turkmenistan, continues to insist there are no cases in the country.

Ashgabat-based Altyn Asyr, whose name translates as “Golden Age”, won the Turkmen title last year.

Victory against Kopetdag would take it top of the table, with other teams set to play on Monday.

Vepa, a 20-year-old student, said he “never misses a game” and will go to the match on Sunday despite not supporting either team.

His club is Ahal, who represent the region outside Ashgabat from where the family of President Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov and much of the political elite hail.

Vepa said he was not sure Ahal can mount a serious title challenge but he has high hopes for new signing Elman Tagayev, a 30-year-old midfielder who has returned from a stint with a club in neighbouring Uzbekistan.

“His game is dynamic and beautiful,” said Vepa, who did not give his second name.

‘Impregnable fortress of the motherland’

Even during Soviet times Turkmenistan was no footballing powerhouse, and the sport is not among those promoted by sports-mad Berdymukhamedov.

On World Health Day on April 7, the president was shown on state television riding a horse and a bicycle as state employees engaged in mass exercise sessions across the country.

Such large public events have prompted observers to question how seriously the government is taking the pandemic.

Since then, Berdymukhamedov has ordered officials to ramp up efforts to detect any cases and prevent the virus spreading.

The president is known as the nation’s Arkadag, or “Protector.” State media has stressed the importance of his leadership in the pandemic.

In a poem published in state newspapers on Friday, the president’s favourite poet Gozel Shagulyyeva praised him as “the impregnable fortress of the motherland.” “Protector, you are watching over (our) health,” Shagulyyeva wrote.