The potential cost of reducing the tournament length will mean changes are made in-game

Daniel Brettig10-Jun-2020Next summer’s Big Bash League will be subject to a host of in-game tinkering that does not allow for a wider debate over the tournament’s overall value to broadcasters, and stops short of the macro changes desired by its independent reviewer, the respected television executive Dave Barham.At a time of major upheaval in the game, as Cricket Australia, its state association owners, and the Australian Cricketers Association haggle over cricket’s cost-base and general finances in the time of the Covid-19 pandemic, the 10th edition of the BBL will not depart from the 56-game regular season and five-game finals series that formed the basis of the league’s major increase in rights value to be worth about half the A$1.18 billion total in 2018.Instead, the BBL’s managers, including the tournament head Alistair Dobson and CA’s executive in charge of events, Anthony Everard, are to propose a raft of tweaks to playing conditions to the joint CA-ACA and umpires playing conditions committee that is due to meet in July.These changes are expected to include:

• Bonus points available to teams for their progress at the 10-over point of an innings
• Substitutions also allowed within that same period
• Powerplay split between the first four overs of the innings and two overs floating elsewhere
• Free-hits for the bowling of wides
• The addition of extra breaks for advertisements and player strategy after every five overs.
• A draft for overseas players is also expected to be up for consideration

While Barham has publicly raised the question of the tournament’s size in addition to his findings in a confidential discussion report tabled to CA earlier this year, the governing body is understood to be extremely hesitant about opening up any form of content-level discussion with its broadcasters Fox Sports and Seven, due to the likelihood of any reduction in content meaning a discount in the fees owed. This has certainly been the case for the AFL and NRL, which have had to put on shorter seasons due to the impact of Covid-19 and paid for it in terms of rights fees.CA’s earlier announcement of a full schedule of international cricket for the summer was geared at the same outcome, to calm any fears among domestic and overseas broadcasters about the possibility of reduced amounts of matches – none more vitally than the 10 fixtures to be played between Australia and India in Tests, ODIs and T20Is.Debutant Nathan McSweeney made a spectacular attempt to catch Steven Smith•Getty Images and Cricket Australia

At the same time, the inclusion of white-ball fixtures against New Zealand in the back half of January appear to crowd the period in which Barham and others have hoped the BBL will conclude in, free of competition from international matches so as to ensure the likes of David Warner, Mitchell Starc and Pat Cummins join their other Australian counterparts in taking up deals with local clubs. Declining standards of overseas players has been an issue, as the Bangladesh Premier League has been successful in attracting players to earn more money for fewer games.”I hope they’re brave,” Barham told this week. “I hope they actually make some serious change and be brave and be bold because I wouldn’t want the Big Bash continue on the path it’s on. It’ll always be an interesting deal, and I think sports have really got to look at quality over quantity and I always look at the NFL. They’ve got 16 rounds, it’s been 16 rounds for a long time and it’s so easy for sporting administrators to think we need more money, let’s play more, let’s do more.”It’s not necessarily the best answer; the NFL rights have been going through the roof and they haven’t changed the number of rounds ever as far as I can tell. It depends on your ratings. The AFL’s now gone to that format and that’s what it is and has been established, but cricket went from 35 games to 61 in two years. So 35 games to 61 is a massive increase that is way out of proportion.”That’s really tested everybody, and it was a school holidays sport that was doing a million people a night on Channel Ten, that’s a massive audience, averaging more than what AFL and NRL did on a per-game basis. So you go from a million people a night, and I think they’ve dropped 40% in ratings by expanding. You’ve got to look and think carefully before you think that the answer is just putting on more games.”There has been considerable debate between CA, broadcasters and the ACA about the shape of the BBL and its size. While the extra games attracted a greater fee, production costs to cover 61 games, a significant number of them in regional centres, have added to the balance sheet headaches for broadcasters while they have also seen audiences thinning out as a result of the increase in number of matches to watch.

Head coach says lack of home crowds and preparation time could work against England

Alan Gardner13-Jun-2020Not since their 1980s heyday have West Indies won a Test series in England, but two aspects of the forthcoming three-match encounter could work in their favour, according to head coach Phil Simmons. First, due to the behind-closed-doors nature of the Tests, in response to Covid-19, there will be no supporters in the stands to cheer the home side on; and second, instead of being halfway through their summer, England have not played competitive cricket for several months.That might “even things out a little bit”, Simmons said via video conference from the team’s training base in Manchester, where West Indies are currently serving a 14-day quarantine period and continuing their preparations for the rescheduled tour, after agreeing to ECB proposals for staging “bio-secure” Test matches.As well as the absence of crowds, there will be significant departures from normal playing conditions – including a ban on using saliva to shine the ball, and the possibility of Covid replacements for players who display symptoms of the disease. The first international series to be contested since the coronavirus pandemic escalated in mid-March promises to be a trip into the unknown for all involved.ALSO READ: World must ‘come together’, says Holder, as West Indies arrive for historic tour“I don’t know if it will increase our chances, because both teams are under the same umbrella – for want of a better word,” Simmons said. “The nice part for us is that 20,000 Englishmen raving for England, and that crowd support, it’s not there for them. So that in a way will help us, so it’s good from that point of view.”Asked about the standing start for both teams, he added: “It’s a plus, because England hasn’t come from a tour recently, and we’ve just been playing cricket at home. Because in a normal situation we would have been coming from camps and England would have been halfway through their season and the series would have been going on right now. So I think that is a plus for us, because it evens out things a little bit, with the fact they haven’t been playing competitive cricket for a while also.”Having beaten England 2-1 in the Caribbean 18 months ago, a draw would be enough for West Indies to retain the Wisden Trophy. And while they travelled to the UK earlier this week without three players who took park in that 2018-19 victory – batsmen Darren Bravo and Shimron Hetmyer, and allrounder Keemo Paul – Simmons was happy with the players at his disposal.”I think we have the best squad we can have,” he said. “Unfortunately a few guys decided not to come but we are here with the best squad that we can have here. And from the way we’ve started our work, the guys have been putting in, I think we’ll be ready and looking to defend our trophy.”Even with everything around and having to be conscious of the whole situation and the way the world is now, we still have to be mindful that we are preparing for a Test series against one of the top Test nations in the world. So we still have to put everything in place and do everything correctly.”West Indies fielding coach Rayon Griffith wears PPE while conducting a drill•CWI Media

The absence of Bravo and Hetmyer will likely increase the focus on the tourists’ batting line-up, in particular Kraigg Brathwaite and Shai Hope, whose runs were integral to victory at Headingley in 2017 – West Indies’ first Test win in England for 17 years.”There’s a lot of pressure on the batsmen to perform because the bowling unit have been carrying the Test team for a while now,” Simmons said. “It’s something that we have been on a lot, not to put extra pressure on but we need to get that total of 400-450 in order to give this bowling unit – which I think is a top-class bowling unit, the fast bowlers especially. So we need to get that 400-50 on a regular basis in order to give ourselves a chance of winning Test matches.”We understand the quality of these two individuals [Bravo and Hetmyer] and we know what we’ll be missing. But in situations like this we have to work hard with the guys who are here and make sure that what we’re doing is putting them in a position to fill those two shoes for the series. Hopefully whoever fills the shoes can go on and be as great as they want to be.”England well know the prowess of West Indies’ pace-bowling resources, having been blown away for 77 in Barbados last year, and Simmons suggested his hand could yet be strengthened by the time the first Test begins on July 8. Although Shannon Gabriel is not officially part of the 14-man Test squad, he is among the back-up personnel on tour and could come into contention for selection if he can prove his recovery from an ankle injury over the coming weeks.”Shannon as we know has come back from injury, and being a senior member of the squad in the past, I think we would definitely have a look at him coming into the [squad] if he’s up to that fitness level leading into the first Test.”

He says he will follow any guidelines the board may propose

ESPNcricinfo staff01-Aug-2020Among all the decisions to make around the IPL, the BCCI has another one: in its inbox are two emails from Sanjay Manjrekar, who has sought reinstatement to the board’s panel of commentators. Manjrekar says he will apologise if he has unwittingly offended anyone and will follow any guidelines the BCCI may set. He had tweeted in March this year that he had been dropped from the BCCI’s commentary team and that he accepted the decision as a professional.In the emails, Manjrekar has, while pointing to his track record as a key member of commentary panels, referred to possible reasons for his exclusion, while also expressing that he was shocked and hurt to hear of the decision.”I have publicly maintained that – the BCCI are my employers and they have every right to either have me or not, in their commentary panel. I have never considered being on a commentary panel an entitlement,” Manjrekar wrote in the email addressed to the BCCI’s Apex Council. “But here, amongst a small circle of important stakeholders of Indian cricket, friends and colleagues, please allow me to open my heart.”I was greatly hurt! Especially because this came as a real shock! Until this moment, I had been the leading commentator on the BCCI panel for many years fulfilling some of the biggest responsibilities there are in live broadcasting: lead commentator, post-match awards presenter, hosting the toss, doing player interviews and yes, impromptu BCCI functions on ground too. I am also one of the first Indian commentators that gets rostered for the World Cups by the ICC. I did my job with great pride and a 100 per cent commitment and suddenly not found to be good enough to be in the panel was a big jolt.”[…] this sacking for whatever reason, has shaken my confidence as a professional. If unwittingly, I have offended anyone I would be happy to apologise to the concerned party,” he said.The speculation around Manjrekar being dropped from the roster was that it had been a result of his calling Ravindra Jadeja a “bits-and-pieces cricketer” during an interview with a news agency last year, and he refers to the incident in his letter to the BCCI while pointing out that it was neither made on air, nor over Twitter. Jadeja had reacted to this comment through a tweet directed at Manjrekar, saying he was “tired of your verbal diarrhoea” and also gesticulated at the commentary box when he made a fifty during last year’s World Cup semi-final against New Zealand. Following that, and an aggressive backlash from fans, Manjrekar had acknowledged on the post-match broadcast that Jadeja had “ripped him apart on all fronts” and proved him wrong. Manjrekar said that he had been told by a “senior office bearer” around the time of being dropped that some players had issues with him as a commentator, and that made the job “tricky”.”If we are not seen praising the iconic players all the time, the fans of those players tend to assume that we are antagonistic towards the players they worship,” he wrote.”That’s the professional hazard we have to live with doing our job. Anyone who has followed my career as a commentator would know that I have no malicious agenda against anyone and that my opinions come from a very pure place that I hold sacred. It’s cricket we are talking about, a sport that’s given me and my father so much.”My comments and opinions could be wrong, but they are never personal, derogatory or borne out of prejudice or cunning design, I am only biased towards excellence in performances, whether it’s a team or a player.”In support of that, Manjrekar attached an audio clip of the interview excerpt and told the Apex Council members that they would find the comment “benign” if they consumed the comment in context, and that “‘bits and pieces’ is a cricketing term commonly used for cricketers who are non-specialists”. He also indicated that he and Jadeja have since made peace about the issue privately.In a follow-up communication with the BCCI, Manjrekar has expressed his willingness to follow any guidelines they might propose as he sought to be reinstated to the bcci.tv production team, saying that “last time may be there was not enough clarity”.

Root and Harry Brook seal win after Tom Wood impresses for Derbyshire

ECB Reporters Network20-Sep-2020Joe Root and Harry Brook led Yorkshire Vikings to a dramatic six-wicket victory off the final ball against the Derbyshire Falcons in the Vitality Blast at Headingley.Root scored an unbeaten 60 from 50 balls while Brook smashed 50 off 29 to take the Vikings to their target of 168 and end a run of four straight T20 defeats.They looked to be heading for another disappointment when Sam Conners removed Adam Lyth and Dawid Malan in the space of three balls and were well off the pace at 80 for 4.But Root and Brook shared an unbroken stand of 91 to overhaul the Falcons 167 for 6 which was built around a T20 best of 67 from 48 balls by Tom Woodwith Ben Coad taking 3 for 40.The Falcons, who finish bottom of the North Group, looked on course for a bigger total after Wood and skipper Billy Godleman plundered 80 from the first 10 overs.Wood ramped Coad for six and cut the seamer for four as 20 came from the third over and he reached his first T20 50 off 31 balls by pulling Root onto the Western Terrace for another maximum.Godleman swept Root to backward square in the 14th over and although Wayne Madsen marked his 500th innings for Derbyshire by launching Jordan Thompson over long on for six, the Falcons lost momentum in the closing overs.Coad completed an excellent comeback by having Wood caught at deep wicket and Leus du Plooy edged behind swinging at Thompson to give wicketkeeper Ben Birkhead his first Blast victim on debut.Madsen was well caught by Lyth at extra cover and Matt Critchley could only sky his first ball to mid-off.After Alex Hughes pulled Duanne Olivier to deep square, Luis Reece took consecutive fours off the South African but it had been a good recovery by the Vikings bowlers who kept their discipline to restrict the Falcons to 32 from the last four overs.Lyth started the chase with two boundaries from Madsen’s opening over but Conners struck two huge blows in the third.The Vikings skipper top edged a pull and was caught behind and Malan went two balls later when he got an inside edge driving at Conners.Will Fraine responded by pulling Madsen for six and Root pulled and clipped Conners for successive fours but the Vikings suffered another blow in the 6th over; Fraine chipped Dustin Melton to midwicket and at the halfway point, the Vikings were well off the pace, needing another 103 runs.Thompson opened the throttle by pulling Critchley for six as 13 came from the 11th over but he holed out to long-off in the next.Root launched Reece over the long-on boundary as 20 came from the 15th and Brook twice dispatched Conners for two fours to reduce the target to 33 from three.Brook drilled Melton for six over long-off and when it came down to nine off the last, Brook lofted the final ball for four to end a disappointing Blast campaign on a positive note.

Mishra was the third-highest wicket-taker for the Capitals with an economy of just 7.20

Nagraj Gollapudi05-Oct-2020India legspinner Amit Mishra has been ruled out of the IPL with a finger injury, dealing a significant blow to the Delhi Capitals. Mishra sustained a flexor tendon injury to the ring finger of his bowling hand while attempting a return catch in the Capitals’ last match against the Kolkata Knight Riders on October 3.Mishra was the third-highest wicket-taker for the Capitals in the IPL and had featured in their last three matches. He had taken just three wickets but at an economy rate of 7.20. All his three wickets were top order batsmen, including David Warner and Manish Pandey against the Sunrisers Hyderabad, and Shubman Gill in the match against the Knight Riders where he bowled just two overs before leaving the field with the injury.The Capitals will especially feel Mishra’s absence since wristspinners have once again proved to be impact bowlers in the first fortnight of the IPL, with Yuzvendra Chahal, Rahul Chahar and Piyush Chawla in the top-10 wicket-takers’ list. The Capitals are currently second in the points table with three wins in four matches.Mishra was one of the two wristpinners in the Capitals’ squad along with Nepal legspinner Sandeeep Lamichhane. It is now likely that Lamichhane would be drafted into the playing XI at the expense of Shimron Hetmyer, who has mostly been used in the lower-middle order.

Misbah will announce the squad for the Zimbabwe and NZ series before a new chief selector takes over from December

Umar Farooq14-Oct-2020Former Pakistan captain Misbah-ul-Haq has decided to step down as the chief selector of the men’s cricket team, a role he held for over a year. Misbah, however, will continue as the head coach of the team, and will pick the squads for the upcoming home series against Zimbabwe as well as the tour of New Zealand in December.”I want to announce that I am leaving the responsibility as chief selector,” he said at a press conference. “The rationale behind my decision is that in the next two years, we have 10 major series and many of them are away tours. So it’s tough for me to work as chief selector while watching out for domestic cricket.”Anyway, there was always an understanding between me and the PCB that whenever I feel difficulty, I can leave this additional responsibility. I have thoroughly enjoyed the dual roles but after reviewing the past 12 months and looking ahead at the workload in the next 24 months of my tenure, it is the right time to take a call [so] that I can fully invest my focus on the coaching role.”ESPNcricinfo understands another reason that led to Misbah’s decision was the implementation of the PCB’s new code of ethics that was put in place to remove issues arising from conflict of interest. However, when he had taken over the dual selector-coach role in September 2019, this specific code of ethics – which was ratified in July 2020 – did not exist.In light of the code, Misbah’s case specifically came under the spotlight under a potential conflict of interest, with him being selector and head coach of the Pakistan national side as well as having a contract with Islamabad United as head coach for the fifth edition of the PSL. That season, though, remains unfinished and is likely to be completed in the second week of November.Misbah strongly quashed rumours that his decision was a result of him recently bypassing the PCB chairman and executive’s meeting with the Prime Minister Imran Khan – who is also the patron of the PCB – to voice his reservation against PCB’s policy on the current domestic structure. The meeting saw the PCB chairman Ehsan Mani face off with Misbah, Test captain Azhar Ali and senior player Mohammad Hafeez. It is understood that the entire saga left a bad taste in the mouths of Mani as well as the PCB CEO Wasim Khan.Misbah-ul-Haq looks on in training•Gareth Copley/Getty Images

“There are rumours that my decision came after meeting with the PCB chairman about that [infamous] meeting with Imran ,” Misbah said. “I can confirm that there is nothing like this… If it had to go this way, then I could have lost both the roles and not kept the head coach’s job. This decision is absolutely my choice about how I want to move forward and how to focus on Pakistan cricket and players.”I think whatever work [I did] and the decisions I made during the [time] span [of being the selector], they were possibly the best and taken in the interest of Pakistan cricket. So many players got in and made their place with their performances, and I am satisfied that we are going in the right direction.”Coaching is my passion and my ultimate objective remains to contribute to the development of players and help the side achieve bigger successes. When I was appointed last year, I was offered the coaching role first and then given the option to also head the selection committee, which I had graciously accepted. I am grateful to the Pakistan Cricket Board for their understanding and for supporting my thought process.”With his exit, Misbah’s unprecedented influence over Pakistan cricket comes to an end as the PCB experimented with the idea of giving him extensive roles as head coach, chief selector and batting coach. He was given a three-year contract including annual appraisal as per his performance, while the role of selector was always supplementary. The debate in Pakistan on removing him from the dual role had started merely six months into his contract, as Pakistan were swept 3-0 in a T20I series at home against Sri Lanka.However, as chief selector, Misbah introduced Abid Ali, Naseem Shah, Musa Khan and Usman Khan Shinwari in Tests and blooded the T20I squad with youngsters Haris Rauf, Haider Ali, Ahsan Ali and Khushdil Shah.Misbah’s contract is being tweaked and he will formally step aside from the role of chief selector on November 30, with his replacement to take over from December. The body of the selection committee, though, will remain intact with head coaches of each of the six cricket associations acting as members of the committee to assist the chief selector.”Over the last two weeks, Misbah has worked closely with the other selectors to finalise the squads for both the upcoming series with Zimbabwe and the New Zealand tour, which will follow in November,” Wasim said.”With a new chief selector, we will revisit the selection criteria to ensure that there is complete alignment between the Selection Committee, the High Performance Centre and the national men’s cricket team. With so much red and white-ball cricket ahead, we will need to select squads that have a strong balance between youth and experience”.Misbah is due to announce the squad for the Zimbabwe limited-overs series on October 19 followed by the two squads – the national and A team – for the tour of New Zealand.

Colin Ingram has signed with the Hurricanes while Phil Salt has returned to the Strikers

Alex Malcolm and Daniel Brettig11-Nov-2020West Indian batsman Nicholas Pooran has joined the Melbourne Stars for the start of the BBL season as cover for new signing Jonny Bairstow.*Bairstow, along with a host of other England internationals are unavailable until after Christmas due to England’s limited-overs tour of South Africa which finishes on December 9. Australia’s international border security rules due to Covid-19 require travellers from overseas to quarantine for 14 days in a secure hotel upon arrival.But Australia has a travel bubble with New Zealand where West Indies will be touring at the end of November with the T20I series concluding on November 30. Pooran, who is not part of the Test squad, is likely to be allowed to travel to Australia from New Zealand without quarantining having already done so in New Zealand prior to the series following his arrival from the IPL.Pooran was courted by several BBL clubs last year but was unable to play in the tournament. He will be available for six matches.The Stars have also confirmed that Haris Rauf, the Pakistan fast bowler who was one of the breakout stars of last year’s BBL, will not be available for this edition due to international commitments.Meanwhile, Hobart Hurricanes have signed South African Colin Ingram as cover for Dawid Malan in the early part of the tournament. Ingram previously played for the Adelaide Strikers and was part of their tournament triumph in BBL07, but left the club in abrupt circumstances the following year after captaining the Strikers for part of the season.Adelaide Strikers have re-signed Sussex opener Phil Salt after he made an impressive BBL debut last year scoring four half-centuries at a blistering strike-rate of 164.09.Australia’s hard international border will affect a number of the BBL clubs with Bairstow, Malan, Sam Billings, Tom Curran, Lewis Gregory, Liam Livingstone, Jason Roy all touring South Africa. Malan may get to leave for Australia a week earlier than his countrymen as he is only part of England’s T20 squad.*November 12, 9.45am: the story was updated to reflect confirmation of Pooran’s signing

Former captain says he’s currently “under home isolation”

ESPNcricinfo staff11-Dec-2020Former Nepal captain Paras Khadka has tested positive for Covid-19 and is currently “under home isolation”. The 33-year old was part of the Nepal training camp, at Tribhuvan University Stadium in Kathmandu, which included the BBL-bound Sandeep Lamichhane, Gyanendra Malla and Dipendra Singh Airee who had contracted the coronavirus too.Khadka revealed this on Twitter, saying: “Having got mild symptoms, I isolated myself from the team over last two days and as I lost my smell and taste since yesterday evening, I conducted my PCR test this morning and the report has come out as Covid-19 positive.”I am currently under home isolation and will be following all the guidelines as per the doctors…” As a result, Khadka will miss the Gautam Buddha Cup, which will begin on December 12. He was supposed to captain Team Narayani in the tri-series.Khadka’s last competitive game was a T20I against Thailand in Bangkok in March 2020. Last month he had been shortlisted for the ICC men’s Associate cricketer of the decade award.

CA’s chief executive said he understood CSA’s strong reaction to the tour being called off

Daniel Brettig03-Feb-2021A formal offer from Cricket Australia to play next month’s scheduled Test series in Australia was rejected by Cricket South Africa. CA’s interim chief executive Nick Hockley confirmed discussions of the Australia scenario as he explained why the “risk profile” of the tour had become unacceptable even if lavish biosecurity measures were taken.As reported by ESPNcricinfo, there were discussions between the two boards about potentially shifting the series across the Indian Ocean to Australia, specifically to play it in Perth, where South Africa have long enjoyed a strong record of success.However, Hockley explained that the proposal fell down largely because CSA argued the extra time and money required for staging the series in Australia would make a range of other commitments impossible for South Africa to fulfil. Talks around a neutral venue such as the UAE were also shot down for similar reasons.”We’ve been doing an enormous amount of work with CSA and we have last night’s decision, so we’ll work through over the coming weeks and months when we may be able to reschedule the series,” Hockley said. “We did offer to host the series here, but CSA made that very clear that they’ve also got lots of other commitments and with quarantine periods and the like, that wasn’t feasible.Related

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“We didn’t explore [neutral venues] in too much detail, the question if you think about a neutral venue is where, and there are challenges in lots of different jurisdictions, so certainly we made the formal offer to host and CSA, which we respect entirely, made their position very clear and we’ve continued to work as hard as we can to try to make it happen. But we came to a point where people were starting to commit costs, people were starting to have to do pre-departure protocols and enter into biosecure environments in South Africa in preparation.”I think we gave ourselves every shot, we couldn’t have left it any later, but in the end that residual risk, the implications if we did get a positive, the chances of getting a positive, meant we really didn’t have any other decision.”CA will not be asking the ICC to delay the World Test Championship final, leaving the team’s destiny in the hands of India and England, who could allow Australia to wriggle through to the decider against New Zealand in the event of a drawn or close series over coming weeks. Even then, there are no guarantees Australia would be able to travel to the UK for the final.”We all knew the rules going in and I think that’s what’s made this decision really, really hard,” Hockley said. “We’ve done everything we possibly can to make the tour go ahead but in the end we had to listen to the overwhelming medical advice, so we won’t be pursuing that with the ICC, but it’s just another reason why not being able to tour is so disappointing.”I don’t think you can guarantee anything, that’s one thing we’ve learned. You certainly can’t guarantee how quickly things change. Thankfully for this home summer there’s been community transmission at stages but the prevalence has been relatively low. It’s still been massively challenging to play the home summer. I can’t speak highly enough of the players, they’ve been away in biosecure bubbles, and if it comes that we qualify for the Test Championship that’s now out of our hands. It’s reliant on other results, then we’ll have to look at the situation at the time.”Summing up the reasons for the decision not to tour, Hockley said they came down to the facts of South Africa’s second wave and uncertainties about the return of any players or staff to Australia in the event that they caught one of the newer, more virulent strains of Covid-19. He also accepted the anger with which CA’s call was met by CSA.Australia’s slow over-rate in the Boxing Day Test against India looks likely to cost them•Getty Images and Cricket Australia

“What happened during the process is really two things. South Africa very sadly have hit the peak of their second wave, and then secondly we’ve got the more virulent strain, which there’s still lots of unknowns around,” he said. “So as we’ve worked through the residual risk and also some questions and challenges around if we were to get a case how and when we can get our players back home, taking advice of medical experts and putting health and safety absolutely No. 1, we were really left with no option.”We’ve spoken to the players’ association at length, I’ve spoken to the coach…the players are disappointed, they want to play cricket, they want to appear in the World Test Championship, they want to play Test cricket, they want to get back on the horse after this recent India series. They’re very disappointed and we all went into this endeavour and all worked very hard to make this tour happen.”I think the reaction – obviously we’ve spoken to our equivalents at length – I think the reaction from CSA is totally understandable and we share their disappointment given the power of work everyone’s put in to try to make this tour go ahead.”As for accusations that CA had put money before cricket in thus far only playing international series against England and India (they are also due to tour New Zealand later this month for T20Is) while postponing every other scheduled encounter, Hockley was blunt in his riposte.”I’d refute those in the strongest possible terms,” he said. “The reality of Afghanistan was it was one Test match and we were looking at a month’s quarantine, in and back potentially, certainly two weeks on the lead-in for one Test, and we’re looking to rearrange that for this coming season.”We have done everything we possibly can to make this tour happen and it’s a very difficult and challenging situation in South Africa just now and that’s what makes it even more heartbreaking that we’re not able to go.”All I can say is we play every ball on its merits. We’ve learned a fortune since we’ve started, we’ve got the best medical advisers, everyone’s becoming much more adept at the protocol and also risk assessment and unfortunately at this current time in South Africa we’ve just been presented with a risk profile which is significantly greater than anything we’ve encountered to date.”

The ability to watch international cricket was the second-highest priority for member nations according to ICC’s latest survey

Peter Della Penna25-Feb-2021Broadcast access to transmit live tournament cricket, in nations far off the beaten path of Full Member nations, used to be a major obstacle impeding the ability to grow the sport. But that may now be a thing of the past as the ICC on Wednesday announced a major agreement with IMG that will introduce web streamed broadcasts for more than 500 ICC global pathway events at men’s and women’s level through 2023.These will include regional qualifiers from each of the five Associate regions – Africa, Americas, Asia, Europe and East Asia-Pacific – for the next men’s and women’s T20 World Cups in 2022 and 2023 respectively, as well as the seven-team Men’s ODI League Two and Challenge Leagues being used as qualification for the 2023 Men’s World Cup.”The objective of the program is a response to a demand not only from fans around the world but that of the members,” Will Glenwright, ICC head of global development, told ESPNcricinfo in a phone interview after the ICC’s announcement on Wednesday. “We do an annual survey of the members, the 2020 version of which we just completed, and getting international cricket on television was the second-highest priority that they have communicated to us. Growing awareness of the game, in the eyes of the members, is the biggest inhibitor to the growth and development of the sport.”So this is a direct response to that demand that comes from our members and it is absolutely an awareness motive rather than a profit-driven or revenue-driven motive. Whilst it’s a good financial outcome for the ICC, it’s driven primarily about the need to get more international cricket and get more Associate member cricket to the fans around the world.”Over the past decade, traditionally strong Associate members such as Nepal have regularly commanded impressive viewing traffic figures thanks to broadcasts of events coordinated by local media houses. However, demand for access in recent years has spread further afield such that the regional T20 men’s qualifiers were web streamed throughout the summer of 2019 from locations such as Guernsey, Malaysia and Bermuda.Will Glenwright (left) and former Cricket Scotland chairman Tony Brian watch the final of the 2019 Women’s T20 World Cup Qualifier•Peter Della Penna

The appetite for Associate content had grown exponentially in recent times. According to an ICC press release from February 2020, digital views from clips of various regional pathway events totalled more than 128 million. This culminated in the 2019 Men’s T20 World Cup Qualifier in the UAE which set a record for digital consumption with an additional 80 million views for digital clips across various ICC social media and web platforms during the three-week tournament in spite of the fact that neither Nepal nor Afghanistan – another major traffic driver before their elevation to Test status – participated in the final qualifying tournament. It was enough evidence to demonstrate that a bigger effort had to be coordinated to expand the ICC’s broadcasting footprint.”We know the quality of the cricket has improved from a high-performance perspective and we know the context of the pathway events makes for compelling viewing,” Glenwright said. “That, in addition to the demand that we have received from our members, the fact that lack of awareness of the game is one of the biggest barriers to growing the game for our Associate members, all pointed to us examining this properly.”I think it’s part of the digital evolution that we’re undergoing as an organization, the increased capability that we’ve brought into our team to deliver this, has meant that for the first time we’ve been able to give this the attention it deserves, to point the resources in the right direction and the outcome is as we’ve announced today a groundbreaking partnership with a reputable organization that’s going to deliver over 500 Associate member cricket matches to the world.”In the past, regional ICC events were broadcast on more of an ad hoc basis, often determined by the existing infrastructure and capability of host countries to facilitate a broadcast. That is now expected to be a thing of the past according to the new broadcast arrangement.”The broadcasting of those events was done sporadically and often depended on the capabilities of the host member themselves,” Glenwright said. “One of the criticisms that we faced from the members was that perhaps our minimum standards around that were too overbearing which made it difficult for the members to deliver and stream those events to those standards. That’s something we sought to overcome by standardizing it under this agreement with IMG.”Perhaps the most significant part of this deal is that, according to the ICC release, more than 50 countries will be featured on global broadcasts for the first time as a consequence of the new arrangement. That includes several women’s teams in countries that do not currently field a men’s team competitive enough to feature in the corresponding regional qualification pathway for a T20 World Cup such as the Brazil Women, who announced central contracts for 14 squad members in January 2020. The exposure that these web streams offer is something that can see new financial opportunities open up to many other countries in the same manner.”That’s not something that we take lightly at all,” Glenwright said. “It opens up all sorts of opportunities for the members, not only from a performance perspective but from a commercial and a fan engagement perspective as well. In setting the minimum standards, we’ve been mindful of the need to ensure that all of these events can be streamed by our smaller members as easily as it can be done by our more established members who have more experience in streaming and broadcasting their events.”Our member boards plus other sports have done some really innovative stuff, I think particularly during the pandemic around broadcasting and streaming and bringing content to fans around the world. The European Cricket League has been brilliant from a cricket perspective and initiatives like that of Finland, Japan and some of our smaller members to get their cricket streamed has encouraged us, motivated us, but more just strengthened the resolve of us as an organization to provide that exposure to all 92 of our Associate members. It is as important to our smaller members as it is to our larger members. We feel there’s an obligation as an international federation to facilitate that and that’s what’s driven us.”