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The pace bowler reported that he had a mild sore throat on Thursday

ESPNcricinfo staff13-Mar-2020Kane Richardson tested negative for COVID-19 after he was ruled out of the first ODI against New Zealand at the SCG having reported reporting a mild sore throat to Australia’s medical team yesterday.Richardson, who returned from South Africa earlier this week with the rest of the ODI squad, was isolated from the rest of the squad while the tests results were awaited which came through on Friday evening.Sean Abbott was briefly called into the squad as cover.”Our medical staff are treating this a typical throat infection but we are following Australian Government protocols that require us to keep Kane away from other members of the squad and perform the appropriate tests given he has returned from international travel in the last 14 days,” a Cricket Australia spokesperson said earlier in the day.”Once we receive the results of the tests and Kane recovers in the next few days we expect he will re-join the team. We will not be making further comment until something changes.”It was announced earlier on Friday that the one-day series would be played behind closed doors due to the coronavirus pandemic.

He will also be head coach of the Victoria Women’s team

ESPNcricinfo staff20-May-2020Lachlan Stevens has been named head coach of the Melbourne Renegades WBBL team and the Victoria Women’s team amid the restructuring at Cricket Victoria.The Renegades role is a comeback for Stevens who was previously their head coach in the first two seasons of the WBBL.Most recently he had been interim head coach of the Victoria men’s team following Andrew McDonald’s appointment as Justin Langer’s assistant with the national side.Stevens replaces Tim Coyle in the Renegades position after he was let go earlier this month while with Victoria he fills the role vacated by David Hemp.”It’s a great time to be returning to the women’s game given the growth female cricket has enjoyed in recent seasons,” Stevens said. “It’s always enjoyable to watch and work with players at all stages of their careers and I’m honoured to be able to work with another Victorian cricket side. I look forward to watching all of them going about their training and playing.””I was lucky enough to be a part of the Renegades in the first two seasons of the WBBL and I’m looking forward to catching up with several of those players again in the not too distant future. I can’t wait to watch the WBBL up close again with all the progress that’s been made in the game over the last three years.”Renegades, Victoria and Australia allrounder Sophie Molineux admitted it had been a shock to see Coyle leave his job.”There’s a lot going in, not just in sport, but it definitely hit home when we saw Coyley go,” she said. “The last couple of years at the Renegades he’s done a massive amount of work to get us into position to play in semi-finals and be really close to the grand finals.”We’ll always be thankful for what he’s done. The group has definitely got some really sad emotions about him not being able to come back.”The Victoria team includes Meg Lanning and Ellyse Perry when they aren’t on international duty.

England Women will be based at Derbyshire’s Incora County Ground and play all their fixtures there

ESPNcricinfo staff21-Jul-2020Derbyshire’s Incora County Ground will be used as the bio-secure venue for England Women this summer. Although plans for England’s international schedule are yet to be finalised – they are expected to host South Africa after India pulled out of a proposed tri-series – all of the matches will be held at Derby.Heather Knight’s team will assemble at the ground for a training camp, with ODI and T20I fixtures likely to be arranged for September. Derby is currently being used as a base for the touring Pakistan men’s team.The announcement means that Derbyshire will not play any matches at their usual headquarters when the county season gets underway next month. The squad have been training at Repton School since returning from furlough earlier in July.”England’s international fixtures are massively important to the whole game at all levels and we are pleased to have been chosen to host these high-profile training camps and matches this summer,” Derbyshire’s chief executive, Ryan Duckett, said. “The Incora County Ground has developed into a prominent venue for international cricket, including hosting the ICC Women’s World Cup in 2017 and most recently a bio-secure training camp for the touring Pakistan squad.”This means that Derbyshire will play all matches away from home once the domestic season starts and this decision has been made with the full support of our coaching and playing staff.”The ECB has been working to salvage its programme of women’s cricket in the wake of Covid-19 impacting much of the summer. Centrally contracted England players returned to training last month, with the confirmation of South Africa’s tour expected in the coming weeks.

The 36-year old allrounder is focused on being West Indies’ go-to man in the death overs of a T20I

Nagraj Gollapudi13-Jan-2020He might be the oldest member in West Indies’ T20 squad for the Ireland series, but Dwayne Bravo feels like a “kid” after getting the national call-up that will mark his return to international cricket after a nearly four-year long hiatus.According to Bravo, the three Ireland T20Is, which begin on January 15, were on his mind when he came out of retirement in December. So when he got a call from Roger Harper, the former West Indies allrounder and current chairman of selectors, last week, Bravo could not hide his excitement.”It’s a great feeling,” Bravo told the Trinidad-based radio station on Sunday. “I feel like a kid again when I first get a call Mr Harper that welcome back to the team and play international cricket and they were looking forward to have me back. It is something that was always on my mind since the change of leadership and stuff. So just happy I get the opportunity to represent the region again and I am looking forward to doing my best.”Bravo had a difficult 2019 after picking up a finger injury that kept him out of the Caribbean Premier League but he bounced back from that to lead the Maratha Arabians to win the Abu Dhabi T10 title last November.Asked if he might be a bit rusty, Bravo disagreed, pointing out fitness was his primary focus during his rehab. “Yeah, (playing) a lot of cricket is important, but for me because of the experience I’ve gained over the years, I am more concerned about my fitness. Obviously, I had this broken finger, (which) kept getting stronger. I started practising, played a couple of games for Queen’s Park (his local club in Trinidad), but over the years, despite not playing not much cricket, I am still able to go there and compete and contribute in a very good way.”For example in the last T10 league, I hadn’t played any cricket in about four months prior to that and still was able to go there and deliver and also win the title. It is just happy time for me. Since I announce my return in December, my mind and my motivation was on this series and now that I’m selected I am very happy.”Bravo added that he is a “smarter” bowler now, even if the pace has dipped. “I’m a better bowler, I’m a better all-round cricketer. Obviously I’m older, so I will not be as quick I used to be before, but I am also very smarter and have a bigger knowledge on the game.”“We lack a proper death-over specialist”
With the T20 World Cup scheduled in Australia in October, Bravo’s return is clearly an indication that Harper’s panel wants to not just blend experience and youth, but also plug holes. Harper had said that Bravo had been brought back with the “specific” intention of being West Indies’ death-overs specialist.Bravo is happy to take up the responsibility. “Death bowling is an art,” he said. “Not many people around the world have really nailed death bowling to the T. If you ask anyone in world cricket to name five death bowlers in the last decade, definitely my name will come along with Lasith Malinga, Jasprit Bumrah, Mitchell Starc.Dwayne Bravo celebrates in his trademark style•MSL

“It is not an easy time of the game, that’s why it is called death. A special skill is required to bowl in those situations. Most times, if you have the ball in the death overs, and you don’t win the game, everyone turn to you, and say, “okay, it is because of the last over”. But you don’t win or lose a game in the last over. So many times, I win a game in the last over and no one says anything. I have defended 6 runs in 6 balls. I have defended 11 runs in 6 balls. I don’t have to prove anything to anyone. My stats over the years are there for everyone to see. Like I said, if you were to name three or five death-over specialists my name will be there.”According to Bravo West Indies’ bowlers have struggled to close out games, especially during the World Cup and even in the recent series against India in December. Now that he is back, he wants to mentor the other bowlers and teach them the tricks that could deployed at death.”Recently that is where West Indies did falter,” he said. “If you look at the 50-overs World Cup, if you look at the series in India, both in T20s and in ODIs, we lack a really, really proper death-overs specialist.”Again this is my motivation also to try and work with current bowlers. There’s [Sheldon] Cottrell, there’s Keemo Paul, there’s Alzarri Joseph, there’s Oshane Thomas, there’s Kesrick Williams. Collectively all of us have to get better, myself included. But with the experience that I have, I can get them to understand the importance of certain deliveries and when to bowl certain deliveries and work on a better finishing game plan.”Chris Gayle, Dwayne Bravo, Darren Sammy and Andre Russell shake a leg•Getty Images

T20 World Cup – ‘playing by ear’Bravo said that he and Harper had not spoken about the T20 World Cup, where West Indies will defend their crown. The side still has 18 matches to go before that tournament and Bravo doesn’t want to look too far ahead, though he did reiterate his “full commitment” to the West Indies.”We never discuss anything like that (on T20 World Cup selection). Yes, a World Cup year, but it is only in October,” he said. “There’s this series and there’s a Sri Lanka series right after. I guess if I do well in this series, chances are I might be selected for the next series. It is just a matter of playing it by ear, series by series. Obviously they will be trying players to see what is the best combination and the best squad they that they think and select come October. Starting off with Ireland series is just one step to something positive in the making.”“Looking forward to play with Gayle in maroon”It was in 2013 when the cream of the Caribbean players including Bravo, Chris Gayle, Andre Russell and Sunil Narine last played together in a West Indies team. Recently Gayle commented that he would keep his options open for the T20 World Cup as he continues keeping himself fit by playing the franchise-based tournaments around the world. Bravo said he still was confident he would link up with Gayle soon.”Well, he hasn’t gone anyway so I don’t think he has to make a comeback. He’s been there all the time as the Universe Boss as we call him. He is our leader. He is our real, real leader after Brian Lara. Yes, there was Chanderpaul and Sarwan, but Chris Gayle is the next real batting icon of the Caribbean that all the players look upto. He’s still playing.”I’m looking forward to playing with him once again in the maroon. That will be good to see the Universe Boss and the Champion on the field again along with Russell and Narine – all these players who we all wanted to play. That’s all we ever wanted to do. The Universe Boss will be there and about. Obviously he is on the other side of 40, so it is just a matter of managing him properly and picking different series to play him.”

NZ’s new pace star on the people who helped him shift to bowling, and what he learnt in Wellington

ESPNcricinfo staff25-Feb-2020New Zealand’s fledgling pace star Kyle Jamieson was “quite relaxed” leading up to his Test debut, and following his success in that game, he confident there’s “still a lot more to come” from him.Speaking the day after New Zealand thumped India in Wellington, Jamieson spoke of his transition from batsman to bowler, the people who helped him make the switch, and what he learnt from bowling alongside Trent Boult and Tim Southee.He also hinted at what an ideal future might hold – upping his pace, among other things. “Yeah, for sure [looking to get quicker than an average of 130kph],” he said. “I’m still a long way off where I want to be as a bowler and as a cricketer. The stuff that I started to work on with Auckland, with Heinrich [Malan, his coach at Auckland and New Zealand A], I think in the next year or so I’m going to make massive strides.”To begin, Jamieson was a batsman. But then, when he made the step up to Under-19 cricket, Dayle Hadlee – the former New Zealand pacer, brother of Richard Hadlee, and ex-New Zealand U-19 coach – spotted something in him that pushed him to take up bowling.ALSO READ: The lowdown on Kyle Jamieson“I was pretty much a batter all through high school and then made the New Zealand U-19s and Dayle Hadlee got a hold of me and told me to run in, which kind of shifted me towards becoming more of a bowler,” Jamieson said. “I always liked batting, it was probably what I grew up admiring the most – whilst I did bowl, I did not think of that as my career option growing up.”Now I’m a bowler who can bat, trying to get to the allrounder stage, that’s where I ideally want to be.”Jamieson, born in Auckland, had moved to Canterbury in his late teens to develop his cricket. When he eventually made the Canterbury side, he worked with current New Zealand coach Gary Stead, who, back then, was overseeing that team. Soon after, his transition from batsman to bowler under Hadlee began.Now Malan, who has worked with Jamieson at the New Zealand A level over the past few months, and whom the bowler followed from Canterbury back to Auckland in 2019-20, has taken over as his primary bowling guide.”I worked with Steady for a couple of years and just tried to learn that craft of bowling which I didn’t have growing up, so I’m still pretty young I guess on that journey,” Jamieson said. “For the most part, Dayle [was a big influence in making me a bowler], for my four, five, six years in Canterbury, I’m still in contact with him as well… Heinrich the last six-eight months, he’s been massive. His knowledge around bowling has certainly opened my eyes. I think those two from a bowling point of view have been massive.”Stead remembers Jamieson from his pre-bowling days, and is amazed at the changes he has made. “I think it’s an amazing story, really. Kyle [who is now 25] was a 17-18-year-old when he came down to Lincoln University, and he actually was a batsman, didn’t really bowl at all,” Stead recalled after the Wellington Test. “So for me to see that development in six or seven years is a pretty amazing story in itself.”I remember watching him, first time I ever saw Kyle bowl was in Burnside Park in an U-19 tournament, and I looked at Dayle Hadlee and I told him, ‘this boy’s got a little bit about him’, and it was pretty exciting to watch. [It is] a testament to the work Kyle’s put in, the way he’s developed. But also I think the coaches around him and the systems we’ve had in New Zealand cricket, which have helped him get to this point, is really pleasing.”Now Jamieson has another outstanding source for ideas and inspiration: his New Zealand team-mates, Boult and Southee. He learnt a lot watching them at Basin Reserve, Jamieson said. “The way Trent bowled when he came down-breeze, chopping and changing the angles, real intensity… the role that Tim played in using the crease and just the accuracy – I guess it’s quite relentless in a way how they go at guys. I just observed all that.”There remains doubt over whether Jamieson will play in Christchurch, given Neil Wagner is set to return to the set-up after paternity leave, but if he does get to play, it will be a homecoming of sorts for Jamieson. And he’s excited by the prospect: “I spent five or six years down there, pretty familiar with the ground [Hagley Oval]. It’s always going to be special, it played such a big part in the start of my journey, it will be nice to be back in that changeroom.”

A round-up of the action from the tenth day of matches in the 2010-11 Vijay Hazare Trophy

ESPNcricinfo staff22-Feb-2011Vidarbha beat Punjab by 100 runs at the Emerald High School Ground in Indore to qualify for the quarter-finals of the Vijay Hazare Trophy. Ranjit Paradkar and Ravi Jangid scored half-centuries and were involved in a 74-run stand for the fourth wicket, taking their team to a challenging 278 in 45 overs. Punjab struggled in their reply, collapsing to 98 for 6 and had to rely on Mayank Sidhana and the lower order to put up some resistance. Each of the five Vidarbha bowlers bagged at least a wicket and bowled out Punjab for 178. Vidarbha meet Tamil Nadu in the quarter-final on February 25.Gujarat prevailed over Karnataka in a low-scoring game at the Holkar Cricket Stadium in Indore to qualify for the quarter-finals. Manprit Juneja’s 49 stood out in an innings otherwise replete with low scores as Gujarat managed just 168. But Karnataka proved abject in their reply. Bharat Chipli, Ganesh Satish, Manish Pandey and Udit Patel down the order got starts but failed to convert them, while the batting around them crumbled. Ishwar Choudhary picked up four wickets with his medium-pace as Karnataka folded for 136 in 31.5 overs. Gujarat will meet Bengal in their quarter-final on February 25.

South Africa’s 2011 World Cup campaign was fundamentally flawed by a suspect middle order, former coach Mickey Arthur has said

Daniel Brettig31-Mar-2011South Africa’s 2011 World Cup campaign was fundamentally flawed by a suspect middle order, former coach Mickey Arthur has said. Considered tournament favourites after a mostly storming run through the pool phase, South Africa crumbled under the pressure of a run chase against doughty New Zealand in their quarter-final, exposing all the wounds of past failures in knockout events.Watching from Perth where he is now the coach of Western Australia’s state team, Arthur reasoned that the decision to choose JP Duminy, Faf du Plessis and Johan Botha in the middle had cost his old side dearly.”People underestimate how difficult it is [in the middle order in the subcontinent],” Arthur told ESPNCricinfo. “Five, six and seven are your crucial, crucial batting positions in one day games, especially on the subcontinent, because you’re invariably starting against a soft ball and invariably starting against spin.”In the engine room at five, six and seven we had JP Duminy who’s still a young, maturing player, Faf du Plessis in his first year and Johan Botha who is a bowler first and then a batter, and I think that cost us at the end of the day.”In 2006-07 [when Australia won the Champions Trophy in India and the World Cup in the Caribbean], Michael Hussey was down at seven for them. “In those conditions five, six and seven end up winning you games, and we didn’t have any experience there.”Arthur’s view was supported in the aftermath of the match by Daniel Vettori, the New Zealand captain. “We were desperate to get into that middle to lower order; that was our whole game plan, do whatever we can to get down there,” Vettori said. “It was always about getting past AB de Villiers. Their top four has proven themselves over a long, long time. They’ve got fantastic records, and I thought if we could break through that, particularly getting down to No. 6 and Botha at No. 7 meant they had a longish tail.”Given that the captain, Graeme Smith, and the coach, Corrie van Zyl, have both chosen to give up their posts after the Cup, it will now be up to yet another leadership axis to pick the lock that seems to separate South African sides from Cup success.”Until South Africa win an ICC event it’s always going to be there,” said Arthur. “The monkey’s almost become a gorilla now and until we win an ICC event it’s always going to be there I’m afraid. They’ve just got to get out there and do it. We’ve always been the most prepared and I remember in my five years, we could never, ever nail it right at the end, and that to me was one of my regrets.”We got to No.1 in the world in both forms of the game over a period of time because we played the most consistent cricket, but there always seemed to be something missing when it became a knockout game, and I just can’t put my finger on it.”

Duncan Fletcher, the newly-appointed India coach, is likely to fly down to Chennai on May 13 to be part of the selection meeting to pick the squad for the one-day series in the West Indies

ESPNcricinfo staff08-May-2011Duncan Fletcher, the newly-appointed India coach, is likely to fly down to Chennai on May 13 to be part of the selection meeting to pick the squad for the one-day series in the West Indies next month. It has been understood that Fletcher was keen to attend the meeting as that would also allow him to get acquainted with his new bosses as well as the selectors and MS Dhoni, the India captain who will also be in the city which is the base of Chennai Super Kings, his IPL franchise.Fletcher, who was England coach for eight years, took over his new assignment immediately after Gary Kirsten decided not to renew his contract with the BCCI at the end of the World Cup. Fletcher’s appointment is for two years and though both the employer and employee have not revealed the terms of the contract, it is believed to be the same as that of Kirsten. That means Fletcher will reportedly not have any selectorial vote, but will be present during the selection meetings along with Dhoni.Also present at the meeting on Wednesday would be Eric Simons, who worked with Fletcher at Western Province in the first half of the 1990s. Simons, picked by Kirsten two years ago to be part of his support staff two years ago, was retained as the bowling coach by the Indian board. Simons is likely to play the role of the interim coach for the Caribbean tour after the BCCI said that Fletcher might not be part of the West Indies tour as he had prior commitments to fulfill. In that case Fletcher will start his innings against England, a team he built from scratch eventually leading to Ashes glory in 2005.

India’s captain has praised the Australia allrounder for his willingness to open up about his mental-health issues and take time away from the game

Varun Shetty in Indore13-Nov-20191:50

Decisions to take a break from the game should be respected – Virat Kohli

Virat Kohli has come out in support of Glenn Maxwell following the allrounder’s withdrawal from Australia’s recent series against Sri Lanka for mental-health reasons. Kohli called Maxwell’s openness about his issues “remarkable”, and said he was “absolutely for” players asking for time away from the game in such situations.Maxwell’s withdrawal was met with public backing from Australia coach Justin Langer, captain Aaron Finch, and many other voices that revealed a healthy culture around mental health as an issue. Shortly after Maxwell, the 27-year-old batsman Nic Maddinson also withdrew from the Australia A team, the second such instance in Maddinson’s professional career.Kohli’s words on the issue are among the few originating from the subcontinent, where discussions on mental health are rare, both within and outside cricket circles. Kohli said he experienced this when he was struggling for runs during India’s tour of England in 2014, and didn’t have anyone to confide in.”I’m absolutely for it,” Kohli said on the eve of the first India-Bangladesh Test. “To be very honest, you guys have a job to do, we have a job to do, and everyone is focused on what they need to do. So it’s very difficult for anyone to figure out what’s going on in another person’s mind.”I’ve gone through a phase in my career where I felt like it was the end of the world. In England 2014, I didn’t know what to do, what to say to anyone, and how to speak and how to communicate. And to be honest, I couldn’t have said I’m not feeling great mentally and I need to get away from the game. Because you never know how that’s taken.Getty Images

“So I think these things should be of great importance. Because if you think that a player is important enough, for the team or for Indian cricket to go forward, I think they should be looked after. When you get to the international stage, every player needs that communication, that ability to just speak out.”And I think what Glenn has done is remarkable. And [he has] set the right example for cricketers around the world that if you’re not in the best frame of mind – you try, and try and try, but as human beings you reach a tipping point at some stage or the other. And you need time away from the game. Not to say you give up, but just to gain more clarity.”Numerous Australian cricketers have spoken publicly about mental-health-related issues recently, which follows the noteworthy precedent set around mental health in cricket in England. Moises Henriques, Nicole Bolton and Will Pucovski have all taken time out from the game over the last two years, and England’s Sarah Taylor, one of the biggest stars in modern cricket, retired aged 30 earlier this year after struggles with a long-term anxiety issue.Apart from Kohli’s thoughts on the issue, mental health has not been a widely discussed topic in Indian cricket. The associated taboos and insecurity act as major deterrents against players either coming out or asking for breaks. Kohli said players should be encouraged to be open and seek help when needed.”[…] In my opinion, [a break] is quite acceptable.” he said. “And quite nice to do when you’re not able to carry on any more. So I think these things should be respected and not taken in a negative way at all because this is happening at a human level, it’s got nothing to do with what you do on the field. It’s just not having the capacity any more to deal with things, which I think can happen to any person in any walk of life. I think it should be taken in a very positive way.”

A number of Manchester City fans are livid with their rumoured third kit for the 2021/22 season.

The Citizens are enjoying a fantastic campaign – they are within touching of distance of claiming the Premier League title, while they have one foot in the Champions League final after beating Paris Saint-Germain in the first leg of their semi-final. They have already secured the Carabao Cup as well, meaning they could end the season with three trophies.

Their attire for the season have been made by Puma, their kit provider since 2019. Next season is already not too far away, and plans are already being made for the shirts they will wear in 2021/22 as a rumoured City third kit for the upcoming campaign has been leaked. Remarkably, it does not seem to contain the club’s crest.

A photo of the reported new kit was shared on Twitter by @City_Xtra, and it attracted plenty of attention from the club’s supporters, some of whom have dubbed it “terrible”. These fans took to the social media platform to share their thoughts.

Let’s see what these Man City fans had to say about the kit leak

“Hate this so much, wish we can go back to Nike”

Credit: @jason23ortega

“Is this club trying to punish we the fans or what”

Credit: @chetambe_

“That looks terrible”

Credit: @FUTJPO

“This can’t happen…. there’s no badge man!”

Credit: @danthedrummer12

It’s like @PUMA are trying to outdo themselves in terms of dreadfulness. Got to say, they’re knocking it out the park every single time.

Credit: @phil_ribchester

“This makes me feel ill”

Credit: @Ethan4707

In other news, some Man City fans are unhappy about this Raheem Sterling news.