Ashes from the ashes of COVID-19?

England may ask Australia to play Tests.

Andrew Wu.

Sydney Morning Herald.

Wednesday, 24 June 2020.

PTG 3171-15695.

Australia's mooted limited-overs series against England this year could include Test matches amid fears over the future of Pakistan's tour.  England managing director for men's cricket Ashley Giles said the English board may need to "look at" the change if Pakistan's tour in August is called off after more than a third of the touring party tested positive to coronavirus.  The Pakistan squad will fly to England this weekend, minus the ten players who have contracted the disease, but there are doubts if the three Test and three Twenty20 International (T20I) series can be played (PTG 3170-15685, 24 June 2020).

Though both boards say the Pakistan tour will go ahead, Giles said contingencies would need to be drawn in case it did not - including consideration for turning One Day International (ODI) series against Ireland and Australia into Test series.

"If the majority of the Pakistan squad are negative we would be hopeful they could be in the advance party and carry on”, said Giles.  "Perhaps other players would follow.  We do not currently have a contingency plan. As has been the case throughout this situation, we have to be agile and adapt to these situations. We would look at that if that happened”.

A Cricket Australia (CA) spokesman said while discussions continue about the limited-overs tour in September it had not been asked about playing red-ball cricket.  It is unclear whether the Ashes would be up for grabs if the Tests were signed off at the last minute. There have been instances of the two nations playing non-Ashes Tests, most recently the Bicentennial Test in 1988 to mark 200 years of colonial settlement in Australia.  Australia were initially scheduled to play six ODIs and T20Is against England in July but those games have been moved back to September.

Giles said the England and Wales Cricket Board had been in contact with CA, and is "quietly confident" the matches will proceed.  "We had a really good conference call with Australia last week. They’ve been one of our strongest partners for years and it continues that way. It would be great to have them here”, Giles said.  "Clearly if you were an Australian cricketer or member of staff looking on at the moment, there would be some nervousness. But we are doing everything we can to allay those fears. Again, September is a long way away right now and a lot could change in that time. Are we confident they will come? Yes, quietly confident”.

Should the Australian tour proceed, the players would need to spend two weeks quarantine in biosecurity bubbles in England and another fortnight in isolation upon returning to their home country.

Virus spike raises questions around Boxing Day Test.
Jon Pierik.

Melbourne Age.

Tuesday, 23 June 2020.

PTG 3170-15687.

Australian Test captain Tim Paine says his team wants to play before a big crowd during this summer's Boxing Day Test against India at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) but admits the uncertainty over Covid-19 means the 2020-21 austral summer's showpiece event could be shifted.  A sharp rise in coronavirus infections in Victoria this week has cast fresh doubt on on-going Australian Football League (AFL) fixturing and set back plans to return crowds to venues in the state. 

Victoria's latest pandemic-related issues have also prompted speculation as to whether the Boxing Day Test should go ahead in Melbourne. Depending on state restrictions at the time, it potentially could be staged behind closed doors or before a small crowd. The first day of play this year would likely attract more than 75,000 fans should the MCG’s doors be fully open.  

The Victorian coronavirus spike has sparked suggestions, backed by Western Australia premier Mark McGowan, that Perth, which has Covid-19 under control, could seek to have the AFL grand final held at Perth Stadium, which can sit 60,000 supporters and is regarded as the best venue in Australia outside the MCG.  Should major restrictions be in place in Melbourne in late December, officials may have to consider moving it, potentially to Perth which missed out on one of the four Indian Tests. 

However, Cricket Australia (CA) insisted on Tuesday there had been no discussions about any shift while acknowledging it needed to be "flexible" and "responsive" in these "unprecedented" times.  Paine said his team remained hopeful the third Test of the series would remain at its spiritual MCG home but admitted there was uncertainty.  "Given the current circumstances, I dare say everything is well and truly on the table. We are hopeful that everywhere we play come summer time, we would be able to have crowds”. he said.

While CA’s 2020-21 fixture list has been released, it remains a work in progress. The picture will become clearer when, as CA expects, the International Cricket Council next month postpones the Twenty20 World Cup, due to be staged in Australia in October-November (PTG 3164-15651, 18 June 2020). Once that happens, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) hopes to use that vacant slot to host the rescheduled Indian Premier League.  There are also quarantine issues, including ahead of Australia's one-off, day-night Test against Afghanistan, which is scheduled to start in Perth on November 21.

The Melbourne Cricket Club (MCC) technically does not have a contract to host a Test at the MCG in 2020-21 for the one-year roll-over deal between the Victorian government, Cricket Victoria, CA and the MCC has expired. The MCC said on Tuesday the Covid-19 dramas and a change of chief executive at CA meant securing a new contract had not been a priority.

There is no reason Perth, which has previously expressed interest in poaching the Boxing Day Test, could not host both the Afghanistan and Indian Tests. The three-hour time difference in December from Perth to population centres on Australia’s eastern seaboard means Tests can be broadcast in prime time there.

Media and sports analyst Colin Smith said broadcasters Seven West Media and Foxtel would also prefer live crowds in Melbourne rather than having to turn to the canned noise that has been used since the AFL and National Rugby League seasons resumed.    "I would certainly, if I was them, consider [pushing to have the Test shifted] because there is a huge difference in terms of the whole atmosphere watching on TV when you have got people at the stadium to when it's completely empty. You cannot contrive audience”, he said.

Should there be no crowds in Melbourne, Seven and Foxtel could seek a reduction in their rights at a time CA is expecting overall revenue loss of about $A100 million  (£UK55.4m) this austral summer.  While the BCCI has agreed to tour for four Tests and a white-ball series, Covid-19 remains a major concern in India and CA has yet to detail its bio-security measures. A CA spokesman said work was continuing in this area, including where the tourists would be required to quarantine. CA needs the tour to go ahead because it is worth $A300 million (£UK164.7m) to its bottom line.

Game to resume in Australia on Saturday.
Cricket Network.
Friday, 5 June 2020.
PTG 3149-15585.

Cricket returns to competitive action in Australia this weekend with a Twenty20 carnival in Darwin in the Northern Territory (NT) that marks an important milestone for the game amid the Covid-19 pandemic.  The 'Top End' T20 is a round-robin carnival that will see 15 games played across what is a long-weekend as Monday is a public holiday.  And not only will cricket be back on the field, fans will also be in attendance.

The tournament will feature the seven Darwin Premier Grade clubs, with the eighth team an Invitational XI made up of the best players from the NT's 'Asia Cup' competition played between locals within the Asian community.  A partnership between NT Cricket and Charles Darwin University will see select matches streamed live on the MyCricket Facebook page to a global audience, including one of the semi-finals and the grand final on Monday.

The Top End T20 carnival will be followed by the start of the Darwin and District Cricket Competition (DDCC) one-day season the following weekend that is scheduled as a 14-round series with a grand final on September 19.

The return to competition on Saturday will be keenly watched as Australian cricket's top-flight moves slowly toward normality, while Darwin plays a role as a testing ground for cricket in a COVID-19 environment. The NT has not had an active Covid-19 case since May 21, and a move to 'Stage 3' restrictions in the territory from noon on Friday will see up to 500 spectators allowed at the grounds for the Top End T20.

The use of sweat and saliva to shine the white ‘Kookaburra' ball will not be permitted, and no artificial substances will be available, but that may change for the 50-over competition. DDCC chairman Lachlan Baird said he was waiting on a firm answer from Cricket Australia on whether bowlers could use a wax to aid swing, or if the International Cricket Council's (ICC) Cricket Committee's recommendation that sweat be allowed, but not saliva, will be enforced.

"Cricket Australia is still very strong at the moment that they will not necessarily follow the ICC direction that sweat can be used and any wax applicator will not be banned”, Baird said this week.  "They are still exploring that. Fortunately it should not be too much of an issue with our T20 competition this weekend".

"But the week after when 50-over cricket begins we will need a formal decision on what we are going to do — either through wax applicators with Kookaburra or hopefully following the ICC and the United Kingdom, who say using sweat and not saliva to shine the ball is an acceptable risk”.

With blazing sunshine and temperatures tipped to peak in the low 30s this weekend in what is the north of Australia’s ‘dry season', Darwin will again prove itself an ideal base for winter cricket in Australia. "We have a unique opportunity to showcase Darwin's wonderful dry season to a global audience, as well as celebrate the return of cricket after a period of unprecedented disruption to the game”, NT Cricket chief executive Joel Morrison said.  "It's been a pretty tough couple of months for everyone around the world and we are hoping to bring some joy to the cricket community”.

BBCSport

Cricket has finally been played in the British Isles, with the first game since the coronavirus lockdown was imposed taking place in Guernsey.

Eight weeks after the season should have begun, the KGV Ground in Castel staged a T20 match on Saturday.

The exhibition game raised money for the Covid-19 appeal and a live stream attracted over 84,000 views on YouTube.

County cricket in England is suspended until August, although it is hoped England can play Tests in July.

Social distancing had to be observed before, during and after the game between Olly Tapp's XI and Andy Cornford's XI, but Guernsey Cricket Board chief executive Mark Latter said it "hadn't made a great deal of difference" to how it was played.

"The guys are obviously not running in and clapping hands, they've been keeping away from each other," he told BBC Radio Guernsey.

"They arrived ready to go, they haven't used the changing rooms as they would normally do,

"We don't have all the players on the pitch at once, like with football and rugby, so that helps us."

Guernsey, like Channel Island rivals Jersey, are associate members of the International Cricket Council and eligible to play T20 international fixtures.

"From what I've heard, speaking to a few guys especially from Jersey, they are quite jealous that we're playing cricket, and of the occasion we've got going on here," said bowler Tom Veillard.

"Having the live stream is putting Guernsey's name on the map as well."

Andy Cornford is the GCB's head of cricket - as well as being a station manager for East Sussex Fire and Rescue - and Olly Tapp is their performance coach.

Olly's XI won the toss and batted first, with Ben Ferbrache's unbeaten 52 off 48 balls enabling them to reach 105-5 from their 20 overs.

The total was not enough, however, as Andy's XI breezed to 107-3 with 11 balls to spare despite figures of 2-15 by Luke Bichard.

On this particular occasion, though, who won and who lost did not really matter.

The game achieved one very important thing, to give cricket fans hope of plenty more to come later in the summer.