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Shock resignation comes just weeks out from first Test
Paine says he is sorry for damage done to sport’s reputation
Australia’s Test cricket captain Tim Paine has stepped down from his role on the eve of the Ashes series after a historic investigation into text messages sent to a colleague surfaced.
Paine made the decision to resign – just weeks out from the start of the series against England – after it became clear to him that details of the incident in 2017, which predated his appointment as Test captain, were about to be made public.
Former Test captain warns of potentially farcical series
Calls on Australian government to issue travel exemptions
Former England cricket captain Michael Vaughan has warned that the upcoming Ashes series in Australia could descend into farce if the families of England players are not allowed into the country.
With the visiting team facing a gruelling months-long schedule likely to be subject to a host of pandemic-related restrictions, Vaughan said some players may choose not to make the trip if they cannot see their loved ones for such a long time.
Under-19 team members use ‘inappropriate language’
Cricket Australia investigate players’ social media posts
Some members of Australia’s Under-19 World Cup squad face sanctions for comments on social media that have been branded as casual racism. Cricket Australia’s head of integrity and security Sean Carroll has spoken with those players who recently posted broken-English responses to an Instagram post.
“We are extremely disappointed that some of the Australian Under-19 squad members have used inappropriate language in posts on social media, which we reported to the ICC as soon as it came to our attention,” Carroll said in a statement. “Some of that language could be interpreted as ridiculing non-native English language speakers.”
England have beaten Australia by eight wickets to go into the Cricket World Cup final where they will play New Zealand on Sunday at Lord’s.
The defending champions had teetered to 14 for three after deciding to bat first, with England exploiting the early seam movement on offer at Edgbaston, before Jofra Archer bloodied Alex Carey’s jaw with a vicious bumper.
5th over: India 19-0 (Rohit 7, Dhawan 10) Dhawan survives the first jaffa of the day and it’s again from that length on the very outer margin of good from Pat Cummins. Pitching on middle it seams and bounces towards the cordon just skimming beyond the outside edge. If anything Clive, it was too good. Is Dhawan phased? No chance. He responds by stroking the first boundary of the day with the minimum of fuss through the covers. No need to move his feet, just swing the bat and get the hands through the ball. There are plenty of runs on offer for any batsman who gets his eye in today.
4th over: India 11-0 (Rohit 7, Dhawan 3) Starc looks to be nearing his rhythm, sending down a classic one-two combination to Dhawan, first the bumper then the yorker, but the Indian left-hander navigates both well. The sucker punch is a length delivery outside off that Dhawan attacks on the up and drives unconvincingly but safely into the ring. No fireworks from either side to report yet.
John Starbuck has joined the conversation about the physical danger we put ourselves in when we take the field - or a net session. “Another nets danger is when you’re on a large practice ground and, while your nets are taking place at one end, an actual match can be happening elsewhere. This means that over-enthusiastic net batters can disturb the match by hitting high and long, with a possibly dangerous result for fielders. I’ve been ticked off for this sometimes, but curiously did not feel especially apologetic.”
Bad light brings an early end to day three with Australia 236-6
So an early end to another day of Indian dominance at the SCG. The lost overs will make it more difficult for them to force a victory but the delay will allow their attack to rest up in preparation for enforcing the follow on should Australia’s batting woes continue.
Day three actually began promisingly for the home side. Marcus Harris showed plenty of intent during the opening session and he was ably supported by Marnus Labuschagne on a pitch perfect for batting. But both fell in a sloppy afternoon session that yielded four wickets for India and reinforced the issues at the heart of this brittle Australian XI.
“As this game hurtles towards a swift conclusion (barring a Cummins century and inclement weather)” begins Abhijato Sensarma, “I am left to wonder about minuscule things which I frankly have no time for - yet, one can’t help overthinking ideas during such sessions of Test cricket.
Ever since the dawn of professional cricket, the scorecard has been said to say ‘only half the story’. The minutes batted column, the last saving grace of first-class matches, are slowly disappearing too. Can it not be that annotations are used for cricketing scorecards?