“Time is the biggest healer,” says batsman in newspaper interview

ESPNcricinfo staff09-May-2020Alex Hales has claimed he has “matured as a player” since his deselection from England’s 2019 World Cup squad after a failed recreational drugs test, and declared that the past six months have been “the best I’ve played in my career” as he presses his case for an international return.Hales has not played for England since it became public in the weeks before the World Cup that he had been serving a 21-day ban due to a second violation of the ECB’s recreational drugs policy, which caused the England limited-overs captain Eoin Morgan to publicly lambast his “lack of regard” for his international team-mates, citing a “complete breakdown of trust” for his omission from the World Cup squad.This week, Morgan said that the “door is still open” for Hales, but reiterated that the crucial element would be rebuilding that trust. “I don’t think you can put a time limit on gaining back that trust, and that’s not just with me; that’s with every member of the squad, the backroom staff, the selectors,” he said.ALSO READ: ‘Door not shut’ on Hales, says Morgan in T20 World Cup build-upIn an interview with the , Hales said that he has matured in the last 12 months, but admitted it would be difficult to address his relationship with the rest of the England squad while outside the squad. Since the start of the 2019/20 Big Bash League, Hales has averaged 42.89 in a combined 22 T20 innings for Sydney Thunder and Karachi Kings, and said that he has never played better across his career.”Like Morgs has said, I guess time is the biggest healer,” Hales said. “I just don’t know how long that is going to go on for, that’s the only thing. I honestly have no idea. Obviously, I’d love to get my place back. Playing international cricket is the highlight of any player’s career and I still think I’ve got a lot to offer, particularly in T20.”I certainly feel I have matured, as a player and away from the game, and hopefully I’ll get the chance to show that in the group environment again. It can be tough to rebuild that trust when you are not in the close-knit circles.”This is the best I’ve played in my career. My England career has been pretty good so far in T20 and that’s not even playing to the best of my ability. I’d love to get that chance again. I’ve moved on and grown from the mistakes I’ve made in my private life and, hopefully, people can forgive and forget. Hopefully, I get that chance again because I feel I’m in a good head space.”ALSO READ: Fines doubled but 21-day ban scrapped as ECB update recreational drugs policyThe fact that the reason behind Hales’ ban was kept confidential last year led to a change in the ECB’s recreational drugs policy ahead of the 2020 season, under which Hales’ fine would have been doubled for his second violation, but he would not have had to miss any games. Hales’ absence was explained by Nottinghamshire as a break for “personal reasons”, but the trail was laid for reporters, and the reasons became public after the broke the story.Under the new regulations, which the ECB said took into account “the important consideration of player welfare”, Hales’ fine would have been doubled but he would not have been banned, suggesting that the second failed test would have remained under wraps.Hales said that his involvement in the Bristol incident and the resulting trial and Cricket Disciplinary Commission hearing “took a lot out of me mentally”, and suggested that he had struggled to cope with the public spotlight surrounding the case.”Stuff like that, you maybe don’t appreciate at the time but it took an awful lot out of me mentally,” he said. “I’m not blaming that on some of the mistakes I made off the field, but it certainly didn’t help with how I felt away from the game. It was mentally exhausting. It put me in a really dark place.”I feel on top of everything and the chapter of Bristol and its aftermath is firmly closed now. I am just looking forward to enjoying the next few years of my career and, more importantly, my life, and just see where it takes me. If you speak to any coach I’ve played under in the last 12 months, I feel I’ve matured as a player.”Hales also said that while he never managed to get tested for Covid-19, he was “pretty sure” he had contracted the virus. Hales had told Pakistan Super League officials that he had developed symptoms upon his return to the UK, which led to the tournament’s semi-finals and final being postponed indefinitely.”There was a point when it was 5am and I was lying in bed, drenched with sweat, feeling sorry for myself. But I knew deep down it wasn’t enough to put me in hospital. I never managed to get a test but speaking to a couple of doctors, they were 99 per cent sure it was Covid.”

Ness Wadia also hoped BCCI would look at compensating franchises if IPL 2020 was played in front of empty stands

ESPNcricinfo staff24-Jul-2020Ness Wadia, one of the co-owners of Kings XI Punjab, wants daily covid testing for players and support staff in the UAE, where IPL 2020 will be played between September 19 and November 10.”I would want as much testing as possible and preferably daily,” Wadia told . “If I was a cricketer, I would be very happy in getting myself tested everyday. There is no harm in it.””Strict safety protocols have to be put in place both for off-field and on-field activities to make the IPL safe and successful. They should not be compromised at all.”Currently, to travel to UAE, a passenger needs to test negative before flying and take another test upon landing, with entry permitted without a quarantine period should both tests return negative. A quarantine period is mandatory only for those landing in the country without prior testing.The logistical aspect of managing eight teams, three venues and their travel to the grounds and training facilities from their hotels poses a complex challenge in providing a bio-secure bubble, which Wadia hoped wouldn’t be compromised.”Bio-security is something that should be very seriously considered but don’t know if it can be implemented in an eight-team tournament,” Wadia said. “We are waiting for the SOPs from the BCCI.”UAE also has a very high testing rate (472,575 per million) and they have all the technology at their disposal. The BCCI will need the help of the local government in ensuring adequate testing is done.”The UAE has been host to part of the IPL, with 20 matches taking place in the country at the start of the 2014 season, due to India’s general elections taking place at the time.Wadia also hoped that the BCCI would compensate all teams suitably if the tournament is played in front of empty stands. Currently, teams earn a portion of their revenue from gate receipts.”The IPL will bring much needed optimism to the pessimism we live in today. Credit to the BCCI to have a found a window in the current scenario,” he said. “I do hope that the BCCI will look at compensating all teams (in case there is no gate money involved).”

George Hankins’ resistance in vain as Worcestershire seal first victory of Bob Willis Trophy

ECB Reporters Network04-Aug-2020Worcestershire 428 for 5 (D’Oliveira 91, Mitchell 80, Libby 77) and 113 for 2 beat Gloucestershire 267 and 270 (Hankins 69, Dent 67, Leach 4-70) by eight wicketsJoe Leach took four wickets in a devastating five-over spell to propel Worcestershire to an ultimately comfortable eight-wicket victory over neighbours Gloucestershire in the Bob Willis Trophy Central Group.Afforded hope by George Hankins’ battling innings of 69, Gloucestershire were 73 runs ahead with four second-innings wickets in hand when Worcestershire’s captain took the second new ball.Sensing one final opportunity to force the issue, Leach took matters into his own hands, single-handedly eradicating the tail and finishing with figures of 4 for 70 as the home side were dismissed for 270.Set 110 to win in 35 overs, Worcestershire reached their target with 8.5 overs to spare, Tom Fell and Jack Haynes staging an unbroken stand of 53 for the third wicket after Daryl Mitchell and Jake Libby had given the chase a sound start.Commencing the final day on 135 for 3, still 26 runs behind, Gloucestershire were indebted to Hankins, whose patient four-hour vigil occupied 195 balls, yielded 69 runs and served to frustrate Worcestershire’s ambition. Together with nightwatchman Josh Shaw, who traded almost exclusively in boundaries in making 21, Hankins first helped Gloucestershire eradicate their overnight arrears.No sooner were the hosts back in credit though, than Shaw succumbed, trapped lbw by Josh Tongue. Undeterred, Hankins continued to apply himself to the business of steady accumulation, going to 50 via 147 balls, his innings a perfect template for what was required in the circumstances.No doubt encouraged by memories of Gloucestershire’s first-innings collapse, Leach continued to ring the changes, and his imaginative decision to call upon occasional bowler Daryl MItchell paid instant dividends when Ryan Higgins played at and missed a straight ball that rapped him on the back pad.Worcestershire certainly fancied their chances when removing the hitherto adhesive Hankins shortly after lunch, Tongue cleverly setting him up and then pinning him lbw in his crease for 69. With him went Gloucestershire’s best chance of staving off defeat.Leach took the new ball soon afterwards and quickly accounted for the unfortunate Gareth Roderick, who offered no shot to a ball which appeared to be going high. Set to join the Worcestershire staff next season, Roderick beat a diplomatic retreat having contributed a modest 9.When debutant Tom Price departed in identical fashion, pinned in his crease by Leach, Gloucestershire were 236 for 8 – just 75 in front – and deep in trouble. Worse followed, Jack Taylor offering a catch behind on 23 as the irrepressible Leach made it three wickets in as many overs.
Matt Taylor and David Payne hit out in a breezy last-wicket partnership of 31 to hold up the visitors, but their resistance was summarily ended when Leach uprooted the latter’s off stump.If Leach’s new-ball heroics caught the eye, it was fellow seamers Tongue and Charlie Morris who laid the foundations for victory, these two taking six wickets apiece in the match.

The commentator says ‘players have to take responsibility and ownership’ to ensure a successful tournament

ESPNcricinfo staff14-Aug-20202:38

Ian Bishop: ‘Don’t know if other countries can pull off a bio-secure series like England’

Former West Indies fast bowler Ian Bishop feels the upcoming Caribbean Premier League (CPL) could provide a boost to cricketing countries that aren’t economically robust, if the tournament goes off smoothly.Bishop, a well-regarded commentator around the world, contrasted how the CPL would have to ensure biosecurity during the Covid-19 pandemic and how the England and Wales Cricket Board was doing it, in the series against West Indies and the ongoing one against Pakistan. He held that while the ECB’s resources made a biosecure environment feasible, if players took responsibility and ownership, then countries and boards without similar resources could also have a pathway to re-starting cricket.”Firstly, the economic resources that England and the broadcasters put into that West Indies-England Test series and the Pakistan one that’s going on now is significant,” Bishop said during a press conference organised by the ICC following the worldwide premiere of its documentary Beyond the Boundary. “I don’t think there are too many other countries that will have the resources to do it like that because you’ve got two grounds where hotels are actually on the ground.”There was one ground – Southampton, where the first match was played – I could have a snooze in my room and wake up and walk ten yards down the corridor and go towards the commentary box and go back to my room, and sleep in between stints if I wanted to. I don’t know if there’s any other ground that has that facility globally. The planning that went into it…The players did not leave the bubble – the West Indies team anyway for almost a month before and a month during the series. So, there are only a few boards that can economically reproduce that.”Bishop, who is in Trinidad to commentate on the CPL, elaborated on what needed to be done in the tournament.”Another testing ground is where I am now. I am sitting in the Hilton in Trinidad where our CPL T20 is going to start next week,” he said. “We don’t have as many resources, economically, to put into it, but our folks have been brilliant in utilising the hotel and the staff, the protective forces in carrying out this bubble so far. We still have a month to go, but the end of that month, we will know even better how teams and countries and boards without the economic advantage can carry this out safely.”So this [the CPL’s bubble] is another reason research and development project. And if we can do it here in Trinidad, I promise you that anyone else in the world can do it because we are doing it without the millions of dollars that other territories may have, so keep an eye on the Hero CPL and if we can do this properly, it will be great.”The players have to take responsibility, they have to take ownership of this, discipline themselves and mentally steel themselves in this new normal about staying away from the public and doing things responsibly.”Bishop felt that with two series being held in England, women’s cricket could resume too.”Now the women’s game and the administrators can look at this without endangering anyone’s lives and say, ‘Ah, we can play cricket safely.’ So now is the time to get back on the bicycle and start putting things in place because I don’t know the women’s game can continue to be as inactive as it has been. We must now look to drive it forward, even if it’s for bilateral tours because we know we can do it safely.”

A ready reckoner of all the players who have suffered injuries so far in the tournament

ESPNcricinfo staff22-Sep-2020

Mumbai Indians

Nathan Coulter-Nile
What is the injury?
Mumbai Indians captain Rohit Sharma stated at the toss during the IPL 2020 opener against Chennai Super Kings that the Australian fast-bowling allrounder had a “few niggles”. It has since emerged that he has a side strain.How does it impact the team?
Trent Boult and James Pattinson have been doing the job alongside Jasprit Bumrah, but along with what he can do with the ball, Coulter-Nile is a useful batsman down the order. Mumbai would want his momentum-changing cameos with the bat, to go with this formidable new-ball bowling skills, in their line-up.When is he likely to return?
Word is that Coulter-Nile will have to sit out Mumbai’s first few matches at least.Chris Morris bowls at the RCB nets•Royal Challengers Bangalore

Royal Challengers Bangalore

Chris Morris
What is the injury?
Mike Hesson, the director of cricket operations, said in a franchise social media video that Morris had missed the opening game against Sunrisers Hyderabad because he had “picked up a slight side strain a few days ago”.What is the impact on the team?
Morris is a multi-faceted cricketer, and vastly experienced in the shortest format, and key to Royal Challengers’ team balance as a lower-middle order batsman and someone who can bowl at any stage of a T20 innings. As Hesson said, “He would have played a huge role through the middle and also at the death (with the ball), and obviously his batting would have had a huge impact as well.”When is he likely to return?
Nothing confirmed, but Hesson is hoping Morris will be available for selection within a game or two.

Sunrisers Hyderabad

Kane Williamson
What is the injury?
Sunrisers Hyderabad captain David Warner said Williamson had a quadriceps injury. It is understood Williamson pulled a muscle while training.What is the impact on the team?
In their opening match of the tournament, against Royal Challengers Bangalore on Monday, Sunrisers were forced to play two young Indian batsmen in Abhishek Sharma and Priyam Garg. Williamson usually floats in the top order, and his absence left the middle order thin.When is he likely to return?
The team management has not provided any updates yet, but Williamson’s injury is understood to not be serious.Mitchell Marsh
Mitchell Marsh was ruled out of the tournament after twisting his right ankle in his very first over in his team’s first match while attempting to stop the ball in his follow through. He has been replaced by Jason Holder.Ishant Sharma sweats it out in the nets•Delhi Capitals

Delhi Capitals