Sport Cricket - Summer 2021

[SteMerritt]

I was looking at the future tours document yesterday, if I'm reading it correctly we are only playing the test matches in Australia this year, then going back there again winter 2022 for the ODI/T20s, with a Test tour of Pakistan scheduled for next winter.

 

[Leysboy]

I would love to go and watch a test series in Pakistan.

My father went years ago to Faiselabad, Gujranwala, and Lahore.

The big question of course is safety, I believe the ECB and the powers that be in Pakistan ie Imran Khan have assured its safe, but maybe that’s only for players. For fans it’s a different story perhaps.

The Pakistani fans are extremely passionate, and it would be good to go there again, rather than playing on Dubai’s poor wickets. Most of the time the games are so high scoring they normally end in draws.

I could be wrong but though we were going there for an ODI series this year in Rawalpindi…

 

[Oufcrealist]

I would love to go and watch a test series in Pakistan.

My father went years ago to Faiselabad, Gujranwala, and Lahore.

The big question of course is safety, I believe the ECB and the powers that be in Pakistan ie Imran Khan have assured its safe, but maybe that’s only for players. For fans it’s a different story perhaps.

The Pakistani fans are extremely passionate, and it would be good to go there again, rather than playing on Dubai’s poor wickets. Most of the time the games are so high scoring they normally end in draws.

I could be wrong but though we were going there for an ODI series this year in Rawalpindi…

Yes two T20 warm up matches before going to Dubai for the world T20.

 

[unification]

Final test called off! India forfeit.

Does that mean the series is drawn then? Churlish and pathetic as it may be … YES! ‘Ave that, Kohli, you dickhead! Still no India series win in England since 2007.

Can we give Jimmy all 20 wickets and say that every India player was out for a king pair too?

In all seriousness, a disappointing end to a very interesting series.

EDIT. Maybe not forfeited but ‘cancelled’. Some are calling for India’s visit next summer to include a Test to finish up this series which would be a good.

 

[Junior_1]

Yep. England get the win as India officially forfeited the game.

Be interesting to see how the IPL goes with Covid around. That’s what (if you believe some in the English cricketing press) is the main factor behind this.

 

[SteMerritt]

Damn it, I'd just moved the sofa out so I could hide behind it for 5 days. Guess I'd better move it back then.

 

[ZeroTheHero]

Disappointing - it could have been edge of your seat stuff.

When the last home test match is over, that signals the end of the summer for me - I fully expect the leaves to be turning orange by tea time.

 

[SteMerritt]

When the last home test match is over, that signals the end of the summer for me - I fully expect the leaves to be turning orange by tea time.

T20 Finals day is that point for me, the most gloriously mad day in the English summer. Still a week to go.

Not sure when the County Championship wraps up, into the final stages but weird things going on in that. Middx scoring 676 in one innings? Christ, that's normally our total for 3 games, not one innings! And our young leggie having his first 10 wicket match as well.

 

[gingerox]

Feel for those who had travelled - could the ECB not have pulled a few more players in for a intrasquad game?

 

[boogaloo]

Very disappointing end to the series. Jonathon Agnew sums it up perfectly. It's purely all about the money in the IPL which starts in only 9 days time. It's a very sad state of affairs when Test Cricket takes a back seat to some 'Americanised' fairground attraction.


"This is quite bizarre because last night the players all passed their PCR tests. We went to bed thinking the match would go ahead.

I suspect the IPL would have a lot to do with this. It starts in 10 days' time. The players are on huge contacts. The IPL is worth £300m to the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).

They are desperate to protect their product and the players protect their contracts. This stands to cost the ECB £20m, one assumes there would be some negotiations about that with the BCCI.

It is a shame Covid has interfered with a brilliant series."

 

[Junior_1]

Also worth noting that India initially wanted this test moved to the start of the series so it didn’t interfere with prep, isolation etc before the IPL.

ECB refuses as it clashed with the 16.4 format.

Plot thickens!

 

[SteMerritt]

Taken from the report on CricInfo...

A sense of confusion had spread among the Indian camp in the last two days even as the BCCI was in discussions with ECB over whether to carry on with the series or cancel the final Test. While the discussion carried on through the middle of Thursday night, the Indian contingent remained unaware of the what decision the BCCI was going to take.

However, it is understood the BCCI did ask the players to keep their bags ready to fly out to the UAE for the IPL well ahead of the scheduled departure date of September 15, when the bulk of the India and England players were to board charter flights to join their franchises.

Well that won't help quiet the conspiracy talk will it...

 

[Essexyellows]

So is it 2-2 or not?

According to yonder BBC...........

"The ECB statement initially said that India, who led the series 2-1, had forfeited the final Test and the series was drawn 2-2. The statement has since been amended to say: "India are regrettably unable to field a team."

The final result is unclear."

 

[m]

Nice to see that it's not just football that's gone to s**t.

 

[SteMerritt]

This quote I think is the most bizarre yet (again from CricInfo)...

11.04am Tom Harrison, the ECB chief executive, is on the BBC now, and has acknowledged it is a case of mental fatigue for India, rather than a Covid issue per se, and given that England's own players lobbied to leave their tour of South Africa last December in similar circumstances, he has expressed some sympathy.

"It's been a long night. It's just really sad," he says. "You can't be flippant about issues of mental health, and this is what this is about. India have been wonderful tourists, but they have been here for a long time.

Yeah, I can get that, they just want to go home to India after a long time away, probably from young families... erm, except they are heading straight to UAE to finish their domestic tournament, then on to the Word T20 tournament until the middle of November.

If there are no covid cases in the Indian playing squad, they should forfeit the game.

 

[unification]

This quote I think is the most bizarre yet (again from CricInfo)...


Yeah, I can get that, they just want to go home to India after a long time away, probably from young families... erm, except they are heading straight to UAE to finish their domestic tournament, then on to the Word T20 tournament until the middle of November.

If there are no covid cases in the Indian playing squad, they should forfeit the game.

Tom Harrison talking in very diplomatic terms. Both the ECB and BCCI are being very reverential to each other so I would expect nothing but bland platitudes there.

The comparisons with England leaving South Africa are fair ones - but with a conspiratorial caveat. England departed South Africa at the end of 2020 after the ODIs were all pushed back to due to a SA player catching COVID, two hotel staff compromising the England bubble and then two 'unconfirmed positive tests' from England players, all in quick succession. Essentially the whole series was compromised and it was best that England headed home.

Fair enough to India to cancel/postpone the final test due to cases within their coaching team. I thought they'd done well to make the field at the Oval and COVID is a ticking time bomb with players in close proximity. However, with the IPL only a week away, it does some rather suspicious and premeditated. Harrison's comments seem to be placating India rather than trying to get to the bottom of it. If India had planned to leave and left it to the day of the Test to announce it, throw the book at them. That's grossly unfair on spectators with tickets, Lancashire CCC, staff and suppliers at OT and the media for having to travel there.

It's the timing that stinks here.

 

[Oufcrealist]

India are using covid as an excuse so they can leave early for the IPL, simple. The players all had negative PCR results yesterday so the match should have gone ahead as that is the criteria they use.
Feel sorry for all the fans, hundreds had already turned up when it was cancelled!!

 

[Marked Ox]

'Rafiq was victim of racial harassment'

Azeem Rafiq was the "victim of racial harassment and bullying," according to the findings of a report released by his former club Yorkshire.

www.bbc.co.uk

A report commissioned by Yorkshire unsurprisingly found there was no institutional racism within the club, claiming insufficient evidence. Well blow me down with a feather, I'm shocked I tell ya....

There should be a proper independent investigation/report carried out to establish that. I mean it isn't as if there is a legal action ongoing that YCC will be trying to minimise any compensation they have to pay out.

Oh, and Rafiq's team selection/subsequent release was only down to cricketing decisions. Nevermind he by their own admittance was getting racial harassment/being bullied which if reports are true was from the same people making those decisions.

 

[boogaloo]

I feel no sympathy for India, and the ECB should be awarding be a forfeit victory to England, rather than speaking to the BCCI about rescheduling. Firstly all players tested negative, so there is no reason why they can't play. In Euro 2020, Scotland still turned up to play England after Billy Gilmour tested positive.

Secondly it is not the same situation as back in South Africa in December because a vaccine has now been created and has been successfully rolled out, and although not all Indians would have been vaccinated, it's a pretty safe assumption to assume that the players, Bollywood actors and anyone else with money would have all been double jabbed. Things have moved on, and Covid is not the danger that it once was.

Thirdly, if as I strongly suspect this was due to the upcoming IPL, then the BCCI need to sued for loss of revenue.

 

[Sarge]

I feel no sympathy for India, and the ECB should be awarding be a forfeit victory to England, rather than speaking to the BCCI about rescheduling. Firstly all players tested negative, so there is no reason why they can't play. In Euro 2020, Scotland still turned up to play England after Billy Gilmour tested positive.

Secondly it is not the same situation as back in South Africa in December because a vaccine has now been created and has been successfully rolled out, and although not all Indians would have been vaccinated, it's a pretty safe assumption to assume that the players, Bollywood actors and anyone else with money would have all been double jabbed. Things have moved on, and Covid is not the danger that it once was.

Thirdly, if as I strongly suspect this was due to the upcoming IPL, then the BCCI need to sued for loss of revenue.

seconded