Will Cricket Make It Return Sooner - ECB Reveals Tests with West Indies in July 2020
Posted on the 02 June 2020 by Sampathkumar Sampath
Till the advent of IPL and T20I – ODI by far was the most
fascinating form of Cricket.For
statistics buffs, India has played the maximum no. of One dayers – 987 to be
precise. 513 wins; 424 lost; 9 Tied and 41 No results.Do you know, how many ODIs, the greatest
all-rounder Sir Garfield Sobers played and how many WI had played before they
played and won the Inaugural World Cup 1975 ?
Old
order changeth, yielding place to new .. .. how will the Cinema industry and
Cricket game after Covid 19 .. .. will they lose their sheen or will people
flock back in the same measure that they did prior to Mar 2020 ? – what do you
feel ??
Strange
are the ways of people .. .. .. like India, UK had been under lockdown and the
Covid effect appears to be devastating yet not many are following the
guidelines, it appears.Hungry
McDonald's customers have been queuing for up to two hours after it reopened
168 drive-thrus - with police being called out to manage traffic at some of its
restaurants.The fast-food giant is set
to reopen nearly 1,000 restaurants for drive-thru and McDelivery customers over
the next three days. In a bid to try and stop the lengthy queues when drive
thrus return, McDonald's is announcing its chosen restaurants on the day they
open - but an hour's notice still gave customers plenty of time to queue today.
The Rose Bowl, Hampshire's
fourth home and its most state-of-the-art, was designed by award-winning
architects Michael Hopkins & Partners and hosted its inaugural first-team
match in 2001. The ground, shaped like a circular amphitheatre, and its
highlight - the three-storey pavilion with canopied roof - is a splendid feat
of architecture.The ground's
development - costing a whopping £24million - ran into financial difficulties
in 2000. The Rose Bowl (also known as the Ageas Bowl for sponsorship reasons)
is a cricket ground in West End,Hampshire, England, located between the M27
motorway.
Hampshire is a county on
the southern coast of England. The county town of Hampshire is Winchester, the
former capital city of England. Hampshire is notable for housing the
birthplaces of the Royal Navy, British Army, and Royal Air Force.Hampshire has a long maritime history and two
of England's largest ports, Portsmouth and Southampton, lie on its coast. The
county is famed as home of such writers as Jane Austen and Charles
Dickens.Gordon Greenidge, Andy Roberts,
Malcolm Marshall, Chaminda Vaas, Michaele Clarke, Shane Bond, Wasim akram,
Glenn Maxwell are some of the famous overseas players to have played for
Hampshire.
In UK, one statistics
claims the Coronavirus Cases at276,332
and deaths @ 39,045.However, Britain’s
statistics watchdog chided the government on Tuesday for publishing data on
coronavirus tests that it said were “far from complete and comprehensible”.It is reported that the UK's largest
coronavirus testing centres stand idle today while Britons instead swamped
newly opened McDonald's restaurants and Ikea stores as the lockdown eases. Bored
NHS contractors at Twickenham rugby stadium in West London even had time to
make a horse mascot and deck it out in blue surgical face mask, white gloves
and yellow high viz jacket to match their PPE.
Be that as it
may ! ~ when will Corona end is not known – humanity will have to live with it
for longer period it appears. The
ECB has announced proposed dates and venues for England's three-Test series
against West Indies, subject to government clearance.The first Test will be staged at the Ageas
Bowl on July 8, 2020 with the second and third Tests to be held at Emirates Old
Trafford. All three games will be staged behind closed doors, with players
staying at on-site hotels in biosecure conditions.As revealed by ESPNcricinfo, the West Indies
squad will arrive in the UK on June 9, when they will travel to Emirates Old
Trafford for a three-week period of quarantine and training. They will then
travel to the Ageas Bowl ahead for the final stages of preparation before the
first Test.
The ECB said in a press
release that the venues had been chosen after meeting criteria relating to
biosecurity, medical screening and testing provisions, their ability to uphold
social distancing, and cricketing facilities. Four venues submitted expressions
of interest, and Edgbaston has been selected as a contingency venue. It will
also be used to stage training throughout July. The Ageas Bowl and Emirates Old
Trafford will both receive an administration fee for staging the series, and
additional costs will be met by the ECB. The three Tests had originally been
scheduled for The Oval, Edgbaston and Lord's, which will all have their staging
fees reimbursed, and the ECB will claim for all lost
ticket revenues through its insurance policy with fans entitled to full
refunds. Steve Elworthy, the ECB's director of special operations, said that
the main objective was to deliver a safe environment for all those involved.
The ECB said it is
continuing to work on how best to stage matches, with Ireland, Pakistan and
Australia due for men's tours later in the summer, and South Africa and India
scheduled to play women's series. There are also plans to stage a shortened
domestic season, though it was confirmed last week that county cricket will not
restart before August 1.
Now, if you remember the
Qs at the start, Sobers played in a solitary ODI – ODI no. 8 played at Leeds on
Sept 5, 1973 when all his teammates and Country also debuted.Sobers did not make any runs and bowled the
last over in which England which had lost 9 wickets won. England secured the
target of 182 in 54.3 with the last wicket pair of RGD Willis and Derek
Underwood adding 6.In the next One
dayer WI won.WI played their 3rd ODI in
Prudential World Cup 1975.
With regards – S.
Sampathkumar
2.6.2020.