Former Indian umpire Piloo Reporter seeks one-time benefits from BCCI

There is smaller pool of countries with infrastructure to host men's events: ICC

The International Cricket Council (ICC) has decided that the hosts for the ICC events will be decided by the board and not by the open bidding process for the next rights cycle from 2023-2031. The process of selecting the hosts for the men’s events which now includes the Champions Trophy as well apart from the World Cup and World T20 will start this month while the process for U19 and women’s events will begin in November. “It will be an opportunity to engage with a wider range of Members including first-time hosts,” the ICC said. "The revised approach to selecting hosts for our events will give us much more flexibility to grow the game and engage new fans," the ICC's acting chief executive Geoff Allardice said. "There is a smaller pool of countries with the infrastructure needed to host our senior Men's events which narrows the selection process. Additionally, many of our Members expressed interest in hosting Women's and U19 events which gives us a great opportunity to stage events in established and emerging cricket nations." Earlier, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) had opposed the ICC’s new bidding process for the same. The Indian board had made the argument that a very small number of the members have the infrastructure to host the events of this importance.

We can best prepare ourselves for Ashes by winning matches against NZ & Ind: Joe Root

England begin their long Test summer with the two-match series against New Zealand at home on Wednesday (June 2, 2021) at Lord’s. The English team will then take on India in a five-match series on home soil. Captain Joe Root is seeing the two Test series at home as a build up to Ashes and has further added that a clean sweep win against both the sides will give his team a lot of confidence. "There are going to be constant conversations about Australia throughout this whole summer, there is no getting away from that," Root told reporters. "It is of utmost importance, absolutely. But the way we are best going to prepare ourselves is by performing well in these seven Tests, by winning seven Test matches against the best two sides in the world," he added. Root further said that he couldn’t have asked for better opponents to go ahead with the preparations. "You couldn't be asking for two better opponents right now - to take on the best is what sport is all about and every Test means a hell of a lot to our players and to me. These Tests are our full focus." While England will host both New Zealand and India, the two sides will lock horns with each other in the final of the inaugural World Test Championship in Southampton with the encounter scheduled to begin from June 18. The Ashes on the other side will begin on December 8 in Brisbane.

All you hear is Steve Smith testing his bats if you share hotel room with him: Warner

Former Australia skipper Steve Smith has been one of the most consistent run-scorers in the past few years and his teammate David Warner has now revealed Smith’s obsession for his bats. In an interview with Fitzy & Wippa Warner said that the right-handed batsman is generally heard tapping and testing his bats in the hotel room at odd hours of the day. “A little insight to Steve Smith when you’re in a hotel room. If he’s above you, you ain’t sleeping. All you hear is the tapping all the time. You think it’s the cleaners coming in at midnight. You’re like, ‘Nah, that’s just Steve testing his bats,” Warner said. “He likes to feel the weight, but he likes to close his eyes, and yeah, that’s how he does it,” added Warner. The left-hander revealed another superstition of Smith relating to his thigh pad. “It’s just so common, Steve, that he put his whites on to actually work out if his thigh pad was going to fit in his pants. I’m worried about my box, not my thigh pad,” Warner said. The Indian Premier League 2021 was suspended on May 4 after there was a rise in COVID-19 cases within the franchise teams. Teams in both venues of Ahmedabad and New Delhi had covid cases amongst them, but the Board of Control for Cricket in India have firmly denied any possibilities of a bio-bubble breach. Warner who was the captain of the Sunrisers Hyderabad franchise before getting sacked from his post explained how terrifying the situation had turned in the country. “You know, people on the streets lining up to cremate their family members, and we did see that a couple of times going to and from the grounds,” he said. “Open fields and stuff. You know, it was terrifying. And it was just really upsetting from a humanitarian point of view,” Warner added. The Australian opener and other players who were a part of the IPL 2021 were released from a two-week of hotel quarantine in Sydney. The contingent had initially been flown to the Maldives before they were flown to Sydney by a charter flight. Meanwhile, the BCCI has decided to shift the remainder of the IPL 2021 to the UAE but the schedule is yet to be announced.

Will talk to Mohammad Amir and will discuss what his issues are: Babar Azam

Pakistan captain Babar Azam has shown some optimism for left-arm pacer Mohammad Amir’s return to international cricket. In an interview with Cricket Pakistan Azam has said that he will 'talk to him about his issues' that are hindering his comeback to the international arena. Amir had retired from international cricket in December 2020 citing 'mental torture' and had accused the coaching staff of negative behaviour against him. "When we talk, we'll discuss what his issues [with the national side] are," Azam said. "He's one of the best left-arm bowlers and I really admire him. The way he's performed in the PSL so far, I just hope he performs the same way again, and that's what we are focused on so far." Over the last month, several Pakistan players including star all rounder Shoaib Malik had accused the Pakistan Cricket Board of nepotism. In an interview with Pakistani journalist Saj Sadiq he had confided that he was putting his career on the line by speaking out about the issue but he had no regrets doing it. The left-arm fast bowler was one of the three players apart from Salman Butt and Mohammad Asif to be slapped with a ban after he was found guilty in a spot-fixing scandal during the Lord's Test in 2010. While Butt was banned for ten years, Asif for seven years, Amir was handed over a ban of five years. Amir was capped 36 times in Tests while playing 61 ODIs and 50 T20Is for Pakistan before announcing his retirement. He scalped a total of 119 wickets in the longer format while had 81 scalps in Odis and 59 in T20Is respectively.