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New Zealand cricketers in the priority list for COVID-19 vaccination

Aryasekhar Chakraborty

The New Zealand cricketers are all set to be eligible for early COVID-19 vaccines after the government put forward their priority list. Competing in events which is of “national significance” will hold the utmost value and are among the few criterias to get an early COVID-19 vaccine. 

As per reports in the ESPN Cricinfo, it is learnt that the process will start from March 31 which should be way too late for the New Zealand players who will ply their trade in the IPL. They should leave for India by then but the players who are expected to tour England in Late May might get vaccinated. 

Chris Hopkins who has played a key role in the ministry for New Zealand’s response to global health crisis said that people who would be competing in major global events will be eligible to jump the queue and get themselves vaccinated early. 

The categories include Olympians, Paralympians and the cricketers who will be travelling to UK for the World Test Championship final against India and also two other Tests against England. 

"The key yardstick here is people travelling in an official capacity and ensuring their participation is in our national interest," Hipkins was quoted as saying by reporters in Wellington. "They will have to make an application and it will depend on what sort of events they are participating in, to whether they fit the national interest criteria.

"But certainly, your expectation is that the Olympians would be eligible under the national interest criteria and a national sports team participating in a significant event would also meet those criteria."

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1st Test Day 4: Ton-up Pathum Nissanka, Dickwella stamp Sri Lanka's authority over listless Windies

Coming back from behind after an ordinary display of batting, Sri Lanka set the hosts West Indies a steep target of 375 runs to win the game and take a 1-0 lead or bat three and a half session to draw the game. Achieving any of the two targets will be a mountainous one for the hosts and Sri Lanka will be the better side than them going into the fifth and final day of the Test. Windies were rocked early in their effort on late on the fourth day as Vishwa Fernando got an outside edge off John Campbell’s bat to take the tourists further on the path of ascendency. Before that, it took a heroic century from Pathum Nissanka on debut and a magnificent 96 from Niroshan Dickwella that established Sri Lanka’s resurgence in the game. Sri Lanka had resumed the play at 255/4 on the fourth day with Dhananjaya de Silva and Pathum Nissanka at the crease. De Silva was quick to get to his fifty with a clip off his pads off Alazarri Joseph, but the celebration did not last long enough as the pacer bounced back rattling the right-hander’s stumps. Dickwella walked out to bat after the tourists had already taken a sizeable lead and his contributions with the bat would have made the case stronger for the Dimuth Karunaratne-led side. He started off in his typical fashion picking off Joseph through his prominent pickup shot towards the leg side. Joseph’s corrected line of attack on the off-stump was pushed away for boundary and Lanka were up and running on the penultimate day of the Test. At the other end, Nissanka’s patience was being rewarded with poor balls from Kemar Roach and Jason Holder. Shannon Gabriel’space too could not too much to harm the pair, while the military medium pace of Kayle Mayers was not good enough as Nissanka went past the 50-run mark for the first time. Roach corrected his length to hit Nissanka on his pads, but the umpire Joel Wilson did not find it hitting the stumps. At the other end, Holder found outside the edge of Dickwella’s bat but Bonner dropped a dolly at the gully, to sum up, Windies’ day in the field. The chance was enough of the opportunity that the pair threw at the hosts’ bowling lineup and Nissanka reached his test century on debut to become only the fourth Sri Lankan batsman to achieve such feat. Nissanka departed soon after the century but Dickwella carried on with his attack through unusual shots. Roach found his helmet with a rising delivery when the left-hander was at 95, but the bad luck continued for the hosts’ bowlers as the impact of the ball was not strong enough to shake up the bails on the stumps. Kemar Roach was not done and he got Dickwella played on as the batsman tried to be too cheeky in terms of scoring runs. Rakheem Cornwall wiped out the tail after Dickwella’s departure. Kemar Roach and Holder toiled hard for wickets but Sri Lankan batsmen were too rigid in their mindset to let the opportunities of winning a Test match in West Indies slip away from their grasp. The opening pair of the skipper Kraigg Brathwaite and John Campbell had a task in their hands to defend in the later period of the fourth day and it turned out to be too much for them as Vishwa Fernando provided Sri Lanka with a vital breakthrough. Sri Lanka have their nose significantly ahead of the Windies going into the fifth and final day fo the Test. However, the hosts can not be written off just yet.

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IND vs ENG | 2nd ODI: Dominant hosts seek series win as Morgan's men eye rule of aggression

Finally, India broke the jinx of losing the first game of the series thanks to their never-ending spree of debutant making heroic arrival on the big stage. For once, when the opening pair of Jonny Bairstow and Jason Roy were going great guns, the shoulders started to drop, but one of the debutants Prasidh Krishna brought them back in the game. The first game of the series once again highlighted a completely different style of playing ODI cricket by either side. India are still hesitant to give up on their style of starting slowly and building up for a late flourish after the 40-over mark. On the other hand, England are dominant in their batting and do not want to let go of that style of playing cricket having tasted a huge success in the form of an ODI world Cup two years back. Pundits in the UK and India highlighted the lack of flexibility in the England batting line up as they missed someone who could soak up the pressure and paced his innings while big shots would have kept on coming from the other end. However, skipper Eoin Morgan was not regretful about the batting approach of his team and reiterated that they will carry on playing in the same manner irrespective of the result. For India, the plan worked perfectly until wickets started falling off in cluster in the middle overs. But, just when things started to fall off the clip, another debutant, Krunal Pandya arrived on the scenes to rescue them with a magical knock. Going into the second ODI of the series, there will be a fierce contest between the team and the ODI series which was lagging behind in terms of context, has now got all in store for both the teams. India vs England: Match Details Match No.-02 Date and Time: March 26, 01:30 PM IST, 08:00 AM GMT Venue: Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium, Pune Pitch conditions The second ODI too will be played at the same Maharasthra Cricket Association ground in Pune although the pitch to be used for this game is likely to be a fresh one. The pitch in the first ODI offered pace and bounce as the likes of Mark Wood and Prasidh Krishna enjoyed testing the back foot game of the batsmen with short of a length deliveries. The trend is likely to continue in the second ODI as well but it will be interesting to see the makeup of the bowling attack of both teams. Team News India There will be a forced change in the playing XI from the last game with middle-order batsman Shreyas Iyer getting ruled out of the series due to shoulder subluxation. Either Suryakumar Yadav or Rishabh Pant would gain from the pain of Iyer, but in all likelihood, Pant might get the nod ahead of Yadav. There may well be another change on cards if Rohit Sharma, who was hit on his elbow by a rapid Mark Wood delivery, reports some serious concerns. Kohli will be tempted to see what Mohammed Siraj brings to the table in ODI cricket especially having played Bhuvneshwar Kumar for the entire length of the T20 series. Strongest XI Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant, KL Rahul (WK) Hardik Pandya, Krunal Pandya, Shardul Thakur, Bhuvneshwar Kumar/Mohammed Siraj, Kuldeep Yadav, Prasidh Krishna England Like Iyer, Sam Billing also had hurt his shoulder in the first game. Although he batted in the second innings, there will be a question mark over his fitness going into the second game of the series. Tom Curran has had a horror run with the ball on the tour and after the onslaughts in the T20I series, there were no signs of respite even in the ODI cricket. Mark Wood played four out of five T20 games of the series, and hence Morgan would have to make a decision on his workload. However, with the series on the line, Morgan is unlikely to change his bowling combination due to the workload factor. Strongest XI Jason Roy, Jonny Bairstow, Ben Stokes, Eoin Morgan (c), Jos Buttler(wk), Sam Billings, Moeen Ali, Sam Curran, Mark Wood, Adil Rashid, Tom Curran/Reece Topley