Priya Punia's mother passes away due to Covid-19

Ian Chappell feels Bancroft's future chances will be numbered after recent revelations

Former Australian skipper Ian Chappell is of the opinion that Cameron Bancroft’s recent revelations on the infamous sandpaper gate saga won’t do him any benefit as it might go onto decrease his future chances of representing the national team. In a recent interview to the Guardian, Bancroft hinted at the fact that the bowling cartel was aware of the ball being scruffed up with sandpaper. "Yeah, look, all I wanted to do was to be responsible and accountable for my own actions and part. Yeah, obviously what I did benefits bowlers and the awareness around that, probably, is self-explanatory," Bancroft told the Guardian. His remarks prompted Cricket Australia’s Integrity Unit to reach out to him in order to gather any additional information on the particular incident. However, a report in the Sydney Morning Herald says that Bancroft has backtracked on the issue claiming that he doesn’t have any new information to give. Chappell felt that while it is not ethical to pick and choose players on the basis of likes and dislikes but this has been going on for some time now. When asked whether selection happens on basis of likes and dislikes, Chappell said, "The answer should be 'No,'" Chappell was quoted as saying by Wide World of Sports. "But does like and dislike come into selection? It shouldn't, but it does. Do selectors sometimes pick players, or not pick them, for reasons other than cricket ability? I think it happens occasionally. "It's definitely happened as far as Warner and leadership is concerned," he concluded. Back in March 2018, the tainted trio of Steve Smith, David Warner and Cameron Bancroft was involved in the ball-tampering incident at the Newlands in Cape Town. On the insistence of the then captain Steve Smith and vice-captain David Warner, Bancroft applied sandpaper on the ball. Getting caught on TV, Bancroft panicked and shoved the small piee of sandpaper inside his trousers. While Warner and Smith was handed one year ban, Bancroft had to be out of competitive cricket for nine months after accepting the charges in the post day presser.

Bancroft backtracks on ‘bowlers’ involvement’ remark in the Sandpaper gate

Cameron Bancroft, who put fresh fuel to an almost dead fire of the Sandpaper gate saga of Australian cricket by saying that bowlers’ involvement and prior knowledge of what was happening on the ground is self-explanatory, has now backtracked on his claims. The 28-year-old said that he is satisfied with the investigation carried out by Cricket Australia into the 2018 issue. Sydney Morning Herald quoted sources to report that Bancroft called into the Cricket Australia’s integrity committee and explained that he has no substantial or additional proof and that what he said was actually a case of confusion due to the barrage of questions hurled towards him. The Western Australia cricket is further supposed to have contacted the bowers and made a truce with them over the inflammatory allegations. In the interview that Bancroft gave to UK’s Guardian, speaking about the Newlands incident he had said, “Yeah, look, all I wanted to do was to be responsible and accountable for my own actions and part.” On being asked about the bowlers’ involvement in the infamous incident, Bancroft, who is currently playing county cricket in England, said, “Yeah, obviously what I did benefits bowlers and the awareness around that, probably, is self-explanatory.” “I guess one thing I learnt through the journey and being responsible is that’s where the buck stops [with Bancroft himself]. Had I had better awareness I would have made a much better decision,” added Bancroft who has played 10 Tests and solitary T20 for Australia. His statements totally contradicted Cricket Australia’s findings which said, “prior knowledge of the incident was confined to three players, Steve Smith, David Warner and Cameron Bancroft."

Playing WTC final against India is fantastic challenge: Kane Williamson

India and New Zealand will lock horns in the final of the inaugural World Test Championship. The title clash is slated to take place in Southampton from June 18. Blackcaps skipper Kane Williamson has expressed his excitement and further added that it would be a challenging task to play against a team like India. "I think we saw the context of the Test Championship," Williamson said in a video posted by ICC on Twitter. "It brought in real excitement. We saw that in declarations, games getting really tight. Saw it in the India-Australia series, our series here against Pakistan with results had to be hard-fought for and you are willing to risk it." "It's really, really exciting to be involved in the final, obviously to win it would be that much better. Whenever you play India, it's a fantastic challenge. It's really exciting to be playing them," he said. The Williamson-led New Zealand side was the first one to make it through to the finals while India defeated Australia 2-1 away from home and then thumped England 3-1 on the home soil to register a place in the final. New Zealand have already reached England as they are scheduled to play a two-match Test series against them ahead of the WTC final. The series will begin on June 2. Team India on the other hand will fly to the UK on June 2. The Virat Kohl-led side will also play a five-match Test series against England after the conclusion of the WTC final.

Digital streaming and free to Air services take cricket to more New Zealanders than ever before

A total of 1.86 million viewers watched six matches broadcast live on free to air TVNZ while more than 240,000 watched one of New Zealand Women’s game against Australia Women this year on the digital streaming platform of Spark Sport. These numbers are just a glimpse of what has been achieved as this year turned out to be the best in terms of cricket viewing ever since broadcast emerged in the island nation. This success has filled Spark Sport with enthusiasm as it has achieved something that had never been done before in just the first year of its six-year broadcast deal with New Zealand Cricket. Digital streaming is being considered a groundbreaking addition to cricket viewing "which is taking cricket to not only more Kiwis but demographics of New Zealanders previously lost to the game". Head of Spark Sport, Jeff Latch believes that since almost half of its customers are people below 34 years, the increasing number shows that the game is being consumed by the youth on the go, which is a good sign for any sporting nation. "It shows that New Zealand households are embracing streaming, which is consistent with the global experience, in which it is now the norm," he said about the increased numbers of digital streaming. While the number of vies of highlights snapshots increased, Test cricket and Super Smash and Women’s Super Smash, the domestic T20 tournaments of the country along with Test cricket also saw a huge rise in viewership. However, the most viewed game remained one of the T20Is during the Australia series which attracted 1.24 million viewers. "We're hugely encouraged," said David White the CEO of NZC while talking about the latest positive results. "The production was professional; the look and feel were fresh and appealing - it was everything we were hoping for,” he added. White further went on to establish the increasing popularity of cricket by saying that the game is being picked up by more youth every year. "On top of the increase in viewership, our latest census is also indicating a significant increase in the number of New Zealanders playing cricket - including a 12% increase in the number of female participants, and a nine per cent increase in the number of males.”