Stuart Broad nominated for BBC Sports Personality Of The Year award

England fast bowler Stuart Broad has been nominated for one of the most prestigious awards in the sports fraternity, the British Broadcast Corporation (BBC) Sports Personality of the Year (SPOTY). With this nomination, the 34-year-old has become the third cricketer in a row to be nominated for the highest sporting honour for a sportsman in the United Kingdom.

Before Broad, Ben Stokes was nominated for his World Cup-winning moment last year and also won the award. Earlier in 2018, James Anderson, Broad’s longtime new-ball partner was nominated for the award in the year 2018 when he became the first British cricketer to get to the level of 500 Test wickets.

Broad, who reached the milestone of his 500 Test wickets in his man of the series-winning performance against West Indies early this summer, has been nominated alongside the likes of record-equalling seven-time Formula One champion Lewis Hamilton.

In that series against Windies, Broad took 16 wickets in just two games. Further in the next three games against Pakistan, he took 13 wickets to end the summer with 29 wickets from just five games.

By the end of the summer, Broad had reached seventh place in the all-time list of Test wicket-takers, with 514 at 27.65 in 143 Tests.

The Nottingham born announced this news on his Twitter handle early this morning today with the caption, “Such a huge honour to be nominated for BBC Sports Personality of the Year 2020. Thanks, @gregjames& @thebodycoach for announcing. Right- back to the cricket nets! Cricket bat and ball Thank You! #SPOTY.”

Apart from Ben Stokes, a total of four cricketers have won this award which includes the likes of English legends, Jim Laker and Ian Botham. Apart from them, the much liked Andrew Flintoff also won it in 2005, for his Ashes showing, in an era when Australia dominated the cricket world.

David Steele is the only cricketer to have won the award for his county performances as the Northamptonshire player is the only one who has taken more than 500 first-class wickets and also scored more than 20,000 runs in the format. In total, the spectacled man played a total of 500 first-class games. Although his England stint was only 8 matches long.

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CA Defends BCCI After Channel 7's Attack in Court

Cricket Australia (CA) has rebuked its official broadcast partner, Channel 7, for claiming that the board wilted under the might of Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) while decided the schedule of international cricket in its home season. The dispute between CA and Seven West Media, the parent company of Channel 7, arose due to an affidavit filed by the latter against the cricket's top governing body in Australia. As per this affidavit, Channel 7 claimed that CA altered the schedule of Australia's home season to suit the convenience of BCCI, as a result hurting the interests of the broadcasters and violating the agreements between the two parties. But now, Nick Hockley, CEO of CA, has hit back at these allegations through his latest statement. "With so much positivity around Australian cricket, it is disappointing that Seven West Media has again chosen to use the media to talk our wonderful game down," Hockley was quoted as saying by cricket.com.au. "CA has maintained all along our commitment to delivering a thrilling summer of cricket. I'm proud to say we are doing just that. We remain confident in our contractual position," he added. In fact, the CEO went one step further and countered Channel 7's claim of his organisation being 'terrified' of BCCI by thanking the Indian board. "In the most challenging environment sport has faced, with the support of our friends at the BCCI, CA has ensured that the much-anticipated series with India can go ahead safely." This latest dispute between CA and the official broadcasters of the cricket it hosts has, ironically, come at a time when the first two ODIs of the three-match series has earned record viewership. Still, Channel 7 feels that the Australian summer ought to have begun with the day-night Test instead of the ODI series. Channel 7's association with CA in its present capacity as the main broadcasters began in 2018 after it replaced Channel 9 after the latter's nearly four decade long stint as broadcasters of cricket played in Australia. With every cricket board around the world, a series involving India is most valuable and brings in higher revenues than other tours. This makes it even more surprising that Channel 7 has decided to take the matter to court. India had last toured Australia for a full series two seasons ago where it played four Tests, three ODIs and three T20Is. The same number of games in all formats are being played this time too.

State bodies prefer Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 trophy over Ranji Trophy

Most of the state cricket associations have preferred to play a Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy instead of a Ranji Trophy in a curtailed season that the Board of Control for Cricket in India is planning. The answer came in replies to the letter by the General Secretary of BCCI, Jay Shah, in which he has asked the preference of the state bodies regarding the upcoming season, which would be a shorter one than the usual domestic season due to the covid-19 outbreak in the country. "The pandemic is a definite matter of concern since the king term effects of the disease are still not clear. You don't want the players to be exposed to this,” a state board official citing anonymity told ANI as to why the states have chosen T20 instead of the traditional first-class tournament. "The T20 format gives you the option of a smaller window in time and therefore is the preferred format in these circumstances if a tournament is indeed conducted,” he added. In the mail that the BCCI had sent to state associations, it had asked the state bodies to choose between the four options which were: Option A- only Ranji Option B - only Syed Mushtaq Ali Option C- both Ranji and Mushtaq Ali Option D - Syed Mushtaq Ali and Vijay Hazare (50 overs). Saying that the preparations are going on for the upcoming season, the Sec. also informed that BCCI would be preparing six Bio-Secure hubs and each hub would have one group as six groups would be created in total. "The BCCI will have to create a total of six bio-secure hubs across the country. The 38 teams will be divided into five elite groups and one plate group. The elite groups will consist of six teams each while the plate group will have eight teams. Each BCCI hub will have a minimum of three venues which are broadcast (digital) friendly," the letter read.

I back Kohli’s comments on Rohit injury: CAC chief Madan Lal

Chief of Cricket Advisory Committee, an independent agency set up by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) for appointing selectors and coaches of the Indian teams, Madan Lal has backed Indian captain Virat Kohli on the matter of Rohit Sharma’s injury. Lal, a former World Cup-winning team member from the 1983 World Cup believes that skipper and coach must be kept in the loop regarding any players’ injury. “Whatever Virat Kohli said in his press conference that is absolutely correct, I back him for the same because clarity with the captain is a must as the leader runs the team. Both coach and captain should be aware of what is happening with their players,” Lal was quoted as saying in TOI. Speaking about Rohit’s injury, the 69-year-old said that that the kind of communication right now happening in the team is not ideal. “Only Rohit or his franchise (Mumbai Indians) can answer why he played for the franchise when he was just 70 percent fit. I think that communication in the team should be on a good level. The kind of communication which is required is not happening, there should be clarity regarding what is happening,” Lal said. Saying that last time around, India was benefitted because of David Warner and Steve Smith not playing, which have been exposed with its bowling lineup. He also suggested what can be done to avoid the hammering that the Indian bowlers have been receiving. “Wicket-to-wicket bowling should be done in my point of view but at this time, the problem is that Indian bowlers are struggling to take wickets early on. We are also not fielding well and that is not ideal as the bowlers always need the support of their fielders,” he added.

Son, I Was Scoring 100s Before You Were Born: Afridi Lashes Out in LPL

A very ugly exchange of words took place in the ongoing Lanka Premier League (LPL). The players involved in the spat, or the spats, since their were two such instances, were Pakistani legend Shahid Afridi, the same country's pacer Mohammed Amir, and young Afghan seamer Naveen ul Haq. During the sixth match of the league, featuring Kandy Tuskers and Galle Gladiators. The first altercation happened during the 18th over of the second innings of the match. In an over where a boundary was hit by Amir off Naveen, the latter seemed to use some salty language against the former. Then, just after the end of the match when Naveen, representing Tuskers, got into a heated exchange of words with Amir, playing for the other side. Even the teammates of the 21-year old Afghan, including former Indian pacer Munaf Patel, tried to desist him from continuing his barrage, but the youngster didn't heed the advice. The second part of the drama happened immediately after that when the players of the two teams were shaking hands. When Afridi, playing in the same team as his compatriot Amir, came face-to-face with Naveen, he seemingly asked the youngster what happened. The reply of Naveen was, apparently, so disrespectful that Afridi had to remind the Afghan player how senior he is. "Son, I was scoring 100s in international cricket before you were born," the man known as Boom Boom Afridi reportedly told the younger man. The video and pictures of the incident are circulating on Twitter. People on the social media site seem to be unimpressed by the actions of Naveen and are telling him to be more respectful. As far as the match is concerned, Tuskers came out on top, beating Gladiators by 25 runs. Danushka Gunathilkaka scored 82 off 53 balls to take his team to a total of 197. In reply Gladiators could only get to 172.