WTC Final: Commentators averse to travelling to England

Onecricket

As the World Test Championship Final is approaching, the International Cricket Council has its task cut out to find commentators for the showpiece event. However, the two teams involved in the match, New Zealand and India might not be able to get commentators from their own nation for the prestigious occasion, as they are not willing to undergo 10 days of quarantine for five days of commentating. 

“Quite a few commentators from India and New Zealand have said no to ICC and Sunset+Vine, the company that produces global cricket events, as on-ground commentary duties in the World Test Championship final would mean a 10-day quarantine for a five-day stint at best,” Cricbuzz reported. 

Two Indian and one New Zealander though have confirmed their presence even as ICC awaits confirmation from the most dramatic voice from the 2019 World Cup Final. “Sunil Gavaskar and Dinesh Karthik are understood to be the only two Indians on the panel that will also feature New Zealand's Simon Doull. There is no confirmation if Ian Smith, whose commentary was one of the highlights of the 2019 World Cup, will join too,” the report said. 

To overcome the lack of commentators, the ICC is expected to rope in England’s Mike Atherton and Nasser Hussain as neutral voices for the game. The WTC final would begin on June 18 at the Ageas Bowl in Southampton.

Discover more

Top Stories
news

Bilateral series between Ban & SL to go ahead as scheduled: BCB president

Bangladesh Cricket Board president Nazmul Hasan has said that the bilateral tie with Sri Lanka will go ahead as per schedule despite the Covid-19 scare and further added that there is nothing to panic about. "It can happen at times (someone getting positive) but there is a protocol in place... what we need to do and how many times we need to do the test to make sure that he is negative," Nazmul said at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium on Sunday (May 23). "We are following the protocol and we feel nothing serious happened that we need to panic.” Three members of theSri Lankan contingent, Chaminda Vaas, Isuru Udana and Shiran Fernando had tested positive for Covid-19 on Saturday. While Vaas and Udana returned with negative tests on Sunday, Fernando was found to be positive for the virus for the second time and was put into isolation. "But definitely we will increase our vigilance. He (Fernando) recovered from Covid very recently, the PCR may have detected the dead RNA from the virus, many individuals have it on them up to 28 days," Nazmul said. The home side went 1-0 up later in the day in the three-match series after beating Sri Lanka by 33 runs in Dhaka. Chasing a stiff total of 258, the visitors were bundled out for 224. Wanindu Hsaranga top-scored with 74 while no other batsmen really got into the groove. For Bangladesh, it was Mehidy Hasan who returned with a four-wicket haul while Mustafizu Rahman picked up three wickets. Earlier, the hosts rode on some piece of batting from Tamim Iqbal, Mushfiqur Rahim and Mahmudullah to manage 257/6 in 50 overs. All the three batsmen notched up a half-century each. The remaining two ODIs will be played on Tuesday and Friday respectively at the same venue.

news

Mustafizur Rahman makes fine return after limping off the ground

Bangladesh suffered a huge blow during the first ODI against Sri Lanka in Dhaka after left-arm pacer Mustafizur Rahman had to leave the field during the 39th over. Mustafizur fell down during his followthrough on the sixth delivery of the over that eventually went for a wide. With the visuals, it looked as it was his calf that was troubling and the fast bowler was taken off the field. He later came back on the field and picked up a crucial wicket of Isuru Udana who was dismissed for 21 off 23. Earlier, in the day, after batting first, Bangladesh compiled a total of 257/6 in 50 overs. The hosts lost opener Liton Das early in the innings but Tamim Iqbal and Shakib steadied the ship for the side to put up a partnership of 38 runs for the second wicket. Shakib though departed for 15 while Tamim continued with his form and notched up a half-century. But a couple of wickets on the trot pushed the home side on the backfoot. Bangladesh were 99/4 when Mushfiqur Rahim was joined by Mahmudullah and the two batsmen then stitched a stand of 109 runs for the fifth wicket. Mahmudullah scored 54 while Rahim notched up 84 during the course. Dhananjaya de Silva was the pick of the bowlers for Sri Lanka as he scalped a three-for and eventually returned with figures of 3/45 in 10 overs. The remaining two matches of the three-match series will take place on Tuesday and Friday respectively at the same venue. The ODI series between the two teams was under dark clouds after three members of the Sri Lankan contingent and Bangladesh team’s bus driver had tested positive for Covid-19. The three members included Shiran Fernando, Chaminda Vaas and Isuru Udana. Vaas and Udana had returned with positive tests on Saturday and then with negative tests on Sunday while Fernando returned with positive results on both the instances and has been put into isolation.

news

CAB starts verification process for divisional tournaments, age frauds to be dealt with sternly

The Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) has begun their verification process of identifying all the documents submitted by the players for plying their trade in the first and second division tournaments for the 2020-21 season. CAB had earlier vouched for the fact that it had a zero-tolerance policy when it comes to any corrupt and fraudulent practices. They have formed a verification cell very recently to make sure that there is complete transparency in the system. “We have decided to utilise this Lockdown Period productively as we have already started the verification of the documents submitted to us to ascertain its genuineness,” CAB President Avishek Dalmiya was quoted as saying in an official release. “This is a part of the cleansing process since we are determined to put the entire system in order at the earliest and in a time-specific manner,” Dalmiya added. CAB’s reputation has come under scrutiny in the past for age frauds among players. Back in October 2010, three players who were selected in the Bengal U-19 team for the Vinoo Mankad Trophy namely Balkesh Yadav, Rahul Singh and Sk. Ajharuddin were found ineligible by BCCI for producing false documents. There was further embarrassment for CAB when Ajharuddin the player replaced was also found ineligible and was sent back home by BCCI. The current CAB president has expressed his desire to impose more stringent checks to prevent such frauds in the future. “Once the verification is completed, the outcome would be placed before the verification cell for further course of action including laying down of more stringent checks and policies to prevent any such fraud in future,” added Dalmiya. Speaking about the possibility of age frauds, Snehasish Ganguly clarified the fact that there could be players who could come with forged documents but the verification exercise will mean that such incidents will be dealt with very sternly. “There could be possibilities that some of the documents submitted to us being forged or tampered with. However, this verification exercise being done by the agency that manages our database would help us find out such incidents, if any, so that it may be dealt with sternly,” the senior Ganguly said. “This would also enable us to screen out and scrutinise all the doubtful cases prior to the commencement of the next season to make it a cleaner one,” he added.