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COVID may not impede the BBL this season, with two players taking Tuesday night’s first game and testing positive for the virus.
Melbourne Stars gunmen Joe Burns and Marcus Stoinis tested for the virus in the hours leading up to the game, but still played in their last loss to the Sydney Thunder.
That was a far cry from the Stars’ January clash against Perth, one of the most games in BBL history, where they featured an unrecognizable lineup after 10 players and 8 staff members contracted the virus.
Burns and Stoinis sat away from their teammates waiting to hit, headed to the court in a separate location and used their own locker room.
The league intends to set up a third locker room in each and every game this season with COVID-infected players on both sides to, in theory, provide percentage facilities, but it wouldn’t prevent players from competing with the virus if they feel comfortable.
It’s just part of a rough day for Burns, who injured his hamstring while hitting before retiring and leaving the court for scans.
All-Star captain Adam Zampa admitted it was a feeling to separate teammates, but said it had to be the norm for the festival to continue.
“It’s something we’re getting used to now, quite a bit happened this summer at the World Cup,” he told reporters.
“We don’t even communicate about it, it’s just a quick message saying those guys are positive and stay away.
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“Burnsy had a difficult day with his hamstring and that too, I think he’s going to be pretty flat and the same with Stoin, I don’t think he was prepared for the ball and it would have been practical. “
Burns had limped in possible singles, but eventually succumbed and retired on the 18th.
Stoinis presented no such resistance, for a golden duck
He wasn’t well enough to line up or bowl later and instead saw the moment set from the edge wrapped in a blanket after warming up the bowling sleeve change.
It’s unclear if Stoinis will help in Friday night’s home opener instead of Hobart, Burns appears to be deficient with his hamstring.
(Photo via Mark Nolan/Getty Images)
The Sydney Thunder survived a disastrous batting slump in the BBL opener to claim a one-wicket victory over the Melbourne Stars.
After the Thunder lost their last established hitter Chris Green (17) on the first ball of the final over, Gurinder Sandhu (20th) the unlikely hero, winning a deep midwicket of six minutes before 4 byes of the last ball denied to the stars (8-122) a fairytale comeback.
Of his six wins, Sandhu said he leaned on to face Beau Webster, the stars.
“I just looked for it to be very simple, to stay still, to look at the ball, to react after that. . . When you communicate with drummers, that’s when they hit their best,” he told reporters.
“We didn’t need to force it because we knew we had that one in Beau. . . We simply said if it’s in your area, then shut it up. It’s a smart way to start and I hope it sets the tone for the Big Party.
Nick Larkin (25) Melbourne’s most sensible scorer, but from the 12th the Stars only reached two limits.
Chase 123 has been regime for the Thunder, which has Alex Hales, Rilee Rossouw and Jason Sangha in its smartest order.
But in his long-awaited BBL debut, New Zealand veteran Trent Boult won two fields on 3 balls to unbalance the Sydneysiders in the first round.
Matt Gilkes outpaced Boult to emergency outfielder Brody Couch, who juggled the ball 4 times before grabbing a short-leg contender for the catch of the year.
In Boult’s next installment, Rossouw passed Nathan Coulter-Nile on the slides and the Thunder lost two fields without scoring a point.
Hales (16) and Daniel Sams (3) were frustrated in their attempts to get the Thunder out of trouble, as they suffered the effective fate of Coulter-Nile (3-19).
All-Star captain Adam Zampa threw Alex Ross (28) with a long ball on a stump that sealed his wicket BBL and left the Thunder at 7-89.
Green and Sandhu had 15 problems in the last two overs and when the latter led Luke Wood to make four, the Thunder sniffed.
An old moment went through Couch, dived into the depths, ejected Green and the Stars were almost home with no more established hitters to climb for the Thunder. That was until Sandhu emerged from the rubble to keep Melbourne residents at bay.
Former England cricketer Andrew Flintoff was taken to hospital after a twist of fate while filming an episode of the BBC’s Top Gear TV show.
His injuries are life-threatening, British media reported Tuesday.
“Freddie (Flintoff) was injured in a twist of fate on the Top Gear checktrack this morning, with team doctors rushing to the scene immediately,” a BBC official told Sky News, adding that they would check more main points in due course.
Separately, The Sun newspaper quoted a source as saying Flintoff, 45, who was flown to hospital, was receiving treatment and his injuries were not life-threatening.
The BBC was quick to respond to a request for comment. The flexible left cricket in 2010 and joined Top Gear as host in 2019, having attempted a career in boxing. He named Series Man in the memorable 2005 Ashes for his heroic effort to help England win their first series against Australia in 18 years.
Yorkshire President Lord Kamlesh Patel accused the former leader of the England and Wales Cricket Board of not backing him when he criticised reforms he carried out in the county.
Lord Patel took over in Yorkshire thirteen months ago after the county was stripped of overseas match hosting rights over its handling of allegations of racism made through former player Azeem Rafiq.
Rafiq himself told MPs that the only thing he had replaced since he first gave harrowing evidence of the racism he faced in cricket was that he and his circle of relatives had been expelled from the country.
Lord Patel commissioned through the ECB to implement governance reforms in Headingley to get the county back on track, but former club leaders criticised this.
He told a parliamentary committee that he felt he was leaving him completely alone to handle this through the ECB, and that without his previous leadership experience he would have walked away.
“I asked in writing and won mail after mail, letter after letter, saying ‘you asked me to do it, I did, please’ and I have no reaction to those letters and emails. So it was very painful.
“If I were a user who wasn’t a member of the House of Lords and didn’t have leadership experience, leave.
“I don’t know how Azeem gets the strength to continue. You were just running. In the eyes of the public, we get complaints (but) it’s relentless. And that comes from a domain you don’t expect it to be: it’s sport, for God’s sake.
“The Americans who just (carried out) a concerted attack, I don’t think other people understand, I don’t think the ECB understood that. “
Lord Patel described the existing regulatory procedure for cricket as “completely flawed” and said independent regulation would be in an ideal world, but there would be too many years of “navel-gazing” to get there.
Rafiq highlighted the abuse he and his circle of family members have faced since speaking out about his experiences.
The 31-year-old said: “If I had to look thirteen months after opening my heart, all it replaced was that my family and I were expelled from the country. And that’s an unhappy component. “
Rafiq, who moved with his immediate circle of relatives to Pakistan last month, told the committee about incidents of abuse, adding that a man was defecating in the open at his parents’ home.
“I would love to come here and tell you how much cricket has changed, but unfortunately what I feel is that cricket is in denial,” he said. “There’s still an organization of other people who feel cricket is the victim. “
In June, the ECB indicted several Americans in connection with the Rafiq and Yorkshire allegations for their handling of the allegations. However, the Cricket Disciplinary Committee has yet to hear the case after a dispute over whether it will take a position in public or private. .
The ECB recently had new leadership and both said they expected improvement, in Rafiq’s case it was “a bit of hope”.
Pakistan will once again be without rhythm thrower Naseem Shah as they seek a third straight loss to England in the third round in Karachi.
The 19-year-old seamstress won five grounds in a futile cause when the bat ruled the ball in the first game of the series in Rawalpindi, but missed the following in Multan, where Ben Stokes’ tourists took an impregnable 2-0. Lead.
Pakistan had hoped Naseem would lead the attack again when the final match starts on Saturday, but now they have to continue without him due to injury.
“A small challenge on the shoulder of the bowling ruled out Naseem Shah from the third and final control between Pakistan and England in Karachi,” the Pakistan Cricket Board confirmed.
“Quick Bowler will go to Lahore, where he will undergo further evaluation at the National High Performance Center before beginning his rehabilitation. Control of the team has not asked for its replacement at this stage.
Pakistan already has Shaheen Shah Afridi and Haris Rauf, leaving them with an improvised attack.
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