Page 27 - Pakistan Link - August 13, 2021

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Kane Williamson among top NZ players England recall Moeen Ali for

to skip Bangladesh, Pakistan tours second India Test

LONDON: Moeen Ali has been bility with both bat and ball. Albeit in
All-rounder Mark Chapman and recalled to the England squad for a short format he’s in great form at
spin bowler Todd Astle were named Thursday’s second Test against India. the minute, playing with great confi-
in the 15-man Twenty20 World Cup The 34-year-old all-rounder has dence, and we all know what he’s ca-
squad, while Finn Allen and Colin de played only one Test match in the last pable of in the Test arena. He’s scored
Grandhomme have missed out. two years, against India in Chennai big hundreds and won the games with
Astle joins fellow leg-spinner Ish almost six months ago, but will link the ball as well and he’s a fine cricket-
Sodhi and left-arm spinner Mitchell up with the team at Lord’s. er. “If he gets an opportunity he’ll be
Santner for the Oct 17-Nov 14 tour- England were outplayed for large desperate to impress and show every-
nament in the United Arab Emirates periods of the drawn opener at Trent one how good he is in Test cricket as
and Oman where spin is expected to Bridge last week and are looking to well as white-ball cricket.”
be important. rebalance the side in the continued
Adam Milne will travel with the absence of all-rounders Ben Stokes
Williamson-captained squad as a and Chris Woakes.
standby for frontline pacemen Trent Moeen has played only white-
Boult, Tim Southee, Kyle Jamieson ball cricket since his last Test appear-
and Lockie Ferguson. ance in February when he took eight
New Zealand play in Group 2 at wickets and hit a second-innings 43
the World Cup with India, Pakistan, in a losing cause. He twice dismissed
Afghanistan and two qualifiers. India captain Virat Kohli in that
The squad will travel to India for match but played no further part in
three T20 matches after the World the series, taking a scheduled rest as
WELLINGTON: Black Caps cap- ly managing their workloads over Cup before a two-Test series. part of the ECB’s rotation policy.
tain Kane Williamson and several this [year’s] massive playing pro- Squads: Since then, Moeen has resumed
other senior players were on Tues- gramme,” White said. Twenty20 World Cup and India his status as a white-ball specialist,
day excluded from upcoming tours New Zealand players involved Twenty 20s: Kane Williamson (cap- most recently as Birmingham Phoe-
to Bangladesh and Pakistan as New in this year’s prematurely suspend- tain), Todd Astle, Trent Boult, Mark nix captain in the inaugural season of
Zealand focus on the Twenty20 ed Indian Premier League would be Chapman, Devon Conway, Lock- The Hundred.
World Cup. New Zealand confirmed allowed to re-join their franchises ie Ferguson, Martin Guptill, Kyle He leaves that competition in a
their World Cup line-up in an unprec- when it re-starts in September. “It’s Jamieson, Daryl Mitchell, Jimmy blaze of glory, with his team top of
edented 32-man white ball squad to a pragmatic approach. We’ve always Neesham, Glenn Phillips, Mitchell the standings and fresh from scor-
handle a heavy workload over the tried to be realistic about the IPL and Santner, Tim Seifert, Ish Sodhi, Tim ing a brutal 59 against Welsh Fire on
next four months. this particular issue is very much a Southee. Bangladesh Twenty20s and Monday which saw him hit five sixes
In addition to the World Cup and one-off, caused by a unique set of cir- Pakistan ODIs: Tom Latham (cap- and three fours in just 28 balls.
tours of Bangladesh and Pakistan, cumstances,” White said. tain), Finn Allen, Hamish Bennett, “We’ll look at conditions and
New Zealand also have a Test series A separate squad captained by Tom Blundell, Doug Bracewell, weigh things up but he’s in a great
in India with that squad to be named Tom Latham will head to Bangla- Colin de Grandhomme, Jacob Duffy, position to play,” said England cap-
next month. desh and Pakistan for white-ball Matt Henry (ODI only), Scott Kugge- tain Joe Root. “That’s why he’s been
New Zealand Cricket chief ex- tours in September and October leijn, Cole McConchie, Henry Nich- called up to the squad, for his capa-
ecutive David White said changing prior to the World Cup to man- olls, Ajaz Patel, Rachin Ravindra,
times demanded changing strategies, age player workloads amid taxing Ben Sears (T20 only), Blair Tickner, ICC to push for cricket’s inclusion
with player welfare and support one Covid-19 restrictions. Will Young.
of professional sport’s biggest chal- Ross Taylor was initially selected Pakistan Twenty20s: Tom Latham in the 2028 Olympics
lenges, particularly in the current for the three One-day Internationals (captain), Finn Allen, Todd Astle,
pandemic environment. in Pakistan but, with the brief nature Hamish Bennett, Tom Blundell, Mark
“The need to safeguard the of the one-week series and the length Chapman, Colin de Grandhomme, PARIS: Cricket’s world governing more than a billion fans globally and
well-being of our players and sup- of quarantine protocols, it was decid- Martin Guptill, Matt Henry, Daryl body said on Monday that it intends almost 90 percent of them want to
port staff is now very real, and we’ve ed he would remain in New Zealand Mitchell, Ajaz Patel, Ish Sodhi, Ben to push for the sport’s return to the see cricket at the Olympics,” Barclay
endeavoured to do this by careful- to prepare for the Indian Test tour. Sears, Blair Tickner, Will Young. Olympics at the 2028 Games in Los added. “Clearly cricket has a strong
and passionate fanbase, particularly in
Angeles. The International Crick-
Ex-NZ cricketer Chris Cairns Wade looks to et Council (ICC) said it would start South Asia where 92 per cent of our
preparations on an Olympic cam-
fans come from, whilst there are also
on life support bowling for positives paign to point out ‘the sport’s inclu- 30 million cricket fans in the USA.
“The opportunity for those fans
sion in 2028 would mark the end of a
in BD debacle
Cricket has appeared once in the
Olympic medal is tantalising.”
MELBOURNE: Former New Zea- several years after his marriage to DHAKA: Stand-in Australia captain 128-year absence.’ to see their heroes competing for an
land cricket all-rounder Chris Cairns Australian Melanie Croser in 2010. Mathew Wade looked for positive in Olympics, at Paris in 1900, where Barclay pointed out that cricket
is on life support at a Canberra hos- After retiring from internation- their bowling after being crushed by the Devon and Somerset Wanderers, will be returning to the Common-
pital after recently collapsing with a al cricket, Cairns was the subject of 60 runs in the final T20 Internation- representing Great Britain, beat the wealth Games in 2022 in Birmingham
heart problem, New Zealand media allegations of match-fixing in India al of their five-match series against only other entrants, a team of British which will include a women’s T20
reported on Tuesday. as captain of the Chandigarh Lions Bangladesh on Monday. embassy staff appearing as France, by competition. The sport previously ap-
Cairns, 51, had undergone sever- in the defunct Indian Cricket League The Aussies were bowled out for 158 runs in a one-innings match. peared in the Commonwealth Games
al operations after suffering an aortic (ICL) in 2008. their lowest ever Twenty20 score of ICC chair Greg Barclay said in 1998 in Malaysia, when South Afri-
dissection but had not responded to He denied any wrongdoing and 62 runs in the final match for 4-1 de- the Tokyo Games, which ended on ca won a 50-over competition.
treatment as hoped, Newshub report- fought several legal battles to clear feat in the series after restricting Ban- Sunday, had been an inspiration and “The sport will feature in the Bir-
ed. An aortic dissection is a tear in the his name, winning a libel case against gladesh to 122-8 at the Sher-e-Bangla that cricket’s large fanbase meant it mingham 2022 Commonwealth Games
body’s main artery. former Indian Premier League chair- National Cricket Stadium. should be invited to the party. next year, which shapes as a perfect
However, the former Black man Lalit Modi in 2012. Australia had never lost to Ban- “I would like to congratulate the showcase for what the sport can bring
Caps skipper has not responded to In 2015, he was cleared of per- gladesh in a T20 before coming to IOC, Tokyo 2020, and the people of to the Olympics, as well as being a mo-
treatment as hoped, Newshub said, jury in relation to the libel case after this tour as the dominated the series Japan for staging such an incredible mentous occasion on its own,” the ICC
adding that the 51-year-old will be being charged by Britain’s Crown in an agonisingly slow pitch, where Games in such difficult circumstanc- statement said. “We know it won’t be
transferred to a specialist hospital in Prosecution Service. both teams found it hard to score. es,” Barclay said in an ICC statement. easy to secure our inclusion as there
Sydney. New Zealand’s cricket play- “Obviously, there is not a lot of “It truly was fantastic to watch and are so many other great sports out there
ers’ union was unable to provide im- positives out of it to take, the fashion captured the imagination of the world wanting to do the same. But we feel
mediate comment. we get beaten, especially tonight,” and we would love for cricket to be a now is the time to put our best foot
A New Zealand Cricket spokes- said Wade, who took over as the cap- part of future Games. forward and show what a great part-
man said the board was respecting tain for the series from injured Aaron “We see the Olympics as a part of nership cricket and the Olympics are,”
Cairns’ right to privacy and declined Finch. “The biggest positives proba- cricket’s long-term future. We have Barclay further said.
to comment on the situation. bly are the way our bowlers bowled,
Regarded one of the best especially our spinners bowled on this
all-rounders of his era, Cairns played wicket, in this condition that’s some-
62 Tests, 215 One-day Internationals thing we have asked our spinners.
and two Twenty20 Internationals for “Over the five games and in West
New Zealand between 1989 and 2006 Indies they were terrific in condition
before becoming a television pundit. that suited spinners.I think that was
Cairns amassed more than 3,000 a real positive, big inspiration that
Test runs and close to 5,000 in ODIs some of our younger players got in
while crossing the 200-wicket mark this condition obviously a positive
in both formats. going forward over their career.
Cairns was named one of Wis- “I can look back on and say I
den’s cricketers of the year in 2000, have learnt a lot in Bangladesh. I
and awarded the New Zealand order have played a lot of international
of merit when he retired from Tests cricket. It’s certainly the most chal-
in 2004. lenging T20 pitches that I have ever
His father Lance also represented played on. “They are the positives to
New Zealand in cricket. take, although there’s obviously not
Cairns has lived in Canberra for many,” said Wade.

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