All posts by n8rngtd.top

ICC give blessing to sport’s expansion into multi-sport games, with Olympics also on agenda

George Dobell13-Jan-2021Cricket could be included at the 2023 Africa Games as the ICC increasingly looks to multi-sport events as a way to grow the game.ESPNcricinfo understands the ICC Africa office have been in discussions with the local organising committee in Ghana with a view to including cricket at the event. A delegation, including officials from the ICC, the Ghana Cricket Association and the Ghana Ministry of Sports, has visited the proposed venues to ensure the requisite facilities could be provided.The feedback is understood to have been overwhelmingly positive, though cricket’s inclusion has not been confirmed at this stage.Whether it comes to fruition or not, the move underlines the ICC’s apparently new-found desire to embrace multi-sports games. The inclusion of women’s cricket has already been confirmed for the Commonwealth Games of 2022, while there is increasing momentum for a return to The Olympics. The new ECB chair, Ian Watmore, is understood to be a keen advocate of such a move and will shortly be placed in charge of an ICC sub-committee with a remit to explore the possibilities. Cricket’s inclusion as early as 2028, when the Olympics return to Los Angeles, remains possible.There has long been a hunger among ICC Associate members to include cricket in the Olympics, in particular. It would, they argue, lead to greater exposure for the sport in their individual nations and open up new avenues of public funding. But there has been resistance from some full member nations who have expressed concern that the amount of time required for the Olympics would eat into the time available for bilateral series and various national T20 tournaments.Increasingly, however, there has been an understanding at the ICC that multi-sport games would provide cricket with both a shop-window for potential new supporters and increase competition and commercial opportunities for its members. With the ECB, who believe it would provide impetus for the growth of the women’s game in particular, now broadly behind the idea, some of the impediments towards progress have been removed.

South African seamer to play all formats after leaving Worcestershire when Kolpak deals ended

ESPNcricinfo staff08-Mar-2021Wayne Parnell will join Northamptonshire as an overseas player in all formats for the 2021 season.Parnell, the South African left-arm seamer, will be available to play in the County Championship, Vitality Blast and Royal London Cup after his time at Worcestershire came to an end last year with the closure of the Kolpak pathway.”I am delighted to be joining Northants for the 2021 season,” Parnell said. “I love county cricket and I hope I can contribute to the club being successful on all fronts.”He joins Afghanistan’s Mohammad Nabi as the club’s two overseas players and David Ripley, the head coach, revealed that the chance to sign Parnell had forced the club to rethink its initial strategy for overseas recruitment after securing Nabi for the T20 Blast.”We started the winter looking for someone who could perhaps play some Championship cricket at the start and then have a different player to support Mohammad Nabi for the T20s.” Ripley said. “We had one or two options there but when Wayne came into the picture we felt he could offer a real all-round contribution for us.”Related

• County ins and outs 2020-21

• Parnell leaves Worcestershire as club target new spin signing

• Life as a Kolpak

• Nabi joins Northants for 2021 T20 Blast

• Stanlake targets red-ball development at Derbyshire

Parnell, 31, played the last of his six Tests for in 2017, when he also last represented South Africa in ODIs and T20Is.”He bowls left-arm with some good pace, he can bat, he’s bowled some big pressure overs for Worcester in the T20s and made the finals there twice with them bowling at the death,” Ripley added. “So in white-ball cricket it’s a massive tick but he’s got desire to play red-ball cricket too and that was the most important thing.”We’ll manage his workload through that along with our other bowlers, as the Championship games come thick and fast at the start of the season but I feel it’s going to be a really good all-round addition to the squad.”Josh Cobb, Northamptonshire’s T20 captain, said: “With the way international cricket is at the minute it can be hard to get players who are available for big chunks of the competition. So to have two overseas players for 14 games each is huge because you can build some momentum up and hopefully get on a run towards the back end of the group and really attack the finals.”Parnell is set to arrive in the UK later this month and will be available for selection in the club’s opening Championship fixture at home against Kent on April 8.

With CSA’s domestic structure changing, this means the Lions, Knights, Warriors and Cobras have played their last matches

Firdose Moonda19-Mar-2021The Dolphins and Titans have qualified for South Africa’s first-class final, which will be played over five days in Durban next week and marks the end of the franchise era.That means the four other teams that have made up the top tier of the domestic structure for the past 17 summers – the Lions, Knights, Warriors and Cobras – have played their last matches. From next season, South Africa will return to a provincial set-up with 15 teams competing in two divisions.The Dolphins have reached the final in all three formats this season, sharing the one-day cup with the Lions and losing to them in the T20 tournament.Results SummaryThe Dolphins leapfrogged the Knights into top spot in Pool A with a seven-wicket win over the Warriors in Port Elizabeth to qualify for a home final. With rumours of rain around the Eastern Cape coast, the Dolphins were in a hurry to assert themselves and bowled the Warriors for 124 in the first innings. Wickets were shared between the five-man attack, with Eathan Bosch’s 3 for 18 the best return.Related

• Warwickshire sign Pieter Malan as County Championship overseas player

• Keshav Maharaj's 13-wicket match-haul helps Dolphins beat Lions

• Revamped two-tier South African domestic structure ready to take off

In reply, Khaya Zondo’s 111 ensured the Dolphins built a healthy 234-run lead. But the Warriors knocked that off with nine wickets standing after a 145-run opening stand between Edward Moore and Gihahn Cloete. Moore went on to score 155 before the middle and lower-order collapsed. They lost 8 for 80, with Keshav Maharaj taking 6 for 93 to set the Dolphins a target of 112. They were 34 for 2 at one stage but polished off the score on the fourth morning.They will play the Titans, whose draw against the Lions in Johannesburg was enough to keep them at the top of Pool B. The match was studded with superstars including new Test captain Dean Elgar, new white-ball captain Temba Bavuma, Kagiso Rabada, Aiden Markram and Quinton de Kock, who made his return after a mental health break, and it lived up to the billing.New white-ball call-up Lizaad Williams led the Titans’ attack in taking 3 for 54 to dismiss the Lions for 206. Dominic Hendricks was their top-scorer and fell one short of a century, lbw to Okuhle Cele for 99. In a thrilling second innings, Rabada and Lutho Sipamla took 5 for 51 and 5 for 37, to give the Lions a four-run advantage while Markram stitched together his seventh century of the summer.The Lions built on their lead thanks to their other Hendricks, Reeza, who scored 96 and Wiaan Mulder’s unbeaten 56 and declared on the fourth day on 308 for 9. They set the Titans 313 to win. Elgar and Markram put on 125 for the first-wicket and scored half-centuries but their dismissals before tea put the brakes on the scoring. With the possibility of victory for either side appearing unlikely in the final session, the teams shook hands on the draw shortly after the break.Keshav Maharaj’s was magnificent for the Dolphins yet again•BCCI

In Cape Town, the Cobras won their first red-ball match since January 2019 when they beat the Knights by an innings and 215 runs. Nandre Burger and Tsepho Moreki took four wickets each to dismiss the Knights for 181 before Pieter Malan’s career-best 264 took the match away from the Knights. Malan and Kyle Verreynne shared a 217-run fourth-wicket stand, with Verreynne bringing up his second century of the tournament.The Knights had spent 176.3 overs in the field when the Cobras declared on 523 for 8 and seemed in no mood to make their hosts bat again. They were bundled out for 127, with George Linde claiming his best, 7 for 29, to finish as the competition’s joint-fifth wicket-taker.On the national radar
Despite missing on leadership positions within the national structure Markram has taken ownership of the opening spot in his comeback season after several hand injuries. His century against the Lions further extended his hold over top spot on the batting charts. Markram has scored 945 runs from seven matches, at an average of 94.50, including five hundreds and two fifties. More’s the pity there are no Tests scheduled in South Africa’s immediate future.Elgar’s second innings half-century may not have been as much as he wanted but keeps him in the batting top 10. Verreynne, who may be eyeing a middle-order spot especially after Faf du Plessis’ retirement, is in third place, one ahead of Malan who has probably been squeezed out of Test contention by Markram’s good form.In the bowling department, the hauls from Rabada, Sipamla and Linde would have been pleasing for the national selectors but enough cannot be said about Maharaj. He leads the wicket charts with 34 from five matches at an average of 20.47, has taken four five-fors in this competition and has been the stand-out performer for the Dolphins.Top performers
Malan ended his domestic season in the most emphatic way possible, with his highest first-class score and the highest for the Cobras in their history. Although it seems unlikely he will add to his three Test caps in the foreseeable future, Malan still has plenty to offer both at home and abroad. He has been signed as an overseas player for Warwickshire for the 2021 county season. Important runs were also scored by Zondo and Senuran Muthusamy, who contributed a century and twin fifties respectively for the Dolphins.Williams’ seven wickets for the Titans makes him the leading seam-bowler in the competition with 27 wickets at 25.14, three ahead of Migael Pretorius. The combination of Williams, Cele and Thando Ntini will make for an exciting battle of pace against the Dolphins’ spin in the final.

Details of the former Zimbabwe captain’s dalliance with corruptor Deepak Agarwal

Nagraj Gollapudi14-Apr-2021Heath Streak and Deepak Agarwal started chatting on the pretext of organising a T20 league in Zimbabwe, in September 2017. Streak, the iconic former Zimbabwe captain, was the head coach of the national team at the time, and Agarwal, simply a Delhi-based businessman. Agarwal wasn’t yet banned (for two years) by the ICC’s anti-corruption unit from participating in any cricket-related activities – that wouldn’t be till April 2020, after details of his key role in the Shakib Al Hasan corruption breaches emerged.Agarwal initiated the chats, mainly over WhatsApp, contacting Streak on his personal phone number and email account. Agarwal told Streak that he could “earn some good money” for setting up the T20 league.The ICC anti-corruption unit’s verdict on Streak, released by the governing body on Wednesday, reveals telling details of the investigation, including that of Agarwal telling Streak that he was “involved in betting on cricket”. Agarwal also asked Streak for details of his bank account “outside” Zimbabwe, which Streak provided readily. “Mr Streak also made it clear in these discussions that he wanted to establish a T20 League in Zimbabwe and was passionate about furthering cricket in Zimbabwe,” the ICC’s investigation said.Streak’s past as Bangladesh coach exploitedStreak and Agarwal’s relationship began with those T20-league discussions, and would last 15 months until the ACU busted it in December 2018. During this period, Streak served as a coach in Zimbabwe, at the IPL, at the Afghanistan Premier League (APL). But Agarwal also made use of Streak’s contacts in Bangladesh, where he had served as the head coach between 2014-16. And it was the 2017 Bangladesh Premier League, where Agarwal used Streak as a conduit to get inside information on and from active players for the first time.”In relation to the 2017 edition of the Bangladesh Premier League, Mr X [later confirmed to be Agarwal] asked Mr Streak to provide him with any links, namely team captains, or owners or players, in the BPL, saying they could earn good money as a result which they could invest in a T20 event in Zimbabwe,” the ICC’s investigation found. “It appeared that Mr X wanted Mr Streak to provide him with contacts of players, team owners etc. who Mr X could then approach for Inside Information, such as which team would win a match, in upcoming matches.”Related

• Former Sri Lanka Cricket performance analyst Sanath Jayasundara banned for corruption

• UAE's Qadeer Ahmed handed five-year ban for corruption

• Heath Streak handed eight-year ban for corruption

• Corruptor involved in Shakib Al Hasan case banned for two years

• 'Mr X', who gave bitcoins to Streak, is Deepak Agarwal

Despite him not being involved in the BPL, the players in question trusted Streak, who had formed and maintained strong one-on-one relationships with many of the Bangladesh players. Streak, the ICC said, provided details of “three players in the BPL (including the details of a national captain), in circumstances where he knew or should have known that Mr X may use these details to contact these players and request Inside Information from them for him to use for betting purposes.” Streak “actually contacted” two of the players himself to “vouch” for Agarwal.ESPNcricinfo understands that one of these players – the national captain – was Shakib, who in 2019 had been slapped with a two-year ban (one year suspended) for failing to report three approaches from Agarwal.In November 2017, during the BPL, Agarwal contacted Shakib for the first time. Shakib was representing the Dhaka Dynamites at the time.While releasing details of the Shakib investigation in 2019, the ICC had pointed out that Agarwal had received the player’s contact details from a person who was close to Shakib. This, the ICC investigation eventually established, was Streak.In January 2018, when Shakib was playing in the tri-series involving Zimbabwe, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, Agarwal sent him a message asking “do we work in this or I wait til the IPL”, by which he meant getting “inside information”.On April 26 that year, during the IPL, Agarwal contacted Shakib, who was then playing for the Sunrisers Hyderabad. It was on the day on which the Sunrisers were playing the Kings XI Punjab in Hyderabad. As well as insider information, Agarwal also broached the topic of crypto-currency and dollar accounts from Shakib, prompting the cricketer to ask the corruptor to meet him in person for the first time.Shakib failed to report all of this initially before eventually admitting to the charges levelled by the ACU.Crypto-currency as paymentWhile it could not be established if that meeting did indeed take place, in Streak’s case the meeting with Agarwal did take place. One of these occasions was in India in 2018 during a personal trip Streak took with his wife. It is understood that it was after this meeting that Streak received the two bitcoins and the phone (a present to his wife) – he did not disclose these details to the authorities until the ACU questioned him.This is the first time the ACU has come across a corruptor using crypto-currency as a mode of payment. It appears that Agarwal transferred the bitcoins as payment against future coaching assignments for Streak.As for the expensive phone, it was gifted to Streak during the 2018 Afghanistan Premier League where he had “facilitated the introduction of Mr X to one player and attempted to facilitate the introduction of Mr X to another player”. Agarwal also asked Streak to help him with procuring “inside information” at the APL.How Streak was nailedIn 2017, a young cricketer from an economically disadvantaged background (from a full-member country), reported an approach from Agarwal to the ACU. It was while conducting that investigation that the ACU became aware of a long-term relationship between Streak and Agarwal. The ACU team analysed the phone interactions and unearthed evidence of the relationship between the two, and used that as the basis to formulate the five broad charges to nail Streak.One of the charges was that both Streak and Agarwal had scripted their responses to cover for the other before the cricketer was scheduled to meet the ACU team in January 2019. Streak and Agarwal exchanged “a series of WhatsApp messages”.”Mr Streak has admitted that he and Mr X effectively discussed what Mr Streak should say in the interviews to ensure that they both told the same story (a story which on occasions was not true) and consequently he has admitted that his conduct in so doing could be construed as misleading or obstructing the ACU’s investigation. Mr Streak also sought clarification from Mr X over the interview process and what Mr X had told the ACU on certain matters,” the ICC said.Confronted with the evidence against him, Streak eventually cracked. “Mr Streak has admitted that, at the instruction of Mr X, he deleted these messages from his phone before he attended the ACU interview, as well as deleting Mr X’s phone number from his phone.”

Brothers Union captain said they played “a bit of mind game” with the batter, after the extraordinary finish

Mohammad Isam07-Jun-20210:28

A leave and a loss – the stunning conclusion to a DPL game

You had to see it to believe it. With his team Old DOHS Sports Club needing three runs to win off the last ball of the match, against Brothers Union, Pritom Kumar decided to leave Sujon Hawlader’s wide yorker. Misjudged leaves are understandable, but this one, especially at a stage of the match when batters are always keen to get the bat on ball, stood out.Kumar looked double-minded when the ball was released and that could have been because of what was going on before Hawlader bowled it.”We played a bit of mind games with the batter,” Brothers Union captain Mizanur Rahman told ESPNcricinfo. “The bowler Sujon knew he was going to bowl a yorker. We spoke about it before the over began, and someone went up to him and reminded him too before the last ball. But from where I was fielding at point, I shouted to Sujon that he should bowl a bouncer. So maybe the batsman was setting up for the bouncer, pulling the ball towards the on side.”Upon his epic oversight, Kumar immediately signalled that it could be a wide, but umpire Ali Arman did not react. The BCB’s single-camera coverage did not catch anyone dissenting about the decision though.Hawlader and the rest of the Brothers Union players had also started celebrating their two-run win. Their second win in four games took them to fourth place in the Dhaka Premier League T20 points table. It was an extraordinary way to finish a game that Old DOHS appeared to have wrapped up leading into the last over.They were left needing seven runs off the final over after opener Anisul Islam Emon’s 50-ball 64 got them into a strong position. Emon fell to a catch at cover in the penultimate over, but in the 3.4 overs leading to his dismissal, he and Mahmudul Hasan Joy blasted 33 runs.Joy was run-out off the second ball of the last over before Kumar and Rayan Rahman took two singles off the next three balls. Hawlader had mixed his bouncers and yorkers quite well throughout the over.Brothers captain Mizanur said that the moment Hawlader bowled a dot in the fourth ball off the last over, he knew the tide had turned their way. “I mean we generally have a confident bowling unit with bowlers like Alauddin Babu and Sujon Hawlader. I felt that the match might go into the Super Over. But after the fourth ball when the ball went back to the bowler, I realised that we could win this game. I think we have done well as a team in the DPL so far, without depending on individual performances,” he said.

Glamorgan bowlers on top at Hove despite unbeaten 41 from 16-year-old batter

ECB Reporters' Network04-Jul-2021Sussex teenager Danial Ibrahim defied Glamorgan’s dominant bowlers at the 1st Central County Ground. In just his second LV=Insurance County Championship match – he scored 55 on debut against Yorkshire a month ago – Ibrahim made 41 not out in two hours.Sussex were in deep trouble at 96 for 6 when Ibrahim was joined by Will Beer and the pair put on 65 for the seventh wicket, the highest partnership of a troubled innings, before Beer was out to the last ball of the day.Sussex were depleted with eight players self-isolating because of a Covid-19 case within the camp. Of these at least two, Tom Haines and Ollie Robinson, would certainly have played. Robinson was the side’s star player with 13 wickets in the club’s only Championship win of the season at Sophia Gardens.In addition, Sussex – bottom of Group Three – were missing the injured Phil Salt and Chris Jordan, while George Garton was away on England duty. Oli Carter, a 19-year-old batsman and wicketkeeper, became the seventh player to make his debut for the county this year.Glamorgan welcomed back Colin Ingram for his first first-class game since 2017 and Timm van der Gugten, with Marnus Labuschagne and Michael Neser in quarantine.In damp and dark conditions Sussex surprised many people by choosing to bat when play eventually got under way at 2.25pm. They lost their first wicket to the last delivery of the second over when Chris Cooke took a fine catch low down to his right to dismiss Aaron Thomason off van der Gugten for 4.After one ball of the third over the players came off, briefly, because of more rain, as they did again after 11.3 overs, by which time Sussex had progressed to 23 for 2, Stiaan van Zyl having lost his off stump to Michael Hogan for 5. By that time the floodlights were in action.Ali Orr scored a 35-ball 4 before he was lbw to van der Gugten, and Sussex were 34 for 4 when Carter was lbw to James Weighell – a very tight decision – for three from six balls.But then the sun came out and Ben Brown and Travis Head briefly prospered, with a stand of 41 in nine overs. When Head, who had averaged ten before this game, cut Dan Douthwaite for four to reach 22 it was his highest score of the season. But it was clearly Glamorgan’s session when, just before tea, Douthwaite had Brown caught behind for 22.Head moved his score to 47, with eight fours, before he was lbw to van der Gugten without offering a stroke and he walked without waiting for the umpire’s decision.

Ajinkya Rahane, who had a hamstring niggle, has been cleared to play the first Test

ESPNcricinfo staff02-Aug-20212:12

Rahane: I’m fully fit and ready to play

India opener Mayank Agarwal will miss the Trent Bridge Test because of concussion, after he was hit in the head by a Mohammed Siraj bouncer in the nets two days before the match, the first of a five-Test series.Agarwal copped the blow early in his batting session when, while trying to duck a short delivery from Siraj, he lost sight of the ball and got hit on the helmet before falling down. He was immediately surrounded by his team-mates, including Siraj and the support staff. A little while later, he walked out alongside physio Nitin Patel. He was seen holding the back of his head as he walked off.Related

• Test cricket emerges from shadow of the Hundred as India eye England glory again

• Mark Nicholas: India in England – the greatest hits

• Are the India of 2021 better than the India of 2018?

Agarwal was set to play the Test after regular opener Shubman Gill went home with a shin injury. Abhimanyu Easwaran, originally with the squad as a reserve player, is now the back-up opener in the squad. KL Rahul, who has played 33 of his 36 Tests as an opener, is in the squad but it is believed he is being looked at as a middle-order batter. In the three-day warm-up match in Durham he batted at No. 5 and scored 101.Hanuma Vihari and Cheteshwar Pujara have in the past opened for India as stop-gaps, but India’s vice-captain Ajinkya Rahane seemed to rule out asking Pujara to move up from his usual No. 3 spot.”Pujara is our No. 3 batsman,” Rahane said during a press interaction not long after Agarwal had been hit but before the final announcement had been made regarding his unavailability. “Who’ll open our innings we are again finalising our combination, it’s not yet finalised. Pujara has been really solid for us as No. 3 batsman and he’ll continue to bat at No. 3.Mayank Agarwal needed on-ground medical attention after being hit by a Mohammed Siraj bouncer•AFP/Getty Images

“As [far as] opening bat [goes], the captain, coach and management will decide the combination and you’ll get to know soon.”The selectors had added Prithvi Shaw and Suryakumar Yadav, who were in Sri Lanka with the Indian white-ball squad, as back-ups, but they are yet to reach England and are expected to be available only from the third Test onwards because of the quarantine protocols in place.As far as India’s options are concerned, Easwaran last played first-class cricket more than 15 months ago and missed the tour game as he was in isolation following a Covid-19 incident in the Indian camp. The reason for calling up Shaw was to have another opening option, with reports that Rahul and Vihari were being looked at primarily as middle-order batters. Moving Pujara up would likely have a knock-on impact on the rest of the order too, and could mean Virat Kohli and others moving one spot up.

Kapp was bedridden for three days before the final due to illness and then had to deal with the emotional challenge of playing against her wife Dane van Niekerk

Alex Malcolm28-Nov-2021Player of the WBBL final Marizanne Kapp revealed that she didn’t leave her hotel room for three days in the lead-up to the final after coming down with an illness following Perth Scorchers trip to Adelaide.Kapp produced a phenomenal effort with both bat and ball scoring a critical 31 not out from 23 balls, including four boundaries, to help lift Scorchers to a competitive total of 5 for 146.She then bowled superbly in the powerplay delivering a maiden over while bowling to her wife, Strikers opener Dane van Niekerk, and finished with match-winning figures of 1 for 25.Kapp revealed she had passed a covid test in the lead-up to the game but was seriously concerned about her health.”On Monday when we travelled back from Adelaide I already wasn’t feeling too great,” Kapp said. “I woke up the next morning and I was so sick, for the last three days I was so sick and I didn’t move out of my room. I knew today was going to be really tough, especially with the heat as well. After the batting, I felt like I was going to pass out, I didn’t feel well at all, but at the end of the day it was worth it.”Kapp was on her haunches after running twos while batting in oppressive 36-degree heat. Teammate Beth Mooney revealed Kapp had Facetimed into the team meeting the day before the game but she was conserving energy in order to be able to play.”I started to show signs of feeling a bit better yesterday and this morning,” Kapp said. “That’s why I decided not to go and train this week because I knew it was going to set me back and I probably would’ve missed today. I knew it was going to be hard and luckily it was worth it.”The victory was bittersweet for Kapp. She had to deal with the emotional toll of having to play against her wife in the final. The pair had faced off twice earlier in the season with Kapp dismissing van Niekerk in both meetings. Kapp got the better of van Niekerk again in the final as they faced each other with both bat and ball. Van Niekerk bowled two balls to Kapp for two singles in Scorchers innings. Van Niekerk got off the mark with a leg glance off Kapp first ball in the chase but then faced a maiden from Kapp in the third over of the innings which stalled the Strikers momentum severely. Kapp beat the outside edge twice in the over and struck van Niekerk on the pad.”It’s never easy,” Kapp said. “When I saw that wicket earlier, I knew with the new ball there was going to be something in it and it will probably get some movement. It’s a tough wicket to get in on, and once you’re in on it becomes a lot easier.”Kapp said she would not hold it over van Niekerk in any way after the victory.”No definitely not,” Kapp said. “I already feel so bad, because I feel like the Strikers were worthy of winning the cup as well, especially the two semi-finals they played, they were absolutely amazing.”

England duo have the last laugh after posting crucial innings at the SCG

AAP07-Jan-2022Jonny Bairstow wishes his abusers were still there when he walked off the SCG in triumph.Security evicted three fans from the ground after Bairstow and Ben Stokes were subjected to verbal barbs during Friday’s tea break.The England pair clearly took exception to something that was said as they were about to enter the visitors’ dressing room. Stokes stared down a member of the crowd, while Bairstow fired back in response. It’s believed three spectators were asked to leave the venue soon after.Jonny Bairstow and Ben Stokes batted through the afternoon session•Getty Images

A couple of hours later, Bairstow walked back to the dressing room in triumph after scoring an unbeaten century.”It would be nicer if they were there giving it when we walked off at the end, wouldn’t it?” Bairstow said after the day’s play. “But unfortunately, they weren’t there at the end and they missed the end of a fantastic day’s Test cricket.”Bairstow said the abuse was not on and the fans responsible needed to be told as much.”It was just a bit of bad-mouthing from the crowd and obviously it’s not the greatest and it’s not needed,” he said. “We’re out there trying to do our jobs. People are out there, enjoying the day’s cricket and unfortunately sometimes you have people overstep the mark.Related

• Josh Hazlewood to miss final Ashes Test in Hobart

• On days like this, Jonny Bairstow just looks the part

• Sam Billings called up to England Ashes squad as back-up

• Seventy balls of England struggle

• Defiant Jonny Bairstow century keeps England fighting

“It’s important to stand up for ourselves, because if we’re not standing up for ourselves as well, then you can cop it and especially when people overstep the mark, they need to be told.”The incident comes one year after India paceman Mohammed Siraj, then fielding on the rope, halted play at the same venue to report racial abuse. Six spectators were removed from the ground on that occasion.Cricket Australia (CA) conducted an investigation into the Siraj episode with NSW Police, clearing the six fans of racially abusing Siraj during the Test. However, CA also made it clear while releasing the result of the probe that “members of the Indian cricket team were subjected to racial abuse”.