Manners & Masks - Cricket and Covid

Bowlers will be bowlers, Coronavirus or not. And the first one has been officially ‘busted’ during the first-class Bob Willis Trophy match between Susses and Middlesex last week.

Sussex’s veteran seamer, Mitch Claydon, was suspended following an allegation that he used hand sanitiser on the ball in an inappropriate way in order to try and manufacture some swing. The 37-year-old took three wickets in the first innings but Middlesex won the match by five wickets.

The England and Wales Cricket Board is investigating the matter while a statement from the player’s county read: “Mitch Claydon is suspended pending the outcome of an ECB allegation of placing hand sanitiser on the ball in our match against Middlesex. There will be no further comment at this stage”.

*It’s not just Cricket South Africa’s administration which is under pressure at the moment – it’s the game’s global administrators, the ICC. Former Pakistan Cricket Board and also ICC chairman, Ehsan Mani, has strongly suggested that the next ICC chairman should be elected from outside the ‘big three’ nations of India, England and Australia. He said that the international game’s structure was still heavily and unfairly biased towards the big three.

“It's not only the funding model that is wrong and skewered to India and also to some degree England”, Mani said. “They allocated ICC events to themselves, gave themselves generous hosting fees and the benefits from gate money and hospitality. In 2019 [World Cup, hosts] England would have made what Pakistan, West Indies or South Africa do over an eight-year period. That's what's wrong with the system. There are some countries who won't be able to survive if this funding model continues. We survived without playing India [who refuse to play bilateral series against Pakistan]. Can you imagine if that happened to Cricket Australia if India didn't come?"

*In Australia, meanwhile, Cricket Australia is still battling to put together it’s summer schedule because of the Coronavirus. The major stumbling block is the Western Australian government’s refusal to confirm that they will allow the Indian team and even the country’s own national players entering the state without serving a strict quarantine period.

Cricket Australia are hoping to begin the India tour with both the ODI and the T20I series being played exclusively in Perth at the old WACA stadium and the brand new, 50-000 seater Perth Stadium.

“We are both excited and panic stricken. Excited about the prospects of what we might have and panic stricken that it could not happen”, WACA chief executive, Christina Matthews, said at the weekend. “Whether we have cricket or not this summer will absolutely come down to whether our [state] government allows it or not”.

*Afghanistan’s domestic T20 League, the Shpageeza T20, is set to start in Kabul this week – but it will do so without it’s top half dozen players who have been given permission to remain in Trinidad to honour their commitments in the Caribbean Premier League.

Rashid Khan, Mohammad Nabi, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Naveen-ul-Haq, Najibullah Zadran and Zahir Khan will remain in the Caribbean after discussions between Cricket West Indies president Ricky Skerritt and ACB chairman Farhan Yusefzai.

“We understand the importance of the Shpageeza Cricket League to the ACB and the reasons why it had to be scheduled during the CPL after the NOCs were all issued," said CPL's chief operating officer Pete Russell in a media statement.

“We truly appreciate the Chairman of the ACB allowing these six Afghan players to stay at the Hero CPL until its conclusion. Afghan players have had a huge impact on our competition, both this season and in previous years, and we are very grateful to have them with us until the final on 10 September.”

*Finally, on a lighter note, afternoon teas have been officially banned in club cricket in the Australian state of Victoria which continues to struggle in its efforts to contain the spread of the virus – contributing to Western Australia’s decision to maintain quarantine restriction for anyone entering the state.

“Having communal afternoon teas that are on a communal table is great benefit of the clubs getting together. But in a pandemic, it's just not going to work as well as what we need so players will have to bring their own food,” said Cricket Victoria spokesman, Paul Milo.

“You've got to have at least three different styles of sandwich, and egg's important ... or better yet curried egg [sandwiches]”, said Andrew Philip said, captain of the Moe Cricket Club in south-east Victoria. “But you've got to please the masses — so you've got to have some party pies, got to have some sausage rolls - and again, homemade sausage rolls would be ideal”.

He does not think the coronavirus-inspired changes to afternoon tea will lead to good outcomes. "It's going to be pretty difficult to get a good assortment of different things if you have to provide this for yourself only”, Philip said. “I can imagine a few guys sneaking off to the bakery or KFC or something just to help themselves”.