Skip to main content

England exclude Hales, Plunkett from post-virus training group

Alex Hales and World Cup-winner Liam Plunkett were both left out of a mammoth 55-man England training group announced on Friday.

But 14 uncapped players were selected as England look to stage a full Test and limited-overs programme against the West Indies, Pakistan, Ireland and Australia, despite the coronavirus delaying the start of their home season until at least July.

Among those recalled was David Willey, who lost his place in the one-day squad to Jofra Archer shortly before England won the World Cup for the first time last year.

Official squads will be named at a later date, with three Tests against the West Indies, set to be played behind closed doors at bio-secure venues such as Old Trafford in Manchester and Southampton’s Ageas Bowl, first up for England this season.

The group will not train in one place, but with individual sessions across several county venues, that started with bowlers back in the nets last week, the only form of training allowed at present.

“It’s really pleasing to be in a position to have players returning to training and a huge amount of work has been done by many to get us this far,” said England and Wales Cricket Board performance director Mo Bobat, who helped England coach Chris Silverwood and the selectors compile the list. “The pool of players will give selectors strong options when it comes to selecting squads across formats further down the line, as we move closer to our aim of playing international cricket this summer.”

Nottinghamshire opener Hales was dropped shortly before last year’s World Cup after it emerged he had tested positive for drugs.

There had been speculation that, with England likely to need separate red and white-ball squads, Hales might be recalled.

But England one-day captain Eoin Morgan dashed Hales’ hopes on Wednesday when he said “it will take more time” for him to regain the trust of the squad.

Meanwhile, 35-year-old fast bowler Plunkett has not played for England since taking three wickets in the dramatic World Cup final victory over New Zealand at Lord’s.

The ECB on Thursday pushed the start of the domestic season back until August 1 at the earliest but officials are determined to press ahead with a full, lucrative international programme amid fears a cancelled campaign could cost the board £380 million.



from SAMAA https://ift.tt/2M938Z3

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Trump says he urged team to ‘slow’ COVID-19 testing

US President Donald Trump said Saturday he was encouraging health officials in his administration to slow down coronavirus testing, arguing that increased tests lead to more cases being discovered. The president has claimed falsely on several occasions that surges of COVID-19 in several states can be explained by greater numbers of diagnostic tests. At his first rally since the outbreak forced nationwide shutdowns in March, Trump told the crowd in Tulsa, Oklahoma that testing was a “double-edged sword.” The United States — which has more deaths and cases than any other country — has carried out more than 25 million coronavirus tests, placing it outside the top 20 countries in the world, per capita. “Here is the bad part: When you do testing to that extent, you are going to find more people, you will find more cases,” Trump argued. “So I said to my people ‘slow the testing down.’ They test and they test.” It was not clear from Trump’s tone if he was playing to the crowd, who ...

IT ministry forms panel to review social media rules

ISLAMABAD: While uproar against the new rules to regulate social media continues from various segments of society, including parliamentarians, the Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ) and civil society, the information technology ministry on Friday formed a committee to review the rules. The federal cabinet approved the rules on Feb 11, but later after opposition from various quarters, including companies that manage different social media platforms, the prime minister announced that a fresh consultation process would be launched over the Citizens Protection (Against Online Harm) Rules 2020. The committee formed by the IT ministry is headed by Pakistan Telecommunication Authority Chairman Amir Azeem Bajwa while its members are Eazaz Aslam Dar, additional secretary of IT; Tania Aidrus, member of the Strategic Reforms Imple­mentation Unit, Prime Minister Office; and Dr Arslan Khalid, focal person on digital media at the PM Office. Federal Minister for Human Rights Dr Shireen Ma...

IS confirms Baghdadi’s death, vows revenge

Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.—AP BEIRUT: The Islamic State militant group confirmed the death of its leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi in a statement on Thursday and named his replacement as Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Quraishi. “We mourn you ... commander of the faithful,” said Abu Hamza al-Quraishi — presented as the group’s new spokesman — in an audio statement. Baghdadi, who led IS since 2014 and was the world’s most wanted man, was killed in a US special forces raid in Syria’s province of Idlib on Sunday. The group also confirmed the killing in another raid the following day of the group’s previous spokesman Abu Hassan al-Muhajir. The statement said the group’s legislative and consultative body convened after the 48-year-old Iraqi-born jihadist chief’s death. “The Islamic State shura council convened immediately after confirming the martyrdom of Sheikh Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, and the elders of the holy warriors agreed” on a replacement, said the seven-minute message. Little is known abou...