Following the ball-tampering scandal of March 2018, Cricket Australia handed Smith a 12-month suspension adding he would not be considered for captaincy for another year after that.

There may be no cricket at present, but there is still much to discuss, and Sportsmail columnists Nasser Hussain and David 'Bumble' Lloyd are on hand to answer some important questions.

England's star cricketers have been nonplussed by reports that they will be expected to take pay cuts of up to £200,000 as the game repositions its finances because of the coronavirus crisis.

Joe Root has issued a warning about player burnout this winter as England's cricketers face a fixture pile-up caused by the coronavirus outbreak.

EXCLUSIVE BY MATT HUGHES: ECB chairman Colin Graves will face calls from counties to stand down early and be replaced by Ian Watmore if the launch of the Hundred is postponed.

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW BY PAUL NEWMAN: Ben Foakes has revealed the 'mental burn-out' that led to him losing his passion for cricket - before an extended break saw 'the fire come back'.

Professional Cricketers' Association remain resistant to pay cuts for their membership as counties seek to lessen the financial burdens pressed upon them by the coronavirus crisis.

The Test side could face West Indies or Pakistan, this season's proposed red-ball opponents, while Eoin Morgan's white-ball World Cup winners face Australia, who are currently due here in July

EOIN MORGAN: As we took the field to defend 15 in the super over in the World Cup final last summer, Jos Buttler told me he hoped I had a couple of shamrocks in my pocket.

LAWRENCE BOOTH: Words were not enough, but the captains tried anyway. 'Extraordinary,' said Morgan. 'Gutted,' said Williamson. More or less everyone else was left speechless.

EXCLUSIVE BY MATT HUGHES: County cricketers could be asked to play six days-a-week if a truncated season is permitted later this summer.

Pat Cummins expects the IPL to be merely delayed by the coronavirus pandemic and is optimistic the home Twenty20 World Cup will go ahead as scheduled later this year.

Late last year, and with a heavy heart, I was rereading Bob Willis's Diary of a Cricket Season, written in 1978. After only three paragraphs, Bob was in off the long run.

PAUL ALLOTT: Bob would have been the last person to think of himself as an all-action hero, but it described my old friend better than he ever knew.

Sir Andrew Strauss has admitted to mistakes in the way he handled Kevin Pietersen during the dispute that was to ultimately tear one of the best of all England teams apart.

PAUL NEWMAN: If cricket returns this summer, one key proposal by the ECB is for the Test and white-ball sides to play at the same time to enable as much action as possible to take place. 

PAUL NEWMAN: It is not without irony that Tom Harrison, the ECB chief executive, spoke of rewarding cricket's 'core audience' if the game can squeeze a truncated season into this summer.

RICHARD GIBSON: The 31-year-old represents another arrival straight from his country's Test team, having featured in their most recent match, England's series-clinching victory in Johannesburg.

EXCLUSIVE BY MATT HUGHES: Sky Sports have given their blessing to the ECB postponing The Hundred for 12 months - despite the competition's importance to their £1.1bn television deal.

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW: England batsman Joe Denly admits his nerves almost got the better of him during this winter's tour to South Africa when he presented Zak Crawley with his first cap.

Ben Stokes, the hero of England's dramatic World Cup triumph and the miracle of Headingley last summer, has been named the leading cricketer in the world.

COMMENT BY LAWRENCE BOOTH: In the editor's notes in this year's Wisden I suggested the English game has a problem with unconscious bias - which is not the same as overt racism.

Wisden is published on Thursday for the 157th time. It is full of joy, and staring into the abyss. The Almanack's arrival usually coincides with a spring in cricket's step. But this year, not so much.

The ECB are considering a re-draft of players if they postpone the Hundred for 12 months - due to changes in status of Kolpak cricketers and the availability of overseas stars.

JOFRA ARCHER: Being chosen as one of Wisden's five cricketers of the year is one of the most prestigious awards imaginable. Even being nominated alongside some big names feels great.

Ashley Giles says England's players will have 'no excuses' for not being fully fit to start a truncated cricket season he still believes can take place later this summer.

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW BY TIM RICH: Ian Gould has just been walking on the seafront at Hove. It is eerie; empty. He retired as an international umpire after 13 years following last summer's World Cup.

Joe Root believes David Warner was better behaved in the last Ashes series than the previous one. The Australian batsman is known to be a lively character and Root thought he was calmer.

With no cricket to fill the live schedules as a result of the coronavirus lockdown, Ben Stokes rewatched his 'miracle of Headlingley' for the first time with his epic 135 not out performance.

Coco Cuhna made the mistake of suggesting to her cricket coach boyfriend that it might be fun to see if he could show her how to bat when she saw him whacking a few tennis balls into a net.

The traditional toss of the coin was due to return to the County Championship on Sunday but the half-dozen grounds scheduled to host fixtures stood empty.

Cricket's county champions are still planning for a truncated season and believe a Twenty20 Blast-dominated schedule will help the game avoid the financial black hole facing football.

The dream of becoming the first brothers to play Test cricket together for England since the Hollioakes is sustaining Tom and Sam Curran as they endure being apart during lockdown.

Phil Neville played alongside former all-rounder Andrew Flintoff for Lancashire's age-group sides, and also went on to make an appearance for their second XI before turning to football.

EXCLUSIVE BY DAVID COVERDALE: Eight months on and the noise of that unforgiving Edgbaston crowd is still ringing in Cameron Bancroft's ears. 'It was loud, it was intimidating.'

EXCLUSIVE: The ECB are preparing to postpone England's Test series against West Indies, put back the Twenty20 Blast until later in the summer and cancel the inaugural Hundred.

Fears over international teams getting stuck at this year's Twenty20 World Cup will feature prominently in the ICC's teleconference talks between chief executives next Thursday.

Sportsmail columnists Nasser Hussain and David Lloyd answer your questions including who were the hardest batsmen to plan for and will England lift the T20 World Cup?

LAWRENCE BOOTH: Rashid will turn 35 during the next World Cup in 2023 but with the tournament set for the spin-friendly pitches of India, he says he'd love to be involved.

Former Australia captain Mark Taylor and wicket-keeping great Adam Gilchrist believe pay cuts are inevitable for the country's cricketers as the sport gears up to deal with the financial crisis.

Can you guess the England cricket star who posted a throwback picture of himself alongside his sister on Instagram? He's wearing his first Nottingham Forest shirt in the photo.

If cricket returns while Covid-19 is still a threat, bowlers will be asked to throw clothing and other things such as sunglasses beyond the boundary rope instead of handing to officials.

EXCLUSIVE BY DAVID COVERDALE: Eoin Morgan's side are scheduled to face the Aussies in three Twenty20s and three one-day internationals from July 3-16.

EXCLUSIVE: Ian Watmore quit his leading Football League role in November 2018 citing poor health. But it can be revealed a week earlier the EFL had commissioned an independent inquiry.

EXCLUSIVE BY PAUL NEWMAN: Cricket's biggest counties are most in danger of collapsing under the financial pressure of the coronavirus pandemic, claims Richard Thompson.

The ECB have been given a free run at reorganising their international summer plans after West Indies prioritised their three Tests in England over home series against New Zealand and South Africa.

EXCLUSIVE BY DAVID COVERDALE: The ECB are under pressure to save counties by paying them their full instalments for the Hundred despite the competition's imminent postponement.

England cricket legend Andrew Flintoff has recalled how Newcastle boss Steve Bruce once bailed him out of a sticky situation at a restaurant after his credit card had maxed out.

Twenty20 record breaker Chris Gayle has signed for St Lucia Zouks for the 2020 Caribbean Premier League.

Almost the whole squad were stricken by two sickness bugs, the first a type of flu and the second a stomach problem, that weakened England in their heavy first Test defeat over Christmas.