The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) has cancelled contracts of the players who were due to participate in the inaugural edition of 'The Hundred' which was pushed to next year due to the coronavirus pandemic. The new 100-balls-per-side format, to be played by eight teams in separate men's and women's tournaments, was scheduled to be held between July 17 and August 15 but had to be postponed because of the pandemic.

A weighted ball would also pre-empt any ball-tampering, Warne said.

In April, the Australian tour of Bangladesh was postponed due to the persisting coronavirus threat.

Australian run-machine Marnus Labuschagne is willing to "sacrifice" the use of saliva to shine the ball in order to get back on the field in the post coronavirus world as the batting all-rounder feels players must be able to adapt to new rules. There has been widespread speculations that the use of saliva and sweat to shine the ball will be stopped to cut down the risk of spreading the highly contagious coronavirus when cricket restarts.

Out-of-favour Suresh Raina might have felt hard done by the national selection committee but its former chairman MSK Prasad made it clear that it was poor form during the 2018-19 domestic season that became his undoing. The 33-year-old, who has appeared in 226 ODIs and 78 T20Is apart from 18 Tests, last played for India in July 2018 in England after which he was dropped for good.

The element of competitiveness will not be lost even if action unfolds before empty stadiums, says world's premier all-rounder Ben Stokes who wouldn't mind international cricket becoming a TV only sport till coronavirus pandemic is under control. Stokes' opinion was sought whether the upcoming England vs West Indies series at home in empty stadiums will lose its sheen as the England and Wales Cricket Board is contemplating cricket without spectators for some time.

Veteran India off- pinner Harbhajan Singh on Tuesday rejected the perception that he is jealous of Ravinchandran Ashwin, saying the Tamil Nadu bowler is a "legend in making".

With the coronavirus outbreak forcing a cricket shutdown across the world, there is speculation that the sport might initially return without fans. The global health crisis has forced England and Wales Cricket Board to suspend all professional sport till July 1 in the country and also put in doubt the upcoming T20 World Cup in Australia. Buttler said he is hoping for some form of cricket to return this year.

English cricket could lose as much as 380 million pounds if the entire season is wiped out due to the COVID-19 pandemic, ECB chief executive Tom Harrison has claimed. The ECB has already created a 61 million pound rescue package for the 18 county sides and has been offering grants and loans to recreational clubs, impacted by the outbreak.

Faf du Plessis said that it is 'very important' to have a positive attitude and he is putting a lot of energy into it.

Ravi Shastri has a firm belief that that the team of 1985 was qualitatively better than the side that won the 1983 World Cup because it was a perfect blend of youth and experience.

'The game which I loved the most, it was taken away.'

Several countries, including Australia have imposed travel restrictions, and McCullum feels adding a team from New Zealand in the tournament could pique the interest of the audience in the league, which has suffered a dip in crowd and TV numbers in the past two years.

'It was a great feeling to be trusted by players such as Virat bhai and Rohit bhai to go out there and bat in the crucial moments. It's a great feeling when the team and the players consider you to be a match winner.'

The dog was part of Kohli's life for 11 years

The 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham will feature a women's Twenty20 competition but Morgan says the T10 format would be a better fit than T20, 50 overs or Test cricket.

India's Test vice-captain Ajinkya Rahane said cricketers will need at least a month of training before resumption of competitive games, which should happen only after a vaccine for the dreaded coronavirus is discovered. Rahane also said that in a coronavirus-scarred world, the lifestyle of cricketers will undergo a change as far as pre and post-match routines are concerned.

Asked about the similarities between himself and Kohli, who are both live wires on the field, Warner said the passion to do better than the opponent keeps him going.

The Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) on Wednesday announced its decision to recommend former Sri Lanka captain Kumar Sangakkara for a second term as president due to the disruptions caused by the coronavirus pandemic. The former wicketkeeper-batsman had became the first non-British President of the club after he assumed office on October 1 last year.

Virat Kohli's Indian team still has a long way to go before it is spoken of in the same breath as Australia of 2000s, believes former India pacer Ashish Nehra. Under Kohli's leadership, India earned its maiden series victory in Australia in 2018-19, achieving the feat after trying for seven decades.

Kolkata Knight Riders CEO Venky Mysore did not entirely rule out the possibility of the popular IPL franchise "evaluating" investment opportunities in England and Wales Cricket Board's ambitious franchise league 'The Hundred', which had to be shelved this year due to the coronavirus pandemic. British newspaper The Telegraph on Tuesday quoted Mysore saying that they would surely be keen to "explore" investment opportunities in The Hundred.

The Delhi High Court on Wednesday upheld a trial court's decision to grant bail to Sanjeev Chawla, an alleged bookie and key accused in one of the cricket's biggest match-fixing scandals that involved former South African captain Hansie Cronje, saying when the scenario of a trial taking place was "stark", the liberty of a person "cannot be left in limbo" on the belief that he was a flight risk.

Spinner Harbhajan Singh revealed said that former captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni was a very shy person when he first came into the Indian team and he only started opening up after the controversial Sydney Test against Australia in 2008.

'There could be a law where you can say from the 15th over or the 20th over, you can give the wax polish to the bowlers.'

CA's head of sports science and sports medicine Kountouris said the coronavirus-forced new normal shouldn't have much impact of teams' training in a sport like cricket.

Dhoni was speaking to coaches from various sports during an interaction, which was organised before the country went into a lockdown to contain the COVID-19 pandemic.

These are certainly turning out to be good days for Smith fans with an opportunity to learn a few batting techniques from the Aussie run machine.

The two cricketers became teammates at Chennai Super Kings, four years after that incident.

"It's the other end of the spectrum now ... You can't wait just to get out there on the cricket field and running around with your mates, getting stuck into training and playing games."

It sure did for New Zealand pace legend Richard Hadlee who had to offer his teammates a week's holiday to take one home back in 1986.

The batting resources of West Indies' 'intimidating' team has reduced Dwayne Bravo's role to a specialist bowler.

Former Pakistan leg-spinner Mushtaq Ahmed feels the categorisation of Test and limited overs spinners is the need of the hour. According to Mushtaq, skill-wise, Lyon and Ashwin are on par with greats like Saqlain Mushtaq and Muttiah Muralitharan but not best suited for the one-day game.

Solo Nqweni is the third cricketer known to have contracted the disease after Pakistan's Zafar Sarfraz and Scotland's Majid Haq.

Rajneesh Gupta picks instances of sledging which backfired spectacularly and the players had to pay dearly for their misadventures.

Pakistan head coach and chief selector Misbah-ul-Haq said being confined to home due to the coronavirus-forced lockdown can become depressing and wants some cricket activities to resume soon even if the matches have to take place behind closed doors with proper safety barriers. Misbah said he would love to see some cricket activities resume at the international level and has no problems in playing in empty stadiums.

A cricket museum based in India has bought a bat auctioned by Pakistan Test captain Azhar Ali to raise funds for the needy during the coronavirus pandemic. He confirmed that Blades of Glory Cricket Museum based in Pune bought the bat by making a winning offer of Rs. 1 million for the bat.

India captain Virat Kohli believes cricket in empty stadiums is a real possibility in a post coronavirus world and though it is unlikely to have a bearing on the intensity of players, he feels the magic would certainly go missing. The cricket boards across the globe are exploring the option of resuming the sport in empty stadiums. There is speculation that fans could be kept away from stadiums in a bid to salvage the T20 World Cup in Australia, which is currently under threat due to the global health crisis.

India captain Virat Kohli and his team mates would be ready to spend two weeks in quarantine in Australia if that helped the tour go ahead as planned later this year, a top official of the Board of Control for Cricket in India said. A cash-strapped Cricket Australia (CA) is banking heavily on the series, reportedly worth A$300 million ($195 million), to help it cope with an acute financial crisis triggered by the coronavirus pandemic.

Umar Akmal was provisionally suspended on the eve of the Pakistan Super League. He did not seem prepared to show remorse nor did he seek an apology for failing to report corrupt approaches.

India's batting great Sachin Tendulkar on Friday recalled his stint for English county club Yorkshire as a 19-year-old in 1992, which he says helped in gaining exposure and improved his game. Tendulkar created history by becoming Yorkshire's first overseas player.

The TKR has involved their local icons Kieron Pollard, Dwayne Bravo, Darren Bravo, Lendl Simmons and Sunil Narine, who along with the team's support staff will be personally distributing the hampers to various areas of the island nation.

Should the much-anticipated series goes ahead as scheduled with the COVID-19 pandemic being brought under control in the best case scenario, run-machines Steve Smith and David Warner's presence will put the hosts at an advantage.

All cricketing activity has come to a halt due to the health crisis and there are serious doubts over the future of T20 World Cup. However, the International Cricket Council is yet to take the final call on the T20 showpiece event.

England Test captain Joe Root is keen to play international cricket this summer but not by compromising on quality of the game or its intensity, the 29-year-old has said. With professional cricket suspended because of the coronavirus pandemic, the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) is considering playing the series against West Indies and Pakistan behind closed doors.

Australian opener David Warner termed as 'bizarre' the experience of playing behind closed doors, which it said was like playing a warm-up game.

Sporting activities, including cricket, are currently shut due to the coronavirus-forced lockdown but Alex Carey is in no mood to let dust settle in his skills and has been working towards that in this break.