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Tag: England

  • Twenty20: CSA may curtail plans, reduce licence fee as broadcast rights decline

    Twenty20: CSA may curtail plans, reduce licence fee as broadcast rights decline

    MUMBAI: Cricket South Africa (CSA) may be planning to reduce its franchise fees, as it girds up its loins for for GT20. CSA is in the process curtailing its Twenty20 Global League plans, and will reduce the fees for franchises as it faces declining broadcast rights.

    CSA had earlier demanded $5m to lease a Tier One franchise and $3m for the others, but the rates have been brought down since the owners’ income expectations have also reduced, Cricbuzz reported.

    A reduced figure is also apprehended from the Indian telecast rights, bringing down the owners’ expected earnings from their main income source. With player fee bills almost fixed, the 18-man team will cost owners over $1m per season – the only significant expense that can be reduced by franchises is the fee.

    While CSA had expected that the Global T20 would give it a dependable income outside of incoming tours from England, India, and Australia, its inability to secure a good rights deal has put the ambitions in a jeopardy.

    It is learnt that production costs – that may be around $ 100,000 each for the 57 matches – will be borne by CSA, further cutting into their margins.

  • Funds-starved BCCI may move SC citing England series urgency

    Funds-starved BCCI may move SC citing England series urgency

    MUMBAI: With England’s tour of India just a day away, the BCCI plans to move the Supreme Court on Tuesday seeking an order allowing it to enter into contracts for the sake of Rajkot Test. Saurashtra’s premier city is to host the first India-England Test from Wednesday.

    The BCCI, as per protocol, has informed the Justice RM Lodha committee that the Supreme Court would be moved because of the urgency with which it needs to act as regards the Rajkot Test.

    With the apex court and the Justice Lodha committee disallowing the Board of Control for Cricket in India to use its funds until an independent auditor goes through them, the latter is getting desperate. If the IPL media rights auction had gone ahead as planned, it would have reportedly fetched BCCI around Rs 30,000 crore (US$ 4500 million approx).

    BCCI secretary Ajay Shirke told The Telegraph that their hands were tied as the Justice Lodha committee had neither set the threshold limit for them to award contracts nor had it appointed an independent auditor as per the October 21 directions of the Supreme Court. They were, therefore, filing an interim application, he added. Certain basic agreements with specific vendors had to be entered into by the BCCI, and each of them would become a contract.

    If the Supreme Court doesn’t pass an order allowing BCCI to engage in contracts, which in any case won’t be big, then the board does not see how the first Test could be played, Shirke said.

    In fact, in its interim application, BCCI would also be praying that the needful be done by the Justice Lodha committee before the start of the second Test in Visakhapatnam from November 17 so that the same issues did not come up again.

    The New Indian Express meantime reported that the BCCI will file an urgent petition seeking relaxation on releasing funds to state units that are scheduled to host the five-match Test series. Moreover, the BCCI will also ask the court to allow it to sign a Memorandum of Understanding with the England and Wales Cricket Board for the series to go ahead. The BCCI will argue that an adverse decision from the court will force it to call off the series.

    Last week, Shirke had written to the Lodha panel seeking directions on signing the MoU with ECB. However the panel informed the board that MoU is not a mandate for the series to go ahead and it cannot release the funds until all the necessary details are furnished.

  • Funds-starved BCCI may move SC citing England series urgency

    Funds-starved BCCI may move SC citing England series urgency

    MUMBAI: With England’s tour of India just a day away, the BCCI plans to move the Supreme Court on Tuesday seeking an order allowing it to enter into contracts for the sake of Rajkot Test. Saurashtra’s premier city is to host the first India-England Test from Wednesday.

    The BCCI, as per protocol, has informed the Justice RM Lodha committee that the Supreme Court would be moved because of the urgency with which it needs to act as regards the Rajkot Test.

    With the apex court and the Justice Lodha committee disallowing the Board of Control for Cricket in India to use its funds until an independent auditor goes through them, the latter is getting desperate. If the IPL media rights auction had gone ahead as planned, it would have reportedly fetched BCCI around Rs 30,000 crore (US$ 4500 million approx).

    BCCI secretary Ajay Shirke told The Telegraph that their hands were tied as the Justice Lodha committee had neither set the threshold limit for them to award contracts nor had it appointed an independent auditor as per the October 21 directions of the Supreme Court. They were, therefore, filing an interim application, he added. Certain basic agreements with specific vendors had to be entered into by the BCCI, and each of them would become a contract.

    If the Supreme Court doesn’t pass an order allowing BCCI to engage in contracts, which in any case won’t be big, then the board does not see how the first Test could be played, Shirke said.

    In fact, in its interim application, BCCI would also be praying that the needful be done by the Justice Lodha committee before the start of the second Test in Visakhapatnam from November 17 so that the same issues did not come up again.

    The New Indian Express meantime reported that the BCCI will file an urgent petition seeking relaxation on releasing funds to state units that are scheduled to host the five-match Test series. Moreover, the BCCI will also ask the court to allow it to sign a Memorandum of Understanding with the England and Wales Cricket Board for the series to go ahead. The BCCI will argue that an adverse decision from the court will force it to call off the series.

    Last week, Shirke had written to the Lodha panel seeking directions on signing the MoU with ECB. However the panel informed the board that MoU is not a mandate for the series to go ahead and it cannot release the funds until all the necessary details are furnished.

  • PitchVision ties up with Jain University to adopt state-of-the-art PV coaching systems in college

    PitchVision ties up with Jain University to adopt state-of-the-art PV coaching systems in college

    MUMBAI: PitchVision, ground breaking cricket coaching system that manages to successfully combine the passion of millions with the endless potential of the internet today announced its association with Jain University, Bengaluru. PitchVision cricket training technology is endorsed by some of the biggest names in cricket such as MCC Lords, Cricket South Africa, England and the Wales Cricket boards, and the International Cricket Council facility in Dubai. Its dynamic training tool PV/One system will be a part of the Universities cricket coaching program.

    Commenting on the development, PitchVision CEO Rohan Timblo said, “We are very excited to announce our association with Jain University, Bengaluru. Our state of the art PV cricket coaching system will assist coaches to capture and document every aspect of the cricketer’s game. All the data captured is available for the coach and players to review on our proprietary platform PitchVision.com and the PV app.  This allows for coaches and players to continuously interact and share their videos and comments with each other even from remote locations. Enabling the university to track, monitor and improve their students cricketing prowess. 

    The simplicity of the product is that PitchVision technology can be deployed anywhere in the university premises where cricket is potentially played. The PV/One takes about 10 minutes to set up and instantaneously delivers over 25 detailed reports and graphical analyses of each delivery bowled. It captures the critical data like batsmen’s strong and weak zones as well as the bowlers foot position, trajectory, line, length and beehive of the pitch map etc. The system is also equipped with a complete video analyses tool, where the videos are instantly generated and automatically edited and tagged to the player’s profile. All videos and player related data is permanently stored and can be accessed by coach and player on www.pitchvision.com or the PV App.  

    A delighted Jain Group of Institutions chairman Chainraj Roy Jain said, “Knowing PitchVision’s technological expertise, I am excited with this association. I am confident that this coaching system will help assist our coaching team to train youngsters in a more structured manner. Besides the hardware, PVone.com is also the largest online platform of player generated cricket content in the world with 200,000 unique videos uploaded every month. It’s great to know that these boys will now be registered on the same platform and will be exposed to cricketing content from other coaches from across the world. I strongly believe in outcome based training and I feel that this technology will definitively add value to our education system as a whole.”

  • PitchVision ties up with Jain University to adopt state-of-the-art PV coaching systems in college

    PitchVision ties up with Jain University to adopt state-of-the-art PV coaching systems in college

    MUMBAI: PitchVision, ground breaking cricket coaching system that manages to successfully combine the passion of millions with the endless potential of the internet today announced its association with Jain University, Bengaluru. PitchVision cricket training technology is endorsed by some of the biggest names in cricket such as MCC Lords, Cricket South Africa, England and the Wales Cricket boards, and the International Cricket Council facility in Dubai. Its dynamic training tool PV/One system will be a part of the Universities cricket coaching program.

    Commenting on the development, PitchVision CEO Rohan Timblo said, “We are very excited to announce our association with Jain University, Bengaluru. Our state of the art PV cricket coaching system will assist coaches to capture and document every aspect of the cricketer’s game. All the data captured is available for the coach and players to review on our proprietary platform PitchVision.com and the PV app.  This allows for coaches and players to continuously interact and share their videos and comments with each other even from remote locations. Enabling the university to track, monitor and improve their students cricketing prowess. 

    The simplicity of the product is that PitchVision technology can be deployed anywhere in the university premises where cricket is potentially played. The PV/One takes about 10 minutes to set up and instantaneously delivers over 25 detailed reports and graphical analyses of each delivery bowled. It captures the critical data like batsmen’s strong and weak zones as well as the bowlers foot position, trajectory, line, length and beehive of the pitch map etc. The system is also equipped with a complete video analyses tool, where the videos are instantly generated and automatically edited and tagged to the player’s profile. All videos and player related data is permanently stored and can be accessed by coach and player on www.pitchvision.com or the PV App.  

    A delighted Jain Group of Institutions chairman Chainraj Roy Jain said, “Knowing PitchVision’s technological expertise, I am excited with this association. I am confident that this coaching system will help assist our coaching team to train youngsters in a more structured manner. Besides the hardware, PVone.com is also the largest online platform of player generated cricket content in the world with 200,000 unique videos uploaded every month. It’s great to know that these boys will now be registered on the same platform and will be exposed to cricketing content from other coaches from across the world. I strongly believe in outcome based training and I feel that this technology will definitively add value to our education system as a whole.”

  • ICC Worldcup T20 2016 sets new record in viewership; both traditional and digital

    ICC Worldcup T20 2016 sets new record in viewership; both traditional and digital

    MUMBAI: ICC World T20 2016 has locked a 114 percent viewership growth in India, making it one of the most successful years for the tournament, says ICC.  

    “In India alone, the India versus Pakistan encounter rated 17.3 across the Star Sports network and Doordarshan, the best rated Twenty20 match ever since the final of the World Twenty20 in 2007, reaching 83 million people. And the cumulative in-home viewership for the event in India was 730 million, an increase of 114 per cent over the previous edition,” read a statement released by International Cricket Council.

    Commenting on the unprecedented success of the ICC’s digital and broadcast activity at the ICC World Twenty20 India 2016, ICC chief executive officer David Richardson said, “It is a fact that the ICC World Twenty20 2016 engaged with fans, old and new, like never before. The dynamic and fascinating cricket on field was matched by the innovative presentation of the world feed broadcast and the efforts of our broadcast partners, which delivered record viewership numbers. “

    The tournament, won by the West Indies men’s and women’s teams, which beat England and Australia in their respective finals at Eden Gardens in Kolkata on 3 April, was the first major ICC event produced by ICC TV. That involved coverage of 48 matches across seven venues in India using 30 cameras at each venue.

    The tournament also showcased staggering figures when it comes to its digital reach with 320 million video views across ICC digital properties and social media pages alone. “During the event, 46 million people across the world engaged on Facebook, the most ever for any Twenty20 event in history, while the 85 press conferences streamed live on the ICC’s Facebook page had more than 10 million views,” ICC shared. In addition to that there were 5.75 billion impressions of Tweets related to the ICC World Twenty20, an all-time record for any cricket event. The data on the digital activities was equally stunning and it all added up to make the event a hugely successful one.

    “Our philosophy that the game is about the fans encouraged us to push digital media and broadcast boundaries at the ICC World Twenty20 India 2016 with some creative and engaging activations and innovations.And this enhancement, supplemented by the skills of the players and a highly competitive format, contributed enormously to the overall success of the tournament as we recorded unprecedented broadcast and digital figures. We are delighted with the results and look forward to continuing to develop both our digital activities and our broadcast coverage ahead of next year’s ICC Champions Trophy and the ICC Women’s World Cup, both set to be held in the United Kingdom,” Richardson concluded.

  • ICC Worldcup T20 2016 sets new record in viewership; both traditional and digital

    ICC Worldcup T20 2016 sets new record in viewership; both traditional and digital

    MUMBAI: ICC World T20 2016 has locked a 114 percent viewership growth in India, making it one of the most successful years for the tournament, says ICC.  

    “In India alone, the India versus Pakistan encounter rated 17.3 across the Star Sports network and Doordarshan, the best rated Twenty20 match ever since the final of the World Twenty20 in 2007, reaching 83 million people. And the cumulative in-home viewership for the event in India was 730 million, an increase of 114 per cent over the previous edition,” read a statement released by International Cricket Council.

    Commenting on the unprecedented success of the ICC’s digital and broadcast activity at the ICC World Twenty20 India 2016, ICC chief executive officer David Richardson said, “It is a fact that the ICC World Twenty20 2016 engaged with fans, old and new, like never before. The dynamic and fascinating cricket on field was matched by the innovative presentation of the world feed broadcast and the efforts of our broadcast partners, which delivered record viewership numbers. “

    The tournament, won by the West Indies men’s and women’s teams, which beat England and Australia in their respective finals at Eden Gardens in Kolkata on 3 April, was the first major ICC event produced by ICC TV. That involved coverage of 48 matches across seven venues in India using 30 cameras at each venue.

    The tournament also showcased staggering figures when it comes to its digital reach with 320 million video views across ICC digital properties and social media pages alone. “During the event, 46 million people across the world engaged on Facebook, the most ever for any Twenty20 event in history, while the 85 press conferences streamed live on the ICC’s Facebook page had more than 10 million views,” ICC shared. In addition to that there were 5.75 billion impressions of Tweets related to the ICC World Twenty20, an all-time record for any cricket event. The data on the digital activities was equally stunning and it all added up to make the event a hugely successful one.

    “Our philosophy that the game is about the fans encouraged us to push digital media and broadcast boundaries at the ICC World Twenty20 India 2016 with some creative and engaging activations and innovations.And this enhancement, supplemented by the skills of the players and a highly competitive format, contributed enormously to the overall success of the tournament as we recorded unprecedented broadcast and digital figures. We are delighted with the results and look forward to continuing to develop both our digital activities and our broadcast coverage ahead of next year’s ICC Champions Trophy and the ICC Women’s World Cup, both set to be held in the United Kingdom,” Richardson concluded.

  • England and India seek improvement in Test Rankings

    England and India seek improvement in Test Rankings

    MUMBAI: The five-Test series between England and India gets underway in Nottingham on Wednesday 9 July, with both sides aiming to improve their rankings in the Reliance ICC Test Team Rankings Table.

     

    As things stand at present, India occupies fourth position with 102 ratings points, while England is one spot behind with 100 ratings points. Depending upon the outcome of the Test series, both teams can go as high as number three or drop to as low as number seven.

     

    For India, the equation is straightforward: a series win will be sufficient to help it leapfrog Pakistan into third position.

     

    However, a vault up the rankings is a bit trickier for England, which needs to win the series by a difference of no less than two Tests to take on third place. Victory by just one Test will help it swap places with India.

     

    Meanwhile, both teams can potentially drop to number seven. If India wins all five Tests, then Alastair Cook’s side will plummet to seventh position, while a 4-1 series result will see England slip to sixth. Conversely, if England wins the series by 4-0 or better, then India will drop to seventh spot.

     

    To find out exactly how the forthcoming series will affect the Rankings Table, please click here. The ODI and T20I Rankings tables, unlike the Test Rankings Table, are updated after every match.

     

    Movement is also expected on the Reliance ICC Player Rankings for Test Batsmen.

     

    India’s Cheteshwar Pujara, static in seventh place, will have the opportunity to break into the top five, while Virat Kohli, who currently occupies tenth position, will have the chance to consolidate his place in the top 10.

     

    Pujara trails fifth-ranked Shivnarine Chanderpaul by 35 ratings points, while Kohli needs 16 ratings points to both move ahead of Ross Taylor of New Zealand and also break the 800-point barrier.

     

    Ian Bell, in 18th place, is the only batsman from England to find a place amongst the top 20.

     

    Outside the top 20, batsmen likely to be seen in action from both the sides are Alistair Cook (21st), Joe Root (26th), MS Dhoni (29th), Matt Prior (32nd), Rohit Sharma (33rd), Murali Vijay (42nd), Ajinikya Rahane (45th) and Shikhar Dhawan (50th).

     

    Gary Ballance and Sam Robson, who did well for England against Sri Lanka, are in 83rd and 94th places, respectively.

     

    India’s Ravichandran Ashwin in seventh position is the highest-ranked bowler from either side in the Reliance ICC Player Rankings for Test Bowlers. James Anderson (12th) and Stuart Broad (14th) are the other bowlers to feature inside the top 20.

     

    Other bowlers to watch out for are Ishant Sharma (23rd), Ravindra Jadeja (26th), Mohammed Shami (33rd), Ben Stokes (46th), Liam Plunkett (50th), Bhuvneshwar Kumar (73rd) and Chris Woakes (118th).
     

    In the All-rounders’ table, Ashwin (second) and Stuart Broad (fifth) feature in the top five.

     

    Series schedule:

     

    9-13 July – 1st Test, Nottingham

    17-21 July – 2nd Test, Lord’s

    27-31 July – 3rd Test, Southampton

    7-11 August – 4th Test, Manchester

    15-19 August – 5th Test, The Oval

     

    Reliance ICC Test Team Rankings table

     

    Rank   Team              Rating     

    1          Australia          123            

    2          South Africa   123           

    3          Pakistan           103  

    4          India                102   

    5          England           100             

    6          Sri Lanka         96              

    7          New Zealand  93

    8          West Indies     74

    9          Zimbabwe       40

    10        Bangladesh     21

    (Developed by David Kendix)

    Reliance ICC Test Player Rankings

     

    Batsmen (top 10)

     

    Rank      Player                   Team     Points                    Ave         HS Rating

       1           AB de Villiers        SA           922        51.94      935 v Aus at Port Elizabeth 2014

       2           K Sangakkara      SL           896        58.63      938 v Eng at Kandy 2007

       3           Hashim Amla       SA           873        51.35      907 v Pak at Abu Dhabi 2013

       4           David Warner       Aus         871!       46.54     871 v SA at Cape Town 2014

       5           S.Chanderpaul     WI          854        51.88      901 v NZ at Napier 2008

       6           Misbah-ul-Haq    Pak         824!       48.75     824 v SL at Sharjah 2014

       7           C Pujara                                Ind          819*      58.92      851 v SA at Durban 2013

       8           Michael Clarke    Aus         818        51.50      900 v SL at Melbourne 2012

       9           Ross Taylor          NZ          795        46.43      871 v WI at Hamilton 2013

      10         Virat Kohli            Ind          784!       46.51     784 v NZ at Wellington 2014

     

    Selected Rankings

     

    Rank      Player                   Team     Points    Ave         HS Rating

      18         Ian Bell                  Eng         657        45.12      822 v Ind at The Oval 2011

      21         Alastair Cook       Eng         633        45.90     874 v Ind at Kolkata 2012 

      26         Joe Root                                Eng         610*      41.86      630 v SL at Lord’s 2014

      29         MS Dhoni              Ind          604        38.77      662 v SA at Kolkata 2010 

      32         Matt Prior              Eng         583        41.00      745 v NZ at Auckland 2013

      33         Rohit Sharma       Ind          578*!    56.87      578 v NZ at Wellington 2014

      42         Murali Vijay         Ind          530*      35.24      569 v SA at Durban 2013 

      45         Ajinkya Rahane  Ind          513*!    47.37      513 v NZ at Wellington 2014 

      50         S Dhawan             Ind          475*!    48.54      475 v NZ at Wellington 2014

      83         Gary Ballance      Eng         334*!    45.20      334 v SL at Headingley 2014

      94         Sam Robson         Eng         305*!    42.75      305 v SL at Headingley 2014

     

     

    Bowlers (top 10)

     

    Rank      Player                   Team     Points    Ave         HS Rating

       1           Dale Steyn            SA           898        23.01      908 v Pak at Johannesburg 2013

       2           Ryan Harris          Aus         870!       22.56     870 v SA at Cape Town 2014

       3           V Philander           SA           865        20.11      912 v Ind at Johannesburg 2013

       4           M Johnson            Aus         844!       27.42     844 v SA at Cape Town 2014

       5           Saeed Ajmal         Pak         787        27.46      855 v Zim at Harare 2013

       6           Tim Southee         NZ          783        29.83      799 v WI at Kingston 2014

       7           R Ashwin               Ind          744        28.50      808 v WI at Mumbai 2013

       8           Rangana Herath  SL           739        30.51      838 v NZ at Colombo (PSS) 2012

       9           Trent Boult           NZ          737*      27.45      767 v Ind at Wellington 2014

      10=       Kemar Roach       WI          733!       27.04     733 v NZ at Bridgetown 2014

                    Peter Siddle           Aus         733        29.37      816 v Eng at Old Trafford 2013

     

    Selected Rankings

     

    Rank      (+/-)        Player                   Team     Points    Ave         HS Rating

      12         (-2)          J Anderson            Eng         731        30.36      813 v Ind at Edgbaston 2011

      14         (-1)          Stuart Broad         Eng         719        30.43      783 v WI at Lord’s 2012

    23           Ishant Sharma     Ind          548        37.56      671 v WI at Dominica 2011

       26        Ravindra Jadeja  Ind          507*      26.30      570 v SA at Durban 2013

       33        M Shami               Ind          422*!    29.48      422 v NZ at Wellington 2014

       46        Ben Stokes            Eng         305*      32.80      311 v Aus at Sydney 2014 

       50        Liam Plunkett      Eng         286*!    36.67      286 v SL at Headingley 2014 

       73        B Kumar               Ind          203*      37.88      211 v WI at Mumbai 2013

      118=     Chris Woakes       Eng         7*          96.00     8 v Aus at The Oval 2013

     

    All-rounders

     

    Rank      Player                   Team     Points    HS Rating

       1           Vernon Philander SA           376*/ !  376 v Aus at Cape Town 2014

       2           R Ashwin               Ind          373*/    419 v WI at Mumbai 2013

       3           Shakib Al Hasan Ban        364        404 v Pak at Mirpur 2011

       4           Mitchell Johnson Aus         280        384 v Eng at Cardiff 2009

       5           Stuart Broad         Eng         274        382 v Pak at Abu Dhabi 2012

  • 36% Indians Predict Brazil Will Win 2014 FIFA World Cup

    36% Indians Predict Brazil Will Win 2014 FIFA World Cup

    MUMBAI: A plurality of Indians (36%) expect host country Brazil to be victorious in the final game of the 2014 FIFA World Cup, according to a new online study by global research company Ipsos.

     

    While considerably fewer Indians predict football world cup winner will be Germany (10%), Argentina (8%), Spain (7%), Italy (4%), United States and Australia (both 3%), England/ Portugal/ Russia/ Belgium/ France all at 2%, and 1% who chose each of Mexico/ South Korea/ Croatia/ Switzerland/ Colombia and Japan.

     

    As for the runner-up, Indians choose Brazil (13%), Spain (12%), Germany (12%), Argentina (10%), France (6%), Italy (6%), England (4%), Portugal (3%), Australia (3%), United States/ Belgium/ Mexico/ Chile at 2% and Uruguay/ Netherlands/ Colombia/ Japan/ Russia and South Korea all at 1%.
    “Football fever has gripped India with 2014 FIFA World Cup soccer event underway in Brazil. Ipsos study indicates that more than 65 percent Indians have heard the buzz around the global mega sporting event,” said Biswarup Banerjee, Head Marketing Communications, Ipsos India.

     

    A large majority (78%) of global respondents have heard at least something about the upcoming World Cup in Brazil with 46% indicating they’ve heard something ( “a great deal” (22%), “a fair amount” (24%)) compared with 54% who have not heard much or anything (“a little bit” (32%) and “not heard anything at all” (22%)).

     

    Those from Brazil (69%), the host country, are most likely to say they have heard “a great deal,” followed by those from Mexico (53%), Argentina (44%), Indonesia (43%), Belgium (34%), Saudi Arabia (32%), France (30%) and India (29%). One quarter or fewer are aware of the games from these countries: South Africa (26%), South Korea (23%), China (21%), Spain (19%), Poland (17%), Turkey (17%), Italy (15%), Japan (15%), Great Britain (13%), Egypt (12%), Germany (9%), Romania (8%), the United States (7%), Hungary (7%), Australia (6%), Sweden (6%), Canada (6%) and Russia (5%).

     

    The Ipsos poll was conducted in May among 19,032 respondents in 26 countries, including: Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, China, Egypt, France, Germany, Great Britain, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Poland, Romania, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Turkey and the United States.

     

  • West Indies and New Zealand to start season of mouth-watering Test cricket

    West Indies and New Zealand to start season of mouth-watering Test cricket

    MUMBAI: The West Indies and New Zealand will kick off a season of high-octane Test cricket when they go head-to-head in a three-Test series that starts in Kingston, Jamaica, on Sunday 8 June.

     

    While the series in the Caribbean is underway, a two-Test series between England and Sri Lanka will be played at Lord’s (12-16 June) and Headingley (20-24 June).

     

    These two series will not only serve as curtain-raisers to what is expected to be a season of mouth-watering Test cricket, it will also start the race to the number-one position on the Reliance ICC Test Team Rankings table. The side that tops the table on the 1 April 2015 cut-off date will be presented with the prestigious Test mace as well as a cash award of US$500,000.

     

    Australia currently holds the mace and the number-one Test position with South Africa in second place, just a fraction of a point behind. Then 14 ratings points separate third-ranked England from seventh-ranked Sri Lanka, with the West Indies another 14 ratings points behind in eighth spot.

     

    Apart from the two series in June, ten more series are scheduled to be played until the end of January 2015, after which the focus will shift to the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015, which starts in Christchurch and Melbourne on 14 February.

     

    This means that well before the ICC Cricket World Cup starts in Australia and New Zealand, the teams’ positions on the Reliance ICC Test Team Rankings Table at the 1 April 2015 cut-off date will be finalised, as no Test cricket expected to be played after the ICC Cricket World Cup final on 29 March.

     

    As per the January 2012 ICC Board decision, a total of  US$1.34 million will be distributed amongst the top four Test sides in 2015, with the number-one ranked side receiving US$ 500,000, followed by US$ 390,000 for the second ranked side, US$ 280,000 for the third ranked side and US$ 170,000 for the side that finishes fourth.

     

    Click here for full report