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Rishabh Pant played four matches for India in the 2019 World Cup, batting at No. 4 in each game. Scores of 32, 48, 4 and 32 seemed to suggest Pant had the potential to be the long-term solution for India, batting at that troublesome number. The No. 4 spot hasn’t yet been nailed down despite several players being tried out, but for his part, Pant said he felt comfortable there and had been practising for it.”I loved batting at No. 4. It was nothing new for me as I have played at No. 4 before, like in the IPL. I had been practicing for the same role,” Pant told . “There is no specific way or style I play in. I always play according to situation. I don’t know what people say, because I don’t read newspapers much.”Pant had played only five ODIs before the World Cup, though he wasn’t short on international experience, having played nine Tests and 15 T20Is. The wicketkeeper-batsman acknowledged that cutting his teeth in Test cricket made things easier.”I don’t think about (the differences in) formats too much. Yes, maybe it did help that I played Test cricket first,” Pant said. “I got good experience from playing Test cricket. People used to say that Test cricket is the most difficult. So I got to learn a lot, how to build the innings, playing down the order and how to bat with the tail.”There is learning every day in Test cricket. Especially when you have to walk out to bat after having fielded the entire day. That is a different experience. In ODIs and T20Is especially, things happen very fast.”Pant will now be the first-choice wicketkeeper for the Indian team on their tour of the West Indies across formats, with MS Dhoni not available.”I know those are big shoes to fill, but if I start thinking about it there will be a problem,” he said of replacing Dhoni in the limited-overs formats. “Right now, I am not thinking about what people say. I am just focusing on what I have to do.”My coach has always told me one thing: every year you have to add something to your game. You can’t stagnate because now the technology is so good that you have to keep improving and add on things each and every day of your career. That’s what I try to do. I just keep on trying new things. If it helps me, I try it in a match. There are days when I try these new shots in the nets, some days I don’t. It is all part of a long-term process.”

James Anderson will play for Lancashire’s second XI in a three-day game against Leicestershire in Liverpool this week instead of linking up with the Ashes squad in Headingley, as England’s selectors named an unchanged 12-man squad for the third Test of the series which gets underway on Thursday.Anderson, who aggravated a minor calf tear on the first morning of the series and bowled just four overs in England’s 251-run defeat, missed this week’s Lord’s Test where Jofra Archer made an eye-catching debut in his place, but remained with the squad so that his recovery could be monitored.He will continue to be assessed by the ECB on an ongoing basis, with a view to being recalled for the fourth Test of the series at Old Trafford in just over two weeks’ time.”Anderson is making progress from his injured right calf,” said the ECB in a statement. “[He] will step up his rehabilitation this week by playing for Lancashire second XI against Leicestershire in a three-day friendly at Northern Cricket Club, Liverpool.”Archer’s impact notwithstanding, Anderson’s absence was felt at Lord’s, where he has taken 103 wickets at 23.89 including six five-wicket hauls, especially on an overcast third morning when his ability to swing the Dukes ball would have been a priceless asset as England look to battle back in the series.In his continuing absence, the left-arm swing of Sam Curran remains the only alternative bowling option in a 12-man squad, while England have kept faith with a batting line-up that began to find some form in the second innings at Lord’s.Ben Stokes led the way with the bat, scoring his seventh Test hundred in the second innings, and his first since the Bristol incident in September 2017, while Jonny Bairstow made a battling fifty in the first innings and an unbeaten 30 in the second. Jos Buttler also showed some glimpses of form in making 31 in a 90-run partnership on the final day.But Joe Denly, who made starts in both innings but was unable to go beyond 30, and Jason Roy, who made scores of 0 and 2, remain under scrutiny going into a match that England now cannot afford to lose if they are to maintain a winning record in home Ashes series that dates back to 2005.And Joe Root, who picked up the first golden duck of his Test career at Lord’s, is also in need of a substantial innings after moving up to No.3 at the start of the series.England squad Jason Roy, Rory Burns, Joe Root (capt), Joe Denly, Ben Stokes, Jos Buttler, Jonny Bairstow (wk), Chris Woakes, Jofra Archer, Stuart Broad, Jack Leach, Sam Curran.

New South Wales have been forced to move their first home Sheffield Shield match of the season against Tasmania away from the SCG amid concerns about the surface.The wicket block was damaged when the Sydney Roosters rugby league team trained at the ground a fortnight ago ahead of the NRL Grand Final, and it has been decided the surface is not fit to host first-class cricket. The actual pitch designated for the Shield match would have been playable, but the rest of the square would not have been able to take the traffic of a four-day game.The match will now likely be played at Drummoyne Oval with next week’s Marsh Cup match against Tasmania on October 23 also under threat of being moved.ALSO READ: Everybody loses in Sydney’s turf wars“We were unaware there was a problem until this morning,” Lee Germon, the NSW chief executive, said. “Our cricketers love playing at the SCG, which is the traditional home of NSW cricket. It is a great disappointment to our players and everyone at Cricket NSW that we can no longer play there over the next week.”The increase in domestic fixtures at the SCG had been a significant win for New South Wales when the schedules were announced earlier this season, with four of their five home Sheffield Shield matches set for the Test venue.”Our male players were looking forward to playing four of their five home Shield matches and a one-day match at the SCG this season, something that has rarely happened over the past decade or so,” Germon said. “Our off-season training and planning was based squarely around the fact that most of our matches would be at the SCG this season, creating an extra buzz of excitement.”It is important that our current and future international cricketers have the opportunity to play as much cricket as possible on the SCG. This is particularly so early in the season when many of our senior players are available for the Sheffield Shield ahead of the international season.”There was an increase in the amount of winter sport played at the SCG this year due to the demolition of the Allianz Stadium next door.The SCG has resisted a move to the drop-in pitches which are seen at Adelaide, Melbourne and the new Perth Stadium.The ground hosts its first international of the season on November 3 with a T20I against Pakistan.

South Africa’s domestic structures are not up to the standard needed to produce quality international cricketers, according to captain Faf du Plessis. In the aftermath of the 3-0 drubbing in India, du Plessis said that a combination of inexperience in the domestic system, a lack of proper planning and the talent drain caused by Kolpak contributed to the current state of the national side that has lost three of their last four Test series.”What this has unveiled is that our structures are not where they need to be,” du Plessis said. “The gap between domestic cricket and intentional cricket – there needs to be things put in place to make sure you can address that a little bit better.”His first point of contention was that South Africa were not adequately prepared for the spate of retirements that took place in the last 18 months, including Morne Morkel, AB de Villiers, Hashim Amla and Dale Steyn.ALSO READ: Hashim Amla set to sign for Surrey on Kolpak deal“If you look back three or four years and someone had the vision of saying that in three or four years time there will be a lot of experienced guys – if you look at the ages, a lot of 34/35/36 year-olds – who could retire, so what do you do to make sure you get yourself ready for when that time comes? And possibly we are guilty for not planning for all of these guys going at the same time,” he said. “If you look at the last year-and-a-half, we’ve lost four or five Test players and now you’ve got to replace, not only one player but four or five of your best players. In there, we could have been a little bit smarter in the planning phase and the phasing out of the great players.”But the current level of inexperience in the squad cannot only be blamed for lack of foresight. Earlier this year, South Africa were banking on Duanne Olivier to fill the gap left by Morkel and Steyn, but he signed a Kolpak deal, just like Kyle Abbott had done two years ago. Both players, shortly before leaving, made statements committing themselves to the team and CSA was both blindsided by their decisions to leave and fruitless in its efforts to convince them otherwise.With the United Kingdom’s exit from the European Union imminent, Kolpak agreements could be in danger. Currently, Kolpak agreements ensure that citizens of countries that have signed European Union Association agreements, such as South Africa, will have the same freedom of movement as European Union citizen. If the United Kingdom is no longer part of the European Union, this may no longer apply and du Plessis was hopeful that the Kolpak stream, which he once swam in himself, will stop even though he knows South Africans will continue to seek opportunity abroad.”Brexit will be one thing that will stop the Kolpak players so that will benefit South African cricket tremendous amounts,” he said. “I don’t know if maybe they will find a loophole around it by saying we will have another overseas player that will be allowed to play in county cricket which still means that players will go and play there, just be under a different name tag. Opportunities are there for players in the domestic circuit in England. There’re a lot of South African players playing there at the moment. From a financial point of view, the pound is stronger than the Rand so that will always be a concern for us. But the less of those things there are for players to go overseas, that more cricket in South Africa will benefit.”Faf du Plessis looks on•BCCI

If there is an allowance of more overseas players in England, du Plessis also hoped South Africa would have access those players who initially showed an intention to play on the county circuit, improve and return, such as Simon Harmer. The offspinner was the leading wicket-taker last summer and is currently pursuing qualification for England. “Simon Harmer is an unbelievable spinner and it would be great for South Africa to be in a position where they could go, he has done well overseas, let’s bring him on tour with us. Post-Brexit, maybe guys will still go and play there but you can still pick them for the country,” du Plessis said. “That’s the situation where we need to get to because at the moment we don’t have the option of all the best players.”But the best-case scenario for du Plessis would be that if the Kolpak route was closed, South Africa would be able to keep more players. “We are losing our experience in international cricket but are also losing our experience in domestic cricket,” he said. “Your top players domestically are going overseas. The guys who are left of the South African team, they go overseas, so you are missing out on a lot of your best players, a talent pool that is all of a sudden a lot smaller. That’s something that we try to identify to stop but it has been very difficult to stop.”Equally important to retaining the talent that may go on to represent South Africa is keeping those who have recently done that, in the system. “The guys post international cricket, Hashim Amla, those guys they are not playing domestic cricket,” du Plessis said. “So you lose all of that experience which will help the young guys. To play with Hashim Amla will be the greatest learning curve you can get, playing with Dale Steyn, AB de Villiers. It’s about making sure you can bridge that gap and finding ways to do it.”ALSO READ: Amla opts out of the MSLAmla, who had retired after the World Cup, is not playing any cricket in South Africa, and is understood to be on the verge of signing a Kolpak deal. He has been a studio analyst for during this series but will not play in the Mzansi Super League, South Africa’s franchise T20 tournament. Steyn and de Villiers are part of MSL sides, and then both players will move to the Big Bash League. However, none of them play first-class cricket. The same is true for Morkel, who lives in Australia, JP Duminy and Imran Tahir, who will play in MSL but not in other formats. All of them had retired in the last two years.Such a significant changing of the guard, coupled with systemic problems in the structures, has left South Africa feeling like they are starting from scratch and du Plessis acknowledged they have a long way to go. As he put it, there’s no quick fix. “It’s a tough place to start, right at the beginning,” he said. “Obviously, in a perfect world you will start somewhere in the middle, change one or two players and that period takes a little bit shorter but the position we find ourselves in now with a lot of experience out of the Test team, that process will probably take a little bit longer.”

“The main thing now is every Test counts,” said Tim Paine, after his Australia side secured 60 World Test Championship (WTC) points by thrashing Pakistan at the Gabba last week. “Unless it’s England and New Zealand.”Paine was right: while New Zealand’s series against England counts towards the ICC’s Test rankings, and gives the hosts the opportunity to close the huge gap India have opened up, it is not part of the WTC.The reason behind that is little more than a scheduling anomaly. The WTC was created after this series was confirmed to be taking place, and to make the Championship even, each team will only play six series (three home, three away) that count towards the first cycle (August 2019-June 2021).This is the only series in that period that won’t count towards the Championship – with the exception of Tests involving Ireland, Zimbabwe and Afghanistan, who are not part of the inaugural WTC.The lack of WTC points up for grabs has had no obvious impact on the cricket, with New Zealand securing an innings win in the first Test last week. “It’s still a Test match in the players’ eyes,” their coach, Gary Stead, told , “but it just doesn’t carry the weighting of points.”

England’s director of cricket, Ashley Giles, has admitted Kevin Pietersen was “quite right” to request time off during his international career, despite the ECB’s resistance to allowing such flexibility at the time.Pietersen’s desire to play in the IPL while asking for time off from international commitments became a cause of strain with team management towards the end of his ten-year England career. But looking back on the situation now, Giles said he believes it is essential such requests are managed with greater sympathy if England are to avoid further episodes of burnout and mental health problems.As a result, Giles has suggested players and coaches may be rested and rotated more often in future.ALSO READ: England ‘really hopeful’ Anderson will be fit for SA“Kevin was making these points and he was quite right,” Giles told the BBC’s in New Zealand. “I won’t go so far as calling him a visionary, but he was right. He’s not as silly as he looks.”The game has moved on at a hell of a pace and continues to. There are a lot of pressures out there and we talk about protecting Test cricket, but tournaments are getting shorter and faster and getting more regular and they are real cash cows for the modern player.”There are other tournaments around, too, like the IPL and we have to be realistic. Guys are going to want to play in them so we have to find time in the schedule for them to take breaks. If that means missing international cricket occasionally then I’m afraid we’re going to have to suck it up.”Part of our strategy has to be to develop a bigger group of players who are capable of playing at this level, we’re not going to manage otherwise. The same goes for our management. I’d rather have one coach, but that doesn’t mean he can’t have time of and provide chances for others to lead.”The schedule brings money and that is why we can sign these big deals with broadcasters. What it doesn’t mean is that we play our best players into the ground because we’ll lose them quickly which brings us back to that care point again.”It just isn’t fair and many of them have young families now and that puts a different perspective on life.”A recent survey by found that some of England’s highest-profile players had the heaviest workloads in world cricket. Joe Root, England’s Test captain, played more international days than anyone else between October 2018 and September 2019, with Ben Stokes and Jos Buttler ranked joint fifth.While physical tiredness is one issue, Giles is also keen to prevent his players suffering from the emotional demands of their lifestyle. In recent weeks, there have been three-high profile examples of players in Australia requesting time away from the game, with Glenn Maxwell, Nic Maddinson and Will Pucovski all being encouraged to talk openly about their mental health.”The mental wellbeing and welfare of our players is crucial,” Giles said. “Particularly as we’ve got a number of players who perform across all formats and their schedules are incredibly busy.”It looks like a great lifestyle being on the road and being in hotels but these guys are serious professionals and spend a lot of time under stress and it’s a really important issue for us.”The other modern thing around that is different from when I played is camera phones and social media. A picture can tell a thousand words but not necessarily the right ones. A player could be out having a meal and a glass of wine and it could be misconstrued so guys tend to stay in hotels a lot and look after themselves.”It is a shame if you feel you’ve got to hide away, especially in a country like this.”Giles hopes the England environment will be improved by the effective promotion of Mark Saxby. Saxby has long been viewed as a vital part of the management team with a brief that extends well beyond his official title as massage therapist. But while his title will not change, the pastoral side to his role has been extended in the hope that he will be able to spot the early signs of problems with any of the team and ensure they receive the help they require. Saxby is also qualified in executive coaching.”One of the things we’ve looked at is the role of Mark Saxby who has been around with the team for a long time as our massage therapist, but for years he has been a lot more than that,” Giles said. “He’s been a shoulder to cry on at times, a mentor and a sounding board on the bed when he’s been massaging players.”He is taking on more responsibility now on the welfare front and with our culture. It is very important to me, tour on tour, that we have some short-term checks on the group. Are there any red flags? Anyone we need to worry about?”I’m sure these issues have always been around but perhaps in the past it was more difficult to talk about. I’m pleased that players can talk about it now publicly without ridicule or any stupid chat that there might have been around it in the past.”

Naseem Shah has been withdrawn from Pakistan’s squad for the Under-19 World Cup. Mohammad Wasim, the 18-year-old fast bowler who has been an Under-19 regular in recent months, has replaced him.Naseem, the 16-year-old fast bowler who has played three Test matches since making his senior international debut in November, was named in the original Under-19 squad last month. Pakistan head-coach-cum-selector Misbah-ul-Haq and bowling coach Waqar Younis, however, were not in favour of releasing him for age-group cricket.ALSO READ – Naseem Shah caught in tug-of-war between Pakistan’s senior and Under-19 teamsThe senior and junior selection committees have now come to an agreement, and Naseem will not travel to South Africa for the tournament, which begins on January 17.”The ICC U19 Cricket World Cup is a stepping stone for future stars and a platform for budding youngsters to graduate to international cricket,” said Wasim Khan, PCB’s chief executive officer. “Naseem has recently broken that glass ceiling and has established his credentials as an international cricketer. As such, the PCB has taken a pragmatic approach and decided to withdraw him from [the] competition to provide this opportunity to another promising cricketer so that he can show his mettle and potential at a global stage.”In his short time so far as an international cricketer, Naseem has marked himself out as a special talent with his precocious pace and venom. He made his debut in Perth, in the first Test of Pakistan’s recent tour of Australia, and dismissed centurion David Warner with a brute of a short ball. He missed the second Test with a knee niggle that is understood to have hindered his rhythm in the nets, but played both Tests of Pakistan’s home series against Sri Lanka, taking seven wickets in the two Tests including a match-winning five-wicket haul in the second Test in Karachi.Naseem Shah bowls•AFP

That performance made him the second-youngest bowler, behind compatriot Nasim-ul-Ghani in 1958, to take a five-for in Test cricket, and the youngest fast bowler to do so.The junior team management, headed by coach Ijaz Ahmed, wanted Naseem to be freed up for the Under-19 World Cup, and he was meant to link up with his team-mates at a preparatory camp in Lahore after the series against Sri Lanka. But he did not attend the camp, and was also rested from the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy final in Karachi.After extensive discussions with the senior team management, the national junior selection committee, headed by Saleem Jaffar, have agreed to withdraw Naseem and include Wasim in his stead. Wasim has taken 10 Youth ODI wickets in eight matches, at an average of 27.40.”This should not deter Pakistan’s chances at next year’s ICC U19 Cricket World Cup as the selectors have picked a side that is experienced and bubbling with confidence to perform strongly,” said Khan. “Naseem will now remain in Pakistan and continue to work on his skills under the watchful eyes of bowling coach Waqar Younis. Furthermore, he will remain available for the home series against Bangladesh.”Pakistan, the 2004 and 2006 champions and three-time runners-up, are slotted in Group C along with Bangladesh, Scotland and Zimbabwe in the 16-team Under-19 World Cup. They will kick off their campaign against Scotland on January 19 in Potchefstroom.After a month-long camp followed by a break, the players regrouped in Lahore on Wednesday for the final leg of the camp. The team will depart for Johannesburg on January 10 from Lahore.

OverviewTen wins and as many losses in T20Is since 2019 speak for the inconsistency, and unpredictability, that have become so entrenched in India’s frail middle order that awkward conversation fillers are a must when describing their chances of winning that elusive maiden world title. Chiselled under the watch of new head coach WV Raman and chastened through recurring T20I collapses over this 13-month period, India, if Raman’s views are to go by, are “definitely one of the favourites”, but perhaps, erm…only to make the semi-finals at the T20 World Cup, if not lift the trophy.A title triumph, to echo former India captain Diana Edulji, is unlikely, unless the hurt of the botched chase in last week’s tri-series final against Australia spurs India on to chanelling their unpredictability. On a teamsheet that no longer has Mithali Raj, India shocking themselves out of their rhythm could read anything between a blockbuster three-digit score from captain Harmanpreet Kaur, a jaw-dropping 40-plus blitz from 16-year-old Shafali Verma at the top, or a solid stand between opener Smriti Mandhana and, erm… pretty much anyone not carrying drinks that day.On slightly less exciting days, it could simply translate to the middle order scoring at a run a ball to avert sending a chase into a tailspin, or the fielders clutching on to chances, their wicketkeeper converting straightforward chances, stump-mic covers not denying potentially momentum-changing run-outs in a knockout, or, if a touch ambitious, the pace attack outperforming those of strongest Group A opponents Australia and New Zealand and even their own world-class spin contingent.SquadHarmanpreet Kaur (capt), Smriti Mandhana, Shafali Verma, Jemimah Rodrigues, Harleen Deol, Deepti Sharma, Veda Krishnamurthy, Richa Ghosh, Taniya Bhatia (wk), Poonam Yadav, Radha Yadav, Rajeshwari Gayakwad, Shikha Pandey, Pooja Vastrakar, Arundhati Reddy (Head coach: WV Raman)Group fixturesFebruary 21: Australia, Sydney Showground, Sydney
February 24: Bangladesh, WACA, Perth
February 27: New Zealand, Junction Oval, Melbourne
February 29: Sri Lanka, Junction Oval, MelbourneT20 World Cup historyIndia failed to go past the semi-finals stage in their three knockouts appearances (2009, 2010 and 2018) across the six editions so far. Their 2018 campaign, though, came to be entrenched in public consciousness more due to the controversial omission of Mithali Raj in India’s semi-final loss to England than their splendid unbeaten league-stage run which involved resounding wins over heavyweights New Zealand and eventual champions Australia.Form guideSince the 2018 T20 World Cup, India have won two T20I bilateral series (against South Africa at home and West Indies away) and lost as many (one to New Zealand away and then England at home). Their stiffest challenge, though, was the recently concluded tri-series, where they oscillated between the outstanding (beating England in the opener and recording their highest successful chase against hosts Australia) and trademark India (losing two league-stage games and then the final due lack of support with the bat to an excellent Mandhana).Key playersThe world’s most prolific batter in women’s T20Is since 2018, opener Smriti Mandhana will look to tap into the experience of her two WBBL seasons and extend her form from the tri-series, where she finished atop the run-charts. The smarts of another left-hander India will rely on is Deepti Sharma, an offspin-bowling allrounder who can impair the opposition in all three disciplines. Still only 22, Sharma is as impressive as a wicket-taker across various stages of an innings as a sprightly fielder. It is Sharma’s newly honed finishing capabilities as a middle-order floater that need harnessing by the captain – and channeling by Sharma herself – at the T20 World Cup. The onus will also be on medium-pacer Shikha Pandey to summon her best from the reserves of her dogged determination that fuelled her superlative comeback to India’s T20I set-up after being left out of the 2018 T20 World squad.What would be a success at the tournament?Qualification for the final – if somewhat fanciful, the prospect. Anything less than a runners-up finish would leave them licking their wounds in the lead-up to the ODI World Cup that begins in less than a year. Anything more than that would be….

Mitchell Starc is set to leave Australia’s tour of South Africa early and miss the third ODI in Potchefstroom on Saturday to watch his wife Alyssa Healy play the Women’s T20 World Cup final against India at the MCG on Sunday. Starc is scheduled to leave South Africa on Friday, and coach Justin Langer said that the arrangement would also give Starc a chance to “refresh” ahead of the series against New Zealand.”It’s a once-in-a-lifetime chance for Mitch to watch Alyssa in a home World Cup final and so we were happy to allow him to return home to support his wife and be part of a fantastic occasion,” Langer said. “It is something we have been talking about for a while and, given Mitch has had a considerable workload in all three formats this summer, his heading home a couple of days ahead of the rest of the squad means he will have a chance to refresh ahead of our home and away one-day internationals and Twenty20 internationals against New Zealand that will wrap up our season.”We have plenty of fast-bowling options with us here in South Africa with Josh Hazlewood, Jhye Richardson and Kane Richardson all sitting out our previous match in Bloemfontein, and Mitch’s absence will offer one of them an opportunity to impress in Saturday’s match.”Starc took figures of 1 for 53 and 2 for 59 as Australia lost the first two games of their ODI series in South Africa.As for Healy, she bounced back from a poor run of scores in the lead up to the World Cup to score 51 against India and 83 against Bangladesh, and will be one of the key cogs in the wheel for Australia in Sunday’s final at the MCG.

The fate of the men’s T20 World Cup in Australia, slated for later this year, could yet come down to the likely absence of crowds rather than the challenge of getting teams into the country.The shape of the 2020-21 season in Australia remains in significant doubt, but there have been a few positive indications in recent days that the scheduled cricket may yet be able to take place with Australia being one of the countries managing to effectively tackle the Covid-19 pandemic.The strongest indications revolve around the visit by India – the cancellation of which could cost Cricket Australia A$300 million [US$192 million approx.] – but there also remains a chance of the T20 World Cup still happening. At its recent meetings, the ICC said that preparations were still on for the 16-team tournament due to start on October 18 with a final decision not expected to be taken until August.Discussions continue between CA and the federal government about what needs to be put in place for international cricket to take place later in the year, and on Friday the Australian Institute of Sport published a framework for the return of sport at all levels in the country.While a bilateral series has huge logistical and bio-security challenges to overcome in the current climate – the first indication of how they are tackled could come in the English season – they are multiplied many times over for a 16-team world event, some from countries severely hit by the pandemic. However, the Australian government sports minister, Richard Colbeck, believes a solution could be possible, meaning a decision would need to be made about the value of a global event behind closed doors.”I’d love to see an Australia-India Test series this summer and I’d really like to be able to see the World Cup go ahead, but that will be quite a complex protocol to bring that number of countries in from around the world,” Colbeck told SEN Radio. “The issue [for the World Cup] is not so much the teams as the crowds and that’s probably one of the hurdles we really have to consider and probably one that world cricket will look at pretty closely as well.”We all know the difference in atmosphere when you see a filled stadium verses one that’s empty… they will be some of the broader considerations, but in a team sense I’d like to think that we can build some protocols with the cooperation of the sport and the players, that’s going to be extremely important, with appropriate quarantine and bio-security protocols to see if we can make the competition go ahead.”In one of the first signs in sport that the overall situation is improving in Australia, the Warriors rugby team from New Zealand arrived in Tamworth, New South Wales, on Sunday to prepare for the resumption of the NRL later this month. However, New Zealand has also had significant success tackling Covid-19, to the extent that the country recorded zero new cases on Monday. Expanding travel exemptions to a wider spread of nations would need to be a careful process.”Those conversations are being had, discussions about what the protocols might look like,” Colbeck said. “They will be difficult because one of the things that has been a key part of our success is that we limited access to Australia from areas where there were significant outbreaks of Covid-19 and that’s contributed to the low rate of spread we have now. But we would have to be prepared to consider appropriate plans put forward by the various codes.”Asked more broadly about crowds returning to sports events when social-distancing regulations are eased, Colbeck said it was hugely reliant on being able to trace possible cases. “Our capacity to be able to open up sport to crowds and all those sorts of things is going to be really dependent on our capacity to track and trace then quarantine community spread.”Australia and New Zealand played an ODI behind closed doors at the SCG in March shortly before restrictions were ramped up. Players have spoken about how it was a strange experience, but are confident that it would not detract from the spectacle if it meant a chance to resume the sport.”If this is the case and we have to play behind closed doors, the more and more that happens we’ll get more used to it and understand it,” Marnus Labuschagne said. “I don’t think it takes anything away from the actual game. For us it’s just about being ready and making sure that we’re ready to make any sacrifices that we can to get cricket back on TV and cricketers back out there playing.”