News Analysis India

Tag: Christchurch

  • Hosts New Zealand to kick off 2022 Women’s ODI World Cup on March 4

    Hosts New Zealand will kick off the 2022 Women’s ODI World Cup on March 4 against one of the qualifying sides in Tauranga, as eight of the best teams in women’s cricket will battle over 31 matches in 31 days across six cities.

    Defending champions England will start their campaign with a high-profile meeting against Australia on March 5 in Hamilton. And 2017 runners-up India will hope to go one better as they, too, start off by facing the qualifying side on March 6.

    While New Zealand, Australia, England, South Africa and India have qualified, three qualifying sides will come from a tournament to take place in Sri Lanka between June 26 and July 10, 2021. As to the format of the World Cup itself, all eight teams will play against each other once and the top four will go through to the semi-finals.

    Wellington will host the first semi-final on March 30 and Christchurch will host the second semi-final and the final on March 31 and April 3. All three games will have a reserve day. Auckland and Dunedin are the remaining two of the six venues which were retained from the original schedule of 2021.

    Auckland will also host the massive double-header weekend with India taking on Australia on March 19, and New Zealand facing England the following day. An ICC release confirmed all matches will be broadcast live to a “huge global audience”.

    The Hagley Oval has only recently been upgraded with floodlights and New Zealand veteran Amy Satterthwaite is eager to see how her home ground will look come game time.

  • Pakistan team denied NZ training rights after positive tests

    The Pakistan cricket team has been denied the right to train while in managed isolation in New Zealand after eight members of the touring squad tested positive for COVID-19.

    Under exemptions granted to visiting sports teams, members of the 53-strong Pakistan team could have been allowed to leave their Christchurch hotel to train in small groups after the third day of their 14-day isolation period.

    But the positive tests and a breach of isolation protocols by team members on their first day in isolation has led New Zealand authorities to withhold the training exemption. Dr. Ashley Bloomfield, New Zealand’s director-general of health, confirmed Friday the exemption would not be granted.

    “I have very carefully considered this situation,” Bloomfield said. “At this time, I continue to have ongoing concerns about the risk of cross-infection within the squad. There have been a number of active cases identified among the team. Public health considerations will continue to be foremost in our response to COVID-19, whether this involves individuals or teams.

    “We appreciate the challenges that this decision will have for the touring team.” The decision is a major setback for the Pakistan team which will begin a three-match Twenty20 series against New Zealand on Dec. 18 and a two-match test series on Dec. 26.

  • Six Pakistani cricketers touring New Zealand test COVID positive

    Six members of the Pakistan cricket team on a tour of New Zealand have tested positive for COVID-19, the country’s cricket board said on Thursday, throwing preparations for the five-match series into turmoil and causing a scare in a country that has largely eradicated the virus.

    The squad’s “exemption to train while in managed isolation has been put on hold until investigations have been completed”, the governing body said, adding that the six positive players would be moved into quarantine.

    New Zealand’s ministry of health said 53 team members passed a symptom check before leaving Lahore and were tested on arrival in Christchurch on November 24. Six of those results have come back positive, although two of the six cases are believed to be “historical”.

    New Zealand’s health ministry said the players will now “be tested a minimum of four times while in managed isolation” and the entire squad would be confined to their rooms.

    The ministry also revealed that “several team members have been seen on CCTV at the facility breaching managed isolation rules, despite clear, consistent and detailed communication of expected behaviours”.

  • Six players of Pakistan team arrived on New Zealand tour, Corona positive

    Six members of the Pakistani cricket team who arrived in New Zealand have been found positive in the Corona virus test, which have been kept in isolation in Christchurch. The New Zealand Cricket Board itself has given information about this. Out of these six results, two are considered old, while four have been confirmed as new. Simultaneously, the relaxation of practice given to Pakistan during isolation has also been banned.

    New Zealand Cricket issued a statement saying, “Out of these six players, the symptoms found inside two players were already present, while four players have recently been hit by the virus. The Pakistan team has been put on hold till the completion of the investigation on the relaxation of practice received during isolation. It is very disappointing for the Pakistan cricket team that the players of their team have been found positive in the Corona Test. Earlier, the test results of all the members of the Pakistan team had come negative four times before leaving from Lahore.

    Before leaving for New Zealand, team batsman Fakhar Zaman also had symptoms of corona, due to which he was dropped from the tour of New Zealand. However, the names of these six players have not been given yet. Along with this, New Zealand Cricket also informed that some members of Pakistan team have violated the isolation protocol.

  • Pujara can become six thousand in Australia

    Cheteshwar, the most trusted batsman in the current Indian Test team, can become six thousand against Australia in the four-Test series starting in Adelaide from 17 December. Pujara, 32, has scored 5840 runs in 77 Tests at an average of 48.66 which includes 18 centuries and 25 half-centuries. He needs only 160 runs to complete six thousand runs in Test cricket. Pujara, better known as Mr. Trusty, played his last Test in Christchurch against New Zealand in February-March this year. After this, he remained out of the cricket field due to Corona for more than eight months.

    He was not part of any team in the IPL in the UAE and reached Dubai in the last leg of the IPL so that after the end of the tournament, he could go straight to Australia with the remaining players. Former Australian fast bowler Glenn McGrath says that Pujara has been out of the field for a long time so this time he may have to struggle to score runs on Australian pitches. Pujara was the most successful in the previous Australian tour of 2018-19 and played an important role in winning the series 2–1 to India.

    In the last tour, Pujara scored 521 runs in four Tests with the help of three centuries and a half-century, which was the highest among the players of both teams. After him, Rishabh Pant, who was second, had 350 runs and captain Virat Kohli had 282 runs. These figures can be gauged by how dependent the Indian team is on Pujara in terms of batting. Although Pujara has expressed confidence that he has been out of the ground, but he will return to his rhythm from practice before the series.

    Pujara will have more responsibility during this series as captain Virat will return home after playing the first Test in Adelaide. If Pujara achieves this feat, he will become the 11th Indian to score 6000 runs in Test cricket. This time ahead of them, Gundappa Vishwanath (6080), Mohammad Azharuddin (6215), Dilip Vengsarkar (6868), Saurabh Ganguly (7212), Virat Kohli (7240), Virender Sehwag (8503), VVS Laxman (8781), Sunil Gavaskar (10122) ), Rahul Dravid (13265) and Sachin Tendulkar (15921).