Warner, Bancroft to return to competitive cricket

Warner, Bancroft to return to competitive cricket



Former Australian captain Steve Smith, who was also suspended over the tampering incident, is set to make his return at an inaugural Global T20 Canada event in Toronto from June 28-July 15. PHOTO: AFP



SYDNEY:Disgraced Australian stars David Warner and Cameron Bancroft will return to competitive cricket at a low-level limited-overs tournament in the country’s tropical north in July, it was announced on Tuesday.

Warner is serving a year-long ban from state and international cricket and Bancroft a nine-month suspension over a ball-tampering scandal in South Africa in March that rocked the game.

But they are allowed to appear at club level in Australia and in domestic tournaments abroad.
As they work to rebuild their careers, the duo will feature in the NT Strike League in Darwin, a month-long Twenty20 and one-day event that features four franchises — Desert Blaze, City Cyclones, Northern Tide and Southern Storm.


Bancroft is available for the entire tournament with Warner committing to two one-dayers on July 21 and 22.

“We’re delighted that Cameron and David will be joining us in Darwin for the Strike League,” said Northern Territory Cricket chief Joel Morrison in a statement. “Their presence and experience will be invaluable for our local players.”

Warner, who is also set to play for his Sydney club side Randwick Petersham from September, spent time running cricket clinics last month in Darwin.


He said he was keen to be part of a league that is designed to give emerging players experience against interstate and international talent.


“I’m really looking forward to playing in the Strike League in July,” he said. “I heard so much about the competition while I was in Darwin earlier this month that I’m keen to be part of it.”

Former Australian captain Steve Smith, who was also suspended over the tampering incident, is set to make his return at an inaugural Global T20 Canada event in Toronto from June 28-July 15.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Diminutive Modric stands as a giant among men

Image
Diminutive Modric stands as a giant among men MODRICI:The burned-out shell of a remote cottage bears testimony to the trauma that Luka Modric lived through long before he became a Croatian national hero and Real Madrid star. Hidden in the folds of Velebit mountain, with the nearest neighbours several kilometres away, trees now grow inside the roofless ruin where Modric spent part of his childhood and a sign warns of “Mines – Keep out!” The player’s grandfather, also named Luka, lived in the house, lying on a mountain road winding through the Modrici hamlet. Modric, born in 1985, spent his early years there and in the nearby village of Zaton Obrovacki until Croatia’s 1990s independence war broke out. His grandfather was killed by Serb forces, the house was burned and the family fled to the coastal town of Zadar, some 40 kilometres away. “I heard about a little hyperactive boy constantly playing with a football in the corridor of a refugee hotel, ev...
Read more

Long, expensive flights await World Cup fans

Image
Long, expensive flights await World Cup fans LONDON: England fans can expect to rack up the air miles and take a major hit to their bank balances to follow their side at the World Cup, but spare a thought for the most ardent of Uruguay supporters, who must make the longest trip for their opener. England have been drawn in Group G of the June-July tournament in Russia and will play in Volgograd (v Tunisia) on June 18, Nizhny Novgorod (v Panama) on June 24 and finally Kaliningrad (v Belgium) on June 28, before fans can even consider a Round of 16 encounter in either Moscow or Rostov. According to research carried out by Virgin Media and the Football Supporters’ Federation (FSF), England fans could end up spending £5,000 and travelling more than 3,400 miles (5,472 km) by air to watch the group fixtures. That would make a total flight time of about 12 hours and 15 minutes, ranking them 22nd among the 32 teams in Russia. Uruguay fans will, however, spend 25 ...
Read more

Cricket still appeals to young people, insists ICC chief

Image
Cricket still appeals to young people, insists ICC chief LONDON:England’s top cricket administrator may feel young people no longer care about cricket, but the man running the sport’s global governing body is adamant youth interest is rising worldwide. And David Richardson, the chief executive of the International Cricket Council, added that next year’s World Cup in England and Wales represents a brilliant opportunity to prove the doubters wrong. Colin Graves, the England and Wales Cricket Board chairman, sparked controversy with his recent comment that young people “are just not attracted to cricket”. It appeared he was trying to justify the proposed introduction of a new 100-ball format into the English game in 2020. But many cricket lovers were aghast at Graves’s seeming lack of faith in his own sport, while others were equally dismayed by what they saw as a slap in the face for various youth cricket initiatives, including those of the ECB itself. ...
Read more