Cricket news round-up – 31 July: Shaw suspended, Rao retires

Prithvi Shaw has been suspended for a doping violation, Justin Langer has hinted at Australia’s team combination for the first Ashes Test, and Venugopal Rao has retired from all forms of international cricket.

Shaw suspended for doping violation

Prithvi Shaw has been handed a suspension by BCCI till November 15, 2019, for doping violation as he “inadvertently ingested a prohibited substance, which can be commonly found in cough syrups.”, as per a BCCI release.

Shaw, the youngest debut centurion for India in Tests is currently out of the team with a hip injury. He will also miss the home tests against South Africa and Bangladesh. The suspension time period starts from March 15 as the findings were made from the urine sample provided by Shaw after the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy match against Punjab on February 22 in Indore.

The banned substance is Terbutaline which is part of the WADA Prohibited List of Substances. Two more players, Vidarbha’s Akshay Dullarwar and Rajasthan’s Divya Gajraj are also part of the suspension listed for doping violations. The duo also “inadvertently ingested a prohibited substance” for treatment of an infection and an eye injury respectively.

Langer hints at Australia’s team combinations

Australian coach Justin Langer has confirmed that the Australian bowling attack for the first Ashes starting on August 1 will be led by Pat Cummins and James Pattinson. This will be a great comeback for Pattinson after close to three and a half years in the national team. But his recent form along with Cummins’ performance for Australia in the last twelve months made them sure starter for the first test at Edgbaston. Peter Siddle, thanks to his experience in English conditions is ahead in the race for third seamer’s spot which puts Australia’s long standing new ball pair Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood out of contention for a first eleven spot.

Langer has also announced that Usman Khawaja is fit and will be part of the eleven to bat at number three. Although both David Warner and Steve Smith are expected to be back, Langer has kept the people curious about the opening spot. “The opening partnership’s going to be really tough, between Cameron and Marcus Harris, really hard. They’ve both got a really strong case.”

Changes to the ICC Elite umpires panel

ICC announced few changes in the list of ICC’s Elite Panel of umpires for 2019-20. A selection committee consisting of Geoff Allardice, ICC general manager (cricket), commentator and former India batsman Sanjay Manjrekar and ICC match referees Ranjan Madugalle and David Boon made the decisions.

Indian umpire S Ravi and England’s retired umpire Ian Gould are not in the list anymore. These two positions are filled in by England’s Michael Gough and West Indies’ Joel Wilson. Both the umpires are promoted from the ICC’s international panel of umpires. There is no change in ICC’s Elite panel of match referees.

ICC Elite Panel of Match referees: David Boon, Chris Broad, Jeff Crowe, Ranjan Madugalle, Andy Pycroft, Richie Richardson and Javagal Srinath

ICC Elite Panel of Umpires: Aleem Dar, Kumar Dharmasena, Marais Erasmus, Chris Gaffaney, Richard Illingworth, Richard Kettleborough, Nigel Llong, Bruce Oxenford, Paul Reiffel, Rod Tucker, Michael Gough, and Joel Wilson.

Venugopal Rao retires from all forms of cricket

Ex Indian batsman Venugopal Rao announced his retirement from the game at the age of 37. The middle order batsman played 16 ODIs during 2005-2006 scoring only one half-century.

In The Ranji Trophy, he played for Andhra Pradesh from 1998-99 season and led them before shifting to Gujarat in 2012. In 2004, playing for South Zone against England-A, Rao scored a brilliant 228 which helped his team to chase down 501 runs in the fourth innings, fifth highest successful chase in first-class cricket. This innings brought Rao into prominence and an India opportunity came next year and he made his debut against Sri Lanka.

Rao also played 65 IPL matches for Deccan Chargers, Delhi Daredevils, and Sunrisers Hyderabad and was part of the 2009 title winnings Charger’s squad.

Kent won thanks to Nabi’s Blast

Mohammad Nabi scored a whirlwind 12-ball 43 to take Kent to a comfortable victory against Surrey in the Vitality Blast match on Tuesday. In a rain-affected match, the overs were reduced to 13-overs per side at first and later to seven-overs per side. Surrey posted 54/4 in their seven overs led by Aaron Finch’s 20-ball 36. Kent lost their first wicket on the last ball of their first over as Daniel Bell-Drummond was given LBW to Imran Tahir. This brought Nabi at the crease and his 12 ball innings that included five sixes and two boundaries completed the chase in four overs. This win kept Kent at top of the table in the South Group with four wins.