Cricket news round-up – August 10: BCCI to come under NADA

BCCI agreed to come under NADA. The final unofficial Test between India A and West Indies A ended in a draw. Cricket South Africa announced interim team director for South Africa’s tour to India.

BCCI to come under NADA Ambit

After years of disagreement finally, the BCCI has announced to come under the ambit of the National Anti Doping Agency (NADA).

BCCI top bosses like chief executive Rahul Johri and general manager (cricket operations) Saba Karim met sports secretary Radheshyam Jhulaniya and NADA director general Navin Agarwal in New Delhi on Friday and came up with the announcement after that. This was an after effect of the letter from the ministry of sports which was sent to the BCCI post the findings on Prithvi Shaw which resulted in his backdated suspension for eight months.

BCCI earlier was against NADA but finally agrees after raising a few concerns around the pathologists and tools being used for the sample collections. NADA has assured that all the required facilities will be provided to the BCCI with some extra charges which will be managed by the board.

Third unofficial test ends in a draw

Opener Jeremy Solozano batted patiently for 92 runs as the final unofficial test match between India A and West Indies A ended in a draw. The hosts required 336 runs on the final day but could only score 277 runs for six wickets. Along with Solozano, Brandon King and Sunil Ambrish also scored fifties.

For India A, Shahbaz Nadeem was impressive again and picked five wickets for 103 runs. Apart from Nadeem, the other key performers for India A in this match were Wriddhiman Saha(62 in the first innings), Krishnappa Gowtham (6/67, first innings), Shubman Gill (204*, second innings) and Hanuma Vihari (118*, second innings).

As a result of the draw, the series ended in a 2-0 win for the visitors.

Interim Team Director announced for South Africa

On Friday Cricket South Africa came up with a revamped management structure and identified former Lions and Gauteng’s batsman Enoch Nkwe as the interim Team Director for the upcoming T20 and test series in India. This position is a combination of a head coach and some team management responsibility. Nkwe will also select the rest of his coaching staff for the tour of India consisting of three T20Is and three tests.

Corrie Van Zyl, the acting director of cricket expressed his pleasure and called Nkwe’s appointment a result of his merit and balanced approach. Nkwe mentioned, “It is a tremendous honour and privilege to lead the Standard Bank Proteas” He also expressed his excitement and hoped for a positive result in the tour of India.

Vitality Blast

Gloucestershire, Durham, Nottinghamshire, Somerset, and Sussex won their respective Vitality Blast matches on Friday. Babar Azam was one of the key performers, whose 102 took Somerset to a 200 plus total and gave an easy win against Hampshire. Other players who contributed significantly were Ollie Robinson of Sussex (4/15 against Middlesex), D’Arcy Short for Durham (68 off 48 against Derbyshire) and Luke Wood for Nottinghamshire (3 for 24 against Birmingham). Sam Curran also played brilliantly for 51 off 35 balls in a losing cause against Gloucestershire.