77
Daily Mail, Tuesday, July 30, 2019
AUSTRALIA’S disgraced trio of David
Warner, Steve Smith and Cameron
Bancroft warm up for the Ashes
with some slip-catching practice at
Edgbaston. Warner (left) and Smith
(centre and batting, right) served
one-year bans for ball-tampering
against South Africa, while Bancroft
was suspended for nine months. And
don’t worry, that strapping on their
hands is to protect their fingers —
not somewhere to hide sandpaper.SAVE OUR STARS
Giles wants to rest players to stop burn-out
THE ASHES 2 DAYS TO GO 77
THE BANNED
ARE BACK
TOGETHER!
Your guide to
the World Test
Championship
THE ICC’s latest initiative is
a Test league between the
nine top-ranked nations,
contested over two-year
cycles, beginning with this
Ashes series. The two teams
with the most points at the
end of the cycle will contest
the final, probably at Lord’s.WHY DO WE NEED IT?
The idea is to give additional
context to the five-day
format. Teams will have
something to play for beyond
series results, because all
Tests will affect the standings.
HOW DOES IT WORK?
Every team will take part in
three series home and away
— all teams do not play each
other — with each
comprising two to five Tests.
A maximum of 120 points
are up for grabs to each
team in a series, with the
points allocated for a win or
draw depending on the
number of matches in the
series. For example, in a
two-match series, a Test
victory earns 60 points and a
draw 20. In a five-match
series, it’s 24 points for a win,
eight for a draw.
HANG ON, WHAT IF THE
FINAL ENDS IN A DRAW?
The team who topped the
table heading into the final
will be crowned champions.ANYTHING ELSE?
Confusingly, not all series
count towards the standings,
including England’s tour of
New Zealand this November.A
shley Giles has
warned england will have
to rest players, or risk
losing them to franchise
cricket and burn-out.
england’s team director believes the
launch of the World Test Championship,
beginning with the biggest series of them
all this week, will protect the ultimate form
of the game.
But the 2005 Ashes hero concedes there
is little he can do to ease a schedule that
saw england’s World Cup winners rushed
with unseemly haste into last week’s inau-
gural Test against ireland and now face
Test cricket’s toughest series, the Ashes.
‘it’s a good idea,’ said Giles of this
attempt at context for Test series. ‘None ofus really knows what the landscape will
look like in 10 years, but we do know Test
cricket is under more and more pressure.
‘To the guys who play it, it’s still the
most important thing and we’re seeing
people like Jos Buttler and Jofra Archer
desperate to be involved in Test cricket.
That’s a good thing and we have to make
sure that remains the case.’
The problem is that something must give
in a calendar jam-packed with cricket at a
time when england bosses have conceded
they can do little to stop the best players
from cashing in on the indian Premier
league and other Twenty20 leagues.‘There are other pressures,’ said Giles,
back on his old ground, edgbaston.
‘There’s money and TV and the better
cricket gets, the more people want to
watch it, so we’ve got to play. We also have
more home cricket than any other nation.
‘it’s a tricky balance and puts more focus
on how we care for players and make sure
we don’t get burn-out.
‘Against ireland, we did rest a couple
because they play in the iPl. it’s a very
different environment now and we have to
be flexible or we’re going to lose them.’
Giles hinted top players could be rested
for the autumn tour of New Zealand, which
will not count towards the Test Champion-
ship as it was arranged before the fixture
list was drawn up. in that series england
will almost certainly be led by acaretaker coach, before the appointment
of a successor to Trevor Bayliss. Bowling
coach Chris silverwood is the hot favourite
for an interim role at the top.
‘i’ve already had conversations with
possible successors to Trevor but it’s been
very relaxed over a coffee or on the phone,’
said Giles. ‘it’s important to have less
noise and chatter around the head coach
position now, even if it means someone
babysitting in New Zealand.
‘i think Trevor’s done, and i mean that
in the best possible way. he may seem
horizontal from the outside but he cares a
lot and he’s had sleepless nights this
summer. he’s a good guy and he has done
things the right way. hopefully he can hand
over after winning the World Cup and the
Ashes. That would be unprecedented.’By PAUL NEWMAN
Cricket Correspondent at EdgbastonFIRST TEST hopeful Marnus
Labuschagne has already been
involved in one Ashes dismissal
before even stepping into Test
cricket’s fiercest rivalry.
Labuschagne, the County
Championship’s most prolific
batsman in 2019, is hoping to
face Stuart Broad at Edgbaston
later this week nine years after
being one of the technology
team who confirmed his
dismissal by Peter Siddle in the
opening match of 2010-11.
Broad arrived at the crease to
a cacophony of noise, after
Siddle had claimed two
wickets in as many balls, and
made the decision to review
after being given out lbw
first ball. The 25-year-oldQueensland batsman said:
‘I was working for Channel 9 in- They employed me as the
kid to move the Hot Spot
camera from end to end.
‘The camera was on Stuart
Broad as that inswinger came
in and hit him on the toe.
Luckily I was filming in the right
spot because during the day I
did miss a few. That was the
hat-trick. That was one of my
first moments at the ground
watching an awesome Ashes
moment. At that time the
dream was getting paid $90 a
day to move a camera and
watch Test cricket. It’s
awesome to be in the position
I’m in now as part of the squad.’
QUICK
SINGLES
ASHES DIGEST
LABUSCHAGNE REVEALS HE IS
NO STRANGER TO ASHES DRAMA
l
BEN STOKES has revealed his
pride after being reinstated
as England’s Test vice-captain.
Stokes was stripped of the role
in 2017 following a late-night
brawl in Bristol but has been
restored as Joe Root’s deputy
ahead of Thursday’s first Test.
‘I love having that responsibility
and it is something that I
thoroughly enjoy doing,’ said
the 28-year-old. ‘I take pride in
being vice-captain. Being part of
that think tank is pretty cool.
‘I am very good friends with Joe
and, as much as I can do to help
him through his career, I am
really looking forward to that.’l
GLENN McGRATH is in
typically bullish mood
ahead of the Ashes. The
legendary Aussie paceman
said that he would relish the
prospect of bowling at
England’s top three.
‘How would I feel preparing to
bowl at an England top three
that is far from solid? Quietly
confident,’ McGrath told the
BBC. ‘England’s recent
batting in Test cricket hasn’t
been great. Joe Root is a
quality player at number four,
but those coming in ahead of
him haven’t been settled for
some time. I’d be champing
at the bit.’l
JOSH HAZLEWOOD believes Australia are well stocked in the
bowling department. In their 4-0 Ashes win of 2017-18, 87 wickets
were shared by Hazlewood, Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins and Nathan
Lyon. But with five Tests in 47 days, Hazlewood expects a wider spread
between himself and fellow seamers Starc, Cummins, James
Pattinson, Peter Siddle and Michael Neser. ‘It’s such a tight schedule,’
RICHARD GIBSON he said. ‘To have six options is great and I am happy to rotate.’SCOREBOARD PRESSURE
JUST in case the Aussies had put
their World Cup semi-final
defeat by England behind them,
the Edgbaston groundstaff put
up a helpful reminder on the
scoreboard while they trained
yesterday.