All venues except MCG to be sold to 100% capacity this summer: Cricket Australia

With a fifer for Lancashire, James Anderson reaches record 1,000 First-class wickets

England pacer James Anderson reached the iconic milestone of 1,000 wickets in First-class cricket after he picked up a five-wicket haul inside the first hour of play in the ongoing County Championship fixture against Kent. The Lancashire bowler was only five wickets away from the landmark before the contest and reached there with the wicket of Heino Kuhn. Lancashire made a mess of the Kent batting order at Old Trafford and Anderson reached the milestone bowling from the end named after himself. Before this game, Anderson had 995 wickets to his name from 261 First-class games at an astounding average of 24.85 runs per wicket and a 52.30 strike rate. With this, his 51st first-class five-wicket haul, Anderson became only the 14th player and fifth fast bowler to reach the 1000 wicket landmark in this century. Prior to him, other fast bowlers such as Andy Caddick (in 2005), Martin Bicknell (in 2004), Devon Malcolm (in 2002) and Wasim Akram (in 2001) have achieved this feat. Anderson, however, is the only fast bowler to take 1000 first-class wickets after debuting in the 21st century. Anderson has been a champion bowler and is now the leading wicket-taker among pacers at the international level. He sits comfortably at the top with 617 Test wickets at an average of 26.67 runs per wicket. The 38-year-old made his first-class debut in the year 2002 and Test debut in the following year against Zimbabwe at Lord’s. He has also become the most-capped player from England in the just-concluded Test series against New Zealand by surpassing former skipper Alastair Cook.

Moeen Ali backs Ollie Robinson after ban for historic tweets, commends ECB for 'good' punishment

England all-rounder Moeen Ali has thrown his support behind the beleaguered pacer Ollie Robinson, who has faced a ban after his historic ‘racist and sexist’ tweets resurfaced online. Ali said that Robinson has always been a nice guy and he has paid for his mistake in the form of ban and that he should be allowed to move on in life and career. "Of course I would welcome him back. I have only known him for a short period but he seems a very nice guy and I get on really well with him. I am sure he has learnt from his mistakes. He has done his time in terms of the ban. I think everybody makes mistakes - you forgive, forget, carry on with life and try and move on,” Moeen Ali said. However, he did not criticise the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) for banning him and said that the decision was a sufficient and right response from the board. "I thought the ECB did the right thing pulling him out of the Test series and I think [the punishment is sufficient], that the right thing has been done. Regardless of the length of the punishment, the fact there was punishment was good,” Ali added. He expected players coming throught the ranks to take Robinson’s case as a reference and be responsible in what messages they send on social media. "It's all about looking forward now and how you can't get away with these kinds of things, that things need to change and people need to change. Even as a young player coming through the county circuit, you have to be careful with things you tweet. There are loads of things that will come out of this and hopefully for the good in the future,” Ali added. Robinson made an impressive debut against New Zealand at Lord’s before he was banned by the ECB. The ban has now been lifted and the pacer from Sussex can come back into the England side starting the series against India.

I didn’t watch it much: Tim Paine disappointed after missing out WTC Final due to slow over-rate

Australian Test skipper Tim Paine said that he couldn’t watch the World Test Championship Final because he felt dirty, unable to qualify for the finals because of points deducted due to slow over-rate. “I didn’t watch too much of it. I watched the last day. I turned it on excited to watch the first day. I thought I was excited, and then got a bit dirty and didn’t watch it,” Paine was quoted as saying to the Sydney Morning Herald. The Tasmania born said that he was ‘Bitterly disappointed’ at the points deduction mostly because the Aussies pride themselves on doing things right. “We’ve always got things in place to try to help out with that, but unfortunately, it doesn’t always work,” Paine said. The 36-year-old was not happy with the fact that his team were docked points for slow over rates while it happens in almost all Tets and yet his were the only team that paid the price. “We were behind on our overs, and that’s what it is. My thing is just with the consistency. I haven’t played in too many days where the full overs have been bowled,” Paine complained. “It’s a bitter pill to swallow when you’re the only team that’s been docked points and you see it happen Test match after Test match, after Test match,” he added. Although South Africa too were docked six points for a slow over-rate against England.

Our bowlers experienced enough to utilise UAE conditions better: Waqar Younis on T20 World Cup

Pakistan bowling coach Waqar Younis feels that with a lot of matches played in UAE by his team, the bowlers are equipped well with experience to dow ell in the upcoming T20 World Cup, which is scheduled to take place in UAE. “Fortunately, we have played a lot of cricket in UAE and our bowlers have a good idea that how and where to bowl in those conditions,” Younis said in a virtual press conference from Derby, England, where the Pakistani team is currently practising for their limited-overs series against the hosts. The 49-year-old further went on to say that his main concern is to see that the team is kept above individual performances. “We don't look into players ranking, our only concern is team performance. If the team performs well players ranking will automatically improve,” he said. Due to incessant rains in most parts of England and Wales, the Pakistan team hasn’t ideal practice situations. However, former Pakistan skipper Younis believes that such is the climate of England that his team mustn’t complain. “We are not getting ideal weather since the last couple of days but this is usual in England. Our bowlers are responding well in these conditions even though they had come from different conditions of UAE,” said the coach. Calling PSL star bowler Shahnawaz Dahani a ‘talented guy’, Waqar assured that the Larkana born could do better if imparted with the right coaching and given more exposure. “He can do better and we will try to utilise him as much as we can,” he added.