Heatwave stops India’s warm-up

A heatwave in the United Kingdom has forced India’s national cricket team to reduce their scheduled warm-up match ahead of their upcoming five-match test series against England.

India were due to play Essex in a four-day warm-up match on Thursday but the fixture has now been trimmed to just three days. One of the major factors behind the decision to shorten the match was the current heatwave in the UK, with temperatures in London expected to soar above 30 degrees throughout the week.

Essex Cricket and the England and Wales Cricket Board issued a joint statement, which said “at the request of the BCCI management team, that the scheduled tourist match between Essex and India will now be played over three days.” The first test begins at Edgbaston on August 1. League.

It’s understood Smith will join the Barbados Tridents as a replacement player for the six-week long Twenty20 tournament. The agreement needs to be ratified by the CPL’s tournament committee but that is expected to be a formality.

The league will be the second he is to play in since being handed a 12-month ban by Cricket Australia for his part in the ball tampering scandal in South Africa.

The superstar batsman donated his playing fee from his comeback event the Global T20 Canada League, in which the highest paid players could command fees around $100,000, to grassroots cricket programmes in Australia and Canada.

Also playing for the Tridents is South African batting great Hashim Amla, who was in the Proteas XI in the controversial Newlands test.

Smith will again lock horns with his former vice-captain David Warner, who last month signed with St Lucia Stars as a late replacement for compatriot D’Arcy Short. Short was named in the Australia A squad for a tour of India.

The 29-year-old’s participation in the event should not impact his availability for grade club Sutherland in Sydney’s Premier Cricket competition, which starts the weekend after the CPL final.