Dutchman Jakobsen wins Challenge of Stars sprint
(Reuters) - Dutchman Fabio Jakobsen claimed victory in a virtual sprint competition, The Challenge of Stars series, yesterday.
Jakobsen, who rides for the Deceuninck-Quick Step team, got the better of Team Ineos’s Italian speedster Filippo Ganna in the final, ridden on a virtual 1.2km course in Tuscany. Both had come through a series of head-to-head rides to reach the final.
The Challenge of Stars is the first virtual knockout tournament between professional riders organised by RCS Sport in collaboration with cycling simulator firm BKOOL.
“It’s fun to have a new format of race like this, I clearly miss the Giro d’Italia right now but have to admit I was a bit nervous approaching each of the challenges,” Jakobsen said.
Ganna said he had “a mechanical” which damaged his chances of taking victory. “This format with short explosive sprints suits my characteristics well, I have to admit it hurts even if it’s just 1,200m,” he said. “It’s clearly different from racing outside; in a normal race you know better what is happening around you, here you need to constantly check your screen.”
Professional cycling has been on hold since March because of the coronavirus pandemic which has forced the postponement of some of the sport’s most high-profile races, including the Giro d’Italia that was supposed to have started on May 9.
Virtual racing has proved some consolation for the world’s best riders and on Sunday climbers will get their chance in the next leg of The Challenge of Stars.
Chris Froome, Team Ineos’s four-time
Tour de France champion, will be taking part in the race played out on a virtual ascent of the classic Stelvio climb, with an average gradient of 8.69%, peaking at 12.75%.
Froome will be up against Warren Barguil. Other riders include multiple Grand Tour winner Vincenzo Nibali of Italy, Denmark’s Olympic silver medallist Jakob Fuglsang, Poland’s Rafał Majka and Belgian Thomas De Gendt.
Chris Froome
snatched three wickets in his only over – the final one of the innings.
In reply, Ambris managed only five but Breakers recovered from 22 for four in the fourth over to scramble over the line.
The tournament is the first set of competitive cricket to be played anywhere in the world since the outbreak of the deadly COVID-19 pandemic forced a halt to the sport globally.
It was given the green light by health authorities here but is being played behind closed doors at the Arnos Vale Stadium, with novel social distancing and sanitisation measures being employed by players, officials and staff.
St Vincent recorded 18 cases of COVID-19 which has seen over five million infections and 340 000 deaths globally. (BBC) Pace bowler Chris Woakes says he would be happy to see Alex Hales return to the England side.
Batsman Hales has not played for England since being removed from the World Cup squad in May 2019 for an “off-field incident”, reportedly failing a drugs test.
“We all try to pull in the right direction,” said Woakes.
“If Alex is willing to do that then I imagine everyone would be happy to see him back playing for England.”
Cricket is set to return from the coronavirus shutdown in July, and England will next week name an enlarged group of about 30 players who will resume training with a view to playing Test and limited-overs matches.
With a revamped schedule likely to be congested, necessitating separation between the Test and limitedovers squads, England could call on 31-year-old Hales, who averages almost 38 in 70 one-day internationals.
When Hales was dropped, captain Eoin Morgan said it was because of a “complete breakdown in trust” and that the rest of the squad supported
MUMBAI, (Reuters) - Bowlers looking at resuming test cricket after the novel coronavirus lockdown will require two to three months of preparation to avoid injuring themselves, the International Cricket Council (ICC) has said.
Cricket, like other global sports, has been suspended since March due to the COVID-19 pandemic but some countries are plotting guidelines for the return of the game as governments start easing lockdown restrictions.
England players returned to individual skill-based training this week with the country hoping to begin their delayed summer of cricket with a test series against West Indies in July.
Alex Hales
the decision.
In February, Morgan said it would take a “considerable amount of time” to regain that trust.
Woakes, 31, said: “He’s gone through a tough time, being left out of the World Cup. Going on to see that team lift the trophy must have been difficult for him.
“If people have gone away for a time and worked on their weaknesses, they should be allowed a second chance.”
Hales’ highest score of 171 was
Pakistan are scheduled to tour England to play three tests in August followed by an equal number of Twenty20 Internationals, with the matches taking place behind closed doors as part of measures to combat COVID-19.
“Bowlers are at a particularly high risk of injury on return to play after a period of enforced time-out,” the world governing body ICC said in its back-to-cricket guidelines released late on Friday.
The ICC advised teams to use larger squads and exercise caution over bowlers’ workloads, saying test cricket would require a minimum of eight to 12 week preparation with the final four-five weeks involving match intensity bowling. once the England record, and he was the second highest run-scorer in last winter’s edition of the Big Bash League, Australia’s domestic Twenty20 competition.
“Alex is as a world-class player,” said Woakes. “I don’t 100% know what will happen, but I’d be happy to see Alex back in England colours.”
Woakes, 31, was among the England bowlers who returned to training on Thursday, at his home ground of Edgbaston.
As part of the protocols put in place by the England and Wales Cricket Board, Woakes was required to take his own temperature, enter information into an app, arrive at the ground in his training kit and wash his hands before the session began.
He has also been given his own set of six cricket balls that no-one else will touch.
“It’s my job, so it was nice to have some form of normality by going back to training,” he said.
“It’s been two months since I last bowled, and I was a little sore this morning. The first waddle to the toilet was a bit interesting, but the body is not too bad.”
Preparation time of six weeks was recommended for bowlers returning to the shorter 50-over and Twenty20 internationals.
The ICC advised its member boards to consider appointing a medical advisor or bio-safety official to help with planning for a safe return to training and competition.
The Dubai-based ICC this week announced a ban on using saliva to shine a cricket ball to try and achieve the fabled ‘reverse swing’.
Players and umpires would need to maintain social distancing and cricketers must avoid unnecessary body contact and not hand over items like cap, towels, sunglasses to umpires or team mates, the ICC said.