Mcc

The CWI were selected for their courage in sending both their Men’s and Women’s teams to tour England in 2020, a year when the Covid-19 pandemic has caused such major disruption not only to the international cricketing calendar, but to everyday life, they said.

The award singles out Cricket West Indies for their efforts, but both MCC and the BBC placed on record their admiration for the Pakistan Cricket Board, Cricket Ireland and Cricket Australia for overcoming logistical challenges to send their Men’s teams to play England.

“In addition, none of these tours would have been possible without the determination of the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) and everyone involved in the herculean effort to host international cricket in this extraordinary year,” MCC and BBC said in their statement.

Jason Holder’s West Indies Men’s team faced England in a three-match Test series which began in early July. The team arrived in the United Kingdom in early June, with lockdown restrictions still in place across the United Kingdom and infection rates remaining prevalent.”

The West Indies Women’s team, led by Stafanie Taylor, stepped in at late notice to play England in a five-match T20 international series in September, following the cancellation of the hosts’ previously scheduled matches.

The CMJ Spirit of Cricket award was created in 2013 by MCC and the BBC in memory of former MCC President and BBC Test Match Special commentator Christopher Martin-Jenkins (“CMJ”), who was passionate about promoting the spirit of the game.

The award has previously been won by: Wayne Madsen of Derbyshire; Sussex’s Luke Wright; Brendon McCullum of New Zealand; Tom Fell of Worcestershire, England’s Anya Shrubsole, and Dan Bowser and Chris Edwards of the England Learning Disability Team.

Last year’s winners were the New Zealand Men’s team, who were recognised for their exemplary display of sporting conduct in the wake of the 2019 ICC Men’s World Cup Final at Lord’s.

The MCC meets twice annually to discuss the most important issues in the game and acts as an independent voice in world cricket.

Skerritt joins England’s all-time leading run-scorer Alistair Cook as new members after former West Indies fast bowler and current commentator Ian Bishop, and Bangladesh all-rounder Shakib Al-Hasan stood down from the committee.

“We have been keen for some time to appoint a new representative from the West Indies and I am delighted that Ricky will be joining us. His knowledge of the game from a West Indian perspective will be invaluable, and his work outside of the sport will also be advantageous to the committee,” said Mike Gatting, current MCC President and former England captain.

The CWI president said he plans to represent the West Indies well.

“Serving world cricket on such an important MCC committee, among such legendary former cricketers, is both a privilege and an honour. I will do all I can to ensure that my West Indies based perspective will always add value to the work of the MCC,” he said.

Skerritt also serves world cricket as a member of the Board of the International Cricket Council (ICC), where recently he was appointed to the Special Working Group on Governance, set out to consider the future governance structure of the ICC.

Pat Cummins’ side were walking through the Long Room at Lord’s at lunch when footage showed an apparent exchange of words between spectators in the room and the Australian players.

It comes after a dramatic morning session saw Jonny Bairstow controversially dismissed by Alex Carey.

The Australian wicketkeeper stumped Bairstow, who left his crease after seemingly believing the ball was dead at the end of the over.

England captain Ben Stokes then smashed his way to a century leaving the hosts needing 128 runs on 243 for six at lunch.

A spokesperson for the MCC read: “The Long Room is unique in world cricket and the great privilege of players passing through the Pavilion is very special.

“After this morning’s play, emotions were running high, and words were unfortunately exchanged with some of the Australian team, by a small number of Members.

“We have unreservedly apologised to the Australian Team and will deal with any Member who has not maintained the standard we expect through our disciplinary processes.

“It was not necessary to eject anyone from the ground and I am pleased to say that there was no repeat of this as the players resumed the field for this afternoon’s session.”

https://twitter.com/HomeOfCricket/status/1675491441450135553v

A spokesperson for Australia said: “Australian management has requested the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) investigate several incidents involving spectators in the members area during lunch on day five of the Lord’s Test.

“It is alleged players and staff from the Australian team were verbally abused, with some being physically contacted, as they made their way to lunch through the members area.”

A flashpoint occurred on the eve of lunch on day five when Jonny Bairstow was dismissed in controversial fashion, after Australian wicketkeeper Alex Carey threw the ball at the stumps at the conclusion of Cameron Green’s over.

Bairstow had already left his crease to speak with Ben Stokes, under the impression it was a dead ball with the over finished, but was given out and it saw the Lord’s crowd respond with hostility towards the tourists.

Boos greeted the Australians when they left the pitch at lunch and television cameras picked up an exchange in the Long Room between MCC members and both Usman Khawaja and David Warner with security forced to step in.

“Further to the earlier statement, MCC can confirm it has suspended three Members identified from earlier today,” an MCC statement read.

“They will not be permitted back to Lord’s whilst the investigation takes place and were informed of this by MCC Chief Executive, Guy Lavender, this evening.

“We maintain that the behaviour of a small number of Members was completely unacceptable and whilst there was no suggestion by Pat Cummins in the post-match press conference that there was any physical altercation, it remains wholly unacceptable to behave in such a way, which goes against the values of the club.

“MCC condemns the behaviour witnessed and once again we re-iterate our apology to Cricket Australia.

“We are thoroughly disappointed to be talking about poor behaviour when the Long Room, as stated by Pat Cummins himself, is otherwise renowned for being “really welcoming”. It has been a thrilling day to finish off a wonderful five days of Test cricket.”

Despite the unsavoury incident ahead of lunch on the final day, Cummins does not want the tradition of walking past the members to end.

“The crowd certainly made themselves known, in the Long Room and also out there,” Cummins reflected after Australia won by 43 runs to move 2-0 up in the series.

“I think they were just quite aggressive and abusive towards some of our players, which I know the MCC were not too happy with.

“Other than that one time, they were fantastic all week. The members here are normally fantastic, really welcoming.

“Something special about playing at Lord’s is you feel like you are at a really special place surrounded by people who have a love for the game. I quite like the tradition.

“I don’t think it hurts any more than normal. I think just standards that are held by the members are maybe a bit different to what you expect from certain members of the crowd at Edgbaston.

“To quote Smithy (Steve Smith), it felt like a normal day.”

Cummins did not see the alleged physical contract which a Cricket Australia spokesperson referenced.

“Australian management has requested the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) investigate several incidents involving spectators in the members’ area during lunch on day five of the Lord’s Test,” the spokesperson said.

“It is alleged players and staff from the Australian team were verbally abused, with some being physically contacted, as they made their way to lunch through the members’ area.”

England captain Stokes was not asked specifically about the exchange in the Long Room, but did enjoy hearing the Lord’s crowd, known as one of the most politest sporting venues in the world, boo the tourists’ for most of day five.

He admitted: “It was pretty mad, wasn’t it? It wasn’t until I got out and went on the balcony to watch the remaining half-an-hour, I thought I had never heard Lord’s like this.

“At the back end of the Test match it reminded me of the World Cup final in 2019.

“It was good to see Lord’s, a ground that has not got a reputation for atmosphere or noise, like that. Today was one of the days where Lord’s showed up.”

A flashpoint occurred on the eve of lunch on day five when Jonny Bairstow was dismissed in controversial fashion, after Australian wicketkeeper Alex Carey threw the ball at the stumps at the conclusion of Cameron Green’s over.

Bairstow had already left his crease to speak with Ben Stokes under the impression it was a dead ball with the over finished but was given out and it saw the Lord’s crowd respond with hostility towards the tourists.

Boos greeted the Australians when they left the pitch at lunch and television cameras picked up an exchange in the Long Room between MCC members and both Usman Khawaja and David Warner.

The MCC later apologised for the incident and Cricket Australia revealed an investigation is under way but Cummins does not want the tradition of walking past the members to end.

“The crowd certainly made themselves known, in the Long Room and also out there,” Cummins reflected after Australia won by 43 runs to move 2-0 up in the series.

“I think they were just quite aggressive and abusive towards some of our players, which yeah I know the MCC were not too happy with.

“The MCC came and apologised for the behaviour of some of the members and some of them might lose their membership over the way they behaved.

“Other than that one time, they were fantastic all week. The members here are normally fantastic, really welcoming.

“Something special about playing at Lord’s is you feel like you are at a really special place surrounded by people who have a love for the game. I quite like the tradition.

“I don’t think it hurts any more than normal. I think just standards that are held by the members are maybe a bit different to what you expect from certain members of the crowd at Edgbaston.

“To quote (Steve) Smithy, it felt like a normal day.”

Cummins did not see the alleged physical contract which a Cricket Australia spokesperson referenced.

“Australian management has requested the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) investigate several incidents involving spectators in the members’ area during lunch on day five of the Lord’s Test,” a Cricket Australia spokesperson said.

“It is alleged players and staff from the Australian team were verbally abused, with some being physically contacted, as they made their way to lunch through the members’ area.”

England captain Stokes was not asked specifically about the exchange in the Long Room, but did enjoy hearing the Lord’s crowd, known as one of the most politest sporting venues in the world, boo the tourists’ for most of day five.

“It was pretty mad wasn’t it,” Stokes admitted.

“It wasn’t until I got out and went on the balcony to watch the remaining half an hour, I thought I had never heard Lord’s like this.

“At the back end of the Test match it reminded me of the World Cup Final in 2019.

“It was good to see Lord’s, a ground that has not got a reputation for atmosphere or noise, like that. Today was one of the days where Lord’s showed up.”

A spokesperson for the MCC read: “The Long Room is unique in world cricket and the great privilege of players passing through the pavilion is very special.

“After this morning’s play, emotions were running high, and words were unfortunately exchanged with some of the Australian team, by a small number of members.

“We have unreservedly apologised to the Australian team and will deal with any member who has not maintained the standard we expect through our disciplinary processes.

“It was not necessary to eject anyone from the ground and I am pleased to say that there was no repeat of this as the players resumed the field for this afternoon’s session.”