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Archive for the ‘Cricket’ Category
Sat, August 30, 2008 5:17 pm By James Coolridge  Printer friendly version
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 JOHANNESBURG – The South African cricket coach Mickey Arthur on Friday said a proposed limited-overs series with Pakistan will not take place offered a welcome break for his exhausted players.
“A lot of the senior players have played a helluva lot of cricket this year, and break is the need of the hour,” Arthur told a news conference.
“I’m sure the tri-series is not going to take place and, in retrospect, it’s a relief that the Champions Trophy was called off because we would have been back on a plane flying out on Sunday,” added Arthur here at the press conference.
Arthur and his squad had just returned from England after their two-month tour, where they claimed their first test series win in 43 years but lost the limited-overs series 4-0.
The coach said his players would be in no shape to take part in another limited-overs series.
“I can’t think of one player who was involved in both the test and one-day series in England who has not picked up a niggle.
Captain Graeme Smith’s is suffering with an elbow injury, Mark Boucher has a fractured finger, Morne Morkel a side strain and Dale Steyn is yet to recover from a niggling shoulder injury, Arthur said. All this make a break essential for the boys.
The Pakistan board have been in negotiations with Cricket South Africa to stage a one-day series in South Africa. Sri Lanka proposed was planned to be the other team. This month’s Champions Trophy in Pakistan got postponed due to security concerns.
Although England, under new captain Kevin Pietersen, ripped South Africa apart in the one-day series, Arthur was delighted with his side’s overall performance.
“I’m still immensely proud of the team,” he added. “It was a huge positive to win the test series that was really the be-all and end-all of our tour.
“We knew the one-dayers would be tough and I don’t think a really good England has got the credit they deserve.”
He said he noticed a change in the mood of the team ahead of the final test at the Oval, with South Africa already 2-0 up and assured of the series win.
Tags : Cricket, Champions Trophy, England, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, South Africa, Graeme Smith, one dayers
Fri, August 29, 2008 11:46 am By James Coolridge
 Melbourne, Sep 7: Two weeks before Australia depart for what they call as the toughest challenge in world cricket, the tour to India; Michael Hussey said the team is yet to getting settled after injuries to key players and the controversy brooding over Andrew Symonds.
Hussey is hoping that senior players like Captain Ricky Ponting and Matthew Hayden, will regain form after recovery from injuries. He feels that they would be fit in time for the challenge. He also added that they have also not given up hope on Andrew Symonds joining the Kangaroo squad.
Australia’s preparation for the tour has not been ideal with important members of the team nursing injuries. Skipper Ricky Ponting and Matthew Hayden missed the ODI series against Bangladesh as they recover from wrist and Achilles problem. Lee took a break to deal with his marriage break-up while Symonds’ banishment has raised serious doubts over his availability for the Indian tour.
‘We are pretty much up in the air at the moment,’ Hussey said in Cricinfo Saturday.
‘We’re certainly not settled on anything. We hope that the experienced players will be back in the team, such as Ponting, Hayden, Symonds, Lee. They know their games very well,’
‘They have got a lot of experience, they’ve played well in India before and so I don’t think it’ll take them too long.’
Hussey was able to be a part of the Australia’s historic Test triumph in India in 2004-05. He plans to look forward for his first experience in India.
‘I’ve never played a Test in India but I think the Australian team that won in ‘04, they said that was probably the Everest and I don’t think that’s changing. India stands among one in the best three in the world and I think it’s going to be a wonderful series. Probably it is the hardest place to win in international cricket.’
Hussey also said that Symonds’ return is a big matter for the team.
‘I just hope from Andrew’s point of view he can get his head right. He’s a very important member of our side. He will be helpful in Indian soil and I am hoping he’s going to be part of that trip.’
Tags : Cricket, India, Australia, Ricky Ponting, Michael Hussey, Andrew Symonds, Matthew Hayden, Bangladesh
Wed, August 27, 2008 11:37 am By James Coolridge
 Colombo, Sep 7: Sri Lanka has decided to act tough with national players who are refusing to go ahead with the England tour. The Sri Lankan Cricket Committee have decided to go ahead with strict actions if any player fails to obey the diktats of the board. Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) Interim Committee Chairman Arjuna Ranatunga stressed that he would not budge from his stand in honouring Sri Lanka’s tour obligation with England next year.
“As far as SLC is concerned we will not change our decision to send the Sri Lanka team to play in England. We have signed an MoU with England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) and we have to honour that,” the State-run Sunday Observer quoted Ranatunga, well-known as “Captain Cool” as saying.
The former World Cup winning Sri Lankan captain Ranatunga, who was well-known for backing players on and off the field during his playing days, has clarified his stand saying that his duty was to look after Sri Lanka cricket even if the players went ahead and retired from the national team to partake in the IPL tournament.
Claiming that SLC had “never signed” a contract with the IPL contracted Lankan players permitting them to play in the IPL whenever they wanted to, Ranatunga has said that the players were given “the green light to pad only in the inaugural IPL tournament”.
“They need to sign a two-year contract with the ICC and SLC even if they are to retire and go to the IPL,” Ranatunga clarified the stand.
Sri Lanka is supposed to play two Tests and three one-dayers in May next year in England and the time table is clashing with the 2009 IPL tournament, which was ironically approved by SLC for the national players to play.
The players argue that the IPL contracts had been signed long before the idea of a tour to England was mooted. They want to go ahead with their initial commitments.
Skipper Mahela Jayawardane, Muttiah Muralitharan, Sanath Jayasuriya, Kumar Sangakkara, Pervez Mahroof, Thilakaratne Dishan, Dilhara Fernando and Ajantha Mendis are some of the key players who have signed three-year contracts with the IPL.
As per some unconfirmed reports, some players are even considering of retiring from the national team in order to honour the IPL contracts which they have already signed.
Tags : World Cup, IPL, Arjuna Ranatunga, SLC, Sanath Jayasuriya, Srilanka, ECB, Wales, Skipper Mahela Jayawardane, Muttiah Muralitharan, Kumar Sangakkara, Pervez Mahroof, Thilakaratne Dishan, Dilhara Fernando,
Sat, August 23, 2008 10:44 am By James Coolridge
 Karachi, Sep 6: Pakistan’s embattled coach Geoff Lawson has made it clear that there exist no job insecurity following the quitting of Pakistan Cricket Chairman Nasim Ashraf, who was the biggest supporter of the former Aussie Test pacer.
Lawson said here on Saturday he overlooked several lucrative positions in Australia to become Pakistan coach and can go back to some other important job back home any time he likes.
‘I have no insecurity,’ said the former Aussie fast bowler in Karachi. He took over as Pakistan coach last summer following the death of Englishman Bob Woolmer during the 2007 World Cup in the West Indies.
There have been reports that Lawson is expected to face the axe along with several other people occupying key positions in the cricket establishment once a new PCB chairman is appointed later this month.
Traditionally it is seen that a new PCB chief brings in new set of officials after asking the previous officials to quit or face the axe.
Lawson does not enjoy much experience as an international coach and was handpicked by the former PCB chief ahead of his vastly accomplished compatriot Dav Whatmore.
During his 14-month stint so far, Lawson’s biggest achievement is reaching the final of the inaugural World Twenty20 Championship in South Africa last September. Under him, Pakistan have played two Test series - against South Africa at home and against India in India, but lost both.
Critics have always raised voices against Lawson calling him a weak coach and the Aussie’s fractious relations with the national selectors and the Pakistani media has not helped his cause much. But Lawson is not a worried man.
“I had several lucrative options in Australia but accepted to be Pakistan’s coach because it was a big challenge for me. And I will continue to focus on my task which is to make Pakistan the world’s best team.”
Lawson said that if the new PCB feels he is not fit for the post, he will happily go back to Australia and take up some other assignment. Lawson lamented the fact that foreign cricketers believe that Pakistan is an unsafe destination for them.
“I live in Lahore and move around in the city like a normal person, going shopping and to restaurants. I don’t feel unsafe,” said Lawson. Lawson travelled to Australia and New Zealand last month to convince the players there that they would be completely safe in Pakistan during the Champions Trophy.
But the players were not convinced and later the ICC was forced to postpone the ICC Champions Trophy. Thanks to the security fears.
‘It was unfortunate. The players were convinced that Pakistan was unsafe because they see this country through the eyes of the Western media and believe it’s a dangerous place,’ says Larson.
Tags : World Cup, PCB, New Zealand, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, tests, Australia, Geoff LAwson, Nasim Ashraf, pace bowler, West Indies, Dav Whatmore
Fri, August 22, 2008 10:41 am By James Coolridge
 Colombo, Sep 6: Sri Lanka cricket’s crisis over the timing of the England tour is clashing with the lucrative Indian Premier League (IPL) next year. This has deepened Saturday with the interim administration and several key players in the team refusing to budge an inch from their positions.
Despite reports that Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) wanted to go ahead with the England tour with the best players, several key players in the team have stood their grounds on their commitments to play the IPL tournament. This has led to the intervention from sports minister Gamini Lokuge.
According to a top SLC official, the initiatives by the minister to hold “compromise talks” with the administrators and the players “are yet to provide a breakthrough”.
“Efforts are being made to this crisis over the past two months. The players have completed two series after the crisis (Asia Cup tournament and the tour by India). But a solution is yet to be brought out,” the SLC official cleared on Friday.
The sports minister has appointed SLC CEO Duleep Mendis to solve out the crisis. .
When contacted, Mendis expressed his confidence and said he was hoping to meet the players next week to find a compromise. He also stressed that there was no way that Sri Lanka could send a second-level team for the proposed England tour.
“We have to send the best team for the England tour. I will have to come out with suggestions on how best we could solve this problem,” said Mendis.
Sri Lanka is due to play two Tests and three one-dayers in England next May. The time table is clashing with the 2009 IPL tournament.
The players argue that the IPL contracts had been signed long before the idea of a tour to England was mooted and want to go ahead with their initial commitments.
Skipper Mahela Jayawardane, Muttiah Muralitharan, Sanath Jayasuriya, Kumar Sangakkara, Pervez Mahroof, Thilakaratne Dishan and Dilhara Fernando are some among the key players who have signed three-year contracts with the IPL. The 38-year-old left-handed Sanath Jayasuriya is the third highest paid player of the IPL.
Sri Lanka’s new 23-year old spin sensation, Ajantha Mendis, also has signed up with the Kolkata Knight Riders for a period of three years.
Tags : Cricket, IPL, England, Sri Lanka, Duleep Mendis, SLC, Sanath Jayasuriya
Thu, August 21, 2008 10:39 am By James Coolridge
 The controversial Pakistan fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar left for India from Lahore on Saturday. He is on his way to participate in a television show, while insisting that his main priority was to play couple of end season matches for English county side Surrey.
“I am going to India for a day to fulfil a commitment to take part in a television show and after that I will fly out to England to join Surrey,” said Akhtar. He was talking to the reporters at the airport.
Akhtar, who went to London to play for Surrey, had to return home two days back from Heathrow airport after immigration officials did not allow him entry as his work permit and visa documents were not complete. “Everything is now in order and I will join Surrey by Sunday,” said Akthar.
The Pakistan fast bowler also made it clear that he was keen to play for the county side as he wanted to test his form and fitness in some first class games.
“My eventual aim is to play for Pakistan and I feel Surrey offers me the best opportunity to prove my fitness. I am keen to prove myself to the selector and resume my Pakistan career,” he stated.
The pacer had presently filed a writ petition in the Lahore High Court against a 18-month ban and seven million rupees fine imposed on him by the appellate tribunal of the Pakistan Cricket Board.
The tribunal on appealhad decided to reduce Akhtar’s five-year ban imposed by the PCB disciplinary committee in March to 18 months but added the fine.
Akhtar has not yet deposited the fine despite a legal notice sent to him by the PCB, making it clear he can’t be considered for selection in the national side unless he pays the fine.
The sources close to Akthar said he had stalled the fine issue as Pakistan had no immediate international commitments and he was confident that the Lahore High Court will start hearing his case this month and hopefully deliver a positive judgement. The court has meanwhile suspended the 18-month ban while admitting the petition for hearing two months ago.
Tags : PCB, England, Fitness, India, Pakistan, tests, Lahore, Shoaib Akhtar, Surrey, Heathrow, immigration
Wed, August 20, 2008 10:10 am By James Coolridge
 Hyderabad, Sep 6: Deccan Chargers will be looking into the media remarks made by Shahid Afridi and V.V.S. Laxman’s response over the captaincy of the Indian Premier League (IPL) team.
Afridi had recently blamed Laxman’s leadership abilities for the team’s poor performance during IPL league in June. He had even suggested that former Australian wicketkeeper-batsman Adam Gilchrist should take over the reins of the side in the next IPL series.
Laxman had taken exception to Afridi’s outburst saying it was a collective failure and not the captain’s alone. The Test star from Hyderabad accused Afridi of violating team ethics by speaking out to media.
‘It is probably time someone told Afridi that a captain can only be as good as the team. Afridi is an experienced cricketer and should not be questioning the way the team functions. Speaking negatively about the team, let alone the captain, is just not on,’ had reacted Laxman.
Stung by Laxman’s reaction, Afridi had said that he was misunderstood, though he maintained that the Hyderabadi was not aggressive enough.
‘Perhaps, what I said about the Chargers on a television show may have come out a bit strong, but my only point was that Laxman needs to be more aggressive on the field.’
‘It was not my intention to demean Laxman’s stature or contribution as a player and captain. I was asked a simple question and I answered it honestly,’ the dashing Pakistani player said.
After the war of words between the two cricket stars, the Chargers team management has decided to hold an enquiry to establish the facts.
A spokesman for the Chargers added in a statement: ‘In the interest of fairness and of thoroughness, both players have been asked to appear before the probe panel.
‘When we have established the facts we will take take the required action that we feel is necessary and appropriate in accordance with the provisions of the IPL contracts between the players and the Chargers.’
Tags : Cricket, IPL, Deccan Chargers, VVS Laxman, Hyderabad, Shahid Afridi, Adam Gilchrist
Sun, August 17, 2008 7:20 am By James Coolridge
 Former India cricket team captain Sourav Ganguly will soon be seen in action in front of the camera in a one-hour twenty minute-long docu-feature that will showcase the ace cricketer’s journey from childhood.
Christened as The Warrior Prince, the docu-feature is being produced and directed by Mitali Ghosal, a sports journalist-turned-filmmaker. Ghosal got struck upon the idea of making the docu-feature on Ganguly after seeing his first century at the Eden Gardens in this year’s Pakistan’s tour of India.
“It will be a documentary-cum-feature… In the sense, it will not only feature Ganguly’s cricketing highs and lows with the facts and figures, but it will also include his personal life, with inputs from his wife (Dona), brother (Snehashish), father (Chandidas) and also friends,” says Ghosal when asked about the project. .
“Many things in Ganguly’s life are still unknown… How he became a cricketer… and a left-hander…” The docu-feature will show such small but interesting things. Like an incident in that famous England tour in 1996 when Ganguly made debut Test century. Ganguly was very upset over the statement by then skipper Mohammed Azharuddin who asked the left hander: ‘Have you done your shopping in England?” said Ghosal.
To be released in English and Bengali, the film will have small interviews of Azharuddin, Rahul Dravid, Harbhajan Singh and Arjuna Ranatunga, among others, sharing their experiences with Ganguly.
“Sachin Tendulkar and Steve Waugh have already given their consent for the small interviews. The suitable timings of these legends are getting fixed fr the documentary. We are also thinking of approaching Ricky Ponting and Brett Lee during their tour beginning October.
“We have already shot a few during the Sri Lanka tour. Now we are looking for some old footages of Ganguly…may be the Ranji days,” Ghosal added. The film is expected to get released in December this year
Tags : Cricket, England, India, Pakistan, Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, Dona Ganguly, Lords, camera, Eden Gardens
Sat, August 16, 2008 7:09 am By James Coolridge
 The veteran Indian batsman Sachin Tendulkar along with son Arjun took part in a promotional campaign in Mumbai where he played a fun-filled cricket matches with 15 parent-kid teams.
Tendulkar had to opt out of the ODI series against Sri Lanka lastst month after being ruled due to an injury in his left elbow.
Sachin has assured his fans that his injury woes are behind him and he is ready to wear pad for the Rest of India squad against Ranji Trophy champions Delhi in Vadodara, starting on September 24.
The Board of Control for Cricket (BCCI) in India has already indicated that all Test probable would have to play in the Irani Trophy game, the squad for which will be selected on Sunday.
“The selectors will be picking a virtual Test side, barring those belonging to Delhi, when selecting the Rest team,” says BCCI secretary Niranjan Shah.
The season-opening domestic fixture has assumed importance following a poor showing of some senior batsmen on the just-concluded tour of Sri Lanka, which saw Indians giving up the Test series 1-2.
Tendulkar also has clarified that he would not be featuring in a Bollywood movie as was reported few months ago.
There was news that the ace Indian batsman would play himself in Vighnaharta Shri Siddhivinayak film about God Ganesha, who is sometimes referred to as Siddhivinayak.
“There was a misunderstanding about the film,” Tendulkar clarified. “I was told there was a documentary being made on Ganpati and I was told a few are sharing their views on the same.
“I was also told to do the same and I agreed to do it and reveal how much peace I get by visiting Siddhi Vinayak Temple. There was no more discussion on the same. If they want my views on Siddhi Vinayak, I am ready to do it.”
The master blaster took the opportunity to congratulate Beijing Olympic medal winners Abhinav Bhindra, Vijender Kumar and Sushil Kumar, saying it was a proud moment for our country.
“It is a proud thing for all Indians that we won medals. It was not only the medal winners but the entire team who spent years preparing for the Games, so I congratulate the entire Olympics team.
“The athletes are remembered only if they are successful, but everyone works hard in which some win and some lose. So we must congratulate everyone because I believe it was team work that did the trick.”
Sachin also advised the authorities to provide more facilities to other sportspersons so they could prepare well for the future Games.
“I am sure we will win more medals in the future but for that we need infrastructure. We heard from all sportspersons that we do not have proper facilities, so the associations must step in and give the required facilities. We must help them and give them proper conditions to prepare for the Games so they can perform at their best,” said the demi god of Indian cricket here.
Tendulkar also revealed how he ends up playing wresting with his son and not cricket.
“We watch WWE and we end up practicing those moves. I must say I cannot underestimate his strengths.”
Tags : Cricket, Sri Lanka, Sachin Tendulkar, Ranji trophy, Irani cup, BCCI, ODI series, Siddhi Vinayak
Fri, August 15, 2008 1:08 pm By James Coolridge | | | | |
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