West Indies beat New Zealand by 56 runs in T20

Gayle smashed seven fours and five sixes off 52 balls to anchor a record-breaking West Indian total of 209-2 off 20 overs ysterday.

West Indies struggling to save first Test against England

London: West Indies reached 120 for four against England at stumps, on day three of the first Test at Lord''s on Saturday and their hopes of avoiding defeat once again rest with Shivnarine Chanderpaul.

IPL preview: Mumbai Indians hope to seal playoff berth, RR to play for pride

Mumbai Indians would be looking to seal a playoffs berth and iron out minor flaws for the bigger battles ahead, while the Rajasthan Royals would play for pride when the two sides take on each other in their last league encounter of the IPL here tomorrow. Rajasthan Royals, who have not been consistent enough, bowed out of contention for the playoffs with a humiliating five wicket defeat against Deccan Chargers in Hyderabad. They must be ruing their close defeats against Delhi Daredevils and Chennai Super Kings but are left with no other options but to play for pride against the formidable Mumbai Indians. Skipper Rahul Dravid has already proved that he is not a spent force and that too in the shorter version of the game which has never been his forte. He, along with Australian Shane Watson, Shaun Tait, Ajinkya Rahane and others would like to prove a point with better performances. Mumbai are placed third with 18 points from 15 matches and Royal Challengers Bangalore have 17 points from 15 matches and they take on the lowly Deccan Chargers on Sunday in a day match. It will be a must-win situation for the visitors if RCB too wins. Mumbai Indians have a strong side featuring the likes of Sachin Tendulkar, Rohit Sharma, South African Herschelle Gibbs, West Indian Kieron Pollard and Ambati Rayudu. Rohit is in good nick with a hundred under his belt but Tendulkar is yet to play a big knock in the competition.

Sri Lanka postpones IPL-style tournament

The inaugural Sri Lanka Premier League has been postponed to next year following the withdrawal of the Indian cricketers, the island nation's sports minister told

"The company which is organising (the tournament) said financially they are not in a shape to organise this without the Indian players," sports minister Mahindananda Aluthgamage said.

Twelve Indian players were set to participate in the July 19-August 4 event modelled on the successful Indian Premier League (IPL) but were denied permission by the Indian cricket board (BCCI) that eventually led to the tournament's postponement less than a fortnight before the proposed start.

Aluthgamage had earlier said the BCCI's opposition stemmed from their suspicion that former IPL commissioner Lalit Modi, who was sacked on financial irregularity charges, was behind the tournament.

Sri Lanka Cricket's media manager Brian Thomas said once the Indian players had withdrawn, it was difficult to go ahead with the event.

"We thought we can't do a tournament of this magnitude (in absence of the Indian players). It is not a financial issue, it's a logistical problem."

Aluthgamage said the league would be replaced by a domestic tournament.

"The board is meeting today to discuss this and they will have the tournament without the foreign players, similar to the one held last year."

West Indian Kieron Pollard, Pakistan's Shahid Afridi and New Zealand's Daniel Vettori were among the foreign players recruited for the Twenty20 tournament.

Courtesy : Reuters

Chennai and Mumbai in same Champions League group

The Chennai Super Kings, led by MS Dhoni, the India captain, have been grouped with Sachin Tendulkar's Mumbai Indians for the Champions League Twenty20 (T20) tournament.

The September 23 to October 9 competition, which will feature 10 of the world's top T20 sides, will be played in two groups of five with the top two teams from each group advancing to the semi-finals.

The tournament will be played in the southern Indian cities of Chennai and Bangalore, as well as Kolkata in the east.

Chennai will host the final and a semi-final, while Bangalore will host the other semi-final.

Seven teams from India, Australia and South Africa have earned given direct entries, while six others will play off for the remaining three spots in a qualifying tournament at Hyderabad from September 19-21.

The qualifying event will have two pools of three teams with the top side from both advancing, along with the next best qualifier.

The Kolkata Knight Riders, Trinidad and Tobago of the West Indies and the Auckland Aces of New Zealand will be joined by two teams from England and one from Sri Lanka in qualifying.

The Super Kings are the defending champions.

Rain plays spoilsport on 2nd day after Ishant's double strike

Bad weather combined with persistence of Marlon Samuels and Shivnarine Chanderpaul to frustrate India as the West Indies reached 98 for five on the rain-hit second day of the second cricket Test.

Indian paceman Ishant Sharma struck twice in three balls to reduce the West Indies to 57 for five in the curtailed morning session after the hosts resumed at an uncomfortable 30 for three.

However, several rain interruptions and some sensible batting by Samuels (21) and Chanderpaul (20) gave India no chance to make further in-roads into the hosts' batting line up.

The two batsmen added 41 runs for the unconquered sixth wicket and batted together for 19.3 overs on a day when only 25.3 overs of play was possible on the day.

The tenor of the day was set early when a shower delayed the start of the game by 45 minutes. There was another break of half an hour after lunch but the resumption lasted no more than eight-odd overs.

Heavy rains lashed Kensington Oval in the second session which forced umpire to enforce an early tea in the hope of squeezing as much play as possible in the final session.

That opportunity never arrived. Even though it stopped raining after a while, early tea was taken and players even came out in the final session. It began raining almost immediately for players to go to pavilion. Thereafter it was poor light which never allowed the game to resume.

The most play possible was in the morning session as West Indies retired for lunch at 82 for 5 from 29 overs.

Both the overnight batsmen, Ramnaresh Sarwan (18) and Devendra Bishoo (13), fell prey to Ishant's bounce with the paceman bowling a spell of 6-2-23-2 in the morning.

A wicket with character . . . about time

FOR almost all my international career, Perth had been a fortress for Australia.

I made my Test debut there in December 1995, when we comfortably beat Sri Lanka, was dropped when the West Indies won there the following season, and went the next 10 years never experiencing defeat at the WACA Ground.

The pace and bounce of Perth was usually too much for the opposition. Six of our victories there in my time were by more than an innings, one by seven wickets, another by almost 500 runs and another by more than 200 runs.

With very rare exceptions, Perth and Brisbane were the two places we felt most confident of victory because of the extra bounce in the pitch.

Yet as batsmen we loved playing there. The pitches played with great consistency and the ball came on to the bat so you had the confidence to play your shots, making for entertaining cricket.

I am looking forward to playing on that type of Perth pitch again in the third Test against the West Indies, beginning tomorrow. .

It had become lower and slower in recent seasons, continuing the trend of pitches around the world that are losing, or have lost, their character.

This season there have been good reports coming out of Perth, with NSW beating Western Australia inside three days thanks to an excellent bowling performance from Doug Bollinger on a lively pitch. If the Test pitch is something similar that is great news for players, and great news for the fans, who will see plenty of lively cricket.

The pitch being prepared for this Test does have a good cover of grass but we'll wait until today before having a close look at it.

Certainly all the signs are encouraging because for most of my career Perth has been one of the great places to play cricket.

Cricket needs more pitches like the WACA Ground of old, a wonderful contrast to the type of slow, low wickets you find in so many places now.

This reduces one of the great joys of Test cricket, to be challenged on unique surfaces, something which Australia could once boast about. Each of its major cricket grounds had a distinctly different surface.

If you could learn to cope with a variety of difference surfaces around the country and around the world, whether you were a batsman or a bowler, you were considered the complete Test cricketer.

That challenge is now going out of Test cricket as pitches around the globe develop a sameness. Low, slow pitches can make for bland, one-sided cricket where bat dominates ball and results can be difficult to achieve.

This is my concern for Test cricket on the subcontinent in particular, where there can be some real batathons.

It was no surprise to us that the West Indies batted well in Adelaide. The slow, low pitch was always going to suit their style of play. However, if the WACA Ground pitch is anything like the Perth of my younger days, I think they'll struggle like they struggled in Brisbane during the first Test.

There has been talk that their impressive young fast bowler Kemar Roach could be a handful for us in Perth.

He can certainly be quick but we played him well on the helpful Brisbane pitch and I believe we can do the same again during this Test. Likewise, we've got some impressive young quicks of our own who will enjoy any assistance at least as much as the West Indian fast bowlers.

Statistics suggest that off-spinners struggle in Perth but I don't believe they tell the full story.

Left-arm finger spinners Daniel Vettori from New Zealand and South Africa's Paul Harris have had success against us at the WACA Ground in recent seasons.

And many touring sides chose not to play their off-spinners in Perth, with India leaving out Harbhajan Singh just two years ago.

Off-spinners have had success at state level drifting the ball away from the right-handed batsmen in the breeze. I had a chat to Nathan Hauritz after the Adelaide Test and he admitted he didn't bowl as well as he would have liked, but I believe that with the prevailing Fremantle Doctor aiding his drift and a bit of extra bounce, he could bowl well.

One thing we have talked about since we arrived in Perth is our batting.

We have played consistently well, making 8(dec)-480 in Brisbane and 439 during the first innings in Adelaide.

During that time nine players have made 50 or more, and two have made it to the 90s, but no one has scored a century.

This contrasts with the West Indies, who have made three hundreds and yet are 1-0 down in the series. Those sorts of statistics are starting to have an Ashes feel about them.

It's important that players who get starts do press on and get big scores, but by the same token you don't want to make a big deal about it.

The more you talk about it, the harder it can become.

Last summer we talked about losing wickets around the breaks and it kept happening. It was like a self-fulfilling prophecy.


by Ricky Ponting

Courtesy : http://www.theaustralian.com.au

Cricket: History counting against Black Caps

Shane Bond being invalided out of a series is not the only recurring nightmare preying on the minds of New Zealand's cricketers as they approach today's second test against Pakistan at the Basin Reserve.

An injured Bond's unavailability represents a potentially serious setback to a team that has a worrying history when leading a three-match series 1-0.

On three occasions New Zealand has let an advantage slip - on the cannabis-gate tour of South Africa in 1994, in Sri Lanka four years later and most recently when hosting England in March/April last year.

Captain Daniel Vettori hardly needed reminding of the English series when ruling out complacency as a potential pitfall when Pakistan attempts to become the fourth team to regroup and prosper after dropping the first test.

New Zealand dominated the first match of the English series in Hamilton, winning by 189 runs before being soundly beaten at the Basin Reserve (126 runs) and Napier (121 runs).

Despite being justifiably pleased after securing a tense 32-run triumph in Dunedin last weekend, Vettori has warned his teammates a series victory - what would be only the third in 19 attempts against Pakistan - was far from certain.

"I think the guys are feeling good about themselves but there's a need not to get caught up in that, and a need for improvement," he said.

"It was a good test performance but there's a series that needs to be won.

"We've done it in the past against England where we've gone 1-0 up and in a lot of ways rested on our laurels. We lost the next two test matches.

"There was a real desire within the team to have celebrated in Dunedin - and also to make sure it's not the end of the summer."

New Zealand's batting unit will likely have a significant influence on whether the year ends on a high note considering a traditionally bouncy wicket should be spiced up by spending the best part of four days under cover as rain lashed the capital.

The home side's batting frailties are well documented and with Mohammad Aamer, Mohammad Asif and Umar Gul all in the zone at University Oval, the trio can expect to cause more angst among a fragile top and middle order.

Of the specialists, only Ross Taylor produced a notable double last week with 94 and 59.

Brian Lara says West Indies have not much to fear about Australia

West Indies great Brian Lara says his young prodigy, Adrian Barath, proved to the team's veterans there is not much to fear about the Australia cricket team.
Lara, who retired from cricket in 2007, said it will be difficult for West Indies to bounce back after their embarrassing defeat in the first Test at the Gabba despite Barath showing some chinks in the Australia attack.

The 18-year-old became the youngest West Indies player to score a Test century.

"I think it will be difficult," Lara told reporters when asked if he thought West Indies could recover from the defeat.

"Obviously a defeat within three days, it's going to be hard.

"But, there are some positives.

"The likes of Adrian Barath scoring runs, a debutant, should tell the likes of Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Chris Gayle, Ramnaresh Sarwan if he is back and Dwayne Bravo that there is not much to be feared in the Australia cricket team."

Lara, 40, was honoured at a ceremony in his homeland of Trinidad and Tobago on Sunday by Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd .

Rudd appointed him an Honorary Member in the General Division of the Order of Australia for his work with young West Indies and Australian cricketers.

Rudd was in the Caribbean to attend the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting.

Stanford lobbied for Cubans to play in tournament

Financier R. Allen Stanford, who is awaiting trial on charges he orchestrated a massive Ponzi scheme, spent a half-million dollars in a lobbying effort to gain U.S. approval for Cuba to participate in his international cricket tournament.

According to Stanford's lobbyists, the Treasury Department turned him down. Treasury refused to confirm that, saying it does not comment on specific cases.

Interviews and documents obtained by The Press show that Stanford, a huge cricket aficionado, lobbied the Treasury and State Departments to approve his plan to include Cuba in last year's Stanford Twenty-20 Caribbean Cricket Tournament held in Antigua.

Stanford, a Texas native who lived in the Caribbean for many years, pleaded not guilty in June to charges of swindling investors out of $7 billion as part of an investment scam.

"Cricket is to the Caribbean as football was to the state of Texas when I was growing up," Stanford wrote in a 2007 letter to the Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control, which enforces the trade embargo against Cuba.

For the sport of cricket to prosper, Stanford wrote, "we need to provide an environment for young, talented, up-and-coming players that will keep them motivated and interested in developing their careers."

He promised that the Cuban team and its players would receive any prizes on an in-kind basis, rather than in cash, "as we are mindful of the restrictions on any direct cash payments that possibly would be received by the government of Cuba."

Stanford pointed to Cuba's participation in the World Baseball Classic as a precedent. In 2006 the Bush administration reversed course and granted a special license required for Cuba to compete in the tournament, after Cuba promised to donate any winnings to victims of Hurricane Katrina. In Cuba, as in the U.S., baseball is huge but its bat-and-ball cousin cricket doesn't have much of a following.

Stanford, who has been knighted by the government of Antigua and Barbuda, signed the letter "Sir Allen Stanford."

Patsy Thomasson, who lobbied on behalf of the effort from the Washington office of the Ben Barnes Group, said U.S. permission was needed because of restrictions on Americans doing business with Cuba.

Thomasson said she knew the effort was a long shot.

"When somebody asked me to get involved with this, I thought this was never going to happen," recalled Thomasson, a former Clinton administration official. "I'm not a foreign policy guru, but I just know — I thought had there been a different administration it might have flown."

A lobbying report shows that Stanford's now-defunct company, Stanford Financial Group, paid the Ben Barnes Group of Austin, Texas, $500,000 over six months on "matters related to international cricket tournament" and for "economic development in the Caribbean, specifically the Virgin Islands." The firm is headed by former Texas Lt. Gov. Ben Barnes.

Kent Caperton, a partner with the firm who lobbied for Stanford, said the economic development component was aimed at fostering U.S. businesses investment in the Caribbean.

In December 2007, Stanford announced that the U.S. had blocked his request to allow Cuba to participate.

"We have been anxious to include the entire Caribbean in the Stanford Twenty-20 Cricket Tournament and I am extremely disappointed that Cuba will not be able to play," Stanford said at the time.

Recalled Caperton: "It was mostly reflective of the Bush administration's attitude toward Cuba. We never sensed anything other than that." The firm's relationship with Stanford ended this spring due to "Mr. Stanford's legal difficulties," Caperton said.

Trinidad and Tobago wound up winning the Stanford Twenty-20 tournament in February 2008. Then, in June, Stanford arrived in London to hype his upcoming $20 million winner-takes-all match in Antigua between England and his West Indies all-star team, the Stanford Superstars — which the Superstars went on to win that fall. Stanford, whose worth had been estimated at $2 billion by Forbes magazine, landed flamboyantly in England by helicopter, bringing millions of dollars in cash.

"This has a more charitable streak to it," he said. "I'm doing things with cricket in the Caribbean that I would not ever do in any other business, marketing or branding of the Stanford Financial name."

Aussie champ coming for 2009 Coast 2 Coast

Australian Multi-Sport champion Jarad Kohla

Australian Multi-Sport champion Jarad Kohlar will be skipping the defence of his title in that race in order to attend the 2009 Coast 2 Coast in Trinidad on October 17-18.

With just about six weeks to go to the event, local and international athletes are in training for the Caribbean's premier multi-sport contest and Kohlar is this year's top international entry.

The race, celebrating its fifth anniversary, will take place with a combination of stages that include trail running, cycling and kayaking, attracting athletes from all disciplines, with an expected increase in the number of cyclists and marathoners.

The course begins at the Toco Lighthouse on Trinidad's East Coast and ends at Williams Bay, Chaguaramas, on the western peninsula.

Local participants will test their mettle against regional and international racers. Competitors have the choice of entering either as an individual or a member of a relay team and for the second time, novices can enter single, shorter stages of the race without being intimidated by trying to finish the entire course.

For the last three years, Multi-Sport world champion, New Zealander Richard Ussher, has taken top honours in the race, beating out local athletes like diligent duathlete Diane Henderson, seasoned marathoners Clarence Tobias and Cantius Thomas and strong cyclists like Sean de Freitas, as well as other international athletes such as American Mitchell Figueroa, who has participated in the Ironman European Championship in Germany, and South African paddler Martin Dreyer, who has had experience racing in New Zealand's Speight's Coast to Coast-the most elite race on the international multi-sport racing calendar.

Prizes for this year's event include more than US$10,500 in cash for the winners in various categories. Those interested in taking part in the Tropical Power Coast 2 Coast 2009 can log on to www.trinidadcoast2coast.com to register.

Eric Murphy returns for Tobago Classic

Former three-time runner-up Eric Murphy is coming back to Tobago for the 2009 edition of the Tobago International Cycling Classic.

Murphy, who suffered a serious crash in the 2005 edition of the race, will again team up with local favourite and seven-time winner Emile Abraham.

Both will ride for Team BarCode in Division One. Also scheduled to ride for BarCode are Englishmen Pete Williams and James Sampson and Canadians  Danille Defrancheschi and Jean-Michel Lachance.

So far, eight other teams from Europe and the Caribbean have registered for the five-stage race which will be contested from September 30 to October 4. However, not yet certain to take part is last year's winner, Keith Blackgrove of New Zealand.

In addition to the international race, there will again be competition  in the juniors, masters and ladies categories.

Following are the confirmed riders and teams  in Division One:

Team Racing Students (Germany)- Christoph Kindle, Andreas Feistel, Michael Schweizer, Florian Geyer, Valentin Holtz, Benjamin Diemer, Jonathan Obländer.

Team SVL Sportassekuranz (Sweden)- Karsten Gerhard, Karsten Eggert, Jan Van Puifelde, Jorg Scherf, Axel Hauschke, Sebastien Mensebach.

 Austrian National Team (Austria)- Werner Riebenbauer, Franz Grasmann, Andreas Graf, Georg Tazreiter, Andreas Muller, Christian Lademann.

Team Saxony (Germany)-Erik Mohs, Sasha Damrow, Julian Rammler, Timo Scholz, Roland Wenz.Â

Team BarCode (Composite lnternational)-Emile Abraham- Trinidad and Tobago, Eric Murphy-US, Pete Williams-England, James Sampson-England, Danille Defrancheschi-Canada, Jean-Michel Lachance - Canada.

 Windward Islands (Caribbean)-Tyron Thomas-Grenada, Sydney-Grenada, Kurt Maraj-St Lucia, Sammy Joseph-St Lucia, Sydney Charles-St Lucia, Winston Williams-St Lucia.

Team Heatwave (Caribbean)-Guy Costa-Trinidad and Tobago, Marloe Rodman -Jamaica, Jude Bentley- Guyana, Steve McEwen- Scotland, Atze Dijkhuis- Holland.

 Team Trek (Caribbean)-Colin Wilson- Trinidad and Tobago, Linford Blackwood -Jamaica, Dean Martin- Jamaica, Oneil Samuel- Jamaica, Phillip Clarke- Barbados, Jason Perryman-Barbados.

Team Foundation (USA)-Joshua Alexander-Trinidad and Tobago, Adam Alexander-Trinidad and Tobago.

WICB appoint new CEO

The West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) confirmed Ernest Hilaire as its new chief executive officer (CEO) yesterday.

The WICB said in a press release that Hilaire's appointment becomes effective October 1, confirming an early September CMC story.

Hilaire replaces Donald Peters, who departed the post in July, and he will immediately confront the contractual crisis between the WICB and the players' union that has crippled West Indies cricket.

"The WICB is facing an extremely difficult challenge as it seeks to establish a new framework for the development of cricket in the region and Dr Hilaire is expected to be pivotal in shaping and managing the transformation which is required," WICB President Julian Hunte stated in yesterday's press release.

Hilaire becomes the fifth CEO of the regional cricket board in the last nine years, after Gregory Shillingford, Roger Brathwaite, Bruce Aanensen, and Peters.

"The Board of Directors is pleased to welcome Dr. Hilaire as CEO and looks forward to a period of stability and organisational growth and development under his leadership," Hunte added.

Hilaire has had a very close relationship with West Indies cricket, particularly in the last few years, when he served as CEO of World Cup St Lucia.

He had played an important role in the development and presentation of St Lucia's bid to host matches in the 2007 ICC Cricket World Cup and was previously appointed tournament director of next year's Twenty20 World Cup to be staged in the Caribbean.

He was also a former Permanent Secretary of Youth and Sports in St. Lucia, under the Kenny Anthony Administration, during whose tenure the Beausejour Cricket Ground in Gros-Islet and the George Odlum Stadium in Vieux Fort were constructed.

Hilaire is a graduate of the University of the West Indies and possesses an MPhil. (Master of Philosophy) in International Relations from the University of Cambridge, and a PhD from the London School of Economics.

The post was reported to have attracted more than 30 applicants from the Caribbean, the United States, and from as far way as New Zealand.

Caribbean heads plan for action in WI cricket

CARICOM Heads of Government have always taken the position that the management of West Indies cricket is the province of the West Indies Cricket Board and their affiliate organisations.

This notwithstanding, the Heads of Government have always been cognizant of their responsibility as representatives of the Caribbean people in the region and the diaspora for whom cricket is one of the major integrating factors.Â

This fact was primarily responsible for the establishment of the Prime Ministerial Sub- Committee on Cricket [13 years ago] at the onset of the dramatic decline in the performance of the West Indies teams.Â

The PMSC was established to lend support to a process of rebuilding, both in terms of the performance of the team and in strengthening the organisation of cricket in the region.

Heads of Government expanded the role of the PMSC in the context of the successful bid by the region to be hosts to the 2007 World Cup.Â

The Governments were intricately involved in supporting the WICB in the bidding process, and subsequently invested substantially in large scale infrastructure through enhanced or new stadia and facilities for cricket throughout the region - all this at great cost to its taxpayers.

Over the past 10 years in particular, the Heads of Government as well as all stakeholders in West Indies, have endured the fracturing of relations and distrust between WICB and the West Indies Players Association.Â

The current situation, if not resolved IMMEDIATELY, will no doubt destroy the fabric on which to base any hope of reviving the region's standing in international cricket, or building a solid future for West Indies cricket.

It is under these circumstances that the PMSC has decided to intervene in the process at this time and make recommendations on a feasible way forward, following the aborted mediation exercise chaired by Sir Shridath Ramphal and initiated by the Chairman of the Community, President Bharrat Jagdeo [of Guyana], with the agreement of WICB and WIPA.

The main concern of the Heads of Government is restoring the image and status of West Indies cricket regionally and internationally.

Consequently the PMSC has recommended [that] WICB and WIPA, with the assistance of the CARICOM Secretariat, to agree on a formula and minimum criteria that allow the WICB to select the best West Indies team as follows:

(a) Players to make themselves available for selection in accordance with normal WICB requirements, in particular, participation in the regional tournaments;

(b) WICB to agree to the television/image rights fees (sponsor's fees) traditionally paid to players pending the special arbitration on this issue to facilitate the signing of retainer contracts by October 1 this year;

(c) WICB and WIPA to agree on the implementation of: (1) the special arbitration process provided for in the Mediator's draft agreement, i.e. on 'Team rights' and 'the India tour'; and (2) best efforts by the CARICOM Secretariat in the first instance to facilitate the resolution of the other outstanding issues proposed by WICB and WIPA, or the pursuit of arbitration if necessary, such arbitration not to delay the return of West Indies cricket to normalcy;

(d) CARICOM to convene a Stakeholders meeting at the earliest practicable date to discuss the future of West Indies cricket, taking account of the WICB's Development Plan, as well as the Report of the Patterson Committee established by WICB;

(e) The WICB to inform the International Cricket Council of the action taken by Caribbean Governments with the object of returning West Indies cricket to its accustomed place in world cricket in consonance with the highest traditions of the sport as upheld by the ICC; and

(f) The Prime Ministerial Sub-Committee on Cricket will monitor compliance with the above agreed measures based on periodic reports from the CARICOM Secretariat

ICC mulling on Tendulkar's ODI-splitting idea

When Sachin Tendulkar speaks, the world listens and International Cricket Council is now planning to split one-day matches into two innings of 25 overs each, an idea mooted by the Indian batting great earlier this month.

In order to spice up the one-day format, Tendulkar had proposed that every team should play two innings of 25 overs each and ICC Cricket Manager Dave Richardson said the governing body might soon conduct a trial.

"I quite like that idea. I believe South Africa may try something along those lines," Richardson told BBC Sport.

"This might work in day/night cricket where one team has to bat in the day and the other at night. It provides something different and reduces the effects on the team who loses the toss and has to bat first on a damp wicket, for example," he said.

Even though Tendulkar aired his views earlier this month, Richardson said the idea had popped up in the past as well and came up for discussion at the annual ICC Cricket Committee meeting in May.

One-day cricket is already facing a tough challenge from Twenty20 and the England and Wales Cricket Board scrapped Friends Provident trophy, the only 50-over domestic tournament, in favour of a Twenty20 event.

Richardson, however, is concerned that splitting a match into two innings would mean less centuries, as batsmen would have less overs to bat.

"I don't necessarily like the idea of playing two matches of 25 overs each with the openers batting again. The charm of one-day cricket is seeing someone batting at four and scoring a good hundred," Richardson said.

"If you bat in the middle order of a Twenty20 or a new 25-over innings, you're not going to get much of an opportunity to hit three figures, one downside of the Twenty20 game," he said.

He, however, made it clear that such an experiment should be conducted at the domestic level before pushing it into international cricket.

"If it has been tried successfully at domestic level, it may be possible to give it a go-ahead at international level," he said.

"The ICC has been proactive with ideas and innovations, like the powerplays. The idea of the 'super-sub' wasn't as successful and got rid of quite quickly. One of the criticisms was that we trialled things at international as opposed to domestic level.

"Our tactics going forward are member countries trial changes first domestically and if they are successful, then we can take them on board at the international level," Richardson said.

The ICC Cricket Committee will discuss the result of the experiment when it meets next year.

West Indies will play hard - Reifer

West Indies' embattled Cham-pions Trophy squad left here Saturday for South Africa to beef up their preparations for international cricket's mini World Cup.

Minus its leading players due to the raging impasse between the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) and the players' union, the West Indies Players' Association (WIPA), the squad flew out of the Grantley Adams International Airport in the late afternoon.

They leave behind a firestorm, with the bitter contracts dispute that led to their selection for the September 22 to October 5 tournament, still dragging on despite attempts aimed at ending it.

The squad, which contains players with precious little international experience, has been given little chance of emerging from the tough group stage.

Make the region proud

Captain Floyd Reifer, however, told reporters the team would be aiming to make the region proud with its performances.

"All eyes will be on the West Indies but we are going to go out there and play for the six million people of the Caribbean," said the veteran Barbados batsman who has played just six Tests, two of them coming against Bangladesh in July."These people love cricket, they love West Indies cricket and we are going to go out there and play for those people. We don't have to prove a point to everybody in the world, we're just going to go out there and play hard for the people of the Caribbean."

West Indies, coming off a week-long training camp at Kensington Oval here, are scheduled to arrive in South Africa today and will undergo another training camp in Potchefstroom until September 16.

They will then play two warm-up matches, first against hosts South Africa on September 18 before clashing with Sri Lanka two days later.

Big-money cricket coming - Multimillion dollar league being planned for region

Wealthy investors are planning to mount a lucrative professional league in the Caribbean, which could see US$200 million invested over a five-year period.

A source with knowledge of the plans said the league, which could come on stream from as early as next year, would offer regional players cash-rich contracts and involve teams from all the major cricket territories in the region.

"A wealthy foreign investor is planning to come on board and assist the regional cricketers financially by putting in large sums of money," the official said.

"A number of smaller investors have come on board and they are now at a point where they can fund a professional league for five years.

"The organisers are expected to have four-day cricket, 50-over tournaments as well as the popular Twenty20 tournaments."

He said over 120 cricketers, including foreign players, would be offered five-year contracts to play for teams that are also expected to come from the United States and Canada.

The source pointed out, however, that the league was likely to pose problem with the players' availability for regional cricket and West Indies duty.

A plan is also being formulated that would see some of the profits from the tournament being reinvested in youth cricket and even women's cricket.

Mahendra Singh Dhoni enjoys a ride in a racing car

Indian cricket skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni on Sunday took a ride in a speeding car in a car rally here.

The rally was organized by the Karnataka Motor Sports Club.

After watching the whole event, Dhoni expressed his desire to drive one of the racing cars. But as per the rules of the rally, he was not allowed to drive. Instead, he went for a ride as a co-driver with the winners of the rally.

The winner of the race Arjun Baloo, along with his partner Sujeet Kumar, took Dhoni on a speedy trip. Dhoni sat on the front seat of co-driver and enjoyed the thrill.

"He enjoyed the drive very much and he was really excited going in the rally car. That's why we went for one extra round. He really enjoyed it and it was good fun," said Baloo.

Meanwhile, New Zealand Cricket Board CEO Justin Vaughan who was on a visit to Chennai for a local tournament expressed confidence of better performance by his team in the upcoming Champions Trophy to be played in South Africa.

"I think it is a good one day site. If our players come into form, I think South Africa is a good venue for us. It will be early season in South Africa. So I think the wicket will seam around a little bit," said Vaughan.

The ICC Champions Trophy will be held in South Africa from September 22 to October 5. All the matches will be held in two venues, - Wanderers in Johannesburg and Centurion in Pretoria.

A total of eight teams will take part in this year's Champions Trophy. The teams are divided into two groups. New Zealand will face England, South Africa and Sri Lanka in Group B of the tournament while defending champions Australia, West Indies, Pakistan and India are placed in the other group.

The winner will bag a total prize money of four million dollars.

Australia tumble from top, cricket rises from ashe

The jury is still out on whether England's superb Ashes victory will help revive Test cricket in the time of Twenty20, but Australia's tumble from the number one spot arguably heralds the most exciting phase in the history of the game.

Not since the 1960s when England, Australia, West Indies and South Africa looked to be on equal terms has the sport seemed as profuse in talent -- only now, it is far more competitive and infinitely richer in terms of money and texture of play. Better financial rewards have shaped a new, market-driven aggressive attitude that has facilitated greater expression of skill and ensured more results than draws.

A visibly chastened Ricky Ponting, while chomping on humble pie on Sunday, acknowledged that Australia's stranglehold over the game was virtually over and the field was now wide open. Australia have been acknowledged as world champions since 1993-94 and have held the number one position from the inception of the ICC rankings in 2003. The Oval defeat saw them fall to number 4, behind South Africa, Sri Lanka and India.

Yet, only six points separate the top side from the number four suggesting an exciting race for supremacy in the next 12 months. Of these four, India have the opportunity to take the number 1 position if they win a home series 2-0 against Sri Lanka this October. But to retain this position for some length of time, they must win the away series against South Africa late next year - and almost everything else in between - which should be great incentive for MS Dhoni and his team.

This entails maintaining superb form playing overseas and consistency overall. While Indian cricketers had traditionally been poor tourists, there is reason for optimism. The trend was bucked when Sourav Ganguly's team drew against Steve Waugh's side in 2003-4 and though the 2008 series was lost, the Indians succeeded in dismantling the aura of invincibility around the Australians. Since then, they have beaten Ponting's team at home and defeated New Zealand in New Zealand emphatically too.

In that context, Australia's fall from the top has been has not been such a surprise. In the last two years, out of 23 Tests, Ponting has won nine but also lost eight. In this period, he has also lost the services of four or five supremely gifted players. Compare this with 30 victories and just three defeats from the previous 38 Tests he captained, and the unhappy Aussie captain's plight is evident.

Happily for him, though, Ponting has the support of his board and selectors and retains his job, despite being only the second captain to lose two Ashes series. Australia's cricket ethos rarely allows a captain to remain in the team if he loses his job, so if he was sacked, Ponting would have probably retired. That would have meant losing one of the game's best batsmen still.

In the dilemma, the Australian administrators hope, also lies the redemption.

Dravid must make his return relevant

Considering last week's events, diehard romantics of Indian cricket might be excused in believing that they were watching a rerun of an old blockbuster instead of a new film for a new season.

Sourav Ganguly and John Wright, it is being widely speculated, will team up again as captain and coach -- albeit for Kolkata Knight Riders -- and Rahul Dravid finds himself back in the one-day squad.

Of these, Dravid's return is obviously the more significant, but in some ways also the moresurprising. For almost two years, the formerIndia captain has not even been within miles of being in the one-day team; just when he would have decided to consign the blue uniform to the attic, Messrs Srikkanth & Co have asked him to revise his calling card.

From every available indication, Dravid's return is not based on compassion. There has been undisguised concern within the administration (and which has also spilled over to fans) over Team India's recent results: a quick exit from the World T20 and a huff 'n' puff victory over the West Indies. This could have compelled the selectors to plump for experience to steady the boat.

Hacking youngsters in favour of a senior statesman when the stated policy had been to build a young side for the next World Cup is contentious (some might argue retrograde), but the precious Rohit Sharma has sadly muffed up far too many opportunities to retain the faith of even his supporters.

It is no secret that MS Dhoni has not been enamoured of Dravid being in the limited overs sides, but the past three months have not been particularly kind to him as captain. Several young batsmen have proved inconsistent or technically inept and with Viru Sehwag still injured, he might be fortunate that someone with vast experience is still around.

Indeed, Dravid's fantastic ODI record could provide relief to Dhoni. With 10,585 runs to his name (the third highest aggregate by any Indian) and an average just short of 40, he has been a class act. However his strike rate is a none-too-daunting 71.22, and while this includes scores of matches where he played the pivot to the strokeplayers, Dravid has to improve this rate substantially to make his return relevant.
***
Like all lovers of Test cricket, I have been delighted by the Ashes contest which reaches its climax this week. What has intrigued me, however, is the hostile reception Ricky Ponting has received from the crowds at most grounds.

There must be something about the Australian captain's personality (it can't be his batting surely) which people other than just Harbhajan Singh and Sunil Gavaskar also find irksome. Among post-War Australian captains the English have loved to hate, Ponting now stands alongside Ian Chappell.

In the all-time list of most disliked captain from either side in an Ashes contest, however, Douglas Jardine remains unmatched.

The story goes that during the controversial 1932-33 series, the England captain was waving flies away from his face on a hot, humid day when a voice boomed across the stadium, "Hey Jardine, let them be, they are your only friends in Australia." Ponting, all said and done, has more.

And finally, cricket's big sacrifice has not been in vain. By all accounts, Usain Bolt was a promising fast bowler in his school days in Jamaica, till he was weaned away into athletics.

Would Bolt have been in the same class as, say Mike Holding, Malcolm Marshall, Curtly Ambrose et al? Perhaps even better, but perish the thought. Who then would have run the 100m in 9.58 sec and redefined the limits of human achievement?