Tuesday, September 4, 2012

Ashes cartoon


Pakistan not happy on Ajmal overlook in ICC awards

Pakistan lodged a protest with cricket’s governing body Monday over the exclusion of off-spinner Saeed Ajmal from the shortlist of an annual award, saying they hope his name will be included after a review.
The 34-year-old’s name did not feature among the four nominees for the coveted ‘Test Cricketer of the Year’ award, despite being Test cricket’s leading wicket-taker in the period under consideration.
South Africa’s Hashim Amla and Vernon Philander, Sri Lanka’s Kumar Sangakkara and Australia’s Michael Clarke all made the list.
The International Cricket Council holds the annual awards ceremony to recognise the best players and umpire in international cricket.
The names are chosen by a 30-member jury comprising of former players, officials and journalists. This year’s ceremony will be held in Colombo on September 15.
Ajmal took 72 wickets in the 12 month period, including 24 in Pakistan’s 3-0 rout of then world number one Test team England earlier this year.
Pakistan Cricket Board spokesman Nadeem Sarwar said they have written to the ICC on Ajmal’s omission.
‘Yes, we have shown our concerns on Ajmal’s name not shortlisted for Test player of the year award despite his excellent performance in Tests during that stipulated period,’ Sarwar told AFP.
‘We hope that the ICC will reconsider this and include Ajmal’s name,’ he added.
Graeme Swann was omitted from a shortlist in 2010 but was later included after England put up his case. South Africa also objected to the omission of their players and boycotted the 2009 ceremony held in Johannesburg.
Despite his omission from the award shortlist, Ajmal’s name has been included in ICC’s best Test team of the year.
http://www.newagebd.com/detail.php?date=2012-09-05&nid=22584#.UEaFNrLiaUE

day-night first-class match in the forthcoming National Cricket Leagu

The Bangladesh Cricket Board said on Tuesday that it will introduce day-night first-class match in the forthcoming National Cricket League in line with the guideline of the International Cricket Council.  
‘The opening game and the final match of National Cricket League will be a day-night affair and a pink ball will be used as per the rule of the ICC,’ BCB president AHM Mustafa Kamal told reporters at a news conference after an emergency meeting.   
Kamal added that the forthcoming NCL, which is expected to begin on October 14, will be franchise-based, something which they have planned for years but could not implement. 
‘We are not sure if we have a franchise for one or two teams but let’s begin it from somewhere,’ said Kamal.  
The lone first-class tournament of the country began in 2000-01 and since then the respective divisions used to run their team. 
It was also decided that each division will have a cricket operation manager who will look after their respective divisions.
‘We will select those managers but they have to be from those divisions,’ said Kamal.
‘He will look after and be a part of the team as well as provide us with the development chart in those respective divisions,’ he added. 
In the meeting, the disciplinary matter related to batsman Shahriar Nafees‘conduct during the Bangladesh ‘A’ team’s recent tour of India has been referred to the BCB’s disciplinary committee and the committee has been asked to submit a report in 14 days. 
Shahriar was sent back home from the middle of the Shafi Dharashah tournament after team management reported against him for behaving rudely during a match against the host side. 
The performance of the Under-19 team in the ICC U-19 World Cup in Australia was also evaluated and it was decided that the two top performers of Bangladesh in the tournament would be rewarded with TK 2, 00,000 each. 
The other members of the squad will get Tk one lakh each. The BCB also announced a cash incentive for the national players who won 3-0 against Ireland in a recent Twenty20 series. The detail of the incentives for Ireland series, however, was not provided.
http://www.newagebd.com/detail.php?date=2012-09-05&nid=22577#.UEaE5bLiaUE

Bangladesh player banned


Former Bangladesh cricketer Shariful Haque has been banned for an indefinite period after spot-fixing allegations made against him before the Bangladesh Premier League by Mashrafe Mortaza were substantiated, BCB president said after a board meeting.
Haque played one ODI for Bangladesh, against India, in 1998 and had unofficially retired from the game. He worked with Biman, the national airline, which Mortaza represents in the Dhaka Premier League.

Tendulkar bowled

Surprising as it may sound but senior Indian batsman Sachin Tendulkar’s defence has been breached three times in a row in the ongoing Test series against New Zealand.
After being bowled in the first innings of the first Test in Hyderabad and the first innings here, Tim Southee made it three in a row when he disturbed Tendulkar’s middle stump on Monday.
Revered worldwide for his record-breaking feats and his sound technique and temperament, the veteran batsman’s campaign in the two-match series got off to a poor start after Trent Boult cleaned him up for just 19, uprooting the middle stump in the first Test, and it continued in the second match here.
Doug Bracewell went through Tendulkar’s defence after he left a gap between his bat and pads in the first innings of the ongoing match.
Tim Southee then piled on Tendulkar’s agony as the Kiwi pacer knocked the middle stump after clipping his pad with a delivery that came back into the right-hander. That Tendulkar was playing across, did not help the batsman’s cause.
The batsman seemed quite frustrated with himself as he raised his bat in anger at the stumps.
Tendulkar, who has scored 15,489 in 189 Tests for an average of 55.31 prior to this match, has now being bowled 51 times in Test cricket. Rahul Dravid (55) and Allan Border (53) top the charts.
http://www.newagebd.com/detail.php?date=2012-09-04&nid=22482#.UEU8TrLiaUE

Kohli, Dhoni saved the day

India survived a mini collapse to sweep the series against a fighting New Zealand with a five-wicket victory on the penultimate day of the second and final Test in Bangalore on Monday.
The hosts slipped from 152-2 to 166-5 before achieving their 261-run target in the final session, thanks to a 96-run stand between man-of-the-match Virat Kohli (51 not out) and skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni (48 not out) under pressure.
India won the opening Test by an innings and 115 runs in Hyderabad.
New Zealand fought well as they twice neutralised India’s advantage to storm back into the match on a good pitch before Dhoni and Kohli steered their team home, much to the delight of the nearly 15,000 spectators.
The Indian captain finished the match with a six over mid-wicket off off-spinner Jeetan Patel, who took three wickets. Dhoni hit two sixes and three fours, while Kohli cracked nine fours.
‘Virat’s batting was superb. He fought well and soaked up the pressure. We all knew that after 40-45 overs it would easier,’ said Dhoni.
‘The spinners bowled brilliantly and the catching was good.’
India were 77 without loss after brisk knocks from Virender Sehwag (38) and Gautam Gambhir (34) and then 152-2 following a 69-run stand between Cheteshwar Pujara (48) and Sachin Tendulkar (27) before New Zealand struck back.
The tourists came back strongly after tea, which was taken early due to rain, as they dismissed well-set Pujara, Tendulkar and Suresh Raina (0) in the space of 14 runs.
The 39-year-old Tendulkar was bowled for a third successive innings in the series, this time by fast bowler Tim Southee, after hitting five fours in his 34-ball knock.
The world’s leading scorer in both Test and one-day cricket with an unprecedented 100 international centuries, Tendulkar finished the series without a half-century in three innings.
‘We had our chances and showed character to come back from a terrible Test in Hyderabad. We came with some standards we wanted to maintain, which we did in patches,’ said New Zealand skipper Ross Taylor.
‘They way Kohli and Dhoni batted was outstanding.’
Patel had Pujara caught by Daniel Flynn, who ran backwards from forward short-leg to take a superb diving catch, and then bowled Raina.
Tendulkar and Pujara steadied the innings after Sehwag and Gambhir had fallen in the morning in the space of six runs.
Pujara, who scored a solid 159 in the first Test, was on 37 when he survived a stumping chance off Patel as wicket-keeper Brendon McCullum failed to collect the ball.
McCullum kept wicket in place of Kruger van Wyk, who was injured after being struck on the arm by a delivery from paceman Umesh Yadav while batting on Sunday.
The New Zealand skipper pressed Patel into the attack in the 12th over after pacemen Trent Boult, Southee and Doug Bracewell had failed to provide the breakthrough in overcast conditions.
Sehwag lofted Patel over long-off, the first six of the innings, and then cut him for a four before falling in the same over. He stepped out to try another big shot, but missed the line and was bowled.
He smashed one six and seven fours in his 33-ball knock.
Gambhir went for his shots early in the innings, hitting Boult and Bracewell each for two successive fours before falling to a loose shot.
He was caught by Taylor at first slip off Boult after hitting seven fours in his 58-ball knock.
New Zealand were earlier bowled out for 248 in their second innings, adding 16 runs to their overnight total of 232-9.
Patel (22), the last man out, looked unhappy with the decision when given caught behind off left-arm paceman Zaheer Khan, as the TV replays suggested he had missed the ball.
Off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin finished with 5-69, his third five-wicket haul in four innings against New Zealand. He was named man of the series.
http://www.newagebd.com/detail.php?date=2012-09-04&nid=22479

Saturday, September 1, 2012

Superman Tendulkar


No Deccan Chargers in Indian Premier League


Deccan Chargers, the champions of second edition of Indian Premier League, is unlikely to feature in the next edition of the cash-rich league which may force the BCCI to lookout for a prospective buyer in the next few days.

"The IPL governing council members will be meeting on September 4 where a concrete decision regarding the future of Deccan Chargers will be taken. As of now, there is very little chance that DC will be playing in IPL VI as it is unable to resolve the financial problems. The Board will have to find a new buyer for the team," a top BCCI official toldPTI today.

In June this year, the Deccan Chronicle group had appointed Religare Capital Markets Ltd to advise it on selling of Deccan Chargers following approach "by multiple parties evincing interest in acquiring stake in the company's IPL team".

However, according to investment banking sources, financial liabilities of the franchise owner pushed away the prospective buyers and the matter has been intimated to the cricket board.

"None of the investors were really interested to buy a team with financial liabilities. Now, the owners have intimated the BCCI about their inability to sell the team. The BCCI has reportedly told them that they would now auction the team," a reliable source in investment banking sector informed.

The formal announcement will come within a few days but BCCI is likely to get a suitable replacement as many business houses are interested in buying a team.

"Obviously, for a new investor, the advantage will be that he would get a set team and also can buy a few more players. The BCCI will encash the bank guarantee and pay the salaries of the players," the Board official said.

The Deccan Chronicle group had acquired the franchise for USD 107 million (approximately Rs 588 crore) in 2008.
http://news.outlookindia.com/items.aspx?artid=773875