All posts by csb10.top

: “I didn’t watch the game. But I think Mankading should be looked at like any other dismissal. The batsman should not be leaving the crease before the ball is released. Simple. If he does he pays the price for it. Not the bowler’s fault.”: “Was the bowler actually in his delivery stride in the first place? He just ran through and knocked the stumps over, I don’t think he was ever going to bowl the ball. I was surprised that the umpires called for it to be reviewed. I thought they may choose to say, ‘No, the ball has to be bowled and it’s not out.’ And the final thing was I thought it was too tight to call. I think the batsman should have got the benefit of the doubt once it went to the third umpire. I wasn’t convinced that it should have been actually given out.”I don’t think Mankading should be a part of the game at all. I think if you are in the spirit of the game then why would you end up like this? There was two runs to win, you are playing and Under-19 World Cup, games are being beamed all around the world and to see that type of thing happen was very unsportsmanlike.”Anyway the Zimbabwe player wasn’t looking like he was trying to get advantage. If he was out, he was only just out. And I think he may not have been out anyway. So it wasn’t as if he was a metre down the pitch. It didn’t look like he was trying to take advantage.”: “The spirit of cricket says that you should give a warning to the batsman. But technically he is out if he left the crease. As a gentleman you should give a warning that’s what the spirit of cricket teaches you.”It happened once in the 1987 World Cup too between West Indies and Pakistan when Abdul Qadir won us the match. Courtney Walsh was bowling the last over and he chose to give a warning [to Saleem Jaffer]. Pakistan will always remember Walsh for that gesture and the gentleman’s spirit he showed.”For the Under-19 players this is the age and time to learn about the spirit of cricket. When it comes to the technical situation the batsman is out but the spirit of cricket teaches you to be fair and square.”: “It’s not something I would have probably done but I think we have to leave all the emotion aside. Historically there’s been a bad connotation to mankading. The law has been adjusted and it is in the law books and people talk about the spirit of the game.”Is sledging part of spirit of the game? A batsman at the non-striker’s end stealing a couple of yards – this didn’t happen here, it was just an inch or two, if so much – a batsman backing up a couple of feet down the track off the last ball to win a game, let’s say, in a World Cup, is that within the spirit of the game? So those are the questions we have to ask. If the law is there, that was within the law.”

Former India allrounder WV Raman has been named the batting coach of the National Cricket Academy. The NCA governing board has also appointed TA Sekhar and Narendra Hirwani as the fast bowling and spin bowling coaches respectively.NCA chairman Niranjan Shah told ESPNcricinfo their roles were “full time” and all three men would be stationed in Bangalore, where the NCA is currently located.It is also learnt that academies will be established in each of the five zones, and about 30 coaches will be appointed in January to look after under-16 and under-19 cricketers. “They will also work as Talent and Resources Development Wing (TRDW) officers,” Shah said. “Since the selectors can’t see every player, these coaches can identify talented players and report to the selectors.”The TRDW was set up by former BCCI president Jagmohan Dalmiya in 2001 and was headed by Dilip Vengsakarkar, who is the current director of the NCA. Players like MS Dhoni, Suresh Raina, Piyush Chawla and RP Singh had been identified in this way.An NCA official indicated these five academies will be located in Dharamsala, Ranchi, Nagpur, Vadodara and Wayanad, but Shah said the venues haven’t yet been confirmed.Raman, who has been working on commentary assignments for the BCCI, and Sekhar, who is director at Delhi Daredevils may face some issues regarding conflict of interest. Shah said Raman and Sekar couldn’t continue those roles in accordance with the board’s conflict of interest guidelines. Hirwani had already been in the midst of such an issue, and had voluntarily resigned from his post as Madhya Pradesh selector given his son Mihir represented MP.The BCCI have been trying to reinvigorate the National Cricket Academy and though it has been run out of Bangalore so far, BCCI joint secretary and NCA convener Amitabh Chaudhary said they will look into finding a permanent centre in a month’s time.

The fate of the bilateral series between Pakistan and India, to be played in Sri Lanka, now lies in the hands of the governments of both countries. Both the BCCI and PCB confirmed that they had written to their governments asking for clearance for the tour, which is likely to feature five limited-overs games – three ODIs and two T20s. This is the first official confirmation offered by the BCCI about the decision taken to play the bilateral series in Sri Lanka.Anurag Thakur, the BCCI secretary, said he had written to the Indian Foreign Ministry on Tuesday. “I have written a letter to the Foreign Ministry seeking clearance to play with Pakistan in Sri Lanka,” Thakur told PTI. “According to the agreement of India and Pakistan, both teams were supposed to play in the UAE or at any other neutral venue if the conditions in Pakistan were not suitable. It is up to Pakistan as to where they want to play. After discussions with the BCCI and PCB, both countries have decided to play in Sri Lanka.”The decision to play the series in Sri Lanka was taken at the meeting between BCCI president Shashank Manohar and PCB chairman Shaharyar Khan in Dubai on Sunday. The PCB, though, did not mention Sri Lanka as the venue in a media release issued today, saying the final decision would be announced publicly by ECB president Giles Clarke, who was present as a facilitator during the Dubai meeting between the two boards.”There has been much speculative reportage on the PCB-BCCI discussions in Dubai under the facilitation of Mr Giles Clarke. The facts are as follows: a) PCB has informed the government of the talks in Dubai that were regarded as fruitful. The PCB has not asked for an NOC from government for it is the government’s prerogative to decide on the issue. b) Similarly, BCCI is also seeking its government’s views on these matters. c) No request has been received from BCCI regarding the sharing of revenues. d) In due course, Mr Giles Clarke would brief the media of developments,” the release said.Both sides have been tightlipped after the meeting, divulging few specific details including the possible dates for the series. However officials who have been privy to details of the Dubai meeting indicated they the series could be played between December 15 and the first week of January. India then travel to Australia to play a limited-overs series, which begins on January 12.

Peter Willey, the chairman of the umpires’ association, has admitted he is pleased to see Darrell Hair restored to the ICC’s elite panel. Hair was removed from the elite panel in the aftermath of The Oval Test in 2006 but the ICC have now welcomed him back into the fold.”I think everyone felt for Darrell as an umpire really,” he said. “He did what he thought was right. He wasn’t backed up and he paid the price. I am glad he has come back, I hope he does well and has a long future as a Test umpire. I’ve always found him an honest man and a good umpire. He is a strong umpire. Some people don’t like that.”Willey, a former England batsman who went on to umpire in 25 Tests, also defended umpires in general, adding that TV replays were putting them under increasing pressure.”When I finished, all this technology was just coming in and you’ve got the added pressure of, every time you go in the middle, of everything being dissected in super slow-motion. People forget you’ve got a split-second to give an honest decision.”If the technology that they use on the TV is 100% accurate, I would say use the TV. But I don’t think it is 100% accurate. There are loads of things they can’t pick up. I don’t agree with Hawkeye. I don’t think it gives a very honest description of where the ball pitches or is going. On certain pitches, you pitch the ball in the same spot and one delivery will go up and one will go down so, how they can predict where the ball will go, I just don’t know.”Then there is the case of bat-pad appeals. They tried it out a competition in South Africa a few years ago. Batsmen were asked to give an honest opinion on six bat-pad catches and every time the TV got it wrong. It is very difficult, even in slow motion, to decide whether the ball has hit the bat or not.”

Mark Boucher wanted Adam Gilchrist to extend his career by a year so the world’s top two Test wicketkeepers could have one final showdown on the field. Australia are hosting a three-Test series against South Africa next season before a return series in South Africa and Boucher said he was disappointed Gilchrist would not be part of it.Boucher will almost certainly reclaim the world Test wicketkeeping record from Gilchrist when he next plays a match and there will be no ongoing battle for the title as there was with Shane Warne and Muttiah Muralitharan’s bowling mark. Boucher is only 31 and therefore has plenty of time to put a significant gap between his final tally and Gilchrist’s record of 416 dismissals.”I sent him a message to say how disappointed I was to hear that he was calling it a day because the last time I saw him I told him he’d better keep his incredible career going so that we could have one last showdown at the end of the year,” Boucher told the . “It was a big shock to hear he was going. But everyone knows how important his family is to him so I’m sure he made the right call. I’ll miss him a lot.”If I think of the great innovators of my time, guys who revolutionised the game and made people see it in a different way, I’d say Jonty Rhodes and Adam Gilchrist would be top of the pile. Jonty changed the way people thought of fielding and Gilly has set the bar so high for the next generation of keeper-batsmen that it’s almost unfair.”Boucher’s captain Graeme Smith said Gilchrist would always have his respect. “The way he made an effort to contact Boucher when he broke the world record was typical of him,” Smith said. “We were in Pakistan and Australia were in India. It just wasn’t a question of dialling a local number.

Tim Nielsen wants Australia to emerge from their first-final loss with an aggressive mind-set during the key moments of their must-win encounter at the Gabba on Tuesday. Nielsen was disappointed his team stumbled a couple of times when it had control at the SCG, where India won by six wickets, and asked the players to sharpen their outlook after two sloppy defeats in three days.”It’s probably the mental side of the game that’s let us down in the last couple of games,” Nielsen said. “We had a couple of situations [at the SCG] when we felt we were on top and then gave our wickets away, which then put us back under pressure. For us to have some success in this series we have to make sure we take the game by the throat when we have the opportunity and don’t give up that momentum.”The 100-run partnership between Matthew Hayden and Andrew Symonds threatened to revive Australia after they were 3 for 24 in Sydney, but both batsmen departed to outfield catches in quick succession and they were in more severe discomfort at 5 for 135. The home side also sensed a chance shortly before the halfway stage of the India innings and was unable to maintain the bowling or fielding intensity required to prevent India from cruising to victory.Team meetings were held in the dressing room after Sunday’s game and in Brisbane on Monday as they contemplated how to fight back. “The biggest challenge for all of us is not to get too carried away with one loss,” Nielsen said. “We certainly had a chat last night and Ricky put it pretty clearly what he expected from the group, not just about playing cricket but the way we present ourselves and the way we go about our things. We want to make sure we’re competing for 100 overs of the game.”Australia’s players feel comfortable at the Gabba and are excited to be playing on a pitch with bounce and carry, especially when compared with the lower and slower surfaces around the country. The team will accept any advantage knowing that it has to win the second match to extend the series to a third final in Adelaide on Friday.”It is a tough challenge, it’s not the ideal situation to be in, to be 1-0 down,” Nielsen said. “India played better than us and we didn’t play to our potential, so our challenge now is to have a quick turnaround and get ready to go and put our best foot forward.”

West Zone proceeded cautiously to end the second day on 174 for 5 off 76overs against North Zone as heavy fog prevented play till the afternoon forthe second day running in their Duleep Trophy match at the Punjab CA groundin Mohali on Friday.Resuming at 67 for 1, Hrishikesh Kanitkar (61) and Wasim Jaffer (39) tookthe score to 100. Jaffer was the first to return to the pavilion, caught byA Chopra off Aashish Nehra in 45th over of the innings. Jacob Martin (17)then joined Kanitkar and the two took the score to 155. Martin was thenext to go, trapped leg before by RS Sodhi off the second ball of the 61stover.Five balls later Kanitkar followed Martin to the pavilion. By the time hefell to a catch by Chopra off Surendra Singh, Kanitkar had been at thecrease for 227 minutes and faced 145 balls and hit ten fours. New batsmanAbijeet Kale battled for well over an hour to score just six runs off 41balls. Kale fell just before stumps, for a catch by Pankaj Dharmani offAasish Nehra. Niraj Patel (11) then accompanied his skipper Nayan Mongia(1) back to the pavilion at the end of the day.

Brett Lee is not surprised that Twenty20 looks set to expand beyond the existing tournaments and he has repeated calls for the ICC to do what it can to accommodate the format in its existing calendar. Lee is in Mohali preparing for his first match in the Indian Premier League (IPL), for the Kings XI Punjab against Chennai on Saturday.However, this year’s IPL could be just the beginning of the Twenty20 explosion with suggestions of two IPL tournaments to be held next year, while Allen Stanford is planning a US$20 million match. England are also considering developing their own domestic version of the IPL.”Twenty20 is now a proven form of the game and, as we have seen all over the world in the last few years, it is something the fans love,” Lee told the Sydney Morning Herald. “It’s not too hard to see other people wanting to get on board and competitions popping up around the place, especially if the IPL is successful.”But the last thing you want to see is players leaving their countries to sign up with Twenty20 competitions. My heart is always with the baggy green cap and that is where my loyalty will always lie, but I can’t see why there can’t be room for both types of cricket. I think the people who run the game need to allow a window of opportunity for players to play in the IPL to avoid problems in the future.”Lee believes the first IPL will be a success and he is confident that after the recent fractious Test series, tensions between Australia and India players have eased. His team-mates at Mohali include Irfan Pathan, Yuvraj Singh and Sreesanth, and Lee hopes playing together will help men from the two nations better understand each other.”Everyone knows there was an incident or two in Australia last summer, but that is water under the bridge,” he said. “It’s a competitive game and players can occasionally cross the line, and that can get blown out of proportion sometimes with the way the media portrays it.”From my experiences in India, I genuinely think people love the Australian team, despite everything that’s been said. I also think that with players from different countries now sharing the same dressing room, it is a great opportunity for all of us to learn more about each other, about our cricket and cultures, and improve the whole mood of the game.”

A decision on whether or not Mohammad Yousuf will be allowed to play in the Indian Premier League (IPL) is expected to be made on March 29, following a final hearing of the Mumbai-based arbitration court looking into the dispute.Yousuf had initially signed up for the unsanctioned Indian Cricket League (ICL) last year, seemingly in protest after he was dropped from the Pakistan squad for the Twenty20 World Championships. The Pakistan board, however, eventually convinced him to change his mind and renege on his contract, luring him back with the promise of an IPL contract.The ICL, understandably, took the matter to an arbitration court, claiming that Yousuf had already signed up and his contract prevented him from playing in any rival league. The matter has been stuck in a legal limbo since then, a few hearings this year so far not resolving anything.Yousuf was the only player whose services remained unsold at the recent IPL auctions, franchises undoubtedly hesitant over his legal status. Yousuf himself is said to be annoyed that the Pakistan board hasn’t resolved the matter yet, but officials maintain that full support is being provided.”The PCB is fully defending Yousuf’s decision to play in the IPL,” Nasim Ashraf, chairman PCB, told Cricinfo. “We have lawyers in India handling the matter and a legal representative from the board has also been there at the hearings. The last hearing went on for considerably longer than expected but a final decision is now expected on March 29.”Ashraf also revealed that though Yousuf had not been ‘bought’ by any franchise, the IPL had guaranteed to match the package that the ICL had offered to him initially.

Former KCA chairman Sharad Ghai has told The Nation that Cricket Kenya is in breach of an agreement with the ICC by not holding elections.The annual elections should have been held in June 2007 but the repeated failure of the Nairobi Provincial Cricket Association to amend its own constitution and hold its own elections has led to the delay. The NPCA is Kenya’s largest constituent body and yet it has failed to produce accounts or hold annual meetings for more than three years. CK has deemed it wrong to hold elections with the NPCA is such a mess and with its executive being so unrepresentative and has been attempting to get the situation resolved. It has , however, been faced with endless stalling tactics by the embattled executive.Ghai told The Nation: “CK should not use the delay in the amendments of the Nairobi Provincial Cricket Association’s constitution as an excuse for delaying the elections because they would not affect the number of delegates allocated to the province.”However, what this overlooks is that the number of NPCA delegates is not the issue. It is the manner in which those delegates are selected that is a problem. A number of those that sit on the NPCA executive are not accredited delegates of any club. Yet they can attend meetings, purport to stand again and again for a post within NPCA and also vote for themselves to get onto the CK executive.Furthermore, in 2005, in his last weeks as chairman of the KCA, Ghai actually wrote to the NPCA reminding them that they had to call an AGM to amend the constitution and that was acknowledged by Salim Dhanji, the then NPCA chairman, who has since distanced himself from the current executive. That meeting has still to be held.Ghai’s comments will be read with incredulity by many stakeholders. He was a key member of the old Kenyan Cricket Association when it suspended the NPCA and replaced it with an unrepresentative body. For several years the KCA failed to hold elections and was almost utterly unaccountable. Ghai was forced from office after a year in which the players went on strike and Kenya’s sports minister sought to have the KCA disbanded. Eventually, the KCA was forced to hold elections after pressure from the Africa Cricket Association and the ICC.There has been concern that Ghai was attempting to get back into administration ever since he reappeared as a representative of Nairobi Gymkhana on the NPCA council last year. That The Nation, whose journalists gained a reputation of being sympathetic to Ghai while being critical of CK at any opportunity, are again giving him a platform will be seen as further evidence that a comeback is on the cards.Cricinfo has flagged the problems within the NPCA on many occasions and the executive, which remains in office despite widespread criticism from its own members, has engineered continual delays in holding its annual meeting which can force through amendments necessary to enable CK to move ahead.CK has shown immense patience as it has not wanted to interfere in what is in essence a local matter. But there are signs that patience is running out for the NPCA to gets its own house in order.