Category Uncategorized

John Wright, who has experienced the best and the worst of Indian cricket during his five-year tenure as India’s coach, has asked for some time and space for Greg Chappell, his successor, to make a difference to the Indian team.Chappell has had a stormy start to his tenure and the publication of a confidential email in which he had declared Sourav Ganguly “mentally and physically unfit” to lead India, has inflamed passions and polarised opinions. Despite an uneasy truce imposed by the Indian board, observers visualise a difficult period ahead if both Chappell and Ganguly stay in their current positions.Wright, however, was confident that Chappell would be able to work his way through. “There will always be a couple of bumpy issues along the way when you are in a coaching situation,” Wright said, “but I am sure the coach and team will be able to work together.”Wright refused to get into discussions about Chappell’s methods, saying that coaching styles differed from person to person. When asked if he was too soft on some of the players, Wright said: “The bottom line from my perspective as a coach is I work in my way. I know that several people made judgments on how I approached the job and generally it’s from their perspective. I know the way I did the job and I feel we made progress. At the end of the day you do it the way you want to do it. I certainly don’t have qualms about not being hard in the job.”I think you have to ask the players about those sorts of things. I had several years with the team – I enjoyed it, I loved the fans over there. It was probably my most enriching cricketing experience. We took the team to a certain stage and Greg and his team should take it a bit further forward.””My last seven months with the one-day team – the form was poor and Greg’s going about sorting that out. I know that they can play and they’ll get the results,” he said. “I always felt that India could be number one. They’re ranked third in the Test rankings and one-day form can turn around very quickly, as we showed in the World Cup [in 2003] and the ICC Champions Trophy [in 2004].”

Harbhajan Singh and Zaheer Khan have been included in India’s 20-man probables list for next month’s Asia Cup. The list also includes Amit Bhandari and Parthiv Patel.Harbhajan, 23, has not played since the first Test against Australia in December due to an injury to his bowling hand. He has since had surgery to repair the ligament tear, which was on his spinning finger. Zaheer has been troubled by a recurrent hamstring injury for some time. He was first sidelined in Australia, returned for India’s historic tour to Pakistan, but was sent home half-way through that series after breaking down again.Announcing the line-up, SK Nair, the board secretary, stated that the players would participate in a training camp in Chennai from July 3-8. The final squad for the Asia Cup would be announced on July 7.Nair also stated that an India A team would tour Zimbabwe and Kenya over the next two months. The team is scheduled to play three four-day games against Zimbabwe, before participating in a three-nation tournament in Nairobi, also involving Kenya and Pakistan A.The probables list
Sourav Ganguly, Virender Sehwag, Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, VVS Laxman, Yuvraj Singh, Mohammad Kaif, Parthiv Patel, Anil Kumble, Harbhajan Singh, Murali Kartik, Ramesh Powar, Hemang Badani, Zaheer Khan, Ashish Nehra, Ajit Agarkar, Irfan Pathan, Lakshmipathy Balaji, Amit Bhandari, Rohan Gavaskar.

“Taj President. Call me anytime”, came the text message, minutes after I asked Hemang Badani if we could have a word before the Ranji Trophy final. With the big game starting only on May 4, Badani could have been at his Chennai home, putting his feet up, playing with his 10-month-old son Hrishit and enjoying a lazy May-day lunch. Instead, he was in Mumbai, impatient for the game to begin.You would expect Badani to be keen. The Wankhede Stadium has done more for him than for most Mumbai cricketers. It was here in 1999 that Badani first exhibited his hunger, and ability, to bat at the highest level. In a tense match that Tamil Nadu eventually lost, Badani drove, threaded and whipped his way to a career-best 162 in the Ranji Trophy semi-final. His captain, Robin Singh, made 183 and Tamil Nadu threatened to walk away with the game. Threats, however, don’t work when Sachin Tendulkar is around. Tendulkar played with passion and verve to carve out 233, and Tamil Nadu were beaten – by one man.This time around, though, there’s no Tendulkar to worry about – he’s away getting medical attention in America.”Even the last time,” says Badani, “we were so close to winning. It was always touch and go, even with Sachin [Tendulkar] batting so well. He stole the game away from us, but we did ourselves no favours with our fielding. He was dropped in the slips – a sitter – when he was just 34 and we also missed a few run-out chances late in the innings.””Even after all that, we were never too far away from winning. You know as well as I do that a few decisions went against us,” adds Badani with a rueful chuckle. Perhaps he is speaking of the time S Mahesh had Santosh Saxena trapped plumb in front, only to be denied by the umpire, when Mumbai still needed a run to take the all-important first-innings lead.But despite Tendulkar’s absence, there’s still plenty for this Tamil Nadu team to mull over. The brisk medium-pace of Ajit Agarkar and Avishkar Salvi, on a wicket that has been relaid recently, will ask a few questions of Badani and his team.”I’ve played with Ajit [Agarkar] since the Under-16 level and I know his game really well,” said Badani. “We first toured England together as teenagers for Star Cricket Club and we go back a long way. Salvi is another one to watch out for, with his height and the bounce he generates.””They’ll prepare a wicket that has something in it for the mediumpacers. Their best spinner is Sairaj [Bahutule] and he’ll be wondering how to bowl to all the left-handers in our side. So you would have to say that Agarkar and Salvi are the biggest threats. But we’re not scared, or worried about them,” a confident Badani says.You have to believe Badani when he says so. Despite being out of the Indian team in recent months, he has been discussed at every selection meeting. “The frustrating part about playing for India and then being dropped is the fact that you know you can perform at that level, and you still have to sit out. Whatever anyone might say, there’s a huge gap between playing domestic cricket and playing at the international level. You can make all the runs you want in domestic games but only when you make them at the highest level do you really know that you have it in you,” says Badani.Tendulkar certainly thought Badani had it in him. It was after that memorable 1999 Ranji semi-final that he marked Badani out for higher honours. “Sachin spoke to me after the game and told me one thing. You have a fantastic downswing and follow-through, he said. Whether you’re going through a bad patch or not, never change that. This will make all the difference at the highest level.”Badani will walk out to the middle on the fourth of May with those words in mind. “It could be a very big match for me. I feel this could be the best thing that happened to me – something that needed to happen. If I can make a hundred, and help Tamil Nadu win … ” he trails off. He doesn’t have to say more. You know what he means: this match could be the one that propels him back into the Indian team.

England’s victory over Australia in the fourth Ashes Test has been a shot in the arm for New Zealand fans eagerly awaiting the arrival of the English team this summer.While most England tours of New Zealand create more interest than all but visits by Australian Test teams, the recent successes by England in Pakistan and Sri Lanka had suggested the once proud nation was in recovery mode.Then came the deflation of being 3-0 down to the Australians with nowhere to go.However, the return of Nasser Hussain to add steel and leadership to the side, the ability to chase a target for victory personified in Mark Butcher’s innings, the recall, at last, of left-arm spinner Phil Tufnell, and the decision by Graham Thorpe to be available for the tours of India and New Zealand, all add up to an even spicier tour.All the characters are falling into place to give the tour a profile that will make it one of the most interesting in recent New Zealand Test history.Added factors of interest will be provided by the possible absence of Mike Atherton, and should he retire at the end of the Ashes series, the hunt for a long-term opening replacement for him. Similarly, the prospects for Alec Stewart. He has said he wants to play at least until the next World Cup, but do the selectors share that feeling, or do they want to develop another wicket-keeper?England also have on their agenda their desire to beef up their one-day game to improve their chances of competing successfully at the World Cup in South Africa in 2003.That also adds flavour to the New Zealand summer as the home side is still casting around for the winning formula to lift it back into a credit position on the win/loss ledger in One-Day Internationals.New Zealand won’t lack preparation on either the Test or one-day front.Both the Test and one-day sides will have been through campaigns in Pakistan and Australia, with a breather against Bangladesh over Christmas. There is every chance that Chris Cairns and Daniel Vettori will be restored to full match fitness, with even the prospect that Dion Nash’s encouraging progress will have been sufficiently tested to make him available for the longer aspect of the game.New Zealand also has the incentive to back-up its 1999 effort where it won the Test series in England 2-1.Injuries have meant that New Zealand hasn’t fielded a fully fit side at home since the 2-0 series win over the West Indies in 1999/2000 but if the side can put the crisis of last summer behind it, then a much-needed highly-competitive summer may be just what the game in New Zealand needs.Several significant initiatives are underway in the advancement of the game in New Zealand, especially at levels below the international and first-class ranks, and if cricket could have a summer of positive play at the showpiece level of the game then it stands to reason that the benefits will be felt across the board.

Former Derbyshire batsman Hamza Siddique is forging a new career as an actor with the help of the Professional Cricketers’ Association.Hamza Siddique says cricket hindered his need to show emotion•Getty Images

The 24-year-old, who had two seasons on Derbyshire’s staff and played three first-class matches for Cardiff MCCU, is currently completing a one-year Masters degree in acting at the Central School of Speech and Drama in London.Siddique’s course has been part-funded by the PCA as part of the Association’s Personal Development and Welfare Programme educational funding.The PCA have also part-funded a short film ‘Glow’ which Siddique and three other students have just written and filmed as part of their final assignment.Siddique stars in the film as Elijah, who is taken to see the Northern Lights by his friends after he has been diagnosed with a brain tumour. The film will be shown at festivals around the country which Siddique hopes will help him land acting jobs when he completes the course later this year.”Ultimately this project is going to be shown at festivals and going to be a massive kick-start to our careers as actors,” Siddique said”The PCA’s willingness to help out with the funding was a massive help to us and we are very appreciative of their support.”We are now in the process of meeting with agents. We had our final showcase a few weeks ago and agents came to watch. That is what it is all about, getting an agent and starting to get paid professional jobs in acting.”Siddique studied philosophy and theology at Cardiff and only decided to switch to acting after he was released by Derbyshire three years ago.”From the age of nine all I had wanted to do was to play cricket. I got contracted to Derbyshire at 19 and it was amazing,” he said.”But I did feel there was a gap in my life and, for one reason and another, I felt that I needed to try something else.”I studied philosophy and theology at Cardiff and played on the MCCU scheme there but I started thinking that I would really like to give this media thing a go.”I decided to give it a really good crack. I stopped playing cricket for a while to give acting a go. The whole thing was pretty alien to me. I locked myself in my room and put my cricket stuff away and learned some Shakespeare monologues and some more contemporary pieces and auditioned to a number of drama schools”I had never done drama at school or acted so I had no idea what it meant to get into one of these drama schools To me it was: ‘wow, this is different to facing 90mph balls coming at my head.'”I thought: ‘great, let’s give it a go and see what happens’. It was only when I realised that people were flying in from South Africa and India for a 40 minute audition that I realised what a big deal it was.”Siddique opted for a place at Central, an acting school that includes Kit Harrington (Game of Thrones), Riz Ahmed (Four Lions) and Andrew Garfield (Spiderman) among its recent alumni.Although he initially struggled with aspects of acting, Siddique has found that his experiences in professional cricket have helped him in his new career.”I am actually writing an essay for my thesis titled In What Way Does Conditioning Inhibit an Actor’s Ability to be Spontaneous?,” Siddique said.”It’s amazing how conditioning , nurture and my sporting environment massively hindered me early on because when you are playing sport at the top level you are taught not to be vulnerable and to have this self-assurance and to absolutely back your skills.”But starting drama school was something bizarre to me because whatever emotions you have been taught to shut off in front of people you have to get rid of. There were times in class when I struggled with that early on.”To have to portray emotions to people in a classroom I found really tough but the dedication, the commitment and the work is absolutely comparable to that of professional sport. If you do not put in the hours you will not get the best out of it.”But I feel like I am a step ahead and I felt a step going into it because of cricket. Because of what I learnt in a team environment and the pressure of going out to bat on my first-class debut for Cardiff MCCU I have no qualms about going out and pretending to be someone else.”The stakes in professional sport are comparable to very little else. The things that go through your head, what it means to each person, the preparation that goes into the competition it’s a really great thing and I am really grateful to the part cricket played in helping me in this industry.”

Darren Sammy, captain of West Indies’ World Twenty20 squad, has stressed that his side has never said they would strike or not take part in the tournament in India due to an ongoing contract impasse with the West Indies Cricket Board. Sammy reiterated that the players are unhappy with the remuneration offered by the WICB for participating in the tournament, which starts from March 8.Speaking to ESPNcricinfo in Dubai, where he is playing in the inaugural Pakistan Super League, Sammy also questioned the comments made by WICB CEO Michael Muirhead, who had said it was not possible for the West Indies board to identify how much it would be paid by the ICC with respect to the 2016 World T20.”We players are not happy with the remuneration offered by the WICB to participate in the World Twenty20,” Sammy told ESPNcricinfo. “We have not given any authorisation to WIPA to negotiate on our behalf. A large number of players in the squad do not receive any significant remuneration from WICB at all, so we want the opportunity to negotiate fairly the financial terms within the contract.”In the past 25% of the income received by the WICB for participating in ICC tournaments was distributed to the squad. The remuneration being offered now compared to previous World Cup events is shocking to say the least. We are being offered now just $6,900 per match across the board irrespective of experience. Players are being asked to start providing services from nearly four weeks ahead of the World Cup and be guaranteed just $27,600 if they play all the guaranteed matches (which) is a staggering reduction. What happens to a player who does not feature in a match?”The WICB say they cannot figure out what 25% of the participation fee is as the ICC’s formula has changed. Surely they (WICB) must know a figure. What is it? We want the match fees to be doubled. I have also written to the WICB asking if they have got a sponsor for the team, and what is the sponsorship revenue. We need answers.”Responding to Sammy’s letter on February 9, Muirhead had stated that the sums mentioned by the player were incorrect. Replying to Sammy’s estimate of the payment expected from the ICC for the team’s participation in the World T20, Muirhead said that the $8 million figure quoted by Sammy was incorrect. He further stated that following the ICC’s revamp in 2014, the manner of distributing payments to Full Members for ICC events had changed and was spread over an eight-year cycle, instead of “being paid out in a lump sum and attributed to any one event.”Sammy also stated that the team had not backed out of participating in the World T20: “Under my watch, players never said they would strike or not take part in the World Cup. All we’ve said is we don’t accept the terms given or agreed by an association that doesn’t represent us.”Fourteen of the 15 members of the West Indies squad for the World T20 are not members of the WIPA and, despite Muirhead’s statement that WIPA was the “recognised collective bargaining representative” of West Indies cricketers, Sammy said the body had no authority to negotiate on behalf of the players.”Still they [WIPA] are the ones WICB negotiates with on player issues. But 14 of the 15-member World Cup squad is not part of WIPA,” Sammy said. “West Indies cricket has gone through a lot and it will continue to go through a lot. I don’t see things changing anytime soon.”

Ireland are to tour Bangladesh for three one-dayers next March and April.Ireland, who in addition to beating Pakistan in that memorable World Cup match earlier in the year also defeated Bangladesh, will also play two four-day warm-ups against local teams.”As we are not yet in the ICC’s Future Tours Programme, we have to look for matches against the teams close to us in the ODI rankings, such as Zimbabwe, Kenya, West Indies and Bangladesh,” Warren Deutrom, the Ireland Cricket Union’s chief executive told .”Bangladesh are sending me an itinerary for the tri-series and after that they have also agreed to play us in three ODIs and a four-day game – an ideal pre-season programme for the coach and players.”The tour gets underway from March 16.

Scorecard

James Hopes’ first limited-overs century and some outstanding new-ball bowling from Andy Bichel were the catalysts for a Queensland victory against New South Wales at the Gabba. The Blues were all out for 197 and the 65-run win earned the Bulls a valuable bonus point, easing their initial concerns that the 7 for 262 would not be enough on a good batting pitch.New South Wales slumped to 3 for 12 within six overs after Bichel, who picked up 2 for 21, claimed the vital early breakthrough when Phil Jaques got a thin under-edge to the wicketkeeper Chris Hartley. Bichel also had the New South Wales captain Brad Haddin caught behind in the third over after Craig Simmons was bowled by Scott Brant.The offspinner Chris Simpson (2 for 30) tied down the middle order before Aaron O’Brien (55) and Dominic Thornely (47) gradually rebuilt the innings. In the 35th over New South Wales scored 24 from the debutant Michael Buchanan to give them a glimmer of hope. Daniel Christian (32), playing his second one-day match, hit two fours and two consecutive sixes off Buchanan but after that the batsmen offered little resistance. Hopes claimed 3 for 40 to close the innings and earn a bonus point.Hopes had set up the win after he was promoted to open in the absence of Matthew Hayden, making 102 from 108 balls, including 11 fours and two sixes over midwicket. However, his dismissal sparked a mini-collapse with the Bulls losing 3 for 2 before Buchanan, the son of Australia’s national coach John Buchanan, showed some spirit with an unbeaten 40 from 38 balls.Stuart Clark made a dream start to his first match back after a thigh injury by taking the key wicket of Jimmy Maher, who was caught at slip, with his first ball. But things went downhill for Clark and he finished with 1 for 65 after some costly final overs.Haddin said his side would not dwell on the loss in the lead-up to the Pura Cup clash with the Bulls on Friday. “We had no enthusiasm and there’s really no excuse,” he said after the game. “The wicket was outstanding and the outfield was outstanding as well, we were just very poor.”

Kevin Pietersen, England batsman, Hampshire teammate and good friend of Shane Warne, says the Australian is being targeted by the media and does not get the respect he deserves.ABC Sport quoted Pietersen as saying, “I think he does get treated far too harshly for what he deserves. He’s the best player that’s ever played the game.”Pietersen was referring to the attention the tabloid press has paid to Warne’s often tumultuous private life. Warne separated from his wife earlier this year after tabloids reported on his alleged indiscretions.Pietersen, himself no stranger to tabloid attention, added, “It is ridiculous because you can’t defend yourself and that’s the thing. Much [of] the rubbish that’s written about you, there’s nothing you can do about it.”Pietersen is currently in Melbourne to play for the World XI in the one-day Super Series against Australia.

The prospect of hosting a second-string Zimbabwean outfit has forced the Pakistan board to contemplate organising a triangular one-day tournament instead of a bilateral one-day series involving Zimbabwe in October-November this year. Zimbabwe are scheduled to play two Tests as well, but instead of playing five one-dayers against Pakistan, they might be involved in a triangular tournament with Sri Lanka as the third team.Rameez Raja, the PCB chief executive, confirmed that the board was interested in having Sri Lanka participate in the tournament. According to a report in The News, a Pakistan daily, Rameez said: “Zimbabwe are scheduled to tour Pakistan in October to play five one-dayers and two Tests. But there is a proposal from many quarters and which has also interested our television right holders that we invite Sri Lanka and in the home season have a triangular series and the two Tests against Zimbabwe.”Rameez also clarified that Sri Lanka was being considered as the third team as all other sides were busy with various international engagements. According to the ICC’s ten-year international itinerary, Sri Lanka are scheduled to visit Pakistan for a Test series in March 2005.Outlining Pakistan’s international commitments over the next few months, Rameez indicated that Pakistan would clash with Australia in a one-off ODI just before the ICC Champions Trophy, which England will host in September 2004.Apart from that tournament, Pakistan will also be involved in two other one-day tournaments – the Asia Cup in July-August, the triangular competition in Holland involving India and Australia – and a tour to Australia for both Tests and ODIs. Rameez hinted at a possibility of a third one-day tournament as well, in Sharjah. “We have some free time in between these events but we have kept them open because we are expecting the Cricketers Benefit Fund Series to have a tournament in Sharjah around November this year.”