Generations together in IPL !

Indian Premier League on Sunday witnessed one of its most memorable moments when Sachin Tendulkar walked up to legendary Sir Vivian Richards, who has just been engaged as an advisor with rival team Delhi Daredevils.

It was a scene worth capturing when Daredevils mentor TA Sekar informed Tendulkar about Richards’s arrival.

Tendulkar, who was engaged in a knocking session, just dropped all work and trudged slowly towards the iconic West Indian as they were cheered lustily by all those present at the stadium.

First, they were engaged in bear hug and then Richards pointed at Sachin’s abs and patted it as they shared a hearty laugh.

May be the king was pointing out that even at 40, Tendulkar doesn’t have an inch of flab.

Then Richards took hold of Sachin’s bat, had a close look and did a bit of shadow practice.

After a 10-minute session with Tendulkar, Richards along with Sekar walked towards his team’s training session.

As the boys welcomed him with a clap, he again had some words of wisdom in his pep talk during the official team huddle before the players dispersed.

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Kaneria bids to overturn life ban

Pakistan’s Danish Kaneria will try to resume his cricket career when he challenges a life ban for spot-fixing in London on Monday.

But, heading into the start of the appeal hearing, doubt remained over whether Mervyn Westfield would give evidence against his former Essex teammate.
Leg-spinner Kaneria was given a life ban by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) last year after a panel found him guilty of inducing paceman Westfield to deliberately under-perform by agreeing to concede a certain number of runs in return for money while bowling in a county one-day match in 2009.
Although imposed by the ECB, the now 32-year-old Kaneria’s ban was effectively a worldwide sanction as all boards under the jurisdiction of the International Cricket Council (ICC) have agreed to uphold punishments imposed by individual member countries in such circumstances.
It was not until 2010 that the scandal became public when Essex police arrested both Kaneria and Westfield. However, the Pakistani was released without charge and has maintained his innocence throughout.
By contrast, legal proceedings against Westfield continued and he spent two months in prison, as well as being banned for five years from first-class cricket and three from recreational cricket by the ECB.
There has been speculation in the British press and on the Cricinfo website, that Westfield could be offered a deal by the ECB allowing him to play club cricket as a paid professional for Wanstead, east of London, in the Essex league if he testifies at the appeal hearing.
It is understood talks between Westfield and the board have taken place in recent days but neither party has yet made any public statement on what outcome, if any, has been reached.
Westfield’s evidence was central to the punishment imposed on Kaneria and the Pakistani’s lawyers believe any failure by the seamer to give evidence at the hearing, which is being held in private, will damage the ECB’s case.
Without Westfield, Kaneria’s legal team have high hopes their client will be cleared and be able to sue the ECB for loss of earnings.
They have argued Westfield’s evidence at the original hearing will be inadmissible at the appeal unless he appears in person and can be cross-examined.
Kaneria’s appeal was originally due to take place in December but was postponed until April after the ECB failed to gain Westfield’s co-operation.
Although he hasn’t played international cricket since 2010, Kaneria remains Pakistan’s most successful Test spinner with 261 wickets in 61 matches.
And, speaking to AFP in Karachi before his departure on Tuesday, he was optimistic about the chances of overturning his ban.
“I am quite hopeful,” Kaneria said. “There was no evidence against me and I have maintained that the ban was unjust and I will fight till the last.”
Kaneria’s lawyer, Farogh Naseem, had previously signalled his client’s determination to contest the ban, by saying in March: “We will definitely seek compensation from the ECB as because of the ban my client has been unable to play and earn a living.”
International cricket has born the brunt of the sport’s various gambling scandals where, thanks to the variety of markets, scams can be attempted without having to ‘fix’ a result.
But county matches have become targets for fixers now they are televised live in Asia, where betting on cricket is illegal in several countries.
Monday’s hearing comes just days after former Pakistan Test players Salman Butt and Mohammad Asif lost their appeals at the Court of Arbitration for Sport over a spot-fixing scandal.

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Zimbabwe thrashing highlights old woes

When Zimbabwe return to the ICC Test rankings after Thursday’s second Test against Bangladesh, they will enter the table above their opponents regardless of the result.

For Bangladesh, this is a damning indictment on their lack of progress since they entered the Test arena in November 2000, and raises further questions on why a nation of 150 million people has been unable to rise to the level of even the mediocre Test teams.
To put Bangladesh’s woes into context, it is worth pointing out the state of the nation that thrashed them by 335 runs in the first Test on Saturday.
Zimbabwe have just 75 professional cricketers, most of whom are on part-time contracts, and only returned to Test cricket in August 2011 after a six-year exile from the five-day game.
The African side went into the current Test series smarting from a dismal tour of the Caribbean, where they lost every match against the West Indies, and dispirited after their latest contract dispute with Zimbabwe Cricket, who are laden with debt.
Bangladesh, on the other hand, enjoyed an encouraging tour of Sri Lanka where they amassed their highest ever score in a Test, yet Saturday’s result was a reminder that for every step forward they have managed over the years there seems to have been an equal step back.
While the Harare Sports Club wicket had an even layer of green grass which ensured there was always something in it for the pace bowlers, too often Bangladesh’s batsmen were impatient and contributed to their own demise as they were bowled out for 134 and 147.
‘We were expecting difficult conditions and good bowling,’ captain Mushfiqur Rahim said afterwards, yet he offered no real answers as to why his side were unable to counter them.
The manner of defeat drew heavy criticism from everyone back home, but coach Shane Jurgensen suggested before the series began that what his side needs is a bit of sympathy if they are to handle the regular beatings and move forward.
‘It’s a combination of a few things: media, general public, high expectations,’ Jurgensen said. ‘Everyone wants success, but what a lot of people forget sometimes is that we want success as well.
‘When we have a bad day, we don’t mean to. Some people forget the boys are human beings and they are all very young and they have been learning.’
Jurgensen also suggested that many of Bangladesh’s players should make the step up over the coming years as they come into their prime.
‘There’s a shift where you’ve got a group of guys hitting their mid-20s and some slightly older guys who are still very young in cricketing age,’ he said.
‘That’s when sometimes you hit the prime of your career - when your experience and your physical strength all come into one.’
While it is true that the majority of Bangladesh’s team are yet to reach the age at which most cricketers peak, the call for more time is one that the cricket public has heard many times before.
Defeats by more than an innings may have become scarcer over the past five years, yet Bangladesh have still not won a Test since 2009 - and that was against a West Indian side who had lost an entire team to a contract crisis.
Test cricket is not healthy enough that it can cast teams aside without concern for its own future, but at some stage Bangladesh’s Test cricketers need to start showing the sort of patience on the field that their prolonged stagnation has demanded from a discouraged public.

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Pace bowling now tougher: Akram

Recent rule changes in limited-overs cricket and the increasing popularity of the Twenty20 format have made the job of pace bowling a much tougher assignment, former Pakistan fast bowler and captain Wasim Akram said on Saturday.

Akram, 46, started a 10-day training camp in Karachi for 19 of Pakistan's top fast bowlers, including members of the national team and some raw talent.

The camp was set up ahead of the ICC Champions Trophy after selectors and some former players expressed concerns over the declining pace bowling resources in the country following Pakistan's dismal performance in South Africa.

"The rule changes in one-day cricket, that you can't keep more than four fielders outside the circle in a 50-over match at any time, and the rising popularity of T20 cricket means pace bowlers now need to be more adaptable," Akram told reporters.

"I will advise these bowlers that to be successful in this scenario, aggression is a must with top grade fitness, pace and the ability to have length variation.

"T20 cricket has changed the mentality of batsmen. The odds are stacked against the bowlers."

Pakistan's most experienced pace bowler Umar Gul managed just five wickets in two Tests at an average of 45 when the team were whitewashed by South Africa in a recent three-Test away series.

Left-armer Akram, regarded as one of world's fast bowling greats with 414 Test and 502 ODI wickets, said Pakistan did not lack talent. Bowlers just needed proper guidance, he added.

"I see some of these bowlers have pace, and that is an encouraging sign, but they need to be groomed on how to best make use of it and how to bowl in the three different formats of the game," he said.

Akram has been supervising the talent hunt for fast bowlers in 10 cities across the country and said he would be paying extra attention to left-arm pacers Mohammad Irfan and Junaid Khan, both current members of the national team.

"Irfan is a special talent but because of his height he needs to be handled carefully," Akram said of the seven-footer.

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Watson quits vice-captaincy

Shane Watson has stood down as vice-captain of Australia in all cricket formats following the Test team's humiliating 4-0 series loss to India, citing a need to focus his attention on scoring runs and taking wickets.

 

The injury-prone 31-year-old's place in Michael Clarke's side has been questioned following the India tour, where he averaged just 16 with the bat and was stood down for the third Test along with three other players for failing to complete a team assignment.

"I think it's the right time for a change for both the team and me," Watson said in a statement released by Cricket Australia on Saturday.

"I'll be honest and admit I wrestled with the decision for some time, however once I made up my mind, I informed Cricket Australia so the selectors could consider their options for the Ashes given the squads will be announced soon.

"I want to be the best test player I can be for Australia and think I can do that by stepping down from the vice-captaincy to focus my attention on scoring runs, taking wickets and doing whatever is necessary to help the team achieve success.

"I won't be the vice captain in title but I think I can still be a leader and strong contributor around the group."

The India series sounded alarm bells back home ahead of back-to-back Ashes series this year, with the brittle Australian batting order ruthlessly exposed on the subcontinent.

'TOUGH CALL'
Watson has been among their biggest strugglers, managing only a solitary half-century in his past 14 innings, despite shelving his medium-paced bowling for the India tour.

The barrel-chested Queenslander decided to give up the ball at least temporarily after repeatedly breaking down with injuries. The lighter workload did not lead to more runs, however, and only robbed Australia of an effective wicket-taker.

"Shane Watson should be commended for making the tough call to step down from the vice captaincy to focus on playing," national selector John Inverarity said.

"Regardless, he will still be an important senior leader within the team.

"The national selection panel will now consider and then put a vice-captaincy recommendation to the Cricket Australia board for its approval."

The announcement is sure to stoke debate in Australia as to whether Watson stepped down of his own accord or was pushed.

Local media have long speculated he and captain Michael Clarke do not see eye-to-eye and Cricket Australia's High Performance Manager Pat Howard left few in doubt Watson was under pressure by declaring him only ‘sometimes’ a team player.

After being dumped for the third Test in India, Watson flew home to be with his heavily pregnant wife and said he was weighing up his future in the game.

He re-committed to playing for his country and was sensationally reinstated to lead the team to a fourth successive test defeat in the absence of the injured Clarke.

While Watson has had a chequered record as Clarke's deputy, his replacement is likely to attract plenty of scrutiny Down Under, with most of the team inexperienced and out of form.

Openers David Warner and Ed Cowan have been touted for the role by local media, despite boasting only 36 Tests between them.

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Pakistan association bans international players

Karachi cricket chiefs on Friday banned three international players, Sohail Khan, Fawad Alam and Khalid Latif, for lack of discipline during a domestic Twenty20 tournament.

Sohail, 29, is banned from playing for Karachi in any domestic match, and Alam and Latif for playing in Twenty20s. All three bans are to last 12 months.

"It is disappointing to ban players but we had to take the decsion so that an example is set," Karachi City Cricket Association (KCCA) president Sirajul Islam Bukhari told AFP.

The players were shown on TV criticising with coach Tauseef Ahmed, a former Pakistan player, during the Super Eight Twenty20 event in the eastern city of Lahore last month.

Sohail has played two Tests, five one-day and three Twenty20 internationals for Pakistan, the last of which on Pakistan's tour of Zimbabwe in 2011.

Alam, 27, hit a hundred on his Test debut against Sri Lanka in 2009. He has so far played three Tests, 27 one-day and 24 Twenty20.

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Former England captain Mike Denness no more

Mike Denness, the only Scotsman to captain England, has died of cancer at the age of 72, on Friday.

Denness, a stylish right-hander who led England in 19 of his 28 Tests, dropped himself for the fourth Test at Sydney on the 1974-75 tour of Australia after he was unable to cope with the pace and fury of quick bowlers Dennis Lillee and Jeff Thomson.

He scored 188 in the final match at Melbourne but Thomson was absent through injury and Lillee bowled only six overs before breaking down.

Both bowlers were back in action in the first Test of the 1975 series, which Australia won by an innings on a rain-affected pitch, and Denness did not represent England again.

After retiring, Denness became a match referee but his decision to sanction six Indian players, including Sachin Tendulkar, during a Test against South Africa in Port Elizabeth in 2001-02 sparked a row that led to both teams barring him from officiating in the next match.

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PCB sending spy?

The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) planned to send a group of secret monitors to keep an eye on its cricketers during their May-June tour to England in an effort to stop players from getting involved in any scandal.

Official sources said the PCB had devised a strategy to avoid any scandal or controversy during the upcoming tough tour, reports Xinhua.
“The decision came after seeing the history of our team’s tours to England. Whenever our team went on tour, the players were dragged into some controversy by the media,” the sources said.
Pakistan will start their tour to England on May 17 where they will play two one-day international matches each against Scotland and Ireland before participating in the eight-nation ICC Champions Trophy scheduled to start on June 7.
The main job of the undercover observers will be to watch the players’ activities inside and outside the hotel and at grounds.
According to the sources, the PCB has also finalised a list of rules and regulations for the tour and all the players will have to sign on a specific agreement.
Under the agreement, a strict observation will be on the usage of phone and Internet by the players during their official stay in England.

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