Kolkata Knight Riders set up a first qualifier match against table-toppers Delhi Daredevils as they took the No. 2 spot with a comfortable win over Pune Warriors. Like they had done against Mumbai Indians in their previous game, Knight Riders posted a decent total on a difficult pitch and their spinners choked the Warriors batsmen into a futile crawl. The home side ended a second disappointing season with their ninth consecutive defeat, an IPL record, and one that involved some questionable selections.
On a slow and low pitch which Man-of-the-Match Shakib Al Hasan said reminded him of Bangladesh, Warriors gave only two overs to Ali Murtaza, the lone specialist spinner they played ahead of their two first-choice spinners, Murali Kartik and Rahul Sharma. While Shakib, the only batsman on either side to feel at home on the pitch, rode his luck to provide the boost Knight Riders’ stumbling innings needed, Warriors left out his Bangladesh team-mate Tamim Iqbal for the 16th and final time this season.
Shakib’s onslaught and his 67-run stand with Brendon McCullum were crucial given Knight Riders did not have the luxury of a breezy start from the in-form Gautam Gambhir. McCullum, too, struggled to adapt his attacking game to the lack of pace but managed to keep the runs coming.
Kolkata Knight Riders 136 for 4 (Shakib 42, McCullum 41, Parnell 2-18) beat Pune Warriors 102 for 8 (Yusuf 2-12, Shakib 2-18) by 34 runs
(ESPN)
May 20, 2012 at 6:43 am
Top international players who participated in an ‘All Star Twenty20′ event in Toronto last weekend, some of them travelling from as far as South Africa and Sri Lanka, have been left in the lurch over their appearance money and in some cases reimbursement for air travel. Events company Kat Rose, who organised the event, said they incurred substantial losses when six Pakistan players including Shahid Afridi pulled out at the last minute. The company is in contact with their lawyers and accountants to resolve the issue, but has not put a time-frame on when monies will be distributed.
The match, which was played in Toronto on Saturday, was billed as a high-quality encounter between the best Asian and international players in the game, and was marketed primarily with the city’s Asian population as the target. It featured several internationals such as Mark Boucher and Sanath Jayasuriya, who were left without their fees.
(ESPN)
May 18, 2012 at 9:13 am
Dav Whatmore, Pakistan’s head coach, has said that his team will be sternly tested during their tour of Sri Lanka which begins on June 1. The Pakistan players began a two-week conditioning camp in Lahore on Wednesday to prepare for the upcoming tour. They started with a fitness session in the morning at the National Academy and a net session at noon in Gaddafi Stadium.
With temperatures in Lahore touching 40C, Whatmore said he hoped his players would find it easy to acclimatise themselves to similar conditions in Sri Lanka. “It’s pretty warm out here as well but it will be easy for us to acclimatise (to Sri Lankan conditions),” Whatmore said. “We’re lucky to do a bit of work in the heat in the morning and a little bit in the afternoon.
“Some of the bowlers and batsmen have been working out in the heat to ensure we are prepared. I think we have to prepare properly for a series against a strong opposition.”
Pakistan announced separate teams for each format for the upcoming tour and Whatmore said he was satisfied with the selection process.
(ESPN)
May 17, 2012 at 10:05 am
The IPL governing council has suspended five players named by a sting operation alleging corruption until an inquiry into the accusations is conducted. TP Sudhindra (Deccan Chargers), Mohnish Mishra (Pune Warriors), Shalabh Srivastava (Kings XI Punjab), Amit Yadav (Kings XI Punjab) and Abhinav Bali were suspended, according to IPL chairman Rajiv Shukla.
“The above players would not be entitled to participate in any cricket match played under the aegis of the BCCI while under suspension,” N Srinivasan, the BCCI president, said in a statement.
Shukla said Ravi Sawani, the former head of the ICC’s anti-corruption and security unit (ACSU), will conduct the inquiry. “The conversation [in the sting] is about other matches also, which are not IPL, or in previous IPLs,” Shukla said after the meeting on Tuesday. “After due consideration, the BCCI president has decided to have an inquiry for which a commissioner has been appointed, Mr Ravi Sawani. He will be conducting the preliminary inquiry. His report will be sent to the disciplinary committee.”
Indian politicians brought up the matter during a parliamentary session. Sports minister Ajay Maken said it was the BCCI’s duty to investigate the matter appropriately. “I wish that the BCCI acts fast, [explores] the root cause of this problem and solves the problem in the interest of the millions of fans in cricket in our country,” Maken was quoted as saying in an Indian newspaper, the Telegraph. “The challenge and the opportunity here lies with the BCCI, as to how far they are able to get to the bottom of the problem and sort it out.”
Former India cricketer, Kirti Azad, who is now a member of the country’s main opposition party, the BJP, reportedly said that corruption in sports was on the rise with politicians heading sports associations. “I have no objections with politicians heading sports bodies,” Azad was quoted as saying. “But ever since politicians have taken over, corruption has seeped in and grown from top to bottom.”
Meanwhile Srivastava, one of the players accused by the sting, said he was not guilty. “I fail to understand whatever is being said about spot-fixing. Also if they [a TV channel) are showing all the video clips, why aren’t they showing the clip where I allegedly am demanding Rs. 10 lakh?” he told NDTV. “The voice in that telephonic conversation is not mine. It is very easy to frame anyone with a doctored audio clip.”
(ESPN)
May 16, 2012 at 12:27 pm
The Sri Lankan fast bowler Lasith Malinga has signed for Middlesex to play in the Friends Life t20. His debut will come in the their fourth match of the competition, against Essex at Lord’s on 21 June, after featuring in Sri Lanka’s one-day and Twenty20 series against Pakistan.
Middlesex’s managing director of cricket Angus Fraser said by signing the 28-year-old Malinga, Middlesex “will have the best [bowler] in the world”.
Malinga is currently playing for the Mumbai Indians in the Indian Premier League, where he has taken a competition-leading 20 wickets.
Fraser added: “Every county is looking for a bowler that provides their attack with variety, the ability to bowl during powerplays and at the death … something different from the norm.”
The T20 competition begins on 12 June.
(The Guardian)
May 11, 2012 at 9:21 am
The inaugural edition of the Sri Lanka Premier League (SLPL) will be played from August 10 to 31, Sri Lanka Cricket has confirmed. The tournament will feature seven provincial teams, and be played at two venues – the R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo and the Pallekele International Stadium.
Each team will be allowed a maximum of six overseas players in their squads and four in their playing XI, SLC said in a release. Also, it will be necessary for each team to field a local under-21 player in every game. The SLC will name icons, from among the national players, for each team shortly. The teams’ branding will based on the unique features of the province they represent.
SLC had signed a new deal with Somerset Entertainment Ventures to hold the league on May 5, ESPNcricinfo had learned earlier. Initially, the SLPL was supposed to kick off last year, with SLC’s then interim committee signing a five-year deal with Somerset Entertainment Ventures to organise the event. However, the Sri Lankan board was forced to postpone the tournament after the BCCI refused to allow its players to participate at the last minute, causing a delay in the naming of the final composition of the teams and affecting overall preparations for the event. In addition, the interim committee that signed the deal was subsequently replaced and there was criticism of some of the clauses in the contract by the parliamentary Committee on Public Enterprises (COPE), prompting a new deal to be drawn up.
(ESPN)
May 10, 2012 at 4:13 pm
Sri Lankan speedster Lasith Malinga says he is developing a new delivery to be used in the upcoming twenty20 World Cup. In an interview with the ‘Hindustan Times’ Malinga revealed that it will be a slower ball.
“I have tried in my training sessions but not in the nets. I want to go back to Sri Lanka and gain more confidence as here I don’t do much bowling in the nets. I haven’t bowled in the nets so I don’t know how the batsmen will cope with it”, he told HT.
Commenting on the debate playing the IPL instead of resting, Malinga said that it was his call.
“I don’t have a contract with the Board. I am a freelance player. I just want to play cricket, doesn’t matter whether I am playing in Sri Lanka, IPL, club or county cricket”, he stated.
When asked how he maintained the consistency in the IPL, Malinga said he likes to play when the pressure is on.
“I understand pressure better now. That’s it. The batsman may know I am going to bowl a yorker or a slow ball now but he still has to hit it. Anytime the captain asks me, I have to be ready. My role is to bowl.”
(JNW)
May 9, 2012 at 9:25 am
Sri Lanka Cricket has signed a new deal with Somerset Entertainment Ventures to hold the Sri Lanka Premier League (SLPL) in 2012, ESPNcricinfo has learned. The deal was signed on May 5 and the tournament has been tentatively scheduled to be held between August 10 and August 31, just ahead of the ICC World Twenty20 that will be held in Sri Lanka in September.
The SLPL was supposed to kick off last year, with SLC’s then interim committee signing a five-year deal with Somerset Entertainment Ventures to organise the event. However, the Sri Lankan board was forced to postpone the tournament after the BCCI refused to allow its players to participate at the last minute, causing a delay in the naming of the final composition of the teams and affecting overall preparations for the event. In addition, the interim committee that signed the deal was subsequently replaced and there was criticism of some of the clauses in the contract by the parliamentary Committee on Public Enterprises (COPE).
A new set of administrators were elected in January and they have been negotiating with Somerset Entertainment Ventures to resolve their differences. The new deal has addressed the concerns raised by the COPE report and has been cleared by the office of the Sri Lankan attorney general, ESPNcricinfo understands.
The format of the tournament remains the same. SLPL will have seven teams that will play each other in a league format followed by semi-finals and finals. The games will most likely be played in Colombo and Kandy.
(ESPN)
May 8, 2012 at 8:05 am
David Beckham has topped a list of the richest people in sport in the UK and Ireland. The LA Galaxy footballer, 37, was in pole position with a fortune of £160m, according to the annual Sunday Times sport rich list.
In terms of the world’s richest athletes, Mr Beckham was only 10th, as golfer Tiger Woods led with £538m.
Tennis player Maria Sharapova was the richest female athlete, with earnings boosted by lucrative endorsement deals.
There were 48 footballers in the top 100 in the UK and Ireland.
But the second place after Mr Beckham went to Paul Caddick, the property and construction entrepreneur who runs rugby league club Leeds Rhinos.
No current British or Irish athletics competitor – that is, a cyclist, track and field athlete or swimmer – made the top 100 in the year of the London Olympics.
Last year, Mr Beckham was number two with Wigan chairman Dave Whelan in first place at £190m.
Globally, in 2012, Mr Woods was followed by German Formula One driver Michael Schumacher and basketball legend Michael Jordan.
(BBC)
May 7, 2012 at 10:29 am
David Warner has said he is likely to open the batting with Virender Sehwag in Delhi Daredevils’ remaining games this IPL season. Mahela Jayawardene has been opening with Sehwag but is likely to drop down to accommodate Warner, who is likely to replace Kevin Pietersen in Daredevils’ line-up.
“I am pretty sure I’ll be opening up with Viru and will try to continue the success we have had in previous years,” Warner said. “Be it me or Mahela batting up the order, it’s going to be an opportunity for either of us to keep scoring runs for Delhi.”
Warner missed the first half of IPL because he was part of the Australian squad in the Carribean. During this period, Daredevils won eight out of ten games and Pietersen played an important role, scoring 305 runs.
“Things are going really well, it’s a good opportunity for me to come in while the team is going well. I’ll keep executing my skill and help the team as much as I can,” Warner said. “Kevin played well while he was here and did a fantastic job for the boys. I hope I can fill up his spot and help our team to keep the number one spot.”
(ESPN)
May 6, 2012 at 9:59 am
Sri Lanka’s selector Amal Silva has resigned from the four-man selection committee, saying his business commitments didn’t allow him to do justice to the post. Silva’s resignation comes shortly before Pakistan begin their tour of Sri Lanka on May 29.
Silva, who was part of the new selection committee that took office on January 20, said he had enjoyed his stint with the national team. “I thought it is not fair for me to stay in the committee and not serve it,” Silva told ESPNcricinfo. “There are so many players who have quit cricket after me I think they should be given a chance to make their contribution to the game. I enjoyed my stints as a national selector.”
Silva, a wicketkeeper who played nine Tests and 20 ODIs for Sri Lanka, had two previous stints as a selector, first in 2007 and then in 2011 when Sri Lanka reached the finals of the World Cup. Sri Lanka’s Sports Minister Mahindanda Aluthgamage will appoint his replacement.
(ESPN)
May 5, 2012 at 9:00 am
Rear Admiral Shamal Fernando has been elected as the new Secretary of Sri Lanka Athletics Association at the vote held to appoint new office bearers for the Association today(03). Major General Daya Rathnayake was appointed as the Chairman of the Association uncontested.
(JNW)
May 3, 2012 at 11:58 am
Mohammad Asif is this week expected to become the second of the three Pakistan cricketers jailed for spot-fixing to be released. Asif will have completed half of his one-year sentence and becomes eligible for release from Canterbury Prison under British law.
The disgraced Pakistan trio – Asif, his fellow fast bowler Mohammad Amir and captain Salman Butt – participated in a betting scam involving the deliberate bowling of no-balls for financial gain during a Lord’s Test match between England and Pakistan in 2010.
Asif and Butt were found guilty at Southwark Crown Court in November 2011 of conspiracy to cheat and conspiracy to accept corrupt payments. All three lost an appeal that their sentences were “manifestly excessive” to the Lord Chief Justice, Lord Judge, who upheld the sentences later in November and said that widespread corruption could “destroy the game”.
Amir, the youngest at 18, pleaded guilty before the trial and was released from a young offenders’ institution midway through his six-month sentence earlier this year. Butt will not become eligible for release until next February, when he has served half of his 30-month sentence. Mazhar Majeed, the agent who was accused of setting up the deal, received a 32-month jail term.
Asif is 29 and his Pakistan career could be over unless he overturns a seven-year ban (the last two of which are suspended) imposed by an ICC tribunal in February last year. Butt was banned for 10 years (five of them suspended) and Amir for five years.
(ESPN)
May 2, 2012 at 10:53 am
Pakistan are set to tour Sri Lanka for a full series comprising three Tests, five ODIs and two Twenty20 internationals between May 29 and July 13, Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) has confirmed.
Pakistan are scheduled to arrive in Sri Lanka on May 29 and will play the first of two Twenty20s in Hambantota on June 1. The one-day series begins in Pallekele on June 7. The first two ODIs will be played in Pallekele and the remaining three at R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo.
The three-Test series commences in Galle on June 22 and the second Test will take place at the SSC in Colombo from June 30. The teams will return to Pallekele for the final Test starting on July 8.
Pakistan and Sri Lanka last played a Test series in October 2011 in the UAE, where Pakistan won the three-match series 1-0. They last toured Sri Lanka in 2009, when they lost the three-Test series 2-0.
(ESPN)
April 29, 2012 at 7:46 pm
Gautam Gambhir made Royal Challengers Bangalore pay for dropping him twice, batting with aggression and precision to lead Kolkata Knight Riders to a match-winning total, which the visitors struggled to chase on a traditionally slow pitch at Eden Gardens. Gambhir used the depth of his crease, as well as his feet, to pound the leg side, where he scored 11 out of his 14 boundaries, primarily through pull shots. His 93, and supporting acts from Brendon McCullum and Jacques Kallis, helped Knight Riders stay No. 2 and move two points clear of their closest rivals, Royal Challengers and Chennai Super Kings.
Knight Riders’ bowlers also came to the fore during the defence, striking early and neutralising their biggest threat, Chris Gayle, by keeping him off strike. Yusuf Pathan, who has struggled for form with bat and ball, bowled an economical opening spell, during which he dismissed Tillakaratne Dilshan in the first over. In the sixth, Kallis ripped the heart out of Royal Challengers’ chase by trapping Virat Kohli lbw and having AB de Villiers caught miscuing a pull off his first ball. The visitors were 34 for 3, and by the end of the eighth over Gayle had faced only 16 balls and scored as many runs. The chase went nowhere after that, despite Gayle batting until the 20th over to finish with 86 off 58; Sunil Narine confounding batsmen with his variations on a responsive pitch.
Kolkata Knight Riders 190 for 4 (Gambhir 93, McCullum 43) beat Royal Challengers Bangalore 143 for 6 (Gayle 86) by 48 runs
(ESPN)
April 29, 2012 at 7:43 am
Sri Lanka Women held their nerve to defeat the West Indies Women by one wicket and level their three-match One-Day International series in Barbados.
The second game was mostly dominated by the bowlers, although Yashodha Mendis and Shemaine Campbelle both scored half-centuries before Sri Lanka clinched victory with two balls to spare.
Batting first, Juliana Nero made 45 and Shanel Daley 24 before Campbelle struck 56 in 67 balls to guide the home side to a score of 197 for seven.
Shashikala Siriwardena returned figures of three for 27 and there was a brace of wickets apiece for Sripali Weerakkody and Chamani Seneviratne.
Sri Lanka made a poor start, slipping to 74 for three but their innings was held together by Mendis, who hit 51 in 93 balls and Siriwadena, who scored 34.
However, the hosts hit back through Anisa Mohammed and Daley and looked to have done enough to take the win when Stacy-Ann King ran out both Weerakkody and Dharshani Dharmasuri.
However, Seneviratne instead guided her side to victory with an unbeaten 36 in 34 balls.
The decisive third game is on 29th April.
Sri Lanka Women 200-9 (Mendis 51) beat
West Indies Women 197-9 by one wicket
(cricketworld.com)
April 28, 2012 at 9:20 am
Cricket icon Sachin Tendulkar is all set to begin a new innings as a member of the House of Elders in Parliament.
Tendulkar, who turned 39 this week, will enter the Rajya Sabha along with Bollywood actress of yesteryear Rekha and industrialist Anu Aga.
The nomination of the three eminent personalities was approved on Thursday night by President Pratibha Patil under Article 80 of the Constitution. It allows the President to nominate 12 members to the 250-member Upper House.
The names of Tendulkar, who has broken almost all world records in cricket and who last month notched up his 100th international century; Rekha, who won accolades for playing a variety of roles in the Hindi cinema in the 1980s, and social worker Aga were sent by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to the Home Ministry on Wednesday for approval by the President.
Seventy-year-old Aga, former chairperson of Thermax Industries, is a member of the Sonia Gandhi-led National Advisory Council.
There has been a long-standing demand from several quarters for conferring the country’s highest civilian honour, Bharat Ratna, on Tendulkar for his contribution to cricket. He enjoys a phenomenal fan following not only in India but also in many other countries. He scored the historic 100 international hundred against Bangladesh in Dhaka last month.
Earlier in the day, Tendulkar, accompanied by wife Anjali, called on Congress president Sonia Gandhi.
(The Hindu)
April 27, 2012 at 9:15 am
