Tuesday 28 June 2011

Cook must learn from Morgan

Alastair Cook begins his stint as full time ODI captain when England face Sri Lanka but there's much he needs to do in order to improve his record as a limited-overs batsman, says Derek Pringle in the Daily Telegraph.

The notion that an opener should anchor a one-day innings by batting through it probably still existed when he began his career but the widespread tactic now is to make hay during the power plays, a period English batsmen have been among the worst at exploiting. In any case, Jonathan Trott, England’s No3, has bagged the accumulator role, so Cook will have to play something other than Shylock if it is not to end badly.
In the Daily Mail, Stuart Broad reflects on the defeat to Sri Lanka in a game that marked the start of his Twenty20 captaincy.

ALL EYES ON COOK

Alastair Cook takes over as England's ODI captain, knowing that if he succeeds the Test job could be his, writes Stephen Brenkley in the Independent.

More than his change of style, Cook has a steely resolve which has been seen in the manner that he has dominated the Test arena in the past eight months after his very career was put in doubt. But combining the roles of opening batsman and captain will push him to the limits.
Cook might not be a flair player but he'll thrive on the challenge of captaincy, says Nasser Hussain in the Daily Mail.

In the Guardian, however, Mike Selvey writes there must be doubts about whether Cook will be able to raise his game to the level required to succeed.

A victory for both ICC and BCCI

The decision to make a modified DRS mandatory across Tests and ODIs is being considered a victory by both sides. The BCCI was quick to emphasise that they had not changed their stance on the DRS and the ICC was confident it had won over the last and strongest opponent of the review system in its previous form.

At the end of a day that contained several meetings at the annual conference in Hong Kong, ICC chief executive Haroon Lorgat had only one comment to make. "This is only the end of day two of what is a Test match," he told ESPNcricinfo as he left a cocktail party held for all the delegates.

The DRS decision had not been brought to a vote during the morning session of the chief executives' committee meeting. Later in the afternoon, the word "unanimous" was quickly and repeatedly used to explain how smoothly all the differences had been resolved.

The discussions over the DRS and the FTP were expected to begin on the first day of the ICC's conference, along with the cricket committee's other recommendations concerning playing conditions. ESPNcricinfo learned that they were deferred to the second day because there were said to be fairly frosty exchanges during the meeting. Members were given the impression by the BCCI's statements that there was a possibility that the FTP's final design could be linked to their opinions on how the DRS recommendation was handled at the meeting. Some officials strongly implied this was the case, though others like Gerald Majola, the Cricket South Africa chief executive, dismissed it outright.

The FTP agreement, which has been sent up to the ICC's executive board for approval, is vital for all Members as television rights are sold based on the itineraries drawn up in advance. The presence of India in the schedule brings the largest chunk of member boards' earnings. It is important to note that seven of the ten Full Member nations (excluding Pakistan, Sri Lanka and India) will draft new television deals in the next 12 months. Any freeze in relations with India reflecting in the FTP would have a direct bearing on the value of those broadcasting agreements.

When the meetings resumed on Monday the common opinion was that, while everyone agreed on the necessity of the DRS, it would be advisable to opt only for the technologies that everyone agreed with. This led to the ball-tracking technology being removed and the infra-red camera being included in the list of mandatory requirements for the DRS.

The BCCI's acceptance of the DRS is particularly ironic. The suggestion of a review system for umpiring decisions was first brought to the ICC's attention, an official said, "about six to eight years ago," by Duncan Fletcher - then coaching England but now working with the Indian team. In his first press conference as India coach, Fletcher's comment on the DRS was cut short by the BCCI secretary N Srinivasan with the statement, "Mr. Fletcher doesn't know BCCI's stance on DRS". It has now changed. Or perhaps it has been allowed to stay the same.

IPL 2012 from April 4 to May 27

The fifth edition of the IPL will be held from April 4 to May 27, 2012. The tournament is scheduled after India's return from their tour of Australia and South Africa's tour of New Zealand in March. The tournament will feature 74 matches - the same as this year's IPL - and the match schedule will be announced soon.

The structure of the Future Tours Programme [FTP] is one of the major points up for discussion in the ongoing ICC annual conference in Hong Kong, amid calls for a separate window for the IPL within that schedule. There are several series next year that are expected to overlap with the IPL, and may result in the absence of some international stars. England are scheduled to host West Indies, Australia are expected to tour the West Indies, and Pakistan are due to play Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.

The 2011 IPL took place barely a week after the World Cup, and the arrival of some Australian cricketers, including Shane Watson, was delayed due to their tour of Bangladesh. The number of teams grew from eight - as in the previous three versions - to ten, with Sahara Pune Warriors and Kochi Tuskers Kerala joining the league but failing to qualify for the knockouts. Chennai Super Kings defended their title successfully, beating Royal Challengers Bangalore in the final.

Associates included in 2015 World Cup

The 2015 World Cup will comprise 14 teams, a change from the original ten-team format, which means the Associates are back in the competition, ESPNcricinfo has learned. Four Associate teams will line up alongside ten Full Members in Australia and New Zealand, just like it was during the 2011 World Cup. The decision to reinstate the Associates, which was taken on the third day of the ICC's annual conference in Hong Kong, is a reversal of the ICC's heavily criticised move to restrict the 2015 tournament to the Full Members.

The ICC, however, has reduced the number of teams in the World Twenty20s in 2012 and 2014 from 16 to 12 (ten Full Members and two Associates).

It had also said previously that the 2019 World Cup would have a qualifying tournament to determine its participants. At the annual conference it was decided that the 2019 tournament would have only ten teams, with the top-eight ranked sides gaining automatic entry while the remaining two spots would be decided by a qualification competition.

The decision to exclude Associates from 2015 was made shortly after the 2011 World Cup final and it sparked a wave of protests, especially since Ireland, who are the leading Associate team, had performed creditably in the competition. They had upset England and competed in most of their other games.

Warren Deutrom, the Cricket Ireland chief executive, was "delighted" with the decision made in Hong Kong.

"The board should be greatly commended in the first instance for agreeing to look again at the matter, and then for being courageous enough to review their original decision - that isn't easy," Deutrom told ESPNcricinfo. "As for Ireland, we now have to get our heads down and try to qualify for it [2015 World Cup]!"

On Monday, the second day of the conference, the ICC's chief executives' committee (CEC) had recommended to the executive board that there be a qualifying tournament for the 2015 World Cup, giving the Associates hope. It did not specify the number of slots open to Associates though, nor did it recommend a change in the competition's format. The executive board acted on the CEC's recommendation and ensured Associate participation by expanding the tournament from 10 to 14 teams.

As earlier reported, some Members believe the stretch to 14 teams is part of a deal to build support for the last major issue for discussion at the conference: scrapping the rotation policy for the appointment of the ICC president.

Pakistan and Bangladesh - the two Members who were to nominate the next candidates for president and vice-president by the rotation system - are opposed to the change. In order to pass a resolution amending the rule about the appointment of the ICC chief, eight of ten Full Members and 38 of 50 Associates will have to vote in favour of the motion. That vote could now be a formality with the Associates being placated by Tuesday's decision.

Tuesday 21 June 2011

Tony Greig calls for end to India 'domination' of ICC

Former England captain Tony Greig has called for an end to India's "domination" of the International Cricket Council, saying it would be the first thing he'd change if he was in charge of the governing body.


"Number one, we have got to try and get the ICC right," Greig said. "We have a situation at the moment where the ICC is dominated by India.
"They tell Zimbabwe, Bangladesh and one or two other countries what to do and they always get the vote.
"It's very hard, but somehow we have got to change things at that level."
South Africa-born Greig added: "We are playing too much cricket. I would be getting all the countries from the world and saying hey listen, what is this nonsense of giving Indian domestic cricket an open window?
"To give the IPL (Indian Premier League) an open window, and reduce by two months the time available for cricketers to play around the world, in the current environment is just ridiculous.

tony cheap comments on ipl

You were critical of the IPL.
We have seen some wonderful things as a result of the IPL. It’s really good that the players are getting paid decent wages. There are problems that are thrown up because as we have seen, there is the second Indian team going to the West Indies. I don’t like that because when players say we are playing too much and do not go to a major international tour, then it is not good for international cricket.

So, IPL is creating some good things and some serious problems at the same time. I would be asking the BCCI, are you considering other people at the same time that you are considering yourself. It is very well to have astrong and vibrant IPL but please remember to take into consideration the problems that have happened in the other countries.

Do you mean to say it created problems in smaller boards like Sri Lanka and West Indies?


Not just the smaller boards. I think everybody. Australia have lost cricketers who have retired early. Adam Gilchrist retired because of the IPL. Andrew Symonds left cricket early because of the IPL. There are a few guys from New Zealand. Definitely from Sri Lanka and the West Indies and it will get worse. We have to come up with a sensible argument to make sure that this tournament doesn’t turn out to be detrimental for world cricket.

tony greig wrong comments

Won’t rate 100 centuries highly: Tony Greig

Tony Greig, known for his strong views, tells DNA that IPL should not be allowed to become detrimental for world cricket. Excerpts:

How do you analyse India’s performance in the ODIs vs West Indies?

Satisfactory! I wouldn’t say that it’s been wonderful or exceptional. I think India would be concerned by one or two of their batsmen who haven’t performed consistently enough. Rohit Sharma has performed consistently. He is very unlucky that he is not being kept back for the Test matches. I think if I was an Indian selector, I would be saying to Rohit ‘you can stay inWest Indies based on your performance.’ He has performed better than some of the players who are staying back.

How do you rate India’s new coach, Duncan Fletcher,
so far?

Anyone who tries at this stage either one way or other to asses Duncan Fletcher’s performance with the Indian team is very stupid because really, any assessment of the involvement of a coach or player needs time. Fletcher has been there for just five minutes.

Saturday 11 June 2011

IPL gave injuries for india

Zaheer Khan and Sreesanth have been ruled out of the Test series against West Indies, further weakening an Indian squad already missing several first-choice players. Zaheer has a right ankle problem, Sreesanth has a right elbow problem and both are undergoing rehabilitation. Medium-pacers Abhimanyu Mithun and Praveen Kumar have been named as their replacements in the Test squad.
Shoulder injuries to Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir had forced the selectors to opt for a pair of inexperienced openers in M Vijay and the uncapped Abhinav Mukund. Sachin Tendulkar wanted to spend some time with his family and opted out of the tour as well.
While the batting was hit hard by these withdrawals, the bowling initially had a stronger look with Zaheer - who skipped the limited-overs leg of the tour - expected to lead a full-strength attack in the Caribbean. His and Sreesanth's absence will now add further fuel to the debate on the impact of a cramped IPL schedule on the Indian team.