All posts by csb10.top

At a time other cricket boards are announcing pay cuts and freezes, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has revealed that it is awarding its players pay rises of up to 25%.The players will now earn around Rs50,000 (approx US$875) per month compared to Rs28,000 previously, while senior players like skipper Rashid Latif could pocket up to Rs200,000 as opposed to Rs158,000 previously.Lt Gen Tauqir Zia, chairman of the PCB, revealed that a proposal from Rashid Latif that all players should receive the same, regardless of seniority, was considered unjustified. The previous slab system would continue with senior players who have played more matches being paid more while the juniors would be compensated according to appearances in Tests and ODIs.Apart from the pay hike, another 25% bonus would be paid to all playersfollowing a win in a Test. Zia went on to say that the PCB wanted to give players their due rights rather than deprive them monetarily.In an earlier briefing on May 1, Rameez Raja, the chief executive of the PCB, had said: “We are very close to finalizing the central contracts that will be awarded to a select number of players. Minor modifications are to be made in the contracts before they are awarded.”

Please note that ICC Communications Manager Mark Harrison will be returning to the UK from this evening, Tuesday 18, until Thursday 27 February. While Mark is away from the World Cup, please direct media enquiries to Brendan McClements, General Manager Corporate Affairs and Project Officer Jon Long, who is now in South Africa.As a reminder, Brendan can be reached on SA cell number 083 417 5492 and Jon Long on 083 417 5518.

Stephen Fleming makes no apologies, he rates his New Zealand team as a World Cup-winning prospect.Buoyed by a captain’s hand of 60 not out in New Zealand’s fifth win over India in their seven-match series which ended in Hamilton tonight, Fleming said that given the conditions in which New Zealand had triumphed, there had to be some prospect that in better conditions expected in South Africa they will play even better there.”We have got a good side. There is no reason in better conditions that we can’t do better,” he said.Fleming said his batsmen know they have struggled in the bowler-friendly conditions in this series, but they wanted results more than anybody.”They want to express themselves in good conditions,” he said.”They don’t want to be taken apart technically, bit by bit, on tough wickets, they want to get across and express themselves.”I know we’ve got good players, but they are looking, they are reading and they are getting their heads down as well but that’s not the message we’re going to be portraying.”I’m going to keep talking them up. We’ve got a good side. We’ve beaten a very good side in tough conditions.”I believe in this group of guys and that is what is going to win us the World Cup,” he said.”It would be great if other people came along for the ride, we’ve got to do that somewhere with our sports people.”Fleming said the players were looking forward to getting to South Africa and doing the work there that they have been in New Zealand and getting some results.Tonight’s win had required some personal stresses to create pressure and they had tried a lot of different things to achieve that on the night.The manner in which New Zealand had achieved the final win had been satisfying and he felt it was a fair reflection of the series.The wickets throughout the season had been below par and in commenting on today’s pitch he said he had gone through being surprised by it. His simple rationale was bowl on it because the odds were that it would do something.”We’re very satisfied with the work we did to get those wins. We knew it was a war of attrition, not traditional in the length of time most of the games went. We’ve got to be satisfied with winning matches, that’s what it’s about.”Whatever conditions you get you’ve got to be better than the opposition and that’s what we prided ourselves on in this series,” he said.

Former Somerset favourite Dennis Breakwell, who was a member the cup winning Somerset team of the late 1970’s and early 80’s told me, “The Glory Years are back at Taunton, and the ghost has been laid to rest.”He went on, “Well done to everybody who is involved at the club from Chief Executive Peter Anderson to Head Groundsman Phil Frost, everyone has played their part in the success story.”Dennis said he felt that, “The club has lived in the shadow of the team that I played in for too long, but now the team for the new millennium has arrived and they are a fine side. I’m just so pleased for them, they thoroughly deserve it.”How did they compare to that side of twenty or so years ago I asked. “The 2001 side would compete well with our side in the batting, Now we bat right down the order. How many number sevens have scored back to back hundreds like Ian Blackwell did against Northants?”Regarding the bowling he said, “If you put Joel Garner into the attack then that would also compare well. Joel was the person who would knock the first few over which won the games for us.”At the start of the season Dennis said he felt that “The selection looked a little starnge, but halfway through when both Dutchy and Blackwell played the side looked well balanced even without Caddick and Trescothick.”Dennis also paid tribute to Keith Dutch who had “Proved himself to be a good signing and gave a buzz to the side,” and went on,”look at what he did in the semi final- I was glued to the television.”What about next season I asked, “I hope that they keep going the way that they are and win some more trophies.They are a cohesive unit and very close as a side as we were. We all seemed to be mates.”Before leaving me to return to his coaching duties at Kings College in Taunton Dennis concluded with a message for the 2001 cup winning side, “No we were not better than you are. Good on you and go on and win some more,” and concluded “They were brilliant!”

Saeed Anwar, Naved Latif and Rana Navidul Hasan did not appear before the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) panel of doctors for their medical test held at the Gaddafi Stadium Monday.PCB is conducting the medical tests of 13 probables out of 30 who are included in the World Cup list announced last month. The remaining 17 members of the list are included in the Pakistan team currently on the South African tour.Those who will pass the test will be considered for the selection in the World Cup team.Besides the three probables, the panel has also called for Shoaib Malik, Imran Farhat and Abdur Rauf for the test and they appeared.Saeed, Rana Navid and Lateef had family’s problems and requested the panel to defer their test, a member of the panel Dr Meesaq Rizvi said.The panel has now called them on Wednesday along with Danish Kaneria and Imran Nazir.Former Test captain, Moin Khan, all-rounder Azhar Mahmood, Yasir Arafat, Shadab Kabir and Fazle Akbar will appear before the panel on Tuesday.Meesaq said that the result of Shoaib, Imran and Rauf was not compiled so far, but the way they did the exercises and running they appeared fit.

If conditions at Lincoln Green were only the start of the summer watch out for the main event.Temperatures hovered around 25-28 degrees celsius for much of the day as the New Zealand Cricket Academy and Otago did battle on a perfect early season pitch at Lincoln University.While most interest on the day centred on the return of Chris Cairns to the bowling crease, his exposure was minimal, just managing one with the bat, as the New Zealand Academy managed to bat out most of the day on the first day of a two-day game in which Otago is giving playing time to 15 of its players and the Academy 12.Instead it was his CLEAR Black Caps team-mate, left-arm medium-fast Shayne O’Connor who took most satisfaction from the day. He took five wickets in a highly encouraging day in which he too is making a comeback from injury.For the Academy side, Nathan McCullum did very well in stemming what had been a top order collapse when there was just a little spice in the wicket. He scored 57 before being trapped leg before wicket by O’Connor.Brendon McCullum then backed up with 53 before he was stumped by Martyn Croy from Nathan Morland’s bowling. Brendon McCullum was given good support in a sixth wicket stand of 80 with Jonathan McNamee while Luke Woodcock helped Nathan McCullum add 65 for the eighth wicket.No 11 Wade Cornelius (33) helped add 50 runs for the last wicket with Sam Whiteman, and left the final total at 289.The exercise of New Zealand’s major associations scheduling early season games at the High Performance Centre has been vindicated again with superb conditions that would have done justice to the middle of summer let alone this early in the season.Ground manager Karl Johnson said the dry spring in Canterbury meant grass wickets have been available for training purposes since September 10, an almost unheard of event in most other centres around the country.Earlier in the innings Nick Horsley had scored 36.At stumps Otago had raced to 46 for one in seven overs in reply.

One does not often come across someone as humble as Sridharan Sriram.A conversation with this diminutive opening batsman leaves you with anoverwhelming feeling of simplicity. Perhaps it is exactly that qualitythat makes him speak freely while talking to CricInfo after making anexcellent century for Board President’s XI against England in thethree-day match at Hyderabad.In his innings, Sriram was very sluggish to start with, especiallyafter losing his opening partner Wasim Jaffer for a golden duck. Therewere even a few English journalists who asked the CricInfocorrespondent if Sriram was always as boring. But, after taking histime to get to his fifty, he blossomed to play an entertaining knock,forcing those same journalists to eat their words.The batsman went on to make 149, pressing his claims for the opener’sslot in the national side. It was an innings of determination andcharacter, which would not have missed the attention of the selectorsassembled in Hyderabad.Sriram is a 25-year-old opening batsman from Tamil Nadu who hasrepresented India in a few one-day internationals. He was a recepientof the Border-Gavaskar scholarship and spent some time in theCommonwealth Bank Cricket Academy in Adelaide, along with Shiv SunderDas and Mohammad. Kaif.Sriram is a brilliant fielder and an able left-arm spinner. He has nowbeen working again on his bowling after neglecting it for a few years.Sriram had a successful tour of the West Indies with the India `A’side a few years ago, sharing honours with Murali Kartik and RahulSanghvi. Starting cricket as a left-arm spinner, Sriram would be animmense addition to Indian cricket if he can develop into an able allrounder.In an exclusive interview to CricInfo, Sriram talked about his battingin the middle and a few other aspects of the game.On the time he spent in Adelaide:It is without doubt one of the the best times I have ever had. Ilearnt a lot about the importance of fitness and how to stay fit. Newconcepts about training and weight-training were taught, from which Ihave benefited a lot. We trained indoors most of the time, as it wasin the middle of the southern winter, and I learned to play shortpitched bowling. What I was most impressed by was the attitude of theAustralians towards the game.On his knock against England:I was very nervous to start with. I just wanted to hang in there aslong as possible and found out that the ball was not coming on to thebat. Initially I went through a phase when I was not timing the ballat all. I just told myself that things were going to change, to spendmore time, so that my timing would come back.On the prospect of playing for India in Tests:Frankly it was never in my mind when I went in to bat; I just had tofocus on my job. You can’t keep thinking about playing for India andlose out on the present. I told myself that I’ll see what I can todayand let tomorrow take care of itself.On the English bowling attack:I watched Darren Gough and Andrew Caddick in action in Sri Lanka, insimilar conditions, and they bowled very well to provide earlybreakthroughs. Later on, Ashley Giles and Robert Croft got thewickets. Giles is supposed to be the number one spinner in England,but I didn’t get to have a look at him. Martyn Ball bowled wellinitially, but lost his length later on. Craig White was bowling offcutters today, the wicket was such; you just can’t help it.”On his form this domestic season:Getting hundreds is a habit that I had lost for some six to eightmonths. The Gopalan Trophy century was an international hundred, allsaid and done; it made me believe that I can score runs at theinternational level.On Tamil Nadu skipper Robin Singh:Frankly, I am a great admirer of Robin; at this age, he is far morefitter than all of us. It makes me ashamed of myself too. The amountof training and hard work he puts in is amazing. He is the role modelfor all young cricketers. You may name Sachin Tendulkar and all other names,but if someone has played for India just on sheer merit and hard work,it is Robin Singh. We are all proud that he is from Tamil Nadu.Sriram must surely figure in the selectors’ shortlist of openers. Theyoungster might have a long way to go to get to the top, but he isheading in the right direction.

It was with anger and frustration that I learnt about the articlethat appeared in the Argus Newspaper and its sister publicationson Wednesday 23rd April. Clearly it was written by a journalistwith no understanding or knowledge of the team or our WorldCup campaign.Highly confidential reports have been leaked by a person orpeople who obviously have little or no sense of moral integrity toa reporter who has acknowledged to the UCB that he knowsvery little about the game.The fitness trainer’s report is grossly misinterpreted in the articleand it is an indictment on the editors of respected newspapersthat they are prepared to publish a front page story in a mannerthat befits the cheapest form of journalism – and under suchlurid headlines.At no stage did the journalist bother to discuss the contents ofthe report with anyone involved in compiling the report in theinterest of presenting a fair and complete picture.Obviously, as coach I have seen both the report and the articleand it is clear that the writer has chosen to exaggerate andtwist the content purely for the sake of sensationalism as thearticle makes no attempt to present the facts fairly.The bulk of the article refers to an assessment exercise thesquad did four months prior to the start of the World Cup. In theexercise we looked for any potential weaknesses that may haveexisted among the potential squad members. This was done inconsultation with each individual and agreement was reachedthat the areas in need of attention receive the necessaryattention well in advance of the tournament.When the issue of weight is brought up in our assessment weare talking about a few kilograms either way. To use the word”fatties” is a disgrace to all journalists and an example of gutterjournalism. When we talk about binges, we are talking aboutplayers who prefer to miss meals and to eat once a day. Thewords “alcohol” and “binge” are each mentioned once in theentire report, yet reference to them managed to find its way tothe bloated headlines! The team has a policy of no alcohol fromtwo days before, and obviously throughout any internationalmatch, and this was policy throughout out world cup campaign.Mr Gray’s report goes on to state that every provisional WorldCup squad member passed a fitness test prior to the naming ofthe final squad, but the reporter does not bother to mention thisas, clearly, it does not suit the overall tone of his story.I could continue explaining why this article is a disgrace, andsimply an attempt to suit someone’s own selfish ends.As a squad we wanted to leave no stone unturned in ourpreparation for the World Cup, and even the smallest potentialproblem – such as the injury potential of someone like JontyRhodes – was considered.Obviously as a squad we are desperately disappointed in ourperformance and the outcome of our World Cup campaign. Butthe issues raised so sensationally in this article were dealt withmonths before the tournament and were not, in any way, afactor at any stage in the tournament.I have found the endless, destructive attacks by certainsections of the SA media disappointing in the extreme,particularly when the positive angles are so often ignored.In this case, it seems that the need to be destructive wasmotivated by the need to sell newspapers and enhance careers.All of which is very frustrating as we endeavor to make ournation proud of their team.None of us has ever claimed to be perfect, but we do need andappreciate the incredible support we have from our public inspite of these attempts by some media to be destructive.The South Africa cricket team is in an exciting transitionalphase, and we are already seeing some encouraging signs on ourtour in Bangladesh.The story reached us just before our team meeting onWednesday night, and I can honestly say I have neverexperienced a more subdued and dejected meeting as the onethat followed. And this, just twelve hour before a Test match!The team expects justified criticism when playing at the highestlevel, but the sense of hurt and disappointment felt at theinjustice of this article was tangible in all those affected.The captain did his best to pick the team up in the meeting, andin the end they understood the need to look forward and focuson the Test match and an exciting future.This team will move forward not because of articles like this but inspite of it.

The decisions made by individual England players on whether to tour Indianext month will be announced by the England and Wales Cricket Board latertoday.Several players have expressed concern about whether it is safe to make thetrip given the current military action in Afghanistan.The ECB has confirmed that the tour will go ahead, and held a meeting withthe England players on Tuesday at which the High Commissioner in New Delhi,Sir Rob Young, made reassurances about safety.The ECB have also reassured players that a withdrawal will not be heldagainst them. Should any players decide not to tour, replacements will benamed in due course.

A pathetic batting display by Zimbabwe, all out for 155 in 59 overs on anideal batting pitch, has almost certainly condemned them to heavy defeat atQueens Sports Club in Bulawayo. The manner of their demise, against goodbut not lethal bowling, will elicit no sympathy from their long-sufferingsupporters, as one soft dismissal followed another and fighting spiritseemed an altogether foreign quality. At the close West Indies had run upexactly 100 without loss and could anticipate rich pickings on day two.It was another sunny winter’s morning as play began in the First Test of the two-match series. It looked a beautiful pitch for batting, unlikely to give the bowlers too much early assistance, and Heath Streak was eager to bat on winning the toss.Zimbabwe gave Craig Wishart one of his irregular Test caps as a battingreplacement for Andy Flower, deciding to risk a four-man bowling attack.Wicket-keeper Tatenda Taibu made his Test debut at the age of 18. WestIndies included Pedro Collins, who has not played on tour since his arrivala few days ago, in preference to Corey Collymore, after assessing the two inpractice.The match started late for perhaps a unique reason: bowler Reon King complained about difficulty in starting his run-up from the sponsor’s logo on the outfield. About five minutes were lost until it was decided that nothing could be done about it and he would have to make do. He took it out on Dion Ebrahim, who survived a hostile opening over.Zimbabwe had moved Alistair Campbell up to open for the first time in Tests,restoring Guy Whittall to the middle order, a commendable gamble as neitherhad scored runs in their former positions against India. Collins, arare West Indian left-arm-over paceman who has not played first-classcricket for a year, had the hapless Ebrahim, who has rarely been happy as anopener, trapped lbw playing round a ball of full length without scoring.Both Campbell and Stuart Carlisle came close to giving catches early on asthe bowlers looked impressive when they pitched the ball up. Slowly,though, they found their confidence, until Carlisle (10), as so oftenhappens once he has appeared to settle in, lost his wicket, driving atCollins to edge a catch to second slip.Campbell (21) has the same problem, as he demonstrated in the next over, as he went after a very wide ball from King and gave the ‘keeper a presentation catch. Zimbabwe were once again throwing away their chances in fine batting conditions at 31 for three. One technically incorrect stroke was followed by two gifted wickets.Craig Wishart and Guy Whittall now had to repair the damage, with Wishartdominating and occasionally breaking through with a superb boundary,including a straight six off Neil McGarrell, in a manner perhaps reminiscentof Robin Smith. But he also fell to a soft dismissal on 36, driving Colin Stuart uppishly to backward point. At 85 for four at lunch, Zimbabwe had quite squandered their advantage, and would have done even worse had Whittall succeeded in his effort to run himself out off the last ball before the interval.Grant Flower (6) fell soon after lunch, caught at the wicket pushingdefensively at an excellent leg-cutter from King. Whittall, batting withdiscrimination against good bowling, gradually found his fluency, but Streakscored only five before cutting left-arm spinner McGarrell to backwardpoint, where Shivnarine Chanderpaul took a sharp low catch. Zimbabwe werenow 119 for six.Whittall and, uncharacteristically, Andy Blignaut dug in defensively, whileCollins added to the West Indian injury worries by limping off with a hurtleg. He was replaced by Stuart, who dismissed Whittall (42), flashingoutside the off stump to be caught by first slip off the rebound fromsecond.Taibu’s first Test runs came from a one-bounce four, a hook off Stuart, justbefore tea, but was out shortly afterwards, easily caught in the covers offa leading edge for six, trying to turn Stuart to leg.Following this, Blignaut (21) became the third batsman to hit an offering to backward point, King being the lucky bowler, and Raymond Price fell lbw second ball.Zimbabwe were dismissed for 155 in one of their most spineless displays on abeautiful batting pitch. One can only assume that their morale has beenshattered by the political shenanigans off the field and they lack theprofessional qualities to play above that.Chris Gayle was soon timing the ball with exquisite sweetness, determined todominate from the start, as West Indies began their innings. The threat ofthe world-class Streak or the accuracy of Bryan Strang had no effect on himas he treated both roughly, but left-arm spinner Price put a brake on thescoring. Daren Ganga, although overshadowed, batted soundly on the whole,as usual at about half the scoring rate of Gayle, with the odd miscue fromthe batsmen not going to hand.Gayle reached his fifty off 68 balls, and at the close was 52 not out, withGanga, who hit freely in the dying overs of the day, 44.