Gambir and Goswami recommmended for Arjuna Awards

April 30, 2009 By: Spunky Category: Cricket News No Comments →

The Indian Cricket Board on Wednesday recommended opener Gautam Gambhir and women’s team captain Jhulan Goswami for the prestigious national sports honour – the Arjuna Awards.

The decision to nominate the two players was taken at the BCCI’s Working Committee meeting here.

Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni had been awarded the country’s highest sporting honour – the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna – last year.

Recently, Dhoni and Harbhajan Singh were conferred with the Padmashree this year but skipped the award-giving ceremony.

Their no-show triggered angry reactions with the Sports Ministry recommending that athletes who fail to turn up for such ceremonies without giving prior intimation and compelling reasons be stripped of the honour.

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2011 World Cup Finals in Mumbai

April 29, 2009 By: Spunky Category: Cricket News 2 Comments →

Thirteen venues in India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh have been allotted 49 matches of the ICC World Cup 2011. Eight venues will be in India, three in Sri Lanka and two in Bangladesh.

Haroon Lorgat, Chief Executive officer (CEO), ICC said after a meeting of the ICC World Cup 2011 Central organising Committee (COC) here at the Cricket Centre on Tuesday that the venues are being finalised. “The opening ceremony and the opening match will be held at Bangladesh on February 18 and February 19, 2011 and the final in Mumbai in March,” said Mr. Lorgat.

The COC decided to allot two quarterfinals to Bangladesh and one each to India and Sri Lanka, one semifinal to Sri Lanka and India. “The final will be held in the last week of March,” said Prof. Ratnakar Shetty, who has been appointed Event Managing Director of the ICC World Cup 2011.

Mr. Lorgat said the special advisor to the ICC, Mr. Inderjit Singh Bindra will play a key role in the management of the ICC’s top signature event and also that the BCCI office in Mumbai will be the central Secretariat of the World Cup.

At a meeting of the Central Organising Committee of the World Cup 2011 a few months ago, BCCI had nominated Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai, Bangalore, Kolkata, Mohali, Ahmedabad and Nagpur as the venues. Sri Lanka Cricket had nominated Sinhalese Sports Club (SSC) and Premadasa Stadium at Colombo and Bangladesh had named the Banghabandhu National Stadium, Dhaka as the venues in their respective countries.

With Pakistan not anymore associated with the 49-match competition in 2011 as a host country, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh have identified one additional venue each, while the BCCI has retained the same eight venues to host 29 matches including the final at the completely redeveloped Wankhede Stadium at an estimated cost of Rs. 150 crore.

The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) was to host the 14 matches including semifinal at Lahore, with Karachi, Faisalabad and Rawalpindi being the other venues. But the decision of the ICC Development International (IDI) to remove Pakistan as a co-host country has given an opportunity for Sri Lanka and Bangladesh Cricket Boards to add one more venue each.

Shashank Manohar (President, BCCI) will head the security committee. “We recognise that instilling confidence in the security arrangements has to be in place and important. We have no doubt that we would be able to put in place security systems for a safe and successful conduct of the World Cup. The security planning will be an ongoing exercise from now,” said Mr. Lorgat.

He also said he has no information officially from Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) that its players would not take part in the World Cup. “It’s all being speculated, I don’t they will actually do that. We will cross the bridge when such a matter arises. There’s also no proposal from the PCB that it can host the matches in Dubai. It’s all very speculative. The IDO Board has made a decision and we are moving forward.”

The three host countries will have to appoint an Event Operations Director heading the local organising committee (LOC) and they would report to the Event Managing Director.

Operational Planning: Mahbubul Anam (Bangladesh, Convenor), N. Srinivasan (India), Duleep Mendis (Sri Lanka), Prof. Ratnakar Shetty (Event Managing Director) and Haroon Lorgat (CEO, ICC).

Venue Inspection Committee: N. Srinivasan (Convenor) and one member each from India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.

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No World Cup in Pakistan – ICC

April 18, 2009 By: Spunky Category: Cricket News No Comments →

International Cricket Council (ICC) on Friday said Pakistan would not host 2011 World Cup matches because of security concerns.

After ICC’s announcement Pakistan’s future as an international cricket destination hits a dead end just two years before the World Cup is to be played in the sub-continent.

The decision to strip Pakistan of World Cup hosting rights has been taken 44 days after the attack on Sri Lanka’s cricketers outside the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore by a group of heavily armed terrorists.

“It is a regrettable decision but our number one priority is to create certainty and deliver a safe, secure and successful event. However, the uncertainty created by events within Pakistan created a huge question mark over our ability to do just that. By making this decision now we hope we can put a great deal of any uncertainty to one side and press on with our preparations which, given this is cricket’s biggest and most high profile event within our range of tournaments, are substantial,” said ICC President David Morgan.

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Former players suggest Sehwag should continue to open

April 14, 2009 By: Spunky Category: Player News No Comments →

Just after Virender Sehwag said that he would like to play as a middle order batsman again, former Indian Test stars have their suggestions and opinions and have given an unanimous thumbs down to his idea.

Former players Sandeep Patil, Nayan Mongia and Ajit Wadekar strongly believe that Sehwag should continue to open the batting as his solid starts along with Gautam Gambhir was helping the team win more matches than never before.

Sandeep Patil, who himself was an attacking middle order batsman during early 80s and was a member of the 1983 World Cup winning team, said the Indian team’s new-found overseas success was mainly due to the solid starts given by the two Delhi openers Sehwag and Gambhir and secondly due to the lion-hearted bowling by the Indian seamers, particularly Zaheer Khan and Ishant Sharma.

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Bucknor Retires

March 24, 2009 By: Spunky Category: Cricket News No Comments →

The 62-year-old Jamaican, who stood in a record 128 Tests, ended his 20-year career with the final Test between South Africa and Australia at Newlands in Cape Town.

“His endurance is testament to discipline and consistency – two characteristics to which all in cricket should aspire,” said Haroon Lorgat, the ICC’s chief executive.

“On behalf of the ICC, thank you for your great service to the game and we wish you well in the future.”

One of the game’s most respected umpires, Bucknor has also stood in 179 one-day internationals and will add to that tally when he officiates the two matches between West Indies and England at Kensington Oval in Barbados this weekend.

The experienced Bucknor has also stood in a record five consecutive World Cup finals since 1992, a standard that Lorgat contended would never be overhauled.

“His record of five consecutive ICC Cricket World Cup finals will not, be overtaken and he will retire as the umpire to have officiated in the most Test matches and the first to break the 100-Test mark.”

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