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Kyle Mills out, Vettori fit
for Pakistan Tests series
WELLINGTON: Captain Daniel Vettori has been passed fit but fast bowler
Kyle Mills needs surgery and will miss New Zealand’s Test series against
Pakistan which begins at Dunedin this week.
Vettori returned from New Zealand’s limited-overs and Twenty20 series
against Pakistan in the United Arab Emirates on Sunday with mild concussion
after being struck by a Mohammed Aamer bouncer and with an injury to his
bowling shoulder.
The left-arm spinner consulted an orthopaedic surgeon Monday and New
Zealand Cricket said scans showed rotator cuff damage, but the injury was
minor and could be managed with physiotherapy and exercise.
Vettori’s concussion is also slight and will not affect his availability
for the first of three Tests against Pakistan from Nov. 22.
Mills will undergo surgery within two weeks to fix a torn rotator cuff
in his shoulder and tendon damage in his right knee, New Zealand Cricket
said. A key member of New Zealand’s one-day team, Mills was less likely
to be chosen for the Dunedin test in which Chris Martin and Iain O’Brien
may share the new ball.
PCB assured of allowing
cricketers to play in IPL
PL extends deadline for Pakistan players
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Cricket Board chairman Ejaz Butt has got verbal
assurances from the government that it would have no objections regarding
the national players travelling to India for the Indian Premier League
next year.
After attending a hearing of the Public accounts committee here today,
Butt said he had also spoken to IPL commissioner Lalit Modi last night.
"I had a fruitful discussion with Lalit Modi on the exact status of
participation of the Pakistani players in the IPL," Butt added.
The PCB chief said he was personally keen to see maximum number of
Pakistani players take part in the IPL next year.
"I also conveyed this to Modi and for this I have also spoken to the
government which has verbally assured me they would not stop our players
to go and play in the IPL if they got contracts from franchises," he said.
Meanwhile, the Indian Premier League (IPL) organisers have extended
the deadline for the submission of NOC’s to play in the third edition by
10 days for Pakistan players.
Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chairman Ijaz Butt said that players from
all countries were required to submit their NOC’s from respective boards
and government by November 20. "But I spoke to IPL commissioner Lalit Modi
and asked him to extend the deadline for our players since our situation
was different from other countries," Ijaz said.
England willing to host
Pakistan, India series
LONDON: England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) has indicated its willingness
to host Pakistan-India Test series due in 2011 in England as way to help
Pakistan cricket which due to the current security situation in the South
Asian country is deprived of international cricket at home. Speaking at
a reception hosted here at the Lord’s last evening to mark the launch of
the Pakistan-Australia series next summer in the UK, ECB President Giles
Clarke said if both Pakistani and Indian Boards agree, this could be organised
in England given the fact that Britain has substantial population of people
belonging to the sub-continent living in this country.
When ECB chairman Giles Clarke offered to help Pakistan stage their
home matches in England next summer, he was motivated by the worldwide
interest in protecting the Test future of a great cricket-playing nation.
International tours to Pakistan have been put on hold since March, when
terrorists attacked the Sri Lanka team bus in Lahore.
The resulting vacuum of cricket in the country has prompted the Pakistan
Cricket Board to seek alternative venues to house their ‘home’ series.
Pakistan’s Test series with Australia, which England will host at Lord’s
and Headingley Carnegie in July, has itself been postponed since since
2008.
The reappearance of neutral Tests in England, for the first time since
1912, also sees Australia return to this country a year after the Ashes
summer. England and Australia will contest a five-match NatWest series
in the run-up to Australia’s games with Pakistan, less than 12 months after
Ricky Ponting’s men handed out a 6-1 thrashing upon their hosts. Clarke
maintains a regular diet of 50-over cricket between the game’s oldest rivals
can only aid the fortunes of England’s one-day team.
Strauss firm not
to involve in T20
LONDON: England captain Andrew Strauss has reiterated his intent of
not getting involved in Twenty20 cricket. Strauss had opted to stand down
from England’s Twenty20 squad earlier this year because the format didn’t
suit his accumulative style and he has said he has no plans to revisit
his stance. "Never say never. But at this stage, I’ve got no plans to play
Twenty20 cricket," he said.
"My reasons for not playing Twenty20 cricket are firstly that there
are some limitations in my game in that format and secondly I believe strongly
that for me to continue playing well in the one-day and Test cricket something’s
got to give. You’ve got to remain reasonably fresh as an international
captain, to be able to motivate people."
Strauss did not deny rumours that he had been almost forced into stepping
back into the Twenty20 set-up last week but felt his solidity was more
suited to longer periods. "There were some considerations given. But ultimately,
me playing in a one-off capacity is not going to help the team long term,"
he said. "I’m not going to be there in the 2010 World Twenty20 ª so
if there are injuries there, or ‘Colly’ gets injured, someone needs to
step up and take over."
ICL non-payments block
Sami’s international career
LAHORE: Fast bowler Mohammad Sami says he is keen to play for Pakistan
again but he will not approach the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) unless
he get his dues cleared by the unofficial Indian Cricket League (ICL).
Sami, who has been in good form for the Karachi team in the ongoing
Quaid-e-Azam Trophy, said only after getting money from the ICL the players
could apply for an NOC and submit that to the PCB. "The amount owed by
the ICL to me personally is quite a big one so I can’t leave them without
first getting the dues cleared," said Sami, who has played in 33 Tests
and 83 one-day internationals before he joined the ICL in 2007.
He said the ICL had been offering excuses every time the players tried
to contact them. "It is getting a bit frustrating now because I and some
other players have not received their last three installments since last
year," he complained.
Sami and other Pakistan players represented the Lahore Badshahs team
in the ICL and they were a huge draw in the T20 rebel league before it
stopped functioning last year after the Mumbai terror attacks. The fast
bowler said he had not given up hope of playing for Pakistan again. "I
am bowling well and I am in good form I know I can break into the national
team once this issue with the ICL is resolved," he said.
Internal politics may dash
hopes fir 2018 World Cup
LONDON: Karren Brady says that England's hopes of hosting the 2018
World Cup are in danger of being undermined by internal politics among
the bid team.
Brady was one of six board members to stand down earlier this month,
while Premier League chairman Dave Richards resigned from the bid team
on Tuesday.
"There's been bickering, infighting and disruption," she told BBC Radio
5 live.
Asked if the bid had been a shambles, Brady said: "From the outside
looking in, that's probably fair comment."
Brady is now the leader of an advisory board to the 2018 World Cup
bid committee, after little more than a month as a full member of the board,
and she admitted she was concerned that the campaign could lose its way.
"If everybody doesn't pull together for the same aim, things won't
be achieved," added the 40-year-old.
Brady's departure from the board coincided with the appointment
of Richards, but the Premier League chairman resigned from the bid team
on Tuesday after less than two weeks in the role.
Australia, Indonesia, Japan, Russia, the United States and joint bids
from Belgium-Netherlands and Portugal-Spain are the direct competition
for 2018.
Cities hoping to host World Cup matches if England win the the right
to stage the 2018 tournament will submit the proposals to the bid team
on Thursday.
However, Portsmouth will not be among them after pulling out of the
race on Wednesday.
The England 2018 team will then announce its potential host cities
on 16 December. England's final bid will be delivered to Fifa in May 2010.
Tests get new technology,
system to be applied in S. Africa
LONDON: The Test series between England and South Africa will be played
under the new decision review system, it has been confirmed.
The International Cricket Council announced that the system will
be in place in South Africa.
It made its international debut in the New Zealand-Pakistan Test series
which started on Tuesday.
There had been a hitch over the South African board's willingness to
help fund the technology required.
The new system - including a maximum two unsuccessful challenges by
either side in any innings - now appears set to be used universally.
The ICC's general manager of cricket David Richardson is hoping the
new decision review system (DRS) will encourage batsmen to walk and bowlers
not to appeal speculatively.
The system involves a batsman or the fielding side's captain asking
for a review of an umpire's decision they are not satisfied with, with
each side having a limit of two unsuccessful challenges per innings.
"People say this is challenging the authority of the umpire, it's contrary
to the spirit of the game," Richardson said. "I'm saying what's worse for
the game, a Steve Bucknor effigy getting burnt in India from a bad decision
or the opportunity to rectify his mistake and hopefully improving the spirit
by saying to the players, 'It's your game, your responsibility?'
"You hit it, you walk, if you don't think it's out, don't appeal. We're
not going to get 100% of decisions right because there are going to be
some decisions that aren't conclusive from a technology point of view.
Nehra handed central contract,
Indian players moved into grades
MUMBAI: Left-arm paceman Ashish Nehra has been given a central contract
by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).
Nehra, who returned to India's one-day team in June for the first time
in almost four years, has been handed a Grade B deal, which carries a retainer
fee of four million Indian rupees (about £52,000).
Medium pacer Praveen Kumar has been moved up from Grade C (2.5 million
rupees, about £32,000) to Grade B, while left-arm seamer Irfan Pathan
has been dropped entirely from the list after falling out of favour with
the national selectors.
There has been no change to the nine players in the top grade (6 million
rupees, about £77,700 pounds), which includes captain Mahendra Singh
Dhoni, Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman.
Mumbai's Dhawal Kulkarni, Ajinkya Rahane and Abhishek Nayar have been
awarded Grade D (1.5 million rupees, £19,400) contracts along with
Manoj Tiwary.
BCCI central contracts
Grade A: Sachin Tendulkar, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Gautam Gambhir,
Virender Sehwag, Rahul Dravid, VVS Laxman, Yuvraj Singh, Zaheer Khan,
Harbhajan Singh
Grade B: Suresh Raina, Rohit Sharma, Munaf Patel, RP Singh, Ishant
Sharma, Praveen Kumar, Ashish Nehra
Grade C: S Badrinath, Wasim Jaffer, Yusuf Pathan, Pragyan Ojha, Sreesanth,
Dinesh Karthik, Amit Mishra
Grade D: Piyush Chawla, Ravindra Jadeja, Robin Uthappa, Parthiv Patel,
Cheteshwar Pujara, Mohammad Kaif, Virat Kohli, Ashok Dinda, Wriddhiman
Saha, M Vijay, R Ashwin, Shikhar Dhawan, Sudeep Tyagi, Dhawal Kulkarni,
Abhishek Nayar, Ajinkya Rahane, Manoj Tiwary
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