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