Archive for ‘February, 2009’

36 results.
Feb03

Time to launch PPL

by wasim on February 3rd, 2009 at 10:15 am
Posted In: Cricket, Cricket Pakistan

A court in Pakistan on Monday suspended a ban imposed by the country’s cricket board barring players from domestic matches after they agreed to join the unofficial Indian Cricket League.

Around 19 Pakistani players featured in the ICL, bankrolled by the country’s largest media group, Zee Television, but not recognised by the Board of Control for Cricket in India or the International Cricket Council (ICC).


In 2007, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) barred the players, who included former Pakistan captain Inzamam-ul-Haq and star batsman Mohammad Yousuf, from playing at all levels in the country.


The ICL players challenged the ban in the provincial Sindh high court last month. Their lawyer Zahid Fakhruddin Ibrahim said justice had been done.


‘Judge Amir Hani Muslim has suspended the PCB ban imposed on the ICL players and they are now free to play,’ Ibrahim told AFP.


Asked if the players could now play for Pakistan, Ibrahim said: ‘The ban was only on domestic cricket, it’s up to the PCB to select a player for an international match or not and that cannot be challenged.’The players lined up for the Lahore Badshahs in the ICL season and were a major attraction, winning the Twenty20 league last year.

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The recent ICC meeting has sent Pakistan team in a cricketing exile, Champions trophy is being moved to another venue most probably Srilanka, it seems ICC and its members are vary of only the bombs which explode in Pakistan, those which explode in India and Srilanka they are just considered as mere fire crackers, despite safely hosting several series during the last year Pakistan failed to convince other members that it is safe for cricket. It has become clear now that cricketing sanctions against Pakistan are politically motivated  and will only be lifted when the political landscape in the region will change. Until then Pakistan should play abroad and should reorganize and improve its domestic cricket to rebuild a strong team.

The suspension of ICL bans is a welcome decision, PCB should consider some of these  players for the upcoming test series against Srilanka and there is no need to take any dictation from ICC or any of its member nation.

ICL without Lahore Badshahs is not a saleable product and its demise is quite eminent. Pakistan Government has stopped the cricketers from travelling to India until further notice as their safety cannot be ensured as a result they will not play in IPL.

It will be a huge challenge for Ejaz Butt and his administration to keep the players busy domestically its a shame that despite having all the resources and foreseeing the current problem PCB adminstrators have done no contingency planning they should have launched PPL last year.

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Feb05

Younis will get ‘enough room’ – Qadir

by wasim on February 5th, 2009 at 10:02 pm
Posted In: Cricket, Cricket Pakistan

Abdul Qadir, Pakistan’s chief selector, says new captain Younis Khan will be given “enough room” in selection matters.

Disagreements between the selectors and team management have been an issue in the past few years, but Qadir says he doesn’t mind involving the captain and coach as long as the “best team is selected”.

Qadir said Younis, who took over from Shoaib Malik last month, will be consulted along with coach Intikhab Alam. “We will give Younis enough room,” Qadir told the News. “As captain, he is our general in the field and should have a say in selection matters.

“We are all on the same side, aren’t we,” he said. “All of us are working to ensure that Pakistan give their best on the field and that target can only be achieved if we work together.” During the recent series against Sri Lanka, the team management had been given the final say in selecting the playing XI.

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Why the same power was not given to Malik?

I am happy that Younis is getting all these powers now he will have no excuse for poor performance.

Qadir & co were mainly responsible for poor selection in the ODi series against SriLanka, they dropped inform batsmen like Nasir Jamshed and Fawad Alam, they also picked out of form bowlers like Tanvir and Shoaib Akhtar and completely ignored some of  the star performers in the domestic season.

Similar tall claims of fair and strong selection were made by them before the Odi series but the selection done was far from fair and was done on seniority basis and performance was not a factor.

Malik should have resigned himself instead of captaining a side full of under performing seniors and saved himself from complete disgrace but he gave the job more importance than his self pride.

In this respect Younis has a reputation of being strong headed, it’s yet to be seen how he reacts to the unfair selection done by the selection committee. On one hand he is very close to some of the senior players and was leading them in their quite revolt against Malik and on the other hand he has an alliance with the seniors, if he chooses to play some of the out of form senior players the performance of the team will dip further, already players like Faisal Iqbal have been included in the camp for the upcoming test series, it’s yet to be seen if Faisal makes it to the final eleven. If Younis does support the inclusion of Afridi, Faisal Iqbal and Kamran Akmal in the test team then it will be clear that his earlier reluctance to captain Pakistan team was not because of a disagreement over selection powers but was for some other unknown reasons.

Younis has already given a statement that the selection should be done on the basis of performance in the QA trophy but if the selectors are ging to follow his instructions none of the senior players will get selected.

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Feb06

IPL auction 2009

by wasim on February 6th, 2009 at 7:23 am
Posted In: Cricket, IPL-ICL

Who the fuck is Tyron Henderson?
Tyron Henderson’s bidding started at $100,000 and the interested buyers were Deccan and Rajasthan. Mumbai eventually raised the bid to $200,000. Deccan bid $300,000 but Rajasthan went up to $325,000 after which Deccan raised it further to $350,000. Rajasthan continued to compete, forcing Deccan to raise their bid to $400,000. Rajasthan raised it to $425,000 but Deccan came back with a bid of $450,000. Not to be outdone, Rajasthan went up to $475,000 but Deccan would not be deterred, raising it to $500,000. The bids continued to escalate and Deccan just when Deccan seemed to have secured Henderson for $600,000, Rajasthan went up to $650,000. Deccan did not raise their bid and Tyron Henderson went to Rajasthan.
Australian opener Phil Jaques, and South African batsmen Ashwell Prince remained unsold. Andre Nel also had no buyers. Why are they even in the auction they do not belong in T20.
Bangalore made the opening bid for Paul Collingwood at his base price of $250,000. The hammer was about to come down when Delhi Daredevils raised to $275,000. Bangalore did not raise their bid and Collingwood went to the Delhi. Delhi have filled up their two available slots, they should have picked up a fast bowler, they didn’t needed Collingwood.
Australian wicketkeeper Brad Haddin remained unsold at his opening price of $250,000. He will re-enter the auction later. Stuart Clark was also not bought at his base price of $250,000. Well that’s a surprise I thought Rajasthan will try to bid for him especially when they lost Kamran Akmal. Stuart Clark could also have been a good buy.


KARACHI: The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) is all set to lift the ban on its Indian Cricket League (ICL) players on Wednesday (today).

PCB chairman Ijaz Butt is due to address a press conference in Lahore, soon after PCB legal adviser, Shan Gul visits the Sindh High court in Karachi to give the PCB’s version on the ban on ICL players.

The court last week suspended the ban on the players, paving the way for their return to first class cricket. There were then demands from the players for a return to international cricket. However the PCB, according to sources, passed the court judgement to the International Cricket Council (ICC) who reiterated their stance that it was upto respective countries to deal with the issue.

Around 21 players who featured in the ICL were barred from playing in and for Pakistan as the league was not recognised by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and by the ICC.

Butt, last week, urged star batsman Mohammad Yousuf to snap his ties with the ICL to get his place in the national side back.

Butt, after attending ICC’s meeting in Octber last year, had said that ICC and BCCI were on weaker legal grounds if the ICL took them to court over recognition. At the meeting, the ICC deferred a decision on the ICL’s application for recognition.

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Finally some sense prevailed, it is still not clear if the banned players will be made available for selection for the upcoming Srilankan test series.

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Feb11

PCB announces prelimary squad for upcoming test series

by wasim on February 11th, 2009 at 6:46 pm
Posted In: Cricket, Cricket Pakistan

Pakistan cricket selectors ignored fast bowler Rao Iftikhar in their 22-man training squad named Tuesday for the first test against Sri Lanka later this month.

‘Rao is a good fast bowler for one-day cricket, but we have depth in our fast bowling for test matches,’ chief selector and former test leg-spinner Abdul Qadir said.

The 22-man squad will be cut down to either 14 or 15 players by February 18 after a short training camp at Karachi – starting February 15.

The first test begins February 21 at Karachi, while Lahore will host the second test from March. 1.

The selectors recalled 32-year-old left-handed batsman Asim Kamal for the training camp. Kamal played last of his 12 test matches against England in 2005 before he was sidelined due to poor form.

Also included in the preliminary squad are three more middle-order batsmen from Karachi — Faisal Iqbal, Fawad Alam and Saeed Bin Nasir — but chief selector Abdul Qadir told ‘The News’ that Asim Kamal will be his choice for the first Test getting under way in Karachi from February 21.

But Qadir was quick to add that he would consult with new captain Younis Khan before announcing the final Test squad by February 18.

Young paceman Mohammad Talha received an expected nod from the selectors as a reward for his highly impressive performance in domestic matches. Left arm Pacer Mohammad Aamer was again ignored by the selectors despite his stellar performance in the QA trophy he was also ignored for the two day practice match.

The selectors also decided to give a lifeline to senior all-rounder Shahid Afridi, who is under fire for his poor form with the bat. Afridi was chosen as captain of the local squad for a two-day warm-up game against the Sri Lankans to be played here at the Southend Club Stadium on February 17-18. He is also on the 22-man squad for the training camp.

It was expected as Afridi was in the forefront of players who revolted against Malik and Younis try to keep him in the squad, Afridi needs to be axed he has gotten enough life lines and don’t deserve any more.

Also given an opportunity to attend the conditioning camp is another middle-order batter Bazid Khan while the selectors indicated that they might overlook out-of-form wicket-keeper Kamral Akmal by picking young stumper Sarfraz Ahmed for both the training camp and the 15-man squad for the two-day game against the tourists.

The selection of Bazid and Faisal Iqbal is just an effort to appease Majid khan and Miandad, both players have been performing poorly in domestic cricket and do not deserve to get selected on merit, it is interesting to note that Umar Amin who was selected for the Odi series has been dropped both from the preliminary squad and the squad for the side match, the decision is completely in line with past selection pattern of selecting young players after their stellar performances in domestic cricket and then dropping for the next series them without giving them a single chance, this policy of destroying the careers of young players is the root cause of the ills faced by Pakistan cricket as it seriously hurts the rebuilding effort.

What disgusts me the most is the criminal intent of the selectors, they didn’t gave Umar Amin a chance to showcase his talent in the side match as his good performance against an international team will put huge pressure on the selectors to select him and they will be forced to drop an under performing senior to make room for him. The rationale behind the policy of selecting out of form and under achieving players like Bazid and Faisal Iqbal is to make sure that the status quo in the core of the team is maintained.

The main objective of adopting this policy is to extend the life of under performing seniors who are politically strong.

All-rounder Shoaib Malik, who was asked to step down as Pakistan captain after a humiliating 234-run defeat in the series finale against Sri Lanka, was retained while leg-spinner Danish Kaneria was recalled. Kaneria last played for Pakistan in the Bangalore Test against India in December 2007.

If Mohammad Yousaf makes a come back, Malik will for sure face an axe.

Qadir said that there was an open discussion after which the provisional squad was chosen through consensus.

“I’m a team man,” said Qadir. “As chief selector, I will always give due importance to suggestions from fellow selectors, captain and coach so that the best possible Pakistan team is chosen each and every time,” he stressed.

There was a heated exchange of words between Younis and Qadir in the selection committee’s meeting, When Qadir told Younis that he respects him a lot, Younis responded don’t respect me just do your job properly, Qadir is clearly on the back foot and under a lot of pressure.

Qadir gave detailed explanations over the selection and omission of each and every player.

Speaking on the selection of Asim Kamal, Qadir said that the left-hander is one of the best-available middle-order batters in the country. “Asim has experience and more importantly he knows how to stay on the wicket. In short, he has the sort temperament needed to excel in Test cricket.”

Asim, 31, played the last of his 12 Tests in December 2005 against England in Lahore and has since been overlooked for national duty because of unimpressive form.

Qadir said that he rates Fawad Alam highly as a Test prospect. “Fawad Alam can become a very good Test cricketer. He just needs to work on a couple of his weak points like playing the short ball,” he said.

Qadir said that he and fellow selectors are well aware that the national team management is not happy with Akmal’s performance. “You can see that we have chosen Sarfraz for both the camp and the two-day game. In fact he is our vice-captain for the warm-up match,” he said.

“The 22 players we have selected for the camp do not make the final list,” said Qadir. “We can pick a player from outside that list if needed,” he concluded.

Squad for two-day match against the Sri Lankans: Shahid Afridi (captain), Bazid Khan, Ahmed Shahzad, Saeed Bin Nasir, Azhar Ali, Asim Kamal, Khaqan Arsal, Bilal Khilji, Sarfraz Ahmed (vice-captain), Yasir Shah, Mohammad Khalil, Wahab Riaz, Fahad Masood, Najaf Shah, Azeem Ghumman.

‘We have good cushion in the middle-order with batsmen like Kamal, Faisal Iqbal and uncapped Saeed Bin Nasir,’ Qadir said.

Preliminary squad: Younis Khan, Salman Butt, Nasir Jamshed, Khurram Manzoor, Shoaib Malik, Misbah-ul-Haq, Faisal Iqbal, Asim Kamal, Fawad Alam, Bazid Khan, Saeed Bin Nasir, Sohail Tanvir, Yasir Arafat, Danish Kaneria, Shahid Afridi, Kamran Akmal, Umar Gul, Mohammad Talha, Sohail Khan, Abdul Rauf, Saeed Ajmal, Sarfraz Ahmed.

I think the selectors should drop Akmal for his poor performance and should try out Sarfraz Ahmad.

Openers:

Nasir Jamshed, Salman Butt and Khurram Manzoor

Nasir Jamshed should open with Salman Butt as he is more aggressive and has a wider range of shots than Khurram Manzoor. In a recent statement Saeed Anwar also praised Nasir Jamshed and backed him as the second opener. Nasir has scored three 100′s and three 50′s in 7 matches so far in QA trophy as opposed to Khurram Manzoors one 100 and two 50′s from 6 matches.

Middle Order:

Younis Khan, Misbah Ul Haq, Shoaib Malik, Asim Kamal, Faisal Iqbal, Fawad Alam, Saeed Bin Nasir and Bazid Khan.

The decision to recall Asim Kamal after 4 years is a good one, PCB has done great injustice with Asim in the past but his selection in the final team should only be based on his performance in the side match.

I would not consider Faisal Iqbal or Bazid khan at all. I think Fawad Alam deserves a chance for his 855 runs from 7 matches @ an average of 122 with a highest score of 296.

Younis Khan, Misbah and Malik will get selected by default and if Yousaf makes a come back Asim Kamal or Malik will miss out.

Spinners:

Danish Kineria, Afridi, and Saeed Ajmal.

This is a no brainer Afridi with his current form should not even be in the cntention instead I would have preferred Mansoor Amjad’s name in his place.

Danish Kineria and Saeed Ajmal would be my choice.

Pacers:

Umar Gul, Sohail Tanvir, Mohammad Talha, Yasir Arafat, Abdul Rauf and Sohail Khan.

Ths would be tough, I think if Umar Gul is fit he will get default selection, I would not consider Tanvir or Rauf for this series, my choice would be between Talha, Sohail Khan and Yasir Arafat.

My Team:

Salman Butt, Nasir Jamshed, Younis Khan, Misbah Ul haq, Shoaib Malik, Fawad Alam, Sarfraz Ahmad, Yasir Arafat, Danish Kineria, Umar Gul, Mohammad Talha/ Sohail khan.

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Feb12

Rest is for the wicked says Ponting

by wasim on February 12th, 2009 at 4:02 pm
Posted In: Cricket, Cricket Australia

EVEN if he raises the Chappell-Hadlee Trophy in Brisbane tonight, skipper Ricky Ponting believes Australia may have got it wrong with the controversial policy of resting star players.

As Australia head into the one-day decider against the Kiwis at the Gabba, Ponting insists it is no coincidence that his team has emerged from the doldrums by playing the same side in consecutive winning matches.

Against his better judgment, Ponting was ordered to rest from two matches earlier in the series but was rushed back with red-faced Australia 2-0 down and facing an embarrassing series loss against the lowly Kiwis.

Ponting concedes the need for top Australian players to be rested in a hectic cricket schedule but believes the current strategy is far from perfect.

“We haven’t made any changes in the last couple of games and we have probably played our best cricket as a result of that,” he said.

“It (the resting policy) is something that we need to keep working on and looking at and trying to find ways to make the overall policy a little bit better and a little bit tighter.

“It’s hard to say what is right and what is wrong.

“I think it’s important we have got guys that are at their freshest mentally and physically when we really need them. It’s a hard one to get right.

“I have some say in it, like I have some say in selections as well. At the end of the day a lot of those bigger decisions are made without me, that’s just the way it is at the moment.”

Vice-captain Michael Clarke appears to be an unlikely starter for tonight’s clash after missing training yesterday with lower-back soreness.

Australia will give Clarke until the last minute to prove his fitness and if he is ruled out, all-rounder James Hopes or Mike Hussey could open with the in-form Brad Haddin.

Ponting claims tonight’s game takes on extra importance because a win would provide a silver lining to a poor summer and be a springboard for the South African tour this month.

“(This game) for us is everything, we want to finish the Australian summer on a good note,” he said.

“We will head to South Africa with a fairly similar group of guys who will have a bit more of a spring in their step if we happen to win.”

New Zealand have never won a one-day series in Australia and have only won four one-day tournaments away from home in the last decade.

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Feb12

Vettori revs up troops for decider

by wasim on February 12th, 2009 at 4:21 pm
Posted In: Cricket, Cricket New Zealand

A verbal rev-up from New Zealand captain Daniel Vettori is ringing in his players’ ears as they target one of their most significant one-day international cricket results today.

Vettori admitted stern words were uttered to certain individuals after their six-wicket defeat to Australia in Adelaide on Tuesday saw them hand up a 2-0 Chappell-Hadlee Trophy series lead and make game five the decider (4.15pm NZT).

For a young side, five of whom are playing their first ODI series in Australia, there is little understating the importance of tomorrow’s match at the Gabba. New Zealand have never won an ODI series or tournament in Australia.

“It’s always timely when a captain speaks, and talks about the responsibility a player needs to take for his own actions and to help a team win,” Vettori said at a grey, rain-soaked Gabba today.

“For all the guys who let themselves down with the bat, and also with the ball and even in the field, need to know they have to lift for this game because this is the most important game a New Zealand cricket team’s played for a long time.

“For these guys it’s the best chance we’ve seen (to win an ODI series in Australia)… they’re few and far between for a lot of players and this could be the start of something great for what is a very young team.”

New Zealand have never progressed passed the World Cup semifinals, but their record in recent major ODI finals abroad is good.

They’ve tasted wins in the 2000 Champions Trophy (against India in Kenya), and three separate tri-series finals from 2003-05; against Pakistan in Sri Lanka, West Indies in England, and India in Zimbabwe.

But their momentum slowed after a magnificent start with the ball in Perth and Melbourne, with a torrid schedule of five matches in 12 days.

Inspired by promoted opener Brad Haddin’s aggressive approach, Australia showed more intent with the bat in Sydney and Adelaide as New Zealand’s standards slipped in the field.

Fitness doubts over vice-captain Michael Clarke might tip the scales New Zealand’s way, with captain Ricky Ponting rating him doubtful with back spasms. A decision won’t be made until the morning.

If Clarke is absent his opening partnership with Haddin, tactical input in the field and tight spin bowling will leave a big hole.

Vettori said he would play through his hamstring twinge and vice-captain Brendon McCullum would brave his shoulder injury which required a painkilling injection and hampered his batting in Adelaide.

There was a minor hiccup today when in-form batsman Ross Taylor suffered a knock to the face during a game of touch rugby and left the ground with his mouth bleeding, but he wasn’t rated doubtful.

Vettori was also leaning towards recalling spinner Jeetan Patel for Craig Cumming to offer more bowling options after an unhappy night for the Otago batsman in Adelaide.

A weather-shortened game is a chance with showers, then persistent rain forecast for later in the evening.

A crowd of around 30,000 is expected in the 39,000-capacity ground.

Vettori said better execution of their bowling plans was the key must-improve aspect here, on a ground where New Zealand has only played Australia once in an ODI; a five-wicket defeat in 1988.

Ponting also stressed the significance of the match amid an unhappy home summer where his side lost test and ODI series to South Africa then went 0-2 down against New Zealand.

“It’s very important to us. We want to win every game we play and this summer hasn’t gone the way we would have liked,” Ponting said.

“Tomorrow is everything, we want to finish the Australian summer on a good note.”

Ponting, whose team hold the trophy, will surpass former skipper Allan Border’s Australian record of 178 ODIs as captain.

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Feb12

JP Duminy named in Proteas squad ahead of Prince

by wasim on February 12th, 2009 at 4:27 pm
Posted In: Cricket, Cricket South Africa

JP Duminy has retained his place ahead of Ashwell Prince in South Africa’s squad named on Wednesday for the first two home Tests against Australia.

Middle-order batsman Duminy (24) replaced the injured Prince in the recent series victory in Australia and made a superb 166 to help his side win the second Test in Melbourne.

Prince struck an unbeaten 162 in his last Test innings to rescue South Africa against Bangladesh, and he scored 900 runs at an average of 64,28 in 2008.

“There’s been a lot of speculation about the whole JP/Ashwell situation, so we decided to name the squad early to maintain the stability of the team and give confidence to the players, who’ve done so well for us,” convenor of selectors Mike Procter told Reuters on Wednesday.

“Ashwell is seriously unlucky — he scored over 160 in his last Test when we were in trouble and he also did fantastic work in England,” Procter said.

There had been speculation in South Africa that opening batsman Neil McKenzie, who averaged just 24,20 in the three Tests in Australia, would make way for Prince in a reshuffled batting order.

“We did discuss that but we decided that it would be very harsh to call someone else into service to open the batting,” Procter said.

“We did not want to disrupt the batting order from three down because they have put in a hell of a good showing.

“We know Neil did not have a good tour of Australia, but he himself was thrown into the deep end last year to open the batting and he was one of the batsmen to score over a thousand runs in 2008,” Procter added.

Uncapped left-arm seamer Lonwabo Tsotsobe was also named in the 12-man squad, with the first Test starting in Johannesburg on February 26.

Squad: Graeme Smith (captain), Neil McKenzie, Hashim Amla, Jacques Kallis, AB de Villiers, JP Duminy, Mark Boucher, Paul Harris, Dale Steyn, Morne Morkel, Makhaya Ntini, Lonwabo Tsotsobe.

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Feb12

After Stanfords ICL also in trouble

by wasim on February 12th, 2009 at 6:52 pm
Posted In: Cricket, IPL-ICL

Last December, Stanford shut his cricket office in Antigua and dissolved his self-styled board of legends. And in January signs that the global economic downturn was hitting home came with the announcement of 200 redundancies at Stanford’s Antigua-based investment company.

It is believed that the 20/20 for 20 event, which was unveiled with a garish launch at Lord’s last June but took place amid unflattering headlines and negative reporting in November, will not happen again.

Now the global financial resession has hit the booming Indian cricket industry, it has been reported that ICL is having trouble with distributing paychecks on a timely fashion and has cancelled its world series in March. The main reason cited for cancelling the series is the unavailability of Pakistani Players the series if it takes place will happen later this year after some re-organization is done. Lahore Badshahs will be replaced with an Indian team, the move will seriously affect the revenue stream as Lahore Badshah’s were a huge hit and were the main attraction of the tournament.

Himanshu Mody, the business head of the ICL, said the non-availability of Pakistan players – Lahore Badshahs are the ICL’s biggest draw – was the other major reason for the cancellation of the March tournament, which will be replaced by one involving Indian players. The October edition of the World Series is on schedule as of now.

“Several other initiatives have also been lined up, including a talent-spotting programme in schools across India,” Mody told Cricinfo.

Significantly, the ICL is undertaking a major review of its existing contracts and it is understood that the performances of 18 out of 85 Indian players and 15-16 from a pool of 70 foreign players are under the scanner. Players who fail to perform will either be released or asked to sign up again for a lesser fee.

Three prominent Indian players, two from Australia, and one from Pakistan have confirmed to Cricinfo that their payments have been delayed and said no timeframe has been specified so far. While the players claimed that payments for 2-3 months are to be paid, ICL officials said that dues up to December have been cleared.

The ICL pays its Indian players every month and foreign recruits in quarterly installments and Jason Gillespie, one of the ICL’s foreign recruits, told Cricinfo that “the ICL management told us that they were sorting through their finances.”

“The global credit crisis is affecting everyone, not just sporting organisations,” Gillespie said. “I’m not too concerned. I’m confident everyone will be paid. These are just difficult economic times. Everyone is struggling.” Mody said the ICL is “looking into the issue and grievances, if any, will be resolved”.

Asked about the World Series, Mody admitted that that global economic downturn has come as a dampener. Apparently, “ad spends” have dipped so low that a leading TV advertiser who had spent up to Rs 15 crore last year on advertisements has a budget of Rs 50 lakh this year. “The economics of our model is event-based,” Mody said. “This means that if we hold the event, we would be affected by the current

climate. But we are fine as of now.”

It seems that the global financial crisis and economic recession has finally affected the Indian economy also, if the advertisement industry is going through a slump it might signal trouble for  IPL  in the upcoming season, although IPL is based on a more sound business model where most of the revenue stream is guaranteed for the next 10 years, but with many franchises struggling to break even in the last season a drop in advertisement revenue, merchandise sales and gate money due to the ecoomic recession might cause trouble especially when the franchises made additional expenditures on aquiring new talent this year, several franchises might face serious cash flow problem this year.

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Feb14

Test switched after Antigua 10-ball farce

by wasim on February 14th, 2009 at 12:06 am
Posted In: Cricket, Cricket West Indies

West Indies cricket was plunged into fresh controversy on Friday when the second Test against England was abandoned after just 10 balls because of a dangerous outfield.

Only 45 minutes of action was possible at the Sir Vivian Richards Cricket Ground before play was called off with England at 7-0 in their first innings.

International Cricket Council (ICC) referee Alan Hurst later revealed that a new match will start on Sunday at the long-established Antigua Recreation Ground in St John’s.

The second Test will be recorded as an abandoned match with the game on Sunday to be considered as the third Test of what is now a five-match series.

The ARG hosted 21 Tests between 1981 and 2006 before the Sir Vivian Richards Ground replaced it two years ago ahead of the World Cup.

West Indies bowlers constantly struggled to keep their feet on the soft SVRG outfield which had been smothered in layers of sand after heavy rain.

West Indies captain Chris Gayle said the team was shocked by the developments.

‘I’d like to apologise to the fans – it’s very embarrassing,’ said Gayle.

‘We are 1-0 up in the series. We put England into bat, we tried to pick up some wickets and wanted to keep the momentum going but it was disappointing. With better facilities we hope this will not happen again.’

England captain Andrew Strauss, who was on six when play was abandoned, believes the Antigua Recreation Ground would be safer.

‘It’s not in a great state but in terms of injuries it is fit to play on,’ said Strauss.

‘It’s not right that Test cricket matches have to be abandoned like this, lessons definitely need to be learned. The game of cricket doesn’t need this.’ England opener Alistair Cook admitted the situation was a farce.

West Indies lead this series 1-0 after they bowled out England for their third-lowest total in Tests of 51 in the second innings at Kingston.

The Antigua Recreation Ground was where Brian Lara made his record-breaking innings of 375 and 400 not out while Gayle smashed 317 there against South Africa in 2005.

The other two Tests in what is now a five-match series take place in Barbados from February 26 to March 2, and in Trinidad from March 2 to 6.

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