Archive for ‘February 12th, 2009’

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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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