Yuvraj blitzes his way into record books
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Harbhajan Singh, India’s offspinner, has found himself involved in a different sort of controversy after leaving his hair uncovered in an advertisement. Members of the Shiromani Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee (SGPC), the premier religious body of the Sikh community, took offence to Harbhajan’s action and sought an apology amid protests in Punjab.Activists of the Youth Akali Dal burnt an effigy of Harbhajan in Amritsar during a protest march led by the SGPC’s district president, Gurpartap Singh Tikka. Harbhajan was quick to issue an apology, but resented the SGPC going to the media. “If my action has hurt the Sikh community, then I feel sorry for it. I will take note of it [in future],” he told Press Trust of India. “It’s bad that the SGPC took up the issue in the media. If they had any problem, they should have called me like a son and told me. Their action was wrong. I respect the emotions of Sikhs and I never knew it will snowball into such a big issue.”Avtar Singh Makkar, the SGPC President who had sought an apology from Harbhajan yesterday, said he should have realised the importance of hair in the Sikh religion. “Our religion prohibits keeping one’s hair open,” he said. “We also strongly object to his appearing in the advertisement in this fashion.” Avtar Singh even suggested that Harbhajan take a leaf from Monty Panesar’s book, who despite being raised in England was a strict advocate of Sikhism.Harbhajan was quick to respond: “They compare me with Panesar, which is wrong. Comparisons should not be made in the first place, but if they have to, why doesn’t SGPC compare me with Yuvraj Singh and Gurdas Mann [both Sikhs who have trimmed their hair].”
ScorecardSurrey took firm control of the first day of their match against Bangladesh A at The Oval, racking up 336 for 5 before declaring. Bangladesh A made 45 without loss by the close on a decent wicket, but the day belonged to the home side. James Benning made 124 before being run out, and there were half-centuries for Richard Clinton, Andrew Hodd and Ian Salisbury. Hodd and Salisbury shared an unbeaten stand of 105 before Mark Butcher called time on the innings.Surrey took the opportunity to blood their 17-year-old batsman Rory Hamilton, but he made just 5 before being bowled by Enamul Haque Jnr, the second of his two wickets. There were failures, too, for Scott Newman, who made 8, and Butcher, who reached 5 on his return.Other young players were included in the home side’s team for experience, with 19-year-old Jade Dernbach opening the bowling; he had six overs for 32, and Hodd, the wicketkeeper/batsman striking an unbeaten fifty. Shahriar Nafees and Mehrab Hossain Jnr had started to build the visitors’ reply and they will look to cement a solid partnership when play gets underway again on Thursday.
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Somerset’s Peter Bowler, the oldest player on the county circuit, has announced he will retire from first-class cricket at the end of the season.Bowler, 41, made his debut for Leicestershire against Hampshire at Grace Road in 1986, before going on to represent Derbyshire and Tasmania in a 19-year career. Somerset’s current match against Glamorgan at Taunton is his 314th first-class appearance.”Peter has had a wonderful professional cricketing career,” said Peter Anderson, Somerset’s chief executive. “He wishes to play for the remainder of the season, but accepts it is a matter of form and whether he is picked. The club wishes to mark the retirement of a wonderful player in a suitable manner at the end of the season.”Bowler has scored nearly 20,000 first-class runs at an average in excess of 40, and has made 45 hundreds and 98 fifties. “[That average] is the hallmark of a really good player,” added Bowler. “Some may say he was unlucky not to get an international cap.”
JOHANNESBURG, March 22 AFP – International Cricket Council (ICC) president Malcolm Gray threatened India with suspension from world cricket here today in the wake of their players’ World Cup contracts row.Following a two-day ICC executive board meeting here, Gray said the world governing body was standing by its earlier decision to withhold World Cup payments worth $US 9 million dollars to India after its cricketers refused to accept the original players terms for the tournament.Gray also told reporters that if compensation claims made against the ICC as a result of India’s actions exceeded nine million dollars, drastic action would be taken.”If India are not forthcoming, the suspension of India from the ICC will be contemplated,” he said.In a fresh move, the ICC also decided to withhold payments to England and New Zealand for boycotting World Cup matches.England stand to lose $US 3.5 million dollars for forfeiting their match against Zimbabwe at Harare on February 13 on moral and security grounds.New Zealand will lose $US 2.5 million dollars for refusing to play their February 21 match against Kenya at Nairobi for security reasons.Sri Lanka too have had $US 500,000 dollars withheld because their players’ contracts were returned to the ICC after the official deadline.The payments will be withheld till compensation claims, likely to be made by official sponsors and broadcasters, are decided, ICC chief executive Malcolm Speed explained.The amount of money witheld from England was more than three times what the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) estimated it would have to pay for boycotting its game in Harare.However, Gray pointed out that the figures involved for England and New Zealand simply represented “prudent financial management” on the part of the world governing body and were based on the commercial value of the respective games.Gray said this World Cup had been the most lucrative ever with proceeds in “excess of $US 200 million dollars”.He added that cricket, which had been “on its knees” two or three years ago because of the match-fixing scandal, was now “almost corruption free”.But the re-named anti-corruption and security unit will continue to be funded to the tune of one million dollars per year.Gray also said the board had received reports from its code of conduct commission regarding investigations into cricket in Sharjah, claims against former Pakistan captain Asif Iqbal and allegations involving Brian Lara emerging from the testimony of Indian bookmaker Mukesh Gupta.He said that the ICC would be “drawing a line” under any further investigations, with Speed adding that the risk of libel meant they could not publish the reports.In a separate development, Speed said surprise World Cup semi-finalists Kenya would have their application for Test status considered a year ahead of schedule in 2005.The ICC also planned to refine its World Test championship to take account results of individual match as well as series results.The World Cup final takes place here at the Wanderers on Sunday between defending champions Australia and India.
A dramatic collapse, which saw Nottinghamshire slump from 73-0 to be all out for 149, typified their recent form and snuffed out any lingering hopes of a late-season push towards the promotion places.Put in to bat by Graeme Hick, the home side did well to survive an oft-interrupted morning session to reach 52 without loss from 16 overs.Darren Bicknell and John Morris continued to bat without alarm for the first half an hour after lunch but then both fell to Alamgir Sheriyar – Morris after reaching his 50 and Bicknell for 23.Morris’s departure was swiftly followed by those of Usman Afzaal, first ball, and Paul Johnson, second, as the left arm seamer took three wickets in four balls.Aussie Greg Blewett made 31 but only Greg Smith of the others reached ten. David Leatherdale swung the ball to good effect to claim three wickets while Andy Bichel and Chris Liptrot were also successful as Worcestershire collected all ten wickets in the period between lunch and tea.Worcester’s reply began in confident fashion, helped by a wayward first over from A J Harris, which yielded ten runs. Phillip Weston and Anurag Singh put on 36 before Greg Smith made the breakthrough.Weston tried to pull a short-pitched delivery but miscued the ball straight to Richard Logan at point.Hick joined Singh at the crease and despatched four boundaries before falling to Smith for 17, Afzaal taking the catch with the score on 64.Vikram Solanki managed only 14 before Smith caught him off the bowling of Harris. At the close Singh was still there on 60 with Worcestershire 130-3, only 19 runs behind Notts’ score.
Newcastle United’s return to the English Premier League didn’t get off to the best of starts on Sunday after Tottenham Hotspur visited St James’ Park and left with a 2-0 win.
After competing strongly in the first half and frustrating Mauricio Pochettino’s side, the second half started horribly. Captain Jonjo Shelvey lost his cool and stamped on the leg of Dele Alli, right under the nose of referee Andre Marriner, who was left with no choice but to show him a red card.
As you’d expect, from that point on Spurs gradually asserted their authority on the game and after Alli opened the scoring just after the hour mark, there was only going to be one winner.
It wasn’t the start manager Rafa Benitez was looking for but he can at least take comfort in the fact his team competed well with last season’s second-placed side right up to the point they went down to ten men.
Newcastle fans were left fuming with team captain Shelvey and took to Twitter to share their thoughts about his moment of madness…
Trevor Bayliss is “all for” Jos Buttler appearing in this year’s IPL, now that Jonny Bairstow has earned a prolonged run in England’s Test side.Bairstow’s maiden Test century in Cape Town, a fine innings of 150 not out that, in partnership with Ben Stokes, led England from a precarious to a dominant position, underlined his status as first-choice keeper in England’s Test team.While he did drop an important chance during the second Test, Bayliss believes that Bairstow’s keeping will improve if he is given a run in the side and suggested that none of the other keepers vying for selection – notably Buttler – are significantly better with the gloves.
Trevor Bayliss has promised not to “stifle” Ben Stokes’ positive instincts as he develops as an international player.
Stokes plundered an outrageous 258 in Cape Town, but was then caught on the boundary for 26 in the second innings as England battled to save the Test.
At 24, he is the youngest member of the England squad and Bayliss believes he needs to be allowed to mature in his own time.
“Over a period of time, he’ll become more consistent and maybe take lot more right options,” Bayliss said. “In the second innings it was probably the right shot but he maybe didn’t have to go after it as hard as there wasn’t anyone fielding around the corner. That’s Ben’s natural game.
“To be honest we didn’t say anything to him in either innings. That’s just the way he went out and played. He just let it happen. One of the things batting on the last day – the thing that’s important – is not just batting to survive but scoring runs as well. We could have blocked it out and been 50 runs and six or seven or eight wickets down. But we were proactive and looked for the runs when they were on offer.
“So making the right decisions is an area that’ll he learn going forward. But you don’t want to stifle that sort of ability. He’s going to be one of those players who can win a team a match and at different times he’s going to disappoint as well, as all of those types of players in history have shown.”
That leaves Buttler unlikely to be required for the early season Tests against Sri Lanka in May and June. With the England management keen to give their white-ball players more experience of other domestic T20 leagues, especially the IPL and the Big Bash, Buttler will then be free to appear in the IPL if he wins interest in the auction.As things stand, it seems likely that he will gain interest from several franchises and, as ESPNcricinfo reported, Kolkata Knight Riders are particularly interested in signing him. The deadline to register for the IPL auction is January 15.England made a similar decision recently with Adil Rashid. Although he remains part of their plans in all formats, the management concluded that he was unlikely to play a role in the Test series in South Africa so encouraged him to take part in the Big Bash instead. There, he has so far impressed with 10 wickets in five matches for Adelaide Strikers, including a Man of the Match performance against Perth Scorchers, that have helped propel his team towards the semi-finals.The difference this time is that Buttler is being encouraged to play in the IPL (which this year runs from April 9 to May 29) during the England season. While fringe Test players have, in the past, been encouraged to remain in county cricket and fight for their places, the England management is currently taking a different view. Whether that is because they see Buttler as a white-ball specialist, or simply because they feel he will learn as much in the IPL as he would in the county championship, is unclear.”If the opportunity arises and Buttler is not in the Test team and that IPL window is a possibility, I’d be all for it,” Bayliss said.”It’s something we’ve spoken about. Personally I’d think it would be something similar along the lines of Adil Rashid.”If Jos is in the Test team he’ll be playing Test cricket for England. He definitely wants to play more Test cricket for England which is great. But obviously Jonny’s there at the moment.”Bayliss suggested Bairstow had kept “pretty well” in Cape Town, but accepts that part of his game needs to improve. Bairstow only allowed through four byes in the entire South Africa innings – a decent effort given that England were in the field for 211 overs – but he did put down a relatively straightforward chance to his right off the bowling of Stuart Broad when Temba Bavuma had scored 77. He missed a similar chance in Durban, as well as missing stumpings in Durban and in the previous Test in Sharjah.”Apart from that one chance I thought he did a pretty good job,” Bayliss said. “He fumbled two balls and unfortunately one of them was a nick.”Certainly his wicketkeeping is a work in progress, but I think our other wicketkeepers are as well. Plenty of other wicketkeepers around the world have started off their international careers not in the greatest fashion but ended up pretty decent keepers. It’s only fairly early in Jonny’s wicketkeeping career.”He works very, very hard at it and I’d expect over a period of time for him to get better. Both Jonny and Jos work terribly hard on their keeping. I’d expect over a period of time for him to get better.”He knows the number one reason he is in the team is to keep wicket. So that is definitely a focus of ours: to make him better, as it is with Jos as well.”And we know that both of them, in form, can quite possibly play in this Test team as a batter anyway. So it’s all in front of both of them.”
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England seamer Stuart Broad has signed with Nottinghamshire from 2008, the county where his father Chris opened the batting for nine seasons. He joins on a four-year contract.There had been plenty of speculation in recent weeks about whether Broad would remain at Leicestershire and it does not come as a huge surprise that he has moved to a county on the verge of promotion and based at a Test ground.”I’m proud to have represented Leicestershire since I first appeared in their Under-nine representative side and I owe the county a lot,” he said. “But I just feel that the time is right for a change and the chance to move to Trent Bridge is very attractive to me. I believe there is no better place for me to play – and continue my improvement as a cricketer in a team capable of winning trophies.”People will automatically assume that I’ve chosen Nottinghamshire because I grew up on the boundary edge while my dad was there as a player, but it is very much my decision to move to Trent Bridge.”Chris Broad confirmed to Cricinfo that he had no hand in the move: “I had no influence on him coming to Notts. All I said to him is that he must go with his gut feelings after all he’s the one who has got to go out in the middle and perform therefore he’s got to be happy.”I am obviously delighted that everything has been signed and sealed quickly so that the speculation doesn’t drag on whilst Stuart is actively playing. Notts has been, and remains, a well-organised, friendly club but deeply ambitious. All that remains for them to do is get promoted to the first division!”Broad junior admitted he had considered waiting until the end of the season to find out if Nottinghamshire had been promoted. “It was a thought but once I decided where I wanted to play, it didn’t really matter either way. I’m confident they’ll go up.”Mick Newell said Nottinghamshire had to fight off a lot of interest of other counties. “As soon as we knew that Stuart would be available we had to be interested – but so were a lot of other counties. I know that he’s had some very good offers to consider and we’re delighted he has agreed to join us.”He’s the best young prospect in this country and further down the line, I’m sure he will be a regular in the England team. But he’s still very young with a lot to learn and we’re really pleased that he has chosen to do that with us.”Despite Broad’s rise into the England team, Newell believes he will still be available for a significant amount of county cricket. “If Stuart was already playing regularly in the England team, I would have thought more carefully about signing him,” he said. “But I think Peter Moores wants him to play more county cricket and develop his game.”We can help him do that and he can certainly help us. Bowling on Trent Bridge pitches with their carry, bounce and swing will suit his style and having him available is an exciting prospect for next season.”Obviously Stuart has a strong affiliation with Trent Bridge because his father Chris opened the batting for Notts for many years, but I’m not sure that influenced his decision too much. He’s an ambitious young man who is determined to make his own mark in the game.”Jeremy Snape, Leicestershire’s club captain, added: “It is very disappointing for us. He’s been outstanding and exceeded expectations throughout the last few years. He obviously feels it’s a personal decision and the next stage in his career.”
India’s preparation for the tri-series against Australia and West Indies in Malaysia is likely to include a few practice matches in Chennai, the Indian board (BCCI) has said.The matches have been planned owing to the cancellation of the Unitech Cup in Sri Lanka, after South Africa withdrew and rains ruined the planned bilateral series. It is rumoured that the matches will be played against local sides.Niranjan Shah, the BCCI secretary, told Cricinfo that the venue had not been finalised. “The facilities in Chennai are not determined yet,” he said. “I will speak to Rahul [Dravid] and Greg [Chappell] tomorrow and an announcement will be made.”Chappell himself has denied suggestions of a preparatory camp ahead of the tournament: “We will not have a camp, but will try to do something different than what we did before coming to Sri Lanka.”The tri-series in Kuala Lumpur will be held at the Kinrara Oval from September 12 to 24.