No conflict in Greenidge's role

Gordon Greenidge’S dual role as a West Indies selector and a consultant with Bangladesh in preparation for the forthcoming World Cup is not viewed as a conflict of interest by the region’s governing body.If such additional duties, however, coincided with assignments for West Indies selectors, it could lead to a problem, West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) president Wes Hall has pointed out.Greenidge, the illustrious former West Indies opening batsman, was recently appointed Bangladesh’s batting coach for a pre-World Cup tour of Namibia and was not expected back in the Caribbean for the beginning of the Carib Beer Series which starts today.Bangladesh Cricket Board cricket committee chairman Mahbub was quoted as saying Greenidge’s appointment as a consultant would run until today, but Hall’s information was that the former Barbados captain would be unavailable for the first three rounds of the Carib Beer Series."I do understand the great consternation it will cause in some circles in terms of conflicts of interests, but I would say that as soon as Gordon gets back, we will speak to him on the issue," Hall said."The board feels that when you employ a selector, he is employed from one match to another or from one tour to another. If a selector therefore had a job in between tours, we cannot in all honesty command that he stays here unless you had him in contract."Greenidge, arguably the finest opening batsman the West Indies has ever produced, served as Bangladesh coach at the 1999 World Cup and was largely responsible for the recent development of their cricket that eventually led to them gaining Test status.He was sacked, presumably for making comments that suggested they were not deserving of the status at the time.Employed by the Barbados Government in the last few years, Greenidge was appointed a West Indies selector last June and subsequently contracted by Bangladesh a few weeks ago on a short-term basis."If it happens during the time we are playing cricket … if it is not a conflict of interest, it is something that we do not think can be tolerated," Hall said."We have to talk to Gordon. We don’t really want to go and slam him behind his back."In the absence of Greenidge and chief selector Sir Vivian Richards, who will be sent to the World Cup, the WICB has asked two members of its junior selection panel, Clyde Butts and Ezra Moseley, to fill in as replacements to watch matches in the opening round of Carib Series matches.

Mahanama blasts the Aussie media at book launch

Former Sri Lankan Test cricketer, Roshan Mahanama, blasted the Australianmedia for blowing the “Glen McGrath incident” out of proportion at thelaunch of his autobiography “Retired Hurt” yesterday at the BandaranaiakeMemorial International Conference Hall in Colombo.In his autobiography “Retired Hurt”, Mahanama criticizes the Australiancricketers for the amount of sledging they do during play and refers to aparticular incident where Australian fast bowler Glenn McGrath calls SanathJayasuriya a “Black Monkey”.However, Mahanama feels this was yet another incident of that tour and hefeels that the Aussie media blew the incident out of proportion after hementioned it on his autobiography.”I went to Melbourne to launch the book peacefully. But the Australian mediawere there with lot of cameras and focused on the Glenn McGrath incident. It’s sad. This is just one line in the book, which has 235 pages. They havetaken this out of proportion and there were threats by McGrath to take legalaction,” said a disappointed Mahanama.McGrath denies calling Jayasuriya a “black monkey” while Mahanama sticks tohis allegation. On the person of Glenn McGrath he further says, “Glenn is agreat bowler. But that doesn’t allow him to say whatever he wants to theother players”He’s also critical of the then Australian skipper Mark Taylor and thepresent captain Steve Waugh, who suggested that Mahanama’s comments were apublicity stunt.”If I wanted publicity I would have gone with the story to a publisher muchearlier. This is just a remark in the book,” he said.On this particular incident, the former CEO of the Australian Cricket Board,Malcolm Speed had questioned Mahanama as to how he knew about the incidentsince he didn’t play in that particular game,”Even if I had played the match, I wouldn’t have been in the middle when theincident occurred,” points out Mahanama. ” After getting out Sanath came tothe dressing room and told us on Glenn’s remark. That’s how I came to knowabout it”To prove his point, at the book launch Mahanama played some video clips ofthe 1996 World Series where it’s seen McGrath standing in Jayasuriya’s waywhile the batsman was looking for a run. The video footage also showsMcGrath using foul language at the Sri Lankan opener. It also goes onto showthe umpire, Steve Randol pointing the incident to the Aussie captain MarkTaylor.The book, which was initially launched at Melbourne, Australia, was launchedin Sri Lanka yesterday with the Sinhalese and the English versions. Theminister of sports Lakshman Kiriella was the chief Guest at the occasion.Cricketers of Sri Lankan, Indian and New Zealand teams, Internationalcricket commentators, members of parliament, cricket administrators, pastcricketers, foreign ambassadors and lots of Mahanama’s fans and familymembers participated.The book starts from Sri Lanka’s World Cup victory and goes onto speaks ofhis reasons to quit the game. He also deals at length on Australian tour of1995-1996, calling it the “the most controversial tour in my career.”

Monish match haul of 11 routs Saurashtra

ScorecardFile photo – Mithun Manhas continued his good form, ending day three unbeaten on 95•ESPNcricinfo Ltd

Karaparambil Monish snatched a victory for Kerala as his five-wicket haul helped Kerala bowl out Saurashtra for 69 in their final-innings chase of 115. Monish claimed 5 for 46 as he ran through Saurashtra’s middle-order. Sandeep Warrier and Akshay Chandran supported him as they picked up two wickets apiece, giving away just 6 and 3 runs respectively.Saurashtra started the day at 16 for 1, requiring 99, but were soon reduced to 34 for 6 within the first 12 overs in the day. Saurya Sanandia and Jaydev Unadkat were the only players that crossed double-digit scores, providing Saurashtra with some lower-order resistance, with scores of 17 and 15 respectively.Monish’s 6 for 81 in the first innings, had him end the game with career-best match-haul of 11 for 127,
ScorecardThe run-feast at Jammu continued as Ian Dev Singh’s 115 and Mithun Manhas’ unbeaten 95 drove Jammu Kashmir to 325 for 5 on day three, in their reply to Goa’s 552 for 5 declare in the first innings.Ian Dev Singh shared a 100-run partnership with Pranav Gupta for the third wicket, reviving Jammu Kashmir from 9 for 2 to 109, before Gupta was bowled by Shadab Jakati. Mithun Manhas then combined with Ian Dev Singh to share a 156-run partnership, before Jakati once again broke a threatening partnership by having Ian Dev Singh caught behind.His captain, Parvez Rasool, soon followed as Jammu & Kashmir slumped to 300 for 5. No more wickets fell in the day with Manhas ending the day on a resilient 95.
ScorecardPacers Ravi Kiran and Chama Milind placed Hyderabad in a commanding position, as Tripura were asked to follow-on after being bowled out for 237 in response to the hosts’ mammoth 548 for 5. Both pacers picking up three wickets apieceArindam Das anchored Tripura’s innings, as they kept losing regular wickets, with a patient 73 before he was dismissed with the score at 158 for 7. Manisankar Murasingh’s lower-order 51 took Tripura past 200, before they eventually folded for 237.Tripura’s openers Virag Awate and Arindam Das ended the day at 25 for no-loss in their second innings.

Sehwag to lead Delhi Ranji team

Virender Sehwag has been named the captain for the Delhi Ranji team © Getty Images

Virender Sehwag will lead the 15-member Delhi Ranji team that is packed with nine batsmen and six bowlers, including four pacers. The Delhi and District Cricket Association (DDCA) selected the team in a ten-minute meeting held at the Feroz Shah Kotla ground.Although the captain and coach reportedly wanted to have five fast bowlers, the selection committee decided in favour of an extra batsman in Aditya Jain, who replaced Kunal Lal in the squad. Kunal, the son of former India medium pacer Madan Lal, has been named as one of the four standbys.The promising left-arm seamer Pradeep Sangwan has been picked as the fourth pacer along with Ashish Nehra, Amit Bhandari and Ishant Sharma.In addition, on the recommendation of the team management, the DDCA has selected five seamers who will train alongside the Ranji team during their home matches. The five selected are Pawan Singh, Parminder Awana, Suhail Sharma, Amit Sharma and Lokendra.The 30 probables, selected on September 16, have been practicing under the supervision of the coach Vijay Dahiya from September 19.Delhi begin their campaign with a home game against Rajasthan from November 4.Squad: Virender Sehwag (capt), Gautam Gambhir (vice-capt), Aakash Chopra, Ashish Nehra, Mithun Manhas, Mayank Tehlan, Virat Kohli, Puneet Bisht (wk), Rajat Bhatia, Shikhar Dhawan, Ishant Sharma, Pradeep Sangwan, Amit Bhandari, Chetanya Nanda, Aditya Jain.Standbys: Gaurav Chhabra, Yogesh Nagar, Abhishek Sharma, Kunal Lal.

ICC cannot deal directly with Indian players – Shah

Cricket boards have to be consulted regarding player issues – Shah © Getty Images

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has rejected the ICC’s offer to speak directly to the Indian players regarding the Members Participation Agreement (MPA).David Richardson, the ICC general manager, cricket operations, had suggested that the ICC be allowed to deal directly with the Indian players regarding issues concerning them.”It has been made clear to the ICC that they cannot deal directly with the Indian players,” Niranjan Shah, the BCCI secretary told PTI. “They have to come through the board.”Shah added that the Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh cricket boards expressed similar reservations on the ICC dealing directly with players.”Not only the BCCI, but Sri Lanka Cricket, the Pakistan Cricket Board and the Bangladesh Cricket Board have said at the recent ICC meeting that on any issue related to the players, the ICC has to approach the boards first. As per norms in international cricket administration, any issue that concerns a player has to addressed through the respective board. Similarly, any relevant matter raised by the players is communicated to the ICC by the board concerned.”The MPA lays down guidelines and restrictions that the players must follow for ICC events, including those that deal with ambush marketing. While almost all the other ICC members are ready to sign the MPA, the BCCI announced last week that it would not do so it in its present form because it affected its commercial interests.Percy Sonn, the ICC president, had cautioned India that its chances of being the co-hosts of the 2011 World Cup could be jeopardised if they refused to comply with the MPA but hoped that an agreement would be reached. However, Shah said that the BCCI wasn’t very concerned, as the event is still five years away. He added that a letter had already been sent to the ICC, detailing India’s stand on the MPA.

PCB to take up Inzamam's exclusion with ICC

The PCB can’t believe the much-feted Inzamam didn’t make the World XI © Getty Images

Saleem Altaf, the director of cricket operations of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), will take up the issue of Inzamam-ul-Haq’s exclusion from the Super Series squads at the ICC Chief Executive’s Committee meeting in Dubai starting on Sunday. The ICC Super Series will involve matches between Australia and a World XI, to be played in Australia in October.Abbas Zaidi, the PCB’s director of board operations, said that Altaf would not question the integrity of the ICC selectors, but would present Pakistan’s view that clearer methods and criteria were needed for selecting the World XI teams. “This is a follow-up to the letter we’ve already sent to the ICC outlining the outrage and resentment in Pakistan over the exclusion of Inzamam from the ICC World eleven Test and one-day teams that play Australia in the Super Series next month,” Zaidi was quoted as saying in , a Pakistan-based daily. “We are not asking the ICC to reconsider Inzamam’s selection for the World eleven squads but we are only saying it would be better if the ICC make its committees more broad-based.”Zaidi said that the PCB would ideally like to have a representative on the selection panel. “Obviously the PCB comes under pressure as to what it is doing to protect and promote its players and cricket at the ICC level when such a thing happens that Inzamam is not considered good enough for selection in either the Test or one-day squad,” he said. “[Altaf] would also stress on the need to have more country representation on the ICC selection committee on rotation basis with each country getting an equal chance on the committee.”Inzamam has scored 940 Test runs at just under 59 since the start of 2004. As a one-day player, he averages 46.14 with the bat in that period.

England should keep the Champions Trophy, says ICC's president

Ehsan Mani: encouraging words for England© Getty Images

Ehsan Mani, the president of the ICC, said today that he believed England should be allowed to stage the Champions Trophy in September as planned. There had been speculation, ahead of tomorrow’s ICC meeting in New Zealand, that England’s reluctance to tour Zimbabwe might lead to the tournament – which features all ten Test-playing nations, plus Kenya and the United States – being moved elsewhere.But Mani said that his view was that the tournament should not be affected by any bilateral issues between England and Zimbabwe – no matter how serious they were. “Clearly there are potentially very serious issues that need to be resolved relating to England’s scheduled tour of Zimbabwe,” he said. “I believe that through the Board and the ICC’s disputes-resolution process there are mechanisms in place for these bilateral concerns to be effectively dealt with.”However, it is important that these genuine issues between two ICC members do not spill over and impact on broader issues that could affect all countries, such as the venue for the ICC Champions Trophy 2004.”He concluded: “Ultimately this decision is in the hands of the executive board, and I will be guided by the views of the directors – but I will put forward my view that we should be seeking to clearly separate these matters so that we avoid confusing bilateral issues with multilateral concerns.”By an ironic twist of fate England’s first match in the Champions Trophy is scheduled to be against … Zimbabwe.

Pakistan, England and West Indies – Media Sessions

Pakistan’s final practice session prior to Sunday’s ICC Cricket World Cup 2003 match against Namibia will be held on Saturday at 10:00 hours at the De Beers Diamond Oval, Kimberley.Pakistan captain Waqar Younis will later hold a pre-match press conference at the Stadium, at approximately 1200 hours. All media are invited to attend the press conference. There will also be an opportunity for vision and pictures during training (10:30hrs – 12:00hrs approx).Saturday, Feb 15: Nasser Hussain will hold a press conference at 1 pm (Meeting Room 2, Holiday Inn Garden Court, East London) ahead of Sunday’s match against Holland.England will practice from 2-5 pm at Buffalo Park, East London.The West Indies team will conduct a coaching clinic with the Easterns Academy under 19 players on Sunday 16th February 2003 at 14h00-15h30 at the Lords Cricket Ground, Mayet Drive, Actonville, BenoniThe players and management will be available to the media after the clinic.A South African media conference will be held at 13h00 on Saturday 15th in the Jacaranda Room at the Sandton Sun, Johannesburg.A free, broadcast-quality radio interview with Australian captain Ricky Ponting, ahead of his side’s second World Cup match against India tomorrow (15 February 2003), is available now on the Australian Cricket Board’s official online news agency,www.mediagame.com.au.

Kevin Shine disappointed after Derby loss

After seeing his side go down by eight runs to one-day kings Gloucestershire Gladiators in the Norwich Union National League, Somerset Coach Kevin Shine told me: "I’m very disappointed that we lost. We bowled and fielded well to restrict them to 219, but then batted disappointingly. This was a game that we would have hoped to have won."The coach went on: "in any game there are often a couple of turning points, and I think for us one was the catch that dismissed Peter Bowler when he was going well, and the other was when Keith Parsons was run out, just as he was getting into his stride."Looking ahead to next weeks’ match he said, "we’re now in the wrong half of the table, and need to be aware of this. We just have to pick ourselves up and get ready for Nottinghamshire Outlaws."

Blackwood looks to build on patience and restraint

The strikes down the ground are high and sweet. His pull is whiplash-quick and the cut severe. So it’s not his strokeplay Jermaine Blackwood seeks to sharpen in Sri Lanka. It is his instinct to survive. “If I’m at the crease for a long period of time, I’ll be making runs,” is his belief.Blackwood has been among West Indies’ brightest emerging talents over the past 18 months, in which he has put together an encouraging record spanning 11 Tests. He averages 42.47 from 20 innings so far, and has runs against quality Test attacks.His maiden innings of 63 against the likes of Tim Southee and Trent Boult suggested West Indies had unearthed a good batsman. His excellent turn against James Anderson, Stuart Broad and England in the middle of the year, confirmed it. He hit 311 runs at an average of 77.75 in that series, having struck a first Test ton, then hit the winning runs in a chase that leveled the series.A relatively lean series against Australia followed, but Blackwood has rebounded in Sri Lanka, hitting 92 from 135 balls in the second dig in Galle, while his team-mates floundered around him. Blackwood says it was restraint that allowed him to unlock his attacking game, after having fallen for 11 in the first innings.”I made a mistake in the first innings playing to a ball outside the off stump that I shouldn’t be playing to,” he said. “After I get out I go back and rethink my innings. I got out there in the second innings and told myself I’m not going to play any balls outside the off stump early up. I did that and in the end I got a good result. I was trying to push into a century but in the end I get out in the last. I thought it was a good innings.”It is the kind of restraint he seeks to refine and reproduce. Sometimes hailed as a disciple of the destructive school of Caribbean batting, Blackwood said he is learning to incorporate prudence into his attack.”There’s one major issue that I’m still working on – shot selection early up in my innings. Once I’m past that early phase it’s quite easy for me. I used to play a lot of shots and loved to feel the ball on my bat. When I reached Test level I realised it’s much different because you get less bad balls in Test cricket than you do in first-class. So I need to learn to be much much patient. Once I’m patient I’m adapting to that very quickly.”Blackwood was among the few West Indies batsmen to survive long spells from Rangana Herath, and even ventured two straight sixes and a four in one Herath over, near the end of the Galle Test. His team has come to Sri Lanka with a poor reputation for playing slow bowling, but Blackwood is undaunted by Sri Lanka’s top spinner.”Herath is a wonderful bowler, but a bowler is a bowler,” he said. “Once he bowls a bad ball, I’m going to hit any bowler. If we can bat him out, it’s going to be much easier for us.”Right now my defence is pretty good, as you can see. Last game Herath was bowling brilliantly and I was batting easy. For me it’s about staying patient and batting more sessions. If I do that I’m going to score more runs. I just need to control my tempo while I’m batting and trust my defence.”Blackwood has not made a limited-overs debut yet, but said Tests had always been his dream format and remains his “pride and joy”. He wants a hundred in his next match, as every batsman does, but he has high hopes for his batting statistics as well. He averages 45.66 so far in 2015, with one hundred and four fifties from 14 innings.”I do want to get my Test average for this year up to 50,” he said. “For that I’m on the right track right now. My gameplan is very simple. If I see a ball to hit, I’ll hit it.  Choosing the right ball to hit – that’s what I’m working towards.”

Game
Register
Service
Bonus