Former Karnataka player Chanchikotti Varadaraj has died, aged 75.He played eight first-class games between 1952-1961. A right-hand batsmen and slow left-arm bowler, Varadaraj made his debut against Travancore-Cochin in Trivandrum. His last game came against Madras in 1960-61. In that span he took 22 wickets at 19.86 with a best of 4 for 34.
Donald Peters has resigned from the post of chief executive officer of the West Indies Cricket Board on Thursday, according to a WICB release. His resignation has been accepted by the board and is effective 30th April. Steve Camacho, the former West Indies opener who was its chief executive for 18 years, will be the interim CEO till a successor is found for Peters.The WICB did not provide an official reason as to Peters’ abrupt exit from the post. Peters told CBC Radio in Barbados that had quit for personal reasons, and noted that his mother was ill in Boston, so he planned to spend the next few months with her. He has become the fourth CEO to quit the post in the last seven years.Peters had taken over as CEO in November 2007, and it has been a turbulent 18-month reign. During his tenure, the cash-strapped board has had a protracted pay dispute with the West Indies Players’ Association (WIPA) which nearly resulted in the players boycotting a one-dayer against England last month. It also failed to find a sponsor for it’s domestic competitions. The relationship with one of their few remaining backers, Digicel, is also rocky after the sponsorship row ahead of the Stanford 20/20 for 20 tournament last year.Peters was also involved in a messy internal dispute with Julian Hunte, the board president, after allegations over the use of WICB funds to renovate Hunte’s St Lucian office. He was also in charge when a Test match against England was called off earlier this year due to a sandy outfield after only 10 deliveries were bowled.
JP Duminy, the South Africa batsman, has admitted he is still pinching himself to make sure he has been bought by an IPL franchise for US$ 950,000, and says he is now looking forward to pick up some tips this month from Sachin Tendulkar and Sanath Jayasuriya, his Mumbai Indians team-mates, who he looked up to as a young boy.The IPL opens on April 18 in Cape Town’s Newlands, Duminy’s home ground, with a match between Mumbai Indians and Chennai Super Kings. And Duminy, who will turn 25 four days before the tournament starts, knows he could possibly become the first South African player to take the field for the Indian Twenty20 league in South Africa.”It’s very exciting to know that,” Duminy told Cricinfo. “It’s just such a rush though; we play our last one-day game against Australia on April 17 and the next day I play for Mumbai Indians. It would have been a lot better if there was time to mingle with the guys before, just to know everybody. But unfortunately the circumstances won’t allow that, so I have to get into it as soon as possible.”However, Duminy says that the experience of sharing dressing rooms with some of the greatest players of this era will be unforgettable. “I am really looking forward to playing with those players, the likes of Tendulkar and Sanath Jayasuriya,” he said. “I looked up to them as a young boy and to be playing alongside them is a great honour. I am definitely going to try and learn as much as I can from them and get to know them as well as I can.”In fact, Duminy feels that the IPL would be a defining experience not just for the international players involved in it but also for junior cricketers in South Africa who will be watching it. “It will be a big step for the young guys and I am sure it will be a good learning curve for everyone,” he said. “For a lot of youngsters, their heroes are playing in IPL and to be able to watch them live at some of the venues is going to be a great experience.”Duminy admits with an embarrassed laugh, though, that he hasn’t yet got used to the price tag placed on him by Mumbai Indians, the richest IPL franchise, at the players’ auction in February. “It’s just about sinking in,” he said. “I am still pinching myself just to make sure that I am serious about it, and realising what has actually happened. It’s lovely to be able to earn such a lot of money, and hopefully I can put it to good use and hope it works right for me.”Asked to assess the pitch and weather conditions in Newlands, where IPL plays out its first week, Duminy says the ground could throw up some big scores, but only if the weather permits. “The pitch has been really good of late but normally in May we get into the winter months,” he said. “It could be a little bit cold at night and we might get some rain too. But it’s going to be a great experience for me to try and perform in front of the home crowd.”But will the 36-day IPL, which has been tagged as an Indian domestic competition, attract enough crowds in South Africa? “Definitely, on weekends we are going to get good crowds in,” he said. “I am not too sure about the weekdays. But there has been a keen interest in the IPL around the country and I am sure that even if people don’t come to the ground they will be watching it on TV.”Duminy made his international debut in 2004 but hit the headlines on his Test debut last December with an unbeaten half-century to help AB de Villiers guide South Africa past Australia in Perth. In the next Test in Melbourne, he hit a stunning 166, adding 180 with Dale Steyn, to help South Africa clinch a historic series win.It was a timely performance which got him the prized IPL ticket in the auction that immediately followed. However, he has since returned scores of 13, 16, 17, 29, 73 not out, 17 and 7 in the subsequent four Tests, of which the last three were in South Africa. “Yes, it hasn’t gone according to plan,” Duminy said. “Especially, in this return series in South Africa (which Australia won 2-1). It’s not a huge worry though because I am still feeling fairly confident. Hopefully, if the one-day series can go well for me, I can take a bit of confidence going into the IPL.”
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It all happened very quickly. We were on the bus, there were a couple of explosions and then the pop-pop-pop of the guns and broken glass. Everyone hit the floor straight away. I’m not sure how long it went on for – maybe half a minute. The boys were yelling to the driver to keep driving, because we had come to a stop only about 100m from the entrance to the ground. Luckily the driver hadn’t been hit, and he got us beyond the cars and into the ground. We then ran to the relative safety of the dressing room.I didn’t see much, but the guys at the front of the bus said they saw cars in front of us stop, then back-up. People then jumped out and started shooting. It’s strange now watching it on the television. They’re saying that we were being shot at from three or four different directions. It’s a bit surreal.To be honest, everyone on the bus was pretty calm. I was on the floor thinking, ‘there’s nothing I can really do about it.’ Six or seven of the players were hit, some more seriously than others, but thankfully nothing is life threatening.(Samaraweera) is probably the worst of the lot. Our new opening batsman, (Tharanga) Paranavitana, gave us a fright. There was blood all over his chest after he was hit by a bullet or piece of shrapnel from the side. There was a fair bit of blood in the dressing room. But I’m looking at him now and he seems OK, joking around as if nothing has happened.They took them both to hospital, and they arrived back with us a couple of hours ago. They’ve got (Samaraweera) pretty drugged up at the moment, but they expect that he’ll be ok, just a bit sore for a while. The early reports are that he should be able to play again, but we’ll just have to wait and see how bad the damage is and he recovers.I was one of the seven or eight who didn’t get hit by any of the shrapnel.We’re still in Pakistan sitting in an airforce base. We were flown out of the ground in big helicopters, and now we’re waiting for an aeroplane sent by the Sri Lankan president to pick us up. It should be arriving in three hours or so.I think what I’m feeling most at the moment is disbelief that it happened. The guys are in pretty good spirits, and I think a lot of the reason for that is that they’re alive and in a relatively safe place now. I haven’t really thought about my future in the job. As it stands, I’d be pretty happy to continue with it, so long as we didn’t have to come back here in the near future.
Scorecard
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Two fast bowlers searching for a national recall, Liam Plunkett and Sajid Mahmood, shared seven wickets as New Zealand Emerging Players were dismissed one short of the England Lions’ total in the drawn two-day match at the Bert Sutcliffe Oval.Mahmood provided the first breakthrough, getting rid of the home side captain Tim McIntosh, who stitched together 59 with Josh Brodie. Plunkett then took over, slicing through the top and middle order as the hosts slipped to 172 for 5 from 108 for 1. The top four batsmen got starts, all of them crossing 20, but only Brodie went on to make a half-century before falling for 57. A quick, unbeaten 60 from Central Districts’ Greg Hay held the lower order together but Mahmood took a couple of quick wickets and effected a run-out to end the innings on 277.England Lions lost two wickets cheaply in their second innings but Jonathan Trott and Samit Patel made attacking 40s to take their side through to the end of the match.Their captain Rob Key was pleased with the side’s performance, particularly that of Plunkett and Mahmood, neither of whom have played for England in nearly two years. “When they had played for England, neither of them had played much senior cricket and they have a lot more guile and experience now and have started very well on this tour,” he told . “They were able to adjust to the conditions nicely. The pitch was a bit flat when we bowled and required a different length so it was very encouraging for us.”The next assigment on the tour for the England Lions is the first Test against New Zealand A starting Sunday in Queenstown.
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Yuvraj Singh has been cleared of breaching the ICC Code of Conduct by the match referee Chris Broad at a hearing after the second ODI against Sri Lanka in Colombo.Yuvraj had been charged under Level 1.3 of the code, which refers to “showing dissent at an umpire’s decision”. He had been adjudged lbw off Nuwan Kulasekara when on 66; the ball was going on to hit the stumps but Yuvraj had got a big inside edge onto the pads which the umpire had failed to spot. He waited at the crease for a few seconds on receiving the decision, before trudging off.The incident was reported by on-field umpires Brian Jerling and Gamini Silva, as well as third umpire Kumar Dharmasena. “After reviewing video evidence of the incident, I am of the opinion that there was no conclusive evidence that Yuvraj showed dissent at the decision,” Broad said. “He did stay at the crease but the delay in departing was not excessive and I felt he showed a level of disappointment rather than dissent.”Besides Yuvraj and the three umpires, India coach Gary Kirsten and team manager Prakash Dixit were also present at the hearing.
Salma Khatun, who led Bangladesh in Asia Cup last year, has been retained as captain for the women’s tri-nation tournament at home, also featuring Pakistan and Sri Lanka. The Bangladesh Cricket Board on Tuesday announced the 14-member squad for the upcoming series, which starts from Friday.The Pakistan team have already arrived and had their first full training session at the Shere Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur on Tuesday. They will be travelling to Bogra tomorrow ahead of the tournament opener against Bangladesh.The teams will be meeting each other twice during the league phase, with Bogra staging the first three matches and Khulna hosting the remaining fixtures. The final is scheduled on February 17 at the Shere Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur.Bangladesh achieved their first win against an international ODI team when they beat Pakistan by four wickets in Kurunegala during the Asia Cup in May. But as Bangladesh were not among the top 14 ranked sides in the world, matches involving them in the Asia Cup were not considered as one-day internationals.Squad: Salma Khatun (capt), Shathira Jakir, Shuktara, Ayesha Akhter, Lata Mondal, Panna Ghosh, Mina Khatun, Tithy Sarkar, Champa Chakma, Irin Sultana (wk), Jahanara Alam, Fatema Jahara, Lily Bishwash, Sohely AkhterOn standby: Rumana Ahmed, Shamima Akhter, Papiya Haque Babu, Shahnaz Parvin.
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December 26, 2008
Start time 5:00pm (04.00 GMT)
After no results in a drawn two-match Test series, it’s understandable that both New Zealand and West Indies would be desperate to slip into a new format with hopes of notching up a result. While neither side has really been comfortable in Test cricket this year, it might be stretching it to say they’re more comfortable in Twenty20. New Zealand haven’t proven a very good Twenty20 side, as five wins in 16 outings indicate. In fact, they’ve lost their last seven matches, dating back to September 2007. West Indies have just three wins from eight games – in the ICC World Twenty20 in South Africa last year, they lost both their matches and a six-wicket defeat at the hands of Bangladesh was particularly galling.It is against that scenario that the two teams move into the limited-overs leg of the tour – starting with a pair of Twenty20 matches before five one-day internationals. The venue for the first game on Boxing Day is Auckland’s Eden Park, where the two teams have played just one Twenty20 match, in February 2006, which resulted in a tie when both teams scored 126.While these two Twenty20 matches will ideally provide a platform for results after the Tests ended without a definitive winner, both sides will need to pick themselves up. Seven of the current West Indies squad were part of the Stanford Superstars side that won the US$20 million winner-takes-all Standford 20/20 for 20 extravaganza in Antigua last month, so that should give the side plenty of confidence.
West IndiesWLWLL
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Beyond a doubt, Chris Gayle, the only man to hit a hundred in international Twenty20 cricket. Gayle has enjoyed a successful Test and ODI year, and has always enjoyed himself in cricket’s shortest version, where he averages 38.60 after five games. Gayle didn’t play West Indies’ last three Twenty20s, and would be itching to free those arms now that his troublesome groin has eased up. There are few more powerful hitters than Gayle, and on a small Eden Park, New Zealand will hope to see his back early.Denesh Ramdin’s appointment as Gayle’s deputy for the limited-overs leg of the tour came as a surprise – he had been dropped from ODI squad for the tri-series in Canada in August and the postponed Champions Trophy and has averaged 14.11 from 33 ODIs since January 2007 – but could be a trump in the Twenty20s. Ramdin steered Trinidad & Tobago to the US$280,000 prize in their clash with fellow domestic champions Middlesex in the Stanford Super Series and, with 91 runs from three games, finished as the second highest run-getter.Jacob Oram returns after missing the drawn Test series. He was also sidelined for the Australia series in November because of a back problem which had forced his early return home from the tour of Bangladesh and New Zealand coach Andy Moles was glad to have the hard-hitting allrounder back. “We’ve got a competitive side and we’ll welcome back Jacob Oram to the Twenty20 side and I think we’ve got a really strong side,” said Moles.Think of Brendon McCullum and audacious batting comes to mind. Think of McCullum batting on one of New Zealand’s small grounds, and you shudder just a bit. After a poor Test series, McCullum is back for this contest, and may just take out his ire at being incorrectly given out in the second innings in Napier. Sufficed to say, this man’s itching for another bout of big hitting.
New Zealand’s line-up will look virtually the same to those who watched them in action in the Tests, with nine of that squad line-up expected to play a part. McCullum will move up the order yet again, from No. 6 to No. 1 this time, and New Zealand will be boosted by the return of Scott Styris, whose attacking batting is matched by some nagging military-medium seam bowling. Jesse Ryder, who was New Zealand’s highest run-scorer in the Tests, will take pleasure in the opportunity to play his shots with disdain. The only new face in New Zealand’s squad is the 29-year-old Central Districts medium-pacer Ewen Thompson, but with allrounders Tim Southee and James Franklin in the squad Thompson’s chances are slim.New Zealand: (possible) 1 Brendon McCullum (wk), 2 Jesse Ryder, 3 Daniel Flynn, 4 Ross Taylor, 5 Scott Styris, 6 Jacob Oram, 7 Tim Southee, 8 Daniel Vettori (capt), 9 Kyle Mills, 10 Mark Gillespie, 11 Jeetan Patel.West Indies will have a new-look opening pair compared to the Tests with Xavier Marshall likely to partner Gayle. Shawn Findlay and Brendan Nash will compete for a middle-order spot while the allrounder Kieron Pollard, who scored 120 runs in two innings in the WICB Cup which T&T won, as well as taking nine wickets at 14.22, might play if West Indies want to rest one of their strike bowlers. The left-arm spinner Sulieman Benn, who has a good domestic Twenty20 record, should get preference over Nikita Miller, who was the leading wicket-taker during the first-class season with 42 victims.West Indies: (possible) 1 Chris Gayle (capt), 2 Xavier Marshall, 3 Ramnaresh Sarwan, 4 Shivnarine Chanderpaul, 5 Brendan Nash, 6 Kieron Pollard, 7 Denesh Ramdin (wk), 8 Jerome Taylor, 10 Sulieman Benn, 11 Fidel Edwards.
The Eden Park pitch has traditionally suited batting, not always providing the bowlers sharp bounce or speed, and there could be more of the same for this Twenty20 outing.Weather: The Auckland forecast says partly cloudy, but by the time the match starts the conditions should have cleared up and a cool evening is on the cards.
“I am just trying to stay relaxed and confident. It will be nice to walk out of the sheds and get the first ball under my belt and then start trying to compete.”
“The West Indies love to play calypso-style cricket and will be a dangerous side but I’m sure we’ll give a good account of ourselves.”
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James Franklin, the New Zealand fast bowler, has said he hopes to make a comeback to the national team as a “50-50 allrounder” rather than a “bowling-dominant allrounder”. Franklin made his first-class comeback last week for Wellington and scored 69 and took 4 for 56 in his team’s innings victory over Canterbury.”I’d like to come back into international cricket as a true allrounder, batting at seven or eight and contributing genuine runs as well as taking wickets,” Franklin told the . “Things are going well at the moment, it’s such a relief to be playing first-class cricket again,” he said. “I hadn’t played first-class for almost two years because I’d been on a steady diet of ODIs before I injured my knee.”Franklin last played a Test for New Zealand in December 2006 and he hasn’t appeared in ODIs since the 2007 World Cup. He underwent surgery for a patella tendon injury in his right knee last November and eased back into competitive cricket by playing Twenty20 and one-day games for Australian Capital Territory and representing New Zealand in the Emerging Players tour of Queensland in October this year.”At the moment the guys [New Zealand] are doing pretty well and I haven’t played international cricket for 18 months, so I have to play well at domestic cricket,” Franklin said. “Hopefully the selectors will take note of any good form I might have and you might see a left-arm bowler-batsman back in the team, which would be a good thing.”
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The West Indies batsman Shivnarine Chanderpaul has agreed to stay with Durham, whom he helped claim their inaugural County Championship title this year, for his third stint with the county.Captain Dale Benkenstein and opening batsman Michael Di Venuto havealso extended contracts to remain at the club until 2011, and they are joined by Ben Harmison, Phil Mustard, Graham Onions, Liam Plunkett and Mark Stoneman, all Durham Academy graduates.Gareth Breese, Mitchell Claydon, Kyle Coetzer, Mark Davies, GordonMuchall, Will Smith and Callum Thorp will be at the club until at leastthe end of 2010.”The players have worked incrediblyhard to get the squad to where they are today and are understandablykeen to work with us to ensure that Durham’s future on the pitchcontinues to be a bright one,” said David Harker, Durham’s chief executive. “With both the first and second team bringing Championship trophies backto Riverside we now have to build on and maintain the core of thesuccessful team, continuing to nurture the young talent we have broughtthrough our academy.”